Bond graph model of doubly fed three phase induction motor using the Axis Rotator element for frame transformation

Induction motor is a typical member of a multi-domain, non-linear, high order dynamic system. For speed control a three phase induction motor is modelled as a d–q model where linearity is assumed and non-idealities are ignored. Approximation of the physical characteristic gives a simulated behaviour away from the natural behaviour. This paper proposes a bond graph model of an induction motor that can incorporate the non-linearities and non-idealities thereby resembling the physical system more closely. The model is validated by applying the linearity and idealities constraints which shows that the conventional ‘abc’ model is a special case of the proposed generalised model.

The partition of unity finite element method for elastic wave propagation in Reissner-Mindlin plates

This paper reports a numerical method for modelling the elastic wave propagation in plates. The method is based on the partition of unity approach, in which the approximate spectral properties of the infinite dimensional system are embedded within the space of a conventional finite element method through a consistent technique of waveform enrichment. The technique is general, such that it can be applied to the Lagrangian family of finite elements with specific waveform enrichment schemes, depending on the dominant modes of wave propagation in the physical system. A four-noded element for the Reissner-indlin plate is derived in this paper, which is free of shear locking. Such a locking-free property is achieved by removing the transverse displacement degrees of freedom from the element nodal variables and by recovering the same through a line integral and a weak constraint in the frequency domain. As a result, the frequency-dependent stiffness matrix and the mass matrix are obtained, which capture the higher frequency response with even coarse meshes, accurately. The steps involved in the numerical implementation of such element are discussed in details. Numerical studies on the performance of the proposed element are reported by considering a number of cases, which show very good accuracy and low computational cost. Copyright (C)006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 August 2010-30 September 2010

This article documents the addition of 229 microsatellite marker loci to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Acacia auriculiformis x Acacia mangium hybrid, Alabama argillacea, Anoplopoma fimbria, Aplochiton zebra, Brevicoryne brassicae, Bruguiera gymnorhiza, Bucorvus leadbeateri, Delphacodes detecta, Tumidagena minuta, Dictyostelium giganteum, Echinogammarus berilloni, Epimedium sagittatum, Fraxinus excelsior, Labeo chrysophekadion, Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi, Paratrechina longicornis, Phaeocystis antarctica, Pinus roxburghii and Potamilus capax. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Acacia peregrinalis, Acacia crassicarpa, Bruguiera cylindrica, Delphacodes detecta, Tumidagena minuta, Dictyostelium macrocephalum, Dictyostelium discoideum, Dictyostelium purpureum, Dictyostelium mucoroides, Dictyostelium rosarium, Polysphondylium pallidum, Epimedium brevicornum, Epimedium koreanum, Epimedium pubescens, Epimedium wushanese and Fraxinus angustifolia.

Reduction of quinolines to 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro derivatives employing a combination of NaCNBH3 and BF3.OEt(2)

A regiospecific reduction of quinolines (and 1,10-phenanthroline) into the corresponding 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro derivatives using a combination of sodium cyanoborohydride and boron trifluoride etherate in refluxing methanol is described. Under the same conditions indole and acridine reduced to the corresponding dihydroderivatives, whereas acyl group transfer from oxygen to nitrogen atom is also noticed in the case of 8-acyloxyquinolines.

The reaction of lambda 3-cyclotriphosphazanes with tetrachloro-ortho-benzoquinone: An unusual ring contraction-rearrangement

Oxidative addition of tetrachloro-ortho-benzoquinone to lambda(3)-cyclotriphosphazanes, [EtNP(OR)](3) results in an unprecedented ring contraction-rearrangement to give diazadiphosphetidines (EtN)(2)[P(OR)(O2C6Cl4)] [P(O2C6Cl4)-[N(Et)P(OR)(2)}] (R = C6H4Br-4 or C(6)H(3)Me(2)-2,6), a process indicated to be thermodynamically favourable on the basis of PM3 calculations.

