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Comparing technical and individual possession statistics of academy players across different age groups during match-play
Get PDFBackground: Youth soccer players in the UK transition into the professional game at 16 years of age. Understanding the differences between youth and professional standards can help coaches and clubs to support player development during this transition. Objectives: To (i) assess the differences in technical and possession statistics between different age groups (U16, U18, U23) and outfield positions (central defender [CD], wide defender [WD], central midfielder [CM], attacking midfielder [AM], wide midfielder [WM], striker [ST]), within an English academy soccer programme, during match-play. Methods: All matches were monitored using foot-mounted inertial measurements units (F-IMU; PlayermakerTM) to quantify the technical (touches and releases from the feet) and individual possession statistics (Time on the ball, Time on the ball per possession) from each match. Teams were instructed to play a 1-4-3-3 formation as part of their clubs playing philosophy, with positions defined per this formation. Data were analysed using a multi-variate ANOVA Two-tailed statistical significance was accepted as p < 0.05 and measures of effect size were calculated using partial eta-squared (η2). Magnitude of the effect sizes were small (0.2<ES<0.6), moderate (0.6<ES<1.2), large (1.2<ES<2) and very large (≥2). Results: Trivial to small effect sizes were observed across age groups for both technical and possession-based statistics during match-play. Across all age groups and positions, CD`s had the highest number of technical actions (touches and releases), whereas ST`s & AM`s, had the highest amount of time in possession of the ball. Further, positional analysis showed ST`s and AM`s had moderate to large decreases in time on the ball per possession at the U23’s age group in comparison to the U16 and U18’s, with no technical differences observed within the same positional analysis. WDs demonstrated significant differences in technical actions between the U23 group and both the U16 and U18 groups. Conclusion: Attacking players (AM & ST) are required to move the ball quicker as they progress from U16 to U23’s within the current English football academy. Further exploration is required to assess if these changes are context specific given requirements of those age groups
Avatar Taxonomy: A New Technological Tool to Enhance the Consumer-Brand Relationships
Get PDFPurposeAvatars, which are used as a technology and marketing tactic, can embody consumer-facing employees and mimic their real-life roles on companies' websites, thereby playing a key role in enhancing the relationships between consumers and brands in the online environment. Academics and practitioners have increasingly acknowledged the significance of the consumer-brand relationship in both traditional and online contexts. However, the impersonal nature of the online environment is considered to be a hindrance to the development of these relationships. Despite the importance of this technology, little attention has been paid to the investigation of the avatar concept from a marketing perspective. This paper explores the nature of the avatar concept, including its main characteristics, dimensions, and conditions as well as the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of avatar users.Design/methodology/approachAdopting the qualitative design, a taxonomy was developed from interviews. In total, 42 interviews were conducted with current university students. 30 participants participated in the exploratory interviews. A total of 12 interviews were conducted during the in-depth stage based on findings in the preceding research.FindingsBased on the qualitative data analysis, a taxonomy was developed. The idea of the taxonomy is summarized in that different dimensions of the avatar are considered the main base (first phase) of the taxonomy. There are consequential three parts: the attitudinal consequences related to the website; the attitudinal consequences related to the brand; the behaviours towards the brand. These behaviours represent the final phase of the taxonomy.Originality/valueBy developing a taxonomy of using avatars on brands' websites, the authors advance the understanding consumer-brands relationships. Using avatars' verbal interactions helps in shaping consumers' cognitive, affective, attitudinal and behavioural responses and add vital empirical evidence to the increasing body of research and practices involving avatar usage in the interactive marketing area
A paper-based analytical device for the on-site multiplexed monitoring of soil nutrients extracted with a cafetière
Get PDFSustainable agricultural production has the aim to maximise the yield and quality of harvests. For that, farmers need to monitor nutrient levels within soils to apply fertilizers accordingly and to prevent land degradation and soil exhaustion. Current methods involve time-consuming sampling and transport to a laboratory; and most farmers do not have the resources to measure frequently at multiple locations, limiting their sustainable production. In order to address this challenge, a paper-based analytical device (PAD) for the multiplexed detection of soil nutrients, i.e. phosphate, nitrate and pH, extracted with a cafetière-based method, is developed in this work. The compact and easy-to-use platform enables an accurate soil analysis in less than 20 min; 3 min for extraction and 15 min for readout. Two detection channels for nitrate and phosphate analysis, and one circular detection area for pH, including the selective reagents to each analyte, are defined within the PAD. Upon contact with the specific nutrients, the platform produces a colorimetric response that is easily readable by naked eye and smartphone camera. The detection reactions were optimized in the range 1 − 22.5 mg L−1, 10 −100 mg L−1 and 5.0 – 8.5 for phosphate, nitrate and pH, respectively, in agreement with the relevant levels in soils. The volume of water, the number of pushes of the plunger, the extraction time and the mass of soil were also optimized for the nutrient extraction method with the cafetière. The optimal workflow was validated with commercial soils and compared with the conventional UV-Vis method and the labels from the soil package, showing excellent agreement. This paper-based platform provides the possibility of a cheap, sensitive and specific monitoring of soil nutrients by minimally trained operators, such as farmers, enabling in-the-field analyses of multiple key soil nutrients in resource-limited settings and therefore addressing the challenge of routine monitoring for sustainable agriculture
Identifying predictors of transition to a care home for people with dementia: findings from the IDEAL programme
Get PDFObjectives: This study investigates factors associated with the person with dementia and the caregiver to identify those associated with an increased risk of transition to a care home. Method: IDEAL data were collected at baseline and at 12- and 24-month follow-up for 1545 people with dementia and 1305 caregivers. Modified Poisson regressions with an offset for ‘person years at risk’ were used. Person with dementia factors explored were personal characteristics, cognition, health, self- and informant-rated functional ability, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Caregiver factors explored were personal characteristics, stress, health, and quality of the dyadic relationship. Results: A 5% people moved into care. Risk of moving into a care home was higher among people with dementia who were ≥80 years, among people with Parkinson’s disease dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies, and among those without a spousal caregiver. Poorer cognition and more self-rated or informant-rated functional difficulties increased the risk of moving into care. Conclusion: Factors related to increased dementia severity and greater disability are the primary influences that place people with dementia at greater risk of moving into a care home. Strategies that help to maintain everyday functional ability for people with dementia could help delay people with dementia moving into care
Panic, Loss, Gratitude, and Sanity: The Impact of COVID-19 Gym Closures on the Experience of Community in CrossFit
Get PDF“Welcome to CrossFit: Join the World’s leading platform for health, happiness, and performance” – the CrossFit.com website advertises in bold letters. The background image features a group of athletes running, working out together, smiling. Health, happiness, and performance, all these three promises radiate not only through the wording but also the visuals on the website. But why happiness? And why CrossFit? CrossFit is a high-intensity functional fitness activity founded in California almost two decades ago and has since enjoyed an increasing popularity, in particular since the mid/late 2000s. Initially, the novelty and strenuous nature of the fitness regime (high intensity workouts, bodyweight movements paired up with some gymnastics movements and Olympic lifting) attracted its first followers .Since its inception, an elaborate set of narratives have developed out of and around CrossFit. These narratives often include the ideas that CrossFit is for everyone no matter their age or physical background; that it helps achieve a general yet unrivaled level of mental toughness and physical fitness; and that CrossFit classes are expertly coached to justify the membership fees which are higher than in a commercial gym where people follow their individual routines or might hop onto one of the many classes (e.g. spin, boxercise, Zumba) commercial gyms often offer today. At the core of what makes CrossFit CrossFit is situated the idea of community and that CrossFit brings people together from all walks of life. More than that: CrossFit is perceived and imagined as a community that is not merely shaped by the temporality of the 60 minutes coached classes, but a community that extends beyond the temporal and physical confines of the box, i.e. the CrossFit gym.CrossFit narratives seem omnipresent in the world of CrossFit. They are narrated by athletes and are part of their rationale for why they do CrossFit; they feature among CrossFit coaches in their formal and informal conversations and communications with members; they are publicized in promotional videos produced by CrossFit, as well as by commentators during live broadcasts.If, as the CrossFit narratives stipulate, community is a central element of the CrossFit experience, what happens when athletes are being cut off from these communities due to the COVID-19 gym closure? The notion of community in CrossFit serves as starting point for the exploration of this question in this paper. From there, I discuss how CrossFit athletes and coaches have experienced the closure of CrossFit boxes (gyms) due to COVID-19 lockdowns. I have interviewed coaches and athletes and the paper is structured based on themes that emerged in my conversation: community, panic, mental health, vulnerable groups, and obesity. Insights from this study suggest that a more nuanced understanding of public health and approach to policy is needed. The CrossFit communities people were part of before box closures and the social connections they were able to forge through CrossFit during lockdowns (albeit virtually) were key factors that helped people to both keep physically fit and stay mentally sane. Online Zoom classes some CrossFit boxes offered served as “anchor points” that helped people not only to stay physically fit but more importantly mentally sane, in particular those that were working from home, were single, or lived by themselves
Automated identification of hedgerows and hedgerow gaps using deep learning Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation
Get PDFHedgerows are a key component of the UK landscape that form boundaries, borders and limits of land whilst providing vital landscape-scale ecological connectivity for a range of organisms. They are diverse habitats in the agricultural landscape providing a range of ecosystem services. Poorly managed hedgerows often present with gaps, reducing their ecological connectivity, resulting in fragmented habitats. However, hedgerow gap frequency and spatial distributions are often unquantified at the landscape-scale. Here we present a novel methodology based on deep learning (DL) that is coupled with high-resolution aerial imagery. We demonstrate how this provides a route towards a rapid, adaptable, accurate assessment of hedgerow and gap abundance at such scales, with minimal training data. We present the training and development of a DL model using the U-Net architecture to automatically identify hedgerows across the East Riding of Yorkshire (ERY) in the UK and demonstrate the ability of the model to estimate hedgerow gap types, lengths and their locations. Our method was both time efficient and accurate, processing an area of 2479 km2 in 32 h with an overall accuracy of 92.4%. The substantive results allow us to estimate that in the ERY alone, there were 3982 ± 302 km of hedgerows and 2865 ± 217 km of hedgerow gaps (with 339 km classified as for access). Our approach and study show that hedgerows and gaps can be extracted from true colour aerial imagery without the requirement of elevation data and can produce meaningful results that lead to the identification of prioritisation areas for hedgerow gap infilling, replanting and restoration. Such replanting could significantly contribute towards national tree planting goals and meeting net zero targets in a changing climate
Exploring the Experiences of Neurologists and Patients Undergoing the Diagnostic Journey for Functional Neurological Disorder
Get PDFThis thesis portfolio comprises three parts:Part One: Systematic Literature ReviewBackground: Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is a distressing condition with no confirmed cause. There are approximately 8000 new cases in the UK alone per year. It is a positive diagnosis, with tests available to identify clinical features that are distinctive to FND. Until 2013 it was thought to be caused by psychological distress alone, however this is no longer the case. This review aimed to explore the experiences of patients as they interacted with health care systems during the process of being diagnosed with FND. Method: Five databases were searched: Academic Search Premier, CINHAL Complete, Medline, APA PsycArticles and APA PsycInfo resulting in 11 qualitative and one mixed-methods papers to review. The papers were quality assessed before a narrative synthesis was conducted to provide a narrative of the patients’ experiences. The narrative included three chapters of before, during and after diagnosis. There was uncertainty and stigma as outdated assumptions about the psychological cause of FND was directed towards them. However, there could be times of validation and relief if they were able to speak to a health care professional that understood their condition.Part Two: Empirical PaperBackground: In the UK, neurologists are the clinicians most likely to diagnose Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) with research suggesting that approximately 30% of neurology patients have FND. There is little understanding of the impact this area of their work has on neurologists, or the meaning they make of their experience. Without this knowledge, the effect it may have on neurologists’ wellbeing and job satisfaction, or the healthcare experience of patients with an FND diagnosis, cannot be identified.Method: Semi structured interviews were held with ten UK based neurologists who have experience of diagnosing FND. The interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).Results: Superordinate themes of system failure, diagnosis and identity matters were developed. Within these superordinate themes were subthemes covering areas including: lack of FND services, time constraints for consultations, whether FND should be part of a neurologist’s role, the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, the use of resources, communication difficulties, the meaning of identifying as a neurologist, and the problematic language often used when referring to FND patients.Discussion: Underpinning all the themes was the widely held view that FND is a psychological issue and, as such, can attract the same stigma that other mental health issues often attract. Additionally, as medical professionals, neurologists do not see conditions they understand to have a psychological cause as within their remit. This view is problematic as the etiology of FND is still unknown, it does not necessarily have a psychological cause and to assume otherwise is incorrect and can be very unhelpful. The societal narrative around mental health influences not only the neurologists but the systems around them which impacts on the provision of FND services and training.Part Three: Appendice
Analysis of the influencing factors of the trade potential between countries along the ‘Belt and Road’ and China: a study based on spatial panel data model
Get PDFIn 2013, China launched a cooperative initiative to build the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. Based on the data of import and export trade between 57 countries along the “Belt and Road” and China from 2010 to 2021, this paper conducts research using the spatial Durbin model. The results show that the double fixed-effects model is optimal. The 57 countries along the “Belt and Road” have significant positive spatial spillover effects on trade with China, among which economic development, educational development, and transportation accessibility have significantly promoted trade between the countries along the “Belt and Road” and China
Capillary assembly of anisotropic nanoparticles at cylindrical fluid interfaces in the immersion regime
Get PDFThe unique behaviour of colloids at liquid interfaces provides exciting opportunities for engineering the assembly of colloidal particles into functional materials. In particular, the deformable nature of liquid interfaces means that we can use interfacial curvature, in addition to particle properties, to direct self-assembly. In this paper, we use a finite element method to study the self-assembly of rod-shaped particles adsorbed at a curved interface formed by a sessile drop with cylindrical geometry, where the lateral width of the cylindrical drop is much greater than the length of the rods, and the height of the drop is comparable to or smaller than the radius of the rods, i.e. the system is in the so-called immersion regime. Specifically, we study the configuration of single and multiple rods as a function of drop height, particle shape (ellipsoid, cylinder, spherocylinder) and contact angle. We find that for low enough drop heights, regardless of the shape or contact angle of the particles, all rods orientate themselves parallel to the long axis of the cylindrical interface and are strongly confined laterally to be at the centreline of the cylindrical drop. The rods also experience long-range immersion capillary forces which assemble the rods tip-to-tip at larger drop heights and, in the case of ellipsoids and spherocylinders, side-to-side at smaller drop heights. We note that the capillary forces that drive particle ordering are very strong in the immersion regime, even for rods on the nanoscale, allowing us to control the configuration of nanorods using near micron-scale droplets. Our capillary assembly method therefore provides a facile method for creating functional nanoclusters. Our study also provides insights into how the structure of such clusters evolves during the drying of the droplet
Geotechnical Properties of Urmia Saltwater Lake Bed Sediments
Get PDFUrmia Lake (UL) is the sixth-largest saltwater lake in the world; however, there is a dearth of geotechnical studies on this region. Geotechnical characteristics of a site are considered important from different engineering perspectives. In this research, the results of 255 laboratory tests and the data of 55 in situ tests were used to determine the geotechnical properties of sediment in UL. The changes of parameters in depth are presented in this study. The results indicate that compressibility, initial void ratio, water content, over-consolidated ratio (OCR), and sensitivity have larger values near the lake bed. Moreover, increasing the sediment depth leads to significant reductions in these values. According to the sediment strength analysis through the vane shear and standard penetration tests and the unit weight of sediments, there is an increasing trend caused by the increased depths of layers. Diverse applied correlations are proposed and can be used as preliminary estimates in similar types of sediments in engineering projects as well as scientific studies. Furthermore, undrained shear strength and compression index trends in depth and the Su/σ’v Curve against OCR are compared with the literature, and the results reveal similar trends in similar sediments. The main minerals identified in these sediments include calcite, dolomite, quartz, calcium chloride, and halite. The salinity of the lake water is caused by the presence of calcium chloride and halite minerals. The Cao factor observed in chemical compounds can have a significant impact on the cohesion of the soil particles. This research provides comprehensive information on the geotechnical characteristics of UL. Moreover, the results of this study show that UL Sediments are soft and sensitive, especially in shallow depths, and they contain a significant amount of organic content; therefore, it is recommended to use suitable improvement methods in future geotechnical and structural designs. This study and similar surveys can help prepare the groundwork for designing safer marine structures