1522 research outputs found
Sort by
Validation and Measurement of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Active Travel in Second Level Students using Self-Report and Accelerometry
Get PDFLevels of physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour are increasing among adolescents. Measurement of these behaviours is essential in order to monitor prevalence among this cohort. The aim of this research was (i) to measure and examine the physical activity, sedentary behaviour and active travel profile of second level students, (ii) examine the relationship between objective and subjective physical activity measurement methods and (iii) to identify if students who travel actively have more accurate perceptions of distance travelled to school than those who travel by motorised means.
The International Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents IPAQ-A was used to collect self-reported physical activity and active travel behaviour in 13-16 year old adolescents (n=362). Objective physical activity and sedentary behaviour data was gathered in a sub-sample (n=78) using the ActivPAL accelerometer.
According to objectively recorded data, 10.2% of adolescents met the recommended daily guidelines for PA with girls more likely to meet the recommendations than boys (15% and 7% respectively, p=0.357). Adolescent's accelerometer-measured sedentary behaviour averaged 9.6 hours per day. Overall, there were weak to moderate correlations between objective and subjective measurement instruments for both total PA and MVPA. Almost one fifth of respondents walked or cycled to school with a higher proportion of boys than girls commuting actively (27.5 v 15.4%, p=.006). Students who travelled to school by car or bus were more accurate in their estimates of the distance travelled to school than those who travelled on foot or bicycle.
Low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behaviour found in the study highlight the need for interventions to change these behaviours among adolescents. There is an opportunity to increase daily physical activity through the promotion of active travel; levels of which were low in the current study. Objective and subjective measurement methods have their own advantages and the use of both methods, where possible may be the ideal way to assess physical activity and sedentary behaviours
The effect of exercise mode on salivary IgA secretion in high level triathletes
Get PDFBackground: It is widely accepted that exercise of either long duration or high intensity can have suppressive effects
on the immune system. However, it remains to
be identified if exercise mode plays a part in the deterioration of
immune function.
Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine if exercise mode played a part in the acute immune responses
to exercise.
-
72.6, s = 2.4]
performed a 2
-
hour bout of exercise at 55% of their peak power output (watts) [mean 192.5, s = 4.5] on both a
treadmill and cycle ergometer, each sep
arated by seven days. Saliva samples were obtained both pre and post both
protocols. Saliva flow rate was calculated from the volume of saliva and time taken to produce the sample. sIgA
concentration was measured by indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent ass
ay, from which sIgA secretion rate was
calculated.
595, s = 64.6 and mean 841, s =
76.3] and before and after the bike were [mean 593.9, s = 51.1 and 778.8 s = 99.3]. sIgA se
657.8
, s = 92.2 and 289.3, s = 56.6] and before and after the bike were [mean 487.2, s = 123.3 and 319.5, s = 66.5].
The results indicated that sIgA secretion rate (P < 0.028) and saliva flow rate (P < 0.01) were significantly decreased
following the 2 hour tre
admill protocol but not the 2 hour bike protocol. sIgA concentration was also significantly
elevated following the treadmill (P < 0.01), with no significant increase following the bike protocol.
Discussion: Previous studies have shown that with a decrease
in sIgA secretion rate and saliva flow rate there is
subsequently going to be an increase in URTI episodes in the individual. This increase in URTIs can hamper an
’ p p p
-
par performance, which may result in
loss of sponsorship deals
or contracts.
