Interest Points as a Focus Measure in Multi-Spectral Imaging

A novel multi-spectral focus measure that is based on algorithms for interest point detection, particularly on the FAST (Features from Accelerated Segment Test), Fast Hessian and Harris-Laplace detector, is described in this paper. The proposed measure methods are compared with commonly used focus measure techniques like energy of image gradient, sum-modified Laplacian, Tenenbaum's algorithm or spatial frequency when testing their reliability and performance. The measures have been tested on a newly created database containing 420 images acquired in visible, near-infrared and thermal spectrum (7 objects in each spectrum). Algorithms based on the interest point detectors proved to be good focus measures satisfying all the requirements described in the paper, especially in thermal spectrum. It is shown that these algorithms outperformed all commonly used methods in thermal spectrum and therefore can serve as a new and more accurate focus measure

Non-invasive stimulation of the auditory feedback area for improved articulation in Parkinson's disease

Introduction Hypokinetic dysarthria (HD) is a common symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) which does not respond well to PD treatments. We investigated acute effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the motor and auditory feedback area on HD in PD using acoustic analysis of speech. Methods: We used 10 Hz and 1 Hz stimulation protocols and applied rTMS over the left orofacial primary motor area, the right superior temporal gyrus (STG), and over the vertex (a control stimulation site) in 16 PD patients with HD. A cross-over design was used. Stimulation sites and protocols were randomised across subjects and sessions. Acoustic analysis of a sentence reading task performed inside the MR scanner was used to evaluate rTMS-induced effects on motor speech. Acute fMRI changes due to rTMS were also analysed. Results: The 1 Hz STG stimulation produced significant increases of the relative standard deviation of the 2nd formant (p = 0.019), i.e. an acoustic parameter describing the tongue and jaw movements. The effects were superior to the control site stimulation and were accompanied by increased resting state functional connectivity between the stimulated region and the right parahippocampal gyrus. The rTMS-induced acoustic changes were correlated with the reading task-related BOLD signal increases of the stimulated area (R = 0.654, p = 0.029). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate for the first time that low-frequency stimulation of the temporal auditory feedback area may improve articulation in PD and enhance functional connectivity between the STG and the cortical region involved in an overt speech control

Computational Approaches to Explainable Artificial Intelligence:Advances in Theory, Applications and Trends

Deep Learning (DL), a groundbreaking branch of Machine Learning (ML), has emerged as a driving force in both theoretical and applied Artificial Intelligence (AI). DL algorithms, rooted in complex and non-linear artificial neural systems, excel at extracting high-level features from data. DL has demonstrated human-level performance in real-world tasks, including clinical diagnostics, and has unlocked solutions to previously intractable problems in virtual agent design, robotics, genomics, neuroimaging, computer vision, and industrial automation. In this paper, the most relevant advances from the last few years in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and several applications to neuroscience, neuroimaging, computer vision, and robotics are presented, reviewed and discussed. In this way, we summarize the state-of-the-art in AI methods, models and applications within a collection of works presented at the 9 International Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial Computation (IWINAC). The works presented in this paper are excellent examples of new scientific discoveries made in laboratories that have successfully transitioned to real-life applications

Assessing Movement of Articulatory Organs in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Hypokinetic dysarthria is a motor speech disorder often present during Parkinson’s disease. It affects the speech system, including articulatory abilities. There are several speech parameters describing this domain, so it is suggested to deal with their mutual comparison. This work aims to design and describe an algorithm for calculating the parameters of articulation, adapted for the Czech language, and then compare their discriminative power. The acoustic analysis of speech included in it is done via the Praat program and basic machine learning algorithms such as Expectation-Maximization, K-means and linear regression are used for the subsequent data processing. The Mann-Whitney U test, descriptive statistics and Random Forest machine learning model using cross-validation and balanced accuracy is used for evaluation. The results are scripts for automatic assessment of vowel space area, for calculating articulation parameters and for their evaluation. The outputs of the analysis of speech recording database prove that differences in articulation can indeed be observed between normal and dysarthric speech. Based on the mutual comparison of results, it is therefore proposed in the work which parameters are being appropriate for further dealing with this issue

Assessing Movement of Articulatory Organs in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Hypokinetic dysarthria is a motor speech disorder often present during Parkinson’s disease. It affects the speech system, including articulatory abilities. There are several speech parameters describing this domain, so it is suggested to deal with their mutual comparison. This work aims to design and describe an algorithm for calculating the parameters of articulation, adapted for the Czech language, and then compare their discriminative power. The acoustic analysis of speech included in it is done via the Praat program and basic machine learning algorithms such as Expectation-Maximization, K-means and linear regression are used for the subsequent data processing. The Mann-Whitney U test, descriptive statistics and Random Forest machine learning model using cross-validation and balanced accuracy is used for evaluation. The results are scripts for automatic assessment of vowel space area, for calculating articulation parameters and for their evaluation. The outputs of the analysis of speech recording database prove that differences in articulation can indeed be observed between normal and dysarthric speech. Based on the mutual comparison of results, it is therefore proposed in the work which parameters are being appropriate for further dealing with this issue

Online Handwriting, Signature and Touch Dynamics: Tasks and Potential Applications in the Field of Security and Health

Advantageous property of behavioural signals (e.g. handwriting), in contrast to morphological ones (e.g. iris, fingerprint, hand geometry), is the possibility to ask a user to perform many different tasks. This article summarises recent findings and applications of different handwriting/drawing tasks in the field of security and health. More specifically, it is focused on on-line handwriting and hand-based interaction, i.e. signals that utilise a digitizing device (specific devoted or general-purpose tablet/smartphone) during the realization of the tasks. Such devices permit the acquisition of on-surface dynamics as well as in-air movements in time, thus providing complex and richer information when compared to the conventional “pen and paper” method. Although the scientific literature reports a wide range of tasks and applications, in this paper, we summarize only those providing competitive results (e.g. in terms of discrimination power) and having a significant impact in the field