Abstract: A method for identifying a biological organism that includes providing a biological sample corresponding to the biological organism, ionizing the biological sample to produce an ionized sample of the biological sample, performing a mass spectrometry analysis of the ionized sample, and identifying the biological organism in accordance with the mass spectrometry analysis.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for converting an input step waveform signal into a smooth output waveform signal is comprised of two sample-and-hold circuits (11, 12), one for sampling each step of the input signal and the other for synchronously sampling and holding the output waveform, a circuit (17-20) for providing a signal proportonal to the difference between the samples held in the sample-and-hold circuits, and means (21-23) for integrating the difference. The output of the integrator is connected to the second sample-and-hold circuit while the step waveform to be filtered is connected to the input of the first sample-and-hold circuit. The integrator thus produces an output that is a linear signal during each clock pulse period with a slope equal the sign and amplitude of each step.