Wenming Liu

Background: Advancements in sports materials have led to the creation of innovative fabrics aimed at enhancing athletic performance and reducing the risk of sports-related injuries. Graphene-based composite fibers, with superior far-infrared (FIR) emissivity, are emerging as a promising material in sportswear. This study explores the effects of graphene-based FIR compression garments on aerobic exercise capacity. Results: A total of 15 healthy, recreationally active male university students (aged 18–25 years) participated in this double-blind, randomized crossover trial. Each participant completed two incremental treadmill tests while wearing either graphene-based FIR compression garments or control garments, with a 7-day washout period between sessions. Results showed significantly longer exercise durations (38.4 s, p < 0.001) and extended time to anaerobic threshold (37.7 s, p < 0.001) in those wearing graphene-based FIR garments compared to those wearing control garments. The maximum heart rate was significantly lower in the graphene group (198.8 ± 7.8 bpm vs. 200.3 ± 7.5 bpm, p < 0.05), with reduced heart rates at the same exercise intensity (176.9 ± 8 bpm vs. 179.8 ± 7.8 bpm, p < 0.05). No significant differences in Maximal Oxygen Uptake (VO2max) were observed between the two groups. Conclusions: Graphene-based FIR compression garments significantly enhance aerobic performance by improving endurance, likely due to improved peripheral blood circulation and reduced cardiac load. These findings highlight the potential of graphene-based fibers as a disruptive innovation in sportswear. Further research with larger sample sizes is warranted to fully explore their benefits.

Classifying sports videos is complex due to their dynamic nature. Traditional methods, like optical flow and the Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG), are limited by their need for expertise and lack of universality. Deep learning, particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), offers more effective feature recognition in sports videos, but standard CNNs struggle with fast-paced or low-resolution sports videos. Our novel neural network model addresses these challenges. It begins by selecting important frames from sports footage and applying a fuzzy noise reduction algorithm to enhance video quality. The model then uses a bifurcated neural network to extract detailed features, leading to a densely connected neural network with a specific activation function for categorizing videos. We tested our model on a High-Definition Sports Video Dataset covering over 20 sports and a low-resolution dataset. Our model outperformed established classifiers like DenseNet, VggNet, Inception v3, and ResNet-50. It achieved high precision (0.9718), accuracy (0.9804), F-score (0.9761), and recall (0.9723) on the high-resolution dataset, and significantly better precision (0.8725) on the low-resolution dataset. Correspondingly, the highest values on the matrix of four traditional models are: precision (0.9690), accuracy (0.9781), F-score (0.9670), recall (0.9681) on the high-resolution dataset, and precision (0.8627) on the low-resolution dataset. This demonstrates our model’s superior performance in sports video classification under various conditions, including rapid motion and low resolution. It marks a significant step forward in sports data analytics and content categorization.

Table tennis involves quick and accurate motor responses during training and competition. Multiple studies have reported considerably faster visuomotor responses and expertise-related intrinsic brain activity changes among table tennis players compared with matched controls. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we performed static and dynamic resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) analyses of 20 table tennis players and 21 control subjects using 7T ultra-high field imaging. We calculated the static and dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of the two groups. The results revealed that table tennis players exhibited decreased static ALFF in the left inferior temporal gyrus (lITG) compared with the control group. Voxel-wised static functional connectivity (sFC) and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) analyses using lITG as the seed region afforded complementary and overlapping results. The table tennis players exhibited decreased sFC in the right middle temporal gyrus and left inferior parietal gyrus. Conversely, they displayed increased dFC from the lITG to prefrontal cortex, particularly the left middle frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus-medial, and left superior frontal gyrus-dorsolateral. These findings suggest that table tennis players demonstrate altered visuomotor transformation and executive function pathways. Both pathways involve the lITG, which is a vital node in the ventral visual stream. These static and dynamic analyses provide complementary and overlapping results, which may help us better understand the neural mechanisms underlying the changes in intrinsic brain activity and network organization induced by long-term table tennis skill training.

Badminton tactics refer to the techniques and strategies employed by players to win a match. Analyzing these tactics can help players improve their performance and outsmart their opponents. To study the tactics of top players, we use a gaming tree to analyze matches between two of the most powerful badminton players in history: Lin and Lee. By employing the Nash Equilibrium, we can discover the most beneficial strategies for both players, which reflect their most powerful techniques. Additionally, with the help of this gaming tree, we can precisely predict how players will implement their tactics. Empirical experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method not only evaluates and identifies each player’s weaknesses and strengths but also has powerful capabilities to predict their tactics.

Badminton tactics refer to the techniques and strategies employed by players to win a match. Analyzing these tactics can help players improve their performance and outsmart their opponents. To study the tactics of top players, we use a gaming tree to analyze matches between two of the most powerful badminton players in history: Lin and Lee. By employing the Nash Equilibrium, we can discover the most beneficial strategies for both players, which reflect their most powerful techniques. Additionally, with the help of this gaming tree, we can precisely predict how players will implement their tactics. Empirical experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method not only evaluates and identifies each player's weaknesses and strengths but also has powerful capabilities to predict their tactics.

Far-infrared (FIR) is considered to be an ideal method to promote fatigue recovery due to its high permeability and strong radiation. In this paper, we report a flexible and wearable graphene heating device to help fatigue recovery of human exercise by using its high FIR divergence property. This study compares two different fatigue recovery methods, graphene far-infrared heating device hot application and natural recovery, over a 20 min recovery time among the male colleges’ exhaustion exercise. Experimental results show that the achieved graphene device holds excellent electro-thermal radiation conversion efficiency of 70% and normal total emissivity of 89%. Moreover, the graphene FIR therapy in our work is more energy-efficient, easy to use, and wearable than traditional fatigue recovery methods. Such an anti-fatigue strategy offers new opportunities for enlarging potential applications of graphene film in body science, athletic training recovery, and wearable devices.