New battery model and state-of-health determination through subspace parameter estimation and state-observer techniques

This paper describes a novel adaptive battery model based on a remapped variant of the well-known Randles' lead-acid model. Remapping of the model is shown to allow improved modeling capabilities and accurate estimates of dynamic circuit parameters when used with subspace parameter-estimation techniques. The performance of the proposed methodology is demonstrated by application to batteries for an all-electric personal rapid transit vehicle from the Urban Light TRAnsport (ULTRA) program, which is designated for use at Heathrow Airport, U. K. The advantages of the proposed model over the Randles' circuit are demonstrated by comparisons with alternative observer/estimator techniques, such as the basic Utkin observer and the Kalman estimator. These techniques correctly identify and converge on voltages associated with the battery state-of-charge (SoC), despite erroneous initial conditions, thereby overcoming problems attributed to SoC drift (incurred by Coulomb-counting methods due to overcharging or ambient temperature fluctuations). Observation of these voltages, as well as online monitoring of the degradation of the estimated dynamic model parameters, allows battery aging (state-of-health) to also be assessed and, thereby, cell failure to be predicted. Due to the adaptive nature of the proposed algorithms, the techniques are suitable for applications over a wide range of operating environments, including large ambient temperature variations. Moreover, alternative battery topologies may also be accommodated by the automatic adjustment of the underlying state-space models used in both the parameter-estimation and observer/estimator stages

Dynamics of former ice lobes of the southernmost Patagonian Ice Sheet based on a glacial landsystems approach

Reconstructions of former ice masses from glacial geomorphology help to constrain the nature and timing of glaciation in relation to climatic forcing. This paper presents a new reconstruction of the glacial history of five ice lobes in southernmost South America: the Bahía Inútil − San Sebastián, Magellan, Otway, Skyring and Río Gallegos ice lobes. We use previous geomorphological mapping of glacial landforms to reconstruct former glacial limits and proglacial lakes, demarcate flow-sets from the distribution of glacial lineations, and evaluate glacial landsystem signatures and their palaeoglaciological implications. Evidence suggests that the ice lobes predominantly reflect active temperate glacial landsystems, which may have switched to polythermal systems when periods of cold-based ice developed ephemerally. This complex landsystem signature implies that the ice lobes were sensitive to regional climate variability, with active re-advances during overall retreat of the ice margins. There is also evidence for periods of fast ice flow and possible surge-like activity in the region, followed by the rapid retreat or even collapse of some of the ice lobes in association with proglacial lakes. Constraining our new reconstruction with published chronological information suggests that at least some of the ice lobes advanced before the global Last Glacial Maximum (gLGM: ca. 26.5–19 ka) during the last glacial cycle. Our new reconstruction demonstrates a more complex picture of ice dynamics than has previously been portrayed, and one in which the advance and retreat of the ice lobes was likely to have been primarily driven by changes in climate. As such, ice advances before the gLGM in the southernmost part of the Patagonian Ice Sheet are likely to indicate a wider climatic forcing at this time

Three-points interfacial quadrature for geometrical source terms on nonuniform grids

International audienceThis paper deals with numerical (finite volume) approximations, on nonuniform meshes, for ordinary differential equations with parameter-dependent fields. Appropriate discretizations are constructed over the space of parameters, in order to guarantee the consistency in presence of variable cells' size, for which $L^p$-error estimates, $1\le p < +\infty$, are proven. Besides, a suitable notion of (weak) regularity for nonuniform meshes is introduced in the most general case, to compensate possibly reduced consistency conditions, and the optimality of the convergence rates with respect to the regularity assumptions on the problem's data is precisely discussed. This analysis attempts to provide a basic theoretical framework for the numerical simulation on unstructured grids (also generated by adaptive algorithms) of a wide class of mathematical models for real systems (geophysical flows, biological and chemical processes, population dynamics)

Integrating sequence and array data to create an improved 1000 Genomes Project haplotype reference panel

A major use of the 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) data is genotype imputation in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we develop a method to estimate haplotypes from low-coverage sequencing data that can take advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotypes on the same samples. First the SNP array data are phased to build a backbone (or 'scaffold') of haplotypes across each chromosome. We then phase the sequence data 'onto' this haplotype scaffold. This approach can take advantage of relatedness between sequenced and non-sequenced samples to improve accuracy. We use this method to create a new 1000GP haplotype reference set for use by the human genetic community. Using a set of validation genotypes at SNP and bi-allelic indels we show that these haplotypes have lower genotype discordance and improved imputation performance into downstream GWAS samples, especially at low-frequency variants. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Factors affecting body temperatures of toads

Factors influencing levels and rates of variation of body temperature ( T b ) in montane Bufo boreas boreas and in lowland Bufo boreas halophilus were investigated as an initial step toward understanding the role of natural thermal variation in the physiology and energetics of these ectothermic animals. Body temperatures of boreas can vary 25–30° C over 24-h periods. Such variation is primarily due to both nocturnal and diurnal activity and the physical characteristics of the montane environment. Bufo boreas halophilus are primarily nocturnal except during breeding and are voluntarily active at body temperatures ranging between 10 and 25° C. Despite variation in T b encountered in the field, boreas select a narrow range of T b in a thermal gradient, averaging 23.5 and 26.2° C for fasted individuals maintained under field conditions or acclimated to 20° C, respectively. In a thermal gradient the mean T b of fasted halophilus acclimated to 20° C is 23.9° C. Skin color of boreas varies in the field from very dark to light. The dark skins absorb approximately 4% more radiation than the light ones. Light colored boreas should absorb approximately 5% more radiation than similarly colored halophilus . Evaporative water losses increase directly with skin temperatures and vapor pressure deficit in both subspecies. Larger individuals heat and cool more slowly than smaller ones. Calculation of an enery budget for boreal toads suggests that they could sit in direct sunlight for long periods without fatally overheating, providing the skin was continually moist.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47722/1/442_2004_Article_BF00344732.pd

Whole-genome sequencing of chronic lymphocytic leukemia identifies subgroups with distinct biological and clinical features

The value of genome-wide over targeted driver analyses for predicting clinical outcomes of cancer patients is debated. Here, we report the whole-genome sequencing of 485 chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients enrolled in clinical trials as part of the United Kingdom’s 100,000 Genomes Project. We identify an extended catalog of recurrent coding and noncoding genetic mutations that represents a source for future studies and provide the most complete high-resolution map of structural variants, copy number changes and global genome features including telomere length, mutational signatures and genomic complexity. We demonstrate the relationship of these features with clinical outcome and show that integration of 186 distinct recurrent genomic alterations defines five genomic subgroups that associate with response to therapy, refining conventional outcome prediction. While requiring independent validation, our findings highlight the potential of whole-genome sequencing to inform future risk stratification in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Search for gravitational-wave transients associated with magnetar bursts in advanced LIGO and advanced Virgo data from the third observing run

Gravitational waves are expected to be produced from neutron star oscillations associated with magnetar giant f lares and short bursts. We present the results of a search for short-duration (milliseconds to seconds) and longduration (∼100 s) transient gravitational waves from 13 magnetar short bursts observed during Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo, and KAGRA’s third observation run. These 13 bursts come from two magnetars, SGR1935 +2154 and SwiftJ1818.0−1607. We also include three other electromagnetic burst events detected by FermiGBM which were identified as likely coming from one or more magnetars, but they have no association with a known magnetar. No magnetar giant flares were detected during the analysis period. We find no evidence of gravitational waves associated with any of these 16 bursts. We place upper limits on the rms of the integrated incident gravitational-wave strain that reach 3.6 × 10−²³ Hz at 100 Hz for the short-duration search and 1.1 ×10−²² Hz at 450 Hz for the long-duration search. For a ringdown signal at 1590 Hz targeted by the short-duration search the limit is set to 2.3 × 10−²² Hz. Using the estimated distance to each magnetar, we derive upper limits upper limits on the emitted gravitational-wave energy of 1.5 × 1044 erg (1.0 × 1044 erg) for SGR 1935+2154 and 9.4 × 10^43 erg (1.3 × 1044 erg) for Swift J1818.0−1607, for the short-duration (long-duration) search. Assuming isotropic emission of electromagnetic radiation of the burst fluences, we constrain the ratio of gravitational-wave energy to electromagnetic energy for bursts from SGR 1935+2154 with the available fluence information. The lowest of these ratios is 4.5 × 103