Penalty Corner Routines in Elite Women’s Indoor Field Hockey: Prediction of Outcomes based on Tactical Decisions

Indoor hockey is a highly competitive international sport, yet no research to date has investigated the key actions within this sport. As with outdoor field hockey, penalty corners represent one of the most likely situations in which goals can be scored. All 36 matches of the round-robin phase of the 2010-2011 England Hockey League Women’s Premier Division ‘Super Sixes’ competition were analysed with the purpose of establishing which factors can predict the scoring of a goal using Binary Logistic Regression analysis. Seventy two (22.6%) of the 319 observed penalty corners resulted in a goal. The strongest predictor of scoring a goal was taking the penalty corner from the goalkeeper’s right. Based on the odds ratio (OR), the odds of the attacking team scoring were 2.27 (CI = 1.41 - 3.65) times higher with penalty corners taken from the goalkeeper’s right as opposed to the left. Additionally, if the goalkeeper decided to rush to the edge of the circle, the odds of the attacking team failing to score were 2.19 (CI = 1.18 - 4.08) times higher compared to when the goalkeeper remained near the goal line. These results suggest that strategic decisions from the players and coaches have an important part to play in the success of penalty corners. Future research should investigate the impact of goalkeepers’ movement and further examine the technical and tactical intricacies of penalty corners

Mitral regurgitation as a phenotypic manifestation of nonphotosensitive trichothiodystrophy due to a splice variant in MPLKIP

Background: Nonphotosensitive trichothiodystrophy (TTDN) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of neuroectodermal origin. The condition is marked by hair abnormalities, intellectual impairment, nail dystrophies and susceptibility to infections but with no UV sensitivity. Methods: We identified three consanguineous Pakistani families with varied TTDN features and used homozygosity mapping, linkage analysis, and Sanger and exome sequencing in order to identify pathogenic variants. Haplotype analysis was performed and haplotype age estimated. A splicing assay was used to validate the effect of the MPLKIP splice variant on expression. Results: Affected individuals from all families exhibit several TTDN features along with a heart-specific feature, i.e. mitral regurgitation. Exome sequencing in the probands from families ED168 and ED241 identified a homozygous splice mutation c.339 + 1G > A within MPLKIP. The same splice variant co-segregates with TTDN in a third family ED210. The MPLKIP splice variant was not found in public databases, e.g. the Exome Aggregation Consortium, and in unrelated Pakistani controls. Functional analysis of the splice variant confirmed intron retention, which leads to protein truncation and loss of a phosphorylation site. Haplotype analysis identified a 585.1-kb haplotype which includes the MPLKIP variant, supporting the existence of a founder haplotype that is estimated to be 25,900 years old. Conclusion: This study extends the allelic and phenotypic spectra of MPLKIP-related TTDN, to include a splice variant that causes cardiomyopathy as part of the TTDN phenotype

Design case of the E-19 AEOLUS supersonic business jet

This paper introduces the E-19 AEOLUS supersonic business jet designed by the authors (conceptual design) and a team of Staff and a team of graduate students (preliminary and detail design) from the Aerospace Vehicle Design MSc. The design is presented at the 50th anniversary of the first flight of Concorde and with growing interest from many aircraft design companies. An attractive design would still need the usual attributes of safety, security, comfort, reliability, performance and operational flexibility. This paper presents a design that attempts to address these issues. The details of cabin, structures, landing gear, systems, powerplants, etc. are designed. Low-boom low-drag technologies are applied to the design. The synthetic vision display and double drooping nose are introduced to increase the pilot’s field of view. The resulting concept is challenging but could result in an aircraft well suited to meet a new market opportunit

Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques-FRAP, FLIP, FLAP, FRET and FLIM

Fluorescence microscopy provides an efficient and unique approach to study fixed and living cells because of its versatility, specificity, and high sensitivity. Fluorescence microscopes can both detect the fluorescence emitted from labeled molecules in biological samples as images or photometric data from which intensities and emission spectra can be deduced. By exploiting the characteristics of fluorescence, various techniques have been developed that enable the visualization and analysis of complex dynamic events in cells, organelles, and sub-organelle components within the biological specimen. The techniques described here are fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), the related fluorescence loss in photobleaching (FLIP), fluorescence localization after photobleaching (FLAP), Forster or fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and the different ways how to measure FRET, such as acceptor bleaching, sensitized emission, polarization anisotropy, and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). First, a brief introduction into the mechanisms underlying fluorescence as a physical phenomenon and fluorescence, confocal, and multiphoton microscopy is given. Subsequently, these advanced microscopy techniques are introduced in more detail, with a description of how these techniques are performed, what needs to be considered, and what practical advantages they can bring to cell biological research

Metamaterial superlenses operating at visible wavelength for imaging applications

