Ghost Towns: Semantically Labelled Object Removal From Video

This paper describes a method used to produce a video of a road in which the foreground itemswhich obstruct the view of the road have been removed i.e. other vehicles. Once these regions have been identified they are replaced using suitable images that closely resemble the original background. The work considers an approach that uses multiple video sequences of the same road (C1...Cn). One video is identified as video Cp , that requires the least repair. All instances of vehicles in each frame of video were identified using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The regions associated with each vehicle were then filled using suitable regions from the frames from the remaining streams (assuming at least one of these streams has a background region visible which matches our query region in Cp ). To match frames and locate suitable patches ideally the video sequences need to be aligned both temporally and structurally. To match the frames temporally a bag of visual words approach was taken. To align the frames structurally a template search was performed on regions surrounding the region to be replaced. Given the template matches, the region between these templates in the matching frame were used to fill where the vehicles were previously, leaving behind only the background

Assessing the time synchronisation of EEG systems

This study compared the synchronisation of a medical grade Electroencephalography (EEG) system, the g.Tec, and a consumer grade EEG system, the Emotiv. Data was collected from both systems using the lab streaming layer (LSL). Both EEG systems recorded an electric signal from the surface of a customised gel phantom. The electric signal was generated using a solar cell which was illuminated by a monitor presenting a sequence of black and white images. Test results show that the g.Tec had a mean delay of 51.22 ms from the stimulus onset and the Emotiv had a mean delay of 162.69 ms from the stimulus onset. The result should be taken into account with future ERP studies which will use either the EEG system and the lab streaming layer. The design of this experiment provides a smart way to evaluate the temporal accuracy of other EEG systems

Book Reviews

THE TRUTH ABOUT BOULWARISM. By Lemuel R. Boulware. Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., 1969. Pp. 180. $7.50. DRUGS AND THE PUBLIC. By Norman E. Zinberg and John A. Robertson. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972. Pp. 288.$8.95

Physiological Noise in Near-infrared Spectroscopy: Implications for Optical Brain Computer Interfacing

Near-infrared spectroscopy is a non-invasive optical method used to detect functional activation of the cerebral cortex. Cognitive, visual, auditory and motor tasks are among the functions that have been investigated by this technique in the context of optical brain computer interfacing. In order to determine whether the optical response is due to a stimulus, it is essential to identify and reduce the effects of physiological noise. This paper characterizes noise typically present in optical responses and reports signal processing approaches used to overcome such noise

A CMOS camera-based system for clinical photoplethysmographic applications

In this work an-image based photoplethysmography (PPG) system is developed and tested against a conventional fingerbased system as commonly used in clinical practise. A PPG is essentially an optical instrument consisting of a near infrared (NIR) source and detector that is capable of tracking blood flow changes in body tissue. When used with a number of wavelengths in the NIR band blood oxygenation changes as well as other blood chemical signatures can be ascertained yielding a very useful device in the clinical realm. Conventionally such a device requires direct contact with the tissue under investigation which eliminates the possibility of its use for applications like wound management where the tissue oxygenation measurement could be extremely useful. To circumnavigate this shortcoming we have developed a CMOS camera-based system, which can successfully extract the PPG signal without contact with the tissue under investigation. A comparison of our results with conventional techniques has yielded excellent results

A CMOS camera-based system for clinical photoplethysmographic applications

In this work an-image based photoplethysmography (PPG) system is developed and tested against a conventional fingerbased system as commonly used in clinical practise. A PPG is essentially an optical instrument consisting of a near infrared (NIR) source and detector that is capable of tracking blood flow changes in body tissue. When used with a number of wavelengths in the NIR band blood oxygenation changes as well as other blood chemical signatures can be ascertained yielding a very useful device in the clinical realm. Conventionally such a device requires direct contact with the tissue under investigation which eliminates the possibility of its use for applications like wound management where the tissue oxygenation measurement could be extremely useful. To circumnavigate this shortcoming we have developed a CMOS camera-based system, which can successfully extract the PPG signal without contact with the tissue under investigation. A comparison of our results with conventional techniques has yielded excellent results

An optical brain computer interface

This paper describes a novel approach to brain computer interfacing that uses optical analysis to provide physiological measures of brain function. We describe the optical analysis technique involved and the application of this method to development of our first prototype optical brain computer interfac

Electrocardiograph and photoplethysmograph superimposition as an investigative tool for circulatory function

This paper set out to examine the usefulness of the electrocardiograph (ECG) and photoplethysmograph (PPG) superimposition as an investigative tool for circulatory function. Further, a system was constructed and an experimental protocol established to examine this proposition. The three main components of circulatory function are pulse rate, arterial compliance and blood pressure. These components are each interrelated, and these relationships are the subject of much research. It was decided, focusing on blood pressure, to examine the superimposition information with regard to systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure. Data was collected, conclusions were drawn and interesting possibilities for further work emerged