Weight faltering and failure to thrive in infancy and early childhood

Weight faltering, or failure to thrive, is a childhood condition that provokes concern about possible neglect, deprivation, and organic illness. However, research over the past 20 years has brought the validity of this concern into question, leading to the proposal that management should be less aggressive.We summarise the evidence base, discuss new developments, and provide a practical approach to management. Failure to thrive has been defined in a range of ways, with no overall accepted definition but an essential element is subnormal growth or weight gain, hence the increasing use in recent years of the term weight faltering

Quantifying Loss Aversion: Evidence from a UK Population Survey

We estimate loss aversion using on an online survey of a representative sample of over 4,000 UK residents. The average aversion to a loss of £500 relative to a gain of the same amount is 2.41, but loss aversion varies significantly with characteristics such as gender, age, education, financial knowledge, social class, employment status, management responsibility, income, savings and home ownership. Other influencing factors include marital status, number of children, ease of savings, rainy day fund, personality type, emotional state, newspaper and political party. However, once we condition on all the profiling characteristics of the respondents, some factors, in particular gender, cease to be significant, suggesting that gender differences in risk and loss attitudes might be due to other factors, such as income differences

Optimal funding and investment strategies in defined contribution pension plans under Epstein-Zin utility

A defined contribution pension plan allows consumption to be redistributed from the plan member’s working life to retirement in a manner that is consistent with the member’s personal preferences. The plan’s optimal funding and investment strategies therefore depend on the desired pattern of consumption over the lifetime of the member. We investigate these strategies under the assumption that the member has an Epstein-Zin utility function, which allows a separation between risk aversion and the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, and we also take into account the member’s human capital. We show that a stochastic lifestyling approach, with an initial high weight in equity-type investments and a gradual switch into bond-type investments as the retirement date approaches is an optimal investment strategy. In addition, the optimal contribution rate each year is not constant over the life of the plan but reflects trade-offs between the desire for current consumption, bequest and retirement savings motives at different stages in the life cycle, changes in human capital over the life cycle, and attitude to risk

A simple construction method for sequentially tidying up 2D online freehand sketches

This paper presents a novel constructive approach to sequentially tidying up 2D online freehand sketches for further 3D interpretation in a conceptual design system. Upon receiving a sketch stroke, the system first identifies it as a 2D primitive and then automatically infers its 2D geometric constraints related to previous 2D geometry (if any). Based on recognized 2D constraints, the identified geometry will be modified accordingly to meet its constraints. The modification is realized in one or two sequent geometric constructions in consistence with its degrees of freedom. This method can produce 2D configurations without iterative procedures to solve constraint equations. It is simple and easy to use for a real-time application. Several examples are tested and discussed

On representation of mechanical behavior and stereological measures of microstructure

Macroscopic homogeneity of a heterogeneous body is defined from various points of view. The applicability of the principle of Delesse to a single macroscopically homogeneous body is discussed. It is then seen that a function derived from a consideration of the area fraction of a phase can serve as a measure of clustering of particles of that phase

Stable isotopic studies of H,C,N,O and S in samples of Martian origin

The present day geochemical cycles of volatile elements through the various reservoirs on Earth are largely understood within the context of the planet's standing as a geologically and biologically evolved body. In terrestrial studies stable isotope measurements of light elements (H, C, N, O and S) can be utilized to obtain insight into the conditions prevailing during formation of rocks of various types. Perhaps the most important problem which could be addressed by light element studies of the sorts of specimen likely to be available from remote automatic sampling, would be the role of volatiles during evolution. Of fundamental importance here is the question of whether Mars was volatile rich or volatile poor. The only way to fully comprehend the effects of volatile cycling through the mantle crust and regolith atmosphere polar cap system of Mars, is by analyses of appropriate returned samples. In order to interpret the record of geological activity in Martian samples it will be necessary to understand how the past, or present, surface environment may have acted to disturb the primary characteristics of the rocks

The status of traditional Scottish animal breeds and plant varieties and the implications for biodiversity

The aim of this scoping study was to evaluate the effects on Scottish biodiversity of changes in the use of traditional breeds and varieties. The overall objectives were: a) The evaluation of the importance of genetic loss from the reduction in use of these breeds and varieties, for example, the loss of unusual characteristics that might have been of particular local use. b) An assessment of the impacts of reduction in the ability to conduct further breeding or research on rare and traditional varieties and breeds. c) Identification of the loss of certain farming techniques associated with particular varieties and breeds. d) An assessment of possible losses of biodiversity associated with reduction in the use of these breeds and varieties and the farming systems associated with them