Speeding up training of automated bird recognizers by data reduction of audio features.

Automated acoustic recognition of birds is considered an important technology in support of biodiversity monitoring and biodiversity conservation activities. These activities require processing large amounts of soundscape recordings. Typically, recordings are transformed to a number of acoustic features, and a machine learning method is used to build models and recognize the sound events of interest. The main problem is the scalability of data processing, either for developing models or for processing recordings made over long time periods. In those cases, the processing time and resources required might become prohibitive for the average user. To address this problem, we evaluated the applicability of three data reduction methods. These methods were applied to a series of acoustic feature vectors as an additional postprocessing step, which aims to reduce the computational demand during training. The experimental results obtained using Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and hidden Markov models (HMMs) support the finding that a reduction in training data by a factor of 10 does not significantly affect the recognition performance.

Automated Sound Recognition Provides Insights into the Behavioral Ecology of a Tropical Bird.

Computer-assisted species recognition facilitates the analysis of relevant biological information in continuous audio recordings. In the present study, we assess the suitability of this approach for determining distinct life-cycle phases of the Southern Lapwing Vanellus chilensis lampronotus based on adult vocal activity. For this purpose we use passive 14-min and 30-min soundscape recordings (n = 33 201) collected in 24/7 mode between November 2012 and October 2013 in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands. Time-stamped detections of V. chilensis call events (n = 62 292) were obtained with a species-specific sound recognizer. We demonstrate that the breeding season fell in a three-month period from mid-May to early August 2013, between the end of the flood cycle and the height of the dry season. Several phases of the lapwing's life history were identified with presumed error margins of a few days: pre-breeding, territory establishment and egg-laying, incubation, hatching, parental defense of chicks, and post-breeding. Diurnal time budgets confirm high acoustic activity levels during midday hours in June and July, indicative of adults defending young. By August, activity patterns had reverted to nonbreeding mode, with peaks around dawn and dusk and low call frequency during midday heat. We assess the current technological limitations of the V. chilensis recognizer through a comprehensive performance assessment and scrutinize the usefulness of automated acoustic recognizers in studies on the distribution pattern, ecology, life history, and conservation status of sound-producing animal species.

Lerneca inalata beripocone subsp. nov. (Orthoptera: Phalangopsidae; Luzarinae): a new taxon for the northern Pantanal of Brazil.

The first record of the Orthoptera species Lerneca inalata for Brazil is presented here. The taxon is represented by a new subspecies Lerneca inalata beripocone subsp. nov. (Phalangopsidae, Luzarinae), collected in the Pantanal of Poconé, Mato Grosso, Brazil. This work includes morphological and morphometric data as well as descriptions of female genitalia and calling song. The new subspecies has as diagnostic features the male genitalia with six ventral spines on the B sclerite, the first spine having a subtle bifurcation; the mid-region of the strongly sclerotized pseudepiphallus; inclination of C sclerite with slightly concave curvature; tegmina-length ratio and the speculum (syn. mirror) width approximately three times the length of the apical area. The description of the female genitalia and the calling song is presented for the first time for the species Lerneca inalata. A distribution map covers the local occurrence of its subspecies.

Video games as a complementary therapy tool in mental disorders: PlayMancer, a European multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: Previous review studies have suggested that computer games can serve as an alternative or additional form of treatment in several areas (schizophrenia, asthma or motor rehabilitation). Although several naturalistic studies have been conducted showing the usefulness of serious video games in the treatment of some abnormal behaviours, there is a lack of serious games specially designed for treating mental disorders. AIM: The purpose of our project was to develop and evaluate a serious video game designed to remediate attitudinal, behavioural and emotional processes of patients with impulse-related disorders. METHOD AND RESULTS: The video game was created and developed within the European research project PlayMancer. It aims to prove potential capacity to change underlying attitudinal, behavioural and emotional processes of patients with impulse-related disorders. New interaction modes were provided by newly developed components, such as emotion recognition from speech, face and physiological reactions, while specific impulsive reactions were elicited. The video game uses biofeedback for helping patients to learn relaxation skills, acquire better self-control strategies and develop new emotional regulation strategies. In this article, we present a description of the video game used, rationale, user requirements, usability and preliminary data, in several mental disorders.

On automatic bioacoustic detection of pests: the cases of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus and Sitophilus oryzae.

The present work reports research efforts toward development and evaluation of a unified framework for automatic bioacoustic recognition of specific insect pests. Our approach is based on capturing and automatically recognizing the acoustic emission resulting from typical behaviors, e.g., locomotion and feeding, of the target pests. After acquisition the signals are amplified, filtered, parameterized, and classified by advanced machine learning methods on a portable computer. Specifically, we investigate an advanced signal parameterization scheme that relies on variable size signal segmentation. The feature vector computed for each segment of the signal is composed of the dominant harmonic, which carry information about the periodicity of the signal, and the cepstral coefficients, which carry information about the relative distribution of energy among the different spectral sub-bands. This parameterization offers a reliable representation of both the acoustic emissions of the pests of interest and the interferences from the environment. We illustrate the practical significance of our methodology on two specific cases: 1) a devastating pest for palm plantations, namely, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier and 2) a pest that attacks warehouse stored rice (Oryza sativa L.), the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) (both Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Dryophorinae). These pests are known in many countries around the world and contribute for significant economical loss. The proposed approach led to detection results in real field trials, reaching 99.1% on real-field recordings of R. ferrugineus and 100% for S. oryzae.

Playmancer project: a serious videogame as an additional therapy tool for eating and impulse control disorders.

Reviews and few non-controlled studies showed the effectiveness of several specific designed computer video-games as an additional form of treatment in several areas. However, there is a lack in the literature of specially designed serious-games for treating mental disorders. Playmancer (ICT European initiative) aims to develop and assess a serious videogame that may help to treat underlying processes (e.g. lack of self-control strategies) in Eating and Impulse control disorders. Preliminary data will be shown.