Edward-Sazonov-150x150
Prof. Edward Sazonov
esazonov@eng.ua.edu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama, USA

Edward Sazonov (M’02, SM’11) received the Diploma of Systems Engineer from Khabarovsk State University of Technology, Russia, in 1993 and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, in 2002. Currently he is an Associate Professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL and the head of the Computer Laboratory of Ambient and Wearable Systems. His research interests span wireless, ambient and wearable devices, and methods of biomedical signal processing and pattern recognition. Devices developed in his laboratory include a wearable sensor for objective detection and characterization of food intake; a highly accurate physical activity and gait monitor integrated into a shoe insole; a wearable sensor system for monitoring of cigarette smoking; and others. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Academies of Science, as well as by state agencies and private industry.

Wearable solutions for detection and characterization of food intake

Food intake provides energy and nutrients to sustain human life. Studying the ingestive behavior of individuals is of particular interest for understanding and treatment of medical conditions strongly associated with food intake, such as obesity and eating disorders. Traditionally, ingestive behavior in humans has been assessed through self-monitoring of food intake. However, this approach is inaccurate, time consuming, and suffers from the observation and misreporting effects. Wearable sensors present a compelling alternative to overcome limitations of self-reporting methods. These sensors can potentially provide more objective measurements of food intake by monitoring physiological processes related to one or more stages of the food consumption process: hand-to-mouth gestures, bites, chewing or swallowing. Specialized signal processing and pattern recognition methodologies use the sensor data to automatically detect and characterize each intake episode. Particularly, timing and duration of the meals, the mass and volume of ingestion, caloric and nutritional content of a meal, and the rate of ingestion could potentially be estimated from sensor data. This talk presents an overview of the wearable sensors and accompanying methodologies that have been proposed for monitoring ingestive behavior in humans.

Cultot_H1-8698_W-150x150
Gerald Cultot
gerald.cultot@ec.europa.eu
Research Programme Officer – European Commission, Directorate-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology, Brussels, Belgium

Gerald Cultot works at European Commission in Directorate-General Communication Networks, Content and Technology. He manages EU funds in the field of Health and Well-Being. He is also the Communication driver for his Unit and reflects on better ways of collaborating with external stakeholders, like the Industry, Researchers and the European Citizens. He supports new approaches in innovation funding and advocates for wider participation of European industry in EU funding. Gerald is particularly interested in innovative technologies that improve our Quality of Life and well-being and is managing one of the first European Commission Horizon Prizes: the food scanner.

The role of food scanning in the portfolio of the EU well-being

The European Commission offers a prize of €1 million to the person or team that will develop an affordable and non-invasive mobile solution that will enable users to measure and analyse their food intake.

This horizon prize, the food scanner, leaves applicants total freedom to come up with the most promising and effective solution which will unlock the food scanning market with solutions that will support citizens in adopting a more active and healthier lifestyle while improving the quality of their health condition.

The winner(s) will need to provide at least a prototype that will enable the citizens to precisely, timely and efficiently assess their food intake, benefiting a wide range of the EU population from healthy citizens to citizens suffering from food disorders, intolerance, obesity or allergies. The solution should allow the capture of food information in a seamless way, including detection of calories, nutrition facts, allergens, or harmful ingredients as non-invasively as possible.

Beyond the technological complexity of analysing food composition, the solution should ideally also include functionalities which provide feedback to the user.

The purpose of this presentation is to raise awareness about this horizon prize and respond to potential participants questions.