scholarly journals Assessment of Sprint Parameters in Top Speed Interval in 100 m Sprint—A Pilot Study Under Field Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Seidl ◽  
Tiago Guedes Russomanno ◽  
Michael Stöckl ◽  
Martin Lames
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Step Length ◽  
Position Detection ◽  
Fraunhofer Institute ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
First Time

Improving performances in sprinting requires feedback on sprint parameters such as step length and step time. However, these parameters from the top speed interval (TSI) are difficult to collect in a competition setting. Recent advances in tracking technology allows to provide positional data with high spatio-temporal resolution. This pilot study, therefore, aims to automatically obtain general sprint parameters, parameters characterizing, and derived from TSI from raw speed. In addition, we propose a method for obtaining the intra-cyclic speed amplitude in TSI. We analyzed 32 100 m-sprints of 7 male and 9 female athletes (18.9 ± 2.8 years; 100 m PB 10.55–12.41 s, respectively, 12.18–13.31 s). Spatio-temporal data was collected with a radio-based position detection system (RedFIR, Fraunhofer Institute, Germany). A general velocity curve was fitted to the overall speed curve (vbase), TSI (upper quintile of vbase values) was determined and a cosine term was added to vbase within TSI (vcycle) to capture the cyclic nature of speed. This allowed to derive TSI parameters including TSI amplitude from the fitted parameters of the cosine term. Results showed good approximation for vbase (error: 5.0 ± 1.0%) and for vcycle (2.0 ± 1.0%). For validation we compared spatio-temporal TSI parameters to criterion values from laser measurement (speed) and optoelectric systems (step time and step length) showing acceptable RMSEs for mean speed (0.08 m/s), for step time (0.004 s), and for step length (0.03 m). Top speed interval amplitude showed a significant difference between males (mean: 1.41 m/s) and females (mean: 0.71 m/s) and correlations showed its independence from other sprint parameters. Gender comparisons for validation revealed the expected differences. This pilot study investigated the feasibility of estimating sprint parameters from high-quality tracking data. The proposed method is independent of the data source and allows to automatically obtain general sprint parameters and TSI parameters, including TSI amplitude assessed here for the first time in a competition-like setting.

scholarly journals The Design of a Shoe for the Analysis of Ambulation Pattern for Diverse Age-Cohort

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-129
Author(s):  
Mehwish Faiz ◽  
Choudhary S. Shakeel ◽  
Munira M. Zariwala ◽  
Umer Hassan ◽  
Fatema Ilyas
Keyword(s):  
Ground Reaction Force ◽  
Reaction Force ◽  
Step Length ◽  
Ultrasonic Sensor ◽  
Initial Contact ◽  
Subsequent Decrease ◽  
Gait Parameters ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Ambulation is one of the important activities of daily life aided by musculoskeletal system. However, with ageing due to muscle weakness and decreased range of motion of joints, different walking abnormalities may occur. These abnormalities may result in deviation of the spatio-temporal gait parameters. Mostly, alteration in pattern of locomotion has been observed with the increase in the age of an individual. This variation in the ambulation pattern and subsequent decrease in the gait parameters pertains to the onset of musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis as well as various postural abnormalities. Hence, wearable technologies can aid individuals to monitor their gait parameters efficiently and alert them in case there is a significant decrease. This paper describes the design of an Arduino based monitoring system which analyzes the two significant gait parameters: step length and ground reaction force (GRF). A diverse age cohort consisting of 70 healthy individuals with ages in the range of 18 years to 80 years were recruited for this study. The shoe prototype measures the step length and ground reaction force (GRF). This is accomplished by making use of sensors including a Force Sensitive Resistive sensor (FSR) and an Ultrasonic sensor. The FSR sensor exhibits the ground reaction force that the ground exerts on a body that comes in contact with it; whereas, the ultrasonic sensor measures the step length which pertains to the distance between the initial contact of one foot and the point of initial contact of the other foot. The results of the study show that with age there is a significant decrease in the ambulation parameters. Young participants were observed to exhibit higher values of step length and ground reaction force (GRF) as compared to older participants who exhibit significant decrease in the parameter values. The results also show that there is a significant difference between the age of the individuals and the step length and ground reaction force values. The decrease in the gait parameters with increasing age permits this shoe prototype to be used for clinical settings in the future and be able to analyze the onset of any musculoskeletal disorder.

