Joao Ribeiro Pinto

Bio: Joao Ribeiro Pinto is an academic researcher from University of Porto. The author has contributed to research in topics: Biometrics & Computer science. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 26 publications receiving 241 citations. Previous affiliations of Joao Ribeiro Pinto include Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto.

Evolution, Current Challenges, and Future Possibilities in ECG Biometrics

Abstract: Face and fingerprint are, currently, the most thoroughly explored biometric traits, promising reliable recognition in diverse applications. Commercial products using these traits for biometric identification or authentication are increasingly widespread, from smartphones to border control. However, increasingly smart techniques to counterfeit such traits raise the need for traits that are less vulnerable to stealthy trait measurement or spoofing attacks. This has sparked interest on the electrocardiogram (ECG), most commonly associated with medical diagnosis, whose hidden nature and inherent liveness information make it highly resistant to attacks. In the last years, the topic of ECG-based biometrics has quickly evolved toward the commercial applications, mainly by addressing the reduced acceptability and comfort by proposing new off-the-person, wearable, and seamless acquisition settings. Furthermore, researchers have recently started to address the issues of spoofing prevention and data security in ECG biometrics, as well as the potential of deep learning methodologies to enhance the recognition accuracy and robustness. In this paper, we conduct a deep review and discussion of 93 state-of-the-art publications on their proposed methods, signal datasets, and publicly available ECG collections. The extracted knowledge is used to present the fundamentals and the evolution of ECG biometrics, describe the current state of the art, and draw conclusions on prior art approaches and current challenges. With this paper, we aim to delve into the current opportunities as well as inspire and guide future research in ECG biometrics.

Towards a Continuous Biometric System Based on ECG Signals Acquired on the Steering Wheel

Abstract: Electrocardiogram signals acquired through a steering wheel could be the key to seamless, highly comfortable, and continuous human recognition in driving settings. This paper focuses on the enhancement of the unprecedented lesser quality of such signals, through the combination of Savitzky-Golay and moving average filters, followed by outlier detection and removal based on normalised cross-correlation and clustering, which was able to render ensemble heartbeats of significantly higher quality. Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Haar transform features were extracted and fed to decision methods based on Support Vector Machines (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbours (kNN), Multilayer Perceptrons (MLP), and Gaussian Mixture Models - Universal Background Models (GMM-UBM) classifiers, for both identification and authentication tasks. Additional techniques of user-tuned authentication and past score weighting were also studied. The method's performance was comparable to some of the best recent state-of-the-art methods (94.9% identification rate (IDR) and 2.66% authentication equal error rate (EER)), despite lesser results with scarce train data (70.9% IDR and 11.8% EER). It was concluded that the method was suitable for biometric recognition with driving electrocardiogram signals, and could, with future developments, be used on a continuous system in seamless and highly noisy settings.

Early germination of Arabidopsis pollen in a double null mutant for the arabinogalactan protein genes AGP6 and AGP11

Abstract: The pollen specificity of the Arabidopsis arabinogalactan protein (AGP) genes AGP6 and AGP11 suggests that they are integral to pollen biogenesis, and their high percent of sequence similarity may indicate a potential for overlapping function. Arabidopsis agp6 agp11 double null mutants have been studied in our laboratory, and in the present work, we characterize the germination and growth of its pollen. When compared to wild type, mutant agp6 agp11 pollen displayed reduced germination and elongation, both in vivo and in vitro, and precocious germination inside the anthers, provided that sufficient moisture was available. This characteristic was not observed in wild type plants, even in water content conditions which for the mutant were sufficient for pollen germination. Therefore, an additional distinctive phenotypic trait of arabinogalactan proteins AGP6 and AGP11 may be to avert untimely germination of pollen. Such AGPs may control germination through water uptake, suggesting an important biological function of this gene family in pollen.

