Thermal Strain During Open-Water Swimming Competition in Warm Water Environments

Open-water swim racing in warm water is associated with significant physiological strain. However, existing international policy that governs safe participation during competition relies only on a fixed water temperature threshold for event cancellation and has an unclear biophysical rationale. The current policy does not factor other environmental factors or race distance, nor provide a stratification of risk (low, moderate, high, or extreme) prior to the threshold for cancellation. Therefore, the primary aim of this Perspectives article is to highlight considerations for the development of modernized warm-water competition policies. We highlight current accounts (or lack thereof) of thermal strain, cooling interventions, and performance in warm-water swimming and opportunities for advancement of knowledge. Further work is needed that systematically evaluate real-world thermal strain and performance during warm water competition (alongside reports of environmental conditions), novel preparatory strategies, and in-race cooling strategies. This could ultimately form a basis for future development of modernized policies for athlete cohorts that stratifies risk and mitigation strategies according to important environmental factors and race-specific factors (distance).

Hydro-Hegemony Framework: A study of the India Pakistan trans-boundary water competition and cooperation

After the independence of Pakistan and India in 1947, both the newly established states submerged in many tensions leading to competition in many areas. One such area is the hydro competition between the two closely bordering states. Within this context, India and Pakistan kicked by perianal security dilemma at all levels. India is diverting water from western rivers which is not permissible for India in Indus Water Treaty. The Purpose of this study is to find out the reason/s that why India is behaving in this way? This is an applied research within the context of Hydro-Hegemony Framework (HHF) theory. According to the theory, India is behaving hydro-hegemonically because of the three reasons stated by Hydro-Hegemony Framework; firstly, because of Indian advantageous upper-riparian geographical position; secondly, because of Indian superior technical potential and ability to construct a lot of dams; thirdly power asymmetry exists between India and Pakistan. India because of these three main reasons is desirous to get “Consolidated Water Control” over three western rivers assigned to Pakistan by Indus Water Treaty. Indian endeavors to get water dominance would complicate its relations with Pakistan. Indian hydro-hegemony would impact Pakistan’s economy, hydro-power generations projects, agriculture sectors and domestic hydro-usage.

Intensified Interspecific Competition for Water after Afforestation with Robinia pseudoacacia into a Native Shrubland in the Taihang Mountains, Northern China

Understanding how soil water source is used spatiotemporally by tree species and if native species can successfully coexist with introduced species is crucial for selecting species for afforestation. In the rocky mountainous areas of the Taihang Mountains, alien Robinia pseudoacacia L. has been widely afforested into the native shrublands dominated by Ziziphus jujuba Mill var. spinosa and Vitex negundo L. var. heterophylla to improve forest coverage and soil nutrients. However, little is known about the water relation among species, especially seasonal water use sources in different microsites. We selected the soil and plant xylem samples of two opposite microtopographic sites (ridge and valley) monthly in the growth season to analyze isotope composition. The proportions of water sources were quantified by the MixSIAR model and compared pairwise between species, microsites and seasons. We found that deep subsoil water at a depth of 40–50 cm contributed up to 50% of the total water uptake for R. pseudoacacia and Z. jujuba in the growing season, indicating that they stably used deeper soil water and had intense water competition. However, V. negundo had a more flexible water use strategy, which derived more than 50% of the total water uptake from the soil layer of 0–10 cm in the rainy season, but majorly captured soil water at a depth of 30–50 cm in the dry season. Therefore, high niche overlaps were shown in V. negundo with the other two species in the dry season, but niche segregation was seen in the rainy season. The microtopographic sites did not shift the seasonal dynamic of the water source use patterns of the three studied species, but the water use niche overlap was higher in the valley than in the ridge. Taken together, the introduced species R. pseudoacacia intensified water competition with the native semi-arbor species Z. jujuba, but it could commonly coexist with the native shrub species V. negundo. Therefore, our study on seasonal water use sources in different microsites provides insight into species interaction and site selection for R. pseudoacacia afforestation in the native shrub community in rocky mountainous areas. It is better to plant R. pseudoacacia in the shrubland in the valley so as to avoid intense water competition and control soil erosion.

Online Format of Extracurricular Education: a New Reality of Project-Based Education for Senior High School Students

Purpose of the study. The paper presents data and analyzes the practice of transferring a major All-Russian event in the system of extracurricular education – the Russian National Junior Water Competition – to a distance format due to the coronavirus pandemic. The system of extracurricular education for senior high school students formed within the framework of the Water Competition for the adaptation of school graduates to the technological and communication realities of “adult life” combines project-based training with the format of a competitive component. As part of the preparation and implementation of research projects, a student receives methodological, organizational and educational support from teachers and consultants from universities and academic institutions, attends special seminars, trainings and master classes on project activities.The system has been developing using the model of cooperation in the educational sphere “NPO-state-business” since 2003, and over these years, 32 thousand schoolchildren from all regions have completed and submitted 23 thousand research and applied projects to solve environmental problems. The winners of the regional stages take part in the All-Russian final held annually in Moscow. The winner of the final represents the country at the international Stockholm competition. 2020 events coincided with the coronavirus epidemic. It was necessary to transfer the offline final to online within a month and ensure information interaction between all participants so that the online event was a complete analogue of the offline final.Materials and methods. The transferring of traditional public events of the final into a remote format was carried out using a set of organizational measures and information technologies according to the following algorithm: the choice of technologies for videoconference and broadcasting, work with the website, training and testing of the technical capabilities of participants, work on synchronization, support and assistance to participants with a final questionnaire.Results. The obvious advantage of the online format is a significant expansion of the external audience and an exponential growth of the information footprint: during the month, more than 400 publications were posted on the Internet; the number of views was 300 thousand. The ER (Engagement Rate) ratio – an indicator of the audience’s reaction to the publication, has shown a rapid increase in comparison with previous years. The questioning of the participants made it possible to understand the mood and assessment of the events by the target audiences. The number of viewers of each broadcast event ranged from 2 to 5-6 thousand people. The online final allowed to involve in the general system of adaptation training, in addition to schoolchildren, teachers and regional partners, an interested audience, while 77% of respondents supported the full-time final, 23% – remote, noting that the organizers managed to preserve the emotional atmosphere of the final events.Conclusion. In general, the system of extracurricular education for schoolchildren, combined with a competitive component, turned out to be capable of prompt reformatting while maintaining the level and quality of events in the face of new challenges. In the process of transferring the final events of the cycle of additional adaptation education, combined with the All-Russian competition of projects for senior high school students to the remote mode, the possibility of online implementation of almost all types of interaction with the target audience – junior participants, including master classes, general discussions and personal consultations and the competitive component is shown.The possibility of using the remote format for the implementation of the organizational and information infrastructure, the operational correction of educational adaptation programs following the spread of innovative technologies that are gaining priority importance for the modern period of socio-economic development is demonstrated. At the same time, the entire volume of training cannot be reduced to formalized forms without the direct presence of teachers and consultants in the creative design process. Direct communication becomes especially relevant at the beginning of the journey when choosing a topic for training and a general understanding of environmental and related problems. It is also obvious that the effectiveness of the remote format is significantly increased for a prepared audience of participants: those who have completed additional training offline with the project development itself.