Ethical issues in the employment of user-generated content as experimental stimulus: Defining the interests of creators

Social experimental research commonly employs media to elicit re-sponses from research subjects. This use of media is broadly protected under fair use exemptions to copyright, and creators of content used in experiments are generally not afforded any formal consideration or pro-tections in existing research ethics frameworks. Online social networking sites are an emerging and important setting for social experiments, and in this context, the material used to elicit responses is often content pro-duced by other users. This article argues that users may have a reasonable interest in controlling the use of their content in experiments conducted in online social networks. Matters of risk and autonomy in research ethics are explored by analogy to active debates in law over adhesion contracts, moral rights, and the right to be forgotten. The article concludes by con-sidering practical difficulties in identifying and protecting the interests of creators

The spaces and politics of affective nationalism

Over the last decade affect has emerged as one of the most prominent concepts within human geography. More recently, scholars engaging with the nation have also have also drawn on insights from studies of affect to interrogate the ways in which relations between people and materially heterogeneous assemblages underpin national forms of identification, organisation and expression. This symposium aims to interrogate affective nationalism both as an analytical lens and a topic of investigation. More specifically it looks into the spaces and the politics of affective nationalism as a way to explore how the nation continues to operate as a salient register in people’s everyday lives.</p

TEM and AEM constraints on the origin and significance of chlorite-mica stacks in slates: an example from Central Wales, U.K.

Chlorite-mica stacks (grains of intergrown chlorite and white mica) in a matrix of fine-grained white mica and chlorite have been studied using XRD, SEM, EMPA, TEM and AEM methods. The stacks occur in a weakly cleaved Llandoverian mudstone, central Wales, which has a white mica (illite) crystallinity index of 0.35[deg] [Delta]2[phi] corresponding to the lower anchizone. White mica occurs as packets (100 A to 8 [mu]m thick) interleaved with dominant chlorite packets in stacks, with both apparent coherent interfaces or cross-cutting small angle boundaries with chlorite layers. It is well-crystallized 2M1 polytype with phengitic composition and low paragonite component [Na/(Na + K) 2 crystals surround stacks and occur within chlorite, and white mica is Ti-rich compared to matrix white mica.Fine-grained white mica and chlorite in the matrix have two different orientations: one parallel to hedding and one parallel to cleavage, which is approximately 30-50[deg] to bedding. Matrix white mica is predominantly a 2M1 polytype, but some cleavage-parallel white mica is 3T and some bedding-parallel white mica is 1Ma. It is Na-rich [(Na/(Na + K) ~ 0.14-0.42] and relatively heterogeneous; some discrete paragonite and phengitic muscovite are observed to coexist in the cleavage orientation. Matrix white mica and chlorite each contain less Fe than corresponding white mica and chlorite in stacks. Both matrix and stack chlorite are one-layer polytypes.The data imply that chlorite in the stacks is largely derived from the replacement of volcanogenic biotite and other ferromagnesian minerals (probably via intermediate expandable trioctahedral phyllosilicates). Most intergrowths of chlorite and mica in stacks formed by mica replacement of chlorite and altered biotite along cleavage fissures. Subsequent deformation caused further modification of pre-existing chlorite-mica stacks whereas partial dissolution of stacks and bedding-parallel matrix phyllosilicates resulted in the formation of cleavage-parallel phyllosilicates.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/31427/1/0000345.pd

Contradictions of slate formation resolved?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62973/1/392348a0.pd

Influence of phyllosilicate mineral assemblages, fabrics, and fluids on the behavior of the Punchbowl fault, southern California

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95206/1/jgrb13457.pd

A Novel Core Genome-Encoded Superantigen Contributes to Lethality of Community-Associated MRSA Necrotizing Pneumonia

Bacterial superantigens (SAg) stimulate T-cell hyper-activation resulting in immune modulation and severe systemic illnesses such as Staphylococcus aureus toxic shock syndrome. However, all known S. aureus SAgs are encoded by mobile genetic elements and are made by only a proportion of strains. Here, we report the discovery of a novel SAg staphylococcal enterotoxin-like toxin X (SElX) encoded in the core genome of 95% of phylogenetically diverse S. aureus strains from human and animal infections, including the epidemic community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) USA300 clone. SElX has a unique predicted structure characterized by a truncated SAg B-domain, but exhibits the characteristic biological activities of a SAg including Vβ-specific T-cell mitogenicity, pyrogenicity and endotoxin enhancement. In addition, SElX is expressed by clinical isolates in vitro, and during human, bovine, and ovine infections, consistent with a broad role in S. aureus infections of multiple host species. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the selx gene was acquired horizontally by a progenitor of the S. aureus species, followed by allelic diversification by point mutation and assortative recombination resulting in at least 17 different alleles among the major pathogenic clones. Of note, SElX variants made by human- or ruminant-specific S. aureus clones demonstrated overlapping but distinct Vβ activation profiles for human and bovine lymphocytes, indicating functional diversification of SElX in different host species. Importantly, SElX made by CA-MRSA USA300 contributed to lethality in a rabbit model of necrotizing pneumonia revealing a novel virulence determinant of CA-MRSA disease pathogenesis. Taken together, we report the discovery and characterization of a unique core genome-encoded superantigen, providing new insights into the evolution of pathogenic S. aureus and the molecular basis for severe infections caused by the CA-MRSA USA300 epidemic clone

Obeticholic acid for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: interim analysis from a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial

Background Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a common type of chronic liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis. Obeticholic acid, a farnesoid X receptor agonist, has been shown to improve the histological features of NASH. Here we report results from a planned interim analysis of an ongoing, phase 3 study of obeticholic acid for NASH. Methods In this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, adult patients with definite NASH,non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) activity score of at least 4, and fibrosis stages F2–F3, or F1 with at least oneaccompanying comorbidity, were randomly assigned using an interactive web response system in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive oral placebo, obeticholic acid 10 mg, or obeticholic acid 25 mg daily. Patients were excluded if cirrhosis, other chronic liver disease, elevated alcohol consumption, or confounding conditions were present. The primary endpointsfor the month-18 interim analysis were fibrosis improvement (≥1 stage) with no worsening of NASH, or NASH resolution with no worsening of fibrosis, with the study considered successful if either primary endpoint was met. Primary analyses were done by intention to treat, in patients with fibrosis stage F2–F3 who received at least one dose of treatment and reached, or would have reached, the month 18 visit by the prespecified interim analysis cutoff date. The study also evaluated other histological and biochemical markers of NASH and fibrosis, and safety. This study is ongoing, and registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02548351, and EudraCT, 20150-025601-6. Findings Between Dec 9, 2015, and Oct 26, 2018, 1968 patients with stage F1–F3 fibrosis were enrolled and received at least one dose of study treatment; 931 patients with stage F2–F3 fibrosis were included in the primary analysis (311 in the placebo group, 312 in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 308 in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group). The fibrosis improvement endpoint was achieved by 37 (12%) patients in the placebo group, 55 (18%) in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group (p=0·045), and 71 (23%) in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group (p=0·0002). The NASH resolution endpoint was not met (25 [8%] patients in the placebo group, 35 [11%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group [p=0·18], and 36 [12%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group [p=0·13]). In the safety population (1968 patients with fibrosis stages F1–F3), the most common adverse event was pruritus (123 [19%] in the placebo group, 183 [28%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 336 [51%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group); incidence was generally mild to moderate in severity. The overall safety profile was similar to that in previous studies, and incidence of serious adverse events was similar across treatment groups (75 [11%] patients in the placebo group, 72 [11%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 93 [14%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group). Interpretation Obeticholic acid 25 mg significantly improved fibrosis and key components of NASH disease activity among patients with NASH. The results from this planned interim analysis show clinically significant histological improvement that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. This study is ongoing to assess clinical outcomes

The role of ETG modes in JET-ILW pedestals with varying levels of power and fuelling

We present the results of GENE gyrokinetic calculations based on a series of JET-ITER-like-wall (ILW) type I ELMy H-mode discharges operating with similar experimental inputs but at different levels of power and gas fuelling. We show that turbulence due to electron-temperature-gradient (ETGs) modes produces a significant amount of heat flux in four JET-ILW discharges, and, when combined with neoclassical simulations, is able to reproduce the experimental heat flux for the two low gas pulses. The simulations plausibly reproduce the high-gas heat fluxes as well, although power balance analysis is complicated by short ELM cycles. By independently varying the normalised temperature gradients (omega(T)(e)) and normalised density gradients (omega(ne )) around their experimental values, we demonstrate that it is the ratio of these two quantities eta(e) = omega(Te)/omega(ne) that determines the location of the peak in the ETG growth rate and heat flux spectra. The heat flux increases rapidly as eta(e) increases above the experimental point, suggesting that ETGs limit the temperature gradient in these pulses. When quantities are normalised using the minor radius, only increases in omega(Te) produce appreciable increases in the ETG growth rates, as well as the largest increases in turbulent heat flux which follow scalings similar to that of critical balance theory. However, when the heat flux is normalised to the electron gyro-Bohm heat flux using the temperature gradient scale length L-Te, it follows a linear trend in correspondence with previous work by different authors

Spectroscopic camera analysis of the roles of molecularly assisted reaction chains during detachment in JET L-mode plasmas

The roles of the molecularly assisted ionization (MAI), recombination (MAR) and dissociation (MAD) reaction chains with respect to the purely atomic ionization and recombination processes were studied experimentally during detachment in low-confinement mode (L-mode) plasmas in JET with the help of experimentally inferred divertor plasma and neutral conditions, extracted previously from filtered camera observations of deuterium Balmer emission, and the reaction coefficients provided by the ADAS, AMJUEL and H2VIBR atomic and molecular databases. The direct contribution of MAI and MAR in the outer divertor particle balance was found to be inferior to the electron-atom ionization (EAI) and electron-ion recombination (EIR). Near the outer strike point, a strong atom source due to the D+2-driven MAD was, however, observed to correlate with the onset of detachment at outer strike point temperatures of Te,osp = 0.9-2.0 eV via increased plasma-neutral interactions before the increasing dominance of EIR at Te,osp &lt; 0.9 eV, followed by increasing degree of detachment. The analysis was supported by predictions from EDGE2D-EIRENE simulations which were in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations