A novel, real-time biomechanical feedback system for use in rowing

Biomechanical feedback in water-based rowing is traditionally presented as paper reports or video overlaid with data once a session has been completed. Research into the provision of extrinsic feedback in sport suggests that real-time feedback can lead to skill acquisition and, when appropriately applied, lead to skill retention during competition and therefore a positive performance outcome. This paper presents a novel system architecture that delivers real-time feedback using commercially available off-the-shelf components. The development of a rowing specific system to test a range of feedback strategies is presented, including fading feedback, mixing feedback modalities and varying of the frequency and timing of feedback. MoSync, a cross-platform smartphone development language, was used to write the client application while the server was written as an embedded application in C and Lua that ran on top of the OpenWrt open-source router operating system. Data was transmitted wirelessly across a Wi-Fi network. A human-centred design process was led by a group of highperformance athletes and coaches and the system was shown to deliver data to up to 10 clients simultaneously. Future research will investigate the efficacy of a variety of different feedback strategies to rowers. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Project and production management Intersection: Life-Cycle analysis of on-site and off-site construction

The purpose of this paper is to provide an argument for moving beyond calls for increased construction industry productivity based on the perceived differences between construction projects and manufacture production. Traditionally scholars have claimed that the lack of increased construction industry productivity is attributable to the differences between on-site work and off-site work. However, in 2011 project processes and product outcomes are essential to both. As management theories have become integrated into practice in both industries, the management of both a unique project and product-production have converged. At the same time, almost all construction today utilises both on-site and off-site processes. Therefore, the driver for increased off-site manufacture to ensure increased industry productivity must be reconsidered. One way forward would be to consider issues related to reducing the environmental impacts of construction. That is the aim of this discussion paper. Many researchers have identified difficulties with communication between on-site and off-site production. However, if the focus of productivity gains shifts to measuring environmental impact, based on a Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA), then both the tangible and intangible effects of both on-site and off-site work can be compared. Thus, over-coming identified difficulties with a common language based on LCA could enable co-operative on and off site production. This co-operation could in turn to lead to increased industry productivity. The paper ends by providing a LCA focused research agenda to provide evidence for reconsidering the claim that increasing off-site manufacture will increase construction industry productivity

The Impact of COVID-19 on UK informant use and management

The effect of COVID-19 on informant use and management, during the peak of the imposed Government lockdown measures was felt across English and Welsh police Dedicated Source Units. Within these restrictions, staff managing informants had to develop and then implement new strategies that delivered safe, yet effective, informant handling capacity and capability. Based on a survey of 205 respondents directly involved in the handling, control or authorisation of informants, this article examined their perceptions of the effect of COVID-19 in this highly specialised policing activity. The research findings revealed five broad themes associated with the impact of COVID-19 on informant management practices: (i) health protection; (ii) governance; (iii) innovation and technology; (iv) recruitment, communication and informant development; and (v) tradecraft and intelligence. The article explored the organisational responses to initiating and maintaining informant-handler relationships and ensuring the flow of intelligence within this unique operational environment. Participants perceived that handler-informant relationships were strengthened, and also indications of a willingness to adapt policy and procedure associated with the informant management cycle: targeting, initial recruitment contact, assessment and evaluation, tasking and deployment and payment of informant rewards. It also highlighted a wider consensus that there was further scope for enhancing resilience to similar future pandemics including the use of enabling technology and responsive policy adaptation

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

Sustainable development: three innovative models of public management

The purpose of this article is to highlight the variety of practices which are developing as 'public management' principles are embraced globally (Gregory, 1995). Three innovative models of service delivery, in the area of waste management (specifically recycling), illustrate that the concept of sustainability is well served by public management practices. We begin by briefly outlining some issues involved in solid waste management and recycling. Next we present three innovative public management models which have driven policies of waste management practice. The first example is the operation of the Christchurch Recovered Materials Foundation (RMF) which has been incorporated as a Charitable Trust. Local government, business and environmental interests oversee this initiative with the objective of maintaining a viable local economy. Example two is the Clean Washington Center (CWC) located in the state of Washington. This entrepreneurial structure is supported by both state and federal governments and focuses on the marketing of recovered materials. Our third example is the national Japanese response that moves well beyond recycling as a method for reducing solid waste. The co-operation of citizens, industry and government in a national scheme to change, not just waste disposal practices, but the very design of products and their manufacture has been developed to create an eco-friendly society (FAO, 1997)

Managing conflicting issues: a decision-making tool for technology adoption by VSEs

Decision making is a vital part of the adoption process of new technologies by VSEs; however, to date, little has been written on this subject. This paper outlines a number of approaches to decision making currently in the literature and argues that most of them are inappropriate to VSEs. A decision-making tool most appropriate for VSEs in a technology adoption process is suggested. Sets of conflicting issues are conceptualised as a decision-dilemma which have the ability to impede the adoption of new technology. Thus, the tool is designed to allow owners/managers of VSEs to manage these decision-dilemmas at any time during the process of new technology adoption

Theoretical characterisation of the radial and translational motion of coated microbubbles under acoustic excitation

Ultrasound contrast agents, in the form of coated microbubbles, are a powerful tool in current diagnostic imaging. Given their sensitive dynamic response they also have the potential to be used for quantitative measurements of the properties of the surrounding tissue (e.g. percentage perfusion or blood pressure). For this potential to be realised, however, the theoretical descriptions of bubble behaviour, in particular the constitutive equations for the microbubble shell, need to be improved and a method needs to be developed for the accurate characterisation of individual bubbles. In this paper the first steps are taken towards deriving a complete model for the coupled radial and translational motion of a coated bubble. It is then shown that with this model the bubble can be characterised by a unique set of parameters describing the bubble shell corresponding to its viscous and elastic response. This uniqueness will enable the model to be used to interpret experimental data and quantify these parameters for which accurate values are currently lacking but which are critical to predicting bubble response and hence enabling advanced diagnostic applications. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

Investigating the sensitivity of microbubble acoustic response for biosensing applications.

Microbubbles are currently used as contrast agents for diagnostic imaging on account of their high scattering efficiency and non-linear response to ultrasound. The exact nature of this response depends not only upon the bubble size and imposed sound field but also the bubble environment: physical properties of the surrounding liquid, bubble surface coating, ambient temperature, pressure, and proximity to other bubbles or surfaces. This dependence can potentially be exploited for the microscale interrogation of a liquid to detect, e.g., changes in viscosity or the presence of particular chemical species. To facilitate this, the sensitivity of the microbubble acoustic response to changes in its environment must be analyzed. The aim of this study was to provide a theoretical framework for this. A modified Rayleigh-Plesset equation was derived to describe the radial bubble motion, including the effects of gas diffusion and adsorption/desorption of a surfactant coating, and coupled to an equation describing microbubble translation. The presence of a rigid boundary was also included in the simulations. A sensitivity analysis was performed for the effect of each of the physical variables upon the bubble response, which indicated high sensitivity to species altering the dynamic surface tension and proximity to a boundary