Reliability of judging in DanceSport

Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the new judging system in DanceSport. Methods Eighteen judges rated the 12 best placed adult dancing couples competing at an international competition. They marked each couple on all judging criteria on a 10 level scale. Absolute agreement and consistency of judging were calculated for all main judging criteria and sub-criteria. Results A mean correlation of overall judging marks was 0.48. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance for overall marks (W = 0.58) suggesting relatively low agreement among judges. Slightly lower coefficients were found for the artistic part [Partnering skills (W = 0.45) and Choreography and performance (W = 0.49)] compared to the technical part [Technical qualities (W = 0.56) and Movement to music (W = 0.54)]. ICC for overall criteria was low for absolute agreement [ICC(2,3) = 0.62] but higher for consistency [ICC(3,3) = 0.80]. Conclusion The relatively large differences between judges’ marks suggest that judges either disagreed to some extent on the quality of the dancing or used the judging scale in different ways. The biggest concern was standard error of measurement (SEM) which was often larger than the difference between dancers scores suggesting that this judging system lacks validity. This was the first research to assess judging in DanceSport and offers suggestions to potentially improve both its objectivity and validity in the future

Effect of spraying speed on head coverage of winter wheat with fungicide, occurrence of Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol, yield and grain quality

The effect of spraying speed (5, 8.5 or 12 km/h) on deposition quality of fungicide on a winter wheat head, yield, grain quality, occurrence of Fusarium head blight (FHB) and deoxynivalenol (DON) content in grains was investigated in 2011 and 2012. Asymmetric double flat fan air-injector nozzles were used in the trial at a spraying pressure of 5.0 bars. A prothiconazole + tebuconazole fungicide mixture was used for spraying. An increase of spraying speed significantly lowered coverage values at the front and rear parts of a wheat head. At all three spraying speeds, the rear part of a wheat head reached a better coverage value. The effect of spraying speed was significant in 2011, when the 5 km/h spraying speed generated a significantly higher grain yield and a significantly higher thousand-grain weight in comparison with the other treatments. In both trial years, the lowest grain yield occurred on the unsprayed control. In 2011 and 2012, the latter also reached the lowest hectolitre weight and thousand-grain weight. In both trial years, the unsprayed control had a significantly higher DONcontent than the other treatments. In 2012, the DONcontent on the unsprayed control exceeded the allowed maximum level. The spraying speed did not affect the DON content in the grains. The effect of spraying speed was also noted in the FHB incidence. A significantly lower FHB incidence occurred at the 5 and 8.5 km/h spraying speeds

Head and leaf fungicide deposit on winter wheat, deoxynivalenol content and yield parameters as affected by different nozzle types

In 2014 and 2015, we studied the effect of fungicide spraying with 11 different nozzles on the quality and quantity of head and leaf fungicide deposit, the percentage of Fusarium head blight (FHB) incidence, FHB index, the DON content, yield and grain quality parameters. The best quality and quantity of fungicide deposit on the front and rear head sides was achieved with the TeeJet Turbo FloodJet TF VP2 nozzle (FLOOD) and the Albuz AVI-TWIN 110-03 nozzle (AVI). In comparison with the majority of treatments, the FHB incidence and the FHB index was the highest on the unsprayed control. The FHB index was higher using the Lechler IDK 120-03 nozzle (IDK) than with the other nozzle types. In all the treatments, the DON content in the grain was less than 50 μg/kg. At this very low level of infection this is not surprising. The grain yield was the smallest on the unsprayed control. Better fungicide coverage of wheat heads with the FLOOD and AVI nozzles did not result in a statistically higher yield or better grain quality parameters. Negative correlations were confirmed between yield and variables as DON content, FHB incidence and FHB index and also between falling number and variables as fungicide coverage, FHB incidence and FHB index. Positive correlations were determined between DON content and FHB incidence, between hectolitre weight and variables as spray deposit and coverage and between protein content and variables as spray deposit and coverage

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI 2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/images/research_banner_face_lab_290.jpgunderweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesity

Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development

AbstractOptimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was &lt;1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.</jats:p

Immobilized yeast bioreactor systems for brewing - Recent achievements

During recent years, immobilised yeast technology has gained increasing attention in the brewing industry. As a result of extensive research immobilised yeast technology is nowadays a well established technology for beer maturation and alcohol-free and low-alcohol beer production. However, in primary fermentation the situation is more complex and this process is still under scrutiny on the lab or pilot level. This paper describes several favourable immobilised cell - bioreactor systems for primary beer fermentation with particular emphasis on alginate-yeast microbeads - internal loop gas-lift bioreactor system, introduced into this field by our research group