Evaluation and Comparison of Wearable Technology Device Data Between Devices During Trail Running

An estimated 20 million people participate in trail running with this number expected grow at a rate of 15% annually. Wearable technology devices have become more relied upon to track running data such as distance, cadence, elevation gain, etc. The consistency between these devices is not well-established. PURPOSE: To determine the consistency of data across wearable technology devices. METHODS: Seventeen participants (F = 7) ran on the Thunderbird Gardens Lighting Switch trail in Cedar City, UT. The participants were each fitted with two Garmin Instincts, two Polar Vantage M2s, and two Stryd sensors. One device from each manufacturer was placed on the left side (wrist for watches and foot for Stryd), and the other devices were placed on the right. Each pair of devices was started simultaneously, and the participant then completed a self-paced out-and-back trail run of approximately 20 minutes. All devices were stopped simultaneously at the completion of the run. Data collected across all devices includes average pace, best pace, average cadence, distance, ascent, and descent. The average percent difference and coefficient of variation (CV) between similar and different devices was calculated. RESULTS: The pairs of devices from the same manufacturer were found to be most consistent with each other (Garmin to Garmin: 3.27%; Polar to Polar: 1.4%; Stryd to Stryd: 1.15%) while devices from different manufacturers were found to be very different (Garmin to Polar: 12.75%; Garmin to Stryd: 10.11%; Polar to Stryd: 17.75%). Between devices from the same manufacturer, ascent was found to be least reliable (Garmin: CoV=0.20; Polar: CoV=0.12; Stryd: CoV=0.26). CONCLUSION: Data collected by wearable technologies of the same manufacturer will be mostly consistent with each other. However, data collected by a technology from a different manufacturer may be inconsistent with data from another device. In addition, elevation data may vary more than other data between watches. This finding is important because trail runners tend to compare their trail runs with other runners and often find ascent data important to measure progress. The location of the trail in a canyon may have impeded accuracy. Based on our findings, it may not be accurate to compare trail runs completed by runners with a different wearable technology device manufacturer

Evaluation of Average and Maximum Heart Rate of Wrist-worn Wearable Technology Devices During Trail Running

It has been estimated that there are 20 million people who participate in trail running, and these numbers are expected to increase by 15% each year. Our laboratory group has conducted studies on the validity of wearable technology watches and heart rate (HR) during trail running. The previous generation devices were mostly inaccurate, and a limitation was that reliability was not measured. PURPOSE: To determine both validity and reliability in newer models of wearable devices during trail running. METHODS: Seventeen participants (F = 7) ran on the Thunderbird Gardens Lightning Switch trail in Cedar City, UT. Demographic characteristics: Age = 25 (9) years (mean [standard deviation]), ht = 168 (9) cm, mass = 72 (14) kg. Two Garmin Instincts and two Polar Vantage M2s were evaluated, along with the Polar H10 chest strap as the criterion measure. Participants ran out on the trail for 10-minutes, and then returned to the trailhead. Maximum HR and average HR were measured during the run. Data were analyzed for validity (Mean Absolute Percent Error [MAPE] and Lin’s Concordance [CCC]) and reliability (Coefficient of Variation [CV] and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient [ICC]). Predetermined thresholds were: MAPE0.70, CV0.70. RESULTS: The Garmin Instinct met the threshold for both reliability tests for average and maximum HR (see table). The Garmin Instinct and Polar Vantage met the threshold for both validity tests for maximum HR. CONCLUSION: In order for a device to be considered valid, it must meet the predetermined thresholds for both validity and reliability. These results indicate that only the Garmin Instinct is valid and reliable, but only for measuring maximum HR. This is challenging for those who wish to track their HR while trail running, because neither of the studied devices were valid and reliable for maximum and average HR

Gothic Revival Architecture Before Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill

The Gothic Revival is generally considered to have begun in eighteenth-century Britain with the construction of Horace Walpole’s villa, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, in the late 1740s. As this chapter demonstrates, however, Strawberry Hill is in no way the first building, domestic or otherwise, to have recreated, even superficially, some aspect of the form and ornamental style of medieval architecture. Earlier architects who, albeit often combining it with Classicism, worked in the Gothic style include Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor, William Kent and Batty Langley, aspects of whose works are explored here. While not an exhaustive survey of pre-1750 Gothic Revival design, the examples considered in this chapter reveal how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Gothic emerged and evolved over the course of different architects’ careers, and how, by the time that Walpole came to create his own Gothic ‘castle’, there was already in existence in Britain a sustained Gothic Revivalist tradition

Integrated Saltwater Desalination and Energy Storage through a pH Neutral Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Battery

Here, a pH neutral aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) consisting of three electrolytes channels (i.e., an anolyte channel, a catholyte channel, and a central salt water channel) to achieve integrated energy storage and desalination is reported. Employing a low cost, chemically stable methyl viologen (MV) anolyte, and sodium ferrocyanide catholyte, this desalination AORFB is capable of desalinating simulated seawater (0.56 m NaCl) down to 0.023 m salt concentration at an energy cost of 2.4 W h L−1 of fresh water—competitive with current reverse osmosis technologies. Simultaneously, the cell delivers stored energy at 79.7% efficiency with a cell voltage of 0.85 V. Furthermore, the cell is also capable of higher current operation up to 15 mA cm−2, providing 4.55 mL of fresh water per hour. Combining energy storage and water desalination into such a bifunctional device offers the opportunity to address two growing global issues from one hardware installation

Revisiting the role of sulfur in crop production: A narrative review

A review of the role of sulfur (S) in crop production is presented, with a particular emphasis on major crops including corn (Zea mays L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Specifically, S demand and availability, nutritive effects in improving yield, its effect on quality in major crops, different diagnostic methods, and future perspectives of S research are discussed. Sulfur plays a crucial role in synthesizing proteins, chlorophyll, enzymes, and vitamins, as well as influencing general metabolic and photosynthetic mechanisms. In the early 1950s, S deficiency was only noted in specific soils, but now it is becoming universally deficient. The amount of plant-available S in the soil has decreased by 34–86 % between 2000 and 2020, leaving crop production at risk. The reasons for widespread S deficiency include lower industrial atmospheric deposition, stricter environmental laws, prevailing management practices such as selection of high-yielding varieties, increased use of low S fertilizers, decreased use of S containing fungicides and insecticides, and in some cases reduced tillage intensity. Nonetheless, researchers have attempted to trans-genetically produce more S-use-efficient crops, explored possibilities where S metabolites could contribute to synergism in interactions of plant and rhizosphere microorganisms in enhancing S mineralization. Moreover, proven strategies tailored to S are necessary to increase site-specific management. Owing to the significant role of S in crop production, it is important to explore improvement in S uptake, S use efficiency, systematic S fertilizing strategies, and precise and timely S diagnostic tools