Comparative aspects in control strategies for hybrid DC-DC converters

Linear-switching hybrid DC/DC converters consist of a voltage linear regulator (classic NPN or nMOS topologies and LDO) connected in parallel with a switching DC/DC converter. In order to control these hybrid structures, different strategies exist, allowing to fix the switching frequency as a function of some parameters of the linear regulator. This article compares two control strategies that, although can be applied to the same circuital structure of linear-assisted converter, are sensibly different. The first one, reported in previous literature, cancels completely the average current through the linear regulator in steady state to achieve a reduction of the losses. Thus the efficiency of the whole system increases and almost equals the one of the standalone switching converter. The proposed approach, in spite of a slightly increment of linear regulator’s losses, reduces the output ripple due to the crossover distortion of linear regulator output stage.Postprint (published version

Solar energy systems course for Energy Engineering students in the context of the European higher education area

The Bologna Process is a voluntary intergovernmental European cooperation initiative that led to the creation of the named European Higher Education Area (EHEA). EHEA was formed to promote mobility, increase academic recognition and attract students and staff from around the world to Europe. In this framework, since 2009, the Barcelona College of Industrial Engineering (Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Técnica Industrial de Barcelona – EUETIB) of the Technical University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (UPC) is offering the 4-year Bachelor Degree in Energy Engineering since 2009 with a total number of ECTS credits of 240. Current article deals with the inclusion of the sizing and design of solar energy systems in the context of this degree. In particular, and although this topic was eventually abandoned in the initial degree curriculum, the paper deals with the development of a 3rd-year course, Energy Integration, that focuses on this topic.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit: A Status Update

Highlights progress made in improving nuclear material security since the April 2010 summit, including in implementation of national commitments to secure or end production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium and to convert or shut down reactors

IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THE POULTRY SECDTOR IN ARGENTINA

The Argentine “industrial aviculture” started by 1960. The great development of the poultry sector was during the 1990s as a consequence of the direct price transfer due to technological and organizational improvements achieved in the sector. The objective of this paper is to identify how leadership and entrepreneurship have been important elements in the development of the Argentine poultry sector. The poultry sector is one of the faster development in Argentina and one that offers higher quality. This was achieved only because of great coordination due to leadership and entrepreneurship both at micro and macro level.Coordination, Innovations, Social Capital, Livestock Production/Industries,

El gènere decapitat

L'article reprèn la qüestió de la presència dels trobadors en la Divina Comèdia de Dante, focalitzant l'atenció en el cas cèlebre de Bertran de Born. A partir d'una certa imatge típica del trobador exemplificada a l'obra d'Alfons Serra-Baldó i deutora en gran part de la menció dantesca, es busca argumentar quines són les modalitats i dinàmiques compositives de la intensa intertextualitat que caracteritza l'obra de Dante: tant pel que fa a la il·lustració d'aspectes rellevants de l'estratègia i la història de la composició de la Comèdia, com pel que fa a una consideració genèrica dels fenòmens lligats a la intertextualitat.This article revisits the topic of the troubadours presence in Dante's Divina Commedia, focusing on the famous case of Bertran de Born. On the basis of a certain typical image of the troubadour, as found for instance in Alfons Serra-Baldó's book-an image very much indebted to Dante's passage-the article attempts an appraisal of the modes and the compositional dynamics of the intense intertextuality so characteristic of Dante's poem, both from the point of view of the compositional strategy and history of the Commedia and from that of intertextuality and related aspects in general

Beatrice en Demian de Hermann Hesse

One of the chapters of Demian by Hermann Hesse presents a feminine figure that the main character secretly calls Beatrice. Departing from this episode’s narrative implications in the system of the novel, this article aims to emphasize the potential meaning of the reference to Dante’s work in order to add it to other more immediate elements such as the implicit echoes of Jungian psychology, often used in critical literature, or the text’s explicit reference to pre-Raphaelite aesthetics

Nostos y Laberinto

Las múltiples referencias en la obra de Vincenzo Consolo al tema clásico del viaje de regreso y en especial al de Ulises pueden ser consideradas como un auténtico leitmotiv. En la cita reiterada al nostos homérico se puede observar como el autor siciliano elabora una constelación de preocupaciones que se revela fundamental en su actividad narrativa y ensayística. Confluyen en este nucleo haces provenientes de un amplio espectro extendido entre lo más explícitamente político o ético-moral y la reflexión más íntima acerca del objeto artístico, pasando por aspectos centrales en Consolo como los de tipo existencial, la inquietud por el territorio o los relacionados con la destrucción estilística y formal de la novela tradicional, entre otros. El artículo parte de la descripción de esta realidad, y los análisis críticos que han discurrido sobre ella, para intentar trazar un paralelismo entre ésta y el uso del tema del laberinto en Consolo, tomando como foco principal de atención el episodio de la cárcel-espiral que aparece en la parte final de Il sorriso dell'ignoto marinaio.The numerous references in the work of Vincenzo Consolo to the classic notion of the homeward journey, in particular that of Ulysses, could be considered an authentic leitmotiv. Through his repeated references to Homer's nostos, one can see how the Sicilian author develops a myriad of concerns that turn out to be essential to his storytelling and essays. Within this nucleus we can find beams flooding in from a broad spectrum, spanning that which is most assertively political or ethical/moral, as well as the most intimate reflections on the object of art, whilst also encompassing core aspects of Consolo's work, such as existentialism, concerns over land or those related to the formal and stylistic destruction of the traditional novel, amongst other things. The article starts out with a description of this reality, together with the critical analyses it has attracted, the aim being the attempt to trace a parallel between such reality and Consolo's use of the labyrinth theme, taking the episode of the prison-spiral, which appears in the final part of Il sorriso dell'ignoto marinaio (The Smile of the Unknown Mariner), as the main focus of attention