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Background: The ActiPASS software was developed from the open-source Acti4 activity classification algorithm for thigh-worn accelerometry. However, the original algorithm has not been validated in children or compared with a child-specific set of algorithm thresholds. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of ActiPASS in classifying activity types in children using 2 published sets of Acti4 thresholds. Methods: Laboratory and free-living data from 2 previous studies were used. The laboratory condition included 41 school-aged children (11.0 [4.8] y; 46.5% male), and the free-living condition included 15 children (10.0 [2.6] y; 66.6% male). Participants wore a single accelerometer on the dominant thigh, and annotated video recordings were used as a reference. Postures and activity types were classified with ActiPASS using the original adult thresholds and a child-specific set of thresholds. Results: Using the original adult thresholds, the mean balanced accuracy (95% CI) for the laboratory condition ranged from 0.62 (0.56–0.67) for lying to 0.97 (0.94–0.99) for running. For the free-living condition, accuracy ranged from 0.61 (0.48–0.75) for lying to 0.96 (0.92–0.99) for cycling. Mean balanced accuracy for overall sedentary behavior (sitting and lying) was ≥0.97 (0.95–0.99) across all thresholds and conditions. No meaningful differences were found between the 2 sets of thresholds, except for superior balanced accuracy of the adult thresholds for walking under laboratory conditions. Conclusions: The results indicate that ActiPASS can accurately classify different basic types of physical activity and sedentary behavior in children using thigh-worn accelerometer data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental illnesses such as depression are typically neurologically related psychological disorders that affect people's mood, thinking and behavior. As the number of students who are concerned about their mental health continues to rise, depression has emerged as a mental health concern that has a significant impact on both students' academic performance and overall lives. To identify depression in students at an earlier stage, the purpose of this study was to provide a potentially unique approach. An approach to the detection of mental illnesses that is based on deep learning networks is proposed in this paper. First, facial expression and physical activity data are utilized for detecting depression. Second, the transformer model is utilized to extract the characteristics of the individual's physical behavior, and the multiregional attention network (MRAN) is utilized to extract the characteristics of the individual's emotions. The information that is obtained from the two modalities is complementary. Finally, at the fusion stage, this work applies the classification prediction of depression and nondepression (normal) at the decision level. This is done to ensure that the respective modal properties that were learned by the two channels are preserved in their entirety. We have demonstrated that our strategy is highly effective by performing experimental validation using a dataset that we developed ourselves. It is possible to identify depression in children at an earlier stage with the help of this effective remedy. It is anticipated that the findings of this study will provide an efficient screening tool for depression to educational institutions and organizations that focus on mental health, hence assisting students in receiving essential assistance and intervention at an earlier stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: Both high and low levels of occupational physical activity are associated with back pain. Thus, there might be a “sweet- and sour-spot” of occupational physical activity for back pain. Our aim was to investigate if there exists an occupational physical activity “sweet- (lowest risk) and sour-spot” (highest risk) for back pain. METHODS: A total of 396 eldercare workers from 20 Danish nursing homes participated. Occupational physical activity was measured between 1–4 working days using thigh-worn accelerometry. Back pain intensity was reported monthly on a scale from 0–10 over 1-year. A zero-inflated mixed-effects model was developed regressing occupational physical activity against back pain, adjusted for confounders. The “sweet- and sour-spot” were defined as the occupational physical activity compositions (sitting, standing, light, and moderate-to-vigorous) associated with the 5% lowest and highest risk for back pain, respectively. RESULTS: The composition associated with the lowest risk of back pain – the “sweet-spot”– consisted of 71% worktime spent sitting, 18% spent standing, 5% spent on light physical activity and 6% spent on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The composition associated with highest risk for back pain –the “sour-spot”– consisted of 8% worktime spent sitting, 66% spent standing, 4% spent on light physical activity, and 21% spent on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: The “sweet-spot” of occupational physical activity for back pain among eldercare workers involves more sitting and light physical activity time, while the “sour-spot” involves more standing and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity time. Research on the occupational physical activity “sweet- and sour-spot” is needed.

Abstract Background Physical behaviors such physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep are associated with mortality, but there is a lack of epidemiological data and knowledge using device-measured physical behaviors. Purpose To assess the feasibility of baseline data collection using the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting, and Sleep consortium (ProPASS) protocols in the specific context of Saudi Arabia. ProPASS is a recently developed global platform for collaborative research that aims to harmonize retrospective and prospective data on device-measured behaviors and health. Using ProPASS methods for collecting data to perform such studies in Saudi Arabia will provide standardized data from underrepresented countries. Method This study explored the feasibility of baseline data collection in Saudi Arabia between November and December 2022 with a target recruitment of 50 participants aged ≥ 30 years. Established ProPASS methods were used to measure anthropometrics, measure blood pressure, collect blood samples, carry out physical function test, and measure health status and context of physical behaviors using questionnaires. The ActivPal™ device was used to assess physical behaviors and the participants were asked to attend two sessions at (LHRC). The feasibility of the current study was assessed by evaluating recruitment capability, acceptability, suitability of study procedures, and resources and abilities to manage and implement the study. Exit interviews were conducted with all participants. Result A total of 75 participants expressed an interest in the study, out of whom 54 initially agreed to participate. Ultimately, 48 participants were recruited in the study (recruitment rate: 64%). The study completion rate was 87.5% of the recruited participants; 95% participants were satisfied with their participation in the study and 90% reported no negative feelings related to participating in the study. One participant reported experiencing moderate skin irritation related to placement of the accelerometer. Additionally, 96% of participants expressed their willingness to participate in the study again. Conclusion Based on successful methodology, data collection results, and participants’ acceptability, the ProPASS protocols are feasible to administer in Saudi Arabia. These findings are promising for establishing a prospective cohort in Saudi Arabia.

