Low birthweight is a risk factor for later adverse health. Here the impact of placentally mediated prenatal growth restriction followed by postnatal nutrient abundance on growth, glucose metabolism ...and body composition was assessed in both sexes at key stages from birth to mid-adult life. Singleton-bearing adolescent dams were fed control or high nutrient intakes to induce normal or growth-restricted pregnancies respectively. Restricted lambs had ~40% reduced birthweight. Fractional growth rates were higher in restricted lambs of both sexes predominantly during suckling/juvenile phases. Thereafter, rates and patterns of growth differed by sex. Absolute catch-up was not achieved and restricted offspring had modestly reduced weight and stature at mid-adulthood necropsy (~109 weeks). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry revealed lower bone mineral density in restricted vs normal lambs at 11, 41, 64 and 107 weeks, with males > females from 41 weeks onwards. Body fat percentage was higher in females vs males throughout, in restricted vs normal lambs at weaning (both sexes) and in restricted vs normal females at mid-adulthood. Insulin secretion after glucose challenge was greater in restricted vs normal of both sexes at 7 weeks and in restricted males at 32 weeks. In both sexes, fasting glucose concentrations were greater in restricted offspring across the life course, while glucose area under the curve after challenge was higher in restricted offspring at 32, 60, 85 and 106 weeks, indicative of persistent glucose intolerance. Therefore, prenatal growth restriction has negative consequences for body composition and metabolism throughout the life course with the effects modulated by sex differences in postnatal growth rates, fat deposition and bone mass accrual.
This paper proposes a method for reducing the time to complete the boarding of a two-door airplane when its passengers are transported from the airport terminal to the airplane using two apron buses. ...In contrast to other methods that assign passengers to apron buses, our method considers groups of passengers traveling together (e.g. families). In particular, we propose a mixed integer programming (MIP) model that assigns each group of passengers (including each single-passenger group) to one of the two apron buses based on their seating assignments. We assume that all seats on the apron buses and the two-door airplane are occupied. We conduct stochastic simulation experiments with the proposed MIP-based method and with a baseline method that assigns groups of passengers with seats furthest from one of the airplane doors to the first apron bus and assigns remaining groups to the second apron bus. Numerical results indicate that the proposed MIP-based method reduces the boarding time by up to 27.31% when compared with the baseline approach.
Nutritional backgrounds prior to pregnancy may interact with subsequent gestational intake to influence pregnancy outcome, particularly in young, growing adolescents. To investigate this interaction, ...singleton pregnancies were established in two groups of adolescent sheep of identical age but different initial weight and adiposity score, classified as good (G) and poor (P) body mass index (BMI). Thereafter, ewes were offered either an optimal control (C) intake to maintain adiposity throughout pregnancy, undernourished (UN) to maintain weight at conception but deplete maternal body reserves, or overnourished (ON) to promote rapid maternal growth and adiposity, resulting in a 2 x 3 factorial design. Gestation length was independent of BMI and reduced in ON dams. Average placental and lamb birth weights were influenced by initial BMI (G > P) and gestational intake (C > UN > ON), with the highest incidence of growth restriction in ON groups. Metabolic challenges at two thirds of gestation revealed enhanced insulin insensitivity in ON dams (higher glucose postinsulin challenge and higher insulin postglucose challenge), but nevertheless fetal growth was constrained. Initial colostrum yield, total IgG, and nutrient supply were reduced in ON groups, but these low-birth-weight lambs exhibited rapid catch-up growth to weaning. Thus, both maternal BMI at conception and gestational intake have a profound influence on pregnancy outcome in young, putatively growing adolescent sheep and may have implications for the nutritional management of pregnant adolescent humans.
The learning and teaching of reading continues to be a source of contention in New Zealand education. In recent years, proponents of structured literacy approaches have argued for more attention to ...be paid to what they term the “science of reading”. They have emphasised skill development and argued against the inclusion of other approaches. A singular focus on skill development comes at a cost however, as being a reader requires more than simply being able to read words. When we consider a broader view of what it means to be a reader, we need to consider the reader as a whole person, and their place in a wider social context. This article discusses the “science of reading” in relation to Self-Determination Theory and considers how pedagogical approaches can contribute to, or work against, the development of children’s feelings of autonomy, relatedness, and competence in reading and their subsequent desire to read. A restricted focus and related pedagogies will have negative long-term impacts on individuals’ ability to access the many and varied benefits of truly being a reader. Some of the approaches being promoted will likely exacerbate existing concerns such as declining rates of volitional reading and achievement. While necessary, being technically capable is not enough, children must also see the value in reading and its outcomes if they are going to choose to do it.
