Healthy lifestyle: relationship between mediterranean diet, body composition and physical fitness in 13 to 16-years old icelandic students

Childhood and adolescent obesity are currently among the greatest challenges for public health. Physical activity, physical fitness, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), representing powerful indicators of healthy lifestyles, are shown as determinant factors in the prevention and treatment of obesity. The aim of the present study has been to analyse the relationship between health-related physical fitness components, body composition, and adherence to MD in 387 Icelandic adolescents of 13–16-years old (54% boys). The ALPHA Fitness Test was used to measure physical fitness and body composition. The KIDMED questionnaire was used to assess the adherence to MD among participants. Associations between variables were tested according to gender and age using linear regression models and analysis of variance. Participants with high/medium adherence to MD showed significantly higher endurance scores in both the boys and the girls. Gender differences were found. The boys in high/medium MD categories had significantly lower fat percentages and ran a 4 × 10 m sprint faster than the girls. The girls scored higher than the boys in endurance and speed-agility tests. It can be concluded that a high and medium adherence to MD is associated with high and very high endurance in both the girls and the boys

Time-power-energy balance of BLAS kernels in modern FPGAs

Conference proceedings 2022High Performance Computing. 9th Latin American Conference, CARLA 2022, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 26-30 sep 2022, Revised Selected Papers.Numerical Linear Algebra (NLA) is a research field that in the last decades has been characterized by the use of kernel libraries that are de facto standards. One of the most remarkable examples, in particular in the HPC field, is the Basic Linear Algebra Subroutines (BLAS). Most BLAS operations are fundamental in multiple scientific algorithms because they generally constitute the most computationally expensive stage. For this reason, numerous efforts have been made to optimize such operations on various hardware platforms. There is a growing concern in the high-performance computing world about power consumption, making energy efficiency an extremely important quality when evaluating hardware platforms. Due to their greater energy efficiency, Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are available today as an interesting alternative to other hardware platforms for the acceleration of this type of operation. Our study focuses on the evaluation of FPGAs to address dense NLA operations. Specifically, in this work we explore and evaluate the available options for two of the most representative kernels of BLAS, i.e. GEMV and GEMM. The experimental evaluation is carried out in an Alveo U50 accelerator card from Xilinx and an Intel Xeon Silver multicore CPU. Our findings show that even in kernels where the CPU reaches better runtimes, the FPGA counterpart is more energy efficient.Los investigadores contaron con el apoyo de la Universidad de la República y el PEDECIBA.Se agradece a la ANII – MPG Independent Research Groups : “Efficient Hetergenous Computing” - CSC grou

Early Miocene evolution of the rodent Megacricetodon in Europe and its palaeobiogeographical implications

Received 20 June 2014, accepted 15 September 2014, available online 23 October 2014The Megacricetodon material from Aliveri (Isle of Evia, Greece) was previously assigned to M. primitivus, implying palaeobiogeographical relationship between south-eastern and south-western Europe. The material from Aliveri is here assigned to the new species Megacricetodon hellenicus sp. nov. This form has significant morphological differences compared to other Early Miocene species from Europe. This new evolutionary hypothesis of this genus has implications on the Early Miocene paleobiogeography of Europe. This work presents a new interpretation on the earliest European representative of the genus Megacricetodon from Aliveri localities. Analyses of the Megacricetodon material from MN 4 and MN 5 localities enable to propose a new palaeobiogeographical framework in which there are three main migration events of the genus Megacricetodon into Europe, each corresponding to different lineages that evolved independently. The new Greek taxon is considered the first migration wave from Anatolia, representing an endemic lineage different from any other European Megacricetodon.This research was supported by the Spanish MINECO Project No. GL-2008-04200/BTE and CGL2011-28877Peer reviewe

Sequías en Chile central a partir de diferentes índices en el período 1981-2010

The different dimensions of meteorological drought in central Chile in order to characterize their occurrence at multiple time scales and find evidence of variability and change in frequency are analyzed. For that, there are 27 meteorological stations at daily resolution arranged, which allow the identification of dry periods under the threshold of 0.1 mm. Besides establishing dry spells and its persistence (using the Besson index), the standard precipitation index (SPI) was applied to determine the internanual varibilidad of drought, precisely in a region with semiarid and Mediterranean climate. The results show greater persistence of dry days in the region of Valparaíso, which is consistent with the length of dry spells in many cases exceeding 22 days a year. The event La Niña in the winter of 1998 caused the longest streak of dry days of the rainy trimester (67 days), totaling 86 days without rain. However, it has not been able to prove their variability and changes in frequency.Se analizan las diferentes dimensiones de la sequía meteorológica en Chile central con el propósito de caracterizar su ocurrencia a múltiples escalas temporales y encontrar indicios de cambio en su variabilidad y frecuencia. Para ello se ha dispuesto de 27 estaciones meteorológicas a resolución diaria, las cuales permiten identificar períodos secos bajo el umbral 0,1 mm. Además de establecer las rachas de sequías y su persistencia (mediante el índice de Besson), se aplicó el índice estándar de precipitación (SPI) para conocer la varibilidad internanual de la sequía, justamente en una región de clima semiárido y mediterráneo. Los resultados indican mayor persistencia de días secos en la región de Valparaíso, lo cual es consistente con la longitud de las rachas de sequía, en muchos casos superior a 22 días al año. El evento La Niña en el invierno de 1998 provocó la mayor racha de días secos del trimestre lluvioso (67 días), sumando en total 86 días sin lluvia. No obstante, no se ha podido probar cambios en su variabilidad y frecuencia