This study assesses three factors that influence the quantification of children's and adolescents' physical activity (PA) using accelerometers: selection of (1) non-wear algorithm, (2) epoch length and (3) cut-points. A total of 1525 participants from MoMo wave 3 (2018–2022), aged 6–17 years, wore GT3X accelerometers (ActiGraph, LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) during waking hours. Acceleration counts were reintegrated into lengths of 1, 5, 15, 30, and 60 s epochs. Two non-wear time algorithms and two sets of cut-points were applied to each epoch length. Differences were found in both the comparison of the non-wear time algorithms and the comparison of the cut-points when the different epoch lengths were considered. This may result in large differences in estimated sedentary behavior and PA values. We propose to pool the data by merging and combining multiple accelerometer datasets from different studies and evaluate them in a harmonized way in the future. In addition to the need for future validation studies using short epoch lengths for young children, we also propose to conduct meta-analyses. This allows the use of data from multiple studies to validate cut-points and to propose a consensual set of cut-points that can be used in different settings and projects. The high discrepancy between results when comparing different epoch lengths has to be considered when interpreting accelerometer data and is regarded a confounding variable when comparing levels of PA between studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Physical behaviors such physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep are associated with mortality, but there is a lack of epidemiological data and knowledge using device-measured physical behaviors. Purpose: To assess the feasibility of baseline data collection using the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting, and Sleep consortium (ProPASS) protocols in the specific context of Saudi Arabia. ProPASS is a recently developed global platform for collaborative research that aims to harmonize retrospective and prospective data on device-measured behaviors and health. Using ProPASS methods for collecting data to perform such studies in Saudi Arabia will provide standardized data from underrepresented countries. Method: This study explored the feasibility of baseline data collection in Saudi Arabia between November and December 2022 with a target recruitment of 50 participants aged ≥ 30 years. Established ProPASS methods were used to measure anthropometrics, measure blood pressure, collect blood samples, carry out physical function test, and measure health status and context of physical behaviors using questionnaires. The ActivPal™ device was used to assess physical behaviors and the participants were asked to attend two sessions at (LHRC). The feasibility of the current study was assessed by evaluating recruitment capability, acceptability, suitability of study procedures, and resources and abilities to manage and implement the study. Exit interviews were conducted with all participants. Result: A total of 75 participants expressed an interest in the study, out of whom 54 initially agreed to participate. Ultimately, 48 participants were recruited in the study (recruitment rate: 64%). The study completion rate was 87.5% of the recruited participants; 95% participants were satisfied with their participation in the study and 90% reported no negative feelings related to participating in the study. One participant reported experiencing moderate skin irritation related to placement of the accelerometer. Additionally, 96% of participants expressed their willingness to participate in the study again. Conclusion: Based on successful methodology, data collection results, and participants' acceptability, the ProPASS protocols are feasible to administer in Saudi Arabia. These findings are promising for establishing a prospective cohort in Saudi Arabia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate structural analyses of continuous fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) are imperative for diverse engineering applications, demanding efficient material constitutive models. Nonetheless, the constitutive modeling of FRPs is complicated by the nonlinear behavior resulting from internal damages and the inherent plasticity. Consequently, this study presents an innovative anisotropic constitutive model for FRPs, designed to adeptly capture both the damage evolution and plasticity. All requisite parameters can be easily obtained through fundamental mechanical tests, rendering the model practical and user-friendly. The model utilizes the three-dimensional Puck criteria to determine damages, initiating the evolution process through a combination of continuum damage mechanics and linear stiffness attenuation methods. This evolution is coupled with a one-parameter plastic model. Subsequently, the numerical implementation method, integrated into ANSYS, is detailed. This emphasizes the Cauchy stress and consistent tangent stiffness solution strategy. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed model is demonstrated through comprehensive verification, encompassing existing biaxial tension and open-hole-tension tests conducted on carbon and glass FRP laminates. The simulation results exhibit a remarkable correspondence with the experimental data, validating the reliability and accuracy of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the COVID‐19 pandemic, working from home (WFH) has emerged as a common alternative work environment, but the possible influence on daily physical behavior (PB) (i.e., physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB)) remains unclear. This study aimed to examine daily associations between PB and the work environment (i.e., WFH, working at the office (WAO)), as well as to explore and identify patterns of PB within each work environment. An observational study using a dual‐accelerometer system to continuously assess PB for at least 5 days was conducted. The sample consisted of 55 participants providing 276 days of assessment. Additional demographic, contextual, and psychological variables were measured via baseline questionnaire and several smartphone prompts per day. To analyze the effects of the work environment on PB, multilevel analyses were conducted. For the identification of patterns within each work environment, latent class trajectory modelling was applied. Associations between the work environment and various PA parameters were found, indicating that WFH has a negative effect on MVPA time, steps, and physical activity intensity (MET), but a positive effect on short PA bouts (≤5 min). No associations between the work environment and any SB parameter (i.e., SB time, SB breaks, SB bouts) were found. Latent class trajectory modelling revealed three MVPA patterns for days WFH, and two patterns for days WAO. Given the growing prevalence of WFH and the positive health effects associated with MVPA, daily‐tailored solutions to enhance MPVA while WFH are urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease and the primary cause of dementia worldwide. Despite the magnitude of AD's impact on patients, caregivers, and society, nearly all AD clinical trials fail. A potential contributor to this high rate of failure is that established clinical outcome assessments fail to capture subtle clinical changes, entail high burden for patients and their caregivers, and ineffectively address the aspects of health deemed important by patients and their caregivers. AD progression is associated with widespread changes in physical behavior that have impacts on the ability to function independently, which is a meaningful aspect of health for patients with AD and important for diagnosis. However, established assessments of functional independence remain underutilized in AD clinical trials and are limited by subjective biases and ceiling effects. Digital measures of real-world physical behavior assessed passively, continuously, and remotely using digital health technologies have the potential to address some of these limitations and to capture aspects of functional independence in patients with AD. In particular, measures of real-world gait, physical activity, and life-space mobility captured with wearable sensors may offer value. Additional research is needed to understand the validity, feasibility, and acceptability of these measures in AD clinical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food processes have been requiring increasingly more accurately designed operations. Successful design results in products with high quality, in addition to offering energy and cost savings. To these ends, fundamental knowledge regarding the physical properties and thermodynamic mechanisms of the material is essential. The aim of this review was to highlight important concepts and applications of some thermophysical properties (density, specific heat, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity), as well as recent methods for their determination. The rheology of fluids and solids is widely discussed according to the concepts, classification, modeling and applications involved in food and equipment design. Herein, we report destructive and non-destructive assays for the evaluation of food properties. Due to the complexity of food systems, the effects of modifications of the structure and physicochemical reactions on the quality of the resulting food are addressed based on thermodynamic aspects. This analytical perspective was adopted in food systems rich in fats, proteins, polysaccharides and simple sugars. Using the information reported in this study, formulations and unit operations can be better designed. In addition, process failures become more predictable when fundamental knowledge is available. Therefore, food losses can be avoided, quality can be maintained and operations can be effectively resumed when deviations from ideal conditions are evidenced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop 60-s epoch accelerometer intensity cut points for vertical axis count and vector magnitude (VM) output from hip-worn triaxial accelerometers among women 60–91 years old. We also compared these cut points against cut points derived by multiplying 15-s epoch cut points by four. Methods: Two hundred apparently healthy women wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer on their hip while performing a variety of laboratory-based activities that were sedentary (watching television and assembling a puzzle), low light (washing/drying dishes), high light (laundry and dust mopping), or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (400-m walk) intensity. Oxygen uptake was measured using an Oxycon portable calorimeter. Sedentary behavior and physical activity intensity cut points for vertical axis and VM counts were derived for 60-s epochs from receiver operating characteristic and by multiplying the 15-s cut points by four; both were compared with oxygen uptake. Results: The median age was 74.5 years (interquartile range 70–83). The 60-s epoch cut points for vertical counts were 0 sedentary, 1–73 low light, 74–578 high light, and ≥579 moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The 60-s epoch cut points for VM were 0–88 sedentary, 89–663 low light, 664–1,730 high light, and ≥1,731 moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. For both sets of cut points, the receiver operating characteristic approach yielded more accurate estimates than the multiplication approach. Conclusion: The derived 60-s epoch cut points for vertical counts and VM can be applied to epidemiologic studies to define sedentary behavior and physical activity intensities in older adult populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency evacuation simulation is significant for architectural design and emergency plan implementation. To explore the influence of evacuees' physical behavior and evacuees' decisions on the evacuation process, as well as to address the problems of traditional emergency evacuation models with insufficient detail of the situation (realism), low reusability, poor operability, and lack of subsequent scalability, this paper first analyzed pedestrian characteristics in emergencies. To describe pedestrian decision-making in an emergent evacuation situation, a multi-agent design based on decision theory was proposed, solving the multi-agent decision-making problem in an emergency evacuation environment by the A* algorithm. Then the designed multi-agent was embedded into the social force model by AnyLogic software. Finally, the model reproduces the pedestrian evacuation process in an emergency evacuation situation on the built platform, depicting three kinds of typical behaviors: pedestrian partnering, obstacle avoidance, and exit competition. In addition, this study also analyzed a large student apartment building by example and proposed corresponding optimization solutions to improve its evacuation capacity through simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N -phenyl-phthalamic acid (PPA) is a new type of plant growth regulator that is widely utilized on fruit trees and crops in China. Understanding the physical and chemical behavior of PPA in plants is crucial for formulating application strategies and predicting potential environmental risks. This study investigated the uptake, translocation, and metabolism processes of PPA in pepper and wheat after different treatments. The roots of pepper and wheat can rapidly absorb and translocate PPA to the stems and leaves. In the 100 μg/mL treatment group, the PPA concentrations in the roots, stems, and leaves of pepper reached their maximum within 10 h after treatment, with 19.8, 2.4, and 2.9 mg/kg, respectively. Similar results can be detected in wheat. PPA can also be translocated from treated leaves to the entire plant in both pepper and wheat, and it tends to accumulate more in the upper leaves, with PPA mass percentages of 36.4 % and 36.9 % in the upper leaves of wheat and pepper, respectively, at 96 h. PPA is easily degradable in the plant body and seeds (the t 1/2 was 1.3–3.3 d). The above results indicate that PPA is easily absorbed by the roots, leaves, and seeds of crops and, undergoes bidirectional translocation, and is easily degradable, which means that PPA can be applied in various ways and poses a relatively low risk to food safety. [Display omitted] • PPA is rapidly absorbed by crop roots and translocated upwards. • PPA is easily absorbed by crop leaves and translocated to other parts. • PPA undergoes bidirectional translocation within crops, but transfer ability is weak. • PPA is easily degraded in plants and seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sedentary behaviors and low physical activity among hospitalized patients have detrimental effects on health and recovery. Wearable activity monitors are a promising tool to promote mobilization and physical activity. However, existing devices have limitations in terms of their outcomes and validity. The Activ8 device was optimized for the hospital setting. This study assessed the concurrent validity of the modified Activ8. Hospital patients performed an activity protocol that included basic (e.g., walking) and functional activities (e.g., room activities), with video recordings serving as the criterion method. The assessed outcomes were time spent walking, standing, upright, sedentary, and newly added elements of steps and transfers. Absolute and relative time differences were calculated, and Wilcoxon and Bland–Altman analyses were conducted. Overall, the observed relative time differences were lower than 2.9% for the basic protocol and 9.6% for the functional protocol. Statistically significant differences were detected in specific categories, including basic standing (p < 0.05), upright time (p < 0.01), and sedentary time (p < 0.01), but they did not exceed the predetermined 10% acceptable threshold. The modified Activ8 device is a valid tool for assessing body postures, motions, steps, and transfer counts in hospitalized patients. This study highlights the potential of wearable activity monitors to accurately monitor and promote PA among hospital patients.

Background: Current implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) devices are equipped with a device-embedded accelerometer capable of capturing physical activity (PA). In contrast, wearable accelerometer-based methods enable the measurement of physical behavior (PB) that encompasses not only PA but also sleep behavior, sedentary time, and rest-activity patterns. Objective: This systematic review evaluates accelerometer-based methods used in patients carrying an ICD or at high risk of sudden cardiac death. Methods: Papers were identified via the OVID MEDLINE and OVID EMBASE databases. PB could be assessed using a wearable accelerometer or an embedded accelerometer in the ICD. Results: A total of 52 papers were deemed appropriate for this review. Out of these studies, 30 examined device-embedded accelerometry (189,811 patients), 19 examined wearable accelerometry (1601 patients), and 3 validated wearable accelerometry against device-embedded accelerometry (106 patients). The main findings were that a low level of PA after implantation of the ICD and a decline in PA were both associated with an increased risk of mortality, heart failure hospitalization, and appropriate ICD shock. Second, PA was affected by cardiac factors (eg, onset of atrial fibrillation, ICD shocks) and noncardiac factors (eg, seasonal differences, societal factors). Conclusion: This review demonstrated the potential of accelerometer-measured PA as a marker of clinical deterioration and ventricular arrhythmias. Notwithstanding that the evidence of PB assessed using wearable accelerometry was limited, there seems to be potential for accelerometers to improve early warning systems and facilitate preventative and proactive strategies.

Abstract Background The Goldilocks Work Principle expresses that productive work should be designed to promote workers’ health. We recently showed that it is feasible to develop and implement modifications to productive work that change physical behaviors (i.e. sitting, standing and being active) in a direction that may promote health among industrial workers. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial investigating health effects of implementing the Goldilocks Work intervention among industrial workers. Methods Our implementation plan consists of educating work teams, organizing implementation meetings, and providing feedback to workers. Three meetings with a preselected local workplace group will be scheduled. The first meeting educates the group to use a planning tool by which work can be planned to have ‘just right’ physical behaviors. The second and third meetings will focus on supporting implementation of the tool in daily work. An expected 28 clusters of work teams across two participating production sites will be randomized to either intervention or control group. Data collection will consist of 1) questionnaires regarding work and musculoskeletal health, 2) wearable sensor measurements of the physical behavior, and 3) assessment of general health indicators, including BMI, blood pressure, and fat percentage. The primary outcome is musculoskeletal health, measured by low back pain intensity, and secondary outcomes are 1) physical behaviors at work, 2) accumulated time in long bouts of sitting, standing, and being active and 3) perceived fatigue and energy during work. Furthermore, implementation and cost of the intervention will be evaluated based on questionnaires and data from the planning tool completed by the workers. Discussion This study will evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of a 12 - weeks Goldilocks Work intervention with the aim of improving musculoskeletal health among industrial workers. The cluster randomized controlled study design and the evaluation of the implementation, results and costs of the intervention will make it capable of contributing with valuable evidence of how productive work may be designed to promote industrial workers’ health. Trial registration Clinical trial registration was assigned 10–09-2021 (ISRCTN80969503). https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN80969503

A compendium of observational studies of adults that collected accelerometry to assess physical activity and sedentary behavior (i.e., physical behaviors) could facilitate cross-study comparisons, meta-analyses, and future research collaborations. Therefore, we performed a systematic search to identify observational studies, including surveillance systems, that collected accelerometry-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior among adults. We performed a search using PubMed, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus for studies published on or before June 1, 2021. After screening 5686 abstracts and 1027 full text articles, we included 155 unique studies that collected accelerometry on at least 500 adults 18 years or older. Most studies used one accelerometer (n=146), although eight studies used two accelerometers and one study used four accelerometers. The country of data collection, age range, and accelerometer characteristics were abstracted and checked by a second reviewer. These datasets summarizing relevant observational studies of adults can be a resource to researchers seeking to identify data sources for accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior from around the world.

