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Journal of Sports Sciences Oct 2023Decision-making in team sports necessitates monitoring multiple performers located at different distances (i.e., viewing eccentricities) from a critical information...
Decision-making in team sports necessitates monitoring multiple performers located at different distances (i.e., viewing eccentricities) from a critical information source. The processing of peripheral information is generally impaired under anxiety and when responding to stimuli located at larger eccentricities. These hypotheses have not been sufficiently tested in dynamic performance environments. We examined how pressure and eccentricities affect decision-making and visual behaviour in 4v4 basketball defensive scenarios using a head mounted display. Experienced players monitored plays from the first-person perspective (centre position) and made defensive steps towards opponents threatening the basket from different eccentricities under low- and high-pressure. To tax working memory, participants simultaneously performed a backward counting task. Players responded slower and with lower accuracy to opponents at larger eccentricities. Players mostly fixated on the ball-carrier, but over 50% of fixations were located on peripheral players, indicating that information in the periphery must be frequently updated with foveal vision (i.e., pivot strategy). When pressured, participants increased mental effort and improved counting performance; however, gaze behaviour and decision-making were relatively unaffected. Findings suggest that basketball players respond more quickly to opponents positioned at lower compared to higher eccentricities at the cost of impaired responses to opponents in the periphery.
Topics: Humans; Decision Making; Visual Perception; Vision, Ocular; Basketball
PubMed: 38234241
DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2023.2301143 -
Heliyon Oct 2023This study evaluates the skills of 30 CMIP5 GCMs and the Multimodel Ensemble (MME) in reproducing the characteristics of observed precipitation (Pr), minimum (T), and...
This study evaluates the skills of 30 CMIP5 GCMs and the Multimodel Ensemble (MME) in reproducing the characteristics of observed precipitation (Pr), minimum (T), and maximum (T) temperature over the Middle Awash sub-basin (MASB) in Ethiopia. The MME of the climate variables was generated using the simple arithmetic mean method. The entire analysis was performed on the raw historical GCM simulations (before bias correction) and observed data for the periods 1981-2005 based on monthly and annual time series data over the annual and seasonal temporal resolutions. This study considered two approaches. The first one was an evaluation of GCMs employing five statistical performance metrics (SPMs), i.e., mean, CV, PBIAS, RSR, and r. The second approach involves the application of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) analysis, adopting three SPMs (PBIAS, RSR, and r). The relative weights of the three metrics were determined by the entropy method. Besides, the weighted average and compromise programming techniques were employed to rank and select the best-performing GCMs. The findings from the first approach using five SPMs demonstrate that, for a given variable of interest, a GCM that performs well for one SPM may fail to produce the same for another SPM on the same temporal scale. Likewise, for the same SPM at different resolutions, a GCM may perform well for a one-time scale but poorly for another. These suggested that the results of GCM skills relied mainly on the SPM, time scale, and data formats chosen for analysis. Hence, it is critical to comprehensively evaluate the skill of GCMs using multiple performance metrics over a range of spatial and temporal settings and data formats. In addition, results of the MCDM analysis proved that the ensemble of GCMs, which provide adequate performance in simulating the salient features of Pr, T, and T concomitantly across the MASB, encompass CMCC-CMS, BCC-CSM1.1(m), CMCC-CM, BNU-ESM, CanESM2, and MPI-ESM-MR. However, it was observed that different GCMs performed much differently in characterizing various variables over a range of temporal scales and data formats. The MME also proved its superior potential in duplicating the climate of the study area over several individual GCMs. The overall findings attested that instead of aggregating the ranks from the three variables into one, it is recommended to treat each variable independently while developing a subset of best-performing GCMs for ensembling since each GCM responds differently to each variable under a set of conditions. Finally, the approaches and findings from this study will be valuable input for subsequent climate and hydrologic studies in the study area and beyond.
PubMed: 37790964
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20320 -
Journal of Cheminformatics Jun 2024Conformal prediction has seen many applications in pharmaceutical science, being able to calibrate outputs of machine learning models and producing valid prediction...
