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TwIndex: a framework for measuring the (hidden) value of digital twins by mapping atypical interaction patterns
No full textDespite the growing adoption of digital twins (DTs) across multiple domains, assessing their true value remains a complex challenge. Traditional valuation methods often focus on direct efficiency gains, overlooking potential benefits arising from diverse and atypical usage patterns. This vision paper introduces TwIndex, a conceptual framework that aims to explore new ways to quantify the value of DTs by analyzing interaction patterns beyond traditional metrics. We propose that neurodivergent and neurotypical users may engage with DTs in fundamentally different ways, revealing latent benefits that have yet to be systematically explored and mapping to vulnerabilities not apparent at the design phase. By exploring atypical interaction patterns, future research can uncover hidden dimensions of value and lead to more adaptive evaluation methods. This paper highlights the need for a paradigm shift in measuring the success of DTs and argues for a broader perspective in assessing their impact.</p
The virtues of cultivated meat
No full textMost ethicists defending cellular agriculture draw upon consequentialism or deontology. There has been no thoroughgoing virtue-ethical defence. In this paper, I explore three sets of reasons that the virtue ethicist could draw upon to suggest that virtuous individuals would support a cultivated meat industry. First, compassion and honesty might speak in favour of cultivated meat as well as (or even instead of) vegetarianism. Second, understandingness and hospitableness might speak in favour of supporting cultivated meat for others. Third, openness and grace might speak against being a picky eater, and consequently, on balance, in favour of a diet containing cultivated meat.</p
‘Flawed masterpiece’: biography, reviews and Elizabeth Gaskell’s <i>The Life of Charlotte Brontë</i>
No full textThis chapter explores the textual methods and literary techniques employed in The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857), considering what they suggest about the intersection of Gaskell’s oeuvre, Brontë studies, and assessments of Victorian life writing. It does so by placing reviews of the book published in British and American periodicals from 1857 in dialogue with The Life and twentieth and twenty-first-century scholarly and popular writing on biography, the Brontës, and Gaskell. Despite extant assertions that reviews did not address the art of biography, this chapter suggests otherwise, arguing that many of the conceptual issues articulated in contemporary literary criticism (biography studies) are present in early critical responses.</p
Constitutionalising anarchy
No full textAnarchism is often assumed to stand outside constitutionalism, yet it forms a significant, if overlooked, tradition of constitutional thought. Addressing global constitutional crises and the impasses of state-centred politics, this book brings anarchism into productive dialogue with constitutional, political and international theory. At its core is a reconstruction of anarchist social theory grounded in an ontology of anarchy shaped by European social science and republican concerns with dividing and balancing power. These ideas were reinterpreted by major anarchist thinkers - from Proudhon to Lucy Parsons, and from Tolstoy to Kōtoku Shūsui - who advanced decentralised, federalist alternatives to imperial and hierarchical orders. Combining intellectual history with co-produced research alongside anarchist groups, Constitutionalising Anarchy shows how constitutional practices developed within militant labour unions, protest movements and cooperatives across the twentieth century. It reconsiders anarchy, constitutionalism and the possibilities of political organisation. </p
Theta divisors and permotohedra
No full textWe establish an intriguing relation of the smooth theta di-visor Θn with permutohedron Πn and the corresponding toric variety XnΠ. In particular, we show that the generalised Todd genus of the theta divisor Θn coincides with h-olynomial of permutohedron Πn and thus is different from the same genus of XnΠ only by the sign (−1)n. As an application we find all the Hodge numbers of the theta divisors in terms of the Eulerian numbers. We reveal also interesting numerical relations between theta-divisors and Tomei manifolds from the theory of the integrable Toda lattice.</p
Can personal freedom drive economic complexity?
