Differences in Mechanical Parameters of Keyboard Switches Modulate Motor Preparation: A Wearable EEG Study

The mechanical parameters of keyboard switches affect the psychological sense of pressing. The effects of different mechanical parameters on psychological sense have been quantified using questionnaires, but these subjective evaluations are unable to fully clarify the modulation of information processing in the brain due to these differences. This study aimed to elucidate the ability of electroencephalography (EEG) measurements to detect the modulation of subconscious information processing according to mechanical parameter values. To this end, we prepared five mechanical switches with linearly increasing values of pretravel (PT: the distance from the free position until the operating position). We hypothesized that the differences in PTs would subconsciously affect the motor preparation prior to pressing switches because switches with PTs that deviated from those commonly used were predicted to increase the users' attention level when pressing. Differences in motor preparation were quantified using the mean amplitudes of the late contingent negative variation (CNV). We recorded EEGs of 25 gamers during a reaction task for fast switch pressing after a response cue preceded by a pre-cue for response preparation; we also measured the reaction time feedback on each switch pressing trial. Participants performed five sessions (60 trials per session) in total. For the analysis, trials were divided into first (session 1, 2, and 3) and second half sessions (session 4 and 5). In the latter session, CNV amplitudes were significantly higher for the switch with the highest PT than for that with a medium PT, which is closest to that commonly used in commercial mechanical switches. On the other hand, the questionnaire did not detect any significant differences between PTs in their subjective rankings of the psychological effects of switch pressing. These results suggest that differences in PTs modulate motor preparation to press switches, and that EEG measurements may provide a novel objective evaluation of the mechanical parameters of keyboard switches.

Peculiarities of tactics and surgical intervention in fresh iatrogenic damage of the common liver duct

The aim of the study was to select the most optimal method for completing the operation in case of "fresh" iatrogenic damage to the common hepatic duct, which ensures a favorable course of the postoperative period and preparation for the subsequent reconstructive operation. Material and methods. The study was based on the analysis of the results of surgical treatment of 58 patients with iatrogenic damage to the extrahepatic bile ducts (EPBD) for the period from 1998 to 2018. All patients had complete "fresh" transverse transection or clamping (clipping, ligation) of the common hepatic duct during cholecystectomy. In the first group (40 patients), the operation was completed by drainage of the common hepatic duct with a "free" position of the drainage under the liver and drainage of the subhepatic region; in the second group (18 patients), the drainage of the bile duct was fixed in the bed of the gallbladder, with the formation of a Maidl-type jejunostoma to return bile. Research results and their discussion. All patients (58 people) were initially operated on in hospitals in the Tyumen region and the city of Tyumen. 32 patients (55%) underwent open cholecystectomy, 26 (45%) – laparoscopic. The operation was performed in 13 patients (22%) as planned, in 45 (78%) as an emergency. In 40 (69%) operated patients, when the gallbladder was removed, the common hepatic duct was cut, in 18 (31%) it was clipped (ligated). Out of 40 patients (first group), bile duct transection occurred with open cholecystectomy in 29 (72.5%) people, in 11 (27.5%) with laparoscopic intervention. In all, the trauma of the hepatic duct was noticed by the operating surgeon during the operation. In accordance with the adopted tactics, the surgeon through the CMH contacted the experienced surgeon on duty at the Regional Hospital (GBUZ TO "OKB № 1"), with whom he agreed on the method of completing the operation. Conclusion. The lack of experience of hospital surgeons both in solving a tactical problem, when crossing an AKI or clipping it, and in performing a reconstructive operation after an injury is detected, we consider it expedient to introduce drainage into the proximal section of the intersected duct and transport the patient to a hospital department where there are specialists with such experience. operations. Fixation of the drainage of the common hepatic duct in the bed of the gallbladder, the formation of a Maidl-type jejunostoma with a complete return of bile to the intestine can effectively prepare the patient for reconstructive surgery, improve the technical conditions for its implementation.

DEVELOPMENT OF A MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLER FOR MEASURING THE LINEAR MOVEMENT OF MOVING BODIES OF VIBRATION EXECUTIVE MECHANISMS

Control and measuring equipment is one of the first places in terms of breadth and efficiency of MP-tools. The microprocessor device (MPP) built into the measuring device expands its possibilities, adds new qualities for vibrating machines. Such a device is called programmable (PrVP); WFP can perform the following functions: - control (issuance of control information to all components of the device, reconfiguration of the structure of the device in case of failures of individual units, the formation of control signals to display information, switching different control algorithms); - control of efficiency, reliability of results, diagnostics and localization of malfunctions; - digital information processing (calibration of the device, calculation of errors, determination of minimum and maximum values of parameters, enumeration of parameters, calculation of instantaneous power and signal energy, linearization, information compression, approximation, scaling, normalization, correction, calculation of tolerances, average values, logs , exponentiation, root extraction, transformation of a form from a fixed comma into a floating form and back); - organization of communication with the human operator (exemption from routine operations, such as adjustment, calculation of deviations, etc.; presentation of information in a convenient and accessible for human view form; software support for a functional keyboard that replaces individual control knobs; ensuring the choice of conflict-free position of switches in devices with difficult control); - connection with the system and other devices (implementation of various interface functions, conversion of data formats, adaptation to various input signals). To perform these functions requires the development of an appropriate structure and software MPU. You can implement the following structures for vibrating machines: - universal micro-computer with standard or special programming system; the units of the measuring instrument are connected as external devices - using the address space allocated for external devices; - micro-computers with limited capabilities (for example, limited address space - part of the address bus is given to the addresses of the units of the measuring instrument, while the capacity of RAM is reduced); - special purpose - on the basis of programmable LSI or sectional MP-sets with special software or firmware. The structure of the first type is expedient at development of difficult multipurpose measuring means. The second has fewer features, but requires less hardware, it is useful when building measuring instruments with a small number of blocks and measuring functions. The structure of the third type is aimed at the optimal solution of the measurement problem, requires software development (command systems, microcommands).

DeepMP: a deep learning tool to detect DNA base modifications on Nanopore sequencing data

DNA Methylation plays a key role in a variety of biological processes. Recently, Nanopore long-read sequencing has enabled direct detection of these modifications. As a consequence, a range of computational methods have been developed to exploit Nanopore data for methylation detection. However, current approaches rely on a human-defined threshold to detect the methylation status of a genomic position and are not optimized to detect sites methylated at low frequency. Furthermore, most methods employ either the Nanopore signals or the basecalling errors as the model input and do not take advantage of their combination. Here we present DeepMP, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based model that takes information from Nanopore signals and basecalling errors to detect whether a given motif in a read is methylated or not. Besides, DeepMP introduces a threshold-free position modification calling model sensitive to sites methylated at low frequency across cells. We comprehensively benchmarked DeepMP against state-of-the-art methods on E. coli, human and pUC19 datasets. DeepMP outperforms current approaches at read-based and position-based methylation detection across sites methylated at different frequencies in the three datasets. DeepMP is implemented and freely available under MIT license at https://github.com/pepebonet/DeepMP

An Improved Particle Number-Based Oil Spill Model Using Implicit Viscosity in Marine Simulator

Improving the physical realism of oil spill scenes in marine simulators can further enhance the emergency response capabilities of officials in charge and crew members and help reduce losses caused by oil spill disasters. In order to uniformly simulate the spreading, drift, breakup, and merging of oil spills at sea, we propose an improved divergence-free position-based fluid (DFPBF) framework based on the particle number density model. In our DFPBF framework, the governing equations for oil spills and ocean are discretized by Lagrangian particles, and the incompressibility of oil spills and ocean is ensured by solving the divergence-free velocity constraint solver and constant density constraint solver. In order to stably simulate the fate and transport of oil spills with higher viscosity, we introduce an implicit viscosity solution scheme for our DFPBF framework. The implicit solver uses a splitting concept to decouple viscosity solve and adopts an implicit scheme to discretize the integration of viscous force. Moreover, our DFPBF framework can ensure a divergence-free velocity field before applying the implicit viscosity scheme, which avoids the undesired bulk viscosity effects. The simulation results show that our DFPBF framework can stably simulate oil spills of various viscosities, especially high-viscosity crude oils.