Associations between near work, outdoor activity, and myopia among adolescent students in rural China: the Xichang Pediatric Refractive Error Study report no. 2.

OBJECTIVE:

To study the associations between near work, outdoor activity, and myopia among children attending secondary school in rural China.

METHODS:

Among a random cluster sample of 1892 children in Xichang, China, subjects with an uncorrected acuity of 6/12 or less in either eye (n = 984) and a 25% sample of children with normal vision (n = 248) underwent measurement of refractive error. Subjects were administered a questionnaire on parental education, time spent outdoors, and weekly time spent engaged in and preferred working distance for a variety of near-work activities.

RESULTS:

Among 1232 children with refraction data, 998 (81.0%) completed the near-work survey. Their mean age was 14.6 years (SD, 0.8 years), 55.6% were girls, and 83.1% had myopia of -0.5 diopters or less (more myopia) in both eyes. Time and diopter-hours spent on near activities did not differ between children with and without myopia. In regression models, time spent on near activities and time outdoors were unassociated with myopia, adjusting for age, sex, and parental education.

CONCLUSIONS:

These and other recent results raise some doubts about the association between near work and myopia. Additional efforts to identify other environmental factors associated with myopia risk and that may be amenable to intervention are warranted.

Use of emerging technologies to assess differences in outdoor physical activity in St. Louis, Missouri.

Introduction: Abundant evidence shows that regular physical activity (PA) is an effective strategy for preventing obesity in people of diverse socioeconomic status (SES) and racial groups. The proportion of PA performed in parks and how this differs by proximate neighborhood SES has not been thoroughly investigated. The present project analyzes online public web data feeds to assess differences in outdoor PA by neighborhood SES in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Methods: First, running and walking routes submitted by users of the website MapMyRun.com were downloaded. The website enables participants to plan, map, record, and share their exercise routes and outdoor activities like runs, walks, and hikes in an online database. Next, the routes were visually illustrated using geographic information systems. Thereafter, using park data and 2010 Missouri census poverty data, the odds of running and walking routes traversing a low-SES neighborhood, and traversing a park in a low-SES neighborhood were examined in comparison to the odds of routes traversing higher-SES neighborhoods and higher-SES parks.
Results: Results show that a majority of running and walking routes occur in or at least traverse through a park. However, this finding does not hold when comparing low-SES neighborhoods to higher-SES neighborhoods in St. Louis. The odds of running in a park in a low-SES neighborhood were 54% lower than running in a park in a higher-SES neighborhood (OR = 0.46, CI = 0.17-1.23). The odds of walking in a park in a low-SES neighborhood were 17% lower than walking in a park in a higher-SES neighborhood (OR = 0.83, CI = 0.26-2.61).
Conclusion: The novel methods of this study include the use of inexpensive, unobtrusive, and publicly available web data feeds to examine PA in parks and differences by neighborhood SES. Emerging technologies like MapMyRun.com present significant advantages to enhance tracking of user-defined PA across large geographic and temporal settings.

Learning from Outdoor Webcams: Surveillance of Physical Activity Across Environments

Abstract
Publicly available, outdoor webcams continuously view the world and share images. These cameras include traffic cams, campus cams, ski-resort cams, etc. The Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes (AMOS) is a project aiming to geolocate, annotate, archive, and visualize these cameras and images to serve as a resource for a wide variety of scientific applications. The AMOS dataset has archived over 750 million images of outdoor environments from 27,000 webcams since 2006. Our goal is to utilize the AMOS image dataset and crowdsourcing to develop reliable and valid tools to improve physical activity assessment via online, outdoor webcam capture of global physical activity patterns and urban built environment characteristics.
This project’s grand scale-up of capturing physical activity patterns and built environments is a methodological step forward in advancing a real-time, non-labor intensive assessment using webcams, crowdsourcing, and eventually machine learning. The combined use of webcams capturing outdoor scenes every 30 min and crowdsources providing the labor of annotating the scenes allows for accelerated public health surveillance related to physical activity across numerous built environments. The ultimate goal of this public health and computer vision collaboration is to develop machine learning algorithms that will automatically identify and calculate physical activity patterns.

