Feasibility of a second iteration wrist and hand supported training system for self-administered training at home in chronic stroke

Telerehabilitation allows continued rehabilitation at home after discharge. The use of rehabilitation technology supporting wrist and hand movements within a motivational gaming environment could enable patients to train independently and ultimately serve as a way to increase the dosage of practice. This has been previously examined in the European SCRIPT project using a first prototype, showing potential feasibility, although several usability issues needed further attention. The current study examined feasibility and clinical changes of a second iteration training system, involving an updated wrist and hand supporting orthosis and larger variety of games with respect to the first iteration. Nine chronic stroke patients with impaired arm and hand function were recruited to use the training system at home for six weeks. Evaluation of feasibility and arm and hand function were assessed before and after training. Median weekly training duration was 113 minutes. Participants accepted the six weeks of training (median Intrinsic Motivation Inventory = 4.4 points and median System Usability Scale = 73%). After training, significant improvements were found for the Fugl Meyer assessment, Action Research Arm Test and self-perceived amount of arm and hand use in daily life. These findings indicate that technology-supported arm and hand training can be a promising tool for self-administered practice at home after stroke.Final Accepted Versio

Design and characterization of dielectric filled TM110_{110} microwave cavities for ultrafast electron microscopy

Microwave cavities oscillating in the TM$_{110}$ mode can be used as dynamic electron-optical elements inside an electron microscope. By filling the cavity with a dielectric material it becomes more compact and power efficient, facilitating the implementation in an electron microscope. However, the incorporation of the dielectric material makes the manufacturing process more difficult. Presented here are the steps taken to characterize the dielectric material, and to reproducibly fabricate dielectric filled cavities. Also presented are two versions with improved capabilities. The first, called a dual-mode cavity, is designed to support two modes simultaneously. The second has been optimized for low power consumption. With this optimized cavity a magnetic field strength of 2.84 $\pm$ 0.07 mT was generated at an input power of 14.2 $\pm$ 0.2 W. Due to the low input powers and small dimensions, these dielectric cavities are ideal as electron-optical elements for electron microscopy setups

The dynamic exponent of the Ising model on negatively curved surfaces

We investigate the dynamic critical exponent of the two-dimensional Ising model defined on a curved surface with constant negative curvature. By using the short-time relaxation method, we find a quantitative alteration of the dynamic exponent from the known value for the planar Ising model. This phenomenon is attributed to the fact that the Ising lattices embedded on negatively curved surfaces act as ones in infinite dimensions, thus yielding the dynamic exponent deduced from mean field theory. We further demonstrate that the static critical exponent for the correlation length exhibits the mean field exponent, which agrees with the existing results obtained from canonical Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures. to appear in J. Stat. Mec

Putting the Phytophthora infestans genome sequence at work: multiple novel avirulence and potato resistance gene candidates revealed

Individual variation in milk yield response to concentrate intake and milking interval length During the last century in the Netherlands milk production per cow has almost tripled. Accordingly, the amount of concentrates yearly fed per cow strongly increased. Furthermore, automation and robotisation has changed dairy management, especially by the introduction of automatic concentrate feeders and milking systems. A new management concept, emerging in the last decades, is Precision Livestock Farming (PLF). The objective of PLF is to optimize livestock production, by on-line monitoring and control of the production process, utilizing the technical possibilities of automation and robotisation. Nowadays, individual settings for daily concentrate supply and milking frequency are based on standards, ignoring individual variation in milk yield response on concentrate intake and milking frequency. This leads to the main hypothesis for this thesis research that profitability of dairy farming can be improved by utilizing information on individual variation in response. The first objective of this research was to quantify the individual variation in milk yield response to concentrate intake and milking interval length, in order to assess the economic prospects of applying individual optimal settings for concentrate supply and milking frequency. In the first observational study (Ch. 2), data from 299 cows on four farms in the first 3 weeks of the lactation were collected. Individual response in daily milk yield to concentrate intake was analysed by a random coefficient model. During the first three weeks of lactation, considerable variation in individual milk yield response to concentrate intake was found on all four farms. An economic simulation was carried out, based on the estimated parameter values in the observational study. Individual economically optimized settings for concentrate supply were compared with conventional strategies for concentrate supply based on averaged population response parameters. Applying individual economic optimal settings for concentrate supply during early lactation, potential economic gain ranges from 0.20 to 2.03 €/cow/day. In a second observational study (Ch.3), data of normal uninterrupted milkings during one week from 311 cows kept in 5 separate herds on one farm were collected. The data set consisted of 4,915 records and random coefficient models were fitted to estimate the individual effects of milking interval on daily milk yield and milking duration. Between individuals, considerable variation in milk yield and milking duration was found in response to milking interval. Based on the estimated individual response, a simulation was carried out in order to optimize the utilization of an AMS for different herd sizes and occupation rates. Applying optimal individual milking intervals for a herd of 60 cows and an AMS operating at an occupation rate of 64%, the average milking interval reduced from 0.421 day to 0.400 day, the daily milk yield at the herd level increased from 1,883 to 1,909 kg/day, and milk revenues increased from 498 to 507 €/day. In the actual situation, the herd consisted of 60 cows. A further increase of daily milk revenues per AMS was possible by increasing the operation rate and/or herd size. The conclusion is that between dairy cows there is a considerable variation in effects of concentrate intake and milking interval length on milk yield and, consequently, milking duration. A marked increase in economic profits of dairy production is possible by improvement of the concentrate allocation and/or the utilisation of an AMS, applying optimal individual settings based on the actual individual response in milk yield. Development of adaptive models The second objective was the development and testing of adaptive models for on-line estimation of the actual individual response in milk yield to concentrate intake and milking interval length. In Ch. 4 adaptive dynamic models for on-line estimation of the actual individual milk yield response to concentrate intake and milking interval length were evaluated. The parameters in these models may change over time and are updated through a Bayesian approach for on-line analysis of time series. Time series data of daily milk yield during the first 200 days of lactation from 17 cows were analysed with different adaptive dynamic models. Three models were evaluated: a model with linear terms for concentrate intake and length of milking interval, a model with linear and quadratic terms, and an enhanced model in order to obtain more stable parameter estimates. The linear model was only useful for forecasting milk production and the estimated parameters of the quadratic model turned out to be unstable. The parsimony of the enhanced model lead to far more stable parameter estimates. In Ch. 5 an adaptive dynamic model was used for time series analysis of herd mean daily milk yield, in order to quantify the impact of heat stress and to assess the potential for monitoring and control of milk production. Time series data of daily milk yield from 2003 to 2006 were collected on six experimental research farms in The Netherlands. The impact of heat stress was quantified in terms of critical temperature, duration and loss in milk yield. The estimated critical temperature was 17.8 oC, the duration was 5.5 days, and loss in milk yield 31.4 kg milk/cow/year, averaged over farms. Besides estimation of the impact of heat stress, level and trend, including a weekly cyclical pattern were estimated to evaluate the production process. The Bayesian approach for on-line analysis of time series comprises also a procedure for the detection of potential outliers and other deteriorations that might be promising for monitoring the production process. Outliers and other process deteriorations are adequately detected by this monitoring procedure. The conclusion is that on-line estimation of the actual individual response in milk yield and milking duration is possible following a Bayesian approach for time series using an adaptive dynamic model. Besides estimation of the actual response the Bayesian approach adequately detects process deteriorations. Therefore, adaptive dynamic models provide a useful tool for control and monitoring of the dairy production process. </p

Hyperbolic Deformation on Quantum Lattice Hamiltonians

A group of non-uniform quantum lattice Hamiltonians in one dimension is introduced, which is related to the hyperbolic $1 + 1$-dimensional space. The Hamiltonians contain only nearest neighbor interactions whose strength is proportional to $\cosh j \lambda$, where $j$ is the lattice index and where $\lambda \ge 0$ is a deformation parameter. In the limit $\lambda \to 0$ the Hamiltonians become uniform. Spacial translation of the deformed Hamiltonians is induced by the corner Hamiltonians. As a simple example, we investigate the ground state of the deformed $S = 1/2$ Heisenberg spin chain by use of the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method. It is shown that the ground state is dimerized when $\lambda$ is finite. Spin correlation function show exponential decay, and the boundary effect decreases with increasing $\lambda$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

