Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Kinanthropology

Proceedings of the 12th Conference of Sport and Quality of Life 2019 gatheres submissions of participants of the conference. Every submission is the result of positive evaluation by reviewers from the corresponding field. Conference is divided into sections – Analysis of human movement; Sport training, nutrition and regeneration; Sport and social sciences; Active ageing and sarcopenia; Strength and conditioning training; section for PhD students

Training for Optimal Sports Performance and Health

In this book, the emphasis is on various training interventions. Types of exercises that can help improve performance in athletes and health in people facing poor movement diseases.Also, we have presented a variety of strength training interventions in the form of various types of research. On the other hand, we continue to monitor internal and external loads related to non-contact injuries and performance analysis

Multi criteria risk analysis of a subsea BOP system

The Subsea blowout preventer (BOP) which is latched to a subsea wellhead is one of several barriers in the well to prevent kicks and blowouts and it is the most important and critical equipment, as it becomes the last line of protection against blowout. The BOP system used in Subsea drilling operations is considered a Safety – Critical System, with a high severity consequence following its failure. Following past offshore blowout incidents such as the most recent Macondo in the Gulf of Mexico, there have been investigations, research, and improvements sought for improved understanding of the BOP system and its operation. This informs the need for a systematic re-evaluation of the Subsea BOP system to understand its associated risk and reliability and identify critical areas/aspects/components. Different risk analysis techniques were surveyed and the Failure modes effect and criticality analysis (FMECA) selected to be used to drive the study in this thesis. This is due to it being a simple proven cost effective process that can add value to the understanding of the behaviours and properties of a system, component, software, function or other. The output of the FMECA can be used to inform or support other key engineering tasks such as redesigning, enhanced qualification and testing activity or maintenance for greater inherent reliability and reduced risk potential. This thesis underscores the application of the FMECA technique to critique associated risk of the Subsea BOP system. System Functional diagrams was developed with boundaries defined, a FMECA were carried out and an initial select list of critical component failure modes identified. The limitations surrounding the confidence of the FMECA failure modes ranking outcome based on Risk priority number (RPN) is presented and potential variations in risk interpretation are discussed. The main contribution in this thesis is an innovative framework utilising Multicriteria decision making (MCDA) analysis techniques with consideration of fuzzy interval data is applied to the Subsea BOP system critical failure modes from the FMECA analysis. It utilised nine criticality assessment criteria deduced from expert consultation to obtain a more reliable ranking of failure modes. The MCDA techniques applied includes the technique for order of Preference for similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Fuzzy TOPSIS, TOPSIS with interval data, and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE). The outcome of the Multi-criteria analysis of the BOP system clearly shows failures of the Wellhead connector, LMRP hydraulic connector and Control system related failure as the Top 3 most critical failure with respect to a well control. The critical failure mode and components outcome from the analysis in this thesis is validated using failure data from industry database and a sensitivity analysis carried out. The importance of maintenance, testing and redundancy to the BOP system criticality was established by the sensitivity analysis. The potential for MCDA to be used for more specific analysis of criteria for a technology was demonstrated. Improper maintenance, inspection, testing (functional and pressure) are critical to the BOP system performance and sustenance of a high reliability level. Material selection and performance of components (seals, flanges, packers, bolts, mechanical body housings) relative to use environment and operational conditions is fundamental to avoiding failure mechanisms occurrence. Also worthy of notice is the contribution of personnel and organisations (by way of procedures to robustness and verification structure to ensure standard expected practices/rules are followed) to failures as seen in the root cause discussion. OEMs, operators and drilling contractors to periodically review operation scenarios relative to BOP system product design through the use of a Failure reporting analysis and corrective action system. This can improve design of monitoring systems, informs requirement for re-qualification of technology and/or next generation designs. Operations personnel are to correctly log in failures in these systems, and responsible Authority to ensure root cause analysis is done to uncover underlying issue initiating and driving failures

Magnetic resonance imaging of lower limb joints of marathon runners

Marathon running is extremely popular. The increasing participation of beginner runners, including older ones, in marathon races has been anecdotally associated with an increase in lower limb injuries. Evidence is scarce, yet no previous study showed significant marathon-related damage on joints, but involved small sample size, no beginner runners and injury detection tools of limited sensitivity. Therefore, the impact of marathon running remains unclear. The aim of this thesis is to better understand how marathon running affects the knee and hip joints of large groups of novice marathoners, and how to minimise risks of injury. Prevalence of knee joint abnormalities in asymptomatic novice marathoners before the start of their marathon training was morphologically assessed, using high-resolution 3.0 T MRI and validated questionnaires; 97% knees had abnormalities and the patellofemoral compartment was most lesioned (p<0.0001). Changes in the knee MRI results from the pre-marathon scan to short-term post-marathon scan were evaluated, using 3.0 T MRI and questionnaires. For the first time, counterbalanced effects of running were detected: reduction in the extent of pre-existing tibiofemoral bone marrow edema (p=0.082), and increase in the prevalence of patellofemoral cartilage lesion (p=0.0005), although asymptomatic. Six months later, the reduction in bone edema was sustained in all cases and there were signs of reversibility of cartilage damage (14%). Prevalence of hip joint abnormalities in both asymptomatic novice marathoners and experienced marathoners was evaluated, using the same methodology. Prevalences were relatively moderate in both experienced marathoners (63%) and non-experienced marathoners (51%). Changes in the hip MRI findings of novice marathoners after marathon running were analysed, and no significant changes were detected (p=0.684). Results from this thesis show that first-time marathon running does not damage the knee and hip joints of runners with no pre-existing injuries, and inform on the types of structural changes and potential clinical implications

Power Optimization for Sensor Hubs in Biomedical Applications

The design and development of wearable inertial sensor systems for health monitoring has garnered a huge attention in the scientific community and the industry during the last years. Such platforms have a typical architecture and common building blocks to enable data collection, data processing and feedback restitution. In this thesis we analyze power optimization techniques that can be applied to such systems. When reducing power consumption in a wearable system, different trade-offs have to be inevitably faced. We thus propose software techniques that span from well known duty cycling, frequency scaling, data compression to new paradigm such as radio triggering, heterogeneous multi-core and context aware power management

Muscle activation patterns in shoulder impingement patients

Introduction: Shoulder impingement is one of the most common presentations of shoulder joint problems 1. It appears to be caused by a reduction in the sub-acromial space as the humerus abducts between 60o -120o – the 'painful arc'. Structures between the humeral head and the acromion are thus pinched causing pain and further pathology 2. Shoulder muscle activity can influence this joint space but it is unclear whether this is a cause or effect in impingement patients. This study aimed to observe muscle activation patterns in normal and impingement shoulder patients and determine if there were any significant differences. Method: 19 adult subjects were asked to perform shoulder abduction in their symptomatic arm and non-symptomatic. 10 of these subjects (age 47.9 ± 11.2) were screened for shoulder impingement, and 9 subjects (age 38.9 ± 14.3) had no history of shoulder pathology. Surface EMG was used to collect data for 6 shoulder muscles (Upper, middle and lower trapezius, serratus anterior, infraspinatus, middle deltoids) which was then filtered and fully rectified. Subjects performed 3 smooth unilateral abduction movements at a cadence of 16 beats of a metronome set at 60bpm, and the mean of their results was recorded. T-tests were used to indicate any statistical significance in the data sets. Significance was set at P<0.05. Results: There was a significant difference in muscle activation with serratus anterior in particular showing a very low level of activation throughout the range when compared to normal shoulder activation patterns (<30%). Middle deltoid recruitment was significantly reduced between 60-90o in the impingement group (30:58%).Trends were noted in other muscles with upper trapezius and infraspinatus activating more rapidly and erratically (63:25%; 60:27% respectively), and lower trapezius with less recruitment (13:30%) in the patient group, although these did not quite reach significance. Conclusion: There appears to be some interesting alterations in muscle recruitment patterns in impingement shoulder patients when compared against their own unaffected shoulders and the control group. In particular changes in scapula control (serratus anterior and trapezius) and lateral rotation (infraspinatus), which have direct influence on the sub-acromial space, should be noted. It is still not clear whether these alterations are causative or reactionary, but this finding gives a clear indication to the importance of addressing muscle reeducation as part of a rehabilitation programme in shoulder impingement patients