According to sharia, men are superior to women. This supremacy of men is for the benefit of women, and there is no loss for her in it. As there is leader in every system, same is here, leader is very necessary and important for family system. The Religion Islam do not consider the equality of men and women on physical and natural basis and handover certain matters. if to establish this type of equality it will be contradictory to the laws of nature and the result will come Conspiracy and anarchism into the circle of social and cultural. Before taking into consideration the similarities between male and female in the light of Islam it is essential to explain the opinion of experts of psychological behavior. The first opinion is that there is a huge difference in thinking and understanding between men and women on negative disagreement. Those who are in favor of this opinion are given the name of (gender start) in modern science. The 2nd opinion, is there any reality in similarities and motives between male and female? If it is so, what is the nature of that? Psychologist are agreeing on a point that this is not easy to answer the questions between mental, practical and physical abilities of male and female. In the view of some investigators, it is observed that woman have more mental ability as compared to men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contribution: The scheme for virtual emulation experiments based on discrete logic which appropriately lowers students’ cognitive burden and possesses manipulatable interactive logic in tune with real experiments is put forward. The relationship between students’ experiential learning and the influence of cognitive burden is also discussed. Background: Many kinds of research prove that a great deal of time expense and complex experiment setup strategies are a must if one needs adequate exploration experience and results through real experiments. These outputs are also limited to lab resources, leading to students’ less experience gaining. Moreover, conventional virtual emulation experiments are possible solutions but the lowering of cognitive burden is not adjustable. Students still lack practical experience due to the less challenging and more mechanic interaction. Intended Outcomes: A scheme for virtual emulation experiments based on discrete logic which appropriately lowers students’ cognitive burden and possesses manipulatable interactive logic in tune with real experiments and an experiment system based on this scheme. Application Design: Students will deal with different experiment missions and prompts according to their cognitive level in virtual experiment scenarios instead of complex real ones. Students’ operation strategies and parameter settings are analyzed and presented for more proper designs. Findings: The analysis of the experiment data is exciting: students who have accomplished virtual emulation experiments take up the absolute majority of successors when it comes to transfer questions, which means they have got more practical experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Goldilocks Work Principle expresses that productive work should be designed to promote workers' health. We recently showed that it is feasible to develop and implement modifications to productive work that change physical behaviors (i.e. sitting, standing and being active) in a direction that may promote health among industrial workers. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial investigating health effects of implementing the Goldilocks Work intervention among industrial workers.Methods: Our implementation plan consists of educating work teams, organizing implementation meetings, and providing feedback to workers. Three meetings with a preselected local workplace group will be scheduled. The first meeting educates the group to use a planning tool by which work can be planned to have 'just right' physical behaviors. The second and third meetings will focus on supporting implementation of the tool in daily work. An expected 28 clusters of work teams across two participating production sites will be randomized to either intervention or control group. Data collection will consist of 1) questionnaires regarding work and musculoskeletal health, 2) wearable sensor measurements of the physical behavior, and 3) assessment of general health indicators, including BMI, blood pressure, and fat percentage. The primary outcome is musculoskeletal health, measured by low back pain intensity, and secondary outcomes are 1) physical behaviors at work, 2) accumulated time in long bouts of sitting, standing, and being active and 3) perceived fatigue and energy during work. Furthermore, implementation and cost of the intervention will be evaluated based on questionnaires and data from the planning tool completed by the workers.Discussion: This study will evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of a 12 - weeks Goldilocks Work intervention with the aim of improving musculoskeletal health among industrial workers. The cluster randomized controlled study design and the evaluation of the implementation, results and costs of the intervention will make it capable of contributing with valuable evidence of how productive work may be designed to promote industrial workers' health.Trial Registration: Clinical trial registration was assigned 10-09-2021 (ISRCTN80969503). https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN80969503. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gobi sand is a commonly used soil material in China that can be classified as silty sand with a fines content of 30.1%. A series of laboratory tests were conducted on Gobi sand and many unique physical behaviors were found, such as a low permeability coefficient, sticky behavior after moisturization, and being located in the CL (low liquid limit clay) classification group. In addition, the critical state lines (CSL) of the Gobi silty sand in the e-lnp space decrease in parallel with decreasing initial void ratio e0, and the critical state stress ratio Mcs is not a constant but decreases with increasing confining pressure σ3 and initial void ratio e0. This is quite different from the unique CSL and Mcs observed from quartz clean sand and silty sand. Therefore, unified CSL and Mcs equations for the Gobi sand were proposed to express the unique critical state behavior affected by various pressure conditions and initial void ratios. It is believed that the composite mineral composition (containing 5 minerals) of Gobi silty sand plays a significant role in the reaction of these unique physical behaviors as well as the critical state behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency evacuation simulation is significant for architectural design and emergency plan implementation. To explore the influence of evacuees’ physical behavior and evacuees’ decisions on the evacuation process, as well as to address the problems of traditional emergency evacuation models with insufficient detail of the situation (realism), low reusability, poor operability, and lack of subsequent scalability, this paper first analyzed pedestrian characteristics in emergencies. To describe pedestrian decision-making in an emergent evacuation situation, a multi-agent design based on decision theory was proposed, solving the multi-agent decision-making problem in an emergency evacuation environment by the A* algorithm. Then the designed multi-agent was embedded into the social force model by AnyLogic software. Finally, the model reproduces the pedestrian evacuation process in an emergency evacuation situation on the built platform, depicting three kinds of typical behaviors: pedestrian partnering, obstacle avoidance, and exit competition. In addition, this study also analyzed a large student apartment building by example and proposed corresponding optimization solutions to improve its evacuation capacity through simulation results.

