A Novel Cable-Driven Robotic Training Improves Locomotor Function in Individuals Post-Stroke

A novel cable-driven robotic gait training system has been tested to improve the locomotor function in individuals post stroke. Seven subjects with chronic stroke were recruited to participate in this 6 weeks robot-assisted treadmill training paradigm. A controlled assistance force was applied to the paretic leg at the ankle through a cable-driven robotic system. The force was applied from late stance to mid-swing during treadmill training. Body weight support was provided as necessary to prevent knee buckling or toe drag. Subjects were trained 3 times a week for 6 weeks. Overground gait speed, 6 minute walking distance, and balance were evaluated at pre, post 6 weeks robotic training, and at 8 weeks follow up. Significant improvements in gait speed and 6 minute walking distance were obtained following robotic treadmill training through a cable-driven robotic system. Results from this study indicate that it is feasible to improve the locomotor function in individuals post stroke through a flexible cable-driven robot

Picoheterotroph (Bacteria and Archaea) biomass distribution in the global ocean

We compiled a database of 39 766 data points consisting of flow cytometric and microscopical measurements of picoheterotroph abundance, including both Bacteria and Archaea. After gridding with 1° spacing, the database covers 1.3% of the ocean surface. There are data covering all ocean basins and depths except the Southern Hemisphere below 350m or from April until June. The average picoheterotroph biomass is 3.9 ± 3.6 µg Cl-1 with a 20-fold decrease between the surface and the deep sea. We estimate a total ocean inventory of about 1.3 × 1029 picoheterotroph cells. Surprisingly, the abundance in the coastal regions is the same as at the same depths in the open ocean. Using an average of published open ocean measurements for the conversion from abundance to carbon biomass of 9.1 fg cell-1, we calculate a picoheterotroph carbon inventory of about 1.2 Pg C. The main source of uncertainty in this inventory is the conversion factor from abundance to biomass. Picoheterotroph biomass is ? 2 times higher in the tropics than in the polar oceans

Phonon Band Structure and Thermal Transport Correlation in a Layered Diatomic Crystal

To elucidate the relationship between a crystal's structure, its thermal conductivity, and its phonon dispersion characteristics, an analysis is conducted on layered diatomic Lennard-Jones crystals with various mass ratios. Lattice dynamics theory and molecular dynamics simulations are used to predict the phonon dispersion curves and the thermal conductivity. The layered structure generates directionally dependent thermal conductivities lower than those predicted by density trends alone. The dispersion characteristics are quantified using a set of novel band diagram metrics, which are used to assess the contributions of acoustic phonons and optical phonons to the thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity increases as the extent of the acoustic modes increases, and decreases as the extent of the stop bands increases. The sensitivity of the thermal conductivity to the band diagram metrics is highest at low temperatures, where there is less anharmonic scattering, indicating that dispersion plays a more prominent role in thermal transport in that regime. We propose that the dispersion metrics (i) provide an indirect measure of the relative contributions of dispersion and anharmonic scattering to the thermal transport, and (ii) uncouple the standard thermal conductivity structure-property relation to that of structure-dispersion and dispersion-property relations, providing opportunities for better understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms and a potential tool for material design.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figure

Purification of Single-photon Entanglement

Single-photon entanglement is a simple form of entanglement that exists between two spatial modes sharing a single photon. Despite its elementary form, it provides a resource as useful as polarization-entangled photons and it can be used for quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping operations. Here, we report the first experiment where single-photon entanglement is purified with a simple linear-optics based protocol. Besides its conceptual interest, this result might find applications in long distance quantum communication based on quantum repeaters.Comment: Main article: 5 pages, 4 figure

Analysis of the Distribution and Molecular Heterogeneity of the ospD Gene among the Lyme Disease Spirochetes: Evidence for Lateral Gene Exchange

Analysis of the ospD gene has revealed that this gene is not universal among Lyme disease spirochete isolates. The gene was found to be carried by 90, 50, and 24% of the Borrelia garinii, B. afzelii, and B. burgdorferi isolates tested. Size variability in the ospD-encoding plasmid was also observed. Sequence analysis has demonstrated the presence of various numbers of a 17-bp repeated sequence in the upstream control (promoter) region of the gene. In addition, a region within the coding sequence where various insertions, deletions, and direct repeats occur was identified. ospD gene sequences from 31 different isolates were determined and utilized in pairwise sequence comparisons and construction of a gene tree. These analyses suggest that the ospD gene was the target of several recombinational events and that the gene was recently acquired by Lyme disease spirochetes and laterally transferred between species

X-Ray Generation from Metal Targets Coated with Wavelength-Scale Spheres

X-ray yield measurements from targets coated with wavelength-scale spheres are compared with measurements from polished targets. Evidence for a hotter resonant electron temperature due to field enhancements from Mie resonances in the spheres is investigated

An Efficient Home-Based Risk of Falling Assessment Test Based on Smartphone and Instrumented Insole

The aim of this study is to improve and facilitate the methods used to assess risk of falling among older people at home. We propose an automatic version of One-Leg Standing (OLS) test for risk of falling assessment by using a Smartphone and an instrumented insole. For better clinical assessment tests, this study focuses on exploring methods to combine the most important parameters of risk of falling into a single score. Twenty-three volunteers participated in this study for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed system which includes eleven elderly participants: seven healthy elderly (67.16 ± 4.24 years), four Parkinson disease (PD) subjects (70 ± 12.73 years); and twelve healthy young adults (28.27 ± 3.74 years). Our work suggests that there is an inverse relationship between OLS score proposed and risk of falling. Proposed instrumented insole and application running on Android could be useful at home as a diagnostic aid tool for analyzing the performance of elderly people in OLS test

Reaction time to vibrotactile messages on different types of soil

This study investigates the Reaction Time (RT) to vibrotactile messages presented under the foot plantar on different types of soil. We determine whether reaction time varies while walking on different types of soil (mobile situation). A total of six young participants (n=6) aged between 21 and 28 took part firstly in this study where they had to walk on five types of soil (concrete, carpet, foam, gravel, and sand). The methodology includes 360 repeated measures. The findings have consistently revealed a decrease of reaction time to vibrotactile messages when walking on the three deformable soils (foam, gravel, and sand)

Impact of auditory distractions on haptic messages presented under the foot

When compared to vision and audition, communication capabilities of the haptic channel remain underexploited. In this paper, we investigate the impact of auditory distractions on the learning of haptic messages presented under the foot plantar. From a set of six haptic messages that have been designed in order to be easily differentiable one from another, participants have to select four. With and without the presence of auditory distractions, we evaluate the completion time and the number of iteration required to reach an identification rate greater than 95%. For both measures, we observed that having auditory distractions was detrimental to the performances of users