No 129-L'exercice physique pendant la grossesse et le postpartum.

PubMed

Davies, Gregory A L; Wolfe, Larry A; Mottola, Michelle F; MacKinnon, Catherine

2018-02-01

Énoncer une directive canadienne visant à informer les fournisseurs de soins obstétricaux des répercussions, pour la mère, le fœtus et le nouveau-né, des exercices de conditionnement aerobique et musculaire pendant la grossesse. RéSULTATS ATTENDUS: Effets sur la morbidité maternelle, fœtale et néonatale et mesures de la forme physique maternelle. Une recherche sur MEDLINE des articles, publiés en anglais de 1966 à 2002, appartenant aux catégories suivantes : études sur le conditionnement aérobique et musculaire chez des femmes ne faisant pas jusque-là d'exercice et chez des femmes actives avant leur grossesse, ainsi que des études sur les répercussions du conditionnement aérobique et musculaire sur les issues précoces et tardives de la grossesse ou sur les issues néonatales; rapports de synthèse et méta-analyses portant sur l'exercice pendant la grossesse. Les résultats recueillis ont été revus par la Société des obstétriciens et gynécologues du Canada (Comité de la pratique clinique - obstétrique), avec la participation de la Société canadienne de physiologie de l'exercice, et ils ont été classés suivant les critères d'évaluation des preuves établis par le Groupe de travail canadien sur l'examen de santé périodique. VALIDATION: Cette directive a été approuvée par le Comité de pratique clinique - obstétrique de la SOGC, par le Comité exécutif et par le Conseil de la SOGC, ainsi que par le Conseil d'administration de la Société canadienne de physiologie de l'exercice. PARRAINé PAR: la Société des obstétriciens et gynécologues du Canada et par la Société canadienne de physiologie de l'exercice. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Le LHC, un tunnel cosmique

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Binetruy, Pierre

2009-09-17

Et si la lumière au bout du tunnel du LHC était cosmique ? En d’autres termes, qu’est-ce que le LHC peut nous apporter dans la connaissance de l’Univers ? Car la montée en énergie des accélérateurs de particules nous permet de mieux appréhender l’univers primordial, chaud et dense. Mais dans quel sens dit-on que le LHC reproduit des conditions proches du Big bang ? Quelles informations nous apporte-t-il sur le contenu de l’Univers ? La matière noire est-elle détectable au LHC ? L’énergie noire ? Pourquoi l’antimatière accumulée au CERN est-elle si rare dans l’Univers ? Et si le CERNmore » a bâti sa réputation sur l’exploration des forces faibles et fortes qui opèrent au sein des atomes et de leurs noyaux, est-ce que le LHC peut nous apporter des informations sur la force gravitationnelle qui gouverne l’évolution cosmique ? Depuis une trentaine d’années, notre compréhension de l’univers dans ses plus grandes dimensions et l’appréhension de son comportement aux plus petites distances sont intimement liées : en quoi le LHC va-t-il tester expérimentalement cette vision unifiée ? Tout public, entrée libre / Réservations au +41 (0)22 767 76 76« less

Tactile discrimination, but not tactile stimulation alone, reduces chronic limb pain.

PubMed

Moseley, G Lorimer; Zalucki, Nadia M; Wiech, Katja

2008-07-31

Chronic pain is often associated with reduced tactile acuity. A relationship exists between pain intensity, tactile acuity and cortical reorganisation. When pain resolves, tactile function improves and cortical organisation normalises. Tactile acuity can be improved in healthy controls when tactile stimulation is associated with a behavioural objective. We hypothesised that, in patients with chronic limb pain and decreased tactile acuity, discriminating between tactile stimuli would decrease pain and increase tactile acuity, but tactile stimulation alone would not. Thirteen patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) of one limb underwent a waiting period and then approximately 2 weeks of tactile stimulation under two conditions: stimulation alone or discrimination between stimuli according to their diameter and location. There was no change in pain (100 mm VAS) or two-point discrimination (TPD) during a no-treatment waiting period, nor during the stimulation phase (p > 0.32 for both). Pain and TPD were lower after the discrimination phase [mean (95% CI) effect size for pain VAS = 27 mm (14-40 mm) and for TPD = 5.7 mm (2.9-8. ), p < 0.015 for both]. These gains were maintained at three-month follow-up. We conclude that tactile stimulation can decrease pain and increase tactile acuity when patients are required to discriminate between the type and location of tactile stimuli.

Le point sur les amas de galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierre, M.

galaxies jouent donc un rôle de premier plan dans toute étude cosmologique et par conséquent, sont indispensables à notre compréhension globale de l'univers. Dans l'introduction générale, nous détaillons cet aspect fondamental en montrant comment l'étude des amas peut contribuer à contraindre les scénarios cosmologiques. Une fois le contexte scientifique délimité, les chapitres suivants s'attachent à présenter les diverses propriétés des amas et leur évolution cosmique observée dans diverses longueurs d'onde principalement dans les domaines visible (galaxies), X (gaz) et radio (gaz et particules). Nous verrons que l'étude détaillée d'un amas implique celle de l'interaction entre ses différentes composantes et est un passage obligé pour remonter au paramètre ultime (ou premier) qu'est sa masse. Loin d'être un détour ennuyeux, ceci sera l'occasion d'aborder des phénomènes physiques extrêmement variés tel l'aspect multi-phases du milieu intra-amas, les sursauts de formation d'étoiles et l'évolution morphologique des galaxies capturées par les amas, ou bien encore, l'interaction entre le plasma intra-amas et les particules relativistes accélérées lors de la fusion entre deux amas. Bien sûr, pour chaque longueur d'onde, nous ne manquerons pas de décrire simplement les techniques d'observation et d'analyse mises en oeuvre ; celles-ci sont particulièrement intéressantes dans le cas de l'instrumentation spatiale. Nous terminerons en présentant des projets d'observatoires pour l'horizon 2010 et leur impact prévu sur l'étude des amas de galaxies.

Adsorption de gaz sur les materiaux microporeux modelisation, thermodynamique et applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richard, Marc-Andre

2009-12-01

Nos travaux sur l'adsorption de gaz dans les materiaux microporeux s'inscrivent dans le cadre des recherches visant a augmenter l'efficacite du stockage de l'hydrogene a bord des vehicules. Notre objectif etait d'etudier la possibilite d'utiliser l'adsorption afin d'ameliorer l'efficacite de la liquefaction de l'hydrogene des systemes a petite echelle. Nous avons egalement evalue les performances d'un systeme de stockage cryogenique de l'hydrogene base sur la physisorption. Comme nous avons affaire a des plages de temperatures particulierement etendues et a de hautes pressions dans la region supercritique du gaz, nous avons du commencer par travailler sur la modelisation et la thermodynamique de l'adsorption. La representation de la quantite de gaz adsorbee en fonction de la temperature et de la pression par un modele semi-empirique est un outil utile pour determiner la masse de gaz adsorbee dans un systeme mais egalement pour calculer les effets thermiques lies a l'adsorption. Nous avons adapte le modele Dubinin-Astakhov (D-A) pour modeliser des isothermes d'adsorption d'hydrogene, d'azote et de methane sur du charbon actif a haute pression et sur une grande plage de temperatures supercritiques en considerant un volume d'adsorption invariant. Avec cinq parametres de regression (incluant le volume d'adsorption Va), le modele que nous avons developpe permet de tres bien representer des isothermes experimentales d'adsorption d'hydrogene (de 30 a 293 K, jusqu'a 6 MPa), d'azote (de 93 a 298 K, jusqu'a 6 MPa) et de methane (de 243 a 333 K, jusqu'a 9 MPa) sur le charbon actif. Nous avons calcule l'energie interne de la phase adsorbee a partir du modele en nous servant de la thermodynamique des solutions sans negliger le volume d'adsorption. Par la suite, nous avons presente les equations de conservation de la niasse et de l'energie pour un systeme d'adsorption et valide notre demarche en comparant des simulations et des tests d'adsorption et de desorption. En plus de l

Tactile agnosia. Underlying impairment and implications for normal tactile object recognition.

PubMed

Reed, C L; Caselli, R J; Farah, M J

1996-06-01

In a series of experimental investigations of a subject with a unilateral impairment of tactile object recognition without impaired tactile sensation, several issues were addressed. First, is tactile agnosia secondary to a general impairment of spatial cognition? On tests of spatial ability, including those directed at the same spatial integration process assumed to be taxed by tactile object recognition, the subject performed well, implying a more specific impairment of high level, modality specific tactile perception. Secondly, within the realm of high level tactile perception, is there a distinction between the ability to derive shape ('what') and spatial ('where') information? Our testing showed an impairment confined to shape perception. Thirdly, what aspects of shape perception are impaired in tactile agnosia? Our results indicate that despite accurate encoding of metric length and normal manual exploration strategies, the ability tactually to perceive objects with the impaired hand, deteriorated as the complexity of shape increased. In addition, asymmetrical performance was not found for other body surfaces (e.g. her feet). Our results suggest that tactile shape perception can be disrupted independent of general spatial ability, tactile spatial ability, manual shape exploration, or even the precise perception of metric length in the tactile modality.

Effets de la taille finie du milieu non-linéaire sur le bruit quantique spatial généré par un oscillateur paramétrique optique confocal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez, L.; Gatti, A.; Maitre, A.; Treps, N.; Gigan, S.; Fabre, C.

2004-11-01

Nous nous intéressons au comportement spatial des fluctuations quantiques à la sortie d'un oscillateur paramétrique optique dégénéré en modes transverses, sous le seuil. En vue de futures expériences, nous étudions les effets de la diffraction dans le milieu paramétrique sur le bruit quantique spatial. Nous montrons que l'on voit apparaître une aire de cohérence de taille finie pour les effets quantiques transverses.

Profil bactériologique du pied diabétique et son impact sur le choix des antibiotiques

PubMed Central

Zemmouri, Adil; Tarchouli, Mohamed; Benbouha, Abdellatif; Lamkinsi, Tarik; Bensghir, Mustapha; Elouennass, Mostafa; Haimeur, Cherqui

2015-01-01

Introduction Analyse du profil bactériologique des pieds diabétiques pris en charge à l'hôpital militaire de Rabat et son influence sur l'antibiothérapie de première intention. Méthodes Etude prospective non randomisée étalée sur 18 mois, ayant concerné 105 patients. Après recueil des données et en attente des résultats bactériologiques nos patients ont été divisés en deux groupes: un groupe a été mis sous Amoxicilline + Acide clavulanique + Gentamycine (59 patients) et un groupe sous Ertapénème±Gentamycine (46 patients). Résultats L’étude a regroupé 85 hommes et 20 femmes (sexe ratio = 4.26). L’âge moyen est de 64.4 ans. La gangrène a été observée chez 79% des malades; elle était humide-donc surinfectée en principe- dans 43% des cas. Par ailleurs, 67% des malades ont un chiffre de globules blancs 12000 définissant une infection sévère. L'ostéolyse a été mise en évidence chez 27% de nos patients. Parmi les différentes techniques de prélèvements: 81% ont été profonds dont 21% de biopsie osseuse per opératoire et 14% de prélèvements combinés. 42% de ces prélèvements sont poly microbiens et 21% sont stériles. Les résultats bactériologiques viennent confirmer la prédominance des bactéries aérobies à Gram positif. Le taux de remplacement de l'Ertapénème est de 22% contre un taux de 50% pour l'Amoxiclav. Conclusion L'antibiothérapie ne doit être instaurée qu'en cas d'infection du pied diabétique diagnostiquée sur les critères cliniques établis par les consensus internationaux récents. Le respect des mesures de lutte contre la diffusion de la résistance bactérienne s'avère primordiale. PMID:27386024

Le stéréorestituteur Kelsh

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kelsh, H.T.

1949-01-01

Le ste??re??orestituteur Kelsh est un appareil de restitution a?? double projection base?? sur le principe des anaglyphes, comme le Multiplex par exemple, mais il a une plus grande pre??cision que ce dernier, vu que les ne??gatifs sont utilise??s directement pour la restitution, sans que l'on soit oblige?? de les re??duire au pre??alable. Une telle solution devient possible lorsque l'e??chelle de l'image plastique (mode??le) est au moins 7 fois plus grande que celle des cliche??s. L'appareil comprend un support reposant par 4 pieds sur la table a?? dessin. Sa partie supe??rieure porte, par l'interme??diaire de trois vis calantes, un cadre dans lequel les deux chambres de projection sont suspendues. Des leviers de commande, agissant sur les chambres, permettent d'introduire la base, le de??versement et les inclinaisons transversale et longitudinale. Les cliche??s conjugue??s ou des diapositifs sont directement place??s dans les chambres de projection munies d'objectifs. En projetant les deux cliche??s au moyen de couleurs comple??mentaires, l'observateur - muni de lunettes a?? verres colore??s (couleurs comple??mentaires) - observe l'image plastique audessus de la table a?? dessin, l'orientation relative des chambres ayant e??te?? e??tablie au pre??alable. Pour le report des points de l'image plastique sur la minute, l'ope??rateur dispose d'une tablette amovible a?? marque-repe??re lumineuse qu'il de??place a?? la main et dont la hauteur au-dessus de la table a?? dessin peut e??tre commande??e par une molette. Pour e??tablir l'orientation absolue de l'image plastique, il suffit d'incliner convenablement le cadre de suspension a?? l'aide des vis calantes, l'orientation relative n'e??tant pas de??truite par cette ope??ration. Les deux cliche??s sont e??claire??s par des projecteurs munis d'une suspension a?? la cardan et relie??s a?? la tablette de restitution par des tiges te??lescopiques. Moyennant ce dispositif, l'e??clairage est concentre?? sur deux petites re

Mise à jour sur le nouveau vaccin 9-valent pour la prévention du virus du papillome humain

PubMed Central

Yang, David Yi; Bracken, Keyna

2016-01-01

Résumé Objectif Informer les médecins de famille quant à l’efficacité, à l’innocuité, aux effets sur la santé publique et à la rentabilité du vaccin 9-valent contre le virus du papillome humain (VPH). Qualité des données Des articles pertinents publiés dans PubMed jusqu’en mai 2015 ont été examinés et analysés. La plupart des données citées sont de niveau I (essais randomisés et contrôlés et méta-analyses) ou de niveau II (études transversales, cas-témoins et épidémiologiques). Des rapports et recommandations du gouvernement sont aussi cités en référence. Message principal Le vaccin 9-valent contre le VPH, qui offre une protection contre les types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 et 58 du VPH, est sûr et efficace et réduira encore plus l’incidence des infections à VPH, de même que les cas de cancer lié au VPH. Il peut également protéger indirectement les personnes non immunisées par l’entremise du phénomène d’immunité collective. Un programme d’immunisation efficace peut prévenir la plupart des cancers du col de l’utérus. Les analyses montrent que la rentabilité du vaccin 9-valent chez les femmes est comparable à celle du vaccin quadrivalent original contre le VPH (qui protège contre les types 6, 11, 16 et 18 du VPH) en usage à l’heure actuelle. Toutefois, il faut investiguer plus en profondeur l’utilité d’immuniser les garçons avec le vaccin 9-valent contre le VPH. Conclusion en plus d’être sûr, le vaccin 9-valent protège mieux contre le VPH que le vaccin quadrivalent. Une analyse coûtefficacité en favorise l’emploi, du moins chez les adolescentes. Ainsi, les médecins devraient recommander le vaccin 9-valent à leurs patients plutôt que le vaccin quadrivalent contre le VPH.

Novel Tactile Sensor Technology and Smart Tactile Sensing Systems: A Review

PubMed Central

Ge, Chang; Wang, Z. Jane; Cretu, Edmond; Li, Xiaoou

2017-01-01

During the last decades, smart tactile sensing systems based on different sensing techniques have been developed due to their high potential in industry and biomedical engineering. However, smart tactile sensing technologies and systems are still in their infancy, as many technological and system issues remain unresolved and require strong interdisciplinary efforts to address them. This paper provides an overview of smart tactile sensing systems, with a focus on signal processing technologies used to interpret the measured information from tactile sensors and/or sensors for other sensory modalities. The tactile sensing transduction and principles, fabrication and structures are also discussed with their merits and demerits. Finally, the challenges that tactile sensing technology needs to overcome are highlighted. PMID:29149080

Le LHC, un tunnel cosmique

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-09

Et si la lumière au bout du tunnel du LHC était cosmique ? En d’autres termes, qu’est-ce que le LHC peut nous apporter dans la connaissance de l’Univers ? Car la montée en énergie des accélérateurs de particules nous permet de mieux appréhender l’univers primordial, chaud et dense. Mais dans quel sens dit-on que le LHC reproduit des conditions proches du Big bang ? Quelles informations nous apporte-t-il sur le contenu de l’Univers ? La matière noire est-elle détectable au LHC ? L’énergie noire ? Pourquoi l’antimatière accumulée au CERN est-elle si rare dans l’Univers ? Et si le CERN a bâti sa réputation sur l’exploration des forces faibles et fortes qui opèrent au sein des atomes et de leurs noyaux, est-ce que le LHC peut nous apporter des informations sur la force gravitationnelle qui gouverne l’évolution cosmique ? Depuis une trentaine d’années, notre compréhension de l’univers dans ses plus grandes dimensions et l’appréhension de son comportement aux plus petites distances sont intimement liées : en quoi le LHC va-t-il tester expérimentalement cette vision unifiée ? Tout public, entrée libre / Réservations au +41 (0)22 767 76 76

Une étude rétrospective sur le cancer de l'ovaire avec un recul médian de 42 mois

PubMed Central

Raherinantenaina, Fanomezantsoa; Rakotomena, Solonirina Davidà; Hasiniatsy, Nomeharisoa Rodrigue Emile; Rakototiana, Felantsoa Auberlin; Rafaramino, Florine; Ratsimba, Hery Nirina Rakoto

2015-01-01

Le cancer de l'ovaire est relativement fréquent mais grave et de mauvais pronostic. Le but de cette étude était de mettre en évidence les aspects épidémiologique, diagnostique, thérapeutique et évolutif de cette pathologie maligne prise en charge dans un pays en développement. Il s'agit d'une étude rétrospective et descriptive de 10 ans (2000- 2009) effectuée dans un CHU de chirurgie générale et d'Oncologie sur 62 patientes ayant développé un cancer de l'ovaire et opérées à visée curative. L’âge moyen des patientes était de 43 ans dont 53,23% avaient plus de 45 ans. Le dosage sanguin du CA-125 était positif chez 10 patientes sur 12. Les tumeurs étaient découvertes à l’échographie dans 87,10% des cas et à la laparotomie dans 12,90%. L'hystérectomie totale avec annexectomie bilatérale était l'intervention la plus pratiquée (64,52%). Les suites opératoires précoces étaient simples. Dix patientes étaient opérées de second regard (16,13%) pour des récidives locorégionales. Les tumeurs épithéliales étaient le type histologique le plus fréquent (93,55%) dont 79% au stade avancé (Ic-IV) et 21% au stade précoce (Ia-Ib). La chimiothérapie adjuvante était administrée chez 22,60% des patientes. Avec un recul médian de 42 mois, 29 patientes étaient perdues de vue. L’évolution était favorable dans 27,42% et dans 25,81% les décès se sont survenus en postopératoire tardif. Le cancer de l'ovaire n’était pas fréquent mais grave compte tenu des stades avancés et du taux élevé des décès postopératoires tardifs qui étaient largement observés chez les patientes privées d'une chimiothérapie adéquate. PMID:26113942

Structure post-flambée pour la locomotion d'un microrobot intratubulaire: comparaison modèle-expérience de l'effort de serrage dans le tube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Libersa, C.; Arsicault, M.; Lallemand, J.-P.

2002-12-01

Ces travaux entrent dans le cadre des études nécessaires à la mise au point d'une structure déformable actionnée par fils en alliage à mémoire de forme. L'application visée est son utilisation comme module de locomotion d'un microrobot intratubulaire autonome de type “ lombric ”. Un module est constitué d'un cadre élastique carré forcé en post-flambement sur un squelette rigide, de manière à obtenir deux configurations symétriques d'équilibre stable correspondant au premier mode de flambage. Le passage d'un état d'équilibre à l'autre est obtenu par la contraction de fils AMF éduqués disposés sur le cadre post-flambé. Un assemblage par juxtaposition de cinq modules identiques compose le corps du microrobot. Suivant un cycle de locomotion adéquat, chacun de ces actionneurs “ tout ou rien ” permet la prise d'appui sur les parois du tube ou l'allongement local nécessaire à l'avance du microrobot. Nous présentons ici les résultats obtenus lors d'un chargement transversal d'un module, et en particulier les courbes reliant l'effort de réaction et le déplacement du point en contact avec le tube. L'influence du serrage subit par le module sur le maintien du microrobot dans un tube vertical est déterminée. Les résultats expérimentaux obtenus sont comparés avec les résultats numériques.

Developpement et validation d'un outil base sur l'acoustique geometrique pour le diagnostic du bruit de nacelle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minard, Benoit

De nos jours, la problématique du bruit généré par les avions est devenue un point de développement important dans le domaine de l'aéronautique. C'est ainsi que de nombreuses études sont faites dans le domaine et une première approche consiste à modéliser de façon numérique ce bruit de manière à réduire de façon conséquente les coûts lors de la conception. C'est dans ce contexte qu'un motoriste a demandé à l'université de Sherbrooke, et plus particulièrement au groupe d'acoustique de l'Université de Sherbrooke (GAUS), de développer un outil de calcul de la propagation des ondes acoustiques dans les nacelles mais aussi pour l'étude des effets d'installation. Cet outil de prédiction leur permet de réaliser des études afin d'optimiser les traitements acoustiques (« liners »), la géométrie de ces nacelles pour des études portant sur l'intérieur de la nacelle et des études de positionnement des moteurs et de design pour les effets d'installation. L'objectif de ce projet de maîtrise était donc de poursuivre le travail réalisé par [gousset, 2011] sur l'utilisation d'une méthode de lancer de rayons pour l'étude des effets d'installation des moteurs d'avion. L'amélioration du code, sa rapidité, sa fiabilité et sa généralité étaient les objectifs principaux. Le code peut être utilisé avec des traitements acoustiques de surfaces («liners») et peut prendre en compte le phénomène de la diffraction par les arêtes et enfin peut être utilisé pour réaliser des études dans des environnements complexes tels que les nacelles d'avion. Le code développé fonctionne en 3D et procéde en 3 étapes : (1) Calcul des faisceaux initiaux (division d'une sphère, demi-sphère, maillage des surfaces de la géométrie) (2) Propagation des faisceaux dans l'environnement d'étude : calcul de toutes les caractéristiques des rayons convergents (amplitude, phase, nombre de réflexions, ...) (3) Reconstruction du champ de pression en un ou

Scalable, MEMS-enabled, vibrational tactile actuators for high resolution tactile displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Xin; Zaitsev, Yuri; Velásquez-García, Luis Fernando; Teller, Seth J.; Livermore, Carol

2014-12-01

The design, fabrication, and characterization of a new type of tactile display for people with blindness or low vision is reported. Each tactile element comprises a piezoelectric extensional actuator that vibrates in plane, with a microfabricated scissor mechanism to convert the in-plane actuations into robust, higher-amplitude, out-of-plane (vertical) vibrations that are sensed with the finger pads. When the tactile elements are formed into a 2D array, information can be conveyed to the user by varying the pattern of vibrations in space and time. Analytical models and finite element analysis were used to design individual tactile elements, which were implemented with PZT actuators and both SU-8 and 3D-printed scissor amplifiers. The measured displacements of these 3 mm × 10 mm, MEMS-enabled tactile elements exceed 10 µm, in agreement with models, with measured forces exceeding 45 mN. The performance of the MEMS-enabled tactile elements is compared with the performance of larger, fully-macroscale tactile elements to demonstrate the scale dependence of the devices. The creation of a 28-element prototype is also reported, and the qualitative user experience with the individual tactile elements and displays is described.

Le pompage optique naturel dans le milieu astrophysique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pecker, J.-C.

The title of this lecture abstracts only a part of it : the importance in astrophysics of the study of non-LTE situations has become considerable, as well in the stellar atmospheres as, still more, in the study of fortuitous coincidences as a mechanism of formation of emission line nebular spectra, or of molecular interstellar « masers ». Another part of this talk underlines the role of Kastler in his time, and describes his warm personality through his public reactions in front of the nuclear armement, of the Viet-Nam and Algerian wars, of the problems of political refugees... Kastler was a great scientist ; he was also a courageous humanist. 1976 : Les accords nucléaires du Brésil : allocution d'ouverture (19 mars). Colloque sur le sujet ci-dessus. 1976 : La promotion de la culture dans le nouvel ordre économique international, allocution à l'occasion d'une table ronde sur ce thème par l'UNESCO (23-27 juin 1976) ; « Sciences et Techniques », octobre 1976. 1979 : La bête immonde (avec J.-C. Pecker), « Le Matin », 20 mars. 1979 : Appel à nos ministres (avec J.-C. Pecker), « Le Monde », 13 décembre. 1979 : Le flou, le ténébreux, l'irrationnel (avec J.-C. Pecker), « Le Monde », 14 septembre. 1980 : Education à la paix, Préface, in : Publ. UNESCO. 1981 : Le vrai danger, « Le Monde », 6 août 1981. 1982 : Nucléaire civil et militaire, « Le Monde », 1er juin 1982. 1982 : Les scientifiques face à la perspective d'holocauste nucléaire (texte inédit). Le titre de cette communication en résume seulement une partie : l'importance prise en astrophysique par l'analyse des situations hors ETL est devenue considérable, qu'il s'agisse des atmosphères stellaires, ou plus encore, des coïncidences fortuites de la formation des spectres d'émission nébulaires, ou des « masers » moléculaires interstellaires. Une autre partie de cet exposé souligne le rôle de Kastler dans son époque, et décrit sa personnalité généreuse à travers ses r

Le ciment brûle toujours

PubMed Central

Lebreton, T.; Fontaine, M.; Le Floch, R.

2017-01-01

Summary Les brûlures chimiques par ciment représentent une cause fréquente de corrosion cutanée en France. Elles nécessitent fréquemment un traitement chirurgical. Notre étude rétrospective concerne tous les patients admis pour une brûlure par ciment dans le service entre 2004 et 2016. Quarante-neuf patients âgés de 21 à 71 ans ont été pris en charge dans le centre des brûlés du Centre Hospitalier Saint Joseph Saint Luc à Lyon entre 2004 et 2016. La population concernée était majoritairement masculine, relativement jeune (44 ans en moyenne) et professionnellement active. Les brûlures survenaient principalement dans le cadre d’accidents domestiques (78%). Elles étaient profondes et atteignaient majoritairement les membres inférieurs, de façon bilatérale. La surface brûlée représentait 3% de la surface cutanée totale. Presque tous les patients (98%) ont nécessité une prise en charge chirurgicale pour excision et autogreffe de peau mince. Un seul patient a bénéficié d’une cicatrisation dirigée. Le délai moyen entre la brûlure et la chirurgie était de 13 jours et la durée moyenne d’hospitalisation de 8 jours. Sept patients ont nécessité une prise en charge en centre de rééducation à leur sortie du service. Cette étude confirme la sévérité des brûlures chimiques par ciment. Elle met également en avant l’impact que peut avoir ce type de brûlure en terme de retentissement socio-économique dans une population de patients majoritairement jeune et active. Elle insiste sur le fait que des mesures doivent être prises afin d’informer cette population rarement professionnelle sur les risques encourus lors du mésusage du ciment. La réglementation actuelle, classant le ciment comme irritant, ne prend pas en compte son caractère corrosif et devrait être amendée. PMID:28592929

Flight Experience, Risk Taking, and Hazardous Attitudes in Glider Instructors (Experience de vol, Prise de Risque et Attitudes Dangereuses des Instructeurs de vol sur Planeur)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-01

sur planeur . On a également examiné le rôle que jouent l’expérience de vol et la propension à prendre des risques dans le but d’anticiper les...données transversales, obtenues par l’observation de 144 instructeurs de vol sur planeur , en activité ou non, œuvrant dans cinq centres de vol à...137 Sommaire ..... Expérience de vol, prise de risque et attitudes dangereuses des instructeurs de vol sur planeur Ann-Renee Blais

Impact de la preparation des anodes crues et des conditions de cuisson sur la fissuration dans des anodes denses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amrani, Salah

La fabrication de l'aluminium est realisee dans une cellule d'electrolyse, et cette operation utilise des anodes en carbone. L'evaluation de la qualite de ces anodes reste indispensable avant leur utilisation. La presence des fissures dans les anodes provoque une perturbation du procede l'electrolyse et une diminution de sa performance. Ce projet a ete entrepris pour determiner l'impact des differents parametres de procedes de fabrication des anodes sur la fissuration des anodes denses. Ces parametres incluent ceux de la fabrication des anodes crues, des proprietes des matieres premieres et de la cuisson. Une recherche bibliographique a ete effectuee sur tous les aspects de la fissuration des anodes en carbone pour compiler les travaux anterieurs. Une methodologie detaillee a ete mise au point pour faciliter le deroulement des travaux et atteindre les objectifs vises. La majorite de ce document est reservee pour la discussion des resultats obtenus au laboratoire de l'UQAC et au niveau industriel. Concernant les etudes realisees a l'UQAC, une partie des travaux experimentaux est reservee a la recherche des differents mecanismes de fissuration dans les anodes denses utilisees dans l'industrie d'aluminium. L'approche etait d'abord basee sur la caracterisation qualitative du mecanisme de la fissuration en surface et en profondeur. Puis, une caracterisation quantitative a ete realisee pour la determination de la distribution de la largeur de la fissure sur toute sa longueur, ainsi que le pourcentage de sa surface par rapport a la surface totale de l'echantillon. Cette etude a ete realisee par le biais de la technique d'analyse d'image utilisee pour caracteriser la fissuration d'un echantillon d'anode cuite. L'analyse surfacique et en profondeur de cet echantillon a permis de voir clairement la formation des fissures sur une grande partie de la surface analysee. L'autre partie des travaux est basee sur la caracterisation des defauts dans des echantillons d'anodes crues

An overview of tactile sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agrawal, Rajeev; Jain, Ramesh

1986-01-01

Existing or proposed tactile sensors are reviewed. General considerations involved in tactile sensing and various performance criteria are discussed. Typical specifications to be expected from the sensors are also described. A representative set of present day tactile sensors is studied. Finally, some of the proposed recognition systems using tactile sensing are described.

Tactile Signing with One-Handed Perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mesch, Johanna

2013-01-01

Tactile signing among persons with deaf-blindness is not homogenous; rather, like other forms of language, it exhibits variation, especially in turn taking. Early analyses of tactile Swedish Sign Language, tactile Norwegian Sign Language, and tactile French Sign Language focused on tactile communication with four hands, in which partially blind or…

Culpabilité chez les enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle : Le rôle médiateur des stratégies d’évitement sur l’anxiété et l’estime de soi

PubMed Central

Gauthier-Duchesne, Amélie; Hébert, Martine; Daspe, Marie-Ève

2017-01-01

Résumé Des études antérieures relèvent que le sentiment de culpabilité est un facteur associé aux répercussions de l’agression sexuelle (AS) chez les survivants adultes (Cantón-Cortés, Cantón, Justicia et Cortés, 2011). Toutefois, très peu d’études ont exploré le rôle potentiel du sentiment de culpabilité sur les symptômes chez les enfants victimes. L’objectif de cette recherche est d’étudier le rôle médiateur de l’évitement dans la relation entre le sentiment de culpabilité et les symptômes associés à l’AS (anxiété et estime de soi). L’échantillon est composé de 447 enfants victimes d'AS (319 filles et 128 garçons), âgés de 6 à 12 ans. Les résultats des analyses acheminatoires indiquent que les enfants révélant davantage de culpabilité par rapport à la situation d’AS présentent un niveau plus élevé d’anxiété et une plus faible estime d’eux-mêmes. Un effet indirect a également été observé et montre que le sentiment de culpabilité est lié à l’utilisation de stratégies d’évitement, qui en retour exacerbent les symptômes d’anxiété et contribuent à une plus faible estime de soi. Le modèle, qui s’ajuste aux données de manière équivalente pour les filles et les garçons, permet d’expliquer 24,4 % de la variance des symptômes d’anxiété et 11,2 % de la variance de l’estime de soi. Ces résultats laissent entendre que le sentiment de culpabilité pourrait constituer une cible d’intervention pertinente pour les enfants victimes d’AS. PMID:29445251

Why Early Tactile Speech Aids May Have Failed: No Perceptual Integration of Tactile and Auditory Signals.

PubMed

Rizza, Aurora; Terekhov, Alexander V; Montone, Guglielmo; Olivetti-Belardinelli, Marta; O'Regan, J Kevin

2018-01-01

Tactile speech aids, though extensively studied in the 1980's and 1990's, never became a commercial success. A hypothesis to explain this failure might be that it is difficult to obtain true perceptual integration of a tactile signal with information from auditory speech: exploitation of tactile cues from a tactile aid might require cognitive effort and so prevent speech understanding at the high rates typical of everyday speech. To test this hypothesis, we attempted to create true perceptual integration of tactile with auditory information in what might be considered the simplest situation encountered by a hearing-impaired listener. We created an auditory continuum between the syllables /BA/ and /VA/, and trained participants to associate /BA/ to one tactile stimulus and /VA/ to another tactile stimulus. After training, we tested if auditory discrimination along the continuum between the two syllables could be biased by incongruent tactile stimulation. We found that such a bias occurred only when the tactile stimulus was above, but not when it was below its previously measured tactile discrimination threshold. Such a pattern is compatible with the idea that the effect is due to a cognitive or decisional strategy, rather than to truly perceptual integration. We therefore ran a further study (Experiment 2), where we created a tactile version of the McGurk effect. We extensively trained two Subjects over 6 days to associate four recorded auditory syllables with four corresponding apparent motion tactile patterns. In a subsequent test, we presented stimulation that was either congruent or incongruent with the learnt association, and asked Subjects to report the syllable they perceived. We found no analog to the McGurk effect, suggesting that the tactile stimulation was not being perceptually integrated with the auditory syllable. These findings strengthen our hypothesis according to which tactile aids failed because integration of tactile cues with auditory speech

Why Early Tactile Speech Aids May Have Failed: No Perceptual Integration of Tactile and Auditory Signals

PubMed Central

Rizza, Aurora; Terekhov, Alexander V.; Montone, Guglielmo; Olivetti-Belardinelli, Marta; O’Regan, J. Kevin

2018-01-01

Tactile speech aids, though extensively studied in the 1980’s and 1990’s, never became a commercial success. A hypothesis to explain this failure might be that it is difficult to obtain true perceptual integration of a tactile signal with information from auditory speech: exploitation of tactile cues from a tactile aid might require cognitive effort and so prevent speech understanding at the high rates typical of everyday speech. To test this hypothesis, we attempted to create true perceptual integration of tactile with auditory information in what might be considered the simplest situation encountered by a hearing-impaired listener. We created an auditory continuum between the syllables /BA/ and /VA/, and trained participants to associate /BA/ to one tactile stimulus and /VA/ to another tactile stimulus. After training, we tested if auditory discrimination along the continuum between the two syllables could be biased by incongruent tactile stimulation. We found that such a bias occurred only when the tactile stimulus was above, but not when it was below its previously measured tactile discrimination threshold. Such a pattern is compatible with the idea that the effect is due to a cognitive or decisional strategy, rather than to truly perceptual integration. We therefore ran a further study (Experiment 2), where we created a tactile version of the McGurk effect. We extensively trained two Subjects over 6 days to associate four recorded auditory syllables with four corresponding apparent motion tactile patterns. In a subsequent test, we presented stimulation that was either congruent or incongruent with the learnt association, and asked Subjects to report the syllable they perceived. We found no analog to the McGurk effect, suggesting that the tactile stimulation was not being perceptually integrated with the auditory syllable. These findings strengthen our hypothesis according to which tactile aids failed because integration of tactile cues with auditory speech

Enquête internationale sur l'état de l'art et l'état de la pratique en géotechnique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acosta-Martinez, Hugo; Delage, Pierre; Nicks, Jennifer; Day, Peter

2018-05-01

Cet article présente une synthèse des résultats de l'enquête internationale sur l'état de l'art et l'état de la pratique en ingénierie géotechnique lancée par le Groupe présidentiel des entreprises associées et le Comité de supervision technique de la Société internationale de mécanique des sols et de géotechnique en mars 2017. Il résume également les discussions qui ont eu lieu sur le sujet durant le 19e CIMSG à Séoul, le 20 septembre 2017.

Frequency Assignment, Sharing and Conservation in Systems (Aerospace). (l’Attribution, le partage et la conservation des frequences pour les systemes aeronautiques et spatiales)

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-01-01

que pour les installations et le personnel mis ä sa disposition. T- l Technical Evaluation Report of the RTO...radiocommunications sur le radar, on peut mettre en oeuvre des techniques de Formation de Faisceau par le Calcul qui permettent d’augmenter encore le niveau...plus 6loign6s pouvant fonctionner sur les mSmes canaux de frequence que le radar sans g£ne mutuelle1. equipements de radiocommunication

Tactile Evaluation Feedback System for Multi-Layered Structure Inspired by Human Tactile Perception Mechanism.

PubMed

Hashim, Iza Husna Mohamad; Kumamoto, Shogo; Takemura, Kenjiro; Maeno, Takashi; Okuda, Shin; Mori, Yukio

2017-11-11

Tactile sensation is one type of valuable feedback in evaluating a product. Conventionally, sensory evaluation is used to get direct subjective responses from the consumers, in order to improve the product's quality. However, this method is a time-consuming and costly process. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel tactile evaluation system that can give tactile feedback from a sensor's output. The main concept of this system is hierarchically layering the tactile sensation, which is inspired by the flow of human perception. The tactile sensation is classified from low-order of tactile sensation (LTS) to high-order of tactile sensation (HTS), and also to preference. Here, LTS will be correlated with physical measures. Furthermore, the physical measures that are used to correlate with LTS are selected based on four main aspects of haptic information (roughness, compliance, coldness, and slipperiness), which are perceived through human tactile sensors. By using statistical analysis, the correlation between each hierarchy was obtained, and the preference was derived in terms of physical measures. A verification test was conducted by using unknown samples to determine the reliability of the system. The results showed that the system developed was capable of estimating preference with an accuracy of approximately 80%.

Renaud Paulian et le programme du CNRS sur les hautes montagnes à Madagascar: étage vs domaine

PubMed Central

Guillaumet, Jean-Louis; Betsch, Jean-Marie; Callmander, Martin W.

2011-01-01

Résumé Le programme intitulé « Étude des écosystémes montagnards dans la région malgache» (RCP 225/CNRS; responsable: Recteur Renaud Paulian) avait pour ambition de dégager leurs caractères généraux, l'origine des éléments constitutifs et de tester la validité d'un Domaine malgache des Hautes Montagnes proposé par Humbert dès 1951. De 1970 à 1973, trois campagnes (Andringitra; Chaînes anosyennes et Ankaratra; Itremo, Ibity et Marojejy) ont permis une caractérisation écologique des milieux particuliers ainsi que des analyses de systématique sur certains taxa connus pour leur intérêt biogéographique. La succession altitudinale des formations végétales, définies par des critères physionomiques et structuraux, est précisée par massif. Le dernier étage caractérisé par le fourré éricoïde et ses groupements associés ne correspond pas à l'Étage des Hautes Montagnes de l'Est africain. Des groupes de la faune (invertébrés hexapodes: Collemboles et Dermaptères) indiquent une disjonction entre les massifs du Nord (Tsaratanana, Marojejy), ceux du Centre et du Sud; des éléments de la flore (Pandanaceae, Araliaceae, Asteraceae) sont en cours d'analyse dans le même sens. Le Domaine des Hautes montagnes à Madagascar est une réalité écologique mais ne peut être défini floristiquement; chaque massif montagneux est une entité phytogéographique d'étages de végétation interdépendants inclus dans les différents Sous-Domaines du Centre. Les groupes peu mobiles de la faune indiquent globalement une dépendance trophique et bioclimatique (effet tampon du climat intraforestier) vis-à-vis des étages de végétation, mais peuvent réagir à des microclimats locaux par des décalages à leurs limites. PMID:21731422

Influence des macles sur le courant critique de transport selon c et sur la ligne d'irréversibilité dans les plans ab étudiée dans des échantillons monodomaines texturés d'YBaCuO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanfilippo, S.; Sulpice, A.; Bourgault, D.; Villard, C.; Gautier-Picard, P.; Chaud, X.; Beaugnon, E.; Tournier, R.

1998-02-01

Direct transport measurements at 77 K of the critical current density along the c-axis (J_c) and magnetic measurements are performed on the same bulk textured single domain YBaCuO samples with the longest dimension along the c-axis. A strong influence of the Twin Planes (TP) on J_c and on the ab-plane irreversibility line B(T^*) is reported when the field is rotated in the ab-planes perpendicularly to the c-axis. The different unusual behaviors observed for J_c and the B(T^*), depending on the range of temperature and field are explained by the strong influence of these extended correlated defects on the pinning of the flux lines. La densité de courant critique selon l'axe c (J_c) est mesurée à 77 K en transport et par des mesures magnétiques sur les mêmes échantillons texturés monodomaines d'YBaCuO. L'influence des plans de macles (TP) sur J_c et sur la ligne d'irréversibilité B(T^*) est étudiée en faisant tourner le champ dans les plans ab, perpendiculairement à l'axe c. Les résultats montrent que dans ces composés, J_c et B(T^*) sont fortement influencés par le piégeage par les TP. Divers comportements des lignes de flux résultant de l'influence de ces défauts corrélés sont proposés selon les gammes de température et de champ étudiées.

Availability of vision and tactile gating: vision enhances tactile sensitivity.

PubMed

Colino, Francisco L; Lee, Ji-Hang; Binsted, Gordon

2017-01-01

A multitude of events bombard our sensory systems at every moment of our lives. Thus, it is important for the sensory and motor cortices to gate unimportant events. Tactile suppression is a well-known phenomenon defined as a reduced ability to detect tactile events on the skin before and during movement. Previous experiments (Buckingham et al. in Exp Brain Res 201(3):411-419, 2010; Colino et al. in Physiol Rep 2(3):e00267, 2014) found detection rates decrease just prior to and during finger abduction and decrease according to the proximity of the moving effector. However, what effect does vision have on tactile gating? There is ample evidence (see Serino and Haggard in Neurosci Biobehav Rev 34:224-236, 2010) observing increased tactile acuity when participants see their limbs. The present study examined how tactile detection changes in response to visual condition (vision/no vision). Ten human participants used their right hand to reach and grasp a cylinder. Tactors were attached to the index finger and the forearm of both the right and left arm and vibrated at various epochs relative to a "go" tone. Results replicate previous findings from our laboratory (Colino et al. in Physiol Rep 2(3):e00267, 2014). Also, tactile acuity decreased when participants did not have vision. These results indicate that the vision affects the somatosensation via inputs from parietal areas (Konen and Haggard in Cereb Cortex 24(2):501-507, 2014) but does so in a reach-to-grasp context.

Le genre Tunga Jarocki, 1838 (Siphonaptera : Tungidae). I – Taxonomie, phylogénie, écologie, rôle pathogène

PubMed Central

Beaucournu, J.-C.; Degeilh, B.; Mergey, T.; Muñoz-Leal, S.; González-Acuña, D.

2012-01-01

Pour la première fois, les 12 espèces actuellement décrites dans le genre Tunga sont étudiées sur le plan de la taxonomie et de la répartition. Divers aspects de leur biologie et leur rôle pathogène sont également envisagés, et en particulier leur phylogénie, leur chorologie, leur phénologie, leur sexe-ratio et leurs dermecos. PMID:23193514

Lambeau Expanse du Cuir Chevelu dans la Couverture des Alopecies Cicatricielles sur Sequelles de Brulures. A Propos d'une Observation

PubMed Central

El Mazouz, S.; Hafidi, J.; Fejjal, N.; Mejjati, H.; Cherkab, L.; Gharib, N.; Abbassi, A.

2010-01-01

Summary Les séquelles esthétiques des alopécies cicatricielles sur séquelles de brûlures sont responsables de préjudices empêchant parfois la réinsertion sociale du patient, surtout chez les sujets de sexe féminin. Le cuir chevelu permet la réalisation de lambeaux permettant de couvrir ces alopécies. Les Auteurs décrivent le cas d'une jeune patiente victime d'une alopécie cicatricielle sur séquelles de brûlures chez qui ils ont réalisé un lambeau expansé du cuir chevelu et mettent le point sur la prise en charge de ces lésions à travers ce cas clinique et une revue de littérature. PMID:21991195

Traumatic Brain Injury in a Military Operational Setting (Le traumatisme cranien dans un cadre militaire operationnel)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

la gestion du TCCL lié à un déploiement. Les objectifs de ce rapport étaient de : 1) Décrire la pratique clinique... de la projection de débris et à l’accélération/décélération ou rotation. L’impact sur la santé publique du TCCL lié à un déploiement sur tout...montré que le cours clinique du TCCL provoqué par une déflagration présente de forts parallèles avec ce qu’on constate dans la littérature sur le

Tactile Sensitivity in Asperger Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne; Tavassoli, Teresa; Calo, Susana; Thomas, Richard M.; Catmur, Caroline; Frith, Uta; Haggard, Patrick

2006-01-01

People with autism and Asperger syndrome are anecdotally said to be hypersensitive to touch. In two experiments, we measured tactile thresholds and suprathreshold tactile sensitivity in a group of adults with Asperger syndrome. In the first experiment, tactile perceptual thresholds were measured. Two frequencies of vibrotactile stimulation were…

Le sevrage de l’allaitement

PubMed Central

Grueger, Barbara

2013-01-01

RÉSUMÉ L’allaitement exclusif assure une alimentation optimale aux nourrissons jusqu’à l’âge de six mois. Par la suite, les nourrissons ont besoin d’aliments complémentaires pour répondre à leurs besoins nutritionnels. C’est alors que le sevrage commence. Le sevrage désigne le processus graduel d’introduction d’aliments complémentaires au régime du nourrisson, tout en poursuivant l’allaitement. Il n’y a pas de moment universellement accepté ou scientifiquement démontré pour mettre un terme à l’allaitement. Le moment et le processus de sevrage doivent être adaptés par la mère et l’enfant. Le sevrage peut être soudain ou graduel, prendre plusieurs semaines ou plusieurs mois, être dirigé par l’enfant ou par la mère. Les médecins doivent orienter et soutenir les mères tout au long du processus de sevrage. Le présent document remplace le document de principes sur le sevrage qu’a publié la Société canadienne de pédiatrie en 2004.

Dissociated active and passive tactile shape recognition: a case study of pure tactile apraxia.

PubMed

Valenza, N; Ptak, R; Zimine, I; Badan, M; Lazeyras, F; Schnider, A

2001-11-01

Disorders of tactile object recognition (TOR) may result from primary motor or sensory deficits or higher cognitive impairment of tactile shape representations or semantic memory. Studies with healthy participants suggest the existence of exploratory motor procedures directly linked to the extraction of specific properties of objects. A pure deficit of these procedures without concomitant gnostic disorders has never been described in a brain-damaged patient. Here, we present a patient with a right hemispheric infarction who, in spite of intact sensorimotor functions, had impaired TOR with the left hand. Recognition of 2D shapes and objects was severely deficient under the condition of spontaneous exploration. Tactile exploration of shapes was disorganized and exploratory procedures, such as the contour-following strategy, which is necessary to identify the precise shape of an object, were severely disturbed. However, recognition of 2D shapes under manually or verbally guided exploration and the recognition of shapes traced on the skin were intact, indicating a dissociation in shape recognition between active and passive touch. Functional MRI during sensory stimulation of the left hand showed preserved activation of the spared primary sensory cortex in the right hemisphere. We interpret the deficit of our patient as a pure tactile apraxia without tactile agnosia, i.e. a specific inability to use tactile feedback to generate the exploratory procedures necessary for tactile shape recognition.

Regard sur les lazarets en terre canadienne

PubMed Central

Milot, Jean

2008-01-01

Puisant dans les nombreuses références qu’offrent les publications médicales canadiennes du milieu du XIXe siècle à nos jours, l’auteur fait découvrir l’existence de lazarets en terre canadienne, décrit l’impact de la maladie sur les conditions vie des lépreux qui y étaient confinés et en souligne les contrecoups tant sur le plan physique et psychologique que social. Il présente un bref aperçu de la maladie, ses symptômes, ses signes ainsi que ses complications oculaires et rappelle les premiers moyens thérapeutiques à base d’huile de chaulmoogra introduits dans la colonie de Tracadie vers 1901. Il illustre son propos en évoquant la vie dans les lazarets de l’île de Sheldrake (1844–1848) et de Tracadie (1848–1965) au Nouveau-Brunswick, puis dans ceux des îles D’Arcy (1891–1924) et de Bentinck (1924–1957) en Colombie-Britannique. PMID:19352451

Transitions de phase dans le oxyde de yttrium vanadium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberge, Benoit

Dans le mémoire qui suit, les ordres structural, magnétiques et orbital dans le YVO3 sont étudiés avec l'aide de la diffraction des rayons X,de la spectroscopie Raman et de la technique de la cavité résonnante hyperfréquence. L'objectif premier consiste à observer l'évolution de ces ordres en fonction de la température. Le mémoire met ensuite en évidence le couplage entre les différents ordres cohabitants dans le YVO3 . Les mesures effectuées par la diffraction des rayons X permettent de mesurer le caractère polycrystallin des échantillons du YVO 3. Une comparaison de nos mesures avec des mesures de diffraction des rayons X faites sur la poudre de YVO3 indique la faible présence de maclage. Les mesures effectuées avec la technique de résonnance hyperfréquence permettent de suivre l'évolution de la constante diélectrique en fonction de la température. Les changements impliquant l'ordre orbital se manifestent de manière évidente dans la constante diélectrique à 200 K et à 77 K. La transition diélectrique détectée à 77 K est une transition de premier ordre. Un couplage entre les propriétés diélectriques et magnétiques est observable à la température de Néel à 114 K. L'effet d'un champ magnétique fixe sur la température de transition de l'ordre orbital survenant à 77 K est également remarquable. Cela indique un couplage magnétodiélectrique démontrant ainsi le caractère multiferroïque du YVO 3. Finalement, l'observation d'un mécanisme de relaxation pouvant être modélisé par le modèle d'Havriliak-Negami est observé en dessous de 77 K. En utilisant le modèle d'Arrhénius et le modèle d'Havriliak-Negami, on peut caractériser le mécanisme avec son énergie d'activation et son temps de relaxation. Les mesures effectuées en spectroscopie Raman permettent de suivre l'évolution de la structure du YVO3 en fonction de la température. Les deux changements structuraux survenant à 200 K et 77 K sont observés. Le

Tactile functions after cerebral hemispherectomy.

PubMed

Backlund, H; Morin, C; Ptito, A; Bushnell, M C; Olausson, H

2005-01-01

Patients that were hemispherectomized due to brain lesions early in life sometimes have remarkably well-preserved tactile functions on their paretic body half. This has been attributed to developmental neuroplasticity. However, the tactile examinations generally have been fairly crude, and subtle deficits may not have been revealed. We investigated monofilament detection and three types of tactile directional sensibility in four hemispherectomized patients and six healthy controls. Patients were examined bilaterally on the face, forearm and lower leg. Normal subjects were examined unilaterally. Following each test of directional sensibility, subjects were asked to rate the intensity of the stimulation. On the nonparetic side, results were almost always in the normal range. On the paretic side, the patients' capacity for monofilament detection was less impaired than their directional sensibility. Despite the disturbed directional sensibility on their paretic side the patients rated tactile sensations evoked by the stimuli, on both their paretic and nonparetic body halves, as more intense than normals. Thus, mechanisms of plasticity seem adequate for tactile detection and intensity coding but not for more complex tactile functions such as directional sensibility. The reason for the high vulnerability of tactile directional sensibility may be that it depends on spatially and temporally precise afferent information processed in a distributed cortical network.

Recent Progress in Technologies for Tactile Sensors

PubMed Central

Sun, Xuguang; Xue, Ning; Li, Tong; Liu, Chang

2018-01-01

Over the last two decades, considerable scientific and technological efforts have been devoted to developing tactile sensing based on a variety of transducing mechanisms, with prospective applications in many fields such as human–machine interaction, intelligent robot tactile control and feedback, and tactile sensorized minimally invasive surgery. This paper starts with an introduction of human tactile systems, followed by a presentation of the basic demands of tactile sensors. State-of-the-art tactile sensors are reviewed in terms of their diverse sensing mechanisms, design consideration, and material selection. Subsequently, typical performances of the sensors, along with their advantages and disadvantages, are compared and analyzed. Two major potential applications of tactile sensing systems are discussed in detail. Lastly, we propose prospective research directions and market trends of tactile sensing systems. PMID:29565835

Recent Progress in Technologies for Tactile Sensors.

PubMed

Chi, Cheng; Sun, Xuguang; Xue, Ning; Li, Tong; Liu, Chang

2018-03-22

Over the last two decades, considerable scientific and technological efforts have been devoted to developing tactile sensing based on a variety of transducing mechanisms, with prospective applications in many fields such as human-machine interaction, intelligent robot tactile control and feedback, and tactile sensorized minimally invasive surgery. This paper starts with an introduction of human tactile systems, followed by a presentation of the basic demands of tactile sensors. State-of-the-art tactile sensors are reviewed in terms of their diverse sensing mechanisms, design consideration, and material selection. Subsequently, typical performances of the sensors, along with their advantages and disadvantages, are compared and analyzed. Two major potential applications of tactile sensing systems are discussed in detail. Lastly, we propose prospective research directions and market trends of tactile sensing systems.

Rapport signal-sur-bruit et bande passante : mise au point

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jehenson, P.

1998-02-01

A widely diffused misconception is that reducing receiver filter bandwidth (BW) reduces noise levels in spectra and thus improves the signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. We here try to simply explain why this is wrong in spectra (only true in the time domain). Reducing BW, which still is widely used, rather has disadvantages (for distorsions, noise, phasing...) and over-sampling often is convenient. The only, presently usually small, advantage is saving data storage space. Ways to improve spectral SNR rather are to increase the signal per unit BW, by reducing its bandwidth (influenced by T2 and shim) or to decrease noise per unit BW by reducing the various losses or temperature. Une idée fausse très répandue est que réduire la bande passante (BW) du récepteur réduit le bruit et améliore donc le rapport signal-sur-bruit (S/B) du spectre. Nous essayons d'expliquer simplement ici que c'est inexact pour le spectre (vrai seulement dans le domaine temporel). Réduire BW au plus serré, ce qui est encore très largement pratiqué, comporte plutôt des inconvénients (distorsions, bruit, phasage...) et il y a souvent intérêt, pour cela et d'autres raisons, à sur-échantillonner. Le seul avantage, actuellement souvent faible, est d'épargner de la place de stockage des données. Ce sont d'autres paramètres qui permettent d'améliorer le S/B.

Tactile modulation of hippocampal place fields.

PubMed

Gener, Thomas; Perez-Mendez, Lorena; Sanchez-Vives, Maria V

2013-12-01

Neural correlates of spatial representation can be found in the activity of the hippocampal place cells. These neurons are characterized by firing whenever the animal is located in a particular area of the space, the place field. Place fields are modulated by sensory cues, such as visual, auditory, or olfactory cues, being the influence of visual inputs the most thoroughly studied. Tactile information gathered by the whiskers has a prominent representation in the rat cerebral cortex. However, the influence of whisker-detected tactile cues on place fields remains an open question. Here we studied place fields in an enriched tactile environment where the remaining sensory cues were occluded. First, place cells were recorded before and after blockade of tactile transmission by means of lidocaine applied on the whisker pad. Following tactile deprivation, the majority of place cells decreased their firing rate and their place fields expanded. We next rotated the tactile cues and 90% of place fields rotated with them. Our results demonstrate that tactile information is integrated into place cells at least in a tactile-enriched arena and when other sensory cues are not available. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Le pôle de métrologie de SOLEIL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idir, M.; Brochet, S.; Delmotte, A.; Lagarde, B.; Mercere, P.; Moreno, T.; Polack, F.; Thomasset, M.

2006-12-01

Le Pôle de METROLOGIE de SOLEIL a pour objet de créer sur le synchrotron SOLEIL, une plateforme constituée : - une ligne de lumière utilisant le rayonnement synchrotron (métrologie dite à la longueur d'onde) - d'un laboratoire de métrologie associé (métrologie dite ll classique gg ) Ces deux types de Métrologie sont l'une et l'autre indispensables pour soutenir l'activité de recherche instrumentale en optique X et X-UV. Ce projet de pôle de METROLOGIE ne répondra pas seulement aux besoins des groupes chargés de l'équipement du synchrotron SOLEIL en optiques et détecteurs mais aussi pour préparer, tester et mettre au point les postes expérimentaux, ce qui concerne déjà une large communauté d'utilisateurs. Il sera aussi largement ouvert, dès sa mise en service, à l'ensemble de la communauté scientifique concernée par l'instrumentation X et XUV en Ile de France, en France, voire même en Europe si la demande continue de croître plus vite que l'offre dans ce domaine. Ligne de lumière Métrologie à la longueur d'onde La ligne de lumière sera équipée de plusieurs stations permettant de mesurer, dans la plus grande partie du spectre couvert par le synchrotron, les paramètres photométriques qui caractérisent les éléments optiques, tels que : la réflectivité de surfaces, l'efficacité de diffraction des réseaux, la diffusion des surfaces ou l'efficacité des détecteurs X et X-UV et la calibration absolue. Cette installation pourra servir également à développer des instruments et des diagnostics nécessaires à la caractérisation des faisceaux de rayons X (intensité, taille, degré de cohérence, polarisation etc.) Métrologie Classique La métrologie des surfaces optiques est devenue une nécessité critique pour les laboratoires et les industries qui utilisent les photons X et X-UV (synchrotrons, centres laser, etc. .). En effet, les progrès de calcul et de conception des systèmes optiques pour ces longueurs d'onde (optiques

Le rôle de l’omalizumab dans le traitement de l’asthme allergique grave

PubMed Central

Chapman, Kenneth R; Cartier, André; Hébert, Jacques; McIvor, R Andrew; Schellenberg, R Robert

2006-01-01

CONTEXTE : Un nouveau traitement anti-immunoglobuline E (anti-IgE) contre l’asthme, l’omalizumab, a été approuvé au Canada. OBJECTIF : Passer en revue les données fondamentales et cliniques sur l’omalizumab et examiner le rôle possible de ce médicament dans la prise en charge de l’asthme au Canada. MÉTHODOLOGIE : Une recherche documentaire a été effectuée dans MEDLINE afin de repérer les études menées de 1960 à 2006 sur l’omalizumab. La recherche a également porté sur les résumés de réunions scientifiques récentes dans le domaine des maladies respiratoires et des allergies; par ailleurs, toute donnée non publiée a été demandée au fabricant. Après avoir revu et résumé les données, un comité mixte constitué de spécialistes des maladies respiratoires et des allergies a rédigé un ensemble de recommandations relatives à l’utilisation de l’omalizumab. RÉSULTATS : L’omalizumab est un anticorps monoclonal humanisé qui se lie au domaine C epsilon 3 de la molécule d’IgE pour former des complexes immuns solubles qui sont éliminés par le système réticulo-endothélial. L’administration d’injections sous-cutanées espacées de deux ou de quatre semaines à la dose recommandée entraîne une diminution rapide des taux d’IgE circulantes libres. Lors de deux essais cliniques de phase III menés auprès de 1 405 adultes et adolescents atteints d’asthme modéré à grave qui recevaient des doses moyennes stables de corticostéroïdes en inhalation (CSI), l’omalizumab a diminué les taux d’exacerbation par rapport au placebo et a été associé à une amélioration des symptômes ainsi qu’à une épargne plus importante des corticostéroïdes. Dans un essai mené auprès de 419 patients atteints d’asthme grave non maîtrisé malgré l’utilisation de doses élevées de CSI et de la prise concomitante d’agonistes bêta-2 à action prolongée, les exacerbations graves étaient de 50 % moins fréquentes chez

Diffraction de rayons X sur les plaquettes de fer durcies par cyanuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popescu, M.; Hoyer, W.; Stegarescu, M.; Cornet, A.; Broll, N.

2004-11-01

Une méthode de cyanuration a été developpée pour les surfaces des plaquettes de fer, basée sur une réaction thermochimique qui conduit à la formation des couches dures sur le métal. Les échantillons ont été analysés, pour de temps différents de traitement, par diffraction de rayons X et par mesures de dureté.

Une étude rétrospective sur l'incidence de l'insuffisance rénale chronique dans le service de Médecine Interne et Néphrologie du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Antananarivo

PubMed Central

Ramilitiana, Benja; Ranivoharisoa, Eliane Mikkelsen; Dodo, Mihary; Razafimandimby, Evanirina; Randriamarotia, Willy Franck

2016-01-01

L'insuffisance rénale chronique est un problème de santé publique au niveau mondial. Dans les pays développés, cette affection survient essentiellement chez les sujets âgés, mais en Afrique, elle s'installe plutôt chez les sujets jeunes actifs. C'est une affection de lourde prise en charge dans un pays à faible revenu à cause de ses coûts. Notre but est de décrire les aspects épidémiologiques des nouveaux cas d'insuffisance rénale chronique à Madagascar. Il s'agit d'une étude rétrospective descriptive de 3 ans partant du 1er janvier 2007 au 31 décembre 2009 dans le service de Médecine Interne et Néphrologie du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Antananarivo portant sur 239 patients diagnostiqués comme une insuffisance rénale chronique. L'incidence était de 8,51% parmi les patients hospitalisés dans le service. L’âge moyen des patients était de 45,4 ans avec des extrêmes de 16 et 82 ans et un sex-ratio de 1,46. Le principal antécédent était l'hypertension artérielle (59,8%). L'insuffisance rénale chronique était terminale dans 75,31% des cas (n=180). Les causes de l'insuffisance rénale chronique étaient dominées par la glomérulonéphrite chronique (40,1%), la néphroangiosclérose (35,5%). L'hémodialyse était réalisée chez 3 patients (1,26%), aucun patient n’était pas programmé pour une greffe rénale. Le taux de mortalité dans le service était de 28,87%. L'insuffisance rénale chronique est une maladie de pronostic redoutable et handicapante qui affecte les sujets jeunes à Madagascar. Son traitement reste inaccessible dans la majorité des patients. L'accent doit donc être mis principalement sur la prévention notamment une bonne prise en charge précoce des infections, de l'hypertension artérielle et du diabète pour réduire ses impacts négatifs sur la santé communautaire et publique. Le projet de la transplantation rénale - donneur vivant, traitement efficace et moins coûteux par rapport à l

Le modele de Hubbard bidimensionnel a faible couplage: Thermodynamique et phenomenes critiques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roy, Sebastien

Une etude systematique du modele de Hubbard en deux dimensions a faible couplage a l'aide de la theorie Auto-Coherente a Deux Particules (ACDP) dans le diagramme temperature-dopage-interaction-sauts permet de mettre en evidence l'influence des fluctuations magnetiques sur les proprietes thermodynamiques du systeme electronique sur reseau. Le regime classique renormalise a temperature finie pres du dopage nul est marque par la grandeur de la longueur de correlation de spin comparee a la longueur thermique de de Broglie et est caracterisee par un accroissement drastique de la longueur de correlation de spin. Cette croissance exponentielle a dopage nul marque la presence d'un pic de chaleur specifique en fonction de la temperature a basse temperature. Une temperature de crossover est alors associee a la temperature a laquelle la longueur de correlation de spin est egale a la longueur thermique de de Broglie. C'est a cette temperature caracteristique, ou est observee l'ouverture du pseudogap dans le poids spectral, que se situe le maximum du pic de chaleur specifique. La presence de ce pic a des consequences sur l'evolution du potentiel chimique avec le dopage lorsque l'uniformite thermodynamique est respectee. Les contraintes imposees par les lois de la thermodynamique font en sorte que l'evolution du potentiel chimique avec le dopage est non triviale. On demontre entre autres que le potentiel chimique est proportionnel a la double occupation qui est reliee au moment local. Par ailleurs, une derivation de la fonction de mise a l'echelle de la susceptibilite de spin a frequence nulle au voisinage d'un point critique marque sans equivoque la presence d'un point critique quantique en dopage pour une valeur donnee de l'interaction. Ce point critique, associe a une transition de phase magnetique en fonction du dopage a temperature nulle, induit un comportement non trivial sur les proprietes physiques du systeme a temperature finie. L'approche quantitative ACDP permet de

Suivi après le traitement du cancer du sein

PubMed Central

Sisler, Jeffrey; Chaput, Geneviève; Sussman, Jonathan; Ozokwelu, Emmanuel

2016-01-01

Résumé Objectif Offrir aux médecins de famille un résumé des recommandations fondées sur les données probantes pour guider les soins aux survivantes traitées pour le cancer du sein. Qualité des données Une recherche documentaire a été effectuée dans MEDLINE entre 2000 et 2016 à l’aide des mots-clés anglais suivants : breast cancer, survivorship, follow-up care, aftercare, guidelines et survivorship care plans, en se concentrant sur la revue des lignes directrices publiées récemment par les organismes nationaux de cancérologie. Les données étaient de niveaux I à III. Message principal Les soins aux survivantes comportent 4 facettes : surveillance et dépistage, prise en charge des effets à long terme, promotion de la santé et coordination des soins. La surveillance des récidives ne se traduit que par une mammographie annuelle, et le dépistage d’autres cancers doit suivre les lignes directrices basées sur la population. La prise en charge des effets à long terme du cancer et de son traitement aborde des problèmes courants tels la douleur, la fatigue, le lymphœdème, la détresse et les effets indésirables des médicaments, de même que les préoccupations à long terme comme la santé du cœur et des os. La promotion de la santé met en relief les bienfaits de l’activité chez les survivantes du cancer, avec l’accent mis sur l’activité physique. Les soins aux survivantes sont de meilleure qualité lorsque divers services et professionnels de la santé participent aux soins, et le médecin de famille joue un rôle important dans la coordination des soins. Conclusion Les médecins de famille sont de plus en plus souvent les principaux fournisseurs de soins de suivi après le traitement du cancer du sein. Le cancer du sein doit être considéré comme une affection médicale chronique, même chez les femmes en rémission, et les patientes profitent de la même approche que celle utilisée pour les autres affections chroniques en

Modelisation frequentielle de la permittivite du beton pour le controle non destructif par georadar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourdi, Taoufik

Le georadar (Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)) constitue une technique de controle non destructif (CND) interessante pour la mesure des epaisseurs des dalles de beton et la caracterisation des fractures, en raison de ses caracteristiques de resolution et de profondeur de penetration. Les equipements georadar sont de plus en plus faciles a utiliser et les logiciels d'interpretation sont en train de devenir plus aisement accessibles. Cependant, il est ressorti dans plusieurs conferences et ateliers sur l'application du georadar en genie civil qu'il fallait poursuivre les recherches, en particulier sur la modelisation et les techniques de mesure des proprietes electriques du beton. En obtenant de meilleures informations sur les proprietes electriques du beton aux frequences du georadar, l'instrumentation et les techniques d'interpretation pourraient etre perfectionnees plus efficacement. Le modele de Jonscher est un modele qui a montre son efficacite dans le domaine geophysique. Pour la premiere fois, son utilisation dans le domaine genie civil est presentee. Dans un premier temps, nous avons valide l'application du modele de Jonscher pour la caracterisation de la permittivite dielectrique du beton. Les resultats ont montre clairement que ce modele est capable de reproduire fidelement la variation de la permittivite de differents types de beton sur la bande de frequence georadar (100 MHz-2 GHz). Dans un deuxieme temps, nous avons montre l'interet du modele de Jonscher en le comparant a d'autres modeles (Debye et Debye-etendu) deja utilises dans le domaine genie civil. Nous avons montre aussi comment le modele de Jonscher peut presenter une aide a la prediction de l'efficacite de blindage et a l'interpretation des ondes de la technique GPR. Il a ete determine que le modele de Jonscher permet de donner une bonne presentation de la variation de la permittivite du beton dans la gamme de frequence georadar consideree. De plus, cette modelisation est valable pour differents

Optical-to-Tactile Translator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Langevin, Maurice L. (Inventor); Moynihan, Philip I. (Inventor)

2000-01-01

An optical-to-tactile translator provides an aid for the visually impaired by translating a near-field scene to a tactile signal corresponding to said near-field scene. An optical sensor using a plurality of active pixel sensors (APS) converts the optical image within the near-field scene to a digital signal. The digital signal is then processed by a microprocessor and a simple shape signal is generated based on the digital signal. The shape signal is then communicated to a tactile transmitter where the shape signal is converted into a tactile signal using a series of contacts. The shape signal may be an outline of the significant shapes determined in the near-field scene, or the shape signal may comprise a simple symbolic representation of common items encountered repeatedly. The user is thus made aware of the unseen near-field scene, including potential obstacles and dangers, through a series of tactile contacts. In a preferred embodiment, a range determining device such as those commonly found on auto-focusing cameras is included to limit the distance that the optical sensor interprets the near-field scene.

Retour vers le futur: l'expérience des patients et le lien avec la qualité, la sécurité et le rendement financier.

PubMed

Cochrane, Bonnie S; Hagins, Mitch; King, John A; Picciano, Gino; McCafferty, Maureen M; Nelson, Brian

2015-11-01

Au Canada, l'amélioration de l'expérience des patients est devenue une priorité des politiques de santé. Le perfectionnement et la normalisation des outils et systèmes pour surveiller les mesures de l'expérience des patients augmentent, tandis que la tendance vers une plus grande reddition de compte sur des améliorations durables et abordables se confirme. Pour de nombreux professionnels de la santé, ce phénomène fait foi d'un intérêt renouvelé pour les besoins et priorités fondamentaux des patients, après des décennies où les changements structurels et technologiques ont dominé les programmes de santé. Pour les leaders en santé canadiens, l'amélioration de l'expérience des patients comporte actuellement de grands défis et de belles possibilités. À cet égard, l'expérience des organisations partenaires du groupe Studer au Canada est à la fois pertinente et instructive. Ces organisations ont adopté un modèle, du nom de Evidence-Based Leadership (EBL, ou leadership fondé sur des données probantes), qui favorise et soutient l'harmonisation de l'ensemble des activités et des comportements, conformément à des objectifs organisationnels précis, y compris des améliorations mesurables de l'expérience des patients. Le présent article expose des études de cas d'organisations qui ont adopté l'EBL. Ces organisations ont réalisé des progrès rapides en matière d'indicateurs de l'expérience des patients, ainsi que dans des secteurs essentiels comme les résultats cliniques, la sécurité et le rendement financier. Les données émergentes sur les facteurs et processus qui sous-tendent ces améliorations sont également abordées. © 2015 Collège canadien des leaders en santé

Blind Braille readers mislocate tactile stimuli.

PubMed

Sterr, Annette; Green, Lisa; Elbert, Thomas

2003-05-01

In a previous experiment, we observed that blind Braille readers produce errors when asked to identify on which finger of one hand a light tactile stimulus had occurred. With the present study, we aimed to specify the characteristics of this perceptual error in blind and sighted participants. The experiment confirmed that blind Braille readers mislocalised tactile stimuli more often than sighted controls, and that the localisation errors occurred significantly more often at the right reading hand than at the non-reading hand. Most importantly, we discovered that the reading fingers showed the smallest error frequency, but the highest rate of stimulus attribution. The dissociation of perceiving and locating tactile stimuli in the blind suggests altered tactile information processing. Neuroplasticity, changes in tactile attention mechanisms as well as the idea that blind persons may employ different strategies for tactile exploration and object localisation are discussed as possible explanations for the results obtained.

Effets des electrons secondaires sur l'ADN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudaiffa, Badia

Les interactions des electrons de basse energie (EBE) representent un element important en sciences des radiations, particulierement, les sequences se produisant immediatement apres l'interaction de la radiation ionisante avec le milieu biologique. Il est bien connu que lorsque ces radiations deposent leur energie dans la cellule, elles produisent un grand nombre d'electrons secondaires (4 x 104/MeV), qui sont crees le long de la trace avec des energies cinetiques initiales bien inferieures a 20 eV. Cependant, il n'y a jamais eu de mesures directes demontrant l'interaction de ces electrons de tres basse energie avec l'ADN, du principalement aux difficultes experimentales imposees par la complexite du milieu biologique. Dans notre laboratoire, les dernieres annees ont ete consacrees a l'etude des phenomenes fondamentaux induits par impact des EBE sur differentes molecules simples (e.g., N2, CO, O2, H2O, NO, C2H 4, C6H6, C2H12) et quelques molecules complexes dans leur phase solide. D'autres travaux effectues recemment sur des bases de l'ADN et des oligonucleotides ont montre que les EBE produisent des bris moleculaires sur les biomolecules. Ces travaux nous ont permis d'elaborer des techniques pour mettre en evidence et comprendre les interactions fondamentales des EBE avec des molecules d'interet biologique, afin d'atteindre notre objectif majeur d'etudier l'effet direct de ces particules sur la molecule d'ADN. Les techniques de sciences des surfaces developpees et utilisees dans les etudes precitees peuvent etre etendues et combinees avec des methodes classiques de biologie pour etudier les dommages de l'ADN induits par l'impact des EBE. Nos experiences ont montre l'efficacite des electrons de 3--20 eV a induire des coupures simple et double brins dans l'ADN. Pour des energies inferieures a 15 eV, ces coupures sont induites par la localisation temporaire d'un electron sur une unite moleculaire de l'ADN, ce qui engendre la formation d'un ion negatif transitoire

Mesures experimentales de l'impact des revetements hydrophobeset superhydrophobes sur la trainee et la portance d'un profil aerodynamique propre et glace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villeneuve, Eric

Ce projet, realise a la demande du Laboratoire International des Materiaux Antigivre, a pour but de mesurer et definir experimentalement l'impact de revetements hydrophobes sur les coefficients de trainee et de portance d'un profil NACA 0012. Pour ce faire, la balance aerodynamique du LIMA devait tout d'abord etre amelioree afin d'offrir une sensibilite suffisante pour realiser le projet. Plusieurs ameliorations ont ete faites, comme le changement des cellules de charge, la diminution du nombre de cellules de charge, le changement du cadre de la balance, etc. Une fois ces ameliorations terminees, la reproductibilite, l'exactitude et la sensibilite ont ete valides afin de s'assurer de la fiabilite des resultats offerts par la balance. Pour les angles d'attaque etudies avec les revetements, soient -6° et 0°, la balance a une reproductibilite de +/-2,06% a 360 000 de nombre de Reynolds. Pour valider la sensibilite, des essais a -6° et 0° d'angle d'attaque et des nombres de Reynolds de 360 000 et 500 000 ont ete faits avec des papiers sables. Les resultats de ces essais ont permis de, tracer des courbes de tendances du coefficient de trainee du NACA 0012 en fonction de la rugosite de surface et d'etablir la valeur de la sensibilite de la balance a +/-8 mu m. Cinq revetements populaires ont ete choisis pour l'experimentation, soient le Wearlon, le Staclean, le Hirec, le Phasebreak ainsi que le Nusil. Les revetements sont soumis aux memes conditions experimentales que les papiers sables, et une rugosite equivalente est trouvee par extrapolation des resultats. Cependant, les rugosites equivalentes de surfaces different entre -6° et 0°. Les essais avec le Staclean et le Hirec donnent des coefficients de trainee equivalent a ceux avec l'aluminium, alors que le Wearlon, le Nusil et le Phasebreak donnent une augmentation du coefficient de trainee de 13%, 17% et 25% respectivement par rapport a l'aluminium. Pour les coefficients de portance, la balance ne detecte pas l

Standardissimo. Les limitations théoriques du Modèle Standard. Quelles réponses y apporter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renard, F. M.

Nous présentons I 'état du Modèle Standard des interactions fortes, faibles et électromagnétiques. Après une description rapide de ses 3 secteurs, secteur de jauge (radiation), secteur fermionique (matière) et secteur scalaire (génération des masses), nous insistons sur le grand nombre de paramètres libres et sur les choix arbitraires qu'il a fallu faire dans l'élaboration du modèle. Nous faisons ressortir les problèmes techniques non résolus et nous dressons la liste des questions fondamentales restées sans réponses. Nous passons ensuite en revue les idées et méthodes proposées pour répondre à ces questions. Elles utilisent essentiellement 3 voies différentes. La première consiste à requérir plus de symétrie (extension du modèle, symétrie Gauche-Droite, Grandes Unifications, Supersymétrie,...). La seconde contient les diverses alternatives au Modèle Standard impliquant des modifications dans certains secteurs (par exemple le secteur scalaire avec le modèle de la Technicouleur) ou de façon plus violente l'hypothèse d'une sous-structure des leptons, des quarks et des bosons W et Z eux-mêmes. Une dernière voie cherche à justifier les particularités du Modèle Standard et relier ses paramètres libres en se basant sur des principes de cohérence interne du modèle. Les conséquences observables de ces diverses approches sont dans chaque cas mentionnées.

Profil anatomopathologique du cancer du sein dans le cap bon tunisien

PubMed Central

Sahraoui, Ghada; Khanchel, Fatma; Chelbi, Emna

2017-01-01

Le cancer du sein est le cancer le plus fréquent de la femme en Tunisie et dans le monde. Dans le Cap Bon tunisien, les particularités anatomopathologiques de ce cancer n'ont pas été précisées auparavant. Leur connaissance est nécessaire pour l'adaptation des systèmes de prévention et de soins dans la région. Le but de notre étude était de déterminer le profil anatomopathologique des carcinomes mammaires dans l'unique laboratoire d'anatomie pathologique publique de la région. Il s'agissait d'une étude descriptive rétrospective des carcinomes mammaires diagnostiqués chez 116 malades dans notre laboratoire sur une période de 5 ans de Juillet 2010 à Juillet 2015. Notre étude a inclus 116 patientes. L'âge moyen était de 51 ans. La taille tumorale histologique moyenne était de 31 mm. Le diagnostic initial était posé sur pièce de tumorectomie dans 83% des cas. Le carcinome infiltrant de type non spécifique était le type histologique le plus fréquent. Le grade SBR III était majoritaire. L'invasion lympho-vasculaire était présente dans 33% des cas. Le curage axillaire était positif dans 72% des cas. Les récepteurs hormonaux étaient positifs dans 73% des cas. Les récepteurs de l'Her2-Neu étaient surexprimés dans 19% des cas. Le ki67 était ≥ 14% dans 38%. Le sous-type moléculaire le plus fréquent était le luminal A. Le carcinome mammaire dans la région du Cap Bon se caractérise par sa survenue à un âge jeune, son importante taille tumorale et la fréquence de facteurs histopronostiques péjoratifs. PMID:28450990

Pertinence de l'implantation de la filiere granule de bois pour le Quebec

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tremblay, Stephan

Les spécialistes avancent que le marché mondial de l'énergie en forte demande et en offre limitée nécessitera bientôt toutes les formes d'énergie disponibles. Le granulé de bois est une forme de bioénergie principalement utilisée pour le chauffage des bâtiments et pourrait être davantage considéré dans l'offre énergétique du Québec. Comme le Québec est un territoire où il fait froid et donc susceptible de pouvoir se tourner vers cette forme d'énergie, l'objectif de ce mémoire est d'en analyser les avantages. Pour ce faire, nous commencerons par démontrer la croissance des besoins énergétiques sur les plans national et international et dresser un portrait des différentes formes d'énergies consommées au Québec. Puisque la majorité des Québécois chauffent leurs bâtiments à l'hydroélectricité, nous analyserons à travers le plan d'approvisionnement d'Hydro-Québec le portrait de la production et de la consommation de cette forme d'énergie renouvelable. Cela nous permettra de constater le défi face à la gestion de surplus importants, sauf pendant la période hivernale, et ce faisant, l'obligation de la société d'État d'utiliser davantage ses centrales au gaz ou de se tourner vers l'importation de l'électricité. Dans la même lignée, un regard sera porté sur les perspectives d'utilisation de l'hydroélectricité sur les plans de la production d'aluminium, de l'exportation et de l'utilisation dans l'électrification des transports au Québec. Cette analyse se fera dans l'objectif de s'interroger sur la pertinence d'utiliser cette source d'énergie dans le chauffage plutôt que dans des secteurs plus créateurs de richesse. Nous poserons ensuite l'hypothèse que le granulé de bois pourrait être un bon substitut à une autre forme d'énergie utilisée dans le chauffage, soit le mazout. Avant de dresser un portrait de ce combustible fossile, nous ferons celui de la production et de la consommation de granulés sur les plans r

Methodologie de conception numerique d'un ventilateur helico-centrifuge basee sur l'emploi du calcul meridien

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lallier-Daniels, Dominic

La conception de ventilateurs est souvent basée sur une méthodologie « essais/erreurs » d'amélioration de géométries existantes ainsi que sur l'expérience de design et les résultats expérimentaux cumulés par les entreprises. Cependant, cette méthodologie peut se révéler coûteuse en cas d'échec; même en cas de succès, des améliorations significatives en performance sont souvent difficiles, voire impossibles à obtenir. Le projet présent propose le développement et la validation d'une méthodologie de conception basée sur l'emploi du calcul méridien pour la conception préliminaire de turbomachines hélico-centrifuges (ou flux-mixte) et l'utilisation du calcul numérique d'écoulement fluides (CFD) pour la conception détaillée. La méthode de calcul méridien à la base du processus de conception proposé est d'abord présentée. Dans un premier temps, le cadre théorique est développé. Le calcul méridien demeurant fondamentalement un processus itératif, le processus de calcul est également présenté, incluant les méthodes numériques de calcul employée pour la résolution des équations fondamentales. Une validation du code méridien écrit dans le cadre du projet de maîtrise face à un algorithme de calcul méridien développé par l'auteur de la méthode ainsi qu'à des résultats de simulation numérique sur un code commercial est également réalisée. La méthodologie de conception de turbomachines développée dans le cadre de l'étude est ensuite présentée sous la forme d'une étude de cas pour un ventilateur hélico-centrifuge basé sur des spécifications fournies par le partenaire industriel Venmar. La méthodologie se divise en trois étapes: le calcul méridien est employé pour le pré-dimensionnement, suivi de simulations 2D de grilles d'aubes pour la conception détaillée des pales et finalement d'une analyse numérique 3D pour la validation et l'optimisation fine de la géométrie. Les résultats de calcul m

Developpement d'un montage simulant l'erosion par la pluie pour l'evaluation des revetements glaciophobes dans le domaine aerospatial

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tremblay, Sarah-Eve

Ce memoire presente le developpement d’un montage simulant l’erosion par la pluie afin d’effectuer l’evaluation de differents revetements glaciophobes dans le domaine aerospatial. Bien que plusieurs revetements presentent une bonne efficacite a reduire l’adherence et/ou l’accumulation de glace, ils ne repondent pas necessairement aux normes de resistance a l’erosion simulee par les gouttes de pluie les frappant a grande vitesse. Il n’existe qu’une installation en Amerique du Nord offrant un service d’essai qui evalue la resistance a l’erosion par la pluie suivant les normes aerospatiales. Etant l’unique institution pouvant faire la certification de peintures utilisees sur les avions en ce qui a trait a l’erosion par la pluie, ce service est donc difficile d’acces et couteux. Le laboratoire international des materiaux antigivre (LIMA) a developpe un essai plus rapide et moins couteux, facilitant ainsi le developpement de revetements glaciophobes devant resister a l’erosion par la pluie. Dans cette etude, le developpement du montage d’erosion par la pluie effectue au laboratoire des materiaux antigivre (LIMA) est presente. En particulier, des essais sur quatre (4) revetements dont la resistance a l’erosion est connue, et sur trois revetements industriels, ont ete effectues afin d’ajuster les differents parametres du montage comme la pression et la temperature de l’eau ainsi que la robustesse du montage. Ensuite, des essais de sensibilite et de reproductibilite des resultats ont egalement ete effectues pour fin de validation du montage et du protocole experimental. Pour ce faire, le montage de type jet d’eau developpe consiste principalement en une pompe a haute pression qui projette un jet d’eau continu passant par les orifices d’un disque tournant. Cette operation permet de generer une goutte de pluie simulee qui est projetee sur un echantillon de revetement statique. L’essai est base sur la norme standard ASTM (Liquid

Effet paradoxal du type d’excision sur la prise et le délai de cicatrisation des greffes expansées pour le traitement des brûlures aiguës: a propos de 1129 cas

PubMed Central

Guibert, M.; Chaouat, M.; Boccara, D.; Marco, O.; Lavocat, R.; Alameri, O.; Deslandes, E.; Montlahuc, C.; Mimoun, M.

2016-01-01

Summary La greffe de peau mince expansée est très employée dans le traitement des brûlures aiguës. Nous avons étudié l’influence de la préparation du sous-sol sur le taux de prise et le délai de cicatrisation des greffes expansées. Nous avons analysé rétrospectivement les 1 129 greffes expansées réalisées dans notre service entre 1995 et 2005 pour le traitement des brûlures aiguës. Leur taux de prise a été significativement meilleur après une préparation du sous-sol par avulsion (82%) par rapport à une préparation du sous-sol par excision tangentielle (75%). Ce taux était meilleur lorsque l’avulsion était pratiquée dans les 7 jours suivant la brûlure (83% vs 73%). Pour une prise en charge entre 7 et 21 jours, ce taux a semblé être meilleur après excision tangentielle, mais de façon non significative. La durée d’évolution jusqu’à cicatrisation était significativement raccourcie pour une préparation du sous-sol par excision tangentielle par rapport à une préparation du sous-sol par avulsion. Ces résultats montrent, paradoxalement, qu’une préparation du sous-sol par avulsion favorise la prise des greffes expansées mais rallonge leur délai de cicatrisation au contraire de l’excision tangentielle. PMID:28149235

Auditory-tactile echo-reverberating stuttering speech corrector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuniszyk-Jozkowiak, Wieslawa; Adamczyk, Bogdan

1997-02-01

The work presents the construction of a device, which transforms speech sounds into acoustical and tactile signals of echo and reverberation. Research has been done on the influence of the echo and reverberation, which are transmitted as acoustic and tactile stimuli, on speech fluency. Introducing the echo or reverberation into the auditory feedback circuit results in a reduction of stuttering. A bit less, but still significant corrective effects are observed while using the tactile channel for transmitting the signals. The use of joined auditory and tactile channels increases the effects of their corrective influence on the stutterers' speech. The results of the experiment justify the use of the tactile channel in the stutterers' therapy.

Offset fémoral et le fonctionnement de la hanche dans la prothèse totale de la hanche

PubMed Central

Rachid, Abdelillah; Moncef, Erraji; Najib, Abbassi; Abdeljaouad, Najib; Abdelkarim, Daudi; Hicham, Yacoubi

2014-01-01

L'offset fémoral est l’élément pronostic le plus important dans l'arthroplastie de la hanche. Sa restauration est devenue de plus en plus une obligation. Toute modification de la valeur native de l'offset retenti sur la qualité du fonctionnement clinique de la hanche. Le but de notre travail était d’évaluer le fonctionnement clinique de la hanche en fonction de la valeur de l'offset fémoral après une arthroplastie. C'est une étude rétrospective effectuée entre 2010 et 2013, comportant 27 patients ayant bénéficiés d'une arthroplastie totale de la hanche. Les patients ayant eu un geste chirurgicale antérieur sur la même hanche ou sur la hanche controlatérale ont été exclus. Les mesures ont été effectuées sur des radiographies standards de la hanche en rotation interne d'environ 15°, avec un agrandissement à 100%. Les résultats cliniques étaient évalués au moyen du score de WOMAC qui était en moyenne de 15,2 points, et le score de Merle d'Aubigné-Postel avec une moyenne de 15 points. Deux autres tests ont été évalués dans notre étude qui sont le step et le hop test. Les meilleurs résultats fonctionnels ont été obtenus chez les patients ayant eu une latéralisation de la tige fémoral avec un offset augmenté. PMID:25400835

Piégeage cohérent de population sur des atomes froids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zanon, T.; Guérandel, S.; de Clercq, E.; Holleville, D.; Dimarcq, N.; Clairon, A.

2004-11-01

Dans le cadre de futures horloges atomiques compactes destinées à la navigation spatiale, il est possible de remplacer l'interrogation micro-onde d'une horloge atomique classique par une interrogation optique à l'aide de faisceaux Raman et d'asservir un oscillateur à quartz sur la réponse atomique crée par le phénomène de piégeage cohérent de population (CPT en anglais pour Coherent Population Trapping).

Effets de l'humidite sur la propagation du delaminage dans un composite carbone/epoxy sollicite en mode mixte I/II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LeBlanc, Luc R.

Les materiaux composites sont de plus en plus utilises dans des domaines tels que l'aerospatiale, les voitures a hautes performances et les equipements sportifs, pour en nommer quelques-uns. Des etudes ont demontre qu'une exposition a l'humidite nuit a la resistance des composites en favorisant l'initiation et la propagation du delaminage. De ces etudes, tres peu traitent de l'effet de l'humidite sur l'initiation du delaminage en mode mixte I/II et aucune ne traite des effets de l'humidite sur le taux de propagation du delaminage en mode mixte I/II dans un composite. La premiere partie de cette these consiste a determiner les effets de l'humidite sur la propagation du delaminage lors d'une sollicitation en mode mixte I/II. Des eprouvettes d'un composite unidirectionnel de carbone/epoxy (G40-800/5276-1) ont ete immergees dans un bain d'eau distillee a 70°C jusqu'a leur saturation. Des essais experimentaux quasi-statiques avec des chargements d'une gamme de mixites des modes I/II (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% et 100%) ont ete executes pour determiner les effets de l'humidite sur la resistance au delaminage du composite. Des essais de fatigue ont ete realises, avec la meme gamme de mixite des modes I/II, pour determiner 1'effet de 1'humidite sur l'initiation et sur le taux de propagation du delaminage. Les resultats des essais en chargement quasi-statique ont demontre que l'humidite reduit la resistance au delaminage d'un composite carbone/epoxy pour toute la gamme des mixites des modes I/II, sauf pour le mode I ou la resistance au delaminage augmente apres une exposition a l'humidite. Pour les chargements en fatigue, l'humidite a pour effet d'accelerer l'initiation du delaminage et d'augmenter le taux de propagation pour toutes les mixites des modes I/II. Les donnees experimentales recueillies ont ete utilisees pour determiner lesquels des criteres de delaminage en statique et des modeles de taux de propagation du delaminage en fatigue en mode mixte I/II proposes dans la

[Dépistage précoce des retards du développement moteur: Outil de dépistage axé sur la famille].

PubMed

Harris, Susan R

2016-08-01

Décrire le test HINT (Harris Infant Neuromotor Test), un test d'évaluation du développement neuromoteur chez les nourrissons publié en 2010, qui s'appuie sur les normes canadiennes et peut être utilisé pour dépister les retards du développement moteur durant la première année de la vie. QUALITÉ DES DONNÉES: D'abondantes recherches ont été publiées sur la fiabilité intra-évaluateur, inter-évaluateur et test-retest ainsi que sur la validité convergente, prédictive, du contenu et des groupes connus du test HINT, de même que sur la sensibilité, la spécificité et les valeurs prédictives négatives et positives des inquiétudes des parents, telles qu'évaluées par le test HINT. La plupart des données probantes sont de niveau II. Il est important de diagnostiquer les retards du développement moteur durant la première année de vie, car ils sont souvent le signe de retards du développement généralisés ou de déficiences précises, telles que la paralysie cérébrale. Les inquiétudes des parents quant au développement moteur de leur enfant sont une valeur prédictive robuste de diagnostics subséquents de retard du développement moteur. Seul le dépistage précoce des retards du développement moteur, initialement par l'entremise d'outils de dépistage comme le test HINT, permet de recommander le patient à une intervention précoce qui profiterait tant à l'enfant qu'à sa famille. Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Les conseils des cliniciens canadiens en matière de commotion dans le sport sont-ils cohérents?

PubMed Central

Carson, James D.; Rendely, Alexandra; Garel, Alisha; Meaney, Christopher; Stoller, Jacqueline; Kaicker, Jatin; Hayden, Leigh; Moineddin, Rahim; Frémont, Pierre

2016-01-01

Résumé Objectif Comparer les connaissances et l’utilisation des recommandations concernant la prise en charge de la commotion dans le sport (CDS) démontrées par les spécialistes de la médecine du sport et de l’exercice (SMSE) et les urgentologues afin d’évaluer la réussite du transfert des connaissances sur la CDS au Canada. Conception Un sondage à choix multiples envoyé par courriel et autoadministré par des SMSE et des urgentologues. La validité du contenu du sondage a fait l’objet d’une évaluation. Contexte Canada. Participants Le sondage a été complété entre mai et juillet 2012 par des SMSE qui ont réussi l’examen menant au diplôme de l’Académie canadienne de la médecine du sport et de l’exercice et des urgentologues qui n’avaient pas ce diplôme. Principaux paramètres à l’étude La connaissance et l’identification des sources d’information sur la prise en charge des commotions, l’utilisation des stratégies de diagnostic de la commotion et l’utilisation d’une terminologie courante et cohérente dans l’explication des stratégies de repos aux patients après une CDS. Résultats Le taux de réponse était de 28 % (305 sur 1085). Les taux de réponse par les SMSE et les urgentologues se situaient respectivement à 41 % (147 sur 360) et 22 % (158 sur 725). Parmi les répondants, 41 % des urgentologues et 3 % des SMSE n’étaient pas au courant de l’existence de déclarations consensuelles sur la commotion dans le sport; 74 % des SMSE utilisaient « habituellement ou toujours » la version 2 de l’Outil d’évaluation de la commotion dans le sport (SCAT2), tandis que 88 % des urgentologues n’utilisaient jamais le SCAT2. Aucune réponse uniforme n’a été documentée à la question visant à connaître les meilleurs modes de repos cognitif. Conclusion Nous avons cerné des différences et un manque d’uniformité chez les SMSE et les urgentologues dans la mise en application des recommandations

Le Laser A Argon Ionise : Applications Therapeutiques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunetaud, J. M.; Mosquet, L.; Mordon, S.; Rotteleur, G.

1984-03-01

Le laser a argon ionise est un laser a emission continue, reglee en general en multiraies de 487 a 544 nm. Le rayonnement de ce laser est bien absorbe par les tissus vivants, avec une action preferentielle au niveau des pigments rouges (hemoglobine, myoglobine) et noirs (melanine). Le laser a argon est princi-palement utilise en therapeutique pour ses effets thermiques : en fonction du choix des parametres (puissance optique, surface exposee, temps d'exposition) on peut obtenir une coagulation (temperature optimale au niveau des tissus 60° - 80°) ou une volatisation (temperature superieure a 100°). Si la zone volatilisee est tres etroite (inferieure a 0,5 mm) on obtient un effet de coupe. Par rapport aux deux autres lasers egalement utilises pour leurs effets thermiques (CO2 et Nd. YAG) l'argon a des effets intermediaires : la coagulation sera plus superficielle qu'avec le Nd. YAG et la volatisation plus profonde qu'avec le CO2. Lors de la coupe, la necrose sur les berges sera egalement plus importante qu'avec le CO2.

Linkage between Free Exploratory Movements and Subjective Tactile Ratings.

PubMed

Yokosaka, Takumi; Kuroki, Scinob; Watanabe, Junji; Nishida, Shinya

2017-01-01

We actively move our hands and eyes when exploring the external world and gaining information about object's attributes. Previous studies showing that how we touch might be related to how we felt led us to consider whether we could decode observers' subjective tactile experiences only by analyzing their exploratory movements without explicitly asking how they perceived. However, in those studies, explicit judgment tasks were performed about specific tactile attributes that were prearranged by experimenters. Here, we systematically investigated whether exploratory movements can explain tactile ratings even when participants do not need to judge any tactile attributes. While measuring both hand and eye movements, we asked participants to touch materials freely without judging any specific tactile attributes (free-touch task) or to evaluate one of four tactile attributes (roughness, hardness, slipperiness, and temperature). We found that tactile ratings in the judgment tasks correlated with exploratory movements even in the free-touch task and that eye movements as well as hand movements correlated with tactile ratings. These results might open up the possibility of decoding tactile experiences by exploratory movements.

Effet de la teneur en carbone sur la resistance du CA6NM a la propagation des fissures de fatigue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akhiate, Aziz

L'amelioration des performances des roues de turbines hydrauliques a fait l'objet de plusieurs etudes. Dans ce memoire, on s'est interesse a l'effet de la teneur en carbone du materiau de base de type CA6NM des aubes de turbines sur la microstructure et les proprietes mecaniques en general et en particulier sur le comportement en fatigue propagation. De maniere a bien atteindre cet objectif, on a choisi trois differentes nuances d'acier a faible 0.018% C, moyenne 0.033% C et elevee 0.067% C teneurs en carbone. Le 0.018% C et 0.067% C ont ete fabriques par le meme facturier et ils ont subi des traitements thermiques differents. De meme, le 0.033% C a subi des traitements thermiques differents des deux autres apres avoir ete coule par un autre fabricant. Afin d'effacer l'historique des traitements thermiques prealablement effectues et d'avoir la meme taille de grains parents austenitiques (GPA), on a austenitise les trois nuances d'acier a la meme temperature 1040°C, a differentes periodes suivant la teneur en carbone. Apres avoir homogeneise la GPA, on a entame le revenu. Le carbone a une influence sur la microstructure revenue notamment la quantite d'austenite de reversion ainsi que sur sa stabilite thermique et mecanique. Pour mettre en evidence l'effet de la teneur en carbone, on a trouve raisonnable d'isoler les effets relies a la temperature de revenu, en particulier la formation d'austenite de reversion. En effet, on a choisi deux temperatures de revenu. La premiere temperature est a 550°C pendant 2h imposee aux trois materiaux afin d'avoir une microstructure sans austenite de reversion. La deuxieme temperature choisie est a 610°C pour avoir un maximum et une identique quantite d'austenite de reversion sans presence de martensite fraiche. A la lumiere de ces deux microstructures, nous pouvons etablir une relation entre les proprietes mecaniques du CA6NM et la teneur en carbone, ainsi qu'entre les effets de la presence ou non d'austenite de reversion sur les

Effets de la pollution de l’air sur la santé

PubMed Central

Abelsohn, Alan; Stieb, Dave M.

2011-01-01

Résumé Objectif Faire connaître aux médecins de famille les effets de la pollution atmosphérique sur la santé et indiquer quels conseils donner aux patients vulnérables pour qu’ils soient moins exposés. Sources de l’information On a consulté MEDLINE à l’aide des termes relatifs à la pollution atmosphérique et à ses effets indésirables. On a révisé les articles en anglais publiés entre janvier 2008 et décembre 2009. La plupart des études contenaient des preuves de niveau II. Principal message Au Canada, la pollution de l’air extérieur cause une morbidité et une mortalité importantes. Elle peut affecter le système respiratoire (exacerbation de l’asthme et de la maladie pulmonaire obstructive chronique) et le système cardiovasculaire (déclencher l’arythmie, l’insuffisance cardiaque et les AVC). La cote air santé (CAS) est un nouvel outil de communication mis au point par Santé Canada et Environnement Canada qui indique sur une échelle de 1 à 10, le risque pour la santé causé par la pollution atmosphérique. La CAS est largement diffusée dans les médias et cet outil pourrait être utile au médecin de famille pour inciter les patients à haut risque (comme ceux qui souffrent d’asthme, de maladie pulmonaire obstructive chronique ou d’insuffisance cardiaque) à réduire leur exposition à la pollution atmosphérique. Conclusion Le médecin de famille peut se servir de la CAS et de ses messages sur la santé pour enseigner aux asthmatiques et aux autres patients à risque élevé la façon de réduire les risques pour la santé causés par la pollution atmosphérique.

Exploration of the Effectiveness of Tactile Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aldajani, Neda F.

2016-01-01

This paper introduces the tactile method and aims to explore the effectiveness of using tactile methods with students who are blind and visually impaired. Although there was limited research about using this strategy, all of the research agrees that using tactile is one of the best ways for students who are blind and visually impaired to be…

Approches pour la reduction de l'impact de defaut dans le transport d'energie du parc eolien offshore via VSC-HVDC =

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benadja, Mounir

Dans ce travail est presente un systeme de generation d'energie d'un parc eolien offshore et un systeme de transport utilisant les stations VSC-HVDC connectees au reseau principal AC onshore. Trois configurations ont ete etudiees, modelisees et validees par simulation. Dans chacune des configurations, des contributions ameliorant les cotes techniques et economiques sont decrites ci-dessous : La premiere contribution concerne un nouvel algorithme MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) utilise pour l'extraction de la puissance maximale disponible dans les eoliennes des parcs offshores. Cette technique d'extraction du MPPT ameliore le rendement energetique de la chaine de conversion des energies renouvelables notamment l'energie eolienne a petite et a grande echelles (parc eolien offshore) qui constitue un probleme pour les constructeurs qui se trouvent confrontes a developper des dispositifs MPPT simples, moins couteux, robustes, fiables et capable d'obtenir un rendement energetique maximal. La deuxieme contribution concerne la reduction de la taille, du cout et de l'impact des defauts electriques (AC et DC) dans le systeme construit pour transporter l'energie d'un parc eolien offshore (OWF) vers le reseau principal AC onshore via deux stations 3L-NPC VSCHVDC. La solution developpee utilise des observateurs non-lineaires bases sur le filtre de Kalman etendu (EKF). Ce filtre permet d'estimer la vitesse de rotation et la position du rotor de chacune des generatrices du parc eolien offshore et de la tension du bus DC de l'onduleur DC-AC offshore et des deux stations 3L-NPC-VSC-HVDC (offshore et onshore). De plus, ce developpement du filtre de Kalman etendu a permis de reduire l'impact des defauts AC et DC. Deux commandes ont ete utilisees, l'une (commande indirect dans le plan abc) avec EKF integre destinee pour controler le convertisseur DC-AC offshore et l'autre (commande d-q) avec EKF integre pour controler les convertisseurs des deux stations AC-DC et DC-AC tout en

La prévention des infections par le virus respiratoire syncytial

PubMed Central

Robinson, JL

2011-01-01

RÉSUMÉ L’infection par le virus respiratoire syncytial (VRS) est la principale cause d’infections des voies respiratoires inférieures chez les jeunes enfants. Le palivizumab, un anticorps monoclonal anti-VRS, réduit le taux d’hospitalisation des enfants à haut risque mais est très coûteux. Le présent document de principes remplace les trois précédents documents de principes de la Société canadienne de pédiatrie sur le sujet et est mis à jour principalement pour traiter des récentes modifications aux lignes directrices de l’American Academy of Pediatrics dans le contexte canadien. Il contient une analyse des publications ainsi que des recommandations au sujet de l’utilisation du palivizumab chez les enfants à haut risque

Fingertip-shaped optical tactile sensor for robotic applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begej, Stefan

1988-01-01

Progress is described regarding the development of a high-density, fiber-optic, fingertip-shaped tactile sensor specifically designed for application to dexterous robotics. The sensor operates on optical principles involving the frustration of total internal reflection at a waveguide/elastomer interface and generates a grey-scale tactile image that represents the normal forces of contact. The sensor contains 256 taxels (sensing sites) distributed in a dual-density pattern that includes a tactile fovea near the tip which measures 13 mm x 13 mm and contains 169 taxels. The details regarding the design and construction of this tactile sensor are presented, in addition to photographs of tactile imprints.

Summary of Tactile User Interfaces Techniques and Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spirkovska, Lilly

2005-01-01

Mental workload can be de.ned as the ratio of demand to allocated resources. Multiple-resource theory stresses the importance of distribution of tasks and information across various human sensory channels to reduce mental workload. One sensory channel that has been of interest since the late 1800s is touch. Unlike the more typical displays that target vision or hearing, tactile displays present information to the user s sense of touch. We present a summary of different methods for tactile display, historic and more recent systems that incorporate tactile display for information presentation, advantages and disadvantages of targeting the tactile channel, and future directions in tactile display research.

Summary of Tactile User Interfaces Techniques and Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spirkovska, Lilly

2004-01-01

Mental workload can be defined as the ratio of demand to allocated resources. Multiple- resource theory stresses the importance of distribution of tasks and information across various sensory channels of the human to reduce mental workload. One sensory channel that has been of interest since the late 1800s is touch. Unlike the more typical displays that target vision or hearing, tactile displays present information to the user s sense of touch. We present a summary of different methods for tactile display; historic and more recent systems that incorporate tactile display for information presentation; advantages and disadvantages of targeting the tactile channel; and future directions in tactile display research.

A Tactile Carina Nebula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grice, Noreen A.; Mutchler, M.

2010-01-01

Astronomy was once considered a science restricted to fully sighted participants. But in the past two decades, accessible books with large print/Braille and touchable pictures have brought astronomy and space science to the hands and mind's eye of students, regardless of their visual ability. A new universally-designed tactile image featuring the Hubble mosaic of the Carina Nebula is being presented at this conference. The original dataset was obtained with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) hydrogen-alpha filter in 2005. It became an instant icon after being infused with additional color information from ground-based CTIO data, and released as Hubble's 17th anniversary image. Our tactile Carina Nebula promotes multi-mode learning about the entire life-cycle of stars, which is dramatically illustrated in this Hubble mosaic. When combined with descriptive text in print and Braille, the visual and tactile components seamlessly reach both sighted and blind populations. Specific touchable features of the tactile image identify the shapes and orientations of objects in the Carina Nebula that include star-forming regions, jets, pillars, dark and light globules, star clusters, shocks/bubbles, the Keyhole Nebula, and stellar death (Eta Carinae). Visit our poster paper to touch the Carina Nebula!

Évaluation des caractéristiques mécaniques du polissoir en polyuréthanne utilisé comme porte abrasifs durant le processus du polissage du verre optique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aliouane, T.; Bouzid, D.; Belkhir, N.; Bouzid, S.; Herold, V.

2005-05-01

La fabrication des composants en verre optique nécessite des moyens de grande précision dans les procédés de finition vue l'importance accordée à leur qualité.
Durant le processus de polissage des verres optiques, le polissoir est un élément clé et a un impact direct sur les performances des composants optiques, non seulement il est utilisé comme support de grains abrasifs mais il doit posséder la fonction de transmission de la pression aux grains. La connaissance de ses propriétés, essentiellement mécanique, est impérative afin d'obtenir un état de surface optimal des composants optiques destinés à remplir des fonctions très précises dans des appareils optiques très performants.
Dans cette étude, nous avons constaté que les propriétés des polissoirs en polyuréthanne tel que la dureté, le module d'élasticité et la densité varient au cours du polissage. Ce changement a des effets sur l'état de surface de verre optique, causé par le changement microstructural de la surface du polissoir (distribution et dimensions des pores) et par conséquent sur la quantité des abrasifs (en oxyde de cérium) insérée dans les pores, ce qui influe sur la quantité de verre enlevée et sur l'état de surface du composant.
Sur la base des résultats obtenus, il a été prouvé que le polissoir subit des modifications très importantes ce qui influe considérablement sur son efficacité de polissage.

Caracterisation des melanges developpes pour le moulage basse pression des poudres metalliques (LPIM) =

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fareh, Fouad

Le moulage par injection basse pression des poudres metalliques est une technique de fabrication qui permet de fabriquer des pieces possedant la complexite des pieces coulees mais avec les proprietes mecaniques des pieces corroyees. Cependant, l'optimisation des etapes de deliantage et de frittage a ete jusqu'a maintenant effectuee a l'aide de melange pour lesquels la moulabilite optimale n'a pas encore ete demontree. Ainsi, la comprehension des proprietes rheologiques et de la segregation des melanges est tres limitee et cela presente le point faible du processus de LPIM. L'objectif de ce projet de recherche etait de caracteriser l'influence des liants sur le comportement rheologique des melanges en mesurant la viscosite et la segregation des melanges faible viscosite utilises dans le procede LPIM. Afin d'atteindre cet objectif, des essais rheologiques et thermogravimetriques ont ete conduits sur 12 melanges. Ces melanges ont ete prepares a base de poudre d'Inconel 718 de forme spherique (chargement solide constant a 60%) et de cires, d'agents surfactants ou epaississants. Les essais rheologiques ont ete utilises entre autre pour calculer l'indice d'injectabilite ?STV des melanges, tandis que les essais thermogravimetriques ont permis d'evaluer precisement la segregation des poudres dans les melanges. Il a ete demontre que les trois (3) melanges contenant de la cire de paraffine et de l'acide stearique presentent des indices alpha STV plus eleves qui sont avantageux pour le moulage par injection des poudres metalliques (MIM), mais segregent beaucoup trop pour que la piece fabriquee produise de bonnes caracteristiques mecaniques. A l'oppose, le melange contenant de la cire de paraffine et de l'ethylene-vinyle acetate ainsi que le melange contenant seulement de la cire de carnauba segregent peu voire pas du tout, mais possedent de tres faibles indices alphaSTV : ils sont donc difficilement injectables. Le meilleur compromis semble donc etre les melanges contenant de

Le consentement libre et éclairé aux soins en psychiatrie

PubMed Central

Neilson, Grainne; Chaimowitz, Gary

2015-01-01

Résumé Le patient a le droit d’être informé sur les soins de santé qui lui sont proposés et de participer activement à la prise de décisions relativement à ces soins. Le respect de la dignité et de l’autonomie de la personne passe par le respect de son droit de prendre des décisions à propos de ses soins psychiatriques, notamment de refuser un traitement, pour autant qu’elle soit apte à prendre des décisions. Il importe que le psychiatre connaisse les fondements éthiques du consentement libre et éclairé et les exigences prévues par le droit en cette matière, y compris la jurisprudence. Le consentement n’est pas immuable, pouvant changer avec le temps, au fil de l’évolution des conditions et des circonstances. Par conséquent, le consentement doit être un processus continu.

When Marcel Mauss's Essai sur le Don becomes The Gift: variations on the theme of solidarity.

PubMed

Bateman, Simone

2016-12-01

Since the early 1970s, Marcel Mauss's Essai sur le Don (1923), translated into English as The Gift in 1954, has been a standard reference in the social science and bioethical literature on the use of human body parts and substances for medical and research purposes. At that time, three social scientists-political scientist Richard Titmuss in the United Kingdom and sociologist Renée C. Fox working with historian Judith Swazey in the United States-had the idea of using this concept to highlight the fundamental structure of the biomedical practices they were studying, respectively, blood donation, and hemodialysis and organ transplantation. The fact that these first applications of Mauss's essay should emerge in English- rather than in French-speaking countries raises the question of what the translation of the essay, and notably of the word don as gift, may have to do with this fact. Reading Mauss in translation undoubtedly inspired a seminal approach to interpreting medical and research practices based on bodily giving. This article posits that something may have also been lost: a much broader concept of giving with unquestionable links to the Durkheimian concept of solidarity, which Mauss conceptualizes not only as an obligation but also as a liberty to give.

Tactile communication.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1962-05-01

Tactile communication presents a relatively unexploited channel of information transmission in the field of aviation. Visual and auditory input channels frequently reach an information saturation point during various flight operations. A cutaneous co...

Viewing the body modulates tactile receptive fields.

PubMed

Haggard, Patrick; Christakou, Anastasia; Serino, Andrea

2007-06-01

Tactile discrimination performance depends on the receptive field (RF) size of somatosensory cortical (SI) neurons. Psychophysical masking effects can reveal the RF of an idealized "virtual" somatosensory neuron. Previous studies show that top-down factors strongly affect tactile discrimination performance. Here, we show that non-informative vision of the touched body part influences tactile discrimination by modulating tactile RFs. Ten subjects performed spatial discrimination between touch locations on the forearm. Performance was improved when subjects saw their forearm compared to viewing a neutral object in the same location. The extent of visual information was relevant, since restricted view of the forearm did not have this enhancing effect. Vibrotactile maskers were placed symmetrically on either side of the tactile target locations, at two different distances. Overall, masking significantly impaired discrimination performance, but the spatial gradient of masking depended on what subjects viewed. Viewing the body reduced the effect of distant maskers, but enhanced the effect of close maskers, as compared to viewing a neutral object. We propose that viewing the body improves functional touch by sharpening tactile RFs in an early somatosensory map. Top-down modulation of lateral inhibition could underlie these effects.

Thinking about touch facilitates tactile but not auditory processing.

PubMed

Anema, Helen A; de Haan, Alyanne M; Gebuis, Titia; Dijkerman, H Chris

2012-05-01

Mental imagery is considered to be important for normal conscious experience. It is most frequently investigated in the visual, auditory and motor domain (imagination of movement), while the studies on tactile imagery (imagination of touch) are scarce. The current study investigated the effect of tactile and auditory imagery on the left/right discriminations of tactile and auditory stimuli. In line with our hypothesis, we observed that after tactile imagery, tactile stimuli were responded to faster as compared to auditory stimuli and vice versa. On average, tactile stimuli were responded to faster as compared to auditory stimuli, and stimuli in the imagery condition were on average responded to slower as compared to baseline performance (left/right discrimination without imagery assignment). The former is probably due to the spatial and somatotopic proximity of the fingers receiving the taps and the thumbs performing the response (button press), the latter to a dual task cost. Together, these results provide the first evidence of a behavioural effect of a tactile imagery assignment on the perception of real tactile stimuli.

Tactility and the body in early Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Hsu, Elisabeth

2005-03-01

If visual inspection of corpses was central to the development of anatomy in modern Europe, one may ask which of the senses was important for the emergence of the predominant currents of scholarly medical knowledge and practice in third- and second-century B.C.E. China? This article argues that it was tactile perception prompted by a tactile exploration of living bodies. The evidence, derived from a close reading of the Mawangdui medical manuscripts, the 105th chapter of the Records of the Historian, and selected passages from the Huang Di's Inner Canon, points to three important trends: first, the tactile exploration of the extremities led to a rich vocabulary of compound words for pain as localized in specific body parts; second, the tactile exploration of the mai gave rise to an even richer vocabulary on qualities of touch in pulse diagnostics; and third, the tactile exploration of the abdomen led to the assessment of the quality of the internal viscera with words that generally were used for describing the tactile quality of skin and flesh. This finding may appear surprising in the light of later developments during the dynastic history of Chinese medicine where tactile exploration of abdomen and extremities would appear unseemly. The author suggests that extensive tactile explorations of the body were possible before Confucius' teachings became a predominant aspect of state ideology.

Detection de la fin de la compaction des anodes par le son

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanogo, Bazoumana

L'objectif de ce projet etait de developper un outil de controle en temps reel du temps de compaction en se servant du son genere par le vibrocompacteur pendant le formage des anodes crues. Ainsi, une application a ete developpee pour l'analyse des sons enregistres. Des essais ont ete realises avec differents microphones pour une meilleure qualite des mesures et un a ete choisi pour la suite du projet. De meme, differents tests ont ete realises sur des anodes de laboratoire ainsi que des anodes a l'echelle industrielle afin de mettre en place une methode pour la detection du temps optimal necessaire au formage des anodes. Les travaux au laboratoire de carbone a l'Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi (UQAC) ont consiste a l'enregistrement de son des anodes fabriquees sur place avec differentes configurations; et a la caracterisation de certaines anodes de l'usine. Les anodes fabriquees au laboratoire sont reparties en deux groupes. Le premier regroupe les anodes pour la validation de notre methode. Ce sont des anodes produites avec des temps de compaction differents. Le laboratoire de carbone a l'UQAC est unique et il est possible de produire des anodes avec les memes proprietes que celles des anodes industrielles. Par consequent, la validation initialement prevue a l'usine a ete effectuee avec les anodes de laboratoire. Le deuxieme groupe a servi a etudier les effets des matieres premieres sur le temps de compaction. Le type de coke et le type de brai ont constitue les differentes variations dans ce deuxieme groupe. Quant aux tests et mesures a l'usine, ils ont ete realises en trois campagnes de mesure. La premiere campagne en juin 2014 a servi a standardiser et a trouver le meilleur positionnement des appareils pour les mesures, a regler le logiciel et a faire les premieres mesures. Une deuxieme campagne en mai 2015 a fait l'objet d'enregistrement de son en classant les anodes selon differents temps de compaction. La troisieme et derniere campagne en decembre 2015 a

Learning tactile skills through curious exploration

PubMed Central

Pape, Leo; Oddo, Calogero M.; Controzzi, Marco; Cipriani, Christian; Förster, Alexander; Carrozza, Maria C.; Schmidhuber, Jürgen

2012-01-01

We present curiosity-driven, autonomous acquisition of tactile exploratory skills on a biomimetic robot finger equipped with an array of microelectromechanical touch sensors. Instead of building tailored algorithms for solving a specific tactile task, we employ a more general curiosity-driven reinforcement learning approach that autonomously learns a set of motor skills in absence of an explicit teacher signal. In this approach, the acquisition of skills is driven by the information content of the sensory input signals relative to a learner that aims at representing sensory inputs using fewer and fewer computational resources. We show that, from initially random exploration of its environment, the robotic system autonomously develops a small set of basic motor skills that lead to different kinds of tactile input. Next, the system learns how to exploit the learned motor skills to solve supervised texture classification tasks. Our approach demonstrates the feasibility of autonomous acquisition of tactile skills on physical robotic platforms through curiosity-driven reinforcement learning, overcomes typical difficulties of engineered solutions for active tactile exploration and underactuated control, and provides a basis for studying developmental learning through intrinsic motivation in robots. PMID:22837748

La tuberculose pulmonaire et le tabac: à propos de 100 cas

PubMed Central

Janah, Hicham; Souhi, Hicham; Kouissmi, Hatim; Marc, Karima; Zahraoui, Rachida; Benamor, Jouda; Soualhi, Mona; Bourkadi, Jamal Eddine

2014-01-01

Le tabagisme et la tuberculose sont deux enjeux majeurs de santé publique au niveau mondial, en particulier dans les pays émergents. Pour déterminer les particularités cliniques, radiologiques, bactériologiques et thérapeutiques de la tuberculose pulmonaire chez les sujets tabagiques nous avons mené une étude prospective au service de phtisiologie de l'hôpital Moulay Youssef sur une période de 10 mois, portant sur 100 nouveaux cas de tuberculose pulmonaire, répartis en 2 groupes, 50 patients tabagiques: Groupe A et 50 patients non tabagiques: Groupe B. Tous nos patients étaient de sexe masculin, l’âge moyen était de 41 ans ± 12 chez le groupe A et de 36 ans ± 16 chez le groupe B. Le délai de consultation était plus long chez les tabagiques, la médiane était de 60j (30; 98) contre 40j (30; 60), la symptomatologie clinique était variable chez les deux groupes, dominée par les expectorations chez les tabagiques 96% contre 60%. Les lésions radiologiques étaient similaires chez les deux groupes ainsi que la charge bacillaire. Tous les patients ont été mis sous traitement antituberculeux. Après un mois du traitement, la Bacilloscopie était négative chez 50% du groupe A contre 66% chez le groupe B. la régression des lésions radiologiques était similaire chez les deux groupes. Le retard diagnostique et le retard de négativation des frottis sont les principales particularités de la tuberculose pulmonaire du sujet tabagique. Le sevrage tabagique doit faire partie intégrante de la prise en charge des patients atteints de tuberculose. PMID:25821545

Connaissances et attitudes des relais communautaires sur les fièvres hémorragiques à virus Lassa et Ebola dans le département de la Donga (Nord Bénin)

PubMed Central

Attinsounon, Cossi Angelo; Hounnankan, Cossi Athanase; Dovonou, Comlan Albert; Alassani, Cossi Adébayo; Salifou, Sourakatou

2017-01-01

Introduction L’objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer les connaissances et attitudes des relais communautaires vis-à-vis des fièvres hémorragiques à virus Ebola et Lassa et leur implication dans la mise œuvre des activités de prévention de ces maladies. Méthodes Une enquête transversale descriptive a été menée auprès des relais communautaires recrutés par tirage au sort dans 40 villages du département de la Donga. Ces relais faisaient la prise en charge à domicile des maladies respiratoires, diarrhéiques et du paludisme chez les enfants de moins de cinq ans. Un questionnaire anonyme a été administré par interview directe. Les données ont été analysées à l’aide du logiciel Epi-info 3.5.1. Résultats Au total 58 relais communautaires (RC) ont participé à cette enquête sur les 60 attendus. L’âge moyen était de 38,7±10,6 ans avec un sex-ratio de 3,5. Il y avait majoritairement trente cinq cultivateurs (60,3%) et treize revendeuses (22,4%). Quarante huit enquêtés (82,8%) reconnaissaient les deux maladies comme étant graves, mortelles et transmissibles. Les trois principales voies de transmission citées étaient le contact ou la consommation de gibiers (87,9%), le contact direct avec les personnes infectées (74,1%) ou leurs cadavres (46,6%). Les principaux moyens préventifs énumérés étaient en lien avec les voies de transmission. La fièvre (81,0%), les vomissements (81,0%) et la diarrhée (60,3%) venaient en tête des symptômes cités. Seulement vingt-deux RC (37,9%) disposaient de gants mais les utilisaient rarement pour examiner les enfants malades. Quant à la conduite à tenir devant un cas suspect de fièvre hémorragique virale Lassa ou Ebola, quarante-et-un relais communautaires (70,7%) feraient recours aux agents de santé sans toucher au malade, neuf (15,5%) feraient appel à l’ambulance et huit (13,8%) transporteraient le cas sur leur propre moto ou sur un taxi-moto vers le centre de santé le plus proche

The Cognitive and Neural Correlates of Tactile Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallace, Alberto; Spence, Charles

2009-01-01

Tactile memory systems are involved in the storage and retrieval of information about stimuli that impinge on the body surface and objects that people explore haptically. Here, the authors review the behavioral, neuropsychological, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging research on tactile memory. This body of research reveals that tactile memory…

Adolescence et pornographie sur la toile

PubMed Central

Haza, Marion

2012-01-01

Dans cet article, nous abordons la question de l’accès à la pornographie sur Internet par les adolescents. Nous déclinons plusieurs facettes de ces rencontres: la rencontre «fortuite», quand les adolescents sont confrontés à des images intempestives, des publicités ou spams avec des contenus pornographiques; la rencontre «spectatrice», quand les adolescents cherchent activement des vidéos ou photos mettant en scène la sexualité; et enfin la rencontre «actrice», quand les adolescents se mettent en scène eux-mêmes, seuls ou à plusieurs, de façon pornographique sur le Net. A partir d’exemple, nous réfléchissons aux enjeux de ces rencontres virtuelles précoces de la sexualité adulte par rapport au développement adolescent et à la représentation de leur propre sexualité en construction. PMID:22876261

Le patrimoine astronomique provençal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rous, M.; Figon, P.; Guyot, S.

2012-12-01

L'OSU OAMP/Institut Pythéas porte les missions de conservation, inventaire et valorisation du patrimoine. Suite à la fusion de l'Observatoire de Marseille et du Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale en 2000 pour créer le Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, le déménagement des équipes sur le site de Château-Gombert en 2008 a soulevé le problème du devenir des collections des deux sites d'origine. Nous ferons le bilan des actions passées en matière de conservation et de valorisation de ce riche patrimoine : versement à l'inventaire général du Ministère de la Culture, classement de 22 instruments au titre des Monuments Historiques, inventaire et numérisation des archives anciennes, montage d'expositions et réalisation du catalogue Telescopium, 400 ans de lunettes et de télescopes. Nous présenterons les actions en cours: mesures de conservation préventive, inventaire des archives et des instruments. Nous parlerons enfin des projets: création d'un espace d'exposition permanente, participation à des expositions temporaires.

Audio-Visual, Visuo-Tactile and Audio-Tactile Correspondences in Preschoolers.

PubMed

Nava, Elena; Grassi, Massimo; Turati, Chiara

2016-01-01

Interest in crossmodal correspondences has recently seen a renaissance thanks to numerous studies in human adults. Yet, still very little is known about crossmodal correspondences in children, particularly in sensory pairings other than audition and vision. In the current study, we investigated whether 4-5-year-old children match auditory pitch to the spatial motion of visual objects (audio-visual condition). In addition, we investigated whether this correspondence extends to touch, i.e., whether children also match auditory pitch to the spatial motion of touch (audio-tactile condition) and the spatial motion of visual objects to touch (visuo-tactile condition). In two experiments, two different groups of children were asked to indicate which of two stimuli fitted best with a centrally located third stimulus (Experiment 1), or to report whether two presented stimuli fitted together well (Experiment 2). We found sensitivity to the congruency of all of the sensory pairings only in Experiment 2, suggesting that only under specific circumstances can these correspondences be observed. Our results suggest that pitch-height correspondences for audio-visual and audio-tactile combinations may still be weak in preschool children, and speculate that this could be due to immature linguistic and auditory cues that are still developing at age five.

Prévention de la transmission mère-enfant du VIH/sida au Bénin: le consentement des femmes au dépistage est-il libre et éclairé ?

PubMed Central

Kêdoté, N.M.; Brousselle, A.; Champagne, F.; Laudy, D.

2016-01-01

Résumé Introduction Dans les politiques internationales et nationales sur le VIH/sida, le consentement libre et éclairé est reconnu comme une composante essentielle des programmes de dépistage. Le consentement libre et éclairé implique pour les femmes enceintes d’obtenir des informations sur le programme de prévention de la transmission du VIH de la mère à l’enfant (PTME), de les comprendre et de faire un choix autonome après avoir évalué les risques et avantages. Cependant, aucune évaluation du programme de PTME ne s’est intéressée au consentement. L’objectif de cet article est d’explorer le caractère libre et éclairé du consentement des femmes enceintes quant au dépistage et à leurs motivations à faire le test. Méthode Nous avons utilisé des données récoltées dans le cadre d’une analyse d’implantation du programme de PTME au Bénin. Cette analyse s’appuie sur un devis d’étude de cas multiples incluant six maternités choisies parmi les 56 sites fonctionnels. Spécifiquement pour l’analyse du consentement, nous avons associé les données provenant d’une enquête à celles d’une recherche qualitative. Résultats Hormis trois cas de dépistage à l’insu, le caractère volontaire du consentement au test est respecté sur les sites de PTME. Vingt-neuf cas de refus ont été identifiés. Les raisons les plus souvent évoquées par les femmes enceintes sont la peur du résultat positif et de ses conséquences sur la vie familiale dans 55,2 % des cas et l’attente de l’accord ou du désaccord du mari dans 27,6 % des cas. Si globalement le consentement a été volontaire sur tous les sites, son caractère éclairé est moins probant. PMID:27840660

Le rôle du soutien parental dans la relation entre la victimisation homophobe, l’homophobie intériorisée et la détresse psychologique chez les jeunes de minorités sexuelles (JMS) : une approche de médiation modérée

PubMed Central

Bergeron, Félix-Antoine; Blais, Martin; Hébert, Martine

2016-01-01

Résumé Cet article explore le rôle modérateur du soutien parental dans les relations entre la victimisation homophobe, l’homophobie intériorisée et la détresse psychologique chez des jeunes de minorités sexuelles (JMS), que l’on dit aussi lesbiennes, gais, bisexuels ou en questionnement. Il vise à 1) documenter la prévalence des différentes formes de victimisation homophobe vécue par les JMS, et ce, selon le genre et l’âge et 2) à explorer l’effet modérateur du soutien parental dans la relation entre la victimisation homophobe, l’homophobie intériorisée et la détresse psychologique. Un échantillon de 228 JMS âgés de 14 à 22 ans, non exclusivement hétérosexuels, recrutés en milieu communautaire dans le cadre de l’enquête sur le Parcours Amoureux des Jeunes (PAJ) du Québec a été analysé. L’impact de la victimisation homophobe, du soutien parental, de l’homophobie intériorisée sur la détresse psychologique est exploré par un modèle de régression linéaire avec effets de médiation modérée. Le rôle modérateur du soutien parental est confirmé dans la relation entre la victimisation homophobe et la détresse psychologique. Ces variables peuvent constituer des leviers pour prévenir les effets négatifs des préjudices homophobes sur la santé mentale des JMS. PMID:26966851

Le rôle médiateur du fonctionnement familial dans la relation entre l’adversité familiale et l’adaptation sociale des enfants d’âge préscolaire1

PubMed Central

Felli, M. C.; Parent, S.; Zelazo, P. D.; Tremblay, R. E.; Séguin, J. R.

2017-01-01

Résumé À la petite enfance, l’adaptation sociale de l’enfant dépend en partie des risques auxquels il est exposé dans son environnement. Toutefois, les mécanismes par lesquels les facteurs de risque opèrent leurs influences sur l’adaptation sociale de l’enfant sont peu documentés. Ainsi, cette étude examine dans un premier temps l’effet principal de l’adversité familiale, un cumul de facteurs de risque, sur les problèmes de comportement intériorisés et extériorisés, ainsi que sur la sécurité d’attachement des enfants d’âge préscolaire. Dans un deuxième temps, elle évalue le rôle médiateur du fonctionnement familial dans le lien entre l’adversité familiale et les problèmes de comportement de même qu’entre l’adversité familiale et la sécurité d’attachement des enfants d’âge préscolaire. Les 572 participants à l’étude (n=572) sont âgés entre cinq et 42 mois lors des mesures de l’adversité familiale et de 42 mois lors de la mesure des problèmes de comportement et du fonctionnement familial. Quatre-vingt d’entre eux (n=80) ont fait l’objet d’une mesure de sécurité d’attachement à 48 mois. Les résultats indiquent, d’abord, un effet principal de l’adversité familiale sur les problèmes de comportement intériorisés et extériorisés. Un effet médiateur significatif du fonctionnement familial est ensuite rapporté dans le lien entre l’adversité familiale et les problèmes de comportement intériorisés et extériorisés. Aucun effet significatif n’est observé pour la sécurité d’attachement des enfants de 48 mois. PMID:28567062

Principes et réalisation d'une chaîne laser femtoseconde haute intensité basée sur le saphir dopé au titane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Blanc, Catherine

égime femtosecondes. Cette installation est capable de produire sur cible des intensités supérieures à 10^18 W/cm2 à une récurrence de 10 tirs par seconde. Nous présentons tout d'abord les principes fondamentaux de la propagation d'impulsions étirées dans un milieu amplificateur en mettant en évidence les principaux mécanismes mis en jeu dans ce processus : la dispersion de vitesse de groupe, l'automodulation de phase, l'autofocalisation et la saturation du gain. Une analyse des différentes possibilités quant au choix de la source initiale capable d'émettre des impulsions de durée femtoseconde dans le domaine du proche infrarouge est réalisée après la présentation des caractéristiques spectroscopiques du saphir dopé au titane. Sont en particulier décrits en détail le principe et le fonctionnement de l'oscillateur au saphir dopé au titane à autoblocage de modes que nous avons construit à cet effet. L'amplification jusqu'aux puissances de l'ordre du terawatt repose sur le concept "CPA" d'amplification d'impulsions à dérive de fréquence. Nous explorons ici la voie des amplificateurs à multipassages suivant des configurations déjà développées pour les amplificateurs à colorants. Une attention particulière a été portée sur les méthodes de réglage, la fiabilité, la stabilité et la qualité du profil spatial du faisceau. D'autre part, une modélisation rend parfaitement compte des effets de saturation dans les amplificateurs. Les impulsions obtenues après compression ont une énergie de l'ordre de 60 mJ et une durée de l'ordre de 130 fs. La partie suivante est consacrée à une étude des problèmes d'étirement et de recompression pour tenter d'expliquer les raisons de cette recompression imparfaite. Finalement, un paramètre encore plus crucial pour la physique de l'interaction sur cible solide sans création d'un préplasma est le contraste des impulsions. Nous décrivons donc l'appareil de mesure capable d'effectuer des autocorrélations avec

Validation materielle d'une architecture generique de reseaux avioniques basee sur une gestion modulaire de la redondance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tremblay, Jose-Philippe

Les systemes avioniques ne cessent d'evoluer depuis l'apparition des technologies numeriques au tournant des annees 60. Apres le passage par plusieurs paradigmes de developpement, ces systemes suivent maintenant l'approche " Integrated Modular Avionics " (IMA) depuis le debut des annees 2000. Contrairement aux methodes anterieures, cette approche est basee sur une conception modulaire, un partage de ressources generiques entre plusieurs systemes et l'utilisation plus poussee de bus multiplexes. La plupart des concepts utilises par l'architecture IMA, bien que deja connus dans le domaine de l'informatique distribuee, constituent un changement marque par rapport aux modeles anterieurs dans le monde avionique. Ceux-ci viennent s'ajouter aux contraintes importantes de l'avionique classique telles que le determinisme, le temps reel, la certification et les cibles elevees de fiabilite. L'adoption de l'approche IMA a declenche une revision de plusieurs aspects de la conception, de la certification et de l'implementation d'un systeme IMA afin d'en tirer profit. Cette revision, ralentie par les contraintes avioniques, est toujours en cours, et offre encore l'opportunite de developpement de nouveaux outils, methodes et modeles a tous les niveaux du processus d'implementation d?un systeme IMA. Dans un contexte de proposition et de validation d'une nouvelle architecture IMA pour un reseau generique de capteurs a bord d?un avion, nous avons identifie quelques aspects des differentes approches traditionnelles pour la realisation de ce type d?architecture pouvant etre ameliores. Afin de remedier a certaines des differentes lacunes identifiees, nous avons propose une approche de validation basee sur une plateforme materielle reconfigurable ainsi qu'une nouvelle approche de gestion de la redondance pour l'atteinte des cibles de fiabilite. Contrairement aux outils statiques plus limites satisfaisant les besoins pour la conception d'une architecture federee, notre approche de

Dynamique des ressources naturelles dans le Parc national de Manda: Cartographie et analyse pour le Développement durable

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ballah Solkam, Rosalie; Médard, Ndoutorlengar

2018-05-01

Au Tchad, le réseau d'aires protégées couvre près de 10,2% de la surface du pays et reste globalement représentatif de toute la diversité des écosystèmes de la région. Cependant, ce réseau n'est pas constitué d'écosystèmes intacts car de nombreuses altérations y ont été apportés (certaines espèces sont déjà au seuil critique d'extinction (Addax, gazelle dama, lamantin), voire ont disparu (Rhinocéros noir et blanc, Oryx)) surtout dans les parcs nationaux. Ce qui nous amène à nous interroger sur la dynamique des ressources naturelles et le degré de conservation du parc national de Manda? Une évaluation de la diversité biologique et des ressources hydrographiques de 1951 à 1999 sur la base de la bibliographie existante, de la carte topographique de 1956, des images satellitaires Landsat 5 et 7 TM et ETM+ de 2 périodes (1986, 1999), complétée par des interviews semi-structurés et des transects sur le terrain, permettra de mieux appréhender la dynamique des ressources et les actions de conservation de la biodiversité réalisées à cet effet. Les résultats montrent une dynamique progressive de la faune de 1951 à 1970, puis une dynamique régressive de 1970 à 1989. Après cette tumultueuse période, un repeuplement du parc s'opère de 1989 à 2002. Par contre, la flore est relativement bien conservée avec quelques cours d'eau, des mares, champs et plantations. Et cela grâce aux multiples projets de conservation de la biodiversité. La promotion de l'écotourisme serait une alternative au développement durable de ce parc.

Compliant Tactile Sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Torres-Jara, Eduardo R.

2011-01-01

Tactile sensors are currently being designed to sense interactions with human hands or pen-like interfaces. They are generally embedded in screens, keyboards, mousepads, and pushbuttons. However, they are not well fitted to sense interactions with all kinds of objects. A novel sensor was originally designed to investigate robotics manipulation where not only the contact with an object needs to be detected, but also where the object needs to be held and manipulated. This tactile sensor has been designed with features that allow it to sense a large variety of objects in human environments. The sensor is capable of detecting forces coming from any direction. As a result, this sensor delivers a force vector with three components. In contrast to most of the tactile sensors that are flat, this one sticks out from the surface so that it is likely to come in contact with objects. The sensor conforms to the object with which it interacts. This augments the contact's surface, consequently reducing the stress applied to the object. This feature makes the sensor ideal for grabbing objects and other applications that require compliance with objects. The operational range of the sensor allows it to operate well with objects found in peoples' daily life. The fabrication of this sensor is simple and inexpensive because of its compact mechanical configuration and reduced electronics. These features are convenient for mass production of individual sensors as well as dense arrays. The biologically inspired tactile sensor is sensitive to both normal and lateral forces, providing better feedback to the host robot about the object to be grabbed. It has a high sensitivity, enabling its use in manipulation fingers, which typically have low mechanical impedance in order to be very compliant. The construction of the sensor is simple, using inexpensive technologies like silicon rubber molding and standard stock electronics.

Development of multichannel soft tactile sensors having fingerprint structure.

PubMed

Tsutsui, H; Murashima, Y; Honma, N; Kobayashi, K

2014-01-01

It is possible to accurately recognize the shape of an object or to grip it by setting soft tactile sensors on a robot's hands. We studied a multichannel soft tactile sensor as an artificial hand and evaluated the pressure's response performance from several directions and the slipping and sliding responses. The tactile sensor consisted of multiple pneumatic sensors and a soft cap with a fingerprint structure that was made of silicone gum and was separated from multiple spaces. Evaluation tests showed that the multiple soft tactile sensors estimate both an object's contact force and its contact location. Our tactile sensor also measured the object's roughness by the slide on surface texture.

The Design of Tactile Thematic Symbols

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Megan M.; Lobben, Amy K.

2011-01-01

The study reported here investigated the design and legibility of tactile thematic maps, focusing on symbolization and the comprehension of spatial patterns on the maps. The results indicate that discriminable and effective tactile thematic maps can be produced using classed data with a microcapsule paper production method. The participants…

Misunderstanding and Repair in Tactile Auslan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willoughby, Louisa; Manns, Howard; Iwasaki, Shimako; Bartlett, Meredith

2014-01-01

This article discusses ways in which misunderstandings arise in Tactile Australian Sign Language (Tactile Auslan) and how they are resolved. Of particular interest are the similarities to and differences from the same processes in visually signed and spoken conversation. This article draws on detailed conversation analysis (CA) and demonstrates…

Le syndrome d’alcoolisme foetal

PubMed Central

2002-01-01

L’alcool est un tératogène physique et comportemental. Le syndrome d’alcoolisme foetal (SAF) est un trouble courant mais encore sous-diagnostiqué découlant de la consommation d’alcool par la mère pendant la grossesse. Bien qu’il puisse être prévenu, le SAF est également invalidant. Même si le SAF est présent dans tous les groupes socioéconomiques du Canada, sa prévalence est élevée dans certaines communautés inuites et des Premières nations du Canada. Le présent énoncé porte sur la prévention, le diagnostic, le dépistage précoce et la prise en charge du SAF par les professionnels de la santé. La prévention du SAF doit s’effectuer à deux échelons. La prévention primaire consiste à éliminer le SAF par une formation en classe ou dans la collectivité et à inciter les femmes à éviter de consommer de l’alcool avant la conception et pendant la grossesse. La prévention secondaire consiste à repérer les femmes qui boivent pendant leur grossesse et à réduire leur consommation. Le présent énoncé décrit plusieurs stratégies de dépistage, dont la stratégie T-ACE (tolérance-agacement, réduction, éveil). Les dispensateurs de soins devraient recommander l’abstinence dès la première visite prénatale. Un envoi rapide en consultation en vue de traiter l’alcoolisme est recommandé pour les femmes enceintes incapables d’arrêter de boire. Le présent énoncé décrit le diagnostic de SAF, de SAF partiel ou atypique, d’anomalies congénitales et de troubles neurodéveloppementaux reliés à l’alcool. En cas d’exposition à l’alcool in utero, un diagnostic de SAF devrait être envisagé en présence d’un retard de croissance courant ou antérieur, de certaines anomalies faciales touchant la lèvre supérieure et les yeux et d’anomalies neurodéveloppementales. Ces caractéristiques sont mieux quantifiées au moyen d’une méthode diagnostique à quatre chiffres. Des stratégies de dépistage précoce des

Crossmodal Congruency Benefits of Tactile and Visual Signalling

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-12

modal information format seemed to produce faster and more accurate performance. The question of learning complex tactile communication signals...SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: We conducted an experiment in which tactile messages were created based on five common military arm and hand signals. We...compared response times and accuracy rates of novice individuals responding to visual and tactile representations of these messages, which were

Observing the Use of Tactile Schedules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aasen, Gro; Naerland, Terje

2014-01-01

This article explores the use of tactile schedules in a heterogeneous sample of children with congenital blindness and varying degrees of additional disabilities. Basic conditions for the use of tactile schedules are proposed and discussed. Child behaviour indicative of some particular functions that can be attained with the use of tactile…

Enhanced tactile encoding and memory recognition in congenital blindness.

PubMed

D'Angiulli, Amedeo; Waraich, Paul

2002-06-01

Several behavioural studies have shown that early-blind persons possess superior tactile skills. Since neurophysiological data show that early-blind persons recruit visual as well as somatosensory cortex to carry out tactile processing (cross-modal plasticity), blind persons' sharper tactile skills may be related to cortical re-organisation resulting from loss of vision early in their life. To examine the nature of blind individuals' tactile superiority and its implications for cross-modal plasticity, we compared the tactile performance of congenitally totally blind, low-vision and sighted children on raised-line picture identification test and re-test, assessing effects of task familiarity, exploratory strategy and memory recognition. What distinguished the blind from the other children was higher memory recognition and higher tactile encoding associated with efficient exploration. These results suggest that enhanced perceptual encoding and recognition memory may be two cognitive correlates of cross-modal plasticity in congenital blindness.

Mise à jour sur la vaccination contre la méningococcie invasive chez les enfants et les adolescents canadiens.

PubMed

Robinson, Joan L

2018-02-01

La méningococcie invasive (MI) est une maladie grave qui est souvent à l'origine d'un sepsis fulminant ou d'une méningite. Au Canada, elle est surtout attribuable aux sérogroupes B et C. Des programmes de vaccination systématique contre le méningocoque du sérogroupe C sont prévus à l'âge de 12 mois, et dans certaines régions sociosanitaires, le calendrier comprend l'administration de doses supplémentaires aux enfants plus jeunes. Les adolescents reçoivent systématiquement une dose de rappel du vaccin contre le sérogroupe C ou d'un vaccin quadrivalent (sérogroupes A, C, W et Y). L'utilisation systématique des vaccins contre le sérogroupe B n'est pas recommandée tant qu'on n'aura pas recueilli de données supplémentaires sur l'efficacité des vaccins sur le marché et la durée de la protection qu'ils confèrent. Cependant, les enfants d'au moins deux mois qui courent un risque accru de MI devraient être vaccinés contre les sérogroupes B et C dans les plus brefs délais.

CONCLUSIONS ET RECOMMANDATIONS À L’ISSUE DE LA CONSULTATION DE L’OMS SUR LA LUTTE CONTRE LA CARENCE MARTIALE CHEZ LE NOURRISSON ET LE JEUNE ENFANT DANS LES PAYS D’ENDÉMIE PALUSTRE

PubMed Central

Allen, L.; Black, R.E.; Brandes, N.; Brittenham, G.; Chazot, G.; Chunming, C.; Crawley, J.; de Benoist, B.; Dalmiya, N.; Darnton-Hill, I.; Dewey, K.; El-Arifeen, S.; Fontaine, O.; Geissler, C.; Haberle, H.; Harvey, P.; Hasler, J.; Hershko, C.; Hurrell, R.; Juma, M.A.; Lönnerdal, B.; Lozoff, B.; Lynch, S.; Salgado, H. Martines; McLean, E.; Metz, J.; Oppenheimer, S.; Premji, Z.; Prentice, A.; Ramsan, M.; Ratledge, C.; Stoltzfus, R.; Tielsch, J.; Winachagoon, P.

2011-01-01

Cet article présentent les résultats d'une Consultation d'Experts dont l'objectif était d'évaluer l'efficacité et l'innocuité des suppléments de fer administrés aux nourrissons et aux jeunes enfants dans les zones d’endémie palustre, ainsi que les conséquences d’une telle mesure pour la santé publique. Les participants à cette Consultation, qui s’est déroulée à Lyon (France) les 12–14 juin 2006, se sont entendus sur plusieurs questions importantes concernant l’administration d’une supplémentation martiale aux nourrissons et aux jeunes enfants dans les zones d’endémie palustre. Les conclusions du présent rapport s’appliquent plus particulièrement aux pays où le paludisme est endémique. PMID:18630054

Exploring Tactile Perceptual Dimensions Using Materials Associated with Sensory Vocabulary.

PubMed

Sakamoto, Maki; Watanabe, Junji

2017-01-01

Considering tactile sensation when designing products is important because the decision to purchase often depends on how products feel. Numerous psychophysical studies have attempted to identify important factors that describe tactile perceptions. However, the numbers and types of major tactile dimensions reported in previous studies have varied because of differences in materials used across experiments. To obtain a more complete picture of perceptual space with regard to touch, our study focuses on using vocabulary that expresses tactile sensations as a guiding principle for collecting material samples because these types of words are expected to cover all the basic categories within tactile perceptual space. We collected 120 materials based on a variety of Japanese sound-symbolic words for tactile sensations, and used the materials to examine tactile perceptual dimensions and their associations with affective evaluations. Analysis revealed six major dimensions: "Affective evaluation and Friction," "Compliance," "Surface," "Volume," "Temperature," and "Naturalness." These dimensions include four factors that previous studies have regarded as fundamental, as well as two new factors: "Volume" and "Naturalness." Additionally, we showed that "Affective evaluation" is more closely related to the "Friction" component (slipperiness and dryness) than to other tactile perceptual features. Our study demonstrates that using vocabulary could be an effective method for selecting material samples to explore tactile perceptual space.

Compactification de la Supergravite 10-D Sur les Varietes de Calabi-Yau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gagnon, Michel

Les varietes de Calabi-Yau permettent une description relativement simple et assez juste de la realite. Recemment, de nombreuses equipes de recherche s'y sont interessees, en particulier P. Candelas, A. M. Dale, C. A. Lutken et R. Schimmrigk (13) qui ont propose une liste de 7868 configurations distinctes. Toutefois, nous croyons que certaines des techniques qui sont exploitees pour construire cette liste ne sont pas suffisamment justifiees et ont pour effet de soustraire a nos investigations bon nombre de configurations potentiellement interessantes. Ainsi, nous produisons, sans utiliser ces techniques simplificatrices, une liste de 97360 configurations. Ensuite, dans le cadre des modeles a 4 generations, nous appliquons un ensemble de criteres, fondes sur les symetries discretes, pour delimiter le domaine des configurations phenomenologiquement viables. Finalement, apres avoir fixe notre choix sur une configuration particuliere, nous essayons de montrer tout l'interet physique des varietes de Calabi-Yau en exposant certains aspects de la phenomenologie a basse energie, notamment les nombres quantiques, les spectres fermioniques, la brisure intermediaire du groupe de jauge et la duree de vie du proton.

Effets de la formation sur la violence conjugale

PubMed Central

Zaher, Eman; Keogh, Kelly; Ratnapalan, Savithiri

2014-01-01

Résumé Objectif Décrire et évaluer l’efficacité de la formation concernant la violence conjugale pour améliorer les connaissances et permettre la reconnaissance et la prise en charge par les médecins des femmes victimes de violence. Sources des données On a fait une recension dans la base de données des révisions systématiques de Cochrane, MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC et EMBASE pour trouver des articles publiés entre le 1e janvier 2000 et le 1e novembre 2012. Des recherches manuelles ont complété cette recension pour cerner des articles pertinents à l’aide d’une stratégie de recherche combinant des textes, mots et expressions MeSH. Sélection des études On a choisi des études randomisées contrôlées qui portaient sur des interventions éducatives à l’intention des médecins et fournissaient des données sur les effets des interventions. Synthèse On a inclus 9 études randomisées contrôlées qui décrivaient différentes approches pédagogiques et diverses mesures des résultats. Trois études examinaient les effets d’interventions éducatives pour des médecins en formation postdoctorale et ont constaté une augmentation des connaissances, mais il n’y a eu aucun changement dans le comportement en ce qui a trait à l’identification des victimes de violence conjugale. Six études portaient sur des interventions éducatives pour des médecins en pratique active. Trois d’entre elles utilisaient une approche à multiples facettes pour les médecins, qui combinait une formation ainsi que des interventions de soutien de la part du système pour changer les comportements des médecins, comme une sensibilisation générale accrue à la violence conjugale au moyen de brochures et d’affiches, des aide-mémoire pour rappeler aux médecins comment identifier les victimes, des moyens pour faciliter l’accès des médecins à des services de soutien pour les victimes, la réalisation d’audits et la fourniture de rétroaction. Les

Tactile friction of topical formulations.

PubMed

Skedung, L; Buraczewska-Norin, I; Dawood, N; Rutland, M W; Ringstad, L

2016-02-01

The tactile perception is essential for all types of topical formulations (cosmetic, pharmaceutical, medical device) and the possibility to predict the sensorial response by using instrumental methods instead of sensory testing would save time and cost at an early stage product development. Here, we report on an instrumental evaluation method using tactile friction measurements to estimate perceptual attributes of topical formulations. Friction was measured between an index finger and an artificial skin substrate after application of formulations using a force sensor. Both model formulations of liquid crystalline phase structures with significantly different tactile properties, as well as commercial pharmaceutical moisturizing creams being more tactile-similar, were investigated. Friction coefficients were calculated as the ratio of the friction force to the applied load. The structures of the model formulations and phase transitions as a result of water evaporation were identified using optical microscopy. The friction device could distinguish friction coefficients between the phase structures, as well as the commercial creams after spreading and absorption into the substrate. In addition, phase transitions resulting in alterations in the feel of the formulations could be detected. A correlation was established between skin hydration and friction coefficient, where hydrated skin gave rise to higher friction. Also a link between skin smoothening and finger friction was established for the commercial moisturizing creams, although further investigations are needed to analyse this and correlations with other sensorial attributes in more detail. The present investigation shows that tactile friction measurements have potential as an alternative or complement in the evaluation of perception of topical formulations. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Le don après un décès d'origine cardiocirculatoire au Canada

PubMed Central

Shemie, Sam D.; Baker, Andrew J.; Knoll, Greg; Wall, William; Rocker, Graeme; Howes, Daniel; Davidson, Janet; Pagliarello, Joe; Chambers-Evans, Jane; Cockfield, Sandra; Farrell, Catherine; Glannon, Walter; Gourlay, William; Grant, David; Langevin, Stéphan; Wheelock, Brian; Young, Kimberly; Dossetor, John

2006-01-01

Résumé Ces recommandations sont le fruit d'un processus multidisciplinaire national ayant duré un an et visant à déterminer si et comment l'on pourrait procéder au don d'organes après un décès d'origine cardiocirculatoire («don après le décès cardiocirculatoire», ou DDC) au Canada. Le forum national organisé en février 2005 a permis aux participants de discuter et d'élaborer des recommandations sur les principes, interventions et pratiques se rapportant au DDC. Les aspects éthiques et juridiques ont été abordés dans les discussions. À la fin du Forum, la majorité des participants ont été favorables à l'implantation de programmes de DDC au Canada. Les participants du Forum ont également convenu qu'il fallait formuler et prôner des valeurs fondamentales pour orienter l'élaboration de programmes et de protocoles basés sur le cadre médical, éthique et juridique établi lors de cette réunion. Même si la possibilité d'un don d'organes et de tissus doit faire partie intégrante des soins de fin de vie, il faut insister sur le fait que le devoir de diligence envers les patients mourants et leurs familles doit demeurer la priorité des équipes soignantes. La complexité et les répercussions profondes du décès sont reconnues et doivent être respectées, de même que les différences personnelles, ethnoculturelles et religieuses face à la mort et au don d'organes. Les décisions d'arrêter le traitement de maintien des fonctions vitales, la prise en charge des derniers moments de la vie et le diagnostic de décès selon des critères cardiocirculatoires doivent être distincts et indépendants des processus de don et transplantation. Ce rapport contient des recommandations destinées aux gestionnaires de program, aux autorités sanitaires régionales et aux instances appelés à élaborer les protocoles de DDC. Les programmes doivent être conçus en fonction des éléments suivants : direction et planification locales, éducation et

Path integration in tactile perception of shapes.

PubMed

Moscatelli, Alessandro; Naceri, Abdeldjallil; Ernst, Marc O

2014-11-01

Whenever we move the hand across a surface, tactile signals provide information about the relative velocity between the skin and the surface. If the system were able to integrate the tactile velocity information over time, cutaneous touch may provide an estimate of the relative displacement between the hand and the surface. Here, we asked whether humans are able to form a reliable representation of the motion path from tactile cues only, integrating motion information over time. In order to address this issue, we conducted three experiments using tactile motion and asked participants (1) to estimate the length of a simulated triangle, (2) to reproduce the shape of a simulated triangular path, and (3) to estimate the angle between two-line segments. Participants were able to accurately indicate the length of the path, whereas the perceived direction was affected by a direction bias (inward bias). The response pattern was thus qualitatively similar to the ones reported in classical path integration studies involving locomotion. However, we explain the directional biases as the result of a tactile motion aftereffect. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Virtual surface characteristics of a tactile display using magneto-rheological fluids.

PubMed

Lee, Chul-Hee; Jang, Min-Gyu

2011-01-01

Virtual surface characteristics of tactile displays are investigated to characterize the feeling of human touch for a haptic interface application. In order to represent the tactile feeling, a prototype tactile display incorporating Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluid has been developed. Tactile display devices simulate the finger's skin to feel the sensations of contact such as compliance, friction, and topography of the surface. Thus, the tactile display can provide information on the surface of an organic tissue to the surgeon in virtual reality. In order to investigate the compliance feeling of a human finger's touch, normal force responses of a tactile display under various magnetic fields have been assessed. Also, shearing friction force responses of the tactile display are investigated to simulate the action of finger dragging on the surface. Moreover, different matrix arrays of magnetic poles are applied to form the virtual surface topography. From the results, different tactile feelings are observed according to the applied magnetic field strength as well as the arrays of magnetic poles combinations. This research presents a smart tactile display technology for virtual surfaces.

Tactile Digital Video Globes: a New Way to Outreach Oceanography.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poteau, A.; Claustre, H.; Scheurle, C.; Jessin, T.; Fontana, C.

2016-02-01

One objective of the "Ocean Autonomous Observation" team of the Laboratory of Oceanography of Villefranche-sur-mer is to develop new means to outreach our science activities to various audiences. Besides the scientific community, this includes students and targets the general public, school pupils, and stakeholders. In this context, we have acquired a digital video globe with tactile capabilities and we will present here the various applications that we have been developing. A first type of products concerns the visualization of oceanic properties (SST, salinity, density, Chla, O2, NO3, irradiance) by diving from the surface (generally from satellite data) into the Ocean interior (through the use of global data bases, Argo, WOA). In second place, specific applications deal with surface animations allowing highlighting the seasonality of some properties (Chla, SST, ice cover, currents; based on satellite as well as modeling outputs). Finally, we show a variety of applications developed using the tactile functionality of the spherical display. In particular real-time vertical profiles acquired by Bio-Argo floats become directly accessible for the entire open ocean. Such a new tool plus its novel applications has been presented to school children, and to the wider public (at the so-called "fête de la science") as well as to potential sponsors of our science-outreach activities. Their feedback has always been highly positive and encouraging in terms of impact. From the scientists point of view, the use of this new support can easily compete with the classical PowerPoint, is much more attractive and fun and undeniably helps to outreach the various aspects of our pluridisciplinary science.

Planar and finger-shaped optical tactile sensors for robotic applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begej, Stefan

1988-01-01

Progress is described regarding the development of optical tactile sensors specifically designed for application to dexterous robotics. These sensors operate on optical principles involving the frustration of total internal reflection at a waveguide/elastomer interface and produce a grey-scale tactile image that represents the normal (vertical) forces of contact. The first tactile sensor discussed is a compact, 32 x 32 planar sensor array intended for mounting on a parallel-jaw gripper. Optical fibers were employed to convey the tactile image to a CCD camera and microprocessor-based image analysis system. The second sensor had the shape and size of a human fingertip and was designed for a dexterous robotic hand. It contained 256 sensing sites (taxels) distributed in a dual-density pattern that included a tactile fovea near the tip measuring 13 x 13 mm and containing 169 taxels. The design and construction details of these tactile sensors are presented, in addition to photographs of tactile imprints.

Vibrotactile pattern recognition: a portable compact tactile matrix.

PubMed

Thullier, Francine; Bolmont, Benoît; Lestienne, Francis G

2012-02-01

Compact tactile matrix (CTM) is a vibrotactile device composed of a seven-by-seven array of electromechanical vibrators "tactip" used to represent tactile patterns applied to a small skin area. The CTM uses a dynamic feature to generate spatiotemporal tactile patterns. The design requirements focus particularly on maximizing the transmission of the vibration from one tactip to the others as well as to the skin over a square area of 16 cm (2) while simultaneously minimizing the transmission of vibrations throughout the overall structure of the CTM. Experiments were conducted on 22 unpracticed subjects to evaluate how the CTM could be used to develop a tactile semantics for communication of instructions in order to test the ability of the subjects to identify: 1) directional prescriptors for gesture guidance and 2) instructional commands for operational task requirements in a military context. The results indicate that, after familiarization, recognition accuracies in the tactile patterns were remarkably precise for more 80% of the subjects. © 2011 IEEE

Real-time edge tracking using a tactile sensor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berger, Alan D.; Volpe, Richard; Khosla, Pradeep K.

1989-01-01

Object recognition through the use of input from multiple sensors is an important aspect of an autonomous manipulation system. In tactile object recognition, it is necessary to determine the location and orientation of object edges and surfaces. A controller is proposed that utilizes a tactile sensor in the feedback loop of a manipulator to track along edges. In the control system, the data from the tactile sensor is first processed to find edges. The parameters of these edges are then used to generate a control signal to a hybrid controller. Theory is presented for tactile edge detection and an edge tracking controller. In addition, experimental verification of the edge tracking controller is presented.

Séroprévalence de l’AgHBs chez la femme enceinte dans le centre du Maroc

PubMed Central

Sbiti, Mohammed; Khalki, Hanane; Benbella, Imane; louzi, Lhoussaine

2016-01-01

La transmission materno-fœtale du virus de l'hépatite B (VHB) est un problème qui préoccupe toujours les autorités sanitaires à travers le monde et suscite la mise en place de mesures préventives renforcées. Le statut réplicatif du virus chez la mère séropositive, évalué par la positivité de l'AgHbe et le taux de la charge virale, conditionne le risque de contamination qui est plus important en période péri-natale. Les mères porteuses chroniques du VHB constituent un véritable réservoir de la transmission verticale de cette infection. Nous avons étudié, à travers cette enquête sur 1120 femmes enceintes Marocaines, la séroprévalence de l'AgHBs qui était de 2,35%, dans le but d'alimenter les données nationales sur ce sujet. Parmi ces femmes séropositives pour l'AgHBs, 79,1% avaient un AgHBe négatif et ont bénéficié d'une recherche moléculaire qui s'est révélée positive dans 89,4% des cas. La vaccination de la femme en âge de procréer est l'un des piliers majeurs de la prévention de la transmission verticale du VHB, seulement 2,4% de nos patientes étaient vaccinées. Ceci relève l'intérêt du dépistage au cours de la grossesse, qui doit se focaliser sur la sensibilisation à la vaccination de femmes séronégatives, et le suivi par biologie moléculaire des mères séropositives dans le but d'instaurer un traitement prophylactique adéquat. PMID:27795784

Apport de l'imagerie dans le diagnostic des sacroiliites infectieuses : à propos de 19 cas

PubMed Central

Abid, Hanen; Chaabouni, Salim; Frikha, Faten; Toumi, Nozha; Souissi, Basma; Lahiani, Dorra; Bahloul, Zouhir; Ben Mahfoudh, Khaireddine

2014-01-01

Les sacro-iliites infectieuses méritent d’être mieux connues. Leur diagnostic est souvent retardé en raison d'une symptomatologie trompeuse et des diffcultés d'exploration de l'articulation sacro-iliaque. Notre travail est basé sur une étude rétrospective portant sur les cas de SII, recueillis sur une période comprise entre 1997 et 2008 dans notre centre universitaire Sfax-Tunisie. Le diagnostic de sacro-iliite était retenu en présence d'arguments cliniques et radiologiques d'atteinte sacroiliaque. Nous rapportons dix neuf cas de sacroiliites infectieuses (10 hommes et 9 femmes), avec un âge moyen de 32 ans. L'atteinte était unilatérale dans tous les cas. Les radiographies standard faites dans tous les cas ont été suggestives dans 14 cas et normales dans les autres cas. La TDM faite dans 13 cas a montré, un abcès des parties molles dans 8 cas et un séquestre osseux dans 2 cas. L'IRM réalisée dans 8 cas, a objectivé une infiltration des parties molles dans tous les cas et un abcès dans 3 cas. Le germe a été identifié dans 9 cas (3 cas de tuberculose, 3 cas de brucellose, 2 sacro-iliites à pyogène et un cas de candidose). Cette identification était faite par biopsie dans 3 cas, hémocultures dans 2 cas, prélèvement au niveau de la porte d'entrée dans 1 cas et sérodiagnostic dans 3 cas. Pour les autres cas, l'origine pyogène a été retenue sur des arguments cliniques et biologiques. L'imagerie joue un rôle primordial dans le diagnostic précoce et l'orientation étiologique d'une sacroiliite infectieuse. PMID:25120884

Ensemble des troubles causés par l'alcoolisation fœtale : lignes directrices canadiennes concernant le diagnostic

PubMed Central

Chudley, Albert E.; Conry, Julianne; Cook, Jocelynn L.; Loock, Christine; Rosales, Ted; LeBlanc, Nicole

2005-01-01

Résumé LE DIAGNOSTIC DE L'ENSEMBLE DES TROUBLES CAUSÉS PAR L'ALCOOLISATION FÉTALE (ETCAF) est complexe et l'élaboration de lignes directrices concernant le diagnostic est justifiée. Un sous-comité du Comité consultatif national de l'Agence de santé publique du Canada sur l'Ensemble des troubles causés par l'alcoolisation fœtale a examiné, analysé et intégré les méthodes de diagnostic actuelles afin de parvenir à une méthode de diagnostic normalisée faisant le consensus au Canada. L'objet du présent document est d'examiner et de clarifier l'utilisation des systèmes de diagnostic actuels et de formuler des recommandations quant à leur application pour le diagnostic des déficiences liées à l'ETCAF chez des individus de tous les âges. Les lignes directrices sont fondées sur un vaste consensus de praticiens et d'autres intervenants spécialisés dans le domaine. Ces lignes directrices ont été organisées en sept catégories, soit le dépistage et l'orientation vers les spécialistes, l'examen physique et le diagnostic différentiel, l'évaluation du comportement neurologique, le traitement et le suivi, les antécédents de consommation d'alcool de la mère pendant la grossesse, les critères du diagnostic pour le syndrome d'alcoolisation fœtale (SAF), SAF partiel et troubles neurologiques du développement liés à l'alcool, l'harmonisation de l'Institute of Medicine (IOM) et des approches du Code diagnostique à 4 chiffres. Le diagnostic exige une évaluation complète des antécédents, ainsi qu'un examen physique et du comportement neurologique, tout en recourant à une approche multidisciplinaire. Les présentes lignes directrices pour le diagnostic du syndrome d'alcoolisation fœtale et des déficiences qui y sont associées sont les premières à avoir été élaborées au Canada et elles sont fondées sur la consultation d'un grand éventail de spécialistes du diagnostic.

Le continu contre l'espace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salanskis, Jean-Michel

Disons pour conclure que, en tout état de cause, la façon de concevoir philosophiquement le conflit du continu et de l'espace que nous avons trouvée chez Hegel n'est pas homogène avec le style et les modalités de la pensée mathématique: 1) d'une part, le lien classique, le lien de référence entre continu et espace en mathématiques n'est pas que l'espace serait premier et privé de pensée, et le continu second, venant dissoudre l'espace en apportant la qualité, l'infini et la pensée, mais tout au contraire, il consiste en ce que l'espace est fondé sur l'abîme infinitaire du continu ; 2) d'autre part, l'éventuel divorce entre l'espace et le continu dans l'aire mathématique n'est pas celui d'une réflexivité purement conceptuelle du continu avec un positivisme géométrique, n'équivaut pas à une rupture disciplinaire ; il est plutôt le symptôme de la dérive d'une herméneutique à l'égard d'une autre, au sein d'un continent juridique commun définissant la discipline (la mathématique ensembliste), cette dérive pouvant, à la limite, induire une refonte de ce sol juridique, sans que jamais il soit question pour autant de nier l'unité des mathématiques, à comprendre ici comme l'unité ultime de responsabilité de la communauté mathématique à l'égard des trois questions Qu'est-ce que l'espace?”, “Qu'est-ce que le continu?” et “Qu'est-ce que l'infini?”.

Etude Bacteriologique sur 30 Mois dans un Service de Brulés

PubMed Central

Chaibdraa, A.; Bentakouk, M.C.

2008-01-01

Summary Le pronostic des brûlures est souvent tributaire de complications infectieuses. Les objectifs de cette étude préliminaire rétrospective sont une évaluation de la flore microbienne et ses fluctuations selon la durée d'hospitalisation chez les patients du Centre des brûlés adultes de Annaba (Algérie). Ce travail porte sur 633 prélèvements microbiologiques positifs obtenus entre juin 2003 (inauguration du service) et décembre 2005. Selon le site de prélèvement la répartition est: cutané (78%), hémoculture (9%), prélèvement trachéo-bronchique (4%), uroculture (3%), sonde urinaire (3%), cathéter(3%). Les germes isolés sont: les staphylocoques (58%), les Pseudomonas (20%), le Candida albicans (5%), l'Acinetobacter (3%) et les autres germes (14%). Parmi les staphylocoques et les Pseudomonas recensés, respectivement 19% et 11% sont isolés la première semaine, contre 43% et 52% au-delà de 21 jours. Ces résultats confrontés aux données de la littérature confirment la prédominance du staphylocoque et du Pseudomonas. Le risque de contamination à partir des techniques invasives de réanimation est commun à toutes les équipes. La prolifération bactérienne est en relation avec la durée d'hospitalisation. Ces constatations doivent nous inciter à tirer bénéfice de l'expérience des autres services, en particulier sur les moyens, accessibles, de prévention de l'infection nosocomiale. PMID:21991102

Piezoelectric Polymer Tactile Sensor Arrays for Robotics.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-12-01

response to slow and fast stimuli (Dario and others, 1984:2). The touch receptors relate tactile information through a variety of tactile sensory...flexure. The only occurrence when an evaporated electrode broke (and became intermit - tently open circuited) was during the measurement of the PPTSA *4

Vibratory tactile display for textures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ikei, Yasushi; Ikeno, Akihisa; Fukuda, Shuichi

1994-01-01

We have developed a tactile display that produces vibratory stimulus to a fingertip in contact with a vibrating tactor matrix. The display depicts tactile surface textures while the user is exploring a virtual object surface. A piezoelectric actuator drives the individual tactor in accordance with both the finger movement and the surface texture being traced. Spatiotemporal display control schemes were examined for presenting the fundamental surface texture elements. The temporal duration of vibratory stimulus was experimentally optimized to simulate the adaptation process of cutaneous sensation. The selected duration time for presenting a single line edge agreed with the time threshold of tactile sensation. Then spatial stimulus disposition schemes were discussed for representation of other edge shapes. As an alternative means not relying on amplitude control, a method of augmented duration at the edge was investigated. Spatial resolution of the display was measured for the lines presented both in perpendicular and parallel to a finger axis. Discrimination of texture density was also measured on random dot textures.

Application d'une technique de modelisation aerodynamique conceptuelle sur la simulation d'un pilote automatique a commande optimale pour un avion d'affaires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pollender-Moreau, Olivier

Ce document présente, dans le cadre d'un contexte conceptuel, une méthode d'enchaînement servant à faire le lien entre les différentes étapes qui permettent de réaliser la simulation d'un aéronef à partir de ses données géométriques et de ses propriétés massiques. En utilisant le cas de l'avion d'affaires Hawker 800XP de la compagnie Hawker Beechcraft, on démontre, via des données, un processus de traitement par lots et une plate-forme de simulation, comment (1) modéliser la géométrie d'un aéronef en plusieurs surfaces, (2) calculer les forces aérodynamiques selon une technique connue sous le nom de Vortex Lattice Method, (3) construire un modèle de vol servant à la simulation des aéronefs pour leur enveloppe de vol en ajoutant des fonctions supplémentaires, (4) construire un modèle de turbosoufflante simplifié, (5) développer un algorithme d'équilibre (trim) du mouvement longitudinal, (6) développer des algorithmes de contrôle à commande moderne, (7) développer certaines fonctions d'un système de pilotage automatique, et (8) rassembler le tout sous une même plate-forme de simulation. Afin de supporter ce travail, une application publique Matlab, connue sous le nom de Tornado, est utilisée conjointement avec d'autres fonctions pour la conception du modèle de vol aérodynamique. D'ailleurs, il sera démontré que le modèle de vol, quoiqu'il soit quand même crédible, ne concorde pas tout à fait avec les données de référence. Par contre, puisque le modèle des moteurs fonctionne bien, que l'algorithme d'équilibrage du mouvement longitudinal fonctionne bien et que les pôles des systèmes dynamiques concordent avec la littérature, les tests dynamiques effectués au sein de la plate-forme de simulation permettent d'obtenir des résultats fonctionnels et crédibles. D'ailleurs, deux systèmes d'augmentation de la stabilité basés sur la méthode de contrôle moderne LQR et couvrant l

Endoscopic vs. tactile evaluation of subgingival calculus.

PubMed

Osborn, Joy B; Lenton, Patricia A; Lunos, Scott A; Blue, Christine M

2014-08-01

Endoscopic technology has been developed to facilitate imagery for use during diagnostic and therapeutic phases of periodontal care. The purpose of this study was to compare the level of subgingival calculus detection using a periodontal endoscope with that of conventional tactile explorer in periodontitis subjects. A convenience sample of 26 subjects with moderate periodontitis in at least 2 quadrants was recruited from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry to undergo quadrant scaling and root planing. One quadrant from each subject was randomized for tactile calculus detection alone and the other quadrant for tactile detection plus the Perioscope ™ (Perioscopy Inc., Oakland, Cali). A calculus index on a 0 to 3 score was performed at baseline and at 2 post-scaling and root planing visits. Sites where calculus was detected at visit 1 were retreated. T-tests were used to determine within-subject differences between Perioscope™ and tactile measures, and changes in measures between visits. Significantly more calculus was detected using the Perioscope™ vs. tactile explorer for all 3 subject visits (p<0.005). Mean changes (reduction) in calculus detection from baseline to visit 1 were statistically significant for both the Perioscope™ and tactile quadrants (p<0.0001). However, further reductions in calculus detection from visit 1 to visit 2 was only significant for the Perioscope™ quadrant (p<0.025), indicating that this methodology was able to more precisely detect calculus at this visit. It was concluded that the addition of a visual component to calculus detection via the Perioscope™ was most helpful in the re-evaluation phase of periodontal therapy. Copyright © 2014 The American Dental Hygienists’ Association.

Merkel cells transduce and encode tactile stimuli to drive Aβ-afferent impulses

PubMed Central

Ikeda, Ryo; Cha, Myeounghoon; Ling, Jennifer; Jia, Zhanfeng; Coyle, Dennis; Gu, Jianguo G.

2014-01-01

SUMMARY Sensory systems for detecting tactile stimuli have evolved from touch-sensing nerves in invertebrates to complicated tactile end-organs in mammals. Merkel discs are tactile end-organs consisting of Merkel cells and Aβ-afferent nerve endings, and are localized in fingertips, whisker hair follicles and other touch-sensitive spots. Merkel discs transduce touch into slowly adapting impulses to enable tactile discrimination, but their transduction and encoding mechanisms remain unknown. Using rat whisker hair follicles, we show that Merkel cells rather than Aβ-afferent nerve endings are primary sites of tactile transduction, and identify the Piezo2 ion channel as the Merkel cell mechanical transducer. Piezo2 transduces tactile stimuli into Ca2+-action potentials in Merkel cells, which drive Aβ-afferent nerve endings to fire slowly adapting impulses. We further demonstrate that Piezo2 and Ca2+-action potentials in Merkel cells are required for behavioral tactile responses. Our findings provide insights into how tactile end-organs function and have clinical implications for tactile dysfunctions. PMID:24746027

Tactile priming modulates the activation of the fronto-parietal circuit during tactile angle match and non-match processing: an fMRI study

PubMed Central

Yang, Jiajia; Yu, Yinghua; Kunita, Akinori; Huang, Qiang; Wu, Jinglong; Sawamoto, Nobukatsu; Fukuyama, Hidenao

2014-01-01

The repetition of a stimulus task reduces the neural activity within certain cortical regions responsible for working memory (WM) processing. Although previous evidence has shown that repeated vibrotactile stimuli reduce the activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, whether the repeated tactile spatial stimuli triggered the priming effect correlated with the same cortical region remains unclear. Therefore, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a delayed match-to-sample task to investigate the contributions of the priming effect to tactile spatial WM processing. Fourteen healthy volunteers were asked to encode three tactile angle stimuli during the encoding phase and one tactile angle stimulus during the recognition phase. Then, they answered whether the last angle stimulus was presented during the encoding phase. As expected, both the Match and Non-Match tasks activated a similar cerebral network. The critical new finding was decreased brain activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and bilateral medial frontal gyri (mFG) for the match task compared to the Non-Match task. Therefore, we suggest that the tactile priming engaged repetition suppression mechanisms during tactile angle matching, and this process decreased the activation of the fronto-parietal circuit, including IFG, mFG and PPC. PMID:25566010

Recommandations sur l’examen pelvien de dépistage systématique

PubMed Central

Tonelli, Marcello; Gorber, Sarah Connor; Moore, Ainsley; Thombs, Brett D.

2016-01-01

Résumé Objectif Examiner les lignes directrices de 2014 de l’American College of Physicians (ACP) en matière d’examens pelviens de dépistage du cancer (autre que du col), des maladies inflammatoires pelviennes ou d’autres affections gynécologiques bénignes afin de déterminer si les lignes directrices de l’ACP en matière d’examens pelviens systématiques sont conformes aux normes établies par le Groupe d’étude canadien sur les soins de santé préventifs (GECSSP) et peuvent être adaptées ou adoptées. Méthodologie La méthode SNAP-IT (Smooth National Adaptation and Presentation of Guidelines to Improve Thrombosis Treatment) a servi à déterminer si les lignes directrices de l’ACP étaient conformes aux normes du GECSSP et pouvaient être adaptées ou adoptées. Recommandations Le GECSSP recommande de ne pas effectuer un examen pelvien de dépistage des cancers non cervicaux, des maladies inflammatoires pelviennes ou d’autres affections gynécologiques chez les femmes asymptomatiques. Il s’agit d’une forte recommandation reposant sur des données probantes de qualité modérée. Conclusion Le GECSSP adopte la recommandation en matière d’examen pelvien de dépistage, comme publiée par l’ACP en 2014.

Tactile mental body parts representation in obesity.

PubMed

Scarpina, Federica; Castelnuovo, Gianluca; Molinari, Enrico

2014-12-30

Obese people׳s distortions in visually-based mental body-parts representations have been reported in previous studies, but other sensory modalities have largely been neglected. In the present study, we investigated possible differences in tactilely-based body-parts representation between an obese and a healthy-weight group; additionally we explore the possible relationship between the tactile- and the visually-based body representation. Participants were asked to estimate the distance between two tactile stimuli that were simultaneously administered on the arm or on the abdomen, in the absence of visual input. The visually-based body-parts representation was investigated by a visual imagery method in which subjects were instructed to compare the horizontal extension of body part pairs. According to the results, the obese participants overestimated the size of the tactilely-perceived distances more than the healthy-weight group when the arm, and not the abdomen, was stimulated. Moreover, they reported a lower level of accuracy than did the healthy-weight group when estimating horizontal distances relative to their bodies, confirming an inappropriate visually-based mental body representation. Our results imply that body representation disturbance in obese people is not limited to the visual mental domain, but it spreads to the tactilely perceived distances. The inaccuracy was not a generalized tendency but was body-part related. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Artificial tactile sensing in minimally invasive surgery - a new technical approach.

PubMed

Schostek, Sebastian; Ho, Chi-Nghia; Kalanovic, Daniel; Schurr, Marc O

2006-01-01

The loss of tactile sensation is a commonly known drawback of minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Since the advent of MIS, research activities in providing tactile information to the surgeon are still ongoing, in order to improve patient safety and to extend the indications for MIS. We have designed a tactile sensor system comprising a tactile laparoscopic grasper for surgical palpation. For this purpose, we developed a novel tactile sensor technology which allows the manufacturing of an integrated sensor array within an acceptable price range. The array was integrated into the jaws of a 10mm laparoscopic grasper. The tactile data are transferred wirelessly via Bluetooth and are presented visually to the surgeon. The goal was to be able to obtain information about the shape and consistency of tissue structures by gently compressing the tissue between the jaws of the tactile instrument and thus to be able to recognize and assess anatomical or pathological structures, even if they are hidden in the tissue. With a prototype of the tactile sensor system we have conducted bench-tests as well as in-vitro and in-vivo experiments. The system proved feasibility in an experimental environment, it was easy to use, and the novel tactile sensor array was applicable for both palpation and grasping manoeuvres with forces of up to 60N. The tactile data turned out to be a useful supplement to the minimal amount of haptic feedback that is provided by current endoscopic instruments and the endoscopic image under certain conditions.

Tactile roughness perception in the presence of olfactory and trigeminal stimulants

PubMed Central

Koijck, Lara A.; Van Erp, Jan B.F.

2015-01-01

Previous research has shown that odorants consistently evoke associations with textures and their tactile properties like smoothness and roughness. Also, it has been observed that olfaction can modulate tactile perception. We therefore hypothesized that tactile roughness perception may be biased towards the somatosensory connotation of an ambient odorant. We performed two experiments to test this hypothesis. In the first experiment, we investigated the influence of ambient chemosensory stimuli with different roughness connotations on tactile roughness perception. In addition to a pleasant odor with a connotation of softness (PEA), we also included a trigeminal stimulant with a rough, sharp or prickly connotation (Ethanol). We expected that—compared to a No-odorant control condition—tactile texture perception would be biased towards smoothness in the presence of PEA and towards roughness in the presence of Ethanol. However, our results show no significant interaction between chemosensory stimulation and perceived tactile surface roughness. It could be argued that ambient odors may be less effective in stimulating crossmodal associations, since they are by definition extraneous to the tactile stimuli. In an attempt to optimize the conditions for sensory integration, we therefore performed a second experiment in which the olfactory and tactile stimuli were presented in synchrony and in close spatial proximity. In addition, we included pleasant (Lemon) and unpleasant (Indole) odorants that are known to have the ability to affect tactile perception. We expected that tactile stimuli would be perceived as less rough when simultaneously presented with Lemon or PEA (both associated with softness) than when presented with Ethanol or Indole (odors that can be associated with roughness). Again, we found no significant main effect of chemosensory condition on perceived tactile roughness. We discuss the limitations of this study and we present suggestions for future research

Microfabricated Tactile Sensors for Biomedical Applications: A Review

PubMed Central

Saccomandi, Paola; Schena, Emiliano; Oddo, Calogero Maria; Zollo, Loredana; Silvestri, Sergio; Guglielmelli, Eugenio

2014-01-01

During the last decades, tactile sensors based on different sensing principles have been developed due to the growing interest in robotics and, mainly, in medical applications. Several technological solutions have been employed to design tactile sensors; in particular, solutions based on microfabrication present several attractive features. Microfabrication technologies allow for developing miniaturized sensors with good performance in terms of metrological properties (e.g., accuracy, sensitivity, low power consumption, and frequency response). Small size and good metrological properties heighten the potential role of tactile sensors in medicine, making them especially attractive to be integrated in smart interfaces and microsurgical tools. This paper provides an overview of microfabricated tactile sensors, focusing on the mean principles of sensing, i.e., piezoresistive, piezoelectric and capacitive sensors. These sensors are employed for measuring contact properties, in particular force and pressure, in three main medical fields, i.e., prosthetics and artificial skin, minimal access surgery and smart interfaces for biomechanical analysis. The working principles and the metrological properties of the most promising tactile, microfabricated sensors are analyzed, together with their application in medicine. Finally, the new emerging technologies in these fields are briefly described. PMID:25587432

A Pneumatic Tactile Sensor for Co-Operative Robots

PubMed Central

He, Rui; Yu, Jianjun; Zuo, Guoyu

2017-01-01

Tactile sensors of comprehensive functions are urgently needed for the advanced robot to co-exist and co-operate with human beings. Pneumatic tactile sensors based on air bladder possess some noticeable advantages for human-robot interaction application. In this paper, we construct a pneumatic tactile sensor and apply it on the fingertip of robot hand to realize the sensing of force, vibration and slippage via the change of the pressure of the air bladder, and we utilize the sensor to perceive the object’s features such as softness and roughness. The pneumatic tactile sensor has good linearity, repeatability and low hysteresis and both its size and sensing range can be customized by using different material as well as different thicknesses of the air bladder. It is also simple and cheap to fabricate. Therefore, the pneumatic tactile sensor is suitable for the application of co-operative robots and can be widely utilized to improve the performance of service robots. We can apply it to the fingertip of the robot to endow the robotic hand with the ability to co-operate with humans and handle the fragile objects because of the inherent compliance of the air bladder. PMID:29125565

Microfabricated tactile sensors for biomedical applications: a review.

PubMed

Saccomandi, Paola; Schena, Emiliano; Oddo, Calogero Maria; Zollo, Loredana; Silvestri, Sergio; Guglielmelli, Eugenio

2014-12-01

During the last decades, tactile sensors based on different sensing principles have been developed due to the growing interest in robotics and, mainly, in medical applications. Several technological solutions have been employed to design tactile sensors; in particular, solutions based on microfabrication present several attractive features. Microfabrication technologies allow for developing miniaturized sensors with good performance in terms of metrological properties (e.g., accuracy, sensitivity, low power consumption, and frequency response). Small size and good metrological properties heighten the potential role of tactile sensors in medicine, making them especially attractive to be integrated in smart interfaces and microsurgical tools. This paper provides an overview of microfabricated tactile sensors, focusing on the mean principles of sensing, i.e., piezoresistive, piezoelectric and capacitive sensors. These sensors are employed for measuring contact properties, in particular force and pressure, in three main medical fields, i.e., prosthetics and artificial skin, minimal access surgery and smart interfaces for biomechanical analysis. The working principles and the metrological properties of the most promising tactile, microfabricated sensors are analyzed, together with their application in medicine. Finally, the new emerging technologies in these fields are briefly described.

Review of Recent Inkjet-Printed Capacitive Tactile Sensors

PubMed Central

Salim, Ahmed

2017-01-01

Inkjet printing is an advanced printing technology that has been used to develop conducting layers, interconnects and other features on a variety of substrates. It is an additive manufacturing process that offers cost-effective, lightweight designs and simplifies the fabrication process with little effort. There is hardly sufficient research on tactile sensors and inkjet printing. Advancements in materials science and inkjet printing greatly facilitate the realization of sophisticated tactile sensors. Starting from the concept of capacitive sensing, a brief comparison of printing techniques, the essential requirements of inkjet-printing and the attractive features of state-of-the art inkjet-printed tactile sensors developed on diverse substrates (paper, polymer, glass and textile) are presented in this comprehensive review. Recent trends in inkjet-printed wearable/flexible and foldable tactile sensors are evaluated, paving the way for future research. PMID:29125584

Unmyelinated tactile cutaneous nerves signal erotic sensations.

PubMed

Jönsson, Emma H; Backlund Wasling, Helena; Wagnbeck, Vicktoria; Dimitriadis, Menelaos; Georgiadis, Janniko R; Olausson, Håkan; Croy, Ilona

2015-06-01

Intrapersonal touch is a powerful tool for communicating emotions and can among many things evoke feelings of eroticism and sexual arousal. The peripheral neural mechanisms of erotic touch signaling have been less studied. C tactile afferents (unmyelinated low-threshold mechanoreceptors), known to underpin pleasant aspects of touch processing, have been posited to play an important role. In two studies, we investigated the relationship between C tactile activation and the perception of erotic and pleasant touch, using tactile brushing stimulation. In total, 66 healthy subjects (37 women, age range 19-51 years) were examined. In study 1 (n = 20), five different stroking velocities were applied to the forearm and the inner thigh. The participants answered questions about partnership, mood, and touch. In study 2 (n = 46), the same five stroking velocities were applied to the forearm. The participants answered questions about partnership, touch, and sexuality. Both touch eroticism and pleasantness were rated significantly higher for C tactile optimal velocities compared with suboptimal velocities. No difference was found between the ratings of the thigh and the forearm. The velocity-dependent rating curves of pleasantness, intensity, and eroticism differed from each other. Pleasantness was best explained by a quadratic fit, intensity by a linear fit, and eroticism by both. A linear transformation of pleasantness and intensity predicted the observed eroticism ratings reliably. Eroticism ratings were negatively correlated with length of relationship. Touch was rated most erotic when perceived as pleasant and weak. In human hairy skin, perception of pleasantness is correlated with the firing rate of C tactile afferents, and perception of intensity is correlated with the firing rate of Aβ afferents. Accordingly, eroticism may be perceived most readily for touch stimuli that induce high activity in C tactile fibers and low activity in Aβ fibers. © 2015 International

Texture- and deformability-based surface recognition by tactile image analysis.

PubMed

Khasnobish, Anwesha; Pal, Monalisa; Tibarewala, D N; Konar, Amit; Pal, Kunal

2016-08-01

Deformability and texture are two unique object characteristics which are essential for appropriate surface recognition by tactile exploration. Tactile sensation is required to be incorporated in artificial arms for rehabilitative and other human-computer interface applications to achieve efficient and human-like manoeuvring. To accomplish the same, surface recognition by tactile data analysis is one of the prerequisites. The aim of this work is to develop effective technique for identification of various surfaces based on deformability and texture by analysing tactile images which are obtained during dynamic exploration of the item by artificial arms whose gripper is fitted with tactile sensors. Tactile data have been acquired, while human beings as well as a robot hand fitted with tactile sensors explored the objects. The tactile images are pre-processed, and relevant features are extracted from the tactile images. These features are provided as input to the variants of support vector machine (SVM), linear discriminant analysis and k-nearest neighbour (kNN) for classification. Based on deformability, six household surfaces are recognized from their corresponding tactile images. Moreover, based on texture five surfaces of daily use are classified. The method adopted in the former two cases has also been applied for deformability- and texture-based recognition of four biomembranes, i.e. membranes prepared from biomaterials which can be used for various applications such as drug delivery and implants. Linear SVM performed best for recognizing surface deformability with an accuracy of 83 % in 82.60 ms, whereas kNN classifier recognizes surfaces of daily use having different textures with an accuracy of 89 % in 54.25 ms and SVM with radial basis function kernel recognizes biomembranes with an accuracy of 78 % in 53.35 ms. The classifiers are observed to generalize well on the unseen test datasets with very high performance to achieve efficient material

Nutrition chez le brûlé

PubMed Central

Perro, G.

2016-01-01

Summary La nutrition est un challenge chez le brûlé, paradigme de l’agressé. Les points importants sont les apports entéraux précoces par sonde gastrique voire post pyloriques, la position proclive > 30°, la surveillance du transit et sa régulation par gastro ou entéro-kinétiques, la surveillance du poids, la quantification des apports avec supplémentation parentérale en cas de retard protéino énergétique. Chez l’enfant, l’adhésion à l’alimentation est difficile, de même que chez le senior, où une évaluation nutritionnelle initiale dépiste souvent une dénutrition préexistante. Les compléments alimentaires seront largement prescrits chez les patients de gravité intermédiaire. Les obèses bénéficieront d’un régime hypocalorique et hyperprotidique. Chez l’insuffisant rénal non dialysé il convient de limiter les apports en potassium. En cas brûlure périnéale, on peut proposer soit une constipation de courte durée, soit la mise en place d’un entéro-collecteur, les indications de colostomie étant devenues rares. Les apports entéraux sont difficiles à gérer en cas de décubitus ventral pour SDRA. Chez le brûlé grave de réanimation, l’accent doit plus être mis sur la qualité des nutriments que sur leur quantité. Les anciennes formules d’estimation calorique conduisaient à une surnutrition difficile à administrer et en général mal tolérée; la quantification mesurée par calorimétrie indirecte ou estimée par la formule de Toronto est bien plus adaptée. Plus récemment, l’instauration d’une immunonutrition (supplémentation en vitamines et oligo-éléments, glutamine, arginine, acide Ω 3 et contrôle raisonné de la glycémie) a été proposée pour réduire le stress oxydatif et l’inflammation provoqués par l’accident. PMID:27857647

Le satellite Encelade source d'ions N+ dans la magnétosphère de Saturne

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouhram, Mehdi; Berthelier, Jean-Jacques; Illiano, Jean-Marie; Smith, Howard T.; Sittler, Edward C.; Crary, Frank J.; Young, Dave T.

2005-12-01

xml:lang="fr">RésuméLe premier passage de la sonde Cassini dans l'environnement de Saturne, au dessus de l'anneau E, a mis en évidence l'existence d'un plasma composé d'un mélange d'ions issus des produits de l'eau (H+, O+, OH+, H2O+) avec une faible composante en ions N+ (3 %). A partir d'un modèle simple du transport des ions dans la magnétosphère, nous montrons que la source de ces ions N+ coïncide avec le satellite Encelade. Un tel résultat peut s'expliquer par la présence de composés volatiles tels que l'ammoniac NH3 sur ce satellite de glace, supposé encore actif géologiquement, ou par la présence d'ions N+ d'origine externe préalablement implantés sur sa surface. Pour citer cet article : M. Bouhram et al., C. R. Physique 6 (2005).

Le transfert de connaissances entre les mathematiques et les sciences. Une etude exploratoire aupres d'eleves de 4e secondaire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samson, Ghislain

2003-06-01

Au moment ou dans plusieurs pays on travaille a refondre les programmes d'etudes, tant au primaire qu'au secondaire, l'interet pour le transfert renait. Un des concepts fondamentaux en apprentissage consiste en l'habilete a reutiliser de facon consciente et efficace un acquis d'une situation a une autre situation. Cette recherche emane de preoccupations professionnelles au moment ou le chercheur etait enseignant au secondaire. Au cours de ces annees, il lui a ete possible de constater que plusieurs eleves percevaient difficilement les liens presents entre les disciplines mathematiques et scientifiques. Des travaux en psychologie cognitive et plus particulierement selon une perspective du traitement de l'information ont servi de cadre de reference pour evaluer et analyser les capacites de transfert aupres d'eleves de 4e secondaire. Ce cadre de reference permet de formuler le principal objectif qui est de mieux comprendre le processus de transfert chez des eleves en situation de resolution de problemes scientifiques. Cette these s'interesse donc au transfert en tant que phenomene important du processus d'apprentissage au sens de l'integration. La methode de recherche choisie, de nature qualitative, est principalement axee sur l'evaluation de la capacite a transferer des connaissances lors d'une epreuve et d'un entretien. Pour evaluer ce potentiel de transfert, nous avons elabore deux outils: une epreuve en mathematiques et en sciences et un guide d'entretien. Pour la passation de l'epreuve, le chercheur a pu compter sur la collaboration de 130 sujets provenant de deux ecoles. L'entretien complete la prise de donnees avec 13 sujets ayant accepte de poursuivre l'etude. Les donnees recueillies par ces instruments font ensuite l'objet d'une analyse de contenu. En premier lieu, les verbatims de l'epreuve et de l'entretien ont ete transcrits, puis codifies. La correction des reponses fournies pour les problemes resolus s'est faite a partir d'une grille d

Etude thermo-hydraulique de l'ecoulement du moderateur dans le reacteur CANDU-6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehdi Zadeh, Foad

Etant donne la taille (6,0 m x 7,6 m) ainsi que le domaine multiplement connexe qui caracterisent la cuve des reacteurs CANDU-6 (380 canaux dans la cuve), la physique qui gouverne le comportement du fluide moderateur est encore mal connue de nos jours. L'echantillonnage de donnees dans un reacteur en fonction necessite d'apporter des changements a la configuration de la cuve du reacteur afin d'y inserer des sondes. De plus, la presence d'une zone intense de radiations empeche l'utilisation des capteurs courants d'echantillonnage. En consequence, l'ecoulement du moderateur doit necessairement etre etudie a l'aide d'un modele experimental ou d'un modele numerique. Pour ce qui est du modele experimental, la fabrication et la mise en fonction de telles installations coutent tres cher. De plus, les parametres de la mise a l'echelle du systeme pour fabriquer un modele experimental a l'echelle reduite sont en contradiction. En consequence, la modelisation numerique reste une alternative importante. Actuellement, l'industrie nucleaire utilise une approche numerique, dite de milieu poreux, qui approxime le domaine par un milieu continu ou le reseau des tubes est remplace par des resistances hydrauliques distribuees. Ce modele est capable de decrire les phenomenes macroscopiques de l'ecoulement, mais ne tient pas compte des effets locaux ayant un impact sur l'ecoulement global, tel que les distributions de temperatures et de vitesses a proximite des tubes ainsi que des instabilites hydrodynamiques. Dans le contexte de la surete nucleaire, on s'interesse aux effets locaux autour des tubes de calandre. En effet, des simulations faites par cette approche predisent que l'ecoulement peut prendre plusieurs configurations hydrodynamiques dont, pour certaines, l'ecoulement montre un comportement asymetrique au sein de la cuve. Ceci peut provoquer une ebullition du moderateur sur la paroi des canaux. Dans de telles conditions, le coefficient de reactivite peut varier de maniere

Displaying Sensed Tactile Cues with a Fingertip Haptic Device.

PubMed

Pacchierotti, Claudio; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Kuchenbecker, Katherine J

2015-01-01

Telerobotic systems enable humans to explore and manipulate remote environments for applications such as surgery and disaster response, but few such systems provide the operator with cutaneous feedback. This article presents a novel approach to remote cutaneous interaction; our method is compatible with any fingertip tactile sensor and any mechanical tactile display device, and it does not require a position/force or skin deformation model. Instead, it directly maps the sensed stimuli to the best possible input commands for the device's motors using a data set recorded with the tactile sensor inside the device. As a proof of concept, we considered a haptic system composed of a BioTac tactile sensor, in charge of measuring contact deformations, and a custom 3-DoF cutaneous device with a flat contact platform, in charge of applying deformations to the user's fingertip. To validate the proposed approach and discover its inherent tradeoffs, we carried out two remote tactile interaction experiments. The first one evaluated the error between the tactile sensations registered by the BioTac in a remote environment and the sensations created by the cutaneous device for six representative tactile interactions and 27 variations of the display algorithm. The normalized average errors in the best condition were 3.0 percent of the BioTac's full 12-bit scale. The second experiment evaluated human subjects' experiences for the same six remote interactions and eight algorithm variations. The average subjective rating for the best algorithm variation was 8.2 out of 10, where 10 is best.

MEMS tactile display: from fabrication to characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miki, Norihisa; Kosemura, Yumi; Watanabe, Junpei; Ishikawa, Hiroaki

2014-03-01

We report fabrication and characterization of MEMS-based tactile display that can display users various tactile information, such as Braille codes and surface textures. The display consists of 9 micro-actuators that are equipped with hydraulic displacement amplification mechanism (HDAM) to achieve large enough displacement to stimulate the human tactile receptors. HDAM encapsulates incompressible liquids. We developed a liquid encapsulation process, which we termed as Bonding-in-Liquid Technique, where bonding with a UV-curable resin in glycerin is conducted in the liquid, which prevented interfusion of air bubbles and deformation of the membrane during the bonding. HDAM successfully amplified the displacement generated by piezoelectric actuators by a factor of 6. The display could virtually produce "rough" and "smooth" surfaces, by controlling the vibration frequency, displacement, and the actuation periods of an actuator until the adjacent actuator was driven. We introduced a sample comparison method to characterize the surfaces, which involves human tactile sensation. First, we prepared samples whose mechanical properties are known. We displayed a surface texture to the user by controlling the parameters and then, the user selects a sample that has the most similar surface texture. By doing so, we can correlate the parameters with the mechanical properties of the sample as well as find the sets of the parameters that can provide similar tactile information to many users. The preliminary results with respect to roughness and hardness is presented.

Le TERS, ou comment obtenir une signature chimique à l'échelle nanométrique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsia, Patrick; Chaigneau, Marc

2018-02-01

Le TERS pour tip enhanced raman scattering, est une technique de pointe (dans tous les sens du terme) basée sur l'amplification du signal Raman relative à la résonance de plasmons de surface. Cette technique non-destructive, qui ne nécessite pas de marquage particulier, permet de caractériser un échantillon à l'échelle nanométrique. Le TERS s'impose aujourd'hui pour sonder les propriétés physico-chimiques des nanomatériaux et participer ainsi au développement de nouvelles applications dans le domaine des nanotechnologies.

Conductivite dans le modele de Hubbard bi-dimensionnel a faible couplage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergeron, Dominic

Le modele de Hubbard bi-dimensionnel (2D) est souvent considere comme le modele minimal pour les supraconducteurs a haute temperature critique a base d'oxyde de cuivre (SCHT). Sur un reseau carre, ce modele possede les phases qui sont communes a tous les SCHT, la phase antiferromagnetique, la phase supraconductrice et la phase dite du pseudogap. Il n'a pas de solution exacte, toutefois, plusieurs methodes approximatives permettent d'etudier ses proprietes de facon numerique. Les proprietes optiques et de transport sont bien connues dans les SCHT et sont donc de bonne candidates pour valider un modele theorique et aider a comprendre mieux la physique de ces materiaux. La presente these porte sur le calcul de ces proprietes pour le modele de Hubbard 2D a couplage faible ou intermediaire. La methode de calcul utilisee est l'approche auto-coherente a deux particules (ACDP), qui est non-perturbative et inclue l'effet des fluctuations de spin et de charge a toutes les longueurs d'onde. La derivation complete de l'expression de la conductivite dans l'approche ACDP est presentee. Cette expression contient ce qu'on appelle les corrections de vertex, qui tiennent compte des correlations entre quasi-particules. Pour rendre possible le calcul numerique de ces corrections, des algorithmes utilisant, entre autres, des transformees de Fourier rapides et des splines cubiques sont developpes. Les calculs sont faits pour le reseau carre avec sauts aux plus proches voisins autour du point critique antiferromagnetique. Aux dopages plus faibles que le point critique, la conductivite optique presente une bosse dans l'infrarouge moyen a basse temperature, tel qu'observe dans plusieurs SCHT. Dans la resistivite en fonction de la temperature, on trouve un comportement isolant dans le pseudogap lorsque les corrections de vertex sont negligees et metallique lorsqu'elles sont prises en compte. Pres du point critique, la resistivite est lineaire en T a basse temperature et devient

A Single Session of Mirror-based Tactile and Motor Training Improves Tactile Dysfunction in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Replicated Randomized Controlled Case Series.

PubMed

Auld, Megan L; Johnston, Leanne M; Russo, Remo N; Moseley, G Lorimer

2017-10-01

This replicated randomized controlled crossover case series investigated the effect of mirror-based tactile and motor training on tactile registration and perception in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP). Six children with UCP (6-18 years; median 10 years, five male, three-left hemiplegia, four-manual ability classification system (MACS) I, one MACS II and one MACS III) participated. They attended two 90-minute sessions - one of mirror-based training and one of standard practice, bimanual therapy - in alternated order. Tactile registration (Semmes Weinstein Monofilaments) and perception (double simultaneous or single-point localization) were assessed before and after each session. Change was estimated using reliable change index (RCI). Tactile perception improved in four participants (RCI > 1.75), with mirror-based training, but was unchanged with bimanual therapy (RCI < 1.0 for all participants). Neither intervention affected tactile registration. Mirror-based training demonstrates potential to improve tactile perception in children with UCP. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tactile Data Entry System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Richard J.

2015-01-01

The patent-pending Glove-Enabled Computer Operations (GECO) design leverages extravehicular activity (EVA) glove design features as platforms for instrumentation and tactile feedback, enabling the gloves to function as human-computer interface devices. Flexible sensors in each finger enable control inputs that can be mapped to any number of functions (e.g., a mouse click, a keyboard strike, or a button press). Tracking of hand motion is interpreted alternatively as movement of a mouse (change in cursor position on a graphical user interface) or a change in hand position on a virtual keyboard. Programmable vibro-tactile actuators aligned with each finger enrich the interface by creating the haptic sensations associated with control inputs, such as recoil of a button press.

Tactile texture and friction of soft sponge surfaces.

PubMed

Takahashi, Akira; Suzuki, Makoto; Imai, Yumi; Nonomura, Yoshimune

2015-06-01

We evaluated the tactile texture and frictional properties of five soft sponges with various cell sizes. The frictional forces were measured by a friction meter containing a contact probe with human-finger-like geometry and mechanical properties. When the subjects touched these sponges with their fingers, hard-textured sponges were deemed unpleasant. This tactile feeling changed with friction factors including friction coefficients, their temporal patterns, as well as mechanical and shape factors. These findings provide useful information on how to control the tactile textures of various sponges. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential effects of tactile high- and low-frequency stimulation on tactile discrimination in human subjects.

PubMed

Ragert, Patrick; Kalisch, Tobias; Bliem, Barbara; Franzkowiak, Stephanie; Dinse, Hubert R

2008-01-23

Long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) play important roles in mediating activity-dependent changes in synaptic transmission and are believed to be crucial mechanisms underlying learning and cortical plasticity. In human subjects, however, the lack of adequate input stimuli for the induction of LTP and LTD makes it difficult to study directly the impact of such protocols on behavior. Using tactile high- and low-frequency stimulation protocols in humans, we explored the potential of such protocols for the induction of perceptual changes. We delivered tactile high-frequency and low-frequency stimuli (t-HFS, t-LFS) to skin sites of approximately 50 mm2 on the tip of the index finger. As assessed by 2-point discrimination, we demonstrate that 20 minutes of t-HFS improved tactile discrimination, while t-LFS impaired performance. T-HFS-effects were stable for at least 24 hours whereas t-LFS-induced changes recovered faster. While t-HFS changes were spatially very specific with no changes on the neighboring fingers, impaired tactile performance after t-LFS was also observed on the right middle-finger. A central finding was that for both t-LFS and t-HFS perceptual changes were dependent on the size of the stimulated skin area. No changes were observed when the stimulated area was very small (< 1 mm2) indicating special requirements for spatial summation. Our results demonstrate differential effects of such protocols in a frequency specific manner that might be related to LTP- and LTD-like changes in human subjects.

Le conflit fémoro-acétabulaire et la coxarthrose

PubMed Central

Zhang, Charlie; Li, Linda; Forster, Bruce B.; Kopec, Jacek A.; Ratzlaff, Charles; Halai, Lalji; Cibere, Jolanda; Esdaile, John M.

2015-01-01

Objectif Expliquer la présentation clinique, les observations à l’examen physique, les critères diagnostiques et les options de prise en charge du conflit fémoroacétabulaire (CFA). Sources des données Une recherche documentaire a été effectuée dans PubMed pour trouver des articles pertinents sur la pathogenèse, le diagnostic, le traitement et le pronostic du CFA. Message principal Depuis les dernières années, on reconnaît de plus en plus que le CFA est un précurseur potentiel et une étiologie importante des douleurs à la hanche dans la population adulte et de la coxarthrose idiopathique plus tard dans la vie. Le conflit fémoro-acétabulaire désigne un ensemble d’anomalies morphologiques osseuses de l’articulation de la hanche qui se traduit par un contact anormal durant le mouvement. Le CFA par effet came concerne une proéminence osseuse non sphérique du col fémoral proximal ou de la jonction tête-col. Le CFM par effet tenaille désigne une couverture acétabulaire excessive par-dessus la tête du fémur, qui peut se produire en raison de diverses variantes morphologiques. Les patients qui ont un CFA présentent une douleur inguinale antérieure chronique, profonde ou lancinante, le plus souvent en position assise, durant ou après une activité. Les patients peuvent aussi ressentir des douleurs occasionnelles aiguës durant l’activité. Il faut procéder à une anamnèse approfondie portant notamment sur l’incidence de traumatismes ou la fréquence de l’exercice. Il faut aussi faire un examen physique complet des hanches, de la région lombaire et de l’abdomen pour évaluer d’autres causes de douleurs inguinales antérieures. Le diagnostic de CFA est confirmé par radiographie. Le conflit fémoro-acétabulaire peut être pris en charge selon une approche conservatrice comportant du repos, la modification des activités, des médicaments et de la physiothérapie ou encore être traité par intervention chirurgicale. Conclusion

Tactile Radar: experimenting a computer game with visually disabled.

PubMed

Kastrup, Virgínia; Cassinelli, Alvaro; Quérette, Paulo; Bergstrom, Niklas; Sampaio, Eliana

2017-09-18

Visually disabled people increasingly use computers in everyday life, thanks to novel assistive technologies better tailored to their cognitive functioning. Like sighted people, many are interested in computer games - videogames and audio-games. Tactile-games are beginning to emerge. The Tactile Radar is a device through which a visually disabled person is able to detect distal obstacles. In this study, it is connected to a computer running a tactile-game. The game consists in finding and collecting randomly arranged coins in a virtual room. The study was conducted with nine congenital blind people including both sexes, aged 20-64 years old. Complementary methods of first and third person were used: the debriefing interview and the quasi-experimental design. The results indicate that the Tactile Radar is suitable for the creation of computer games specifically tailored for visually disabled people. Furthermore, the device seems capable of eliciting a powerful immersive experience. Methodologically speaking, this research contributes to the consolidation and development of first and third person complementary methods, particularly useful in disabled people research field, including the evaluation by users of the Tactile Radar effectiveness in a virtual reality context. Implications for rehabilitation Despite the growing interest in virtual games for visually disabled people, they still find barriers to access such games. Through the development of assistive technologies such as the Tactile Radar, applied in virtual games, we can create new opportunities for leisure, socialization and education for visually disabled people. The results of our study indicate that the Tactile Radar is adapted to the creation of video games for visually disabled people, providing a playful interaction with the players.

Graphical tactile displays for visually-impaired people.

PubMed

Vidal-Verdú, Fernando; Hafez, Moustapha

2007-03-01

This paper presents an up-to-date survey of graphical tactile displays. These devices provide information through the sense of touch. At best, they should display both text and graphics (text may be considered a type of graphic). Graphs made with shapeable sheets result in bulky items awkward to store and transport; their production is expensive and time-consuming and they deteriorate quickly. Research is ongoing for a refreshable tactile display that acts as an output device for a computer or other information source and can present the information in text and graphics. The work in this field has branched into diverse areas, from physiological studies to technological aspects and challenges. Moreover, interest in these devices is now being shown by other fields such as virtual reality, minimally invasive surgery and teleoperation. It is attracting more and more people, research and money. Many proposals have been put forward, several of them succeeding in the task of presenting tactile information. However, most are research prototypes and very expensive to produce commercially. Thus the goal of an efficient low-cost tactile display for visually-impaired people has not yet been reached.

RETENTION OF HIGH TACTILE ACUITY THROUGHOUT THE LIFESPAN IN BLINDNESS

PubMed Central

Legge, Gordon E.; Madison, Cindee; Vaughn, Brenna N.; Cheong, Allen M.Y.; Miller, Joseph C.

2009-01-01

Previous studies of tactile acuity on the fingertip using passive touch have demonstrated an age-related decline in spatial resolution for both sighted and blind subjects. We have re-examined this age dependence with two newly designed tactile-acuity charts requiring active exploration of the test symbols. One chart used dot patterns similar to Braille and the other used embossed Landolt rings. Groups of blind Braille readers and sighted subjects, ranging in age from 12 to 85 years, were tested in two experiments. We replicated previous findings for sighted subjects by showing an age related decrease in tactile acuity by nearly 1% per year. Surprisingly, the blind subjects retained high acuity into old age showing no age-related decline. For the blind subjects, tactile acuity did not correlate with braille reading speed, the amount of daily reading, or the age at which braille was learned. We conclude that when measured with active touch, blind subjects retain high tactile acuity into old age, unlike their aging sighted peers. We propose that blind people's use of active touch in daily activities, not specifically Braille reading, results in preservation of tactile acuity across the lifespan. PMID:19064491

To what extent do Gestalt grouping principles influence tactile perception?

PubMed

Gallace, Alberto; Spence, Charles

2011-07-01

Since their formulation by the Gestalt movement more than a century ago, the principles of perceptual grouping have primarily been investigated in the visual modality and, to a lesser extent, in the auditory modality. The present review addresses the question of whether the same grouping principles also affect the perception of tactile stimuli. Although, to date, only a few studies have explicitly investigated the existence of Gestalt grouping principles in the tactile modality, we argue that many more studies have indirectly provided evidence relevant to this topic. Reviewing this body of research, we argue that similar principles to those reported previously in visual and auditory studies also govern the perceptual grouping of tactile stimuli. In particular, we highlight evidence showing that the principles of proximity, similarity, common fate, good continuation, and closure affect tactile perception in both unimodal and crossmodal settings. We also highlight that the grouping of tactile stimuli is often affected by visual and auditory information that happen to be presented simultaneously. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and applied benefits that might pertain to the further study of Gestalt principles operating in both unisensory and multisensory tactile perception.

Blindness enhances tactile acuity and haptic 3-D shape discrimination.

PubMed

Norman, J Farley; Bartholomew, Ashley N

2011-10-01

This study compared the sensory and perceptual abilities of the blind and sighted. The 32 participants were required to perform two tasks: tactile grating orientation discrimination (to determine tactile acuity) and haptic three-dimensional (3-D) shape discrimination. The results indicated that the blind outperformed their sighted counterparts (individually matched for both age and sex) on both tactile tasks. The improvements in tactile acuity that accompanied blindness occurred for all blind groups (congenital, early, and late). However, the improvements in haptic 3-D shape discrimination only occurred for the early-onset and late-onset blindness groups; the performance of the congenitally blind was no better than that of the sighted controls. The results of the present study demonstrate that blindness does lead to an enhancement of tactile abilities, but they also suggest that early visual experience may play a role in facilitating haptic 3-D shape discrimination.

Le premier examen gynécologique idéal imaginé par les jeunes filles

PubMed Central

Freyens, Anne; Dejeanne, Mélanie; Fabre, Elise; Rouge-Bugat, Marie-Eve; Oustric, Stéphane

2017-01-01

Résumé Objectif Explorer les représentations sur l’examen gynécologique (EG) et identifier les critères nécessaires à son bon déroulement chez des adolescentes n’ayant pas encore vécu cet examen. Type d’étude Enquête qualitative par entrevues semi-dirigées. Contexte Midi-Pyrénées (France) et Auvergne (France). Participants Jeunes filles de 15 à 19 ans qui n’ayant pas vécu l’EG. Méthodes Le mode de recrutement de l’échantillon a été double : sélection des jeunes filles par la technique boule-de-neige et sélection par la technique d’échantillonnage ciblé jusqu’à l’obtention de la saturation des données tout en cherchant la variation maximale dans les profils des sujets. Les questions ouvertes portaient sur les sources d’informations, les connaissances, les critères de bon déroulement et l’imaginaire autour de l’EG. Le verbatim a fait l’objet d’une analyse longitudinale immédiate rassemblant le contexte (notes des chercheurs) et les idées principales de l’entretien. Une analyse transversale thématique a été réalisée. Principales constatations Une méconnaissance générale des jeunes filles sur l’EG entretenait l’imaginaire autour de cet examen perçu comme obligatoire. L’EG idéal, selon les jeunes filles interrogées, aurait lieu chez une jeune fille qui se sentirait prête, informée préalablement, pouvant être accompagnée selon son souhait. Cet examen se déroulerait dans un environnement chaleureux et confortable afin de diminuer le sentiment de vulnérabilité. La qualité du lien avec le médecin conditionnerait l’acceptation de cet examen par les jeunes filles. Conclusion Une consultation dédiée à l’information, préalable à la consultation où a lieu l’EG, permettrait de diminuer les appréhensions, d’améliorer les connaissances des jeunes filles et de favoriser le bon déroulement du futur premier EG tant pour le médecin que pour la patiente. PMID:28807971

Syndrome de larva migrans cutanée sur pied malformé (à propos d'un cas)

PubMed Central

Benbella, Imane; Khalki, Hanane; Lahmadi, Khalid; Kouara, Sara; Abbadi, Abderrahim; Er-rami, Mohammed

2016-01-01

Le syndrome de larva migrans cutanée est une dermite sous cutanée causée par des larves d'ankylostomes d'animaux en impasse parasitaire chez l'homme. L'infestation transcutanée est favorisée par le contact avec le sol contaminé par les larves du parasite. Nous rapportons le cas d'un nourrisson de 15 mois, originaire de Guinée-Bissau, atteint d'un syndrome de larva migrans cutanée sur un pied malformé. Cette malformation sous forme d'une syndactylie associée à une tuméfaction du pied, était à l'origine d'un retard d'acquisition de la station debout. De même, on a rapporté une notion de pieds nus, vue la difficulté de chausser le pied malformé du patient. Tous ces facteurs auraient contribués à favoriser l'infestation du malade par les larves du nématode. PMID:27217876

Factors Influencing Manual Performance in Cold Water Diving

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-01

montrent que « l’engourdissement » n’avait pas d’incidence sur la dextérité à une profondeur de 40 m (p > 0,05). Dans l’eau à 25 ºC, les gants en ...sensibilité tactile et la dextérité proprement dite. Le rendement ( en anglais performance ou p) a été évalué à des profondeurs de 0,4 m et de 40 m, avec...communication et d’affichage fait en sorte que l’aptitude des plongeurs à utiliser des systèmes de commande complexes constitue un facteur important de la

Synthetic and Bio-Artificial Tactile Sensing: A Review

PubMed Central

Lucarotti, Chiara; Oddo, Calogero Maria; Vitiello, Nicola; Carrozza, Maria Chiara

2013-01-01

This paper reviews the state of the art of artificial tactile sensing, with a particular focus on bio-hybrid and fully-biological approaches. To this aim, the study of physiology of the human sense of touch and of the coding mechanisms of tactile information is a significant starting point, which is briefly explored in this review. Then, the progress towards the development of an artificial sense of touch are investigated. Artificial tactile sensing is analysed with respect to the possible approaches to fabricate the outer interface layer: synthetic skin versus bio-artificial skin. With particular respect to the synthetic skin approach, a brief overview is provided on various technologies and transduction principles that can be integrated beneath the skin layer. Then, the main focus moves to approaches characterized by the use of bio-artificial skin as an outer layer of the artificial sensory system. Within this design solution for the skin, bio-hybrid and fully-biological tactile sensing systems are thoroughly presented: while significant results have been reported for the development of tissue engineered skins, the development of mechanotransduction units and their integration is a recent trend that is still lagging behind, therefore requiring research efforts and investments. In the last part of the paper, application domains and perspectives of the reviewed tactile sensing technologies are discussed. PMID:23348032

Comparison of measurement methods for capacitive tactile sensors and their implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarapata, Grzegorz; Sienkiewicz, Rafał

2015-09-01

This paper presents a review of ideas and implementations of measurement methods utilized for capacity measurements in tactile sensors. The paper describes technical method, charge amplification method, generation and as well integration method. Three selected methods were implemented in dedicated measurement system and utilised for capacitance measurements of ourselves made tactile sensors. The tactile sensors tested in this work were fully fabricated with the inkjet printing technology. The tests result were presented and summarised. The charge amplification method (CDC) was selected as the best method for the measurement of the tactile sensors.

The Effects of Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Glove Pressure on Tactility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Shelby; Miranda, Mesloh; England, Scott; Benson, Elizabeth; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2010-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to quantify finger tactility, while wearing a Phase VI Extravehicular Activity (EVA) glove. Subjects were fully suited in an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) suit. Data was collected under three conditions: bare-handed, gloved at 0 psi, and gloved at 4.3 psi. In order to test tactility, a series of 30 tactile stimuli (bumps) were created that varied in both height and width. With the hand obscured, subjects applied pressure to each bump until detected tactilely. The amount of force needed to detect each bump was recorded using load cells located under a force-plate. The amount of force needed to detect a bump was positively related to width, but inversely related to height. In addition, as the psi of the glove increased, more force was needed to detect the bump. In terms of application, it was possible to determine the optimal width and height a bump needs to be for a specific amount of force applied for tactility.

Audio-tactile integration and the influence of musical training.

PubMed

Kuchenbuch, Anja; Paraskevopoulos, Evangelos; Herholz, Sibylle C; Pantev, Christo

2014-01-01

Perception of our environment is a multisensory experience; information from different sensory systems like the auditory, visual and tactile is constantly integrated. Complex tasks that require high temporal and spatial precision of multisensory integration put strong demands on the underlying networks but it is largely unknown how task experience shapes multisensory processing. Long-term musical training is an excellent model for brain plasticity because it shapes the human brain at functional and structural levels, affecting a network of brain areas. In the present study we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate how audio-tactile perception is integrated in the human brain and if musicians show enhancement of the corresponding activation compared to non-musicians. Using a paradigm that allowed the investigation of combined and separate auditory and tactile processing, we found a multisensory incongruency response, generated in frontal, cingulate and cerebellar regions, an auditory mismatch response generated mainly in the auditory cortex and a tactile mismatch response generated in frontal and cerebellar regions. The influence of musical training was seen in the audio-tactile as well as in the auditory condition, indicating enhanced higher-order processing in musicians, while the sources of the tactile MMN were not influenced by long-term musical training. Consistent with the predictive coding model, more basic, bottom-up sensory processing was relatively stable and less affected by expertise, whereas areas for top-down models of multisensory expectancies were modulated by training.

Tactile device utilizing a single magnetorheological sponge: experimental investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Soomin; Kim, Pyunghwa; Choi, Seung-Hyun; Oh, Jong-Seok; Choi, Seung-Bok

2015-04-01

In the field of medicine, several new areas have been currently introduced such as robot-assisted surgery. However, the major drawback of these systems is that there is no tactile communication between doctors and surgical sites. When the tactile system is brought up, telemedicine including telerobotic surgery can be enhanced much more than now. In this study, a new tactile device is designed using a single magnetorhological (MR) sponge cell to realize the sensation of human organs. MR fluids and an open celled polyurethane foam are used to propose the MR sponge cell. The viscous and elastic sensational behaviors of human organs are realized by the MR sponge cell. Before developing the tactile device, tactile sensation according to touch of human fingers are quantified in advance. The finger is then treated as a reduced beam bundle model (BBM) in which the fingertip is comprised of an elastic beam virtually. Under the reduced BBM, when people want to sense an object, the fingertip is investigated by pushing and sliding. Accordingly, while several magnitudes of magnetic fields are applied to the tactile device, normal and tangential reaction forces and bending moment are measured by 6-axis force/torque sensor instead of the fingertip. These measured data are used to compare with soft tissues. It is demonstrated that the proposed MR sponge cell can realize any part of the organ based on the obtained data.

Design Methodology for Magnetic Field-Based Soft Tri-Axis Tactile Sensors.

PubMed

Wang, Hongbo; de Boer, Greg; Kow, Junwai; Alazmani, Ali; Ghajari, Mazdak; Hewson, Robert; Culmer, Peter

2016-08-24

Tactile sensors are essential if robots are to safely interact with the external world and to dexterously manipulate objects. Current tactile sensors have limitations restricting their use, notably being too fragile or having limited performance. Magnetic field-based soft tactile sensors offer a potential improvement, being durable, low cost, accurate and high bandwidth, but they are relatively undeveloped because of the complexities involved in design and calibration. This paper presents a general design methodology for magnetic field-based three-axis soft tactile sensors, enabling researchers to easily develop specific tactile sensors for a variety of applications. All aspects (design, fabrication, calibration and evaluation) of the development of tri-axis soft tactile sensors are presented and discussed. A moving least square approach is used to decouple and convert the magnetic field signal to force output to eliminate non-linearity and cross-talk effects. A case study of a tactile sensor prototype, MagOne, was developed. This achieved a resolution of 1.42 mN in normal force measurement (0.71 mN in shear force), good output repeatability and has a maximum hysteresis error of 3.4%. These results outperform comparable sensors reported previously, highlighting the efficacy of our methodology for sensor design.

Design Methodology for Magnetic Field-Based Soft Tri-Axis Tactile Sensors

PubMed Central

Wang, Hongbo; de Boer, Greg; Kow, Junwai; Alazmani, Ali; Ghajari, Mazdak; Hewson, Robert; Culmer, Peter

2016-01-01

Tactile sensors are essential if robots are to safely interact with the external world and to dexterously manipulate objects. Current tactile sensors have limitations restricting their use, notably being too fragile or having limited performance. Magnetic field-based soft tactile sensors offer a potential improvement, being durable, low cost, accurate and high bandwidth, but they are relatively undeveloped because of the complexities involved in design and calibration. This paper presents a general design methodology for magnetic field-based three-axis soft tactile sensors, enabling researchers to easily develop specific tactile sensors for a variety of applications. All aspects (design, fabrication, calibration and evaluation) of the development of tri-axis soft tactile sensors are presented and discussed. A moving least square approach is used to decouple and convert the magnetic field signal to force output to eliminate non-linearity and cross-talk effects. A case study of a tactile sensor prototype, MagOne, was developed. This achieved a resolution of 1.42 mN in normal force measurement (0.71 mN in shear force), good output repeatability and has a maximum hysteresis error of 3.4%. These results outperform comparable sensors reported previously, highlighting the efficacy of our methodology for sensor design. PMID:27563908

The phase of prestimulus alpha oscillations affects tactile perception.

PubMed

Ai, Lei; Ro, Tony

2014-03-01

Previous studies have shown that neural oscillations in the 8- to 12-Hz range influence sensory perception. In the current study, we examined whether both the power and phase of these mu/alpha oscillations predict successful conscious tactile perception. Near-threshold tactile stimuli were applied to the left hand while electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded over the contralateral right somatosensory cortex. We found a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between prestimulus mu/alpha power and detection rate, suggesting that there is an intermediate level of alpha power that is optimal for tactile perception. We also found a significant difference in phase angle concentration at stimulus onset that predicted whether the upcoming tactile stimulus was perceived or missed. As has been shown in the visual system, these findings suggest that these mu/alpha oscillations measured over somatosensory areas exert a strong inhibitory control on tactile perception and that pulsed inhibition by these oscillations shapes the state of brain activity necessary for conscious perception. They further suggest that these common phasic processing mechanisms across different sensory modalities and brain regions may reflect a common underlying encoding principle in perceptual processing that leads to momentary windows of perceptual awareness.

Contextual cueing of tactile search is coded in an anatomical reference frame.

PubMed

Assumpção, Leonardo; Shi, Zhuanghua; Zang, Xuelian; Müller, Hermann J; Geyer, Thomas

2018-04-01

This work investigates the reference frame(s) underlying tactile context memory, a form of statistical learning in a tactile (finger) search task. In this task, if a searched-for target object is repeatedly encountered within a stable spatial arrangement of task-irrelevant distractors, detecting the target becomes more efficient over time (relative to nonrepeated arrangements), as learned target-distractor spatial associations come to guide tactile search, thus cueing attention to the target location. Since tactile search displays can be represented in several reference frames, including multiple external and an anatomical frame, in Experiment 1 we asked whether repeated search displays are represented in tactile memory with reference to an environment-centered or anatomical reference frame. In Experiment 2, we went on examining a hand-centered versus anatomical reference frame of tactile context memory. Observers performed a tactile search task, divided into a learning and test session. At the transition between the two sessions, we introduced postural manipulations of the hands (crossed ↔ uncrossed in Expt. 1; palm-up ↔ palm-down in Expt. 2) to determine the reference frame of tactile contextual cueing. In both experiments, target-distractor associations acquired during learning transferred to the test session when the placement of the target and distractors was held constant in anatomical, but not external, coordinates. In the latter, RTs were even slower for repeated displays. We conclude that tactile contextual learning is coded in an anatomical reference frame. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Tactile Cueing for Target Acquisition and Identification

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-01

method of coding tactile information, and the method of presenting elevation information were studied. Results: Subjects were divided into video game experienced...VGP) subjects and non- video game (NVGP) experienced subjects. VGPs showed a significantly lower’ target acquisition time with the 12...that video game players performed better with the highest level of tactile resolution, while non- video game players performed better with simpler pattern and a lower resolution display.

Improvement and decline in tactile discrimination behavior after cortical plasticity induced by passive tactile coactivation.

PubMed

Hodzic, Amra; Veit, Ralf; Karim, Ahmed A; Erb, Michael; Godde, Ben

2004-01-14

Perceptual learning can be induced by passive tactile coactivation without attention or reinforcement. We used functional MRI (fMRI) and psychophysics to investigate in detail the specificity of this type of learning for different tactile discrimination tasks and the underlying cortical reorganization. We found that a few hours of Hebbian coactivation evoked a significant increase of primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortical areas representing the stimulated body parts. The amount of plastic changes was strongly correlated with improvement in spatial discrimination performance. However, in the same subjects, frequency discrimination was impaired after coactivation, indicating that even maladaptive processes can be induced by intense passive sensory stimulation.

Cooperative processing in primary somatosensory cortex and posterior parietal cortex during tactile working memory.

PubMed

Ku, Yixuan; Zhao, Di; Bodner, Mark; Zhou, Yong-Di

2015-08-01

In the present study, causal roles of both the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) were investigated in a tactile unimodal working memory (WM) task. Individual magnetic resonance imaging-based single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) was applied, respectively, to the left SI (ipsilateral to tactile stimuli), right SI (contralateral to tactile stimuli) and right PPC (contralateral to tactile stimuli), while human participants were performing a tactile-tactile unimodal delayed matching-to-sample task. The time points of spTMS were 300, 600 and 900 ms after the onset of the tactile sample stimulus (duration: 200 ms). Compared with ipsilateral SI, application of spTMS over either contralateral SI or contralateral PPC at those time points significantly impaired the accuracy of task performance. Meanwhile, the deterioration in accuracy did not vary with the stimulating time points. Together, these results indicate that the tactile information is processed cooperatively by SI and PPC in the same hemisphere, starting from the early delay of the tactile unimodal WM task. This pattern of processing of tactile information is different from the pattern in tactile-visual cross-modal WM. In a tactile-visual cross-modal WM task, SI and PPC contribute to the processing sequentially, suggesting a process of sensory information transfer during the early delay between modalities. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The effect of chronic low back pain on tactile suppression during back movements.

PubMed

Van Damme, Stefaan; Van Hulle, Lore; Danneels, Lieven; Spence, Charles; Crombez, Geert

2014-10-01

The aim of the present study was to examine whether tactile suppression, the phenomenon whereby tactile perception is suppressed during movement, would occur in the context of back movements. Of particular interest, it was investigated if tactile suppression in the back would be attenuated in those suffering from chronic low back pain. Individuals with chronic low back pain (N = 30) and a matched control group (N = 24) detected tactile stimuli on three possible locations (back, arm, chest) while performing a back or arm movement, or no movement. We hypothesized that the movements would induce tactile suppression, and that this effect would be largest for low-intense stimuli on the moving body part. We further hypothesized that, during back movements, tactile suppression on the back would be less pronounced in the chronic low back pain group than in the control group. The results showed the expected general tactile suppression effects. The hypothesis of back-specific attenuation of tactile suppression in the chronic low back pain group was not supported. However, back-specific tactile suppression in the chronic low back pain group was less pronounced in those who performed the back movements more slowly. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Seeing the body distorts tactile size perception.

PubMed

Longo, Matthew R; Sadibolova, Renata

2013-03-01

Vision of the body modulates somatosensation, even when entirely non-informative about stimulation. For example, seeing the body increases tactile spatial acuity, but reduces acute pain. While previous results demonstrate that vision of the body modulates somatosensory sensitivity, it is unknown whether vision also affects metric properties of touch, and if so how. This study investigated how non-informative vision of the body modulates tactile size perception. We used the mirror box illusion to induce the illusion that participants were directly seeing their stimulated left hand, though they actually saw their reflected right hand. We manipulated whether participants: (a) had the illusion of directly seeing their stimulated left hand, (b) had the illusion of seeing a non-body object at the same location, or (c) looked directly at their non-stimulated right-hand. Participants made verbal estimates of the perceived distance between two tactile stimuli presented simultaneously to the dorsum of the left hand, either 20, 30, or 40mm apart. Vision of the body significantly reduced the perceived size of touch, compared to vision of the object or of the contralateral hand. In contrast, no apparent changes of perceived hand size were found. These results show that seeing the body distorts tactile size perception. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Re-examining overlap between tactile and visual motion responses within hMT+ and STS

PubMed Central

Jiang, Fang; Beauchamp, Michael S.; Fine, Ione

2015-01-01

Here we examine overlap between tactile and visual motion BOLD responses within the human MT+ complex. Although several studies have reported tactile responses overlapping with hMT+, many used group average analyses, leaving it unclear whether these responses were restricted to sub-regions of hMT+. Moreover, previous studies either employed a tactile task or passive stimulation, leaving it unclear whether or not tactile responses in hMT+ are simply the consequence of visual imagery. Here we carried out a replication of one of the classic papers finding tactile responses in hMT+ (Hagen et al. 2002). We mapped MT and MST in individual subjects using visual field localizers. We then examined responses to tactile motion on the arm, either presented passively or in the presence of a visual task performed at fixation designed to minimize visualization of the concurrent tactile stimulation. To our surprise, without a visual task, we found only weak tactile motion responses in MT (6% of voxels showing tactile responses) and MST (2% of voxels). With an unrelated visual task designed to withdraw attention from the tactile modality, responses in MST reduced to almost nothing (<1% regions). Consistent with previous results, we did observe tactile responses in STS regions superior and anterior to hMT+. Despite the lack of individual overlap, group averaged responses produced strong spurious overlap between tactile and visual motion responses within hMT+ that resembled those observed in previous studies. The weak nature of tactile responses in hMT+ (and their abolition by withdrawal of attention) suggests that hMT+ may not serve as a supramodal motion processing module. PMID:26123373

A preliminary investigation of lumbar tactile acuity in yoga practitioners.

PubMed

Flaherty, Mary; Connolly, Martin

2014-01-01

Tactile acuity in the back relates to voluntary lumbo-pelvic control and is lower in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. Two-point discrimination (TPD) thresholds are higher, indicating decreased tactile acuity in patients with CLBP. Yoga has been shown to help relieve CLBP. This study investigated the hypothesis that regular practitioners of yoga have increased tactile acuity (i.e., lower TPD thresholds) when compared to matched controls who regularly perform gym-based (resistance training or aerobic-type) exercise. Tactile acuity in the low back was assessed using TPD in 16 long-term practitioners of yoga (5 Ashtanga, 5 Bikram, and 6 Iyengar practitioners) and 16 age- and gender-matched healthy controls who exercise (with weights and aerobic exercise). The yoga practitioners' TPD was lower than that of the exercisers, indicating greater tactile acuity in the low back. While there was no difference between the TPD of the practitioners of different yoga styles, the TPD of the Ashtanga yoga participants were significantly lower than those of the exercisers. The yogis whose main reasons to practice yoga were for "meditation or increased mindfulness" and for "well-being" showed a nonsignificant trend of higher tactile acuity than those who did yoga for "physical exercise." There was no association between TPD threshold and cumulative amount of yoga practice in terms of hours per week and years of experience. However, increased hours of exercise per week correlated with higher TPD. The findings suggest that there may be a relationship between yoga practice and enhanced tactile acuity in the low back.

Inert gas narcosis has no influence on thermo-tactile sensation.

PubMed

Jakovljević, Miroljub; Vidmar, Gaj; Mekjavic, Igor B

2012-05-01

Contribution of skin thermal sensors under inert gas narcosis to the raising hypothermia is not known. Such information is vital for understanding the impact of narcosis on behavioural thermoregulation, diver safety and judgment of thermal (dis)comfort in the hyperbaric environment. So this study aimed at establishing the effects of normoxic concentration of 30% nitrous oxide (N(2)O) on thermo-tactile threshold sensation by studying 16 subjects [eight females and eight males; eight sensitive (S) and eight non-sensitive (NS) to N(2)O]. Their mean (SD) age was 22.1 (1.8) years, weight 72.8 (15.3) kg, height 1.75 (0.10) m and body mass index 23.8 (3.8) kg m(-2). Quantitative thermo-tactile sensory testing was performed on forearm, upper arm and thigh under two experimental conditions: breathing air (air trial) and breathing normoxic mixture of 30% N(2)O (N(2)O trial) in the mixed sequence. Difference in thermo-tactile sensitivity thresholds between two groups of subjects in two experimental conditions was analysed by 3-way mixed-model analysis of covariance. There were no statistically significant differences in thermo-tactile thresholds either between the Air and N(2)O trials, or between S and NS groups, or between females and males, or with respect to body mass index. Some clinically insignificant lowering of thermo-tactile thresholds occurred only for warm thermo-tactile thresholds on upper arm and thigh. The results indicated that normoxic mixture of 30% N(2)O had no influence on thermo-tactile sensation in normothermia.

Development of tactile sensory circuits in the CNS.

PubMed

Iwasato, Takuji; Erzurumlu, Reha S

2018-06-13

Molecular identification of neuronal types and genetic and imaging approaches to characterize their properties reveal morphological, physiological and dynamic aspects of sensory circuit development. Here we focus on the mouse tactile sensory circuitry, with particular emphasis on the main trigeminal pathway that connects the whiskers, the major tactile organ in rodents, to the neocortex. At each level of this pathway, neurogenesis, axonal elongation, pathfinding, target recognition and circuit reorganization including dendritic refinement of cortical layer 4 neurons occur contemporaneously and a multitude of molecular signals are used in differing combinations. We highlight recent advances in development of tactile circuitry and note gaps in our understanding. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Les effets des interfaces sur les proprietes magnetiques et de transport des multicouches nickel/iron et cobalt/silver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veres, Teodor

Cette these est consacree a l'etude de l'evolution structurale des proprietes magnetiques et de transport des multicouches Ni/Fe et nanostructures a base de Co et de l'Ag. Dans une premiere partie, essentiellement bibliographique, nous introduisons quelques concepts de base relies aux proprietes magnetiques et de transport des multicouches metalliques. Ensuite, nous presentons une breve description des methodes d'analyse des resultats. La deuxieme partie est consacree a l'etude des proprietes magnetiques et de transport des multicouches ferromagnetiques/ferromagnetiques Ni/Fe. Nous montrerons qu'une interpretation coherente de ces proprietes necessite la prise en consideration des effets des interfaces. Nous nous attacherons a mettre en evidence, a evaluer et a etudier les effets de ces interfaces ainsi que leur evolution, et ce, suite a des traitements thermiques tel que le depot a temperature elevee et l'irradiation ionique. Les analyses correlees de la structure et de la magnetoresistance nous permettront d'emettre des conclusions sur l'influence des couches tampons entre l'interface et le substrat ainsi qu'entre les couches elles-memes sur le comportement magnetique des couches F/F. La troisieme partie est consacree aux systemes a Magneto-Resistance Geante (MRG) a base de Co et Ag. Nous allons etudier l'evolution de la microstructure suite a l'irradiation avec des ions Si+ ayant une energie de 1 MeV, ainsi que les effets de ces changements sur le comportement magnetique. Cette partie debutera par l'analyse des proprietes d'une multicouche hybride, intermediaire entre les multicouches et les materiaux granulaires. Nous analyserons a l'aide des mesures de diffraction, de relaxation superparamagnetique et de magnetoresistance, les evolutions structurales produites par l'irradiation ionique. Nous etablirons des modeles qui nous aideront a interpreter les resultats pour une serie des multicouches qui couvrent un large eventail de differents comportements magnetiques

Reach Trajectories Characterize Tactile Localization for Sensorimotor Decision Making.

PubMed

Brandes, Janina; Heed, Tobias

2015-10-07

Spatial target information for movement planning appears to be coded in a gaze-centered reference frame. In touch, however, location is initially coded with reference to the skin. Therefore, the tactile spatial location must be derived by integrating skin location and posture. It has been suggested that this recoding is impaired when the limb is placed in the opposite hemispace, for example, by limb crossing. Here, human participants reached toward visual and tactile targets located at uncrossed and crossed feet in a sensorimotor decision task. We characterized stimulus recoding by analyzing the timing and spatial profile of hand reaches. For tactile targets at crossed feet, skin-based information implicates the incorrect side, and only recoded information points to the correct location. Participants initiated straight reaches and redirected the hand toward a target presented in midflight. Trajectories to visual targets were unaffected by foot crossing. In contrast, trajectories to tactile targets were redirected later with crossed than uncrossed feet. Reaches to crossed feet usually continued straight until they were directed toward the correct tactile target and were not biased toward the skin-based target location. Occasional, far deflections toward the incorrect target were most likely when this target was implicated by trial history. These results are inconsistent with the suggestion that spatial transformations in touch are impaired by limb crossing, but are consistent with tactile location being recoded rapidly and efficiently, followed by integration of skin-based and external information to specify the reach target. This process may be implemented in a bounded integrator framework. How do you touch yourself, for instance, to scratch an itch? The place you need to reach is defined by a sensation on the skin, but our bodies are flexible, so this skin location could be anywhere in 3D space. The movement toward the tactile sensation must therefore be specified

Etude longitudinale de la névralgie cervico-brachiale dans le service de neurologie du CHU Gabriel Touré, Bamako (Mali)

PubMed Central

Maiga, Youssoufa; Fara, Amina Ahmed; Sogoba, Youssouf; Diango, Djibo; Diakite, Sara; Diallo, Mohamed; Ak, Hadiza; Diallo, Gangaly; Traore, Hamar Alassane

2013-01-01

Introduction La Névralgie Cervico-Brachiale (NCB) est une pathologie relativement fréquente dans la pratique courante. Elle est pourvoyeuse d'importants coûts médicaux et socio-économiques. Peu de données existent sur la NCB en Afrique. Méthodes Il s'agit d'une étude longitudinale, descriptive et prospective qui s'est déroulée du 1er novembre 2009 au 30 Août 2010 au CHU Gabriel Touré de Bamako, Mali. Elle a pour objectif d’étudier les caractéristiques épidémiologiques et cliniques de la NCB. Le diagnostic à été strictement clinique, et la DN4 a permis de déterminer les caractéristiques de cette névralgie. L'intensité de la douleur a été évaluée par l’échelle verbale simple (EVS). L’échelle concis de la douleur et l’échelle HAD ont permis d’étudier l'impact de la douleur sur la qualité de vie des patients. Résultats La fréquence de la NCB est de 10,9%. Les ménagères sont les plus touchées, 21(40,4%). L’âge moyen des patients est de 48 ±7 ans. La tranche d’âge de 50-59 ans représente la classe modale. La douleur est à prédominance nocturne chez 75,0% des patients. Les décharges électriques sont la caractéristique principale soit 48,1% des patients et 57,7% malades présentent une douleur intense. Sur le plan topographique, la racine C7, est la plus atteinte soit 50,0%. Sur la qualité de la vie, 44,2% des malades présentent des troubles du sommeil. Sur le plan thérapeutique l’évolution a été favorable chez 78,8% des patients sous AINS, Tramadol et Amitriptilline. Conclusion otre travail à l'instar des études antérieures sur la NCB montre que cette pathologie reste une entité clinique relativement courante. Le pronostic généralement favorable est fonction d'un diagnostic précoce et d'une prise en charge adaptée. PMID:24648859

Le surpoids, l’obésité et le contrôle glycémique chez les diabétiques du centre de référence provincial de diabète (CRD), Kénitra, Maroc

PubMed Central

Lotfi, Zeghari; Aboussaleh, Youssef; Sbaibi, Rachid; Achouri, Imane; Benguedour, Rachid

2017-01-01

Introduction Le diabète est définit comme un trouble de l'assimilation, de l'utilisation et du stockage des sucres apportés par l'alimentation, sa prise en charge est assurée par le suivi du surpoids et l'obésité et le contrôle glycémique régulier. L'objectif de ce travail était l'étude du surpoids, l'obésité et le contrôle glycémique chez 2227 diabétiques de différent type (type 1, 2 et gestationnel), consultants le centre de référence provincial de diabète (CRD), Kénitra-Maroc. Méthodes L'étude s'est déroulée sur une période d'une année du mois janvier au mois décembre 2015, L'évaluation du surpoids et l'obésité a été effectuée par le calcul de l'Indice de Masse Corporelle (IMC=Poids/Taille2 (Kg/m2)), elles sont définit respectivement par IMC > 25 Kg/m2, et IMC > 30 Kg/m2, le poids et la taille ont été mesurés selon les recommandations de l'organisation mondiale de santé (OMS), Le contrôle glycémique a été effectué par l'analyse sanguine de l'Hémoglobine glycosylée et de la Glycémie à jeun. Les normes sont 7% pour l'Hémoglobine glycosylée et 0,70g/l à 1,10g/l pour la Glycémie à jeun. Résultats L'intervalle d'âges des patients est compris entre 8 mois et 80 ans, avec une dominance des diabétiques provenant du milieu urbain (74%) par rapport à ceux provenant du milieu rural (26%). Le surpoids touche l'ensemble de cette population. L'IMC moyen des femmes tends vers l'obésité (IMC≈30): (29,21 Kg/m2 ± 3,1) pour le diabète gestationnel et (29,15 Kg/m2 ± 3,2) pour le diabète de type 2. Les valeurs du contrôle glycémique sont supérieures aux normes: avec 8,5% ± 2,6 > 7% pour l'hémoglobine glycosylée et 1,5 g/l ± 1,3 > 1,10g/l pour la Glycémie à jeun. La différence entre les valeurs de l'hémoglobine glycosylée entre les hommes (8,5 7% ± 2,6) et les femmes (8,1% ± 2,3) n'est pas significative (P > 0,05), même chose pour la Glycémie capillaire à jeun: pour les hommes (1,44 g/l ± 1,1) et les

Lignes directrices canadiennes sur la rhinosinusite bactérienne aiguë

PubMed Central

Kaplan, Alan

2014-01-01

Résumé Objectif Faire un résumé clinique des lignes directrices canadiennes sur la rhinosinusite bactérienne aiguë (RSBA) qui présente des éléments d’intérêt pour les médecins de famille. Source des données Les auteurs des lignes directrices ont effectué une recherche documentaire systématique et ont rédigé des recommandations. Une cote a été donnée à la fois en fonction de la fiabilité des données probantes et de la solidité des recommandations. On a sollicité les commentaires d’experts en la matière venant de l’extérieur, ainsi que l’aval de sociétés médicales canadiennes (Association pour la microbiologie médicale et l’infectiologie Canada, Société canadienne d’allergie et d’immunologie clinique, Société canadienne d’otorhinolaryngologie et de chirurgie cervicofaciale, Association canadienne des médecins d’urgence et Regroupement canadien des médecins de famille en santé respiratoire). Message principal Le diagnostic de la RSBA repose sur la présence de symptômes particuliers et leur durée; l’imagerie ou une culture n’est pas nécessaire dans les cas peu compliqués. Le traitement dépend de la gravité des symptômes, notamment avec des corticostéroïdes intranasaux (CSIN) recommandés comme monothérapie pour les cas de légers à modérés, quoique leurs bienfaits soient modestes. Le recours à des CSIN accompagnés d’antibiotiques est réservé aux patients qui ne répondent pas aux CSIN après 72 heures et comme traitement initial des patients dont les symptômes sont graves. Le choix de l’antibiotique doit tenir compte du pathogène soupçonné, du risque de résistance, des problèmes concomitants et des tendances locales de la résistance aux antimicrobiens. Des thérapies d’appoint comme l’irrigation nasale avec une solution saline sont recommandées. En présence de cas réfractaires au traitement, d’épisodes récurrents et de signes de complications, on devrait demander une

Le cannabis et les enfants et adolescents canadiens

PubMed Central

Grant, Christina N; Bélanger, Richard E

2017-01-01

Résumé L’usage du cannabis, la drogue illicite la plus consommée dans le monde, est fréquent chez les adolescents canadiens. La consommation de cannabis à l’adolescence peut provoquer des modifications fonctionnelles et structurelles du cerveau en développement et induire une atteinte cérébrale. Dans ce groupe d’âge, la consommation de marijuana s’associe fortement à la dépendance au cannabis et à d’autres troubles de l’usage d’une substance, à l’adoption et au maintien du tabagisme, à l’augmentation des troubles de santé mentale, y compris la dépression, l’anxiété et la psychose, à une perturbation du développement neurologique et à un déclin cognitif ainsi qu’à une diminution de la performance scolaire et des réalisations au cours de la vie. Le taux de soins médicaux aigus et d’hospitalisations chez les jeunes enfants qui ont consommé involontairement du cannabis est en hausse. Compte tenu du débat en cours sur la réglementation du cannabis au Canada, l’examen attentif des preuves de ses effets sur la santé et la mise en place de mécanismes de protection deviennent des priorités absolues en santé publique.

Prototype tactile feedback system for examination by skin touch.

PubMed

Lee, O; Lee, K; Oh, C; Kim, K; Kim, M

2014-08-01

Diagnosis of conditions such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, in the case of induration, involves palpating the infected area via hands and then selecting a ratings score. However, the score is determined based on the tester's experience and standards, making it subjective. To provide tactile feedback on the skin, we developed a prototype tactile feedback system to simulate skin wrinkles with PHANToM OMNI. To provide the user with tactile feedback on skin wrinkles, a visual and haptic Augmented Reality system was developed. First, a pair of stereo skin images obtained by a stereo camera generates a disparity map of skin wrinkles. Second, the generated disparity map is sent to an implemented tactile rendering algorithm that computes a reaction force according to the user's interaction with the skin image. We first obtained a stereo image of skin wrinkles from the in vivo stereo imaging system, which has a baseline of 50.8 μm, and obtained the disparity map with a graph cuts algorithm. The left image is displayed on the monitor to enable the user to recognize the location visually. The disparity map of the skin wrinkle image sends skin wrinkle information as a tactile response to the user through a haptic device. We successfully developed a tactile feedback system for virtual skin wrinkle simulation by means of a commercialized haptic device that provides the user with a single point of contact to feel the surface roughness of a virtual skin sample. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Connaissances des médecins généralistes de Mohammedia (Maroc) concernant le dépistage du cancer du sein

PubMed Central

Zine, Karima; Nani, Samira; Lahmadi, Imad Ait; Maaroufi, Abderrahmane

2016-01-01

Introduction Le cancer du sein représente un problème de santé publique majeur au Maroc. C'est le premier cancer chez la femme. L'objectif de ce travail était d'évaluer les connaissances des médecins généralistes (MG) en matière de dépistage du cancer du sein dans la préfecture de Mohammedia Maroc. Méthodes Nous avons mené une étude transversale, descriptive, exhaustive incluant les 97 MG exerçant dans les établissements de soins de santé de base du secteur public et privé de la province de Mohammedia. Résultats Le taux de participation était de 87%. L'âge moyen des MG était de 49,6 ± 8,1. Quatre-vingt pour cent (n=55) des MG ont donné une incidence incorrecte, 77,6% (n=85) ont reconnu l'existence d'un plan national de prévention et de contrôle du cancer (PNPCC) au Maroc, et 67,1 des MG ont rapporté l'existence d'un registre du cancer au Maroc. Le secteur d'activité était associé significativement avec les connaissances des MG sur le PNPCC et sur l'existence d'un guide de détection précoce du cancer du sein avec respectivement (p=0,003 et p=0,001). Une association significative entre l'ancienneté et l'existence d'un guide de détection précoce du cancer du sein et d'un registre du cancer du sein a été retrouvée avec (respectivement p=0,005 et p=0.002). Conclusion À la lumière de ces résultats il faudra renforcer les connaissances et les pratiques des MG par la promotion de la formation initiale et continue sur le dépistage. PMID:27800098

Developpement et application d'un systeme mobile de laser terrestre pour quantifier le bilan sedimentaire des plages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van-Wierts, Stefanie

Au Québec maritime, l'érosion côtière est une problématique d'envergure, notamment sur les côtes de formations meubles. Les plages ont un rôle de zone tampon ayant comme fonction naturelle d'absorber l'énergie des vagues et donc d'assurer l'équilibre de certains écosystèmes et le maintien de l'écoumène en réduisant l'érosion de la côte. Les méthodes d'acquisition conventionnelles ne permettent pas de quantifier convenablement les changements morphosédimentaires d'une plage à l'échelle des cellules hydrosédimentaires. Le manque de méthode d'acquisition fiable et de données quantitatives mène à une surestimation ou à une sous-estimation de la disponibilité sédimentaire d'un système côtier. Pour contrer ces lacunes et afin de minimiser les coûts d'acquisition, un nouveau système mobile de LiDAR terrestre a été mis en place, permettant d'acquérir des données topographiques de l'estran, de la haute plage et des falaises. Le système multicapteurs comprend un LiDAR, un système de navigation à haute précision (IMU et D-GPS) et une caméra. L'ensemble des instruments et capteurs sont montés sur un véhicule de type tout-terrain. Le système a été évalué sur la zone côtière de la péninsule de Manicouagan. La comparaison des données LiDAR avec 1 050 points de référence géopositionnés au D-GPS montre une erreur verticale moyenne de 0,1 m sur les secteurs de plage. Les résultats montrent que le volume sédimentaire moyen des plages devant les zones où la ligne de rivage présente un ouvrage de protection en enrochement (12 m 3/m) est plus de trois fois plus faible que devant les secteurs à l'état naturel (35,5 m3/m). La moyenne des secteurs en transition, constituant les segments où une zone artificielle et une zone naturelle se chevauchent présentent un volume moyen de 28 m3/m. Aussi, les plages devant les secteurs anthropisés sont en moyenne près de 2 fois plus étroites (12,7 m) que devant les secteurs naturels (25

Le role du phytoplancton de petite taille (<20 mum) dans les variations des proprietes optiques des eaux du Saint-Laurent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mas, Sebastien

Les mesures satellitaires de couleur des oceans sont largement determinees par les proprietes optiques inherentes (IOPs) des eaux de surface. D'autre part, le phytoplancton de petite taille (<20 mum) est le plus souvent dominant dans les oceans, et peut donc etre une source importante de variation des IOPs dans les oceans. Dans ce contexte, le but principal de ce doctorat etait de definir l'impact du phytoplancton (<20 mum) sur les variations des proprietes optiques de l'Estuaire et du Golfe du Saint-Laurent (Canada). Afin d'atteindre cet objectif, il etait necessaire de determiner en milieu controle les facteurs de variabilite des proprietes optiques cellulaires et des IOPs du phytoplancton (<20 mum) des eaux du Saint-Laurent, et d'evaluer la contribution du phytoplancton (<20 mum) aux proprietes optiques totales des eaux du Saint-Laurent. Des experiences en laboratoire ont montre que les variations des proprietes optiques des cellules phytoplanctoniques soumises a un cycle jour-nuit, ainsi qu'a des changements concomitants d'intensite lumineuse, peuvent contribuer significativement a la variabilite des proprietes optiques observee en milieu naturel. D'autres experiences ont, quant a elles, mis en evidence que les variations des proprietes optiques des cellules phytoplanctoniques dues aux phases de croissance peuvent alterer les IOPs des oceans, particulierement pendant les periodes de floraison. De plus, la presence de bacteries et de particules detritiques peut egalement affecter la variabilite des IOPs totales, notamment la diffusion. Au printemps, dans l'Estuaire et le Golfe du Saint-Laurent, la contribution du phytoplancton <20 mum aux IOPs presentait des differences regionales evidentes pour les proprietes d'absorption et de diffusion. En plus de la variabilite spatiale, les proprietes optiques cellulaires presentaient des variations journalieres, et ce particulierement pour le picophytoplancton. Enfin, la plupart des differences observees dans les

Recommandations pour le dépistage de l’hypertension chez les adultes canadiens

PubMed Central

Lindsay, Patrice; Gorber, Sarah Connor; Joffres, Michel; Birtwhistle, Richard; McKay, Donald; Cloutier, Lyne

2013-01-01

Résumé Objectif Présenter des recommandations concernant le dépistage de l’hypertension chez les adultes de 18 ans et plus qui n’ont pas reçu antérieurement de diagnostic d’hypertension. Qualité des données Les données probantes sont tirées d’une recension systématique dans MEDLINE, EMBASE et la base de données des synthèses systématiques de la Collaboration Cochrane (EBM Reviews), de janvier 1985 à septembre 2011. Les types d’études retenues se limitaient aux études randomisées contrôlées, aux synthèses systématiques et aux études observationnelles avec groupes témoins. Message principal Trois fortes recommandations se sont dégagées de données probantes de qualité modérée. Il est recommandé de mesurer la pression artérielle à toutes les consultations appropriées en soins primaires, conformément aux techniques actuelles décrites dans les recommandations du Programme éducatif canadien sur l’hypertension pour la mesure de la pression artérielle en cabinet et en soins ambulatoires. Les critères du Programme éducatif canadien sur l’hypertension pour l’évaluation et le diagnostic de l’hypertension devraient s’appliquer aux personnes chez qui on observe une pression artérielle élevée. Conclusion À la suite d’un examen des plus récentes données probantes, le Groupe d’étude canadien sur les soins de santé préventifs continue de recommander la mesure de la pression artérielle lors des consultations périodiques auprès du médecin.

Nitrogen narcosis and tactile shape memory in low visibility.

PubMed

van Wijk, Charles H; Meintjes, W A J

2014-01-01

Commercial diving often occurs in low visibility, where divers are reliant on their tactile senses. This study examined the effect of nitrogen narcosis on tactile memory for shapes as well as the influence of psychological and biographical factors on this relationship. This crossover study tested 139 commercial divers in a dry hyperbaric chamber at 101.325 and 607.95 kPa (1 and 6 atmospheres absolute/atm abs). Divers memorized shapes while blindfolded, using their tactile senses only. Delayed recall was measured at the surface after each dive. Psychological and biographical data were also collected. A significant effect of hyperbaric pressure on tactile memory was demonstrated, and a further effect of sequence of testing found. Thus, divers' delayed shape recall deteriorated by 8% after learning material at depth, compared to learning on the surface. There were also significant but small effects of psychological and biographical markers on tactile memory performance, with lower trait anxiety associated with better recall, and lower education associated with poorer recall. The findings emphasize the importance of utilizing other forms of recording of events or objects at depth, particularly in conditions of low visibility during deeper diving, to aid memory encoding and subsequent recall at the surface.

Meet our Neighbours - a tactile experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canas, L.; Lobo Correia, A.

2013-09-01

Planetary science is a key field in astronomy that draws lots of attention and that engages large amounts of enthusiasts. On its essence, it is a visual science and the current resources and activities for the inclusion of visually impaired children, although increasing, are still costly and somewhat scarce. Therefore there is a paramount need to develop more low cost resources in order to provide experiences that can reach all, even the more socially deprived communities. "Meet our neighbours!-a tactile experience", plans to promote and provide inclusion activities for visually impaired children and their non-visually impaired peers through the use of astronomy hands-on low cost activities. Is aimed for children from the ages of 6 to 12 years old and produce data set 13 tactile images of the main objects of the Solar System that can be used in schools, science centres and outreach associations. Accessing several common problems through tactile resources, with this project we present ways to successfully provide low cost solutions (avoiding the expensive tactile printing costs), promote inclusion and interactive hands-on activities for visually impaired children and their non-visually impaired peers and create dynamic interactions based on oral knowledge transmission between them. Here we describe the process of implementing such initiative near target communities: establishing a bridge between scientists, children and teachers. The struggles and challenges perceived during the project and the enrichment experience of engaging astronomy with these specific groups, broadening horizons in an overall experience accessible to all.

Evolutionary Specialization of Tactile Perception in Vertebrates.

PubMed

Schneider, Eve R; Gracheva, Elena O; Bagriantsev, Slav N

2016-05-01

Evolution has endowed vertebrates with the remarkable tactile ability to explore the world through the perception of physical force. Yet the sense of touch remains one of the least well understood senses at the cellular and molecular level. Vertebrates specializing in tactile perception can highlight general principles of mechanotransduction. Here, we review cellular and molecular adaptations that underlie the sense of touch in typical and acutely mechanosensitive vertebrates. ©2016 Int. Union Physiol. Sci./Am. Physiol. Soc.

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults.

PubMed

Bola, Łukasz; Siuda-Krzywicka, Katarzyna; Paplińska, Małgorzata; Sumera, Ewa; Hańczur, Paweł; Szwed, Marcin

2016-01-01

Blind people are known to have superior perceptual abilities in their remaining senses. Several studies suggest that these enhancements are dependent on the specific experience of blind individuals, who use those remaining senses more than sighted subjects. In line with this view, sighted subjects, when trained, are able to significantly progress in relatively simple tactile tasks. However, the case of complex tactile tasks is less obvious, as some studies suggest that visual deprivation itself could confer large advantages in learning them. It remains unclear to what extent those complex skills, such as braille reading, can be learnt by sighted subjects. Here we enrolled twenty-nine sighted adults, mostly braille teachers and educators, in a 9-month braille reading course. At the beginning of the course, all subjects were naive in tactile braille reading. After the course, almost all were able to read whole braille words at a mean speed of 6 words-per-minute. Subjects with low tactile acuity did not differ significantly in braille reading speed from the rest of the group, indicating that low tactile acuity is not a limiting factor for learning braille, at least at this early stage of learning. Our study shows that most sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading, given the right method and a considerable amount of motivation. The adult sensorimotor system can thus adapt, to some level, to very complex tactile tasks without visual deprivation. The pace of learning in our group was comparable to congenitally and early blind children learning braille in primary school, which suggests that the blind's mastery of complex tactile tasks can, to a large extent, be explained by experience-dependent mechanisms.

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults

PubMed Central

Bola, Łukasz; Siuda-Krzywicka, Katarzyna; Paplińska, Małgorzata; Sumera, Ewa; Hańczur, Paweł; Szwed, Marcin

2016-01-01

Blind people are known to have superior perceptual abilities in their remaining senses. Several studies suggest that these enhancements are dependent on the specific experience of blind individuals, who use those remaining senses more than sighted subjects. In line with this view, sighted subjects, when trained, are able to significantly progress in relatively simple tactile tasks. However, the case of complex tactile tasks is less obvious, as some studies suggest that visual deprivation itself could confer large advantages in learning them. It remains unclear to what extent those complex skills, such as braille reading, can be learnt by sighted subjects. Here we enrolled twenty-nine sighted adults, mostly braille teachers and educators, in a 9-month braille reading course. At the beginning of the course, all subjects were naive in tactile braille reading. After the course, almost all were able to read whole braille words at a mean speed of 6 words-per-minute. Subjects with low tactile acuity did not differ significantly in braille reading speed from the rest of the group, indicating that low tactile acuity is not a limiting factor for learning braille, at least at this early stage of learning. Our study shows that most sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading, given the right method and a considerable amount of motivation. The adult sensorimotor system can thus adapt, to some level, to very complex tactile tasks without visual deprivation. The pace of learning in our group was comparable to congenitally and early blind children learning braille in primary school, which suggests that the blind’s mastery of complex tactile tasks can, to a large extent, be explained by experience-dependent mechanisms. PMID:27187496

Merkel disc is a serotonergic synapse in the epidermis for transmitting tactile signals in mammals.

PubMed

Chang, Weipang; Kanda, Hirosato; Ikeda, Ryo; Ling, Jennifer; DeBerry, Jennifer J; Gu, Jianguo G

2016-09-13

The evolution of sensory systems has let mammals develop complicated tactile end organs to enable sophisticated sensory tasks, including social interaction, environmental exploration, and tactile discrimination. The Merkel disc, a main type of tactile end organ consisting of Merkel cells (MCs) and Aβ-afferent endings, are highly abundant in fingertips, touch domes, and whisker hair follicles of mammals. The Merkel disc has high tactile acuity for an object's physical features, such as texture, shape, and edges. Mechanisms underlying the tactile function of Merkel discs are obscured as to how MCs transmit tactile signals to Aβ-afferent endings leading to tactile sensations. Using mouse whisker hair follicles, we show herein that tactile stimuli are transduced by MCs into excitatory signals that trigger vesicular serotonin release from MCs. We identify that both ionotropic and metabotropic 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors are expressed on whisker Aβ-afferent endings and that their activation by serotonin released from MCs initiates Aβ-afferent impulses. Moreover, we demonstrate that these ionotropic and metabotropic 5-HT receptors have a synergistic effect that is critical to both electrophysiological and behavioral tactile responses. These findings elucidate that the Merkel disc is a unique serotonergic synapse located in the epidermis and plays a key role in tactile transmission. The epidermal serotonergic synapse may have important clinical implications in sensory dysfunctions, such as the loss of tactile sensitivity and tactile allodynia seen in patients who have diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and undergo chemotherapy. It may also have implications in the exaggerated tactile sensations induced by recreational drugs that act on serotoninergic synapses.

Tactile display device using an electrorheological fluid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garner, H. Douglas (Inventor)

1994-01-01

A tactile display device utilizes an electrorheological fluid to activate a plurality of tactile dots. A voltage is selectively produced uniformly across an electrorheological fluid flowing between a common ground electrode and a plurality of conductive dot electrodes, thereby producing an increase in the fluid's viscosity to the extent that fluid flow between the two electrodes is restricted. The flow restriction produces a build-up of electrorheological fluid in a corresponding dot actuator chamber. The resulting pressure increase in the chamber displaces an elastic diaphragm fixed to a display surface to form a lump which can be perceived by the reader as one dot in a Braille character cell. A flow regulation system provides a continually pressurized flow system and provides for free flow of the electrorheological fluid through the plurality of dot actuator chambers when they are not activated. The device is adaptable to printed circuit techniques and can simultaneously display tactile dots representative of a full page of Braille characters stored on a medium such as a tape cassette or to display tactile dots representative of non-Braille data appearing on a computer monitor or contained on another data storage medium. In an alternate embodiment, the elastic diaphragm drives a plurality of spring-loaded pins provided with positive stops to maintain consistent displacements of the pins in both their actuated and nonactuated positions.

Perspective sur les ruptures d’approvisionnement de médicaments en établissement de santé de 2006 à 2010

PubMed Central

Bussières, Jean-François; Chiveri, Andrei; Lebel, Denis

2011-01-01

RÉSUMÉ Contexte: Si les ruptures d’approvisionnement de médicaments font partie de la réalité de la pratique pharmaceutique depuis plusieurs décennies, elles deviennent une préoccupation quotidienne pour les pharmaciens dans les années 2000 et dépassent les frontières de la littérature pharmaceutique. Objectif: L’objectif principal de cette étude était de quantifier le nombre de médicaments en rupture de stock par année et la durée de ces interruptions. L’objectif secondaire visait à décrire le nombre de médicaments en rupture de stock par fabricant et par classe thérapeutique. Méthode: Cette étude descriptive et rétrospective des ruptures d’approvisionnement en médicaments a porté sur l’ensemble des médicaments à contrat pour les hôpitaux des régions administratives de Montréal, de Laval et de l’Estrie, au Québec. Le nombre de ruptures de stocks, le nombre de jours de rupture de stock et leur durée moyenne par année ont été calculés par fabricant et par classe thérapeutique. De plus, la proportion de produits en rupture de stock et la proportion de jours de rupture de stocks ont été déterminées par classe thérapeutique. Les données ont été analysées à l’aide de statistiques descriptives (c.-à-d. somme, moyenne, écart-type, médiane, intervalle). Résultats: Entre le 1er janvier 2006 et le 31 août 2010 (une période de 56 mois), 2400 ruptures de stocks ont été dénombrées pour un total de 258 105 jours de rupture de stocks (durée moyenne de 108 jours, écart-type de 130 jours et intervalle de 5 à 1623 jours). Un total de 70 fabricants étaient impliqués dans la survenue de toutes les ruptures d’approvisionnement de médicaments relevées durant cette période. Cinquante pour cent (50 %) des ruptures de stocks et des jours de rupture de stocks provenaient de quatre fabricants. Les interruptions étudiées touchaient la majorité des classes thérapeutiques de médicaments disponibles sur le

Where are my hands? Influence of limb posture on tactile extinction.

