The debate in law around the moment that legal personhood comes into being within a legal order strongly impacts the enjoyment of reproductive and sexual rights of individuals in Latin America. A salient element of these debates is that all the parties, on either side of the ideological spectrum, have structured their claims around a global language: the language of (human) rights. This article will draw on that language as a framework for studying the recent developments of the debates around the beginning of legal personhood and assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) in Argentina. Recently, the National Congress of Argentina has approved the unification of the National Civil Code with the National Commerce Code. This important legal reform entailed several changes to the general principles of private law and family law. In fact, in the congressional (and media) debates around the drafting and approval of the reformed Code, the determination of when legal personhood begins and what are its effects for the legal regime of ARTs have been among the issues that provoked heated disagreements. This debate was sustained in the lingua franca of human rights agreed in the Inter-American Human Rights System, namely, the American Convention on Human Rights. What has been the object of these debates around the beginning of legal personhood and ARTs in the new Argentinean Civil Code? Did Argentinean Representatives learn anything from the experience of past debates in the Region on how to regulate the beginning of legal personhood and ART's in a way that respects and protects human rights of individuals? This article argues that the text of the new Civil and Commerce Code failed to accommodate discourses about when life begins under a reasonable lingua franca of human rights. It also explains that a proper framing of such legal status must not entail moral or ontological foundations that would render the imposition of a belief or life plan on others. In light of that, the paper proposes a reading of the text that is consistent with international human rights case law.
Las aeronaves remotamente tripuladas (popularmente conocidas como drones) han tenido una incidencia creciente en los conflictos armados contemporáneos, y es esperable que ésta no haga sino aumentar en el futuro cercano. A menudo han sido presentados como "revolucionarios" y tanto resistidos como defendidos a ultranza en la literatura especializada. Este artículo procura analizar cómo los drones nos obligan a repensar el marco normativo en virtud del cual consideramos el uso de la fuerza permisible. En particular, examina cómo algunos de sus principales rasgos inciden no solamente en la aplicación de los principios de necesidad y proporcionalidad, sino también en su precisión conceptual, y argumenta que las probabilidades de éxito forman parte sustancial de una concepción plausible del principio de proporcionalidad. El artículo cierra considerando (y rechazando) el argumento de Walzer según el cual, dado que el daño causado es finalmente responsabilidad de quienes usan a civiles inocentes como escudos humanos, y no de quienes operan los drones, el hecho de que puedan causar una cantidad desproporcionada de daño es irrelevante a la hora de evaluar su permisibilidad.
Drones constitute an incremental advance in weapons systems. They are able to significantly reduce overall, as well as collateral, damage. These features seem to have important implications for the ad bellum permissibility of resorting to military force. In short, drones would seem to expand the right to resort to military force compared to alternative weapons systems by making resorting to force proportionate in a wider set of circumstances. This line of reasoning has significant relevance in many contemporary conflicts. This article challenges this conclusion. It argues that resorting to military force through drones in contemporary asymmetrical conflicts would usually be disproportionate. The reason for this is twofold. First, under conditions of radical asymmetry, drones may not be discriminatory enough, and, thereby, collateral damage would still be disproportionate. Second, their perceived advantages in terms of greater discrimination are counteracted by the lesser chance of success in achieving the just cause for war. As a result, resorting to military force through drones in contemporary asymmetrical conflicts would generally be disproportionate not because of the harm they would expectedly cause but, rather, because of the limited harm they are ultimately able to prevent. On the basis of normative argument and empirical data, this article ultimately shows that we need to revise our understanding of ad bellum proportionality not only at the level of moral argument but also in international law.
La aparición de las modernas técnicas de modificación genética (CRISPRCas9) ha abierto maravillosas expectativas en el campo de la biomedicina. Sin embargo, su aplicación sobre la línea germinal humana despierta todavía una fuerte oposición por parte de amplios colectivos. A menudo se aduce que factores como el riesgo que implica esta técnica, su propia futilidad, la amenaza implícita a la integridad del genoma humano, o la posibilidad de que acaben dando naturaleza a una nueva eugenesia justifican la necesidad de trazar una prohibición o, al menos, una moratoria sobre ellas. En este texto debatiremos la solvencia de cada uno de estos argumentos, concluyendo que, en realidad, no hay buenos motivos para oponerse a la técnica que nos ocupa.
El trabajo discute la justificación moral del uso de drones (aviones militares no tripulados) en conflictos armados, tanto desde el punto de vista de la moralidad profunda de la guerra como desde el punto de vista de cuál es la regulación jurídica moralmente justificable. Desde la óptica de la moralidad profunda, argumento que no es posible dar un veredicto general acerca de la permisión o prohibición moral del uso de drones. Desde la óptica de las convenciones jurídicas para regular los conflictos armados, sostengo que la posición más razonable es la de una permisión fuertemente regulada, más que una prohibición absoluta.
This essay examines the influence of foreign legal actors on jurisdictions that are not their own. Rachel Stern, a scholar of China, reflects on this point in her groundbreaking book published in 2013. In her penultimate chapter, Stern discusses how such foreign legal actors wield influence in China because of their presence on-the-ground. Building off of Stern's research, this essay proceeds to ask whether foreign legal actors can influence a domestic environment, when that environment prohibits them from permanently working there. The analysis below will suggest so, arguing that the forces of globalization can enable foreign legal actors to impact even a market that keeps its legal-services borders closed.
The right to health has many dimensions. On the one hand, it entails positive duties for states to protect the health of individuals. On the other, it encompasses patient decision making regarding personal health, an idea which is closely linked to the right to autonomy and the right to free development of the individual—that is, to dignity.1 This is why the informed consent of the patient and her right to make a choice according to her own values should be honored, even when her decision may seem irrational or imprudent. When patients are incapable of providing informed consent—for example, if the patient is unconscious—the law can authorize certain persons to act as a proxy on their behalf. In Argentina, the Patients' Rights Act (2009) as amended by the Death with Dignity Act (2012) states that if a patient is unable to provide informed consent, consent may be provided on her behalf by her close relatives, affinal kin, or legal guardian, in this order of preference.2 The Patients' Rights Act also permits patients to set up advance directives regarding health decisions to be made if they become terminally ill. In 2015, the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice discussed the scope of patient autonomy in the case D., M.A. s/ declaración de incapacidad. 3 This case presented a question that had yet to be explored by the court: how can we determine an unconscious patient's will if she does not have written advance directives concerning whether a life-sustaining medical treatment should be continued? This article examines the grounds of the Argentine Supreme Court's decision in D., M.A. First, we describe the case law that existed prior to D., M.A. Then, after explaining the facts of the case, we discuss the ruling and raise doubts about its scope.
Our world is far from ideal: people kill, steal, and harm others; governments initiate unjust wars; material resources are sometimes scarce or unjustly distributed; and millions of people suffer extreme deprivation from social or natural causes. Any adequate moral theory should be sensitive to these unfortunate facts. It seems obvious that the best or most appropriate actions, rules, and institutions in this nonideal world are different from what they would be in an ideal one. I briefly delineate some problems that ethics and political philosophy face when dealing with imperfect moral agents and institutions.
My focus in this paper is the use of the doctrine of double effect (DDE) in the context of Just War Theory. Different versions of DDE have different degrees of plausibility. Two distinctions are crucial. First, I distinguish between epistemically idealized and non-idealized scenarios. Second, I distinguish between versions of DDE that make a ceteris paribus comparison between intentional and non-intentional outcomes, from versions that either make a comparison that is not ceteris paribus or are non-comparative. After undertaking these classificatory tasks, I defend the following claims: First, in an idealized world, ceteris paribus versions of DDE are plausible. Second, we cannot transfer such plausibility to stronger (non-ceteris paribus) versions of DDE. Finally, in a non-idealized world, DDE is plausible. The argument for this last claim combines the reasons for defending ceteris paribus versions of DDE in idealized circumstances with an argument about how to proceed when we face hard choices under uncertainty.
The question I address in this article is why, and under what conditions, a person can lose her moral standing to blame others for their actions. I defend two related claims. The first is that blaming is justifiable in fewer cases than we might expect. This conclusion depends on my second claim: Our moral standing (or authority) to blame is more resistant to moral luck than moral responsibility (or blameworthiness) is often assumed to be. I consider different kinds of loss of standing to blame and focus on a specific kind: What has been called (and I will call) tu quoque arguments ('you have no moral standing to blame me because you did the same'). Then I focus on the relationship between some specific cases of tu quoque and moral luck (and, more precisely, circumstantial moral luck). I.defend the claim that the success of the tu quoque argument (and the corresponding loss of moral standing) is immune to moral circumstantial luck. From this claim I try to follow a number of considerations oriented to establishing the scope of moral standing and suggest a unifying view that accounts for my previous analysis and, at the same time, rescues some features of our commonsensical practice.
El presente cuadernillo para docentes de una asignatura de "Ética profesional de la abogacía" acompaña al manual para estudiantes que ha sido preparado conjuntamente, aunque, naturalmente, también puede ser útil en forma autónoma, para cualquier docente que desee preparar su curso con sus propios materiales. La idea de escribir un manual para estudiantes, además del presente cuadernillo, se debe a la situación peculiar de esta disciplina dentro de la formación jurídica en nuestro país (y, quizá, en todo el mundo de habla castellana). En efecto, la carencia de material académico en castellano, apto para ser utilizado por estudiantes de derecho, es extrema. Existen en nuestro idioma escasísimos materiales para enseñar ética profesional y, hasta donde sabemos, ninguno de los recursos disponibles discute los problemas éticos importantes de la práctica de la abogacía con el abordaje que propone nuestro trabajo. En definitiva, la ética profesional de la abogacía, como materia y como disciplina (o inter-disciplina entre la filosofía y el derecho), no existe hasta este momento en nuestro medio. En este sentido, dictar un curso de ética profesional (al menos con las características que proponemos en este cuadernillo y en el manual) es fundacional.
Several distinct arguments conclude that terminally ill patients have a right to a medically assisted death; two are especially influential: the autonomy argument and the non-harm argument. Both have proven convincing to many, but not to those who view the duty not to kill as an (almost) absolute constraint. Some philosophers see the source of such a constraint in general (deontological) moral principles, other in the nature of the medical profession. My aim in this paper is not to add one further argument in favour of medically assisted death. Rather, I want to shed light on a kind of reason that, to my mind, has not been previously highlighted or defended, and that might shake the principled conviction that doctors are never allowed to actively assist their patients to die. Specifically, my purpose is to show that doctors (as members of the medical profession) have a special duty to provide medically assisted death to consenting terminally ill patients, because (and insofar as) they have been participants in the process leading to the situation in which a patient can reasonably ask to die. In some specific ways (to be explained), they are involved in the tragic fate of those patients and, therefore, are not morally allowed to straightforwardly refuse to assist them to die.
que, por el contrario, esta transacción lo beneficia en comparación con no realizar la transacción.
explotativas es problemática y sólo podría ser justificada en casos muy excepcionales.
Many think that resultant moral luck does not exist, because we cannot be blamed more or less depending on facts that are entirely beyond our control. The problem with this argument is that the other three kinds of moral luck (though I will focus specifically on circumstantial luck) have exactly the same feature: our responsibility also depends on whether certain (antecedent) incontrollable facts hold. However, rejecting all kinds of moral luck is a bold and implausible move. My goal is to take some initial steps in defense of the motto: circumstantial (and all other kinds of antecedent) moral luck, Yes; resultant moral luck, No. My argument does not amount to proof that resultant moral luck does not exist. I merely try to show that rejecting resultant luck and accepting circumstantial luck is not necessarily inconsistent or unmotivated.
two fundamental questions. First, it elaborates a theory for explaining why a representative emerging country is willing to conclude tax treaties with developed countries on the basis of the OECD model. Secondly, it extends that theory to understanding the dynamics of tax treaty interpretation in the emerging world. This extension aims to illuminate the structure of incentives the courts of a representative emerging country normally have when construing OECD-based tax treaties in the foreign direct investment (FDI) area. Game theory is used as a theoretical framework for answering both questions.
This chapter shows the evolutionary path of transfer pricing dispute resolution in twenty countries from the five continents since 1799. It consists of six core stages that encapsulate how the ALP has gradually evolved from being a rule-based regulation to a procedural, standard-based regulation over the last century. The main driving force of this transformation is probably the ALP adaptation to two central technological innovations: the emergence of multinational enterprises over the first globalization (1850-1914) and, then, the emergence of the international trade in intangibles during the second globalization (1945 to the present).
The way in which the countries studied here solve tax treaty disputes is normally related to exogenous elements. Local endowment of natural resources is a neat example. This can be seen as a continuum. On one end, countries with large endowments of natural resources, such as Argentina, Brazil and Russia, are normally keen on resolving tax treaty disputes by means of litigation. On the other end of the continuum, countries without this endowment, like Japan and the UK, normally prefer negotiations as the standard method to solve tax treaty disputes. This pattern seems to be grounded on the relative mobility of the relevant tax base. Less mobility makes tax treaty litigation more likely (and vice versa).
This chapter offers the first global quantitative analysis of tax treaty disputes emerging in the almost first 100 years of the international tax regime (ITR). The time and space dimensions of the analysis are as follows. The time dimension covers the era that ran from 1923 — when four economists produced the League of Nations' Report on Double Taxation proposing a legal technology that is now encapsulated in the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital (OECD MTC) — until 2015, when the G20 and the OECD published the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting 2015 Final Reports (BEPS Reports), which 'represents the first substantial renovation of the international tax standards in almost a century' (pre-BEPS Reports Era). The space dimension of this analysis covers the G20 countries.
This chapter offers the first global taxonomy of treaty dispute patterns emerging in the almost first 100 years of the international tax regime (ITR). The time and space dimensions of the taxonomy are as follows. The time dimension covers the era which ran from 1923 — when four economists produced the League of Nations' Report on Double Taxation proposing a legal technology that is now encapsulated in the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital (OECD MTC) — until 2015, when the G20 and the OECD published the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting 2015 Final Reports, which 'represents the first substantial renovation of the international tax standards in almost a century' (pre-BEPS Reports Era). The space dimension covers the G20 countries together with seven non-G20 countries: Cyprus, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland and Uganda (the G20 and beyond).
Whether terrorism should be conceptualized as a transnational or international crime is a deeply contested issue in contemporary international law. What is more interesting, the terms of the debate are made significantly more difficult by the fact that the adequate distinction between these categories is itself a matter of controversy. This paper provides an answer to this question by precisely clarifying the conceptual and normative fault lines between domestic, transnational and international criminal law. Accordingly, it first provides a conceptual analysis of these categories and suggests that the key distinction between them is jurisdictional, ie it concerns the scope of the right to punish them. On this basis, it examines where terrorism fits in these categories and why. Unsurprisingly, the article argues that terrorist acts do not fit in one category only. The paper distinguishes four "varieties" of terrorism which are conceptualized along two axes, ie, national and cross-border terrorism, and state terrorism and terrorism conducted by non-state groups. Ultimately, it concludes that while the majority of terrorist acts conducted by non-state groups belong to the province of transnational criminal law, the majority of those perpetrated by state authorities should be conceptualized as core crimes of international criminal law. But what is more important, the article proposes a substantive criterion to explain why any such act should belong in one category or the other.
The concept of liability is currently at the centre of contemporary debates on interpersonal defensive killing and war. This often leads to radically asymmetrical moral positions between aggressors and victims, and between just and unjust combatants. This article argues that the dichotomy liable/non-liable is too rigid to adequately capture the moral landscape in many relevant defensive killing situations. By contrast, it proposes a more granulated framework that takes seriously both the conceptual features of rights as essentially individualistic entities and their strength in moral reasoning. Finally, the article also shows that far from creating problems for the morality of killing in war, the proposed framework allows us to better accommodate for the position of unjust combatants than standard revisionist accounts of just war theory.
In a series of recent papers, Darwall has argued that Raz's Normal Justification Thesis (NJT) ought to be rejected. Here I shall argue that Darwall's criticisms are unsuccessful. First, I argue that, contrary to what Darwall suggests, the NJT does not rely on an inference from the fact that B has a reason to treat A's directives as protected reasons to the conclusion that A's directives are protected reasons for B. Second, I argue that Darwall's arguments to the effect that the reasons that obtain in virtue of the satisfaction of NJT cannot ground accountability are either ill-conceived or insufficient.
La forma de debate más habitual en los medios -con réplica en las redes sociales- consagra "ganador" a quien da el mejor golpe de efecto. En el mismo gesto en que nos acostumbramos a dirimir en términos de aclamación o condena, dejamos de prestar atención a cualquier tipo de argumento y nos contentamos con subir o bajar el pulgar. Cuando el contenido de una discusión íntima o pública, privada o mediática, se plaga de trampas argumentativas -en términos técnicos, falacias lógicas-, la verdad es la primera víctima. La pérdida de la capacidad de discutir ideas, sopesar argumentos y confrontar propuestas daña seriamente la cultura política de una sociedad y deteriora la democracia. En este libro, Ezequiel Spector pone en evidencia de modo práctico, concreto y lúcido las quince falacias más habituales en los debates políticos y presenta una guía útil para sortearlas y volver a discutir lógica, llana y, sobre todo, limpiamente. Porque sin honestidad intelectual no hay debate posible y sin debate no hay esfera pública, Malversados puede considerarse una oportuna herramienta de construcción de ciudadanía.
Under contemporary international law, war crimes are conceived as particularly serious violations of the laws of armed conflict. Mere participation of rank-and-file soldiers in an unjust or unlawful war is generally not considered to warrant legal punishment. This position is based on the principle of equality between belligerents. During the last 20 years, this principle has been challenged by the so-called revisionist position in just war theory, as well as by certain scholars in international law. According to them, unjust or unlawful participants in armed conflict perpetrate serious wrongs. This article argues that their conduct is not only morally wrongful, but also that it should be criminalized under certain circumstances. On the basis of empirical research on cognitive biases, and on one of the leading accounts of legitimate authority in political philosophy, it argues that participation in war warrants criminalization only when the war is knowingly or manifestly unlawful. Furthermore, it claims that this position is not only sound at the level of deep moral principles, but that in fact it provides a persuasive reinterpretation of existing international law.
In all domains, from informal to formal, there are conflicts about property and ownership which resolution demands consideration of alleged claims from more than one party. In this work we asked adults (N = 359) to judge cases in which a character held a property claim over an item, but is challenged by a second character who holds a different, subsequent claim over it. The specific goal of this work is to investigate how the resolution of such conflicts depends on the social endorsement of ownership claims. To achieve this aim, we designed variations of conflictive situations over property in which we manipulated details regarding the knowledge of the second agent of other third-parties about the first agent's actions. In essence, our questions were: if an agent claims ownership of something which has a previous property claim on (1) does it matter whether said agent knew of the first's agent actions or not? And (2) does it matter whether third parties were aware or notified of the first one's claim? The results confirm that adults resolve the settling of property rights based not only on the nature of ownership claims but also on the social acknowledgment of such claims, in accordance with what is stipulated in legal systems worldwide. Participants considered the second character in the stories to hold a lesser right over the object under dispute when she knew of the first character's claim. Participants also considered that the first character's claim was reinforced when there were witnesses for her actions, but not when third parties were merely communicated of such actions. This is the first study to our knowledge that studies how social validation of ownership claims drives adults' judgments on property claims.
Las computadoras y los teléfonos celulares que usamos, la música que escuchamos, las películas y los libros que disfrutamos, los medicamentos a los que recurrimos, las bebidas que tomamos, las marcas cuyos productos compramos, y asi, son todos sujetos de la propiedad intelectual. Dada la importancia de la propiedad intelectual en la vida diaria de las personas, de a poco, y con el interés creciente de los estudiantes, las facultades de Derecho de Iberoamérica están otorgándole un rol cada vez más importante a pensar y discutir los desafíos que plantea esta área del derecho. Este libro es una contribución a esa discusión. Su objetivo es enriquecer la comprensión de la propiedad intelectual en Iberoamérica explorando sus presupuestos normativos, sus virtudes y defectos, y exponer cómo podríamos mejorar su regulación utilizando herramientas teóricas propias de disciplinas como la filosofía y la economía. El enfoque interdisciplinario de este libro lo distingue de otras contribuciones: en Iberoamérica todavía la doctrina jurídica tradicional sigue teniendo el papel principal. La incorporación del enfoque interdisciplinario enriquece la discusión.
A pesar de que nuestras sociedades, en general, tienen constituciones que reflejan valores liberales, la intuición de muchas personas acerca de la maternidad por sustitución parte de la "tesis de la asimetría". Según esta posición, hay una asimetría entre los mercados de trabajo regulares y el mercado de trabajo reproductivo: tratar al trabajo reproductivo de la mujer como tratamos a cualquier otro bien sujeto a las leyes del mercado es incorrecto moralmente.De hecho, la GPS está prohibida en muchos países que siguen la tradición constitucional liberal – Alemania, Australia, Francia, Dinamarca, Suiza, entre otros -. La tesis de la asimetría, a su vez, se refleja en diferentes tesis. En este trabajo discuto la tesis de la asimetría y respondo a sus objeciones desde el punto de vista del liberalismo igualitario de Rodolfo Vázquez. Una de esas tesis se concentra en las desigualdades que genera la GPS. En respuesta a esta objeción, en la última sección discuto diferentes regulaciones de la GPS. El artículo termina con una conclusión breve.
Under the Inter-American Human Rights System, individuals have a right to access reproductive technologies. However, the legal status of surrogacy agreements in State Parties to the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) is mostly uncertain. The article discusses whether a complete ban on surrogacy is compatible with the ACHR. It considers potential objections to surrogacy agreements: 'corruption objections'—surrogacy denigrates the nature of what is being exchanged-, the potential exploitation of surrogates and welfare concerns of children born from surrogacy. The article concludes that States Parties to the ACHR should allow both altruistic and commercial surrogacy, but that regulatory schemes for appropriate protection of the rights of surrogates, intending parents, and children resulting from surrogacy ought to be secured.


This is a personal site of Akio & Anne KAWATO, Japanese ex-diplomat and his wife (a Dane). They extensively travelled and lived in many parts of the world: Japan, Denmark, China, South Korea, Taiwan, South-East Asia, India, Uzbekistan, the Soviet Union turned Russia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Mexico, Canada and the U.S.A. Please enjoy this kaleidoscope of world civilizations now and past. Viewpoints are vertical (historical), horizontal (comparison with others), diagonal (unorthodox interpretation) and inverse (go into opponent's position).
"America first" can easily become "America who"
Trump's US is isolated from the rest of the world? No kidding.
You can choose only one.
What should Japan do as an ally of the "inward-looking United States"?
Is Japan's manufacturing industry dying? Not quite.
Will Putin's Visit Lead Japan Away from America?
Trump will rule two terms and may build a "world state"


TRENTON – New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal has sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security suggesting Thursday's arrest by federal agents of two Indonesian nationals as they dropped off their children may have violated a longstanding prohibition on immigration enforcement actions at "sensitive locations," and calling for the official to personally review the incident.
The letter, addressed to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen and sent Thursday afternoon, expresses "serious concern" about the arrest of Indonesian nationals Gunawan Liem of Franklin Park and Roby Sanger of Metuchen by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Middlesex County. Liem reportedly was arrested after dropping his daughter off at her school bus stop. Sanger was arrested after dropping off his daughter at school.
The letter goes on to express broader concern about ensuring there are no ICE enforcement actions at courthouses and at State facilities throughout New Jersey.
Enforcement actions at state courthouses would compromise the integrity of New Jersey's justice system, the Attorney General notes, and such actions at State facilities would be an "undue intrusion" on the function of state government services to New Jersey residents, including children, families and military veterans.


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Home»Culture»Meet The First Black Woman In The NBA 2K League, Chiquita Evans
CultureNBA
Meet The First Black Woman In The NBA 2K League, Chiquita Evans
Tabie Germain March 6, 2019
Chicago native, Chiquita Evans was drafted #56 overall by the Warriors Gaming Squad for the 2019 NBA 2K League season.
Women's History Month is not only for celebrating the achievements of women over the years but for women who are creating historic moments now.
Last night, Chiquita Evans became the first female player to be drafted into the NBA 2K League.
NBA 2K League on Twitter
Chiquita Evans (@chiquitae126) becomes the first woman drafted into the #NBA2KLeague, pick No. 56 by @WarriorsGaming! https://t.co/LiXnn7iHjH
The Shadow League caught up with the newest Warrior gaming member to talk about her support system, what the process was like getting there and her plans after 2K.
The road to being the first female in anything, of course, came with its own obstacles. especially in a male-dominated competitive sport. Evans credits much of her success to her female support team that has been with her from the very beginning. Whether it was playing 2K with her or just words of encouragement.
Not mention, having to deal with discrimination and harassment from players online.
"I've experienced it quite a bit. The way I fight through it is to control what you can control," said Evans. " The 2K League GM and coaches kept telling us, 'Control what you can control.' So, I did other things. I played defense. I rebounded. I made sure I passed the ball to the correct player that was open. I made sure I was effective on other sides of the court besides offensively".
We just witnessed history during #WomensMonth. Congrats to the first woman, first BLACK woman to be drafted in the @nba2kleague, Chicago's own @chiquitae126. Applaud her. SWIPE RIGHT to hear Chiquita speak about going back to her day job if she didn't get picked. Vid by @jusaire.
67 Likes, 3 Comments – The Shadow League (@theshadowleague) on Instagram: "We just witnessed history during #WomensMonth. Congrats to the first woman, first BLACK woman to be…"
Before 2K Evans was an employee at Planet Fitness. So what are her plans after the 2K season?
"I'm going to ride this wave as long as I can," Evans said. "Wherever the wind blows is where I'm going."
Evans joins Gradient, Kina, and Jin as new members of the team. The second season of the NBA 2K League tips off in spring 2019.
The NBA 2K League is a joint venture between the NBA and Take-Two interactive. It serves as the first official eSports league operated by a US professional sports league with 21 teams participating.
Black Girl Gamers Black Girl Strength Chiquita Evans esports NBA 2K Draft NBA 2K League
Stick Talk: Sony Music's New Gaming Label Tackles Black Women Misconceptions In Both Industries
Coach K Says Zion's Celebrity Shadow Sullied Summer League Debut
Serena And Billie Jean Are On The Same Team
OKC Trade Russell Westbrook To Rockets For CP3, Picks

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Henryk Drzazga (ur. 18 stycznia 1913 w Radomiu, zm. 18 stycznia 1982 w Radomsku) – nauczyciel matematyki, fizyki i techniki, działacz społeczny, inicjator powstania szkoły w Lgocie Małej oraz jej obecny patron, podczas II wojny światowej organizator tajnego nauczania.

Życiorys
Urodził się jako pierwsze z pięciorga dzieci Romana Stanisława Drzazgi i Władysławy Drzazgi (z domu Frankowskiej). W 1921 r. na świat przyszła siostra Zofia, w 1924 r. brat Tadeusz, w 1927 r. brat Marian, a w 1929 r. brat Jerzy.

Wczesne lata dzieciństwa spędził z rodzicami w Moskwie w dzielnicy Arbat. Podróż ta była związana z pracą ojca, który wyjechał ze sprzętem fabryki Kohna z Radomia do Moskwy. Po I wojnie światowej wrócił z rodzicami do Polski. Po powrocie ojciec Henryka pracował jako ślusarz w Anonimowej Spółce Towarzystwa Przemysłu Metalurgicznego w Radomsku (po wojnie nazwanej "Komuna Paryska"). Matka zajmowała się wychowywaniem dzieci.

Młody Henryk siedmioletnią szkołę powszechną i gimnazjum ukończył w Radomsku. Następnie uczęszczał do Państwowego Seminarium Nauczycielskiego Męskiego im. Tadeusza Kościuszki w Częstochowie, które ukończył w 1934 roku. Po otrzymaniu dyplomu przez rok pracował za darmo w siedmioletniej Szkole Powszechnej w Radomsku w roku szkolnym 1934/1935. W roku szkolnym 1936/1937 pracował w szkole w Strzyżewicach w gminie Kluki koło Bełchatowa. A w 1938 r. w szkole w Bąkowej Górze gmina Ręczno i Rzejowice gmina Kodrąb. 7 czerwca 1939 r. ożenił się z Zofią Składzińską, również nauczycielką.

Zaraz po wybuchu wojny dostał powołanie do wojska, w wyniku czego brał udział w kampanii wrześniowej. Od 1 stycznia 1941 roku do 31 grudnia 1944 r. prowadził tajne nauczanie w Lgocie Małej w wymiarze 18 godzin tygodniowo. Po wojnie przeprowadził się do Lgoty Małej wraz z żoną. Został kierownikiem tamtejszej szkoły, nauczał matematyki, fizyki i techniki. W 1946 r. objął opiekę społeczną nad sierotami zamieszkałymi na terenie gminy Konary rejon Lgota Mała. W 1948 r. Henryk Drzazga podjął starania, by zelektryfikować Lgotę Małą, Teklinów i przystanek PKP w Teklinowie. Pierwszą linię elektryczną założono jeszcze w tym samym roku.

Ze względu na trudne warunki lokalowe w starej szkole w Lgocie Małej Henryk Drzazga podjął się wybudować nową szkołę. Wraz z nauczycielami oraz Komitetem Rodzicielskim organizowano imprezy dochodowe dla uzyskania funduszy na budowę szkoły w czynie społecznym. Następnie zaktywizował społeczność wiejską, by wspólnymi siłami wydobywać glinę na cegły oraz wybudować piece do jej wypalania. Każda nadwyżka wypalonej cegły była sprzedawana mieszkańcom na budowę domów i budynków gospodarczych, a pieniądze zostały przeznaczone na opłacenie murarzy. Henryk Drzazga podjął również starania, by starą szkołę przeznaczyć na mieszkania dla nauczycieli oraz przedszkole. Budowa nowego budynku rozpoczęła się w 1958 r., a uroczyste otwarcie nastąpiło 1 maja 1964 r. W uznaniu zasług dla działalności społecznej oraz pomoc przy budowie Szkół Tysiąclecia Henryk Drzazga w 1960 r. otrzymał dyplom od Prezydium Powiatowej Rady Krajowej. Dodatkowo w 1963 r. Henryk Drzazga podjął naukę w dwuletnim Studium Nauczycielskim na wydziale zaocznym dla pracujących w Łowiczu na kierunku Zajęcia Praktyczno – Techniczne i Wychowanie Plastyczne.

W wyniku osiągnięcia wieku emerytalnego Wydział Oświaty Prezydium Powiatowej Rady Narodowej w Radomsku rozwiązał z nim stosunek pracy z dniem 31 sierpnia 1973 r.

Zmarł 18 stycznia 1982 r. Miejsce pochówku - Cmentarz Stary w Radomsku.

Odznaczenia
 Medal 10-lecia Polski Ludowej (1955)
 Honorowa Odznaka Województwa Łódzkiego (1964)
 Złoty Krzyż Zasługi (1965)
 Brązowa Odznaka Odbudowy Warszawy (1965)
 Złota Odznaka Związku Nauczycielstwa Polskiego (1976)
 Medal Komisji Edukacji Narodowej (1981)
 Odznaka Tysiąclecia

Przypisy

Urodzeni w 1913
Odznaczeni Medalem 10-lecia Polski Ludowej
Odznaczeni Złotym Krzyżem Zasługi (Polska Ludowa)
Odznaczeni Złotą Odznaką ZNP
Odznaczeni Medalem Komisji Edukacji Narodowej
Zmarli w 1982
Ludzie urodzeni w Radomiu

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
How do changes to the built environment influence walking behaviors? a longitudinal study within a university campus in Hong Kong
Guibo Sun1,
Nicolas M Oreskovic2,3,4 &
Hui Lin1,5
Previous studies testing the association between the built environment and walking behavior have been largely cross-sectional and have yielded mixed results. This study reports on a natural experiment in which changes to the built environment were implemented at a university campus in Hong Kong. Longitudinal data on walking behaviors were collected using surveys, one before and one after changes to the built environment, to test the influence of changes to the built environment on walking behavior.
Built environment data are from a university campus in Hong Kong, and include land use, campus bus services, pedestrian network, and population density data collected from campus maps, the university developmental office, and field surveys. Walking behavior data were collected at baseline in March 2012 (n = 198) and after changes to the built environment from the same cohort of subjects in December 2012 (n = 169) using a walking diary. Geographic information systems (GIS) was used to map walking routes and built environment variables, and compare each subject's walking behaviors and built environment exposure before and after the changes to the built environment. Walking behavior outcomes were changes in: i) walking distance, ii) destination-oriented walking, and iii) walked altitude range. Multivariable linear regression models were used to test for associations between changes to the built environment and changes in walking behaviors.
Greater pedestrian network connectivity predicted longer walking distances and an increased likelihood of walking as a means of transportation. The increased use of recreational (vs. work) buildings, largely located at mid-range altitudes, as well as increased population density predicted greater walking distances.Having more bus services and a greater population density encouraged people to increase their walked altitude range.
In this longitudinal study, changes to the built environment were associated with changes in walking behaviors. Use of GIS combined with walking diaries presents a practical method for mapping and measuring changes in the built environment and walking behaviors, respectively. Additional longitudinal studies can help clarify the relationships between the built environment and walking behaviors identified in this natural experiment.
Walking is an important form of daily physical activity with many known health benefits, including improvements to cardiovascular health, lung function, bone strength, and mental health, and a decreased risk of diabetes, obesity, cancer, and overall mortality. At least 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity per week is recommended in adults in order to promote and maintain health [1, 2]. Efforts to address low levels of physical activity have more recently focused on community-level characteristics. The built environment, "comprised of urban design, land use patterns, and transportation system and encompassing patterns of human activity within the physical environment", [3] has become a prominent characteristic of interest. By studying and shaping the built environment, urban planners and health practitioners aim to encourage walking behaviors as a way to promote public health [4, 5].
Empirical studies quantifying the relationship between the built environment and walking behavior have been largely cross-sectional [6]. Potential confounding factors, including walking context, residential self-selection [7] and socio-economics, along with the cross-sectional nature of the studies, have resulted in mixed findings on the interplay between the built environment and walking behavior [8]. A few studies have used quasi-longitudinal data to examine the relationship between the built environment and active travel (walking) behavior [9, 10]. However, recall bias after the respondent's relocation remained a noted limitation. A natural experiment, where proposed upcoming changes to the built environment are known to occur, could provide an ideal venue for studying the effect of changes to the built environment on a study population, provided data were recorded from subjects both before and after the changes occurred. When substantial changes to the built environment occur over time, if well measured, it may be possible to identify the influence of the built environment on walking behavior or other health conditions, such as obesity [11].
There remains no consistent or agreed upon set of measures to assess changes to the built environment [12]. The so called "D" variables are classic objective measures of the built environment [6, 13]. Density and diversity are land use indicators in conjunction with transport systems. In higher-density neighborhoods, land use is compact and destinations are closer, making walking more feasible and advantageous. Diversity indicates a mix of land use. Being equipped with more land use types that are within walking distance is considered to be favorable for walking. Design refers to the aesthetic or quality of the land use and the streetscape, including the presence and attractiveness of natural sights, recreational facilities, and architectural design. The D variables, however, may be necessary but not sufficient to explain people's interactions with the built environment. People who live in the same neighborhood have different utilizations of the built environment [14]. This may be particularly true when changes occur to the built environment, people may adopt different walking and travel patterns to navigate their new surroundings. Individual-based measures of exposure to walking environments might provide a means to assess the role of destinations in the context of changes to the built environment, and help to investigate the association with changes to walking behaviors.
Accurately and consistently measuring walking behavior is also important. Self-reported measures have been variously quantified as estimates of the time spent in walking for transport and recreation, walked distances, and adherence to moderate-intensity physical activity recommendations on most of day of the week [15]. Self-reported assessments must be interpreted with caution, however, given the possibility of recall bias and other response errors [15, 16]. More recently, global positioning system (GPS) has been proposed as a promising technological tool for objectively measuring individual behavior in terms of physical and transport-related activity [17]. Signal loss can be a limitation to using GPS in hilly and dense environments, however, especially in ultra-dense and hilly cities like Hong Kong. Travel diaries, including the Household Travel Survey, ask respondents to keep a log of detailed trips made during a particular time period, usually one or two days. The diaries usually include information on origin and destination, mode of travel, trip duration, and the primary activities at trip destinations, but information on walking data are frequently missed. Alternatively, data on walking trips obtained from a modified walking-oriented travel diary can provide an accurate individual-based measure of a subject's interaction with the built environment.
We conducted a longitudinal study which collected built environment and walking behavior data within the context of a changing built environment. A natural experiment, whereby a university campus in Hong Kong experienced changes in the built environment, served as the study site. The changes to the built environment include changes to land use, campus bus services, pedestrian network, and population density. Baseline and follow-up surveys were collected from participants before and after changes to the built environment. An individual-based exposure measure of walking environment was designed and analyzed in GIS along with a walking diary.
Study area, population, and research design
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is chosen as a study location. Similar to the situation found in hilly topographical cities (e.g. Hong Kong), this university campus possesses a complex 3-dimensional topological layout. Express lifts, outdoor escalators, foot bridges and hilly stairs on the CUHK campus directly link three height levels (from 0 to 157 meters in height). The steeply contoured site has resulted in the dispersal of buildings and formed nine colleges, each constituting a collegial neighborhood with its own hostels, dining halls and other facilities. Ten campus bus lines are in service. According to Hong Kong Government policy, CUHK was to revert from a three-year to a four-year program during the 2012/13 academic year, resulting in a 30% increase in enrollment. To accommodate this policy, the existing land use and transportation schedule on campus are being adjusted, and pedestrian networks are being increased or repaired. The activities concerned in our study are limited to those taking place on campus. Two travel modes are considered: walking and bus transportation (campus bus service).
Data on changes to the built environment were collected from the Campus Development Office of CUHK and were supplemented by field surveys. Four built environment change variables were created for analysis: change in land use, change in pedestrian network connectivity, change in bus schedules, and change in population density. Details of the changes to the built environment are listed in Table 1. A campus map after the built environment changes were made is shown in Figure 1 (Figure 1, left). The changes in the built environment make CUHK an ideal natural experiment in which to collect longitudinal pre-post built environment and walking behavior data on a cohort of subjects experiencing the changes.
Table 1 Changes to the built environment
Changes to the built environment (left) and changes in utilization of pedestrian network (right).
University students matriculated at the university during the time in which the built environment changes were scheduled to occur were eligible to participate. A convenience sample of students was recruited by mail and asked to complete two surveys, one before and one after the changes to the built environment. The CUHK Survey and Behavioral Research Ethics Committee approved the study. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. We collected baseline built environment and survey data in March 2012 (n = 198, corresponded to 3% of eligible registered university undergraduate students (Mean = 18.7 years old, SD = 1.2)), 4 months prior to changes in the built environment. Changes to the built environment took place from August to September 2012, after which newly established buildings, pedestrian network and bus schedule were open, along with an increase in the first year student class size, which accounted for a 30% increase in the campus population density. Follow-up built environment and survey data were collected in December 2012 on the same cohort of subjects (n = 169, response rate = 85.36%), 3 months after changes to the built environment were completed.
Walking diary: measurement of walking behavior
A walking-oriented travel dairy was developed for this study which collected information on each walking trip's start and end time, walking route, social context (whether walking alone or with friends), and purpose (the activity at the destination).
A campus map with a detailed pedestrian network was distributed to each subject. It should be noted that the pedestrian network for walking is quite different than the street network for driving at the university campus; use of a traditional GIS street network database would be overly coarse and insufficient to adequately trace pedestrian paths on campus. Ideally, pedestrian networks should incorporate formal and informal paths, including sidewalks, laneways, pedestrian bridges, and park paths that are informal but frequently used for transportation. The missing pedestrian paths in the street network databases are likely to be the ones that are frequently used and which greatly increase the connectivity of dispersed destinations. Most studies on accessibility and connectivity use street networks only in their analyses, which may provide an incomplete description and prediction of walking behaviors [18], especially for a campus setting. For this study, in addition to use of traditional street networks, we developed a pedestrian network dataset by digitizing CUHK campus maps supplemented by field surveys. From these data, a pedestrian map was designed, with each road segment being numbered, to allow subjects to record detailed information on their use of the pedestrian network.
Daily walking trips were obtained from the walking diary and mapped in GIS (ArcGIS 10.2, ESRI, Redlands, California, USA) according to road segment numbers. Each subject could have multiple walking or bus transportation trips throughout their daily activities, thus providing repeated measures data, or, 'one-to-many' data as classified in ArcGIS. We conducted a Table Join by the 'one-to-many' relationship class in ArcGIS. Three walking behavior outcomes were created using this data: The walking distance, walking ratio (the number of a subject's daily walking trips divided by the number of total (walking and vehicular) daily trips), and walked altitude range.
Kernel density analysis: a qualitative analysis of changes in walking behavior
Statistical testing for changes in walking behavior typically reports mean difference values along with standard deviations. While such analytic methods that use aggregated data are powerful tools for identifying population-level changes, they lack the ability to capture individual-based interactions between a subject and his/her walking environment. Maps offer the capability to interpret the disaggregated spatial interactions via visualization.In the current study, we first extracted all of the walking trips in the baseline and follow-up surveys from the walking diaries. Next, the accumulated utilization of pedestrian network was calculated for the two survey waves by the frequency of use of each road segment in the pedestrian network. Kernel density estimates were then created using the Line Kernel density tool in ArcGIS with the cell size set at 50 meters. From the survey data collected before-and-after changes to the built environment, a map containing changes to utilization of every road segment in the pedestrian network was generated with the Raster Calculator tool in ArcGIS, by subtracting the follow-up from the baseline kernel density map (Figure 1, right). Geospatial and qualitative interpretations of changes in the walking behaviors are analyzed within the contexts of changes to land use, an increase in pedestrian connectivity, an adjustment of bus schedules and an increase in population density.
Buffer and intersect analysis: individual-based measures of exposure to the built environment
We sought to determine how subjects interacted with their walking environment by using individual-based measurements of exposure to the built environment to test the interaction between subjects and their walking environment, in a disaggregated way.
After mapping the subjects' walking diaries, we conducted a polyline Buffer analysis of each subject's daily walking trips. It should be noted that different delimitations of contextual units may lead to different results on the effects of environmental factors on health behaviors or outcomes [19]. There is limited empirical evidence to identify the threshold within which people perceive the built environment as walking contexts or potential places of activity. In this study, we adopted Duncan's suggested threshold while using a more tolerant buffer (e.g. If the buffer interacted with portion of a building area, we will count the whole building area as the potential places of activity area), in order to capture more detail about the exposure to changes in the built environment across our study area. Fifty meters buffers around street and path centerlines were used to capture subjects' walking environments and potential places of activity [20]. The baseline and follow-up built environment exposures, before and after changes to the built environment, respectively, were mapped for each subject. We separated buildings by their land use function, into buildings primarily used for working (work area) or for living (life area), and also accounted for the building capacity. Work area buildings were classified as those containing classrooms, laboratories and libraries, while life area buildings included canteens, dormitories, public open space, and sport centers. Each subject's built environment exposure was determined by overlaying a subject's walking trip buffer areas onto the land use patterns. Changes to the pedestrian network, including increased and repaired paths, are represented as intersections. Exposure to bus stations was calculated separately for regular bus schedules which are available for all university staff, postgraduates and undergraduates, and for middle class bus schedules which are available for undergraduates and commuters. Given an underlying assumption of an evenly distributed population density throughout the campus, exposure to population density was calculated by multiplying the change in population ratio and the change in the pedestrian network used ratio, where the change in population ratio was from 100% to 130% and the change in pedestrian network use ratio is calculated by dividing the daily walking distance of a subject and total pedestrian network on campus.
Statistical analyses were conducted in SPSS 20. Univariate analyses examined the distribution of the data and were used to calculate descriptive statistics. Data were inspected for outliers, with a g value set at 2.2 [21] leaving 146 subjects in the study sample for statistical analysis. Bivariate analyses using t-tests were used to test for changes in walking behaviors by comparing baseline and follow-up values for walking distance, walking ratio and walked altitude range.
Multivariable linear regression models adjusting for gender were run to test for the influence of changes in built environment exposures on changes in walking behaviors. We checked the final model for possible multicollinearity between the explanatory variables using Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs), and found that it was unlikely to be a problem (VIFs < 5). We conducted a heteroscedasticity test of the built environment characteristics in the final model using Koenker-test [22], concluding that it was also unlikely to be a problem (Chi-Square = 6.11, and p = 0.41). All built environment exposures variables were calculated as follow-up minus baseline exposures. Regression models included the changes to individual-based built environment exposures as the independent variables. Separate models were run for each dependent variable: change in walking distance, change in walking ratio, and change in walked altitude range, with significance set at p < 0.05.
One-hundred ninety-eight subjects completed the baseline survey on March 2012 (Mean = 18.7 years old, SD = 1.2). After nine months, 169 of these subjects completed the second survey. Sample characteristics are reported in Table 2. The sample was evenly distributed by gender (56% female), and representative of the gender distribution at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Table 2 Sample characteristics
A geospatial analysis of changes to walking behavior
Kernel density maps show the change of utilization of pedestrian network (Figure 1 right and Figure 2). Three kinds of walking behavior changes were identified: 1) a newly established escalator greatly encouraged walking trips from the lower-level to the lower-middle level of campus. The escalator and use of its connected pedestrian road segments increased, while utilization of the pre-existing alternative walking pedestrian road segments, despite having attractive walking environments, was decreased. The increased utilization of pedestrian networks contained most of the newly established or repaired pedestrian intersections; 2) Utilization of a traditional pedestrian hilly road containing stairs was increased. This increase may be related to a decrease in the scheduled frequency of a nearby campus bus which likewise occurred as part of the built environment changes on campus. Prior to the changes, a nearby bus station served as the start and terminus. After the changes, the bus station served only as a bus stop location. The wait time between scheduled buses also increased. 3) Utilization of a pedestrian road segment in the central part of campus was decreased. This may be related to a 14 building increase in the middle and lower campus levels, and suggests that that trips may be generated from type of activity. The center of activity on campus appears to have shifted after changes to the built environment were instituted; use of the old activity center decreased along with decreased use of the surrounding road segment.
Examples of changes to the built environment and to the utilizations of pedestrian network on campus. (a) decreased utilization of a traditional pedestrian road segment, (b) new escalator and increased walking trips; (c) changes to a bus stop, from a start and end terminal to a pass-by terminal, (d) increased utilization of a traditional hilly stair pedestrian road segment; (e) decreased utilization of a traditional pedestrian road segment, around which is the traditional activity center.
Individual-based measures of exposure to the built environment
Individual-based daily walking trips for each subject were extracted from their walking diary and matched to the pedestrian network. Figure 3 shows one subject's changes in exposure to the walking environment at baseline and follow-up after the changes to the built environment. Descriptive statistics reporting changes to the built environment and changes to walking behavior for all study subjects are listed in Table 3.
Individual-based measure of exposure to the built environment. An example of one subject's change in exposure to the built environment using the baseline and follow-up survey (The lines highlighted in cyan are the daily walking behaviors for subject A; the polygon buffers highlighted in pink are the exposures to the built environment).
Table 3 Changes to the built environment and to walking behaviors (N = 146)
Association between changes to the built environment and changes in walking behavior
The baseline survey is the reference category for each variable. The results of the multivariable linear regression models are listed in Table 4. An increase in pedestrian network connectivity, as measured by road intersections, positively predicted walking distance and walking ratio (p < 0.001 for both). An increased exposure to life area buildings, most of them located at the middle campus elevation level, and an increase in population density were associated with longer walks (p < 0.001 for both). At the lower campus level, an increase in the number of work area buildings was associated with a decrease in subjects' altitude ranges (p < 0.001), while the increased bus service resulted in more people frequenting higher elevation levels (p = 0.01), and a change in middle-class bus service was inversely associated with subjects' predicted movement across hilly terrain (p = 0.02). An increase in the population density was also found to positively predict a subject's walking altitude range (p < 0.001). No gender differences were present.
Table 4 Multivariable linear regression models examining the influence of changes to the built environment on walking behavior (N = 146)
In this study, we present the results of longitudinal walking behaviors, before and after changes to the built environment occurring at a university campus in Hong Kong, and find that as exposure to the built environment changes, so do walking behaviors, including daily distances walked, the proportion of trips which are walked, and the altitude ranges walked by students.
Specifically, we found that an increase in pedestrian network connectivity, as measured by road intersections, was associated with a greater walking distance and walking ratio. Our findings are consistent with previous literatures showing that increased pedestrian network connectivity encourages walking for transportation [8, 23–25]. For example, Berrigan, D. and his colleagues found that street connectivity accounted for a small but significant influence on active transportation [23], while the Twin Cities walking study also reported positive associations between street connectivity and walking for transportation [24, 25]. Few studies, however, have been conducted in hilly topography environments, where pedestrian networks may not easily be established and added. In this longitudinal study we found that after the establishment of new pedestrian networks in a hilly environment, as measured by intersection density, people walked longer distance and their walking ratio also increased. These results provide evidence to suggest that even in hilly environments, walking can be promoted by increased pedestrian connectivity.
We found that changes to land use, including increasing the number work area buildings and life area buildings, influenced walking behaviors, but in different aspects. An increase in the number of work area buildings resulted in subjects having a decrease in the altitude ranges they walked, while the increased exposure to life area buildings encouraged subjects to take longer walking trips. For the destination-oriented walking findings in this study, newly established work area buildings mostly located in the lower height level of campus might serve as trip destinations thus decreasing walked altitude ranges. Increased life area buildings might provide more potential opportunities for walking trips. In addition, we noted that most of the newly constructed life area buildings were in locations closely connected to the newly established escalator. This may have a contributory effect on walking distance promotion. Our findings also highlight the need to parcel land use into distinct categories, as different land uses seem to influence different aspect of walking behaviors. However, very few studies have investigated the differential impact of different types of land uses [26–28]. Hirsch, J. A. and her colleagues used discrete land uses categorized by accessibility, intensity, and diversity to examine the influence on walking behaviors, and found small but non-significant associations in the expected direction between disaggregated land use measures and walking for transportation in New York. They postulate that individual components of land use patterns, which act as small components of the entire built environment, act in concert with other environmental features to encourage walking [28]. Our longitudinal study likewise provides new evidence that discrete land use categories may help identify unique influences on walking behavior.
We found that changes to "soft" infrastructure such as to campus bus service, significantly influenced walking behavior on campus. Notably, after changes in the bus schedules were implemented, students altered the altitude ranges they were willing to walk. We considered walking and bus riding behaviors together. We did not find statistically significant evidence for partition of the trips by travel mode. The results were in the expected direction, with an increase in regular bus schedules negatively influencing walking ratio, and a decrease in middle-class bus schedules positively influencing walking ratio. These findings might imply a competitive relationship between different travel modes (walking versus bus riding). Our findings highlight the importance of including both non-motorized (walking of cycling) and motorized (car driving or bus riding) transportation when assessing travel patterns, otherwise a potential exists to fail to capture the complete picture of walking behaviors. Recently, other work has also begun using both Walking and Transit scores to assess the impact of the built environment on walking patterns [29]. The categorization of bus services by intended function creates two different bus measures that avoid a zero-sum issue that could arise from a single bus measure which sums increases and decreases in services, potentially failing to capture changes to different types of services.
We found that an increase in population density was related to a significant increase in students' walked altitude range, and overall walked distances. In the university's hilly environment, it appears that population density played an important role on student's walking choices. One possible explanation for our findings might be that as population density increases, crowding for bus transportation may intensify with a ceiling effect on ridership. In interviews we conducted with subject prior to this natural experiment, subjects reported a preference for walking if buses were crowded, even within the university's hilly topography. Population density is a social aspect of the built environment, and decisions on whether to walk or ride a bus with friends may likewise be related to social environment influences [30].
The study has several limitations. Our study did not include a control group. Nevertheless, we found significant changes in walking behavior after changes to the built environment. We collected one follow-up survey in this study, and longer term effects on walking behavior are not clear [31]. Our walking diary was not validated, though it was adapted from established travel diaries [32] and was assessed for face validity with experts in urban planning and pilot tested on volunteers. We postulated a simplified assumption on the population density distribution which is an even distribution throughout the campus. The population density would likely change throughout the day due to student movement around campus. This study did not measure the exact locations of the entire student body at different times throughout the day. The study included students at a single university in Hong Kong and findings may not be generalizable. Subjects in our study were 18 to 20 years old students; their age and student status may influence their walking choices. Finally, though our built environment variables included distinct measureable changes in the physical infrastructure, it is still difficult to rule out the possibility that other coinciding changes in the built environment may not also have played a role in the observed changes in walking behavior. This possibility of residual confounding makes it somewhat difficult to give clear guidance to urban planners or public health practitioners.
Despite these limitations, our study has important strengths. The longitudinal survey design provides insight into causal relationships. To our knowledge, there are few longitudinal studies that combine before-and after survey data with measured changes to the built environment, to study changes in walking behavior. Krizek K. J. used longitudinal household travel data in Seattle to examine the relationship between changes in neighborhood and household travel behavior. The results show that after controlling for changes in lifestyle, relocating households to neighborhoods with more accessibility could effectively reduce vehicle miles traveled, but found no significant effect on trip generation or travel mode [9]. Cao and colleagues studied people who relocated in Northern California and identified promising neighborhood characteristic after controlling for "self-selection" (individuals who like to walk move to more walkable areas), however, recall bias after residential relocation remained possible [10]. Natural experiments, especially those involving changes to the built environment are rare and difficult to anticipate, which can also make it difficult to follow a cohort of subjects over time. Our longitudinal study with a built environment natural experiment provides empirical evidence on how changes to the built environment are associated with changes in walking behavior.
In summary, we leveraged a natural experiment to study changes in the built environment and test how these changes were associated with changes in walking behavior among a cohort of subjects exposed to the built environment changes. The individual-based measurements of exposure to the built environment we developed in this study are a feasible and effective way to contextualize and test the interaction between subjects and their walking environments. Changes to the built environment at a university campus in Hong Kong had important and measurable effects on walking behaviors, including distances walked, proportion of trips walked (versus vehicular trips), and altitude ranges walked. The use of a natural experiment coupled with pre-and-post longitudinal data collection methods provides some insight into the causal relationships between the built environment and walking behaviors and has implications for planning, health, and public policy.
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Handy S: Critical Assessment of the Literature on the Relationships among Transportation, Land Use and Physical Activity. 2005, Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board and the Institute of Medicine Committee on Physical Activity, Health, Transportation, and Land Use
Owen N, Humpel N, Leslie E, Bauman A, Sallis JF: Understanding environmental influences on walking: Review and research agenda. Am J Prev Med. 2004, 27 (1): 67-76.
Koohsari MJ, Badland H, Giles-Corti B: (Re) Designing the built environment to support physical activity: Bringing public health back into urban design and planning. Cities. 2013, 35: 294-298.
Ewing R, Cervero R: Travel and the built environment: a meta-analysis. J Am Plann Assoc. 2010, 76 (3): 265-294.
Mokhtarian PL, Cao X: Examining the impacts of residential self-selection on travel behavior: a focus on methodologies. Transport Res B-Meth. 2008, 42 (3): 204-228.
Saelens BE, Handy SL: Built environment correlates of walking: a review. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008, 40 (7 Suppl): 550-566.
Krizek KJ: Residential relocation and changes in urban travel: does neighborhood-scale urban form matter?. J Am Plann Assoc. 2003, 69 (3): 265-281.
Cao X, Mokhtarian PL, Handy SL: Do changes in neighborhood characteristics lead to changes in travel behavior? A structural equations modeling approach. Transportation. 2007, 34 (5): 535-556.
Sallis JF, Floyd MF, Rodríguez DA, Saelens BE: Role of built environments in physical activity, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Circulation. 2012, 125 (5): 729-737.
Brownson RC, Hoehner CM, Day K, Forsyth A, Sallis JF: Measuring the built environment for physical activity: state of the science. Am J Prev Med. 2009, 36 (4): S99-S123. e112
Cervero R, Kockelman K: Travel demand and the 3Ds: density, diversity, and design. Transport Res D-Tr Environ. 1997, 2 (3): 199-219.
Leslie E, Saelens B, Frank L, Owen N, Bauman A, Coffee N, Hugo G: Residents' perceptions of walkability attributes in objectively different neighbourhoods: a pilot study. Health Place. 2005, 11 (3): 227-236.
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Johnson-Kozlow M, Matt GE: What respondents recall about walking and what self-report items elicit about walking. Prev Med. 2004, 38 (2): 227-236.
Duncan MJ, Badland HM, Mummery WK: Applying GPS to enhance understanding of transport-related physical activity. J Sci Med Sport. 2009, 12 (5): 549-556.
Chin GK, Van Niel KP, Giles-Corti B, Knuiman M: Accessibility and connectivity in physical activity studies: the impact of missing pedestrian data. Prev Med. 2008, 46 (1): 41-45.
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Duncan DT, Aldstadt J, Whalen J, Melly SJ, Gortmaker SL: Validation of Walk Score for estimating neighborhood walkability: An analysis of four US metropolitan areas. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011, 8 (11): 4160-4179.
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The authors wish to acknowledge Dr. Wendy Guan, from Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University, for her helpful contributions with GIS-related components of the study. This study is supported by Direct Grant from CUHK (CUHK 2021094). Guibo Sun is supported by Global Scholarship Programme for Research Excellence 2013–14 of CUHK. Nicolas M. Oreskovic is supported by National Institutes of Health Grant K23HL103841. Hui Lin is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China 41171146.
Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
Guibo Sun
& Hui Lin
Center for Child & Adolescent Health Research and Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Nicolas M Oreskovic
Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
Hui Lin
Search for Guibo Sun in:
Search for Nicolas M Oreskovic in:
Search for Hui Lin in:
Correspondence to Hui Lin.
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
GS drove the conceptualization of the study design, undertook the analysis, and wrote the first draft of this paper under the guidance of NMO. NMO made important contributions to the study design, statistical analysis and redrafting of the paper. HL contributed to the study design and the Geospatial analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Longitudinal study
Walking diary


