CE17015

In the southwest of Ireland and the Celtic Sea (ICES Divisions VIIaS, g & j), herring are an important commercial species to the pelagic and polyvalent fleet. For a period in the 1970s and1980s, larval surveys were conducted for herring in this area. However, since 1989, acoustic surveys have been carried out, and currently are the only tuning indices available for this stock. In the Celtic Sea and VIIj, herring acoustic surveys have been carried out since 1989. Since 2004 the survey has been fixed in October and carried out onboard the RV Celtic Explorer. The geographical confines of the annual 21 day survey have been modified in recent years to include areas to the south of the main winter spawning grounds in an effort to identify the whereabouts of winter spawning fish before the annual inshore spawning migration. Spatial resolution of acoustic transects has been increased over the entire south coast survey area. The acoustic component of the survey has been further complemented since 2004 by detailed hydrographic, marine mammal and seabird surveys

Non-intrusive reduced order modeling of natural convection in porous media using convolutional autoencoders: comparison with linear subspace techniques

Natural convection in porous media is a highly nonlinear multiphysical problem relevant to many engineering applications (e.g., the process of $\mathrm{CO_2}$ sequestration). Here, we present a non-intrusive reduced order model of natural convection in porous media employing deep convolutional autoencoders for the compression and reconstruction and either radial basis function (RBF) interpolation or artificial neural networks (ANNs) for mapping parameters of partial differential equations (PDEs) on the corresponding nonlinear manifolds. To benchmark our approach, we also describe linear compression and reconstruction processes relying on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and ANNs. We present comprehensive comparisons among different models through three benchmark problems. The reduced order models, linear and nonlinear approaches, are much faster than the finite element model, obtaining a maximum speed-up of $7 \times 10^{6}$ because our framework is not bound by the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy condition; hence, it could deliver quantities of interest at any given time contrary to the finite element model. Our model's accuracy still lies within a mean squared error of 0.07 (two-order of magnitude lower than the maximum value of the finite element results) in the worst-case scenario. We illustrate that, in specific settings, the nonlinear approach outperforms its linear counterpart and vice versa. We hypothesize that a visual comparison between principal component analysis (PCA) or t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) could indicate which method will perform better prior to employing any specific compression strategy

Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework

This paper focuses on scoping studies, an approach to reviewing the literature which to date has received little attention in the research methods literature. We distinguish between different types of scoping studies and indicate where these stand in relation to full systematic reviews. We outline a framework for conducting a scoping study based on our recent experiences of reviewing the literature on services for carers for people with mental health problems. Where appropriate, our approach to scoping the field is contrasted with the procedures followed in systematic reviews. We emphasize how including a consultation exercise in this sort of study may enhance the results, making them more useful to policy makers, practitioners and service users. Finally, we consider the advantages and limitations of the approach and suggest that a wider debate is called for about the role of the scoping study in relation to other types of literature reviews

Exploring the Psychopysiological Indices of Perceived Effort and its Self-Regulation

Effort involves the application of physical and mental resources towards a task. Individuals perceive effort during task engagement like exercise with a conscious sensation of how hard, heavy, and strenuous the exercise consciously feels to drive the working muscles and for breathing. Accordingly, individuals' decisions are thought to be guided by their perceived effort. In turn, there are numerous psychophysiological characteristics that underpin the perceived effort phenomenon which can also play a role in the overall decision-making processes and self-regulation of behaviour. However, it is often difficult to capture the underlying mechanisms of decision-making processes due to their erratic and complex nature. Consequently, there is scant literature on the psychophysiological indices of set perceived effort intensities and underlying decision-making processes during self-regulation of perceived effort. Yet, a small sample of studies have demonstrated that concurrent mixed-methods/process-tracing approaches can delve more into complex decision-making processes involved with regulating perceived effort and exercise behaviour. Subsequently, the main aim of the present thesis was to explore the psychophysiological indices of perceived effort and its self-regulation. This thesis comprises three separate studies. In Study 1, the reliability of a novel fixed perceived effort cycling task was investigated. Results demonstrated that a novel fixed perceived effort trial that corresponded ratings of perceived effort to a known physiological threshold was reliably produced over numerous bouts and elicited a consistent psychophysiological response for each perceived effort intensity. A following study (Study 2, Part A) also probed the psychophysiological responses associated with two intensities of fixed perceived effort. During these studies it appeared that physical outputs at a set perceived effort intensity would decrease over time to maintain the same perception of effort. Meanwhile, certain psychophysiological markers showed characteristic increases (e.g., heart rate) or decreases (e.g., affective valence) as the fixed perceived effort exercise progressed. As a result, specific intensities of perceived effort appear to exhibit different power output and psychophysiological responses in terms of magnitude and changes over time. This could possibly then be linked to different ways that perceived effort is self-regulated. It was also of interest how individuals self-regulated during fixed perceived effort exercise. To achieve this, Study 2 utilised a think aloud protocol to understand the behavioural and cognitive self-regulatory strategies that were used by participants at different fixed perceived effort intensities (Part A) as well as any differences in self-regulation between experienced and inexperienced cyclists (Part B). Within Part A, it was found that there was a greater change in power output during the higher intensity fixed perceived effort cycle, signifying a greater amount of behavioural self-regulation. Furthermore, the activation of cognitive strategies was also greater in the higher intensity fixed perceived effort task. When assessing differences between experience levels of participants, there were no significant differences in power output or major secondary themes of the think aloud protocol suggesting participants of any experience level may self-regulate perceived effort similarly. However, closer examination of the primary themes from the think aloud data suggest experience level may affect the cognitive self-regulatory strategies that are used during a prolonged fixed perceived effort intensity exercise. Finally, this thesis then explored any changes in self-regulation of perceived effort after an intervention which involved experimentally induced muscle pain. In addition, this study also incorporated the use of functional near infrared spectroscopy to assess the cognitive effort applied to activate cognitive self-regulation strategies during fixed perceived effort exercise. It was found that the presence of elevated muscle pain due to an intramuscular hypertonic saline injection cause a significantly lower power output than an isotonic placebo-control condition. In addition, near infrared spectroscopy data showed a greater change in deoxyhaemoglobin between condition suggesting a greater use of cognitive self-regulatory strategies as part of executive function when experiencing elevated muscle pain compared to a placebo-control. Overall, this thesis firstly found a novel fixed perceived effort exercise to be reliable. Using this task paradigm, additional studies show that specific intensities of perceived effort seem to elicit different power output and psychophysiological responses in terms of magnitude (e.g., higher/lower between intensities) and changes over time (condition x time interactions). Subsequently, data concerning the self-regulation of perceived effort shows that participants employ a mixture of behavioural (i.e., changing power output) and cognitive (i.e., engaging in reappraisal and/or self-talk) strategies to self-regulate perceived effort. In addition, there was a difference in self-regulatory strategies between conditions which involved elevated muscle pain (hypertonic saline injection) or a no elevated muscle pain (isotonic saline injection). Therefore, the self-regulation of perceived effort is likely context dependent and there are also likely to be some individual preferences towards how perceived effort is self-regulated

Designing and Piloting a Tool for the Measurement of the Use of Pronunciation Learning Strategies

What appears to be indispensable to drive the field forward and ensure that research findings will be comparable across studies and provide a sound basis for feasible pedagogic proposals is to draw up a classification of PLS and design on that basis a valid and reliable data collection tool which could be employed to measure the use of these strategies in different groups of learners, correlate it with individual and contextual variables, and appraise the effects of training programs. In accordance with this rationale, the present paper represents an attempt to propose a tentative categorization of pronunciation learning strategies, adopting as a point of reference the existing taxonomies of strategic devices (i.e. O'Malley and Chamot 1990; Oxford 1990) and the instructional options teachers have at their disposal when dealing with elements of this language subsystem (e.g. Kelly 2000; Goodwin 2001). It also introduces a research instrument designed on the basis of the classification that shares a number of characteristics with Oxford's (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning but, in contrast to it, includes both Likert-scale and open-ended items. The findings of a pilot study which involved 80 English Department students demonstrate that although the tool requires considerable refinement, it provides a useful point of departure for future research into PLS

On the Efficacy of Isolating Shoulder and Elbow Movements with a Soft, Portable, and Wearable Robotic Device

Treatment intensity has a profound effect on motor recovery following neurological injury. The use of robotics has potential to automate these labor-intensive therapy procedures that are typically performed by physical therapists. Further, the use of wearable robotics offers an aspect of portability that may allow for rehabilitation outside the clinic. The authors have developed a soft, portable, lightweight upper extremity wearable robotic device to provide motor rehabilitation of patients with affected upper limbs due to traumatic brain injury (TBI). A key feature of the device demonstrated in this paper is the isolation of shoulder and elbow movements necessary for effective rehabilitation interventions. Herein is presented a feasibility study with one subject and demonstration of the device's ability to provide safe, comfortable, and controlled upper extremity movements. Moreover, it is shown that by decoupling shoulder and elbow motions, desired isolated joint actuation can be achieved