Prostate multimodality image registration based on B-splines and quadrature local energy.

PubMed

Mitra, Jhimli; Martí, Robert; Oliver, Arnau; Lladó, Xavier; Ghose, Soumya; Vilanova, Joan C; Meriaudeau, Fabrice

2012-05-01

Needle biopsy of the prostate is guided by Transrectal Ultrasound (TRUS) imaging. The TRUS images do not provide proper spatial localization of malignant tissues due to the poor sensitivity of TRUS to visualize early malignancy. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been shown to be sensitive for the detection of early stage malignancy, and therefore, a novel 2D deformable registration method that overlays pre-biopsy MRI onto TRUS images has been proposed. The registration method involves B-spline deformations with Normalized Mutual Information (NMI) as the similarity measure computed from the texture images obtained from the amplitude responses of the directional quadrature filter pairs. Registration accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated by computing the Dice Similarity coefficient (DSC) and 95% Hausdorff Distance (HD) values for 20 patients prostate mid-gland slices and Target Registration Error (TRE) for 18 patients only where homologous structures are visible in both the TRUS and transformed MR images. The proposed method and B-splines using NMI computed from intensities provide average TRE values of 2.64 ± 1.37 and 4.43 ± 2.77 mm respectively. Our method shows statistically significant improvement in TRE when compared with B-spline using NMI computed from intensities with Student's t test p = 0.02. The proposed method shows 1.18 times improvement over thin-plate splines registration with average TRE of 3.11 ± 2.18 mm. The mean DSC and the mean 95% HD values obtained with the proposed method of B-spline with NMI computed from texture are 0.943 ± 0.039 and 4.75 ± 2.40 mm respectively. The texture energy computed from the quadrature filter pairs provides better registration accuracy for multimodal images than raw intensities. Low TRE values of the proposed registration method add to the feasibility of it being used during TRUS-guided biopsy.

Robust non-rigid registration algorithm based on local affine registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Liyang; Xiong, Lei; Du, Shaoyi; Bi, Duyan; Fang, Ting; Liu, Kun; Wu, Dongpeng

2018-04-01

Aiming at the problem that the traditional point set non-rigid registration algorithm has low precision and slow convergence speed for complex local deformation data, this paper proposes a robust non-rigid registration algorithm based on local affine registration. The algorithm uses a hierarchical iterative method to complete the point set non-rigid registration from coarse to fine. In each iteration, the sub data point sets and sub model point sets are divided and the shape control points of each sub point set are updated. Then we use the control point guided affine ICP algorithm to solve the local affine transformation between the corresponding sub point sets. Next, the local affine transformation obtained by the previous step is used to update the sub data point sets and their shape control point sets. When the algorithm reaches the maximum iteration layer K, the loop ends and outputs the updated sub data point sets. Experimental results demonstrate that the accuracy and convergence of our algorithm are greatly improved compared with the traditional point set non-rigid registration algorithms.

Multimodality Non-Rigid Image Registration for Planning, Targeting and Monitoring during CT-guided Percutaneous Liver Tumor Cryoablation

PubMed Central

Elhawary, Haytham; Oguro, Sota; Tuncali, Kemal; Morrison, Paul R.; Tatli, Servet; Shyn, Paul B.; Silverman, Stuart G.; Hata, Nobuhiko

2010-01-01

Rationale and Objectives To develop non-rigid image registration between pre-procedure contrast enhanced MR images and intra-procedure unenhanced CT images, to enhance tumor visualization and localization during CT-guided liver tumor cryoablation procedures. Materials and Methods After IRB approval, a non-rigid registration (NRR) technique was evaluated with different pre-processing steps and algorithm parameters and compared to a standard rigid registration (RR) approach. The Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC), Target Registration Error (TRE), 95% Hausdorff distance (HD) and total registration time (minutes) were compared using a two-sided Student’s t-test. The entire registration method was then applied during five CT-guided liver cryoablation cases with the intra-procedural CT data transmitted directly from the CT scanner, with both accuracy and registration time evaluated. Results Selected optimal parameters for registration were section thickness of 5mm, cropping the field of view to 66% of its original size, manual segmentation of the liver, B-spline control grid of 5×5×5 and spatial sampling of 50,000 pixels. Mean 95% HD of 3.3mm (2.5x improvement compared to RR, p<0.05); mean DSC metric of 0.97 (13% increase); and mean TRE of 4.1mm (2.7x reduction) were measured. During the cryoablation procedure registration between the pre-procedure MR and the planning intra-procedure CT took a mean time of 10.6 minutes, the MR to targeting CT image took 4 minutes and MR to monitoring CT took 4.3 minutes. Mean registration accuracy was under 3.4mm. Conclusion Non-rigid registration allowed improved visualization of the tumor during interventional planning, targeting and evaluation of tumor coverage by the ice ball. Future work is focused on reducing segmentation time to make the method more clinically acceptable. PMID:20817574

Non-rigid image registration using graph-cuts.

PubMed

Tang, Tommy W H; Chung, Albert C S

2007-01-01

Non-rigid image registration is an ill-posed yet challenging problem due to its supernormal high degree of freedoms and inherent requirement of smoothness. Graph-cuts method is a powerful combinatorial optimization tool which has been successfully applied into image segmentation and stereo matching. Under some specific constraints, graph-cuts method yields either a global minimum or a local minimum in a strong sense. Thus, it is interesting to see the effects of using graph-cuts in non-rigid image registration. In this paper, we formulate non-rigid image registration as a discrete labeling problem. Each pixel in the source image is assigned a displacement label (which is a vector) indicating which position in the floating image it is spatially corresponding to. A smoothness constraint based on first derivative is used to penalize sharp changes in displacement labels across pixels. The whole system can be optimized by using the graph-cuts method via alpha-expansions. We compare 2D and 3D registration results of our method with two state-of-the-art approaches. It is found that our method is more robust to different challenging non-rigid registration cases with higher registration accuracy.

Digital Correction of Motion Artifacts in Microscopy Image Sequences Collected from Living Animals Using Rigid and Non-Rigid Registration

PubMed Central

Lorenz, Kevin S.; Salama, Paul; Dunn, Kenneth W.; Delp, Edward J.

2013-01-01

Digital image analysis is a fundamental component of quantitative microscopy. However, intravital microscopy presents many challenges for digital image analysis. In general, microscopy volumes are inherently anisotropic, suffer from decreasing contrast with tissue depth, lack object edge detail, and characteristically have low signal levels. Intravital microscopy introduces the additional problem of motion artifacts, resulting from respiratory motion and heartbeat from specimens imaged in vivo. This paper describes an image registration technique for use with sequences of intravital microscopy images collected in time-series or in 3D volumes. Our registration method involves both rigid and non-rigid components. The rigid registration component corrects global image translations, while the non-rigid component manipulates a uniform grid of control points defined by B-splines. Each control point is optimized by minimizing a cost function consisting of two parts: a term to define image similarity, and a term to ensure deformation grid smoothness. Experimental results indicate that this approach is promising based on the analysis of several image volumes collected from the kidney, lung, and salivary gland of living rodents. PMID:22092443

Three-dimensional nonrigid landmark-based magnetic resonance to transrectal ultrasound registration for image-guided prostate biopsy.

PubMed

Sun, Yue; Qiu, Wu; Yuan, Jing; Romagnoli, Cesare; Fenster, Aaron

2015-04-01

Registration of three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic resonance (MR) to 3-D transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) prostate images is an important step in the planning and guidance of 3-D TRUS guided prostate biopsy. In order to accurately and efficiently perform the registration, a nonrigid landmark-based registration method is required to account for the different deformations of the prostate when using these two modalities. We describe a nonrigid landmark-based method for registration of 3-D TRUS to MR prostate images. The landmark-based registration method first makes use of an initial rigid registration of 3-D MR to 3-D TRUS images using six manually placed approximately corresponding landmarks in each image. Following manual initialization, the two prostate surfaces are segmented from 3-D MR and TRUS images and then nonrigidly registered using the following steps: (1) rotationally reslicing corresponding segmented prostate surfaces from both 3-D MR and TRUS images around a specified axis, (2) an approach to find point correspondences on the surfaces of the segmented surfaces, and (3) deformation of the surface of the prostate in the MR image to match the surface of the prostate in the 3-D TRUS image and the interior using a thin-plate spline algorithm. The registration accuracy was evaluated using 17 patient prostate MR and 3-D TRUS images by measuring the target registration error (TRE). Experimental results showed that the proposed method yielded an overall mean TRE of [Formula: see text] for the rigid registration and [Formula: see text] for the nonrigid registration, which is favorably comparable to a clinical requirement for an error of less than 2.5 mm. A landmark-based nonrigid 3-D MR-TRUS registration approach is proposed, which takes into account the correspondences on the prostate surface, inside the prostate, as well as the centroid of the prostate. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method yields clinically sufficient accuracy.

A spline-based non-linear diffeomorphism for multimodal prostate registration.

PubMed

Mitra, Jhimli; Kato, Zoltan; Martí, Robert; Oliver, Arnau; Lladó, Xavier; Sidibé, Désiré; Ghose, Soumya; Vilanova, Joan C; Comet, Josep; Meriaudeau, Fabrice

2012-08-01

This paper presents a novel method for non-rigid registration of transrectal ultrasound and magnetic resonance prostate images based on a non-linear regularized framework of point correspondences obtained from a statistical measure of shape-contexts. The segmented prostate shapes are represented by shape-contexts and the Bhattacharyya distance between the shape representations is used to find the point correspondences between the 2D fixed and moving images. The registration method involves parametric estimation of the non-linear diffeomorphism between the multimodal images and has its basis in solving a set of non-linear equations of thin-plate splines. The solution is obtained as the least-squares solution of an over-determined system of non-linear equations constructed by integrating a set of non-linear functions over the fixed and moving images. However, this may not result in clinically acceptable transformations of the anatomical targets. Therefore, the regularized bending energy of the thin-plate splines along with the localization error of established correspondences should be included in the system of equations. The registration accuracies of the proposed method are evaluated in 20 pairs of prostate mid-gland ultrasound and magnetic resonance images. The results obtained in terms of Dice similarity coefficient show an average of 0.980±0.004, average 95% Hausdorff distance of 1.63±0.48 mm and mean target registration and target localization errors of 1.60±1.17 mm and 0.15±0.12 mm respectively. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel scheme for automatic nonrigid image registration using deformation invariant feature and geometric constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Zhipeng; Lei, Lin; Zhou, Shilin

2015-10-01

Automatic image registration is a vital yet challenging task, particularly for non-rigid deformation images which are more complicated and common in remote sensing images, such as distorted UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) images or scanning imaging images caused by flutter. Traditional non-rigid image registration methods are based on the correctly matched corresponding landmarks, which usually needs artificial markers. It is a rather challenging task to locate the accurate position of the points and get accurate homonymy point sets. In this paper, we proposed an automatic non-rigid image registration algorithm which mainly consists of three steps: To begin with, we introduce an automatic feature point extraction method based on non-linear scale space and uniform distribution strategy to extract the points which are uniform distributed along the edge of the image. Next, we propose a hybrid point matching algorithm using DaLI (Deformation and Light Invariant) descriptor and local affine invariant geometric constraint based on triangulation which is constructed by K-nearest neighbor algorithm. Based on the accurate homonymy point sets, the two images are registrated by the model of TPS (Thin Plate Spline). Our method is demonstrated by three deliberately designed experiments. The first two experiments are designed to evaluate the distribution of point set and the correctly matching rate on synthetic data and real data respectively. The last experiment is designed on the non-rigid deformation remote sensing images and the three experimental results demonstrate the accuracy, robustness, and efficiency of the proposed algorithm compared with other traditional methods.

Automatic motion correction for in vivo human skin optical coherence tomography angiography through combined rigid and nonrigid registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, David Wei; Deegan, Anthony J.; Wang, Ruikang K.

2017-06-01

When using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), the development of artifacts due to involuntary movements can severely compromise the visualization and subsequent quantitation of tissue microvasculatures. To correct such an occurrence, we propose a motion compensation method to eliminate artifacts from human skin OCTA by means of step-by-step rigid affine registration, rigid subpixel registration, and nonrigid B-spline registration. To accommodate this remedial process, OCTA is conducted using two matching all-depth volume scans. Affine transformation is first performed on the large vessels of the deep reticular dermis, and then the resulting affine parameters are applied to all-depth vasculatures with a further subpixel registration to refine the alignment between superficial smaller vessels. Finally, the coregistration of both volumes is carried out to result in the final artifact-free composite image via an algorithm based upon cubic B-spline free-form deformation. We demonstrate that the proposed method can provide a considerable improvement to the final en face OCTA images with substantial artifact removal. In addition, the correlation coefficients and peak signal-to-noise ratios of the corrected images are evaluated and compared with those of the original images, further validating the effectiveness of the proposed method. We expect that the proposed method can be useful in improving qualitative and quantitative assessment of the OCTA images of scanned tissue beds.

Automatic motion correction for in vivo human skin optical coherence tomography angiography through combined rigid and nonrigid registration.

PubMed

Wei, David Wei; Deegan, Anthony J; Wang, Ruikang K

2017-06-01

When using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), the development of artifacts due to involuntary movements can severely compromise the visualization and subsequent quantitation of tissue microvasculatures. To correct such an occurrence, we propose a motion compensation method to eliminate artifacts from human skin OCTA by means of step-by-step rigid affine registration, rigid subpixel registration, and nonrigid B-spline registration. To accommodate this remedial process, OCTA is conducted using two matching all-depth volume scans. Affine transformation is first performed on the large vessels of the deep reticular dermis, and then the resulting affine parameters are applied to all-depth vasculatures with a further subpixel registration to refine the alignment between superficial smaller vessels. Finally, the coregistration of both volumes is carried out to result in the final artifact-free composite image via an algorithm based upon cubic B-spline free-form deformation. We demonstrate that the proposed method can provide a considerable improvement to the final en face OCTA images with substantial artifact removal. In addition, the correlation coefficients and peak signal-to-noise ratios of the corrected images are evaluated and compared with those of the original images, further validating the effectiveness of the proposed method. We expect that the proposed method can be useful in improving qualitative and quantitative assessment of the OCTA images of scanned tissue beds.

Estimating nonrigid motion from inconsistent intensity with robust shape features

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Wenyang; Ruan, Dan, E-mail: druan@mednet.ucla.edu; Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095

2013-12-15

Purpose: To develop a nonrigid motion estimation method that is robust to heterogeneous intensity inconsistencies amongst the image pairs or image sequence. Methods: Intensity and contrast variations, as in dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, present a considerable challenge to registration methods based on general discrepancy metrics. In this study, the authors propose and validate a novel method that is robust to such variations by utilizing shape features. The geometry of interest (GOI) is represented with a flexible zero level set, segmented via well-behaved regularized optimization. The optimization energy drives the zero level set to high image gradient regions, andmore » regularizes it with area and curvature priors. The resulting shape exhibits high consistency even in the presence of intensity or contrast variations. Subsequently, a multiscale nonrigid registration is performed to seek a regular deformation field that minimizes shape discrepancy in the vicinity of GOIs. Results: To establish the working principle, realistic 2D and 3D images were subject to simulated nonrigid motion and synthetic intensity variations, so as to enable quantitative evaluation of registration performance. The proposed method was benchmarked against three alternative registration approaches, specifically, optical flow, B-spline based mutual information, and multimodality demons. When intensity consistency was satisfied, all methods had comparable registration accuracy for the GOIs. When intensities among registration pairs were inconsistent, however, the proposed method yielded pronounced improvement in registration accuracy, with an approximate fivefold reduction in mean absolute error (MAE = 2.25 mm, SD = 0.98 mm), compared to optical flow (MAE = 9.23 mm, SD = 5.36 mm), B-spline based mutual information (MAE = 9.57 mm, SD = 8.74 mm) and mutimodality demons (MAE = 10.07 mm, SD = 4.03 mm). Applying the proposed method on a real MR image sequence also

Estimating nonrigid motion from inconsistent intensity with robust shape features.

PubMed

Liu, Wenyang; Ruan, Dan

2013-12-01

To develop a nonrigid motion estimation method that is robust to heterogeneous intensity inconsistencies amongst the image pairs or image sequence. Intensity and contrast variations, as in dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, present a considerable challenge to registration methods based on general discrepancy metrics. In this study, the authors propose and validate a novel method that is robust to such variations by utilizing shape features. The geometry of interest (GOI) is represented with a flexible zero level set, segmented via well-behaved regularized optimization. The optimization energy drives the zero level set to high image gradient regions, and regularizes it with area and curvature priors. The resulting shape exhibits high consistency even in the presence of intensity or contrast variations. Subsequently, a multiscale nonrigid registration is performed to seek a regular deformation field that minimizes shape discrepancy in the vicinity of GOIs. To establish the working principle, realistic 2D and 3D images were subject to simulated nonrigid motion and synthetic intensity variations, so as to enable quantitative evaluation of registration performance. The proposed method was benchmarked against three alternative registration approaches, specifically, optical flow, B-spline based mutual information, and multimodality demons. When intensity consistency was satisfied, all methods had comparable registration accuracy for the GOIs. When intensities among registration pairs were inconsistent, however, the proposed method yielded pronounced improvement in registration accuracy, with an approximate fivefold reduction in mean absolute error (MAE = 2.25 mm, SD = 0.98 mm), compared to optical flow (MAE = 9.23 mm, SD = 5.36 mm), B-spline based mutual information (MAE = 9.57 mm, SD = 8.74 mm) and mutimodality demons (MAE = 10.07 mm, SD = 4.03 mm). Applying the proposed method on a real MR image sequence also provided qualitatively appealing results

Image Quality Improvement in Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy Assisted Capillary Visualization Using B-spline-based Elastic Image Registration

PubMed Central

Uji, Akihito; Ooto, Sotaro; Hangai, Masanori; Arichika, Shigeta; Yoshimura, Nagahisa

2013-01-01

Purpose To investigate the effect of B-spline-based elastic image registration on adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO)-assisted capillary visualization. Methods AO-SLO videos were acquired from parafoveal areas in the eyes of healthy subjects and patients with various diseases. After nonlinear image registration, the image quality of capillary images constructed from AO-SLO videos using motion contrast enhancement was compared before and after B-spline-based elastic (nonlinear) image registration performed using ImageJ. For objective comparison of image quality, contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRS) for vessel images were calculated. For subjective comparison, experienced ophthalmologists ranked images on a 5-point scale. Results All AO-SLO videos were successfully stabilized by elastic image registration. CNR was significantly higher in capillary images stabilized by elastic image registration than in those stabilized without registration. The average ratio of CNR in images with elastic image registration to CNR in images without elastic image registration was 2.10 ± 1.73, with no significant difference in the ratio between patients and healthy subjects. Improvement of image quality was also supported by expert comparison. Conclusions Use of B-spline-based elastic image registration in AO-SLO-assisted capillary visualization was effective for enhancing image quality both objectively and subjectively. PMID:24265796

Computing global minimizers to a constrained B-spline image registration problem from optimal l1 perturbations to block match data

PubMed Central

Castillo, Edward; Castillo, Richard; Fuentes, David; Guerrero, Thomas

2014-01-01

Purpose: Block matching is a well-known strategy for estimating corresponding voxel locations between a pair of images according to an image similarity metric. Though robust to issues such as image noise and large magnitude voxel displacements, the estimated point matches are not guaranteed to be spatially accurate. However, the underlying optimization problem solved by the block matching procedure is similar in structure to the class of optimization problem associated with B-spline based registration methods. By exploiting this relationship, the authors derive a numerical method for computing a global minimizer to a constrained B-spline registration problem that incorporates the robustness of block matching with the global smoothness properties inherent to B-spline parameterization. Methods: The method reformulates the traditional B-spline registration problem as a basis pursuit problem describing the minimal l1-perturbation to block match pairs required to produce a B-spline fitting error within a given tolerance. The sparsity pattern of the optimal perturbation then defines a voxel point cloud subset on which the B-spline fit is a global minimizer to a constrained variant of the B-spline registration problem. As opposed to traditional B-spline algorithms, the optimization step involving the actual image data is addressed by block matching. Results: The performance of the method is measured in terms of spatial accuracy using ten inhale/exhale thoracic CT image pairs (available for download at www.dir-lab.com) obtained from the COPDgene dataset and corresponding sets of expert-determined landmark point pairs. The results of the validation procedure demonstrate that the method can achieve a high spatial accuracy on a significantly complex image set. Conclusions: The proposed methodology is demonstrated to achieve a high spatial accuracy and is generalizable in that in can employ any displacement field parameterization described as a least squares fit to block match

3D craniofacial registration using thin-plate spline transform and cylindrical surface projection

PubMed Central

Chen, Yucong; Deng, Qingqiong; Duan, Fuqing

2017-01-01

Craniofacial registration is used to establish the point-to-point correspondence in a unified coordinate system among human craniofacial models. It is the foundation of craniofacial reconstruction and other craniofacial statistical analysis research. In this paper, a non-rigid 3D craniofacial registration method using thin-plate spline transform and cylindrical surface projection is proposed. First, the gradient descent optimization is utilized to improve a cylindrical surface fitting (CSF) for the reference craniofacial model. Second, the thin-plate spline transform (TPST) is applied to deform a target craniofacial model to the reference model. Finally, the cylindrical surface projection (CSP) is used to derive the point correspondence between the reference and deformed target models. To accelerate the procedure, the iterative closest point ICP algorithm is used to obtain a rough correspondence, which can provide a possible intersection area of the CSP. Finally, the inverse TPST is used to map the obtained corresponding points from the deformed target craniofacial model to the original model, and it can be realized directly by the correspondence between the original target model and the deformed target model. Three types of registration, namely, reflexive, involutive and transitive registration, are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed craniofacial registration algorithm. Comparison with the methods in the literature shows that the proposed method is more accurate. PMID:28982117

3D craniofacial registration using thin-plate spline transform and cylindrical surface projection.

PubMed

Chen, Yucong; Zhao, Junli; Deng, Qingqiong; Duan, Fuqing

2017-01-01

Craniofacial registration is used to establish the point-to-point correspondence in a unified coordinate system among human craniofacial models. It is the foundation of craniofacial reconstruction and other craniofacial statistical analysis research. In this paper, a non-rigid 3D craniofacial registration method using thin-plate spline transform and cylindrical surface projection is proposed. First, the gradient descent optimization is utilized to improve a cylindrical surface fitting (CSF) for the reference craniofacial model. Second, the thin-plate spline transform (TPST) is applied to deform a target craniofacial model to the reference model. Finally, the cylindrical surface projection (CSP) is used to derive the point correspondence between the reference and deformed target models. To accelerate the procedure, the iterative closest point ICP algorithm is used to obtain a rough correspondence, which can provide a possible intersection area of the CSP. Finally, the inverse TPST is used to map the obtained corresponding points from the deformed target craniofacial model to the original model, and it can be realized directly by the correspondence between the original target model and the deformed target model. Three types of registration, namely, reflexive, involutive and transitive registration, are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed craniofacial registration algorithm. Comparison with the methods in the literature shows that the proposed method is more accurate.

3D nonrigid registration via optimal mass transport on the GPU.

PubMed

Ur Rehman, Tauseef; Haber, Eldad; Pryor, Gallagher; Melonakos, John; Tannenbaum, Allen

2009-12-01

In this paper, we present a new computationally efficient numerical scheme for the minimizing flow approach for optimal mass transport (OMT) with applications to non-rigid 3D image registration. The approach utilizes all of the gray-scale data in both images, and the optimal mapping from image A to image B is the inverse of the optimal mapping from B to A. Further, no landmarks need to be specified, and the minimizer of the distance functional involved is unique. Our implementation also employs multigrid, and parallel methodologies on a consumer graphics processing unit (GPU) for fast computation. Although computing the optimal map has been shown to be computationally expensive in the past, we show that our approach is orders of magnitude faster then previous work and is capable of finding transport maps with optimality measures (mean curl) previously unattainable by other works (which directly influences the accuracy of registration). We give results where the algorithm was used to compute non-rigid registrations of 3D synthetic data as well as intra-patient pre-operative and post-operative 3D brain MRI datasets.

Nonrigid motion compensation in B-mode and contrast enhanced ultrasound image sequences of the carotid artery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carvalho, Diego D. B.; Akkus, Zeynettin; Bosch, Johan G.; van den Oord, Stijn C. H.; Niessen, Wiro J.; Klein, Stefan

2014-03-01

In this work, we investigate nonrigid motion compensation in simultaneously acquired (side-by-side) B-mode ultrasound (BMUS) and contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) image sequences of the carotid artery. These images are acquired to study the presence of intraplaque neovascularization (IPN), which is a marker of plaque vulnerability. IPN quantification is visualized by performing the maximum intensity projection (MIP) on the CEUS image sequence over time. As carotid images contain considerable motion, accurate global nonrigid motion compensation (GNMC) is required prior to the MIP. Moreover, we demonstrate that an improved lumen and plaque differentiation can be obtained by averaging the motion compensated BMUS images over time. We propose to use a previously published 2D+t nonrigid registration method, which is based on minimization of pixel intensity variance over time, using a spatially and temporally smooth B-spline deformation model. The validation compares displacements of plaque points with manual trackings by 3 experts in 11 carotids. The average (+/- standard deviation) root mean square error (RMSE) was 99+/-74μm for longitudinal and 47+/-18μm for radial displacements. These results were comparable with the interobserver variability, and with results of a local rigid registration technique based on speckle tracking, which estimates motion in a single point, whereas our approach applies motion compensation to the entire image. In conclusion, we evaluated that the GNMC technique produces reliable results. Since this technique tracks global deformations, it can aid in the quantification of IPN and the delineation of lumen and plaque contours.

Learning intervention-induced deformations for non-rigid MR-CT registration and electrode localization in epilepsy patients

PubMed Central

Onofrey, John A.; Staib, Lawrence H.; Papademetris, Xenophon

2015-01-01

This paper describes a framework for learning a statistical model of non-rigid deformations induced by interventional procedures. We make use of this learned model to perform constrained non-rigid registration of pre-procedural and post-procedural imaging. We demonstrate results applying this framework to non-rigidly register post-surgical computed tomography (CT) brain images to pre-surgical magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of epilepsy patients who had intra-cranial electroencephalography electrodes surgically implanted. Deformations caused by this surgical procedure, imaging artifacts caused by the electrodes, and the use of multi-modal imaging data make non-rigid registration challenging. Our results show that the use of our proposed framework to constrain the non-rigid registration process results in significantly improved and more robust registration performance compared to using standard rigid and non-rigid registration methods. PMID:26900569

Non-rigid multi-frame registration of cell nuclei in live cell fluorescence microscopy image data.

PubMed

Tektonidis, Marco; Kim, Il-Han; Chen, Yi-Chun M; Eils, Roland; Spector, David L; Rohr, Karl

2015-01-01

The analysis of the motion of subcellular particles in live cell microscopy images is essential for understanding biological processes within cells. For accurate quantification of the particle motion, compensation of the motion and deformation of the cell nucleus is required. We introduce a non-rigid multi-frame registration approach for live cell fluorescence microscopy image data. Compared to existing approaches using pairwise registration, our approach exploits information from multiple consecutive images simultaneously to improve the registration accuracy. We present three intensity-based variants of the multi-frame registration approach and we investigate two different temporal weighting schemes. The approach has been successfully applied to synthetic and live cell microscopy image sequences, and an experimental comparison with non-rigid pairwise registration has been carried out. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonrigid registration of carotid ultrasound and MR images using a "twisting and bending" model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nanayakkara, Nuwan D.; Chiu, Bernard; Samani, Abbas; Spence, J. David; Parraga, Grace; Samarabandu, Jagath; Fenster, Aaron

2008-03-01

Atherosclerosis at the carotid bifurcation resulting in cerebral emboli is a major cause of ischemic stroke. Most strokes associated with carotid atherosclerosis can be prevented by lifestyle/dietary changes and pharmacological treatments if identified early by monitoring carotid plaque changes. Plaque composition information from magnetic resonance (MR) carotid images and dynamic characteristics information from 3D ultrasound (US) are necessary for developing and validating US imaging tools to identify vulnerable carotid plaques. Combining these images requires nonrigid registration to correct the non-linear miss-alignments caused by relative twisting and bending in the neck due to different head positions during the two image acquisitions sessions. The high degree of freedom and large number of parameters associated with existing nonrigid image registration methods causes several problems including unnatural plaque morphology alteration, computational complexity, and low reliability. Our approach was to model the normal movement of the neck using a "twisting and bending model" with only six parameters for nonrigid registration. We evaluated our registration technique using intra-subject in-vivo 3D US and 3D MR carotid images acquired on the same day. We calculated the Mean Registration Error (MRE) between the segmented vessel surfaces in the target image and the registered image using a distance-based error metric after applying our "twisting bending model" based nonrigid registration algorithm. We achieved an average registration error of 1.33+/-0.41mm using our nonrigid registration technique. Visual inspection of segmented vessel surfaces also showed a substantial improvement of alignment with our non-rigid registration technique.

WHOLE BODY NONRIGID CT-PET REGISTRATION USING WEIGHTED DEMONS.

PubMed

Suh, J W; Kwon, Oh-K; Scheinost, D; Sinusas, A J; Cline, Gary W; Papademetris, X

2011-03-30

We present a new registration method for whole-body rat computed tomography (CT) image and positron emission tomography (PET) images using a weighted demons algorithm. The CT and PET images are acquired in separate scanners at different times and the inherent differences in the imaging protocols produced significant nonrigid changes between the two acquisitions in addition to heterogeneous image characteristics. In this situation, we utilized both the transmission-PET and the emission-PET images in the deformable registration process emphasizing particular regions of the moving transmission-PET image using the emission-PET image. We validated our results with nine rat image sets using M-Hausdorff distance similarity measure. We demonstrate improved performance compared to standard methods such as Demons and normalized mutual information-based non-rigid FFD registration.

Directly manipulated free-form deformation image registration.

PubMed

Tustison, Nicholas J; Avants, Brian B; Gee, James C

2009-03-01

Previous contributions to both the research and open source software communities detailed a generalization of a fast scalar field fitting technique for cubic B-splines based on the work originally proposed by Lee . One advantage of our proposed generalized B-spline fitting approach is its immediate application to a class of nonrigid registration techniques frequently employed in medical image analysis. Specifically, these registration techniques fall under the rubric of free-form deformation (FFD) approaches in which the object to be registered is embedded within a B-spline object. The deformation of the B-spline object describes the transformation of the image registration solution. Representative of this class of techniques, and often cited within the relevant community, is the formulation of Rueckert who employed cubic splines with normalized mutual information to study breast deformation. Similar techniques from various groups provided incremental novelty in the form of disparate explicit regularization terms, as well as the employment of various image metrics and tailored optimization methods. For several algorithms, the underlying gradient-based optimization retained the essential characteristics of Rueckert's original contribution. The contribution which we provide in this paper is two-fold: 1) the observation that the generic FFD framework is intrinsically susceptible to problematic energy topographies and 2) that the standard gradient used in FFD image registration can be modified to a well-understood preconditioned form which substantially improves performance. This is demonstrated with theoretical discussion and comparative evaluation experimentation.

Non-rigid registration between 3D ultrasound and CT images of the liver based on intensity and gradient information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Duhgoon; Nam, Woo Hyun; Lee, Jae Young; Ra, Jong Beom

2011-01-01

In order to utilize both ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) images of the liver concurrently for medical applications such as diagnosis and image-guided intervention, non-rigid registration between these two types of images is an essential step, as local deformation between US and CT images exists due to the different respiratory phases involved and due to the probe pressure that occurs in US imaging. This paper introduces a voxel-based non-rigid registration algorithm between the 3D B-mode US and CT images of the liver. In the proposed algorithm, to improve the registration accuracy, we utilize the surface information of the liver and gallbladder in addition to the information of the vessels inside the liver. For an effective correlation between US and CT images, we treat those anatomical regions separately according to their characteristics in US and CT images. Based on a novel objective function using a 3D joint histogram of the intensity and gradient information, vessel-based non-rigid registration is followed by surface-based non-rigid registration in sequence, which improves the registration accuracy. The proposed algorithm is tested for ten clinical datasets and quantitative evaluations are conducted. Experimental results show that the registration error between anatomical features of US and CT images is less than 2 mm on average, even with local deformation due to different respiratory phases and probe pressure. In addition, the lesion registration error is less than 3 mm on average with a maximum of 4.5 mm that is considered acceptable for clinical applications.

