Individual Mobility Research Articles

Predicting sit-to-stand motions with a deep reinforcement learning based controller under idealized exoskeleton assistance

AbstractMaintaining the capacity for sit-to-stand transitions is paramount for preserving functional independence and overall mobility in older adults and individuals with musculoskeletal conditions. Lower limb exoskeletons have the potential to play a significant role in supporting this crucial ability. In this investigation, a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based sit-to-stand (STS) controller is developed to study the biomechanics of STS under both exoskeleton assisted and unassisted scenarios. Three distinct conditions are explored: 1) Hip joint assistance (H-Exo), 2) Knee joint assistance (K-Exo), and 3) Hip-knee joint assistance (H+K-Exo). By utilizing a generic musculoskeletal model, the STS joint trajectories generated under these scenarios align with unassisted experimental observations. We observe substantial reductions in muscle activations during the STS cycle, with an average decrease of 68.63% and 73.23% in the primary hip extensor (gluteus maximus) and primary knee extensor (vasti) muscle activations, respectively, under H+K-Exo assistance compared to the unassisted STS scenario. However, the H-Exo and K-Exo scenarios reveal unexpected increases in muscle activations in the hamstring and gastrocnemius muscles, potentially indicating a compensatory mechanism for stability. In contrast, the combined H+K-Exo assistance demonstrates a noticeable reduction in the activation of these muscles. These findings underscore the potential of sit-to-stand assistance, particularly in the combined hip-knee exoskeleton scenario, and contribute valuable insights for the development of robust DRL-based controllers for assistive devices to improve functional outcomes.

Factors that influence the criminal justice response to human trafficking: a systematic review of North American and European studies

Human trafficking, the recruitment and transportation of persons by use of force, coercion, or deception for exploitation is one of the largest illicit industries worldwide. In the execution of anti-trafficking policies to combat this phenomenon, nation-states have assigned a decisive role to criminal justice actors as they are not only responsible for the detection, investigation, and prosecution of perpetrators but also for the identification and (legal) protection of victims of human trafficking. However, research has shown that criminal justice actors encounter many challenges whilst carrying out their tasks, which is also reflected in the low numbers of successful prosecutions and identified victims. To our knowledge, the reasons behind this observation have never been studied systematically. This systematic review aims to collect and synthesise empirical literature on factors that influence the criminal justice response to human trafficking to better understand and identify gaps in knowledge. In total, 35 empirical studies were included. Findings were discussed in light of theory and previous research and were used to provide recommendations for policy and future research. These studies suggest that factors such as prevailing stereotypes, an absence of legal guidance and a lack of capacity and expertise interact and even amplify each other and that strengthening the criminal justice response to human trafficking requires a multi-layered approach that simultaneously addresses several challenges.

Social mobility and CCT programs: The Bolsa Família program in Brazil

We investigate long-term outcomes related to social mobility and their determinants for low-income Brazilian households. More precisely, the first cohorts of beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program Bolsa Família (BFP); children aged between 7 and 16 in 2005, who are tracked for over a decade, until 2019. We use individual-level administrative data to analyze our two indicators of social mobility: (i) future emancipation from federal government social programs, and (ii) access to the formal labor market. We observe that formerly vulnerable children, beneficiaries of the CCT, find themselves in better socioeconomic conditions in adulthood. While 64 % of them, aged between 21 and 30 years in 2019, were no longer beneficiaries of federal government social programs, 45 % accessed the formal labor market at least once between 2015 and 2019. We also compare the characteristics of the formal employment they access with those of non-BFP beneficiaries during the same period. They have worse employment conditions, although better than informal positions typical of their parents. Furthermore, we investigate the association between local sociodemographic characteristics and individual social mobility. We find significant territorial heterogeneity associated with differences in better health and education infrastructures, and local economic activity.

