2,501 research outputs found
Rehabilitative devices for a top-down approach
In recent years, neurorehabilitation has moved from a "bottom-up" to a "top down" approach. This change has also involved the technological devices developed for motor and cognitive rehabilitation. It implies that during a task or during therapeutic exercises, new "top-down" approaches are being used to stimulate the brain in a more direct way to elicit plasticity-mediated motor re-learning. This is opposed to "Bottom up" approaches, which act at the physical level and attempt to bring about changes at the level of the central neural system. Areas covered: In the present unsystematic review, we present the most promising innovative technological devices that can effectively support rehabilitation based on a top-down approach, according to the most recent neuroscientific and neurocognitive findings. In particular, we explore if and how the use of new technological devices comprising serious exergames, virtual reality, robots, brain computer interfaces, rhythmic music and biofeedback devices might provide a top-down based approach. Expert commentary: Motor and cognitive systems are strongly harnessed in humans and thus cannot be separated in neurorehabilitation. Recently developed technologies in motor-cognitive rehabilitation might have a greater positive effect than conventional therapies
Sensorized assessment of bilateral hand movements in patients with stroke driven by rhythmic auditory or visual-auditory stimulation
There is a growing body of literature about the efficacy in neurorehabilitation of the devices providing rhythmic auditory stimulations or visual-auditory stimulations, such as videogames, for guiding the patients' movements. Despite being presented as tools able to motivate patients, their efficacy was not been proven yet, probably due to the limited knowledge about the factors influencing the capability of patients to move the upper limbs following an external stimulus. In this study, we used a marker less system based on two infrared sensors to assess the kinematics of up and down in-phase and anti-phase bilateral hand oscillations synchronized or not with an external stimulus. A group of stroke survivors, one of age-matched healthy subjects and one of young healthy subjects were tested in three conditions: no stimulus, auditory stimulus, and video-auditory stimulus. Our results showed significant negative effects of visual-auditory stimulus in the frequency of movements (p = 0.001), and of auditory stimulus in their fluidity (p = 0.013). These results are conceivably related to the attentional overload required during the execution of bilateral movements driven by an external stimulus. However, a positive effect of external stimulus was found in increasing the range of movements of the less functional hand in all subjects (p = 0.023). These findings highlight as the type of stimulus may play a crucial role in the patient's performance with respect to movements that are not-externally driven
The colours of the Higgs boson: a study in creativity and science motivation among high-school students in Italy
AbstractWith the increasing shift from STEM to STEAM education, arts-based approaches to science teaching and learning are considered promising for aligning school science curricula with the development of twenty-first century skills, including creativity. Yet the impact of STEAM practices on student creativity and specifically on how the latter is associated with science learning outcomes have thus far received scarce empirical support. This paper contributes to this line of research by reporting on a two-wave quantitative study that examines the effect of a long-term STEAM intervention on two cognitive processes associated with creativity (act, flow) and their interrelationships with intrinsic and extrinsic components of science motivation. Using pre- and post-survey data from 175 high-school students in Italy, results show an overall positive effect of the intervention both on the act subscale of creativity and science career motivation, whereas a negative effect is found on self-efficacy. Gender differences in the above effects are also observed. Further, results provide support for the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between creativity and science career motivation. Implications for the design of STEAM learning environments are discussed
First experience in operating the population of the condition databases for the CMS experiment
Reliable population of the condition databases is critical for the correct
operation of the online selection as well as of the offline reconstruction and
analysis of data. We will describe here the system put in place in the CMS
experiment to populate the database and make condition data promptly available
both online for the high-level trigger and offline for reconstruction. The
system, designed for high flexibility to cope with very different data sources,
uses POOL-ORA technology in order to store data in an object format that best
matches the object oriented paradigm for \texttt{C++} programming language used
in the CMS offline software. In order to ensure consistency among the various
subdetectors, a dedicated package, PopCon (Populator of Condition Objects), is
used to store data online. The data are then automatically streamed to the
offline database hence immediately accessible offline worldwide. This mechanism
was intensively used during 2008 in the test-runs with cosmic rays. The
experience of this first months of operation will be discussed in detail.Comment: 15 pages, submitter to JOP, CHEP0
The CMS RPC gas gain monitoring system: an overview and preliminary results
The status of the CMS RPC Gas Gain Monitoring (GGM) system developed at the
Frascati Laboratory of INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) is reported
on. The GGM system is a cosmic ray telescope based on small RPC detectors
operated with the same gas mixture used by the CMS RPC system. The GGM gain and
efficiency are continuously monitored on-line, thus providing a fast and
accurate determination of any shift in working point conditions. The
construction details and the first result of GGM commissioning are described.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, uses lnfprepCMS.sty, presented by L. Benussi at
RPC07, Mumbai, INDIA 200
A new approach in modeling the response of RPC detectors
The response of RPC detectors is highly sensitive to environmental variables.
A novel approach is presented to model the response of RPC detectors in a
variety of experimental conditions. The algorithm, based on Artificial Neural
Networks, has been developed and tested on the CMS RPC gas gain monitoring
system during commissioning
A novel application of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors in MPGD
We present a novel application of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors in the
construction and characterisation of Micro Pattern Gaseous Detector (MPGD),
with particular attention to the realisation of the largest triple (Gas
electron Multiplier) GEM chambers so far operated, the GE1/1 chambers of the
CMS experiment at LHC. The GE1/1 CMS project consists of 144 GEM chambers of
about 0.5 m2 active area each, employing three GEM foils per chamber, to be
installed in the forward region of the CMS endcap during the long shutdown of
LHC in 2108-2019. The large active area of each GE1/1 chamber consists of GEM
foils that are mechanically stretched in order to secure their flatness and the
consequent uniform performance of the GE1/1 chamber across its whole active
surface. So far FBGs have been used in high energy physics mainly as high
precision positioning and re-positioning sensors and as low cost, easy to
mount, low space consuming temperature sensors. FBGs are also commonly used for
very precise strain measurements in material studies. In this work we present a
novel use of FBGs as flatness and mechanical tensioning sensors applied to the
wide GEM foils of the GE1/1 chambers. A network of FBG sensors have been used
to determine the optimal mechanical tension applied and to characterise the
mechanical tension that should be applied to the foils. We discuss the results
of the test done on a full-sized GE1/1 final prototype, the studies done to
fully characterise the GEM material, how this information was used to define a
standard assembly procedure and possible future developments.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, presented by Luigi Benussi at MPGD 2015 (Trieste,
Italy). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1512.0848
Operational experience with the GEM detector assembly lines for the CMS forward muon upgrade
The CMS Collaboration has been developing large-area triple-gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors to be installed in the muon Endcap regions of the CMS experiment in 2019 to maintain forward muon trigger and tracking performance at the High-Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC); 10 preproduction detectors were built at CERN to commission the first assembly line and the quality controls (QCs). These were installed in the CMS detector in early 2017 and participated in the 2017 LHC run. The collaboration has prepared several additional assembly and QC lines for distributed mass production of 160 GEM detectors at various sites worldwide. In 2017, these additional production sites have optimized construction techniques and QC procedures and validated them against common specifications by constructing additional preproduction detectors. Using the specific experience from one production site as an example, we discuss how the QCs make use of independent hardware and trained personnel to ensure fast and reliable production. Preliminary results on the construction status of CMS GEM detectors are presented with details of the assembly sites involvement
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