Search

Wireless power transfer (WPT) is an enabling technology for electric vehicles (EV), as it eliminates driver intervention during charging. Major challenges to the adoption of WPT systems include coil misalignment and large air-gap WPT, both of which degrade the transfer efficiency. To address these issues, this article presents a compact WPT charger for the rear of an EV, capable of correcting lateral misalignment $\Delta$ x using two integrated electromagnetic coils. The air-gap $\Delta$ y is reduced due to the rear placement of the charging pads. The variation in $\Delta$ y , however, increases due to vehicle parking accuracy, which impacts the operation of the electromagnetic coils. This article proposes a closed-loop three-stage position-correcting control algorithm capable of detecting the impedance and resonant frequency of the system, which, in conjunction with the electromagnetic coils, results in improved vehicle alignment. The experimental prototype achieves a peak dc–dc efficiency of 90.1% at 5 kW WPT. With $\Delta$ y = 50 mm, the electromagnetic coils laterally align the pads within 1.75 s and correct $\Delta$ x as large as 240 mm. The position-correcting control was successfully demonstrated in four parking scenarios with the charging pads being corrected to within a 10-mm radius of perfect alignment.

This article presents a transformer saturation prevention algorithm (SPA) targeting dual-active-bridge (DAB) dc–dc converters utilized in bidirectional, two-stage electric vehicle (EV) on-board battery chargers. Saturation prevention is achieved by detecting the variation in transformer current slope near the boundary of saturation and applying duty-cycle offsets to the DAB converter full bridges. Compared to alternative methods of saturation mitigation, the proposed algorithm offers the following benefits: Lower transformer design safety margins which enable volume reduction with minimal harm to efficiency, and low-cost implementation using a single low-cost current sensor even at high converter switching speeds. Experiments on a custom 6.6-kW on-board EV charger confirm the controller functionality and initial converter analysis. A peak converter efficiency of 96.8% with a transformer volume of 80 cm $^3$ is achieved, which is a 50% volume reduction in comparison to other academic works.

This paper presents a wireless power transfer system with a passive boost topology for automatic guided vehicles (AGVs). The system has a transmitter composed of a track coil and arrayed solenoid coils. The solenoid coils amplify the magnetic field and change the currents passively depending on the position of the receiver; they increase the current as the receiver coil approaches. Magnetic field analysis and numerical analysis using equivalent circuit equations display the system characteristics with various parameters. In comparison with a system that contains a transmitter with arrayed solenoid coils connected electrically in series, the proposed system has higher efficiency, less magnetic flux leakage and low-cost implementation. Experiments of wireless power transfer using a prototype of this system confirmed that the proposed system is 18% more efficient than the series solenoid system. The dynamic power transfer test of a moving vehicle revealed that the system successfully transferred a power of 100 W regardless of the receiver position.

A rare dysraphic caudal spinal anomaly, or caudal agenesis, comprising a tethered spinal cord, was found in a tailless Holstein calf that presented ataxia and paresis with analgesia of the hind limbs. The gently and slimly tapered conus medullaris was poorly formed between S2 and S3 which indicated that it was lying more caudally. The caudal end of the filum terminale adhered to the inner periosteum of the vertebral arch at S4, which is compatible with tethering of the spinal cord. The dysraphic changes from the secondary neurulation error and the longitudinal deranged cord morphology that may have been caused by the caudad traction due to tethering were confirmed. This represents the first bovine case with definitive morphological confirmation.

The Kumamoto sub-breed of Japanese Brown cattle has unique characteristics, such as great growth rate, and their contribution as future breeding materials is expected. To develop a DNA marker for their breeding, we investigated the effects of Leptin gene, controlling energy homeostasis, on carcass traits of the Kumamoto sub-breed. Sequence comparison identified five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): four linked synonymous mutations and one nonsynonymous mutation. Statistical analysis revealed that c.239C T (p.A80V) had significant effects on the traits related with quality grade: beef marbling standard (p = 0.0132), meat brightness (p = 0.0383), and meat firmness (p = 0.0115). The C allele showed favorable effects; these scores of the C/C cattle were significantly higher than those of the C/T cattle. On the other hand, the effect of c.399T C was observed on meat firmness (p = 0.0172) and beef fat standards (BFS) (p = 0.0129). The C/C cattle showed higher values of these traits than the T/T cattle. Our data suggested that these SNPs in Leptin gene could be used as a DNA marker for breeding of the Kumamoto sub-breed.

