Development of an automated extraction method for liver tumors in three dimensional multiphase multislice CT images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakagawa, Junya; Shimizu, Akinobu; Kobatake, Hidefumi

2004-01-01

This paper proposes a tumor detection method using four phase three dimensional (3D) CT images of livers, i.e. non-contrast, early, portal, and late phase images. The method extracts liver regions from the four phase images and enhances tumors in the livers using a 3D adaptive convergence index filter. Then it detects local maximum points and extracts tumor candidates by a region growing method. Subsequently several features of the candidates are measured and each candidate is classified into true tumor or normal tissue based on Mahalanobis distances. Above processes except liver region extraction are applied to four phase images, independently and four resultant images are integrated into one. We applied the proposed method to 3D abdominal CT images of ten patients obtained with multi-detector row CT scanner and confirmed that tumor detection rate was 100% without false positives, which was quite promising results. (author)

A high-speed computerized tomography image reconstruction using direct two-dimensional Fourier transform method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niki, Noboru; Mizutani, Toshio; Takahashi, Yoshizo; Inouye, Tamon.

1983-01-01

The nescessity for developing real-time computerized tomography (CT) aiming at the dynamic observation of organs such as hearts has lately been advocated. It is necessary for its realization to reconstruct the images which are markedly faster than present CTs. Although various reconstructing methods have been proposed so far, the method practically employed at present is the filtered backprojection (FBP) method only, which can give high quality image reconstruction, but takes much computing time. In the past, the two-dimensional Fourier transform (TFT) method was regarded as unsuitable to practical use because the quality of images obtained was not good, in spite of the promising method for high speed reconstruction because of its less computing time. However, since it was revealed that the image quality by TFT method depended greatly on interpolation accuracy in two-dimensional Fourier space, the authors have developed a high-speed calculation algorithm that can obtain high quality images by pursuing the relationship between the image quality and the interpolation method. In this case, radial data sampling points in Fourier space are increased to β-th power of 2 times, and the linear or spline interpolation is used. Comparison of this method with the present FBP method resulted in the conclusion that the image quality is almost the same in practical image matrix, the computational time by TFT method becomes about 1/10 of FBP method, and the memory capacity also reduces by about 20 %. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

An improved level set method for brain MR images segmentation and bias correction.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yunjie; Zhang, Jianwei; Macione, Jim

2009-10-01

Intensity inhomogeneities cause considerable difficulty in the quantitative analysis of magnetic resonance (MR) images. Thus, bias field estimation is a necessary step before quantitative analysis of MR data can be undertaken. This paper presents a variational level set approach to bias correction and segmentation for images with intensity inhomogeneities. Our method is based on an observation that intensities in a relatively small local region are separable, despite of the inseparability of the intensities in the whole image caused by the overall intensity inhomogeneity. We first define a localized K-means-type clustering objective function for image intensities in a neighborhood around each point. The cluster centers in this objective function have a multiplicative factor that estimates the bias within the neighborhood. The objective function is then integrated over the entire domain to define the data term into the level set framework. Our method is able to capture bias of quite general profiles. Moreover, it is robust to initialization, and thereby allows fully automated applications. The proposed method has been used for images of various modalities with promising results.

High sensitivity phase retrieval method in grating-based x-ray phase contrast imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Zhao; Gao, Kun; Chen, Jian; Wang, Dajiang; Wang, Shenghao; Chen, Heng; Bao, Yuan; Shao, Qigang; Wang, Zhili, E-mail: wangnsrl@ustc.edu.cn [National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230029 (China); Zhang, Kai [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Zhu, Peiping; Wu, Ziyu, E-mail: wuzy@ustc.edu.cn [National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230029, China and Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)

2015-02-15

Purpose: Grating-based x-ray phase contrast imaging is considered as one of the most promising techniques for future medical imaging. Many different methods have been developed to retrieve phase signal, among which the phase stepping (PS) method is widely used. However, further practical implementations are hindered, due to its complex scanning mode and high radiation dose. In contrast, the reverse projection (RP) method is a novel fast and low dose extraction approach. In this contribution, the authors present a quantitative analysis of the noise properties of the refraction signals retrieved by the two methods and compare their sensitivities. Methods: Using the error propagation formula, the authors analyze theoretically the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the refraction images retrieved by the two methods. Then, the sensitivities of the two extraction methods are compared under an identical exposure dose. Numerical experiments are performed to validate the theoretical results and provide some quantitative insight. Results: The SNRs of the two methods are both dependent on the system parameters, but in different ways. Comparison between their sensitivities reveals that for the refraction signal, the RP method possesses a higher sensitivity, especially in the case of high visibility and/or at the edge of the object. Conclusions: Compared with the PS method, the RP method has a superior sensitivity and provides refraction images with a higher SNR. Therefore, one can obtain highly sensitive refraction images in grating-based phase contrast imaging. This is very important for future preclinical and clinical implementations.

High sensitivity phase retrieval method in grating-based x-ray phase contrast imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Zhao; Gao, Kun; Chen, Jian; Wang, Dajiang; Wang, Shenghao; Chen, Heng; Bao, Yuan; Shao, Qigang; Wang, Zhili; Zhang, Kai; Zhu, Peiping; Wu, Ziyu

2015-01-01

Purpose: Grating-based x-ray phase contrast imaging is considered as one of the most promising techniques for future medical imaging. Many different methods have been developed to retrieve phase signal, among which the phase stepping (PS) method is widely used. However, further practical implementations are hindered, due to its complex scanning mode and high radiation dose. In contrast, the reverse projection (RP) method is a novel fast and low dose extraction approach. In this contribution, the authors present a quantitative analysis of the noise properties of the refraction signals retrieved by the two methods and compare their sensitivities. Methods: Using the error propagation formula, the authors analyze theoretically the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the refraction images retrieved by the two methods. Then, the sensitivities of the two extraction methods are compared under an identical exposure dose. Numerical experiments are performed to validate the theoretical results and provide some quantitative insight. Results: The SNRs of the two methods are both dependent on the system parameters, but in different ways. Comparison between their sensitivities reveals that for the refraction signal, the RP method possesses a higher sensitivity, especially in the case of high visibility and/or at the edge of the object. Conclusions: Compared with the PS method, the RP method has a superior sensitivity and provides refraction images with a higher SNR. Therefore, one can obtain highly sensitive refraction images in grating-based phase contrast imaging. This is very important for future preclinical and clinical implementations

Optical Coherence Tomography Technology and Quality Improvement Methods for Optical Coherence Tomography Images of Skin: A Short Review

OpenAIRE

Adabi, Saba; Turani, Zahra; Fatemizadeh, Emad; Clayton, Anne; Nasiriavanaki, Mohammadreza

2017-01-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) delivers 3-dimensional images of tissue microstructures. Although OCT imaging offers a promising high-resolution method, OCT images experience some artifacts that lead to misapprehension of tissue structures. Speckle, intensity decay, and blurring are 3 major artifacts in OCT images. Speckle is due to the low coherent light source used in the configuration of OCT. Intensity decay is a deterioration of light with respect to depth, and blurring is the conseque...

Automatic intra-modality brain image registration method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitaker, J.M.; Ardekani, B.A.; Braun, M.

1996-01-01

Full text: Registration of 3D images of brain of the same or different subjects has potential importance in clinical diagnosis, treatment planning and neurological research. The broad aim of our work is to produce an automatic and robust intra-modality, brain image registration algorithm for intra-subject and inter-subject studies. Our algorithm is composed of two stages. Initial alignment is achieved by finding the values of nine transformation parameters (representing translation, rotation and scale) that minimise the nonoverlapping regions of the head. This is achieved by minimisation of the sum of the exclusive OR of two binary head images, produced using the head extraction procedure described by Ardekani et al. (J Comput Assist Tomogr, 19:613-623, 1995). The initial alignment successfully determines the scale parameters and gross translation and rotation parameters. Fine alignment uses an objective function described for inter-modality registration in Ardekani et al. (ibid.). The algorithm segments one of the images to be aligned into a set of connected components using K-means clustering. Registration is achieved by minimising the K-means variance of the segmentation induced in the other image. Similarity of images of the same modality makes the method attractive for intra-modality registration. A 3D MR image, with voxel dimensions, 2x2x6 mm, was misaligned. The registered image shows visually accurate registration. The average displacement of a pixel from its correct location was measured to be 3.3 mm. The algorithm was tested on intra-subject MR images and was found to produce good qualitative results. Using the data available, the algorithm produced promising qualitative results in intra-subject registration. Further work is necessary in its application to intersubject registration, due to large variability in brain structure between subjects. Clinical evaluation of the algorithm for selected applications is required

DCS-SVM: a novel semi-automated method for human brain MR image segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadvand, Ali; Daliri, Mohammad Reza; Hajiali, Mohammadtaghi

2017-11-27

In this paper, a novel method is proposed which appropriately segments magnetic resonance (MR) brain images into three main tissues. This paper proposes an extension of our previous work in which we suggested a combination of multiple classifiers (CMC)-based methods named dynamic classifier selection-dynamic local training local Tanimoto index (DCS-DLTLTI) for MR brain image segmentation into three main cerebral tissues. This idea is used here and a novel method is developed that tries to use more complex and accurate classifiers like support vector machine (SVM) in the ensemble. This work is challenging because the CMC-based methods are time consuming, especially on huge datasets like three-dimensional (3D) brain MR images. Moreover, SVM is a powerful method that is used for modeling datasets with complex feature space, but it also has huge computational cost for big datasets, especially those with strong interclass variability problems and with more than two classes such as 3D brain images; therefore, we cannot use SVM in DCS-DLTLTI. Therefore, we propose a novel approach named "DCS-SVM" to use SVM in DCS-DLTLTI to improve the accuracy of segmentation results. The proposed method is applied on well-known datasets of the Internet Brain Segmentation Repository (IBSR) and promising results are obtained.

Review methods for image segmentation from computed tomography images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mamat, Nurwahidah; Rahman, Wan Eny Zarina Wan Abdul; Soh, Shaharuddin Cik; Mahmud, Rozi

2014-01-01

Image segmentation is a challenging process in order to get the accuracy of segmentation, automation and robustness especially in medical images. There exist many segmentation methods that can be implemented to medical images but not all methods are suitable. For the medical purposes, the aims of image segmentation are to study the anatomical structure, identify the region of interest, measure tissue volume to measure growth of tumor and help in treatment planning prior to radiation therapy. In this paper, we present a review method for segmentation purposes using Computed Tomography (CT) images. CT images has their own characteristics that affect the ability to visualize anatomic structures and pathologic features such as blurring of the image and visual noise. The details about the methods, the goodness and the problem incurred in the methods will be defined and explained. It is necessary to know the suitable segmentation method in order to get accurate segmentation. This paper can be a guide to researcher to choose the suitable segmentation method especially in segmenting the images from CT scan

Improved image alignment method in application to X-ray images and biological images.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ching-Wei; Chen, Hsiang-Chou

2013-08-01

Alignment of medical images is a vital component of a large number of applications throughout the clinical track of events; not only within clinical diagnostic settings, but prominently so in the area of planning, consummation and evaluation of surgical and radiotherapeutical procedures. However, image registration of medical images is challenging because of variations on data appearance, imaging artifacts and complex data deformation problems. Hence, the aim of this study is to develop a robust image alignment method for medical images. An improved image registration method is proposed, and the method is evaluated with two types of medical data, including biological microscopic tissue images and dental X-ray images and compared with five state-of-the-art image registration techniques. The experimental results show that the presented method consistently performs well on both types of medical images, achieving 88.44 and 88.93% averaged registration accuracies for biological tissue images and X-ray images, respectively, and outperforms the benchmark methods. Based on the Tukey's honestly significant difference test and Fisher's least square difference test tests, the presented method performs significantly better than all existing methods (P ≤ 0.001) for tissue image alignment, and for the X-ray image registration, the proposed method performs significantly better than the two benchmark b-spline approaches (P < 0.001). The software implementation of the presented method and the data used in this study are made publicly available for scientific communities to use (http://www-o.ntust.edu.tw/∼cweiwang/ImprovedImageRegistration/). cweiwang@mail.ntust.edu.tw.

A Method of Road Extraction from High-resolution Remote Sensing Images Based on Shape Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LEI Xiaoqi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Road extraction from high-resolution remote sensing image is an important and difficult task.Since remote sensing images include complicated information,the methods that extract roads by spectral,texture and linear features have certain limitations.Also,many methods need human-intervention to get the road seeds(semi-automatic extraction,which have the great human-dependence and low efficiency.The road-extraction method,which uses the image segmentation based on principle of local gray consistency and integration shape features,is proposed in this paper.Firstly,the image is segmented,and then the linear and curve roads are obtained by using several object shape features,so the method that just only extract linear roads are rectified.Secondly,the step of road extraction is carried out based on the region growth,the road seeds are automatic selected and the road network is extracted.Finally,the extracted roads are regulated by combining the edge information.In experiments,the images that including the better gray uniform of road and the worse illuminated of road surface were chosen,and the results prove that the method of this study is promising.

COMPARISON OF IMAGE ENHANCEMENT METHODS FOR CHROMOSOME KARYOTYPE IMAGE ENHANCEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dewa Made Sri Arsa

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The chromosome is a set of DNA structure that carry information about our life. The information can be obtained through Karyotyping. The process requires a clear image so the chromosome can be evaluate well. Preprocessing have to be done on chromosome images that is image enhancement. The process starts with image background removing. The image will be cleaned background color. The next step is image enhancement. This paper compares several methods for image enhancement. We evaluate some method in image enhancement like Histogram Equalization (HE, Contrast-limiting Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE, Histogram Equalization with 3D Block Matching (HE+BM3D, and basic image enhancement, unsharp masking. We examine and discuss the best method for enhancing chromosome image. Therefore, to evaluate the methods, the original image was manipulated by the addition of some noise and blur. Peak Signal-to-noise Ratio (PSNR and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM are used to examine method performance. The output of enhancement method will be compared with result of Professional software for karyotyping analysis named Ikaros MetasystemT M . Based on experimental results, HE+BM3D method gets a stable result on both scenario noised and blur image.

Optical Coherence Tomography Technology and Quality Improvement Methods for Optical Coherence Tomography Images of Skin: A Short Review

Science.gov (United States)

Adabi, Saba; Turani, Zahra; Fatemizadeh, Emad; Clayton, Anne; Nasiriavanaki, Mohammadreza

2017-01-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) delivers 3-dimensional images of tissue microstructures. Although OCT imaging offers a promising high-resolution method, OCT images experience some artifacts that lead to misapprehension of tissue structures. Speckle, intensity decay, and blurring are 3 major artifacts in OCT images. Speckle is due to the low coherent light source used in the configuration of OCT. Intensity decay is a deterioration of light with respect to depth, and blurring is the consequence of deficiencies of optical components. In this short review, we summarize some of the image enhancement algorithms for OCT images which address the abovementioned artifacts. PMID:28638245

Optical Coherence Tomography Technology and Quality Improvement Methods for Optical Coherence Tomography Images of Skin: A Short Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saba Adabi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Optical coherence tomography (OCT delivers 3-dimensional images of tissue microstructures. Although OCT imaging offers a promising high-resolution method, OCT images experience some artifacts that lead to misapprehension of tissue structures. Speckle, intensity decay, and blurring are 3 major artifacts in OCT images. Speckle is due to the low coherent light source used in the configuration of OCT. Intensity decay is a deterioration of light with respect to depth, and blurring is the consequence of deficiencies of optical components. In this short review, we summarize some of the image enhancement algorithms for OCT images which address the abovementioned artifacts.

Optoelectronic imaging of speckle using image processing method

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jinjiang; Wang, Pengfei

2018-01-01

A detailed image processing of laser speckle interferometry is proposed as an example for the course of postgraduate student. Several image processing methods were used together for dealing with optoelectronic imaging system, such as the partial differential equations (PDEs) are used to reduce the effect of noise, the thresholding segmentation also based on heat equation with PDEs, the central line is extracted based on image skeleton, and the branch is removed automatically, the phase level is calculated by spline interpolation method, and the fringe phase can be unwrapped. Finally, the imaging processing method was used to automatically measure the bubble in rubber with negative pressure which could be used in the tire detection.

Soft tissue tumors - imaging methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arlart, I.P.

1985-01-01

Soft Tissue Tumors - Imaging Methods: Imaging methods play an important diagnostic role in soft tissue tumors concerning a preoperative evaluation of localization, size, topographic relationship, dignity, and metastatic disease. The present paper gives an overview about diagnostic methods available today such as ultrasound, thermography, roentgenographic plain films and xeroradiography, radionuclide methods, computed tomography, lymphography, angiography, and magnetic resonance imaging. Besides sonography particularly computed tomography has the most important diagnostic value in soft tissue tumors. The application of a recently developed method, the magnetic resonance imaging, cannot yet be assessed in its significance. (orig.) [de

New mobile methods for dietary assessment: review of image-assisted and image-based dietary assessment methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Boushey, C J; Spoden, M; Zhu, F M; Delp, E J; Kerr, D A

2017-08-01

For nutrition practitioners and researchers, assessing dietary intake of children and adults with a high level of accuracy continues to be a challenge. Developments in mobile technologies have created a role for images in the assessment of dietary intake. The objective of this review was to examine peer-reviewed published papers covering development, evaluation and/or validation of image-assisted or image-based dietary assessment methods from December 2013 to January 2016. Images taken with handheld devices or wearable cameras have been used to assist traditional dietary assessment methods for portion size estimations made by dietitians (image-assisted methods). Image-assisted approaches can supplement either dietary records or 24-h dietary recalls. In recent years, image-based approaches integrating application technology for mobile devices have been developed (image-based methods). Image-based approaches aim at capturing all eating occasions by images as the primary record of dietary intake, and therefore follow the methodology of food records. The present paper reviews several image-assisted and image-based methods, their benefits and challenges; followed by details on an image-based mobile food record. Mobile technology offers a wide range of feasible options for dietary assessment, which are easier to incorporate into daily routines. The presented studies illustrate that image-assisted methods can improve the accuracy of conventional dietary assessment methods by adding eating occasion detail via pictures captured by an individual (dynamic images). All of the studies reduced underreporting with the help of images compared with results with traditional assessment methods. Studies with larger sample sizes are needed to better delineate attributes with regards to age of user, degree of error and cost.

Rapid flow imaging method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelc, N.J.; Spritzer, C.E.; Lee, J.N.

1988-01-01

A rapid, phase-contrast, MR imaging method of imaging flow has been implemented. The method, called VIGRE (velocity imaging with gradient recalled echoes), consists of two interleaved, narrow flip angle, gradient-recalled acquisitions. One is flow compensated while the second has a specified flow encoding (both peak velocity and direction) that causes signals to contain additional phase in proportion to velocity in the specified direction. Complex image data from the first acquisition are used as a phase reference for the second, yielding immunity from phase accumulation due to causes other than motion. Images with pixel values equal to MΔΘ where M is the magnitude of the flow compensated image and ΔΘ is the phase difference at the pixel, are produced. The magnitude weighting provides additional vessel contrast, suppresses background noise, maintains the flow direction information, and still allows quantitative data to be retrieved. The method has been validated with phantoms and is undergoing initial clinical evaluation. Early results are extremely encouraging

Lung region extraction based on the model information and the inversed MIP method by using chest CT images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomita, Toshihiro; Miguchi, Ryosuke; Okumura, Toshiaki; Yamamoto, Shinji; Matsumoto, Mitsuomi; Tateno, Yukio; Iinuma, Takeshi; Matsumoto, Toru.

1997-01-01

We developed a lung region extraction method based on the model information and the inversed MIP method in the Lung Cancer Screening CT (LSCT). Original model is composed of typical 3-D lung contour lines, a body axis, an apical point, and a convex hull. First, the body axis. the apical point, and the convex hull are automatically extracted from the input image Next, the model is properly transformed to fit to those of input image by the affine transformation. Using the same affine transformation coefficients, typical lung contour lines are also transferred, which correspond to rough contour lines of input image. Experimental results applied for 68 samples showed this method quite promising. (author)

Terahertz composite imaging method

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

QIAO Xiaoli; REN Jiaojiao; ZHANG Dandan; CAO Guohua; LI Lijuan; ZHANG Xinming

2017-01-01

In order to improve the imaging quality of terahertz(THz) spectroscopy, Terahertz Composite Imaging Method(TCIM) is proposed. The traditional methods of improving THz spectroscopy image quality are mainly from the aspects of de-noising and image enhancement. TCIM breaks through this limitation. A set of images, reconstructed in a single data collection, can be utilized to construct two kinds of composite images. One algorithm, called Function Superposition Imaging Algorithm(FSIA), is to construct a new gray image utilizing multiple gray images through a certain function. The features of the Region Of Interest (ROI) are more obvious after operating, and it has capability of merging ROIs in multiple images. The other, called Multi-characteristics Pseudo-color Imaging Algorithm(McPcIA), is to construct a pseudo-color image by combining multiple reconstructed gray images in a single data collection. The features of ROI are enhanced by color differences. Two algorithms can not only improve the contrast of ROIs, but also increase the amount of information resulting in analysis convenience. The experimental results show that TCIM is a simple and effective tool for THz spectroscopy image analysis.

A method of image improvement in three-dimensional imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suto, Yasuzo; Huang, Tewen; Furuhata, Kentaro; Uchino, Masafumi.

1988-01-01

In general, image interpolation is required when the surface configurations of such structures as bones and organs are three-dimensionally constructed from the multi-sliced images obtained by CT. Image interpolation is a processing method whereby an artificial image is inserted between two adjacent slices to make spatial resolution equal to slice resolution in appearance. Such image interpolation makes it possible to increase the image quality of the constructed three-dimensional image. In our newly-developed algorithm, we have converted the presently and subsequently sliced images to distance images, and generated the interpolation images from these two distance images. As a result, compared with the previous method, three-dimensional images with better image quality have been constructed. (author)

Investigation of innovative radiation imaging method and system for radiological environments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nguyen, H. [School of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Joung, J., E-mail: jinhun.joung@nucaremed.com [School of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Nucare, Inc., Incheon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Y. [School of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Nucare, Inc., Incheon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, K. [School of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-03-01

demonstrated imaging of 3D space, which is the most general and fundamental task in the field of radiological environment imaging. The experiments show quite promising results. In addition, the method is able to provide quantitative information about each distribution, including isotope identification, activity concentration, and the size and shape of radiation sources. Our future studies include employing other detector modules and collimators and developing systems for other applications, such as container truck and conveyor inspections.

Lung function imaging methods in Cystic Fibrosis pulmonary disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Kołodziej, Magdalena; de Veer, Michael J; Cholewa, Marian; Egan, Gary F; Thompson, Bruce R

2017-05-17

Monitoring of pulmonary physiology is fundamental to the clinical management of patients with Cystic Fibrosis. The current standard clinical practise uses spirometry to assess lung function which delivers a clinically relevant functional readout of total lung function, however does not supply any visible or localised information. High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) is a well-established current 'gold standard' method for monitoring lung anatomical changes in Cystic Fibrosis patients. HRCT provides excellent morphological information, however, the X-ray radiation dose can become significant if multiple scans are required to monitor chronic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. X-ray phase-contrast imaging is another emerging X-ray based methodology for Cystic Fibrosis lung assessment which provides dynamic morphological and functional information, albeit with even higher X-ray doses than HRCT. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-ionising radiation imaging method that is garnering growing interest among researchers and clinicians working with Cystic Fibrosis patients. Recent advances in MRI have opened up the possibilities to observe lung function in real time to potentially allow sensitive and accurate assessment of disease progression. The use of hyperpolarized gas or non-contrast enhanced MRI can be tailored to clinical needs. While MRI offers significant promise it still suffers from poor spatial resolution and the development of an objective scoring system especially for ventilation assessment.

Color image definition evaluation method based on deep learning method

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Di; Li, YingChun

2018-01-01

In order to evaluate different blurring levels of color image and improve the method of image definition evaluation, this paper proposed a method based on the depth learning framework and BP neural network classification model, and presents a non-reference color image clarity evaluation method. Firstly, using VGG16 net as the feature extractor to extract 4,096 dimensions features of the images, then the extracted features and labeled images are employed in BP neural network to train. And finally achieve the color image definition evaluation. The method in this paper are experimented by using images from the CSIQ database. The images are blurred at different levels. There are 4,000 images after the processing. Dividing the 4,000 images into three categories, each category represents a blur level. 300 out of 400 high-dimensional features are trained in VGG16 net and BP neural network, and the rest of 100 samples are tested. The experimental results show that the method can take full advantage of the learning and characterization capability of deep learning. Referring to the current shortcomings of the major existing image clarity evaluation methods, which manually design and extract features. The method in this paper can extract the images features automatically, and has got excellent image quality classification accuracy for the test data set. The accuracy rate is 96%. Moreover, the predicted quality levels of original color images are similar to the perception of the human visual system.

A frequency domain radar interferometric imaging (FII) technique based on high-resolution methods

Science.gov (United States)

Luce, H.; Yamamoto, M.; Fukao, S.; Helal, D.; Crochet, M.

2001-01-01

In the present work, we propose a frequency-domain interferometric imaging (FII) technique for a better knowledge of the vertical distribution of the atmospheric scatterers detected by MST radars. This is an extension of the dual frequency-domain interferometry (FDI) technique to multiple frequencies. Its objective is to reduce the ambiguity (resulting from the use of only two adjacent frequencies), inherent with the FDI technique. Different methods, commonly used in antenna array processing, are first described within the context of application to the FII technique. These methods are the Fourier-based imaging, the Capon's and the singular value decomposition method used with the MUSIC algorithm. Some preliminary simulations and tests performed on data collected with the middle and upper atmosphere (MU) radar (Shigaraki, Japan) are also presented. This work is a first step in the developments of the FII technique which seems to be very promising.

Three-dimensional imaging technology offers promise in medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Karako, Kenji; Wu, Qiong; Gao, Jianjun

2014-04-01

Medical imaging plays an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Currently, medical equipment mainly has two-dimensional (2D) imaging systems. Although this conventional imaging largely satisfies clinical requirements, it cannot depict pathologic changes in 3 dimensions. The development of three-dimensional (3D) imaging technology has encouraged advances in medical imaging. Three-dimensional imaging technology offers doctors much more information on a pathology than 2D imaging, thus significantly improving diagnostic capability and the quality of treatment. Moreover, the combination of 3D imaging with augmented reality significantly improves surgical navigation process. The advantages of 3D imaging technology have made it an important component of technological progress in the field of medical imaging.

7 T renal MRI: challenges and promises.

Science.gov (United States)

de Boer, Anneloes; Hoogduin, Johannes M; Blankestijn, Peter J; Li, Xiufeng; Luijten, Peter R; Metzger, Gregory J; Raaijmakers, Alexander J E; Umutlu, Lale; Visser, Fredy; Leiner, Tim

2016-06-01

The progression to 7 Tesla (7 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) yields promises of substantial increase in signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. This increase can be traded off to increase image spatial resolution or to decrease acquisition time. However, renal 7 T MRI remains challenging due to inhomogeneity of the radiofrequency field and due to specific absorption rate (SAR) constraints. A number of studies has been published in the field of renal 7 T imaging. While the focus initially was on anatomic imaging and renal MR angiography, later studies have explored renal functional imaging. Although anatomic imaging remains somewhat limited by inhomogeneous excitation and SAR constraints, functional imaging results are promising. The increased SNR at 7 T has been particularly advantageous for blood oxygen level-dependent and arterial spin labelling MRI, as well as sodium MR imaging, thanks to changes in field-strength-dependent magnetic properties. Here, we provide an overview of the currently available literature on renal 7 T MRI. In addition, we provide a brief overview of challenges and opportunities in renal 7 T MR imaging.

Optimized computational imaging methods for small-target sensing in lens-free holographic microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Zhen; Engle, Isaiah; Garan, Jacob; Melzer, Jeffrey E.; McLeod, Euan

2018-02-01

Lens-free holographic microscopy is a promising diagnostic approach because it is cost-effective, compact, and suitable for point-of-care applications, while providing high resolution together with an ultra-large field-of-view. It has been applied to biomedical sensing, where larger targets like eukaryotic cells, bacteria, or viruses can be directly imaged without labels, and smaller targets like proteins or DNA strands can be detected via scattering labels like micro- or nano-spheres. Automated image processing routines can count objects and infer target concentrations. In these sensing applications, sensitivity and specificity are critically affected by image resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Pixel super-resolution approaches have been shown to boost resolution and SNR by synthesizing a high-resolution image from multiple, partially redundant, low-resolution images. However, there are several computational methods that can be used to synthesize the high-resolution image, and previously, it has been unclear which methods work best for the particular case of small-particle sensing. Here, we quantify the SNR achieved in small-particle sensing using regularized gradient-descent optimization method, where the regularization is based on cardinal-neighbor differences, Bayer-pattern noise reduction, or sparsity in the image. In particular, we find that gradient-descent with sparsity-based regularization works best for small-particle sensing. These computational approaches were evaluated on images acquired using a lens-free microscope that we assembled from an off-the-shelf LED array and color image sensor. Compared to other lens-free imaging systems, our hardware integration, calibration, and sample preparation are particularly simple. We believe our results will help to enable the best performance in lens-free holographic sensing.

Dual-force ISOMAP: a new relevance feedback method for medical image retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Hualei; Tao, Dacheng; Ma, Dianfu

2013-01-01

With great potential for assisting radiological image interpretation and decision making, content-based image retrieval in the medical domain has become a hot topic in recent years. Many methods to enhance the performance of content-based medical image retrieval have been proposed, among which the relevance feedback (RF) scheme is one of the most promising. Given user feedback information, RF algorithms interactively learn a user's preferences to bridge the "semantic gap" between low-level computerized visual features and high-level human semantic perception and thus improve retrieval performance. However, most existing RF algorithms perform in the original high-dimensional feature space and ignore the manifold structure of the low-level visual features of images. In this paper, we propose a new method, termed dual-force ISOMAP (DFISOMAP), for content-based medical image retrieval. Under the assumption that medical images lie on a low-dimensional manifold embedded in a high-dimensional ambient space, DFISOMAP operates in the following three stages. First, the geometric structure of positive examples in the learned low-dimensional embedding is preserved according to the isometric feature mapping (ISOMAP) criterion. To precisely model the geometric structure, a reconstruction error constraint is also added. Second, the average distance between positive and negative examples is maximized to separate them; this margin maximization acts as a force that pushes negative examples far away from positive examples. Finally, the similarity propagation technique is utilized to provide negative examples with another force that will pull them back into the negative sample set. We evaluate the proposed method on a subset of the IRMA medical image dataset with a RF-based medical image retrieval framework. Experimental results show that DFISOMAP outperforms popular approaches for content-based medical image retrieval in terms of accuracy and stability.

Clinical PET/CT imaging. Promises and misconceptions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Czernin, J.; Auerbach, M.A.

2005-01-01

PET/CT is now established as the most important imaging tool in oncology. PET/CT stages and restages cancer with a higher accuracy than PET or CT alone. The sometimes irrational approach to combine state of the art PET with the highest end CT devices should give way to a more reasonable equipment design tailored towards the specific clinical indications in well-defined patient populations. The continuing success of molecular PET/CT now depends more upon advances in molecular imaging with the introduction of targeted imaging probes for individualized therapy approaches in cancer patients and less upon technological advances of imaging equipment. (orig.)

Swept-frequency feedback interferometry using terahertz frequency QCLs: a method for imaging and materials analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rakić, Aleksandar D; Taimre, Thomas; Bertling, Karl; Lim, Yah Leng; Dean, Paul; Indjin, Dragan; Ikonić, Zoran; Harrison, Paul; Valavanis, Alexander; Khanna, Suraj P; Lachab, Mohammad; Wilson, Stephen J; Linfield, Edmund H; Davies, A Giles

2013-09-23

The terahertz (THz) frequency quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a compact source of high-power radiation with a narrow intrinsic linewidth. As such, THz QCLs are extremely promising sources for applications including high-resolution spectroscopy, heterodyne detection, and coherent imaging. We exploit the remarkable phase-stability of THz QCLs to create a coherent swept-frequency delayed self-homodyning method for both imaging and materials analysis, using laser feedback interferometry. Using our scheme we obtain amplitude-like and phase-like images with minimal signal processing. We determine the physical relationship between the operating parameters of the laser under feedback and the complex refractive index of the target and demonstrate that this coherent detection method enables extraction of complex refractive indices with high accuracy. This establishes an ultimately compact and easy-to-implement THz imaging and materials analysis system, in which the local oscillator, mixer, and detector are all combined into a single laser.

99mTc-thymine scintigraphy may be a promising method in the diagnosis of breast cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Pires Ribeiro

2013-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Mammography has been established as the gold standard for the detection of breast cancer, and imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, scintigraphy and positron emission tomography may be useful to improve its sensitivity and specificity. The objective of this study with breast scintigraphy was to evaluate the uptake of 99mTc-thymine in mammary lesions. METHODS: A total of 45 patients were included in this study. Thirty-three patients (73% were subjected to surgery or percutaneous biopsy, providing histopathological data. The other 12 patients who remained under surveillance received clinical examinations and biannual mammography with a normal follow-up of at least three years, the data from which were used for comparison with the scintimammography results. RESULTS: The majority of patients (64.4% had clinically impalpable lesions with a mammogram diagnosis of microcalcifications, impalpable nodules, or focal asymmetry. Of the studied lesions, 87% were smaller or equal to 20 mm in diameter, and 22% had malignant histopathological findings. Scintigraphy with 99mTc-thymine had a sensitivity of 70%, a specificity of 85.7%, positive and negative predictive values of 58.3% and 90.9%, respectively, and an accuracy of 82.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are consistent with those previously reported by other authors. The good specificity and high negative predictive value of this technique and the absence of uptake in the heart indicate that it may be a promising complementary method in clinical practice and that it may contribute to reducing unnecessary benign biopsies.

99mTc-thymine scintigraphy may be a promising method in the diagnosis of breast cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ribeiro, Monica Pires; Souza, Sergio Augusto Lopes de; Lopes, Flavia Paiva Proenca Lobo; Rosado-de-Castro, Paulo Henrique; Fonseca, Lea Mirian Barbosa da; Gutfilen, Bianca

2013-01-01

Objective: Mammography has been established as the gold standard for the detection of breast cancer, and imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, scintigraphy and positron emission tomography may be useful to improve its sensitivity and specificity. The objective of this study with breast scintigraphy was to evaluate the uptake of 99m Tc-thymine in mammary lesions. Methods: A total of 45 patients were included in this study. Thirty-three patients (73%) were subjected to surgery or percutaneous biopsy, providing histopathological data. The other 12 patients who remained under surveillance received clinical examinations and biannual mammography with a normal follow-up of at least three years, the data from which were used for comparison with the scintimammography results. Results: The majority of patients (64.4%) had clinically impalpable lesions with a mammogram diagnosis of microcalcifications, impalpable nodules, or focal asymmetry. Of the studied lesions, 87% were smaller or equal to 20 mm in diameter, and 22% had malignant histopathological findings. Scintigraphy with 99m Tc-thymine had a sensitivity of 70%, a specificity of 85.7%, positive and negative predictive values of 58.3% and 90.9%, respectively, and an accuracy of 82.2%. Conclusions: The results of this study are consistent with those previously reported by other authors. The good specificity and high negative predictive value of this technique and the absence of uptake in the heart indicate that it may be a promising complementary method in clinical practice and that it may contribute to reducing unnecessary benign biopsies. (author)

99mTc-thymine scintigraphy may be a promising method in the diagnosis of breast cancer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ribeiro, Monica Pires; Souza, Sergio Augusto Lopes de; Lopes, Flavia Paiva Proenca Lobo; Rosado-de-Castro, Paulo Henrique; Fonseca, Lea Mirian Barbosa da; Gutfilen, Bianca [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Faculdade de Medicina. Hospital Universitario Clementino Fraga Filho, Departamento de Radiologia

2013-05-01

Objective: Mammography has been established as the gold standard for the detection of breast cancer, and imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, scintigraphy and positron emission tomography may be useful to improve its sensitivity and specificity. The objective of this study with breast scintigraphy was to evaluate the uptake of {sup 99m}Tc-thymine in mammary lesions. Methods: A total of 45 patients were included in this study. Thirty-three patients (73%) were subjected to surgery or percutaneous biopsy, providing histopathological data. The other 12 patients who remained under surveillance received clinical examinations and biannual mammography with a normal follow-up of at least three years, the data from which were used for comparison with the scintimammography results. Results: The majority of patients (64.4%) had clinically impalpable lesions with a mammogram diagnosis of microcalcifications, impalpable nodules, or focal asymmetry. Of the studied lesions, 87% were smaller or equal to 20 mm in diameter, and 22% had malignant histopathological findings. Scintigraphy with {sup 99m}Tc-thymine had a sensitivity of 70%, a specificity of 85.7%, positive and negative predictive values of 58.3% and 90.9%, respectively, and an accuracy of 82.2%. Conclusions: The results of this study are consistent with those previously reported by other authors. The good specificity and high negative predictive value of this technique and the absence of uptake in the heart indicate that it may be a promising complementary method in clinical practice and that it may contribute to reducing unnecessary benign biopsies. (author)

Myocardial perfusion magnetic resonance imaging using sliding-window conjugate-gradient HYPR methods in canine with stenotic coronary arteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Lan; Kino, Aya; Lee, Daniel; Dharmakumar, Rohan; Carr, James C; Li, Debiao

2010-01-01

First-pass perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a promising technique for detecting ischemic heart disease. However, the diagnostic value of the method is limited by the low spatial coverage, resolution, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and cardiac motion-related image artifacts. A combination of sliding window and conjugate-gradient HighlY constrained back-PRojection reconstruction (SW-CG-HYPR) method has been proposed in healthy volunteer studies to reduce the acquisition window for each slice while maintaining the temporal resolution of 1 frame per heartbeat in myocardial perfusion MRI. This method allows for improved spatial coverage, resolution, and SNR. In this study, we use a controlled animal model to test whether the myocardial territory supplied by a stenotic coronary artery can be detected accurately by SW-CG-HYPR perfusion method under pharmacological stress. Results from 6 mongrel dogs (15-25 kg) studies demonstrate the feasibility of SW-CG-HYPR to detect regional perfusion defects. Using this method, the acquisition time per cardiac cycle was reduced by a factor of 4, and the spatial coverage was increased from 2 to 3 slices to 6 slices as compared with the conventional techniques including both turbo-Fast Low Angle Short (FLASH) and echoplanar imaging (EPI). The SNR of the healthy myocardium at peak enhancement with SW-CG-HYPR (12.68 ± 2.46) is significantly higher (P < 0.01) than the turbo-FLASH (8.65 ± 1.93) and EPI (5.48 ± 1.24). The spatial resolution of SW-CG-HYPR images is 1.2 × 1.2 × 8.0 mm, which is better than the turbo-FLASH (1.8 × 1.8 × 8.0 mm) and EPI (2.0 × 1.8 × 8.0 mm). Sliding-window CG-HYPR is a promising technique for myocardial perfusion MRI. This technique provides higher image quality with respect to significantly improved SNR and spatial resolution of the myocardial perfusion images, which might improve myocardial perfusion imaging in a clinical setting.

Methods for evaluating imaging methods of limited reproducibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krummenauer, F.

2005-01-01

Just like new drugs, new or modified imaging methods must be subjected to objective clinical tests, including tests on humans. In this, it must be ensured that the principle of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) are followed with regard to medical, administrative and methodical quality. Innovative methods fo clinical epidemiology and medical biometry should be applied from the planning stage to the final statistical evaluation. The author presents established and new methods for planning, evaluation and reporting of clinical tests of diagnostic methods, and especially imaging methods, in clinical medicine and illustrates these by means of current research projects in the various medical disciplines. The strategies presented are summarized in a recommendation based on the concept of phases I - IV of clinical drug testing in order to enable standardisation of the clinical evaluation of imaging methods. (orig.)

Segment and fit thresholding: a new method for image analysis applied to microarray and immunofluorescence data.

