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A New Incremental Cycling Cognitive‐Motor Dual‐Task Test to Assess Simultaneous Sustained Attention and Neuromuscular Fatigue in Trained Athletes
No full textCognitive performance during cognitive-motor dual-task (CMDT) varies with exercise intensity. According to the inverted-U theory, low-to-moderate intensity enhances cognition, but this remains unexplored in trained individuals who may better sustain cognitive performance at high intensities due to improved prefrontal cortex (PFC) homeostasis. Additionally, how sustained attention influences neuromuscular fatigue during whole-body CMDT is unclear. This study investigated both during incremental cycling using an innovative ergometer. Forty trained adults (30 males/10 females; 28.5 ± 7.4 years, 22.9 ± 2.2 kg·m −2) performed an incremental cycling test with a sustained attention Mackworth task. The protocol consisted of 3-min ramp stages (starting at 1 W·kg −1, +0.4 W·kg −1 per stage) until “extremely strong” perceived effort (Borg CR 100, task-failure TF). At each stage, we assessed: Mackworth score, quadriceps isometric maximal voluntary contraction (IMVC), neuromuscular fatigue (peripheral: twitch force, Pt; central: voluntary activation, VA), PFC oxygenation (NIRS), and mental effort. Data were interpolated at 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% of TF. Pt decreased linearly (−40.7% ± 15.1%, p < 0.001). VA declined from 40%TF (−1.5% ± 0.9%, p = 0.003) and worsened at 80%TF (−6.9% ± 2.4%, p < 0.001), alongside IMVC (−20.9% ± 8.9%, p < 0.001). PFC oxygenation dropped from 60%TF (−7.9% ± 2.2%, p < 0.001). Mackworth performance declined only at TF (−11.0% ± 6.7%, p < 0.001), associated with ≥ 84% ± 7% HR max. Sustained attention did not follow the inverted-U theory during incremental cycling in trained adults. Cognitive impairments were observed at very strong intensities, in correlation with PFC deoxygenation. Central fatigue emerged early, itself correlated with increased mental effort and cerebral deoxygenation.</p
Routinings at the Water’s Edge:Creative Access and Relational Method in Blue-Urban Fieldwork
No full textAccess in disability-informed fieldwork is not a static environmental feature nor a procedural guarantee. It emerges through creative, messy, uneven, and often invisible practices shaped by place, body, materiality, and relation. In this short communication, I introduce the concept of routinings: situated, affective, and more-than-human practices through which participation is enacted – and sometimes withdrawn - in blue space fieldwork with disabled people.Drawing on creative relational methods and sensory-ethnographic encounters in tidal coastal environments with visually impaired participants, I explore micro-affordances such as co-timed immersion, dressing routines, and momentary refusals. These routinings are not background logistics; they are politically charged, emotionally saturated, and shaped by environmental volatility, institutional expectations, and embodied precarity. I conceptualise routinings as a creative methodological infrastructure - provisional and recursive, rather than fixed or replicable.This contribution speaks to ongoing debates about how place mediates health equity, inclusion, and relational ethics. By centring the co-production of access in watery, affective, and atmospheric terms, I offer a framework for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to reimagine access not as a deliverable, but as an unfolding, accountable process: material, relational, and unfinished - a form of creative spatial negotiation that troubles the boundaries of urban geography and participatory research.Selected for publication in the RGS-IBG Urban Geography Research Group’s 2025 Postgraduate Writing Competition. This paper introduces the concept of ‘routinings’ as situated, relational, and material practices through which access is enacted in blue space fieldwork with disabled participants. It contributes to debates on inclusive methodologies, health equity, and the politics of access.<br/
Deep Learning in Airborne Particulate Matter Sensing and Surface Plasmon Resonance for Environmental Monitoring
No full textThis review explores advanced sensing technologies and deep learning (DL) methodologies for monitoring airborne particulate matter (PM), which is critical for environmental health assessments. It begins with discussing the significance of PM monitoring and introduces surface plasmon resonance (SPR) as a promising technique in environmental applications, alongside the role of DL neural networks in enhancing these technologies. This review analyzes advancements in airborne PM sensing technologies and the integration of DL methodologies for environmental monitoring. This review emphasizes the importance of PM monitoring for public health, environmental policy, and scientific research. Traditional PM sensing methods, including their principles, advantages, and limitations, are discussed, covering gravimetric techniques, continuous monitoring, optical and