In this paper I revisit Kant's argument about the use of public reasoning. Kant insists that we must have a public space where we can learn how to think for ourselves. In order to be able to pass well-rounded judgments on matters concerning us all, we require knowledge about the thoughts of others. As he argues, prohibiting free expression of thought in public curtails "freedom of thought." How can we think freely if we cannot compare our thoughts with those of others?

Do we, in fact, in the current political climate, definable as 'Bush-ism', encourage the ability to think for ourselves, while comparing our thoughts with others in a consistent way? In other words, do we actually know what the rhetoric of 'axis of evil', 'pre-emptive strikes', 'war on terror', or 'weapons of mass destruction' mean? As Kant stressed throughout his writings, to think for oneself is paramount to rejecting heteronomy. After 11 September 2001, when Bush called for support in his war on terror, the option given was simple: either you are with us or you are against us. An 'all or nothing' choice. The enlarged mentality of Kant's sensus communis is sadly missing in this kind of politics.


On the night of Saturday, July 13, 1991, a mob of male students at the St. Kizito Mixed Secondary School in Meru, Kenya, attacked their female classmates in a dormitory. Nineteen schoolgirls were killed in the melee and more than 70 were raped or gang raped. The explanations in the press for the attack included a rebellion by male students over administrative mismanagement, academic stress, cultural norms for the Meru ethnic group, and victim characteristics (as assumed in rape myths). Rape had been tolerated at the school, according to press accounts. Dr. Steeves studied all stories published in three Nairobi daily newspapers and a weekly Kenyan newsmagazine for the year following the crime. She also examined a sampling of international reports. Her qualitative analysis sought to identify framing patterns supportive of patriarchal or of feminist ideologies of rape, and the ways in which those patterns have been affected by news values and traditions. "Gender Violence and the Press" shows how media discourse may allow space for feminist interests within the dominant patriarchal ideology. In this instance, the appearance of resistant views was significant in making alternative meanings available and in supporting women s growing anti-violence activism."


The mind internalizes persistent structural regularities in music and recruits these internalized representations to facilitate subsequent perception. Facilitation underlies the generation of musical expectations and implications and the influence of a musical context on consonance and memory. Facilitation is demonstrated in experiments showing priming of chords: chords that are harmonically closely related to a preceding context are processed more quickly than chords that are harmonically distant from the context. A tonal context enhances intonational sensitivity for related chords and heightens their consonance. Facilitation occurs even when related chords don9t share component tones with the context, and even when overlapping harmonics are eliminated. These results point to the indirect activation of representational units at a cognitive level. In a parallel study conducted in India, tones considered to play an important role in a rag but absent from the experimental rendition of that rag were facilitated in the same way. In a connectionist framework, facilitation is a consequence of activation spreading through a network of representational units whose pattern of connectivity encodes musical relationships. In a proposed connectionist model of harmony, each event in a musical sequence activates tone units, and activation spreads via connecting links to parent chord units and then to parent key units. Activation reverberates bidirectionally until the network settles into a state of equilibrium. The initial stages of the activation process constitute the bottom-up influence of the sounded tones, while the later, reverberatory stages constitute the top-down influence of learned, schematic structures internalized at the cognitive level. Computer simulations of the model show the same pattern of data as human subjects in experiments on relatedness judgments of chords and memory for chord sequences.


Formalising metatheory in the Coq proof assistant is tedious as reasoning with binders without native support requires a lot of uninteresting technicalities. To relieve users from so-produced boilerplate, the Autosubst framework automates working with de Bruijn terms: For each annotated inductive type, Autosubst generates a corresponding instantiation operation for parallel substitutions and a decision procedure for assumption-free substitution lemmas. However, Autosubst is implemented in Ltac, Coq's tactic language, and thus suffers from Ltac's limitations. In particular, Autosubst is restricted to Coq and unscoped, non-mutual inductive types with a single sort of variables. In this paper, we present a new version of Autosubst that overcomes these restrictions. Autosubst 2 is an external code generator, which translates second-order HOAS specifications into potentially mutual inductive term sorts. We extend the equational theory of Autosubst to the case of mutual inductive sorts by combining the application of multiple parallel substitutions into exactly one instantiation operation for each sort, i.e. we parallelise substitutions to vector substitutions. The resulting equational theory is both simpler and more expressive than that of the original Autosubst framework and allows us to present an even more elegant proof of part A of the POPLMark challenge.


The CO2 laser locked onto a saturated absorption resonance of OsO4 provides a secondary frequency standard in the 10 mm region, with an accuracy of 50 Hz to 1 kHz. For averaging times less than 100 s its stability performance is better than the Hydrogen maser. This paper deals with the present attempt to increase this performance by using a two-photon molecular resonance as a reference. We begin with some preliminary and promising results on a two-photon line of SF6 leading to characteristics similar to those obtained with a saturation line of OsO4 . Then two alternative methods to increase the resolution are presented : optical detection of slow molecules and a new development of the well-known Ramsey fringes. Metrological features are analyzed for both methods.


Meiotic crossovers are not randomly distributed along the chromosome. In Caenorhabditis elegans the central portions of the autosomes have relatively few crossovers compared to the flanking regions. We have measured the frequency of crossing over for several intervals across chromosome I in strains mutant for rec-1. The chromosome is approximately 50 map units in both wild-type and rec-1 homozygotes, however, the distribution of exchanges is very different in rec-1. Map distances expand across the gene cluster and contract near the right end of the chromosome, resulting in a genetic map more consistent with the physical map. Mutations in two other genes, him-6 and him-14, also disrupted the distribution of exchanges. Unlike rec-1, individuals homozygous for him-6 and him-14 had an overall reduction in the amount of crossing over accompanied by a high frequency of nondisjunction and reduced egg hatching. In rec-1; him-6 and rec-1; him-14 homozygotes the frequency of crossing over was characteristic of the Him mutant phenotype, whereas the distribution of the reduced number of exchanges was characteristic of the Rec-1 pattern. It appears that these gene products play a role in establishing the meiotic pattern of exchange events.


Harmonic standards give limits for individual harmonics and for voltage THD. Guidelines are given for the allocation of individual harmonic current but no allowance is made for the control of THD in IEC standards. The paper shows how voltage THD can be controlled within its limit by means of the authors' previously proposed Voltage droop approach. Two main concepts are required to develop an allocation strategy: (i) WITHD - a modified THD for current in which components are weighted depending on the harmonic frequency, (ii) a diversity law for THD based on the Summation law used for individual harmonics. The proposed allocation strategy gives an additional allocation of WITHD for an installation and is illustrated with a case study. It is shown that a WITHD allocation must be considered for large installations if voltage THD limits are to be met.


As a new way of training generative models, Generative Adversarial Net (GAN) that uses a discriminative model to guide the training of the generative model has enjoyed considerable success in generating real-valued data. However, it has limitations when the goal is for generating sequences of discrete tokens. A major reason lies in that the discrete outputs from the generative model make it difficult to pass the gradient update from the discriminative model to the generative model. Also, the discriminative model can only assess a complete sequence, while for a partially generated sequence, it is non-trivial to balance its current score and the future one once the entire sequence has been generated. In this paper, we propose a sequence generation framework, called SeqGAN, to solve the problems. Modeling the data generator as a stochastic policy in reinforcement learning (RL), SeqGAN bypasses the generator differentiation problem by directly performing gradient policy update. The RL reward signal comes from the GAN discriminator judged on a complete sequence, and is passed back to the intermediate state-action steps using Monte Carlo search. Extensive experiments on synthetic data and real-world tasks demonstrate significant improvements over strong baselines.


Fifty-seven percent of greenhouse gases produced by ski resorts are due to the transport of tourists to the resorts. More than eighty percent of them travel by car. Reduced car use to and around ski resorts is therefore a major objective for public policy. The Theory of Planned Behavior is used to identify the determinants of reduced car use during a tourist's stay in a ski resort. The moderating role of perceived lack of facilities also is tested. A field study (n = 485 tourists) shows that perceived behavioral control is the only significant determinant of reduced car use. Perceived lack of facilities moderates the influence of attitude and of subjective norms on this behavior. © 2015 Varna University of Management. All rights reserved


In 2016, the Supreme Court heard Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt, arguably the most consequential abortion case in decades. The ruling set an important precedent by requiring stringent attention be paid to the body of evidence needed to prove a law does not pose an undue burden on abortion access. The Court, in its decision, stressed the importance of relying on empirical evidence and research, and disregarding pseudoscience, or arguments that lacked sufficient factual support. In doing so, they allowed for a challenge to parental involvement laws.
Parental involvement laws currently exist in 37 states, and require minors to either notify or obtain consent from a parent before having an abortion. If notice or consent is not feasible, a judicial bypass option must also be available, where a minor can go to court to obtain consent from a judge. These laws have been long upheld by the Supreme Court, which argues that they are necessary for three reasons: that minors lack the capacity to make the abortion decision, that they encourage familial cohesion, and that they safeguard minors from what they argue are the medical and psychological consequences of abortion.
But empirical evidence, and long-standing research shows that minors have the capacity to make the abortion decision, and that the majority of them do so with a parent, without states mandating they do so. Abortion is an incredibly low-risk procedure, and study after study proves that abortion does not lead to mental health issues.
The precedent set forward in Whole Women's Health brings into question the Court's long-held justifications for parental involvement laws. Should a challenge to parental involvement laws come before the Court, it would require the Court to consider the existing research and empirical evidence on what the abortion decision looks like for minors, which would effectively delegitimize their current arguments in favor of parental involvement laws. This Note examines the Court's arguments for parental involvement laws, and lays out the evidence to the contrary, proving that the Court's support for parental involvement laws is not grounded in research, empirical evidence, or reality. It will also look at anti-choice pseudoscience and the inherent harms of parental involvement laws and judicial bypass. Thus, this Note will illustrate how a post-Whole Women's challenge to these laws might succeed.


Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) transition metal complexes of 2-hydroxy-5-[(E)-(4-phenyl) diazenyl] benzaldehyde oxime and 2-hydroxy-5-[(E)-(4-nitrophenyl) diazenyl] benzaldehyde oxime ligands were synthesized and characterized through NMR, IR, ESI mass, and UV analysis. DNA binding abilities of the complexes were revealed using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer with the absorption titration and competitive binding techniques. Hydrolytic and oxidative DNA cleavage activities under different conditions were also proved. Topoisomerase I inhibition efficiencies and in vitro free radical scavenging activities of all complexes were examined. Finally, the selective cytotoxic potentials of all complexes were evaluated in human colon cancer, normal colon, and fibroblast cell lines using the water-soluble tetrazolium salt (WST-1) assay. The complexes had the ability to intercalate into stacked base pairs of DNA and topoisomerase I activity was reasonably inhibited in their presence in 0.4 mM concentrations. The abilities for scavenging of DPPH and hydroxyl radicals were found to be higher than those of known standard antioxidants (ascorbic acid, butylated hydroxyanisole, and mannitol). The results obtained from the cytotoxicity experiments are especially promising for further research, which must be carried out for the evaluation of the studied complexes as anticancer drugs.


In this thesis, microfluidic systems which mimic blood vessels and tumour areas are developed to bridge the gap between conventional cell culture assays and animal models. The interactions of polymeric nanocarriers with different physicochemical properties and cells presented in the vessel wall and tumour tissue under exposure to the flow are examined. Our findings indicate critical roles of not only particle properties (size and surface chemistry), but also biological properties (flow conditions or leaky nature of tumour vessels) in nano-bio interactions. Therefore, these microfluidic systems are shown to be promising models for preclinical screening of potential drug delivery carriers.


The purpose of this study is to investigate supervisory support as a moderator of the effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. This study also examines the moderating role of supervisory support on the relationship between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Data were collected from a sample of frontline hotel employees in Northern Cyprus. The aforementioned relationships were tested based on hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results demonstrate that supervisory support mitigates the impact of role conflict on emotional exhaustion and further reveal that supervisory support reduces the effect of emotional exhaustion on job satisfaction. There is no empirical support for the rest of the hypothesized relationships. Implications of the empirical results are discussed, and future research directions are offered. The purpose of this study is to investigate supervisory support as a moderator of the effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. This study also examines the moderating role of supervisory support on the relationship between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Data were collected from a sample of frontline hotel employees in Northern Cyprus. The aforementioned relationships were tested based on hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results demonstrate that supervisory support mitigates the impact of role conflict on emotional exhaustion and further reveal that supervisory support reduces the effect of emotional exhaustion on job satisfaction. There is no empirical support for the rest of the hypothesized relationships. Implications of the empirical results are discussed, and future research directions are offered.


From the Publisher:
Manuel Castells is one of the world's leading thinkers on the new information age, hailed by The Economist as "the first significant philosopher of cyberspace," and by Christian Science Monitor as "a pioneer who has hacked out a logical, well-documented, and coherent picture of early 21st century civilization, even as it rockets forward largely in a blur." Now, in The Internet Galaxy, this brilliantly insightful writer speculates on how the Internet will change our lives.
Castells believes that we are "entering, full speed, the Internet Galaxy, in the midst of informed bewilderment." His aim in this exciting and profound work is to help us to understand how the Internet came into being, and how it is affecting every area of human life--from work, politics, planning and development, media, and privacy, to our social interaction and life in the home. We are at ground zero of the new network society. In this book, its major commentator reveals the Internet's huge capacity to liberate, but also its ability to marginalize and exclude those who do not have access to it. Castells provides no glib solutions, but asks us all to take responsibility for the future of this new information age.
The Internet is becoming the essential communication and information medium in our society, and stands alongside electricity and the printing press as one of the greatest innovations of all time. The Internet Galaxy offers an illuminating look at how this new technology will influence business, the economy, and our daily lives.


Over the past two decades, the open-door of the market supply in China has had a massive impact on the automotive market. This development contributes to the globalization of the automobile industry that involved the integration of the Chinese domestic market into the international markets. Among many reasons, motivation to gain access to industrialized markets and to gain access to superior technology, management resources and knowledge are the most driving factors of the Chinese automotive industry for the internationalization and going abroad strategy of China ́s automotive industry. This study investigated whether different external globalization drivers and internal organization factors have differential effects on various dimensions of China ́s automakers firms' global strategy. Most of the studies written about global strategies have implemented only either of the internal or the external drivers of the internationalization of the firms. The contribution of the paper introduces a more comprehensive model on the global expansion of a firm. This paper concludes that China ́s automotive industry has some competitive advantages such as low cost, while, facing a number of challenges that hinder the internationalization of Chinese automobile companies. It also shows that multiple factors play an important role in firms' internationalization global strategy plan. It is thus essential that the interaction among independent variables is considered in the determination of global expansion strategy. This paper suggests that in comparative application of China ́s economy of internationalization process to most of other industries in the emerging markets, they have similar development strategies and profiles due to the similar enterprise organizational mode and industrial environment. Therefore, most of the factors discussed in this paper can also apply to many industries in other emerging markets that are seeking for internationalization by creating a competitive global expansion strategy.


ABSTRACT Political rule depends upon public discourse as it requires negotiation and compromise of conflicting interests. Public discourse includes activities that can be described as cause lawyering, lobbying, and rule entrepreneurship. The rule of law supports public discourse through, inter alia, the right to petition. The right to petition requires identification of those engaged in public discourse through petition. This requirement reflects a principle of general application. Solicitors owe an ethical duty to support the rule of law, including the right to petition. Lawyers without a specific duty to uphold the rule of law have ethical duties to maintain the reputation of the legal system and their legal profession. Lawyers, including solicitors, are frequent contributors to public discourse. Lawyers sometimes resist identifying the clients or client groups they represent in public discourse on the ground of the need to protect client confidentiality. This resistance is not ethically well reasoned, and lawyers should recognise a duty to disclose the identity of a client or client group for whom the lawyer is making representations in any public arena, understanding public arena to include both representations to public office holders (lobbying) and contributions to reform campaigns or consultations (cause lawyering or rule entrepreneurship).


Testing and evaluating the performance of different software solutions is important in order to compare them with each other. Measuring, or benchmark, software is not a trivial task and conducting tests in a real-time environment implicates it further. Still, measuring is the only way to provide useful information, for example, which real-time operating system is best suitable for a specific hardware configuration. The purpose of this project is to design a benchmark support system, which automatically performs benchmarks of a real-time operating system in a host-target environment. The benchmarks are conducted according to a user-defined specification and the support system also allows a developer to create configurable benchmarks. The benchmark support system described also allows parameters to increase monotonically within a specified interval during benchmark execution. This is an important feature in order to detect unpredictable behavior of the real-time system.


HuR is an abundant RNA-binding protein acting as a post-transcriptional regulator of many RNAs including mRNAs encoding inflammatory mediators, cytokines, death signalers and cell cycle regulators. In the context of intestinal pathologies, elevated HuR is considered to enhance the stability and the translation of pro-tumorigenic mRNAs providing the rationale for its pharmacological targeting. However, HuR also possesses specific regulatory functions for innate immunity and cytokine mRNA control which can oppose intestinal inflammation and tumor promotion. Here, we aim to identify contexts of intestinal inflammation where the innate immune and the epithelial functions of HuR converge or diverge. To address this, we use a disease-oriented phenotypic approach using mice lacking HuR either in intestinal epithelia or myeloid-derived immune compartments. These mice were compared for their responses to (a) Chemically induced Colitis; (b) Colitis- associated Cancer (CAC); (c) T-cell mediated enterotoxicity; (d) Citrobacter rodentium-induced colitis; and (e) TNF-driven inflammatory bowel disease. Convergent functions of epithelial and myeloid HuR included their requirement for suppressing inflammation in chemically induced colitis and their redundancies in chronic TNF-driven IBD and microbiota control. In the other contexts however, their functions diversified. Epithelial HuR was required to protect the epithelial barrier from acute inflammatory or infectious degeneration but also to promote tumor growth. In contrast, myeloid HuR was required to suppress the beneficial inflammation for pathogen clearance and tumor suppression. This cellular dichotomy in HuR's functions was validated further in mice engineered to express ubiquitously higher levels of HuR which displayed diminished pathologic and beneficial inflammatory responses, resistance to epithelial damage yet a heightened susceptibility to CAC. Our study demonstrates that epithelial and myeloid HuR affect different cellular dynamics in the intestine that need to be carefully considered for its pharmacological exploitation and points toward potential windows for harnessing HuR functions in intestinal inflammation.


