Waiting Line Analysis of an Airport’s Customs Facility

This session presents a waiting line analysis, based on queuing theory, of the customs area of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate, in terms of waiting time, the level of service provided by U.S. Customs and border protection officers. Recommendations to maximize the flow of travelers and minimize waiting time in the Customs area in question, and details of a computer-based simulation developed to conduct the waiting line analysis, will be discussed

A new perspective on the demographic transition: Birth-baptism intervals in ten Spanish villages, 1830-1949

We analyse the evolution of birth-baptism intervals between 1830 and 1949 among children born into 815 Spanish families and relate the changes observed to developments in childhood mortality. Our results show that birth-baptism intervals in our study area increased rapidly after 1890, three decades after childhood mortality began to decline and a decade before fertility began to fall. We confirm that the families increasing the intervals between their children''s births and baptisms after 1890 were those whose previous children had high rates of survival. We conclude that, in the last years of the nineteenth century, families were aware of the decline in child mortality and adjusted their behaviour in response. Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Calcium, Vitamin D, and Health

Calcium is the main mineral in the body [...]

The effect of height on family formation in rural Spain, birth-cohorts 1835-1975

This article examines the relationship between the height of adult males and marital outcomes, including likelihood of marrying, age at marriage, and marital fertility, in rural Spain. For this analysis, a sample of 4, 501 men born between 1835 and 1975 living in 14 villages in northeastern Spain was taken. Previous research has shown that shorter individuals are less likely to marry. However, it is still disputed whether differences exist in the timing of marrying based on height, and little attention has been paid to the effect(s) of height on offspring. Family data were obtained from parish records and interviews with individuals and their families, while height data were obtained from military records, with individuals in Spain being conscripted at the age of 21 years. The data were linked according to nominative criteria using family reconstitution methods. The results confirm that shorter individuals were less likely to marry. Individuals of medium and medium-high height were the first to marry, with a small gap between them and shorter individuals. With regard to marital fertility, no difference in terms of average fertility by height were found, but there were small differences in timing of childbirth, possibly as a result of delayed marriage

Valoración de los beneficios psicológicos del ejercicio físico en personas mayores

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de la evaluación de los efectos inmediatos del ejercicio físico sobre el bienestar psicológico en una muestra (n=95) de personas mayores (x=68 años) inicialmente sedentarias. Los sujetos participantes en el estudio fueron asignados aleatoriamente a cuatro grupos: 1) grupo de ejercicio aeróbico (n=30), 2) grupo de ejercicio no aeróbico (yoga) (n=27), 3) grupo control de actividades sociales (n=20) y 4) grupo control en lista de espera (n= 18). Se utilizó como instrumento de evalua¬ción de las respuestas psicológicas globales inducidas por el ejercicio la Subjective Excercise Experiences Scale (SEES; McAuley & Courneya, 1994) y, como medida de la sensación del esfuerzo percibido, la Perceived Exertion Scales (RPE-Scales; Borg, 1982). Los resultados de la valoración de 4 meses de entrenamiento, indican un aumento significativo del bienestar psicológico en los dos grupos de ejercicio (aeróbico y no-aeróbico) en comparación con las medi-ciones pre y post ejercicio, y con los grupos control (actividades sociales y lista de espera). El grupo de ejercicio aeróbico presentó puntuaciones más elevadas en el bienestar psicológico y en la sensación de fatiga que el grupo de ejercicio no-aeróbico. Los resultados indican también diferencias en el bienestar psicológico y la sensación de fatiga entre las sesiones de ejercicio en ambos grupo

Height and political activism in rural Aragón (Spain) during the 20th century. A new perspective using individual-level data

This article explores the relationship between the political leanings of more than 1000 men born in the 1870–1970 s in 11 rural Aragonese villages and their biological well-being during childhood and adolescence, proxied by height. The aim is to test whether an individual was more likely to be left-wing if his level of biological well-being was lower and, therefore, with more incentives to fight against the social inequality that had negatively affected his family. Our results confirm that, for most of the study period, there was a strong relationship between shorter height and political activism1 in left-wing parties and organizations

Brasil:Estructura urbana y desarrollo

El desarrollo urbano de Brasil en las últimas seis décadas ha sido muy acelerado, pasando de una población predominadamente rural a una mayoritariamente urbana. Prueba de ello son las ciudades de Sao Paulo y Rio de Janeiro. El gran crecimiento poblacional desde 1960 hasta la actualidad ha provocado que se triplice a la población, concentrandose el crecimiento en la población urbana.Este crecimiento se ha relantizado en los últimos años debido a la reducción de la natalidad y el aumento de la esperanza de vida,provocando una inversión en la pirámide poblacional que tendrá consecuencias en la economía. Mediante el análisis estadístico de la población, podemos apreciar un fenómeno matemático denominado ley de Zipf que se produce en la distribución de los municipios más poblados del país. Este fenómeno no es exacto en todas las poblaciones pero se produce en casi todos los países en mayor o menor medida.La distribución de la riqueza en el país es muy desigual, estando muy condicionado los niveles de renta dependiendo del origen étnico del individuo. <br /

Breaking the misery wheel? Fertility control, social mobility, and biological well-being in rural Spain (1835–1959)

Abstract Fertility control strategies became widespread in rural Spain through the twentieth century: a significant number of parents decided to reduce their marital fertility once the advantages of control strategies became widely known. This paper explores the impact of those practices on children through a comparative study of the heights and occupations of grandparents, parents, and children. We analyze more than 1,200 individuals from three different generations born between 1835 and 1959 in 14 rural Spanish villages, studying whether the advantages associated with fertility control were maintained over time favoring a better family status or whether they were diluted in the next generation. The largest increases in height were among children whose parents controlled their fertility by stopping having children before the mother's 36th birthday. However, it does not seem that this increase in biological well-being was accompanied by major episodes of upward social mobility

Death, sex, and fertility: female infanticide in rural Spain, 1750-1950

Relying on longitudinal micro data from rural Spain between 1750 and 1950, this article evidences that families mortally neglected a significant fraction of their female babies. Firstly, baptism records exhibited exceptionally high sex ratios at birth until the late nineteenth century. Secondly, having no previous male siblings increased the probability of male baptisms. Likewise, this same feature, together with the number of siblings alive, also increased female mortality during the first day of life. These findings are concentrated at higher parities and among landless and semi-landless families. Lastly, under-registration cannot explain these patterns affecting female mortality shortly after birth

The electrocaloric effect of lead-free Ba1−y_{1-y}Cay_yTi1−x_{1-x}Hfx_xO3_3 from direct and indirect measurements

We report on the dielectric and electrocaloric properties of Ba$_{1-y}$Ca$_y$Ti$_{1-x}$Hf$_x$O$_3$ for compositions $0.12<x<0.18$ and $y=0.06$, as well as $x=0.15$ and $0<y<0.15$, synthesized by the conventional solid-state reaction method. The addition of Hf/Ca broadens the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition, while moving it toward room temperature. Two interferroelectric transitions are seen to converge, together with the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition, at ca. 335 K for $0.12<x_c<0.135$ and $y=0.06$. Consistently with the dielectric properties, the electrocaloric effect maximizes closer to room temperature with increasing Hf/Ca substitutions, which promote larger temperature spans. The electrocaloric responsivity gradually decreases from 0.2 to 0.1 K$~$mm$~$kV$^{-1}$ with the addition of Hf/Ca. A homemade quasi-adiabatic calorimeter is employed to measure "directly" the electrocaloric data, which are also calculated from polarization-versus-electric-field cycles using "indirect" standard procedures. The comparison between measured and calculated values highlights the importance of having access to direct methods for a reliable determination of the electrocaloric effect.Comment: 30 pages, 17 figure