The influence of plasma plume in laser milling for mold manufacturing

The paper refers to the modeling of the plasma plume influence on the shape of the crater obtained by means of nanosecond pulsed laser milling. A transient model of the physical state of the plasma plume is developed according to the laser parameters. Two empirical coefficients are proposed in the model in order to evaluate the plasma plume self-emission energy lost towards the environment and the energy spread from the plasma towards the target surface. These two coefficients, directly correlated to the depth and to the width of the crater, can be experimentally determined, due to the difficulty of their analytical quantification, and they can be used for tuning a complete plasma plume software package for laser milling simulation named LAS (Laser Ablation Simulator) already developed by the authors. In this paper their influence on the crater shape will be proved by means of several simulation runs

Penetration and early colonization in basidiospore-derived infection of Melampsora pulcherrima (Bub.) Maire on Mercurialis annua L.

SUMMARYThe early phases of basidiospore-derived infection of Melampsora pulcherrima (Bub.) Maire on the leaves of Mercurialis annua L. were studied by light microscopy, SEM and TEM. The fine morphology of the basidiospore germling penetration and intraepidermal infection structures is discussed in comparison with that of other rusts recently described. The direct penetration through the epidermal cell wall, characteristic of the rust basidiospore-derived germlings, is confirmed. The absence of an extrahyphal matrix around the intraepidermal vesicle and the presence of a collar around the vesicle neck are pointed out

Parallelization in time by diagonalization

This is a review of preconditioning techniques based on fast-diagonalization methods for space-time isogeometric discretization of the heat equation. Three formulation are considered: the Galerkin approach, a discrete least-square and a continuous least square. For each formulation the heat differential operator is written as a sum of terms that are kronecker products of uni-variate operators. These are used to speed-up the application of the operator in iterative solvers and to construct a suitable preconditioner. Contrary to the fast-diagonalization technique for the Laplace equation where all uni-variate operators acting on the same direction can be simultaneously diagonalized in the case of the heat equation this is not possible. Luckily this can be done up to an additional term that has low rank allowing for the utilization of arrow-head like factorization or inversion by Sherman-Morrison formula. The proposed preconditioners work extremely well on the parametric domain and, when the domain is parametrized or when the equation coefficients are not constant, they can be adapted and retain good performance characteristics.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1909.07309, arXiv:2311.1846

Rotor magnet demagnetisation diagnosis in asymmetrical six-phase surface-mounted AC PMSM drives

Multiphase permanent-magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) are receiving more and more interest in safety-critical modern industries owing to their higher reliability when compared with conventional three-phase PMSMs. Rotor magnets are critical components, which, in case of fault, directly affect the performance of the PMSMs. Thus, monitoring the rotor magnets status is essential to ensure both high level of efficiency and service continuity. The present study focuses on the investigation of a new approach for the detection of rotor magnet demagnetisation in a vector-controlled asymmetrical six-phase surface-mounted AC PMSM. The main contribution of the proposed technique is the assessment of a rotor demagnetisation fault index derived from the fifth and seventh harmonics of the stator voltage space vector evaluated in the α 5–β 5-plane, and already available in the control system platform. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated using finite element analysis and numerical simulations, both validated by experimental tests

Time effectiveness of Ultraviolet C light (UVC) emitted by Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in reducing stethoscope contamination

Today it is well demonstrated that stethoscopes can be as contaminated as hands, which are a recognized source of Health-Care Associated Infections (HCAIs). Ultraviolet C (UVC) light has proven disinfection capacity and the innovative UVC technology of Light Emitting Diode (LED) shows several potential benefits. To verify whether the use of UVC LEDs is effective and reliable in stethoscope membrane disinfection after prolonged use, a pre-post intervention study was conducted. A total of 1668 five-minute cycles were performed on two UVC LEDs to simulate their use; thereafter, their disinfection capacity was tested on stethoscope membranes used on a previously auscultated volunteer. Then, a further 1249 cycles were run and finally the LEDs were tested to assess performance in reducing experimental contamination by Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli on the stethoscope membrane. Baseline volunteer contamination identified 104 Colony Forming Units (CFUs) while treated Petri dishes had 12 and 15 CFUs (p < 0.001). Statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) were also found relating to the reduction of specific bacteria: in particular, after treatment no CFU were observed for S. aureus and E. coli. UVC LEDs demonstrated the capacity to maintain high levels of disinfection after more than 240 h of use and they were effective against common microorganisms that are causative agents of HCAIs

Impact of Star Connection Layouts on the Control of Multiphase Induction Motor Drives Under Open-Phase Fault

This paper presents a post-fault control algorithm that minimizes the stator Joule losses in multiphase induction machines under an open-phase fault and for different star connection layouts. The key novelty is that the algorithm can be applied to any configuration of a multi n-phase machine, independently of the connection of the neutral points. The latter is analytically derived and is based on the space vector representation of the machine model. Also, it is shown that a low number of neutral points helps to reduce the winding losses in case of an open-phase fault but requires additional control regulators and computational efforts. The theory is applied to an asymmetrical quadruple three-phase induction machine, which is configured to represent five different motor layouts. Finally, experimental results are presented to validate the control algorithm. The optimal solution that is given in the paper can be employed for the control of symmetrical or asymmetrical multiphase machines with different star connection layouts and in any open-phase post-fault operation

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe