Bioelectronic medicine is an emerging discipline being a intersection of neu- roscience, immunology and electrical engineering. Chronic inflammation is linked to disorders such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, atheroscle- rosis, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. Chronic inflammatory diseases have been recognized as the most significant cause of death in the world today, with more than 50% of all deaths being attributable to inflammation-related diseases. To find specific parameters for the stimulation of the vagus nerve would be a major advancement in the field, since it will help restore the vagal tone optimally. A systematic review has been made to understand and explore the tissue damage, stimulation sites, FDA approved parameters and the safety and efficacy in vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). A control closed- loop system was developed based on the needs of the field and a human clinical trial protocol was proposed.    The control close-loop system is able to receive feedback from a continuous real-time measurement of the pressure of the peripheral blood flow and send a VNS based on a heart rate (HR) settled threshold. The stimulation is delivered with previously settled parameters such as, pulse width, output current, duty cycle and frequency and helps observe if the nerve has been correctly targeted or not. From the results, it becomes clear that the connection of the devices has been correctly accomplished and that the HR reduction is being measured by the control close-loop which would stimulate again when the HR threshold is surpassed. Based on the concept of this control close-loop a human protocol has been proposed to test if the hypothesis that patients have their best inflammatory response with different output current rather than all having one best performing one and that non-healthy patients will lower their HR baseline after VNS treatment showing the increase of vagus nerve activity. This report adds value on the creation of a new control close-loop device between the MouseOx and Intan devices. Controlling the stimulation parameters in VNS can be a powerful technique that will increase patient specificity and will help non respondents to different drug treatments to have a more effective alternative. The HR is a simple biomarker to detect VNS bioactivity but lots of further research on non-invasive devices and software limitations are still needed to be overcome to have clear guidance in the field. The proposal of a new human clinical trial that might give a clear and feasible solution to either find an efficient stimulation setting or the assurance of the real need for an interactive control close-loop system that would tailor the stimulation parameters for each specific patient is presented. / Bioelektronisk medicin är en framväxande disciplin som är en skärningspunkt mellan neurovetenskap, immunologi och elektroteknik. Kronisk inflamma- tion är kopplad till sjukdomar som diabetes, reumatoid artrit, astma, åder- förkalkning, fetma och inflammatoriska tarmsjukdomar som är den vanligaste dödsorsaken i världen idag. Att hitta specifika parametrar för stimulering av vagusnerven skulle vara ett stort framsteg på området, eftersom det hjälper till att återställa vagustonen optimalt. En systematisk översyn har gjorts för att förstå och utforska vävnadsskadan, stimuleringsställena, FDA-godkända parametrar och säkerheten och effekten i VNS. Ett kontrollsystem med slutet kretslopp utvecklades baserat på fältets behov och ett protokoll för kliniska prövningar för människor föreslogs. Kontrollsystemet kan ta emot feedback från en kontinuerlig realtidsmätning av trycket i det perifera blodflödet och skicka en VNS baserat på en HR-bestämd tröskel. Stimuleringen levereras med tidigare inställda parametrar såsom pulsbredd, utström, arbetscykel och frekvens. Av resultaten blir det tydligt att anslutningen av enheterna har åstadkommits korrekt och att HR-reduktionen mäts av kontrollens slutslinga som skulle stimulera igen när HR-tröskeln överskrids. Baserat på konceptet med denna kontroll close-loop har ett mänskligt protokoll föreslagits för att testa om hypotesen att patienter har sitt bästa inflammatoriska svar med olika utström snarare än att alla har en bäst presterande och att icke-friska patienter kommer att sänka sin HR baslinje efter VNS-behandling som visar ökningen av vagusnervens aktivitet. Den här rapporten ger ett mervärde när det gäller skapandet av en ny kontrollenhet mellan MouseOx- och Intan-enheterna. Att kontrollera stimuleringsparametrarna i VNS kan vara en kraftfull teknik som kommer att öka patientspecificiteten och som hjälper icke-respondenter till olika läkemedelsbehandlingar att få ett mer effektivt alternativ. HR är en enkel biomarkör för att upptäcka VNS-bioaktivitet, men massor av ytterli- gare forskning om icke-invasiva enheter och mjukvarubegränsningar behövs fortfarande för att få en tydlig vägledning på området. Förslaget om en ny klinisk prövning på människa som kan ge en tydlig och genomförbar lösning för att antingen hitta effektiva stimuleringsmiljöer eller försäkran om det verkliga behovet av ett interaktivt kontrollsystem med nära slinga som skulle skräddarsy stimuleringsparametrarna för varje specifik patient presenteras.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Humanas, Departamento de Geografia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia, 2017. / Submitted by Raquel Almeida (raquel.df13@gmail.com) on 2018-03-01T21:11:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_DianadosReisPereiraCarvalho.pdf: 2491751 bytes, checksum: 179f0126c23fe6b1b6d3ce2df56cd565 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana (raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2018-03-07T12:47:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_DianadosReisPereiraCarvalho.pdf: 2491751 bytes, checksum: 179f0126c23fe6b1b6d3ce2df56cd565 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-07T12:47:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_DianadosReisPereiraCarvalho.pdf: 2491751 bytes, checksum: 179f0126c23fe6b1b6d3ce2df56cd565 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). / No mundo contemporâneo muitos estudiosos e organizações mundiais enfatizam a importância da inovação nos processos de desenvolvimento. Afirmam que se vive na Era ou Sociedade do Conhecimento, tendência nas economias avançadas sobre a geração de novos conhecimentos, e as estratégias de promoção da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (C,T&I) e de aglomerações inovadoras são definidas nas políticas de competitividade dos países e de desenvolvimento regional. A abordagem da inovação passou a ser discutida na Geografia Econômica nas últimas décadas, como identificado em Ann Markusen, Georges Benko e André Fischer, tendo em vista as modificações geradas no espaço geográfico e a constituição de aglomerações de atividades inovadoras. Por isso, procura-se compreender quais são as bases conceituais, os pressupostos e as metodologias para elaborar um estudo geográfico que analise a importância de ambientes de inovação brasileiros considerando a existência de uma geografia da inovação. Parte-se da hipótese que esses ambientes de inovação são relevantes para a economia do Brasil e suas regiões. Justifica-se o tema por tratar de áreas de atividades de inovação, importantes na promoção do desenvolvimento econômico; contribuindo a pesquisa com a realização de estudo de Geografia Econômica e inovação, no contexto do Brasil; discussão dos ambientes de inovação, do Programa Nacional de Apoio às Incubadoras de Empresas e aos Parques Tecnológicos (PNI); e na elaboração da matriz sobre parques tecnológicos e sobre incubadoras de empresas. O objetivo geral é discutir a importância dos ambientes de inovação selecionados na economia do Brasil e suas regiões, a partir de roteiro metodológico geográfico. Os objetivos específicos são: demonstrar aspectos das transformações econômico-sociais, do desenvolvimento, da inovação e dos ambientes inovadores no mundo; compreender abordagens conceituais e metodológicas da Geografia Econômica a partir de contribuições consolidadas e do estado da arte para elaboração de estudo da inovação na geografia brasileira; caracterizar o PNI no contexto da Política de C,T&I brasileira; descrever as bases de dados e estudos especializados sobre inovação para identificar indicadores econômico-sociais para análise de ambientes de inovação; analisar a situação atual dos ambientes de inovação e a importância dos parques tecnológicos, a partir do roteiro metodológico geográfico. Metodologicamente, a pesquisa geral é fundamentada em três grandes temas, como inovação, geografia econômica e política de C,T&I. A partir disso, foi elaborado um roteiro metodológico para a análise da importância dos ambientes de inovação, com três eixos: 1. Situação atual dos ambientes de inovação, a partir de matrizes institucionais 1 e 2 de caracterização de parques tecnológicos e incubadoras de empresas; 2. Análise da importância de parques tecnológicos no contexto nacional; 3. Análise da importância de parques tecnológicos no âmbito macrorregional. Os resultados demonstram a importância do tema da inovação no mundo e, assim, países como o Brasil adotam a estratégia de promoção de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação – C,T&I, com a criação do primeiro programa de parques tecnológicos, em 1984; de instituições governamentais de C&T; associação nacional de ambientes de inovação, além das políticas industriais com foco na inovação, após 1990. Articulado às políticas do governo Federal de C,T&I foi criado o PNI para promoção de parques tecnológicos e incubadoras de empresas, no final dos anos 1990 e reinstituído em 2009. Atualmente são 94 iniciativas de parques tecnológicos em fase de operação, implantação e projeto e 369 incubadoras de base tecnológica, mistas e tradicionais, distribuídos pelo país. A análise identificou que esses mecanismos têm crescido e, no decorrer dos anos, impulsionado a geração de empresas inovadoras (incubadoras); a interação para a promoção empresarial e regional (parques tecnológicos) no Brasil; a criação de empregos mais qualificados; e o surgimento de segmentos de atividades inovadoras que demonstra um componente tecnológico na região. Constatou-se que a inovação é tema consolidado na Geografia mundial visto as modificações causadas na organização e estrutura do espaço geográfico e o papel das aglomerações de inovação e sua promoção no desenvolvimento de regiões. Assim, pôde ser elaborado um estudo que se espera trazer elementos que permitam discutir a importância da implantação dos ambientes de inovação no país, tendo em vista a valorização recente da inovação na sociedade e a ênfase em consolidar esses instrumentos para o desenvolvimento. / In the contemporary world, many scholars and international organizations emphasize the importance of innovation for development processes. They assert that we are living in the Knowledge Era or Society, a trend in advanced economies about the generation of new knowledge, and the promotion strategies for Science, Technology and Innovation (S, T & I) and innovation clusters are defined in the countries' competitivity politics and of regional development. The innovation approach became a subject of Economic Geography over the last decades, seen in works by Ann Markusen, Georges Benko and André Fischer, focusing on the modifications generated in geographic space and the constitution of clusters of innovative activity. This is why we seek to understand the conceptual bases, premises and methodologies involved in the elaboration of a geographic study that analyzes the importance of Brazilian innovation environments taking into account the existence of a geography of innovation. The hypothesis is that those innovation environments are relevant for the economy of Brazil and its regions. The theme is justified by: its exploration of innovation activity, which is important in the promotion of economic development; the research contribution for the realization of a study on Geographic Economy and innovation in the Brazilian context; discussion on innovation environments, of the National Program of Support to Business Incubators and Technology Parks (PNI); and the elaboration of a workbase about technological parks and business incubators. The general objective is to analyze the importance of selected innovation environments for the economy of Brazil and its regions using the geographic methodological script. The specific objectives are: to demonstrate aspects of socio-economic transformations, of the development, innovation and innovative environments all over the world; to understand conceptual and methodological approaches from Economic Geography based on consolidated contributions and the state of the art for the elaboration of a study of innovation in Brazilian geography; to characterize PNI in the context of the Brazilian S, T & I policy; to describe databases and specialized studies about innovation in order to identify socio-economic indicators for the analysis of innovation environments; to analyze the current situation of innovation environments and the importance of technological parks using the geographic methodological script. In terms of methodology, the general research is founded upon three major themes: innovation, economic geography and S, T & I policy. Based on those, a methodological script was elaborated for the analysis of the importance of innovation environments, with three major axes: 1. The present situation of innovation environments, looking at institutional matrices 1 and 2 the characterization of technological parks and business incubators; 2. Analysis of the importance of technological parks in the national context; 3. Analysis of: the importance of the subject of innovation around the world and how countries like Brazil come to adopt the strategy of promotion of Science, Technology and Innovation – S, T & I, with the creation of the first technological parks program in 1984; of government C& T institutions; the national association of innovation environments, besides the industrial policies focused on innovation after 1990. Articulated to the Federal Government S, T & I policies, the PNI was created for the promotion of technological parks and business incubators at the end of the 1990s and re-instated in 2009. Presently, there are 94 initiatives of technological parks in operation, implementation and project phases and 369 incubators of technological, mixed and traditional bases spread all over the country. The analysis identified growth in those mechanism and that, throughout the years, they have been propelling the generation of innovative businesses (incubators); the integration for the business and regional (technological parks) promotion in Brazil; the creation of more qualified jobs; and the appearance of segments of innovative activities that demonstrates the existence of a technological component in the region. It was found that innovation is a consolidated subject in World Geography given the changes caused in the organization and structure of geographic space and the role of innovation clusters and their promotion in the development of regions. Thus, a study could be elaborated hoping to bring up elements to foster the discussion of the importance of implementation of innovation environments in the country, considering the recent trend toward valuing innovation in our society and the emphasis in consolidating those instruments for development.

