Preparing Laboratory and Real-World EEG Data for Large-Scale Analysis: A Containerized Approach.

Large-scale analysis of EEG and other physiological measures promises new insights into brain processes and more accurate and robust brain-computer interface models. However, the absence of standardized vocabularies for annotating events in a machine understandable manner, the welter of collection-specific data organizations, the difficulty in moving data across processing platforms, and the unavailability of agreed-upon standards for preprocessing have prevented large-scale analyses of EEG. Here we describe a "containerized" approach and freely available tools we have developed to facilitate the process of annotating, packaging, and preprocessing EEG data collections to enable data sharing, archiving, large-scale machine learning/data mining and (meta-)analysis. The EEG Study Schema (ESS) comprises three data "Levels," each with its own XML-document schema and file/folder convention, plus a standardized (PREP) pipeline to move raw (Data Level 1) data to a basic preprocessed state (Data Level 2) suitable for application of a large class of EEG analysis methods. Researchers can ship a study as a single unit and operate on its data using a standardized interface. ESS does not require a central database and provides all the metadata data necessary to execute a wide variety of EEG processing pipelines. The primary focus of ESS is automated in-depth analysis and meta-analysis EEG studies. However, ESS can also encapsulate meta-information for the other modalities such as eye tracking, that are increasingly used in both laboratory and real-world neuroimaging. ESS schema and tools are freely available at www.eegstudy.org and a central catalog of over 850 GB of existing data in ESS format is available at studycatalog.org. These tools and resources are part of a larger effort to enable data sharing at sufficient scale for researchers to engage in truly large-scale EEG analysis and data mining (BigEEG.org)

Drowsy driver data acquisition system

This thesis focuses on detecting the drowsiness of a driver based on differentiation of the EEG signal activity between the eyes open and eyes closed states. Here, it is observed that there is a significant increase \u27in a 10 Hz component of the alpha rhythm activity when the subject under test closes his / her eyes. This phenomenon was observed when electrodes were attached to the occipital region. A more desirable approach is to develop a non-intrusive measurement based on a multiturn differential coil combination utilizing a low noise high gain amplifier. The system developed here used an 80,000 turn 2 coil differential combination. A 10 Hz band pass amplifier with a gain of 68 db confirmed the assumed changes when electrodes were used. However, when differential coils were used (80,000 differential coils), the system failed to validate the expected changes. Due to insufficient sensitivity, it was impossible to reach a conclusion and determine whether the increased 10 Hz activity corresponded to brain signals or increased feedback gain resulting in an internal oscillation within the high gain amplification of the developed system. Further studies are suggested to reduce the losses due to magnetic core material and design an amplifier with a lower noise figure. The system developed utilized a DaqCard-1200 data acquisition card and MATLAB for signal processing

Using EEG data to predict engagement in face-to-face conversations

To date engagement in face-to-face conversation has been studied almost exclusively through the post event measurement of self-reporting surveys or questionnaires. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used for decades to examine brain activity for both research and diagnostic purposes. Medical grade EEG equipment is both costly and confined to being used within laboratory settings. With the recent advent of off-the-shelf consumer grade portable EEG-devices, novel psychological research on cognitive computations that have traditionally been confined to self-report, is now a reality. Although it is well documented that people use their cognitive abilities during conversations, an extensive literature search found no studies on the use of EEG data to obtain a neurological engagement score during conversation. Consequently, the present study sought to remedy a gap in the literature, and capitalised on the readily available consumer-grade portable EEG equipment. A within-participants quantitative study with 42 participants examined whether EEG predicted engagement during face-to-face getting acquainted conversations. Participants’ alpha and beta brain activity were examined from EEG data collected during two separate conversations, and participants also completed a post-hoc self-report on their engagement and attention. The results of the study found a significant difference for participants’ alpha brain activity and engagement, but not for the beta activity and engagement. There was also no significant difference found for participants attention and their alpha or beta activity. A surprising additional finding in the present study was a within-participant consistency for both alpha and beta activity across the two conversations, which is consistent with individual differences stability found in other psychophysiological studies. Overall, the present study has found that alpha activity is necessary for neurological engagement during face-to-face getting acquainted conversations. Therefore, future research is warranted on the use of EEG as an additional tool in face-to-face communication to compliment self-report and measure engagement

Multimodal music information processing and retrieval: survey and future challenges

Towards improving the performance in various music information processing tasks, recent studies exploit different modalities able to capture diverse aspects of music. Such modalities include audio recordings, symbolic music scores, mid-level representations, motion, and gestural data, video recordings, editorial or cultural tags, lyrics and album cover arts. This paper critically reviews the various approaches adopted in Music Information Processing and Retrieval and highlights how multimodal algorithms can help Music Computing applications. First, we categorize the related literature based on the application they address. Subsequently, we analyze existing information fusion approaches, and we conclude with the set of challenges that Music Information Retrieval and Sound and Music Computing research communities should focus in the next years

How Does Technology Development Influence the Assessment of Parkinson’s Disease? A Systematic Review

abstract: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurological disorder with complicated and disabling motor and non-motor symptoms. The pathology for PD is difficult and expensive. Furthermore, it depends on patient diaries and the neurologist’s subjective assessment of clinical scales. Objective, accurate, and continuous patient monitoring have become possible with the advancement in mobile and portable equipment. Consequently, a significant amount of work has been done to explore new cost-effective and subjective assessment methods or PD symptoms. For example, smart technologies, such as wearable sensors and optical motion capturing systems, have been used to analyze the symptoms of a PD patient to assess their disease progression and even to detect signs in their nascent stage for early diagnosis of PD. This review focuses on the use of modern equipment for PD applications that were developed in the last decade. Four significant fields of research were identified: Assistance diagnosis, Prognosis or Monitoring of Symptoms and their Severity, Predicting Response to Treatment, and Assistance to Therapy or Rehabilitation. This study reviews the papers published between January 2008 and December 2018 in the following four databases: Pubmed Central, Science Direct, IEEE Xplore and MDPI. After removing unrelated articles, ones published in languages other than English, duplicate entries and other articles that did not fulfill the selection criteria, 778 papers were manually investigated and included in this review. A general overview of PD applications, devices used and aspects monitored for PD management is provided in this systematic review.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Computer Engineering 201

Freehand Digital Drawing: a Boost to Creative Design. The Observer's Eye and the Draftsman Brain

