scholarly journals The Impact of Different Competitive Environments on Pacing and Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 701-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco J. Konings ◽  
Florentina J. Hettinga

Purpose: In real-life competitive situations, athletes are required to continuously make decisions about how and when to invest their available energy resources. This study attempted to identify how different competitive environments invite elite short-track speed skaters to modify their pacing behavior during head-to-head competition. Methods: Lap times of elite 500-, 1000- and 1500-m short-track speed skating competitions between 2011 and 2016 (N = 34,095 races) were collected. Log-transformed lap and finishing times were analyzed with mixed linear models. The fixed effects in the model were sex, season, stage of competition, start position, competition importance, event number per tournament, number of competitors per race, altitude, and time qualification. The random effects of the model were athlete identity and the residual (within-athlete race-to-race variation). Separate analyses were performed for each event. Results: Several competitive environments, such as the number of competitors in a race (a higher number of competitors evoked most likely a faster initial pace; coefficient of variation [CV] = 1.9–9.3%), the stage of competition (likely to most likely, a slower initial pace was demonstrated in finals; CV = −1.4% to 2.0%), the possibility of time qualification (most likely a faster initial pace; CV = 2.6–5.0%), and competition importance (most likely faster races at the Olympics; CV = 1.3–3.5%), altered the pacing decisions of elite skaters in 1000- and 1500-m events. Stage of competition and start position affected 500-m pacing behavior. Conclusions: As demonstrated in this study, different competitive environments evoked modifications in pacing behavior, in particular in the initial phase of the race, emphasizing the importance of athlete–environment interactions, especially during head-to-head competitions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 127-127
Author(s):  
Chloey P Guy ◽  
Lauren T Wesolowski ◽  
Audrey L Earnhardt ◽  
Dustin Law ◽  
Don A Neuendorff ◽  
...  

Abstract Temperament impacts skeletal muscle mitochondria in Brahman heifers, but this has not been investigated in steers or between cattle breeds. We hypothesized mitochondrial measures would be greater in Angus than Brahman, temperamental than calm steers, and the trapezius (TRAP) than the longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle. Samples from calm (n = 13 per breed), intermediate (n = 12 per breed), and temperamental (n=13 per breed) Angus and Brahman steers (mean±SD 10.0±0.8 mo) were evaluated for mitochondrial enzyme activities via colorimetry. Calm and temperamental LT samples were evaluated for oxidative phosphorylation (P) and electron transfer (E) capacities by high-resolution respirometry. Data were analyzed using linear models with fixed effects of breed, muscle, temperament, and all interactions. Brahman tended to have greater mitochondrial volume density (citrate synthase activity; CS) than Angus (P = 0.08), while intrinsic (relative to CS) mitochondrial function (cytochrome c oxidase activity) was greater in Angus than Brahman (P = 0.001) and greater in TRAP than LT (P = 0.008). Angus exhibited greater integrative (per mg tissue) and intrinsic P with complex I (PCI), P with complexes I+II (PCI+II), maximum noncoupled E, and E with complex II (ECII; P ≤ 0.04) and tended to have greater intrinsic leak (P = 0.1) than Brahman. Contribution of PCI to total E was greater in Angus than Brahman (P = 0.01), while contribution of ECII to total E was greater in Brahman than Angus (P = 0.05). A trend for the interaction of breed and temperament (P = 0.07) indicated calm Angus had the greatest intrinsic ECII (P ≤ 0.03) while intrinsic ECII was similar between temperamental Angus and calm and temperamental Brahman. Integrative PCI+II and ECII, and the contribution of PCI and PCI+II to overall E tended to be greater in temperamental than calm steers (P ≤ 0.09), while intrinsic ECII tended to be greater in calm than temperamental steers (P = 0.07). The impact of these mitochondrial differences on meat quality measures remains to be determined.