SolRgene: an online database to explore disease resistance genes in tuber-bearing Solanum species

Background The cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important food crop, but highly susceptible to many pathogens. The major threat to potato production is the Irish famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans, which causes the devastating late blight disease. Potato breeding makes use of germplasm from wild relatives (wild germplasm) to introduce resistances into cultivated potato. The Solanum section Petota comprises tuber-bearing species that are potential donors of new disease resistance genes. The aim of this study was to explore Solanum section Petota for resistance genes and generate a widely accessible resource that is useful for studying and implementing disease resistance in potato. Description The SolRgene database contains data on resistance to P. infestans and presence of R genes and R gene homologues in Solanum section Petota. We have explored Solanum section Petota for resistance to late blight in high throughput disease tests under various laboratory conditions and in field trials. From resistant wild germplasm, segregating populations were generated and assessed for the presence of resistance genes. All these data have been entered into the SolRgene database. To facilitate genetic and resistance gene evolution studies, phylogenetic data of the entire SolRgene collection are included, as well as a tool for generating phylogenetic trees of selected groups of germplasm. Data from resistance gene allele-mining studies are incorporated, which enables detection of R gene homologs in related germplasm. Using these resources, various resistance genes have been detected and some of these have been cloned, whereas others are in the cloning pipeline. All this information is stored in the online SolRgene database, which allows users to query resistance data, sequences, passport data of the accessions, and phylogenic classifications. Conclusion Solanum section Petota forms the basis of the SolRgene database, which contains a collection of resistance data of an unprecedented size and precision. Complemented with R gene sequence data and phylogenetic tools, SolRgene can be considered the primary resource for information on R genes from potato and wild tuber-bearing relatives

Phase Transition of the Ising model on a Hyperbolic Lattice

The matrix product structure is considered on a regular lattice in the hyperbolic plane. The phase transition of the Ising model is observed on the hyperbolic $(5, 4)$ lattice by means of the corner-transfer-matrix renormalization group (CTMRG) method. Calculated correlation length is always finite even at the transition temperature, where mean-field like behavior is observed. The entanglement entropy is also always finite.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Periodic boundary conditions on the pseudosphere

We provide a framework to build periodic boundary conditions on the pseudosphere (or hyperbolic plane), the infinite two-dimensional Riemannian space of constant negative curvature. Starting from the common case of periodic boundary conditions in the Euclidean plane, we introduce all the needed mathematical notions and sketch a classification of periodic boundary conditions on the hyperbolic plane. We stress the possible applications in statistical mechanics for studying the bulk behavior of physical systems and we illustrate how to implement such periodic boundary conditions in two examples, the dynamics of particles on the pseudosphere and the study of classical spins on hyperbolic lattices.Comment: 30 pages, minor corrections, accepted to J. Phys.

An Intersecting Loop Model as a Solvable Super Spin Chain

In this paper we investigate an integrable loop model and its connection with a supersymmetric spin chain. The Bethe Ansatz solution allows us to study some properties of the ground state. When the loop fugacity $q$ lies in the physical regime, we conjecture that the central charge is $c=q-1$ for $q$ integer $< 2$. Low-lying excitations are examined, supporting a superdiffusive behavior for $q=1$. We argue that these systems are interesting examples of integrable lattice models realizing $c \leq 0$ conformal field theories.Comment: latex file, 7 page

Geometric effects on critical behaviours of the Ising model

We investigate the critical behaviour of the two-dimensional Ising model defined on a curved surface with a constant negative curvature. Finite-size scaling analysis reveals that the critical exponents for the zero-field magnetic susceptibility and the correlation length deviate from those for the Ising lattice model on a flat plane. Furthermore, when reducing the effects of boundary spins, the values of the critical exponents tend to those derived from the mean field theory. These findings evidence that the underlying geometric character is responsible for the critical properties the Ising model when the lattice is embedded on negatively curved surfaces.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge