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Advancing Physical Activity Monitoring Through Bioimpedance Measurement: A Review
No full textBioimpedance measurements have gained significant attention due to their ability to assess body composition, muscle health, and internal physiological states without the need for intrusive procedures. This review paper explores the advancements and applications of bioimpedance technology, a non-invasive and cost-effective method for real-time monitoring of physiological parameters and physical activities. It discusses key measurement modalities such as bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), electrical impedance myography (EIM), and electrical impedance tomography (EIT), highlighting their unique advantages and applications. It also examines the role of biopotential electrodes, both polarizable and non-polarizable, in ensuring accurate physiological measurements. Despite challenges such as low spatial resolution, motion artifacts and sensitivity to electrode placement, the review highlights promising solutions. These include the integration of hybrid sensor systems, machine learning algorithms for signal interpretation, and the development of wearable and flexible electronics. The paper concludes by emphasizing the growing potential of bioimpedance technology in fields such as sports science, rehabilitation, personalized healthcare, fitness monitoring, and human-machine interaction, suggesting a future where continuous physiological monitoring becomes seamlessly embedded in daily life
Development of a Cost-Effective UUV Localisation System Integrable with Aquaculture Infrastructure
No full textIn many aquaculture farms, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) are being deployed to perform dangerous and time-consuming repetitive tasks (e.g., fish net-pen visual inspection) on behalf of or in collaboration with farm operators. Mostly, they are remotely operated, and one of the main barriers to deploying them autonomously is the UUV localisation. Specifically, the cost of the localisation sensor suite, sensor reliability in constrained operational workspace and return on investment (ROI) for the huge initial investment on the UUV and its localisation hinder the R&D work and adoption of the autonomous UUV deployment on an industrial scale. The proposed system, which leverages the AprilTag (a fiducial marker used as a frame of reference) detection, provides cost-effective UUV localisation for the initial trials of autonomous UUV deployment, requiring only minor modifications to the aquaculture infrastructure. With such a cost-effective approach, UUV R&D engineers can demonstrate and validate the advantages and challenges of autonomous UUV deployment to farm operators, policymakers, and governing authorities to make informed decision-making for the future large-scale adoption of autonomous UUVs in aquaculture. Initial validation of the proposed cost-effective localisation system indicates that centimetre-level accuracy can be achieved with a single monocular camera and only 10 AprilTags, without requiring physical measurements, in a 115.46
m3 laboratory workspace under various lighting conditions
Predictive Coding and Neurocomputational Psychiatry: A Mechanistic Framework for Understanding Mental Disorders
No full textPredictive coding offers a powerful computational framework for understanding brain function and psychiatric disorders at a mechanistic level. This perspective synthesizes advances in computational psychiatry, proposing that mental disorders can be conceptualized as specific alterations in the brain’s predictive inference machinery. We first outline the theoretical foundations of predictive coding, including Bayesian inference, free-energy minimization, and neural population dynamics, illustrating how these abstract computational principles map onto specific neural circuits and biophysical mechanisms. We then argue that diverse psychiatric conditions can be understood within this unified framework. Taken together, these links between theory, generative models and empirical data suggest a route by which predictive coding might be rendered a testable, modifiable, falsifiable construct within biological psychiatry. Beyond offering conceptual clarity, this framework has significant clinical implications, including the development of mechanistic biomarkers, personalized treatment approaches based on computational phenotypes, and novel therapeutic interventions targeting specific inferential abnormalities. By grounding psychiatric symptoms in aberrant predictive processes implemented in neural circuitry, this approach promises a more mechanistic understanding of mental disorders and a path toward more targeted, effective interventions
A Comparative Conceptual Analysis of CO₂ Heat Pump Dryers With Closed-loop and Open-loop Air Cycles
