Six different football shoes, one playing surface and the weather; Assessing variation in shoe-surface traction over one season of elite football

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>An optimal range of shoe-surface traction (grip) exists to improve performance and minimise injury risk. Little information exists regarding the magnitude of traction forces at shoe-surface interface across a full season of elite football (soccer) using common football shoes.</p><p>Objective</p><p>To assess variation in shoe-surface traction of six different football shoe models throughout a full playing season in Qatar encompassing climatic and grass species variations.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Football shoes were loaded onto a portable shoe-surface traction testing machine at five individual testing time points to collect traction data (rotational and translational) on a soccer playing surface across one season. Surface mechanical properties (surface hardness, soil moisture) and climate data (temperature and humidity) were collected at each testing time point.</p><p>Results</p><p>Peak rotational traction was significantly different across shoe models (F = 218, df = 5, p <0.0001), shoe outsole groups (F = 316.2, df = 2, p < .0001), and grass species (F = 202.8, df = 4, p < 0.0001). No main effect for shoe model was found for translational traction (F = 2.392, p = 0.07).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The rotational (but not translational) traction varied substantially across different shoe types, outsole groups, and grass species. Highest rotational traction values were seen with soft ground outsole (screw-in metal studs) shoes tested on warm season grass. This objective data allows more informed footwear choices for football played in warm/hot climates on sand-based elite football playing surfaces. Further research is required to confirm if these findings extend across other football shoe brands.</p></div

Composing well-being : mental health and the Mass Observation Project in twentieth-century

This article argues that the Mass Observation Project (MOP) at the University of Sussex offers a unique window onto the history of mental health and the voices of those who have lived with mental health conditions during the late-twentieth century. This article analyses how a sample of MOP participants use their writing to reflect on their experiences, and compose narratives about, mental illness over time. More specifically, we suggest that MOP’s capacity for the longitudinal study of individual respondents (underutilised by historians of mental health) offers exciting historiographical and methodological possibilities, not just in the history of mental health but for historians of medicine more generally. We conclude by considering how, for a handful of the participants in the project, mental health is entwined with MOP, as project participants deploy the archive to write about their experiences and even find something akin to therapy in the narrative act

Clinical Placements: The Perspectives of UK Physiotherapy Students on How Prepared they were by their University for their First Clinical Placements: an example of one HEI

Background. Clinical placements are an integral component of physiotherapy education as they give physiotherapy students the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge and skills and at the same time universities aim to provide an education that responds to the demands of practice settings.Objective. This study aims to investigate the perceptions of second year physiotherapy students on a range of aspects regarding their university’s education as a preparation for their first clinical placement.Method. Second-year physiotherapy students were invited to participate in a survey before and after engaging in their first clinical placement. Domains covered by the survey were: knowledge and skills, professionalism, communication, inter-professional awareness, and stress, coping and support.Results. The findings revealed that although the students felt prepared with regard to their anatomy, physiology, manual handling and treatment strategies they felt unprepared in patient record keeping, clinical reasoning, goal setting and communicating with families and carers.Conclusion. Universities can do much to ease their students’ path into the clinical setting and create a seamless transition from academic life to the world of practice. Possible ways in which this could be achieved are discussed

Size-dependent reversal of grains in perpendicular magnetic recording media measured by small-angle polarized neutron scattering

Polarized small-angle neutron scattering has been used to measure the magnetic structure of a CoCrPt–SiOx thin-film data storage layer, contained within a writable perpendicular recording media, at granular (&lt;10 nm) length scales. The magnetic contribution to the scattering is measured as the magnetization is reversed by an external field, providing unique spatial information on the switching process. A simple model of noninteracting nanomagnetic grains provides a good description of the data and an analysis of the grain-size dependent reversal provides strong evidence for an increase in magnetic anisotropy with grain diameter

Type II and type IV toxin–antitoxin systems show different evolutionary patterns in the global Klebsiella pneumoniae population

The Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex includes important opportunistic pathogens which have become public health priorities linked to major hospital outbreaks and the recent emergence of multidrug-resistant hypervirulent strains. Bacterial virulence and the spread of multidrug resistance have previously been linked to toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems. TA systems encode a toxin that disrupts essential cellular processes, and a cognate antitoxin which counteracts this activity. Whilst associated with the maintenance of plasmids, they also act in bacterial immunity and antibiotic tolerance. However, the evolutionary dynamics and distribution of TA systems in clinical pathogens are not well understood. Here we present a comprehensive survey and description of the diversity of TA systems in 259 clinically relevant genomes of K. pneumoniae. We show that TA systems are highly prevalent with a median of 20 loci per strain. Importantly, these toxins differ substantially in their distribution patterns and in their range of cognate antitoxins. Classification along these properties suggests different roles of TA systems and highlights the association and co-evolution of toxins and antitoxins

Dynamic Yield Strength of Mild Steel under Impact Loading

Dynamic yield strength of mild steel is estimated when impacted by the steel balls launchedby two stage-light gas gun in the velocity region 1900-5200 m/s. The ball impact provides a radialmomentum to the target material resulting in a crater which spreads out until it is stopped bythe target yield strength. The dynamic yield strength of target metal is calculated by incorporatingthe densities of ball and target material along with experimentally measured crater radius andimpact velocity in modified Bernoulli™s equation. The dynamic yield strength of mild steel hasbeen found to be around 2000 MPa under high velocity impact, causing the material to deformat strain rates &gt; 106 s-1. Impact phenomenon was also simulated on Autodyn 2-D using Eulerprocessor. Simulation results reveal that the target material is subjected to the highest strain rateof 105 - 106 s-1 at the impact point and then decreases as the penetration progresses through thetarget. Predicted results of crater radius depth, and splash of material match with the experimentalmeasurements

Origin and evolution of the genus Piper in Peninsular India

The evolution of Peninsular Indian biodiversity has been a fascinating topic of research due to historical connections of this region to the ancient Gondwanaland. We investigated the phylogeny and historical biogeography of nearly all extant species of the genus Piper reported from the region to assess the biogeographical origins and test mechanisms of lineage diversification (dispersal, vicariance and in situ radiation) of this highly diverse genus of angiosperms commonly found in the understory of evergreen forests. The phylogeny of 21 species of Piper reported from Peninsular India was reconstructed for the first time, which included three new putative species from the Western Ghats. We used BEAST for the divergence time estimations (using three constraints), and ancestral range estimations were performed with the dated phylogenetic tree using BIOGEOBEARS. Divergence dating analysis revealed that the genus Piper originated during lower Cretaceous around 110Ma [95% highest posterior density (HPD): 116-105 Ma] and colonized Peninsular India five times independently, from Southeast Asia starting from the Oligocene. The two major dispersals into India occurred during the periods of 27.3Ma (95% HPD: 35.8 - 19.9.) and 15.5Ma (95% HPD: 24.9 - 7.11). This was followed by rapid radiations in some lineages with subsequent back dispersals to Southeast Asia. Our study indicates that dispersals from Southeast Asia led to the arrival of Piper to Indian subcontinent following the Indo-Eurasian collision. Members of Piper have colonized and diversified within the climatically stable habitats of Peninsular India. Furthermore, the present study provides evidence for the Miocene overland dispersal of Piper species to Africa from South Asia