Training-Associated Superior Visuomotor Integration Performance in Elite Badminton Players after Adjusting for Cardiovascular Fitness

Badminton is recognized as the fastest racket sport in the world based on the speed of the birdie which can travel up to 426 km per hour. On the badminton court, players are not only required to track the moving badminton birdie (visual tracking and information integration) but also must anticipate the exact timing to hit it back (temporal estimation). However, the association of training experience related to visuomotor integration or temporal prediction ability remains unclear. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by examining the association between training experience and visuomotor performances after adjusting for age, education, and cardiovascular fitness levels. Twenty-eight professional badminton players were asked to perform a compensatory tracking task and a time/movement estimation task for measuring visuomotor integration and temporal prediction, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed a strong association between training experience and performance on visuomotor integration, indicating badminton training may be promoted to develop visuomotor integration ability. Furthermore, the regression model suggests training experience explains 32% of visuomotor integration performances. These behavioral findings suggest badminton training may facilitate the perceptual–cognitive performance related to visuomotor integration. Our findings highlight the potential training in visuomotor integration may apply to eye–hand coordination performance in badminton sport.

Contraction bias in temporal estimation

When asked to compare the perceptual features of two serially presented objects, participants are often biased to over- or under-estimate the difference in magnitude between the stimuli. Overestimation occurs consistently when a) the two stimuli are relatively small in magnitude and the first stimulus is larger in magnitude than the second; or b) the two stimuli are relatively large in magnitude and the first stimulus is smaller in magnitude than the second; underestimation consistently occurs in the complementary cases. This systematic perceptual bias, known as the contraction bias, was demonstrated for a multitude of perceptual features and in various modalities, but it is yet unknown whether it also exists in the temporal domain. Here, we tested whether estimation of time-duration is affected by the contraction bias. In each trial of three experiments (n=20 each), participants compared the duration of two visually presented stimuli. Findings revealed over- and under-estimation effects as predicted by the contraction bias. In addition, we found that the bias was asymmetrical, indicating that, in some cases, the subjective center of the distribution was shifted to the left. Here, we discuss this asymmetry and describe how these findings can be explained via a Bayesian inference framework.

Fingermark Analysis by Fourier Transform Infrared Microscopy Using Chemometric Tools

The temporal estimation of the fingermarks deposition at crime scenes is a recurring issue in forensic identification. To study this challenging topic, a preliminary study was proposed to develop a method of fingermark analysis by Fourier Transform Infrared Microscopy (µ-FTIR), using chemometric tools for time separation in a six-day aging study. The samples were collected and analyzed at hour zero, 3 days (72 hours), 4 days (96 hours), 5 days (120 hours) and 6 days (144 hours). The samples were separated into a calibration set and a test set, using Kennard Stone. Following, a comparison between variable selection tools was made of the Ant of Colony (AOC) and the Genetic Algorithm (GA) were used with subsequent application of the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). The results showed that in the analyzed samples there was a predominance of sebaceous material because of the presence of saturated esters signals, with two regions of interest in the infrared spectra, the first being 1800 - 1100 cm-1 and the second region being 3000 - 2800 cm-1. The statistical tools could group the fingermarks by donors and by age, emphasizing the separation within the tested period. More studies need to be carried out, but this work provide that µ-FTIR associated with chemometric analysis was able to separate fingermarks samples aged for up to a week.

Multiscale Temporal and Spatial Estimation of the b-Value

The estimation of the b-value of the Gutenberg–Richter law is of great importance in different seismological applications. However, its estimate is strongly dependent upon selecting a proper temporal and spatial scale, due to the multiscale nature of the seismicity. For this reason, we propose a novel approach (MUltiscale Spatial and Temporal estimation of the B-value [MUST-B]), which allows consistent estimation of the b-value, avoiding subjective “a priori” choices, by considering simultaneously different temporal or spatial scales. A reliable appraisal of the b-value is obtained by applying a robust median over the estimates computed over all the considered scales. We validate the method using a synthetic dataset, showing its superior performances, compared to traditional approaches, in detecting sharp changes in the b-value as well as inconsistently mapping it for highly heterogeneous catalogs. We apply MUST-B to study the temporal and spatial variations of the b-value during the complex 2016–2017 seismic sequence in central Italy, revealing various interesting patterns. In particular, we observe a marked drop of the b-value after the Accumoli (24 August 2016 M 6.0) mainshock. The drop is also observed when realizing a tridimensional mapping of the b-values, showing the drop occurs mainly in the proximity of major earthquake hypocenters. In accordance with previous studies, we interpret these variations as the effect of the release of crustal fluids following the major earthquakes. We maintain that MUST-B can also be applied to other contexts, such as volcanic and induced seismicity, because of its capacity of dealing consistently with highly heterogeneous seismicity patterns.

Spatial–Temporal Estimation and Analysis of Japan Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy Potential

In the carbon-neutral scenarios fixed by most developed countries, wind and solar resources play a significant role due to their substantial potential. Their instability can be mitigated through smarter designs of energy systems, including sector coupling and cross-border interconnections, which require detailed information on the spatial and temporal evolution of these intermittent resources. The present study aims at estimating the spatial–temporal energy potential of wind in Japan based on meteorological weather data. These data allow to analyze the potential of resources sharing to reduce power generation’s lack and excess, even in such an isolated country due to its variety of climate conditions and local energy demand. The correlation skewness is introduced as a measure of the sites’ uniqueness to identify important sites for the spatial distribution of capacity toward the efficient stabilization of supply at a national scale in a model-free fashion.