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Elite Swimmers’ and Coaches’ Understanding and Psychological Experience of Taper: A Multi-Phase Qualitative Investigation
Full text linkTaper is an important component of race preparation in swimming but often misunderstood by athletes and coaches. Thus, through a multi-phase qualitative investigation, we aimed to examine swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) associated with taper. An interpretive descriptive methodology was used in both phases, with data collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed in line with interpretive description recommendations. Findings from Phase 1 and 2 suggested swimmers and coaches understood taper as an idiosyncratic, multidimensional, and unpredictable training phase, and their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors centered around ensuring taper had positive psychological and performance related effects. Findings from both phases were also examined to identify similarities in key psychological features associated with taper. This revealed the psychology of taper is complex, imperfect, and multilevel in nature. Overall, our research provides the first detailed insight into the psychology of taper in elite athletes and highlights the need for further research and applied considerations in this area
Migrant language education in a Nation of Sanctuary
Full text linkRecent reports and research evidence on the organisation and provision of language education for migrants in the UK have illuminated numerous shortfalls. Challenges have been identified not only in the ability of providers to deliver enough English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes to meet need, but also in the way that ESOL classes are organised and delivered. This article argues that the adoption of a participatory pedagogy to the ESOL classroom can facilitate a syllabus that is closer to migrants' needs and provides examples of how such an approach can transform the way language education for migrants is currently realised. Drawing on reflections from a pilot course of teacher education in Wales, the article details how the inclusion of a multilingual, participatory pedagogy provides the tools for ESOL classrooms to be based around issues of relevance to those making a new home in Wales while at the same time providing space in the syllabus that frees participants from the pressure of exam or assessment preparation. First the author examines how the focus on evidencing linguistic progression, through the employment of a rigorous testing regime, often leaves little or no time to foster a sense of belonging or inclusion among migrants desperate to build new lives. Then, the Welsh context in particular is discussed, with specific attention to the role of the Welsh language and the Welsh Government's Nation of Sanctuary aspiration. To end, the author provides reflections from a course of teacher education grounded in participatory pedagogy. It details the benefits of moving away from an outcomes-focused, prescribed syllabus to one based on the learners' own needs, interests, motivations and backgrounds, and which, it is argued, can transform the parameters of how migrant language education is understood and enacted.</p
Making Well: A Realist Evaluation of the Fathom Trust’s eight-week nature-based intervention:Final Report
Full text linkColor-tunable emissions and multi-mode optical thermometer in Mg<sub>3</sub>Gd<sub>2</sub>Ge<sub>3</sub>O<sub>12</sub>: Tb<sup>3+</sup>, Eu<sup>3+</sup> phosphors
Full text linkA series of Mg3Gd2Ge3O12 phosphors co‐doped with Tb3+ and Eu3+ was produced using a solid‐state method. The phosphors doped solely with Tb3+ have blue emission (383 nm) and green emission (544 nm), and the addition of Eu3+ can produce red emission (610 nm). The transformation of green‐orange could be achieved by adjusting the doping amount of Eu3+ because of the energy transfer (ET) from Tb3+ to Eu3+. The ET process was attributed to dipole−dipole interaction. In addition, the emission intensities of three levels and the lifetimes of 5D3 decrease with increasing temperature, and color changes are produced. According to these interesting phenomena, an optical thermometer with different modes was designed utilizing the fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) and the fluorescence lifetime (FL) model. The maximum values of relative sensitivity (Sr) were found to be 1.24% K−1 at 494 K (FIR = I383/I610), 0.43% K−1 at 423 K (FIR = I544/I610), and 1.38% ms K−1 at 465 K (FL). The temperature sensing performance of the sample demonstrates good repeatability through cyclic testing. The above results demonstrate that Mg3Gd2Ge3O12: Tb3+, Eu3+ samples are potential materials for visual optical temperature measurement
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) in Multimodal AI Using Bridging Text, Image and Audio Data for Enhanced Model Performance
Full text linkThe integration of multimodal data is critical in advancing artificial intelligence models capable of interpreting diverse and complex inputs. While standalone models excel in processing individual data types like text, image, or audio, they often fail to achieve comparable performance when these modalities are combined. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have emerged as a transformative approach in this domain due to their ability to synthesize and learn across disparate data types effectively. This study addresses the challenge of bridging multimodal datasets to improve the generalization and performance of AI models. The proposed framework employs a novel GAN architecture that integrates textual, visual, and auditory data streams. Using a shared latent space, the system generates coherent representations for cross-modal understanding, ensuring seamless data fusion. The GAN model is trained on a benchmark dataset comprising 50,000 multimodal instances, with 25% allocated for testing. Results indicate significant improvements in multimodal synthesis and classification accuracy. The model achieves a text-to-image synthesis FID score of 14.7, an audio- to-text BLEU score of 35.2, and a cross-modal classification accuracy of 92.3%. These outcomes surpass existing models by 8-15% across comparable metrics, highlighting the GAN’s effectiveness in handling data heterogeneity. The findings suggest potential applications in areas such as virtual assistants, multimedia analytics, and cross-modal content generation
Prime Strictly Concentric Magic Squares of Odd Order
Full text linkMagic squares have been widely studied, with publications of mathematical interest dating back over 100 years. Most studies construct and analyse specific subsets of magic squares, with some exploring links to puzzles, number theory, and graph theory. The subset of magic squares this paper focuses on are those termed prime strictly concentric magic squares (PSCMS), and their general definitions, examples, and important properties are also presented. Previously, only the minimum centre cell values of PSCMS of odd order 5 to 19 were presented, by Makarova in 2015. In this paper, the corresponding list of primes for all minimum PSCMS of order 5 is given, and the number of minimum PSCMS of order 5 is enumerated
The development of police first-line leaders: An international comparison between Australia, England and Wales
Full text linkPolice first-line leaders (sergeants/team leaders/supervisors) have significant impact on the workforce, as such there is the need for leaders to be effectively developed for their role and engage in ongoing learning. This paper focuses on the professional development of police first-line leaders. Comparing and contrasting approaches to knowledge, understanding and skills development within both the classrooms and workplaces across the policing jurisdictions of Australia, England and Wales. The paper explores the part education and training plays within leadership development, approaches to formal educational recognition and challenges which may affect the adoption of national and standardised approaches to leadership development
Post-prandial hyperlipidaemia impairs systemic vascular function and dynamic cerebral autoregulation in young and old male adults
Full text linkTo what extent post-prandial hyperlipidaemia (PPH) impacts both systemic vascular function and dynamic cerebral autoregulation (dCA) is unknown. To address this, we recruited 20 healthy young males (24 ± 5 y) and compared them to 21 healthy older males (67 ± 6 y). In both groups, the following measurements were performed: systemic vascular function was assessed via flow-mediated dilation (FMD) using duplex ultrasound. Forced oscillations in mean arterial pressure (squat-stand manoeuvres) were used to assess dCA via transfer function analysis, with middle cerebral artery velocity recorded continuously. Venous samples were assayed for triglycerides, glucose and insulin. All measurements were completed following an overnight fast prior to and 4 h following consumption of a standardised high-fat meal. Older males exhibited comparable basal FMD (P = 0.635 vs. young) and dCA (P = 0.170–0.998), whereas cerebral perfusion was lower (P = <0.001–0.028). Triglycerides (P = < 0.001), glucose (P = 0.011) and insulin (P = < 0.001) increased in both groups post-prandially, resulting in impaired FMD (P = 0.032), increased cerebral pulsatility (P = < 0.001) and reduced dCA (P = 0.007–0.037), with the latter more marked in older participants. These findings are the first to demonstrate PPH impairs both systemic vascular function and dCA in both young and old male adults, with the older brain at greater risk
Does model type influence the effectiveness of combined action observation and motor imagery training for novices learning an Ankle Pick takedown?
Full text linkIntroduction: Combined action observation and motor imagery (AOMI) training has been shown to facilitate motor skill performance, but limited research has explored its effectiveness on motor learning and factors that may moderate the effects of the intervention. This study examined the influence of model type on the effectiveness of AOMI training for novices learning an Ankle Pick takedown.Methods: Twenty-eight novice participants (M = 28.07 ± 7.29 years) were randomly assigned to a control condition (n = 8), or to AOMI training that displayed footage of a self-model (AOMISELF; n = 10) or other-model (AOMIOTHER; n = 10). All training conditions included physical practice. A motor learning design incorporating pre-test (Day 1), acquisition (Days 2–6), post-test (Day 7), and retention-test (Day 14) was utilized. Motor skill performance, self-efficacy and mental representation structures were recorded as measures of learning.Results: There were no significant differences between the training conditions across all twelve kinematics measures of motor skill performance. Self-efficacy scores increased for all training conditions over time. Both the AOMIOTHER and Control conditions led to improved functional changes in mental representation structures while the structures for the AOMISELF condition became less similar to the reference structure over time.Discussion: Collectively, the largely null findings (n = 13, 92.86%) suggest that physical practice has the strongest influence on motor adaptations for this complex motor skill at these early stages of learning. However, the findings also suggest model type may be an important factor for novices using AOMI training. It is recommended that future research explores alternative modeling approaches, such as mixed-modeling incorporating both self- and other- footage, when designing AOMI interventions for sport