We consider comparisons of statistical learning algorithms using multiple data sets, via leave-one-in cross-study validation: each of the algorithms is trained on one data set; the resulting model is then validated on each remaining data set. This poses two statistical challenges that need to be addressed simultaneously. The first is the assessment of study heterogeneity, with the aim of identifying a subset of studies within which algorithm comparisons can be reliably carried out. The second is the comparison of algorithms using the ensemble of data sets. We address both problems by integrating clustering and model comparison. We formulate a Bayesian model for the array of cross-study validation statistics, which defines clusters of studies with similar properties and provides the basis for meaningful algorithm comparison in the presence of study heterogeneity. We illustrate our approach through simulations involving studies with varying severity of systematic errors, and in the context of medical prognosis for patients diagnosed with cancer, using high-throughput measurements of the transcriptional activity of the tumor's genes.


Aims. In this paper we discuss the age and spatial distribution of young (age < 1 Gyr) Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) clusters using data from the Magellanic Cloud Photometric Surveys. Luminosities are calculated for all age-dated clusters. Methods. The ages of 324 and 1193 populous star clusters in the SMC and the LMC were determined fitting Padova and Geneva isochrone models to their resolved color-magnitude diagrams. The clusters cover an age range between 10 Myr and 1 Gyr in each galaxy. For the SMC, a constant distance modulus of = 18.90 and a metallicity of Z = 0.004 were adopted. For the LMC, we used a constant distance modulus of = 18.50 and a metallicity of Z = 0.008. For both galaxies, we used a variable color excess to derive the cluster ages. Results. We find two periods of enhanced cluster formation in both galaxies at 160 Myr and 630 Myr (SMC) and at 125 Myr and 800 Myr (LMC). We present the spatially resolved recent star formation history of both Clouds based on young star clusters. The first peak may have been triggered by a close encounter between the SMC and the LMC. In both galaxies, the youngest clusters reside in the supergiant shells, giant shells, the intershell regions, and toward regions with a high Hα content, suggesting that their formation is related to expansion and shell-shell interaction. Most of the clusters are older than the dynamical age of the supergiant shells. No evidence of cluster dissolution was found. Computed V band luminosities show a trend toward fainter magnitudes with increasing age, as well as a trend toward brighter magnitudes with increasing apparent cluster radii.


Public health policy/law is a discipline that seeks to identify opportunities and implement mechanisms to achieve justice in the public health sector. Several public health policies and programs have been implemented by virtue of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and these policies and programs seek to decrease America's "paradox of excess and deprivation" and address socioeconomic barriers that exist in the U.S. healthcare system. Private healthcare market interests have accused the ACA of intruding heavily into the professional autonomy of the medical profession, eroding healthcare market competition, and driving up national healthcare spending. Counter-arguments defending the ACA state that the law exposes the limitations to such professional autonomy of the medical profession, primarily because the U.S. healthcare system is currently ridden with excess, waste, and social injustice. This review article outlines the types of policies and laws governing healthcare, unique healthcare issues faced by particularly vulnerable populations, and future challenges and opportunities under the ACA. Lastly, the article provides recommendations to address future challenges and opportunities under the ACA, so as to balance the scales between private market interests and public health equity.


China's IC industry has been flourishing in recent years, huge market demand together with government investments are the major driving forces for this development. The status and development momentum of the Chinese IC industry also attracted wide interest and attention of international counterparts. A group of domestic IC experts are invited by the JoMM to write a series of articles about China's IC industry, including the history, current status, development, and related government policies. Information in these articles is all from public data from recent years. The purpose of these articles is to enhance mutual understanding between the Chinese domestic IC industry and international IC ecosystem.


OBJECTIVE
This report presents national estimates of fertility, family planning, and reproductive health indicators among females 15-44 years of age in the United States in 2002 from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). For selected indicators, data are also compared with earlier cycles of the NSFG.

METHODS
Descriptive tables of numbers and percentages are presented and interpreted. Data were collected through in-person interviews of the household population 15-44 years of age in the United States between March 2002 and March 2003. The sample included 7,643 females and 4,928 males, and this report focuses on data from the female sample. The overall response rate for the Cycle 6 NSFG was 79 percent, and the response rate for women was 80 percent.

RESULTS
Given the range of topics covered in the report, only selected findings are listed here. About 14 percent of recent births to women 15-44 years of age in 2002 were unwanted at time of conception, an increase from the 9 percent seen for recent births in 1995. Among recent births, 64 percent occurred within marriage, 14 percent within cohabiting unions, and 21 percent to women who were neither married nor cohabiting. The overall rate of breastfeeding initiation among recent births increased from 55 to 67 percent between 1995 and 2002. About 50 percent of women 15-44 had ever cohabited compared with 41 percent of women in the 1995 survey; the percentage of women currently cohabiting also increased, from 7 to 9 percent between 1995 and 2002.


This paper addresses the problem of planning for goal directed navigation in the environment that contains a number of possible adversary locations. It first shows that commonly used approaches such as assumptive planning can result in very long and costly robot traverses. It then shows how one can solve the same problem using a general probabilistic planner we have recently developed called PPCP (Probabilistic Planning with Clear Preferences). The paper also introduces two optimizations to the PPCP algorithm that make it run up to five times faster for our domain. The experimental results show that solving the problem with PPCP can substantially reduce the expected execution cost as compared to assumptive planning.


An interface is presented that is designed to help users switch among tasks on which they are concurrently working. Nine desirable properties for such an interface are derived. It is argued that a key constraint to building interfaces that support task switching is that low user-overhead switching among tasks requires a large amount of display space, whereas actual display space is limited. A virtual workspace design is presented that greatly speeds the inevitable task-switching induced window faulting. The resulting interface is presented as a study in theory-based human-interface design. It is shown how in this case theory is important in inspiring a design, but design entailments outside the theory raise new issues that must be faced to make the design viable. These design experiences, in turn, help inspire new theory.


Objective: This study compares inter-rater-reliability, lesion detection and clinical relevance of T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR), T2*-gradient recalled echo (T2*-GRE) and Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI) in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Methods: Three raters retrospectively scored 56 TBI patients' MR images (12–76 years old, median TBI-MRI interval 7 weeks) on number, volume, location and intensity. Punctate lesions (diameter <10 mm) were scored separately from large lesions (diameter ≥10 mm). Injury severity was assessed with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), outcome with the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE). Results: Inter-rater-reliability for lesion volume and punctate lesion count was good (ICC = 0.69–0.94) except for punctate lesion count on T2WI (ICC = 0.19) and FLAIR (ICC = 0.15). SWI showed the highest number of lesions (mean = 30.0), followed by T2*-GRE (mean = 15.4), FLAIR (mean = 3.1) and T2WI (mean = 2.2). Sequences did not differ in detected lesion volume. Punctate lesion count on T2*-GRE (r = −0.53) and SWI (r = −0.49) correlated with the GCS (p < 0.001). Conclusions: T2*-GRE and SWI are more sensitive than T2WI and FLAIR in detecting (haemorrhagic) traumatic punctate lesions. The correlation between number of punctate lesions on T2*-GRE/SWI and the GCS indicates that haemorrhagic lesions are clinically relevant. The considerable inter-rater-disagreement in this study advocates cautiousness in interpretation of punctate lesions using T2WI and FLAIR.


Courts in the United States have two primary means (in addition to individual adjudication) by which to resolve disputes in which numerous claimants have claims against a defendant that raise the same or similar issues. The first is the class action, in which the class representative brings suit on behalf of similarly situated but absent plaintiffs. A judgment in the class action (assuming that a class has been certified) binds the defendant and the absent class members. Since the Supreme Court's decisions in Concepcion and Italian Colors, however, businesses can reduce if not avoid the risk of class actions by using arbitration clauses with class arbitration waivers in their standard form contracts with consumers and employees. When businesses use such contract provisions, disputes are to be resolved in individual arbitration, with no aggregation of claims either in arbitration or in court. The second primary means of resolving duplicative litigation of similar claims is the doctrine of issue preclusion (also referred to as collateral estoppel). Issue preclusion bars a party from relitigating an issue that was resolved in a prior case involving the same party or parties. The issue must have been fully and fairly litigated and actually decided in the prior case, and only a party to the prior litigation or one in privity with a party is bound by the prior judgment. But a non-party to the prior case can, in appropriate circumstances, rely on issue preclusion against a party to the prior case (what is called "nonmutual issue preclusion") and preclude relitigation of the issue — i.e., hold the other party bound by the resolution of that issue in the prior case. This paper examines the extent to which arbitration awards have issue preclusive effect, such that issue preclusion might substitute for class actions when businesses use arbitration clauses with class waivers. It further suggests that the law governing issue preclusion in arbitration might develop in ways parallel to the law governing class actions and arbitration: with businesses using "issue preclusion waivers" to avoid the issue preclusive effect of awards, consumers and employees challenging such waivers as unenforceable, and businesses relying on FAA preemption in response.


The continuous unit operation of flotation is extensively used in mineral processing, wastewater treatment and other applications for selectively separating hydrophobic particles (or droplets) from hydrophilic ones, where both are suspended in a viscous fluid. Within a flotation column, the hydrophobic particles are attached to gas bubbles that are injected and float as aggregates forming a foam or froth at the top that is skimmed. The hydrophilic particles sediment and are discharged at the bottom. The hydrodynamics of a flotation column is described in simplified form by studying three phases, namely the fluid, the aggregates and solid particles, in one space dimension. The relative movements between the phases are given by constitutive drift-flux functions. The resulting model is a system of two scalar conservation laws with a multiply discontinuous flux for the aggregates and solids volume fractions as functions of height and time. The model is of triangular nature since one equation can be solved independently of the other. Based on the theory of conservation laws with discontinuous flux, steady-state solutions that satisfy all jump and entropy conditions are constructed. For the existence of the industrially relevant steady states, conditions on feed flows and concentrations are established and mapped as 'operating charts'. A numerical method that exploits the triangular structure is formulated on a pair of staggered grids and is employed for the simulation of the fill-up and transitions between steady states of the flotation column.


The language staff at the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) has a very selective attitude towards language technologies despite the fact that these technologies are widely spread in the work environment of translators. Tests and pilot projects with computer-assisted translation software have been conducted over the past five years at UNOG and have amply shown that such software is neither a source of improvement of quality nor a source of improvement of quantity in translation. Obstacles to efficiency gains that have been identified prior to the introduction of CAT remained the same as those identified after its introduction. New obstacles also appeared with the introduction of CAT in the work of language staff of an international organisation that point to the following conclusion: the usefulness of work habit changes may not be found in the area in which the changes occur but in other somewhat unexpected areas. In the case of translation in international organisations, as translation is not an isolated activity, synergies with other, sometimes far related business processes are required.


This exploration of spacetime and gravity emerged from two discoveries that were derived from very detailed analyses of the empirical data. These discoveries are, (i) the massless formula for gravitational acceleration g=I"c2 and (ii) that the gravitational constant G is not a constant but a variable Gi dependent upon the isotopic mass of element i, therefore, the need for a gravitational theory that encompasses, cosmology, near field gravity measurement inconsistencies and gravity modification. This paper presents one approach, that Nature is consistent everywhere, at every level of detail, and thus, spacetime is a non-null medium different from dimensions. Spacetime is the carrier of velocity and acceleration that alters the ruler of the dimensions, and therefore, the spacetime interval does not exists. Macro forces are observed when a Non Inertia (Ni) field is present and governed by g=I"c2, the universal descriptor of macro forces. This, lends itself to the development of gravity modification engines. This paper provides detailed guidance on how to design and construct gravity modification engines. An example is provided. From a cosmological perspective, the galaxy rotational anomalies are due to nucleosynthesis resulting in a decreasing gravitational constant. The variable gravitational coefficient Gi for isotope i provides alternatives to both, the dark matter thesis, and the big bang thesis. This paper proposes that all blackhole masses (black stars) are composed of a new type of particle, the black particle, who mass is 26.6 times heavier than the proton, and that black stars consists of a new type of matter, the black matter.


The development lifecycle of software Comprises of five major stages namely Feasibility study, Requirement Elicitation, Designing, Coding and Testing. A software process model is the basic framework which gives a workflow from one stage to the next. This workflow is a guideline for successful planning, organization and final execution of the software project. Generally we have many different techniques and methods used to software development life cycle. Project and most real word models are customized adaptations of the generic models while each is designed for a specific purpose or reason, most have similar goals and share many common tasks. This paper will explore the similarities and difference among these various software development life cycle models.


Given multiple time series data, how can we efficiently find latent patterns in an arbitrary time range? Singular value decomposition (SVD) is a crucial tool to discover hidden factors in multiple time series data, and has been used in many data mining applications including dimensionality reduction, principal component analysis, recommender systems, etc. Along with its static version, incremental SVD has been used to deal with multiple semi-infinite time series data and to identify patterns of the data. However, existing SVD methods for the multiple time series data analysis do not provide functionality for detecting patterns of data in an arbitrary time range: standard SVD requires data for all intervals corresponding to a time range query, and incremental SVD does not consider an arbitrary time range. In this paper, we propose TR-SVD (Time Ranged Singular Value Decomposition), a fast and memory efficient method for finding latent factors of time series data in an arbitrary time range. TR-SVD incrementally compresses multiple time series data block by block to reduce the space cost in storage phase, and efficiently computes singular value decomposition (SVD) for a given time range query in query phase by carefully stitching stored SVD results. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate that TR-SVD is up to 15 x faster, and requires 15 x less space than existing methods. Our case study shows that TR-SVD is useful for capturing past time ranges whose patterns are similar to a query time range.


Research has shown similarities between actual movement durations (AMD) and imagined movement durations (IMD). These similarities are believed to reflect the extent to which an action is represented by an internal model or emulator in the brain. Differences in AMD and IMD could be due to the employment of online feedback processes during actual movement in addition to emulated feedback as suggested by emulation theory. The current study was framed by these basic components of emulation theory. Methodology similar to a study by Papaxanthis, Schieppati, Gentili, and Pozzo (2002) was used to examine AMD and IMD of the arm under different conditions of added load and practice with the hypothesis that AMD and IMD would diverge with practice. The current study replicated the previous findings of a nonsignificant difference between AMD and IMD. As opposed to divergence, the results reveal an independent decrease in AMD and lack of change in IMD over 10 blocks of trials. The results suggest that the lack of change in IMD reflects a process that protects previous learning from catastrophic interference (McCloskey & Cohen, 1989). Other analyses revealed that the variability of IMD was larger than that of AMD but also revealed that the variability of both decreased with practice. It is suggested that both practice and feedback play a role in improving the consistency of a movement's timing. Significant correlations between AMD and IMD were also found. The results are consistent with the basic components of the emulation model.


This book is a thoughtful and useful addition to my reading list as a teacher of nursing, health care and research. It provides researchers and health-care practitioners with a strong foundation upon which to begin to think about race, ethnicity, multiculturalism and health care. This will be a useful textbook for health-care and research students at the postgraduate level; although undergraduates would find it a useful starting point to exploring the topic in greater depth. The intended audience for this book is wide, however: medical scientists, social scientists, health-care practitioners and researchers. The scholarly, but at the same time personal and inviting, style in which the book is written immediately engages the reader and encourages active and consolidated learning. Each chapter has a clearly stated objective, summary and conclusion, which provide the reader with a readily assimilable overview of the material being presented.

Raj Bhopal, a well known researcher in the area of race, ethnicity and health care, has a great deal to say about how health-care providers must begin to start thinking about research on, and the provision of, health care in a multicultural society. He acknowledges that multiculturalism and multicultural living are challenges for health-care providers but insists that they need to be addressed if we are to "meet social, ethical, legal and policy obligations to deliver evidence-based health care." For it is our failure to attend to multiculturalism in a balanced way that has led to unfair and inequitable health-care provision. There is a need for this book because there is poor understanding of how ethnicity and race influence health care in a multicultural society and hence little is being done to address the problem at the practical level. As Bhopal says, the "quality of the research leaves much to be desired" and the service fails to adapt to meet the needs of ethnic minority users.

In this book, the author provides readers with the knowledge and skills to deconstruct ethnicity, race and multiculturalism in health care, i.e., he provides historical and sociological explanation of these concepts, which unpick layers of historical and social and cultural meanings. He explores the context in which they emerged and how this context influences their accepted dominant meanings in today's health-care practice. Much of this may be uncomfortable reading for those of us who are white and have failed to see how such meaning has often shaped poor delivery of health care and poor research. It is through this process of deconstruction that readers are encouraged to reflect on taken-for-granted assumptions and hence to begin the process of thinking about and hopefully changing their practice as researchers or health-care practitioners. The book's clear presentation of methods of enquiry grounded in examples of health-care policy and planning is designed to encourage changes in actual practice. As Bhopal states "it is the intention that the reader will acquire the depth of knowledge to use the concepts and not merely be aware of them." ■


The main purpose of this paper is to explain the Radiological Assessment Programme implemented by Nucleoelectrica Argentina SA (NASA) in the Atucha I NPP and Atucha II NPP sites. Atucha I NPP reached its first criticality in 1974, while Atucha II NPP will start its commercial operation in the last quarter of 2011. The Radiological Assessment Programme verifies the compliance of the basic safety standards with reference to the radiation exposure of the population in the surrounding area and the environmental impact searching for continuous improvement, as a result of applying the ALARA philosophy. The reference levels are calculated considering a theoretical dose of 0.05 mSv/year for the critical group. This value is considered for the discharge limits for Atucha I NPP (Ki) in the Operations Licence in force, and those limits comprise all the radionuclides established in the Argentine Regulatory Authority Requirements.


One of the more papular, and negative, images of behavioral interventions held by the lay public is that presented in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. It is suggested that because this image is so popular, the book and its author must be understood by behavior analysts if they are to adequately respond to claims made in the book and subsequent movie. The book was originally published in the United States with only 20 chapters, the movie also ending with the 20th chapter. The 21st chapter, first published in the U.S. in 19S6, changes the focus of the book from the morality of behavioral interventions per se to the more general issue of the existence of free will and the State's destruction of same. Several of Burgess' works are examined. It is suggested that Burgess wrote his books from the standpoint of a Catholic with a belief in original sin and deity-granted free will. It is concluded that although Burgess raises an important concern, A Clockwork Orange fails to offer any real answers to the questions it poses. With regard to behavioral interventions, it is suggested that the conditioning Burgess describes would rapidly extinguish, that his understanding of the philosophical and political ramifications of behaviorism is lacking, and that he fails to acknowledge any good that could come from such interventions.


