A Model of DC-DC Converter with Switched-Capacitor Structure for Electric Vehicle Applications

In this paper, a DC-DC converter with an innovative topology for automotive applications is proposed. The goal of the presented power converter is the electrical storage system management of an electric vehicle (EV). The presented converter is specifically compliant with a 400 V battery, which represents the high-voltage primary source of the system. This topology is also able to act as a bidirectional power converter, so that in this case, the output section is an active stage, which is able to provide power as, for example, in the case of a low-voltage battery or a supercapacitor. The proposed topology can behave either in step-down or in step-up mode, presenting in both cases a high gain between the input and output voltage. Simulation results concerning the proposed converter, demonstrating the early feasibility of the system, were obtained in a PowerSIM environment and are described in this paper

Wear predictions for reverse total shoulder replacements

Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) has become the gold standard to treat rotator cuff tear arthropathy. RTSA is performed by substituting the humeral head and the glenoid cavity by a plastic cup in UHMWPE and a metallic head, respectively, in a geometrical reversed configuration with respect to the anatomical one. Major complications affect 27% of cases and mainly regard scapular notching due to cup-bone impingement and wear debris. Unfortunately, wear in shoulder prosthesis has not been largely studied as for hip and knee implants. Indeed, no wear test standards or even shoulder simulators exist, also because of a limited knowledge on shoulder/RTSA dynamics. Additionally, only a few numerical wear models for RTSA can be found in the literature, mainly focused on the comparison between anatomical and reverse solutions, and which often simulates simplified conditions, such as planar unloaded motions even neglecting fundamental aspects of wear process, i.e. cross-shearing (CS). The aim of the present study is to numerically investigate wear in RTSAs analysing the effect of: a) wear factor and wear law; a) implant geometry; b) inversion of bearing materials, i.e. plastic head + metallic cup, which should reduce the risks associated to scapular notching

Using musculoskeletal models to estimate in vivo total knee replacement kinematics and loads: effect of differences between models

Total knee replacement (TKR) is one of the most performed orthopedic surgeries to treat knee joint diseases in the elderly population. Although the survivorship of knee implants may extend beyond two decades, the poor outcome rate remains considerable. A recent computational approach used to better understand failure modes and improve TKR outcomes is based on the combination of musculoskeletal (MSK) and finite element models. This combined multiscale modeling approach is a promising strategy in the field of computational biomechanics; however, some critical aspects need to be investigated. In particular, the identification and quantification of the uncertainties related to the boundary conditions used as inputs to the finite element model due to a different definition of the MSK model are crucial. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate this problem, which is relevant for the model credibility assessment process. Three different generic MSK models available in the OpenSim platform were used to simulate gait, based on the experimental data from the fifth edition of the “Grand Challenge Competitions to Predict in vivo Knee Loads.” The outputs of the MSK analyses were compared in terms of relative kinematics of the knee implant components and joint reaction (JR) forces and moments acting on the tibial insert. Additionally, the estimated knee JRs were compared with those measured by the instrumented knee implant so that the “global goodness of fit” was quantified for each model. Our results indicated that the different kinematic definitions of the knee joint and the muscle model implemented in the different MSK models influenced both the motion and the load history of the artificial joint. This study demonstrates the importance of examining the influence of the model assumptions on the output results and represents the first step for future studies that will investigate how the uncertainties in the MSK models propagate on disease-specific finite element model results

Boride Coating on Titanium Alloys as Biomaterial in Wear and Fretting Applications

The issue taken into account is the lifespan and potential toxicity of arthroprostheses with a focus on metal-polyethylene coupling. The gold standard for hip prostheses is a femoral component made of Ti6Al4V alloy, a head made of Co-Cr-Mo alloy and an insert made of UHMWPE while for knee prostheses the gold standard is a tibial component made of Co-Cr-Mo alloy, a femoral component made of Ti6Al4V and an insert made of UHMWPE. Open issues are wear of UHMWPE, toxicity of Co alloys and low fretting/wear resistance of Ti alloys. The aim of this research is to focus on the most biocompatible material (Ti6Al4V alloy) in order to improve its bio-tribological characteristics. A ceramic surface conversion by thermal treatment was used to obtain a borided coating on the titanium alloy surface in order to combine high hardness, good wettability and lubricant behavior of ceramics with good mechanical properties of Ti metal alloys. The coatings were characterized by means of optical microscope observation, FESEM analysis, XRD analysis, microindentation, scratch, friction and wear tests in order to identify the thermal treatment most suitable to obtain a coating with the required properties (thickness, hardness, roughness, wear resistance, friction coefficient and scratch resistance, surface lubrication ability in contact with human fluids) without significant modification of the microstructure of the substrate

