Abstract: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) represents a powerful imaging technique to explore coronary vessels and to study their morphology and histologic properties. In this paper, we characterize different tissues based on Radio Frequency, texture-based, slope-based, and combined features. To deal with the classification of multiple tissues, we require the use of robust multi-class learning techniques. In this context, we propose a strategy to model multi-class classification tasks using sub-classes information in the ECOC framework. The new strategy splits the classes into different subsets according to the applied base classifier. Complex IVUS data sets containing overlapping data are learnt by splitting the original set of classes into sub-classes, and embedding the binary problems in a problem-dependent ECOC design. The method automatically characterizes different tissues, showing performance improvements over the state-of-the-art ECOC techniques for different base classifiers and feature sets.

Abstract: Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) data validation is usually performed by comparing post-mortem (in-vitro) IVUS data and corresponding histological analysis of the tissue, obtaining a reliable ground truth. The main drawback of this method is the few number of available study cases due to the complex procedure of histological analysis. In this work we propose a novel semi-supervised approach to enhance the in-vitro training set by including examples from in-vivo coronary plaques data set. For this purpose, a Sequential Floating Forward Selection method is applied on in-vivo data and plaque characterization performances are evaluated by Leave-One-Patient-Out cross-validation technique. Supervised data inclusion improves global classification accuracy from 89.39% to 91.82%.

Abstract: One of the most widely applied techniques to deal with multi- class categorization problems is the pairwise voting procedure. Recently, this classical approach has been embedded in the Error-Correcting Output Codes framework (ECOC). This framework is based on a coding step, where a set of binary problems are learnt and coded in a matrix, and a decoding step, where a new sample is tested and classified according to a comparison with the positions of the coded matrix. In this paper, we present a novel approach to redefine without retraining, in a problem-dependent way, the one-versus-one coding matrix so that the new coded information increases the generalization capability of the system. Moreover, the final classification can be tuned with the inclusion of a weighting matrix in the decoding step. The approach has been validated over several UCI Machine Learning repository data sets and two real multi-class problems: traffic sign and face categorization. The results show that performance improvements are obtained when comparing the new approach to one of the best ECOC designs (one-versus-one). Furthermore, the novel methodology obtains at least the same performance than the one-versus-one ECOC design.

Abstract: In this work the feasibility of building a socially aware badge that learns from user activities is explored. A wearable multisensor device has been prototyped for collecting data about user movements and photos of the environment where the user acts. Using motion data, speaking and other activities have been classified. Images have been analysed in order to complement motion data and help for the detection of social behaviours. A face detector and an activity classifier are both used for detecting if users have a social activity in the time they worn the device. Good results encourage the improvement of the system at both hardware and software level