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87 Background: Combination therapies using the androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) backbone have revolutionized treatment of metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). Combinations include ADT plus docetaxel (DOC) or the androgen receptor targeting agents (ARTAs) abiraterone (AA), enzalutamide (ENZ), apalutamide (APA), and darolutamide (DAR). This study evaluates the utilization of these therapies in de novo mHSPC in a cohort of veterans and assesses recent overall survival (OS) of these therapies. Methods: Veterans were identified from 2012-2021 in the Veterans Affairs Prostate Cancer Data Core (VAPC) and oncology tumor registries using the initial pathological diagnosis of prostate cancer with SEER stage ‘distant’. All veterans had ADT initiated within 1 month prior and 3 months after diagnosis in VAPC. Additional therapies including DOC or ARTAs were collected from VAPC if initiated from 1 month prior to 4 months after ADT initiation. Data cut point was June 2022. Results: 5,006 patients with de novo mHSPC were identified with median age of 73.1 years (yrs), and 1338 (26.7%) identified as Black race. From 2012 to 2021, ADT alone was used in 3,569 (71.3%) of veterans, DOC in 438 (8.7%) and ARTAs in 999 (20.0%), wherein use of different ARTAs was AA in 783 (78.4%), ENZ in 204 (20.4%), APA in 10 (1.0%), and DAR in 2 (0.2%). Use of combination therapy for mHSPC increased from 3.1% in 2012-2013 to 61.2% in 2020-2021. Use of DOC peaked in 2016 and was used in 16.3% of veterans that year. Veterans treated with DOC were significantly younger (median 67.3 yrs, p

28 Background: Advances in treatment for metastatic prostate cancer (mPC) have improved overall survival (OS) in clinical trials for mPC over the last 20 years. It is unclear whether these changes from trials have translated to improvements in survival in the real world. We sought to characterize trends in OS among patients with newly diagnosed mPC in two large national registries. Methods: Patients diagnosed from 2000-2019 were included. Patients from SEER-17 were included if stage at diagnosis was distant. For years prior to 2004, SEER Historic Stage A was used. Patients in the Veterans Affairs Prostate Cancer data core (VA) were included if the SEER summary stage variable was distant in the first record of prostate cancer in VA or oncology registry data for veterans diagnosed after 2018. Results: 55,661 patients were identified in SEER and 14,904 patients were identified in VA. Median age at presentation was 72 years in both datasets, with 16.6% identified as Black in SEER and 28.5% Black in VA. Median OS from 2000-2004 to 2015-2019 in SEER increased from 25 to 31 months, corresponding to a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.82 (p

Power electronics and renewable energy are two important topics for today's power engineering students. In many cases, the two topics are inextricably intertwined. As the renewable energy sector grows, the need for engineers qualified to design such systems grows as well. In order to train such engineers, new courses are needed that highlight the unique engineering challenges presented by renewable energy systems. This paper presents the theory, implementation, and assessment of a new laboratory course designed to teach power electronics and renewable energy to engineering students. A key element of the course is the use of real renewable energy systems in the laboratory setting. Students design, test, and troubleshoot power electronic circuits (such as dc/dc converters and pulse-width-modulated inverters) with tools used widely in industry (such as MATLAB/Simulink and dSPACE digital signal processors). Ten unique experiments are presented, as well as detailed descriptions of two open-ended design projects: a maximum power point tracker for a photovoltaic array and a full converter for a permanent-magnet wind turbine. Results from students' work on the experiments and final projects, as well as an assessment of the effectiveness of the course based on pre- and post-testing, are also presented.

In this paper, a new single-phase wind energy inverter (WEI) with flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) capability is presented. The proposed inverter is placed between the wind turbine and the grid, same as a regular WEI, and is able to regulate active and reactive power transferred to the grid. This inverter is equipped with distribution static synchronous compensators option in order to control the power factor (PF) of the local feeder lines. Using the proposed inverter for small-to-medium-size wind applications will eliminate the use of capacitor banks as well as FACTS devices to control the PF of the distribution lines. The goal of this paper is to introduce new ways to increase the penetration of renewable energy systems into the distribution systems. This will encourage the utilities and customers to act not only as a consumer, but also as a supplier of energy. Moreover, using the new types of converters with FACTS capabilities will significantly reduce the total cost of the renewable energy application. In this paper, modular multilevel converter is used as the desired topology to meet all the requirements of a single-phase system such as compatibility with IEEE standards, total harmonic distortion (THD), efficiency, and total cost of the system. The proposed control strategy regulates the active and reactive power using power angle and modulation index, respectively. The function of the proposed inverter is to transfer active power to the grid as well as keeping the PF of the local power lines constant at a target PF regardless of the incoming active power from the wind turbine. The simulations for an 11-level inverter have been done in MATLAB/Simulink. To validate the simulation results, a scaled prototype model of the proposed inverter has been built and tested.

Two detailed models of permanent-magnet direct-drive (PMDD) wind turbines with full converters are presented in this paper: one for a 10-kW turbine, and one for a 5-MW turbine. The models are verified by comparing the power curves found through simulation with field test data. Other results are also presented that show the unprecedented detail of the models. The mathematical representations include switching models for the full converters, circuit models for permanent-magnet synchronous generators, realistic aerodynamics, tower and blade vibrations, and many other variables. The models are valuable tools for wind turbine design and research and can be used for a wide range of purposes including control system design, sensitivity analysis, and interactions between the electrical and mechanical parts of a PMDD wind turbine. Simulation of the models is carried out in the MATLAB/Simulink environment using the FAST aeroelastic simulator.

Final year students applying for graduate jobs in industry are often required to sit numeracy tests as part of the recruitment process. Students in the College of Arts can be disadvantaged in this area as, often, the last time they will have come across any Mathematics will have been at National 5, GCSE or equivalent level (at the age of 15 or 16). This project was a collaboration between the Mathematics & Statistics support within the Learning Enhancement and Academic Development Service (LEADS) and the Careers Service to create a repository of resources designed to help students refresh their basic mathematical skills and give them the confidence to tackle Employers’ Numeracy tests successfully. A Moodle course including videos and tailored learning materials was created to enable students to improve their confidence and ability in relevant mathematical and statistical skills, as well as sample tests (both timed and untimed) to give students an idea of what to expect in a real assessment.

The modular multi-level converter is an attractive topology for high-voltage DC/flexible AC transmission systems. In this article, a new single-phase modular multi-level converter based distribution static compensator inverter for grid connection is proposed. The proposed inverter is designed for grid-connected wind turbines in the small- to mid-sized (10–20 kW) range using the most advanced multi-level inverter topology. The proposed modular multi-level converter distribution static compensator inverter controls the DC-link voltage as well as the active and reactive power transferred between the renewable energy source, specifically the wind turbine, and the grid in order to regulate the power factor of the grid regardless of the input active power from wind turbine. The goal of this study is to present a new inverter with flexible AC transmission system capability in a single unit without any additional cost. The five-level distribution static compensator inverter is simulated, and the results ...