1,721,437 research outputs found
A surface EMG generation model with multi-layer cylindrical description of the volume conductor
Get PDFWe propose a model for surface EMG signal generation with cylindrical description of the volume conductor. The model is more general and complete with respect to previous approaches. The volume conductor is described as a multi-layered cylinder in which the source can be located either along the longitudinal or the angular direction, in any of the layers. The source is represented as a spatio-temporal function which describes the generation, propagation, and extinction of the intra-cellular action potential at the end-plate, along the fiber, and at the tendons, respectively. The layers are anisotropic. The volume conductor effect is described as a two dimensional spatial filtering. Electrodes of any shape or dimension are simulated, forming structures which are described as spatial filters. The analytical derivation which leads to the signal in the temporal domain is performed in the spatial and temporal frequency domains. Numerical issues related to the frequency-based approach are discussed. The descriptions of the volume conductor and of the source are applied to the cases of signal generation from a limb and a sphincter muscle. Representative simulations of both cases are provided. The resultant model is based on analytical derivations and constitutes a step forward in surface EMG signal modeling, including features not described in any other analytical approach
Implementing physiologically-based approaches to improve Brain-Computer Interfaces usability in post-stroke motor rehabilitation
Get PDFStroke is one of the leading causes of long-term motor disability and, as such, directly impacts on daily living activities. Identifying new strategies to recover motor function is a central goal of clinical research. In the last years the approach to the post-stroke function restore has moved from the physical rehabilitation to the evidence-based neurological rehabilitation. Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology offers the possibility to detect, monitor and eventually modulate brain activity. The potential of guiding altered brain activity back to a physiological condition through BCI and the assumption that this recovery of brain activity leads to the restoration of behaviour is the key element for the use of BCI systems for therapeutic purposes. To bridge the gap between research-oriented methodology in BCI design and the usability of a system in the clinical realm requires efforts towards BCI signal processing procedures that would optimize the balance between system accuracy and usability. The thesis focused on this issue and aimed to propose new algorithms and signal processing procedures that, by combining physiological and engineering approaches, would provide the basis for designing more usable BCI systems to support post-stroke motor recovery. Results showed that introduce new physiologically-driven approaches to the pre-processing of BCI data, methods to support professional end-users in the BCI control parameter selection according to evidence-based rehabilitation principles and algorithms for the parameter adaptation in time make the BCI technology more affordable, more efficient, and more usable and, therefore, transferable to the clinical realm
Large-amplitude oscillations and chaos in a Hamiltonian plasma system with many degrees of freedom
Get PDFTaking the beam-plasma system as a reference Hamiltonian system with many degrees of freedom, the connection between the development of large amplitude oscillations and stochasticity of the system (measured through the time-dependent maximum Lyapunov exponent) is investigated. It is found that the development of self-consistent large amplitude oscillations occurs in correspondence with the onset of chaos, and is related to a well defined change of topology of the phase space of the system. It is also shown that in a (Hamiltonian) linearly stable regime the development of large amplitude oscillations can occur when weakly dissipative processes are introduced
The wave energy flux of high frequency diffracting beams in complex geometrical optics
Get PDFWe consider the construction of asymptotic solutions of Maxwell's equations for a diffracting wave beam in the high frequency limit and address the description of the wave energy flux transported by the beam. With this aim, the complex eikonal method is applied. That is a generalization of the standard geometrical optics method in which the phase function is assumed to be complex valued, with the non-negative imaginary part accounting for the finite width of the beam cross section. In this framework, we propose an argument which simplifies significantly the analysis of the transport equation for the wave field amplitude and allows us to derive the wave energy flux. The theoretical analysis is illustrated numerically for the case of electron cyclotron beams in tokamak plasmas by using the GRAY code [D. Farina, Fusion Sci. Technol. 52, 154 (2007)], which is based upon the complex eikonal theory. The results are compared to those of the paraxial beam tracing code TORBEAM [E. Poli et al., Comput. Phys. Commun. 136, 90 (2001)], which provides an independent calculation of the energy flow
Performance Studies Of Perpendicular And Oblique Electron Cyclotron Emission Diagnostics In ITER
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
A novel approach for precise simulation of the EMG signal detected by surface electrodes
No full textEstimation of average muscle fiber conduction velocity from two-dimensional surface EMG recordings
No full textVariations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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