Search

This paper presents a novel control system design for the grid-side converter of doubly fed induction generator wind power generation systems. The control method proposed in this work is a vector control based on adaptive B-spline neural network by using a simple fixed-gain stabilizing control topology. The adaptive control is designed both for inner current loops and an outer DC-link voltage loop of the grid side converter control system. To guarantee the control stability, the weights updating rule for the B-spline neural network is synthesized by utilizing Lyapunov's direct method. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed control system, extensive simulations are performed using MATLAB/Simulink. Based on the simulation results, it is concluded that the proposed controller has improved performance compared to an optimum proportional integral control system. It is also relatively robust against external disturbances and variations of the control parameters. © 2015 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Volume regulation by spermatozoa has been demonstrated to be crucial in both mice and men for transport in the female tract. In order to determine the nature of osmolytes used by spermatozoa, they were released from the cauda epididymis of fertile c-ros heterozygous mice into incubation medium of uterine osmolality (representing an osmotic challenge), containing increasing concentrations of compounds that are major epididymal fluid components and known osmolytes in somatic cells. This should nullify the concentration gradients for osmolytes that mediate volume regulation, prevent osmolyte efflux, and lead to swelling. Of the osmolytes tested, K(+) caused the most rapid and extensive volume increases; glutamate, taurine, L-carnitine, and myo-inositol also were effective, but glycerophosphocholine was not. Such effects were not observed in cauda sperm from the infertile knockout mice, demonstrating a defect in normal volume regulation. K(+) concentrations in cauda epididymal fluid were 21 mM higher in the knockout than the heterozygous mice, but no differences were found in caudal fluid glutamate, carnitine, or myo-inositol. The carnitine content of cauda sperm from knockout males was not different from that of fertile males, but lower amounts of glutamate and inositol were found that could explain the poor volume regulation. In heterozygous mice, cauda but not caput sperm responded to the K(+) channel blocker quinine by swelling, demonstrating development of volume regulation during epididymal transit, whereas knockout cauda sperm showed no response, as with the osmolytes. Major epididymal secretions could serve as osmolytes in murine spermatozoa for volume regulation in response to physiological osmotic challenge in the normal fertile mice; the reduced sperm content of inositol and glutamate in the c-ros knockout mice might reflect maturational abnormalities in volume regulation.

Transgenic mice targeted for the c-ros gene, which are fertile when heterozygous (HET), but infertile when homozygous (knockout, KO) and associated with failure in pubertal differentiation of the epididymal initial segment, provide a model for studying the role of the epididymal luminal environment in sperm development. Luminal fluid from the cauda epididymidis was measured by both ion-selective microelectrodes and pH strips to be 0.3 pH units higher in the KO than HET. Of the genes responsible for luminal acidification, expression of mRNA of vacuolar H+-ATPase was found in all epididymal regions, but with no difference between KO and HET. Immunohistochemistry showed its presence in epithelial apical cells and clear cells. The Na+–hydrogen exchanger NHE2 was expressed at mRNA and protein levels in the caput but only marginally detectable if at all in the distal epididymis. This was compensated for by NHE3 which was expressed strongest in the cauda region, in agreement with immunohistochemical staining. Quantification of Western blot data revealed slight, but significant, decreases of NHE2 in the caput and of NHE3 in the cauda in the KO mice. The increase in luminal fluid pH in the KO mice could also be contributed to by other epithelial regulating factors including the Na+-dependent glutamate transporter EAAC1 formerly reported to be down regulated in the KO. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 68: 159–168, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The glutamine transporter SN1 has recently been identified as one of the major glutamine transporters in hepatocytes and brain astrocytes. It appears to be the molecular correlate of system N amino acid transport. Two different transport mechanisms have been proposed for this transporter. These are an electroneutral mechanism, in which glutamine uptake is coupled to an exchange of 1Na+ and 1H+, or an electrogenic mechanism coupled to the exchange of 2Na+ against 1H+. This study was performed to solve these discrepancies and to investigate the reversibility of the transporter. When SN1 was expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, glutamine uptake was accompanied by a cotransport of 2–3 Na+ ions as determined by 22Na+ fluxes. However, at the same time a rapid release of intracellular Na+ was observed indicating an active exchange of Na+ ions. The driving force of the proton electrochemical gradient was equivalent to that of the sodium electrochemical gradient. Acidification of the extracellular medium caused the transporter to run in reverse and to release glutamine. Determination of accumulation ratios at different driving forces were in agreement with an electroneutral 1Na+-glutamine cotransport-1H+ antiport. Inward currents that were observed during glutamine uptake were much smaller than expected for a stoichiometric cotransport of charges. A slippage mode in the transporter mechanism and pH-regulated endogenous oocyte cation channels are likely to contribute to the observed currents.