Insight Centre for Data Analytics - Journal Articles

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    Design of a multi-sensors wearable system for continuous home monitoring of people with Parkinson's
    (IEEE, 2024-03-11) Sica, Marco; Varnosfaderani, Omid Talebi; Crowe, Colum; Kenny, Lorna; Bocchino, Andrea; O'Flynn, Brendan; Mueller, David Scott; Tedesco, Salvatore; Timmons, Suzanne; Barton, John; Enterprise Ireland; AbbVie; Science Foundation Ireland; European Regional Development Fund
    Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that impairs motor functions and is accompanied by a wide range of non-motor symptoms, such as sleep problems. Parkinsonism is assessed during clinical evaluations and via self-administered diaries and, based on these, the required medication therapies are provided to lessen symptoms. Tri-axial accelerometers and gyroscopes have the potential utility to objectively assess the patient’s condition and aid clinicians in their decision-making. People with Parkinson’s often have significant abnormalities in blood pressure due to comorbid age-related cardiovascular disease and orthostatic hypotension, which result in blurred vision, dizziness, and falls. Frequent blood pressure monitoring may aid in the evaluation of such events and differentiate Parkinson’s disease symptoms from those originated by hypotension. In the present paper, a novel technology for the remote monitoring of Parkinsonian symptoms is presented: the WESAA system. It consists of two devices, worn on the wrist and ankle; its main function is to record accelerations and angular velocities from these body parts, together with photoplethysmograph and electrocardiogram data. This information can be elaborated offline to measure common Parkinson’s disease motor symptoms (e.g., tremor, bradykinesia, and dyskinesia), as well as gait speed, sleep-wake cycles, and cuff-less blood pressure measurements. The overall system requirements, market overview, industrial design and ergonomics, system development, user experience, early results of the gathered inertial raw data, and validation of the photoplethysmograph and electrocardiogram signal waveforms are all thoroughly discussed. The developed technology satisfies all system requirements, and the sensors adopted provided outcomes comparable with gold standard techniques.
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    A dataset for fatigue estimation during shoulder internal and external rotation movements using wearables
    (Springer, 2024-04-27) Yasar, Merve Nur; Sica, Marco; O'Flynn, Brendan; Tedesco, Salvatore; Menolotto, Matteo; Science Foundation Ireland; European Regional Development Fund
    Wearable sensors have recently been extensively used in sports science, physical rehabilitation, and industry providing feedback on physical fatigue. Information obtained from wearable sensors can be analyzed by predictive analytics methods, such as machine learning algorithms, to determine fatigue during shoulder joint movements, which have complex biomechanics. The presented dataset aims to provide data collected via wearable sensors during a fatigue protocol involving dynamic shoulder internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER) movements. Thirty-four healthy subjects performed shoulder IR and ER movements with different percentages of maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) force until they reached the maximal exertion. The dataset includes demographic information, anthropometric measurements, MVIC force measurements, and digital data captured via surface electromyography, inertial measurement unit, and photoplethysmography, as well as self-reported assessments using the Borg rating scale of perceived exertion and the Karolinska sleepiness scale. This comprehensive dataset provides valuable insights into physical fatigue assessment, allowing the development of fatigue detection/prediction algorithms and the study of human biomechanical characteristics during shoulder movements within a fatigue protocol.
