Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

In their article, “Rip current related drowning deaths and rescues in Australia 2004–2011”, the authors endeavored to estimate the percent of surf beach rescues and drowning deaths that can be attributed to rip currents. In doing so, they misinterpreted data we of the United States Lifesaving Association provided to them and thus grossly understated the proportion of rescues from drowning at surf beaches in the USA that are primarily attributed to rip currents. While they reported 53.7 %, the numbers actually range from 80 to 90 % according to our data. To understand the bases of their errors, one may first consider a very logical step Brighton et al. took with respect to data they gleaned from Australian rescue statistics. Specifically they note that those rescues, “. . . that were described to be at a location other than a surf beach have been removed for this analysis (n = 198), because the locations are unaffected by rip currents”. Unfortunately, they did not apply a similar vetting with respect to the US data, which also includes non-surf beaches that should be excluded. More significantly, in reviewing the Australian rescue data Brighton et al. found that the majority of the rescue reports do not include a primary cause and thus they excluded them. Ultimately they considered only a small subset which they define as “major” rescues (n = 1246) and for which the reports are more detailed, although even those reports do not appear to reliably include a primary cause. In the US, a significant number of reporting agencies (typically government-funded lifeguard providers) routinely tabulate the cause of rescue, including rip currents, for all rescues. However, some reporting agencies in our data do not. Unfortunately, Brighton et al. included all of the US rescue numbers, without excluding the data from agencies which do not report a primary cause (as they had endeavored to do with Australian data). One of these reporting agencies, for example, consistently reports over 10 000 rescues per year, but does not provide a breakdown of causation. We have reviewed rescue reports contained in United States Lifesaving Association Statistics (2013) for a comparable period (2004 to 2011) to that studied by Brighton et al. (2013) at our surf beaches which reported a primary cause of rescue. Of these (n = 343 246), 81 % were reported as being primarily attributable to rip currents. In some areas of the US, this percentage is higher. For example, an analysis of California State Parks rescue data from 2004 to 2011, which relies on a Scantron system to record each rescue, finds that 85 % had “rip current” as the primary cause. This includes an indeterminate number of rescues at inland beaches without rip currents, which skews the rip current percent downward. Studies of Southern California agencies have found even higher percentages. We wonder why surf beach rescues in Australia would be less likely to be attributable to rip currents than surf beach rescues in the US, or if there may be other vulnerabilities in the data analysis of Brighton et al. that found only a 57.4 % attribution to rip currents in Australia.

Rip currents are the most dangerous hazard at surf beaches. Rip currents in South Florida have previously not been studied. Beach profiles for three Florida beaches (Miami Beach, Lido Beach, Sarasota, and Pensacola Beach) and one Georgia beach (South Cumberland Island) were chosen for surveying because of their variable sand bar heights. Rip current hazard at each beach was assessed by lifeguard rip rescue and drowning statistics. A relationship was found between sand bar height, beach slope and rip current hazard. Rip current measurements in South Florida, which involved utilizing GPS drifters, laser rangefinder and drone-imaged fluorescent tracer dye, showed that the speed ranged from 0.1-0.5 m/s, which is fairly slow compared to such measurements undertaken in California and Australia. The effect of rip currents on swimmers was analyzed based on the drag force acting on swimmers and the power they generate to overcome the currents when swimming against them. The drag force and power increase quadratically and cubically, respectively, with the increase of rip current and swimming speeds. Hence, even rip currents of low velocity can be dangerous and swimming against the current should be avoided if possible. Strong rips in California have been shown to exhibit a circulatory pattern, which could bring a floater back to the safety of a shallow sand bar. Field measurements of rip currents in South Florida clearly defined the flow characteristics of a nearly straight-line current, sometimes deflected to the east-southeast. Therefore, the traditional approach of swimming left or right, parallel to the shore is the best escape strategy, but not against the longshore current if present. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to predict the occurrence of rip currents based on beach conditions. The logistic model showed that wave height, wave period and wind speed were statistically significant factors in rip generation. Rips were found to be most commonly generated by relatively small, non-threatening waves (e.g., 0.6 to 0.9m in height). These physical factors, along with social and safety considerations, pose a significant problem for coastal management.

Leatherman, S.P., 2012. Undertow, rip current, and riptide. Undertow, rip current, and riptide are terms used to describe a variety of currents, all of which have different characteristics. However, much of the general public, news media, and even dictionary definitions confuse and misidentify these potential hazards at surf beaches. Many beachgoers use the terms interchangeably, when in fact they are distinctly different hazards. Furthermore, undertow, rip currents, and riptides occur for different reasons at different locations along the beach. Avoiding each of them and escaping their grip requires different strategies. Three-quarters of a century has passed since this issue was last addressed in the scientific literature, and rip currents are recently receiving much more attention by scientists and the general public because of a steady rate of fatalities, making this a timely issue.

This review assesses the risk of a photic-induced seizure in a child during viewing of 3D (binocular 3 dimensional, stereoscopic) movies or games, either on standard video displays or when wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset. Studies published by pediatric epilepsy experts emphasize the low risk of 3D viewing even for children with known photosensitive epilepsy (PSE). The low incidence of PSE is noteworthy because the number of hours devoted to 2D or 3D screen viewing and/or VR headset use by children worldwide has increased markedly over the last decade. The medical literature does not support the notion that VR headset use poses a risk for PSE.

Growing research has found that exposing patients to forest landscapes through technology improves their health. However, studies on the effects of nature therapy sessions on particularly vulnerable groups that require frequent regular treatment such as patients of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is lacking. This study aims to understand the effects of watching panoramic videos of forest walks through virtual reality (VR) headsets on patients. We also examine the effects of the frequency of virtual exposure to forests on the physiological and psychological parameters of patients undergoing dialysis. Twenty-four dialysis patients with a mean age of 65.11 year underwent a virtual nature intervention over the course of 3 weeks. The intervention consists of 3 numbers of 6-min 360-degree nature videos delivered using VR headsets. We measured heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate (HR) using continuous electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring and assessed their emotional states using a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. The results showed that the initial 6 min of watching of the panoramic videos through VR headsets resulted in significantly reduced HR and sympathetic nerve activity and increased positive emotional responses. However, repeated VR exposure did not further improve the physiological health of the respondents. Considering these results, the use of VR headsets to watch 6-min nature videos indoors can be used to enhance the positive psychological responses among dialysis and bed-ridden patients. As this study is preliminary, future random controlled trials are needed to compare and determine the best dose, content, and delivery methods of such an intervention.

Beaches are one of the most popular recreational settings in most parts of the world. Indeed, marine tourism has been growing consistently in the last two decades. However, beaches are hazardous environments, and thousands of people die or sustain severe injuries while bathing or engaged in searelated recreational activities. Unfortunately, both academics and practitioners have largely overlooked the issue of beach safety and management. This paper presents the results of a research project developed in Southern Brazil -Beach Management and Safety Project, between the periods of 1995 -2001. The results suggest that two contributing factors had a significant part to play in accidents occurrences: 1) there is a clear correlation between the knowledge level of beach users about the natural environment (sea) and accidents and, 2) rip currents are unequivocally the main natural hazard for bathers. Apart from those, the research also identified that the number of people on the beach, and their behavior, also influence beach accidents. As the number of people increases, bathers tend to move to the backshore and surf zone, creating the conditions to for accidents to occur. As a practical result, the most significant one has been the reduction of fatal accidents by 80% since the introduction of the project in Santana Catalina's north beaches (100 Km).

Digital technologies are transforming the way in which composers conceive and efficiently communicate their creative ideas to performers. In this context, the development of virtual reality devices is shaping new compositional and performative affordances. This article focuses on the use of virtual reality headsets for reading digital scores in multimedia contexts through two case studies. First, the author explains the practical reasons leading the composers to incorporate these devices and the technical solutions for their exploitation. Second, and by means of surveys of performers who have taken part in these case studies, some challenging features of multimodal interaction are flagged. A final discussion opens the doors to future collaboration between musicians and the scholarly community.

The article considers the possibility of using virtual and mixed reality in studying the geometry of the crystal lattice in the framework of the course of solid state physics. The application of mixed and virtual reality technologies in the study of various branches of physics is receiving more and more attention. Virtual reality headsets were used in practical and laboratory classes, where students had to create crystal structures and carry out modeling of various processes. When studying complex spatial objects of crystallography, virtual reality technology allowed students to familiarize themselves with the object of study in more detail, understand the structure of crystals and, accordingly, complete the task in a timely manner. At the same time, the prolonged use of virtual reality headsets led to rapid fatigue of students.

This study integrated the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and the four stages of Kolb's learning style-concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conception, and active experimentation to investigate the factors affecting students' behavioral intention to use a virtual reality headset (VRH) in learning. The research model, constructed using structural equation modeling, included the four constructs of the UTAUT, namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating condition. Hypotheses on whether the four stages of Kolb's learning style and the four constructs of the UTAUT significantly affect behavioral intention to use VRHs in learning were proposed and tested through inference analysis. The results show that only the concrete experience stage of Kolb's learning style has a positive and significant effect on users' behavioral intention to use VRHs in learning, whereas all four constructs of the UTAUT do. These findings should be applied by educational institutions to increase VRH use in learning.

Immersing Patients in a Virtual Reality Environment for Brain Mapping During Awake Surgery: Safety Study

Rip currents are the greatest hazard at surf beaches. Beachgoers are often unaware that nearshore currents exist, much less that they can be life threatening. Pro-active beach management needs to be undertaken to reduce the large number of rescues, near-drowning events, and loss of life at U.S. and worldwide beaches.

Globally rip currents are the primary physical hazard facing swimmers on surf beaches. However, beach swimmers also face other hazards such as large waves, tidal influenced currents, and shorebreak waves. The aim of this study was to investigate factors leading to the increased likelihood of surf lifeguard rescues. Rescue data from Surf Life Saving Queensland’s Lifesaving Incident Management System and Operations Console for 54 wave dominated beaches in South–East Queensland, Australia, from July 1st, 2016 to October 6th, 2021 was linked with wind speed and direction, air temperature, phase of tide, wave height and period, beach type, beach hazard rating, and beach swimmer numbers. Stepwise regression was performed to find independent predictors of rescue. There were 8515 rescues, with 3345 (39.3%) females and 5109 (60.0%) males (61 sex not recorded). There were no independent predictors of surf rescue but swimming outside the lifeguard patrol area was nine times more likely to result in rescue than swimming inside the patrol area. Increased rescues were noted at periods of increased rip activity. Rip currents (2992/6523, 45.8%) were the most frequently recorded contributing factor. Rescues occurred most frequently (5902, 69.3%) during the six hours of lower tide levels and during onshore winds (5463, 64.2%). Surf rescues increased with increasing wave height and period, air temperature, and wind speed but decreased as average values for each variable were surpassed. Beaches protected from the prevailing wave direction by headlands had a stronger relationship between rescues and wave height. Beaches adjacent to inlets with tidal flow had a stronger relationship between rescues and the ebb tide. Beach morphology, and hazard rating did not have a relationship with ratio of rescues per 100,000 swimmers. We found no independent predictors for surf rescue, however this study has, for the first time we believe, quantified the increased risk (× 9) posed by swimming outside the patrol area. Open beaches, beaches protected by headlands and beaches with tidal inlets all had different relationships between rescues, tides and wave size. Our findings suggest that lifeguards may need to adopt new approaches to prevent rescues adjacent to the patrol area, as well as a revision of the general hazard rating being required.

Abstract. Rip currents are hazardous, fast-moving seaward flows and remain one of the leading causes of rescues and drownings on surf beaches, yet their automated detection remains a significant challenge due to their amorphous, dynamic morphology and the environmental complexity of the surf zone. This study introduces a novel platform-agnostic deep learning–based framework for automated rip current detection from beach imaging platforms, integrating three core contributions: a diverse new dataset, a rigorous architectural benchmark, and a deployable operational tool. We first present RipAID, a comprehensive dataset enriched with multi-platform imagery and multiple viewing angles to ensure scale-invariant learning. Building on this resource, a systematic evaluation of state-of-the-art architectures demonstrates that geometric fidelity is critical; specifically Oriented Bounding Boxes (OBB) significantly outperform standard axis-aligned methods. Our optimized YOLOv11n-OBB model achieves robust performance (mAP50: 0.927), with inference speeds from 2.4 to 60 FPS on hardware ranging from edge devices to GPU workstations. To bridge the gap between research and practice, and ensure that the results are reusable and reproducible, the framework and model weights have been released as an open-source, containerized module (socib-rip-currents-detection), providing the coastal safety community with a scalable, ready-to-use and standardized tool for continuous, automated rip current monitoring.

Morphodynamic variability of surf zones and beaches: A synthesis

Background: Prehospital pediatric endotracheal intubation (ETI) is rarely performed. Previous research has suggested that pediatric prehospital ETI, when performed by ground advanced life support crews, is associated with poor outcomes. In this study, we aim to evaluate the first-attempt success rate, overall success rate and complications of pediatric prehospital ETI performed by critical care transport (CCT) personnel.Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study in a multi-state CCT service performing rotor wing, ground, and fixed wing missions. We included pediatric patients (<18 years) for whom ETI was performed by CCT personnel (flight nurse or flight paramedic).Our primary outcome of interest was rate of first-attempt ETI. Secondary outcomes were overall rates of successful ETI, complications encountered, and outcomes of patients with unsuccessful intubation.Results: 993 patients were included (63.2% male, median age 12 years, IQR 4–16 years). 807/993 (81.3%) patients were intubated on the first attempt. Lower rates of successful first-attempt intubation were seen in younger ages (42.9% in infants ≤30 days of age). In multivariable logistic regression, lower odds (adjusted odds ratio, 95% confidence interval) of successful first-attempt ETI were associated with ages >30 days to <1 year (0.33, 0.18-0.61) and 2 to <6 years (0.60, 0.39–0.94) compared to patients 12 to <18 years. Patients given an induction agent and neuromuscular blockade (NMB) had a higher odds of first-attempt ETI success (1.53, 1.06–2.15). 13 (1.3%) had immediately recognized esophageal intubation and 33 (3.3%) had vomiting. No episodes of pneumothorax were reported. 962/993 (96.9%) patients were successfully intubated after all attempts. In patients without successful ETI (n = 31), supraglottic airways were used in 24, bag-valve mask ventilation in 5, and surgical cricothyroidotomy in 2, with an overall advanced airway success rate of 988/993 (99.5%).Conclusion: Critical care flight nurses and paramedics performed successful intubations in pediatric patients at a high rate of success. Younger age was associated with lower success rates. Improved ETI training for younger patients and use of an induction agent and NMB may improve airway management in critically ill children.