170,115 research outputs found
Convex polygon fitting in robot-based neurorehabilitation
No full textFitting a polygon to a set of points is a task that finds application in many scientific fields. In particular, in robot-based neurorehabilitation, it would be interesting to retrieve the shape that best fits with the path followed by a patient, and evaluate the performance based on the accuracy of the drawing. However, when dealing with a dataset sampled by a drawn trajectory, the methods proposed by the literature may not be exhaustive. In this work we propose a method to define the distance between a set of points and a polygon, which is used as cost function of a Genetic Algorithm to solve the polygon fitting problem. This method involves a novel space separation metrics to retrieve the correct polygon edge to be compared with each point of the set, featuring linear time complexity. We compared the proposed approach with the metrics known in the literature, finding that our method performs significantly better in retrieving the original polygon. Finally, we present a robot-based rehabilitation application in which the proposed method is used to evaluate the performance of a group of subjects. The achievements of twenty healthy subjects were compared with three stroke patients. Results emphasize significant differences between the two categories of subjects, proving that the proposed algorithm can quantitatively determine the degree of impairment of a stroke survivor and be used in the future as reference for monitoring and enhancing the efficiency of robot-based therapies
Virus and virus-like diseases of citrus in Epirus
No full textIn 2005 a survey was conducted in the main citrusgrowing areas of Epirus. Commercial groves and nurseries were inspected for symptoms of virus and viruslike diseases and a total of 123 samples were collected. Molecular hybridisation was used to test for Citrus tristeza virus (CTV), Citrus psorosis virus (CPsV), Citrus infectious variegation virus (CVV), Citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd) and Hop stunt viroid (HSVd). Although the results are from a low number of samples, they give a significant insight into the sanitary conditions of the Greek citrus industry, disclosing the presence of CTV mild strains in the North-western area
UV Lighting in Horticulture: A Sustainable Tool for Improving Production Quality and Food Safety
No full textUltraviolet (UV) is a component of solar radiation that can be divided into three types defined by waveband: UV-A (315–400 nm), UV-B (280–315 nm), and UV-C (<280 nm). UV light can influence the physiological responses of plants. Wavelength, intensity, and exposure have a great impact on plant growth and quality. Interaction between plants and UV light is regulated by photoreceptors such as UV Resistance Locus 8 (UVR8) that enables acclimation to UV-B stress. Although UV in high doses is known to damage quality and production parameters, some studies show that UV in low doses may stimulate biomass accumulation and the synthesis of healthy compounds that mainly absorb UV. UV exposure is known to induce variations in plant architecture, important in ornamental crops, increasing their economic value. Abiotic stress induced by UV exposure increases resistance to insects and pathogens, and reduce postharvest quality depletion. This review highlights the role that UV may play in plant growth, quality, photomorphogenesis, and abiotic/biotic stress resistance
Analysis and clustering of microRNA array: a new efficient and reliable computational method
No full textMicroRNAs (miRNAs) play determinant roles in gene expression and several cellular processes of mammalian. These processes include differentiation, development, apoptosis, and cancer pathomechanisms. In detail, miRNAs are known to regulate the expression of keys genes relevant to cancer and potentially to other diseases [1-3]. MiRNAs are short noncoding RNAs having a central function in gene expression, since miRNAs are involved in cellular differentiation processes [4, 5], organism developments [6], and apoptosis. Furthermore, recent studies provide growing evidence of the contribution of miRNAs in cancer cellular mechanisms. Therefore, the analysis and the correct identification of miRNAs expression levels play a key role for better understanding and classifying cancer and other diseases. In parallel with the drastic growing of interest into the study of miRNAs, the support of systems and tools that allow an efficient and more robust analysis of miRNA's expression levels become increasing mandatory to have a better disease identification
Late paradoxical development of pyoderma gangrenosum in a psoriasis patient treated with infliximab
No full textIn July 2013 a 43-year-old Caucasian man presented to our outpatient Dermatology clinic with multiple extensive ulcerative lesions on the posterior aspects of both legs, which reportedly appeared some weeks before and had since rapidly extended. The lesions, which were very painful, had first developed as multiple erythemato-violaceous plaques which later became deeply ulcerated, showing irregular margins and a seropurulent bed
BrailleCursor: an Innovative Refreshable Braille Display Based on a Single Sliding Actuator and Simple Passive Pins
No full textIn this work, we present the design and development of BrailleCursor, a patent pending full-size Refresh able Braille Display featuring 40 Braille cells and based on an innovative method: it uses a single actuated cursor for refreshing Braille cells composed of passive pins. In particular, a single electromagnetic actuator, moved on a linear slider, is capable of refreshing a full row of passive pins: each pin consists in a simple metal cylinder and can be reconfigured in a low or high state by an external magnetic field. This solution disentagles the cost of the device from the number of Braille cells and pins. Finally, we experimentally evaluated the performance of the prototype, including embedded electronics and control interface, in terms of rendering errors with respect to the reference Braille characters. The technical features of our proposed method allow us to start to design and develop a dense matrix Refreshable Braille Display
New generation emerging technologies for neurorehabilitation and motor assistance
No full textThis paper illustrates the application of emerging technologies and human-machine interfaces to the neurorehabilitation and motor assistance fields. The contribution focuses on wearable technologies and in particular on robotic exoskeleton as tools for increasing freedom to move and performing Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). This would result in a deep improvement in quality of life, also in terms of improved function of internal organs and general health status. Furthermore, the integration of these robotic systems with advanced bio-signal driven human-machine interface can increase the degree of participation of patient in robotic training allowing to recognize user's intention and assisting the patient in rehabilitation tasks, thus representing a fundamental aspect to elicit motor learning
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
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