CHRONOLOGICAL AGE OF ALPINE SKI MEDAL WINNERS IN THE 2015-2018 OLYMPIC CYCLE

Personal motivation, as well as engagement in alpine skiing, brought the authors to inspect the differences in average chronological age of alpine skiers, and to present the results to the professional public, in order to improve planning and programming of the training process. The paper analyzed the average chronological age of medal winning professional alpine skiers in the World Cups in the 2015-2018 Olympic cycle. The following alpine disciplines were analyzed: Slalom (SL), Giant Slalom (GS), Super-G (SG), Downhill (DH) and Alpine Combination (AC). The obtained results indicate that there was a significant difference in the average chronological age between male and female competitors. The results of the present study show that there were differences in GS, SG, DH, and AC, where male skiers are on average older than female skiers. Conversely, there was no significant difference between male and female skiers in SL. The results of this study could aid coaches and experts in future years of individual management of sports careers of male and female skiers.

Road Asset Management Systems and Performance-Based Road Maintenance Contracts in the CAREC Region

This publication explains how the 11 member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program can build safer and more competitive transport corridors for people and goods. Providing a comprehensive overview of each country’s road network, the publication identifies how they can better collect and analyze data to bolster road asset management systems and improve planning. It highlights the benefits of sharing best practices and offers tips on how countries can fine-tune their performance-based road maintenance contracts. The publication also shows that by efficiently using budgets, countries can better maintain and manage vital transport arteries to help boost sustainable development in the region.

Rewetting does not return drained fen peatlands to their old selves

Peatlands have been drained for land use for a long time and on a large scale, turning them from carbon and nutrient sinks into respective sources, diminishing water regulation capacity, causing surface height loss and destroying biodiversity. Over the last decades, drained peatlands have been rewetted for biodiversity restoration and, as it strongly decreases greenhouse gas emissions, also for climate protection. We quantify restoration success by comparing 320 rewetted fen peatland sites to 243 near-natural peatland sites of similar origin across temperate Europe, all set into perspective by 10k additional European fen vegetation plots. Results imply that rewetting of drained fen peatlands induces the establishment of tall, graminoid wetland plants (helophytisation) and long-lasting differences to pre-drainage biodiversity (vegetation), ecosystem functioning (geochemistry, hydrology), and land cover characteristics (spectral temporal metrics). The Paris Agreement entails the rewetting of 500,000 km2 of drained peatlands worldwide until 2050-2070. A better understanding of the resulting locally novel ecosystems is required to improve planning and implementation of peatland rewetting and subsequent management.

Pemanfaatan Teknologi Informasi Untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Perencanaan dan Kematangan Karir Siswa

This study aims to analyze the use of information technology in planning and career maturity of students. This study uses a systematic literature review approach. The journals used in this systematic literature review were obtained through a database of national and international journal providers through Google Scholar which were then analyzed systematically. The results of this study indicate that the use of information technology can improve planning and career maturity in students. Both the media such as blogs, multimedia and the use of the internet can be adequate resources for student career advancement.

Cockpit Social Infrastructure

Web-based geographic information systems (GIS) and planning support systems are widely adopted as digital tools to support planning practices. The respective solutions tend to be isolated implementations aimed at a single planning purpose due to the specific requirement concerning their data, methodology, involved stakeholders etc. With data platforms, GIS infrastructures and the possibility to use web-based software that relies on open standards, creating a planning support infrastructure is more feasible than ever. Such infrastructures can create opportunities for governments to draw on existing systems and create the potential to improve planning practices through enhanced information and analysis. This paper describes the development of the Cockpit Social Infrastructure, a planning application that serves as an interface between Hamburg’s Urban Data Platform and the municipal planners of social infrastructure. Its unique institutional setting as well as its reliance on an open standard software architecture make it a unique case for potential planning support infrastructure.

Simulating Large-Scale Events as a Network of Heterogeneous Queues: Framework and Application

Large-scale planned special events (PSEs) can pose unique transportation and logistics challenges. Data collection and simulation are important tools to address these challenges, although they are often difficult because of event size and complexity. This paper discusses methods to address the challenge of multimodal simulation at large PSEs through the context of AirVenture, a large week-long airshow organized by the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Sampling and data collection techniques are discussed for a variety of modal processes like private vehicles, pedestrians, and shuttles, and for different situations like vehicle arrivals and departures, pedestrian queues, and shuttle systems. A flexible simulation framework for integrating these three modes and numerous activities is developed as a network of heterogeneous queues and queue-dependent choices. The simulation tested a variety of proposed policy changes around the site, including rerouting shuttle lines, and adjusting the system of vehicle arrivals to the site. Results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of the data collection and simulation methodologies. The techniques developed in this work can be used to improve planning and transportation systems at many other forms of PSE.

Ex vivo assessment of the buccal and oral bone by CBCT

Purpose Identifying buccal and oral bone as an important supporting periodontal structure for teeth provides important information for treatment planning in periodontics and orthodontics. This study aims to add evidence to the knowledge of preciseness of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) measurements of the vertical dimension of buccal and oral bone. The hypothesis is that CBCT is an accurate and reliable method to measure vertical vestibular and oral bone loss. Methods The amount of vertical buccal and oral bone loss (bl) of 260 sites of 10 human cadavers was investigated clinically and radiographically by CBCT. Radiographic measurements were rated by two blinded raters. Measurements and the corresponding differences between clinical and radiological findings are described by medians and quartiles (Q1–Q3). For statistical analysis, Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Bland–Altman plots were calculated. Results The CCC between the raters was 0.994 (95% confidence interval 0.992–0.995). The median bone loss (bl) distance from the cementoenamel junction (CEJ) to the bony defect (BD) was 3.5 mm (range 3–5 mm). The median bl measured in the CBCT was 3.8 mm (range 3.1–4.8 mm). The median difference of the 2 measurements for all sites included in the study (N = 260) was −0.2 mm (−0.7 to 0.3 mm). Conclusions CBCT seems to be an accurate and highly reliable method to detect and describe vertical buccal and oral bone loss. It could improve planning and prediction for successful combined periodontal and orthodontic therapies.

Improving hand function after spinal cord injury

Nerve transfer surgery has expanded reconstructive options for restoring upper extremity function following spinal cord injury. By adding new motor donors to the pool already available through tendon transfers, the effectiveness of treatment should improve. Planning which procedures and in which order to perform, along with their details must be delineated. To meet these demands, refined diagnostics are needed, along with awareness of the remaining challenges to restore intrinsic muscle function and to address spasticity and its consequences. This article summaries recent advances in surgical reanimation of upper extremity motor control, together with an overview of the development of neuro-prosthetic and neuromodulation techniques to modify recovery or substitute for functional losses after spinal cord injuries.