PubMed

Auclair, Laurent; Barra, Julien; Raibaut, Patrick

2012-05-01

Tactile localization on the skin involves both a somatotopic and a postural schema (body-schema) representation. The present study determines the extent to which body posture influences tactile perception in right-brain-damaged patients. In a first set of experiments, patients were asked to detect single tactile stimulation delivered to their left or right hands or to both hands simultaneously (double stimulation) in different arm postures. Only patients who had no difficulty localizing single and double tactile stimulations when their hands were placed in anatomic position were tested. Participant's hands were crossed, one over the other, and the tactile stimuli were delivered either to the hand (beyond the crossing point, Experiment 1) or to the forearm (before the crossing point, Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, the left hand was placed in the right hemispace and the right hand in the left hemispace without crossing over (opposite condition). In a second set of experiments, patients were asked to detect stimulation delivered to the forefinger. The fingers were crossed, one over the other at the level of the middle phalanx, and stimuli were delivered either beyond or before the crossing point. In all experimental conditions, control participants performed at ceiling. We observed a left-hand tactile extinction on double stimulation in the crossed condition. These results suggest that tactile stimuli can be encoded based on multiple specific body-part representations rather than on an integrated body-schema representation.

Etudes optiques de nouveaux materiaux laser: Des orthosilicates dopes a l'ytterbium: Le yttrium (lutetium,scandium) pentoxide de silicium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Denoyer, Aurelie

La decouverte et l'elaboration de nouveaux materiaux laser solides suscitent beaucoup d'interet parmi la communaute scientifique. En particulier les lasers dans la gamme de frequence du micron debouchent sur beaucoup d'applications, en telecommunication, en medecine, dans le domaine militaire, pour la, decoupe des metaux (lasers de puissance), en optique non lineaire (doublage de frequence, bistabilite optique). Le plus couramment utilise actuellement est le Nd:YAG dans cette famille de laser, mais des remplacants plus performants sont toujours recherches. Les lasers a base d'Yb3+ possedent beaucoup d'avantages compares aux lasers Nd3+ du fait de leur structure electronique simple et de leur deterioration moins rapide. Parmi les matrices cristallines pouvant accueillir l'ytterbium, les orthosilicates Yb:Y 2SiO5, Yb:Lu2SiO5 et Yb:Sc2SiO 5 se positionnent tres bien, du fait de leur bonne conductivite thermique et du fort eclatement de leur champ cristallin necessaire a l'elaboration de lasers quasi-3 niveaux. De plus l'etude fine et systematique des proprietes microscopiques de nouveaux materiaux s'avere toujours tres interessante du point de vue de la recherche fondamentale, c'est ainsi que de nouveaux modeles sont concus (par exemple pour le champ cristallin) ou que de nouvelles proprietes inhabituelles sont decouvertes, menant a de nouvelles applications. Ainsi d'autres materiaux dopes a l'ytterbium sont connus pour leurs proprietes de couplage electron-phonon, de couplage magnetique, d'emission cooperative ou encore de bistabilite optique, mais ces proprietes n'ont encore jamais ete mises en evidence dans Yb:Y 2SiO5, Yb:Lu2SiO5 et Yb:Sc2SiO 5. Ainsi, cette these a pour but l'etude des proprietes optiques et des interactions microscopiques dans Yb:Y2SiO 5, Yb:Lu2SiO5 et Yb:Sc2SiO5. Nous utilisons principalement les techniques d'absorption IR et de spectroscopie Raman pour determiner les excitations du champ cristallin et les modes de vibration dans le materiau

Tactile Acuity Charts: A Reliable Measure of Spatial Acuity

PubMed Central

Bruns, Patrick; Camargo, Carlos J.; Campanella, Humberto; Esteve, Jaume; Dinse, Hubert R.; Röder, Brigitte

2014-01-01

For assessing tactile spatial resolution it has recently been recommended to use tactile acuity charts which follow the design principles of the Snellen letter charts for visual acuity and involve active touch. However, it is currently unknown whether acuity thresholds obtained with this newly developed psychophysical procedure are in accordance with established measures of tactile acuity that involve passive contact with fixed duration and control of contact force. Here we directly compared tactile acuity thresholds obtained with the acuity charts to traditional two-point and grating orientation thresholds in a group of young healthy adults. For this purpose, two types of charts, using either Braille-like dot patterns or embossed Landolt rings with different orientations, were adapted from previous studies. Measurements with the two types of charts were equivalent, but generally more reliable with the dot pattern chart. A comparison with the two-point and grating orientation task data showed that the test-retest reliability of the acuity chart measurements after one week was superior to that of the passive methods. Individual thresholds obtained with the acuity charts agreed reasonably with the grating orientation threshold, but less so with the two-point threshold that yielded relatively distinct acuity estimates compared to the other methods. This potentially considerable amount of mismatch between different measures of tactile acuity suggests that tactile spatial resolution is a complex entity that should ideally be measured with different methods in parallel. The simple test procedure and high reliability of the acuity charts makes them a promising complement and alternative to the traditional two-point and grating orientation thresholds. PMID:24504346

Proceedings from the DRG Seminar on Robotics in the Battlefield (31st) Held on 6-8 March 1991 in Paris, France. Volume A (Actes du 31ieme Seminaire sur la Robotique du Champ de Bataille, Groupe sur la Recherche pour la Defense).

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-06-01

que ce que l’on peut esp~rer avec des hommes. Le second serait un robot de renseignement, sorte d’unit6 4 recherche dans la profondeur , mis en place par...3 1ime Seminaire sur la robotique du champ de Bataille Groupe sur la Recherche pour la Defense S92-25111 92 9 14 00O ;-" SANS CLASSIFICATION...6l6mentaires de pilotage d’un v~hicule en vue d’en am~liorer et d’en simplifier la t~l6commandabilit6 by M. Urvoy - Adaptation de l’algorithme A * 6 la

Force/torque and tactile sensors for sensor-based manipulator control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanbrussel, H.; Belieen, H.; Bao, Chao-Ying

1989-01-01

The autonomy of manipulators, in space and in industrial environments, can be dramatically enhanced by the use of force/torque and tactile sensors. The development and future use of a six-component force/torque sensor for the Hermes Robot Arm (HERA) Basic End-Effector (BEE) is discussed. Then a multifunctional gripper system based on tactile sensors is described. The basic transducing element of the sensor is a sheet of pressure-sensitive polymer. Tactile image processing algorithms for slip detection, object position estimation, and object recognition are described.

Resonant vibrating sensors for tactile tissue differentiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hemsel, T.; Stroop, R.; Oliva Uribe, D.; Wallaschek, J.

2007-12-01

Surgical resection of brain tumours is a difficult task. To enhance surgery results, a tactile sensor is wanted that gives better resolution and sensitivity than the human tactile sense. The characteristics of resonant vibrating piezoelectric elements change with varying load. This allows for calculation of mechanical load parameters by measuring electrical quantities. Different setups of piezoelectric sensors have been used to investigate soft materials. Finally, a piezoelectric bimorph sensor gave good results for distinguishing tissue mimicking gel-phantoms with different gelatine concentrations.

Scalable fabric tactile sensor arrays for soft bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Day, Nathan; Penaloza, Jimmy; Santos, Veronica J.; Killpack, Marc D.

2018-06-01

Soft robots have the potential to transform the way robots interact with their environment. This is due to their low inertia and inherent ability to more safely interact with the world without damaging themselves or the people around them. However, existing sensing for soft robots has at least partially limited their ability to control interactions with their environment. Tactile sensors could enable soft robots to sense interaction, but most tactile sensors are made from rigid substrates and are not well suited to applications for soft robots which can deform. In addition, the benefit of being able to cheaply manufacture soft robots may be lost if the tactile sensors that cover them are expensive and their resolution does not scale well for manufacturability. This paper discusses the development of a method to make affordable, high-resolution, tactile sensor arrays (manufactured in rows and columns) that can be used for sensorizing soft robots and other soft bodies. However, the construction results in a sensor array that exhibits significant amounts of cross-talk when two taxels in the same row are compressed. Using the same fabric-based tactile sensor array construction design, two different methods for cross-talk compensation are presented. The first uses a mathematical model to calculate a change in resistance of each taxel directly. The second method introduces additional simple circuit components that enable us to isolate each taxel electrically and relate voltage to force directly. Fabric sensor arrays are demonstrated for two different soft-bodied applications: an inflatable single link robot and a human wrist.

Rupture utérine sur utérus bicorne à 12 semaines d'aménorrhée: à propos d'un cas

PubMed Central

Itchimouh, Sanaa; Khabtou, Karima; Mahdaoui, Sakher; Boufettal, Houssine; Samouh, Naima

2016-01-01

La fréquence des malformations utérines ayant un impact sur la reproduction est difficile à apprécier. Leur mise en évidence nécessite un bilan spécifique (hystérosalpingographie, hystéroscopie, cœlioscopie). La fertilité spontanée peut être altérée en fonction du type d'anomalie utérine. Toutes ces anomalies peuvent avoir des répercussions sur l’évolution de la conception à type de fausses couches précoces et tardives, de grossesse extra utérine, de menace d'accouchement prématuré, d'accouchement prématuré, de pathologies vasculaires gravidiques et de retard de croissance intra-utérin. L'utérus bicorne est la plus connue des malformations et représente environ la moitié des anomalies de l'utérus. La survenue d'une telle grossesse constitue une situation à risque pouvant entraîner une mort maternelle, mais le diagnostic précoce et un bon suivi peut mener des grossesses à terme sur des utérus malformé. Le dépistage échographique devrait permettre la détection systématique de ce genre de cas afin de prendre préventivement les mesures qui s'imposent. Nous rapportons un cas de rupture utérine sur utérus bicorne unicervical sur grossesse à 12 semaines d'aménorrhée. PMID:27642490

La Recherche du Quark Top dans le Canal $e$ + Jets a D0 (in French)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lebrat, Jean-Francois

1996-05-01

Le travail de thèse qui est résumé ici a débuté en 1993, alors que l'existence du quark top n'avait pas encore été mise en évidence expérimentalement. Il se concentre sur la recherche du top dans l'un de ses modes de désintégration, le canal e + jets, et utilise l'ensemble des outils d'identication des particules et d'analyse développés par la collaboration DØ. L'analyse présentée ici est la première à utiliser le TRD (le Détecteur à Rayonnement de Transition, qui a été mis au point et fabriqué à Saclay) pour une meilleure identication de l'électron.Nous présenterons tout d'abord le quark top, enmore » décrivant la place qu'il occupe dans le modèle utilisé par les physiciens des particules, le Modèle Standard. Nous montrerons ainsi que l'existence du quark top était prédite par le modèle bien avant sa découverte, et indiquerons ainsi les raisons qui ont motivé notre analyse....« less

Nano opto-mechanical systems (NOMS) as a proposal for tactile displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campo, E. M.; Roig, J.; Roeder, B.; Wenn, D.; Mamojka, B.; Omastova, M.; Terentjev, E. M.; Esteve, J.

2011-10-01

For over a decade, special emphasis has been placed in the convergence of different fields of science and technology, in an effort to serve human needs by way of enhancing human capabilities. The convergence of the Nano-Bio-Info-Cogni (NBIC) quartet will provide unique solutions to specific needs. This is the case of, Nano-opto mechanical Systems (NOMS), presented as a solution to tactile perception, both for the visually-impaired and for the general public. NOMS, based on photoactive polymer actuators and devices, is a much sought-after technology. In this scheme, light sources promote mechanical actuation producing a variety of nano-opto mechanical systems such as nano-grippers. In this paper, we will provide a series of specifications that the NOMS team is targeting towards the development of a tactile display using optically-activated smart materials. Indeed, tactile displays remain mainly mechanical, compromising reload speeds and resolution which inhibit 3D tactile representation of web interfaces. We will also discuss how advantageous NOMS tactile displays could be for the general public. Tactile processing based on stimulation delivered through the NOMS tablet, will be tested using neuropsychology methods, in particular event-related brain potentials. Additionally, the NOMS tablet will be instrumental to the development of basic neuroscience research.

Learning in Tactile Channels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gescheider, George A.; Wright, John H.

2012-01-01

Vibrotactile intensity-discrimination thresholds for sinusoidal stimuli applied to the thenar eminence of the hand declined as a function of practice. However, improvement was confined to the tactile information-processing channel in which learning had occurred. Specifically, improvements in performance with training within the Pacinian-corpuscle…

Le Phénomène Wolf-Rayet au Sein des Etoiles chaudes de Populations I et II: Histoire des Vents stellaires et Impact sur la Structure nébulaire circumstellaire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grosdidier, Yves

2000-12-01

Les spectres des étoiles Wolf-Rayet pop. I (WR) présentent de larges raies en émission dues à des vents stellaires chauds en expansion rapide (vitesse terminale de l'ordre de 1000 km/s). Le modèle standard des étoiles WR reproduit qualitativement le profil général et l'intensité des raies observées. Mais la spectroscopie intensive à moyenne résolution de ces étoiles révèle l'existence de variations stochastiques dans les raies (sous-pics mobiles en accélération échelles de temps: environ 10-100 min.). Ces variations ne sont pas comprises dans le cadre du modèle standard et suggèrent une fragmentation intrinsèque des vents. Cette thèse de doctorat présente une étude de la variabilité des raies spectrales en émission des étoiles WR pop. II; la question de l'impact d'un vent WR fragmenté sur le milieu circumstellaire est aussi étudiée: 1) à partir du suivi spectroscopique intensif des raies CIIIl5696 et CIVl5801/12, nous analysons quantitativement (via le calcul des Spectres de Variance Temporelle) les vents issus de 5 étoiles centrales de nébuleuses planétaires (NP) galactiques présentant le phénomène WR; 2) nous étudions l'impact de la fragmentation des vents issus de deux étoiles WR pop. I sur le milieu circumstellaire via: i) l'imagerie IR (NICMOS2/HST) de WR 137, et ii) l'imagerie H-alpha (WFPC2/HST) et l'interférométrie Fabry-Perot H-alpha (SIS-CFHT) de la nébuleuse M 1-67 (étoile centrale: WR 124). Les principaux résultats sont les suivants: VENTS WR POP. II: (1) Nous démontrons la variabilité spectroscopique intrinsèque des vents issus des noyaux de NP HD 826 ([WC 8]), BD +30 3639 ([WC 9]) et LSS 3169 ([WC 9]), observés durant respectivement 22, 15 et 1 nuits, et rapportons des indications de variabilité pour les noyaux [WC 9] HD 167362 et He 2-142. Les variabilités de HD 826 et BD +30 3639 apparaissent parfois plus soutenues (``bursts'' qui se maintiennent durant plusieurs nuits); (2) La cinématique des sous

Can tactile sensory processing differentiate between children with autistic disorder and asperger's disorder?

PubMed

Ghanizadeh, Ahmad

2011-05-01

There are debates whether autistic disorder (autism) and Asperger's disorder are two distinct disorders. Moreover, interventional sensory occupational therapy should consider the clinical characteristics of patients. Already, commonalities and differences between Asperger's disorder and autistic disorder are not well studied. The aim of this study is to compare tactile sensory function of children with autistic disorder and children with Asperger's disorder. Tactile sensory function was compared between 36 children with autism and 19 children with Asperger's disorder. The two disorders were diagnosed based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, Text Revision. The parent-reported Tactile Dysfunction Checklist was used to assess the three aspects of hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity, and poor tactile perception and discrimination. Developmental coordination was also assessed. Developmental coordination problems total score was not associated with group. The mean (standard deviation) score of tactile hyper-responsivity was not different between the groups. Tactile hyporesponsivity and poor tactile perception and discrimination scores were statistically higher in autistic disorder than Asperger's disorder group. These results for the first time indicated that at least some aspects of tactile perception can differentiate these two disorders. Children with autistic disorder have more tactile sensory seeking behaviors than children with Asperger's disorder. Moreover, the ability of children with autistic disorder for tactile discrimination and sensory perception is less than those with Asperger's disorder. Interventional sensory therapy in children with autistic disorder should have some characteristics that can be different and specific for children with Asperger's disorder. Formal intelligence quotient testing was not performed on all of the children evaluated, which is a limitation to this study. In some cases, a clinical estimation of

A reconfigurable tactile display based on polymer MEMS technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xiaosong

A tactile display provides information such as shape, texture, temperature, and hardness to a user. Ultimately, a tactile display could be used to recreate a virtual object that may be stored in a computer. However, such advanced displays are not yet widely available, primarily due to the lack of low cost, large area, compact actuator arrays that can stimulate the large numbers of receptors of the user and that can also meet the high requirements for user safety and comfort. This research focuses on the development of polymer microfabrication technologies for the realization of two major components of a pneumatic tactile display: a microactuator array and a complementary microvalve (control) array. In this work, the concept, fabrication, and characterization of a kinematically-stabilized polymeric microbubble actuator ("endoskeletal microbubble actuator") is presented. A systematic design and modeling procedure was carried out to generate an optimized geometry of the corrugated diaphragm to satisfy membrane deflection, force, and stability requirements set forth by the tactile display goals. A mass-manufacturable actuator has been fabricated using the approaches of lithography and micromolding. A prototype of a single endoskeletal bubble actuator with a diameter of 2.6mm has been fabricated and characterized. In addition, in order to further reduce the size and cost of the tactile display, a microvalve array can be integrated into the tactile display system to control the pneumatic fluid that actuates the microbubble actuator. A piezoelectrically-driven and hydraulically-amplified polymer microvalve has been designed, fabricated, and tested. An incompressible elastomer was used as a solid hydraulic medium to convert the small axial displacement of a piezoelectric actuator into a large valve head stroke while maintaining a large blocking force. The function of the microvalve as an on-off switch for a pneumatic microbubble tactile actuator has been demonstrated

Development of a tactile display with 5 mm resolution using an array of magnetorheological fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishizuka, Hiroki; Miki, Norihisa

2017-06-01

In this study, we demonstrate the design and evaluation of a stiffness tactile display using a magnetorheological (MR) fluid. The tactile display is based on the change in mechanical properties under an external magnetic field. In the tactile display, the MR fluid is encapsulated in chambers of 3 mm diameter and arranged at intervals of 2 mm. Magnetic fields were spatially applied to the tactile display using neodymium magnets of 3.5 mm diameter. The design and spatial magnetic field application enable the tactile display to present stiff dots of 5 mm resolution. We confirmed that the tactile display can present a spatial stiff dot and its pattern on the surface by compression experiments. Sensory evaluation revealed that the users were able to perceive the approximate position of the stiff dots. From the experiments, the tactile display has potential as a palpation tactile display and requires improvement to present various types of tissues.

E-Pad: a comfortable electrocutaneous-based tactile feedback display

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jiabin; Zhao, Lu; Liu, Yue; Wang, Yongtian; Cai, Yi

2018-01-01

The devices with touchscreen are becoming more popular recently; however, most of them suffer from the crucial drawbacks of lacking accurate tactile feedback. A novel electrocutaneous-based tactile device with the name of E-pad is proposed to provide a dynamic and static low-voltage feedback for touchscreen. We optimize the key parameters of the output voltage and design custom-made hardwares to guarantee a comfortable user experience. Users could move their fingers freely across the touchscreen of the proposed device to really feel virtual objects. Two preliminary experiments are conducted to evaluate the interactive performance of the proposed device and the experimental results show that the proposed device can provide a comfortable and distinct tactile feedback.

Tactile Sensitivity of Children: Effects of Frequency, Masking, and the Non-Pacinian I Psychophysical Channel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guclu, Burak; Oztek, Cigdem

2007-01-01

Tactile perception depends on the contributions of four psychophysical tactile channels mediated by four corresponding receptor systems. The sensitivity of the tactile channels is determined by detection thresholds that vary as a function of the stimulus frequency. It has been widely reported that tactile thresholds increase (i.e., sensitivity…

Change of reference frame for tactile localization during child development.

PubMed

Pagel, Birthe; Heed, Tobias; Röder, Brigitte

2009-11-01

Temporal order judgements (TOJ) for two tactile stimuli, one presented to the left and one to the right hand, are less precise when the hands are crossed over the midline than when the hands are uncrossed. This 'crossed hand' effect has been considered as evidence for a remapping of tactile input into an external reference frame. Since late, but not early, blind individuals show such remapping, it has been hypothesized that the use of an external reference frame develops during childhood. Five- to 10-year-old children were therefore tested with the tactile TOJ task, both with uncrossed and crossed hands. Overall performance in the TOJ task improved with age. While children older than 5 1/2 years displayed a crossed hand effect, younger children did not. Therefore the use of an external reference frame for tactile, and possibly multisensory, localization seems to be acquired at age 5.

Multisensory effects on somatosensation: a trimodal visuo-vestibular-tactile interaction

PubMed Central

Kaliuzhna, Mariia; Ferrè, Elisa Raffaella; Herbelin, Bruno; Blanke, Olaf; Haggard, Patrick

2016-01-01

Vestibular information about self-motion is combined with other sensory signals. Previous research described both visuo-vestibular and vestibular-tactile bilateral interactions, but the simultaneous interaction between all three sensory modalities has not been explored. Here we exploit a previously reported visuo-vestibular integration to investigate multisensory effects on tactile sensitivity in humans. Tactile sensitivity was measured during passive whole body rotations alone or in conjunction with optic flow, creating either purely vestibular or visuo-vestibular sensations of self-motion. Our results demonstrate that tactile sensitivity is modulated by perceived self-motion, as provided by a combined visuo-vestibular percept, and not by the visual and vestibular cues independently. We propose a hierarchical multisensory interaction that underpins somatosensory modulation: visual and vestibular cues are first combined to produce a multisensory self-motion percept. Somatosensory processing is then enhanced according to the degree of perceived self-motion. PMID:27198907

A Tactile Stimulator for Studying Passive Shape Perception

PubMed Central

Lane, John W.; Fitzgerald, Paul J.; Yau, Jeffrey M.; Pembeci, Izzet; Hsiao, Steven S.

2009-01-01

We describe a computer-controlled tactile stimulator for use in human psychophysical and monkey neurophysiological studies of 3-D shape perception. The stimulator is constructed primarily of commercially available parts, as well as a few custom-built pieces for which we will supply diagrams upon request. There are two components to the stimulator: a tactile component and a hand positioner component. The tactile component consists of multiple stimulating units that move about in a Cartesian plane above the restrained hand. Each stimulating unit contains a servo-controlled linear motor with an attached small rotary stepper motor, allowing arbitrary stimulus shapes to contact the skin through vibration, static indentation, or scanning. The hand positioner component modifies the conformation of the restrained hand through a set of mechanical linkages under motorized control. The present design controls the amount of spread between digits two and three, the spread between digits four and three, and the degree to which digit three is flexed or extended, thereby simulating different conformations of the hand in contact with objects. This design is easily modified to suit the needs of the experimenter. Because the two components of the stimulator are independently controlled, the stimulator allows for parametric study of the mechanoreceptive and proprioceptive contributions to 3-D tactile shape perception. PMID:19800916

Tactile short-term memory in sensory-deprived individuals.

PubMed

Papagno, Costanza; Minniti, Giovanna; Mattavelli, Giulia C; Mantovan, Lara; Cecchetto, Carlo

2017-02-01

To verify whether loosing a sense or two has consequences on a spared sensory modality, namely touch, and whether these consequences depend on practice or are biologically determined, we investigated 13 deafblind participants, 16 deaf participants, 15 blind participants, and 13 matched normally sighted and hearing controls on a tactile short-term memory task, using checkerboard matrices of increasing length in which half of the squares were made up of a rough texture and half of a smooth one. Time of execution of a fixed matrix, number of correctly reproduced matrices, largest matrix correctly reproduced and tactile span were recorded. The three groups of sensory-deprived individuals did not differ in any measure, while blind and deaf participants outscored controls in all parameters except time of execution; the difference approached significance for deafblind people compared to controls only in one measure, namely correctly reproduced matrices. In blind and deafblind participants, performance negatively correlated with age of Braille acquisition, the older being the subject when acquiring Braille, the lower the performance, suggesting that practice plays a role. However, the fact that deaf participants, who did not share tactile experience, performed similarly to blind participants and significantly better than controls highlights that practice cannot be the only contribution to better tactile memory.

Structural design and output characteristic analysis of magnetostrictive tactile sensor for robotic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Wendong; Wang, Bowen; Liu, Huaping; Li, Yunkai; Zhao, Ran; Weng, Ling; Zhang, Changgeng

2018-05-01

A novel magnetostrictive tactile sensor has been designed according to the transduction mechanism of cilia and Villari effect of iron-gallium alloy. The tactile sensor consists of a Galfenol beam, a pair of permanent magnets, a Hall sensor and a signal processing system. Compared with the conventional tactile sensor, our proposed tactile sensor can not only detect the contact-force, but also sense stiffness of an object. The performance and measurement range of tactile sensor have theoretically been analyzed and experimentally investigated. The results have revealed that the sensibility of tactile sensor for sensing force is up to 22.81mV/N at applied bias magnetic field of 2.56kA/m. Moreover, the sensor can effectively discriminate objects with different stiffness. The sensor is characterized by high sensitivity, good linearity, and quick response. It has the potential of being miniaturized and integrated into the finger of a robotic hand to realize force sensing and object recognition in real-time.

Tactile massage as a nursing intervention in child and adolescent psychiatry: nurses' experiences.

PubMed

Robertz, A-C; Rudolfsson, G

2016-10-01

WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE SUBJECT?: There is little research on the implementation of tactile massage in child and adolescent psychiatry that describes children's and adolescents' experiences and outcomes. There is also limited knowledge of providing tactile massage in child and adolescent psychiatry. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This paper describes 10 nurses' experiences of tactile massage as a nursing intervention in child and adolescent psychiatry. The nurses considered tactile massage a non-verbal nursing intervention that could complement other available treatments. It reveals their reflections on the impact of tactile massage on their nursing and on themselves as a person, including the belief that they had developed deepened self-reflection and attentiveness. The nurses highlighted the importance of providing a trusting environment and collaborating with the children and adolescents. They both experienced and observed that tactile massage triggered various physical and mental processes in the children and adolescents, such as improvement in sleep disturbances, an ability to relax in body and mind and a deeper connectedness with their own bodies and feelings. The nurses described instructing next of kin in the use of tactile massage, which they believed could serve as a tool at home, mainly as a way for next of kin to help their children to relax, fall asleep more easily and to deepen connectedness. However, the nurses stressed the need to consider if it was appropriate or desired by the children and adolescents. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Tactile massage addresses the individual's emotional and physiological responses and could therefore bring holistic nursing to child and adolescent psychiatry. It could also help nurses in child and adolescent psychiatry to develop their attentiveness and sensitivity in acknowledging the needs of children and adolescents in psychiatric care. Introduction There is limited research on tactile

GeneXpert MTB/RIF dans le dépistage de la tuberculose pulmonaire à l’Hôpital Provincial Général de Référence de Bukavu, à l’Est de la République Démocratique du Congo: quelles leçons tirées après 10 mois d’utilisation?

PubMed Central

Lupande, David; Kaishusha, David; Mihigo, Carine; Itongwa, Moise; Yenga, Gustave; Katchunga, Philippe

2017-01-01

Introduction En Afrique subsaharienne, les méthodes de diagnostic de la tuberculose sont insuffisantes et reposent essentiellement sur la microscopie. Elles constituent un réel frein pour le contrôle de la tuberculose. La présente étude voudrait évaluer les performances du GeneXpert MTB/RIF vis à vis de la microscopie classique de Ziehl-Neelsen à l’Hôpital Provincial Général de Référence de Bukavu, à l’Est de la République Démocratique du Congo après 10 mois d’utilisation. Méthodes Les résultats de la coloration au Ziehl-Neelsen et de la biologie moléculaire sur GeneXpert MTB/RIF de 452 patients suspects de tuberculose ont été colligés. La validité d’un test par rapport à l’autre dans la détection de la tuberculose a été étudiée. Résultats Dans le groupe entier, la fréquence de la tuberculose pulmonaire était de 16.3%. La positivité était significativement plus élevée pour le GeneXpert MTB/RIF que pour le Ziehl-Neelsen dans le groupe entier (15.9% vs 9.3%, p= 0.03) et chez les séropositifs pour le VIH (52.0% vs 24.0%; p = 0.007). Cependant, la sensibilité de GeneXpert MTB/RIF comparé au Ziehl-Neelsen n’était pas maximale (95.2%). Enfin, GeneXpert MTB/RIF a détecté 20.8% de résistance à la rifampicine. Conclusion La présente étude confirme la supériorité de GeneXpert MTB/RIF sur la coloration de Ziehl-Neelsen dans la détection de la tuberculose et dans la prédiction de la multi résistance. Son utilisation systématique couplée au Ziehl-Neelsen permettrait de mieux contrôler la tuberculose en Afrique subSaharienne. PMID:29187929

Le domaine des co-infections et des maladies concomitantes du Réseau canadien pour les essais VIH des IRSC : lignes directrices canadiennes pour la prise en charge et le traitement de la co-infection par le VIH et l’hépatite C chez les adultes

PubMed Central

Hull, Mark; Giguère, Pierre; Klein, Marina; Shafran, Stephen; Tseng, Alice; Côté, Pierre; Poliquin, Marc; Cooper, Curtis

2014-01-01

HISTORIQUE : De 20 % à 30 % des Canadiens qui vivent avec le VIH sont co-infectés par le virus de l’hépatite C (VHC), lequel est responsable d’une morbidité et d’une mortalité importantes. La prise en charge du VIH et du VHC est plus complexe en raison de l’évolution accélérée de la maladie hépatique, du choix et des critères d’initiation de la thérapie antirétrovirale et du traitement anti-VHC, de la prise en charge de la santé mentale et des toxicomanies, des obstacles socioéconomiques et des interactions entre les nouvelles thérapies antivirales à action directe du VHC et les antirétroviraux OBJECTIF : Élaborer des normes nationales de prise en charge des adultes co-infectés par le VHC et le VIH dans le contexte canadien. MÉTHODOLOGIE : Le Réseau canadien pour les essais VIH des Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada a réuni un groupe d’experts possédant des compétences cliniques en co-infection par le VIH et le VHC pour réviser les publications à jour ainsi que les lignes directrices et les protocoles en place. Après une vaste sollicitation afin d’obtenir des points de vue, le groupe de travail a approuvé des recommandations consensuelles, qu’il a caractérisées au moyen d’une échelle de qualité des preuves fondée sur la classe (bienfaits par rapport aux préjudices) et sur la catégorie (degré de certitude). RÉSULTATS : Toutes les personnes co-infectées par le VIH et le VHC devraient subir une évaluation en vue de recevoir un traitement du VHC. Les personnes qui ne sont pas en mesure d’entreprendre un traitement du VHC devraient être soignées pour le VIH afin de ralentir l’évolution de la maladie hépatique. La norme de traitement du VHC de génotype 1 est un régime comprenant de l’interféron pégylé et de la ribavirine dosée en fonction du poids, associés à un inhibiteur de la protéase du VHC. Pour les génotypes 2 ou 3, une bithérapie classique est recommandée pendant 24 semaines s�

Visual detail about the body modulates tactile localisation biases.

PubMed

Margolis, Aaron N; Longo, Matthew R

2015-02-01

The localisation of tactile stimuli requires the integration of visual and somatosensory inputs within an internal representation of the body surface and is prone to consistent bias. Joints may play a role in segmenting such internal body representations, and may therefore influence tactile localisation biases, although the nature of this influence remains unclear. Here, we investigate the relationship between conceptual knowledge of joint locations and tactile localisation biases on the hand. In one task, participants localised tactile stimuli applied to the dorsum of their hand. A distal localisation bias was observed in all participants, consistent with previous results. We also manipulated the availability of visual information during this task, to determine whether the absence of this information could account for the distal bias observed here and by Mancini et al. (Neuropsychologia 49:1194-1201, 2011). The observed distal bias increased in magnitude when visual information was restricted, without a corresponding decrease in precision. In a separate task, the same participants indicated, from memory, knuckle locations on a silhouette image of their hand. Analogous distal biases were also seen in the knuckle localisation task. The accuracy of conceptual joint knowledge was not correlated with tactile localisation bias magnitude, although a similarity in observed bias direction suggests that both tasks may rely on a common, higher-order body representation. These results also suggest that distortions of conceptual body representation may be more common in healthy individuals than previously thought.

Short-Term Visual Deprivation, Tactile Acuity, and Haptic Solid Shape Discrimination

PubMed Central

Crabtree, Charles E.; Norman, J. Farley

2014-01-01

Previous psychophysical studies have reported conflicting results concerning the effects of short-term visual deprivation upon tactile acuity. Some studies have found that 45 to 90 minutes of total light deprivation produce significant improvements in participants' tactile acuity as measured with a grating orientation discrimination task. In contrast, a single 2011 study found no such improvement while attempting to replicate these earlier findings. A primary goal of the current experiment was to resolve this discrepancy in the literature by evaluating the effects of a 90-minute period of total light deprivation upon tactile grating orientation discrimination. We also evaluated the potential effect of short-term deprivation upon haptic 3-D shape discrimination using a set of naturally-shaped solid objects. According to previous research, short-term deprivation enhances performance in a tactile 2-D shape discrimination task – perhaps a similar improvement also occurs for haptic 3-D shape discrimination. The results of the current investigation demonstrate that not only does short-term visual deprivation not enhance tactile acuity, it additionally has no effect upon haptic 3-D shape discrimination. While visual deprivation had no effect in our study, there was a significant effect of experience and learning for the grating orientation task – the participants' tactile acuity improved over time, independent of whether they had, or had not, experienced visual deprivation. PMID:25397327

Short-term visual deprivation, tactile acuity, and haptic solid shape discrimination.

PubMed

Crabtree, Charles E; Norman, J Farley

2014-01-01

Previous psychophysical studies have reported conflicting results concerning the effects of short-term visual deprivation upon tactile acuity. Some studies have found that 45 to 90 minutes of total light deprivation produce significant improvements in participants' tactile acuity as measured with a grating orientation discrimination task. In contrast, a single 2011 study found no such improvement while attempting to replicate these earlier findings. A primary goal of the current experiment was to resolve this discrepancy in the literature by evaluating the effects of a 90-minute period of total light deprivation upon tactile grating orientation discrimination. We also evaluated the potential effect of short-term deprivation upon haptic 3-D shape discrimination using a set of naturally-shaped solid objects. According to previous research, short-term deprivation enhances performance in a tactile 2-D shape discrimination task - perhaps a similar improvement also occurs for haptic 3-D shape discrimination. The results of the current investigation demonstrate that not only does short-term visual deprivation not enhance tactile acuity, it additionally has no effect upon haptic 3-D shape discrimination. While visual deprivation had no effect in our study, there was a significant effect of experience and learning for the grating orientation task - the participants' tactile acuity improved over time, independent of whether they had, or had not, experienced visual deprivation.

Human detection and discrimination of tactile repeatability, mechanical backlash, and temporal delay in a combined tactile-kinesthetic haptic display system.

PubMed

Doxon, Andrew J; Johnson, David E; Tan, Hong Z; Provancher, William R

2013-01-01

Many of the devices used in haptics research are over-engineered for the task and are designed with capabilities that go far beyond human perception levels. Designing devices that more closely match the limits of human perception will make them smaller, less expensive, and more useful. However, many device-centric perception thresholds have yet to be evaluated. To this end, three experiments were conducted, using one degree-of-freedom contact location feedback device in combination with a kinesthetic display, to provide a more explicit set of specifications for similar tactile-kinesthetic haptic devices. The first of these experiments evaluated the ability of humans to repeatedly localize tactile cues across the fingerpad. Subjects could localize cues to within 1.3 mm and showed bias toward the center of the fingerpad. The second experiment evaluated the minimum perceptible difference of backlash at the tactile element. Subjects were able to discriminate device backlash in excess of 0.46 mm on low-curvature models and 0.93 mm on high-curvature models. The last experiment evaluated the minimum perceptible difference of system delay between user action and device reaction. Subjects were able to discriminate delays in excess of 61 ms. The results from these studies can serve as the maximum (i.e., most demanding) device specifications for most tactile-kinesthetic haptic systems.

Concurrent emotional pictures modulate temporal order judgments of spatially separated audio-tactile stimuli.

PubMed

Jia, Lina; Shi, Zhuanghua; Zang, Xuelian; Müller, Hermann J

2013-11-06

Although attention can be captured toward high-arousal stimuli, little is known about how perceiving emotion in one modality influences the temporal processing of non-emotional stimuli in other modalities. We addressed this issue by presenting observers spatially uninformative emotional pictures while they performed an audio-tactile temporal-order judgment (TOJ) task. In Experiment 1, audio-tactile stimuli were presented at the same location straight ahead of the participants, who had to judge "which modality came first?". In Experiments 2 and 3, the audio-tactile stimuli were delivered one to the left and the other to the right side, and participants had to judge "which side came first?". We found both negative and positive high-arousal pictures to significantly bias TOJs towards the tactile and away from the auditory event when the audio-tactile stimuli were spatially separated; by contrast, there was no such bias when the audio-tactile stimuli originated from the same location. To further examine whether this bias is attributable to the emotional meanings conveyed by the pictures or to their high arousal effect, we compared and contrasted the influences of near-body threat vs. remote threat (emotional) pictures on audio-tactile TOJs in Experiment 3. The bias manifested only in the near-body threat condition. Taken together, the findings indicate that visual stimuli conveying meanings of near-body interaction activate a sensorimotor functional link prioritizing the processing of tactile over auditory signals when these signals are spatially separated. In contrast, audio-tactile signals from the same location engender strong crossmodal integration, thus counteracting modality-based attentional shifts induced by the emotional pictures. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Exploring the Invisible Universe: A Tactile and Braille Exhibit of Astronomical Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcand, K. K.; Watzke, M.; de Pree, C.

2010-06-01

A tactile/Braille exhibit for the visually impaired community in the USA was launched in July 2009. The exhibit is part of the global From Earth to the Universe (FETTU) project, a Cornerstone of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. The science content of the travelling tactile/Braille exhibit includes explanations of our Sun, Eta Carinae, the Crab Nebula, the Whirlpool Galaxy and the electromagnetic spectrum, and was adapted from the tactile/Braille book Touch the Invisible Sky. We present some of the early observations and findings on the tactile/Braille FETTU exhibit. The new exhibit opens a wider door to experiencing and understanding astronomy for the underserved visually impaired population.

Tactile display landing safety and precision improvements for the Space Shuttle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, John M.

A tactile display belt using 24 electro-mechanical tactile transducers (tactors) was used to determine if a modified tactile display system, known as the Tactile Situation Awareness System (TSAS) improved the safety and precision of a complex spacecraft (i.e. the Space Shuttle Orbiter) in guided precision approaches and landings. The goal was to determine if tactile cues enhance safety and mission performance through reduced workload, increased situational awareness (SA), and an improved operational capability by increasing secondary cognitive workload capacity and human-machine interface efficiency and effectiveness. Using both qualitative and quantitative measures such as NASA's Justiz Numerical Measure and Synwork1 scores, an Overall Workload (OW) measure, the Cooper-Harper rating scale, and the China Lake Situational Awareness scale, plus Pre- and Post-Flight Surveys, the data show that tactile displays decrease OW, improve SA, counteract fatigue, and provide superior warning and monitoring capacity for dynamic, off-nominal, high concurrent workload scenarios involving complex, cognitive, and multi-sensory critical scenarios. Use of TSAS for maintaining guided precision approaches and landings was generally intuitive, reduced training times, and improved task learning effects. Ultimately, the use of a homogeneous, experienced, and statistically robust population of test pilots demonstrated that the use of tactile displays for Space Shuttle approaches and landings with degraded vehicle systems, weather, and environmental conditions produced substantial improvements in safety, consistency, reliability, and ease of operations under demanding conditions. Recommendations for further analysis and study are provided in order to leverage the results from this research and further explore the potential to reduce the risk of spaceflight and aerospace operations in general.

Establishing Auditory-Tactile-Visual Equivalence Classes in Children with Autism and Developmental Delays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mullen, Stuart; Dixon, Mark R.; Belisle, Jordan; Stanley, Caleb

2017-01-01

The current study sought to evaluate the efficacy of a stimulus equivalence training procedure in establishing auditory-tactile-visual stimulus classes with 2 children with autism and developmental delays. Participants were exposed to vocal-tactile (A-B) and tactile-picture (B-C) conditional discrimination training and were tested for the…

Developpement d'outils quantitatifs pour le suivi par imagerie TEP/TDM de la reponse a la chimiotherapie et de sa toxicite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croteau, Etienne

L'objectif de ce projet de doctorat est de developper des outils quantitatifs pour le suivi des traitements de chimiotherapie pour le cancer du sein et de leurs effets cardiotoxiques a l'aide de l'imagerie TEP dynamique. L'analyse cinetique en TEP dynamique permet l'evaluation de parametres biologiques in vivo. Cette analyse peut etre utilise pour caracteriser la reponse tumorale a la chimiotherapie et les effets secondaires nefastes qui peuvent en resulter. Le premier article de cette these decrit la mise au point des techniques d'analyse cinetique qui utilisent la fonction d'entree d'un radiotraceur derive de l'image dynamique. Des corrections de contamination radioactive externe (epanchement) et de l'effet de volume partiel ont ete necessaires pour standardiser l'analyse cinetique et la rendre quantitative. Le deuxieme article porte sur l'evaluation d'un nouveau radiotraceur myocardique. Le 11C-acetoacetate, un nouveau radiotraceur base sur un corps cetonique, a ete compare au 11C-acetate, couramment utilise en imagerie cardiaque TEP. L'utilisation de 3H-acetate et 14C-acetoacetate ont permis d'elucider la cinetique de ces traceurs depuis la fonction d'entree et la captation par les mitochondries cardiaques qui reflete la consommation en oxygene, jusqu'a la liberation de leurs principaux metabolites reciproques (3H20 et 14CO2). Le troisieme et dernier article de cette these presente l'integration d'un modele qui evalue la reserve cardiaque de perfusion et de consommation en oxygene. Un modele de cardiomyopathie a ete etabli a l'aide d'un agent chimiotherapeutique contre le cancer du sein, la doxorubicine, reconnu comme etant cardiotoxique. Un protocole de repos/effort a permis d'evaluer la capacite d'augmentation de perfusion et de consommation en oxygene par le coeur. La demonstration d'une reserve cardiaque reduite caracterise la cardiotoxicite. La derniere contribution de cette these porte sur la mise au point de methodes peu invasives pour mesurer la

Effet de la composition des materiaux composites sur la caracterisation et detection par ondes de Lamb

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostiguy, Pierre-Claude

Les matériaux composites sont de plus en plus utilisés en aéronautique. Leurs excellentes propriétés mécaniques et leur faible poids leur procurent un avantage certain par rapport aux matériaux métalliques. Ceux-ci étant soumis à diverses conditions de chargement et environnementales, ils sont suceptibles de subir plusieurs types d'endommagements, compromettant leur intégrité. Des méthodes fiables d'inspection sont donc nécessaires pour évaluer leur intégrité. Néanmoins, peu d'approches non destructives, embarquées et efficaces sont présentement utilisées. Ce travail de recherche se penche sur l'étude de l'effet de la composition des matériaux composites sur la détection et la caractérisation par ondes guidées. L'objectif du projet est de développer une approche de caractérisation mécanique embarquée permettant d'améliorer la performance d'une approche d'imagerie par antenne piézoélectriques sur des structures composite et métalliques. La contribution de ce projet est de proposer une approche embarquée de caractérisation mécanique par ultrasons qui ne requiert pas une mesure sur une multitude d'échantillons et qui est non destructive. Ce mémoire par articles est divisé en quatre parties, dont les parties deux A quatre présentant les articles publiés et soumis. La première partie présente l'état des connaissances dans la matière nécessaires à l'acomplissement de ce projet de maîtrise. Les principaux sujets traités portent sur les matériaux composites, propagation d'ondes, la modélisation des ondes guidées, la caractérisation par ondes guidées et la surveillance embarquée des structures. La deuxième partie présente une étude de l'effet des propriétés mécaniques sur la performance de l'algorithme d'imagerie Excitelet. L'étude est faite sur une structure isotrope. Les résultats ont démontré que l'algorithme est sensible à l'exactitude des propriétés mécaniques utilisées dans le modèle. Cette

Tactile Perception in Adults with Autism: A Multidimensional Psychophysical Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cascio, Carissa; McGlone, Francis; Folger, Stephen; Tannan, Vinay; Baranek, Grace; Pelphrey, Kevin A.; Essick, Gregory

2008-01-01

Although sensory problems, including unusual tactile sensitivity, are heavily associated with autism, there is a dearth of rigorous psychophysical research. We compared tactile sensation in adults with autism to controls on the palm and forearm, the latter innervated by low-threshold unmyelinated afferents subserving a social/affiliative…

Neuromimetic Event-Based Detection for Closed-Loop Tactile Feedback Control of Upper Limb Prostheses

PubMed Central

Osborn, Luke; Kaliki, Rahul; Soares, Alcimar; Thakor, Nitish

2016-01-01

Upper limb amputees lack the valuable tactile sensing that helps provide context about the surrounding environment. Here we utilize tactile information to provide active touch feedback to a prosthetic hand. First, we developed fingertip tactile sensors for producing biomimetic spiking responses for monitoring contact, release, and slip of an object grasped by a prosthetic hand. We convert the sensor output into pulses, mimicking the rapid and slowly adapting spiking responses of receptor afferents found in the human body. Second, we designed and implemented two neuromimetic event-based algorithms, Compliant Grasping and Slip Prevention, on a prosthesis to create a local closed-loop tactile feedback control system (i.e. tactile information is sent to the prosthesis). Grasping experiments were designed to assess the benefit of this biologically inspired neuromimetic tactile feedback to a prosthesis. Results from able-bodied and amputee subjects show the average number of objects that broke or slipped during grasping decreased by over 50% and the average time to complete a grasping task decreased by at least 10% for most trials when comparing neuromimetic tactile feedback with no feedback on a prosthesis. Our neuromimetic method of closed-loop tactile sensing is a novel approach to improving the function of upper limb prostheses. PMID:27777640

When Content Matters: The Role of Processing Code in Tactile Display Design.

PubMed

Ferris, Thomas K; Sarter, Nadine

2010-01-01

The distribution of tasks and stimuli across multiple modalities has been proposed as a means to support multitasking in data-rich environments. Recently, the tactile channel and, more specifically, communication via the use of tactile/haptic icons have received considerable interest. Past research has examined primarily the impact of concurrent task modality on the effectiveness of tactile information presentation. However, it is not well known to what extent the interpretation of iconic tactile patterns is affected by another attribute of information: the information processing codes of concurrent tasks. In two driving simulation studies (n = 25 for each), participants decoded icons composed of either spatial or nonspatial patterns of vibrations (engaging spatial and nonspatial processing code resources, respectively) while concurrently interpreting spatial or nonspatial visual task stimuli. As predicted by Multiple Resource Theory, performance was significantly worse (approximately 5-10 percent worse) when the tactile icons and visual tasks engaged the same processing code, with the overall worst performance in the spatial-spatial task pairing. The findings from these studies contribute to an improved understanding of information processing and can serve as input to multidimensional quantitative models of timesharing performance. From an applied perspective, the results suggest that competition for processing code resources warrants consideration, alongside other factors such as the naturalness of signal-message mapping, when designing iconic tactile displays. Nonspatially encoded tactile icons may be preferable in environments which already rely heavily on spatial processing, such as car cockpits.

A flexible tactile sensitive sheet using a hetero-core fiber optic sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujino, S.; Yamazaki, H.; Hosoki, A.; Watanabe, K.

2014-05-01

In this report, we have designed a tactile sensitive sheet based on a hetero-core fiber-optic sensor, which realize an areal sensing by using single sensor potion in one optical fiber line. Recently, flexible and wide-area tactile sensing technology is expected to applied to acquired biological information in living space and robot achieve long-term care services such as welfare and nursing-care and humanoid technology. A hetero-core fiber-optic sensor has several advantages such as thin and flexible transmission line, immunity to EMI. Additionally this sensor is sensitive to moderate bending actions with optical loss changes and is independent of temperature fluctuation. Thus, the hetero-core fiber-optic sensor can be suitable for areal tactile sensing. We measure pressure characteristic of the proposed sensitive sheet by changing the pressure position and pinching characteristic on the surface. The proposed tactile sensitive sheet shows monotonic responses on the whole sensitive sheet surface although different sensitivity by the position is observed at the sensitive sheet surface. Moreover, the tactile sensitive sheet could sufficiently detect the pinching motion. In addition, in order to realize the discrimination between pressure and pinch, we fabricated a doubled-over sensor using a set of tactile sensitive sheets, which has different kinds of silicon robbers as a sensitive sheet surface. In conclusion, the flexible material could be given to the tactile sensation which is attached under proposed sensitive sheet.

Exploring potential social influences on brain potentials during anticipation of tactile stimulation.

PubMed

Shen, Guannan; Saby, Joni N; Drew, Ashley R; Marshall, Peter J

2017-03-15

This study explored interpersonal influences on electrophysiological responses during the anticipation of tactile stimulation. It is well-known that broad, negative-going potentials are present in the event-related potential (ERP) between a forewarning cue and a tactile stimulus. It has also been shown that the alpha-range mu rhythm shows a lateralized desynchronization over central electrode sites during anticipation of tactile stimulation of the hand. The current study used a tactile discrimination task in which a visual cue signaled that an upcoming stimulus would either be delivered 1500ms later to the participant's hand, to a task partner's hand, or to neither person. For the condition in which participants anticipated the tactile stimulation to their own hand, a negative potential (contingent negative variation, CNV) was observed in the ERP at central sites in the 1000ms prior to the tactile stimulus. Significant mu rhythm desynchronization was also present in the same time window. The magnitudes of the ERPs and of the mu desynchronization were greater in the contralateral than in the ipsilateral hemisphere prior to right hand stimulation. Similar ERP and EEG changes were not present when the visual cue indicated that stimulation would be delivered to the task partner or to neither person. The absence of social influences during anticipation of tactile stimulation, and the relationship between the two brain signatures of anticipatory attention (CNV and mu rhythm) are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Croissance epitaxiale de GaAs sur substrats de Ge par epitaxie par faisceaux chimiques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belanger, Simon

La situation energetique et les enjeux environnementaux auxquels la societe est confrontee entrainent un interet grandissant pour la production d'electricite a partir de l'energie solaire. Parmi les technologies actuellement disponibles, la filiere du photovoltaique a concentrateur solaire (CPV pour concentrator photovoltaics) possede un rendement superieur et mi potentiel interessant a condition que ses couts de production soient competitifs. La methode d'epitaxie par faisceaux chimiques (CBE pour chemical beam epitaxy) possede plusieurs caracteristiques qui la rendent interessante pour la production a grande echelle de cellules photovoltaiques a jonctions multiples a base de semi-conducteurs III-V. Ce type de cellule possede la meilleure efficacite atteinte a ce jour et est utilise sur les satellites et les systemes photovoltaiques a concentrateur solaire (CPV) les plus efficaces. Une des principales forces de la technique CBE se trouve dans son potentiel d'efficacite d'utilisation des materiaux source qui est superieur a celui de la technique d'epitaxie qui est couramment utilisee pour la production a grande echelle de ces cellules. Ce memoire de maitrise presente les travaux effectues dans le but d'evaluer le potentiel de la technique CBE pour realiser la croissance de couches de GaAs sur des substrats de Ge. Cette croissance constitue la premiere etape de fabrication de nombreux modeles de cellules solaires a haute performance decrites plus haut. La realisation de ce projet a necessite le developpement d'un procede de preparation de surface pour les substrats de germanium, la realisation de nombreuses sceances de croissance epitaxiale et la caracterisation des materiaux obtenus par microscopie optique, microscopie a force atomique (AFM), diffraction des rayons-X a haute resolution (HRXRD), microscopie electronique a transmission (TEM), photoluminescence a basse temperature (LTPL) et spectrometrie de masse des ions secondaires (SIMS). Les experiences ont permis

Investigation and modification of a commercially available tactile sensor suited for robotic applications. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Creus, Carolina

1991-01-01

Active (dynamic) tactile sensing was explored using a commercially available tactile array sensor. This task requires the redesign of the sensor interface and a full understanding of the old sensor hardware implementation. There were different stages to this research; the first stage involved the reverse engineering of the old tactile sensor. The second stage had to do with the exploration of the characteristics and behavior of the tactile sensor pad. The next stage dealt with the redesign of the sensor interface using the knowledge gained from the previous two stages. Finally, in the last stage, software to control the tactile sensor was developed to aid in the data acquisition process.

Can Tactile Sensory Processing Differentiate Between Children with Autistic Disorder and Asperger's Disorder?

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Objective There are debates whether autistic disorder (autism) and Asperger's disorder are two distinct disorders. Moreover, interventional sensory occupational therapy should consider the clinical characteristics of patients. Already, commonalities and differences between Asperger's disorder and autistic disorder are not well studied. The aim of this study is to compare tactile sensory function of children with autistic disorder and children with Asperger's disorder. Methods Tactile sensory function was compared between 36 children with autism and 19 children with Asperger's disorder. The two disorders were diagnosed based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, Text Revision. The parent-reported Tactile Dysfunction Checklist was used to assess the three aspects of hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity, and poor tactile perception and discrimination. Developmental coordination was also assessed. Results Developmental coordination problems total score was not associated with group. The mean (standard deviation) score of tactile hyper-responsivity was not different between the groups. Tactile hyporesponsivity and poor tactile perception and discrimination scores were statistically higher in autistic disorder than Asperger's disorder group. Conclusion These results for the first time indicated that at least some aspects of tactile perception can differentiate these two disorders. Children with autistic disorder have more tactile sensory seeking behaviors than children with Asperger's disorder. Moreover, the ability of children with autistic disorder for tactile discrimination and sensory perception is less than those with Asperger's disorder. Interventional sensory therapy in children with autistic disorder should have some characteristics that can be different and specific for children with Asperger's disorder. Formal intelligence quotient testing was not performed on all of the children evaluated, which is a limitation to this study. In

Market study: Tactile paging system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

A market survey was conducted regarding the commercialization potential and key market factors relevant to a tactile paging system for deaf-blind people. The purpose of the tactile paging system is to communicate to the deaf-blind people in an institutional environment. The system consists of a main console and individual satellite wrist units. The console emits three signals by telemetry to the wrist com (receiving unit) which will measure approximately 2 x 4 x 3/4 inches and will be fastened to the wrist by a strap. The three vibration signals are fire alarm, time period indication, and a third signal which will alert the wearer of the wrist com to the fact that the pin on the top of the wrist is emitting a morse coded message. The Morse code message can be felt and recognized with the finger.

Tactile Functioning in Children Who Are Blind: A Clinical Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Withagen, Ans; Vervloed, Mathijs P. J.; Janssen, Neeltje M.; Knoors, Harry; Verhoeven, Ludo

2010-01-01

This study of 48 children with congenital blindness who attended mainstream schools focused on the tactile and haptic skills they needed in typical academic and everyday tasks. The results showed that, in general, the children mastered such tactile tasks, but some items posed special problems. (Contains 4 tables.)

Consequences experimentales des effets des fluctuations du vide sur la fluorescence parametrique et la generation du second harmonique en milieu confine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robichaud, Luc

Les fluctuations du vide, qui consistent en l'apparition momentanee de particules, ce qui est permit par le principe d'incertitude de Heisenberg, joue un role primordial dans les processus photoniques, en particulier les processus non-lineaires. Par la manipulation de ces fluctuations du vide a l'aide de confinement optique, on retrouve deux phenomenes particuliers : l'intensification de la fluorescence parametrique (Walker, 2008) et l'inhibition de la generation du second harmonique (Collette, 2013). Dans ce travail, on presente les resultats dans le cas classique ; c'est-a-dire sans fluctuations du vide et confinement. Par la suite, on presente les effets des fluctuations du vide et du confinement, ce qui mene aux deux effets mentionnes. Dans le cas de la fluorescence parametrique, le bruit quantique sur le champ interne et externe est calcule, le role du desaccord de phase dans le modele est expose et une generalisation tridimensionnelle est etudiee afin de generaliser la conception du modele d'un cas unidimensionnel a un cas tridimensionnel planaire. Dans le cas de la generation du second harmonique, les difficultes d'un modele purement tridimensionnel sont exposees et ensuite le cas limite planaire est etudie.

A Prototype Tactile Sensor Array.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-09-15

Active Touch Sensing. Technical Report, MIT Artificial Inteligence Laboratory, 1981. (9] Larcombe, M. Carbon Fibre Tactile Sensors. Technical Report...thesis, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1981. [13] Purbrick, John A. A Force Transducer Employing Conductive Silicone Rubber. Technical Report, MIT Artificial

Flexible PZT Thin Film Tactile Sensor for Biomedical Monitoring

PubMed Central

Tseng, Hong-Jie; Tian, Wei-Cheng; Wu, Wen-Jong

2013-01-01

This paper presents the development of tactile sensors using the sol-gel process to deposit a PZT thin-film from 250 nm to 1 μm on a flexible stainless steel substrate. The PZT thin-film tactile sensor can be used to measure human pulses from several areas, including carotid, brachial, finger, ankle, radial artery, and the apical region. Flexible PZT tactile sensors can overcome the diverse topology of various human regions and sense the corresponding signals from human bodies. The measured arterial pulse waveform can be used to diagnose hypertension and cardiac failure in patients. The proposed sensors have several advantages, such as flexibility, reliability, high strain, low cost, simple fabrication, and low temperature processing. The PZT thin-film deposition process includes a pyrolysis process at 150 °C/500 °C for 10/5 min, followed by an annealing process at 650 °C for 10 min. Finally, the consistent pulse wave velocity (PWV) was demonstrated based on human pulse measurements from apical to radial, brachial to radial, and radial to ankle. It is characterized that the sensitivity of our PZT-based tactile sensor was approximately 0.798 mV/g. PMID:23698262

Flexible PZT thin film tactile sensor for biomedical monitoring.

PubMed

Tseng, Hong-Jie; Tian, Wei-Cheng; Wu, Wen-Jong

2013-04-25

This paper presents the development of tactile sensors using the sol-gel process to deposit a PZT thin-film from 250 nm to 1 μm on a flexible stainless steel substrate. The PZT thin-film tactile sensor can be used to measure human pulses from several areas, including carotid, brachial, finger, ankle, radial artery, and the apical region. Flexible PZT tactile sensors can overcome the diverse topology of various human regions and sense the corresponding signals from human bodies. The measured arterial pulse waveform can be used to diagnose hypertension and cardiac failure in patients. The proposed sensors have several advantages, such as flexibility, reliability, high strain, low cost, simple fabrication, and low temperature processing. The PZT thin-film deposition process includes a pyrolysis process at 150 °C/500 °C for 10/5 min, followed by an annealing process at 650 °C for 10 min. Finally, the consistent pulse wave velocity (PWV) was demonstrated based on human pulse measurements from apical to radial, brachial to radial, and radial to ankle. It is characterized that the sensitivity of our PZT-based tactile sensor was approximately 0.798 mV/g.

Tactile-Foot Stimulation Can Assist the Navigation of People with Visual Impairment

PubMed Central

Velázquez, Ramiro; Pissaloux, Edwige; Lay-Ekuakille, Aimé

2015-01-01

Background. Tactile interfaces that stimulate the plantar surface with vibrations could represent a step forward toward the development of wearable, inconspicuous, unobtrusive, and inexpensive assistive devices for people with visual impairments. Objective. To study how people understand information through their feet and to maximize the capabilities of tactile-foot perception for assisting human navigation. Methods. Based on the physiology of the plantar surface, three prototypes of electronic tactile interfaces for the foot have been developed. With important technological improvements between them, all three prototypes essentially consist of a set of vibrating actuators embedded in a foam shoe-insole. Perceptual experiments involving direction recognition and real-time navigation in space were conducted with a total of 60 voluntary subjects. Results. The developed prototypes demonstrated that they are capable of transmitting tactile information that is easy and fast to understand. Average direction recognition rates were 76%, 88.3%, and 94.2% for subjects wearing the first, second, and third prototype, respectively. Exhibiting significant advances in tactile-foot stimulation, the third prototype was evaluated in navigation tasks. Results show that subjects were capable of following directional instructions useful for navigating spaces. Conclusion. Footwear providing tactile stimulation can be considered for assisting the navigation of people with visual impairments. PMID:27019593

Tactile-Foot Stimulation Can Assist the Navigation of People with Visual Impairment.

PubMed

Velázquez, Ramiro; Pissaloux, Edwige; Lay-Ekuakille, Aimé

2015-01-01

Background. Tactile interfaces that stimulate the plantar surface with vibrations could represent a step forward toward the development of wearable, inconspicuous, unobtrusive, and inexpensive assistive devices for people with visual impairments. Objective. To study how people understand information through their feet and to maximize the capabilities of tactile-foot perception for assisting human navigation. Methods. Based on the physiology of the plantar surface, three prototypes of electronic tactile interfaces for the foot have been developed. With important technological improvements between them, all three prototypes essentially consist of a set of vibrating actuators embedded in a foam shoe-insole. Perceptual experiments involving direction recognition and real-time navigation in space were conducted with a total of 60 voluntary subjects. Results. The developed prototypes demonstrated that they are capable of transmitting tactile information that is easy and fast to understand. Average direction recognition rates were 76%, 88.3%, and 94.2% for subjects wearing the first, second, and third prototype, respectively. Exhibiting significant advances in tactile-foot stimulation, the third prototype was evaluated in navigation tasks. Results show that subjects were capable of following directional instructions useful for navigating spaces. Conclusion. Footwear providing tactile stimulation can be considered for assisting the navigation of people with visual impairments.

Evaluation de l'intergiciel de communication DDS pour son utilisation dans le domaine avionique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levesque-Landry, Kevin

Les aeronefs modernes doivent combler de plus en plus de fonctionnalites afin de satisfaire les besoins de la clientele. De ce fait, les besoins en communications des systemes avioniques sont grandissants. De plus, la portabilite et la reutilisabilite des applications sont des defis d'actualite dans le domaine avionique. De ce fait, ce projet de recherche vise a faire une evaluation de la technologie d'intergiciel de service de distribution de donnees (DDS) pour son utilisation dans le domaine avionique. Cette technologie permettrait de reduire la complexite des communications et faciliter la portabilite et reutilisabilite des applications grâce a son interface standardisee. Dans ce projet de recherche, la norme DDS est tout d'abord etudiee pour cibler les fonctionnalites qui sont utiles au domaine avionique. Les differentes polices de qualite de services sont ainsi etudiees et denotent la flexibilite de la technologie DDS. Un intergiciel DDS est egalement evalue dans un environnement de laboratoire afin de mesurer l'impact de l'utilisation de cette technologie sur les performances de latence ainsi que sur l'utilisation de la bande passante. Les resultats montrent une faible augmentation de la latence moyenne lorsque l'intergiciel DDS est utilise. L'intergiciel DDS est egalement utilise dans une etude de cas avec un AFCS (automatic flight control system) afin de quantifier les effets de son utilisation sur une application avionique. Les resultats montrent que l'utilisation de l'intergiciel DDS n'empeche pas l'AFCS d'atteindre la stabilite, mais qu'elle ralentit l'atteinte de cette derniere. Finalement, une etude de cas est effectuee afin de valider que la technologie DDS peut etre utilisee pour construire des systemes redondants. Les resultats montrent que l'intergiciel DDS permet de faire de la redondance de reserve sans avoir un impact visible sur les performances du systeme redondant.

Tactile Imaging Markers to Characterize Female Pelvic Floor Conditions.

PubMed

van Raalte, Heather; Egorov, Vladimir

2015-08-01

The Vaginal Tactile Imager (VTI) records pressure patterns from vaginal walls under an applied tissue deformation and during pelvic floor muscle contractions. The objective of this study is to validate tactile imaging and muscle contraction parameters (markers) sensitive to the female pelvic floor conditions. Twenty-two women with normal and prolapse conditions were examined by a vaginal tactile imaging probe. We identified 9 parameters which were sensitive to prolapse conditions ( p < 0.05 for one-way ANOVA and/or p < 0.05 for t -test with correlation factor r from -0.73 to -0.56). The list of parameters includes pressure, pressure gradient and dynamic pressure response during muscle contraction at identified locations. These parameters may be used for biomechanical characterization of female pelvic floor conditions to support an effective management of pelvic floor prolapse.

Optical based tactile shear and normal load sensor

DOEpatents

Salisbury, Curt Michael

2015-06-09

Various technologies described herein pertain to a tactile sensor that senses normal load and/or shear load. The tactile sensor includes a first layer and an optically transparent layer bonded together. At least a portion of the first layer is made of optically reflective material. The optically transparent layer is made of resilient material (e.g., clear silicone rubber). The tactile sensor includes light emitter/light detector pair(s), which respectively detect either normal load or shear load. Light emitter(s) emit light that traverses through the optically transparent layer and reflects off optically reflective material of the first layer, and light detector(s) detect and measure intensity of reflected light. When a normal load is applied, the optically transparent layer compresses, causing a change in reflected light intensity. When shear load is applied, a boundary between optically reflective material and optically absorptive material is laterally displaced, causing a change in reflected light intensity.

Effects of inter-stimulus interval and intensity on the perceived urgency of tactile patterns.

PubMed

White, Timothy L; Krausman, Andrea S

2015-05-01

This research examines the feasibility of coding urgency into tactile patterns. Four tactile patterns were presented at either, 12 or 23.5 dB above mean threshold, with an ISI of either 0 (no interval) or 500 msec. Measures included pattern identification and urgency rating on a scale of 1 (least urgent) to 10 (most urgent). Two studies were conducted, a laboratory study and a field study. In the laboratory study, participants received the tactile patterns while seated in front of a computer. For the field study, participants performed dismounted Soldier maneuvers while receiving the tactile patterns. Higher identification rates were found for the 23.5 dB intensity. Patterns presented at the 23.5 dB intensity and no ISI were rated most urgent. No differences in urgency ratings were found for 12 dB based on ISI. Findings support the notion of coding urgency into tactile patterns as a way of augmenting tactile communication. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Nanowire FET Based Neural Element for Robotic Tactile Sensing Skin

PubMed Central

Taube Navaraj, William; García Núñez, Carlos; Shakthivel, Dhayalan; Vinciguerra, Vincenzo; Labeau, Fabrice; Gregory, Duncan H.; Dahiya, Ravinder

2017-01-01

This paper presents novel Neural Nanowire Field Effect Transistors (υ-NWFETs) based hardware-implementable neural network (HNN) approach for tactile data processing in electronic skin (e-skin). The viability of Si nanowires (NWs) as the active material for υ-NWFETs in HNN is explored through modeling and demonstrated by fabricating the first device. Using υ-NWFETs to realize HNNs is an interesting approach as by printing NWs on large area flexible substrates it will be possible to develop a bendable tactile skin with distributed neural elements (for local data processing, as in biological skin) in the backplane. The modeling and simulation of υ-NWFET based devices show that the overlapping areas between individual gates and the floating gate determines the initial synaptic weights of the neural network - thus validating the working of υ-NWFETs as the building block for HNN. The simulation has been further extended to υ-NWFET based circuits and neuronal computation system and this has been validated by interfacing it with a transparent tactile skin prototype (comprising of 6 × 6 ITO based capacitive tactile sensors array) integrated on the palm of a 3D printed robotic hand. In this regard, a tactile data coding system is presented to detect touch gesture and the direction of touch. Following these simulation studies, a four-gated υ-NWFET is fabricated with Pt/Ti metal stack for gates, source and drain, Ni floating gate, and Al2O3 high-k dielectric layer. The current-voltage characteristics of fabricated υ-NWFET devices confirm the dependence of turn-off voltages on the (synaptic) weight of each gate. The presented υ-NWFET approach is promising for a neuro-robotic tactile sensory system with distributed computing as well as numerous futuristic applications such as prosthetics, and electroceuticals. PMID:28979183

Active Prior Tactile Knowledge Transfer for Learning Tactual Properties of New Objects

PubMed Central

Feng, Di

2018-01-01

Reusing the tactile knowledge of some previously-explored objects (prior objects) helps us to easily recognize the tactual properties of new objects. In this paper, we enable a robotic arm equipped with multi-modal artificial skin, like humans, to actively transfer the prior tactile exploratory action experiences when it learns the detailed physical properties of new objects. These experiences, or prior tactile knowledge, are built by the feature observations that the robot perceives from multiple sensory modalities, when it applies the pressing, sliding, and static contact movements on objects with different action parameters. We call our method Active Prior Tactile Knowledge Transfer (APTKT), and systematically evaluated its performance by several experiments. Results show that the robot improved the discrimination accuracy by around 10% when it used only one training sample with the feature observations of prior objects. By further incorporating the predictions from the observation models of prior objects as auxiliary features, our method improved the discrimination accuracy by over 20%. The results also show that the proposed method is robust against transferring irrelevant prior tactile knowledge (negative knowledge transfer). PMID:29466300

Salience of Tactile Cues: An Examination of Tactor Actuator and Tactile Cue Characteristics

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-01

this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense ...patterns of tactile cue arrays, and some differences due to measurement approach. Implications for future research are discussed. 15. SUBJECT TERMS...results for tactor type, taction, and interaction term for the prediction of forced-choice preference ................................................21

Surface texture can bias tactile form perception.

PubMed

Nakatani, Masashi; Howe, Robert D; Tachi, Susumu

2011-01-01

The sense of touch is believed to provide a reliable perception of the object's properties; however, our tactile perceptions could be illusory at times. A recently reported tactile illusion shows that a raised form can be perceived as indented when it is surrounded by textured areas. This phenomenon suggests that the form perception can be influenced by the surface textures in its adjacent areas. As perception of texture and that of form have been studied independently of each other, the present study examined whether textures, in addition to the geometric edges, contribute to the tactile form perception. We examined the perception of the flat and raised contact surface (3.0 mm width) with various heights (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 mm), which had either textured or non-textured adjacent areas, under the static, passive and active touch conditions. Our results showed that texture decreased the raised perception of the surface with a small height (0.1 mm) and decreased the flat perception of the physically flat surface under the passive and active touch conditions. We discuss a possible mechanism underlying the effect of the textures on the form perception based on previous neurophysiological findings.

Polymorphisme de l'apolipoprotéine E dans la population du nord du Maroc: fréquence et influence sur les paramètres lipidiques

PubMed Central

Benyahya, Fatiha; Barakat, Amina; Ghailani, Naima; Bennani, Mohcine

2013-01-01

Introduction L'objectif de ce travail est de déterminer les fréquences alléliques et génotypiques des sites polymorphes situés dans le gène de l'apolipoprotéine E (apo E) ainsi que leur impact sur les paramètres cliniques et lipidiques dans un échantillon de la population du nord du Maroc cliniquement diagnostiqué ADH. Méthodes Le génotype de l'apo E a été analysé par séquençage direct chez 46 patients cliniquement diagnostiqués ADH selon les critères standards. Résultats Les fréquences des allèles epsilon 3, epsilon 2 et epsilon 4 ont été respectivement 78.3%, 2.2% et 19.6%. La fréquence de l'allèle epsilon 4 est très élevée chez la population du nord du Maroc en comparaison avec les populations des autres régions marocaines. Elle est similaire à celle rapportée dans les pays de l'Europe du nord. Les taux du cholestérol total, du cholestérol LDL ainsi que la présence des xanthomes et les maladies cardiovasculaires ne différent pas entre les génotypes de l'apoE. En revanche, les résultats ont montré une influence de l'allèle epsilon4 sur le taux des triglycérides chez les sujets obèses. Conclusion Le génotype de l'apoE ne peut expliquer le phénotype clinique et biochimique présenté par des patients du Nord du Maroc cliniquement diagnostiqués ADH. PMID:24396563

An Experimental Optical Three-axis Tactile Sensor Featured with Hemispherical Surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohka, Masahiro; Kobayashi, Hiroaki; Takata, Jumpei; Mitsuya, Yasunaga

We are developing an optical three-axis tactile sensor capable of acquiring normal and shearing force to mount on a robotic finger. The tactile sensor is based on the principle of an optical waveguide-type tactile sensor, which is composed of an acrylic hemispherical dome, a light source, an array of rubber sensing elements, and a CCD camera. The sensing element of the silicone rubber comprises one columnar feeler and eight conical feelers. The contact areas of the conical feelers, which maintain contact with the acrylic dome, detect the three-axis force applied to the tip of the sensing element. Normal and shearing forces are then calculated from integration and centroid displacement of the grayscale value derived from the conical feeler's contacts. To evaluate the present tactile sensor, we conducted a series of experiments using an x-z stage, a rotational stage, and a force gauge. Although we discovered that the relationship between the integrated grayscale value and normal force depends on the sensor's latitude on the hemispherical surface, it is easy to modify the sensitivity based on the latitude to make the centroid displacement of the grayscale value proportional to the shearing force. When we examined the repeatability of the present tactile sensor with 1,000 load/unload cycles, the error was 2%.

Bilateral Symmetry of Distortions of Tactile Size Perception.

PubMed

Longo, Matthew R; Ghosh, Arko; Yahya, Tasneem

2015-01-01

The perceived distance between touches on the limbs is generally bigger for distances oriented across the width of the limb than for distances oriented along the length of the limb. The present study aimed to investigate the coherence of such distortions of tactile size perception across different skin surfaces. We investigated distortions of tactile size perception on the dorsal and palmar surfaces of both the left and right hands as well as the forehead. Participants judged which of two tactile distances felt larger. One distance was aligned with the proximodistal axis (along the body), the other with the mediolateral axis (across the body). Clear distortions were found on all five skin surfaces, with stimuli oriented across the width of the body being perceived as farther apart than those oriented along the length of the body. Consistent with previous results, distortions were smaller on the palmar than on the dorsal hand surface. Distortion on the forehead was intermediate between the dorsal and palmar surfaces. There were clear correlations between distortion on the left and right hands, for both the dorsal and palmar skin surfaces. In contrast, within each hand, there was no significant correlation between the two skin surfaces. Distortion on the forehead was not significantly correlated with that on any of the other skin surfaces. These results provide evidence for bilaterally symmetric representations underlying tactile size perception. © The Author(s) 2015.

Tactile Imaging Markers to Characterize Female Pelvic Floor Conditions

PubMed Central

van Raalte, Heather; Egorov, Vladimir

2015-01-01

The Vaginal Tactile Imager (VTI) records pressure patterns from vaginal walls under an applied tissue deformation and during pelvic floor muscle contractions. The objective of this study is to validate tactile imaging and muscle contraction parameters (markers) sensitive to the female pelvic floor conditions. Twenty-two women with normal and prolapse conditions were examined by a vaginal tactile imaging probe. We identified 9 parameters which were sensitive to prolapse conditions (p < 0.05 for one-way ANOVA and/or p < 0.05 for t-test with correlation factor r from −0.73 to −0.56). The list of parameters includes pressure, pressure gradient and dynamic pressure response during muscle contraction at identified locations. These parameters may be used for biomechanical characterization of female pelvic floor conditions to support an effective management of pelvic floor prolapse. PMID:26389014

Fiabilité des structures mécaniques adaptatives: effet de la panne des actionneurs ou des capteurs sur la stabilité

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fall, H.; Charon, W.; Kouta, R.

2002-12-01

Ces dernières décennies, des activités significatives dans le monde étaient dirigées autour du contrôle actif. Le but de ces recherches était essentiellement d'améliorer les performances, la fiabilité et la sécurité des systèmes. Notamment dans le cas des structures soumises à des vibrations aléatoires. D'importants travaux ont été consacré à l'utilisation des “matériaux intelligents” comme capteurs et actionneurs. Cette article propose l'analyse de la fiabilité des systèmes mécaniques en étudiant les pannes des actionneurs ou des capteurs. L'effet de ces pannes sur la stabilité et la performance du système y est démontré. Les méthodologies de conception y sont rappelées. Des exemples numériques sont fournis à travers le contrôle d'un panneau sous chargement dynamique pour illustrer la méthode proposée.

Braille and Tactile Graphics: Youths with Visual Impairments Share Their Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenblum, L. Penny; Herzberg, Tina S.

2015-01-01

Introduction: Data were collected from youths with visual impairment about their experiences with tactile graphics and braille materials used in mathematics and science classes. Methods: Youths answered questions and explored four tactile graphics made using different production methods. They located specific information on each graphic and shared…

Use of early tactile stimulation in rehabilitation of digital nerve injuries.

PubMed

Cheng, A S

2000-01-01

Digital nerves are the most frequently injured peripheral nerve. To improve the recovery of functional sensibility of digital nerve injuries, a prospective randomized controlled study was conducted to see the effect of using early tactile stimulation in rehabilitation of digital nerve injuries. Two specific tactile stimulators were made and prescribed for patients with digital nerve-injury. Twenty-four participants with 32 digital nerve injuries received the prescribed tactile stimulators (experimental group), and another 25 participants with 33 digital nerve injuries received only routine conventional therapy (control group). A significant difference (p < .05) was seen in the experimental group, although there were some variations between the different classes of associated injuries, with least benefit observed in the combined nerve, tendon, and bone injury class. Use of early tactile stimulation as described in this study can be considered an effective way to improve both quality and quantity of recovery of functional sensibility in digital nerve injuries without combined nerve, tendon, and bone injuries.

Catalyseur d'hydrocraquage à base de sulfure de NiMo déposé sur une zéolithe HEMT modifiée

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baalala, M.; Becue, T.; Leglise, J.; Manoli, J. M.; van Gestel, J. N. M.; Lamotte, J.; Bensitel, M.; Goupil, J. M.; Cornet, D.

1999-02-01

Treating a NH4EMT zeolite with a solution of (NH4)2SiF6 at 80 °C affords a solid containing amorphous SiO2 intimately mixed with the zeolite. This acidic support EMT-Si was loaded with NiMo sulfide in order to prepare a bifunctional catalyst, which was tested for the hydrogenation of benzene and the hydrocracking of n-heptane. This NiMo/EMT-Si catalyst was found more active for hydrogenation than the analogous NiMo/HY. This is ascribed to a higher dispersion of the NiMo sulfide, which is almost equally shared between the internal mesopores in the modified EMT solid, and the fissures, which were created throughout the zeolite grains upon inserting the NiMo sulfide. The catalyst with the EMT-Si support was also found more active than the NiMo/HY for the hydrocracking of heptane, with a slightly higher selectivity into heptane isomers. Le traitement d'une zéolithe NH4EMT par une solution de (NH4)2SiF6 fournit un solide comportant une phase SiO2 amorphe intimement mélangée aux parties intactes de la zéolithe. Sur ce support acide EMT-Si, on a greffé un sulfure de NiMo afin de préparer un catalyseur bifonctionnel qui a été testé dans les réactions d'hydrogénation du benzène et d'hydrocraquage du n-heptane. Ce catalyseur NiMo/EMT-Si s'avère plus actif en hydrogénation que son analogue NiMo/HY, en raison d'une meilleure dispersion du sulfure de NiMo. Sur le solide EMT modifié, le sulfure se répartit à peu près également entre les mésopores internes et les fissures crées dans les grains de zéolithe lors de l'insertion du sulfure de NiMo. Au contraire sur le support Y, une partie du sulfure est externe aux grains de zéolithe et inactive en catalyse. Le catalyseur NiMo/EMT-Si est aussi trouvé plus actif que le NiMo/HY en hydrocraquage du n-heptane, et un peu plus sélectif en isomères.

Tactile agnosia. Casuistic evidence and theoretical remarks on modality-specific meaning representations and sensorimotor integration.

PubMed

Platz, T

1996-10-01

Somaesthetic, motor and cognitive functions were studied in a man with impaired tactile object-recognition (TOR) in his left hand due to a right parietal convexity meningeoma which had been surgically removed. Primary motor and somatosensory functions were not impaired, and discriminative abilities for various tactile aspects and cognitive skills were preserved. Nevertheless, the patient could often not appreciate the object's nature or significance when it was placed in his left hand and was unable to name or to describe or demonstrate the use of these objects. Therefore, he can be regarded as an example of associative tactile agnosia. The view is taken and elaborated that defective modality-specific meaning representations account for associative tactile agnosia. These meaning representations are conceptualized as learned unimodal feature-entity relationships which are thought to be defective in tactile agnosia. In line with this hypothesis, tactile feature analysis and cross-modal matching of features were largely preserved in the investigated patient, while combining features to form entities was defective in the tactile domain. The alternative hypothesis of agnosia as deficit of cross-modal association of features was not supported. The presumed distributed functional network responsible for TOR is thought to involve perception of features, object recognition and related tactile motor behaviour interactively. A deficit leading primarily to impaired combining features to form entities can therefore be expected to result in additional minor impairment of related perceptual-motor processes. Unilaterality of the gnostic deficit can be explained by a lateralized organization of the functional network responsible for tactile recognition of objects.

Visual enhancing of tactile perception in the posterior parietal cortex.

PubMed

Ro, Tony; Wallace, Ruth; Hagedorn, Judith; Farnè, Alessandro; Pienkos, Elizabeth

2004-01-01

The visual modality typically dominates over our other senses. Here we show that after inducing an extreme conflict in the left hand between vision of touch (present) and the feeling of touch (absent), sensitivity to touch increases for several minutes after the conflict. Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the posterior parietal cortex after this conflict not only eliminated the enduring visual enhancement of touch, but also impaired normal tactile perception. This latter finding demonstrates a direct role of the parietal lobe in modulating tactile perception as a result of the conflict between these senses. These results provide evidence for visual-to-tactile perceptual modulation and demonstrate effects of illusory vision of touch on touch perception through a long-lasting modulatory process in the posterior parietal cortex.

Nocardiose pulmonaire sur un terrain immunocompétent: à propos de 2 cas

PubMed Central

Rhofir, Yasmina; Zahraoui, Rachida; Tiress, Nabil; Naji-Amrani, Hicham; Soualhi, Mouna; Bourkadi, Jamal Eddine

2017-01-01

La nocardiose est une infection rare, mais sévère, causée par des bactéries du genre nocardia, qui appartiennent à l'ordre des actinomycétales. Si elles peuvent toucher l'adulte immunocompétent, les nocardioses restent des pathologies de l'individu fragilisé sur le plan immunitaire. L'atteinte pulmonaire reste la plus fréquente, sa prise en charge correcte est liée au diagnostic qui est souvent retardé par des présentations non spécifiques et des prélèvements non concluants. Nous rapportons ici deux cas de nocardiose chez des patients immunocompétents. Le premier cas est celui d'un homme de 24 ans, avec notion de tabagisme et d'éthylisme, hospitalisé pour des douleurs thoraciques et des hémoptysies de faible abondance, évoluant depuis deux mois, avec apparition d'abcès sous cutanés dorsaux fistulisés. L'exploration radiologique découvre une masse tissulaire médiastino-pulmonaire droite avec lyse costale adjacente et diffusion aux tissus para vertébraux droits. Les prélèvements bactériologiques restent négatifs motivant une biopsie scannoguidée de la lésion qui est revenue en faveur d'infection à nocardiose. Le second cas concerne un homme de 22 ans, aux antécédents de tuberculose pleurale traitée il y a 8 ans puis une rechute de tuberculose en 2011 (abcès médiastinal). Admis pour suspicion de rechute de tuberculose devant une toux chronique avec altération de l'état général et une hépatosplénomégalie. Le scanner thoracique montre des condensations alvéolaires avec pleurésie. Au cours de son hospitalisation, apparition de tuméfactions sous cutanées purulentes dont l'étude bactériologique du pus est revenue en faveur de nocardiose avec une souche résistante à tous les antibiotiques sauf colistine et bactrim. Les auteurs illustrent à travers ces deux observations, les aspects cliniques et radiologiques de nocardiose pulmonaire en mettant le point sur les difficultés diagnostiques et thérapeutiques surtout dans un

Etude de l'influence de la temperature et de l'humidite sur les proprietes mecaniques en traction des fibres de chanvre et de coco

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho Thi, Thu Nga

L'objectif de cette etude fut d'etablir l'effet de l'humidite et de la temperature sur la resistance en traction et le module elastique des fibres de chanvre et de coco. Deux etudes ont ete realisees afin d'atteindre cet objectif. La premiere vise l'absorption de l'humidite dans ces fibres en exposition dans l'air (de 0%RH a 80%RH) ainsi que l'absorption de l'eau dans ces fibres immergees dans l'eau aux differentes temperatures. La deuxieme consiste a mesurer la resistance en traction et le module elastique de ces fibres sous differentes conditions d'humidite et de temperature. En basant sur les resultats experimentaux obtenus, les methodes semi empiriques et de reseaux de neurones ont ete utilisees pour but de predire les proprietes en traction (resistance et module d'elasticite) des fibres de chanvre et de coco sous l'influence de l'humidite et de la temperature.

Que nous apprennent les petits frères et sœurs sur les signes précoces d’autisme?1

PubMed Central

Rogers, Sally J.

2010-01-01

L’objectif de cette revue est de présenter une synthèse des réponses que l’on peut actuellement apporter à la question de savoir quelles sont les premières caractéristiques comportementales qui prédisent le développement de l’autisme. L’article se centre sur 5 points : la présence de Troubles du Spectre Autistique (TSA) dans des groupes de frères et sœurs puînés d’enfants déjà diagnostiqués, les patterns et caractéristiques du développement moteur, les patterns et caractéristiques du développement social et émotionnel, les patterns et caractéristiques de la communication intentionnelle verbale et non verbale, et les patterns qui marquent le début de comportements pathognomoniques de TSA. La discussion porte sur les aspects inattendus des résultats et les pistes de recherche nouvelles qu’ils peuvent engendrer. PMID:20890377

Tactile Perception of Roughness and Hardness to Discriminate Materials by Friction-Induced Vibration

PubMed Central

Zhao, Xuezeng

2017-01-01

The human fingertip is an exquisitely powerful bio-tactile sensor in perceiving different materials based on various highly-sensitive mechanoreceptors distributed all over the skin. The tactile perception of surface roughness and material hardness can be estimated by skin vibrations generated during a fingertip stroking of a surface instead of being maintained in a static position. Moreover, reciprocating sliding with increasing velocities and pressures are two common behaviors in humans to discriminate different materials, but the question remains as to what the correlation of the sliding velocity and normal load on the tactile perceptions of surface roughness and hardness is for material discrimination. In order to investigate this correlation, a finger-inspired crossed-I beam structure tactile tester has been designed to mimic the anthropic tactile discrimination behaviors. A novel method of characterizing the fast Fourier transform integral (FFT) slope of the vibration acceleration signal generated from fingertip rubbing on surfaces at increasing sliding velocity and normal load, respectively, are defined as kv and kw, and is proposed to discriminate the surface roughness and hardness of different materials. Over eight types of materials were tested, and they proved the capability and advantages of this high tactile-discriminating method. Our study may find applications in investigating humanoid robot perceptual abilities. PMID:29182538

Integration of tactile input across fingers in a patient with finger agnosia.

PubMed

Anema, Helen A; Overvliet, Krista E; Smeets, Jeroen B J; Brenner, Eli; Dijkerman, H Chris

2011-01-01

Finger agnosia has been described as an inability to explicitly individuate between the fingers, which is possibly due to fused neural representations of these fingers. Hence, are patients with finger agnosia unable to keep tactile information perceived over several fingers separate? Here, we tested a finger agnosic patient (GO) on two tasks that measured the ability to keep tactile information simultaneously perceived by individual fingers separate. In experiment 1 GO performed a haptic search task, in which a target (the absence of a protruded line) needed to be identified among distracters (protruded lines). The lines were presented simultaneously to the fingertips of both hands. Similarly to the controls, her reaction time decreased when her fingers were aligned as compared to when her fingers were stretched and in an unaligned position. This suggests that she can keep tactile input from different fingers separate. In experiment two, GO was required to judge the position of a target tactile stimulus to the index finger, relatively to a reference tactile stimulus to the middle finger, both in fingers uncrossed and crossed position. GO was able to indicate the relative position of the target stimulus as well as healthy controls, which indicates that she was able to keep tactile information perceived by two neighbouring fingers separate. Interestingly, GO performed better as compared to the healthy controls in the finger crossed condition. Together, these results suggest the GO is able to implicitly distinguish between tactile information perceived by multiple fingers. We therefore conclude that finger agnosia is not caused by minor disruptions of low-level somatosensory processing. These findings further underpin the idea of a selective impaired higher order body representation restricted to the fingers as underlying cause of finger agnosia. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of tactile feedback in grip force during laparoscopic training tasks.

PubMed

Wottawa, Christopher R; Cohen, Jeremiah R; Fan, Richard E; Bisley, James W; Culjat, Martin O; Grundfest, Warren S; Dutson, Erik P

2013-04-01

Laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery has revolutionized surgical care by reducing trauma to the patient, thereby decreasing the need for medication and shortening recovery times. During open procedures, surgeons can directly feel tissue characteristics. However, in laparoscopic surgery, tactile feedback during grip is attenuated and limited to the resistance felt in the tool handle. Excessive grip force during laparoscopic surgery can lead to tissue damage. Providing additional supplementary tactile feedback may allow subjects to have better control of grip force and identification of tissue characteristics, potentially decreasing the learning curve associated with complex minimally invasive techniques. A tactile feedback system has been developed and integrated into a modified laparoscopic grasper that allows forces applied at the grasper tips to be felt by the surgeon's hands. In this study, 15 subjects (11 novices, 4 experts) were asked to perform single-handed peg transfers using these laparoscopic graspers in three trials (feedback OFF, ON, OFF). Peak and average grip forces (newtons) during each grip event were measured and compared using a Wilcoxon ranked test in which each subject served as his or her own control. After activating the tactile feedback system, the novice subject population showed significant decreases in grip force (p < 0.003). When the system was deactivated for the third trial, there were significant increases in grip force (p < 0.003). Expert subjects showed no significant improvements with the addition of tactile feedback (p > 0.05 in all cases). Supplementary tactile feedback helped novice subjects reduce grip force during the laparoscopic training task but did not offer improvements for the four expert subjects. This indicates that tactile feedback may be beneficial for laparoscopic training but has limited long-term use in the nonrobotic setting.

Microstructured graphene arrays for highly sensitive flexible tactile sensors.

PubMed

Zhu, Bowen; Niu, Zhiqiang; Wang, Hong; Leow, Wan Ru; Wang, Hua; Li, Yuangang; Zheng, Liyan; Wei, Jun; Huo, Fengwei; Chen, Xiaodong

2014-09-24

A highly sensitive tactile sensor is devised by applying microstructured graphene arrays as sensitive layers. The combination of graphene and anisotropic microstructures endows this sensor with an ultra-high sensitivity of -5.53 kPa(-1) , an ultra-fast response time of only 0.2 ms, as well as good reliability, rendering it promising for the application of tactile sensing in artificial skin and human-machine interface. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Improved tactile resonance sensor for robotic assisted surgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliva Uribe, David; Schoukens, Johan; Stroop, Ralf

2018-01-01

This paper presents an improved tactile sensor using a piezoelectric bimorph able to differentiate soft materials with similar mechanical characteristics. The final aim is to develop intelligent surgical tools for brain tumour resection using integrated sensors in order to improve tissue tumour delineation and tissue differentiation. The bimorph sensor is driven using a random phase multisine and the properties of contact between the sensor's tip and a certain load are evaluated by means of the evaluation of the nonparametric FRF. An analysis of the nonlinear contributions is presented to show that the use of a linear model is feasible for the measurement conditions. A series of gelatine phantoms were tested. The tactile sensor is able to identify minimal differences in the consistency of the measured samples considering viscoelastic behaviour. A variance analysis was performed to evaluate the reliability of the sensors and to identify possible error sources due to inconsistencies in the preparation method of the phantoms. The results of the variance analysis are discussed showing that ability of the proposed tactile sensor to perform high quality measurements.

Tactile sensitivity of gloved hands in the cold operation.

PubMed

Geng, Q; Kuklane, K; Holmér, I

1997-11-01

In this study, tactile sensitivity of gloved hand in the cold operation has been investigated. The relations among physical properties of protective gloves and hand tactile sensitivity and cold protection were also analysed both objectively and subjectively. Subjects with various gloves participated in the experimental study during cold exposure at different ambient temperatures of -12 degrees C and -25 degrees C. Tactual performance was measured using an identification task with various sizes of objects over the percentage of misjudgment. Forearm, hand and finger skin temperatures were also recorded throughout. The experimental data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) model and the Tukey's multiple range test. The results obtained indicated that the tactual performance was affected both by gloves and by hands/fingers cooling. Effect of object size on the tactile discrimination was significant and the misjudgment increased when similar sizes of objects were identified, especially at -25 degrees C.

Contrôle cohérent de la dynamique de fragmentation d'agrégats alcalins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindinger, A.; Lupulescu, C.; Le Roux, J.; Bartelt, A.; Vajda, Š.; Wöste, L.

2004-11-01

Les agrégats métalliques présentent des propriétés extraordinaires, en particulier chimiques et catalytiques, qui dépendent fortement de leur taille. Ce comportement en fait des candidats idéaux pour l'analyse en temps réel de processus photo-induits ultrarapides, le but ultime étant la conduite de scénarios de contrôle cohérent. Nous avons réalisé des expériences d'ionisation multiphotonique non stationnaire sur de petits agrégats alcalins de différentes tailles et dans différents états électroniques rovibrationnels, y compris leur état fondamental, sondant ainsi leur dynamique ondulatoire, leur orientation structurelle, leur transfert de charge et leur dissociation. Les processus observés dépendent grandement des paramètres du faisceau laser d'excitation, tels que sa phase, son amplitude et sa durée ; cette sensibilité plaide pour l'emploi d'un système de contrôle rétroactif permettant de générer les formes d'impulsion optimales. Les caractéristiques spectrales et temporelles de ces dernières reflètent les propriétés du système étudié ainsi que les processus photochimiques que l'irradiation y induit. Nous présentons d'abord la dynamique vibrationelle d'états électroniques excités, liés, dissociatifs et prédissociatifs, des dimères et trimères alcalins. Suit une description du principe d'observation par pompage optique par effet Raman stimulé de la dynamique d'un paquet d'onde dans l'état électronique fondamental. Puisque les paramètres de l'impulsion d'excitation influencent de façon significative le poids des différentes trajectoires dans l'espace des phases, nous avons mené des expériences sur les canaux de fragmentation concurrents d'une réaction photo-induite, en étudiant les différents embranchements des voies d'ionisation et de fragmentation de Na{2}K excité électroniquement. L'utilisation d'un algorithme évolutif, pour l'optimisation de la phase et de l'amplitude de l'onde �

L'endométriose périnéale profonde sur cicatrice d’épisiotomie: à propos d'un cas rare

PubMed Central

Laadioui, Meriem; Alaoui, Fdili; Jayi, Sofia; Bouguern, Hakima; Chaara, Hikmat; Melhouf, Moulay Aabdelilah

2013-01-01

Parmi les localisations rares de l'endométriose sur cicatrice, celle du périnée demeure exceptionnelle, l'origine en est souvent iatrogène (épisiotomie). Nous rapportons le cas d'une patiente présentant une douleur cyclique, au niveau de la cicatrice d’épisiotomie. Avec à l'examen clinique une masse de 3,5 cm de grand diamètre au niveau de la cicatrice d’épisiotomie. L’écho périnéale a objectivé une image hypoéchgène hétérogène non vascularisée en regard de la cicatrice d’épisiotomie faisant 3,23/1cm. L'excision de la lésion a été réalisée et l’étude anatomopathologique a confirmé le diagnostic d'endométriose. Les suites postopératoires étaient simples avec un recul de 3 mois sans récidive de la douleur ni de la masse. A travers notre cas et une revue de la littérature, nous insistons sur les la nécessité du diagnostic clinique et d'une prise en charge précoce en vue d'améliorer le pronostic de cette entité rare. PMID:24778749

Tactile perceptual learning: learning curves and transfer to the contralateral finger.

PubMed

Kaas, Amanda L; van de Ven, Vincent; Reithler, Joel; Goebel, Rainer

2013-02-01

Tactile perceptual learning has been shown to improve performance on tactile tasks, but there is no agreement about the extent of transfer to untrained skin locations. The lack of such transfer is often seen as a behavioral index of the contribution of early somatosensory brain regions. Moreover, the time course of improvements has never been described explicitly. Sixteen subjects were trained on the Ludvigh task (a tactile vernier task) on four subsequent days. On the fifth day, transfer of learning to the non-trained contralateral hand was tested. In five subjects, we explored to what extent training effects were retained approximately 1.5 years after the final training session, expecting to find long-term retention of learning effects after training. Results showed that tactile perceptual learning mainly occurred offline, between sessions. Training effects did not transfer initially, but became fully available to the untrained contralateral hand after a few additional training runs. After 1.5 years, training effects were not fully washed out and could be recuperated within a single training session. Interpreted in the light of theories of visual perceptual learning, these results suggest that tactile perceptual learning is not fundamentally different from visual perceptual learning, but might proceed at a slower pace due to procedural and task differences, thus explaining the apparent divergence in the amount of transfer and long-term retention.

The tactile movement aftereffect.

PubMed

Hollins, M; Favorov, O

1994-01-01

The existence of a tactile movement aftereffect was established in a series of experiments on the palmar surface of the hand and fingers of psychophysical observers. During adaptation, observers cupped their hand around a moving drum for up to 3 min; following this period of stimulation, they typically reported an aftereffect consisting of movement sensations located on and deep to the skin, and lasting for up to 1 min. Preliminary experiments comparing a number of stimulus materials mounted on the drum demonstrated that a surface approximating a low-spatial-frequency square wave, with a smooth microtexture, was especially effective at inducing the aftereffect; this adapting stimulus was therefore used throughout the two main experiments. In Experiment 1, the vividness of the aftereffect produced by 2 min of adaptation was determined under three test conditions: with the hand (1) remaining on the now stationary drum; (2) in contact with a soft, textured surface; or (3) suspended in air. Subjects' free magnitude estimates of the peak vividness of the aftereffect were not significantly different across conditions; each subject experienced the aftereffect at least once under each condition. Thus the tactile movement aftereffect does not seem to depend critically on the ponditions of stimulation that obtain while it is being experienced. In Experiment 2, the vividness and duration of the aftereffect were measured as a function of the duration of the adapting stimulus. Both measures increased steadily over the range of durations explored (30-180 sec). In its dependence on adapting duration, the aftereffect resembles the waterfall illusion in vision. An explanation for the tactile movement aftereffect is proposed, based on the model of cortical dynamics of Whitsel et al. (1989, 1991). With assumed modest variation of one parameter across individuals, this application of the model is able to account both for the data of the majority of subjects, who experienced the

Pure Amorphagnosia without Tactile Object Agnosia.

PubMed

Kubota, Shinichirou; Yamada, Mai; Satoh, Hideyo; Satoh, Akira; Tsujihata, Mitsuhiro

2017-01-01

A 54-year-old female showed amorphagnosia without ahylognosia and tactile agnosia 40 days after the onset of right cerebral infarction. Her basic somatosensory functions were normal. The appreciation of substance qualities (hylognosia) was preserved, but the patient's inability to recognize the size and shape (morphagnosia) was confined to 2- and 3-dimensional shapes (amorphagnosia) in the left hand. However, the patient's ability to recognize real daily objects was well preserved. Brain MRI after admission showed ischemic lesions confined to the right pre- and postcentral gyri and the medial frontal cortex on DWI and FLAIR images. An analysis of SPECT images revealed that the most decreased areas were localized to the pre- and postcentral gyri, superior and inferior parietal lobules, supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus. Considering the previous reported cases, the responsible lesion for the impaired perception of hylognosia and morphagnosia may not necessarily be confined to the right hemisphere. To date, 5 reports (6 cases) of tactile agnosia have been published; 4 cases presented with both ahylognosia and amorphagnosia, while 1 presented with only amorphagnosia, and another showed amorphagnosia and mild ahylognosia. Our case is the first to present with only amorphagnosia without tactile agnosia. The mechanism for the well-preserved recognition of real objects may depend on the preserved hylognosia. Of note, there have been no reports showing only ahylognosia without amorphagnosia. Further studies are necessary to clarify whether or not patients with preserved hylognosia or morphagnosia retain the ability to perceive real objects.

Generalization of a tactile stimulus in horses.

PubMed Central

Dougherty, D M; Lewis, P

1993-01-01

Using horses, we investigated the control of operant behavior by a tactile stimulus (the training stimulus) and the generalization of behavior to six other similar test stimuli. In a stall, the experimenters mounted a response panel in the doorway. Located on this panel were a response lever and a grain dispenser. The experimenters secured a tactile-stimulus belt to the horse's back. The stimulus belt was constructed by mounting seven solenoids along a piece of burlap in a manner that allowed each to provide the delivery of a tactile stimulus, a repetitive light tapping, at different locations (spaced 10.0 cm apart) along the horse's back. Two preliminary steps were necessary before generalization testing: training a measurable response (lip pressing) and training on several reinforcement schedules in the presence of a training stimulus (tapping by one of the solenoids). We then gave each horse two generalization test sessions. Results indicated that the horses' behavior was effectively controlled by the training stimulus. Horses made the greatest number of responses to the training stimulus, and the tendency to respond to the other test stimuli diminished as the stimuli became farther away from the training stimulus. These findings are discussed in the context of behavioral principles and their relevance to the training of horses. PMID:8315368

Generalization of a tactile stimulus in horses.

PubMed

Dougherty, D M; Lewis, P

1993-05-01

Using horses, we investigated the control of operant behavior by a tactile stimulus (the training stimulus) and the generalization of behavior to six other similar test stimuli. In a stall, the experimenters mounted a response panel in the doorway. Located on this panel were a response lever and a grain dispenser. The experimenters secured a tactile-stimulus belt to the horse's back. The stimulus belt was constructed by mounting seven solenoids along a piece of burlap in a manner that allowed each to provide the delivery of a tactile stimulus, a repetitive light tapping, at different locations (spaced 10.0 cm apart) along the horse's back. Two preliminary steps were necessary before generalization testing: training a measurable response (lip pressing) and training on several reinforcement schedules in the presence of a training stimulus (tapping by one of the solenoids). We then gave each horse two generalization test sessions. Results indicated that the horses' behavior was effectively controlled by the training stimulus. Horses made the greatest number of responses to the training stimulus, and the tendency to respond to the other test stimuli diminished as the stimuli became farther away from the training stimulus. These findings are discussed in the context of behavioral principles and their relevance to the training of horses.

Le traumatisme du colon: l'expérience du CHU Hassan II de Fès

PubMed Central

Benjelloun, El Bachir; Hafid, Hasnai; Karim, Ibnmajdoub; Ousadden, Abdelmalek; Mazaz, Khalid; Taleb, Kahlid Ait

2012-01-01

Introduction Les traumatismes du colon sont associés à un risque majeur de complications septiques et de mortalité. Le but de notre étude est d’évaluer les circonstances, la prise en charge, le suivi et les facteurs pronostic de morbidité postopératoire des malades victimes d'un traumatisme colique. Méthodes Il s'agit d'une étude rétrospective sur une série de 49 patients opérés pour des plaies coliques aux services de chirurgie viscérale du CHU HASSAN II de Fès sur une période de 8 ans de juillet 2003 à juillet 2011. Résultats L’âge moyen de nos patients était de 25ans (16-70) avec une nette prédominance masculine (93.8%). Les plaies coliques secondaires à un traumatisme par arme blanche représentent 85% des cas (42 patients), suivi par les plaies iatrogènes au cours d'une coloscopie chez 6 patients (13%), puis les contusions abdominales chez 1 patient (2%). Les parties du cadre colique les plus touchées étaient le colon transverse chez 19 patients (38%) et le colon descendant chez 12 patients (24, 5%). Le colon sigmoïde était le segment le plus touché au cours d'une coloscopie4/6. Quarante-deux patients (85%) ont eu une suture primaire des plaies coliques, six patients (13%) une diversion fécale et un patient (2%) une résection-anastomose. Deux patients (4%) sont décédés suite à un choc septique. La morbidité globale était de 38,7% dominé essentiellement par l'infection de la paroi chez 14 patients et une péritonite post opératoire chez 3 patients. L'analyse univarié a montré une différence significatif en terme d'infection de la paroi entre le groupe colostomie versus suture simple (50% vs 20,9% p<0,05). L'atteinte du colon gauche et la réalisation d'une colostomie sont associés à un risque plus élevés de complications postopératoires. Conclusion La suture primaire peut être effectuée avec un faible taux de complications postopératoire chez la majorité des patients suite à un traumatisme du colon. PMID

Left hand tactile agnosia after posterior callosal lesion.

PubMed

Balsamo, Maddalena; Trojano, Luigi; Giamundo, Arcangelo; Grossi, Dario

2008-09-01

We report a patient with a hemorrhagic lesion encroaching upon the posterior third of the corpus callosum but sparing the splenium. She showed marked difficulties in recognizing objects and shapes perceived through her left hand, while she could appreciate elementary sensorial features of items tactually presented to the same hand flawlessly. This picture, corresponding to classical descriptions of unilateral associative tactile agnosia, was associated with finger agnosia of the left hand. This very unusual case report can be interpreted as an instance of disconnection syndrome, and allows a discussion of mechanisms involved in tactile object recognition.

Refreshable tactile displays based on bistable electroactive polymer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Xiaofan; Brochu, Paul; Salazar, Brandon; Pei, Qibing

2011-04-01

Refreshable tactile displays can significantly improve the education of blind children and the quality of life of people with severe vision impairment. A number of actuator technologies have been investigated. Bistable Electroactive Polymer (BSEP) appears to be well suited for this application. The BSEP exhibits a bistable electrically actuated strain as large as 335%. We present improved refreshable tactile display devices fabricated on thin plastic sheets. Stacked BSEP films were employed to meet the requirements in raised dot height and supporting force. The bistable nature of the actuation reduces the power consumption and simplifies the device operation.

Effect of tactile vibration on annoyance to synthesized propfan noise

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clevenson, S. A.

1981-01-01

Design information that maximizes passenger comfort for propfan aircraft is presented. Predicted noise and vibration environments and the resultant passenger acceptability were studied. The effect of high frequency tactile vibration (i.e., greater than 30 Hz) on passenger reactions was analyzed. Passenger reactions to a wide range of noise with and without tactile vibration was studied. The passenger ride quality simulator was employed using subjects who evaluated either synthesized propeller noises only, or these noises combined with seat/arm vibration. The noises ranging from 80-100 dB consisted of a turbulent boundary layer noise with a factorial combination of five blade passage frequencies (50-200 Hz), two harmonic rolloffs, and three tone/noise ratios. It is indicated that passenger reaction (annoyance) to noise is not significantly changed in the presence of tactile vibration.

New Magnetic Microactuator Design Based on PDMS Elastomer and MEMS Technologies for Tactile Display.

PubMed

Streque, Jeremy; Talbi, Abdelkrim; Pernod, Philippe; Preobrazhensky, Vladimir

2010-01-01

Highly efficient tactile display devices must fulfill technical requirements for tactile stimulation, all the while preserving the lightness and compactness needed for handheld operation. This paper focuses on the elaboration of highly integrated magnetic microactuators for tactile display devices. FEM simulation, conception, fabrication, and characterization of these microactuators are presented in this paper. The current demonstrator offers a 4 × 4 flexible microactuator array with a resolution of 2 mm. Each actuator is composed of a Poly (Dimethyl-Siloxane) (PDMS) elastomeric membrane, magnetically actuated by coil-magnet interaction. It represents a proof of concept for fully integrated MEMS tactile devices, with fair actuation forces provided for a power consumption up to 100 mW per microactuator. The prototypes are destined to provide both static and dynamic tactile sensations, with an optimized membrane geometry for actuation frequencies between DC and 350 Hz. On the basis of preliminary experiments, this display device can offer skin stimulations for various tactile stimuli for applications in the fields of Virtual Reality or Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Moreover, the elastomeric material used in this device and its global compactness offer great advantages in matter of comfort of use and capabilities of integration in haptic devices.

Le groupe de recherches transfusionnelles d’Afrique francophone: bilan des cinq premières années

PubMed Central

Tagny, Claude Tayou; Murphy, Edward L.; Lefrère, Jean-Jacques

2016-01-01

Les travaux de recherches sur la sécurité transfusionnelle en Afrique sub-saharienne sont peu nombreux, souvent limités à des initiatives locales avec des conclusions difficilement représentatives de cette région. Le Groupe de recherches transfusionnelles en Afrique sub-saharienne francophone a été créé en mai 2007 avec pour objectif de développer des stratégies globales d’amélioration de la sécurité transfusionnelle mais adaptables à la situation de chaque pays. Les activités du Groupe à ce jour ont porté essentiellement sur l’obtention de données épidémiologiques et de laboratoire sur la transfusion sanguine et à proposer des stratégies de sécurité transfusionnelle dans le domaine des infections transmissibles par la transfusion. Pour mener à bien ces activités de recherche, le Groupe travaille en étroite collaboration avec les Centres nationaux de transfusion sanguine (CNTS), les Centres régionaux de transfusion sanguine (CRTS), les banques de sang hospitalières (BSH) et les postes de collecte de sang. Pour les 5 premières années, quatre priorités de recherche ont été identifiées: (i) des études descriptives sur les caractéristiques des donneurs de sang et des centres de transfusion; (ii) une estimation du risque résiduel post-transfusionnel des principales infections virales transmissibles par la transfusion; (iii) une analyse des stratégies de sélection médicale des donneurs de sang; et (iv) une description des stratégies de dépistage des ITT et une description du système d’assurance qualité externe existant. Durant cette période, sept projets ont été mis en œuvre au niveau national et publiés et cinq études multicentriques ont été réalisées et publiées. La présente étude rapporte les principales observations et recommandations de ces études. PMID:24360798

Tactile-Sensing Based on Flexible PVDF Nanofibers via Electrospinning: A Review

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaomei; Sun, Fazhe; Yin, Guangchao; Wang, Yuting; Liu, Bo

2018-01-01

The flexible tactile sensor has attracted widespread attention because of its great flexibility, high sensitivity, and large workable range. It can be integrated into clothing, electronic skin, or mounted on to human skin. Various nanostructured materials and nanocomposites with high flexibility and electrical performance have been widely utilized as functional materials in flexible tactile sensors. Polymer nanomaterials, representing the most promising materials, especially polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), PVDF co-polymer and their nanocomposites with ultra-sensitivity, high deformability, outstanding chemical resistance, high thermal stability and low permittivity, can meet the flexibility requirements for dynamic tactile sensing in wearable electronics. Electrospinning has been recognized as an excellent straightforward and versatile technique for preparing nanofiber materials. This review will present a brief overview of the recent advances in PVDF nanofibers by electrospinning for flexible tactile sensor applications. PVDF, PVDF co-polymers and their nanocomposites have been successfully formed as ultrafine nanofibers, even as randomly oriented PVDF nanofibers by electrospinning. These nanofibers used as the functional layers in flexible tactile sensors have been reviewed briefly in this paper. The β-phase content, which is the strongest polar moment contributing to piezoelectric properties among all the crystalline phases of PVDF, can be improved by adjusting the technical parameters in electrospun PVDF process. The piezoelectric properties and the sensibility for the pressure sensor are improved greatly when the PVDF fibers become more oriented. The tactile performance of PVDF composite nanofibers can be further promoted by doping with nanofillers and nanoclay. Electrospun P(VDF-TrFE) nanofiber mats used for the 3D pressure sensor achieved excellent sensitivity, even at 0.1 Pa. The most significant enhancement is that the aligned electrospun core-shell P

A new dynamic tactile display for reconfigurable braille: implementation and tests.

PubMed

Motto Ros, Paolo; Dante, Vittorio; Mesin, Luca; Petetti, Erminio; Del Giudice, Paolo; Pasero, Eros

2014-01-01

Different tactile interfaces have been proposed to represent either text (braille) or, in a few cases, tactile large-area screens as replacements for visual displays. None of the implementations so far can be customized to match users' preferences, perceptual differences and skills. Optimal choices in these respects are still debated; we approach a solution by designing a flexible device allowing the user to choose key parameters of tactile transduction. We present here a new dynamic tactile display, a 8 × 8 matrix of plastic pins based on well-established and reliable piezoelectric technology to offer high resolution (pin gap 0.7mm) as well as tunable strength of the pins displacement, and refresh rate up to 50s(-1). It can reproduce arbitrary patterns, allowing it to serve the dual purpose of providing, depending on contingent user needs, tactile rendering of non-character information, and reconfigurable braille rendering. Given the relevance of the latter functionality for the expected average user, we considered testing braille encoding by volunteers a benchmark of primary importance. Tests were performed to assess the acceptance and usability with minimal training, and to check whether the offered flexibility was indeed perceived by the subject as an added value compared to conventional braille devices. Different mappings between braille dots and actual tactile pins were implemented to match user needs. Performances of eight experienced braille readers were defined as the fraction of correct identifications of rendered content. Different information contents were tested (median performance on random strings, words, sentences identification was about 75%, 85%, 98%, respectively, with a significant increase, p < 0.01), obtaining statistically significant improvements in performance during the tests (p < 0.05). Experimental results, together with qualitative ratings provided by the subjects, show a good acceptance and the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

A new dynamic tactile display for reconfigurable braille: implementation and tests

PubMed Central

Motto Ros, Paolo; Dante, Vittorio; Mesin, Luca; Petetti, Erminio; Del Giudice, Paolo; Pasero, Eros

2014-01-01

Different tactile interfaces have been proposed to represent either text (braille) or, in a few cases, tactile large-area screens as replacements for visual displays. None of the implementations so far can be customized to match users' preferences, perceptual differences and skills. Optimal choices in these respects are still debated; we approach a solution by designing a flexible device allowing the user to choose key parameters of tactile transduction. We present here a new dynamic tactile display, a 8 × 8 matrix of plastic pins based on well-established and reliable piezoelectric technology to offer high resolution (pin gap 0.7mm) as well as tunable strength of the pins displacement, and refresh rate up to 50s−1. It can reproduce arbitrary patterns, allowing it to serve the dual purpose of providing, depending on contingent user needs, tactile rendering of non-character information, and reconfigurable braille rendering. Given the relevance of the latter functionality for the expected average user, we considered testing braille encoding by volunteers a benchmark of primary importance. Tests were performed to assess the acceptance and usability with minimal training, and to check whether the offered flexibility was indeed perceived by the subject as an added value compared to conventional braille devices. Different mappings between braille dots and actual tactile pins were implemented to match user needs. Performances of eight experienced braille readers were defined as the fraction of correct identifications of rendered content. Different information contents were tested (median performance on random strings, words, sentences identification was about 75%, 85%, 98%, respectively, with a significant increase, p < 0.01), obtaining statistically significant improvements in performance during the tests (p < 0.05). Experimental results, together with qualitative ratings provided by the subjects, show a good acceptance and the effectiveness of the proposed solution

TACTILE RESPONSIVENESS PATTERNS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH CORE FEATURES IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

PubMed Central

Foss-Feig, Jennifer H.; Heacock, Jessica L.; Cascio, Carissa J.

2011-01-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often associated with aberrant responses to sensory stimuli, which are thought to contribute to the social, communication, and repetitive behavior deficits that define ASD. However, there are few studies that separate aberrant sensory responses by individual sensory modality to assess modality-specific associations between sensory features and core symptoms. Differences in response to tactile stimuli are prevalent in ASD, and tactile contact early in infancy is a foundation for the development of social and communication skills affected by ASD. We assessed the association between three aberrant patterns of tactile responsiveness (hyper-responsiveness, hypo-responsiveness, sensory seeking) and core symptoms of ASD. Both sensory and core features were measured with converging methods including both parent-report and direct observation. Our results demonstrate that for the tactile modality, sensory hypo-responsiveness correlates strongly with increased social and communication impairments, and to a lesser degree, repetitive behaviors. Sensory seeking was found to correlate strongly with social impairment, nonverbal communication impairment, and repetitive behaviors. Surprisingly, tactile hyper-responsiveness did not significantly correlate with any core features of ASD. This differential association between specific tactile processing patterns and core features provides an important step in defining the significance of sensory symptoms in ASD, and may be useful in the development of sensory–based approaches for early detection and intervention. PMID:22059092

Spatially digitized tactile pressure sensors with tunable sensitivity and sensing range.

PubMed

Choi, Eunsuk; Sul, Onejae; Hwang, Soonhyung; Cho, Joonhyung; Chun, Hyunsuk; Kim, Hongjun; Lee, Seung-Beck

2014-10-24

When developing an electronic skin with touch sensation, an array of tactile pressure sensors with various ranges of pressure detection need to be integrated. This requires low noise, highly reliable sensors with tunable sensing characteristics. We demonstrate the operation of tactile pressure sensors that utilize the spatial distribution of contact electrodes to detect various ranges of tactile pressures. The device consists of a suspended elastomer diaphragm, with a carbon nanotube thin-film on the bottom, which makes contact with the electrodes on the substrate with applied pressure. The electrodes separated by set distances become connected in sequence with tactile pressure, enabling consecutive electrodes to produce a signal. Thus, the pressure is detected not by how much of a signal is produced but by which of the electrodes is registering an output. By modulating the diaphragm diameter, and suspension height, it was possible to tune the pressure sensitivity and sensing range. Also, adding a fingerprint ridge structure enabled the sensor to detect the periodicity of sub-millimeter grating patterns on a silicon wafer.

Competition entre supraconductivite et magnetisme au voisinage de la transition de Mott dans le conducteur organique quasi-bidimensionnel k-(BEDT-TTF)2copper[N(CN)2]bromine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fournier, David

Les conducteurs organiques quasi-bidimensionnels kappa-ET2X presentent d'importantes similitudes avec les SCHT telles qu'une phase isolant de Mott, un regime de pseudogap et un etat supraconducteur. L'etude de leurs proprietes apparait donc complementaire. Parmi les interrogations persistantes concernant la physique de ces systemes, l'origine du (ou des) processus exotique d'appariement, responsable de la supraconductivite est le sujet suscitant l'interet le plus marque dans la communaute. L'hypothese d'un mecanisme lie a la proximite d'un etat antiferromagnetique est privilegiee. Une etape importante dans la resolution de cette problematique est l'identification de la symetrie du parametre d'ordre. D'apres de nombreux travaux sur les systemes fortement correles, la sonde ultrasonore, de par sa sensibilite aux excitations de quasiparticule a basse temperature, est consideree comme particulierement adaptee a l'etude de cette propriete. Cependant, son emploi necessite l'utilisation d'un compose metallique a basse temperature et completement supraconducteur. Le compose metallique organique kappa-ET 2Cu[N(CN)2]Br presente toutes les caracteristiques necessaires a l'etude de cette propriete. En effet, il est situe loin de la transition du premier ordre de Mott et est completement supraconducteur. De facon surprenante, ce systeme semble se coupler fortement avec le reseau ce qui augmente significativement la sensibilite de cette sonde aux proprietes du gaz electronique. Cependant, des difficultes techniques importantes, liees a la nature intrinseque de ce materiau, doivent etre surmontees pour proceder a des mesures suivant differentes polarisations. La presente etude a profondement modifie notre comprehension de ce systeme. En effet, ces mesures ont permis de constater que le kappa-ET2Cu[N(CN)2]Br est un compose qui est situe en bordure de la zone de coexistence entre la supraconductivite et le magnetisme, ce qui constitue un resultat totalement inattendu. De plus, la

GelSight: High-Resolution Robot Tactile Sensors for Estimating Geometry and Force

PubMed Central

Yuan, Wenzhen; Dong, Siyuan; Adelson, Edward H.

2017-01-01

Tactile sensing is an important perception mode for robots, but the existing tactile technologies have multiple limitations. What kind of tactile information robots need, and how to use the information, remain open questions. We believe a soft sensor surface and high-resolution sensing of geometry should be important components of a competent tactile sensor. In this paper, we discuss the development of a vision-based optical tactile sensor, GelSight. Unlike the traditional tactile sensors which measure contact force, GelSight basically measures geometry, with very high spatial resolution. The sensor has a contact surface of soft elastomer, and it directly measures its deformation, both vertical and lateral, which corresponds to the exact object shape and the tension on the contact surface. The contact force, and slip can be inferred from the sensor’s deformation as well. Particularly, we focus on the hardware and software that support GelSight’s application on robot hands. This paper reviews the development of GelSight, with the emphasis in the sensing principle and sensor design. We introduce the design of the sensor’s optical system, the algorithm for shape, force and slip measurement, and the hardware designs and fabrication of different sensor versions. We also show the experimental evaluation on the GelSight’s performance on geometry and force measurement. With the high-resolution measurement of shape and contact force, the sensor has successfully assisted multiple robotic tasks, including material perception or recognition and in-hand localization for robot manipulation. PMID:29186053

Tactile cueing effects on performance in simulated aerial combat with high acceleration.

PubMed

van Erp, Jan B F; Eriksson, Lars; Levin, Britta; Carlander, Otto; Veltman, J A; Vos, Wouter K

2007-12-01

Recent evidence indicates that vibrotactile displays can potentially reduce the risk of sensory and cognitive overload. Before these displays can be introduced in super agile aircraft, it must be ascertained that vibratory stimuli can be sensed and interpreted by pilots subjected to high G loads. Each of 9 pilots intercepted 32 targets in the Swedish Dynamic Flight Simulator. Targets were indicated on simulated standard Gripen visual displays. In addition, in half of the trials target direction was also displayed on a 60-element tactile torso display. Performance measures and subjective ratings were recorded. Each pilot pulled G peaks above +8 Gz. With tactile cueing present, mean reaction time was reduced from 1458 ms (SE = 54) to 1245 ms (SE = 88). Mean total chase time for targets that popped up behind the pilot's aircraft was reduced from 13 s (SE = 0.45) to 12 s (SE = 0.41). Pilots rated the tactile display favorably over the visual displays at target pop-up on the easiness of detecting a threat presence and on the clarity of initial position of the threats. This study is the first to show that tactile display information is perceivable and useful in hypergravity (up to +9 Gz). The results show that the tactile display can capture attention at threat pop-up and improve threat awareness for threats in the back, even in the presence of high-end visual displays. It is expected that the added value of tactile displays may further increase after formal training and in situations of unexpected target pop-up.

Acoustic Tactile Representation of Visual Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, Pubudu Madhawa

Our goal is to explore the use of hearing and touch to convey graphical and pictorial information to visually impaired people. Our focus is on dynamic, interactive display of visual information using existing, widely available devices, such as smart phones and tablets with touch sensitive screens. We propose a new approach for acoustic-tactile representation of visual signals that can be implemented on a touch screen and allows the user to actively explore a two-dimensional layout consisting of one or more objects with a finger or a stylus while listening to auditory feedback via stereo headphones. The proposed approach is acoustic-tactile because sound is used as the primary source of information for object localization and identification, while touch is used for pointing and kinesthetic feedback. A static overlay of raised-dot tactile patterns can also be added. A key distinguishing feature of the proposed approach is the use of spatial sound (directional and distance cues) to facilitate the active exploration of the layout. We consider a variety of configurations for acoustic-tactile rendering of object size, shape, identity, and location, as well as for the overall perception of simple layouts and scenes. While our primary goal is to explore the fundamental capabilities and limitations of representing visual information in acoustic-tactile form, we also consider a number of relatively simple configurations that can be tied to specific applications. In particular, we consider a simple scene layout consisting of objects in a linear arrangement, each with a distinct tapping sound, which we compare to a ''virtual cane.'' We will also present a configuration that can convey a ''Venn diagram.'' We present systematic subjective experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed display for shape perception, object identification and localization, and 2-D layout perception, as well as the applications. Our experiments were conducted with visually blocked

Tactile pavement for guiding walking direction: An assessment of heading direction and gait stability.

PubMed

Pluijter, Nanda; de Wit, Lieke P W; Bruijn, Sjoerd M; Plaisier, Myrthe A

2015-10-01

For maintaining heading direction while walking we heavily rely on vision. Therefore, walking in the absence of vision or with visual attention directed elsewhere potentially leads to dangerous situations. Here we investigated whether tactile information from the feet can be used as a (partial) substitute for vision in maintaining a stable heading direction. If so, participants should be better able to keep a constant heading direction on tactile pavement that indicates directionality than on regular flat pavement. However, such a pavement may also be destabilizing. Thus we asked participants to walk straight ahead on regular pavement, and on tactile pavement (tiles with ridges along the walking direction) while varying the amount of vision. We assessed the effects of the type of pavement as well as the amount of vision on the variability of the heading direction as well as gait stability. Both of these measures were calculated from accelerations and angular velocities recorded from a smartphone attached to the participants trunk. Results showed that on tactile pavement participants had a less variations in their heading direction than on regular pavement. The drawback, however, was that the tactile pavement used in this study decreased gait stability. In sum, tactile pavement can be used as a partial substitute for vision in maintaining heading direction, but it can also decrease gait stability. Future work should focus on designing tactile pavement that does provided directional clues, but is less destabilizing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Les fractures luxations du cotyle: prise en charge et pronostic à long terme; étude rétrospective portant sur 40 cas

PubMed Central

Chagou, Aniss; Hmouri, Ismail; Rhanim, Abdelkarim; Lahlou, Abdou; Berrada, Mohammed Saleh; Yaacoubi, Moradh

2014-01-01

Les fractures luxations du cotyle sont le plus souvent dues à des traumatismes de haute énergie. Elles constituent une urgence thérapeutique, l'association de la luxation à une fracture du cotyle fait apparaître la question du choix thérapeutique entre traitement orthopédique et traitement médical. L'objectif de l’étude est de mettre le point sur l'aspect thérapeutique dans ces lésions mais aussi leurs pronostics à long terme. Nous rapportons une étude rétrospective portant sur 40 cas colligés au service d'orthopédie du centre hospitalier universitaire de Rabat. Nous avons évalué les résultats de notre prise en charge mais aussi le pronostic à court et à long terme. Dans notre série, vingt cinq patients ont bénéficié d'un traitement orthopédique alors que les quinze restants ont été opérés, la voie d'abord la plus utilisée est la voie postérieure. Les résultats fonctionnels ont été évalués, après un recul de 3 à 8 ans, selon la cotation de Merle d'Aubigné. Nous avons obtenu 90% de résultats satisfaisants. La comparaison de nos résultats à ceux de la littérature montre que le résultat des traitements orthopédiques et chirurgicaux dépend essentiellement du type de fracture. Le pronostic à long terme reste imprévisible. La survenue des complications tardives telle que la nécrose céphalique et de l'arthrose reste toujours imprévisible, ce qui impose un suivi régulier et prolongé des patients. PMID:25722763

Artery cross-clamping during laparoscopic vascular surgeries; a computational tactile sensing approach.

PubMed

Pahlavan, Pedram; Najarian, Siamak; Afshari, Elnaz; Moini, Majid

2013-01-01

Artificial palpation is one of the most valuable achievements of artificial tactile sensing approach that can be used in various fields of medicine and more specifically in surgery. These techniques cause different surgical maneuvers to be done more precisely and noninvasively. In this study, considering the present problems and limitations of cross-clamping an artery during laparoscopic vascular surgeries, a new tactile sensory system will be introduced.Having imitated surgeon's palpation during open vascular surgeries and modeled it conceptually, the optimal amount of the total angular displacement of each robot joint in order to cross-clamping an artery without damaging to the artery surrounding tissues will be calculated. The elastic governing equation of contact occurred between the tactile sensor placed on the first link of the robot and the surrounding tissues around the artery were developed. A finite element model is coupled with genetic algorithm optimization method so that the normal stress and displacements in contact surface of the robot and artery's surrounding tissues would be minimized. Thus, reliability and accuracy of artificial tactile sensing method in artery cross-clamping will be demonstrated. Finally, the functional principles of the new tactile system capable of cross-clamping an artery during laparoscopic surgeries will be presented.

Amélioration de la brillance d'un OPO nanoseconde par le profilage spatio-temporel du faisceau de pompage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kermène, V.; Chabanol, M.; Mugnier, A.; Barthélémy, A.

2002-06-01

Nous présentons une nouvelle méthode de pompage pour augmenter la brillance d'un Oscillateur Paramétrique Optique nanoseconde. Cette méthode est basée sur le profilage spatio-temporel du faisceau de pompage conduisant POPO à ce comporter comme une source auto-injectée.

Sulfasalazine Blocks the Development of Tactile Allodynia in Diabetic Rats

PubMed Central

Berti-Mattera, Liliana N.; Kern, Timothy S.; Siegel, Ruth E.; Nemet, Ina; Mitchell, Rochanda

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE—Diabetic neuropathy is manifested either by loss of nociception (painless syndrome) or by mechanical hyperalgesia and tactile allodynia (pain in response to nonpainful stimuli). While therapies with vasodilators or neurotrophins reverse some functional and metabolic abnormalities in diabetic nerves, they only partially ameliorate neuropathic pain. The reported link between nociception and targets of the anti-inflammatory drug sulfasalazine prompted us to investigate its effect on neuropathic pain in diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We examined the effects of sulfasalazine, salicylates, and the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 inhibitor PJ34 on altered nociception in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. We also evaluated the levels of sulfasalazine targets in sciatic nerves and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of treated animals. Finally, we analyzed the development of tactile allodynia in diabetic mice lacking expression of the sulfasalazine target nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p50. RESULTS—Sulfasalazine completely blocked the development of tactile allodynia in diabetic rats, whereas relatively minor effects were observed with other salicylates and PJ34. Along with the behavioral findings, sciatic nerves and DRG from sulfasalazine-treated diabetic rats displayed a decrease in NF-κB p50 expression compared with untreated diabetic animals. Importantly, the absence of tactile allodynia in diabetic NF-κB p50−/− mice supported a role for NF-κB in diabetic neuropathy. Sulfasalazine treatment also increased inosine levels in sciatic nerves of diabetic rats. CONCLUSIONS—The complete inhibition of tactile allodynia in experimental diabetes by sulfasalazine may stem from its ability to regulate both NF-κB and inosine. Sulfasalazine might be useful in the treatment of nociceptive alterations in diabetic patients. PMID:18633115

Cancer développé sur dilatation kystique de la voie biliaire: à propos d’un cas

PubMed Central

Soufi, Mehdi; Lahlou, Mohammed Khalid; Chad, Bouziane

2014-01-01

Les auteurs rapportent un cas de dilatation kystique du cholédoque intra- pancréatique découvert chez une femme de 46 ans et compliqué d'un carcinome tubulo-papillaire n'envahissant pas le pancréas. Le traitement a consisté en une duodénopancréatectomie céphalique avec un curage ganglionnaire et anastomose hépatico-jéjunale; la survie était de 30 mois; les auteurs abordent les aspects radiologiques, anatomopathologiques, thérapeutiques et pronostiques de ces cancers développé sur dilatation kystique de la voie biliaire et discutent la place d'une radiothérapie complémentaire de la chirurgie susceptible d'améliorer la survie. PMID:25922635

Neural correlates of tactile perception during pre-, peri-, and post-movement.

