Quantitative Risk Assessment of African Swine Fever Introduction into Spain by Legal Import of Live Pigs

African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating infectious disease of pigs that is threatening the global swine industry at present. The current spread of ASF in Europe and its recent incursion into Germany pose a serious risk to Spain, one of the world’s leading pig producers. A quantitative stochastic risk assessment model was developed to estimate the probability of ASF introduction into Spain via the legal import of live pigs. The results suggest a low annual probability of ASF introduction into Spain (1.07 × 10−4), the highest risk being concentrated in Central European countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg) during the months of April and February. The methods and results presented herein could contribute to improving prevention and control strategies and, ultimately, would help reduce the risk of ASF introduction into Spain.

Cosmopolitan Theory: Examining the (Dis-)location of Imagology

Being interdisciplinary, reflexive and analytical, theory has practical effects, questioning assumptions such as those related to discourse, meaning or identity, and exploring the circumstances in which texts are produced. It offers new conceptual tools and provides an argumentative method. Fields such as imagology have benefitted from the outset from the variety of theories reflecting the intellectual progress of their times, in particular in connection with the study of the relationship between Self and Other, thus providing new perspectives on the uses of preconceived ideas in artistic, written and visual, representations. In view of the current context of migratory flows and societal upheavals, it seems topical to examine the theories feeding the field of imagology today. Traditionally, history, psychology and sociology have proved instrumental in the building of essential notions pertaining to the sphere. More recently, studies have drawn on new approaches connected to reception, translation, gender and education studies, widening the imagological scope and its range of methodological tools. This article examines the nature of the imagological undertaking, its current spread worldwide, and shows how this comparative literary field upholds a cosmopolitan ethos.

Intra-Cochlear Current Spread Correlates with Speech Perception in Experienced Adult Cochlear Implant Users

Broader intra-cochlear current spread (ICCS) implies higher cochlear implant (CI) channel interactions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ICCS and speech intelligibility in experienced CI users. Using voltage matrices collected for impedance measurements, an individual exponential spread coefficient (ESC) was computed. Speech audiometry was performed to determine the intelligibility at 40 dB Sound Pressure Level (SPL) and the 50% speech reception threshold: I40 and SRT50 respectively. Correlations between ESC and either I40 or SRT50 were assessed. A total of 36 adults (mean age: 50 years) with more than 11 months (mean: 34 months) of CI experience were included. In the 21 subjects for whom all electrodes were active, ESC was moderately correlated with both I40 (r = −0.557, p = 0.009) and SRT50 (r = 0.569, p = 0.007). The results indicate that speech perception performance is negatively affected by the ICCS. Estimates of current spread at the closest vicinity of CI electrodes and prior to any activation of auditory neurons are indispensable to better characterize the relationship between CI stimulation and auditory perception in cochlear implantees.

Psychological features of attitudes towards unemployment as a social phenomenon: trends and perspectives of study

The article notes that the current spread of coronavirus infection creates difficult conditions for the life of society, having a negative impact on many social spheres. It is shown that the labor crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic can increase global unemployment, and as a result, have a negative impact on the development of the economy as a whole, which increases the relevance of the research problem. The authors analyzed publications devoted to studies of unemployment in various branches of science, which made it possible to identify different social levels of its negative impact (global, national and regional). A separate group includes works on the socio-psychological problems of unemployment. It was revealed that the socio-economic or personal characteristics of the experience of unemployment in the context of the coronavirus pandemic have not yet become a significant subject of fundamental research. In particular, the scientific literature does not present facts that reflect the structure of user experiences. Analysis of messages from forums of the unemployed and from social networks allowed the authors to state a high level of reasoning related to unemployment as a social phenomenon, genuine regret about the high level of education of many of them and painful feelings about the low standard of living. Frequency and semantic analysis of messages also made it possible to demonstrate ideas about the factors causing unemployment, which are most often associated with the conditions of the social environment. The analysis of the emotional background of the messages carried out in the work showed the absence of neutral or positive assessments of unemployment (all assessments are negative). High emotional tension in assessing unemployment and its consequences indicates a pronounced decrease in the psychological well-being of users, which becomes the basis for negative judgments, including political content. In conclusion, it is noted that the study of “digital traces” seems to be a very promising direction in the study of macropsychological processes.

Human-in-the-loop optimization of visual prosthetic stimulation

Retinal prostheses are a promising strategy to restore sight to patients with retinal degenerative diseases. These devices compensate for the loss of photoreceptors by electrically stimulating neurons in the retina. Currently, the visual function that can be recovered with such devices is very limited. This is due, in part, to current spread, unintended axonal activation, and the limited resolution of existing devices. Here we show, using a recent model of prosthetic vision, that optimizing how visual stimuli are encoded by the device can help overcome some of these limitations, leading to dramatic improvements in visual perception. We propose a strategy to do this in practice, using patients' feedback in a visual task. The main challenge of our approach comes from the fact that, typically, one only has access to a limited number of noisy responses from patients. We propose two ways to deal with this: first, we use a model of prosthetic vision to constrain and simplify the optimisation; second, we use preferential Bayesian optimisation to efficiently learn the encoder using minimal trials. As a proof-of concept, we presented healthy subjects with visual stimuli generated by a recent model of prosthetic vision, to replicate the perceptual experience of patients fitted with an implant. Our optimisation procedure led to significant and robust improvements in perceived image quality, that transferred to increased performance in other tasks. Importantly, our strategy is agnostic to the type of prosthesis and thus could readily be implemented in existing implants.

Standard Non-Personalized Electric Field Modeling of Twenty Typical tDCS Electrode Configurations via the Computational Finite Element Method: Contributions and Limitations of Two Different Approaches

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation procedure to modulate cortical excitability and related brain functions. tDCS can effectively alter multiple brain functions in healthy humans and is suggested as a therapeutic tool in several neurological and psychiatric diseases. However, variability of results is an important limitation of this method. This variability may be due to multiple factors, including age, head and brain anatomy (including skull, skin, CSF and meninges), cognitive reserve and baseline performance level, specific task demands, as well as comorbidities in clinical settings. Different electrode montages are a further source of variability between tDCS studies. A procedure to estimate the electric field generated by specific tDCS electrode configurations, which can be helpful to adapt stimulation protocols, is the computational finite element method. This approach is useful to provide a priori modeling of the current spread and electric field intensity that will be generated according to the implemented electrode montage. Here, we present standard, non-personalized model-based electric field simulations for motor, dorsolateral prefrontal, and posterior parietal cortex stimulation according to twenty typical tDCS electrode configurations using two different current flow modeling software packages. The resulting simulated maximum intensity of the electric field, focality, and current spread were similar, but not identical, between models. The advantages and limitations of both mathematical simulations of the electric field are presented and discussed systematically, including aspects that, at present, prevent more widespread application of respective simulation approaches in the field of non-invasive brain stimulation.

SpeedCAP: An Efficient Method for Estimating Neural Activation Patterns Using Electrically-Evoked Compound Action-Potentials in Cochlear Implant Users

Objectives: Electrically-Evoked Compound Action-Potentials (ECAPs) can be recorded using the electrodes in a cochlear implant (CI) and represent the synchronous responses of the electrically-stimulated auditory-nerve. ECAPs can be obtained using a forward-masking method that measures the neural response to a probe and masker electrode separately and in combination. The Panoramic ECAP (PECAP) method measures ECAPs using multiple combinations of masker and probe electrodes and uses a nonlinear optimization algorithm to estimate current spread from each electrode and neural health along the cochlea. However, the measurement of ECAPs from multiple combinations of electrodes is too time-consuming for use in clinics. This study proposes and evaluates a fast version of the PECAP measurements, SpeedCAP, that minimises recording time by exploiting redundancies between multiple ECAP measures, and that can be applied to methods where multiple ECAPs are required. Design: In the first study, 11 users of Cochlear Limited CIs took part. ECAPs were recorded using the forward-masking artefact-cancellation technique at the most comfortable loudness level (MCL) for every combination of masker and probe electrodes for all active electrodes in the users’ MAPs, as per the standard PECAP recording paradigm. The same current levels and recording parameters were then used to collect ECAPs in the same users with the SpeedCAP method. The ECAP amplitudes were then compared between the two conditions, as were the corresponding estimates of neural health and current spread calculated using the PECAP method described by Garcia et al (2021). The second study measured SpeedCAP intra-operatively in 8 CI patients and with all maskers and probes presented at the same current level to assess feasibility. ECAPs for the subset of conditions where the masker and probe were presented on the same electrode were compared to those obtained using the slower approach leveraged by the standard clinical software. Results: Data collection time was reduced from 45 (PECAP) to 8 (SpeedCAP) minutes. There were no significant differences between normalized root mean squared error (RMSE) repeatability metrics for post-operative PECAP and SpeedCAP data, nor for the RMSEs calculated between PECAP and SpeedCAP data. When between-participant differences were removed, both the neural health (r = 0.73) and current spread (r = 0.65) estimates were significantly correlated (p < 0.0001, df = 218) between SpeedCAP and PECAP conditions across all electrodes. Valid ECAPs were obtained in all patients in the second study, demonstrating intra-operative feasibility of SpeedCAP. No significant differences in RMSEs were detectable between post- and intra-operative ECAP measurements. Conclusions: The improved efficiency of SpeedCAP provides time savings facilitating multi-electrode ECAP recordings in routine clinical practice. The SpeedCAP data collection is sufficiently quick to record intra-operatively, and adds no significant error to the ECAP amplitudes. Such measurements could thereafter be submitted to models such as PECAP to provide patient-specific patterns of neural activation to inform programming of clinical MAPs and/or identify causes of poor performance at the electrode-nerve interface of CI users. The speed and accuracy of these measurements also opens up a wide range of additional research questions to be addressed.

