A rotating arc gas pump for circuit breaking and other applications

A rotating arc circuit breaker is described which uses an auxiliary current source to generate the magnetic field for driving the arc. Test results obtained using optical fiber measurement systems have shown that there are three main arcing phases. Initially the arc rotates at an essentially constant but low velocity, subsequently its velocity oscillates between this and much higher values, and finally the arc plasma may become diffuse in nature. Test results obtained with dielectric strength probes have indicated that a unidirectional flow of arc heated gas is generated. The flow is away from the moving contact of the interrupter so promoting good dielectric strength in this critical contact region. The combination of the optical fiber and dielectric probe results indicates two possible modes of gas pumping represented, respectively, by a fan and a piston-type action of the arc. Simplified analytical models for both modes are developed with predictions obtained showing good agreement with the experimental results. Discussion of experimental results suggests that the transition from oscillatory velocity changes to diffuse arcing represents an important parameter for scaling the geometries of future interrupters and arc heaters

Tackling a capacity bottleneck to permit large-scale downstream processing of an adenovirus-vectored vaccine

We recently described the strategy by which the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca collaboratively scaled up production of our adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccine, using a productive fed batch process and distributed manufacturing approach in twelve countries around the world. Here we will focus on the development of the downstream process used to make this vaccine. In early development, the first tangential flow filtration step in our previously developed process was noted to be a potential obstacle for scale-up beyond 200L. By removing this first tangential flow filtration step, we established a simple purification process capable of handling the increasing quantities and concentrations of viral titers which are becoming a bottleneck for many adenoviral vector manufacturing processes. Product quality was in line with regulatory expectations. This strategy has enabled 2 billion doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to be produced by November 2021, with the majority made and used in low- and middle-income countries

A faster algorithm for smoothed particle hydrodynamics with radiative transfer in the flux-limited diffusion approximation

We describe a new, faster implicit algorithm for solving the radiation hydrodynamics equations in the flux-limited diffusion approximation for smoothed particle hydrodynamics. This improves on the method elucidated in Whitehouse & Bate by using a Gauss-Seidel iterative method rather than iterating over the exchange of energy between pairs of particles. The new algorithm is typically many thousands of times faster than the old one, which will enable more complex problems to be solved. The new algorithm is tested using the same tests performed by Turner & Stone for ZEUS-2D, and repeated by Whitehouse & Bate.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Actively Star Forming Elliptical Galaxies at Low Redshifts in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We report discovery of actively star forming elliptical galaxies in a morphologically classified sample of bright galaxies at a low redshift obtained from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The emission lines of these galaxies do not show the characteristics of active galactic nuclei, and thus their strong H$\alpha$ emission is ascribed to star formation with a rate nearly as high as that is seen in typical late spiral galaxies. This is taken as evidence against the traditional view that all elliptical galaxies formed early and now evolve only passively. The frequency of such star forming elliptical galaxies is a few tenths of a percent in the sample, but increases to 3% if we include active S0 galaxies. We may identify these galaxies as probable progenitors of so-called E+A galaxies that show the strong Balmer absorption feature of A stars superimposed on an old star population. The approximate match of the abundance of active elliptical plus S0 galaxies with that of E+A galaxies indicates that the duration of such late star formation episodes is of the order of \gsim 1 Gyr. If we interpret these galaxies as new additions to the early-type galaxy population, and if we assume a power law for their number evolution, the abundance of early-type galaxies at $z=1$ is about 30% less than that at $z=0$.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophys. J. Letter

Rise in carriage of group W meningococci in university students in United Kingdom

MenACWY conjugate vaccination was recently introduced in the UK for adolescents and 24 young adults to reduce disease due to Neisseria meningitidis group W (MenW). We 25 conducted a cross-sectional carriage study in first year university students. Despite 71% 26 MenACWY vaccine coverage, carriage of MenW, but not MenY, rose significantly in 27 students

