Representing and Capturing the Experts´ Knowledge in a Design Process

An object-oriented framework to support the modeling and management of the design process is introduced. It naturally integrates the representation of both the design process itself, and the outcomes that are achieved as the result of the various design activities. The integral view of tracing that was adopted not only captures and manages the products being generated but also the activities that occurred, their associated context and the adopted decisions. The Version Administration System introduced in this paper provides an explicit mechanism to manage the different model versions being generated during the course of a design project as design activities are executed.Fil: Gonnet, Silvio Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Leone, Horacio Pascual. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Henning, Gabriela Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; Argentin

Language Acquisition: Do as You Hear

AbstractIt is not uncommon to recognize a specific action by the sound it creates. Neurons have been discovered in monkey premotor cortex that may contribute to this ability; they respond to both performing an action and hearing its action-related sound, and may be critical for communicating with others, learning gestures and even acquiring language

Modulation of premotor mirror neuron activity during observation of unpredictable grasping movements

Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, we explored the properties of premotor mirror neurons during the passive observation of a reaching-grasping movement in human subjects. Two different experiments were run using video-clips as visual stimuli. Video-clips showed a normally performed (control stimulus) or an anomalous reaching-grasping movement executed by delaying the time of the appearance of the maximal finger aperture (experiment 1), or substituting it with an unpredictable closure (experiment 2). Motor evoked potentials were recorded at different time-points during the observation of the video-clips. Profiles of cortical excitability were drawn and compared with the kinematic profiles of the corresponding movement. Passive observation of the natural movement evoked a profile of cortical excitability that is in concordance with the timing of the kinematic profile of the shown finger movements. Observation of the uncommon movements did not exert any modulation (experiment 1) or evoked an activity that matched, at the beginning, the modulation obtained with observation of the natural movement (experiment 2). Results show that the resonant motor plan is loaded as whole at the beginning of observation and once started tends to proceed to its completion regardless of changes to the visual cues. The results exclude the possibility of a temporal fragmentation of the resonant plan, because activation of different populations of mirror neurons for each phase of the ongoing action. They further support the notion of the role of the mirror system as neural substrate for the observing-execution matching system and extend the current knowledge regarding mechanisms that trigger the internal representation of an action

Release of premotor activity after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of prefrontal cortex

In the present study we aimed to explore by means of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) the reciprocal influences between prefrontal cortex (PFC) and premotor cortex (PMC). Subjects were asked to observe on a computer monitor different pictures representing manipulations of different kind of tools. They had to produce a movement (go condition) or to keep the resting position (no-go condition) at the appearance of different cue signals represented by different colors shown alternatively on the hands manipulating the tools or on the picture background. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were collected at the offset of the visual stimuli before and after a 10 minute, 1 Hz rTMS train applied to the dorsolateral PFC (Experiment 1), to the PMC (Experiment 2) or to the primary motor cortex (Experiment 3). Following rTMS to the PFC, MEPs increased in the go condition when the cue for the go command was presented on the hand. In contrast, following rTMS to the PMC, in the same condition, MEPs were decreased. rTMS to the primary motor cortex did not produce any modulation. Results are discussed according to the presence of a visual-motor matching system in the PMC and to the role of the PFC in the attention-related processes. We hypothesize that the perceptual analysis for action selection within the PFC was modulated by rTMS and its temporary functional inactivation in turn influenced the premotor areas for motor programming

Composability model in a distributed simulation environment for supply chain

Distributed simulation becomes popular through the use of HLA standard and the necessity of sharing resources. Nevertheless, composability of model is still a problem to overcome. Many solutions propose the use of ontology and SOA architectures in the context of distributed simulation. This work presents a solution to compose simulation models in the context of supply chain simulation. The proposal presents a network ontology that conceptualizes different aspect to taking into account when a federation for supply chain is developed.Fil: Gutierrez, Maria del Milagro. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Centro de Investigacion y Desarrollo de Ingenieria en Sistemas de Informacion; ArgentinaFil: Leone, Horacio Pascual. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); Argentin

Assessing brain plasticity across the lifespan with transcranial magnetic stimulation: why, how, and what is the ultimate goal?

Sustaining brain and cognitive function across the lifespan must be one of the main biomedical goals of the twenty-first century. We need to aim to prevent neuropsychiatric diseases and, thus, to identify and remediate brain and cognitive dysfunction before clinical symptoms manifest and disability develops. The brain undergoes a complex array of changes from developmental years into old age, putatively the underpinnings of changes in cognition and behavior throughout life. A functionally “normal” brain is a changing brain, a brain whose capacity and mechanisms of change are shifting appropriately from one time-point to another in a given individual's life. Therefore, assessing the mechanisms of brain plasticity across the lifespan is critical to gain insight into an individual's brain health. Indexing brain plasticity in humans is possible with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which, in combination with neuroimaging, provides a powerful tool for exploring local cortical and brain network plasticity. Here, we review investigations to date, summarize findings, and discuss some of the challenges that need to be solved to enhance the use of TMS measures of brain plasticity across all ages. Ultimately, TMS measures of plasticity can become the foundation for a brain health index (BHI) to enable objective correlates of an individual's brain health over time, assessment across diseases and disorders, and reliable evaluation of indicators of efficacy of future preventive and therapeutic interventions

Reliability of Resting-State Microstate Features in Electroencephalography

Background: Electroencephalographic (EEG) microstate analysis is a method of identifying quasi-stable functional brain states (“microstates”) that are altered in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, suggesting their potential use as biomarkers of neurophysiological health and disease. However, use of EEG microstates as neurophysiological biomarkers requires assessment of the test-retest reliability of microstate analysis. Methods: We analyzed resting-state, eyes-closed, 30-channel EEG from 10 healthy subjects over 3 sessions spaced approximately 48 hours apart. We identified four microstate classes and calculated the average duration, frequency, and coverage fraction of these microstates. Using Cronbach's α and the standard error of measurement (SEM) as indicators of reliability, we examined: (1) the test-retest reliability of microstate features using a variety of different approaches; (2) the consistency between TAAHC and k-means clustering algorithms; and (3) whether microstate analysis can be reliably conducted with 19 and 8 electrodes. Results: The approach of identifying a single set of “global” microstate maps showed the highest reliability (mean Cronbach's α>0.8, SEM ≈10% of mean values) compared to microstates derived by each session or each recording. There was notably low reliability in features calculated from maps extracted individually for each recording, suggesting that the analysis is most reliable when maps are held constant. Features were highly consistent across clustering methods (Cronbach's α>0.9). All features had high test-retest reliability with 19 and 8 electrodes. Conclusions: High test-retest reliability and cross-method consistency of microstate features suggests their potential as biomarkers for assessment of the brain's neurophysiological health