Commit to your putting stroke:exploring the impact of Quiet Eye duration and neural activity on golf putting performance

There is a growing interest in characterizing the cognitive-motor processes that underlie superior performance in highly skilled athletes. The aim of this study was to explore neural markers of putting performance in highly skilled golfers by recording mobile EEG (electroencephalogram) during the pre-shot period. Twenty-eight right-handed participants (20 males) with a mean age of 24.2 years (± 6.4) and an average handicap of +1.7 (± 6.4) completed a testing session. Following the warm-up, participants completed 140 putts from a distance of 8ft (2.4m), with putts taken from 5 different positions. While putting, participants wore an eye tracker and a gel-based EEG system with 32 electrodes. Time and frequency domain features of the EEG signals were extracted to characterize Movement-Related Cortical Potentials (MRCP) and rhythmic modulations of neural activity in theta, alpha, sensorimotor and beta frequency bands associated with putting performance. Eye-tracking data demonstrate that mean Quiet Eye durations are not a reliable marker of expertise as the same duration was found for both successful and successful putts. Following rigorous data processing data from 12 participants (8 males, mean age 21.6 years ± 5.4, average handicap +1.5 ± 4.4) were included in the EEG analysis. MRCP analysis revealed performance-based differences, with unsuccessful putts having a greater negative amplitude in comparison to successful putts. Time frequency analysis of the EEG data revealed that successful putts exhibit distinct neural activity profiles compared to unsuccessful ones. For successful putts, greater suppression of beta was present in the central region prior to the putt. By contrast, increased frontal theta power was present for unsuccessful putts immediately before the putt (consistent with hesitation and the need for motor plan adjustments prior to execution). We propose that neural activity may provide plausible insights into the mechanisms behind why identical QE durations can lead to both success and failure. From an applied perspective, this study highlights the merits of a multi-measure approach to gain further insights into performance differences within highly skilled golfers. We discuss considerations for future research and solutions to address the challenges related to the complexities of collecting clean EEG signals within naturalistic sporting contexts

Artificial intelligence in Nigeria:how ready are we?

In our remarks today, we would like to offer our perspective on artificial intelligence (AI) and provide an update on technology readiness. Specifically, we intend to address this topic in a manner that ensures policymakers, who play a crucial role in AI development in Nigeria, are fully informed about the opportunities and risks presented by artificial intelligence

The moderating role of trust in the internationalisation process of West African SMEs:a study of Ghanaian and Nigerian SMEs

This paper explores the interaction between trust and SME internationalisation in the market economies of Ghana and Nigeria. Recognising SMEs as crucial to economic growth, this study aims to bridge the gap in understanding how they achieve internationalisation with limited resources and insufficient institutional support. We highlight the significant role that trust plays within the context of institutions, particularly in overcoming internationalisation challenges posed by weak formal institutional structures. The proposed methodology is examined, and we conclude by considering how increasing interest in cross-cultural comparisons will shed light on the diverse institutional impacts on trust-building and internationalisation strategies. The findings are expected to inform policy, enhance academic discourse, and guide SMEs in developing economies toward successful internationalisation efforts

Enhancing honeynet-based protection with network slicing for massive Pre-6G IoT Smart Cities deployments

Internet of Things (IoT) coupled with 5G and upcoming pre-6G networks will provide the scalability and performance required to deploy a wide range of new digital services in Smart Cities. This new digital services will undoubtedly contribute to an improvement in the quality of life of citizens. However, security is a major concern in IoT where low-powered constrained devices are a target for attackers who identify them as a vulnerable entry point to exploit the network weaknesses. This concern is exacerbated in Smart Cities where it is expected to deploy millions of heterogeneous yet unattended and vulnerable IoT devices throughout vast urban areas. A security breach in a Smart City allows attackers to target critical services such as the power grid network or the road traffic control or to expose sensitive health data to intruders. Thus, the security and privacy of citizens could be seriously compromised. Honeynets are an effective security mechanism to distract attackers from legitimate targets and collect valuable information on how they operate. Meanwhile, current honeynets lack functionality to protect the real and lure networks from large-scale volumetric Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. This paper provides a novel solution to empower honeynet security tools with Network Slicing capabilities as an innovative way to isolate and minimize the network resources available from attackers. The proposed system supports the ambitious IoT scalability requirements associated to 5G networks and the forthcoming 6G networks. The solution has been empirically evaluated in a emulated testbed where promising results have been achieved when dealing with mMTC and eMBB traffic profiles. In mMTC scenarios where scalability is a challenge, the solution is able to deal with up to 1000 slices and 1 Million IoT devices sending traffic simultaneously. In eMBB use cases, the solution is able to cope with up to 19 Gbps of combined bandwidth. The gathered results demonstrate that the proposed solution is suitable as a security tool in 5G IoT multi-tenant infrastructures as those expected in Smart Cities deployments

