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Eggeling J, Rydenfält C, Halder A, Toftum J, Nybo L, Kingma B, Gao C. Validating an advanced smartphone application for thermal advising in cold environments. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY 2023; 67:1957-1964. [PMID: 37833565 PMCID: PMC10643309 DOI: 10.1007/s00484-023-02553-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
The ClimApp smartphone application was developed to merge meteorological forecast data with personal information for individualized and improved thermal warning during heat and cold stress and for indoor comfort in buildings. For cold environments, ClimApp predicts the personal thermal stress and strain by the use of the Insulation REQuired model that combines weather and personal physiological data with additional consideration of the Wind Chill index based on the local weather forecast. In this study, we validated the individualized ClimApp index relative to measurements and compared it with the Universal Temperature Climate Index (UTCI). To this aim, 55 participants (27 females) were exposed to at least 1 h in an outdoor environment of 10 °C or below (average 1.4 °C air temperature, 74.9% relative humidity, and 4.7 m/s air velocity) inputting their activity level and clothing insulation as instructed by ClimApp. The UTCI and ClimApp indices were calculated and compared to the participants' perceived thermal sensation. The ClimApp index root mean square deviation (RMSD) was below the standard deviation of the perceived thermal sensation which indicates a valid prediction and the UTCI RMSD was higher than the standard deviation which indicates an invalid prediction. The correlation of ClimApp and UTCI to the perceived thermal sensation was statistically significant for both models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Eggeling
- Thermal Environment Laboratory, Division of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology, Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 26, 223 62, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Christofer Rydenfält
- Thermal Environment Laboratory, Division of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology, Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 26, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | - Amitava Halder
- Department of Experimental Medical Science, Integrative Physiology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 19, 22184, Lund, Sweden
| | - Jørn Toftum
- Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Lars Nybo
- Department of Nutrition, Exercise, and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Nørregade 10, 1165, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Boris Kingma
- TNO, The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, Unit Defence, Safety & Security, Kampweg 55, 3769, DE, Soesterberg, the Netherlands
| | - Chuansi Gao
- Thermal Environment Laboratory, Division of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology, Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 26, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
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