2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgita Židanavičiūtė ◽  
Audrius Vaitkus

The data were collected by researchers at the Road Research Institute, in a study investigating the impact of differentfactors on road surface strength. In this statistical analysis, we apply linear mixed models (LMMs) to clustered longitudinal data, inwhich the units of analysis (points in the road) are nested within clusters (sample of four different road segments), and repeatedmeasures of road strength in these different points are collected over time with unequally spaced time intervals. The data arebalanced – each cluster has the same number of units, which are measured at the same number of time points. Because of correlateddata and different clusters in which data could be correlated, linear regression models are not appropriate here, and therefore linearmixed models are applied.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno G.N. Andrade ◽  
Haithem Afli ◽  
Flavia A. Bressani ◽  
Rafael R. C. Cuadrat ◽  
Priscila S. N. de Oliveira ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The impact of extreme changes in weather patterns in the economy and human welfare are some of the biggest challenges that our civilization is facing. From the anthropogenic activities that contribute to climate change, reducing the impact of farming activities is a priority, since it is responsible for up to 18% of greenhouse gases linked to such activities. To this end, we tested if the ruminal and fecal microbiome components of 52 Brazilian Nelore bulls, belonging to two treatment groups based on the feed intervention, conventional and by-products based diet, could be used in the future as biomarkers for methane emission and feed efficiency in bovine.Results: We identified a total of 5,693 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) in the Nelore bulls microbiomes. Differential abundance (DA) analysis with the ANCOM approach identified 30 bacterial and 15 archaea ASVs as DA among treatment groups. Association analysis using Maaslin2 and Mixed Linear Models indicated that bacterial ASVs are linked to the residual methane emission (RCH4) and Residual Feed Intake (RFI) phenotypes, contributing to the host’s phenotypic variation, suggesting their potential as targets for interventions and/or biomarkers.Conclusion: Feed composition induced significant differences in abundance and richness of ruminal and fecal microbial populations. The diet based on industrial byproducts applied to our treatment groups influenced the microbiome diversity of bacteria and archaea, but not of protozoa. Different ASVs were associated with RCH4 emission and RFI in both ruminal and fecal microbiomes. While ruminal ASVs are expected to directly influence RCH4 emission and RFI, the relation of fecal taxa, such as Alistipes and Rikenellaceae (gut group RC9), with these traits might also be associated with host health due to their link to anti-inflammatory compounds, and these have the potential to be used as accessible biomarkers for these complex phenotypes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 152700252110677
Author(s):  
Thadeu Gasparetto ◽  
Angel Barajas

Previous research on professional football offer conflicting results regarding the impact of wage dispersion on team performance. However, the existing intra-league heterogeneity among clubs is overlooked and could be the reason for the diverging outcomes. The aim of this paper is to reanalyze this relationship having the clubs’ size as moderator. Payroll – which captures the financial strength – is used as proxy of club size. Ordinary Least Squares regressions with season and league fixed effects are employed. Dispersion is measured by three indexes for robustness check. The outputs confirm the quadratic relationship between wage dispersion and performance, but adding that identical levels of dispersion have different impact on football clubs according to their financial strength.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-56
Author(s):  
Kashif Nisar ◽  
Nurul I. Sarkar

The Advanced Network Technologies is a research that investigates the technology(s) behind today’s modern networks and network infrastructures one of these technologies being Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Therefore, also focuses its attention on ATM. Dubbed “Modelling and Performance Studies of ATM Networks”; this research seeks to look at, and into, the impact of application segment length on the performance of an ATM network and the impact of traffic type data on the performance of an ATM network. To be able to examine an ATM network, we need to be able to simulate it somehow. This research, the authors have used the OPNET Modeler 14.0 simulation tool to create a network model that represents a real-life ATM network. And by actually simulating an ATM network at AUT University New Zealand, they can therefore change certain variables, and observe the effects the changes have on performance. As stated above, one of the impacts that will be explored is the effect that application segment length has on an ATM network. Thus, one variable that will be changed in our simulation is the segment length. This is the length of each packet segment that is sent through the network for a particular traffic type. The second impact to be inspected is the impact of different traffic types on an ATM network. For example, voice & video traffic should theoretically affect an ATM network


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasser A. El-Kassrawy

Given the important role of information technology, virtuality has become crucial issue in contemporary organizations. Virtual teams are comprised of members who are located in more than one physical location. They need to be effectively collaborating to harness their full performance capabilities in order to compete in the highly competitive environments. However, virtual team effectiveness is affected by determinants of trust which include three types; personality, cognitive and institutional-based trust. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of trust determinants on virtual team effectiveness represented in virtual team satisfaction and performance. Through a survey of 125 virtual team members who had experienced at least two years in this field, the results indicated that determinants of trust positively influence virtual team satisfaction and virtual team performance. The authors' structural equations modeling findings also support our hypothetical predictions that personality- based trust, cognitive- based trust and institutional- based trust have a dramatic impact on both of virtual team satisfaction and virtual team performance. Moreover, institutional- based trust is the uppermost driver of virtual team effectiveness. This study provides novel insights into virtual team behaviours, managerial and research implications for effective virtual team.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Alford ◽  
Zuzana Martinkova ◽  
Brian Tiplady ◽  
Rebecca Reece ◽  
Joris C. Verster

The current study evaluated the next day consequences of a social night of drinking compared to a no alcohol night, with standardised mood and portable screen-based performance measures assessed in the morning at participants’ homes, and a breathalyser screen for zero alcohol. A mixed sex group (n = 20) took part in the study. Participants reported consuming on average 16.9 units (135 g) alcohol, resulting in a hangover rating of 60 (out of 100) compared to 0.3 following the no alcohol night. Statistical significance comparisons contrasting the hangover with the no alcohol condition revealed an increase in negative mood and irritability during hangover and an (unexpected) increase in risk and thrill seeking. Performance scores showed an overall slowing of responses across measures, but with less impact on errors. The results support the description of hangover as a general state of cognitive impairment, reflected in slower responses and reduced accuracy across a variety of measures of cognitive function. This suggests a general level of impairment due to hangover, as well as increased negative mood. The use of a naturalistic design enabled the impact of more typical levels of alcohol associated with real life social consumption to be assessed, revealing wide ranging neurocognitive impairment with these higher doses. This study has successfully demonstrated the sensitivity of home-based assessment of the impact of alcohol hangover on a range of subjective and objective measures. The observed impairments, which may significantly impair daily activities such as driving a car or job performance, should be further investigated and taken into account by policy makers.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno G.N. Andrade ◽  
Haithem Afli ◽  
Flavia A. Bressani ◽  
Rafael R. C. Cuadrat ◽  
Priscila S. N. de Oliveira ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The impact of extreme changes in weather patterns in the economy and humanity welfare are some of the biggest challenges that our civilization is facing. From the anthropogenic activities that contribute to climate change, reducing the impact of farming activities is a priority, since its responsible for up to 18% of greenhouse gases linked to such activities. To this end, we tested if the ruminal and fecal microbiomes components of 52 Brazilian Nelore bulls, belonging to two experimental groups based on the feed intervention, conventional (A) and byproducts based diet (B), could be used as biomarkers for methane (CH4) emission.Results: We identified a total of 5,693 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) in the Nelore bulls microbiomes from the experimental group B. Statistical analysis showed that the microbiome populations were significantly different among treatment groups. Differential abundance (DA) analysis with the ANCOM approach identified 30 bacterial and 15 archaea ASVs as DA among treatment groups. Random forest models, using either bacteria or archaea ASVs as predictors, were able to predict the treatment group with high accuracy (r2>0.85). Association analysis using Mixed Linear Models indicate that bacterial and archaea ASVs are linked to the CH4 emission phenotype, of which the most prominent were the ruminal ASV 40 and fecal ASV 35. These ASVs contributed to a 9.7% increase and 7.3% decrease of the variation in CH4 emission, respectively, which indicated their potential as targets for feed interventions and/or biomarkers.Conclusion: The feed composition induced significant differences in abundance and richness of ruminal and fecal microbial populations. The dietary treatment based on industrial byproducts applied had an impact on the microbiome diversity of bacteria and archaea, but not on protozoa. Microbiome components (ASVs) of bacteria and archaea can be successfully used to predict the treatment group, thus giving support to the hypothesis that the feed intervention modulate microbiome abundance and diversity. Microbiome components were associated with CH4 emission in both microbiomes. Therefore, both ruminal and fecal ASVs can be used as biomarkers for methane production and emission.


VLSI Design ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-286
Author(s):  
N. D. Zervas ◽  
K. Masselos ◽  
Y. A. Karayiannis ◽  
C. E. Goutis

A systematic methodology for energy dissipation reduction of multimedia applications realized on architectures based on embedded cores and application specific data memory organization is proposed. Performance and area are explicitly taken into account. The proposed methodology includes two major steps: A high-level code transformation step that reorganizes the original description of the target application. The second major step includes the determination of the processor, memory and bus organization of the system and is briefly described. Experimental results from several real-life demonstrators prove the impact of the high level step of the proposed methodology.


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