PubMed

Juravle, Georgiana; Heed, Tobias; Spence, Charles; Röder, Brigitte

2016-05-01

Tactile information is differentially processed over the various phases of goal-directed movements. Here, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate the neural correlates of tactile and visual information processing during movement. Participants performed goal-directed reaches for an object placed centrally on the table in front of them. Tactile and visual stimulation (100 ms) was presented in separate trials during the different phases of the movement (i.e. preparation, execution, and post-movement). These stimuli were independently delivered to either the moving or resting hand. In a control condition, the participants only performed the movement, while omission (i.e. movement-only) ERPs were recorded. Participants were instructed to ignore the presence or absence of any sensory events and to concentrate solely on the execution of the movement. Enhanced ERPs were observed 80-200 ms after tactile stimulation, as well as 100-250 ms after visual stimulation: These modulations were greatest during the execution of the goal-directed movement, and they were effector based (i.e. significantly more negative for stimuli presented to the moving hand). Furthermore, ERPs revealed enhanced sensory processing during goal-directed movements for visual stimuli as well. Such enhanced processing of both tactile and visual information during the execution phase suggests that incoming sensory information is continuously monitored for a potential adjustment of the current motor plan. Furthermore, the results reported here also highlight a tight coupling between spatial attention and the execution of motor actions.

Lateralized ultradian rhythms: evidence from tactile discrimination of either hand.

PubMed

Meier-Koll, A

1998-12-01

Endogenous ultradian rhythms with periods of one or a few hours affect not only on physiological and behavioural functions but also perception and cognition. In particular, lateralized ultradian rhythms which seem to operate separately in the right and left hemispheres of the brain can be monitored by testing the tactile discrimination of the contralateral hand. The present paper is based on two subsequent studies: First, ultradian rhythms in tactile discrimination of either hand were examined in German subjects under laboratory conditions. Considerably different ultradian periods of right and left-handed tactile error rate were found in men but not in women. In a second study, a group of Kenyan Masai shepherds were tested while the subjects were leading herds on daily feeding routes through a savanna habitat. They showed ultradian periods of about 2 hours in tactile discrimination of either hand. Since the right hemisphere is specialized for visuospatial, the left for verbal processing lateralized ultradian rhythms may serve for a long-scale timing of neural processes underlying spatial and semantic mapping of the environment. Sex difference in German subjects and lateral differences found in left-handed (right-hemispheric) ultradian rhythms of German and Masai subjects are discussed from this point of view.

Lignes directrices sur l’aiguillage des cas soupçonnés de cancer du poumon par un médecin de famille ou autre professionnel des soins primaires

PubMed Central

Del Giudice, M. Elisabeth; Young, Sheila-Mae; Vella, Emily T.; Ash, Marla; Bansal, Praveen; Robinson, Andrew; Skrastins, Roland; Ung, Yee; Zeldin, Robert; Levitt, Cheryl

2014-01-01

Résumé Objectif Les présentes lignes directrices visent à aider les médecins de famille et autres généralistes à reconnaître les manifestations cliniques devant éveiller les soupçons quant à la présence d’un cancer du poumon chez les patients. Composition du comité Les membres du comité ont été choisis parmi les leaders régionaux en soins primaires du Réseau provincial des soins primaires et de la lutte contre le cancer d’Action Cancer Ontario et parmi les membres du Groupe sur le siège de la maladie, Cancer du poumon d’Action Cancer Ontario. Méthodes Les présentes lignes directrices sont le fruit d’une revue systématique des données probantes, d’une synthèse des données et d’un examen externe formel effectué par des intervenants canadiens qui ont validé la pertinence des recommandations. Rapport Ces lignes directrices fondées sur des données probantes ont été formulées pour améliorer la prise en charge en contexte canadien des patients qui présentent des manifestations cliniques du cancer du poumon. Conclusion Le dépistage et l’aiguillage précoces des patients atteints de cancer du poumon pourraient en fin de compte aider à réduire les morbidités et mortalités liées au cancer. Ces lignes directrices pourraient aussi s’avérer utiles dans la mise sur pied de programmes de diagnostic du cancer du poumon et pour aider les décideurs à veiller à ce que les ressources appropriées soient en place.

Modelization des consequences possibles de la future demande bioenergetique mondiale pour le bois et les forest en France

Treesearch

Joseph Buongiorno; Ronald Raunikar; Shushuai Zhu

2011-01-01

L’article présente une exploration, menée au moyen d’un modèle mondial de la filière-bois, de l’effet sur la filière-bois française des modifications actuelles et prévisibles de la demande mondiale en énergie issue de la biomasse. Deux scénarios contrastés sont testés. Les résultats sont mis en perspective et soulignent le conflit potentiel entre usages du bois : bois...

Making your skin crawl: The role of tactile sensitivity in disease avoidance.

PubMed

Hunt, David Francis; Cannell, Grace; Davenhill, Nicholas A; Horsford, Stephanie A; Fleischman, Diana S; Park, Justin H

2017-07-01

Mounting evidence indicates that animals, including humans, have evolved a behavioral disease-avoidance system designed to facilitate the detection and avoidance of sources of pathogens, and that this system interacts with physiological defenses. The skin acts as an important anatomical barrier, yet little research has investigated the role of tactile sensitivity in disease avoidance. Increased tactile sensitivity in the presence of potential sources of pathogens may facilitate prophylactic behaviors such as self-grooming. Across multiple studies, we tested the hypothesis that the induction of disgust-the key emotion underlying disease avoidance-may lead to greater tactile sensitivity compared to control conditions. A nonsignificant trend was found in a pilot study, which was replicated (and found to be significant) in Studies 1 and 2. To our knowledge, these results are the first to demonstrate disgust-induced changes in tactile sensitivity, and they contribute to the growing literature on the integrated evolved defenses against infectious disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anterior insula coordinates hierarchical processing of tactile mismatch responses

PubMed Central

Allen, Micah; Fardo, Francesca; Dietz, Martin J.; Hillebrandt, Hauke; Friston, Karl J.; Rees, Geraint; Roepstorff, Andreas

2016-01-01

The body underlies our sense of self, emotion, and agency. Signals arising from the skin convey warmth, social touch, and the physical characteristics of external stimuli. Surprising or unexpected tactile sensations can herald events of motivational salience, including imminent threats (e.g., an insect bite) and hedonic rewards (e.g., a caressing touch). Awareness of such events is thought to depend upon the hierarchical integration of body-related mismatch responses by the anterior insula. To investigate this possibility, we measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging, while healthy participants performed a roving tactile oddball task. Mass-univariate analysis demonstrated robust activations in limbic, somatosensory, and prefrontal cortical areas previously implicated in tactile deviancy, body awareness, and cognitive control. Dynamic Causal Modelling revealed that unexpected stimuli increased the strength of forward connections along a caudal to rostral hierarchy—projecting from thalamic and somatosensory regions towards insula, cingulate and prefrontal cortices. Within this ascending flow of sensory information, the AIC was the only region to show increased backwards connectivity to the somatosensory cortex, augmenting a reciprocal exchange of neuronal signals. Further, participants who rated stimulus changes as easier to detect showed stronger modulation of descending PFC to AIC connections by deviance. These results suggest that the AIC coordinates hierarchical processing of tactile prediction error. They are interpreted in support of an embodied predictive coding model where AIC mediated body awareness is involved in anchoring a global neuronal workspace. PMID:26584870

An Adaptation-Induced Repulsion Illusion in Tactile Spatial Perception

PubMed Central

Li, Lux; Chan, Arielle; Iqbal, Shah M.; Goldreich, Daniel

2017-01-01

Following focal sensory adaptation, the perceived separation between visual stimuli that straddle the adapted region is often exaggerated. For instance, in the tilt aftereffect illusion, adaptation to tilted lines causes subsequently viewed lines with nearby orientations to be perceptually repelled from the adapted orientation. Repulsion illusions in the nonvisual senses have been less studied. Here, we investigated whether adaptation induces a repulsion illusion in tactile spatial perception. In a two-interval forced-choice task, participants compared the perceived separation between two point-stimuli applied on the forearms successively. Separation distance was constant on one arm (the reference) and varied on the other arm (the comparison). In Experiment 1, we took three consecutive baseline measurements, verifying that in the absence of manipulation, participants’ distance perception was unbiased across arms and stable across experimental blocks. In Experiment 2, we vibrated a region of skin on the reference arm, verifying that this focally reduced tactile sensitivity, as indicated by elevated monofilament detection thresholds. In Experiment 3, we applied vibration between the two reference points in our distance perception protocol and discovered that this caused an illusory increase in the separation between the points. We conclude that focal adaptation induces a repulsion aftereffect illusion in tactile spatial perception. The illusion provides clues as to how the tactile system represents spatial information. The analogous repulsion aftereffects caused by adaptation in different stimulus domains and sensory systems may point to fundamentally similar strategies for dynamic sensory coding. PMID:28701936

Evaluation d'impact sur la santé et évaluation d'impact sur l'équité en santé : éventail de pratiques et questions de recherche.

PubMed

Villeval, Mélanie; Bidault, Elsa; Lang, Thierry

2016-09-01

L'Evaluation d'Impact sur la Santé (EIS) se développe au niveau international et est encore au stade émergent en France. Elle vise à évaluer les effets positifs et négatifs potentiels d'un projet, d'un programme ou d'une politique sur la santé. L'objectif est de produire des recommandations en direction des décideurs, afin d'en maximiser les effets positifs et d'en diminuer les effets négatifs. L'EIS est un moyen particulièrement intéressant d'action sur les déterminants de la santé au-delà des comportements individuels et du système de santé. Les politiques de logement, de transport, de solidarité, économiques, etc. ont, en effet, des impacts souvent non prévus sur la santé. Au-delà des effets sur la santé, l'EIS doit aussi permettre d'apprécier la distribution de ces effets dans la population.Si la préoccupation pour l'équité en santé est centrale dans l'EIS, elle reste cependant difficilement traduite en pratique. Face à cette difficulté, des démarches d'évaluation d'impact ont été développées pour renforcer la prise en compte de l'équité à chaque étape de l'EIS ou « Equity Focused Health Impact Assessment », ou prendre en compte les impacts sur les inégalités de santé de façon spécifique. Ainsi, l'Evaluation de l'Impact sur l'Equité en Santé (EIES) semble, par exemple, particulièrement intéressante pour évaluer l'impact sur les inégalités de projets dans le champ sanitaire.L'EIS et l'EIES posent de nombreuses questions de recherche, notamment autour de la réunion, dans une même démarche, du politique, du citoyen et de l'expert. La participation des populations vulnérables potentiellement affectées par la politique évaluée est une valeur centrale de l'EIS, mais pose des questions d'acceptabilité sociale. La collaboration avec les décideurs politiques est également un enjeu majeur. Les difficultés méthodologiques, notamment de quantification des impacts, peuvent constituer des freins à la promotion

Les conjonctivites néonatales dans le canton de Glidji au Sud du Togo: une étude transversale à propos de 159 nouveau-nés

PubMed Central

Kokou, Vonor; Nidain, Maneh; Kassoula, Nononsaa Batomguela; Kwassi, Fiaty- Amenouvor; Meba, Banla; Patrice, Balo Komi

2016-01-01

Introduction Le but de l’étude était décrire les aspects épidémiologiques des conjonctivites néonatales dans le canton de Glidji au Sud du Togo. Methodes Nous avons mené une étude transversale dans les 4 Unités Sanitaires Périphériques du canton de Glidji du 19 Mars au 13 Mai 2009 soit 8 semaines. Tous les nouveau-nés ont été inclus et la conjonctivite néonatale était définie par la présence chez un nouveau-né d'au moins deux des signes suivants: hyperhémie conjonctivale, œdème palpébral, chémosis, sécrétions purulentes, larmoiement. Les paramètres étudiés étaient l’âge, le sexe, les facteurs de risque, les antécédents, la présence ou non de conjonctivite, les germes en causes et l’évolution sous traitement. Resultats Sur la période, 159 nouveau-nés ont été examinés. L’âge moyen était de 10,9 jours avec des extrêmes de 0 à 28 jours. Il y avait 80 garçons pour 79 filles soit un sex-ratio de 1,01. Sur les 159 nouveau-nés, 7 cas de conjonctivite ont été diagnostiqués soit une prévalence de 4,4%. Les facteurs de risque identifiés étaient l'accouchement par voie basse et la présence d'IST chez la mère pendant la grossesse. Sur les 7 cas de conjonctivite, l'examen cytobactériologique a permis d'isoler le staphylococcus aureus dans 2 cas. L’évolution des cas de conjonctivite sous traitement était favorable avec régression des signes dès le 3è jour. Conclusion Les conjonctivites néonatales avaient une prévalence de 4,4% dans le canton de Glidji au sud du Togo et le staphylocoque doré était le germe en cause. Leur prévention passe par un bon suivi lors de la consultation prénatale et l'instillation de collyre antibiotique à la naissance PMID:27642383

Pure Amorphagnosia without Tactile Object Agnosia

PubMed Central

Kubota, Shinichirou; Yamada, Mai; Satoh, Hideyo; Satoh, Akira; Tsujihata, Mitsuhiro

2017-01-01

A 54-year-old female showed amorphagnosia without ahylognosia and tactile agnosia 40 days after the onset of right cerebral infarction. Her basic somatosensory functions were normal. The appreciation of substance qualities (hylognosia) was preserved, but the patient's inability to recognize the size and shape (morphagnosia) was confined to 2- and 3-dimensional shapes (amorphagnosia) in the left hand. However, the patient's ability to recognize real daily objects was well preserved. Brain MRI after admission showed ischemic lesions confined to the right pre- and postcentral gyri and the medial frontal cortex on DWI and FLAIR images. An analysis of SPECT images revealed that the most decreased areas were localized to the pre- and postcentral gyri, superior and inferior parietal lobules, supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus. Considering the previous reported cases, the responsible lesion for the impaired perception of hylognosia and morphagnosia may not necessarily be confined to the right hemisphere. To date, 5 reports (6 cases) of tactile agnosia have been published; 4 cases presented with both ahylognosia and amorphagnosia, while 1 presented with only amorphagnosia, and another showed amorphagnosia and mild ahylognosia. Our case is the first to present with only amorphagnosia without tactile agnosia. The mechanism for the well-preserved recognition of real objects may depend on the preserved hylognosia. Of note, there have been no reports showing only ahylognosia without amorphagnosia. Further studies are necessary to clarify whether or not patients with preserved hylognosia or morphagnosia retain the ability to perceive real objects. PMID:28559827

Topographic generalization of tactile perceptual learning.

PubMed

Harrar, Vanessa; Spence, Charles; Makin, Tamar R

2014-02-01

Perceptual learning can improve our sensory abilities. Understanding its underlying mechanisms, in particular, when perceptual learning generalizes, has become a focus of research and controversy. Specifically, there is little consensus regarding the extent to which tactile perceptual learning generalizes across fingers. We measured tactile orientation discrimination abilities on 4 fingers (index and middle fingers of both hands), using psychophysical measures, before and after 4 training sessions on 1 finger. Given the somatotopic organization of the hand representation in the somatosensory cortex, the topography of the cortical areas underlying tactile perceptual learning can be inferred from the pattern of generalization across fingers; only fingers sharing cortical representation with the trained finger ought to improve with it. Following training, performance improved not only for the trained finger but also for its adjacent and homologous fingers. Although these fingers were not exposed to training, they nevertheless demonstrated similar levels of learning as the trained finger. Conversely, the performance of the finger that was neither adjacent nor homologous to the trained finger was unaffected by training, despite the fact that our procedure was designed to enhance generalization, as described in recent visual perceptual learning research. This pattern of improved performance is compatible with previous reports of neuronal receptive fields (RFs) in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) spanning adjacent and homologous digits. We conclude that perceptual learning rooted in low-level cortex can still generalize, and suggest potential applications for the neurorehabilitation of syndromes associated with maladaptive plasticity in SI. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Tactile Instrument for Aviation

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-07-30

response times using 8 tactor locations was repeated with a dual memory /tracking task or an air combat simulation to evaluate the effectiveness of the...Global Positioning/Inertial Navigation System technologies into a single system for evaluation in an UH-60 Helicopter. A 10-event test operation was... evaluation of the following technology areas need to be pursued: • Integration of tactile instruments with helmet mounted displays and 3D audio displays

A long-lasting improvement of tactile extinction after galvanic vestibular stimulation: two Sham-stimulation controlled case studies.

PubMed

Kerkhoff, Georg; Hildebrandt, Helmut; Reinhart, Stefan; Kardinal, Mareike; Dimova, Violeta; Utz, Kathrin S

2011-01-01

Sensory extinction is frequent and often persistent after brain damage. Previous studies have shown the transient influence of sensory stimulation on tactile extinction. In the present two case studies we investigated whether subliminal galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) modulates tactile extinction. GVS induces polarity-specific changes in cerebral excitability in the vestibular cortices and adjacent cortical areas in the temporo-parietal cortex via polarization of the vestibular nerves. Two patients (DL, CJ) with left-sided tactile extinction due to chronic (5 vs. 6 (1/2) years lesion age) right-hemisphere lesions (right fronto-parietal in DL, right frontal and discrete parietal in CJ) were examined. Both showed normal tactile sensitivity to light touch and yielded 90-100% correct identifications in unilateral tactile stimulations for both hands. In Baseline investigations without GVS and Sham-GVS both showed stable left-sided tactile extinction rates of 40-55% (DL) and 49-72% (CJ). In contrast, one session of right-cathodal GVS (intensity: 0.6 mA, duration: 20 min) permanently improved tactile identification of identical stimuli, while a second session with left-cathodal GVS significantly reduced left-sided extinction rates for different stimuli in DL. Patient CJ's left-sided tactile extinction was significantly improved by left-cathodal GVS (0.5 mA, 20 min) for different stimuli, while right-cathodal GVS induced a significant reduction for identical materials. In contrast, Sham-stimulation was ineffective. Improvements remained stable for at least 1 year (DL) resp. 3 weeks (CJ). Control experiments ruled out improvements in tactile extinction merely by retesting. In conclusion, chronic tactile extinction may be permanently improved by GVS in a polarity-specific way. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mise à jour technique sur la physiologie et l'évaluation du liquide amniotique.

PubMed

Lim, Kenneth I; Butt, Kimberly; Naud, Kentia; Smithies, Mila

2017-01-01

RéSULTATS: SOURCES DES DONNéES PROBANTES: Nous avons effectué une recherche sur MEDLINE et Kfinder pour trouver des articles pertinents, puis avons examiné les bibliographies des articles retenus, notamment des revues Cochrane et des articles de revue récents. Les données recueillies ont été analysées par le Comité d'imagerie diagnostique de la Société des obstétriciens et gynécologues du Canada. Les recommandations ont été classées selon les critères établis par le Groupe d'étude canadien sur les soins de santé préventifs (Tableau 1). AVANTAGES, DéSAVANTAGES ET COûTS: En obstétrique moderne, l'évaluation du volume de liquide amniotique par échographie fait partie intégrante de l'évaluation fœtale. Toute anomalie donne lieu à une intervention obstétricale et à des examens approfondis. Au Canada, il n'existe aucune définition normalisée associée à l'estimation du volume de liquide amniotique ni aucune approche d'évaluation uniforme. Plusieurs essais randomisés semblent indiquer que l'évaluation de poche unique, plutôt que de plusieurs poches (indice de liquide amniotique), diminue les interventions obstétricales sans augmenter l'incidence de résultats indésirables. La littérature récente laisse croire que des changements légers, mais détectables du liquide amniotique peuvent survenir une heure ou deux suivant des manœuvres physiologiques normales, ce qui pourrait expliquer la variabilité et le manque de cohérence des résultats d'évaluations répétées en peu de temps et ainsi créer de la confusion et donner lieu à d'autres examens. Le présent article vise à décrire les limites de l'évaluation du volume de liquide amniotique, à promouvoir une méthode d'évaluation normalisée et à proposer un ensemble commun de définitions. DéCLARATIONS SOMMAIRES: RECOMMANDATION. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Spatiotemporal integration for tactile localization during arm movements: a probabilistic approach.

PubMed

Maij, Femke; Wing, Alan M; Medendorp, W Pieter

2013-12-01

It has been shown that people make systematic errors in the localization of a brief tactile stimulus that is delivered to the index finger while they are making an arm movement. Here we modeled these spatial errors with a probabilistic approach, assuming that they follow from temporal uncertainty about the occurrence of the stimulus. In the model, this temporal uncertainty converts into a spatial likelihood about the external stimulus location, depending on arm velocity. We tested the prediction of the model that the localization errors depend on arm velocity. Participants (n = 8) were instructed to localize a tactile stimulus that was presented to their index finger while they were making either slow- or fast-targeted arm movements. Our results confirm the model's prediction that participants make larger localization errors when making faster arm movements. The model, which was used to fit the errors for both slow and fast arm movements simultaneously, accounted very well for all the characteristics of these data with temporal uncertainty in stimulus processing as the only free parameter. We conclude that spatial errors in dynamic tactile perception stem from the temporal precision with which tactile inputs are processed.

Lignes directrices canadiennes sur l’utilisation sécuritaire et efficace des opioïdes pour la douleur chronique non cancéreuse

PubMed Central

Kahan, Meldon; Mailis-Gagnon, Angela; Wilson, Lynn; Srivastava, Anita

2011-01-01

Résumé Objectif Présenter aux médecins de famille un résumé clinique pratique des lignes directrices canadiennes sur l’utilisation sécuritaire et efficace des opioïdes pour la douleur chronique non cancéreuse, produites par le National Opioid Use Guideline Group. Qualité des données Pour produire les lignes directrices, les chercheurs ont effectué une synthèse critique de la littérature médicale sur l’efficacité et l’innocuité des opioïdes pour la douleur chronique non cancéreuse et ont rédigé une série de recommandations. Un panel de 49 cliniciens experts de toutes les régions du Canada ont passé en revue l’ébauche et ont atteint un consensus sur 24 recommandations. Message principal Il est recommandé de faire un dépistage du risque de dépendance avant de prescrire des opioïdes. On recommande des opioïdes faibles (codéine et tramadol) pour une douleur de légère à modérée qui n’a pas répondu aux traitements de première intention. On peut essayer l’oxycodone, l’hydromorphone et la morphine chez les patients qui n’ont pas eu de soulagement avec des opioïdes plus faibles. Une faible dose initiale et une lente hausse du titrage sont recommandées, ainsi qu’une étroite surveillance du patient qu’on a d’abord renseigné. Les médecins doivent surveiller l’apparition de complications comme l’apnée du sommeil. La dose optimale est celle qui améliore le fonctionnement ou atténue les cotes d’évaluation de la douleur d’au moins 30 %. Pour la grande majorité des patients, la dose optimale sera bien en deçà de l’équivalent de 200 mg de morphine par jour. On recommande le sevrage progressif pour les patients qui n’ont pas répondu à un essai d’opioïdes adéquat. Conclusion Les opioïdes jouent un rôle important dans la prise en charge de la douleur chronique non cancéreuse, mais il faut en prescrire avec prudence pour limiter les dommages potentiels. Les nouvelles lignes directrices

Tactile Sun: Bringing an Invisible Universe to the Visually Impaired

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isidro, G. M.; Pantoja, C. A.

2014-07-01

A tactile model of the Sun has been created as a strategy for communicating astronomy to the blind or visually impaired, and as a useful outreach tool for general audiences. The model design was a collaboration between an education specialist, an astronomy specialist and a sculptor. The tactile Sun has been used at astronomy outreach events in Puerto Rico to make activities more inclusive and to increase public awareness of the needs of those with disabilities.

Development of a biomimetic roughness sensor for tactile information with an elastomer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Jae-Young; Kim, Sung Joon; Moon, Hyungpil; Choi, Hyouk Ryeol; Koo, Ja Choon

2016-04-01

Human uses various sensational information for identifying an object. When contacting an unidentified object with no vision, tactile sensation provides a variety of information to perceive. Tactile sensation plays an important role to recognize a shape of surfaces from touching. In robotic fields, tactile sensation is especially meaningful. Robots can perform more accurate job using comprehensive tactile information. And in case of using sensors made by soft material like silicone, sensors can be used in various situations. So we are developing a tactile sensor with soft materials. As the conventional robot operates in a controlled environment, it is a good model to make robots more available at any circumstance that sensory systems of living things. For example, there are lots of mechanoreceptors that each of them has different roles detecting simulation in side of human skin tissue. By mimicking the mechanoreceptor, a sensory system can be realized more closely to human being. It is known that human obtains roughness information through scanning the surface with fingertips. During that times, subcutaneous mechanoreceptors detect vibration. In the same way, while a robot is scanning a surface of object, a roughness sensor developed detects vibrations generated between contacting two surfaces. In this research, a roughness sensor made by an elastomer was developed and experiment for perception of objects was conducted. We describe means to compare the roughness of objects with a newly developed sensor.

Biologically inspired multi-layered synthetic skin for tactile feedback in prosthetic limbs.

PubMed

Osborn, Luke; Nguyen, Harrison; Betthauser, Joseph; Kaliki, Rahul; Thakor, Nitish

2016-08-01

The human body offers a template for many state-of-the-art prosthetic devices and sensors. In this work, we present a novel, sensorized synthetic skin that mimics the natural multi-layered nature of mechanoreceptors found in healthy glabrous skin to provide tactile information. The multi-layered sensor is made up of flexible piezoresistive textiles that act as force sensitive resistors (FSRs) to convey tactile information, which are embedded within a silicone rubber to resemble the compliant nature of human skin. The top layer of the synthetic skin is capable of detecting small loads less than 5 N whereas the bottom sensing layer responds reliably to loads over 7 N. Finite element analysis (FEA) of a simplified human fingertip and the synthetic skin was performed. Results suggest similarities in behavior during loading. A natural tactile event is simulated by loading the synthetic skin on a prosthetic limb. Results show the sensors' ability to detect applied loads as well as the ability to simulate neural spiking activity based on the derivative and temporal differences of the sensor response. During the tactile loading, the top sensing layer responded 0.24 s faster than the bottom sensing layer. A synthetic biologically-inspired skin such as this will be useful for enhancing the functionality of prosthetic limbs through tactile feedback.

Assessment of Dementia in Individuals with Dual Sensory Loss: Application of a Tactile Test Battery

PubMed Central

Bruhn, Peter; Dammeyer, Jesper

2018-01-01

Background/Aims Individuals with dual sensory loss (DSL) are more likely to experience cognitive decline with age than individuals without sensory loss. Other studies have pointed to the challenges in assessing cognitive abilities in individuals with DSL, as most existing instruments rely on use of vision and hearing. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a Tactile Test Battery (TTB) for cognitive assessment in individuals with DSL. Method Twenty elderly individuals with DSL, 20 with diagnosed dementia, and 20 without dementia or DSL (controls) completed the following tactile tests developed for the present study: Spatial learning, Spatial recall, Tactile form board, Clock reading, and Naming. The participants with dementia and controls also completed the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results Overall, participants with dementia performed significantly worse on the tactile tests than participants with DSL and control participants. No significant differences on the tactile tests were found between participants with DSL and controls. The TTB and MMSE scores correlated significantly. Conclusion The findings from this study of applying tactile tests for cognitive examination in individuals with DSL are promising. They indicate that symptoms of dementia can be differentiated from symptoms related to DSL. PMID:29515619

Electro-Active Polymer Based Soft Tactile Interface for Wearable Devices.

PubMed

Mun, Seongcheol; Yun, Sungryul; Nam, Saekwang; Park, Seung Koo; Park, Suntak; Park, Bong Je; Lim, Jeong Mook; Kyung, Ki-Uk

2018-01-01

This paper reports soft actuator based tactile stimulation interfaces applicable to wearable devices. The soft actuator is prepared by multi-layered accumulation of thin electro-active polymer (EAP) films. The multi-layered actuator is designed to produce electrically-induced convex protrusive deformation, which can be dynamically programmable for wide range of tactile stimuli. The maximum vertical protrusion is and the output force is up to 255 mN. The soft actuators are embedded into the fingertip part of a glove and front part of a forearm band, respectively. We have conducted two kinds of experiments with 15 subjects. Perceived magnitudes of actuator's protrusion and vibrotactile intensity were measured with frequency of 1 Hz and 191 Hz, respectively. Analysis of the user tests shows participants perceive variation of protrusion height at the finger pad and modulation of vibration intensity through the proposed soft actuator based tactile interface.

Computational Intelligence Techniques for Tactile Sensing Systems

PubMed Central

Gastaldo, Paolo; Pinna, Luigi; Seminara, Lucia; Valle, Maurizio; Zunino, Rodolfo

2014-01-01

Tactile sensing helps robots interact with humans and objects effectively in real environments. Piezoelectric polymer sensors provide the functional building blocks of the robotic electronic skin, mainly thanks to their flexibility and suitability for detecting dynamic contact events and for recognizing the touch modality. The paper focuses on the ability of tactile sensing systems to support the challenging recognition of certain qualities/modalities of touch. The research applies novel computational intelligence techniques and a tensor-based approach for the classification of touch modalities; its main results consist in providing a procedure to enhance system generalization ability and architecture for multi-class recognition applications. An experimental campaign involving 70 participants using three different modalities in touching the upper surface of the sensor array was conducted, and confirmed the validity of the approach. PMID:24949646

Computational intelligence techniques for tactile sensing systems.

PubMed

Gastaldo, Paolo; Pinna, Luigi; Seminara, Lucia; Valle, Maurizio; Zunino, Rodolfo

2014-06-19

Tactile sensing helps robots interact with humans and objects effectively in real environments. Piezoelectric polymer sensors provide the functional building blocks of the robotic electronic skin, mainly thanks to their flexibility and suitability for detecting dynamic contact events and for recognizing the touch modality. The paper focuses on the ability of tactile sensing systems to support the challenging recognition of certain qualities/modalities of touch. The research applies novel computational intelligence techniques and a tensor-based approach for the classification of touch modalities; its main results consist in providing a procedure to enhance system generalization ability and architecture for multi-class recognition applications. An experimental campaign involving 70 participants using three different modalities in touching the upper surface of the sensor array was conducted, and confirmed the validity of the approach.

A slow-adapting microfluidic-based tactile sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tseng, W.-Y.; Fisher, J. S.; Prieto, J. L.; Rinaldi, K.; Alapati, G.; Lee, A. P.

2009-08-01

We present a microfluidic-based tactile sensor mimicking the human slow-adapting mechanoreceptor such as Merkel's disc. The sensor is composed of a polyimide (PI)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) multilayer structure. The device uses a hemispherical reservoir filled with electrolyte solution in the PDMS layer, a microchannel in the PI layer and a pair of sensing electrodes below the microchannel as the force transducer. The tactile signal is detected as the impedance change resulting predominantly from the resistance variance due to the electrodes coverage by the 1M NaCl solution and is measured across the electrode pair. The sensor response is linear and the working range is shown to be in the range of 0-1.8 N. The characterization results also demonstrate the sensing of various levels of forces and its long-term signal stability.

Stiffness mapping prostate biopsy samples using a tactile sensor.

PubMed

Peng, Qiyu; Omata, Sadao; Peehl, Donna M; Constantinou, Chris E

2011-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that the stiffness of cancerous cells reflects their pathological stage and progression rates, with increased cancerous cell stiffness associated with increased aggressiveness. Therefore, the elasticity of the cancerous cells has the potential to be used as an indicator of the cancer's aggressiveness. However, the sensitivity and resolution of current palpation and imaging techniques are not sufficient to detect small cancerous tissues. In previous studies, we developed a tactile-based device to map with high resolution the stiffness of a tissue section. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this device using different tissues (BPH, Cancer and PZ) collected from human prostates. The preliminary results show that the tactile device is sensitive enough to tell the differences of the stiffness of different tissues. The results also disclosed the factors (humidity, temperature and tissue degradation) which could dramatically affect the results of stiffness mapping. The tactile technology described in this paper has the potential to help disclose the underlying mechanical mechanisms that lead to increased stiffness in prostate tumors.

Bioinspired active whisker sensor for robotic vibrissal tactile sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ju, Feng; Ling, Shih-Fu

2014-12-01

A whisker transducer (WT) inspired by rat’s vibrissal tactile perception is proposed based on a transduction matrix model characterizing the electro-mechanical transduction process in both forward and backward directions. It is capable of acting as an actuator to sweep the whisker and simultaneously as a sensor to sense the force, motion, and mechanical impedance at whisker tip. Its validity is confirmed by numerical simulation using a finite element model. A prototype is then fabricated and its transduction matrix is determined by parameter identification. The calibrated WT can accurately sense mechanical impedance which is directly related to stiffness, mass and damping. Subsequent vibrissal tactile sensing of sandpaper texture reveals that the real part of mechanical impedance sensed by WT is correlated with sandpaper roughness. Texture discrimination is successfully achieved by inputting the real part to a k-means clustering algorithm. The mechanical impedance sensing ability as well as other features of the WT such as simultaneous-actuation-and-sensing makes it a good solution to robotic tactile sensing.

The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies

PubMed Central

Pestell, Nicholas; Cramphorn, Luke; Winstone, Benjamin; Giannaccini, Maria Elena; Rossiter, Jonathan; Lepora, Nathan F.

2018-01-01

Abstract Tactile sensing is an essential component in human–robot interaction and object manipulation. Soft sensors allow for safe interaction and improved gripping performance. Here we present the TacTip family of sensors: a range of soft optical tactile sensors with various morphologies fabricated through dual-material 3D printing. All of these sensors are inspired by the same biomimetic design principle: transducing deformation of the sensing surface via movement of pins analogous to the function of intermediate ridges within the human fingertip. The performance of the TacTip, TacTip-GR2, TacTip-M2, and TacCylinder sensors is here evaluated and shown to attain submillimeter accuracy on a rolling cylinder task, representing greater than 10-fold super-resolved acuity. A version of the TacTip sensor has also been open-sourced, enabling other laboratories to adopt it as a platform for tactile sensing and manipulation research. These sensors are suitable for real-world applications in tactile perception, exploration, and manipulation, and will enable further research and innovation in the field of soft tactile sensing. PMID:29297773

The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies.

PubMed

Ward-Cherrier, Benjamin; Pestell, Nicholas; Cramphorn, Luke; Winstone, Benjamin; Giannaccini, Maria Elena; Rossiter, Jonathan; Lepora, Nathan F

2018-04-01

Tactile sensing is an essential component in human-robot interaction and object manipulation. Soft sensors allow for safe interaction and improved gripping performance. Here we present the TacTip family of sensors: a range of soft optical tactile sensors with various morphologies fabricated through dual-material 3D printing. All of these sensors are inspired by the same biomimetic design principle: transducing deformation of the sensing surface via movement of pins analogous to the function of intermediate ridges within the human fingertip. The performance of the TacTip, TacTip-GR2, TacTip-M2, and TacCylinder sensors is here evaluated and shown to attain submillimeter accuracy on a rolling cylinder task, representing greater than 10-fold super-resolved acuity. A version of the TacTip sensor has also been open-sourced, enabling other laboratories to adopt it as a platform for tactile sensing and manipulation research. These sensors are suitable for real-world applications in tactile perception, exploration, and manipulation, and will enable further research and innovation in the field of soft tactile sensing.

Pure associative tactile agnosia for the left hand: clinical and anatomo-functional correlations.

PubMed

Veronelli, Laura; Ginex, Valeria; Dinacci, Daria; Cappa, Stefano F; Corbo, Massimo

2014-09-01

Associative tactile agnosia (TA) is defined as the inability to associate information about object sensory properties derived through tactile modality with previously acquired knowledge about object identity. The impairment is often described after a lesion involving the parietal cortex (Caselli, 1997; Platz, 1996). We report the case of SA, a right-handed 61-year-old man affected by first ever right hemispheric hemorrhagic stroke. The neurological examination was normal, excluding major somaesthetic and motor impairment; a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed the presence of a right subacute hemorrhagic lesion limited to the post-central and supra-marginal gyri. A comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation detected a selective inability to name objects when handled with the left hand in the absence of other cognitive deficits. A series of experiments were conducted in order to assess each stage of tactile recognition processing using the same stimulus sets: materials, 3D geometrical shapes, real objects and letters. SA and seven matched controls underwent the same experimental tasks during four sessions in consecutive days. Tactile discrimination, recognition, pantomime, drawing after haptic exploration out of vision and tactile-visual matching abilities were assessed. In addition, we looked for the presence of a supra-modal impairment of spatial perception and of specific difficulties in programming exploratory movements during recognition. Tactile discrimination was intact for all the stimuli tested. In contrast, SA was able neither to recognize nor to pantomime real objects manipulated with the left hand out of vision, while he identified them with the right hand without hesitations. Tactile-visual matching was intact. Furthermore, SA was able to grossly reproduce the global shape in drawings but failed to extract details of objects after left-hand manipulation, and he could not identify objects after looking at his own drawings. This case

Le potentiel de l'asteroseismologie pour les etoiles sous-naines de type B

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charpinet, Stephane

L'objectif principal de cette thèse consiste à évaluer les possibilités que les étoiles sous naines de type B, aussi appelées sdB, puissent développer des variations de luminosité engendrées par des phénomènes de pulsations. Dans la mesure où, au commencement de cette étude, les sdB ne sont pas connues pour montrer ce type de comportement, notre approche s'effectue exclusivement sur des bases théoriques visant à déterminer, par le calcul, si ces étoiles ont le potentiel pour devenir instables. Le cas échéant, il s'agira d'évaluer quels sont les résultats susceptibles d'émerger d'un sondage de la structure interne de ces étoiles avec les méthodes de l'astéroséismologie. Après avoir introduit le contexte et les outils théoriques nécessaires à ce projet (théorie des pulsations stellaires et modèles d'étoiles sous-naines de type B), la démarche passe obligatoirement par une étude exhaustive des propriétés des modes de pulsation dans ces étoiles. Nous l'avons entreprise de manière systématique afin d'évaluer et de comprendre les comportements des oscillations en fonction des différents paramètres physiques qui caractérisent une sdB. Par souci de complétude, nous étudions également les rapports qu'entretiennent évolution et périodes de pulsation au cours de la phase sdB. Par la suite, fort des connaissances nouvellement acquises, nous nous lançons dans l'étude de la stabilité des modes d'oscillation, l'objectif étant d'identifier, le cas échéant, un mécanisme capable de déstabiliser, dans certaines conditions, une fraction de ces étoiles. Par cette approche, nous déterminons qu'un mécanisme κ associé à une région d'ionisation partielle de l'élément fer agit efficacement dans l'enveloppe des sdB si, toutefois, le fer y est présent en quantités extra- solaires. Nous montrons alors que des processus de diffusion, déjà fortement suspectes d'exister dans ces étoiles, sont en mesure d'accumuler des quantit

Tactile Data Entry for Extravehicular Activity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Richard J.; Olowin, Aaron B.; Hannaford, Blake; Sands, O Scott

2012-01-01

In the task-saturated environment of extravehicular activity (EVA), an astronaut's ability to leverage suit-integrated information systems is limited by a lack of options for data entry. In particular, bulky gloves inhibit the ability to interact with standard computing interfaces such as a mouse or keyboard. This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation into a system that permits the space suit gloves themselves to be used as data entry devices. Hand motion tracking is combined with simple finger gesture recognition to enable use of a virtual keyboard, while tactile feedback provides touch-based context to the graphical user interface (GUI) and positive confirmation of keystroke events. In human subject trials, conducted with twenty participants using a prototype system, participants entered text significantly faster with tactile feedback than without (p = 0.02). The results support incorporation of vibrotactile information in a future system that will enable full touch typing and general mouse interactions using instrumented EVA gloves.

Now You Feel both: Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation Induces Lasting Improvements in the Rehabilitation of Chronic Tactile Extinction

PubMed Central

Schmidt, Lena; Utz, Kathrin S.; Depper, Lena; Adams, Michaela; Schaadt, Anna-Katharina; Reinhart, Stefan; Kerkhoff, Georg

2013-01-01

Tactile extinction is frequent, debilitating, and often persistent after brain damage. Currently, there is no treatment available for this disorder. In two previous case studies we showed an influence of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) on tactile extinction. Here, we evaluated in further patients the immediate and lasting effects of GVS on tactile extinction. GVS is known to induce polarity-specific changes in cerebral excitability in the vestibular cortices and adjacent cortical areas. Tactile extinction was examined with the Quality Extinction Test (QET) where subjects have to discriminate six different tactile fabrics in bilateral, double simultaneous stimulations on their dorsum of hands with identical or different tactile fabrics. Twelve patients with stable left-sided tactile extinction after unilateral right-hemisphere lesions were divided into two groups. The GVS group (N = 6) performed the QET under six different experimental conditions (two Baselines, Sham-GVS, left-cathodal/right-anodal GVS, right-cathodal/left-anodal GVS, and a Follow-up test). The second group of patients with left-sided extinction (N = 6) performed the QET six times repetitively, but without receiving GVS (control group). Both right-cathodal/left-anodal as well as left-cathodal/right-anodal GVS (mean: 0.7 mA) improved tactile identification of identical and different stimuli in the experimental group. These results show a generic effect of GVS on tactile extinction, but not in a polarity-specific way. These observed effects persisted at follow-up. Sham-GVS had no significant effect on extinction. In the control group, no significant improvements were seen in the QET after the six measurements of the QET, thus ruling out test repetition effects. In conclusion, GVS improved bodily awareness permanently for the contralesional body side in patients with tactile extinction and thus offers a novel treatment option for these patients. PMID:23519604

Tactile feedback to the palm using arbitrarily shaped DEA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mößinger, Holger; Haus, Henry; Kauer, Michaela; Schlaak, Helmut F.

2014-03-01

Tactile stimulation enhances user experience and efficiency in human machine interaction by providing information via another sensory channel to the human brain. DEA as tactile interfaces have been in the focus of research in recent years. Examples are (vibro-) tactile keyboards or Braille displays. These applications of DEA focus mainly on interfacing with the user's fingers or fingertips only - demonstrating the high spatial resolution achievable with DEA. Besides providing a high resolution, the flexibility of DEA also allows designing free form surfaces equipped with single actuators or actuator matrices which can be fitted to the surface of the human skin. The actuators can then be used to provide tactile stimuli to different areas of the body, not to the fingertips only. Utilizing and demonstrating this flexibility we designed a free form DEA pad shaped to fit into the inside of the human palm. This pad consists of four single actuators which can provide e.g. directional information such as left, right, up and down. To demonstrate the value of such free form actuators we manufactured a PC-mouse using 3d printing processes. The actuator pad is mounted on the back of the mouse, resting against the palm while operating it. Software on the PC allows control of the vibration patterns displayed by the actuators. This allows helping the user by raising attention to certain directions or by discriminating between different modes like "pick" or "manipulate". Results of first tests of the device show an improved user experience while operating the PC mouse.

Mechanisms underlying a thalamocortical transformation during active tactile sensation

PubMed Central

Gutnisky, Diego Adrian; Yu, Jianing; Hires, Samuel Andrew; To, Minh-Son; Svoboda, Karel

2017-01-01

During active somatosensation, neural signals expected from movement of the sensors are suppressed in the cortex, whereas information related to touch is enhanced. This tactile suppression underlies low-noise encoding of relevant tactile features and the brain’s ability to make fine tactile discriminations. Layer (L) 4 excitatory neurons in the barrel cortex, the major target of the somatosensory thalamus (VPM), respond to touch, but have low spike rates and low sensitivity to the movement of whiskers. Most neurons in VPM respond to touch and also show an increase in spike rate with whisker movement. Therefore, signals related to self-movement are suppressed in L4. Fast-spiking (FS) interneurons in L4 show similar dynamics to VPM neurons. Stimulation of halorhodopsin in FS interneurons causes a reduction in FS neuron activity and an increase in L4 excitatory neuron activity. This decrease of activity of L4 FS neurons contradicts the "paradoxical effect" predicted in networks stabilized by inhibition and in strongly-coupled networks. To explain these observations, we constructed a model of the L4 circuit, with connectivity constrained by in vitro measurements. The model explores the various synaptic conductance strengths for which L4 FS neurons actively suppress baseline and movement-related activity in layer 4 excitatory neurons. Feedforward inhibition, in concert with recurrent intracortical circuitry, produces tactile suppression. Synaptic delays in feedforward inhibition allow transmission of temporally brief volleys of activity associated with touch. Our model provides a mechanistic explanation of a behavior-related computation implemented by the thalamocortical circuit. PMID:28591219

An Extreme Learning Machine-Based Neuromorphic Tactile Sensing System for Texture Recognition.

PubMed

Rasouli, Mahdi; Chen, Yi; Basu, Arindam; Kukreja, Sunil L; Thakor, Nitish V

2018-04-01

Despite significant advances in computational algorithms and development of tactile sensors, artificial tactile sensing is strikingly less efficient and capable than the human tactile perception. Inspired by efficiency of biological systems, we aim to develop a neuromorphic system for tactile pattern recognition. We particularly target texture recognition as it is one of the most necessary and challenging tasks for artificial sensory systems. Our system consists of a piezoresistive fabric material as the sensor to emulate skin, an interface that produces spike patterns to mimic neural signals from mechanoreceptors, and an extreme learning machine (ELM) chip to analyze spiking activity. Benefiting from intrinsic advantages of biologically inspired event-driven systems and massively parallel and energy-efficient processing capabilities of the ELM chip, the proposed architecture offers a fast and energy-efficient alternative for processing tactile information. Moreover, it provides the opportunity for the development of low-cost tactile modules for large-area applications by integration of sensors and processing circuits. We demonstrate the recognition capability of our system in a texture discrimination task, where it achieves a classification accuracy of 92% for categorization of ten graded textures. Our results confirm that there exists a tradeoff between response time and classification accuracy (and information transfer rate). A faster decision can be achieved at early time steps or by using a shorter time window. This, however, results in deterioration of the classification accuracy and information transfer rate. We further observe that there exists a tradeoff between the classification accuracy and the input spike rate (and thus energy consumption). Our work substantiates the importance of development of efficient sparse codes for encoding sensory data to improve the energy efficiency. These results have a significance for a wide range of wearable, robotic

Artificial Roughness Encoding with a Bio-inspired MEMS- based Tactile Sensor Array

PubMed Central

Oddo, Calogero Maria; Beccai, Lucia; Felder, Martin; Giovacchini, Francesco; Carrozza, Maria Chiara

2009-01-01

A compliant 2×2 tactile sensor array was developed and investigated for roughness encoding. State of the art cross shape 3D MEMS sensors were integrated with polymeric packaging providing in total 16 sensitive elements to external mechanical stimuli in an area of about 20 mm2, similarly to the SA1 innervation density in humans. Experimental analysis of the bio-inspired tactile sensor array was performed by using ridged surfaces, with spatial periods from 2.6 mm to 4.1 mm, which were indented with regulated 1N normal force and stroked at constant sliding velocity from 15 mm/s to 48 mm/s. A repeatable and expected frequency shift of the sensor outputs depending on the applied stimulus and on its scanning velocity was observed between 3.66 Hz and 18.46 Hz with an overall maximum error of 1.7%. The tactile sensor could also perform contact imaging during static stimulus indentation. The experiments demonstrated the suitability of this approach for the design of a roughness encoding tactile sensor for an artificial fingerpad. PMID:22412304

Functionalization of Tactile Sensation for Robot Based on Haptograph and Modal Decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yokokura, Yuki; Katsura, Seiichiro; Ohishi, Kiyoshi

In the real world, robots should be able to recognize the environment in order to be of help to humans. A video camera and a laser range finder are devices that can help robots recognize the environment. However, these devices cannot obtain tactile information from environments. Future human-assisting-robots should have the ability to recognize haptic signals, and a disturbance observer can possibly be used to provide the robot with this ability. In this study, a disturbance observer is employed in a mobile robot to functionalize the tactile sensation. This paper proposes a method that involves the use of haptograph and modal decomposition for the haptic recognition of road environments. The haptograph presents a graphic view of the tactile information. It is possible to classify road conditions intuitively. The robot controller is designed by considering the decoupled modal coordinate system, which consists of translational and rotational modes. Modal decomposition is performed by using a quarry matrix. Once the robot is provided with the ability to recognize tactile sensations, its usefulness to humans will increase.

A flexible tactile-feedback touch screen using transparent ferroelectric polymer film vibrators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ju, Woo-Eon; Moon, Yong-Ju; Park, Cheon-Ho; Choi, Seung Tae

2014-07-01

To provide tactile feedback on flexible touch screens, transparent relaxor ferroelectric polymer film vibrators were designed and fabricated in this study. The film vibrator can be integrated underneath a transparent cover film or glass, and can also produce acoustic waves that cause a tactile sensation on human fingertips. Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)] polymer was used as the relaxor ferroelectric polymer because it produces a large strain under applied electric fields, shows a fast response, and has excellent optical transparency. The natural frequency of this tactile-feedback touch screen was designed to be around 200-240 Hz, at which the haptic perception of human fingertips is the most sensitive; therefore, the resonance of the touch screen at its natural frequency provides maximum haptic sensation. A multilayered relaxor ferroelectric polymer film vibrator was also demonstrated to provide the same vibration power at reduced voltage. The flexible P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) film vibrators developed in this study are expected to provide tactile sensation not only in large-area flat panel displays, but also in flexible displays and touch screens.

Prolongement de théories planétaires à variations séculaires sur plusieurs milliers d'années.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simon, J. L.

Les théories planétaires à variations séculaires construites au Bureau des Longitudes, VSOP82 (Bretagnon, 1982) et TOP82 (Simon, 1983) ne contiennent pas de termes de degré supérieur à 6 dans le développement en puissance du temps des perturbations. Il en résulte que leur précision se dégrade avec le temps pour des intervalles de temps supérieurs à 1000 ans. L'auteur présente ici un travail effectué en collaboration avec P. Bretagnon qui a consisté à construire une solution du mouvement de Jupiter et Saturne gardant une bonne précision sur 6000 ans.

Symbol recognition produced by points of tactile stimulation: the illusion of linear continuity.

PubMed

Gonzales, G R

1996-11-01

To determine whether tactile receptive communication is possible through the use of a mechanical device that produces the phi phenomenon on the body surface. Twenty-six subjects (11 blind and 15 sighted participants) were tested with use of a tactile communication device (TCD) that produces an illusion of linear continuity forming numbers on the dorsal aspect of the wrist. Recognition of a number or number set was the goal. A TCD with protruding and vibrating solenoids produced sequentially delivered points of cutaneous stimulation along a pattern resembling numbers and created the illusion of dragging a vibrating stylet to form numbers, similar to what might be felt by testing for graphesthesia. Blind subjects recognized numbers with fewer trials than did sighted subjects, although all subjects were able to recognize all the numbers produced by the TCD. Subjects who had been blind since birth and had no prior tactile exposure to numbers were able to draw the numbers after experiencing them delivered by the TCD even though they did not recognize their meaning. The phi phenomenon is probably responsible for the illusion of continuous lines in the shape of numbers as produced by the TCD. This tactile illusion could potentially be used for more complex tactile communications such as letters and words.

Differences in Early Stages of Tactile ERP Temporal Sequence (P100) in Cortical Organization during Passive Tactile Stimulation in Children with Blindness and Controls.

PubMed

Ortiz Alonso, Tomás; Santos, Juan Matías; Ortiz Terán, Laura; Borrego Hernández, Mayelin; Poch Broto, Joaquín; de Erausquin, Gabriel Alejandro

2015-01-01

Compared to their seeing counterparts, people with blindness have a greater tactile capacity. Differences in the physiology of object recognition between people with blindness and seeing people have been well documented, but not when tactile stimuli require semantic processing. We used a passive vibrotactile device to focus on the differences in spatial brain processing evaluated with event related potentials (ERP) in children with blindness (n = 12) vs. normally seeing children (n = 12), when learning a simple spatial task (lines with different orientations) or a task involving recognition of letters, to describe the early stages of its temporal sequence (from 80 to 220 msec) and to search for evidence of multi-modal cortical organization. We analysed the P100 of the ERP. Children with blindness showed earlier latencies for cognitive (perceptual) event related potentials, shorter reaction times, and (paradoxically) worse ability to identify the spatial direction of the stimulus. On the other hand, they are equally proficient in recognizing stimuli with semantic content (letters). The last observation is consistent with the role of P100 on somatosensory-based recognition of complex forms. The cortical differences between seeing control and blind groups, during spatial tactile discrimination, are associated with activation in visual pathway (occipital) and task-related association (temporal and frontal) areas. The present results show that early processing of tactile stimulation conveying cross modal information differs in children with blindness or with normal vision.

Differences in Early Stages of Tactile ERP Temporal Sequence (P100) in Cortical Organization during Passive Tactile Stimulation in Children with Blindness and Controls

PubMed Central

Ortiz Alonso, Tomás; Santos, Juan Matías; Ortiz Terán, Laura; Borrego Hernández, Mayelin; Poch Broto, Joaquín; de Erausquin, Gabriel Alejandro

2015-01-01

Compared to their seeing counterparts, people with blindness have a greater tactile capacity. Differences in the physiology of object recognition between people with blindness and seeing people have been well documented, but not when tactile stimuli require semantic processing. We used a passive vibrotactile device to focus on the differences in spatial brain processing evaluated with event related potentials (ERP) in children with blindness (n = 12) vs. normally seeing children (n = 12), when learning a simple spatial task (lines with different orientations) or a task involving recognition of letters, to describe the early stages of its temporal sequence (from 80 to 220 msec) and to search for evidence of multi-modal cortical organization. We analysed the P100 of the ERP. Children with blindness showed earlier latencies for cognitive (perceptual) event related potentials, shorter reaction times, and (paradoxically) worse ability to identify the spatial direction of the stimulus. On the other hand, they are equally proficient in recognizing stimuli with semantic content (letters). The last observation is consistent with the role of P100 on somatosensory-based recognition of complex forms. The cortical differences between seeing control and blind groups, during spatial tactile discrimination, are associated with activation in visual pathway (occipital) and task-related association (temporal and frontal) areas. The present results show that early processing of tactile stimulation conveying cross modal information differs in children with blindness or with normal vision. PMID:26225827

Accouchements sur utérus cicatriciel en République Démocratique du Congo: épreuve utérine et facteurs déterminants de l’issue

PubMed Central

Momat, Félix Kitenge wa; Zalagile, Pierre Akilimali; Mukalenge, Faustin Chenge; Luboya, Oscar Numbi; Kalala, Cléophas Tshibangu; Mashinda, Désiré; Grangé, Gilles; Mukuku, Olivier; Kaj, Fanny Malonga; Lubamba, Chamy Cham; Bwama, Joseph Bagambe; Mukoko, Célestin Kayembe; Kakoma, Jean Baptiste; Kalungwe, Justin Kizonde

2017-01-01

Introduction L'objectif était d'identifier les principaux facteurs de risque associés à un échec d'épreuve utérine et définir un score prédictif d'accouchement sur utérus cicatriciel en République Démocratique du Congo. Méthodes Étude multicentrique, transversale et analytique des patientes porteuses d'un utérus cicatriciel sur la période du 1er janvier au 31 décembre 2013 dans quatre maternités de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC). Un modèle de régression logistique a été construit pour identifier les facteurs associés à l'échec de l'épreuve utérine. De ce modèle, un score prédictif a été construit pour prédire l'échec de l'épreuve utérine dans les maternités de la RDC. La courbe ROC a été utilisée pour évaluer la capacité du score construit à identifier les patientes à risque de connaitre un échec de l'épreuve utérine. Le cut off point du score prédictif a été déterminé en fonction de la sensibilité et spécificité optimale via l'index de Youden. Tous les tests ont été réalisés au seuil de signification α=0,05. Résultats Deux types de facteurs explicatifs de l'échec de l'épreuve utérine ont été retenus. Il s'agit d'un facteur sociodémographique (âge maternel) et de trois facteurs obstétricaux (hauteur utérine, présentation du fœtus et rupture prématurée des membranes). Le score de prédiction a été défini pour prédire l'échec de l'épreuve utérine. La construction de ce score s'est basée sur quatre éléments : l'âge maternel, l'état de la poche des eaux à l'admission, la hauteur utérine et la présentation fœtale. Le score minimal est de 4 et le score maximal est de 16. Le seuil est de 7. Un Score total supérieur ou égal à 7 traduit un risque d'échec de l'épreuve utérine. Conclusion L'utilisation de ce score prédictif chez les patientes pourra améliorer la qualité dans les indications de la voie haute, l'augmentation des taux de césariennes prophylactiques

Tactile suppression of displacement.

PubMed

Ziat, Mounia; Hayward, Vincent; Chapman, C Elaine; Ernst, Marc O; Lenay, Charles

2010-10-01

In vision, the discovery of the phenomenon of saccadic suppression of displacement has made important contributions to the understanding of the stable world problem. Here, we report a similar phenomenon in the tactile modality. When scanning a single Braille dot with two fingers of the same hand, participants were asked to decide whether the dot was stationary or whether it was displaced from one location to another. The stimulus was produced by refreshable Braille devices that have dots that can be swiftly raised and recessed. In some conditions, the dot was stationary. In others, a displacement was created by monitoring the participant's finger position and by switching the dot activation when it was not touched by either finger. The dot displacement was of either 2.5 mm or 5 mm. We found that in certain cases, displaced dots were felt to be stationary. If the displacement was orthogonal to the finger movements, tactile suppression occurred effectively when it was of 2.5 mm, but when the displacement was of 5 mm, the participants easily detected it. If the displacement was medial-lateral, the suppression effect occurred as well, but less often when the apparent movement of the dot opposed the movement of the finger. In such cases, the stimulus appeared sooner than when the brain could predict it from finger movement, supporting a predictive rather than a postdictive differential processing hypothesis.

[Advances in the research of function of Merkel cells in tactile formation of skin].

PubMed

You, X; Wei, Z R

2018-01-20

Skin is the largest sense organ of human, with many mechanoreceptor cells under epidermis or dermis of skin and Merkel cell is one of them. It has been confirmed that Merkel cells play an important role in the process of mechanical transmission of mammalian soft tactile stimulation. Researches showed that Merkel cells had close relation to tactile formation and functioned by Merkel cell-neurite complexes and ion channels Piezo2. This article reviews Merkel cells and the function, problem and prospect of Merkel cells in tactile formation.

Le traitement chirurgical des fractures du cotyle: à propos de 22 cas

PubMed Central

Mahdane, Hicham; Elghazi, Amine; Shimi, Mohamed; Elibrahimi, Abdelhalim; Elmrini, Abdelmajid

2014-01-01

Vingt deux patients présentant une fracture incongruente de l'acétabulum ont été opérés et revues avec un recul moyen de 2 ans. Le but de cette étude est d'analyser les résultats fonctionnels et radiologiques des fractures de l'acétabulum après traitement chirurgical. La population était constituée de 17 hommes et 5 femmes, avec un âge moyen de 42,5 ans. Les fractures de l'acétabulum étaient répertoriées selon la classification de Judet et Letournel: 11 fractures de la paroi postérieure, une fracture de la colonne postérieure, six fractures transversales, quatre fractures transversales associées à une paroi postérieure, et une seule fracture de la colonne postérieure avec fracture de la paroi postérieure. Quatre patients présentaient des lésions associées du bassin, sept patients avaient une luxation postérieur de la hanche, deux une luxation centrale et deux avaient un traumatisme crânien associée. Deux voies d'abords ont été utilisées dans ce travail: la voie de Kocher Langenbeck (19 cas), et la voie de Dana Mears (4 cas). A partir du bilan radiologique initial (bassin face, ¾ alaire, ¾ obturateur et tomodensitomértie) on évaluer le déplacement, la congruence, tête/toit et tête/acétabulum ainsi que le degré de comminution. La qualité de réduction était évaluée selon les critères de Matta et les résultats fonctionnels selon la cotation de Merle D'Aubigné. Sur le Plan radiologique nous avons obtenu 56,52% de réduction anatomique, alors que sur le plan fonctionnel 78% patient avaient de bons et très bon résultats. Parmi les complications postopératoires, on a noté un seul cas d'infection cutanée superficielle, cinq ossifications héterotopiques. A distance un cas d'ostéonécrose aseptique de la tête fémorale et un cas de coxarthrose. PMID:25374628

Integration of Hand and Finger Location in External Spatial Coordinates for Tactile Localization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heed, Tobias; Backhaus, Jenny; Roder, Brigitte

2012-01-01

Tactile stimulus location is automatically transformed from somatotopic into external spatial coordinates, rendering information about the location of touch in three-dimensional space. This process is referred to as tactile remapping. Whereas remapping seems to occur automatically for the hands and feet, the fingers may constitute an exception in…

Tactile feedback for relief of deafferentation pain using virtual reality system: a pilot study.

PubMed

Sano, Yuko; Wake, Naoki; Ichinose, Akimichi; Osumi, Michihiro; Oya, Reishi; Sumitani, Masahiko; Kumagaya, Shin-Ichiro; Kuniyoshi, Yasuo

2016-06-28

Previous studies have tried to relieve deafferentation pain (DP) by using virtual reality rehabilitation systems. However, the effectiveness of multimodal sensory feedback was not validated. The objective of this study is to relieve DP by neurorehabilitation using a virtual reality system with multimodal sensory feedback and to validate the efficacy of tactile feedback on immediate pain reduction. We have developed a virtual reality rehabilitation system with multimodal sensory feedback and applied it to seven patients with DP caused by brachial plexus avulsion or arm amputation. The patients executed a reaching task using the virtual phantom limb manipulated by their real intact limb. The reaching task was conducted under two conditions: one with tactile feedback on the intact hand and one without. The pain intensity was evaluated through a questionnaire. We found that the task with the tactile feedback reduced DP more (41.8 ± 19.8 %) than the task without the tactile feedback (28.2 ± 29.5 %), which was supported by a Wilcoxon signed-rank test result (p < 0.05). Overall, our findings indicate that the tactile feedback improves the immediate pain intensity through rehabilitation using our virtual reality system.

Vibration-enhanced posture stabilization achieved by tactile supplementation: may blind individuals get extra benefits?

PubMed

Magalhães, Fernando Henrique; Kohn, André Fabio

2011-08-01

Diminished balance ability poses a serious health risk due to the increased likelihood of falling, and impaired postural stability is significantly associated with blindness and poor vision. Noise stimulation (by improving the detection of sub-threshold somatosensory information) and tactile supplementation (i.e., additional haptic information provided by an external contact surface) have been shown to improve the performance of the postural control system. Moreover, vibratory noise added to the source of tactile supplementation (e.g., applied to a surface that the fingertip touches) has been shown to enhance balance stability more effectively than tactile supplementation alone. In view of the above findings, in addition to the well established consensus that blind subjects show superior abilities in the use of tactile information, we hypothesized that blind subjects may take extra benefits from the vibratory noise added to the tactile supplementation and hence show greater improvements in postural stability than those observed for sighted subjects. If confirmed, this hypothesis may lay the foundation for the development of noise-based assistive devices (e.g., canes, walking sticks) for improving somatosensation and hence prevent falls in blind individuals. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Examination of the Potential for Blissymbolics to Serve as the Foundation for a Tactile Symbol System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isaacson, Mickey

2012-01-01

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether Blissymbolics have the potential for being developed into a tactile symbol communication system. Tactile techniques are used by many individuals with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs. Tactile processing is optimized by the use of minimalistic stimuli, i.e., stimuli…

L'Apport de la Greffe de Peau Totale dans le Traitement des Sequelles des Brulures de la Main: a Propos de 14 Cas

PubMed Central

Ettalbi, S.; Ibnouzahir, M.; Rachid, M.; Bahaichar, N.; Boukind, H.

2007-01-01

Summary La main est fréquemment exposée aux brûlures, ce qui entraîne des séquelles cutanées. A partir d'une série de 14 patients suivis dans notre service sur une année, nous avons essayé d'établir la simplicité, l'efficacité et le rôle de la greffe de peau totale dans le traitement de ces séquelles (les organes nobles ne sont pas mis à nu). La greffe de peau totale associée à une rééducation efficace permet aux patients de reprendre la mobilité des mains dans les brefs délais. PMID:21991094

Genetically identified spinal interneurons integrating tactile afferents for motor control

PubMed Central

Panek, Izabela; Farah, Carl

2015-01-01

Our movements are shaped by our perception of the world as communicated by our senses. Perception of sensory information has been largely attributed to cortical activity. However, a prior level of sensory processing occurs in the spinal cord. Indeed, sensory inputs directly project to many spinal circuits, some of which communicate with motor circuits within the spinal cord. Therefore, the processing of sensory information for the purpose of ensuring proper movements is distributed between spinal and supraspinal circuits. The mechanisms underlying the integration of sensory information for motor control at the level of the spinal cord have yet to be fully described. Recent research has led to the characterization of spinal neuron populations that share common molecular identities. Identification of molecular markers that define specific populations of spinal neurons is a prerequisite to the application of genetic techniques devised to both delineate the function of these spinal neurons and their connectivity. This strategy has been used in the study of spinal neurons that receive tactile inputs from sensory neurons innervating the skin. As a result, the circuits that include these spinal neurons have been revealed to play important roles in specific aspects of motor function. We describe these genetically identified spinal neurons that integrate tactile information and the contribution of these studies to our understanding of how tactile information shapes motor output. Furthermore, we describe future opportunities that these circuits present for shedding light on the neural mechanisms of tactile processing. PMID:26445867

Visual and tactile interfaces for bi-directional human robot communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barber, Daniel; Lackey, Stephanie; Reinerman-Jones, Lauren; Hudson, Irwin

2013-05-01

Seamless integration of unmanned and systems and Soldiers in the operational environment requires robust communication capabilities. Multi-Modal Communication (MMC) facilitates achieving this goal due to redundancy and levels of communication superior to single mode interaction using auditory, visual, and tactile modalities. Visual signaling using arm and hand gestures is a natural method of communication between people. Visual signals standardized within the U.S. Army Field Manual and in use by Soldiers provide a foundation for developing gestures for human to robot communication. Emerging technologies using Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) enable classification of arm and hand gestures for communication with a robot without the requirement of line-of-sight needed by computer vision techniques. These devices improve the robustness of interpreting gestures in noisy environments and are capable of classifying signals relevant to operational tasks. Closing the communication loop between Soldiers and robots necessitates them having the ability to return equivalent messages. Existing visual signals from robots to humans typically require highly anthropomorphic features not present on military vehicles. Tactile displays tap into an unused modality for robot to human communication. Typically used for hands-free navigation and cueing, existing tactile display technologies are used to deliver equivalent visual signals from the U.S. Army Field Manual. This paper describes ongoing research to collaboratively develop tactile communication methods with Soldiers, measure classification accuracy of visual signal interfaces, and provides an integration example including two robotic platforms.

