The impact of horse age, sex and number of riders on horse performance in British Eventing horse trials

Background Limited research has been undertaken to determine the impact of horse age, sex and number of riders on horse performance in British Eventing (BE) horse trials. Improved understanding of this can aid professionals in planning a competition horse’s career. Objectives To investigate the impact of age, sex and number of riders on the peak performance of horses at each of the main levels of BE competitions. Methods The best score from each horse competing in BE horse trials in the years 2008 to 2018 were recorded, principal component and hierarchical cluster analysis was performed. Basic data analysis was used to identify variables associated with particular better-performing clusters of horses. The interplay of the combinatory variables was then used to map out the trends in career trajectory for horses competing at each level of competition in the best and worst performing clusters. Results and conclusions: The peak performance of mares was worse than geldings and stallions at all levels. At Novice to Advanced, stallions did not perform as consistently with multiple riders as geldings. The age at which the best performing groups peaked was similar for mares and geldings in all classes, although stallions peaked at an older age than mares and geldings at Novice and Intermediate level. All horses were a minimum of four years old at the time of competition, as per British Eventing rules

Birds of a feather locate together? Foursquare checkins and personality homophily

In this paper we consider whether people with similar personality traits have a preference for common locations. Due to the difficulty in tracking and categorising the places that individuals choose to visit, this is largely unexplored. However, the recent popularity of location-based social networks (LBSNs) provides a means to gain new insight into this question through checkins - records that are made by LBSN users of their presence at specific street level locations. A web-based participatory survey was used to collect the personality traits and checkin behaviour of 174 anonymous users, who, through their common check-ins, formed a network with 5373 edges and an approximate edge density of 35%. We assess the degree of overlap in personality traits for users visiting common locations, as detected by user checkins. We find that people with similar high levels of conscientiousness, openness or agreeableness tended to have checked-in locations in common. The findings for extraverts were unexpected in that they did not provide evidence of individuals assorting at the same locations, contrary to predictions. Individuals high in neuroticism were in line with expectations, they did not tend to have locations in common. Unanticipated results concerning disagreeableness are of particular interest and suggest that different venue types and distinctive characteristics may act as attractors for people with particularly selective tendencies. These findings have important implications for decision-making and location

Divide to Conquer? Strategic Opposition and Coalition Government

Parliamentary elections often result in the formation of a coalition government. While the legislative process allows actors within a coalition government to monitor each other, little attention has focused on how opposition parties respond to coalition government. We argue that opposition parties have incentives to uncover and highlight differences and tensions within the governing coalition. A strategy by the opposition to use legislative tools to uncover policy conflicts and ministerial drift within the coalition increases intra-coalition tensions, potentially generating electoral costs for the governing parties, and potentially even hastening the coalition's demise. To test our argument, we build and analyse a new dataset of parliamentary questions in the British House of Commons covering the 2010-15 coalition. As expected, the main opposition party appear to strategically focus questions towards policy areas that uncover intra-coalition tensions. This research highlights the importance of opposition parties in parliamentary democracies

Employee Healthcare Benefits: a Significant Component of Motivation and Organizational Loyalty

Examines the relationship between healthcare benefits and morale

The Effects of Thawing Procedure and Supplementation on the Motility and Viability of Frozen-thawed Boar Semen

The effect of two thawing procedures on frozen boar semen and supplementations to the fertilization media were studied. Frozen boar semen was thawed using either Percoll gradient or phosphate buffered saline (PBS)procedure. Supplementations were 1.0 mM L-glutamate, 1.0 mM N-acetylcysteine (NAC) , and 1.0 mM NAC-amide (NACA). Spermatozoa were analyzed for forward progressive motility (FPM) and viability every 0.5 h for 3 .0 h post-thawing. There were significantly (P \u3c 0.05) higher numbers of viable (76.0 ± 5.1 %) and FPM (30 .0 ± 2.4%) spermatozoa at 3.0 h post thawing using the PBS procedure compared to the Percoll gradient thawed spermatozoa (65.0 ± 3.9%; 10.0 ± 4.5 %, respectively). Supplementation of 1.0 mM L-glutamate, 1.0 mM NAC, or 1.0 mM NACA had no significant effect on spermatozoa viability regardless of the time post-thaw.Supplementation of 1.0 mM L-glutamate, 1.0 mM NAC , or 1.0 mM NACA had no significant effect on FPM up to 1.0 h post-thaw. Spermatozoa with no supplementation or 1.0 mM L-glutamate had significantly higher (P \u3c 0.05) FPM compared to the 1.0 mM NAC and 1.0 mM NACA supplemented groups at 1.5, 2.0, 2 .5, and 3.0 h post-thaw. There was no significant difference between no supplementation or 1.0 mM L-glutamate on FPM regardless of the time post-thaw. There was no significant difference between 1.0 mM NAC or 1.0 mM NACA on FPM regardless of the time post-thaw. These results indicate that thawing procedure has an effect on spermatozoa viability and FPM but supplementation does not have an effect on the overall viability of spermatozoa during thawing, but may reduce FPM

Individual cognitive stimulation therapy for dementia : a clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled trial

Background Group cognitive stimulation therapy programmes can benefit cognition and quality of life for people with dementia. Evidence for home-based, carer-led cognitive stimulation interventions is limited. Objectives To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of carer-delivered individual cognitive stimulation therapy (iCST) for people with dementia and their family carers, compared with treatment as usual (TAU). Design A multicentre, single-blind, randomised controlled trial assessing clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. Assessments were at baseline, 13 weeks and 26 weeks (primary end point). Setting Participants were recruited through Memory Clinics and Community Mental Health Teams for older people. Participants A total of 356 caregiving dyads were recruited and 273 completed the trial. Intervention iCST consisted of structured cognitive stimulation sessions for people with dementia, completed up to three times weekly over 25 weeks. Family carers were supported to deliver the sessions at home. Main outcome measures Primary outcomes for the person with dementia were cognition and quality of life. Secondary outcomes included behavioural and psychological symptoms, activities of daily living, depressive symptoms and relationship quality. The primary outcome for the family carers was mental/physical health (Short Form questionnaire-12 items). Health-related quality of life (European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions), mood symptoms, resilience and relationship quality comprised the secondary outcomes. Costs were estimated from health and social care and societal perspectives. Results There were no differences in any of the primary outcomes for people with dementia between intervention and TAU [cognition: mean difference –0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) –2.00 to 0.90; p-value = 0.45; self-reported quality of life: mean difference –0.02, 95% CI –1.22 to 0.82; p-value = 0.97 at the 6-month follow-up]. iCST did not improve mental/physical health for carers. People with dementia in the iCST group experienced better relationship quality with their carer, but there was no evidence that iCST improved their activities of daily living, depression or behavioural and psychological symptoms. iCST seemed to improve health-related quality of life for carers but did not benefit carers’ resilience or their relationship quality with their relative. Carers conducting more sessions had fewer depressive symptoms. Qualitative data suggested that people with dementia and their carers experienced better communication owing to iCST. Adjusted mean costs were not significantly different between the groups. From the societal perspective, both health gains and cost savings were observed. Conclusions iCST did not improve cognition or quality of life for people with dementia, or carers’ physical and mental health. Costs of the intervention were offset by some reductions in social care and other services. Although there was some evidence of improvement in terms of the caregiving relationship and carers’ health-related quality of life, iCST does not appear to deliver clinical benefits for cognition and quality of life for people with dementia. Most people received fewer than the recommended number of iCST sessions. Further research is needed to ascertain the clinical effectiveness of carer-led cognitive stimulation interventions for people with dementia

An Optimization Approach to Balancing Risk and Cost in Combatant Command Capability Advocacy

Unified Combatant Commands (UCCs) have broad continuing missions around the globe where they are tasked to provide functional expertise and defense of geographical areas.  Accomplishing these missions requires a robust portfolio of military capabilities (e.g., aircraft, spacecraft, command and control systems, radar systems).  UCCs routinely perform analyses to identify gaps between capabilities required to accomplish their mission and those currently at their disposal.  Each year they submit a prioritized list of required capabilities, including new systems and greater capacity with existing systems, to the Joint Staff in the costly and time-consuming Integrated Priority List (IPL) process.  This process relies on operational art and subject matter expertise, and sometimes fails to identify acquisition opportunities that achieve an optimal balance between risk and cost.  Because this IPL process affects all of the DOD’s personnel, material, systems and missions, it is arguably the most significant analytic challenge faced by the United States military.  This article presents an integer linear programming model that computes an optimal balance between operational risk and the cost of acquiring new capabilities, and allows decision makers to identify the real-world impact of their budgetary decisions.  We apply this model to the mission of providing aerospace defense of the United States and illustrate through sensitivity analysis the meaningful insights that can be gained by studying the relationship between the risk of not achieving 100 percent radar coverage and the opportunity cost of advocating for new capabilities

Entropy-based particle correspondence for shape populations

Statistical shape analysis of anatomical structures plays an important role in many medical image analysis applications such as understanding the structural changes in anatomy in various stages of growth or disease. Establishing accurate correspondence across object populations is essential for such statistical shape analysis studies

A longer vernal window: The role of winter coldness and snowpack in driving spring thresholds and lags

Climate change is altering the timing and duration of the vernal window, a period that marks the end of winter and the start of the growing season when rapid transitions in ecosystem energy, water, nutrient, and carbon dynamics take place. Research on this period typically captures only a portion of the ecosystem in transition and focuses largely on the dates by which the system wakes up. Previous work has not addressed lags between transitions that represent delays in energy, water, nutrient, and carbon flows. The objectives of this study were to establish the sequence of physical and biogeochemical transitions and lags during the vernal window period and to understand how climate change may alter them. We synthesized observations from a statewide sensor network in New Hampshire, USA, that concurrently monitored climate, snow, soils, and streams over a three-year period and supplemented these observations with climate reanalysis data, snow data assimilation model output, and satellite spectral data. We found that some of the transitions that occurred within the vernal window were sequential, with air temperatures warming prior to snow melt, which preceded forest canopy closure. Other transitions were simultaneous with one another and had zero-length lags, such as snowpack disappearance, rapid soil warming, and peak stream discharge. We modeled lags as a function of both winter coldness and snow depth, both of which are expected to decline with climate change. Warmer winters with less snow resulted in longer lags and a more protracted vernal window. This lengthening of individual lags and of the entire vernal window carries important consequences for the thermodynamics and biogeochemistry of ecosystems, both during the winter-to-spring transition and throughout the rest of the year