Musculoskeletal pain in South African wheelchair basketball players of different point classifications

Background: During recent years, wheelchair basketball has gained worldwide popularity. Several studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of injuries amongst wheelchair basketball players. Few studies, however, have investigated the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in the context of different point classifications – an integral part of wheelchair sport.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in wheelchair basketball players of different point classifications in South Africa and to provide information on patterns of pain distribution in relation to point classification.Methods: A questionnaire was completed by 48 wheelchair basketball players participating in the SuperSport League Games of South Africa with point classifications ranging from 1.0 to 4.5. The results were used to determine the patterns of musculoskeletal pain distribution in relation to the different point classifications.Results: Forty-three completed questionnaires were analysed. The prevalence of total musculoskeletal pain was 58% (n=25). Shoulder pain presented the highest overall prevalence, regardless of point classification (n=23; 92% since the start of players’ wheelchair basketball careers and n=19; 76% over the last 12 months). It was found that lower point classification (1.0-2.5) players commonly experienced arm pain since the start of their wheelchair basketball careers (ƞ=0.358), as well as specifically over the last 12 months (ƞ=0.319), unlike higher point classification (3.0-4.5) players.Discussion: The study contextualises the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain to overall point classification in wheelchair basketball. Such data are important in the formation of injury prevention strategies, as athletes with impairments are predisposed to different types of musculoskeletal pain based on point classification. Keywords: physical activity, athletes with impairments, prevalence, injury preventio

Experiências da prática profissional na reabilitação: análise de um grupo de foco

O objetivo desta investigação foi reconhecer as perceções dos múltiplos intervenientes acerca dos problemas encontrados nos processos de reabilitação do património habitacional. Os dados foram recolhidos através de um inquérito orientado para um grupo de foco. O estudo contou com um total de 108 participantes, incluindo arquitetos, engenheiros, construtores e técnicos de construção e restauro e potenciais promotores. Os dados foram analisados com recurso a métodos de investigação qualitativa, nomeadamente análises temáticas e de conteúdo. Os resultados demonstram que os principais problemas identificados estão relacionados com a informação, com o fator económico, com a perceção social e a qualificação dos intervenientes. Foi também possível identificar aspetos positivos no processo, nomeadamente a motivação encontrada em participar na valorização do carácter dos lugares, mas também um maior reconhecimento dos contributos das técnicas tradicionais para a sustentabilidade. Os resultados demonstram que, para que as boas práticas de reabilitação sejam aplicadas de modo efetivo, é necessário melhorar a transmissão dessa informação para a prática profissional, criando ferramentas que permitam apoiar a tomada de decisão ponderada, considerando um leque mais abrangente de critérios para além do económico (como o impacte ambiental, a saúde dos ocupantes, ou o valor patrimonial).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Flat Dielectric Grating Reflectors with High Focusing Power

Sub-wavelength dielectric gratings (SWG) have emerged recently as a promising alternative to distributed-Bragg-reflection (DBR) dielectric stacks for broadband, high-reflectivity filtering applications. A SWG structure composed of a single dielectric layer with the appropriate patterning can sometimes perform as well as thirty or forty dielectric DBR layers, while providing new functionalities such as polarization control and near-field amplification. In this paper, we introduce a remarkable property of grating mirrors that cannot be realized by their DBR counterpart: we show that a non-periodic patterning of the grating surface can give full control over the phase front of reflected light while maintaining a high reflectivity. This new feature of dielectric gratings could have a substantial impact on a number of applications that depend on low-cost, compact optical components, from laser cavities to CD/DVD read/write heads.Comment: submitted to Nature Photonic

Screening of Solid Waste as Filler Material for Constructed Wetlands

The reuse of solid waste can contribute to reducing Earth’s resource depletion, directly through use in the original production processes or by valorisation in alternative applications. In the present work, ten solid wastes were evaluated as candidates for filling material in constructed wetlands (CWs). For that purpose, physical characterization, leaching and adsorptiontests were conducted. Limestone fragments and brick fragments resulting from construction activities, coal slags resulting from power plants, snail shells resulting from the food and catering industry, and cork granulates resulting from the cork industry have potential for use as CW fillers. These five materials have adequate physical properties and some capacity to adsorb phosphorous and organic compounds from wastewater. On the other hand, crushed eggshells resulting from egg farms, dealcoholized grape pomaces resulting from alcohol distilleries, olive seeds waste from olive-oil mills, and pine bark fragments and wood pellets resulting from forestry cleaning activities, wood mills and pulp mills did not demonstrate sufficient potential to be used as CW fillers, either because they have very low adsorption capacities or leach compounds in contact with water, or because they have less adequate physical properties. None of the tested solid wastes showed the ability to adsorb nitrogen compounds. Although the five selected materials do not present a special capability for adsorption of nitrogen, phosphorous and organic compounds, they can all be valued as CW fillers, representing a way to reduce the amount of solid waste sent to landfills.This work was supported by Program FEDER, ref. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-023314, project VALORBIO. The authors acknowledge the collaboration of the Lab.IPT staff and the assistance of students of chemical and environmental technology courses held at Instituto Politécnico de Tomar. Special thanks to Alcino Serras, Ana Alves, Isabel Silva, Joel Nunes and Nuno Graça.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bioenergy routes for valorizing constructed wetland vegetation: An overview

Valorizing constructed wetlands vegetation into biofuels can be a way to contribute to mitigating the increasing energy demand, avoiding the use of arable land, freshwater, and fertilizers consumption, while simultaneously treating wastewater with eco-friendly technology. This work shortly overviews the main genera of wetland plants and the main routes of vegetal biomass conversion into biofuels including biochemical and thermochemical processes, and through a cross-search, in the Scopus database, the research intensity in bioenergy application for each genus was assessed. A total of 283 genera of wetland plants were identified and classified into five groups, from very common to very rare genera. The very common group includes 10 genera and contributes to 62% of the literature hits, while the 147 genera classified as very rare contribute to only 3% of the hits. Concerning the bioenergy applications, four genera stand out from the remaining. The plants of the genus Sorghum are the most referred to in bioenergy applications, followed by the genera Brassica, Miscanthus, and Saccharum. Miscanthus is a less common wetland plant, while the other genera are rarely applied in constructed wetlands. The relevance of bioenergy routes depends on the plants' group. For common wetland plants, the most relevant applications are biogas production, followed by bio-ethanol production, and pyrolysis processing. As a recommendation for future research works the genera with high energy potential should be evaluated as wetland vegetation, and it is recommended that the goal to recover wetland vegetation for bioenergy applications be viewed as an integral step of the design and implementation of constructed wetlands facilities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainable Production of Reclaimed Water by Constructed Wetlands for Combined Irrigation and Microalgae Cultivation Applications

Considering the increasing pressure on freshwater resources due to the constant increase in water consumption and insufficient wastewater control and treatment, recovering waste water is a path to overcoming water scarcity. The present work describes the potential of reusing treated wastewater (reclaimed water) for irrigation and production of microalgae biomass in an integrated way, through experimental evaluation of plant and microalgae growth, and creation of an application model. First, two parallel experiments were conducted to evaluate the use of reclaimed water produced by a constructed wetland filled with a mix of solid waste: the irrigation of a set of small pots filled with soil and planted with Tagetes patula L., and the cultivation of microalgae Chlorella sp.and a mixed microalgae population with predominant species of the genus Scenedesmus sp. in shaken flasks and tubular bubble column photobioreactors. Results indicated no negative effects of using the reclaimed water on the irrigated plants and in the cultivated microalgae. The growth indicators of plants irrigated with reclaimed water were not significantly different from plants irrigated with fertilized water. The growth indicators of the microalgae cultivated with reclaimed water are within the range of published data. Second, to apply the results to a case study, the seasonal variability of irrigation needs in an academic campus was used to propose a conceptual model for wastewater recovery. The simulation results of the model point to a positive combination of using reclaimed water for the irrigation of green spaces and microalgae production, supported by a water storage strategy. Water abstraction for irrigation purposes can be reduced by 89%, and 2074 kg dry weight microalgae biomass can be produced annually. Besides the need for future work to optimize the model and to add economical evaluation criteria, the model shows the potential to be applied to non-academic communities in the perspective of smarter and greener cities.The authors acknowledge the support from the Smart Cities Research Center(Ci2), from the Laboratory of Bioenergy and Applied Biotechnology (Biotec.IPT), and from the staff of the Lab.IPT. The work of Carolina Masseno, an exchange student from Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brasil, and the help of Orlando Fonseca is also acknowledged.N/Ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fair and optimistic quantum contract signing

We present a fair and optimistic quantum contract signing protocol between two clients that requires no communication with the third trusted party during the exchange phase. We discuss its fairness and show that it is possible to design such a protocol for which the probability of a dishonest client to cheat becomes negligible, and scales as N^{-1/2}, where N is the number of messages exchanged between the clients. Our protocol is not based on the exchange of signed messages: its fairness is based on the laws of quantum mechanics. Thus, it is abuse-free, and the clients do not have to generate new keys for each message during the Exchange phase. We discuss a real-life scenario when the measurement errors and qubit state corruption due to noisy channels occur and argue that for real, good enough measurement apparatus and transmission channels, our protocol would still be fair. Our protocol could be implemented by today's technology, as it requires in essence the same type of apparatus as the one needed for BB84 cryptographic protocol. Finally, we briefly discuss two alternative versions of the protocol, one that uses only two states (based on B92 protocol) and the other that uses entangled pairs, and show that it is possible to generalize our protocol to an arbitrary number of clients.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Survey to architects: challenges to inspection and diagnosis in historical residential buildings

Using a web query among architects (n=57), we could identify the main obstacles found in the application of inspection and diagnosis procedures in historical residential buildings.  The results revealed that these procedures are not yet uniformly applied in this built heritage and pointed out the need to develop simplified methodologies and less resource-consuming methodologies, to ensure their applicability.The authors would like to acknowledge the support granted by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), in the scope of the Doctoral Program Eco-Construction and Rehabilitation (EcoCoRe), to the PhD scholarship with the reference PD/BD/127853/2016 that was fundamental for the development of this study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Carbon (CI) and energy intensity (EI) dataset for retail stores

Transparency data associated with this article can be found in the online version at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.10.080This data article presents data collected from the 250 highest revenue retailers around the world, assessed according to publicly available data from the fiscal year 2016, in order to determine retailer?s overall carbon intensity (CI) and energy intensity (EI). Data collection included additional variables such as retailers? revenue rank, operational typology, number of stores, store sales area and number of workers. CI and EI benchmarks were calculated for food and non-food retailers, applying the statistic function first quartile (Q1) for the best practice, second (Q2) and third (Q3) quartiles for conventional practice and fourth quartile (Q4) for worst practice. Correlations were tested between the variables "EI", "CI" and "retailer revenue", applying the statistic function CORREL. Finally, a cluster analysis was performed for food and non-food retailers, to identify possible segmentation patterns between the variables ?EI?, ?CI? and ?retailer revenue?. The information provided in this data article is useful for furthering research developments on the influence of isolated variables on retail EI and CI and in assisting retailers, architects, engineers, and policy makers in establishing optimal energy performance goals for the design and operation of retail stores. For further data interpretation and discussion, see the article ?Combined carbon and energy intensity benchmarks for sustainable retail stores?[1], of the same authors.This work was supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia [grant number PD/BD/127852/2016] under the Doctoral Program EcoCoRe - Eco-Construction and Rehabilitation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio