Effects of Long-Term Meditation Practices on Sensorimotor Rhythm-Based Brain-Computer Interface Learning

Sensorimotor rhythm (SMR)-based brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) provide an alternative pathway for users to perform motor control using motor imagery. Despite the non-invasiveness, ease of use, and low cost, this kind of BCI has limitations due to long training times and BCI inefficiency—that is, the SMR BCI control paradigm may not work well on a subpopulation of users. Meditation is a mental training method to improve mindfulness and awareness and is reported to have positive effects on one’s mental state. Here, we investigated the behavioral and electrophysiological differences between experienced meditators and meditation naïve subjects in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) cursor control tasks. We found numerical evidence that meditators outperformed control subjects in both tasks (1D and 2D), and there were fewer BCI inefficient subjects in the meditator group. Finally, we also explored the neurophysiological difference between the two groups and showed that the meditators had a higher resting SMR predictor, more stable resting mu rhythm, and a larger control signal contrast than controls during the task.

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Effects of Long-Term Meditation Practices on Sensorimotor Rhythm Based BCI Learning

10.1101/2020.09.09.290080 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xiyuan Jiang ◽

Emily Lopez ◽

James Stieger ◽

Carol Greco ◽

Bin He

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

Alternative Pathway ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Eeg Signals ◽

Cursor Control ◽

Computer Interfaces ◽

Sensorimotor Rhythm ◽

Within Subjects ◽

Positive Effect

AbstractSensorimotor rhythm (SMR) based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide an alternative pathway for users to perform motor control using motor imagery (MI). Despite the non-invasiveness, ease of use and low cost, this kind of BCI has limitation due to long training times and BCI inefficiency— where a subpopulation cannot generate decodable EEG signals to perform the control task. Meditation is a mental training method to improve mindfulness and awareness, and is reported to have a positive effect on one’s mental state. Here we investigate the behavioral and electrophysiological differences between experienced meditators and meditation naïve subjects in 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional cursor control tasks. We found that within subjects who have room for improvement, meditators outperformed control subjects in both tasks, and there were fewer BCI insufficient subjects in the meditator group. Finally, we also explored the neurophysiological difference between the two groups, and showed that meditators had higher SMR predictor and were better able to generate decodable EEG signals to achieve SMR BCI control.

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Metformin: Up to Date

Endocrine Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets ◽

10.2174/1871530319666190507125847 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 172-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Silvia Sciannimanico ◽

Franco Grimaldi ◽

Fabio Vescini ◽

Giovanni De Pergola ◽

Massimo Iacoviello ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Current Literature ◽

Weight Control ◽

Low Cost ◽

Hepatic Glucose Production ◽

Metabolic Effects ◽

Hypoglycemic Agents ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Mesh Terms

Background: Metformin is an oral hypoglycemic agent extensively used as first-line therapy for type 2 diabetes. It improves hyperglycemia by suppressing hepatic glucose production and increasing glucose uptake in muscles. Metformin improves insulin sensitivity and shows a beneficial effect on weight control. Besides its metabolic positive effects, Metformin has direct effects on inflammation and can have immunomodulatory and antineoplastic properties. Aim: The aim of this narrative review was to summarize the up-to-date evidence from the current literature about the metabolic and non-metabolic effects of Metformin. Methods: We reviewed the current literature dealing with different effects and properties of Metformin and current recommendations about the use of this drug. We identified keywords and MeSH terms in Pubmed and the terms Metformin and type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes, pregnancy, heart failure, PCOS, etc, were searched, selecting only significant original articles and review in English, in particular of the last five years. Conclusion: Even if many new effective hypoglycemic agents have been launched in the market in the last few years, Metformin would always keep a place in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and its comorbidities because of its multiple positive effects and low cost.

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Imaging in Propeller Flap Surgery

Seminars in Plastic Surgery ◽

10.1055/s-0040-1715159 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (03) ◽

pp. 145-151

Author(s):

Shimpei Ono ◽

Hiroyuki Ohi ◽

Rei Ogawa

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Duplex Sonography ◽

Computed Tomographic Angiography ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Computed Tomographic ◽

Imaging Tool ◽

Preoperative Mapping ◽

Flap Design ◽

Tomographic Angiography

AbstractSince propeller flaps are elevated as island flaps and most often nourished by a single perforator nearby the defect, it is challenging to change the flap design intraoperatively when a reliable perforator cannot be found where expected to exist. Thus, accurate preoperative mapping of perforators is essential in the safe planning of propeller flaps. Various methods have been reported so far: (1) handheld acoustic Doppler sonography (ADS), (2) color duplex sonography (CDS), (3) perforator computed tomographic angiography (P-CTA), and (4) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). To facilitate the preoperative perforator assessment, P-CTA is currently considered as the gold standard imaging tool in revealing the three-dimensional anatomical details of perforators precisely. Nevertheless, ADS remains the most widely used tool due to its low cost, faster learning, and ease of use despite an undesirable number of false-positive results. CDS can provide hemodynamic characteristics of the perforator and is a valid and safer alternative particularly in patients in whom ionizing radiation and/or contrast exposure should be limited. Although MRA is less accurate in detecting smaller perforators of caliber less than 1.0 mm and the intramuscular course of perforators at the present time, MRA is expected to improve in the future due to the recent developments in technology, making it as accurate as P-CTA. Moreover, it provides the advantage of being radiation-free with fewer contrast reactions.