Synthesis, characterization, degradation of biodegradable castor oil based polyesters

A new family of castor oil based biodegradable polyesters was synthesized by catalyst free melt condensation reaction between two different diacids and castor oil with D-mannitol. The polymers synthesized were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, FF-IR and the thermal properties were analysed by DSC. The results of DSC show that the polymer is rubbery in physiological conditions. The contact angle measurement and hydration test results indicate that the surface of the polymer is hydrophilic. The mechanical properties, evaluated in the tensile mode, shows that the polymer has characteristics of a soft material. In vitro degradation of polymer in PBS solution carried out at physiological conditions indicates that the degradation goes to completion within 21 days and it was also found that the rate of degradation can be tuned by varying the curing conditions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-physics self-consistent modeling in nanotechnological applications: quantum dots and quantum-well lasers

This paper reports a self-consistent Poisson-Schr¨odinger scheme including the effects of the piezoelectricity, the spontaneous polarization and the charge density on the electronic states and the quasi-Fermi level energy in wurtzite type semiconductor heterojunction and quantum-laser.

Sivers effect and transverse single spin asymmetry in e+p(up arrow) -> e+J/psi+X

We discuss the possibility of using electroproduction of J/psi as a probe of gluon Sivers function by measuring single spin asymmetry (SSA) in experiments with transversely polarized protons and electron beams. We estimate SSA for JLab, HERMES, COMPASS, and eRHIC energies using the color evaporation model of charmonium production and find asymmetry up to 25% for certain choices of model parameters which have been used earlier for estimating SSA in the SIDIS and Drell-Yan processes.

Correlation of Calcification on Excised Aortic Valves by Micro-Computed Tomography with Severity of Aortic Stenosis

Background and aim of the study: The quantification of incidentally found aortic valve calcification on computed tomography (CT) is not performed routinely, as data relating to the accuracy of aortic valve calcium for estimating the severity of aortic stenosis (AS) is neither consistent nor validated. As aortic valve calcium quantification by CT is confounded by wall and coronary ostial calcification, as well as motion artifact, the ex-vivo micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) of stenotic aortic valves allows a precise measurement of the amounts of calcium present. The study aim, using excised aortic valves from patients with confirmed AS, was to determine if the amount of calcium on micro-CT correlated with the severity of AS. Methods: Each of 35 aortic valves that had been excised from patients during surgical valve replacement were examined using micro-CT imaging. The amount of calcium present was determined by absolute and proportional values of calcium volume in the specimen. Subsequently, the correlation between calcium volume and preoperative mean aortic valve gradient (MAVG), peak transaortic velocity (V-max), and aortic valve area (AVA) on echocardiography, was evaluated. Results: The mean calcium volume across all valves was 603.2 +/- 398.5 mm(3), and the mean ratio of calcium volume to total valve volume was 0.36 +/- 0.16. The mean aortic valve gradient correlated positively with both calcium volume and ratio (r = 0.72, p <0.001). V-max also correlated positively with the calcium volume and ratio (r = 0.69 and 0.76 respectively; p <0.001). A logarithmic curvilinear model proved to be the best fit to the correlation. A calcium volume of 480 mm(3) showed sensitivity and specificity of 0.76 and 0.83, respectively, for a diagnosis of severe AS, while a calcium ratio of 0.37 yielded sensitivity and specificity of 0.82 and 0.94, respectively. Conclusion: A radiological estimation of calcium amount by volume, and its proportion to the total valve volume, were shown to serve as good predictive parameters for severe AS. An estimation of the calcium volume may serve as a complementary measure for determining the severity of AS when aortic valve calcification is identified on CT imaging. The Journal of Heart Valve Disease 2012;21:320-327

c-theorems in arbitrary dimensions

The dilaton action in 3 + 1 dimensions plays a crucial role in the proof of the a-theorem. This action arises using Wess-Zumino consistency conditions and crucially relies on the existence of the trace anomaly. Since there are no anomalies in odd dimensions, it is interesting to ask how such an action could arise otherwise. Motivated by this we use the AdS/CFT correspondence to examine both even and odd dimensional conformal field theories. We find that in even dimensions, by promoting the cutoff to a field, one can get an action for this field which coincides with the Wess-Zumino action in flat space. In three dimensions, we observe that by finding an exact Hamilton-Jacobi counterterm, one can find a non-polynomial action which is invariant under global Weyl rescalings. We comment on how this finding is tied up with the F-theorem conjectures.

Single-Molecule DNA Analysis Reveals That Yeast Hop1 Protein Promotes DNA Folding and Synapsis: Implications for Condensation of Meiotic Chromosomes

During meiosis, long-range interaction between homologous chromosomes is thought to be crucial for homology recognition, exchange of DNA strands, and production of normal haploid gametes. However, little is known about the identity of the proteins involved and the actual molecular mechanism(s) by which chromosomes recognize and recombine with their appropriate homologous partners. Single-molecule analyses have the potential to provide insights into our understanding of this fascinating and long-standing question. Using atomic force microscopy and magnetic tweezers techniques, we discovered that Hop1 protein, a key structural component of Saccharomyces cerevisiae synaptonemal complex, exhibits the ability to bridge noncontiguous DNA segments into intramolecular stem-loop structures in which the DNA segments appear to be fully synapsed within the filamentous protein stems. Additional evidence suggests that Hop1 folds DNA into rigid protein DNA filaments and higher-order nucleoprotein structures. Importantly, Hop1 promotes robust intra- and intermolecular synapsis between double-stranded DNA molecules, suggesting that juxtaposition of DNA sequences may assist in strand exchange between homologues by recombination-associated proteins. Finally, the evidence from ensemble experiments is consistent with the notion that Hop1 causes rigidification of DNA molecules. These results provide the first direct evidence for long-range protein-mediated DNA DNA synapsis, independent of crossover recombination, which is presumed to occur during meiotic recombination.

Force and ATP hydrolysis dependent regulation of RecA nucleoprotein filament by single-stranded DNA binding protein

In Escherichia coli, the filament of RecA formed on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) is essential for recombinational DNA repair. Although ssDNA-binding protein (SSB) plays a complicated role in RecA reactions in vivo, much of our understanding of the mechanism is based on RecA binding directly to ssDNA. Here we investigate the role of SSB in the regulation of RecA polymerization on ssDNA, based on the differential force responses of a single 576-nucleotide-long ssDNA associated with RecA and SSB. We find that SSB outcompetes higher concentrations of RecA, resulting in inhibition of RecA nucleation. In addition, we find that pre-formed RecA filaments de-polymerize at low force in an ATP hydrolysis- and SSB-dependent manner. At higher forces, re-polymerization takes place, which displaces SSB from ssDNA. These findings provide a physical picture of the competition between RecA and SSB under tension on the scale of the entire nucleoprotein SSB array, which have broad biological implications particularly with regard to competitive molecular binding.

Thermoelectric properties of chalcogenide based Cu2+xZnSn1-xSe4

Quaternary chalcogenide compounds Cu2+ xZnSn1-xSe4 (0 <= x <= 0.15) were prepared by solid state synthesis. Rietveld powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) refinements combined with Electron Probe Micro Analyses (EPMA, WDS-Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy) and Raman spectra of all samples confirmed the stannite structure (Cu2FeSnS4-type) as the main phase. In addition to the main phase, small amounts of secondary phases like ZnSe, CuSe and SnSe were observed. Transport properties of all samples were measured as a function of temperature in the range from 300 K to 720 K. The electrical resistivity of all samples decreases with an increase in Cu content except for Cu2.1ZnSn0.9Se4, most likely due to a higher content of the ZnSe. All samples showed positive Seebeck coefficients indicating that holes are the majority charge carriers. The thermal conductivity of doped samples was high compared to Cu2ZnSnSe4 and this may be due to the larger electronic contribution and the presence of the ZnSe phase in the doped samples. The maximum zT = 0.3 at 720 K occurs for Cu2.05ZnSn0.95Se4 for which a high-pressure torsion treatment resulted in an enhancement of zT by 30% at 625 K. Copyright 2013 Author(s). This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4794733]