Guiding Low Spatial Ability Individuals through Visual Cueing: The Dual Importance of Where and When to Look

Research suggests that spatial ability may predict success in complex disciplines including anatomy, where mastery requires a firm understanding of the intricate relationships occurring along the course of veins, arteries, and nerves, as they traverse through and around bones, muscles, and organs. Debate exists on the malleability of spatial ability, and some suggest that spatial ability can be enhanced through training. It is hypothesized that spatial ability can be trained in low-performing individuals through visual guidance. To address this, training was completed through a visual guidance protocol. This protocol was based on eye-movement patterns of high-performing individuals, collected via eye-tracking as they completed an Electronic Mental Rotations Test (EMRT). The effects of guidance were evaluated using 33 individuals with low mental rotation ability, in a counterbalanced crossover design. Individuals were placed in one of two treatment groups (late or early guidance) and completed both a guided, and an unguided EMRT. A third group (no guidance/control) completed two unguided EMRTs. All groups demonstrated an increase in EMRT scores on their second test (P < 0.001); however, an interaction was observed between treatment and test iteration (P = 0.024). The effect of guidance on scores was contingent on when the guidance was applied. When guidance was applied early, scores were significantly greater than expected (P = 0.028). These findings suggest that by guiding individuals with low mental rotation ability “where” to look early in training, better search approaches may be adopted, yielding improvements in spatial reasoning scores. It is proposed that visual guidance may be applied in spatial fields, such as STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine), surgery, and anatomy to improve student's interpretation of visual content. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Screening for risk of low energy availability in athletic and recreationally active females in Ireland

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Low energy availability (LEA) results in physiological adaptations, which can contribute to unfavourable health outcomes. Little information exists on risk of LEA in active individuals competing in different sports or levels of competition. The aims of this study were to (1) identify risk of LEA in females competing at different levels of competition and (2) investigate associations between risk of LEA, illness and dietary habits. Methods: The validated questionnaire, ‘Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire’ was distributed online (November 2016–February 2017) to assess risk of LEA. Twenty-nine additional questions collected information on demographics, illness history and dietary habits. Participants were considered at risk of LEA if they attained a score of?≥?8 and were grouped into: (i) international; (ii) provincial/inter-county; (iii) competitive; and (iv) recreationally active. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were used to explore differences between those at risk or not at risk of LEA. Results: Risk of LEA was identified in 40% (n?=?331) of 833 participants and was 1.7 and 1.8 times more likely in international and provincial/inter-county athletes compared to those who were recreationally active (International: odds ratios (OR) 1.68, 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) 1.12–2.54; Provincial/inter-county: OR 1.83, 95%CI 1.20–2.77). In participants at risk of LEA, missing >22 days of training during the previous year due to illness occurred 3 times more frequently (OR 3.01, 95%CI 1.81–5.02). Conclusion: Risk of LEA was widespread in this heterogeneous sample. Awareness of LEA and the development of appropriate energy management strategies to ensure athlete health across levels of competition are required.     

Automatic path planning for an unmanned drone with constrained flight dynamics

In the article we solve path planning task for an agent being multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (multicopter). We propose an approach of estimating path geometry constraints based on UAV flight dynamics model and control constraints. Than we introduce a new path finding method which takes into consideration those geometry constraints and study this method both theoretically and empirically.     

Assessing library topics using sentiment analysis in R: a discussion and code sample

Abstract

This article discusses the use of R programing language for executing a sentiment analysis of tweets pertaining to library topics. This discussion is situated within the literature of marketing and management sciences, which is employing methods of machine learning and business intelligence to make informed decision-making, and library administration, which has expressed great interest in social media engagement within its literature but has yet to adopt these types of analysis. Presented in this article is a sample code with instructions on how users may execute it within R to retrieve and analyze tweets relevant to library services. Two examples created using the code (analysis of top librarians’ tweets and analysis of posts about major book publishers) are used to demonstrate the functionality of the code. The code presented in this article may be used by libraries to analyze tweets about their library and library-related topics, which, in turn, may inform management and marketing design.     

Comparing the magnitude and direction of asymmetry during the squat,countermovement and drop jump tests in elite youth female soccer players

ABSTRACT

The aims of the present study were to provide an in-depth comparison of inter-limb asymmetry and determine how consistently asymmetry favours the same limb during different vertical jump tests. Eighteen elite female under-17 soccer players conducted unilateral squat jumps (SJ), countermovement jumps (CMJ) and drop jumps (DJ) on a portable force platform, with jump height, peak force, concentric impulse and peak power as common metrics across tests. For the magnitude of asymmetry, concentric impulse was significantly greater during the SJ test compared to CMJ (p = 0.019) and DJ (p = 0.003). No other significant differences in magnitude were present. For the direction of asymmetry, Kappa coefficients revealed fair to substantial levels of agreement between the SJ and CMJ (Kappa = 0.35 to 0.61) tests, but only slight to fair levels of agreement between the SJ and DJ (Kappa = ?0.26 to 0.18) and CMJ and DJ (Kappa = ?0.13 to 0.26) tests. These results highlight that the mean asymmetry value may be a poor indicator of true variability of between-limb differences in healthy athletes. The direction of asymmetry may provide a useful monitoring tool for practitioners in healthy athletes, when no obvious between-limb deficit exists.