Tracking human activity and well-being in natural environments using wearable sensors and experience sampling

2014 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 83-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean T. Doherty ◽  
Christopher J. Lemieux ◽  
Culum Canally
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural Environments

scholarly journals Introducing VTT-ConIot: A Realistic Dataset for Activity Recognition of Construction Workers Using IMU Devices

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
Satu-Marja Mäkelä ◽  
Arttu Lämsä ◽  
Janne S. Keränen ◽  
Jussi Liikka ◽  
Jussi Ronkainen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Activity Recognition ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Inertial Sensors ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Human Activity Recognition ◽  
Wearable Sensor ◽  
Made In

Sustainable work aims at improving working conditions to allow workers to effectively extend their working life. In this context, occupational safety and well-being are major concerns, especially in labor-intensive fields, such as construction-related work. Internet of Things and wearable sensors provide for unobtrusive technology that could enhance safety using human activity recognition techniques, and has the potential of improving work conditions and health. However, the research community lacks commonly used standard datasets that provide for realistic and variating activities from multiple users. In this article, our contributions are threefold. First, we present VTT-ConIoT, a new publicly available dataset for the evaluation of HAR from inertial sensors in professional construction settings. The dataset, which contains data from 13 users and 16 different activities, is collected from three different wearable sensor locations.Second, we provide a benchmark baseline for human activity recognition that shows a classification accuracy of up to 89% for a six class setup and up to 78% for a sixteen class more granular one. Finally, we show an analysis of the representativity and usefulness of the dataset by comparing it with data collected in a pilot study made in a real construction environment with real workers.

Psychometric Properties of the Spontaneous and Deliberate Mind Wandering Scales

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 878-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Marcusson-Clavertz ◽  
Oscar N. E. Kjell
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Desirability ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Psychological Variables

Abstract. Thinking about task-unrelated matters (mind wandering) is related to cognition and well-being. However, the relations between mind wandering and other psychological variables may depend on whether the former commence spontaneously or deliberately. The current two studies investigated the psychometric properties of the Spontaneous and Deliberate Mind Wandering Scales (SDMWS; Carriere, Seli, & Smilek, 2013 ). Study 1 evaluated the stability of the scales over 2 weeks ( N = 284 at Time 1), whereas Study 2 ( N = 323) evaluated their relations to Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, Openness, Social desirability, and experience-sampling reports of intentional and unintentional mind wandering during an online cognitive task. The results indicated that the SDMWS were better fitted with a two-factor than a one-factor solution, although the fit was improved with the exclusion of one item. The scales exhibited strong measurement invariance across gender and time, and moderately high test-retest reliability. Spontaneous mind wandering predicted Generalized anxiety disorder and experience-sampling reports of unintentional mind wandering, whereas Deliberate mind wandering predicted Openness and experience-sampling reports of intentional mind wandering. Furthermore, Spontaneous mind wandering showed a negative association with social desirability of weak-to-medium strength. In sum, the scales generally showed favorable psychometric properties.

scholarly journals Evidence-Based Landscape Architecture for Human Health and Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Brown ◽  
Robert C. Corry
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Landscape Architecture ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
The People ◽  
Outdoor Environments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health And Well Being

More than 80% of the people in the USA and Canada live in cities. Urban development replaces natural environments with built environments resulting in limited access to outdoor environments which are critical to human health and well-being. In addition, many urban open spaces are unused because of poor design. This paper describes case studies where traditional landscape architectural design approaches would have compromised design success, while evidence-based landscape architecture (EBLA) resulted in a successful product. Examples range from school-yard design that provides safe levels of solar radiation for children, to neighborhood parks and sidewalks that encourage people to walk and enjoy nearby nature. Common characteristics for integrating EBLA into private, public, and academic landscape architecture practice are outlined along with a discussion of some of the opportunities and barriers to implementation.

scholarly journals Biodiversity and Health in the Urban Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa R. Marselle ◽  
Sarah J. Lindley ◽  
Penny A. Cook ◽  
Aletta Bonn
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Causal Pathways ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Purpose of review Biodiversity underpins urban ecosystem functions that are essential for human health and well-being. Understanding how biodiversity relates to human health is a developing frontier for science, policy and practice. This article describes the beneficial, as well as harmful, aspects of biodiversity to human health in urban environments. Recent findings Recent research shows that contact with biodiversity of natural environments within towns and cities can be both positive and negative to human physical, mental and social health and well-being. For example, while viruses or pollen can be seriously harmful to human health, biodiverse ecosystems can promote positive health and well-being. On balance, these influences are positive. As biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, research suggests that its loss could threaten the quality of life of all humans. Summary A key research gap is to understand—and evidence—the specific causal pathways through which biodiversity affects human health. A mechanistic understanding of pathways linking biodiversity to human health can facilitate the application of nature-based solutions in public health and influence policy. Research integration as well as cross-sector urban policy and planning development should harness opportunities to better identify linkages between biodiversity, climate and human health. Given its importance for human health, urban biodiversity conservation should be considered as public health investment.

