Biomedical signal filtering for noisy environments

 Luke's work addresses issue of robustly attenuating multi-source noise from surface EEG signals using a novel Adaptive-Multiple-Reference Least-Means-Squares filter (AMR-LMS). In practice, the filter successfully removes electrical interference and muscle noise generated during movement which contaminates EEG, allowing subjects to maintain maximum mobility throughout signal acquisition and during the use of a Brain Computer Interface.

Study of shot length and motion as contributing factors to movie tempo

This work seeks to lay the framework of film grammar over the video to be analyzed. We use the shot attributes of motion and shot length to produce a novel continuous measure of one of the aesthetic elements of films, namely the movie tempo. We refer to our previous work detailing the study of this construct and its automatic derivation, and also demonstrating its usefulness as an expressive element and as a sound basis for higher semantic descriptions such as dramatic events and story elements. Initial assessment of tempo was performed in our study on the basis that the relative importance of both shot length and motion in formulating the tempo function was the same. In this paper, we analyze their relative contributions to tempo, and demonstrate how these two factors can be manipulated to influence audience perception of movie time.

The effect of double - blind carbohydrate ingestion during 60 km of self-paced exercise in warm ambient conditions

This study evaluated double blind ingestions of placebo (PLA) versus 6% carbohydrate (CHO) either as capsules (c) or beverage (b) during 60 km self-paced cycling in the heat (32°C and 50% relative humidity). Ten well-trained males (mean ± SD: 26±3 years; 64.5±7.7 kg and 70.7±8.8 ml.kg-1.min-1 maximal oxygen consumption) completed four separate 60 km time trials (TT) punctuated by 1 km sprints (14, 29, 44, 59 km) whilst ingesting either PLAb or PLAc or CHOb or CHOc. The TT was not different among treatments (PLAb 130.26 11.2 min, CHOb 140.5±18.1 min, PLAc 143.1±29.2 min, CHOc 137.3±20.1 min; P>0.05). Effect size (Cohen's d) for time was only moderate when comparing CHOb - PLAb (d = 0.68) and PLAb - PLA c (d = 0.57) whereas all other ES were 'trivial' to 'small'. Mean speed throughout the trial was significantly higher for PLAb only (P<0.05). Power output was only different (P<0.05) between the sprints and low intensity efforts within and across conditions. Core and mean skin temperatures were similar among trials. We conclude that CHO ingestion is of little or no benefit as a beverage compared with placebo during 60 km TT in the heat.

Human perception-based washout filtering using genetic algorithm

The Motion Cueing Algorithm (MCA) transforms longitudinal and rotational motions into simulator movement, aiming to regenerate high fidelity motion within the simulators physical limitations. Classical washout filters are widely used in commercial simulators because of their relative simplicity and reasonable performance. The main drawback of classical washout filters is the inappropriate empirical parameter tuning method that is based on trial-and-error, and is effected by programmers’ experience. This is the most important obstacle to exploiting the platform efficiently. Consequently, the conservative motion produces false cue motions. Lack of consideration for human perception error is another deficiency of classical washout filters and also there is difficulty in understanding the effect of classical washout filter parameters on generated motion cues. The aim of this study is to present an effortless optimization method for adjusting the classical MCA parameters, based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) for a vehicle simulator in order to minimize human sensation error between the real and simulator driver while exploiting the platform within its physical limitations. The vestibular sensation error between the real and simulator driver as well as motion limitations have been taken into account during optimization. The proposed optimized MCA based on GA is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink. The results show the superiority of the proposed MCA as it improved the human sensation, maximized reference signal shape following and exploited the platform more efficiently within the motion constraints.