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Liquid marble based digital microfluidics – fundamentals and applications

Lab on a Chip ◽

10.1039/d0lc01290d ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chin Hong Ooi ◽

Raja Vadivelu ◽

Jing Jin ◽

Sreejith Kamalalayam Rajan ◽

Pradip Singha ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

Digital Microfluidics ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Liquid Marbles ◽

Liquid Marble

Liquid marbles are droplets with volume typically on the order of microliters coated with hydrophobic powder. The versatility, ease of use and low cost make liquid marbles an attractive platform...

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Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Combined with Electrochemical Sensors for Food Contaminants Analysis

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26154607 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (15) ◽

pp. 4607

Author(s):

Dounia Elfadil ◽

Abderrahman Lamaoui ◽

Flavio Della Pelle ◽

Aziz Amine ◽

Dario Compagnone

Keyword(s):

Food Safety ◽

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers ◽

Electrochemical Sensors ◽

Low Cost ◽

Electrochemical Analysis ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Electrochemical Sensing ◽

Food Contaminants ◽

Molecularly Imprinted ◽

Imprinted Polymers

Detection of relevant contaminants using screening approaches is a key issue to ensure food safety and respect for the regulatory limits established. Electrochemical sensors present several advantages such as rapidity; ease of use; possibility of on-site analysis and low cost. The lack of selectivity for electrochemical sensors working in complex samples as food may be overcome by coupling them with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). MIPs are synthetic materials that mimic biological receptors and are produced by the polymerization of functional monomers in presence of a target analyte. This paper critically reviews and discusses the recent progress in MIP-based electrochemical sensors for food safety. A brief introduction on MIPs and electrochemical sensors is given; followed by a discussion of the recent achievements for various MIPs-based electrochemical sensors for food contaminants analysis. Both electropolymerization and chemical synthesis of MIP-based electrochemical sensing are discussed as well as the relevant applications of MIPs used in sample preparation and then coupled to electrochemical analysis. Future perspectives and challenges have been eventually given.

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Review of Electrochemical DNA Biosensors for Detecting Food Borne Pathogens

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s19224916 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (22) ◽

pp. 4916 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Qiaoyun Wu ◽

Yunzhe Zhang ◽

Qian Yang ◽

Ning Yuan ◽

Wei Zhang

Keyword(s):

Pathogen Detection ◽

Low Cost ◽

Electrochemical Techniques ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Detection Methods ◽

Future Research ◽

Dna Biosensors ◽

Food Borne Pathogens ◽

Chip Technology ◽

Food Borne

The vital importance of rapid and accurate detection of food borne pathogens has driven the development of biosensor to prevent food borne illness outbreaks. Electrochemical DNA biosensors offer such merits as rapid response, high sensitivity, low cost, and ease of use. This review covers the following three aspects: food borne pathogens and conventional detection methods, the design and fabrication of electrochemical DNA biosensors and several techniques for improving sensitivity of biosensors. We highlight the main bioreceptors and immobilizing methods on sensing interface, electrochemical techniques, electrochemical indicators, nanotechnology, and nucleic acid-based amplification. Finally, in view of the existing shortcomings of electrochemical DNA biosensors in the field of food borne pathogen detection, we also predict and prospect future research focuses from the following five aspects: specific bioreceptors (improving specificity), nanomaterials (enhancing sensitivity), microfluidic chip technology (realizing automate operation), paper-based biosensors (reducing detection cost), and smartphones or other mobile devices (simplifying signal reading devices).

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Face recognition in an intelligent door lock with ResNet model based on deep learning

Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems ◽

10.3233/jifs-189624 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Suphawimon Phawinee ◽

Jing-Fang Cai ◽

Zhe-Yu Guo ◽

Hao-Ze Zheng ◽

Guan-Chen Chen

Keyword(s):

Face Recognition ◽

Detection System ◽

Low Cost ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Raspberry Pi ◽

Training Methods ◽

Graphics Recognition ◽

Face Images ◽

The Face ◽

Door Lock

Internet of Things is considerably increasing the levels of convenience at homes. The smart door lock is an entry product for smart homes. This work used Raspberry Pi, because of its low cost, as the main control board to apply face recognition technology to a door lock. The installation of the control sensing module with the GPIO expansion function of Raspberry Pi also improved the antitheft mechanism of the door lock. For ease of use, a mobile application (hereafter, app) was developed for users to upload their face images for processing. The app sends the images to Firebase and then the program downloads the images and captures the face as a training set. The face detection system was designed on the basis of machine learning and equipped with a Haar built-in OpenCV graphics recognition program. The system used four training methods: convolutional neural network, VGG-16, VGG-19, and ResNet50. After the training process, the program could recognize the user’s face to open the door lock. A prototype was constructed that could control the door lock and the antitheft system and stream real-time images from the camera to the app.

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Environmental Attitudes and Willingness to Purchase Online—Classification Approach

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13158592 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 8592

Author(s):

Marcin Gąsior

Keyword(s):

Information Search ◽

Environmental Attitudes ◽

Low Cost ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Internet Users ◽

Research Procedure ◽

Willingness To Purchase ◽

Willingness To Use ◽

Competitive Pricing ◽

Self Reporting Questionnaire

During the last several years, a tremendous increase in the popularity of online shopping has been observed. There are several possible reasons behind it, some of them, like competitive pricing, convenience or low cost of information search, considered to be extrinsic, others—like ease of use of this channel, pleasure related to it or willingness to reduce social interactions—intrinsic. The purpose of this research is to evaluate another factor, i.e., consumers’ environmental attitudes, in the perspective of their possible relation with the perception and willingness to use online and conventional shopping channels. In order to achieve this, a self-reporting questionnaire was developed and the data from a representative sample of 1000 Polish Internet users was gathered. The research procedure included cluster analysis, whose objective was to identify groups of customers with similar composition of environmental attitudes and next, a set of Kruskal–Wallis tests, aimed at identifying differences in opinions on channels between these clusters. The research proved that large groups of consumers with consistent sets of environmental attitudes exist and the scope of differences between such clusters is not reduced to a unidimensional, “positive–negative” continuum. Furthermore, there are significant differences between clusters in the declared willingness to use online and conventional shopping channels—groups more environmentally-oriented are more willing to purchase online and trust online shops, although they neither perceive conventional retail in a more negative way nor directly prefer online over conventional channels. The nature of such a phenomenon is open to explanation and interpretation, nevertheless, the research proves that environmental attitudes should be included in future models of consumers’ channel choice.

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BlocklyXR: An Interactive Extended Reality Toolkit for Digital Storytelling

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11031073 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 1073

Author(s):

Kwanghee Jung ◽

Vinh T. Nguyen ◽

Jaehoon Lee

Keyword(s):

Technology Acceptance ◽

Digital Storytelling ◽

Visual Programming ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Programming Approach ◽

Intention To Use ◽

Perceived Ease Of Use ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Block Based

Traditional in-app virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR) applications pose a challenge of reaching users due to their dependency on operating systems (Android, iOS). Besides, it is difficult for general users to create their own VR/AR applications and foster their creative ideas without advanced programming skills. This paper addresses these issues by proposing an interactive extended reality toolkit, named BlocklyXR. The objective of this research is to provide general users with a visual programming environment to build an extended reality application for digital storytelling. The contextual design was generated from real-world map data retrieved from Mapbox GL. ThreeJS was used for setting up, rendering 3D environments, and controlling animations. A block-based programming approach was adapted to let users design their own story. The capability of BlocklyXR was illustrated with a use case where users were able to replicate the existing PalmitoAR utilizing the block-based authoring toolkit with fewer efforts in programming. The technology acceptance model was used to evaluate the adoption and use of the interactive extended reality toolkit. The findings showed that visual design and task technology fit had significantly positive effects on user motivation factors (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness). In turn, perceived usefulness had statistically significant and positive effects on intention to use, while there was no significant impact of perceived ease of use on intention to use. Study implications and future research directions are discussed.

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Source Detection and Functional Connectivity of the Sensorimotor Cortex during Actual and Imaginary Limb Movement: A Preliminary Study on the Implementation of eConnectome in Motor Imagery Protocols

Advances in Human-Computer Interaction ◽

10.1155/2012/127627 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Alkinoos Athanasiou ◽

Chrysa Lithari ◽

Konstantina Kalogianni ◽

Manousos A. Klados ◽

Panagiotis D. Bamidis

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Motor Imagery ◽

Sensorimotor Cortex ◽

Mu Rhythm ◽

Source Detection ◽

Motor Execution ◽

Motor Tasks ◽

Computer Interfaces ◽

Preliminary Study ◽

Real Hand

Introduction. Sensorimotor cortex is activated similarly during motor execution and motor imagery. The study of functional connectivity networks (FCNs) aims at successfully modeling the dynamics of information flow between cortical areas.Materials and Methods. Seven healthy subjects performed 4 motor tasks (real foot, imaginary foot, real hand, and imaginary hand movements), while electroencephalography was recorded over the sensorimotor cortex. Event-Related Desynchronization/Synchronization (ERD/ERS) of the mu-rhythm was used to evaluate MI performance. Source detection and FCNs were studied with eConnectome.Results and Discussion. Four subjects produced similar ERD/ERS patterns between motor execution and imagery during both hand and foot tasks, 2 subjects only during hand tasks, and 1 subject only during foot tasks. All subjects showed the expected brain activation in well-performed MI tasks, facilitating cortical source estimation. Preliminary functional connectivity analysis shows formation of networks on the sensorimotor cortex during motor imagery and execution.Conclusions. Cortex activation maps depict sensorimotor cortex activation, while similar functional connectivity networks are formed in the sensorimotor cortex both during actual and imaginary movements. eConnectome is demonstrated as an effective tool for the study of cortex activation and FCN. The implementation of FCN in motor imagery could induce promising advancements in Brain Computer Interfaces.

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