The sit up test to exhaustion as a test for muscular endurance evaluation

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS The aim of this study was to examine the sit up test to exhaustion as a field test for muscular endurance evaluation in a sample of sedentary people of both sexes. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed. Three-hundred-eighty-one participants volunteered for the study (28.5 \ub1 10.0 years; 168.2 \ub1 8.9 cm; 65.1 \ub1 11.1 kg), of which 194 males (27.5 \ub1 10.2 years; 173.6 \ub1 7.0 cm; 71.2 \ub1 5.2 kg) and 187 females (29.6 \ub1 10.1 years; 162.6 \ub1 7.1 cm; 58.7 \ub1 8.9 kg). Each subject voluntarily and randomly performed: a sit up test (SUT), a push up test (PUT), and a free weight squat test (ST), all till exhaustion. A multiple regression analysis was adopted for data analysis. Subsequently a percentile model for muscle endurance was developed. The 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile were identified as upper limit for low muscular endurance, average muscular endurance, and lower limit for high muscular endurance, respectively. RESULTS: Considering the sit up test as the dependent variable, the coefficients (R(2) = 0.23; r = 0.49; p < 0.001), and (R(2) = 0.31; r = 0.57; p < 0.001) emerged from a multiple regression analysis applied with respect to the push up test and the squat test, respectively. Gender stratification showed regression coefficients of (R(2) = 0.19; r = 0.44; p < 0.001) for SUT vs. PUT, and (R(2) = 0.30; r = 0.56; p < 0.001) for SUT vs. ST in male; and (R(2) = 0.23; r = 0.49; p < 0.001) for SUT vs. PUT, and (R(2) = 0.34; r = 0.59; p < 0.001) for SUT vs. ST in female. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: The SUT showed low inter-relation with the other proposed tests indicating that the adoption of a single test for the global evaluation of muscle endurance is not the optimal approach. Moreover, the SUT was found to be inexpensive, safe, and appropriate for core muscle endurance measurement for both male and female

How Bees Respond Differently to Field Margins of Shrubby and Herbaceous Plants in Intensive Agricultural Crops of the Mediterranean Area

(1) Intensive agriculture has a high impact on pollinating insects, and conservation strategies targeting agricultural landscapes may greatly contribute to their maintenance. The aim of this work was to quantify the effect that the vegetation of crop margins, with either herbaceous or shrubby plants, had on the abundance and diversity of bees in comparison to non-restored margins. (2) The work was carried out in an area of intensive agriculture in southern Spain. Bees were monitored visually and using pan traps, and floral resources were quantified in crop margins for two years. (3) An increase in the abundance and diversity of wild bees in restored margins was registered, compared to non-restored margins. Significant differences in the structure of bee communities were found between shrubby and herbaceous margins. Apis mellifera and mining bees were found to be more polylectic than wild Apidae and Megachilidae. The abundance of A. mellifera and mining bees was correlated to the total floral resources, in particular, to those offered by the Boraginaceae and Brassicaceae; wild Apidae and Megachilidae were associated with the Lamiaceae. (4) This work emphasises the importance of floral diversity and shrubby plants for the maintenance of rich bee communities in Mediterranean agricultural landscapes

Hybrid coupling of CG and HDG discretizations based on Nitsche’s method

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Computational mechanics. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00466-019-01770-8A strategy to couple continuous Galerkin (CG) and hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) discretizations based only on the HDG hybrid variable is presented for linear thermal and elastic problems. The hybrid CG-HDG coupling exploits the definition of the numerical flux and the trace of the solution on the mesh faces to impose the transmission conditions between the CG and HDG subdomains. The con- tinuity of the solution is imposed in the CG problem via Nitsche’s method, whereas the equilibrium of the flux at the interface is naturally enforced as a Neumann con- dition in the HDG global problem. The proposed strategy does not affect the core structure of CG and HDG discretizations. In fact, the resulting formulation leads to a minimally-intrusive coupling, suitable to be integrated in existing CG and HDG libraries. Numerical experiments in two and three dimensions show optimal global convergence of the stress and superconvergence of the displacement field, locking-free approximation, as well as the potential to treat structural problems of engineering interest featuring multiple materials with compressible and nearly incompressible behaviors.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Il voto di scambio politico-mafioso tra mutamenti fattuali e modifiche normative

