Optimising the geospatial configuration of a future lithium ion battery recycling industry in the transition to electric vehicles and a circular economy

Rapid electrification of the transport system will generate substantial volumes of Lithium-ion-battery (LiB) waste as batteries reach their end-of-life. Much attention focuses on the recycling processes, neglecting a broader systemic view that considers the concentration of the costs and impacts associated with logistics and transportation. This paper provides an economic, environmental and geospatial analysis of a future LiB recycling industry in the UK. Hitherto, state-of-the-art assessment methods have evaluated life cycle impacts and costs but have not considered the geographical layer of the problem. This paper develops a GSC derived supply chain model for the UK electric vehicle and end-of-life vehicle battery industry. Considering both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical recycling technologies, the optimisation process takes into account anticipated EV volumes, and, based on anticipated near-term technological evolution of LiBs, the evolution of the mix of battery cathodes in production, and presents a number of scenarios to show where LiB recycling facilities should ideally be geographically located. An economic and environmental assessment based on a customised EverBatt model is provided

Modelling of psoriasis patient flows for the reconfiguration of secondary care services and treatments

This paper describes work in collaboration with a large dermatology directorate in South Wales to map out current patient flow and activity levels for psoriasis management. Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease which often has a high impact on patient quality of life. Clinical services for patients with moderate to severe psoriasis tend to be located in secondary care hospitals. The range of services that were studied, their geographical location in relation to the distribution of population, and the population demographics in this health board were not unique; similar profiles for these factors can be found throughout the NHS in England and Wales. The model was created to analyse patient flow through different therapies, with the aim of maximising throughput of patients, eliminating bottlenecks, improving patient access to services and improving patient safety. It was shown that reducing waiting times and improving access to phototherapy would lower overall service costs, as fewer patients would subsequently require systemic and biologic therapies. The model has been used to quantify how recent year-on-year increases in overall spend on psoriasis treatments might be slowed and eventually halted. This would require reallocation of notional cost-savings generated by reducing the rate of increase in the drug spend to fund the development of a more balanced and accessible network of more basic psoriasis services

Time-dependent stochastic methods for managing and scheduling Emergency Medical Services

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are facing increasing pressures in many nations given that demands on the service are rising. This article focuses in particular on the operations of the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST), which is the only organisation that provides urgent paramedical care services on a day-to-day basis across the whole of Wales. In response to WAST’s aspiration to improve the quality of care it provides, this research investigates several interrelated advanced statistical and operational research (OR) methods, culminating in a suite of decision support tools to aid WAST with capacity planning issues. The developed techniques are integrated in a master workforce capacity planning tool that may be independently operated by WAST planners. By means of incorporating methods that seek to simultaneously better predict future demands, recommend minimum staffing requirements and generate low-cost rosters, the tool ultimately provides planners with an analytical base to effectively deploy resources. Whilst the tool is primarily developed for WAST, the generic nature of the methods considered means they could equally be applied to any service subject to demand that is of an urgent nature, cannot be backlogged, is heavily time-dependent and highly variabl

Multi-band Transmission over E-, S-, C- and L-band with a Hybrid Raman Amplifier

Capacity enhancement by utilising the unused spectral bands of the low-loss optical window of standard single-mode fibre (SSMF) is a cost-effective solution for meeting the future demand of data traffic. The development of optical amplifiers that can operate in different spectral bands is expected to play an integral part in the establishment of multi-band networks. In this work, we perform experimental, analytical and numerical modelling of a multi-band transmission system using a hybrid distributed-discrete Raman amplifier enabling signal amplification from 1410-1605 nm. The developed amplifier was tested over 50km of SSMF using 200 Gbit/s channels, where successful transmission was achieved, well above the HD-FEC threshold of 8.5 dB. Further study on the multi-band transmission performance was carried out using a semi-analytical closed-form approximation and split-step Fourier method-based simulations for various related test cases. The analytical and numerical models are also compared with experimental results, showing reasonable agreement in terms of system performance estimation

Amplification schemes and multi-channel DBP for unrepeatered transmission

The performance of unrepeatered transmission of a seven Nyquist-spaced 10 GBd PDM-16QAM superchannel using full signal band coherent detection and multi-channel digital back propagation (MC-DBP) to mitigate nonlinear effects is analysed. For the first time in unrepeatered transmission, the performance of two amplification systems is investigated and directly compared in terms of achievable information rates (AIRs): 1) erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) and 2) second-order bidirectional Raman pumped amplification. The experiment is performed over different span lengths, demonstrating that, for an AIR of 6.8 bit/s/Hz, the Raman system enables an increase of 93 km (36 %) in span length. Further, at these distances, MC-DBP gives an improvement in AIR of 1 bit/s/Hz (to 7.8 bit/s/Hz) for both amplification schemes. The theoretical AIR gains for Raman and MC-DBP are shown to be preserved when considering low-density parity-check codes. Additionally, MC-DBP algorithms for both amplification schemes are compared in terms of performance and computational complexity. It is shown that to achieve the maximum MC-DBP gain, the Raman system requires approximately four times the computational complexity due to the distributed impact of fibre nonlinearity

Key Topics on End-of-Life Care for African Americans

Racial classifications of human populations are politically and socially determined. There is no biological or genetic basis for these racial classifications. Health behaviors may be influenced by culture and poverty. Disparities in health outcomes, sometimes resulting in higher mortality rates for African-Americans appear to influence end of life decision-making attitudes and behaviors. To improve the quality of end of life care in African-American communities, health care professionals must better understand and work to eliminate disparities in health care, increase their own skills, knowledge and confidence in palliative and hospice care, and improve awareness of the benefits and values of hospice and palliative care in their patients and families