Weber's Illusion and Body Shape: Anisotropy of Tactile Size Perception on the Hand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longo, Matthew R.; Haggard, Patrick

2011-01-01

The perceived distance between touches on a single skin surface is larger on regions of high tactile sensitivity than those with lower acuity, an effect known as "Weber's illusion". This illusion suggests that tactile size perception involves a representation of the perceived size of body parts preserving characteristics of the somatosensory…

Traumatismes Oculaires par Petards: Bilan sur Trois Annees

PubMed Central

Zouaoui-Kesraoui, N.; Derdour, A.

2009-01-01

Summary Les accidents dus aux pétards sont des accidents graves. Leur recrudescence ces dernières années en Algérie, essentiellement durant les fêtes du Mawlid Ennabaoui (fête de la naissance du prophète), mérite à notre sens d'entreprendre des bilans exhaustifs dont celui-ci dans le but d'une sensibilisation de toutes les compétences concernées. Nous avons réuni sur trois années consécutives (2002, 2003, 2004) 60 dossiers de malades ayant subi des accidents oculaires par pétards. Nos patients sont répartis en 42 consultations pour blessures légères et 18 hospitalisations pour blessures graves. Parmi ces derniers, neuf ont présenté des complications et séquelles graves (cinq cas de cécité par atrophie du globe oculaire, trois cas de cécité cornéenne et un cas de cécité par trou maculaire). Dans tous ces cas l'incapacité permanente partielle est au minimum de 30%. Au vu de ces données nous proposons des mesures d'éducation sanitaire et une sensibilisation du grand public aux traumatismes oculaires, par le biais de mé dias appropriés: radio, télévision, affiches. PMID:21991157

Development of CMOS MEMS inductive type tactile sensor with the integration of chrome steel ball force interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeh, Sheng-Kai; Chang, Heng-Chung; Fang, Weileun

2018-04-01

This study presents an inductive tactile sensor with a chrome steel ball sensing interface based on the commercially available standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process (the TSMC 0.18 µm 1P6M CMOS process). The tactile senor has a deformable polymer layer as the spring of the device and no fragile suspended thin film structures are required. As a tactile force is applied on the chrome steel ball, the polymer would deform. The distance between the chrome steel ball and the sensing coil would changed. Thus, the tactile force can be detected by the inductance change of the sensing coil. In short, the chrome steel ball acts as a tactile bump as well as the sensing interface. Experimental results show that the proposed inductive tactile sensor has a sensing range of 0-1.4 N with a sensitivity of 9.22(%/N) and nonlinearity of 2%. Preliminary wireless sensing test is also demonstrated. Moreover, the influence of the process and material issues on the sensor performances have also been investigated.

Attention to sound improves auditory reliability in audio-tactile spatial optimal integration.

PubMed

Vercillo, Tiziana; Gori, Monica

2015-01-01

The role of attention on multisensory processing is still poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether directing attention toward a sensory cue dynamically reweights cue reliability during integration of multiple sensory signals. In this study, we investigated the impact of attention in combining audio-tactile signals in an optimal fashion. We used the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) model to predict audio-tactile spatial localization on the body surface. We developed a new audio-tactile device composed by several small units, each one consisting of a speaker and a tactile vibrator independently controllable by external software. We tested participants in an attentional and a non-attentional condition. In the attentional experiment, participants performed a dual task paradigm: they were required to evaluate the duration of a sound while performing an audio-tactile spatial task. Three unisensory or multisensory stimuli, conflictual or not conflictual sounds and vibrations arranged along the horizontal axis, were presented sequentially. In the primary task participants had to evaluate in a space bisection task the position of the second stimulus (the probe) with respect to the others (the standards). In the secondary task they had to report occasionally changes in duration of the second auditory stimulus. In the non-attentional task participants had only to perform the primary task (space bisection). Our results showed an enhanced auditory precision (and auditory weights) in the auditory attentional condition with respect to the control non-attentional condition. The results of this study support the idea that modality-specific attention modulates multisensory integration.

[Passive tactile stimulation and its clinical and neurophysiological repercussions (P300) in blind children with symptoms of attention deficit disorder].

PubMed

Serrano-Marugán, Isabel; Herrera, Begoña; Romero, Sara; Nogales, Ramón; Poch-Broto, Joaquín; Quintero, Javier; Ortiz, Tomás

2014-02-24

Tactile stimulation is key for the posterior brain re-organization activity and attention processes, however the impact of tactile stimulation on attention deficit disorder (ADD) in blind children remains unexplored. We carried out a study with children having or not ADD (four per group). The subjects have been exposed during six months to tactile stimulation protocol consisting in two daily sessions (morning and afternoon sessions) of 30 minutes each. We have measured the ability to detect an infrequent tactile stimulus, reaction time, latency of P300, sources of brain activity, and ADD clinical symptoms, before and after tactile training. Passive tactile stimulation significantly improves ADD clinical symptoms, particularly attention, behavior and self-control of involuntary movements and tics. In addition, tactile stimulation changes the pattern of brain activity in ADD blind children inducing activity in frontal and occipital areas, which could be associated to a compensation of the attention deficit. Passive tactile stimulation training may improve ADD clinical symptoms and can reorganize the pattern of brain activity in blind ADD children.

The Invisible Universe: A Tactile and Braille Exhibit of Astronomical Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcand, Kimberly; Lestition, K.; Watzke, M.; Steel, S.

2010-01-01

As part of the "From Earth to the Universe" (FETTU) project, a NASA-funded tactile exhibit for the visually impaired community was launched in July 2009 at the Martin Luther King Library in D.C. The exhibit is part of the global FETTU exhibit, a project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. The science content of the exhibit includes explanations of our Sun, Eta Carinae, Crab Nebula, Whirlpool Galaxy, and the electromagnetic spectrum, and was adapted from the NASA-funded Braille/tactile book Touch the Invisible Sky. Multiple geographic locations and venue types have been targeted for the displays. The FETTU-tactile exhibit opens a wider door to experiencing and understanding astronomy, bridging a gap in learning. This exhibit is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under proposal 08-EPO08-0068 issued through the Science Mission Directorate.

Active tactile sampling by an insect in a step-climbing paradigm

PubMed Central

Krause, André F.; Dürr, Volker

2012-01-01

Many insects actively explore their near-range environment with their antennae. Stick insects (Carausius morosus) rhythmically move their antennae during walking and respond to antennal touch by repetitive tactile sampling of the object. Despite its relevance for spatial orientation, neither the spatial sampling patterns nor the kinematics of antennation behavior in insects are understood. Here we investigate unrestrained bilateral sampling movements during climbing of steps. The main objectives are: (1) How does the antennal contact pattern relate to particular object features? (2) How are the antennal joints coordinated during bilateral tactile sampling? We conducted motion capture experiments on freely climbing insects, using steps of different height. Tactile sampling was analyzed at the level of antennal joint angles. Moreover, we analyzed contact patterns on the surfaces of both the obstacle and the antenna itself. Before the first contact, both antennae move in a broad, mostly elliptical exploratory pattern. After touching the obstacle, the pattern switches to a narrower and faster movement, caused by higher cycle frequencies and lower cycle amplitudes in all joints. Contact events were divided into wall- and edge-contacts. Wall contacts occurred mostly with the distal third of the flagellum, which is flexible, whereas edge contacts often occurred proximally, where the flagellum is stiff. The movement of both antennae was found to be coordinated, exhibiting bilateral coupling of functionally analogous joints [e.g., left head-scape (HS) joint with right scape-pedicel (SP) joint] throughout tactile sampling. In comparison, bilateral coupling between homologous joints (e.g., both HS joints) was significantly weaker. Moreover, inter-joint coupling was significantly weaker during the contact episode than before. In summary, stick insects show contact-induced changes in frequency, amplitude and inter-joint coordination during tactile sampling of climbed obstacles

Cross-modal tactile-taste interactions in food evaluations

PubMed Central

Slocombe, B. G.; Carmichael, D.A.; Simner, J.

2016-01-01

Detecting the taste components within a flavoured substance relies on exposing chemoreceptors within the mouth to the chemical components of ingested food. In our paper, we show that the evaluation of taste components can also be influenced by the tactile quality of the food. We first discuss how multisensory factors might influence taste, flavour and smell for both typical and atypical (synaesthetic) populations and we then present two empirical studies showing tactile-taste interactions in the general population. We asked a group of average adults to evaluate the taste components of flavoured food substances, whilst we presented simultaneous cross-sensory visuo-tactile cues within the eating environment. Specifically, we presented foodstuffs between subjects that were otherwise identical but had a rough versus smooth surface, or were served on a rough versus smooth serving-plate. We found no effect of the serving-plate, but we found the rough/smoothness of the foodstuff itself significantly influenced perception: food was rated as significantly more sour if it had a rough (vs. smooth) surface. In modifying taste perception via ostensibly unrelated dimensions, we demonstrate that the detection of tastes within flavours may be influenced by higher level cross-sensory cues. Finally, we suggest that the direction of our cross-sensory associations may speak to the types of hedonic mapping found both in normal multisensory integration, and in the unusual condition of synaesthesia. PMID:26169315

A new tactile gnosis instrument in sensibility testing.

PubMed

Rosén, B; Lundborg, G

1998-01-01

A new quantitative test instrument for the assessment of tactile gnosis--the ability to identify shapes and textures without vision--is introduced. Introductory investigations of validity and reliability are presented. Fifty-four patients (60 hands) with carpal tunnel syndrome, vibration-induced neuropathy, or nerve repair at distal forearm level, and a matched asymptomatic control group were initially examined. After establishing the cut-off limit for normal tactile gnosis, sensitivity and specificity were calculated to determine the discriminative power of the new instrument. A high sensitivity (1.0) of the new shape/texture identification test was found in the group of patients with nerve repair. Given a cut-off limit, the sensitivity was lower in the groups with vibration-induced neuropathy and carpal tunnel syndrome (0.65 and 0.40, respectively), and the specificity of the test was 0.90 to 0.95. In a second step, a group of 52 patients who had had nerve repair at the distal forearm level were examined. Test-retest reliability was good, with a weighted kappa value of 0.79 to 0.81. Good reliability was also shown in the internal consistency of test items, with a Cronbach alpha value of 0.78. These introductory results indicate that the new shape/texture identification test can be useful in the assessment of tactile gnosis.

Investigating the mechanisms of visually-evoked tactile sensations.

PubMed

McKenzie, Kirsten J; Lloyd, Donna M; Brown, Richard J; Plummer, Faye; Poliakoff, Ellen

2012-01-01

When attempting to detect a near-threshold signal, participants often incorrectly report the presence of a signal, particularly when a stimulus in a different modality is presented. Here we investigated the effect of prior experience of bimodal visuotactile stimuli on the rate of falsely reported touches in the presence of a light. In Experiment 1, participants made more false alarms in light-present than light-absent trials, despite having no experience of the experimental visuotactile pairing. This suggests that light-evoked false alarms are a consequence of an existing association, rather than one learned during the experiment. In Experiment 2, we sought to manipulate the strength of the association through prior training, using supra-threshold tactile stimuli that were given a high or low association with the light. Both groups still exhibited an increased number of false alarms during light-present trials, however, the low association group made significantly fewer false alarms across conditions, and there was no corresponding group difference in the number of tactile stimuli correctly identified. Thus, while training did not affect the boosting of the tactile signal by the visual stimulus, the low association training affected perceptual decision-making more generally, leading to a lower number of illusory touch reports, independent of the light. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interaction of Perceptual Grouping and Crossmodal Temporal Capture in Tactile Apparent-Motion

PubMed Central

Chen, Lihan; Shi, Zhuanghua; Müller, Hermann J.

2011-01-01

Previous studies have shown that in tasks requiring participants to report the direction of apparent motion, task-irrelevant mono-beeps can “capture” visual motion perception when the beeps occur temporally close to the visual stimuli. However, the contributions of the relative timing of multimodal events and the event structure, modulating uni- and/or crossmodal perceptual grouping, remain unclear. To examine this question and extend the investigation to the tactile modality, the current experiments presented tactile two-tap apparent-motion streams, with an SOA of 400 ms between successive, left-/right-hand middle-finger taps, accompanied by task-irrelevant, non-spatial auditory stimuli. The streams were shown for 90 seconds, and participants' task was to continuously report the perceived (left- or rightward) direction of tactile motion. In Experiment 1, each tactile stimulus was paired with an auditory beep, though odd-numbered taps were paired with an asynchronous beep, with audiotactile SOAs ranging from −75 ms to 75 ms. Perceived direction of tactile motion varied systematically with audiotactile SOA, indicative of a temporal-capture effect. In Experiment 2, two audiotactile SOAs—one short (75 ms), one long (325 ms)—were compared. The long-SOA condition preserved the crossmodal event structure (so the temporal-capture dynamics should have been similar to that in Experiment 1), but both beeps now occurred temporally close to the taps on one side (even-numbered taps). The two SOAs were found to produce opposite modulations of apparent motion, indicative of an influence of crossmodal grouping. In Experiment 3, only odd-numbered, but not even-numbered, taps were paired with auditory beeps. This abolished the temporal-capture effect and, instead, a dominant percept of apparent motion from the audiotactile side to the tactile-only side was observed independently of the SOA variation. These findings suggest that asymmetric crossmodal grouping leads to an

Tactile spatial resolution in blind braille readers.

PubMed

Van Boven, R W; Hamilton, R H; Kauffman, T; Keenan, J P; Pascual-Leone, A

2000-06-27

To determine if blind people have heightened tactile spatial acuity. Recently, studies using magnetic source imaging and somatosensory evoked potentials have shown that the cortical representation of the reading fingers of blind Braille readers is expanded compared to that of fingers of sighted subjects. Furthermore, the visual cortex is activated during certain tactile tasks in blind subjects but not sighted subjects. The authors hypothesized that the expanded cortical representation of fingers used in Braille reading may reflect an enhanced fidelity in the neural transmission of spatial details of a stimulus. If so, the quantitative limit of spatial acuity would be superior in blind people. The authors employed a grating orientation discrimination task in which threshold performance is accounted for by the spatial resolution limits of the neural image evoked by a stimulus. The authors quantified the psychophysical limits of spatial acuity at the middle and index fingers of 15 blind Braille readers and 15 sighted control subjects. The mean grating orientation threshold was significantly (p = 0.03) lower in the blind group (1.04 mm) compared to the sighted group (1.46 mm). The self-reported dominant reading finger in blind subjects had a mean grating orientation threshold of 0.80 mm, which was significantly better than other fingers tested. Thresholds at non-Braille reading fingers in blind subjects averaged 1.12 mm, which were also superior to sighted subjects' performances. Superior tactile spatial acuity in blind Braille readers may represent an adaptive, behavioral correlate of cortical plasticity.

L'ostéotomie fémorale de varisation par ouverture externe pour les gonarthroses fémoro-tibiales latérales sur genuvalgum idiopathique: étude rétrospective de 10 cas

PubMed Central

Cheikh, Asma Ben; Maitigue, Mahmoud Ben; Masmoudi, Karim; Mouelhi, Thabet; Naouar, Nader; Grissa, Yamen; Bouattour, Karim; Osman, Walid; Ben Ayeche, Mohamed Laziz

2017-01-01

L'ostéotomie fémorale de varisation est un traitement conservateur des gonarthroses uni-compartimentales externes qui reste de pratique peu courante et dont les résultats sont peu étudiés. L'objectif de ce travail était d'évaluer les résultats cliniques et radiologiques de l'ostéotomie fémorale de varisation chez les sujets présentant une gonarthrose fémoro-tibiale externe sur genou valgum idiopathique répertoriés sur une période de 21 ans(de 1992 à 2013) au service d'Orthopédie du CHU Sahloul à Sousse. L'évaluation clinique des patients a été faite à partir du score IKS (International Knee Society). L'évaluation radiologique a été basée sur un bilan pré opératoire et un bilan au dernier recul. L'étude portait sur une série de 9 patients (et 10 genoux) dont l'âge moyen était de 45,2 ans avec un sex ratio de 0,5. Le recul moyen était de 99 mois. Le score genou moyen est passé de 48,4 points en préopératoire à 73,5 points au dernier recul avec une amélioration statistiquement significative (p<10-3). Le score fonctionnel moyen s'est amélioré d'une façon significative avec une valeur préopératoire de 49,5 points et une valeur 72 pointsau dernier recul. La correction finale a permis de réduire le valgus à une moyenne de 3,7° pour une valeur pré-opératoire de 14°. Cette étude, ainsi que l'analyse de la littérature, nous ont permis de déduire que l'ostéotomie fémorale de varisation est l'indication de choix dans les genuvalgum invalidant d'origine fémorale, en l'absence d'arthrite rhumatismale, de surcharge pondérale, d'arthrose fémoro-tibiale interne ou fémoro-patellaire sévère. PMID:29138658

The Tactile Ethics of Soft Robotics: Designing Wisely for Human-Robot Interaction.

PubMed

Arnold, Thomas; Scheutz, Matthias

2017-06-01

Soft robots promise an exciting design trajectory in the field of robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI), promising more adaptive, resilient movement within environments as well as a safer, more sensitive interface for the objects or agents the robot encounters. In particular, tactile HRI is a critical dimension for designers to consider, especially given the onrush of assistive and companion robots into our society. In this article, we propose to surface an important set of ethical challenges for the field of soft robotics to meet. Tactile HRI strongly suggests that soft-bodied robots balance tactile engagement against emotional manipulation, model intimacy on the bonding with a tool not with a person, and deflect users from personally and socially destructive behavior the soft bodies and surfaces could normally entice.

Anticipation increases tactile stimulus processing in the ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex.

PubMed

van Ede, Freek; de Lange, Floris P; Maris, Eric

2014-10-01

Stimulus anticipation improves perception. To account for this improvement, we investigated how stimulus processing is altered by anticipation. In contrast to a large body of previous work, we employed a demanding perceptual task and investigated sensory responses that occur beyond early evoked activity in contralateral primary sensory areas: Stimulus-induced modulations of neural oscillations. For this, we recorded magnetoencephalography in 19 humans while they performed a cued tactile identification task involving the identification of either a proximal or a distal stimulation on the fingertips. We varied the cue-target interval between 0 and 1000 ms such that tactile targets occurred at various degrees of anticipation. This allowed us to investigate the influence of anticipation on stimulus processing in a parametric fashion. We observed that anticipation increases the stimulus-induced response (suppression of beta-band oscillations) originating from the ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex. This occurs in the period in which the tactile memory trace is analyzed and is correlated with the anticipation-induced improvement in tactile perception. We propose that this ipsilateral response indicates distributed processing across bilateral primary sensory cortices, of which the extent increases with anticipation. This constitutes a new and potentially important mechanism contributing to perception and its improvement following anticipation. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Compact Tactile Sensors for Robot Fingers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, Toby B.; Lussy, David; Gaudiano, Frank; Hulse, Aaron; Diftler, Myron A.; Rodriguez, Dagoberto; Bielski, Paul; Butzer, Melisa

2004-01-01

Compact transducer arrays that measure spatial distributions of force or pressure have been demonstrated as prototypes of tactile sensors to be mounted on fingers and palms of dexterous robot hands. The pressure- or force-distribution feedback provided by these sensors is essential for the further development and implementation of robot-control capabilities for humanlike grasping and manipulation.

Hearing shapes our perception of time: temporal discrimination of tactile stimuli in deaf people.

PubMed

Bolognini, Nadia; Cecchetto, Carlo; Geraci, Carlo; Maravita, Angelo; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Papagno, Costanza

2012-02-01

Confronted with the loss of one type of sensory input, we compensate using information conveyed by other senses. However, losing one type of sensory information at specific developmental times may lead to deficits across all sensory modalities. We addressed the effect of auditory deprivation on the development of tactile abilities, taking into account changes occurring at the behavioral and cortical level. Congenitally deaf and hearing individuals performed two tactile tasks, the first requiring the discrimination of the temporal duration of touches and the second requiring the discrimination of their spatial length. Compared with hearing individuals, deaf individuals were impaired only in tactile temporal processing. To explore the neural substrate of this difference, we ran a TMS experiment. In deaf individuals, the auditory association cortex was involved in temporal and spatial tactile processing, with the same chronometry as the primary somatosensory cortex. In hearing participants, the involvement of auditory association cortex occurred at a later stage and selectively for temporal discrimination. The different chronometry in the recruitment of the auditory cortex in deaf individuals correlated with the tactile temporal impairment. Thus, early hearing experience seems to be crucial to develop an efficient temporal processing across modalities, suggesting that plasticity does not necessarily result in behavioral compensation.

Silence et divulgation dans des familles d’adolescents vivant avec le VIH depuis la naissance : une exploration qualitative

PubMed Central

Proulx-Boucher, Karène; Blais, Martin; Fernet, Mylène; Richard, Marie-Ève; Otis, Joanne; Josy Lévy, Joseph; Samson, Johanne; Lapointe, Normand; Morin, Guylaine; Thériault, Jocelyne; Trottier, Germain

2011-01-01

OBJECTIF : Les études ciblant les enfants nés avec le VIH se sont principalement intéressées à la période précédant l’annonce du diagnostic à l’enfant. L’objectif de cette étude est d’explorer les dynamiques de communication intrafamiliale suivant l’annonce du diagnostic. MÉTHODOLOGIE : Vingt-neuf jeunes (de dix à 18 ans) vivant avec le VIH depuis la naissance ont accordé des entrevues individuelles semi-dirigées portant sur : 1) le dévoilement du statut sérologique, 2) leurs relations familiales et 3) l’éducation sexuelle en milieu familial. Les témoignages ont fait l’objet d’une analyse de contenu. RÉSULTATS : Les jeunes ont appris en moyenne à l’âge de 11 ans leur diagnostic VIH+. La dynamique qui s’installe après cette annonce apparaît régie par le silence : les échanges qui s’ensuivent portent en majorité sur des questions relatives à la médication et à la prévention d’une transmission sexuelle du virus. Ce silence préserverait l’équilibre familial en occupant trois fonctions : protéger la mère d’un sentiment de culpabilité à l’égard de la transmission, assurer l’harmonie familiale, se sentir normal face aux autres. Le diagnostic de l’adolescent n’est généralement pas révélé à la famille élargie, préservant ainsi leur intégration au sein de la famille en les protégeant du rejet, de la trahison et du jugement. EXPOSÉ : Les fonctions du silence et du secret occupent une place stabilisatrice importante au sein de la famille. Toutefois, elles contribuent à isoler les adolescents d’une forme de soutien affectif dont ils ont pourtant besoin. Des pistes d’intervention sont suggérées. PMID:22851894

The Relationship between Gentle Tactile Stimulation on the Fetus and Its Temperament 3 Months after Birth

PubMed Central

Wang, Zhe-Wei; Hua, Jing; Xu, Yu-Hong

2015-01-01

Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of gentle tactile stimulation on the fetus in its temperament 3 months after birth. Method. A total of 302 mother-3-month-infant dyads enrolled the retrospective cohort study. 76 mothers had regular gentle tactile stimulation on the fetus in their pregnancy; 62 mothers had irregular tactile stimulation on the fetus, and the rest of 164 mothers who had no tactile stimulation served as nonexposure group. Temperament was assessed using the EITS (a nine-dimensional scale of temperament). Results. Significant difference in temperament type was found among infants in 3 groups at 3 months of age. In the regular practice group, the babies with easy type temperament accounted for 73.7%, which was higher than that in irregular practice group (53.2%, P = 0.012) and that in the control group (42.1%, P < 0.001). Compared to infants in no practice group, the infants who had received regular gentle tactile stimulation before birth were lower in negative mood (P = 0.047) while higher in adaptability (P < 0.001), approach (P = 0.001), and persistence (P = 0.001), respectively. Conclusion. Regular gentle tactile stimulation on fetus may promote the formation of easy type infant temperament. PMID:26180374

High-Accuracy Readout Electronics for Piezoresistive Tactile Sensors

PubMed Central

Vidal-Verdú, Fernando

2017-01-01

The typical layout in a piezoresistive tactile sensor arranges individual sensors to form an array with M rows and N columns. While this layout reduces the wiring involved, it does not allow the values of the sensor resistors to be measured individually due to the appearance of crosstalk caused by the nonidealities of the array reading circuits. In this paper, two reading methods that minimize errors resulting from this phenomenon are assessed by designing an electronic system for array reading, and the results are compared to those obtained using the traditional method, obviating the nonidealities of the reading circuit. The different models were compared by testing the system with an array of discrete resistors. The system was later connected to a tactile sensor with 8 × 7 taxels. PMID:29104229

3D capacitive tactile sensor using DRIE micromachining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chuang, Chiehtang; Chen, Rongshun

2005-07-01

This paper presents a three dimensional micro capacitive tactile sensor that can detect normal and shear forces which is fabricated using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) bulk silicon micromachining. The tactile sensor consists of a force transmission plate, a symmetric suspension system, and comb electrodes. The sensing character is based on the changes of capacitance between coplanar sense electrodes. High sensitivity is achieved by using the high aspect ratio interdigital electrodes with narrow comb gaps and large overlap areas. The symmetric suspension mechanism of this sensor can easily solve the coupling problem of measurement and increase the stability of the structure. In this paper, the sensor structure is designed, the capacitance variation of the proposed device is theoretically analyzed, and the finite element analysis of mechanical behavior of the structures is performed.

Les expériences de victimisation, la santé mentale et le bien-être de jeunes trans au Québec

PubMed Central

Raymond, Guillaume; Blais, Martin; Bergeron, Félix-Antoine; Hébert, Martine

2016-01-01

Résumé Les normes traditionnelles de genre prescrivent l’adéquation de l’expression de la masculinité et de la féminité au sexe anatomique de naissance. Les personnes qui présentent des variations dans l’expression de genre sont sujettes à diverses formes de réactions sociales suggérant la réprobation (des regards désapprobateurs aux violences physiques) susceptibles d’influencer négativement leur santé mentale. Trente-sept (37) jeunes se décrivant comme trans ou en questionnement sur leur identité de genre ont été recrutés dans le cadre de l’enquête sur les Parcours Amoureux des Jeunes de minorités sexuelles du Québec. Leurs expériences de victimisation parentale et de victimisation basée sur la non-conformité de genre ainsi que des indicateurs de santé mentale (détresse psychologique, estime de soi) ont été mesurés. Afin de comparer les expériences de victimisation et l’état de santé mentale des jeunes trans, ils ont été appariés à 37 garçons et 37 filles cisgenres sur la base de leurs caractéristiques sociodémographiques. Des analyses de prévalence et un modèle acheminatoire ont été réalisés. Les résultats mettent en évidence que les jeunes trans sont plus susceptibles de présenter des scores cliniques de détresse psychologique et de faible estime d’eux-mêmes que leurs pairs cisgenres. La violence verbale parentale et la victimisation basée sur la non-conformité de genre influencent négativement l’estime de soi, ce qui en retour augmente la probabilité de vivre de la détresse psychologique. Les résultats appuient l’importance des interventions de soutien à la diversité sexuelle et de genre. PMID:26966849

Etude de l'impact de la valorisation energetique de pneus hors d'usage, dans une cimenterie, sur les emissions gazeuses par modelisation de la dispersion atmospherique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bredin, Nathalie

La génération incéssante de déchets nécessite le développement de nouvelles technologies, telle que la valorisation énergétique, pour en disposer. Une filière appropriée pour valoriser énergétiquement les déchets est le procédé cimentier. L'industrie du ciment est une des grandes consommatrices d'énergie. La température nécessaire à la préparation du ciment se situe aux environs de 1450°C pour faire réagir la matière première (cru) qui est sous forme poudreuse et constituée principalement de roches calcaires, argileuses, schisteuses,... Les gaz de combustion ont un long temps de résidence dans les fours. De plus, le mode de fonctionnement des fours est responsable d'un effet de lessivage des gaz acides par le cru alcalin. Ces propriétés font du procédé cimentier un bon candidat pour la valorisation énergétique des déchets. Les déchets interessants pour les cimenteries sont, entre autres, les huiles usées, les solvants usés et les pneus usés qui ont un pouvoir calorifique équivalent à celui du charbon. Les rejets à l'atmosphère des cimenteries sont principalement des émissions gazeuses. Ainsi, l'impact de la valorisation de pneus usés sur les émissions gazeuses de la cimenterie Saint-Laurent de Joliette a été étudié, à l'aide de l'outil qu'est la modélisation de la dispersion atmosphérique. Le modèle utilisé ISC-ST2, Industrial Source Complex-Short Term, est de type gaussien. L'analyse des concentrations maximales horaires et moyennes sur différentes périodes de temps (1 heure, 8 heures, ..., 1 an) des émissions gazeuses dans l'air ambiant montre que celles-ci sont en deçà des normes émises par le gouvernement québécois et par la Communauté Urbaine de Montréal. L'étude de la distribution géographique des polluants, d'après les concentrations annuelles, dans un rayon de 5 km autour de la cimenterie montre que le fait d'utiliser des pneus comme combustible de substitution n'a qu'un faible impact sur la

Le carcinome parathyroïdien: à propos d’un cas et revue de la literature

PubMed Central

kolsi, Naourez; Jellali, Sondos; Koubaa, Jamel

2017-01-01

Le carcinome parathyroïdien est une tumeur maligne, très rare, de la glande parathyroïde. Cliniquement, ce cancer se présente souvent par un tableau d'hyperparathyroïdie primaire sévère. Le diagnostic est histologique mais n'est pas toujours aisé. Le traitement est basé sur la chirurgie. Femme âgée de 59 ans, aux antécédents d'hypertension artérielle, et de lithiases rénales récidivantes, consultait pour des douleurs osseuses diffuses avec asthénie. L'examen du cou a trouvé une tuméfaction basi-cervicale dure et à bord inférieur non palpable. A la biologie: hypercalcémie à 4,1 mmol/l, une hyperparathyroïdie avec valeur de parathormone (PTH) très élevée à 1088 pg/ml soit 13 fois la normale. La scintigraphie au Technétium-99m-sestamibi a montré une plage de fixation anormale de MIBI en projection de la parathyroïde inférieure gauche. Une parathyroïdectomie inférieure gauche, avec évidement médiastino-récurrentiel homolatéral ont été réalisés. Les suites opératoires étaient marquées par la normalisation de la calcémie et de la PTH. L'anatomopathologie était en faveur d'un carcinome parathyroïdien. Le diagnostic de carcinome parathyroïdien est généralement établi sur la conjonction de signes radiologiques biologiques et histologiques. La gravité de cette pathologie est due à l'hypercalcémie sévère et au risque de récidive et de métastases à distance justifiant la surveillance prolongée. PMID:28819506

Short-term memory for spatial configurations in the tactile modality: a comparison with vision.

PubMed

Picard, Delphine; Monnier, Catherine

2009-11-01

This study investigates the role of acquisition constraints on the short-term retention of spatial configurations in the tactile modality in comparison with vision. It tests whether the sequential processing of information inherent to the tactile modality could account for limitation in short-term memory span for tactual-spatial information. In addition, this study investigates developmental aspects of short-term memory for tactual- and visual-spatial configurations. A total of 144 child and adult participants were assessed for their memory span in three different conditions: tactual, visual, and visual with a limited field of view. The results showed lower tactual-spatial memory span than visual-spatial, regardless of age. However, differences in memory span observed between the tactile and visual modalities vanished when the visual processing of information occurred within a limited field. These results provide evidence for an impact of acquisition constraints on the retention of spatial information in the tactile modality in both childhood and adulthood.

Stereo camera based virtual cane system with identifiable distance tactile feedback for the blind.

PubMed

Kim, Donghun; Kim, Kwangtaek; Lee, Sangyoun

2014-06-13

In this paper, we propose a new haptic-assisted virtual cane system operated by a simple finger pointing gesture. The system is developed by two stages: development of visual information delivery assistant (VIDA) with a stereo camera and adding a tactile feedback interface with dual actuators for guidance and distance feedbacks. In the first stage, user's pointing finger is automatically detected using color and disparity data from stereo images and then a 3D pointing direction of the finger is estimated with its geometric and textural features. Finally, any object within the estimated pointing trajectory in 3D space is detected and the distance is then estimated in real time. For the second stage, identifiable tactile signals are designed through a series of identification experiments, and an identifiable tactile feedback interface is developed and integrated into the VIDA system. Our approach differs in that navigation guidance is provided by a simple finger pointing gesture and tactile distance feedbacks are perfectly identifiable to the blind.

Stereo Camera Based Virtual Cane System with Identifiable Distance Tactile Feedback for the Blind

PubMed Central

Kim, Donghun; Kim, Kwangtaek; Lee, Sangyoun

2014-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new haptic-assisted virtual cane system operated by a simple finger pointing gesture. The system is developed by two stages: development of visual information delivery assistant (VIDA) with a stereo camera and adding a tactile feedback interface with dual actuators for guidance and distance feedbacks. In the first stage, user's pointing finger is automatically detected using color and disparity data from stereo images and then a 3D pointing direction of the finger is estimated with its geometric and textural features. Finally, any object within the estimated pointing trajectory in 3D space is detected and the distance is then estimated in real time. For the second stage, identifiable tactile signals are designed through a series of identification experiments, and an identifiable tactile feedback interface is developed and integrated into the VIDA system. Our approach differs in that navigation guidance is provided by a simple finger pointing gesture and tactile distance feedbacks are perfectly identifiable to the blind. PMID:24932864

A dense array stimulator to generate arbitrary spatio-temporal tactile stimuli

PubMed Central

Killebrew, Justin H.; Bensmaïa, Sliman J.; Dammann, John F.; Denchev, Peter; Hsiao, Steven S.; Craig, James C.

2007-01-01

The generation and presentation of tactile stimuli presents a unique challenge. Unlike vision and audition, in which standard equipment such as monitors and audio systems can be used for most experiments, tactile stimuli and/or stimulators often have to be tailor-made for a given study. Here, we present a novel tactile stimulator designed to present arbitrary spatio-temporal stimuli to the skin. The stimulator consists of 400 pins, arrayed over a 1 cm2 area, each under independent computer control. The dense array allows for an unprecedented number of stimuli to be presented within an experimental session (e.g., up to 1200 stimuli per minute) and for stimuli to be generated adaptively. The stimulator can be used in a variety of modes and can deliver indented and scanned patterns as well as stimuli defined by mathematical spatio-temporal functions (e.g., drifting sinusoids). We describe the hardware and software of the system, and discuss previous and prospective applications. PMID:17134760

Tactile perception of skin and skin cream by friction induced vibrations.

PubMed

Ding, Shuyang; Bhushan, Bharat

2016-11-01

Skin cream smooths, softens, and moistens skin by altering surface roughness and tribological properties of skin. Sliding generates vibrations that activate mechanoreceptors located in skin. The brain interprets tactile information to identify skin feel. Understanding the tactile sensing mechanisms of skin with and without cream treatment is important to numerous applications including cosmetics, textiles, and robotics sensors. In this study, frequency spectra of friction force and friction induced vibration signals were carried out to investigate tactile perception by an artificial finger sliding on skin. The influence of normal load, velocity, and cream treatment time were studied. Coherence between friction force and vibration signals were found. The amplitude of vibration decreased after cream treatment, leading to smoother perception. Increasing normal load or velocity between contacting surfaces generated a smoother perception with cream treatment, but rougher perception without treatment. As cream treatment time increases, skin becomes smoother. The related mechanisms are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sensing Senses: Tactile Feedback for the Prevention of Decubitus Ulcers

PubMed Central

Verbunt, Marcel

2009-01-01

Decubitus ulcers, also known as pressure sores, is a major problem in health care, in particular for patients with spinal cord injuries. These patients cannot feel the discomfort that would urge healthy people to change their posture. We describe a system that uses a sensor mat to detect problematic postures and provides tactile feedback to the user. The results of our preliminary study with healthy subjects show that the tactile feedback is a viable option to spoken feedback. We envision the system being used for rehabilitation games, but also for everyday Decubitus ulcers prevention. PMID:19949852

Rapport sur l'état du patrimoine astronomique dans les observatoires français de la fin du XIXè siècle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damm, E.; Pécontal, E.

2012-12-01

Suite au colloque sur la sauvegarde du patrimoine astronomique organisé par le MAEE et la SAF, sous l'égide de l'UNESCO, qui a conduit à l'adoption de la Déclaration de Paris, les directeurs d'observatoires institutionnels qui étaient absents du colloque ont ressenti le besoin de discuter de ces conclusions prises en leur nom. L'initiative d'organiser une réunion des directeurs des Observatoires des Sciences de l'Univers (OSU) à ce sujet le 30 janvier 2012 a été prise par François Vernotte, directeur de l'Observatoire de Besançon. Le présent compte-rendu de visite résulte d'une initiative spontanée d'Emmanuel Pécontal, astronome responsable du Patrimoine à l'observatoire de Lyon, et d'Evelyne Damm, membre de la Commission Nationale de classement des Monuments Historiques (CNMH) et élue à la communauté d'agglomération des Portes de l'Essonne oû est sis l'observatoire de Camille Flammarion.

The effects of negative emotions on sensory perception: fear but not anger decreases tactile sensitivity

PubMed Central

Kelley, Nicholas J.; Schmeichel, Brandon J.

2014-01-01

Emotions and sensory perceptions are closely intertwined. Of the five senses, sight has been by far the most extensively studied sense in emotion research. Relatively less is known about how emotions influence the other four senses. Touch is essential for nonverbal communication in both humans and other animals. The current investigation tested competing hypotheses about the effect of fear on tactile perception. One hypothesis based on evolutionary considerations predicts that fear enhances sensory perception, including tactile sensitivity. A competing hypothesis based on research on peripheral psychophysiology predicts that fear should decrease tactile sensitivity. Two experiments that induced negative emotional states and measured two-point discrimination ability at the fingertip found that fear reduces tactile sensitivity relative to anger or a neutral control condition (Studies 1 and 2). These findings did not appear to be driven by participants’ naïve beliefs about the influence of emotions on touch (Study 3). The results represent the first evidence of the causal impact of emotional states on tactile sensitivity, are consistent with prior evidence for the peripheral physiological effects of fear, and offer novel empirical grounds for developing and advancing theories of emotional influences on sensory perception. PMID:25202299

The effects of negative emotions on sensory perception: fear but not anger decreases tactile sensitivity.

PubMed

Kelley, Nicholas J; Schmeichel, Brandon J

2014-01-01

Emotions and sensory perceptions are closely intertwined. Of the five senses, sight has been by far the most extensively studied sense in emotion research. Relatively less is known about how emotions influence the other four senses. Touch is essential for nonverbal communication in both humans and other animals. The current investigation tested competing hypotheses about the effect of fear on tactile perception. One hypothesis based on evolutionary considerations predicts that fear enhances sensory perception, including tactile sensitivity. A competing hypothesis based on research on peripheral psychophysiology predicts that fear should decrease tactile sensitivity. Two experiments that induced negative emotional states and measured two-point discrimination ability at the fingertip found that fear reduces tactile sensitivity relative to anger or a neutral control condition (Studies 1 and 2). These findings did not appear to be driven by participants' naïve beliefs about the influence of emotions on touch (Study 3). The results represent the first evidence of the causal impact of emotional states on tactile sensitivity, are consistent with prior evidence for the peripheral physiological effects of fear, and offer novel empirical grounds for developing and advancing theories of emotional influences on sensory perception.

Tactile Object Familiarity in the Blind Brain Reveals the Supramodal Perceptual-Mnemonic Nature of the Perirhinal Cortex

PubMed Central

Cacciamani, Laura; Likova, Lora T.

2016-01-01

This study is the first to investigate the neural underpinnings of tactile object familiarity in the blind during both perception and memory. In the sighted, the perirhinal cortex (PRC) has been implicated in the assessment of visual object familiarity—a crucial everyday task—as evidenced by reduced activation when an object becomes familiar. Here, to examine the PRC’s role in tactile object familiarity in the absence of vision, we trained blind participants on a unique memory-guided drawing technique and measured brain activity while they perceptually explored raised-line drawings, drew them from tactile memory, and scribbled (control). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after a week of training revealed a significant decrease in PRC activation from pre- to post-training (i.e., from unfamiliar to familiar) during perceptual exploration as well as memory-guided drawing, but not scribbling. This familiarity-based reduction is the first evidence that the PRC represents tactile object familiarity in the blind. Furthermore, the finding of this effect during both tactile perception and tactile memory provides the critical link in establishing the PRC as a structure whose representations are supramodal for both perception and memory. PMID:27148002

Voluntary movement affects simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to a non-moving body part.

PubMed

Hao, Qiao; Ora, Hiroki; Ogawa, Ken-Ichiro; Ogata, Taiki; Miyake, Yoshihiro

2016-09-13

The simultaneous perception of multimodal sensory information has a crucial role for effective reactions to the external environment. Voluntary movements are known to occasionally affect simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to the moving body part. However, little is known about spatial limits on the effect of voluntary movements on simultaneous perception, especially when tactile stimuli are presented to a non-moving body part. We examined the effect of voluntary movement on the simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to the non-moving body part. We considered the possible mechanism using a temporal order judgement task under three experimental conditions: voluntary movement, where participants voluntarily moved their right index finger and judged the temporal order of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to their non-moving left index finger; passive movement; and no movement. During voluntary movement, the auditory stimulus needed to be presented before the tactile stimulus so that they were perceived as occurring simultaneously. This subjective simultaneity differed significantly from the passive movement and no movement conditions. This finding indicates that the effect of voluntary movement on simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli extends to the non-moving body part.

Fully printed flexible fingerprint-like three-axis tactile and slip force and temperature sensors for artificial skin.

PubMed

Harada, Shingo; Kanao, Kenichiro; Yamamoto, Yuki; Arie, Takayuki; Akita, Seiji; Takei, Kuniharu

2014-12-23

A three-axis tactile force sensor that determines the touch and slip/friction force may advance artificial skin and robotic applications by fully imitating human skin. The ability to detect slip/friction and tactile forces simultaneously allows unknown objects to be held in robotic applications. However, the functionalities of flexible devices have been limited to a tactile force in one direction due to difficulties fabricating devices on flexible substrates. Here we demonstrate a fully printed fingerprint-like three-axis tactile force and temperature sensor for artificial skin applications. To achieve economic macroscale devices, these sensors are fabricated and integrated using only printing methods. Strain engineering enables the strain distribution to be detected upon applying a slip/friction force. By reading the strain difference at four integrated force sensors for a pixel, both the tactile and slip/friction forces can be analyzed simultaneously. As a proof of concept, the high sensitivity and selectivity for both force and temperature are demonstrated using a 3×3 array artificial skin that senses tactile, slip/friction, and temperature. Multifunctional sensing components for a flexible device are important advances for both practical applications and basic research in flexible electronics.

Feeling small: exploring the tactile perception limits.

PubMed

Skedung, Lisa; Arvidsson, Martin; Chung, Jun Young; Stafford, Christopher M; Berglund, Birgitta; Rutland, Mark W

2013-01-01

The human finger is exquisitely sensitive in perceiving different materials, but the question remains as to what length scales are capable of being distinguished in active touch. We combine material science with psychophysics to manufacture and haptically explore a series of topographically patterned surfaces of controlled wavelength, but identical chemistry. Strain-induced surface wrinkling and subsequent templating produced 16 surfaces with wrinkle wavelengths ranging from 300 nm to 90 μm and amplitudes between 7 nm and 4.5 μm. Perceived similarities of these surfaces (and two blanks) were pairwise scaled by participants, and interdistances among all stimuli were determined by individual differences scaling (INDSCAL). The tactile space thus generated and its two perceptual dimensions were directly linked to surface physical properties - the finger friction coefficient and the wrinkle wavelength. Finally, the lowest amplitude of the wrinkles so distinguished was approximately 10 nm, demonstrating that human tactile discrimination extends to the nanoscale.

Predicting successful tactile mapping of virtual objects.

PubMed

Brayda, Luca; Campus, Claudio; Gori, Monica

2013-01-01

Improving spatial ability of blind and visually impaired people is the main target of orientation and mobility (O&M) programs. In this study, we use a minimalistic mouse-shaped haptic device to show a new approach aimed at evaluating devices providing tactile representations of virtual objects. We consider psychophysical, behavioral, and subjective parameters to clarify under which circumstances mental representations of spaces (cognitive maps) can be efficiently constructed with touch by blindfolded sighted subjects. We study two complementary processes that determine map construction: low-level perception (in a passive stimulation task) and high-level information integration (in an active exploration task). We show that jointly considering a behavioral measure of information acquisition and a subjective measure of cognitive load can give an accurate prediction and a practical interpretation of mapping performance. Our simple TActile MOuse (TAMO) uses haptics to assess spatial ability: this may help individuals who are blind or visually impaired to be better evaluated by O&M practitioners or to evaluate their own performance.

Enquete sur les aspects toxicologiques de la phytotherapie utilisee par un herboriste à Fes, Maroc

PubMed Central

Zeggwagh, Ali Amine; Lahlou, Younes; Bousliman, Yassir

2013-01-01

Introduction Dans le but d'étudier l'aspect toxicologique des plantes médicinales utilisées en médecine traditionnelle, une étude ethnobotanique a été réalisée à la ville de Fès au centre du Maroc. Méthodes Ont été inclus dans l'étude tous les patients ayant bénéficié d'une prescription par l'herboriste de plantes à visée thérapeutique. La discussion de nos résultats s'est faite sur la base d'une revue de la littérature avec identification des principales plantes toxiques utilisées en phytothérapie au Maroc. L'approche bibliographique a permis de compléter les informations. Résultats L'âge moyen des patients traités par des plantes (38 femmes, 32 hommes) était de 35 ± 18 ans. L'enquête ethnobotanique à révélé que la majorité des plantes médicinales étaient utilisées contre les affections urinaires (21%), suivi des maladies de l'appareil digestif (19.6%) et des maladies rhumatologiques (18.2%). Le nombre de plantes prescrits par l'herboriste a été de 53 dont 5 sont potentiellement toxiques. L'identification taxonomique des plantes prescrites a recensé 30 familles dont les plus représentées sont les Lamiaceae (23.33%), les Apiaceae (13,33%) et les Asteraceae (10%). La prescription des plantes considérées comme toxiques a concerné 7,1% des consultants traités par les plantes médicinales. Aucune complication inhérente aux plantes prescrites n'a été déplorée. Conclusion Malgré les résultats encourageants de notre enquête sur le compte de la phytothérapie, la pratique de la phytothérapie est laissée à la vulgarisation et à l'oubli scientifique, législatif et universitaire. PMID:23734270

The outcome of tactile touch on stress parameters in intensive care: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Henricson, Maria; Ersson, Anders; Määttä, Sylvia; Segesten, Kerstin; Berglund, Anna-Lena

2008-11-01

The study aimed to investigate the effects of a five-day tactile touch intervention in order to find new and unconventional measures to moderate the detrimental influence of patients' stressors during intensive care. The hypothesis was that tactile touch would decrease stress indicators such as anxiety, glucose metabolism, blood pressure, heart rate and requirements of sedative drugs and noradrenalin. A randomized controlled trial was undertaken with 44 patients, which were assigned either to tactile touch or standard treatment (a rest hour). Observations of the stress indicators were made before, during and after the intervention or standard treatment. The study showed that tactile touch led to significantly lower levels of anxiety. The circulatory parameters suggested increased circulatory stability indicated by a reduction in noradrenalin requirement. The results need to be further validated through studies with larger sample sizes.

Active tactile exploration using a brain-machine-brain interface.

PubMed

O'Doherty, Joseph E; Lebedev, Mikhail A; Ifft, Peter J; Zhuang, Katie Z; Shokur, Solaiman; Bleuler, Hannes; Nicolelis, Miguel A L

2011-10-05

Brain-machine interfaces use neuronal activity recorded from the brain to establish direct communication with external actuators, such as prosthetic arms. It is hoped that brain-machine interfaces can be used to restore the normal sensorimotor functions of the limbs, but so far they have lacked tactile sensation. Here we report the operation of a brain-machine-brain interface (BMBI) that both controls the exploratory reaching movements of an actuator and allows signalling of artificial tactile feedback through intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) of the primary somatosensory cortex. Monkeys performed an active exploration task in which an actuator (a computer cursor or a virtual-reality arm) was moved using a BMBI that derived motor commands from neuronal ensemble activity recorded in the primary motor cortex. ICMS feedback occurred whenever the actuator touched virtual objects. Temporal patterns of ICMS encoded the artificial tactile properties of each object. Neuronal recordings and ICMS epochs were temporally multiplexed to avoid interference. Two monkeys operated this BMBI to search for and distinguish one of three visually identical objects, using the virtual-reality arm to identify the unique artificial texture associated with each. These results suggest that clinical motor neuroprostheses might benefit from the addition of ICMS feedback to generate artificial somatic perceptions associated with mechanical, robotic or even virtual prostheses.

Investigation of the piezoelectric thimble tactile device operating modes.

PubMed

Bansevicius, Ramutis; Dragasius, Egidijus; Grigas, Vytautas; Jurenas, Vytautas; Mazeika, Darius; Zvironas, Arunas

2014-01-01

A multifunctional device to transfer graphical or text information for blind or visually impaired is presented. The prototype using tactile perception has been designed where information displayed on the screen of electronic device (mobile phone, PC) is transferred by oscillating needle, touching the fingertip. Having the aim to define optimal parameters of the fingertip excitation by needle, the computational analysis of different excitation modes has been carried out. A 3D solid computational finite element model of the skin segment, comprising four main fingertip skin layers (stratum corneum, epidermis, dermis and hypodermis) was built by using ANSYS Workbench FEA software. Harmonic analysis of its stress-strain state under excitation with different frequency (up to 10000 Hz) and harmonic force (0.01 N), acting outer stratum corneum layer in normal direction at one, two or three points has been performed. The influence of the mode of dynamic loading of skin was evaluated (in terms of the tactile signal level) on the basis of the normal and shear elastic strain in dermis, where mechanoreceptors are placed. It is shown that the tactile perception of information, delivered by three vibrating pins, may be influenced by configuration of excitation points (their number and phase of loading) and the frequency of excitation.

Changes in passive tactile sensibility associated with dental implants following their placement.

PubMed

El-Sheikh, Ali M; Hobkirk, John A; Howell, Peter G T; Gilthorpe, Mark S

2003-01-01

This study investigated the changes that might occur in passive tactile sensibility during a period of 3 months following Implant placement in a group of edentulous subjects treated with dental implants. The effect of changing the velocity of force application on passive tactile sensibility was also investigated. Five edentulous subjects who had been treated (as a part of an immediate loading study) with 2 or more Nobel Biocare dental implants in the anterior mandible were studied. Pushing forces were applied directly and perpendicular to the long axes of the abutments until the subjects felt the first sensation of pressure, using a computer-controlled, custom-made device. The force was measured with an integral transducer. The applied force had a ramped staircase pattern, which was used at 2 different tip velocities. The measurements were taken on 4 occasions: 1, 2, 4, and 12 weeks after fitting the abutments. Statistical analysis, using multilevel modeling, demonstrated that there was a significant decrease In the tactile threshold over successive weeks following implant placement. It also demonstrated that high velocity exhibited a higher threshold than low velocity. It could be concluded that there was a significant increase In passive tactile sensibility during the healing phase following implant placement.

L'effet des deformations plastiques severes sur les proprietes d'hydruration du magnesium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lang, Julien

Le travail de recherche effectue durant mon projet de maitrise en physique a l'Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres dans les laboratoires de l'Institut de Recherche sur l'Hydrogene etait de comparer l'effet du laminage a froid de la poudre de MgH2 avec celui du broyage mecanique. Nous avons etudie cette nouvelle technique en utilisant un laminoir vertical concu specialement pour laminer de la poudre. Nous avons lamine la poudre de MgH2 5, 25, 50 et 100 fois. La comparaison de la morphologie de la poudre de MgH 2 telle que recu du manufacturier et broye mecaniquement pendant 30 minutes avec celle de la poudre laminee ete faite a l'aide d'un microscope electronique a balayage. Nous avons par la suite mesure les proprietes de sorption d'hydrogene grace un appareil PCT de type Sievert. Nous avons aussi determine la structure cristalline par diffraction de rayons X. A partir de ces resultats, nous avons constate que le nombre optimal de laminages est de cinq et a les caracteristiques d'absorption/desorption d'hydrogene similaires a un broyage mecanique de 30 minutes. Nous avons aussi utilise les courbes de cinetiques d'absorption et de desorption d'hydrogene pour calculer l'etape limitative dans les reactions de sorption des echantillons lamines. Comme cinq laminages se font en environ 10 secondes, on voit que le laminage a froid est une technique plus interessante industriellement que le broyage mecanique a cause de l'important gain en temps et en energie.

A systematic approach to the Kansei factors of tactile sense regarding the surface roughness.

PubMed

Choi, Kyungmee; Jun, Changrim

2007-01-01

Designing products to satisfy customers' emotion requires the information gathered through the human senses, which are visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, or tactile senses. By controlling certain design factors, customers' emotion can be evaluated, designed, and satisfied. In this study, a systematic approach is proposed to study the tactile sense regarding the surface roughness. Numerous pairs of antonymous tactile adjectives are collected and clustered. The optimal number of adjective clusters is estimated based on the several criterion functions. The representative average preferences of the final clusters are obtained as the estimates of engineering parameters to control the surface roughness of the commercial polymer-based products.

Seeing the Body Distorts Tactile Size Perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longo, Matthew R.; Sadibolova, Renata

2013-01-01

Vision of the body modulates somatosensation, even when entirely non-informative about stimulation. For example, seeing the body increases tactile spatial acuity, but reduces acute pain. While previous results demonstrate that vision of the body modulates somatosensory sensitivity, it is unknown whether vision also affects metric properties of…

Issue des accouchements sur utérus cicatriciel dans un hôpital universitaire au Burkina

PubMed Central

Dembélé, Adama; Tarnagda, Zekiba; Ouédraogo, Jean Louis; Thiombiano, Oumarou; Bambara, Moussa

2012-01-01

Certains auteurs ont tendance à privilégier la césarienne comme méthode de prise en charge d'une parturiente porteuse d'un utérus cicatriciel. D'autres auteurs préconisent un accouchement par voie basse quand des paramètres cliniques précis sont observés. Le but de cette étude est d'analyser la prise en charge et l'issue des accouchements sur utérus cicatriciel au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Souro Sanou de Bobo-Dioulasso et de la comparer aux différentes approches recommandées. Nous avons menés une étude transversale dans le Département de Gynécologie d'Obstétrique et de Médecine de la Reproduction du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sanou Souro de Bobo Dioulasso du 1er août 2006 au 1er août 2007 et a concerné 252 parturientes ayant un utérus cicatriciel parmi 4256 accouchements déroulés pendant la même période. Les accouchements sur utérus cicatriciels ont représenté 5,92 % de l'ensemble des accouchements dans notre département. La moyenne d'âge des patientes était de 26,2 ans et la parité moyenne de 4,3. Une césarienne d'emblée a été pratiquée chez 44% des parturientes ayant un utérus cicatriciel et 56 % parmi elles ont fait l'objet d'une épreuve utérine. Sur l'ensemble des épreuves utérines, 61% des parturientes ont accouché par voie basse. La mortalité maternelle était nulle et La mortalité périnatale était relativement importante. Les conditions d'acceptabilité de la voie basse ont été les mêmes chez toutes les patientes et un check liste a été proposé pour une meilleure prise en charge. L'épreuve utérine en salle d'accouchement doit être la règle à chaque fois que cela est possible chez une parturiente porteuse d'utérus cicatriciel. L’établissement d'un check liste pour accouchement par voie basse sur utérus cicatriciel facilite les prises de décision. PMID:23133695

Incrementally learning objects by touch: online discriminative and generative models for tactile-based recognition.

PubMed

Soh, Harold; Demiris, Yiannis

2014-01-01

Human beings not only possess the remarkable ability to distinguish objects through tactile feedback but are further able to improve upon recognition competence through experience. In this work, we explore tactile-based object recognition with learners capable of incremental learning. Using the sparse online infinite Echo-State Gaussian process (OIESGP), we propose and compare two novel discriminative and generative tactile learners that produce probability distributions over objects during object grasping/palpation. To enable iterative improvement, our online methods incorporate training samples as they become available. We also describe incremental unsupervised learning mechanisms, based on novelty scores and extreme value theory, when teacher labels are not available. We present experimental results for both supervised and unsupervised learning tasks using the iCub humanoid, with tactile sensors on its five-fingered anthropomorphic hand, and 10 different object classes. Our classifiers perform comparably to state-of-the-art methods (C4.5 and SVM classifiers) and findings indicate that tactile signals are highly relevant for making accurate object classifications. We also show that accurate "early" classifications are possible using only 20-30 percent of the grasp sequence. For unsupervised learning, our methods generate high quality clusterings relative to the widely-used sequential k-means and self-organising map (SOM), and we present analyses into the differences between the approaches.

A Magnetoresistive Tactile Sensor for Harsh Environment Applications

PubMed Central

Alfadhel, Ahmed; Khan, Mohammed Asadullah; Cardoso, Susana; Leitao, Diana; Kosel, Jürgen

2016-01-01

A magnetoresistive tactile sensor is reported, which is capable of working in high temperatures up to 140 °C. Hair-like bioinspired structures, known as cilia, made out of permanent magnetic nanocomposite material on top of spin-valve giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors are used for tactile sensing at high temperatures. The magnetic nanocomposite, consisting of iron nanowires incorporated into the polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), is very flexible, biocompatible, has high remanence, and is also resilient to antagonistic sensing ambient. When the cilia come in contact with a surface, they deflect in compliance with the surface topology. This yields a change of the GMR sensor signal, enabling the detection of extremely fine features. The spin-valve is covered with a passivation layer, which enables adequate performance in spite of harsh environmental conditions, as demonstrated in this paper for high temperature. PMID:27164113

Those are Your Legs: The Effect of Visuo-Spatial Viewpoint on Visuo-Tactile Integration and Body Ownership

PubMed Central

Pozeg, Polona; Galli, Giulia; Blanke, Olaf

2015-01-01

Experiencing a body part as one’s own, i.e., body ownership, depends on the integration of multisensory bodily signals (including visual, tactile, and proprioceptive information) with the visual top-down signals from peripersonal space. Although it has been shown that the visuo-spatial viewpoint from where the body is seen is an important visual top-down factor for body ownership, different studies have reported diverging results. Furthermore, the role of visuo-spatial viewpoint (sometime also called first-person perspective) has only been studied for hands or the whole body, but not for the lower limbs. We thus investigated whether and how leg visuo-tactile integration and leg ownership depended on the visuo-spatial viewpoint from which the legs were seen and the anatomical similarity of the visual leg stimuli. Using a virtual leg illusion, we tested the strength of visuo-tactile integration of leg stimuli using the crossmodal congruency effect (CCE) as well as the subjective sense of leg ownership (assessed by a questionnaire). Fifteen participants viewed virtual legs or non-corporeal control objects, presented either from their habitual first-person viewpoint or from a viewpoint that was rotated by 90°(third-person viewpoint), while applying visuo-tactile stroking between the participants legs and the virtual legs shown on a head-mounted display. The data show that the first-person visuo-spatial viewpoint significantly boosts the visuo-tactile integration as well as the sense of leg ownership. Moreover, the viewpoint-dependent increment of the visuo-tactile integration was only found in the conditions when participants viewed the virtual legs (absent for control objects). These results confirm the importance of first person visuo-spatial viewpoint for the integration of visuo-tactile stimuli and extend findings from the upper extremity and the trunk to visuo-tactile integration and ownership for the legs. PMID:26635663

Studies on adaptation to complete dentures. Part II: Oral stereognosis and tactile sensibility.

PubMed

Müller, F; Link, I; Fuhr, K; Utz, K H

1995-10-01

High oral perception is thought to contribute to poor adaptation to new dentures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral stereognosis and tactile sensibility in edentate subjects and relate these to patient age and capability of adaptation to new prostheses. A total of 67 patients were provided with new complete dentures 2-3 weeks before the experiment. In 54 subjects, the oral stereognosis was evaluated by 12 different test-pieces, which were placed unseen on the tongue and had to be recognized. In 38 patients, the oral tactile sensibility was determined in the premolar area using copper foils. The capability of adaptation was evaluated by a questionnaire. Denture retention was assessed by clinical examination. The number of correctly identified test-pieces and the average identification time were related to the age, but no relation was found to patients' capability of adaptation. The tactile sensibility was found to be impaired with age and diminished capability of adaptation. Both adaptation and oral tactile sensibility were significantly lower in subjects with poor lower-denture retention. In conclusion, the results cannot support a relationship between high oral stereognosis and adaptation problems. However, good denture retention facilitates the adaptation process.

An Evaluation of Substrates for Tactile Maps and Diagrams: Scanning Speed and Users' Preferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jehoel, Sandra; Ungar, Simon; McCallum, Don; Rowell, Jonathan

2005-01-01

This study evaluated the relative suitability of a range of base materials for producing tactile maps and diagrams via a new ink-jet process. The visually impaired and sighted participants tactilely scanned arrays of symbols that were printed on seven substrate materials, including paper, plastic, and aluminum. In general, the rougher substrates…

Neurosurgical tactile discrimination training with haptic-based virtual reality simulation.

PubMed

Patel, Achal; Koshy, Nick; Ortega-Barnett, Juan; Chan, Hoi C; Kuo, Yong-Fan; Luciano, Cristian; Rizzi, Silvio; Matulyauskas, Martin; Kania, Patrick; Banerjee, Pat; Gasco, Jaime

2014-12-01

To determine if a computer-based simulation with haptic technology can help surgical trainees improve tactile discrimination using surgical instruments. Twenty junior medical students participated in the study and were randomized into two groups. Subjects in Group A participated in virtual simulation training using the ImmersiveTouch simulator (ImmersiveTouch, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) that required differentiating the firmness of virtual spheres using tactile and kinesthetic sensation via haptic technology. Subjects in Group B did not undergo any training. With their visual fields obscured, subjects in both groups were then evaluated on their ability to use the suction and bipolar instruments to find six elastothane objects with areas ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 cm2 embedded in a urethane foam brain cavity model while relying on tactile and kinesthetic sensation only. A total of 73.3% of the subjects in Group A (simulation training) were able to find the brain cavity objects in comparison to 53.3% of the subjects in Group B (no training) (P  =  0.0183). There was a statistically significant difference in the total number of Group A subjects able to find smaller brain cavity objects (size ≤ 2.5 cm2) compared to that in Group B (72.5 vs. 40%, P  =  0.0032). On the other hand, no significant difference in the number of subjects able to detect larger objects (size ≧ 3 cm2) was found between Groups A and B (75 vs. 80%, P  =  0.7747). Virtual computer-based simulators with integrated haptic technology may improve tactile discrimination required for microsurgical technique.

Nucléation et croissance de films YBa_{2Cu3O_{7 - δ}} déposés par ablation laser sur substrat de MgO(001)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, D.; Gervais, A.; Chambonnet, D.; Belouet, C.; Audry, C.

1995-02-01

In the field of superconducting devices devoted to microwave applications, the crystalline texture of high quality thin films based on YBa{2}Cu{3}O{7 - δ} is of primary importance. This study presents the formation of this texture on MgO substrates with the nucleation and growth steps up to a film thickness of 300 nm as observed by means of AFM, HRTEM and XRD. The influence of deposition temperature on the growth mode is shown and a nucleation/growth model is discussed. The minimum roughness of c_{bot 0}{(^1)} textured films, 300 nm thick and 20 × 20 mm2 in size is as slow as 2 nm. Dans le cadre de la réalisation de composants supraconducteurs de haute qualité à base du composé YBa{2}Cu{3}O{7 - δ} destinés aux applications en hyperfréquences, le contrôle de la texture cristalline des films est de première importance. La formation de celle-ci sur substrat MgO est étudiée depuis la nucléation jusqu'à une épaisseur de 300 nm au moyen de la microscopie à force atomique, de la microscopie électronique en transmission à haute résolution et de la diffraction des rayons X. L'influence de la température de dépôt sur le mode de croissance est abordée et un modèle de nucléation/croissance est discuté. La rugosité minimale des films d'épaisseur 300 nm et de dimensions 20 × 20 mm2 de texture c_{bot 0}{(^1)} est voisine de 2 nm.

Encoding of Tactile Stimuli by Mechanoreceptors and Interneurons of the Medicinal Leech

PubMed Central

Kretzberg, Jutta; Pirschel, Friederice; Fathiazar, Elham; Hilgen, Gerrit

2016-01-01

For many animals processing of tactile information is a crucial task in behavioral contexts like exploration, foraging, and stimulus avoidance. The leech, having infrequent access to food, developed an energy efficient reaction to tactile stimuli, avoiding unnecessary muscle movements: The local bend behavior moves only a small part of the body wall away from an object touching the skin, while the rest of the animal remains stationary. Amazingly, the precision of this localized behavioral response is similar to the spatial discrimination threshold of the human fingertip, although the leech skin is innervated by an order of magnitude fewer mechanoreceptors and each midbody ganglion contains only 400 individually identified neurons in total. Prior studies suggested that this behavior is controlled by a three-layered feed-forward network, consisting of four mechanoreceptors (P cells), approximately 20 interneurons and 10 individually characterized motor neurons, all of which encode tactile stimulus location by overlapping, symmetrical tuning curves. Additionally, encoding of mechanical force was attributed to three types of mechanoreceptors reacting to distinct intensity ranges: T cells for touch, P cells for pressure, and N cells for strong, noxious skin stimulation. In this study, we provide evidences that tactile stimulus encoding in the leech is more complex than previously thought. Combined electrophysiological, anatomical, and voltage sensitive dye approaches indicate that P and T cells both play a major role in tactile information processing resulting in local bending. Our results indicate that tactile encoding neither relies on distinct force intensity ranges of different cell types, nor location encoding is restricted to spike count tuning. Instead, we propose that P and T cells form a mixed type population, which simultaneously employs temporal response features and spike counts for multiplexed encoding of touch location and force intensity. This hypothesis

Retinotopically specific reorganization of visual cortex for tactile pattern recognition