No description available.

In response to high and rising amputation rates, significant advances have been made in the field of prosthetic limb design. Unfortunately, there exists a lag in the neural interfacing technology required to provide an adequate link between the nervous system and this emerging generation of advanced prosthetic devices. Novel approaches to peripheral nerve interfacing are required to establish the stable, high channel count connections necessary to provide natural, thought driven control of an external prosthesis. Here, a tissue engineering-based approach has been used to create a device capable of interfacing with a regenerated portion of amputated nerve. As part of this work, a nerve guidance channel design, in which small amounts of interior scaffolding material could be precisely positioned, was evaluated. Guidance channels containing a single thin-film sheet of aligned scaffolding were shown to support robust functional nerve regeneration across extended injury gaps by minimally supplementing natural repair mechanisms. Significantly, these "thin-film enhanced nerve guidance channels" also provided the capability to guide the course of axons regenerating from a cut nerve. This capability to control axonal growth was next leveraged to create "regenerative scaffold electrodes (RSEs)" able to interface with axons regenerating from an amputated nerve. In the RSE design, low-profile arrays of interfacing electrodes were embedded within layers of aligned scaffolding material, such that regenerating axons were topographically guided by the scaffolding through the device and directly across the embedded electrodes. Chronically implanted RSEs were successfully used to record evoked neural activity from amputated nerves in an animal model. These results demonstrate that the use of topographic cues within a nerve guidance channel might offer the potential to influence the course of nerve regeneration to the advantage of a peripheral nerve interface suitable for limb amputees.

No description available.

No description available.

Current studies done using a learning test for children have problems as they only make evaluations of Physically and Neurologically Impaired (PNI) children who can succeed in the test and can be considered as a PASS/FAIL test. This pilot study takes a holistic view of cognitive testing of PNI children using a user-test-device triad model and provides a framework using non-PNI children and adults as controls. Comparisons using adapted off-the-shelf novel interfaces to the computer, in particular, an Electroencephalograph (EEG) head-set, an eye-tracker and a head-tracker and a common mouse were carried out. In addition, two novel multi-modal technologies were developed based on the use of brain-waves and eye-tracking as well as head-tracking technologies to support the study. The devices were used on three tests with increasing cognitive complexity. A self-developed measure based on success streaks (consecutive outcomes) was introduced to improve evaluations of PNI children. A theoretical model regarding a fit of ability to devices was initially setup and finally modified to fit the view of the empirical model that emerged from the outcomes of the study. Results suggest that while multi-modal technologies can address weaknesses of the individual component modes, a compromise is made between the user’s ability for multi-tasking between the modes and the benefits of a multi-modal device but the sample size is very small. Results also show children failing a test with a mouse but passing it subsequently when direct communication is used suggesting that a device can affect a test for children who are of a developing age. This study provides a framework for a more meaningful conversation between educational psychologists as well as other professionals and PNI parents because it provides more discrimination of outcomes in cognitive tests for PNI children. The framework provides a vehicle that addresses scientifically the concerns of parents and schools.