Paradigm Shift in Critical Speed Application and Modification for Shuttle Running: A Narrative Review

The overarching purpose of this review was to highlight the utility of different aerobic field tests in terms of the parameters they provide, with a specific focus on shuttle running and all-out testing. Various field tests are discussed in detail and are categorised according to linear continuous running tests (e.g. 12-minute Cooper Test, University of Montreal Track Test [UMTT], 1200/1600 m time trials, 3-minute all-out test for running [3MT]), intermittent shuttle running tests (e.g. yo-yo inter-mittent recovery test level 1 [YYIR1], 30-15 intermittent fitness test [IFT], and the intermittent all-out shuttle test [IAOST]), and continuous shuttle running tests (e.g. 1.2 km shuttle run test [1.2SRT], maximal multi-stage 20-m shuttle test [MSR], 25-m, 30 m and 50-m 3-minute all-out shuttle test [AOST]). Readers will be guided through the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the 3MT methodology, where the all-out testing methodology is stationed within the testing paradigm, and how to practically implement and interpret the results thereof.

Evaluation of Poultry Stunning with Low Atmospheric Pressure, Carbon Dioxide or Nitrogen Using a Single Aversion Testing Paradigm

Low atmospheric pressure stunning (LAPS) has been suggested for use in poultry under 4 kg in the abattoir as a more humane alternative to carbon dioxide (CO2). However, there are currently no studies offering a direct comparison of the aversion between methods. Here, we trained adult female broiler breeders to relinquish a food reward by moving to another area of the gas chamber in response to aversive stimuli. They were then stunned and subsequently killed using single exposure to either CO2, N2, LAPS or medical air as a control. Birds exposed to CO2 relinquished the food reward the quickest and exhibited gasping and headshaking more than the other groups. LAPS resulted in the quickest time to loss of posture (LOP) and birds in the N2 group took the longest. Birds exposed to N2 displayed the longest duration of ataxia of any group; however, they did not show any wing-flapping prior to LOP, unlike the LAPS and CO2. Collectively these data demonstrate that both LAPS and N2 are less aversive to poultry than CO2 and may offer a significant welfare refinement for poultry killed for meat production.

Can naive observers detect suicidality in face images? A replication and extension of Kleiman and Rule (2013)

Naive observers make a wide range of social judgments from face images, including estimations of mental health (e.g. depression, schizotypy). Such judgments may inform interactions between care providers and patients, including diagnosis. Kleiman and Rule (2013) demonstrated that naive observers could categorize static images at above chance levels according to suicidality and that the faces of individuals who died by suicide were rated as more impulsive than control faces. We attempted to replicate these results with a larger sample and extended the original report by implementing a 2AFC paradigm that minimizes response bias. We found that suicidality categorization was above-chance using the original testing paradigm, but performance dropped to chance in our 2AFC task. We found no evidence supporting differences in perceived impulsivity across categories in either paradigm. We discuss these outcomes from theoretical and methodological perspectives, and outline new directions for further research investigating social vision in clinical contexts.

Learning on the Job: Online Lifelong and Continual Learning

One of the hallmarks of the human intelligence is the ability to learn continuously, accumulate the knowledge learned in the past and use the knowledge to help learn more and learn better. It is hard to imagine a truly intelligent system without this capability. This type of learning differs significantly than the classic machine learning (ML) paradigm of isolated single-task learning. Although there is already research on learning a sequence of tasks incrementally under the names of lifelong learning or continual learning, they still follow the traditional two-phase separate training and testing paradigm in learning each task. The tasks are also given by the user. This paper adds on-the-job learning to the mix to emphasize the need to learn during application (thus online) after the model has been deployed, which traditional ML cannot do. It aims to leverage the learned knowledge to discover new tasks, interact with humans and the environment, make inferences, and incrementally learn the new tasks on the fly during applications in a self-supervised and interactive manner. This is analogous to human on-the-job learning after formal training. We use chatbots and self-driving cars as examples to discuss the need, some initial work, and key challenges and opportunities in building this capability.

