A Statistical Approach to the Alignment of fMRI Data

Multi-subject functional Magnetic Resonance Image studies are critical. The anatomical and functional structure varies across subjects, so the image alignment is necessary. We define a probabilistic model to describe functional alignment. Imposing a prior distribution, as the matrix Fisher Von Mises distribution, of the orthogonal transformation parameter, the anatomical information is embedded in the estimation of the parameters, i.e., penalizing the combination of spatially distant voxels. Real applications show an improvement in the classification and interpretability of the results compared to various functional alignment methods

A comparison of the CAR and DAGAR spatial random effects models with an application to diabetics rate estimation in Belgium

When hierarchically modelling an epidemiological phenomenon on a finite collection of sites in space, one must always take a latent spatial effect into account in order to capture the correlation structure that links the phenomenon to the territory. In this work, we compare two autoregressive spatial models that can be used for this purpose: the classical CAR model and the more recent DAGAR model. Differently from the former, the latter has a desirable property: its ρ parameter can be naturally interpreted as the average neighbor pair correlation and, in addition, this parameter can be directly estimated when the effect is modelled using a DAGAR rather than a CAR structure. As an application, we model the diabetics rate in Belgium in 2014 and show the adequacy of these models in predicting the response variable when no covariates are available

Digital Transformation in Healthcare

This book presents a collection of papers revealing the impact of advanced computation and instrumentation on healthcare. It highlights the increasing global trend driving innovation for a new era of multifunctional technologies for personalized digital healthcare. Moreover, it highlights that contemporary research on healthcare is performed on a multidisciplinary basis comprising computational engineering, biomedicine, biomedical engineering, electronic engineering, and automation engineering, among other areas

Cultural impact evaluation through attendee's emotions in the context of music festivals

As a type of cultural event, music festivals have seen great economic and social success in recent decades. In their pursuit to understand the experience that such events elicit in the people attending them, scholars have devised a number of models grounded in various disciplines to explore the event experience. However, little attention has been paid to the internal cultural development that festivalgoers undergo as a result of the emotions they experience in music festival settings. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, this study shows that music festival experiences are an opportunity to develop specific features of festivalgoers' cultural identity and arouse intense emotions. It also draws connections between these intangible analyses and the intentions that festival organizers bring to the organization of such events.Com a tipus d'esdeveniment cultural, els festivals de música han triomfat econòmicament i socialment al llarg de les últimes dècades. A l'hora d'intentar comprendre l'experiència que aquests esdeveniments provoquen al públic, els acadèmics han proposat diversos models d'avaluació de l'experiència de l'esdeveniment des de diverses disciplines. No obstant això, s'ha prestat poca atenció al desenvolupament cultural intern dels assistents en relació amb les emocions experimentades en el context dels festivals de música. Aquest estudi revela -mitjançant una anàlisi quantitativa i qualitativa-l'experiència dels festivals de música com una oportunitat per desenvolupar trets específics de la identitat cultural del públic assistent juntament amb el despertar d'emocions intenses. Finalment, relaciona aquestes anàlisis intangibles amb la intencionalitat que els organitzadors dels festivals donen a l'organització de l'esdeveniment.Como tipo de evento cultural, los festivales de música han triunfado económica y socialmente en las últimas décadas. Al tratar de comprender la experiencia que tales eventos provocan en su público, los académicos han propuesto diversos modelos de evaluación de la experiencia del evento desde varias disciplinas. Sin embargo, se ha prestado poca atención al desarrollo cultural interno de los asistentes a los festivales en relación con las emociones experimentadas en los contextos de los festivales de música. Este estudio revela -a través de un análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo- la experiencia de los festivales de música como una oportunidad para desarrollar rasgos específicos de la identidad cultural del festivalero junto con el despertar de emociones intensas. Por último, relaciona estos análisis intangibles con la intencionalidad que los organizadores del festival dan a la organización del evento.Societat de la informació i el coneixemen