Bacterial streamers as colloidal systems: Five grand challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 594 ◽  
pp. 265-278
Author(s):  
Udita U. Ghosh ◽  
Hessein Ali ◽  
Ranajay Ghosh ◽  
Aloke Kumar
Author(s):  
J. Thieme ◽  
J. Niemeyer ◽  
P. Guttman

In soil science the fraction of colloids in soils is understood as particles with diameters smaller than 2μm. Clay minerals, aquoxides of iron and manganese, humic substances, and other polymeric materials are found in this fraction. The spatial arrangement (microstructure) is controlled by the substantial structure of the colloids, by the chemical composition of the soil solution, and by thesoil biota. This microstructure determines among other things the diffusive mass flow within the soils and as a result the availability of substances for chemical and microbiological reactions. The turnover of nutrients, the adsorption of toxicants and the weathering of soil clay minerals are examples of these surface mediated reactions. Due to their high specific surface area, the soil colloids are the most reactive species in this respect. Under the chemical conditions in soils, these minerals are associated in larger aggregates. The accessibility of reactive sites for these reactions on the surface of the colloids is reduced by this aggregation. To determine the turnover rates of chemicals within these aggregates it is highly desirable to visualize directly these aggregation phenomena.


2018 ◽  
pp. 11-24
Author(s):  
Leonid Fituni

The author presents a vision of the mainstream vectors of global development against the backdrop of the “Grand Challenges” of the 21st century. He formulates optimal ways for Russia and Africa to interact in order to achieve the goals set by the UN Third International Conference on Financing for Development. The author proposes a RUSAFRICA project, which combines a dual goal of boosting economic, social and technological development of both Russia and Africa. The project envisages an integrated cooperative approach to mutually significant economic, technological and infrastructural requirements and capacities while prioritizing the human development aspect. Innovative approaches to mutual cooperation shale open ways to promoting Russian technologies and innovative products to new markets, generating growth of income from exports of high technology products and services with the aim to enhance Russia’s influence and competitive strengths, in accordance with the Scientific and Technological Development Strategy of the Russian Federation.


In contrast to other helping professions, social work does not currently define itself as scientific, or as a scientific discipline. Starting with the work of John Brekke, this volume considers what a science of social work might look like. These ideas have developed from an extended collaboration among the chapter authors and others. Aspects of the framework described here include approaches to ontology and epistemology (scientific and critical realism); science and the the identity of social work; the context of Grand Challenges for social work; the place of values in a science of social work; the importance of theory in social work science; and how ideas from the philosophy of mind can also inform what a social work science should be. The volume then describes the application of social work science to social work practice, managing the tensions between rigor and relevance, and ways to educate future scholars. The concluding chapter suggests some ways in which this framework might affect social work practice and education in the future.


Nanoscale ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 733-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Fernández-Medina ◽  
Xiaomin Qian ◽  
Ondrej Hovorka ◽  
Brigitte Städler

Colloidal systems with autonomous mobility are attractive alternatives to static particles for diverse applications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuyin Xi ◽  
Ronald S. Lankone ◽  
Li-Piin Sung ◽  
Yun Liu

AbstractBicontinuous porous structures through colloidal assembly realized by non-equilibrium process is crucial to various applications, including water treatment, catalysis and energy storage. However, as non-equilibrium structures are process-dependent, it is very challenging to simultaneously achieve reversibility, reproducibility, scalability, and tunability over material structures and properties. Here, a novel solvent segregation driven gel (SeedGel) is proposed and demonstrated to arrest bicontinuous structures with excellent thermal structural reversibility and reproducibility, tunable domain size, adjustable gel transition temperature, and amazing optical properties. It is achieved by trapping nanoparticles into one of the solvent domains upon the phase separation of the binary solvent. Due to the universality of the solvent driven particle phase separation, SeedGel is thus potentially a generic method for a wide range of colloidal systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 263178772110203
Author(s):  
Yvonne Benschop

Feminist organization theories develop knowledge about how organizations and processes of organizing shape and are shaped by gender, in intersection with race, class and other forms of social inequality. The politics of knowledge within management and organization studies tend to marginalize and silence feminist theorizing on organizations, and so the field misses out on the interdisciplinary, sophisticated conceptualizations and reflexive modes of situated knowledge production provided by feminist work. To highlight the contributions of feminist organization theories, I discuss the feminist answers to three of the grand challenges that contemporary organizations face: inequality, technology and climate change. These answers entail a systematic critique of dominant capitalist and patriarchal forms of organizing that perpetuate complex intersectional inequalities. Importantly, feminist theorizing goes beyond mere critique, offering alternative value systems and unorthodox approaches to organizational change, and providing the radically different ways of knowing that are necessary to tackle the grand challenges. The paper develops an aspirational ideal by sketching the contours of how we can organize for intersectional equality, develop emancipatory technologies and enact a feminist ethics of care for the human and the natural world.


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