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Observation of t t ¯ γ γ production at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
No full textThis paper presents the first observation of top-quark pair production in association with two photons ( t t ¯ γ γ ). The measurement is performed in the single-lepton decay channel using proton–proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb − 1 recorded during Run 2 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The t t ¯ γ γ production cross section, measured in a fiducial phase space based on particle-level kinematic criteria for the lepton, photons, and jets, is found to be 2 . 42 − 0.53 + 0.58 fb , corresponding to an observed significance of 5.2 standard deviations. Additionally, the ratio of the production cross section of t t ¯ γ γ to top-quark pair production in association with one photon is determined, yielding ( 3 . 30 − 0.65 + 0.70 ) × 10 − 3
Differences and commonalities in barriers and facilitators experienced by participants enrolled in an online behavioral weight management program : A qualitative comparison
Get PDFOnline behavioral weight management programs offer a scalable solution to address overweight and obesity but often face high dropout rates and variable success. Understanding the barriers and facilitators experienced by participants who achieve weight loss targets versus those who do not is critical for optimizing programs. This study compared the barriers and facilitators reported by participants achieving ≥5% weight loss with those achievin
Writing for Young People : Critical Readings and Discussions on Craft
No full textApplying the approach of 'reading-as-a-writer' to the craft of writing for young people, this textbook combines critical analysis, unique author-insight and practical application of ideas to give writers the skills to create successful fiction for youth audiences. Under the guidance of children's author Elen Caldecott, compelling close readings dig deep into the construction of modern classics and contemporary middle grade, YA, picture books and more to explore how paragraphs, sentences and words engineer specific reader responses. Interviews with the author of the extracted work follow before each chapter rounds off with writing exercises that prompt writers to engage with techniques and ideas discussed
Management educators’ identity play
No full textThis article critically examines how management educators navigate the certainty–emergence paradox through identity play in their work. Drawing on a 14-month collaborative autoethnographic study, we show how educators experiment with provisional selves to work through classroom tensions. Our analysis reveals that identity play enables educators to experiment with a spectrum of identities to traverse paradoxes without seeking closure in classroom practice. We surface the individual, institutional, and relational conditions that shape identity play. With this, we contribute to management learning and education literature by showing how identity play offers moments of agency and creativity in navigating paradoxes. We problematise this process by foregrounding the institutional insecurities, hegemonic logics, and subtle coercions that constrain the scope for genuine autonomy. Identity play emerges here not as a simple solution, but as a precarious, emotionally charged act of resistance – an ongoing negotiation with paradoxes that can expose educators to vulnerability and self-doubt. We redefine identity play as a fragile, contingent practice that enables situated agency rather than complete emancipation. We invite further inquiry into how identity play can be cultivated as a critical strategy for addressing institutional paradoxes in various educational and organisational settings
AI-assisted design of 3D NPR lattice materials with programmable mechanical properties using irregular unit cells
Get PDFAI-assisted framework to inversely design 3D NPR lattice materials composed of irregular cells with programmable negative Poisson's ratio and energy absorption, validated across scales via additive manufacturing and in situ testing
AI Agent- and QR Codes-Based Connected and Autonomous Vehicles : A New Paradigm for Cooperative, Safe, and Resilient Mobility
No full textThe rapid advancement of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) has the potential to revolutionize road transportation, promising significant improvements in safety, efficiency, and sustainability. However, traditional CAV architectures are predominantly modular and rule-based. They struggle with interaction, cooperation, and adaptability in complex mixed-traffic environments. Moreover, the substantial infrastructure investment required and the absence of compelling killer applications have limited large-scale deployment of CAVs and roadside units (RSUs), resulting in insufficient penetration to realize the full safety benefits of CAV applications and creating a deployment stalemate. To address the above challenges, this paper proposes an innovative connected autonomous vehicle system, termed AQ-CAV, which leverages recent advances in AI agents and QR codes. AI agents are employed to enable cooperative, self-adaptive, and intelligent vehicular behavior, while QR codes provide a cost-effective, accessible, robust, and scalable mechanism for supporting CAV deployment. We first analyze existing CAV systems and identify their fundamental limitations. We then present the architectural design of the AQ-CAV system, detailing the components and functionalities of vehicle-side and infrastructure-side agents, inter-agent communication and coordination mechanisms, and QR code-based authentication for AQ-CAV operations. Representative applications of the AQ-CAV system are investigated, including a case study on emergency response. Preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system, which achieves significant safety improvements at low system cost. Finally, we discuss the key challenges faced by AQ-CAV and outline future research directions that require exploration to fully realize its potential
CD200R1 promotes the development of murine γδ17 T cells
No full textγδ T cells are enriched at barrier sites such as skin, gut, and lung, where they protect against cancer and infections, and promote healing. They detect diverse ligands in T-cell receptor–dependent or independent manners, producing large quantities of pro-inflammatory cytokines. γδ T cells develop in fetal thymi in temporally controlled waves where, unlike αβ T cells, many γδ T cells adopt their effector fate, becoming either IFN-γ or IL-17A producers (γδ17 T cells). CD200R1 suppresses myeloid cell activity but has also been shown to promote innate lymphoid cell IL-17A production, enhancing psoriasis-like skin inflammation. γδ17 T cells are potent IL-17A producers in skin. Therefore, the effect of CD200R1 on IL-17A production by γδ17 T cells was investigated using CD200R1KO mice. CD200R1 was revealed to promote IL-17A production by γδ T cells in skin and lymphoid organs. Although CD200R1 is not expressed by adult γδ T cells, it is expressed by immature developing γδ T cells in fetal thymus, where it supports the development of γδ17 T cells, enhancing γδ17 T-cell and RORγt+ γδ T-cell numbers in fetal thymic organ cultures. This identifies CD200R1 as an important novel regulator of γδ17 T-cell development in early life, a key process for ensuring immunity, particularly at barrier sites
Using co-design to identify healthcare priorities for patients with incurable head and neck cancer
Get PDFBackground: Patients with incurable head and neck cancer (HNC) face complex care pathways, significant symptom burdens and psychosocial challenges. The complexity of symptoms, disease trajectory and the centralised, but often inequitable, services frequently lead to the patients’ and caregivers’ needs for support and care not being fully met. To address this gap, this study adopts a co-design approach, where patients, caregivers, and professionals collaborate to develop solutions that address service issues, aligning with the needs and priorities of both patients and caregivers. Methods: This qualitative exploration of co-design processes involved patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) participating in one online and two in-person multi-stakeholder co-design workshops in Sheffield, UK. Patient vignettes were developed to illustrate typical care journeys and ‘stress points’ in service interactions. These vignettes were shared with 13 participants, including patients with lived experience of head and neck cancer, family caregivers, specialist nurses, and allied HCPs, to identify areas for improvement and co-develop potential solutions using prioritisation activities, group concept mapping, and facilitated group discussions. Results: During the first in-person workshop, co-design participants (co-designers) identified and prioritised critical stress points in the care pathway, including a lack of support in caregivers’ preparedness and challenges navigating healthcare systems (specifically contacting the clinical team). Using these findings, the co-designers proposed various solutions, including introducing a single point of contact (care navigator) or a printed version of a personalised ‘roadmap’ of services, instituting a multidisciplinary discharge planning process to aid transitions to home care and implementing a dedicated 24-hour helpline staffed by knowledgeable personnel (HNC specialist staff) to provide patients with information. Conclusion: The co-design workshops have developed practical, user-informed intervention solutions to address the specific navigation challenges faced by people with incurable HNC. While the interventions developed are relevant in many ways to the broader HNC care pathway, they are particularly relevant to the complex needs of this group and are now guiding the next phase of interventions for improving patient-centred services
The Belt Road Initiatives and Regional Integration in South East Asia : A Cultural Political Economy analysis of the Malaysia East Coast Rail Link
Get PDFThe East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) in Malaysia is a major (even 'flagship') project of China's Belt Road Initiatives (BRI), connecting the more developed west coast of Malaysia to its less developed east coast. Notoriously, the project was one of many that were paused in 2018 (e.g. the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Railway) following a historical election in Malaysia that led to the first major change in government since its founding as an independent country. But it is also the only one that was subsequently restarted. This thesis deploys a cultural political economy (CPE) lens – combining discourse analysis with a critical political economic exploration – to explore Sino-south east Asian regional integration through examination of this case study. Through interviews with diverse agents in the ECRL project, both Chinese and Malaysian, across a range of positions and responsibilities (e.g. project management, construction and finance), three major and related themes present themselves. First are the repeated, sincere but also almost formulaic expressions of undaunted confidence in the project and its broader mission, especially from more senior and/or Chinese respondents. Secondly, the interviews foreground and illustrate the specific power/knowledge technologies of slogans and their efficacy in driving forward the project. Thirdly, there is the emerging shared common-sense of historical comparisons between the BRI and former, Western projects of infrastructure (e.g. Marshall plan or imperial colonialism). The thesis unfolds these issues towards insights regarding the BRI as a project of regional integration, its evolution as a broader geo-strategic initiative, and the ongoing transformation of globalized capitalism of which it is a key part
Aerospace aluminum surface defect detection method based on Multi-Scale Convolution and attention mechanism
No full textThe detection of small target defects on aluminum surfaces is critical in modern manufacturing, particularly in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, electronics, and high-end equipment manufacturing. These defects can severely compromise the safety, stability, and durability of products. However, due to the diversity of surface defect types, their small size, and the presence of complex background interference, traditional detection methods often struggle to achieve high precision under conditions of low contrast and significant noise. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an enhanced small target detection method for aluminum surfaces, leveraging the YOLOv11n framework. Specifically, we introduce a dilation-wise residual and dilated reparameterization block module to strengthen the model's feature extraction capabilities, thereby improving the capture of fine details in small targets. In addition, the SimAM attention mechanism is integrated to optimize the model's focus on critical feature regions, further enhancing its sensitivity and recognition performance for small defects. Moreover, we incorporate the CARAFE (Content-Aware ReAssembly of Features) upsampling operator, which effectively enlarges small target details and mitigates the information loss inherent in conventional upsampling techniques, thus significantly boosting detection accuracy. Experimental results show that the proposed model achieves a mean average precision ([email protected]) of 79.4% and a recall of 76.6%, reflecting improvements of 2.9% and 4.4% over the baseline model, respectively. Compared to existing methods, our approach demonstrates notable advantages in both detection accuracy and recognition ability, providing a promising foundation for future practical applications in industrial scenarios