MS Thesis Defense

SAX-BOP: Epileptic Seizure Detection using
Symbolic Aggregate Approximation and Bag of Patterns

Sidharth Allani

1:00pm Friday, 12 December 2014, ITE 325b

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that makes patients susceptible to experiencing recurrent seizures. A seizure occurs when abnormal activity in the brain leads to involuntary body moment, lack of awareness or behavior, short-term loss of memory or attention, short-term unconsciousness, or body convulsions. Epilepsy affects three million people in the United States and accounts for $15.5 billion in direct and indirect costs.

Epilepsy has many different causes, and often no definite cause can be found. Patients who suffer from intractable seizures experience unpredictable and frequent seizures that cannot be controlled using anti-seizure drugs. Such seizures leave the patient traumatized and, due to their uncertainty, the patient’s mobility and independence are restricted, resulting in social isolation and economic hardship.

The research in this thesis aims to detect epileptic seizures and to analyze the performance of Symbolic Aggregate approXimation and the Bag of Patterns representation for seizure event detection. We use Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings as the data source for seizure detection, which is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp that measures ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain. These signals are a good source of information about abnormal activity in the brain and are helpful in the process of epileptic seizure detection. This problem becomes challenging because of the enormous size of the EEG data, making it difficult to effectively and efficiently analyze these signals and detect a seizure. We use Symbolic Aggregate approXimation (SAX) and the Bag of Patterns Representation (BOP) and analyze their performance with EEG time series data to detect seizures.

Committee: Drs. Tim Oates (chair), Tim Finin and Tinoosh Mohsenin

Please read-while not paid...this could be a tremendous opportunity --especially for freshmen and sophomores.

DHS has launchedthe 2015 Secretary’s Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative through which approximately 75 undergraduate students will complete cybersecurity-focused assignments at more than 50 locations across the country. Selected student volunteers will learn about the DHS cybersecurity mission and engage in hands-on cybersecurity work related to digital forensics, network diagnostics, incident response and a variety of other specialties.

The department has extended the application deadline to January 9, 2015, and interested students may apply via USAJobs.gov. If you have not done so already, please share this opportunity with possible applicants at your institution. You can find more information about the Initiative in the attached description, and feel free to direct any questions to CMSI@hq.dhs.gov.

 http://www.dhs.gov/news/2014/11/24/dhs-announces-2015-cyber-student-volunteer-initiative

The Right Combination

Men�s Soccer Team Winners on the Field and in the Classroom

The UMBC men�s soccer team�s splendid run to the Final Four of college soccer may have ended in the national semifinals with a hard-fought 1-0 loss to the University of Virginia, but it created memories that will live on in the annals of Retrievers athletics.

Senior forward Kay Banjo�s amazing back heel goal against Vermont in the America East conference semifinal � a goal that went viral on the Internet. Redshirt freshman midfielder Gregg Hauck�s wonder goal that sealed the championship victory. A gritty penalty kick victory over Wake Forest in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The coolly-taken goal by junior midfielder Malcolm Harris that sealed a historic tournament win over College Park. Senior midfielder Mamadou Kansaye�s conversion of a crucial spot kick to sink the University of Louisville � and the amazing one-handed save by sophomore goalie Billy Heavner that preserved the victory. Banjo�s penalty kick that defeated Creighton to earn the Retrievers a trip to the Final Four. And above all a sterling Retrievers defense � led by senior defender Oumar Ballo that did not surrender a single goal in open play during the entire run to Cary, North Carolina and the College Cup semifinal.

The Retrievers� loss to the University of Virginia doesn�t dim the team�s historic achievements. UMBC�s �Road Warriors� travelled to four different stadiums and won four straight games against nationally-ranked opponents to earn their place in college soccer�s Final Four.

And just as important is that the UMBC men�s soccer squad excelled in the classroom as well as on the field. The team�s players embody a vision shared by the university and its athletics department for UMBC�s student-athletes to be winners in all aspects of college life.

This week, the NCAA released statistics on the academic achievements of the four teams who have reached the Final Four of men�s soccer. UMBC and UCLA both topped the group with graduation success rates (GSR) of 88 percent, and the Retrievers edged the Bruins by 2 points (963 to 961) in academic progress rate (APR) � which measures student-athletes� eligibility and retention.

