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Al Hallaniyat Island is located in the southern part of Oman. The island has a low number of population and is currently fed by a number of diesel generators with a capacity of 1568 kW. Decreasing the emission of greenhouse gases is one of the main goals for the country’s vision of 2040 as well as Oman’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. The purpose of this paper is to study the feasibility of replacing diesel generators with 100% renewable energy sources. The proposed energy source for the Island will be a hybrid system consisting of the wave energy converter, PV, wind and battery storage system. Real load data was used in the model with measured wind speed and solar radiation. The Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables software is used in this study. Several systems were proposed but the most economical one is PV-Wind-Wave-Battery system that resulted in levelized cost of energy of US$/kWh 0.1586 and Net Present Cost (NPC) of US$ 5,010,594. Having PV-Wave-Battery will result in levelized cost of energy of US$/kWh 0.174 whereas having Wind-Wave-Battery will increase the energy cost to US$/kWh 0.42.

Mucormycosis is a rare, severe fungal infection mainly affecting immunocompromised individuals. Because of limited data on its epidemiology in Oman, we present this national, multicentric, retrospective review that includes all cases of proven mucormycosis between 2006 and 2022 in Oman. There were 51 cases of mucormycosis reported in Oman. The annual incidence of mucormycosis was 0.38–0.69 cases per million population before COVID-19. During the pandemic, the incidence rose significantly to 1.76 in 2020, 5.31 in 2021, then decreased to 0.87 per million population in 2022. Diabetes was observed in 82.4% (n = 42) of the cases, COVID-19 in 47.1% (n = 24), and other chronic diseases in 72.6%. The use of steroids was reported in 33.3% (n = 17) and many patients (64.7%, n = 33) had multiple risk factors. The overall mortality rate was 41.2% (n = 21) and most deaths occurred within a month of diagnosis. Mortality rate among patients diagnosed with COVID-19 was 58.3% (14/24). Survival analysis showed a statistically significant association between COVID-19 status and patient survival (p = 0.024). Annual incidence of mucormycosis in Oman rose during the pandemic. This study highlights the epidemiological features of mucormycosis and emphasizes the importance of its inclusion in the national notifiable communicable diseases priority list as well as the importance of enhancing diagnostic capacities to detect and improve patient outcomes.

C18H21FN2O, triclinic, P1‾$P\overline{1}$ (no. 2), a = 10.6377(5) Å, b = 14.4869(7) Å, c = 21.0557(13) Å, α = 98.583(5)°, β = 91.979(4)°, γ = 90.101(4)°, V = 3206.5(3) Å3, Z = 8, Rgt(F) = 0.0815, wRref(F2) = 0.1930, T = 172 K.

Tachaea chinensis is an ectoparasite commonly found on diverse ecologically and commercially valuable freshwater shrimps and prawns. Previous studies on this parasite have focused on its distribution and taxonomical identification, while its host preference and/or the potential predation in this host-parasite interaction remained poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the host preference and potential predation of the isopod T. chinensis using manipulative choice and predation experiments under laboratory settings. The preference toward a broad range of host decapods in single-host treatments, indicates a low host specificity, which ultimately aids in the survival of this parasite in the natural environment. Tachaea chinensis responded well to the shrimp Palaemon paucidens when presented with uncommon host species in all three treatments. In host-parasite predation treatments, all the tested P. paucidens shrimp, the prawn Macrobrachium nipponense, and the crayfish Procambarus clarkii were able to consume the isopod–especially the invasive crayfish P. clarkii, which consumed a greater percentage in a considerably shorter time frame (Fisher's exact test, P

C13H10ClN3O, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 19.0933(2) Å, b = 23.0910(3) Å, c = 10.6831(2) Å, β = 90.064(1)°, V = 4710.00(12) Å3, Z = 16, R gt(F) = 0.0411, wR ref(F 2) = 0.1081, T = 160 K.

Background: In routine histopathology, 10% neutral buffered formalin (NBF) is the choice fixative. However, formalin is a human carcinogen, so there is a necessity for a safer alternative. To the best of our knowledge, neutral honey, not natural or artificial honey, has not been tested to fix histological samples. This study determined the effectiveness of neutral buffered honey and other types of fixatives to fix histological tissues. Methods: The study was conducted between July 2019 and August 2020 at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Sections from three rat livers, kidneys, and stomach tissues were fixed with 10% NBF, neutral buffered Sumer honey, neutral buffered date honey, formalin, Sumer honey, date honey, alcoholic formalin, alcoholic Sumer honey, and alcoholic date honey for 24 hours. Samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), special stains, and vimentin methods. Three expert biomedical scientists then evaluated the fixed and stained samples for the quality of all sections. The fixation ability of the different honey solutions was then compared to 10% NBF and the utility was determined using nuclear and cytoplasmic criteria, specificity, and intensity. Results: H&E showed adequate staining in all groups compared to 10% NBF. The specificity and intensity of all groups for the Periodic acid–Schiff method were identical to 10% NBF except for Sumer honey and alcoholic date honey. Vimentin showed comparable findings with 10% NBF as there were no significant differences. Conclusions: The findings of this study encourage the use of honey, including neutral, as a possible safe substitute fixative for formalin, however, further experiments on larger specimens should be conducted.

C14H10ClN3O3, triclinic, P1 (no. 1), a = 4.8813(2) Å, b = 6.7806(2) Å, c = 10.3135(2) Å, α = 98.101(2)∘ $98.101{\left(2\right)}^{\circ }$ , β = 94.174(2)∘ $94.174{\left(2\right)}^{\circ }$ , γ = 97.612(3)∘ $97.612{\left(3\right)}^{\circ }$ , V = 333.515(18) Å3, Z = 1, Rgt ${R}_{gt}$ (F) = 0.0270, wRref $w{R}_{ref}$ (F2) = 0.0743, T = 160 K.

C25H31F3N4OS, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 6.7323(1) Å, b = 15.4999(2) Å, c = 23.7905(4) Å, β = 93.037(2)°, V = 2479.05(6) Å3, Z = 4, R gt(F) = 0.0473, wR ref(F 2) = 0.1394, T = 293 K.

C20H24N4O2S, monoclinic, C2/c (no. 15), a = 28.5901(10) Å, b = 6.4383(4) Å, c = 20.060(1) Å, β = 99.682(4)°, V = 3639.9(3) Å3, Z = 8, R gt(F) = 0.0557, wR ref (F 2) = 0.1514, T = 150 K.

The current study reports on findings of using self-narrations by three teacher-researchers (two of whom are the authors and the narrative inquirers of this study) to reflect on an English as a Foreign Language-based research experience in a newly established Research Committee (RC) in their work place. A narrative frame tool in the form of sentence starters has been utilized to guide the narration and generate data from the three teachers' previously lived research experiences in the Committee. It is worth noting here that these three teachers had been working and actively engaging in research work before they had their memberships in the RC. The findings of this study are hoped to be significant and useful in learning about and highlighting the expectations of these three teacher-researchers of the research committee work, their learning experiences about research, and their challenges and how they defeated them, as well as their future inspirations. Further, reflecting on these findings can also help the trio with their professional development and growth as well as that of their colleagues at the Centre for Preparatory Studies (CPS), which was formerly known as the Language Centre (LC) at the time of their memberships. The study concludes with some pedagogical and practical implications regarding the experience of reflection, narration, and learning research.