Academic literature on the topic 'Micro-focus x-ray tube'

Introduction. X-ray methods are currently widely used in manufacturing of various products and components of the electronics industry, including micro- and nano-electronics. One of the most informative and illustrative methods is projection X-ray microscopy. Specialized X-ray systems for process control are developed and used in industry. The key element in the design of an X-ray inspection system is an X-ray tube. In the overwhelming majority of cases, X-ray inspection systems are based on collapsible microfocus x-ray tubes with constant pumping. This greatly complicates the design of the installation, increases its dimensions, weight and cost. Objective. Analysis of possible technical and technological solutions that improve the availability of the X-ray system for monitoring of electronic components while maintaining the information content of the control. Materials and methods. The article presents the results of analytical studies of assessment of the degree of influence of the main parameters of the X-ray tube – the size of the focal spot and the focal length – on the resolution of the resulting X-ray images. The advantages and disadvantages of two variants of the construction of the X-ray inspection systems are described: based on collapsible and based on sealed X-ray tubes. The dependence of the size of the focal spot on the voltage on the X-ray tube and on the power supplied by the electron beam to the target of the X-ray tube is analyzed. It is shown that sealed (from a vacuum pumping system) micro focus X-ray tubes can be successfully used as a radiation source in installations for X-ray inspection. It is concluded that in most cases, sealed tubes are more practical. Results. In solving of most problems of non-destructive testing of electronic components in the composition of the Xray system, X-ray sources based on sealed X-ray tubes can be successfully used. Due to this, dimensions, weight, and the cost of an X-ray system for monitoring of electronic components are substantially reduced. Conclusion. Sealed X-ray tubes are an effective alternative in the development of an X-ray system for monitoring of electronic components, which enables to fundamentally increase the availability of such a system.

The effects of microsize and nanosize particles in composite structures as well as the incident radiation energy on X-ray attenuation is the focus of this study. To examine these effects, composite samples with different particle sizes of Al2O3 and with different thicknesses were prepared. Characteristic X-rays are applied as monochromatic X-rays and measurements were performed using an X-ray tube with a secondary excitation source instead of radioisotopes. In order to improve the efficiency and minimize the background effects a special detection system was designed and prepared. The linear attenuation coefficients of these samples are measured for X-ray photo energies of 6.40-28.49 keV. The results show that these low energy X-ray beams are more attenuated by nano-structured material compared to the micro-structured one.

This work was carried out to obtain sound welds and to select the most suitable binary metal joint among three different dissimilar metal combinations such as Zr-4/Ta, Mo/Ta and Ti/Ta (seal tube/sensor sheath) joints for an instrumented nuclear fuel irradiation test. To do this, the Taguchi experimental method was employed to optimize the experimental data. In addition, metallography, micro-focus x-ray radiography and a hardness test were conducted to examine the welds. From the weld bead appearance, penetration depth and bead width as well as the weld defects standpoint, the Zr-4/Ta joint is suggested for a circumferential joining between a seal tube and a sensor sheath. The optimized welding parameters based on the Zr-4/Ta joint are suggested as well.

With the recent improvements in the brightness of laboratory X-ray sources, high-quality data can be collected from a wider range of crystal samples on in-house diffractometers. To cope with the resulting increase in workload it is important to be able to collect highest-quality data as quickly and efficiently as possible. Agilent Technologies develop and supply X-ray systems for small-molecule and macromolecular crystallography, which include SuperNova line of diffractometers utilizing the latest generation sealed-tube micro-focus X-ray sources, as well as the new range of Atlas S2, Eos S2 and Titan S2 CCD detectors. Technological improvements allow us to make use of the high brilliance of the sources and the large dynamic range and low signal-to-noise of the new detectors to shift the boundaries of what crystal samples can be successfully measured in the home laboratory. The new S2 detectors incorporate an Intelligent Measurement System, where the exposure time, binning mode, and gain settings are automatically or manually set for each sample. High binning and gain modes are chosen to boost signal detectivity for weakly-diffracting data, whereas low binning and gain modes are selected to increase the dynamic range for well-diffracting samples. This flexibility makes it very easy to collect high-quality datasets for a very large range of samples. In conjunction, our innovative, user-friendly CrysAlisPro software is constantly being updated to make use of all new hardware improvements, as well as making it as easy as possible for the user to effectively screen their samples, gather enough preliminary information quickly, and run the experiments in the most effective way. Key aspects of the detectors, including the notions of absolute detectivity, processing overheads, readout speed, minimizing systematic errors and optimizing data collection protocols will be discussed. To illustrate the benefits of the newly developed technology, a number of protein and small-molecule data collection experiments will be presented and different modes of detector operation compared.

