Negative carbon isotope excursions measured in marine and terrestrial substrates indicate large-scale changes in the global carbon cycle, yet terrestrial substrates characteristically record a larger-amplitude carbon isotope excursion than marine substrates for a single event. Here we reconcile this difference by accounting for the fundamental increase in carbon isotope fractionation by land pl...

Five marijuana samples were compared using bulk isotope analysis compound-specific isotope ratio analysis of the extracted cannabinoids. Owing to the age of our cannabis samples, four of the five samples were compared using the isotope ratios of cannabinol (CBN), a stable degradation product of Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Bulk δ(13)C isotope analysis discriminated between all five samples ...

Seeds of the castor plant Ricinus communis are of forensic interest because they are the source of the poison ricin. We tested whether stable isotope ratios of castor seeds and ricin preparations can be used as a forensic signature. We collected over 300 castor seed samples worldwide and measured the C, N, O, and H isotope ratios of the whole seeds and oil. We prepared ricin by three different ...

Stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in microbes have been shown to be functions of the corresponding isotope ratios of the water with which the culture medium was prepared, and thus to contain a potential geographic signal. Water can evaporate from agar (solid) media during culturing, changing its isotope ratios. Here we describe the effect of drying on the isotope ratios of water extr...

Isotope selective effects in resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) pose a potentially serious limitation to the application of this technique to the precise and reproducible measurement of isotope ratios. In order to identify some of the underlying causes of isotope selectivity in RIMS and to establish procedures for minimizing these effects, we investigated laser-induced isotope select...

Stable isotope analysis of human remains has been used to address long-standing debates regarding the speed and degree to which the introduction of farming transformed diet. In Europe, this debate has centered on northern and Atlantic regions with much less attention devoted to the arrival of farming across the Mediterranean. This study presents carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of co...

After 2004 and 2008 (Vols. 378/2 and 390/2) this is the third issue of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry to contain papers on new developments and applications in isotope ratio measurements. Whereas Klaus Heumann was guest editor for the two previous special issues, in this issue Torsten Schmidt joins him as guest editor for the first time. His involvement with this collection of papers st...

Designing a testable circuit is often a two step process. First, the circuit is designed to conform to the functional specifications. Then, the testability aspects are added. By taking the test strategy into account during the synthesis of the circuit, the overhead due to the test features can be reduced. We present a synthesis-for-scan procedure, called beneficial scan, that orders the scan ch...

Designing a scannable circuit is typically a two-step process. The circuit is first designed to meet the functional specifications, without taking the scan path into consideration. The circuit is then analyzed, and the scan path is inserted based on this analysis. When the scan path is considered during the synthesis of a circuit rather than after the synthesis, the overhead due to the scan pat...