electrical methods, and microscopy. The integration of DL with PM sensing offers potential for enhancing monitoring accuracy, efficiency, and data interpretation. DL techniques, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), autoencoders, recurrent neural networks (RNNs), and their variants, are examined for applications like PM estimation from satellite data, air quality prediction, and sensor calibration. This review highlights the data acquisition and quality challenges in developing effective DL models for air quality monitoring. Techniques for handling large and noisy datasets are explored, emphasizing the importance of data quality for model performance, generalizability, and interpretability. The emergence of low-cost sensor technologies and hybrid systems for PM monitoring is discussed, acknowledging their promise while recognizing the need for addressing data quality, standardization, and integration issues. This review identifies areas for future research, including the development of robust DL models, advanced data fusion techniques, applications of deep reinforcement learning, and considerations of ethical implications
Mapping end of life boats:Podcast created and ran by Angie Richard on the citizen science contribution to mapping the abandoned boats in estuaries in France
No full textHelp map end-of-life boats in your community or on your travels through a public open-data platform, - Use DIY field kits and microscopy to study fiberglass pollution, - Engage in creative practice to communicate findings, - Help influence marine policy toward fairer, circular solutions. Whether you’re a sailor, artist, student, or coastal advocate, this session will share practical ways to get involved — from anywhere
Habitat determines the effects of wild ungulate grazing on soils:case studies from the Iberian Peninsula
No full textBackground and AimsThe bidirectional relationship between plants and their soils can be disrupted by the influence of ungulate grazers. Indeed, herbivores affect plant productivity and above-ground community structure, and plants affect soil health and below-ground community structure. However, the effects of herbivory can be subtle and challenging to address experimentally, even in the case of relatively large ungulate grazers. We attempt to resolve this paradox and experimentally test effects of ungulate grazers in two case studies on the Spanish Iberian Peninsula.MethodsAt the two locations, we experimentally enclosed red deer (Cervus elaphus) at high and hyper densities for one year. We then compared, relative to non-ungulate controls, soil abiotic properties and biotic properties like bacterial and fungal community composition using DNA sequencing, to determine ungulate effects on soils.ResultsThe results reveal that ungulates and their grazing had subtle effects on soil properties. Specifically, the presence of ungulates was tied to changes in bulk density and some chemical properties, but the only effects on bacterial or fungal community composition were tied to habitat. Differences in habitat use by the ungulates corresponded with increased bulk density and shifts in microbial community composition of the soil.ConclusionsWe conclude that over short experimental time periods, like one year, the effects of ungulate grazing may not be revealed. In fact, differences in plant community structure that are tied to abiotic soil properties may drive ungulate use of the land and moderate soil responses to the presence of ungulates
Prediction and parametric modeling of compressive strength of waste marble dust concrete through machine learning and experimental analysis
No full textThe production of waste marble is the ultimate concern of the construction industry’s recent success in satisfying the huge need for marble stones. This study predicts the compressive strength of waste marble powder concrete using machine learning methods XG Boost, AdaBoost, Cat-Boost, Gradient-Boosting, Light Gradient-Boosting, and decision tree. For this purpose, a comprehensive dataset was developed from previously published literature, incorporating input features such as cement, fine and coarse aggregates, superplasticizers, silica fume, marble dust, and water, with compressive strength (CS) as the output parameter. Based on the outcomes, XG Boost model outperforms other models to predict CS with R2 values of 0.999 and 0.915 on the train and test stage, respectively. The decision tree model also shows consistent performance with R2 > 0.85 for both train and testing phases. In addition, experimental assessment was also conducted to verify the outcomes of machine learning (ML) modeling and quantify the CS of concrete specimens having marble dust as binder replacement (5–20% by weight). In addition, feature importance analysis highlights that superplasticizers, cement, and silica fume were the most weighted factors that affected CS. According to partial dependency plot (PDP) analysis, combined data on concrete strength versus cement concentration shows that the strength of the material increases from 37.5 MPa to 57.5 MPa when the cement concentration increases from 300 kg/m3 to 500 kg/m3. Furthermore, microstructural evaluation revealed a dense and well-compacted matrix in concrete containing waste marble powder, with improved bonding between the binder and aggregates