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Q: How did Planck use the concept of statistical entropy in trying to understand the meaning of his own law? I was reading Introducing Quantum Theory: A graphic guide (by J.P.McEvoy & Oscar Zarate) and came across Planck's predicament of understanding his very own law that accurately explained the blackbody radiation. It says (in the voice of Planck):

... From the very day I formulated the radiation law, I began to devote myself to the task of investigating it with true physical intuition.
  After trying every possible approach using traditional classical applications of laws of thermodynamics, I was desperate.
  But forcefully I was compelled to consider statistical version of the second law $$S = k .\log{W}$$ that I rejected and hated the most. After some of the most intense weeks of my life, the light began to appear to me ... The light was energy is not continuous but discrete in nature.

That was hard indeed! But why did he hate the Boltzmann's version of entropy??
Nevertheless, my question is:
How did Mr. Planck use the entropy concept to come to the revolutionary conclusion that energy is discrete ? Please give me a math-free explanation.

A: Boltzmann's version of entropy require a finite number of states, and
Planck had asserted that probability has no meaning without a "finite number of equally likely configurations."{1} That is, in order to be able to use Boltzmann's equation and obtain finite results, he needed to use a discrete number of states, but light was supposed to be continuous.
Some background:
Einstein investigated the photoelectric effect and was able to resolve certain difficulties in the application of Planck's theory by viewing quantum light bundles as particles (photons) of energy. However, other contradictions were created in the process. In Planck's analysis, rays of light from a nonfocused system are emitted in all directions, which does not fit the definition of a particle. Bragg reflections of X-rays from a crystal exhibit wavelike properties, and particles have never been considered to have such a structure. Various particles, such as electrons, neutrons, and protons, also show wavelike properties. Electromagnetic radiation from an antenna can only have a narrow beam if the aperture is a large number of wavelengths and a corresponding number of elements are operating in synchronization. The size of atoms (10–10 m for hydrogen) is much smaller than the vast majority of the wavelengths of blackbody radiation. If short-wavelength radiation is electromagnetic in nature, the particle theory has another conflict.
Today's scientists have settled for the "wave–particle duality" concept, in which particles sometimes act like waves and vice versa.
{1} Planck, M. Eight Lectures on Theoretical Physics; Wills, A. P., Translator; Columbia University: New York, 1915.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Previews, PCJonathan Paris July 05, 2019 Magic: The Gathering, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Trading Card Game, PC Preview
With the exception of the Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon trading card games, there aren't many titles that provide the amount of strategy, depth, and competition that Magic: The Gathering brings to the table. Created by Richard Garfield and released back in 1993, Magic has been the staple of the genre, inspiring countless card games that attempt to emulate its massive success. While paper magic has been the primary way to play the game, the advent of newer digital collectible card games (DCCG), such as Elder Scrolls Legends, Gwent, and especially Hearthstone, has taken over the digital space primarily because of their accessibility to new players, and an overall more simplistic approach to the genre.
In an attempt to compete with those other popular DCCGs, last September The Wizards of the Coast released the Magic: The Gathering Arena beta. In comparison to Magic: The Gathering Online, this game is being developed to be much more welcoming for new players. One of the recent updates has added the New Player Experience which gives newcomers a series of battles against the A.I., meant to focus on the mechanics of the game. New players are also awarded about a dozen starter decks to help them get started.
Like in many other card games, you and at least one other person play against each other, using mostly pre-constructed decks and a variety of different card types and strategies to outwit the opponent. There are seven different card types that can consist of lands (mana), creatures, planeswalkers, artifacts, enchantments and sorcery as well as instant spells that all can be utilized together to achieve victory. Once you become familiar with the basics of the game, it's very simple to play and understand. At its highest level of competitive play, though, there simply isn't anything out there that has the complexity Magic offers.
Unlike newer DCCGs, Magic The Gathering wasn't originally created with digital gaming in mind, so the transition to digital can be tricky to pull off. Arena does a superb job of giving players the in-game tools needed to make the process go as smoothly as possible. Fans of the card game are already aware of how much interaction goes on between players irrespective of whose current turn it is. Either player can play their cards on any turn, which can sometimes lead to a lot of abilities being activated or counters being played. Arena givers you a full control of the game, allowing you to pause your opponents turn and phases ahead of time, so you don't miss your chance to play your cards during their turn. The user interface remains clean and intuitive despite how crowded the board can get in longer stretches. There are fancy special effects that come into play when some of the top cards are used, as well as other visual ques to help players keep track of exactly what is happening during any given turn.
As of now, Arena official formats are Standard, Sealed Deck, and Booster Draft. Other casual formats, such as limited, are also available in the game. Since the beta release, hardcore fans have been asking for the popular Modern format, but as of now it hasn't been added yet. On the other hand, Wizards of the Coast has announced a new format exclusive to the game, called Historic. It will include all the cards that have been rotated out of the Standard format going forward. As time goes by and the legal card list grows, I believe Historic will be Arena's version of Modern format.
There's a pretty familiar progression system at work here. You are given daily quest that can be as simple as winning matches, or a more specific task, like casting certain spells or creatures. Upon completion of these quests, you are awarded gold that can used to purchase booster packs, participate in drafts or special events. In the current standard there are approximately 1900 cards available, but as with all rotation formats, that is subject to change as new cards are added and older ones removed. Seasons are on a monthly rotation, and rewards are given out respective to whatever rank and tier you achieved the previous season. There are six ranks ranging from bronze to mythic with four tiers within each.
As is the case with most free-to-play games, MTG Arena is financially supported by micro-transactions. Gems are available for purchase with real money and can be used to buy booster packs, as well as other cosmetic items such as card sleeves, avatars, and a variety of different bundles. The latest patch 0.16 introduced a new Mastery System which gives players more ways to unlock booster packs, as well as other items without having to spend real money.
There's an unique approach in how you obtain cards. You can't break down cards that you have for any resources, so any cards you obtain regardless if you want them or not will always be in your collection. Wildcards are instead used to get individual cards. Wildcards are rewarded randomly in booster packs and any single wildcard can be used to get a single copy of any card with the same rarity. I found wildcards to be abundant enough that I could make a few decent decks early on, but the system still lacks in comparison to more traditional ones.
With Magic: The Gathering Arena still in beta, there are few features still missing, most glaring being the lack of a friends list. Currently there is no way to invite friends to play, or see if they are online. You can play against friends, but you both must challenge each other at the exact same time. Since there's no way to communicate with other players in the game, this limits personal 1v1 matches greatly, so most games are played against random opponents.
There's been a lot of updates to the beta since its release, so some of these issues are sure to be fixed as more updates roll out, but still, Magic: The Gathering Arena beta is a fun game that remains true to its roots and gives players a more convenient way to play one of the most popular card games around.
Jonathan Paris
Writer for Darkstation since 2014. I've been playing games my whole life and starting writing about them in 2010. Outside of gaming I enjoy anime and watching my Philadelphia Eagles let me down every Sunday. Follow me on Twitter @jsparis09
E3, PreviewsAllen July 03, 2019 E3 2019, John Wick Hex, Bithell, Good Shepherd Entertainment, .Lionsgate Games


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Modest Mussorgsky
SACD on Pentatone Classics (PTC 5186 332)
"There is so much variety and emotion here, that no matter what distractions are going on around me, the music keeps pulling me back in. The musicianship sounds stellar to my ears. There's also the totally immersive surround mix which has discrete, active surround channels and great fidelity. I love the full, rich quality of this recording and the clarity and separation between the instruments. I'll use this disc as a demo of how good multichannel music can sound! This is one of my favorite classical SACDs in terms of content, fidelity and surround..."
—Amazon.com, June 2015
"......an exciting and unique performance of this warhorse. I find [Carlo Ponti's] approach to be fresh and new and [he] takes the Mussorgsky masterpiece in a new direction... this makes for a very good addition to the existing versions... the special surprise on this disc is the enchanting and gorgeous performance of the Introduction from the Sorochinsky Fair, with pastoral oboes and wonderful orchestral colors. The Prelude and Dance of the Persian Slave Girls do not disappoint either. Colorful, ethereal and simply enjoyable... An excellent disc...."
—SA-CD.net, March 2010 [more]
"...the performances with Carlo Ponti conducting [bring] out the inherent beauty of the melodic passages and the lyrical or descriptive passages... The audio quality is quite excellent... Everything is simply musical and the three excerpts (from Khovanshchina and The Sorochinsky Fair) are a frosting on this musical cake... a solid recommendation is easily given here."
—Positive-feedback.com, February 2010
"Ponti... brings out the Russian-ness of Mussorgsky's inspiration with each of the pictures sharply characterised and with much delicate playing... That goes with recording of extreme dynamic range... The wind solos are specially impressive, as is the horn descant in the "Great Gate of Kiev." In short, an excellent version of a much-recorded piece. Night on the Bare Mountain... [is] brilliantly played here with powerful bite. The Super Audio recording adds to the impact of the performances, well engineered by Pentatone technicians..."
— Gramophone, June 2009 [more]
"A beautiful and inspiring piece of work that will resonate with classical music novices as well as traditionalists. Ponti Jr., along with the Russian National Orchestra, interprets Mussorgsky's masterworks to perfection... The clarity of the orchestration on Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition is superb. Ponti Jr's impeccable musical skills effortlessly shine through each work thus creating a dynamic debut CD... Ponti Jr. is a classical music tour-de-force and one who has quickly established himself as one to watch."
— N2Entertainment, March 2009
"Carlo Ponti proves to be a very agile partner to the Russian National Orchestra. The energy of the music is reminiscent of his electrifying debut with this ensemble in Moscow. The orchestra shines under his streamlined leadership, especially in the fast-paced, colorful sections."
— Kulturradio (Germany), February 2009
"Fantastic performance by the Russian National Orchestra and their talented conductor! All selections on this disc are prodigiously well interpreted and performed. This CD features some of the best interpretations of these seminal works I have ever heard... Ponti brings to life every picture in Mussorgsky's masterwork with incredible clarity and commitment.... Sorochinsky Fair is a masterpiece of restraint and emotion with some of the most committed playing featured on the recording, while the Prelude to Khovanshchina is the cleanest I have ever heard in terms of intonation of the winds and directness of attack by the strings, resulting in precise ensemble playing and an unprecedented transparency of texture.... I recommend this SACD to anyone interested in purchasing a high quality recording which shines on every aspect: interpretation, performance and masterful engineering by PentaTone Classics; a must-have for any serious collector!"
— SA-CD.net, February 2009
"Ponti [and the RNO] offer inspired readings of two of the most famous Russian masterworks: Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on the Bare Mountain, coupled with various other Modest Mussorgsky works presented for the first time in SACD. This recording is an absolute must-have for any respectable audiophile."
— Sound and Music (Italy), January 2009
"...this splendidly-mounted SACD [features] brilliant execution by the Russian National Orchestra led by Carlo Ponti.... Pictures serves as a display piece for the RNO's choirs, much in the manner that the Leningrad Philharmonic under Mravinsky represented a sonic world entirely its own. Ravel's orchestration... allows the RNO's woodwinds, especially the bassoon, to bask in florid curlicues of melody [and] deep, modal harmonies. Ponti takes the faster sections... at a fierce clip, deliberately asking his ensemble to imitate the Concertgebouw under Mengelbeerg... the multichannel experience... has the choir separation at colossal for brilliance and solo instrument articulation. The two excerpts from Khovantschina had me thinking back to both Stokowski and Szell, respectively, for elegance of line and directness of attack."
— Audiophile Audition, January 2009
"...a brilliant debut... The Russian National Orchestra's performance tradition and [Ponti's] delicate aesthetics combine in this performance... the various contrasts in Pictures at an Exhibition are also exhibited in the muscular rendition of Night on the Bare Mountain. Orchestral excerpts from the unfinished opera The Sorochinsky Fair and Khovanshchina deliver an outstanding lyrical sense through perfect ensemble playing."
— Audio and Record (Korea), January 2009
"...wonderful playing from the Russian National Orchestra and a very clear recording from Pentatone.... Quite the best items on the disc [are] the Introduction to The Sorochinsky Fair (delightfully tender playing) and the Dance of the Persian Slave Girls from Khovanshchina..."
— SA-CD.net, January 2009
"...the sound is spectacular, offering depth, clarity and impact. The definition of the individual instruments, the balance of the different choirs, and the sheer presence of the whole orchestra is as lifelike as one is likely to hear outside of the concert hall... Carlo Ponti is a capable conductor... one can imagine that he might even be formidable."
— Allmusic.com, December 2008
"...Pictures is phenomenal. Jaw-dropping. Inspiring. Riveting. Astonishing. There are some truly fine recordings in the world and this one is full of emotion, Ponti's handling of the content is calculated, articulate, raw, and passionate."
— Fulvue Drive-In (USA), December 2008
© Carlo Ponti, 2020
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QAFCO Jobs & Careers 2019: QAFCO was founded in 1969 as a joint venture between the Government of Qatar and a number of foreign shareholders. The country's first large-scale venture in the petrochemical sector, QAFCO was established with a view to diversify the economy and utilize the nation's enormous gas reserve. After successfully implementing several expansion projects over the past three decades, the Company has evolved into a world-class fertiliser producer. QAFCO is now owned 75% by Industries Qatar (IQ) and 25% by Yara Netherland. With a sizable annual production capacity of 3.8 million MT of ammonia and 5.6 million MT of urea from, QAFCO is now the world's largest single-site producer of ammonia & urea and thereby made Qatar the world's fourth largest urea producer. This enabled Qatar to be a key player in the global fertilizer market and the largest exporter of urea in the world with about 15% share of the world urea supply.


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FitMum
Older women 'make better mothers'
Women are often being encouraged to start a family as young as possible while their eggs are in tip-top shape, but a new UK study suggests mothers in their 40s have children with better physical and emotional health.
The team from the University of London, University College London and Birkbeck found that children of mothers over 40 were a third less likely to be admitted to hospital by the age of three.
They were also 22 percent less likely to accidentally injure themselves.
Children of older mothers also tended to have better language skills when they were three and four years old than mothers in their 20s.
"[The research] has demonstrated that, while there are many medical reasons why close attention should be given to the physical well-being of older mothers and their infants both during pregnancy and immediately after birth, an increase in older motherhood should not necessarily be a cause for concern in relation to subsequent parenting," study leader Professor Jacqueline Barnes said.
"Indeed, it is likely that older mothers will be preparing their children well for preschool and then school experiences in a warm and responsive home environment."
Professor Barnes said it seems older mothers have more life experience and also tend to be more financially secure than younger mothers.
"The findings of fewer unintentional injuries and fewer socio-emotional problems with increasing maternal age may suggest that women with more life experiences are able to draw upon a wider range of support that can help to reduce some of the stress of parenting," she said.
The median age for women giving birth to their first child in Australia is 28, while 14 percent of first-time mothers are aged over 35.
A recent UK report found that many women are prioritising their career over having children, while the rising cost of raising children is also believed to be encouraging more couples to wait longer to have children.
Author: Kimberly Gillan. Approving editor: Wade O'Leary.
Older Mothers