Consistency-based rectification of nonrigid registrations

PubMed Central

Gass, Tobias; Székely, Gábor; Goksel, Orcun

2015-01-01

Abstract. We present a technique to rectify nonrigid registrations by improving their group-wise consistency, which is a widely used unsupervised measure to assess pair-wise registration quality. While pair-wise registration methods cannot guarantee any group-wise consistency, group-wise approaches typically enforce perfect consistency by registering all images to a common reference. However, errors in individual registrations to the reference then propagate, distorting the mean and accumulating in the pair-wise registrations inferred via the reference. Furthermore, the assumption that perfect correspondences exist is not always true, e.g., for interpatient registration. The proposed consistency-based registration rectification (CBRR) method addresses these issues by minimizing the group-wise inconsistency of all pair-wise registrations using a regularized least-squares algorithm. The regularization controls the adherence to the original registration, which is additionally weighted by the local postregistration similarity. This allows CBRR to adaptively improve consistency while locally preserving accurate pair-wise registrations. We show that the resulting registrations are not only more consistent, but also have lower average transformation error when compared to known transformations in simulated data. On clinical data, we show improvements of up to 50% target registration error in breathing motion estimation from four-dimensional MRI and improvements in atlas-based segmentation quality of up to 65% in terms of mean surface distance in three-dimensional (3-D) CT. Such improvement was observed consistently using different registration algorithms, dimensionality (two-dimensional/3-D), and modalities (MRI/CT). PMID:26158083

Non-rigid point set registration of curves: registration of the superficial vessel centerlines of the brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marreiros, Filipe M. M.; Wang, Chunliang; Rossitti, Sandro; Smedby, Örjan

2016-03-01

In this study we present a non-rigid point set registration for 3D curves (composed by 3D set of points). The method was evaluated in the task of registration of 3D superficial vessels of the brain where it was used to match vessel centerline points. It consists of a combination of the Coherent Point Drift (CPD) and the Thin-Plate Spline (TPS) semilandmarks. The CPD is used to perform the initial matching of centerline 3D points, while the semilandmark method iteratively relaxes/slides the points. For the evaluation, a Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) dataset was used. Deformations were applied to the extracted vessels centerlines to simulate brain bulging and sinking, using a TPS deformation where a few control points were manipulated to obtain the desired transformation (T1). Once the correspondences are known, the corresponding points are used to define a new TPS deformation(T2). The errors are measured in the deformed space, by transforming the original points using T1 and T2 and measuring the distance between them. To simulate cases where the deformed vessel data is incomplete, parts of the reference vessels were cut and then deformed. Furthermore, anisotropic normally distributed noise was added. The results show that the error estimates (root mean square error and mean error) are below 1 mm, even in the presence of noise and incomplete data.

3D non-rigid surface-based MR-TRUS registration for image-guided prostate biopsy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Yue; Qiu, Wu; Romagnoli, Cesare; Fenster, Aaron

2014-03-01

Two dimensional (2D) transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided prostate biopsy is the standard approach for definitive diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). However, due to the lack of image contrast of prostate tumors needed to clearly visualize early-stage PCa, prostate biopsy often results in false negatives, requiring repeat biopsies. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been considered to be a promising imaging modality for noninvasive identification of PCa, since it can provide a high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of early stage PCa. Our main objective is to develop and validate a registration method of 3D MR-TRUS images, allowing generation of volumetric 3D maps of targets identified in 3D MR images to be biopsied using 3D TRUS images. Our registration method first makes use of an initial rigid registration of 3D MR images to 3D TRUS images using 6 manually placed approximately corresponding landmarks in each image. Following the manual initialization, two prostate surfaces are segmented from 3D MR and TRUS images and then non-rigidly registered using a thin-plate spline (TPS) algorithm. The registration accuracy was evaluated using 4 patient images by measuring target registration error (TRE) of manually identified corresponding intrinsic fiducials (calcifications and/or cysts) in the prostates. Experimental results show that the proposed method yielded an overall mean TRE of 2.05 mm, which is favorably comparable to a clinical requirement for an error of less than 2.5 mm.

Efficient methods for implementation of multi-level nonrigid mass-preserving image registration on GPUs and multi-threaded CPUs.

PubMed

Ellingwood, Nathan D; Yin, Youbing; Smith, Matthew; Lin, Ching-Long

2016-04-01

Faster and more accurate methods for registration of images are important for research involved in conducting population-based studies that utilize medical imaging, as well as improvements for use in clinical applications. We present a novel computation- and memory-efficient multi-level method on graphics processing units (GPU) for performing registration of two computed tomography (CT) volumetric lung images. We developed a computation- and memory-efficient Diffeomorphic Multi-level B-Spline Transform Composite (DMTC) method to implement nonrigid mass-preserving registration of two CT lung images on GPU. The framework consists of a hierarchy of B-Spline control grids of increasing resolution. A similarity criterion known as the sum of squared tissue volume difference (SSTVD) was adopted to preserve lung tissue mass. The use of SSTVD consists of the calculation of the tissue volume, the Jacobian, and their derivatives, which makes its implementation on GPU challenging due to memory constraints. The use of the DMTC method enabled reduced computation and memory storage of variables with minimal communication between GPU and Central Processing Unit (CPU) due to ability to pre-compute values. The method was assessed on six healthy human subjects. Resultant GPU-generated displacement fields were compared against the previously validated CPU counterpart fields, showing good agreement with an average normalized root mean square error (nRMS) of 0.044±0.015. Runtime and performance speedup are compared between single-threaded CPU, multi-threaded CPU, and GPU algorithms. Best performance speedup occurs at the highest resolution in the GPU implementation for the SSTVD cost and cost gradient computations, with a speedup of 112 times that of the single-threaded CPU version and 11 times over the twelve-threaded version when considering average time per iteration using a Nvidia Tesla K20X GPU. The proposed GPU-based DMTC method outperforms its multi-threaded CPU version in terms

Validation of non-rigid point-set registration methods using a porcine bladder pelvic phantom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakariaee, Roja; Hamarneh, Ghassan; Brown, Colin J.; Spadinger, Ingrid

2016-01-01

The problem of accurate dose accumulation in fractionated radiotherapy treatment for highly deformable organs, such as bladder, has garnered increasing interest over the past few years. However, more research is required in order to find a robust and efficient solution and to increase the accuracy over the current methods. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of utilizing non-rigid (affine or deformable) point-set registration in accumulating dose in bladder of different sizes and shapes. A pelvic phantom was built to house an ex vivo porcine bladder with fiducial landmarks adhered onto its surface. Four different volume fillings of the bladder were used (90, 180, 360 and 480 cc). The performance of MATLAB implementations of five different methods were compared, in aligning the bladder contour point-sets. The approaches evaluated were coherent point drift (CPD), gaussian mixture model, shape context, thin-plate spline robust point matching (TPS-RPM) and finite iterative closest point (ICP-finite). The evaluation metrics included registration runtime, target registration error (TRE), root-mean-square error (RMS) and Hausdorff distance (HD). The reference (source) dataset was alternated through all four points-sets, in order to study the effect of reference volume on the registration outcomes. While all deformable algorithms provided reasonable registration results, CPD provided the best TRE values (6.4 mm), and TPS-RPM yielded the best mean RMS and HD values (1.4 and 6.8 mm, respectively). ICP-finite was the fastest technique and TPS-RPM, the slowest.

Evaluation of nonrigid registration models for interfraction dose accumulation in radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Janssens, Guillaume; Orban de Xivry, Jonathan; Fekkes, Stein

2009-09-15

Purpose: Interfraction dose accumulation is necessary to evaluate the dose distribution of an entire course of treatment by adding up multiple dose distributions of different treatment fractions. This accumulation of dose distributions is not straightforward as changes in the patient anatomy may occur during treatment. For this purpose, the accuracy of nonrigid registration methods is assessed for dose accumulation based on the calculated deformations fields. Methods: A phantom study using a deformable cubic silicon phantom with implanted markers and a cylindrical silicon phantom with MOSFET detectors has been performed. The phantoms were deformed and images were acquired using a cone-beammore » CT imager. Dose calculations were performed on these CT scans using the treatment planning system. Nonrigid CT-based registration was performed using two different methods, the Morphons and Demons. The resulting deformation field was applied on the dose distribution. For both phantoms, accuracy of the registered dose distribution was assessed. For the cylindrical phantom, also measured dose values in the deformed conditions were compared with the dose values of the registered dose distributions. Finally, interfraction dose accumulation for two treatment fractions of a patient with primary rectal cancer has been performed and evaluated using isodose lines and the dose volume histograms of the target volume and normal tissue. Results: A significant decrease in the difference in marker or MOSFET position was observed after nonrigid registration methods (p<0.001) for both phantoms and with both methods, as well as a significant decrease in the dose estimation error (p<0.01 for the cubic phantom and p<0.001 for the cylindrical) with both methods. Considering the whole data set at once, the difference between estimated and measured doses was also significantly decreased using registration (p<0.001 for both methods). The patient case showed a slightly underdosed planning target

Modeling susceptibility difference artifacts produced by metallic implants in magnetic resonance imaging with point-based thin-plate spline image registration.

PubMed

Pauchard, Y; Smith, M; Mintchev, M

2004-01-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suffers from geometric distortions arising from various sources. One such source are the non-linearities associated with the presence of metallic implants, which can profoundly distort the obtained images. These non-linearities result in pixel shifts and intensity changes in the vicinity of the implant, often precluding any meaningful assessment of the entire image. This paper presents a method for correcting these distortions based on non-rigid image registration techniques. Two images from a modelled three-dimensional (3D) grid phantom were subjected to point-based thin-plate spline registration. The reference image (without distortions) was obtained from a grid model including a spherical implant, and the corresponding test image containing the distortions was obtained using previously reported technique for spatial modelling of magnetic susceptibility artifacts. After identifying the nonrecoverable area in the distorted image, the calculated spline model was able to quantitatively account for the distortions, thus facilitating their compensation. Upon the completion of the compensation procedure, the non-recoverable area was removed from the reference image and the latter was compared to the compensated image. Quantitative assessment of the goodness of the proposed compensation technique is presented.

SU-E-J-89: Deformable Registration Method Using B-TPS in Radiotherapy.

PubMed

Xie, Y

2012-06-01

A novel deformable registration method for four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) images is developed in radiation therapy. The proposed method combines the thin plate spline (TPS) and B-spline together to achieve high accuracy and high efficiency. The method consists of two steps. First, TPS is used as a global registration method to deform large unfit regions in the moving image to match counterpart in the reference image. Then B-spline is used for local registration, the previous deformed moving image is further deformed to match the reference image more accurately. Two clinical CT image sets, including one pair of lung and one pair of liver, are simulated using the proposed algorithm, which results in a tremendous improvement in both run-time and registration quality, compared with the conventional methods solely using either TPS or B-spline. The proposed method can combine the efficiency of TPS and the accuracy of B-spline, performing good adaptively and robust in registration of clinical 4DCT image. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

[Medical image elastic registration smoothed by unconstrained optimized thin-plate spline].

PubMed

Zhang, Yu; Li, Shuxiang; Chen, Wufan; Liu, Zhexing

2003-12-01

Elastic registration of medical image is an important subject in medical image processing. Previous work has concentrated on selecting the corresponding landmarks manually and then using thin-plate spline interpolating to gain the elastic transformation. However, the landmarks extraction is always prone to error, which will influence the registration results. Localizing the landmarks manually is also difficult and time-consuming. We the optimization theory to improve the thin-plate spline interpolation, and based on it, used an automatic method to extract the landmarks. Combining these two steps, we have proposed an automatic, exact and robust registration method and have gained satisfactory registration results.

Topology preserving non-rigid image registration using time-varying elasticity model for MRI brain volumes.

PubMed

Ahmad, Sahar; Khan, Muhammad Faisal

2015-12-01

In this paper, we present a new non-rigid image registration method that imposes a topology preservation constraint on the deformation. We propose to incorporate the time varying elasticity model into the deformable image matching procedure and constrain the Jacobian determinant of the transformation over the entire image domain. The motion of elastic bodies is governed by a hyperbolic partial differential equation, generally termed as elastodynamics wave equation, which we propose to use as a deformation model. We carried out clinical image registration experiments on 3D magnetic resonance brain scans from IBSR database. The results of the proposed registration approach in terms of Kappa index and relative overlap computed over the subcortical structures were compared against the existing topology preserving non-rigid image registration methods and non topology preserving variant of our proposed registration scheme. The Jacobian determinant maps obtained with our proposed registration method were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. The results demonstrated that the proposed scheme provides good registration accuracy with smooth transformations, thereby guaranteeing the preservation of topology. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inverse consistent non-rigid image registration based on robust point set matching

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Robust point matching (RPM) has been extensively used in non-rigid registration of images to robustly register two sets of image points. However, except for the location at control points, RPM cannot estimate the consistent correspondence between two images because RPM is a unidirectional image matching approach. Therefore, it is an important issue to make an improvement in image registration based on RPM. Methods In our work, a consistent image registration approach based on the point sets matching is proposed to incorporate the property of inverse consistency and improve registration accuracy. Instead of only estimating the forward transformation between the source point sets and the target point sets in state-of-the-art RPM algorithms, the forward and backward transformations between two point sets are estimated concurrently in our algorithm. The inverse consistency constraints are introduced to the cost function of RPM and the fuzzy correspondences between two point sets are estimated based on both the forward and backward transformations simultaneously. A modified consistent landmark thin-plate spline registration is discussed in detail to find the forward and backward transformations during the optimization of RPM. The similarity of image content is also incorporated into point matching in order to improve image matching. Results Synthetic data sets, medical images are employed to demonstrate and validate the performance of our approach. The inverse consistent errors of our algorithm are smaller than RPM. Especially, the topology of transformations is preserved well for our algorithm for the large deformation between point sets. Moreover, the distance errors of our algorithm are similar to that of RPM, and they maintain a downward trend as whole, which demonstrates the convergence of our algorithm. The registration errors for image registrations are evaluated also. Again, our algorithm achieves the lower registration errors in same iteration number

A stochastic approach to estimate the uncertainty of dose mapping caused by uncertainties in b-spline registration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hub, Martina; Thieke, Christian; Kessler, Marc L.

2012-04-15

Purpose: In fractionated radiation therapy, image guidance with daily tomographic imaging becomes more and more clinical routine. In principle, this allows for daily computation of the delivered dose and for accumulation of these daily dose distributions to determine the actually delivered total dose to the patient. However, uncertainties in the mapping of the images can translate into errors of the accumulated total dose, depending on the dose gradient. In this work, an approach to estimate the uncertainty of mapping between medical images is proposed that identifies areas bearing a significant risk of inaccurate dose accumulation. Methods: This method accounts formore » the geometric uncertainty of image registration and the heterogeneity of the dose distribution, which is to be mapped. Its performance is demonstrated in context of dose mapping based on b-spline registration. It is based on evaluation of the sensitivity of dose mapping to variations of the b-spline coefficients combined with evaluation of the sensitivity of the registration metric with respect to the variations of the coefficients. It was evaluated based on patient data that was deformed based on a breathing model, where the ground truth of the deformation, and hence the actual true dose mapping error, is known. Results: The proposed approach has the potential to distinguish areas of the image where dose mapping is likely to be accurate from other areas of the same image, where a larger uncertainty must be expected. Conclusions: An approach to identify areas where dose mapping is likely to be inaccurate was developed and implemented. This method was tested for dose mapping, but it may be applied in context of other mapping tasks as well.« less

A stochastic approach to estimate the uncertainty of dose mapping caused by uncertainties in b-spline registration

PubMed Central

Hub, Martina; Thieke, Christian; Kessler, Marc L.; Karger, Christian P.

2012-01-01

Purpose: In fractionated radiation therapy, image guidance with daily tomographic imaging becomes more and more clinical routine. In principle, this allows for daily computation of the delivered dose and for accumulation of these daily dose distributions to determine the actually delivered total dose to the patient. However, uncertainties in the mapping of the images can translate into errors of the accumulated total dose, depending on the dose gradient. In this work, an approach to estimate the uncertainty of mapping between medical images is proposed that identifies areas bearing a significant risk of inaccurate dose accumulation. Methods: This method accounts for the geometric uncertainty of image registration and the heterogeneity of the dose distribution, which is to be mapped. Its performance is demonstrated in context of dose mapping based on b-spline registration. It is based on evaluation of the sensitivity of dose mapping to variations of the b-spline coefficients combined with evaluation of the sensitivity of the registration metric with respect to the variations of the coefficients. It was evaluated based on patient data that was deformed based on a breathing model, where the ground truth of the deformation, and hence the actual true dose mapping error, is known. Results: The proposed approach has the potential to distinguish areas of the image where dose mapping is likely to be accurate from other areas of the same image, where a larger uncertainty must be expected. Conclusions: An approach to identify areas where dose mapping is likely to be inaccurate was developed and implemented. This method was tested for dose mapping, but it may be applied in context of other mapping tasks as well. PMID:22482640

A B-spline image registration based CAD scheme to evaluate drug treatment response of ovarian cancer patients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Maxine; Li, Zheng; Moore, Kathleen; Thai, Theresa; Ding, Kai; Liu, Hong; Zheng, Bin

2016-03-01

Ovarian cancer is the second most common cancer amongst gynecologic malignancies, and has the highest death rate. Since the majority of ovarian cancer patients (>75%) are diagnosed in the advanced stage with tumor metastasis, chemotherapy is often required after surgery to remove the primary ovarian tumors. In order to quickly assess patient response to the chemotherapy in the clinical trials, two sets of CT examinations are taken pre- and post-therapy (e.g., after 6 weeks). Treatment efficacy is then evaluated based on Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) guideline, whereby tumor size is measured by the longest diameter on one CT image slice and only a subset of selected tumors are tracked. However, this criterion cannot fully represent the volumetric changes of the tumors and might miss potentially problematic unmarked tumors. Thus, we developed a new CAD approach to measure and analyze volumetric tumor growth/shrinkage using a cubic B-spline deformable image registration method. In this initial study, on 14 sets of pre- and post-treatment CT scans, we registered the two consecutive scans using cubic B-spline registration in a multiresolution (from coarse to fine) framework. We used Mattes mutual information metric as the similarity criterion and the L-BFGS-B optimizer. The results show that our method can quantify volumetric changes in the tumors more accurately than RECIST, and also detect (highlight) potentially problematic regions that were not originally targeted by radiologists. Despite the encouraging results of this preliminary study, further validation of scheme performance is required using large and diverse datasets in future.

Improving oncoplastic breast tumor bed localization for radiotherapy planning using image registration algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wodzinski, Marek; Skalski, Andrzej; Ciepiela, Izabela; Kuszewski, Tomasz; Kedzierawski, Piotr; Gajda, Janusz

2018-02-01

Knowledge about tumor bed localization and its shape analysis is a crucial factor for preventing irradiation of healthy tissues during supportive radiotherapy and as a result, cancer recurrence. The localization process is especially hard for tumors placed nearby soft tissues, which undergo complex, nonrigid deformations. Among them, breast cancer can be considered as the most representative example. A natural approach to improving tumor bed localization is the use of image registration algorithms. However, this involves two unusual aspects which are not common in typical medical image registration: the real deformation field is discontinuous, and there is no direct correspondence between the cancer and its bed in the source and the target 3D images respectively. The tumor no longer exists during radiotherapy planning. Therefore, a traditional evaluation approach based on known, smooth deformations and target registration error are not directly applicable. In this work, we propose alternative artificial deformations which model the tumor bed creation process. We perform a comprehensive evaluation of the most commonly used deformable registration algorithms: B-Splines free form deformations (B-Splines FFD), different variants of the Demons and TV-L1 optical flow. The evaluation procedure includes quantitative assessment of the dedicated artificial deformations, target registration error calculation, 3D contour propagation and medical experts visual judgment. The results demonstrate that the currently, practically applied image registration (rigid registration and B-Splines FFD) are not able to correctly reconstruct discontinuous deformation fields. We show that the symmetric Demons provide the most accurate soft tissues alignment in terms of the ability to reconstruct the deformation field, target registration error and relative tumor volume change, while B-Splines FFD and TV-L1 optical flow are not an appropriate choice for the breast tumor bed localization problem

Survey of Non-Rigid Registration Tools in Medicine.

PubMed

Keszei, András P; Berkels, Benjamin; Deserno, Thomas M

2017-02-01

We catalogue available software solutions for non-rigid image registration to support scientists in selecting suitable tools for specific medical registration purposes. Registration tools were identified using non-systematic search in Pubmed, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore® Digital Library, Google Scholar, and through references in identified sources (n = 22). Exclusions are due to unavailability or inappropriateness. The remaining (n = 18) tools were classified by (i) access and technology, (ii) interfaces and application, (iii) living community, (iv) supported file formats, and (v) types of registration methodologies emphasizing the similarity measures implemented. Out of the 18 tools, (i) 12 are open source, 8 are released under a permissive free license, which imposes the least restrictions on the use and further development of the tool, 8 provide graphical processing unit (GPU) support; (ii) 7 are built on software platforms, 5 were developed for brain image registration; (iii) 6 are under active development but only 3 have had their last update in 2015 or 2016; (iv) 16 support the Analyze format, while 7 file formats can be read with only one of the tools; and (v) 6 provide multiple registration methods and 6 provide landmark-based registration methods. Based on open source, licensing, GPU support, active community, several file formats, algorithms, and similarity measures, the tools Elastics and Plastimatch are chosen for the platform ITK and without platform requirements, respectively. Researchers in medical image analysis already have a large choice of registration tools freely available. However, the most recently published algorithms may not be included in the tools, yet.

Non-rigid registration for fusion of carotid vascular ultrasound and MRI volumetric datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, R. C.; Sokka, S.; Hinton, D.; Houser, S.; Manzke, R.; Hanekamp, A.; Reddy, V. Y.; Kaazempur-Mofrad, M. R.; Rasche, V.

2006-03-01

In carotid plaque imaging, MRI provides exquisite soft-tissue characterization, but lacks the temporal resolution for tissue strain imaging that real-time 3D ultrasound (3DUS) can provide. On the other hand, real-time 3DUS currently lacks the spatial resolution of carotid MRI. Non-rigid alignment of ultrasound and MRI data is essential for integrating complementary morphology and biomechanical information for carotid vascular assessment. We assessed non-rigid registration for fusion of 3DUS and MRI carotid data based on deformable models which are warped to maximize voxel similarity. We performed validation in vitro using isolated carotid artery imaging. These samples were subjected to soft-tissue deformations during 3DUS and were imaged in a static configuration with standard MR carotid pulse sequences. Registration of the source ultrasound sequences to the target MR volume was performed and the mean absolute distance between fiducials within the ultrasound and MR datasets was measured to determine inter-modality alignment quality. Our results indicate that registration errors on the order of 1mm are possible in vitro despite the low-resolution of current generation 3DUS transducers. Registration performance should be further improved with the use of higher frequency 3DUS prototypes and efforts are underway to test those probes for in vivo 3DUS carotid imaging.

Nonrigid 3D medical image registration and fusion based on deformable models.

PubMed

Liu, Peng; Eberhardt, Benjamin; Wybranski, Christian; Ricke, Jens; Lüdemann, Lutz

2013-01-01

For coregistration of medical images, rigid methods often fail to provide enough freedom, while reliable elastic methods are available clinically for special applications only. The number of degrees of freedom of elastic models must be reduced for use in the clinical setting to archive a reliable result. We propose a novel geometry-based method of nonrigid 3D medical image registration and fusion. The proposed method uses a 3D surface-based deformable model as guidance. In our twofold approach, the deformable mesh from one of the images is first applied to the boundary of the object to be registered. Thereafter, the non-rigid volume deformation vector field needed for registration and fusion inside of the region of interest (ROI) described by the active surface is inferred from the displacement of the surface mesh points. The method was validated using clinical images of a quasirigid organ (kidney) and of an elastic organ (liver). The reduction in standard deviation of the image intensity difference between reference image and model was used as a measure of performance. Landmarks placed at vessel bifurcations in the liver were used as a gold standard for evaluating registration results for the elastic liver. Our registration method was compared with affine registration using mutual information applied to the quasi-rigid kidney. The new method achieved 15.11% better quality with a high confidence level of 99% for rigid registration. However, when applied to the quasi-elastic liver, the method has an averaged landmark dislocation of 4.32 mm. In contrast, affine registration of extracted livers yields a significantly (P = 0.000001) smaller dislocation of 3.26 mm. In conclusion, our validation shows that the novel approach is applicable in cases where internal deformation is not crucial, but it has limitations in cases where internal displacement must also be taken into account.

Open-source image registration for MRI-TRUS fusion-guided prostate interventions.

PubMed

Fedorov, Andriy; Khallaghi, Siavash; Sánchez, C Antonio; Lasso, Andras; Fels, Sidney; Tuncali, Kemal; Sugar, Emily Neubauer; Kapur, Tina; Zhang, Chenxi; Wells, William; Nguyen, Paul L; Abolmaesumi, Purang; Tempany, Clare

2015-06-01

We propose two software tools for non-rigid registration of MRI and transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images of the prostate. Our ultimate goal is to develop an open-source solution to support MRI-TRUS fusion image guidance of prostate interventions, such as targeted biopsy for prostate cancer detection and focal therapy. It is widely hypothesized that image registration is an essential component in such systems. The two non-rigid registration methods are: (1) a deformable registration of the prostate segmentation distance maps with B-spline regularization and (2) a finite element-based deformable registration of the segmentation surfaces in the presence of partial data. We evaluate the methods retrospectively using clinical patient image data collected during standard clinical procedures. Computation time and Target Registration Error (TRE) calculated at the expert-identified anatomical landmarks were used as quantitative measures for the evaluation. The presented image registration tools were capable of completing deformable registration computation within 5 min. Average TRE was approximately 3 mm for both methods, which is comparable with the slice thickness in our MRI data. Both tools are available under nonrestrictive open-source license. We release open-source tools that may be used for registration during MRI-TRUS-guided prostate interventions. Our tools implement novel registration approaches and produce acceptable registration results. We believe these tools will lower the barriers in development and deployment of interventional research solutions and facilitate comparison with similar tools.

Cortical surface registration using spherical thin-plate spline with sulcal lines and mean curvature as features.

PubMed

Park, Hyunjin; Park, Jun-Sung; Seong, Joon-Kyung; Na, Duk L; Lee, Jong-Min

2012-04-30

Analysis of cortical patterns requires accurate cortical surface registration. Many researchers map the cortical surface onto a unit sphere and perform registration of two images defined on the unit sphere. Here we have developed a novel registration framework for the cortical surface based on spherical thin-plate splines. Small-scale composition of spherical thin-plate splines was used as the geometric interpolant to avoid folding in the geometric transform. Using an automatic algorithm based on anisotropic skeletons, we extracted seven sulcal lines, which we then incorporated as landmark information. Mean curvature was chosen as an additional feature for matching between spherical maps. We employed a two-term cost function to encourage matching of both sulcal lines and the mean curvature between the spherical maps. Application of our registration framework to fifty pairwise registrations of T1-weighted MRI scans resulted in improved registration accuracy, which was computed from sulcal lines. Our registration approach was tested as an additional procedure to improve an existing surface registration algorithm. Our registration framework maintained an accurate registration over the sulcal lines while significantly increasing the cross-correlation of mean curvature between the spherical maps being registered. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simultaneous Nonrigid Registration, Segmentation, and Tumor Detection in MRI Guided Cervical Cancer Radiation Therapy

PubMed Central

Lu, Chao; Chelikani, Sudhakar; Jaffray, David A.; Milosevic, Michael F.; Staib, Lawrence H.; Duncan, James S.

2013-01-01

External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for the treatment of cancer enables accurate placement of radiation dose on the cancerous region. However, the deformation of soft tissue during the course of treatment, such as in cervical cancer, presents significant challenges for the delineation of the target volume and other structures of interest. Furthermore, the presence and regression of pathologies such as tumors may violate registration constraints and cause registration errors. In this paper, automatic segmentation, nonrigid registration and tumor detection in cervical magnetic resonance (MR) data are addressed simultaneously using a unified Bayesian framework. The proposed novel method can generate a tumor probability map while progressively identifying the boundary of an organ of interest based on the achieved nonrigid transformation. The method is able to handle the challenges of significant tumor regression and its effect on surrounding tissues. The new method was compared to various currently existing algorithms on a set of 36 MR data from six patients, each patient has six T2-weighted MR cervical images. The results show that the proposed approach achieves an accuracy comparable to manual segmentation and it significantly outperforms the existing registration algorithms. In addition, the tumor detection result generated by the proposed method has a high agreement with manual delineation by a qualified clinician. PMID:22328178

Numerical Methods Using B-Splines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shariff, Karim; Merriam, Marshal (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

The seminar will discuss (1) The current range of applications for which B-spline schemes may be appropriate (2) The property of high-resolution and the relationship between B-spline and compact schemes (3) Comparison between finite-element, Hermite finite element and B-spline schemes (4) Mesh embedding using B-splines (5) A method for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in curvilinear coordinates using divergence-free expansions.

Nonrigid liver registration for image-guided surgery using partial surface data: a novel iterative approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rucker, D. Caleb; Wu, Yifei; Ondrake, Janet E.; Pheiffer, Thomas S.; Simpson, Amber L.; Miga, Michael I.

2013-03-01

In the context of open abdominal image-guided liver surgery, the efficacy of an image-guidance system relies on its ability to (1) accurately depict tool locations with respect to the anatomy, and (2) maintain the work flow of the surgical team. Laser-range scanned (LRS) partial surface measurements can be taken intraoperatively with relatively little impact on the surgical work flow, as opposed to other intraoperative imaging modalities. Previous research has demonstrated that this kind of partial surface data may be (1) used to drive a rigid registration of the preoperative CT image volume to intraoperative patient space, and (2) extrapolated and combined with a tissue-mechanics-based organ model to drive a non-rigid registration, thus compensating for organ deformations. In this paper we present a novel approach for intraoperative nonrigid liver registration which iteratively reconstructs a displacement field on the posterior side of the organ in order to minimize the error between the deformed model and the intraopreative surface data. Experimental results with a phantom liver undergoing large deformations demonstrate that this method achieves target registration errors (TRE) with a mean of 4.0 mm in the prediction of a set of 58 locations inside the phantom, which represents a 50% improvement over rigid registration alone, and a 44% improvement over the prior non-iterative single-solve method of extrapolating boundary conditions via a surface Laplacian.

A hybrid multimodal non-rigid registration of MR images based on diffeomorphic demons.

PubMed

Lu, Huanxiang; Cattin, Philippe C; Reyes, Mauricio

2010-01-01

In this paper we present a novel hybrid approach for multimodal medical image registration based on diffeomorphic demons. Diffeomorphic demons have proven to be a robust and efficient way for intensity-based image registration. A very recent extension even allows to use mutual information (MI) as a similarity measure to registration multimodal images. However, due to the intensity correspondence uncertainty existing in some anatomical parts, it is difficult for a purely intensity-based algorithm to solve the registration problem. Therefore, we propose to combine the resulting transformations from both intensity-based and landmark-based methods for multimodal non-rigid registration based on diffeomorphic demons. Several experiments on different types of MR images were conducted, for which we show that a better anatomical correspondence between the images can be obtained using the hybrid approach than using either intensity information or landmarks alone.

[Research on non-rigid registration of multi-modal medical image based on Demons algorithm].

PubMed

Hao, Peibo; Chen, Zhen; Jiang, Shaofeng; Wang, Yang

2014-02-01

Non-rigid medical image registration is a popular subject in the research areas of the medical image and has an important clinical value. In this paper we put forward an improved algorithm of Demons, together with the conservation of gray model and local structure tensor conservation model, to construct a new energy function processing multi-modal registration problem. We then applied the L-BFGS algorithm to optimize the energy function and solve complex three-dimensional data optimization problem. And finally we used the multi-scale hierarchical refinement ideas to solve large deformation registration. The experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm for large de formation and multi-modal three-dimensional medical image registration had good effects.

Effect of Non-rigid Registration Algorithms on Deformation Based Morphometry: A Comparative Study with Control and Williams Syndrome Subjects

PubMed Central

Han, Zhaoying; Thornton-Wells, Tricia A.; Dykens, Elisabeth M.; Gore, John C.; Dawant, Benoit M.

