Facial Expression Effect on Signal Quality and the Attention Level of Mind wave

The ability of single electrode electroencephalography (EEG) device such as Neurosky Mind wave has been widely explored in the field of Brainwave Computer Interface (BCI). It has been applied to the devices that are designed especially for people with communication difficulties and severe motor disabilities due to low cost wireless EEG and feasible for daily life usage. Many studies make use of the attention level to be a signal to control automated application such as a wheelchair or home appliance. Thus, this study was to investigate the effects of different facial expression on the attention and signal quality value using Neurosky Mind wave. The brainwave sensor was placed on the forehead frontal point (Fp1) and transmits the electrical impulses wirelessly to Arduino Mega via Bluetooth HC05. The microcontroller was programmed to process the brain signal accordingly and display corresponding output. The testing was executed by frowning and winking with the left and the right eyes. The respondent had to follow the instruction to do this three-facial expression. The time gap between two activities were ten (10) to fifteen (15) seconds approximately. The real time data of signal quality and attention value was monitored on Cool Term. It was found that there was various attention value of the respondent when they executed the activities depending on their focus at that time. However signal quality of 25 could be obtained from all respondents when frowning. This value can be considered as an input signal for control mechanism with if further testing is implemented on a prototype to validate the finding

The effect of color on the attention level

Color plays important role in learning and educational, communication, marketing and architecture. From the previous research especially related to educational, color could affect the attention level of people. The present study was undertaken to find out if the turquoise color could trigger the attention level to be equal or above the attention threshold. The required threshold to start or operate the electronic device should be equal or more than 40. The attention level of five (5) respondents were recorded when they were looking at turquoise color for 10 seconds using a single electrode of Neurosky Mindwave headset. From the experiment, it is found that turquoise could trigger the attention level of all respondents to be above the attention threshold of 40 if they are thoroughly trained

Quantitative image analysis of polyhydroxyalkanoates inclusions from microbial mixed cultures under different SBR operation strategies

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) produced from mixed microbial cultures (MMC), regarded as potential substitutes of petrochemical plastics, can be found as intracellular granules in various microorganisms under limited nutrient conditions and excess of carbon source. PHA is traditionally quantified by laborious and time-consuming chromatography analysis, and a simpler and faster method to assess PHA contents from MMC, such as quantitative image analysis (QIA), is of great interest. The main purpose of the present work was to upgrade a previously developed QIA methodology (Mesquita et al., 2013a, 2015) for MMC intracellular PHA contents quantification, increase the studied intracellular PHA concentration range and extend to different sequencing batch reactor (SBR) operation strategies. Therefore, the operation of a new aerobic dynamic feeding (ADF) SBR allowed further extending the studied operating conditions, dataset, and range of the MMC intracellular PHA contents from the previously reported anaerobic/aerobic cycle SBR. Nile Blue A (NBA) staining was employed for epifluorescence microscope visualization and image acquisition, further fed to a custom developed QIA. Data from each of the feast and famine cycles of both SBR were individually processed using chemometrics analysis, obtaining the correspondent partial least squares (PLS) models. The PHA concentrations determined from PLS models were further plotted against the results obtained in the standard chromatographic method. For both SBR the predicted ability was higher at the end of the feast stage than for the famine stage. Indeed, an independent feast and famine QIA data treatment was found to be fundamental to obtain the best prediction abilities. Furthermore, a promising overall correlation (R2 of 0.83) could be found combining the overall QIA data regarding the PHA prediction up to a concentration of 1785.1 mgL-1 (37.3 wt%). Thus, the results confirm that the presented QIA methodology can be seen as promising for estimating higher intracellular PHA concentrations for a larger reactors operation systems and further extending the prediction range of previous studies.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fundunder the scope ofNorte2020 - ProgramaOperacional Regional do Norte.The authors also acknowledge the financial support to Cristiano S. Leal (PTDC/EBB-EBI/103147/2008, FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER009704) and Daniela P. Mesquita through the FCT postdoctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/82558/2011).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Colours Effect Analysis on The Attention Level with A Single-Channel EEG

Colours play an important role in many applications such as in education, communication, tourism, marketing, and architecture. From the previous research, especially related to education, colour could affect people's focus or attention level. However, with further investigation, the colour could also be used for controlling or activating electronic devices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out if turquoise, green, red, and a combination of red, orange, and yellow (picture of autumn) could trigger the attention level to be equal to or above the attention threshold. The required threshold that had been decided was 40. The attention level of five (5) respondents was recorded when they were looking at the colours for 8 seconds using a single-channel EEG of the Neurosky Mindwave headset. From the study, it is found that all colours could trigger the attention level of all respondents to be above the attention threshold of 40. However, the combination of red, orange, and yellow (autumn picture) showed the best result in triggering or maintaining the attention value within 40 to 100. The colour could be a potential input in controlling electronic devices that have an attention threshold of 40

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer