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In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to compress jointly a Multi-Channel Electrocardiogram (MCE) and an ultrasound image. We will show that this technique allows better performances, in terms of compression ratio (CR) compared to coding separately both modalities. In this approach, scaled ECG samples are inserted within the high frequencies of the ultrasound image after its decomposition on...
chapter
We present an iterative 2D tomographic reconstruction procedure for a 2D region of interest (ROI), in which high resolution is required. This method is based on an irregular sampling of the image, the ROI being defined on a fine grid while the rest of the image - the "background" - is sampled on a much coarser grid. The background and the ROI are reconstructed simultaneously from the full...
chapter
Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty consists in conducting a balloon and a stent through a coronary lesion and deploying the stent by balloon inflation. A coronary stent is a 3D complex mesh hardly visible in X-Ray images. The control of stent deployment is difficult from the 2D projection images inspection although insufficient deployment of the stent may lead to post intervention complications...
chapter
This paper describes a study on the effectiveness of expanding the temporal envelope and periodicity component (TEPC) for Cantonese tone perception. The ultimate goal is to develop speech processing techniques that can improve speech perception of hearing prosthesis users. Cantonese is a popular Chinese dialect with a complex lexical tone system. TEPCs are extracted from a few predefined frequency...
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An automated method for detecting episodes of probable paroxysmal atrial fibrillation based on processing blocks of inter-heartbeat intervals is considered. The method has very low computational requirements making it well-suited to near real-time, low power applications. A supervised linear discriminant classifier is used to estimate the likelihood of a block of inter-heartbeat intervals containing...
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F-waves are distally recorded muscle responses that result from ldquobackfiringrdquo of motor neurons following stimulation of peripheral nerves. Each F-wave response is a superposition of several motor unit responses (F-wavelets). Initial deflection of the earliest F-wavelet defines the traditional F-wave latency (FWL) and earlier F-wavelet may mask F-wavelets traveling along slower (and possibly...
chapter
This paper describes the application of task analysis within the design process of a Web-based information system for managing clinical information in hemophilia care, in order to improve the requirements elicitation and, consequently, to validate the domain model obtained in a previous phase of the design process (system analysis). The use of task analysis in this case proved to be a practical and...
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The most frequently occurring cardiac arrhythmia in the adulthood is atrial fibrillation. In Germany, the number of sick people is estimated at 800.000. Patients who suffer from atrial fibrillation often do not sense any symptoms of the illness. Through the uncontrolled blood flow in the atrium, a blood clot, which can lead to the blood circulation for an embolism or for a stroke, can form itself...
chapter
In the military, there are many dangerous, difficult working conditions. Sometimes soldiers have to cope with the enemy and cannot sleep all the day because of overnight training or operation. So the health state of serviceperson has been the main concern of the commander. Despite the importance, to monitor the health condition of the serviceperson without influence of daily schedule or combat situation...
chapter
For computer simulations of physiological experiments using physiological models, a machine-readable format of experimental protocols is effective. Here, we propose an XML-based language, PEPML (Physiological Experimental Protocol Markup Language). In the PEPML, conditions and procedures of an experimental protocol are procedurally described as a list of events, each of which consists of a condition...
chapter
The detection of asymptomatic lacunar infarcts on magnetic resonance (MR) images are important tasks for radiologists to ensure the prevention of severe cerebral infarction. However, their accurate identification is often difficult task. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a computer- aided diagnosis scheme for the detection of lacunar infarcts. Our database consisted of 1,143 T1- and...
chapter
Prediction of drowsiness based on an objective measure is demanded in machine and vehicle operations in which human errors may cause fatal accidents. Currently we focused on the pupil of the eye which is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, and easily observable non-invasively from the outside of the body. We employed uneventful driving simulation to induce drowsiness of human subjects, and...
chapter
Anisotropic Magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors shows a new possibility to detect magnetic fields produced by magnetic particles present in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. A system that uses excitation and detection of magnetic field was developed using AMR sensor. A magnetic flux concentrator was also studied to increase the sensitivity of AMR in this work.
chapter
Cardiovascular disturbances are difficult to diagnose and treat because of the large range of possible underlying dysfunctions combined with regulatory reflex mechanisms that can result in conflicting clinical data. Thus, medical professionals often rely on experience and intuition to optimize hemodynamics in the critically ill. This paper combines an existing minimal cardiovascular system model with...
chapter
Fluorescence-based sensors have been developed in microsphere formats for many biochemical targets. For these to be deployed in vivo for on-demand monitoring, a matched optical system for delivery of excitation and measurement of emission is needed. To optimize excitation and collection efficiency, statistical ray-tracing may be used to model the distribution of diffusely reflected light resulting...
chapter
We describe further development of a novel method for non-invasive measurement of blood glucose concentration (BGL), named Pulse Glucometry, based on differential near infrared spectrophotometry. Sequential temporal differences of infrared transmittance spectra from the radiation intensity (Ilambda) emerging from a fingertip containing an arterial pulse component (DeltaIlambda) are analysed. To perform...
chapter
Light penetration depth in highly scattering tissues can be increased by using hyperosmotic chemical agents such as glycerol, PEG (polyethylene glycol) and glucose. Previous many studies used OCT, spectrometer, integrating method to quantitatively evaluate the optical clearing effect of skin. In this study, we show the optical clearing effect of skin using glycerol and suggest a new quantitative analysis...
chapter
Using hyperspectral imaging techniques, which enable us to simultaneously obtain spatial and wavelength information, we have improved upon the newly developed hyperspectral camera to develop a method of observing changes in skin melanin levels and hemodynamics over time. As an evaluation of this method, we measured the skin diffuse reflectance spectrum of the human middle finger in an experiment of...
chapter
Networks of cortical neurons were grown over multi electrode arrays to enable simultaneous measurement of signals from multiple neurons. We described functional connectivity in these networks by relationships between individual electrodes, based on conditional firing probabilities. In this study we investigated periods in which the strength of a relationship monotonously increased (strengthening)...
chapter
Recently, research has concentrated on robots that can coexist with people and be of use to them. Such a robot needs to be both safe and flexible. Here, we use a pneumatic actuator as the driving source of a robot hand. We develop a pneumatic actuator driven by low pressure because we consider that the conventional pneumatic actuator is inadequate for the driving source of a robot hand. First, we...
