10,051 research outputs found
On the reliability of electrical drives for safety-critical applications
The aim of this work is to present some issues related to fault tolerant electric drives,which are able to overcome different types of faults occurring in the sensors, in thepower converter and in the electrical machine, without compromising the overallfunctionality of the system. These features are of utmost importance in safety-criticalapplications. In this paper, the reliability of both commercial and innovative driveconfigurations, which use redundant hardware and suitable control algorithms, will beinvestigated for the most common types of fault: besides standard three phase motordrives, also multiphase topologies, open-end winding solutions, multi-machineconfigurations will be analyzed, applied to various electric motor technologies. Thecomplexity of hardware and control strategies will also be compared in this paper, sincethis has a tremendous impact on the investment costs
Antioxidant Supplementation in the Treatment of Aging-Associated Diseases
Oxidative stress is generally considered as the consequence of an imbalance between pro- and antioxidants species, which often results into indiscriminate and global damage at the organismal level. Elderly people are more susceptible to oxidative stress and this depends, almost in part, from a decreased performance of their endogenous antioxidant system. As many studies reported an inverse correlation between systemic levels of antioxidants and several diseases, primarily cardiovascular diseases, but also diabetes and neurological disorders, antioxidant supplementation has been foreseen as an effective preventive and therapeutic intervention for aging-associated pathologies. However, the expectations of this therapeutic approach have often been partially disappointed by clinical trials. The interplay of both endogenous and exogenous antioxidants with the systemic redox system is very complex and represents an issue that is still under debate. In this review a selection of recent clinical studies concerning antioxidants supplementation and the evaluation of their influence in aging-related diseases is analyzed. The controversial outcomes of antioxidants supplementation therapies, which might partially depend from an underestimation of the patient specific metabolic demand and genetic background, are presented
Stability of Salpeter Solutions
In the framework of instantaneous approximations to the Bethe-Salpeter
formalism for the description of bound states within quantum field theories,
depending on the Lorentz structure of the Bethe-Salpeter interaction kernel the
solutions of the full Salpeter equation with some confining interaction may
exhibit certain instabilities, which are possibly related to the Klein paradox
and signal the decay of states assumed to be bound by the confining
interactions. They are observed in numerical (variational) studies of the
Salpeter equation. The presumably simplest scenario allowing for the fully
analytic investigation of this problem is set by the reduced Salpeter equation
with harmonic-oscillator interaction. In this case, Salpeter's integral
equation simplifies to either an algebraic relation or a second-order
homogeneous linear ordinary differential equation, immediately accessible to
standard techniques. There one may hope to be able to decide unambiguously
whether this setting poses a well-defined eigenvalue problem the solutions of
which correspond to stable bound states associated to real energy eigenvalues
bounded from below. By analytical spectral analysis the bound-state solutions
of this "harmonic-oscillator reduced Salpeter equation" can be shown to be free
of such instabilities.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of "QCD @ Work
2007", International Workshop on Quantum ChromoDynamics - Theory and
Experiment, Martina Franca, Italy, 16 - 20 June 200
A novel stepwise micro-TESE approach in non obstructive azoospermia
Background: The purpose of the study was to investigate whether micro-TESE can improve sperm retrieval rate
(SRR) compared to conventional single TESE biopsy on the same testicle or to contralateral multiple TESE, by
employing a novel stepwise micro-TESE approach in a population of poor prognosis patients with non-obstructive
azoospermia (NOA).
Methods: Sixty-four poor prognosis NOA men undergoing surgical testicular sperm retrieval for ICSI, from March
2007 to April 2013, were included in this study. Patients inclusion criteria were a) previous unsuccessful TESE, b)
unfavorable histology (SCOS, MA, sclerahyalinosis), c) Klinefelter syndrome. We employed a stepwise micro-TESE
consisting three-steps: 1) single conventional TESE biopsy; 2) micro-TESE on the same testis; 3) contralateral multiple
TESE.
Results: SRR was 28.1 % (18/64). Sperm was obtained in both the initial single conventional TESE and in the
following micro-TESE. The positive or negative sperm retrieval was further confirmed by a contralateral multiple
TESE, when performed. No significant pre-operative predictors of sperm retrieval, including patients’ age, previous
negative TESE or serological markers (LH, FSH, inhibin B), were observed at univariate or multivariate analysis.
Micro-TESE (step 2) did not improve sperm retrieval as compared to single TESE biopsy on the same testicle
(step 1) or multiple contralateral TESE (step 3).
Conclusions: Stepwise micro-TESE could represent an optimal approach for sperm retrieval in NOA men. In
our view, it should be offered to NOA patients in order to gradually increase surgical invasiveness, when
necessary. Stepwise micro-TESE might also reduce the costs, time and efforts involved in surgery
Giuseppe Longo, Le cauchemar de Prométhée, Les sciences et leurs limites, Puf, Paris 2023, 392 pp.
Conservative upper limits on WIMP annihilation cross section from Fermi-LAT -rays
The spectrum of an isotropic extragalactic -ray background (EGB) has
been measured by the Fermi-LAT telescope at high latitudes. Two new models for
the EGB are derived from the subtraction of unresolved point sources and
extragalactic diffuse processes, which could explain from 30% to 70% of the
Fermi-LAT EGB. Within the hypothesis that the two residual EGBs are entirely
due to the annihilation of dark matter (DM) particles in the Galactic halo, we
obtain upper limits on their annihilation cross section \sigmav.
Severe bounds on a possible Sommerfeld enhancement of the annihilation cross
section are set as well. Finally, would {\sigmav} be inversely proportional to
the WIMP velocity, very severe limits are derived for the velocity-independent
part of the annihilation cross section.Comment: Proceedings of XII Taup Conference, Munich, September 201
Plastic Deformation of 2D Crumpled Wires
When a single long piece of elastic wire is injected trough channels into a
confining two-dimensional cavity, a complex structure of hierarchical loops is
formed. In the limit of maximum packing density, these structures are described
by several scaling laws. In this paper it is investigated this packing process
but using plastic wires which give origin to completely irreversible structures
of different morphology. In particular, it is studied experimentally the
plastic deformation from circular to oblate configurations of crumpled wires,
obtained by the application of an axial strain. Among other things, it is shown
that in spite of plasticity, irreversibility, and very large deformations,
scaling is still observed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Automated Analysis of MUTEX Algorithms with FASE
In this paper we study the liveness of several MUTEX solutions by
representing them as processes in PAFAS s, a CCS-like process algebra with a
specific operator for modelling non-blocking reading behaviours. Verification
is carried out using the tool FASE, exploiting a correspondence between
violations of the liveness property and a special kind of cycles (called
catastrophic cycles) in some transition system. We also compare our approach
with others in the literature. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one
hand, we want to demonstrate the applicability of FASE to some concrete,
meaningful examples; on the other hand, we want to study the impact of
introducing non-blocking behaviours in modelling concurrent systems.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2011, arXiv:1106.081
Spin precession in the Schwarzschild spacetime: circular orbits
We study the behavior of nonzero rest mass spinning test particles moving
along circular orbits in the Schwarzschild spacetime in the case in which the
components of the spin tensor are allowed to vary along the orbit, generalizing
some previous work.Comment: To appear on Classical and Quantum Gravity, 200
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