Module design and fault diagnosis in electric vehicle batteries

Systems integration issues, such as electrical and thermal design and management of full battery packs - often containing hundreds of cells - have been rarely explored in the academic literature. In this paper we discuss the design and construction of a 9 kWh battery pack for a motorsports application. The pack contained 504 lithium cells arranged into 2 sidepods, each containing 3 modules, with each module in a 12P7S configuration. This paper focuses particularly on testing the full battery pack and diagnosing subsequent problems related to cells being connected in parallel. We demonstrate how a full vehicle test can be used to identify malfunctioning strings of cells for further investigation. After individual cell testing it was concluded that a single high inter-cell contact resistance was causing currents to flow unevenly within the pack, leading to cells being unequally worked. This is supported by a Matlab/Simulink model of one battery module, including contact resistances. Over time the unequal current flowing through cells can lead to significant differences in cells' state of charge and open circuit voltages, large currents flowing between cells even when the load is disconnected, cells discharging and aging more quickly than others, and jeopardise capacity and lifetime of the pack

Misinformation as Immigration Control

It is wrong to force refugees to return to the countries they fled from. It is similarly wrong, many argue, to force migrants back to countries with life-threatening conditions. I argue that it is additionally wrong to help such refugees and migrants voluntarily return whilst failing to inform them of the risks. Drawing on existing data, and original data from East Africa, I describe distinct types of cases where such a wrong arises. In ‘Misinformation Cases’ officials tell refugees that it is safe to return, when it is not, and refugees return who would have otherwise stayed. In ‘Omission Cases’ officials do not provide any information on countries of origin, and this omission causes refugees to repatriate. In ‘Relevancy Cases’ refugees are misinformed or uninformed, but would have returned even if better informed. In all of these cases, at least some state officials are blameworthy for their failure to inform refugees, and are engaging in a form of wrongful immigration control

Replacement of Enterococcus faecalis by Enterococcus faecium as the predominant enterococcus in UK bacteraemias

Objectives To review temporal changes in the proportions of different Enterococcus species recorded in two UK bacteraemia surveillance systems. Antibiotic resistance trends were also considered. Methods We reviewed data for enterococci from 2001 to 2019 in: (a) the BSAC Resistance Surveillance Programme, which collected up to 7–10 bloodstream enterococci every year from each of 23–39 hospitals in the UK and Ireland and tested these centrally; and (b) PHE bacteraemia surveillance, using routine results from NHS microbiology laboratories in England. Results BSAC surveillance, based upon 206–255 enterococci each year (4486 in total), indicated that the proportion of Enterococcus faecium rose from 31% (212/692) in the period 2001–3 to 51% (354/696) in the period 2017–19, balanced by corresponding falls in the proportion of Enterococcus faecalis. PHE surveillance provided a larger dataset, with >5000 enterococcus reports per year; although its identifications are less precise, it too indicated a rise in the proportion of E. faecium. BSAC surveillance for E. faecium indicated no consistent trends in resistance to ampicillin (≥86% in all years), vancomycin (annual rates 19%–40%) or high-level resistance to gentamicin (31%–59%). Resistance to vancomycin remained <4% in E. faecalis in all years, whilst high-level resistance to gentamicin fell, perhaps partly reflecting the decline of two initially prevalent gentamicin- and ciprofloxacin-resistant clones. Conclusions Both surveillance systems indicate a growing proportion of E. faecium in enterococcal bloodstream infections. This is important because fewer therapeutic options remain against this frequently multiresistant species than against E. faecalis

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA - a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection - under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection ar

Selection Tests for Trainee Conference Interpreters

This preliminary study devised and tested a series of psychometric tests to facilitate selection of simultaneous and consecutive interpreter-trainee candidates. Twelve tests, based either on text materials, linguistic subskills or speed-stress, were correlated with judges' ratings of the final interpretation examination. Students who passed the exam had higher mean scores on all tests than those who failed. Test scores were positively inter-correlated between completion-detection tests and simultaneous interpretation ratings and between recall tests and consecutive examination ratings. Text-based tests were more predictive than subskills or speed-stress tests. The relationship between test type and interpreting is discussed together with possible reasons underlying differential performance on tests of the same kind.Problems in the recruitment and training of conference interpreters have been the frequent subject of debate by members of the profession (Keiser 1978; Longley 1978; Namy 1978). Although there have been some publications on psychological and other theoretical aspects of the interpreter's skills (Barik 1973; Gerver 1976; Seleskovitch 1976; Karmiloff-Smith 1978; Moser 1978; Chernov 1979; Lambert 1983), there has been no systematic research on student selection and training in this field.What qualities and skills are required for success as an interpreter or as a trainee in the field? Although no previous empirical research has been carried out on this subject, there does appear to be some consensus among interpreters and teachers of interpreting as to the skills and qualities sought in new members of the profession. A survey of articles written by members of the profession, as well as transcripts of interviews with working interpreters, suggested some agreement of the following as being essential for success as a trainee or in the profession.1. Profound knowledge of active and passive languages and cultures.2. Ability to grasp rapidly and convey the essential meaning of what is being said.3. Ability to project information with confidence, coupled with a good voice.4. Wide general knowledge and interests, and a willingness to acquire new information.5. Ability to work as a member of a team.The specific aim of the present study was to develop and evaluate objective tests to assess the second item mentioned above, that is the candidate's ability to grasp rapidly and to convey the meaning of spoken discourse. It was expected that the tests would contribute to improving selection procedures, hence the number of students passing the final examination, as well as the course itself.The present study arose from the decision of Patricia Longley, one of the co-authors and former director of the Interpretation Programme at the Polytechnic of Central London, to initiate the establishment of objective criteria for the selection of students for the postgraduate course in conference interpreting techniques at the School of Languages in London. The course, founded by Patricia Longley in 1963, and now headed by Jennifer MacKintosh, is an intensive six-month course in simultaneous and consecutive interpretation. Over 200 applications are received each year from candidates throughout the world, about half of whom are invited to London for interviews and informal tests, lasting a day. Only 25 to 30 candidates are selected for the course.The informal tests consist of written translation tests in addition to tests of both aural and oral language skills in the candidates' other languages. During the tests, candidates are first asked to repeat texts in the source language (shadowing) before progressing to interpretation of texts from their passive languages into their active language. These texts progress from simple sentences to more complex, albeit non-technical, longer passages. Unusual and unexpected phrases are inserted into the more difficult passages for interpretation in order to assess candidates' skills in coping with the unexpected and with passages which cannot be translated word-for-word. The interviews are designed to assess candidates' general background knowledge and interests, motivation, presentation of self, and general suitability for the profession. Whether or not there is a current market for the candidate's particular language combination is also taken into account at the time of selection.The intensive, six-month course involves training in both simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, and in the note-taking skills essential to the latter form of interpreting, in conference practices, and in a variety of subjects likely to be encountered in conference settings.The final examinations are oral in both forms of interpretation in the candidate's principal working languages, and are conducted by a board of external examiners who are themselves senior practising interpreters in major international organizations such as the U.N., Council of Europe, I.L.O., and the W.H.O.A secondary aim of the study was to explore alternative types of tests. Since the task of the interpreter is to transform spoken textual information from one language into another, either immediately (for simultaneous interpretation) or after some delay (for consecutive interpretation), the first type of test - termed text-based - assumed the processing of connected discourse to be a crucial feature of the interpreter's task. The approach was based on recent work in the area of text processing (Kintsch 1974; MacKintosh 1985). Text-based tests required either the recall of the information presented or the completion of individual target words in the text. The second type of test - termed subskill-based - assumed language subskills such as synonym generation, sentence re-expression and vocabulary selection to be an adequate reflection of the interpreter's task. The approach was based on the development of a set of factor referenced cognitive tests of verbal ability (Eckstrom et al. 1976). In addition, both simultaneous and consecutive interpretation are performed under conditions of speed-stress, since the interpreter is paced by the speaker over whom he has little or no control. Hence, the third type of test - termed stress-based-assumed speed stress to be a general performance factor not particular to, but exemplified by, interpreting. The approach was based on the development of a speed test requiring the solution of problems involving letter series performed under a time constraint (Furneaux 1956). It was expected that the present research would throw some light on whether text-based, subskill-based or speed stress-based tests reflected the crucial features of the interpreter's task for the purpose of testing trainee candidates' abilities