metal

In industrialized countries, the expansion of power systems has become very difficult. According to power utility consortiums such as CEATI and EPRI, only drastic changes to the current power grid architecture, together with the introduction of new technologies can prevent the high social costs associated with a reduction in reliability of energy supply. High temperature superconductors (HTS) are among the most promising technologies to achieve this goal.

Bacterial biofilms are microbial depositions on immersed surfaces and are ubiquitous in natural and engineered environments. For example, they play a significant role in medical applications where they can grow on artificial implants and cause infections; they form dental plaques and contribute to tooth decay; they can be utilized to assist in clean-up of contaminated soils or groundwater aquifers; they accelerate corrosion of metal surfaces; and they are a main culprit behind contamination of drinking water systems and food processing equipment.