STATCOM evaluation in electrified railway using V/V and Scott power transformers

Rail transport has always been one of the greatest economic boosters of several world nations, allowing the freight and passenger transport. In addition, it is the most secure and economic land transportation mode. From the energetic perspective, the electric locomotives emerge as one of the most efficient land transportation mode, as well as allow a more sustainable development. However, when an electric locomotive is connected to the three-phase power grid, power quality (PQ) deterioration arise, leading to the distortion and unbalance of the three-phase power grid currents and voltages which imply higher operational costs, raising economic and functional issues. In order to overcome the PQ deterioration phenomena, several solutions based power electronics technology have been studied and developed. These solutions vary in terms of control, functionality, implementation costs and complexity. One of the existing solutions is a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), which compensates the three-phase currents imbalance and harmonics. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the electrified railway systems is carried out, identifying the electric PQ phenomena which may appear due to the non-linear dynamic traction loads. Following this topic, a computational simulation of the STATCOM is presented, making analysis of its behavior regarding the PQ improvement in electrified railway systems. Two case studies are presented: (i) a traction power system fed with V/V power transformer; (ii) a traction power system fed with Scott power transformer.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia with-in the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019. This work has been supported by the FCT Project QUALITY4POWER PTDC/EEI-EEE/28813/2017, and by the FCT Project DAIPESEV PTDC/EEI-EEE/30382/2017. Mr. Luis A. M. Barros is supported by the doctoral scholarship PD/BD/143006/2018 granted by the Portuguese FCT foundation. Mr. Mohamed Tanta was supported by FCT PhD grant with a reference PD/BD/127815/2016

Modified Huo-Luo-Xiao-Ling Dan Suppresses Adjuvant Arthritis by Inhibiting Chemokines and Matrix-Degrading Enzymes

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the joints that can lead to deformities and disability. The prolonged use of conventionally used drugs is associated with severe adverse reactions. Therefore, safer and less expensive therapeutic products are continually being sought. Huo-Luo-Xiao-Ling dan (HLXL), a traditional Chinese herbal mixture, and its modified versions possess anti-arthritic activity. In this paper, we examined the influence of modified HLXL on two of the key mediators of arthritic inflammation and tissue damage, namely, chemokines and matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the rat adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) model of RA. We treated arthritic Lewis rats with HLXL (2.3 g/kg) by daily gavage beginning at the onset of AA. The control rats received the vehicle. At the peak phase of AA, rats were sacrificed and their draining lymph node cells (LNC) and spleen adherent cells (SAC) were tested. The HLXL-treated rats showed a significant reduction in the levels of chemokines (RANTES, MCP-1, MIP-1α, and GRO/KC), MMPs (MMP 2 and 9), as well as cytokines (IL-6 and IL-17) that induce them, compared to the control vehicle-treated rats. Thus, HLXL controls arthritis in part by suppressing the mediators of immune pathology, and it might offer a promising alternative/adjunct treatment for RA

Measurement and physical interpretation of the mean motion of turbulent density patterns detected by the BES system on MAST

The mean motion of turbulent patterns detected by a two-dimensional (2D) beam emission spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic on the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) is determined using a cross-correlation time delay (CCTD) method. Statistical reliability of the method is studied by means of synthetic data analysis. The experimental measurements on MAST indicate that the apparent mean poloidal motion of the turbulent density patterns in the lab frame arises because the longest correlation direction of the patterns (parallel to the local background magnetic fields) is not parallel to the direction of the fastest mean plasma flows (usually toroidal when strong neutral beam injection is present). The experimental measurements are consistent with the mean motion of plasma being toroidal. The sum of all other contributions (mean poloidal plasma flow, phase velocity of the density patterns in the plasma frame, non-linear effects, etc.) to the apparent mean poloidal velocity of the density patterns is found to be negligible. These results hold in all investigated L-mode, H-mode and internal transport barrier (ITB) discharges. The one exception is a high-poloidal-beta (the ratio of the plasma pressure to the poloidal magnetic field energy density) discharge, where a large magnetic island exists. In this case BES detects very little motion. This effect is currently theoretically unexplained.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, submitted to PPC

Suppression of Ongoing Experimental Arthritis by a Chinese Herbal Formula (Huo-Luo-Xiao-Ling Dan) Involves Changes in Antigen-Induced Immunological and Biochemical Mediators of Inflammation

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the major autoimmune diseases of global prevalence. The use of the anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of RA is associated with severe adverse reactions and toxicity. This limitation has necessitated the search for novel therapeutic products. We report here a traditional Chinese medicine-based herbal formula, Huo luo xiao ling dan (HLXL), which has potent antiarthritic activity as validated in the rat adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) model. HLXL (2.3 g/Kg) was fed to Lewis (RT.11) rats daily by gavage beginning at the onset of arthritis and then continued through the observation period. HLXL inhibited the severity of ongoing AA. This suppression of arthritis was associated with significant alterations in the T cell proliferative and cytokine responses as well as the antibody response against the disease-related antigen, mycobacterial heat-shock protein 65 (Bhsp65). There was a reduction in the level of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-17 and IL-1β but enhancement of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 level. In addition, there was inhibition of both the anti-Bhsp65 antibody response and the serum level of nitric oxide. Thus, HLXL is a promising CAM modality for further testing in RA patients

