SummaryThis study proposes age- and sex-specific trabecular bone score (TBS) reference curves for Mexican children and adolescents. Using the latest software version, results highlight significant pubertal changes and provide reference data for assessing pediatric bone health, paving the way for a wider use of this technology in children and adolescents.PurposeTrabecular Bone Score (TBS) is a grey scale texture measure that correlates with bone microarchitecture derived from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). While extensively studied in adults, limited data exist for pediatric populations. This study aims to develop age- and sex-specific reference curves for TBS adjusted for abdominal soft tissue thickness in healthy children and adolescents from Mexico City.MethodsThis cross-sectional study reanalyzed data from 1552 healthy participants (5–18 years) who underwent lumbar spine DXA scans using Lunar iDXA and TBS iNsight 4.0 (Core Module 19.4.0), which accounts for soft tissue thickness. Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape (GAMLSS) were employed to construct smoothed percentile curves. TBS values were stratified by age, sex, and Tanner stage, with descriptive statistics and outlier exclusions.ResultsTBS showed distinct age- and sex-related trajectories, with steep increases during puberty. Girls demonstrated a sharper rise in TBS starting at age 9, peaking by age 16, while boys exhibited a more gradual increase starting at age 10–11, peaking by age 18. Differences were also observed between Tanner stages, with the most significant changes occurring from stages 2 to 3.ConclusionThis study proposes the first TBS reference curves for Mexican children and adolescents using the latest software version. This data may prove to be a valuable tool for assessing bone health in pediatric populations. Yet further research to explore TBS’s utility in predicting bone fragility in pediatric population as well as its life-course trends.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11657-025-01595-4.

Since the start of the twenty-first century, research into metamaterials has grown at a frantic pace, with researchers proposing new materials with increasingly more exotic properties and proposed applications. In this chapter, we aim to present an overview of the field, advantages, and exotic properties these materials can offer, and emerging application areas for these materials. The potential applications for metamaterials are diverse and promising. They have been proposed as candidates for optical filtering, medical devices, remote aerospace operations, sensor detectors, solar power management, crowd control, radomes, antenna lenses, and many more. Ultimately, this is a very broad and rich area, which, in this chapter, we can only hope to give the reader an overview of, with the hopes this inspires the reader to explore aspects presented in greater depth.

Extended shortwave infrared (eSWIR) detectors capable of detecting wavelengths between 1.7 and 2.7 µm are useful for a wide range of applications, such as remote sensing and monitoring, but most of these detectors require cooling to reduce the dark currents. Identifying a suitable material that extends the wavelength range to well beyond 2 µm with minimal cooling is therefore important. The overall sensitivity of such a detector can be enhanced by using it in conjunction with a wide bandgap multiplication region which can increase the photocurrent via impact ionization. In this work, a systematic study of avalanche multiplication in seven Al0.9Ga0.1As0.08Sb0.92 diodes lattice matched to GaSb shows that the electron impact ionization coefficient (α) is larger than the hole impact ionization coefficient (β), especially at low electric fields. Using In0.22Ga0.78As0.19Sb0.89 (bandgap=0.45eV) as the absorber and Al0.9Ga0.1As0.08Sb0.92 (bandgap=1.6eV) as the multiplier in a separate absorption, charge, and multiplication region avalanche photodiode configuration enabled room temperature optical detection up to 2.75 µm with a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of >50% at the punch-through voltage (Vpt) ∼2µm wavelength. This device demonstrates a low excess noise of F=4.5 at a multiplication of M=20, giving rise to a noise equivalent power for an unoptimized device of 1.69×10−12W/Hz. A maximum multiplied EQE of >2000% at 2 µm is achieved before a low breakdown voltage of 18.9 V, obtained using a novel undepleted absorber design. This work shows the possibility of a high sensitivity eSWIR detector capable of operating at room temperature.

Abstract Context: Self-admitted technical debt (SATD) refers to the temporary workaround codes that engineers purposely leave behind before releasing software. It was developed by Potdar and Shihab to highlight intentional technical debts made by developers, to meet certain deadlines during the developmental process. However, these intentional technical debts become more expensive and difficult to handle over time. Objective: To develop a prediction model to detect, categorize, and predict SATD-prone tasks in the studied software projects. Method: The prediction model employs the use of a natural language processing model to manually extract identified textual indicators from five open-source projects. The data is then processed and cleaned using regular expressions and spaCy algorithms. Finally, a Bellwether algorithm is employed to learn from this data and predict the occurrence of self-admitted technical debt on other software. Result: The study identified new textual indicators and their frequency of occurrences. It also categorized these textual indicators under the five types of Self-admitted technical debts and recorded design debt as the highest occurrence among the types. Finally, the findings recorded a high F1 Score of 0.89 using bellwether compared to the traditional algorithms. Conclusion: The employment of Bellwether predictive algorithm appears to be more efficient in predicting SATDs in source code comments as compared to previously used predictive tools

Abstract A dilemma in critical systems thinking is how to balance a desire for critique to inspire far‐reaching transformations in society with the requirement for people to reach accommodations to enable on‐the‐ground change. Both critique and accommodation are necessary to realise transformations, yet they are often in tension. If critique is undertaken by lone researchers and prioritised over accommodation, then the lack of stakeholder buy‐in can lead to a failure of implementation. Conversely, if accommodation is prioritised over critique, then implementation is more likely, but it may be less than transformative due to the need to keep more conservative stakeholders engaged. A strategy to address this problem is offered by Gillian Rose. This paper discusses how her strategy can inform critical systems thinking. It then ends with more general reflections on the value of the work of Gillian Rose for systemic intervention.

Coulomb drag between adjacent electron and hole gases has attracted considerable attention, being studied in various two-dimensional systems, including semiconductor and graphene heterostructures. Here we report measurements of electron–hole drag in the Planckian plasma that develops in monolayer graphene in the vicinity of its Dirac point above liquid-nitrogen temperatures. The frequent electron–hole scattering forces minority carriers to move against the applied electric field due to the drag induced by majority carriers. This unidirectional transport of electrons and holes results in nominally negative mobility for the minority carriers. The electron–hole drag is found to be strongest near room temperature, despite being notably affected by phonon scattering. Our findings provide better understanding of the transport properties of charge-neutral graphene, reveal limits on its hydrodynamic description, and also offer insight into quantum-critical systems in general.

Existing literature predominantly focuses on the technical prospects of blockchain, particularly the possibility of digital economies built from the bottom up and self-governing. However, pressing concerns remain about the sustainability of blockchain applications. Thus, a decolonised, (meaning self-governance) critical transdisciplinary and systemic review of the current implementation of blockchain and how sustainable and supporting it would be in the future is required. The study considers the potential of its adoption and emerging development of applications focusing on social justice and civic good, including the multi-species circular economy project, ‘COLife: More-Than-Human Community Codesign Century,’ exploring a more-than-human value communication agenda. This review sourced articles from Clarivate and Scopus to investigate the current implementation of blockchain application areas. The review suggests a transition towards the post-Anthropocene, where blockchain presents opportunities for all beings (humans, other species, artificial intelligence, robots) to co-live and co-perform, offering sustainable alternatives to the existing unsustainable extractive and exploitative power dynamic that humans typically exert over other species and technology. For example, pollinators should be paid for their pollinations and for that they could buy a meadow. Our transdisciplinary and systemic critical review shows that some studies denigrate the merits of blockchain applications, mainly because they were written from a reductionist perspective. Our strength lies in boundary critique implementation. We argue the reductionist reviews are inconclusive, while some outcomes were subjective to practical verification and assumption validation. However, they do not consider the complexity of today’s world. Lastly, we present the benefits of the drivers for future implementation, showing it outweigh the projected drawbacks and future vision of our COLife project with blockchain.