Corticomuscular coherence analysis on the static and dynamic tasks of hand movement

The synchronization between cortical motor and muscular activity can be revealed by corticomuscular coherence (CMC). This paper designed two neuromuscular activity paradigms of hand movement, i.e. static gripping task and dynamic finger moving task. The electroencephalography (EEG) from C3 and C4 channels and the surface electromyography (sEMG) from the flexor digitorum superficialis were collected simultaneously from 4 male and 4 female right-handed healthy young subjects. For the static griping task, CMCs during low-level forces under 4%, 8%, and 16% MVC (Maximal Voluntary Contraction) were investigated by using magnitude squared coherence calculated from EEGs and sEMGs. For the dynamic finger moving task, the time-frequency domain analysis was used to process dynamic data of temporary action in a period of 2 seconds and get the latency of the maximum CMC. The results of this study indicated that the force increasing within the low-level range in static task is associated with the enhanced CMC. The maximum amplitude of CMC occurred about 0.3–0.5s after the onset of hand movement. Subjects showed significant CMC performance both in static and dynamic task of hand movement.published_or_final_versio

Deep Shape Matching

We cast shape matching as metric learning with convolutional networks. We break the end-to-end process of image representation into two parts. Firstly, well established efficient methods are chosen to turn the images into edge maps. Secondly, the network is trained with edge maps of landmark images, which are automatically obtained by a structure-from-motion pipeline. The learned representation is evaluated on a range of different tasks, providing improvements on challenging cases of domain generalization, generic sketch-based image retrieval or its fine-grained counterpart. In contrast to other methods that learn a different model per task, object category, or domain, we use the same network throughout all our experiments, achieving state-of-the-art results in multiple benchmarks.Comment: ECCV 201

Constructal blade shape in nanofluids

Blade configuration of nanofluids has been proven to perform much better than dispersed configuration for some heat conduction systems. The analytical analysis and numerical calculation are made for the cylinder--shaped and regular-rectangular-prism--shaped building blocks of the blade-configured heat conduction systems (using nanofluids as the heat conduction media) to find the optimal cross-sectional shape for the nanoparticle blade under the same composing materials, composition ratio, volumetric heat generation rate, and total building block volume. The regular-triangular-prism--shaped blade has been proven to perform better than all the other three kinds of blades, namely, the regular-rectangular-prism--shaped blade, the regular-hexagonal-prism--shaped blade, and the cylinder--shaped blade. Thus, the regular-triangular-prism--shaped blade is selected as the optimally shaped blade for the two kinds of building blocks that are considered in this study. It is also proven that the constructal cylinder--regular-triangular-prism building block performs better than the constructal regular-rectangular-prism--regular-triangular-prism building block

Neutral Gauge Boson Contributions to the Dimuon Charge Asymmetry in B Decays

Recently, the D0 Collaboration measured the CP-violating like-sign dimuon charge asymmetry in neutral B decays, finding a 3.2sigma difference from the standard-model (SM) prediction. A non-SM charge asymmetry a_sl^s suggests a new-physics (NP) contribution to Bs-Bsbar mixing. In this case, in order to explain the measured value of a_sl^s within its 1sigma range, NP must be present in Gamma_12^s, the absorptive part of the mixing. In this paper, we examine whether such an explanation is possible in models with flavor-changing Z (ZFCNC) or Z' (Z'FCNC) gauge bosons. The models must also reproduce the measured values of the indirect CP asymmetry S_psi-phi in Bs -> J/psi phi, and Delta Gamma_s, the Bs-Bsbar width difference. We find that the ZFCNC model cannot reproduce the present measured values of S_psi-phi and a_sl^s within their 1sigma ranges. On the other hand, in the Z'FCNC model, the values of all three observables can be simultaneously reproduced.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, JHEP format. Some ZFCNC equations corrected, ZFCNC analysis redone, references added, conclusions unchange

A Simple and Accurate Two-Step Long DNA Sequences Synthesis Strategy to Improve Heterologous Gene Expression in Pichia