2014-01-01

Deformation Based Morphometry (DBM) is a widely used method for characterizing anatomical differences across groups. DBM is based on the analysis of the deformation fields generated by non-rigid registration algorithms, which warp the individual volumes to a DBM atlas. Although several studies have compared non-rigid registration algorithms for segmentation tasks, few studies have compared the effect of the registration algorithms on group differences that may be uncovered through DBM. In this study, we compared group atlas creation and DBM results obtained with five well-established non-rigid registration algorithms using thirteen subjects with Williams Syndrome (WS) and thirteen Normal Control (NC) subjects. The five non-rigid registration algorithms include: (1) The Adaptive Bases Algorithm (ABA); (2) The Image Registration Toolkit (IRTK); (3) The FSL Nonlinear Image Registration Tool (FSL); (4) The Automatic Registration Tool (ART); and (5) the normalization algorithm available in SPM8. Results indicate that the choice of algorithm has little effect on the creation of group atlases. However, regions of differences between groups detected with DBM vary from algorithm to algorithm both qualitatively and quantitatively. The unique nature of the data set used in this study also permits comparison of visible anatomical differences between the groups and regions of difference detected by each algorithm. Results show that the interpretation of DBM results is difficult. Four out of the five algorithms we have evaluated detect bilateral differences between the two groups in the insular cortex, the basal ganglia, orbitofrontal cortex, as well as in the cerebellum. These correspond to differences that have been reported in the literature and that are visible in our samples. But our results also show that some algorithms detect regions that are not detected by the others and that the extent of the detected regions varies from algorithm to algorithm. These results suggest

An Integrated Approach to Segmentation and Nonrigid Registration for Application in Image-Guided Pelvic Radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Lu, Chao; Chelikani, Sudhakar; Papademetris, Xenophon; Knisely, Jonathan P.; Milosevic, Michael F.; Chen, Zhe; Jaffray, David A.; Staib, Lawrence H.; Duncan, James S.

2011-01-01

External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) has become the preferred options for non-surgical treatment of prostate cancer and cervix cancer. In order to deliver higher doses to cancerous regions within these pelvic structures (i.e. prostate or cervix) while maintaining or lowering the doses to surrounding non-cancerous regions, it is critical to account for setup variation, organ motion, anatomical changes due to treatment and intra-fraction motion. In previous work, manual segmentation of the soft tissues is performed and then images are registered based on the manual segmentation. In this paper, we present an integrated automatic approach to multiple organ segmentation and nonrigid constrained registration, which can achieve these two aims simultaneously. The segmentation and registration steps are both formulated using a Bayesian framework, and they constrain each other using an iterative conditional model strategy. We also propose a new strategy to assess cumulative actual dose for this novel integrated algorithm, in order to both determine whether the intended treatment is being delivered and, potentially, whether or not a plan should be adjusted for future treatment fractions. Quantitative results show that the automatic segmentation produced results that have an accuracy comparable to manual segmentation, while the registration part significantly outperforms both rigid and non-rigid registration. Clinical application and evaluation of dose delivery show the superiority of proposed method to the procedure currently used in clinical practice, i.e. manual segmentation followed by rigid registration. PMID:21646038

Automatic selection of landmarks in T1-weighted head MRI with regression forests for image registration initialization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jianing; Liu, Yuan; Noble, Jack H.; Dawant, Benoit M.

2017-02-01

Medical image registration establishes a correspondence between images of biological structures and it is at the core of many applications. Commonly used deformable image registration methods are dependent on a good preregistration initialization. The initialization can be performed by localizing homologous landmarks and calculating a point-based transformation between the images. The selection of landmarks is however important. In this work, we present a learning-based method to automatically find a set of robust landmarks in 3D MR image volumes of the head to initialize non-rigid transformations. To validate our method, these selected landmarks are localized in unknown image volumes and they are used to compute a smoothing thin-plate splines transformation that registers the atlas to the volumes. The transformed atlas image is then used as the preregistration initialization of an intensity-based non-rigid registration algorithm. We show that the registration accuracy of this algorithm is statistically significantly improved when using the presented registration initialization over a standard intensity-based affine registration.

On the usefulness of gradient information in multi-objective deformable image registration using a B-spline-based dual-dynamic transformation model: comparison of three optimization algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pirpinia, Kleopatra; Bosman, Peter A. N.; Sonke, Jan-Jakob; van Herk, Marcel; Alderliesten, Tanja

2015-03-01

The use of gradient information is well-known to be highly useful in single-objective optimization-based image registration methods. However, its usefulness has not yet been investigated for deformable image registration from a multi-objective optimization perspective. To this end, within a previously introduced multi-objective optimization framework, we use a smooth B-spline-based dual-dynamic transformation model that allows us to derive gradient information analytically, while still being able to account for large deformations. Within the multi-objective framework, we previously employed a powerful evolutionary algorithm (EA) that computes and advances multiple outcomes at once, resulting in a set of solutions (a so-called Pareto front) that represents efficient trade-offs between the objectives. With the addition of the B-spline-based transformation model, we studied the usefulness of gradient information in multiobjective deformable image registration using three different optimization algorithms: the (gradient-less) EA, a gradientonly algorithm, and a hybridization of these two. We evaluated the algorithms to register highly deformed images: 2D MRI slices of the breast in prone and supine positions. Results demonstrate that gradient-based multi-objective optimization significantly speeds up optimization in the initial stages of optimization. However, allowing sufficient computational resources, better results could still be obtained with the EA. Ultimately, the hybrid EA found the best overall approximation of the optimal Pareto front, further indicating that adding gradient-based optimization for multiobjective optimization-based deformable image registration can indeed be beneficial

Smart align -- A new tool for robust non-rigid registration of scanning microscope data

DOE PAGES

Jones, Lewys; Yang, Hao; Pennycook, Timothy J.; ...

2015-07-10

Many microscopic investigations of materials may benefit from the recording of multiple successive images. This can include techniques common to several types of microscopy such as frame averaging to improve signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) or time series to study dynamic processes or more specific applications. In the scanning transmission electron microscope, this might include focal series for optical sectioning or aberration measurement, beam damage studies or camera-length series to study the effects of strain; whilst in the scanning tunnelling microscope, this might include bias voltage series to probe local electronic structure. Whatever the application, such investigations must begin with the carefulmore » alignment of these data stacks, an operation that is not always trivial. In addition, the presence of low-frequency scanning distortions can introduce intra-image shifts to the data. Here, we describe an improved automated method of performing non-rigid registration customised for the challenges unique to scanned microscope data specifically addressing the issues of low-SNR data, images containing a large proportion of crystalline material and/or local features of interest such as dislocations or edges. Careful attention has been paid to artefact testing of the non-rigid registration method used, and the importance of this registration for the quantitative interpretation of feature intensities and positions is evaluated.« less

Smart align -- A new tool for robust non-rigid registration of scanning microscope data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jones, Lewys; Yang, Hao; Pennycook, Timothy J.

Many microscopic investigations of materials may benefit from the recording of multiple successive images. This can include techniques common to several types of microscopy such as frame averaging to improve signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) or time series to study dynamic processes or more specific applications. In the scanning transmission electron microscope, this might include focal series for optical sectioning or aberration measurement, beam damage studies or camera-length series to study the effects of strain; whilst in the scanning tunnelling microscope, this might include bias voltage series to probe local electronic structure. Whatever the application, such investigations must begin with the carefulmore » alignment of these data stacks, an operation that is not always trivial. In addition, the presence of low-frequency scanning distortions can introduce intra-image shifts to the data. Here, we describe an improved automated method of performing non-rigid registration customised for the challenges unique to scanned microscope data specifically addressing the issues of low-SNR data, images containing a large proportion of crystalline material and/or local features of interest such as dislocations or edges. Careful attention has been paid to artefact testing of the non-rigid registration method used, and the importance of this registration for the quantitative interpretation of feature intensities and positions is evaluated.« less

Convex Hull Aided Registration Method (CHARM).

PubMed

Fan, Jingfan; Yang, Jian; Zhao, Yitian; Ai, Danni; Liu, Yonghuai; Wang, Ge; Wang, Yongtian

2017-09-01

Non-rigid registration finds many applications such as photogrammetry, motion tracking, model retrieval, and object recognition. In this paper we propose a novel convex hull aided registration method (CHARM) to match two point sets subject to a non-rigid transformation. First, two convex hulls are extracted from the source and target respectively. Then, all points of the point sets are projected onto the reference plane through each triangular facet of the hulls. From these projections, invariant features are extracted and matched optimally. The matched feature point pairs are mapped back onto the triangular facets of the convex hulls to remove outliers that are outside any relevant triangular facet. The rigid transformation from the source to the target is robustly estimated by the random sample consensus (RANSAC) scheme through minimizing the distance between the matched feature point pairs. Finally, these feature points are utilized as the control points to achieve non-rigid deformation in the form of thin-plate spline of the entire source point set towards the target one. The experimental results based on both synthetic and real data show that the proposed algorithm outperforms several state-of-the-art ones with respect to sampling, rotational angle, and data noise. In addition, the proposed CHARM algorithm also shows higher computational efficiency compared to these methods.

An effective non-rigid registration approach for ultrasound image based on "demons" algorithm.

PubMed

Liu, Yan; Cheng, H D; Huang, Jianhua; Zhang, Yingtao; Tang, Xianglong; Tian, Jiawei

2013-06-01

Medical image registration is an important component of computer-aided diagnosis system in diagnostics, therapy planning, and guidance of surgery. Because of its low signal/noise ratio (SNR), ultrasound (US) image registration is a difficult task. In this paper, a fully automatic non-rigid image registration algorithm based on demons algorithm is proposed for registration of ultrasound images. In the proposed method, an "inertia force" derived from the local motion trend of pixels in a Moore neighborhood system is produced and integrated into optical flow equation to estimate the demons force, which is helpful to handle the speckle noise and preserve the geometric continuity of US images. In the experiment, a series of US images and several similarity measure metrics are utilized for evaluating the performance. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can register ultrasound images efficiently, robust to noise, quickly and automatically.

Nonrigid iterative closest points for registration of 3D biomedical surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Luming; Wei, Mingqiang; Szymczak, Andrzej; Petrella, Anthony; Xie, Haoran; Qin, Jing; Wang, Jun; Wang, Fu Lee

2018-01-01

Advanced 3D optical and laser scanners bring new challenges to computer graphics. We present a novel nonrigid surface registration algorithm based on Iterative Closest Point (ICP) method with multiple correspondences. Our method, called the Nonrigid Iterative Closest Points (NICPs), can be applied to surfaces of arbitrary topology. It does not impose any restrictions on the deformation, e.g. rigidity or articulation. Finally, it does not require parametrization of input meshes. Our method is based on an objective function that combines distance and regularization terms. Unlike the standard ICP, the distance term is determined based on multiple two-way correspondences rather than single one-way correspondences between surfaces. A Laplacian-based regularization term is proposed to take full advantage of multiple two-way correspondences. This term regularizes the surface movement by enforcing vertices to move coherently with their 1-ring neighbors. The proposed method achieves good performances when no global pose differences or significant amount of bending exists in the models, for example, families of similar shapes, like human femur and vertebrae models.

Selecting registration schemes in case of interstitial lung disease follow-up in CT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vlachopoulos, Georgios; Korfiatis, Panayiotis; Skiadopoulos, Spyros

Purpose: Primary goal of this study is to select optimal registration schemes in the framework of interstitial lung disease (ILD) follow-up analysis in CT. Methods: A set of 128 multiresolution schemes composed of multiresolution nonrigid and combinations of rigid and nonrigid registration schemes are evaluated, utilizing ten artificially warped ILD follow-up volumes, originating from ten clinical volumetric CT scans of ILD affected patients, to select candidate optimal schemes. Specifically, all combinations of four transformation models (three rigid: rigid, similarity, affine and one nonrigid: third order B-spline), four cost functions (sum-of-square distances, normalized correlation coefficient, mutual information, and normalized mutual information),more » four gradient descent optimizers (standard, regular step, adaptive stochastic, and finite difference), and two types of pyramids (recursive and Gaussian-smoothing) were considered. The selection process involves two stages. The first stage involves identification of schemes with deformation field singularities, according to the determinant of the Jacobian matrix. In the second stage, evaluation methodology is based on distance between corresponding landmark points in both normal lung parenchyma (NLP) and ILD affected regions. Statistical analysis was performed in order to select near optimal registration schemes per evaluation metric. Performance of the candidate registration schemes was verified on a case sample of ten clinical follow-up CT scans to obtain the selected registration schemes. Results: By considering near optimal schemes common to all ranking lists, 16 out of 128 registration schemes were initially selected. These schemes obtained submillimeter registration accuracies in terms of average distance errors 0.18 ± 0.01 mm for NLP and 0.20 ± 0.01 mm for ILD, in case of artificially generated follow-up data. Registration accuracy in terms of average distance error in clinical follow-up data was in

Landmark-based elastic registration using approximating thin-plate splines.

PubMed

Rohr, K; Stiehl, H S; Sprengel, R; Buzug, T M; Weese, J; Kuhn, M H

2001-06-01

We consider elastic image registration based on a set of corresponding anatomical point landmarks and approximating thin-plate splines. This approach is an extension of the original interpolating thin-plate spline approach and allows to take into account landmark localization errors. The extension is important for clinical applications since landmark extraction is always prone to error. Our approach is based on a minimizing functional and can cope with isotropic as well as anisotropic landmark errors. In particular, in the latter case it is possible to include different types of landmarks, e.g., unique point landmarks as well as arbitrary edge points. Also, the scheme is general with respect to the image dimension and the order of smoothness of the underlying functional. Optimal affine transformations as well as interpolating thin-plate splines are special cases of this scheme. To localize landmarks we use a semi-automatic approach which is based on three-dimensional (3-D) differential operators. Experimental results are presented for two-dimensional as well as 3-D tomographic images of the human brain.

Accurate registration of temporal CT images for pulmonary nodules detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Jichao; Jiang, Luan; Li, Qiang

2017-02-01

Interpretation of temporal CT images could help the radiologists to detect some subtle interval changes in the sequential examinations. The purpose of this study was to develop a fully automated scheme for accurate registration of temporal CT images for pulmonary nodule detection. Our method consisted of three major registration steps. Firstly, affine transformation was applied in the segmented lung region to obtain global coarse registration images. Secondly, B-splines based free-form deformation (FFD) was used to refine the coarse registration images. Thirdly, Demons algorithm was performed to align the feature points extracted from the registered images in the second step and the reference images. Our database consisted of 91 temporal CT cases obtained from Beijing 301 Hospital and Shanghai Changzheng Hospital. The preliminary results showed that approximately 96.7% cases could obtain accurate registration based on subjective observation. The subtraction images of the reference images and the rigid and non-rigid registered images could effectively remove the normal structures (i.e. blood vessels) and retain the abnormalities (i.e. pulmonary nodules). This would be useful for the screening of lung cancer in our future study.

2-D Myocardial Deformation Imaging Based on RF-Based Nonrigid Image Registration.

PubMed

Chakraborty, Bidisha; Liu, Zhi; Heyde, Brecht; Luo, Jianwen; D'hooge, Jan

2018-06-01

Myocardial deformation imaging is a well-established echocardiographic technique for the assessment of myocardial function. Although some solutions make use of speckle tracking of the reconstructed B-mode images, others apply block matching (BM) on the underlying radio frequency (RF) data in order to increase sensitivity to small interframe motion and deformation. However, for both approaches, lateral motion estimation remains a challenge due to the relatively poor lateral resolution of the ultrasound image in combination with the lack of phase information in this direction. Hereto, nonrigid image registration (NRIR) of B-mode images has previously been proposed as an attractive solution. However, hereby, the advantages of RF-based tracking were lost. The aim of this paper was, therefore, to develop an NRIR motion estimator adapted to RF data sets. The accuracy of this estimator was quantified using synthetic data and was contrasted against a state-of-the-art BM solution. The results show that RF-based NRIR outperforms BM in terms of tracking accuracy, particularly, as hypothesized, in the lateral direction. Finally, this RF-based NRIR algorithm was applied clinically, illustrating its ability to estimate both in-plane velocity components in vivo.

B-spline Method in Fluid Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Botella, Olivier; Shariff, Karim; Mansour, Nagi N. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

B-spline functions are bases for piecewise polynomials that possess attractive properties for complex flow simulations : they have compact support, provide a straightforward handling of boundary conditions and grid nonuniformities, and yield numerical schemes with high resolving power, where the order of accuracy is a mere input parameter. This paper reviews the progress made on the development and application of B-spline numerical methods to computational fluid dynamics problems. Basic B-spline approximation properties is investigated, and their relationship with conventional numerical methods is reviewed. Some fundamental developments towards efficient complex geometry spline methods are covered, such as local interpolation methods, fast solution algorithms on cartesian grid, non-conformal block-structured discretization, formulation of spline bases of higher continuity over triangulation, and treatment of pressure oscillations in Navier-Stokes equations. Application of some of these techniques to the computation of viscous incompressible flows is presented.

Impact of nonrigid motion correction technique on pixel-wise pharmacokinetic analysis of free-breathing pulmonary dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging.

PubMed

Tokuda, Junichi; Mamata, Hatsuho; Gill, Ritu R; Hata, Nobuhiko; Kikinis, Ron; Padera, Robert F; Lenkinski, Robert E; Sugarbaker, David J; Hatabu, Hiroto

2011-04-01

To investigates the impact of nonrigid motion correction on pixel-wise pharmacokinetic analysis of free-breathing DCE-MRI in patients with solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs). Misalignment of focal lesions due to respiratory motion in free-breathing dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) precludes obtaining reliable time-intensity curves, which are crucial for pharmacokinetic analysis for tissue characterization. Single-slice 2D DCE-MRI was obtained in 15 patients. Misalignments of SPNs were corrected using nonrigid B-spline image registration. Pixel-wise pharmacokinetic parameters K(trans) , v(e) , and k(ep) were estimated from both original and motion-corrected DCE-MRI by fitting the two-compartment pharmacokinetic model to the time-intensity curve obtained in each pixel. The "goodness-of-fit" was tested with χ(2) -test in pixel-by-pixel basis to evaluate the reliability of the parameters. The percentages of reliable pixels within the SPNs were compared between the original and motion-corrected DCE-MRI. In addition, the parameters obtained from benign and malignant SPNs were compared. The percentage of reliable pixels in the motion-corrected DCE-MRI was significantly larger than the original DCE-MRI (P = 4 × 10(-7) ). Both K(trans) and k(ep) derived from the motion-corrected DCE-MRI showed significant differences between benign and malignant SPNs (P = 0.024, 0.015). The study demonstrated the impact of nonrigid motion correction technique on pixel-wise pharmacokinetic analysis of free-breathing DCE-MRI in SPNs. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Fast parallel image registration on CPU and GPU for diagnostic classification of Alzheimer's disease

PubMed Central

Shamonin, Denis P.; Bron, Esther E.; Lelieveldt, Boudewijn P. F.; Smits, Marion; Klein, Stefan; Staring, Marius

2013-01-01

Nonrigid image registration is an important, but time-consuming task in medical image analysis. In typical neuroimaging studies, multiple image registrations are performed, i.e., for atlas-based segmentation or template construction. Faster image registration routines would therefore be beneficial. In this paper we explore acceleration of the image registration package elastix by a combination of several techniques: (i) parallelization on the CPU, to speed up the cost function derivative calculation; (ii) parallelization on the GPU building on and extending the OpenCL framework from ITKv4, to speed up the Gaussian pyramid computation and the image resampling step; (iii) exploitation of certain properties of the B-spline transformation model; (iv) further software optimizations. The accelerated registration tool is employed in a study on diagnostic classification of Alzheimer's disease and cognitively normal controls based on T1-weighted MRI. We selected 299 participants from the publicly available Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database. Classification is performed with a support vector machine based on gray matter volumes as a marker for atrophy. We evaluated two types of strategies (voxel-wise and region-wise) that heavily rely on nonrigid image registration. Parallelization and optimization resulted in an acceleration factor of 4–5x on an 8-core machine. Using OpenCL a speedup factor of 2 was realized for computation of the Gaussian pyramids, and 15–60 for the resampling step, for larger images. The voxel-wise and the region-wise classification methods had an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 88 and 90%, respectively, both for standard and accelerated registration. We conclude that the image registration package elastix was substantially accelerated, with nearly identical results to the non-optimized version. The new functionality will become available in the next release of elastix as open source under the BSD license

A Bayesian nonrigid registration method to enhance intraoperative target definition in image-guided prostate procedures through uncertainty characterization

PubMed Central

Pursley, Jennifer; Risholm, Petter; Fedorov, Andriy; Tuncali, Kemal; Fennessy, Fiona M.; Wells, William M.; Tempany, Clare M.; Cormack, Robert A.

2012-01-01

Purpose: This study introduces a probabilistic nonrigid registration method for use in image-guided prostate brachytherapy. Intraoperative imaging for prostate procedures, usually transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), is typically inferior to diagnostic-quality imaging of the pelvis such as endorectal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MR images contain superior detail of the prostate boundaries and provide substructure features not otherwise visible. Previous efforts to register diagnostic prostate images with the intraoperative coordinate system have been deterministic and did not offer a measure of the registration uncertainty. The authors developed a Bayesian registration method to estimate the posterior distribution on deformations and provide a case-specific measure of the associated registration uncertainty. Methods: The authors adapted a biomechanical-based probabilistic nonrigid method to register diagnostic to intraoperative images by aligning a physician's segmentations of the prostate in the two images. The posterior distribution was characterized with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method; the maximum a posteriori deformation and the associated uncertainty were estimated from the collection of deformation samples drawn from the posterior distribution. The authors validated the registration method using a dataset created from ten patients with MRI-guided prostate biopsies who had both diagnostic and intraprocedural 3 Tesla MRI scans. The accuracy and precision of the estimated posterior distribution on deformations were evaluated from two predictive distance distributions: between the deformed central zone-peripheral zone (CZ-PZ) interface and the physician-labeled interface, and based on physician-defined landmarks. Geometric margins on the registration of the prostate's peripheral zone were determined from the posterior predictive distance to the CZ-PZ interface separately for the base, mid-gland, and apical regions of the prostate. Results: The authors observed

An image warping technique for rodent brain MRI-histology registration based on thin-plate splines with landmark optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yutong; Uberti, Mariano; Dou, Huanyu; Mosley, R. Lee; Gendelman, Howard E.; Boska, Michael D.

2009-02-01

Coregistration of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with histology provides validation of disease biomarker and pathobiology studies. Although thin-plate splines are widely used in such image registration, point landmark selection is error prone and often time-consuming. We present a technique to optimize landmark selection for thin-plate splines and demonstrate its usefulness in warping rodent brain MRI to histological sections. In this technique, contours are drawn on the corresponding MRI slices and images of histological sections. The landmarks are extracted from the contours by equal spacing then optimized by minimizing a cost function consisting of the landmark displacement and contour curvature. The technique was validated using simulation data and brain MRI-histology coregistration in a murine model of HIV-1 encephalitis. Registration error was quantified by calculating target registration error (TRE). The TRE of approximately 8 pixels for 20-80 landmarks without optimization was stable at different landmark numbers. The optimized results were more accurate at low landmark numbers (TRE of approximately 2 pixels for 50 landmarks), while the accuracy decreased (TRE approximately 8 pixels for larger numbers of landmarks (70- 80). The results demonstrated that registration accuracy decreases with the increasing landmark numbers offering more confidence in MRI-histology registration using thin-plate splines.

Bayesian B-spline mapping for dynamic quantitative traits.

PubMed

Xing, Jun; Li, Jiahan; Yang, Runqing; Zhou, Xiaojing; Xu, Shizhong

2012-04-01

Owing to their ability and flexibility to describe individual gene expression at different time points, random regression (RR) analyses have become a popular procedure for the genetic analysis of dynamic traits whose phenotypes are collected over time. Specifically, when modelling the dynamic patterns of gene expressions in the RR framework, B-splines have been proved successful as an alternative to orthogonal polynomials. In the so-called Bayesian B-spline quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, B-splines are used to characterize the patterns of QTL effects and individual-specific time-dependent environmental errors over time, and the Bayesian shrinkage estimation method is employed to estimate model parameters. Extensive simulations demonstrate that (1) in terms of statistical power, Bayesian B-spline mapping outperforms the interval mapping based on the maximum likelihood; (2) for the simulated dataset with complicated growth curve simulated by B-splines, Legendre polynomial-based Bayesian mapping is not capable of identifying the designed QTLs accurately, even when higher-order Legendre polynomials are considered and (3) for the simulated dataset using Legendre polynomials, the Bayesian B-spline mapping can find the same QTLs as those identified by Legendre polynomial analysis. All simulation results support the necessity and flexibility of B-spline in Bayesian mapping of dynamic traits. The proposed method is also applied to a real dataset, where QTLs controlling the growth trajectory of stem diameters in Populus are located.

A Bayesian nonrigid registration method to enhance intraoperative target definition in image-guided prostate procedures through uncertainty characterization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pursley, Jennifer; Risholm, Petter; Fedorov, Andriy

2012-11-15

Purpose: This study introduces a probabilistic nonrigid registration method for use in image-guided prostate brachytherapy. Intraoperative imaging for prostate procedures, usually transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), is typically inferior to diagnostic-quality imaging of the pelvis such as endorectal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MR images contain superior detail of the prostate boundaries and provide substructure features not otherwise visible. Previous efforts to register diagnostic prostate images with the intraoperative coordinate system have been deterministic and did not offer a measure of the registration uncertainty. The authors developed a Bayesian registration method to estimate the posterior distribution on deformations and provide a case-specific measuremore » of the associated registration uncertainty. Methods: The authors adapted a biomechanical-based probabilistic nonrigid method to register diagnostic to intraoperative images by aligning a physician's segmentations of the prostate in the two images. The posterior distribution was characterized with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method; the maximum a posteriori deformation and the associated uncertainty were estimated from the collection of deformation samples drawn from the posterior distribution. The authors validated the registration method using a dataset created from ten patients with MRI-guided prostate biopsies who had both diagnostic and intraprocedural 3 Tesla MRI scans. The accuracy and precision of the estimated posterior distribution on deformations were evaluated from two predictive distance distributions: between the deformed central zone-peripheral zone (CZ-PZ) interface and the physician-labeled interface, and based on physician-defined landmarks. Geometric margins on the registration of the prostate's peripheral zone were determined from the posterior predictive distance to the CZ-PZ interface separately for the base, mid-gland, and apical regions of the prostate. Results: The authors

Evaluation of non-rigid constrained CT/CBCT registration algorithms for delineation propagation in the context of prostate cancer radiotherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubeaux, Mathieu; Simon, Antoine; Gnep, Khemara; Colliaux, Jérémy; Acosta, Oscar; de Crevoisier, Renaud; Haigron, Pascal

2013-03-01

Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) aims at increasing the precision of radiation dose delivery. In the context of prostate cancer, a planning Computed Tomography (CT) image with manually defined prostate and organs at risk (OAR) delineations is usually associated with daily Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) follow-up images. The CBCT images allow to visualize the prostate position and to reposition the patient accordingly. They also should be used to evaluate the dose received by the organs at each fraction of the treatment. To do so, the first step is a prostate and OAR segmentation on the daily CBCTs, which is very timeconsuming. To simplify this task, CT to CBCT non-rigid registration could be used in order to propagate the original CT delineations in the CBCT images. For this aim, we compared several non-rigid registration methods. They are all based on the Mutual Information (MI) similarity measure, and use a BSpline transformation model. But we add different constraints to this global scheme in order to evaluate their impact on the final results. These algorithms are investigated on two real datasets, representing a total of 70 CBCT on which a reference delineation has been realized. The evaluation is led using the Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) as a quality criteria. The experiments show that a rigid penalty term on the bones improves the final registration result, providing high quality propagated delineations.

GPU-based stochastic-gradient optimization for non-rigid medical image registration in time-critical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhosale, Parag; Staring, Marius; Al-Ars, Zaid; Berendsen, Floris F.

2018-03-01

Currently, non-rigid image registration algorithms are too computationally intensive to use in time-critical applications. Existing implementations that focus on speed typically address this by either parallelization on GPU-hardware, or by introducing methodically novel techniques into CPU-oriented algorithms. Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) optimization and variations thereof have proven to drastically reduce the computational burden for CPU-based image registration, but have not been successfully applied in GPU hardware due to its stochastic nature. This paper proposes 1) NiftyRegSGD, a SGD optimization for the GPU-based image registration tool NiftyReg, 2) random chunk sampler, a new random sampling strategy that better utilizes the memory bandwidth of GPU hardware. Experiments have been performed on 3D lung CT data of 19 patients, which compared NiftyRegSGD (with and without random chunk sampler) with CPU-based elastix Fast Adaptive SGD (FASGD) and NiftyReg. The registration runtime was 21.5s, 4.4s and 2.8s for elastix-FASGD, NiftyRegSGD without, and NiftyRegSGD with random chunk sampling, respectively, while similar accuracy was obtained. Our method is publicly available at https://github.com/SuperElastix/NiftyRegSGD.

Color management with a hammer: the B-spline fitter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, Ian E.; Liu, Bonny H. P.

2003-01-01

To paraphrase Abraham Maslow: If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. We have a B-spline fitter customized for 3D color data, and many problems in color management can be solved with this tool. Whereas color devices were once modeled with extensive measurement, look-up tables and trilinear interpolation, recent improvements in hardware have made B-spline models an affordable alternative. Such device characterizations require fewer color measurements than piecewise linear models, and have uses beyond simple interpolation. A B-spline fitter, for example, can act as a filter to remove noise from measurements, leaving a model with guaranteed smoothness. Inversion of the device model can then be carried out consistently and efficiently, as the spline model is well behaved and its derivatives easily computed. Spline-based algorithms also exist for gamut mapping, the composition of maps, and the extrapolation of a gamut. Trilinear interpolation---a degree-one spline---can still be used after nonlinear spline smoothing for high-speed evaluation with robust convergence. Using data from several color devices, this paper examines the use of B-splines as a generic tool for modeling devices and mapping one gamut to another, and concludes with applications to high-dimensional and spectral data.

Object-constrained meshless deformable algorithm for high speed 3D nonrigid registration between CT and CBCT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen Ting; Kim, Sung; Goyal, Sharad

2010-01-15

Purpose: High-speed nonrigid registration between the planning CT and the treatment CBCT data is critical for real time image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) to improve the dose distribution and to reduce the toxicity to adjacent organs. The authors propose a new fully automatic 3D registration framework that integrates object-based global and seed constraints with the grayscale-based ''demons'' algorithm. Methods: Clinical objects were segmented on the planning CT images and were utilized as meshless deformable models during the nonrigid registration process. The meshless models reinforced a global constraint in addition to the grayscale difference between CT and CBCT in order to maintainmore » the shape and the volume of geometrically complex 3D objects during the registration. To expedite the registration process, the framework was stratified into hierarchies, and the authors used a frequency domain formulation to diffuse the displacement between the reference and the target in each hierarchy. Also during the registration of pelvis images, they replaced the air region inside the rectum with estimated pixel values from the surrounding rectal wall and introduced an additional seed constraint to robustly track and match the seeds implanted into the prostate. The proposed registration framework and algorithm were evaluated on 15 real prostate cancer patients. For each patient, prostate gland, seminal vesicle, bladder, and rectum were first segmented by a radiation oncologist on planning CT images for radiotherapy planning purpose. The same radiation oncologist also manually delineated the tumor volumes and critical anatomical structures in the corresponding CBCT images acquired at treatment. These delineated structures on the CBCT were only used as the ground truth for the quantitative validation, while structures on the planning CT were used both as the input to the registration method and the ground truth in validation. By registering the planning CT to the CBCT, a

Landmark-Based 3D Elastic Registration of Pre- and Postoperative Liver CT Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, Thomas; Wörz, Stefan; Rohr, Karl; Schlag, Peter M.

The qualitative and quantitative comparison of pre- and postoperative image data is an important possibility to validate computer assisted surgical procedures. Due to deformations after surgery a non-rigid registration scheme is a prerequisite for a precise comparison. Interactive landmark-based schemes are a suitable approach. Incorporation of a priori knowledge about the anatomical structures to be registered may help to reduce interaction time and improve accuracy. Concerning pre- and postoperative CT data of oncological liver resections the intrahepatic vessels are suitable anatomical structures. In addition to using landmarks at vessel branchings, we here introduce quasi landmarks at vessel segments with anisotropic localization precision. An experimental comparison of interpolating thin-plate splines (TPS) and Gaussian elastic body splines (GEBS) as well as approximating GEBS on both types of landmarks is performed.

Microscopic validation of whole mouse micro-metastatic tumor imaging agents using cryo-imaging and sliding organ image registration.

