High Level Of Performance Research Articles

Stride patterns in women's 400m hurdles: decisive factors or simple numbers?

The study analysed the impact of the number of steps between hurdles on the final result in the women's 400 m hurdles, using data from 141 championship final races from 1978 to 2022. The aim was to determine the standard stride rhythm, the influence of the minimal number of steps on athletic performance, and the relationship between stride rhythm in the initial and final phases of the race. The results showed that the best athletes cover the first 5–6 intervals between hurdles with a 15-step rhythm, with some even starting the race with 14 steps. In the second part of the distance, the number of steps increases (to 15–16 for the best athletes, 17–18 for others). The greatest changes in stride rhythm occur in the second half of the race, particularly between the 7th and 10th hurdles and in the last 40 meters. Correlation analysis indicated that minimal changes in the number of steps on the second curve (between the 4th and 8th hurdles) have a significant impact on the final race time (r=0.30, p<0.001). A smaller number of steps in subsequent parts of the distance is a key factor determining a high level of performance in this event.

Exploring high-performance green innovation in China’s logistics companies: a TOE framework based on fsQCA

In recent years, the Chinese logistics industry has experienced rapid development. However, this expansion is accompanied by significant challenges, including high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Despite these issues, the key factors improving logistics firms’ green innovation remain insufficiently explored. This study fills this gap by utilizing the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework as a foundation, introducing a comprehensive analytical model to investigate the dynamics of green innovation in logistics companies. Moreover, after employing fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) with data from 83 logistics firms in China, the research examines the complex interplay between technological, organizational, and environmental factors and their strategic influence on green innovation performance. The study yields three pivotal findings: (1) High-level green innovation performance is not predicated on a single factor. (2) Logistics firms can attain superior green innovation performance through two driving paths: Core competencies and market pressure driven as well as technological innovation and government subsidies driven. (3) The analysis of low-level green innovation performance reveals that four distinct paths can culminate in this outcome, with the lack of digitalization, organizational slack, and market pressure being instrumental in this result. These insights highlight the principles of “multiple concurrency” and “different paths leading to the same goal,” significantly enhancing the current knowledge base on green innovation performance and deepening our understanding of the multifaceted drivers of high-performance green innovation in logistics companies. Moreover, the discoveries offer practical implications for firms and the government to improve green innovation performance within the logistics industry.

Psychological resilience and its relationship to athletic excellence among tennis players

The study aimed to identify the degree of psychological resilience and athletic excellence among tennis players. The researchers used the descriptive approach with the comparative and correlational method, as the research sample was the players of Erbil Governorate, numbering (16) players, at a rate of (16). The psychological resilience scale of (Muhammad Salman Shabib, 2018) and the scale of dimensions of athletic excellence prepared by (Muhammad Hassan Alawi, 1998) were used. The researchers concluded the following: - Players of Al-Ala Club, Nishtman Club and Ararat Club have low levels of psychological resilience by comparing the values ​​of the arithmetic means with the hypothetical average value of the scale. The researchers recommended that coaches pay attention to the psychological preparation of players to control their emotions, motivate them and enhance them in order to achieve excellence and high levels of performance.

Optical image quality testing and correction of a 250-mm freeform telescope

Designing with freeform optics makes it possible to correct imaging systems to high-performance levels in a compact format. To justify the extra challenges inherent in the design, fabrication, metrology, and assembly of systems utilizing freeform optics, engineers need a realistic understanding of the performance that can be expected. The real-world performance of these systems has remained under-explored in the literature, a factor that may dissuade the adoption of freeform optics. In this work, the MTF of an F/3, 3° diagonal full FOV, 250-mm aperture freeform telescope is characterized at multiple field angles using an off-axis parabolic collimator. The freeform optic components required minimal alignment steps and no post-polishing. Twenty-seven sub-aperture tilted knife-edge tests were conducted to evaluate the correlation between form error and image quality. The telescope’s image quality was determined to be consistent with the design specification, which was 30% MTF at 76 lp/mm (70% of the sensor-array Nyquist frequency) across the entire field.

