629 research outputs found
Power electronic interfaces for low voltage residential networks
A proposal to increase the existing residential LV grid voltage from 230 V to 300 V has been made in order to increase existing network capacity. A power-electronic AC-AC converter is then used to provide 230 V at each property. The equipment can also provide power-quality improvements to the network and load. Several constraints such as temperature rise at the converter location lead to a converter design requiring very high efficiency. In this paper different AC/AC converter topologies are presented which compares the power quality benefits, size and efficiency of each converter. The design and the control technique of the most suitable topology are verified using simulation and preliminary experimentally results of prototype hardware are also included
Gravitation Physics at BGPL
We report progress on a program of gravitational physics experiments using
cryogenic torsion pendula undergoing large-amplitude torsion oscillation. This
program includes tests of the gravitational inverse square law and of the weak
equivalence principle. Here we describe our ongoing search for
inverse-square-law violation at a strength down to of standard
gravity. The low-vibration environment provided by the Battelle Gravitation
Physics Laboratory (BGPL) is uniquely suited to this study.Comment: To be published in The Proceedings of the Francesco Melchiorri
Memorial Conference as a special issue of New Astronomy Review
Measurement in biological systems from the self-organisation point of view
Measurement in biological systems became a subject of concern as a
consequence of numerous reports on limited reproducibility of experimental
results. To reveal origins of this inconsistency, we have examined general
features of biological systems as dynamical systems far from not only their
chemical equilibrium, but, in most cases, also of their Lyapunov stable states.
Thus, in biological experiments, we do not observe states, but distinct
trajectories followed by the examined organism. If one of the possible
sequences is selected, a minute sub-section of the whole problem is obtained,
sometimes in a seemingly highly reproducible manner. But the state of the
organism is known only if a complete set of possible trajectories is known. And
this is often practically impossible. Therefore, we propose a different
framework for reporting and analysis of biological experiments, respecting the
view of non-linear mathematics. This view should be used to avoid
overoptimistic results, which have to be consequently retracted or largely
complemented. An increase of specification of experimental procedures is the
way for better understanding of the scope of paths, which the biological system
may be evolving. And it is hidden in the evolution of experimental protocols.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Thermal aspects of a low cost power electronic converter for high capacity, smart residential distribution networks
A key challenge facing the UK Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) today is the increasing demand for power being placed on residential networks. Also, the increase in distributed generation (DG) is now resulting in unacceptable local voltage rises and power quality issues. A cost effective solution to these problems can be achieved on the existing infrastructure by increasing the local network phase voltage to 400 V and stepping back down to 230 V at each house, using a DNO-owned, voltage regulated power electronic converter (PEC). The thermal and protection issues associated with the design of such a PEC, which is to be installed in the meterbox of each property, are discussed in this paper
Stability of the monoclinic phase in the ferroelectric perovskite PbZr(1-x)TixO3
Recent structural studies of ferroelectric PbZr(1-x)TixO3 (PZT) with x= 0.48,
have revealed a new monoclinic phase in the vicinity of the morphotropic phase
boundary (MPB), previously regarded as the the boundary separating the
rhombohedral and tetragonal regions of the PZT phase diagram. In the present
paper, the stability region of all three phases has been established from high
resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction measurements on a series of
highly homogeneous samples with 0.42 <=x<= 0.52. At 20K the monoclinic phase is
stable in the range 0.46 <=x<= 0.51, and this range narrows as the temperature
is increased. A first-order phase transition from tetragonal to rhombohedral
symmetry is observed only for x= 0.45. The MPB, therefore, corresponds not to
the tetragonal-rhombohedral phase boundary, but instead to the boundary between
the tetragonal and monoclinic phases for 0.46 <=x<= 0.51. This result provides
important insight into the close relationship between the monoclinic phase and
the striking piezoelectric properties of PZT; in particular, investigations of
poled samples have shown that the monoclinic distortion is the origin of the
unusually high piezoelectric response of PZT.Comment: REVTeX file, 7 figures embedde
A tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transition in a ferroelectric perovskite: the structure of PbZr(0.52)Ti(0.48)O3
The perovskite-like ferroelectric system PbZr(1-x)Ti(x)O3 (PZT) has a nearly
vertical morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) around x=0.45-0.50. Recent
synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction measurements by Noheda et al. [Appl. Phys.
Lett. 74, 2059 (1999)] have revealed a new monoclinic phase between the
previously-established tetragonal and rhombohedral regions. In the present work
we describe a Rietveld analysis of the detailed structure of the tetragonal and
monoclinic PZT phases on a sample with x= 0.48 for which the lattice parameters
are respectively: at= 4.044 A, ct= 4.138 A, at 325 K, and am= 5.721 A, bm=
5.708 A, cm= 4.138 A, beta= 90.496 deg., at 20K. In the tetragonal phase the
shifts of the atoms along the polar [001] direction are similar to those in
PbTiO3 but the refinement indicates that there are, in addition, local
disordered shifts of the Pb atoms of ~0.2 A perpendicular to the polar axis..
The monoclinic structure can be viewed as a condensation along one of the
directions of the local displacements present in the tetragonal phase. It
equally well corresponds to a freezing-out of the local displacements along one
of the directions recently reported by Corker et al.[J. Phys. Condens.
Matter 10, 6251 (1998)] for rhombohedral PZT. The monoclinic structure
therefore provides a microscopic picture of the MPB region in which one of the
"locally" monoclinic phases in the "average" rhombohedral or tetragonal
structures freezes out, and thus represents a bridge between these two phases.Comment: REVTeX, 7 figures. Modifications after referee's suggestion: new
figure (figure 5), comments in 2nd para. (Sect.III) and in 2nd & 3rd para.
(Sect. IV-a), in the abstract: "...of ~0.2 A perpendicular to the polar
axis.
Spin-Peierls transition in NaV2O5 in high magnetic fields
We investigate the magnetic field dependence of the spin-Peierls transition
in NaVO in the field range 16T-30T. The transition temperature exhibits
a very weak variation with the field, suggesting a novel mechanism for the
formation of the spin-Peierls state. We argue that a charge ordering transition
accompanied by singlet formation is consistent with our observations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, final version to appear in Phys. Rev. B (RC
A Histone Methyltransferase Modulates Antigenic Variation in African Trypanosomes
To evade the host immune system, several pathogens periodically change their cell-surface epitopes. In the African trypanosomes, antigenic variation is achieved by tightly regulating the expression of a multigene family encoding a large repertoire of variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs). Immune evasion relies on two important features: exposing a single type of VSG at the cell surface and periodically and very rapidly switching the expressed VSG. Transcriptional switching between resident telomeric VSG genes does not involve DNA rearrangements, and regulation is probably epigenetic. The histone methyltransferase DOT1B is a nonessential protein that trimethylates lysine 76 of histone H3 in Trypanosoma brucei. Here we report that transcriptionally silent telomeric VSGs become partially derepressed when DOT1B is deleted, whereas nontelomeric loci are unaffected. DOT1B also is involved in the kinetics of VSG switching: in ΔDOT1B cells, the transcriptional switch is so slow that cells expressing two VSGs persist for several weeks, indicating that monoallelic transcription is compromised. We conclude that DOT1B is required to maintain strict VSG silencing and to ensure rapid transcriptional VSG switching, demonstrating that epigenetics plays an important role in regulating antigenic variation in T. brucei
Elementary Excitations in Dimerized and Frustrated Heisenberg Chains
We present a detailed numerical analysis of the low energy excitation
spectrum of a frustrated and dimerized spin Heisenberg chain. In
particular, we show that in the commensurate spin--Peierls phase the ratio of
the singlet and triplet excitation gap is a universal function which depends on
the frustration parameter only. We identify the conditions for which a second
elementary triplet branch in the excitation spectrum splits from the continuum.
We compare our results with predictions from the continuum limit field theory .
We discuss the relevance of our data in connection with recent experiments on
, , and .Comment: Corrections to the text + 1 new figure, will appear in PRB (august
98
Dynamics of fluctuations in a fluid below the onset of Rayleigh-B\'enard convection
We present experimental data and their theoretical interpretation for the
decay rates of temperature fluctuations in a thin layer of a fluid heated from
below and confined between parallel horizontal plates. The measurements were
made with the mean temperature of the layer corresponding to the critical
isochore of sulfur hexafluoride above but near the critical point where
fluctuations are exceptionally strong. They cover a wide range of temperature
gradients below the onset of Rayleigh-B\'enard convection, and span wave
numbers on both sides of the critical value for this onset. The decay rates
were determined from experimental shadowgraph images of the fluctuations at
several camera exposure times. We present a theoretical expression for an
exposure-time-dependent structure factor which is needed for the data analysis.
As the onset of convection is approached, the data reveal the critical
slowing-down associated with the bifurcation. Theoretical predictions for the
decay rates as a function of the wave number and temperature gradient are
presented and compared with the experimental data. Quantitative agreement is
obtained if allowance is made for some uncertainty in the small spacing between
the plates, and when an empirical estimate is employed for the influence of
symmetric deviations from the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation which are to be
expected in a fluid with its density at the mean temperature located on the
critical isochore.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 52 reference
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