Motivating exercise through social media

The exponential growth of social media and online fitness classes in the last decade of the twenty first century, has provided a multitude of opportunities for individuals and businesses. The internet has created new opportunities that people in the past might not have even dreamed of; from typing a question into a smart phone device and receiving millions of results, to participating in online fitness classes through platforms such as Zoom, Instagram and Facebook live. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the extent of motivations for following health and fitness influencers on social media and its relationship with intentions to participate in general exercise and online fitness classes. The impact of Covid 19 on gym closures has brought a boom to engagement in online fitness classes rendering this a timely study for investigation. A research instrument was developed to include online surveys and netnography. The netnographic study covered Instagram posts over a four-week period on two health and fitness influencers: The Body Coach and Trisha’s Transformation. The findings suggest strongly that there is a direct corelation between fitness influencers posts on Instagram and participation in general exercise and attending online fitness classes. The study found that half of those who said they use online classes due to lockdown would continue to use online classes after lockdown was over. It was also revealed that the follower count on social media is negatively associated with follower engagement. The higher the follower count the lower the follower engagement. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that companies should seriously consider including influencers as part of their social media marketing strategy. However, the number of followers of the social media influencer should also be a factor in the decision-making process. In addition, the use of a mixed methodological approach was crucial to determine valid results for this dissertation.n

Determining finite strain: how far have we progressed?

One of the main aims in the field of structural geology is the identification and quantification of deformation or strain. This pursuit has occupied geologists since the 1800s, but has evolved dramatically since those early studies. The quantification of strain in sedimentary lithologies was initially restricted to lithologies of known initial shape, such as fossils or reduction spots. In 1967, Ramsay presented a series of methods and calculations, which allowed populations of clasts to be used as strain markers. These methods acted as a foundation for modern strain analysis, and have influenced thousands of studies. This review highlights the significance of Ramsay's contribution to modern strain analysis. We outline the advances in the field over the 50 years since publication of Folding and Fracturing of Rocks, review the existing limitations of strain analysis methods and look to future developments

Rate-Induced Tipping to Metastable Zombie Fires

Zombie fires in peatlands disappear from the surface, smoulder underground during the winter, and `come back to life' in the spring. They can release hundreds of megatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere per year and are believed to be caused by surface wildfires. Here, we propose rate-induced tipping (R-tipping) to a subsurface hot metastable state in bioactive peat soils as a main cause of Zombie fires. Our hypothesis is based on a conceptual soil-carbon model subjected to realistic changes in weather and climate patterns, including global warming scenarios and summer heatwaves. Mathematically speaking, R-tipping to the hot metastable state is a nonautonomous instability, due to crossing an elusive quasithreshold, in a multiple-timescale dynamical system. To explain this instability, we provide a framework combining a special compactification technique with concepts from geometric singular perturbation theory. This framework allows us to reduce an R-tipping problem due to crossing a quasithreshold to a heteroclinic orbit problem in a singular limit. We identify generic cases of tracking-tipping transitions via: (i) unfolding of a codimension-two heteroclinic folded saddle-node type-I singularity for global warming, and (ii) analysis of a codimension-one saddle-to-saddle hetroclinic orbit for summer heatwaves, in turn revealing new types of excitability quasithresholds.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure

Numerical study of a Whitham equation exhibiting both breaking waves and continuous solutions

We consider a Whitham equation as an alternative for the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation in which the third derivative is replaced by the integral of a kernel, i.e., ηxxx in the KdV equation is replaced by ∫∞−∞Kν(x−ξ)ηξ(ξ,t)dξ. The kernel Kν(x) satisfies the conditions limν→∞Kν(x) = δ″(x), where δ(x) is the Dirac delta function and limν→0Kν(x) = 0. The questions studied here, by means of numerical examples, are whether adjustment of the parameter ν produces both continuous solutions and shocks of the kernel equation and how well they represent KdV solutions and solutions of the underlying hyperbolic system. A typical example is for resonant forced oscillations in a closed shallow water tank governed by the kernel equation, which are compared with those governed by a partial differential equation. The continuous solutions of the kernel equation associated with frequency dispersion in the KdV equations limit to the shocks of the shallow water equations as ν → 0. Two experimental problems are solved in a single equation. As another example, suitable adjustment of ν in the kernel equation produces solutions reminiscent of a hydraulic and undular bore

Determining finite strain: how far have we progressed?

One of the main aims in the field of structural geology is the identification and quantification of deformation or strain. This pursuit has occupied geologists since the 1800s, but has evolved dramatically since those early studies. The quantification of strain in sedimentary lithologies was initially restricted to lithologies of known initial shape, such as fossils or reduction spots. In 1967, Ramsay presented a series of methods and calculations, which allowed populations of clasts to be used as strain markers. These methods acted as a foundation for modern strain analysis, and have influenced thousands of studies. This review highlights the significance of Ramsay's contribution to modern strain analysis. We outline the advances in the field over the 50 years since publication of Folding and Fracturing of Rocks, review the existing limitations of strain analysis methods and look to future developments

Numbas as an engagement tool for first-year Business Studies students

In this paper we report on the implementation of e-assessment in mathematics with a large cohort of Business Studies students in their first year at Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland. The assessment tool used was Numbas, a freely available e-assessment tool for mathematics developed at Newcastle University. The main motivation in introducing Numbas for this course was to increase attendance and engagement at tutorials but also to make regular assessments with feedback a practical possibility for large groups. In this paper we discuss the effect the introduction of Numbas had on student engagement, in particular on student participation, attendance, and on the student experience

Strain variations in thrust belts. Insights from Talas Ala Tau (Kyrgyz Republic)

Computational strain analysis methods developed at University College of Cork have beenused to analyse several samples taken from Talas Ala Tau, Kyrgyzs Republic. These methods are moreaccurate and faster than manual methods. This study has revealed that the finite strain measured inTalas Ala Tau rocks (principally high quartz percentage feldespatic sandstones and feldespaticgraywackes) is independent of lithology and the general strain trend in this fold and thrust belt

Prelithification and synlithification tectonic foliation development in a clastic sedimentary sequence

The current view regarding the timing of regionally developed penetrative tectonic fabrics in sedimentary rocks is that their development postdates lithification of those rocks. In this case, fabric development is achieved by a number of deformation mechanisms, including grain rigid body rotation, crystal-plastic deformation, and pressure solution. The latter is believed to be the primary mechanism responsible for the domainal structure of cleavage in low-grade metamorphic rocks. In this study we combine field observations with strain studies to characterize considerable (>50%) Acadian crustal shortening in a Devonian clastic sedimentary sequence from southwest Ireland. Despite these high levels of shortening there is a marked absence of the domainal cleavage structure and intraclast deformation that are expected with this level of deformation. Fabrics in these rocks are predominantly a product of rigid body rotation and repacking of extraformational clasts during deformation of a clastic sedimentary sequence before lithification was complete