Speaker-independent emotion recognition exploiting a psychologically-inspired binary cascade classification schema

In this paper, a psychologically-inspired binary cascade classification schema is proposed for speech emotion recognition. Performance is enhanced because commonly confused pairs of emotions are distinguishable from one another. Extracted features are related to statistics of pitch, formants, and energy contours, as well as spectrum, cepstrum, perceptual and temporal features, autocorrelation, MPEG-7 descriptors, Fujisakis model parameters, voice quality, jitter, and shimmer. Selected features are fed as input to K nearest neighborhood classifier and to support vector machines. Two kernels are tested for the latter: Linear and Gaussian radial basis function. The recently proposed speaker-independent experimental protocol is tested on the Berlin emotional speech database for each gender separately. The best emotion recognition accuracy, achieved by support vector machines with linear kernel, equals 87.7%, outperforming state-of-the-art approaches. Statistical analysis is first carried out with respect to the classifiers error rates and then to evaluate the information expressed by the classifiers confusion matrices. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

A novel selection of optimal statistical features in the DWPT domain for discrimination of ictal and seizure-free electroencephalography signals

Properly determining the discriminative features which characterize the inherent behaviors of electroencephalography (EEG) signals remains a great challenge for epileptic seizure detection. In this present study, a novel feature selection scheme based on the discrete wavelet packet decomposition and cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) was proposed. The normal as well as epileptic EEG recordings were frst decomposed into various frequency bands by means of wavelet packet decomposition, and subsequently, statistical features at all developed nodes in the wavelet packet decomposition tree were derived. Instead of using the complete set of the extracted features to construct a wavelet neural networks-based classifer, an optimal feature subset that maximizes the predictive competence of the classifer was selected by using the CSA. Experimental results on the publicly available benchmarks demonstrated that the proposed feature subset selection scheme achieved promising recognition accuracies of 98.43–100%, and the results were statistically signifcant using z-test with p value <0.0001

25 GHz, 1 mV input resolution auxiliary circuit assisted comparator in 65 nm CMOS process

The need for the high-speed analogue-to-digital converters demands the use of regenerative comparators. The strong positive feedback present in the regenerative comparators helps the comparator to work efficiently at the high-speed operations. This work proposes a low power auxiliary circuit to improve the high-frequency performance of the comparator. The proposed architecture along with the conventional comparators is simulated in 65-nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology with a supply voltage of 0.9 V. The maximum operating frequency of the proposed comparator is 6.25 GHz for a differential input voltage of 1 mV

Bolster spring fault detection strategy for heavy haul wagons

An on-board health monitoring system is proposed for heavy haul wagons in this paper including a signal-based fault detection and isolation (FDI) method and an on-line fault diagnose strategy. Such a system, to be feasible on freight wagons, must be sufficiently cheap and robust, hence the design assumes the constraint of using only two accelerometers mounted on the front left and right rear part of each carbody in a heavy haul train. This paper focuses on the detection of bolster spring fault conditions. The problem is made more complex by the modes of failure which might be expected in bolster spring nests. Types of spring failure are firstly identified and discussed covering situations of broken (shortening springs) and softening (individual spring loss from a nest or cross-section loss through corrosion). The effects of these faults and their detectability were investigated using simulations on straight and curved track and using a fully detailed model of a typical 40 t axle-load heavy haul wagon. The simulation results were then examined and compared using cross-correlation analysis and an FDI system was proposed. The FDI system introduced five possible fault indicators. Initial results indicated that it was possible to detect changes in bolster stiffness of ±25%. An on-line fault diagnoses strategy is proposed for bolster spring faults which only requires data from wagon monitoring during travel around sharp curves to detect and the occurrence of confirm faults. The functionality envisaged needs only a ‘once per trip’ monitoring site, such as a sharper curve, and is aimed at condition monitoring rather than the provision of alarms or comprehensive monitoring of all events. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group