The effect of environmental conditions on performance in timed cycling events

Air temperature, pressure and humidity are environmental factors that affect air density and therefore the relationship between a cyclist’s power output and their velocity. These environmental factors are changeable and are routinely quite different at elite cycling competitions conducted around the world, which means that they have a variable effect on performance in timed events. The present work describes a method of calculating the effect of these environmental factors on timed cycling events and illustrates the magnitude and significance of these effects in a case study. Formulas are provided to allow the calculation of the effect of environmental conditions on performance in a time trial cycling event. The effect of environmental factors on time trial performance can be in the order of 1.5%, which is significant given that the margins between ranked performances is often less than this. Environmental factors may enhance or hinder performance depending upon the conditions and the comparison conditions. To permit the fair comparison of performances conducted in different environmental conditions, it is recommended that performance times are corrected to the time that would be achieved in standard environmental conditions, such as 20 oC, 760 mmHg (1013.25 hPa) and 50% RH

Metabolic Power Method: Underestimation of Energy Expenditure in Field-Sport Movements Using a Global Positioning System Tracking System

The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of a global positioning system (GPS) tracking system to estimate energy expenditure (EE) during exercise and field-sport locomotor movements. Twenty-seven participants each completed a 90-min exercise session on an outdoor synthetic futsal pitch. During the exercise session, they wore a 5-Hz GPS unit interpolated to 15 Hz and a portable gas analyzer that acted as the criterion measure of EE. The exercise session was composed of alternating 5-minute exercise bouts of randomized walking, jogging, running, or a field-sport circuit (×3) followed by 10 min of recovery. One-way analysis of variance showed significant (P &lt; .01) and very large underestimations between GPS metabolic power– derived EE and oxygen-consumption (VO2) -derived EE for all field-sport circuits (% difference ≈ –44%). No differences in EE were observed for the jog (7.8%) and run (4.8%), whereas very large overestimations were found for the walk (43.0%). The GPS metabolic power EE over the entire 90-min session was significantly lower (P &lt; .01) than the VO2 EE, resulting in a moderate underestimation overall (–19%). The results of this study suggest that a GPS tracking system using the metabolic power model of EE does not accurately estimate EE in field-sport movements or over an exercise session consisting of mixed locomotor activities interspersed with recovery periods; however, is it able to provide a reasonably accurate estimation of EE during continuous jogging and running.</jats:p

Profiling the Australian high performance and sports science workforce

Australia is viewed as leader in the field of sports science, with Australian sports scientists highly sought after and respected worldwide. However, despite the important contribution of sports scientists to the development of professional sport in Australia, we know little about these sport professionals who play an important role in the development and success of athletes, teams and sport organisations.This report provides a more formal understanding of the high performance and sports science workforce with the purpose of informing the policy development of Australia&rsquo;s sport governing bodies and education providers to inform sport management practices that will enhance the support and development of current and future high performance managers and sports scientists. The data presented in this report provides valuable insight about the scope of the profession to enable further development of strategic plans for the industry

Winning With Chaos in Association Football:Spatiotemporal Event Distribution Randomness Metric for Team Performance Evaluation

Association football (commonly known as football or soccer) in the modern era places a greater emphasis on collaborating and working together as a team instead of relying solely on individual skills to strategize winning performances. The low-scoring and unpredictable nature of association football makes evaluating team performances challenging. Space creation and space utilization have been discussed in the football world lately. Existing literature evaluates this with on and off-ball runs by players for deceiving defenders to create open spaces. However, the contribution of these team ball movements’ enhanced randomness or chaotic nature to winning performances has yet to be explored. This work proposes a novel entropy-based time-series performance evaluation metric, EDRan, for quantifying this enhanced random nature by analyzing the spatial distribution of game events at regular intervals. Additionally, an unexplored cumulative ball possession matrix is used to quantify randomness. The correlation between the match winner and spatial event distribution randomness at regular intervals was analyzed. The significance of the proposed metric was demonstrated using a generalized linear model (GLM), which achieved an average accuracy of 80% for match-winning performance classification. The GLM p-values and coefficients revealed statistically significant relationships between the extracted temporal features and match-winning performances. Findings further revealed dispersed, highly random event distribution by winning teams during the early phases of the game, implying attacking behavior, followed by a compact, cautious playing style toward the end, suggesting that the game’s first-half performances are more pivotal. Despite the unpredictability of actual scores in association football, the proposed approach effectively captured the differences in performances between stronger and weaker teams with temporal relationships, highlighting its significance as a time-series metric for performance evaluation

