Does a combination of virtual reality, neuromodulation and neuroimaging provide a comprehensive platform for neurorehabilitation? - A narrative review of the literature

In the last decade, virtual reality (VR) training has been used extensively in video games and military training to provide a sense of realism and environmental interaction to its users. More recently, VR training has been explored as a possible adjunct therapy for people with motor and mental health dysfunctions. The concept underlying VR therapy as a treatment for motor and cognitive dysfunction is to improve neuroplasticity of the brain by engaging users in multisensory training. In this review, we discuss the theoretical framework underlying the use of VR as a therapeutic intervention for neurorehabilitation and provide evidence for its use in treating motor and mental disorders such as cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and other related clinical areas. While this review provides some insights into the efficacy of VR in clinical rehabilitation and its complimentary use with neuroimaging (e.g., fNIRS and EEG) and neuromodulation (e.g., tDCS and rTMS), more research is needed to understand how different clinical conditions are affected by VR therapies (e.g., stimulus presentation, interactivity, control and types of VR). Future studies should consider large, longitudinal randomized controlled trials to determine the true potential of VR therapies in various clinical populations.

Componentwise ultimate bounds for positive discrete time-delay systems perturbed by interval disturbances

This paper presents a method to derive componentwise ultimate upper bounds and componentwise ultimate lower bounds for linear positive systems with time-varying delays and bounded disturbances. The disturbance vector is assumed to vary within a known interval whose lower bound may be different from zero. We first derive a sufficient condition for the existence of componentwise ultimate bounds. This condition is given in terms of the spectral radius of the system matrices which is easy to check and allows us to compute directly both the smallest componentwise ultimate upper bound and the largest componentwise ultimate lower bound. Then, by using the comparison method, we extend the obtained result to a class of nonlinear time-delay systems which has linear positive bounds. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.

Ultimate controlling shareholders and dividend payout policy in Chinese stock market

Departing from the traditional cash flow rights-dividend policy framework, this study investigates whether the level of control rights and the types of ultimate controlling shareholders (UCSs) of listed firms in China influence their cash dividend payout. We find that the level of control rights is positively associated with both the probability to pay and the level of cash dividend payout, which indicates that UCSs use cash dividends to reduce the agency cost of free cash flow and redirect listed firms' cash balance. Furthermore, different types of UCSs influence dissimilarly on the controlled firms' cash dividends, which can be attributed to the backgrounds of these UCSs originating from China's unique partial share issuance privatization process.

Rhetoric and reality: critical perspectives on education in a 3D virtual world

The emergence of any new educational technology is often accompanied by inflated expectations about its potential for transforming pedagogical practice and improving student learning outcomes. A critique of the rhetoric accompanying the evolution of 3D virtual world education reveals a similar pattern, with the initial hype based more on rhetoric than research demonstrating the extent to which rhetoric matches reality. Addressed are the perceived gaps in the literature through a critique of the rhetoric evident throughout the evolution of the application of virtual worlds in education and the reality based on the reported experiences of experts in the field of educational technology, who are all members of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group. The experiences reported highlight a range of effective virtual world collaborative and communicative teaching experiences conducted in members' institutions. Perspectives vary from those whose reality is the actuation of the initial rhetoric in the early years of virtual world education, to those whose reality is fraught with challenges that belie the rhetoric. Although there are concerns over institutional resistance, restrictions, and outdated processes on the one-hand, and excitement over the rapid emergence of innovation on the other, the prevailing reality seems to be that virtual world education is both persistent and sustainable. Explored are critical perspectives on the rhetoric and reality on the educational uptake and use of virtual worlds in higher education, providing an overview of the current and future directions for learning in virtual worlds.

Virtual reality training for micro-robotic cell injection

This research was carried out to fill the gap within existing knowledge on the approaches to supplement the training for micro-robotic cell injection procedure by utilising virtual reality and haptic technologies.