Rehabilitation of human hearing with a totally implantable cochlear implant: a feasibility study

BackgroundCochlear implants (CIs) are neuroprosthetic devices which restore hearing in severe-to-profound hearing loss through electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. Current CIs use an externally worn audio processor. A long-term goal in the field has been to develop a device in which all components are contained within a single implant. Here, we present initial clinical results with the totally implantable cochlear implant (TICI). The primary objective of this study was to assess the safety of the device in adults who suffer from bilateral severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss.MethodsThis study used a design with non-randomized single group assignment (trial registration: NCT04571333). Six implantations took place beginning in September 2020. Data collection took place at the two participating CI centers. Adverse events (the primary outcome), speech perception, patient reported outcomes, and device usage statistics were collected over the subsequent 52 weeks. A within-subjects comparison was used in which each participant was evaluated both with the TICI and with an external SONNET audio processor.ResultsOne anticipated serious adverse device effect (ASADE) occurred. After treatment the event resolved without sequelae. No unanticipated serious adverse device effects (USADE) occurred. Speech perception in quiet and in noise scores were comparable between the TICI and the SONNET audio processor. Scores on the validated patient reported outcome instruments HUI3, SSQ-12, and HISQUI-19 all increased over the duration of the study. User satisfaction scores as reported in their daily diary also increased over the duration of the study. Based on device usage metrics, all but one user used the TICI without an external processor the majority of the time.ConclusionsThe primary outcome of assessing the safety of the device was achieved. The TICI provides high levels of hearing performance, comparable to those of a conventional CI. The development of the TICI expands the range of options for treatment of hearing loss.

Ex-Military Commissioners and Firm Performance: The Case of Indonesia Manufacturing Companies

This investigation relates to the new corporate governance (CG) suggestions that using ex-military commissioners can lead to better firm performance. Quantitative analysis was used to analyze the sample of manufacturing sector public companies. The data comprised 906 firm-years (from 2016 to 2021). This study shows that companies whose CG practices involve employing ex-military officers exhibit high firm performance levels. This study emphasizes the value of using a configurational analytical approach to explore firm jointly- and country-specific CG practices that engage firms to achieve the necessary level of performance. The current study calls policymakers’ attention to evalu- ating the current state of regulatory and competitive development in their countries and establishing policies in line with that assessment. The methodology provides connec- tions between firm performance and CG with retired military commissioners. This study broadens the focus of CG studies to provide effective solutions for practitioners, especially Indonesian manufacturing firms. It also highlights the importance of ex-military commis- sioners in a particular company sector and CG procedures specific to a particular nation. It encourages enterprises to reach the desired level of performance. The research impli- cation relates to good governance in board diversity using ex-military as independent commissioners for supervisory roles.

Employer's Perception on the Performance of NEUST Tourism Management Graduates: Basis for Career Development Plan

This study examines how employers perceive tourism graduates, focusing on their workforce readiness, identifying gaps in knowledge and skills, and assessing the alignment between their education and industry requirements. It also explores employer expectations concerning leadership capabilities, sustainable practices, and overall performance in both local and global tourism contexts. The research utilized self-assessment surveys, based on a five-point Likert scale, involving 10 NEUST Tourism Management graduates. Using a descriptive survey method, the study collected data on the graduates’ personal backgrounds, professional performance, and job evaluations provided by their supervisors. Findings consistently revealed high levels of performance and employer satisfaction in areas such as research, teamwork, resource management, critical thinking, cultural awareness, and sustainable practices (SOP 2). Employers also expressed satisfaction with the graduates' time management, resource accessibility, and ability to handle stress related to workloads, conflicts, and workplace transitions (SOP 3).

Enhancing smart city assessment: an advanced MCDM approach for urban performance evaluation

Urban centers in the 21st century face significant challenges impacting future urban living. The numerous indicators and inherent complexity involved in assessing urban performance in smart cities necessitate the application of multi-criteria evaluation methods, which are frequently associated with fuzziness and uncertainties. Thus, this study introduces an innovative decision support approach that integrates complex spherical fuzzy set to enhance decision-making for smart city evaluation. By incorporating a consensus measurement mechanism for judgments, the reliability of results is improved. The methodology assesses smart city performance by calculating a level index using criteria of resilience, sustainability, and urban livability, along with eighteen sub-criteria for comprehensive benchmarking. Results highlight pollution control, energy and environmental resources, community well-being, eco-friendly transport, and social cohesion as critical factors for smart city performance. Singapore demonstrates high-level performance due to its integration of advanced technologies and community-focused strategies. The evaluated results obtained via the developed approach offer valuable insights for urban planners aiming to promote sustainable, resilient, and livable urban development.

