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Journal articleRiley S, Vamvakeros A, Quino G, et al., 2026,
Acute deformation characteristics of standard and flexible lithium-ion battery electrodes
, Communications Materials, Vol: 7Understanding the strain tolerance of both standard and mechanically flexible battery electrodes is prerequisite for optimizing performance, safety, and longevity, particularly in heavy-duty applications, flexible electronics and wearables. Achieving this requires a deeper understanding of how mechanical strain drives electrode degradation. In this work, we directly compare the strain response of electrospun (flexible) and slurry-cast (conventional) electrodes. To simulate acute mechanical stress, electrodes underwent a controlled 180° folding, pressing, and unfolding protocol designed to induce measurable damage, we then employed a combination of characterization techniques, including synchrotron X-ray nano-computed tomography, X-ray diffraction mapping, electrochemical analysis, and in situ Tensiometer-scanning electron microscopy to assess both structural and electrochemical degradation modes and provide a standardised upper-bound for strain induced damage. Our results reveal that electrospun electrodes exhibit significantly greater resilience to deformation, attributed to their freestanding architecture and fibrous morphology. These findings underscore the importance of characterizing deformation mechanisms to guide the design of high-performance batteries.
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Journal articleLa Magna N, Bettelli A, Nenna F, et al., 2026,
Flying in virtual reality on 3 different axes: evaluation of the effects of a full rotating VR interface on performance, cybersickness and user experience
, Virtual Reality, Vol: 30, ISSN: 1359-4338A promising trend in Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of embodied interfaces, systems that involve full-body motion within a Virtual Environment. These devices enhance immersion and user experience while reducing cybersickness when compared to hand-held interfaces, such as gamepads. However, existing embodied interfaces often lack comprehensive motion cues and control. In this study, we evaluated the VitruvianVR, a novel embodied interface, providing self-motion cues through 3-axes rotation, suitable for multiple VR experiences such as flight simulations. This gyroscopic VR device allows users to rotate their entire body in all directions, simulating the sensation of flying. VitruvianVR has been compared to a traditional hand-held interface (i.e., gamepad) during a flight simulation. Combining both self-reported and objective data, we focused on performance metrics (i.e., flight accuracy, failures, birds report), cybersickness, User eXperience (UX), sense of presence, acceptance, mental load and participants’ head and body rotation behaviours. Our main findings show that users’ flight accuracy performance with Vitruvian VR is reduced when compared to the gamepad, and generates more mental workload than a hand-held interface. VitruvianVR is associated with greater head rotations compared to the gamepad session, while being associated with lower perceived cybersickness symptoms than the counterpart. Furthermore, VitruvianVR leads to higher scores of UX, including overall satisfaction, enjoyment, realism, novelty, perceived safety and sense of presence compared to the gamepad. The results broaden the knowledge regarding full motion cueing interfaces and provide a step forward in the design of effective bodily rotating devices. VitruvianVR suggests promising opportunities of application in various flight-related contexts.
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Journal articleCieslak C, Rivers S, Childs P, 2026,
In-situ wind turbine blade inspection using ultrasonic non-destructive testing
, Journal of Fluids Engineering, Transactions of the ASME, Vol: 148, ISSN: 0098-2202Offshore and onshore wind turbine blades present significant inspection, maintenance and repair challenges arising from location, economic drivers, environment and the specific blade architecture concerned. In-situ tasks have traditionally been undertaken by people abseiling from the tower or use of gantries. Harsh conditions associated with windy environs, along with pressures to limit downtime, have led to a range of new technologies becoming available. This paper presents results from the use of ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT) measurements of subsurface blade topography arising from in situ and static blade inspection for a range of wind turbine types. The measurements have been enabled using a hexapod robot that can accommodate NDT scanners within its chassis and can, using pneumatic suction for the robot pedipulators, navigate the convex, concave, and flexing form of in situ wind turbine blades. The arising NDT tomographic scans provide detailed information on blade integrity, the presence or otherwise of bonding materials, and local feature condition. Measurements, presented over a 600 mm traverse span, have confirmed the reliability of the robotic platform to deliver high-quality, consistent, and reliable data to be acquired with limited NDT experience and to allow subsurface inspections to be performed and analyzed remotely. In addition to detailed measurement of subsurface blade features, the robot system has also demonstrated the capacity to undertake functions such as lightning protection system verification.
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Journal articleJin X, Gao G, Wang W, et al., 2026,
Human-in-the-Loop Capacitive Microphone Sensors-Based Muscle Sensing System for Predictive and Adaptive Exoskeleton Assistance
, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol: 11, Pages: 4657-4664Mobility impairments among older adults and individuals with neuromuscular weakness motivate the need for timely and adaptive exoskeleton assistance. This paper presents a human-in-the-loop muscle sensing and control system based on capacitive microphone sensors (CMS) that capture subtle mechanical muscle vibrations preceding observable motion. CMS signals were shown to occur 20-30 ms earlier than IMU-based kinematics, enabling anticipatory intent detection and feedforward assistive control. A five-sensor CMS array positioned over major thigh muscles is combined with a two-stage control strategy that integrates threshold-based pre-assist triggering and machine-learning-based torque refinement. Experiments across walking, stair ascent, sitting, and standing achieved over 90% classification accuracy under both non-fatigued and fatigued conditions with low latency. Robustness evaluations demonstrate stable CMS performance under realistic wearable perturbations, including perspiration and attachment variation. Extended experimental sessions (1-2 h) and preliminary feedback from five participants indicate comfortable wear and natural interaction. These results highlight the potential of CMS-based anticipatory sensing for practical wearable exoskeleton deployment in daily scenarios.
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Journal articleZhou Y, Lukow K, Bonkile MP, et al., 2026,
Modelling external short circuit behaviours of fresh and degraded lithium-ion batteries
, Journal of Energy Storage, Vol: 155, Pages: 121443-121443, ISSN: 2352-152X -
Journal articleLuh D-B, Childs P, 2026,
Preface
, Design for Augmented Humanity, ISSN: 2977-6481 -
Journal articleArranz CFA, Arroyabe MF, Demirel P, et al., 2026,
Reconciling circular economy and net zero: firm capabilities to resolve sustainability tensions
, British Journal of Management, ISSN: 1045-3172Achieving net zero has become a key concern for firms to address climate change, yet growing evidence suggests that reducing reliance on fossil fuels for energy generation alone is insufficient. As material use is increasingly recognized as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, the circular economy has emerged as a potential pathway to support decarbonization. Despite the intuitive appeal of aligning circularity with net zero, their relationship remains conceptually underexplored and empirically ambiguous. To address this complexity, this article develops a framework conceptualizing the interaction between circular economy and net zero as a dynamic interplay of virtuous and vicious cycles. Drawing on paradox and capability perspectives, it explains when circular practices reinforce decarbonization and when they generate capability traps that undermine environmental performance. The framework contributes to corporate sustainability scholarship by identifying the capabilities that enable firms and their ecosystems to transform tensions into synergies, thereby supporting more coherent strategies and policy interventions at the intersection of circularity and net zero.
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Journal articleDaubner S, Cohen AE, Dörich B, et al., 2026,
evoxels: A differentiable physics framework for voxel-based microstructure simulations
, Journal of Open Source Software, Vol: 11, Pages: 9733-9733 -
Journal articleChilds P, Garvey B, Dieckmann E, et al., 2026,
Futures – scenarios, options and agency – preliminary results
, Design for Augmented Humanity, ISSN: 2977-6481A wide range of methodologies are available for predicting the future such as foresight. Such approaches have been widely deployed by organisations and governments to explore potential developments for purposes of planning, resilience, mitigation and adaptation. The differing methods employ a range of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methodology research tools. The future is subject to dynamic intervention as embodied in innovation and the phrase that ‘if you wish to know the future, design it’. The advent of widespread use of artificial intelligence, robotics, neurotechnology and continuous advance in each of the domains is impacting many if not all aspects of society. This review uses diverse methodologies to explore developments within a defined time horizon, a generation taken as approximately 25 years, focussed on 2050, across a range of domains and topics subject to multi, cross, inter and transdisciplinary practice. Although all domains are considered along with major influences on society, a focus is given to eight domains, medicine, robotics, photonics, materials, AI, space, physics and behavioural science, in particular, as representative examples of changes expected. Major societal and behavioural drivers identified in this presentation of preliminary data from the study include well-being, authenticity and sustainability, the steady influence of established philosophy and religion, emerging social media influences, thinking and developments arising from transcending our planetary boundaries, and the impact of disciplinary boundary morphing approaches on innovation in both established and emerging domains.