© 2018 The Authors. Published by Nature. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33572-yIn this paper, a novel design for a metamaterial lens (superlens) based on a Photonic Crystal (PC) operating at visible wavelengths is reported. The proposed superlens consist of a gallium phosphide (GaP) dielectric slab waveguide with a hexagonal array of silver rods embedded within the GaP dielectric. In-house 2DFDTD numerical method is used to design and optimize the proposed superlens. Several superlenses are designed and integrated within a same dielectric platform, promoting the proof-of-concept (POC) of possible construction of an array of superlenses (or sub-lenses to create an M-Lens) for light field imaging applications. It is shown that the concavity of the superlens and positioning of each sub-lens within the array strongly affects the performances of the image in terms of resolution. Defects and various geometrical shapes are introduced to construct and optimize the proposed superlenses and increase the quality of the image resolution. It is shown that the orientation of the active region (ellipse) along x and y axis has tremendous influence on the quality of image resolution. In order to investigate the performance characteristics of the superlenses, transmitted power is calculated using 2D FDTD for image projections at various distances (in x and y plane). It is also shown, how the proposed superlens structures could be fabricated using standard micro fabrication techniques such as electron beam lithography, inductively coupled Reactive ion etching, and glancing angle evaporation methods. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first reported POC of superlenses, integrated in a monolithic platform suitable for high imaging resolution that can be used for light field imaging applications at visible wavelength. The proposed superlenses (integrated in a single platform M-Lens) will have tremendous impact on imaging applications

Tensile Creep and Creep-Recovery Behavior of a SiC-Fiber Si 3 N 4 -Matrix Composite

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65802/1/j.1151-2916.1993.tb03753.x.pd

Investigating how the attributes of live theatre productions influence consumption choices using conjoint analysis : the example of the National Arts Festival, South Africa

While there is a fair amount of work on determinants of demand for the live performing arts, results have often been contradictory with little explanatory power. This may be because of the difficulty in describing the attributes of a performance, particularly in terms of its quality, and the heterogeneity of consumer preferences. This article uses conjoint analysis, also called choice experiments, to investigate the impact of the attributes of live theatre performances on demand, using data collected from 483 randomly chosen attenders at live theatre performances at the 2008 South African National Arts Festival. Attributes include the type of cast (professional, semi-professional or amateur), reputation of the producer/director, the context or setting, production type and ticket price of the show. Results largely support the a priori expectations based on the results of other demand studies. For example, it is found that the age of consumers affects the type of show chosen, that utility and willingness to pay increase for shows with professional and semi-professional casts and that 93% of the potential audience prefer shows with a South African context. It is concluded that the method could prove useful to both event organisers and policy makers, especially where the goal is to broaden access to the arts

Dizajn, razvoj i vrednovanje novih nanoemulzija za transdermalnu primjenu celekoksiba

The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential of nanoemulsion formulations for transdermal delivery of celecoxib (CXB). The in vitro skin permeation profile of optimized formulations was compared with CXB gel and nanoemulsion gel. Significant increase in the steady state flux (Jss), permeability coefficient (Kp) and enhancement ratio (Er) was observed in nanoemulsion formulations T1 and T2 (p < 0.05). The highest value of these permeability parameters was obtained in formulation T2, which consisted of 2% m/m of CXB, 10% m/m of oil phase (Sefsol 218 and Triacetin), 50% m/m of surfactant mixture (Tween-80 and Transcutol-P) and 40% m/m of water. The anti-inflammatory effects of formulation T2 showed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in inhibition after 24 h compared to CXB gel and nanoemulsion gel on carrageenean-induced paw edema in rats. These results suggested that nanoemulsions are potential vehicles for improved transdermal delivery of CXB.U radu su opisana ispitivanja nanoemulzija za transdermalnu primjenu celekoksiba (CXB). Profil permeacije kroz kožu ispitivan je in vitro i uspoređivan sa CXB gelom i nanoemulzijskim gelom. U formulacijama T1 i T2 postignuto je značajno povećanje ustaljenog fluksa (Jss), koeficijenta permeabilnosti (Kp) i povećanje omjera (Er) (p < 0.05). Najveće vrijednosti parametara permeabilnosti dobivene su u formulaciji T2 koja je sadržala 2% m/m CXB, 10% m/m uljne faze (Sefsol 218 i Triacetin), 50% m/m površinski-aktivnih tvari (Tween-80 i Transcutol-P) i 40% m/m vode. Protuupalno djelovanje formulacije T2 na edem šape štakora uzrokovan karageninom značajno je povećano (p < 0.05) poslije 24 h u usporedbi sa CXB gelom i nanoemulzijskim gelom. Rezultati ukazuju na poboljšanu isporuku celekoksiba putem nanoemulzija

Thermomechanical Fatigue Behavior of a Silicon Carbide Fiber-Reinforced Calcium Aluminosilicate Composite

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65874/1/j.1151-2916.1993.tb04022.x.pd