MFR 2021: Masked Face Recognition Competition

Abstract: This paper presents a summary of the Masked Face Recognition Competitions (MFR) held within the 2021 International Joint Conference on Biometrics (IJCB 2021). The competition attracted a total of 10 participating teams with valid submissions. The affiliations of these teams are diverse and associated with academia and industry in nine different countries. These teams successfully submitted 18 valid solutions. The competition is designed to motivate solutions aiming at enhancing the face recognition accuracy of masked faces. Moreover, the competition considered the deployability of the proposed solutions by taking the compactness of the face recognition models into account. A private dataset representing a collaborative, multisession, real masked, capture scenario is used to evaluate the submitted solutions. In comparison to one of the topperforming academic face recognition solutions, 10 out of the 18 submitted solutions did score higher masked face verification accuracy.

An End-to-End Convolutional Neural Network for ECG-Based Biometric Authentication

Abstract: Aiming towards increased robustness to noise and variability, this paper proposes a novel method for electrocardiogram-based authentication, based on an end-to-end convolutional neural network (CNN). This network was trained either through the transfer of weights after identification training or using triplet loss, both novel for ECG biometrics. These methods were evaluated on three large ECG collections of diverse signal quality, with varying number of training subjects and user enrollment duration, as well as on cross-database application, with or without fine-tuning. The proposed model was able to surpass the state-of-the-art performance results on off-the-person databases, offering 7.86% and 15.37% Equal Error Rate (EER) on UofTDB and CYBHi, respectively, and attained 9.06% EER on the PTB on-the-person database. The results show the proposed model is able to improve the performance of ECG-based authentication, especially with off-the- person signals, and offers state-of-the-art performance in cross-database tests.

Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Testing in Breast Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists Clinical Practice Guideline Focused Update

Abstract: Purpose.— To update key recommendations of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/College of American Pathologists (CAP) human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) testing in breast ...

人体の解剖生理学 = Human anatomy & physiology

Abstract: Instructions This exam consists of 50 questions. You may write on the exam itself, but be sure to answer all your questions on a “Scantron” sheet with a #2 pencil. For each question there is one response that is the best response. You must select the one best response to receive credit for each question. If you select more than one response for a question, then you will receive no credit for that question.

PhysioBank

Abstract: PhysioBank是一个大型的逐渐扩增的生理学信号和相关数据的数字化记录文档。目前包含多参数的心肺、神经和其他生物医学信号，尤以心电图（ECG）为主。信号来自健康受试者和各种疾病的患者。涉及的疾病包括心脏猝死、充血性心力衰竭、癫痫、步态不稳、睡眠呼吸暂停和衰老等。

Cost effectiveness of patient education for the prevention of falls in hospital : economic evaluation from a randomized controlled trial

Abstract: Background Falls are one of the most frequently occurring adverse events that impact upon the recovery of older hospital inpatients. Falls can threaten both immediate and longer-term health and independence. There is need to identify cost-effective means for preventing falls in hospitals. Hospital-based falls prevention interventions tested in randomized trials have not yet been subjected to economic evaluation. Methods Incremental cost-effectiveness analysis was undertaken from the health service provider perspective, over the period of hospitalization (time horizon) using the Australian Dollar (A$) at 2008 values. Analyses were based on data from a randomized trial among n = 1,206 acute and rehabilitation inpatients. Decision tree modeling with three-way sensitivity analyses were conducted using burden of disease estimates developed from trial data and previous research. The intervention was a multimedia patient education program provided with trained health professional follow-up shown to reduce falls among cognitively intact hospital patients. Results The short-term cost to a health service of one cognitively intact patient being a faller could be as high as A$14,591 (2008). The education program cost A$526 (2008) to prevent one cognitively intact patient becoming a faller and A$294 (2008) to prevent one fall based on primary trial data. These estimates were unstable due to high variability in the hospital costs accrued by individual patients involved in the trial. There was a 52% probability the complete program was both more effective and less costly (from the health service perspective) than providing usual care alone. Decision tree modeling sensitivity analyses identified that when provided in real life contexts, the program would be both more effective in preventing falls among cognitively intact inpatients and cost saving where the proportion of these patients who would otherwise fall under usual care conditions is at least 4.0%. Conclusions This economic evaluation was designed to assist health care providers decide in what circumstances this intervention should be provided. If the proportion of cognitively intact patients falling on a ward under usual care conditions is 4% or greater, then provision of the complete program in addition to usual care will likely both prevent falls and reduce costs for a health service.