Terrorism and Voting: The Effect of Rocket Threat on Voting in Israeli Elections

How does the threat of becoming a victim of terrorism affect voting behavior? Localities in southern Israel have been exposed to rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip since 2001. Relying on variation across time and space in the range of rockets, we identify the effect of this threat on voting in Israeli elections. We first show that the evolution of the rockets? range leads to exogenous variation in the threat of terrorism. We then compare voting in national elections within and outside the rockets? range. Our results suggest that the right-wing vote share is 2 to 6 percentage points higher in localities that are within the range?a substantively significant effect. Unlike previous studies that explore the role of actual exposure to terrorism on political preferences and behavior, we show that the mere threat of an attack affects voting

Refugees, xenophobia, and domestic conflict: Evidence from a survey experiment in Turkey

What factors influence attitudes towards refugees? Do negative attitudes towards refugees also influence attitudes towards conflict in the host countries? Previous studies suggest that an influx of refugees, and locals’ reaction to them, may destabilize receiving countries and lead to conflict. In particular, actual or perceived negative effects of refugees’ presence, such as increased economic competition with the locals, disruption of ethnic balance in the host country, and arrival of people with ties to rebel groups may lead to an increased likelihood of civil conflict in countries that receive refugees. These effects can lead to instability by changing the locals’ incentives and opportunities of engaging in violence. Indeed, some studies find a positive correlation at the cross-national level between influx of refugees and conflict in receiving countries. We contribute to this literature by experimentally manipulating information about the externalities of hosting refugees. We conducted a survey-experiment in the summer of 2014 in Turkey, a country that hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees. We examine how different messages about the possible effects of hosting refugees – increased economic burden, disruption of ethnic balance, and ties with rebels, as well as a positive message of saving innocent women and children – affect locals’ perceptions of the refugees and their attitudes towards the Turkish-Kurdish peace process. We find that some messages cause locals, especially majority non-Kurds, to hold more negative views of the refugees, and in some cases to view them as a threat. Generally speaking, this information does not affect support for the peace process within Turkey. Rather, fundamental factors, such as partisanship, and previous exposure to conflict are better predictors of attitudes towards peace

Diabetes personal trainer outcomes: Short-term and 1-year outcomes of a diabetes personal trainer intervention among youth with type 1 diabetes

OBJECTIVE — To assess the social-cognitive, behavioral, and physiological outcomes of a self-management intervention for youth with type 1 diabetes. RESEARCHDESIGNANDMETHODS — A total of 81 youth with type 1 diabetes aged 11–16 years were randomized to usual care versus a “diabetes personal trainer ” intervention, consisting of six self-monitoring, goal-setting, and problem-solving sessions with trained non-professionals. Assessments were completed at baseline and multiple follow-up intervals. A1C data were obtained from medical records. ANCOVA adjusting for age and baseline values were conducted for each outcome. RESULTS — At both short-term and 1-year follow-up, there was a trend for an overall inter-vention effect on A1C (short-term F 3.71, P 0.06; 1-year F 3.79, P 0.06) and a significant intervention-by-age interaction, indicating a great effect among older than younger youth (short-term F 4.78, P 0.03; 1-year F 4.53, P 0.04). Subgroup analyses demon-strated no treatment group difference among younger youth but a significant difference among the older youth. No treatment group differences in parent or youth report of adherence were observed

Analysis of Parasitic Resistance in Double Gate FinFETs with Different Fin Lengths

A significant increase in parasitic resistance (R PARA) fluctuation is observed when S/D length is getting smaller than the characteristic length (L TRANS). Resistance change evaluated on double gate finFETs with various fin lengths shows an excellent agreement between the experimental data and the analytical model. Further R PARA fluctuation improvement can be realized by optimizing the L TRANS. © 2011 IEEE

A Bargaining Theory of Conflict with Evolutionary Preferences

Abstract Bargaining models play a central role in international relations, particularly in the study of conflict. A common criticism of this approach is that it fails to account for nonmaterial (e.g., psychological) factors that may influence the bargaining process. We augment a standard bargaining model by allowing actors' preferences over conflict to diverge from the "fitness" payoffs (e.g., resources) typical of such models. Preferences are subject to evolutionary forces-those who attain high fitness reproduce more. We find that Politics and violence are inextricably linked. No contemporary political group highlights this connection more clearly than the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has beheaded journalists, massacred minority groups, and glorified these exploits with videos that have spread throughout the world via the Internet. 1 The group's extreme use of violence has led some to conclude that their actions are driven by a violent ideology, rather than by strategic motivations. 2 Others argue that ISIS uses violence in an instrumentally rational manner, potentially to draw international attention and recruits, or to force local populations into submission.