Conclusions: The results suggest that long duration running may be more detrimental to immune function than long
duration cycling in triathletes
An Investigation into the Properties of Polymeric Pharmaceuticals and their Relationship to Tablet Processing
No full textThe primary aim of this work was to synthesise and characterise sevelamer hydrochloride (SH), the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Renagel®, an oral drug prescribed to prevent the absorption of dietary phosphate for kidney dialysis patients. SH is a polyallylamine (PAA-HCl) crosslinked with epichlorohydrin (EPI). Initial work involved a systematic and comprehensive study of structural –property relationships using a series of (PAA-HCl) hydrogels (not synthesised in the literature before) in an aqueous reaction. The parameters involved in the reaction, such as concentration EPI, NaOH and polymer were all investigated. Variation of these parameters influenced the hydrogel morphology as shown by swelling ratio, Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) studies. The binding characteristics of PAA-HCl hydrogels were comprehensively examined using the Langmuir (LI), Freundlich (FI) and Langmuir – Freundlich isotherms (L-FI) and using affinity distribution spectra (AD). The LI was identified as the most appropriate model in describing the binding behaviour of the hydrogels. L-FI was also found suitable in analysing the hydrogels behaviour, as the hydrogels contained a homogeneous binding site surface, thus L-FI was reduced to the LI when heterogeneity index approached 1. A relationship between the number of binding sites and affinity in different hydrogels was identified and visualised by plotting AD spectra. This was the first report on the use of AD spectra generated from L-FI binding parameters to display the sensitivity of the binding site number and affinity to changes in PAA-HCl hydrogel morphology. A detailed examination into the influence of pH on the performance of SH was carried out. The hydrogel is pH sensitive as shown by the differences in binding capacity and affinity constants obtained at various pHs. The maximum binding capacity, Nt, was found at pH 3 where the hydrogel was fully protonated, and decreased at elevated pHs of 4.5, 7 and 8.5 where the hydrogel was partially protonated. The affinity constant, a, at pH 3 and 8.5 was found to be the lowest, 2.4 ± 0.6 and 1.6 ± 0.1 mol/L, respectively. At pH 4.5 and 7, a increased to 9.1 and 7.0 ± 1.3 mol/L, respectively, due to the availability of the divalent phosphate ion form which binds preferably with SH. The kinetics of phosphate ion binding to SH in vitro and its relationship to physiological conditions was studied in detail. The reaction was found to follow pseudo second order kinetics. The rate constant found depended on the phosphate ion concentration and temperature. Thermodynamic parameters were evaluated with phosphate binding found to be a spontaneous endothermic reaction as shown by ΔG° data, the positive value of �H° and the high value of ΔS°. Consequently, the kinetics of phosphate binding was faster than transit times (hours) through the gastrointestinal tract, thus binding rate did not affect the efficacy of the drug in terms of phosphate binding. The interaction of SH with water was found to be crucial to an understanding of waterbased processes such as tablet manufacturing. The Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) method was successfully applied for the determination of equilibrium sorption isotherms of SH. The study has shown that water vapour sorption behaviour of this polymer is accurately described by the parallel exponential kinetics (PEK) model. The combined DVS, DSC and SSNMR results highlighted the contribution of the physicochemical properties of the APIs and water permeability to tablets processing and the impact on the final tablet properties. The significance of process parameters such as moisture, temperature and compression forces on the mechanical properties of the tablets was also demonstrated
Topic Assisted Fusion to Re-Rank Texts for Multi-Faceted Information Retrieval
Get PDFWe propose to develop a framework for an intelligent
business information system with multi-faceted data analysis capabilities that supports complex decision making processes. Reasoning and Learning of contextual factors from texts of financial services data are core aspects of the proposed framework. As part of the proposed
framework, we present an approach for the ordering of contextual information from textual data with the help of latent topics identified from the web corpus. The web corpus is prepared by specifically using a number of financial services sources on the web that describe various
aspects of mobile payments and services. The proposed approach first performs weighting of query terms and retrieves the initial set of texts from the web corpus. We use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) on this web corpus to identify the topics that relate to the contextual features of various financial services/products. The retrieved texts are scored based on the identified topics that could cover a variety of contextual factors. We performed subjective evaluation to identify the relevance of the contextual information retrieved, and found that the proposed approach captures a variety of key contexts pertaining to user information needs in a better way with the support of topic assisted contextual factors
Context-aware microgrid storage using electric cars
Get PDFElectric cars could provide a viable power storage option for suburban microgrids. Such stored power could be used by the microgrid or supplied to the main grid at key times as part of the operation and management of a microgrid cluster. Tracking driver behaviour then becomes important in order to estimate and forecast the level of stored power at any given time. Context-aware information gathered from external sources such as an electronic work calendar can provide one means of predicting driver and car movements. We are using simulation studies to quantify the benefit of such context-aware information for calculating and forecasting battery storage capacity in a microgrid cluster. This capacity is then used in a simulation of power trading between the cluster and a main grid
The Grand Tour Correspondence of two Eighteenth-Century Clergymen from the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore
Get PDFThe correspondences of Dr Richard Pococke and his cousin Jeremiah
Milles, tracing in detail their eighteenth century travels through Europe and
the Orient, have been previously overlooked in historiographical terms.
Rachel Finnegan’s article brings these letters to life, charting the personal
and professional lives of these two clergymen, revealing the disparate range
of subjects dealt with in their correspondences and thereby highlighting the
potential value of these documents as historical sources
Protocols for Molecular Communication Nanonetworks
Get PDFAdvances in nanobioscience and nanomaterials have resulted in biological nanomachines,
or bionanomachines, that can perform tasks at the molecular scale and
promise novel applications in the areas of medical, biological and nano science.
A key enabler for these applications is the creation of nanoscale networks or
nanonetworks which will facilitate communication and collaboration between
bionanomachines and communication with external networks. However, the
creation of a biological nanonetwork using conventional electromagnetic communication
technology is constrained by the physical scale, biological compatibility
factors, and the computational limitations of the biological nanomachines.
Inspired by natural biological processes, molecular communication is an
emerging communication paradigm that uses biological molecules to encode and
transmit information. The current research in this domain has concentrated
predominantly on the physical mechanisms and channel models involved in encoding
and transporting molecular encoded information in biological environments.
This thesis extends this work by developing communication protocols for
molecular communication nanonetworks. More speci�cally, this research maps
existing networking concepts such as addressing, routing and message scheduling
to biological processes and shows how these processes can be integrated
with di�erent modes of molecular communication. Components from various
layers of a communication protocol stack are matched to suitable molecular
computing mechanisms. Nucleic acid-based molecular computing solutions are
used to design and simulate protocol components for information encoding and
addressing of biological molecules whereas enzyme-based molecular computing
solutions are utilised for routing and switching protocol functions. The performance
of neuronal nanonetworks is investigated taking into account how neuron
cell characteristics a�ect message delivery. This includes a genetic algorithmbased
transmission scheduling approach to ensure that signals initiated by multiple
devices will successfully reach the receiver with minimum interference. The
reliability and delay characteristics for multi-hop, virus-based nanonetworks is
also investigated and a probability model is developed. This is used to evaluate
di�erent topology designs, taking into account the physiochemical and biological
characteristics of virus particles.
The �nal simulation results and analysis models characterise several approaches
to nanonetworking using di�erent modes of molecular communication
and provides the capability for accurately designing molecular communication
nanoneworks. It is expected that this work will make a signi�cant contribution
to the in-silico design and development of future nanoneworks.
Physical Characterisation and Quantification of Total Above Ground Biomass Derived from First Thinnings for Wood Fuel Consumption in Ireland
Get PDFComprehensive knowledge of wood fuel properties assists in the optimisation of operations concerned with the harvesting, seasoning, processing and conversion of wood to energy. This study investigated the physical properties of wood fuel. These properties included moisture content and basic density. The field work also allowed for the quantification of above ground biomass partitions. The species investigated were alder (Alnus glutinosa), ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.), birch (Betula spp.), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.). The primary variation sources investigated were spatiotemporal. This included sampling at different times of the year (dormancy, flushing and the growing season) in three different locations on the basis of latitudinal zones (South East, Midlands and North West of Ireland or 52oN, 53oN and 54oN). The age of stands where sampling took place ranged from 12-17 years old.
The findings for moisture content, basic density and biomass have been accumulated from a large dataset (~ 4934 subsamples). Moisture content and basic density ranged between 38-65% and 344-498 kg∙m-3 respectively in the stem wood sections between the six species. Ash was the only species that had a distinguishable temporal trend in stem wood moisture content. Ash stem wood moisture content was lower during dormancy and higher during flushing and the growing season. Moisture content in the branch wood sections ranged from 44-54% between the six species. In most cases, branch wood moisture content reduced significantly for all six species at flushing in comparison to dormancy. With all six species, basic density reduced with an increase in latitude. The quantification of above ground biomass found an increase of 43-53% in the biomass that can be potentially harvested from whole trees, in contrast to harvesting only merchantable stem sections. An evaluation of stand biomass estimation methods using biomass expansion factors (BEFs) to convert standing volume per hectare to biomass in oven dry tonnes and energy content per hectare was also made. BEFs ranged from 1.9-2.3 between the six species. However the utility of the BEFs from this study must be exercised with caution, due to the narrow ages and sizes of the trees sampled, in addition to including above ground biomass components only