Information technology and its impact on strategic performance in Yemeni telecommunications companies

Information technology is critical to improve and raise the level of strategic performance of organizations. This study aimed to investigate the impact of information technology and information technology dimensions (hardware, software, databases, communication networks, and personnel skills) on the strategic performance of Yemeni telecommunications companies and assess the overall level of information technologies and strategic performance of respective companies. The study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach and used a questionnaire for data collection. The sample of the study comprised 560 employees out of the total population of 2,238 employees in chosen Yemeni companies. The selected employees included CEOs, deputy executive managers, department managers, section heads, supervisors, and specialists due to the relevance of their roles to information technology and strategic performance. Accordingly, 479 questionnaires were successfully retrieved and analyzed. The findings showed that information technology positively impacts strategic performance (R2 = 0.385; p < 0.05), indicating that information technology plays a significant role in enhancing strategic performance. The dimensions (hardware, databases, and personnel skills) have a statistically significant effect on strategic performance (β = 0.212, 0.205, 0.340; p < 0.05), while software and communication networks showed no statistically significant effect (β = 0.043, 0.033; p > 0.05). Additionally, the findings revealed a high level of information technology and strategic performance in Yemeni companies. These findings indicate that Yemeni telecommunications companies place significant emphasis on information technology and strategic performance.

Cyberloafing and Organizational Citizenship Behavior as Correlates of Performance: Towards an Enhanced Evaluation Tool

This study examines the interplay between cyberloafing, Or-ganizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), and employee perfor-mance. Cyberloafing, defined as personal use of company internet during work hours, and OCB, comprising voluntary behaviors that enhance organizational effectiveness, are analyzed as predictors of job performance. The research aims to develop an Enhanced Productivity Evaluation Tool (EPET) to assess the impact of these behaviors on performance outcomes.Using a quantitative approach, data were collected via surveys from employees across multiple industries. The study emphasizes the identification of least indicators in three cyberloafing catego-ries: browsing-related activities, non-work-related email usage, and interacting behaviors, as well as in two OCB dimensions: or-ganizational (OCBO) and personal (OCBP). Statistical analyses were conducted to explore correlations between these behaviors and performance metrics.Findings reveal a nuanced relationship: while certain cyberloaf-ing behaviors detract from productivity, others have negligible or even positive impacts under specific conditions. Strong OCB, how-ever, consistently correlates with higher performance levels. These insights underline the importance of a balanced evaluation of em-ployee behavior.This research provides a novel framework for organizations to assess employee productivity comprehensively, accounting for both adverse and beneficial behaviors. The resulting EPET offers a practical tool to enhance organizational performance evaluation and decision-making processes.

Quantitative Evaluation of the Impact of Sustainable Eco-Tourism Policy on Tourism Environmental Capacity in Dali City

The sustainable eco-tourism policies of Dali City represent a pivotal foundation for fostering the harmonious integration of local ecology and tourism. To appraise the effectiveness of these policies, this study formulates an evaluation framework utilizing the PMC index model. The analysis encompasses 16 sustainable ecotourism policies and their associated environmental indicators in Dali City, subsequently constructing an evaluation system that integrates the PMC index with tourism environmental capacity. Evaluation proceeds via the PMC index and its surface map representation. The results reveal a commendable average PMC index of 6.176 for the 16 policies, indicating a generally high level of performance. This underscores Dali City's substantial commitment to the conjoined development of ecology and tourism, as evidenced by the preliminary establishment of a comprehensive policy system and operational network spanning the entire city. Incorporating the tourism environmental capacity model, the policies pertaining to facilities and ecological environment indicators score 5.440 and 5.638 respectively, falling below the average benchmark for similar-level assessments. These findings suggest that while the overarching design of Dali City's sustainable ecotourism policies is sound, there is scope for enhancement in focusing policy efforts on ecological and facility environment capacity. Future policy formulations should prioritize advancements in policy timeliness, scope, incentives, and constraints, fostering interdepartmental collaboration for coordinated governance. Furthermore, enhancing the comprehensiveness and efficacy of policies will contribute to fostering eco-tourism in Dali City and fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between ecological preservation and economic prosperity.

The effect of cold water on the transitional speed and agility of basketball players

In recent years the researches focus on recovery strategies to boost the rebuild of physiological processes and improving performance in training and competition, and ice-bath is one of the modern scientific methods to fatigue phenomenon and refresh athletes in addition to active neuromuscular cells. The game of basketball features by rapid and intense movements such as jump, footwork, sprint and intense motion repetition with short recovery time periods. Therefore, players need speed, power and motion endurance such as (sprint, jump, changing direction and footwork) despite the ability of maintaining high level performance during the game. The study aims to identify the effect of ice-bath on speed and agility of basketball players. The research sample consists of Qala sport club players in Erbil province numbered (10) players divided into to equal groups of (5) participants (control group and experimental group). The statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) used for data analysis. The results show no significant differences in speed and agility tests, as speed require long resting periods to be fully recovered. The researchers recommend conducting further researches and studies on ice-bath in different sports to determine the its advantages for muscle recovery after trainings and games.

