Plinio P Morita

University of Waterloo | UWaterloo · School of Public Health and Health Systems

Construction workers are typically exposed to physically-demanding tasks for long periods, which considerably affects their well-being and productivity. To avoid productivity loss, work-rest interventions are critical to reduce strenuous physical exertion, interrupt the monotonous workloads, and reduce the risk of injuries and muscular disorders. A...

In this work, we present a cloud-based system for non-contact, real-time recognition and monitoring of physical activities and walking periods within a domestic environment. The proposed system employs standalone Internet of Things (IoT)-based millimeter wave radar devices and deep learning models to enable autonomous, free-living activity recognit...

Background Understanding what factors lead to youth polysubstance use (PSU) patterns and how the transitions between use patterns can inform the design and implementation of PSU prevention programs. We explore the dynamics of PSU patterns from a large cohort of Canadian secondary school students using machine learning techniques. Methods We employ...

BACKGROUND Online misinformation concerning the side effects of fluoridated oral care products and tap water contributes to the onset and propagation of untrue beliefs that culminate in anti-fluoridation movements. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to analyze the fluoride-related misinformation on Twitter automatically. METHODS 21,169 tweets published i...

The use of smart wearables provides an opportunity to improve construction safety and productivity. Because the healthcare industry has been at the forefront of applying such technologies, this paper investigates available ubiquitous wearables, their metrics, and types of measurements; how existing healthcare systems detect hazards and unhealthy be...

In this paper, leveraging AI, cloud computing and radar technology, we create intelligent sensing that enables smarter applications to improve people's daily lives.

We propose a novel corridor or hallway gait monitoring system based on radar signal processing, unsupervised learning, and a subject detection, association and tracking method. This paper proposes an algorithm that could be paired with any type of MIMO FMCW radar to capture human gait in a highly cluttered environment without needing radar antenna...

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world and highlighted the inadequacies of public healthcare systems despite the availability of effective public health surveillance systems. The constraints caused by the pandemic had a great impact on behavioural markers such as physical, sedentary and sleep activity. In 2020, the United States (US) impl...

BACKGROUND Active Assisted Living (AAL) refers to systems designed to improve quality of life, aid in independence, and create healthier lifestyles for those who need assistance at any stage of their lives. As the population of older adults in Canada grows, there is a pressing need for non-intrusive, continuous, adaptable, and reliable health monit...

While there have been rapid advancements in individual technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Active Assisted Living (AAL) to address challenges related to an aging population, there remain large gaps in how these technologies can be integrated into the broader ecosystem to support older adults in aging in place. This research provides a...

Background Climate change, driven by human activity, is rapidly changing our environment and posing an increased risk to human health. Local governments must adapt their cities and prepare for increased periods of extreme heat and ensure that marginalized populations do not suffer detrimental health outcomes. Heat warnings traditionally rely on out...

Background The emergence of new variants of COVID-19 causing breakthrough infections and the endemic potential of the coronavirus are an indication that digital contact tracing apps (CTAs) may continue to be useful for the long haul. However, the uptake of these apps in many countries around the world has been low due to several factors militating...

Background: Sleep behavior and time spent at home are important determinants of human health. Research on sleep patterns has traditionally relied on self-reported data. Not only does this methodology suffer from bias but the population-level data collection is also time-consuming. Advances in smart home technology and the Internet of Things have t...

Understanding what factors lead to youth polysubstance use (PSU) patterns and how the transitions between use patterns can inform the design and implementation of PSU prevention programs. We explore the dynamics of PSU patterns from a large cohort of Canadian secondary school students using machine learning techniques.

Background: The Internet of Things (IoT) has become more integrated into everyday life, with devices becoming permanent fixtures in many homes. As countries face increasingly older populations, the use of IoT devices to support independent living for elderly individuals and others who need support is now possible. These groups may require assistanc...

The continued emergence of new variants of COVID-19 such as the Delta and Omicron variants, which can cause breakthrough infections, indicates that contact tracing and exposure notification apps (ENAs) will continue to be useful for the long haul. However, there is limited work to uncover the strongest factors that influence their adoption. Using C...

Background Privacy agreements can foster trust between users and data collecting entities by reducing the fear of data sharing. Users typically identify concerns with their data privacy settings, but due to the complexity and length of privacy agreements, users opt to quickly consent and agree to the terms without fully understanding them. Objecti...

BACKGROUND Digital oral health misleading information has been propagated on social media to deceive people about fluoride's economic and health benefits to prevent dental caries. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to characterize the misleading fluoride-related information on Instagram. METHODS 3,863 posts ranked by users' total interaction and publishe...

Background: Online false or misleading oral health-related content has been propagated on social media to deceive people against fluoride's economic and health benefits to prevent dental caries. Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize the false or misleading fluoride-related content on Instagram. Methods: A total of 3863 posts ran...

The Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled novel solutions for monitoring patients’ health through wearable sensors in conditions of both non-communicable and infectious diseases. In this paper, we report work in progress involving the development of an IoT-based COVID-19 health monitoring system that can effectively monitor the essential physiologic...

Recent advances in technology have led to the rise of new-age data sources (e.g., Internet of Things (IoT), wearables, social media, and mobile health). IoT is becoming ubiquitous, and data generation is accelerating globally. Other health research domains have used IoT as a data source, but its potential has not been thoroughly explored and utiliz...

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in the first quarter of 2020, necessitated the imposition of public health restrictions and the shutting down of the global economy. To slow down the spread of the coronavirus, governments worldwide rolled out nationwide contact tracing apps (CTAs) to notify people that may have been exposed to COVID-19...

Background: The uptake of the deployed contact tracing apps worldwide has been low and slow. While a lot of research has been conducted on technology acceptance, little has been done to show the benefit of incorporating persuasive principles in these apps to increase effectiveness and adoption. Objective: The objective of this research is to inv...

Background: The climate crisis is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Technological innovations particularly, persuasive technology have been identified as a veritable tool for effecting behaviour change in the climate-change domain. However, there is limited work on the synthesis of the findings of the existing literature on persuasive tech...

BACKGROUND Climate change, driven by human activity, is rapidly changing our environment and posing an increased risk to human health. Local governments must adapt their cities and prepare for increased periods of extreme heat and ensure that marginalized populations do not suffer detrimental health outcomes. Heat warnings traditionally rely on out...

BACKGROUND The spread of COVID-19 at the local level is significantly impacted by population mobility. The U.S. has had extremely high per capita COVID-19 case and death rates. Efficient non-pharmaceutical interventions to control the spread of COVID-19 depend on our understanding of the determinants of public mobility. OBJECTIVE This study used s...

Background: The spread of COVID-19 at the local level is significantly impacted by population mobility. The U.S. has had extremely high per capita COVID-19 case and death rates. Efficient nonpharmaceutical interventions to control the spread of COVID-19 depend on our understanding of the determinants of public mobility. Objective: This study use...

Several adolescent health behaviours have been hypothesized to improve academic performance via their beneficial impact on cognitive control and functional aspects of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The primary objective of this study is to examine the association between lifestyle behaviours and academic performance in a sample of adolescents, and to...

Background Although big data and smart technologies allow for the development of precision medicine and predictive models in health care, there are still several challenges that need to be addressed before the full potential of these data can be realized (eg, data sharing and interoperability issues, lack of massive genomic data sets, data ownershi...

Background: Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital contact tracing apps (CTAs) have become prevalent worldwide in a coordinated effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. However, their uptake has been low and slow due to their minimalist design and lack of motivational affordances. Objective: The objective of this article is to...

In this paper, we propose a global digital platform to avoid and combat epidemics by providing relevant real-time information to support selective lockdowns. It leverages the pervasiveness of wireless connectivity while being trustworthy and secure. The proposed system is conceptualized to be decentralized yet federated, based on ubiquitous public...

The covid-19 pandemic created a massive impact on society at various levels. Monitoring the effects of changes brought about by this pandemic in real-time has the potential to save lives as well as innumerable days of suffering. As most people across the world were guided to stay within their households as much as possible, everything transitioned...

Objective This review highlights the scope and significance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with a focus on biobehavioral aspects and critical avenues for research. Methods A narrative review of the published research literature was undertaken, highlighting major empirical findings emerging during the first and second waves o...

The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To inhibit the spread of COVID-19, governments around the globe, including Canada, have implemented physical distancing and lockdown measures, including a work-from-home policy. Canada in 2020 has developed a 24-Hour Movement Guideline for all ages layi...

The field of precision medicine explores disease treatments by looking at genetic, socio-environmental, and clinical factors, thus trying to provide a holistic view of a person's health. Public health, on the other hand, is focused on improving the health of populations through preventive strategies and timely interventions. With recent advances in...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, health services around the globe are struggling. An effective system for monitoring patients can improve healthcare delivery by avoiding in-person contacts, enabling early-detection of severe cases, and remotely assessing patients’ status. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have been used for monitoring patients’ he...

BACKGROUND Complications due to Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) can be mitigated through proper self-management which can positively change health behaviours. Technological tools are available to help people living with T2D manage their condition and such tools provide a large repository for patient-generated health data (PGHD). Analytics can provide insight...

Background: Complications due to Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) can be mitigated through proper self-management which can positively change health behaviours. Technological tools are available to help people living with, or at risk of developing, T2D manage their condition and such tools provide a large repository for patient-generated health data (PGHD)....

UNSTRUCTURED Digital contact tracing apps (CTAs) have become prevalent worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in the first quarter of 2020. Specifically, they have been developed to fast-track the identification and self-isolation of individuals who must have been exposed to the COVID-19 coronavirus by being in close contact with infec...

UNSTRUCTURED Digital contact tracing apps have been deployed worldwide to limit the spread of COVID-19 during this pandemic and to facilitate the lifting of public health restrictions. However, the apps are yet to be widely adopted and require a critical mass of users to be successful. Privacy concerns aside, the minimalist and non-motivational des...

Background: Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital contact tracing apps (CTAs) have become prevalent worldwide in a coordinated effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. However, their uptake has been low and slow due to their minimalist design and lack of motivational affordances. Objective: The objective of this article is t...

Background: Digital contact tracing apps have been deployed worldwide to limit the spread of COVID-19 during this pandemic and to facilitate the lifting of public health restrictions. However, due to privacy-, trust-, and design-related issues, the apps are yet to be widely adopted. This calls for an intervention to enable a critical mass of users...

BACKGROUND Sleep behaviour and time spent at home are important determinants of human health. Research on sleep patterns has traditionally relied on self-reported data. This methodology suffers from bias and population-level data collection is challenging. Advances in Smart Home technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) have the potential to over...

Sleep is essential for the health and well-being. Less overall sleep, as well as reduced sleep duration and poor quality of sleep leads to chronic disease, including mental health issues. Measurements of sleep include subjective and objective methods. Population level measurement of sleep indicators is a challenging task for public health officials...

Background: Advances in technology have made the development of remote patient monitoring possible in recent years. However, there is still room for innovation in the types of technologies that are developed, used, and implemented. The smart thermostat solutions provided in this study can expand beyond typically defined features and be used for imp...

ABSTRACT Background: One of the main concerns of public health surveillance is to preserve the physical and mental health of older adults while supporting their independence and privacy. On the other hand, to better assist those individuals with essential health care services in the event of an emergency, their regular activities should be monitore...

In this paper, we propose a global digital platform to avoid and combat epidemics by providing relevant real-time information to support selective lockdowns. It leverages the pervasiveness of wireless connectivity while being trustworthy and secure. The proposed system is conceptualized to be decentralized yet federated, based on ubiquitous public...

Introduction For the first time in human history, the number of older people will be higher than the number of children. The prevalence of chronic diseases, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and mental disorders in older adults is high. Given that, it is essential to make usage of related technology to provide improved health c...

Background: Several adolescent health behaviors have been hypothesized to improve academic performance via their beneficial impact on cognitive control and functional aspects of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Specifically, exercise, restorative sleep, and proper diet are thought to improve PFC function, while substance abuse is thought to reduce it....

Research has shown that cognitive and physical functioning of older adults can be reflected in indicators such as walking speed. While changes in cognition, mobility, or health cause changes in gait speed, often gradual variations in walking speed go undetected until severe problems arise. Discrete clinical assessments during clinical consultations...

This study employs COVID-19 case counts and Google mobility data for twelve of Ontario’s largest Public Health Units from Spring 2020 until the end of January 2021 to evaluate the effects of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs: policy restrictions on business operations and social gatherings) and population mobility on daily cases. Instrumental...

Innovative technologies offer potential benefits for the health and care needs of an ageing population, but the processes by which these innovations are developed and implemented are not well understood. As part of a Canadian research network focused on ageing and technology, we explored how technologies currently being developed to support older a...

BACKGROUND Advances in technology will impact the field of human factors as new solutions change how we plan, share knowledge, perceive and act on real world problems. Human machine interaction will become more seamless until we are unable to differentiate between the human and the machine introducing issues of trust and privacy. Technological adva...

Background: A primary concern for governments and health care systems is the rapid growth of the aging population. To provide a better quality of life for the elderly, researchers have explored the use of wearables, sensors, actuators, and mobile health technologies. The term AAL can be referred to as active assisted living or ambient assisted livi...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/19930.].

BACKGROUND Background: One of the main concerns of public health surveillance is to preserve the physical and mental health of older adults while supporting their independence and privacy. On the other hand, to better assist those individuals with essential healthcare services in the event of an emergency, their regular activities should be monitor...

BACKGROUND Remote patient monitoring has developed in recent years as technology has progressed to deliver such a system’s requirements. However, there is still room for innovation in the types of technologies that are developed, used, and implemented. The solutions provided in this study can expand beyond typically defined features and be used for...

BACKGROUND There are several challenges, such as information silos and lack of interoperability, with the current electronic medical records (EMR) infrastructure in the Canadian healthcare system. These challenges can be alleviated by implementing blockchain-based healthcare data management solution. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to provide...

Introduction Technology is emerging as a solution to develop home-based, proactive ‘real-time’ symptom monitoring and management in cancer care. The Advanced Symptom Monitoring and Management System—Canada (ASyMS-Can) is a remote phone-based symptom management system that enables real-time remote monitoring of systemic chemotherapy toxicities. Met...

Background There are several challenges such as information silos and lack of interoperability with the current electronic medical record (EMR) infrastructure in the Canadian health care system. These challenges can be alleviated by implementing a blockchain-based health care data management solution. Objective This study aims to provide a detaile...

BACKGROUND Recent advancements in Active Assisted Living (AAL) technologies allow older adults to successfully age in place. However, sensing technologies increase the complexity of data collection points, making it difficult for users to consent to data collection. One possible solution for improving transparency in the consent management process...