[ES] La representación de un proyecto arquitectónico tiene diferentes finalidades, una de las más relevantes es su visualización. El tema de esta tesis es la relación entre el diseñador, su actividad cerebral durante la fase creativa, el proyecto representado y la mente del observador. La pregunta, planteada por arquitectos, diseñadores y académicos en los años ochenta y aún abierta a soluciones estimulantes, es una pregunta bien conocida sobre si la creciente digitalización puede ser perjudicial o beneficiosa para esta relación. Después de un análisis de la imagen en la arquitectura a partir del Renacimiento, informado en la Parte 1, se revisan y discuten las técnicas actuales de representación. La primera pregunta, abordada en la Parte 2, fue si la simulación de la realidad con renderizado de calidad fotográfica garantiza una visualización mejor o peor que una imagen tradicionalmente dibujada a mano. Se elaboró un cuestionario para verificar las características de comunicación y representación de las imágenes producidas con las dos técnicas. Los resultados mostraron que estas dos cualidades estaban más presentes en el caso del dibujo a mano alzada que en los renders fotorrealistas. La Parte 3 se centró en el diseñador y utilizó las herramientas proporcionadas por la neurociencia, a saber, el EEG y las 'respuestas evocadas', para cuantificar la actividad cerebral de alguien que hace un dibujo a mano alzada con respecto a CAD. Dado que la tecnología utilizada nunca antes se había aplicado a un sujeto al realizar un diseño, la investigación se dividió en tres experimentos separados. El primero se dedicó a encontrar una forma confiable de realizar registros durante el movimiento del miembro superior en la ejecución del dibujo; los experimentos segundo y tercero tenían como objetivo el análisis específico de la actividad cerebral que precede y sigue a los movimientos individuales de los signos trazados. Los resultados mostraron que la actividad motora relacionada con el dibujo a mano alzada estuvo acompañada por un aumento en la amplitud de las respuestas electroencefalográficas en comparación con el dibujo con CAD. Este dato es probablemente un importante paso adelante a favor de la hipótesis de que la creatividad también puede mejorarse mediante el movimiento en el dibujo a mano alzada. La conclusión es que las imágenes así dibujadas crean una mejor correspondencia entre el autor y el observador, y que el movimiento y la percepción sensorial de la mano pueden fomentar la creatividad. Recientemente, los avances en la técnica de las tabletas de dibujo han proporcionado una nueva técnica para el dibujo a mano alzada, donde se combina la capacidad de gestión de datos del ordenador con los gestos naturales tradicionalmente ligados al uso del papel y el lápiz. de la tecnología moderna puede fusionar el factor humano junto con las nuevas tecnologías digitales.[CA] La representació d'un projecte arquitectònic té diferents finalitats, una de les més rellevants és la seva visualització. El tema d'aquesta tesi és la relació entre el dissenyador, la seva activitat cerebral durant la fase creativa, el projecte representat i la ment de l'observador. La pregunta, plantejada per arquitectes, dissenyadors i estudiosos als anys vuitanta i encara oberta a solucions estimulants, és una qüestió ben coneguda si augmentar la digitalització pot ser perjudicial o beneficiós per a aquesta relació. Després d'una anàlisi de la imatge en arquitectura a partir del període renaixentista, informada a la part 1, es revisen i discuteixen les tècniques de representació actuals. La primera pregunta, abordada a la part 2, va ser si la simulació de la realitat amb renderització de qualitat fotogràfica garanteix una visualització millor o pitjor que una imatge tradicionalment dibuixada a mà. Es va elaborar un qüestionari per comprovar les característiques de comunicació i representació de les imatges produïdes amb les dues tècniques. Els resultats van mostrar que aquestes dues qualitats estaven més presents en el cas del dibuix a mà alçada que en els renders fotorealistes. La part 3 es va centrar en el dissenyador i va utilitzar les eines proporcionades per la neurociència, és a dir, l'EEG i les 'respostes evocades', per quantificar l'activitat cerebral d'algú que realitza un dibuix a mà alçada respecte al CAD. Com que la tecnologia utilitzada mai abans s'havia aplicat a un tema mentre es feia un disseny, la investigació es va dividir en tres experiments separats. El primer es va dedicar a trobar una manera fiable de fer enregistraments durant el moviment de l'extremitat superior en l'execució del dibuix; el segon i el tercer experiment estaven dirigits a l'anàlisi específica de l'activitat cerebral que precedeix i segueix els moviments individuals dels signes traçats. Els resultats van mostrar que l'activitat motora relacionada amb el dibuix a mà alçada va anar acompanyada d'un augment de l'amplitud de les respostes electroencefalogràfiques en comparació amb el dibuix amb CAD. Aquesta dada és probablement un pas endavant significatiu a favor de la hipòtesi que la creativitat també es pot millorar amb el moviment en el dibuix a mà alçada. La conclusió és que les imatges dibuixades d'aquesta manera creen una millor correspondència entre autor i observador, i que el moviment i la percepció sensorial de la mà poden fomentar la creativitat. Recentment, els avenços en la tècnica de dibuix a tauletes han aportat una nova tècnica de dibuix a mà alçada, on la capacitat de gestió de dades de l'ordinador es combina amb els gestos naturals tradicionalment vinculats a l'ús del paper i el llapis. de la tecnologia moderna pot fusionar el factor humà amb les noves tecnologies digitals.[EN] The representation of an architectural project aims at several intents, one of the most relevant being the visualisation of a design. The subject of this dissertation is therefore the relationship between the draftsman, the creativity of his brain, the represented design, and the mind of the observer. Since the Eighties, architects, designers and scholars wondered whether the current habit of an ever increasing digitalisation could be detrimental or advantageous to such relationship. After an analysis of architectural imaging since the Renaissance, as reported in Part 1, the current techniques are reviewed and discussed. The first question, addressed in Part 2, has been whether the simulation of reality with renders of photographic quality, would relate to the observer better or worse than a traditionally hand drawn image. A questionnaire has been constructed to probe the communication and representation qualities of the images. The results suggested that these two qualities were best represented in the case of freehand drawing compared to photorealistic renders. Part 3 was focused on the designer and used the instruments provided by neuroscience, i.e. the EEG and 'evoked responses', to quantify the brain activity in connection with freehand and CAD drawing. Because the involved technology had never been applied before to a drawing subject, the investigation had to be divided into three separate experiments. The first one was dedicated to finding a reliable way to perform the recordings in subjects who freely moved their arm and hand while drawing. The second and third experiments were aimed at analysing the cerebral activity occurring before and after each drawing movement. All results demonstrated that a larger cerebral activity preceded and followed each movement in freehand drawing compared to CAD design. This finding may be considered a robust step towards the notion that also creativity may consequently be improved. The final conclusion is that the freehand drawn images make a better link between author and observer, and at the same time the very movement and haptic perception of the hand elicit creativity. Indeed, the most recent advances in technology of drawing tablets have provided a new medium for freehand drawing, which can exploit the capacity of data handling of computers with the natural movement of using pencil and paper, ending up in a traditional hand made product. A wise usage of modern technology can therefore merge the human factor with the digital world.Leandri, G. (2022). Freehand Digital Drawing: a Boost to Creative Design. The Observer's Eye and the Draftsman Brain [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/188091TESI

FREEHAND DIGITAL DRAWING: A BOOST TO CREATIVE DESIGN. THE OBSERVER’S EYE AND THE DRAFTSMAN’S BRAIN

Representation of an architectural project aims at several intents; one of the most relevant being the visualization of a design. The subject of this dissertation is therefore the relationship between the draftsman, the creativity of his brain, the represented design, and the mind of the observer, while raising the question whether the current habit of an ever increasing digitalisation may be detrimental or advantageous to such relationship. After an analysis of architectural representation in history since Renaissance times, as reported in Part 1, the current techniques are reviewed and discussed. The first question, addressed in Part 2, has been whether the simulation of reality with renders of photographic quality, a product of automated computerisation, would relate to the observer better or worse than a traditionally hand drawn image. A questionnaire has been constructed to probe the communication and representation qualities of the images. The results suggested that these two qualities were best represented in the case of freehand drawing compared to photorealistic renders. The Part 3 was focused on the designer and used the instruments provided by neuroscience, i.e. the EEG and evoked responses, to quantify the brain activity in connection with freehand and CAD drawing. Because the involved technology had never been applied before to a drawing subject, the investigation had to be divided into three separate experiments. The first was dedicated to find a reliable way to perform the recordings in a subject who freely moved arm and hand while drawing for a few minutes; the second and third experiment were aimed at the analysis of cerebral activity occurring before and after the drawing movement. All results demonstrated that a definitely larger cerebral activity preceded and followed each movement in freehand drawing compared to CAD design. This finding may be considered a robust step towards the notion that also creativity is consequently improved. The final conclusion is that the freehand drawn images make a better link between author and observer, and at the same time the very movement and haptic perception of the hand elicit creativity. Nevertheless, the most recent advances in digitalising analogic dimensions through drawing tablets, have provided a new medium for freehand drawing, which can exploit the capacity of data handling of computers, time and effort saving, with the natural movement of using pencil and paper, ending up in an identical product. A wise usage of modern technology can therefore merge together the human factor of hand and brain reciprocal thrust with the fictitious world of the bits

Automated detection and analysis of fluorescence changes evoked by molecular signalling