No full textThis study has comprehensively compared and analysed CO₂ heat pump dryers operating under closed-loop and open-loop air cycles to evaluate their energy efficiency and drying performance. Unlike the conventional closed-loop air cycle that uses dry recirculated air as its inlet, the open-loop air cycle operates only with fresh ambient air. The physical models and working principles have been illustrated using psychrometric charts, and the influence of moisture variation has been considered in the fin-and-tube heat exchanger design for both the gas cooler and the evaporator. In the case study under typical hot and humid climate conditions (ambient temperature of 40 °C), the simulation compares three cycles over an air mass flow rate ranging from 0.5 kg/s to 1 kg/s. The open-loop air cycle with a wet air outlet achieves the largest heating capacity, i.e.: 17.44 kW at 1 kg/s, because the air is cooled in the evaporator first, allowing a greater temperature rise in the gas cooler. The open-loop air cycle with a dry air outlet produces the highest air temperature after the gas cooler, i.e.: 60.8 °C at 0.5 kg/s, which increases the air’s moisture absorption capacity. Compared with the closed-loop air cycle, the open-loop air cycle with dry air outlet proves more efficient for drying, delivering a shorter drying time (27.77 min at 0.5 kg/s) and a higher drying efficiency (0.8640 kg/kWh at 0.5 kg/s). Although the open-loop air cycle with a wet air outlet achieves the highest coefficient of performance of 2.31 at 1 kg/s, its drying performance declines obviously at higher mass flow rates, with specific moisture extraction rate dropping to 0.0767 kg/kWh. Overall, the configuration of open-loop air cycle with dry air outlet is the superior option, as it combines the shortest drying time and the highest specific moisture extraction rate, which are two critical metrics for heat pump dryers
Understanding Human Companionship with Artificial Intelligence: Insights from Replika-related Information Systems Research
No full textThe emergence of social chatbots designed to simulate emotionally supportive relationships constitutes a substantial advancement in human technology interaction. Among these, Replika has emerged as the most salient and contentious example, garnering considerable and sustained scholarly attention within the Information Systems (IS) community. Scholars have investigated the processes by which individuals establish and cultivate companionship with Replika, as well as the broader implications of such interactions. Nevertheless, this corpus of knowledge remains fragmented, impeding a comprehensive understanding of what user interactions with Replika elucidate about human-AI
companionship. This paper undertakes a systematic review of IS literature that centres specifically on Replika, with the objectives of consolidating extant
insights and proposing avenues for future research
A Sidetrack to Autoethnography. Enriching a Reading Research Collective
No full textAs a group of academics working for the first time together on a collective project on children and young people's reading engagement, we discovered the value of reflexive conversations on the nature of our individual roles as literacy educators and our roles as collaborative researchers. As the project progressed, we developed this paper from conversations that drifted into self-reflection on our own experiences as readers, teachers and researchers. Rather than viewing these conversations as digression, we decided to embrace wholeheartedly the possibility that they would enrich our research and progress our goals as a group. This was an opportunity to pause and venture into a less familiar research arena. In the process, as individuals, we revealed more of ourselves as collaborative researchers interacting in this new space which enriched our collective undertaking as well as our individual projects within different reading communities
Structural Brain Differences in Professional Australian Rules Footballers Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: When Head Size Matters
No full text
Introduction
Concussion, a type of mild traumatic brain injury common in collision sports, is thought to be associated with subtle brain changes that are not visually appreciable on conventional neuroimaging. This study quantified differences in subcortical volumes from structural MRI between 31 recently concussed professional Australian rules footballers (within 3 months of injury) and 37 healthy, non-athlete controls.
Methods
T1-weighted MRI were acquired at 3 T and processed using FreeSurfer. Hippocampal and amygdala volumes were normalized by estimated total intracranial volume (eTIV). Longitudinal changes were assessed in a subset of 12 footballers with follow-up MRI. Cortical thickness differences were also explored using vertex-wise analysis.
Results
Footballers exhibited lower proportional hippocampal and amygdala volumes, and reduced cortical thickness compared to controls. However, after exploring different methodological approaches for estimating intracranial volume (ICV), volumetric findings were seen to vary based on the ICV estimation method used for normalization.
Discussion
This study demonstrates subtle, likely persistent neuroanatomical differences between professional Australian rules footballers and non-athlete controls. Importantly, we advocate for cautious clinical interpretation of volumetric MRI findings considering methodological variabilities, particularly when inherent cohort differences (such as ICV) may bias results, and provide recommendations for future studies that examine volumetric changes in concussion cohorts.
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Understanding Gameplay Acceleration Ability, Using Static Start Assessments: Have We Got It Right?
No full textBackground/Objectives: Despite athletes initiating sprints from dynamic starts during gameplay, sprint performance is traditionally measured from a static position. This article aimed to determine whether static start or “pickup” acceleration are related or relatively independent motor qualities by assessing their relationship and examining how athletes’ rank order changes between static and pickup conditions. Methods: Thirty-one male athletes (20.3 ± 5.3 years) completed two 30 m sprints from a static start and two 30 m pickup accelerations following 20 m paced entries at 1.5 and 3.0 m/s−1, regulated by an LED system. Peak acceleration (amax) was measured via a horizontal linear position encoder (LPE; 1080 Sprint). Results: The shared variance between amax from the static and pickup starts was R2 = 11.6–39.6%, indicating, for the most part, a great amount of unexplained variance. The shared variance between pickup acceleration entry velocities was R2 = 16.8%. A visual analysis of an individualized rank-order table confirmed that, for the most part, the fastest static-start athletes differed from the fastest pickup athletes. Conclusions: In summary, static and pickup acceleration appear to be distinct motor abilities, most likely requiring a paradigm shift in strength and conditioning practices for acceleration assessment and development.</jats:p
An Overview of Australian Podiatry Research: A Bibliometric Review
No full textBackground
Podiatrists are the primary health professionals associated with assessment, diagnosis and management of lower limb problems. Research is critical in informing evidence‐based practice. As part of a national research priorities project, this bibliometric review aimed to map all Australian podiatry‐relevant research from 1970 to 2024 and explore volume over time, authors, institutions, level of evidence, funding sources and categories of research.
Methods
Podiatry‐relevant research was categorised into 10 streams: dermatology, diabetes‐related foot disease, gerontology, musculoskeletal and sports, paediatrics, rheumatology, surgery, workforce and education, First Nations foot health and neurological and vascular disease. A systematic search of the literature was conducted in each stream up until December 2024. Meta‐data from Scopus were analysed in Biblioshiny, where publications volume, authors, institutions, journals and collaborations were described. Each publication was also categorised for level of evidence using the National Health and Medical Research Council criteria, research type using the United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration Health Research Classification System and funding source using Higher Education Research Data Collection specifications.
Results
A total of 1641 publications were included across all research streams. Steady increases in publication volume occurred over the past 20 years, with diabetes‐related foot disease yielding the highest volume (
n
= 335), followed by musculoskeletal (
n
= 308) and paediatrics (
n
= 280). Musculoskeletal and sports research demonstrated the highest proportion of level I evidence (22%), whereas most streams were dominated by level IV evidence. The majority of research across all streams received no funding support, ranging from 32% unfunded in First Nations foot health research to 87% in surgical research. Rheumatology achieved the highest proportion of competitive funding (47% Category 1). The most frequent research categories were aetiology, detection and screening and evaluation of treatments. The Journal of Foot and Ankle Research was the most frequent publication source, with 140 (8%) of total publications.
Conclusion
Australian podiatry‐relevant research has grown substantially, particularly over the past 2 decades. However, significant disparities exist in volume, evidence quality and funding across different streams, with most research conducted without external funding support, highlighting the need for strategic investment to enhance evidence generation in key areas of podiatry practice.
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Markov Chain Wave Generative Adversarial Network for Bee Bioacoustic Signal Synthesis
No full textThis paper presents a framework for synthesizing bee bioacoustic signals associated with hive events. While existing approaches like WaveGAN have shown promise in audio generation, they often fail to preserve the subtle temporal and spectral features of bioacoustic signals critical for event-specific classification. The proposed method, MCWaveGAN, extends WaveGAN with a Markov Chain refinement stage, producing synthetic signals that more closely match the distribution of real bioacoustic data. Experimental results show that this method captures signal characteristics more effectively than WaveGAN alone. Furthermore, when integrated into a classifier, synthesized signals improved hive status prediction accuracy. These results highlight the potential of the proposed method to alleviate data scarcity in bioacoustics and support intelligent monitoring in smart beekeeping, with broader applicability to other ecological and agricultural domains.</jats:p