APES+ 2026

ATLANTIC PROVINCES EXERCISE SCIENTISTS AND SOCIOCULTURISTS 2026 (APES+ 2026)

Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS

General Conference Information

• APES+ will be held at Dalhousie University. Building?

• Schedule

Friday: Registration starts ~2:30pm, Opening remarks ~3:30pm and presentations 4-5:30. Reception and banquet 6:30-8:00.

Saturday: Presentation sessions 8:30-9:45 (break), 10:00-11:00 (break), 11:15-12:30 (lunch), and 1:30-2:15. Closing remarks 2:15-2:30.

• Banquet location?

• There will be a student social on the Friday evening following the reception. The student social will occur at the T-Room.

Conference Hotels

• Participants are encouraged to find their own accommodations and to reserve early.

Conference Registration

• The cost to register for the conference is $100. Additionally, there is the option of purchasing a drink ticket ($8) for the student social. If you want to register and purchase a drink ticket, please enter 108 into the form below.

• To register, please complete the registration and abstract form.

• Once you have completed the registration form and abstract submission, conference registration payment can occur through any of the following options:

• Complete the form below to pay online through PayPal

• Cash payment (on-site registration only).

Abstract Submission and Presentation

• For details regarding abstract or research summary formatting please see the example abstract found below. The abstract and registration information are to be completed via the registration and abstract form.

• The deadline to submit an abstract is Friday February 27, 2026.

• Oral presentations will be 10 minutes in duration with 2 minutes permitted for questions. There will be no poster presentation sessions.

EXAMPLE

ÉVALUATION DE LA VALIDITÉ ET DE LA FIABILITÉ D’UN AMPLIFICATEUR À BASE DE MICROCONTRÔLEUR À FAIBLE COÛT POUR MESURER LA FORCE MUSCULAIRE DES MEMBRES INFÉRIEURS ET SUPÉRIEURS

Julie Gaudet & Grant Handrigan

École de kinésiologie et de loisirs, Faculté des sciences de la santé et des services communautaires, Université́ de Moncton, Moncton, Canada

Introduction: Muscle strength is an important measure of functional ability. There are several methods of measuring muscle strength, ranging from manual tests to sophisticated instruments. Recently, there has been a proliferation of inexpensive tools that can adapted to measure muscle strength. This study aims to evaluate the inter- and intra-session validity and reliability of a low-cost microcontroller-based load cell amplifier for measuring maximal isometric muscle strength in the lower and upper limbs.

Methods: The low-cost microcontroller-based amplifier was compared to a commercial-grade signal conditioner and a hand-held force gauge.

Results: The microcontroller-based device correlated almost perfectly with the other instruments, and had a good to excellent ICC association for inter- and intra-session reliability.

Conclusion: The low-cost microcontroller-based amplifier is comparable to the commercial signal conditioner and hand-held dynamometer for measuring maximal isometric muscle force.

References:

1. Jaric, S. Muscle Strength Testing. Sports Med. 2002, 32, 615–631.
2. Moss, C.L.; Wright, P.T. Comparison of Three Methods of Assessing Muscle Strength and Imbalance Ratios of the Knee. J. Athl. Train. 1993, 28, 55–58.
   

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank all our participants for volunteering their time to assist with this project. Also, all members of the Biomechanics, Ergonomics and Analyse du Mouvement (BEAM) laboratory for their assistance and encouragement during data collection. This research was partially funded by the Canadian Frailty Network Catalyst Grant CAT 2018-15. and the CFN-NBHRF Summer Studentship 2020 SSA grant as salary support for J.G.