Automatic Response Assessment in Regions of Language Cortex in Epilepsy Patients Using ECoG-based Functional Mapping and Machine Learning

Accurate localization of brain regions responsible for language and cognitive functions in Epilepsy patients should be carefully determined prior to surgery. Electrocorticography (ECoG)-based Real Time Functional Mapping (RTFM) has been shown to be a safer alternative to the electrical cortical stimulation mapping (ESM), which is currently the clinical/gold standard. Conventional methods for analyzing RTFM signals are based on statistical comparison of signal power at certain frequency bands. Compared to gold standard (ESM), they have limited accuracies when assessing channel responses. In this study, we address the accuracy limitation of the current RTFM signal estimation methods by analyzing the full frequency spectrum of the signal and replacing signal power estimation methods with machine learning algorithms, specifically random forest (RF), as a proof of concept. We train RF with power spectral density of the time-series RTFM signal in supervised learning framework where ground truth labels are obtained from the ESM. Results obtained from RTFM of six adult patients in a strictly controlled experimental setup reveal the state of the art detection accuracy of $\approx 78\%$ for the language comprehension task, an improvement of $23\%$ over the conventional RTFM estimation method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study exploring the use of machine learning approaches for determining RTFM signal characteristics, and using the whole-frequency band for better region localization. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of machine learning based RTFM signal analysis method over the full spectrum to be a clinical routine in the near future.Comment: This paper will appear in the Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC) 201

Fundus changes in AIDS

A IDS is a devastating disease that affects 28,000 people in the United States and has claimed over 16,000 lives. More than 270,000 persons are expected to contract the syndrome by 1991. Most AIDS patients are male homosexuals, intravenous drug users, of Haitian descent, or hemophiliacs. The causative agent in AIDS is the retrovirus HTLV-III/LAV. Infection with the AIDS virus causes a major collapse of the T-cell arm of the immune system, rendering the host vulnerable to a multitude of opportunistic infections and neoplasms. The most common fundus change observed in AIDS is cotton-wool spots. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis is the most damaging ocular finding since it may lead to total retinal atrophy. Retinal hemorrhages, Roth spots, and periphlebitis are manifestations of microvascular alterations that occur in AIDS. Opportunistic infections by Toxoplasma sp. and Mycobacterium sp. may also be manifest

Session B6: Seeking Better Fishways: the Pump Fishway Program

Abstract: A surprising hiatus affects fish research and management. Those of us working in fish passage strive to move fish past barriers. Aquaculturists, on the other hand, move fish around fish farms safely and effectively. Marrying these two approaches presents an exciting opportunity for fishway development. Millions of fish-passage barriers remain in rivers globally, together with many under-performing and costly fishway investments, resulting in declining biodiversity and production of freshwater fish. Better approaches to fishway design are urgently needed to aid in halting this worldwide loss of connectivity. Multidisciplinary work at UNSW Australia aims to refine and test a pump fishway. This novel concept integrates technologies from fish passage and aquaculture to improve fishway performance and reduce costs. Fishways knowledge is being combined with pumping techniques routinely used in aquaculture to safely transport large biomasses of fish from across a broad size range. The pump fishway uses a helical fishway section to provide sufficient elevation for fish to be gravitated into a transfer chamber, which is then pressurized with water piped from the reservoir. This flow carries fish up a rising transfer pipe and a small auxiliary pump finally delivers fish into the reservoir. A pump fishway offers many potential benefits: effective upstream passage for migrant fish communities; lightweight, modular construction with few moving parts; applicability to diverse sites and barriers \u3e1.5 m high; energy-independence using hydraulic power from the reservoir to drive the system; continuous operation with brief transfer cycles; and potential barge-mounted use providing mobility, flood protection and fewer constraints due to tailwater levels. Large savings on capital and operating costs are predicted. Research and development are planned to optimise and validate the pump fishway design, using physical and computational hydraulic modelling and animal trials with wild, migrating fish

Development of a comprehensive fish passage approach for floodplains of the lower mekong basin

