Particle Swarm Optimization Trained Artificial Neural Network to Control Shunt Active Power Filter Based on Multilevel Flying Capacitor Inverter

© 2020 by the authors; licensee IIETA, Edmonton, Canada. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).Shunt Active Power Filters (SAPF) are an emerging power electronics-based technology to mitigate harmonic and improve power quality in distribution grids. The SAPF proposed in this paper is based on three-phase Flying Capacitor Inverter (FCI) with a three-cell per phase topology, which has the advantage to provide voltage stress distribution on the switches. However, controlling the voltage of floating capacitors is a challenging problem for this type of topology. In this paper, a controller based artificial neural networks optimized with particle swarm optimization (ANN-PSO) is proposed to regulate the filter currents to follow the references extracted by the method of synchronous reference frame (SRF). The simulation results showed an enhancement of the power quality with a significant reduction in the THD levels of the current source under various loading conditions, which confirms the effectiveness, and robustness of the proposed control scheme and SAPF topology.Peer reviewe

Positional cloning uncovers mutations in PLCE1 responsible for a nephrotic syndrome variant that may be reversible

Nephrotic syndrome, a malfunction of the kidney glomerular filter, leads to proteinuria, edema and, in steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome, end-stage kidney disease. Using positional cloning, we identified mutations in the phospholipase C epsilon gene (PLCE1) as causing early-onset nephrotic syndrome with end-stage kidney disease. Kidney histology of affected individuals showed diffuse mesangial sclerosis (DMS). Using immunofluorescence, we found PLC epsilon 1 expression in developing and mature glomerular podocytes and showed that DMS represents an arrest of normal glomerular development. We identified IQ motif-containing GTPase-activating protein 1 as a new interaction partner of PLC epsilon 1. Two siblings with a missense mutation in an exon encoding the PLCe1 catalytic domain showed histology characteristic of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Notably, two other affected individuals responded to therapy, making this the first report of a molecular cause of nephrotic syndrome that may resolve after therapy. These findings, together with the zebrafish model of human nephrotic syndrome generated by plce1 knockdown, open new inroads into pathophysiology and treatment mechanisms of nephrotic syndrome