A virtually secure business case?

The banks and retailers involved in the UK’s trials of chip and PIN at the point of sale assure us that customers find no difficulty in using the new system — which is just as well, since the argument for replacing identity verification by signature with a chip and PIN system is a compelling one. The emphasis on card security is now switching to card-not-present transactions — particularly over the Internet. Talk of hackers gathering card data from carelessly guarded call centres or retailer sites may be fanciful; but people have a justified worry about more mundane forms of crime, such as retailers trying to take a higher amount from a card-not-present transaction than has been authorised or loading multiple transactions on a card when the customer has only authorised one.     

Application of marine biomaterials for nutraceuticals and functional foods

Recently, a great deal of interest has been paid by the consumers towards natural bioactive compounds as functional ingredients in the diets due to their various health beneficial effects. Hence, it can be suggested that bio-processed marine products are alternative sources for synthetic ingredients that can contribute to consumer’s well-being, as a part of nutraceuticals and functional foods. The ultra filtration membrane bioreactor is a novel technology to bio-process marine products. This review presents an overview of bio-processing and perspectives of bioprocessed marine products for use as nutraceuticals and functional foods.     

New routes to the preparation of silver-soft liner nanocomposites as an antibacterial agent

This study evaluated the antimicrobial and physical properties of silver-soft liner nanocomposites (Ag-SLN). Polymerized acrylic soft denture liner disk specimens containing 0 (control), 1500, 3000, or 6000 mg/L of silver nanoparticles were placed on the flat bottom of the separate 12-well cell culture plate dish and 100 μL samples of microbial suspensions of Escherichia coli strain were inoculated on each specimen and incubated at 37 °C, for 24 and or 72 h. The antimicrobial effects were determined according to the number of viable cells in the retrieved suspension. Characterization of silver nanoparticles was carried out based on UV–vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The specimens were characterized by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), field emission scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (FE-SEM/EDAX), and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). We successfully prepared Ag-SLN and identified the great excellent antimicrobial activity for E coli.     

Enhancement of superhydrophobicity and conductivity of carbon nanofibers-coated glass fabrics

This paper explores the role of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on its potential to produce surperhydrophobic and conductive surfaces of glass fiber (GF) fabrics when processed by the catalytic chemical vapor deposition. Large-area helical CNFs were prepared over GF surfaces by the pyrolysis of acetylene. CNFs/GFs composites were characterized by XPS, SEM, and contact angle measurements. The results indicate the CNFs/GF fabrics surface exhibited excellent superhydrophocity and electroconductivity due to the grown CNFs The contact angle and volume resistivity of CNFs decorating the GF fabrics was equal to 152° and 1.13 × 10⁻³ Ω cm, respectively.