Conformal prediction has seen many applications in pharmaceutical science, being able to calibrate outputs of machine learning models and producing valid prediction intervals. We here present the open source software CPSign that is a complete implementation of conformal prediction for cheminformatics modeling. CPSign implements inductive and transductive conformal prediction for classification and regression, and probabilistic prediction with the Venn-ABERS methodology. The main chemical representation is signatures but other types of descriptors are also supported. The main modeling methodology is support vector machines (SVMs), but additional modeling methods are supported via an extension mechanism, e.g. DeepLearning4J models. We also describe features for visualizing results from conformal models including calibration and efficiency plots, as well as features to publish predictive models as REST services. We compare CPSign against other common cheminformatics modeling approaches including random forest, and a directed message-passing neural network. The results show that CPSign produces robust predictive performance with comparative predictive efficiency, with superior runtime and lower hardware requirements compared to neural network based models. CPSign has been used in several studies and is in production-use in multiple organizations. The ability to work directly with chemical input files, perform descriptor calculation and modeling with SVM in the conformal prediction framework, with a single software package having a low footprint and fast execution time makes CPSign a convenient and yet flexible package for training, deploying, and predicting on chemical data. CPSign can be downloaded from GitHub at https://github.com/arosbio/cpsign .Scientific contribution CPSign provides a single software that allows users to perform data preprocessing, modeling and make predictions directly on chemical structures, using conformal and probabilistic prediction. Building and evaluating new models can be achieved at a high abstraction level, without sacrificing flexibility and predictive performance-showcased with a method evaluation against contemporary modeling approaches, where CPSign performs on par with a state-of-the-art deep learning based model.
PubMed: 38943219
DOI: 10.1186/s13321-024-00870-9 -
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Jul 2023Based on the different dielectric properties of materials and the selective heating property of microwaves, the ultrafast (30 s) preparation of S-NiS@SP@Bitu as a...
Based on the different dielectric properties of materials and the selective heating property of microwaves, the ultrafast (30 s) preparation of S-NiS@SP@Bitu as a cathode material for lithium-sulfur batteries was achieved using bitumen, sulfur, Super P, and nickel naphthenate as raw materials for the first time, under microwave treatment. NiS@SP@Bitu forms Li-N, Li-O, Li-S, and Ni-S bonds with polysulfide, which contributes to promoting the adsorption of polysulfide, reducing the precipitation and decomposition energy barrier of LiS, and accelerating the catalytic conversion of polysulfide, as result of inhibiting the "shuttle effect" and improving the electrochemical performance. S-NiS@SP@Bitu as the sulfur cathode material demonstrates outstanding rate performance (518.6 mAh g at 4C), and stable cycling performance. The lithium-sulfur battery with a sulfur loading of 4.8 mg cm shows an areal capacity of 4.6 mAh cm. Based on the advantages of microwave selective and rapid heating, this method creatively realized that the sulfur carrier material was prepared and sulfur was fixed in it at the same time. Therefore, this method would have implications for the preparation of sulfur cathode materials.
PubMed: 37357370
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c04972 -
Journal of Dairy Science Aug 2023Dairy cattle are often raised in environments that lack natural feeding opportunities, and they perform abnormal repetitive behaviors (ARBs) as a result. Early life...
Dairy cattle are often raised in environments that lack natural feeding opportunities, and they perform abnormal repetitive behaviors (ARBs) as a result. Early life restriction can affect later life behavior. We evaluated whether access to hay in the milk-fed period would affect later life behavior in heifers experiencing short-term feed restriction and whether individuals were consistent in behavioral expression over time. We had 2 competing ideas about how this would unfold. First, being raised with hay, which reduced early life ARBs, could lead to fewer ARBs later in life. Alternatively, heifers that were raised without hay and performed more ARBs in early life might be more prepared for a later feed-restricted environment and thus engage in fewer ARBs than those raised with hay. We studied 24 pair-housed Holstein heifers. As calves, they were fed milk and grain from 0 to 7 wk of age (control) or given additional forage (hay). Tongue rolling, tongue flicking, nonnutritive oral manipulation (NNOM) of pen fixtures, self-grooming, and water drinking were recorded for 12 h (0800-2000 h) during wk 4 and 6 of life using 1-0 sampling at 5-s intervals. At the start of weaning at d 50, all calves were fed a total mixed ration. All calves were fully weaned at d 60 and socially housed by d 65 to 70. After this point, all individuals were raised the same way, according to farm protocol, in groups that included both treatments. At 12.4 ± 0.6 mo of age (mean ± standard deviation), heifers were restricted to 50% of their ad libitum total mixed ration intake for 2 d as part of a short-term feed challenge. Using continuous video recording from 0800 to 2000 h on d 2 of feed restriction, we scored time spent performing oral behaviors: the 5 previously scored while they were calves, along with intersucking, allogrooming, drinking urine, NNOM of rice hull bedding, and NNOM of feed bins. We found that early life access to hay did not affect behavior performed by heifers experiencing short-term feed restriction 1 yr later. Most heifers performed a wide variety of behaviors that appeared abnormal. All heifers performed tongue rolling and NNOM, and at higher levels than when they were calves, while tongue flicks and self-grooming were performed less by heifers. Individual performance of NNOM and tongue rolling were not related across age classes [correlation coefficient (r) = 0.17 and 0.11, respectively], but tongue flicks tended to be correlated (r = 0.37). Intersucking was recorded in 67% of heifers, despite their not being able to suckle a conspecific or dam in early life. Oral behaviors were highly variable across heifers, particularly tongue rolling and intersucking. Outliers, or extreme performance of oral behaviors relative to the rest of the population, were present for many behaviors. Most outliers were expressed by unique heifers that were not extreme in other behaviors. Overall, feeding individually housed, milk-limited calves hay for their first 7 wk did not affect later life performance of oral behaviors. The considerable variability, inconsistency across ages, and excessive performance of some behaviors raises additional questions about how these develop in cattle across life stages and about what we label "abnormal."
Topics: Animals; Cattle; Female; Feeding Behavior; Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; Diet; Animal Feed; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Weaning
PubMed: 37331875
DOI: 10.3168/jds.2022-23041 -
Military Psychology : the Official... Nov 2023Defense and Security Personnel (DSP) often have to operate in the presence of stressful demands. Prior research has identified factors and processes associated with DSP...
Defense and Security Personnel (DSP) often have to operate in the presence of stressful demands. Prior research has identified factors and processes associated with DSP being able to perform resiliently in demanding situations and settings. The aim of the present study was to develop a resilient performance training programme for UK defense and security operators. An intervention mapping (IM) method was used to guide the development of the programme. Typically, IM follows six sequential phases. In the present work, these phases were shaped by insights from prior research (e.g. systematic review and end user interviews), the input of a dedicated working group ( = 13) and from practitioner focus groups. During the IM process, the importance of programme flexibility was emphasized by practitioners. As such, the enAbling REsilieNt performAnce (ARENA) training programme was designed to be agile and include both face-to-face training and online learning modules. Theoretical behavior change principles, closely aligned to findings of earlier work on resilient defense and security performance, were used to underpin programme content and delivery. Future research should seek to gather data on the impact of the ARENA programme, in the targeted biological, psychological and social factors that previously been associated with resilient performances.
PubMed: 37921638
DOI: 10.1080/08995605.2023.2268495 -
Sports (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024This study aimed to determine whether there is a difference between the levels of imagery and mental toughness in the context of sports performance in male and female...
This study aimed to determine whether there is a difference between the levels of imagery and mental toughness in the context of sports performance in male and female athletes. A total of 344 track and field athletes, 205 male (59.6%, 23.3 ± 4.0 years) and 139 female (40.4%, 22.9 ± 4.0 years), voluntarily participated in the study. Imagery Inventory and Mental Toughness Inventory in Sport were used as data collection tools in the study. In the evaluation of athletic performance, athletes were asked about their ranks in the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 and were categorized according to the scoring tables specified by the International Association of Athletics Federation. A MANOVA analysis was used to determine whether there was a difference between low (-2% to +5%), medium (+6 to +11%), and high (+12 to +17%) performers among male and female athletes, and a post hoc analysis was used to determine the source of the difference. According to the present findings, there was no significant difference between the imagery and mental toughness levels of athletes with high, medium, and low performance among male athletes. On the contrary, a significant difference was detected between the imagery and mental toughness levels of female athletes with medium and high performances, showing that athletes in the high-performance range had higher levels of imagery (Eta = 8) and mental toughness (Eta = 10) than athletes in the medium- and low-performance ranges. The findings of this study show that imagery and emotional intelligence are important factors for sports performance. In this context, coaches and sports psychologists can include these parameters in their training programs to achieve the optimal performance range.
PubMed: 38921835
DOI: 10.3390/sports12060141 -
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2023Cochlear implants (CIs) are the treatment of choice for severe to profound hearing loss. Variability in CI outcomes remains despite advances in technology and is...
INTRODUCTION
Cochlear implants (CIs) are the treatment of choice for severe to profound hearing loss. Variability in CI outcomes remains despite advances in technology and is attributed in part to differences in cortical processing. Studying these differences in CI users is technically challenging. Spectrally degraded stimuli presented to normal-hearing individuals approximate input to the central auditory system in CI users. This study used intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) to investigate cortical processing of spectrally degraded speech.
METHODS
Participants were adult neurosurgical epilepsy patients. Stimuli were utterances /aba/ and /ada/, spectrally degraded using a noise vocoder (1-4 bands) or presented without vocoding. The stimuli were presented in a two-alternative forced choice task. Cortical activity was recorded using depth and subdural iEEG electrodes. Electrode coverage included auditory core in posteromedial Heschl's gyrus (HGPM), superior temporal gyrus (STG), ventral and dorsal auditory-related areas, and prefrontal and sensorimotor cortex. Analysis focused on high gamma (70-150 Hz) power augmentation and alpha (8-14 Hz) suppression.
RESULTS
Chance task performance occurred with 1-2 spectral bands and was near-ceiling for clear stimuli. Performance was variable with 3-4 bands, permitting identification of good and poor performers. There was no relationship between task performance and participants demographic, audiometric, neuropsychological, or clinical profiles. Several response patterns were identified based on magnitude and differences between stimulus conditions. HGPM responded strongly to all stimuli. A preference for clear speech emerged within non-core auditory cortex. Good performers typically had strong responses to all stimuli along the dorsal stream, including posterior STG, supramarginal, and precentral gyrus; a minority of sites in STG and supramarginal gyrus had a preference for vocoded stimuli. In poor performers, responses were typically restricted to clear speech. Alpha suppression was more pronounced in good performers. In contrast, poor performers exhibited a greater involvement of posterior middle temporal gyrus when listening to clear speech.
DISCUSSION
Responses to noise-vocoded speech provide insights into potential factors underlying CI outcome variability. The results emphasize differences in the balance of neural processing along the dorsal and ventral stream between good and poor performers, identify specific cortical regions that may have diagnostic and prognostic utility, and suggest potential targets for neuromodulation-based CI rehabilitation strategies.
PubMed: 38318272
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1334742 -
Military Medicine May 2024Preservation of life, preservation of limb, and preservation of eyesight are the priorities for military medical personnel when attending to casualties. The incidences...
INTRODUCTION
Preservation of life, preservation of limb, and preservation of eyesight are the priorities for military medical personnel when attending to casualties. The incidences of eye injuries in modern warfare have increased significantly, despite personal eye equipment for service members. Serious eye injuries are often overlooked or discovered in a delayed fashion because they accompany other life- and limb-threatening injuries, which are assigned a higher priority. Prehospital military ocular trauma care is to shield the eye and evacuate the casualty to definitive ophthalmic care as soon as possible, with exceptions for treatment of ocular chemical injury and orbital compartment syndrome. Retrospective analysis of eye injuries in recent conflicts identified gaps in clinical capabilities with up to 96% of ocular injuries being suboptimally managed. Ocular compartment syndrome (OCS) is a complication associated with orbital hemorrhage, where significant morbidity occurs as a result of increasing intracompartment pressure. The ischemic tolerance of the retina and optic nerve is approximately 90 minutes, so OCS must be rapidly diagnosed and aggressively treated through lateral canthotomy/cantholysis (LC/C) to prevent permanent vision loss. LC/C procedures consist of using hemostats to crush the lateral canthal fold and cutting the lateral canthal tendon from the inferior crus to relieve increasing intracompartment pressure. The purpose of this study was to examine the baseline capabilities of military physicians and surgeons to accurately and independently perform the LC/C procedures and identify performance gaps that could be closed through focused professional development activities.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study received institutional review board approval at our institution. A total of 60 subjects voluntarily participated in the study from emergency medicine (15), general surgery (28), and ophthalmology (17). All procedural assessments were performed 1:1 by expert faculty ocular trauma specialists using a high-reliability eye trauma simulator (Sonalysts, Inc.). The competency standard was set at independent and accurate completion of all procedural components and all critical procedural components. Analyses were performed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance to examine between-group differences (P < 0.05).
RESULTS
There was a significant difference between the total score performance and the critical score performance for the three groups (P < 0.001). Outcomes indicate a significant linear relationship between the expertise level of the clinical provider and the procedural performance of LC/C. Outcomes demonstrate the baseline surgical capabilities of the general surgeons transferred to LC/C performance; however, they were unfamiliar with the anatomy and the procedural techniques and requirements. The group of emergency medicine participants demonstrated performance gaps not only in the same areas as the general surgeons but also in their baseline surgical abilities. This suggests that different professional development activities are necessary for surgeons and physicians tasked with performing LC/V procedures.
CONCLUSIONS
We identified significant performance gaps among emergency medicine physicians, general surgeons, and ophthalmologists in their abilities to recognize and treat OCS through LC/C procedures. These sight-saving procedures are a critical competency for forward-situated clinicians in expeditionary contexts. We identified the need for targeted approaches to professional development for closing the performance gaps for both emergency medicine physicians and general surgeons.
Topics: Humans; Retrospective Studies; Eye Injuries; Male; Adult; Military Medicine; Military Personnel; Female; Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures; Compartment Syndromes; Physicians; Clinical Competence
PubMed: 36461685
DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usac381 -
Psychological Research Nov 2023Musicians' body motion plays a fundamental role in ensemble playing, by supporting sound production, communication, and expressivity. This research investigates how...
Musicians' body motion plays a fundamental role in ensemble playing, by supporting sound production, communication, and expressivity. This research investigates how Western classical musicians' head motion during ensemble performances relates to a piece's phrase structure and musicians' empathic perspective taking (EPT) profile. Twenty-four advanced piano and singing students took part in the study, and their EPT score was pre-assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. High and low EPT duos were formed, and musicians were paired with a co-performer from the same and the other EPT group. Musicians rehearsed Fauré's Automne and Schumann's Die Kartenlegerin, and performed the pieces one time before and three times after rehearsal. Motion capture data of the musicians' front head, audio, and MIDI recordings of the performances were collected and analysed. Similarity in musicians' head motion and tendency to lead/lag their co-performer were computed by extracting, respectively, power and phase difference of the cross-wavelet transforms of the velocity curves of each paired marker. Results demonstrate that the power of interperformer coordination corresponds to the piece's phrase levels and that singer's EPT can impact the leader-follower relationships between musicians, depending on piece and take number. In the Fauré piece, the higher the singer's EPT score, the higher the tendency for the singer to lead and pianist to follow in take 3, and the lower the tendency for the singer to lead and pianist to follow in take 2. These results contribute to a further understanding of the mechanisms underpinning social interactions, by revealing the complexity of the association between empathy and body motion in ensembles in promoting and diffusing leadership between musicians.
Topics: Humans; Singing; Empathy; Music; Sound
PubMed: 37074403
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01818-8