Concordia University

About: Concordia University is a education organization based out in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Control theory & Population. The organization has 13565 authors who have published 31084 publications receiving 783525 citations. The organization is also known as: Sir George Williams University & Loyola College, Montreal.

Taxol from fungal endophytes and the issue of biodiversity

Abstract: Fungi represent one of the most understudied and diverse group of organisms. Commonly, these organisms make associations with higher life forms and may proceed to biochemically mimic the host organism. An excellent example of this is the anticancer drug, taxol, which had been previously supposed to occur only in the plant genusTaxus (yew). However, taxol has been reported in a novel endophytic fungus—Taxomyces andreanae, but also has been demonstrated to occur in a number of unrelated fungal endophytes includingPestalotia, Pestalotiopsis, Fusarium, Alternaria, Pithomyces, Monochaetia and others. Thus, this report presents information on the presence of taxol among disparate fungal genera, and uses these observations as an additional argument to support efforts to study fungal endophytes and preserve their associated host plants.

T-S Fuzzy-Model-Based Robust $H_{\infty}$ Design for Networked Control Systems With Uncertainties

Abstract: This paper concerns a problem of robust Hinfin control for a class of uncertain nonlinear networked control systems (NCSs), which can be represented by a T-S fuzzy model with uncertainties. Both network-induced delay and packet dropout are addressed. The controller design method is presented based on a delay-dependent approach, and the robust Hinfin controller gain matrices are obtain by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Moreover, a general Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional is used, and some slack matrices, which bring much flexibility in solving LMIs, are introduced during the proof. Simulation results show the validity of the proposed method.

A bi-directional DC-DC converter topology for low power application

Abstract: This paper presents a bidirectional DC-DC converter for use in low power applications. The proposed topology is based on a half-bridge on the primary and a current-fed push-pull on the secondary side of a high frequency isolation transformer. Achieving bidirectional flow of power using the same power components provides a simple, efficient and galvanically isolated topology that is specially attractive for use in battery charge/discharge circuits in DC UPS. The DC mains (provided by the AC mains), when presented, powers the down stream load converters and the bidirectional converter which essentially operates in the buck mode to charge the battery to a nominal value of 48 V. On failure of the DC mains (derived from the AC mains), the converter operation is comparable to that of a boost and the battery regulates the bus voltage and thereby provides power to the downstream converters. Small signal and steady state analyses are presented for this specific application. The design of a laboratory prototype is included. Experimental results from the prototype, under different operating conditions, validate and evaluate the proposed topology. An efficiency of 86.6% is achieved in the battery charging mode and 90% when the battery provides load power. The converter exhibits good transient response under load variations and switchover from one mode of operation to another.