Development and optimization of a new suspension system for lower limb prosthesis

The increasing rate of lower limb amputations reinforces the need to develop a new suspension system that provides a better quality of life for the lower limb amputees. This study aimed to present a novel suspension system that improves amputee’s satisfaction in terms of donning and doffing process of the prosthetic lower limb. The design of the proposed suspension system was developed following the design methodology, to establish the amputee’s needs, objectives, functions, requirements and specifications in order to op-timize the final solution. The final solution is a combination of a guiding and fixation mechanisms that improve the donning and doffing process by driv-ing the serrated pin to the fixation system. The proposed suspension system is a good alternative to improve the quality of life of amputees with lower activity level on the daily basis.(undefined

The Timing of the Cognitive Cycle

We propose that human cognition consists of cascading cycles of recurring brain events. Each cognitive cycle senses the current situation, interprets it with reference to ongoing goals, and then selects an internal or external action in response. While most aspects of the cognitive cycle are unconscious, each cycle also yields a momentary “ignition” of conscious broadcasting. Neuroscientists have independently proposed ideas similar to the cognitive cycle, the fundamental hypothesis of the LIDA model of cognition. High-level cognition, such as deliberation, planning, etc., is typically enabled by multiple cognitive cycles. In this paper we describe a timing model LIDA's cognitive cycle. Based on empirical and simulation data we propose that an initial phase of perception (stimulus recognition) occurs 80–100 ms from stimulus onset under optimal conditions. It is followed by a conscious episode (broadcast) 200–280 ms after stimulus onset, and an action selection phase 60–110 ms from the start of the conscious phase. One cognitive cycle would therefore take 260–390 ms. The LIDA timing model is consistent with brain evidence indicating a fundamental role for a theta-gamma wave, spreading forward from sensory cortices to rostral corticothalamic regions. This posteriofrontal theta-gamma wave may be experienced as a conscious perceptual event starting at 200–280 ms post stimulus. The action selection component of the cycle is proposed to involve frontal, striatal and cerebellar regions. Thus the cycle is inherently recurrent, as the anatomy of the thalamocortical system suggests. The LIDA model fits a large body of cognitive and neuroscientific evidence. Finally, we describe two LIDA-based software agents: the LIDA Reaction Time agent that simulates human performance in a simple reaction time task, and the LIDA Allport agent which models phenomenal simultaneity within timeframes comparable to human subjects. While there are many models of reaction time performance, these results fall naturally out of a biologically and computationally plausible cognitive architecture

Mucosal Healing in Ulcerative Colitis: A Comprehensive Review

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by periods of remission and periods of relapse. Patients often present with symptoms such as rectal bleeding, diarrhea and weight loss, and may require hospitalization and even colectomy. Long-term complications of UC include decreased quality of life and productivity and an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Mucosal healing (MH) has gained progressive importance in the management of UC patients. In this article, we review the endoscopic findings that define both mucosal injury and MH, and the strengths and limitations of the scoring systems currently available in clinical practice. The basic mechanisms behind colonic injury and MH are covered, highlighting the pathways through which different drugs exert their effect towards reducing inflammation and promoting epithelial repair. A comprehensive review of the evidence for approved drugs for UC to achieve and maintain MH is provided, including a section on the pharmacokinetics of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha drugs. Currently approved drugs with proven efficacy in achieving MH in UC include salicylates, corticosteroids (induction only), calcineurin inhibitors (induction only), thiopurines, vedolizumab and anti-TNF alpha drugs (infliximab, adalimumab, and golimumab). MH is of crucial relevance in the outcomes of UC, resulting in lower incidences of clinical relapse, the need for hospitalization and surgery, as well as reduced rates of dysplasia and colorectal cancer. Finally, we present recent evidence towards the need for a more strict definition of complete MH as the preferred endpoint for UC patients, using a combination of both endoscopic and histological findings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The “conscious pilot”—dendritic synchrony moves through the brain to mediate consciousness

Cognitive brain functions including sensory processing and control of behavior are understood as “neurocomputation” in axonal–dendritic synaptic networks of “integrate-and-fire” neurons. Cognitive neurocomputation with consciousness is accompanied by 30- to 90-Hz gamma synchrony electroencephalography (EEG), and non-conscious neurocomputation is not. Gamma synchrony EEG derives largely from neuronal groups linked by dendritic–dendritic gap junctions, forming transient syncytia (“dendritic webs”) in input/integration layers oriented sideways to axonal–dendritic neurocomputational flow. As gap junctions open and close, a gamma-synchronized dendritic web can rapidly change topology and move through the brain as a spatiotemporal envelope performing collective integration and volitional choices correlating with consciousness. The “conscious pilot” is a metaphorical description for a mobile gamma-synchronized dendritic web as vehicle for a conscious agent/pilot which experiences and assumes control of otherwise non-conscious auto-pilot neurocomputation