Probing the Protosolar Disk Using Dust Filtering at Gaps in the Early Solar System

Jupiter and Saturn formed early, before the gas disk dispersed. The presence of gap-opening planets affects the dynamics of the gas and embedded solids and halts the inward drift of grains above a certain size. A drift barrier can explain the absence of calcium aluminium rich inclusions (CAIs) in chondrites originating from parent bodies that accreted in the inner solar system. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, we use a $\mu$-X-Ray-fluorescence scanner to search for large CAIs and a scanning electron microscope to search for small CAIs in the ordinary chondrite NWA 5697. We carry out long-term, two-dimensional simulations including gas, dust, and planets to characterize the transport of grains within the viscous $\alpha$-disk framework exploring the scenarios of a stand-alone Jupiter, Jupiter and Saturn \textit{in situ}, or Jupiter and Saturn in a 3:2 resonance. In each case, we find a critical grain size above which drift is halted as a function of the physical conditions in the disk. From the laboratory search we find four CAIs with a largest size of $\approx$200$\,\mu$m. \Combining models and data, we provide an estimate for the upper limit of the $\alpha$-viscosity and the surface density at the location of Jupiter, using reasonable assumptions about the stellar accretion rate during inward transport of CAIs, and assuming angular momentum transport to happen exclusively through viscous effects. Moreover, we find that the compound gap structure in the presence of Saturn in a 3:2 resonance favors inward transport of grains larger than CAIs currently detected in ordinary chondrites.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, updated to match published version in Astrophysical Journa

Why Are Some Population Interventions for Diet and Obesity More Equitable and Effective Than Others? The Role of Individual Agency.

Jean Adams and colleagues argue that population interventions that require individuals to use a low level of agency to benefit are likely to be most effective and most equitable.his work was undertaken by the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Funding for CEDAR from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. The CEDAR grant is managed by the Medical Research Council (grant code MR/K023187/1) and the principal applicant is Prof NJ Wareham (who is not an author on this paper). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLOS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001990

Liberalising agricultural policy for sugar in Europe risks damaging public health.

Concerns about the health effects of dietary sugars have recently taken centre stage, reflecting an emerging understanding of the importance of sugars, and particularly sugary drinks, in the development of obesity and diabetes.1-4 Recent research estimates consumption of sugar sweetened beverages will cause about 80,000 excess cases of type 2 diabetes in the UK over 10 years. In early 2015, the World Health Organization recommended intake of free sugars should be less than 10% of daily calories, and preferably below 5%. In July, the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition halved its recommendation for free sugars to no more than 5% of daily caloriesThis work was undertaken by the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR, MR/K023187/1), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. EKA was also supported by Fulbright-Schuman grant and a Harvard Knox Fellowship from Harvard University

Axel: A Minimalist Tethered Rover for Exploration of Extreme Planetary Terrains

Recent scientific findings suggest that some of the most interesting sites for future exploration of planetary surfaces lie in terrains that are currently inaccessible to conventional robotic rovers. To provide robust and flexible access to these terrains, we have been developing Axel, the robotic rover. Axel is a lightweight two-wheeled vehicle that can access steep terrains and negotiate relatively large obstacles because of its actively managed tether and novel wheel design. This article reviews the Axel system and focuses on those system components that affect Axel's steep terrain mobility. Experimental demonstrations of Axel on sloped and rocky terrains are presented

Introducing Texture: An Open Source WYSIWYG Javascript Editor for JATS

Texture is a WYSIWYG editor app that allows users to turn raw content into structured content, and add as much semantic information as needed for the production of scientific publications. Texture is open source software built on top of Substance (http://substance.io), an advanced Javascript content authoring library. While the Substance library is format agnostic, the Texture editor uses JATS XML as a native exchange format. The Substance library that Texture is built on already supports real-time collaborative authoring, and the easy-to-use WYSIWYG interface would make Texture an attractive alternative to Google Docs. For some editors, the interface could be toggled to more closely resemble a professional XML suite, allowing a user to pop out a raw attribute editor for any given element. Textureauthored documents could then be brought into the journal management system directly, skipping the conversion step, and move straight into a document-centric publishing workflow. &nbsp