A depth camera-based system for estimating cyclist-bike projected frontal area

A major component of total resistive force in cycling is aerodynamic drag. For speeds greater than ~14 m/s aerodynamic drag accounts for approximately 90% of total resistive force (Debraux et al., 2009: International Journal of Sports Medicine, 30, 266-272). Together with the air density, the coefficient of drag and the velocity of the cyclist-bike, an important determinant of aerodynamic drag is projected frontal area. Several techniques have been used to estimate the projected frontal area of a cyclist-bike, including the weighing of photographs and image digitising (Debraux et al., 2009). These techniques are similar as they involve extracting the cyclist-bike from a two-dimensional (2D) image and using scaling information from a plane of known dimensions. With the weighing photographs method this is done physically using sensitive weighing scales whereas image processing software is used for the image digitising technique. Both techniques require the collection of a calibration plane, involve considerable post-processing and cannot be performed in real time. We have developed a depth camera-based system for estimating cyclist-bike projected frontal area which addresses these issues. The depth camera algorithm works by creating a metrically scaled, three-dimensional point cloud of the cyclist-bike. The point cloud is projected on to a 2D representation of the scene and the area of the point cloud is calculated using a technique similar to ‘voxelization’; points in the cloud occupy spaces in a fine grid – the sum of the occupied grid spaces gives total area. The aim of this study was to investigate the agreement between our new method and the image digitising technique.After institutional ethics approval, eight regular cyclists volunteered to participate and provided written informed consent. Participants wore their normal cycling clothing and their bicycle was mounted on a stationary indoor trainer. The bicycle was positioned against a white background to help with the image digitising method. Participants placed their feet on the pedals and held the cranks parallel to the floor. A digital camera (Canon EOS 400D, 10.1 megapixel) and Kinect depth camera (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) were mounted on tripods at a height of 1.1 m and positioned 5 m and 2.2 m in front of the participant, respectively. Similar to Debraux et al. (2009), participants adopted two positions on the bike: 1. Upright – upright torso with hands close to the stem and 2. Drops Position – hands on the drops. Three repeat captures were performed in each position, with the participant relaxing between each capture. The digitising method was performed as described by Debraux et al. (2009). Agreement between methods was assessed using limits of agreement (LOA - Bland and Altman, 1986: Lancet, 1, 307-310). A two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (method by position) was used to assess the effect of cyclist position on the systematic difference between measurement methods.There was no interaction between cyclist position and measurement method (p = 0.201) indicating that the same effect of cyclist position was observed using both measurement techniques. A significant main effect for cyclist position (p = 0.017) indicated that projected frontal area was smaller with hands on the drops (upright: 0.485 m2, drops: 0.434 m2). There was also a significant main effect for measurement method (p < 0.001) indicating a significantly smaller estimation of projected frontal area using the Kinect (Kinect: 0.416 m2, Image: 0.503 m2). A predominantly systematic difference between methods was also suggested by the LOA analysis (upright: 0.086 ± 0.029 m2, drops: 0.090 ± 0.033 m2).The aim of this study was to assess the agreement between a common method of estimating cyclist-bike frontal area and a new depth camera-based technique. The new technique estimated systematically smaller projected frontal area than the image digitisation method but there was relatively little random variation and the same effect of cyclist position was observed with both techniques. Which technique gives the most accurate estimate of projected frontal area is not clear as the image digitisation technique - to which the new technique was compared - has associated errors e.g. identification of the cyclist-bike outline and out-of-plane errors. However, it was apparent during testing that the depth camera-based system often failed to identify parts of the bike and this is most likely the cause of the difference between techniques. Regardless, the results of this study suggest that the new technique can be used to assess changes in projected frontal area – as the cyclist changes position, for example. Further, the new technique offers the possibility of analysing changes in projected frontal area in real time – there is no requirement for calibration or post-processing

Grief Content Inclusion in CACREP-Accredited Counselor Education Programs

This study investigated how counselor educators (n = 61) integrated grief content in accredited counselor education programs, characteristics of the course in which grief is taught, and professional background of faculty members. Most participants endorsed general content items (e.g., reactions to loss), grief theories (e.g., stages/phases of grief), and practice considerations (e.g., self-care). Additionally, results indicated grief-focused courses were mostly elective (n = 23; 85.19%), facilitated face-to-face (n = 18; 66.67%) and taught by counselor educators influenced by significant personal loss (n = 18, 78.26%). Results demonstrated a lack of professional affiliation with grief-related organizations, professional development through certifications, or continuing education. Discussion of results, implications for the counseling profession, and areas for future research and practice are explored

Analytic provenance for sensemaking: A research agenda

Sensemaking is a process of finding meaning from information that often involves activities such as information foraging and hypothesis generation. It can be valuable to maintain a history of the data and reasoning involved. This history, commonly known as provenance information, can be a resource for 'reflection-in-action'' during analysis, supporting collaboration between analysts, and can help trace data quality and uncertainty through the analysis process. Currently, there is limited work on utilizing analytic provenance, which captures the interactive data exploration and human reasoning process, to support sensemaking. This article presents and extends the research challenges discussed in a IEEE VIS 2014 workshop on this topic to provide an agenda for sensemaking analytic provenance

Biomechanical locomotion adaptations on uneven surfaces can be simulated with a randomly deforming shoe midsole

Background: A shoe with unsystematic perturbations, similar to natural uneven terrain, may offer an enhanced training stimulus over current unstable footwear technologies. This study compared the instability of a shoe with unpredictably random midsole deformations, an irregular surface and a control shoe-surface whilst treadmill walking and running. Methods: Three-dimensional kinematics and electromyography were recorded of the lower limb in 18 active males. Gait cycle characteristics, joint angles at initial ground contact and maximum values during stance, and muscle activations prior to initial contact and during loading were analysed. Perceived stability, injury-risk and energy consumption were evaluated. Instability was assessed by movement variability, muscular activations and subjective ratings. Results: Posture alterations at initial contact revealed active adaptations in the irregular midsole and irregular surface to maintain stability whilst walking and running. Variability of the gait cycle and lower limb kinematics increased on the irregular surface compared to the control across locomotion types. Similarly increased variability (coefficient of variation) were found in the irregular midsole compared to the control for frontal ankle motion (walk: 31.1 and 14.9, run: 28.1 and 11.6), maximum sagittal knee angle (walk: 7.6 and 4.8, run: 2.8 and 2.4), and global gait characteristics during walking only (2.1 ± 0.5 and 1.6 ± 0.3). Tibialis anterior pre-activation reduced and gastrocnemius activation increased in the irregular midsole compared to the control across locomotion types. During running, peroneus longus activation increased in the irregular midsole and irregular surface. Conclusions: Results indicate random shoe midsole deformations enhanced instability relative to the control and simulated certain locomotion adaptations of the irregular surface, although less pronounced. Thus, a shoe with unpredictable instability revealed potential as a novel instability-training device

Access to Dental Care for Children and Young People in Care and Care Leavers: A Global Scoping Review

Aims: This scoping review aimed to explore three research questions: 1. What is the dental care access for children and young people (CYP) in care and care leavers? 2. What factors influence CYP in care and care leavers’ access to dental care? 3. What pathways have been developed to improve access to oral health care for CYP in care and care leavers? Methods: Five databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, CINAHL, SocINDEX and Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source) and grey literature sources were systematically searched. Articles relating to CYP in care or care leavers aged 0–25 years old, published up to January 2023 were included. Abstracts, posters and publications not in the English language were excluded. The data relating to dental care access were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The search identified 942 articles, of which 247 were excluded as duplicates. A review of the titles and abstracts yielded 149 studies. Thirty-eight were eligible for inclusion in the review: thirty-three peer-reviewed articles, one PhD thesis and four grey literature sources. All papers were published from very high or medium Human Development Index countries. The studies indicate that despite having higher treatment needs, CYP in care and care leavers experience greater difficulty in accessing dental services than those not care-experienced. Organisational, psycho-social and logistical factors influence their access to dental care. Their experience of dental care may be impacted by adverse childhood events. Pathways to dental care have been developed, but little is known of their impact on access. There are very few studies that include care leavers. The voices of care-experienced CYP are missing from dental access research. Conclusions: care-experienced CYP are disadvantaged in their access to dental care, and there are significant barriers to their treatment needs being met

Value of individual surgeon performance metrics as quality assurance measures in oesophagogastric cancer surgery

Background Surgeon‐level operative mortality is widely seen as a measure of quality after gastric and oesophageal resection. This study aimed to evaluate this alongside a compound‐level outcome analysis. Methods Consecutive patients who underwent treatment including surgery delivered by a multidisciplinary team, which included seven specialist surgeons, were studied. The primary outcome was death within 30 days of surgery; secondary outcomes were anastomotic leak, Clavien–Dindo morbidity score, lymph node harvest, circumferential resection margin (CRM) status, disease‐free (DFS), and overall (OS) survival. Results The median number of annual resections per surgeon was 10 (range 5–25), compared with 14 (5–25) for joint consultant teams (P = 0·855). The median annual surgeon‐level mortality rate was 0 (0–9) per cent versus an overall network annual operative mortality rate of 1·8 (0–3·7) per cent. Joint consultant team procedures were associated with fewer operative deaths (0·5 per cent versus 3·4 per cent at surgeon level; P = 0·027). The median surgeon anastomotic leak rate was 12·4 (range 9–20) per cent (P = 0·625 versus the whole surgical range), overall morbidity 46·5 (31–60) per cent (P = 0·066), lymph node harvest 16 (9–29) (P < 0·001), CRM positivity 32·0 (16–46) per cent (P = 0·003), 5‐year DFS rate 44·8 (29–60) per cent and OS rate 46·5 (35–53) per cent. No designated metrics were independently associated with DFS or OS in multivariable analysis. Conclusion Annual surgeon‐level metrics demonstrated wide variations (fivefold), but these performance metrics were not associated with survival

Co‐production of health and social science research with vulnerable children and young people: A rapid review

Background The term ‘care-experienced’ refers to anyone who is currently in care or has been in care at any stage in their life. A complex interplay of factors leads to care-experienced children and young people (CECYP) experiencing poorer oral health and access to dental care than their peers. A rapid review of the co-production of health and social care research with vulnerable children and young people (CYP) was carried out to inform the development of a co-produced research project exploring the oral health behaviours and access to dental services of CECYP. Here, ‘co-production’ refers to the involvement of CYP in the planning or conduct of research with explicit roles in which they generate ideas, evidence and research outputs. Aim To learn how to meaningfully involve vulnerable CYP in the co-production of health and social science research. Objectives To identify: Different approaches to facilitating the engagement of vulnerable CYP in co-production of health and social science research; different activities carried out in such approaches, challenges to engaging vulnerable CYP in co-production of health and social science research and ways to overcome them and areas of best practice in relation to research co-production with vulnerable CYP. Search Strategy A rapid review of peer-reviewed articles was conducted in six databases (MEDLINE, Embase, SocINDEX, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science) and grey literature to identify studies that engaged vulnerable CYP in co-approaches to health and social research. Main Results Of 1394 documents identified in the search, 40 were included and analysed. A number of different approaches to co-production were used in the studies. The CYP was involved in a range of activities, chiefly the development of data collection tools, data collection and dissemination. Individual challenges for CYP and researchers, practical and institutional factors and ethical considerations impacted the success of co-production. Discussion and Conclusion Co-production of health and social science with vulnerable CYP presents challenges to researchers and CYP calling for all to demonstrate reflexivity and awareness of biases, strengths and limitations. Used appropriately and well, co-production offers benefits to researchers and CYP and can contribute to research that reflects the needs of vulnerable CYP. Adherence to the key principles of inclusion, safeguarding, respect and well-being facilitates this approach. Patient and Public Contribution Members of our patient and public involvement and stakeholder groups contributed to the interpretation of the review findings. This manuscript was written together with a young care leaver, Skye Boswell, who is one of the authors. She contributed to the preparation of the manuscript, reviewing the findings and their interpretation