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Journal articleMoradbakhti L, Peters D, Quint JK, et al., 2026,
AI-Enhanced Conversational Agents for Personalized Asthma Support in People With Asthma: Factors for Engagement, Value, and Efficacy in a Cross-Sectional Survey Study.
, JMIR Hum Factors, Vol: 13BACKGROUND: Asthma-related deaths in the United Kingdom are the highest in Europe, and only 30% of patients access basic care. There is a need for alternative approaches to reaching people with asthma to provide health education, self-management support, and better bridges to care. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine patients' interest in using a chatbot for asthma and to identify factors that influence engagement. Automated conversational agents (specifically, mobile chatbots) present opportunities for providing alternative and individually tailored access to health education, self-management support, and risk self-assessment. But would patients engage with a chatbot, and what factors influence engagement? METHODS: We present results from a patient survey (N=1257) developed by a team of asthma clinicians, patients, and technology developers, conducted to identify optimal factors for efficacy, value, and engagement with an asthma chatbot. RESULTS: Results indicate that most adults with asthma (53%) are interested in using a chatbot. The patients most likely to do so are those who believe their asthma is more serious and are less confident in their self-management. Results also indicate enthusiasm for 24/7 access, personalization, and for WhatsApp (Meta) as the preferred access method (compared to app, voice assistant, SMS text messaging, or website). CONCLUSIONS: Obstacles to uptake include security and privacy concerns and skepticism of technological capabilities. We present detailed findings and consolidate these into 7 recommendations for developers to optimize the efficacy of chatbot-based health support.
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Journal articleBallou N, Peters D, Villalobos-Zuniga G, et al., 2026,
Self-determination theory in HCI: advancing the field
, Interacting with computers, ISSN: 0953-5438Self-determination theory (SDT) has been widely successful in HCI. It offers ready concepts, measures, and theoretical propositions for third wave HCI topics like user experience, fun, wellbeing, motivation, or user autonomy. Still, HCI applications of SDT have been partial, at times superficial, and disconnecting– leaving great unfulfilled potential which motivated the present special issue. In this introduction, we present SDT to interested scholars; chart its use across HCI to date; and outline six advances to move HCI toward more intentional applications of SDT. As the articles from this issue illustrate, future growth areas of SDT in HCI are in extending domain-specific models and applications; harnessing underused parts of theory; computational formalisation; extending levels of analysis; facilitating design translation; and engaging in a cross-disciplinary dialogue on autonomy.
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Journal articleMcmeeking A, Dieckmann E, 2026,
Interfibre bridging in bacterial nanocellulose via co-culture-derived polyhydroxybutyrate and solvent-free blending approaches
, Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications, ISSN: 2666-8939Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a renewable polymer valued for its strength and purity, but its brittleness and hydrophilicity limit wider application. Incorporating biodegradable polyester polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) offers a pathway to functional, scalable composites. We establish two complementary routes for producing bacterial nanocellulose-polyhydroxybutyrate composites. In-situ co-cultures of Komagataeibacter rhaeticus (KR) and Cupriavidus necator (CN) were optimised through inoculation timing, medium screening, and pH buffering. 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES) at 50 mM stabilised culture conditions, improved cellulose output, and enabled PHB co-localisation of 4% total wet weight. These natural incorporation levels provided benchmarks for a solvent-free blending strategy, in which powdered PHB was introduced into plasticised sterilised BNC using Gellan gum, Glycerol, PEG400, and CaCl₂ at loadings of 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.7%, and 2.0% (approximately 10%, 30%, 70%, and 200% relative to dry BNC mass) and heat pressed. Blended films reproduced co-culture PHB levels and tolerated up to 0.7% (wet weight) before shrinkage and brittleness were observed. Heat pressing promoted PHB diffusion between cellulose fibrils, enhancing interfibre bonding; in blended films at 0.3 % PHB (heat-pressed), this yielded a 6.3-fold increase in ultimate tensile strength and a 9.5-fold increase in Young's modulus. Co-culturing defined the biological starting point, while blending enabled scalable processing and systematic characterisation, offering complementary routes to manufacture BNC-PHB composites.
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Conference paperDavison M, McPherson A, 2026,
Design Explorations of Instruments and Interactions with Bidirectional Haptic Couplings
, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsDirect interaction with digital synthesisers using audio signals can offer opportunities for intimate and nuanced interaction in digital musical instrument designs. Unlike acoustic instruments, these hybrid instruments tend to follow a unidirectional interaction structure: tactile gestures generate audio signals that are fed into a synthesiser, but there is no vibrotactile feedback from the instrument back to the musician. This paper presents the HaptiCoupler system that enables bidirectional tactile interaction with digital musical instruments using a single voice coil transducer. A study is undertaken with experienced digital musical instrument designers to explore the design implications of introducing closely coupled, collocated haptic feedback in musical systems. The potential creative implications for designers are discussed.
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Journal articleLiu T, Chen Y-Y, Chen K, et al., 2026,
Hierarchical adaptive formation tracking control with uncertain time-varying exosystem
, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, ISSN: 0018-9286This paper investigates the formation tracking problem with uncertain time-varying exosystem over a general directed graph. The exosystem describes both the moving target and the disturbances affecting each agent. The dynamics of each agent is described by a parametric strict-feedback form subject to orbit constraints. The so-called congelation of variables method is employed in a hierarchical design to yield an adaptive formation estimator and an adaptive tracking controller. An adaptive coupling gain is integrated into the estimator design, which utilizes the local estimated states and is independent of the communication graph. Boundedness and convergence properties of the resulting adaptive systems are proven. Two simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed estimator-controller scheme.
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Journal articleXie R, Chen Y, Pinson P, 2026,
Predict-and-Optimize Robust Unit Commitment with Statistical Guarantees via Weight Combination
, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol: 41, Pages: 1163-1177, ISSN: 0885-8950The growing uncertainty from renewable power and electricity demand brings significant challenges to unit commitment (UC). While various advanced forecasting and optimization methods have been developed to better predict and address this uncertainty, most previous studies treat forecasting and optimization as separate tasks. This separation can lead to suboptimal results due to misalignment between the objectives of the two tasks. To overcome this challenge, we propose a robust UC framework that integrates forecasting and optimization processes while ensuring statistical guarantees. In the forecasting stage, we combine multiple predictions derived from diverse data sources and methodologies for an improved prediction, aiming to optimize the UC performance. In the optimization stage, the combined prediction is used to construct an uncertainty set with statistical guarantees, based on which the robust UC model is formulated. The optimal robust UC solution provides feedback to refine the weight used for combining multiple predictions. To solve the proposed integrated forecasting-optimization framework efficiently and effectively, we develop a neural network-based surrogate model for acceleration and introduce a reshaping method for the uncertainty set based on the optimization result to reduce conservativeness. Case studies on modified IEEE 30-bus and 118-bus systems demonstrate the advantages of the proposed approach.
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Journal articleDaugintis R, Geronazzo M, Poole KC, et al., 2026,
Perceptual evaluation of an auditory model-based similarity metric for head-related transfer functions.
, J Acoust Soc Am, Vol: 159, Pages: 2822-2843A key challenge in binaural spatial audio personalisation is defining perceptual similarity metrics that meaningfully rate non-individual head-related transfer function (HRTF) fit. A metric using Bayesian auditory modelling has recently been proposed to address this. It predicts human localisation performance with non-individual HRTFs by matching their auditory cues to individual cues and selects the best and worst non-individual HRTFs based on predicted localisation errors. We present a perceptual evaluation of this selection with 17 participants using static localisation and dynamic spatial audio quality assessments. Localisation performance was significantly poorer with the model-selected worst HRTF, while the best HRTF did not differ significantly from the individual HRTF for most error metrics. Qualitatively, while participants found the best HRTF to be different from the individual HRTF in terms of overall quality and tone colour, the perceived dissimilarity with the worst HRTF was significantly greater. Cross-experiment analysis revealed a moderate correlation between degradation in localisation performance and perceived differences in these qualities. However, no significant differences in perceived naturalness or externalisation were found between HRTF conditions in an anechoic test environment. Overall, these results support the use of the auditory model-based metric for evaluating non-individual HRTFs.
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Journal articleZou Y, Childs P, 2026,
Shifting Workflow Practices with Implementation of AI in Design in Apparel and Fashion
, International Journal of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering -
Journal articlePoole KC, With S, Martin V, et al., 2026,
Spatial auditory change detection in listeners with hearing loss.
, Hear Res, Vol: 474Everyday listening relies on the auditory system's ability to automatically monitor background ("non-target") sounds that lie outside the focus of attention to detect new or changing sources. Although change detection is a fundamental aspect of this situational awareness, little is known about how hearing impairment affects this ability. This study examined how variability in sensorineural hearing loss influences spatial auditory change detection. Older hearing-impaired listeners (N = 30) completed a spatial change detection task requiring them to identify the appearance of a new sound source within a complex spatialised acoustic scene. Hearing loss was characterised by three factors measured with standard clinical tests: audiometric hearing thresholds, sensitivity to small level changes, and sensitivity to spectrotemporal modulation. These factors were used to predict reaction time, hit rate, and false alarm rate. Listeners with poorer spectrotemporal sensitivity, higher audiometric hearing thresholds, and older age showed slower and less accurate detection, whereas sensitivity to small level changes did not predict outcomes. Detection also varied with spatial location, where appearing sources from behind were detected more slowly and less accurately than those from the front or sides. Numerical analysis using HRTFs suggested that these rear-field effects are not fully explained by acoustic level differences alone, indicating that attentional factors may play a role. These results reveal that hearing loss, age, and spatial factors jointly shape listeners' ability to monitor dynamic auditory scenes. Additionally, testing spectrotemporal sensitivity offers a promising clinical measure of non-speech auditory processing with relevance for hearing-aid fitting and situational awareness.
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Journal articleDhopatkar R, Sadan MK, George C, 2026,
Infrared Active Actuators Mimicking Locomotion Patterns of Soft-Bodied Invertebrates
, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, Vol: 8, Pages: 1595-1602Soft-bodied invertebrates such as caterpillars and leeches transduce muscle contraction and relaxation sequences toward their locomotion ability. Mimicking these complex locomotory patterns to design soft robots with predictable gaits remains a significant challenge to date. Here we report infrared responsive actuators based on graphite ink-coated low-density polyethylene (LDPE) sheets, capable of performing caterpillar-like crawling and somersaulting motion with high predictability, reversibility and rapidity. By strategically patterning graphite ink on LDPE and performing thermal imaging, we show that the heat generation across actuators upon photoirradiation correlates to actuation response time and magnitude. These actuators achieve a curvature angle of 270° in 9 s and return consistently to their original state, with over 70% improvement in the restoration time. Similarly, somersaulting (in 5 s) and wave-like crawling (30.8 mm/min) achieve over 60% improvement in the actuation speed. Our findings therefore open possibilities of designing untethered actuators with high precision and adaptable locomotion modes.
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Journal articleGao X, Yan Z, Lin L, et al., 2026,
Microsized Sn-Hard Carbon Composite Anode with Capacities of 583 mAh g–1and 1073 mAh cm–3for Sodium-Ion Batteries
, ACS Energy Letters, Vol: 11, Pages: 1916-1925Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are applied for large-scale energy storage systems, yet their energy density remains capped by hard carbon (HC) anodes with modest gravimetric and volumetric capacities. Herein, we report an alloying-carbon strategy that applies microsized Sn particles with microsized HC particles to form thick-film anodes. The optimized Sn-HC composite couples the high capacity and compaction density of Sn with the structural robustness of HC, displaying the gravimetric and volumetric capacities of 583 mAh g<sup>–1</sup> and 1073 mAh cm<sup>–3</sup>, an initial Coulombic efficiency of 90.5%, a capacity retention of ∼89.5% after 1000 cycles at 0.5 A g<sup>–1</sup>, and limited electrode swelling of 33.7%. Coupled with the Na<inf>3</inf>V<inf>2</inf>(PO<inf>4</inf>)<inf>3</inf> cathode, the SIB full cell delivers an energy density of 254 Wh kg<sup>–1</sup> and high-rate capabilities. Such Sn-HC architecture offers a scalable and industrially relevant route to simultaneously increase the gravimetric and volumetric capacities of anodes for SIBs.
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Journal articleMcKenzie T, Meyer-Kahlen N, Schlecht SJ, 2026,
On the role of speech similarity in the detection of room acoustic differences.
, J Acoust Soc Am, Vol: 159, Pages: 1373-1384Spatial audio systems are typically evaluated in comparative listening tests using the same source signal for each condition {such as ABX: ITU-R BS.1116-3 [(2015a) Methods for the Subjective Assessment of Small Impairments in Audio Systems (International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland)] and multiple stimulus with hidden reference and anchor ITU-R BS.1534-3 [(2015b) Methods for the Subjective Assessment of Intermediate Quality Level of Audio Systems (International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland)]}. However, in augmented reality (AR) scenarios, it is infeasible that the same sound source would exist at the same position in space, both real and virtual; instead, each sound source will emit a different signal. To investigate this discrepancy, a perceptual study is conducted on the effect of source signal similarity when distinguishing different room acoustics conditions. Specifically, these conditions are binaural room impulse responses measured at different distances from the source, modified to all use the same direct sound. Three classes of source signal are investigated in a three-alternative forced choice paradigm: the same speech signal for all conditions, the same speaker but a different sentence for each condition, and a different speaker and a different sentence for each condition. Results show that using different speech recordings significantly reduces the ability to identify differences in room acoustics. This suggests that spatial audio system fidelity requirements could vary depending on the source signals used in the target application; AR audio evaluation should use different signals for comparisons.
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Journal articleWang P, Zhang X, Wei L, et al., 2026,
Human-AI co-ideation via combinational generative model
, Journal of engineering design, Vol: 37, Pages: 458-494, ISSN: 0954-4828Ideation is a critical step in the engineering design process, enabling designers to develop creative and innovative concepts and prototypes. Currently, the ideation workflow requires designers to generate new designs based on product requirements, heavily relying on their personal expertise and experience. To advance human-AI collaboration design and assist designers in the idea-generation process, this paper proposes an Object Combination Generative Adversarial Network (OC-GAN) for combinational creativity. The proposed method includes an image encoder module and a cross-domain object combination generator module. The image encoder module captures and encodes image structure information into latent space, while the cross-domain object combination generator module leverages GANs to combine object images based on user preferences, producing new design images. A design case study is used to evaluate the new ideation approach and reveal not only strong cross-domain concept combination capabilities but also improvement in designers' workflow and provision of novelty to the design case.HighlightsAn AI approach to improve the efficiency of idea generation in the design process.A case study evaluates its support for idea generation and design creativity.The OC-GAN is used for multi-domain object image combining tasks.Exemplifies the feasibility of human-AI collaboration design for enhancing creativity.
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Conference paperLissillour O, Deterding S, Evans A, 2026,
What’s the point? How users functionalise points in gamified systems
, New York, 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’26), Publisher: ACMPoints are widely used design elements in gamified systems. Yet how they motivate is still unclear: what motivational meaning or functional significance do users ascribe to points and when? To answer this question, we conducted a semi-structured interview study with 27 users of two popular gamified platforms, Duolingo and Habitica. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we constructed six different types of functionalisation variously proposed in prior gamification and personal informatics work but often not empirically supported. We highlight the importance of functional design detail (such as points should proportionally reward effort) and derive design guidelines.
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Journal articleHuppe M, Myant C, 2026,
3D tibial HU reconstruction from biplanar X-rays utilizing a hybrid PCA-CNN framework
, Computers in Biology and Medicine, Vol: 202, ISSN: 0010-4825High-resolution Computed Tomography (CT) is the gold standard medical imaging technique for bone assessment. However, its clinical use is limited by high radiation dose (8.8 mSv; biplanar X-rays 1.4 mSv), cost, and reduced accessibility. These barriers are particularly significant for patients requiring frequent imaging. This study introduces a novel hybrid framework combining statistical intensity modeling with Deep Learning to reconstruct 3D tibial CT volumes including internal density distributions from biplanar radiographs. The method employs principal component analysis (PCA) to capture intensity variations in a compact latent space and trains a convolutional neural network (CNN) to regress PCA coefficients directly from radiographs. The framework was developed and validated using 60 subjects from the publicly available Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) database. Compared to ground truth CT, it achieved a mean absolute error of 127.17 ± 12.08 Hounsfield Units (HU), a structural similarity index of 0.8558 ± 0.0215, and a peak signal-to-noise ratio of 21.40 ± 0.78 dB. The method has the potential to achieve substantial radiation dose reduction compared to conventional CT while preserving sufficient anatomical detail for potential clinical tasks such as patient-specific implant planning and bone quality triage. However, the actual dose reduction depends on clinical imaging protocols and requires validation through protocol-matched dosimetry on actual radiographs. Moreover, it produces interpretable outputs that reflect anatomical intensity variations (e.g., cortical vs. trabecular regions), demonstrating feasibility for hybrid statistical-Deep Learning bone reconstruction. The proposed pipeline establishes a foundation for reduced-dose 3D bone imaging and offers a pathway toward clinical translation pending validation on real-world radiographic data.
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Journal articleThrän J, Green TC, Shorten R, 2026,
Levelised cost of demand response: estimating the cost-competitiveness of flexible demand
, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol: 349, ISSN: 0196-8904To make well-informed investment decisions, energy system stakeholders require reliable cost frameworks for demand response and storage technologies. While the levelised cost of storage permits comprehensive cost comparisons between different storage technologies, no generic cost measure for the comparison of different demand response schemes exists. This paper introduces the levelised cost of demand response, which is an analogous measure to the levelised cost of storage but crucially differs from it by considering consumer reward payments. Additionally, the value factor from cost estimations of variable renewable energy is adapted to account for the variable availability of demand response. The levelised cost of demand response is estimated for four direct load control schemes and twelve storage applications, and then contrasted against literature values for the levelised cost of the most competitive storage technologies. The direct load control schemes are vehicle-to-grid, smart charging, smart heat pumps, and heat pumps with thermal storage. The results show that only heat pumps with thermal storage consistently outcompete storage technologies, with EV-based schemes being competitive for some applications. The results and the underlying methodology offer a tool for energy system stakeholders to assess the competitiveness of demand response schemes even with limited user data.
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Journal articleServi A, Gardner-Bougaard E, Mohamed S, et al., 2026,
Early Evaluation of IMAGINATOR 2.0 Intervention Targeting Self-Harm in Young People: Single-Arm Feasibility Trial.
, JMIR Form Res, Vol: 10BACKGROUND: Self-harm (SH) affects around 20% of all young people in the United Kingdom. Treatment options for SH remain limited and those available are long and costly and may not suit all young people. There is an urgent need to develop new scalable interventions to address this gap. IMAGINATOR is a novel imagery-based intervention targeting SH initially developed for individuals aged 16 to 25 years. It is a blended digital intervention delivering functional imagery training via therapy sessions and a smartphone app. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to pilot a new version of the app, IMAGINATOR 2.0, extended to adolescents from the age of 12 years and coproduced with a diverse group of young people with lived experience. Our aim was also to test the feasibility and acceptability of delivering IMAGINATOR 2.0 in secondary mental health services. METHODS: A total of 4 co-design workshops were conducted online with UK-based lived-experience co-designers aged 14-25 years to develop the IMAGINATOR 2.0 app. The intervention was then piloted with participants recruited from West London NHS Trust Tier 2 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and adult Mental Health Integrated Network Teams. Participants received 3 face-to-face functional imagery training sessions in which the app was introduced and 5 brief phone support sessions. Outcome assessments were conducted after completing therapy, approximately 3 months post baseline. Two focus groups gathered the therapists' perspectives on IMAGINATOR 2.0's acceptability and means of improvement. For quantitative data, descriptives are reported. Qualitative data were analyzed using a coproduced thematic analysis method with young people with lived experiences. RESULTS: Overall, 83 participants were referred, and 29 (gender: n=28 women, n=1 transgender; mean age 18.9, SD 3.74 years) were eligible and completed screening. Of the 27 participants who started, 59% (n=16) completed therapy per protocol, while only 15 (55.6%) completed
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Journal articleAngeliki M, Picinali L, Vicente T, 2026,
A pilot study to assess the challenges and efficacy of two hearing loss simulations
, npj Acoustics, ISSN: 3005-141XDeveloping accurate and customisable hearing loss (HL) simulations is crucial for understanding and raising awareness of the challenge faced by individuals with HL. This pilot study assesses challenges in perceptually validating two real-time audio effects plugin HL simulations: the 3D Tune-In (3DTI) Toolkit and the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) plugin. Both simulatecommon HL deficits, with 3DTI offering greater customization. A pilot listening study was conducted involving normal-hearing listeners with simulated HL and those with real HL, focusing on mild-to-moderate high-frequency hearing loss. Audiometric tests and psychoacoustic tasks were employed, including gap and tone detection in noise, perceived sound intensity, andintelligibility tests. Results from two real HL listeners guided simulation adjustments for normal-hearing participants. Initial findings suggest reasonable accuracy in replicating spectral resolution and perceived sound intensity, but variability in intelligibility and temporal resolution tests indicates room for improvement in both implementations. This study highlights the need forenhanced customisation to improve accuracy and applicability, offering insights into development challenges. Furthermore, the employed methodology proves to be effective, offering valuable insight into challenges and biases that can occur during testing sessions, while highlighting the necessity for further research. This could include additional HL listeners in order to refine and develop more precise tools for understanding and addressing HL.
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Conference paperWan E, Yin C, Ito A, et al., 2026,
KNIT: Computational BoundaryObjects for Real-Time Convergence in Interdisciplinary Teams
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Journal articleTu Y, Wu B, Martínez-Pañeda E, 2026,
Phase field modelling of cracking and capacity fade in core-shell cathode particles for lithium-ion batteries
, Applied Energy, Vol: 403, ISSN: 0306-2619Core-shell electrode particles are a promising morphology control strategy for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. However, experimental observations reveal that these structures remain prone to mechanical failure, with shell fractures and core-shell debonding occurring after a single charge. In this work, we present a novel, comprehensive computational framework to predict and gain insight into the failure of core-shell morphologies and the associated degradation in battery performance. The fully coupled chemo-mechano-damage model presented captures the interplay between mechanical damage and electrochemical behaviours, enabling the quantification of particle cracking and capacity fade. Both bulk material fracture and interface debonding are captured by utilising the phase field method. We quantify the severity of particle cracking and capacity loss through case studies on a representative core-shell system (NMC811@NMC532). The results bring valuable insights into cracking patterns, underlying mechanisms, and their impact on capacity loss. Surface cracks are found to initiate when a significantly higher lithium concentration accumulates in the core compared to the shell. Interfacial debonding is shown to arise from localised hoop stresses near the core-shell interface, due to greater shell expansion. This debonding develops rapidly, impedes lithium-ion transport, and can lead to more than 10 % capacity loss after a single discharge. Furthermore, larger particles may experience crack branching driven by extensive tensile zones, potentially fragmenting the entire particle. The framework developed can not only bring new insight into the degradation mechanisms of core-shell particles but also be used to design electrode materials with improved performance and extended lifetime.
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Journal articleAlmukhtar A, Batcup C, Jagannath S, et al., 2026,
Understanding sustainability in operating theatres: an ethnographic study to determine drivers of unsustainable behaviours
, Annals of Surgery Open, ISSN: 2691-3593BackgroundClimate change is the biggest threat to human health. Paradoxically, the healthcare sector is a major contributor to climate change, and operating theatres are among the highest sources of emissions. Unsustainable practices are actions that compromise environmental, social, and financial sustainability, leading to unnecessary resource use, avoidable harm to the wider population, and reduced ability to provide effective healthcare in the future. Drivers of unsustainable practices and barriers to sustainability in practice (a top priority identified by the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership) are unexplored, hindering interventions which can help meet net-zero targets within healthcare. We conducted the first known ethnographic study to investigate behaviours related to sustainability in operating theatres, and their influences on those behaviours to inform the design of effective behaviour change interventions.MethodsNon-participant ethnographic observations with opportunistic discussions in elective general surgical operating theatres were conducted between June and December 2023 at two university hospitals in Central London. Data were collected until saturation using a template developed during the initial observations. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted, with sub-themes (influences) deductively mapped to the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF).ResultsTwenty-six procedures were observed (42 hours). Unsustainable behaviours included: (i) unnecessary and inappropriate glove use, potentially compromising safety (average 8-10 pairs per operation), (ii) incorrect waste disposal, (iii) unnecessary package opening, and (iv) energy waste. Thematic analysis generated 6 themes and 16 influences (mapped to 9 TDF domains). Key themes were that sustainable practices are “infrequent and inconsistent” due to limited awareness (Knowledge) and low environmental concerns (Memory, Attention and Decision Processes). Unsustainable behaviours we
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