Analysing tie-break performance of professional tennis players at Grand Slam matches

ABSTRACT A tiebreak in tennis is one of the critical moments where players are expected to excel under mental pressure and maintain high level of performance. Despite the importance of tiebreak points, research exploring the performance of male and female players during such match phrase remains limited. This study aimed to investigate i) the overall tiebreak performance of male and female players in relation to the outcome, ii) to examine their point-level performance by considering different contextual variables. A total of 535 tiebreaks comprising 6380 points from the 2016–2021 US Open men’s and women’s singles matches were collected. The difference in match performance between winning and losing players within the entire tiebreak game was explored. A subsequent decision tree analysis was then used to analyse the effect of the contextual and performance variables on tiebreak point-by-point outcome. The results showed that male and female Winning players outperformed the Losing players in 1st Serve, Serve Width and Net approach performance. The analysis of point-level performance showed that Net point, Score scene, and Point server substantially impacted tennis players’ tiebreak outcome. These findings provide valuable insight for coaches and players, informing tiebreak tactics tailoring and training in relevance to different match status.

Unveiling the impact of industry 4.0 on supply chain performance: the mediating role of integration and visibility

Industry 4.0 has revolutionised supply chain processes, providing companies with strategic advantages through advanced technologies such as cyber-physical systems, cloud computing, IoT, AI, and big data. This transformation aligns with the pursuit of high-level supply chain performance, achieved through cross-functional collaboration, end-to-end connectivity, real-time asset tracking, and increased decision transparency. However, the quantifiable extent of its influence has remained an open question, particularly in the context of integration and visibility. To address this gap, our research employs an empirical study, revealing that Industry 4.0 indirectly enhances supply chain performance by improving connectivity and integration within and between organisations, as well as enhancing information visibility and decision transparency. This research uncovers a novel sequential mediation by integration and visibility, offering valuable insights for scholars and industry practitioners alike.

Deep Learning-Based Classification of Skin Lesions: Enhancing Melanoma Detection through Automated Preprocessing and Data Augmentation

Skin cancer of the most dangerous type, melanoma, requires an early and accurate diagnosis for its treatment to reduce mortality and increase the number of positive outcomes. Even with the availability of better imaging and diagnostic techniques, it is still difficult to differentiate between benign lesions and malignant melanoma because of overlapping features, noisy images and images with artefacts such as hair and glare. To overcome these challenges, this research adopts deep learning models to classify skin lesions based on images from the ISIC Archive dataset. The study establishes a strong two-stage classification framework. Therefore, noise reduction, ROI cutting, and data enhancement techniques are used for data pre-processing. Second, lesion classification is performed using a ResNet-based convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture. The model is trained and validated on a balanced dataset that contains an equal number of benign and malignant lesion categories. Using accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score and AUC, the system can be assessed and compared to other state-of-art approaches. The findings show that the proposed model has a high level of classification performance and a high level of discriminative ability between melanoma and benign lesions. The ROC curve effectively exhibits the model’s performance and accuracy, and the confusion matrix reveals tendencies to misclassify and where it should be improved. The application of sophisticated preprocessing methods improves model performance, responding to the issues arising from the presence of noise in data. This research is valuable to the field of dermatological diagnostics as it offers a scalable, automated means of skin lesion classification. The proposed framework can be applied clinically to assist dermatologists in the detection of early melanoma and, therefore benefit patients. Subsequent studies will address the development of combined approaches and the improvement of interpretability aids in order to increase the diagnostic accuracy and practical applicability of the methods in clinical practice.

Adolescent-like Processing of Behaviorally Salient Cues in Sensory and Prefrontal Cortices of Adult Preterm-Born Mice.

