Article Information Sciences Others Psychology and Education Sociology

Clarifying the Sharpened network diversity in French flair rugby

This study aimed that open rugby, known as flair rugby, drives the modern game by analyzing the 2022-2023 international test matches of France representative team. We examined the superiority of a spatial tactic called French flair rugby. First, the advantage of creating a relatively large number of networks was demonstrated. From the transitivity analysis of the network (CUG test; Conditional Uniform Graph test), the cooperation occurs at a higher level than in other networks. The network graph structure showed which players functioned centrally at which time of match as unusual positions, i.e., multi-position and multi-skill. In this study, we operationally defined this diversity as the sum of the standardized eigenvector centralities. We found that the increase in the time-series score balance tended to reduce and sharpened the diversity. As a result of examining a scale-free model in network theory, Sharpening the diversity (central and transitive role players) tended of the network power law scaling.

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Article Information Sciences

Measurement of Motor-vehicle Traffic Volume Using Camera Images and Artificial Intelligence

In Japan, road traffic censuses are conducted to assess road traffic conditions. Recently, techniques for counting traffic volume from video images have been attracting considerable attention in order to improve work efficiency and save labor, and a large number of technologies have been developed. However, since traffic volume surveys are often conducted 24 hours a day, day and night, at various sites and under various weather conditions, existing technologies have yet to reach the counting accuracy required in practice. The authors aim to develop techniques for traffic volume surveys applicable in practice by applying artificial intelligence. This paper reports the results of a case study in which the proposed techniques were applied to the video taken during actual traffic volume surveys.

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Technical Article Information Sciences Others

3D Point Studio: Utilization Platform for Point Cloud Data

As Laser measurement technology has made remarkable progress in recent years and the means of measuring the three-dimensional shapes of road spaces as point cloud data have diversified, point cloud data has been measured and accumulated throughout Japan. Point cloud data is useful as a means of accurately grasping the present shape and is expected to be utilized for a wide range of purposes with i-Construction as a turning point. Existing efforts have promoted development of new technologies and open data, steadily increasing opportunities to use point cloud data. However, it is difficult to use point cloud data wisely in accordance with its intended purpose because it is merely a vast set of points that indicate locations in space and does not hold information about the features indicated by the points or about their relationships to other points. Therefore, it is essential to develop an environment for utilizing point cloud data. In this study, we develop 3D Point Studio, a platform for utilizing and sharing 3D data including point cloud data by utilizing area data. The usefulness of this research will be confirmed through examples of applications in the actual sites, and its future development will be discussed.

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Article Biology Environmental Sciences General Medicine Life Sciences and Basic Medicine Social Medicine

Relationship between physical education in the first year of university and exercise habits and physical and mental health in the following spring

The present study examined the relationship between taking physical education and health-related courses in the first year of university and the acquisition and maintenance of exercise habits and physical and mental health in the student’s second year. The study population consisted of university students was 2,483 in FY2017 and 2,352 in FY2018. Of these, the 2,293 students (1,744 men, 18.5 ± 1.0 years old; 549 women, 18.6 ± 1.0 years old) who responded to the self-administered questionnaire survey on daily living habits in both years were included in the analysis. The results showed that taking physical education and health-related courses in the first year was significantly related to exercise habits the following spring. The results also suggested that these courses were more strongly related to mental health than physical health. In addition, men were significantly more likely to acquire a new exercise habit and had more improved mental health. In the future, it is necessary to clarify the causal relationship between taking physical education and health-related courses and exercise habits and the maintenance and acquisition of physical and mental health, in addition to developing effective support methods for students who dislike gender differences and exercise.

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Article Electrical and Electronic Engineering Interdisciplinary Sciences

Heart Rate Variability Indices May Change Accompanying Cognitive Skills Improvement in eSports Tasks

Electronic sports (eSports) is becoming an increasingly popular subject of research with progress in the video game industry. However, the relationship between eSports and cognitive skills and heart rate variability (HRV) indices is not fully understood. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed changes in HRV indices in 20 healthy adult men while playing eSports and evaluated improvement in their cognitive skills before and after playing eSports using the Stroop test. The subjects were divided into two groups: 10 subjects who were trained in eSports for at least 1 hour a day, 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and 10 subjects who were not trained. The results indicated that subjects in the training group tended to have improved cognitive skills. In addition, in the group that temporarily improved their cognitive skills by playing eSports, similar changes were observed in HRV indices during eSports play, suggesting a parasympathetic nervous system dominance. Thus, it is suggested that the observed HRV changes were accompanied by the temporary improvement in cognitive skills induced by eSports tasks.

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Article Electrical and Electronic Engineering Interdisciplinary Sciences

Real-Time Physiological Monitoring for Management of Normobaric Hypoxic Training Toward Wearable System Implementation

As a method to prevent lifestyle diseases, normobaric hypoxic training has been attracting attention. However, its exercise load and safety in non-athletes remain unclear. In this study, 20 healthy university students underwent a 15-min exercise test in a normobaric hypoxic room set at two different oxygen concentrations (O2: 20% and 16%), and the exercise load and safety were evaluated. The test comprised walking within the upper and lower limits of the heart rate (HR) calculated via the Karvonen method. The results showed that in case of 16% O2, the same energy was consumed despite significantly lower walking speed and distance than those in case of 20% O2. Therefore, it is suggested that the Karvonen method is effective in setting the load for hypoxic training. In addition, real-time monitoring of arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) could be used to evaluate the safety of hypoxic training. Based on these results, we have developed a wearable pulse oximeter that can measure both HR and SpO2 from the earlobe and a dedicated smartphone application for analysis. If these can be practically applied, hypoxic training can be conducted safely that will contribute to the prevention of lifestyle diseases and the consequent extension of healthy life expectancy.

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