The title for the talk:

Detecting transients in noise without threshold anxiety


Abstract:

It is difficult to choose detection thresholds for tests of
non-stationarity that assume a priori a noise model if the data is
statistically uncharacterized to begin with. This is a potentially
serious problem when an automated analysis is required, as would be
the case for the huge data sets that large interferometric
gravitational wave detectors will produce. A solution is proposed 
in the form of a robust time-frequency test for detecting
non-stationarity whose threshold for a specified false alarm rate 
is almost independent of the statistical nature of the ambient 
stationary noise.