New Media and Space: An Empirical Study of Learning and Enjoyment Through Museum Hybrid Space.

A museum hybrid space combines physical artifacts co-located with virtual and augmented reality displays. Although the technology exists to provide museums with hybrid space, there are no empirical studies on effectiveness of the museum hybrid space in terms of learning and enjoyment. This article takes an experimental approach and measures the enjoyment and learning (dependent variables) of participants in response to selected environments (independent variables) including a traditional environment (based on photos and labels), a video-enhanced environment (based on projected video clips), and a VR-enhanced environment (based on video game). The main outcome of this article is demonstrating that the use of VR technology and the resulting hybrid space (i.e., VR-enhanced environment) results in novel museum experiences that provide greater impacts on audience in terms of learning and enjoyment.

Wearable sensors to predict improvement following an exercise intervention in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Muscle strengthening exercises consistently demonstrate improvements in the pain and function of adults with knee osteoarthritis, but individual response rates can vary greatly. Identifying individuals who are more likely to respond is important in developing more efficient rehabilitation programs for knee osteoarthritis. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if pre-intervention multi-sensor accelerometer data (e.g., back, thigh, shank, foot accelerometers) and patient reported outcome measures (e.g., pain, symptoms, function, quality of life) can retrospectively predict post-intervention response to a 6-week hip strengthening exercise intervention in a knee OA cohort. METHODS: Thirty-nine adults with knee osteoarthritis completed a 6-week hip strengthening exercise intervention and were sub-grouped as Non-Responders, Low-Responders, or High-Responders following the intervention based on their change in patient reported outcome measures. Pre-intervention multi-sensor accelerometer data recorded at the back, thigh, shank, and foot and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score subscale data were used as potential predictors of response in a discriminant analysis of principal components. RESULTS: The thigh was the single best placement for classifying responder sub-groups (74.4%). Overall, the best combination of sensors was the back, thigh, and shank (81.7%), but a simplified two sensor solution using the back and thigh was not significantly different (80.0%; p = 0.27). CONCLUSIONS: While three sensors were best able to identify responders, a simplified two sensor array at the back and thigh may be the most ideal configuration to provide clinicians with an efficient and relatively unobtrusive way to use to optimize treatment.

Reliability of gait analysis using wearable sensors in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

The aim of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of linear acceleration waveforms collected at the low back, thigh, shank, and foot during walking, in a cohort of knee osteoarthritis patients, by applying two separate sensor attitude correction methods (static attitude correction and dynamic attitude correction). Linear acceleration data were collected on the subjects׳ most affected limb during treadmill walking on two separate days. Results reveal all attitude corrected acceleration waveforms displayed high repeatability, with coefficient of multiple determination values ranging from 0.82 to 0.99. Overall, mediolateral accelerations and the thigh sensor demonstrated the lowest reliabilities, but interaction effects revealed only mediolateral accelerations at the thigh and foot sensors were different than other axes and sensor locations. Both attitude correction methods led to improved reliability of linear acceleration waveforms. These findings suggest that while all sensor locations and axes display acceptable reliability in a clinical knee osteoarthritis population, the back and shank locations, and the vertical and anteroposterior acceleration directions, are most reliable.