Indoor air quality in elementary schools of Lisbon and Aveiro

Tem havido uma preocupação crescente com a qualidade do ar interior (QAI) nas escolas em muitos países. Muitos estudos epidemiológicos têm encontrado diferenças regionais entre ambientes interiores. Apesar da elevada incidência de asma e rinite na população infantil, praticamente nada se sabia sobre a QAI em escolas portuguesas. A percepção dos problemas de QAI é crucial para avaliar os riscos para a saúde e rendimento dos estudantes, e para sugerir meios de reduzir a exposição a poluentes indesejáveis. Neste estudo procurou-se obter as concentrações de poluentes de interesse em estabelecimentos de ensino do 1º ciclo de Lisboa e Aveiro, estimar o estado atual de casos de asma e rinite em escolas primárias da capital, avaliar a influência de diferentes materiais das salas de aula/construção e hábitos escolares na QAI, identificar potenciais fontes de poluentes nos interiores e exteriores das salas de aula e propor medidas mitigadoras. Catorze escolas de Lisboa foram visitadas para obter a caracterização física das construções em termos de estrutura, ventilação, materiais de acabamento, produtos de limpeza, densidade de ocupação e potenciais fontes interiores de poluição. Os estudantes foram questionados sobre os seus hábitos e sintomas respiratórios através de inquéritos do modelo ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood). Durante a primavera, outono e inverno (2008-2010), nas salas de aula e pátios, foram monitorizados, por amostragem passiva, compostos orgânicos voláteis (COVs), carbonilos e dióxido de azoto (NO2). Foram também medidos parâmetros de conforto e níveis de microrganismos. Duas escolas localizadas, uma no centro da cidade e outra na região suburbana, em Aveiro foram estudadas em 2010. Parâmetros de conforto, microrganismos, COVs, NO2, material particulado (PM10) foram medidos no interior e no exterior de ambas escolas. Os iões solúveis, carbono orgânico e elementar (OC e EC), e compostos orgânicos presentes no material particulado foram subsequentemente analisados em laboratório. Uma medida mitigadora - fitoremediação - foi avaliada na escola do centro da cidade de Aveiro em 2011. Os resultados do estudo mostraram que a QAI é pior do que a do ar exterior. Em geral, os níveis de CO2 e dos bioaerosóis excederam os níveis máximos aceitáveis para o conforto dos ocupantes estipulado pelas regulamentações portuguesas. Quase todos os COVs e carbonilos identificados mostraram razões interior/exterior (I/E) maiores que uma unidade, o que demonstra a importante contribuição de fontes interiores em todas as escolas. As razões I/E das concentrações de NO2 nunca excederam a unidade. Os níveis interiores diários de PM10 foram sempre maiores que os exteriores, exceto nos fins de semana. Após a colocação de plantas numa das salas de aula, observou-se uma redução estatisticamente significativa nos níveis de CO2, COVs, carbonilos, PM10, OC, e dos iões nitrato, sulfato, amónia, cálcio e carbonato. A possível redução dos níveis de poluentes no interior após a colocação de plantas pode representar uma solução de baixo custo para reduzir a exposição a muitos compostos, melhorar o rendimento e aumentar o bem estar dos alunos e professores em sala de aula.

Analysing energy use in supply chains: the case of fruits & vegetables and furniture

An increasing number of producers, retailers and third-party logistics providers are interested in carrying out energy assessments of their product supply chain. This is due to sensitivity about climate change and carbon emissions, but also to high energy prices. This paper presents an analytical approach developed to measure energy use in logistics activities in product supply chains. The approach (based on the Life Cycle Approach) quantifies energy use in transport and logistics activities at all stages of a product supply chain. The work has demonstrated that such an assessment approach based on the supply chain is useful in comparing the energy use implications of different strategies. This supply chain approach can be used to consider options such as sourcing and distribution centre locations, transport modes, road freight vehicle types and weights, vehicle load factors, empty running, transport distance and the balance between consumer shopping trips and delivery to the home.

An internet DGPS service for precise outdoor navigation

The goal of the work presented in this paper is to provide mobile platforms within our campus with a GPS based data service capable of supporting precise outdoor navigation. This can be achieved by providing campus-wide access to real time Differential GPS (DGPS) data. As a result, we designed and implemented a three-tier distributed system that provides Internet data links between remote DGPS sources and the campus and a campus-wide DGPS data dissemination service. The Internet data link service is a two-tier client/server where the server-side is connected to the DGPS station and the client-side is located at the campus. The campus-wide DGPS data provider disseminates the DGPS data received at the campus via the campus Intranet and via a wireless data link. The wireless broadcast is intended for portable receivers equipped with a DGPS wireless interface and the Intranet link is provided for receivers with a DGPS serial interface. The application is expected to provide adequate support for accurate outdoor campus navigation tasks.

Analysis of the mismatch between school furniture and children

The characteristics of school furniture are strongly associated with back and neck pain, referred by school-aged children. In Portugal, about 60% of the adolescents involved in a recent study reported having felt back pain at least once in the last three months. The aim of this study was to compare furniture sizes of the 2 types indicated for primary schools, within 9 schools, with the anthropometric characteristics of Portuguese students, in order to evaluate the mismatch between them. The sample consisted of 432 volunteer students. Regarding the methodology, 5 anthropometric measures were gathered, as well as 5 dimensions from the school furniture. For the evaluation of classroom furniture, a (mis)match criterion equation was defined. Results indicated that there is a significant mismatch between furniture dimensions and the anthropometric characteristics of the students.

Risk Acceptance in the Furniture Sector: Analysis of Acceptance Level and Relevant Influence Factors

Risk acceptance has been broadly discussed in relation to hazardous risk activities and/or technologies. A better understanding of risk acceptance in occupational settings is also important; however, studies on this topic are scarce. It seems important to understand the level of risk that stakeholders consider sufficiently low, how stakeholders form their opinion about risk, and why they adopt a certain attitude toward risk. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine risk acceptance in regard to occupational accidents in furniture industries. The safety climate analysis was conducted through the application of the Safety Climate in Wood Industries questionnaire. Judgments about risk acceptance, trust, risk perception, benefit perception, emotions, and moral values were measured. Several models were tested to explain occupational risk acceptance. The results showed that the level of risk acceptance decreased as the risk level increased. High-risk and death scenarios were assessed as unacceptable. Risk perception, emotions, and trust had an important influence on risk acceptance. Safety climate was correlated with risk acceptance and other variables that influence risk acceptance. These results are important for the risk assessment process in terms of defining risk acceptance criteria and strategies to reduce risks.

Safety climate and its relationship with furniture companies’ safety performance and workers’ risk acceptance

This study aims to analyse the relationship between safety climate and the level of risk acceptance, as well as its relationship with workplace safety performance. The sample includes 14 companies and 403 workers. The safety climate assessment was performed by the application of a Safety Climate in Wood Industries questionnaire and safety performance was assessed with a checklist. Judgements about risk acceptance were measured through questionnaires together with four other variables: trust, risk perception, benefit perception and emotion. Safety climate was found to be correlated with workgroup safety performance, and it also plays an important role in workers’ risk acceptance levels. Risk acceptance tends to be lower when safety climate scores of workgroups are high, and subsequently, their safety performance is better. These findings seem to be relevant, as they provide Occupational, Safety and Health practitioners with a better understanding of workers’ risk acceptance levels and of the differences among workgroups.

Defining risk acceptance criteria in occupational settings: A case study in the furniture industrial sector

The use of appropriate acceptance criteria in the risk assessment process for occupational accidents is an important issue but often overlooked in the literature, particularly when new risk assessment methods are proposed and discussed. In most cases, there is no information on how or by whom they were defined, or even how companies can adapt them to their own circumstances. Bearing this in mind, this study analysed the problem of the definition of risk acceptance criteria for occupational settings, defining the quantitative acceptance criteria for the specific case study of the Portuguese furniture industrial sector. The key steps to be considered in formulating acceptance criteria were analysed in the literature review. By applying the identified steps, the acceptance criteria for the furniture industrial sector were then defined. The Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) for the injury statistics of the industrial sector was identified as the maximum tolerable risk level. The acceptable threshold was defined by adjusting the CDF to the Occupational, Safety & Health (OSH) practitioners’ risk acceptance judgement. Adjustments of acceptance criteria to the companies’ safety cultures were exemplified by adjusting the Burr distribution parameters. An example of a risk matrix was also used to demonstrate the integration of the defined acceptance criteria into a risk metric. This work has provided substantial contributions to the issue of acceptance criteria for occupational accidents, which may be useful in overcoming the practical difficulties faced by authorities, companies and experts.

TIGRE - An autonomous ground robot for outdoor exploration

13th International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems (Robotica), 2013

Wireless GPS-based phase-locked synchronization system for outdoor environment.

Synchronization of data coming from different sources is of high importance in biomechanics to ensure reliable analyses. This synchronization can either be performed through hardware to obtain perfect matching of data, or post-processed digitally. Hardware synchronization can be achieved using trigger cables connecting different devices in many situations; however, this is often impractical, and sometimes impossible in outdoors situations. The aim of this paper is to describe a wireless system for outdoor use, allowing synchronization of different types of - potentially embedded and moving - devices. In this system, each synchronization device is composed of: (i) a GPS receiver (used as time reference), (ii) a radio transmitter, and (iii) a microcontroller. These components are used to provide synchronized trigger signals at the desired frequency to the measurement device connected. The synchronization devices communicate wirelessly, are very lightweight, battery-operated and thus very easy to set up. They are adaptable to every measurement device equipped with either trigger input or recording channel. The accuracy of the system was validated using an oscilloscope. The mean synchronization error was found to be 0.39 μs and pulses are generated with an accuracy of <2 μs. The system provides synchronization accuracy about two orders of magnitude better than commonly used post-processing methods, and does not suffer from any drift in trigger generation.

Hankinnan kokonaiskustannukset hankintapäätösten tukena. Case: Incap Furniture Oy

Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tavoitteena oli tehdä hankinnan kokonaiskustannusmalli tietylle case-yrityksen tuotteelle. Tarkoituksena oli selvittää, mikä on hankinnan kokonaiskustannusten merkitys strategisen kustannusten hallinnan osana ja mitä mahdollisia työkaluja voidaan käyttää hankinnan kokonaiskustannusten mittaamiseen. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa selvitettiin kuinka hankinnan kokonaiskustannuspäätökset voivat auttaa hankintapäätösten teossa. Tutkimus on kvalitatiivinen ja muodostuu teoreettisesta ja empiirisestä osasta.Teoriaosa on luonteeltaan käsiteanalyyttinen ja empiriaosa vertaileva case-tutkimus. Teoreettisessa osassa selvitetään hankinnan kokonaiskustannusten teoriaa ja empiriaosassa tutkimus kohdennetaan case-yrityksen Forsby-jalkaan. Tutkimuksentuloksena syntyi case-yritykselle hankinnan kokonaiskustannusten malli, jota yritys käyttää ensisijaisesti toimittajien arviointiin. Hankinnan kokonaiskustannukset osoittautuivat tärkeäksi osaksi yrityksen strategista kustannusten hallintaa. Tutkimuksessa ilmeni, että kohdeyrityksen erityispiirteiden ja käytössä olevien resurssien huomioiminen on erittäin merkittävä asia hankinnan kokonaiskustannusmallia muodostettaessa. Lisäksi tutkimuksen teon aikana nousi esiin useita asioita, joita case-yrityksen on jatkossa kehitettävä.