Assessment of Cu and CuO nanoparticle ecological responses using laboratory small-scale microcosms

An efficient and rapid testing paradigm to evaluate the biological uptake, distribution, and ecological risks of Cu based NPs.

Mycotoxin Testing Paradigm: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future

Mycotoxins are one of the great global challenges to agri-food and feed safety. Industry requires fast, reliable, and economical testing methods for the most important regulated mycotoxins to manage this problem. Climate change and changes in agricultural practice are complicating this situation, triggering the movement of some mycotoxins into new regions, which are unprepared for their management. Modern LC–tandem MS (LC–MS/MS) instruments have addressed this analytical challenge, but such instruments are expensive and require highly qualified personnel and dedicated facilities. As a result of these limitations, traditional LC–MS/MS is not amenable for use on farms or at small to midsized processing facilities, such as a grain elevator. To address the need for on-site rapid testing, the mycotoxin community has focused on antibody-based and spectrophotometric approaches. The development of innovative technologies such as miniaturized MS would allow for the acquisition of more information on mixtures of toxins present in a sample at costs comparable to those of the existing rapid methods such as ELISA. The capital costs are higher, but it would reduce per-sample testing costs and time requirements and provide better value for money while maintaining the accuracy and selectivity achieved in a laboratory setting. In this article, we review the available techniques and contrast them in the context of three main criteria: method performance, speed of analysis, and cost. We define the integration of these three parameters as the “mycotoxin testing paradigm.”

Mycotoxin Testing Paradigm: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future

Mycotoxins are one of the great global challenges to agri-food and feed safety. Industry requires fast, reliable, and economical testing methods for the most important regulated mycotoxins to manage this problem. Climate change and changes in agricultural practice are complicating this situation, triggering the movement of some mycotoxins into new regions, which are unprepared for their management. Modern LC–tandem MS (LC–MS/MS) instruments have addressed this analytical challenge, but such instruments are expensive and require highly qualified personnel and dedicated facilities. As a result of these limitations, traditional LC–MS/MS is not amenable for use on farms or at small to midsized processing facilities, such as a grain elevator. To address the need for on-site rapid testing, the mycotoxin community has focused on antibody-based and spectrophotometric approaches. The development of innovative technologies such as miniaturized MS would allow for the acquisition of more information on mixtures of toxins present in a sample at costs comparable to those of the existing rapid methods such as ELISA. The capital costs are higher, but it would reduce per-sample testing costs and time requirements and provide better value for money while maintaining the accuracy and selectivity achieved in a laboratory setting. In this article, we review the available techniques and contrast them in the context of three main criteria: method performance, speed of analysis, and cost. We define the integration of these three parameters as the “mycotoxin testing paradigm.”

A testing paradigm for quantifying ICC profilers

To reproduce colors in one system which differs from another system in terms of the color gamut, it is necessary to use a color gamut mapping process. This color gamut mapping is a method to translate a specific color from a medium (screen, digital camera, scanner, digital file, etc) into another system having a difference in gamut volume. There are different rendering intent options defined by the International Color Consortium [5] to use the different reproduction goals of the user [19]. Any rendering intent used to reproduce colors, includes profile engine decisions to do it, i.e. looking for color accuracy, vivid colors or pleasing reproduction of images. Using the same decisions on different profile engines, the final visual output can look different (more than one Just Noticeable Difference[16]) depending on the profile engine used and the color algorithms that they implement. Profile performance substantially depends on the profiler engine used to create them. Different profilers provide the user with varying levels of liberty to design a profile for their color management needs and preference. The motivation of this study is to rank the performance of various market leading profiler engines on the basis of different metrics designed specifically to report the performance of particular aspects of these profiles. The study helped us take valuable decisions regarding profile performance without any visual assessment to decide on the best profiler engine.