Survey on Driver Drowsiness Detection System

We proposed to use this system to minimise the frequency of accidents caused by driver exhaustion, hence improving road safety. This device uses optical information and artificial intelligence to identify driver sleepiness automatically. We use Softmax to find, monitor, and analyse the driver's face and eyes in order to calculate PERCLOS (% of eye closure). It will also employ alcohol pulse detection to determine whether or not the person is normal. Due to extended driving durations and boredom in crowded settings, driver weariness is one of the leading causes of traffic accidents, particularly for drivers of big vehicles (such as buses and heavy trucks). Keywords: Driver Drowsiness, OpenCV, TensorFlow, Image Processing, Computer Vision

Electrically Induced Blink for the Prevention of Ocular Symptoms and Blurred Vision in Patients With Acute Facial Nerve Palsy

Objectives: Facial nerve palsy causes blurred vision and ocular discomfort due to deficits in blinking and eye closure. The objective of this study was to determine whether eye-blinks could be elicited by electrical stimulation and whether electrically induced blink would have an effect on the visual acuity and ocular symptoms in patients with acute facial nerve palsy. Methods: The zygomatic branch of the facial nerve of fifteen participants with acute facial nerve palsy was electrically stimulated in order to elicit a blink. In successful cases, the participant proceeded with a two-hour TV watching session in which an electrically induced blink was delivered every 5 seconds. The control condition consisted of an otherwise similar TV watching session without electrically induced blinking. Subjective ocular symptoms were evaluated with a Dry Eye Questionnaire and visual acuity was assessed with a Logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution (LogMAR) chart before and after both sessions. Results: The stimulation produced a blink in 8 participants (53%). The visual acuity in the affected eye decreased during the control session, whereas no significant change occurred during the stimulation session. The ocular symptoms were significantly reduced during the stimulation session. Conclusions: Electrically elicited blink is a promising method for reducing the eye symptoms in individuals with acute facial nerve palsy.

Validation of Soft Multipin Dry EEG Electrodes

Current developments towards multipin, dry electrodes in electroencephalography (EEG) are promising for applications in non-laboratory environments. Dry electrodes do not require the application of conductive gel, which mostly confines the use of gel EEG systems to the laboratory environment. The aim of this study is to validate soft, multipin, dry EEG electrodes by comparing their performance to conventional gel EEG electrodes. Fifteen healthy volunteers performed three tasks, with a 32-channel gel EEG system and a 32-channel dry EEG system: the 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response (ASSR), the checkerboard paradigm, and an eyes open/closed task. Within-subject analyses were performed to compare the signal quality in the time, frequency, and spatial domains. The results showed strong similarities between the two systems in the time and frequency domains, with strong correlations of the visual (ρ = 0.89) and auditory evoked potential (ρ = 0.81), and moderate to strong correlations for the alpha band during eye closure (ρ = 0.81–0.86) and the 40 Hz-ASSR power (ρ = 0.66–0.72), respectively. However, delta and theta band power was significantly increased, and the signal-to-noise ratio was significantly decreased for the dry EEG system. Topographical distributions were comparable for both systems. Moreover, the application time of the dry EEG system was significantly shorter (8 min). It can be concluded that the soft, multipin dry EEG system can be used in brain activity research with similar accuracy as conventional gel electrodes.

The combination of acute exercise and eye closure has a synergistic effect on alpha activity

Acute aerobic exercise increases the brain cortical activity in alpha frequency. Eye closure also increases alpha activity. However, whether the two have an additive or a synergistic effect on alpha activity has never been explored. This study observed electroencephalography (EEG) from fifteen participants seated on the cycle ergometer before, during, and after a cycling exercise with the eyes open and with them closed. Exercise intensity was set to a target heart rate (120–130 bpm), corresponding to light-to-moderate intensity exercise. Each epoch was 6 min and the last 4 min (eyes closed in the first 2 min and eyes open in the second 2 min) were analyzed. The EEG power spectrum densities were calculated for alpha frequency band activity (8–13 Hz). At rest, alpha activity was significantly greater with the eyes closed than open. Exercise significantly increased alpha activity in both eye conditions. More importantly, in the occipital site, the alpha-increasing effect of their combination was significantly greater than the sum of the effect of each, showing a synergistic effect. We concluded that acute light-to-moderate intensity exercise with the eyes closed has a synergistic effect on alpha activity.

Evaluation of a Fatigue Detector Using Eye Closure-Associated Indicators Acquired from Truck Drivers in a Simulator Study

This paper presents a camera-based prototype sensor for detecting fatigue and drowsiness in drivers, which are common causes of road accidents. The evaluation of the detector operation involved eight professional truck drivers, who drove the truck simulator twice—i.e., when they were rested and drowsy. The Fatigue Symptoms Scales (FSS) questionnaire was used to assess subjectively perceived levels of fatigue, whereas the percentage of eye closure time (PERCLOS), eye closure duration (ECD), and frequency of eye closure (FEC) were selected as eye closure-associated fatigue indicators, determined from the images of drivers’ faces captured by the sensor. Three alternative models for subjective fatigue were used to analyse the relationship between the raw score of the FSS questionnaire, and the eye closure-associated indicators were estimated. The results revealed that, in relation to the subjective assessment of fatigue, PERCLOS is a significant predictor of the changes observed in individual subjects during the performance of tasks, while ECD reflects the individual differences in subjective fatigue occurred both between drivers and in individual drivers between the ‘rested’ and ‘drowsy’ experimental conditions well. No relationship between the FEC index and the FSS state scale was found.

Investigation of Patients With Eye Closure Sensitive Epilepsy With Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Introduction and aim: A proportion of patients diagnosed with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) experience eye-closure sensitivity (ECS), the underlying pathogenesis of which is unknown. In this study, we compare magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) findings of healthy volunteers with patients diagnosed with GGE, with and without ECS, to detect possible explanatory differences between groups. Materials and methods: A total of 33 patients diagnosed with GGE: 17 with ECS and 16 without, and 12 healthy volunteers are included. MRS measurements of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and creatine (Cr) were made of bilateral occipital lobes and thalamus, and values of patients with GGE were compared with those of normal controls, and within subgroups with different clinical variables, using appropriate statistical tests. Results: Left occipital NAA and NAA/Cr levels were found to be significantly higher in the ECS group than in the control group. In the ECS epilepsy group, a significant moderate positive correlation was noted between left thalamic Cr and duration of drug therapy ( r = .539, P = .047) and left thalamic Cr and age at epilepsy onset ( r = .564, P = .036). Additionally, left thalamic NAA and NAA/Cr levels were observed to be lower in GGE patients compared to healthy subjects, although not to a statistically significant degree. Conclusion:The differences in MRS-measurable metabolites in the left occipital lobe in those with ECS epilepsy suggest an association between the ECS mechanism and the left occipital lobe. Our results also support the multifocal thalamocortical pathway disorder in the pathophysiology of GGE based on the observation of cellular dysfunction in the thalamus.

Reflexive Eye Closure in Response to Cone and Melanopsin Stimulation: A Study of Implicit Measures of Light Sensitivity in Migraine

Objective:To quantify interictal photophobia in migraine with and without aura using reflexive eye closure as an implicit measure of light sensitivity, and to assess the contribution of melanopsin and cone signals to these responses.Methods:Participants were screened to meet criteria for one of three groups: headache-free (HAf) controls, migraine without aura (MwoA), and migraine with visual aura (MwA). MwoA and MwA participants were included if they endorsed ictal and interictal photophobia. Exclusion criteria included impaired vision, inability to collect usable pupillometry, and history of either head trauma or seizure. Participants viewed light pulses that selectively targeted melanopsin, the cones, or their combination during recording of orbicularis oculi electromyography (OO-EMG) and blinking activity.Results:We studied twenty participants in each group. MwA and MwoA groups reported increased visual discomfort to light stimuli (Discomfort rating, 400% contrast, MwA: 4.84 [95% CI: 0.33, 9.35]; MwoA: 5.23 [0.96, 9.50]) as compared to HAf controls (2.71 [0, 6.47]). Time course analysis of OO-EMG and blinking activity demonstrated that reflexive eye closure was tightly coupled to the light pulses. The MwA group had greater OO-EMG and blinking activity in response to these stimuli (EMG activity, 400% contrast: 42.9%Δ [28.4, 57.4]; Blink activity, 400% contrast: 11.2% [8.8, 13.6]) as compared to the MwoA (EMG activity, 400% contrast: 9.9%Δ [5.8, 14.0]; Blink activity, 400% contrast: 4.7% [3.5, 5.9]) and HAf control (EMG activity, 400% contrast: 13.2%Δ [7.1, 19.3]; Blink activity, 400% contrast: 4.5% [3.1, 5.9]) groups.Conclusions:Our findings suggest that the intrinsically-photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), which integrate melanopsin and cone signals, provide the afferent input for light-induced reflexive eye closure in a photophobic state. Moreover, we find a dissociation between implicit and explicit measures of interictal photophobia depending on a history of visual aura in migraine. This implies distinct pathophysiology in forms of migraine, interacting with separate neural pathways by which the amplification of ipRGC signals elicit implicit and explicit signs of visual discomfort.

Characterisation of the Behavioural Effects of a Thoracic Squeeze in Healthy Newborn Piglets

A thoracic squeeze has been observed to cause both healthy and low vigour neonatal foals to enter a ‘less-responsive state’, characterised by loss of posture, eye closure and cessation of movement, from which they rapidly recover to express normal healthy behaviours when the squeeze is released. To date, there have been no systematic studies characterising the responses of healthy neonates of other mammalian species to a thoracic squeeze. We describe the responses of healthy newborn piglets (n = 17) to a standardised application of the thoracic squeeze and evaluate the effect of the method of squeeze application on the response. Neonatal piglets were squeezed around the chest with either a soft fabric rope as has been used in foals (n = 8) or a novel purpose-made inflation cuff (n = 9). Both methods were effective at inducing a less-responsive behavioural state in all piglets, with neural reflexes reduced or absent in over half of them. The inflation cuff appeared to induce the less-responsive state faster than the rope, and more piglets squeezed with the cuff remained in this state for the full 10-min squeeze. These findings suggest that the behavioural response of foals to thoracic squeezing can be generalised to neonates of other precocial mammalian species. This initial study provides a foundation for further research using the inflation cuff to explore mechanisms underlying the thoracic squeeze and ways in which it may be applied whilst performing husbandry procedures.