Gert Pfurtscheller

Bio: Gert Pfurtscheller is an academic researcher from Graz University of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Brain–computer interface & Electroencephalography. The author has an hindex of 117, co-authored 507 publications receiving 62873 citations. Previous affiliations of Gert Pfurtscheller include University of Graz.

BRAINDEX: an interactive, knowledge-based system supporting brain death diagnosis.

Abstract: BRAINDEX (Brain-Death Expert System) is an interactive, knowledge-based expert system offering support to physicians in decision making concerning brain death. The physician is given the possibility of communicating in almost natural language and, therefore, in terms with which he is familiar. This updated version of the system is implemented on an IBM-PC/AT with the expert system shell PC-PLUS and consists of about 430 rules. The determination of brain death is realized with backward chaining and for the optional coma-scaling a forward-chaining mechanism is used.

[Auditory evoked brain stem potentials--possibilities and problems in the intensive care unit].

Abstract: BAEP can be recorded under anesthesiologic intensive care conditions. The method does not depend on the patient's state of consciousness and is noninvasive. Observations of the course and topodiagnosis are also possible, as is an assessment of the depth of coma. The sensitivity to centrally active drugs and metabolic influences is comparatively low. For recording and evaluation of signals the specific conditions in an intensive care unit have to be taken into account, with regard to both the patients as well as the technical equipment. Continuous monitoring with so-called "compressed" BAEP broadens the scope of acute diagnosis of brain stem lesions.

Cortical oscillatory activity assessed by combined EEG and MEG recordings and high resolution ERD methods

Abstract: Event-related desynchronization is a phenomenon of the awake brain and was quantified for the first time by Pfurtscheller and Aranibar [1]. ERD of alpha band rhythms can be seen äs a correlate of activated cortical neurons and was reported during sensory, motor and cognitive processing. In evoked potential/field studies the responses of the brain activity with respect to the Stimuli are phase locked to the event. In order to improve the signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) trials of EEG/MEG recordings are averaged with respect to the event. Source localization procedures or cortical imaging methods are then applied to the averaged potentials/fields. However, in event-related desynchroni-zation studies the response of the brain (i.e. the induced rhythmic activity) to the Stimuli is not phase locked to the event. Therefore, simple amplitude a veraging of trials with respect to the event can not be done properly to improve the SNR. To overcome this problem the non-stationary EventRelated Desynchronization analysis (ERD) was introduced [1]. The outcome of the ERD analysis resembles in some way an averaged evoked response signal with a temporal profile depending on the mean power ratio between the EEG in the actual measurement interval and a reference interval. It is assumed that most of the ongoing EEG observed on the scalp (by EEG recordings) or outside the head (by MEG recordings) is due to superficially located neo-cortical sources [2],[3]. Dipole layers can describe the sources. Based on fmdings by [4] mainly radially orientated dipole-layers (with respect to the cortical surface) contribute to the observed ERD/ERS. Combined EEG and MEG recordings have (at least theoretically) higher Information content for identifying brain source activity than single EEG and MEG recordings [5]. In order to investigate the usefulness of simultaneous EEG and MEG recordings the topographical differences in EEG and/or MEG maps based on simple self-paced finger movements are investigated. High-resolution ERD methods based on a distributed cortical source space [6] combining biomagnetic and bioelectric data are applied to the acquired data sets. Method

The Design and Analysis of Experiments

Abstract: THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS. By Oscar Kempthorne. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1952. 631 pp. $8.50. This book by a teacher of statistics (as well as a consultant for \"experimenters\") is a comprehensive study of the philosophical background for the statistical design of experiment. It is necessary to have some facility with algebraic notation and manipulation to be able to use the volume intelligently. The problems are presented from the theoretical point of view, without such practical examples as would be helpful for those not acquainted with mathematics. The mathematical justification for the techniques is given. As a somewhat advanced treatment of the design and analysis of experiments, this volume will be interesting and helpful for many who approach statistics theoretically as well as practically. With emphasis on the \"why,\" and with description given broadly, the author relates the subject matter to the general theory of statistics and to the general problem of experimental inference. MARGARET J. ROBERTSON

Principles of Neural Science

Abstract: I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or