Abstract: Bacterial cultures are provided that comprise a modified Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium missing or deficient in two or more virulence factors. The two or more virulence factors can be selected from exotoxin A, hemolytic phospholipase C, phenazine-specific methyltransferase, alpha-1,3-rhamnosyltransferase, and 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase. Certain of the modified Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria are also missing or deficient in one or more alginate acetylation enzymes including the alginate O-acetyltransferases AlgI, AlgJ, AlgF, AlgX, and/or the C5-mannuronan epimerase AlgG. Methods of producing alginate are also provided along with compositions comprising alginate produced by the modified Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria.

Abstract: The invention relates to the use of ternary alloys in brazing ceramics.Brazing is a process of limited usefulness in the fabrication of ceramic components because of the inability of many alloys to wet industrially important ceramics. A possible solution is the metallizing of ceramics but this has technical and economic disadvantages. Alloys are known which wet ceramics but they do not necessarily give good bond strength. The following alloys have now been devised which both wet ceramics and give good bond strength, e.g., greater than 40 MNm.sup.-2 at room temperature, with unmetallized ceramics. The alloys are:Cu: 16 to 28 Ti: 6.5 to 14 SnCu: 15 to 25 Ti: 10 to 25 AuCu: 15 to 50 Ti: 3 to 10 AgCu: 25 to 35 Ti: 3 to 8 Inwherein the compositions are in atom percent.