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Characterization and performance evaluation of ITk Pixel production modules for the ATLAS Upgrade
Get PDFThe ATLAS Inner Detector will be entirely replaced with a state-of-the-art all-silicon tracking detector (ITk) during the 2026–2028 upgrade, designed to withstand the demanding conditions of the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). The pixel detector, positioned at the core of ITk, will feature 3D sensor technology in the innermost layer (L0), where the expected particle fluence reaches up to 2 × 10¹⁶ nₑq/cm², while the outer layers (L1–L4) will utilize n-in-p planar hybrid modules with sensor thicknesses of 150 μm and 100 μm.
As part of the ATLAS Upgrade UK's contribution to the ITk project, the UK cluster is responsible for the production, assembly, and quality control of endcap pixel quad (four chips bump bonded with one big sensor) modules. Each quad module consists of four 2 cm × 2 cm ITkPixV2 readout chips bump-bonded to a single 4 cm × 4 cm planar pixel sensor. The first batch of production modules has now been fabricated and subjected to an extensive characterization campaign. Electrical performance was assessed before and after parylene coating under both warm (+20°C) and cold (-15°C) conditions. Mechanical robustness was evaluated through thermal cycling between high (+45°C) and low (-45°C and -55°C) temperatures, while long-term stability was verified by operating the module under continuous bias for 48 hours. Throughout these procedures, key parameters such as temperature, humidity, low voltage, and high voltage were continuously monitored, with an interlock system ensuring operational safety
The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for clinical mental health care
No full textA Position Paper published in The Lancet Psychiatry in 2020 suggested an agenda for research about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, following which an interdisciplinary Lancet Psychiatry standing commission was established in 2022 to examine the emerging evidence and refine recommendations for more research. In this first Series paper from the standing commission, we focus on changes in the delivery of clinical mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second paper in the Series focuses on public mental health and policy perspectives, and the third will address neuropsychiatric consequences of infection by SARS-CoV-2. Evidence from high-quality longitudinal studies with pre-pandemic baseline data, controlled intervention trials, or systematic reviews took time to accrue. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, symptoms of anxiety and depression became more prevalent, and many mental health services were compromised by pandemic-related factors; however, whether the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated pre-existing long-term trends of increasing incidence of mental health disorders, especially in children and adolescents, is unclear. Little research has been done in low-income and middle-income countries, or regarding post-COVID-19 condition (also known as long COVID), which emerged as a multisystem condition with mental health implications. Vulnerable populations, including socioeconomically disadvantaged and minoritised groups, faced disproportionate mental health impacts and limited access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting systemic, pre-pandemic inequalities. Bold implementation of existing evidence-based mental health support for vulnerable communities, ambitious trials of novel interventions, and systematic pooling of rapidly accumulating evidence about best healh care should be priorities in future pandemics
Running into the Lyme-light: a retrospective cross-sectional study of tick bites and Lyme disease prevalence, incidence, and prevention in hill runners, Scotland, UK.
Get PDFBackground:
Lyme disease (LD) incidence is increasing globally, driven by changes to habitat and human-vector interactions. Effective prevention relies on local and individual-level understanding of risk and ecosystem interactions. Despite frequent exposure to tick habitats, little is known about tick bites and LD risk among hill, trail, and mountain runners. This study aimed to evaluate the period prevalence of tick bites and incidence of LD in hill runners in Scotland, UK and examine preventive behaviours.
Methods:
A cross-sectional retrospective survey of Scottish hill runners was conducted in June-July 2024. Hill runners aged 18 + resident in Scotland for the 12 months preceding the survey were eligible. Period prevalence was calculated as the proportion of hill runners with at least one self-reported tick bite in the 12 months preceding the survey. Treated suspected LD incidence was calculated for all study participants and those registered in competitive hill races. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of having a tick bite, for variables including age, sex, running hours per week, proportion of running that is hill running, other outdoor activity hours per week, frequency of insect repellent use, full leg and arm cover use, and full body tick checks.
Results:
212 hill runners (56.1% male) completed the survey. Period prevalence of at least one tick bite was 82.5% (95%CI 76.76–87.40). Incidence of treated suspected LD for the 212 study participants was 4245.3 per 100,000 (95%CI 1941.21-8058.87), and the minimum estimate in 4668 registered competitive hill racers was 150.0 per 100,000 per year (95%CI 60.29-309.97). Most hill runners reported never/infrequently wearing full leg cover (67.9%), arm cover (58.0%), or using insect repellent (74.5%). Regularly/almost always conducting a tick check was associated with higher odds of at least one tick bite (OR 8.52, 95%CI 3.29–22.90, p < 0.001), whereas regularly/almost always wearing full leg cover was associated with lower odds (OR 0.35, 95%CI 0.13–0.89, p = 0.029), versus never/infrequently.