Is it possible to be in favor of a constitutional vote and against amending the Constitution to add it? Yes. This paper argues that the amendment game is not worth the candle. There are two stages for ensuring a robust right to vote: amending the Constitution, and enforcing that amendment. As to the first stage, if an amendment enshrining the right to vote looks anything like its cognates in the Constitution, it will be thinly described, maddeningly vague, and pushed forward by self-interested politicians. If the amendment takes this form, the benefits reformers and academics assert we'll reap are anything but automatic. Once a vague guarantee is embedded in the Constitution (Stage 1), reformers will still have to turn to legislators and courts to get something done (Stage 2). Making the text more concrete may make Stage 2 easier, but it will complicate efforts to pass the amendment in the first place. After all, if it were easy to enfranchise former felons or block voter ID rules or guarantee a well-administered election system or end partisan gerrymandering, we would presumably have done it already. It's possible, of course, that reformers could aim for something more than vague language, either by writing their aims explicitly into the text or creating an amendment history so robust that everyone understands what the right embodies. On this view, reformers would build a big tent of supporters by linking the amendment to lots of different reforms. The problem with this strategy is that it will also generate a big tent on the other side. Push for felon enfranchisement, and you'll run up against the tough-on-crime lobby. Tempt progressives with a ban on voter ID and lose the support of many Republicans. Promise to end gerrymandering and lose the support of most incumbents. That's why a vague textual guarantee is so tempting an option in Stage 1, even if it creates more work for Stage 2. For these reasons, it makes more sense to pour political resources into more discrete reform projects going forward.


The number of Internet-facing industrial control system(ICS) devices has risen rapidly due to remote control demand. Going beyond benefits in maintenance, this also exposes the fragile ICS devices to cyber-attackers. To characterize the security status of Internet-facing ICS devices, we analyze the exposed ICS devices and their vulnerabilities. Considering the ethic, we design and implement ICScope, a passive vulnerability assessment system based on device search engines. Firstly, ICScope extracts the ICS device information from the banners returned by multiple search engines. Then, ICScope filters out the possible ICS honeypots to guarantee accuracy. Finally, ICScope associates ICS vulnerabilities with each ICS device. Over the past year, our measurements cover more than 466,000 IPs. We first perform a comprehensive measurement of Internet-facing ICS devices from Dec 2019 to Jan 2020. We find that there are about 49.58% of Internet-facing ICS devices that can be identified are affected by one or more vulnerabilities. We also conduct three times experiments from Jun 2020 to Dec 2020 to monitor the security status of Internet-facing ICS devices. We observe a slowly decreasing trend in the number of vulnerable ICS devices during our experiment period.


This paper explores the risk and
return of a portfolio of single-family housing during
1978:1-2001:4 in the context of a portfolio of financial
assets. Homeownership offers higher returns to those
who have higher tax brackets, longer investment horizons
and use more financial leverage. Housing returns
are positively correlated with large-stock returns and
negatively correlated with returns on small stocks and
debt securities. Portfolio allocation to housing is large in
a minimum variance portfolio, and it increases with
longer holding periods and higher tax brackets. Homeownership
risk and return vary widely among the forty-two
MSAs studied, and within an MSA, housing returns
exhibit substantial variation.


Though Ottoman miniatures are 2D representations, they carry the potential of conveying an individual's perception in a more detailed manner as compared to 3D perspective renderings. In a typical 2-vanishing-point perspective; objects / subjects drawn in the foreground hide the ones that are located at their back: This phenomenon is called occlusion. In Ottoman miniatures there is no occlusion, all object / subject illustrations are wholistic, there is no partial description of figures. Consequently, you end up with a life form that is the synthesis of individual forms, a sui generis state... This unique visual narrative can be extended to cubist works where multifaceted descriptions are observed.

Another advantage of Ottoman miniatures is that hierarchies of image and image maker are quite clear. Miniatures make use of distance, void, shape, scale relationships and their layout to give a sense of depth in space. Though objectivity is very much valued in visual representation, ideal objectivity is not possible since representations are created by subjects and subjects belong to cultures that have different criteria in forming / perceiving portrayals. Moreover, tools that are used for visual representations usually prove to be narrower than the scope of human perception.

Departing from the point of view explained above, Muta-morphosis is a photography project that is created as an almost surreal visualization stemming from the real. The lack of a single perspectival structure due to multiplicity of perspectives after compressed panoramic imaging, can be linked to Ottoman miniatures, which in turn, connects the global contemporary representation to its local traditional counterpart.

Keywords: Ottoman miniature painting, contemporary photography, child drawings, visualization, representation, reality, documentary, subjectivity, objectivity, visual narration.


Extensive electronic structure calculations, based on the density-functional theory, are used to characterize the equilibrium properties and the behaviour under pressure of MgH2. Moreover, substitutional solid solutions for several 3d metals (Fe, Ni, Ti, Al, Pd, Co, etc.) in MgH2 are characterized by computing both relaxed structures and solution energies. Theoretical results are combined with experimental results on samples synthesized by ball milling. MgH2 was milled with 10 wt.% of 3d metals followed by microstructural characterization and hydrogen desorption behaviour. Good correlation between theoretical solution energies and experimental desorption temperatures reveals a general trend in these systems. A few notable exceptions can be detected, which can be explained in terms of peculiarities in the experimental composite microstructure.


Objectives: The study was planned to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Livwin (polyherbal formulation) in acute viral hepatitis. Materials and Methods: In this study, there were 29 patients in each group, receiving either Livwin (containing Ashwagandha, Arjuna, Bhumyamalaki, Daruharidra, Guduchi, Kutki and Punarnava) or placebo capsules containing lactose powder (500 mg). Both drugs were given orally two capsules two times a day for eight weeks followed by treatment free period of four weeks. Recovery of patients was assessed by noting symptomatic recovery and by measuring levels of serum bilirubin, serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase at baseline, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Results: Significant earlier recovery of weakness was observed with Livwin as compared to placebo at 2, 4 and 8 weeks. Serum bilirubin and ALT was observed in normal range in significantly more number of patients with Livwin treatment as compared to placebo at 2, 4 and 8 weeks. AST was observed in normal range in significantly more number of patients with Livwin treatment as compared to placebo at 2 and 4 weeks. Conclusions: Livwin is found effective in uncomplicated patients of acute viral hepatitis. Epigastric pain and diarrhea were reported with Livwin treatment.


Introduction The current randomised controlled trial will evaluate the efficacy of an internet-delivered positive imagery cognitive bias modification (CBM) intervention for depression when compared with an active control condition and help establish the additive benefit of positive imagery CBM when delivered in combination with internet cognitive behavioural therapy for depression. Methods and analysis Patients meeting diagnostic criteria for a current major depressive episode will be recruited through the research arm of a not-for-profit clinical and research unit in Australia. The minimum sample size for each group (α set at 0.05, power at 0.80) was identified as 29, but at least 10% more will be recruited to hedge against expected attrition. We will measure the impact of CBM on primary measures of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory—second edition (BDI-II), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9)) and interpretive bias (ambiguous scenarios test-depression), and on a secondary measure of psychological distress (Kessler-10 (K10)) following the 1-week CBM intervention. Secondary outcome measures of psychological distress (K10), as well as disability (WHO disability assessment schedule-II), repetitive negative thinking (repetitive thinking questionnaire), and anxiety (state trait anxiety inventory-trait version) will be evaluated following completion of the 11-week combined intervention, in addition to the BDI-II and PHQ9. Intent-to-treat marginal and mixed effect models using restricted maximum likelihood estimation will be used to evaluate the primary hypotheses. Clinically significant change will be defined as high-end state functioning (a BDI-II score <14) combined with a total score reduction greater than the reliable change index score. Maintenance of gains will be assessed at 3-month follow-up. Ethics and dissemination The current trial protocol has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of St Vincent's Hospital and the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12613000139774 and Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01787513. This trial protocol is written in compliance with the Standard Protocol Items: recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) guidelines.


In the present contribution, the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of nanocrystalline SiC powders will be discussed. In order to avoid the electrolysis of water during deposition as well as oxygen uptake of the nanocrystalline SiC by hydrolysis reactions, nonaqueous solvents were tested including ethanol and diethyl formamide. The solvents were compared regarding their effect on particle size distributions and sedimentation tests. Auxiliary information on the surface conditions as a function of the acidity of the suspension was drawn from aqueous zeta-potential measurements. The influence of dispersants, binders and the type of powder on the suspension properties was studied, and EPD was performed. For promising solvent-dispersant systems, the film thickness, current and deposition time at a given voltage were monitored during EPD.


Modeling and animation of the human form has been a long standing research goal in computer graphics. Muscles change shape due to the dynamic interactions of contraction, relaxation and contact. In order to provide real-time animation there must be a balance between the complexity of the methodology and the realism that is achieved. The methodology that will be explored and implemented in this thesis makes use of the cylindrical nature of bones and muscles. This method is generalized cylinders. As will be shown, the properties of generalized cylinders can provide fairly realistic components using simplistic calculation. To model the entire human body is a giant undertaking and is beyond the scope of this paper. Instead the thesis will demonstrate the viability of using generalized cylinders by modeling selected muscles and calculating their volumes. The focus would be the deformation of the muscles in the human leg while it performs four exercises. The modeling of the leg will include its three primary bones and five representative muscles. The skin covering is not included.


Information about the history of Earth's climate system is largely derived from the chemical composition of biogenic skeletons preserved in the geologic record. The isotope and elemental composition of scleractinian corals have proven to be useful tools for palaeoceanographic reconstruction, providing information about the surface and deep oceans on time scales of decades to millennia. The potential of gorgonian corals (Cnidaria: Octocorallia) as archives of past oceanic conditions is less well explored. Gorgonians are widely distributed throughout the world's oceans from the shallows to great depths, and with banded skeletons formed of organic gorgonin and calcite, the possibility exists to measure previously unobtainable proxy records. This Ph.D. focuses on the development of new methods for extracting proxy information from gorgonian coral skeletons and investigating the potential of gorgonians to record the conditions of the seawater in which they grew. Bermudian shallow water gorgonian colonies (Pseudoplexaura porosa, Plexaurella dichotoma and Plexaurella nutans) were sampled and their axial skeleton structure examined. The periodicity of skeletal banding was investigated using a series of staining and isotopic marking experiments, as well as the measurement of a radiocarbon time series. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios were measured in skeletal calcite using SIMS ion microprobe. Mg/Ca ratios show an overall, positive correlation with annual sea surface temperatures (SSTs) that is strongest in the autumn months (October–December). Interannual variability in Sr/Ca does not follow SST and may be influenced primarily by growth rate. A technique was developed to measure Tritium (3H) in skeletal gorgonin. Tritium, produced by nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s, is a valuable diagnostic tool for ocean circulation models because it was produced in a spike-like fashion and has a strong north-south hemispheric contrast. A significant limitation to the utility of tritium observations in ocean circulation models is our imperfect knowledge of the time history of surface water concentrations. The technique developed here proves that gorgonian corals have the potential to provide a detailed time history of surface water tritium concentrations at a variety of locations. This thesis has successfully combined a wide range of techniques, some newly developed, to illustrate the potential of gorgonian corals as recorders of seawater conditions in the recent past. Because of their wide geographic and depth distribution, as well as their organic and inorganic skeletal components, gorgonian corals, although largely over looked thus far, should prove important archives of past oceanic conditions in the future.


We use quasi-random variation in graduation years during the onset of a very deep national recession to study the relationship between early labor market conditions and young females' family formation outcomes. A policy-pilot affecting the length of upper-secondary vocational tracks allows us to compare females who graduated into the onset of the Swedish financial crisis of the 1990s to those graduating during the final phase of the preceding economic boom while netting out the main effect of the policy. We find pronounced, but short-lived, negative labor market effects from early exposure to the recession for low-grade students in particular. In contrast, we document very long-lasting effects on family formation outcomes, again concentrated among low-grade students. Young women who graduated into the recession because of the policy-pilot formed their first stable partnerships earlier and had their first children earlier. Their partners had lower grades, which we show to be a strong predictor of divorce, and worse labor market performance. Divorces were more prevalent and the ensuing increase in single motherhood was long-lasting. These negative effects on marital stability generated persistent increases in the use of welfare benefits despite the short-lived impact on labor market outcomes. The results suggest that young women respond to early labor market prospects by changing the quality threshold for entering into family formation, a process which affects the frequency of welfare-dependent single mothers during more than a decade thereafter.


Analysis of a poll of nine of the major remittance recipient countries in order to understand the market of remittances, the major trends in money transfers and the macro-economic effects on their economies. It will review industry and market behavior in money transfers, pricing, as well as other comparative indicators in the following countries: Egypt (England/Saudi A.), Portugal (Europe), Greece (U.S./W.E.), Philippines (U.S.), Zimbabwe/Mozambique (South Africa.), Turkey (Germany), Pakistan, and India (US).


As a result of the enormous clinical need, cardiac tissue engineering has become a prime
focus of research within the field of tissue engineering. In this project, Poly(3-
hydroxyoctanoate), P(3HO), a medium chain length (mcl-PHAs) biodegradable,
biocompatible and elastomeric polyhydroxyalkanoate, was studied as a potential material for
cardiac tissue engineering. Mcl-PHAs are an alternative source of polymers produced by
Pseudomonas sp. As Gram-negative bacteria, Pseudomonas sp. contains lipopolysaccharides
in the membrane, which are co-purified with PHAs and may cause immunogenic reactions.
This limits the biomedical applications of the mcl-PHAs in several cases. In this work, the
Pseudomonas mendocina PHA synthase gene (phaC1) was expressed in the LPS free, GRAS,
Gram-positive microorganism, Bacillus subtilis so as to produce LPS-free mcl-PHAs. Our
results showed that the recombinant Bacillus subtilis containing the phaC1 gene produced
poly(3-hydroxybutirate), P(3HB), with a maximum yield of 32.3 % DCW, an unexpected
result. This result thus revealed the unusually broad substrate specificity of the PHA synthase
from P. mendocina, which is able to catalyse both medium and short chain length PHAs
biosynthesis depending on the metabolic pool available in the host organism. Sequence
comparison of this PHA synthase with stringent mcl-PHA synthases revealed possible
residues influencing the substrate specificity of PHA synthases.
As studies on mcl-PHAs remain limited mainly because of the lack of availability of mcl-
PHAs in large quantities, the capacity to scale-up P(3HO) production from 2 L to 20 L and
72 L pilot plant bioreactors, based on constant oxygen transference, was studied.
The interaction of freshly isolated rat cardiomyocytes with the P(3HO) polymer, during
contraction, was studied when cells were stimulated at a range of frequencies of electrical
pulses or calcium concentrations. These results showed that P(3HO) did not have any
deleterious effects on the contraction of adult cardiomyocytes. P(3HO) cardiac patches nonporous,
porous or with P(3HO) electrospun fibres deposited on their surface were developed.
Our results showed that the mechanical properties of the final constructs were close to that of
the cardiac structures, with a Young's modulus value of 0.41±0.03 MPa. Myoblast (C2Cl2)
cell proliferation was studied on the different constructs showing an enhanced cell adhesion
and proliferation when both porous and fibrous structures were incorporated together.
Finally, for further enhancement of the cardiac patch function, VEGF and RGD peptide were
incorporated. Results obtained in this project showed that the P(3HO) multifunctional cardiac
patches were potentially promising constructs for efficient cardiac tissue engineering.


BACKGROUND
Changes over time in preferences for life-sustaining treatments (LSTs) at end of life (EOL) in different patient cohorts are not well established, nor is the concept that LST preferences represent more than 2 groups (uniformly prefer/not prefer).

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to explore heterogeneity and changes in patterns of LST preferences among 2 independent cohorts of terminally ill patients with cancer recruited a decade apart.

METHODS
Preferences for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intensive care unit care, cardiac massage, intubation with mechanical ventilation, intravenous nutritional support, nasogastric tube feeding, and dialysis were surveyed among 2,187 and 2,166 patients in 2003-2004 and 2011-2012, respectively. Patterns and changes in LST preferences were examined by multigroup latent class analysis.

RESULTS
We identified 7 preference classes: uniformly preferring, uniformly rejecting, uniformly uncertain, favoring nutritional support but rejecting other treatments, favoring nutritional support but uncertain about other treatments, favoring intravenous nutritional support with mixed rejection of or uncertainty about other treatments, and preferring LSTs except intubation with mechanical ventilation. Probability of class membership decreased significantly over time for the uniformly preferring class (15.26%-8.71%); remained largely unchanged for the classes of uniformly rejecting (41.71%-40.54%) and uniformly uncertain (9.10%-10.47%), and favoring nutritional support but rejecting (20.68%-21.91%) or uncertain about (7.02%-5.47%) other treatments, and increased significantly for the other 2 classes. The LST preferences of Taiwanese terminally ill patients with cancer are not a homogeneous construct and shifted toward less-aggressive treatments over the past decade.

CONCLUSIONS
Identifying LST preference patterns and tailoring interventions to the unique needs of patients in each LST preference class may lead to the provision of less-aggressive EOL care.


In the regime of normal dispersion and low-frequency detunings (or high powers), four-wave mixing is shown to undergo a hydrodynamic type of instability. Such instability involves the formation of shocks (steep fronts) from smooth initial data that are regularized through the appearance of trains of fast oscillations, which exhibit solitonlike behavior, colliding elastically.


Demonstration of the effect of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of laser beams is traditionally a difficult task. This is due to the complexities of long-distance measurements and the scarcity of suitable laser wavelengths in atmospheric transmission windows. We demonstrate the simulation of atmospheric turbulence in the laboratory using a phase-only spatial light modulator. We illustrate the advantages of this approach, as well as some of the limitations, when using spatial light modulators for this application. We show experimental results demonstrating these limitations, and discuss the impact they have on the simulation of various turbulence strengths.


Temuco and Pudahuel are two urban areas in Chile that are among the highest in particulate matter (PM10) air pollution in Chile. In fact, Temuco is also classified as one of the most polluted cities in Latin America by the World Health Organization. Both cities show important differences in the sources of this PM10 pollution. For Temuco, a southern city, the main source is the residential wood combustion (RWC), and for Pudahuel, located in the central zone, the main sources are mobile and point sources. The relationship between PM10 air pollution and health effects measured as the daily number of deaths and hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory causes was determined. The Air Pollution Health Effects European Approach (APHEA-2) protocol was followed, and a multivariate Poisson regression model with gam. exact algorithm was fitted for these cities during 2001-2006. The results show that PM10 had a significant association with daily mortality, where the relative risks (RR) for cardio respiratory mortality of the elderly age group was 1.0126 [95% (CI: 1.0004-1.0250)] at Temuco and 1.0086 [95% (CI: 1.0007-1.0165)] for Pudahuel when PM10 increased by 10 µg/m3. For the hospital admissions due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the RR were 1.0198 [95% (CI: 1.0030-1.0369)] at Temuco and 1.0097 [95% (CI: 1.0000-1.0204)] at Pudahuel. There is evidence in these cities of positive relationships between ambient particulate levels and the rates of mortality and morbidity for cardiovascular and respiratory causes; being the excess risk 47% and 104.1% higher in Temuco than Pudahuel for cardiorespiratory mortality of the elderly population and COPD hospital admissions, respectively. These results demonstrate that there is greater risk when people are exposed to air polluted with wood smoke.


Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the western world. In the era of precision medicine, a significant number of cancer patients can be cured with several anti-cancer therapeutic regimens. However, therapy failure may be caused by treatment side effects, such as diarrhea, especially occurring in patients with gastrointestinal or pelvic malignancies. In particular, diarrhea is one of the most frequent gastrointestinal toxicity during cancer treatment and it can result from nearly bot chemo- and radio-therapeutic strategies currently used. Diarrhea has a serious impact on patients' quality of life and treatment dosing and schedule modification due to its severity can negatively influence treatment outcomes. In this context, probiotics may play an interesting role in several human diseases with an inflammatory bowel involvement and, among these, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) is one of the most characterized and utilized. In particular, LGG is able to reverse intestinal dysbiosis and moderate diarrhea. Moreover, preclinical studies have documented its effects in reducing chronic inflammation associated with cancer development. This review summarizes the preclinical results of LGG on cancer cells proliferation and tumor invasion as well as the potential role of LGG use in cancer patients for the prevention and management of diarrhea associated with cancer treatment. Overall, these encouraging data support further investigation on the use of LGG in stratified patients undergoing specific therapeutic protocols, including chemotherapy and pelvic radiotherapy, in order to reduce the development of severe diarrhea and thus improve the adherence to the therapy and patients' quality of life.


This paper is a comment on Ahani v. Canada (OCA). Canadian courts are presently involved in a dialogue over the role of international law domestically. The courts' own grappling with various norms of international law, however, has helped to clarify and reinforce the status of these norms. In Baker v. Canada, the Supreme Court gave a new prominence to the "persuasive approach" of applying international law. Ahani demonstrates that while the persuasive approach has begun to be internalized into Canadian law, the courts are still at odds with how persuasive international law should be. To complicate this account, the Supreme Court's discussion in Suresh of peremptory norms of international law demonstrates that an over-emphasis on the "persuasive" approach can in fact weaken the role of international law domestically. At the same time, the dialogue within the courts is linked to a much more general dialogue. The importance of cases such as Ahani ultimately stretches beyond the domestic context.


This case study research describes and evaluates the impacts of the learning of English language in an ICT-enriched learning environment, in a primary school under the FutureSchools@Singapore programme. Students from the school are provided with a ratio of one computing device to two students in Primary 1 and subsequently a one-to-one computing learning environment from Primary 2 (i.e. Grade 2) onwards. From Primary 4 onwards, students procure and use their own computing devices. This case study describes how ICT has been used for the teaching and learning of English. The frequency of ICT use in the English classrooms is presented. More importantly, the impacts in terms of the students' ICT skills, English test score and feedback from students involved are also presented and discussed. The students performed well in the ICT skill test. The students also performed relatively well in the English test as compared to a comparable school. In the English test, the ICT-enabled school reported a statistically significant higher mean score than the comparable school; the mean scores were 73.87 and 67.38 between the school and the comparable school, respectively. In general, the students commented that they were satisfied with the use of their notebook computers. They found it interesting, useful and easy to use. However, students complained about computer viruses, small computer screen, battery lifespan, weight of their notebook computers, slow Internet connect speed and Internet connection errors. In the self-reported higher-order thinking questionnaire, no significant difference was found for students' problemsolving and reflective thinking skills between the school in this study and the comparable school.


Some of society's most frail and vulnerable older people live in nursing homes. As a result of physical and cognitive impairment many residents experience mobility loss resulting in the need for staff to assist them to move and perform activities of daily living. This thesis proposes that residents are often at risk of losing mobility, autonomy and control during mobility care. It also suggests that care staff will be safer and gain greater job satisfaction when they use mobility enhancing strategies that support residents' mobility and autonomy. Extensive literature has explored the impact of safe manual handling on staff outcomes. However, there is a dearth of literature investigating the impact of staff manual handling or assistance on resident mobility outcomes. The overarching aim of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of factors influencing the quality and safety of mobility care for residents and staff. I also aimed to determine an approach for safe and person-centred mobility care and directions for practice improvement. The program of research is best described as a focused ethnography that explores various stakeholder perspectives. Methods employed included: interviews with 11 senior staff and 15 residents; focus groups with 18 direct care workers; and almost twenty hours of observations of interactions between residents and staff during mobility care. In the tradition of critical ethnography I conducted an analysis of discourses that may conflict or compete with resident mobility optimization. Through auto ethnography I reflected on my contribution to the research project as both a researcher and clinician. I explored person- and relationship-centred frameworks that provided a theoretical framework to the research. Finally, I used crystallization, a postmodern form of triangulation, to draw the various stakeholder perspectives together. The main theme that emerged from resident interviews was residents' acceptance of mobility loss. This led to development of a model of residents' positive adaptation to mobility loss. However, findings indicated that residents may not adapt positively if staff impose dependence on them. This finding highlighted that staff should support residents' autonomy during mobility care by using person-centred approaches. An important theme, decision-making, emerged from focus groups with care staff. This theme was explored in detail because care staff's decisions and behaviour are a critical determinant of whether care is person-centred or task-oriented. Using Cognitive Continuum Theory, I examined staff's modes of decision-making practice and concluded that peer-aided judgements, reflective practice and situation awareness may support improved mobility care. Finally, a collaborative and integrated approach to mobility care that focuses on quality care, safety and residents' quality of life is proposed. By drawing on perspectives of all stakeholders I developed a comprehensive model of moderating and mediating factors that can act as barriers or facilitators of mobility care. Suggested mobility care improvements focus on staff's assistive performance, but also development of a facility culture that will sustain practice improvement. Thus the health, well-being and safety of residents and staff will be enhanced and improved staff job satisfaction may contribute to sustainability of the aged care workforce.


The value of IT (Information Technology) to organizations has been a continuous topic of discussion since computers were introduced into organizations. Privacy of information collected during healthcare processes is necessary because of significant economic, psychological and social harm that can come to individuals when personal health information is disclosed. The current study is an effort to explore the perception and practices of 182 physicians towards etransfer of patient information, consent and confidentiality issues in the selected tertiary care hospital. Questionnaire containing 10 questions related to perception and practices related to confidentiality of patient information was used as a tool. The study clearly showed the diversity in the perception and practices of physicians of current healthcare setting. Sincere attempts need to be made to address the value and processes of medical ethics at the institutional level and academic programs should aim at making the physicians aware of legal rights of the patients, informed consent, confidentiality and privacy.


Instrumentation development for ambient mass spectrometry is an ever-changing and ever-growing field, often emphasizing the development of field-portable, ruggedized instrumentation. This thesis presents work in the area of ion source development. Specifically, two novel ionizers for mass spectrometry are constructed, implemented, and tested on a variety of systems. The first, the ambient pressure pyroelectric ion source (APPIS) comprises a z-cut lithium niobate or lithium tantalate pyroelectric crystal which is subjected to thermal cycling. Thermal cycling and the pyroelectric effect result in the buildup of excess charge on the z-faces of the material. For a temperature change of only 30 K, an electrical potential as high as 70,000 V could be built up if no discharging occurs. At ambient pressure, electrical discharges occur between the oppositely charged crystal faces and regions of different potentials on the same crystal face. Monitoring of the discharges using an inductive pickup reveals that the time frame of ion production corresponds to that of electrical activity on the crystal face. Additionally, the ions observed in the mass spectra differ when different ambient gas compositions are present. This, and comparison to APCI experiments reveals that ionization with APPIS is a gas phase process and observed product ion species are highly dependent on ambient gas composition. An application of APPIS, whereby APPIS is used as an ion source for the detection of chemical warfare agents, is presented. Agents in the V and G classes possess amine functionality, and as a result have relatively high proton affinities and are well suited to ionization and detection using chemical ionization with APPIS. Simulants for the nerve agents VX and Tabun were detected as singly protonated species using APPIS. A second ion source for ambient mass spectrometry is also presented, the switched ferroelectric plasma ionizer (SwiFerr). The source comprises a 1 mm thick plate of barium titanate with an electrode on one face and a grounded metallic grid on the opposite face. If an audio frequency high voltage waveform is applied to the electrode, domain structure is formed and the high electric fields across domain walls give rise to electron emission and plasma formation. At ambient pressure, the plasma produces chemical ionization reagent ions which participate in proton transfer reactions with trace species in ambient air. The source is useful for examining organic vapors and solid samples. Solid sampling is achieved through use of a pneumatic aspirator, which can aspirate powders into the SwiFerr source for analysis. Powders of the drugs loperamide and ibuprofen were ionized and detected using SwiFerr. A second-generation SwiFerr source has been designed and implemented, and is described. The second-generation source is constructed in a unibody fashion, such that the rear electrode, grid, and electrical contact wires are attached as a single unit using conductive adhesives. This allows for a source which is further miniaturized and capable of insertion into a standard Swagelok fitting, for ease of integration into existing instrumentation. The source is particularly sensitive, and an application involving detection of trace explosives is presented. Nanogram quantity samples of TNT were ionized and detected with SwiFerr after volatilization using a rudimentary thermal desorption apparatus. Sensitive detection of TNT suggests use of SwiFerr in applications where sensitive detection in field portable instrumentation is desired. To this end, plans for a stand-alone power supply for this ionizer as well as a supply designed for operating the source in a constant discharge mode at low power are presented in an appendix. Additional work not related to ion source development is also presented in this thesis. Chapter 6 presents advances in free radical initiated peptide sequencing (FRIPS). The 20 amino acid basis set has been analyzed for reactivity with acetyl radical, and distinct reactivity classes are observed. Chapter 7 presents a study of regioselective cleavage at aspartic acid residues by various cations. Selective cleavage at aspartic acid is observed for any cation which is not mobile along the peptide backbone, and fragmentation proceeds through a salt bridge mechanism.