We present the design and characterization of an X-ray imaging system consisting of an off-the-shelf CMOS sensor optically coupled to a CsI scintillator. The camera can perform both high-resolution and functional cardiac imaging. High-resolution 3D imaging requires microfocus X-ray tubes and expensive detectors, while pre-clinical functional cardiac imaging requires high flux pulsed (clinical) X-ray tubes and high-end cameras. Our work describes an X-ray camera, namely an “optically coupled X-ray(OCX) detector,” used for both the aforementioned applications with no change in the specifications. We constructed the imaging detector with two different CMOS optical imaging cameras called CMOS sensors, 1.A monochrome CMOS sensor coupled with an f1.4 lens and 2.an RGB CMOS sensor coupled with an f0.95 prime lens. The imaging system consisted of our X-ray camera, micro-focus X-ray source (50kVp and 1mA), and a rotary stage controlled from a personal computer (PC) and LabVIEW interface. The detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of the imaging system(monochrome) estimated using a cascaded linear model was 17% at 10 lp/mm. The system modulation transfer function (MTF) and the noise power spectrum (NPS) were inputs to the DQE estimation. Because of the RGB camera’s low quantum efficiency (QE), the OCX detector DQE was 19% at 5 lp/mm. The contrast to noise ratio (CNR) at different frame rates was studied using the capillary tubes filled with various dilutions of iodinated contrast agents. In-vivo cardiac angiography demonstrated that blood vessels of the order of 100 microns or above were visible at 40 frames per second despite the low X-ray flux. For high-resolution 3D imaging, the system was characterized by imaging a cylindrical micro-CT contrast phantom and comparing it against images from a commercial scanner.

Scanning x-ray mapping based on energy dispersive x-ray diffraction is a powerful technique for imaging the spatial distributions of crystal texture and elements [1, 2]. Odd-shaped samples can be studied in air at ambient pressure and without special preparation. A schematic drawing of the scanning x-ray apparatus is shown in Figure 1. A “white” radiation x-ray source (PHILIPS generator PW 1830/25 equipped with a fine-focus tungsten tube) rather than characteristic radiation is used. The high density target material gives rise to an intense continuous Bremsstrahlung background. A collimator, consisting of two circular pinhole diaphragms, is attached to the tube and produces an aperture of 0.3° and an effective beam diameter of 50 μm on the sample. The apertures, Δθ, of the primary and secondary beams are not critical, since crystal texture is scarcely sharper than several degrees, and x-ray fluorescence lines are not affected at all by the aperture settings.