A method for absolute distance measurement is developed here that uses a Fizeau-type spectroscopic interferometer with a Fabry−Perot etalon and a rotating diffraction grating. The integral multiple of the free spectral range (FSR) can be measured using a fiber-type etalon. When the range of length is greater than half of the FSR, the absolute distance can be determined with arbitrary ranges. Moreover, the limited position can be measured over a long distance. Instead of calibrating the wavelength, we use the Fabry−Perot etalon as a standard to determine the absolute position and calibrate the system. Two diffraction gratings increase the spectroscopic resolution to considerably extend the effective range of measurement. Experiments to test the proposed method indicate that it can be used to measure absolute distance with arbitrary ranges of length of up to 120 mm, with repeatability between 0.23 μm (0.0272%) and 0.77 μm (0.0619%), and can measure distances up to 1200 mm.

We propose a novel method for simultaneously measuring the correction length and thickness of a sample using a tandem low-coherence interferometer for determining the location of optical component in multi-lenses optical system within micrometer accuracy. Additionally, group refractive index dependence to the wavelength of the source used can be determined. In this method, a low-coefficient thermal expansion cavity (LCTE-cavity) is used as a tool to measure the difference in length between two optical paths, passing through and not passing through the sample. As a result, the group refractive index of the sample can be determined without prior information of the sample thickness. The refractive index of ZERODUR® and fused-silica were measured with measurement uncertainty of 1.4 × 10−4 (k = 2); the difference between the experimental result and the values from catalog data were 3.2 × 10−4 and 4.6 × 10−4, respectively. The correction in length and thickness of the sample was measured remotely, with a measurement uncertainty of 328 nm (k = 2).

The performance of previous generation material (ZER02#1) were reported at EUVL symposium in 2019. Despite the good performance, the stability issue at development process and the incompatibility of special organic solvents with customer’s Fab requirements led to be difficult its further developments and scaling up. Therefore, Zeon developed a novel ZER02#3 resist by changing monomers and polymer properties in order to keep the EUV adsorption at the same level of ZER02#1 and introduce common organic solvents as developer. The lithographic performance of dense Line-Space (L/S) pattern and of contact holes (C/H) pattern with ZER02#3 resist is presented. For L/S pattern, a resolution of 16 nm half pitch was achieved at the exposure dose of 54.2 mJ/cm2, giving a biased LWR of 4.1 nm and a biased LER of 2.6 nm by NXE3300. For hexagonal C/H pattern, 40 nm pitch was resolved at 72.4 mJ/cm2, with a LCDU of 3.1 nm by NXE3300. ZER02#3 could enhance sensitivity as keeping lithography performance with ZER02#1. In addition to the enhancement of the lithographic performance achieved, fundamental studies such as Gel Permeation Chromatography were realized to better understand the pattering mechanism under EUV exposure.

Neuronal cells possess a certain degree of plasticity to recover from cell damage. When the stress levels are higher than their plasticity capabilities, neuronal degeneration is triggered. However, the factors correlated to the plasticity capabilities need to be investigated. In this study, we generated a novel mouse model that able to express in an inducible manner a dominant-negative form of MFN2, a mitochondrial fusion factor. We then compared the phenotype of the mice continuously expressing the mutated MFN2 with that of the mice only transiently expressing it. Remarkably, the phenotypes of the group transiently expressing mutant MFN2 could be divided into 3 types: equivalent to what was observed in the continuous expression group, intermediate between the continuous expression group and the control group, and equivalent to the control group. In particular, in the continuous expression group, we observed remarkable hyperactivity and marked cognitive impairments, which were not seen, or were very mild in the transient expression group. These results indicate that abnormal mitochondrial dynamics lead to stress, triggering neuron degeneration; therefore, the neurodegeneration progression can be prevented via the normalization of the mitochondrial dynamics. Since the availability of mouse models suitable for the reproduction of both neurodegeneration and recovery at least partially is very limited, our mouse model can be a useful tool to investigate neuronal plasticity mechanisms and neurodegeneration.

This paper proposes a three-phase lines to single-phase coil planar contactless power transformer. The transformer has the primary consisting of three-phase line cables arrayed in parallel on a plane and the secondary of single-phase coil. The proposed transformer is studied for application to automatic guided vehicles (AGVs). Uniform power transfer that is independent of the position of the AGVs is an important issue for this transformer, because of the sparse arrangement of the primary lines. To ensure that the transformer achieves uniform power transfer, the structure and dimensions of the primary are studied using numerical analysis. Additionally, an equivalent model of the proposed transformer, which is applicable to the imbalanced conditions, is presented. The equivalent model proves analytically that balanced three-phase voltage and balanced three-phase current conditions, which can be created using appropriate circuit configurations, enable uniform power transfer. The results of experiments in which the prototype of the transformer is applied to the target AGV confirm that under balanced-current conditions, which can be generated using a three-phase LCL circuit, the proposed transformer can transfer sufficient uniform power to drive the AGV.

