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The World Health Organisation recognises the importance of dementia education across all sectors of the population, including children. Previous research has shown that dementia education in schools has positively changed students’ knowledge about and attitudes to dementia, however little is known about the process of learning about a complex condition, such as dementia. This paper explores how pupils learn about dementia through a pre-planned educational session in the primary classroom to improve our understanding of the pedagogical approaches required for effective dementia education. Using a participatory video approach, 23 primary 6 pupils (aged 10–11) used iPads to film their experiences of a dementia education session using a resource called Understanding Dementia: Class in a Bag. These videos, along with researcher field notes were combined to create analytical vignettes to illustrate the learning processes and interactions that happened within the classroom. Two weeks later, the pupils were invited to a focus group to view footage of the session and reflect on their experiences and explore the understanding of dementia. The findings highlight the importance of embodied learning within the session, particularly in understanding the experience of living with dementia. By understanding the session from the pupil’s perspective, the findings show how pupils developed an empathetic understanding of dementia through play and felt more confident about engaging with and helping people living with dementia in future. This paper provides a new understanding of the process of learning about dementia for primary children, as well as demonstrating the viability of including dementia education within school curriculums internationally.

Driving is an integral part of adult life and losing a driving licence is potentially a major problem. Many neurological conditions may impact on driving, either by increasing the risk of a sudden disabling event or by affecting cognition, vision, reaction speed, motor coordination, peripheral sensation or visuospatial processing. In the UK, the Drivers Medical Group of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) decides whether an individual’s medical condition meets the appropriate standards for driving. The licensing decision rests with the DVLA and is not at the clinician’s discretion. However, clinicians must inform patients of their legal obligations towards the DVLA and how their neurological symptoms may restrict their driving. We discuss risk assessment, how chronic disabling neurological disease may impact on driving and the general principles of applying medical standards for fitness to drive. We also highlight how legal driving eligibility varies around the world. Finally, we discuss the practical applications relating to a specific case.

The cascaded three-level neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) converter and the modular multi-level converter (MMC) are attractive solutions for medium-voltage direct-current (MVDC) applications. Due to their low cost compared to MMCs, cascaded 3L-NPC converters have been adopted in ANGLE-DCa 30 MVA MVDC link demonstration project in North Wales, UK. DC voltage imbalance across submodules (SMs) is a common challenge for both types of MVDC converters. Such imbalance is topology dependent and remains under-researched for cascaded 3L-NPC converters. In this paper, small-signal model-based analysis has been done to reveal that the dc voltage imbalance in cascaded 3L-NPC converters is caused by an unstable system pole. Two voltage balancing methods are presented. The first method is based on PI controllers to precisely regulate SMs voltages without influencing output power. However, it relies on communication between a central controller and local controllers within SMs. The second method uses inverse-droop based control to take over the dc voltage regulation upon loss of communication. Both balancing methods are experimentally validated using a 30 kVA testbed based on the ANGLE-DC project. It has been demonstrated that the dc voltages of SMs can be effectively balanced with both methods during changes of load conditions and dc bus voltages.

Several sources of revenue are available for battery storage systems that can be stacked to further increase revenue. Typically, price arbitrage is used to gain revenue from battery storage. However, additional revenue can be gained from participation in ancillary services such as frequency response. This study presents a linear optimisation approach to account for local energy system participation in the wholesale day-ahead electricity market and multiple frequency response services. The methodology was applied to a school case study. A breakdown of market revenue and value of investment is presented for five operating strategies. The value of availability revenue and response energy revenue are distinguished for frequency response services. Finally, the impact of revenue stacking on battery degradation is assessed. The results show that local energy systems can decrease their operating costs and improve battery storage investment viability by stacking multiple revenues, whilst reducing degradation and increasing lifetime.

