Novel economic modelling of a Peer-to-Peer Electricity Market with the inclusion of distributed energy storage

Current electricity distribution systems allow prosumers to sell their surplus electricity back to the Distributed Network Operator (DNO). The export tariffs at which these sell-backs take place are considerably lower than the feed-in tariffs, offering little incentive to prosumers to sell their surplus energy. A peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity market where consumers and prosumers can interact by selling and buying energy between them at a premium rate that is lower than the standard feed-in tariffs but higher than the export tariffs is proposed. Such a system was modelled to process transactions every 20 seconds, and a simulation tool was created to obtain the total daily money flows between a consumer-prosumer pair. The inclusion of a Distributed Storage System (DSS) is also considered in the modelled system and simulation. The simulation results showed that the inclusion of a DSS is always beneficial for all parties in economic terms: consumers could save up to 6.4% on the cost of their electricity while prosumers could save up to 49.1%. A DSS could generate an income flow for the DNO of up to 6.9p/day per each consumer-prosumer pair

Utilizing a Simulated Tendon to Teach Tendon Repair Technique

To evaluate the effectiveness of teaching core tendon repairs using a simulation model, ten surgical residents with no prior experience repairing flexor tendons were taught a four-strand cruciate repair. The residents then performed ten repairs each on a simulated tendon (a round synthetic bait worm 10 mm in diameter) while being timed and graded by a hand surgeon using a global rating scale (1 to 5). Six residents also performed a zone IV flexor tendon repair on a fresh frozen cadaver—three residents who had practiced and three other residents who had no practice on the simulated tendon. The mean initial quality score was 2.4/5.0 which improved to 4.8/5.0 by the tenth trial. There was a significant incremental improvement in mean performance from trial 1 to 10 (p < 0.0001). The mean times to complete the first and last repairs were 5.4 and 3.0 min, respectively. In the cadaver trial, there was statistically significant evidence (p = 0.05, one-sided Wilcoxon exact test) that the three residents previously trained with the simulated tendon had a higher median performance (4.4, min = 4.3, max = 4.8) than the three who had not been trained (1.8, min = 1.7, max = 2.1). The mean times to complete the repairs were 4.0 and 5.8 min, respectively. In conclusion, this inexpensive model mimics an in vivo tendon repair experience with sufficient fidelity to justify its use in training residents to perform a tendon repair

Real-time Seldinger technique simulation in complex vascular models

Purpose: Commercial interventional radiology vascular simulators emulate instrument navigation and device deployment, though none supports the Seldinger technique, which provides initial access to the vascular tree. This paper presents a novel virtual environment for teaching this core skill. Methods: Our simulator combines two haptic devices: vessel puncture with a virtual needle and catheter and guidewire manipulation. The simulation software displays the instrument interactions with the vessels. Instruments are modelled using a mass-spring approximation, while efficient collision detection and collision response allow real time interactions. Results: Experienced interventional radiologists evaluated the haptic components of our simulator as realistic and accurate. The vessel puncture haptic device proposes a first prototype to simulate the Seldinger technique. Our simulator presents realistic instrument behaviour when compared to real instruments in a vascular phantom. Conclusion: This paper presents the first simulator to train the Seldinger technique. The preliminary results confirm its utility for interventional radiology training