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Trump’s citizenship Order reaches the Circuit Court of Appeals
No full textThe Trump administration’s attempt to reinterpret the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment’s birth citizenship clause by the issue of an executive order - Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship - has thus far been consistently regarded as unconstitutional in federal district courts. The matter has now reached a Circuit Court of Appeals, which has also concluded that the order is incompatible with the Fourteenth Amendment. This paper evaluates the Circuit Court of Appeal’s judgment, and questions if the substantive matter is quite so clear cut as the lower courts and the Circuit Court have assumed
In vitro vaccine immunogenicity analysis using Tuberculosis and Dengue infection as models
Full text linkThis study has used in vitro models to test the immunogenicity of novel vaccines against TB and Dengue Fever. Initially murine dendritic cells were used to model the immunogenicity of novel vaccines candidates and an array of potential adjuvants. Three vaccine candidates, Spore FP1, YC NaMa FP1 and Liposome FP1 were found to be immunogenic, increasing expression of DC activation markers and production of proinflammatory cytokines.
Further vaccine testing was carried out using in vitro models based on human tonsillar mononuclear cells (TMCs). These cells were first characterised and then used to establish immunogenicity models for TB and dengue fever. In this model, the BCG vaccine elicited IFNy, IL-17 responses and proliferative responses. The novel vaccine candidates Spore FP1, YC NaMa FP1, Liposome FP1, IgA ICM were all immunogenic, generating IFNy responses. The Dengue vaccine candidate DERICS elicited IFNy and IL-4 responses in CD4+ T cells. Another candidate, D-PIGS, generated IL-4, IFNy and TNFa responses.
This study developed a mycobacterial infection model using TMCs. This model examined the activation of monocytes and their ability to eliminate mycobacteria. Novel TB vaccines were applied to this model. The BCG vaccine activated monocytes and promoted the clearance of intracellular mycobacteria. Similarly, the novel vaccine candidates Spore FP1, YC NaMa FP1 and Liposome FP1 were also able to activate monocytes and enhance their ability to clear mycobacterial infection.
In the course of this study, it was discovered that GFP BCG directly interact with human B cells. Further investigation revealed that BCG binds to the cell surface but is not internalised by B cells. This interaction is mediated by antibodies and has a profound suppressive effect on B cells. This finding may have implications for our understanding of the humoral response following BCG vaccination. These studies demonstrate that human TMC in vitro models can play a useful role in early vaccine development
Characterisation of the mechanical behaviour of layered clay sedimented using a geotechnical centrifuge
Full text linkRitchie (2023) describes how Speswhite Kaolin and Polwhite E Kaolin can be combined at very high water contents to create a slurry from which a series of layers of clay can be sedimented in a soil container using a geotechnical centrifuge. Because Polwhite E Kaolin has a larger particle size than Speswhite Kaolin the Polwhite E Kaolin sediments first, creating a higher permeability deposit at the base of each sedimented layer. This bed of sedimented layers of clay can then be consolidated in a consolidation press to reach states allowing the construction of a reduced scale physical model of, for example a tunnel excavation, which can be tested in the centrifuge. The paper presents results of preliminary triaxial tests characterising the strength and volumetric compression of this laboratory sedimented clay. In addition, these data are compared to data from specimens of clay where the Speswhite Kaolin and Polwhite E Kaolin have been mixed evenly or reconstituted at water contents of approximately 120%, allowing the effect of the sedimented structure to be quantified with respect to an equivalent reconstituted soil as is frequently undertaken when studying natural sedimented clays. The preliminary data presented indicates that the sedimented clay has a stable structure or fabric which only affects the specific volume or packing of the soil grains at a given value of mean effective stress. The sensitivity of the sedimented clay when compared to the same clay reconstituted is as much as 4.7. The angle of friction or coefficient of friction of the sedimented clay appears to be very similar to that of the reconstituted clay
Transglycosidation as an approach to the synthesis of known and potential anti-cancer agents.
Full text linkA systematic search for the conditions required to effect a transglycosidation reaction between 2'-substituted-2'-deoxyuridine nucleosides and adenine has been undertaken. Evidence for transglycosidation having taken place, albeit to an extremely limited extent, is presented. The conditions needed to allow more efficient transglycosidation reactions to occur have been more clearly defined.
