Xanthan gum production of Xanthomonas spp. Isolated from different plants

Xanthan gum were produced from the following Xanthomonas strains; standard strain Xanthomonas campestris NRRL B-1459 and isolated strains Xanthomonas arbicola pv. juglandis, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. begonia, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. dieffenbachia. The viscosity features of the xanthan gums obtained were determined at 25–80°C with different pH values and were compared to commercial xanthan gum. Our results indicate that X. arbicola pv. juglandis showed the highest productivity (8.22±1.52 g/L gum). This was followed by X. axonopodis pv. begonia (7.74±1.30 g/L gum), and the control bacterial strain X. campestris NRRL B-1459 (7.46±0.28 g/L gum). X. axonopodis pv. vesicatoria showed the lowest productivity (6.40±0.55 g/L gum). No xanthan gum could be obtained from X. axonopodis pv. dieffenbachia. Xanthan gum produced by X. axonopodis pv. vesicatoria showed the highest viscosity value (428 mPa·sec at 1% solution) in all Xanthomonas strains isolated from plants.     

Activation of Manganese Ions in Lithium-ion Battery Anode Materials via Nickel and Cobalt Doping

Nanosized Ni_xMn_3?xO_z(x?=?0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.65, 0.75 and 1.0) and (1?y)Li₂MnO₃???(y)LiCoO₂ (y?=?0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.0) powders were synthesized by the Pechini process and electrochemically evaluated as battery anode materials for their lithium capacities and cycle life. The materials were investigated using x-ray diffraction (XRD), a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electrochemical characterizations. Undoped anode materials (i.e., Mn₂O₃ when x?=?0 and Li₂MnO₃ when y?=?0) had the lowest first cycle Coulombic efficiencies and long-term cycling capacities. However, upon addition of Ni or Co elements, drastic improvements in battery performance was observed. The highest percentages of increase in first cycle performance were observed at an intermediate level of doping (i.e., x?=?0.25 or 0.50 and y?=?0.1 or 0.25). For extended cycling, on the other hand, anode materials with higher levels of nickel and cobalt doping are the best.     

Segmentation and root localization for analysis of dental radiographs

During lifetime, teeth are exposed to many effects like abrasion, loss and dental treatments. These effects along with natural shapes of teeth form a unique dental frame which contains useful attributes to be used for human identification. Today, there exist automated dental identification systems which are used by forensics of law departments. These systems need to extract dental structures like teeth or roots prior to further analysis. So far, in several studies, much effort has been paid for this task. However, there still exist core problems like automated detection of region of interest (ROI) and segmentation in panoramic dental radiographs with missing teeth. This study aims to present a tool that can be employed to overcome these issues. Unlike previous works, the proposed methodology takes advantage of discrete wavelet transform for more accurate localization of ROI and polynomial regression to form a smooth border, separating upper and lower jaws even in case of absent teeth. Results indicate that the proposed approach can be effectively used for teeth segmentation and root apex detection.