Combining detection dogs and camera traps improves minimally invasive population monitoring for the cheetah, an elusive and rare large carnivore
Get PDFMonitoring large carnivores is imperative for conservation planning, but is difficult due to their elusive behaviour and natural rarity. Some carnivores such as the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) are particularly wide ranging and often go undetected despite being present, or are detected at rates too low to make meaningful quantitative inferences. The combination of minimally invasive survey techniques, such as detection dog surveys and camera traps, holds promise for improving monitoring efforts of large carnivores. We surveyed a cheetah population within the Acacia savanna biome of central east Namibia, employing various search strategies and camera trap configurations. We analysed detection data in an occupancy framework and estimated the effort required to confirm cheetah presence with 95% certainty. We found that sign surveys required intensive field effort when walked as road transects, but detections of scat by the detection dogs were twice that of tracks (5/100 and 2.5/100 km, respectively, 7.5/100 km combined). Vehicular searches to identify cheetah marking sites appear to be an efficient alternative or complementary approach (3.8/100 km), if a road network is available and marking sites are visually distinguishable. The detection probability (p) of cheetahs with one camera trap station per sampling unit placed at roads was low (p = 0.167), but increased for camera traps placed at marking sites that were identified through the detection dog survey (p = 0.244), and in particular when multiple camera trap stations were placed per sampling unit and detections were pooled across stations (p = 0.348–0.750). The minimum survey effort required to reliably detect cheetahs in each 256 km 2 sampling unit was estimated to be 45 km or 10 h of walking, 123 km or 5 h of driving or 150 nights of camera trapping. Practical implications. We showed that complementing detection dog surveys with camera trapping can comprehensively and efficiently inform occurrence patterns for an exceptionally wide-ranging terrestrial carnivore. Our findings provide practical guidance for designing effective minimally invasive monitoring programmes, which are important for empirically deriving distribution maps of cheetahs and other carnivores in data-poor regions.</p
Bubble growth in composite water/fuel droplets:effect on timing of their puffing/micro-explosion
Get PDFThe existing models of bubble growth are reviewed with a view to their possible application to the study of puffing/micro-explosion in composite water/fuel droplets. A simplified version of the Chernov et al. model in thelimit of Ja 1 is demonstrated to be the most suitable for this from thepoint of view of its simplicity and accuracy. This model is applied to theanalysis of timing of puffing/micro-explosion in composite water/n-dodecanedroplets placed in air at temperatures varying from 500 to 1000 K. The times to puffing/micro-explosion and bubble growth times for these droplets were obtained based on experiments performed at the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University. The bubble growth times predicted by this model are shown to be reasonably close to the experimental results. Also the values of these times are very close to those predicted by the direct numerical solutionof the underlying equations.<br/
Ambivalent Internationalisation:Reviewing Literature on the Social Policy Context for International Students in the United Kingdom and Implications for Social Exclusion
Get PDFThis study explored the social policy context for international students in the UK and its implications for social exclusion (an inability to fully participate in society). Within a rapid review policy literature addressing international student experience, forty-two articles from the Web of Science and Social Science Research Network (SSRN) were selected through multiple screenings. Migration and education were the most explored policy areas, followed by inequalities, work, health and wellbeing, security, and housing. Results demonstrated that policy both creates barriers to inclusion (e.g. hostile environment migration/ bordering practices) and supports inclusion/adaption to social exclusion-related challenges (e.g. sanctuary scholarships for forced migrants, Graduate visas). All international students to some degree lack equitable participation in wellbeing-relevant provision. Overall, policies are constructed so the state and universities can extract value from internationals without fully including them in British society. Policies abdicate responsibility for students’ inclusion, making it expensive and complicated to build a life there