Research

Fomites in the Fitness Center: Fitness Equipment Harbors Antibiotic Resistant and Pathogenic Bacteria

Fomites in the Fitness Center: Fitness Equipment Harbors Antibiotic Resistant and Pathogenic Bacteria

Infections may spread indirectly when an infected person touches an object (i.e., fomite) leaving behind a pathogen that is picked up by the next person to touch that object. Fitness centers offer a unique opportunity for investigating fomite transmission of pathogenic bacteria, because these facilities are used by persons with varying levels of personal hygiene routinely sharing equipment via frequent and direct surface-to-skin contact. Previous studies of this phenomenon have investigated too few species, and/or failed to differentiate pathogenic or antibiotic resistant bacteria from non-pathogenic or antibiotic susceptible bacteria. The aims of this study were to survey fitness equipment for the presence of World Health Organization (WHO) priority pathogens and to test the hypothesis that fitness equipment are hosts to an abundance of pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Effect of Co-Flow Jet Characteristic on the Aerodynamic Performance of an Airfoil

Effect of Co-Flow Jet Characteristic on the Aerodynamic Performance of an Airfoil

This paper demonstrates the impact of Co Flow Jets (CFJ) on airfoil performance. CFJ airfoils are an active airfoil performance enhancing method which uses injection and suction on the airfoil leeward side. Our research shows that better lift augmentation, higher stall angle and drag reduction is achieved when the injection point of the jet is located close to the point of maximum thickness. This method provides superior performance compared to passive augmenting methods and can be integrated with unified jet-based lift and thrust systems. We analyzed CFJ airfoils based on NACA 2414 by varying location of injection slots on the airfoil.