title: Exploring the reliability of isometric benchmark tests and their relationship to performance characteristics in elite track sprint cyclists

authors: Thompson, Roné

subjects: isometrics

abstract: Benchmark tests in competitive cycling identify talent, individualise training, and monitor performance. However, varying protocols often produce conflicting results, reducing comparability. Isometric tests are prevalent, but reliability and performance correlation are underexplored. Determine the test–retest reliability of benchmark test metrics in elite track sprint cyclists and their relationship to a performance outcome. Nineteen elite track sprint cyclists (12 males, 7 females) completed seven benchmark tests across two days: modified sit-and-reach; on-bike rolling seated maximum 6-s sprints; 3-s bilateral on-bike isometrics at 90° crank angle; 3-s prone bench pull isometrics; 3-s lumbar extension isometrics; 3-s seated off-bike isometrics; and modified plank endurance. For the performance outcome, a third session within 7 days assessed peak power using an inertial load cycle ergometer. All tests showed excellent measurement consistency (ICC<inf>3,1</inf> ≥ 0.92), with low systematic bias (p ≥ 0.063), though confidence interval varied due to modest sample size. High test–retest reliability was supported by low typical errors (CV 2.0–5.5%; 9.6% for endurance). Nine benchmark metrics, including bilateral isometric measures, showed moderate to excellent correlation with peak power output (r = 0.52–0.94, p ≤ 0.023); six remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction (p ≤ 0.005). All benchmark metrics were reliable, with six strongly and statistically significantly associated with performance.

text: Exploring the reliability of isometric benchmark tests and their relationship to performance characteristics in elite track sprint cyclists Benchmark tests in competitive cycling identify talent, individualise training, and monitor performance. However, varying protocols often produce conflicting results, reducing comparability. Isometric tests are prevalent, but reliability and performance correlation are underexplored. Determine the test–retest reliability of benchmark test metrics in elite track sprint cyclists and their relationship to a performance outcome. Nineteen elite track sprint cyclists (12 males, 7 females) completed seven benchmark tests across two days: modified sit-and-reach; on-bike rolling seated maximum 6-s sprints; 3-s bilateral on-bike isometrics at 90° crank angle; 3-s prone bench pull isometrics; 3-s lumbar extension isometrics; 3-s seated off-bike isometrics; and modified plank endurance. For the performance outcome, a third session within 7 days assessed peak power using an inertial load cycle ergometer. All tests showed excellent measurement consistency (ICC<inf>3,1</inf> ≥ 0.92), with low systematic bias (p ≥ 0.063), though confidence interval varied due to modest sample size. High test–retest reliability was supported by low typical errors (CV 2.0–5.5%; 9.6% for endurance). Nine benchmark metrics, including bilateral isometric measures, showed moderate to excellent correlation with peak power output (r = 0.52–0.94, p ≤ 0.023); six remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction (p ≤ 0.005). All benchmark metrics were reliable, with six strongly and statistically significantly associated with performance.

year: 2025

title: Silent no more: Servant voices in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights

authors: Jenkins, Jeanette Mary

subjects: Servants

abstract: The names Catherine Earnshaw and Jane Eyre are synonymous with the narratives of which they are the heroine. Yet, under the presence of these well-known characters sit others who are less immediately recognisable, but nevertheless vital, the invisible and silent servants. The names Bessie, Hannah, and Zillah are relatively unknown, even to avid readers of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Yet these servants are given a name and a voice by their creators, and they play small, but significant roles in the novels. Other servant figures, particularly Grace Poole and Nelly Dean, are even more prominent, shaping events, keeping secrets, and speaking truths. In spite of this, these servants are rarely seen and heard in critical commentary, pushed aside by the characters that take centre stage of the novels. 
The intention of this thesis is to find and highlight the voices of this seemingly neglected group of servants. Focusing on two novels published in 1847, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, I argue that the Brontë novels are radical in the depiction of servant voice and representation when compared to most nineteenth century fiction. In the Brontë novels that lie at the heart of this thesis, servants escape from the boundaries of the typical Victorian novel and become characters with opinions, voices, and influence. This is part of the wider rhetoric of each novel, with Jane Eyre focusing on questions of servitude and independence through the title character’s battles with a series of tyrants and Wuthering Heights featuring a cycle of rises and falls from master to servant. Drawing on the reality of servant life during this period and using archive material and critical scholarship, this thesis endeavours to foreground both the servant characters in these novels and the wider debates about freedom and slavery, autonomy and obedience, interior life and public role. The silent servants deserve a focused examination of their voice and this work will bring that voice into the spotlight.

text: Silent no more: Servant voices in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights The names Catherine Earnshaw and Jane Eyre are synonymous with the narratives of which they are the heroine. Yet, under the presence of these well-known characters sit others who are less immediately recognisable, but nevertheless vital, the invisible and silent servants. The names Bessie, Hannah, and Zillah are relatively unknown, even to avid readers of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Yet these servants are given a name and a voice by their creators, and they play small, but significant roles in the novels. Other servant figures, particularly Grace Poole and Nelly Dean, are even more prominent, shaping events, keeping secrets, and speaking truths. In spite of this, these servants are rarely seen and heard in critical commentary, pushed aside by the characters that take centre stage of the novels. 
The intention of this thesis is to find and highlight the voices of this seemingly neglected group of servants. Focusing on two novels published in 1847, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, I argue that the Brontë novels are radical in the depiction of servant voice and representation when compared to most nineteenth century fiction. In the Brontë novels that lie at the heart of this thesis, servants escape from the boundaries of the typical Victorian novel and become characters with opinions, voices, and influence. This is part of the wider rhetoric of each novel, with Jane Eyre focusing on questions of servitude and independence through the title character’s battles with a series of tyrants and Wuthering Heights featuring a cycle of rises and falls from master to servant. Drawing on the reality of servant life during this period and using archive material and critical scholarship, this thesis endeavours to foreground both the servant characters in these novels and the wider debates about freedom and slavery, autonomy and obedience, interior life and public role. The silent servants deserve a focused examination of their voice and this work will bring that voice into the spotlight.

year: 2023

title: Studies on the health and bacterial symbionts of  toheroa (Paphies ventricosa)

authors: Bennion, Matthew Joseph

subjects: Shellfish health

abstract: Disease outbreaks in marine species can have devastating consequences for host populations, host-associated species assemblages, ecosystem functioning, and for human users of these marine resources. At present, the risk factors associated with disease outbreaks, such as warming and pollution, are increasing. Given the increasing risk of disease outbreaks and the role that parasites play in marine ecosystems, there is a vital need to gain knowledge of marine diseases for species conservation, and the monitoring, management, and forecasting of disease. The field of marine disease ecology is growing, but many facets of our understanding remain in their infancy. Faced with a lack of baseline health data, efforts to combat disease outbreak in the ocean are impeded, even though the future of food security hinges on an ability to source food from the ocean. With a shift towards aquaculture, in particular bivalve aquaculture, knowledge of ambient health of wild and farmed species will dictate both yield, and our ability to protect wild stocks. 
Disease outbreak poses added risk to species that are already in peril. The toheroa (Paphies ventricosa) is a threatened surf clam endemic to Aotearoa (New Zealand). Once bountiful, overharvesting and population collapse put an end to the large-scale fisheries of the early and mid-1900s. The protections enacted on toheroa populations should have ensured their recovery, but recovery has not occurred. Disease has been suggested as one possible explanation. However, without knowledge of disease dynamics in toheroa populations, restorative efforts risk failure, or worse, inflicting further damage. Intracellular microcolonies of bacteria (IMCs) have been linked to numerous shellfish mass mortality events (MMEs) in Aotearoa in recent years, and were first detected in toheroa in 2017. This discovery raised questions regarding the role IMCs might be playing in preventing the recovery of toheroa populations. 
To address this uncertainty, this thesis set out to investigate what pathogens and parasites are present in toheroa, and determine what effect they might be having on toheroa health. A histopathology survey was conducted to gather fundamental baseline health information on toheroa populations across their entire distribution. IMCs were found to be the only potential pathogens of note. Histology data coupled with Bayesian models indicated that the probability of higher IMC intensity was associated with decreased toheroa condition. Using PCR, DNA sequencing, and in situ hybridisation, IMCs were characterised as bacteria in the genus Endozoicomonas. In many marine organisms, Endozoicomonas spp. are cosmopolitan members of associated-bacterial communities, often fulfilling biogeochemical cycling functions in host tissues. In toheroa populations, Endozoicomonas spp. abundance was found to be seasonal, but site specificity indicated habitat characteristics (specifically, the presence of freshwater outflows) might be a significant driver of their abundance. The bacterial community of toheroa was subsequently investigated using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and candidates common to other coastal bivalve molluscs were found to be dominant, including Spirochaetaceae, Mycoplasmataceae, and Endozoicomonadaceae (in order of relative dominance). Freshwater outflows appeared to be such a significant driver of microbiome taxonomic dissimilarity, that specimens collected from sites 1240 km apart hosted more similar bacterial communities than specimens from sites with and without streams on the same beach and within the same region. The key indicator taxa driving microbiome dissimilarity were found to be Endozoicomonas spp. and sulfate-reducing bacteria in the phylum Desulfobacterota. 
Gas bubbles were also observed on the shells of toheroa at the same time that IMCs were first detected. At that stage, temperature and total dissolved gaseous pressure was thought to contribute to their manifestation. To gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, a spatio-temporal survey was conducted which revealed an association of high gas bubble intensity with the austral-autumn/winter and freshwater outflows. A new hypothesis is therefore presented that links gas bubbles to sulfate-reducing bacteria and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), a by-product of anaerobic digestion. Given the apparent influence of freshwater on toheroa intrinsic health, the capacity for streams to deliver pollutants to toheroa beds was assessed. Results gained from inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) suggest that despite the modified nature of adjacent land, streams do not deliver significant loads of bioavailable trace metals to toheroa beds in the intertidal zone. Instead, nutrition in the form of large phytoplankton blooms in autumn/winter is thought to be the primary source of bioavailable trace metals for toheroa.
No observations of significant pathogenesis, associated with Endozoicomonas species, were made throughout this research. Furthermore, during the timeframe of this research (apart from intermittent mortality events reported), there is no evidence of an ongoing disease epidemic in toheroa populations. While not providing evidence for the factor preventing the recovery of toheroa, this research does have implications for the ongoing conservation and management of toheroa. It seems reasonable to assume that infectious disease is not a major factor contributing to the limited recovery of toheroa throughout Aotearoa. Instead, associations made between freshwater outflows, nutrition, and detritus indicate that habitat requirements provided by freshwater streams are having significant effects on toheroa health, survival, and homeostasis. Furthermore, evidence presented suggests that the Endozoicomonas spp. present in toheroa and other Aotearoa shellfish are likely to be an important endosymbiont. In the future, studies on remaining toheroa populations should prioritise nutritional health. Namely, what role symbionts play in toheroa nutrition, and how niche requirements shape symbiont community composition and function in toheroa tissues. Answers to these questions could profoundly increase the success of toheroa restoration and conservation efforts.

text: Studies on the health and bacterial symbionts of  toheroa (Paphies ventricosa) Disease outbreaks in marine species can have devastating consequences for host populations, host-associated species assemblages, ecosystem functioning, and for human users of these marine resources. At present, the risk factors associated with disease outbreaks, such as warming and pollution, are increasing. Given the increasing risk of disease outbreaks and the role that parasites play in marine ecosystems, there is a vital need to gain knowledge of marine diseases for species conservation, and the monitoring, management, and forecasting of disease. The field of marine disease ecology is growing, but many facets of our understanding remain in their infancy. Faced with a lack of baseline health data, efforts to combat disease outbreak in the ocean are impeded, even though the future of food security hinges on an ability to source food from the ocean. With a shift towards aquaculture, in particular bivalve aquaculture, knowledge of ambient health of wild and farmed species will dictate both yield, and our ability to protect wild stocks. 
Disease outbreak poses added risk to species that are already in peril. The toheroa (Paphies ventricosa) is a threatened surf clam endemic to Aotearoa (New Zealand). Once bountiful, overharvesting and population collapse put an end to the large-scale fisheries of the early and mid-1900s. The protections enacted on toheroa populations should have ensured their recovery, but recovery has not occurred. Disease has been suggested as one possible explanation. However, without knowledge of disease dynamics in toheroa populations, restorative efforts risk failure, or worse, inflicting further damage. Intracellular microcolonies of bacteria (IMCs) have been linked to numerous shellfish mass mortality events (MMEs) in Aotearoa in recent years, and were first detected in toheroa in 2017. This discovery raised questions regarding the role IMCs might be playing in preventing the recovery of toheroa populations. 
To address this uncertainty, this thesis set out to investigate what pathogens and parasites are present in toheroa, and determine what effect they might be having on toheroa health. A histopathology survey was conducted to gather fundamental baseline health information on toheroa populations across their entire distribution. IMCs were found to be the only potential pathogens of note. Histology data coupled with Bayesian models indicated that the probability of higher IMC intensity was associated with decreased toheroa condition. Using PCR, DNA sequencing, and in situ hybridisation, IMCs were characterised as bacteria in the genus Endozoicomonas. In many marine organisms, Endozoicomonas spp. are cosmopolitan members of associated-bacterial communities, often fulfilling biogeochemical cycling functions in host tissues. In toheroa populations, Endozoicomonas spp. abundance was found to be seasonal, but site specificity indicated habitat characteristics (specifically, the presence of freshwater outflows) might be a significant driver of their abundance. The bacterial community of toheroa was subsequently investigated using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and candidates common to other coastal bivalve molluscs were found to be dominant, including Spirochaetaceae, Mycoplasmataceae, and Endozoicomonadaceae (in order of relative dominance). Freshwater outflows appeared to be such a significant driver of microbiome taxonomic dissimilarity, that specimens collected from sites 1240 km apart hosted more similar bacterial communities than specimens from sites with and without streams on the same beach and within the same region. The key indicator taxa driving microbiome dissimilarity were found to be Endozoicomonas spp. and sulfate-reducing bacteria in the phylum Desulfobacterota. 
Gas bubbles were also observed on the shells of toheroa at the same time that IMCs were first detected. At that stage, temperature and total dissolved gaseous pressure was thought to contribute to their manifestation. To gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, a spatio-temporal survey was conducted which revealed an association of high gas bubble intensity with the austral-autumn/winter and freshwater outflows. A new hypothesis is therefore presented that links gas bubbles to sulfate-reducing bacteria and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), a by-product of anaerobic digestion. Given the apparent influence of freshwater on toheroa intrinsic health, the capacity for streams to deliver pollutants to toheroa beds was assessed. Results gained from inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) suggest that despite the modified nature of adjacent land, streams do not deliver significant loads of bioavailable trace metals to toheroa beds in the intertidal zone. Instead, nutrition in the form of large phytoplankton blooms in autumn/winter is thought to be the primary source of bioavailable trace metals for toheroa.
No observations of significant pathogenesis, associated with Endozoicomonas species, were made throughout this research. Furthermore, during the timeframe of this research (apart from intermittent mortality events reported), there is no evidence of an ongoing disease epidemic in toheroa populations. While not providing evidence for the factor preventing the recovery of toheroa, this research does have implications for the ongoing conservation and management of toheroa. It seems reasonable to assume that infectious disease is not a major factor contributing to the limited recovery of toheroa throughout Aotearoa. Instead, associations made between freshwater outflows, nutrition, and detritus indicate that habitat requirements provided by freshwater streams are having significant effects on toheroa health, survival, and homeostasis. Furthermore, evidence presented suggests that the Endozoicomonas spp. present in toheroa and other Aotearoa shellfish are likely to be an important endosymbiont. In the future, studies on remaining toheroa populations should prioritise nutritional health. Namely, what role symbionts play in toheroa nutrition, and how niche requirements shape symbiont community composition and function in toheroa tissues. Answers to these questions could profoundly increase the success of toheroa restoration and conservation efforts.

year: 2021