Alterations in Cortical Sensorimotor Connectivity following Complete Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: A Prospective Resting-State fMRI Study

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated alterations during task-induced brain activation in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The interruption to structural integrity of the spinal cord and the resultant disrupted flow of bidirectional communication between the brain and the spinal cord might contribute to the observed dynamic reorganization (neural plasticity). However, the effect of SCI on brain resting-state connectivity patterns remains unclear. We undertook a prospective resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) study to explore changes to cortical activation patterns following SCI. With institutional review board approval, rs-fMRI data was obtained in eleven patients with complete cervical SCI (\u3e2 years post injury) and nine age-matched controls. The data was processed using the Analysis of Functional Neuroimages software. Region of interest (ROI) based analysis was performed to study changes in the sensorimotor network using pre- and post-central gyri as seed regions. Two-sampled t-test was carried out to check for significant differences between the two groups. SCI patients showed decreased functional connectivity in motor and sensory cortical regions when compared to controls. The decrease was noted in ipsilateral, contralateral, and interhemispheric regions for left and right precentral ROIs. Additionally, the left postcentral ROI demonstrated increased connectivity with the thalamus bilaterally in SCI patients. Our results suggest that cortical activation patterns in the sensorimotor network undergo dynamic reorganization following SCI. The presence of these changes in chronic spinal cord injury patients is suggestive of the inherent neural plasticity within the central nervous system

Evaluation of Whole-Brain Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Spinal Cord Injury - A Large-Scale Network Analysis Using Network Based Statistic

Large-scale network analysis characterizes the brain as a complex network of nodes and edges to evaluate functional connectivity patterns. The utility of graph-based techniques has been demonstrated in an increasing number of restingstate functional MRI (rs-fMRI) studies in the normal and diseased brain. However, to our knowledge, graph theory has not been used to study the reorganization pattern of resting-state brain networks in patients with traumatic complete spinal cord injury (SCI). In the present analysis, we applied a graph-theoretical approach to explore changes to global brain network architecture as a result of SCI. Fifteen subjects with chronic (\u3e 2 years) complete (American Spinal Injury Association [ASIA] A) cervical SCI and 15 neurologically intact controls were scanned using rs-fMRI. The data were preprocessed followed by parcellation of the brain into 116 regions of interest (ROI) or nodes. The average time series was extracted at each node, and correlation analysis was performed between every pair of nodes. A functional connectivity matrix for each subject was then generated. Subsequently, the matrices were averaged across groups, and network changes were evaluated between groups using the network-based statistic (NBS) method. Our results showed decreased connectivity in a subnetwork of the whole brain in SCI compared with control subjects. Upon further examination, increased connectivity was observed in a subnetwork of the sensorimotor cortex and cerebellum network in SCI. In conclusion, our findings emphasize the applicability of NBS to study functional connectivity architecture in diseased brain states. Further, we show reorganization of large-scale resting-state brain networks in traumatic SCI, with potential prognostic and therapeutic implications

A second generation of nonrepudiation protocols

A non-repudiation protocol from party S to party R performs two tasks. First, the protocol enables party S to send to party R some text x along with sufficient evidence (that can convince a judge) that x was indeed sent by S. Second, the protocol enables party R to receive text x from S and to send to S sufficient evidence (that can convince a judge) that x was indeed received by R. The first generation of non-repudiation protocols were published in the period 1996-2000. In this dissertation, we design a second generation of non-repudiation protocols that enjoy several interesting properties. First, we identify in this dissertation a special class of non-repudiation protocols, called two-phase protocols. The two parties, S and R, in each two-phase protocol execute the protocol as specified until one of the two parties receives its needed proof. Then and only then does this party refrain from sending any more message specified by the protocol because these messages only help the other party complete its proof. We show that the execution of each two-phase protocol is deterministic and does not require synchronized real-time clocks. We also show that each two-phase protocol needs to involve a trusted third party T beside the two original parties, S and R. Second, we show that if party R in a two-phase protocol has a real-time clock and knows an upper bound on the round trip delay from R to S and back to R, then the two-phase protocol does not need to involve a trusted third party T. Third, we design a non-repudiation protocol for transferring file F from a sender S to a receiver R over a cloud C. This protocol is designed such that there is no direct communication between parties S and R. Rather all communications between S and R are carried out through cloud C. In this protocol parties S and R do not need to store a local copy of file F and the proofs that are needed by the two parties S and R (the only copy of file F and the proofs is stored in cloud C). Fourth, we design a new non-repudiation protocol from S to R over C where some of the proofs stored in cloud C get lost. This new protocol has an interesting stabilization property which ensures that when some of the proofs get lost, and one party can get the needed proofs but the other party cannot get its needed proofs from cloud C, then eventually, neither party is able to receive its needed proofs from cloud C. Fifth, we design a non-repudiation protocol for transferring files from a sender S to a subset of potential receivers {R.1, R.2, ..., R.n} over a cloud C. The protocol guarantees that after each file F is transferred from sender S to a subset of the potential receivers, then (1) each receiver R.i in the subset ends up with a proof that file F was indeed sent by sender S to R.i, and (2) sender S ends up with a proof that file F was indeed received from S by each receiver R.i in the subset.Computer Science

Translating knowledge for action against stroke – using 5-minute videos for stroke survivors and caregivers to improve post-stroke outcomes: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (Movies4Stroke)

Participant timeline. (DOCX 48 kb

Parallel Computing in Java

The Java programming language and environment is inspiring new research activities in many areas of computing, of which parallel computing is one of the major interests. Parallel techniques are themselves finding new uses in cluster computing systems. Although there are excellent software tools for scheduling, monitoring and message-based programming on parallel clusters, these systems are not yet well integrated and do not provide very high-level parallel programming support. This research presents a number of issues which are considered to be key to the suitability of Java for HPC (High Performance Computing) applications and then explore the support for concurrency in the current Java 1.8 specification. We further present various relatively recent parallel Java models which support HPC for both shared and distributed memory programming paradigms. Finally, we attempt to evaluate the performance of discussed Java HPC models by comparing the same with the relative traditional native C implementations, where appropriate. The analysis of the results suggest that Java can achieve near similar performance to natively compiled languages, both for sequential and parallel applications, thus making it a viable alternative for HPC programming

Towards a Theory to Explain Prosocial Data Disclosure - An Explorative Investigation of the Antecedents of Infection Disclosure

The voluntary infection disclosure in contact-tracing applications is a prominent context where individuals disclose their data for the benefit of others, thereby demonstrating a form of prosocial behavior. Defining such distinct types of data disclosures as prosocial data disclosures, we propose that the often-implicit assumption in privacy research that individuals consider benefits and costs solely from a “self-focused” perspective, should be reassessed to develop a new theory to explain prosocial data disclosures. To advance our understanding of the antecedents of prosocial data disclosure, our explorative research consists of a structured literature review and two qualitative surveys among 318 users of a European contact-tracing application. Our results indicate that the antecedents of prosocial data disclosures are generally evaluated from both a “self-focused” and an “other-focused” perspective. Within the specific context of infection disclosures, the main drivers are other-focused benefits while self-focused benefits have almost no relevance

Marketing of Agricultural Crops in Rural Indian Economy: A Case Study

The marketing of agricultural crops plays an important role not only in stimulating production and consumption, but also in accelerating the pace of economic development. It is not only an economic link between the producers and consumers; it maintains a balance between demand and supply. Study examined the transaction of agricultural crops through rural markets and the price structure of different crops in rural markets of Ambedkarnagar District. It also highlighted the composition and structure of sellers and traders engaged in the marketing process. Local rural markets are the best option for the marginal and small farmers to dispose off their perishable surplus to get quick returns. Due to the lack of good infrastructural facilities in the study area, most of the farmers prefer local rural markets instead of going to the specialised markets or near-by town area. The variation in the transaction of agricultural produce is mainly due to a number of factors like higher market demand, accessibility, nature of produce, transportation facility, market-size, fair price, and so on. The average price of individual crop also varies from market to market due to the various socio-spatial factors. Keywords: Marketing, Agricultural crops, Rural economy, Rural market

Fixation of Mandibular Fractures- A Comparative Study Between 2.0 mm Locking Plates snd Screws and 2.5 mm Conventional Miniplates and Screws

Introduction; Fixation stability and occlusion are of atmost importance in the management of mandibular fractures. Locking plates (2mm) were introduced as internal fixators for achieving stability by locking the screw to the plate. The advantage of using locking plates was decreased amount of inflammatory response and decrease in the infection rate. Our aim was to compare the efficacy of 2mm locking plate and screw with 2.5mm conventional mini plates and screws in the treatment of mandibular fractures in the inter foraminal region and also to evaluate the fixation stability provided by these plates. Methods; 20 patients with mandible fractures were selected who required open reduction and internal fixation under general anesthesia were included in the study. 2mm locking plates and screws were used for fixation of linear fractions in the interforaminal region in 10 patients and 2.5mm mini plates and screws in 10 patients. The various parameters that were compared were fixation stability which included gap alignment after reduction and fixation. Occlusion was checked on the second day and at six weeks post operatively. Patients had a follow up of six weeks and complications if any were recorded Results; In our study it was found that the gap between the fractured fragments after fixation was reduced in the 2mm locking plate and screw system with better fixation stability when compared to mini plate group. Conclusion; So we safely conclude that locking plates and screw showed better results in comparison to miniplate in relation to their fixation stability and complication

Framing as an App-Design Measure to Nudge Users Toward Infection Disclosure in Contact-Tracing Applications

Contact-tracing applications are only effective in countering current and future pandemics when A) they are widely adopted, and B) users voluntarily disclose their infection to warn others. While much research has investigated how contact-tracing applications should be designed and promoted to motivate app-adoption, little is known about how to increase voluntary infection disclosures. To increase the voluntary infection disclosure among app-users, our joint research project with the core development team of a contact-tracing application, relied on the theory of message framing to investigate how to nudge users toward infection disclosure in contact-tracing applications. Based on a mixed method research design consisting of 15 workshops with the core development team of the contact-tracing application and a conjoint study among 139 users of a European contact-tracing application we show that message framing can be a useful approach to increase the voluntary infection disclosure in contact-tracing applications