The purpose of this study was to assess and determine the current level of knowledge that National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Strength and Conditioning Coaches (SCCs) possess regarding exertional heat stroke (EHS) prevention and recognition and to determine if SCC certification type had any effect. Major findings of this study support the view that SCCs need more preparation, education and training to increase their competency in preventing and recognizing EHS. Research found that there was no significant difference in scores on the EHS scale based on SCC certification (CSCS vs. SCCC) after accounting for experience, education or division but the CSCS certified professionals scored higher on all the factors as compared to SCCs without the CSCS.. The major key finding was that SCCs lacked essential knowledge to prevent or recognize EHS. Furthermore, the study defines relevant EHS prevention and recognition competencies that an undergraduate curriculum, graduate curriculum and professional certification providers, should include and emphasize in their preparation programs.

Children are considered a vulnerable population in society. While thermoregulation in children is similar to that of an adult, children are vulnerable to heat-related illness. Student athletes have been found to be particularly vulnerable to heat-related illness for numerous reasons, including intense outdoor play. Football players are perhaps the most at-risk population of student athletes due to the intense physical requirements, outdoor practice during the hottest months of the year, and the extensive protective equipment required. By conducting a literature review on the subject of pediatric heat illness, the purpose of this thesis is to explore evidenced based research and guidelines regarding heat-related illness prevention. This review of literature was conducted through the utilization of the University of Central Florida's online databases using the EBSCOhost platform of: CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ERIC, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SPORTDiscus. This thesis is unique because it does not focus on an individual sport; rather, it focuses on pediatric athletes from various disciplines. The prevalence, pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of heat-related injuries are complex phenomena requiring the attention of law makers, athletic associations, school officials, coaches, athletic trainers, parents, and students.

Six adult males of similar body composition and aerobic capacity were tested to study the effects of changes in plasma volume (PV), osmolality (OSM) and sodium (Na+) on core temperature (Tc) under three exercise-thermoregulatory stress conditions. The protocol consisted of 120 min of upright stationary cycling at 50% V02max under neutral (24° C, 50% RH) - euhydrated (NE), hot (35°C, 50% RH) - euhydrated (HE), and hot-hypohydrated (HH) environmental conditions. Venous blood samples were obtained at -30 min, 0 min and at 15 min intervals through a 30 min recovery and were analyzed for blood hematocrit and hemoglobin, and for plasma osmolality and sodium. Hematocrit and hemoglobin were used to calculate relative changes in plasma volume. Tc showed qualitatively similar linear increases in the first 45 min of each trial. At 60 min, Tc in the NE trial plateaued at 37.9°C. In the HE trial, Tc continued to show a slight further increase after 45 min while in NE it became significantly (p<0.05) lower at 45 min as compared to HE and HH; at 60 min of exercise, the core temperature of all three trials differed significantly (p<0.05), with HH being the highest (38.3°C). Percent change in plasma volume was not different between trials, but did show the greatest decrease in all trials from O to 15 min of the exercise phase with at least -4.3%. Osmolality was significantly different (p<0.05) between the NE (X = 283.3 m0smol/kg) and the HH (X = 292.5 m0smo1/kg). Plasma sodium was significantly (p<0.05) higher for all intervals of HH (X = 137.9 meq/L) as compared to the NE (X = 135.1 meq/L) and HE (X = 134.8 meq/L). These data suggest that core temperature (Tc) increase in moderate intensity endurance exercise is less related to a decreased circulating plasma volume, but is more strongly associated with rising osmolality, specifically the increase in the Na+ electrolyte, which occur with progressive hypohydration. / Master of Science

Heat stress illnesses, including heat stroke and heat exhaustion, represent a serious, persistent, and growing public health threat to military and civilian populations. Global climate change, due primarily to increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, has resulted in measured increases in temperature and humidity. Climate models project warming trends to continue in the future with very high confidence, resulting in more dangerous mean and extreme heat conditions. The associations between environmental heat indicators and observed adverse health outcomes have been increasingly studied for mortality endpoints and among elderly populations. This dissertation aimed to expand this investigation to heat illness morbidity outcomes among active-duty military servicemembers while assessing a range of heat indices. This is an assumed healthy, working-age population that is regularly exposed to outdoor heat in combination with high levels of exertion. Comparable civilian populations, in some respects, include athletes and outdoor laborers such as construction workers or farmers. In Chapter 2, we assessed annual rates of ambulatory encounters, hospitalizations, and reportable events among active-duty soldiers at ten US Army installations from 1991 to 2018 to produce rate ratios for estimation of future climate change impacts. In this chapter, we identified positive long-term associations between annual heat indices and heat stress illness hospitalization and reportable event outcomes. Chapter 3 assessed incident active-duty US military heat stress illness cases at 24 installations between 1998 and 2019 on a daily-scale, resulting in odds ratio exposure-lag-response curves applicable to near-term risk assessment. The daily-scale relationships betweenheat indices and case-defined heat stress illnesses were non-linear, with increasing odds ratios starting from mild temperature ranges, and displayed short-term delayed effects. Finally, Chapter 4 described demographic and body composition risk factor trends in the US military from 1998 to 2019. In this assessment, we identified a null trend for body mass index among heat stress illness subjects over the study period. Overall, our findings demonstrate a connection between temperature and humidity indicators and observed heat stress illness morbidity outcomes among multiple sets of indices and timescales. This dissertation highlights an urgent need for vigilant heat stress prevention and control measures to protect health and maintain performance in hot and humid environments.