Lo scritto propone, in una prospettiva sociologico-giuridica, alcune riflessioni sia sulle trasformazioni delle organizzazioni mafiose e dei loro rapporti con politici e partiti che mutano velocemente anch\u2019essi (\ua7 2), sia sul nuovo testo dell'art. 416 ter c.p. (\ua7 3) e sui primi orientamenti espressi dalla Corte di Cassazione (\ua7 4)

Polityka publiczna a partie polityczne

The connection between parties and public policies is apparently straightforward: the former are supposed to determine the latter. However, several authors have argued that parties matter less and less in policy-making processes. Among such theses we can mention the end of ideologies, the indistinction between party programs, the emergence of strong leaders who can disregard party constraints, the hold that bureaucracies maintain on the policy cycle, the external factors which dictate the agenda and the contents of public policies. After having sketchily illustrated such arguments, this paper discusses relevant counterarguments for each of the above assumptions. The author's opinion is that parties do matter, although their relevance is dependent on the features the decisional structure and they tend to concentrate on certain policies more than others. In some occasions, they may have an incentive to disguise their actual role, so that electors can blame somebody else for some unpopular choices. The Italian case is then examined. The author suggests that almost in each period in the history of the Italian Republic, a significant connection between which parties were in office and which relevant policies were adopted can be detected.La connessione tra partiti e politiche pubbliche è apparentemente scontata: i primi determinano le seconde. Nondimeno, svariati autori hanno sostenuto che i partiti contino sempre di meno nei processi di policy. Tra queste tesi possiamo ricordare quella della fine delle ideologie, dell'indistinzione tra i programmi dei partiti, dell'affermarsi di leader forti che possono permettersi di sentirsi svincolati dal loro partito, la presa che le burocrazie mantengono sul ciclo di vita delle politiche pubbliche, i fattori esterni che di tali politiche dettano l'agenda e i contenuti. Dopo aver presentato tali tesi in estrema sintesi, nel testo vengono discussi i relativi controargomenti. L'opinione dell'autore è che i partiti continuino a contare, sebbene la loro rilevanza dipenda dalle caratteristiche della struttura decisionale e essi tendano a concentrarsi di più su certe politiche che su altre. In alcune occasioni, i partiti possono peraltro avere un incentivo a dissimulare il loro vero ruolo, così che gli elettori possano prendersela con qualcun altro quando occorrono scelte impopolari. Viene quindi esaminato il caso italiano. L'autore suggerisce che quasi in tutti i periodi della storia repubblicana si rilevi un legame significativo tra quali fossero i partiti in carica e quali politiche vennero prescelte.Związek pomiędzy partiami politycznymi a politykami publicznymi jest pozornie oczywisty: partie determinują kształt polityk. Niemniej jednak, jak zauważa Autor niniejszego artykułu, w literaturze wielokrotnie stwierdzono, że partie odgrywają coraz mniejszą rolę w tworzeniu polityk. Autor przywołuje tu m.in. teorię o końcu ideologii; o zacieraniu się różnic między programami poszczególnych partii; o pojawieniu się silnych przywódców, którzy mogą sobie pozwolić na uniezależnienie się od swojej partii; o wpływie biurokracji na cykl polityk publicznych i o czynnikach zewnętrznych mogących determinować treść polityk. Po krótkim omówieniu tych tez Autor wysuwa wobec nich swoje kontrargumenty. W opinii Autora partie wciąż pełnią ważną rolę, choć ich znaczenie uzależnione jest od struktury decyzyjnej i od konkretnych polityk. W niektórych przypadkach partie mogą mieć motywację do tego, aby ukryć swoją prawdziwą rolę, by wyborcy nie musieli winić ich za podjęcie niepopularnych decyzji. W dalszej części artykułu Autor analizuje casus Włoch, sugerując, że związek między partiami sprawującymi władzę a przyjmowanymi politykami był bardzo znaczący niemalże we wszystkich okresach Republiki Włoskiej

Some reflections on cabinets and policy-making : types of policy, features of cabinets, and their consequences for policy outputs

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020

Polityka publiczna a partie polityczne

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