The effect of warm-up intensity on range of motion and anaerobic performance

Although there is a paucity of scientific support for the benefits of warm-up, athletes commonly warm up prior to activity with the intention of improving performance and reducing the incidence of injuries. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of warm-up intensity on both range of motion (ROM) and anaerobic performance. Nine males (age = 21.7 +/- 1.6 years, height = 1.77 +/- 0.04 m, weight = 80.2 +/- 6.8 kg, and VO2max = 60.4 +/- 5.4 ml/kg/min) completed four trials. Each trial consisted of hip, knee, and ankle ROM evaluation using an electronic inclinometer and an anaerobic capacity test on the treadmill (time to fatigue at 13 km/hr and 20% grade). Subjects underwent no warm-up or a warm-up of 15 minutes running at 60, 70 or 80% VO2max followed by a series of lower limb stretches. Intensity of warm-up had little effect on ROM, since ankle dorsiflexion and hip extension significantly increased in all warm-up conditions, hip flexion significantly increased only after the 80% VO2max warm-up, and knee flexion did not change after any warm-up. Heart rate and body temperature were significantly increased (p < 0.05) prior to anaerobic performance for each of the warm-up conditions, but anaerobic performance improved significantly only after warm-up at 60% VO2max (10%) and 70% VO2max (13%). A 15-minute warm-up at an intensity of 60-70% VO2max is therefore recommended to improve ROM and enhance subsequent anaerobic performance.

Experience of overseas-trained health professionals in rural and remote areas of destination countries: A literature review

This study aimed to review and synthesise existing literature that investigated the experience of overseastrained health professionals (OTHPs) in rural and remote areas of destination countries. A systematic literature review was conducted using electronic databases and manual search of studies published from January 2004 to February 2011. Data were analysed from the final 17 original report articles that met the inclusion criteria. The reviewed research studies were conducted in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. Overseas-trained medical practitioners were the most frequently researched (n = 14); two studies involved nurses and one study included several health professionals. Three main themes emerged from the review and these were: (i) expectations; (ii) cultural diversity; and (iii) orientation and integration to rural and remote health work environment. The OTHPs were expected to possess the appropriate professional and cultural skills while they themselves expected recognition of their previous experiences and adequate organisational orientation and support. A welcoming and accepting community coupled with a relaxed rural lifestyle and the joy of continued patient care resulted in successful integration and contributed to increased staff retention rates. Recognition of expectations and cultural diversity by all parties and comprehensive orientation with sufficient organisational support are important elements in the integration of OTHPs and subsequent delivery of quality health care to people living in rural and remote areas.

Macrophonics

Artists: Donna Hewitt, Julian Knowles, Wade Marynowsky, Tim Bruniges, Avril Huddy Macrophonics presents new Australian work emerging from the leading edge of where performance interface research is taking place. The program addresses the emerging dialogue between traditional media and emerging digital media, as well as the dialogue across a broad range of musical traditions. Due to recent technological developments, we have reached a point artistically where the relationships between media and genres are being completely re-evaluated. This program presents a cross-section of responses to this condition. Each of the works in the program foregrounds an approach to performance that integrates sensors and novel performance control devices and/or examine how machines can be made musical in performance. Containing works for voice, electronics, video, movement and sensor based gestural controllers, it critically surveys the interface between humans and machines in performance. From sensor based microphones and guitars, performance a/v, to post-rock dronescapes and experimental electronica; Macrophonics provides a broad and engaging survey of new performance approaches in mediatised environments.

25 million years to break a continent : early to middle Miocene rifting and syn-extensional magmatism in the southern Gulf of California

Cenozoic extension in western Mexico has been divided into two episodes separated by the change from convergence to oblique divergence at the plate boundary. The Gulf Extensional Province is thought to have started once subduction ended at ~12.5 Ma whereas early extension is classified as Basin and Range. Mid-Miocene volcanism of the Comondú group has been considered as a subduction-related arc, whereas post ~12.5 Ma volcanism would be extension-related. Our new integration of the continental onshore and offshore geology of the south-east Gulf region, backed by tens of Ar-Ar and U-Pb ages and geochemical studies, document an early-mid Miocene rifting and extension-related bimodal to andesitic magmatism prior to subduction termination. Between ~21 and 11 Ma a system of NNW-SSE high-angle extensional faults rifted the western side of the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) ignimbrite plateau. In Nayarit, rhyolitic domes and some basalts were emplaced along this extensional belt at 18-17 Ma. These rocks show strong antecrystic inheritance but an absence of Mesozoic and older xenocrysts, suggesting a genesis in the mid-upper crust triggered by extension-induced basaltic influx. In Sinaloa, large grabens were floored by huge dome complexes at ~21-17 Ma and filled by continental sediments with interlayered basalts dated at 15 Ma. Mid-Miocene volcanism, including the largely volcaniclastic Comondú strata in Baja California, was thus emplaced in rift basins and appears associated to decompression melting rather than subduction. Along the coast, flat-lying basaltic lava flows dated at 11-10 Ma are exposed just above the present sea level. Here crustal thickness is 25-20 Km, almost half that in the core of the SMO, implying significant lithosphere stretching before ~11 Ma. This mafic pulse, with relatively high Ti but still clear Nb-Ta negative spikes, may be related to the detachment of the lower part of the subducted slab, allowing asthenosphere to flow into parts of the mantle previously fluxed by subduction fluids. Very uniform OIB-like lavas appear in late Pliocene and Pleistocene, only 18 m.y. after the onset of rifting and ~9 m.y. after the end of subduction. Our study shows that rifting began much earlier than Late Miocene and progressively overwhelmed subduction in generating magmatism.

Late Oligocene to middle Miocene rifting and syn-extensional magmatism in the southwestern Sierra Madre occidental, Mexico: the beginning of the Gulf of California rift

Although Basin and Range style extension affected several areas of western Mexico since the Late Eocene, extension in the Gulf of California region (the Gulf Extensional Province GEP) is thought to have started as subduction waned and ended at ~14 12.5 Ma. A general consensus also exists in considering the mid Miocene Comondú group as a suprasubduction volcanic arc. Our new integration of the geology of the south east Gulf region, backed by 43 new Ar Ar and U Pb mineral ages and geochemical studies, document a widespread phase of extension in the southern GEP between latest Oligocene and Early Miocene that subsequently focused in the region of the future Gulf in the Middle Miocene. Upper Oligocene to Lower Miocene rocks across the southern Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO)(northern Nayarit and southern Sinaloa) were affected by major ~N S to NNW striking normal faults prior to ~21 Ma. Then, between ~21 and 11 Ma, a system of NNW-SSE high angle extensional faults continued extending the southwestern side of the SMO. Rhyolitic domes, shallow intrusive bodies, and lesser basalts were emplaced along this extensional belt at 20-17 Ma. In northern Sinaloa, large grabens were floored by huge dome complexes at ~21-17 Ma and filled by continental sediments with interlayered basalts dated at 15-14 Ma, a setting and timing very similar to Sonora. Early to Middle Miocene volcanism, including the largely volcaniclastic Comondú strata in Baja California Sur, was thus emplaced in rift basins and was likely associated to decompression melting of upper mantle (inducing crustal partial melting) rather than to fluxing by fluids from the young subducting plate. Along the Nayarit and Sinaloa coast, flatlying basaltic lava flows dated at 11-10 Ma are exposed just above the present sea level. Here, crustal thickness is almost half that in the unextended core of the SMO, implying significant lithosphere stretching before ~11 Ma. Our study shows that rifting began much earlier than Late Miocene and provided a fundamental control on the style and composition of volcanism from at least 30 Ma. We envision a sustained period of lithospheric stretching and magmatism during which the pace and breadth of extension changed at ~20-18 Ma to be narrower and likely more rapid, and again at ~12.5 Ma, when the kinematics of rifting became more oblique.

Pt/ZnO/SiC thin film for hydrogen gas sensing

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most promising electronic and photonic materials to date. In this work, we present an enhanced ZnO Schottky gas sensor deposited on SiC substrates in comparison to those reported previously in literature. The performance of ZnO/SiC based Schottky thin film gas sensors produced a forward lateral voltage shift of 12.99mV and 111.87mV in response to concentrations of hydrogen gas at 0.06% and 1% in air at optimum temperature of 330 ºC. The maximum change in barrier height was calculated as 37.9 meV for 1% H2 sensing operation at the optimum temperature.