Principal Investigator Views of the IRB System

We undertook a qualitative e-mail survey of federally-funded principal investigators of their views of the US human subjects protection system, intended to identify the range of investigator attitudes. This was an exploratory study with a 14% response rate. Twenty-eight principal investigators responded; their comments were analyzed to show underlying themes, which are here presented along with supporting quotations

Developing autonomous learning in first year university students using perspectives from positive psychology

Autonomous learning is a commonly occurring learning outcome from university study, and it is argued that students require confidence in their own abilities to achieve this. Using approaches from positive psychology, this study aimed to develop confidence in first‐year university students to facilitate autonomous learning. Psychological character strengths were assessed in 214 students on day one at university. Two weeks later their top three strengths were given to them in study skills modules as part of a psycho‐educational intervention designed to increase their self‐efficacy and self‐esteem. The impact of the intervention was assessed against a control group of 40 students who had not received the intervention. The results suggested that students were more confident after the intervention, and that levels of autonomous learning increased significantly compared to the controls. Character strengths were found to be associated with self‐efficacy, self‐esteem and autonomous learning in ways that were theoretically meaningful

Defining forgiveness: Christian clergy and general population perspectives.

The lack of any consensual definition of forgiveness is a serious weakness in the research literature (McCullough, Pargament &amp; Thoresen, 2000). As forgiveness is at the core of Christianity, this study returns to the Christian source of the concept to explore the meaning of forgiveness for practicing Christian clergy. Comparisons are made with a general population sample and social science definitions of forgiveness to ensure that a shared meaning of forgiveness is articulated. Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy (N = 209) and a general population sample (N = 159) completed a postal questionnaire about forgiveness. There is agreement on the existence of individual differences in forgiveness. Clergy and the general population perceive reconciliation as necessary for forgiveness while there is no consensus within psychology. The clergy suggests that forgiveness is limitless and that repentance is unnecessary while the general population suggests that there are limits and that repentance is necessary. Psychological definitions do not conceptualize repentance as necessary for forgiveness and the question of limits has not been addressed although within therapy the implicit assumption is that forgiveness is limitless.</p

XO-5b: A Transiting Jupiter-sized Planet With A Four Day Period

The star XO-5 (GSC 02959-00729, V=12.1, G8V) hosts a Jupiter-sized, Rp=1.15+/-0.12 Rjup, transiting extrasolar planet, XO-5b, with an orbital period of P=4.187732+/-0.00002 days. The planet mass (Mp=1.15+/-0.08 Mjup) and surface gravity (gp=22+/-5 m/s^2) are significantly larger than expected by empirical Mp-P and Mp-P-[Fe/H] relationships. However, the deviation from the Mp-P relationship for XO-5b is not large enough to suggest a distinct type of planet as is suggested for GJ 436b, HAT-P-2b, and XO-3b. By coincidence XO-5 overlies the extreme H I plume that emanates from the interacting galaxy pair NGC 2444/NGC 2445 (Arp 143).Comment: 10 pages, 9 Figures, Submitted to Ap

XO-2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal-rich Common Proper Motion Binary

We report on a V=11.2 early K dwarf, XO-2 (GSC 03413-00005), that hosts a Rp=0.98+0.03/-0.01 Rjup, Mp=0.57+/-0.06 Mjup transiting extrasolar planet, XO-2b, with an orbital period of 2.615857+/-0.000005 days. XO-2 has high metallicity, [Fe/H]=0.45+/-0.02, high proper motion, mu_tot=157 mas/yr, and has a common proper motion stellar companion with 31" separation. The two stars are nearly identical twins, with very similar spectra and apparent magnitudes. Due to the high metallicity, these early K dwarf stars have a mass and radius close to solar, Ms=0.98+/-0.02 Msolar and Rs=0.97+0.02/-0.01 Rsolar. The high proper motion of XO-2 results from an eccentric orbit (Galactic pericenter, Rper<4 kpc) well confined to the Galactic disk (Zmax~100 pc). In addition, the phase space position of XO-2 is near the Hercules dynamical stream, which points to an origin of XO-2 in the metal-rich, inner Thin Disk and subsequent dynamical scattering into the solar neighborhood. We describe an efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for calculating the Bayesian posterior probability of the system parameters from a transit light curve.Comment: 14 pages, 10 Figures, Accepted in ApJ. Negligible changes to XO-2 system properties. Removed Chi^2 light curve analysis section, and simplified MCMC light curve analysis discussio

XO-3b: A Massive Planet in an Eccentric Orbit Transiting an F5V Star

We report the discovery of a massive (Mpsini = 13.02 +/- 0.64 Mjup; total mass 13.25 +/- 0.64 Mjup), large (1.95 +/- 0.16 Rjup) planet in a transiting, eccentric orbit (e = 0.260 +/- 0.017) around a 10th magnitude F5V star in the constellation Camelopardalis. We designate the planet XO-3b, and the star XO-3, also known as GSC 03727-01064. The orbital period of XO-3b is 3.1915426 +/- 0.00014 days. XO-3 lacks a trigonometric distance; we estimate its distance to be 260 +/- 23 pc. The radius of XO-3 is 2.13 +/- 0.21 Rsun, its mass is 1.41 +/- 0.08 Msun, its vsini = 18.54 +/- 0.17 km/s, and its metallicity is [Fe/H] = -0.177 +/- 0.027. This system is unusual for a number of reasons. XO-3b is one of the most massive planets discovered around any star for which the orbital period is less than 10 days. The mass is near the deuterium burning limit of 13 Mjup, which is a proposed boundary between planets and brown dwarfs. Although Burrows et al. (2001) propose that formation in a disk or formation in the interstellar medium in a manner similar to stars is a more logical way to differentiate planets and brown dwarfs, our current observations are not adequate to address this distinction. XO-3b is also unusual in that its eccentricity is large given its relatively short orbital period. Both the planetary radius and the inclination are functions of the spectroscopically determined stellar radius. Analysis of the transit light curve of XO-3b suggests that the spectroscopically derived parameters may be over estimated. Though relatively noisy, the light curves favor a smaller radius in order to better match the steepness of the ingress and egress. The light curve fits imply a planetary radius of 1.25 +/- 0.15 Rjup, which would correspond to a mass of 12.03 +/- 0.46 Mjup.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures. Accepted by ApJ. Current version has several small corrections as a result of a bug in the fitting softwar

A Transiting Planet of a Sun-like Star

A planet transits an 11th magnitude, G1V star in the constellation Corona Borealis. We designate the planet XO-1b, and the star, XO-1, also known as GSC 02041-01657. XO-1 lacks a trigonometric distance; we estimate it to be 200+-20 pc. Of the ten stars currently known to host extrasolar transiting planets, the star XO-1 is the most similar to the Sun in its physical characteristics: its radius is 1.0+-0.08 R_Sun, its mass is 1.0+-0.03 M_Sun, V sini < 3 km/s, and its metallicity [Fe/H] is 0.015+-0.04. The orbital period of the planet XO-1b is 3.941534+-0.000027 days, one of the longer ones known. The planetary mass is 0.90+-0.07 M_Jupiter, which is marginally larger than that of other transiting planets with periods between 3 and 4 days. Both the planetary radius and the inclination are functions of the spectroscopically determined stellar radius. If the stellar radius is 1.0+-0.08 R_Sun, then the planetary radius is 1.30+-0.11 R_Jupiter and the inclination of the orbit is 87.7+-1.2 degrees. We have demonstrated a productive international collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers that was important to distinguishing this planet from many other similar candidates.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, accepted for part 1 of Ap

Flavor Mediation Delivers Natural SUSY

If supersymmetry (SUSY) solves the hierarchy problem, then naturalness considerations coupled with recent LHC bounds require non-trivial superpartner flavor structures. Such "Natural SUSY" models exhibit a large mass hierarchy between scalars of the third and first two generations as well as degeneracy (or alignment) among the first two generations. In this work, we show how this specific beyond the standard model (SM) flavor structure can be tied directly to SM flavor via "Flavor Mediation". The SM contains an anomaly-free SU(3) flavor symmetry, broken only by Yukawa couplings. By gauging this flavor symmetry in addition to SM gauge symmetries, we can mediate SUSY breaking via (Higgsed) gauge mediation. This automatically delivers a natural SUSY spectrum. Third-generation scalar masses are suppressed due to the dominant breaking of the flavor gauge symmetry in the top direction. More subtly, the first-two-generation scalars remain highly degenerate due to a custodial U(2) symmetry, where the SU(2) factor arises because SU(3) is rank two. This custodial symmetry is broken only at order (m_c/m_t)^2. SUSY gauge coupling unification predictions are preserved, since no new charged matter is introduced, the SM gauge structure is unaltered, and the flavor symmetry treats all matter multiplets equally. Moreover, the uniqueness of the anomaly-free SU(3) flavor group makes possible a number of concrete predictions for the superpartner spectrum.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. v2 references added, minor changes to flavor constraints and a little discussion adde

Patient engagement with antibiotic messaging in secondary care: a qualitative feasibility study of the ‘review & revise’ experience

Background: We aimed to investigate and optimise the acceptability and usefulness of a patient leaflet about antibiotic prescribing decisions made during hospitalisation, and to explore individual patient experiences and preferences regarding the process of antibiotic prescription ‘review & revise’ which is a key strategy to minimise antibiotic overuse in hospitals. Methods: In this qualitative study, run within the feasibility study of a large, cluster-randomised stepped wedge trial of 36 hospital organisations, a series of semi-structured, think-aloud telephone interviews were conducted and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Fifteen adult patients who had experienced a recent acute medical hospital admission during which they had been prescribed antimicrobials and offered a patient leaflet about antibiotic prescribing were recruited to the study. Results: Participants reacted positively to the leaflet, reporting that it was both an accessible and important source of information which struck the appropriate balance between informing and reassuring. Participants all valued open communication with clinicians, and were keen to be involved in antibiotic prescribing decisions, with individuals reporting positive experiences regarding antibiotic prescription changes or stopping. Many participants had prior experience or knowledge of antibiotics and resistance, and generally welcomed efforts to reduce antibiotic usage. Overall, there was a feeling that healthcare professionals (HCPs) are trusted experts providing the most appropriate treatment for individual patient conditions. Conclusions: This study offers novel insights into how patients within secondary care are likely to respond to messages advocating a reduction in the use of antibiotics through the ‘review & revise’ approach. Due to the level of trust that patients place in their care provider, encouraging HCPs within secondary care to engage patients with greater communication and information provision could provide great advantages in the drive to reduce antibiotic use. It may also be beneficial for HCPs to view patient experiences as cumulative events that have the potential to impact future behaviour around antibiotic use. Finally, pre-testing messages about antibiotic prescribing and resistance is vital to dispelling any misconceptions either around effectiveness of treatment for patients, or perceptions of how messages may be received