Science.gov (United States)

Ensink, Elliot; Sinha, Jessica; Sinha, Arkadeep; Tang, Huiyuan; Calderone, Heather M; Hostetter, Galen; Winter, Jordan; Cherba, David; Brand, Randall E; Allen, Peter J; Sempere, Lorenzo F; Haab, Brian B

2015-10-06

Experiments involving the high-throughput quantification of image data require algorithms for automation. A challenge in the development of such algorithms is to properly interpret signals over a broad range of image characteristics, without the need for manual adjustment of parameters. Here we present a new approach for locating signals in image data, called Segment and Fit Thresholding (SFT). The method assesses statistical characteristics of small segments of the image and determines the best-fit trends between the statistics. Based on the relationships, SFT identifies segments belonging to background regions; analyzes the background to determine optimal thresholds; and analyzes all segments to identify signal pixels. We optimized the initial settings for locating background and signal in antibody microarray and immunofluorescence data and found that SFT performed well over multiple, diverse image characteristics without readjustment of settings. When used for the automated analysis of multicolor, tissue-microarray images, SFT correctly found the overlap of markers with known subcellular localization, and it performed better than a fixed threshold and Otsu's method for selected images. SFT promises to advance the goal of full automation in image analysis.

Breast EIT using a new projected image reconstruction method with multi-frequency measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eunjung; Ts, Munkh-Erdene; Seo, Jin Keun; Woo, Eung Je

2012-05-01

We propose a new method to produce admittivity images of the breast for the diagnosis of breast cancer using electrical impedance tomography(EIT). Considering the anatomical structure of the breast, we designed an electrode configuration where current-injection and voltage-sensing electrodes are separated in such a way that internal current pathways are approximately along the tangential direction of an array of voltage-sensing electrodes. Unlike conventional EIT imaging methods where the number of injected currents is maximized to increase the total amount of measured data, current is injected only twice between two pairs of current-injection electrodes attached along the circumferential side of the breast. For each current injection, the induced voltages are measured from the front surface of the breast using as many voltage-sensing electrodes as possible. Although this electrode configurational lows us to measure induced voltages only on the front surface of the breast,they are more sensitive to an anomaly inside the breast since such an injected current tends to produce a more uniform internal current density distribution. Furthermore, the sensitivity of a measured boundary voltage between two equipotential lines on the front surface of the breast is improved since those equipotential lines are perpendicular to the primary direction of internal current streamlines. One should note that this novel data collection method is different from those of other frontal plane techniques such as the x-ray projection and T-scan imaging methods because we do not get any data on the plane that is perpendicular to the current flow. To reconstruct admittivity images using two measured voltage data sets, a new projected image reconstruction algorithm is developed. Numerical simulations demonstrate the frequency-difference EIT imaging of the breast. The results show that the new method is promising to accurately detect and localize small anomalies inside the breast.

Breast EIT using a new projected image reconstruction method with multi-frequency measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Eunjung; Ts, Munkh-Erdene; Seo, Jin Keun; Woo, Eung Je

2012-01-01

We propose a new method to produce admittivity images of the breast for the diagnosis of breast cancer using electrical impedance tomography (EIT). Considering the anatomical structure of the breast, we designed an electrode configuration where current-injection and voltage-sensing electrodes are separated in such a way that internal current pathways are approximately along the tangential direction of an array of voltage-sensing electrodes. Unlike conventional EIT imaging methods where the number of injected currents is maximized to increase the total amount of measured data, current is injected only twice between two pairs of current-injection electrodes attached along the circumferential side of the breast. For each current injection, the induced voltages are measured from the front surface of the breast using as many voltage-sensing electrodes as possible. Although this electrode configuration allows us to measure induced voltages only on the front surface of the breast, they are more sensitive to an anomaly inside the breast since such an injected current tends to produce a more uniform internal current density distribution. Furthermore, the sensitivity of a measured boundary voltage between two equipotential lines on the front surface of the breast is improved since those equipotential lines are perpendicular to the primary direction of internal current streamlines. One should note that this novel data collection method is different from those of other frontal plane techniques such as the x-ray projection and T-scan imaging methods because we do not get any data on the plane that is perpendicular to the current flow. To reconstruct admittivity images using two measured voltage data sets, a new projected image reconstruction algorithm is developed. Numerical simulations demonstrate the frequency-difference EIT imaging of the breast. The results show that the new method is promising to accurately detect and localize small anomalies inside the breast. (paper)

Image splitting and remapping method for radiological image compression

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Shih-Chung B.; Shen, Ellen L.; Mun, Seong K.

1990-07-01

A new decomposition method using image splitting and gray-level remapping has been proposed for image compression, particularly for images with high contrast resolution. The effects of this method are especially evident in our radiological image compression study. In our experiments, we tested the impact of this decomposition method on image compression by employing it with two coding techniques on a set of clinically used CT images and several laser film digitized chest radiographs. One of the compression techniques used was full-frame bit-allocation in the discrete cosine transform domain, which has been proven to be an effective technique for radiological image compression. The other compression technique used was vector quantization with pruned tree-structured encoding, which through recent research has also been found to produce a low mean-square-error and a high compression ratio. The parameters we used in this study were mean-square-error and the bit rate required for the compressed file. In addition to these parameters, the difference between the original and reconstructed images will be presented so that the specific artifacts generated by both techniques can be discerned by visual perception.

Methods of digital image processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doeler, W.

1985-01-01

Increasing use of computerized methods for diagnostical imaging of radiological problems will open up a wide field of applications for digital image processing. The requirements set by routine diagnostics in medical radiology point to picture data storage and documentation and communication as the main points of interest for application of digital image processing. As to the purely radiological problems, the value of digital image processing is to be sought in the improved interpretability of the image information in those cases where the expert's experience and image interpretation by human visual capacities do not suffice. There are many other domains of imaging in medical physics where digital image processing and evaluation is very useful. The paper reviews the various methods available for a variety of problem solutions, and explains the hardware available for the tasks discussed. (orig.) [de

Image registration method for medical image sequences

Science.gov (United States)

Gee, Timothy F.; Goddard, James S.

2013-03-26

Image registration of low contrast image sequences is provided. In one aspect, a desired region of an image is automatically segmented and only the desired region is registered. Active contours and adaptive thresholding of intensity or edge information may be used to segment the desired regions. A transform function is defined to register the segmented region, and sub-pixel information may be determined using one or more interpolation methods.

Twin-Foucault imaging method

Science.gov (United States)

Harada, Ken

2012-02-01

A method of Lorentz electron microscopy, which enables observation two Foucault images simultaneously by using an electron biprism instead of an objective aperture, was developed. The electron biprism is installed between two electron beams deflected by 180° magnetic domains. Potential applied to the biprism deflects the two electron beams further, and two Foucault images with reversed contrast are then obtained in one visual field. The twin Foucault images are able to extract the magnetic domain structures and to reconstruct an ordinary electron micrograph. The developed Foucault method was demonstrated with a 180° domain structure of manganite La0.825Sr0.175MnO3.

Advances and Perspectives in Chemical Imaging in Cellular Environments Using Electrochemical Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert A. Lazenby

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This review discusses a broad range of recent advances (2013–2017 in chemical imaging using electrochemical methods, with a particular focus on techniques that have been applied to study cellular processes, or techniques that show promise for use in this field in the future. Non-scanning techniques such as microelectrode arrays (MEAs offer high time-resolution (<10 ms imaging; however, at reduced spatial resolution. In contrast, scanning electrochemical probe microscopies (SEPMs offer higher spatial resolution (as low as a few nm per pixel imaging, with images collected typically over many minutes. Recent significant research efforts to improve the spatial resolution of SEPMs using nanoscale probes and to improve the temporal resolution using fast scanning have resulted in movie (multiple frame imaging with frame rates as low as a few seconds per image. Many SEPM techniques lack chemical specificity or have poor selectivity (defined by the choice of applied potential for redox-active species. This can be improved using multifunctional probes, ion-selective electrodes and tip-integrated biosensors, although additional effort may be required to preserve sensor performance after miniaturization of these probes. We discuss advances to the field of electrochemical imaging, and technological developments which are anticipated to extend the range of processes that can be studied. This includes imaging cellular processes with increased sensor selectivity and at much improved spatiotemporal resolution than has been previously customary.

Haemodynamic imaging of thoracic stent-grafts by computational fluid dynamics (CFD): presentation of a patient-specific method combining magnetic resonance imaging and numerical simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Midulla, Marco; Moreno, Ramiro; Baali, Adil; Chau, Ming; Negre-Salvayre, Anne; Nicoud, Franck; Pruvo, Jean-Pierre; Haulon, Stephan; Rousseau, Hervé

2012-10-01

In the last decade, there was been increasing interest in finding imaging techniques able to provide a functional vascular imaging of the thoracic aorta. The purpose of this paper is to present an imaging method combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to obtain a patient-specific haemodynamic analysis of patients treated by thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). MRI was used to obtain boundary conditions. MR angiography (MRA) was followed by cardiac-gated cine sequences which covered the whole thoracic aorta. Phase contrast imaging provided the inlet and outlet profiles. A CFD mesh generator was used to model the arterial morphology, and wall movements were imposed according to the cine imaging. CFD runs were processed using the finite volume (FV) method assuming blood as a homogeneous Newtonian fluid. Twenty patients (14 men; mean age 62.2 years) with different aortic lesions were evaluated. Four-dimensional mapping of velocity and wall shear stress were obtained, depicting different patterns of flow (laminar, turbulent, stenosis-like) and local alterations of parietal stress in-stent and along the native aorta. A computational method using a combined approach with MRI appears feasible and seems promising to provide detailed functional analysis of thoracic aorta after stent-graft implantation. • Functional vascular imaging of the thoracic aorta offers new diagnostic opportunities • CFD can model vascular haemodynamics for clinical aortic problems • Combining CFD with MRI offers patient specific method of aortic analysis • Haemodynamic analysis of stent-grafts could improve clinical management and follow-up.

Methods in Astronomical Image Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Jörsäter, S.

A Brief Introductory Note History of Astronomical Imaging Astronomical Image Data Images in Various Formats Digitized Image Data Digital Image Data Philosophy of Astronomical Image Processing Properties of Digital Astronomical Images Human Image Processing Astronomical vs. Computer Science Image Processing Basic Tools of Astronomical Image Processing Display Applications Calibration of Intensity Scales Calibration of Length Scales Image Re-shaping Feature Enhancement Noise Suppression Noise and Error Analysis Image Processing Packages: Design of AIPS and MIDAS AIPS MIDAS Reduction of CCD Data Bias Subtraction Clipping Preflash Subtraction Dark Subtraction Flat Fielding Sky Subtraction Extinction Correction Deconvolution Methods Rebinning/Combining Summary and Prospects for the Future

Paediatric cardiac CT examinations: impact of the iterative reconstruction method ASIR on image quality--preliminary findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Miéville, Frédéric A; Gudinchet, François; Rizzo, Elena; Ou, Phalla; Brunelle, Francis; Bochud, François O; Verdun, Francis R

2011-09-01

Radiation dose exposure is of particular concern in children due to the possible harmful effects of ionizing radiation. The adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) method is a promising new technique that reduces image noise and produces better overall image quality compared with routine-dose contrast-enhanced methods. To assess the benefits of ASIR on the diagnostic image quality in paediatric cardiac CT examinations. Four paediatric radiologists based at two major hospitals evaluated ten low-dose paediatric cardiac examinations (80 kVp, CTDI(vol) 4.8-7.9 mGy, DLP 37.1-178.9 mGy·cm). The average age of the cohort studied was 2.6 years (range 1 day to 7 years). Acquisitions were performed on a 64-MDCT scanner. All images were reconstructed at various ASIR percentages (0-100%). For each examination, radiologists scored 19 anatomical structures using the relative visual grading analysis method. To estimate the potential for dose reduction, acquisitions were also performed on a Catphan phantom and a paediatric phantom. The best image quality for all clinical images was obtained with 20% and 40% ASIR (p ASIR above 50%, image quality significantly decreased (p ASIR, a strong noise-free appearance of the structures reduced image conspicuity. A potential for dose reduction of about 36% is predicted for a 2- to 3-year-old child when using 40% ASIR rather than the standard filtered back-projection method. Reconstruction including 20% to 40% ASIR slightly improved the conspicuity of various paediatric cardiac structures in newborns and children with respect to conventional reconstruction (filtered back-projection) alone.

WE-H-206-03: Promises and Challenges of Benchtop X-Ray Fluorescence CT (XFCT) for Quantitative in Vivo Imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, S.

2016-01-01

Lihong V. Wang: Photoacoustic tomography (PAT), combining non-ionizing optical and ultrasonic waves via the photoacoustic effect, provides in vivo multiscale functional, metabolic, and molecular imaging. Broad applications include imaging of the breast, brain, skin, esophagus, colon, vascular system, and lymphatic system in humans or animals. Light offers rich contrast but does not penetrate biological tissue in straight paths as x-rays do. Consequently, high-resolution pure optical imaging (e.g., confocal microscopy, two-photon microscopy, and optical coherence tomography) is limited to penetration within the optical diffusion limit (∼1 mm in the skin). Ultrasonic imaging, on the contrary, provides fine spatial resolution but suffers from both poor contrast in early-stage tumors and strong speckle artifacts. In PAT, pulsed laser light penetrates tissue and generates a small but rapid temperature rise, which induces emission of ultrasonic waves due to thermoelastic expansion. The ultrasonic waves, orders of magnitude less scattering than optical waves, are then detected to form high-resolution images of optical absorption at depths up to 7 cm, conquering the optical diffusion limit. PAT is the only modality capable of imaging across the length scales of organelles, cells, tissues, and organs (up to whole-body small animals) with consistent contrast. This rapidly growing technology promises to enable multiscale biological research and accelerate translation from microscopic laboratory discoveries to macroscopic clinical practice. PAT may also hold the key to label-free early detection of cancer by in vivo quantification of hypermetabolism, the quintessential hallmark of malignancy. Learning Objectives: To understand the contrast mechanism of PAT To understand the multiscale applications of PAT Benjamin M. W. Tsui: Multi-modality molecular imaging instrumentation and techniques have been major developments in small animal imaging that has contributed significantly

WE-H-206-03: Promises and Challenges of Benchtop X-Ray Fluorescence CT (XFCT) for Quantitative in Vivo Imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, S. [UT MD Anderson Cancer Center (United States)

2016-06-15

Lihong V. Wang: Photoacoustic tomography (PAT), combining non-ionizing optical and ultrasonic waves via the photoacoustic effect, provides in vivo multiscale functional, metabolic, and molecular imaging. Broad applications include imaging of the breast, brain, skin, esophagus, colon, vascular system, and lymphatic system in humans or animals. Light offers rich contrast but does not penetrate biological tissue in straight paths as x-rays do. Consequently, high-resolution pure optical imaging (e.g., confocal microscopy, two-photon microscopy, and optical coherence tomography) is limited to penetration within the optical diffusion limit (∼1 mm in the skin). Ultrasonic imaging, on the contrary, provides fine spatial resolution but suffers from both poor contrast in early-stage tumors and strong speckle artifacts. In PAT, pulsed laser light penetrates tissue and generates a small but rapid temperature rise, which induces emission of ultrasonic waves due to thermoelastic expansion. The ultrasonic waves, orders of magnitude less scattering than optical waves, are then detected to form high-resolution images of optical absorption at depths up to 7 cm, conquering the optical diffusion limit. PAT is the only modality capable of imaging across the length scales of organelles, cells, tissues, and organs (up to whole-body small animals) with consistent contrast. This rapidly growing technology promises to enable multiscale biological research and accelerate translation from microscopic laboratory discoveries to macroscopic clinical practice. PAT may also hold the key to label-free early detection of cancer by in vivo quantification of hypermetabolism, the quintessential hallmark of malignancy. Learning Objectives: To understand the contrast mechanism of PAT To understand the multiscale applications of PAT Benjamin M. W. Tsui: Multi-modality molecular imaging instrumentation and techniques have been major developments in small animal imaging that has contributed significantly

An overview of methods to mitigate artifacts in optical coherence tomography imaging of the skin.

Science.gov (United States)

Adabi, Saba; Fotouhi, Audrey; Xu, Qiuyun; Daveluy, Steve; Mehregan, Darius; Podoleanu, Adrian; Nasiriavanaki, Mohammadreza

2018-05-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) of skin delivers three-dimensional images of tissue microstructures. Although OCT imaging offers a promising high-resolution modality, OCT images suffer from some artifacts that lead to misinterpretation of tissue structures. Therefore, an overview of methods to mitigate artifacts in OCT imaging of the skin is of paramount importance. Speckle, intensity decay, and blurring are three major artifacts in OCT images. Speckle is due to the low coherent light source used in the configuration of OCT. Intensity decay is a deterioration of light with respect to depth, and blurring is the consequence of deficiencies of optical components. Two speckle reduction methods (one based on artificial neural network and one based on spatial compounding), an attenuation compensation algorithm (based on Beer-Lambert law) and a deblurring procedure (using deconvolution), are described. Moreover, optical properties extraction algorithm based on extended Huygens-Fresnel (EHF) principle to obtain some additional information from OCT images are discussed. In this short overview, we summarize some of the image enhancement algorithms for OCT images which address the abovementioned artifacts. The results showed a significant improvement in the visibility of the clinically relevant features in the images. The quality improvement was evaluated using several numerical assessment measures. Clinical dermatologists benefit from using these image enhancement algorithms to improve OCT diagnosis and essentially function as a noninvasive optical biopsy. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Digital image processing mathematical and computational methods

CERN Document Server

Blackledge, J M

2005-01-01

This authoritative text (the second part of a complete MSc course) provides mathematical methods required to describe images, image formation and different imaging systems, coupled with the principle techniques used for processing digital images. It is based on a course for postgraduates reading physics, electronic engineering, telecommunications engineering, information technology and computer science. This book relates the methods of processing and interpreting digital images to the 'physics' of imaging systems. Case studies reinforce the methods discussed, with examples of current research

7 T renal MRI : challenges and promises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Boer, A.; Hoogduin, J.M.; Blankestijn, P.J.; Li, X.; Luijten, P.R.; Metzger, G.J.; Raaijmakers, A.J.E.; Umutlu, L.; Visser, F.; Leiner, T.

The progression to 7 Tesla (7 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) yields promises of substantial increase in signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. This increase can be traded off to increase image spatial resolution or to decrease acquisition time. However, renal 7 T MRI remains challenging due to

Automated segmentation and isolation of touching cell nuclei in cytopathology smear images of pleural effusion using distance transform watershed method

Science.gov (United States)

Win, Khin Yadanar; Choomchuay, Somsak; Hamamoto, Kazuhiko

2017-06-01

The automated segmentation of cell nuclei is an essential stage in the quantitative image analysis of cell nuclei extracted from smear cytology images of pleural fluid. Cell nuclei can indicate cancer as the characteristics of cell nuclei are associated with cells proliferation and malignancy in term of size, shape and the stained color. Nevertheless, automatic nuclei segmentation has remained challenging due to the artifacts caused by slide preparation, nuclei heterogeneity such as the poor contrast, inconsistent stained color, the cells variation, and cells overlapping. In this paper, we proposed a watershed-based method that is capable to segment the nuclei of the variety of cells from cytology pleural fluid smear images. Firstly, the original image is preprocessed by converting into the grayscale image and enhancing by adjusting and equalizing the intensity using histogram equalization. Next, the cell nuclei are segmented using OTSU thresholding as the binary image. The undesirable artifacts are eliminated using morphological operations. Finally, the distance transform based watershed method is applied to isolate the touching and overlapping cell nuclei. The proposed method is tested with 25 Papanicolaou (Pap) stained pleural fluid images. The accuracy of our proposed method is 92%. The method is relatively simple, and the results are very promising.

Automated X-ray image analysis for cargo security: Critical review and future promise.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, Thomas W; Jaccard, Nicolas; Morton, Edward J; Griffin, Lewis D

2017-01-01

We review the relatively immature field of automated image analysis for X-ray cargo imagery. There is increasing demand for automated analysis methods that can assist in the inspection and selection of containers, due to the ever-growing volumes of traded cargo and the increasing concerns that customs- and security-related threats are being smuggled across borders by organised crime and terrorist networks. We split the field into the classical pipeline of image preprocessing and image understanding. Preprocessing includes: image manipulation; quality improvement; Threat Image Projection (TIP); and material discrimination and segmentation. Image understanding includes: Automated Threat Detection (ATD); and Automated Contents Verification (ACV). We identify several gaps in the literature that need to be addressed and propose ideas for future research. Where the current literature is sparse we borrow from the single-view, multi-view, and CT X-ray baggage domains, which have some characteristics in common with X-ray cargo.

An Image Registration Method for Colposcopic Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Efrén Mezura-Montes

2013-01-01

sequence and a division of such image into small windows. A search process is then carried out to find the window with the highest affinity in each image of the sequence and replace it with the window in the reference image. The affinity value is based on polynomial approximation of the time series computed and the search is bounded by a search radius which defines the neighborhood of each window. The proposed approach is tested in ten 310-frame real cases in two experiments: the first one to determine the best values for the window size and the search radius and the second one to compare the best obtained results with respect to four registration methods found in the specialized literature. The obtained results show a robust and competitive performance of the proposed approach with a significant lower time with respect to the compared methods.

Paediatric cardiac CT examinations: impact of the iterative reconstruction method ASIR on image quality - preliminary findings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mieville, Frederic A.; Gudinchet, Francois; Rizzo, Elena; Ou, Phalla; Brunelle, Francis; Bochud, Francois O.; Verdun, Francis R.

2011-01-01

Radiation dose exposure is of particular concern in children due to the possible harmful effects of ionizing radiation. The adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) method is a promising new technique that reduces image noise and produces better overall image quality compared with routine-dose contrast-enhanced methods. To assess the benefits of ASIR on the diagnostic image quality in paediatric cardiac CT examinations. Four paediatric radiologists based at two major hospitals evaluated ten low-dose paediatric cardiac examinations (80 kVp, CTDI vol 4.8-7.9 mGy, DLP 37.1-178.9 mGy.cm). The average age of the cohort studied was 2.6 years (range 1 day to 7 years). Acquisitions were performed on a 64-MDCT scanner. All images were reconstructed at various ASIR percentages (0-100%). For each examination, radiologists scored 19 anatomical structures using the relative visual grading analysis method. To estimate the potential for dose reduction, acquisitions were also performed on a Catphan phantom and a paediatric phantom. The best image quality for all clinical images was obtained with 20% and 40% ASIR (p < 0.001) whereas with ASIR above 50%, image quality significantly decreased (p < 0.001). With 100% ASIR, a strong noise-free appearance of the structures reduced image conspicuity. A potential for dose reduction of about 36% is predicted for a 2- to 3-year-old child when using 40% ASIR rather than the standard filtered back-projection method. Reconstruction including 20% to 40% ASIR slightly improved the conspicuity of various paediatric cardiac structures in newborns and children with respect to conventional reconstruction (filtered back-projection) alone. (orig.)

Paediatric cardiac CT examinations: impact of the iterative reconstruction method ASIR on image quality - preliminary findings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mieville, Frederic A. [University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Institute of Radiation Physics, Lausanne (Switzerland); University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Institute of Radiation Physics - Medical Radiology, Lausanne (Switzerland); Gudinchet, Francois; Rizzo, Elena [University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Department of Radiology, Lausanne (Switzerland); Ou, Phalla; Brunelle, Francis [Necker Children' s Hospital, Department of Radiology, Paris (France); Bochud, Francois O.; Verdun, Francis R. [University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Institute of Radiation Physics, Lausanne (Switzerland)

2011-09-15

Radiation dose exposure is of particular concern in children due to the possible harmful effects of ionizing radiation. The adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) method is a promising new technique that reduces image noise and produces better overall image quality compared with routine-dose contrast-enhanced methods. To assess the benefits of ASIR on the diagnostic image quality in paediatric cardiac CT examinations. Four paediatric radiologists based at two major hospitals evaluated ten low-dose paediatric cardiac examinations (80 kVp, CTDI{sub vol} 4.8-7.9 mGy, DLP 37.1-178.9 mGy.cm). The average age of the cohort studied was 2.6 years (range 1 day to 7 years). Acquisitions were performed on a 64-MDCT scanner. All images were reconstructed at various ASIR percentages (0-100%). For each examination, radiologists scored 19 anatomical structures using the relative visual grading analysis method. To estimate the potential for dose reduction, acquisitions were also performed on a Catphan phantom and a paediatric phantom. The best image quality for all clinical images was obtained with 20% and 40% ASIR (p < 0.001) whereas with ASIR above 50%, image quality significantly decreased (p < 0.001). With 100% ASIR, a strong noise-free appearance of the structures reduced image conspicuity. A potential for dose reduction of about 36% is predicted for a 2- to 3-year-old child when using 40% ASIR rather than the standard filtered back-projection method. Reconstruction including 20% to 40% ASIR slightly improved the conspicuity of various paediatric cardiac structures in newborns and children with respect to conventional reconstruction (filtered back-projection) alone. (orig.)

Improved radionuclide bone imaging agent injection needle withdrawal method can improve image quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin Yongmei; Wang Laihao; Zhao Lihua; Guo Xiaogang; Kong Qingfeng

2009-01-01

Objective: To investigate the improvement of radionuclide bone imaging agent injection needle withdrawal method on whole body bone scan image quality. Methods: Elbow vein injection syringe needle directly into the bone imaging agent in the routine group of 117 cases, with a cotton swab needle injection method for the rapid pull out the needle puncture point pressing, pressing moment. Improvement of 117 cases of needle injection method to put two needles into the skin swabs and blood vessels, pull out the needle while pressing two or more entry point 5min. After 2 hours underwent whole body bone SPECT imaging plane. Results: The conventional group at the injection site imaging agents uptake rate was 16.24%, improved group was 2.56%. Conclusion: The modified bone imaging agent injection needle withdrawal method, injection-site imaging agent uptake were significantly decreased whole body bone imaging can improve image quality. (authors)

A method for visual inspection of welding by means of image processing of x-ray photograph

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koshimizu, Hiroyasu; Yoshida, Tohru.

1983-01-01

Computer image processing is becoming a helpful tool even in industrial inspections. A computerized method for welding visual inspection is proposed in this paper. This method is based on computer image processing of X-ray photograph of welding, in which the appearance information of weldments such as shape of weld bead really exists. Structural patterns are extracted at first and seven computer measures for inspection are calculated using those patterns. Software system for visual inspection is constructed based on these seven measures. It was experimentally made clear that this system can provide a performance of more than 0.85 correlation to human visual inspection. As a result, the visual inspection by computer using X-ray photograph became a promising tool to realize objectivity and quantitativity of welding inspection. Additionally, the consistency of the system, the possibility to reduce computing costs, and so on are discussed to improve the proposed method. (author)

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy as an imaging method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bomsdorf, H.; Imme, M.; Jensen, D.; Kunz, D.; Menhardt, W.; Ottenberg, K.; Roeschmann, P.; Schmidt, K.H.; Tschendel, O.; Wieland, J.

1990-01-01

An experimental Magnetic Resonance (MR) system with 4 tesla flux density was set up. For that purpose a data acquisition system and RF coils for resonance frequencies up to 170 MHz were developed. Methods for image guided spectroscopy as well as spectroscopic imaging focussing on the nuclei 1 H and 13 C were developed and tested on volunteers and selected patients. The advantages of the high field strength with respect to spectroscopic studies were demonstrated. Developments of a new fast imaging technique for the acquisition of scout images as well as a method for mapping and displaying the magnetic field inhomogeneity in-vivo represent contributions to the optimisation of the experimental procedure in spectroscopic studies. Investigations on the interaction of RF radiation with the exposed tissue allowed conclusions regarding the applicability of MR methods at high field strengths. Methods for display and processing of multi-dimensional spectroscopic imaging data sets were developed and existing methods for real-time image synthesis were extended. Results achieved in the field of computer aided analysis of MR images comprised new techniques for image background detection, contour detection and automatic image interpretation as well as knowledge bases for textural representation of medical knowledge for diagnosis. (orig.) With 82 refs., 3 tabs., 75 figs [de

Survey: interpolation methods for whole slide image processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Roszkowiak, L; Korzynska, A; Zak, J; Pijanowska, D; Swiderska-Chadaj, Z; Markiewicz, T

2017-02-01

Evaluating whole slide images of histological and cytological samples is used in pathology for diagnostics, grading and prognosis . It is often necessary to rescale whole slide images of a very large size. Image resizing is one of the most common applications of interpolation. We collect the advantages and drawbacks of nine interpolation methods, and as a result of our analysis, we try to select one interpolation method as the preferred solution. To compare the performance of interpolation methods, test images were scaled and then rescaled to the original size using the same algorithm. The modified image was compared to the original image in various aspects. The time needed for calculations and results of quantification performance on modified images were also compared. For evaluation purposes, we used four general test images and 12 specialized biological immunohistochemically stained tissue sample images. The purpose of this survey is to determine which method of interpolation is the best to resize whole slide images, so they can be further processed using quantification methods. As a result, the interpolation method has to be selected depending on the task involving whole slide images. © 2016 The Authors Journal of Microscopy © 2016 Royal Microscopical Society.

The promise of mixed-methods for advancing latino health research.

Science.gov (United States)

Apesoa-Varano, Ester Carolina; Hinton, Ladson

2013-09-01

Mixed-methods research in the social sciences has been conducted for quite some time. More recently, mixed-methods have become popular in health research, with the National Institutes of Health leading the impetus to fund studies that implement such an approach. The public health issues facing us today are great and they range from policy and other macro-level issues, to systems level problems to individuals' health behaviors. For Latinos, who are projected to become the largest minority group bearing a great deal of the burden of social inequality in the U.S., it is important to understand the deeply-rooted nature of these health disparities in order to close the gap in health outcomes. Mixed-methodology thus holds promise for advancing research on Latino heath by tackling health disparities from a variety of standpoints and approaches. The aim of this manuscript is to provide two examples of mixed methods research, each of which addresses a health topic of considerable importance to older Latinos and their families. These two examples will illustrate a) the complementary use of qualitative and quantitative methods to advance health of older Latinos in an area that is important from a public health perspective, and b) the "translation" of findings from observational studies (informed by social science and medicine) to the development and testing of interventions.

Method of assessing heterogeneity in images

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, Richard E.; Carson, James P.

2016-08-23

A method of assessing heterogeneity in images is disclosed. 3D images of an object are acquired. The acquired images may be filtered and masked. Iterative decomposition is performed on the masked images to obtain image subdivisions that are relatively homogeneous. Comparative analysis, such as variogram analysis or correlogram analysis, is performed of the decomposed images to determine spatial relationships between regions of the images that are relatively homogeneous.

A Study on the Improvement of Digital Periapical Images using Image Interpolation Methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Nam Kyu; Koh, Kwang Joon

1998-01-01

Image resampling is of particular interest in digital radiology. When resampling an image to a new set of coordinate, there appears blocking artifacts and image changes. To enhance image quality, interpolation algorithms have been used. Resampling is used to increase the number of points in an image to improve its appearance for display. The process of interpolation is fitting a continuous function to the discrete points in the digital image. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the seven interpolation functions when image resampling in digital periapical images. The images were obtained by Digora, CDR and scanning of Ektaspeed plus periapical radiograms on the dry skull and human subject. The subjects were exposed to intraoral X-ray machine at 60 kVp and 70 kVp with exposure time varying between 0.01 and 0.50 second. To determine which interpolation method would provide the better image, seven functions were compared ; (1) nearest neighbor (2) linear (3) non-linear (4) facet model (5) cubic convolution (6) cubic spline (7) gray segment expansion. And resampled images were compared in terms of SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) coefficient value. The obtained results were as follows ; 1. The highest SNR value (75.96 dB) was obtained with cubic convolution method and the lowest SNR value (72.44 dB) was obtained with facet model method among seven interpolation methods. 2. There were significant differences of SNR values among CDR, Digora and film scan (P 0.05). 4. There were significant differences of MTF coefficient values between linear interpolation method and the other six interpolation methods (P<0.05). 5. The speed of computation time was the fastest with nearest neighbor method and the slowest with non-linear method. 6. The better image was obtained with cubic convolution, cubic spline and gray segment method in ROC analysis. 7. The better sharpness of edge was obtained with gray segment expansion method

Digital image envelope: method and evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, H. K.; Cao, Fei; Zhou, Michael Z.; Mogel, Greg T.; Liu, Brent J.; Zhou, Xiaoqiang

2003-05-01

Health data security, characterized in terms of data privacy, authenticity, and integrity, is a vital issue when digital images and other patient information are transmitted through public networks in telehealth applications such as teleradiology. Mandates for ensuring health data security have been extensively discussed (for example The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA) and health informatics guidelines (such as the DICOM standard) are beginning to focus on issues of data continue to be published by organizing bodies in healthcare; however, there has not been a systematic method developed to ensure data security in medical imaging Because data privacy and authenticity are often managed primarily with firewall and password protection, we have focused our research and development on data integrity. We have developed a systematic method of ensuring medical image data integrity across public networks using the concept of the digital envelope. When a medical image is generated regardless of the modality, three processes are performed: the image signature is obtained, the DICOM image header is encrypted, and a digital envelope is formed by combining the signature and the encrypted header. The envelope is encrypted and embedded in the original image. This assures the security of both the image and the patient ID. The embedded image is encrypted again and transmitted across the network. The reverse process is performed at the receiving site. The result is two digital signatures, one from the original image before transmission, and second from the image after transmission. If the signatures are identical, there has been no alteration of the image. This paper concentrates in the method and evaluation of the digital image envelope.

Comparative analysis of different methods for image enhancement

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

吴笑峰; 胡仕刚; 赵瑾; 李志明; 李劲; 唐志军; 席在芳

2014-01-01

Image enhancement technology plays a very important role to improve image quality in image processing. By enhancing some information and restraining other information selectively, it can improve image visual effect. The objective of this work is to implement the image enhancement to gray scale images using different techniques. After the fundamental methods of image enhancement processing are demonstrated, image enhancement algorithms based on space and frequency domains are systematically investigated and compared. The advantage and defect of the above-mentioned algorithms are analyzed. The algorithms of wavelet based image enhancement are also deduced and generalized. Wavelet transform modulus maxima (WTMM) is a method for detecting the fractal dimension of a signal, it is well used for image enhancement. The image techniques are compared by using the mean (μ), standard deviation (s), mean square error (MSE) and PSNR (peak signal to noise ratio). A group of experimental results demonstrate that the image enhancement algorithm based on wavelet transform is effective for image de-noising and enhancement. Wavelet transform modulus maxima method is one of the best methods for image enhancement.

Computational methods for molecular imaging

CERN Document Server

Shi, Kuangyu; Li, Shuo

2015-01-01

This volume contains original submissions on the development and application of molecular imaging computing. The editors invited authors to submit high-quality contributions on a wide range of topics including, but not limited to: • Image Synthesis & Reconstruction of Emission Tomography (PET, SPECT) and other Molecular Imaging Modalities • Molecular Imaging Enhancement • Data Analysis of Clinical & Pre-clinical Molecular Imaging • Multi-Modal Image Processing (PET/CT, PET/MR, SPECT/CT, etc.) • Machine Learning and Data Mining in Molecular Imaging. Molecular imaging is an evolving clinical and research discipline enabling the visualization, characterization and quantification of biological processes taking place at the cellular and subcellular levels within intact living subjects. Computational methods play an important role in the development of molecular imaging, from image synthesis to data analysis and from clinical diagnosis to therapy individualization. This work will bring readers fro...

Promises and challenges for the implementation of computational medical imaging (radiomics) in oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Limkin, E J; Sun, R; Dercle, L; Zacharaki, E I; Robert, C; Reuzé, S; Schernberg, A; Paragios, N; Deutsch, E; Ferté, C

2017-06-01

Medical image processing and analysis (also known as Radiomics) is a rapidly growing discipline that maps digital medical images into quantitative data, with the end goal of generating imaging biomarkers as decision support tools for clinical practice. The use of imaging data from routine clinical work-up has tremendous potential in improving cancer care by heightening understanding of tumor biology and aiding in the implementation of precision medicine. As a noninvasive method of assessing the tumor and its microenvironment in their entirety, radiomics allows the evaluation and monitoring of tumor characteristics such as temporal and spatial heterogeneity. One can observe a rapid increase in the number of computational medical imaging publications-milestones that have highlighted the utility of imaging biomarkers in oncology. Nevertheless, the use of radiomics as clinical biomarkers still necessitates amelioration and standardization in order to achieve routine clinical adoption. This Review addresses the critical issues to ensure the proper development of radiomics as a biomarker and facilitate its implementation in clinical practice. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Image inpainting based on stacked autoencoders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shcherbakov, O; Batishcheva, V

2014-01-01

Recently we have proposed the algorithm for the problem of image inpaiting (filling in occluded or damaged parts of images). This algorithm was based on the criterion spectrum entropy and showed promising results despite of using hand-crafted representation of images. In this paper, we present a method for solving image inpaiting task based on learning some image representation. Some results are shown to illustrate quality of image reconstruction.

Dynamic PET Image reconstruction for parametric imaging using the HYPR kernel method

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, Benjamin; Qi, Jinyi; Badawi, Ramsey D.; Wang, Guobao

2017-03-01

Dynamic PET image reconstruction is a challenging problem because of the ill-conditioned nature of PET and the lowcounting statistics resulted from short time-frames in dynamic imaging. The kernel method for image reconstruction has been developed to improve image reconstruction of low-count PET data by incorporating prior information derived from high-count composite data. In contrast to most of the existing regularization-based methods, the kernel method embeds image prior information in the forward projection model and does not require an explicit regularization term in the reconstruction formula. Inspired by the existing highly constrained back-projection (HYPR) algorithm for dynamic PET image denoising, we propose in this work a new type of kernel that is simpler to implement and further improves the kernel-based dynamic PET image reconstruction. Our evaluation study using a physical phantom scan with synthetic FDG tracer kinetics has demonstrated that the new HYPR kernel-based reconstruction can achieve a better region-of-interest (ROI) bias versus standard deviation trade-off for dynamic PET parametric imaging than the post-reconstruction HYPR denoising method and the previously used nonlocal-means kernel.

Apparatus and method X-ray image processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

The invention relates to a method for X-ray image processing. The radiation passed through the object is transformed into an electric image signal from which the logarithmic value is determined and displayed by a display device. Its main objective is to provide a method and apparatus that renders X-ray images or X-ray subtraction images with strong reduction of stray radiation. (Auth.)

On an image reconstruction method for ECT

Science.gov (United States)

Sasamoto, Akira; Suzuki, Takayuki; Nishimura, Yoshihiro

2007-04-01

An image by Eddy Current Testing(ECT) is a blurred image to original flaw shape. In order to reconstruct fine flaw image, a new image reconstruction method has been proposed. This method is based on an assumption that a very simple relationship between measured data and source were described by a convolution of response function and flaw shape. This assumption leads to a simple inverse analysis method with deconvolution.In this method, Point Spread Function (PSF) and Line Spread Function(LSF) play a key role in deconvolution processing. This study proposes a simple data processing to determine PSF and LSF from ECT data of machined hole and line flaw. In order to verify its validity, ECT data for SUS316 plate(200x200x10mm) with artificial machined hole and notch flaw had been acquired by differential coil type sensors(produced by ZETEC Inc). Those data were analyzed by the proposed method. The proposed method restored sharp discrete multiple hole image from interfered data by multiple holes. Also the estimated width of line flaw has been much improved compared with original experimental data. Although proposed inverse analysis strategy is simple and easy to implement, its validity to holes and line flaw have been shown by many results that much finer image than original image have been reconstructed.

PREFACE: Anti-counterfeit Image Analysis Methods (A Special Session of ICSXII)

Science.gov (United States)

Javidi, B.; Fournel, T.

2007-06-01

The International Congress for Stereology is dedicated to theoretical and applied aspects of stochastic tools, image analysis and mathematical morphology. A special emphasis on `anti-counterfeit image analysis methods' has been given this year for the XIIth edition (ICSXII). Facing the economic and social threat of counterfeiting, this devoted session presents recent advances and original solutions in the field. A first group of methods are related to marks located either on the product (physical marks) or on the data (hidden information) to be protected. These methods concern laser fs 3D encoding and source separation for machine-readable identification, moiré and `guilloche' engraving for visual verification and watermarking. Machine-readable travel documents are well-suited examples introducing the second group of methods which are related to cryptography. Used in passports for data authentication and identification (of people), cryptography provides some powerful tools. Opto-digital processing allows some efficient implementations described in the papers and promising applications. We would like to thank the reviewers who have contributed to a session of high quality, and the authors for their fine and hard work. We would like to address some special thanks to the invited lecturers, namely Professor Roger Hersch and Dr Isaac Amidror for their survey of moiré methods, Prof. Serge Vaudenay for his survey of existing protocols concerning machine-readable travel documents, and Dr Elisabet Pérez-Cabré for her presentation on optical encryption for multifactor authentication. We also thank Professor Dominique Jeulin, President of the International Society for Stereology, Professor Michel Jourlin, President of the organizing committee of ICSXII, for their help and advice, and Mr Graham Douglas, the Publisher of Journal of Physics: Conference Series at IOP Publishing, for his efficiency. We hope that this collection of papers will be useful as a tool to further

A NEW IMAGE REGISTRATION METHOD FOR GREY IMAGES

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Nie Xuan; Zhao Rongchun; Jiang Zetao

2004-01-01

The proposed algorithm relies on a group of new formulas for calculating tangent slope so as to address angle feature of edge curves of image. It can utilize tangent angle features to estimate automatically and fully the rotation parameters of geometric transform and enable rough matching of images with huge rotation difference. After angle compensation, it can search for matching point sets by correlation criterion, then calculate parameters of affine transform, enable higher-precision emendation of rotation and transferring. Finally, it fulfills precise matching for images with relax-tense iteration method. Compared with the registration approach based on wavelet direction-angle features, the matching algorithm with tangent feature of image edge is more robust and realizes precise registration of various images. Furthermore, it is also helpful in graphics matching.

Enhancing the (MSLDIP) image steganographic method (ESLDIP method)

Science.gov (United States)

Seddik Saad, Al-hussien

2011-10-01

Message transmissions over the Internet still have data security problem. Therefore, secure and secret communication methods are needed for transmitting messages over the Internet. Cryptography scrambles the message so that it cannot be understood. However, it makes the message suspicious enough to attract eavesdropper's attention. Steganography hides the secret message within other innocuous-looking cover files (i.e. images, music and video files) so that it cannot be observed [1].The term steganography originates from the Greek root words "steganos'' and "graphein'' which literally mean "covered writing''. It is defined as the science that involves communicating secret data in an appropriate multimedia carrier, e.g., image, audio text and video files [3].Steganographic techniques allow one party to communicate information to another without a third party even knowing that the communication is occurring. The ways to deliver these "secret messages" vary greatly [3].Our proposed method called Enhanced SLDIP (ESLDIP). In which the maximmum hiding capacity (MHC) of proposed ESLDIP method is higher than the previously proposed MSLDIP methods and the PSNR of the ESLDIP method is higher than the MSLDIP PSNR values', which means that the image quality of the ESLDIP method will be better than MSLDIP method and the maximmum hiding capacity (MHC) also improved. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In section 2, steganography has been discussed; lingo, carriers and types. In section 3, related works are introduced. In section 4, the proposed method will be discussed in details. In section 5, the simulation results are given and Section 6 concludes the paper.

Numerical methods for image registration

CERN Document Server

Modersitzki, Jan

2003-01-01

Based on the author's lecture notes and research, this well-illustrated and comprehensive text is one of the first to provide an introduction to image registration with particular emphasis on numerical methods in medical imaging. Ideal for researchers in industry and academia, it is also a suitable study guide for graduate mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, medical physicists, and radiologists.Image registration is utilised whenever information obtained from different viewpoints needs to be combined or compared and unwanted distortion needs to be eliminated. For example, CCTV imag

Image restoration and processing methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daniell, G.J.

1984-01-01

This review will stress the importance of using image restoration techniques that deal with incomplete, inconsistent, and noisy data and do not introduce spurious features into the processed image. No single image is equally suitable for both the resolution of detail and the accurate measurement of intensities. A good general purpose technique is the maximum entropy method and the basis and use of this will be explained. (orig.)

Breast cancer imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Funke, M.; Villena, C.

2008-01-01

Advances in female breast imaging have substantially influenced the diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis of breast cancer in the past few years. Mammography using conventional or digital technique is considered the gold standard for the early detection of breast cancer. Other modalities such as breast ultrasound and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the breast play an important role in diagnostic imaging, staging, and follow-up of breast cancer. Percutaneous needle biopsy is a faster, less invasive, and more cost-effective method than surgical biopsy for verifying the histological diagnosis. New methods such as breast tomosynthesis, contrast-enhanced mammography, and positron emission tomography promise to further improve breast imaging. Further studies are mandatory to adapt these new methods to clinical needs and to evaluate their performance in clinical practice. (orig.) [de

Quantifying Neonatal Sucking Performance: Promise of New Methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Capilouto, Gilson J; Cunningham, Tommy J; Mullineaux, David R; Tamilia, Eleonora; Papadelis, Christos; Giannone, Peter J

2017-04-01

Neonatal feeding has been traditionally understudied so guidelines and evidence-based support for common feeding practices are limited. A major contributing factor to the paucity of evidence-based practice in this area has been the lack of simple-to-use, low-cost tools for monitoring sucking performance. We describe new methods for quantifying neonatal sucking performance that hold significant clinical and research promise. We present early results from an ongoing study investigating neonatal sucking as a marker of risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. We include quantitative measures of sucking performance to better understand how movement variability evolves during skill acquisition. Results showed the coefficient of variation of suck duration was significantly different between preterm neonates at high risk for developmental concerns (HRPT) and preterm neonates at low risk for developmental concerns (LRPT). For HRPT, results indicated the coefficient of variation of suck smoothness increased from initial feeding to discharge and remained significantly greater than healthy full-term newborns (FT) at discharge. There was no significant difference in our measures between FT and LRPT at discharge. Our findings highlight the need to include neonatal sucking assessment as part of routine clinical care in order to capture the relative risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes at discharge. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Double-compression method for biomedical images

Science.gov (United States)

Antonenko, Yevhenii A.; Mustetsov, Timofey N.; Hamdi, Rami R.; Małecka-Massalska, Teresa; Orshubekov, Nurbek; DzierŻak, RóŻa; Uvaysova, Svetlana

2017-08-01

This paper describes a double compression method (DCM) of biomedical images. A comparison of image compression factors in size JPEG, PNG and developed DCM was carried out. The main purpose of the DCM - compression of medical images while maintaining the key points that carry diagnostic information. To estimate the minimum compression factor an analysis of the coding of random noise image is presented.

Distributed MIMO-ISAR Sub-image Fusion Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gu Wenkun

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The fast fluctuation associated with maneuvering a target’s radar cross-section often affects the imaging performance stability of traditional monostatic Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR. To address this problem, in this study, we propose an imaging method based on the fusion of sub-images of frequencydiversity-distributed multiple Input-Multiple Output-Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (MIMO-ISAR. First, we establish the analytic expression of a two-dimensional ISAR sub-image acquired by different channels of distributed MIMO-ISAR. Then, we derive the distance and azimuth distortion factors of the image acquired by the different channels. By compensating for the distortion of the ISAR image, we ultimately realize distributed MIMO-ISAR fusion imaging. Simulations verify the validity of this imaging method using distributed MIMO-ISAR.

A Fourier-based compressed sensing technique for accelerated CT image reconstruction using first-order methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Kihwan; Li, Ruijiang; Nam, Haewon; Xing, Lei

2014-01-01

As a solution to iterative CT image reconstruction, first-order methods are prominent for the large-scale capability and the fast convergence rate O(1/k 2 ). In practice, the CT system matrix with a large condition number may lead to slow convergence speed despite the theoretically promising upper bound. The aim of this study is to develop a Fourier-based scaling technique to enhance the convergence speed of first-order methods applied to CT image reconstruction. Instead of working in the projection domain, we transform the projection data and construct a data fidelity model in Fourier space. Inspired by the filtered backprojection formalism, the data are appropriately weighted in Fourier space. We formulate an optimization problem based on weighted least-squares in the Fourier space and total-variation (TV) regularization in image space for parallel-beam, fan-beam and cone-beam CT geometry. To achieve the maximum computational speed, the optimization problem is solved using a fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm with backtracking line search and GPU implementation of projection/backprojection. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through a series of digital simulation and experimental phantom studies. The results are compared with the existing TV regularized techniques based on statistics-based weighted least-squares as well as basic algebraic reconstruction technique. The proposed Fourier-based compressed sensing (CS) method significantly improves both the image quality and the convergence rate compared to the existing CS techniques. (paper)

A Fourier-based compressed sensing technique for accelerated CT image reconstruction using first-order methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Kihwan; Li, Ruijiang; Nam, Haewon; Xing, Lei

2014-06-21

As a solution to iterative CT image reconstruction, first-order methods are prominent for the large-scale capability and the fast convergence rate [Formula: see text]. In practice, the CT system matrix with a large condition number may lead to slow convergence speed despite the theoretically promising upper bound. The aim of this study is to develop a Fourier-based scaling technique to enhance the convergence speed of first-order methods applied to CT image reconstruction. Instead of working in the projection domain, we transform the projection data and construct a data fidelity model in Fourier space. Inspired by the filtered backprojection formalism, the data are appropriately weighted in Fourier space. We formulate an optimization problem based on weighted least-squares in the Fourier space and total-variation (TV) regularization in image space for parallel-beam, fan-beam and cone-beam CT geometry. To achieve the maximum computational speed, the optimization problem is solved using a fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm with backtracking line search and GPU implementation of projection/backprojection. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through a series of digital simulation and experimental phantom studies. The results are compared with the existing TV regularized techniques based on statistics-based weighted least-squares as well as basic algebraic reconstruction technique. The proposed Fourier-based compressed sensing (CS) method significantly improves both the image quality and the convergence rate compared to the existing CS techniques.

Separation method of heavy-ion particle image from gamma-ray mixed images using an imaging plate

CERN Document Server

Yamadera, A; Ohuchi, H; Nakamura, T; Fukumura, A

1999-01-01

We have developed a separation method of alpha-ray and gamma-ray images using the imaging plate (IP). The IP from which the first image was read out by an image reader was annealed at 50 deg. C for 2 h in a drying oven and the second image was read out by the image reader. It was found out that an annealing ratio, k, which is defined as a ratio of the photo-stimulated luminescence (PSL) density at the first measurement to that at the second measurement, was different for alpha rays and gamma rays. By subtracting the second image multiplied by a factor of k from the first image, the alpha-ray image was separated from the alpha and gamma-ray mixed images. This method was applied to identify the images of helium, carbon and neon particles of high energies using the heavy-ion medical accelerator, HIMAC. (author)

Wavelet imaging cleaning method for atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes

Science.gov (United States)

Lessard, R. W.; Cayón, L.; Sembroski, G. H.; Gaidos, J. A.

2002-07-01

We present a new method of image cleaning for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The method is based on the utilization of wavelets to identify noise pixels in images of gamma-ray and hadronic induced air showers. This method selects more signal pixels with Cherenkov photons than traditional image processing techniques. In addition, the method is equally efficient at rejecting pixels with noise alone. The inclusion of more signal pixels in an image of an air shower allows for a more accurate reconstruction, especially at lower gamma-ray energies that produce low levels of light. We present the results of Monte Carlo simulations of gamma-ray and hadronic air showers which show improved angular resolution using this cleaning procedure. Data from the Whipple Observatory's 10-m telescope are utilized to show the efficacy of the method for extracting a gamma-ray signal from the background of hadronic generated images.

Image change detection systems, methods, and articles of manufacture

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, James L.; Lassahn, Gordon D.; Lancaster, Gregory D.

2010-01-05

Aspects of the invention relate to image change detection systems, methods, and articles of manufacture. According to one aspect, a method of identifying differences between a plurality of images is described. The method includes loading a source image and a target image into memory of a computer, constructing source and target edge images from the source and target images to enable processing of multiband images, displaying the source and target images on a display device of the computer, aligning the source and target edge images, switching displaying of the source image and the target image on the display device, to enable identification of differences between the source image and the target image.

Handbook of mathematical methods in imaging

CERN Document Server

2015-01-01

The Handbook of Mathematical Methods in Imaging provides a comprehensive treatment of the mathematical techniques used in imaging science. The material is grouped into two central themes, namely, Inverse Problems (Algorithmic Reconstruction) and Signal and Image Processing. Each section within the themes covers applications (modeling), mathematics, numerical methods (using a case example) and open questions. Written by experts in the area, the presentation is mathematically rigorous. This expanded and revised second edition contains updates to existing chapters and 16 additional entries on important mathematical methods such as graph cuts, morphology, discrete geometry, PDEs, conformal methods, to name a few. The entries are cross-referenced for easy navigation through connected topics. Available in both print and electronic forms, the handbook is enhanced by more than 200 illustrations and an extended bibliography. It will benefit students, scientists and researchers in applied mathematics. Engineers and com...

Computational methods in molecular imaging technologies

CERN Document Server

Gunjan, Vinit Kumar; Venkatesh, C; Amarnath, M

2017-01-01

This book highlights the experimental investigations that have been carried out on magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography (MRI & CT) images using state-of-the-art Computational Image processing techniques, and tabulates the statistical values wherever necessary. In a very simple and straightforward way, it explains how image processing methods are used to improve the quality of medical images and facilitate analysis. It offers a valuable resource for researchers, engineers, medical doctors and bioinformatics experts alike.

[Multimodal medical image registration using cubic spline interpolation method].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Yuanlie; Tian, Lianfang; Chen, Ping; Wang, Lifei; Ye, Guangchun; Mao, Zongyuan

2007-12-01

Based on the characteristic of the PET-CT multimodal image series, a novel image registration and fusion method is proposed, in which the cubic spline interpolation method is applied to realize the interpolation of PET-CT image series, then registration is carried out by using mutual information algorithm and finally the improved principal component analysis method is used for the fusion of PET-CT multimodal images to enhance the visual effect of PET image, thus satisfied registration and fusion results are obtained. The cubic spline interpolation method is used for reconstruction to restore the missed information between image slices, which can compensate for the shortage of previous registration methods, improve the accuracy of the registration, and make the fused multimodal images more similar to the real image. Finally, the cubic spline interpolation method has been successfully applied in developing 3D-CRT (3D Conformal Radiation Therapy) system.

Methods of filtering the graph images of the functions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Олександр Григорович Бурса

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The theoretical aspects of cleaning raster images of scanned graphs of functions from digital, chromatic and luminance distortions by using computer graphics techniques have been considered. The basic types of distortions characteristic of graph images of functions have been stated. To suppress the distortion several methods, providing for high-quality of the resulting images and saving their topological features, were suggested. The paper describes the techniques developed and improved by the authors: the method of cleaning the image of distortions by means of iterative contrasting, based on the step-by-step increase in image contrast in the graph by 1%; the method of small entities distortion restoring, based on the thinning of the known matrix of contrast increase filter (the allowable dimensions of the nucleus dilution radius convolution matrix, which provide for the retention of the graph lines have been established; integration technique of the noise reduction method by means of contrasting and distortion restoring method of small entities with known σ-filter. Each method in the complex has been theoretically substantiated. The developed methods involve treatment of graph images as the entire image (global processing and its fragments (local processing. The metrics assessing the quality of the resulting image with the global and local processing have been chosen, the substantiation of the choice as well as the formulas have been given. The proposed complex methods of cleaning the graphs images of functions from grayscale image distortions is adaptive to the form of an image carrier, the distortion level in the image and its distribution. The presented results of testing the developed complex of methods for a representative sample of images confirm its effectiveness

INTEGRATED FUSION METHOD FOR MULTIPLE TEMPORAL-SPATIAL-SPECTRAL IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Shen

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Data fusion techniques have been widely researched and applied in remote sensing field. In this paper, an integrated fusion method for remotely sensed images is presented. Differently from the existed methods, the proposed method has the performance to integrate the complementary information in multiple temporal-spatial-spectral images. In order to represent and process the images in one unified framework, two general image observation models are firstly presented, and then the maximum a posteriori (MAP framework is used to set up the fusion model. The gradient descent method is employed to solve the fused image. The efficacy of the proposed method is validated using simulated images.

A method for digital image registration using a mathematical programming technique

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, S. S.

1973-01-01

A new algorithm based on a nonlinear programming technique to correct the geometrical distortions of one digital image with respect to another is discussed. This algorithm promises to be superior to existing ones in that it is capable of treating localized differential scaling, translational and rotational errors over the whole image plane. A series of piece-wise 'rubber-sheet' approximations are used, constrained in such a manner that a smooth approximation over the entire image can be obtained. The theoretical derivation is included. The result of using the algorithm to register four channel S065 Apollo IX digitized photography over Imperial Valley, California, is discussed in detail.

Imaging unsteady three-dimensional transport phenomena

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2014-01-05

Jan 5, 2014 ... The image data can be jointly analysed with the physical laws governing transport and principles of image formation. Hence, with the experiment suitably carried out, three-dimensional physical domains with unsteady processes can be accommodated. Optical methods promise to breach the holy grail of ...

Images Encryption Method using Steganographic LSB Method, AES and RSA algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Moumen, Abdelkader; Sissaoui, Hocine

2017-03-01

Vulnerability of communication of digital images is an extremely important issue nowadays, particularly when the images are communicated through insecure channels. To improve communication security, many cryptosystems have been presented in the image encryption literature. This paper proposes a novel image encryption technique based on an algorithm that is faster than current methods. The proposed algorithm eliminates the step in which the secrete key is shared during the encryption process. It is formulated based on the symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption and steganography theories. The image is encrypted using a symmetric algorithm, then, the secret key is encrypted by means of an asymmetrical algorithm and it is hidden in the ciphered image using a least significant bits steganographic scheme. The analysis results show that while enjoying the faster computation, our method performs close to optimal in terms of accuracy.

Structured sparse canonical correlation analysis for brain imaging genetics: an improved GraphNet method.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Lei; Huang, Heng; Yan, Jingwen; Kim, Sungeun; Risacher, Shannon L; Inlow, Mark; Moore, Jason H; Saykin, Andrew J; Shen, Li

2016-05-15

Structured sparse canonical correlation analysis (SCCA) models have been used to identify imaging genetic associations. These models either use group lasso or graph-guided fused lasso to conduct feature selection and feature grouping simultaneously. The group lasso based methods require prior knowledge to define the groups, which limits the capability when prior knowledge is incomplete or unavailable. The graph-guided methods overcome this drawback by using the sample correlation to define the constraint. However, they are sensitive to the sign of the sample correlation, which could introduce undesirable bias if the sign is wrongly estimated. We introduce a novel SCCA model with a new penalty, and develop an efficient optimization algorithm. Our method has a strong upper bound for the grouping effect for both positively and negatively correlated features. We show that our method performs better than or equally to three competing SCCA models on both synthetic and real data. In particular, our method identifies stronger canonical correlations and better canonical loading patterns, showing its promise for revealing interesting imaging genetic associations. The Matlab code and sample data are freely available at http://www.iu.edu/∼shenlab/tools/angscca/ shenli@iu.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A new method for mobile phone image denoising

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Lianghai; Jin, Min; Li, Xiang; Xu, Xiangyang

2015-12-01

Images captured by mobile phone cameras via pipeline processing usually contain various kinds of noises, especially granular noise with different shapes and sizes in both luminance and chrominance channels. In chrominance channels, noise is closely related to image brightness. To improve image quality, this paper presents a new method to denoise such mobile phone images. The proposed scheme converts the noisy RGB image to luminance and chrominance images, which are then denoised by a common filtering framework. The common filtering framework processes a noisy pixel by first excluding the neighborhood pixels that significantly deviate from the (vector) median and then utilizing the other neighborhood pixels to restore the current pixel. In the framework, the strength of chrominance image denoising is controlled by image brightness. The experimental results show that the proposed method obviously outperforms some other representative denoising methods in terms of both objective measure and visual evaluation.

A comparative study on medical image segmentation methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Praylin Selva Blessy SELVARAJ ASSLEY

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Image segmentation plays an important role in medical images. It has been a relevant research area in computer vision and image analysis. Many segmentation algorithms have been proposed for medical images. This paper makes a review on segmentation methods for medical images. In this survey, segmentation methods are divided into five categories: region based, boundary based, model based, hybrid based and atlas based. The five different categories with their principle ideas, advantages and disadvantages in segmenting different medical images are discussed.

Magnetic imager and method

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, James; Reich, Morris; Danby, Gordon

1997-07-22

A magnetic imager 10 includes a generator 18 for practicing a method of applying a background magnetic field over a concealed object, with the object being effective to locally perturb the background field. The imager 10 also includes a sensor 20 for measuring perturbations of the background field to detect the object. In one embodiment, the background field is applied quasi-statically. And, the magnitude or rate of change of the perturbations may be measured for determining location, size, and/or condition of the object.

Reliable clarity automatic-evaluation method for optical remote sensing images

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Bangyong; Shang, Ren; Li, Shengyang; Hei, Baoqin; Liu, Zhiwen

2015-10-01

Image clarity, which reflects the sharpness degree at the edge of objects in images, is an important quality evaluate index for optical remote sensing images. Scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of work on estimation of image clarity. At present, common clarity-estimation methods for digital images mainly include frequency-domain function methods, statistical parametric methods, gradient function methods and edge acutance methods. Frequency-domain function method is an accurate clarity-measure approach. However, its calculation process is complicate and cannot be carried out automatically. Statistical parametric methods and gradient function methods are both sensitive to clarity of images, while their results are easy to be affected by the complex degree of images. Edge acutance method is an effective approach for clarity estimate, while it needs picking out the edges manually. Due to the limits in accuracy, consistent or automation, these existing methods are not applicable to quality evaluation of optical remote sensing images. In this article, a new clarity-evaluation method, which is based on the principle of edge acutance algorithm, is proposed. In the new method, edge detection algorithm and gradient search algorithm are adopted to automatically search the object edges in images. Moreover, The calculation algorithm for edge sharpness has been improved. The new method has been tested with several groups of optical remote sensing images. Compared with the existing automatic evaluation methods, the new method perform better both in accuracy and consistency. Thus, the new method is an effective clarity evaluation method for optical remote sensing images.

Variational Level Set Method for Two-Stage Image Segmentation Based on Morphological Gradients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zemin Ren

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We use variational level set method and transition region extraction techniques to achieve image segmentation task. The proposed scheme is done by two steps. We first develop a novel algorithm to extract transition region based on the morphological gradient. After this, we integrate the transition region into a variational level set framework and develop a novel geometric active contour model, which include an external energy based on transition region and fractional order edge indicator function. The external energy is used to drive the zero level set toward the desired image features, such as object boundaries. Due to this external energy, the proposed model allows for more flexible initialization. The fractional order edge indicator function is incorporated into the length regularization term to diminish the influence of noise. Moreover, internal energy is added into the proposed model to penalize the deviation of the level set function from a signed distance function. The results evolution of the level set function is the gradient flow that minimizes the overall energy functional. The proposed model has been applied to both synthetic and real images with promising results.

Finite element formulation for a digital image correlation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Yaofeng; Pang, John H. L.; Wong, Chee Khuen; Su Fei

2005-01-01

A finite element formulation for a digital image correlation method is presented that will determine directly the complete, two-dimensional displacement field during the image correlation process on digital images. The entire interested image area is discretized into finite elements that are involved in the common image correlation process by use of our algorithms. This image correlation method with finite element formulation has an advantage over subset-based image correlation methods because it satisfies the requirements of displacement continuity and derivative continuity among elements on images. Numerical studies and a real experiment are used to verify the proposed formulation. Results have shown that the image correlation with the finite element formulation is computationally efficient, accurate, and robust

Image quality (IQ) guided multispectral image compression

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yufeng; Chen, Genshe; Wang, Zhonghai; Blasch, Erik

2016-05-01

Image compression is necessary for data transportation, which saves both transferring time and storage space. In this paper, we focus on our discussion on lossy compression. There are many standard image formats and corresponding compression algorithms, for examples, JPEG (DCT -- discrete cosine transform), JPEG 2000 (DWT -- discrete wavelet transform), BPG (better portable graphics) and TIFF (LZW -- Lempel-Ziv-Welch). The image quality (IQ) of decompressed image will be measured by numerical metrics such as root mean square error (RMSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and structural Similarity (SSIM) Index. Given an image and a specified IQ, we will investigate how to select a compression method and its parameters to achieve an expected compression. Our scenario consists of 3 steps. The first step is to compress a set of interested images by varying parameters and compute their IQs for each compression method. The second step is to create several regression models per compression method after analyzing the IQ-measurement versus compression-parameter from a number of compressed images. The third step is to compress the given image with the specified IQ using the selected compression method (JPEG, JPEG2000, BPG, or TIFF) according to the regressed models. The IQ may be specified by a compression ratio (e.g., 100), then we will select the compression method of the highest IQ (SSIM, or PSNR). Or the IQ may be specified by a IQ metric (e.g., SSIM = 0.8, or PSNR = 50), then we will select the compression method of the highest compression ratio. Our experiments tested on thermal (long-wave infrared) images (in gray scales) showed very promising results.

An Efficient Seam Elimination Method for UAV Images Based on Wallis Dodging and Gaussian Distance Weight Enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Jinyan; Li, Xiaojuan; Duan, Fuzhou; Wang, Junqian; Ou, Yang

2016-05-10

The rapid development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing conforms to the increasing demand for the low-altitude very high resolution (VHR) image data. However, high processing speed of massive UAV data has become an indispensable prerequisite for its applications in various industry sectors. In this paper, we developed an effective and efficient seam elimination approach for UAV images based on Wallis dodging and Gaussian distance weight enhancement (WD-GDWE). The method encompasses two major steps: first, Wallis dodging was introduced to adjust the difference of brightness between the two matched images, and the parameters in the algorithm were derived in this study. Second, a Gaussian distance weight distribution method was proposed to fuse the two matched images in the overlap region based on the theory of the First Law of Geography, which can share the partial dislocation in the seam to the whole overlap region with an effect of smooth transition. This method was validated at a study site located in Hanwang (Sichuan, China) which was a seriously damaged area in the 12 May 2008 enchuan Earthquake. Then, a performance comparison between WD-GDWE and the other five classical seam elimination algorithms in the aspect of efficiency and effectiveness was conducted. Results showed that WD-GDWE is not only efficient, but also has a satisfactory effectiveness. This method is promising in advancing the applications in UAV industry especially in emergency situations.

Molecular Imaging: A Promising Tool to Monitor Islet Transplantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Wang

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Replacement of insulin production by pancreatic islet transplantation has great potential as a therapy for type 1 diabetes mellitus. At present, the lack of an effective approach to islet grafts assessment limits the success of this treatment. The development of molecular imaging techniques has the potential to fulfill the goal of real-time noninvasive monitoring of the functional status and viability of the islet grafts. We review the application of a variety of imaging modalities for detecting endogenous and transplanted beta-cell mass. The review also explores the various molecular imaging strategies for assessing islet delivery, the metabolic effects on the islet grafts as well as detection of immunorejection. Here, we highlight the use of combined imaging and therapeutic interventions in islet transplantation and the in vivo monitoring of stem cells differentiation into insulin-producing cells.

Method of orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Na; Sun, Changku; Wang, Peng; Yang, Qian; Liu, Xintong

2018-01-01

In order to meet the aviation's and machinery manufacturing's pose measurement need of high precision, fast speed and wide measurement range, and to resolve the contradiction between measurement range and resolution of vision sensor, this paper proposes an orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement method. This paper designs and realizes an orthogonally splitting imaging vision sensor and establishes a pose measurement system. The vision sensor consists of one imaging lens, a beam splitter prism, cylindrical lenses and dual linear CCD. Dual linear CCD respectively acquire one dimensional image coordinate data of the target point, and two data can restore the two dimensional image coordinates of the target point. According to the characteristics of imaging system, this paper establishes the nonlinear distortion model to correct distortion. Based on cross ratio invariability, polynomial equation is established and solved by the least square fitting method. After completing distortion correction, this paper establishes the measurement mathematical model of vision sensor, and determines intrinsic parameters to calibrate. An array of feature points for calibration is built by placing a planar target in any different positions for a few times. An terative optimization method is presented to solve the parameters of model. The experimental results show that the field angle is 52 °, the focus distance is 27.40 mm, image resolution is 5185×5117 pixels, displacement measurement error is less than 0.1mm, and rotation angle measurement error is less than 0.15°. The method of orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement can satisfy the pose measurement requirement of high precision, fast speed and wide measurement range.

Quantitative Image Analysis for Evaluating the Coating Thickness and Pore Distribution in Coated Small Particles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laksmana, F.L.; Van Vliet, L.J.; Hartman Kok, P.J.A.; Vromans, H.; Frijlink, H.W.; Van der Voort Maarschalk, K.

2008-01-01

Purpose This study aims to develop a characterization method for coating structure based on image analysis, which is particularly promising for the rational design of coated particles in the pharmaceutical industry. Methods The method applies the MATLAB image processing toolbox to images of coated

Comparing subjective image quality measurement methods for the creation of public databases

Science.gov (United States)

Redi, Judith; Liu, Hantao; Alers, Hani; Zunino, Rodolfo; Heynderickx, Ingrid

2010-01-01

The Single Stimulus (SS) method is often chosen to collect subjective data testing no-reference objective metrics, as it is straightforward to implement and well standardized. At the same time, it exhibits some drawbacks; spread between different assessors is relatively large, and the measured ratings depend on the quality range spanned by the test samples, hence the results from different experiments cannot easily be merged . The Quality Ruler (QR) method has been proposed to overcome these inconveniences. This paper compares the performance of the SS and QR method for pictures impaired by Gaussian blur. The research goal is, on one hand, to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of both methods for quality assessment and, on the other, to make quality data of blur impaired images publicly available. The obtained results show that the confidence intervals of the QR scores are narrower than those of the SS scores. This indicates that the QR method enhances consistency across assessors. Moreover, QR scores exhibit a higher linear correlation with the distortion applied. In summary, for the purpose of building datasets of subjective quality, the QR approach seems promising from the viewpoint of both consistency and repeatability.

Matrix-based image reconstruction methods for tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Llacer, J.; Meng, J.D.

1984-10-01

Matrix methods of image reconstruction have not been used, in general, because of the large size of practical matrices, ill condition upon inversion and the success of Fourier-based techniques. An exception is the work that has been done at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for imaging with accelerated radioactive ions. An extension of that work into more general imaging problems shows that, with a correct formulation of the problem, positron tomography with ring geometries results in well behaved matrices which can be used for image reconstruction with no distortion of the point response in the field of view and flexibility in the design of the instrument. Maximum Likelihood Estimator methods of reconstruction, which use the system matrices tailored to specific instruments and do not need matrix inversion, are shown to result in good preliminary images. A parallel processing computer structure based on multiple inexpensive microprocessors is proposed as a system to implement the matrix-MLE methods. 14 references, 7 figures

Generalized Row-Action Methods for Tomographic Imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Martin Skovgaard; Hansen, Per Christian

2014-01-01

Row-action methods play an important role in tomographic image reconstruction. Many such methods can be viewed as incremental gradient methods for minimizing a sum of a large number of convex functions, and despite their relatively poor global rate of convergence, these methods often exhibit fast...... initial convergence which is desirable in applications where a low-accuracy solution is acceptable. In this paper, we propose relaxed variants of a class of incremental proximal gradient methods, and these variants generalize many existing row-action methods for tomographic imaging. Moreover, they allow...

Hyperspectral image compressing using wavelet-based method

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Hui; Zhang, Zhi-jie; Lei, Bo; Wang, Chen-sheng

2017-10-01

Hyperspectral imaging sensors can acquire images in hundreds of continuous narrow spectral bands. Therefore each object presented in the image can be identified from their spectral response. However, such kind of imaging brings a huge amount of data, which requires transmission, processing, and storage resources for both airborne and space borne imaging. Due to the high volume of hyperspectral image data, the exploration of compression strategies has received a lot of attention in recent years. Compression of hyperspectral data cubes is an effective solution for these problems. Lossless compression of the hyperspectral data usually results in low compression ratio, which may not meet the available resources; on the other hand, lossy compression may give the desired ratio, but with a significant degradation effect on object identification performance of the hyperspectral data. Moreover, most hyperspectral data compression techniques exploits the similarities in spectral dimensions; which requires bands reordering or regrouping, to make use of the spectral redundancy. In this paper, we explored the spectral cross correlation between different bands, and proposed an adaptive band selection method to obtain the spectral bands which contain most of the information of the acquired hyperspectral data cube. The proposed method mainly consist three steps: First, the algorithm decomposes the original hyperspectral imagery into a series of subspaces based on the hyper correlation matrix of the hyperspectral images between different bands. And then the Wavelet-based algorithm is applied to the each subspaces. At last the PCA method is applied to the wavelet coefficients to produce the chosen number of components. The performance of the proposed method was tested by using ISODATA classification method.

3D Seismic Imaging using Marchenko Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Lomas, A.; Curtis, A.

2017-12-01

Marchenko methods are novel, data driven techniques that allow seismic wavefields from sources and receivers on the Earth's surface to be redatumed to construct wavefields with sources in the subsurface - including complex multiply-reflected waves, and without the need for a complex reference model. In turn, this allows subsurface images to be constructed at any such subsurface redatuming points (image or virtual receiver points). Such images are then free of artefacts from multiply-scattered waves that usually contaminate migrated seismic images. Marchenko algorithms require as input the same information as standard migration methods: the full reflection response from sources and receivers at the Earth's surface, and an estimate of the first arriving wave between the chosen image point and the surface. The latter can be calculated using a smooth velocity model estimated using standard methods. The algorithm iteratively calculates a signal that focuses at the image point to create a virtual source at that point, and this can be used to retrieve the signal between the virtual source and the surface. A feature of these methods is that the retrieved signals are naturally decomposed into up- and down-going components. That is, we obtain both the signal that initially propagated upwards from the virtual source and arrived at the surface, separated from the signal that initially propagated downwards. Figure (a) shows a 3D subsurface model with a variable density but a constant velocity (3000m/s). Along the surface of this model (z=0) in both the x and y directions are co-located sources and receivers at 20-meter intervals. The redatumed signal in figure (b) has been calculated using Marchenko methods from a virtual source (1200m, 500m and 400m) to the surface. For comparison the true solution is given in figure (c), and shows a good match when compared to figure (b). While these 2D redatuming and imaging methods are still in their infancy having first been developed in

THE EFFECT OF IMAGE ENHANCEMENT METHODS DURING FEATURE DETECTION AND MATCHING OF THERMAL IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. Akcay

2017-05-01

Full Text Available A successful image matching is essential to provide an automatic photogrammetric process accurately. Feature detection, extraction and matching algorithms have performed on the high resolution images perfectly. However, images of cameras, which are equipped with low-resolution thermal sensors are problematic with the current algorithms. In this paper, some digital image processing techniques were applied to the low-resolution images taken with Optris PI 450 382 x 288 pixel optical resolution lightweight thermal camera to increase extraction and matching performance. Image enhancement methods that adjust low quality digital thermal images, were used to produce more suitable images for detection and extraction. Three main digital image process techniques: histogram equalization, high pass and low pass filters were considered to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, sharpen image, remove noise, respectively. Later on, the pre-processed images were evaluated using current image detection and feature extraction methods Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSER and Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF algorithms. Obtained results showed that some enhancement methods increased number of extracted features and decreased blunder errors during image matching. Consequently, the effects of different pre-process techniques were compared in the paper.

Enhancing the dynamic range of Ultrasound Imaging Velocimetry using interleaved imaging

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poelma, C.; Fraser, K.H.

2013-01-01

In recent years, non-invasive velocity field measurement based on correlation of ultrasound images has been introduced as a promising technique for fundamental research into disease processes, as well as a diagnostic tool. A major drawback of the method is the relatively limited dynamic range when

A method for three-dimensional interfacial particle image velocimetry (3D-IPIV) of an air–water interface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turney, Damon E; Anderer, Angelika; Banerjee, Sanjoy

2009-01-01

A new stereoscopic method for collecting particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements within ∼1 mm of a wavy air–water interface with simultaneous measurements of the morphology of the interface is described. The method, termed three-dimensional interfacial particle image velocimetry (3D-IPIV), is tested in a wind wave channel with a wind speed of 5.8 m s −1 , water depth of 10 cm and a fetch of ∼9 m. Microscale breaking waves populate the interface and their flow patterns are clearly visible in the velocimetry results. The associated capillary waves and surface divergence patterns are observed. Several statistical measurements of the flow are compared with independent measurements and good agreement is found. The method shows great promise for investigating the transfer of momentum, heat and gases across an air–water interface, both in the laboratory and in field settings. Additional methods are described for manufacturing the flow tracers needed for the 3D-IPIV method. These tracers are likely to be useful for other researchers, and have the characteristics of being fluorescent, neutrally buoyant, non-toxic, monodisperse, inexpensive and easy to manufacture

Does thorax EIT image analysis depend on the image reconstruction method?

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Zhanqi; Frerichs, Inéz; Pulletz, Sven; Müller-Lisse, Ullrich; Möller, Knut

2013-04-01

Different methods were proposed to analyze the resulting images of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) measurements during ventilation. The aim of our study was to examine if the analysis methods based on back-projection deliver the same results when applied on images based on other reconstruction algorithms. Seven mechanically ventilated patients with ARDS were examined by EIT. The thorax contours were determined from the routine CT images. EIT raw data was reconstructed offline with (1) filtered back-projection with circular forward model (BPC); (2) GREIT reconstruction method with circular forward model (GREITC) and (3) GREIT with individual thorax geometry (GREITT). Three parameters were calculated on the resulting images: linearity, global ventilation distribution and regional ventilation distribution. The results of linearity test are 5.03±2.45, 4.66±2.25 and 5.32±2.30 for BPC, GREITC and GREITT, respectively (median ±interquartile range). The differences among the three methods are not significant (p = 0.93, Kruskal-Wallis test). The proportions of ventilation in the right lung are 0.58±0.17, 0.59±0.20 and 0.59±0.25 for BPC, GREITC and GREITT, respectively (p = 0.98). The differences of the GI index based on different reconstruction methods (0.53±0.16, 0.51±0.25 and 0.54±0.16 for BPC, GREITC and GREITT, respectively) are also not significant (p = 0.93). We conclude that the parameters developed for images generated with GREITT are comparable with filtered back-projection and GREITC.

Methods of producing luminescent images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broadhead, P.; Newman, G.A.

1977-01-01

A method is described for producing a luminescent image in a layer of a binding material in which is dispersed a thermoluminescent material. The layer is heated uniformly to a temperature of 80 to 300 0 C and is exposed to luminescence inducing radiation whilst so heated. The preferred exposing radiation is X-rays and preferably the thermoluminescent material is insensitive to electromagnetic radiation of wavelength longer than 300 mm. Information concerning preparation of the luminescent material is given in BP 1,347,672; this material has the advantage that at elevated temperatures it shows increased sensitivity compared with room temperature. At temperatures in the range 80 to 150 0 C the thermoluminescent material exhibits 'afterglow', allowing the image to persist for several seconds after the X-radiation has ceased, thus allowing the image to be retained for visual inspection in this temperature range. At higher temperatures, however, there is negligible 'afterglow'. The thermoluminescent layers so produced are particularly useful as fluoroscopic screens. The preferred method of heating the thermoluminescent material is described in BP 1,354,149. An example is given of the application of the method. (U.K.)

Mathematical methods in elasticity imaging

CERN Document Server

Ammari, Habib; Garnier, Josselin; Kang, Hyeonbae; Lee, Hyundae; Wahab, Abdul

2015-01-01

This book is the first to comprehensively explore elasticity imaging and examines recent, important developments in asymptotic imaging, modeling, and analysis of deterministic and stochastic elastic wave propagation phenomena. It derives the best possible functional images for small inclusions and cracks within the context of stability and resolution, and introduces a topological derivative-based imaging framework for detecting elastic inclusions in the time-harmonic regime. For imaging extended elastic inclusions, accurate optimal control methodologies are designed and the effects of uncertainties of the geometric or physical parameters on stability and resolution properties are evaluated. In particular, the book shows how localized damage to a mechanical structure affects its dynamic characteristics, and how measured eigenparameters are linked to elastic inclusion or crack location, orientation, and size. Demonstrating a novel method for identifying, locating, and estimating inclusions and cracks in elastic...