Irrigation, flood protection and road development in Lao P.D.R. has led to construction of numerous water regulation structures on the floodplains of the Lower Mekong Basin. Movements of fish (and other aquatic animals) between rivers and floodplains is subsequently restricted, or may be entirely prevented, and this has led to severe declines in fish production in many areas. Developing robust fish passage outcomes requires an integrated and long-term approach. Implementing a strategy that sought to identify the scale of riverine development, develop a widely applicable solution and also capture social and economic benefits was a sound approach that had wider support from government and investment agencies. Subsequent research in Lao P.D.R. demonstrated that fish-passage technology has the potential to enable movement of migratory fish past these low-level (less than 6 m) barriers. Consequently, fisheries agencies were interested in increasing capacity to design manage and operate fish passage facilities on new and existing low-level water control structures in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of fish resources. To raise the importance of the issue with other water users, it was important that barrier mapping had been undertaken at the same time to increase the spatial understanding of existing infrastructure development. This led to active collaboration with engineering and development agencies to include fish passage restoration in ongoing irrigation development projects. Combining this information with an inventory of planned construction would provide a powerful tool for future investment opportunities

Wetland fish communities above stream regulators with and without fish passage in Lao PDR

We have implemented a multiple lines of evidence approach to assessing the efficacy of fishways in the Houay (small stream) Peung and Houay Souy, Lao PDR. The methods include socio-economic surveys of households, direct observation of fisherman catch, trapping within the fishways, and surveys of fish assemblages in each fishway wetland, along with comparison wetlands that do not have a fishway installed. The in-wetland surveys are designed to be a long-term program and in this presentation I report on the design, monitoring and preliminary results. Whilst there are several differences in the types of fish present in each of the wetlands, there was no statistically significant difference in the CPUE, species richness or the composition of fish assemblages between fishway wetlands and comparison wetlands, regardless of season, during the first two years of our study. This is consistent with previous studies, that found only one or two species are likely to respond in the first few years and it may take 4 or more seasons of operations for major compositional changes in assemblages to be recognised. Our results are consistent with expectations from pre-fishway operations and the monitoring program is well placed to detect changes as the fishways enter full operational mode. We also discuss the implications of high fishing pressure in these wetlands and how this may affect the rate of change and detection of those changes

Sequential fishways reconnect a coastal river

River regulation infrastructure has been implicated in worldwide aquatic biodiversity loss. Instream barriers such as weirs prevent fish migration and the impact can be particularly severe for diadromous species. Fishways are frequently installed on in-stream barriers to reconnect migratory pathways and rehabilitate diadromous populations. We monitored a coastal fish community’s response to fish passage restoration at ten predominantly low-level weirs in the lowland reaches of the Nepean River in south-eastern Australia. Pre-fishways, there was a gradient of reduced species diversity in an upstream direction including the absence of many diadromous species, despite the regular inundation frequency of most weirs. Post-fishways, species diversity was still greater in the downstream monitoring sites; however, there was evidence of a positive change in fish community structure from upstream sites. Most notably, three diadromous species rapidly expanded their distribution upstream and one amphidromous species expanded its downstream distribution. This study demonstrates appropriately designed successive fishways can successfully reconnect river systems for an entire fish community, encompassing species with a broad range of swimming abilities and diverse life histories

Robot Electronics Architecture

An electronics architecture has been developed to enable the rapid construction and testing of prototypes of robotic systems. This architecture is designed to be a research vehicle of great stability, reliability, and versatility. A system according to this architecture can easily be reconfigured (including expanded or contracted) to satisfy a variety of needs with respect to input, output, processing of data, sensing, actuation, and power. The architecture affords a variety of expandable input/output options that enable ready integration of instruments, actuators, sensors, and other devices as independent modular units. The separation of different electrical functions onto independent circuit boards facilitates the development of corresponding simple and modular software interfaces. As a result, both hardware and software can be made to expand or contract in modular fashion while expending a minimum of time and effort