Iranian Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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Image registration is a crucial step in most image processing tasks for which the final result is achieved from a combination of various resources. In general, the majority of registration methods consist of the following four steps: feature extraction, feature matching, transform modeling, and finally image resampling. As the accuracy of a registration process is highly dependent to the feature extraction and matching methods, in this paper, we have proposed a new method for extracting salient edges from satellite images. Due to the efficiency of multiresolution data representation, we have considered four state-of-the-art multiresolution transforms –namely, wavelet, curvelet, complex wavelet and contourlet transform- in the feature extraction step of the proposed image registration method. Experimental results and performance comparison among these transformations showed the high performance of the contourlet transform in extracting efficient edges from satellite images. Obtaining salient, stable and distinguishable features increased the accuracy of the proposed registration process.

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The aim of this study is to address a new feature extraction method in the area of the heart arrhythmia classification based on a metric with simple mathematical calculation called Curve-Length Method (CLM). In the presented method, curve length of the under study excerpted segment of signal is considered as an informative feature in which the effect of important geometric parameters of the original signal can be found. To show merits of the presented method, first the original electrocardiogram (ECG) in lead I is pre-processed by removing its baseline wander then by scaling it in the [-1,1] interval. In the next step, using a trous method, discrete wavelet scales 23 and 24 and smoothing function scale 22 are extracted. Afterwards, segments including samples of the QRS complex, P and T waves are estimated via an approximation criterion and CLM is implemented to extract corresponding features from aforementioned scales, smoothing function and also from each original segment. The resulted feature vector (including 12 components) is used to tune an Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) classifier. The presented strategy is applied to classify four categories found in the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database namely as Atrial Premature Beat (APB), Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB), Right Bundle Branch Block (RBBB) and Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC) and average values of Se = 99.81%, P+ = 99.80%, Sp = 99.81% and Acc = 99.72% are obtained for sensitivity, positive predictivity, specifity and accuracy respectively showing marginal improvement of the heart arrhythmia classification performance.

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The aim of this study is to introduce a new methodology for isolation of ectopic rhythms of ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) holter data via appropriate statistical analyses imposing reasonable computational burden. First, the events of the ECG signal are detected and delineated using a robust wavelet-based algorithm. Then, using Binary Neyman-Pearson Radius test, an appropriate classifier is designed to categorize ventricular complexes into "Normal + Premature Atrial Contraction (PAC)" and "Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC)" beats. Afterwards, an innovative measure is defined based on wavelet transform of the delineated P-wave namely as P-Wave Strength Factor (PSF) used for the evaluation of the P-wave power. Finally, ventricular contractions pursuing weak P-waves are categorized as PAC complexes however, those ensuing strong P-waves are specified as normal complexes. The discriminant quality of the PSF-based feature space was evaluated by a modified learning vector quantization (MLVQ) classifier trained with the original QRS complexes and corresponding Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) dyadic scale. Also, performance of the proposed Neyman-Pearson Classifier (NPC) is compared with the MLVQ and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers using a common feature space. The processing speed of the proposed algorithm is more than 176,000 samples/sec showing desirable heart arrhythmia classification performance. The performance of the proposed two-lead NPC algorithm is compared with MLVQ and SVM classifiers and the obtained results indicate the validity of the proposed method. To justify the newly defined feature space (σi1, σi2, PSFi), a NPC with the proposed feature space and a MLVQ classification algorithm trained with the original complex and its corresponding DWT as well as RR interval are considered and their performances were compared with each other. An accuracy difference about 0.15% indicates acceptable discriminant quality of the properly selected feature elements. The proposed algorithm was applied to holter data of the DAY general hospital (more than 1,500,000 beats) and the average values of Se = 99.73% and P+ = 99.58% were achieved for sensitivity and positive predictivity, respectively.

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This paper presents a new approach for estimating and improving voltage stability margin from phase and magnitude profile of bus voltages using sensitivity analysis of Voltage Stability Assessment Neural Network (VSANN). Bus voltage profile contains useful information about system stability margin including the effect of load-generation, line outage and reactive power compensation so, it is adopted as input pattern for VSANN. In fact, VSANN establishes a functionality for VSM with respect to voltage profile. Sensitivity analysis of VSM with respect to voltage profile and reactive power compensation extracted from information stored in the weighting factor of VSANN, is the most dominant feature of the proposed approach. Sensitivity of VSM helps one to select most effective buses for reactive power compensation aimed enhancing VSM. The proposed approach has been applied on IEEE 39-bus test system which demonstrated applicability of the proposed approach.

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The paper addresses a new QRS complex geometrical feature extraction technique as well as its application for electrocardiogram (ECG) supervised hybrid (fusion) beat-type classification. To this end, after detection and delineation of the major events of ECG signal via a robust algorithm, each QRS region and also its corresponding discrete wavelet transform (DWT) are supposed as virtual images and each of them is divided into eight polar sectors. Then, the curve length of each excerpted segment is calculated and is used as the element of the feature space. To increase the robustness of the proposed classification algorithm versus noise, artifacts and arrhythmic outliers, a fusion structure consisting of three Multi Layer Perceptron-Back Propagation (MLP-BP) neural networks with different topologies and one Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) were designed and implemented. To show the merit of the new proposed algorithm, it was applied to all MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database records and the discrimination power of the classifier in isolation of different beat types of each record was assessed and as the result, the average accuracy value Acc=98.27% was obtained. Also, the proposed method was applied to 8 number of arrhythmias (Normal, LBBB, RBBB, PVC, APB, VE, PB, VF) belonging to 19 number of the aforementioned database and the average value of Acc=98.08% was achieved. To evaluate performance quality of the new proposed hybrid learning machine, the obtained results were compared with similar peer-reviewed studies in this area.

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The Nonparametric Speech Kernel (NSK), a nonparametric kernel technique, is presented in this study as a novel way to improve Speech Emotion Recognition (SER). The method aims to effectively reduce the size of speech features to improve recognition accuracy. The proposed approach addresses the need for efficient and compact low-dimensional features for speech emotion recognition. Having acknowledged the intrinsic distinctions between speech and picture data, we have refined the Kernel Nonparametric Weighted Feature Extraction (KNWFE) formulation to suggest NSK, which is especially intended for speech emotion identification. The output of NSK can be used as input features for deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), or hybrid architectures. In deep learning, NSK can also be used as a kernel function for kernel-based methods such as kernelized support vector machines (SVM) or kernelized neural networks. Our tests demonstrate that NSK outperforms current techniques, outperforming the best-tested approach by 5.02% and 3.05%, respectively, with an average accuracy of 96.568% for the Persian speech emotion dataset and 82.56% for the Berlin speech emotion dataset.