UoP will participate in the project through three units (a) the Multidimensional Data Analysis and Knowledge Discovery (MDAKM) Laboratory (mdakm.ceid.upatras.gr) of the Dept. of Computer Engineering and Informatics (CEID), (b) the Wire Communications Laboratory (WCL) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and (c) the Department of Neurology in the University Hospital of Patras. In addition, the Geriatric and Gerontology Society of Southwest Greece (GGSSG) will participate as subcontractor.
The MDAKM lab is directed by Professor Vasileios Megalooikonomou. The group has expertise in signal processing, data pre-processing and representation, feature extraction and dimensionality reduction, pattern and association discovery, similarity analysis, clustering, classification, prediction, data modelling and simulation, knowledge discovery, knowledge representation and management. The lab is engaged in the analysis of spatiotemporal data obtained from a wide range of modalities and the development of database and intelligent information systems with data mining and decision support capabilities that are used in neuroinformatics for biomarker discovery and computer assisted interpretation of brain data. In particular the research group has been involved in analysis of brain data in normal and disease states such as Alzheimer’s, ADHD, epilepsy, etc. The group has also expertise on the management and analysis of spatiotemporal data collected from sensors. The group includes three faculty members, 3 postdoctoral researchers, 8 PhD students and 5 MSc students.
WCL is part of the Telecommunications and Information Technology Division that belongs to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (ECE) of the University of Patras, Greece. It was established in 1967 and began its activities in 1969. WCL throughout the years has developed substantial research and teaching expertise in the fields of Telecommunications and Networks, Information Processing, Artificial Intelligence, and Electroacoustics. Such wide range of activities has been organised around seven (7) separate Research Groups with distinct research topics: Artificial Intelligence Group, Audio and Acoustics Technology, Communication Networks, Teletraffic Engineering and Applications, Communications and Telematic Applications, Digital Transmission and Coding, Network Architectures and Management, Pattern Recognition, and Visualization and Virtual Reality. The research activity of WCL, as it is carried out by its research groups, is multifarious and covers both basic and applied research. The research is being carried out in the context of European, National and industrial projects.
The Department of Neurology in the University Hospital of Patras, Greece is a 28 bedded ward, which admits directly either from the accident and emergency department or the out-patient clinic. Stroke, multiple sclerosis, peripheral neuropathies, epilepsy, dementias, Parkinson’s disease, encephalopathies are among the most common diseases in this general neurology wards with no age limit on admission. The Department runs also a laboratory with electromyography and a laboratory with encephalography.
In the context of the FrailSafe project, UoP will be responsible for the whole project management. In addition, the UoP team will contribute to the specific activities listed below:
- Requirements and specifications
- Clinical studies, measurements and clinical analysis
- Multimodal data analysis (speech, image, ECG, body motion)
- Multimodal and multidimensional data fusion
- Data mining, knowledge discovery and decision support
- Streaming data management and analysis
- Brain image analysis
- Social interaction and natural language analysis
- Spoken interaction (speech recognition, speech synthesis)
- Emotion/affective modelling of the patients
- Virtual patient models
- Therapeutic strategies for older patients
- Frailty quantification
- Testing and evaluation
In those activities UoP will bring in results of earlier and on-going funded research projects, such as ARMOR (scientific management, online and offline management and analysis tools for multi-parametric and multimodal data such as EEG, ECG, etc., patient models, fusion of information and decision support systems), IIS-0237921, BIOMEDMINE, 1 R01 MH 068066 (brain image analysis and knowledge discovery), NEUROWEB and other projects (speech recognition, body motion, etc.) UoP will bring a strong research and development perspective to the project activities and contribute to dissemination.