The use of 35S and Tnos expression elements in the measurement of genetically engineered plant materials

An online survey was conducted by the International Life Sciences Institute, Food Biotechnology Committee, on the use of qualitative and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and Agrobacterium tumefaciens Tnos DNA sequence elements for the detection of genetically engineered (GE) crop plant material. Forty-four testing laboratories around the world completed the survey. The results showed the widespread use of such methods, the multiplicity of published and in-house methods, and the variety of reference materials and calibrants in use. There was an interest on the part of respondents in validated quantitative assays relevant to all GE events that contain these two genetic elements. Data are presented by testing two variations each of five published real-time quantitative PCR methods for 35S detection on eight maize reference materials. The results showed that two of the five methods were not suitable for all the eight reference materials, with poor linear regression parameters and multiple PCR amplification products for some of the reference materials. This study demonstrates that not all 35S methods produce satisfactory results, emphasizing the need for method validation.     

Maintaining the predictive abilities of multivariate calibration models by spectral space transformation

In quantitative on-line/in-line monitoring of chemical and bio-chemical processes using spectroscopic instruments, multivariate calibration models are indispensable for the extraction of chemical information from complex spectroscopic measurements. The development of reliable multivariate calibration models is generally time-consuming and costly. Therefore, once a reliable multivariate calibration model is established, it is expected to be used for an extended period. However, any change in the instrumental response or variations in the measurement conditions can render a multivariate calibration model invalid. In this contribution, a new method, spectral space transformation (SST), has been developed to maintain the predictive abilities of multivariate calibration models when the spectrometer or measurement conditions are altered. SST tries to eliminate the spectral differences induced by the changes in instruments or measurement conditions through the transformation between two spectral spaces spanned by the corresponding spectra of a subset of standardization samples measured on two instruments or under two sets of experimental conditions. The performance of the method has been tested on two data sets comprising NIR and MIR spectra. The experimental results show that SST can achieve satisfactory analyte predictions from spectroscopic measurements subject to spectrometer/probe alteration, when only a few standardization samples are used. Compared with the existing popular methods designed for the same purpose, i.e. global PLS, univariate slope and bias correction (SBC) and piecewise direct standardization (PDS), SST has the advantages of implementation simplicity, wider applicability and better performance in terms of predictive accuracy.     

A law of large numbers and a central limit theorem for the Schrödinger operator with zero-range potentials

We consider the Schrödinger operator with zero-range potentials onN points of three-dimensional space, independently chosen according to a common distributionV(x). Under some assumptions we prove that, whenN goes to infinity, the sequence converges to a Schrödinger operator with an effective potential. The fluctuations around the limit operator are explicitly characterized.     

The short range expansion

Let V_i be short range potential and λ_i(ε) analytic functions. We show that the Hamiltonians H_ε = −Δ + ε⁻²∑_{i = l}ⁿλ_i(ε)V_i((· − x_i)/ε converge in the strong resolvent sense to the point interactions as ε → 0, and if V_i have compact support then the eigenvalues and resonances of H_ε, which remains bounded as ε → 0, are analytic in ε in a complex neighborhood of zero. We compute in closed form the eigenvalues and resonances of H_ε to the first order in ε.     

Bremsstrahlung model for hadron production at large transverse momentum

A hadronic bremsstrahlung model is presented which provides an understanding of several of the recently observed phenomena at large transverse momenta.