Mother's MILK Messaging: A PILOT Study of an APP to Support Breastfeeding in First Time Mothers

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 137 (Supplement 3) ◽  
pp. 218A-218A ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Bunik ◽  
Jennifer Leifermann ◽  
Jessica R. Ryan ◽  
Anna Furniss ◽  
Sheana Bull
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
First Time Mothers ◽  
Mother's Milk ◽  
Mother’S Milk ◽  
First Time

THE EMPATHY LEVELS OF WOMEN PLAYING IN BASKETBALL LEAGUES

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (25) ◽  
pp. 760-768
Author(s):  
Nida Gencer ÖZKAN ◽  
◽  
Tülin ATAN
Keyword(s):  
Marital Status ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Educational Status ◽  
Basketball Players ◽  
Coaching Behaviors ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Women's Basketball ◽  
Coaching Behavior ◽  
And Behavior

The aim of this study was to investigate the basketball players’, active in Turkey Women’s Basketball Super and 1st Leagues, empathy levels according to their marital status, educational status in addition to age and marital status of their coach; and to evaluate leadership characteristics and behavior of their coaches according to athlete’s perception. Another aim was to analyze the relation between empathy levels of the athletes and athletes’ perception of coaching behavior. 264 (age; 24.61±5.53 year) female athletes playing in Turkey Women’s Basketball Super and 1st Leagues participated in this study. Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS)-version of Athletes’ Perception of Coaching Behavior that developed by Chelladurai and Saleh, and adapted by Tiryaki and Toros in 2006 was used as data collection tool. Athletes’ perceptions of leadership style and behavior of their coach were evaluated in five different factors. A five-factor solution with 40 items describing the most salient dimensions of coaching behavior was selected as the most meaningful. Empathy levels of the athletes were determined by using Emphatic Tendency Scale which was developed by Dökmen (1988) and composed of 20 items. Empathy levels of the athletes showed no statistically significant difference in terms of any variable (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in athletes’ perceptions of coaching behaviors in terms of marital status of the athlete and age of their coach (p>0.05). In terms of educational status of athletes and marital status of their coach, there were statistically significant differences in athletes’ perceptions of coaching behaviors (p<0.05 and p<0.01). Positive and meaningful correlation was found between empathy scores of the athletes and training and instruction behavior (r=.172**) and autocratic behavior (r=.154*) of the coach (p<0.05 and p<0.01). Educational status of the athletes and marital status of their coach are influental in athletes’ evaluation of their perceptions of coaching behavior. Empathy levels of the athletes are related to their perceptions of coaching behavior.

scholarly journals Telemedicine Chronic Viral Hepatitis C Treatment during the Lockdown Period in Romania: A Pilot Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3694
Author(s):  
Irina Paula Doica ◽  
Dan Nicolae Florescu ◽  
Carmen Nicoleta Oancea ◽  
Adina Turcu-Stiolica ◽  
Mihaela-Simona Subtirelu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Medication Adherence ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Therapy Monitoring ◽  
Antiviral Agents ◽  
Item Score ◽  
Hcv Therapy ◽  
Viral Hepatitis C ◽  
Significant Difference

The COVID-19 pandemic is currently delaying the process of chronic hepatitis C (HCV) eradication, since most of the chronic diseases are neglected. Thus, there is a need for alternative programs for HCV therapy implementation and disease monitoring. Our aim was to provide a multidisciplinary approach, so that HCV-infected patients from distant locations may benefit from HCV antivirals during the COVID-19 outbreak and within the lockdown period in Romania. Previously diagnosed HCV patients willing to participate in this telemedicine pilot study were included. Patient characteristics and medical adherence were assessed and compared to the year preceding the pandemic. We proposed a multidisciplinary approach by using a telemedicine program for HCV therapy monitoring. Patients also received a satisfaction questionnaire after delivering the sustained virologic response (SVR) result. A total of 41 patients agreed to participate in this study. The medication adherence was 100% for patients included in the telemedicine group, with a statistically significant difference from the medication adherence of the patients treated in 2019. The satisfaction item score was 4.92 out of 5 and our results (r = −0.94, p < 0.0001) suggested that older patients embraced the telemedicine program less, but with the same success in terms of SVR (100%) and medication adherence (100%). Our pilot study offers the first example of a telemedicine program in Romania for HCV therapeutic management. During the lockdown period, telemedicine has served as a reliable tool and novel alternative for conventional monitoring of patients treated with direct antiviral agents and should be further considered even following the pandemic.

scholarly journals Acute Effects on Impact Accelerations Running with Objects in the Hand

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 550
Author(s):  
Roberto Sanchis-Sanchis ◽  
Alberto Encarnación-Martínez ◽  
Jose I. Priego-Quesada ◽  
Inmaculada Aparicio ◽  
Irene Jimenez-Perez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Step Length ◽  
Stride Frequency ◽  
Acute Effects ◽  
Shock Attenuation ◽  
Acceleration Rate ◽  
Recreational Runners ◽  
Impact Acceleration ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Extra Weight

Amateur runners usually run carrying implements in their hands (keys, a mobile phone, or a bottle of water). However, there is a lack of literature about the effects of different handloads on impact accelerations. Thus, this study aimed to analyse the effects of carrying different objects in the hand on impact accelerations during running. Nineteen male recreational runners (age 24.3 ± 6.8 years, training volume of 25 ± 7.38 km/week) performed twenty minutes of running on a treadmill at 2.78 m/s with four different conditions: no extra weight, with keys, with a mobile phone, and with a bottle of water. Impact acceleration and spatio-temporal parameters were analysed through a wireless triaxial accelerometry system composed of three accelerometers: two placed in each tibia and one placed on the forehead. A higher tibia acceleration rate in the dominant leg was observed when participants ran holding both a mobile phone (p = 0.027; ES = 0.359) and a bottle of water (p = 0.027; ES = 0.359), compared to no extra weight. No changes were observed in peak acceleration, acceleration magnitude, and shock attenuation in any other conditions. Likewise, neither stride frequency nor step length was modified. Our results suggest that recreational runners should not worry about carrying objects in their hands, like a mobile phone or a bottle of water, in short races because their effect seems minimal.

scholarly journals Biomechanics of Trail Running Performance: Quantification of Spatio-Temporal Parameters by Using Low Cost Sensors in Ecological Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2093
Author(s):  
Noé Perrotin ◽  
Nicolas Gardan ◽  
Arnaud Lesprillier ◽  
Clément Le Goff ◽  
Jean-Marc Seigneur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Step Length ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Ecological Conditions ◽  
Sports Science ◽  
Ground Contact Time ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Performance Results ◽  
Trail Running

The recent popularity of trail running and the use of portable sensors capable of measuring many performance results have led to the growth of new fields in sports science experimentation. Trail running is a challenging sport; it usually involves running uphill, which is physically demanding and therefore requires adaptation to the running style. The main objectives of this study were initially to use three “low-cost” sensors. These low-cost sensors can be acquired by most sports practitioners or trainers. In the second step, measurements were taken in ecological conditions orderly to expose the runners to a real trail course. Furthermore, to combine the collected data to analyze the most efficient running techniques according to the typology of the terrain were taken, as well on the whole trail circuit of less than 10km. The three sensors used were (i) a Stryd sensor (Stryd Inc. Boulder CO, USA) based on an inertial measurement unit (IMU), 6 axes (3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer) fixed on the top of the runner’s shoe, (ii) a Global Positioning System (GPS) watch and (iii) a heart belt. Twenty-eight trail runners (25 men, 3 women: average age 36 ± 8 years; height: 175.4 ± 7.2 cm; weight: 68.7 ± 8.7 kg) of different levels completed in a single race over a 8.5 km course with 490 m of positive elevation gain. This was performed with different types of terrain uphill (UH), downhill (DH), and road sections (R) at their competitive race pace. On these sections of the course, cadence (SF), step length (SL), ground contact time (GCT), flight time (FT), vertical oscillation (VO), leg stiffness (Kleg), and power (P) were measured with the Stryd. Heart rate, speed, ascent, and descent speed were measured by the heart rate belt and the GPS watch. This study showed that on a ≤10 km trail course the criteria for obtaining a better time on the loop, determined in the test, was consistency in the effort. In a high percentage of climbs (>30%), two running techniques stand out: (i) maintaining a high SF and a short SL and (ii) decreasing the SF but increasing the SL. In addition, it has been shown that in steep (>28%) and technical descents, the average SF of the runners was higher. This happened when their SL was shorter in lower steep and technically challenging descents.

scholarly journals Molecular Detection and Phylogeny of Anaplasmaphagocytophilum and Related Variants in Small Ruminants from Turkey

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 814
Author(s):  
Münir Aktaş ◽  
Sezayi Özübek ◽  
Mehmet Can Uluçeşme
Keyword(s):  
16S Rrna ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Infection Rates ◽  
Sheep And Goats ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Pcr Rflp ◽  
First Time ◽  
Japan And China ◽  
Apparently Healthy

Anaplasma phagocytophilum causes tick-borne fever in small ruminants. Recently, novel Anaplasma variants related to A. phagocytophilum have been reported in ruminants from Tunisia, Italy, South Korea, Japan, and China. Based on 16S rRNA and groEL genes and sequencing, we screened the frequency of A. phagocytophilum and related variants in 433 apparently healthy small ruminants in Turkey. Anaplasma spp. overall infection rates were 27.9% (121/433 analyzed samples). The frequency of A. phagocytophilum and A. phagocytophilum-like 1 infections was 1.4% and 26.5%, respectively. No A. phagocytophilum-like 2 was detected in the tested animals. The prevalence of Anaplasma spp. was comparable in species, and no significant difference was detected between sheep and goats, whereas the prevalence significantly increased with tick infestation. Sequencing confirmed PCR-RFLP data and showed the presence of A. phagocytophilum and A. phagocytophilum-like-1 variant in the sampled animals. Phylogeny-based on 16S rRNA gene revealed the A. phagocytophilum-like 1 in a separate clade together with the previous isolates detected in small ruminants and ticks. In this work, A. phagocytophilum-like 1 has been detected for the first time in sheep and goats from Turkey. This finding revealed that the variant should be considered in the diagnosis of caprine and ovine anaplasmosis.

