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Lower limb proprioceptive deficits in people with stroke and their relationship with walking and balance
No full textCan metal contaminants reduce the impact of the amphibian-killing chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in susceptible frogs?
No full textDoes it matter to have rapport and social interaction on a group tour?
Get PDFWith rapport building growing in significance, this investigation of its role in attitude and behavioural intention in the group tour context used a multi-methods approach (a video experiment, a photo experiment and a survey). Group attentiveness was also examined as a moderator in the attitude–behavioural intention relationship. Three studies were conducted on the Australian tourism industry in which group tours are common. The first study (a video experiment) and the second study (a photo experiment) were conducted with participants living in Canberra, Australia, while the third survey-based study was conducted on domestic tourists visiting anywhere in Australia on a group tour for the purpose of generalisation. Results from the partial least squares method confirmed the crucial role of rapport in developing a positive attitude and behavioural intention, with the combined effect of rapport and social interaction higher than their individual impacts. Group attentiveness was also found to be a significant moderator.</p
News Closures, Trust, and Community Attachment among Regional News Audiences:A Case Study of Australia
Get PDFLocal media play a critical role in providing information and opportunities for citizens to participate and feel attached to their local community. In recent years, there has been a decline in local news outlets and the provision of local news, which can impact residents’ sense of community. Findings from an online survey of 2,038 Australian regional news audiences conducted in 2019 reveal that local news consumption and engagement with local organisations are positively related to feelings of community attachment. On the other hand, closures of local news outlets have had a negative impact on news audiences’ attachment to their community. Trust was found to play an important mediating role between news consumption, engagement with community organisations, and community attachment. These findings highlight the importance of the provision of local news and information, and audiences’ trust in them, in engendering community attachment. The study provides valuable theoretical and practical implications regarding the impact of news outlet closures on community wellbeing in the absence of credible alternatives
Iron deficiency, supplementation, and sports performance in female athletes:A systematic review
Get PDFBackground: Iron facilitates key biological functions underpinning sports performance, and up to 60% of female athletes experience iron deficiency. However, the effects of iron deficiency on sports performance in female athletes is unclear, as are the degree of benefits of iron supplementation (FeSup). This study characterizes the effects of iron deficiency and FeSup on sports performance in high-level female athletes. Methods: Searches of the electronic databases MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Scopus, and CINAHL were performed in July 2023. Studies were included that evaluated the effects of iron deficiency or FeSup on sports performance in high-level (maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2max) > 45 mL/kg/min, or trained > 5 h/week) iron deficient (ID) (serum ferritin (sFer) < 40 µg/L) female athletes. Studies were assessed using a modified Downs and Black Quality Assessment Checklist. Results: A total of 23 studies comprising 669 athletes (age range: 13–47 years) across 16 sports were included in the review. Iron deficiency negatively affects endurance performance by 3%–4%. However, endurance performance improved by 2%–20% when ID athletes were treated with 100 mg/day of elemental iron for up to 56 days via oral supplementation, or bi-daily via parenteral administration over 8–10 days. ID non-anemic athletes with low sFer stores may be predisposed to reduced maximal aerobic capacity. However, maximal aerobic capacity improved by 6%–15% following 16 mg/day–100 mg/day of elemental iron for 36–126 days. Isokinetic strength and anaerobic power performance may be impeded (–23% to +4%) among ID athletes, but the effect of FeSup on anaerobic power varied markedly (–5% to +9%) following 100 mg/day of elemental iron over 42–56 days, or 100 mg of elemental iron bi-daily over 8–10 days. The quality of studies was moderate (77%), ranging from low (57%) to high (100%). Moststudies (n = 18) contained group sizes ≤ 20 athletes, thus limiting the likelihood of detecting significant effects (statistical power > 0.80). Conclusion: High-level ID female athletes experience a negative impact on endurance performance, which can be improved by supplementing with ∼100 mg of elemental iron per day or bi-daily. The decrements in other performance parameters characterizing a range of sports coincide with the severity of iron deficiency.</p
Changing Nature of Consumer Values Toward Negative Word of Mouth:Voice and Risk Avoidance as Moderators
No full textGiven the increasing role of word of mouth (WOM), and primarily the impact of negative WOM on the decision-making of today's retail consumers, it is essential to understand the changing nature of consumer values (monetary, functional, emotional and social), emotion and attitude toward negative WOM. The current study's data were collected using two online surveys in 2015 and 2019, with 290 participants in Study 1 and 201 in Study 2. The intention behind using two different time points over a 4-year span was to capture the differences in consumers' views over the two periods. The study's findings suggested that social and emotional values remained unchanged; however, monetary and functional values changed over time. Interestingly, attitudes altered toward complaining, although the relationships between taking external action and negative WOM were unchanged in both studies. Consumers raising their voice and consumers' risk-taking attributes were found to be significant moderators in Study 1 but not in Study 2. The findings provide useful insights into the negative WOM literature and have implications for marketing practitioners, as highlighted in the paper's conclusion.</p
EditIQ: Automated Cinematic Editing of Wide-Angle Videos via Dialogue Interpretation and Saliency Cues:Automated Cinematic Editing of Static Wide-Angle Videos via Dialogue Interpretation and Saliency Cues
Get PDFWe present EditIQ, a completely automated framework for cinematically editing scenes captured via a stationary, large field-of-view and high-resolution camera. From the static camera feed, \ourmethod~ initially generates multiple virtual feeds, emulating a team of cameramen. These virtual camera shots termed \textit{rushes} are subsequently assembled using an automated editing algorithm, whose objective is to present the viewer with the most vivid scene content. To understand key scene elements and guide the editing process, we employ a two-pronged approach: (1) a large language model (LLM)-based dialogue understanding module to analyze conversational flow, coupled with (2) visual saliency prediction to identify meaningful scene elements and camera shots therefrom. We then formulate cinematic video editing as an energy minimization problem over shot selection, where cinematic constraints determine shot choices, transitions, and continuity. EditIQ~ synthesizes an aesthetically and visually compelling representation of the original narrative while maintaining cinematic coherence and a smooth viewing experience.Efficacy of EditIQ~ against competing baselines is demonstrated via a psychophysical study involving twenty participants on the \textit{BBC Old School} dataset plus eleven theatre performance videos.Video samples from \ourmethod~ can be found at \url{https://editiq-ave.github.io/}.<br/
Evaluating student understanding of core pharmacokinetic concepts
Get PDFBoth educators and graduates have expressed concern about a perceived pharmacology knowledge gap that includes difficulty applying fundamental principles to clinical and research problems. Consequently, we sought to determine the extent to which current students can explain the meaning of, and appropriately apply, a subset of core concepts, and to identify any misconceptions arising from the responses. Of the twenty-four pharmacology core concepts arising from the recent international collaboration, four pharmacokinetic concepts were chosen, namely drug bioavailability, drug clearance, volume of distribution, and steady-state concentration. A total of 318 students from 11 universities across seven countries chose to participate in this study. Expert analysts identified the essential elements for each concept, then independently assessed each student's response. Teams of two experts compared their evaluations to reach a consensus and grouped misconceptions thematically. For each core concept, less than 30% of students provided responses that encompassed all essential elements. Participants found drug clearance most challenging, generally conflating it with the rate of elimination, whereas they demonstrated a better understanding of drug bioavailability. There were 34 misconception themes coded in a total of 813 statements, with volume of distribution and drug clearance producing the highest numbers (13 and 12, respectively). Overall, results suggest that students found it easier to apply the concept than to explain its meaning, which might reflect the shift from didactic to active learning approaches. These findings may be useful for educators who are developing introductory pharmacokinetic courses by providing conceptual focus and revealing common misconceptions to explicitly address.</p
Trump unshackles Australia Day
Get PDFGreat things happened this week. Donald Trump multitasked his way into office as the liberator of Western culture, and The World According to Rowan Dean went back on air. It’s as if all my Christmases have come at once and corporate Australia can once again utter the words ‘Merry Christmas’ without choking on their hypocrisy. Best of all, Trump’s first salvos fired at Woke ideology have unshackled Australia Day. The Wokerati won’t be able to hold back the tide now