Background The use of minimally invasive oesophagectomy (MIO) in the treatment of patients with oesophageal malignancy has developed since its first description by Cuschieri in 1992, although mainstream uptake of this technique has not been forthcoming. Oncological resection margins were not compromised in MIO, whilst complications and two-year mortality rates improved in MIO compared to open oesophagectomy. The advantages of MIO compared to open surgery include the speed of recovery, improved return to baseline quality of life, better physical function and less pain. We present our experience of MIO including operative technique, tips, and learning curve. Methods 160 patients underwent MIO at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust between August 2010 and December 2019. After June 2016 there was a significant change in surgical technique and pathway as outlined below and this time point has been interrogated. Primary outcomes were operative duration (minutes) and both 30-day and in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were length of in hospital stay (days), ITU stay, conversion to open surgery and complications. We undertake laparoscopic abdominal phase and thoracoscopic or robotic assisted thoracic phase oeasophagectomy. Dual consultant operating is standard; and we work consistently with the same group of anaesthetists and theatre staff. Results 82.5% of our 160 patients were male, median age was 67 years. Operative duration showed a steep learning curve over the first 10 cases followed by stabilisation to case 56 and then improvement. CUSUM analysis of the anastomotic leaks showed a change point at 53 cases - 30.8% vs 16.7% (p = 0.05). 30-day mortality is 1.88% and median length of stay 12 days (IQR12.75). Complications of Clavien-Dindo ≥III occurred in 35% and “perfect” outcomes in 21.25%. Conversion to open in 5.6% of cases but only 1 in the last 100 patients. Conclusions There is a learning curve associated with the adoption of a new technique. MIO can be performed safely and cost effectively with equivalent oncological outcomes with the advantage of improved quality of life. Oesophageal cancer is still poorly understood and we therefore must spend more thought on how best to give our patients good quality disease free life. Our outcome data is within existing published data and our prospectively collected data is thorough and meticulous. Though some complications are inevitable, small changes lead to marginal gains and add up to better outcomes.

Hydrokinetic energy conversion systems capture the power available in the water flowing in waterways. An electrical interface for the power take-off of a hydrokinetic energy conversion system was designed and a control strategy for the maximum power extraction was investigated. A laboratory prototype was used for the experimental characterisation of the system. High efficiencies were observed because of the restricted flow conditions. The power curves obtained from the experimental results were used for the simulation of the system in MATLAB/Simulink. A ‘perturb and observe’ method was used for the maximum power point tracking (MPPT). A control scheme based on a heuristic algorithm suitable for restricted and turbulent water flows was developed. A practical advantage of this scheme is that it does not require the use of mechanical sensors. The MPPT of the laboratory prototype was simulated and experimental validation undertaken, with simulation and experimental results agreeing well. The MPPT of a full-scale hydrokinetic energy conversion system was simulated to assess its performance towards practical deployment.

Large and reliable volumes of water are required to cool thermal power plants. Yet across the world growing demands from society, environmental regulation and climate change impacts are reducing the availability of reliable water supplies. This in turn constrains the capacity and locations of thermal power plants that can be developed. The authors present an integrated and spatially explicit energy systems model that explores optimal capacity expansion planning strategies, taking into account electricity and gas transmission infrastructure and cooling water constraints under climate change. In Great Britain, given the current availability of freshwater, it is estimated that around 32 GW of combined cycle gas turbine capacity can be sustainably and reliably supported by freshwater. However, to maintain the same reliability under a medium climate change scenario, this is halved to 16 GW. The authors also reveal that the current benefit of available freshwater to the power sector is ∼£50 billion between 2010 and 2050. Adapting to expected climate change impacts on the reduced reliability of freshwater resources could add an additional £18–19 billion in system costs to the low-carbon energy transition over the time horizon, as more expensive cooling technologies and locations are required.

The outdoor dependence of module orientation and diurnal climatic conditions on the performance of Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs) configured for Building Integrated PV (BIPV) arrays is reported. The study focuses upon a Northern European climate and the significance of module orientation upon energy yield across diurnal, seasonal change and climatic conditions are discussed. It is shown that the optimum position of a BIPV facade depends upon season and that a south facing BIPV facade provides the greatest energy yield during winter months. The results also show how west-facing modules can significantly contribute to power generation during peak power periods (5–8 p.m.), which is imperative for balancing energy demand for buildings of the future and in particular supply the energy needs of buildings during peak hours in Northern Europe. Electrical characteristics under standard and part-load conditions were collated from laboratory scale OPV module experimental data and scaled for commercial-size modules in order to simulate BIPV arrays based upon OPVs. The simulated data is compared to experimental data and the closeness shows that BIPV systems based upon OPVs can be accurately simulated prior to installation. The system simulations compare typical energy demand profiles of small commercial buildings and illustrate that OPV arrays show strong potential to be used with excess energy generation for 8 months of the year based upon a 4.22kWp OPV system. Four 4.22kWp OPV systems scenarios have been investigated for (1) the highest annual energy generation, (2) architecturally evenly-spaced around the building (avoiding a North facade), (3) grid-balancing and (4) East-West split. Whilst Scenario 4 shows the lowest overall energy yield over the course of the year, energy production during peak hours is substantially higher than in other scenarios. The options presented show that OPVs are viable to use in BIPVs and can adequately meet the energy demand of a small commercial building during spring, summer and autumn in Norther Europe and can be adapted to end user's needs.

A method for estimating the heat demand of different types of dwellings is described. Furthermore, an optimal heat supply mix for a local area was determined considering gas and electricity prices and the unique characteristics of the local area in terms of the heat demand and potential heat supply options. These methods were demonstrated on the local authority area of Neath Port Talbot in the UK. The estimated heat demand was validated against real data. The modelling results obtained show that significant financial support is required for low carbon heating technologies such as heat pumps and district heating networks for them to play a major role in the decarbonisation of heat.

Due to the increasing use of intermittent renewable generation, the power grid requires more flexible resources to balance supply and demand of electricity. Steam systems with turbine-generators, which are widely used in industries, can be operated flexibly to support the power grid. Yet, the available amount of flexibility of industrial steam systems is still not clearly quantified. This study presents the method to quantify electricity generation flexibility of a typical industrial steam system with a steam turbine-generator and process heat demands. The proposed method is introduced based on a real case of an integrated pulp and paper mill in Austria. An integrated mathematical model representing the combined electricity and steam system is developed to simulate the behaviour of the on-site energy system to quantify the potential flexibility provision. Flexibility is represented as the maximum upward and downward changes in the imported electricity from the public power grid. The results demonstrate that it is possible to aggregate the flexibility of the industrial facility as a lookup table. Also, the results reflect key factors that limit the flexibility at different operating points of the turbine-generator.

Battery storage provides flexibility to the power system and supports the increased integration of renewable energy sources. Distributed battery storage systems that are behind the meter are operated by their local owners, whose objectives may not align with those of the national power system. This paper presents a Bilevel optimisation approach to investigate the exchange of electricity between distributed battery storage and the national power system. The independent operating objectives of the battery storage systems are explicitly considered to assess their impact on the operation of the national power system. A comparison with a Centralised optimisation approach, that assumes a single objective function for the whole system, shows that the Bilevel optimisation approach captures the independencies of distributed battery storage objectives, while accounting for its interactions with the wider power system. The results show that the Centralised optimisation approach tends to overestimate the value of distributed battery storage for the power system. The results also highlight the influence of the retail contract structure in maximising the value of distributed battery storage for the national power system.

The capability of domestic heat pumps to provide dynamic frequency response to an electric power system was investigated. A thermal model was developed to represent a population of domestic heat pumps. A decentralized dynamic control algorithm was developed, enabling the heat pumps to alter their power consumption in response to a system frequency. The control algorithm ensures a dynamic relationship between the temperature of building and grid frequency. The availability of heat pumps to provide low-frequency response was obtained based on data supplied by Element Energy. Case studies were carried out by connecting a representative model of the aggregated heat pumps to the regional Great Britain (GB) transmission system model, which was developed by National Grid. It was shown that the dynamically controlled heat pumps distributed over GB zones have a significant impact on the GB system frequency and reduce the dependency on frequency services that are currently supplied by expensive frequency-sensitive generators. The rate of change of frequency was also reduced when there is a reduction in system inertia.

With the reduction of Feed-in Tariff support in many countries, self-consumption of distributed energy resources (DERs) is encouraged and energy sharing between neighbouring prosumers is becoming more attractive than the conventional peer-to-grid (P2G) trading. This work investigated a peer-to-peer (P2P) energy sharing method, allowing the surplus DERs to be shared between prosumers in a neighbourhood. An aggregated control of many small-scale batteries was adopted considering the energy requirement of the entire community. This method significantly reduces the amount of electricity fed back into the grid, allowing individual prosumers to obtain economic benefits. Results showed that, with a moderate proportion (e.g. 40%) of customers having individual photovoltaic (PV) systems, P2P energy sharing is able to reduce the energy cost of the community by 30%, compared to P2G trading.