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LiveWell
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A Critical Review of Emerging Solutions for Food Packaging: Opportunities and Challenges
Publication . Martins, Joana; Garcia, Juliana; Guimarães, Rafaela; Gouvinhas, Irene; Alves, Maria José; Saavedra, Maria José
The environmental impact of conventional plastics has driven a shift toward biobased food packaging, shaped by consumer expectations, market trends, and regulatory policies within the European Union (EU). Despite extensive research on biopolymers such as starch, cellulose, chitosan, and polylactic acid (PLA), their use in commercial food packaging remains limited. A major challenge identified in the literature is the evaluation of biopolymer performance, in which environmental benefits are often considered independently of mechanical, barrier, and economic factors. This review addresses this gap by critically exploring the functional performance of biopolymers regarding their chemical structure and processing methods, with particular emphasis on the role of bioactive compounds in enhancing these materials’ properties. Although several biopolymers can achieve tensile strength values comparable to conventional petroleum-based plastics, their higher water vapor transmission rates remain an unsolved barrier to scalability. These limitations, together with challenges related to mechanical performance and production costs, are discussed to clarify their impact on industrial feasibility and to identify priorities for future research supporting scalable, cost-effective, and regulatory-compliant food packaging solutions.
Lap stability, stroke kinematics, and turn performance in female 200 m short-course finals at the 2019 LEN European Championships
Publication . Oliveira, João P.; Marinho, D.A.; Sampaio, Tatiana; Barbosa, Tiago M.; Silva, A.J.; Arellano, Raúl; Morais, J.E.
The aim of this study was to analyse lap performance stability, stroke kinematic variables in the clean swimming phase and turn performance in the finals of the four 200 m short course (SCM) events (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly). The sample included thirty-two elite female swimmers who competed in the 200 m finals at the 2019 LEN European Short Course Championships in Glasgow. Lap times, stroke kinematics, and turns were analysed using two approaches: (i) official lap time comparison (50 m), and; (ii) comparison of consecutive segments (25 m). Based on the official lap time comparison, performance significantly decreased over time (p < 0.001) with strong effect sizes in all strokes (η2 between 0.89 and 0.96). Pairwise comparisons between consecutive 25 m segments were not significant. Turn time increased in all four strokes with strong effect sizes (p < 0.001; η2 between 0.71 and 0.84). The start contributed ∼6% and turns ∼52% of the total race time. These findings highlight that traditional pacing analysis based on official splits may lead to misleading interpretations of performance in SCM events. Analysing 25 m segments provides a more accurate representation of race dynamics and contributes to a clearer understanding of pacing stability in short-course swimming.
The quality of the physical environment of early childhood care and education centers in the Northeast region of Portugal: a comparison between researchers’ and educators’ assessments
Publication . Moreira, Mariana; Magalhães, Pedro; Lopes, Frederico; Vasques, Catarina
The Early Childhood Care and Education Center (ECEC) physical environment plays a significant role in shaping children’s behavior and learning outcomes and influencing educators’ management of children’s exploration and action, which is pivotal for their overall development and well-being. This study compared the researchers’ and educators’ physical environment quantitative assessments of 12 Portuguese ECECs. Wilcoxon tests were used to investigate possible differences between the researchers’ and educators’ assessments. The ratings differ significantly regarding the institution’s image and scale, safety, indoor organization, building location, and site characteristics, with educators reporting consistently higher levels of quality than the researchers. This study’s outcomes highlight the importance of adopting an interdependent perspective between the researchers’ and the educators’ assessments regarding the ECEC physical environment quality. Such complementarity facilitates the accurate identification of key physical features of ECEC that need to be readdressed to promote children’s high-quality education and positive development, learning, and overall well-being.
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LiveWell aspires to be a regional based and global focused R&D unit that pioneers innovative research in active living, contributing for the development of evidence-based strategies empowering one´s sports engagement, healthy lifestyles, health promotion, disease prevention, and maximizing wellbeing.
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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia