Improvement of enzymatic xylooligosaccharides production by the co-utilization of xylans from different origins

This study aimed to improve XOs production by enzymatic hydrolysis of xylans from various lignocellulosic waste biomasses namely corn cob, cotton and sunflower stalks, rice hull, wheat straw by using two commercial xylanase preparations, Shearzyme 500L and Veron 191. Shearzyme 500L showed better xylan hydrolysis capacity with high amount of xylose liberation. Xylobiose was the main hydrolysis product in each case. Even though the enzymatic hydrolyses using Shearzyme 500L resulted higher reducing sugar production compared to those of Veron 191, the hydrolysis of complex xylan structures was improved and the production of undesirable xylose was lowered by the co-utilization of xylanase preparations. By the co-utilization of xylanase preparations, the reducing sugar production from wheat straw, corn cob and sunflower stalk originated xylans was increased by 36%, 33% and 13%, respectively, compared to the expected reducing sugar yields. The highest reducing sugar production was obtained from complex corn cob xylan. The depolymerization of cotton and sunflower stalk xylan was poorest even though they have simple structures. Poor utilization of these xylans might be related to their high residual lignin content which might hinder the accessibility of xylan by the xylanases. However, the utilization of sunflower and cotton stalk xylan was improved when they were hydrolyzed within a xylan mixture containing equal amounts of each of five different xylans. In short, XOs production efficiency from agricultural waste materials was improved by the co-utilization of suitable xylanase and/or xylan mixtures considering the heterogeneous structures of xylan and different substrate specificities of xylanases.     

Swelling behavior of polystyrene networks in some aliphatic esters and linear polystyrene solutions

Summary Polystyrene networks were synthesized by free radical polymerization of styrene in the presence of dibenzoyl peroxide as an initiator, divinylbenzene as a crosslinker at 50 °C in toluene under nitrogen atmosphere. The swelling behavior of the synthesized polystyrene networks were studied at different temperatures in methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, isopropyl acetate, butyl acetate, isobutyl acetate, tert-butyl acetate, and isopentyl acetate. Equations were given for the variation of the polymer-solvent interaction parameter, χ₁₂, as a function of reciprocal absolute temperature in the temperature range from 25 to 75 °C. Polystyrene networks were swollen in linear polystyrene solutions in toluene of different concentrations. Linear polystyrene samples were almost monodisperse and of high molecular weight. The equilibrium swelling degrees were evaluated using the Flory-Rehner theory. The relation of volume swelling ratio, q_v, to the volume fraction of the linear polymer in solution, φ, was evaluated and characterized by interaction parameter of crosslinked polystyrene with linear polystyrene, χ₂₃. The parameter χ₂₃ was found around zero as expected from mixtures of similar chemical structures by extrapolating the values of χ₂₃ at tested concentrations to zero solvent concentration.     

Micro‐ and nanoscale structures of mesiodens dentin: Combined study of FTIR and SAXS/WAXS techniques

A mesiodens is the most common type of supernumerary tooth present in conjunction to normal dentition. A mesiodens may commonly occur in the central region of the upper or lower jaw. A mesiodens is different from normal teeth in terms of structure and shape. The aim of this study is to evaluate the micro‐ and nanoscale structural properties of mesiodens dentin by combined small‐ and wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Five freshly extracted, noncarious mesiodens and five normal dentin disks prepared from human incisor teeth were compared. Using FTIR, the phosphate‐to‐amide I, carbonate‐to‐phosphate, and carbonate‐to‐amide I band area ratios and the crystallinity index were quantified. SAXS/WAXS were used to study the nanostructure of mesiodens. An increase in the mineral content in the mesiodens dentin with respect to the normal group was found. Crystallinity was also significantly increased and the protein content decreased in the mesiodens dentin compared with that of normal dentin. SAXS/WAXS results revealed that mesiodens dentin has a more calcified tissue. Further, SAXS analysis revealed a nonuniform distribution of dentin fibrils in mesiodens. Microsc. Res. Tech., 78:52–58, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effect of soy protein concentrate addition on the physical, chemical, and sensory properties of strawberry flavored ice cream

The effect of soy protein concentrate (0, 1.5, 3, and 4.5%) on the physical, chemical, and sensory properties of strawberry flavored (0, 0.01 and 0.02%) ice cream samples was examined. All samples were analyzed for pH, titratable acidity, total solids, nitrogen, fat, ash, overrun, viscosity, meltdown, Hunter L-, a-, b- values, flavor, body and texture, and appearance. Substituting soy protein concentrate (SPC) in ice cream formula for non-fat dry milk (NFDM) positively influenced the nitrogen content, viscosity values, and melting and appearance properties of the ice cream samples while overrun values and flavor scores were negatively affected. SPC could be incorporated into the ice cream formula in the range of 1.5–3% devoid of significantly diminishing the physical, chemical, and sensory properties.     

Effects of flow induced orientation of ferromagnetic particles on relative magnetic permeability of injection molded composites

Composite samples consisting of ferromagnetic asymmetric particles incorporated into a polyolefin binder were injection molded using custom designed molds which produced preferential fiber orientations. The relative magnetic permeability values of the composites were measured as a function of the filler volume fraction, injection rate, gate diameter, temperature, aspect ratio of the fibers, and fiber orientation. Fiber orientation was affected by the molding conditions and controlled the relative magnetic permeability of the composites. The degree of fiber orientation was significantly affected by the size of the opening (gate) to the mold, or by the mold geometry going from an edge-gated cylindrical to a center-gated disk cavity. Relative permeability values of the composites were observed to increase when the fiber orientation and the applied field were parallel to one another. For instance, highly aligned composite samples exhibited up to 30% greater relative permeability values compared to those samples which exhibit fiber orientation distributions approaching a random distribution. To our knowledge this is the first study that provides data linking the fiber orientation distribution functions of ferromagnetic asymmetric particles to the relative magnetic permeability values of injection molded composites.     

Wideband Extended Range-Doppler Imaging and Waveform Design in the Presence of Clutter and Noise

This paper presents a group-theoretic approach to address the wideband extended range-Doppler target imaging and design of clutter rejecting waveforms. An exact imaging method based on the inverse Fourier transform of the affine group is presented. A Wiener filter is designed in the affine group Fourier transform domain to minimize wideband clutter range-Doppler reflectivity. The Wiener filter is then used to form an operator to precondition transmitted waveforms to reject clutter. Alternatively, the imaging and clutter rejection methods are equivalently re-expressed to perform clutter suppression upon reception. These methods are coupled with noise suppression upon reception. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach. Our study shows that the framework introduced in this paper can address the joint design of receive and transmit processing, design of clutter rejecting waveforms, suppression of noise, and reduction of computational complexity in receive processing     

Development of a simulator for radiographic image optimization

A software package, incorporating two computational patient phantoms, has been developed for optimizing X-ray radiographic imaging. A tomographic phantom, visible photographic Man tomographic phantom (VIP-Man), constructed from Visible Human anatomical color images is used to simulate the scattered portion of an X-ray system using the Electron Gamma Shower National Research Council (EGSnrc) Monte Carlo code. The primary portion of an X-ray image is simulated using the projection ray-tracing method through the Visible Human CT data set. To produce a realistic image, the software simulates quantum noise, blurring effects, lesions, detector absorption efficiency, and other imaging artifacts. The primary and scattered portions of an X-ray chest image are combined to form a final image for future observer studies and image quality analysis. Absorbed doses in organs and tissues of the segmented VIP-Man phantom were also obtained from the Monte Carlo simulations. This paper presents methods of the simulator and preliminary results.