Accelerated gradient methods for constrained image deblurring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonettini, S; Zanella, R; Zanni, L; Bertero, M

2008-01-01

In this paper we propose a special gradient projection method for the image deblurring problem, in the framework of the maximum likelihood approach. We present the method in a very general form and we give convergence results under standard assumptions. Then we consider the deblurring problem and the generality of the proposed algorithm allows us to add a energy conservation constraint to the maximum likelihood problem. In order to improve the convergence rate, we devise appropriate scaling strategies and steplength updating rules, especially designed for this application. The effectiveness of the method is evaluated by means of a computational study on astronomical images corrupted by Poisson noise. Comparisons with standard methods for image restoration, such as the expectation maximization algorithm, are also reported.

FUSION SEGMENTATION METHOD BASED ON FUZZY THEORY FOR COLOR IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Zhao

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The image segmentation method based on two-dimensional histogram segments the image according to the thresholds of the intensity of the target pixel and the average intensity of its neighborhood. This method is essentially a hard-decision method. Due to the uncertainties when labeling the pixels around the threshold, the hard-decision method can easily get the wrong segmentation result. Therefore, a fusion segmentation method based on fuzzy theory is proposed in this paper. We use membership function to model the uncertainties on each color channel of the color image. Then, we segment the color image according to the fuzzy reasoning. The experiment results show that our proposed method can get better segmentation results both on the natural scene images and optical remote sensing images compared with the traditional thresholding method. The fusion method in this paper can provide new ideas for the information extraction of optical remote sensing images and polarization SAR images.

Simultaneous multislice echo planar imaging with blipped controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration: a promising technique for accelerated diffusion tensor imaging of skeletal muscle

OpenAIRE

Filli, Lukas; Piccirelli, Marco; Kenkel, David; Guggenberger, Roman; Andreisek, Gustav; Beck, Thomas; Runge, Val M; Boss, Andreas

2015-01-01

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of accelerated diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of skeletal muscle using echo planar imaging (EPI) applying simultaneous multislice excitation with a blipped controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration unaliasing technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS After federal ethics board approval, the lower leg muscles of 8 healthy volunteers (mean [SD] age, 29.4 [2.9] years) were examined in a clinical 3-T magnetic ...

An attenuation correction method for PET/CT images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ue, Hidenori; Yamazaki, Tomohiro; Haneishi, Hideaki

2006-01-01

In PET/CT systems, accurate attenuation correction can be achieved by creating an attenuation map from an X-ray CT image. On the other hand, respiratory-gated PET acquisition is an effective method for avoiding motion blurring of the thoracic and abdominal organs caused by respiratory motion. In PET/CT systems employing respiratory-gated PET, using an X-ray CT image acquired during breath-holding for attenuation correction may have a large effect on the voxel values, especially in regions with substantial respiratory motion. In this report, we propose an attenuation correction method in which, as the first step, a set of respiratory-gated PET images is reconstructed without attenuation correction, as the second step, the motion of each phase PET image from the PET image in the same phase as the CT acquisition timing is estimated by the previously proposed method, as the third step, the CT image corresponding to each respiratory phase is generated from the original CT image by deformation according to the motion vector maps, and as the final step, attenuation correction using these CT images and reconstruction are performed. The effectiveness of the proposed method was evaluated using 4D-NCAT phantoms, and good stability of the voxel values near the diaphragm was observed. (author)

Parallel MR imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Deshmane, Anagha; Gulani, Vikas; Griswold, Mark A; Seiberlich, Nicole

2012-07-01

Parallel imaging is a robust method for accelerating the acquisition of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, and has made possible many new applications of MR imaging. Parallel imaging works by acquiring a reduced amount of k-space data with an array of receiver coils. These undersampled data can be acquired more quickly, but the undersampling leads to aliased images. One of several parallel imaging algorithms can then be used to reconstruct artifact-free images from either the aliased images (SENSE-type reconstruction) or from the undersampled data (GRAPPA-type reconstruction). The advantages of parallel imaging in a clinical setting include faster image acquisition, which can be used, for instance, to shorten breath-hold times resulting in fewer motion-corrupted examinations. In this article the basic concepts behind parallel imaging are introduced. The relationship between undersampling and aliasing is discussed and two commonly used parallel imaging methods, SENSE and GRAPPA, are explained in detail. Examples of artifacts arising from parallel imaging are shown and ways to detect and mitigate these artifacts are described. Finally, several current applications of parallel imaging are presented and recent advancements and promising research in parallel imaging are briefly reviewed. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

W-transform method for feature-oriented multiresolution image retrieval

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwong, M.K.; Lin, B. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Mathematics and Computer Science Div.

1995-07-01

Image database management is important in the development of multimedia technology. Since an enormous amount of digital images is likely to be generated within the next few decades in order to integrate computers, television, VCR, cables, telephone and various imaging devices. Effective image indexing and retrieval systems are urgently needed so that images can be easily organized, searched, transmitted, and presented. Here, the authors present a local-feature-oriented image indexing and retrieval method based on Kwong, and Tang`s W-transform. Multiresolution histogram comparison is an effective method for content-based image indexing and retrieval. However, most recent approaches perform multiresolution analysis for whole images but do not exploit the local features present in the images. Since W-transform is featured by its ability to handle images of arbitrary size, with no periodicity assumptions, it provides a natural tool for analyzing local image features and building indexing systems based on such features. In this approach, the histograms of the local features of images are used in the indexing, system. The system not only can retrieve images that are similar or identical to the query images but also can retrieve images that contain features specified in the query images, even if the retrieved images as a whole might be very different from the query images. The local-feature-oriented method also provides a speed advantage over the global multiresolution histogram comparison method. The feature-oriented approach is expected to be applicable in managing large-scale image systems such as video databases and medical image databases.

Imaging method of brain surface anatomy structures using conventional T2-weighted MR images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hatanaka, Masahiko; Machida, Yoshio; Yoshida, Tadatoki; Katada, Kazuhiro.

1992-01-01

As a non-invasive technique for visualizing the brain surface structure by MRI, surface anatomy scanning (SAS) and the multislice SAS methods have been developed. Both techniques require additional MRI scanning to obtain images for the brain surface. In this paper, we report an alternative method to obtain the brain surface image using conventional T2-weighted multislice images without any additional scanning. The power calculation of the image pixel values, which is incorporated in the routine processing, has been applied in order to enhance the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) contrast. We think that this method is one of practical approaches for imaging the surface anatomy of the brain. (author)

Method for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Kehayias, J.J.; Joel, D.D.; Adams, W.H.; Stein, H.L.

1988-05-26

A method for in vivo NMR imaging of the blood vessels and organs of a patient characterized by using a dark dye-like imaging substance consisting essentially of a stable, high-purity concentration of D/sub 2/O in a solution with water.

EXPRESS METHOD OF BARCODE GENERATION FROM FACIAL IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. A. Kukharev

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In the paper a method of generating of standard type linear barcodes from facial images is proposed. The method is based on use of the histogram of facial image brightness, averaging the histogram on a limited number of intervals, quantization of results in a range of decimal numbers from 0 to 9 and table conversion into the final barcode. The proposed solution is computationally low-cost and not requires the use of specialized software on image processing that allows generating of facial barcodes in mobile systems, and thus the proposed method can be interpreted as an express method. Results of tests on the Face94 and CUHK Face Sketch FERET Databases showed that the proposed method is a new solution for use in the real-world practice and ensures the stability of generated barcodes in changes of scale, pose and mirroring of a facial image, and also changes of a facial expression and shadows on faces from local lighting. The proposed method is based on generating of a standard barcode directly from the facial image, and thus contains the subjective information about a person's face.

A distortion correction method for image intensifier and electronic portal images used in radiotherapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ioannidis, G T; Geramani, K N; Zamboglou, N [Strahlenklinik, Stadtische Kliniken Offenbach, Offenbach (Germany); Uzunoglu, N [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens (Greece)

1999-12-31

At the most of radiation departments a simulator and an `on line` verification system of the treated volume, in form of an electronic portal imaging device (EPID), are available. Networking and digital handling (saving, archiving etc.) of the image information is a necessity in the image processing procedures in order to evaluate verification and simulation recordings at the computer screen. Distortion is on the other hand prerequisite for quantitative comparison of both image modalities. Another limitation factor, in order to make quantitative assertions, is the fact that the irradiation fields in radiotherapy are usually bigger than the field of view of an image intensifier. Several segments of the irradiation field must therefore be acquired. Using pattern recognition techniques these segments can be composed into a single image. In this paper a distortion correction method will be presented. The method is based upon a well defined Grid which is embedded during the registration process on the image. The video signal from the image intensifier is acquired and processed. The grid is then recognised using image processing techniques. Ideally if all grid points are recognised, various methods can be applied in order to correct the distortion. But in practice this is not the case. Overlapping structures (bones etc.) have as a consequence that not all of the grid points can be recognised. Mathematical models from the Graph theory are applied in order to reconstruct the whole grid. The deviation of the grid points positions from the rated value is then used to calculate correction coefficients. This method (well defined grid, grid recognition, correction factors) can also be applied in verification images from the EPID or in other image modalities, and therefore a quantitative comparison in radiation treatment is possible. The distortion correction method and the application on simulator images will be presented. (authors)

A method for fast automated microscope image stitching.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Fan; Deng, Zhen-Sheng; Fan, Qiu-Hong

2013-05-01

Image stitching is an important technology to produce a panorama or larger image by combining several images with overlapped areas. In many biomedical researches, image stitching is highly desirable to acquire a panoramic image which represents large areas of certain structures or whole sections, while retaining microscopic resolution. In this study, we develop a fast normal light microscope image stitching algorithm based on feature extraction. At first, an algorithm of scale-space reconstruction of speeded-up robust features (SURF) was proposed to extract features from the images to be stitched with a short time and higher repeatability. Then, the histogram equalization (HE) method was employed to preprocess the images to enhance their contrast for extracting more features. Thirdly, the rough overlapping zones of the images preprocessed were calculated by phase correlation, and the improved SURF was used to extract the image features in the rough overlapping areas. Fourthly, the features were corresponded by matching algorithm and the transformation parameters were estimated, then the images were blended seamlessly. Finally, this procedure was applied to stitch normal light microscope images to verify its validity. Our experimental results demonstrate that the improved SURF algorithm is very robust to viewpoint, illumination, blur, rotation and zoom of the images and our method is able to stitch microscope images automatically with high precision and high speed. Also, the method proposed in this paper is applicable to registration and stitching of common images as well as stitching the microscope images in the field of virtual microscope for the purpose of observing, exchanging, saving, and establishing a database of microscope images. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Novel welding image processing method based on fractal theory

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

陈强; 孙振国; 肖勇; 路井荣

2002-01-01

Computer vision has come into used in the fields of welding process control and automation. In order to improve precision and rapidity of welding image processing, a novel method based on fractal theory has been put forward in this paper. Compared with traditional methods, the image is preliminarily processed in the macroscopic regions then thoroughly analyzed in the microscopic regions in the new method. With which, an image is divided up to some regions according to the different fractal characters of image edge, and the fuzzy regions including image edges are detected out, then image edges are identified with Sobel operator and curved by LSM (Lease Square Method). Since the data to be processed have been decreased and the noise of image has been reduced, it has been testified through experiments that edges of weld seam or weld pool could be recognized correctly and quickly.

Evaluation of processing methods for static radioisotope scan images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oakberg, J.A.

1976-12-01

Radioisotope scanning in the field of nuclear medicine provides a method for the mapping of a radioactive drug in the human body to produce maps (images) which prove useful in detecting abnormalities in vital organs. At best, radioisotope scanning methods produce images with poor counting statistics. One solution to improving the body scan images is using dedicated small computers with appropriate software to process the scan data. Eleven methods for processing image data are compared

Speckle imaging using the principle value decomposition method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sherman, J.W.

1978-01-01

Obtaining diffraction-limited images in the presence of atmospheric turbulence is a topic of current interest. Two types of approaches have evolved: real-time correction and speckle imaging. A speckle imaging reconstruction method was developed by use of an ''optimal'' filtering approach. This method is based on a nonlinear integral equation which is solved by principle value decomposition. The method was implemented on a CDC 7600 for study. The restoration algorithm is discussed and its performance is illustrated. 7 figures

Quality assessment in radiological imaging methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herstel, W.

1985-01-01

The equipment used in diagnostic radiology is becoming more and more complicated. In the imaging process four components are distinguished, each of which can introduce loss in essential information: the X-ray source, the human body, the imaging system and the observer. In nearly all imaging methods the X-ray quantum fluctuations are a limitation to observation. But there are also technical factors. As an illustration it is shown how in a television scanning process the resolution is restricted by the system parameters. A short review is given of test devices and the results are given of an image comparison based on regular bar patterns. Although this method has the disadvantage of measuring mainly the limiting resolution, the results of the test correlate reasonably well with the subjective appreciations of radiographs of bony structures made by a group of trained radiologists. Fluoroscopic systems should preferably be tested using moving structures under dynamic conditions. (author)

Method for position emission mammography image reconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Mark Frederick

2004-10-12

An image reconstruction method comprising accepting coincidence datat from either a data file or in real time from a pair of detector heads, culling event data that is outside a desired energy range, optionally saving the desired data for each detector position or for each pair of detector pixels on the two detector heads, and then reconstructing the image either by backprojection image reconstruction or by iterative image reconstruction. In the backprojection image reconstruction mode, rays are traced between centers of lines of response (LOR's), counts are then either allocated by nearest pixel interpolation or allocated by an overlap method and then corrected for geometric effects and attenuation and the data file updated. If the iterative image reconstruction option is selected, one implementation is to compute a grid Siddon retracing, and to perform maximum likelihood expectation maiximization (MLEM) computed by either: a) tracing parallel rays between subpixels on opposite detector heads; or b) tracing rays between randomized endpoint locations on opposite detector heads.

Circular SAR Optimization Imaging Method of Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Jian-feng

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The Circular Synthetic Aperture Radar (CSAR can obtain the entire scattering properties of targets because of its great ability of 360° observation. In this study, an optimal orientation of the CSAR imaging algorithm of buildings is proposed by applying a combination of coherent and incoherent processing techniques. FEKO software is used to construct the electromagnetic scattering modes and simulate the radar echo. The FEKO imaging results are compared with the isotropic scattering results. On comparison, the optimal azimuth coherent accumulation angle of CSAR imaging of buildings is obtained. Practically, the scattering directions of buildings are unknown; therefore, we divide the 360° echo of CSAR into many overlapped and few angle echoes corresponding to the sub-aperture and then perform an imaging procedure on each sub-aperture. Sub-aperture imaging results are applied to obtain the all-around image using incoherent fusion techniques. The polarimetry decomposition method is used to decompose the all-around image and further retrieve the edge information of buildings successfully. The proposed method is validated with P-band airborne CSAR data from Sichuan, China.

Research of x-ray automatic image mosaic method

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Bin; Chen, Shunan; Guo, Lianpeng; Xu, Wanpeng

2013-10-01

Image mosaic has widely applications value in the fields of medical image analysis, and it is a technology that carries on the spatial matching to a series of image which are overlapped with each other, and finally builds a seamless and high quality image which has high resolution and big eyeshot. In this paper, the method of grayscale cutting pseudo-color enhancement was firstly used to complete the mapping transformation from gray to the pseudo-color, and to extract SIFT features from the images. And then by making use of a similar measure of NCC (normalized cross correlation - Normalized cross-correlation), the method of RANSAC (Random Sample Consensus) was used to exclude the pseudofeature points right in order to complete the exact match of feature points. Finally, seamless mosaic and color fusion were completed by using wavelet multi-decomposition. The experiment shows that the method we used can effectively improve the precision and automation of the medical image mosaic, and provide an effective technical approach for automatic medical image mosaic.

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF NEAR-INFRARED IMAGING OF IN VIVOBLOOD VESSELS USING IMAGE FUSION METHODS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Andreas Kryger; Savarimuthu, Thiusius Rajeeth; Sørensen, Anders Stengaard

2009-01-01

We investigate methods for improving the visual quality of in vivo images of blood vessels in the human forearm. Using a near-infrared light source and a dual CCD chip camera system capable of capturing images at visual and nearinfrared spectra, we evaluate three fusion methods in terms...... of their capability of enhancing the blood vessels while preserving the spectral signature of the original color image. Furthermore, we investigate a possibility of removing hair in the images using a fusion rule based on the "a trous" stationary wavelet decomposition. The method with the best overall performance...... with both speed and quality in mind is the Intensity Injection method. Using the developed system and the methods presented in this article, it is possible to create images of high visual quality with highly emphasized blood vessels....

Influence of image reconstruction methods on statistical parametric mapping of brain PET images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yin Dayi; Chen Yingmao; Yao Shulin; Shao Mingzhe; Yin Ling; Tian Jiahe; Cui Hongyan

2007-01-01

Objective: Statistic parametric mapping (SPM) was widely recognized as an useful tool in brain function study. The aim of this study was to investigate if imaging reconstruction algorithm of PET images could influence SPM of brain. Methods: PET imaging of whole brain was performed in six normal volunteers. Each volunteer had two scans with true and false acupuncturing. The PET scans were reconstructed using ordered subsets expectation maximization (OSEM) and filtered back projection (FBP) with 3 varied parameters respectively. The images were realigned, normalized and smoothed using SPM program. The difference between true and false acupuncture scans was tested using a matched pair t test at every voxel. Results: (1) SPM corrected multiple comparison (P corrected uncorrected <0.001): SPM derived from the images with different reconstruction method were different. The largest difference, in number and position of the activated voxels, was noticed between FBP and OSEM re- construction algorithm. Conclusions: The method of PET image reconstruction could influence the results of SPM uncorrected multiple comparison. Attention should be paid when the conclusion was drawn using SPM uncorrected multiple comparison. (authors)

Quantitative Image Analysis for Evaluating the Coating Thickness and Pore Distribution in Coated Small Particles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laksmana, F L; Van Vliet, L J; Hartman Kok, P J A; Vromans, H; Frijlink, H W; Van der Voort Maarschalk, K

This study aims to develop a characterization method for coating structure based on image analysis, which is particularly promising for the rational design of coated particles in the pharmaceutical industry. The method applies the MATLAB image processing toolbox to images of coated particles taken

Three-dimensional image signals: processing methods

Science.gov (United States)

Schiopu, Paul; Manea, Adrian; Craciun, Anca-Ileana; Craciun, Alexandru

2010-11-01

Over the years extensive studies have been carried out to apply coherent optics methods in real-time processing, communications and transmission image. This is especially true when a large amount of information needs to be processed, e.g., in high-resolution imaging. The recent progress in data-processing networks and communication systems has considerably increased the capacity of information exchange. We describe the results of literature investigation research of processing methods for the signals of the three-dimensional images. All commercially available 3D technologies today are based on stereoscopic viewing. 3D technology was once the exclusive domain of skilled computer-graphics developers with high-end machines and software. The images capture from the advanced 3D digital camera can be displayed onto screen of the 3D digital viewer with/ without special glasses. For this is needed considerable processing power and memory to create and render the complex mix of colors, textures, and virtual lighting and perspective necessary to make figures appear three-dimensional. Also, using a standard digital camera and a technique called phase-shift interferometry we can capture "digital holograms." These are holograms that can be stored on computer and transmitted over conventional networks. We present some research methods to process "digital holograms" for the Internet transmission and results.

An Improved Image Contrast Assessment Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuanyuan Fan

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Contrast is an important factor affecting the image quality. In order to overcome the problems of local band-limited contrast, a novel image contrast assessment method based on the property of HVS is proposed. Firstly, the image by low-pass filter is performed fast wavelet decomposition. Secondly, all levels of band-pass filtered image and its corresponding low-pass filtered image are obtained by processing wavelet coefficients. Thirdly, local band-limited contrast is calculated, and the local band-limited contrast entropy is calculated according to the definition of entropy, Finally, the contrast entropy of image is obtained by averaging the local band-limited contrast entropy weighed using CSF coefficient. The experiment results show that the best contrast image can be accurately identified in the sequence images obtained by adjusting the exposure time and stretching gray respectively, the assessment results accord with human visual characteristics and make up the lack of local band-limited contrast.

New Finger Biometric Method Using Near Infrared Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eui Chul; Jung, Hyunwoo; Kim, Daeyeoul

2011-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new finger biometric method. Infrared finger images are first captured, and then feature extraction is performed using a modified Gaussian high-pass filter through binarization, local binary pattern (LBP), and local derivative pattern (LDP) methods. Infrared finger images include the multimodal features of finger veins and finger geometries. Instead of extracting each feature using different methods, the modified Gaussian high-pass filter is fully convolved. Therefore, the extracted binary patterns of finger images include the multimodal features of veins and finger geometries. Experimental results show that the proposed method has an error rate of 0.13%. PMID:22163741

A promising hybrid approach to SPECT attenuation correction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, N.H.; Faber, T.L.; Corbett, J.R.; Stokely, E.M.

1984-01-01

Most methods for attenuation compensation in SPECT either rely on the assumption of uniform attenuation, or use slow iteration to achieve accuracy. However, hybrid methods that combine iteration with simple multiplicative correction can accommodate nonuniform attenuation, and such methods converge faster than other iterative techniques. The authors evaluated two such methods, which differ in use of a damping factor to control convergence. Both uniform and nonuniform attenuation were modeled, using simulated and phantom data for a rotating gamma camera. For simulations done with 360 0 data and the correct attenuation map, activity levels were reconstructed to within 5% of the correct values after one iteration. Using 180 0 data, reconstructed levels in regions representing lesion and background were within 5% of the correct values in three iterations; however, further iterations were needed to eliminate the characteristic streak artifacts. The damping factor had little effect on 360 0 reconstruction, but was needed for convergence with 180 0 data. For both cold- and hot-lesion models, image contrast was better from the hybrid methods than from the simpler geometric-mean corrector. Results from the hybrid methods were comparable to those obtained using the conjugate-gradient iterative method, but required 50-100% less reconstruction time. The relative speed of the hybrid methods, and their accuracy in reconstructing photon activity in the presence of nonuniform attenuation, make them promising tools for quantitative SPECT reconstruction

The Promises of Biology and the Biology of Promises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee, Jieun

2015-01-01

commitments with differently imagined futures. I argue that promises are constitutive of the stem cell biology, rather than being derivative of it. Since the biological concept of stem cells is predicated on the future that they promise, the biological life of stem cells is inextricably intertwined...... patients’ bodies in anticipation of materializing the promises of stem cell biology, they are produced as a new form of biovaluable. The promises of biology move beyond the closed circuit of scientific knowledge production, and proliferate in the speculative marketplaces of promises. Part II looks at how...... of technologized biology and biological time can appear promising with the backdrop of the imagined intransigence of social, political, and economic order in the Korean society....

Image Processing Methods Usable for Object Detection on the Chessboard

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beran Ladislav

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Image segmentation and object detection is challenging problem in many research. Although many algorithms for image segmentation have been invented, there is no simple algorithm for image segmentation and object detection. Our research is based on combination of several methods for object detection. The first method suitable for image segmentation and object detection is colour detection. This method is very simply, but there is problem with different colours. For this method it is necessary to have precisely determined colour of segmented object before all calculations. In many cases it is necessary to determine this colour manually. Alternative simply method is method based on background removal. This method is based on difference between reference image and detected image. In this paper several methods suitable for object detection are described. Thisresearch is focused on coloured object detection on chessboard. The results from this research with fusion of neural networks for user-computer game checkers will be applied.

Keyhole imaging method for dynamic objects behind the occlusion area

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Conghui; Chen, Xi; Dong, Liquan; Zhao, Yuejin; Liu, Ming; Kong, Lingqin; Hui, Mei; Liu, Xiaohua; Wu, Hong

2018-01-01

A method of keyhole imaging based on camera array is realized to obtain the video image behind a keyhole in shielded space at a relatively long distance. We get the multi-angle video images by using a 2×2 CCD camera array to take the images behind the keyhole in four directions. The multi-angle video images are saved in the form of frame sequences. This paper presents a method of video frame alignment. In order to remove the non-target area outside the aperture, we use the canny operator and morphological method to realize the edge detection of images and fill the images. The image stitching of four images is accomplished on the basis of the image stitching algorithm of two images. In the image stitching algorithm of two images, the SIFT method is adopted to accomplish the initial matching of images, and then the RANSAC algorithm is applied to eliminate the wrong matching points and to obtain a homography matrix. A method of optimizing transformation matrix is proposed in this paper. Finally, the video image with larger field of view behind the keyhole can be synthesized with image frame sequence in which every single frame is stitched. The results show that the screen of the video is clear and natural, the brightness transition is smooth. There is no obvious artificial stitching marks in the video, and it can be applied in different engineering environment .

Research of ART method in CT image reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Zhipeng; Cong Peng; Wu Haifeng

2005-01-01

This paper studied Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (ART) in CT image reconstruction. Discussed the ray number influence on image quality. And the adopting of smooth method got high quality CT image. (authors)

Hiding a Covert Digital Image by Assembling the RSA Encryption Method and the Binary Encoding Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuang Tsan Lin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA encryption method and the binary encoding method are assembled to form a hybrid hiding method to hide a covert digital image into a dot-matrix holographic image. First, the RSA encryption method is used to transform the covert image to form a RSA encryption data string. Then, all the elements of the RSA encryption data string are transferred into binary data. Finally, the binary data are encoded into the dot-matrix holographic image. The pixels of the dot-matrix holographic image contain seven groups of codes used for reconstructing the covert image. The seven groups of codes are identification codes, covert-image dimension codes, covert-image graylevel codes, pre-RSA bit number codes, RSA key codes, post-RSA bit number codes, and information codes. The reconstructed covert image derived from the dot-matrix holographic image and the original covert image are exactly the same.

Analysis of live cell images: Methods, tools and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Nketia, Thomas A; Sailem, Heba; Rohde, Gustavo; Machiraju, Raghu; Rittscher, Jens

2017-02-15

Advances in optical microscopy, biosensors and cell culturing technologies have transformed live cell imaging. Thanks to these advances live cell imaging plays an increasingly important role in basic biology research as well as at all stages of drug development. Image analysis methods are needed to extract quantitative information from these vast and complex data sets. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of available image analysis methods for live cell imaging, in particular required preprocessing image segmentation, cell tracking and data visualisation methods. The potential opportunities recent advances in machine learning, especially deep learning, and computer vision provide are being discussed. This review includes overview of the different available software packages and toolkits. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

An efficient direct method for image registration of flat objects

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolaev, Dmitry; Tihonkih, Dmitrii; Makovetskii, Artyom; Voronin, Sergei

2017-09-01

Image alignment of rigid surfaces is a rapidly developing area of research and has many practical applications. Alignment methods can be roughly divided into two types: feature-based methods and direct methods. Known SURF and SIFT algorithms are examples of the feature-based methods. Direct methods refer to those that exploit the pixel intensities without resorting to image features and image-based deformations are general direct method to align images of deformable objects in 3D space. Nevertheless, it is not good for the registration of images of 3D rigid objects since the underlying structure cannot be directly evaluated. In the article, we propose a model that is suitable for image alignment of rigid flat objects under various illumination models. The brightness consistency assumptions used for reconstruction of optimal geometrical transformation. Computer simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for computing of an accordance between pixels of two images.

Matrix Krylov subspace methods for image restoration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

khalide jbilou

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In the present paper, we consider some matrix Krylov subspace methods for solving ill-posed linear matrix equations and in those problems coming from the restoration of blurred and noisy images. Applying the well known Tikhonov regularization procedure leads to a Sylvester matrix equation depending the Tikhonov regularized parameter. We apply the matrix versions of the well known Krylov subspace methods, namely the Least Squared (LSQR and the conjugate gradient (CG methods to get approximate solutions representing the restored images. Some numerical tests are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Analysis of Non Local Image Denoising Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Pardo, Álvaro

Image denoising is probably one of the most studied problems in the image processing community. Recently a new paradigm on non local denoising was introduced. The Non Local Means method proposed by Buades, Morel and Coll attracted the attention of other researches who proposed improvements and modifications to their proposal. In this work we analyze those methods trying to understand their properties while connecting them to segmentation based on spectral graph properties. We also propose some improvements to automatically estimate the parameters used on these methods.

Sharpening methods for images captured through Bayer matrix

Science.gov (United States)

Kalevo, Ossi; Rantanen, Henry, Jr.

2003-05-01

Image resolution and sharpness are essential criteria for a human observer when estimating the image quality. Typically cheap small-sized, low-resolution CMOS-camera sensors do not provide sharp enough images, at least when comparing to high-end digital cameras. Sharpening function can be used to increase the subjective sharpness seen by the observer. In this paper, few methods to apply sharpening for images captured by CMOS imaging sensors through color filter array (CFA) are compared. The sharpening easily adds also the visibility of noise, pixel-cross talk and interpolation artifacts. Necessary arrangements to avoid the amplification of these unwanted phenomenon are discussed. By applying the sharpening only to the green component the processing power requirements can be clearly reduced. By adjusting the red and blue component sharpness, according to the green component sharpening, creation of false colors are reduced highly. Direction search sharpening method can be used to reduce the amplification of the artifacts caused by the CFA interpolation (CFAI). The comparison of the presented methods is based mainly on subjective image quality. Also the processing power and memory requirements are considered.

Multi-crack imaging using nonclassical nonlinear acoustic method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lue; Zhang, Ying; Liu, Xiao-Zhou; Gong, Xiu-Fen

2014-10-01

Solid materials with cracks exhibit the nonclassical nonlinear acoustical behavior. The micro-defects in solid materials can be detected by nonlinear elastic wave spectroscopy (NEWS) method with a time-reversal (TR) mirror. While defects lie in viscoelastic solid material with different distances from one another, the nonlinear and hysteretic stress—strain relation is established with Preisach—Mayergoyz (PM) model in crack zone. Pulse inversion (PI) and TR methods are used in numerical simulation and defect locations can be determined from images obtained by the maximum value. Since false-positive defects might appear and degrade the imaging when the defects are located quite closely, the maximum value imaging with a time window is introduced to analyze how defects affect each other and how the fake one occurs. Furthermore, NEWS-TR-NEWS method is put forward to improve NEWS-TR scheme, with another forward propagation (NEWS) added to the existing phases (NEWS and TR). In the added phase, scanner locations are determined by locations of all defects imaged in previous phases, so that whether an imaged defect is real can be deduced. NEWS-TR-NEWS method is proved to be effective to distinguish real defects from the false-positive ones. Moreover, it is also helpful to detect the crack that is weaker than others during imaging procedure.

Research on interpolation methods in medical image processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Mei-Sen; Yang, Xiao-Li; Tang, Jing-Tian

2012-04-01

Image interpolation is widely used for the field of medical image processing. In this paper, interpolation methods are divided into three groups: filter interpolation, ordinary interpolation and general partial volume interpolation. Some commonly-used filter methods for image interpolation are pioneered, but the interpolation effects need to be further improved. When analyzing and discussing ordinary interpolation, many asymmetrical kernel interpolation methods are proposed. Compared with symmetrical kernel ones, the former are have some advantages. After analyzing the partial volume and generalized partial volume estimation interpolations, the new concept and constraint conditions of the general partial volume interpolation are defined, and several new partial volume interpolation functions are derived. By performing the experiments of image scaling, rotation and self-registration, the interpolation methods mentioned in this paper are compared in the entropy, peak signal-to-noise ratio, cross entropy, normalized cross-correlation coefficient and running time. Among the filter interpolation methods, the median and B-spline filter interpolations have a relatively better interpolating performance. Among the ordinary interpolation methods, on the whole, the symmetrical cubic kernel interpolations demonstrate a strong advantage, especially the symmetrical cubic B-spline interpolation. However, we have to mention that they are very time-consuming and have lower time efficiency. As for the general partial volume interpolation methods, from the total error of image self-registration, the symmetrical interpolations provide certain superiority; but considering the processing efficiency, the asymmetrical interpolations are better.

A fast and automatic mosaic method for high-resolution satellite images

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hongshun; He, Hui; Xiao, Hongyu; Huang, Jing

2015-12-01

We proposed a fast and fully automatic mosaic method for high-resolution satellite images. First, the overlapped rectangle is computed according to geographical locations of the reference and mosaic images and feature points on both the reference and mosaic images are extracted by a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm only from the overlapped region. Then, the RANSAC method is used to match feature points of both images. Finally, the two images are fused into a seamlessly panoramic image by the simple linear weighted fusion method or other method. The proposed method is implemented in C++ language based on OpenCV and GDAL, and tested by Worldview-2 multispectral images with a spatial resolution of 2 meters. Results show that the proposed method can detect feature points efficiently and mosaic images automatically.

Development of Quantification Method for Bioluminescence Imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hyeon Sik; Min, Jung Joon; Lee, Byeong Il; Choi, Eun Seo; Tak, Yoon O; Choi, Heung Kook; Lee, Ju Young

2009-01-01

Optical molecular luminescence imaging is widely used for detection and imaging of bio-photons emitted by luminescent luciferase activation. The measured photons in this method provide the degree of molecular alteration or cell numbers with the advantage of high signal-to-noise ratio. To extract useful information from the measured results, the analysis based on a proper quantification method is necessary. In this research, we propose a quantification method presenting linear response of measured light signal to measurement time. We detected the luminescence signal by using lab-made optical imaging equipment of animal light imaging system (ALIS) and different two kinds of light sources. One is three bacterial light-emitting sources containing different number of bacteria. The other is three different non-bacterial light sources emitting very weak light. By using the concept of the candela and the flux, we could derive simplified linear quantification formula. After experimentally measuring light intensity, the data was processed with the proposed quantification function. We could obtain linear response of photon counts to measurement time by applying the pre-determined quantification function. The ratio of the re-calculated photon counts and measurement time present a constant value although different light source was applied. The quantification function for linear response could be applicable to the standard quantification process. The proposed method could be used for the exact quantitative analysis in various light imaging equipment with presenting linear response behavior of constant light emitting sources to measurement time

Blind image deconvolution methods and convergence

CERN Document Server

Chaudhuri, Subhasis; Rameshan, Renu

2014-01-01

Blind deconvolution is a classical image processing problem which has been investigated by a large number of researchers over the last four decades. The purpose of this monograph is not to propose yet another method for blind image restoration. Rather the basic issue of deconvolvability has been explored from a theoretical view point. Some authors claim very good results while quite a few claim that blind restoration does not work. The authors clearly detail when such methods are expected to work and when they will not. In order to avoid the assumptions needed for convergence analysis in the

Integration of image exposure time into a modified laser speckle imaging method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

RamIrez-San-Juan, J C; Salazar-Hermenegildo, N; Ramos-Garcia, R; Munoz-Lopez, J [Optics Department, INAOE, Puebla (Mexico); Huang, Y C [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA (United States); Choi, B, E-mail: jcram@inaoep.m [Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic, University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)

2010-11-21

Speckle-based methods have been developed to characterize tissue blood flow and perfusion. One such method, called modified laser speckle imaging (mLSI), enables computation of blood flow maps with relatively high spatial resolution. Although it is known that the sensitivity and noise in LSI measurements depend on image exposure time, a fundamental disadvantage of mLSI is that it does not take into account this parameter. In this work, we integrate the exposure time into the mLSI method and provide experimental support of our approach with measurements from an in vitro flow phantom.

Integration of image exposure time into a modified laser speckle imaging method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

RamIrez-San-Juan, J C; Salazar-Hermenegildo, N; Ramos-Garcia, R; Munoz-Lopez, J; Huang, Y C; Choi, B

2010-01-01

Speckle-based methods have been developed to characterize tissue blood flow and perfusion. One such method, called modified laser speckle imaging (mLSI), enables computation of blood flow maps with relatively high spatial resolution. Although it is known that the sensitivity and noise in LSI measurements depend on image exposure time, a fundamental disadvantage of mLSI is that it does not take into account this parameter. In this work, we integrate the exposure time into the mLSI method and provide experimental support of our approach with measurements from an in vitro flow phantom.

Advanced methods for image registration applied to JET videos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Craciunescu, Teddy, E-mail: teddy.craciunescu@jet.uk [EURATOM-MEdC Association, NILPRP, Bucharest (Romania); Murari, Andrea [Consorzio RFX, Associazione EURATOM-ENEA per la Fusione, Padova (Italy); Gelfusa, Michela [Associazione EURATOM-ENEA – University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Roma (Italy); Tiseanu, Ion; Zoita, Vasile [EURATOM-MEdC Association, NILPRP, Bucharest (Romania); Arnoux, Gilles [EURATOM/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxon (United Kingdom)

2015-10-15

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Development of an image registration method for JET IR and fast visible cameras. • Method based on SIFT descriptors and coherent point drift points set registration technique. • Method able to deal with extremely noisy images and very low luminosity images. • Computation time compatible with the inter-shot analysis. - Abstract: The last years have witnessed a significant increase in the use of digital cameras on JET. They are routinely applied for imaging in the IR and visible spectral regions. One of the main technical difficulties in interpreting the data of camera based diagnostics is the presence of movements of the field of view. Small movements occur due to machine shaking during normal pulses while large ones may arise during disruptions. Some cameras show a correlation of image movement with change of magnetic field strength. For deriving unaltered information from the videos and for allowing correct interpretation an image registration method, based on highly distinctive scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) descriptors and on the coherent point drift (CPD) points set registration technique, has been developed. The algorithm incorporates a complex procedure for rejecting outliers. The method has been applied for vibrations correction to videos collected by the JET wide angle infrared camera and for the correction of spurious rotations in the case of the JET fast visible camera (which is equipped with an image intensifier). The method has proved to be able to deal with the images provided by this camera frequently characterized by low contrast and a high level of blurring and noise.

Training Methods for Image Noise Level Estimation on Wavelet Components

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. De Stefano

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The estimation of the standard deviation of noise contaminating an image is a fundamental step in wavelet-based noise reduction techniques. The method widely used is based on the mean absolute deviation (MAD. This model-based method assumes specific characteristics of the noise-contaminated image component. Three novel and alternative methods for estimating the noise standard deviation are proposed in this work and compared with the MAD method. Two of these methods rely on a preliminary training stage in order to extract parameters which are then used in the application stage. The sets used for training and testing, 13 and 5 images, respectively, are fully disjoint. The third method assumes specific statistical distributions for image and noise components. Results showed the prevalence of the training-based methods for the images and the range of noise levels considered.

Methods for processing and analysis functional and anatomical brain images: computerized tomography, emission tomography and nuclear resonance imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazoyer, B.M.

1988-01-01

The various methods for brain image processing and analysis are presented and compared. The following topics are developed: the physical basis of brain image comparison (nature and formation of signals intrinsic performance of the methods image characteristics); mathematical methods for image processing and analysis (filtering, functional parameter extraction, morphological analysis, robotics and artificial intelligence); methods for anatomical localization (neuro-anatomy atlas, proportional stereotaxic atlas, numerized atlas); methodology of cerebral image superposition (normalization, retiming); image networks [fr

Image quality assessment using two-dimensional complex mel-cepstrum

Science.gov (United States)

Cakir, Serdar; Cetin, A. Enis

2016-11-01

Assessment of visual quality plays a crucial role in modeling, implementation, and optimization of image- and video-processing applications. The image quality assessment (IQA) techniques basically extract features from the images to generate objective scores. Feature-based IQA methods generally consist of two complementary phases: (1) feature extraction and (2) feature pooling. For feature extraction in the IQA framework, various algorithms have been used and recently, the two-dimensional (2-D) mel-cepstrum (2-DMC) feature extraction scheme has provided promising results in a feature-based IQA framework. However, the 2-DMC feature extraction scheme completely loses image-phase information that may contain high-frequency characteristics and important structural components of the image. In this work, "2-D complex mel-cepstrum" is proposed for feature extraction in an IQA framework. The method tries to integrate Fourier transform phase information into the 2-DMC, which was shown to be an efficient feature extraction scheme for assessment of image quality. Support vector regression is used for feature pooling that provides mapping between the proposed features and the subjective scores. Experimental results show that the proposed technique obtains promising results for the IQA problem by making use of the image-phase information.

Color correction with blind image restoration based on multiple images using a low-rank model

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dong; Xie, Xudong; Lam, Kin-Man

2014-03-01

We present a method that can handle the color correction of multiple photographs with blind image restoration simultaneously and automatically. We prove that the local colors of a set of images of the same scene exhibit the low-rank property locally both before and after a color-correction operation. This property allows us to correct all kinds of errors in an image under a low-rank matrix model without particular priors or assumptions. The possible errors may be caused by changes of viewpoint, large illumination variations, gross pixel corruptions, partial occlusions, etc. Furthermore, a new iterative soft-segmentation method is proposed for local color transfer using color influence maps. Due to the fact that the correct color information and the spatial information of images can be recovered using the low-rank model, more precise color correction and many other image-restoration tasks-including image denoising, image deblurring, and gray-scale image colorizing-can be performed simultaneously. Experiments have verified that our method can achieve consistent and promising results on uncontrolled real photographs acquired from the Internet and that it outperforms current state-of-the-art methods.

Synthesis and assessment methods for an edge-alignment-free hybrid image

Science.gov (United States)

Sripian, Peeraya; Yamaguchi, Yasushi

2017-07-01

A hybrid image allows multiple image interpretations to be modulated by the viewing distance. It can be constructed on the basis of the multiscale perceptual mechanisms of the human visual system by combining the low and high spatial frequencies of two different images. The hybrid image was introduced as an experimental tool for visual recognition study in terms of spatial frequency perception. To produce a compelling hybrid image, the original hybrid image synthesis method could only use similar shapes of source images that were aligned in the edges. If any two different images can be hybrid, it would be beneficial as a new experimental tool. In addition, there is no measure for the actual perception of spatial frequency, whether a single spatial frequency or both spatial frequencies are perceived from the hybrid stimulus. This paper describes two methods for synthesizing a hybrid image from dissimilar shape images or unaligned images; this hybrid image is known as an "edge-alignment-free hybrid image." A noise-inserted method can be done by intentionally inserting and enhancing noises into the high-frequency image. With this method, the low-frequency blobs are covered with high-frequency noises when viewed up close. A color-inserted method uses complementary color gratings in the background of the high-frequency image to emphasize the high-frequency image when viewed up close, whereas the gratings disappear when viewed from far away. To ascertain that our approach successfully separates the spatial frequency at each viewing distance, we measured this property using our proposed assessment method. Our proposed method allows the experimenter to quantify the probability of perceiving both spatial frequencies and a single spatial frequency in a hybrid image. The experimental results confirmed that our proposed synthesis methods successfully hid the low-frequency image and emphasized the high-frequency image at a close viewing distance. At the same time, the

Medical Imaging Image Quality Assessment with Monte Carlo Methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michail, C M; Fountos, G P; Kalyvas, N I; Valais, I G; Kandarakis, I S; Karpetas, G E; Martini, Niki; Koukou, Vaia

2015-01-01

The aim of the present study was to assess image quality of PET scanners through a thin layer chromatography (TLC) plane source. The source was simulated using a previously validated Monte Carlo model. The model was developed by using the GATE MC package and reconstructed images obtained with the STIR software for tomographic image reconstruction, with cluster computing. The PET scanner simulated in this study was the GE DiscoveryST. A plane source consisted of a TLC plate, was simulated by a layer of silica gel on aluminum (Al) foil substrates, immersed in 18F-FDG bath solution (1MBq). Image quality was assessed in terms of the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF). MTF curves were estimated from transverse reconstructed images of the plane source. Images were reconstructed by the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE)-OSMAPOSL algorithm. OSMAPOSL reconstruction was assessed by using various subsets (3 to 21) and iterations (1 to 20), as well as by using various beta (hyper) parameter values. MTF values were found to increase up to the 12th iteration whereas remain almost constant thereafter. MTF improves by using lower beta values. The simulated PET evaluation method based on the TLC plane source can be also useful in research for the further development of PET and SPECT scanners though GATE simulations. (paper)

Multi-crack imaging using nonclassical nonlinear acoustic method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Lue; Zhang Ying; Liu Xiao-Zhou; Gong Xiu-Fen

2014-01-01

Solid materials with cracks exhibit the nonclassical nonlinear acoustical behavior. The micro-defects in solid materials can be detected by nonlinear elastic wave spectroscopy (NEWS) method with a time-reversal (TR) mirror. While defects lie in viscoelastic solid material with different distances from one another, the nonlinear and hysteretic stress—strain relation is established with Preisach—Mayergoyz (PM) model in crack zone. Pulse inversion (PI) and TR methods are used in numerical simulation and defect locations can be determined from images obtained by the maximum value. Since false-positive defects might appear and degrade the imaging when the defects are located quite closely, the maximum value imaging with a time window is introduced to analyze how defects affect each other and how the fake one occurs. Furthermore, NEWS-TR-NEWS method is put forward to improve NEWS-TR scheme, with another forward propagation (NEWS) added to the existing phases (NEWS and TR). In the added phase, scanner locations are determined by locations of all defects imaged in previous phases, so that whether an imaged defect is real can be deduced. NEWS-TR-NEWS method is proved to be effective to distinguish real defects from the false-positive ones. Moreover, it is also helpful to detect the crack that is weaker than others during imaging procedure. (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)

Radiographic imaging method by gas ionisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eickel, R.; Rheude, A.

1982-02-01

The search for a substitute of the silver halide film has been intensified worldwide due to the shortage and price increase of silver metal. Gasionography could be an alternative to the wellknown silver film imaging techniques in roentgenology. Therefore the practical basis of the imaging process and the electrophoretic development was investigated. The technical realisation of this method was demonstrated for two different types of X-ray examen by developing a fully automatic chest changer and a mammography system that can be adapted to commercially available imaging stands. The image quality achieved with these apparatus was evaluated in comparison with conventional film techniques in the laboratory as well as in a clinical trial. (orig.) [de

Image quality enhancement in low-light-level ghost imaging using modified compressive sensing method

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Xiaohui; Huang, Xianwei; Nan, Suqin; Li, Hengxing; Bai, Yanfeng; Fu, Xiquan

2018-04-01

Detector noise has a significantly negative impact on ghost imaging at low light levels, especially for existing recovery algorithm. Based on the characteristics of the additive detector noise, a method named modified compressive sensing ghost imaging is proposed to reduce the background imposed by the randomly distributed detector noise at signal path. Experimental results show that, with an appropriate choice of threshold value, modified compressive sensing ghost imaging algorithm can dramatically enhance the contrast-to-noise ratio of the object reconstruction significantly compared with traditional ghost imaging and compressive sensing ghost imaging methods. The relationship between the contrast-to-noise ratio of the reconstruction image and the intensity ratio (namely, the average signal intensity to average noise intensity ratio) for the three reconstruction algorithms are also discussed. This noise suppression imaging technique will have great applications in remote-sensing and security areas.

Investigation of Optimal Integrated Circuit Raster Image Vectorization Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonas Jasevičius

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Visual analysis of integrated circuit layer requires raster image vectorization stage to extract layer topology data to CAD tools. In this paper vectorization problems of raster IC layer images are presented. Various line extraction from raster images algorithms and their properties are discussed. Optimal raster image vectorization method was developed which allows utilization of common vectorization algorithms to achieve the best possible extracted vector data match with perfect manual vectorization results. To develop the optimal method, vectorized data quality dependence on initial raster image skeleton filter selection was assessed.Article in Lithuanian

A new method of the light irradiation image by the computed radiography (imaging plate) system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aiba, Susumu; Nishi, Katsuki.

1997-01-01

There are two method for the purpose of diagnosing medically by using gamma-ray light irradiation image. One is to use of the scintillation camera for gamma-ray, the other is to use of the photostimulable luminescence point by the secondary excitation of the image plate (IP) system for X-ray. The standpoint of the spatial resolution at the total medical image, using gamma-ray, the first can get the image on a short time, but the first is a poor image quality, and the second is good image quality, but the second can get the image on a long time, because of insensitive to gamma-ray. We report on the improvement for IP's week point by our proposal method, and by our clinical and quantitative analysis data, to use the highly efficient IP (ST-III). We make the improvement on the imaging time (from 30 minutes to 20 minutes), and the inprocessing time (from 33-50 minutes to 27 minutes) for a former method on an organism. We strongly believe that our convenience improvement method, and our clinical quantitative analysis data can contribute to the wide application as well as the quality up for the clinical diagnosis to use gamma-ray. (author)

Level set method for image segmentation based on moment competition

Science.gov (United States)

Min, Hai; Wang, Xiao-Feng; Huang, De-Shuang; Jin, Jing; Wang, Hong-Zhi; Li, Hai

2015-05-01

We propose a level set method for image segmentation which introduces the moment competition and weakly supervised information into the energy functional construction. Different from the region-based level set methods which use force competition, the moment competition is adopted to drive the contour evolution. Here, a so-called three-point labeling scheme is proposed to manually label three independent points (weakly supervised information) on the image. Then the intensity differences between the three points and the unlabeled pixels are used to construct the force arms for each image pixel. The corresponding force is generated from the global statistical information of a region-based method and weighted by the force arm. As a result, the moment can be constructed and incorporated into the energy functional to drive the evolving contour to approach the object boundary. In our method, the force arm can take full advantage of the three-point labeling scheme to constrain the moment competition. Additionally, the global statistical information and weakly supervised information are successfully integrated, which makes the proposed method more robust than traditional methods for initial contour placement and parameter setting. Experimental results with performance analysis also show the superiority of the proposed method on segmenting different types of complicated images, such as noisy images, three-phase images, images with intensity inhomogeneity, and texture images.

Optical image encryption method based on incoherent imaging and polarized light encoding

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Q.; Xiong, D.; Alfalou, A.; Brosseau, C.

2018-05-01

We propose an incoherent encoding system for image encryption based on a polarized encoding method combined with an incoherent imaging. Incoherent imaging is the core component of this proposal, in which the incoherent point-spread function (PSF) of the imaging system serves as the main key to encode the input intensity distribution thanks to a convolution operation. An array of retarders and polarizers is placed on the input plane of the imaging structure to encrypt the polarized state of light based on Mueller polarization calculus. The proposal makes full use of randomness of polarization parameters and incoherent PSF so that a multidimensional key space is generated to deal with illegal attacks. Mueller polarization calculus and incoherent illumination of imaging structure ensure that only intensity information is manipulated. Another key advantage is that complicated processing and recording related to a complex-valued signal are avoided. The encoded information is just an intensity distribution, which is advantageous for data storage and transition because information expansion accompanying conventional encryption methods is also avoided. The decryption procedure can be performed digitally or using optoelectronic devices. Numerical simulation tests demonstrate the validity of the proposed scheme.

The Harmonics of Kansei Images

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Su, Jianning; Restrepo-Giraldo, John Dairo

2008-01-01

sensibility it elicits on a person (kansei), is a key factor in the design of tools to support designers in delivering the right product’s appearance. This paper presents an approach to mathematically represent a product’s kansei based on the frequency signature (harmonics) of a shape. This mathematical...... representation should allow the automatic indexing and retrieval of images from a repository of design precedents. This is done through a series of experiments aiming at determining the relation between images, kansei words and the frequency signatures of those images. Tests suggest the method is promising...... and can be used for indexing images in Content Based Image Retrieval Systems....

A novel magnetic resonance imaging-compatible motor control method for image-guided robotic surgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Takashi; Liao, Hongen; Kobayashi, Etsuko; Sakuma, Ichiro

2006-01-01

For robotic surgery assistance systems that use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for guidance, the problem of electromagnetic interference is common. Image quality is particularly degraded if motors are running during scanning. We propose a novel MRI-compatible method considering the pulse sequence of imaging. Motors are driven for a short time when the MRI system stops signal acquisition (i.e., awaiting relaxation of the proton), so the image does not contain noise from the actuators. The MRI system and motor are synchronized using a radio frequency pulse signal (8.5 MHz) as the trigger, which is acquired via a special antenna mounted near the scanner. This method can be widely applied because it only receives part of the scanning signal and neither hardware nor software of the MRI system needs to be changed. As a feasibility evaluation test, we compared the images and signal-to-noise ratios between the cases with and without this method, under the condition that a piezoelectric motor was driven during scanning as a noise source, which was generally used as a MRI-compatible actuator. The results showed no deterioration in image quality and the benefit of the new method even though the choice of available scanning sequences is limited. (author)

Photothermal imaging of melanin

Science.gov (United States)

Kerimo, Josef; DiMarzio, Charles A.

2013-02-01

We present photothermal images of melanin using modulation with two laser beams. Strong melanin absorption followed by efficient nonradiative relaxation caused heating and an increase in temperature. This temperature effect was used as an imaging contrast to detect melanin. Melanin from several samples including Sepia officinalis, black human hair, and live zebra fish, were imaged with a high signal-to-noise ratio. For the imaging, we focused two near infrared laser beams (pump and probe) collinearly with different wavelengths and the pump was modulated in amplitude. The thermally induced variations in the refractive index, at the modulation frequency, were detected by the scattering of the probe beam. The Photothermal method brings several imaging benefits including the lack of background interference and the possibility of imaging for an extended period of time without photodamage to the melanin. The dependence of the photothermal signal on the laser power, modulation frequency, and spatial offset of the probe is discussed. The new photothermal imaging method is promising and provides background-free and label-free imaging of melanin and can be implemented with low-cost CW lasers.

Development of a practical image-based scatter correction method for brain perfusion SPECT: comparison with the TEW method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shidahara, Miho; Kato, Takashi; Kawatsu, Shoji; Yoshimura, Kumiko; Ito, Kengo; Watabe, Hiroshi; Kim, Kyeong Min; Iida, Hidehiro; Kato, Rikio

2005-01-01

An image-based scatter correction (IBSC) method was developed to convert scatter-uncorrected into scatter-corrected SPECT images. The purpose of this study was to validate this method by means of phantom simulations and human studies with 99m Tc-labeled tracers, based on comparison with the conventional triple energy window (TEW) method. The IBSC method corrects scatter on the reconstructed image I AC μb with Chang's attenuation correction factor. The scatter component image is estimated by convolving I AC μb with a scatter function followed by multiplication with an image-based scatter fraction function. The IBSC method was evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations and 99m Tc-ethyl cysteinate dimer SPECT human brain perfusion studies obtained from five volunteers. The image counts and contrast of the scatter-corrected images obtained by the IBSC and TEW methods were compared. Using data obtained from the simulations, the image counts and contrast of the scatter-corrected images obtained by the IBSC and TEW methods were found to be nearly identical for both gray and white matter. In human brain images, no significant differences in image contrast were observed between the IBSC and TEW methods. The IBSC method is a simple scatter correction technique feasible for use in clinical routine. (orig.)

Development of a practical image-based scatter correction method for brain perfusion SPECT: comparison with the TEW method.

Science.gov (United States)

Shidahara, Miho; Watabe, Hiroshi; Kim, Kyeong Min; Kato, Takashi; Kawatsu, Shoji; Kato, Rikio; Yoshimura, Kumiko; Iida, Hidehiro; Ito, Kengo

2005-10-01

An image-based scatter correction (IBSC) method was developed to convert scatter-uncorrected into scatter-corrected SPECT images. The purpose of this study was to validate this method by means of phantom simulations and human studies with 99mTc-labeled tracers, based on comparison with the conventional triple energy window (TEW) method. The IBSC method corrects scatter on the reconstructed image I(mub)AC with Chang's attenuation correction factor. The scatter component image is estimated by convolving I(mub)AC with a scatter function followed by multiplication with an image-based scatter fraction function. The IBSC method was evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations and 99mTc-ethyl cysteinate dimer SPECT human brain perfusion studies obtained from five volunteers. The image counts and contrast of the scatter-corrected images obtained by the IBSC and TEW methods were compared. Using data obtained from the simulations, the image counts and contrast of the scatter-corrected images obtained by the IBSC and TEW methods were found to be nearly identical for both gray and white matter. In human brain images, no significant differences in image contrast were observed between the IBSC and TEW methods. The IBSC method is a simple scatter correction technique feasible for use in clinical routine.

System and method for image mapping and visual attention

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, II, Richard A. (Inventor)

2011-01-01

A method is described for mapping dense sensory data to a Sensory Ego Sphere (SES). Methods are also described for finding and ranking areas of interest in the images that form a complete visual scene on an SES. Further, attentional processing of image data is best done by performing attentional processing on individual full-size images from the image sequence, mapping each attentional location to the nearest node, and then summing all attentional locations at each node.

PROspective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of chest pain: rationale and design of the PROMISE trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Pamela S; Hoffmann, Udo; Lee, Kerry L; Mark, Daniel B; Al-Khalidi, Hussein R; Anstrom, Kevin; Dolor, Rowena J; Kosinski, Andrzej; Krucoff, Mitchell W; Mudrick, Daniel W; Patel, Manesh R; Picard, Michael H; Udelson, James E; Velazquez, Eric J; Cooper, Lawton

2014-06-01

Suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most common, potentially life-threatening diagnostic problems clinicians encounter. However, no large outcome-based randomized trials have been performed to guide the selection of diagnostic strategies for these patients. The PROMISE study is a prospective, randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of 2 initial diagnostic strategies in patients with symptoms suspicious for CAD. Patients are randomized to either (1) functional testing (exercise electrocardiogram, stress nuclear imaging, or stress echocardiogram) or (2) anatomical testing with ≥64-slice multidetector coronary computed tomographic angiography. Tests are interpreted locally in real time by subspecialty certified physicians, and all subsequent care decisions are made by the clinical care team. Sites are provided results of central core laboratory quality and completeness assessment. All subjects are followed up for ≥1 year. The primary end point is the time to occurrence of the composite of death, myocardial infarction, major procedural complications (stroke, major bleeding, anaphylaxis, and renal failure), or hospitalization for unstable angina. More than 10,000 symptomatic subjects were randomized in 3.2 years at 193 US and Canadian cardiology, radiology, primary care, urgent care, and anesthesiology sites. Multispecialty community practice enrollment into a large pragmatic trial of diagnostic testing strategies is both feasible and efficient. The PROMISE trial will compare the clinical effectiveness of an initial strategy of functional testing against an initial strategy of anatomical testing in symptomatic patients with suspected CAD. Quality of life, resource use, cost-effectiveness, and radiation exposure will be assessed. Copyright © 2014 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hiding a Covert Digital Image by Assembling the RSA Encryption Method and the Binary Encoding Method

OpenAIRE

Kuang Tsan Lin; Sheng Lih Yeh

2014-01-01

The Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) encryption method and the binary encoding method are assembled to form a hybrid hiding method to hide a covert digital image into a dot-matrix holographic image. First, the RSA encryption method is used to transform the covert image to form a RSA encryption data string. Then, all the elements of the RSA encryption data string are transferred into binary data. Finally, the binary data are encoded into the dot-matrix holographic image. The pixels of the dot-matri...

Sampling methods for low-frequency electromagnetic imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gebauer, Bastian; Hanke, Martin; Schneider, Christoph

2008-01-01

For the detection of hidden objects by low-frequency electromagnetic imaging the linear sampling method works remarkably well despite the fact that the rigorous mathematical justification is still incomplete. In this work, we give an explanation for this good performance by showing that in the low-frequency limit the measurement operator fulfils the assumptions for the fully justified variant of the linear sampling method, the so-called factorization method. We also show how the method has to be modified in the physically relevant case of electromagnetic imaging with divergence-free currents. We present numerical results to illustrate our findings, and to show that similar performance can be expected for the case of conducting objects and layered backgrounds

General filtering method for electronic speckle pattern interferometry fringe images with various densities based on variational image decomposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Biyuan; Tang, Chen; Gao, Guannan; Chen, Mingming; Tang, Shuwei; Lei, Zhenkun

2017-06-01

Filtering off speckle noise from a fringe image is one of the key tasks in electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). In general, ESPI fringe images can be divided into three categories: low-density fringe images, high-density fringe images, and variable-density fringe images. In this paper, we first present a general filtering method based on variational image decomposition that can filter speckle noise for ESPI fringe images with various densities. In our method, a variable-density ESPI fringe image is decomposed into low-density fringes, high-density fringes, and noise. A low-density fringe image is decomposed into low-density fringes and noise. A high-density fringe image is decomposed into high-density fringes and noise. We give some suitable function spaces to describe low-density fringes, high-density fringes, and noise, respectively. Then we construct several models and numerical algorithms for ESPI fringe images with various densities. And we investigate the performance of these models via our extensive experiments. Finally, we compare our proposed models with the windowed Fourier transform method and coherence enhancing diffusion partial differential equation filter. These two methods may be the most effective filtering methods at present. Furthermore, we use the proposed method to filter a collection of the experimentally obtained ESPI fringe images with poor quality. The experimental results demonstrate the performance of our proposed method.

Image Mosaic Method Based on SIFT Features of Line Segment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun Zhu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel image mosaic method based on SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform feature of line segment, aiming to resolve incident scaling, rotation, changes in lighting condition, and so on between two images in the panoramic image mosaic process. This method firstly uses Harris corner detection operator to detect key points. Secondly, it constructs directed line segments, describes them with SIFT feature, and matches those directed segments to acquire rough point matching. Finally, Ransac method is used to eliminate wrong pairs in order to accomplish image mosaic. The results from experiment based on four pairs of images show that our method has strong robustness for resolution, lighting, rotation, and scaling.

COMPARISON OF DIGITAL IMAGE STEGANOGRAPHY METHODS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. A. Seyyedi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Steganography is a method of hiding information in other information of different format (container. There are many steganography techniques with various types of container. In the Internet, digital images are the most popular and frequently used containers. We consider main image steganography techniques and their advantages and disadvantages. We also identify the requirements of a good steganography algorithm and compare various such algorithms.

Blind compressed sensing image reconstruction based on alternating direction method

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qinan; Guo, Shuxu

2018-04-01

In order to solve the problem of how to reconstruct the original image under the condition of unknown sparse basis, this paper proposes an image reconstruction method based on blind compressed sensing model. In this model, the image signal is regarded as the product of a sparse coefficient matrix and a dictionary matrix. Based on the existing blind compressed sensing theory, the optimal solution is solved by the alternative minimization method. The proposed method solves the problem that the sparse basis in compressed sensing is difficult to represent, which restrains the noise and improves the quality of reconstructed image. This method ensures that the blind compressed sensing theory has a unique solution and can recover the reconstructed original image signal from a complex environment with a stronger self-adaptability. The experimental results show that the image reconstruction algorithm based on blind compressed sensing proposed in this paper can recover high quality image signals under the condition of under-sampling.

Research on image complexity evaluation method based on color information

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hao; Duan, Jin; Han, Xue-hui; Xiao, Bo

2017-11-01

In order to evaluate the complexity of a color image more effectively and find the connection between image complexity and image information, this paper presents a method to compute the complexity of image based on color information.Under the complexity ,the theoretical analysis first divides the complexity from the subjective level, divides into three levels: low complexity, medium complexity and high complexity, and then carries on the image feature extraction, finally establishes the function between the complexity value and the color characteristic model. The experimental results show that this kind of evaluation method can objectively reconstruct the complexity of the image from the image feature research. The experimental results obtained by the method of this paper are in good agreement with the results of human visual perception complexity,Color image complexity has a certain reference value.

Imaging systems and methods for obtaining and using biometric information

Science.gov (United States)

McMakin, Douglas L [Richland, WA; Kennedy, Mike O [Richland, WA

2010-11-30

Disclosed herein are exemplary embodiments of imaging systems and methods of using such systems. In one exemplary embodiment, one or more direct images of the body of a clothed subject are received, and a motion signature is determined from the one or more images. In this embodiment, the one or more images show movement of the body of the subject over time, and the motion signature is associated with the movement of the subject's body. In certain implementations, the subject can be identified based at least in part on the motion signature. Imaging systems for performing any of the disclosed methods are also disclosed herein. Furthermore, the disclosed imaging, rendering, and analysis methods can be implemented, at least in part, as one or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the respective methods.

Analysis of S-box in Image Encryption Using Root Mean Square Error Method

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Iqtadar; Shah, Tariq; Gondal, Muhammad Asif; Mahmood, Hasan

2012-07-01

The use of substitution boxes (S-boxes) in encryption applications has proven to be an effective nonlinear component in creating confusion and randomness. The S-box is evolving and many variants appear in literature, which include advanced encryption standard (AES) S-box, affine power affine (APA) S-box, Skipjack S-box, Gray S-box, Lui J S-box, residue prime number S-box, Xyi S-box, and S8 S-box. These S-boxes have algebraic and statistical properties which distinguish them from each other in terms of encryption strength. In some circumstances, the parameters from algebraic and statistical analysis yield results which do not provide clear evidence in distinguishing an S-box for an application to a particular set of data. In image encryption applications, the use of S-boxes needs special care because the visual analysis and perception of a viewer can sometimes identify artifacts embedded in the image. In addition to existing algebraic and statistical analysis already used for image encryption applications, we propose an application of root mean square error technique, which further elaborates the results and enables the analyst to vividly distinguish between the performances of various S-boxes. While the use of the root mean square error analysis in statistics has proven to be effective in determining the difference in original data and the processed data, its use in image encryption has shown promising results in estimating the strength of the encryption method. In this paper, we show the application of the root mean square error analysis to S-box image encryption. The parameters from this analysis are used in determining the strength of S-boxes

Fast method of constructing image correlations to build a free network based on image multivocabulary trees

Science.gov (United States)

Zhan, Zongqian; Wang, Xin; Wei, Minglu

2015-05-01

In image-based three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction, one topic of growing importance is how to quickly obtain a 3-D model from a large number of images. The retrieval of the correct and relevant images for the model poses a considerable technological challenge. The "image vocabulary tree" has been proposed as a method to search for similar images. However, a significant drawback of this approach is identified in its low time efficiency and barely satisfactory classification result. The method proposed is inspired by, and improves upon, some recent methods. Specifically, vocabulary quality is considered and multivocabulary trees are designed to improve the classification result. A marked improvement was, indeed, observed in our evaluation of the proposed method. To improve time efficiency, graphics processing unit (GPU) computer unified device architecture parallel computation is applied in the multivocabulary trees. The results of the experiments showed that the GPU was three to four times more efficient than the enumeration matching and CPU methods when the number of images is large. This paper presents a reliable reference method for the rapid construction of a free network to be used for the computing of 3-D information.

Development of a practical image-based scatter correction method for brain perfusion SPECT: comparison with the TEW method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shidahara, Miho; Kato, Takashi; Kawatsu, Shoji; Yoshimura, Kumiko; Ito, Kengo [National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology Research Institute, Department of Brain Science and Molecular Imaging, Obu, Aichi (Japan); Watabe, Hiroshi; Kim, Kyeong Min; Iida, Hidehiro [National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, Department of Investigative Radiology, Suita (Japan); Kato, Rikio [National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Department of Radiology, Obu (Japan)

2005-10-01

An image-based scatter correction (IBSC) method was developed to convert scatter-uncorrected into scatter-corrected SPECT images. The purpose of this study was to validate this method by means of phantom simulations and human studies with {sup 99m}Tc-labeled tracers, based on comparison with the conventional triple energy window (TEW) method. The IBSC method corrects scatter on the reconstructed image I{sub AC}{sup {mu}}{sup b} with Chang's attenuation correction factor. The scatter component image is estimated by convolving I{sub AC}{sup {mu}}{sup b} with a scatter function followed by multiplication with an image-based scatter fraction function. The IBSC method was evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations and {sup 99m}Tc-ethyl cysteinate dimer SPECT human brain perfusion studies obtained from five volunteers. The image counts and contrast of the scatter-corrected images obtained by the IBSC and TEW methods were compared. Using data obtained from the simulations, the image counts and contrast of the scatter-corrected images obtained by the IBSC and TEW methods were found to be nearly identical for both gray and white matter. In human brain images, no significant differences in image contrast were observed between the IBSC and TEW methods. The IBSC method is a simple scatter correction technique feasible for use in clinical routine. (orig.)

Iterative methods for dose reduction and image enhancement in tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Jianwei; Fahimian, Benjamin Pooya

2012-09-18

A system and method for creating a three dimensional cross sectional image of an object by the reconstruction of its projections that have been iteratively refined through modification in object space and Fourier space is disclosed. The invention provides systems and methods for use with any tomographic imaging system that reconstructs an object from its projections. In one embodiment, the invention presents a method to eliminate interpolations present in conventional tomography. The method has been experimentally shown to provide higher resolution and improved image quality parameters over existing approaches. A primary benefit of the method is radiation dose reduction since the invention can produce an image of a desired quality with a fewer number projections than seen with conventional methods.

Dental magnetic resonance tomography (dental-MRT) as a method for imaging of the maxillo-mandibular bone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gahleitner, A.; Nasel, C.; Schick, S.; Dorffner, S.; Imhof, H.; Trattnig, S.; Bernhart, T.; Mailath, G.; Watzek, G.

1998-01-01

Purpose: To establish a new method for dental imaging using magnetic resonance tomography named Dental-MRT and to demonstrate its usefulness in diagnosing dentogen pathologies of the mandible and maxilla. Methods: Seven healthy volunteers, three patients with pulpitis, two patients with dentigerous cysts, two patients after tooth transplantation, and three patients with atrophic mandibles have been evaluated. Optimized axial T 1 - and T 2 -weighted gradient echo and spin echo sequences in 2D and 3D technique have been established to perform studies of the jaws. The acquired images were reconstructed with a standard dental software package on a workstation as panorama and cross-sectional views of the mandible or maxilla. Results: The entire maxillo-mandibular bone, teeth, dental pulp, and the content of the mandibular canal were well depicted. Patients with pulpitis demonstrate bone marrow edema in the periapical region. Dentigerous cysts and their relation to the surrounding structures are clearly shown. After contrast media administration marked enhancement of the dental pulp can be demonstrated. Conclusion: Dental-MRT promises to provide a new tool for visualization and detection of dental diseases. (orig.) [de

Numerical methods in image processing for applications in jewellery industry

OpenAIRE

Petrla, Martin

2016-01-01

Presented thesis deals with a problem from the field of image processing for application in multiple scanning of jewelery stones. The aim is to develop a method for preprocessing and subsequent mathematical registration of images in order to increase the effectivity and reliability of the output quality control. For these purposes the thesis summerizes mathematical definition of digital image as well as theoretical base of image registration. It proposes a method adjusting every single image ...

New adaptive sampling method in particle image velocimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Kaikai; Xu, Jinglei; Tang, Lan; Mo, Jianwei

2015-01-01

This study proposes a new adaptive method to enable the number of interrogation windows and their positions in a particle image velocimetry (PIV) image interrogation algorithm to become self-adapted according to the seeding density. The proposed method can relax the constraint of uniform sampling rate and uniform window size commonly adopted in the traditional PIV algorithm. In addition, the positions of the sampling points are redistributed on the basis of the spring force generated by the sampling points. The advantages include control of the number of interrogation windows according to the local seeding density and smoother distribution of sampling points. The reliability of the adaptive sampling method is illustrated by processing synthetic and experimental images. The synthetic example attests to the advantages of the sampling method. Compared with that of the uniform interrogation technique in the experimental application, the spatial resolution is locally enhanced when using the proposed sampling method. (technical design note)

FFT-enhanced IHS transform method for fusing high-resolution satellite images

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Y.; Ehlers, M.; Usery, E.L.; Madden, M.

2007-01-01

Existing image fusion techniques such as the intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) transform and principal components analysis (PCA) methods may not be optimal for fusing the new generation commercial high-resolution satellite images such as Ikonos and QuickBird. One problem is color distortion in the fused image, which causes visual changes as well as spectral differences between the original and fused images. In this paper, a fast Fourier transform (FFT)-enhanced IHS method is developed for fusing new generation high-resolution satellite images. This method combines a standard IHS transform with FFT filtering of both the panchromatic image and the intensity component of the original multispectral image. Ikonos and QuickBird data are used to assess the FFT-enhanced IHS transform method. Experimental results indicate that the FFT-enhanced IHS transform method may improve upon the standard IHS transform and the PCA methods in preserving spectral and spatial information. ?? 2006 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Inc. (ISPRS).

Lossy image compression for digital medical imaging systems

Science.gov (United States)

Wilhelm, Paul S.; Haynor, David R.; Kim, Yongmin; Nelson, Alan C.; Riskin, Eve A.

1990-07-01

Image compression at rates of 10:1 or greater could make PACS much more responsive and economically attractive. This paper describes a protocol for subjective and objective evaluation of the fidelity of compressed/decompressed images to the originals and presents the results ofits application to four representative and promising compression methods. The methods examined are predictive pruned tree-structured vector quantization, fractal compression, the discrete cosine transform with equal weighting of block bit allocation, and the discrete cosine transform with human visual system weighting of block bit allocation. Vector quantization is theoretically capable of producing the best compressed images, but has proven to be difficult to effectively implement. It has the advantage that it can reconstruct images quickly through a simple lookup table. Disadvantages are that codebook training is required, the method is computationally intensive, and achieving the optimum performance would require prohibitively long vector dimensions. Fractal compression is a relatively new compression technique, but has produced satisfactory results while being computationally simple. It is fast at both image compression and image reconstruction. Discrete cosine iransform techniques reproduce images well, but have traditionally been hampered by the need for intensive computing to compress and decompress images. A protocol was developed for side-by-side observer comparison of reconstructed images with originals. Three 1024 X 1024 CR (Computed Radiography) images and two 512 X 512 X-ray CT images were viewed at six bit rates (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5 bpp for CR, and 1.0, 1.3, 1.6, 1.9, 2.2, 2.5 bpp for X-ray CT) by nine radiologists at the University of Washington Medical Center. The CR images were viewed on a Pixar II Megascan (2560 X 2048) monitor and the CT images on a Sony (1280 X 1024) monitor. The radiologists' subjective evaluations of image fidelity were compared to

A novel method for detecting light source for digital images forensic

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, A. K.; Mitra, S. K.; Agrawal, R.

2011-06-01

Manipulation in image has been in practice since centuries. These manipulated images are intended to alter facts — facts of ethics, morality, politics, sex, celebrity or chaos. Image forensic science is used to detect these manipulations in a digital image. There are several standard ways to analyze an image for manipulation. Each one has some limitation. Also very rarely any method tried to capitalize on the way image was taken by the camera. We propose a new method that is based on light and its shade as light and shade are the fundamental input resources that may carry all the information of the image. The proposed method measures the direction of light source and uses the light based technique for identification of any intentional partial manipulation in the said digital image. The method is tested for known manipulated images to correctly identify the light sources. The light source of an image is measured in terms of angle. The experimental results show the robustness of the methodology.

Spectral analysis of mammographic images using a multitaper method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Gang; Mainprize, James G.; Yaffe, Martin J.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Power spectral analysis in radiographic images is conventionally performed using a windowed overlapping averaging periodogram. This study describes an alternative approach using a multitaper technique and compares its performance with that of the standard method. This tool will be valuable in power spectrum estimation of images, whose content deviates significantly from uniform white noise. The performance of the multitaper approach will be evaluated in terms of spectral stability, variance reduction, bias, and frequency precision. The ultimate goal is the development of a useful tool for image quality assurance. Methods: A multitaper approach uses successive data windows of increasing order. This mitigates spectral leakage allowing one to calculate a reduced-variance power spectrum. The multitaper approach will be compared with the conventional power spectrum method in several typical situations, including the noise power spectra (NPS) measurements of simulated projection images of a uniform phantom, NPS measurement of real detector images of a uniform phantom for two clinical digital mammography systems, and the estimation of the anatomic noise in mammographic images (simulated images and clinical mammograms). Results: Examination of spectrum variance versus frequency resolution and bias indicates that the multitaper approach is superior to the conventional single taper methods in the prevention of spectrum leakage and variance reduction. More than four times finer frequency precision can be achieved with equivalent or less variance and bias. Conclusions: Without any shortening of the image data length, the bias is smaller and the frequency resolution is higher with the multitaper method, and the need to compromise in the choice of regions of interest size to balance between the reduction of variance and the loss of frequency resolution is largely eliminated.

A SAR IMAGE REGISTRATION METHOD BASED ON SIFT ALGORITHM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Lu

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the stability and rapidity of synthetic aperture radar (SAR images matching, an effective method was presented. Firstly, the adaptive smoothing filtering was employed for image denoising in image processing based on Wallis filtering to avoid the follow-up noise is amplified. Secondly, feature points were extracted by a simplified SIFT algorithm. Finally, the exact matching of the images was achieved with these points. Compared with the existing methods, it not only maintains the richness of features, but a-lso reduces the noise of the image. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve better matching effect.

Feasibility study on X-ray source with pinhole imaging method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu Rui; Li Junli

2007-01-01

In order to verify the feasibility of study on X-ray source with pinhole imaging method, and optimize the design of X-ray pinhole imaging system, an X-ray pinhole imaging equipment was set up. The change of image due to the change of the position and intensity of X-ray source was estimated with mathematical method and validated with experiment. The results show that the change of the spot position and gray of the spot is linearly related with the change of the position and intensity of X-ray source, so it is feasible to study X-ray source with pinhole imaging method in this application. The results provide some references for the design of X-ray pinhole imaging system. (authors)

New diffusion imaging method with a single acquisition sequence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melki, Ph.S.; Bittoun, J.; Lefevre, J.E.

1987-01-01

The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is related to the molecular diffusion coefficient and to physiologic information: microcirculation in the capillary network, incoherent slow flow, and restricted diffusion. The authors present a new MR imaging sequence that yields computed ADC images in only one acquisition of 9-minutes with a 1.5-T imager (GE Signa). Compared to the previous method, this sequence is at least two times faster and thus can be used as a routine examination to supplement T1-, T2-, and density-weighted images. The method was assessed by measurement of the molecular diffusion in liquids, and the first clinical images obtained in neurologic diseases demonstrate its efficiency for clinical investigation. The possibility of separately imaging diffusion and perfusion is supported by an algorithm

Definition imaging of an orebody with the radio imaging method (RIM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stolarczyk, L.G.

1992-01-01

Waste rock dilution is an economic concern in the planning and design of mining methods for mineralized ore zones. Diamond core drilling and mineralogical examination of core are routinely used to determine the general shape of the ore body. Drilling on closer centers enhances the definition of the mineralization and oregrade across the orebody. In a practical sense, drilling time and cost limit definition. Crosshole scanning between drillholes with the radio imaging method (RIM) has been used to map changes in mineralization in the rock mass. The magnitude and phase of the RIM radio wave depend on the electrical conductivity of the rock mass. The conductivity strongly depends on the percent mineralization. Since the attenuation rate and phase constants of the radio wave are proportional to the one half power of conductivity, the measured crosshole radio wave data can be processed in a tomography algorithm to reconstruct images (map the change in conductivity (mineralization)). The tomography image enhances definition in the orebody while reducing the number of drillholes. This paper compares reconstructed images of the radio wave propagation constants to percent mineralization in the ore body

A simple method for detecting tumor in T2-weighted MRI brain images. An image-based analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lau, Phooi-Yee; Ozawa, Shinji

2006-01-01

The objective of this paper is to present a decision support system which uses a computer-based procedure to detect tumor blocks or lesions in digitized medical images. The authors developed a simple method with a low computation effort to detect tumors on T2-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) brain images, focusing on the connection between the spatial pixel value and tumor properties from four different perspectives: cases having minuscule differences between two images using a fixed block-based method, tumor shape and size using the edge and binary images, tumor properties based on texture values using spatial pixel intensity distribution controlled by a global discriminate value, and the occurrence of content-specific tumor pixel for threshold images. Measurements of the following medical datasets were performed: different time interval images, and different brain disease images on single and multiple slice images. Experimental results have revealed that our proposed technique incurred an overall error smaller than those in other proposed methods. In particular, the proposed method allowed decrements of false alarm and missed alarm errors, which demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed technique. In this paper, we also present a prototype system, known as PCB, to evaluate the performance of the proposed methods by actual experiments, comparing the detection accuracy and system performance. (author)

Computational Methods for Nanoscale X-ray Computed Tomography Image Analysis of Fuel Cell and Battery Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Arjun S.

optics. We solve for the artifact-free images through an optimization function that uses novel edge detection and fast image interpolation methods. We use this optics-based segmentation method in two main research problems - 1) the characterization of a failure mechanism in the internal structure of Li-ion battery electrodes and 2) the measurement of Li metal dendrite morphology for different current and temperature parameters of Li-ion battery cell operation. The second problem we address is the development of a space+time (4D) reconstruction method for in-operando imaging of samples undergoing temporal change, particularly for X-ray sources with low throughput and nanoscale spatial resolutions. The challenge in using such systems is achieving a sufficient temporal resolution despite exposure times of a 2D projection on the order of 1 minute. We develop a 4D dynamic X-ray computed tomography (CT) reconstruction method, capable of reconstructing a temporal 3D image every 2 to 8 projections. Its novel properties are its projection angle sequence and the probabilistic detection of experimental change. We show its accuracy on phantom and experimental datasets to show its promise in temporally resolving Li metal dendrite growth and in elucidating mitigation strategies.

