The relentless growth in Mexico City’s aviation traffic has inevitably strained capacity development of its airport, raising thedilemma between the possible solutions. In the present study, Mexico’s Multi-Airport System is subjected to analysis by meansof multi-model simulation, focusing on the capacity-demand problem of the system. The methodology combines phases ofmodelling, data collection, simulation, experimental design, and analysis. Drawing a distinction from previous works involvingtwo-airport systems. It also explores the challenges raised by the Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico City airport operations, with adiscrete-event simulation model of a multi-airport system composed by three airports (MEX, TLC, and the new airport NLU).The study is including the latest data of flights, infrastructures, and layout collected in 2021. Therefore, the paper aims toanswer to the question of whether the system will be able to cope with the expected demand in a short-, medium-, and longtermby simulating three future scenarios based on aviation forecasts. The study reveals potential limitations of the system astime evolves and the feasibility of a joint operation to absorb the demand in such a big region like Mexico City.
Although there is some evidence that total dietary antioxidant capacity (TDAC) is inversely associated with the presence of obesity, no longitudinal studies have been performed investigating the effect of TDAC on comprehensive measures of body composition over time. In this study, we included 4595 middle-aged and elderly participants from the Rotterdam Study, a population-based cohort. We estimated TDAC among these individuals by calculating a ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) score based on data from food-frequency questionnaires. Body composition was assessed by means of dual X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and every subsequent 3-5 years. From these data, we calculated fat mass index (FMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), android-to-gynoid fat ratio (AGR), body fat percentage (BF%) and body mass index (BMI). We also assessed hand grip strength at two time points and prevalence of sarcopenia at one time point in a subset of participants. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models or multinomial logistic regression models with multivariable adjustment. We found that higher FRAP score was associated with higher FFMI (0.091 kg/m2 per standard deviation (SD) higher FRAP score, 95% CI 0.031; 0.150), lower AGR (-0.028, 95% CI -0.053; -0.003), higher BMI (0.115, 95% CI 0.020; 0.209) and lower BF% (-0.223, 95% CI -0.383; -0.064) across follow-up after multivariable adjustment. FRAP score was not associated with hand grip strength or sarcopenia. Additional adjustment for adherence to dietary guidelines and exclusion of individuals with comorbid disease at baseline did not change our results. In conclusion, dietary intake of antioxidants may positively affect the amount of lean mass and overall body composition among the middle-aged and elderly.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether aerobic capacity is normal in boys with different types of hemophilia compared with healthy peers and whether the level of aerobic capacity correlates with the amount of physical activity, joint health status, muscle strength, and anthropometrics.STUDY DESIGN: 47 patients (mean [SD] age, 12.9 [3.2] years; age range, 8.2-17.4 years) from the "Van Creveldkliniek" of the University Medical Center Utrecht, participated. Anthropometry, muscle strength, joint impairment, functional ability, and aerobic capacity were measured. The amount of energy expenditure during daily living was assessed.RESULTS: All boys were able to perform at maximal or near-maximal level on exercise tests, and none of them reported bleeds or other adverse events. Relative peak oxygen, peak heart rate, and peak working capacity were significantly lower compared with healthy control subjects. 30% had Z-scores >2 for weight. Total muscle strength was normal, and almost no joint impairment and no decrease in functional ability were found.CONCLUSION: The aerobic capacity of children with hemophilia is still lower than the normal population, whereas their overall muscle strength is comparable with healthy peers. The functional ability does not differ from healthy peers, and joint health status showed very minor impairments. A substantial proportion of Dutch children with hemophilia was overweight, without showing a reduction in the amount of self-reported physical activities.
This project develops a European network for transdisciplinary innovation in artistic engagement as a catalyst for societal transformation, focusing on immersive art. It responds to the professionals in the field’s call for research into immersive art’s unique capacity to ‘move’ people through its multisensory, technosocial qualities towards collective change. The project brings together experts leading state-of-the-art research and practice in related fields with an aim to develop trajectories for artistic, methodological, and conceptual innovation for societal transformation. The nascent field of immersive art, including its potential impact on society, has been identified as a priority research area on all local-to-EU levels, but often suffers from the common (mis)perception as being technological spectacle prioritising entertainment values. Many practitioners create immersive art to enable novel forms of creative engagement to address societal issues and enact change, but have difficulty gaining recognition and support for this endeavour. A critical challenge is the lack of knowledge about how their predominantly sensuous and aesthetic experience actually lead to collective change, which remains unrecognised in the current systems of impact evaluation predicated on quantitative analysis. Recent psychological insights on awe as a profoundly transformative emotion signals a possibility to address this challenge, offering a new way to make sense of the transformational effect of directly interacting with such affective qualities of immersive art. In parallel, there is a renewed interest in the practice of cultural mediation, which brings together different stakeholders to facilitate negotiation towards collective change in diverse domains of civic life, often through creative engagements. Our project forms strategic grounds for transdisciplinary research at the intersection between these two developments. We bring together experts in immersive art, psychology, cultural mediation, digital humanities, and design across Europe to explore: How can awe-experiences be enacted in immersive art and be extended towards societal transformation?
The energy transition is a highly complex technical and societal challenge, coping with e.g. existing ownership situations, intrusive retrofit measures, slow decision-making processes and uneven value distribution. Large scale retrofitting activities insulating multiple buildings at once is urgently needed to reach the climate targets but the decision-making of retrofitting in buildings with shared ownership is challenging. Each owner is accountable for his own energy bill (and footprint), giving a limited action scope. This has led to a fragmented response to the energy retrofitting challenge with negligible levels of building energy efficiency improvements conducted by multiple actors. Aggregating the energy design process on a building level would allow more systemic decisions to happen and offer the access to alternative types of funding for owners. “Collect Your Retrofits” intends to design a generic and collective retrofit approach in the challenging context of monumental areas. As there are no standardised approaches to conduct historical building energy retrofits, solutions are tailor-made, making the process expensive and unattractive for owners. The project will develop this approach under real conditions of two communities: a self-organised “woongroep” and a “VvE” in the historic centre of Amsterdam. Retrofit designs will be identified based on energy performance, carbon emissions, comfort and costs so that a prioritisation strategy can be drawn. Instead of each owner investing into their own energy retrofitting, the neighbourhood will invest into the most impactful measures and ensure that the generated economic value is retained locally in order to make further sustainable investments and thus accelerating the transition of the area to a CO2-neutral environment.
Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and a significant contributor to work incapacity. Although effective therapeutic options are scarce, exercises supervised by a physiotherapist have shown to be effective. However, the effects found in research studies tend to be small, likely due to the heterogeneous nature of patients' complaints and movement limitations. Personalized treatment is necessary as a 'one-size-fits-all' approach is not sufficient. High-tech solutions consisting of motions sensors supported by artificial intelligence will facilitate physiotherapists to achieve this goal. To date, physiotherapists use questionnaires and physical examinations, which provide subjective results and therefore limited support for treatment decisions. Objective measurement data obtained by motion sensors can help to determine abnormal movement patterns. This information may be crucial in evaluating the prognosis and designing the physiotherapy treatment plan. The proposed study is a small cohort study (n=30) that involves low back pain patients visiting a physiotherapist and performing simple movement tasks such as walking and repeated forward bending. The movements will be recorded using sensors that estimate orientation from accelerations, angular velocities and magnetometer data. Participants complete questionnaires about their pain and functioning before and after treatment. Artificial analysis techniques will be used to link the sensor and questionnaire data to identify clinically relevant subgroups based on movement patterns, and to determine if there are differences in prognosis between these subgroups that serve as a starting point of personalized treatments. This pilot study aims to investigate the potential benefits of using motion sensors to personalize the treatment of low back pain. It serves as a foundation for future research into the use of motion sensors in the treatment of low back pain and other musculoskeletal or neurological movement disorders.