In this work we report on a novel CaO ALD process development with a little used solid ALD precursor for Calcium. This forms part of a larger effort to synthesize 12CaO·7Al2O3 [C12A7], which is a new electronic oxide compound with very low work function and applications potentials in displays and Field-Emission (FE) Cathodes. Currently there are no existing thin film technologies for the conformal deposition of C12A7 electride films on complex device surfaces with nanoscale precision. Use of ALD to obtain precise nanoscale interleaving of CaO and Al2O3 layers over Micro-Hollow Cathode Discharge devices MHCD or FE devices allows conversion to correct alloying of C12A7 in the desired nano-layers. Success in reproducibly obtaining these layers will significantly benefit applications using cathodes, such as light sources, nano-sat thrusters, vacuum electronics and small-format microwave amplifiers. For the final C12A7 film, the challenge is to develop two ALD processes for two binary films in this case CaO and Al2O3 which must be synthesized as alternating nanolaminates in the correct stoichiometric ratio and are subsequently reacted under high temperature annealing. Since ALD of Al2O3 is already a well-known established ALD process, we had to focus on developing an ALD process for CaO. For this study we decided to utilize the relatively novel solid ALD precursor Bis(N,N-di-iso-propylformamidinato)calcium(II) dimer [Ca(famd)2], which is a low vapor pressure solid Ca amidinate precursor and which has to be reacted with ozone or DI H2O vapors. The chemical structure of the Calcium precursor is shown schematically in Fig. 1. The Al2O3 binary compound will be synthesized with trimethylaluminum (TMA) and DI water vapor. The low vapor pressure of Ca amidinate precursor Ca(famd)2 in solid form constitutes a major technical challenge and cannot be reacted by ALD in vapor draw mode but necessitated as new hardware a 150mL booster bubbler with dip tube for bubbling the molten precursor and the installation of a Low Vapor Pressure Delivery (LVPD) kit with bypass. For this presentation we will report the physical characterization of the ALD CaO film with FE-SEM surface morphology studies, SEM EDS elemental analysis of the final composition, X-ray diffraction XRD analysis and atomic force microscopy AFM. Fig. 1: Schematic of chemical structure of the novel solid ALD Ca amidinate precursor Bis(N,N-di-iso-propylformamidinato)calcium(II) dimer [Ca(famd)2] Figure 1

Introduction: There are numerous methods of isolating and detecting organisms that are similar and closely related; one of the most reliable method is molecular typing of 16S rRNA. Apart from being omnipresent as a multigene family, or operons; it is evolutionarily stable; the 16S rRNA gene (1,500 bp) is large enough for informatics purposes. Materials and Method: This study employed molecular sequencing of 16S rRNA by Sanger method to reveal the specific organisms’ nucleotides and blasting (BLASTn) to show the similarities between the resulting organisms and existing organisms. The 16S rRNA remains the best choice of identification process for bacteria because of its distinguishing sizes and evolutionary stability. Results: All isolates were Gram positive rods and were positive in Biochemical tests such as oxidase, catalase, citrate, and protease but were in turn negative in coagulase and indole test tests. On sensitivity test; 80% of all the isolates were resistant to common antibiotics except ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone. Based on the sequence difference in the variable region (V1) of 16S rRNA as observed from the molecular sequencing results; four isolates out of ten were identified. Six were different strains of B cereus. Others isolates include: wiedmannii, thuringensis, toyonensis and pseudomycoides. Sequence analysis of the primer annealing sites showed that there is no clear‐cut difference in the conserved region of 16S rRNA, and in the gyrB gene, between B. cereus and B. thuringiensis strains. Phylogenetic analysis showed that four isolates showed high similarity to each other; hence the limited number of deletions when subjected to alignments by maximum neighborhood joining parsimony using MEGA X software. B. toyonensis, B. wiedmannii and thuringensis were distantly related. Introduction Authors Pathogens cause illness and death in some countries and it also causes infections and gastrointestinal diseases in other countries thereby causing public health concern. Pathogens are organisms capable of causing diseases. Reliable methods are needed for the detection of pathogens due to pathogen evolution as a result of new human habits or new industrial practices. Microbial classification of organisms ranges from genus to specie level depending upon the technique used either phenotypic or genotypic. Presently, molecular methods now obtain