Demonstration of the Effect of Centre of Mass Height on Postural Sway Using Accelerometry for Balance Analysis

The effect of center of mass (COM) height on stand-still postural sway analysis was studied. For this purpose, a measurement apparatus was set up that included an accelerometry unit attached to a rod: three plumb lines, positioned at 50 cm, 75 cm, and 100 cm to the end of the rod, each supported a plumb bob. Using a vice mechanism, the rod was inclined from vertical (0 degree inclination) in steps of 5 degrees to 90 degrees. For each inclination, the corresponding inclination angle was manually measured by a protractor, and the positions of the three plumb bobs on the ground surface were also manually measured using a tape measure. Algebraic operations were used to calculate the inclination angle and the associated displacements of the plumb bobs on the ground surface from the accelerometry data. For each inclination angle, the manual and accelerometry calculated ground displacement produced by each plumb bulb were close. It was demonstrated that the height of COM, where the measurement was taken, affected the projected displacement on the ground surface. A higher height produced a greater displacement. This effect has an implication in postural sway analysis where the accelerometry readings may need comparison amongst subjects with different COM heights. To overcome this, a method that normalized the accelerometry readings by considering the COM height was proposed, and the associated results were presented

Computer aided monitoring of breast abnormalities in X-ray mammograms

X­ray mammography is regarded as the most effective tool for the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer, but the interpretation of mammograms is a difficult and error­prone task. Computer­aided detection (CADe) systems address the problem that radiologists often miss signs of cancers that are retrospectively visible in mammograms. Furthermore, computer­aided diagnosis (CADx) systems assist the radiologist in the classification of mammographic lesions as benign or malignant[1]. This paper details a novel alternative system namely computer­aided monitoring (CAM) system. The designed CAM system can be used to objectively measure the properties of a suspected abnormal area in a mammogram. Thus it can be used to assist the clinician to objectively monitor the abnormality. For instance its response to treatment and consequently its prognosis. The designed CAM system is implemented using the Hierarchical Clustering based Segmentation (HCS) [2] [3] [4] process. Brief description of the implementation of this CAM system is as follows : Using the approximate location and size of the abnormality, obtained from the user, the HCS process automatically identifies the more appropriate boundaries of the different regions within a region of interest (ROI), centred at the approximate location. From the set of, HCS process segmented, regions the user identifies the regions which most likely represent the abnormality and the healthy areas. Subsequently the CAM system compares the characteristics of the user identified abnormal region with that of the healthy region; to differentiate malignant from benign abnormality. In processing sixteen mammograms from mini­MIAS [5], the designed CAM system demonstrated a success rate of 100% in differentiating malignant from benign abnormalities

Improving medical image perception by hierarchical clustering based segmentation

It has been well documented that radiologists' performance is not perfect: they make both false positive and false negative decisions. For example, approximately thirty percent of early lung cancer is missed on chest radiographs when the evidence is clearly visible in retrospect. Currently computer-aided detection (CAD) uses software, designed to reduce errors by drawing radiologists' attention to possible abnormalities by placing prompts on images. Alberdi et al examined the effects of CAD prompts on performance, comparing the negative effect of no prompt on a cancer case with prompts on a normal case. They showed that no prompt on a cancer case can have a detrimental effect on reader sensitivity and that the reader performs worse than if the reader was not using CAD. This became particularly apparent when difficult cases were being read. They suggested that the readers were using CAD as a decision making tool instead of a prompting aid. They conclude that "incorrect CAD can have a detrimental effect on human decisions". The goal of this paper is to explore the possibility of using hierarchical clustering based segmentation (HSC), as a perceptual aid, to improve the performance of the reader

Evaluation of Wirelessly Transmitted Video Quality Using a Modular Fuzzy Logic System

Video transmission over wireless computer networks is increasingly popular as new applications emerge and wireless networks become more widespread and reliable. An ability to quantify the quality of a video transmitted using a wireless computer network is important for determining network performance and its improvement. The process requires analysing the images making up the video from the point of view of noise and associated distortion as well as traffic parameters represented by packet delay, jitter and loss. In this study a modular fuzzy logic based system was developed to quantify the quality of video transmission over a wireless computer network. Peak signal to noise ratio, structural similarity index and image difference were used to represent the user's quality of experience (QoE) while packet delay, jitter and percentage packet loss ratio were used to represent traffic related quality of service (QoS). An overall measure of the video quality was obtained by combining QoE and QoS values. Systematic sampling was used to reduce the number of images processed and a novel scheme was devised whereby the images were partitioned to more sensitively localize distortions. To further validate the developed system, a subjective test involving 25 participants graded the quality of the received video. The image partitioning significantly improved the video quality evaluation. The subjective test results correlated with the developed fuzzy logic approach. The video quality assessment developed in this study was compared against a method that uses spatial efficient entropic differencing and consistent results were observed. The study indicated that the developed fuzzy logic approaches could accurately determine the quality of a wirelessly transmitted video

Analysis of the influence of trauma injury factors on the probability of survival

The probability or likelihood of survival in trauma injuries is a clinically important parameter for triage, setting treatment priorities and research and management audit. The existing methods for determining it have short comings that necessitate further development. In this study, an artificial intelligence method called fuzzy inference system (FIS) for determining the likelihood of survival in trauma injuries is being developed and evaluated. The accuracy of the FIS primarily depends on the design of its knowledge base. The required knowledge base is being designed by carrying out a detailed statistical analysis of the trauma injury profiles contained in a large data base of injury cases. As part of this analysis, the relationships between the body regions affected by trauma injuries, physiological measures (such as blood pressure, respiration rate and heart rate), age, gender , the neurological factors assessed by the Glasgow Comma Score and pre-exiting medical conditions on the probability of survival were analysed and a FIS system to indicate the likelihoods survival was proposed. The preliminary results obtained are presented

Adaptive sampling for QoS traffic parameters using fuzzy system and regression model

Quality of service evaluation of wired and wireless networks for multimedia communication requires transmission parameters of packets making up the traffic through the medium to be analysed. Sampling methods play an important role in this process. Sampling provides a representative subset of the traffic thus reducing the time and resources needed for packet analysis. In an adaptive sampling, unlike fixed rate sampling, the sample rate changes over time in accordance with transmission rate or other traffic characteristics and thus could be more optimal than fixed parameter sampling. In this study an adaptive sampling technique that combined regression modelling and a fuzzy inference system was developed. The method adaptively determined the optimum number of packets to be selected by considering the changes in the traffic transmission characteristics. The method's operation was assessed using a computer network simulated in the NS-2 package. The adaptive sampling evaluated against a number of non-adaptive sampling methods gave an improved performance

Evaluation of Vibration Analysis to Assess Bone Mineral Density in Children

The effectiveness of vibration analysis to assess bone mineral density (BMD) in children with suspected reduction in bone density was studied. A system was designed that measured the ulna's vibration responses in vivo. The system was evaluated on the ulnae of 48 children (mean age=12.0, std=3.5 years), 31 of whom had been confirmed to have osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). All children had dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan as part of their routine clinical care and vibration analysis was performed on the same day. Frequency spectra of the ulnae's vibration responses were obtained and processed by principal component analysis. Four main principal components were selected and together with age, sex and right hand ulna's length were used in a regression analysis to estimate BMD. Regression analysis was repeated using the children's leave-one-out and partitioning methods. The percentage similarity and correlation between the DXA-derived and vibration analysis estimated BMDs using the leave-one-out were 80.34% and 0.59 and for partitioning were 74.2% and 0.64 respectively. There was correlation between vibration analysis BMD readings and those derived from DXA however a larger study will be needed to better establish the extent to which vibration analysis can assist in assessing bone density in clinical environments

Quality of Service Evaluation and Assessment Methods in Wireless Networks

Wireless networks are capable of facilitating a reliable multimedia communication. The ease they can be deployed is ideal for disaster management. The Quality of Service (QoS) for these networks is critical to their effectiveness. Evaluation of QoS in wireless networks provides information that supports their management. QoS evaluation can be performed in multiple ways and indicates how well applications are delivered. In this work, fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) and Kohonen unsupervised neural networks were compared for their abilities to differentiate between Good, Average and Poor QoS for voice over IP (VoIP) traffic. Fuzzy inference system (FIS), linear regression and multilayer perceptron (MLP) were evaluated to quantify QoS for VoIP. FCM and Kohonen successfully classified VoIP traffic into three types representing Low, Medium, and High QoS. FIS, regression model and MLP combined the QoS parameters (i.e. delay, jitter, and percentage packet loss ratio) with information from the generated clusters and indicated the overall QoS

Accelerometer based human joints' range of movement measurement

Accurate measurement and analysis of joints' range of movement (ROM) are important for assessing joint related health conditions and are valuable to clinicians for diagnostic and rehabilitation purposes. As an alternative to using the camera-based methods which are restrictive and expensive, and the electro-goniometers which are not sufficiently effective in some scenarios, researchers are developing the use of microelectromechanical devices such as accelerometers for measuring human joints movement. This paper presents the development of an accelerometer based system to measure movement angle, velocity, acceleration and displacement for the knee

Adaptive sampling technique using regression modelling and fuzzy inference system for network traffic

Electronic-health relies on extensive computer networks to facilitate access and to communicate various types of information in the form of data packets. To examine the effectiveness of these networks, the traffic parameters need to be analysed. Due to quantity of packets, examining their transmission parameters individually is not practical, especially when performed in real time. Sampling allows a subset of packets that accurately represents the original traffic to be chosen. In this study an adaptive sampling method based on regression and fuzzy inference system was developed. It dynamically updates the sampling by responding to the traffic changes. Its performance was found to be superior to the conventional non-adaptive sampling methods