Low detection limit spectrophotometry

An efficient, more sensitive and accurate spectrophotometric process is possible and can be used to obtain qualitative or quantitative results for analytes at limiting concentrations lower than usual. Transmission measurements (incident light power, P₀, or transmitted, P) are performed with a fluorescence spectrometer. One cell only is used to measure standards or unknown solutions, placed between the standard holder cuvette and the emission monochromator of the instrument. The source of the radiant power (P₀) is not the xenon lamp but the fluorescence or scattered radiation from the holder cuvette filled with an appropriate solution. The analyte concentration is found from a calibration graph, based upon Beer’s law or the approximate formula P₀−P=2.303P₀εbc, which is valid for dilute solutions. Determination of iron in a reference material, using 1,10-phenanthroline as the chromogenic reagent, was chosen as an example to demonstrate the suitability of the proposed method and clarify several important statistical questions. Also discussed is why and to what extent molecular fluorescence methods are more sensitive than molecular absorption methods.     

A new algebraic approach to the Szegő-Widom limit theorem

We give another proof of the Szeg\H{o}–Widom Limit Theorem. This proof relies on a new Banach algebra method that can be directly applied to the asymptotic computation of the Toeplitz determinants. As a by-product, we establish an interesting identity for operator determinants of Toeplitz operators, namely if are certain matrix valued functions defined on the unit circle, then

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in quantifying fatty acids

This critical overview covers current analytical methods and future developments in quantitative determination of fatty acids (FAs), emphasizing sample extraction, derivatization and instrumental analysis with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS²). We compare the benefits and the drawbacks of these two analytical techniques.We consider the well-established GC/MS method with pre-derivatization to be a traditional technique in terms of highly standardized sample-preparation procedures, affordability and readily available library searching for compound identification. However, the complicated derivatization steps required prior to instrumental analysis with GC/MS take a long time, with loss and transformation of FAs, low recovery and poor reproducibility.HPLC/MS² without derivatization shows the benefits of simple, mild sample-processing conditions, satisfactory recovery, short running time and high selectivity and sensitivity, which may allow it to become a viable alternative to GC/MS for the analysis of FAs in the years ahead.     

Limit of detection estimator for second-order bilinear calibration

A new approach is developed for estimating the limit of detection in second-order bilinear calibration with the generalized rank annihilation method (GRAM). The proposed estimator is based on recently derived expressions for prediction variance and bias. It follows the latest IUPAC recommendations in the sense that it concisely accounts for the probabilities of committing both types I and II errors, i.e. false positive and false negative declarations, respectively. The estimator has been extensively validated with simulated data, yielding promising results.     

Estimation of the limit of detection using information theory measures

Definitions of the limit of detection (LOD) based on the probability of false positive and/or false negative errors have been proposed over the past years. Although such definitions are straightforward and valid for any kind of analytical system, proposed methodologies to estimate the LOD are usually simplified to signals with Gaussian noise. Additionally, there is a general misconception that two systems with the same LOD provide the same amount of information on the source regardless of the prior probability of presenting a blank/analyte sample. Based upon an analogy between an analytical system and a binary communication channel, in this paper we show that the amount of information that can be extracted from an analytical system depends on the probability of presenting the two different possible states. We propose a new definition of LOD utilizing information theory tools that deals with noise of any kind and allows the introduction of prior knowledge easily. Unlike most traditional LOD estimation approaches, the proposed definition is based on the amount of information that the chemical instrumentation system provides on the chemical information source. Our findings indicate that the benchmark of analytical systems based on the ability to provide information about the presence/absence of the analyte (our proposed approach) is a more general and proper framework, while converging to the usual values when dealing with Gaussian noise.     

Twelve limit cycles around a singular point in a planar cubic-degree polynomial system

In this paper, we prove the existence of 12 small-amplitude limit cycles around a singular point in a planar cubic-degree polynomial system. Based on two previously developed cubic systems in the literature, which have been proved to exhibit 11 small-amplitude limit cycles, we applied a different method to show 11 limit cycles. Moreover, we show that one of the systems can actually have 12 small-amplitude limit cycles around a singular point. This is the best result so far obtained in cubic planar vector fields around a singular point.     

Bifurcation of limit cycles and the cusp of ordern

The author first investigates the limit cycles bifurcating from a center for general two dimensional systems, and then proves the conjecture that any unfolding of the cusp of ordern has at mostn−1 limit cycles. Supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation.