Brain-machine interfaces for rehabilitation in stroke: A review

BACKGROUND: Motor paralysis after stroke has devastating consequences for the patients, families and caregivers. Although therapies have improved in the recent years, traditional rehabilitation still fails in patients with severe paralysis. Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) have emerged as a promising tool to guide motor rehabilitation interventions as they can be applied to patients with no residual movement. OBJECTIVE: This paper reviews the efficiency of BMI technologies to facilitate neuroplasticity and motor recovery after stroke. METHODS: We provide an overview of the existing rehabilitation therapies for stroke, the rationale behind the use of BMIs for motor rehabilitation, the current state of the art and the results achieved so far with BMI-based interventions, as well as the future perspectives of neural-machine interfaces. RESULTS: Since the first pilot study by Buch and colleagues in 2008, several controlled clinical studies have been conducted, demonstrating the efficacy of BMIs to facilitate functional recovery in completely paralyzed stroke patients with noninvasive technologies such as the electroencephalogram (EEG). CONCLUSIONS: Despite encouraging results, motor rehabilitation based on BMIs is still in a preliminary stage, and further improvements are required to boost its efficacy. Invasive and hybrid approaches are promising and might set the stage for the next generation of stroke rehabilitation therapies.This study was funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung BMBF MOTORBIC (FKZ13GW0053)andAMORSA(FKZ16SV7754), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the fortüne-Program of the University of Tübingen (2422-0-0 and 2452-0-0), and the Basque GovernmentScienceProgram(EXOTEK:KK2016/00083). NIL was supported by the Basque Government’s scholarship for predoctoral students

Software-driven definition of virtual testbeds to validate emergent network technologies

This paper is an extended version of our paper published in XIII Jornadas de Ingeniería Telemática (JITEL 2017), Valencia, Spain, 27–29 September 2017, “Definición de Testbeds Virtualizados Utilizando Perfiles de Actividad de Red”The lack of privileged access to emergent and operational deployments is one of the key matters during validation and testing of novel telecommunication systems and technologies. This matter jeopardizes the repeatability of experiments, which results in burdens for innovation and research in these areas. In this light, we present a method and architecture to make the software-driven definition of virtual testbeds easier. As distinguishing features, our proposal can mimic operational deployments by using high-dimensional activity patterns. These activity patterns shape the effect of a control module that triggers agents for the generation of network traffic. This solution exploits the capabilities of network emulation and virtualization systems, which nowadays can be easily deployed in commodity servers. With this, we accomplish a reproducible definition of realistic experimental conditions and the introduction of real agent implementations in a cost-effective fashion. We evaluate our solution in a case study that is comprised of the validation of a network-monitoring tool for Voice over IP (VoIP) deployments. Our experimental results support the viability of the method and illustrate how this formulation can improve the experimentation in emergent technologies.This work has been partially funded by the SpanishMinistry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund under the projects TRÁFICA (MINECO/FEDER TEC2015-69417-C2-1-R) and RACING DRONES (MINECO/FEDER RTC-2016-4744-7

Pattern formation in a predator-prey system characterized by a spatial scale of interaction

We describe pattern formation in ecological systems using a version of the classical Lotka-Volterra model characterized by a spatial scale which controls the predator-prey interaction range. Analytical and simulational results show that patterns can emerge in some regions of the parameters space where the instability is driven by the range of the interaction. The individual-based implementation captures realistic ecological features. In fact, spatial structures emerge in an erratic oscillatory regime which can contemplate predators' extinction.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Efecto de la inclusión en el pienso de un biosurfactante sobre los resultados productivos y calidad de la canal de cerdos de cebo

El objetivo primordial de la utilización de emulsiones en ganadería es, mediante una mejora de los resultados productivos, reducir el coste de alimentación que, como es sabido, supone una fracción importante del coste total de los diversos segmentos productivos de aves y cerdos. Diversos experimentos han observado efectos positivos de la inclusión de emulsionantes en el pienso en pollos (Maertens et al., 2015; Tahir et al., 2016), en lechones recién destetados (Xing et al., 2004; Price et al., 2014) y en cerdos en crecimiento(Dierick y Decuypere, 2004)

A sequence stratigraphic based geological model for constraining hydrogeological modeling in the urbanized area of the Quaternary Besòs delta (NW Mediterranean coast, Spain)

The Quaternary Besòs delta is located on the Mediterranean coast in NE Spain. The Besòs Delta Complex includes 3 aquifers constituted by 3 sandy and gravelly bodies, separated by lutitic units. These aquifers supply water for domestic and industrial use in this area. Management of groundwater has been problematic in the Besòs delta since the 1960s, and continues to pose major problems for subsurface engineering works in this highly urbanized region. This study seeks to demonstrate the advantages of detailed geological characterization and modeling for designing and constructing a hydrogeological model. Available information of the subsurface was compiled, integrated and homogenized in a geospatial database. The interpretation of these data enabled us to delimit geological units by means of a sequence stratigraphic subdivision. A three-dimensional facies belt-based model of the Besòs delta was built on the basis of this geological characterization. This model was used to constrain the distribution of hydraulic parameters and thus to obtain a consistent hydrogeological model of the delta, which was calibrated by data of water management and production over the last hundred years. The resulting hydrogeological model yielded new insights into water front displacements in the aquifer during the time-span considered, improving predictions in an attempt to optimize aquifer management

Estimation of the parameters of token-buckets in multi-hop environments

Bandwidth verification in shaping scenarios receives much attention of both operators and clients because of its impact on Quality of Service (QoS). As a result, measuring shapers’ parameters, namely the Committed Information Rate (CIR), Peak Information Rate (PIR) and Maximum Burst Size (MBS), is a relevant issue when it comes to assess QoS. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm, TBCheck, which serves to accurately measure such parameters with minimal intrusiveness. These measurements are the cornerstone for the validation of Service Level Agreements (SLA) with multiple shaping elements along an end-to-end path. As a further outcome of this measurement method, we define a formal taxonomy of multi-hop shaping scenarios. A thorough performance evaluation covering the latter taxonomy shows the advantages of TBCheck compared to other tools in the state of the art, yielding more accurate results even in the presence of cross-traffic. Additionally, our findings show that MBS estimation is unfeasible when the link load is high, regardless the measurement technique, because the token-bucket will always be empty. Consequently, we propose an estimation policy which maximizes the accuracy by measuring CIR during busy hours and PIR and MBS during off-peak hoursThis work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund under the project Tráfica (MINECO/FEDER TEC2015-69417-C2-1-R

Prótesis total de cadera con disco a compresión (PDC)

Se describe en este trabajo, un implante protésico total no cementado de cadera, sin anclaje intramedular. Se estudia la biomecánica de la articulación de la cadera, de los implantes endomedulares y se marcan las características de la prótesis PDC: transmisión de las fuerzas resultantes de la cadera directamente al hueso cortical media1 del cuello femoral y la ausencia de manipulación del canal medular. Por último se realiza una somera descripción de la técnica de implantación