In an interview with UMBC Magazine, UMBC athletics director Tim Hall said: �My own beliefs about intercollegiate athletics and academics are congruent with the leadership of the university. I believe that success in athletics and success in academics are not mutually exclusive. You can be successful and balanced in both.�

It�s a vision that�s paying off with a UMBC squad that is now in the NCAA championship game.

For instance, in addition to being one of the catalysts on UMBC�s amazing postseason run, Heavner was presented on Thursday night with The Elite 89 � an award founded by the NCAA and presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s championships.

Heavner maintains a 4.0 GPA as a major in financial economics, and achievement that also earned him this season�s inaugural America East Elite 18 award, which recognizes student-athletes competing in conference championship matches who possess high academic and athletic achievements.

The UMBC men’s and women’s soccer teams also earned National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Academic Awards for the 2013-14 academic year for posting cumulative team grade point averages of 3.0 or better. UMBC was one of only 188 schools that had both men’s and women’s programs recognized in the NSCAA awards.

(Updated 12/12/2014)

In the wake of the release of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report on C.I.A treatment of detainees in secret prisons following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Political Science Associate Professor Jeffrey Davis wrote a letter to the editor in response to the December 10 New York Times article, “Panel Faults C.I.A. Over Brutality and Deceit in Terrorism Interrogations.” The complete text of the published letter is below:

Prosecuting those who commit torture is not optional. Article 7 of the Convention Against Torture, signed by President Reagan in 1988 and approved by the Senate in 1994, requires the United States to prosecute those found within our borders who commit torture. The foundation of our democratic system is one of laws. If we regard those laws — be they the laws prohibiting torture or the laws mandating prosecution — as optional, that foundation is eviscerated. The Senate report released this week paints a clear picture of the depravity that thrives when our basic laws are ignored.

To read Davis’s letter, along with other responses to the New York Times article, click here.

Serial, a spin-off show from NPR’s “This American Life,” is a podcast in which reporter Sarah Koenig reinvestigates the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, a Baltimore County high school student. In the series, Koenig, a former Baltimore Sun staff writer, conducts numerous interviews and delves deeply into figuring out what led to the conviction of Adnan Syed, Hae’s ex-boyfriend, for her murder. An article published December 8 in The Guardian looks into why the podcast has drawn so much interest.

Nicole King, an associate professor of American studies, is quoted in the article and comments on the narrative style of the podcast when looking at it in the context of Baltimore.

“People are so caught up with ‘whodunnit’,” she tells [Nicky Woolf, the article’s writer]. “The Hollywood ending.” For people here, she says, there will need to be some sort of a payoff – a denouement – which real life rarely, if ever, provides.

In addition, Steph Ceraso, an assistant professor of English, and Tanya Olson, a lecturer of English, are both referenced in the article as having started to use the podcast as a teaching tool in the classroom.

“The podcast raises all kinds of interesting questions about storytelling, memory, ethics and the research process,” Ceraso said. She discovered that some students in her class knew the families involved in the case and it sparked a heated discussion about ethics and storytelling.

To read the complete article “In Baltimore, Serial’s murder mystery is not just a whodunnit-it’s real life,” click here.

Dale Bittinger, assistant vice-provost for admissions and orientation, visited WYPR’s Midday with Dan Rodricks to discuss the concept of “grit” in education. He was joined by Elaine Tuttle Hansen, executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and Natalia Walker, principal of KIPP Baltimore.

The conversation began with a discussion of grit and how it has become a buzzword in education. Bittinger shared the history of grit at UMBC and how it has been a part of our campus culture since its founding in 1966. Bittinger also described “House of Grit,” UMBC’s new admissions marketing campaign. “The House of Grit campaign really allowed us to focus on the individuality of the students on our campus, but at the same point in time, the community that makes UMBC such a place that it is.”

Bittinger emphasized that intelligence and grit are not mutually exclusive. He gave the example of Billy Heavner, goalie on the men’s soccer team, and how he excels in academics with a 4.0 G.P.A. and also has grit on the soccer field.

Click here to listen to “Grit in Schools” on Midday with Dan Rodricks. Find out more about the “House of Grit” here.