1,720,982 research outputs found
Downhill walking to improve lower limb strength in healthy young adults
No full textWalking is the most natural physical activity to maintain and improve fitness and health. Walking downhill is usefully adopted to plan training programmes to improve the strength, particularly in older adults. The present research was aimed to evaluate the influence of downhill walking on leg strength in young adult. A total of 32 females (age 26 ± 4 years; height 1.64 ± 0.05 m; body mass 57.6 ± 5.6 kg) were divided into four groups and they carried out an exercise intervention consisting of three sessions per week for 6 weeks, each lasting 30 minutes. Groups were defined at several workloads characterised by treadmill inclination (%) and walking speed (m·s-1): Level Walking at treadmill inclination 0% and walking speed 1.0; Uphill Walking at +20%, 0.75; Downhill Walking (DW) at -20%, 1.36; and Mixed Walking at +20%, 0.75 and -20%, 1.36 each lasting 15 minutes. Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) developed by the Quadriceps Femoris and Endurance Time at 60% MVC were evaluated before and after experimental period. At the end of each session, Borg's scale and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were adopted in order to evaluate perception of rate exertion and pain. Statistical analysis showed significant only in MVC for DW in both right and left legs. Borg's scale and VAS described light activity free of pain. Present findings showed how an eccentric exercise, short lasting and at a low workload, can be useful in inducing improvements in leg strength. © 2014 © 2014 European College of Sport Science
Motor performance changes induced by muscle vibration
Get PDFThe possibility that mechanical stimulation of selected muscles can act directly on the nervous system inducing persistent changes of motor performances was explored. On the basis of literature, stimulating parameters were chosen to stimulate the central nervous system and to avoid muscle fibre injuries. A sinusoidal mechanical vibration was applied, for three consecutive days, on the quadriceps muscle in seven subjects that performed a muscular contraction (VC). The same stimulation paradigm was applied on seven subjects in relaxed muscle condition (VR) and seven subjects were not treated at all (NV). Two sessions (PRE and POST) of isometric and isotonic tests were performed separated for 21 days, in all studied groups 7 days before and 15 days after stimulation, whilst an isokinetic test was performed on VC only. In the isometric test, the time of force development showed a significant decrease only in VC (POST vs PRE mean 27.8%, P < 0.05). In the isotonic test, the subjects' had to perform a fatiguing leg extension against a load. In this condition, the fatigue resistance increased greatly in VC (mean 40.3%, P < 0.001), increased slightly in VR and there was no difference in NV. In Isokinetic test, at several angular velocities, significantly less time was required to reach the force peak (mean 20.2% P < 0.05). The findings could be ascribed to plastic changes in proprioceptive processing, leading to an improvement in knee joint control. Such action delineates a new tool in sports training and in motor rehabilitation
Home is the new gym: Exergame as a potential tool to maintain adequate fitness levels also during quarantine
Get PDFPurpose. With the coronavirus outbreak, the preventive measures include staying at home and isolation, increasing sedentary behaviours and risk for worsening of chronic diseases. To explore alternative forms of home-based physical activity, the study aim was to evaluate physiological (heart rate [HR], respiratory exchange ratio [RER], oxygen consumption [ O2], energy expenditure [EE], metabolic equivalent task [MET]) and psychological (session rating of perceived exertion [sRPE], enjoyment) parameters of real (Zumba® class [ZC]) and exergame (Zumba® Fitness Rush [ZFR]) activities in relation to sex. Methods. Overall, 12 female (age: 24.7 ± 0.9 years) and 8 male (age: 25.3 ± 2.1 years) college students randomly performed 2 experimental 60-min sessions, ZC and ZFR, during which HR (expressed as percentage of individual maximal HR [%HRmax]), O2, RER, MET and EE were measured. After each session, sRPE and Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) were used to monitor exercise intensity and enjoyment, respectively. Results. Main effects for sex (p = 0.02) and modality (p < 0.0001) emerged for %HRmax, with women showing higher values than men and ZC showing higher values than ZFR. EE presented main effects for sex (p < 0.0001) and modality (p = 0.0002), with higher values in men and in ZC. Main effect (p = 0.0001) for modality emerged also for O2 and MET, with higher values in ZC regardless of sex. No significant differences were observed for RER, sRPE, or PACES. Conclusions. Although ZC elicited higher cardiovascular and metabolic responses, ZFR, classified as a moderate-to-vigorous activity, could be used to maintain regular physical activity in a safe home environment during the coronavirus crisis
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
WORKLOAD COMPARISON BETWEEN HIKING AND INDOOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
No full textFattorini, L, Pittiglio, G, Federico, B, Pallicca, A, Bernardi, M, and Rodio, A. Workload comparison between hiking and indoor physical activity. J Strength Cond Res 26(10):2883-2889, 2012-Walking is a physical activity able to maintain and improve aerobic fitness. This activity can easily be performed in all seasons both outdoors and indoors, but when it is performed in its natural environment, the use of specific equipment is required. In particular, it has been demonstrated that the use of trekking boots (TBs) induces a larger workload than those used indoors. Because an adequate fitness level is needed to practice hiking in safety, it is useful to know the energy demand of such an activity. This research aims at defining the metabolic engagement of hiking on natural paths with specific equipment at several speeds and comparing this with indoor ones (on a treadmill). This can thence be used to define the load that better reflects the one required to walk on natural paths. The walking energy cost (joules per kilogram per meter) at several speeds (0.28, 0.56, 0.84, 1.11, and 1.39 m.s(-1))-on level natural terrain while wearing suitable footwear (TBs) and on a treadmill at various raising slopes (0, 1, 2, 3, 4%) while wearing running shoes-was measured in 14 healthy young men (age 23.9 +/- 2.9 years, stature 1.75 +/- 0.04 m, and body mass 72.9 +/- 6.3 kg). A physiological evaluation of all the subjects was performed before energy cost measurements. The results showed that outdoors, the oxygen uptake was consistently less than the ventilatory threshold at all speeds tested and that a 3% slope on the treadmill best reflects the outdoor walking energy expenditure. These findings will prove useful to plan proper training for hiking activity or mixed (outdoors and indoors) training program
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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