Biomechanical responses to water fitness programmes: a narrative review

In the past years, there was an increasing interest in the biomechanical responses in water fitness sessions. The present review consolidates the current “state-of-art” on the biomechanical responses in water fitness programmes. The literature was searched and screened studies on: (i) healthy subjects; and (ii) water fitness sessions and programmes reporting physical condition outcomes. A total of 36 studies met the inclusion criteria and categorized into four categories: (i) kinematics (n = 5); (ii) ground reaction force (n = 10); (iii) neuromuscular (n = 8); and (iv) strength (n = 14). There was a larger amount of evidence on strength, whereas some gaps in the body of knowledge still persist in the remaining categories. The existent studies cover a large range of age brackets (from young adults to the elderly). Women were recruited more often than men to be part of the studies. The effect of music cadence, body segments, exercise type (e.g., alternated or simultaneous), water depth, resistance equipment, and training protocols were the main topics under research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fire resistance tests on concrete columns

The reinforced concrete elements are known to have enhanced fire behaviour however there are many things that can affect that performance. In the last years there have been carried out, in the University of Coimbra, Portugal, dozens of fire resistance tests on concrete columns where it was tested the influence of various parameters on the behaviour of these columns. Several parameters that might have influence on the behaviour of concrete columns in fire, were tested: cross section shape (round and square), longitudinal reinforcement ratio, slenderness of the column, stiffness of the surrounding structure (restraint level), load level and the load eccentricity. The restraining level to the thermal elongation of the columns showed not being a relevant parameter in their fire resistance probably due the increase in rotational restrain associated with the increase in the axial restraint. The first increases the fire resistance while the second reduces. The increasing of the load level lead to a reduction, while the increasing of the longitudinal reinforcement ratio or the decreasing of the slenderness of the columns lead to an increasing of the fire resistance. The spalling was also an aspect analysed in these tests. The higher load levels, the shape of the cross-section, the type of concrete with or without steel and / or polypropylene fibres, and the steel reinforcement ration was parameters that showed to have influence on concrete cracking and spalling

Gathering and managing complementary diagnostic tests

Personal health information is constituted in its greatest part by complementary diagnostic tests which are an important medical aid. This information is generated dispersedly because the patient seeks medical care in many different places over his lifetime. Access to a comprehensive set of a patient’s health information is a challenge. It revolves around the patient so any managing scheme must be patient-centric. We took a pragmatic approach to this problem and developed a software standalone platform for secure personal health information storage, namely complementary diagnostic tests, on a portable device for mobility. Simplicity and ease of use were main objectives. A special attention was given to the security aspects associated with storing this kind of information

Characterization of polyester with fiberglass materials as reinforcement in interior dividing walls

Some synthetic fibers present better mechanical performance compared with the natural fibers. Therefor research works were carried out to focus the characterization of polyester and glass fibers to be used as reinforcements in the internal dividing walls. Results from polyester fabrics made of compression with or without fiberglass were obtained

Modelling a portable personal health record

Active and responsible involvement of patients in their own health is accepted as an important contribution towards an increased quality of health services in general. Management of Personal Health Information by the patient can play an important role in the improvement in quality of the information available to health care professionals and as a means of patient involvement. Electronic Health Records are a means of storing this kind of information but their management usually falls under the responsibility of an institution and not on the patient himself. A Personal Health Record under the direct control and management of the patient is the natural solution for the problem. When implemented in a storage hardware portable device, a PHR, allows for total mobility. Personal Health Information is very sensitive in nature so any implementation has to address security and privacy issues. With this in mind we propose a structure for a secure Patient Health Record stored in a USB pen device under the patient’s direct management and responsibility

Modelling the 200 m front-crawl performance predictors at the winter season peak

This study aimed to identify potential predictors of 200 m front crawl performance at the winter season peak based on the anthropometric, physiological and biomechanical domains. Twelve expert male swimmers completed an incremental 7 × 200 m step test immediately after their most important winter competitions. Measurements were made of: (i) height, body mass and arm span as anthropometrical parameters; (ii) velocity at a 4 mmol·L-1 lactate concentration (V4), maximal oxygen uptake (VO2máx) and energy cost (C), as physiological parameters; (iii) stroke frequency (SF), stroke length (SL), stroke index (SI) and propelling efficiency (ƞp) as biomechanical indicators; and (iv) 200 m front crawl race time in official long course competitions. Spearman correlation coefficients identified V4 as the single factor having significant relationship with performance. Simple regression analysis determined V4, SI and arm span as the most relevant variables of each group. Multiple linear regression models showed that physiological factors explained better (59%) the variation in performance at this stage of the season, followed by the biomechanical (14%) ones. Therefore, V4 can be one important aspect for training control and diagnosis for those who want to achieve success in the 200 m front crawl at the winter season peakThis research was funded by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation, under the project UID04045/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Optimization of the Anodization Processing for Aluminum Oxide Gate Dielectrics in ZnO Thin Film Transistors by Multivariate Analysis

The present study reports a two-level multivariate analysis to optimize the production of anodized aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) dielectric films for zinc oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs). Fourteen performance parameters were measured and analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the combined responses has been applied to identify how the Al₂O₃ dielectric fabrication process influences the electrical properties of the TFTs. Using this approach, the levels for the manufacturing factors to achieve optimal overall device performance have been identified and ranked. The cross-checked analysis of the TFT performance parameters demonstrated that the appropriate control of the anodization process can have a higher impact on TFT performance than the use of traditional methods of surface treatment of the dielectric layer. Flexible electronics applications are expected to grow substantially over the next 10 years. Given the complexity and challenges of new flexible electronics components, this “multivariate” approach could be adopted more widely by the industry to improve the reliability and performance of such devices

Inter-limb symmetry at simultaneous and alternated arms flexion by the elbow during water fitness sessions

The aim was to compare the inter-limb symmetry between alternated and simultaneous arms flexion during water fitness sessions. Twenty-three elderly women were recruited to perform flexion by the elbow with di erent mechanical strategies: (a) simultaneous and (b) alternated. An incremental protocol was used, with four music cadences, starting at 105 beats per minute up to 150. The peak force of dominant and non-dominant upper-limbs was retrieved. A symmetry index (SI, %) was also used to quantify coordination. There were significant variations in force produced by the dominant and non-dominant limbs in most of the cadences in the alternated or simultaneous actions. Differences with a medium e ect between upper-limbs were shown when moving simultaneously indicating that an alternated movement can be a more proper strategy to work with. Despite that, both strategies seemed to be characterized by an asymmetric pattern (SI from 20 to 30%), requiring full attention from water fitness practitioners.This research was supported by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation under the project UID04045/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio