Condition-Invariant Robot Localization Using Global Sequence Alignment of Deep Features.

Localization is one of the essential process in robotics, as it plays an important role in autonomous navigation, simultaneous localization, and mapping for mobile robots. As robots perform large-scale and long-term operations, identifying the same locations in a changing environment has become an important problem. In this paper, we describe a robust visual localization system under severe appearance changes. First, a robust feature extraction method based on a deep variational autoencoder is described to calculate the similarity between images. Then, a global sequence alignment is proposed to find the actual trajectory of the robot. To align sequences, local fragments are detected from the similarity matrix and connected using a rectangle chaining algorithm considering the robot's motion constraint. Since the chained fragments provide reliable clues to find the global path, false matches on featureless structures or partial failures during the alignment could be recovered and perform accurate robot localization in changing environments. The presented experimental results demonstrated the benefits of the proposed method, which outperformed existing algorithms in long-term conditions.

Six-Month Lower Limb Aerobic Exercise Improves Physical Function in Young-Old, Old-Old, and Oldest-Old Adults.

The effect of aerobic exercise on physical function and mental health in various adult age groups (young-old, 65-74; old-old, 75-84; oldest-old, ≥ 85 years) is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the Kohzuki Exercise Program (KEP) on physical function and mental health in these age groups. The KEP consisted of 40-min supervised sessions 3 times per week for 6 months as follows: 5 min of warm-up, 30 min of lower limb aerobic exercise, and 5 min of cool-down. A total of 50 participants (22 young-old, 20 old-old, and 8 oldest-old) who participated in the KEP completed at least 88% of the sessions. In statistical analysis, 3 (group: oldest-old, old-old, young-old) × 2 (time: baseline and after 6 months) analyses of variance were used to determine if there were significant main and interaction effects. Significant interactions were probed using the post-hoc paired t test. The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score showed significant group × time interactions after 6 months (p = 0.031). In the post-hoc test, oldest-old (p < 0.001), old-old (p < 0.001), and young-old (p < 0.01) groups had significantly better physical function after 6 months. However, none of the mental health measures showed group × time interactions at 6-month. Our results suggest that a 6-month KEP led to improved physical function in oldest-old, old-old, and young-old adults. The KEP was effective for oldest-old adults in particular. The KEP exhibits good adherence, making it suitable for a wide age range in society.

Physical Exercise with Multicomponent Cognitive Intervention for Older Adults with Alzheimer's Disease: A 6-Month Randomized Controlled Trial.

AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the effect of 6-month physical exercise with a multicomponent cognitive program (MCP) on the cognitive function of older adults with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: We included 33 participants with AD in a 6-month randomized controlled trial. The intervention group participated in physical exercise and received a MCP. The control group received only the MCP. Before and after the intervention, cognitive outcomes were assessed using the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-cog), Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Clock Drawing Test. Physical performance was evaluated by exercise time, the number of pedal rotation, total load, grip strength, and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). RESULTS: In all cognitive measures, there were no significant improvements between the two groups after 6 months in the baseline value-adjusted primary analysis. However, the ADAS-cog score was significantly lower between the two groups in secondary analysis adjusted for baseline value, age, sex, and education years. All physical outcomes were significantly higher in the intervention group except for total load compared with baseline measurements. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that it is possible to improve cognitive function in older adults with moderate to severe AD through 6-month physical exercise with a multicomponent cognitive intervention.

Validity of the Special Needs Education Assessment Tool (SNEAT), a Newly Developed Scale for Children with Disabilities.

The improvement of the quality of life (QOL) of children with disabilities has been considered important. Therefore, the Special Needs Education Assessment Tool (SNEAT) was developed based on the concept of QOL to objectively evaluate the educational outcome of children with disabilities. SNEAT consists of 11 items in three domains: physical functioning, mental health, and social functioning. This study aimed to verify the reliability and construct validity of SNEAT using 93 children collected from the classes on independent activities of daily living for children with disabilities in Okinawa Prefecture between October and November 2014. Survey data were collected in a longitudinal prospective cohort study. The reliability of SNEAT was verified via the internal consistency method and the test-pretest method; both the coefficient of Cronbach's α and the intra-class correlation coefficient were over 0.7. The validity of SNEAT was also verified via one-way repeated-measures ANOVA and the latent growth curve model. The scores of all the items and domains and the total scores obtained from one-way repeated-measures ANOVA were the same as the predicted scores. SNEAT is valid based on its goodness-of-fit values obtained using the latent growth curve model, where the values of comparative fit index (0.983) and root mean square error of approximation (0.062) were within the goodness-of-fit range. These results indicate that SNEAT has high reliability and construct validity and may contribute to improve QOL of children with disabilities in the classes on independent activities of daily living for children with disabilities.

Design and performance evaluation of a rotary magnetorheological damper for unmanned vehicle suspension systems.

We designed and validated a rotary magnetorheological (MR) damper with a specified damping torque capacity, an unsaturated magnetic flux density (MFD), and a high magnetic field intensity (MFI) for unmanned vehicle suspension systems. In this study, for the rotary type MR damper to have these satisfactory performances, the roles of the sealing location and the cover case curvature of the MR damper were investigated by using the detailed 3D finite element model to reflect asymmetrical shapes and sealing components. The current study also optimized the damper cover case curvature based on the MFD, the MFI, and the weight of the MR damper components. The damping torques, which were computed using the characteristic equation of the MR fluid and the MFI of the MR damper, were 239.2, 436.95, and 576.78 N·m at currents of 0.5, 1, and 1.5 A, respectively, at a disk rotating speed of 10 RPM. These predicted damping torques satisfied the specified damping torque of 475 N·m at 1.5 A and showed errors of less than 5% when compared to experimental measurements from the MR damper manufactured by the proposed design. The current study could play an important role in improving the performance of rotary type MR dampers.

Social mobility and psychiatric disabilities: an assessment of the social causation and social selection hypotheses.

Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families and groups from one social position to another. Researchers indicate that people with psychiatric disabilities tend to come from lower socioeconomic status groups, and that the causal relationship between lower socioeconomic status and mental illness occurs through social mobility process. The purpose of this study was to examine the occupational social mobility process of a sample of self-identified psychiatrically disabled individuals who have been active members of the labor force for most of their adult lives. A total of 200 participants were recruited from the customers of a One-Stop Career Center in Gloucester County, New Jersey. The social mobility pattern of persons with psychiatric disabilities was compared to that of persons without psychiatric disabilities (n = 100 for each group). That is, the social selection and the social causation hypotheses were applied to the social mobility patterns of people with psychiatric disabilities. It was revealed that the social class distribution for fathers of people with psychiatric disabilities was not different from that of people without psychiatric disabilities and also there was no significant social mobility difference between the two groups. These findings do not support the social causation and the social selection hypotheses. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that occupational capabilities and skills of people with psychiatric disabilities have been stabilized and are similar to those of people without psychiatric disabilities. Furthermore, these results may dispute several biases and prejudices with regard to social mobility process of persons with psychiatric disabilities.

Validity and reliability of the Frenchay Activities Index for community-dwelling elderly in South Korea.

The speed of population aging in South Korea is projected as the fastest in the world, and a long-term care insurance law has been just enacted. Therefore, it is important to estimate the number of the disabled community-dwelling elderly in South Korea. The Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) is a scale to measure higher level of physical function or activities that are necessary for independence in the community, i.e., instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). The FAI has undergone the most intensive evaluation, but there are only a few studies to establish its validity and reliability for community-dwelling elderly. In addition, a Korean version of the FAI has not been developed yet. The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of the FAI and analyze the related factors with IADL, using data from 770 community-dwelling elderly people in Deajeon, Korea. In the results, the reliability was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.796). The content and discriminative validity were found to be satisfactory. In the results of the factor analysis, a reasonable four-component solution (domestic chores, outdoor work, leisure and hobby) was found. The related factors to IADL were age, gender, education level, and living conditions. The present findings suggest that the Korean version of the FAI would be useful as a measure of IADL and the results of the factor analysis might reflect socio-cultural differences, such as illiteracy, low socioeconomic level, and sex roles of the Korean elderly.

Construct validity of the Frenchay Activities Index for community-dwelling elderly in Japan.

Many researchers have developed various measures to evaluate the functional status of community-dwelling elderly. The Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) was developed to measure instrumental activities of daily living in stroke populations. The FAI has undergone the most intensive evaluation, but its factor structure has not been examined in Japan. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the construct validity of the FAI for non-stroke community-dwelling elderly in Japan. The study subjects were 1,323 randomly selected community older residents in Hojo city, Ehime prefecture, the southern part of Japan. In order to investigate the construct validation, we performed factor analyses, i.e., exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, we examined the influences of age and gender on the FAI constructs. In the results, the FAI had a two-factor structure consisting of domestic chores, including washing clothes and preparing meals, and work and leisure, including gardening, driving and outings. Younger age was significantly related to increased performance on both factors. In addition, relative to females, males had a lower performance on the domestic chores and a greater performance on the work and leisure. These results suggest that the FAI satisfies the construct validity in the Japanese community-dwelling elderly. The FAI and its two factors provide important and clinically valuable information for understanding the patterns of functional status in the Japanese community-dwelling elderly.

Validity and utility of the Craig Hospital Inventory of Environmental Factors for Korean community-dwelling elderly with or without stroke.

The social environmental barriers are considered to be important because the "social participation" of people with impairments would be facilitated by the prevention and reduction of environmental barriers. The Craig Hospital Inventory of Environmental Factors (CHIEF) is one of the few scales to assess the environmental barriers. In this study, we developed the Korean version of CHIEF and evaluated its construct validity and utility in a sample of Korean community-dwelling elderly with or without stroke. We evaluated the construct validity of the CHIEF by testing the original five-factor structure using a confirmatory factor analysis in 400 elderly in Seoul, Korea. The utility of the CHIEF was then assessed by examining the relationships between individual characteristics, Barthel Index and perceived environmental barriers, measured by the CHIEF, using a structural equation modeling approach. The confirmatory factor analysis result demonstrated the validity of a second-order factor model of the CHIEF comprising the five factors as first-order factors. The perceived environmental barrier was a second-order factor when provided acceptable fit indices after two modifications. The structural equation modeling indicates that perceived environmental barriers are significantly related to activities of daily life but not age, gender, and the episode of stroke. The CHIEF is useful in measuring environmental factors for Korean older adults with or without stroke.

Development and construct validation of the Korean competence scale (KCS).

A comprehensive Korean competence scale (KCS) designed for Korean older adults, was developed and its construct validity evaluated. KCS assesses their higher levels of functional competence than activities of daily livings (ADL), necessary for independence in the home and community. The internal structure of the scale was tested using an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with two elderly Korean sample groups. As expected, the exploratory factor analysis result demonstrated a three-factor solution comprised of the following three domains: instrumental self-maintenance, intellectual activity, and social role. The confirmatory factor analysis results showed that an acceptable solution could be estimated for a second-order factor model comprised of these factors. These findings provide evidence for the construct validity of the instrument and have implications for future research on factorial invariance.

Development of the Korean version of Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey: health related QOL of healthy elderly people and elderly patients in Korea.

The health-related QOL (HRQOL) has been used extensively in clinical and epidemiological research and health service studies. Especially, the Medical Outcome Study Short-form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) is a widely used health status measure. However, a Korean version has not been developed and tested yet. The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of the Short-form Health Survey (SF-36) for use in health related quality of life measurements for Korean elderly people. SF-36 data from 90 healthy elderly people using Social Education Service and 120 elderly patients using a day care service in Seoul, Korea, were examined. We translated SF-36 version 2.0 into Korean and assessed its reliability and validity. In the results, the content validity and discriminant validity were found to be satisfactory. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.9298 to 0.9383. The test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.710 to 0.895. In addition, the utility was examined by testing the correlation between the health-related QOL and related factors (sex, age, motor function, ability of daily life) among the elderly people. The present findings suggested that the Korean version of SF-36 would be useful as a measure of the health related QOL in Korean elderly people.