Civil conflict, federalism and strategic delegation of leadership

This article analyzes negative externalities that policymakers in one region or group may impose upon the citizens of neighboring regions or groups. These externalities may be material, but they may also be psychological (in the form of envy). The latter form of externality may arise from the production of 'conspicuous' public goods. As a result, decentralized provision of conspicuous public goods may be too high. Potentially, a centralized legislature may internalize negative externalities. However, in a model with strategic delegation, we argue that the median voter in each jurisdiction may anticipate a reduction in local public goods supply and delegate to a policymaker who cares more for public goods than she does herself. This last effect mitigates the expected benefits of policy centralization. The authors' theory is then applied to the setting of civil conflict, where they discuss electoral outcomes in Northern Ireland and Yugoslavia before and after significant institutional changes that affected the degree of centralization. These case studies provide support for the authors' theoretical predictions

Si/SiC bonded wafer: a route to carbon free SiO2 on SiC

This paper describes the thermal oxidation of Si/SiC heterojunction structures, produced using a layer-transfer process, as an alternative solution to fabricating SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices with lower interface state densities (Dit). Physical characterization demonstrate that the transferred Si layer is relatively smooth, uniform, and essentially monocrystalline. The Si on SiC has been totally or partially thermally oxidized at 900–1150 °C. Dit for both partially and completely oxidized silicon layers on SiC were significantly lower than Dit values for MOS capacitors fabricated via conventional thermal oxidation of SiC. The quality of the SiO2, formed by oxidation of a wafer-bonded silicon layer reported here has the potential to realize a number of innovative heterojunction concepts and devices, including the fabrication of high quality and reliable SiO2 gate oxides

Poor adherence to lifestyle recommendations in patients with coronary heart disease:results from the EUROASPIRE surveys

Aims  Despite the high use of cardioprotective medications, the risk factor control in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) is still inadequate. Guidelines identify healthy lifestyles as equally important in secondary prevention as pharmacotherapy. Here, we describe reasons for poor lifestyle adherence from the patient’s perspective. Methods and results  In the EUROASPIRE IV and V surveys, 16 259 CHD patients were examined and interviewed during a study visit ≥6 months after hospital discharge. Data gathering was fully standardized. The Brief Illness Perception questionnaire was completed by a subsample of 2379 patients. Half of those who were smoking prior to hospital admission, were still smoking; 37% of current smokers had not attempted to quit and 51% was not considering to do so. The prevalence of obesity was 38%. Half of obese patients tried to lose weight in the past month and 61% considered weight loss in the following month. In relation to physical activity, 40% was on target with half of patients trying to do more everyday activities. Less than half had the intention to engage in planned exercise. Only 29% of all patients was at goal for all three lifestyle factors. The number of adverse lifestyles was strongly related to the way patients perceive their illness as threatening. Lifestyle modifications were more successful in those having participated in a cardiac rehabilitation and prevention programme. Patients indicated lack of self-confidence as the main barrier to change their unhealthy behaviour. Conclusion  Modern secondary prevention programmes should target behavioural change in all patients with adverse lifestyles

Simple oxidation of pyrimidinylhydrazones to triazolopyrimidines and their inhibition of Shiga toxin trafficking

The oxidative cyclisation of a range of benzothieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine hydrazones (7a–j) to the 1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-c]pyrimidines (8a–j) catalysed by lithium iodide or to the 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidines (10a–j) with sodium carbonate is presented. A complementary synthesis of the 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidines starting from the amino imine 11 is also reported. The effect of these compounds on Shiga toxin (STx) trafficking in HeLa cells and comparison to the previously reported Exo2 is also detailed

PNT cyber resilience : a Lab2Live observer based approach, Report 1 : GNSS resilience and identified vulnerabilities. Technical Report 1

The use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as GPS and Galileo are vital sources of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) information for vehicles. This information is of critical importance for connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) due to their dependence on this information for localisation, route planning and situational awareness. A downside to solely relying on GNSS for PNT is that the signal strength arriving from navigation satellites in space is weak and currently there is no authentication included in the civilian GNSS adopted in the automotive industry. This means that cyber-attacks against the GNSS signal via jamming or spoofing are attractive to adversaries due to the potentially high impact they can achieve. This report reviews the vulnerabilities of GNSS services for CAVs (a summary is shown in Figure 1), as well as detection and mitigating techniques, summarises the opinions on PNT cyber testing sourced from a select group of experts, and finishes with a description of the associated lab-based and real-world feasibility study and proposed research methodology

PNT cyber resilience : a Lab2Live observer based approach, Report 2: specifications for cyber testing facilities. Technical report 2

The use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as GPS and Galileo are vital sources of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) information for vehicles. This information is of critical importance for connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) due to their dependence on this information for localisation, route planning and situational awareness. A downside to solely relying on GNSS for PNT is that the signal strength arriving from navigation satellites in space is weak and currently there is no authentication included in the civilian GNSS adopted in the automotive industry. This means that cyber-attacks against the GNSS signal via jamming or spoofing are attractive to adversaries due to the potentially high impact they can achieve. This report introduces specifications and recommendations for GNSS cyber-security test facilities for CAVs. These specifications are based on a survey of academic literature, interviews with a select group of experts, and experiences obtained performing laboratory and real-world testing (shown in Figure 1)

INTERASPIRE:an International Survey of Coronary Patients; Their Cardiometabolic, Renal and Biomarker Status; and the Quality of Preventive Care Delivered in All WHO Regions: In Partnership with the World Heart Federation, European Society of Cardiology, Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology, InterAmerican Society of Cardiology, and PanAfrican Society of Cardiology.

Purpose of Review To describe the INTERASPIRE scientific protocol-an international survey of secondary prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD). Recent Findings This international survey is being conducted through National Societies of Cardiology in selected countries from each of the six WHO regions and has the following overall aims: (i) describe prevalence of cardiometabolic and renal risk factors together with biomarkers in CHD patients; (ii) describe current risk factor management through lifestyle changes and cardioprotective drug therapies; (iii) provide an objective assessment of clinical implementation of preventive care by comparison with the lifestyle and risk factor targets defined in international and national guidelines; (iv) investigate the reasons for variation in preventive cardiology practice between regions and countries; and (v) promote the principles of best preventive cardiology practice. This international survey will provide a unique picture of CHD patients; their cardiometabolic, renal and biomarker status; lifestyle and therapeutic management; and the quality of preventive care provided in all WHO regions

The IBER study: study protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial of Imagery Based Emotion Regulation for the treatment of anxiety in bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety is highly prevalent in people diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD), and can persist between acute episodes of mania and depression. Recent studies indicate that people with BD are prone to experiencing frequent, intrusive and emotional mental images which further fuel their levels of anxiety and mood instability. These intrusive emotional mental images represent a specific target for treatment for this disorder with the potential to reduce anxiety and improve mood stability. A new brief structured psychological intervention for BD called Imagery Based Emotion Regulation (IBER) has been developed, which translates experimental work in the area of imagery and emotion into a skills training programme to improve the regulation of intrusive and distressing emotional mental images in BD. A feasibility trial is required in order to assess whether a full randomised controlled trial is indicated in order to evaluate this approach. METHODS: The design is a two-arm feasibility randomised controlled trial (RCT), with 1:1 randomisation stratified by trial site and minimised on medication status and anxiety severity. Participants are 60 individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder and experiencing at least a mild level of anxiety. Sites are defined by the geographical boundaries of two National Health Service (NHS) Trusts, with recruitment from NHS teams, GP surgeries and self-referral. The intervention is up to 12 sessions of Imagery Based Emotion Regulation within 16 weeks. The comparator is NHS standard care. The primary aim is to assess the feasibility of conducting a powered multi-site RCT to evaluate effectiveness. Measures of anxiety, depression, mania, mood stability and health care use will be conducted at baseline, end of treatment and at 16-week follow-up. DISCUSSION: This is the first feasibility trial of an imagery-based intervention for the treatment of anxiety in bipolar disorder. If the trial proves feasible, a large multi-site trial will be required. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN16321795. Registered on October 16, 2018. 10.1186/ISRCTN16321795