EMG-based visual-haptic biofeedback: a tool to improve motor control in children with primary dystonia.

New insights suggest that dystonic motor impairments could also involve a deficit of sensory processing. In this framework, biofeedback, making covert physiological processes more overt, could be useful. The present work proposes an innovative integrated setup which provides the user with an electromyogram (EMG)-based visual-haptic biofeedback during upper limb movements (spiral tracking tasks), to test if augmented sensory feedbacks can induce motor control improvement in patients with primary dystonia. The ad hoc developed real-time control algorithm synchronizes the haptic loop with the EMG reading; the brachioradialis EMG values were used to modify visual and haptic features of the interface: the higher was the EMG level, the higher was the virtual table friction and the background color proportionally moved from green to red. From recordings on dystonic and healthy subjects, statistical results showed that biofeedback has a significant impact, correlated with the local impairment, on the dystonic muscular control. These tests pointed out the effectiveness of biofeedback paradigms in gaining a better specific-muscle voluntary motor control. The flexible tool developed here shows promising prospects of clinical applications and sensorimotor rehabilitation

The Labor Market Effects of Introducing Unemployment Benefits in an Economy with High Informality

経済学 / EconomicsUnemployment benefit systems are non-existent in many developing economies. Introducing such programs in these economies poses many challenges, which is partly due to the high level of informality in their labor markets. In this paper we study the consequences on the labor market of implementing an unemployment benefit system in economies with large informal sectors and high flows of workers between formality and informality. We build a search and matching model with endogenous destruction, on-the-job search and inter-sectoral flows, where agents in the economy decide optimally whether or not to formalize jobs. We calibrate the model for Mexico and show that the introduction of an unemployment subsidy system, where workers contribute during formal employment and collect benefits when they lose the job, can deliver an increase in formality in the economy while also producing small increases in unemployment. The exact impact of incorporating such benefits depends on the relative strength of two opposing effects: the generosity of the benefits and the level of the contributions that finance those benefits. We also show important policy complementarities with other interventions in the labor market. In particular, combining the unemployment benefit program with policies that reduce the cost of formality, such as lower firing costs or taxes, can produce decreases in informality and lower impacts on unemployment than when the subsidy program is applied in isolation.JEL Classification Codes: J64, J65, H26, O17http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/julen_esteban_pretel

Methods of Attaching or Grafting Carbon Nanotubes to Silicon Surfaces and Composite Structures Derived Therefrom

The present invention is directed toward methods of attaching or grafting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to silicon surfaces. In some embodiments, such attaching or grafting occurs via functional groups on either or both of the CNTs and silicon surface. In some embodiments, the methods of the present invention include: (1) reacting a silicon surface with a functionalizing agent (such as oligo(phenylene ethynylene)) to form a functionalized silicon surface; (2) dispersing a quantity of CNTs in a solvent to form dispersed CNTs; and (3) reacting the functionalized silicon surface with the dispersed CNTs. The present invention is also directed to the novel compositions produced by such methods

Synthesis and characterization of unusual valent organocationic chalcogen species

In the recent decades, organic chemistry has attracted attention in the industrial and bological point of view. Organic chemistry has traditionally been defined as the chemistry of compounds where the carbon atom is the principal element. Carbon is a second row element whose position in the periodic table is shown in Table 1. The unique ability of carbon atoms to bond together and to form stable compounds with atoms such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, is the basis for all biological life, which has been recogneized since the mid-eighteenth century. Since then organic chemistry has developed into one of the most important fields in chemistry1). However the dicoveries of atoms with unusual bonding properties have attracted great interest causing the emergence of a new field called heteroatom chemistry. ･･･Thesis (Ph. D. in Science)--University of Tsukuba, (A), no. 2309, 2000.3.24Includes bibliographical references"List of publication": p. 160Titlepage,Contents -- Chapter1 General Introduction -- Chapter2 Crystal Structures and ab initio Calculations of New Dicationic Telluranes,[10-Te-4(C2X2)](X=Se,N) -- Chapter3 First Synthesis and Characterization of Stable Sulfenium Ion Salts and Tellurenium Monoxide Dimer Stabilized by the Coordination of Nitrogen Atoms -- Chapter4 Synthesis of Hypervalent Telluranes by Remote Oxidation though π-Conjugated System -- Chapter5 Oxidation of Dichalcogenides with Neighboring Four Methylthiomethyl Groups -- List of Publications,Acknowledgmen

The Transiting System GJ1214: High-Precision Defocused Transit Observations and a Search for Evidence of Transit Timing Variation

Aims: We present 11 high-precision photometric transit observations of the transiting super-Earth planet GJ1214b. Combining these data with observations from other authors, we investigate the ephemeris for possible signs of transit timing variations (TTVs) using a Bayesian approach. Methods: The observations were obtained using telescope-defocusing techniques, and achieve a high precision with random errors in the photometry as low as 1mmag per point. To investigate the possibility of TTVs in the light curve, we calculate the overall probability of a TTV signal using Bayesian methods. Results: The observations are used to determine the photometric parameters and the physical properties of the GJ1214 system. Our results are in good agreement with published values. Individual times of mid-transit are measured with uncertainties as low as 10s, allowing us to reduce the uncertainty in the orbital period by a factor of two. Conclusions: A Bayesian analysis reveals that it is highly improbable that the observed transit times is explained by TTV, when compared with the simpler alternative of a linear ephemeris.Comment: Submitted to A&