Aghermann(1)

📦
version 1.1.2 · 5 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 Aghermann(1) — the manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're about to talk about Aghermann — yes that's the manual name, section 1, and she is that girl. She's a sleep research experiment manager and Achermann et al (1993) model simulator, and honestly? Iconic résumé. 🧚✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

aghermann [-l LOG_FILE] [-n] [EXP_ROOT_DIR]

that's it. that's the whole summoning ritual. two lil flags and a directory, no cap. 🫶

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So, Aghermann is a GTK+ program and her whole job — her main character era, if you will — is running Process S simulations on Slow-Wave Activity profiles from EEG recordings, exactly as outlined in Achermann et al (1993). In that capacity she produces a set of sleep homeostat parameters, which you can use to describe and differentiate individual sleepers. We're talking short vs long sleepers, early vs late, all of it. Vibe check: passed. 💅

She also comes with general-purpose facilities for displaying EEG and accompanying recordings, like EOG and EMG, saved in EDF (European Data Format) files — and yes, both plain EDF as well as EDF+C are supported, we don't discriminate. 🌈

Those recordings can then be conveniently scored (obsessed), and scores can be imported/exported in plain ASCII. And if you're feeling extra, scoring can be outsourced to external scripts written in lua. Not me being jealous of a scoring pipeline. 😭

💅 COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS 💅

If you run her with no arguments, your last session will be restored. Periodt. But if you do hand over an EXP_ROOT_DIR, then an experiment located in EXP_ROOT_DIR will be selected instead. Either way you're eating. 🍓

  • -n — if you pass this (and an EXP_ROOT_DIR, which is non-optional in this case, bestie, don't forget it), the experiment session in that directory will be initialised and immediately closed, upon which Aghermann will exit. No windows will be open and no GTK+ code run — it's giving minimalism. This option was implemented with the idea of running the core structural part of Aghermann under valgrind. ngl, that's kind of a serve. 🔥
  • -l LOG_FILE — with this, aghermann will write a log of its inner workings to LOG_FILE. And if LOG_FILE is "-", then stdout is used. Just so you know: by default, (almost all) logging is suppressed. She's mysterious like that. 🙈

🦋 NOTE ON EDF FILE METADATA 🦋

For Aghermann to be able to manage an EDF file, all relevant fields in its header must be filled out correctly, as follows — no skipping, this part is load-bearing:

  • patient_id 🔑 — uniquely identifies the subject.
  • recording_id 🎀 — identifies the recording session (out of several other such sessions, each containing the same series of episodes) and the individual episode. These two items must appear in one of the following combinations:
    • "Session/Episode"
    • "Session : Episode"
    • "Episode (Session)"
  • recording_date and recording_time ⏰ — must not overlap with other episodes in the same session, and must not be too far removed from each other — specifically, more than 7 days apart is a no. ✋
fr fr, get your metadata right the first time. Aghermann does not do chaos. 💀

🌼 FILES 🌼

  • ~/.config/aghermann/sessionrc — contains a list of paths to recent experiment trees. Your little memory keeper. 🧠
  • ./.agherman.conf and ./.expdesign.conf — saved settings of the experiment located in this tree. (yes, agherman.conf really is spelled like that, we don't make the rules, we just report them exactly) 👑

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

The project's git repository is kept on sf.net and also on github.com; more details on the Achermann model as well as on usage and project background can be found at http://johnhommer.com/academic/code/aghermann. go read it, do it for the plot. 📚✨

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Aghermann is written by Andrei Zavada <johnhommer@gmail.com>.

Parts of the code have been borrowed from http://exstrom.com (in src/libexstrom); some bare algorithms in libsigfile/mc.* are those found in C# files zipped and posted at code.google.com/p/neuroloopgain. credit where credit is due, always. 💜

and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this edition is version 1.1.2, dated 2026-01-13 — so go forth, manage your sleep experiments, and slay. 🌈🦋🎀

bye pookie, see you in the group chat 🫶✨

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