Fluorescent dyes and genetically encoded fluorescence indicators (GEFI) are common tools for visualizing concentration changes of specific ions and messenger molecules during intra- as well as intercellular communication. While fluorescent dyes have to be directly loaded into target cells and function only transiently, the expression of GEFIs can be controlled in a cell and time-specific fashion, even allowing long-term analysis in living organisms. Dye and GEFI based fluorescence fluctuations, recorded using advanced imaging technologies, are the foundation for the analysis of physiological molecular signaling. Analyzing the plethora of complex fluorescence signals is a laborious and time-consuming task. An automated analysis of fluorescent signals circumvents user bias and time constraints. However, it requires to overcome several challenges, including correct estimation of fluorescence fluctuations at basal concentrations of messenger molecules, detection and extraction of events themselves, proper segmentation of neighboring events as well as tracking of propagating events. Moreover, event detection algorithms need to be sensitive enough to accurately capture localized and low amplitude events exhibiting a limited spatial extent. This thesis presents three novel algorithms, PBasE, CoRoDe and KalEve, for the automated analysis of fluorescence events, developed to overcome the aforementioned challenges. The algorithms are integrated into a graphical application called MSparkles, specifically designed for the analysis of fluorescence signals, developed in MATLAB. The capabilities of the algorithms are demonstrated by analyzing astroglial Ca2+ events, recorded in anesthetized and awake mice, visualized using genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators (GECIs) GCaMP3 as well as GCaMP5. The results were compared to those obtained by other software packages. In addition, the analysis of neuronal Na+ events recorded in acute brain slices using SBFI-AM serve to indicate the putatively broad application range of the presented algorithms. Finally, due to increasing evidence of the pivotal role of astrocytes in neurodegenerative diseases such as epilepsy, a metric to assess the synchronous occurrence of fluorescence events is introduced. In a proof-of-principle analysis, this metric is used to correlate astroglial Ca2+ events with EEG measurementsFluoreszenzfarbstoffe und genetisch kodierte Fluoreszenzindikatoren (GEFI) sind gängige Werkzeuge zur Visualisierung von Konzentrationsänderungen bestimmter Ionen und Botenmoleküle der intra- sowie interzellulären Kommunikation. Während Fluoreszenzfarbstoffe direkt in die Zielzellen eingebracht werden müssen und nur über einen begrenzten Zeitraum funktionieren, kann die Expression von GEFIs zell- und zeitspezifisch gesteuert werden, was darüber hinaus Langzeitanalysen in lebenden Organismen ermöglicht. Farbstoff- und GEFI-basierte Fluoreszenzfluktuationen, die mit Hilfe moderner bildgebender Verfahren aufgezeichnet werden, bilden die Grundlage für die Analyse physiologischer molekularer Kommunikation. Die Analyse einer großen Zahl komplexer Fluoreszenzsignale ist jedoch eine schwierige und zeitaufwändige Aufgabe. Eine automatisierte Analyse ist dagegen weniger zeitaufwändig und unabhängig von der Voreingenommenheit des Anwenders. Allerdings müssen hierzu mehrere Herausforderungen bewältigt werden. Unter anderem die korrekte Schätzung von Fluoreszenzschwankungen bei Basalkonzentrationen von Botenmolekülen, die Detektion und Extraktion von Signalen selbst, die korrekte Segmentierung benachbarter Signale sowie die Verfolgung sich ausbreitender Signale. Darüber hinaus müssen die Algorithmen zur Signalerkennung empfindlich genug sein, um lokalisierte Signale mit geringer Amplitude sowie begrenzter räumlicher Ausdehnung genau zu erfassen. In dieser Arbeit werden drei neue Algorithmen, PBasE, CoRoDe und KalEve, für die automatische Extraktion und Analyse von Fluoreszenzsignalen vorgestellt, die entwickelt wurden, um die oben genannten Herausforderungen zu bewältigen. Die Algorithmen sind in eine grafische Anwendung namens MSparkles integriert, die speziell für die Analyse von Fluoreszenzsignalen entwickelt und in MATLAB implementiert wurde. Die Fähigkeiten der Algorithmen werden anhand der Analyse astroglialer Ca2+-Signale demonstriert, die in narkotisierten sowie wachen Mäusen aufgezeichnet und mit den genetisch kodierten Ca2+-Indikatoren (GECIs) GCaMP3 und GCaMP5 visualisiert wurden. Erlangte Ergebnisse werden anschließend mit denen anderer Softwarepakete verglichen. Darüber hinaus dient die Analyse neuronaler Na+-Signale, die in akuten Hirnschnitten mit SBFI-AM aufgezeichnet wurden, dazu, den breiten Anwendungsbereich der Algorithmen aufzuzeigen. Zu guter Letzt wird aufgrund der zunehmenden Indizien auf die zentrale Rolle von Astrozyten bei neurodegenerativen Erkrankungen wie Epilepsie eine Metrik zur Bewertung des synchronen Auftretens fluoreszenter Signale eingeführt. In einer Proof-of-Principle-Analyse wird diese Metrik verwendet, um astrogliale Ca2+-Signale mit EEG-Messungen zu korrelieren