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Throughout the day, the human visual system acquires information using saccade and vergence eye movements. Previously, functional MRI (fMRI) experiments have shown both shared neural resources and spatial differentiation between these two systems. FMRI experiments can reveal which regions are activated within an experimental task but do not yield insight into how regions of interest (ROIs) interact...
Taking inspiration from neurophysiological studies on synergies in the human grasping action, this paper tries to demonstrate that it is possible to find a general rule for performing a stable, human-like cylindrical grasp with a robotic hand. To this purpose, the theoretical formulation and the experimental validation of a reach-and-grasp algorithm for determining the optimal hand position and the...
Gait stability is primary in assessing individuals with high risk of falling, particularly the elderly. Custom made self-adjustable wireless gyroscope suit is used as a sensing device to quantify gait stability. A nonlinear time series analysis i.e. maximum Lyapunov exponent (λ∗) was employed to estimate the short term and long term stability and it is closely related to the ability of human neuro-muscular...
High frequency ultrasound imaging has realized high resolution in vivo imaging of the biological tissues at a microscopic level. Human skin structure, especially sebaceous glands at the deep part of the dermis, was observed by three-dimensional ultrasound microscopy with the central frequency of 120 MHz. The visco-elasticity and surface sebum level of the observed region were measured by established...
We present an advanced approach towards a semi-autonomous, robotic personal assistant for handicapped people. We developed a multi-functional hybrid brain-robot interface that provides a communication channel between humans and a state-of-the-art humanoid robot, Honda's Humanoid Research Robot. Using cortical signals, recorded, processed and translated by an EEG-based brain-machine interface (BMI),...
In this paper, a control model is developed to automate the process of navigation in rat-robot-a new type of bio-robot based on BCI(Brain-Computer Interface) technique. Because of the particular difficulties in rat-robot control, we design a novel control model to ‘learn’ and ‘imitate’ the control behavior of human guidance. General Regression Neural Network (GRNN) model is used to analyze the control...
Thermal infrared imaging (TIRI) employs a focal plane array (FPA) of infrared detectors, with associated optics and optoelectronics to remotely detect and topographically map thermal emittance. Thermal and optical properties of human physioanatomy are not fully understood yet confounding diagnostic interpretation of human TIRI's. Elucidation of the specific physical mechanism via which thermal emission...
Connectivity evaluations have been performed in a noninvasive manner by examining resting state fMRI alongside diffusion-weighted images (DWI). The spatial structures of coherent spontaneous BOLD fluctuations provided the most convincing preliminary evidence that the BOLD signal was predominantly of neuronal origin rather than non-neuronal, artifactual noise. In this study we have shown that in thalamocortical...
This paper investigates a quantization and clustering issue on human motion performance constrained by disabilities. In a longitudinal study of medical therapy on motion disorder, stages of patient disability condition change over time. We investigate four different stages of one arm constrained walking motions by restricting 0%, 10%, 16% and 22% of arm swing angles. For analysis we use One-way ANOVA...
A novel device, which looks like a mug, has been proposed for measuring the impedance of human hand. The device is designed to have convenient size and light weight similar to an ordinary coffee mug. It contains a 2-axis inertia sensor to monitor vibration and a small motor to carry an eccentric mass (m=100gr, r=2cm, rpm=600). The centrifugal force due to the rotating mass applies a dynamic force...
This paper is focused on investigating force regulation strategies employed by human central nervous system (CNS). The mechanism responsible for force control is extremely important in people's lives, but not yet well understood. We formulate the general model of force regulation and identify several possible control strategies. An experimental approach is used to determine which of the force control...
A model for the simulation of motoneuron firing behavior and muscle force during sustained constant-force isometric contractions was developed. It provides a non-linear relationship between the excitation to the motoneuron pool of a muscle and the firing behavior of motor units; it implements muscle mechanical changes induced by fatigue and it comprises a feedback loop to maintain the muscle force...
In order to provide natural, biomimetic control to recently developed powered ankle prostheses, we must characterize the impedance of the ankle during ambulation tasks. To this end, a platform robot was developed that can apply an angular perturbation to the ankle during ambulation and simultaneously acquire ground reaction force data. In this study, we detail the design of the platform robot and...
Continued miniaturization of electronic devices and technological advancements in wireless communications has made wearable body-centric telemedicine systems viable. Antennas play a crucial role in characterizing the efficiency and reliability of these systems. The performance characteristics such as the radiation pattern, gain, efficiency of the antennas get adversely affected due to the presence...
This paper introduces a new quantification method for gait symmetry based on depth information acquired from a structured light system. First, the new concept of Depth Energy Image is introduced to better visualize gait asymmetry problems. Then a simple index is computed from this map to quantify motion symmetry. Results are presented for six subjects with and without gait problems. Since the method...
We are investigating different adaptive strategies for training with the MIT-Skywalker, a novel robotic device for gait training. In this paper, we describe our studies on an implicit “visual distortion” paradigm and demonstrate its potential on a set of experiments with healthy subjects. Our results suggest that a gradual distortion of visual feedback of step symmetry, during a treadmill walking...
The pace of technology has allowed classification of feature-subset of methylated and unmethylated of CpG islands of DNA sequence properties. As methylation of CpG islands is involved in various biological phenomena and function of the DNA methylation is correlated to various human diseases such as cancer, analysis of the CpG islands has become important and useful in characterizing and modelling...
Doxifluridine, a prodrug of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), was used as the initiator directly in ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone to form hydrophobic doxifluridine-poly(ε-caprolactone) (doxifluridine-PCL) that was further grafted with hydrophilic chitosan to synthsize amphiphilic doxifluridine-PCL-chitosan copolymer. This amphiphilic copolymer was self-assembled into micellar nanoparticles. After...
The inter-subject variability of visual cortex reorganization was assessed in late-blind subjects suffering from retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative retinal disease that results in tunnel vision and eventual loss of sight. fMRI BOLD responses were measured as blindfolded RP and blindfolded sighted control groups completed a tactile discrimination task (in which subjects determined the relative...
Cognitive control of emotion plays an important role in maintaining emotional stability in people's daily life. However, the neural mechanism remains unclear. This study examined the induced gamma activity in response to emotional expressions which was associated with the cognitive regulation. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in fifteen normal subjects when detecting emotional expressions....
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