The architectural design becomes a challenge when considering the climate variables. Some of them act directly on users thermal comfort, such as temperature, humidity wind speed and solar radiation. Knowing that different regions may have different climatic conditions and that architecture should be designed according to the climate characteristics, the use of a standard architectural design for the whole country seems an inappropriate choice, particularly in the Brazilian context. The direct incidence of sunlight through windows can cause visual discomfort resulting from blurring, and/or thermal discomfort in warm climates. On the other hand, excessively shaded openings may produce dark spaces, increasing electricity consumption for lighting. Especially in classrooms, visual and/or thermal discomfort may interfere in the learning process and affecting students performance. The Standard Design of the Technical School of MEC - SDTS-MEC is part of Brazil professionalization program and is designed to be deployed throughout the Brazilian territory. This paper evaluates the shading and natural ventilation performance of the teaching/administrative block of SDTS-MEC building, which concentrates the most occupied environments, the classrooms. A characterization the object of study and parametric analysis of shading and natural ventilation were carried on. For the shading analysis, six different locations and eight guidelines were considered. For the analysis of natural ventilation, eight models were considered, each under a different wind incidence. The analysis of the shading devices showed that 15% are appropriate, 9% excessive and 76% insufficient. The results of natural ventilation analysis showed that among eight simulated wind incidences, two of them (with 45° incidence) displayed a higher pressure differential between opposite facades of the teaching/administrative block. These facades contain most apertures, representing greater potential for air movement inside the classrooms. It was observed that the PET-MEC requires adjustments to be deployed. The adjustment simple in sun protection angle of the brizes, and the choice of the most appropriate guidance in relation to solar radiation and prevailing winds, can improve the thermal performance of the project. Finally, a framework containing a set of recommendations for the implantation of the project considering the sunlight and natural ventilation performance were presented. / A concepção de projetos arquitetônicos torna-se um desafio diante das variáveis climáticas encontradas. Dentre essas estão as que atuam diretamente no conforto térmico dos usuários: a temperatura, umidade e velocidade do ar, e a radiação solar. Sabendo que cada lugar apresenta diferentes condições climáticas e que a arquitetura deve ser projetada de acordo com o clima, o uso de projetos padrão parece uma escolha inadequada para as regiões com climas diferentes, como no caso do Brasil. A incidência direta de raios solares, por meio das janelas, pode causar desconforto visual resultante do ofuscamento, ou desconforto térmico nos climas quentes. Por outro lado, aberturas excessivamente sombreadas podem gerar a necessidade do consumo de energia elétrica com iluminação artificial. Especialmente em escolas, o desconforto visual ou térmico nas salas de aula pode interferir no aprendizado e no desempenho das atividades escolares de alunos e professores. O Projeto Padrão de Escola Técnica do MEC – PPET-MEC é parte do Programa Brasil Profissionalizado e foi desenvolvido para ser implantado em todo o território brasileiro. Este trabalho avalia o desempenho quanto à insolação e à ventilação natural do bloco pedagógico/administrativo do PPET-MEC, onde se concentra a maior parte dos ambientes de permanência prolongada, as salas de aula. O método adotado baseia-se em análises paramétricas do sombreamento e da ventilação natural no PPET-MEC. Para a análise da insolação foram consideradas seis localidades distintas do Brasil, e oito orientações relativas à insolação. Para a análise da ventilação natural foram simulados oito modelos tridimensionais, cada um sob uma incidência de vento diferente. Os resultados da análise de insolação mostraram que as proteções solares analisadas são 15% adequadas, 9% excessivas e 76% insuficientes. Os resultados da análise de ventilação natural mostraram que das oito incidências de vento simuladas, duas incidindo a 45° apresentaram maior diferença de pressão entre as fachadas opostas do bloco pedagógico/administrativo nas quais está localizada a maior parte das aberturas, o que representa maior potencial para a movimentação do ar no interior das salas de aula. Observou-se que o PPET-MEC requer adaptações para ser implantado. O simples ajuste no ângulo de proteção solar dos brizes, e a escolha das orientações mais adequadas em relação à insolação e aos ventos dominantes, pode melhorar o desempenho térmico do projeto. Por fim foi elaborado um quadro de recomendações para a implantação do projeto quanto à insolação e à ventilação natural.

Exposure to high heat and humidity can lead to serious health risks, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and heat index have historically been used to predict heat stress events, but individualized factors are not included in the measurement. It has been shown that there is a relationship between cardiovascular measurements and heat stress, which could be used to measure heat stress risk on an individual level. Research has been done to find relationships between cardiovascular metrics in a workplace environment, however the study did not include the use of a controlled environment as a baseline. This study provides measurements of transepidermal water loss (TEWL), heart rate, body core temperature, and blood pressure in a controlled environment when human subjects are exposed to high heat and humidity. Thirty subjects (n=17 females, 13 males) were asked to self-express their activity level (active vs. sedentary), gender, and age. The subjects performed a 30-minute moderate exercise routine on a stationary stepper machine in a heated environmental chamber (average WBGT of 26ºC). TEWL, heart rate, tympanic temperature, and blood pressure were recorded at every 10-minute increment of the exercise protocol per subject. The data was analyzed using JMP® software to find significant (P