Asymptotic Reduction of a Lithium-ion Pouch Cell Model

A three-dimensional model of a single-layer lithium-ion pouch cell is presented which couples conventional porous electrode theory describing cell electrochemical behaviour with an energy balance describing cell thermal behaviour. Asymptotic analysis of the model is carried out by exploiting the small aspect ratio typical of pouch cell designs. The analysis reveals the scaling that results in a distinguished limit, and highlights the role played by the electrical conductivities of the current collectors. The resulting model comprises a collection of one-dimensional models for the through-cell electrochemical behaviour which are coupled via two-dimensional problems for the Ohmic and thermal behaviour in the planar current collectors. A further limit is identified which reduces the problem to a single volume-averaged through-cell model, greatly reducing the computational complexity. Numerical simulations are presented which illustrate and validate the asymptotic results.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, submitted to SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics (08/05/2020

A Suite of Reduced-Order Models of a Single-Layer Lithium-ion Pouch Cell

For many practical applications, fully coupled three-dimensional models describing the behaviour of lithium-ion pouch cells are too computationally expensive. However, owing to the small aspect ratio of typical pouch cell designs, such models are well approximated by splitting the problem into a model for through-cell behaviour and a model for the transverse behaviour. In this paper, we combine different simplifications to through-cell and transverse models to develop a hierarchy of reduced-order pouch cell models. We give a critical numerical comparison of each of these models in both isothermal and thermal settings, and also study their performance on realistic drive cycle data. Finally, we make recommendations regarding model selection, taking into account the available computational resource and the quantities of interest in a particular study

A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Community-Based Health Promotion Intervention for Adults with Mobility Impairments: Living Well with a Disability

This document reports on research conducted by the University of Montana and the University of Kansas for the Office of Disability and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research project, conducted between August 1,1997 and July 31, 2001, was conducted in four separate but related studies. The research was conducted in eight States. We contracted with nine centers for independent living (CIL) to conduct 34 Living Well with a Disability health promotion workshops and to collect outcome measures. These programs included 246 individuals. In the first study, we evaluated the effectiveness and cost outcomes of the Living Well with a Disability health promotion program for adults with mobility impairments. The results of this study, conducted over 18 months, indicated participants= activity limitation due to secondary conditions was substantially reduced. Responding to items from the BRFSS Quality of Life module, individuals reported gaining more than a full day without physical and mental symptoms following the program

Satisfaction with care after total hip or knee replacement predicts self-perceived health status after surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inpatient satisfaction with care is a standard indicator of the quality of care delivered during hospitalization. Total hip and knee replacement (THR/TKR) for osteoarthritis (OA) are among the most successful orthopaedic interventions having a positive impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim was to evaluate the effect of satisfaction shortly after hospital discharge on 1-month, 6-month and 1-year Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form (SF-36) scores for OA patients after THR and TKR, controlling for patient characteristics, clinical presentation and preoperative SF-36 scores.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A multicenter prospective cohort study recruited 231 patients with OA scheduled to receive THR or TKR. Satisfaction was assessed by the Patients Judgment of Hospital Quality (PJHQ) questionnaire and HRQoL by the SF-36 questionnaire. Linear models for repeated measures assessed the relation between satisfaction (scores were dichotomized) and postoperative SF-36 scores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 231 participants, 189 were followed up 12 months after discharge (mean age 69 SD = 8; 42.6% male). The mean length of hospital stay was 13.5 (SD = 4) days. After adjustment for preoperative SF-36 scores, sociodemographic and clinical patient characteristics, satisfied patients (PJHQ score > 70) had higher SF-36 scores 1 year after surgery than did less-satisfied patients. Admission, medical care, and nursing and daily care scores mainly predicted bodily pain, mental health, social functioning, vitality and general health scores of the SF-36.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Besides being a quality-of-care indicator, immediate postoperative patient satisfaction with care may bring a new insight into clinical practice, as a predictor of self-perceived health status after surgery.</p

Role of BRCA gene dysfunction in breast and ovarian cancer predisposition

Tumor suppressor genes that perform apparently generic cellular functions nonetheless cause tissue-specific syndromes in the human population when they are mutated in the germline. The two major hereditary breast/ovarian cancer predisposition genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, appear to participate in a common pathway that is involved in the control of homologous recombination and in the maintenance of genomic integrity. How might such functions translate into the specific suppression of cancers of the breast and ovarian epithelia? Recent advances in the study of BRCA1 and BRCA2, discussed herein, have provided new opportunities to address this question

Rare coding variants in ten genes confer substantial risk for schizophrenia

Rare coding variation has historically provided the most direct connections between gene function and disease pathogenesis. By meta-analysing the whole exomes of 24,248 schizophrenia cases and 97,322 controls, we implicate ultra-rare coding variants (URVs) in 10 genes as conferring substantial risk for schizophrenia (odds ratios of 3-50, PPeer reviewe

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead