Abstract: A portable surgical system including a transparent and flexible plastic enclosure (1) is disclosed. The enclosure is attached reversibly to the patient's body encompassing the surgical site such as to isolate and regulate the immediate environment of the surgical site, and to reduce bodily fluid splatters from the surgical site to the surgical providers. The enclosure is inflated with filtered air. Arm ports (8) are integrated into the enclosure to allow access to the inside of the enclosure by either provider arms or augmenting instrumentation taking the place of arms such as laparoscopes or robots. Material ports (10) maintain enclosure environmental integrity but allow the passing of anatomical specimens, instruments, and other materials into and out of the enclosure (1) during a procedure. The portable surgical system is lightweight and can be used in conventional operating rooms to improve sterility, or in other circumstances where no operating room is available, such as field hospitals.

Abstract: Method for examining the sliding friction between exposed surfaces of different combinations of materials, characterized by the fact that a first test piece of a first type of material and a second test piece of a second type of material are moved against one another over a certain distance and under a certain load while a lubricant is applied between the exposed surfaces, whereby the required energy is measured and this step is subsequently repeated a number of times at various bulk temperatures of the lubricant, following which the measured energy consumption is plotted on a graph as a function of the bulk temperature of the lubricant.