This paper presents Tweety, an open source project for scientific experimentation on logical aspects of artificial intelligence and particularly knowledge representation. Tweety provides a general framework for implementing and testing knowledge representation formalisms in a way that is familiar to researchers used to logical formalizations. This framework is very general, widely applicable, and can be used to implement a variety of knowledge representation formalisms from classical logics, over logic programming and computational models for argumentation, to probabilistic modeling approaches. Tweety already contains over 15 different knowledge representation formalisms and allows easy computation of examples, comparison of algorithms and approaches, and benchmark tests. This paper gives an overview on the technical architecture of Tweety and a description of its different libraries. We also provide two case studies that show how Tweety can be used for empirical evaluation of different problems in artificial intelligence.


We demonstrate a novel bistable optical waveguide switch, which may be suitable for incorporation in large-dimension optical cross connects. The switching is based on the electrolytic creation and catalytic destruction of bubbles and is both wavelength and polarization independent. Calculations indicate that low losses and cross talk, which are crucial for large switching arrays, can be achieved with the combination of materials used in the prototype. The intrinsic bistability of the switch eliminates the need for a holding voltage and permits matrix addressing.


: Discusses three important questions and issues regarding Japan's role in global environmental affairs: how the environmental movement has evolved in Japan; what the country's major environmental policy challenges are on the local-national, regional and global level; and, how Japanese companies are responding to the sustainability challenge. Describes unresolved sustainability questions facing Japan and how the current economic situation has overshadowed the urgency of sustainability. Describes the passing of the pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) system and as encouraging sign for future sustainability efforts, not only because it gives the Environment Agency administrative authority over companies, but also because it signals a path towards increased accountability and transparency.


Abstract
This experiment was conducted to study the effect of south-west climatic conditions on quantitative and qualitative of fatty acids in dog rose (Rosa canina L.) seeds collected from five regions including: Semirom (Isfahan Province), Kiar and Gerdbishe (Charmahal and Bakhtiari Province), Yasuj and Meymand (Kohgiluye and Boyer Ahmad Province). Oil was extracted using Soxhlet apparatus; the fatty acid composition of oil was characterized and quantified using GC. The highest and lowest oil percentage obtained from Meymand (11.05%) and Kiar (8.15%), respectively. The results confirmed the presence of five dominant fatty acids in seeds of dog rose, including: linoleic, oleic, linolenic, palmitic and stearic acid, respectively. Results showed that differences between fatty acids quantity in regions under study was significant (P<1%). The highest amount of linoleic, oleic and linolenic acid was related to Gerdbishe (52.09%), Semirom (40.47%) and Kiar (17.47%), respectively. The lowest amount of linoleic, oleic and linolenic acid was obtained from Semirom (37.24%), Gerdbishe (22.69) and Meymand (12.85%), respectively. The highest amount of palmitic and stearic acid was related to Meymand (4.91%) and Kiar (3.88%), respectively; and the lowest amount of palmitic and stearic acid was related to Meymand (4.04% and 2.17%, respectively). The highest and lowest amount of unsaturated fatty acids was related to Semirom (92.65%) and Yasuj (90.07%), respectively. Differences between amounts of fatty acid composition of dog rose seeds in regions under study was as result of difference in climatic factors.

Key words: Rosa canina, Fatty Acid, Seed, South-west of Iran


The teacher relations and self-perception of children with externalizing (n = 26) and internalizing behavior problems (n = 25) and a nonproblematic group (n = 44) were studied prospectively. The children were assessed with the Rutter CBQ in 1st grade. Classroom observations of teacher-child interactions were performed in 2nd grade. The teacher relationship was assessed with the Pianta STRS and with child self-reports, and self-perception was assessed with a Swedish instrument in 3rd grade. Children with externalizing problems had more conflicts with teachers, as well as more negative attitudes in teacher relationships and a less positive self-perception, than did untroubled children. Children with internalizing problems had more dependent and conflictual teacher relationships than did untroubled children. There was little evidence of moderating effects of social competence on the teacher-child relations of children with behavior problems. Observed conflictual teacher interactions to some extent contributed to negative teacher relationships independently of problem status.


Further increasing the production of processed biofuel also increases the demands on drying capacity. With the aim of increasing the heat capacity flow, experimental tests have been performed on the process of drying sawdust in a continuous spouted bed dryer with nine different draft tube designs. The results showed that a draft tube with an increased length and an increased disengagement height decreased the dry substances' flow rate throughout the dryer. The results also showed that the mass of the material in the dryer was approximately the same in all the tests. This means that the draft tubes, no matter their size, do not influence the amount of material in the dryer.


Based on the OSI SAF cone visualisation tools at KNMI and the NOC corrections, calibration of the ASCAT scatterometer is checked. In this report we describe and evaluate level 1b corrections to the operational L1b ASCAT backscatter data version PPF740 as provided by EUMETSAT based on their three transponder calibration campaign. For the left mid antenna an offset in ocean calibration results has disappeared with respect to the former version, suggesting improved L1b calibration as anticipated. For all antennas the " wiggles " have reduced in amplitude. In the outer swath consistent large departures remain, which may be included in an updated version of the geophysical model function, i.e., CMOD5na. Indeed, still the ASCAT wind product based on L1b version PPF740 shows very similar characteristics to the ASCAT scatterometer wind product based on L1b version PPF730 and meets the wind product requirements. Deviations between scatterometer and Numerical Weather Prediction wind derived backscatter still show a significant improvement after correction. Without correction the difference ranges from +0.4 dB to-0.8 dB going from the inner side to the outer side of the swaths. Also, the PPF 740 L1b data show smaller interbeam differences and the wiggles in the antennas have been reduced. After the NOC correction is applied the difference ranges from-0.12 dB to +0.26 dB and is almost identical for the PPF740 and the PPF730 L1b data. The operational OSI SAF ASCAT level 2 wind product stream runs at KNMI using the validated ASCAT level 1b stream at 12.5 km and 25 km sampling as input, and may be maintained without any significant effects on product quality. The new L1b σ 0 stream will be corrected using the new linear scaling factors in the transformed z domain, which correspond to addition factors in the logarithmic domain (dB). These changes correspond to slightly resetting the ASCAT instrument gain per beam and per Wind Vector Cell (WVC) in order to maintain the backscatter data consistency and wind product quality.


Genetic expression and control pathways can be successfully modeled as electrical circuits. Given the vast quantity of genomic data, very large and complex genetic circuits can be constructed. To tackle such problems, the massively-parallel, electronic circuit simulator, Xyce/sup /spl trade//, is being adapted to address biological problems. Unique to this biocircuit simulator is the ability to simulate not just one or a set of genetic circuits in a cell, but many cells and their internal circuits interacting through a common environment. Currently, electric circuit analogs for common biological and chemical machinery have been created. Using such analogs, one can construct expression, regulation and reaction networks. Individual species can be connected to other networks or cells via nondiffusive or diffusive channels (i.e. regions where species diffusion limits mass transport). Within any cell, a hierarchy of networks may exist operating at different time-scales to represent different aspects of cellular processes. Though under development, this simulator can model interesting biological and chemical systems. Prokaryotic genetic and metabolic regulatory circuits have been constructed and their interactions simulated for Escherichia coli's tryptophan biosynthesis pathway. Additionally, groups of cells each containing an internal reaction network and communicating via a diffusion limited environment can produce periodic concentration waves. Thus, this biological circuit simulator has the potential to explore large, complex systems and environmentally coupled problems.


Recent progress on flow polytopes indicates many interesting families with product formulas for their volume. These product formulas are all proved using analytic techniques. Our work breaks from this pattern. We define a family of closely related flow polytopes $F_{(\lambda, {\bf a})}$ for each partition shape $\lambda$ and netflow vector ${\bf a}\in Z^n_{> 0}$. In each such family, we prove that there is a polytope (the limiting one in a sense) which is a product of scaled simplices, explaining their product volumes. We also show that the combinatorial type of all polytopes in a fixed family $F_{(\lambda, {\bf a})}$ is the same. When $\lambda$ is a staircase shape and ${\bf a}$ is the all ones vector the latter results specializes to a theorem of the first author with Morales and Rhoades, which shows that the combinatorial type of the Tesler polytope is a product of simplices.