Utilizing Brain-computer Interfacing to Control Neuroprosthetic Devices

Advances in neuroprosthetics in recent years have made an enormous impact on the quality of life for many people with disabilities, helping them regain the functionality of damaged or impaired abilities. One of the main hurdles to regaining full functionality regarding neuroprosthetics is the integration between the neural prosthetic device and the method in which the neural prosthetic device is controlled or manipulated to function correctly and efficiently. One of the most promising methods for integrating neural prosthetics to an efficient method of control is through Brian-computer Interfacing (BCI). With this method, the neuroprosthetic device is integrated into the human brain through the use of a specialized computer, which allows for users of neuroprosthetic devices to control the devices in the same way that they would control a normally working human function- with their mind. There are both invasive and non-invasive methods to implement Brain-computer Interfacing, both of which involve the process of acquiring a brain signal, processing the signal, and finally providing a usable device output. There are several examples of integration between Brain-computer Interfacing and neural prosthetics that are currently being researched. Many challenges must be overcome before a widespread clinical application of integration between Brain-computer Interfaces and neural prosthetics becomes a reality, but current research continues to provide promising advancement toward making this technology available as a means for people to regain lost functionality

On the Derivative of 2-Holonomy for a Non-Abelian Gerbe

The local 2-holonomy for a non abelian gerbe with connection is first studied via a local zig-zag Hochschild complex. Next, by locally integrating the cocycle data for our gerbe with connection, and then glueing this data together, an explicit definition is offered for a global version of 2-holonomy. After showing this definition satisfies the desired properties for 2-holonomy, its derivative is calculated whereby the only interior information added is the integration of the 3-curvature. Finally, for the case when the surface being mapped into the manifold is a sphere, the derivative of 2-holonomy is extended to an equivariant closed form in the spirit of the construction of Tradler-Wilson-Zeinalian for abelian gerbes

Critical phenomena from the two-particle irreducible 1/N expansion

The 1/N expansion of the two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action is employed to compute universal properties at the second-order phase transition of an O(N)-symmetric N-vector model directly in three dimensions. At next-to-leading order the approach cures the spurious small-N divergence of the standard (1PI) 1/N expansion for a computation of the critical anomalous dimension eta(N), and leads to improved estimates already for moderate values of N.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

Belief bias during reasoning among religious believers and skeptics

We provide evidence that religious skeptics, as compared to believers, are both more reflective and effective in logical reasoning tasks. While recent studies have reported a negative association between an analytic cognitive style and religiosity, they focused exclusively on accuracy, making it difficult to specify potential underlying cognitive mechanisms. The present study extends the previous research by assessing both performance and response times on quintessential logical reasoning problems (syllogisms). Those reporting more religious skepticism made fewer reasoning errors than did believers. This finding remained significant after controlling for general cognitive ability, time spent on the problems, and various demographic variables. Crucial for the purpose of exploring underlying mechanisms, response times indicated that skeptics also spent more time reasoning than did believers. This novel finding suggests a possible role of response slowing during analytic problem solving as a component of cognitive style that promotes overriding intuitive first impressions. Implications for using additional processing measures, such as response time, to investigate individual differences in cognitive style are discussed

Safety climate and increased risk: the role of deadlines in design work

Although much research indicates positive safety climate is associated with reduced safety risk, we argue this association is not universal and may even be reversed in some contexts. Specifically, we argue that positive safety climate can be associated with increased safety risk when there is pressure to prioritize production over safety and where workers have some detachment from the consequences of their actions, such as found in engineering design work. We used two indicators of safety risk: use of heuristics at the individual level and design complexity at the design team level. Using experience sampling data (N = 165, 42 design teams, k = 5752 observations), we found design engineers’ perceptions of team positive safety climate were associated with less use of heuristics when engineers were not working to deadlines, but more use of heuristics when engineers were working to deadlines. Independent ratings were obtained of 31 teams’ designs of offshore oil and gas platforms (N = 121). For teams that worked infrequently to deadlines, positive team safety climate was associated with less design complexity. For teams that worked frequently to deadlines, positive team safety climate was associated with more design complexity

Detection of Visual Field Loss in Pituitary Disease: Peripheral Kinetic Versus Central Static.

Visual field assessment is an important clinical evaluation for eye disease and neurological injury. We evaluated Octopus semi-automated kinetic peripheral perimetry (SKP) and Humphrey static automated central perimetry for detection of neurological visual field loss in patients with pituitary disease. We carried out a prospective cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study comparing Humphrey central 30-2 SITA threshold programme with a screening protocol for SKP on Octopus perimetry. Humphrey 24-2 data were extracted from 30-2 results. Results were independently graded for presence/absence of field defect plus severity of defect. Fifty patients (100 eyes) were recruited (25 males and 25 females), with mean age of 52.4 years (SD = 15.7). Order of perimeter assessment (Humphrey/Octopus first) and order of eye tested (right/left first) were randomised. The 30-2 programme detected visual field loss in 85%, the 24-2 programme in 80%, and the Octopus combined kinetic/static strategy in 100% of eyes. Peripheral visual field loss was missed by central threshold assessment. Qualitative comparison of type of visual field defect demonstrated a match between Humphrey and Octopus results in 58%, with a match for severity of defect in 50%. Tests duration was 9.34 minutes (SD = 2.02) for Humphrey 30-2 versus 10.79 minutes (SD = 4.06) for Octopus perimetry. Octopus semi-automated kinetic perimetry was found to be superior to central static testing for detection of pituitary disease-related visual field loss. Where reliant on Humphrey central static perimetry, the 30-2 programme is recommended over the 24-2 programme. Where kinetic perimetry is available, this is preferable to central static programmes for increased detection of peripheral visual field loss