Hyperspectral image analysis. A tutorial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amigo, José Manuel; Babamoradi, Hamid; Elcoroaristizabal, Saioa

2015-01-01

This tutorial aims at providing guidelines and practical tools to assist with the analysis of hyperspectral images. Topics like hyperspectral image acquisition, image pre-processing, multivariate exploratory analysis, hyperspectral image resolution, classification and final digital image processing will be exposed, and some guidelines given and discussed. Due to the broad character of current applications and the vast number of multivariate methods available, this paper has focused on an industrial chemical framework to explain, in a step-wise manner, how to develop a classification methodology to differentiate between several types of plastics by using Near infrared hyperspectral imaging and Partial Least Squares – Discriminant Analysis. Thus, the reader is guided through every single step and oriented in order to adapt those strategies to the user's case. - Highlights: • Comprehensive tutorial of Hyperspectral Image analysis. • Hierarchical discrimination of six classes of plastics containing flame retardant. • Step by step guidelines to perform class-modeling on hyperspectral images. • Fusion of multivariate data analysis and digital image processing methods. • Promising methodology for real-time detection of plastics containing flame retardant.

An Image Encryption Method Based on Bit Plane Hiding Technology

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LIU Bin; LI Zhitang; TU Hao

2006-01-01

A novel image hiding method based on the correlation analysis of bit plane is described in this paper. Firstly, based on the correlation analysis, different bit plane of a secret image is hided in different bit plane of several different open images. And then a new hiding image is acquired by a nesting "Exclusive-OR" operation on those images obtained from the first step. At last, by employing image fusion technique, the final hiding result is achieved. The experimental result shows that the method proposed in this paper is effective.

Fuzzy promises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anker, Thomas Boysen; Kappel, Klemens; Eadie, Douglas

2012-01-01

as narrative material to communicate self-identity. Finally, (c) we propose that brands deliver fuzzy experiential promises through effectively motivating consumers to adopt and play a social role implicitly suggested and facilitated by the brand. A promise is an inherently ethical concept and the article...... concludes with an in-depth discussion of fuzzy brand promises as two-way ethical commitments that put requirements on both brands and consumers....

An enhanced narrow-band imaging method for the microvessel detection

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Feng; Song, Enmin; Liu, Hong; Wan, Youming; Zhu, Jun; Hung, Chih-Cheng

2018-02-01

A medical endoscope system combined with the narrow-band imaging (NBI), has been shown to be a superior diagnostic tool for early cancer detection. The NBI can reveal the morphologic changes of microvessels in the superficial cancer. In order to improve the conspicuousness of microvessel texture, we propose an enhanced NBI method to improve the conspicuousness of endoscopic images. To obtain the more conspicuous narrow-band images, we use the edge operator to extract the edge information of the narrow-band blue and green images, and give a weight to the extracted edges. Then, the weighted edges are fused with the narrow-band blue and green images. Finally, the displayed endoscopic images are reconstructed with the enhanced narrow-band images. In addition, we evaluate the performance of enhanced narrow-band images with different edge operators. Experimental results indicate that the Sobel and Canny operators achieve the best performance of all. Compared with traditional NBI method of Olympus company, our proposed method has more conspicuous texture of microvessel.

Mathematical methods in time series analysis and digital image processing

CERN Document Server

Kurths, J; Maass, P; Timmer, J

2008-01-01

The aim of this volume is to bring together research directions in theoretical signal and imaging processing developed rather independently in electrical engineering, theoretical physics, mathematics and the computer sciences. In particular, mathematically justified algorithms and methods, the mathematical analysis of these algorithms, and methods as well as the investigation of connections between methods from time series analysis and image processing are reviewed. An interdisciplinary comparison of these methods, drawing upon common sets of test problems from medicine and geophysical/enviromental sciences, is also addressed. This volume coherently summarizes work carried out in the field of theoretical signal and image processing. It focuses on non-linear and non-parametric models for time series as well as on adaptive methods in image processing.

Active learning methods for interactive image retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Gosselin, Philippe Henri; Cord, Matthieu

2008-07-01

Active learning methods have been considered with increased interest in the statistical learning community. Initially developed within a classification framework, a lot of extensions are now being proposed to handle multimedia applications. This paper provides algorithms within a statistical framework to extend active learning for online content-based image retrieval (CBIR). The classification framework is presented with experiments to compare several powerful classification techniques in this information retrieval context. Focusing on interactive methods, active learning strategy is then described. The limitations of this approach for CBIR are emphasized before presenting our new active selection process RETIN. First, as any active method is sensitive to the boundary estimation between classes, the RETIN strategy carries out a boundary correction to make the retrieval process more robust. Second, the criterion of generalization error to optimize the active learning selection is modified to better represent the CBIR objective of database ranking. Third, a batch processing of images is proposed. Our strategy leads to a fast and efficient active learning scheme to retrieve sets of online images (query concept). Experiments on large databases show that the RETIN method performs well in comparison to several other active strategies.

Reconstruction of CT images by the Bayes- back projection method

CERN Document Server

Haruyama, M; Takase, M; Tobita, H

2002-01-01

In the course of research on quantitative assay of non-destructive measurement of radioactive waste, the have developed a unique program based on the Bayesian theory for reconstruction of transmission computed tomography (TCT) image. The reconstruction of cross-section images in the CT technology usually employs the Filtered Back Projection method. The new imaging reconstruction program reported here is based on the Bayesian Back Projection method, and it has a function of iterative improvement images by every step of measurement. Namely, this method has the capability of prompt display of a cross-section image corresponding to each angled projection data from every measurement. Hence, it is possible to observe an improved cross-section view by reflecting each projection data in almost real time. From the basic theory of Baysian Back Projection method, it can be not only applied to CT types of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation. This reported deals with a reconstruction program of cross-section images in the CT of ...

Human body region enhancement method based on Kinect infrared imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lei; Fan, Yubo; Song, Xiaowei; Cai, Wenjing

2016-10-01

To effectively improve the low contrast of human body region in the infrared images, a combing method of several enhancement methods is utilized to enhance the human body region. Firstly, for the infrared images acquired by Kinect, in order to improve the overall contrast of the infrared images, an Optimal Contrast-Tone Mapping (OCTM) method with multi-iterations is applied to balance the contrast of low-luminosity infrared images. Secondly, to enhance the human body region better, a Level Set algorithm is employed to improve the contour edges of human body region. Finally, to further improve the human body region in infrared images, Laplacian Pyramid decomposition is adopted to enhance the contour-improved human body region. Meanwhile, the background area without human body region is processed by bilateral filtering to improve the overall effect. With theoretical analysis and experimental verification, the results show that the proposed method could effectively enhance the human body region of such infrared images.

Quantitative Nuclear Medicine Imaging: Concepts, Requirements and Methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2014-01-15

The absolute quantification of radionuclide distribution has been a goal since the early days of nuclear medicine. Nevertheless, the apparent complexity and sometimes limited accuracy of these methods have prevented them from being widely used in important applications such as targeted radionuclide therapy or kinetic analysis. The intricacy of the effects degrading nuclear medicine images and the lack of availability of adequate methods to compensate for these effects have frequently been seen as insurmountable obstacles in the use of quantitative nuclear medicine in clinical institutions. In the last few decades, several research groups have consistently devoted their efforts to the filling of these gaps. As a result, many efficient methods are now available that make quantification a clinical reality, provided appropriate compensation tools are used. Despite these efforts, many clinical institutions still lack the knowledge and tools to adequately measure and estimate the accumulated activities in the human body, thereby using potentially outdated protocols and procedures. The purpose of the present publication is to review the current state of the art of image quantification and to provide medical physicists and other related professionals facing quantification tasks with a solid background of tools and methods. It describes and analyses the physical effects that degrade image quality and affect the accuracy of quantification, and describes methods to compensate for them in planar, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) images. The fast paced development of the computational infrastructure, both hardware and software, has made drastic changes in the ways image quantification is now performed. The measuring equipment has evolved from the simple blind probes to planar and three dimensional imaging, supported by SPECT, PET and hybrid equipment. Methods of iterative reconstruction have been developed to allow for

Block matching sparsity regularization-based image reconstruction for incomplete projection data in computed tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Ailong; Li, Lei; Zheng, Zhizhong; Zhang, Hanming; Wang, Linyuan; Hu, Guoen; Yan, Bin

2018-02-01

In medical imaging many conventional regularization methods, such as total variation or total generalized variation, impose strong prior assumptions which can only account for very limited classes of images. A more reasonable sparse representation frame for images is still badly needed. Visually understandable images contain meaningful patterns, and combinations or collections of these patterns can be utilized to form some sparse and redundant representations which promise to facilitate image reconstructions. In this work, we propose and study block matching sparsity regularization (BMSR) and devise an optimization program using BMSR for computed tomography (CT) image reconstruction for an incomplete projection set. The program is built as a constrained optimization, minimizing the L1-norm of the coefficients of the image in the transformed domain subject to data observation and positivity of the image itself. To solve the program efficiently, a practical method based on the proximal point algorithm is developed and analyzed. In order to accelerate the convergence rate, a practical strategy for tuning the BMSR parameter is proposed and applied. The experimental results for various settings, including real CT scanning, have verified the proposed reconstruction method showing promising capabilities over conventional regularization.

Box-Counting Method of 2D Neuronal Image: Method Modification and Quantitative Analysis Demonstrated on Images from the Monkey and Human Brain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nemanja Rajković

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study calls attention to the difference between traditional box-counting method and its modification. The appropriate scaling factor, influence on image size and resolution, and image rotation, as well as different image presentation, are showed on the sample of asymmetrical neurons from the monkey dentate nucleus. The standard BC method and its modification were evaluated on the sample of 2D neuronal images from the human neostriatum. In addition, three box dimensions (which estimate the space-filling property, the shape, complexity, and the irregularity of dendritic tree were used to evaluate differences in the morphology of type III aspiny neurons between two parts of the neostriatum.

Box-Counting Method of 2D Neuronal Image: Method Modification and Quantitative Analysis Demonstrated on Images from the Monkey and Human Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajković, Nemanja; Krstonošić, Bojana; Milošević, Nebojša

2017-01-01

This study calls attention to the difference between traditional box-counting method and its modification. The appropriate scaling factor, influence on image size and resolution, and image rotation, as well as different image presentation, are showed on the sample of asymmetrical neurons from the monkey dentate nucleus. The standard BC method and its modification were evaluated on the sample of 2D neuronal images from the human neostriatum. In addition, three box dimensions (which estimate the space-filling property, the shape, complexity, and the irregularity of dendritic tree) were used to evaluate differences in the morphology of type III aspiny neurons between two parts of the neostriatum.

99mTc-Hynic-minigastrin 1: a promising radiopharmaceutical for imaging gastrin/CCK-positive tumors: preclinical evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guggenberg, E. von; Decristoforo, C.; Behe, M.; Behr, T.

2002-01-01

Full text: Gastrin/CCK receptors are over expressed in a number of tumors such as MW and SCLC. Therefore gastrin analogues binding to the CCK-B receptor are. promising peptides for Nuclear Medicine imaging. Recently minigastrin 1 has been labeled with 131 I, 111 In and 90 Y (Behr et al 1999). HYNIC as bifunctional chelator has shown favorable properties for 99m Tc-labeling of small peptides. The aim of this study was the preparation, 99m Tc-labeling and evaluation in vitro and in vivo of HYNIC-minigastrin 1. HYNIC-minigastrin 1 was prepared by coupling protected HYNIC to minigastrin immobilized on a resin, followed by TFA cleavage and HPLC purification. The peptide was characterized by RP-HPLC and MS. 99m Tc-labeling was performed using different coligands, such as tricine, EDDA, tricine ternary ligand systems. In vitro stability was tested in plasma and towards cystein, plasma protein binding was determined. Receptor binding assays using a CCK-B receptor positive cellline (AR42J) were performed and biodistribution in normal Wistar rats was studied with a gamma camera followed by dissection. At specific activities >1 Ci/μmol HYNIC-minigastrin 1 could be labeled with yields >95 % only using tricine as coligand. Other coligands or addition of a ternary ligand failed to give reasonable labeling yields. Two isomers of 99m Tc-tricine-HYNIC-minigastrin 1 were observed. At higher temperature quantitative yields of a stable isomer with high hydrophilicity, low protein binding and low intestinal excretion in rat biodistribution studies was obtained. Overall biodistribution in rats was similar to 111 In-DTPA-minigastrin 1 with rapid renal excretion and high kidney retention. 99m Tc-Tricine-HYNIC-minigastrin could be displaced by unlabelled Minigastrin from AR4-2J cell-membranes. A gastrin derivative could be labeled at high specific activities with 99m Tc showing isomerism dependent on labeling conditions. 99m Tc-labelled HYNIC-minigastrin 1 shows promising in vitro and in

A Novel Image Tag Completion Method Based on Convolutional Neural Transformation

KAUST Repository

Geng, Yanyan; Zhang, Guohui; Li, Weizhi; Gu, Yi; Liang, Ru-Ze; Liang, Gaoyuan; Wang, Jingbin; Wu, Yanbin; Patil, Nitin; Wang, Jing-Yan

2017-01-01

In the problems of image retrieval and annotation, complete textual tag lists of images play critical roles. However, in real-world applications, the image tags are usually incomplete, thus it is important to learn the complete tags for images. In this paper, we study the problem of image tag complete and proposed a novel method for this problem based on a popular image representation method, convolutional neural network (CNN). The method estimates the complete tags from the convolutional filtering outputs of images based on a linear predictor. The CNN parameters, linear predictor, and the complete tags are learned jointly by our method. We build a minimization problem to encourage the consistency between the complete tags and the available incomplete tags, reduce the estimation error, and reduce the model complexity. An iterative algorithm is developed to solve the minimization problem. Experiments over benchmark image data sets show its effectiveness.

A Novel Image Tag Completion Method Based on Convolutional Neural Transformation

KAUST Repository

Geng, Yanyan

2017-10-24

In the problems of image retrieval and annotation, complete textual tag lists of images play critical roles. However, in real-world applications, the image tags are usually incomplete, thus it is important to learn the complete tags for images. In this paper, we study the problem of image tag complete and proposed a novel method for this problem based on a popular image representation method, convolutional neural network (CNN). The method estimates the complete tags from the convolutional filtering outputs of images based on a linear predictor. The CNN parameters, linear predictor, and the complete tags are learned jointly by our method. We build a minimization problem to encourage the consistency between the complete tags and the available incomplete tags, reduce the estimation error, and reduce the model complexity. An iterative algorithm is developed to solve the minimization problem. Experiments over benchmark image data sets show its effectiveness.

Some selected quantitative methods of thermal image analysis in Matlab.

Science.gov (United States)

Koprowski, Robert

2016-05-01

The paper presents a new algorithm based on some selected automatic quantitative methods for analysing thermal images. It shows the practical implementation of these image analysis methods in Matlab. It enables to perform fully automated and reproducible measurements of selected parameters in thermal images. The paper also shows two examples of the use of the proposed image analysis methods for the area of ​​the skin of a human foot and face. The full source code of the developed application is also provided as an attachment. The main window of the program during dynamic analysis of the foot thermal image. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Methods in quantitative image analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Oberholzer, M; Ostreicher, M; Christen, H; Brühlmann, M

1996-05-01

histogram of an existing image (input image) into a new grey value histogram (output image) are most quickly handled by a look-up table (LUT). The histogram of an image can be influenced by gain, offset and gamma of the camera. Gain defines the voltage range, offset defines the reference voltage and gamma the slope of the regression line between the light intensity and the voltage of the camera. A very important descriptor of neighbourhood relations in an image is the co-occurrence matrix. The distance between the pixels (original pixel and its neighbouring pixel) can influence the various parameters calculated from the co-occurrence matrix. The main goals of image enhancement are elimination of surface roughness in an image (smoothing), correction of defects (e.g. noise), extraction of edges, identification of points, strengthening texture elements and improving contrast. In enhancement, two types of operations can be distinguished: pixel-based (point operations) and neighbourhood-based (matrix operations). The most important pixel-based operations are linear stretching of grey values, application of pre-stored LUTs and histogram equalisation. The neighbourhood-based operations work with so-called filters. These are organising elements with an original or initial point in their centre. Filters can be used to accentuate or to suppress specific structures within the image. Filters can work either in the spatial or in the frequency domain. The method used for analysing alterations of grey value intensities in the frequency domain is the Hartley transform. Filter operations in the spatial domain can be based on averaging or ranking the grey values occurring in the organising element. The most important filters, which are usually applied, are the Gaussian filter and the Laplace filter (both averaging filters), and the median filter, the top hat filter and the range operator (all ranking filters). Segmentation of objects is traditionally based on threshold grey values. (AB

Simultaneous collection method of on-peak window image and off-peak window image in Tl-201 imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, Tomonori; Noguchi, Yasushi; Kojima, Akihiro; Takagi, Akihiro; Matsumoto, Masanori

2007-01-01

Tl-201 imaging detects the photopeak (71 keV, in on-peak window) of characteristic X-rays of Hg-201 formed from Tl-201 decay. The peak is derived from 4 rays of different energy and emission intensity and does not follow in Gaussian distribution. In the present study, authors made an idea for the method in the title to attain the more effective single imaging, which was examined for its accuracy and reliability with phantoms and applied clinically to Tl-201 scintigraphy in a patient. The authors applied the triple energy window method for data acquisition: the energy window setting was made on Hg-201 X-rays photopeak in three of the lower (3%, L), main (72 keV, M) and upper (14%, U) windows with the gamma camera with 2-gated detector (Toshiba E. CAM/ICON). L, M and U images obtained simultaneously were then constructed to images of on-peak (L+M, Mock on-peak) and off-peak (M+U) window settings for evaluation. Phantoms for line source with Tl-201-containing swab and for multi-defect with acrylic plate containing Tl-201 solution were imaged in water. The female patient with thyroid cancer was subjected to preoperative scintigraphy under the defined conditions. Mock on-, off-peak images were found to be equivalent to the true (ordinary, clinical) on-, off-peak ones, and the present method was thought usable for evaluation of usefulness of off-peak window data. (R.T.)

A Spectral-Texture Kernel-Based Classification Method for Hyperspectral Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Wang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Classification of hyperspectral images always suffers from high dimensionality and very limited labeled samples. Recently, the spectral-spatial classification has attracted considerable attention and can achieve higher classification accuracy and smoother classification maps. In this paper, a novel spectral-spatial classification method for hyperspectral images by using kernel methods is investigated. For a given hyperspectral image, the principle component analysis (PCA transform is first performed. Then, the first principle component of the input image is segmented into non-overlapping homogeneous regions by using the entropy rate superpixel (ERS algorithm. Next, the local spectral histogram model is applied to each homogeneous region to obtain the corresponding texture features. Because this step is performed within each homogenous region, instead of within a fixed-size image window, the obtained local texture features in the image are more accurate, which can effectively benefit the improvement of classification accuracy. In the following step, a contextual spectral-texture kernel is constructed by combining spectral information in the image and the extracted texture information using the linearity property of the kernel methods. Finally, the classification map is achieved by the support vector machines (SVM classifier using the proposed spectral-texture kernel. Experiments on two benchmark airborne hyperspectral datasets demonstrate that our method can effectively improve classification accuracies, even though only a very limited training sample is available. Specifically, our method can achieve from 8.26% to 15.1% higher in terms of overall accuracy than the traditional SVM classifier. The performance of our method was further compared to several state-of-the-art classification methods of hyperspectral images using objective quantitative measures and a visual qualitative evaluation.

Development of motion image prediction method using principal component analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chhatkuli, Ritu Bhusal; Demachi, Kazuyuki; Kawai, Masaki; Sakakibara, Hiroshi; Kamiaka, Kazuma

2012-01-01

Respiratory motion can induce the limit in the accuracy of area irradiated during lung cancer radiation therapy. Many methods have been introduced to minimize the impact of healthy tissue irradiation due to the lung tumor motion. The purpose of this research is to develop an algorithm for the improvement of image guided radiation therapy by the prediction of motion images. We predict the motion images by using principal component analysis (PCA) and multi-channel singular spectral analysis (MSSA) method. The images/movies were successfully predicted and verified using the developed algorithm. With the proposed prediction method it is possible to forecast the tumor images over the next breathing period. The implementation of this method in real time is believed to be significant for higher level of tumor tracking including the detection of sudden abdominal changes during radiation therapy. (author)

TH-C-BRF-01: The Promise and Potential Pitfalls of Deformable Image Registration in Clinical Practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brock, K; Oldham, M; Cai, J; Pouliot, J

2014-01-01

Accurate and robust deformable image registration (DIR) is a key enabling technique in the clinical realization of two approaches for advancing radiation therapy treatment efficacy: adaptive radiation therapy and treatment response assessment. Currently there are a wide variety of DIR methods including the categories of splines, optical/diffusion, free-form, and biomechanical algorithms. All methods aim to translate information between image sets (including multi-modal data) in the presence of spatial deformation of tissues. However, recent research has shown that different DIR algorithms can yield substantially different results for the same reference deformation, and that DIR performance can be site and application dependent. As a result, errors can occur, and subsequent patient treatment can be compromised. There is a clear need for greater understanding of appropriate use of DIR techniques, as well as effective methods of validation, evaluation, and improvement. In this session, we will review the state-of-the-art concerning DIR development, clinical application, and performance evaluation. Novel DIR methods and evaluating technologies will be reviewed. Learning Objectives: To understand the underlying principles and physics of current DIR techniques To explore potential clinical applications and areas of high impact for DIR To investigate sources of uncertainty, appropriate usage, and methods for validating and evaluating DIR performance

An FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion system design method

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Le; Lin, Yu-chi; Chen, Yan-hua; Zhao, Mei-rong

2011-08-01

Taking the advantages of FPGA's low cost and compact structure, an FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion platform is established in this study. Altera's Cyclone IV series FPGA is adopted as the core processor of the platform, and the visible light CCD camera and infrared thermal imager are used as the image-capturing device in order to obtain dualchannel heterogeneous video images. Tailor-made image fusion algorithms such as gray-scale weighted averaging, maximum selection and minimum selection methods are analyzed and compared. VHDL language and the synchronous design method are utilized to perform a reliable RTL-level description. Altera's Quartus II 9.0 software is applied to simulate and implement the algorithm modules. The contrast experiments of various fusion algorithms show that, preferably image quality of the heterogeneous image fusion can be obtained on top of the proposed system. The applied range of the different fusion algorithms is also discussed.

IMAGE TO POINT CLOUD METHOD OF 3D-MODELING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. G. Chibunichev

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This article describes the method of constructing 3D models of objects (buildings, monuments based on digital images and a point cloud obtained by terrestrial laser scanner. The first step is the automated determination of exterior orientation parameters of digital image. We have to find the corresponding points of the image and point cloud to provide this operation. Before the corresponding points searching quasi image of point cloud is generated. After that SIFT algorithm is applied to quasi image and real image. SIFT algorithm allows to find corresponding points. Exterior orientation parameters of image are calculated from corresponding points. The second step is construction of the vector object model. Vectorization is performed by operator of PC in an interactive mode using single image. Spatial coordinates of the model are calculated automatically by cloud points. In addition, there is automatic edge detection with interactive editing available. Edge detection is performed on point cloud and on image with subsequent identification of correct edges. Experimental studies of the method have demonstrated its efficiency in case of building facade modeling.

Multi-band Image Registration Method Based on Fourier Transform

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

庹红娅; 刘允才

2004-01-01

This paper presented a registration method based on Fourier transform for multi-band images which is involved in translation and small rotation. Although different band images differ a lot in the intensity and features,they contain certain common information which we can exploit. A model was given that the multi-band images have linear correlations under the least-square sense. It is proved that the coefficients have no effect on the registration progress if two images have linear correlations. Finally, the steps of the registration method were proposed. The experiments show that the model is reasonable and the results are satisfying.

Texture recognition of medical images with the ICM method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinser, Jason M.; Wang Guisong

2004-01-01

The Integrated Cortical Model (ICM) is based upon several models of the mammalian visual cortex and produces pulse images over several iterations. These pulse images tend to isolate segments, edges, and textures that are inherent in the input image. To create a texture recognition engine the pulse spectrum of individual pixels are collected and used to develop a recognition library. Recognition is performed by comparing pulse spectra of unclassified regions of images with the known regions. Because signatures are smaller than images, signature-based computation is quite efficient and parasites can be recognized quickly. The precision of this method depends on the representative of signatures and classification. Our experiment results support the theoretical findings and show perspectives of practical applications of ICM-based method. The advantage of ICM method is using signatures to represent objects. ICM can extract the internal features of objects and represent them with signatures. Signature classification is critical for the precision of recognition

Guidance for Methods Descriptions Used in Preclinical Imaging Papers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Stout

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Preclinical molecular imaging is a rapidly growing field, where new imaging systems, methods, and biological findings are constantly being developed or discovered. Imaging systems and the associated software usually have multiple options for generating data, which is often overlooked but is essential when reporting the methods used to create and analyze data. Similarly, the ways in which animals are housed, handled, and treated to create physiologically based data must be well described in order that the findings be relevant, useful, and reproducible. There are frequently new developments for metabolic imaging methods. Thus, specific reporting requirements are difficult to establish; however, it remains essential to adequately report how the data have been collected, processed, and analyzed. To assist with future manuscript submissions, this article aims to provide guidelines of what details to report for several of the most common imaging modalities. Examples are provided in an attempt to give comprehensive, succinct descriptions of the essential items to report about the experimental process.

MR tractography; Visualization of structure of nerve fiber system from diffusion weighted images with maximum intensity projection method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kinosada, Yasutomi; Okuda, Yasuyuki (Mie Univ., Tsu (Japan). School of Medicine); Ono, Mototsugu (and others)

1993-02-01

We developed a new noninvasive technique to visualize the anatomical structure of the nerve fiber system in vivo, and named this technique magnetic resonance (MR) tractography and the acquired image an MR tractogram. MR tractography has two steps. One is to obtain diffusion-weighted images sensitized along axes appropriate for depicting the intended nerve fibers with anisotropic water diffusion MR imaging. The other is to extract the anatomical structure of the nerve fiber system from a series of diffusion-weighted images by the maximum intensity projection method. To examine the clinical usefulness of the proposed technique, many contiguous, thin (3 mm) coronal two-dimensional sections of the brain were acquired sequentially in normal volunteers and selected patients with paralyses, on a 1.5 Tesla MR system (Signa, GE) with an ECG-gated Stejskal-Tanner pulse sequence. The structure of the nerve fiber system of normal volunteers was almost the same as the anatomy. The tractograms of patients with paralyses clearly showed the degeneration of nerve fibers and were correlated with clinical symptoms. MR tractography showed great promise for the study of neuroanatomy and neuroradiology. (author).

Ortho Image and DTM Generation with Intelligent Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Bagheri, H.; Sadeghian, S.

2013-10-01

Nowadays the artificial intelligent algorithms has considered in GIS and remote sensing. Genetic algorithm and artificial neural network are two intelligent methods that are used for optimizing of image processing programs such as edge extraction and etc. these algorithms are very useful for solving of complex program. In this paper, the ability and application of genetic algorithm and artificial neural network in geospatial production process like geometric modelling of satellite images for ortho photo generation and height interpolation in raster Digital Terrain Model production process is discussed. In first, the geometric potential of Ikonos-2 and Worldview-2 with rational functions, 2D & 3D polynomials were tested. Also comprehensive experiments have been carried out to evaluate the viability of the genetic algorithm for optimization of rational function, 2D & 3D polynomials. Considering the quality of Ground Control Points, the accuracy (RMSE) with genetic algorithm and 3D polynomials method for Ikonos-2 Geo image was 0.508 pixel sizes and the accuracy (RMSE) with GA algorithm and rational function method for Worldview-2 image was 0.930 pixel sizes. For more another optimization artificial intelligent methods, neural networks were used. With the use of perceptron network in Worldview-2 image, a result of 0.84 pixel sizes with 4 neurons in middle layer was gained. The final conclusion was that with artificial intelligent algorithms it is possible to optimize the existing models and have better results than usual ones. Finally the artificial intelligence methods, like genetic algorithms as well as neural networks, were examined on sample data for optimizing interpolation and for generating Digital Terrain Models. The results then were compared with existing conventional methods and it appeared that these methods have a high capacity in heights interpolation and that using these networks for interpolating and optimizing the weighting methods based on inverse

Image correlation method for DNA sequence alignment.

Science.gov (United States)

Curilem Saldías, Millaray; Villarroel Sassarini, Felipe; Muñoz Poblete, Carlos; Vargas Vásquez, Asticio; Maureira Butler, Iván

2012-01-01

The complexity of searches and the volume of genomic data make sequence alignment one of bioinformatics most active research areas. New alignment approaches have incorporated digital signal processing techniques. Among these, correlation methods are highly sensitive. This paper proposes a novel sequence alignment method based on 2-dimensional images, where each nucleic acid base is represented as a fixed gray intensity pixel. Query and known database sequences are coded to their pixel representation and sequence alignment is handled as object recognition in a scene problem. Query and database become object and scene, respectively. An image correlation process is carried out in order to search for the best match between them. Given that this procedure can be implemented in an optical correlator, the correlation could eventually be accomplished at light speed. This paper shows an initial research stage where results were "digitally" obtained by simulating an optical correlation of DNA sequences represented as images. A total of 303 queries (variable lengths from 50 to 4500 base pairs) and 100 scenes represented by 100 x 100 images each (in total, one million base pair database) were considered for the image correlation analysis. The results showed that correlations reached very high sensitivity (99.01%), specificity (98.99%) and outperformed BLAST when mutation numbers increased. However, digital correlation processes were hundred times slower than BLAST. We are currently starting an initiative to evaluate the correlation speed process of a real experimental optical correlator. By doing this, we expect to fully exploit optical correlation light properties. As the optical correlator works jointly with the computer, digital algorithms should also be optimized. The results presented in this paper are encouraging and support the study of image correlation methods on sequence alignment.

Brain diagnosis with imaging methods: Psychical changes made visible

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1988-01-01

The First International Symposium on Imaging Methods in Psychiatry, held in May 1988 in Wuerzburg, very impressively has shown that imaging methods are on advance not only in medical diagnostics, but also in psychiatric diagnostics, where they already proved to be a valuable tool. (orig./MG) [de

An improved image non-blind image deblurring method based on FoEs

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Qidan; Sun, Lei

2013-03-01

Traditional non-blind image deblurring algorithms always use maximum a posterior(MAP). MAP estimates involving natural image priors can reduce the ripples effectively in contrast to maximum likelihood(ML). However, they have been found lacking in terms of restoration performance. Based on this issue, we utilize MAP with KL penalty to replace traditional MAP. We develop an image reconstruction algorithm that minimizes the KL divergence between the reference distribution and the prior distribution. The approximate KL penalty can restrain over-smooth caused by MAP. We use three groups of images and Harris corner detection to prove our method. The experimental results show that our algorithm of non-blind image restoration can effectively reduce the ringing effect and exhibit the state-of-the-art deblurring results.

Discrete gradient methods for solving variational image regularisation models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimm, V; McLachlan, Robert I; McLaren, David I; Quispel, G R W; Schönlieb, C-B

2017-01-01

Discrete gradient methods are well-known methods of geometric numerical integration, which preserve the dissipation of gradient systems. In this paper we show that this property of discrete gradient methods can be interesting in the context of variational models for image processing, that is where the processed image is computed as a minimiser of an energy functional. Numerical schemes for computing minimisers of such energies are desired to inherit the dissipative property of the gradient system associated to the energy and consequently guarantee a monotonic decrease of the energy along iterations, avoiding situations in which more computational work might lead to less optimal solutions. Under appropriate smoothness assumptions on the energy functional we prove that discrete gradient methods guarantee a monotonic decrease of the energy towards stationary states, and we promote their use in image processing by exhibiting experiments with convex and non-convex variational models for image deblurring, denoising, and inpainting. (paper)

Feature extraction from mammographic images using fast marching methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bottigli, U.; Golosio, B.

2002-01-01

Features extraction from medical images represents a fundamental step for shape recognition and diagnostic support. The present work faces the problem of the detection of large features, such as massive lesions and organ contours, from mammographic images. The regions of interest are often characterized by an average grayness intensity that is different from the surrounding. In most cases, however, the desired features cannot be extracted by simple gray level thresholding, because of image noise and non-uniform density of the surrounding tissue. In this work, edge detection is achieved through the fast marching method (Level Set Methods and Fast Marching Methods, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999), which is based on the theory of interface evolution. Starting from a seed point in the shape of interest, a front is generated which evolves according to an appropriate speed function. Such function is expressed in terms of geometric properties of the evolving interface and of image properties, and should become zero when the front reaches the desired boundary. Some examples of application of such method to mammographic images from the CALMA database (Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 460 (2001) 107) are presented here and discussed

METHODS OF STEREO PAIR IMAGES FORMATION WITH A GIVEN PARALLAX VALUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktoriya G. Chafonova

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Two new complementary methods of stereo pair images formation are proposed. The first method is based on finding the maximum correlation between the gradient images of the left and right frames. The second one implies the finding of the shift between two corresponding key points of images for a stereo pair found by a detector of point features. These methods give the possibility to set desired values of vertical and horizontal parallaxes for the selected object in the image. Application of these methods makes it possible to measure the parallax values for the objects on the final stereo pair in pixels and / or the percentage of the total image size. It gives the possibility to predict the possible excesses in parallax values while stereo pair printing or projection. The proposed methods are easily automated after object selection, for which a predetermined value of the horizontal parallax will be exposed. Stereo pair images superposition using the key points takes less than one second. The method with correlation application requires a little bit more computing time, but makes it possible to control and superpose undivided anaglyph image. The proposed methods of stereo pair formation can find their application in programs for editing and processing images of a stereo pair, in the monitoring devices for shooting cameras and in the devices for video sequence quality assessment

Analysis and Comparison of Objective Methods for Image Quality Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. S. Babkin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this work is research and modification of the reference objective methods for image quality assessment. The ultimate goal is to obtain a modification of formal assessments that more closely corresponds to the subjective expert estimates (MOS.In considering the formal reference objective methods for image quality assessment we used the results of other authors, which offer results and comparative analyzes of the most effective algorithms. Based on these investigations we have chosen two of the most successful algorithm for which was made a further analysis in the MATLAB 7.8 R 2009 a (PQS and MSSSIM. The publication focuses on the features of the algorithms, which have great importance in practical implementation, but are insufficiently covered in the publications by other authors.In the implemented modification of the algorithm PQS boundary detector Kirsch was replaced by the boundary detector Canny. Further experiments were carried out according to the method of the ITU-R VT.500-13 (01/2012 using monochrome images treated with different types of filters (should be emphasized that an objective assessment of image quality PQS is applicable only to monochrome images. Images were obtained with a thermal imaging surveillance system. The experimental results proved the effectiveness of this modification.In the specialized literature in the field of formal to evaluation methods pictures, this type of modification was not mentioned.The method described in the publication can be applied to various practical implementations of digital image processing.Advisability and effectiveness of using the modified method of PQS to assess the structural differences between the images are shown in the article and this will be used in solving the problems of identification and automatic control.

Quantifying the accuracy of the tumor motion and area as a function of acceleration factor for the simulation of the dynamic keyhole magnetic resonance imaging method.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Danny; Greer, Peter B; Pollock, Sean; Kim, Taeho; Keall, Paul

2016-05-01

The dynamic keyhole is a new MR image reconstruction method for thoracic and abdominal MR imaging. To date, this method has not been investigated with cancer patient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. The goal of this study was to assess the dynamic keyhole method for the task of lung tumor localization using cine-MR images reconstructed in the presence of respiratory motion. The dynamic keyhole method utilizes a previously acquired a library of peripheral k-space datasets at similar displacement and phase (where phase is simply used to determine whether the breathing is inhale to exhale or exhale to inhale) respiratory bins in conjunction with central k-space datasets (keyhole) acquired. External respiratory signals drive the process of sorting, matching, and combining the two k-space streams for each respiratory bin, thereby achieving faster image acquisition without substantial motion artifacts. This study was the first that investigates the impact of k-space undersampling on lung tumor motion and area assessment across clinically available techniques (zero-filling and conventional keyhole). In this study, the dynamic keyhole, conventional keyhole and zero-filling methods were compared to full k-space dataset acquisition by quantifying (1) the keyhole size required for central k-space datasets for constant image quality across sixty four cine-MRI datasets from nine lung cancer patients, (2) the intensity difference between the original and reconstructed images in a constant keyhole size, and (3) the accuracy of tumor motion and area directly measured by tumor autocontouring. For constant image quality, the dynamic keyhole method, conventional keyhole, and zero-filling methods required 22%, 34%, and 49% of the keyhole size (P lung tumor monitoring applications. This study demonstrates that the dynamic keyhole method is a promising technique for clinical applications such as image-guided radiation therapy requiring the MR monitoring of thoracic tumors. Based

Evolution of Neutron Imaging at TRIGA PUSPATI Reactor: A Promising Digital Real-Time Imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khairiah Yazid; Muhammad Rawi Mohamed Zin; Rafhayudi Jamro; Azraf Azman

2016-01-01

Neutron radiography is a powerful tool for non-destructive testing of materials and finds numerous applications in industry and in material research as well. The basic principle is similar to that of X-ray radiography. A beam of neutrons falls on the sample and after passing through the sample, leaves the sample image on a photographic plate or on a detector. The neutrons interact with the nuclei of the atoms that compose the sample and the absorption and scattering properties of the contained elements make it possible to produce images of components containing light elements, like hydrogen beneath a matrix of metallic elements, (lead or bismuth), which cannot be easily done with conventional X ray radiography. Exploiting this property, neutron radiography has been used in applications requiring the identification of (light) materials inside solid samples. This article gives an overview of utilization of the CCD camera system in neutron imaging system for real time radiography/ tomography investigations. (author)

3D Interpolation Method for CT Images of the Lung

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Noriaki Asada

2003-06-01

Full Text Available A 3-D image can be reconstructed from numerous CT images of the lung. The procedure reconstructs a solid from multiple cross section images, which are collected during pulsation of the heart. Thus the motion of the heart is a special factor that must be taken into consideration during reconstruction. The lung exhibits a repeating transformation synchronized to the beating of the heart as an elastic body. There are discontinuities among neighboring CT images due to the beating of the heart, if no special techniques are used in taking CT images. The 3-D heart image is reconstructed from numerous CT images in which both the heart and the lung are taken. Although the outline shape of the reconstructed 3-D heart is quite unnatural, the envelope of the 3-D unnatural heart is fit to the shape of the standard heart. The envelopes of the lung in the CT images are calculated after the section images of the best fitting standard heart are located at the same positions of the CT images. Thus the CT images are geometrically transformed to the optimal CT images fitting best to the standard heart. Since correct transformation of images is required, an Area oriented interpolation method proposed by us is used for interpolation of transformed images. An attempt to reconstruct a 3-D lung image by a series of such operations without discontinuity is shown. Additionally, the same geometrical transformation method to the original projection images is proposed as a more advanced method.

The application of fuzzy-based methods to central nerve fiber imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Axer, Hubertus; Jantzen, Jan; Keyserlingk, Diedrich Graf v.

2003-01-01

This paper discusses the potential of fuzzy logic methods within medical imaging. Technical advances have produced imaging techniques that can visualize structures and their functions in the living human body. The interpretation of these images plays a prominent role in diagnostic and therapeutic...... decisions, so physicians must deal with a variety of image processing methods and their applications.This paper describes three different sources of medical imagery that allow the visualization of nerve fibers in the human brain: (1) an algorithm for automatic segmentation of some parts of the thalamus....... Fuzzy logic methods were applied to analyze these pictures from low- to high-level image processing. The solutions presented here are motivated by problems of routine neuroanatomic research demonstrating fuzzy-based methods to be valuable tools in medical image processing....

