Physical fitness : identifiers of sport participation and bone health in youth

Physical fitness (PF) assessment is a key tool in monitoring sports performance and health indicators in young people, mainly because PF is related to indicators of both sporting potential and performance, used in signalization, recruitment and surveillance, and bone health. Therefore, this tool may be considered of valuable use to both sport and health professionals. However, there is not a single standardised protocol able to assess the several attributes of PF among young athletes from different sport backgrounds and non-athletes. In this context, this dissertation presents four investigations developed in two major research areas in the evaluation of PF: sports performance and bone health. Regarding sports performance, the reliability of the PF tests, in young athletes from different competitive levels and sports backgrounds were tested. The battery of the FITescola® program proved to be applicable in young athletes of both sexes, constituting a reliable instrument of simple application in the field of sports performance. The discriminatory power of each FITescola® test for signalling young people with sport potential, in consolidated sport organization models, according to gender and age was also analysed. The results showed that PF tests are a valid instrument for signalling young people with sport potential, and that the discriminatory power of the tests varied according to gender and age. In the area of bone health, one investigation was conducted to analyze the relationship between different PF tests and speed of sound (SoS) values in the radius and tibia of young athletes and non-athletes. Different degrees of association were observed between the several PF tests and the radial and tibial SoS values. The degrees of association varied according to gender and athlete status of the participants. The results of this investigation indicate that, for the purpose of monitoring bone health, different PF tests XIX should be applied depending on whether or not young people were athletes. Another analyzed, for the first time, the relationship between vigorous physical activity and SoS in the radius and tibia and whether this relationship was mediated by different PF tests and fatness. The results suggested that some of the effects of vigorous physical activity on radial and tibial SoS were mediated by cardiorespiratory fitness in girls, while the upper and lower muscle strength, speed of displacement and fat mass (%) were found to be mediators in boys. The mediating effect of a PF tests and fat mass (%) on the association of vigorous physical activity with bone health outcomes differed between boys and girls. In summary, this dissertation provides observational scientific evidence on the importance and applicability of PF assessment in the context of competitive sport and, simultaneously, for monitoring bone health among young athletes and non-athletes. These findings may be relevant for present and future interventions in competitive sport as well as in public health.A avaliação da aptidão física é um instrumento fundamental para a monitorização do rendimento desportiva e da saúde, principalmente devido ao facto da aptidão física estar associada a indicadores de potencial desportiva, utilizados no processo de sinalização e recrutamento de jovens, bem como a indicadores de saúde óssea. Desta forma, este instrumento pode ser considerado como uma mais-valia para profissionais da área do desporto e saúde. Todavia, não existe um único protocolo estandardizado capaz de avaliar os vários atributos da aptidão física entre jovens atletas de diferentes modalidades e não atletas. No âmbito do rendimento desportivo, foi testada a reprodutibilidade e a fiabilidade dos testes de aptidão física em jovens atletas de diferentes níveis competitivos. A bateria do programa FITescola® demonstrou ser aplicável em jovens atletas de ambos os sexos, constituindo um instrumento fiável de aplicação simples no âmbito do rendimento desportivo. Adicionalmente, foi analizado o poder discriminativo de cada teste do FITescola® para sinalizar jovens com potencial desportivo, em função do sexo e da idade. Os resultados demonstraram que os testes de aptidão física são um instrumento válido para a sinalização de jovens com potencial desportivo e que o poder discriminatório dos testes variou de acordo com o sexo e a idade. Na área da saúde óssea, foi conduzido uma investigação para analisar a relação entre os diferentes testes de aptidão física e os valores da velocidade do som no rádio e na tíbia, em jovens atletas e não atletas. Os graus de associação variaram em função do sexo e da condição de atleta dos participantes. Os resultados desta investigação indicam que, para efeitos de monitorização da saúde óssea, diferentes testes de aptidão física devem ser aplicados, em função da condição de atleta. Outra XXI investigação analisou, pela primeira vez, a relação entre a atividade física vigorosa e a velocidade do som no rádio e na tíbia, e se esta relação era mediada por diferentes testes de aptidão física e pela massa gorda (%). Os resultados sugerem que nas raparigas, uma parte dos efeitos da atividade física vigorosa na velocidade do som no rádio e na tíbia ere mediada pela aptidão cardiorrespiratória, enquanto, nos rapazes, a força muscular superior e inferior, a velocidade de deslocamento e a massa gorda (%) foram identificados como mediadores desta relação. A presente dissertação fornece evidência científica observacional sobre a importância e aplicabilidade da avaliação da aptidão física tanto no contexto competitivo, como na monitorização da saúde óssea em jovens atletas e não atletas. Estes resultados podem ser relevantes para intervenções presentes e futuras no âmbito do desporto de competição e da saúde pública

