Bots as Virtual Confederates: Design and Ethics

The use of bots as virtual confederates in online field experiments holds extreme promise as a new methodological tool in computational social science. However, this potential tool comes with inherent ethical challenges. Informed consent can be difficult to obtain in many cases, and the use of confederates necessarily implies the use of deception. In this work we outline a design space for bots as virtual confederates, and we propose a set of guidelines for meeting the status quo for ethical experimentation. We draw upon examples from prior work in the CSCW community and the broader social science literature for illustration. While a handful of prior researchers have used bots in online experimentation, our work is meant to inspire future work in this area and raise awareness of the associated ethical issues.Comment: Forthcoming in CSCW 201

Trash to Supply Gas (TtSG) Project Overview

Technologies that reduce logistical needs are a key to long term space missions. Currently, trash and waste generated during a mission is carried during the entire roundtrip mission or stored inside a logistic module which is de-orbited into Earth's atmosphere for destruction. The goal of the Trash to Supply Gas (TtSG) project is to develop space technology alternatives for converting trash and other waste materials from human spaceflight into high-value products that might include propellants or power system fuels in addition to life support oxygen and water. In addition to producing a useful product from waste, TtSG will decrease the volume needed to store waste on long term space missions. This paper presents an overview of the TtSG technologies and future plans for the project

Improving Awareness Could Transform Outcomes in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy [AO Spine RECODE-DCM Research Priority Number 1]

Study design: Literature Review (Narrative). Objective: To introduce the number one research priority for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM): Raising Awareness. Methods: Raising awareness has been recognized by AO Spine RECODE-DCM as the number one research priority. This article reviews the evidence that awareness is low, the potential drivers, and why this must be addressed. Case studies of success from other diseases are also reviewed, drawing potential parallels and opportunities for DCM. Results: DCM may affect as many as 1 in 50 adults, yet few will receive a diagnosis and those that do will wait many years for it. This leads to poorer outcomes from surgery and greater disability. DCM is rarely featured in healthcare professional training programs and has received relatively little research funding (\u3c2% of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Multiple Sclerosis over the last 25 years). The transformation of stroke and acute coronary syndrome services, from a position of best supportive care with occasional surgery over 50 years ago, to avoidable disability today, represents transferable examples of success and potential opportunities for DCM. Central to this is raising awareness. Conclusion: Despite the devastating burden on the patient, recognition across research, clinical practice, and healthcare policy are limited. DCM represents a significant unmet need that must become an international public health priority

First-Person Spoken Narratives Elicit Consistent Event Structures in the Angular Gyrus.

Event segmentation theory explains how we parse a stream of continuous information into meaningful event models. Narratives are useful stimuli for studying this phenomenon, as the flow of information and the way we make meaning of them mirrors how we comprehend and make sense of our daily lives. Many studies have investigated the segmentation of audiovisual stimuli, such as movies, but only a handful of studies focused on how the brain parses auditory-only narrative. Using two stories with rich narrative features, we asked participants to listen to the story-recordings while being scanned with fMRI. We then recruited two separate groups of behavioral participants to parse the stories, either via transcript (visual-only) or recording (audio-only). Annotated boundaries from the two modalities were analyzed and used as behavioral benchmarks for the neural-behavioral comparison of event structures. We examined four regions of interest (angular gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, early auditory cortex, and early visual cortex) and found that only the angular gyrus produced neural event structures that significantly matched with the behavioral event structures across both modalities and both stories. The posterior cingulate cortex, a region implicated in previous studies of event-parsing, did not match any more than the two lower-level processing regions (early auditory and visual cortices). Our results indicate that activity in the angular gyrus is associated with the neural processes involved in parsing continuous narratives, particularly when these narratives are audio-only and contain ambiguous event transitions, rather than with changes in sensory-related features

Individual Differences in Feelings of Certainty Surrounding Mixed Emotions

Without independent measures of positivity and negativity, ambivalence (the simultaneous experience of positive and negative) can be mistaken as neutrality in most experimental designs. More concerningly, certain methods and viewpoints conflate ambivalence with uncertainty over how one feels. But ambivalence is not the same as uncertainty, and it has been shown that one can be quite certain about ambivalent attitudes (Hong & Lee, 2010; Schneider & Schwarz, 2017). It has also been found that ambivalence with and without certainty of those positions leads to different long-term stability of those feelings (Luttrell, Petty, & Briñol, 2020; Van Harreveld, Rutjens, Rotteveel, Nordgren, & Van Der Pligt, 2009). There are vast differences from person to person in how mixed feelings relate to positive, or negative, effects on well-being. No studies have directly tested for certainty of mixed feelings being related to individual personality differences. The current study will test how individual differences relate to the uncertainty people feel when faced with ambivalent situations

Individual Differences in Feelings of Certainty Surrounding Mixed Emotions

Despite their association, ambivalence is not the same as uncertainty. However, there is little work on differences between people in how uncertain they feel about their mixed emotions. In two samples, we tested the relationship between the intensity of mixed emotions and self-reported certainty of those feelings on a trial-to-trial basis. We additionally tested whether this relationship was moderated by personality and emotional traits. In the first sample of 140 participants, we found a significant negative relationship between the intensity of mixed feelings and affective certainty, and this relationship was lessened in those with higher emotional intelligence. We next conducted a pre-registered online study with 310 participants in a sample more demographically representative of the United States. We replicated our finding that uncertainty was predicted by higher intensity of co-occurring positive and negative affect, but not the moderating effect of emotional intelligence. Trait meta-mood, however, did moderate this relationship. Our results show that despite the abstract nature, and potentially different interpretations, of asking people to report how certain they are of how they feel, meaningful variation is found in responses. Future work can refine methods of gauging affective uncertainty, and the implication of affective certainty for mixed emotions on well-being

Use of autologous bone graft in anterior cervical decompression: morbidity & quality of life analysis

Background: Autologous iliac crest graft has long been the gold standard graft material used in cervical fusion. However its harvest has significant associated morbidity, including protracted postoperative pain scores at the harvest site. Thus its continued practice warrants scrutiny, particularly now that alternatives are available. Our aims were to assess incidence and nature of complications associated with iliac crest harvest when performed in the setting of Anterior Cervical Decompression (ACD). Also, to perform a comparative analysis of patient satisfaction and quality of life scores after ACD surgeries, when performed with and without iliac graft harvest. Methods: All patients who underwent consecutive ACD procedures, with and without the use of autologous iliac crest graft, over a 48 month period were included (n = 53). Patients were assessed clinically at a minimum of 12 months postoperatively and administered 2 validated quality of life questionnaires: the SF-36 and Cervical Spine Outcomes Questionnaires (Response rate 96%). Primary composite endpoints included incidence of bone graft donor site morbidity, pain scores, operative duration, and quality of life scores. Results: Patients who underwent iliac graft harvest experienced significant peri-operative donor site specific morbidity, including a high incidence of pain at the iliac crest (90%), iliac wound infection (7%), a jejunal perforation, and longer operative duration (285 minutes vs. 238 minutes, p = 0.026). Longer term follow-up demonstrated protracted postoperative pain at the harvest site and significantly lower mental health scores on both quality of life instruments, for those patients who underwent autologous graft harvest Conclusion: ACD with iliac crest graft harvest is associated with significant iliac crest donor site morbidity and lower quality of life at greater than 12 months post operatively. This is now avoidable by using alternatives to autologous bone without compromising clinical or technical outcome

The major genetic determinants of HIV-1 control affect HLA class I peptide presentation.

Infectious and inflammatory diseases have repeatedly shown strong genetic associations within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC); however, the basis for these associations remains elusive. To define host genetic effects on the outcome of a chronic viral infection, we performed genome-wide association analysis in a multiethnic cohort of HIV-1 controllers and progressors, and we analyzed the effects of individual amino acids within the classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) proteins. We identified >300 genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the MHC and none elsewhere. Specific amino acids in the HLA-B peptide binding groove, as well as an independent HLA-C effect, explain the SNP associations and reconcile both protective and risk HLA alleles. These results implicate the nature of the HLA-viral peptide interaction as the major factor modulating durable control of HIV infection