Effects of score line on match performance in professional soccer players

Investigating the impact of score line on performance in professional soccer players is of major interest to managers and coaches within professional soccer. However, the majority of studies investigating score line have omitted important components of performance such as team and opposition ability, goal difference and fatigue. Little is also known, regarding the impact of score line on the performance of different playing positions in different areas of the pitch. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of score line on the technical, physical and psychological components of performance across a number of variables (team ability, opposition ability, match location, pitch position, playing position) using new methods of automated tracking and data collection. The majority of participants were recruited from the English Premier League consisting of 1027 players and 501 games analysed across multiple seasons (2004-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2012). The exception to this was Chapter 5 where the 75 participants were recruited from both EPL and Championship teams. Across all chapters playing position was characterised as striker (attacker), defender and midfielder and ability (both team and opposition) was defined as final league finish position. Chapter 3 revealed in the 5 minutes that preceded a goal, the scoring team played a significantly greater percentage of passes accurately (72.4 ± 12.7) compared to the average for the half (70.2 ± 7.5) (P 0.7). The results demonstrate good validity over a range of soccer specific movements and speeds, up to and including sprinting. In Chapter 7a multi-level regression revealed an inverted “u” shaped association between total distance covered and goal difference (GD), with greater distances covered when GD was zero and reduced distances when GD was either positive or negative. A similar “u” shaped association was found with high speed distance covered at home. In addition, distance covered (both at home and away) were predicted by playing position. All activity profiles (with the exception of sprint distance at home) were predicted by pitch location and time scored. Lastly, distance away from home and high speed running at home were predicted by opposition ability. In Chapter 7b multi-level regression revealed a “u” shaped association between passing accuracy and goal difference (GD) with greater accuracy occurring at extremes of GD e.g., when the score was either positive or negative. The same pattern was seen for corner accuracy away from home e.g., corner accuracy was lowest when the score was close with the lowest accuracy at extremes of GD. Although free-kicks were not associated with GD, team ability, playing position and pitch location were found to predict accuracy. No situational variables were found to predict cross accuracy. The results of this thesis suggest that a number of variables are associated with both the physical and technical performance of players in difference score lines and that such effects may be related to the perception of events (as shown in Chapter 5) rather than fatigue, ability or opposition as previously thought. The current study also highlighted the need for more sensitive score line definitions in which to consider score line effects using technological advancements such as automated tracking systems

Hydrothermal hydrolysis of starch with CO2 and detoxification of the hydrolysates with activated carbon for bio-hydrogen fermentation.

The imminent use of hydrogen as an energy vector establishes the need for sustainable production technologies based on renewable resources. Starch is an abundant renewable resource suitable for bio-hydrogen generation. It was hypothesised that starch hydrolysates from a large (250 mL) hydrothermal reactor could support bioH2 fermentation without inhibition by toxic byproducts.\ud \ud Starch was hydrolysed at high concentrations (40 200 g.L-1) in hot compressed water (HCW) with CO2 at 30 bar in a 250 mL reactor, the largest so far for polysaccharide hydrolysis, at 180 235 °C, 15 min. Hydrolysates were detoxified with activated carbon (AC) and tested in biohydrogen fermentations. The maximum yield of glucose was 548 g.kg starch 1 carbon at 200 °C. 5 hydroxymethyl furfural, the main fermentation inhibitor, was removed by AC to support 70% more hydrogen production than the untreated hydrolysates. The potential utilization of starch hydrolysates from HCW treatment for upscaled fermentations is promising

Wastewater irrigation and health: assessing and mitigating risk in low-income countries

Wastewater irrigation / Public health / Health hazards / Risk assessment / Epidemiology / Sewage sludge / Excreta / Diseases / Vegetables / Leaf vegetables / Economic impact / Wastewater treatment / Irrigation methods / Developing countries

Use of Desulfovibrio and Escherichia coli Pd-nanocatalysts in reduction of Cr(VI) and hydrogenolytic dehalogenation of polychlorinated biphenyls and used transformer oil

BACKGROUND Desulfovibrio spp. biofabricate metallic nanoparticles (e.g. ‘Bio-Pd’) which catalyse the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and dehalogenate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Desulfovibrio spp. are anaerobic and produce H2S, a potent catalyst poison, whereas Escherichia coli can be pre-grown aerobically to high density, has well defined molecular tools, and also makes catalytically-active ‘Bio-Pd’. The first aim was to compare ‘Bio-Pd’ catalysts made by Desulfovibrio spp. and E. coli using suspended and immobilised catalysts. The second aim was to evaluate the potential for Bio-Pd-mediated dehalogenation of PCBs in used transformer oils, which preclude recovery and re-use.\ud RESULTS Catalysis via Bio-PdD. desulfuricans and Bio-PdE. coli was compared at a mass loading of Pd:biomass of 1:3 via reduction of Cr(VI) in aqueous solution (immobilised catalyst) and hydrogenolytic release of Cl- from PCBs and used transformer oil (catalyst suspensions). In both cases Bio-PdD. desulfuricans outperformed Bio-Pd E. coli by ~3.5-fold, attributable to a ~3.5-fold difference in their Pd-nanoparticle surface areas determined by magnetic measurements (Bio-PdD. desulfuricans) and by chemisorption analysis (Bio-PdE. coli). Small Pd particles were confirmed on D. desulfuricans and fewer, larger ones on E. coli via electron microscopy. Bio-PdD. desulfuricans-mediated chloride release from used transformer oil (5.6 $\pm$ 0.8 $\mu$g mL-1 ) was comparable to that observed using several PCB reference materials. \ud CONCLUSIONS At a loading of 1:3 Pd: biomass Bio-PdD. desulfuricans is 3.5-fold more active than Bio-PdE. coli, attributable to the relative catalyst surface areas reflected in the smaller nanoparticle sizes of the former. This study also shows the potential of Bio-PdD. desulfuricans to remediate used transformer oil

Polyhydroxybutyrate accumulation by a Serratia sp

A strain of Serratia sp. showed intracellular electron-transparent inclusion bodies when incubated in the presence of citrate and glycerol 2-phosphate without nitrogen source following pregrowth under carbon-limitation in continuous culture. About 1.3 mmol citrate were consumed per 450 mg\ud biomass, giving a calculated yield of maximally 55% of stored material per g of biomass dry wt. The inclusion bodies were stained with Sudan Black and Nile Red (NR), suggesting a lipid material, which was confirmed as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) by analysis of molecular fragments by GC and by FTIR spectroscopy of isolated bio-PHB in comparison with reference material. Multi-parameter flow cytometry in conjunction with NR fluorescence, and electron microscopy, showed that not all cells contained heavy PHB bodies, suggesting the potential for increasing\ud the overall yield. The economic attractiveness is\ud enhanced by the co-production of nanoscale hydroxyapatite\ud (HA), a possible high-value precursor for bone replacement materials

Siting prisons, sighting communities: geographies of objection in a planning process

This paper reviews the planning process for a Scottish prison located near a former mining village. Analysing the letters of objection submitted by residents offers an opportunity to explore local views about prison and community and to relate these to the unique social and spatial history of the area. The planning process itself structured how residents were able to express themselves and defined what counted as a relevant objection. After deconstructing this process, the paper then restores and uses as a framework for analysis three geographies of objection stripped from local responses to the development proposal: the emotional, temporal, and spatial. Emotional expressions of objection added intensity and gave meaning to claims about the historical decline of the region and also conveyed a deep sense of the proposed building site as a lived space. Particular grounds of opposition—over fear of strangers, the fragility of a local orchid, and the pollution from mining—provide an opportunity to explore the complex nature of place meaning and community identity, ultimately leading to a conclusion that the meaning of place is always in flux. The paper argues that Simmel’s classic concept of the stranger, as the outsider who comes to stay, offers a useful analytic in understanding how the quality of proximal remoteness that prisons and other unwanted developments constitute participates in a constantly evolving sense of the local

Re-imagining the futures of geographical thought and praxis

The question of geography\u27s future has recurred throughout the history of geographical thought, and responses to it often presume a linear trajectory from the past and present to a possible future. Yet one of the major contributions that geographers have made to understanding spatio-temporality is reconceiving both space and time as plural, fluid, and co-constituted through multiple space–time trajectories simultaneously. Amidst the ongoing crises of the present, this article opens the current special issue with a call to pluralize geography\u27s futures by diversifying the voices speaking in the name of ‘geography’ and broadening the horizon of possibilities for the futures of geographical thought and praxis. We have assembled the contributions in this collection with the aim of raising important theoretical, methodological, and empirical questions about how geography\u27s past and present shape the conditions of possibility for its potential futures. In doing so, we seek to demonstrate how the worlding of geography\u27s futures is fundamentally a matter of transforming its disciplinary reproduction in the here-and-now

Wider collateral damage to children in the UK because of the social distancing measures designed to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in adults

This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.ML is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship, DRF-2016-09-021).Published version, Accepted version, Submitted versio

Decreasing referrals to transient ischemic attack clinics during the COVID-19 outbreak: results from a multi-centre cross-sectional survey

Objective. The COVID-19 pandemic is having major implications for stroke care with a documented significant fall in hospital acute stroke admissions. We investigated whether COVID-19 has resulted in a decreased number of referrals to the Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) clinics across the North West London region. Setting and Design. All the TIA clinical leads of the North West London region received an invitation by email to participate in an online survey in May 2020. The survey questionnaire aimed to assess the number of patients with suspected TIA consecutively referred to each of the TIA clinics of the North West London region between 1st March to 30th April 2020, the COVID-19 period, and between 1st March to 30th April 2019. Results. We had a response rate of 100%. During the COVID-19 period, the TIA clinics of the North West London region received 440 referrals compared to 616 referrals received between 1st March to 30th April 2019 with a fall in the number of the referrals by 28.6%. In April 2020 compared with April 2019, the number of the referrals declined by 40.1%. Conclusions. This multicentre analysis documented a significant reduction in the number of patients referred with suspected TIA to the specialised rapid access outpatient clinics in the North West London region during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings and to better characterise the incidence of cerebrovascular disease during the COVID-19 pandemic