Tatsuhiro Yamanaka

Developing a control model of infant climbing behavior for injury prevention

In this study, an infant behavior control model is developed to prevent infant injuries by changing environmental factors. Infant climbing behaviors that can lead to fall injuries are the primary focus of the control model. Based on observed behavioral data, the probabilistic causal relationships between object attributes, infant characteristics, and climbing behaviors were modeled as a Bayesian Network Model. It was demonstrated that infant climbing behaviors could be predicted by the object attributes and controlled by changing object designs. It was also shown that infant injuries could be controlled by integrating both the developed behavior control model and the explanatory model of injuries that was constructed from infant injury data.

Compulsory child seats for cars in Japan

The National Police Agency considered imposing a legal obligation on drivers to put their child passengers in child safety seats in November 1998. According to a survey by the agency between 1992 and 1997, the incidence of death among passengers under …

Change the Changeable Framework for Implementation Research in Health.

In recent years, a “participatory” system of community members and researchers has become a key factor to obtaining the best outcomes to create a better world. The authors previously suggested the problem structure change theory to find how to address social issues. In this paper, we suggest the “change the changeable framework” with three approaches for community-based program implementation: 1) Share the value of the change the changeable, 2) Systematize the process of a problem structure change, and 3) Build a sustainable system and discuss a case study based on the framework. In the case study, we conducted a safety education curriculum for injury prevention that consisted of what is injury prevention, playground safety, indoor safety, and photovoice project. We introduce an injury surveillance system and a risk recognition system as new tools for the collaboration of human intelligence and artificial intelligence.

PW 2651 Prevention of climbing-related injury using an intelligent artificial camera and digital human child model

It is still very difficult even for advanced simulation systems to predict how children interact with products in everyday life situations because the environment around children, including the layout of consumer products in their homes, constantly changes, and because children change their behaviors depending on the position of their center of gravity and muscular strength. The purpose of this study is to develop a children’s climbing behavior database to clarify the configuration space of climbing behavior that enable the prediction and simulation of possible climbing postures in children. We developed a system that collects three-dimensional posture data from color and depth images using a RGB-D camera that can capture color images and depth data, and then used pose recognition software (OpenPose) to acquire posture data. In order to construct a database of children’s climbing behavior using our developed system, we performed an observational study on how children interact with a climbing apparatus. Fourteen children aged 20 to 58 months participated. Using depth data from Kinect (a Microsoft’s RGB-D camera) and posture data detected by Open Pose, our developed system obtains 3D coordinate data for the detected person’s posture. The coordinates of the acquired postures were converted into nine values to normalize the posture data. We purposely extracted postures only when a child touched the climbing apparatus because children react in response to the shape of an object. The extracted posture data were compressed into two or three dimensions using dimension reduction and plotted on a scatter plot. The collection of points on the plotted scatter plot can be treated as a data-driven configuration space, which indicates the space of postures that children are able to take when they climb. We showed that it is possible to generate configuration spaces using posture data of children’s climbing behaviors.

PA 04-3-0464 Fall injury in infants while the patient is operating a bicycle

Background Pediatric emergency physicians in Japan commonly experience cases of trauma resulting from the infant falling from the arms or the back of the parent while the latter is operating a bicycle. However, the clinical features and dynamic mechanisms of these injuries are unclear. Methods 1. We conducted a retrospective case-series enrolling children younger than 1 year of age who received head injuries. We reviewed the charts of such patients who visited Tokyo Metropolitan Children’s Medical Center between April 2014 and March 2016. We then extracted patients injured by falling from the arms or the back of the parent while the latter was operating a bicycle. 2. We conducted dynamics experiment by recreating the circumstances of the accident using dummies representing a 6-month-old infant being carried on the back of the mother. We assessed the Head Injury Criterion (HIC) score and the maximum impact load on the head of the dummy infant at the time of the fall. In addition, we videotaped the moment of impact on the head using a high-speed camera. Findings 1. We found eight patients with an injury due to this mechanism, six of whom were sent home with the diagnosis of minor head injury. However, two patients required intensive care, one of whom experienced neurological sequelae. 2. The HIC scores varied 2998 to 6019 or 7.7 to 17.0 times the reference values for 6-month-old infants. The maximum impact load varied from 6984 to 8920N or 2.26 to 3.47 times the estimated reference value (2569N) Conclusions Our study revealed that the impact on the head of infants due to this accident mechanism far exceeded the reference value for skull fractures and could result in severe head injuries. Preventive strategies including legislation and the development of baby child seats for the safe transport of infants are needed.

PA 14-1-1349 Community living lab as a research partner and development of safety goods

Background Children’s deaths due to choking on cherry tomatoes have been reported throughout the world. Although cherry tomatoes should be cut into small pieces, no tool for cutting them or other smooth, spongy foods is on the market in Japan. Objective The goal of the present study is to develop an attractive kitchen utensil to reduce choking risk due to cherry tomatoes in children. Methods We collaborated with the Tokyo Fire Department and the Japan Industrial Designers’ Association, which is the largest national organization for industrial designers in Japan, and created four mockups for cherry tomato slicers: 1) castanets, 2) tongs, 3) small scissors, and 4) large scissors. We put a great deal of thought into designing the blade and changed the design several times until a cherry tomato could be cut smoothly. We then conducted a workshop in Omura, Nagasaki, Japan to educate the public on the risk of choking and to collect community input on our new product. Participants tried all four designs and answered a questionnaire. Findings Thirty-one community members completed a questionnaire. When asked if one knew that children could die from choking on a cherry tomato, 52% of the respondents said ‘no’, and only 32% said that they actually cut cherry tomatoes when giving them to children. Regarding the ease of cutting (six-point Likert scale, with 6 being the easiest), the average scores for designs 1) through 4) were 4.53, 3.87, 4.16, and 5.13 respectively. Finally, when asked to rank the items in order of preference, ranks 1 through 4, in order, were assigned to the large scissors, the castanets, the small scissors, and the tongs, respectively. Conclusion We have obtained a partner to commercialize the developed slicer.

PW 1713 Technology-enhanced community participation in injury prevention– a new method to design prevention strategies in the digital era–

Background According to a report by the Tokyo Fire Department, 114 children under 5 years of age fell from balconies or windows from 2011 to 2015. Objectives To evaluate actual balcony situations and collect photographic data for the development of a new monitoring system. Methods We conducted an online survey to ask the public questions about 1) the size of their balcony, 2) what kind of objects are on the balcony, 3) how they mainly use their balcony, 4) their child’s age and sex, and 5) the floor number on which the balcony is located. We also collected a photograph of their balcony. Findings One hundred and fifteen people participated in the present study. Approximately half of the respondents live in houses, and the other half live in apartments. The average balcony width was 496.7 cm (min=150 cm, max=1,500 cm), the average depth was 130.4 cm (min=65 cm, max=400 cm), and the average height was 118.5 cm (min=78 max=400). Compressor units, laundry poles, drying racks, and planters are major objects that are commonly located on the balcony, and slippers, brooms, dustpans, glass fish tanks, and tricycles are among the less common but important objects to be aware of in terms of fall prevention. Over 65% of respondents said that they used their balcony to hang laundry, and 67% of respondents reported that their balcony was located on the second floor. Although approximately 90% of respondents said that they knew of numerous incidents of falls from balconies, only 27% of respondents actually took preventive actions. Conclusion Based on the results of this survey, we developed a new monitoring system using a RGB-D camera that has the ability to calculate fall risk based on shape evaluation of objects present on the balcony.

PW 2175 Fence design with the goal of helping to prevent children from falling from balconies

According to a report by the Tokyo Fire Department, 114 children under 5 years of age fell from balconies or windows between 2011 and 2015 in Tokyo. One approach to prevent such falls is the design of a fence that children cannot climb over. It is necessary to investigate the relationship between climbing behavior and fence design. We conducted an experiment in which children climbed a designed apparatus that included a fence. In the designed apparatus, the diameter of the handrail (30 or 100 mm), the position of the handrail (just above the fence or 100 mm on the near side of the fence), the height of the footing (300 or 650 mm), and the shape of the top face of the footing (horizontal or sloped) could be changed. A total of 21 children aged 26 to 76 months participated. The children were 2, 4, and 6 years of age, and the number of children in each age group was seven. Except for one subject who climbed the fence under two conditions, children of 2 years of age could not climb the fence under any condition. Two of the seven children of 4 years of age climbed the fence under all conditions. The probability of climbing over the fence under the condition in which the handrail was located at the near side of the fence was approximately half that under the condition in which the handrail was located just above the fence. Children of approximately 6 years of age climbed the fence under all conditions. Based on the results, we found that installing handrails on the near side of the fence is effective for preventing climbing. As another approach, we are trying to develop a monitoring system based on IoT and AI technologies.

Smart transfer of social problem into industry by linking living data center with social function library: Case study of toothbrush injury prevention

Social problems related to daily living can be changed through the rethinking and integration of potential social functions of smart cities. This paper discusses a methodology for smart transformations achieved by providing industrialized solutions to basic social problems related to daily living that are based on linking data centers for collecting living phenomena with potential social functions. In this paper, we present a case study in which the concept of “linked living data center for living change (LLDC)” is applied to provide the following functions: problem identifiers, media promoters, researchers and field testers, and value promotors and regulators. The case study is related to the living-safety problem of penetrating injuries due to toothbrushes, which was transformed into an industrialized solution with a new social value via the LLDC.

701 Impact analysis of revision of a Japanese safety standard of bicycle wheel guard

Background We contributed to the revision of a Japanese safety standard of bicycle wheel guard for preventing childhood injury due to wheel spoke, by showing the actual situation of the injury based on our injury data and clarifying reachable range of child’s foot based on experimental measurement. In this study, the purpose is to evaluate impact of the revision based on our injury database. Methods Our injury data base includes injured body part data which is recorded as 3 dimensional area data on the 3 dimensional child model by our developed system. The system can calculate the frequency distribution by overlaying multiple data. To evaluate the impact, we compared probability distribution of injury cases due to bicycle before and after the revision. Results The number of cases before the revision is 325 and the number of cases before the revision is 159. We compared them by calculating injured probability distribution of body parts. As for all injury cases due to bicycle, injured probability of knees and heels is reduced after the revision. As for injury cases of foot which is injured due to wheel spoke, average of injured probability is decreased by approximately 55.3% after the revision. The result indicates that the revision is effective for preventing injury due to wheel spoke. Conclusions We evaluated impact of the revision at this time. We showed that we can evaluate impact of preventive measure quantitatively based on injury database. We think that the impact will increase because bicycle which is fulfilled the revised safety standard will become widespread over time. We will continue to evaluate the impact of it and try to evaluate impact of other preventive measures.