Energy Assessment of a Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle Propulsion Management System

Plug-In hybrid vehicles have a complex propulsion system management, trying to manage the conventional and electric motorization in the most energy efficient way according to the driving dynamics, topography and battery charge state. In this sense, the aim of this work is to analyze the energy performance of plug-in hybrid vehicles, based on road tests, under real conditions of use, focusing on the management system of the two energy sources present, varying the level of battery charge at the start of the test to visualize the impact of this change. To complement the analysis and in order to better understand the operation of the management system, a methodology for applying the VSP parameter is used, which allows the load state to be approximated according to the vehicle’s operating mode, alternating between the three modes according to the conditions at the time in question, prioritizing the electric motor when the state of charge of the battery is maximum. These results confirm the fact that plug-in hybrid vehicles allow better electricity management due to the diversity of external or internal charging sources, which makes this type of vehicle more efficient and versatile than conventional hybrids, allowing a reduction in fossil fuel consumption and consequently a reduction in the emission of pollutant gases, making this type of vehicle a very competitive alternative in the transport sector in view of the current challenges due to the goals present in the current European regulations. Keywords: Plug-in hybrid vehicles, Energy assessment, Climatization systems, Load support, State of charg

Otimização do processo de comutação em redes de transporte

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e TelecomunicaçõesNo presente trabalho analisam-se os custos de implementação (CAPEX) de um nó inserido numa rede de transporte. São estudadas tecnologias de comutação de pacotes (MPLS-TP), tecnologias de comutação de circuitos (OTN) e tecnologias de comutação de canais óticos (ROADM). Com estas tecnologias são analisadas três arquiteturas para um nó, e, alterando o tráfego, comparam-se os benefícios e as limitações de cada arquitetura.In the present work, the capital expenditure (CAPEX) related with the implementation of a node in a transport network is analyzed. Technologies with different kind of switching are studied, such as MPLS-TP (packet switching), OTN (circuit switching) and ROADM (optical switching). Three different architectures combining these technologies are considered and, by changing the traffic, a comparison is performed in order to identify the limitations and advantages of each one

Estudo de áreas para implementação de tecnologias para aproveitamento da energia das ondas na ilha da madeira

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente, perfil de Engenharia EcológicaEsta dissertação tem como objectivo principal a avaliação da energia das ondas, como fonte energética alternativa, e a determinação de áreas marítimas para a implementação de tecnologias de aproveitamento dessa energia, ao largo da costa insular da Madeira. Nesse âmbito, o presente trabalho fundamentou-se num conjunto de estudos prévios, sobre o aproveitamento da energia das ondas em Portugal Continental, tendo-se comparado essa fonte de energia com outras fontes de energia mais convencionais, a nível económico e ambiental. Tomando como base os dados provenientes do ONDATLAS para a costa da Ilha da Madeira, relativos aos diversos parâmetros ondulatórios, o presente estudo procurou estabelecer relações de custo/benefício a nível ambiental, económico e energético, para essa fonte de energia. Para tal, consideraram-se as soluções tecnológicas actualmente existentes, para aproveitamento da energia das ondas. Nesse âmbito concluiu-se que a tecnologia “Pelamis” é aquela que apresenta maior viabilidade para implementação a curto/médio prazo, devido ao seu avançado estado de desenvolvimento, encontrando-se actualmente em fase experimental na zona piloto da Aguçadoura, perto da Póvoa de Varzim. Através de análise SIG, efectuou-se uma selecção e cruzamento da informação geográfica pertinente aos dados recolhidos, com o objectivo de avaliar possíveis conflitos de uso e outras restrições. Dessa análise multicritérios, determinaram-se três áreas favoráveis à implementação de parques de ondas, ao largo da costa da Madeira, uma na zona Oeste, outra na zona Norte e a última na zona Este da ilha, tendo em consideração o impacte ambiental produzido. Para as áreas determinadas, efectuou-se um breve estudo de viabilidade económica, considerando fases progressivas de implementação da tecnologia “Pelamis”. Desse estudo concluiu-se que a sua aplicação pode ser economicamente viável a médio/longo prazo, dependendo da capacidade de investimento inicial, que poderá contribuir para um desenvolvimento energético sustentável

Promoting health-related cardiorespiratory fitness in physical education : a systematic review

Copyright: © 2020 Peralta et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: This article aimed to systematically review the contribution of physical education (PE) classes to improve cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in children and adolescents; and to define potentially relevant factors for promoting CRF in PE classes. Methods: Studies were identified from searches in ERIC, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science databases. Primary source articles, relating PE classes and CRF, published up to July 2019 in peer-reviewed journals were eligible for inclusion. Specific inclusion criteria were: (a) having cross-sectional or longitudinal and observational or interventional study designs; (b) targeting school-aged children or adolescents; (c) measuring CRF, heart rate or CRF test results as an outcome; (d) having statistical analyses of the CRF, heart rate or CRF test results outcomes reported; (e) focusing on PE classes or PE interventions that did not extended time or frequency of the classes; and (f) published in English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish. Results: A total of 24 studies met the inclusion criteria. Overall, 10 studies have found a neutral effect of PE classes in students’ CRF, eight studies found that PE indeed contributed to the improvement of CRF and six studies revealed mixed findings, when PE classes where controlled for others variables (e.g. body mass index, intensity). Higher intensity PE classes consistently demonstrated contributions to improving students’ CRF. Conclusion: Review findings suggest that PE classes can contribute to the improvement of students’ CRF. Intensity, age and weight status were identified as potentially relevant factors for promoting CRF in PE classes. To improve CRF, higher intensity classes should be provided.MP is supported by a PhD scholarship grant (SFRH/BD/122219/2016) from the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (https://www.fct.pt/). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Active commuting to school and physical activity levels among 11 to 16 year-old adolescents from 63 low-and middle-income countries

Background: Global physical activity levels are low. Active commuting to school is a low-cost and sustainable behaviour that promotes adolescents’ physical activity levels. Despite its importance, data on low- and middle-income countries is scarce. This study aimed to assess the relationship between active commuting to school and physical activity (PA) levels among 11–16 years-old adolescents from 63 low- and middle-income countries and six world regions. Methods: Data were from the GSHS database. Participants were 187,934 adolescents (89,550 boys), aged 11–16 years-old, from 63 low- and middle-income countries. Active commuting to school and PA were self-reported as the number of days adolescents walked or cycled to school and engaged in physical activity for at least 60 min in the past 7 days. Results: Boys and girls who actively commuted to school presented higher prevalence of attaining the PA recommendations, but only for the 13–14 (boys: 16.6% versus 22.0%; girls: 9.8% versus 14.6%) and 15–16 (boys: 16.3% versus 21.6%; girls: 8.0% versus 14.0%) year-old age groups. Only for Oceania, Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African girls and Sub-Saharan African boys no difference was found in the prevalence of attaining the PA recommendations between those who actively commuted to school and those who did not. Boys who actively commuted to school were 42% (95% CI: 1.37, 1.46) more likely to achieve the PA recommendations, while girls were 66% (95% CI: 1.59, 1.73) more likely to achieve the PA recommendations. Conclusions: Active commuting to school is associated with the adolescents’ physical activity levels. However, it may have a lesser influence in helping younger adolescents attaining physical activity recommendations. Public health authorities should promote active commuting to school among adolescents in order to improve the PA levels and promote health

Longitudinal association between grip strength and the risk of heart diseases among European middle-aged and older adults

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Background: Few multi-country European studies have investigated the association between grip strength and heart diseases incidence. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyse the longitudinal relationship between grip strength and the diagnosis of heart diseases in European middle-aged and older adults. Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (2004-2017). Participants were 20,829 middle-aged and older adults from 12 countries. GS was objectively measured by a dynamometer and heart diseases diagnosis was self-reported. Incidence rate of heart diseases was calculated and a Cox proportional hazard regression was performed. Results: The heart diseases incidence rate decreased from 930 per 100,000 person-years in the lowest quartile to 380 per 100,000 person-years in the highest grip strength quartile. During the 13 years of follow-up, compared to being in the lowest grip strength quartile, being in the highest quartile decreased the hazard of being diagnosed with a heart disease in 36 % (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.53, 0.78) for the whole sample, 35 % (95 % CI: 0.51, 0.84) for men and 46 % (95 % CI: 0.40, 0.73) for women. Conclusions: Grip strength seems to be inversely associated with the incidence of heart diseases among European middle-aged and older adults. Scientific evidence has highlighted the potential role of grip strength as a risk stratifying measure for heart diseases, suggesting its potential to be included in the cardiovascular risk scores used in primary care. However, further research is still needed to clarify it.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Promoting health-related cardiorespiratory fitness in physical education : the role of class intensity and habitual physical activity

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Physical education (PE) has the potential to promote health-related fitness, however, its contribution is still not clear. The aim of this study was to assess whether students' health-related cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) improved from the beginning to the end of the school year, and to examine the role of PE class intensity and habitual physical activity (PA) in promoting students' CRF. This observational study employed a longitudinal design. Participants were 212 7th and 8th grade students (105 boys), mean age 12.9 years old, followed during one school year, from September 2017 to June 2018. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) was used to assess CRF at baseline and follow-up. PA was measured using accelerometers. PE class intensity was assessed using the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time. Findings indicated that from the beginning to the end of the school year, a greater percentage of participants were in the CRF healthy fitness zone (73.1% to 79.7%, p = 0.022). Among boys, participating in organized sports (B = 4.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.33, 8.88) and the percentage of PE time being very active (B = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.44, 1.35) were positively associated with the change in PACER laps. Among girls, daily vigorous PA (B = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.60) and participating in organized sports (B = 4.10, 95% CI: 0.93, 7.27) were also positively associated with PACER change, while being overweight or obese (B = -5.11, 95% CI: -8.28, -1.93) was negatively associated. In conclusion, PE was demonstrated to have a positive role in the promotion of CRF, especially among boys, while for girls, habitual PA seems to have a greater contribution. Nevertheless, results and conclusions should be considered carefully, taking into account study limitations, such as the non-direct measures of PE class intensity, CRF, and school setting.M.P. is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), grant number SFRH/BD/122219/2016. CIPER is financed by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) within the unit I&D 472, grant number UID/DTP/00447/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Active commuting and physical fitness : a systematic review

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Physical fitness (PF) is considered an excellent biomarker of health. One possible strategy to improve PF levels is active commuting. This review, performed accordingly to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews guidelines includes scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals up to December 2019 that aim at examining the relationship between active travel/commuting and PF. The search was performed in three databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science). Sixteen studies were included in this review. Findings from the 16 studies were unclear. From the eleven studies on children and adolescents screened, eight were cross-sectional, one prospective cohort, one quasi-experimental, and one experimental. From the five studies on adults, four were experimental and one cross-sectional. Body mass, waist circumference, skinfolds, fat mass, cardiorespiratory fitness, upper and lower strength tests were performed in children, adolescents, and adults. Agility and speed tests were performed only in the young age groups. Majority of the investigations on young ages and adults have shown positive effects or relationships between active commuting and several attributes of PF. However, to avoid misconceptions, there is a need for future robust investigation to identify potential mediators or confounders in this relationship. More robust investigations are essential to understand how and whether decision-makers and public health authorities can use active travel/commuting as a strategy to improve PF in all ages.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Prevalence of physical activity among adolescents from 105 low, middle, and high-income countries

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open accessarticle distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Introduction: Physical activity (PA) is a beneficial health behaviour, however most adolescents worldwide are physically inactive. Updated information on the prevalence and trends of PA is important to inform national and international authorities and support countries’ public health policies and actions. This study aimed to present the worldwide, regional, and national prevalence of PA participation according to its frequency in adolescents. Methods: This study is based on cross-sectional surveys of adolescents’ populations from several countries and all regions worldwide. The sample comprised 520,533 adolescents (251,788 boys; 268,745 girls), from 105 countries and regions. Results: Most adolescents engaged in PA up to 3 days/week (57.1%; 95% CI: 56.9; 57.2). The prevalence of engaging in PA every day decreases over the age from 28.2% at age of 11–12 years (95% CI: 27.4; 29.0) to 21.2% at age of 16–17 years (95% CI: 20.3; 22.0) among boys; and from 19.4% (95% CI: 18.5; 20.2) to 11.1% (95% CI: 10.1; 12.0) among girls. For boys and girls who engaged in PA 5-6 days/week, the prevalence increases from countries with the lowest human development index to countries with the highest. Cambodia (7.3%, 95% CI: 3.8; 10.8), Philippines (7.7%, 95% CI: 5.6; 9.7), Sudan (8.8%, 95% CI: 4.7; 12.9), Timor-Leste (8.9%, 95% CI: 5.5; 12.3), and Afghanistan (10.1%, 95% CI: 6.1; 14.1) were the countries with the lowest prevalence of sufficient PA. Conclusions: National, regional, and worldwide data on the prevalence of physical activity in adolescents highlights the importance of improving the global levels of PA, especially in girls. Identifying the factors causing the age-related decrease in physical activity levels will permit public health entities to define priority actions and policies against physical inactivity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio