scholarly journals The Influence of Different Levels of Cognitive Engagement on the Seated Postural Sway

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
Daniele Bibbo ◽  
Silvia Conforto ◽  
Maurizio Schmid ◽  
Federica Battisti
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Cognitive Engagement ◽  
Software Interface ◽  
Load Cells ◽  
Reliable Instrument ◽  
Seated Posture ◽  
Different Levels

In this paper, we introduced and tested a new system based on a sensorized seat, to evaluate the sitting dynamics and sway alterations caused by different cognitive engagement conditions. An office chair was equipped with load cells, and a digital and software interface was developed to extract the Center of Pressure (COP). A population of volunteers was recruited to evaluate alterations to their seated posture when undergoing a test specifically designed to increase the cognitive engagement and the level of stress. Relevant parameters of postural sway were extracted from the COP data, and significant alterations were found in all of them, highlighting the ability of the system to capture the emergence of a different dynamic behavior in postural control when increasing the complexity of the cognitive engagement. The presented system can thus be used as a valid and reliable instrument to monitor the postural patterns of subjects involved in tasks performed in a seated posture, and this may prove useful for a variety of applications, including those associated with improving the quality of working conditions.

scholarly journals Is Weight-Bearing Asymmetry Associated with Postural Instability after Stroke? A Systematic Review

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jip F. Kamphuis ◽  
Digna de Kam ◽  
Alexander C. H. Geurts ◽  
Vivian Weerdesteyn
Keyword(s):  
Postural Stability ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Weight Bearing ◽  
Postural Instability ◽  
Quality Of Reporting ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Balance Rehabilitation

Introduction. Improvement of postural stability is an important goal during poststroke rehabilitation. Since weight-bearing asymmetry (WBA) towards the nonparetic leg is common, training of weight-bearing symmetry has been a major focus in post-stroke balance rehabilitation. It is assumed that restoration of a more symmetrical weight distribution is associated with improved postural stability.Objective. To determine to what extent WBA is associated with postural instability in people after stroke.Methods. Electronic databases were searched (Cochrane, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL) until March 2012.Main Eligibility Criteria. (1) Participants were people after stroke. (2) The association between WBA and postural stability was reported. Quality of reporting was assessed with the STROBE checklist and a related tool for reporting of confounding.Results. Nine observational studies met all criteria. Greater spontaneous WBA was associated with higher center of pressure (COP) velocity and with poorer synchronization of COP trajectories between the legs (two and one studies, resp.). Evidence for associations between WBA and performance on clinical balance tests or falls was weak.Conclusion. Greater WBA after stroke was associated with increased postural sway, but the current literature does not provide evidence for a causal relationship. Further studies should investigate whether reducing WBA would improve postural stability.

scholarly journals A Sitting Posture Monitoring Instrument to Assess Different Levels of Cognitive Engagement

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Bibbo ◽  
Marco Carli ◽  
Silvia Conforto ◽  
Federica Battisti
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Cognitive Engagement ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Transition Analysis ◽  
Sitting Posture ◽  
Posture Monitoring ◽  
Seated Posture ◽  
Different Levels

An office chair for analyzing the seated posture variation during the performance of a stress-level test is presented in this work. To meet this aim, we placed a set of textile pressure sensors both on the backrest and on the seat of the chair. The position of the sensors was selected for maximizing the detection of variations of user’s posture. The effectiveness of the designed system was evaluated through an experiment where increasing stress levels were obtained by administering a Stroop test. The collected results had been analyzed by considering three different time intervals based on the difficulty level of the test (low, medium, and high). A transition analysis conducted on postures assumed during the test showed that participants reached a different posture at the end of the test, when the cognitive engagement increased, with respect to the beginning. This evidence highlighted the presence of movement presumably due to the increased cognitive engagement. Overall, the performed analysis showed the proposed monitoring system could be used to identify body posture variations related to different levels of engagement of a seated user while performing cognitive tasks.

Working Conditions and Special Educators’ Reading Instruction for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

2021 ◽  
pp. 001440292199982
Author(s):  
Hannah Morris Mathews ◽  
Jennifer L. Lillis ◽  
Elizabeth Bettini ◽  
David J. Peyton ◽  
Daisy Pua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Collegial Support ◽  
Instruction Time ◽  
Role Conceptions ◽  
Students With Ebd

Working conditions may be an important lever to support special educators’ reading instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Thus, we explored how working conditions relate to the quality of special educators’ reading instruction in upper-elementary, self-contained classes for students with EBD. Using mixed methods to examine video observations of reading instruction and varied data sources on working conditions, we found that special educators who provided stronger instruction had a partner coleading their program, and consistent paraprofessionals, with time and support for training. Partners and paraprofessionals, together, protected special educators’ instruction time. Other conditions (i.e., material resources, role differentiation, role conceptions, planning time) emerged as potentially important, but evidence was less robust. Results indicate partners and paraprofessionals may be important forms of collegial support. These findings have important implications for improving the quality of instruction in self-contained settings for students with EBD.

scholarly journals The Importance of Environmental Factors in the Planning of Container Terminals: The Case Study of the Port of Augusta

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2153
Author(s):  
Nadia Giuffrida ◽  
Maja Stojaković ◽  
Elen Twrdy ◽  
Matteo Ignaccolo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Container Terminal ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Container Terminals ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Clean Environment ◽  
Different Levels

Container terminals are the main hubs of the global supply chain but, conversely, they play an important role in energy consumption, environmental pollution and even climate change due to carbon emissions. Assessing the environmental impact of this type of port terminal and choosing appropriate mitigation measures is essential to pursue the goals related to a clean environment and ensuring a good quality of life of the inhabitants of port cities. In this paper the authors present a Terminal Decision Support Tool (TDST) for the development of a container terminal that considers both operation efficiency and environmental impacts. The TDST provides environmental impact mitigation measures based on different levels of evolution of the port’s container traffic. An application of the TDST is conducted on the Port of Augusta (Italy), a port that is planning infrastructural interventions in coming years in order to gain a new role as a reference point for container traffic in the Mediterranean.

scholarly journals Integration of Satellite Data with High Resolution Ratio: Improvement of Spectral Quality with Preserving Spatial Details

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 4418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Sekrecka ◽  
Michal Kedzierski
Keyword(s):  
High Ratio ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Spectral Quality ◽  
Local Statistics ◽  
Panchromatic Image ◽  
Urbanized Area ◽  
Fusion Methods ◽  
Spatial Quality ◽  
Different Levels

Commonly used image fusion techniques generally produce good results for images obtained from the same sensor, with a standard ratio of spatial resolution (1:4). However, an atypical high ratio of resolution reduces the effectiveness of fusion methods resulting in a decrease in the spectral or spatial quality of the sharpened image. An important issue is the development of a method that allows for maintaining simultaneous high spatial and spectral quality. The authors propose to strengthen the pan-sharpening methods through prior modification of the panchromatic image. Local statistics of the differences between the original panchromatic image and the intensity of the multispectral image are used to detect spatial details. The Euler’s number and the distance of each pixel from the nearest pixel classified as a spatial detail determine the weight of the information collected from each integrated image. The research was carried out for several pan-sharpening methods and for data sets with different levels of spectral matching. The proposed solution allows for a greater improvement in the quality of spectral fusion, while being able to identify the same spatial details for most pan-sharpening methods and is mainly dedicated to Intensity-Hue-Saturation based methods for which the following improvements in spectral quality were achieved: about 30% for the urbanized area and about 15% for the non-urbanized area.

scholarly journals Diet-Regulated Anxiety

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Murphy ◽  
Julian G. Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Human Population ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Noncommunicable Disease ◽  
Dietary Manipulation ◽  
Obesogenic Environment ◽  
Preclinical Models ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Different Levels

A substantial proportion of noncommunicable disease originates in habitual overconsumption of calories, which can lead to weight gain and obesity and attendant comorbidities. At the other end of the spectrum, the consequences of undernutrition in early life and at different stages of adult life can also have major impact on wellbeing and quality of life. To help address some of these issues, greater understanding is required of interactions with food and contemporary diets throughout the life course and at a number of different levels: physiological, metabolic, psychological, and emotional. Here we review the current literature on the effects of dietary manipulation on anxiety-like behaviour. This evidence, assembled from study of preclinical models of diet challenge from gestation to adult life, supports a role for diet in the important connections between psychology, physiology, and behaviour. Analogous processes in the human population in our current obesogenic environment are likely to contribute to individual and societal challenges in this area.

Comparison Experiment for Two Kinds of Hypoid Gear Drives

2010 ◽  
Vol 20-23 ◽  
pp. 1385-1390
Author(s):  
Hong Bin Yang ◽  
Xiao Hong Wang ◽  
Zong De Fang
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Test Object ◽  
Hypoid Gear ◽  
Gear Drive ◽  
Comparison Experiment ◽  
Gear Drives

To develop a good quality of hypoid gear drive, the authors test the vibration and noise of two kinds of hypoid gear drives under different working conditions. The test object is a pair of hypoid gear drive used in the back axle of one minivan and a designed hypoid gear drive with high teeth based on the former. The results indicate that the hypoid gear drive with high teeth has lower vibration and noise.

Male-Female Wage Differences: The Importance of Compensating Differentials

ILR Review ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall K. Filer
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Compensating Differentials ◽  
Wage Differences ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Female Wage ◽  
Wage Equations ◽  
Employment Survey

This study investigates the extent to which differences in average earnings between men and women may be the result of sorting by the sexes into jobs with different average levels of disagreeable and agreeable working conditions. An analysis of data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey shows that, on average, men and women hold jobs with substantially different working conditions and that these differences are of a pattern suggesting the need to pay higher wages to attract employees to the jobs held by men. Estimation of wage equations shows that these differences in working conditions contribute significantly to the ability to explain average earnings for each sex.

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