advances to allow utilization in microbiology [1]. There are numerous molecular methods which are of fast and simple application to the detection of pathogen. Among the pathogens involved in human health, Bacillus cereus is interesting due to their ability to survive in various habitats [2]. The genus Bacillus is aerobic or facultative anaerobic bacteria, gram positive spore forming rod shaped bacteria. Which can be characterized by two morphological forms, the vegetative cell which range from 1.02 to 1.2 um in width and from 3.0 to 5.0 in length, it can be straight or slightly curve, motile or non-motile, and the endospore (the non-swelling sporangium). The genus Bacillus is been characterized by the presence of endospore, which is not more than one per cell and they are resistant to many adverse environmental conditions such as heat, radiation, cold and disinfectants. It can also respire either in the presence or absence of oxygen [3]. Cell diameter of Bacillus cereus, sporangium and catalase test do not allow differentiation, where as important in differentiation among B. anthracis, B. cereus, B. thuringiensis can be considered by parasporal crystals and the presence of capsule. [4] Showed a B. thuringiensis strain capable of producing a capsule resembling that of B. anthracis. Most species of the genus display a great kind in physiological characteristics such as degradation of cellulose, starch, pectin, agar, hydrocarbons, production of enzymes and antibiotics and other characteristic such as acidophile, alkalinophile, psychrophile, and thermophile's which allows them to adapt to various environmental conditions [5]. In differentiating between species of the genus Bacillus it was difficult at early attempts when endospore formation and aerobic respiration were the main character used for classification. As reported by many authors that at molecular method level, the differentiation between B. thuringiensis and B. cereus is also very difficult. cereus can survive at the temperature between 4°c and 55°c. The mesophile strains can grow between the temperature of 10°c and 42°c, while psychotropic strains can survive at 4°c, whereas other strains are able to grow at 52 to 55°c. B. cereus vegetative cells grow at pH between 1.0 and 5.2. Heat resistant strain can survive and multiply in wet low acid foods in temperature ranging from 5 to 52°c. The survivability of B. cereus spores at 95°c decreases when the pH level decreases from 6.2 to 4.7 [6]. B. cereus can grow in the presence of salt with concentration up to 7.5% depending on the pH value. thuringiensis possesses a protein crystal that is toxic to insects. This toxin protein was first known as parasporal crystalline inclusion but was later referred to as π - endotoxin or in other ways known as insecticidal crystal protein [7]. Strains of B. thuringiensis bacteria possess a wide range of specificity in various orders of insects such as Lepidoptera, dipteral, coleoptera. These strains of bacteria produce crystalline proteins known as cry protein during sporulation. When B. thuringiensis infects an insects, it will cause the insect to loose appetite, enhances slow movement and over time the insect will die due to crystals of proteins that have been dissolved in the insect's stomach. In the cultivation of vegetable crops, the plant can be attack by many types of pests. Hence, in overcoming pest attacks farmers often use pesticides that contain active synthetic materials. Many negative effects arise from the folly use of chemical pesticides. Among the negative effect is the increase of pest population, resistance, death of natural enemy population and increase in residue level on Agricultural product which makes it unsafe for public consumption [8]. Therefore, it is necessary to find an alternative method in the control of crop pest. The best alternative that can be done is to replace the chemical insecticide with biological control which involves the use of living things in the form of microorganisms. In these profiling microbial communities, the main objective is to identify which bacteria and how much they are present in the environments. Most microbial profiling methods focus on the identification and quantification of bacteria with already sequenced genomes. Further, most methods utilize information obtained from entire genomes. Homology-based methods such as [1–4] classify sequences by detecting homology in reads belonging to either an entire genome or only a small set of marker genes. Composition-based methods generally use conserved compositional features of genomes for classification and as such they utilize less computational resources.Using the 16S rRNA gene instead of whole genome information is not only computational efficient but also economical; Illumina indicated that targeted sequencing of a focused region of interest reduces sequencing costs and enables