Advanced load-shift system: an experimental validation of the ac-dc converter as shunt active power filter

This paper presents a load-shift system with advanced functionalities to interface the power grid (PG). When compared with the conventional approach, an advanced load-shift system (aLSS) permits the compensation of power quality (PQ) problems for the grid-side, namely problems related to current harmonics, current imbalance, and power factor. The proposed aLSS is composed by a bidirectional ac-dc converter to interface the PG and by a bidirectional dc-dc converter to interface an energy storage system (ESS). Since the main innovation is related with the PG interface, the focus of this work is on the analysis of the ac-dc converter, which is based on a three-phase four-leg converter. A theoretical study and the details concerning the control algorithm are presented and discussed along the paper. A laboratory prototype of the proposed aLSS was developed and the details of implementation are described in the paper. Experimental results obtained with the developed prototype prove that the aLSS contributes for the technology progress in this area, validating a new concept of operation concerning the PQ on the PG side.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia with-in the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019. This work has been supported by the FCT Project QUALITY4POWER PTDC/EEI-EEE/28813/2017, and by the FCT Project newERA4GRIDs PTDC/EEI-EEE/30283/2017

Choice biases in no-sample and delay testing in pigeons (Columba livia)

In experimental tasks that involve stimuli that vary along a quantitative continuum, some choice biases are commonly found. Take, for instance, a matching-to-sample task where animals must, following the presentation of sample stimuli (that differ in duration), choose between two or more comparison stimuli. In tests where no sample is presented there is usually a bias towards the comparison that is correct following the shortest sample. To examine some aspects of these choice biases, pigeons were trained in a symbolic matching-to-sample task with two durations of keylight as samples, where key pecking had to be maintained during sample presentation. Firstly, even though animals were required to attend to the sample, a preference for the "short" comparison in no-sample testing was found. This result disproves an account where this effect was hypothesized to happen due to non-programmed learning resulting from the animals failing to attend to some trials. Secondly, even though a bias for "short" was found in both no-sample and delay testing, the extent of the biases differed between tasks, thus suggesting that forgetting the sample presented during a delay does not necessarily land the animal in a state similar to presenting no sample at all to begin with.The present study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds. It was also co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)-through COMPETE2020-under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)

A low-carbohydrate diet may prevent end-stage renal failure in type 2 diabetes. A case report

An obese patient with type 2 diabetes whose diet was changed from the recommended high-carbohydrate, low-fat type to a low-carbohydrate diet showed a significant reduction in bodyweight, improved glycemic control and a reversal of a six year long decline of renal function. The reversal of the renal function was likely caused by both improved glycemic control and elimination of the patient's obesity. Insulin treatment in type 2 diabetes patients usually leads to weight increase which may cause further injury to the kidney. Although other unknown metabolic mechanisms cannot be excluded, it is likely that the obesity caused by the combination of high-carbohydrate diet and insulin in this case contributed to the patient's deteriorating kidney function. In such patients, where control of bodyweight and hyperglycemia is vital, a trial with a low-carbohydrate diet may be appropriate to avoid the risk of adding obesity-associated renal failure to already failing kidneys

Evolutionary and pulsational properties of white dwarf stars

Abridged. White dwarf stars are the final evolutionary stage of the vast majority of stars, including our Sun. The study of white dwarfs has potential applications to different fields of astrophysics. In particular, they can be used as independent reliable cosmic clocks, and can also provide valuable information about the fundamental parameters of a wide variety of stellar populations, like our Galaxy and open and globular clusters. In addition, the high densities and temperatures characterizing white dwarfs allow to use these stars as cosmic laboratories for studying physical processes under extreme conditions that cannot be achieved in terrestrial laboratories. They can be used to constrain fundamental properties of elementary particles such as axions and neutrinos, and to study problems related to the variation of fundamental constants. In this work, we review the essentials of the physics of white dwarf stars. Special emphasis is placed on the physical processes that lead to the formation of white dwarfs as well as on the different energy sources and processes responsible for chemical abundance changes that occur along their evolution. Moreover, in the course of their lives, white dwarfs cross different pulsational instability strips. The existence of these instability strips provides astronomers with an unique opportunity to peer into their internal structure that would otherwise remain hidden from observers. We will show that this allows to measure with unprecedented precision the stellar masses and to infer their envelope thicknesses, to probe the core chemical stratification, and to detect rotation rates and magnetic fields. Consequently, in this work, we also review the pulsational properties of white dwarfs and the most recent applications of white dwarf asteroseismology.Comment: 85 pages, 28 figures. To be published in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Revie

High sample throughput genotyping for estimating C-lineage introgression in the dark honeybee: an accurate and cost-effective SNP-based tool

