This thesis explores the use of randomized, performance-based search strategies to improve the generalization of an automatic speech recognition system based on hidden Markov models. We apply simulated annealing and random search to several components of the system, including phoneme…

We study the problem of classifying stop and nasal consonants in continuous speech independently of the speaker. We consider some acoustic parameters computed from the auditory spectrogram, and other parameters computed from the speech waveform. The classification algorithm uses a…

This thesis studies the introduction of a priori structure into the design of learning systems based on artificial neural networks applied to sequence recognition, in particular to phoneme recognition in continuous speech. Because we are interested in sequence analysis, algorithms…

A computer vision system which tracks and analyses living cells and their offspring from sequential two-dimensional images is described. The cells are segmented using a method which combines global thresholding, component labeling and noise filtering. The shapes of the cells…

Computerization has had a large impact on hospital intensive care units, allowing continuous monitoring and display of physiological patient data. Treatment of the critically ill patient, however, now requires assimilating large amounts of patient data., Computers can help by processing…