13 research outputs found
New Nanostructured Carbon Coating Inhibits Bacterial Growth, but Does Not Influence on Animal Cells
An electrospark technology has been developed for obtaining a colloidal solution containing nanosized amorphous carbon. The advantages of the technology are its low cost and high performance. The colloidal solution of nanosized carbon is highly stable. The coatings on its basis are nanostructured. They are characterized by high adhesion and hydrophobicity. It was found that the propagation of microorganisms on nanosized carbon coatings is significantly hindered. At the same time, eukaryotic animal cells grow and develop on nanosized carbon coatings, as well as on the nitinol medical alloy. The use of a colloidal solution as available, cheap and non-toxic nanomaterial for the creation of antibacterial coatings to prevent biofilm formation seems to be very promising for modern medicine, pharmaceutical and food industries
Self-determined citizens? New forms of civic activism and citizenship in Armenia
This article examines the recent emergence and growth of grassroots social movements in Armenia which are locally known as âcivic initiativesâ. It considers what their emergence tells us about the development of civil society and the changing understandings and practices of citizenship in Armenia in the post-Soviet period. It analyses why civic initiatives explicitly reject and distance themselves from formal, professionalised NGOs and what new models of civic activism and citizenship they have introduced. It argues that civic initiatives embrace a more political understanding of civil society than that which was introduced by Western donors in the 1990s
UV treatment of microorganisms on artificially-contaminated surfaces using excimer and microwave UV lamps
An XeBr excilamp having a peak emission at 283 nm, and microwave UV lamps with peak emissions at 253.7 nm that also generate ozone, have been tested for ability to eradicate high populations of microbial vegetative cells and spores (of bacteria and fungi) artificially added to filter surfaces. The study examined the energy required to completely eradicate large populations on filter surfaces. It was found that both the excilamp and microwave UV lamps were effective at killing large populations on surfaces with killing efficiency dependant on the type of organism, and, whether present in its vegetative or spore forms. The main killing factor is UV radiation following short treatment times. It is considered that for longer irradiation periods that are required to facilitate complete destruction of surface microorganisms, ozone and other oxidising species produced by microwave UV lamps would act to enhance microbial destruction
Resonance phenomena in microwave nonmagnetized plasma source. Plasmachemical application
Scheme of coaxial microwave gas-discharge plasma source based on a
âplasma resonanceâ phenomenon is presented. Possibility of conditions
realization at which energy of accelerated in the âresonanceâ electrons
goes into ionization processes (in volume of chamber outside of
âresonanceâ region) is discussed. Results of experimental investigation of
a coaxial microwave plasmatron in which âresonanceâ mechanisms have been
manifested are presented. A plasmachemical reactor based on a âresonanceâ
plasmatron is described. The data on plasmachemical decomposition of
CF2Cl2 are displayed