Discrete vs. functional based data to analyze countermovement jump performance

While discrete point analysis (DPA) (e.g. peak power) is by far the most common method of analyzing movement data, it may have significant limitations because it ignores the vast majority of a signal’s data. In response, there has been a small but growing use of methods, such as functional data analysis (FDA), which allow an investigation of the underlying structure of the continuous signal and may therefore provide a more powerful analysis. However, a direct comparison between DPA and FDA has not been previously reported

The Classical Influence in Rock

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An overview of the nature of the preparation of practice educators in five health care disciplines

Practice education is a core element of all educational programmes that prepare health care professionals for academic award and registration to practice. Ensuring quality and effectiveness involves partnership working between Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) and health care providers, social care communities, voluntary and independent sectors offering client care throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Clearly practitioners who support, supervise and assess learners for entry to their respective professions need to be well prepared and supported in their roles as practice educators. However it would appear that the nature of this support and preparation varies across disciplines and that good practice is not easily shared. With this in mind, the Making Practice Based Learning Work (MPBLW) project aims to make practitioners more effective at supporting and supervising students in the workplace across a range of health care disciplines namely Dietetics, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Radiology. The Department of Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England has funded this collaborative project involving staff from Ulster, Northumbria and Bournemouth Universities. The outcomes for each phase of the project are: Phase One: • Identify and document good practice on how practitioners are prepared for their educational role. Phase Two: • Develop and evaluate learning materials for use by practitioners across five health care disciplines. • Make learning materials available in a number of efficient media, e.g. paper, electronic, CD-ROM and web-based. • Develop a programme applicable to interprofessional and uniprofessional contexts. • Widen access for a multicultural workforce. Phase Three: • Embed best educational practice through the establishment of an academicpractitioner network. • Disseminate a range of materials and processes across the wider academic and health and social care communities

The robustness of mine water accounting over a range of operating contexts and commodities

Communicating the mining industry’s water use is fundamental to maintaining its social license to operate but the majority of corporate reporting schemes list indicators. The Minerals Council of Australia’s Water Accounting Framework was designed to assist the minerals industry obtain consistency in its accounting method and in the definitions of terms used in water reporting. The significance of this paper is that it shows that the framework has been designed to be sufficiently robust to describe any mining/mineral related operation. The Water Accounting Framework was applied across four operations over three countries producing four commodities. The advantages of the framework were then evident through the presentation of the reports. The contextual statement of the framework was able to explain contrasting reuse efficiencies. The Input-Output statements showed that evaporation was a significant loss for most of the operations in the study which highlights a weakness of reporting schemes that focus on discharge volumes. The framework method promotes data reconciliation which proved the presence of flows that two operations in the study had neglected to provide. Whilst there are many advantages of the framework, the major points are that the reporting statements of the framework, when presented together, can better enable the public to understand water interactions at a site-level and allows for valid comparisons between sites, regardless of locale and commodity. With mining being a global industry, these advantages are best realised if there was international adoption of the framework

A Review on European Union’s Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy and its Impact on Food Safety

In 2018, European Union adopted a European strategy for plastics in a circular economy as a part of theiraction plan for a circular economy. Sustainability is the underlying motivation behind the plasticsstrategy with a goal of addressing how plastics are designed, used and recycled in the EU. One of thestrategies outlined is that by 2030, all plastic packaging placed on the EU market is either reusable or canbe recycled in a cost-effective manner. A large portion of food packaging is multi-layer plastic that is notrecyclable in a cost-effective manner. Given the difficulties associated with recycling today’s complexfood packaging, what impacts will the European Union’s strategies for plastics in a circular economy haveon food safety? This article explores what is being done and what can be done to mitigate the risks tofood safety while adhering to the EU’s plastic strategy. It has been observed that the plastic plays a vitalrole in maintaining food safety, extending shelf-life and minimising food waste. However, it is currentlynot possible to recycle multi-layer plastic packaging which is widely used throughout the food industry,and there are currently no viable alternatives offering the same level of protection. Unless possiblesubstitutes to multi-layer plastics offering the same level of food protection can be developed then therewill be detrimental effects on food quality, safety and shelf-life, which will lead to increased food waste,additional food costs and a reduction in the variety and availability of certain foods

Analysis of characterizing phases on waveforms – an application to vertical jumps

The aim of this study is to propose a novel data analysis approach, ‘Analysis of Characterizing Phases’ (ACP), that detects and examines phases of variance within a sample of curves utilizing the time, magnitude and magnitude-time domain; and to compare the findings of ACP to discrete point analysis in identifying performance related factors in vertical jumps. Twenty five vertical jumps were analyzed. Discrete point analysis identified the initial-to-maximum rate of force development (p = .006) and the time from initial-to-maximum force (p = .047) as performance related factors. However, due to inter-subject variability in the shape of the force curves (i.e non-, uni- and bi-modal nature), these variables were judged to be functionally erroneous. In contrast, ACP identified the ability to: apply forces for longer (p < .038), generate higher forces (p < .027) and produce a greater rate of force development (p < .003) as performance related factors. Analysis of Characterizing Phases showed advantages over discrete point analysis in identifying performance related factors because it: (i) analyses only related phases, (ii) analyses the whole data set, (iii) can identify performance related factors that occur solely as a phase, (iv) identifies the specific phase over which differences occur, and (v) analyses the time, magnitude and combined magnitude-time domains

THE EFFECT OF COMPLIANT RUNNING ON IMPACT ACCELERATIONS AND ENERGY EXPENDITURE

This study examined the effect that a compliant running style has on impact accelerations and energy expenditure, in comparison to normal running. Twelve subjects completed a three week familiarization protocol followed by two separate testing days. Impact accelerations were measured with a Myomonitor wireless system (DELSYS, USA) and oxygen kinetics were recorded during a 6 minute trial using a Vmax gas flow sensor and analyser (Vmax system, Sensor Medics, VIASYS Healthcare, Netherlands) to determine energy expenditure. Compliant running resulted in a significant decrease in sacral (27%) and head (39%) impact accelerations, a non-significant decrease in tibia (21%) impact accelerations, and a significant increase in energy expenditure (23%)

Comparison of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, surface plasmon resonance and biolayer interferometry for screening of deoxynivalenol in wheat and wheat dust

A sample preparation method was developed for the screening of deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat and wheat dust. Extraction was carried out with water and was successful due to the polar character of DON. For detection, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was compared to the sensor-based techniques of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and biolayer interferometry (BLI) in terms of sensitivity, affinity and matrix effect. The matrix effects from wheat and wheat dust using SPR were too high to further use this screenings method. The preferred ELISA and BLI methods were validated according to the criteria established in Commission Regulation 519/2014/EC and Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. A small survey was executed on 16 wheat lots and their corresponding dust samples using the validated ELISA method. A linear correlation (r = 0.889) was found for the DON concentration in dust versus the DON concentration in wheat (LOD wheat: 233 g/kg, LOD wheat dust: 458 g/kg)