The Pulsed Power Converter and Septum Magnet System for Injection into the Electron Storage Ring at ESRF

At ESRF, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, electrons are accelerated, via a 200 MeV Linac and a 6 GeV synchrotron booster, and injected into the storage ring at 10 Hz rate. Two thin septum blade magnets and an eddy current sheet type septum magnet provide the final deflection of the injected beam. The operational requirements of the e- injection scheme and the resulting demanding hardware specifications are recalled. The pulsed septum magnets are briefly described. The design, circuit layout and construction of the power converters are related with emphasis on innovative aspects of general interest. Results of tests during commissioning are reported

Power Converters of the Main Dipole and Quadrupole Magnet Strings of the Antiproton Decelerator at CERN

The two main power converters for the dipoles (D) and quadrupoles (Q) are presented as part of the complex power converter system of the Antiproton Decelerator. The operational requirements and the performance specifications for deceleration from 3.5 to 0.1 GeV/c are discussed. The layout and design of the power part, consisting of a 12-pulse thyristor rectifier and a switch-mode parallel active filter (AF), and of the precision regulation are described. The alternatives for integrating the AF into the current and voltage regulation loops are outlined. Problems encountered and results of tests are reported

Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution

Polymers shape human life but they also have been identified as pollutants in the oceans due to their long lifetime and low degradability. Recently, various researchers have studied the impact of (micro)plastics on marine life, biodiversity, and potential toxicity. Even if the consequences are still heavily discussed, prevention of unnecessary waste is desired. Especially, newly designed polymers that degrade in seawater are discussed as potential alternatives to commodity polymers in certain applications. Biodegradable polymers that degrade in vivo (used for biomedical applications) or during composting often exhibit too slow degradation rates in seawater. To date, no comprehensive summary for the degradation performance of polymers in seawater has been reported, nor are the studies for seawater-degradation following uniform standards. This review summarizes concepts, mechanisms, and other factors affecting the degradation process in seawater of several biodegradable polymers or polymer blends. As most of such materials cannot degrade or degrade too slowly, strategies and innovative routes for the preparation of seawater-degradable polymers with rapid degradation in natural environments are reviewed. It is believed that this selection will help to further understand and drive the development of seawater-degradable polymers

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LOW BACK TRAINING PROGRAMS ON LUMBAR SPINE KINESTHESIA

Reduced kinesthetic perceptions can impair lower back sensorimotor functions and result in increased injury risk. The effect of low back training programs on lumbar spine kinesthetic sensibility is undetermined. There was a back strengthening exercise group (with low back pain; training 4.4 h/wk), a “classical” back training program group (with low back pain; training 4.9 h/wk) and a control group (training 5.4 h/wk). During an active reproduction test, subjects performed trunk positions in random order: flexion [A(0°-20°), B(20°-40°)], lateral flexion [C(0°-30°)], Using a 3D-ultrasound motion analysis system the repositioning error was calculated from the given target position to the subject perceived target position, before and after a 5 week training period. Results show decreased repositioning error after the training for both training groups

Large Signal Model of a Four-quadrant AC to DC Converter for Accelerator Magnets

This paper presents the large signal model of a four-quadrant AC to DC converter, which is expected to be used in the area of particle accelerators. The system’s first stage is composed of a three-phase boost PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) rectifier with DSP (Digital Signal Processing) based power factor correction (PFC) and output voltage regulation. The second stage is a full-bridge PWM inverter that allows fast four-quadrant operation. The structure is fully reversible, and an additional resistance (brake chopper) is not needed to dissipate the energy when the beam deflection magnet acts as generator

Evaluating the semantic web: a task-based approach

The increased availability of online knowledge has led to the design of several algorithms that solve a variety of tasks by harvesting the Semantic Web, i.e. by dynamically selecting and exploring a multitude of online ontologies. Our hypothesis is that the performance of such novel algorithms implicity provides an insight into the quality of the used ontologies and thus opens the way to a task-based evaluation of the Semantic Web. We have investigated this hypothesis by studying the lessons learnt about online ontologies when used to solve three tasks: ontology matching, folksonomy enrichment, and word sense disambiguation. Our analysis leads to a suit of conclusions about the status of the Semantic Web, which highlight a number of strengths and weaknesses of the semantic information available online and complement the findings of other analysis of the Semantic Web landscape