Budget Processes: Theory and Experimental Evidence

This paper studies budget processes, both theoretically and experimentally. We compare the outcomes of bottom-up and top-down budget processes. It is often presumed that a top-down budget process leads to a smaller overall budget than a bottom-up budget process. Ferejohn and Krehbiel (1987) showed theoretically that this need not be the case. We test experimentally the theoretical predictions of their work. The evidence from these experiments lends strong support to their theory, both at the aggregate and the individual subject level

ELM triggering conditions for the integrated modeling of H-mode plasmas

Recent advances in the integrated modeling of ELMy H-mode plasmas are presented. A model for the H-mode pedestal and for the triggering of ELMs predicts the height, width, and shape of the H-mode pedestal and the frequency and width of ELMs. Formation of the pedestal and the L-H transition is the direct result of ExB flow shear suppression of anomalous transport. The periodic ELM crashes are triggered by either the ballooning or peeling MHD instabilities. The BALOO, DCON, and ELITE ideal MHD stability codes are used to derive a new parametric expression for the peeling-ballooning threshold. The new dependence for the peeling-ballooning threshold is implemented in the ASTRA transport code. Results of integrated modeling of DIII-D like discharges are presented and compared with experimental observations. The results from the ideal MHD stability codes are compared with results from the resistive MHD stability code NIMROD.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors in adults in southern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The metabolic syndrome has been shown to increase the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Little information exists on the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome for southern Chinese. We therefore investigate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in a southern Chinese population with 85 million residents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Guangdong Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 is a cross-sectional survey designed to assess the health and nutritional status of 85 million residents in Guangdong province located in southern China. Stratified multistage random sampling method was applied in this survey and a provincial representative sample of 6,468 residents aged 20 years or above was obtained in the present study. The participants received a full medical check-up including measurement of blood pressure, obesity indices, fasting lipids and glucose levels. Data describing socioeconomic and lifestyle factors was also collected through interview. Metabolic syndrome was defined in accordance with the International Diabetes Federation criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 7.30%, translating into a total of 4.0 million residents aged 20 years or above having the condition in this southern Chinese population. The urban population had higher prevalence of the syndrome than the rural population (10.57% vs 4.30%). Females had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome than males (8.99% vs 5.27%). More than 60% of the adults had at least one component of the metabolic syndrome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that a large proportion of southern Chinese adults have the metabolic syndrome and associated risk factors. The metabolic syndrome has become an important public health problem in China. These findings emphasize the urgent need to develop population level strategies for the prevention, detection, and treatment of cardiovascular risk in China.</p

Toward a first-principles integrated simulation of tokamak edge plasmas

Performance of the ITER is anticipated to be highly sensitive to the edge plasma condition. The edge pedestal in ITER needs to be predicted from an integrated simulation of the necessary first-principles, multi-scale physics codes. The mission of the SciDAC Fusion Simulation Project (FSP) Prototype Center for Plasma Edge Simulation (CPES) is to deliver such a code integration framework by (1) building new kinetic codes XGC0 and XGC1, which can simulate the edge pedestal buildup; (2) using and improving the existing MHD codes ELITE, M3D-OMP, M3D-MPP and NIMROD, for study of large-scale edge instabilities called Edge Localized Modes (ELMs); and (3) integrating the codes into a framework using cutting-edge computer science technology. Collaborative effort among physics, computer science, and applied mathematics within CPES has created the first working version of the End-to-end Framework for Fusion Integrated Simulation (EFFIS), which can be used to study the pedestal-ELM cycles

EFFECT OF OXYGEN CONCENTRATION ON THE PHOTOLUMINESCENCE SPECTRUM OF CDIN2O4 FILMS

The photoluminescence of transpartent and conductive CdIn2O4 thin films formed by rf sputtering has been investigated as a function of oxygen concentration. The photoluminescence peaks show a "red shift" as the oxygen concentration is increased. This is due to the Burstein-Moss effect in conductive degenerate oxide semiconductors

Therapy with high-dose Interleukin-2 (HD IL-2) in metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma following PD1 or PDL1 inhibition

Abstract Background Metastatic melanoma (mM) and renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) are often treated with anti-PD-1 based therapy, however not all patients respond and further therapies are needed. High dose interleukin-2 (HD IL-2) can lead to durable responses in a subset of mM and mRCC patients. The efficacy and toxicity of HD IL-2 therapy following anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 therapy have not yet been explored. Methods Reports on mM and mRCC patients who had received HD IL-2 after PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibition were queried from the PROCLAIMSM database. Patient characteristics, toxicity and efficacy were analyzed. Results A total of 57 patients (40 mM, 17 mRCC) were treated with high dose IL-2 after PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibition and had data recorded in the PROCLAIM database. The best overall response rate to HD IL-2 was 22.5% for mM (4 complete response (CR), 5 partial responses (PRs)) and 24% for mRCC (2 CRs, 2 PRs). The toxicity related to HD IL-2 observed in these patients was similar to that observed in patients treated with HD IL-2 without prior checkpoint blockade. One patient who had received prior PD-L1 blockade developed drug induced pneumonitis with HD IL-2 requiring steroid therapy. Conclusion In this retrospective analysis, HD IL-2 therapy displayed durable antitumor activity in mM and mRCC patients who progressed following treatment with PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibition. The toxicities were generally manageable and consistent with expectations from HD IL-2 but physicians should watch for immune related toxicities such as pneumonitis. This analysis supports the development of randomized prospective trials to assess the proper sequencing and combination of immune checkpoint blockade and cytokine therapy.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148134/1/40425_2019_Article_522.pd