PubMed

Liu, Yiqiao; Zhou, Bo; Qutaish, Mohammed; Wilson, David L

2016-01-01

We created a metastasis imaging, analysis platform consisting of software and multi-spectral cryo-imaging system suitable for evaluating emerging imaging agents targeting micro-metastatic tumor. We analyzed CREKA-Gd in MRI, followed by cryo-imaging which repeatedly sectioned and tiled microscope images of the tissue block face, providing anatomical bright field and molecular fluorescence, enabling 3D microscopic imaging of the entire mouse with single metastatic cell sensitivity. To register MRI volumes to the cryo bright field reference, we used our standard mutual information, non-rigid registration which proceeded: preprocess → affine → B-spline non-rigid 3D registration. In this report, we created two modified approaches: mask where we registered locally over a smaller rectangular solid, and sliding organ . Briefly, in sliding organ , we segmented the organ, registered the organ and body volumes separately and combined results. Though s liding organ required manual annotation, it provided the best result as a standard to measure other registration methods. Regularization parameters for standard and mask methods were optimized in a grid search. Evaluations consisted of DICE, and visual scoring of a checkerboard display. Standard had accuracy of 2 voxels in all regions except near the kidney, where there were 5 voxels sliding. After mask and sliding organ correction, kidneys sliding were within 2 voxels, and Dice overlap increased 4%-10% in mask compared to standard . Mask generated comparable results with sliding organ and allowed a semi-automatic process.

Microscopic validation of whole mouse micro-metastatic tumor imaging agents using cryo-imaging and sliding organ image registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yiqiao; Zhou, Bo; Qutaish, Mohammed; Wilson, David L.

2016-03-01

We created a metastasis imaging, analysis platform consisting of software and multi-spectral cryo-imaging system suitable for evaluating emerging imaging agents targeting micro-metastatic tumor. We analyzed CREKA-Gd in MRI, followed by cryo-imaging which repeatedly sectioned and tiled microscope images of the tissue block face, providing anatomical bright field and molecular fluorescence, enabling 3D microscopic imaging of the entire mouse with single metastatic cell sensitivity. To register MRI volumes to the cryo bright field reference, we used our standard mutual information, non-rigid registration which proceeded: preprocess --> affine --> B-spline non-rigid 3D registration. In this report, we created two modified approaches: mask where we registered locally over a smaller rectangular solid, and sliding organ. Briefly, in sliding organ, we segmented the organ, registered the organ and body volumes separately and combined results. Though sliding organ required manual annotation, it provided the best result as a standard to measure other registration methods. Regularization parameters for standard and mask methods were optimized in a grid search. Evaluations consisted of DICE, and visual scoring of a checkerboard display. Standard had accuracy of 2 voxels in all regions except near the kidney, where there were 5 voxels sliding. After mask and sliding organ correction, kidneys sliding were within 2 voxels, and Dice overlap increased 4%-10% in mask compared to standard. Mask generated comparable results with sliding organ and allowed a semi-automatic process.

Interactive deformation registration of endorectal prostate MRI using ITK thin plate splines.

PubMed

Cheung, M Rex; Krishnan, Karthik

2009-03-01

Magnetic resonance imaging with an endorectal coil allows high-resolution imaging of prostate cancer and the surrounding normal organs. These anatomic details can be used to direct radiotherapy. However, organ deformation introduced by the endorectal coil makes it difficult to register magnetic resonance images for treatment planning. In this study, plug-ins for the volume visualization software VolView were implemented on the basis of algorithms from the National Library of Medicine's Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK). Magnetic resonance images of a phantom simulating human pelvic structures were obtained with and without the endorectal coil balloon inflated. The prostate not deformed by the endorectal balloon was registered to the deformed prostate using an ITK thin plate spline (TPS). This plug-in allows the use of crop planes to limit the deformable registration in the region of interest around the prostate. These crop planes restricted the support of the TPS to the area around the prostate, where most of the deformation occurred. The region outside the crop planes was anchored by grid points. The TPS was more accurate in registering the local deformation of the prostate compared with a TPS variant, the elastic body spline. The TPS was also applied to register an in vivo T(2)-weighted endorectal magnetic resonance image. The intraprostatic tumor was accurately registered. This could potentially guide the boosting of intraprostatic targets. The source and target landmarks were placed graphically. This TPS plug-in allows the registration to be undone. The landmarks could be added, removed, and adjusted in real time and in three dimensions between repeated registrations. This interactive TPS plug-in allows a user to obtain a high level of accuracy satisfactory to a specific application efficiently. Because it is open-source software, the imaging community will be able to validate and improve the algorithm.

A direct method to solve optimal knots of B-spline curves: An application for non-uniform B-spline curves fitting.

PubMed

Dung, Van Than; Tjahjowidodo, Tegoeh

2017-01-01

B-spline functions are widely used in many industrial applications such as computer graphic representations, computer aided design, computer aided manufacturing, computer numerical control, etc. Recently, there exist some demands, e.g. in reverse engineering (RE) area, to employ B-spline curves for non-trivial cases that include curves with discontinuous points, cusps or turning points from the sampled data. The most challenging task in these cases is in the identification of the number of knots and their respective locations in non-uniform space in the most efficient computational cost. This paper presents a new strategy for fitting any forms of curve by B-spline functions via local algorithm. A new two-step method for fast knot calculation is proposed. In the first step, the data is split using a bisecting method with predetermined allowable error to obtain coarse knots. Secondly, the knots are optimized, for both locations and continuity levels, by employing a non-linear least squares technique. The B-spline function is, therefore, obtained by solving the ordinary least squares problem. The performance of the proposed method is validated by using various numerical experimental data, with and without simulated noise, which were generated by a B-spline function and deterministic parametric functions. This paper also discusses the benchmarking of the proposed method to the existing methods in literature. The proposed method is shown to be able to reconstruct B-spline functions from sampled data within acceptable tolerance. It is also shown that, the proposed method can be applied for fitting any types of curves ranging from smooth ones to discontinuous ones. In addition, the method does not require excessive computational cost, which allows it to be used in automatic reverse engineering applications.

3D prostate MR-TRUS non-rigid registration using dual optimization with volume-preserving constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, Wu; Yuan, Jing; Fenster, Aaron

2016-03-01

We introduce an efficient and novel convex optimization-based approach to the challenging non-rigid registration of 3D prostate magnetic resonance (MR) and transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images, which incorporates a new volume preserving constraint to essentially improve the accuracy of targeting suspicious regions during the 3D TRUS guided prostate biopsy. Especially, we propose a fast sequential convex optimization scheme to efficiently minimize the employed highly nonlinear image fidelity function using the robust multi-channel modality independent neighborhood descriptor (MIND) across the two modalities of MR and TRUS. The registration accuracy was evaluated using 10 patient images by calculating the target registration error (TRE) using manually identified corresponding intrinsic fiducials in the whole prostate gland. We also compared the MR and TRUS manually segmented prostate surfaces in the registered images in terms of the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), mean absolute surface distance (MAD), and maximum absolute surface distance (MAXD). Experimental results showed that the proposed method with the introduced volume-preserving prior significantly improves the registration accuracy comparing to the method without the volume-preserving constraint, by yielding an overall mean TRE of 2:0+/-0:7 mm, and an average DSC of 86:5+/-3:5%, MAD of 1:4+/-0:6 mm and MAXD of 6:5+/-3:5 mm.

Alignment of large image series using cubic B-splines tessellation: application to transmission electron microscopy data.

PubMed

Dauguet, Julien; Bock, Davi; Reid, R Clay; Warfield, Simon K

2007-01-01

3D reconstruction from serial 2D microscopy images depends on non-linear alignment of serial sections. For some structures, such as the neuronal circuitry of the brain, very large images at very high resolution are necessary to permit reconstruction. These very large images prevent the direct use of classical registration methods. We propose in this work a method to deal with the non-linear alignment of arbitrarily large 2D images using the finite support properties of cubic B-splines. After initial affine alignment, each large image is split into a grid of smaller overlapping sub-images, which are individually registered using cubic B-splines transformations. Inside the overlapping regions between neighboring sub-images, the coefficients of the knots controlling the B-splines deformations are blended, to create a virtual large grid of knots for the whole image. The sub-images are resampled individually, using the new coefficients, and assembled together into a final large aligned image. We evaluated the method on a series of large transmission electron microscopy images and our results indicate significant improvements compared to both manual and affine alignment.

Dynamic Non-Rigid Objects Reconstruction with a Single RGB-D Sensor

PubMed Central

Zuo, Xinxin; Du, Chao; Wang, Runxiao; Zheng, Jiangbin; Yang, Ruigang

2018-01-01

This paper deals with the 3D reconstruction problem for dynamic non-rigid objects with a single RGB-D sensor. It is a challenging task as we consider the almost inevitable accumulation error issue in some previous sequential fusion methods and also the possible failure of surface tracking in a long sequence. Therefore, we propose a global non-rigid registration framework and tackle the drifting problem via an explicit loop closure. Our novel scheme starts with a fusion step to get multiple partial scans from the input sequence, followed by a pairwise non-rigid registration and loop detection step to obtain correspondences between neighboring partial pieces and those pieces that form a loop. Then, we perform a global registration procedure to align all those pieces together into a consistent canonical space as guided by those matches that we have established. Finally, our proposed model-update step helps fixing potential misalignments that still exist after the global registration. Both geometric and appearance constraints are enforced during our alignment; therefore, we are able to get the recovered model with accurate geometry as well as high fidelity color maps for the mesh. Experiments on both synthetic and various real datasets have demonstrated the capability of our approach to reconstruct complete and watertight deformable objects. PMID:29547562

Experimental comparison of landmark-based methods for 3D elastic registration of pre- and postoperative liver CT data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, Thomas; Wörz, Stefan; Rohr, Karl; Schlag, Peter M.

2009-02-01

The qualitative and quantitative comparison of pre- and postoperative image data is an important possibility to validate surgical procedures, in particular, if computer assisted planning and/or navigation is performed. Due to deformations after surgery, partially caused by the removal of tissue, a non-rigid registration scheme is a prerequisite for a precise comparison. Interactive landmark-based schemes are a suitable approach, if high accuracy and reliability is difficult to achieve by automatic registration approaches. Incorporation of a priori knowledge about the anatomical structures to be registered may help to reduce interaction time and improve accuracy. Concerning pre- and postoperative CT data of oncological liver resections the intrahepatic vessels are suitable anatomical structures. In addition to using branching landmarks for registration, we here introduce quasi landmarks at vessel segments with high localization precision perpendicular to the vessels and low precision along the vessels. A comparison of interpolating thin-plate splines (TPS), interpolating Gaussian elastic body splines (GEBS) and approximating GEBS on landmarks at vessel branchings as well as approximating GEBS on the introduced vessel segment landmarks is performed. It turns out that the segment landmarks provide registration accuracies as good as branching landmarks and can improve accuracy if combined with branching landmarks. For a low number of landmarks segment landmarks are even superior.

An Adaptive MR-CT Registration Method for MRI-guided Prostate Cancer Radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Zhong, Hualiang; Wen, Ning; Gordon, James; Elshaikh, Mohamed A; Movsas, Benjamin; Chetty, Indrin J.

2015-01-01

Magnetic Resonance images (MRI) have superior soft tissue contrast compared with CT images. Therefore, MRI might be a better imaging modality to differentiate the prostate from surrounding normal organs. Methods to accurately register MRI to simulation CT images are essential, as we transition the use of MRI into the routine clinic setting. In this study, we present a finite element method (FEM) to improve the performance of a commercially available, B-spline-based registration algorithm in the prostate region. Specifically, prostate contours were delineated independently on ten MRI and CT images using the Eclipse treatment planning system. Each pair of MRI and CT images was registered with the B-spline-based algorithm implemented in the VelocityAI system. A bounding box that contains the prostate volume in the CT image was selected and partitioned into a tetrahedral mesh. An adaptive finite element method was then developed to adjust the displacement vector fields (DVFs) of the B-spline-based registrations within the box. The B-spline and FEM-based registrations were evaluated based on the variations of prostate volume and tumor centroid, the unbalanced energy of the generated DVFs, and the clarity of the reconstructed anatomical structures. The results showed that the volumes of the prostate contours warped with the B-spline-based DVFs changed 10.2% on average, relative to the volumes of the prostate contours on the original MR images. This discrepancy was reduced to 1.5% for the FEM-based DVFs. The average unbalanced energy was 2.65 and 0.38 mJ/cm3, and the prostate centroid deviation was 0.37 and 0.28 cm, for the B-spline and FEM-based registrations, respectively. Different from the B-spline-warped MR images, the FEM-warped MR images have clear boundaries between prostates and bladders, and their internal prostatic structures are consistent with those of the original MR images. In summary, the developed adaptive FEM method preserves the prostate volume during

An adaptive MR-CT registration method for MRI-guided prostate cancer radiotherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Hualiang; Wen, Ning; Gordon, James J.; Elshaikh, Mohamed A.; Movsas, Benjamin; Chetty, Indrin J.

2015-04-01

Magnetic Resonance images (MRI) have superior soft tissue contrast compared with CT images. Therefore, MRI might be a better imaging modality to differentiate the prostate from surrounding normal organs. Methods to accurately register MRI to simulation CT images are essential, as we transition the use of MRI into the routine clinic setting. In this study, we present a finite element method (FEM) to improve the performance of a commercially available, B-spline-based registration algorithm in the prostate region. Specifically, prostate contours were delineated independently on ten MRI and CT images using the Eclipse treatment planning system. Each pair of MRI and CT images was registered with the B-spline-based algorithm implemented in the VelocityAI system. A bounding box that contains the prostate volume in the CT image was selected and partitioned into a tetrahedral mesh. An adaptive finite element method was then developed to adjust the displacement vector fields (DVFs) of the B-spline-based registrations within the box. The B-spline and FEM-based registrations were evaluated based on the variations of prostate volume and tumor centroid, the unbalanced energy of the generated DVFs, and the clarity of the reconstructed anatomical structures. The results showed that the volumes of the prostate contours warped with the B-spline-based DVFs changed 10.2% on average, relative to the volumes of the prostate contours on the original MR images. This discrepancy was reduced to 1.5% for the FEM-based DVFs. The average unbalanced energy was 2.65 and 0.38 mJ cm-3, and the prostate centroid deviation was 0.37 and 0.28 cm, for the B-spline and FEM-based registrations, respectively. Different from the B-spline-warped MR images, the FEM-warped MR images have clear boundaries between prostates and bladders, and their internal prostatic structures are consistent with those of the original MR images. In summary, the developed adaptive FEM method preserves the prostate volume

Physics-based elastic image registration using splines and including landmark localization uncertainties.

PubMed

Wörz, Stefan; Rohr, Karl

2006-01-01

We introduce an elastic registration approach which is based on a physical deformation model and uses Gaussian elastic body splines (GEBS). We formulate an extended energy functional related to the Navier equation under Gaussian forces which also includes landmark localization uncertainties. These uncertainties are characterized by weight matrices representing anisotropic errors. Since the approach is based on a physical deformation model, cross-effects in elastic deformations can be taken into account. Moreover, we have a free parameter to control the locality of the transformation for improved registration of local geometric image differences. We demonstrate the applicability of our scheme based on 3D CT images from the Truth Cube experiment, 2D MR images of the brain, as well as 2D gel electrophoresis images. It turns out that the new scheme achieves more accurate results compared to previous approaches.

B-spline based image tracking by detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balaji, Bhashyam; Sithiravel, Rajiv; Damini, Anthony; Kirubarajan, Thiagalingam; Rajan, Sreeraman

2016-05-01

Visual image tracking involves the estimation of the motion of any desired targets in a surveillance region using a sequence of images. A standard method of isolating moving targets in image tracking uses background subtraction. The standard background subtraction method is often impacted by irrelevant information in the images, which can lead to poor performance in image-based target tracking. In this paper, a B-Spline based image tracking is implemented. The novel method models the background and foreground using the B-Spline method followed by a tracking-by-detection algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated.