Domain decomposition methods for solving an image problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsui, W.K.; Tong, C.S. [Hong Kong Baptist College (Hong Kong)

1994-12-31

The domain decomposition method is a technique to break up a problem so that ensuing sub-problems can be solved on a parallel computer. In order to improve the convergence rate of the capacitance systems, pre-conditioned conjugate gradient methods are commonly used. In the last decade, most of the efficient preconditioners are based on elliptic partial differential equations which are particularly useful for solving elliptic partial differential equations. In this paper, the authors apply the so called covering preconditioner, which is based on the information of the operator under investigation. Therefore, it is good for various kinds of applications, specifically, they shall apply the preconditioned domain decomposition method for solving an image restoration problem. The image restoration problem is to extract an original image which has been degraded by a known convolution process and additive Gaussian noise.

Image-reconstruction methods in positron tomography

CERN Document Server

Townsend, David W; CERN. Geneva

1993-01-01

Physics and mathematics for medical imaging In the two decades since the introduction of the X-ray scanner into radiology, medical imaging techniques have become widely established as essential tools in the diagnosis of disease. As a consequence of recent technological and mathematical advances, the non-invasive, three-dimensional imaging of internal organs such as the brain and the heart is now possible, not only for anatomical investigations using X-rays but also for studies which explore the functional status of the body using positron-emitting radioisotopes and nuclear magnetic resonance. Mathematical methods which enable three-dimentional distributions to be reconstructed from projection data acquired by radiation detectors suitably positioned around the patient will be described in detail. The lectures will trace the development of medical imaging from simpleradiographs to the present-day non-invasive measurement of in vivo boichemistry. Powerful techniques to correlate anatomy and function that are cur...

Task-based image quality evaluation of iterative reconstruction methods for low dose CT using computer simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jingyan; Fuld, Matthew K.; Fung, George S. K.; Tsui, Benjamin M. W.

2015-04-01

Iterative reconstruction (IR) methods for x-ray CT is a promising approach to improve image quality or reduce radiation dose to patients. The goal of this work was to use task based image quality measures and the channelized Hotelling observer (CHO) to evaluate both analytic and IR methods for clinical x-ray CT applications. We performed realistic computer simulations at five radiation dose levels, from a clinical reference low dose D0 to 25% D0. A fixed size and contrast lesion was inserted at different locations into the liver of the XCAT phantom to simulate a weak signal. The simulated data were reconstructed on a commercial CT scanner (SOMATOM Definition Flash; Siemens, Forchheim, Germany) using the vendor-provided analytic (WFBP) and IR (SAFIRE) methods. The reconstructed images were analyzed by CHOs with both rotationally symmetric (RS) and rotationally oriented (RO) channels, and with different numbers of lesion locations (5, 10, and 20) in a signal known exactly (SKE), background known exactly but variable (BKEV) detection task. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used as a summary measure to compare the IR and analytic methods; the AUC was also used as the equal performance criterion to derive the potential dose reduction factor of IR. In general, there was a good agreement in the relative AUC values of different reconstruction methods using CHOs with RS and RO channels, although the CHO with RO channels achieved higher AUCs than RS channels. The improvement of IR over analytic methods depends on the dose level. The reference dose level D0 was based on a clinical low dose protocol, lower than the standard dose due to the use of IR methods. At 75% D0, the performance improvement was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The potential dose reduction factor also depended on the detection task. For the SKE/BKEV task involving 10 lesion locations, a dose reduction of at least 25% from D0 was achieved.

On the pinned field image binarization for signature generation in image ownership verification method

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Chang Hsuan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The issue of pinned field image binarization for signature generation in the ownership verification of the protected image is investigated. The pinned field explores the texture information of the protected image and can be employed to enhance the watermark robustness. In the proposed method, four optimization schemes are utilized to determine the threshold values for transforming the pinned field into a binary feature image, which is then utilized to generate an effective signature image. Experimental results show that the utilization of optimization schemes can significantly improve the signature robustness from the previous method (Lee and Chang, Opt. Eng. 49 (9, 097005, 2010. While considering both the watermark retrieval rate and the computation speed, the genetic algorithm is strongly recommended. In addition, compared with Chang and Lin's scheme (J. Syst. Softw. 81 (7, 1118-1129, 2008, the proposed scheme also has better performance.

Metal artifact reduction method using metal streaks image subtraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pua, Rizza D.; Cho, Seung Ryong

2014-01-01

Many studies have been dedicated for metal artifact reduction (MAR); however, the methods are successful to varying degrees depending on situations. Sinogram in-painting, filtering, iterative method are some of the major categories of MAR. Each has its own merits and weaknesses. A combination of these methods or hybrid methods have also been developed to make use of the different benefits of two techniques and minimize the unfavorable results. Our method focuses on the in-paitning approach and a hybrid MAR described by Xia et al. Although in-painting scheme is an effective technique in reducing the primary metal artifacts, a major drawback is the reintroduction of new artifacts that can be caused by an inaccurate interpolation process. Furthermore, combining the segmented metal image to the corrected nonmetal image in the final step of a conventional inpainting approach causes an issue of incorrect metal pixel values. Our proposed method begins with a sinogram in-painting approach and ends with an image-based metal artifact reduction scheme. This work provides a simple, yet effective solution for reducing metal artifacts and acquiring the original metal pixel information. The proposed method demonstrated its effectiveness in a simulation setting. The proposed method showed image quality that is comparable to the standard MAR; however, quantitatively more accurate than the standard MAR

Historic Methods for Capturing Magnetic Field Images

Science.gov (United States)

Kwan, Alistair

2016-01-01

I investigated two late 19th-century methods for capturing magnetic field images from iron filings for historical insight into the pedagogy of hands-on physics education methods, and to flesh out teaching and learning practicalities tacit in the historical record. Both methods offer opportunities for close sensory engagement in data-collection…

Method and apparatus to image biological interactions in plants

Science.gov (United States)

Weisenberger, Andrew; Bonito, Gregory M.; Reid, Chantal D.; Smith, Mark Frederick

2015-12-22

A method to dynamically image the actual translocation of molecular compounds of interest in a plant root, root system, and rhizosphere without disturbing the root or the soil. The technique makes use of radioactive isotopes as tracers to label molecules of interest and to image their distribution in the plant and/or soil. The method allows for the study and imaging of various biological and biochemical interactions in the rhizosphere of a plant, including, but not limited to, mycorrhizal associations in such regions.

IMAGING WOOD PLASTIC COMPOSITES (WPCs: X-RAY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY, A FEW OTHER PROMISING TECHNIQUES, AND WHY WE SHOULD PAY ATTENTION

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Lech Muszyński

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Wood plastic composites are complex, anisotropic, and heterogeneous materials. A key to increasing the share of the WPC materials in the market is developing stronger, highly engineered WPCs characterized by greater structural performance and increased durability. These are achieved by enhanced manufacturing processes, more efficient profile designs, and new formulations providing better interaction between the wood particles and the plastic matrix. Significant progress in this area is hard to imagine without better understanding of the composite performance and internal bond durability on the micro-mechanical level, and reliable modeling based on that understanding. The objective of this paper is to present a brief review of promising material characterization techniques based on advanced imaging technologies and inverse problem methodology, which seem particularly suitable for complex heterogeneous composites. Full-field imaging techniques and specifically X-ray computed tomography (CT combined with numerical modeling tools have a potential to advance the fundamental knowledge on the effect of manufacturing parameters on the micromechanics of such materials and their response to loads and environmental exposure.

Internal scanning method as unique imaging method of optical vortex scanning microscope

Science.gov (United States)

Popiołek-Masajada, Agnieszka; Masajada, Jan; Szatkowski, Mateusz

2018-06-01

The internal scanning method is specific for the optical vortex microscope. It allows to move the vortex point inside the focused vortex beam with nanometer resolution while the whole beam stays in place. Thus the sample illuminated by the focused vortex beam can be scanned just by the vortex point. We show that this method enables high resolution imaging. The paper presents the preliminary experimental results obtained with the first basic image recovery procedure. A prospect of developing more powerful tools for topography recovery with the optical vortex scanning microscope is discussed shortly.

Multi-example feature-constrained back-projection method for image super-resolution

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Junlei Zhang; Dianguang Gai; Xin Zhang; Xuemei Li

2017-01-01

Example-based super-resolution algorithms,which predict unknown high-resolution image information using a relationship model learnt from known high- and low-resolution image pairs, have attracted considerable interest in the field of image processing. In this paper, we propose a multi-example feature-constrained back-projection method for image super-resolution. Firstly, we take advantage of a feature-constrained polynomial interpolation method to enlarge the low-resolution image. Next, we consider low-frequency images of different resolutions to provide an example pair. Then, we use adaptive k NN search to find similar patches in the low-resolution image for every image patch in the high-resolution low-frequency image, leading to a regression model between similar patches to be learnt. The learnt model is applied to the low-resolution high-frequency image to produce high-resolution high-frequency information. An iterative back-projection algorithm is used as the final step to determine the final high-resolution image.Experimental results demonstrate that our method improves the visual quality of the high-resolution image.

A Single Image Dehazing Method Using Average Saturation Prior

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Zhenfei Gu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Outdoor images captured in bad weather are prone to yield poor visibility, which is a fatal problem for most computer vision applications. The majority of existing dehazing methods rely on an atmospheric scattering model and therefore share a common limitation; that is, the model is only valid when the atmosphere is homogeneous. In this paper, we propose an improved atmospheric scattering model to overcome this inherent limitation. By adopting the proposed model, a corresponding dehazing method is also presented. In this method, we first create a haze density distribution map of a hazy image, which enables us to segment the hazy image into scenes according to the haze density similarity. Then, in order to improve the atmospheric light estimation accuracy, we define an effective weight assignment function to locate a candidate scene based on the scene segmentation results and therefore avoid most potential errors. Next, we propose a simple but powerful prior named the average saturation prior (ASP, which is a statistic of extensive high-definition outdoor images. Using this prior combined with the improved atmospheric scattering model, we can directly estimate the scene atmospheric scattering coefficient and restore the scene albedo. The experimental results verify that our model is physically valid, and the proposed method outperforms several state-of-the-art single image dehazing methods in terms of both robustness and effectiveness.

Coherent diffractive imaging methods for semiconductor manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Helfenstein, Patrick; Mochi, Iacopo; Rajeev, Rajendran; Fernandez, Sara; Ekinci, Yasin

2017-12-01

The paradigm shift of the semiconductor industry moving from deep ultraviolet to extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) brought about new challenges in the fabrication of illumination and projection optics, which constitute one of the core sources of cost of ownership for many of the metrology tools needed in the lithography process. For this reason, lensless imaging techniques based on coherent diffractive imaging started to raise interest in the EUVL community. This paper presents an overview of currently on-going research endeavors that use a number of methods based on lensless imaging with coherent light.

SAR Data Fusion Imaging Method Oriented to Target Feature Extraction

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Yang Wei

2015-02-01

Full Text Available To deal with the difficulty for target outlines extracting precisely due to neglect of target scattering characteristic variation during the processing of high-resolution space-borne SAR data, a novel fusion imaging method is proposed oriented to target feature extraction. Firstly, several important aspects that affect target feature extraction and SAR image quality are analyzed, including curved orbit, stop-and-go approximation, atmospheric delay, and high-order residual phase error. Furthermore, the corresponding compensation methods are addressed as well. Based on the analysis, the mathematical model of SAR echo combined with target space-time spectrum is established for explaining the space-time-frequency change rule of target scattering characteristic. Moreover, a fusion imaging strategy and method under high-resolution and ultra-large observation angle range conditions are put forward to improve SAR quality by fusion processing in range-doppler and image domain. Finally, simulations based on typical military targets are used to verify the effectiveness of the fusion imaging method.

The simple method to co-register planar image with photograph

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, Sung June; Kim, Seok Ki; Kang, Keon Wook

2005-01-01

Generally scintigraphic image presents the highly specific functional information. Sometimes, there can be limited information of patients anatomical landmark required to identify the lesion in planar nuclear medicine image. In this study, we applied the simple fusion method of planar scintigraphy and plain photography and validated the techniques with our own software. We used three fiducial marks which were comprised with Tc-99m. We obtained planar image with single head gamma camera (ARGUS ADAC laboratory, USA) and photograph using a general digital camera (CANON JAPAN). The coordinates of three marks were obtained in photograph and planar scintigraphy image. Based on these points, we took affine transformation and then fused these two images. To evaluate the precision, we compared with different depth. To find out the depth of lesion, the images were acquired in different angles and we compared the real depth and the geometrically calculated depth. At the same depth with mark, the each discordance was less than 1 mm. When the photograph were taken at the distance with 1 m and 2 m, the point 30 cm off the center were discordant in 5 mm and 2 mm each. We used this method in the localization of the remnant thyroid tissue on I-131 whole body scan with photo image. The simple method to co-register planar image with photography was reliable and easy to use. By this method, we could localize the lesion on the planar scintigraphy more accurately with other planar images (i.e. photograph) and predict the depth of the lesion without tomographic image

A Geometric Correction Method of Plane Image Based on OpenCV

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Li Xiaopeng

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Using OpenCV, a geometric correction method of plane image from single grid image in a state of unknown camera position is presented. The method can remove the perspective and lens distortions from an image. The method is simple and easy to implement, and the efficiency is high. Experiments indicate that this method has high precision, and can be used in some domains such as plane measurement.

Fast imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wehrli, F.W.; Altas, S.W.

1991-01-01

This paper reports on MRI which has evolved rapidly and promises to continue to do so. The diagnostic armamentarium, as a result, has increased dramatically over recent years, which has necessitated constant interactions between clinicians, physicists, and biochemists. Pulse sequence design, coupled with advances in other software and hardware technology, offers practical improvements in scanning and image quality. Perhaps more importantly, these same advances hold promise for MRI to become, in addition to its traditional role as a morphological imaging technique, a functional imaging modality. The attractiveness of this prospect is that for the first time, a high-resolution technique has been shown to have the potential to provide both types of information from a single integrated examination, which promises to generate important insights into normal physiology as well as the natural history of pathophysiologic states

A new methodical approach in neuroscience: assessing inter-personal brain coupling using functional near-infrared imaging (fNIRI hyperscanning

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Felix eScholkmann

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Since the first demonstration of how to simultaneously measure brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI on two subjects about 10 years ago, a new paradigm in neuroscience is emerging: the assessment of the inter-brain coupling between two or more subjects, termed hyperscanning. The hyperscanning approach has the potential to enable a new view on how the brain works and will reveal as yet undiscovered brain functions based on brain-to-brain coupling, since the single-subject setting cannot capture them. In particular, functional near-infrared imaging (fNIRI hyperscanning is a promising new method, offering a cost-effective, easy to apply and reliable technology to measure inter-personal interactions in a natural context. In this short review we report on fNIRI hyperscanning studies published so far and summarize opportunities and challenges for future studies.

[An Improved Spectral Quaternion Interpolation Method of Diffusion Tensor Imaging].

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yonghong; Gao, Shangce; Hao, Xiaofei

2016-04-01

Diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)is a rapid development technology in recent years of magnetic resonance imaging.The diffusion tensor interpolation is a very important procedure in DTI image processing.The traditional spectral quaternion interpolation method revises the direction of the interpolation tensor and can preserve tensors anisotropy,but the method does not revise the size of tensors.The present study puts forward an improved spectral quaternion interpolation method on the basis of traditional spectral quaternion interpolation.Firstly,we decomposed diffusion tensors with the direction of tensors being represented by quaternion.Then we revised the size and direction of the tensor respectively according to different situations.Finally,we acquired the tensor of interpolation point by calculating the weighted average.We compared the improved method with the spectral quaternion method and the Log-Euclidean method by the simulation data and the real data.The results showed that the improved method could not only keep the monotonicity of the fractional anisotropy(FA)and the determinant of tensors,but also preserve the tensor anisotropy at the same time.In conclusion,the improved method provides a kind of important interpolation method for diffusion tensor image processing.

Novel Fingertip Image-Based Heart Rate Detection Methods for a Smartphone

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Rifat Zaman

2017-02-01

Full Text Available We hypothesize that our fingertip image-based heart rate detection methods using smartphone reliably detect the heart rhythm and rate of subjects. We propose fingertip curve line movement-based and fingertip image intensity-based detection methods, which both use the movement of successive fingertip images obtained from smartphone cameras. To investigate the performance of the proposed methods, heart rhythm and rate of the proposed methods are compared to those of the conventional method, which is based on average image pixel intensity. Using a smartphone, we collected 120 s pulsatile time series data from each recruited subject. The results show that the proposed fingertip curve line movement-based method detects heart rate with a maximum deviation of 0.0832 Hz and 0.124 Hz using time- and frequency-domain based estimation, respectively, compared to the conventional method. Moreover, another proposed fingertip image intensity-based method detects heart rate with a maximum deviation of 0.125 Hz and 0.03 Hz using time- and frequency-based estimation, respectively.

Adaptive Proximal Point Algorithms for Total Variation Image Restoration

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Ying Chen

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Image restoration is a fundamental problem in various areas of imaging sciences. This paper presents a class of adaptive proximal point algorithms (APPA with contraction strategy for total variational image restoration. In each iteration, the proposed methods choose an adaptive proximal parameter matrix which is not necessary symmetric. In fact, there is an inner extrapolation in the prediction step, which is followed by a correction step for contraction. And the inner extrapolation is implemented by an adaptive scheme. By using the framework of contraction method, global convergence result and a convergence rate of O(1/N could be established for the proposed methods. Numerical results are reported to illustrate the efficiency of the APPA methods for solving total variation image restoration problems. Comparisons with the state-of-the-art algorithms demonstrate that the proposed methods are comparable and promising.

A novel optical gating method for laser gated imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Ginat, Ran; Schneider, Ron; Zohar, Eyal; Nesher, Ofer

2013-06-01

For the past 15 years, Elbit Systems is developing time-resolved active laser-gated imaging (LGI) systems for various applications. Traditional LGI systems are based on high sensitive gated sensors, synchronized to pulsed laser sources. Elbit propriety multi-pulse per frame method, which is being implemented in LGI systems, improves significantly the imaging quality. A significant characteristic of the LGI is its ability to penetrate a disturbing media, such as rain, haze and some fog types. Current LGI systems are based on image intensifier (II) sensors, limiting the system in spectral response, image quality, reliability and cost. A novel propriety optical gating module was developed in Elbit, untying the dependency of LGI system on II. The optical gating module is not bounded to the radiance wavelength and positioned between the system optics and the sensor. This optical gating method supports the use of conventional solid state sensors. By selecting the appropriate solid state sensor, the new LGI systems can operate at any desired wavelength. In this paper we present the new gating method characteristics, performance and its advantages over the II gating method. The use of the gated imaging systems is described in a variety of applications, including results from latest field experiments.

Method and Apparatus for Computed Imaging Backscatter Radiography

Science.gov (United States)

Shedlock, Daniel (Inventor); Meng, Christopher (Inventor); Sabri, Nissia (Inventor); Dugan, Edward T. (Inventor); Jacobs, Alan M. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

Systems and methods of x-ray backscatter radiography are provided. A single-sided, non-destructive imaging technique utilizing x-ray radiation to image subsurface features is disclosed, capable of scanning a region using a fan beam aperture and gathering data using rotational motion.

Accuracy of signal-to-noise ratio measurement method for magnetic resonance images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogura, Akio; Miyai, Akira; Maeda, Fumie; Fukutake, Hiroyuki; Kikumoto, Rikiya

2003-01-01

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a magnetic resonance image is a common measure of imager performance. However, evaluations for the calculation of the SNR use various methods. A problem with measuring SNR is caused by the distortion of noise statistics in commonly used magnitude images. In this study, measurement accuracy was compared among four methods of evaluating SNR according to the size and position of regions of interest (ROIs). The results indicated that the method that used the difference between two images showed the best agreement with the theoretical value. In the method that used a single image, the SNR calculated by using a small size of ROI showed better agreement with the theoretical value because of noise bias and image artifacts. However, in the method that used the difference between two images, a large size of ROI was better in reducing statistical errors. In the same way, the methods that used air noise and air signal were better when applied to a large ROI. In addition, the image subtraction process used to calculate pixel-by-pixel differences in images may reach zero on a minus pixel value when using an image processor with the MRI system and apparatuses associated with it. A revised equation is presented for this case. It is important to understand the characteristics of each method and to choose a suitable method carefully according to the purpose of the study. (author)

Standoff Methods for the Detection of Threat Agents: A Review of Several Promising Laser-Based Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Bruce Johnson

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Detection of explosives, explosive precursors, or other threat agents presents a number of technological challenges for optical sensing methods. Certainly detecting trace levels of threat agents against a complex background is chief among these challenges; however, the related issues of multiple target distances (from standoff to proximity and sampling time scales (from passive mines to rapid rate of march convoy protection for different applications make it unlikely that a single technique will be ideal for all sensing situations. A number of methods for spanning the range of optical sensor technologies exist which, when integrated, could produce a fused sensor system possessing a high level of sensitivity to threat agents and a moderate standoff real-time capability appropriate for portal screening of personnel or vehicles. In this work, we focus on several promising, and potentially synergistic, laser-based methods for sensing threat agents. For each method, we have briefly outlined the technique and report on the current level of capability.

An effective method on pornographic images realtime recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Baosong; Lv, Xueqiang; Wang, Tao; Wang, Chengrui

2013-03-01

In this paper, skin detection, texture filtering and face detection are used to extract feature on an image library, training them with the decision tree arithmetic to create some rules as a decision tree classifier to distinguish an unknown image. Experiment based on more than twenty thousand images, the precision rate can get 76.21% when testing on 13025 pornographic images and elapsed time is less than 0.2s. This experiment shows it has a good popularity. Among the steps mentioned above, proposing a new skin detection model which called irregular polygon region skin detection model based on YCbCr color space. This skin detection model can lower the false detection rate on skin detection. A new method called sequence region labeling on binary connected area can calculate features on connected area, it is faster and needs less memory than other recursive methods.

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) as a promising new imaging target

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Persson, Morten; Kjaer, Andreas

2013-01-01

modalities such as optical imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) and positron emission topography (PET). In this review, we will discuss recent advances in the development of uPAR-targeted imaging ligands according to imaging modality. In addition, we...... will discuss the potential future clinical application for uPAR imaging as a new imaging biomarker....

Non-Cartesian parallel imaging reconstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Katherine L; Hamilton, Jesse I; Griswold, Mark A; Gulani, Vikas; Seiberlich, Nicole

2014-11-01

Non-Cartesian parallel imaging has played an important role in reducing data acquisition time in MRI. The use of non-Cartesian trajectories can enable more efficient coverage of k-space, which can be leveraged to reduce scan times. These trajectories can be undersampled to achieve even faster scan times, but the resulting images may contain aliasing artifacts. Just as Cartesian parallel imaging can be used to reconstruct images from undersampled Cartesian data, non-Cartesian parallel imaging methods can mitigate aliasing artifacts by using additional spatial encoding information in the form of the nonhomogeneous sensitivities of multi-coil phased arrays. This review will begin with an overview of non-Cartesian k-space trajectories and their sampling properties, followed by an in-depth discussion of several selected non-Cartesian parallel imaging algorithms. Three representative non-Cartesian parallel imaging methods will be described, including Conjugate Gradient SENSE (CG SENSE), non-Cartesian generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA), and Iterative Self-Consistent Parallel Imaging Reconstruction (SPIRiT). After a discussion of these three techniques, several potential promising clinical applications of non-Cartesian parallel imaging will be covered. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effective Alternating Direction Optimization Methods for Sparsity-Constrained Blind Image Deblurring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naixue Xiong

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Single-image blind deblurring for imaging sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT is a challenging ill-conditioned inverse problem, which requires regularization techniques to stabilize the image restoration process. The purpose is to recover the underlying blur kernel and latent sharp image from only one blurred image. Under many degraded imaging conditions, the blur kernel could be considered not only spatially sparse, but also piecewise smooth with the support of a continuous curve. By taking advantage of the hybrid sparse properties of the blur kernel, a hybrid regularization method is proposed in this paper to robustly and accurately estimate the blur kernel. The effectiveness of the proposed blur kernel estimation method is enhanced by incorporating both the L 1 -norm of kernel intensity and the squared L 2 -norm of the intensity derivative. Once the accurate estimation of the blur kernel is obtained, the original blind deblurring can be simplified to the direct deconvolution of blurred images. To guarantee robust non-blind deconvolution, a variational image restoration model is presented based on the L 1 -norm data-fidelity term and the total generalized variation (TGV regularizer of second-order. All non-smooth optimization problems related to blur kernel estimation and non-blind deconvolution are effectively handled by using the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM-based numerical methods. Comprehensive experiments on both synthetic and realistic datasets have been implemented to compare the proposed method with several state-of-the-art methods. The experimental comparisons have illustrated the satisfactory imaging performance of the proposed method in terms of quantitative and qualitative evaluations.

Image based method for aberration measurement of lithographic tools

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Shuang; Tao, Bo; Guo, Yongxing; Li, Gongfa

2018-01-01

Information of lens aberration of lithographic tools is important as it directly affects the intensity distribution in the image plane. Zernike polynomials are commonly used for a mathematical description of lens aberrations. Due to the advantage of lower cost and easier implementation of tools, image based measurement techniques have been widely used. Lithographic tools are typically partially coherent systems that can be described by a bilinear model, which entails time consuming calculations and does not lend a simple and intuitive relationship between lens aberrations and the resulted images. Previous methods for retrieving lens aberrations in such partially coherent systems involve through-focus image measurements and time-consuming iterative algorithms. In this work, we propose a method for aberration measurement in lithographic tools, which only requires measuring two images of intensity distribution. Two linear formulations are derived in matrix forms that directly relate the measured images to the unknown Zernike coefficients. Consequently, an efficient non-iterative solution is obtained.

Profiling pleural effusion cells by a diffraction imaging method

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Qaysi, Safaa; Hong, Heng; Wen, Yuhua; Lu, Jun Q.; Feng, Yuanming; Hu, Xin-Hua

2018-02-01

Assay of cells in pleural effusion (PE) is an important means of disease diagnosis. Conventional cytology of effusion samples, however, has low sensitivity and depends heavily on the expertise of cytopathologists. We applied a polarization diffraction imaging flow cytometry method on effusion cells to investigate their features. Diffraction imaging of the PE cell samples has been performed on 6000 to 12000 cells for each effusion cell sample of three patients. After prescreening to remove images by cellular debris and aggregated non-cellular particles, the image textures were extracted with a gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) algorithm. The distribution of the imaged cells in the GLCM parameters space was analyzed by a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) to determine the number of clusters among the effusion cells. These results yield insight on textural features of diffraction images and related cellular morphology in effusion samples and can be used toward the development of a label-free method for effusion cells assay.

Fingerprint image reconstruction for swipe sensor using Predictive Overlap Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mardiansyah Ahmad Zafrullah

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Swipe sensor is one of many biometric authentication sensor types that widely applied to embedded devices. The sensor produces an overlap on every pixel block of the image, so the picture requires a reconstruction process before heading to the feature extraction process. Conventional reconstruction methods require extensive computation, causing difficult to apply to embedded devices that have limited computing process. In this paper, image reconstruction is proposed using predictive overlap method, which determines the image block shift from the previous set of change data. The experiments were performed using 36 images generated by a swipe sensor with 128 x 8 pixels size of the area, where each image has an overlap in each block. The results reveal computation can increase up to 86.44% compared with conventional methods, with accuracy decreasing to 0.008% in average.

A Robust Photogrammetric Processing Method of Low-Altitude UAV Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingyao Ai

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Low-altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV images which include distortion, illumination variance, and large rotation angles are facing multiple challenges of image orientation and image processing. In this paper, a robust and convenient photogrammetric approach is proposed for processing low-altitude UAV images, involving a strip management method to automatically build a standardized regional aerial triangle (AT network, a parallel inner orientation algorithm, a ground control points (GCPs predicting method, and an improved Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT method to produce large number of evenly distributed reliable tie points for bundle adjustment (BA. A multi-view matching approach is improved to produce Digital Surface Models (DSM and Digital Orthophoto Maps (DOM for 3D visualization. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is robust and feasible for photogrammetric processing of low-altitude UAV images and 3D visualization of products.

Study on Processing Method of Image Shadow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Bo

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In order to effectively remove disturbance of shadow and enhance robustness of information processing of computer visual image, this paper makes study on inspection and removal of image shadow. It makes study the continual removal algorithm of shadow based on integration, the illumination surface and texture, it respectively introduces their work principles and realization method, it can effectively carrying processing for shadow by test.

Method for estimating modulation transfer function from sample images.

Science.gov (United States)

Saiga, Rino; Takeuchi, Akihisa; Uesugi, Kentaro; Terada, Yasuko; Suzuki, Yoshio; Mizutani, Ryuta

2018-02-01

The modulation transfer function (MTF) represents the frequency domain response of imaging modalities. Here, we report a method for estimating the MTF from sample images. Test images were generated from a number of images, including those taken with an electron microscope and with an observation satellite. These original images were convolved with point spread functions (PSFs) including those of circular apertures. The resultant test images were subjected to a Fourier transformation. The logarithm of the squared norm of the Fourier transform was plotted against the squared distance from the origin. Linear correlations were observed in the logarithmic plots, indicating that the PSF of the test images can be approximated with a Gaussian. The MTF was then calculated from the Gaussian-approximated PSF. The obtained MTF closely coincided with the MTF predicted from the original PSF. The MTF of an x-ray microtomographic section of a fly brain was also estimated with this method. The obtained MTF showed good agreement with the MTF determined from an edge profile of an aluminum test object. We suggest that this approach is an alternative way of estimating the MTF, independently of the image type. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recent advances in computational methods and clinical applications for spine imaging

CERN Document Server

Glocker, Ben; Klinder, Tobias; Li, Shuo

2015-01-01

This book contains the full papers presented at the MICCAI 2014 workshop on Computational Methods and Clinical Applications for Spine Imaging. The workshop brought together scientists and clinicians in the field of computational spine imaging. The chapters included in this book present and discuss the new advances and challenges in these fields, using several methods and techniques in order to address more efficiently different and timely applications involving signal and image acquisition, image processing and analysis, image segmentation, image registration and fusion, computer simulation, image based modeling, simulation and surgical planning, image guided robot assisted surgical and image based diagnosis. The book also includes papers and reports from the first challenge on vertebra segmentation held at the workshop.

Conjugate-gradient preconditioning methods for shift-variant PET image reconstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Fessler, J A; Booth, S D

1999-01-01

Gradient-based iterative methods often converge slowly for tomographic image reconstruction and image restoration problems, but can be accelerated by suitable preconditioners. Diagonal preconditioners offer some improvement in convergence rate, but do not incorporate the structure of the Hessian matrices in imaging problems. Circulant preconditioners can provide remarkable acceleration for inverse problems that are approximately shift-invariant, i.e., for those with approximately block-Toeplitz or block-circulant Hessians. However, in applications with nonuniform noise variance, such as arises from Poisson statistics in emission tomography and in quantum-limited optical imaging, the Hessian of the weighted least-squares objective function is quite shift-variant, and circulant preconditioners perform poorly. Additional shift-variance is caused by edge-preserving regularization methods based on nonquadratic penalty functions. This paper describes new preconditioners that approximate more accurately the Hessian matrices of shift-variant imaging problems. Compared to diagonal or circulant preconditioning, the new preconditioners lead to significantly faster convergence rates for the unconstrained conjugate-gradient (CG) iteration. We also propose a new efficient method for the line-search step required by CG methods. Applications to positron emission tomography (PET) illustrate the method.

Implementing the Frequency Filtering into a Dictionary Image

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dudek, G.; Borys, P.

2011-01-01

In our previous research we have proposed new method for image compression which was based on LZ77 dictionary algorithm. We introduced two modifications such as inaccurate color matching and noise acceptance. Experimental results presented in that paper proved that the new method of image compression gives promising results as compared with original LZ77 dictionary algorithm. In this paper, we propose to supplement the previous algorithm with frequency content reduction. To this end we propose an interpolation based scaling and a compression along the vertical axes. The obtained results are compared to the previously proposed method. (authors)

EIT Imaging of admittivities with a D-bar method and spatial prior: experimental results for absolute and difference imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, S J

2017-05-22

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an emerging imaging modality that uses harmless electrical measurements taken on electrodes at a body's surface to recover information about the internal electrical conductivity and or permittivity. The image reconstruction task of EIT is a highly nonlinear inverse problem that is sensitive to noise and modeling errors making the image reconstruction task challenging. D-bar methods solve the nonlinear problem directly, bypassing the need for detailed and time-intensive forward models, to provide absolute (static) as well as time-difference EIT images. Coupling the D-bar methodology with the inclusion of high confidence a priori data results in a noise-robust regularized image reconstruction method. In this work, the a priori D-bar method for complex admittivities is demonstrated effective on experimental tank data for absolute imaging for the first time. Additionally, the method is adjusted for, and tested on, time-difference imaging scenarios. The ability of the method to be used for conductivity, permittivity, absolute as well as time-difference imaging provides the user with great flexibility without a high computational cost.

Stem Cell Therapy: A Promising Therapeutic Method for Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Liansheng; Xu, Weilin; Li, Tao; Chen, Jingyin; Shao, Anwen; Yan, Feng; Chen, Gao

2018-01-01

Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is one type of the most devastating cerebrovascular diseases worldwide, which causes high morbidity and mortality. However, efficient treatment is still lacking. Stem cell therapy has shown good neuroprotective and neurorestorative effect in ICH and is a promising treatment. In this study, our aim was to review the therapeutic effects, strategies, related mechanisms and safety issues of various types of stem cell for ICH treatment. Numerous studies had demonstrated the therapeutic effects of diverse stem cell types in ICH. The potential mechanisms include tissue repair and replacement, neurotrophy, promotion of neurogenesis and angiogenesis, anti-apoptosis, immunoregulation and anti-inflammation and so forth. The microenvironment of the central nervous system (CNS) can also influence the effects of stem cell therapy. The detailed therapeutic strategies for ICH treatment such as cell type, the number of cells, time window, and the routes of medication delivery, varied greatly among different studies and had not been determined. Moreover, the safety issues of stem cell therapy for ICH should not be ignored. Stem cell therapy showed good therapeutic effect in ICH, making it a promising treatment. However, safety should be carefully evaluated, and more clinical trials are required before stem cell therapy can be extensively applied to clinical use.

A multicore based parallel image registration method.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lin; Gong, Leiguang; Zhang, Hong; Nosher, John L; Foran, David J

2009-01-01

Image registration is a crucial step for many image-assisted clinical applications such as surgery planning and treatment evaluation. In this paper we proposed a landmark based nonlinear image registration algorithm for matching 2D image pairs. The algorithm was shown to be effective and robust under conditions of large deformations. In landmark based registration, the most important step is establishing the correspondence among the selected landmark points. This usually requires an extensive search which is often computationally expensive. We introduced a nonregular data partition algorithm using the K-means clustering algorithm to group the landmarks based on the number of available processing cores. The step optimizes the memory usage and data transfer. We have tested our method using IBM Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.) platform.

An automated image processing method for classification of diabetic retinopathy stages from conjunctival microvasculature images

Science.gov (United States)

Khansari, Maziyar M.; O'Neill, William; Penn, Richard; Blair, Norman P.; Chau, Felix; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2017-03-01

The conjunctiva is a densely vascularized tissue of the eye that provides an opportunity for imaging of human microcirculation. In the current study, automated fine structure analysis of conjunctival microvasculature images was performed to discriminate stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The study population consisted of one group of nondiabetic control subjects (NC) and 3 groups of diabetic subjects, with no clinical DR (NDR), non-proliferative DR (NPDR), or proliferative DR (PDR). Ordinary least square regression and Fisher linear discriminant analyses were performed to automatically discriminate images between group pairs of subjects. Human observers who were masked to the grouping of subjects performed image discrimination between group pairs. Over 80% and 70% of images of subjects with clinical and non-clinical DR were correctly discriminated by the automated method, respectively. The discrimination rates of the automated method were higher than human observers. The fine structure analysis of conjunctival microvasculature images provided discrimination of DR stages and can be potentially useful for DR screening and monitoring.

A New 4D Imaging Method for Three-Phase Analogue Experiments in Volcanology (and Other Three-Phase Systems)

Science.gov (United States)

Oppenheimer, J.; Patel, K. B.; Lev, E.; Hillman, E. M. C.

2017-12-01

Bubbles and crystals suspended in magmas interact with each other on a small scale, which affects large-scale volcanic processes. Studying these interactions on relevant scales of time and space is a long-standing challenge. Therefore, the fundamental explanations for the behavior of bubble- and crystal-rich magmas are still largely speculative. Recent application of X-ray tomography to experiments with synthetic magmas has already improved our understanding of small-scale 4D (3D + time) phenomena. However, this technique has low imaging rates Confocally Aligned Planar Excitation (SCAPE) microscopy. This method based on laser-fluorescence has been used to image live biological processes at high speed and in 3D. It allows imaging rates of up to several hundred vps and image volumes up to 1 x 1 x 0.5 mm3, with a trade-off between speed and spatial resolution. We ran two sets of experiments with silicone oil and soda-lime glass beads of <50 µm diameter, contained within a vertical glass casing 50 x 5 x 4 mm3. We used two different bubble generation methods. In the first set of experiments, small air bubbles (< 1 mm) were introduced through a hole at the bottom of the sample and allowed to rise through a suspension with low-viscosity oil. We successfully imaged bubble rise and particle movements around the bubble. In the second set, bubbles were generated by mixing acetone into the suspension and decreasing the surface pressure to cause a phase change to gaseous acetone. This bubble generation method compared favorably with previous gum rosin-acetone experiments: they provided similar degassing behaviors, along with more control on suspension viscosity and optimal optical properties for laser transmission. Large volumes of suspended bubbles, however, interfered with the laser path. In this set, we were able to track bubble nucleation sites and nucleation rates in 4D. This promising technique allows the study of small-scale interactions in two- and three-phase systems

Nonuniform Illumination Correction Algorithm for Underwater Images Using Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonali Sachin Sankpal

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Scattering and absorption of light is main reason for limited visibility in water. The suspended particles and dissolved chemical compounds in water are also responsible for scattering and absorption of light in water. The limited visibility in water results in degradation of underwater images. The visibility can be increased by using artificial light source in underwater imaging system. But the artificial light illuminates the scene in a nonuniform fashion. It produces bright spot at the center with the dark region at surroundings. In some cases imaging system itself creates dark region in the image by producing shadow on the objects. The problem of nonuniform illumination is neglected by the researchers in most of the image enhancement techniques of underwater images. Also very few methods are discussed showing the results on color images. This paper suggests a method for nonuniform illumination correction for underwater images. The method assumes that natural underwater images are Rayleigh distributed. This paper used maximum likelihood estimation of scale parameter to map distribution of image to Rayleigh distribution. The method is compared with traditional methods for nonuniform illumination correction using no-reference image quality metrics like average luminance, average information entropy, normalized neighborhood function, average contrast, and comprehensive assessment function.

Methods of fetal MR: beyond T2-weighted imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brugger, Peter C.; Stuhr, Fritz; Lindner, Christian; Prayer, Daniela

2006-01-01

The present work reviews the basic methods of performing fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Since fetal MRI differs in many respects from a postnatal study, several factors have to be taken into account to achieve satisfying image quality. Image quality depends on adequate positioning of the pregnant woman in the magnet, use of appropriate coils and the selection of sequences. Ultrafast T2-weighted sequences are regarded as the mainstay of fetal MR-imaging. However, additional sequences, such as T1-weighted images, diffusion-weighted images, echoplanar imaging may provide further information, especially in extra- central-nervous system regions of the fetal body

Methods of fetal MR: beyond T2-weighted imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brugger, Peter C. [Center of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Integrative Morphology Group, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringerstrasse 13, 1090 Vienna (Austria)]. E-mail: peter.brugger@meduniwien.ac.at; Stuhr, Fritz [Department of Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringerguertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna (Austria); Lindner, Christian [Department of Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringerguertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna (Austria); Prayer, Daniela [Department of Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringerguertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna (Austria)

2006-02-15

The present work reviews the basic methods of performing fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Since fetal MRI differs in many respects from a postnatal study, several factors have to be taken into account to achieve satisfying image quality. Image quality depends on adequate positioning of the pregnant woman in the magnet, use of appropriate coils and the selection of sequences. Ultrafast T2-weighted sequences are regarded as the mainstay of fetal MR-imaging. However, additional sequences, such as T1-weighted images, diffusion-weighted images, echoplanar imaging may provide further information, especially in extra- central-nervous system regions of the fetal body.

A NOISE ADAPTIVE FUZZY EQUALIZATION METHOD FOR PROCESSING SOLAR EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET IMAGES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Druckmueller, M., E-mail: druckmuller@fme.vutbr.cz [Institute of Mathematics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Technicka 2, 616 69 Brno (Czech Republic)

2013-08-15

A new image enhancement tool ideally suited for the visualization of fine structures in extreme ultraviolet images of the corona is presented in this paper. The Noise Adaptive Fuzzy Equalization method is particularly suited for the exceptionally high dynamic range images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. This method produces artifact-free images and gives significantly better results than methods based on convolution or Fourier transform which are often used for that purpose.

The gridding method for image reconstruction by Fourier transformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schomberg, H.; Timmer, J.

1995-01-01

This paper explores a computational method for reconstructing an n-dimensional signal f from a sampled version of its Fourier transform f. The method involves a window function w and proceeds in three steps. First, the convolution g = w * f is computed numerically on a Cartesian grid, using the available samples of f. Then, g = wf is computed via the inverse discrete Fourier transform, and finally f is obtained as g/w. Due to the smoothing effect of the convolution, evaluating w * f is much less error prone than merely interpolating f. The method was originally devised for image reconstruction in radio astronomy, but is actually applicable to a broad range of reconstructive imaging methods, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography. In particular, it provides a fast and accurate alternative to the filtered backprojection. The basic method has several variants with other applications, such as the equidistant resampling of arbitrarily sampled signals or the fast computation of the Radon (Hough) transform

A MODIFIED EMBEDDED ZERO-TREE WAVELET METHOD FOR MEDICAL IMAGE COMPRESSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Celine Therese Jenny

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The Embedded Zero-tree Wavelet (EZW is a lossy compression method that allows for progressive transmission of a compressed image. By exploiting the natural zero-trees found in a wavelet decomposed image, the EZW algorithm is able to encode large portions of insignificant regions of an still image with a minimal number of bits. The upshot of this encoding is an algorithm that is able to achieve relatively high peak signal to noise ratios (PSNR for high compression levels. The EZW algorithm is to encode large portions of insignificant regions of an image with a minimal number of bits. Vector Quantization (VQ method can be performed as a post processing step to reduce the coded file size. Vector Quantization (VQ method can be reduces redundancy of the image data in order to be able to store or transmit data in an efficient form. It is demonstrated by experimental results that the proposed method outperforms several well-known lossless image compression techniques for still images that contain 256 colors or less.

Second harmonic generation imaging

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy has shown great promise for imaging live cells and tissues, with applications in basic science, medical research, and tissue engineering. Second Harmonic Generation Imaging offers a complete guide to this optical modality, from basic principles, instrumentation, methods, and image analysis to biomedical applications. The book features contributions by experts in second-harmonic imaging, including many pioneering researchers in the field. Written for researchers at all levels, it takes an in-depth look at the current state of the art and possibilities of SHG microscopy. Organized into three sections, the book: Provides an introduction to the physics of the process, step-by-step instructions on how to build an SHG microscope, and comparisons with related imaging techniques Gives an overview of the capabilities of SHG microscopy for imaging tissues and cells—including cell membranes, muscle, collagen in tissues, and microtubules in live cells—by summarizing experi...

Imaging and translational research: neuro degenerative diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hantraye, P.

2009-01-01

Advances in neuroimaging of neuro-degenerative diseases over the past two decades are the product of breakthroughs in imaging technology, more powerful computers, image-processing software, and expanding knowledge in basic and clinical neuro-science. In addition to the insights into normal brain structure and function that such methods provide, and the information that can be gained from disease-related changes in structure and function, functional imaging offers the promise of monitoring brain lesions and quantifying the therapeutic efficacy of innovative treatments for these largely incurable disorders. (author)

Threshold selection for classification of MR brain images by clustering method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moldovanu, Simona [Faculty of Sciences and Environment, Department of Chemistry, Physics and Environment, Dunărea de Jos University of Galaţi, 47 Domnească St., 800008, Romania, Phone: +40 236 460 780 (Romania); Dumitru Moţoc High School, 15 Milcov St., 800509, Galaţi (Romania); Obreja, Cristian; Moraru, Luminita, E-mail: luminita.moraru@ugal.ro [Faculty of Sciences and Environment, Department of Chemistry, Physics and Environment, Dunărea de Jos University of Galaţi, 47 Domnească St., 800008, Romania, Phone: +40 236 460 780 (Romania)

2015-12-07

Given a grey-intensity image, our method detects the optimal threshold for a suitable binarization of MR brain images. In MR brain image processing, the grey levels of pixels belonging to the object are not substantially different from the grey levels belonging to the background. Threshold optimization is an effective tool to separate objects from the background and further, in classification applications. This paper gives a detailed investigation on the selection of thresholds. Our method does not use the well-known method for binarization. Instead, we perform a simple threshold optimization which, in turn, will allow the best classification of the analyzed images into healthy and multiple sclerosis disease. The dissimilarity (or the distance between classes) has been established using the clustering method based on dendrograms. We tested our method using two classes of images: the first consists of 20 T2-weighted and 20 proton density PD-weighted scans from two healthy subjects and from two patients with multiple sclerosis. For each image and for each threshold, the number of the white pixels (or the area of white objects in binary image) has been determined. These pixel numbers represent the objects in clustering operation. The following optimum threshold values are obtained, T = 80 for PD images and T = 30 for T2w images. Each mentioned threshold separate clearly the clusters that belonging of the studied groups, healthy patient and multiple sclerosis disease.

Imaging by the SSFSE single slice method at different viscosities of bile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubo, Hiroya; Usui, Motoki; Fukunaga, Kenichi; Yamamoto, Naruto; Ikegami, Toshimi

2001-01-01

The single shot fast spin echo single thick slice method (single slice method) is a technique that visualizes the water component alone using a heavy T 2 . However, this method is considered to be markedly affected by changes in the viscosity of the material because a very long TE is used, and changes in the T 2 value, which are related to viscosity, directly affect imaging. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between the effects of TE and the T 2 value of bile in the single slice method and also examined the relationship between the signal intensity of bile on T 1 - and T 2 -weighted images and imaging by MR cholangiography (MRC). It was difficult to image bile with high viscosities at a usual effective TE level of 700-1,500 ms. With regard to the relationship between the signal intensity of bile and MRC imaging, all T 2 values of the bile samples showing relatively high signal intensities on the T 1 -weighted images suggested high viscosities, and MRC imaging of these bile samples was poor. In conclusion, MRC imaging of bile with high viscosities was poor with the single slice method. Imaging by the single slice method alone of bile showing a relatively high signal intensity on T 1 -weighted images should be avoided, and combination with other MRC sequences should be used. (author)

Enhancement of Electroluminescence (EL) image measurements for failure quantification methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Parikh, Harsh; Spataru, Sergiu; Sera, Dezso

2018-01-01

Enhanced quality images are necessary for EL image analysis and failure quantification. A method is proposed which determines image quality in terms of more accurate failure detection of solar panels through electroluminescence (EL) imaging technique. The goal of the paper is to determine the most...

[Promising new injection method to prevent angialgia/phlebitis from epirubicin hydrochloride therapy for breast cancer].

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, Chiemi; Yamagami, Mitsue; Kamatani, Rika; Yamamoto, Makoto; Mukouyama, Tomoya; Sugimoto, Masakazu; Suzuki, Taizan; Kamo, Nobuyuki; Seki, Nobuhiko; Eguchi, Kenji; Ikeda, Tadashi

2012-05-01

Epirubicin hydrochloride(EPI)is well known to cause phlebitis as a typical adverse drug reaction. By preventing the development of severe phlebitis, patients are expected to continue effective chemotherapy with EPI without a decrease in QOL. We have previously reported promising results of a new injection method to prevent phlebitis from occurring during EPI therapy thorough a prospective clinical trial in our hospital(Jpn J Cancer Chemother 36: 969-974, 2009). In the present study, we have compared the conventional injection method(EPI main -route method, n=15)with our new method, which has been consistently practiced at present(EPI sub -route method, n=77). We found that in the EPI main -route method, angialgia/phlebitis developed in 14 of 15 cases(Grade 3, 53. 3%), leading to alteration of the regimen in 3 cases. On the other hand, with the EPI sub -route method, incidence of angialgia/phlebitis was markedly decreased, and only 6 of 77 cases developed these adverse reactions(Grade 3, 0%). One possible explanation for these results is that the reduction of intimal stimulation by the EPI sub -route method might be caused by the dilution and washout of EPI with pre-medication, as well as the shortened infusion times of EPI. Therefore, on the basis of the above hypothesis, we conclude that the EPI sub-route method might be a more effective treatment for the expected prevention of angialgia/phlebitis.

Multi-spectral lifetime imaging: methods and applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fereidouni, F.

2013-01-01

The aim of this PhD project is to further develop multispectral life time imaging hardware and analyses methods. The hardware system, Lambda-Tau, generates a considerable amount of data at high speed. To fully exploit the power of this new hardware, fast and reliable data analyses methods are

An imaging method of wavefront coding system based on phase plate rotation

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Rigui; Chen, Xi; Dong, Liquan; Liu, Ming; Zhao, Yuejin; Liu, Xiaohua

2018-01-01

Wave-front coding has a great prospect in extending the depth of the optical imaging system and reducing optical aberrations, but the image quality and noise performance are inevitably reduced. According to the theoretical analysis of the wave-front coding system and the phase function expression of the cubic phase plate, this paper analyzed and utilized the feature that the phase function expression would be invariant in the new coordinate system when the phase plate rotates at different angles around the z-axis, and we proposed a method based on the rotation of the phase plate and image fusion. First, let the phase plate rotated at a certain angle around the z-axis, the shape and distribution of the PSF obtained on the image surface remain unchanged, the rotation angle and direction are consistent with the rotation angle of the phase plate. Then, the middle blurred image is filtered by the point spread function of the rotation adjustment. Finally, the reconstruction images were fused by the method of the Laplacian pyramid image fusion and the Fourier transform spectrum fusion method, and the results were evaluated subjectively and objectively. In this paper, we used Matlab to simulate the images. By using the Laplacian pyramid image fusion method, the signal-to-noise ratio of the image is increased by 19% 27%, the clarity is increased by 11% 15% , and the average gradient is increased by 4% 9% . By using the Fourier transform spectrum fusion method, the signal-to-noise ratio of the image is increased by 14% 23%, the clarity is increased by 6% 11% , and the average gradient is improved by 2% 6%. The experimental results show that the image processing by the above method can improve the quality of the restored image, improving the image clarity, and can effectively preserve the image information.

A novel attack method about double-random-phase-encoding-based image hiding method

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Hongsheng; Xiao, Zhijun; Zhu, Xianchen

2018-03-01

By using optical image processing techniques, a novel text encryption and hiding method applied by double-random phase-encoding technique is proposed in the paper. The first step is that the secret message is transformed into a 2-dimension array. The higher bits of the elements in the array are used to fill with the bit stream of the secret text, while the lower bits are stored specific values. Then, the transformed array is encoded by double random phase encoding technique. Last, the encoded array is embedded on a public host image to obtain the image embedded with hidden text. The performance of the proposed technique is tested via analytical modeling and test data stream. Experimental results show that the secret text can be recovered either accurately or almost accurately, while maintaining the quality of the host image embedded with hidden data by properly selecting the method of transforming the secret text into an array and the superimposition coefficient.

A physiology-based parametric imaging method for FDG-PET data

Science.gov (United States)

Scussolini, Mara; Garbarino, Sara; Sambuceti, Gianmario; Caviglia, Giacomo; Piana, Michele

2017-12-01

Parametric imaging is a compartmental approach that processes nuclear imaging data to estimate the spatial distribution of the kinetic parameters governing tracer flow. The present paper proposes a novel and efficient computational method for parametric imaging which is potentially applicable to several compartmental models of diverse complexity and which is effective in the determination of the parametric maps of all kinetic coefficients. We consider applications to [18 F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) data and analyze the two-compartment catenary model describing the standard FDG metabolization by an homogeneous tissue and the three-compartment non-catenary model representing the renal physiology. We show uniqueness theorems for both models. The proposed imaging method starts from the reconstructed FDG-PET images of tracer concentration and preliminarily applies image processing algorithms for noise reduction and image segmentation. The optimization procedure solves pixel-wise the non-linear inverse problem of determining the kinetic parameters from dynamic concentration data through a regularized Gauss-Newton iterative algorithm. The reliability of the method is validated against synthetic data, for the two-compartment system, and experimental real data of murine models, for the renal three-compartment system.

The interpolation method based on endpoint coordinate for CT three-dimensional image

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suto, Yasuzo; Ueno, Shigeru.

1997-01-01

Image interpolation is frequently used to improve slice resolution to reach spatial resolution. Improved quality of reconstructed three-dimensional images can be attained with this technique as a result. Linear interpolation is a well-known and widely used method. The distance-image method, which is a non-linear interpolation technique, is also used to convert CT value images to distance images. This paper describes a newly developed method that makes use of end-point coordinates: CT-value images are initially converted to binary images by thresholding them and then sequences of pixels with 1-value are arranged in vertical or horizontal directions. A sequence of pixels with 1-value is defined as a line segment which has starting and end points. For each pair of adjacent line segments, another line segment was composed by spatial interpolation of the start and end points. Binary slice images are constructed from the composed line segments. Three-dimensional images were reconstructed from clinical X-ray CT images, using three different interpolation methods and their quality and processing speed were evaluated and compared. (author)

Hybrid statistics-simulations based method for atom-counting from ADF STEM images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De wael, Annelies, E-mail: annelies.dewael@uantwerpen.be [Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp (Belgium); De Backer, Annick [Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp (Belgium); Jones, Lewys; Nellist, Peter D. [Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, OX1 3PH Oxford (United Kingdom); Van Aert, Sandra, E-mail: sandra.vanaert@uantwerpen.be [Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp (Belgium)

2017-06-15

A hybrid statistics-simulations based method for atom-counting from annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF STEM) images of monotype crystalline nanostructures is presented. Different atom-counting methods already exist for model-like systems. However, the increasing relevance of radiation damage in the study of nanostructures demands a method that allows atom-counting from low dose images with a low signal-to-noise ratio. Therefore, the hybrid method directly includes prior knowledge from image simulations into the existing statistics-based method for atom-counting, and accounts in this manner for possible discrepancies between actual and simulated experimental conditions. It is shown by means of simulations and experiments that this hybrid method outperforms the statistics-based method, especially for low electron doses and small nanoparticles. The analysis of a simulated low dose image of a small nanoparticle suggests that this method allows for far more reliable quantitative analysis of beam-sensitive materials. - Highlights: • A hybrid method for atom-counting from ADF STEM images is introduced. • Image simulations are incorporated into a statistical framework in a reliable manner. • Limits of the existing methods for atom-counting are far exceeded. • Reliable counting results from an experimental low dose image are obtained. • Progress towards reliable quantitative analysis of beam-sensitive materials is made.

Patient positioning method based on binary image correlation between two edge images for proton-beam radiation therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawada, Akira; Yoda, Kiyoshi; Numano, Masumi; Futami, Yasuyuki; Yamashita, Haruo; Murayama, Shigeyuki; Tsugami, Hironobu

2005-01-01

A new technique based on normalized binary image correlation between two edge images has been proposed for positioning proton-beam radiotherapy patients. A Canny edge detector was used to extract two edge images from a reference x-ray image and a test x-ray image of a patient before positioning. While translating and rotating the edged test image, the absolute value of the normalized binary image correlation between the two edge images is iteratively maximized. Each time before rotation, dilation is applied to the edged test image to avoid a steep reduction of the image correlation. To evaluate robustness of the proposed method, a simulation has been carried out using 240 simulated edged head front-view images extracted from a reference image by varying parameters of the Canny algorithm with a given range of rotation angles and translation amounts in x and y directions. It was shown that resulting registration errors have an accuracy of one pixel in x and y directions and zero degrees in rotation, even when the number of edge pixels significantly differs between the edged reference image and the edged simulation image. Subsequently, positioning experiments using several sets of head, lung, and hip data have been performed. We have observed that the differences of translation and rotation between manual positioning and the proposed method were within one pixel in translation and one degree in rotation. From the results of the validation study, it can be concluded that a significant reduction in workload for the physicians and technicians can be achieved with this method

Method for Surface Scanning in Medical Imaging and Related Apparatus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2015-01-01

A method and apparatus for surface scanning in medical imaging is provided. The surface scanning apparatus comprises an image source, a first optical fiber bundle comprising first optical fibers having proximal ends and distal ends, and a first optical coupler for coupling an image from the image...

Thin Cloud Detection Method by Linear Combination Model of Cloud Image

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, L.; Li, J.; Wang, Y.; Xiao, Y.; Zhang, W.; Zhang, S.

2018-04-01

The existing cloud detection methods in photogrammetry often extract the image features from remote sensing images directly, and then use them to classify images into cloud or other things. But when the cloud is thin and small, these methods will be inaccurate. In this paper, a linear combination model of cloud images is proposed, by using this model, the underlying surface information of remote sensing images can be removed. So the cloud detection result can become more accurate. Firstly, the automatic cloud detection program in this paper uses the linear combination model to split the cloud information and surface information in the transparent cloud images, then uses different image features to recognize the cloud parts. In consideration of the computational efficiency, AdaBoost Classifier was introduced to combine the different features to establish a cloud classifier. AdaBoost Classifier can select the most effective features from many normal features, so the calculation time is largely reduced. Finally, we selected a cloud detection method based on tree structure and a multiple feature detection method using SVM classifier to compare with the proposed method, the experimental data shows that the proposed cloud detection program in this paper has high accuracy and fast calculation speed.

A Quick and Affine Invariance Matching Method for Oblique Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

XIAO Xiongwu

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper proposed a quick, affine invariance matching method for oblique images. It calculated the initial affine matrix by making full use of the two estimated camera axis orientation parameters of an oblique image, then recovered the oblique image to a rectified image by doing the inverse affine transform, and left over by the SIFT method. We used the nearest neighbor distance ratio(NNDR, normalized cross correlation(NCC measure constraints and consistency check to get the coarse matches, then used RANSAC method to calculate the fundamental matrix and the homography matrix. And we got the matches that they were interior points when calculating the homography matrix, then calculated the average value of the matches' principal direction differences. During the matching process, we got the initial matching features by the nearest neighbor(NN matching strategy, then used the epipolar constrains, homography constrains, NCC measure constrains and consistency check of the initial matches' principal direction differences with the calculated average value of the interior matches' principal direction differences to eliminate false matches. Experiments conducted on three pairs of typical oblique images demonstrate that our method takes about the same time as SIFT to match a pair of oblique images with a plenty of corresponding points distributed evenly and an extremely low mismatching rate.

Advanced image based methods for structural integrity monitoring: Review and prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Farahani, Behzad V.; Sousa, Pedro José; Barros, Francisco; Tavares, Paulo J.; Moreira, Pedro M. G. P.

2018-02-01

There is a growing trend in engineering to develop methods for structural integrity monitoring and characterization of in-service mechanical behaviour of components. The fast growth in recent years of image processing techniques and image-based sensing for experimental mechanics, brought about a paradigm change in phenomena sensing. Hence, several widely applicable optical approaches are playing a significant role in support of experiment. The current review manuscript describes advanced image based methods for structural integrity monitoring, and focuses on methods such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC), Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA), Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) and Speckle Pattern Shearing Interferometry (Shearography). These non-contact full-field techniques rely on intensive image processing methods to measure mechanical behaviour, and evolve even as reviews such as this are being written, which justifies a special effort to keep abreast of this progress.

{sup 90}Y microspheres prepared by sol-gel method, promising medical material for radioembolization of liver malignancies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Łada, Wiesława, E-mail: w.lada@ichtj.waw.pl [Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, 03-195 Warsaw, Dorodna 16 (Poland); Iller, Edward [National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Andrzej Sołtan 7 (Poland); Wawszczak, Danuta [Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, 03-195 Warsaw, Dorodna 16 (Poland); Konior, Marcin, E-mail: marcin.konior@polatom.pl [National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Andrzej Sołtan 7 (Poland); Dziel, Tomasz [National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Andrzej Sołtan 7 (Poland)

2016-10-01

A new technology for the production of radiopharmaceutical {sup 90}Y microspheres in the form of spherical yttrium oxide grains obtained by sol-gel method has been described. The authors present and discuss the results of investigations performed in the development of new production technology of yttrium microspheres and determination of their physic-chemical properties. The final product has the structure of spherical yttrium oxide grains with a diameter 25–100 μm, is stable and free from contaminants. Irradiation of 20 mg samples of grains with diameter of 20–50 μm in the thermal neutron flux of 1.7 × 10{sup 14} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} at the core of MARIA research nuclear reactor allowed to obtain microspheres labelled with the {sup 90}Y isotope on the way of the nuclear reaction {sup 89}Y(n, γ){sup 90}Y. Specific activity of irradiated microspheres has been determined by application of absolute triple to double coincidence ratio method (TDCR) and has been evaluated at 190 MBq/mg Y. {sup 90}Y microspheres prepared by the proposed technique can be regarded as a promising medical material for radioembolization of liver malignancies. - Highlights: • Sol-gel methods for preparation of spherical yttrium trioxide grains have been proposed. • Determination condition for irradiation {sup 89}Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} grains in nuclear reactor • Evaluation of specific activity of {sup 90}Y microspheres • Estimation of {sup 90}Y microspheres as promising medical material for radioembolization.

Accelerated gradient methods for total-variation-based CT image reconstruction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joergensen, Jakob H.; Hansen, Per Christian [Technical Univ. of Denmark, Lyngby (Denmark). Dept. of Informatics and Mathematical Modeling; Jensen, Tobias L.; Jensen, Soeren H. [Aalborg Univ. (Denmark). Dept. of Electronic Systems; Sidky, Emil Y.; Pan, Xiaochuan [Chicago Univ., Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Radiology

2011-07-01

Total-variation (TV)-based CT image reconstruction has shown experimentally to be capable of producing accurate reconstructions from sparse-view data. In particular TV-based reconstruction is well suited for images with piecewise nearly constant regions. Computationally, however, TV-based reconstruction is demanding, especially for 3D imaging, and the reconstruction from clinical data sets is far from being close to real-time. This is undesirable from a clinical perspective, and thus there is an incentive to accelerate the solution of the underlying optimization problem. The TV reconstruction can in principle be found by any optimization method, but in practice the large scale of the systems arising in CT image reconstruction preclude the use of memory-intensive methods such as Newton's method. The simple gradient method has much lower memory requirements, but exhibits prohibitively slow convergence. In the present work we address the question of how to reduce the number of gradient method iterations needed to achieve a high-accuracy TV reconstruction. We consider the use of two accelerated gradient-based methods, GPBB and UPN, to solve the 3D-TV minimization problem in CT image reconstruction. The former incorporates several heuristics from the optimization literature such as Barzilai-Borwein (BB) step size selection and nonmonotone line search. The latter uses a cleverly chosen sequence of auxiliary points to achieve a better convergence rate. The methods are memory efficient and equipped with a stopping criterion to ensure that the TV reconstruction has indeed been found. An implementation of the methods (in C with interface to Matlab) is available for download from http://www2.imm.dtu.dk/~pch/TVReg/. We compare the proposed methods with the standard gradient method, applied to a 3D test problem with synthetic few-view data. We find experimentally that for realistic parameters the proposed methods significantly outperform the standard gradient method. (orig.)

Remote sensing image ship target detection method based on visual attention model

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yuejiao; Lei, Wuhu; Ren, Xiaodong

2017-11-01

The traditional methods of detecting ship targets in remote sensing images mostly use sliding window to search the whole image comprehensively. However, the target usually occupies only a small fraction of the image. This method has high computational complexity for large format visible image data. The bottom-up selective attention mechanism can selectively allocate computing resources according to visual stimuli, thus improving the computational efficiency and reducing the difficulty of analysis. Considering of that, a method of ship target detection in remote sensing images based on visual attention model was proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that the proposed method can reduce the computational complexity while improving the detection accuracy, and improve the detection efficiency of ship targets in remote sensing images.

New LSB-based colour image steganography method to enhance ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Mustafa Cem kasapbaşi

2018-04-27

Apr 27, 2018 ... evaluate the proposed method, comparative performance tests are carried out against different spatial image ... image steganography applications based on LSB are ..... worst case scenario could occur when having highest.

NMR blood vessel imaging method and apparatus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riederer, S.J.

1988-01-01

A high speed method of forming computed images of blood vessels based on measurements of characteristics of a body is described comprising the steps of: subjecting a predetermined body area containing blood vessels of interest to, successively, applications of a short repetition time (TR) NMR pulse sequence during the period of high blood velocity and then to corresponding applications during the period of low blood velocity for successive heart beat cycles; weighting the collected imaging data from each application of the NMR pulse sequence according to whether the data was acquired during the period of high blood velocity or a period of low blood velocity of the corresponding heart beat cycle; accumulating weighted imaging data from a plurality of NMR pulse sequences corresponding to high blood velocity periods and from a plurality of NMR pulse sequences corresponding to low blood velocity periods; subtracting the weighted imaging data corresponding to each specific phase encoding acquired during the high blood velocity periods from the weighted imaging data for the same phase encoding corresponding to low blood velocity periods in order to compute blood vessel imaging data; and forming an image of the blood vessels of interest from the blood vessel imaging data

Brief review of image reconstruction methods for imaging in nuclear medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murayama, Hideo

1999-01-01

Emission computed tomography (ECT) has as its major emphasis the quantitative determination of the moment to moment changes in the chemistry and flow physiology of injected or inhaled compounds labeled with radioactive atoms in a human body. The major difference lies in the fact that ECT seeks to describe the location and intensity of sources of emitted photons in an attenuating medium whereas transmission X-ray computed tomography (TCT) seeks to determine the distribution of the attenuating medium. A second important difference between ECT and TCT is that of available statistics. ECT statistics are low because each photon without control in emitting direction must be detected and analyzed, not as in TCT. The following sections review the historical development of image reconstruction methods for imaging in nuclear medicine, relevant intrinsic concepts for image reconstruction on ECT, and current status of volume imaging as well as a unique approach on iterative techniques for ECT. (author). 130 refs

[Applicability of non-invasive imaging methods in forensic medicine and forensic anthropology in particular].

Science.gov (United States)

Marcinková, Mária; Straka, Ľubomír; Novomeský, František; Janík, Martin; Štuller, František; Krajčovič, Jozef

2018-01-01

Massive progress in developing even more precise imaging modalities influenced all medical branches including the forensic medicine. In forensic anthropology, an inevitable part of forensic medicine itself, the use of all imaging modalities becomes even more important. Despite of acquiring more accurate informations about the deceased, all of them can be used in the process of identification and/or age estimation. X - ray imaging is most commonly used in detecting foreign bodies or various pathological changes of the deceased. Computed tomography, on the other hand, can be very helpful in the process of identification, whereas outcomes of this examination can be used for virtual reconstruction of living objects. Magnetic resonance imaging offers new opportunities in detecting cardiovascular pathological processes or develompental anomalies. Ultrasonography provides promising results in age estimation of living subjects without excessive doses of radiation. Processing the latest information sources available, authors introduce the application examples of X - ray imaging, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography in everyday forensic medicine routine, with particular focusing on forensic anthropology.

Image reconstruction methods in positron tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Townsend, D.W.; Defrise, M.

1993-01-01

In the two decades since the introduction of the X-ray scanner into radiology, medical imaging techniques have become widely established as essential tools in the diagnosis of disease. As a consequence of recent technological and mathematical advances, the non-invasive, three-dimensional imaging of internal organs such as the brain and the heart is now possible, not only for anatomical investigations using X-ray but also for studies which explore the functional status of the body using positron-emitting radioisotopes. This report reviews the historical and physical basis of medical imaging techniques using positron-emitting radioisotopes. Mathematical methods which enable three-dimensional distributions of radioisotopes to be reconstructed from projection data (sinograms) acquired by detectors suitably positioned around the patient are discussed. The extension of conventional two-dimensional tomographic reconstruction algorithms to fully three-dimensional reconstruction is described in detail. (orig.)

Imaging by the SSFSE single slice method at different viscosities of bile

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kubo, Hiroya; Usui, Motoki; Fukunaga, Kenichi; Yamamoto, Naruto; Ikegami, Toshimi [Kawasaki Hospital, Kobe (Japan)

2001-11-01

The single shot fast spin echo single thick slice method (single slice method) is a technique that visualizes the water component alone using a heavy T{sub 2}. However, this method is considered to be markedly affected by changes in the viscosity of the material because a very long TE is used, and changes in the T{sub 2} value, which are related to viscosity, directly affect imaging. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between the effects of TE and the T{sub 2} value of bile in the single slice method and also examined the relationship between the signal intensity of bile on T{sub 1}- and T{sub 2}-weighted images and imaging by MR cholangiography (MRC). It was difficult to image bile with high viscosities at a usual effective TE level of 700-1,500 ms. With regard to the relationship between the signal intensity of bile and MRC imaging, all T{sub 2} values of the bile samples showing relatively high signal intensities on the T{sub 1}-weighted images suggested high viscosities, and MRC imaging of these bile samples was poor. In conclusion, MRC imaging of bile with high viscosities was poor with the single slice method. Imaging by the single slice method alone of bile showing a relatively high signal intensity on T{sub 1}-weighted images should be avoided, and combination with other MRC sequences should be used. (author)

Cross-relaxation imaging:methods, challenges and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stikov, Nikola

2010-01-01

An overview of quantitative magnetization transfer (qMT) is given, with focus on cross relaxation imaging (CRI) as a fast method for quantifying the proportion of protons bound to complex macromolecules in tissue. The procedure for generating CRI maps is outlined, showing examples in the human brain and knee, and discussing the caveats and challenges in generating precise and accurate CRI maps. Finally, several applications of CRI for imaging tissue microstructure are presented.(Author)

Machine Learning Applications to Resting-State Functional MR Imaging Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Billings, John M; Eder, Maxwell; Flood, William C; Dhami, Devendra Singh; Natarajan, Sriraam; Whitlow, Christopher T

2017-11-01

Machine learning is one of the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields within computer science. Academic and commercial research entities are investing in machine learning methods, especially in personalized medicine via patient-level classification. There is great promise that machine learning methods combined with resting state functional MR imaging will aid in diagnosis of disease and guide potential treatment for conditions thought to be impossible to identify based on imaging alone, such as psychiatric disorders. We discuss machine learning methods and explore recent advances. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Super-Resolution of Plant Disease Images for the Acceleration of Image-based Phenotyping and Vigor Diagnosis in Agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, Kyosuke; Togami, Takashi; Yamaguchi, Norio

2017-11-06

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) are a very promising branch of technology, and they have been utilized in agriculture-in cooperation with image processing technologies-for phenotyping and vigor diagnosis. One of the problems in the utilization of UAVs for agricultural purposes is the limitation in flight time. It is necessary to fly at a high altitude to capture the maximum number of plants in the limited time available, but this reduces the spatial resolution of the captured images. In this study, we applied a super-resolution method to the low-resolution images of tomato diseases to recover detailed appearances, such as lesions on plant organs. We also conducted disease classification using high-resolution, low-resolution, and super-resolution images to evaluate the effectiveness of super-resolution methods in disease classification. Our results indicated that the super-resolution method outperformed conventional image scaling methods in spatial resolution enhancement of tomato disease images. The results of disease classification showed that the accuracy attained was also better by a large margin with super-resolution images than with low-resolution images. These results indicated that our approach not only recovered the information lost in low-resolution images, but also exerted a beneficial influence on further image analysis. The proposed approach will accelerate image-based phenotyping and vigor diagnosis in the field, because it not only saves time to capture images of a crop in a cultivation field but also secures the accuracy of these images for further analysis.

Trilogy Image-Guided Stereotactic Radiosurgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huntzinger, Calvin; Friedman, William; Bova, Frank; Fox, Timothy; Bouchet, Lionel; Boeh, Lester M.B.A.

2007-01-01

Full integration of advanced imaging, noninvasive immobilization, positioning, and motion-management methods into radiosurgery have resulted in fundamental changes in therapeutic strategies and approaches that are leading us to the treatment room of the future. With the introduction of image-guided radiosurgery (IGRS) systems, such as Trilogy TM , physicians have for the first time a practical means of routinely identifying and treating very small lesions throughout the body. Using new imaging processes such as positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans, clinics may be able to detect these lesions and then eradicate them with image-guided stereotactic radiosurgery treatments. Thus, there is promise that cancer could be turned into a chronic disease, managed through a series of checkups, and Trilogy treatments when metastatic lesions reappear

Adaptive and robust statistical methods for processing near-field scanning microwave microscopy images.

Science.gov (United States)

Coakley, K J; Imtiaz, A; Wallis, T M; Weber, J C; Berweger, S; Kabos, P

2015-03-01

Near-field scanning microwave microscopy offers great potential to facilitate characterization, development and modeling of materials. By acquiring microwave images at multiple frequencies and amplitudes (along with the other modalities) one can study material and device physics at different lateral and depth scales. Images are typically noisy and contaminated by artifacts that can vary from scan line to scan line and planar-like trends due to sample tilt errors. Here, we level images based on an estimate of a smooth 2-d trend determined with a robust implementation of a local regression method. In this robust approach, features and outliers which are not due to the trend are automatically downweighted. We denoise images with the Adaptive Weights Smoothing method. This method smooths out additive noise while preserving edge-like features in images. We demonstrate the feasibility of our methods on topography images and microwave |S11| images. For one challenging test case, we demonstrate that our method outperforms alternative methods from the scanning probe microscopy data analysis software package Gwyddion. Our methods should be useful for massive image data sets where manual selection of landmarks or image subsets by a user is impractical. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Method of image segmentation using a neural network. Application to MR imaging of brain tumors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engler, E.; Gautherie, M.

1992-01-01

An original method of numerical images segmentation has been developed. This method is based on pixel clustering using a formal neural network configurated by supervised learning of pre-classified examples. The method has been applied to series of MR images of brain tumors (gliomas) with a view to proceed with a 3D-extraction of the tumor volume. This study is part of a project on cancer thermotherapy including the development of a scan-focused ultrasound system of tumor heating and a 3D-numerical thermal model

The Dynamic Photometric Stereo Method Using a Multi-Tap CMOS Image Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoda, Takuya; Nagahara, Hajime; Taniguchi, Rin-Ichiro; Kagawa, Keiichiro; Yasutomi, Keita; Kawahito, Shoji

2018-03-05

The photometric stereo method enables estimation of surface normals from images that have been captured using different but known lighting directions. The classical photometric stereo method requires at least three images to determine the normals in a given scene. However, this method cannot be applied to dynamic scenes because it is assumed that the scene remains static while the required images are captured. In this work, we present a dynamic photometric stereo method for estimation of the surface normals in a dynamic scene. We use a multi-tap complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to capture the input images required for the proposed photometric stereo method. This image sensor can divide the electrons from the photodiode from a single pixel into the different taps of the exposures and can thus capture multiple images under different lighting conditions with almost identical timing. We implemented a camera lighting system and created a software application to enable estimation of the normal map in real time. We also evaluated the accuracy of the estimated surface normals and demonstrated that our proposed method can estimate the surface normals of dynamic scenes.

Quantitative Analysis of Range Image Patches by NEB Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Wen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we analyze sampled high dimensional data with the NEB method from a range image database. Select a large random sample of log-valued, high contrast, normalized, 8×8 range image patches from the Brown database. We make a density estimator and we establish 1-dimensional cell complexes from the range image patch data. We find topological properties of 8×8 range image patches, prove that there exist two types of subsets of 8×8 range image patches modelled as a circle.

[11C]NS8880, a promising PET radiotracer targeting the norepinephrine transporter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vase, Karina Højrup; Peters, Dan; Nielsen, Elsebeth Ø

2014-01-01

-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octane (NS8880), targeting NET. NS8880 has an in vitro binding profile comparable to desipramine and is structurally not related to reboxetine. METHODS: Labeling of NS8880 with [11C] was achieved by a non-conventional technique: substitution of pyridinyl fluorine with [11C]methanolate...... yields with high purity. The PET in vivo evaluation in pig and rat revealed a rapid brain uptake of [11C]NS8880 and fast obtaining of equilibrium. Highest binding was observed in thalamic and hypothalamic regions. Pretreatment with desipramine efficiently reduced binding of [11C]NS8880. CONCLUSION: Based...... on the pre-clinical results obtained so far [11C]NS8880 displays promising properties for PET imaging of NET....

The best printing methods to print satellite images

OpenAIRE

G.A. Yousif; R.Sh. Mohamed

2011-01-01

Printing systems operate in general as a system of color its color scale is limited as compared with the system color satellite images. Satellite image is building from very small cell named pixel, which represents the picture element and the unity of color when the image is displayed on the screen, this unit becomes lesser in size and called screen point. This unit posseses different size and shape from the method of printing to another, depending on the output resolution, tools and material...

An Efficient Evolutionary Based Method For Image Segmentation

OpenAIRE

Aslanzadeh, Roohollah; Qazanfari, Kazem; Rahmati, Mohammad

2017-01-01

The goal of this paper is to present a new efficient image segmentation method based on evolutionary computation which is a model inspired from human behavior. Based on this model, a four layer process for image segmentation is proposed using the split/merge approach. In the first layer, an image is split into numerous regions using the watershed algorithm. In the second layer, a co-evolutionary process is applied to form centers of finals segments by merging similar primary regions. In the t...

A review on brightness preserving contrast enhancement methods for digital image

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Md Arifur; Liu, Shilong; Li, Ruowei; Wu, Hongkun; Liu, San Chi; Jahan, Mahmuda Rawnak; Kwok, Ngaiming

2018-04-01

Image enhancement is an imperative step for many vision based applications. For image contrast enhancement, popular methods adopt the principle of spreading the captured intensities throughout the allowed dynamic range according to predefined distributions. However, these algorithms take little or no consideration into account of maintaining the mean brightness of the original scene, which is of paramount importance to carry the true scene illumination characteristics to the viewer. Though there have been significant amount of reviews on contrast enhancement methods published, updated review on overall brightness preserving image enhancement methods is still scarce. In this paper, a detailed survey is performed on those particular methods that specifically aims to maintain the overall scene illumination characteristics while enhancing the digital image.

Anatomical image-guided fluorescence molecular tomography reconstruction using kernel method

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Baikejiang, Reheman; Zhao, Yue; Fite, Brett Z.; Ferrara, Katherine W.; Li, Changqing

2017-01-01

Abstract. Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) is an important in vivo imaging modality to visualize physiological and pathological processes in small animals. However, FMT reconstruction is ill-posed and ill-conditioned due to strong optical scattering in deep tissues, which results in poor spatial resolution. It is well known that FMT image quality can be improved substantially by applying the structural guidance in the FMT reconstruction. An approach to introducing anatomical information into the FMT reconstruction is presented using the kernel method. In contrast to conventional methods that incorporate anatomical information with a Laplacian-type regularization matrix, the proposed method introduces the anatomical guidance into the projection model of FMT. The primary advantage of the proposed method is that it does not require segmentation of targets in the anatomical images. Numerical simulations and phantom experiments have been performed to demonstrate the proposed approach’s feasibility. Numerical simulation results indicate that the proposed kernel method can separate two FMT targets with an edge-to-edge distance of 1 mm and is robust to false-positive guidance and inhomogeneity in the anatomical image. For the phantom experiments with two FMT targets, the kernel method has reconstructed both targets successfully, which further validates the proposed kernel method. PMID:28464120

Nanostructures based on quantum dots for application in promising methods of single- and multiphoton imaging and diagnostics

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