scholarly journals An inexpensive setup for robust activity tracking in small animals: Portable Locomotion Activity Monitor (pLAM)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yash Sondhi ◽  
Nicolas J. Jo ◽  
Britney Alpizar ◽  
Amanda Markee ◽  
Hailey E. Dansby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Small Animal ◽  
Activity Monitor ◽  
List Type ◽  
Light Cycle ◽  
Commercial Activity ◽  
Variable Light ◽  
Manual Input ◽  
Locomotion Activity

AbstractAdvances in computer vision and deep learning have automated animal behaviour studies that previously required tedious manual input. However, tracking activity of small and fast flying animals remains a hurdle, especially in a field setting with variable light conditions. Commercial locomotor activity monitors (LAMs) can be expensive, closed source, and generally limited to laboratory settings.Here, we present a portable locomotion activity monitor (pLAM), a mobile activity detector to quantify small animal circadian activity. Our setup uses inexpensive components, is based on open-source motion tracking software, and is easy to assemble and use in the field. It runs off-grid, supports low-light tracking with infrared lights, and can implement arbitrary light cycle colours and brightnesses with programmable LEDs. We provide a user-friendly guide to assembling pLAM hardware and accessing its pre-configured software and guidelines for using it in other systems.We benchmarked pLAM for insects under various lab and field conditions, then compared results to a commercial activity detector. They offer broadly similar activity measures, but our setup captures flight and bouts of motion that are often missed by beam-breaking activity detection.pLAM will enable high-throughput quantification of small animal location and activity in a low-cost and accessible manner, crucial to studying behaviour that can help inform conservation and management decisions.

Low-cost respiratory motion tracking system

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Goryawala ◽  
Misael Del Valle ◽  
Jiali Wang ◽  
James Byrne ◽  
Juan Franquiz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Respiratory Motion ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Motion Tracking System

scholarly journals A Low-Cost Motion Capture System for Small-Scale Wave Energy Device Tank Testing

2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Paparella ◽  
Satja Sivcev ◽  
Daniel Toal ◽  
John V. Ringwood
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Energy Device ◽  
Optical Motion ◽  
Optical Motion Tracking ◽  
Motion Tracking System

The measurement of the motion of a small-scale wave energy device during wave tank tests is important for the evaluation of its response to waves and the assessment of power production. Usually, the motion of a small-scale wave energy converter (WEC) is measured using an optical motion tracking system with high precision and sampling rate. However, the cost for an optical motion tracking system can be considerably high and, therefore, the overall cost for tank testing is increased. This paper proposes a low-cost capture system composed of an inertial measurement unit and ultrasound sensors. The measurements from the ultrasound sensors are combined optimally with the measurements from the inertial measurement unit through an extended Kalman filter (EKF) in order to obtain an accurate estimation of the motion of a WEC.

35 Online randomised controlled trial to improve clinical estimates of survival (ORACLES): study design

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 373.1-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Oostendorp ◽  
Nicola White ◽  
Priscilla Harries ◽  
Sarah Yardley ◽  
Christopher Tomlinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Online Training ◽  
List Type ◽  
More Care ◽  
Randomised Controlled

IntroductionClinicians often struggle to recognise whether palliative care patients are imminently dying.1 2 A previous study identified the factors that expert palliative care doctors (with demonstrated prognostic skills) had used to judge the probability of patients dying within 72 hours.Aim and methodsTo evaluate whether an online training resource can teach medical students to formulate survival estimates for palliative care patients that are more similar to experts’ estimates. In this online randomised controlled trial we will recruit 128 students in the penultimate/final year of medical school. Participants are asked to review three series of vignettes describing patients referred to palliative care and provide estimates (0%–100%) about the probability that patients will die within 72 hours. After the first series of vignettes students in the intervention arm are given access to the training resource showing how experts weighted the various symptoms/signs. Participants are asked to complete a second series of vignettes and then a third series after two weeks to assess if any effect has been maintained.ResultsStudents’ survival estimates will be correlated with experts’ estimates to determine the baseline level of agreement and any changes following the intervention. The primary outcome will be the survival estimates provided in the second series of vignettes. Secondary outcomes include the estimates provided at the follow-up the weighting of symptoms/signs and levels of discrimination and consistency.ConclusionThis study will provide evidence about whether a brief low-cost online training resource can influence how medical students make prognostic decisions in an experimental setting.References. Neuberger J. More care less pathway: A review of the liverpool care pathway.Department of Health2013. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212450/Liverpool_Care_Pathway.pdf [Accessed: 30thMay 2018]. White N, Reid F, Harris A, Harries P, Stone P. A systematic review of predictions of survival in palliative care: How accurate are clinicians and who are the experts?PLoS One25 August 2016;11(8):e0161407. Available from: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0161407&type=printable [Accessed: 30th May 2018]

Towards a Broad Use of Gamification Based on Hand Tracking in Post Stroke Patients

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Regazzoni ◽  
Andrea Vitali ◽  
Caterina Rizzi
Keyword(s):  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Hand Tracking ◽  
Rehabilitation Programs ◽  
Patient Side ◽  
At Home

Abstract In the last years, the advent of innovative technologies for tracking human motions is increasing the interest of physicians and physiotherapist, who would like to introduce new instruments for a more objective assessment of the rehabilitation processes. At present, many motion tracking systems have been developed and their ease of use and low-cost may represent the key aspects for which these systems could be really adopted both in rehabilitation centers and in rehabilitation programs at home. Several research studies confirmed the importance of continuing rehabilitation programs at home with the aim to maintain patients’ health condition at a suitable level for daily life activities. Physicians and physiotherapists need methods and tools, which can be simply adaptable for each type of patients’ category and type of rehabilitation according to the assessed pathology. For achieving this need, the technology has to be suitable for both the patient side and medical personnel side. The most suitable technology for the patients are motion tracking devices which can be used through traditional IT, such as laptops, smartphones and tablets. Also for medical personnel the ease of use is very important, physicians would like to check the patient’s rehab exercises according to their medical knowledge by exploiting daily life technology. This research work investigates on which are the best user-friendly programming tools and low-cost technology for 3D hand and finger tracking for the development of a serious game for rehabilitation exercises. The tasks are designed according to physiotherapists’ recommendations, in order to be customizable for any single user. The following sections will describe the method, the tools adopted, and the application developed.

Gait Analysis in the Assessment of Patients Undergoing a Total Hip Replacement

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Regazzoni ◽  
Andrea Vitali ◽  
Filippo Colombo Zefinetti ◽  
Caterina Rizzi
Keyword(s):  
Motion Capture ◽  
Hip Replacement ◽  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Clinical Information ◽  
Human Motion ◽  
Technical Solution ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Main Challenge

Abstract Nowadays, healthcare centers are not familiar with quantitative approaches for patients’ gait evaluation. There is a clear need for methods to obtain objective figures characterizing patients’ performance. Actually, there are no diffused methods for comparing the pre- and post-operative conditions of the same patient, integrating clinical information and representing a measure of the efficiency of functional recovery, especially in the short-term distance of the surgical intervention. To this aim, human motion tracking for medical analysis is creating new frontiers for potential clinical and home applications. Motion Capture (Mocap) systems are used to allow detecting and tracking human body movements, such as gait or any other gesture or posture in a specific context. In particular, low-cost portable systems can be adopted for the tracking of patients’ movements. The pipeline going from tracking the scene to the creation of performance scores and indicators has its main challenge in the data elaboration, which depends on the specific context and to the detailed performance to be evaluated. The main objective of this research is to investigate whether the evaluation of the patient’s gait through markerless optical motion capture technology can be added to clinical evaluations scores and if it is able to provide a quantitative measure of recovery in the short postoperative period. A system has been conceived, including commercial sensors and a way to elaborate data captured according to caregivers’ requirements. This allows transforming the real gait of a patient right before and/or after the surgical procedure into a set of scores of medical relevance for his/her evaluation. The technical solution developed in this research will be the base for a large acquisition and data elaboration campaign performed in collaboration with an orthopedic team of surgeons specialized in hip arthroplasty. This will also allow assessing and comparing the short run results obtained by adopting different state-of-the-art surgical approach for the hip replacement.