Assessment of Overall Treatment Time in Curative Radiotherapy

In radiotherapy, spread is a radiobiological parameter that corresponds to the total duration of treatment expressed in days. The objective of the study is to evaluate adherence to the theoretical spread among patients receiving curative irradiation.This was a prospective study conducted within the radiotherapy department at the National Oncology Institute of Rabat, including 285 patients receiving curative irradiation, regardless of tumor localization, from December 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022. Reasons for missed sessions were collected during end-of-treatment consultations.The median age of our patients was 47 years (range: 36-78 years), with 62% being female and 38% male. Among them, 47.3% were employed. Transportation methods varied; public transportation accounted for 59.2%, taxis for 9.1%, and only 8.7% used personal transportation. Travel time from home to the oncology institute was less than 20 minutes for 12.6% of patients, between 20 and 60 minutes for 75.7%, and over 60 minutes for 11.7%. The most common tumor sites were the breast in 32.2% of cases and the prostate in 23.5% of patients. The theoretical spread was adhered to in 29.8% of cases. In 56.4% of cases, the extension was between 1 and 5 days, and in 13.3% of cases, it was between 6 and 12 days.Causes of spread extension were diverse, with equipment breakdowns and maintenance accounting for 52.1% of cases, intercurrent illness for 10%, holidays for 16%, and treatment refusal for 0.6%. Evaluation of spread in radiotherapy is crucial as it represents a significant factor in local recurrence and indirectly affects distant progression, especially with prolonged treatment durations.

Immediate effects of Kinesio Taping ® on respiratory parameters in healthy individuals

BackgroundKinesio taping® (KT) could facilitate respiratory muscle contraction, improving breathing. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the immediate effects of KT application on thoracoabdominal mobility, vital capacity, and respiratory muscle strength of healthy young individuals. MethodsThis clinical trial included 19 healthy individuals, measuring their maximum inspiratory and expiratory pressure, vital capacity, and thoracoabdominal mobility using cirtometry. Participants were evaluated, and KT was applied below the xiphoid process; then, they were reassessed 15 min after the application. ResultsThe thoracoabdominal mobility did not significantly change the axillar (84.2 ± 6.6 cm vs 83.6 ± 6.1 cm; p = 0.116), xiphoid process (74.2 ± 8.8 cm vs 74.2 ± 8.63 cm; p = 0.805), and umbilical (73.7 ± 8.1 cm vs 74.2 ± 8.35 cm; p = 0.344) circumferences. Additionally, the vital capacity (3.8 ± 1.0 L vs 3.5 ± 1.3 L; p = 0.097), the maximal inspiratory pressure (−85.3 ± 31.7 cmH2O vs −79.5 ± 34.7 cmH2O; p = 0.265), and maximal expiratory pressure (63.9 ± 31.8 cmH2O vs 59.5 ± 36.1 cmH2O; p = 0.277) were not significantly different. ConclusionsKT showed no immediate effect on thoracoabdominal mobility, vital capacity, and respiratory muscle strength of healthy young adults. Future studies should investigate the effects of KT applied for a longer time (i.e., long-term effects). Furthermore, individuals with respiratory diseases could be evaluated, especially those presenting dysfunction in the rib cage morphology.

Are healthy ageing trajectories suitable to identify rehabilitation needs of the ageing population? An exploratory study using ATHLOS cohort data.

The ageing process is highly heterogeneous leading to diverse ageing trajectories. Such trajectories have been modelled to study trends and determinants of ageing and could potentially be used to inform the planning of rehabilitation services at population level. The objective of this paper was to explore whether healthy ageing trajectories are suitable to identify targets for rehabilitation interventions for the ageing population. Data from the Ageing Trajectories of Health: Longitudinal Opportunities and Synergies (ATHLOS) harmonized cohort and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), which is included in ATHLOS, were used. Growth mixture models were implemented to replicate healthy ageing trajectories modelled elsewhere as 'high stable', 'low stable', and 'rapid decline'. Regularized partial correlation networks were used to estimate expected-influence and bridge expected-influence centrality measures. Healthy ageing trajectories modelled with ATHLOS (N = 131116) and ELSA (N = 14904) were consistent with previous work. At the first individual wave, prevalence of problems of respondents in the 'high stable' and 'rapid decline' trajectories were comparable; at the last individual wave, prevalence remained similar for the 'high stable' but increased substantially in all domains for the 'rapid decline' trajectory. Expected-influence centrality measures provided different results than prevalence estimates. For instance, in the first individual wave mobility and carrying, moving, and handling objects had highest impact on overall functioning for the 'rapid decline' and 'high stable' trajectories, while the most prevalent functioning problems concerned cognition, pain, as well as energy and drive functions. Our study stressed the relevance of healthy ageing trajectories for identifying functioning domains and categories that need to be targeted by rehabilitation services in a heterogeneous ageing population. The use of such trajectories at country level has the potential to make a meaningful contribution to the planning and delivery of rehabilitation interventions through health systems and to informed policy making.

Privacy Preserving Human Mobility Generation Using Grid-Based Data and Graph Autoencoders

This paper proposes a one-to-one trajectory synthetization method with stable long-term individual mobility behavior based on a generalizable area embedding. Previous methods concentrate on producing highly detailed data on short-term and restricted areas for, e.g., autonomous driving scenarios. Another possibility consists of city-wide and beyond scales that can be used to predict general traffic flows. The now-presented approach takes the tracked mobility behavior of individuals and creates coherent synthetic mobility data. These generated data reflect the person’s long-term mobility behavior, guaranteeing location persistency and sound embedding within the point-of-interest structure of the observed area. After an analysis and clustering step of the original data, the area is distributed into a geospatial grid structure (H3 is used here). The neighborhood relationships between the grids are interpreted as a graph. A feed-forward autoencoder and a graph encoding–decoding network generate a latent space representation of the area. The original clustered data are associated with their respective H3 grids. With a greedy algorithm approach and concerning privacy strategies, new combinations of grids are generated as top-level patterns for individual mobility behavior. Based on the original data, concrete locations within the new grids are found and connected to ways. The goal is to generate a dataset that shows equivalence in aggregated characteristics and distances in comparison with the original data. The described method is applied to a sample of 120 from a study with 1000 participants whose mobility data were generated in the city of Munich in Germany. The results show the applicability of the approach in generating synthetic data, enabling further research on individual mobility behavior and patterns. The result comprises a sharable dataset on the same abstraction level as the input data, which can be beneficial for different applications, particularly for machine learning.

Transformer with Selective Shuffled Position Embedding and key-patch exchange strategy for early detection of Knee Osteoarthritis

Knee OsteoArthritis (KOA) is a widespread musculoskeletal disorder that can severely impact the mobility of older individuals. Insufficient medical data presents a significant obstacle for effectively training models due to the high cost associated with data labeling. Currently, deep learning-based models extensively utilize data augmentation techniques to improve their generalization ability and alleviate overfitting. However, conventional data augmentation techniques are primarily based on the original data and fail to introduce substantial diversity to the dataset. In our study, we introduce a unique method that utilizes the Vision Transformer (ViT) model, enhanced by our newly developed Selective Shuffled Position Embedding (SSPE) and key-patch exchange techniques. These innovations generate varied input sequences, serving as a data augmentation strategy for improving KOA classification. More specifically, we fix and shuffle the position embeddings of key patches and non-key patches, respectively. Then, for the target image, we randomly select other candidate images from the training set to exchange their key patches and thus obtain different input sequences. Finally, a hybrid loss function is developed by incorporating multiple loss functions for different types of the sequences. According to the experimental results, the generated data are considered valid as they lead to a notable improvement in the model’s classification performance.

Mating behaviour in ageing Teratorhabditis palmarum (Nematoda: Rhabditida)

ABSTRACT Teratorhabditis palmarum Gerber and Giblin-Davis, 1990, a free-living nematode, is able to produce hundreds of thousands of offspring in a short time. Reproduction is the main feature that defines life and, therefore, it plays an important role in determining what kinds of selective parameters play a powerful role in the maturity and evolution of mating systems. In the present study, we estimated the features of mating behaviour of Teratorhabditis using long-time microscopic videography and repeated observations. The mating behaviour of Teratorhabditis could be separated into a series of successive behaviours, including pre-mating (searching and contacting), mating (copulating) and post-mating (enduring). Here, we present the mating behaviour of 2- and 10-day-old virgin males and females. The mean time of the four phases – searching, contacting, copulating and enduring – varied significantly, at 24.6 ± 4.6 min, 36 ± 5.7 min, 31 ± 4.1 min and 10 ± 2.3 min in 2-day-old and 38.2 ± 3.3 min, 44.3 ± 5.0 min, 39 ± 4.3 min and 11 ± 3.2 min in 10-day-old individuals, respectively. Attraction between the sexes was observed, indicating the probable involvement of sex pheromone(s) in mating behaviour. In all age groups of males there was a significant increase in the duration of mating as the females aged. As the mobility of ageing individuals was reduced, this may have directly influenced the durations of the various phases of mating behaviour.

Muscle Mass Adjusted by Body Height is not Correlated with Mobility of Middle-Aged and Older Adults

BackgroundLow muscle mass and obesity are associated with mobility disability, cardiometabolic diseases, and loss of independence. Three skeletal muscle indices (SMIs) are proposed to adjust the body size of individuals. However, it is unknown which index is better correlated with mobility. Additionally, it remains unclear whether low muscle mass or abdominal obesity has a greater impact on the mobility and cardiometabolic health of older adults. ObjectivesThis study explored the association between different SMIs {appendicular skeletal muscle mass [ASM] adjusted by body height [Ht], body weight [Wt], or body mass index [BMI (kg/m2)]} and mobility/cardiometabolic health. The roles of low muscle mass and abdominal obesity in the mobility and cardiometabolic health of individuals were also identified. MethodsFour-hundred and twenty-seven community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults underwent body composition assessments [dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and waist circumference (WC)], grip strength, and mobility (timed up-and-go test and chair stand test). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and regression models were used to examine research questions. This study was registered in the Thai Clinical Trials Registry (registration number: TCTR20210521007). ResultsAll SMIs were positively correlated with the grip strength (ASM/Ht2: r = 0.392; ASM/Wt: r = 0.439; ASM/BMI: r = 0.569). Regarding mobility, only ASM/Ht2 wasn’t relevant. After adjusting for age, sex, and WC, ASM/BMI was the only SMI associated with grip strength (β = 0.274). When age and sex were controlled, WC, but not SMI, was associated with mobility and cardiometabolic health. ConclusionsASM/Ht2 did not correlate with mobility in middle-aged and older adults, whereas ASM/Wt and ASM/BMI did. Abdominal obesity has a greater impact on mobility and cardiometabolic health than low muscle mass in middle-aged and older adults. We recommend using ASM/BMI to identify the low muscle mass of individuals. In addition, clinicians should note the important role of abdominal obesity when considering mobility in middle-aged and older adults.

Lower Back & Comfortability Analysis of Driving Posture to Mitigate Musculoskeletal Disorders: An Ergonomics Study using Digital Human Modelling in JACK Software

In this paper, the crucial aspect of driver comfort was explored by investigating the prevailing driving postures among individuals, aiming to discern their ergonomic implications and ascertain whether the commonly adopted postures are conducive to musculoskeletal health or pose potential risks. From the last decade vehicle like cars have become one of the common modes of personal transport. Car has high relevance in day-to-day activities like commuting, economic activities and sports etc. The continuous driving of vehicle can lead the driver prone to musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain, spine injury and posture issues. This study is conducted to address the ergonomic aspects of posture of the driver to highlight the risk of Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and to optimize the driving posture. Lower Back Analysis (LBA) and Comfortability Analysis is performed in JACK Software to analyze the driving posture. A DHM (Digital Human Model) is created in JACK Simulation Software according to the collected anthropometric data of an average Pakistani man. A virtual Environment is created in JACK Simulation Software. The posture of the subject is analyzed by taking measurements of the subject’s angle of joints when they are sitting in a driving posture. For Ergonomic Analysis the Driving Posture is evaluated on JACK software to Mitigate Musculoskeletal Disorders. Results show that the subject is having low back compression force of 672 which is below the NIOSH Back Compression Action Limit of 3400N representing a nominal risk of low back injury.

How mobility pattern shapes the association between static green space and dynamic green space exposure

Greenspaces are crucial for enhancing mental and physical health. Recent research has shifted from static methods of assessing exposure to greenspaces, based on fixed locations, to dynamic approaches that account for individual mobility. These dynamic evaluations utilize advanced technologies like GPS tracking and remote sensing to provide more precise exposure estimates. However, little work has been conducted to compare dynamic and static exposure assessments and the effect of individual mobility on these evaluations. This study delves into how greenspaces around homes and workplaces, along with mobility patterns, affect dynamic greenspace exposure in Hong Kong. Data was collected from 787 participants in four communities in Hong Kong using GPS, portable sensors, and surveys. Using multiple statistical tests, our study revealed significant variations in participants' daily mobility patterns across socio-demographic and temporal factors. Further, using linear mixed-effects models, we identified complex and statistically significant interactions between participants’ static greenspace exposure and their mobility patterns. Our findings suggest that individual mobility patterns significantly modify the relationship between static and dynamic greenspace exposure and play a critical role in explaining socio-demographic and temporal context differences in the relationship between static and dynamic greenspace exposure.

REPERTÓRIUM ACADEMICUM GERMANICUM PROJEKT

The Repertorium Academicum Germanicum (RAG) is a long-term digital project that has been researching the students and scholars of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) between 1250 and 1550. In 2020, the RAG was integrated into the larger project Repertorium Academicum (REPAC), which now also includes the Repertorium Academicum Helveticum (RAH) and the Repertorium Bernense (RB). The three sub-projects analyse different European regions: the HRE in the RAG, the Swiss Confederation in the RAH and the territory of the city of Bern in the RB. REPAC is based at the Historical Institute of the University of Bern. The common goal of the projects is to create prosopographical foundations for the history of the impact of scholars and their knowledge in order to clarify the origins and developments of the modern knowledge society. Methodologically, the projects combine approaches from social, university and knowledge history with digital prosopography. At the centre is a research database in which the biographical events of students and scholars are recorded. This data is localised geographically and temporally to enable dynamic visualisations on maps, in networks and time series. The analyses focus on the geographical and social mobility of individuals and on the dissemination and application of academic knowledge by individuals and institutions such as universities, schools, churches, monasteries, ecclesiastical and secular courts and tribunals. In addition, this digital methodology enables together with the tools for data visualisation the reconstruction of specific knowledge spaces analysing their determining factors. This article explains this methodologies using the Hungarian scholars documented in the RAG. This group is a vivid example of the study of academic knowledge circulation and spaces in European networks, with the University of Vienna playing a central role as a mediator of knowledge. The Hungarian scholars demonstrate fundamental research perspectives that are particularly relevant for collaborative approaches: Since biographical data collection requires in-depth knowledge of the historical background of the respective region, an in-depth study of the Hungarian scholars in the RAG would be particularly insightful if their biographies could be digitally supplemented with information from regional or local libraries and archives.

A Reinforcement Learning-Based Reverse Auction Enforcing Smart Pricing Policies towards B5G Offloading Strategies

In this paper, we present our work on developing a Smart Pricing Policies module specifically designed for individual users and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Our framework will operate in a multi-MNO blockchain radio access network (B-RAN) and is tasked with determining prices for resource sharing among users and MNOs. Our sophisticated adaptive pricing system can adjust to situations where User Equipment (UE) shifts out of the coverage area of their MNO by immediately sealing a contract with a different MNO to cover the users’ needs. This way, we aim to provide financial incentives to MNOs while ensuring continuous network optimization for all parties involved. Our system accomplishes that by utilizing deep reinforcement learning (DLR) to implement a reverse auction model. In our reinforcement learning scenario, the MNOs, acting as agents, enter a competition and try to bid the most appealing price based on the user’s request, and based on the reward system, agents that do not win in the current round will adjust their strategies in an attempt to secure a win in subsequent rounds. The findings indicated that combining DRL with reverse auction theory offers a more appropriate method for addressing the pricing and bid challenges, and additionally, administrators can utilize this strategy to gain a notable edge by dynamically selecting and adjusting their methods according to the individual network conditions and requirements.

Born to move? Birth order and emigration

This paper studies the interrelation between birth order and emigration adopting a family fixed-effects approach. We use register data on all persons in full-siblings groups born 1970–2002 in the entire Finnish-born population, and observe their first move abroad since age 18 in the period 1987–2020. The total number of siblings is 1,352,908, the total number of sibling groups 549,842, and the total number of first moves abroad 31,192. By comparing siblings in the same family, we effectively adjust for all time-invariant confounding from unobserved or unmeasured time-invariant variables. Emigration is found to be positively associated with birth order. The hazard of emigration for second-born siblings is 1.05 that of first borns, that of third borns 1.07, and that of fourth borns 1.11. The pattern is particularly marked for emigration to countries where there is free mobility, and the association is similar for both genders. Potential explanations to the birth order pattern may be variation in personality traits, risk-taking behaviours and aspirations between siblings, or differential allocation of resources and opportunities within families. The results highlight the importance of considering birth order within the context of family dynamics and individual mobility patterns, and they need to be extended to broader settings.

Human-Centric Digitization in Montenegro: Progress through 17 Years of National Independence and Future Trends

Montenegro restored its national independence in 2006, and in the 17 years since then, the country has made significant progress in digital transformation, which is especially important for its accession to the European Union. In this paper, this period of 17 years of Montenegrin digital transformation is reviewed. The work aims to provide comprehensive coverage of the digitization processes across all relevant sectors, including healthcare, education, telecommunications and internet, personal and public transportation, tourism, agriculture, energy and sustainability, and public administration. The human-centric nature of digitization is emphasized where relevant, as well as related future trends. This paper also highlights barriers and limitations, such as the lack of consideration for cooperative intelligent transportation systems in national strategies, and user-related issues in digital public administration.

Vulmob, a new multidimensional indicator of mobility vulnerability

Mobility enables to find jobs, go to school or meet people. However, long distances, high costs, car dependency and poor accessibility are sources of mobility vulnerabilities. The current rise in fuel prices may have a strong impact on mobility, especially for households that rely heavily on their cars. Moreover, the need to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases emissions requires the implementation of ambitious environmental policies. It is therefore necessary to identify transport poor households, affected by financial issues, as well as vulnerable households whose mobility would be strongly impacted by changes in individual mobility conditions and would have difficulties to adapt to this situation. To this end, we construct VulMob, a multidimensional indicator made up of thirteen individual factors organized in four dimensions: financial resources and transport affordability, work constraints, heavy car use and accessibility and structural constraints. We apply this indicator to the Grenoble area, in France. Our results show that 9.6% are highly vulnerable, meaning that they face at least six vulnerability issues and 5.5% of the households face transport affordability issues. A typology of five profiles of highly vulnerable households shows that some are financially constrained; others are heavy car users, work at night or face public transport accessibility problems.

Low-fare public transport and modal shift – Lessons from Bonn, Germany

The air quality in many German cities does not comply with EU-wide standards. Vehicle emissions, in particular, have been identified as an important cause of air pollution. As a result, driving bans for diesel vehicles with critical pollutant groups have been imposed by courts in many places in recent history. Against the backdrop of the growth of major German cities over the last few years, the question has become whether and how a change in the modal split in favor of more environmentally and climate-friendly public transport sector can be achieved. The Federal City of Bonn is one of five model cities that is testing measures to reduce traffic-related nitrogen dioxide emissions through a Climate Ticket as a mobility flat rate for one year for 365 €, which is part of the two-year "Lead City" project funded by the federal government. A quantitative survey (n = 1,315) of Climate Ticket users as well as the logistic regression carried out confirm that a change in individual mobility behavior in favor of public transport is possible by subsidizing the ticket price. The results show that individual traffic could be saved on the city's main congestion axes. In order to achieve a sustainable improvement in air quality, such a Climate Ticket must be granted on a permanent basis, with a well-designed mobility offer and must be generous in terms of the group of authorized persons and the area of validity.

Improving the quality of the urban environment effectively Sustainable Transport in Najaf / (Najaf - Kufa axis)

Activating the use of sustainable transportation to get rid of all traffic problems related to roads, and using all planning solutions to achieve urban sustainability, and through the research problem by asking about strategies and planning directions to achieve sustainable public transportation. Assuming that the trend towards public transportation as a sustainable transportation strategy will reflect positively on the quality of the urban environment. As a starting point to evaluate the trend of transportation towards sustainability and its role in improving the quality of the urban environment.The field study showed that traffic rates increased during the morning peak, most on Kufa Najaf Street, Maysan Main Street, and Gir Saada Street, As a result of the increasing desire of the population to use personal transportation, more than 49% of them use their personal cars for daily transportation. which increased the demand for gas stations, garages, transportation maintenance stores, and vehicle wash stations, which distorted the appearance of the city , Relying on the enactment of planning legislation to ensure sustainability in the field of transportation and to improve and organize the urban environment.

Pains of privacy: Mapping carceral practices onto electronic monitoring

Scholars and policymakers have long debated whether electronic monitoring programs can be understood as a carceral experience. Recent changes to the technology that utilize 24/7 location monitoring through GPS are changing the nature of electronic monitoring. Given these changes, this article revisits the question of the “pains” of electronic monitoring and its comparison to incarceration. I focus on three practices of electronic monitoring programs: home searches, communication monitoring, and long-term data storage to illustrate the ways in which the loss of autonomy, one of Sykes's original pains of imprisonment, is reproduced and remade. Rather than focusing on the aspects of programs that confine or limit the mobility of individuals, I draw on the tradition in carceral geography to consider how these practices recreate carcerality in new spaces and highlight the ways in which the experience of electronic monitoring is made carceral through the privacy intrusions and infringements to the self.