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    Association between wrist-worn free-living accelerometry and hand grip strength in middle-aged and older adults
    (Springer, 2024-05-08) Crowe, Colum; Barton, John; O’Flynn, Brendan; Tedesco, Salvatore; Horizon 2020; Science Foundation Ireland; Interreg; European Regional Development Fund
    Introduction: Wrist-worn activity monitors have seen widespread adoption in recent times, particularly in young and sport-oriented cohorts, while their usage among older adults has remained relatively low. The main limitations are in regards to the lack of medical insights that current mainstream activity trackers can provide to older subjects. One of the most important research areas under investigation currently is the possibility of extrapolating clinical information from these wearable devices. Methods: The research question of this study is understanding whether accelerometry data collected for 7-days in free-living environments using a consumer-based wristband device, in conjunction with data-driven machine learning algorithms, is able to predict hand grip strength and possible conditions categorized by hand grip strength in a general population consisting of middle-aged and older adults. Results: The results of the regression analysis reveal that the performance of the developed models is notably superior to a simple mean-predicting dummy regressor. While the improvement in absolute terms may appear modest, the mean absolute error (6.32 kg for males and 4.53 kg for females) falls within the range considered sufficiently accurate for grip strength estimation. The classification models, instead, excel in categorizing individuals as frail/pre-frail, or healthy, depending on the T-score levels applied for frailty/pre-frailty definition. While cut-off values for frailty vary, the results suggest that the models can moderately detect characteristics associated with frailty (AUC-ROC: 0.70 for males, and 0.76 for females) and viably detect characteristics associated with frailty/pre-frailty (AUC-ROC: 0.86 for males, and 0.87 for females). Conclusions: The results of this study can enable the adoption of wearable devices as an efficient tool for clinical assessment in older adults with multimorbidities, improving and advancing integrated care, diagnosis and early screening of a number of widespread diseases.
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    Detecting Halyomorpha halys using a low-power edge-based monitoring system
    (Elsevier, 2024-04-25) Kargar, Amin; Zorbas, Dimitrios; Tedesco, Salvatore; Gaffney, Michael; O'Flynn, Brendan; European Regional Development Fund; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland; Teagasc; Science Foundation Ireland
    Smart monitoring systems in orchards can automate agriculture monitoring processes and provide useful information about the presence of insects, such as the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), that threaten the production quantity and quality of fruit such as pears. Unlike other approaches in the literature, we propose a low-cost image monitoring system which exhibits a very low power consumption without compromising much of the accuracy that existing expensive systems incorporating significant computing and processing capability can achieve in such applications. The proposed system relies on a microcontroller unit and a camera which can take pictures of a double-sided sticky insect trap which, with the help of novel machine learning algorithms, can report on the presence of BMSB via a long-range communication link. The Internet of Things data capture and analysis system has recently been deployed in a real orchard in Italy which is subject to BMSB infestation and the first images have been analysed. This paper presents how the system works, the image processing, detection and classification algorithms, as well as a demonstration of the memory and energy consumption associated with the processing algorithms. The system achieves an accuracy of over 90% with multiple times less memory and energy consumption compared to other similar approaches in the literature.
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    Utilising dynamic motor control index to identify age-related differences in neuromuscular control
    (Elsevier, 2024-03-10) Burke, Laura; Khokhlova, Liudmila; O'Flynn, Brendan; Tedesco, Salvatore; Science Foundation Ireland; European Regional Development Fund; Enterprise Ireland
    Purpose: Considering the relationship between aging and neuromuscular control decline, early detection of age-related changes can ensure that timely interventions are implemented to attenuate or restore neuromuscular deficits. The dynamic motor control index (DMCI), a measure based on variance accounted for (VAF) by one muscle synergy (MS), is a metric used to assess age-related changes in neuromuscular control. The aim of the study was to investigate the use of one-synergy VAF, and consecutively DMCI, in assessing age-related changes in neuromuscular control over a range of exercises with varying difficulty. Methods: Thirty-one subjects walked on a flat and inclined treadmill, as well as performed forward and lateral stepping up tasks. Motion and muscular activity were recorded, and muscle synergy analysis was conducted using one-synergy VAF, DMCI, and number of synergies. Results: Difference between older and younger group was observed for one-synergy VAF, DMCI for forward stepping up task (one-synergy VAF difference of 2.45 (0.22, 4.68) and DMCI of 9.21 (0.81, 17.61), p = 0.033), but not for lateral stepping up or walking. Conclusion: The use of VAF based metrics and specifically DMCI, rather than number of MS, in combination with stepping forward exercise can provide a low-cost and easy to implement approach for assessing neuromuscular control in clinical settings.