The natural distribution of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) has been changed by humans in recent decades to such an extent that the formerly widest-spread European subspecies, Apis mellifera mellifera, is threatened by extinction through introgression from highly divergent commercial strains in large tracts of its range. Conservation efforts for A. m. mellifera are underway in multiple European countries requiring reliable and cost-efficient molecular tools to identify purebred colonies. Here, we developed four ancestry-informative SNP assays for high sample throughput genotyping using the iPLEX Mass Array system. Our customized assays were tested on DNA from individual and pooled, haploid and diploid honeybee samples extracted from different tissues using a diverse range of protocols. The assays had a high genotyping success rate and yielded accurate genotypes. Performance assessed against whole-genome data showed that individual assays behaved well, although the most accurate introgression estimates were obtained for the four assays combined (117 SNPs). The best compromise between accuracy and genotyping costs was achieved when combining two assays (62 SNPs). We provide a ready-to-use cost-effective tool for accurate molecular identification and estimation oinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CHARITY: Chagas cardiomyopathy bisoprolol intervention study: a randomized double-blind placebo force-titration controlled study with Bisoprolol in patients with chronic heart failure secondary to Chagas cardiomyopathy [NCT00323973]

BACKGROUND: Chagas' disease is the major cause of disability secondary to tropical diseases in young adults from Latin America, and around 20 million people are currently infected by T. cruzi. Heart failure due to Chagas cardiomyopathy is the main clinical presenation in Colombia. Heart failure due to Chagas' disease may respond to digoxin, diuretics and vasodilator therapy. Beta-adrenoreceptor antagonism seems to protect against the increased risk of cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death due to chronic sympathetic stimulation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the selective beta-adrenergic receptor blocker Bisoprolol on cardiovascular mortality, hospital readmission due to progressive heart failure and functional status in patients with heart failure secondary to Chagas' cardiomyopathy. METHODS/DESIGN: A cohort of 500 T. cruzi seropositive patients (250 per arm) will be selected from several institutions in Colombia. During the pretreatment period an initial evaluation visit will be scheduled in which participants will sign consent forms and baseline measurements and tests will be conducted including blood pressure measurements, twelve-lead ECG and left ventricular ejection fraction assessment by 2D echocardiography. Quality of life questionnaire will be performed two weeks apart during baseline examination using the "Minnesota living with heart failure" questionnaire. A minimum of two 6 minutes corridor walk test once a week over a two-week period will be performed to measure functional class. During the treatment period patients will be randomly assigned to receive Bisoprolol or placebo, initially taking a total daily dose of 2.5 mgrs qd. The dose will be increased every two weeks to 5, 7.5 and 10 mgrs qd (maximum maintenance dose). Follow-up assessment will include clinical check-up, and blood collection for future measurements of inflammatory reactants and markers. Quality of life measurements will be obtained at six months. This study will allow us to explore the effect of beta-blockers in chagas' cardiomyopathy

A patient perspective of the impact of medication side effects on adherence: results of a cross-sectional nationwide survey of patients with schizophrenia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antipsychotic medications often have a variety of side effects, however, it is not well understood how the presence of specific side effects correlate with adherence in a real-world setting. The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between these variables among community-dwelling patients with schizophrenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were analyzed from a 2007-2008 nationwide survey of adults who self-reported a diagnosis of schizophrenia and were currently using an antipsychotic medication (N = 876). The presence of side effects was defined as those in which the patient reported they were at least "somewhat bothered". Adherence was defined as a score of zero on the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. To assess the relationship between side effects and adherence, individual logistic regression models were fitted for each side effect controlling for patient characteristics. A single logistic regression model assessed the relationship between side effect clusters and adherence. The relationships between adherence and health resource use were also examined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A majority of patients reported experiencing at least one side effect due to their medication (86.19%). Only 42.5% reported complete adherence. Most side effects were associated with a significantly reduced likelihood of adherence. When grouped as side effect clusters in a single model, extra pyramidal symptoms (EPS)/agitation (odds ratio (OR) = 0.57, p = 0.0007), sedation/cognition (OR = 0.70, p = 0.033), prolactin/endocrine (OR = 0.69, p = 0.0342), and metabolic side effects (OR = 0.64, p = 0.0079) were all significantly related with lower rates of adherence. Those who reported complete adherence to their medication were significantly less likely to report a hospitalization for a mental health reason (OR = 0.51, p = 0.0006), a hospitalization for a non-mental health reason (OR = 0.43, p = 0.0002), and an emergency room (ER) visit for a mental health reason (OR = 0.60, p = 0.008).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Among patients with schizophrenia, medication side effects are highly prevalent and significantly associated with medication nonadherence. Nonadherence is significantly associated with increased healthcare resource use. Prevention, identification, and effective management of medication-induced side effects are important to maximize adherence and reduce health resource use in schizophrenia.</p

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Measures in Visualization Space

Postponed access: the file will be available after 2021-08-12Measurement is an integral part of modern science, providing the fundamental means for evaluation, comparison, and prediction. In the context of visualization, several different types of measures have been proposed, ranging from approaches that evaluate particular aspects of visualization techniques, their perceptual characteristics, and even economic factors. Furthermore, there are approaches that attempt to provide means for measuring general properties of the visualization process as a whole. Measures can be quantitative or qualitative, and one of the primary goals is to provide objective means for reasoning about visualizations and their effectiveness. As such, they play a central role in the development of scientific theories for visualization. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the current state of the art, survey and classify different types of visualization measures, characterize their strengths and drawbacks, and provide an outline of open challenges for future research.acceptedVersio

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT