Cascaded Multilevel Inverter-Based Asymmetric Static Synchronous Compensator of Reactive Power

The topology of the static synchronous compensator of reactive power for a low-voltage three-phase utility grid capable of asymmetric reactive power compensation in grid phases has been proposed and analysed. It is implemented using separate, independent cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters for each phase. Every inverter includes two H-bridge cascades. The first cascade operating at grid frequency is implemented using thyristors, and the second one—operating at high frequency is based on the high-speed MOSFET transistors. The investigation shows that the proposed compensator is able to compensate the reactive power in a low-voltage three-phase grid when phases are loaded by highly asymmetrical reactive loads and provides up to three times lower power losses in the compensator as compared with the situation when the compensator is based on the conventional three-level inverters implemented using IGBT transistors.publishedVersio

Biophysical determinants of transcranial magnetic stimulation: effects of excitability and depth of targeted area.

Safe and effective transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) requires accurate intensity calibration. Output is typically calibrated to individual motor cortex excitability and applied to nonmotor brain areas, assuming that it captures a site nonspecific factor of excitability. We tested this assumption by correlating the effect of TMS at motor and visual cortex. In 30 participants, we measured motor threshold (MT) and phosphene threshold (PT) at the scalp surface and at coil-scalp distances of 3.17, 5.63, and 9.03 mm. We also modeled the effect of TMS in a simple head model to test the effect of distance. Four independent tests confirmed a significant correlation between PT and MT. We also found similar effects of distance in motor and visual areas, which did not correlate across participants. Computational modeling suggests that the relationship between the effect of distance and the induced electric field is effectively linear within the range of distances that have been explored empirically. We conclude that MT-guided calibration is valid for nonmotor brain areas if coil-cortex distance is taken into account. For standard figure-of-eight TMS coils connected to biphasic stimulators, the effect of cortical distance should be adjusted using a general correction factor of 2.7% stimulator output per millimeter

The Cytokinin Type-B Response Regulator PtRR13 Is a Negative Regulator of Adventitious Root Development in Populus1[C][W][OA]

Adventitious root formation at the base of plant cuttings is an innate de novo organogenesis process that allows massive vegetative propagation of many economically and ecologically important species. The early molecular events following shoot excision are not well understood. Using whole-genome microarrays, we detected significant transcriptome remodeling during 48 h following shoot removal in Populus tremula × Populus alba softwood cuttings in the absence of exogenous auxin, with 27% and 36% of the gene models showing differential abundance between 0 and 6 h and between 6 and 24 h, respectively. During these two time intervals, gene networks involved in protein turnover, protein phosphorylation, molecular transport, and translation were among the most significantly regulated. Transgenic lines expressing a constitutively active form of the Populus type-B cytokinin response regulator PtRR13 (ΔDDKPtRR13) have a delayed rooting phenotype and cause misregulation of CONTINUOUS VASCULAR RING1, a negative regulator of vascularization; PLEIOTROPIC DRUG RESISTANCE TRANSPORTER9, an auxin efflux transporter; and two APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR genes with sequence similarity to TINY. Inappropriate cytokinin action via ΔDDKPtRR13 expression appeared to disrupt adventitious root development 24 h after shoot excision, when root founder cells are hypothesized to be sensitive to the negative effects of cytokinin. Our results are consistent with PtRR13 acting downstream of cytokinin to repress adventitious root formation in intact plants, and that reduced cytokinin signaling after shoot excision enables coordinated expression of ethylene, auxin, and vascularization pathways leading to adventitious root development

Distinct Structure of Cortical Population Activity on Fast and Infraslow Timescales.

Cortical activity is organized across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Most research on the dynamics of neuronal spiking is concerned with timescales of 1 ms-1 s, and little is known about spiking dynamics on timescales of tens of seconds and minutes. Here, we used frequency domain analyses to study the structure of individual neurons' spiking activity and its coupling to local population rate and to arousal level across 0.01-100 Hz frequency range. In mouse medial prefrontal cortex, the spiking dynamics of individual neurons could be quantitatively captured by a combination of interspike interval and firing rate power spectrum distributions. The relative strength of coherence with local population often differed across timescales: a neuron strongly coupled to population rate on fast timescales could be weakly coupled on slow timescales, and vice versa. On slow but not fast timescales, a substantial proportion of neurons showed firing anticorrelated with the population. Infraslow firing rate changes were largely determined by arousal rather than by local factors, which could explain the timescale dependence of individual neurons' population coupling strength. These observations demonstrate how neurons simultaneously partake in fast local dynamics, and slow brain-wide dynamics, extending our understanding of infraslow cortical activity beyond the mesoscale resolution of fMRI

Biophysical determinants of transcranial magnetic stimulation : effects of excitability and depth of targeted area

Safe and effective transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) requires accurate intensity calibration. Output is typically calibrated to individual motor cortex excitability and applied to nonmotor brain areas, assuming that it captures a site nonspecific factor of excitability. We tested this assumption by correlating the effect of TMS at motor and visual cortex. In 30 participants, we measured motor threshold (MT) and phosphene threshold (PT) at the scalp surface and at coil-scalp distances of 3.17, 5.63, and 9.03 mm. We also modeled the effect of TMS in a simple head model to test the effect of distance. Four independent tests confirmed a significant correlation between PT and MT. We also found similar effects of distance in motor and visual areas, which did not correlate across participants. Computational modeling suggests that the relationship between the effect of distance and the induced electric field is effectively linear within the range of distances that have been explored empirically. We conclude that MT-guided calibration is valid for nonmotor brain areas if coil-cortex distance is taken into account. For standard figure-of-eight TMS coils connected to biphasic stimulators, the effect of cortical distance should be adjusted using a general correction factor of 2.7% stimulator output per millimeter