Peeling Back the Onion of Cyber Espionage after Tallinn 2.0

Tallinn 2.0 represents an important advancement in the understanding of international law’s application to cyber operations below the threshold of force. Its provisions on cyber espionage will be instrumental to states in grappling with complex legal problems in the area of digital spying. The law of cyber espionage as outlined by Tallinn 2.0, however, is substantially based on rules that have evolved outside of the digital context, and there exist serious ambiguities and limitations in its framework. This Article will explore gaps in the legal structure and consider future options available to states in light of this underlying mismatch

Enhancing higher education student well-being through social prescribing: a realist evaluation protocol

INTRODUCTION: UK higher education (HE) student numbers are increasing and students report higher levels of mental health and well-being issues. Social prescribing links individuals to community-based, non-medical support. It is widely implemented throughout the UK, and is supported by the Welsh Government. This protocol presents an evaluation of a new social prescribing service to enhance student well-being, a first for UK HE students. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A realist evaluation to articulate why, how and to what extent and circumstances social prescribing works for students, using a mixed-methods sequential design of four cycles. Cycle 1 informs the model and programme theory development of how the model works; activities include a Realist Review, Group Concept Mapping and producing bilingual short films about the evaluation and model. Cycle 2 involves secondary analysis of routine service data, and outcome measurements from students receiving a social prescription. Cycle 3 uses reflective diaries and qualitative realist interviews with stakeholders to understand the process and outcome of the model. Cycle 4 concludes with a world café workshop with stakeholders to agree and finalise the framework specification of ‘how, why, when and to what extent’ the model works. A meta-matrix construction will determine convergence, complementarity or discrepancy across the cycles. An advisory group of key stakeholders informs each cycle. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: University of South Wales Life Sciences and Education Ethics Committee and Wrexham Glyndwr University (WGU) Research Ethics Sub-Committee approved secondary data analysis of participant demographics (200 805LRL:USW, id441:WGU), outcome measurement tools (200 902LR:USW, id441:WGU) and qualitative data collection (200 804LR:USW, id449:WGU). The authors will publish findings in peer-reviewed journals, produce an evaluation report to the funder and a short film for dissemination via stakeholders, university networks, United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise in Wales, PRIME Centre Wales, Wales School for Social Prescribing Research, conferences and social media

Comparison of Post-injection Site Pain Between Technetium Sulfur Colloid and Technetium Tilmanocept in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy.

BackgroundNo prior studies have examined injection pain associated with Technetium-99m Tilmanocept (TcTM).MethodsThis was a randomized, double-blinded study comparing postinjection site pain between filtered Technetium Sulfur Colloid (fTcSC) and TcTM in breast cancer lymphoscintigraphy. Pain was evaluated with a visual analogue scale (VAS) (0-100 mm) and the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ). The primary endpoint was mean difference in VAS scores at 1-min postinjection between fTcSC and TcTM. Secondary endpoints included a comparison of SF-MPQ scores between the groups at 5 min postinjection and construction of a linear mixed effects model to evaluate the changes in pain during the 5-min postinjection period.ResultsFifty-two patients underwent injection (27-fTcSC, 25-TcTM). At 1-min postinjection, patients who received fTcSC experienced a mean change in pain of 16.8 mm (standard deviation (SD) 19.5) compared with 0.2 mm (SD 7.3) in TcTM (p = 0.0002). At 5 min postinjection, the mean total score on the SF-MPQ was 2.8 (SD 3.0) for fTcSC versus 2.1 (SD 2.5) for TcTM (p = 0.36). In the mixed effects model, injection agent (p < 0.001), time (p < 0.001) and their interaction (p < 0.001) were associated with change in pain during the 5-min postinjection period. The model found fTcSC resulted in significantly more pain of 15.2 mm (p < 0.001), 11.3 mm (p = 0.001), and 7.5 mm (p = 0.013) at 1, 2, and 3 min postinjection, respectively.ConclusionsInjection with fTcSC causes significantly more pain during the first 3 min postinjection compared with TcTM in women undergoing lymphoscintigraphy for breast cancer

Mezzanine Finance and Preferred Equity Investment in Commercial Real Estate: Security, Collateral & Control

This article will review both the genesis and the rise in popularity of preferred equity and mezzanine debt, examine their legal and structural differences, and provide some exposition as to how these financing techniques work from security, collateral and control standpoints. We do not undertake in this article to address the differences in tax and accounting treatment between mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments both for either the mezzanine lender or preferred equity investor on the one hand, or for the mezzanine borrower or the common equity investor, on the other hand. In deciding upon which structure to use, transaction participants should consult with their independent tax and accounting advisors to ensure that the transaction is appropriately structured to best meet their individual needs, subject to such compromise as may be necessary to effect a desired transaction. We proceed as follows: Section II outlines the legal principles of, and the practical realities that have shaped, real estate finance from common law to modernity. Section III begins with an exposition of the preferred equity instruments and mezzanine debt that form the subject of this study. It will start by outlining their qualities and follow with a delineation of the organizational structures used in deals in which they form part of the capital structure. Lastly, it will proceed through theoretical and practical issues for legal counsel to consider. Section IV will address an open issue, never, to the authors’ knowledge, having been before a court: whether these funding mechanisms should be treated as equitable mortgages according to the common law equitable tradition to treat mortgage-like agreements as mortgages. This Section will argue that these funding mechanisms should not be treated as equitable mortgages. Finally, we will set forth our conclusion in Section V

Buddy-motivational interviewing (buddy-MI) to Increase Physical Activity in Community Settings: Results of a Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial

This article describes the implementation and evaluation of a novel buddy-Motivational Interviewing intervention intended to help apparently healthy but relatively sedentary adults to adopt and maintain regular physical activity for health and fitness. This intervention is an adaptation of Motivational Interviewing which adds client-selected motivational-buddies who can provide in-session input as well as ongoing out-of-session support focused on strengthening client’s motivation for and movement toward their physical activity goals. A pragmatic parallel-group randomised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up was implemented to test the intervention. The trial demonstrated that buddy-MI was feasible and could be delivered with equivalent fidelity to standard MI and both groups demonstrated statistically significant changes across a range of behavioural and health-status outcomes. Moreover, the experimental group participants generally ‘outperformed’ the control group participants as shown by the consistent trends observed over three repeated measures out to 12-months (although these between-group differences were statistically non-significant). Qualitative data indicated participant acceptance of the programme as well as providing initial evidence of positive collateral health effects (‘ripple effects’ whereby buddies changed their behaviours also). Consideration for further development, evaluation and applications are also discussed

Combined single-molecule force and fluorescence measurements for biology

Recent advances in single-molecule techniques allow the application of force to an individual biomolecule whilst simultaneously monitoring its response using fluorescent probes. The effects of applied mechanical load on single-enzyme turnovers, biomolecular interactions and conformational changes can now be studied with nanometer precision and millisecond time resolution