Informed consent to HIV cure research

Trials with highly unfavourable risk–benefit ratios for participants, like HIV cure trials, raise questions about the quality of the consent of research participants. Why, it may be asked, would a person with HIV who is doing well on antiretroviral therapy be willing to jeopardise his health by enrolling in such a trial? We distinguish three concerns: first, how information is communicated to potential participants; second, participants’ motivations for enrolling in potentially high risk research with no prospect of direct benefit; and third, participants’ understanding of the details of the trials in which they enrol. We argue that the communication concern is relevant to the validity of informed consent and the quality of decision making, that the motivation concern does not identify a genuine problem with either the validity of consent or the quality of decision making and that the understanding concern may not be relevant to the validity of consent but is relevant to the quality of decision making. In doing so, we derive guidance points for researchers recruiting and enrolling participants into their HIV cure trials, as well as the research ethics committees reviewing proposed studies

Counting Models of Genus One Curves

Let C be a soluble smooth genus one curve over a Henselian discrete valuation field. There is a unique minimal Weierstrass equation defining C up to isomorphism. In this paper we consider genus one equations of degree n defining C, namely a (generalised) binary quartic when n = 2, a ternary cubic when n = 3, and a pair of quaternary quadrics when n = 4. In general, minimal genus one equations of degree n are not unique up to isomorphism. We explain how the number of minimal genus one equations of degree n varies according to the Kodaira symbol of the Jacobian of C. Then we count these equations up to isomorphism over a number field of class number 1.Comment: 22 page

A Tropospheric Assessment of the ERA-40, NCEP, and JRA-25 Global Reanalyses in the Polar Regions

The reliability of the global reanalyses in the polar regions is investigated. The overview stems from an April 2006 Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) workshop on the performance of global reanalyses in high latitudes held at the British Antarctic Survey. Overall, the skill is much higher in the Arctic than the Antarctic, where the reanalyses are only reliable in the summer months prior to the modern satellite era. In the Antarctic, large circulation differences between the reanalyses are found primarily before 1979, when vast quantities of satellite sounding data started to be assimilated. Specifically for ERA-40, this data discontinuity creates a marked jump in Antarctic snow accumulation, especially at high elevations. In the Arctic, the largest differences are related to the reanalyses depiction of clouds and their associated radiation impacts; ERA-40 captures the cloud variability much better than NCEP1 and JRA-25, but the ERA-40 and JRA-25 clouds are too optically thin for shortwave radiation. To further contrast the reanalyses skill, cyclone tracking results are presented. In the Southern Hemisphere, cyclonic activity is markedly different between the reanalyses, where there are few matched cyclones prior to 1979. In comparison, only some of the weaker cyclones are not matched in the Northern Hemisphere from 1958-2001, again indicating the superior skill in this hemisphere. Although this manuscript focuses on deficiencies in the reanalyses, it is important to note that they are a powerful tool for climate studies in both polar regions when used with a recognition of their limitations

The Sharing Economy: Resemanticising the Enterprise

This chapter examines the discourse practices of the “sharing economy” while considering competing conceptualisations such as the “platform economy”, the “gig economy”, the “taking economy”, “crowdsourcing” and “crowdworking”. The main aim of the study is to identify the reasons for the foregrounding of ethically connotated terms such as “sharing”, “members” and “community”, while the terminology of employment law is relegated to the background. Bhatia’s concept of interdiscursivity is adopted to point out that the legal discourse associated with the management of traditional (bricks-and-mortar) firms is increasingly confined to the Terms and Conditions of Use of online platforms, whereas the discourse that is foregrounded is a “caring, sharing” narrative framed in terms of philanthropy, at odds with the revenue streams generated by these platforms. The study examines the characterisation of (low paid) riders and drivers (Foodora, Deliveroo, Uber), casting light on the fact that the terminology of employment law is either resemanticised or completely eliminated, and the employment status of drivers, riders and delivery staff is downgraded to that of “independent contractors” and “community members” by means of company policies that are an occluded genre not in the public domain. The study also examines the use of the term “community” in the “homesharing” sector, exemplified by AirBnB, that also claims to pursue philanthropic ends. In the case of Deliveroo, the company policy resemanticising the employment relationship for the purposes of dissimulation was inadvertently made available in the public domain, making it possible to gain insight into these discourse practices. The resemanticisation of the enterprise is seen as a deliberate policy to enable the online platforms to avoid granting employment rights to riders and drivers, whose attempts to resist the dominant narrative have been upheld by the courts in a number of recent cases

\u201cEvery Writer is Checked for Plagiarism\u201d: Occluded Authorship in Academic Writing

\u201cEvery Writer is Checked for Plagiarism\u201d: Occluded Authorship in Academic Writing This paper takes as its starting point the insights provided by Bhatia (2004), Bhatia / Gotti (2006) and Hyland (2000, 2002, 2005) to investigate the generic features of academic writing in connection with \u201cessay writing services\u201d. These services appear to be playing an ever-expanding role not only in undergraduate but also in postgraduate writing, with serious implications for the quality of higher education and the authenticity of the qualifications awarded by universities. An admixture of far-reaching technological innovation, wide-ranging social changes associated with globalization, and the rapid expansion of higher education appears to have led to the expansion of this phenomenon in academic writing. The paper highlights the discordance between the definition of various forms of plagiarism in academic writing in institutional discourse, and the description of these practices by online \u201cessay writing services\u201d that attempt to present them as legitimate and desirable. An analysis of the generic norms of this occluded discourse community provides evidence that practices once on the margins of the academic world appear to be gaining ground and making increasingly strident claims to legitimacy. In a sociolinguistic perspective, reference is made to Daniel Patrick Moynihan\u2019s 1993 essay on \u201cDefining Deviancy Down\u201d in which he argues that as social pathologies become more common, they tend to be reclassified and no longer seen as a form of deviancy, and this concept may also be applied to academic malpractice. The paper also attempts to cast light on \u201csecondary plagiarism\u201d in which the \u201cessay writing services\u201d that are paid to produce \u201coriginal work\u201d draw from an existing repertoire of material, thus infringing not only the norms laid down in the official academic discourse, but also the internal \u201ccode of conduct\u201d that is part of this occluded genre

Implementing supplemental course material websites for higher education technology courses

Supplemental websites have the potential to assist students in gathering course materials, encouraging topic exploration, and increasing the ability for students to communicate in a traditional face-to-face technology college classroom. This project description presents the results of a supplemental website\u27s development and deployment into a traditional face-to-face college technology course, and measures its success. The research focuses on successful Internet employment within traditional classrooms to ensure that the content of the supplemental website has value to the students. The methodology used to develop the website and select materials was based upon the Dick and Carey Instructional Design Method (Dick & Carey, 2001). The project reaches two major conclusions: a) based on student responses and server logs, the supplemental technology website is being used by students and b) students value having the resource available to them during the technology course

Historical Injustice, Agency, and Resentment

In societies marked by deep and enduring structural inequality – often along lines of caste, race, gender, or other forms of identity – how is responsibility for such injustice assigned? How is the agency necessary to overcome historical injustice imagined? These lectures will use Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s writings as a starting point to explore the moral psychology of responding to historical injustice

Large‐scale hydro‐climatology of the terrestrial Arctic drainage system

The large‐scale hydro‐climatology of the terrestrial Arctic drainage system is examined, focusing on the period 1960 onward. Special attention is paid to the Ob, Yenisey, Lena, and Mackenzie watersheds, which provide the bulk of freshwater discharge to the Arctic Ocean. Station data are used to compile monthly gridded time series of gauge‐corrected precipitation (P). Gridded time series of precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P−ET) are calculated from the moisture flux convergence using NCEP reanalysis data. Estimates of ET are obtained as a residual. Runoff (R) is obtained from available discharge records. For long‐term water‐year means, P−ET for the Yenisey, Lena, and Mackenzie watersheds is 16–20% lower than the observed runoff. In the Ob watershed, the two values agree within 9%. Given the uncertainties in P−ET, we consider the atmospheric and surface water budgets to be reasonably closed. Compared to the other three basins, the mean runoff ratio (R/P) is lower in the Ob watershed, consistent with the high fraction of annual precipitation lost through ET. All basins exhibit summer maxima in P and minima in P−ET. Summer P−ET in the Ob watershed is negative due to high ET rates. For large domains in northern Eurasia, about 25% of July precipitation is associated with the recycling of water vapor evapotranspirated within each domain. This points to a significant effect of the land surface on the hydrologic regime. Variability in P and P−ET has generally clear associations with the regional atmospheric circulation. A strong link with the Urals trough is documented for the Ob. Relationships with indices of the Arctic Oscillation and other teleconnections are generally weak. Water‐year time series of runoff and P−ET are strongly correlated in the Lena watershed only, reflecting extensive permafrost. Cold‐season runoff has increased in the Yenisey and Lena watersheds. This is most pronounced in the Yenisey watershed, where runoff has also increased sharply in spring, decreased in summer, but has increased for the year as a whole. The mechanisms for these changes are not entirely clear. While they fundamentally relate to higher air temperatures, increased winter precipitation, and strong summer drying, we speculate links with changes in active layer thickness and thawing permafrost