REVIEW OF AIR POLLUTION RESEARCH RESULTS ON THE EXAMPLE OF TBILISI
Background: Air pollution is one of the significant environmental challenges facing modern humanity. Atmospheric air is polluted with harmful substances emitted from anthropogenic and natural sources. Aim: The presented paper provides an overview of monitoring results conducted in the Capital of Georgia for 2023. Results from air quality monitoring sensors show that particulate matter, sulfur, and nitrogen dioxide represent problematic pollutants in different city areas. Methods: The research was carried out through sensors installed in different districts of Tbilisi. The investigation was carried out within the NATO SPS program project REACT. Results: Atmospheric air pollution was monitored at four stationary sensor sets on K. Cholokashvili, Nutsubidze Street, Chavchavadze Avenues, and the Old Tbilisi area. The results are presented in the article in the form of tables. Discussion: Average indexes of sulfur dioxide and PM particles were observed in all areas. Nitrogen dioxide indices were both low and medium. Conclusions: Based on the data obtained, it can be assumed that the air in most districts of Tbilisi is moderately polluted, and in some cases, the data exceeds the maximum allowable norm. There may be several reasons for this.: 1. Unauthorized slashing of Green islands and massive construction of high-rise residential buildings on their place in Tbilisi. 2. Malfunctioning vehicles, the technical inspection of which has recently been made stringent. However, some vehicles still pollute the air. 3. Emissions produced by mini factories and enterprises.
Read ArticleCOMPARISON OF TWO STAINING METHODS FOR ANODIZING IN ALLOY 6063 ALUMINUM PROFILES
Background: Aluminum stands out for being a light, corrosion-resistant, and recyclable metal, achieving wide coverage in the market. When incorporated into alloying elements, it is possible to acquire other desirable characteristics. Alloy 6063, intended for architectural purposes, has aesthetic, structural, and strength functions. Anodized finishing is performed through an electrolytic process, ensuring a more resistant aluminum oxide film than that formed naturally. For decorative purposes, the anodic film coloration can be performed by several methodologies, in this case, for the coloration by organic adsorption, with the use of aniline, and the electrolytic coloration, composed of tin sulfate salts, both for obtaining the black color. Aim: Compare of two different staining methods on the surface of anodized profiles of aluminum alloy 6063. Methods: Profile samples were collected and tests were carried out to measure the thickness of the anodic layer, immersion tests with 3,5 percent sodium chloride, for 1000 hours, and neutral saline mist, for 600 hours. Results and Discussion: Both methodologies proved to be resistant to immersion tests with sodium chloride, as well as with neutral saline mist, and these tests are quite aggressive and provide corrosion of the material when not well treated. Corrosion points were only seen at the intersections performed, and in the rest of thearea, no points were detected. Conclusions: The result of both methodologies was positive, considering tht there was no corrosion in the tested samples, except in the intersections performed, as well as the maintenance of the color in both tested methodologies, which was not expected in the literature. For future work, it is suggested to deepen the study to perform electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests for exaluate the strength of the anodic film and perform anodizing with the same parameters, however, with different anilines to analyze their behavior.
Read ArticleANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY OF ESCHERICHIA COLI ISOLATE FROM URINARY TRACT INFECTION OF THALASSEMIC PATIENTS IN THI-QAR PROVINCE
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the most common type of pathogen that causes Urinary tract infection disease. It can be presented as a pathogenic or non-pathogenic strain and found not only in the animal but also in the human intestine. This bacterium can cause opportunistic infection when the human host comprised of thalassemia patients or changes the healthy hemostatic flora. This study aimed to analyze the presence of bacteria in thalassemia patients with urinary tract infection. A total of 303 samples were collected during the period from August 2019 to January 2020 from thalassemia patients who suffered from urinary tract infection. The results showed that there were 6.9% of patients infected with E. coli, 2.6% of patients were infected with S. aureus, 0.7% with both Proteus and Klebsiella, while 89.1% of patients had a negative sample for bacteria. Also, the incidence of urinary tract infections in females is higher than in males. Besides, its occurrence in rural areas is higher than in city residents. Moreover, among 16 antibiotics tested to sensitize bacteria to antibiotics, Imipenem showed 100% efficacy on all isolated bacteria. In contrast, Netilmicin showed 80.1% efficacy, Gentamycin 80.1%, and Amikacin 76.2%. Ampicillin, Aztreonam, Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid, Tetracycline, and Ticarcillin-Clavulanic Acid, did not show any effectiveness toward the bacteria while other antibiotics showed different activities. Furthermore, the isolated microbes from thalassemia patients were the highest resistance to antibiotics in comparison with other studies, and this antibiotic-resistant may be due to the weakening of the patient's immune status and frequent blood taking and the antibodies it contains.
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