Isotope characteristics of vegetables and wheat from conventional and organic production

Multielement isotope ratio analysis was checked for its suitability as a means for the discrimination between agricultural products from integrated/conventional or organic production, respectively. Differences were mainly found for delta15N-values. Paprika and tomatoes from organic production in greenhouses showed delta15N-values above+7 per thousand, whereas corresponding products from conventional cultivation had delta15N-values near 0 per thousand. Lettuce, onions, cabbage and Chinese cabbage from field production had delta15N-values in the range of+5 to+6 and+5.5 to+7.5 per thousand, respectively (conventional and organic production); these overlapping differences do not permit a reliable discrimination. The same is true for wheat, showing average delta15N-values of+2.3+/-1.0 and+3.6+/-1.6 per thousand, respectively. The unexpected relative high 15N-enrichments of vegetables from integrated production are discussed as originating, at least partially, from 15N-enrichment in the soil by NH3 evaporation and denitrification.     

Tumor-associated antigens identified by mRNA expression profiling as tumor rejection epitopes

Thirteen H-2b-binding peptides derived from six potentially overexpressed proteins in p53-/- thymoma (SM7) cells were studied for immunogenecity and vaccine-induced prevention of tumor growth in mice inoculated with SM7 tumor cells. Six of the peptides generated specific CTL responses after immunization, but only two of these peptides (RAD23-31 and RAD24-31) were capable of generating a weak vaccination-induced protection against adoptive tumor growth. SM7 inoculated mice treated with a blocking antibody against the inhibitory T cell signal transducing molecule CTLA4 appeared to delay tumor take, suggesting that SM7 thymoma cells are recognized by the adaptive immune system of the host. However, prophylactic vaccination with RAD23-31 and RAD24-31 peptides combined with anti-CTLA4 Ab treatment and did not improve tumor resistance. Our data would indicate that vaccination with immunogenic peptides derived from potentially overexpressed tumor proteins, as identified by mRNA expression profiling of p53-/- thymoma cells, at best results in a weak tumor protection thus questioning this way of detection of new tumor rejection epitopes.     

Über die Diskrepanz von Folgen in bewerteten Körpern

Let k be a field which is locally compact with respect to a valuation ||, let X denote the subset X={ k, ||1}. This paper is concerned with sequences of elements of X with respect to the theory of uniform distribution. Let D_N() denote the discrepancy of the sequence =(x_n). It is proved that for archimedian valuations with a certain constant for every sequence . In the non-archimedian case there exist sequences with .     

A two-level additive Schwarz preconditioner for nonconforming plate elements

Summary. A two-level additive Schwarz preconditioner is developed for the systems resulting from the discretizations of the plate bending problem by the Morley finite element, the Fraeijs de Veubeke finite element, the Zienkiewicz finite element and the Adini finite element. The condition numbers of the preconditioned systems are shown to be bounded independent of mesh sizes and the number of subdomains in the case of a generous overlap. Received February 1, 1994 / Revised version received October 24, 1994     

Chemometrics comes to court: evidence evaluation of chem–bio threat agent attacks

Forensic statistics is a well‐established scientific field whose purpose is to statistically analyze evidence in order to support legal decisions. It traditionally relies on methods that assume small numbers of independent variables and multiple samples. Unfortunately, such methods are less applicable when dealing with highly correlated multivariate data sets such as those generated by emerging high throughput analytical technologies. Chemometrics is a field that has a wealth of methods for the analysis of such complex data sets, so it would be desirable to combine the two fields in order to identify best practices for forensic statistics in the future. This paper provides a brief introduction to forensic statistics and describes how chemometrics could be integrated with its established methods to improve the evaluation of evidence in court. The paper describes how statistics and chemometrics can be integrated, by analyzing a previous know forensic data set composed of bacterial communities from fingerprints. The presented strategy can be applied in cases where chemical and biological threat agents have been illegally disposed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.