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This paper proposes a novel data fusion technique for a wearable multi-sensory patch that integrates an accelerometer and a flexible resistive pressure sensor to accurately capture breathing patterns. It utilizes an accelerometer to detect breathing-related diaphragmatic motion and other body movements, and a flex sensor for muscle stretch detection. The proposed sensor data fusion technique combines inertial and pressure sensors to eliminate nonbreathing body motion-related artifacts, ensuring that the filtered signal exclusively conveys information pertaining to breathing. The fusion technique mitigates the limitations of relying solely on one sensor's data, providing a more robust and reliable solution for continuous breath monitoring in clinical and home environments. The sensing system was tested against gold-standard spirometry data from multiple participants for various breathing patterns. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in accurately monitoring breathing rates, even in the presence of nonbreathing-related body motion. The results also demonstrate that the multi-sensor patch presented in this paper can accurately distinguish between varying breathing patterns both at rest and during body movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Dynamic modeling is a fundamental step in analyzing the movement of any mechanical system. Methods for dynamical modeling of constrained systems have been widely developed to improve the accuracy and minimize computational cost during simulations. The necessity to satisfy constraint equations as well as the equations of motion makes it more critical to use numerical techniques that are successful in decreasing the number of computational operations and numerical errors for complex dynamical systems. In this study, performance of a variant of Kane's method compared to six different techniques based on the Lagrange's equations is shown. To evaluate the performance of the mentioned methods, snake-like robot dynamics is considered and different aspects such as the number of the most time-consuming computational operations, constraint error, energy error, and CPU time assigned to each method are compared. The simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the variant of Kane's method concerning the other ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was designed and conducted to investigate the spatial distribution of permanent and temporary congenital hyperthyroidism (PCH and TCH) in Isfahan. Methods: This study was conducted on neonates who were born from March 21, 2006 to March 20, 2011 and had undergone the congenital hypothyroidism (CH) screening program in counties affiliated to the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. CH was diagnosed in 958 patients who treated with levothyroxine. The incidence rates of permanent and temporary congenital hypothyroidism in Isfahan province were calculated and their distribution was shown on the map. The space maps were drawn using the ArcGIS software version 9.3. Results: Based on the data obtained from the screening program, the average incidence of congenital hypothyroidism in the province during the period of 2006-2011 was 2.40 infants per 1000 live births (including both PCH and TCH). The most common occurrence was in Ardestan County (10:1000) and the lowest overall incidence was observed in the Fereydounshahr county (1.39:1000). The incidence of PCH in the counties of Ardestan and Golpayegan had the highest rate in all years of study; and the greatest number of TCH cases in the five years were observed in Nain, Natanz, Khansar and Chadegan counties. Conclusion: Adding the time dimension and performing spatial-temporal analysis is suggested because of the following items: high prevalence of CH in Isfahan province, the important role of this disease in mental retardation and neuropsychiatric disorder, the necessity of conducting future medical researches to find possible factors of CH etiology in Isfahan province, as well as necessity of performing spatial analysis with advanced statistical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]