Andrzej W. Mitas

Multimodal biometric system combining ECG and sound signals

In the paper a novel multimodal, behavioural biometric system that combines ECG and sound signal is described. The signal acquisition has been carried out in a small stress condition when the user has been asked to utter sounds at a given pitch. Thanks to the stimulations the ECG signal and especially the HR vary over time and these changes can be used to extract biometric features which represent an individual response to the stimuli. The proposed approach utilised popular statistical coefficients which are computationally effective and simple.

Activity Monitoring of the Elderly for Telecare Systems - Review

Aging society in developed countries forms new challenges for medical care. Ensuring well-being of the elderly and provide them support when required is of special concern. Nowadays, solutions in form of telecare centers and monitoring systems are able to estimate condition of the patient and provide necessary help accordingly. This paper addresses the problem of reviewing current state of the art by describing systems available commercially and presented in scientific papers as well as inference methods for condition assessment. Conclusions and problems to be taken into account while designing such systems are also pointed out.

Wearable System for Activity Monitoring of the Elderly

The paper presents a concept of an Ambient Assisted Living system for daily monitoring of the elderly. Description and testing of the prototype of a mobile data acquisition device for physical activity detection using inertial sensors is made. Testing has been performed on a mechanical test stand and a group of healthy individuals during normal walking. The purpose has been to assess the repeatability of acquired data. Obtained results are satisfactory and further development takes place.

An Idea of Human Voice Reaction Measurement System under the Aspect of Behavioral Biometric

A proposition of the human’s reaction measurement system focused on the voice is presented in the paper. The main idea of this system is to test the human behavior under the influence of sound and visual stimulations. In order to evaluate the human reaction, the signal of speech is examined. This signal is acquired in strict conditions using external device which have a high measurement accuracy.

Model of Attenuation of Sound Stimuli in Prenatal Music Therapy

Studies on the process of acoustic stimulation in prenatal period require to assess the beneficial condition for child development, as well as characteristic sounds which could negatively affect the development of auditory system, brain or even entire body. It can be provided with the simplified model of sound attenuation in the uterus, which can be represented by first order passive low pass filter. On the basis of total harmonic distortion analysis for a single sound, a proposal indicating the sound reduction in the intrauterine environment is formulated. It is hypothesised that the sound stimuli in the uterus is not the same sound as the music in the source.

Phase angles of sound as a biometric feature

The paper is a proposal of concept of highlighting the sound sources based on the phase shifts of successive harmonics in a single function course extracted from a articulation of single sound which frequency is stable in short-term. The function describing the single period of sound is expanded for the purpose of determining the harmonic series from −∞ to +∞. It is also an additional protection of sensitive personal data, because, based on such generated sound it is impossible to unambiguously recognize the voice of the individual using the human senses.

Biological costs of economic transition: Stress levels during the transition from communism to capitalism in Poland

At the end of the 1980s, Poland began the transformation from an essentially one-party communist system to a politically pluralistic democratic system. These political and economic changes had major social consequences, among others unemployment and a sharp decrease in real personal income. The aim of the study was to investigate the possible relationship between stress in adult men, measured by the Allostatic Load, and the socio-economic deterioration during the first part of the economic transition. The Allostatic Load included eleven markers assessing adverse nutritional intake, cardiovascular activity, inflammatory processes, and lung, hepatic and renal functions. The results indicate a significantly higher risk of metabolic dysregulation in men examined after 1990, compared to men from previous years. After adjustment for socioeconomic variables and lifestyle variables, men examined in 1991 had a 31% greater risk of higher Allostatic Load compared with men examined in 1985 (OR=1.31; p=0.0541), in 1992, this risk was 50% greater (OR=1.50; p<0.01), and in 1993, the risk was 66% greater (OR=1.66; p<0.05). The conclusion is drawn that significantly more stressogenic factors for men were those directly connected with the financial situation of their families, than a sudden but short increase of prices for goods and services.

About the Measurement Methods in Music Therapy

The chapter begins with a necessary introduction describing the fundamental importance of music in human life. Sounds of nature and typical music created by humans according to accepted rules (that are also nature philosophy derivatives) are considered here. Nowadays, music is used to intentional change the psychophysical state of a human being. It would be relatively easy to indicate that music stimulates activities, it is much more complicated to select such types of sound stimulation, which would be useful for recreation - music therapy is meant here. Currently, the choice is rather heuristic than algorithmic.

Driver biomedical support system

The article presents the concepts of drivers condition evaluation with the use of biomedical system. The described method is based on a thermometric measurements of selected, external areas of the body. In the paper summarized the results of correlating the temperature records with the driving style indicators. Additionally analysis of the vehicle cabin thermal distribution was made.

Biomedically Aided Car Driver Safety System

The article presents some behavioural measurements, together with the results of some biomedical research experiments and the assumptions underlying them. In order to determine the behavioural characteristics driving style was analysed, which was estimated using data recorded by a tachometric device. Biomedical measurements were made with using an ECG holter and infrared camera to record heart rate changes and the image inside the cab of the vehicle. On the basis of the results obtained, the assumption of a biomedically aided driver safety system is presented.