Embracing sustainable farming: Unleashing the circular economy potential of second-life EV batteries in agricultural applications

Growing Kent and Medway Members Showcase Day

Techno-economic feasibility of retired electric-vehicle batteries repurpose/reuse in second-life applications: A systematic review

In line with the global target in decarbonising the transportation sector and the noticeable increase of new electric vehicles (EV) owners, concerns are raised regarding the expected quantity of Retired EV Batteries (REVB) exposed to the environment when they reach 70–80% of their original capacity. However, there is significant potential for REVB, after deinstallation, to deliver energy for alternative applications such as storing surplus. This systematic review evaluates state-of-art modelling/experimental studies focused on repurposing REVB in second-life applications. Technical and economic viability of REVB repurposing has been confirmed to solve the unreliability of cleaner energy technologies and mitigate the high investment of new storage systems. 40% of included studies considered hybrid systems with PV being a dominant technology where REVB was evaluated to be small-scaled and large storage systems. Additionally, successful attempts were conducted to evaluate REVB performance in providing grid services. It has however, been discovered intensive grid services applications like frequency regulation, was technically challenging due to demanding working requirements. Reviewed studies considered different prices for REVB due to lack of market regulation on REVB resale; similarly, technical parameters, including initial State of Health (SoH) and State of Charge (SoC) constraints were inconsistent due to lack of standardisation

Attitude of Medical Students at Sultan Qaboos University toward Psychiatry

Objectives: To examine the attitude of medical students at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) toward Psychiatry and the impact of factors such as age, gender, curriculum, clinical level, Psychiatry training, and experience of mental illness in self or family. Methods: This is a cross sectional study conducted among medical students at the college of Medicine at Sultan Qaboos University, muscat, Oman. All students from the Pre–clerkship, junior–clerkship and 7th year students were invited to participate in this study. The 30 items Attitude toward Psychiatry survey (ATP–30) was used. Data was analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 19. Results: A total of 269 students participated in the study (37% males and 63% females). The Attitude towards Psychiatry (ATP) was moderately positive and the positivity increased among the students who completed psychiatry rotation. The impact of demographic factors on the attitude was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study showed that medical students at Sultan Qaboos University have a positive attitude toward psychiatry

Planning, operation, and design of market-based virtual power plant considering uncertainty

The power systems of today seem inseparable from clean energy sources such as wind turbines (WTs) and photovoltaics (PVs). However, due to their uncertain nature, operational challenges are expected when WT and PV energy is added to the electricity network. It is necessary to introduce new technologies to compensate for the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources (RESs). Therefore, rationally implementing a demand response (DR) program with energy storage systems (ESSs) in a virtual power plant (VPP) environment is recommended as a way forward to minimize the volatile nature of RESs and improve power system reliability. Our proposed approach aims to maximize social welfare (SW) (i.e., maximization of consumer benefits while minimizing energy costs). Our method assesses the impact of the DR program on SW maximization. Two scenarios are examined, one with and one without a DR program. Stochastic programming theory is used to address the optimization problem. The uncertain behavior of WTs, PVs, and load demand is modeled using a scenario-based approach. The correctness of the proposed approach is demonstrated on a 16-bus UK generic distribution system. Our results show that SW and active power dispatch capacity of WT, PV, and ESS are fairly increased using the proposed approach. View Full-Tex

Perception of Preparedness for Clinical Work Among New Residents: A Cross-sectional Study from Oman.

Objectives: To evaluate new residents’ perceptions of their own preparedness for clinical practice and examine the associated factors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on August 20−23, 2016. New residents accepted for postgraduate training by Oman Medical Specialty Board were asked to complete the Preparation for Hospital Practice Questionnaire (PHPQ). Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22. Results: A total of 160 residents were invited to participate in this study. Out of 160, 140 residents participated (87.5%), 70.7% were female and 59.3% were graduates from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). Ninety-nine percent of the graduates were either ‘well prepared’ or ‘fairly well prepared’ for hospital practice. Male residents scored higher in the confidence scale, while residents who did a post-internship general practice placement scored higher in understanding science. Graduates from Oman Medical College felt more prepared compared to graduates from SQU. Conclusions: Most of the new residents were well prepared to clinical work. Factors such as place of undergraduate study, training, and duration of internship significantly influenced the residents’ perception of preparedness. Addressing these factors will enhance residents’ preparedness for clinical work

A consistent scalar-tensor cosmology for inflation, dark energy and the Hubble parameter

The authors are grateful for financial support to the Cruickshank Trust (CW), EPSRC/GG-Top (CW, JR), Omani Government (MA), Science Without Borders programme, CNPq, Brazil (DR), and STFC/CfFP (CW, AM, RB, JM). CW and AM acknowledge the hospitality of CERN, where this work was started. The University of Aberdeen and University of Edinburgh are charitable bodies registered in Scotland, with respective registration numbers SC013683 and SC005336.Peer reviewedPostprin

A (Running) Bolt for New Reasons

We construct a four-parameter family of smooth, horizonless, stationary solutions of ungauged five-dimensional supergravity by using the four-dimensional Euclidean Schwarzschild metric as a base space and "magnetizing" its bolt. We then generalize this to a five-parameter family based upon the Euclidean Kerr-Taub-Bolt. These "running Bolt" solutions are necessarily non-static. They also have the same charges and mass as a non-extremal black hole with a classically-large horizon area. Moreover, in a certain regime their mass can decrease as their charges increase. The existence of these solutions supports the idea that the singularities of non-extremal black holes are resolved by low-mass modes that correct the singularity of the classical black hole solution on large (horizon-sized) scales.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX; v2: minor changes, references adde

Multi-Center non-BPS Black Holes - the Solution

We construct multi-center, non-supersymmetric four-dimensional solutions describing a rotating anti-D6-D2 black hole and an arbitrary number of D4-D2-D0 black holes in a line. These solutions correspond to an arbitrary number of extremal non-BPS black rings in a Taub-NUT space with a rotating three-charge black hole in the middle. The positions of the centers are determined by solving a set of "bubble" or "integrability" equations that contain cubic polynomials of the inter-center distance, and that allow scaling solutions even when the total four-dimensional angular momentum of the scaling centers is non-zero.Comment: 16 pages, LaTe