Three-Phase Low-Frequency Commutation Inverter for Renewable Energy Systems

The connection of distributed power sources with the utility grid generally needs an electronic power converter for processing the locally generated power and injecting current into the system. If the source provides a dc voltage, the converter must be able to produce a low-distortion high-power-factor ac current. The same aspects related with the voltage and current distortion produced by nonlinear loads can be considered for the injection of power into the grid. In the absence of a specific standard, this paper takes as a reference the limits for current harmonics given by international standards. The justification for this approach is that, from the resulting line voltage degradation, there is no difference between injected and absorbed currents. This paper presents a three-phase inverter using low-frequency commutation. An auxiliary circuit is added to the inverter topology to reduce the output voltage distortion, thus improving the current waveform. The main advantages of this approach are the minimization of the switching losses and the elimination of the electromagnetic interference, which avoids high-frequency filters necessary in high-frequency commutation inverters     

A Comparative Study of Several Material Models for Prediction of Hyperelastic Properties: Application to Silicone-Rubber and Soft Tissues

Abstract:  The correct modelling of constitutive laws is of critical importance for the analysis of mechanical behaviour of solids and structures. For example, the understanding of soft tissue mechanics, because of the nonlinear behaviour commonly displayed by the mechanical properties of such materials, makes common place the use of hyperelastic constitutive models. Hyperelastic models however, depend on sets of variables that must be obtained experimentally. In this study the authors use a computational/experimental scheme, for the study of the nonlinear mechanical behaviour of biological soft tissues under uniaxial tension. The material constants for seven different hyperelastic material models are obtained via inverse methods. The use of Martins's model to fit experimental data is presented in this paper for the first time. The search for an optimal value for each set of material parameters is performed by a Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm. As a control measure, the process is fully applied to silicone-rubber samples subjected to uniaxial tension tests. The fitting accuracy of the experimental stress–strain relation to the theoretical one, for both soft tissues and silicone-rubber (typically nonlinear) is evaluated. This study intents also to select which material models (or model types), the authors will employ in future works, for the analysis of human soft biological tissues.     

A simple experimental arrangement for measuring the vapour pressures and sublimation enthalpies by the Knudsen effusion method: Application to DNA and RNA bases

We measured the vapour pressure of several DNA and RNA bases—uracil, adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine—in the 300–450 K range. In each case the sample mass loss rate was measured as function of temperature with a simple setup consisting of a commercial film deposition system and a homemade oven. Afterwards vapour pressure values were extracted from these data using the Knudsen effusion method. Sublimation enthalpy values, obtained from vapour pressure data by applying the Clausius–Clapeyron equation, are in very good agreement with literature values. The results suggest that crystal-based film thickness monitors may be useful in on-line cross-section measurements, monitoring the gas target thickness. They also show the viability of using this oven for producing a biomolecular gas target.     

Chemical and microbiological quality of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) slaughtered by different methods

The effect of two slaughter methods (immersion in ice-water slurry and electrical stunning followed by ice slurry asphyxiation) on chemical and microbiological parameters of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) stored in ice for 20 days was evaluated. No differences in total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), pH, carbohydrate or protein content of mucus were observed between the slaughter methods. Ice-slaughtered fish had lower bacteria counts at the beginning of storage, but higher counts than fish slaughtered by electricity at the end of storage (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences in the shelf life were observed between the slaughter methods evaluated (limit of acceptability – counts > 3 × 10⁶ CFU g⁻¹ – attained after 13–16 days). Results indicated that the chemical parameters evaluated have a limited applicability to assess the shelf life of grass carp stored in ice, since pH limit (6.8) was exceeded after 4 days, while TVB-N limit (30 mg%) was not attained after 20 days of storage.     

Programmable CMOS switched-capacitor biquad using quasi-passivealgorithmic DAC's

This paper describes an electrically programmable switched-capacitor (SC) biquad using quasi-passive algorithmic digital-to-analog converters (DAC's). Since only two equal-valued capacitors are needed for programming each capacitance value, the proposed technique offers compact, cost-effective programmability when compared to traditional programming techniques employing binary-weighted capacitor-arrays (C-arrays). A demonstration prototype chip realized in a 1.2 μm CMOS double-metal double-poly technology, and which implements an 8 b programmable SC biquad giving a wide range of lowpass, bandpass and highpass filtering functions, occupies an active area of only 0.38 mm²     

Ontologies: How can They be Built?

Ontologies are an important component in many areas, such as knowledge management and organization, electronic commerce and information retrieval and extraction. Several methodologies for ontology building have been proposed. In this article, we provide an overview of ontology building. We start by characterizing the ontology building process and its life cycle. We present the most representative methodologies for building ontologies from scratch, and the proposed techniques, guidelines and methods to help in the construction task. We analyze and compare these methodologies. We describe current research issues in ontology reuse. Finally, we discuss the current trends in ontology building and its future challenges, namely, the new issues for building ontologies for the Semantic Web.     

Albumin adsorption on Cibacron Blue F3G-A immobilized onto oligo(ethylene glycol)-terminated self-assembled monolayers

Self-assembled monolayers can be tailored with specific ligands to a certain protein and at the same time prevent the non-specific adsorption of other proteins. Cibacron Blue F3G-A (CB-thiol) was successfully immobilized onto tetra(ethylene glycol)-terminated alkanethiol (CB-thiol). The affinity of human serum albumin (HSA) to immobilized Cibacron Blue F3G-A was studied using mixed thiolate self-assembled monolayers on gold with different n-alkyl chain lengths and functional terminal groups (CH₃-; OH- and tetra(ethylene glycol)). Surfaces were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and water contact angle measurements. Albumin adsorption and exchangeability of the adsorbed albumin molecules with other albumin molecules in solution were evaluated using ¹²⁵I-radiolabeled HSA. Competitive adsorption between albumin and fibrinogen to the different self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was also investigated. Results showed that the incorporation of CB-thiol on the monolayers does not increase the HSA adsorption and reversibility on the SAMs. However, although specific adsorption of HSA to the immobilized Cibacron Blue F3G-A was not demonstrated, the presence of CB-thiol decreases the affinity of fibrinogen to the OH-terminated SAMs.     

Occupational exposure in Portugal in 1999

This study reports the occupational radiation doses for external exposure received in 1999 by the radiation workers monitored by the Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety Department (DPRSN) in Portugal. Occupational exposures arise from conventional industry, research laboratories, the health or medical sector, and mining. There are no nuclear power plants in the country. There are two dosimetry systems running simultaneously at DPRSN, one based on film dosimetry and the other on thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD). In 1999, 8400 persons were monitored, 3100 with film and 5300 with TLD and the data presented in this report were obtained by using both technologies. The annual mean effective doses received from external radiation in the different fields of activity and the distribution of the annual effective dose by dose intervals are presented. The collective annual dose by field of activity is estimated and the contribution to the total annual collective dose is determined.