609 research outputs found
Superconducting properties of the In-substituted topological crystalline insulator, SnTe
We report detailed investigations of the properties of a superconductor obtained by substituting In at the Sn site in the topological crystalline insulator (TCI), SnTe. Transport, magnetization and heat capacity measurements have been performed on crystals of SnInTe, which is shown to be a bulk superconductor with at ~K and at ~K. The upper and lower critical fields are estimated to be ~T and ~mT respectively, while indicates this material is a strongly type II superconductor
Influence of the Secondary Arc on the Operation of Single Phase Autoreclosure of the 400 kV interconnection between Hungary and Croatia
Faults on EHV lines are generally single-phase-to-ground ones and not permanent in the majority of
cases. Thus single phase auto reclosure (SPAR), at which the faulty phases are tripped for a short time,
eliminates the predominant part of the faults [1,2]. The secondary arc, which follows the high power
arc after tripping the faulty phases at both side of the line may endanger the successfulness of
reclosing if the duration of the switched off interval (dead time) is not long enough to ensure the
extinction of the arc. The secondary arcing times recorded on different EHV lines or measured in
laboratory tests show significant spread, consequently, to select a dead time according to the longest
experimental secondary arc extinction time is not feasible.
During commissioning of the double circuit 420 kV interconnection between Hungary and Croatia
several staged faults were initiated to analyze the arc extinction performance. Initially the line was in
operation by connecting the two circuits in parallel along the 1/3rd of the full length. In this
configuration the longest secondary arc extinction time was 4 seconds and the secondary arc has not
extinguished in 27s in one of the tests, so the line had to be tripped out to clear the staged fault. Later
on, the length of the Croatian section of the line has been significantly shortened after putting a new
substation into service. The increased performance of SPAR of the new arrangement has been proved
with field tests.
A realistic representation of the secondary arcs is essential in determining the auto-reclosure
performance of EHV transmission lines. As shown in the paper, the random variation of the arc
parameters influences significantly the arc extinction time. The results of the field tests confirmed the
importance of the distributed nature of the transmission line and the nonlinear characteristic of the arc
resistance in the intermittent region of arcing, where temporary extinctions and sudden re-ignitions in
the arc channel produce transient wave processes along the line
Giant crystal-electric-field effect and complex magnetic behavior in single-crystalline CeRh3Si2
Single-crystalline CeRh3Si2 was investigated by means of x-ray diffraction,
magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, electrical resistivity, and specific
heat measurements carried out in wide temperature and magnetic field ranges.
Moreover, the electronic structure of the compound was studied at room
temperature by cerium core-level x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The
physical properties were analyzed in terms of crystalline electric field and
compared with results of ab-initio band structure calculations performed within
the density functional theory approach. The compound was found to crystallize
in the orthorhombic unit cell of the ErRh3Si2 type (space group Imma -- No.74,
Pearson symbol: oI24) with the lattice parameters: a = 7.1330(14) A, b =
9.7340(19) A, and c = 5.6040(11) A. Analysis of the magnetic and XPS data
revealed the presence of well localized magnetic moments of trivalent cerium
ions. All physical properties were found to be highly anisotropic over the
whole temperature range studied, and influenced by exceptionally strong
crystalline electric field with the overall splitting of the 4f1 ground
multiplet exceeding 5700 K. Antiferromagnetic order of the cerium magnetic
moments at TN = 4.70(1)K and their subsequent spin rearrangement at Tt =
4.48(1) K manifest themselves as distinct anomalies in the temperature
characteristics of all investigated physical properties and exhibit complex
evolution in an external magnetic field. A tentative magnetic B-T phase
diagram, constructed for B parallel to the b-axis being the easy magnetization
direction, shows very complex magnetic behavior of CeRh3Si2, similar to that
recently reported for an isostructural compound CeIr3Si2. The electronic band
structure calculations corroborated the antiferromagnetic ordering of the
cerium magnetic moments and well reproduced the experimental XPS valence band
spectrum.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, to appear in Physical Review
A QUASI-STATIC MODELLING APPROACH OF AIRBORNE POWER SYSTEMS
Abstract Modelling the whole power system of an airborne system requires very high computational capacity. This paper presents a possible approach to overcome this obstacle when considering new technology and topologies in airborne systems. Using Step-down and step-up voltage converters are described as fictive DC/DC transformers. This approach makes it possible to reduce the complexity of power system models of tentative systems to such extent that the resulting computational tool can be used for studies of the system performance during entire flight missions and/or for optimisation
Rotary moulding of ceramic hollow wares
A novel processing method for the fast and economic production of hollow ceramic components has been developed by combining in-situ coagulation moulding with a modified version of the technique of rotary moulding, the latter being adapted from the polymer industry. The process was found to require a high solids content suspension, hence development work was performed in this direction though in the end a new, commercial suspension was utilised. Of the three forming routes of gel casting, direct coagulation casting and in-situ coagulation moulding, the latter was found to be the most promising for the new process of rotary moulding of ceramics. Due to the low value of clay-based ceramics, a new low cost coagulant was identified and the effect of lactone concentration and temperature on setting time determined.
Following substantial optimisation work, it was found that a two-speed approach to multi-axial rotation was the most successful; medium sized cream jugs could be produced in just 7 minutes. With respect to mould materials, the porous resin normally used for pressure casting of sanitary ware was found to be the best option, though since this is quite expensive conventional plaster-of-paris moulds were found to be a suitable material to enable companies, particularly SMEs, to become familiar with the technology whilst avoiding high costs for trials. The processed articles could be successfully fired and glazed using gas-fired kilns with no sign of any black cores.
