Micro-scale inductorless maximum power point tracking DC-DC converter

In this study, the authors propose a simple maximum power point tracking (MPPT) DC-DC converter amenable for micro-scale photovoltaic applications. The solution avoids the use of inductors and exploits a charge pump as a voltage boost element. To take into account the temperature dependence of the MPP voltage, a passive temperature compensation circuit is also included. To validate the idea a prototype was realised with commercial off-the-shelf components. A system efficiency better than 83% for output power above 90 mW is obtained. The results show the viability of the proposed approach which could be further improved through a full custom integrated-circuit design

Sub-Femto-Farad Resolution Electronic Interfaces for Integrated Capacitive Sensors: A Review

Capacitance detection is a universal transduction mechanism used in a wide variety of sensors and applications. It requires an electronic front-end converting the capacitance variation into another more convenient physical variable, ultimately determining the performance of the whole sensor. In this paper we present a comprehensive review of the different signal conditioning front-end topologies targeted in particular at sub-femtofarad resolution. Main design equations and analysis of the limits due to noise are reported in order to provide the designer with guidelines for choosing the most suitable topology according to the main design specifications, namely energy consumption, area occupation, measuring time and resolution. A data-driven comparison of the different solutions in literature is also carried out revealing that resolution, measuring time, area occupation and energy/conversion lower than 100 aF, 1 ms 0.1 mm2, and 100 pJ/conv. can be obtained by capacitance to digital topologies, which therefore allow to get the best compromise among all design specifications

A comprehensive review of transcranial magnetic stimulation in secondary dementia

Although primary degenerative diseases are the main cause of dementia, a non-negligible proportion of patients is affected by a secondary and potentially treatable cognitive disorder. Therefore, diagnostic tools able to early identify and monitor them and to predict the response to treatment are needed. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive neurophysiological technique capable of evaluating in vivo and in "real time" the motor areas, the cortico-spinal tract, and the neurotransmission pathways in several neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, including cognitive impairment and dementia. While consistent evidence has been accumulated for Alzheimer's disease, other degenerative cognitive disorders, and vascular dementia, to date a comprehensive review of TMS studies available in other secondary dementias is lacking. These conditions include, among others, normal-pressure hydrocephalus, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease and other immunologically mediated diseases, as well as a number of inflammatory, infective, metabolic, toxic, nutritional, endocrine, sleep-related, and rare genetic disorders. Overall, we observed that, while in degenerative dementia neurophysiological alterations might mirror specific, and possibly primary, neuropathological changes (and hence be used as early biomarkers), this pathogenic link appears to be weaker for most secondary forms of dementia, in which neurotransmitter dysfunction is more likely related to a systemic or diffuse neural damage. In these cases, therefore, an effort toward the understanding of pathological mechanisms of cognitive impairment should be made, also by investigating the relationship between functional alterations of brain circuits and the specific mechanisms of neuronal damage triggered by the causative disease. Neurophysiologically, although no distinctive TMS pattern can be identified that might be used to predict the occurrence or progression of cognitive decline in a specific condition, some TMS-associated measures of cortical function and plasticity (such as the short-latency afferent inhibition, the short-interval intracortical inhibition, and the cortical silent period) might add useful information in most of secondary dementia, especially in combination with suggestive clinical features and other diagnostic tests. The possibility to detect dysfunctional cortical circuits, to monitor the disease course, to probe the response to treatment, and to design novel neuromodulatory interventions in secondary dementia still represents a gap in the literature that needs to be explored

"Osservatorio territoriale droga e tossicodipendenze. Il fenomeno delle dipendenze nel territorio della ASL MI 2. Anno 2009- X Rapporto"

Report on the state of legal and illegal substances use in the territory of the Local Healthcare Service-MI 2, Province of Milan.Il Report analizza il fenomeno delle dipendenze nel territorio della ASL Milano 2. La descrizione del fenomeno si sviluppa intorno all\u27analisi degli indicatori individuati dall\u27Osservatorio Europeo delle Dipendenze di Lisbona (OEDT): 1-uso di sostanze nella popolazione generale (questo indicatore va a rilevare i comportamenti nei confronti di alcol e sostanze psicoattive da parte della popolazione generale); 2-prevalenza d\u27uso problematico delle sostanze psicoattive; 3-domanda di trattamento degli utilizzatori di sostanze; 4-mortalit? degli utilizzatori di sostanze; 5-malattie infettive. Altri due importanti indicatori che si stanno sviluppando, e che vengono qui illustrati, sono l\u27analisi delle Schede di Dimissione Ospedaliera (SDO) e gli indicatori relativi alle conseguenza sociali dell\u27uso di droghe (criminalit? droga correlata). Inoltre sono state applicate diverse metodologie standard di stima sia per quantificare la quota parte sconosciuta di utilizzatori di sostanze che non afferiscono ai servizi, sia per identificarne alcune caratteristiche

On the micromorphic thermoelasticity without energy dissipation

The linear dynamic theory of micromorphic thermoelasticity without energy dissipation is considered. First, we establish a reciprocity relation which involves thermoelastic processes at different instants. We show that this relation can be used to establish a uniqueness theorem and a reciprocal theorem. The uniqueness result is derived with no definiteness assumption on elastic constitutive coefficients. The reciprocal theorem avoids both the use of the Laplace transform and the incorporation of initial conditions into the equations of motion. Then, a variational theorem for the first boundary-initial value problem is established. The effect of a concentrated heat supply in an unbounded body is also investigated

Fast numerical method for crack problem in the porous elastic material

The present paper discusses the crack problem in the linear porous elastic plane using the model developed by Nunziato and Cowin. With the help of Fourier transform the problem is reduced to an integral equation over the boundary of the crack. Some analytical transformations are applied to calculate the kernel of the integral equation in its explicit form. We perform a numerical collocation technique to solve the derived hyper-singular integral equation. Due to convolution type of the kernel, we apply, at each iteration step, the classical iterative conjugate gradient method in combination with the Fast Fourier technique to solve the problem in almost linear time. There are presented some numerical examples for materials of various values of porosity

Immune system modelling by top-down and bottom-up approaches

The biological immune system is a complex adaptive system that constitutes the defence mechanism of higher level organisms to micro organismic threats. There are lots of benefits for building an artificial (mathematical, physical or computational) model of the immune sys- tem. Medical researchers can use immune system simulation in drug research or to test hypotheses about the infection process. Given the wide range of uses for immune simulation and the difficulty of the task, it is useful to know what research has been conducted in this area. This paper provides a survey of the literatures in this field comparing and analyzing some of the existing approaches and models