Tem Specimen Preparation for Display Materials of Vacuum Fluorescent Displays

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 870-871
Author(s):  
T. Dolukhanyan ◽  
C. Sung ◽  
S. Ahn ◽  
J. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Bulk Material ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
High Yield ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
List Type ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Preparation Methods ◽  
Plan View ◽  
Submicron Scale

Further development of Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (Fig.l) for low cost production and high yield requires investigation of all the components on a submicron scale at various processing stages.A variety of specimen preparation methods have been used for making different types of high quality cross-sectional and plan-view TEM specimens from:1.Initial phosphor materials - ZnCdS powders admixed with conducting powder of ln2O3;2.In2O3 mixed ZnCdS phosphor layers of ready-made working VFD;3.W - filament cathodes coated with (Ba,Sr,Ca) oxides.Rapid sharing of results.Group 1 specimens were made both by direct dispersion of phosphor powder particles on the carbon coated copper grid from acetone diluted powder suspension, and by preparation of cured bulk material from the powder using Gatan G-l epoxy, followed by cutting, grinding-dimpling and final ion milling in Gatan DuoMill 600 (Fig.2).

scholarly journals The Accuracy of Fitness Trackers Varies with Their Location on the Body (P16-019-19)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Kotler ◽  
Christopher Wu ◽  
Kwame Thompson ◽  
Zachary Jenkins ◽  
Rafay Latif ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Activity Monitor ◽  
The Body ◽  
Daily Step ◽  
Activity Monitors ◽  
Step Counts ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Fitness Tracker ◽  
Fitness Trackers

Abstract Objectives Advances in low cost physiologic monitoring devices have led to the possibility of making objective measures of physical activity in clinical practice. In a previous study, total daily step counts measured by a pedometer were lower than those obtained from a smartphone application, while exercise step counts were similar. It is uncertain which is the more accurate value for total daily steps. Most pedometers are worn on the torso while most fitness trackers are worn on the wrist. Overestimation of daily step counts by wrist-worn fitness trackers have been demonstrated by others. Specific aims: To estimate the precision of pedometer step counts measured during a 400 m walk. To compare daily step counts using a pedometer on the torso and fitness trackers worn on the wrist or on the torso. Methods Six subjects wore a pedometer (Omron Alvita HJ327T) and an activity monitor (Letscom Fitness Tracker ID130Plus ColorHR). Each subject wore the pedometer on the torso and two activity monitors for 3 days; both activity monitors on one wrist, one activity monitor on a wrist and the other on the torso (belt), and the reverse positions of the activity monitors. In addition, each subject completed a 400 m walk on two occasions and walked a total of 500 counted steps. Total and 400 m step counts for the pedometer and activity monitor and the test/retest results during the 400 m walk were compared by paired T test and inter-individual variations were compared by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results Pedometer-measured and counted steps differed by 1%. Test/retest pedometer step counts and times to completion for the 400 m walk both differed by 1.4%. Wrist-worn fitness trackers produced higher step counts than did the pedometers (18.6 + 0.18%, P < 0.002). Fitness trackers worn on the torso gave lower step counts than did the pedometer (−9.2 + 0.08%, P < 0.001). The inter-individual differences were not statistically significant for wrist or torso step counts. Conclusions A pedometer worn on the torso is a precise measure of step counts during a 400 m walk and accurate compared to counted steps. Wrist-worn fitness trackers overestimate total daily step counts, at least compared to a pedometer. The location of the fitness tracker on the body greatly influences its estimation of total daily step counts. Funding Sources Discretionary funds.

Development of a Simple Miniature Thermochemical Ablation Device Suitable for Tumor Ablation Research in Rodent Models

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik N. K. Cressman ◽  
Anthony P. Zbacnik
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Small Animal ◽  
Rodent Models ◽  
Tumor Treatment ◽  
Ex Vivo Model ◽  
Specialized Equipment ◽  
Invasive Method ◽  
Small Animal Models

Thermochemical ablation is a recently developed minimally invasive method with potential for solid tumor treatment such as in liver cancer. A recently described prototype device, however, is too large for use in the more common rodent models of cancer. In this report we describe a simple, low-cost variant of the device that is easy to assemble, small enough to be readily applicable to small animal models, and then demonstrate its use in an ex vivo model for ablation. It should therefore enable study of the method without requiring specialized equipment or access to a machine shop for device manufacture.

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