Classification of Actigraphy Records from Bipolar Disorder Patients Using Slope Entropy: A Feasibility Study

Research on Sea State Signal Recognition Based on Beluga Whale Optimization-Slope Entropy and One Dimensional-Convolutional Neural Network

This study introduces a novel nonlinear dynamic analysis method, known as beluga whale optimization-slope entropy (BWO-SlEn), to address the challenge of recognizing sea state signals (SSSs) in complex marine environments. A method of underwater acoustic signal recognition based on BWO-SlEn and one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) is proposed. Firstly, particle swarm optimization-slope entropy (PSO-SlEn), BWO-SlEn, and Harris hawk optimization-slope entropy (HHO-SlEn) were used for feature extraction of noise signal and SSS. After 1D-CNN classification, BWO-SlEn were found to have the best recognition effect. Secondly, fuzzy entropy (FE), sample entropy (SE), permutation entropy (PE), and dispersion entropy (DE) were used to extract the signal features. After 1D-CNN classification, BWO-SlEn and 1D-CNN were found to have the highest recognition rate compared with them. Finally, compared with the other six recognition methods, the recognition rates of BWO-SlEn and 1D-CNN for the noise signal and SSS are at least 6% and 4.75% higher, respectively. Therefore, the BWO-SlEn and 1D-CNN recognition methods proposed in this paper are more effective in the application of SSS recognition.

Slope Entropy Characterisation: An Asymmetric Approach to Threshold Parameters Role Analysis

Slope Entropy (SlpEn) is a novel method recently proposed in the field of time series entropy estimation. In addition to the well-known embedded dimension parameter, m, used in other methods, it applies two additional thresholds, denoted as δ and γ, to derive a symbolic representation of a data subsequence. The original paper introducing SlpEn provided some guidelines for recommended specific values of these two parameters, which have been successfully followed in subsequent studies. However, a deeper understanding of the role of these thresholds is necessary to explore the potential for further SlpEn optimisations. Some works have already addressed the role of δ, but in this paper, we extend this investigation to include the role of γ and explore the impact of using an asymmetric scheme to select threshold values. We conduct a comparative analysis between the standard SlpEn method as initially proposed and an optimised version obtained through a grid search to maximise signal classification performance based on SlpEn. The results confirm that the optimised version achieves higher time series classification accuracy, albeit at the cost of significantly increased computational complexity.

A Dual-Optimization Fault Diagnosis Method for Rolling Bearings Based on Hierarchical Slope Entropy and SVM Synergized with Shark Optimization Algorithm

Slope entropy (SlopEn) has been widely applied in fault diagnosis and has exhibited excellent performance, while SlopEn suffers from the problem of threshold selection. Aiming to further enhance the identifying capability of SlopEn in fault diagnosis, on the basis of SlopEn, the concept of hierarchy is introduced, and a new complexity feature, namely hierarchical slope entropy (HSlopEn), is proposed. Meanwhile, to address the problems of the threshold selection of HSlopEn and a support vector machine (SVM), the white shark optimizer (WSO) is applied to optimize both HSlopEn and an SVM, and WSO-HSlopEn and WSO-SVM are proposed, respectively. Then, a dual-optimization fault diagnosis method for rolling bearings based on WSO-HSlopEn and WSO-SVM is put forward. We conducted measured experiments on single- and multi-feature scenarios, and the experimental results demonstrated that whether single-feature or multi-feature, the WSO-HSlopEn and WSO-SVM fault diagnosis method has the highest recognition rate compared to other hierarchical entropies; moreover, under multi-features, the recognition rates are all higher than 97.5%, and the more features we select, the better the recognition effect. When five nodes are selected, the highest recognition rate reaches 100%.

Slope Entropy Normalisation by Means of Analytical and Heuristic Reference Values

Slope Entropy (SlpEn) is a very recently proposed entropy calculation method. It is based on the differences between consecutive values in a time series and two new input thresholds to assign a symbol to each resulting difference interval. As the histogram normalisation value, SlpEn uses the actual number of unique patterns found instead of the theoretically expected value. This maximises the information captured by the method but, as a consequence, SlpEn results do not usually fall within the classical [0,1] interval. Although this interval is not necessary at all for time series classification purposes, it is a convenient and common reference framework when entropy analyses take place. This paper describes a method to keep SlpEn results within this interval, and improves the interpretability and comparability of this measure in a similar way as for other methods. It is based on a max-min normalisation scheme, described in two steps. First, an analytic normalisation is proposed using known but very conservative bounds. Afterwards, these bounds are refined using heuristics about the behaviour of the number of patterns found in deterministic and random time series. The results confirm the suitability of the approach proposed, using a mixture of the two methods.

Slope Entropy Characterisation: The Role of the δ Parameter

Many time series entropy calculation methods have been proposed in the last few years. They are mainly used as numerical features for signal classification in any scientific field where data series are involved. We recently proposed a new method, Slope Entropy (SlpEn), based on the relative frequency of differences between consecutive samples of a time series, thresholded using two input parameters, γ and δ. In principle, δ was proposed to account for differences in the vicinity of the 0 region (namely, ties) and, therefore, was usually set at small values such as 0.001. However, there is no study that really quantifies the role of this parameter using this default or other configurations, despite the good SlpEn results so far. The present paper addresses this issue, removing δ from the SlpEn calculation to assess its real influence on classification performance, or optimising its value by means of a grid search in order to find out if other values beyond the 0.001 value provide significant time series classification accuracy gains. Although the inclusion of this parameter does improve classification accuracy according to experimental results, gains of 5% at most probably do not support the additional effort required. Therefore, SlpEn simplification could be seen as a real alternative.

Particle Swarm Optimization Fractional Slope Entropy: A New Time Series Complexity Indicator for Bearing Fault Diagnosis

Slope entropy (SlEn) is a time series complexity indicator proposed in recent years, which has shown excellent performance in the fields of medical and hydroacoustics. In order to improve the ability of SlEn to distinguish different types of signals and solve the problem of two threshold parameters selection, a new time series complexity indicator on the basis of SlEn is proposed by introducing fractional calculus and combining particle swarm optimization (PSO), named PSO fractional SlEn (PSO-FrSlEn). Then we apply PSO-FrSlEn to the field of fault diagnosis and propose a single feature extraction method and a double feature extraction method for rolling bearing fault based on PSO-FrSlEn. The experimental results illustrated that only PSO-FrSlEn can classify 10 kinds of bearing signals with 100% classification accuracy by using double features, which is at least 4% higher than the classification accuracies of the other four fractional entropies.

Wearables in Schizophrenia: Update on Current and Future Clinical Applications

Schizophrenia affects 1% of the world population and is associated with a reduction in life expectancy of 20 years. The increasing prevalence of both consumer technology and clinical-grade wearable technology offers new metrics to guide clinical decision-making remotely and in real time. Herein, recent literature is reviewed to determine the potential utility of wearables in schizophrenia, including their utility in diagnosis, first-episode psychosis, and relapse prevention and their acceptability to patients. Several studies have further confirmed the validity of various devices in their ability to track sleep—an especially useful metric in schizophrenia, as sleep disturbances may be predictive of disease onset or the acute worsening of psychotic symptoms. Through machine learning, wearable-obtained heart rate and motor activity were used to differentiate between controls and patients with schizophrenia. Wearables can capture the autonomic dysregulation that has been detected when patients are actively experiencing paranoia, hallucinations, or delusions. Multiple platforms are currently being researched, such as Health Outcomes Through Positive Engagement and Self-Empowerment, Mobile Therapeutic Attention for Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia, and Sleepsight, that may ultimately link patient data to clinicians. The future is bright for wearables in schizophrenia, as the recent literature exemplifies their potential to offer real-time insights to guide diagnosis and management.

Discriminating Bacterial Infection from Other Causes of Fever Using Body Temperature Entropy Analysis

Body temperature is usually employed in clinical practice by strict binary thresholding, aiming to classify patients as having fever or not. In the last years, other approaches based on the continuous analysis of body temperature time series have emerged. These are not only based on absolute thresholds but also on patterns and temporal dynamics of these time series, thus providing promising tools for early diagnosis. The present study applies three time series entropy calculation methods (Slope Entropy, Approximate Entropy, and Sample Entropy) to body temperature records of patients with bacterial infections and other causes of fever in search of possible differences that could be exploited for automatic classification. In the comparative analysis, Slope Entropy proved to be a stable and robust method that could bring higher sensitivity to the realm of entropy tools applied in this context of clinical thermometry. This method was able to find statistically significant differences between the two classes analyzed in all experiments, with sensitivity and specificity above 70% in most cases.

Toward a Digital Future in Bipolar Disorder Assessment: A Systematic Review of Disruptions in the Rest-Activity Cycle as Measured by Actigraphy

BACKGROUND

Disruptions in rest and activity patterns are core features of bipolar disorder (BD). However, previous methods have been limited in fully characterizing the patterns. There is still a need to capture dysfunction in daily activity as well as rest patterns in order to more holistically understand the nature of 24-h rhythms in BD. Recent developments in the standardization, processing, and analyses of wearable digital actigraphy devices are advancing longitudinal investigation of rest-activity patterns in real time. The current systematic review aimed to summarize the literature on actigraphy measures of rest-activity patterns in BD to inform the future use of this technology.

METHODS

A comprehensive systematic review using PRISMA guidelines was conducted through PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases, for papers published up to February 2021. Relevant articles utilizing actigraphy measures were extracted and summarized. These papers contributed to three research areas addressed, pertaining to the nature of rest-activity patterns in BD, and the effects of therapeutic interventions on these patterns.

RESULTS

Seventy articles were included. BD was associated with longer sleep onset latency and duration, particularly during depressive episodes and with predictive value for worsening of future manic symptoms. Lower overall daily activity was also associated with BD, especially during depressive episodes, while more variable activity patterns within a day were seen in mania. A small number of studies linked these disruptions with differential patterns of brain functioning and cognitive impairments, as well as more adverse outcomes including increased suicide risk. The stabilizing effect of therapeutic options, including pharmacotherapies and chronotherapies, on activity patterns was supported.

CONCLUSION

The use of actigraphy provides valuable information about rest-activity patterns in BD. Although results suggest that variability in rhythms over time may be a specific feature of BD, definitive conclusions are limited by the small number of studies assessing longitudinal changes over days. Thus, there is an urgent need to extend this work to examine patterns of rhythmicity and regularity in BD. Actigraphy research holds great promise to identify a much-needed specific phenotypic marker for BD that will aid in the development of improved detection, treatment, and prevention options.

Double Feature Extraction Method of Ship-Radiated Noise Signal Based on Slope Entropy and Permutation Entropy

In order to accurately identify various types of ships and develop coastal defenses, a single feature extraction method based on slope entropy (SlEn) and a double feature extraction method based on SlEn combined with permutation entropy (SlEn&PE) are proposed. Firstly, SlEn is used for the feature extraction of ship-radiated noise signal (SNS) compared with permutation entropy (PE), dispersion entropy (DE), fluctuation dispersion entropy (FDE), and reverse dispersion entropy (RDE), so that the effectiveness of SlEn is verified, and SlEn has the highest recognition rate calculated by the k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithm. Secondly, SlEn is combined with PE, DE, FDE, and RDE, respectively, to extract the feature of SNS for a higher recognition rate, and SlEn&PE has the highest recognition rate after the calculation of the KNN algorithm. Lastly, the recognition rates of SlEn and SlEn&PE are compared, and the recognition rates of SlEn&PE are higher than SlEn by 4.22%. Therefore, the double feature extraction method proposed in this paper is more effective in the application of ship type recognition.

Detailed analysis and comparison of different activity metrics

Actigraphic measurements are an important part of research in different disciplines, yet the procedure of determining activity values is unexpectedly not standardized in the literature. Although the measured raw acceleration signal can be diversely processed, and then the activity values can be calculated by different activity calculation methods, the documentations of them are generally incomplete or vary by manufacturer. These numerous activity metrics may require different types of preprocessing of the acceleration signal. For example, digital filtering of the acceleration signals can have various parameters; moreover, both the filter and the activity metrics can also be applied per axis or on the magnitudes of the acceleration vector. Level crossing-based activity metrics also depend on threshold level values, yet the determination of their exact values is unclear as well. Due to the serious inconsistency of determining activity values, we created a detailed and comprehensive comparison of the different available activity calculation procedures because, up to the present, it was lacking in the literature. We assessed the different methods by analysing the triaxial acceleration signals measured during a 10-day movement of 42 subjects. We calculated 148 different activity signals for each subject’s movement using the combinations of various types of preprocessing and 7 different activity metrics applied on both axial and magnitude data. We determined the strength of the linear relationship between the metrics by correlation analysis, while we also examined the effects of the preprocessing steps. Moreover, we established that the standard deviation of the data series can be used as an appropriate, adaptive and generalized threshold level for the level intersection-based metrics. On the basis of these results, our work also serves as a general guide on how to proceed if one wants to determine activity from the raw acceleration data. All of the analysed raw acceleration signals are also publicly available.

Complexity of Body Movements during Sleep in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Recently, measuring the complexity of body movements during sleep has been proven as an objective biomarker of various psychiatric disorders. Although sleep problems are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and might exacerbate ASD symptoms, their objectivity as a biomarker remains to be established. Therefore, details of body movement complexity during sleep as estimated by actigraphy were investigated in typically developing (TD) children and in children with ASD. Several complexity analyses were applied to raw and thresholded data of actigraphy from 17 TD children and 17 children with ASD. Determinism, irregularity and unpredictability, and long-range temporal correlation were examined respectively using the false nearest neighbor (FNN) algorithm, information-theoretic analyses, and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Although the FNN algorithm did not reveal determinism in body movements, surrogate analyses identified the influence of nonlinear processes on the irregularity and long-range temporal correlation of body movements. Additionally, the irregularity and unpredictability of body movements measured by expanded sample entropy were significantly lower in ASD than in TD children up to two hours after sleep onset and at approximately six hours after sleep onset. This difference was found especially for the high-irregularity period. Through this study, we characterized details of the complexity of body movements during sleep and demonstrated the group difference of body movement complexity across TD children and children with ASD. Complexity analyses of body movements during sleep have provided valuable insights into sleep profiles. Body movement complexity might be useful as a biomarker for ASD.