deep sequencing, compared to whole-genome sequencing. On the other hand, as observed by [8], by focusing exclusively on one gene, one might lose essential information for advanced analyses. We, however, will provide an analysis that demonstrates that at least in the context of oral microbial communities, the 16S rRNA gene retains sufficient information to allow us detect unknown bacteria [9, 10]. This study aimed at employing 16S rRNA as an instrument of identification of seemingly close Bacillus species. Abbreviations BLAST, Basic Local Alignment sequence Tools; PCR, Polymerase Chains reactions; rRNA, ribosomal RNA; Material and methods T Sample collection. Soil samples were collected from three sources from Rice, Sugar Cane, vegetables and abandoned farmland in January 2019. The samples were labeled serially from Sample 1 to Sample 10 (S1 to S10). Bacterial culture: A serial dilution of 10 folds was performed. Bacterial suspension was diluted (10-10) with saline water and 100 μl of bacterial suspension werespread on Nutrient Agar plate and incubated for 24 hours. Bacterial colonies were isolated and grown in Nutrient Broth and nutrient agar. Other microbiological solid agar used include: Chocolate, Blood Agar, EMB, MacConkey, Simon citrate, MRS Agar. Bacteria were characterized by conventional technique by the use of morphological appearance and performance on biochemical analysis [11]. Identification of bacteria:The identification of bacteria was based on morphological characteristics and biochemical tests carried out on the isolates. Morphological characteristics observed for each bacteria colony after 24 h of growth included colony appearance; cell shape, color, optical characteristics, consistency, colonial appearance and pigmentation. Biochemical characterizations were performed according to the method of [12] Catalase test: A small quantity of 24 h old culture was transferred into a drop of 3% Hydrogen peroxide solution on a clean slide with the aid of sterile inoculating loop. Gas seen as white froth indicates the presence of catalase enzyme [13] on the isolates. DNA Extraction Processes The extraction processes was in four phase which are: Collection of cell, lyses of cell, Collection of DNA by phenol, Concentration and purification of DNA. Collection of cell: the pure colonyof the bacteria culture was inoculated into a prepared sterile nutrient broth. After growth is confirmed by the turbidity of the culture, 1.5ml of the culture was taken into a centrifuge tube and was centrifuge at 5000 rpm for 5 minutes; the supernatant layer was discarded leaving the sediment. Lyses of cell: 400 microns of lyses buffer is added to the sediment and was mixed thoroughly and allow to stand for five minutes at room temperature (25°c). 200 microns of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) solution was added for protein lyses and was mixed gently and incubated at 65°c for 10 minutes. Collection of DNA by phenol; 500 microns of phenol chloroform was added to the solution for the separation of DNA, it was mixed completely and centrifuge at 10,000 rpm for 10 minutes. The white pallet seen at the top of the tube after centrifugation is separated into another sterile tube and 1micron of Isopropanol is added and incubated for 1hour at -20°c for precipitation of DNA. The DNA is seen as a colorless liquid in the solution. Concentration and purification of DNA: the solution was centrifuge at 10,000 rpm for 10 minutes. The supernatant layer was discarded and the remaining DNA pellets was washed with 1micron of 17% ethanol, mixed and centrifuge at 10,000 rpm for 10 minutes. The supernatant layer was discarded and air dried. 60 micron TE. Buffer was added for further dissolving of the DNA which was later stored at -40°c until it was required for use [14]. PCR Amplification This requires the use of primers (Forward and Reverse), polymerase enzyme, a template DNA and the d pieces which includedddATP, ddGTP and ddTTP, ddNTP. All this are called the master mix. The PCR reactions consist of three main cycles. The DNA sample was heated at 940c to separate the two template of the DNA strand which was bonded by a hydrogen bond. Once both strand are separated the temperature is reduced to 570c (Annealing temperature). This temperature allows the binding of the forward and reverse primers to the template DNA. After binding the temperature is raised back to 720c which leads to the activation of polymerase enzyme and its start adding d NTPs to the DNA leading to the synthesize of new strands. The cycles were repeated several times in order to obtain millions of the copies of the target DNA [15]. Preparation of Agarose Gel One gram (1 g) of agarose for DNA was measured or 2 g of agarose powdered will be measured for PCR analysis. This done by mixing the agarose powder with 100 ml 1×TAE in a microwaveable flask and microwaved for 1-3 minutes until the agarose is completely dissolved (do not over boil the solution as some of the buffer will evaporate) and thus alter the final percentage of the agarose in the gel. Allow the agarose solution to cool down to about 50°c then after five minutes 10µL was added to EZ vision DNA stain. EZ vision binds to the DNA and allows one to easily visualize the DNA under ultra violet (UV) light. The agarose was poured into the gel tray with the well comb firmly in place and this was placed in newly poured gel at 4°c for 10-15 mins or it sit at room temperature for 20-30 mins, until it has completely solidified[16]. Loading and Running of samples on Agarose gel The agarose gel was placed into the chamber, and the process of electrophoresis commenced with running buffer introduced into the reservoir at the end of the chamber until it the buffer covered at least 2millimeter of the gel. It is advisable to place samples to be loaded in the correct order according to the lanes they are assigned to be running. When loading the samples keep the pipette tip perpendicular to the row of the wells as by supporting your accustomed hand with the second hand; this will reduce the risk of accidentally puncturing the wells with the tip. Lower the tip of the pipette until it breaks the surface of the buffer and is located just above the well. Once all the samples have been loaded it is advised to always avoid any movement of the gel chamber. This might result in the sample spilling into adjacent well. Place the lid on the gel chamber with the terminal correctly positioned to the matching electrodes on the gel chamber black to black and red to red. Remember that DNA is negatively charged hence the movement of the electric current from negatively charged to the positively charged depending on the bandwidth in Kilobytes. Once the electrode is connected to the power supply, switch ON the power supply then set the correct constant voltage (100) and stopwatch for proper time. Press the start button to begin the flow of current that will separate the DNA fragment.After few minutes the samples begins to migrate from the wells into the gel. As the DNA runs, the diaphragm moves from the negative electrode towards the positive electrode [17]. PCR mix Components and Sanger Sequencing This is made up of primers which is both Forward and Reverse, the polymerase enzyme (Taq), a template DNA and the pieces of nucleotides which include: ddNTP, ddATP, ddGTP and ddTTP. Note that the specific Primer’s sequences for bacterial identification is: 785F 5' (GGA TTA GAT ACC CTG GTA) 3', 27F 5' (AGA GTT TGA TCM TGG CTC AG) 3', 907R 5' (CCG TCA ATT CMT TTR AGT TT) 3', 1492R 5' (TAC GGY TAC CTT GTT ACG ACT T) 3' in Sanger Sequencing techniques. BLAST The resulting genomic sequence were assembled and submitted in GenBank at NCBI for assignment of accession numbers. The resultant assertion numbers were subjected to homology search by using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) as NCBI with the assertion number MW362290, MW362291, MW362292, MW362293, MW362294 and MW362295 respectively. Whereas, the other isolates’ accession numbers were retrieved from NCBI GenBank which are:AB 738796.1, JH792136.1, MW 015768.1 and MG745385.1.MEGA 5.2 software was used for the construction of phylogenetic tree and phylogenetic analysis. All the organisms possess 100% identities, 0% gaps and 0.0% E.value which indicated that the organisms are closely related to the existing organisms. The use of 16S rRNA is the best identification process for bacteria because 16S rRNA gene has a distinguishing size of about 500 bases until 1500bp. Rather than using 23S rRNA which is of higher variation, The 16S rRNA is adopted in prokaryotes. 18S rRNA is used for identification in Eukaryotes Results The results of both the conventional morphological and cultural identification was correlated with the molecular sequencing results. Six isolates were confirmed B. cereus species while the other four isolates were. B. wiedmannii, B. thuringiensis, B. toyonensis and B. pseudomycoides.The 16S rRNA sequence of six isolates MW 362290.1- MW362295.1 were assigned accession numbers and deposited in the GenBank while the other four sequences were aligned to those available in the NCBI database. The alignment results showed closely relatedness to LT844650.1with an identity of 100% to 92.2% as above. The six isolates of Bacillus cereus great evolutionary relatedness as shown in the phylogenetic tree constructed using MEGA X software. Results The results of both the conventional morphological and cultural identification was correlated with the molecular sequencing results. Six isolates were confirmed B. cereus species while the other four isolates were. B. wiedmannii, B. thuringiensis, B. toyonensis and B. pseudomycoides.The 16S rRNA sequence of six isolates MW 362290.1- MW362295.1 were assigned