Conclusions:
A high reported period prevalence of tick bites and incidence of treated suspected LD among surveyed hill runners in Scotland aligned with the low adherence to tick bite prevention behaviours in this population. Improving adherence with leg cover recommendations may lower the risk of tick bites. Raising awareness of tick bite risk and prevention may benefit hill runners internationally as the sport grows
Echoes of the Holocaust in 1960s' Scotland: commemoration and continuity in Glasgow's Jewish Echo
No full textNo abstract available
Performance of Flexible Gasper-Curve Based Microwave Array Sensor for Non-Destructive Testing of CFRP Composites
No full textIdentifying problems and solutions to qualitative research privileging “rich” data within psychosis research
No full textMental health research often seeks to witness, understand and empower marginalised communities through use of methods such as qualitative research. Although, qualitative research has the tendency to favour rich and meaningful segments of data to represent peoples’ lived experiences.The neurodiversity movement has identified and challenged the ableism which can arise with the application of these research methods that have normative assumptions about human minds and language production. However, schizophrenia and psychosis qualitative research has so far been under considered in efforts to reduce these forms of ableism in research. This paper highlights how mental health researchers can resist and reject the ableism that comes from adopting ‘rich data’ as representative of the lived experiences of those with schizophrenia. Qualitative research may occlude the real experiences of indidivuals with schizophrenia if they are not heard or represented in the multitude of ways they themselves communicate or articulate themselves, the language they use and the stories they tell. This article provides solutions to meaningfully represent those with schizophrenia and their voices in all stages of the research process so that the available research in the field accurately reflects the needs and experiences of those with schizophrenia
Investigating the efficacy of topologically derived time series for flare forecasting. II. XGBoost model
No full textSolar flares are a primary driver of space weather, and forecasting their occurrence remains a significant challenge. This paper presents a novel flare prediction model based on topologically derived photospheric magnetic parameters. We employ the ARTop framework to compute the time-dependent input rates of magnetic winding and helicity across >105 active region observations, decomposing them into current-carrying and potential components to reduce sensitivity to optical flow methods. An XGBoost machine learning model is trained on these time series, alongside engineered features including rolling statistics, kurtosis, and flare history, to predict the probability of ≥M1.0 class flares within the next 24 hr. The model demonstrates strong performance on a validation set, with a true skill statistic (TSS) of 0.804 for once-daily operational region forecasts. When applied to a fully independent dataset, the model achieves a TSS of 0.524. A SHAP analysis confirms the model’s physical interpretability, identifying flare history and accumulated current-carrying winding and helicity as the most important features. The main challenges identified are false positives arising from active regions with frequent C-class flaring and systematic errors via projection effects when active regions are near the limb. Excluding limb-affected data yields no improvement in the holdout set TSS (0.521 versus 0.524), due to the overall decreased number of flares. However, our per-region analysis indicates that mitigating these projection effects is crucial for future operational deployment. This work establishes magnetic topology, particularly its current-carrying components, as a highly effective and physically meaningful set of predictors for solar flare forecasting
Epistemic reparations and disability
Get PDFEpistemic reparations are argued to be deserved by those wronged by gross injustices and violations, to provide redress for epistemic wrongs incurred by victims and survivors. I apply epistemic reparations and Lackey’s (2022, 2025) “right to be known” to disability injustice. This novel exploration makes three contributions. First, that given widespread historical and contemporary injustice and violations incurred by disabled people – material and epistemic – theoretical resources such as Lackey’s, which aim to account for epistemic wrongs and ameliorate injustice, should have significant value for the pursuit of disability justice. As I demonstrate, this application permits identification of ways in which disabled people are epistemically wronged, and how the concept of disability can be used to wrong, or malign, others. Second, as disability intersects with other populations, taking disability into consideration here serves others contexts of epistemic reparations. Third, despite the potential value of, and need for, epistemic reparations for disability justice, I submit that this will likely be forestalled without acknowledging and addressing the neglect of disability – particularly intellectual disability – in social epistemological theorising. This neglect incurs the cost of some existing theories in the domain being unable to account for the ways in which some disabled people – those with intellectual disability – can be epistemically wronged, or even considered knowers and agents. Through applying Lackey’s framework of epistemic duties, I demonstrate that ameliorating this neglect is epistemically reparative work in itself, as well as being required to realise the value of epistemic reparations for those wronged due to disability status
Unraveling the complexities of offender strategies as part of online sexual grooming and technology-assisted child sexual abuse: a systematic review
Get PDFOver recent years, there has been a notable increase in online sexual grooming and technology-assisted child sexual abuse. However, to date, a comprehensive overview of the manipulative strategies used by individuals with a history thereof to approach, identify, and engage children and young people in these contexts, with a focus on real-world, naturally-occurring data, is absent from the existing literature. The systematic literature review presented here therefore intends to fill this gap. A mixed-methods systematic literature search was conducted in September 2023 across six databases, in addition to a gray literature search, using relevant terms. A total of 12 articles were included in the review, and a thematic synthesis approach was used to integrate the qualitative and quantitative data. Eight themes and 37 subthemes were identified. The findings highlight that individuals use a number of different strategies which are of a highly manipulative, adaptive, and individualized nature in order to identify, approach, and engage victims in online sexual grooming, and technology-assisted child sexual abuse respectively. Our findings are discussed with a view to informing directions for future research and practical implications
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