A driver IC for photovotaic module-integrated DC/Dc converters

Photovoltaic (PV) installations suffer from a disproportional decrease in output power in case irradiance differences are present in the system. The Delta converter improves the output power in such cases by routing current differences around the shaded substring or module. This paper presents a driver IC for the Delta converter that simultaneously reduces its cost and improves its reliability. The driver IC integrates the complete control loop, power supplies, protections and references. The driver IC demonstrated trouble-free operation for 3 months under real-life conditions in a PV installation with different shading patterns. Depending on the shading pattern the Delta converter energy gain was 8%-18%

Automated assessment of human engineered heart tissues using deep learning and template matching for segmentation and tracking

The high rate of drug withdrawal from the market due to cardiovascular toxicity or lack of efficacy, the economic burden, and extremely long time before a compound reaches the market, have increased the relevance of human in vitro models like human (patient-derived) pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived engineered heart tissues (EHTs) for the evaluation of the efficacy and toxicity of compounds at the early phase in the drug development pipeline. Consequently, the EHT contractile properties are highly relevant parameters for the analysis of cardiotoxicity, disease phenotype, and longitudinal measurements of cardiac function over time. In this study, we developed and validated the software HAARTA (Highly Accurate, Automatic and Robust Tracking Algorithm), which automatically analyzes contractile properties of EHTs by segmenting and tracking brightfield videos, using deep learning and template matching with sub-pixel precision. We demonstrate the robustness, accuracy, and computational efficiency of the software by comparing it to the state-of-the-art method (MUSCLEMOTION), and by testing it with a data set of EHTs from three different hPSC lines. HAARTA will facilitate standardized analysis of contractile properties of EHTs, which will be beneficial for in vitro drug screening and longitudinal measurements of cardiac function