Design and Implementation of a Germicidal UVC-LED Lamp

In the last years, low pressure ozone UVC mercury germicidal lamps have been widely used to decontaminate air, surfaces, and water. This technology is mature, and it has been widely used during the pandemic as a measure against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19; because the exposure of this virus to the wavelength wave of 254 nm has been proven to be an effective way to eliminate it. However, the Minamata Convention in 2013 decided to limit mercury lamps by 2020; therefore, the development of new technology devices based on UVC-LEDs (short-wave ultraviolet, light-emitting diodes) are receiving a lot of attention. Today, this technology is commercially available from 265 to 300 nm peak wavelengths, and recently up to 254 nm. Notwithstanding, due to the characteristics of these LEDs, arrangements with a precisely dosed power supply are regularly required to provide effective decontamination. Thus, this article reports the design and implementation of a power electronic converter for an array of 254 nm UVC-LEDs, which can be used to decontaminate from SARS-CoV-2 in a safe way

Power Losses Models for Magnetic Cores: A Review

In power electronics, magnetic components are fundamental, and, unfortunately, represent one of the greatest challenges for designers because they are some of the components that lead the opposition to miniaturization and the main source of losses (both electrical and thermal). The use of ferromagnetic materials as substitutes for ferrite, in the core of magnetic components, has been proposed as a solution to this problem, and with them, a new perspective and methodology in the calculation of power losses open the way to new design proposals and challenges to overcome. Achieving a core losses model that combines all the parameters (electric, magnetic, thermal) needed in power electronic applications is a challenge. The main objective of this work is to position the reader in state-of-the-art for core losses models. This last provides, in one source, tools and techniques to develop magnetic solutions towards miniaturization applications. Details about new proposals, materials used, design steps, software tools, and miniaturization examples are provided

GPS Data Correction Based on Fuzzy Logic for Tracking Land Vehicles

GPS sensors are widely used to know a vehicle’s location and to track its route. Although GPS sensor technology is advancing, they present systematic failures depending on the environmental conditions to which they are subjected. To tackle this problem, we propose an intelligent system based on fuzzy logic, which takes the information from the sensors and correct the vehicle’s absolute position according to its latitude and longitude. This correction is performed by two fuzzy systems, one to correct the latitude and the other to correct the longitude, which are trained using the MATLAB ANFIS tool. The positioning correction system is trained and tested with two different datasets. One of them collected with a Pmod GPS sensor and the other a public dataset, which was taken from routes in Brazil. To compare our proposal, an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) was implemented. The main finding is that the proposed fuzzy systems achieve a performance of 69.2% higher than the UKF. Furthermore, fuzzy systems are suitable to implement in an embedded system such as the Raspberry Pi 4. Another finding is that the logical operations facilitate the creation of non-linear functions because of the ‘if else’ structure. Finally, the existence justification of each fuzzy system section is easy to understand

Enhanced infection prophylaxis reduces mortality in severely immunosuppressed HIV-infected adults and older children initiating antiretroviral therapy in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe: the REALITY trial

Meeting abstract FRAB0101LB from 21st International AIDS Conference 18–22 July 2016, Durban, South Africa. Introduction: Mortality from infections is high in the first 6 months of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease in sub‐Saharan Africa. Whether an enhanced package of infection prophylaxis at ART initiation would reduce mortality is unknown. Methods: The REALITY 2×2×2 factorial open‐label trial (ISRCTN43622374) randomized ART‐naïve HIV‐infected adults and children >5 years with CD4 <100 cells/mm3. This randomization compared initiating ART with enhanced prophylaxis (continuous cotrimoxazole plus 12 weeks isoniazid/pyridoxine (anti‐tuberculosis) and fluconazole (anti‐cryptococcal/candida), 5 days azithromycin (anti‐bacterial/protozoal) and single‐dose albendazole (anti‐helminth)), versus standard‐of‐care cotrimoxazole. Isoniazid/pyridoxine/cotrimoxazole was formulated as a scored fixed‐dose combination. Two other randomizations investigated 12‐week adjunctive raltegravir or supplementary food. The primary endpoint was 24‐week mortality. Results: 1805 eligible adults (n = 1733; 96.0%) and children/adolescents (n = 72; 4.0%) (median 36 years; 53.2% male) were randomized to enhanced (n = 906) or standard prophylaxis (n = 899) and followed for 48 weeks (3.8% loss‐to‐follow‐up). Median baseline CD4 was 36 cells/mm3 (IQR: 16–62) but 47.3% were WHO Stage 1/2. 80 (8.9%) enhanced versus 108(12.2%) standard prophylaxis died before 24 weeks (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.54–0.97) p = 0.03; Figure 1) and 98(11.0%) versus 127(14.4%) respectively died before 48 weeks (aHR = 0.75 (0.58–0.98) p = 0.04), with no evidence of interaction with the two other randomizations (p > 0.8). Enhanced prophylaxis significantly reduced incidence of tuberculosis (p = 0.02), cryptococcal disease (p = 0.01), oral/oesophageal candidiasis (p = 0.02), deaths of unknown cause (p = 0.02) and (marginally) hospitalisations (p = 0.06) but not presumed severe bacterial infections (p = 0.38). Serious and grade 4 adverse events were marginally less common with enhanced prophylaxis (p = 0.06). CD4 increases and VL suppression were similar between groups (p > 0.2). Conclusions: Enhanced infection prophylaxis at ART initiation reduces early mortality by 25% among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease. The pill burden did not adversely affect VL suppression. Policy makers should consider adopting and implementing this low‐cost broad infection prevention package which could save 3.3 lives for every 100 individuals treated