Pre-game perceived wellness highly associates with match running performances during an international field hockey tournament

This study examined the associations between pre-game wellness and changes in match running performance normalised to either (i) playing time, (ii) post-match RPE or (iii) both playing time and post-match RPE, over the course of a field hockey tournament. Twelve male hockey players were equipped with global positioning system (GPS) units while competing in an international tournament (six matches over 9 days). The following GPS-derived variables, total distance (TD), low-intensity activity (LIA; <15?km/h), high-intensity running (HIR; >15?km/h), high-intensity accelerations (HIACC; >2?m/s²) and decelerations (HIDEC; >?2?m/s²) were acquired and normalised to either (i) playing time, (ii) post-match RPE or (iii) both playing time and post-match RPE. Each morning, players completed ratings on a 0–10 scale for four variables: fatigue, muscle soreness, mood state and sleep quality, with cumulative scores determined as wellness. Associations between match performances and wellness were analysed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Combined time and RPE normalisation demonstrated the largest associations with Δwellness compared with time or RPE alone for most variables; TD (r?=??0.95; ?1.00 to ?0.82, p?=?.004), HIR (r?=??0.95; ?1.00 to ?0.83, p?=?.003), LIA (r?=??0.94; ?1.00 to ?0.81, p?=?.026), HIACC (r?=??0.87; ?1.00 to ?0.66, p?=?.004) and HIDEC (r?=??0.90; ?0.99 to ?0.74, p?=?.008). These findings support the use of wellness measures as a pre-match tool to assist with managing internal load over the course of a field hockey tournament.

Highlights

• Fixtures during international field hockey tournaments are typically congested and impose high physiological demands on an athlete. To minimise decrements in running performance over the course of a tournament, measures to identify players who have sustained high internal loads are logically warranted.

• The present study examined the association between changes in simple customised psychometric wellness measures, on changes in match running performance normalised to (i) playing time, (ii) post-match RPE and (iii) playing time and post-match RPE, over the course of a field hockey tournament.

• Changes in match running performance were better associated to changes in wellness (r = ?0.87 to ?0.95), when running performances were normalised to both time and RPE compared with time or RPE alone.

• The present findings support the use of wellness measures as a pre-match tool to assist with managing internal load over the course of a field hockey tournament. Improved associations between wellness scores and match running performances were evident, when running variables were normalised to both playing time and post-match RPE.

     

The implications of Ramadan fasting for human health and well-being

Islamic Ramadan is a 29-30 day fast in which food, fluids, medications, drugs and smoking are prohibited during the daylight hours which can be extended between 13 and 18 h · day(-1) depending on the geographical location and season. The majority of health-specific findings related to Ramadan fasting are mixed. The likely causes for these heterogeneous findings lie in the amount of daily time of fasting, number of subjects who smoke, take oral medications, and/or receive intravenous fluids, in the type of food and eating habits and in changes in lifestyle. During Ramadan fasting, glucose homeostasis is maintained by meals taken during night time before dawn and by liver glycogen stores. Changes in serum lipids are variable and depend on the quality and quantity of food intake, physical activity and exercise, and changes in body weight. Compliant, well-controlled type II diabetics may observe Ramadan fasting, but fasting is not recommended for type I, noncompliant, poorly controlled and pregnant diabetics. There are no adverse effects of Ramadan fasting on respiratory and cardiovascular systems, haematologic profile, endocrine, and neuropsychiatric functions. Conclusions: Although Ramadan fasting is safe for all healthy individuals, those with various diseases should consult their physicians and follow medical and scientific recommendations.     

Population growth, trophic level, and reproductive biology of two congeneric archer fishes （Toxotes chatareus, Hamilton 1822 and Toxotesjaculatrix, Pallas 1767） inhabiting Malaysian coastal waters

Population growth, trophic level, and some aspects of reproductive biology of two congeneric archer fish species, Toxotes chatareus and Toxotes jaculatrix, collected from Johor coastal waters, Malaysia, were studied. Growth pattern by length-weight relationship (W=aL~b) for the sexes differed, and exhibited positive allometric growth (male, female and combined sexes of T. chatareus; female and combined sexes of T. jaculatrix) and isometric growth (male samples of T. jaculatrix only). Trophic levels of both species were analyzed based on 128 specimens. The results show that, in both species, crustaceans and insects were the most abundant prey items, and among crustaceans the red clawed crab Sesarma bidens and Formicidae family insects were the most represented taxa. The estimated mean trophic levels for T. chatareus and T. jaculatrix were 3.422±0.009 and 3.420±0.020, respectively, indicating that they are largely carnivores. Fecundity of T. chatareus ranged from 38354 to 147185 eggs for females with total length ranging from 14.5 to 22.5 cm and total body weight from 48.7 to 270.2 g, and T. jaculatrix 25 251 to 150456 eggs for females with total length ranging from 12.2 to 23.0 cm and total body weight from 25.7 to 275.0 g. Differences in values of gonadosomatic and hepatosomatic indexes calculated for both species in this study may have resulted from uneven sample size ranges.     

Convection-radiation from a continuously moving fin of variable thermal conductivity

The homotopy analysis method (HAM) is applied to generate an analytic solution for heat transfer in a moving fin of variable thermal conductivity which is losing heat by simultaneous convection and radiation to its surroundings. The accuracy of the analytic solution is validated by comparing it with the direct numerical solution of the problem. The analytic solution is found to be accurate to at least three places of decimal for a wide range of values of the parameters that are commonly encountered in thermal processing application. Graphs displaying the results are interpreted in physical terms.     

Accumulation of mercury in rice grain and cabbage grown on representative Chinese soils

A pot culture experiment was carried out to investigate the accumulation properties of mercury (Hg) in rice grain and cabbage grown in seven soil types (Udic Ferrisols, Mollisol, Periudic Argosols, Latosol, Ustic Cambosols, Calcaric Regosols, and Stagnic Anthrosols) spiked with different concentrations of Hg (CK, 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, and 4.00 mg/kg). The results of this study showed that Hg accumulation of plants was significantly affected by soil types. Hg concentration in both rice grain and cabbage increased with soil Hg concentrations, but this increase differed among the seven soils. The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that pH, Mn(II), particle size distribution, and cation exchange capacity have a close relationship with Hg accumulation in plants, which suggested that physicochemical characteristics of soils can affect the Hg accumulation in rice grain and cabbage. Critical Hg concentrations in seven soils were identified for rice grain and cabbage based on the maximum safe level for daily intake of Hg, dietary habits of the population, and Hg accumulation in plants grown in different soil types. Soil Hg limits for rice grain in Udic Ferrisols, Mollisol, Periudic Argosols, Latosol, Ustic Cambosols, Calcaric Regosols, and Stagnic Anthrosols were 1.10, 2.00, 2.60, 2.78, 1.53, 0.63, and 2.17 mg/kg, respectively, and critical soil Hg levels for cabbage are 0.27, 1.35, 1.80, 1.70, 0.69, 1.68, and 2.60 mg/kg, respectively.     

PRInK: Environmental virtual interactive based education and learning model for STEM motivation

Education and Information Technologies - Pollution from quarry activities has a substantial environmental impact on many countries. This issue should be addressed accordingly as its impact may...     

Finding the next ‘wave’ in internationalisation of higher education: focus on Malaysia

This article presents a case study of Malaysia’s inroad in internationalising its higher education system for the past three decades and proposes recommendations and the way forward in internationalisation. Internationalisation is one of the critical agenda in Malaysia’s higher education transformation with an end target of becoming an international hub of higher education excellence by 2020. The country is no stranger in internationalisation as efforts in student mobility, academic programmes and international collaboration have started since the 1980s and 1990s. As with other higher education systems globally, it was the private sector that initiated and sustained efforts in internationalisation of Malaysian higher education. With the growth in international student enrolment, the country has established itself as a student hub; however, greater focus and clarity in direction should be set forward in accelerating Malaysia’s progress in internationalisation, with research and development as a potential catalyst. The article also questions Malaysia’s current standing with regard to internationalisation and the need in facilitating higher education institutions to build their capacity in internationalisation, highlighting the important roles of individual institutions at both public and private sector that drive the country’s internationalisation agenda.     

Online learning of an interval type-2 TSK fuzzy logic controller for nonlinear systems

In this study, an adaptive interval type-2 Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy logic controller based on reinforcement learning (AIT2-TSK-FLC-RL) is proposed. The proposed controller consists of an actor, a critic and a reward signal. The actor is represented by the IT2-TSK-FLC in which the antecedents and the consequents are interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2FSs) and type-1 fuzzy sets (T1FSs), respectively, which are named A2-C1. The critic is represented by a neural network, which approximates the optimal guaranteed cost in the control design to ensure the system stability for all admissible uncertainties and noise. The use of a reward signal to formalize the idea of a goal is one of the most distinctive features of RL. Thus, the proposed controller evolves in time as a result of the online learning algorithm. The parameters of the proposed controller are learned online based on the Lyapunov theorem to guarantee the stability, overcome the shortcomings of the gradient descent, such as the local minima and instability, and determine the learning rate of the IT2-TSK-FLC controller. Furthermore, the critic stability is discussed for determining the optimal learning rate. The proposed controller is applied to uncertain nonlinear systems to show its robustness in reducing the effect of system uncertainties and external disturbances and is compared to other controllers.