Early development of the body shape and body movement in infancy

To improve the workout efficiency and to provide the body movement suggestions to users in a “smart gym” environment, we propose to use a depth camera for capturing a user’s body parts and mount multiple inertial sensors on the body parts of a user to generate deadlift behavior models generated by a recurrent neural network structure. The contribution of this paper is trifold: 1) The multimodal sensing signals obtained from multiple devices are fused for generating the deadlift behavior classifiers, 2) the recurrent neural network structure can analyze the information from the synchronized skeletal and inertial sensing data, and 3) a Vaplab dataset is generated for evaluating the deadlift behaviors recognizing capability in the proposed method.

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Updating long-held assumptions about fat stigma: For women, body shape plays a critical role

10.31234/osf.io/b6t7a ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jaimie Krems ◽

Steven L. Neuberg

Keyword(s):

Body Shape ◽

Critical Role ◽

The Body ◽

Theoretical Assumption ◽

Obesity Stigma ◽

Obese Female ◽

Three Samples ◽

Female Bodies ◽

Different Parts ◽

Fat Stigma

Heavier bodies—particularly female bodies—are stigmatized. Such fat stigma is pervasive, painful to experience, and may even facilitate weight gain, thereby perpetuating the obesity-stigma cycle. Leveraging research on functionally distinct forms of fat (deposited on different parts of the body), we propose that body shape plays an important but largely underappreciated role in fat stigma, above and beyond fat amount. Across three samples varying in participant ethnicity (White and Black Americans) and nation (U.S., India), patterns of fat stigma reveal that, as hypothesized, participants differently stigmatized equally-overweight or -obese female targets as a function of target shape, sometimes even more strongly stigmatizing targets with less rather than more body mass. Such findings suggest value in updating our understanding of fat stigma to include body shape and in querying a predominating, but often implicit, theoretical assumption that people simply view all fat as bad (and more fat as worse).

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Chaos in body–vortex interactions

Proceedings of The Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspa.2009.0619 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 466 (2119) ◽

pp. 1871-1891 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Johan Roenby ◽

Hassan Aref

Keyword(s):

Body Shape ◽

Mass Density ◽

Relative Equilibrium ◽

Large Body ◽

Point Vortex ◽

Cylindrical Body ◽

The Body ◽

Body Motion ◽

Single Vortex ◽

Vortex Interactions

The model of body–vortex interactions, where the fluid flow is planar, ideal and unbounded, and the vortex is a point vortex, is studied. The body may have a constant circulation around it. The governing equations for the general case of a freely moving body of arbitrary shape and mass density and an arbitrary number of point vortices are presented. The case of a body and a single vortex is then investigated numerically in detail. In this paper, the body is a homogeneous, elliptical cylinder. For large body–vortex separations, the system behaves much like a vortex pair regardless of body shape. The case of a circle is integrable. As the body is made slightly elliptic, a chaotic region grows from an unstable relative equilibrium of the circle-vortex case. The case of a cylindrical body of any shape moving in fluid otherwise at rest is also integrable. A second transition to chaos arises from the limit between rocking and tumbling motion of the body known in this case. In both instances, the chaos may be detected both in the body motion and in the vortex motion. The effect of increasing body mass at a fixed body shape is to damp the chaos.

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Sea stars generate downforce to stay attached to surfaces

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-83961-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mark Hermes ◽

Mitul Luhar

Keyword(s):

Body Shape ◽

Control Volume ◽

Water Channel ◽

Morphological Plasticity ◽

The Body ◽

Sea Star ◽

Sea Stars ◽

Hydrodynamic Loads ◽

Spherical Dome ◽

Star Models

AbstractIntertidal sea stars often function in environments with extreme hydrodynamic loads that can compromise their ability to remain attached to surfaces. While behavioral responses such as burrowing into sand or sheltering in rock crevices can help minimize hydrodynamic loads, previous work shows that sea stars also alter body shape in response to flow conditions. This morphological plasticity suggests that sea star body shape may play an important hydrodynamic role. In this study, we measured the fluid forces acting on surface-mounted sea star and spherical dome models in water channel tests. All sea star models created downforce, i.e., the fluid pushed the body towards the surface. In contrast, the spherical dome generated lift. We also used Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to measure the midplane flow field around the models. Control volume analyses based on the PIV data show that downforce arises because the sea star bodies serve as ramps that divert fluid away from the surface. These observations are further rationalized using force predictions and flow visualizations from numerical simulations. The discovery of downforce generation could explain why sea stars are shaped as they are: the pentaradial geometry aids attachment to surfaces in the presence of high hydrodynamic loads.

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Estimation of Motion and Respiratory Characteristics during the Meditation Practice Based on Video Analysis

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21113771 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (11) ◽

pp. 3771

Author(s):

Alexey Kashevnik ◽

Walaa Othman ◽

Igor Ryabchikov ◽

Nikolay Shilov

Keyword(s):

Respiratory Rate ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Body Movement ◽

Absolute Error ◽

The Body ◽

Meditation Practice ◽

Body Parts ◽

Mental Health Training ◽

Negative Thoughts ◽

The Mean

Meditation practice is mental health training. It helps people to reduce stress and suppress negative thoughts. In this paper, we propose a camera-based meditation evaluation system, that helps meditators to improve their performance. We rely on two main criteria to measure the focus: the breathing characteristics (respiratory rate, breathing rhythmicity and stability), and the body movement. We introduce a contactless sensor to measure the respiratory rate based on a smartphone camera by detecting the chest keypoint at each frame, using an optical flow based algorithm to calculate the displacement between frames, filtering and de-noising the chest movement signal, and calculating the number of real peaks in this signal. We also present an approach to detecting the movement of different body parts (head, thorax, shoulders, elbows, wrists, stomach and knees). We have collected a non-annotated dataset for meditation practice videos consists of ninety videos and the annotated dataset consists of eight videos. The non-annotated dataset was categorized into beginner and professional meditators and was used for the development of the algorithm and for tuning the parameters. The annotated dataset was used for evaluation and showed that human activity during meditation practice could be correctly estimated by the presented approach and that the mean absolute error for the respiratory rate is around 1.75 BPM, which can be considered tolerable for the meditation application.

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The development and validation of the body shape questionnaire

International Journal of Eating Disorders ◽

10.1002/1098-108x(198707)6:4<485::aid-eat2260060405>3.0.co;2-o ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 485-494 ◽

Cited By ~ 1041

Author(s):

Peter J. Cooper ◽

Melanie J. Taylor ◽

Zafra Cooper ◽

Christopher G. Fairbum

Keyword(s):

Body Shape ◽

The Body ◽

Development And Validation

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65 REFERENCE VALUES FOR THE BODY SHAPE OF BOYS AND GIRLS

Pediatric Research ◽

10.1203/00006450-198810000-00086 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 528-528

Author(s):

W J M Gerver ◽

N M Drayer ◽

W Schaafsma ◽

N M Drayer

Keyword(s):

Reference Values ◽

Body Shape ◽

The Body

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Tuning of a Basic Coordination Pattern Constructs Straight-Ahead and Curved Walking in Humans

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00817.2003 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 91 (4) ◽

pp. 1524-1535 ◽

Cited By ~ 96

Author(s):

Grégoire Courtine ◽

Marco Schieppati

Keyword(s):

Principal Components ◽

Lower Limb ◽

Time Course ◽

Body Movement ◽

The Body ◽

Whole Body ◽

Coordination Pattern ◽

Data Set ◽

Coordination Patterns ◽

Straight Ahead

We tested the hypothesis that common principles govern the production of the locomotor patterns for both straight-ahead and curved walking. Whole body movement recordings showed that continuous curved walking implies substantial, limb-specific changes in numerous gait descriptors. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to uncover the spatiotemporal structure of coordination among lower limb segments. PCA revealed that the same kinematic law accounted for the coordination among lower limb segments during both straight-ahead and curved walking, in both the frontal and sagittal planes: turn-related changes in the complex behavior of the inner and outer limbs were captured in limb-specific adaptive tuning of coordination patterns. PCA was also performed on a data set including all elevation angles of limb segments and trunk, thus encompassing 13 degrees of freedom. The results showed that both straight-ahead and curved walking were low dimensional, given that 3 principal components accounted for more than 90% of data variance. Furthermore, the time course of the principal components was unchanged by curved walking, thereby indicating invariant coordination patterns among all body segments during straight-ahead and curved walking. Nevertheless, limb- and turn-dependent tuning of the coordination patterns encoded the adaptations of the limb kinematics to the actual direction of the walking body. Absence of vision had no significant effect on the intersegmental coordination during either straight-ahead or curved walking. Our findings indicate that kinematic laws, probably emerging from the interaction of spinal neural networks and mechanical oscillators, subserve the production of both straight-ahead and curved walking. During locomotion, the descending command tunes basic spinal networks so as to produce the changes in amplitude and phase relationships of the spinal output, sufficient to achieve the body turn.

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A study of the validity and reliability of the Brazilian version of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) among adolescents

Revista Brasileira de Saúde Materno Infantil ◽

10.1590/s1519-38292009000300012 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 331-338 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

Maria Aparecida Conti ◽

Táki Athanássios Cordás ◽

Maria do Rosário Dias de Oliveira Latorre

Keyword(s):

Body Image ◽

Nutritional Status ◽

Correlation Coefficient ◽

Internal Consistency ◽

Body Shape ◽

Discriminant Validity ◽

Total Population ◽

Intraclass Correlation ◽

The Body ◽

Validity And Reliability

OBJECTIVES: to produce evidence of the validity and reliability of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) - a tool for measuring an individual's attitude towards his or her body image. METHODS: the study covered 386 young people of both sexes aged between 10 and 18 from a private school and used self-applied questionnaires and anthropometric evaluation. It evaluated the internal consistency, the discriminant validity for differences from the means, according to nutritional status (underweight, eutrophic, overweight and obese), the concurrent validity by way of Spearman's correlation coefficient between the scale and the Body Mass Index (BMI), the waist-hip circumference ratio (WHR) and the waist circumference (WC). Reliability was tested using Wilcoxon's Test, the intraclass correlation coefficient and the Bland-Altman figures. RESULTS: the BSQ displayed good internal consistency (±=0.96) and was capable of discriminating among the total population, boys and girls, according to nutritional status (p<0.001). It correlated with the BMI (r=0.41; p<0.001), WHR (r=-0.10; p=0.043) and WC (r=0.24; p<0.001) and its reliability was confirmed by intraclass correlation (r=0.91; p<0.001) for the total population. The questionnaire was easy to understand and could be completed quickly. CONCLUSIONS: the BSQ presented good results, thereby providing evidence of its validity and reliability. It is therefore recommended for evaluation of body image attitudes among adolescents.

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Caudal Fin and Body Movement in the Propulsion of some Fish

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.40.1.23 ◽

1963 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 23-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

RICHARD BAINBRIDGE

Keyword(s):

Body Movement ◽

Wave Length ◽

The Body ◽

Whole Body ◽

Tail Region ◽

Caudal Fin ◽

A Value ◽

Total Thrust ◽

Transverse Movement ◽

Relationship Of

1. Observations made on bream, goldfish and dace swimming in the ‘Fish Wheel’ apparatus are described. These include: 2. An account of the complex changes in curvature of the caudal fin during different phases of the normal locomotory cycle. Measurements of this curvature and of the angles of attack associated with it are given. 3. An account of changes in area of the caudal fin during the cycle of lateral oscillation. Detailed measurements of these changes, which may involve a 30 % increase in height or a 20 % increase in area, are given. 4. An account of the varying speed of transverse movement of the caudal fin under various conditions and the relationship of this to the changes in area and amount of bending. Details of the way this transverse speed may be asymmetrically distributed relative to the axis of progression of the fish are given. 5. An account of the extent of the lateral propulsive movements in other parts of the body. These are markedly different in the different species studied. Measurements of the wave length of this movement and of the rate of progression of the wave down the body are given. 6. It is concluded that the fish has active control over the speed, the amount of bending and the area of the caudal fin during transverse movement. 7. The bending of the fin and its changes in area are considered to be directed to the end of smoothing out and making more uniform what would otherwise be an intermittent thrust from the oscillating tail region. 8. Some assessment is made of the proportion of the total thrust contributed by the caudal fin. This is found to vary considerably, according to the form of the lateral propulsive movements of the whole body, from a value of 45% for the bream to 84% for the dace.

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