Forty years of carabid beetle research in Europe - from taxonomy, biology, ecology and population studies to bioindication, habitat assessment and conservation

Volume: 100Start Page: 55End Page: 14

The Emergence of Emotions

Emotion is conscious experience. It is the affective aspect of consciousness. Emotion arises from sensory stimulation and is typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body. Hence an emotion is a complex reaction pattern consisting of three components: a physiological component, a behavioral component, and an experiential (conscious) component. The reactions making up an emotion determine what the emotion will be recognized as. Three processes are involved in generating an emotion: (1) identification of the emotional significance of a sensory stimulus, (2) production of an affective state (emotion), and (3) regulation of the affective state. Two opposing systems in the brain (the reward and punishment systems) establish an affective value or valence (stimulus-reinforcement association) for sensory stimulation. This is process (1), the first step in the generation of an emotion. Development of stimulus-reinforcement associations (affective valence) serves as the basis for emotion expression (process 2), conditioned emotion learning acquisition and expression, memory consolidation, reinforcement-expectations, decision-making, coping responses, and social behavior. The amygdala is critical for the representation of stimulus-reinforcement associations (both reward and punishment-based) for these functions. Three distinct and separate architectural and functional areas of the prefrontal cortex (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex) are involved in the regulation of emotion (process 3). The regulation of emotion by the prefrontal cortex consists of a positive feedback interaction between the prefrontal cortex and the inferior parietal cortex resulting in the nonlinear emergence of emotion. This positive feedback and nonlinear emergence represents a type of working memory (focal attention) by which perception is reorganized and rerepresented, becoming explicit, functional, and conscious. The explicit emotion states arising may be involved in the production of voluntary new or novel intentional (adaptive) behavior, especially social behavior

The atmospheric boundary layer over urban-like terrain: influence of the plan density on roughness sublayer dynamics

We investigate the effect of the packing density of cubical roughness elements on the characteristics of both the roughness sublayer and the overlying turbulent boundary layer, in the context of atmospheric flow over urban areas. This is based on detailed wind-tunnel hot-wire measurements of the streamwise velocity component with three wall-roughness configurations and two freestream flow speeds. The packing densities are chosen so as to obtain the three near-wall flow regimes observed in urban canopy flows, namely isolated-wake, wake-interference and skimming-flow regimes. Investigation of the wall-normal profiles of the one-point statistics up to third order demonstrates the impossibility of finding a unique set of parameters enabling the collapse of all configurations, except for the mean streamwise velocity component. However, spectral analysis of the streamwise velocity component provides insightful information. Using the temporal frequency corresponding to the peak in the pre-multiplied energy spectrum as an indicator of the most energetic flow structures at each wall-normal location, it is shown that three main regions exist, in which different scaling applies. Finally, scale decomposition reveals that the flow in the roughness sublayer results from a large-scale intrinsic component of the boundary layer combined with canopy-induced dynamics. Their relative importance plays a key role in the energy distribution and influences the near-canopy flow regime and its dynamics, therefore suggesting complex interactions between the near-wall scales and those from the overlying boundary layer

Business groups and corporate responsibility for the public good

This paper analyses the relationship between Business Groups as a distinct way of organizing economic activities and their relation to the public good. We first analyze the phenomenon of Business Groups and discuss some of their core features. Subsequently, the paper moves to analyzing the existing literature on Business Groups and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as the most common label for the topic of this Special Issue. Subsequently, specific peculiarities of Business Groups in the context of CSR and their contribution to the public good are fleshed out. Based on this analysis, the paper delineates some implications for the field of CSR and the wider debate on the nature of the firm. We close with some perspectives for future research

Flow dynamics in the roughness sublayer of atmospheric boundary layers

The present work investigates the influence of the packing density (λ p ) of a cube-based canopy on the interaction between the most energetic structures of both the logarithmic layer and the roughness sublayer of an atmospheric boundary layer. Analysis of one- and two-point hot-wire anemometry measurements shows that increasing λ p leads to a change in the near-canopy flow regime for which the coherent structures from the outer layer dominate