Histoplasmosis infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 1998-2009

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with rheumatic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk for infections related to both the disease and its treatments. These include uncommonly reported infections due to histoplasmosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Medical record review of all patients with a diagnosis of RA who developed new histoplasmosis infection in an endemic region between Jan 1, 1998 and Jan 30, 2009 and who were seen at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota was performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Histoplasmosis was diagnosed in 26 patients. Most patients were on combination therapies; 15 were on anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents, 15 on corticosteroids and 16 on methotrexate. Most received more than 6 months of itraconazole and/or amphotericin treatment. Two patients died of causes unrelated to histoplasmosis. Anti-TNF treatment was restarted in 4/15 patients, with recurrence of histoplasmosis in one.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this largest single center series of patients with RA and histoplasmosis in the era of immunomodulatory therapy, we found that most patients had longstanding disease and were on multiple immunomodulatory agents. Most cases were pulmonary; typical signs and symptoms of disease were frequently lacking.</p

The Effect of Arc Proximity on Hydrothermal Activity Along Spreading Centers: New Evidence From the Mariana Back Arc (12.7°N-18.3°N)

Back-arc spreading centers (BASCs) form a distinct class of ocean spreading ridges distinguished by steep along-axis gradients in spreading rate and by additional magma supplied through subduction. These characteristics can affect the population and distribution of hydrothermal activity on BASCs compared to mid-ocean ridges (MORs). To investigate this hypothesis, we comprehensively explored 600 km of the southern half of the Mariana BASC. We used water column mapping and seafloor imaging to identify 19 active vent sites, an increase of 13 over the current listing in the InterRidge Database (IRDB), on the bathymetric highs of 7 of the 11 segments. We identified both high and low (i.e., characterized by a weak or negligible particle plume) temperature discharge occurring on segment types spanning dominantly magmatic to dominantly tectonic. Active sites are concentrated on the two southernmost segments, where distance to the adjacent arc is shortest (48 mm/yr), and tectonic extension is pervasive. Re-examination of hydrothermal data from other BASCs supports the generalization that hydrothermal site density increases on segments <90 km from an adjacent arc. Although exploration quality varies greatly among BASCs, present data suggest that, for a given spreading rate, the mean spatial density of hydrothermal activity varies little between MORs and BASCs. The present global database, however, may be misleading. On both BASCs and MORs, the spatial density of hydrothermal sites mapped by high-quality water-column surveys is 2–7 times greater than predicted by the existing IRDB trend of site density versus spreading rate

The Reed-Stanton press rig for the generation of reproducible fingermarks : towards a standardised methodology for fingermark research

In the search for better or new methods/techniques to visualise fingermarks or to analyse them exploiting their chemical content, fingermarks inter-variability may hinder the assessment of the method effectiveness. Variability is due to changes in the chemical composition of the fingermarks between different donors and within the same donor, as well as to differential contact time, pressure and angle. When validating a method or comparing it with existing ones, it is not always possible to account for this type of variability. One way to compensate for these issues is to employ, in the early stages of the method development, a device generating reproducible fingermarks. Here the authors present their take on such device, as well as quantitatively describing its performance and benefits against the manual production of marks. Finally a short application is illustrated for the use of this device, at the method developmental stages, in an emerging area of fingerprinting research concerning the retrieval of chemical intelligence from fingermarks