11,252 research outputs found
Functional Electrical Stimulation mediated by Iterative Learning Control and 3D robotics reduces motor impairment in chronic stroke
Background: Novel stroke rehabilitation techniques that employ electrical stimulation (ES) and robotic technologies are effective in reducing upper limb impairments. ES is most effective when it is applied to support the patients’ voluntary effort; however, current systems fail to fully exploit this connection. This study builds on previous work using advanced ES controllers, and aims to investigate the feasibility of Stimulation Assistance through Iterative Learning (SAIL), a novel upper limb stroke rehabilitation system which utilises robotic support, ES, and voluntary effort. Methods: Five hemiparetic, chronic stroke participants with impaired upper limb function attended 18, 1 hour intervention sessions. Participants completed virtual reality tracking tasks whereby they moved their impaired arm to follow a slowly moving sphere along a specified trajectory. To do this, the participants’ arm was supported by a robot. ES, mediated by advanced iterative learning control (ILC) algorithms, was applied to the triceps and anterior deltoid muscles. Each movement was repeated 6 times and ILC adjusted the amount of stimulation applied on each trial to improve accuracy and maximise voluntary effort. Participants completed clinical assessments (Fugl-Meyer, Action Research Arm Test) at baseline and post-intervention, as well as unassisted tracking tasks at the beginning and end of each intervention session. Data were analysed using t-tests and linear regression. Results: From baseline to post-intervention, Fugl-Meyer scores improved, assisted and unassisted tracking performance improved, and the amount of ES required to assist tracking reduced. Conclusions: The concept of minimising support from ES using ILC algorithms was demonstrated. The positive results are promising with respect to reducing upper limb impairments following stroke, however, a larger study is required to confirm this
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Hearing through your eyes: modulation of the visually-evoked auditory response by transcranial electrical stimulation
A Semi-Empirical Potential for Simulations of Transition Metal Clusters: Minima and Isomers of Ni\u3csub\u3en\u3c/sub\u3e (n=2-13) and their Hydrides
A potential energy surface (PES)for bare, mono and di-hydrogenated nickel clusters is constructed using the extended-Hϋckel approximation. The parameters are optimized and good agreement with theoretical and experimental results is obtained without including a posteriori coordination dependent terms. The global minimum and the first few low-lying isomers of several nickel clusters are investigated using a variety of minimization techniques. The difference in energy between isomers is much smaller than the Ni-Ni dissociation energy. Both geometric and optical isomers are found for many cluster sizes. In some cases symmetric nuclear configurations give rise to orbital degeneracies in the adiabatic surface which lead to distortions. The hydrogen atom is most frequently found on the surface. All isomers of NinH2 contain a dissociated hydrogen molecule. The results are in good agreement with quantitative and qualitative experimental findings on this system
Observation of Magnetic Supercooling of the Transition to the Vortex State
We demonstrate that the transition from the high-field state to the vortex
state in a nanomagnetic disk shows the magnetic equivalent of supercooling.
This is evidence that this magnetic transition can be described in terms of a
modified Landau first-order phase transition. To accomplish this we have
measured the bulk magnetization of single magnetic disks using nanomechanical
torsional resonator torque magnetometry. This allows observation of single
vortex creation events without averaging over an array of disks or over
multiple runs.Comment: 11 pages preprint, 4 figures, accepted to New Journal of Physic
Zn-induced spin dynamics in overdoped LaSrCuZnO
Spin fluctuations and the local spin susceptibility in isovalently
Zn-substituted LaSrCuZnO (,
) are measured via inelastic neutron scattering techniques. As
Zn is substituted onto the Cu-sites, an anomalous enhancement of
the local spin susceptibility appears due to the
emergence of a commensurate antiferromagnetic excitation centered at wave
vector \textbf{Q} that coexists with the known incommensurate
SDW excitations at \textbf{Q}.
Our results support a picture of Zn-induced antiferromagnetic (AF) fluctuations
appearing through a local staggered polarization of Cu-spins, and the
simultaneous suppression of T as AF fluctuations are slowed in proximity to
Zn-impurities suggests the continued importance of high energy AF fluctuations
at the far overdoped edge of superconductivity in the cuprates.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
On the relation between effective supersymmetric actions in different dimensions
We make two remarks: (i) Renormalization of the effective charge in a
4--dimensional (supersymmetric) gauge theory is determined by the same graphs
and is rigidly connected to the renormalization of the metric on the moduli
space of the classical vacua of the corresponding reduced quantum mechanical
system. Supersymmetry provides constraints for possible modifications of the
metric, and this gives us a simple proof of nonrenormalization theorems for the
original 4-dimensional theory. (ii) We establish a nontrivial relationship
between the effective (0+1)-dimensional and (1+1)-dimensional Lagrangia (the
latter represent conventional
Kahlerian sigma models).Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
Keeping a Single Qubit Alive by Experimental Dynamic Decoupling
We demonstrate the use of dynamic decoupling techniques to extend the
coherence time of a single memory qubit by nearly two orders of magnitude. By
extending the Hahn spin-echo technique to correct for unknown, arbitrary
polynomial variations in the qubit precession frequency, we show analytically
that the required sequence of pi-pulses is identical to the Uhrig dynamic
decoupling (UDD) sequence. We compare UDD and CPMG sequences applied to a
single Ca-43 trapped-ion qubit and find that they afford comparable protection
in our ambient noise environment.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
^{17}O and ^{51}V NMR for the zigzag spin-1 chain compound CaV2O4
V NMR studies on CaV2O4 single crystals and O NMR studies on
O-enriched powder samples are reported. The temperature dependences of
the O NMR line width and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate give
strong evidence for a long-range antiferromagnetic transition at Tn = 78 K in
the powder. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that Tn = 69 K in the
crystals. A zero-field V NMR signal was observed at low temperatures (f
237 MHz at 4.2 K) in the crystals. The field swept spectra with the
field in different directions suggest the presence of two antiferromagnetic
substructures. Each substructure is collinear, with the easy axes of the two
substructures separated by an angle of 19(1) degree, and with their average
direction pointing approximately along the b-axis of the crystal structure. The
two spin substructures contain equal number of spins. The temperature
dependence of the ordered moment, measured up to 45 K, shows the presence of an
energy gap Eg in the antiferromagnetic spin wave excitation spectrum.
Antiferromagnetic spin wave theory suggests that Eg lies between 64 and 98 K.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures. v2: 2 new figures; version published in Phys.
Rev.
Selective Deuterium Ion Acceleration Using the Vulcan PW Laser
We report on the successful demonstration of selective acceleration of
deuterium ions by target-normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) with a high-energy
petawatt laser. TNSA typically produces a multi-species ion beam that
originates from the intrinsic hydrocarbon and water vapor contaminants on the
target surface. Using the method first developed by Morrison, et al., an
ion beam with 99 deuterium ions and peak energy 14 MeV/nucleon is
produced with a 200 J, 700 fs, laser pulse by cryogenically
freezing heavy water (DO) vapor onto the rear surface of the target prior
to the shot. Within the range of our detectors (0-8.5), we find
laser-to-deuterium-ion energy conversion efficiency of 4.3 above 0.7
MeV/nucleon while a conservative estimate of the total beam gives a conversion
efficiency of 9.4.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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