POST-MATCH LACTIC ACID CLEARANCE AND HEART RATE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WINNERS AND LOSERS

During the high intensity matches, players engage in aggressive physical interactions to overcome their opponents and succeed. These competitions generally involve two teams and are characterized by prominent athleticism, great display of extraordinary skills and mental skills that have obvious energetic costs (e.g., lactate accumulation) which can affect subsequent behavior. Few studies have addressed these costs in exercise and simulated game situation. Moreover, recent studies suggest psychoneuroendocrine (catecholamines, endorphins and glucocorticoids) regulation of metabolism during and following aggressive episodes. There were two main questions addressed in this study. Do winners and losers show differences in post-match (45-min) levels of plasma lactate and heart rate? Are levels of plasma lactate correlated with heart rate recovery? For this purpose, 10 intervarsity hockey players were randomly selected from MLS University (mean VO2max=3.32 l/min (54.4 ml/kg/min)) and SGB University (mean VO2max=3.28 l/min (53.8 ml/kg/min)), (5 from each team). The data were collected during semifinal match of zonal intervarsity tournament. A group of 5 intervarsity hockey players from LNIPE, Gwalior (mean VO2max= 3.51 l/min) were used as control in the study. Anthropometric parameters and physical fitness were not correlated with levels of plasma lactate and heart rate as subjects were assumed to have identical physical fitness. At 45-min post-match, losers had significantly higher levels of mean plasma lactate (5.35mmol/l±0.308) and heart rate (77.947 b/m±2.077) when compared to levels in winners (3.714mmol/l±0.287,67.417b/m±2.102) and controls (3.784mmol/l±0.304, 68.037b/m±2.035), and there were no significant differences between winners and controls. From these results, following conclusions are recommended. First, elevated levels of blood lactate in losers, but not winners, result from psychoneuroendocrine factors rather than simple physical exertion, which retard metabolic recovery resulting in higher lactate levels, whereas winners return to pre-match lactate levels within 2h-3h post-match. Thus, the winners may clear blood lactate faster and seem to reflect positivity and accomplishment while losers show depression and submissive behavior.  Article visualizations

RELATIONSHIP OF CORE STRENGTH AND ISOKINETIC KNEE STRENGTH WITH VERTICAL JUMP PERFORMANCE IN VOLLEYBALL

Background: The game of Volleyball requires the players to perform dynamic movements in receiving the ball and performing explosive movements in spiking and blocking. Vertical jump (VJ) becomes one of the basic motor ability in volleyball owing to its frequent involvement during spiking, blocking, and setting the ball for attack. Although considerable work has been done, the relationship between core strength (Trunk Flexion (TF) & Back Extension (BE)) and vertical jump remains unclear. Thus, the present study was aimed at finding relationship between core strength-endurance and vertical jump performance. Method: 20 male players (Age=18.05±0.76 years; Height=192.75±5.88cm; Weight=77.67±7.37kg) from Indian National U-20 Volleyball team were tested on an Isokinetic Dynamometer at 600*s-1, 900*s-1 and 1200*s-1 angular speeds for strength testing, on DAVID systems for trunk flexion and back extension and on sergeant test for vertical jump. Results: Core strength-endurance (TF & BE) and isokinetic concentric Quadriceps strength at 1200*s-1 (CDQ120) for dominant leg were significantly positively correlated to vertical jump (TF vs VJ: r=0.507, p=0.023; BE vs VJ: r=0.453, p=0.045; CDQ120 vs VJ: r=0.595, p=0.006) while isokinetic strength for non-dominant leg approximated significance with increasing velocities. Also, core strength (TF & BE) was significantly positively related with FlightTime (FT) (TF vs FT: r=0.497, p=0.026; BE vs FT: r=0.568, p=0.009). Conclusion: The significant positive correlation of core strength with vertical jump and FlightTime establishes core strength as an integral component of sports training in Volleyball. Although, eccentric quadriceps strength and hamstring strength were not positively correlated to vertical jump, they help in safe landing mechanism and reduce injury-risks. The small sample size of the study warrants further investigations with larger sample size to confirm the findings.  Article visualizations

Financing the SME Value Chains

This research work is built upon case studies from Malaysia and India and surveys conducted on the supply and demand of SME finance in Malaysia. Addressing SMEs’ needs for finance, it is assessed that formal financial lending organizations represent a weak link in the financial supply chain for SMEs in the region. A lack of collateral and limited access to venture and growth capital are some of the obstacles that SME owners face when seeking finance for their businesses. This lack of affordable financing options stymies the growth of SMEs in Asia. This work classifies nine areas of demand for SME capital and suggests that banks in the region need to redesign their lending portfolios to better evaluate and manage the SME’s needs for finance. To help clarify the risks, this paper shows how the different sources of SME financing could be weighted with the so-called 5Cs framework viz. capacity, capital, character, collateral and condition. It suggests that the lending organizations should adopt more innovative ways to analyze SME loans, and gain a deeper understanding of how these enterprises fund their supply chains. Eleven key devices or mechanisms are discussed to leverage the lending process

Application of additive manufacturing for mass customisation: understanding the interaction of critical barriers

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology presents a very optimistic case for its application for mass customisation. Even though theoretically suitable, practically several critical barriers inhibit its implementation. Thus, this paper attempts to identify those barriers and also understand the dynamic interaction among them. The barriers were identified by a detailed literature review and validated by expert opinions. Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) was applied to determine the mutual influences among the barriers. It was also able to ascertain the level of the barriers and categorise them based on their driving power and dependence. The results are highly useful for industry practitioners to determine the interventions required to overcome the most dominant barriers

SYSTEM AND METHOD OF LINK PROTECTION FOR FIBER OPTICS

Techniques are described herein for a network manager driven approach to identify and predict link level issues using Digital Optical Monitoring (DOM), Digital Diagnostic Monitoring (DDM), and/or fiber cable data available on a per port basis. Techniques described herein include a mechanism that can identify small form-factor pluggable (SFP), enhanced SFP (SFP+), quad SFP (QSFP), etc. issues in advance and take proactive appropriate actions to fix and/or mitigate link level issues; thereby resulting in improved transceiver (xcvr) assurance