Relationship Between Physical Activity Level and Stress Perception: Exploring Factors During COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: After the difficulty of the pandemic process, managing the long-term effects that may occur after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is among the biggest concerns in the present era. This study aimed to explore factors affecting the physical activity level and investigate the relationship between physical activity level and stress perception of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: Study data were collected via online survey, and volunteer participants completed the survey through the survey link between October 21 and December 31, 2021. Physical activity level was evaluated by "The International Physical Activity Questionnaire- Short Form" (IPAQ-SF), and stress level was evaluated by "Perceived Stress Scale" (PSS). The participants were asked questions about barriers and motivators for physical activity before and during the pandemic. RESULTS: The study included 444 participants (81.3% female and 18.7% male) with an average age of 21±2.95 years. The results showed a negative-significant linear relationship between perceived stress score and total physical activity, vigorous-intensity physical activity, and walking scores (r=-0.157, P<0.01; r=-0.16, P<0.01; r=-0.13, P<0.05 respectively). During the pandemic, the perception of insufficient finance became less important as a barrier (P=0.029), and healthcare professional (HCP) recommendation became more important as a motivator for physical activity than the pre-pandemic conditions (P=0.035). CONCLUSION: The findings indicated that it is possible to reduce the level of perceived stress by increasing the level of physical activity. Current research will be a key for increasing and maintaining physical activity and reducing perceived stress.

Tribological Behavior of Carbon-Based Nanomaterial-Reinforced Nickel Metal Matrix Composites.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) with exceptional mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrical properties are enticing reinforcements for fabricating lightweight, high-strength, and wear-resistant metal matrix composites with superior mechanical and tribological performance. Nickel-carbon nanotube composite (Ni-CNT) and nickel-graphene nanoplatelet composite (Ni-GNP) were fabricated via mechanical milling followed by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The Ni-CNT/GNP composites with varying reinforcement concentrations (0.5, 2, and 5 wt%) were ball milled for twelve hours to explore the effect of reinforcement concentration and its dispersion in the nickel microstructure. The effect of varying CNT/GNP concentration on the microhardness and the tribological behavior was investigated and compared with SPS processed monolithic nickel. Ball-on-disc tribological tests were performed to determine the effect of different structural morphologies of CNTs and GNPs on the wear performance and coefficient of friction of these composites. Experimental results indicate considerable grain refinement and improvement in the microhardness of these composites after the addition of CNTs/GNPs in the nickel matrix. In addition, the CNTs and GNPs were effective in forming a lubricant layer, enhancing the wear resistance and lowering the coefficient of friction during the sliding wear test, in contrast to the pure nickel counterpart. Pure nickel demonstrated the highest CoF of ~0.9, Ni-0.5CNT and Ni-0.5GNP exhibited a CoF of ~0.8, whereas the lowest CoF of ~0.2 was observed for Ni-2CNT and Ni-5GNP composites. It was also observed that the uncertainty of wear resistance and CoF in both the CNT/GNP-reinforced composites increased when loaded with higher reinforcement concentrations. The wear surface was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis to elucidate the wear mechanism in these composites.