Major advantages of the process include the ability to precisely calculate the amount of ceramic slip required, eliminating either slip wastage or the need to pour used slip back into the virgin material as currently happens with slip casting. In addition, since the precursor suspension has a very high solids content, the time and energy required to dry the green product and associated moulds has been considerably reduced
A Cooperative Control Framework For Haptic Guidance Of Bimanual Surgical Tasks Based On Learning From Demonstration
Whilst current minimally invasive surgical robots
offer many advantages to the surgeon, most of them are still
controlled using the traditional master-slave approach, without
fully exploiting the complementary strengths of both the
human user and the robot. This paper proposes a framework
that provides a cooperative control approach to human-robot
interaction. Typical teleoperation is enhanced by incorporating
haptic guidance-based feedback for surgical tasks, which are
demonstrated to and learned by the robot. Safety in the
surgical scene is maintained during reproduction of the learned
tasks by including the surgeon in the guided execution of the
learned task at all times. Continuous Hidden Markov Models
are used for task learning, real-time learned task recognition
and generating setpoint trajectories for haptic guidance.
Two different surgical training tasks were demonstrated and
encoded by the system, and the framework was evaluated using
the Raven II surgical robot research platform. The results
indicate an improvement in user task performance with the
haptic guidance in comparison to unguided teleoperation
Patterns and trends of utilization of incretin-based medicines between 2008 and 2014 in three Italian geographic areas
Background: The incretin-based medicines GLP1 analogues (GLP1a) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4i) are hypoglycaemic agents licensed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Although these drugs possess comparable efficacy and low risk of hypoglycaemia, differences in terms of route of administration (subcutaneous versus oral), effect on body weight and gastrointestinal tolerabily can impact their actual use in clinical practice. This study aimed to describe the real-world utilization of incretin-based medicines in the Italian clinical practice. Methods: A multi-database, population-based, descriptive, cohort study was performed using administrative data collected between 2008 and 2014 from three Italian geographic areas. Subjects aged 6518 were selected. New users were defined as those with 651 dispensing of GLP1a or DPP4i during the year of interest and none in the past. Trends of cumulative annual incidence of use in the general adult population were observed. New users of GLP1a or DPP4i were respectively described in terms of demographic characteristics and use of antidiabetic drugs during 1 year before and after the first incretin dispensing. Results: The overall study population included 4,943,952 subjects. A total of 7357 new users of GLP1a and 41,907 of DPP4i were identified during the study period. Incidence of use increased between 2008 (0.2\u2030 for both GLP1a and DPP4i) and 2011 (GLP1a = 0.6\u2030; DPP4i = 2.5\u2030) and slightly decreased thereafter. In 2014, 61% of new GLP1a users received once-daily liraglutide while 52% of new DPP4i users received metformin/DPP4i in fixed-dose. The percentage of new DPP4i users older than 65 years of age increased from 30.9 to 62.6% during the study period. Around 12% of new users had not received any antidiabetic before starting an incretin. Conclusions: During the study period, DPP4i rapidly became the most prescribed incretin-based medicine, particularly among older new user. The choice of the specific incretin-based medicine at first prescription appeared to be directed towards those with higher convenience of use (e.g. oral DPP4i rather than subcutaneous GLP1a, once-daily liraglutide rather than twice-daily exenatide). The non-negligibile use of incretin-based medicines as first-line pharmacotherapy for T2DM warrants further effectiveness and safety evaluations to better define their place in therapy
Structure-based design and synthesis of antiparasitic pyrrolopyrimidines targeting pteridine reductase 1
The treatment of Human African Trypanosomiasis remains a major unmet health need in sub-Saharan Africa. Approaches involving new molecular targets are important and pteridine reductase 1 (PTR1), an enzyme that reduces dihydrobiopterin in Trypanosoma spp. has been identified as a candidate target and it has been shown previously that substituted pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidines are inhibitors of PTR1 from T. brucei (J. Med. Chem. 2010, 53, 221-229). In this study, 61 new pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidines have been prepared, designed with input from new crystal structures of 23 of these compounds complexed with PTR1, and evaluated in screens for enzyme inhibitory activity against PTR1 and in vitro antitrypanosomal activity. 8 compounds were sufficiently active in both screens to take forward to in vivo evaluation. Thus although evidence for trypanocidal activity in a stage I disease model in mice was obtained, the compounds were too toxic to mice for further development
Amygdala Nuclei Volumes Are Selectively Associated With Social Network Size in Homeless and Precariously Housed Persons
Objective: The amygdala is a brain region comprised of a group of functionally distinct nuclei that play a central role in social behavior. In homeless and precariously housed individuals, high rates of multimorbidity, and structural aspects of the environment may dysregulate social functioning. This study examined the neurobiological substrates of social connection in homeless and precariously housed persons by examining associations between amygdala nuclei volumes and social network size.
Methods: Sixty participants (mean age 43.6 years; 73.3% male) were enrolled from an ongoing study of homeless and precariously housed adults in Vancouver, Canada. Social network size was assessed using the Arizona Social Support Interview Schedule. Amygdala nuclei volumes were extracted from anatomic T1-weighted MRI data. The central and basolateral amygdala nuclei were selected as they are implicated in anxiety-related and social behaviors. The hippocampus was included as a control brain region. Multivariable regression analysis investigated the relationship between amygdala nuclei volumes and social network size.
Results: After controlling for age, sex, and total brain volume, individuals with the larger amygdala and central nucleus volumes had a larger network size. This association was not observed for the basolateral amygdala complex, though subsequent analysis found the basal and accessory basal nuclei of the basolateral amygdala were significantly associated with social network size. No association was found for the lateral amygdala nucleus or hippocampus.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that select amygdala nuclei may be differentially involved in the social connections of persons with multimorbid illness and social marginalization
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