Theorems of Large Deviations in the Approximation by the Compound Poisson Distribution

The paper is devoted to the research of large deviation probabilities in the approximation by compound Poisson law.     

New Interfaces for Coupling TLC with TOF SIMS

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - Two interfaces have been tested for coupling thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry...     

Fluorimetric determination of the levels of urinary neopterin and serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in the nonagenarians

Twelve self-sustaining nonagenarians, 10 women and two men, aged 94+/-3 years, and eight institutionalised nonagenarians, eight women, aged 91+/-1 year as well as 11 control subjects, seven women and four men, aged 84+/-5 years entered the study. Urinary neopterin, an indicator of systemic immune activation, and serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), a marker of lipoperoxidation, were determined initially, and collection of the blood and urine samples was repeated at 3-month interval. Neopterin was measured in the urine specimens by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. A C(18) reversed-phase column 3.3x150 mm, 5 mum-diameter packing Separon SGX was used. Potassium phosphate buffer (15 mmol l(-1), pH 6.4) at flow rate of 0.8 ml min(-1) was used as mobile phase. After centrifugation (5 min, 1300xg) and diluting 100 mul of urine specimens with 1.0 ml of mobile phase containing 2 g of disodium-EDTA per litre, a 20 mul sample was injected on a column. Neopterin was identified by its native fluorescence (353 nm excitation, 438 nm emission). Creatinine was determined by Jaffé kinetic reaction after dilution of sample 1:50 (v/v). The concentration of neopterin in urine was expressed as neopterin/creatinine ratio (mumol mol(-1) creatinine). TBARS were determined spectrofluorometrically using LS-5 spectrofluorimeter (excitation wavelength 528 nm, emission wavelength 558 nm) after extraction with n-butanol treatment with thiobarbituric acid. The significance of differences between nonagenarians and control group was examined by ANOVA-Kruskal-Wallis tests, using statistical software NCSS 6.0.21 (Kaysville, UT, 1996). The decision on significance was based on P=0.05. Urinary neopterin was significantly higher in institutionalised compared to self-sustaining subjects and controls (625+/-565 vs. 203+/-63 mumol mol(-1) creatinine, and 198+/-128 mumol mol(-1) creatinine, respectively, P=0.006). The serum TBARS were higher in both groups of nonagenarians (3.23+/-1.16 mumol l(-1) and 2.69+/-0.39 vs. 2.12+/-0.83 mumol l(-1) for the self-sustaining, institutionalised and controls, respectively, P=0.023). We conclude that the fluorimetric determinations of urinary neopterin and serum TBARS can be useful for the monitoring health status in the elderly patients.     

Epi-Convergence and Lower and Epi-Upper Semicontinuous Approximations in Distribution

The paper introduces an extension of the epi-convergence, the lower semicontinuous approximation and the epi-upper semicontinuous approximation of random real functions in distribution. The new notions could be helpful tools for sensitivity analyzes of stochastic optimization problems. The research is evoked by S. Vogel and continues the research started by Vogel and the author.     

Computational investigations of the Prouhet-Tarry-Escott Problem

We describe a method for searching for ideal symmetric solutions to the Prouhet-Tarry-Escott Problem. We report results of extensive searches for solutions of sizes up to 12. We found two solutions of size 10 that are smaller by two orders of magnitude than the solution found by A. Letac in the 1940s, which was the smallest size 10 solution known before our search.

     

Application of the Volterra filter in experimental diffraction data processing

The effective signal in x-ray diffraction analysis of material properties often contains high frequency (noise) and low frequency (trend) components as additive parts. It is necessary to extract the effective signal from the noise to ensure high quality of signal processing. Digital filters of Volterra type are proposed for filtering purposes and a comparison of Volterra filtration implemented on x-ray diffraction data versus results from a set of other digital filters is given.