Comparative Analysis among DSP and FPGA-based Control Capabilities in PWM Power Converters

PWM power converters are close to be mature for standard diffusion. New FPGA technologies could now realise at best the digital control key-points: flexible performance and time to market. The paper deals with the new digital control properties of FPGA-based techniques. On the basis of reference structures, a comparative analysis is carried-out trading-off dynamic performances and immunity to PWM environment. All possible sampled control or DSP techniques are firstly analysed and compared to each other. A breakthrough concept for FPGAs is defined, definitely solving for PWM feedback immunity by practical over-sampling and parallel processing while improving dynamic performances. Simulation tests and the application of dead-beat control clearly point-out the respective dynamic properties

Dimension reduction for the micromagnetic energy functional on curved thin films

Micromagnetic con gurations of the vortex and onion type have beenwidely studied in the context of planar structures. Recently a signi cant interest to micromagnetic curved thin lms has appeared. In particular, thin spherical shells are currently of great interest due to their capability to support skyrmion solutions which can be stabilized by curvature e ects only, in contrast to the planar case where the intrinsic Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction is required.The aimof the paper is to performa $\Gamma$-development analysis of the micromagnetic energy functional, when the shell is generated, like in the case of a sphere, by a bounded and convex smooth surface

Dimension reduction for the micromagnetic energy functional on curved thin films

Micromagnetic con gurations of the vortex and onion type have beenwidely studied in the context of planar structures. Recently a signi cant interest to micromagnetic curved thin lms has appeared. In particular, thin spherical shells are currently of great interest due to their capability to support skyrmion solutions which can be stabilized by curvature e ects only, in contrast to the planar case where the intrinsic Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction is required.The aimof the paper is to performa $\Gamma$-development analysis of the micromagnetic energy functional, when the shell is generated, like in the case of a sphere, by a bounded and convex smooth surface

Travelling Together: A Unifying Pathomechanism for ALS

Axonal transport is critical for neuronal homeostasis and relies on motor complexes bound to cargoes via specific adaptors. However, the mechanisms responsible for the spatiotemporal regulation of axonal transport are not completely understood. A recent study by Liao et al. contributes to filling this gap by reporting that RNA granules ‘hitchhike’ on LAMP1-positive organelles using annexin A11 as a tether

Landau-de Gennes Corrections to the Oseen-Frank Theory of Nematic Liquid Crystals

We study the asymptotic behavior of the minimisers of the Landau-de Gennes model for nematic liquid crystals in a two-dimensional domain in the regime of small elastic constant. At leading order in the elasticity constant, the minimum-energy configurations can be described by the simpler Oseen-Frank theory. Using a refined notion of Γ-development we recover Landau-de Gennes corrections to the Oseen-Frank energy. We provide an explicit characterisation of minimizing Q-tensors at this order in terms of optimal Oseen-Frank directors and observe the emerging biaxiality. We apply our results to distinguish between optimal configurations in the class of conformal director fields of fixed topological degree saturating the lower bound for the Oseen-Frank energy

Reduced energies for thin ferromagnetic films with perpendicular anisotropy

We derive four reduced two-dimensional models that describe, at different spatial scales, the micromagnetics of ultrathin ferromagnetic materials of finite spatial extent featuring perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Starting with a microscopic model that regularizes the stray field near the material's lateral edges, we carry out an asymptotic analysis of the energy by means of $\Gamma$-convergence. Depending on the scaling assumptions on the size of the material domain vs. the strength of dipolar interaction, we obtain a hierarchy of the limit energies that exhibit progressively stronger stray field effects of the material edges. These limit energies feature, respectively, a renormalization of the out-of-plane anisotropy, an additional local boundary penalty term forcing out-of-plane alignment of the magnetization at the edge, a pinned magnetization at the edge, and, finally, a pinned magnetization and an additional field-like term that blows up at the edge, as the sample's lateral size is increased. The pinning of the magnetization at the edge restores the topological protection and enables the existence of magnetic skyrmions in bounded samples.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figur

Half-Integer Point Defects in the Q-Tensor Theory of Nematic Liquid Crystals

We investigate prototypical profiles of point defects in two dimensional liquid crystals within the framework of Landau-de Gennes theory. Using boundary conditions characteristic of defects of index $k/2$, we find a critical point of the Landau-de Gennes energy that is characterised by a system of ordinary differential equations. In the deep nematic regime, $b^2$ small, we prove that this critical point is the unique global minimiser of the Landau-de Gennes energy. We investigate in greater detail the regime of vanishing elastic constant $L \to 0$, where we obtain three explicit point defect profiles, including the global minimiser.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figure

Cannabinoids and their therapeutic applications in mental disorders

Mental disorders represent a significant public health burden worldwide due to their high prevalence, chronically disabling nature, and substantial impact on quality of life. Despite growing knowledge of the pathological mechanisms that underlie the development of these disorders, a high percentage of patients do not respond to first-line clinical treatments; thus, there is a strong need for alternative therapeutic approaches. During the past half-century, after the identification of the endocannabinoid system and its role in multiple physiological processes, both natural and synthetic cannabinoids have attracted considerable interest as putative medications in pathological conditions such as, but not exclusive to, mental disorders. Here, we provide a summary of cannabinoid effects in support of possible therapeutic applications for major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia. Considering this evidence, highlighted benefits and risks of cannabinoid use in the management of these illnesses require further experimental study

A note on boundedness of operators in Grand Grand Morrey spaces

In this note we introduce grand grand Morrey spaces, in the spirit of the grand Lebesgue spaces. We prove a kind of \textit{reduction lemma} which is applicable to a variety of operators to reduce their boundedness in grand grand Morrey spaces to the corresponding boundedness in Morrey spaces. As a result of this application, we obtain the boundedness of the Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator and Calder\'on-Zygmund operators in the framework of grand grand Morrey spaces.Comment: 8 page

Crucial role of α4 and α6 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits from ventral tegmental area in systemic nicotine self-administration

The identification of the molecular mechanisms involved in nicotine addiction and its cognitive consequences is a worldwide priority for public health. Novel in vivo paradigms were developed to match this aim. Although the beta2 subunit of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) has been shown to play a crucial role in mediating the reinforcement properties of nicotine, little is known about the contribution of the different alpha subunit partners of beta2 (i.e., alpha4 and alpha6), the homo-pentameric alpha7, and the brain areas other than the ventral tegmental area (VTA) involved in nicotine reinforcement. In this study, nicotine (8.7-52.6 microg free base/kg/inf) self-administration was investigated with drug-naive mice deleted (KO) for the beta2, alpha4, alpha6 and alpha7 subunit genes, their wild-type (WT) controls, and KO mice in which the corresponding nAChR subunit was selectively re-expressed using a lentiviral vector (VEC mice). We show that WT mice, beta2-VEC mice with the beta2 subunit re-expressed exclusively in the VTA, alpha4-VEC mice with selective alpha4 re-expression in the VTA, alpha6-VEC mice with selective alpha6 re-expression in the VTA, and alpha7-KO mice promptly self-administer nicotine intravenously, whereas beta2-KO, beta2-VEC in the substantia nigra, alpha4-KO and alpha6-KO mice do not respond to nicotine. We thus define the necessary and sufficient role of alpha4beta2- and alpha6beta2-subunit containing nicotinic receptors (alpha4beta2*- and alpha6beta2*-nAChRs), but not alpha7*-nAChRs, present in cell bodies of the VTA, and their axons, for systemic nicotine reinforcement in drug-naive mic