INFN What Next: Ultra-relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

This document was prepared by the community that is active in Italy, within INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare), in the field of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The experimental study of the phase diagram of strongly-interacting matter and of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) deconfined state will proceed, in the next 10-15 years, along two directions: the high-energy regime at RHIC and at the LHC, and the low-energy regime at FAIR, NICA, SPS and RHIC. The Italian community is strongly involved in the present and future programme of the ALICE experiment, the upgrade of which will open, in the 2020s, a new phase of high-precision characterisation of the QGP properties at the LHC. As a complement of this main activity, there is a growing interest in a possible future experiment at the SPS, which would target the search for the onset of deconfinement using dimuon measurements. On a longer timescale, the community looks with interest at the ongoing studies and discussions on a possible fixed-target programme using the LHC ion beams and on the Future Circular Collider.Comment: 99 pages, 56 figure

Measurement of ISR-FSR interference in the processes e+ e- --> mu+ mu- gamma and e+ e- --> pi+ pi- gamma

Charge asymmetry in processes e+ e- --> mu+ mu- gamma and e+ e- --> pi+ pi- gamma is measured using 232 fb-1 of data collected with the BABAR detector at center-of-mass energies near 10.58 GeV. An observable is introduced and shown to be very robust against detector asymmetries while keeping a large sensitivity to the physical charge asymmetry that results from the interference between initial and final state radiation. The asymmetry is determined as afunction of the invariant mass of the final-state tracks from production threshold to a few GeV/c2. It is compared to the expectation from QED for e+ e- --> mu+ mu- gamma and from theoretical models for e+ e- --> pi+ pi- gamma. A clear interference pattern is observed in e+ e- --> pi+ pi- gamma, particularly in the vicinity of the f_2(1270) resonance. The inferred rate of lowest order FSR production is consistent with the QED expectation for e+ e- --> mu+ mu- gamma, and is negligibly small for e+ e- --> pi+ pi- gamma.Comment: 32 pages,29 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Measurement of B(B-->X_s {\gamma}), the B-->X_s {\gamma} photon energy spectrum, and the direct CP asymmetry in B-->X_{s+d} {\gamma} decays

The photon spectrum in B --> X_s {\gamma} decay, where X_s is any strange hadronic state, is studied using a data sample of (382.8\pm 4.2) \times 10^6 e^+ e^- --> \Upsilon(4S) --> BBbar events collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II collider. The spectrum is used to measure the branching fraction B(B --> X_s \gamma) = (3.21 \pm 0.15 \pm 0.29 \pm 0.08)\times 10^{-4} and the first, second, and third moments = 2.267 \pm 0.019 \pm 0.032 \pm 0.003 GeV,, )^2> = 0.0484 \pm 0.0053 \pm 0.0077 \pm 0.0005 GeV^2, and )^3> = -0.0048 \pm 0.0011 \pm 0.0011 \pm 0.0004 GeV^3, for the range E_\gamma > 1.8 GeV, where E_{\gamma} is the photon energy in the B-meson rest frame. Results are also presented for narrower E_{\gamma} ranges. In addition, the direct CP asymmetry A_{CP}(B --> X_{s+d} \gamma) is measured to be 0.057 \pm 0.063. The spectrum itself is also unfolded to the B-meson rest frame; that is the frame in which theoretical predictions for its shape are made.Comment: 37 pages, 19 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. No analysis or results have changed from previous version. Some changes to improve clarity based on interactions with Phys. Rev. D referees, including one new Figure (Fig. 13), and some minor wording/punctuation/spelling mistakes fixe

Precise Measurement of the e+ e- --> pi+ pi- (gamma) Cross Section with the Initial-State Radiation Method at BABAR

A precise measurement of the cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ from threshold to an energy of 3GeV is obtained with the initial-state radiation (ISR) method using 232fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BaBar detector at $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energies near 10.6GeV. The ISR luminosity is determined from a study of the leptonic process $e^+e^-\to\mu^+\mu^-(\gamma)\gamma_{\rm ISR}$, which is found to agree with the next-to-leading-order QED prediction to within 1.1%. The cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ is obtained with a systematic uncertainty of 0.5% in the dominant $\rho$ resonance region. The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon magnetic anomaly calculated using the measured $\pi\pi$ cross section from threshold to 1.8GeV is $(514.1 \pm 2.2({\rm stat}) \pm 3.1({\rm syst}))\times 10^{-10}$.Comment: 58 pages, 56 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.