scholarly journals Design of bio-inspired binocular UAV detection system based on improved STC algorithm of scale transformation and occlusion detection

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 175682932110048
Author(s):  
Huajun Song ◽  
Yanqi Wu ◽  
Guangbing Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Detection System ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Reference Value ◽  
Scale Transformation ◽  
Hardware System ◽  
Time Requirements ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Small Targets ◽  
Vision Detection

With the rapid development of drones, many problems have arisen, such as invasion of privacy and endangering security. Inspired by biology, in order to achieve effective detection and robust tracking of small targets such as unmanned aerial vehicles, a binocular vision detection system is designed. The system is composed of long focus and wide-angle dual cameras, servo pan tilt, and dual processors for detecting and identifying targets. In view of the shortcomings of spatio-temporal context target tracking algorithm that cannot adapt to scale transformation and easy to track failure in complex scenes, the scale filter and loss criterion are introduced to make an improvement. Qualitative and quantitative experiments show that the designed system can adapt to the scale changes and partial occlusion conditions in the detection, and meets the real-time requirements. The hardware system and algorithm both have reference value for the application of anti-unmanned aerial vehicle systems.

Endoscopic prediction of submucosal invasion in Barrett’s cancer with the use of Artificial Intelligence: A pilot Study

Endoscopy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alanna Ebigbo ◽  
Robert Mendel ◽  
Tobias Rückert ◽  
Laurin Schuster ◽  
Andreas Probst ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
White Light ◽  
Submucosal Invasion ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Endoscopic Images ◽  
Barrett’S Cancer ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sensitivity Specificity

Background and aims: The accurate differentiation between T1a and T1b Barrett’s cancer has both therapeutic and prognostic implications but is challenging even for experienced physicians. We trained an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system on the basis of deep artificial neural networks (deep learning) to differentiate between T1a and T1b Barrett’s cancer white-light images. Methods: Endoscopic images from three tertiary care centres in Germany were collected retrospectively. A deep learning system was trained and tested using the principles of cross-validation. A total of 230 white-light endoscopic images (108 T1a and 122 T1b) was evaluated with the AI-system. For comparison, the images were also classified by experts specialized in endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of Barrett’s cancer. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, F1 and accuracy of the AI-system in the differentiation between T1a and T1b cancer lesions was 0.77, 0.64, 0.73 and 0.71, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the performance of the AI-system and that of human experts with sensitivity, specificity, F1 and accuracy of 0.63, 0.78, 0.67 and 0.70 respectively. Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrates the first multicenter application of an AI-based system in the prediction of submucosal invasion in endoscopic images of Barrett’s cancer. AI scored equal to international experts in the field, but more work is necessary to improve the system and apply it to video sequences and in a real-life setting. Nevertheless, the correct prediction of submucosal invasion in Barret´s cancer remains challenging for both experts and AI.

scholarly journals Real-time spatio-temporal event detection on geotagged social media

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmeen George ◽  
Shanika Karunasekera ◽  
Aaron Harwood ◽  
Kwan Hui Lim
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Event Detection ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Event Time ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Geographical Space ◽  
Media Data

AbstractA key challenge in mining social media data streams is to identify events which are actively discussed by a group of people in a specific local or global area. Such events are useful for early warning for accident, protest, election or breaking news. However, neither the list of events nor the resolution of both event time and space is fixed or known beforehand. In this work, we propose an online spatio-temporal event detection system using social media that is able to detect events at different time and space resolutions. First, to address the challenge related to the unknown spatial resolution of events, a quad-tree method is exploited in order to split the geographical space into multiscale regions based on the density of social media data. Then, a statistical unsupervised approach is performed that involves Poisson distribution and a smoothing method for highlighting regions with unexpected density of social posts. Further, event duration is precisely estimated by merging events happening in the same region at consecutive time intervals. A post processing stage is introduced to filter out events that are spam, fake or wrong. Finally, we incorporate simple semantics by using social media entities to assess the integrity, and accuracy of detected events. The proposed method is evaluated using different social media datasets: Twitter and Flickr for different cities: Melbourne, London, Paris and New York. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we compare our results with two baseline algorithms based on fixed split of geographical space and clustering method. For performance evaluation, we manually compute recall and precision. We also propose a new quality measure named strength index, which automatically measures how accurate the reported event is.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document