Homecare staff scheduling with three-step algorithm

This paper introduces a three-step algorithm, an efficient framework for solving a homecare staff scheduling problem (HSSP) service schedule, a multi-objective problem requiring a combination of the VRP and the staff scheduling problem. The proposed scheduling technique takes account of the design of optimal daily service routes and the dispatch of caregivers to visit patients under time and capacity constraints. The framework consists of three major stages: Step 1) Route scheduling creates effective routes for homecare caregivers to service patients at different task locations with the shortest path. Step 2) Resource selection seeks to match qualified staff to each route with the minimum cost and preferences under possible time, qualification requirement constraints, and modes of transportation. Step 3) Local improvement enhances the output solution generated by the resource selection by swapping tasks based on the cost function. Our empirical study reveals that the proposed scheduling technique can explore the improved service plan for an adapted case study with the minimum service cost and highest efficiency for arranging service tasks compared to the manual procedure

Making sense of the challenges of African ethnic minority businesses and why they persist

Despite the significant contributions that minority entrepreneurs make to both the economy and society, there has been a lack of research on the unique challenges they face. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the specific challenges encountered by African Ethnic Minority businesses (EMBs) using mixed embeddedness theory. To gain a better understanding of the issues and challenges associated with African EMBs, the findings reveal that African ethnic minority businesses, despite being more inclined towards entrepreneurship, are confronted with structural and systemic barriers that hinder their access to resources, social capital, and opportunities. The implications of these findings are far-reaching and call for changes in policies, practices, and the recognition of diversity. This study sheds new light on the obstacles that African ethnic minority businesses face, contributing to the existing knowledge base that can assist entrepreneurs and policymakers.<br/

Geopolitical risks and price exuberance in European natural gas market

This study examines the impact of geopolitical risks on price exuberance within the European natural gas market. The analysis identifies several instances of price exuberance and demonstrates that increased geopolitical risk in Ukraine and the UK significantly increases price exuberance while that of Russia, mitigates the occurrence. This study finds that although geopolitical risks could significantly influence price exuberance in the European natural gas market, the effect differs across countries

Accelerometer-derived sleep metrics in mild and difficult-to-treat asthma

IntroductionPoor sleep health is associated with increased asthma morbidity and mortality. Accelerometers have been validated to assess sleep parameters though studies using this method in patients with asthma are sparse and none have compared mild to difficult-to-treat asthma populations.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis from two recent in-house trials comparing sleep metrics between patients with mild and difficult-to-treat asthma. Participants wore accelerometers for 24-hours/day for seven days.ResultsOf 124 participants (44 mild, 80 difficult-to-treat), no between-group differences were observed in sleep-window, sleep-time, sleep efficiency or wake time. Sleep-onset time was ~ 40 min later in the difficult-to-treat group (p = 0.019).DiscussionBroadly, we observed no difference in accelerometer-derived sleep-metrics between mild and difficult-to-treat asthma. This is the largest analysis of accelerometer-derived sleep parameters in asthma and the first comparing groups by asthma severity. Sleep-onset initiation may be delayed in difficult-to-treat asthma but a dedicated study is needed to confirm

A look at Singapore hostess bars through the lens of Negri and Chakrabarty

This article, written in a confessional, autoethnographic style, explores the author’s experiences over a number of years with Singapore hostess bars/pubs. The research method is participant-observation of practices, discourses, pricing models and customer demographics, and knowledge gained from hostesses, bar managers and musicians. The law aspect of the article is critiquing the lack of citizenship rights and marriage rights for foreign workers in Singapore such as pub hostesses and construction workers. It also looks at the working conditions and cultures of the pubs, and describes the alienation and emotional labour involved in delivering heavily racialized and gendered services. Neither Filipina/Vietnamese hostesses nor Europeans have established places within the Singapore citizenship narrative or in government policy, which relies upon the hegemonic CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Others) Model. Filipina and Vietnamese pub hostesses do not fit neatly within this model and are hindered by the power of the narrative