Clinical Study Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin: Its Response to Hypoxia and Association with Acute Mountain Sickness

Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is a common clinical challenge at high altitude (HA). A point-of-care biochemical marker for AMS could have widespread utility. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) rises in response to renal injury, inflammation and oxidative stress. We investigated whether NGAL rises with HA and if this rise was related to AMS, hypoxia or exercise. NGAL was assayed in a cohort ( = 22) undertaking 6 hours exercise at near sea-level (SL); a cohort ( = 14) during 3 hours of normobaric hypoxia (FiO2 11.6%) and on two trekking expeditions ( = 52) to over 5000 m. NGAL did not change with exercise at SL or following normobaric hypoxia. During the trekking expeditions NGAL levels (ng/ml, mean ± sd, range) rose significantly ( < 0.001) from 68 ± 14 (60-102) at 1300 m to 183 ± 107 (65-519); 143 ± 66 (60-315) and 150 ± 71 (60-357) at 3400 m, 4270 m and 5150 m respectively. At 5150 m there was a significant difference in NGAL between those with severe AMS ( = 7), mild AMS ( = 16) or no AMS ( = 23): 201 ± 34 versus 171 ± 19 versus 124 ± 12 respectively ( = 0.009 for severe versus no AMS; = 0.026 for mild versus no AMS). In summary, NGAL rises in response to prolonged hypobaric hypoxia and demonstrates a relationship to the presence and severity of AMS

Domesticating the ‘troubled family’: Racialised sexuality and the postcolonial governance of family life in the UK

This article examines how the UK’s Troubled Families Programme (TFP) works as a strategy of domestication which produces and delimits certain forms of ‘family life’. Drawing upon critical geographies of home and empire, the article explores how the TFP works to manage the troubled family as part of a longer history of regulating unruly households in the name of national health and civilisation. Viewing the TFP as part of the production of heteronormative order, highlights how the policy remobilises and reconfigures older forms of colonial rule which work to demarcate between civility/savagery, the developable/undevelopable. In examining the postcolonial dimension of neoliberal social policy, the article stresses how the TFP relies on racializing and sexualised logics of socio-biological control borrowed from imperial eugenics. Reading the TFP in this way contributes to our understanding of neoliberal rule. That the troubled family can be either domesticated or destroyed (through benefit sanctions and eviction) equally reveals the extent to which domesticity works as a key site for the production of both ‘worthy’ and ‘surplus’ life

Association between perinatal depression in mothers and the risk of childhood infections in offspring: a population-based cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have suggested that children of mothers who experience depression during the perinatal period may have more infections, but such studies are few in number and none have been carried out in the United Kingdom (UK) population. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between perinatal depression in mothers and the risk of childhood infections in offspring in the UK general population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used data from The Health Improvement Network (THIN), a large database of electronic primary care medical records to conduct a cohort study among all first-born singleton children born and enrolled in THIN between 1988 and 2004. We used Poisson regression to compare the incidence of gastrointestinal infections and lower respiratory tract infections reported between birth and age 4 years among children of mothers with a record of perinatal depression with those born to mothers with no such history.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Children of mothers with perinatal depression had a 40% increased risk of gastrointestinal infections and a 27% increased risk of lower respiratory tract infections compared with children of mothers without perinatal depression (incidence rate ratios = 1.40 and 1.27; 95% confidence intervals 1.37-1.42 and 1.22-1.32, respectively). On restricting to antibiotic-treated infections there was a slight increase in the magnitude of association with gastrointestinal infections but a decrease in that with lower respiratory tract infections (incidence rate ratios = 1.47 and 1.19; 95% confidence intervals 1.34-1.61 and 1.11-1.27, respectively).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Maternal perinatal depression is associated with increased rates of childhood gastrointestinal infections, particularly more severe infections, and lower respiratory tract infections in the UK. Preventing maternal perinatal depression may avoid substantial morbidity among offspring, although further work is also needed to investigate the detailed reasons for these findings.</p