Background: As the number of cancer survivors increases, maintaining health-related quality of life in cancer survivorship is a priority. This necessitates accurate and reliable methods to assess how cancer survivors are feeling and functioning. Real-world digital measures derived from wearable sensors offer potential for monitoring well-being and physical function in cancer survivorship, but questions surrounding the clinical utility of these measures remain to be answered., Objective: In this secondary analysis, we used 2 existing data sets to examine how measures of real-world physical behavior, captured with a wearable accelerometer, were related to aerobic fitness and self-reported well-being and physical function in a sample of individuals who had completed cancer treatment., Methods: Overall, 86 disease-free cancer survivors aged 21-85 years completed self-report assessments of well-being and physical function, as well as a submaximal exercise test that was used to estimate their aerobic fitness, quantified as predicted submaximal oxygen uptake (VO 2 ). A thigh-worn accelerometer was used to monitor participants' real-world physical behavior for 7 days. Accelerometry data were used to calculate average values of the following measures of physical behavior: sedentary time, step counts, time in light and moderate to vigorous physical activity, time and weighted median cadence in stepping bouts over 1 minute, and peak 30-second cadence., Results: Spearman correlation analyses indicated that 6 (86%) of the 7 accelerometry-derived measures of real-world physical behavior were not significantly correlated with Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General total well-being or linked Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-Physical Function scores (Ps≥.08). In contrast, all but one of the physical behavior measures were significantly correlated with submaximal VO 2 (Ps≤.03). Comparing these associations using likelihood ratio tests, we found that step counts, time in stepping bouts over 1 minute, and time in moderate to vigorous activity were more strongly associated with submaximal VO 2 than with self-reported well-being or physical function (Ps≤.03). In contrast, cadence in stepping bouts over 1 minute and peak 30-second cadence were not more associated with submaximal VO 2 than with the self-reported measures (Ps≥.08)., Conclusions: In a sample of disease-free cancer survivors, we found that several measures of real-world physical behavior were more associated with aerobic fitness than with self-reported well-being and physical function. These results highlight the possibility that in individuals who have completed cancer treatment, measures of real-world physical behavior may provide additional information compared with self-reported and performance measures. To advance the appropriate use of digital measures in oncology clinical research, further research evaluating the clinical utility of real-world physical behavior over time in large, representative samples of cancer survivors is warranted., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03781154; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03781154., (©Shelby L Bachman, Emma Gomes, Suvekshya Aryal, David Cella, Ieuan Clay, Kate Lyden, Heather J Leach. Originally published in JMIR Cancer (https://cancer.jmir.org), 15.07.2024.)

In order to develop an innovative, environmentally friendly composite materials for the construction industry, this study aims to exploit three types of waste material to manufacture cement mortars for producing lightweight concretes, ecologically friendly paving slabs and pavers. For this purpose, the response surface methodology (RSM) was investigated to predict and optimize the physical properties of mortars made from dune sand (DS) combined with recycled sand (RS), which are abundant in the desert and considered as waste products, reinforced by polymerized polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers of two different lengths, 20 mm and 30 mm, respectively. This investigation was carried out to assess the material's capacity in terms of engineering criteria, including air content in the fresh state (Ac), shrinkage (Sh), flexural displacement (Yf), ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), and water absorption (WA). Further, the chemical composition and mineralogical transformations at high temperatures of the produced mortar were examined. The ANOVA analysis of variance and a desirability function (DF) test are developed based on the Box-Behnken Design to predict and optimize variables and output responses by maximizing the mechanical properties and minimizing the physical properties. The obtained results reveal a significant improvement in the physical properties of the mortars, 6.25% Sh, 43% Yf, 4.65% UPV, and 6.54% WA, confirming the beneficial effect of fiber-reinforced products compared with those without fibers. The proposed quadratic model proves the validity of the experimental results with a better accuracy of less than 4.5% error. The optimal formulation obtained in this protocol consisted of 50% DS, 50% RS, and 2% PET, with a length of 12.70 mm. This mix yielded 0.799% Ac, −95.28 μm/m Sh, 5.79 mm Yf, 3855.11 m/s UPV, and 11.91% WA, presenting an attractive option for applications in eco-construction sustainability. Therefore, The RSM model correlates well with the experimental data, which has contributed to an improvement in the physical-mechanical features. Consequently, this eco-mortar has several applications in buildings, roads, bridges, for bending elements (beams, slabs) and can also be used for repairing damaged structures. [Display omitted] • The RSM methodology has been used for the optimization and prediction process. • The three types of waste used DS-RS-PF have proven essential in eco-construction. • The 50/50 sand mixture is relevant for the high quality of the studied mortar. • DS-RS-PF combination decreases Ac, Sh, WA and increases Yf, UPV, showing high behavior. • Abandoned dune sand is considered to be waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The self-monitoring of physical activity is an effective strategy for promoting active lifestyles. However, accurately assessing physical activity remains challenging in certain situations. This study evaluates a novel floor-vibration monitoring system to quantify housework-related physical activity., Objective: This study aims to assess the validity of step-count and physical behavior intensity predictions of a novel floor-vibration monitoring system in comparison with the actual number of steps and indirect calorimetry measurements. The accuracy of the predictions is also compared with that of research-grade devices (ActiGraph GT9X)., Methods: The Ocha-House, located in Tokyo, serves as an independent experimental facility equipped with high-sensitivity accelerometers installed on the floor to monitor vibrations. Dedicated data processing software was developed to analyze floor-vibration signals and calculate 3 quantitative indices: floor-vibration quantity, step count, and moving distance. In total, 10 participants performed 4 different housework-related activities, wearing ActiGraph GT9X monitors on both the waist and wrist for 6 minutes each. Concurrently, floor-vibration data were collected, and the energy expenditure was measured using the Douglas bag method to determine the actual intensity of activities., Results: Significant correlations (P<.001) were found between the quantity of floor vibrations, the estimated step count, the estimated moving distance, and the actual activity intensities. The step-count parameter extracted from the floor-vibration signal emerged as the most robust predictor (r 2 =0.82; P<.001). Multiple regression models incorporating several floor-vibration-extracted parameters showed a strong association with actual activity intensities (r 2 =0.88; P<.001). Both the step-count and intensity predictions made by the floor-vibration monitoring system exhibited greater accuracy than those of the ActiGraph monitor., Conclusions: Floor-vibration monitoring systems seem able to produce valid quantitative assessments of physical activity for selected housework-related activities. In the future, connected smart home systems that integrate this type of technology could be used to perform continuous and accurate evaluations of physical behaviors throughout the day., (©Yuki Nakajima, Asami Kitayama, Yuji Ohta, Nobuhisa Motooka, Mayumi Kuno-Mizumura, Motohiko Miyachi, Shigeho Tanaka, Kazuko Ishikawa-Takata, Julien Tripette. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 25.04.2024.)

Sedentary behaviors and low physical activity among hospitalized patients have detrimental effects on health and recovery. Wearable activity monitors are a promising tool to promote mobilization and physical activity. However, existing devices have limitations in terms of their outcomes and validity. The Activ8 device was optimized for the hospital setting. This study assessed the concurrent validity of the modified Activ8. Hospital patients performed an activity protocol that included basic (e.g., walking) and functional activities (e.g., room activities), with video recordings serving as the criterion method. The assessed outcomes were time spent walking, standing, upright, sedentary, and newly added elements of steps and transfers. Absolute and relative time differences were calculated, and Wilcoxon and Bland-Altman analyses were conducted. Overall, the observed relative time differences were lower than 2.9% for the basic protocol and 9.6% for the functional protocol. Statistically significant differences were detected in specific categories, including basic standing ( p < 0.05), upright time ( p < 0.01), and sedentary time ( p < 0.01), but they did not exceed the predetermined 10% acceptable threshold. The modified Activ8 device is a valid tool for assessing body postures, motions, steps, and transfer counts in hospitalized patients. This study highlights the potential of wearable activity monitors to accurately monitor and promote PA among hospital patients.

Empirical evidence points to sedentary behavior as a ubiquitous health-related risk factor. Given the increasing number of mental disorders, a growing body of studies now focuses on the relationship between sedentary behavior and mental health. However, momentary interactions between sedentary bouts, mood, and type of cognitive load in daily life are highly understudied. To investigate whether sedentary bouts influence mood, we conducted an Ambulatory Assessment study in the everyday life of 103 university students over 5 days. We continuously measured sedentary behavior via accelerometers and assessed mood and type of cognitive load up to six times each day on smartphone diaries. We employed multilevel modeling to analyze the within-person effects of sedentary behavior, and cognitive load on mood. Sedentary bouts (20-min intervals prior to each e-diary assessment) negatively influenced energetic arousal (p < 0.001) and valence (p = 0.023). Cognitive load (mentally active vs. mentally passive) influenced negatively energetic arousal (p < 0.001) and positively calmness (p = 0.031). Exploratory interaction analyses revealed significant differences between cognitive load and bouts of SB (interrupted vs. uninterrupted). The negative association between sedentary behavior and two of three mood dimensions (i.e., valence and energetic arousal) suggests sedentary behavior is an important risk factor for mental health among healthy young adults. Additionally, the cognitive load, specifically the distinction between mentally active and mentally passive activities, is an important factor in shaping momentary mood. We strongly recommend reducing prolonged SB and recognizing the potential benefits of engaging in mentally active activities. • Bouts of sedentary behavior had a negative impact on pleasantness of mood and energetic arousal. • Cognitive load was associated with energetic arousal and calmness. • Interaction between cognitive load and sedentary bouts varied on mood outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ceramic molds shells wastes were used as substitute of natural aggregate. • Evaluation of the effectiveness of ceramic molds treatment methods. • Currently there are no known practical applications for these wastes. • Fourteen mortars were developed with different waste contents and treatment methods. • The mortars with application of treatment methods revealed a satisfactory behavior. About 48 billion tons of aggregates are consumed in the construction, causing a depletion of natural resources. Thus, it is important to apply new solutions that suppress these needs, without environmental impacts and preferably reversing negative impacts associated to other industries, such as foundry industry, a large waste producer commonly deposited in landfills. The main objective of this work was the evaluation of the waste treatment methods effectiveness in the physical and mechanical mortar properties. Fourteen compositions were developed with different contents of ceramic mold shells (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) and different types of treatment (series 1 – unwashed ceramic mold shells, series 2 – washed ceramic molds shells and series 3 – washed ceramic mold shells and fibers). The results showed that the treatment of washing residues was quite effective, resulting in an elimination of the expandability and water absorption of the mortars, which led to an increase in the flexural and compression strength, since the microstructure of the mortars was no longer fragile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate if in-clinic measures of physical function and real-world measures of physical behavior and mobility effort are associated with one another and to determine if they predict future hospitalization in participants with chronic kidney disease (CKD)., Methods: In this secondary analysis, novel real-world measures of physical behavior and mobility effort, including the best 6-minute step count (B6SC), were derived from passively collected data from a thigh worn actigraphy sensor and compared to traditional in-clinic measures of physical function (e.g. 6-minute walk test (6MWT). Hospitalization status during 2 years of follow-up was determined from electronic health records. Correlation analyses were used to compare measures and Cox Regression analysis was used to compare measures with hospitalization., Results: One hundred and six participants were studied (69  ±  13 years, 43% women). Mean  ±  SD baseline measures for 6MWT was 386  ±  66 m and B6SC was 524  ±  125 steps. Forty-four hospitalization events over 224 years of total follow-up occurred. Good separation was achieved for tertiles of 6MWT, B6SC and steps/day for hospitalization events. This pattern persisted in models adjusted for demographics (6MWT: HR  =  0.63 95% CI 0.43-0.93, B6SC: HR  =  0.75, 95% CI 0.56-1.02 and steps/day: HR  =  0.75, 95% CI 0.50-1.13) and further adjusted for morbidities (6MWT: HR  =  0.54, 95% CI 0.35-0.84, B6SC: HR  =  0.70, 95% CI 0.49-1.00 and steps/day: HR  =  0.69, 95% CI 0.43-1.09)., Conclusion: Digital health technologies can be deployed remotely, passively, and continuously to collect real-world measures of physical behavior and mobility effort that differentiate risk of hospitalization in patients with CKD., Competing Interests: Kate Lyden is employed by VivoSense, Inc and previously consulted for wearable device manufacturers. The authors declared no other potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