2'-Chloro, 2'-bromo, 2'-iodo and 2'-azido-2'-deoxyuridine have been prepared via the ring opening of 0? »2'-cyclouridine derivatives with the appropriate nucleophile. Treatment of the above 2'-substituted-2'- deoxyuridine nucleosides with acetic anhydride in pyridine has afforded the 3',5'-di-O-acetyl analogues. 3',5'-di-O-acetyl-2'-chloro- and -2'- bromo- 2 -deoxyuridine have been successfully converted to their corresponding N3-benzoyl analogues by reaction with benzoyl chloride in pyridine. The 5'-O0-trityl analogues of 2'-chloro, 2'-bromo and 2'-azido-2'- deoxyuridine have been prepared by several methods, the products and reaction conditions having been more fully characterised than previously. Treatment of the above 5'-O-trityl derivatives with 3-benzoylpropionic acid and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide in pyridine has afforded the 3'-0-(3-benzoylpropionyl) analogues. The action of nitronium tetrafluoroborate on 3',5'-di-O-acety1-2'-substituted-2'-deoxyuridine nucleosides has been found to afford the corresponding 5-nitro compounds in reasonable yields and some evidence for a limited amount of glycosidic bond cleavage during the reaction was also found.
Attempted transglycosidation reactions involving n>-benzoy lated uridine derivatives resulted in transbenzoylation from the pyrimidine to the purine base, causing delabilisation of the glycosidic bond, which resulted in transglycosidation only being exhibited in one isolated experiment, the reaction yielding only traces of the required product. Attempted transglycosidation reactions involving 3'-0-(3-benzoylpropionyl) uridine derivatives resulted in a similar transacylation of the (3-benzoylpropionyl) group from the pyrimidine nucleoside to the purine base. Attempted transglycosidation reactions using 5-nitro-2'-halogeno-2'-deoxyuridine derivatives did not result in glycosyl-transfer to the purine base and reactions using a derivative of N3-methyl-2'-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine resulted in loss of hydrogen iodide from the starting material.
The synthesis of 2'-azido-thymidine is described, starting from D-ribose and thymine. The use of lithium azide has been found to result in some glycosidic bond cleavage, but, the use of tetramethylguanidinium azide as a source of azide ion resulted in a milder and cleaner azidolysis reaction.
A systematic survey of the 13C n.m.r. spectra of the majority of the compounds prepared has shown this spectroscopic technique to be an invaluable tool in this field of research, and its use has allowed the characterisation of unknown compounds. The effect of electron-withdrawing substituents on the heterocyclic ring has resulted in a small, but characteristic, downfield chemical-shift at C-1' being observed, Similarly, the modification of C-2' by various substituents has resulted in chemical shift values for C-2' that are characteristic of the substituent at this position
“It can never truly be human”: A mixed methods study of mental health clinicians’ perceptions and experience of Artificial Intelligence
No full textBackground: A plethora of artificial intelligence (AI) tools have been developed within mental health yet there remains a divide between availability and clinical uptake. It is, therefore, necessary to investigate clinicians’ perceptions and experiences.
Methods: We explored UK-based clinicians’ views using five AI use-cases (automated therapists, risk monitoring, virtual patients, AI assessments, and AI feedback on clinician performance). A mixed methods approach integrated quantitative analysis and hermeneutic phenomenology. Eight qualitative interviews were analysed to explore clinicians’ interpretations and meaning-making. Eighty-six clinicians completed an online survey assessing behavioural intention, attitudes, identity, social influence, perceived behavioural control, therapist self-efficacy, and general appreciation/aversion to AI. Repeated-measures ANOVA examined whether use intention varied across AI use-cases. Regression analysis was then used to identify predictors of intention for each use-case. An independent samples t test was then used to examine if intention to use differed depending on clinicians’ therapeutic approach (behavioural vs relational).
Results: Qualitative analysis identified six themes. Participants viewed AI as lacking compared to what human clinicians can offer. They felt “torn” between excitement and worry, and navigated ethical dilemmas where safety was paramount. Participants emphasised systemic and structural considerations and feared AI may lead to commodification and devaluing of human-to-human connection. Autonomy, responsibility, and professional identity were salient considerations. Quantitative analysis showed that identity and attitudes were the most consistent predictors of intention, with variations across use-cases. Intention to use varied across use-cases. Behavioural clinicians also reported being more open to using AI for risk monitoring, assessment, and virtual patient role-play than relational clinicians.
Conclusions: The findings illustrate perceptions of AI are nuanced and contextual emphasising the importance of differentiating between specific AI tools rather than understanding clinicians’ perceptions as related to AI as a unitary entity. Identity and the valuing of the human-to-human relationship were crucial considerations. This has implications for design and implementation of AI tools
A model of functional creativity for generalisation enhancement
Full text linkThis thesis investigates functional creativity as a mechanism for generalisation in reinforcement learning. Its main proposal is that agents can adapt to novel tasks by recomposing structured representations of past experience, rather than relying on reactive policies or overfitting pattern interpolation. Inspired by cognitive models of creativity, we introduce a framework (AIGenC) that conceptualises generalisation as the creative reuse of abstract knowledge. Under this view, functional creativity is formalised as the agent’s capacity to extract, decompose, and reassemble task-relevant substructures, such as affordances, causal effects, and object relationships, into new behavioural strategies. This theoretical proposal is instantiated in a graph-based memory system that encodes episodic interactions as heterogeneous trajectories. Called Structurally Enriched Trajectory Learning and Encoding (SETLE), it captures high-level structure in an agent’s experience, linking actions, objects, and outcomes across time and embedding these trajectories using a hierarchical contrastive learning objective. Stored in long-term memory, these structured representations are later retrieved and matched by similarity, allowing agents to reuse subgraphs from prior episodes selectively. SETLE is then integrated into a reinforcement learning loop, where memory-based enrichment informs both action selection and policy optimisation. Retrieved graphs are filtered via attention or clustering and injected into the agent’s working memory, effectively conditioning decisions on structurally relevant past experiences. This enables zero-shot reuse of behavioural knowledge and promotes sample-efficient learning. The complete system is evaluated in two domains: CREATE, a continuous interaction environment with tools and physical affordances, and MiniGrid, a symbolic, discrete domain with sparse rewards and task diversity. In both settings, SETLE-enhanced agents outperformed baseline models in terms of learning speed, generalisation to new goals, and trajectory optimality, validating the practical impact of structured memory and creativity-inspired reasoning. The framework is discussed in the context of both the advances and limitations of current approaches, highlighting that generalisation remains bounded by the diversity of prior experience, and unsupervised perceptual pipelines (e.g., slot attention) often fail to transfer across domains. We conclude that integrating conceptual abstraction, episodic memory, and decision-making into a unified system is a step toward more adaptive, creative, and general artificial intelligence
Food-related attentional biases in restrained eaters: A meta-analysis
Full text linkObjective: Dietary restraint may contribute to the development and maintenance of eating disorders (EDs), with food-related attentional biases (ABs) as a key underlying mechanism. We examined associations between dietary restraint and ABs and explored how several methodological factors (i.e. AB mechanism, mode of AB investigation, response task type, stimulus task relevance, type of food stimulus) might influence these associations.
Method: Database searches followed the guidelines set by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (PRISMA; Page et al, 2021). We included empirical studies that measured both dietary restraint and ABs, excluding studies involving participants with clinical diagnoses or below 16 years of age. Fifty-one eligible articles were identified, of which 29 unique samples were included in the final analyses. The protocol for this meta-analysis was preregistered at: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=532562
Results: We first examined associations between dietary restraint and attentional maintenance and orienting, separately. This was followed by subgroup analyses to examine whether these associations varied based on the chosen methodological factors. Our findings revealed significant associations between dietary restraint and attentional maintenance in studies that used response tasks (other than the dot probe task), and where the food stimuli were relevant to the task instructions.
Discussion: Collectively, these findings suggest that dietary restrainers activated strategic top-down processing of foods cues, rather than the reflexive orienting linked to ED-driven saliency processing. Overall, this may be interpreted as more purposeful monitoring to facilitate restraint when food is relevant to the goals and actions of dietary restrainers
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