KINEMATICAL AND DYNAMICAL ANALYSIS OF LONG JUMP TAKE-OFF: A FOUR CASES STUDY

INTRODUCTION-The take-off is one of. the most important phases of the long jump. Once there is no available knowledge on kinematic vs. dynamic relationships on the take-of, the purposes of this study were: (i) to analyse the biomechanical variations that occur at take-off; (ii) to establish relationships between kinematic and dynamic variables; (iii) to verify which of the moments of the take-off is more important to the production of the vertical velocity as well as the best result. METHODS~ Subjects for this 4-casesstudy research were well trained jumpers. Each athlete performed 6 trials, all videotaped (JVC-SVHS) in the sagitai plane for kinematical analysis (50 Hz). Simultaneously, dynamic analysis was performed through a Kistler 9218 B force plate (250 Hz). The kinematic parameters studied were: (i) resulting velocity of the center mass (VCM); (ii) horizontal velocity of the center mass (Vx); (iii) vertical velocity of the center mass (Vy); (iv) horizontal velocity of the lead leg knee (VeIK); (v) horizontal velocity of the touchdown foot (VeITd); (vi) loss of horizontal velocity (LVx); (vii) gain of vertical velocity (GVy); (viii) center mass / heel angle in the instants of touchdown and take-off (AngCM-he); (ix) knee angle (AngK); (x) support time (ST); (xi) touchdown distance (TdD); (xii) take-off angle (AngT). The described velocities and angles were determined in the following instants: (i) touchdown; (ii) maximum knee flexion and (iii) take off. The dynamical parameters studied were: fi) vertical impulse (Iz): (ii) maximum vertical force (Fzmax): (iii) time course to achieve maximum vertical force (lH/Fz max); (iv) passive impulse (lzPass}: (v) time course of the passive impulse (lHPass); (vi) active impulse (lzAct); (vii) time course of the active impulse (ßTAct); (viii) horizontal anterior posterior impulse (Iy); (ix) horizontal lateral impulse (Ix) RESULTS-The main results of this study showed that, in all cases, the major loss of the Vx and the major gain of the Vy were observed between the touchdown and the maximum knee flexion We also noticed that the knee of the lead leg has its maximum velocity at the moment of the maximum knee flexion for all subjects. This variables contribute significantly, in all cases, to the increase of the AngK in the take-off instant (psO.05), which is theoretically advantageous to the performance. One other finding was that when the values for AngCM-he in the touchdown and take-off instants were out of the theoretical limits defined by Fischer (1975), a reduced performance was observed. The observation of results also showed: (i) a increased Fzmax was always related with a higher jump length, with a higher % IZPass / IzAct, with a reduction both on ßTAct and ST, despite the correlation analysis did not always provide significant r values. CONCLUSIONS-Long jumpers should pay a special attention to the phase between the touchdown and the maximum knee flexion, where the main production of Vy occurs. There, a reduclion on ST during the take-off should be searched. Attention should also be paid to the values of the AngCM-he during the touchdown. REFERENCES Fischer, R. (1975). Weitsprung. Biomechanische untersuchungen am schweizerischen weitsprungkader mittels filmanalyse und messugen mir der mehrkomponenrenmessplattform. Diplamarbeil in biomechanik, ETH, Zurich

Study of Freezing and Defrosting Effects on Complex Permittivity of Biological Tissues

In this letter we study the effect of freezing and defrosting on the dielectric properties of biological tissues. The electromagnetic characterization of tissues at microwave frequencies is crucial for the development of microwave-based biomedical devices. These measurements are often not practical, as tissue degradation restricts the time available between tissue excision and dielectric measurements. For this reason, measurement of tissues that underwent freezing and defrosting may provide researchers with more flexibility in setting measurement campaigns, thus speeding up the development of microwave-based biomedical devices. To this end, this letter presents dielectric measurement on frozen and defrosted tissue, which translates into the following objectives: first, investigate if the dielectric properties of defrosted tissues depend on frozen storage time; second, determine if defrosted tissue dielectric properties differ from those of fresh tissues. As a result, we measure the dielectric properties of ten samples of chicken muscle, bovine liver, and bovine fat, each before and after freezing (up to 14 days) and defrosting. The measurements are performed with the open-ended coaxial probe method at the frequency band of 0.5–8.5 GHz. We observe a slight increase—less than 10%—in complex permittivity of high-water-content tissues (muscle and liver) after defrosting, and negligible effect on fat tissues.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Efeito da cobertura de tela e do dossel da cultura na radiação solar incidente em videiras.

A região de Jales é uma das principais produtoras de uvas de mesa do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. A cultura da videira na região é conduzida, normalmente, no sistema de latada e coberta com tela plástica para a proteção contra a ocorrência de granizo e o ataque de morcegos e pássaros. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo determinar o efeito do uso da tela e do dossel da cultura nos valores da radiação solar global incidente. As avaliações foram realizadas na Estação Experimental de Viticultura Tropical da Embrapa Uva e Vinho, em Jales, SP (20°16´S, 50°33´W e 483 m), utilizando-se uma parreira coberta com tela plástica de polietileno com sombreamento nominal de 18%. Foram empregados dois piranômetros. sendo um instalado a céu aberto e outro no interior da parreira, conectados a dois sistemas automáticos de aquisição de dados, com registros efetuados a cada 15 minutos. Os valores da radiação solar global sob a tela plástica (Rst) foram, em média, 20% menores dos observados a céu aberto (Rsc), valor semelhante ao sombreamento nominal apresentado pela tela (18%). A radiação solar global abaixo do dossel da cultura (Rsd). variou de 68% da Rsc, logo após a poda, até 19% da Rsc,. no período da colheita. A redução da radiação solar incidente devido ao uso de tela plástica e ao sistema de condução adotado na região pode afetar, diretamente, as taxas do transpiração e fotossíntese e a evaporação da água livre das folhas e frutos.Editado por: Celito Crivellaro Guerra e Sandra de Souza Sebben. Na capa: CONGRESSO BRASILEIRO DE VITICULTURA E ENOLOGIA, 11.; SEMINÁRIO FRANCO-BRASILEIRO DE VITICULTURA E ENOLOGIA, 2. Bento Gonçalves, 2005

Development of a Transmission-Based Open-Ended Coaxial-Probe Suitable for Axillary Lymph Node Dielectric Measurements

We assess the feasibility of a transmission-based open-ended coaxial-probe for tissue dielectric properties estimation. The ultimate goal is to use it for axillary lymph node dielectric measurement, which is not trivial when applying the state-of-the-art reflection-based open-ended coaxial-probe. The proposed technique consists in placing the material under test between two opposite open-ended coaxial-probes and record the transmission coefficient. We numerically assess three coaxial probe configurations, in order to ensure adequate transmission and sensing volume. The final setup allows for enough propagation through a 5mm sample (which will be sufficient for the measurements of axillary lymph nodes), while confining the sensing volume to the region of interest. Experimental tests on two materials of different permittivity ranges showed good agreement between the measured and numerical transmission coefficient. Moreover, we observed that the transmission coefficient can highlight the contrast between materials with different dielectric properties. The promising initial results motivate the further application of the method to the case of axillary lymph nodes.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Comparison of some theoretical models for fittings of the temperature dependence of the fundamental energy gap in GaAs

In this work we report on a comparison of some theoretical models usually used to fit the dependence on temperature of the fundamental energy gap of semiconductor materials. We used in our investigations the theoretical models of Viña, Pässler-p and Pässler-ρ to fit several sets of experimental data, available in the literature for the energy gap of GaAs in the temperature range from 12 to 974 K. Performing several fittings for different values of the upper limit of the analyzed temperature range (Tmax), we were able to follow in a systematic way the evolution of the fitting parameters up to the limit of high temperatures and make a comparison between the zero-point values obtained from the different models by extrapolating the linear dependence of the gaps at high T to T = 0 K and that determined by the dependence of the gap on isotope mass. Using experimental data measured by absorption spectroscopy, we observed the non-linear behavior of Eg(T) of GaAs for T > ΘD.Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)CNP