New Stimulation Device to Drive Multiple Transverse Intrafascicular Electrodes and Achieve Highly Selective and Rich Neural Responses

Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) is a promising approach in functional restoration following neural impairments. Although it proves to be advantageous in the number of implantation sites provided compared with intramuscular or epimysial stimulation and the fact that it does not require daily placement, as is the case with surface electrodes, the further advancement of PNS paradigms is hampered by the limitation of spatial selectivity due to the current spread and variations of nerve physiology. New electrode designs such as the Transverse Intrafascicular Multichannel Electrode (TIME) were proposed to resolve this issue, but their use was limited by a lack of innovative multichannel stimulation devices. In this study, we introduce a new portable multichannel stimulator—called STIMEP—and implement different stimulation protocols in rats to test its versatility and unveil the potential of its combined use with TIME electrodes in rehabilitation protocols. We developed and tested various stimulation paradigms in a single fascicle and thereafter implanted two TIMEs. We also tested its stimulation using two different waveforms. The results highlighted the versatility of this new stimulation device and advocated for the parameterizing of a hyperpolarizing phase before depolarization as well as the use of small pulse widths when stimulating with multiple electrodes.

3D printed biomimetic cochleae and machine learning co-modelling provides clinical informatics for cochlear implant patients

Cochlear implants restore hearing in patients with severe to profound deafness by delivering electrical stimuli inside the cochlea. Understanding stimulus current spread, and how it correlates to patient-dependent factors, is hampered by the poor accessibility of the inner ear and by the lack of clinically-relevant in vitro, in vivo or in silico models. Here, we present 3D printing-neural network co-modelling for interpreting electric field imaging profiles of cochlear implant patients. With tuneable electro-anatomy, the 3D printed cochleae can replicate clinical scenarios of electric field imaging profiles at the off-stimuli positions. The co-modelling framework demonstrated autonomous and robust predictions of patient profiles or cochlear geometry, unfolded the electro-anatomical factors causing current spread, assisted on-demand printing for implant testing, and inferred patients’ in vivo cochlear tissue resistivity (estimated mean = 6.6 kΩcm). We anticipate our framework will facilitate physical modelling and digital twin innovations for neuromodulation implants.

University students' evaluation of E-assessment in light of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Educational institutions strive to achieve their purposes mainly assessing students’ performance and abilities; they might use traditional types of assessment or they may be forced to apply electronic assessment in certain situations such as those dictated by the current spread of COVID-19 Pandemic. The current study aims at providing insights into the ways and levels of university students' evaluation of the electronic assessment during the global health crisis whether this evaluation is affected by certain demographic variables or not. A 29-item online questionnaire was developed and conducted by the researchers to survey a large sample of university population. A large number of the students (n=582) responded to the survey. The study results show that the level of students’ evaluation of e-assessment is moderate. The researchers also find that an interaction between gender and faculty may influence students’ evaluation positively and negatively. The implications of the study suggest that educational institutions should consider all types of assessment mainly e-assessment to keep pace with all advancements and evade unexpected circumstances like pandemics. Keywords: assessment; Corona Pandemic; e-assessment; e-learning; evaluation; learning; teaching