No full textResearch on economic complexity has identified various factors that enable countries to achieve higher levels of productive sophistication. However, the role of personal freedom as a distinct driver has been overlooked. This paper argues that by providing the necessary environment for individuals to explore new ideas, be creative and challenge the status quo, personal freedom is essential to the development of unique and complex products. This hypothesis is tested using a panel of 139 countries over the 1998-2022 period and employing Panel Corrected Standard Error and system-GMM estimators to account for cross-sectional dependence, serial correlation, and potential endogeneity. Our empirical analysis provides robust evidence that personal freedom is a significant booster of economic complexity. This evidence is more prominent in developing and emerging countries and is largely driven by core civil liberties, rule of law, and property rights. The results emphasize that fostering an environment of personal liberty is a fundamental determinant of long-run economic sophistication and development.</p
Combining structured exercise with a low-energy diet to attenuate lean mass loss in South Asian adults living with type 2 diabetes: The COMBINE randomised trial protocol
No full textIntroduction The global prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is rising and disproportionately affects South Asian adults, including those in the United Kingdom. South Asians develop T2D at a higher rate and at a younger age than their White British counterparts, at a lower body mass index (BMI). Active efforts to reduce adiposity can improve glycaemic control and in some cases achieve T2D remission. However, a substantial proportion of lean mass is lost while achieving weight loss, which may have physiological and metabolic consequences, affecting long-term health outcomes and quality of life for people living with T2D and obesity. We are examining the impact of a combined low energy diet and supervised exercise intervention versus a low energy diet alone for the preservation of lean mass in an understudied South Asian population living with T2D and excess adiposity.Methods and analysis This prospective, randomised, two-arm parallel-group, open-label, blinded-endpoint trial is being conducted in Leicester, UK. 36 South Asian adults aged 40–65 years within 10 years of T2D diagnosis and not on insulin therapy will be enrolled. Both intervention arms will receive an 800-900kcal/day low energy diet for 12 weeks. Those randomised to the exercise group will additionally receive a mixture of supervised and home-based resistance and aerobic exercise training three times per week. The primary outcome is the difference in the change of lean mass between groups measured using Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry at baseline and 12 weeks and will be analysed using linear regression modelling.Ethics and dissemination The trial was approved by the NHS research ethics service (23/WM/0201). All participants will provide informed consent prior to enrolment, and the study will be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Findings will be shared widely (publications, presentations, press releases, social media platforms) and will inform an effectiveness trial.Trial registration number ISRCTN11175684.</p
Can car-following models simulate vehicle-bicycle interactions? A benchmarking study
No full textUnderstanding vehicle-bicycle traffic dynamics has become important in urban mixed traffic environments, whereby their accurate modelling and simulation are paramount for infrastructure design and safety evaluation of mixed traffic. However, the literature is devoid of concrete evidence on whether existing car-following models can reproduce longitudinal interactions of vehicle-bicycle traffic. To this end, this study, for the first time, benchmarks three widely used car-following (Gipps, Krauss, and Wiedemann 99) models to simulate vehicle-bicycle following using six naturalistic trajectory datasets of vehicle-bicycle interactions and performs empirical analyses and model calibration/validation. Comparing the numerical and behavioural soundness of the models, the Gipps model outperforms its competitors in both calibration and validation, whereas the Wiedemann model performs poorly. Further, given that these models are originally developed for vehicle-vehicle following, a comparison of vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-bicycle interactions reveals two main findings. First, significant behavioural differences, like large standstill distance and shorter reaction time for vehicle-following-bicycle, reflect cautious driving when following bicycles. Second, models show higher calibration and validation errors for vehicle-bicycle interactions, suggesting that these models may not adequately capture behavioural complexities inherent in vehicle-bicycle interactions, like stimulus perception, multi-vehicle anticipation, and intra-driver heterogeneity. Finally, this study also assesses the suitability of short trajectories (less than 10 s), and results confirm the feasibility of using such trajectories for calibration and validation. Our novel benchmarking findings highlight several gaps in current vehicle-bicycle modelling capabilities and suggest the need for developing new, realistic, and behaviourally sound models for accurately reproducing the dynamics of vehicle-bicycle interactions, which will facilitate multimodal transport planning.</p
Comparative analyses of laboratory and field mix preparation conditions on phase angle characteristics of asphalt concrete mixtures in a sub-tropical region
No full textInconsistent and inadequate mixture preparation is one of the leading causes of premature failure of flexible pavements. The effects of mixture preparation, especially while comparing the phase angle characteristics of laboratory- and field-prepared asphalt concrete (AC) mixtures, have received little attention in the literature. This study aims to quantify the impact of mix preparation conditions on the phase angle characteristics of AC mixtures. Sixteen laboratory-prepared and seven field AC mixtures comprising three penetration grade binders and varying aggregate gradations are considered for comparison purposes. Phase angle testing is performed at four testing temperatures and six loading frequencies using the asphalt mixture performance tester equipment. Data obtained from laboratory tests were used to characterise the effect of mixture preparation conditions on the phase angle using a first-order multiple linear regression model. The results revealed that mixtures prepared under laboratory conditions are more viscoelastic than those prepared under field conditions. Specifically, the temperature, binder grade and voids filled with asphalt (VFA) positively influence the phase angle, while frequency, optimum bitumen content (OBC) and stability showed a negative effect. The findings of this study are expected to minimise the disparity between mixtures preparation conditions which will ultimately control the premature failure of flexible pavements.</p
Advanced microwave imaging techniques for early detection of breast cancer: a review and future perspectives
No full textBreast cancer remains the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide, with outcomes strongly dependent on stage at detection. Conventional imaging modalities such as mammography, ultrasound and MRI are limited by reduced sensitivity in dense breasts, radiation exposure, high cost and restricted availability in low-resource settings. This review critically examines microwave imaging (MWI) as a non-invasive, radiation-free and an emerging resource-efficient breast imaging modality that exploits dielectric contrast between healthy and malignant breast tissues. We first summarise experimental and clinical evidence on breast dielectric properties and their implications for numerical phantoms and device design. We then review passive, active (tomographic and radar-based) and hybrid MWI systems, including key clinical prototypes such as SAFE, MammoWave, MARIA and Wavelia, and analyse associated image-reconstruction algorithms from classical inverse scattering to advanced beamforming, Huygens-based methods and AI based reconstruction. Finally, we discuss outstanding challenges—tissue heterogeneity, calibration, hardware constraints and computational complexity—and identify future directions including AI-assisted reconstruction, multimodal hybrid imaging and large-scale clinical validation needed to translate MWI into routine breast cancer screening and diagnosis.</p