Review of sensors for remote patient monitoring

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) of physiological measurements can provide an efficient method and high quality care to patients. The physiological signals measurement is the initial and the most important factor in RPM. This paper discusses the characteristics of the most popular sensors, which are used to obtain vital clinical signals in prevalent RPM systems. The sensors discussed in this paper are used to measure ECG, heart sound, pulse rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure and respiration rate, which are treated as the most important vital data in patient monitoring and medical examination

A34: Factors to Indicate Overweight for Youth from 5-11-Year-Old: Data Mining Tree Regression Application

Purpose: According to the World Health Organization, obesity has nearly tripled since 1975 in the U.S. (Obesity, n.d.). Considerable research was done to find reasons to deal with obesity. In last 10 year’s obesity related research, the major focuses were metabolic syndrome, physical activity, and eating disorder. In this study, two subsets of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2014 NHANES) were used to test what variables were critical to indicate overweight of youth from 5- to 11-year-old. Dietary subset reflected nutrients obtained from foods, beverages, and water. Physical activity subset based on the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire, meanwhile, including questions related to daily activities, leisure time activities, and sedentary activities. No obesity classification but Body Mass Index (BMI) was in the dataset. According to CDC, a high BMI can indicate high body fatness (CDC, 2022), which is related to overweight and obesity. BMI was selected as our dependent variable. Methods: Considering the relationship of some features and BMI was highly non-linear, tree regression was applied to analyze the data. R studio was used as the platform to grow trees. 1383 observations of 12 variables of physical activity subset, 1020 observations of 15 variables of dietary subset, and 934 observations of 24 variables of mix subset obtained after data was cleaned were put into analysis. After growing the trees, pruning was done to obtain a subtree with the lowest test error rate. Results: For dietary subset, age was critical to construct the tree. 2 terminal nodes indicated BMI equaled to 17.05 and 19.82 for age less or larger than 8.5, respectively. For physical activity subset, variables of age and days of daily physically active over 60 minutes in a week contributed to tree construction. It’s outstanding that for youth age above 10.5, physically active days in a week popped out, BMI equaled to 23.02 and 20.25 for it less than 6.5 and larger than 6.5, respectively. The pattern of mixed subset was like dietary subset, age outstand. BMI equaled 17.36 and 19.72 for age less and larger than 8.5, respectively. Conclusion: For youth age from 5-11, daily nutrients intake played less important role than age in overweight indication. However, physical activity threw significant influence after youth age over 10. To be physically active for at least 60 minutes daily is important and reasonable to take into consideration when to intervene with youth who are overweight and obese with physical activity after 10

Pitfalls for Prospective International Student-Athletes Planning to Play for NCAA-DIII: Case Study

More than 20,000 international student-athletes are currently competing at the NCAA level and the numbers are expected to rise (NCAA, 2019), which illustrates the successful combination of higher education and sports in North America since the 1990s (Danylchuk & Grbac, 2016). Some studies have addressed international student-athletes’ experiences at NCAA Division I and II levels (Popp, 2007, Bentzinger, 2016, Hong, 2018), but few have investigated the Division III (DIII) level on the struggles faced by international student-athletes. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of former international student-athletes (ISAs) in order to gain understanding of the potential pitfalls for prospective international student-athletes (PISA) who plan to pursue college sports at NCAA DIII schools. The significance of this study is to provide suggestions for better international college athletic experiences and prevent dropout. Two former international student-athletes were recruited via purposeful sampling strategy in the Midwest, U.S. Human Subject Institute Review Board approval was granted. Data were collected through approximately 60-minute, semi-structured interviews and transcribed using Otter software. Three-dimensional inquiry model (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) and Leisure Constraint Theory (LCT, Crane & Temple, 2015) guided this study. A non-linear process was utilized to describe, analyze and interpret the data. Two first level approaches were supplied: an inductive approach based on the LCT and a deductive open coding in-vivo. To reduce researchers bias, epoche and bracketing were employed. Applying LCT, pitfalls related to intrapersonal constraints would be negative perspectives on teams or coaches, lack of enjoyment, the mindset change of playing for school rather than for themselves and their failed expectations. For interpersonal constraints, pitfalls would be negative recruiting experiences, difficulties in adapting to cultural differences, academic challenges, and interest shift away from sports to more sustainable career development. For structural constraints, pitfalls would be less time commitment, less practice and game play, dissatisfaction with their academic programs, and lack of outside interest in their sports. To avoid pitfalls and pursue better athletic and academic international experiences, prospective international student-athletes may need to be more open-minded to adapt to the coaching and team culture and adjust to circumstances different than their expectations. They also need to study more about the recruiting process and devote greater efforts in the relationship with coaches, teammates and classmates. Lastly, they should not be in a rush to make a decision before a thorough study of institutions’ athletic and academic programs, and careers

Examining Physical Fitness and Training Strategies for Chinese Elite Canoe Slalom Players

Research showed that aerobic metabolism is one of the main energy supply for slalom athletes in training and competition (Jan Busta et al., 2018). To assist canoe slalom players improving their performance, it would be beneficial to examine the top canoe slalom athletes’ physical fitness status and their training protocols. By comparing the difference of the fitness status and training protocols, we may develop an optimal training protocol to improve the athletes’ physical fitness and their performance. In this study, the world top athletes and Chinese elite players’ fitness status was compared. The goal was to help Chinese players to reach the top level in world competitions. Fifteen elite canoe slalom players were recruited from the Chinese national team (age: 21 ± 2 years; 3 female and12 male elite athletes). The fitness tests included bench push and bench pull for maximum strength(1RM) and endurance strength (40%1RM for 120 seconds). 300-meter speed race in flat water was used as a comparison indicator of athlete\u27s basic paddling speed ability, owing to the courses of slalom races differ. The physiology tests were VO2max, heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (BLA). All the data were collected during the winter training session in 2016. The HSIRB approved the data collection procedures. Descriptive statistics were calculated and analyzed using SPSS 25. The comparisons were made between Chinese elite athletes and world top athletes. For theVO2max/kg, the results showed that the Chinese elite canoe slalom female players (50.8 ± 2.19 ml/kg/min) fell 0.68 standard deviation (SD) lower than the world top level while males (56.03 ± 2.95ml/kg/min) fell 0.70SD lower. The maximum strength of bench push were 96 ± 4.1kg (female)and 125 ± 15.3kg (male). The bench pullwere81 ± 1.4kg (female) and 110 ± 5.8kg (male). The endurance strength repetition results of bench push were 91.3 ± 14.3 (female) and 80.8 ± 7.2 (male), the bench pull were 87 ± 6.7 (female) and 83.3 ± 7.6 (male). The result of 300-meter speed race in flat water showed that the Chinese male kayakers (100.1 ± 0.3s) was significantly slower than international male kayakers (88.1 ± 7.7s) (t = 1.56, p = 0.0594). Chinese male kayakers’ heart rate (170 ± 3 bpm, tested immediately) was slower and lactic acid level (15.4 ± 1.4 mmol/L, tested 3 minutes after) was higher, comparing with the world top kayakers. Chinese elite players’ aerobic metabolism, strength and speed statistically fell behind of world top players in canoe slalom. In order to be competitive at the world top level race (e.g., 202 Tokyo Olympics), the Chinese elite canoe slalom players may need to add more proportion of aerobic training, endurance strength and speed training

Architectural Color Conservation and Renewal Strategies in Historic Urban Areas: An Analysis Based on the Historic City of Macao

As a city with a long history, Macao has valuable resources rich in historical and cultural heritage, which has many historical buildings with unique colors. The color of the architectural environment plays an important role in its conservation and renewal. This study aims to explore strategies for the color conservation and color renewal in the architectural environment of the Historic Centre of Macao. Through the field investigation and analysis of the historic center of Macao, the environmental principles of architectural color conservation were determined, including the conservation and restoration of the original architectural appearance of the historic district, the integrity and richness of the main color of the building, and the control principles of color and other environmental elements. Aiming at the architectural color conservation in Macao\u27s historic urban area, this paper puts forward some strategies, such as determining the architectural color tone, establishing a color database, and giving some suggestions on conservation and renewal, and provides some references and guidance for the renovation and construction of Macao\u27s historic urban area

Measuring Invariance of Theory of Planned Behavior Model on Online Fitness Program Participation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the most frequently cited and most influential models to explain and predict human intentions and behaviors (Ajzen, 1991, 2011; Kim & James, 2016), which include physical activity and exercise. However, the dimensionality of TPB has not been examined in the context of online fitness program (OFP) participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to examine the TPB measurement parameters of the factorial models and determine the generalizability of the psychological constructs of the TPB model on gender groups and whether COVID-19 affected annual income groups. The participants were 18 years or older adults in U.S.A. and self-identified as OFP participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk. TPB was used to examine OFP participation behavior with four constructs: Attitudes toward a behavior (AB), subjective norm (SN), perceived behavioral control (PBC), and participation intention (PI) along with an additional construct role identity (RI). Data were collected through Qualtrics and analyzed in RStudio-1.4.1106. Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted to investigate measurement invariance on gender (male or female) and COVID-19 impact (yes or no), respectively. Final data for analyses included 724 respondents (52.5% males; 47.9% reported no). The CFA results supported unidimensionality of the modified TPB scale. Invariance tests were conducted at all levels of AB, SN, PBC, PI, and RI measures for both male and female groups and COVID-19 impacted groups: Dimensional (equal number of latent factors), configural (equal factor structure), weak (equal factor loadings), strong (equal indicator intercepts), and strict (equal indicator residuals), respectively. The results showed that each of the equal indicator residual models had an overall satisfactory fit to the OFP participation data for both male and female groups as well as the two COVID-19 impacted groups. Comparing with the equal indicator intercept solution regarding the groups in both gender and COVID-19 impact, each of the equal indicator residual models for AB and SN did not result in a significant degradation in model-data fit. But PBC, PI, and RI had significant chi-square changes and the changes of their CFIs were greater than 0.01. Results showed that the adapted TPB scale is valid for measuring OFP participation intention constructs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since invariant factor loadings and indicator intercepts of TPB measures have achieved, it has confirmed that it is valid to be used in group comparison of latent scores

Deformable Object Tracking with Gated Fusion

The tracking-by-detection framework receives growing attentions through the integration with the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Existing tracking-by-detection based methods, however, fail to track objects with severe appearance variations. This is because the traditional convolutional operation is performed on fixed grids, and thus may not be able to find the correct response while the object is changing pose or under varying environmental conditions. In this paper, we propose a deformable convolution layer to enrich the target appearance representations in the tracking-by-detection framework. We aim to capture the target appearance variations via deformable convolution, which adaptively enhances its original features. In addition, we also propose a gated fusion scheme to control how the variations captured by the deformable convolution affect the original appearance. The enriched feature representation through deformable convolution facilitates the discrimination of the CNN classifier on the target object and background. Extensive experiments on the standard benchmarks show that the proposed tracker performs favorably against state-of-the-art methods