scholarly journals The Impact of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and its Lockdown Measures on the Mental and Functional Health of Older Individuals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Chiara Fastame ◽  
Ilaria Mulas ◽  
Valeria Putzu ◽  
Gesuina Asoni ◽  
Daniela Viale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Cognitive Deterioration ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Healthy Participants

AbstractThe effect of the COVID-19 on the physical and mental health of Italian older individuals displaying signs of cognitive deterioration has not been deeply investigated. This longitudinal study examined the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on the psychological well-being and motor efficiency of a sample of Italian community-dwellers with and without cognitive decline. Forty-seven participants underwent instrumental gait analysis performed in ecological setting using wearable sensors, and completed a battery of tasks assessing cognitive functioning and psychological well-being, before and after the full lockdown due to the COVID-19 spreading. A series of Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVAs) documented that the superior gait performance of the cognitively healthy participants exhibited before the COVID-19 spread, vanished when they were tested at the end of the lockdown period. Moreover, before the outbreak of the COVID-19, cognitively healthy participants and those with signs of cognitive decline reported similar levels of psychological well-being, whereas, after the lockdown, the former group reported better coping, emotional competencies, and general well-being than the participants displaying signs of cognitive decline. In conclusion, the full COVID-19 outbreak had a significant impact on the mental and motor functioning of older individuals with and without signs of cognitive deterioration living in Italy.

scholarly journals Effects of exposure to immersive videos and photo slideshows of forest and urban environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariba Mostajeran ◽  
Jessica Krzikawski ◽  
Frank Steinicke ◽  
Simone Kühn
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Jail Inmates ◽  
Forest Environment ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Hospital Patients

AbstractA large number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of natural environments on people’s health and well-being. For people who have limited access to nature (e.g., elderly in nursing homes, hospital patients, or jail inmates), virtual representations may provide an alternative to benefit from the illusion of a natural environment. For this purpose and in most previous studies, conventional photos of nature have been used. Immersive virtual reality (VR) environments, however, can induce a higher sense of presence compared to conventional photos. Whether this higher sense of presence leads to increased positive impacts of virtual nature exposure is the main research question of this study. Therefore, we compared exposure to a forest and an urban virtual environment in terms of their respective impact on mood, stress, physiological reactions, and cognition. The environments were presented via a head-mounted display as (1) conventional photo slideshows or (2) 360$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ videos. The results show that the forest environment had a positive effect on cognition and the urban environment disturbed mood regardless of the mode of presentation. In addition, photos of either urban or forest environment were both more effective in reducing physiological arousal compared to immersive 360$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ videos.

scholarly journals Perceived Sensory Dimensions of Green Areas: An Experimental Study on Stress Recovery

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5419
Author(s):  
Sanaz Memari ◽  
Mahdieh Pazhouhanfar ◽  
Patrik Grahn
Keyword(s):  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Film Clip ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Health And Well Being

Natural environments have been shown to promote health, and are, therefore, important for achieving social sustainability in cities. As cities grow and become denser, it is important to develop knowledge about the characteristics of natural environments that work to promote health. Perceived Sensory Dimensions (PSDs) is a tool that defines eight different cultural ecosystem services. They correspond to different human needs (rest, exercise, socialising, pleasure, or security) resulting in rehabilitation and health and well-being promotion. An experiment was conducted to study the potential of PSDs to restore people who experienced stressful accidents. One hundred and fifty-seven participants were recruited and asked first to watch a film clip of serious accidents, then to look at the pictures, depicting one particular type of PSDs, while listening to its respective audio recording. Their stress levels were measured before exposure to the stressor (baseline), after exposure to the stressor (pre-test), and after exposure to a particular type of PSDs (post-test). The results show that all eight PSDs effectively provide mental recovery, but there are statistical differences in their potentials. As such, it is proposed that the combined potential of the PSDs is needed, and should be used to increase the capacity and supply of health-promoting urban green areas.

scholarly journals Improving Human Activity Recognition Performance by Data Fusion and Feature Engineering

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 692
Author(s):  
Jingcheng Chen ◽  
Yining Sun ◽  
Shaoming Sun
Keyword(s):  
Feature Selection ◽  
Activity Recognition ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Joint Angle ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Estimation Algorithm ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Human Activity Recognition ◽  
Time Frequency

Human activity recognition (HAR) is essential in many health-related fields. A variety of technologies based on different sensors have been developed for HAR. Among them, fusion from heterogeneous wearable sensors has been developed as it is portable, non-interventional and accurate for HAR. To be applied in real-time use with limited resources, the activity recognition system must be compact and reliable. This requirement can be achieved by feature selection (FS). By eliminating irrelevant and redundant features, the system burden is reduced with good classification performance (CP). This manuscript proposes a two-stage genetic algorithm-based feature selection algorithm with a fixed activation number (GFSFAN), which is implemented on the datasets with a variety of time, frequency and time-frequency domain features extracted from the collected raw time series of nine activities of daily living (ADL). Six classifiers are used to evaluate the effects of selected feature subsets from different FS algorithms on HAR performance. The results indicate that GFSFAN can achieve good CP with a small size. A sensor-to-segment coordinate calibration algorithm and lower-limb joint angle estimation algorithm are introduced. Experiments on the effect of the calibration and the introduction of joint angle on HAR shows that both of them can improve the CP.

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