مجله پژوهش در علوم توانبخشی
سال پانزدهم شماره 1 (فروردین و اردیبهشت 1398)

Motor control exercises with low and high threshold is one of the newly introduced methods for the treatment of low back pain (LBP). The aim of present study was to compare the effect of adding suspended training with high threshold to motor control exercises (MCE) on pain, function, and postural sway in women with chronic nonspecific LBP.

128 women with chronic nonspecific LBP with mean age of 38.4 ± 6.62 years were selected and divided into control (n = 43), MCE (n = 42), and MCE combined with suspension training (n = 43) groups. Visual analogue scale (VAS), movement control tests, and force distribution device were respectively used to assess pain, function, and swing posture (COPx and COPy) before and after 8 weeks of intervention. Paired t and one-way analysis of variance tests were used for data analysis (P < 0.050).

MCE with and without suspension training showed significant effect on decreasing pain intensity (P = 0.018), postural sway (P < 0.050) and improving function (P < 0.050). It was also indicated that MCE combined with suspension training was more effective.

Findings of this study show addition of suspension training to MCE can improve pain, function, and swing posture in women with LBP with superior effect size. Regarding the improvement of the measured variables in the two training groups, it is suggested that a combination of these exercises be used in the treatment of patients with nonspecific chronic LBP.

Speech prosody is one of the important communication components that describes the paraliguistic features of speech. The tests are suitable tools for quantifying speech and language skills, and of necessary needs for evaluation, screening, describing, diagnosis, and treatment of various aspects. The purpose of present study was to review existing tests in speech prosody recognition, as well as their subtests, implementation and scorings, and ultimately their application in clinical and research fields of children and adults.

 An electronic search for reviewing common speech prosody tests was performed in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Scientific Information Database (SID), Google Scholar, Ovid, and Magiran databases to obtain relevant articles published from 1981 to 2019. The keywords used included “Prosody”, “Assessment”, “Test”, “Tool”, “Evaluation”, “Diagnosis”, “Instrument”, and “Measurement”. The articles obtained using the inclusion criteria were studied following as access to the full text of the article and the English or Persian language. From 15 articles found, 8 tests that were adhered to the inclusion criteria were selected for consideration.Results</strong>: 8 speech prosody tests were evaluated which included 5 perceptual tests, 2 expressive tests, and 1 perceptual expressive test. The oldest test was made in 1981, and the latest in 2012.

 The literature review shows that some tests have been used more often in recent years due to the specialized expertise of the subtests. A review of speech tests suggests that the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication (PEPS-C) test is more prestigious due to the assessment of perceptual and expression areas, standardization for normal and disabled children, translation into several languages, and high psychometric properties.

In this paper, we propose a new framework for training Deep curriculum learning agent for
Defense base Game, in particular Dragon Cave.

Deep reinforcement learning approach with curriculum learning was used to train an intelligent agent in the game Dragon Cave. Curriculum learning paradigm start from simple tasks and then gradually try harder ones. Using Proximal Policy Optimization, the intelligent agents were trained in various environments: once in a curriculum learning environment and once in a environment without curriculum learning. Then they started the game in the same environment.

The results showed improvement of the agent with deep curriculum reinforcement learning.

it seems that the deep curriculum reinforcement learning increases the rate and the quality of intelligent agent training in complex environment of strategic games.

Autism spectrum disorders are of neuro-developmental conditions with the most prevalence among the children during recent years. Children with autism spectrum disorders usually have mobility problems in balance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of active video game on static and dynamic balance in children with autism spectrum disorders.

This was a semi-experimental research with pretest-posttest design and control group. 16 children with autism spectrum disorders, aged 6-10 years, were selected and after pretest of static and dynamic balance, randomly assigned to two equal groups of experimental and control. Experimental group received its respective intervention program [athletics, bowling, and boxing as video game (Xbox Kinect)] 2 sessions a week, lasting 45 minutes, over an 8-week period. Control group performed their daily activities. Modified stork test to measure static balance and walking heel to toe test were used to measure dynamic balance. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance test with significance level of less than 0.05.

Significant differences were found between control and experimental groups in static (P = 0.001) and dynamic (P = 0.001) balance.

Based on the results of this study, it can be stated that active video game may bring benefits on static and dynamic balance in children with autism spectrum disorders. Therefore, in order to develop balance in children with autism spectrum disorders, the use of active video game is suggested.

 Biomechanical properties of the skin change with pathological conditions and aging process. Nasolabial fold (NLF) is a degenerative manifestation of the skin tissue, which facilitates biomechanical properties measurement due to its quantifiable scales. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dry needling on decreasing NLF dimensions and improving NLF skin biomechanical properties.

11 women aged between 35-55 years with NLF class between 2-2.5 were selected for study, and received 7 sessions of dry needling treatment. Another group of young women between 20-30 years considered as control group and received no treatment. NLF depth and area, epidermis and dermis thickness, and young modulus of NLF skin were analyzed with high resolution ultrasonography and a custom-made forceguage. For reliability of sonographic data the interclass correlation coefficient, and for between and within group comparisons, independent and paired t tests were used, respectively.

NLF depth and area decreased significantly (P < 0.001). Moreover, epidermis and dermis thickness and young modulus increased significantly (P < 0.001).

 Dry needling induced decrease in depth and area, and improved biomechanical properties of the NLF, without any side effect.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders among the children and adolescents. Neurofeedback-based exercises, as a new method in non-pharmacological treatments, can help to improve their performance by modifying existing abnormalities in some of the brain frequency bands of these children. The aim of the present study was to develop and design a computer game as a platform for neurofeedback exercises by employing dynamic difficulty adjustment in the game design.

 This study was carried out to evaluate the dynamic difficulty setting in the game and measuring the satisfaction of play with dynamic difficulty versus static difficulty in 4 sessions on 6 participants of 20 to 26 years. They graded their experience in each session from 1-10 depending on the amount of enjoyment. Then, 2 boys of 12 and 13 years with ADHD participated by playing the game for 10 sessions.

There was a significant difference between the participants’ satisfaction with dynamic difficulty versus static difficulty (P = 0.002). Moreover, the game had a positive impact on improving brain function in children with ADHD.

The results showed that children were attracted and motivated to use the game for treatment. Adjusting the challenges based on the individual skills maintained the user's motivation from the beginning to the end of the game, and enhanced user’s enjoyment and motivation to continue the therapy.

In this study, a user interface was designed based on anger management to create a medium by access to which the user may control or decrease his/her anger against the individual causing the anger. The tools and audio-visual effects presented in the game were devised to release furious emotions of the user and in certain states, to examine the result of provocation of anger in the user. This study aims to investigate the impact of video game on anger management and control against a particular person.

This study involved the two experimental and control groups with the subjects selected from students of Tabriz Islamic Art University, Iran. 10 students were selected and assigned to the two groups (5 in each group). The experimental group received the game, but the control group did not receive it. The final data was analyzed using the univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Based on the data analysis, there was a significant difference in the mean scores in the pretest and posttest stages for the experimental and control group, (P = 0.050), so that the game led to some development in anger management towards a special person.

Overall, this study showed that “Inside Me” game can be used as an effective method to improve the ability of prevention of anger towards a certain person.

The eyes are a rich source of information in our daily lives. Using the eye as a form of input can enable a computer system to learn more. Users can use eye-tracking as a form of input in addition to the keyboard and mouse.

In this study, a system was developed for experiencing eye painting through eye-tracking. The system was a digital painting software that receives data through the eye-tracking device and provides a graphical output. To evaluate this experience, people with a common design background were invited to to describe the quality of their experience.

Despite the difficulty of controlling the eye and lacking sufficient proficiency to draw in this way, participants described the experience as pleasant and enjoyable and expressed their desire to work in this environment.

No regard to the type of the painting output, the participants find tge approach novel and were interested in continuing working with the software.