The social distancing imposed by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has affected people’s everyday lives and has resulted in companies changing the way they conduct business. The airline industry has ...been continually adapting since the novel coronavirus appeared. A series of airlines have changed their airplane boarding and passenger seat allocation process to increase their passengers’ safety. Many suggest a minimum social distance among passengers in the aisle while boarding. Some airlines have reduced their airplanes’ capacities by keeping the middle seats empty. Recent literature indicates that the Reverse Pyramid boarding method provides favorable values for boarding time and passenger health metrics when compared to other boarding methods. This paper analyses the extent to which aisle social distancing, the quantity of carry-on luggage, and an airline’s relative preferences for different performance metrics influence the optimal number of passengers to board the airplane in each of three boarding groups when the Reverse Pyramid method is used and the middle seats are empty. We also investigate the resulting impact on the average boarding time and health risks to boarding passengers. We use an agent-based model and stochastic simulation approach to evaluate various levels of aisle social distancing among passengers and the quantity of luggage carried aboard the airplane. When minimizing boarding time is the primary objective of an airline, for a given value of aisle social distance, decreasing the carry-on luggage volumes increases the optimal number of boarding group 1 passengers and decreases the optimal number of group 2 passengers with aisle seats; for a given volume of luggage, an increase in aisle social distance is associated with more passengers in group 1 and more aisle seat passengers in group 2. When minimizing the health risk to aisle seat passengers or to window seat passengers, the optimal solution results from assigning an equal number of window seat passengers to groups 1 and 2 and an equal number of aisle seat passengers to groups 2 and 3. This solution is robust to changes in luggage volume and the magnitude of aisle social distance. Furthermore, across all luggage and aisle social distancing scenarios, the solution reduces the health risk to aisle seat passengers between 22.76% and 35.31% while increasing average boarding time by less than 3% in each scenario.
Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) is the flight technique for aircraft to continuously descend from cruise altitude with an idle thrust setting and without level-offs, contrary to the staircase-like ...Step-down Descent Approach (SDA). Important for air transportation sustainability, using CDA reduces noise, fuel consumption, and pollution. Nevertheless, CDA has been limited to low traffic levels at airports, often at night, because it requires more separation distance between aircraft arrivals and, thus, could decrease throughput. Insufficient attention has been given to helping air traffic controllers decide when CDA may be used. In this paper, we calculate the probability that an aircraft arriving during a particular brief period of time (e.g., 15 min) will need to revert to SDA when the controller tentatively plans to permit CDA for all aircrafts arriving during that time period. If this probability is low enough, the controller may plan to permit CDA during that time period. We utilize an analytical approach and queueing theory framework that considers factors such traffic and weather conditions to estimate the probability. We also provide the number of aircrafts that can be accommodated within the airport’s stacking space using CDA. This number provides insight into whether a particular aircraft may use CDA.
LAY SUMMARY This article examines the different levels of liability Canada has assumed for disabled serving military members and Veterans from 1866 to 2020. Throughout Canada’s history, the first ...consideration for financial compensation has been the enrolment component of the casualty, that is, Regular, Reserve, or Special Force. Since 1883, disabled serving Regular Force members have received full pay and benefits while recovering from service-related injuries. Whether through the Militia Act, the Pension Act, long-term disability insurance, or the current Veterans Well-being Act (VWA), disabled Regular Force Veterans received financial compensation based on lost earnings. Before 1914, Canada’s military was a predominantly part-time militia, and if a member was disabled or killed due to a service-related injury or illness, lost civilian earnings and family circumstances were considered in financial compensation. From the First World War until the 1970s, serving reservists were eligible for military pay and benefits while recovering from service-related injuries. Currently, subject to an investigation clearing them of fault or malfeasance, they may apply for an allowance equivalent to military pay with no benefits. Between 1919 and 1999, the government accepted less and less liability for disabled Reserve Force Veterans until recent changes to Veterans benefits legislation incrementally improved this.
Earnings replacement for disabled Canadian servicemembers and Veterans depends primarily on their enrolment component. By reviewing legislation and policies since 1866, this article examines differences in compensation for Regular, Reserve, and Special Force members and Veterans. Since the Regular Force was created in 1883, its members have automatically received unreduced pay and benefits while recovering from injuries. Similarly, disabled Regular Force Veterans received compensation based on lost military salary. Before the First World War, lost civilian earnings and family situations were assessed to determine financial compensation for disabled reservists and Veterans. Subsequently, the government has accepted progressively less liability for disabled reservists, who currently must apply for an allowance based on military salary with no entitlement to benefits. Although the Canadian Forces announced that reservists may be eligible for provincial workers compensation benefits, this is based on a tenuous interpretation of legislation and not supported by policies. For Reserve Veterans, the 1919 Pension Act provided pensions based on rank, severity of injury, and family status. The 1971 change to a common pain-and-suffering benefit left disabled reservists without post-release earnings loss compensation. Changes to legislation between 2005 and 2015 and the 2019 Veterans Well-being Act have improved financial compensation for Reserve Veterans.
The influence of maternal obesity during oocyte development and its putative interaction with nutrient reserves at conception on pregnancy outcome were examined in an adolescent sheep model. Donor ...ewes were nutritionally managed to achieve contrasting adiposity (control (CD)/obese (ObD)) for 6 weeks prior to superovulation and inseminated by a non-obese sire. Morulae from 6 CD and 7 ObD were transferred in singleton into adolescent recipients of identical age but differing adiposity, classified as relatively fat or thin respectively. Thereafter, all were overnourished to promote rapid growth/adiposity (2 × 2 design, 13/14 pregnancies/group). A fifth recipient group of intermediate adiposity received embryos from another 5 CD, was offered a moderate intake to maintain adiposity throughout gestation and acted as controls for normal pregnancy outcome (optimally treated control (OTC), 19 pregnancies). Donor obesity did not influence ovulation, fertilisation or recovery rates or impact embryo morphology. Gestation length and colostrum yield were unaffected by donor or recipient adiposity and were reduced relative to OTC. Total fetal cotyledon and lamb birth weights were independent of initial donor adiposity but reduced in relatively thin vs relatively fat recipients and lower than those in the OTC group. In spite of high placental efficiency, the incidence of fetal growth restriction was greatest in the thin recipients. Thus, maternal adiposity at conception, but not pre-conception maternal obesity, modestly influences the feto-placental growth trajectory, whereas comparison with the OTC indicates that high gestational intakes to promote rapid maternal growth remain the dominant negative influence on pregnancy outcome in young adolescents. These findings inform dietary advice for pregnant adolescent girls.
The use of apron buses has become a common practice at many European airports. Previous studies related to airplane boarding rarely apply when apron buses are used, leaving airlines with no ...well-researched option except to use the random boarding method. In this paper, we test the time to complete boarding a two-door airplane using various boarding methods with two apron buses. These methods were inspired by the classical outside-in, back-to-front, and reverse-pyramid methods considering the limited number of boarding groups corresponding to the limited number of apron buses used for transporting passengers from the terminal to the aircraft. Unlike earlier publications, we test these methods under partial aircraft occupancy. Furthermore, we test the boarding methods under conditions involving: different passenger occupancy rates, different luggage situations, and with two types of seating assignments—random and based upon passenger seating preferences—by considering the advantages brought by the symmetric layout of the aircraft. Experimental results indicate that the best performing method can reduce the boarding time by up to 38.6% compared to the time resulting from the random boarding method. When the airplane is partially occupied, the best performing methods are reverse pyramid–A, hybrid–A, and hybrid–B, all with similar performances.
This paper investigates the time to complete the boarding of a partially occupied two-door airplane when its passengers are transported from the airport terminal to the airplane using two apron ...buses. We propose a greedy method that assigns each passenger to a particular apron bus based on the passengers’ airplane seat assignments. This greedy approach exploits the airplane’s symmetry by providing essentially the same method for those boarding through the front door of the airplane as those boarding through the rear door of the airplane. The symmetrical properties of window, middle, and aisle seats of each row/side are considered in the proposed method as well. Computer simulation results indicate that, when using the greedy method, the boarding time can be reduced by up to 8.33% compared to the boarding time resulting from the best known practices in the literature, and with up to a 43.72% improvement in boarding time when compared to the boarding method commonly used in many airports. Furthermore, experimental results confirm our hypothesis that when the capacity of the apron buses exceeds the number of passengers to be transported to the airplane, the most time-efficient results of the proposed greedy method occur when an equal number of passengers are assigned to each of the two apron buses.
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