Myoelectrically controlled robotic system that provide voluntary mechanical help for persons after stroke

Author name used in this publication: R. SongAuthor name used in this publication: K. Y. TongAuthor name used in this publication: X. L. HuRefereed conference paper2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

Salinity effect and seed priming treatments on the germination of Suaeda salsa in the tidal marsh of the Yellow River estuary

The effects of salinity and seed priming treatments (hydropriming, water, KNO3 and KH2PO3) on the germination of the euhalophyte Suaeda salsa in intertidal zone of the Yellow River estuary were investigated. Results show that the seed germination percentage decreased with increasing NaCl concentration, and at the high NaCl level (800 mM), the lowest germination percentage was recorded. At the low NaCl levels, the highest germination rate was observed on day two and the seedling length was promoted slightly. In contrast, the germination delayed and the seedling length decreased at the high salinity. According to the survival functions, we also found that, at the low salinity, the seeds germinated quickly at the initial days and then the germination rate decreased, while few seeds germinated at the initial days at the high salinity. From the results of germination percentage and seedling length, we found that the effect of Yellow river water on germination was similar to the 400 mM NaCl. For priming treatments, the hydropriming has no promotion to the seeds germination, but it promoted the seedling growth at the river water and 400 mM NaCl. Seeds primed with KNO3 could improve the germination at the low salinity, while priming with KH2PO4 could improve the seedling growth at the high salinity, indicating that seed priming with proper nutrient (N, P) solutions could improve the germination or seedling growth as the nutrient (N, P) availability in the soil of S. salsa marsh was very limited.Keywords: Suaeda salsa, germination, salinity, priming, Yellow River estuar

Accurate prediction of heat of formation by combining Hartree-Fock/density functional theory calculation with linear regression correction approach

A linear regression correction (LRC) approach was developed to account for the electron correlation energy missing in Hartree-Fock (HF) calculation. This method was applied to evaluate the standard heats of formation of 180 small-sized to medium-sized organic molecules at 298.15 K. The descriptors in the LRC scheme are the number of lone-pair electrons, bonding electrons and inner layer electrons in molecules, and the number of unpaired electrons in ground state atoms. It is observed that the large systematic deviations for the calculated heat of formation are reduced drastically, in particular, for the HF results.published_or_final_versio

Muscle synergies in chronic stroke during a robot-assisted wrist training

Author name used in this publication: X. L. HuAuthor name used in this publication: K. Y. TongAuthor name used in this publication: R. SongAuthor name used in this publication: K. H. LuiRefereed conference paper2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

A comparison between electromyography-driven robot and passive motion device on wrist rehabilitation for chronic stroke

Author name used in this publication: Hu, Xiao Ling.Author name used in this publication: Tong, Kai-yu.Author name used in this publication: Zheng, Xiu Juan.Author name used in this publication: Leung, Wallace W. F.2009-2010 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Highly localized interactions between sensory neurons and sprouting sympathetic fibers observed in a transgenic tyrosine hydroxylase reporter mouse

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sprouting of sympathetic fibers into sensory ganglia occurs in many preclinical pain models, providing a possible anatomical substrate for sympathetically enhanced pain. However, the functional consequences of this sprouting have been controversial. We used a transgenic mouse in which sympathetic fibers expressed green fluorescent protein, observable in live tissue. Medium and large diameter lumbar sensory neurons with and without nearby sympathetic fibers were recorded in whole ganglion preparations using microelectrodes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After spinal nerve ligation, sympathetic sprouting was extensive by 3 days. Abnormal spontaneous activity increased to 15% and rheobase was reduced. Spontaneously active cells had Aαβ conduction velocities but were clustered near the medium/large cell boundary. Neurons with sympathetic basket formations had a dramatically higher incidence of spontaneous activity (71%) and had lower rheobase than cells with no sympathetic fibers nearby. Cells with lower density nearby fibers had intermediate phenotypes. Immunohistochemistry of sectioned ganglia showed that cells surrounded by sympathetic fibers were enriched in nociceptive markers TrkA, substance P, or CGRP. Spontaneous activity began before sympathetic sprouting was observed, but blocking sympathetic sprouting on day 3 by cutting the dorsal ramus in addition to the ventral ramus of the spinal nerve greatly reduced abnormal spontaneous activity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The data suggest that early sympathetic sprouting into the sensory ganglia may have highly localized, excitatory effects. Quantitatively, neurons with sympathetic basket formations may account for more than half of the observed spontaneous activity, despite being relatively rare. Spontaneous activity in sensory neurons and sympathetic sprouting may be mutually re-enforcing.</p

Effect of a semiconductor electrode on the tunneling electroresistance in ferroelectric tunneling junction

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Complexity without chaos: Plasticity within random recurrent networks generates robust timing and motor control

It is widely accepted that the complex dynamics characteristic of recurrent neural circuits contributes in a fundamental manner to brain function. Progress has been slow in understanding and exploiting the computational power of recurrent dynamics for two main reasons: nonlinear recurrent networks often exhibit chaotic behavior and most known learning rules do not work in robust fashion in recurrent networks. Here we address both these problems by demonstrating how random recurrent networks (RRN) that initially exhibit chaotic dynamics can be tuned through a supervised learning rule to generate locally stable neural patterns of activity that are both complex and robust to noise. The outcome is a novel neural network regime that exhibits both transiently stable and chaotic trajectories. We further show that the recurrent learning rule dramatically increases the ability of RRNs to generate complex spatiotemporal motor patterns, and accounts for recent experimental data showing a decrease in neural variability in response to stimulus onset