From beat to BCI: A musical paradigm for,and the ethical aspects of Brain-Computer Interfacing

Contains fulltext : 133272.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 09 december 2014Promotor : Desain, P.W.M. Co-promotores : Farquhar, J.D.R., Haselager, W.F.G.127 p

Computer aided measurement of tinnitus spectra, residual inhibition and loudness growth

In this study, computer software was developed for measuring several aspects of tinnitus ('ringing in the ear'). Being able to measure these aspects can help future research in getting a better understanding of tinnitus. The software can measure tinnitus spectra, to get an idea of the frequencies present in the tinnitus. The software can also measure the depth and duration of the residual inhibition effect and measure loudness functions, that describe a subject's loudness growth. The loudness functions are measured with a modified version of the Oldenburg-ACALOS procedure. The software is equipped with capabilities to analyze and visualize the measured data, and a profile-based storage system. Experiments have been performed with this software on both normal hearing people and tinnitus patients. With the results of these experiments, the software is evaluated.

Requirements for implementation : a quality prediction system for soft fruit based on a Bayesian Belief Network

The GreenCHAINge project is carried out in consortium with various companies, and supported by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture. It is financed by this ministry through a Topsector subsidy and by the participating companies in the consortium through their cash and in kind contributions. The GreenCHAINge project comprises several sub-projects, each focussing on a different fruit or vegetable product. The work reported in this document resides under the sub-project dedicated to soft fruit, and is carried out – independently - by Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR) in collaboration with Driscoll’s B.V. The Wageningen Food & Biobased Research institute has developed a Bayesian model for quality prediction of soft fruit, specifically strawberries, based on a variety of input data. The model was developed in the Netica environment and requires the Netica library to be executed. Integration of the model in the existing workflow at Driscoll’s B.V. requires it to be encapsulated by additional software, such as an interface to the user, interfaces to available data sources, and to the model itself. This document describes the requirements and proposed architecture for deploying the model at Driscoll’s B.V., and while requirements and architecture are described in a generic fashion, this report is primarily targeted at stakeholders within Driscoll’s B.V

Music perception and imagery in EEG: Alpha band effects of task and stimulus

Previous work has shown that mental imagination of sound generally elicits an increase of alpha band activity (8-12Hz) in the electroencephalogram (EEG). In addition, alpha activity has been shown to be related to music processing. In the current study, EEG signatures were investigated for perception and imagery of two different natural musical phrases. The responses are compared between tasks and between stimuli. For all tasks and stimuli, posterior alpha band activity was seen, but differences are shown in the power of this response. As expected, imagery resulted in a significantly stronger alpha activation than perception. The comparison of the averaged responses to the stimuli also showed a difference in alpha power, although this effect is seen in different directions. These results are interpreted to indicate that both the tasks and the stimuli modulate an attentional network, which may relate to the inhibition of non-task relevant cortical areas, as well as engagement with the music

Ontology learning with machine learning techniques

In this project we aimed to find out if and how techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to support the process of ontology creation and make it more efficient

A note on ethical aspects of BCI

Contains fulltext : 77533.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)This paper focuses on ethical aspects of BCI, as a research and a clinical tool, that are challenging for practitioners currently working in the field. Specifically, the difficulties involved in acquiring informed consent from locked-in patients are investigated, in combination with an analysis of the shared moral responsibility in BCI teams, and the complications encountered in establishing effective communication with media.6 p

Creating controlled vocabularies for smart search at WUR

Searching text or documents in large unstructured and semi-structured data sources is not trivial. A search engine is supposed to make more search efficient and effective. It supports to build a query that can be applied automatically to extract the information that complies with the user’s intention. Controlled vocabularies and ontologies help improving the search and make it domain-aware. In this document, we explain the notion of a controlled vocabulary, its construction methods and its use in smart search engines. Manual construction of controlled vocabularies and ontologies can be achieved using several existing tools,which require specific technical skills. Therefore, we refer to the ROC+ tool, developed within WFBR, which helps domain researchers build a controlled vocabulary in a faster and easier way. Another application, namely the TALK tool, was developed to start a discussion on a specific term in multidisciplinary teams. It proposes automatically generated associated terms, which can then be exported in a machine processible nformat as input for ROC+. We also briefly mention the use of NLP technology in text mining, where domain related concepts can be automatically extracted from pdf documents. Finally, some example of controlled vocabularies developed within WFBR are listed for further reference