Switching characteristics and efficiency improvement with auxiliaryresonant snubber based soft-switching inverters

The auxiliary resonant snubber inverter (RSI) has demonstrated superiority in reduction of switching losses and dv/dt. It was found that the overall inverter system efficiency might not be improved if the resonant current was not controlled in accordance with the load current. This paper proposes an improved control scheme to minimize the operation of auxiliary circuit for efficiency improvement. The principle of this control scheme is to vary the resonant current with variable timing control based on the load current magnitude and to disable the auxiliary circuit operation when diode freewheeling occurs after switching. To illustrate the operation of this control scheme, this paper compares the switching characteristics and inverter power loss of hard-switching inverter, RSI with fixed-timing and variable-timing control and RSI with the proposed control scheme. Experimental results fully agree with the analyses and prove that the proposed control scheme is suitable for RSI to achieve better operating conditions.published_or_final_versio

A decade of dental education: Faculty of Dentistry

Published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the faculty.Incudes bibliographical references.published_or_final_versionConservative dentistry: achievements and perspectives 47Congratulations Wang, Gungwu Wang, Gungwu viiForeword Wei, Stephen H.Y. Wei, Stephen H.Y. ixAcknowledgements Wei, Stephen H.Y. Wei, Stephen H.Y. xiThe Prince Philip Dental Hospital 1Departments and units: a decade of activities and progressStudents' life in the faculty 151Alumni 155Faculty of Dentistry - dental graduates 1985-1992 157The next decade and beyond - some prospects in dentistry 175Brief history of the Faculty of Dentistry 1Administration and governance 4Other services 7Children's dentistry and orthodontics: achievemnets and perspective 13Oral and maxillofacial survey: achievements and perspectives 69Periodontology and public health: achievements and perspectives 95Prosthetic dentistry: achievements and perspectives 113Dental technology unit 125Dental materials science unit: achievements and perspectives 131Oral Biology Unit: achievements and perspectives 139Optimizing adhesion with mineralized dental tissues Gwinnett, A. John Gwinnett, A.John 177Conservative approach to esthetic dentistry Suzuki, M. Mike Suzuki, M. Mike 183The wonderful world of glass ionomer cements Mount, Graham J. Mount, Graham J. 189Biocompatibility of dental materials Smith, Dennis C. Smith, Dennis C. 197Esthetic implant restorations Lewis, Steven Lewis, Steven 203Chemicals in the treatment of periodontal diseases Gjermo, Per Gjermo, Per 21

Exterior optical cloaking and illusions by using active sources: a boundary element perspective

Recently, it was demonstrated that active sources can be used to cloak any objects that lie outside the cloaking devices [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103}, 073901 (2009)]. Here, we propose that active sources can create illusion effects, so that an object outside the cloaking device can be made to look like another object. invisibility is a special case in which the concealed object is transformed to a volume of air. From a boundary element perspective, we show that active sources can create a nearly "silent" domain which can conceal any objects inside and at the same time make the whole system look like an illusion of our choice outside a virtual boundary. The boundary element method gives the fields and field gradients (which can be related to monopoles and dipoles) on continuous curves which define the boundary of the active devices. Both the cloaking and illusion effects are confirmed by numerical simulations

Molecular epidemiology and nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus among young children attending day care centers and kindergartens in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) nasal carriage in children. METHODS: We collected nasal and nasopharyngeal swabs from 2211 children aged 2-5 years attending 79 day care centers (DCCs) and 113 kindergartens (KGs) in all 18 geographical districts in Hong Kong. RESULTS: The overall carriage rates of S. aureus and MRSA were 27.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 24.8-28.5%) and 1.3% (95% CI, 0.8-1.8%), respectively. Molecular typing (staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec [SCCmec], sequence type [ST], clonal cluster [CC]) showed that all the 28 MRSA isolates had SCCmec IV (n = 13) or V (n = 15) including 12 isolates with community-associated-MRSA genotypes (ST59-IV/V, ST30-IV and ST88-V), 10 isolates with healthcare-associated-MRSA genotypes (ST45-IV/V, CC5-IV and ST630-V) and six isolates with novel genotypes (ST10-V and CC1-IV). Spa typing indicated that there was some within and between DCCs/KGs transmission of certain MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus strains but this was not extensive. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate the potential for DCCs to be a reservoir for emerging MRSA genotypes and highlight the need to enhance education and infection control measures to reduce their cross-transmission in this population.postprin

Semi-individualised Chinese medicine treatment as an adjuvant management for diabetic nephropathy: a pilot add-on, randomised, controlled, multicentre, open-label pragmatic clinical trial

published_or_final_versio

Physicochemical and sensory analysis of instant cereal beverage incorporated with corncob powder

The primary objectives of this study were to process corncob into corncob powder (CCP) and to apply CCP in the formulation of instant cereal beverage (ICB) in order to produce high fibre ICB, and to investigate the physicochemical and sensory properties of the corncob-based instant cereal beverage. Corncobs were sourced and washed thoroughly before drying and grinding into CCP. CCP was then imparted into ICB formulation in three different ratios (10, 20 and 30% w/w) to partially substitute corn flour in the formulation. All four ICB samples including the commercial counterpart were analysed for their physicochemical and sensory properties. The incorporation of CCP has affected the viscosity, colour and sensory attributes significantly of the produced ICB. Higher contents of CCP in the formulation was found to be responsible for less viscous and browner effect compared to the commercial ICB samples. Formulation of ICB incorporated with 30% w/w CCP had the highest mean scores (6.00, p<0.05) of overall acceptability among all the other formulations and it was comparable to the commercial ICB in the current market