This paper proposes a new single-phase inverter topology and describes the control method for the proposed inverter. The inverter consists of an energy buffer circuit, a dc–dc conversion circuit and an H-bridge circuit. The energy buffer circuit and H-bridge circuit enable the proposed inverter to output a multilevel voltage according to the proposed pulse width modulation (PWM) technique. The dc–dc conversion circuit can charge the buffer capacitor continuously because the dc–dc conversion control cooperates with the PWM. Simulation results confirm that the proposed inverter can reduce the voltage harmonics in the output and the dc–dc conversion current in comparison to a conventional inverter consisting of a dc–dc conversion circuit and H-bridge circuit. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed inverter can output currents of low total harmonic distortion and have higher efficiency than the conventional inverter. In addition, it is confirmed that these features of the proposed inverter contribute to the suppression of the circuit volume in spite of the increase in the number of devices in the circuit.

Many diseases, especially cancers, result from aberrant or overexpression of pathogenic proteins. Specific inhibitors against these proteins have shown remarkable therapeutic effects, but these are limited mainly to enzymes. An alternative approach that may have utility in drug development relies on selective degradation of pathogenic proteins via small chimeric molecules linking an E3 ubiquitin ligase to the targeted protein for proteasomal degradation. To this end, we recently developed a protein knockdown system based on hybrid small molecule SNIPERs (Specific and Nongenetic IAP-dependent Protein Erasers) that recruit inhibitor of the apoptosis protein (IAP) ubiquitin ligases to specifically degrade targeted proteins. Here, we extend our previous study to show a proof of concept of the SNIPER technology in vivo. By incorporating a high affinity IAP ligand, we developed a novel SNIPER against estrogen receptor α (ERα), SNIPER(ER)-87, that has a potent protein knockdown activity. The SNIPER(ER) reduced ERα levels in tumor xenografts and suppressed the growth of ERα-positive breast tumors in mice. Mechanistically, it preferentially recruits X-linked IAP (XIAP) rather than cellular IAP1, to degrade ERα via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. With this IAP ligand, potent SNIPERs against other pathogenic proteins, BCR-ABL, bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), and phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) could also be developed. These results indicate that forced ubiquitylation by SNIPERs is a useful method to achieve efficient protein knockdown with potential therapeutic activities and could also be applied to study the role of ubiquitylation in many cellular processes.

The present study aimed to evaluate hormonal responses and their association with the TAK-683 blood concentrations in goats administered TAK-683 at a low dose, which had been previously determined as the minimally effective dose for luteinizing hormone (LH) stimulation in ovariectomized goats. In Experiment 1, 5 µg of TAK-683 treatment had no significant stimulatory effect on LH secretion in ovariectomized Shiba goats (n = 4). In Experiment 2, cycling goats received the treatment of prostaglandin F2α and progesterone-releasing controlled internal drug releasing (CIDR) to induce the follicular phase, then they were treated with 5 µg of TAK-683 (hour 0) intravenously (n = 4, IV) or subcutaneously (n = 3, SC) or with vehicle intravenously (n = 4, control) at 12 h after CIDR removal. Blood samples were collected at 10-min (-2-6 h), 2-h (6-24 h), or 6-h (24-48 h) intervals. Ovarian ultrasonographic images were assessed daily to confirm ovulation after the treatment. A surge-like release of LH was immediately observed after injection in all animals in the IV (peak time: 4.2 ± 0.6 h, peak concentration: 73.3 ± 27.5 ng/ml) and SC (peak time: 4.6 ± 0.4 h, peak concentration: 62.6 ± 23.2 ng/ml) groups, but not in the control group. Ovulation was detected within 3 days after TAK-683 injection in all animals in the IV and SC groups, and the interval period from TAK-683 administration to ovulation in the IV group was significantly (P < 0.05) shorter than that of the control group. No significant changes were observed between the IV and SC groups in terms of luteal diameter and blood progesterone levels after ovulation. The present findings suggest that the involvement of one or more ovarian factor(s) is indispensable for a TAK-683-induced LH surge leading to ovulation in goats.