accession numbers and deposited in the GenBank while the other four sequences were aligned to those available in the NCBI database. The alignment results showed closely relatedness to LT844650.1with an identity of 100% to 92.2% as above. The six isolates of Bacillus cereus great evolutionary relatedness as shown in the phylogenetic treeconstructed using MEGA X software. Discussion The results obtained in this study is consistent with the previous studies in other countries22,23 The results of the phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA isolate of in this study was similar to the housekeeping genes proposed by [18, 19]. In comparing this study with the earlier study, B. cereus group comprising other species of Bacillus was hypothesized to be considered to form a single species with different ecotypes and pathotype. This study was able to phenotypically differentiated B. thuringiensis, B. pseudomycoides, B. toyonensis, B. wiedmannii and B. cereus sensu strito. Despite differences at the colonial appearance level, the 16S rRNA sequences have homology ranging from 100% to 92% providing insufficient resolution at the species level [6, 7, 18].After analysis through various methods, the strain was identified as Gram-positive bacteria of Bacillus cereus with a homology of 99.4%. Cohan [20] demonstrated that 95–99% of the similarity of 16S rRNA gene sequence between two bacteria hints towards a similar species while >99% indicates the same bacteria.The phylogenetic tree showed that B. toyonensis, B. thuringiensis and B. wiedmanniiare the outgroups of B. cereus group while B. pseudomycoides are most closely related to B. cereus group [19, 21, 22]. Conclusion In the area of molecular epidemiology, genotypic typing method has greatly increased our ability to differentiate between micro-organisms at the intra and interspecies levels and have become an essential and powerful tool. Phenotypic method will still remain important in diagnostic microbiology and genotypic method will become increasingly popular. After analysis through various methods, the strain was identified as Gram-positive bacteria of Bacillus cereus with a homology of between 100% and 92.3%. Acknowledgments Collate acknowledgments in a separate section at the end of the article before the references, not as a footnote to the title. Use the unnumbered Acknowledgements Head style for the Acknowledgments heading. List here those individuals who provided help during the research. Conflicts of interest The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. References: Simpkins Meyer F.; Paarmann D.; D’Souza M.; Olson R.; Glass EM.; Kubal M.; Paczian T.; Rodriguez A.; Stevens R. Wilke A The metagenomics rast server–a public resource for the automatic phylogenetic and functional analysis of metagenomes. BMC Bioinformatics. 2008, 9(1), 386. Segata N.; Waldron L.; Ballarini A.; Narasimhan V.; Jousson O.; Huttenhower C. Metagenomic microbial community profiling using unique clade-specific marker genes. Nature methods. 2012, 9(8), 811–814. Brady A.; Salzberg SL. Phymm and phymmbl: metagenomic phylogenetic classification with interpolated markov models. Nature Methods. 2009, 6(9), 673–676. Lindner MS.; Renard BY. Metagenomic abundance estimation and diagnostic testing on species level. Nucleic Acids Res. 2013, 41(1), 10–10. Wang A.; Ash G.J. Whole genome phylogeny of Bacillus by feature frequency profiles (FFP). Sci Rep. 2015, 5, 13644. Caroll L.M.; Kovac J.; Miller R.A.; Wiedmann M. Rapid, high-throughput identification of anthrax-causing and emetic Bacillus cereus group genome assemblies’ cereus group isolates using nucleotides sequencing data. Appli. Environ. 2017, 83: e01096-e01017 Liu Y.; Lai Q. L.; Goker M.; Meier-Kolthoff J. P.; Wang M.; Sun Y. M.; Wang L.S.; Shao Z. Genomic insights into the taxonomic status of the Bacillus cereus group. Rep. 2015, 5, 14082. Lindner MS.; Renard BY. Metagenomic profiling of known and unknown microbes with microbegps. PloS ONE. 2015, 10(2), 0117711. Versalovic J.; Schneider M.; de Bruijn FJ.; Lupski JR. Genomic fingerprinting of bacteria using repetitive sequence based PCR (rep-PCR). Meth Mol Cell Biol. 1994, 5, 25–40. Arthur Y.; Ehebauer MT.; Mukhopadhyay S.; Hasnain SE. The PE/PPE multi gene family codes for virulence factors and is a possible source of mycobacterial antigenic variation: Perhaps more? Biochimie. 2013, 94, 110–116. Jusuf, E. Culture Collection of Potential Bacillus thuringiensis Bacterial Strains Insect Killer and the Making of a Library of Toxic Protein Coding Genes. Technical Report LIPI Biotechnology Research Center. 2008. pp. 18-31. Fawole, M.O.; B.A. Oso. Characterization of Bacteria: Laboratory Manual of Microbiology. 4th Edn., Spectrum Book Ltd., Ibadan, Nigeria, 2004, pp: 24-33. Cheesbrough, M. District Laboratory Practice in Tropical Countries. 2nd Edn., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK., 2006, ISBN-13: 9781139449298. Giraffa G.; Neviani E. DNA-based, cultureindependent strategies for evaluating microbial communities in food associated ecosystem. Int J Food Microbiol. 2001, 67, 19–34. Ajeet Singh. 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Molecular Characterization of Rhizobacteria Isolates from Saki, Nigeria. Eur. Of Bio. Biotech. 2021, 2(2), 159. Doi 10.24018/ejbio.2021

