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.     

Discrete Sturm–Liouville problems, Jacobi matrices and Lagrange interpolation series

The close relationship between discrete Sturm–Liouville problems belonging to the so-called limit-circle case, the indeterminate Hamburger moment problem and the search of self-adjoint extensions of the associated semi-infinite Jacobi matrix is well known. In this paper, all these important topics are also related with associated sampling expansions involving analytic Lagrange-type interpolation series.     

Reaction of SbPO4 with lithium in non-aqueous electrochemical cells: preliminary study and evaluation of its electrochemical performance in anodes for lithium ion batteries

SbPO₄, a phosphate with a layered structure, was tested as an electrode material for lithium cells spanning the 3.0-0.0 V range. Two main electrochemical processes were detected as extensive plateaus at ca. 1.6 and 0.7 V in galvanostatic measurements. The first process was found to be irreversible, thus excluding a potential intercalation-like mechanism for the reaction and being better interpreted as a decomposition reaction leading to the formation of elemental Sb. This precludes the use of this compound as a cathodic material for lithium cells. By contrast, the process at 0.7 V is reversible and can be ascribed to the formation of lithium-antimony alloys. The best electrochemical response was obtained by cycling the cell at a C/20 discharge rate over the voltage range 1.25-0.25 V. Under these conditions, the cell delivers an average capacity of 165 Ah/kg—a value greater than those reported for other phosphates—upon successive cycling.     

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.     

Reference priors for exponential families with simple quadratic variance function

Reference analysis is one of the most successful general methods to derive noninformative prior distributions. In practice, however, reference priors are often difficult to obtain. Recently developed theory for conditionally reducible natural exponential families identifies an attractive reparameterization which allows one, among other things, to construct an enriched conjugate prior. In this paper, under the assumption that the variance function is simple quadratic, the order-invariant group reference prior for the above parameter is found. Furthermore, group reference priors for the mean- and natural parameter of the families are obtained. A brief discussion of the frequentist coverage properties is also presented. The theory is illustrated for the multinomial and negative-multinomial family. Posterior computations are especially straightforward due to the fact that the resulting reference distributions belong to the corresponding enriched conjugate family. A substantive application of the theory relates to the construction of reference priors for the Bayesian analysis of two-way contingency tables with respect to two alternative parameterizations.     

Quasi-free divisors and duality

We prove a duality theorem for some logarithmic $\text{D}$-modules associated with a class of divisors. We also give some results for the locally quasi-homogeneous case. To cite this article: F.J. Castro-Jiménez, J.M. Ucha-Enr??quez, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 338 (2004).     

Quasioptical Approach for Meniscus Lens Corrected Horn: Application to Cassegrain Systems

The Beam Mode Expansion (BME) approach for corrugated conical feed horn plus meniscus lens is presented. This approach is useful for providing the radiation pattern as it propagates through an optical system. A developed theoretical model has been verified measuring near and far field of a built horn and lens. These results have been used for designing the optical system of a Cassegrain antenna at 100GHz using the fundamental Gaussian beam mode (GBM) of the new approach. Multimode analysis has been performed with the pre-designed system in order to test the fundamental GBM results.