Winning With Chaos in Association Football:Spatiotemporal Event Distribution Randomness Metric for Team Performance Evaluation

Association football (commonly known as football or soccer) in the modern era places a greater emphasis on collaborating and working together as a team instead of relying solely on individual skills to strategize winning performances. The low-scoring and unpredictable nature of association football makes evaluating team performances challenging. Space creation and space utilization have been discussed in the football world lately. Existing literature evaluates this with on and off-ball runs by players for deceiving defenders to create open spaces. However, the contribution of these team ball movements' enhanced randomness or chaotic nature to winning performances has yet to be explored. This work proposes a novel entropy-based time-series performance evaluation metric, EDRan, for quantifying this enhanced random nature by analyzing the spatial distribution of game events at regular intervals. Additionally, an unexplored cumulative ball possession matrix is used to quantify randomness. The correlation between the match winner and spatial event distribution randomness at regular intervals was analyzed. The significance of the proposed metric was demonstrated using a generalized linear model (GLM), which achieved an average accuracy of 80% for match-winning performance classification. The GLM p-values and coefficients revealed statistically significant relationships between the extracted temporal features and match-winning performances. Findings further revealed dispersed, highly random event distribution by winning teams during the early phases of the game, implying attacking behavior, followed by a compact, cautious playing style toward the end, suggesting that the game's first-half performances are more pivotal. Despite the unpredictability of actual scores in association football, the proposed approach effectively captured the differences in performances between stronger and weaker teams with temporal relationships, highlighting its significance as a time-series metric for performance evaluation

Patient and healthcare professional eHealth literacy and needs for systemic sclerosis support: a mixed methods study

OBJECTIVES: We engaged patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and healthcare professionals to assess electronic health (eHealth) literacy and needs relating to web-based support using internet-based information and communication technologies (ICT). METHODS: We employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. First, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in patients (n=101) and professionals (n=47). Next, we conducted three focus groups with patients, family members and professionals (n=17). RESULTS: Of patients, 89.1% used ICT at least weekly for private communication. Patients reported relatively high comprehension of eHealth information ([Formula: see text] =6.7, 95% CI: 6.2 to 7.3, range 1-10), yet were less confident evaluating information reliability ([Formula: see text] =5.8, 95% CI: 5.1 to 6.4) and finding eHealth apps ([Formula: see text] =4.8, 95% CI: 4.2 to 5.4). Patients and professionals reported little experience with web-based self-management support. Focus groups revealed 'considering non-ICT-accessible groups' and 'fitting patients' and professionals' technology' as crucial for acceptability. In relation to understanding/appraising eHealth, participants highlighted that general SSc information is not tailored to individual's disease course. Recommendations included 'providing timely, understandable and safe information' and 'empowering end-users in ICT and health decision-making skills'. Professionals expressed concerns about lacking resources. Patients were concerned about data security and person-centredness. Key eHealth drivers included 'addressing end-user perceptions' and 'putting people at the centre of technology'. CONCLUSIONS: Patients and professionals need education/training to support uptake of eHealth resources. Key elements include guiding patients to timely/reliable information and using eHealth to optimise patient-provider communication. Design that is responsive to end-users' needs and considers individuals with limited eHealth literacy and/or ICT access appears to be critical for acceptability

Patient Assessment Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) and its associations with quality of life among Swiss patients with systemic sclerosis: a mixed methods study

BACKGROUND: The Chronic Care Model (CCM) is a longstanding and widely adopted model guiding chronic illness management. Little is known about how CCM elements are implemented in rare disease care or how patients' care experiences relate to health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We engaged patients living with systemic sclerosis (SSc) to assess current care according to the CCM from the patient perspective and their HRQoL. METHODS: We employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. First, we conducted a cross-sectional quantitative survey (n = 101) using the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) and Systemic Sclerosis Quality of Life (SScQoL) questionnaires. Next, we used data from individual patient interviews (n = 4) and one patient focus group (n = 4) to further explore care experiences of people living with SSc with a focus on the PACIC dimensions. RESULTS: The mean overall PACIC score was 3.0/5.0 (95% CI 2.8-3.2, n = 100), indicating care was 'never' to 'generally not' aligned with the CCM. Lowest PACIC subscale scores related to 'goal setting/tailoring' (mean = 2.5, 95% CI 2.2-2.7) and 'problem solving/contextual counselling' (mean = 2.9, 95% CI 2.7-3.2). No significant correlations were identified between the mean PACIC and SScQoL scores. Interviews revealed patients frequently encounter major shortcomings in care including 'experiencing organized care with limited participation', 'not knowing which strategies are effective or harmful' and 'feeling left alone with disease and psychosocial consequences'. Patients often responded to challenges by 'dealing with the illness in tailored measure', 'taking over complex coordination of care' and 'relying on an accessible and trustworthy team'. CONCLUSIONS: The low PACIC mean overall score is comparable to findings in patients with common chronic diseases. Key elements of the CCM have yet to be systematically implemented in Swiss SSc management. Identified gaps in care related to lack of shared decision-making, goal-setting and individual counselling-aspects that are essential for supporting patient self-management skills. Furthermore, there appears to be a lack of complex care coordination tailored to individual patient needs

Why do banks promise to pay par on demand?

We survey the theories of why banks promise to pay par on demand and examine evidence about the conditions under which banks have promised to pay the par value of deposits and banknotes on demand when holding only fractional reserves. The theoretical literature can be broadly divided into four strands: liquidity provision, asymmetric information, legal restrictions, and a medium of exchange. We assume that it is not zero cost to make a promise to redeem a liability at par value on demand. If so, then the conditions in the theories that result in par redemption are possible explanations of why banks promise to pay par on demand. If the explanation based on customers’ demand for liquidity is correct, payment of deposits at par will be promised when banks hold assets that are illiquid in the short run. If the asymmetric-information explanation based on the difficulty of valuing assets is correct, the marketability of banks’ assets determines whether banks promise to pay par. If the legal restrictions explanation of par redemption is correct, banks will not promise to pay par if they are not required to do so. If the transaction explanation is correct, banks will promise to pay par value only if the deposits are used in transactions. After the survey of the theoretical literature, we examine the history of banking in several countries in different eras: fourth-century Athens, medieval Italy, Japan, and free banking and money market mutual funds in the United States. We find that all of the theories can explain some of the observed banking arrangements, and none explain all of them

The Impact of Simulated Sulfate Deposition on Peatland Testate Amoebae

Peatlands subjected to sulfate deposition have been shown to produce less methane, believed to be due to competitive exclusion of methanogenic archaea by sulfate-reducing bacteria. Here, we address whether sulfate deposition produces impacts on a higher microbial group, the testate amoebae. Sodium sulfate was applied to experimental plots on a Scottish peatland and samples extracted after a period of more than 10 years. Impacts on testate amoebae were tested using redundancy analysis and Mann-Whitney tests. Results showed statistically significant impacts on amoebae communities particularly noted by decreased abundance of Trinema lineare, Corythion dubium, and Euglypha rotunda. As the species most reduced in abundance are all small bacterivores we suggest that our results support the hypothesis of a shift in dominant prokaryotes, although other explanations are possible. Our results demonstrate the sensitivity of peatland microbial communities to sulfate deposition and suggest sulfate may be a potentially important secondary control on testate amoebae communities

Tourism and Economic Globalization: An Emerging Research Agenda

Globalization characterizes the economic, social, political, and cultural spheres of the modern world. Tourism has long been claimed as a crucial force shaping globalization, while in turn the developments of the tourism sector are under the influences of growing interdependence across the world. As globalization proceeds, destination countries have become more and more susceptible to local and global events. By linking the existing literature coherently, this study explores a number of themes on economic globalization in tourism. It attempts to identify the forces underpinning globalization and assess the implications on both the supply side and the demand side of the tourism sector. In view of a lack of quantitative evidence, future directions for empirical research have been suggested to investigate the interdependence of tourism demand, the convergence of tourism productivity, and the impact of global events