Preterm birth is a leading risk factor for atypicalities in cognitive and sensory processing, but it is unclear how prematurity impacts circuits that support these functions. To address this, we trained adult mice born a day early (preterm mice) on a visual discrimination task and found that they commit more errors and fail to achieve high levels of performance. Using in vivo electrophysiology , we found that the neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) and the V1-projecting prefrontal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are hyper-responsive to the reward, reminiscent of cue processing in adolescence. Moreover, the non-rewarded cue fails to robustly activate the V1 and V1-projecting ACC neurons during error trials, in contrast to prefrontal fast-spiking (FS) interneurons which show elevated error-related activity, suggesting that preterm birth impairs the function of prefrontal circuits for error monitoring. Finally, environmental enrichment, a well-established paradigm that promotes sensory maturation, failed to improve the performance of preterm mice, suggesting limited capacity of early interventions for reducing the risk of cognitive deficits after preterm birth. Altogether, our study for the first time identifies potential circuit mechanisms of cognitive atypicalities in the preterm population and highlights the vulnerability of prefrontal circuits to advanced onset of extrauterine experience.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MENTAL HEALTH AMONG THE PLAYERS OF CRICKET AND VOLLEYBALL

The pressure to perform well in every game can lead to significant psychological strain. The social dynamics of team sports also impact mental well-being. As a competitive team sport, cricket presents unique mental health challenges for players. Volleyball is an intermittent game where maintaining a high level of performance over time is required. A growing body of research has begun to focus on mental health within professional sports. This study aims to compare the mental health of cricket and volleyball players. 30 cricket and 30 volleyball players participated in the current study, aged 19 to 24. An independent t-test was used to determine whether there is any significant difference between cricket and volleyball players’ mental health. Cricket players exhibited poorer Mental health than Volleyball players. Gender-based differences revealed that Male Cricket players had poorer mental health than Male Volleyball players. No significant difference was found between the mental health of female players in both sports.

Evaluation of work distribution schedulers for heterogeneous architectures and scientific applications

This article explores and evaluates variants of state-of-the-art work distribution schemes adapted for scientific applications running on hybrid systems. A hybrid implementation (multi-GPU and multi-CPU) of the NASA Parallel Benchmarks - MutiZone (NPB-MZ) benchmarks is described to study the different elements that condition the execution of this suite of applications when parallelism is spread over a set of computing units (CUs) of different computational power (e.g., GPUs and CPUs). This article studies the influence of the work distribution schemes on the data placement across the devices and the host, which in turn determine the communications between the CUs, and evaluates how the schedulers are affected by the relationship between data placement and communications. We show that only the schedulers aware of the different computational power of the CUs and minimize communications are able to achieve an appropriate work balance and high performance levels. Only then does the combination of GPUs and CPUs result in an effective parallel implementation that boosts the performance of a non-hybrid multi-GPU implementation. The article describes and evaluates the schedulers static-pcf , Guided, and Clustered Guided to solve the previously mentioned limitations that appear in hybrid systems. We compare them against state-of-the-art static and memorizing dynamic schedulers. Finally, on a system with an AMD EPYC 7742 at 2.250GHz (64 cores, 2 threads per core, 128 threads) and two AMD Radeon Instinct MI50 GPUs with 32GB, we have observed that hybrid executions speed up from 1.1 × up to 3.5 × with respect to a non-hybrid GPU implementation.

System Petri net modelling for railway infrastructure asset management

Railway infrastructure managers face the challenge of attaining a high level of performance and safety whilst meeting strict financial targets. To assist with decision making, modelling is needed to predict and evaluate the outcomes of different maintenance strategies and investment options, to understand which will deliver the optimum result. Railway networks are complex systems containing a diverse range of assets, to date most modelling approaches have focused on a single asset class, treating it as a silo. Although beneficial, these models are unable to capture the inherent interactions between components and, although greatly improving the decision-making process, may still not lead to optimum outcomes. The aim of this paper is to present a whole system framework that can model a range of asset classes simultaneously, enabling the interactions between asset classes to be considered. Thus, allowing practitioners to make decisions based on whole system and whole life cost. The feasibility and benefits of such a model are explored through application to a case study on the UK railway network. A sensitivity analysis was then conducted on the maintenance and renewal budget to explore the impact on life cycle cost.

Automated Characterization of Abdominal MRI Exams Using Deep Learning.

Advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have revolutionized disease detection and treatment planning. However, as the volume and complexity of MRI data grow with increasing heterogeneity between institutions in imaging protocol, scanner technology, and data labeling, there is a need for a standardized methodology to efficiently identify, characterize, and label MRI sequences. Such a methodology is crucial for advancing research efforts that incorporate MRI data from diverse populations to develop robust machine learning models. This research utilizes convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to automatically classify sequence, orientation, and contrast, specifically tailored for abdominal MRI. Three distinct CNN models with similar backbone architectures were trained to classify single image slices into one of 12 sequences, 4 orientations, and 2 contrast classes. Results derived from this method demonstrate high levels of performance for the three specialized CNN models, with model accuracies for sequence, orientation, and contrast of 96.9%, 97.4%, and 97.3%, respectively.