Stability analysis of a feedback-controlled resonant DC-DC converter

This paper reports on the stability analysis of one member of a dual-channel resonant DC-DC converter family. The study is confined to the buck configuration in symmetrical operation. The output voltage of the converter is controlled by a closed loop applying constant-frequency pulsewidth modulation. The dynamic analysis reveals that a bifurcation cascade develops as a result of increasing the loop gain. The trajectory of the variable-structure piecewise-linear nonlinear system pierces through the Poincare plane at the fixed point in state space when the loop gain is small. For stability criterion the positions of the characteristic multipliers of the Jacobian matrix belonging to the Poincare map function defined around the fixed point located in the Poincare plane is applied. In addition to the stability analysis, a bifurcation diagram is developed showing the four possible states of the feedback loop: the periodic, the quasi-periodic, the subharmonic, and the chaotic states. Simulation and test results verify the theory.     

Fault detection for control of wastewater treatment plants.

Interest in real-time model-based control is increasing as more and more facilities are being asked to meet stricter effluent requirements while at the same time minimizing costs. It has been identified that biological process models and automated process control technologies are being used at wastewater treatments plants throughout the world and that great potential for optimising biotreatment may exist with the integration of these two technology areas. According to our experience, wastewater treatment plants are indeed looking for ways to successfully integrate their modelling knowledge into their process control structure; however, there are practical aspects of this integration that must be addressed if the benefits of this integration are to be realised. This paper discusses the practical aspects of monitoring, filtering and analysing real sensor data with an aim to produce a reliable real-time data stream that might be used within a model-based control structure. Several real case study examples are briefly discussed in this paper.     

Comparison of total and faecal coliforms as faecal indicator in eutrophicated surface water.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of total coliforms (TC) and faecal coliforms (FC) using a membrane filtration method for precise monitoring of faecal pollution in Korean surface water. The samples were collected in Korea from both main rivers and their tributaries. Presumptive TC * FC were enumerated. The ratios of presumptive FC to TC were not constant, but varied widely, and TC were difficult to enumerate because of overgrowth by background colonies. For FC this was not the case. Seven hundred and three purified strains of presumptive TC * FC and their background colonies were biotyped using API 20E. Among 272 presumptive TC, non-faecal related species, Aeromonas hydrophila dominated (34.6%) and E. coli accounted for only 5.1%. In contrast, E. coli made up 89% of the 209 presumptive FC. Furthermore, of 164 background colonies on Endo Agar LES, 54.9% was A. hydrophila, while background colonies on m-FC Agar were few (58 strains), and despite their atypical colony appearance, most of them were biotyped as enteric bacteria. These results reveal that the detection of FC rather than TC using m-FC Agar is more appropriate for faecal pollution monitoring in eutrophicated surface water located in a temperate region.     

Reactions Between Ingredients in Binary Silicate Glasses

It is demonstrated that the density of binary glasses upon variation of the molar content of the modifier in their compositions obeys a parabolic dependence, whose parameters can be used to estimate the extent and type of reactions between the components. The reaction parameters in glasses that are prone to liquation are lower by an order of magnitude and have the negative sign.     

Digitally tunable optical filters using arrayed-waveguide grating(AWG) multiplexers and optical switches

Two novel configurations for digitally tunable optical filters based on arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexers are described in detail with emphasis on the connection of the AWG multiplexer and optical switches. Performance comparisons show that conventional configurations are disadvantaged by the switch size required and loss imbalance among the optical frequency-division-multiplexed (FDM) channels; the proposed configurations require only O(√(N)) switch elements to select one of N FDM channels, and the loss imbalance is lower by up to 75% in decibel     

Modeling of Diffusion in Capillary Porous Materials During the Drying Process

This paper presents a model of heterogenous diffusion in capillary porous materials during the process of drying. The governing heat and mass transfer equations have been established using the liquid as well as vapor flow. Two models have been presented. Model 1 does not consider the heat conduction while the model 2 has been established by considering the conduction. The developed models and the numerical solutions of the resulting differential equations can take into account the moisture and temperature dependent thermophysical properties of the product. All equations have been established in spherical coordinates but the programme written for the purpose of calculations can be used for other geometries also. Numerical calculations have been performed for gas concrete and tiles using model 1, while model 2 has been used for gas concrete only because of the lack of data for thermophysical properties of the tile. For gas concrete it was seen that conduction has only marginal effect on the drying process and the numerical predictions of the drying process were reasonably accurate.     

Low-temperature phase transformation in Li-10 at. % Mg

It is not known whether impaired hematopoiesis noted during human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection results from infection of stem/progenitor cells or of cells of the bone marrow microenvironment. Normal adherent primary stromal layers were exposed to HIV to determine which of this mixture of endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and macrophages are susceptible to the virus. Viral p24 in supernatants was noted with monocytotropic HIV-1Ada, HIV-1Ba-L, and HIV-1JR-FL but not with lymphotropic HIV-1LAI nor HIV-1MN strain, and only stromal macrophages expressed the viral antigens. Coculture of the layers with PHA-activated normal lymphocytes failed to rescue lymphotropic virus. No p24 was produced when macrophage-depleted stromal cells were exposed to either HIV-1Ba-L or HIV-1LAI; proviral DNA was then amplified by PCR in cells exposed to either virus, though coculture with lymphocytes rescued only HIV-1Ba-L. Altogether, these data indicate that macrophages are the major targets of HIV in cultured stromal layers. As virus replication in macrophages did not affect the profile of major cytokines involved in regulating hematopoiesis, HIV infection could alter hematopoiesis by other as yet unspecified mechanisms.     

Increasing the interference immunity of broadband systems for measuring and transmitting information by utilizing nonlinear signal processing methods

A method is considered for increasing the immunity from interference of broadband systems for measuring and transmitting information. It is based on utilizing nonlinear methods to process spread-spectrum signals. The possibility is investigated of using a quasioptimal receiving device which can be implemented in practice. It is shown that the proposed method makes it possible to solve the rejection problem at the physical level. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 11, pp. 13–15, November, 1996.     

Radon as a risk factor for extra-pulmonary tumours

Most divers and diving medicine specialists know that application of normobaric oxygen as first aid after a bubble disease incident is highly effective. However, as yet technical difficulties acted as a deterrent to using normobaric oxygen at the diving site. This can now be overcome by a newer technique. To be efficient, any therapy of bubble disease should follow three main principles: maximal partial pressure of inhaled oxygen (i.e. 100 kpa in normobaric, and 280 kpa in hyperbaric conditions); minimal partial pressure of inhaled nitrogen, which should ideally be near zero; immediate start of therapy, if possible at the diving site, but not later than 2 hours after the onset of the first symptoms. However, it has to be borne in mind that for an efficient normobaric oxygenation (100%), the standard apparatus design without oxygen reservoir is obsolete, for it offers at most 40% oxygen to the lungs. Currently the following technical approaches for an efficient normobaric oxygenation are available: open one-way systems with tightly fitting mask and oxygen reservoir bag (type Ambu or Leardal, etc.); open systems with on-demand regulation and tightly fitting mouth piece (type SCUBA, or Bird-respirator); closed systems with CO2 absorber (type oxygen rebreathing diving gear). The closed system is a genuine technical advance, because it needs 15 times less oxygen than open systems (about 90 liters oxygen for a 3-hours oxygenation run). Such an apparatus is thus of light weight, far less cumbersome, and nevertheless highly efficient. The therapy should start immediately at the site of the mishap and be maintained during the transport to the next HBO-unit (usually 3 to 6 hours).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The evolution of custom microarray manufacture

Given the enormous size of the genome and that there are potentially many other types of measurements we need to do to understand it, it has become necessary to pick and choose one's targets to measure because it is still impossible to evaluate the entire genome all at once. What has emerged is a need to have rapidly customizable microarrays. There are two dominant methods to accomplish custom microarray synthesis, Affymetrix-like microarrays manufactured using light projection rather than semiconductor-like masks used by Affymetrix to mass manufacture their GeneChip/sup TM/ arrays now, or the ink-jet printing method employed by Agilent. The manufacture of these custom Affymetrix-like microarrays can now be done on a digital optical chemistry (DOC) machine developed at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and this method offers much higher feature numbers and feature density than is possible with ink-jet printed arrays. On a microarray, each feature contains a single genetic measurement. The initial DOC prototype has been described in several publications, but that has now led to a second-generation machine. This machine reliably produces a number of arrays daily, has been deployed against a number of biomedical questions, is being used in new ways and has also led to a number of spin-off technologies.