Monika Bugdol

Spatial and dynamical handwriting analysis in mild cognitive impairment

Background and Objectives Standard clinical procedure of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) assessment employs time-consuming tests of psychological evaluation and requires the involvement of specialists. The employment of quantitative methods proves to be superior to clinical judgment, yet reliable, fast and inexpensive tests are not available. This study was conducted as a first step towards the development of a diagnostic tool based on handwriting. Methods In this paper the handwriting sample of a group of 37 patients with MCI (mean age 76.1±5.8) and 37 healthy controls (mean age 74.8±5.7) was collected using a Livescribe Echo Pen while completing three tasks: (1) regular writing, (2) all-capital-letters writing, and (3) single letter multiply repeated. Parameters differentiating both groups were selected in each task. Results Subjects with confirmed MCI needed more time to complete task one (median 119.5s, IQR - interquartile range - 38.1 vs. 95.1s, IQR 29.2 in control and MCI group, p-value <0.05) and two (median 84.2s, IQR 49.2 and 53.7s, IQR 30.5 in control and MCI group) as their writing was significantly slower. These results were associated with a longer time to complete a single stroke of written text. The written text was also noticeably larger in the MCI group in all three tasks (e.g. median height of the text block in task 2 being 22.3mm, IQR 12.9 in MCI and 20.2mm, IQR 8.7 in control group). Moreover, the MCI group showed more variation in the dynamics of writing: longer pause between strokes in task 1 and 2. The all-capital-letters task produced most of the discriminating features. Conclusion Proposed handwriting features are significant in distinguishing MCI patients. Inclusion of quantitative handwriting analysis in psychological assessment may be a step forward towards a fast MCI diagnosis.

Vowels in Speaker Verification

In the paper the possibility of using a single vowel in peoples’ identity verification process is described. The usage of sounds which period do not change over the whole duration time, allows applying Fourier series to its analysis. The amplitudes of consecutive harmonics as well as their frequencies are the basis of creating individual features’ vector. In order to record sounds of such characteristic, the acquisition process has been performed taking strict measurement’s assumption into consideration. The similarity measure of two vowels can be a coefficient which construction is based on the Euclidean distance with contribution of particular components.

Quantitative Validation of Gait and Swing Angles Determination from Inertial Signals

The still increasing life length expectancy creates new challenges in the field of senior care. It encourages researchers to provide the nursing homes and senior care assistants with tools that will both, rise an alarm in case of a sudden fall and collect data for long-term diagnosis of the declining motor abilities like the number of steps taken per day or changes in some gait parameters. This paper presents a quantitative validation of a remote system for activity monitoring of the elderly based on inertial sensors. It focuses on features connected to walk quality such as number of steps and the swing angle outlined by an ankle in the sagittal plane during walk. A measurement protocol is proposed, a validation method is described and the obtained results are discussed.

Mathematical model in left ventricle segmentation

In this paper a parametric model of the left ventricle is presented. Its task is to estimate the myocardium shape on those slices, on which the segmentation algorithm has outlined the structure incorrectly. The aim of using the model on improperly segmented slices is to improve the accuracy of computing cardiac hemodynamic parameters and the heart mass. The proposed model works with any segmentation algorithm. The usefulness of the model is the largest while determining the myocardium at end-systole and calculating the heart mass. In case of the segmentation algorithm applied in this study, the error decreased from clinically unacceptable to acceptable after using the presented model.

An image processing approach to determination of steel fibers orientation in reinforced concrete

The paper presents a preliminary study aimed to automatically determine the position and orientation of steel fibers in fiber-reinforced concrete. This is required for assessment of the relation between the methods of forming and resulting concentration, position and orientation of steel fibers. Concrete beams with various types of fibers and method of forming were scanned using Computed Tomography and the resulting volumetric images were subjected to image segmentation. From the obtained label map the position and orientation in 3D of each steel fiber were calculated. This enabled generating 4D histograms visualizing in compact form the overall orientation of the fibers. Statistical analysis showed that the orientation of the fibers exhibit exponential distribution.

Parametric Curves in Liver Deformation for Laparoscopic Purposes

An increasing number of conducted endoscopic procedures results in inventing new computer systems, that would be a helpful tool in this kind of medical examinations. In this paper the need of evaluating algorithms describing the deformation of internal organs for laparoscopic surgery purposes is presented. A possible solution to the problem of visualising such deformations has been suggested. Furthermore, the way of collecting data by studying the liver reaction to an external force was described. A model of the liver deformations based on Bezier curves has been developed and compared with the shape of the real liver deformation.

Boys’ Age Modeling Using Voice Features

The paper presents the results of boys’ age modeling on the basis of the features of their voice. The research group has been divided according to age and the threshold has been 14 years. 98 boys have been examined (57 aged less than 14 years, 41 aged 14 years or more). Voice data has been acquired and processed. The obtained coefficients have been subjected to Principal Component Analysis and then linear models have been built, estimeting the boys’ age. The obtained results are promising and are especially good in case of the group of younger boys, where the median absolute error has been less than 6 months and the median relative error has been equal to 2.1%.

Evaluation of Puberty in Girls by Spectral Analysis of Voice

In this paper, a method for girls’ pubertal status evaluation is presented. The proposed algorithm uses voice features. Spectral analysis, Support Vector Machine and Random Forest Trees were employed. The obtained results are promising. Sensitivity reached 89.38%, when all features were included in the calculations (SVM). The highest specificity was achieved when only standard deviations were used (80.14% for the RF). Accuracy was greater than 80% for both classifiers when all features were used.

The influence of music genres on human emotionality

In the paper results of a preliminary research are presented concerning the influence of various music types on the human biocybernetic response. 35 people (24 women, 11 men) of different age and occupation underwent the examination. Each of them listened to three music pieces (classical, relaxing and rock music, in a previously defined order). The measured biomedical signal was the GSR. Women exposed more varied changes than men in their emotional state when they were stimulated with different music types. Young people reacted strongest on classical music, whereas mature persons revealed highest GSR changes while listening to rock music. The results for different occupation groups are also presented in the article.

Longitudinal Voice Study (LoVoiS) Methodology and Preliminary Research Results

The paper describes an approach to the kids and youth pubertal evaluation using voice signal. The results of preliminary study conducted on a group of 109 children (58 boys and 51 girls aged 10–18 years) has been presented. The analysis of the voice fundamental frequency proves that this parameter strongly depends on the age (for boys) and on the time of the first menarche (for girls). Such a method for girls and boys maturation assessment is very important for, among others, anthropologist in their studies on social inequalities and observing secular trends.