Abstract
In this article, two new unidirectional multilevel six-phase power rectifier topologies are proposed and investigated. Such topologies may be applied to ac-dc systems such as wind energy conversions systems, aerospace generator drives, telecommunications or any other application where regenerative operation is either not required or prohibited. The first topology is composed of two three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converters connected to the open-end windings of a six-phase permanent magnet synchronous generator, and a three-phase noncontrolled diode bridge converter. The second topology is composed of three modified NPC converters with the substitution of two controlled switches by diodes in each leg. The use of a noncontrolled converter with diodes aims to reduce the controlled switches count, the system complexity, and the costs. However, it makes both systems nonreversible. The system models, operating principles, the space vector pulsewidth modulation strategies, the dc-links balance, and the control system to ensure the elimination of the zero-crossover distortion caused by the use of the diodes are presented. Due to the high number of levels generated, the systems are suitable for high power applications with voltage and current ratings restrictions. A study concerning harmonic distortion and semiconductor losses for both systems is performed, in order to be compared with a standard configuration. The feasibility of the system is demonstrated by simulation and experimental results.

Abstract
In this letter, a strain sensor with high sensitivity enhancement using a special case of Vernier effect is presented. The sensor configuration is composed of two-fiber loop mirrors in a cascaded configuration with opposite strain responses when individually characterized. Thus, the enhanced Vernier effect is explored, which is the most sensitive of three possible cases Vernier effect. Here, the Vernier response depends on the difference between the sensitivities of each Hi-Bi optical fiber. In addition to this, the fundamental and the first harmonic were also explored. The results obtained are a strain sensitivity of (13.3 +/- 0.3) pm/mu epsilon for the carrier, (80.0 +/- 0.3) pm/mu epsilon or the Vernier envelope of the fundamental case and (120 +/- 1) pm/mu epsilon for the Vernier envelope of the first harmonic. The first harmonic could achieve a magnification factor of 8. Considering that the optical interrogation system allows a minimum resolution of 0.02 nm, the minimum measurement step achievable is 0.2 mu epsilon. This work proves the possibility of applying the concept of enhanced Vernier effect to fiber loop mirrors, obtaining higher sensitivity than a standard fiber loop mirror alone. Besides, the sensitivity can be increased through the usage of harmonics of the Vernier effect. Moreover, the use of large interferometers allows a better discretization of the envelope, which implies a greater ease of analysis.

Abstract
This paper compares the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and NSGA-III to solve multiobjective sectorization problems (MO-SPs). We focus on the effects of the parameters of the algorithms on their performance and we use statistical experimental design to find more effective parameters. For this purpose, the analysis of variance (ANOVA), Taguchi design and response surface method (RSM) are used. The criterion of the comparison is the number of obtained nondominated solutions by the algorithms. The aim of the problem is to divide a region that contains distribution centres (DCs) and customers into smaller and balanced regions in terms of demands and distances, for which we generate benchmarks. The results show that the performance of algorithms improves with appropriate parameter definition. With the parameters defined based on the experiments, NSGA-III outperforms NSGA-II. © 2020 IEEE.

Abstract
Various companies choose to outsource the delivery of part of their services, so as not to deviate from its core business and improve the service level. This approach leads to a new type of organizations, so-called networked and virtual enterprises, where possibly a great number of companies work together without having direct contact but through a broker, as an intermediary, that streamlines the relationships between them. To enable high level efficiency, as well as some other functional requirements, the meta-organizations and brokering services are conceived as environments and services for networked and virtual enterprises operation and dynamic reconfigurations, representing a model of organizations-of-organizations, as an implementation of one of the Industry 4.0 models and ecosystem for networked and virtual enterprises dynamic reconfiguration. In this paper, the meta-organizations with embedded brokering services, modelled as call centres, are analyzed. Various simulations are presented, based on Erlangs formulas for some of design and performance measures parameters evaluation, such as service level, average waiting time, agent occupancy and service traffic intensity.

Abstract
Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverters may have some of its cells with a bidirectional power flow between the dc source and the load. Considering this, switching strategies for multilevel CHB inverters are proposed for applications in which the regenerative mode is not desired, forcing all the cells to have either null or positive power flow toward the load. In order to validate the theoretical considerations, simulation and experimental analysis are made, where it is possible to maintain the high voltage quality and avoid the regenerative mode at any operating point.

Abstract
Deterministic Synchronous Multichannel Extension (DSME) is a prominent MAC behavior first introduced in IEEE 802.15.4e. It can avail deterministic and best effort Service using its multisuperframe structure. RPL is a routing protocol for wireless networks with low power consumption and generally susceptible to packet loss. These two standards were designed independently but with the common objective to satisfy the requirements of IoT devices in terms of limited energy, reliability and determinism. A combination of these two protocols can integrate real-time QoS demanding and large-scale IoT networks. In this paper, we propose a new multi-channel, multi-timeslot scheduling algorithm called Symphony that provides QoS efficient schedules in DSME networks. In this paper we provide analytical and simulation based delay analysis for our approach against some state of the art algorithms. In this work, we show that integrating routing with DSME can improve reliability by 40% and by using Symphony, we can reduce the network delay by 10--20% against the state of the art algorithms.