In vitro gene chemical synthesis is a powerful tool to improve the expression of gene in heterologous system. In this study, a two-step gene synthesis strategy that combines an assembly PCR and an overlap extension PCR (AOE) was developed. In this strategy, the chemically synthesized oligonucleotides were assembled into several 200–500 bp fragments with 20–25 bp overlap at each end by assembly PCR, and then an overlap extension PCR was conducted to assemble all these fragments into a full length DNA sequence. Using this method, we de novo designed and optimized the codon of Rhizopus oryzae lipase gene ROL (810 bp) and Aspergillus niger phytase gene phyA (1404 bp). Compared with the original ROL gene and phyA gene, the codon-optimized genes expressed at a significantly higher level in yeasts after methanol induction. We believe this AOE method to be of special interest as it is simple, accurate and has no limitation with respect to the size of the gene to be synthesized. Combined with de novo design, this method allows the rapid synthesis of a gene optimized for expression in the system of choice and production of sufficient biological material for molecular characterization and biotechnological application

Lung Cancer in Pulmonary Fibrosis: Tales of Epithelial Cell Plasticity

Lung epithelial cells exhibit a high degree of plasticity. Alterations to lung epithelial cell function are critically involved in several chronic lung diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis. Pulmonary fibrosis is characterized by repetitive injury and subsequent impaired repair of epithelial cells, which leads to aberrant growth factor activation and fibroblast accumulation. Increased proliferation and hyper- and metaplasia of epithelial cells upon injury have also been observed in pulmonary fibrosis; this epithelial cell activation might represent the basis for lung cancer development. Indeed, several studies have provided histopathological evidence of an increased incidence of lung cancer in pulmonary fibrosis. The mechanisms involved in the development of cancer in pulmonary fibrosis, however, remain poorly understood. This review highlights recently uncovered molecular mechanisms shared between lung cancer and fibrosis, which extend the current evidence of a common trait of cancer and fibrosis, as provided by histopathological observations. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Astrocytic Ion Dynamics: Implications for Potassium Buffering and Liquid Flow

We review modeling of astrocyte ion dynamics with a specific focus on the implications of so-called spatial potassium buffering, where excess potassium in the extracellular space (ECS) is transported away to prevent pathological neural spiking. The recently introduced Kirchoff-Nernst-Planck (KNP) scheme for modeling ion dynamics in astrocytes (and brain tissue in general) is outlined and used to study such spatial buffering. We next describe how the ion dynamics of astrocytes may regulate microscopic liquid flow by osmotic effects and how such microscopic flow can be linked to whole-brain macroscopic flow. We thus include the key elements in a putative multiscale theory with astrocytes linking neural activity on a microscopic scale to macroscopic fluid flow.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure

Continuous Three-Dimensional Control of a Virtual Helicopter Using a Motor Imagery Based Brain-Computer Interface

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow a user to interact with a computer system using thought. However, only recently have devices capable of providing sophisticated multi-dimensional control been achieved non-invasively. A major goal for non-invasive BCI systems has been to provide continuous, intuitive, and accurate control, while retaining a high level of user autonomy. By employing electroencephalography (EEG) to record and decode sensorimotor rhythms (SMRs) induced from motor imaginations, a consistent, user-specific control signal may be characterized. Utilizing a novel method of interactive and continuous control, we trained three normal subjects to modulate their SMRs to achieve three-dimensional movement of a virtual helicopter that is fast, accurate, and continuous. In this system, the virtual helicopter's forward-backward translation and elevation controls were actuated through the modulation of sensorimotor rhythms that were converted to forces applied to the virtual helicopter at every simulation time step, and the helicopter's angle of left or right rotation was linearly mapped, with higher resolution, from sensorimotor rhythms associated with other motor imaginations. These different resolutions of control allow for interplay between general intent actuation and fine control as is seen in the gross and fine movements of the arm and hand. Subjects controlled the helicopter with the goal of flying through rings (targets) randomly positioned and oriented in a three-dimensional space. The subjects flew through rings continuously, acquiring as many as 11 consecutive rings within a five-minute period. In total, the study group successfully acquired over 85% of presented targets. These results affirm the effective, three-dimensional control of our motor imagery based BCI system, and suggest its potential applications in biological navigation, neuroprosthetics, and other applications