A compendium of observational studies of adults that collected accelerometry to assess physical activity and sedentary behavior (i.e., physical behaviors) could facilitate cross-study comparisons, meta-analyses, and future research collaborations. Therefore, we performed a systematic search to identify observational studies, including surveillance systems, that collected accelerometry-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior among adults. We performed a search using PubMed, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus for studies published on or before June 1, 2021. After screening 5686 abstracts and 1027 full text articles, we included 155 unique studies that collected accelerometry on at least 500 adults 18 years or older. Most studies used one accelerometer (n=146), although eight studies used two accelerometers and one study used four accelerometers. The country of data collection, age range, and accelerometer characteristics were abstracted and checked by a second reviewer. These datasets summarizing relevant observational studies of adults can be a resource to researchers seeking to identify data sources for accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior from around the world., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:, (© 2023 The Author(s).)

• Qualitative petrographic variables affect aggregate degradation resistance. • Mineralogy defines the physical and morphological behavior of aggregates. • Rocks with a higher concentration of felsic have undergone greater degradation. • Rocks with higher concentrations of mafic and biotite showed angularity gain. The performance of the ballasted permanent track is linked to the quality of the aggregates that make up the ballast layer. This layer is the only one that allows the regularization and leveling of the rail pavement. Evaluating the relationships between the properties of rocks and aggregates helps in predicting the behavior of rail ballast and in reducing wear and premature failures in the permanent way. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the petrographic, physical and morphological properties of the aggregates. The materials were selected from the literature with application of rocks for different areas. The petrographic properties of the rocks were filtered or identified through photomicrographs. The physical and/or morphological tests of the rocks were verified. Based on the database of 21 rocks, the results show the strong influence of grain shape, granulation, texture, contact between minerals and, mainly, mineralogy on the physical and morphological behavior of the aggregates. Rocks with higher mafic content provide greater resistance to aggregate degradation. Rocks with higher mafic and biotite contents contribute to increase the angularity value of aggregates after Micro-Deval (MD) wear tests. Medium/coarse grained rocks induce a higher value of unfilled intergrain microcracks between minerals and, consequently, higher porosity and water absorption and higher compression degradation. Furthermore, the results show that it is possible to predict the morphological behavior of aggregates after degradation from the morphological variables before their degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Paraffin wax and ceramic molds, from the lost-wax process, were used as aggregate. • Currently there are no known practical applications for these wastes. • Four mortars were developed with different paraffin wax and ceramic molds contents. • The obtained results showed a satisfactory physical and mechanical behavior. Foundry industry produces millions of tons of wastes discarded in landfills. Many studies have focused on foundry sands, however other wastes are generated during the casting process and no reuse solutions are known. The main objective of this study was the incorporation of paraffin waxes and ceramic mold shells in cement mortars, evaluating the influence of different paraffin wax contents in the mortars physical and mechanical properties. The obtained results showed a decrease in the workability, water absorption, flexural and compressive strengths of the mortars. However, the mortars presented a satisfactory physical and mechanical behavior, evidencing a possible practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing number of mental disorders, a growing body of studies now focuses on the relationship between physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), and mental health. However, momentary mechanisms and interrelatedness between PA, SB, and mood in daily life are highly understudied. To investigate whether the composition of light physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and SB influences mood, we conducted an Ambulatory Assessment study in the everyday life of 103 university students over five days. We measured PA and SB via accelerometers and assessed mood up to six times each day on smartphone diaries. We combined compositional data analyses (CoDA) with multilevel modeling to analyze within-person effects of the behavioral composition on mood. Higher ratio of the SB to LPA and MVPA composition within the 60 min prior to a diary rating negatively influenced valence (p = 0.006) and energetic arousal (p < 0.001). Furthermore, a higher ratio of LPA to SB and MVPA positively influenced energetic arousal (p < 0.001) and a higher ratio of MVPA to SB and LPA positively influenced valence (p = 0.004) and energetic arousal (p = 0.022). Simulation analyses revealed that replacing 20 min of SB with PA can influence mood rating up to 3.39 units [range from 0 – 100]. Findings suggest that minutely replacements of SB with PA may lead to mood enhancements. Given the high prevalence of mental disorders, more studies are warranted to deepen the understanding of momentary compositional mechanisms between SB, PA, and mood. Applying CoDA to intensive longitudinal data can serve as a starting point to identify the optimal composition of SB, LPA, and MVPA for mood enhancements in everyday life. • Ratio of SB to LPA and MVPA composition negatively influenced two mood dimensions. • Ratio of LPA to SB and MVPA composition positively influenced energetic arousal. • Ratio of MVPA to SB and LPA composition negatively influenced two mood dimensions. • Minutely replacements of SB with PA may lead to mood enhancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]