Tracking Sessions Research Articles

Conflict Adaptation in Aphasia: Upregulating Cognitive Control for Improved Sentence Comprehension.

This study investigated conflict adaptation in aphasia, specifically whether upregulating cognitive control improves sentence comprehension. Four individuals with mild aphasia completed four eye tracking sessions with interleaved auditory Stroop and sentence-to-picture matching trials (critical and filler sentences). Auditory Stroop congruency (congruent/incongruent across a male/female voice saying "boy"/"girl") was crossed with sentence congruency (syntactically correct sentences that are semantically plausible/implausible), resulting in four experimental conditions (congruent auditory Stroop followed by incongruent sentence [CI], incongruent auditory Stroop followed by incongruent sentence [II], congruent auditory Stroop followed by congruent sentence [CC], and incongruent auditory Stroop followed by congruent sentence [IC]). Critical sentences were always preceded by auditory Stroop trials. At the end of each session, a five-item questionnaire was administered to assess overall well-being and fatigue. We conducted individual-level mixed-effects regressions on reaction times and growth curve analyses on the proportion of eye fixations to target pictures during incongruent sentences. One participant showed conflict adaptation indicated by faster reaction times on active sentences and more rapid growth in fixations to target pictures on passive sentences in the II condition compared to the CI condition. Incongruent auditory Stroop also modulated active-sentence processing in an additional participant, as indicated by eye movements. This is the first study to observe conflict adaptation in sentence comprehension in people with aphasia. The extent of adaptation varied across individuals. Eye tracking revealed subtler effects than overt behavioral measures. The results extend the study of conflict adaptation beyond neurotypical adults and suggest that upregulating cognitive control may be a potential treatment avenue for some individuals with aphasia. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27056149.

Bicycling tasks relation to stability measures during alcohol intoxication

Bicycling accidents are a major traffic safety problem and are deemed ‘an unacceptable human and social price for EU citizens’. One of the major causes for bicycling accidents is loss of balance. A related influencing factor is alcohol intoxication. It is a primary, long term, safety objective to develop safety systems for the cyclist. The present work aimed to understand how to measure cyclists’ instability via steering and leaning inputs, while considering that steering and leaning might vary depending on the cycling task being performed. Of 28 participants, 19 were given doses of alcohol up to 1.0‰ and 9 remained sober (control group). Breath alcohol concentration was measured. The participants repeated the cycling test track session five times (with each block lasting 35 minutes). The track session contained three different tasks: cycling slalom, straight, and slowly. Speed, yaw rate, and roll rate were assessed continuously. Yaw rate and roll rate were relatively sensitive for the different cycling tasks. The threshold level of the angular velocity measurements was related to the cycling task performed. Alcohol intoxication at 0.7‰ had a significant impact on performance. The rather simple measurements used can detect instability. Instability should be measured differently depending on the cycling task performed. The study represents a small step towards a safety system for cyclists.

Training for Elite Team-Pursuit Track Cyclists-Part II: A Comparison of Preparation Phases in Consecutive World-Record-Breaking Seasons.

To compare the training characteristics of an elite team pursuit cycling squad in the 3-month preparation phases prior to 2 successive world-record (WR) performances. Training data of 5 male track endurance cyclists (mean [SD]; age 23.4 [3.46]y; body mass 80.2 [2.74]kg; 4.5 [0.17]W·kg-1 at LT2; maximal aerobic power6.2 [0.27]W·kg-1; maximal oxygen uptake 65.9 [2.89]mL·kg-1·min-1) were analyzed with weekly total training volume by training type and heart rate, power output, and torque intensity distributions calculated with reference to the respective WRs' performance requirements. Athletes completed 805 (82.81) and 725 (68.40)min·wk-1 of training, respectively, in each season. In the second season, there was a 32% increase in total track volume, although track sessions were shorter (ie,greater frequency) in the second season. A pyramidal intensity distribution was consistent across both seasons, with 81% of training, on average, performed below LT1 power output each week, whereas 6% of training was performed above LT2. Athletes accumulated greater volume above WR team pursuit lead power (2.4% vs 0.9%) and torque (6.2% vs 3.2%) in 2019. In one athlete, mean single-leg-press peak rate of force development was 71% and 46% higher at mid- and late-phases, respectively, during the preparation period. These findings provide novel insights into the common and contrasting methods contributing to successive WR team pursuit performances. Greater accumulation of volume above race-specific power and torque (eg,team pursuit lead), as well as improved neuromuscular force-generating capacities, may be worthy of investigation for implementation in training programs.

Causal interactions in brain networks predict pain levels in trigeminal neuralgia

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a highly debilitating facial pain condition. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the main method for generating insights into the central mechanisms of TN pain in humans. Studies have found both structural and functional abnormalities in various brain structures in TN patients as compared with healthy controls. Whereas studies have also examined aberrations in brain networks in TN, no studies have to date investigated causal interactions in these brain networks and related these causal interactions to the levels of TN pain. We recorded fMRI data from 39 TN patients who either rested comfortably in the scanner during the resting state session or tracked their pain levels during the pain tracking session. Applying Granger causality to analyze the data and requiring consistent findings across the two scanning sessions, we found 5 causal interactions, including: (1) Thalamus → dACC, (2) Caudate → Inferior temporal gyrus, (3) Precentral gyrus → Inferior temporal gyrus, (4) Supramarginal gyrus → Inferior temporal gyrus, and (5) Bankssts → Inferior temporal gyrus, that were consistently associated with the levels of pain experienced by the patients. Utilizing these 5 causal interactions as predictor variables and the pain score as the predicted variable in a linear multiple regression model, we found that in both pain tracking and resting state sessions, the model was able to explain ∼36 % of the variance in pain levels, and importantly, the model trained on the 5 causal interaction values from one session was able to predict pain levels using the 5 causal interaction values from the other session, thereby cross-validating the models. These results, obtained by applying novel analytical methods to neuroimaging data, provide important insights into the pathophysiology of TN and could inform future studies aimed at developing innovative therapies for treating TN.

Space partitioning within groups of social coral reef fish

Site-attached fish that form social groups may face a trade-off between the advantages of group living and the disadvantages related to intra-group competition for food. A possible solution for the latter is space partitioning among group members. Technological limitations related to individual tagging and underwater tracking hindered such spatial studies in grouping fishes. Here, using underwater video cameras and recent developments in deep learning tools, we successfully tracked the 3D movements of individually tagged fish in 4 groups of the damselfish Dascyllus marginatus in the coral reef of Eilat, Red Sea. Our findings, based on tracking sessions lasting 3–11 min that were recorded during a period of > 1 month, show that the individual fish kept separate foraging spaces with minimal overlap and that this separation was stable in time. When the tidally driven current reversed, the separation was kept, and a corresponding reversal was found in the positions of each fish relative to the coral and its neighbors. We propose that the stable spatial partitioning observed in our study is a primary mechanism through which site-attached species can organize themselves in order to reduce intra-group competition.

Mitigating Carbon Footprint through Green Software: A Comprehensive Framework for Energy-Efficient Data Centers and User-Friendly Carbon Footprint Calculation

The carbon footprint of the world is increasing day by day by the activities caused by every citizen. This is because the demand for energy increases and due to the lack of awareness.The average carbon emission is around 4.72 tonnes per person. There are some free online tools which are available for calculating the carbon footprint of each citizen. But those work as a datacentre in which data must be entered manually by the user which makes it quite inefficient. The existing methods do not meet the requirement of ease of handling the data.This software and the datacentres were developed which includes the availability of a user-friendly interface.Data centers also play a major role in carbon footprint, they emit CO2 and consume more energy. Data centers and new technology adoptions are mainly causing this carbon emission.These Data Centres use cloud energy to serve the user-generated requests and this energy consumption is the basic cause of carbon emission. Therefore, the energy efficiency of the data center must be governed. To reduce it, the concept of green software is introduced. Though hardware is seen as the main culprit for the consumption of energy, software plays a tremendous role in determining the efficiency of the hardware. Therefore, software must be energy efficient to handle the data center in low cost, low consumption, and low pressure.This led to the development of GREEN Software. The implementation of green software involves various factors.To reduce it, data center simulators are being used. This simulator calculates the amount of energy consumed and the amount of CO2 emitted, which as a result computes the change in carbon footprint due to it. This green software design framework provides a separate track session on energy consumption by the data center and cloud service provider along with the acquired energy efficiency level by the specific center.

Imaging the neural substrate of trigeminal neuralgia pain using deep learning.

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a severe and disabling facial pain condition and is characterized by intermittent, severe, electric shock-like pain in one (or more) trigeminal subdivisions. This pain can be triggered by an innocuous stimulus or can be spontaneous. Presently available therapies for TN include both surgical and pharmacological management; however, the lack of a known etiology for TN contributes to the unpredictable response to treatment and the variability in long-term clinical outcomes. Given this, a range of peripheral and central mechanisms underlying TN pain remain to be understood. We acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from TN patients who (1) rested comfortably in the scanner during a resting state session and (2) rated their pain levels in real time using a calibrated tracking ball-controlled scale in a pain tracking session. Following data acquisition, the data was analyzed using the conventional correlation analysis and two artificial intelligence (AI)-inspired deep learning methods: convolutional neural network (CNN) and graph convolutional neural network (GCNN). Each of the three methods yielded a set of brain regions related to the generation and perception of pain in TN. There were 6 regions that were identified by all three methods, including the superior temporal cortex, the insula, the fusiform, the precentral gyrus, the superior frontal gyrus, and the supramarginal gyrus. Additionally, 17 regions, including dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the thalamus, were identified by at least two of the three methods. Collectively, these 23 regions are taken to represent signature centers of TN pain and provide target areas for future studies seeking to understand the central mechanisms of TN.

Comparative Paper on Emergency Medical Services using IoT

Physical things can be connected to the Internet thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). Different sensors, medical equipment, artificial intelligence, diagnosis and treatment, and cutting-edge imaging technologies are at the heart of IoT's application in the medical sector. Earnings per share must be able to deliver care swiftly and precisely in order to lower mortality and disability. This could improve the efficiency and quickness of emergency services. The Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare enables medical personnel to remotely monitor patients by employing big data analytics to look at sensor output. Smart ambulances are important connected devices in EMS. IoT is a cutting-edge concept that delivers the greatest care and performs precision surgery for COVID- 19 pa-disease patients. The GPS on the phone is used by the mobile application to follow a user and to send out SOS alerts. While a tracking session is active, the GPS tracking gadget records the path tresses using a GSM SIM card. Numerous sensors can be incorporated onto wearable IDs to send notifications about any medical condition directly to a smartphone application.

Plastic Pulse of the Public: A review of survey-based research on how people use plastic

Abstract Plastics pollute all environmental compartments because of human activities and mismanagement. Public perceptions and knowledge about plastic pollution differ among individuals and across different jurisdictions. Targeted survey-based research tools can help measure consumer awareness about the impacts of mismanaged plastics and help identify trends and solutions to reduce plastic use and plastic pollution. This review primarily focused on survey-based research from presenters at the scientific track session TS-2.15 Plastic Pulse of the Public at the 7th International Marine Debris Conference (www.7imdc.org) and supplemented by contemporary literature. Survey-based research helps provide new insights about public opinions related to the pervasiveness of plastic pollution. This review includes results about consumer use and perceptions of plastic pollution impacts from diverse studies from nine countries including Ghana, Kenya, Bangladesh, Pakistan, United States, Canada, Norway, Germany, and United Kingdom. Overwhelmingly, public perceptions and consumer awareness of the negative impacts of plastic pollution were extremely high, regardless of geographic location. Awareness about the environmental impacts of plastic waste and plastic pollution was highest within younger, white, female, and well-educated demographic groups. However, differences were observed in public attitudes toward willingness to pay for sustainable alternatives, end-of-life plastic uses, unintended consequences, recycling, and mismanagement.

Guest Editorial

This Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques&’ Mini-Special Issue includes eight papers from the 2022 IEEE Radio and Wireless Week (RWW 2022) held in Las Vegas, NV, USA, January 16–19, 2022. The Radio and Wireless Week consists of five related conferences that focus on the intersection between wireless communication theory, systems, circuits, and device technologies: the Radio and Wireless Symposium (RWS), the Topical Conference on RF/Microwave Power Amplifiers for Radio and Wireless Applications (PAWR), the Topical Meetings on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF), the Topical Conference on Wireless Sensors and Sensor Networks (WiSNet), and the Space Hardware and Radio Conference (SHaRC). Radio and Wireless Week is thus a multidisciplinary event bringing together innovations that are happening across the broad wireless spectrum. A total of 185 papers were submitted to the RWW 2022 Technical Program Committee, of which 135 papers were accepted for presentation and publication online on the IEEE Xplore website. Together with the technical sessions, RWW 2022 successfully held seven workshops, a special focus session on massive MIMO beamforming technologies for 5G and beyond, a plenary presentation on topics related to artificial intelligence in circuit design and 6G, a dedicated track for the IEEE Distinguished Microwave Lecturers, and a demo track session to show the latest innovative wireless experimental achievements. For the second time, RWW had a live session on Distinguished Women in Microwaves bringing together a panel of women who have contributed to the microwave society for the last few years including high-quality talks in radio and wireless applications.

The 2022 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting: Celebrating 20 Years of Achievements.

Last June, the stem cell community came together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), one of the leading organizations in the field. The hybrid event mixed a varied program filled with plenary talks, concurrent track sessions, poster presentations, exhibit booths, and plenty of opportunities to enhance stem cell research through bonding between academia and industry. This report highlights the Plenary sessions, with the main topics discussed by each speaker. All the impressive research showcased during the meeting is genuine proof of the great advancements the field has witnessed during these last 20 years, and the more to come.

Mining longitudinal user sessions with deep learning to extend the boundary of consumer priming

Priming is challenging when consumers start shortlisting products before the final purchase. This is because this shortlisting process is performed in multiple user sessions online across time, the shortlist does not stay as a static list, and product comparison in this stage uses the heuristics internal to individual consumers. The goal of this study is two folds: (1) to approximate user heuristics after B&B product shortlisting using NLP and deep learning techniques, and (2) to identify optimized deep learning models for the representation of key elements of consumer heuristics. This offers an extension of the priming theory into product comparison and shortlisting stages that were traditionally difficult for marketers to tap into. By analyzing the B&B product information repeated visited in user sessions, the formation of shortlists is identified and products in the shortlists can then be compared. Subsequent priming and promotions can therefore be performed closer to the actual purchase. Our study also provides marketers keywords and their associated activated words relevant for crafting marketing messages. As these activation words are extracted from the B&B sites and product reviews that the users had visited repeatedly in long-term tracking sessions, they are analogous to effects produced from user participatory design, an approach popular in the IT world. Our work shows that opportunities for marketing decision support, especially into the shortlisting phase, are now possible through machine learning techniques. Both theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Immuno-Oncology 360° 8th Annual Event Highlights.

The 8th Annual Immuno-Oncology 360° (IO360°) event was held March 16–18, 2022, in New York City. IO360° 2022 attracted a gathering of more than 450 attendees, representing industry, academia, and investment; 125+ speakers; 80+ IO topics; and 9+ hours of networking.Day one began with opening remarks from chairs Axel Hoos, MD, PhD, CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics, and James Gulley, MD, PhD, Chief, Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, Director, Medical Oncology Service, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.The opening keynote was from Nobel Laureate Gregg Semenza, MD, PhD, Director, Vascular Program, Institute for Cell Engineering, and Professor of Genetic Medicine, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Figure 1). Dr Semenza discussed his research into hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) and the impact of HIF inhibition on immunotherapy cancer treatment.Daniel Chen, MD, PhD, Founder, Engenuity Life Sciences, gave the Zeitgeist Talk. Dr Chen provided a broad understanding of the IO landscape a decade after checkpoint inhibitors: what is known, what needs to be known, and how to get there faster.Plenary talks covered discovery phase, translational, and biomarker research. There were two tracks focused on clinical operations and advancements in imaging. Five companies participated in the IO360° biotech showcase.At the annual IO360° debate, Kristen Hege, MD, Senior Vice President, Early Clinical Development, Hematology/Oncology and Cell Therapy, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), and Bob Valamehr, PhD, Chief Research and Development Officer, Fate Therapeutics, debated whether natural killer cells or T cells were the future for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy. After day one, several attendees took a guided historical walk of New York City's first landmark district, Brooklyn Heights.Day two began with a welcome from Dr Gulley and a keynote from Rachel Haurwitz, PhD, CEO of Caribou Biosciences (Figure 2). Dr Haurwitz presented on her company's use of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) to create allogeneic CAR T cell therapies.Andrew Baum, MD, Managing Director, Equity Research, Citi, gave his annual “Top 10 Recommendations” talk and what is next on the IO radar (Figure 3). The track sessions were divided among business development, novel technologies, translational updates, and the annual Cell and Gene Therapy Day. The Cell and Gene Therapy Day keynote, Christine Brown, PhD, Deputy Director, T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope (Figure 4), described the approach her laboratory was taking in CAR-T treatment of glioblastoma. It ended with the 7th Annual Networking Reception.Day three was opened by Dr Chen before a VIP fireside chat with patient advocate Karen Peterson (Figure 5) and moderator Cindy Geoghegan. Ms Peterson is a cancer survivor and clinical trial participant and shared her incredible journey to find a clinical trial after a breast cancer diagnosis.Suzanne Topalian, MD, Associate Director/Professor of Surgery, Bloomberg∼Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy/Johns Hopkins University (Figure 6), gave a keynote talk. Dr Topalian presented research and case studies on the neoadjuvant use of checkpoint blockades, such as nivolumab and ipilimumab, across several tumor types. That was followed by plenary sessions on neoadjuvant/adjuvant updates, bispecifics, and clinical development.This year's strategic advisors were Axel Hoos, MD, PhD, Scorpion Therapeutics (founding advisor); James Gulley, MD, PhD, National Cancer Institute (founding advisor); Priti Hegde, PhD, Foundation Medicine; Daniel Chen, MD, PhD, Engenuity Life Sciences; Andrew Baum, MD, Citi; Lisa Butterfield, PhD, Parker Institute; Roy Baynes, MD, Merck; Raluca Verona, PhD, Janssen R&D; Theresa LaValle, PhD, Coherus Biosciences; Alexandra Snyder, MD, Two River; Aiman Shalabi, PharmD, GSK; Kristen Hege, MD, BMS; Ramy Ibrahim, MD, bit.bio; and Michael Kalos, PhD, Next Pillar Consulting.This year's chairs were Charles Glaus, PhD, Bayer US-Pharmaceuticals; Andy Lee, Merck; Theresa LaVallee, PhD, Coherus BioSciences; Brad Loncar, Loncar Investments; Aiman Shalabi, PharmD, GSK; Kristen Hege, MD, BMS; David Fabrizio, Foundation Medicine; Raluca Verona, PhD, Janssen R&D; Ramy Ibrahim, MD, bit.bio; Michael Kalos, PhD, Next Pillar Consulting; Sanjeev Mariathasan, PhD, Genentech; and Bei Wang, MD, PhD, Regeneron.The 2022 IO360° speaking faculty presented on the following topics:Immuno-Oncology 360° addresses the rapid advancements of clinical, scientific, and business developments of IO in one setting to help develop therapeutics for a wider range of cancers at an accelerated rate. Next year's dates are February 7–10, 2023, in New York City. For more information, visit www.io360summit.com.

Assessing the Portion of Diet Taken by Birds and Mammals from a Pesticide-Treated Area-Proposal for a Joint Way Forward.

An environmental risk assessment for birds and mammals is an important part of any application package for potential registration of pesticides in Europe. A realistic estimation of the exposure of a certain species to the pesticide under field conditions is a refinement factor in long‐term higher‐tier risk assessments. Although guidance on how to collect specific exposure data is provided, there is not yet a harmonized view on how to use and assess existing and newly recorded field data. Exposure is defined as the portion of diet taken from a pesticide‐treated crop field over time (the PT factor), and it is set equal to the time a (tracked) individual is active (= foraging) in the crop of concern at the crop growth stage relevant to the pesticide application being assessed. While the PT factor is set to 1 in a first tier, it can be refined in higher tiers. Differences in the methodologies influencing the robustness of a data set and intraindividual variance in PT data are currently not considered. Our study, based on data recording in accordance with the European Food Safety Authority's recommendations, shows this variance for different species in different crops for both breeding and nonbreeding periods, with tracking sessions showing both interindividual as well as intraindividual variation across several days. We discuss PT data quality and how it can be used, considering intraindividual variance in a manner that is protective and conforms to current European guidance. The present study intends to support the planned revision of the current European guidance on how to conduct environmental bird and mammal risk assessments, and its further purpose is to open constructive discussions about how and which kind of PT data can be used. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:1344–1354. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

Data-Driven Decomposition Control to Output Tracking With Nonperiodic Tracking–Transition Switching Under Input Constraint

AbstractThis paper is concerned with solving, from the learning-based decomposition control viewpoint, the problem of output tracking with nonperiodic tracking–transition switching. Such a nontraditional tracking problem occurs in applications where sessions for tracking a given desired trajectory are alternated with those for transiting the output with given boundary conditions. It is challenging to achieve precision tracking while maintaining smooth tracking–transition switching, as postswitching oscillations can be induced due to the mismatch of the boundary states at the switching instants, and the tracking performance can be limited by the nonminimum-phase (NMP) zeros of the system and effected by factors such as input constraints and external disturbances. Although recently an approach by combining the system-inversion with optimization techniques has been proposed to tackle these challenges, modeling of the system dynamics and complicated online computation are needed, and the controller obtained can be sensitive to model uncertainties. In this work, a learning-based decomposition control technique is developed to overcome these limitations. A dictionary of input–output bases is constructed offline a priori via data-driven iterative learning first. The input–output bases are used online to decompose the desired output in the tracking sessions and design an optimal desired transition trajectory with minimal transition time under input-amplitude constraint. Finally, the control input is synthesized based on the superpositioning principle and further optimized online to account for system variations and external disturbance. The proposed approach is illustrated through a nanopositioning control experiment on a piezoelectric actuator.

In situ three‐dimensional video tracking of tagged individuals within site‐attached social groups of coral‐reef fish

AbstractTracking the movement of all individual group members in their natural environment remains a challenging task. Using advances in computer vision and Deep Learning, we developed and tested a semi‐automated in situ tracking system to reconstruct simultaneous three‐dimensional trajectories of marked individuals in social groups of a coral‐reef fish. Our system has a temporal resolution of 10s of milliseconds, allowing for multiple 30‐min tracking sessions that have been repeated over weeks to months. We present the technique and illustrate its application for Dascyllus marginatus, a planktivorous damselfish that lives in social groups associated with branching corals. Our technique identified all individuals 85–100% of the time, with a mean spatial error of ~ 1.3 cm. It provides a cost‐effective semi‐automated tool for in situ research on movements and foraging of individuals within small site‐attached groups of animals in their natural environment.

Auditory and visual sensory modalities in the velodrome and the practice of becoming a track cyclist

The aim of this paper is to explore track cycling through visual and aural sensory modalities. We draw on Pink’s work on emplacement and of the researcher serving an apprenticeship by engaging through first-hand experience and learning track practices and routines in which we reflected on our visual and aural senses to account for understanding the body and the transformations it undergoes when riding track. This speaks to Hockey and Allen-Collinson’s call for a ‘fleshy perspective’ by reintroducing the body into sporting practice. Undertaking an auto-ethnographic method, we use diarised notes drawn from six track cycling sessions to account for sensory experiences by reflecting on aural and visual senses in the context of the skills we acquired during track sessions. In this, the emergent narrative situates the body as a place of contestation and transition, whereby our visual and aural modalities are the senses by which we narrate our improving aptitude, and attained physical capital, on the track.

142 Heart rates at the trot on a mechanical walker are correlated to cardiovascular fitness in Thoroughbred racehorses

The relationship between heart rate (HR) and velocity under saddle or on a treadmill can be used to estimate cardiovascular fitness in horses. Whether HR data gathered during other types of exercise can be used to estimate fitness is unknown. This study hypothesized that HR data collected on a mechanical walker could be used to estimate cardiovascular fitness in Thoroughbred racehorses (TBs), young horses having lower fitness with higher trotting HRs than older horses. Five, 2- and 3-year-old TBs (YOUNG) (2.2 ± 0.5 yr) and 5, 5- to 9-year-old TBs (MATURE) (6.6 ± 1.7 yr) were used. Four of the YOUNG horses had recently been prepped for 2-year-old in-training sales. MATURE horses had been in race training for over a year. During the 4-wk study, horses were exercised on a mechanical walker 3 d/wk. Exercise consisted of a 5-min warm-up walk (1.7 m/s), 15-min slow trot (2.7 m/s), and 5-min cool-down walk (1.7 m/s). HR data were collected from the walker during the final 10 min of the trot (HR trot ). All horses were also exercised on the racetrack 3 d/wk. The HR-velocity relationship during track exercise was determined using a Polar Ⓡ on-board HR monitor and KER ClockIt smartphone fitness app. Fitness was assessed by velocities (V) calculated at different HRs (V 160 , V 180 , and V 200 ) by linear regression. Differences between age groups were determined using unpaired t -tests. One walker session and one track session from each week were used from each horse to evaluate the relationship between HR trot and cardiovascular fitness via simple linear regression. All results are reported as mean ± SD. One YOUNG horse was excluded from analysis due to unsteady pace on the walker resulting in erratic HR trot . One MATURE horse was excluded from analysis due to excitability under saddle resulting in lack of linearity between HR and speed during track exercise. HR trot was lower for MATURE (77.3 ± 3.8 bpm) versus YOUNG (87.6 ± 4.5 bpm) ( P < 0.01). Speed differed between groups on the track at all HR levels (V 160 : MATURE: 7.3 ± 0.7 m/s, YOUNG: 6.3 ± 0.8 m/s ( P < 0.01); V 180 : MATURE: 9.2 ± 0.6 m/s, YOUNG: 8.0 ± 0.7 m/s ( P < 0.01); V 200 : MATURE: 11.1 ± 0.7 m/s, YOUNG: 9.7 ± 0.8 m/s ( P < 0.01)). HR trot and V 160 , V 180 , and V 200 were negatively correlated in both groups (V 160 R 2 = 0.44 ( P < 0.001); V 180 R 2 = 0.62 ( P < 0.001); V 200 R 2 = 0.66 ( P < 0.001)). These results suggest that cardiovascular fitness under saddle may be estimated from HR collected at a trot on a mechanical walker. It is unknown whether differences observed between groups’ cardiovascular fitness were due to age or previous degree of training.

A more precise way to localize animals using drones

AbstractRadio telemetry is a commonly used technique in conservation biology and ecology, particularly for studying the movement and range of individuals and populations. Traditionally, most radio telemetry work is done using handheld directional antennae and either direction‐finding and homing techniques or radio‐triangulation techniques. Over the past couple of decades, efforts have been made to utilize unmanned aerial vehicles to make radio‐telemetry tracking more efficient, or cover more area. However, many of these approaches are complex and have not been rigorously field‐tested. To provide scientists with reliable quality tracking data, tracking systems need to be rigorously tested and characterized. In this paper, we present a novel, drone‐based, radio‐telemetry tracking method for tracking the broad‐scale movement paths of animals over multiple days and its implementation and deployment under field conditions. During a 2‐week field period in the Cayman Islands, we demonstrated this system's ability to localize multiple targets simultaneously, in daily 10 min tracking sessions over a period of 2 weeks, generating more precise estimates than comparable efforts using manual triangulation techniques.

World Microbe Forum 2021. Virtual - June 20-24, 2021

This year, the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) and the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) collaborated in combining the 2 biggest conferences on microbial sciences, ASM Microbe 2021 and FEMS 2021, to create a unique event called the World Microbe Forum. This new initiative took place virtually from June 20-24, 2021, where microbial scientists reported the cutting-edge microbial sciences research and highlighted the hottest topics, such as SARS-CoV-2 infection and antimicrobial resistance. The virtual platform displayed innovative content presented in the form of ePosters, course workshops, fast track sessions, meet-the-experts and symposiums, both as live and interactive formats or as on-demand recorded content. This report covers some of the most interesting presentations delivered at the meeting. © 2021 Clarivate Analytics.