In recent years, X-ray computed tomography (XCT) has successfully entered the field of dimensional metrology. XCT offers advantages over traditional tactile and optical coordinate measuring machines because of its ability to detect both the outer and inner geometries of an object. Due to the complex nature of XCT, there are a large number of factors which can influence dimensional measurement; many of these factors are still poorly understood. The novel study of a number of influence factors associated with the X-ray tube and their influence on dimensional measurement in micro-focus cone-beam XCT systems is presented in this thesis. The influence factors investigated in this study are the positional stability of the focal spot, the off-focal radiation, the focal spot size and the focal spot shape. The necessary background information to X-ray physics, XCT technology and dimensional metrology is discussed. The analysis of these influence factors was conducted at the National Physical Laboratory using experimental and computer simulation techniques. The experimental part of this research was carried out on Nikon Metrology XT H 225 M, with simulations performed using bespoke computer codes. The results of the study show that the positional stability of the focal spot, the off-focal radiation, the focal spot size and shape can all affect dimensional measurement. It is, therefore, proposed to include these parameters as part of the future standardised X-ray tube qualification and performance verification procedures of XCT systems. The evaluation techniques developed during the study can be employed as part of these standardised procedures. In addition, based on the findings of the study a number of future areas of research are proposed.

2009/2010
Cell tracking is the capability to locate the position and to follow the fate of cells in living beings over a long period of time. This method might have a major impact on different sectors of medicine and biology, such as regenerative medicine or tumor research. Cell tracking permits a better understanding of cellular processes such as cell migration, cell homing, and cell function in engraftments at organ or tissue level, or the dynamics of tumor growth and metastatic spread. Due to the combination of classical imaging techniques and cellular contrast agents mainly based on nanotechnologies cell tracking is already feasible. Successful cell tracking has been carried out using magnetic resonance imaging in combination with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, optical imaging combined with quantum dots or positron emission computed tomography using unstable β+ nuclides. Although outstanding results have been achieved in specific cases utilizing these techniques, none of them can be really considered an all-embracing cell tracking technique since each of them features specific drawbacks. Despite of the ubiquitous application of x-ray imaging methods, up to now, x-rays have been rarely considered as a cell tracking solution because of radiation dose constrains. The thesis at hand tries to exploit x-ray imaging methods in the field of cell tracking. Starting from the x-ray properties an appropriate cellular contrast agent, in this case colloidal gold nano particles, and subsequent a loading protocol based on phagocytosis has been chosen and tested. Expected signal levels, contrasts and signal to noise ratios have been theoretically determined for this specific marker and loading protocol. Then, the detectability of marked cells has been verified on in vitro and ex vivo models proofing the feasibility of cell tracking using gold nanoparticles in combination with x-ray CT. Successively radiation dose constrains have been examined in detail by means of computer simulations and low dose ex vivo experiments. The investigation revealed that in vivo cell tracking using x-rays is feasible and on the basis of these results in vivo experiments had been designed and prepared. All the necessary authorizations had been obtained by the National and Local Ethic Committees. First successful in vivo cell tracking experiments in animal models of human diseases have been performed during the last months of this thesis work. The results presented in the following reveal that also x-ray cell tracking encompasses some limitations such as the previous mentioned techniques, however it can be consider an alternative and attractive method for cell tracking.
XXIII Ciclo
1982