ECG beat classification by a novel hybrid neural network

This paper presents a novel hybrid neural network structure for the classification of the electrocardiogram (ECG) beats. Two feature extraction methods: Fourier and wavelet analyses for ECG beat classification are comparatively investigated in eight-dimensional feature space. ECG features are determined by dynamic programming according to the divergence value. Classification performance, training time and the number of nodes of the multi-layer perceptron (MLP), restricted Coulomb energy (RCE) and a novel hybrid neural network are comparatively presented. In order to increase the classification performance and to decrease the number of nodes, the novel hybrid structure is trained by the genetic algorithms (GAs). Ten types of ECG beats obtained from the MIT-BIH database and from a real-time ECG measurement system are classified with a success of 96% by using the hybrid structure.     

Classification of ECG beats by using a fast least square support vector machines with a dynamic programming feature selection algorithm

In this paper, we present a new system for the classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) beats by using a fast least square support vector machine (LSSVM). Five feature extraction methods are comparatively examined in the 15-dimensional feature space. The dimension of the each feature set is reduced by using dynamic programming based on divergence analysis. After the preprocessing of ECG data, six types of ECG beats obtained from the MIT-BIH database are classified with an accuracy of 95.2% by the proposed fast LSSVM algorithm together with discrete cosine transform. Experimental results show that not only the fast LSSVM is faster than the standard LSSVM algorithm, but also it gives better classification performance than the standard backpropagation multilayer perceptron network.     

ECG beat classifier designed by combined neural network model

This paper illustrates the use of combined neural network model to guide model selection for classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) beats. The ECG signals were decomposed into time-frequency representations using discrete wavelet transform and statistical features were calculated to depict their distribution. The first level networks were implemented for ECG beats classification using the statistical features as inputs. To improve diagnostic accuracy, the second level networks were trained using the outputs of the first level networks as input data. Four types of ECG beats (normal beat, congestive heart failure beat, ventricular tachyarrhythmia beat, atrial fibrillation beat) obtained from the Physiobank database were classified with the accuracy of 96.94% by the combined neural network. The combined neural network model achieved accuracy rates which were higher than that of the stand-alone neural network model.     

Implementing wavelet transform/mixture of experts network for analysis of electrocardiogram beats

Abstract: Mixture of experts (ME) is a modular neural network architecture for supervised learning. This paper illustrates the use of the ME network structure to guide model selection for classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) beats. The expectation maximization algorithm is used for training the ME so that the learning process is decoupled in a manner that fits well with the modular structure. The ECG signals were decomposed into time–frequency representations using discrete wavelet transforms and statistical features were calculated to depict their distribution. The ME network structure was implemented for ECG beats classification using the statistical features as inputs. To improve classification accuracy, the outputs of expert networks were combined by a gating network simultaneously trained in order to stochastically select the expert that is performing the best at solving the problem. Five types of ECG beats (normal beat, congestive heart failure beat, ventricular tachyarrhythmia beat, atrial fibrillation beat, partial epilepsy beat) obtained from the Physiobank database were classified with an accuracy of 96.89% by the ME network structure. The ME network structure achieved accuracy rates which were higher than those of the stand-alone neural network models.     

Dictionary learning for VQ feature extraction in ECG beats classification

Vector quantization(VQ) can perform efficient feature extraction from electrocardiogram (ECG) with the advantages of dimensionality reduction and accuracy increase. However, the existing dictionary learning algorithms for vector quantization are sensitive to dirty data, which compromises the classification accuracy. To tackle the problem, we propose a novel dictionary learning algorithm that employs k-medoids cluster optimized by k-means++ and builds dictionaries by searching and using representative samples, which can avoid the interference of dirty data, and thus boost the classification performance of ECG systems based on vector quantization features. We apply our algorithm to vector quantization feature extraction for ECG beats classification, and compare it with popular features such as sampling point feature, fast Fourier transform feature, discrete wavelet transform feature, and with our previous beats vector quantization feature. The results show that the proposed method yields the highest accuracy and is capable of reducing the computational complexity of ECG beats classification system. The proposed dictionary learning algorithm provides more efficient encoding for ECG beats, and can improve ECG classification systems based on encoded feature.     

基于小波和余弦变换的神经网络人脸识别法

提出了利用小波变换和余弦变换与 BP 神经网络相结合的人脸识别方法。将人脸图像归一化后进行小波变换,再用余弦变换对低频信号提取特征向量,达到降维和去除干扰的目的,并把特征向量送进 BP 神经网络训练。识别时,对人脸图像进行相同的变换后,送入神经网络进行辨别。实验结果表明,该算法优于传统的人脸识别法。     

Segmentation of ultrasound images by using a hybrid neural network

A hybrid neural network is presented for the segmentation of ultrasound images.

Feature vectors are formed by the discrete cosine transform of pixel intensities in region of interest (ROI). The elements and the dimension of the feature vectors are determined by considering only two parameters: The amount of ignored coefficients, and the dimension of the ROI.

First-layer-nodes of the proposed hybrid network represent hyperspheres (HSs) in the feature space. Feature space is partitioned by intersecting these HSs to represent the distribution of classes. The locations and radii of the HSs are found by the genetic algorithms.

Restricted Coulomb energy (RCE) network, modified RCE network, multi-layer perceptron and the proposed hybrid neural network are examined comparatively for the segmentation of ultrasound images.     

A modified mixture of experts network structure for ECG beats classification with diverse features

This paper illustrates the use of modified mixture of experts (MME) network structure to guide model selection for classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) beats with diverse features. The MME is a modular neural network architecture for supervised learning. Expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm was used for training the MME so that the learning process is decoupled in a manner that fits well with the modular structure. The wavelet coefficients and Lyapunov exponents of the ECG signals were computed and statistical features were calculated to depict their distribution. The statistical features, which were used for obtaining the diverse features of the ECG signals, were then input into the MME network structure for training and testing purposes. We explored the ability of designed and trained MME network structure, combined with wavelet preprocessing (computing wavelet coefficients) and nonlinear dynamics tools (computing Lyapunov exponents), to discriminate five types of ECG beats (normal beat, congestive heart failure beat, ventricular tachyarrhythmia beat, atrial fibrillation beat, partial epilepsy beat) obtained from the Physiobank database. The MME achieved accuracy rates which were higher than that of the mixture of experts (ME) and feedforward neural network models (multilayer perceptron neural network—MLPNN). The proposed MME approach can be useful in classifying long-term ECG signals for early detection of heart diseases/abnormalities.     

Feature saliency using signal-to-noise ratios in automated diagnostic systems developed for ECG beats

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been used in a great number of medical diagnostic decision support system applications and within feedforward ANNs framework there are a number of established measures such as saliency measures for identifying important input features. By identifying a set of salient features, the noise in a classification model can be reduced, resulting in more accurate classification. In this study, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) saliency measure was employed to determine saliency of input features of multilayer perceptron neural networks (MLPNNs) used in classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) beats (normal beat, congestive heart failure beat, ventricular tachyarrhythmia beat, atrial fibrillation beat) obtained from the Physiobank database. The SNR saliency measure determines the saliency of a feature by comparing it to that of an injected noise feature and the SNR screening method utilizes the SNR saliency measure to select a parsimonious set of salient features. ECG signals were decomposed into time–frequency representations using discrete wavelet transform. Input feature vectors were extracted using statistics over the set of the wavelet coefficients. The MLPNNs used in the ECG beats-classification were trained for the SNR screening method. The application results of the SNR screening method to the ECG signals demonstrated that classification accuracies of the MLPNNs with salient input features are higher than that of the MLPNNs with salient and non-salient input features.     

An improved procedure for detection of heart arrhythmias with novel pre‐processing techniques

The objective of this study is to develop an algorithm to detect and classify six types of electrocardiogram (ECG) signal beats including normal beats (N), atrial pre‐mature beats (A), right bundle branch block beats (R), left bundle branch block beats (L), paced beats (P), and pre‐mature ventricular contraction beats (PVC or V) using a neural network classifier. In order to prepare an appropriate input vector for the neural classifier several pre‐processing stages have been applied. Initially, a signal filtering method is used to remove the ECG signal baseline wandering. Continuous wavelet transform is then applied in order to extract features of the ECG signal. Next, principal component analysis is used to reduce the size of the data. A well‐known neural network architecture called the multi‐layered perceptron neural network is then utilized as the final classifier to classify each ECG beat as one of six groups of signals under study. Finally, the MIT‐BIH database is used to evaluate the proposed algorithm, resulting in 99.5% sensitivity, 99.66% positive predictive accuracy and 99.17% total accuracy.     

基于过完备字典的体域网压缩感知心电重构

针对体域网远程监护中心对重构的心电信号（Electrocardiogram,ECG）精度要求高和体域网（Body sensor network,BSN）低功耗问题,提出基于过完备字典的体域网压缩感知心电重构方法. 该方法利用压缩感知理论,在传感节点端利用随机二进制矩阵对心电信号进行观测,观测值被传送至远程监护中心后,再利用基于K-SVD算法训练得到的过完备字典和块稀疏贝叶斯学习重构算法对心电信号进行重构. 仿真结果表明,当心电信号压缩率在70%～95%时,基于K-SVD过完备字典比基于离散余弦变换基的压缩感知心电重构信噪比高出5～22dB. 该方法具有信号重构精度高、功耗低和易于硬件实现的优点.     

基于U-NET网络的心律失常信号识别算法研究

在心电信号心律失常自动识别系统中,针对心电信号形态复杂导致特征提取困难、自动分类模型准确度低、现实应用性差的问题,设计了一种基于U-NET全卷积神经网络的心电信号语义分割的识别分类方法。该方法通过全卷积神经网络的编码运算规则,将心电信号切片数据作为输入,标签地图作为输出,可划分出信号片段中的心拍位置与类别。仿真结果表明：该方法在正常窦性搏动、左束支传导阻滞、右束支传导阻滞、房性早搏和室性早搏五分类问题中取得较高准确率,实现了对心律失常信号的有效识别。     

Application of principal component analysis to ECG signals for automated diagnosis of cardiac health

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the P, QRS, T wave indicating the electrical activity of the heart. The subtle changes in amplitude and duration of ECG cannot be deciphered precisely by the naked eye, hence imposing the need for a computer assisted diagnosis tool. In this paper we have automatically classified five types of ECG beats of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. The five types of beats are Normal (N), Right Bundle Branch Block (RBBB), Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB), Atrial Premature Contraction (APC) and Ventricular Premature Contraction (VPC). In this work, we have compared the performances of three approaches. The first approach uses principal components of segmented ECG beats, the second approach uses principal components of error signals of linear prediction model, whereas the third approach uses principal components of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients as features. These features from three approaches were independently classified using feed forward neural network (NN) and Least Square-Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM). We have obtained the highest accuracy using the first approach using principal components of segmented ECG beats with average sensitivity of 99.90%, specificity of 99.10%, PPV of 99.61% and classification accuracy of 98.11%. The system developed is clinically ready to deploy for mass screening programs.     

Analysis of classification accuracy for pre-filtered multichannel remote sensing data

Noise is one of the main factors degrading the quality of original multichannel remote sensing data and its presence influences classification efficiency, object detection, etc. Thus, pre-filtering is often used to remove noise and improve the solving of final tasks of multichannel remote sensing. Recent studies indicate that a classical model of additive noise is not adequate enough for images formed by modern multichannel sensors operating in visible and infrared bands. However, this fact is often ignored by researchers designing noise removal methods and algorithms. Because of this, we focus on the classification of multichannel remote sensing images in the case of signal-dependent noise present in component images. Three approaches to filtering of multichannel images for the considered noise model are analysed, all based on discrete cosine transform in blocks. The study is carried out not only in terms of conventional efficiency metrics used in filtering (MSE) but also in terms of multichannel data classification accuracy (probability of correct classification, confusion matrix). The proposed classification system combines the pre-processing stage where a DCT-based filter processes the blocks of the multichannel remote sensing image and the classification stage. Two modern classifiers are employed, radial basis function neural network and support vector machines. Simulations are carried out for three-channel image of Landsat TM sensor. Different cases of learning are considered: using noise-free samples of the test multichannel image, the noisy multichannel image and the pre-filtered one. It is shown that the use of the pre-filtered image for training produces better classification in comparison to the case of learning for the noisy image. It is demonstrated that the best results for both groups of quantitative criteria are provided if a proposed 3D discrete cosine transform filter equipped by variance stabilizing transform is applied. The classification results obtained for data pre-filtered in different ways are in agreement for both considered classifiers. Comparison of classifier performance is carried out as well. The radial basis neural network classifier is less sensitive to noise in original images, but after pre-filtering the performance of both classifiers is approximately the same.     

An incremental neural network for tissue segmentation in ultrasound images

This paper presents an incremental neural network (INeN) for the segmentation of tissues in ultrasound images. The performances of the INeN and the Kohonen network are investigated for ultrasound image segmentation. The elements of the feature vectors are individually formed by using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and discrete cosine transform (DCT). The training set formed from blocks of 4x4 pixels (regions of interest, ROIs) on five different tissues designated by an expert is used for the training of the Kohonen network. The training set of the INeN is formed from randomly selected ROIs of 4x4 pixels in the image. Performances of both 2D-DFT and 2D-DCT are comparatively examined for the segmentation of ultrasound images.     

基于块稀疏贝叶斯学习的体域网心电压缩采样

为有效提高体域网的实时性和降低体域网的功耗,提出一种基于块稀疏贝叶斯学习的体域网心电压缩采样方法。该方法在体域网框架下,利用压缩采样理论,在体域网的传感节点利用二进制随机观测矩阵对心电信号进行压缩采样,远程监护中心获得采样值之后,利用块稀疏贝叶斯学习重构算法和离散余弦稀疏变换矩阵对心电信号进行重构。实验结果表明,当心电信号压缩率在70%~90%时,基于块稀疏贝叶斯学习的重构算法要比其他重构算法的重构信噪比高出3 dB~21 dB。该方法能有效减少数据采样,减轻后续的数据存储、数据传输压力,提高体域网的实时性。同时该方法具有功耗低,易于硬件实现的优点。     

基于DWT-DCT-SVM的人脸表情识别

提出了一种基于二维离散小波一离散余弦变换-支持向量机（DWT-DCT-SVM）面部表情识别算法。该算法先利用DWT在不明显损失图像信息的基础上对表情图像进行变换，变换后的图像数据量大大减少。再利用DCT提取代表原图像绝大部分能量的数据作为表情特征矢量，最后利用SVM来识别。实验表明：本算法提取的500个数据长度的表情矢量在一定条件下能较准确地识别出通用的6种表情，但是泛化性能较差。     

Block-based neural networks for personalized ECG signal classification.

This paper presents evolvable block-based neural networks (BbNNs) for personalized ECG heartbeat pattern classification. A BbNN consists of a 2-D array of modular component NNs with flexible structures and internal configurations that can be implemented using reconfigurable digital hardware such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Signal flow between the blocks determines the internal configuration of a block as well as the overall structure of the BbNN. Network structure and the weights are optimized using local gradient-based search and evolutionary operators with the rates changing adaptively according to their effectiveness in the previous evolution period. Such adaptive operator rate update scheme ensures higher fitness on average compared to predetermined fixed operator rates. The Hermite transform coefficients and the time interval between two neighboring R-peaks of ECG signals are used as inputs to the BbNN. A BbNN optimized with the proposed evolutionary algorithm (EA) makes a personalized heartbeat pattern classifier that copes with changing operating environments caused by individual difference and time-varying characteristics of ECG signals. Simulation results using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) arrhythmia database demonstrate high average detection accuracies of ventricular ectopic beats (98.1%) and supraventricular ectopic beats (96.6%) patterns for heartbeat monitoring, being a significant improvement over previously reported electrocardiogram (ECG) classification results.     

Combining recurrent neural networks with eigenvector methods for classification of ECG beats

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of the recurrent neural networks (RNNs) trained with Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm on the electrocardiogram (ECG) beats. Four types of ECG beats (normal beat, congestive heart failure beat, ventricular tachyarrhythmia beat, atrial fibrillation beat) obtained from the Physiobank database were analyzed. Decision making was performed in two stages: feature extraction by eigenvector methods and classification using the RNN trained on the extracted features. The RNNs were implemented for classification of the ECG beats using the statistical features as inputs. The ability of designed and trained Elman RNNs, combined with eigenvector methods, were explored to classify the ECG beats. The classification results demonstrated that the combined eigenvector methods/RNN approach can be useful in analyzing the ECG beats.     

Segmentation of MR and CT Images Using a Hybrid Neural Network Trained by Genetic Algorithms

A novel hybrid neural network trained by the genetic algorithms is presented. Genetic algorithms are used to improve the neural net's classification performance while minimizing the number of nodes. Each node of the network forms a closed region in the input space. The closed regions, which are formed by the nodes, intersect each other. The performance of the proposed hybrid neural network is compared with the multilayer perceptron, and the restricted Coulomb energy network for the segmentation of MR and CT head images. Experimental results show that the proposed neural network gives the best classification performance with a small number of nodes in short training times.