No abstract

Extensive literatures have shown approaches for decoding upper limb kinematics or muscle activity using multichannel cortical spike recordings toward brain machine interface (BMI) applications. However, similar topics regarding lower limb remain relatively scarce. We previously reported a system for training monkeys to perform visually guided stand and squat tasks. The current study, as a follow-up extension, investigates whether lower limb kinematics and muscle activity characterized by electromyography (EMG) signals during monkey performing stand/squat movements can be accurately decoded from neural spike trains in primary motor cortex (M1). Two monkeys were used in this study. Subdermal intramuscular EMG electrodes were implanted to 8 right leg/thigh muscles. With ample data collected from neurons from a large brain area, we performed a spike triggered average (SpTA) analysis and got a series of density contours which revealed the spatial distributions of different muscle-innervating neurons corresponding to each given muscle. Based on the guidance of these results, we identified the locations optimal for chronic electrode implantation and subsequently carried on chronic neural data recordings. A recursive Bayesian estimation framework was proposed for decoding EMG signals together with kinematics from M1 spike trains. Two specific algorithms were implemented: a standard Kalman filter and an unscented Kalman filter. For the latter one, an artificial neural network was incorporated to deal with the nonlinearity in neural tuning. High correlation coefficient and signal to noise ratio between the predicted and the actual data were achieved for both EMG signals and kinematics on both monkeys. Higher decoding accuracy and faster convergence rate could be achieved with the unscented Kalman filter. These results demonstrate that lower limb EMG signals and kinematics during monkey stand/squat can be accurately decoded from a group of M1 neurons with the proposed algorithms. Our findings provide new insights for extending current BMI design concepts and techniques on upper limbs to lower limb circumstances. Brain controlled exoskeleton, prostheses or neuromuscular electrical stimulators for lower limbs are expected to be developed, which enables the subject to manipulate complex biomechatronic devices with mind in more harmonized manner.

Condition assessment of cables has gained considerable attention for the bridge safety. A magnetic flux leakage and magnetostrictive guided wave hybrid transducer is provided to inspect bridge cables. The similarities and differences between the two methods are investigated. The hybrid transducer for bridge cables consists of an aluminum framework, climbing modules, embedded magnetizers and a ribbon coil. The static axial magnetic field provided by the magnetizers meets the needs of the magnetic flux leakage testing and the magnetostrictive guided wave testing. The magnetizers also provide the attraction for the climbing modules. In the magnetic flux leakage testing for the free length of cable, the coil induces the axial leakage magnetic field. In the magnetostrictive guided wave testing for the anchorage zone, the coil provides a pulse high power variational magnetic field for generating guided waves; the coil induces the magnetic field variation for receiving guided waves. The experimental results show that the transducer with the corresponding inspection system could be applied to detect the broken wires in the free length and in the anchorage zone of bridge cables.

Abstract-In this paper, a three-dimensional eddy current field model to calculate the eddy current losses in an isolated phase bus (IPB) is proposed. The rise in temperature of the conductors and enclosures in the IPB are evaluated using the proposed set of thermal equations. Computation results of a 20-kV/12.5-kA IPB scheme are reported to validate the algorithm. The withstand voltage ability and short-circuit stress of the IPB are also verified. The agreement between the computation and test results confirm that the design scheme being studied is successful and practical.Index Terms-Eddy currents, electromagnetic fields, isolated phase bus (IPB), thermal problem.

The non-contact magnetostrictive sensor (MsS) has been widely used in the guided wave testing of pipes, cables, and so on. However, it has a disadvantage of low excitation efficiency. A new method for enhancing the excitation efficiency of the non-contact MsS for pipe inspection using guided waves, by adjusting the axial length of the excitation magnetic field, is proposed. A special transmitter structure, in which two copper rings are added beside the transmitter coil, is used to adjust the axial length at the expense of weakening the excitation magnetic field. An equivalent vibration model is presented to analyze the influence of the axial length variation. The final result is investigated by experiments. Results show that the excitation efficiency of the non-contact MsS is enhanced in the whole inspection frequency range of the L(0,2) mode if the axial length is adjusted to a certain value. Moreover that certain axial length is the same for pipes of different sizes but made of the same material.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) frequently leads to generalized locomotor disability and gait disturbances which cause serious discomfort among patients. Human gait is a complex process in the central nervous system that results from the integration of various mechanisms which remain unclear. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to investigate the cortical activity patterns during gait movement in SCI. In this study, brain activity was recorded by electroencephalogram (EEG) during two kinds of gait-like movements. Phase synchronization between motor cortices was investigated through source analysis and phase locking. Results revealed that diverse neural networks with different resonance-like frequencies exist in the brain. Further, we found that the premotor cortex played an important role in the control of passive gait-like movement. In attempted/active movement, spatial function and multimodal integration with somatosensory information are crucial aspects of posterior parietal cortex function which need to be considered separately in different EEG bands. Our results further confirmed that neural system control patterns in passive gait-like movement differ from those in attempted or active gait-like movement. Novel insights into human gait will provide a basis for improvements in future neurorehabilitation applications.

BackgroundDetermining neuronal topographical information in the cerebral cortex is of fundamental importance for developing neuroprosthetics. Significant progress has been achieved in decoding hand voluntary movement with cortical neuronal activity in nonhuman primates. However, there are few successful reports in scientific literature for decoding lower limb voluntary movement with the cortical neuronal firing. We once reported an experimental system, which consists of a specially designed chair, a visually guided stand and squat task training paradigm and an acute neuron recording setup. With this system, we can record high quality cortical neuron activity to investigate the correlation between these neuronal signals and stand/squat movement.Methods/resultsIn this research, we train two monkeys to perform the visually guided stand and squat task, and record neuronal activity in the vast areas targeted to M1 hind-limb region, at a distance of 1 mm. We find that 76.9% of recorded neurons (1230 out of 1598 neurons) showing task-firing modulation, including 294 (18.4%) during the pre-response window; 310 (19.4%) for standing up; 104 (6.5%) for the holding stand phase; and 205 (12.8%) during the sitting down. The distributions of different type neurons have a high degree of overlap. They are mainly ranged from +7.0 to 13 mm in the Posterior-Anterior dimension, and from +0.5 to 4.0 mm in Dosal-lateral dimension, very close to the midline, and just anterior of the central sulcus.Conclusions/significanceThe present study examines the neuronal activity related to lower limb voluntary movements in M1 and find topographical information of various neurons tuned to different stages of the stand and squat task. This work may contribute to understanding the fundamental principles of neural control of lower limb movements. Especially, the topographical information suggests us where to implant the chronic microelectrode arrays to harvest the most quantity and highest quality neurons related to lower limb movements, which may accelerate to develop cortically controlled lower limb neuroprosthetics for spinal cord injury subjects.

The detection and processing of laser communication signals are affected by the fading induced onto these signals by atmospheric turbulence. One method of reducing this fading is to use an array of detectors in which each of the detector outputs are added together coherently. We present experimental verification and theory of a 1.06 mum eight-element coherent receiver used to mitigate the effects of fading over a 1-km outdoor range. The carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) was measured on a single channel and was then compared with the CNR obtained from the coherent sum of the eight channels. The increase of the mean CNR for the coherent sum as compared with a single aperture was observed proportional to the number of the apertures under different conditions of atmospheric turbulence. The measured mean CNR gain fitted the theoretical prediction well when the laser intensity fluctuations followed the gamma distribution.