Sex Stereotyping and Statistics—Equality in an Insurance Context

This Comment first outlines a few basic insurance concepts and distinguishes employer-provided plans from individually purchased policies. It then examines discrimination criteria and City of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power v. Manhart\u27s application of Title VII and applies those principles to Supreme Court cases. The Comment also suggests that FIPA be revised to extend its gender-neutral requirements only to employer provided group plans

Sex Stereotyping and Statistics—Equality in an Insurance Context

This Comment first outlines a few basic insurance concepts and distinguishes employer-provided plans from individually purchased policies. It then examines discrimination criteria and City of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power v. Manhart\u27s application of Title VII and applies those principles to Supreme Court cases. The Comment also suggests that FIPA be revised to extend its gender-neutral requirements only to employer provided group plans

Trends in Location of Lifetime Maximum Intensity of Tropical Cyclones in the North Atlantic and West Pacific Oceans

Tropical cyclones threaten coastal populations around the world each year. Thus, the climatology of tropical cyclones is an immediate research need, specifically to better understand their long-term patterns and elucidate their future in a changing climate. One important pattern that has recently been detected is the poleward shift of the lifetime maximum intensity (LMI) of tropical cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere. My study further assesses the recent spatial changes in the LMI of tropical cyclones in the Northern Atlantic and Western Pacific basins since 1964. I explored relationships between the intensity and location of LMI with respect to landfall location using the IBTrACS dataset and ArcGIS software. I found that different trends in LMI migration have occurred in individual ocean basins, specifically southerly movement in the North Atlantic and northerly movement in the Western Pacific. Separating the storms by intensity revealed that the strongest storms follow the general trend in their basin at a faster rate. The most intense tropical cyclones are reaching maximum intensity closer to landfall in the Western Pacific basin and farther away from landfall in the North Atlantic. This combination of a poleward shift of LMI and a smaller distance between LMI and landfall for the strongest storms in the Western Pacific basin may adversely affect coastal communities. The results confirm the previous finding that the strongest storms may experience the greatest changes in a warming climate

Fatigue Testing of Wing Beam by the Resonance Method

Preliminary fatigue tests on two aluminum-alloy wing-beam specimens subjected to reversed axial loading are described. The motion used consists in incorporating one or two reciprocating motors in a resonance system of which the specimen is the spring element. A description is given of the reciprocating motors, and of the method of assembling and adjusting the vibrating system. The results indicate that the method is well adapted to fatigue tests of not only uniform wing beams but also wing beams with asymmetrical local reinforcements

Determination of physical activity, sedentary time and mental wellbeing in 1st year postgraduate research students at the University of Glasgow: a mixed methods approach

University is a time associated with several life changes and represents a key time for development and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviours (Trost et al., 2002). Current research shows university students are highly inactive, sedentary and have poor mental health (El Ansari et al., 2011; Moulin and Irwin, 2017; Hunt and Eisenberg, 2010). However, most of this research has been conducted on undergraduate student samples. Therefore, there is a lack of research on physical activity (PA), sedentary time (ST) and mental wellbeing (MWB) in postgraduate students, particularly postgraduate research (PGR) student samples who have distinct needs and challenges. A systematic review on graduate students’ PA, ST, mental health (MH)/MWB, perceptions of PA, exercise and sport, perceived barriers to PA, benefits of PA and motivations for PA was conducted. From 187 papers identified, 25 studies were included for review. Currently, there is a distinct lack of research for PA, ST and MWB in United Kingdom (UK) graduate students. Therefore, the aims of this study were to examine PA, ST and MWB in UK PGR students, the relationship between these variables and to understand underlying perceptions of PA, exercise and sport; perceived barriers to PA; perceived benefits of PA and motivations for PA in UK PGR students. This study utilised a mixed methods approach. First year PGR students (n=100) registered at the University of Glasgow (UofG) completed an online questionnaire which assessed demographic characteristics, subjectively assessed PA and ST (International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)) and MWB (Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS)). A sub-cohort (n=20) had PA and ST objectively assessed over 7 days via a hip-worn ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer. From this sub-cohort, PGR students (n=6) volunteered to participate in qualitative focus groups to assess 1st year PGR students’ perceptions of PA, exercise and sport; perceived barriers to PA; perceived benefits of PA and motivations for PA. First year PGR students self-reported being physically active (median moderate vigorous physical activity (MVPA) 195 ± 225 minutes/week, 62.9% meeting PA guidelines (PAG)) yet highly sedentary (median 8 ± 4 hours/day sitting time). In terms of MWB, PGR students reported moderate levels of MWB (48 ± 13 WEMWBS score). The randomised sub-cohort of PGR students who had PA and ST objectively assessed were also physically active yet sedentary (highly active: ActiGraph GT3X estimated MVPA 554.3 ± 187.1 minutes/week, 100% meeting PAG; highly sedentary: 9.6 ± 1.4 hours/day sedentary). No significant correlations between PA, ST and MWB or PA, ST and PGR study time were found. However, a significant weak inverse correlation was found between MWB and PGR study time (rs= -0.242, p=0.015). Qualitative research identified PGR students’ perceptions of PA, sports and exercise. The top perceived barriers to PA were a lack of information and/or awareness of opportunities, undergraduate focused PA opportunities, PGR studies and barriers specific to UofG Sport gym facilities. Whilst the most common perceived benefits of PA were the positive impact of PA on mental and physical health and PGR students’ study/work life. Balancing out unhealthy eating habits, health benefits, PGR study/work benefits and image were identified as the most commonly cited motivations for PA. This PGR student cohort (n=100) were active (met PAG), had a high ST with no significant associations between PA, ST and MWB. On the basis of existing literature, it is likely that despite being physically active, PGR students’ high ST is associated with an increased risk of negative physical and mental health outcomes and non-communicable diseases (Biswas et al., 2015; Owen et al., 2010; Owen, 2012; Atkin et al., 2012; Gibson et al., 2017). Therefore, there should be an integrated approach across the UofG to address this high ST and consider ways to reduce ST. This could be through identification of determinants of ST in the PGR population, changes to the built environment and dissemination of information on the benefits of MVPA, risks of ST, relevant opportunities and strategies to increase PA and decrease ST. An interesting finding was the weak yet significant inverse correlation between MWB and PGR study time with steps needing to be taken to address this