Comparison Between Polynomial, Euler Beta-Function and Expo-Rational B-Spline Bases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kristoffersen, Arnt R.; Dechevsky, Lubomir T.; Laksa˚, Arne; Bang, Børre

2011-12-01

Euler Beta-function B-splines (BFBS) are the practically most important instance of generalized expo-rational B-splines (GERBS) which are not true expo-rational B-splines (ERBS). BFBS do not enjoy the full range of the superproperties of ERBS but, while ERBS are special functions computable by a very rapidly converging yet approximate numerical quadrature algorithms, BFBS are explicitly computable piecewise polynomial (for integer multiplicities), similar to classical Schoenberg B-splines. In the present communication we define, compute and visualize for the first time all possible BFBS of degree up to 3 which provide Hermite interpolation in three consecutive knots of multiplicity up to 3, i.e., the function is being interpolated together with its derivatives of order up to 2. We compare the BFBS obtained for different degrees and multiplicities among themselves and versus the classical Schoenberg polynomial B-splines and the true ERBS for the considered knots. The results of the graphical comparison are discussed from analytical point of view. For the numerical computation and visualization of the new B-splines we have used Maple 12.

Effect of registration on corpus callosum population differences found with DBM analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Zhaoying; Thornton-Wells, Tricia A.; Gore, John C.; Dawant, Benoit M.

2011-03-01

Deformation Based Morphometry (DBM) is a relatively new method used for characterizing anatomical differences among populations. DBM is based on the analysis of the deformation fields generated by non-rigid registration algorithms, which warp the individual volumes to one standard coordinate system. Although several studies have compared non-rigid registration algorithms for segmentation tasks, few studies have compared the effect of the registration algorithm on population differences that may be uncovered through DBM. In this study, we compared DBM results obtained with five well established non-rigid registration algorithms on the corpus callosum (CC) in thirteen subjects with Williams Syndrome (WS) and thirteen Normal Control (NC) subjects. The five non-rigid registration algorithms include: (1) The Adaptive Basis Algorithm (ABA); (2) Image Registration Toolkit (IRTK); (3) FSL Nonlinear Image Registration Tool (FSL); (4) Automatic Registration Tools (ART); and (5) the normalization algorithm available in SPM8. For each algorithm, the 3D deformation fields from all subjects to the atlas were obtained and used to calculate the Jacobian determinant (JAC) at each voxel in the mid-sagittal slice of the CC. The mean JAC maps for each group were compared quantitatively across different nonrigid registration algorithms. An ANOVA test performed on the means of the JAC over the Genu and the Splenium ROIs shows the JAC differences between nonrigid registration algorithms are statistically significant over the Genu for both groups and over the Splenium for the NC group. These results suggest that it is important to consider the effect of registration when using DBM to compute morphological differences in populations.

Multi-modal image registration: matching MRI with histology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alic, Lejla; Haeck, Joost C.; Klein, Stefan; Bol, Karin; van Tiel, Sandra T.; Wielopolski, Piotr A.; Bijster, Magda; Niessen, Wiro J.; Bernsen, Monique; Veenland, Jifke F.; de Jong, Marion

2010-03-01

Spatial correspondence between histology and multi sequence MRI can provide information about the capabilities of non-invasive imaging to characterize cancerous tissue. However, shrinkage and deformation occurring during the excision of the tumor and the histological processing complicate the co registration of MR images with histological sections. This work proposes a methodology to establish a detailed 3D relation between histology sections and in vivo MRI tumor data. The key features of the methodology are a very dense histological sampling (up to 100 histology slices per tumor), mutual information based non-rigid B-spline registration, the utilization of the whole 3D data sets, and the exploitation of an intermediate ex vivo MRI. In this proof of concept paper, the methodology was applied to one tumor. We found that, after registration, the visual alignment of tumor borders and internal structures was fairly accurate. Utilizing the intermediate ex vivo MRI, it was possible to account for changes caused by the excision of the tumor: we observed a tumor expansion of 20%. Also the effects of fixation, dehydration and histological sectioning could be determined: 26% shrinkage of the tumor was found. The annotation of viable tissue, performed in histology and transformed to the in vivo MRI, matched clearly with high intensity regions in MRI. With this methodology, histological annotation can be directly related to the corresponding in vivo MRI. This is a vital step for the evaluation of the feasibility of multi-spectral MRI to depict histological groundtruth.

Robust feature estimation by non-rigid hierarchical image registration and its application in disparity measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badshah, Amir; Choudhry, Aadil Jaleel; Ullah, Shan

2017-03-01

Industries are moving towards automation in order to increase productivity and ensure quality. Variety of electronic and electromagnetic systems are being employed to assist human operator in fast and accurate quality inspection of products. Majority of these systems are equipped with cameras and rely on diverse image processing algorithms. Information is lost in 2D image, therefore acquiring accurate 3D data from 2D images is an open issue. FAST, SURF and SIFT are well-known spatial domain techniques for features extraction and henceforth image registration to find correspondence between images. The efficiency of these methods is measured in terms of the number of perfect matches found. A novel fast and robust technique for stereo-image processing is proposed. It is based on non-rigid registration using modified normalized phase correlation. The proposed method registers two images in hierarchical fashion using quad-tree structure. The registration process works through global to local level resulting in robust matches even in presence of blur and noise. The computed matches can further be utilized to determine disparity and depth for industrial product inspection. The same can be used in driver assistance systems. The preliminary tests on Middlebury dataset produced satisfactory results. The execution time for a 413 x 370 stereo-pair is 500ms approximately on a low cost DSP.

Registration of segmented histological images using thin plate splines and belief propagation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kybic, Jan

2014-03-01

We register images based on their multiclass segmentations, for cases when correspondence of local features cannot be established. A discrete mutual information is used as a similarity criterion. It is evaluated at a sparse set of location on the interfaces between classes. A thin-plate spline regularization is approximated by pairwise interactions. The problem is cast into a discrete setting and solved efficiently by belief propagation. Further speedup and robustness is provided by a multiresolution framework. Preliminary experiments suggest that our method can provide similar registration quality to standard methods at a fraction of the computational cost.

A B-spline Galerkin method for the Dirac equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Froese Fischer, Charlotte; Zatsarinny, Oleg

2009-06-01

The B-spline Galerkin method is first investigated for the simple eigenvalue problem, y=-λy, that can also be written as a pair of first-order equations y=λz, z=-λy. Expanding both y(r) and z(r) in the B basis results in many spurious solutions such as those observed for the Dirac equation. However, when y(r) is expanded in the B basis and z(r) in the dB/dr basis, solutions of the well-behaved second-order differential equation are obtained. From this analysis, we propose a stable method ( B,B) basis for the Dirac equation and evaluate its accuracy by comparing the computed and exact R-matrix for a wide range of nuclear charges Z and angular quantum numbers κ. When splines of the same order are used, many spurious solutions are found whereas none are found for splines of different order. Excellent agreement is obtained for the R-matrix and energies for bound states for low values of Z. For high Z, accuracy requires the use of a grid with many points near the nucleus. We demonstrate the accuracy of the bound-state wavefunctions by comparing integrals arising in hyperfine interaction matrix elements with exact analytic expressions. We also show that the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule is not a good measure of the quality of the solutions obtained by the B-spline Galerkin method whereas the R-matrix is very sensitive to the appearance of pseudo-states.

Dealing with difficult deformations: construction of a knowledge-based deformation atlas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorup, S. S.; Darvann, T. A.; Hermann, N. V.; Larsen, P.; Ólafsdóttir, H.; Paulsen, R. R.; Kane, A. A.; Govier, D.; Lo, L.-J.; Kreiborg, S.; Larsen, R.

2010-03-01

Twenty-three Taiwanese infants with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) were CT-scanned before lip repair at the age of 3 months, and again after lip repair at the age of 12 months. In order to evaluate the surgical result, detailed point correspondence between pre- and post-surgical images was needed. We have previously demonstrated that non-rigid registration using B-splines is able to provide automated determination of point correspondences in populations of infants without cleft lip. However, this type of registration fails when applied to the task of determining the complex deformation from before to after lip closure in infants with UCLP. The purpose of the present work was to show that use of prior information about typical deformations due to lip closure, through the construction of a knowledge-based atlas of deformations, could overcome the problem. Initially, mean volumes (atlases) for the pre- and post-surgical populations, respectively, were automatically constructed by non-rigid registration. An expert placed corresponding landmarks in the cleft area in the two atlases; this provided prior information used to build a knowledge-based deformation atlas. We model the change from pre- to post-surgery using thin-plate spline warping. The registration results are convincing and represent a first move towards an automatic registration method for dealing with difficult deformations due to this type of surgery.

Extracting a Purely Non-rigid Deformation Field of a Single Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demirci, Stefanie; Manstad-Hulaas, Frode; Navab, Nassir

During endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) treatment, the aortic shape is subject to severe deformation that is imposed by medical instruments such as guide wires, catheters, and the stent graft. The problem definition of deformable registration of images covering the entire abdominal region, however, is highly ill-posed. We present a new method for extracting the deformation of an aneurysmatic aorta. The outline of the procedure includes initial rigid alignment of two abdominal scans, segmentation of abdominal vessel trees, and automatic reduction of their centerline structures to one specified region of interest around the aorta. Our non-rigid registration procedure then only computes local non-rigid deformation and leaves out all remaining global rigid transformations. In order to evaluate our method, experiments for the extraction of aortic deformation fields are conducted on 15 patient datasets from endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) treatment. A visual assessment of the registration results were performed by two vascular surgeons and one interventional radiologist who are all experts in EVAR procedures.

Using manual prostate contours to enhance deformable registration of endorectal MRI.

PubMed

Cheung, M R; Krishnan, K

2012-10-01

Endorectal MRI provides detailed images of the prostate anatomy and is useful for radiation treatment planning. Here we describe a Demons field-initialized B-spline deformable registration of prostate MRI. T2-weighted endorectal MRIs of five patients were used. The prostate and the tumor of each patient were manually contoured. The planning MRIs and their segmentations were simulated by warping the corresponding endorectal MRIs using thin plate spline (TPS). Deformable registration was initialized using the deformation field generated using Demons algorithm to map the deformed prostate MRI to the non-deformed one. The solution was refined with B-Spline registration. Volume overlap similarity was used to assess the accuracy of registration and to suggest a minimum margin to account for the registration errors. Initialization using Demons algorithm took about 15 min on a computer with 2.8 GHz Intel, 1.3 GB RAM. Refinement B-spline registration (200 iterations) took less than 5 min. Using the synthetic images as the ground truth, at zero margin, the average (S.D.) 98 (±0.4)% for prostate coverage was 97 (±1)% for tumor. The average (±S.D.) treatment margin required to cover the entire prostate was 1.5 (±0.2)mm. The average (± S.D.) treatment margin required to cover the tumor was 0.7 (±0.1)mm. We also demonstrated the challenges in registering an in vivo deformed MRI to an in vivo non-deformed MRI. We here present a deformable registration scheme that can overcome large deformation. This platform is expected to be useful for prostate cancer radiation treatment planning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interpolation by new B-splines on a four directional mesh of the plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nouisser, O.; Sbibih, D.

2004-01-01

In this paper we construct new simple and composed B-splines on the uniform four directional mesh of the plane, in order to improve the approximation order of B-splines studied in Sablonniere (in: Program on Spline Functions and the Theory of Wavelets, Proceedings and Lecture Notes, Vol. 17, University of Montreal, 1998, pp. 67-78). If φ is such a simple B-spline, we first determine the space of polynomials with maximal total degree included in , and we prove some results concerning the linear independence of the family . Next, we show that the cardinal interpolation with φ is correct and we study in S(φ) a Lagrange interpolation problem. Finally, we define composed B-splines by repeated convolution of φ with the characteristic functions of a square or a lozenge, and we give some of their properties.

Development and application of pulmonary structure-function registration methods: towards pulmonary image-guidance tools for improved airway targeted therapies and outcomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Fumin; Pike, Damien; Svenningsen, Sarah; Coxson, Harvey O.; Drozd, John J.; Yuan, Jing; Fenster, Aaron; Parraga, Grace

2014-03-01

Objectives: We aimed to develop a way to rapidly generate multi-modality (MRI-CT) pulmonary imaging structurefunction maps using novel non-rigid image registration methods. This objective is part of our overarching goal to provide an image processing pipeline to generate pulmonary structure-function maps and guide airway-targeted therapies. Methods: Anatomical 1H and functional 3He MRI were acquired in 5 healthy asymptomatic ex-smokers and 7 ex-smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at inspiration breath-hold. Thoracic CT was performed within ten minutes of MRI using the same breath-hold volume. Landmark-based affine registration methods previously validated for imaging of COPD, was based on corresponding fiducial markers located in both CT and 1H MRI coronal slices and compared with shape-based CT-MRI non-rigid registration. Shape-based CT-MRI registration was developed by first identifying the shapes of the lung cavities manually, and then registering the two shapes using affine and thin-plate spline algorithms. We compared registration accuracy using the fiducial localization error (FLE) and target registration error (TRE). Results: For landmark-based registration, the TRE was 8.4±5.3 mm for whole lung and 7.8±4.6 mm for the R and L lungs registered independently (p=0.4). For shape-based registration, the TRE was 8.0±4.6 mm for whole lung as compared to 6.9±4.4 mm for the R and L lung registered independently and this difference was significant (p=0.01). The difference for shape-based (6.9±4.4 mm) and landmark-based R and L lung registration (7.8±4.6 mm) was also significant (p=.04) Conclusion: Shape-based registration TRE was significantly improved compared to landmark-based registration when considering L and R lungs independently.

Adaptive mesh optimization and nonrigid motion recovery based image registration for wide-field-of-view ultrasound imaging.

PubMed

Tan, Chaowei; Wang, Bo; Liu, Paul; Liu, Dong

2008-01-01

Wide field of view (WFOV) imaging mode obtains an ultrasound image over an area much larger than the real time window normally available. As the probe is moved over the region of interest, new image frames are combined with prior frames to form a panorama image. Image registration techniques are used to recover the probe motion, eliminating the need for a position sensor. Speckle patterns, which are inherent in ultrasound imaging, change, or become decorrelated, as the scan plane moves, so we pre-smooth the image to reduce the effects of speckle in registration, as well as reducing effects from thermal noise. Because we wish to track the movement of features such as structural boundaries, we use an adaptive mesh over the entire smoothed image to home in on areas with feature. Motion estimation using blocks centered at the individual mesh nodes generates a field of motion vectors. After angular correction of motion vectors, we model the overall movement between frames as a nonrigid deformation. The polygon filling algorithm for precise, persistence-based spatial compounding constructs the final speckle reduced WFOV image.

Multivariate Spline Algorithms for CAGD

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boehm, W.

1985-01-01

Two special polyhedra present themselves for the definition of B-splines: a simplex S and a box or parallelepiped B, where the edges of S project into an irregular grid, while the edges of B project into the edges of a regular grid. More general splines may be found by forming linear combinations of these B-splines, where the three-dimensional coefficients are called the spline control points. Univariate splines are simplex splines, where s = 1, whereas splines over a regular triangular grid are box splines, where s = 2. Two simple facts render the development of the construction of B-splines: (1) any face of a simplex or a box is again a simplex or box but of lower dimension; and (2) any simplex or box can be easily subdivided into smaller simplices or boxes. The first fact gives a geometric approach to Mansfield-like recursion formulas that express a B-spline in B-splines of lower order, where the coefficients depend on x. By repeated recursion, the B-spline will be expressed as B-splines of order 1; i.e., piecewise constants. In the case of a simplex spline, the second fact gives a so-called insertion algorithm that constructs the new control points if an additional knot is inserted.

Hyperspectral imaging for cancer surgical margin delineation: registration of hyperspectral and histological images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Guolan; Halig, Luma; Wang, Dongsheng; Chen, Zhuo G.; Fei, Baowei

2014-03-01

The determination of tumor margins during surgical resection remains a challenging task. A complete removal of malignant tissue and conservation of healthy tissue is important for the preservation of organ function, patient satisfaction, and quality of life. Visual inspection and palpation is not sufficient for discriminating between malignant and normal tissue types. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology has the potential to noninvasively delineate surgical tumor margin and can be used as an intra-operative visual aid tool. Since histological images provide the ground truth of cancer margins, it is necessary to warp the cancer regions in ex vivo histological images back to in vivo hyperspectral images in order to validate the tumor margins detected by HSI and to optimize the imaging parameters. In this paper, principal component analysis (PCA) is utilized to extract the principle component bands of the HSI images, which is then used to register HSI images with the corresponding histological image. Affine registration is chosen to model the global transformation. A B-spline free form deformation (FFD) method is used to model the local non-rigid deformation. Registration experiment was performed on animal hyperspectral and histological images. Experimental results from animals demonstrated the feasibility of the hyperspectral imaging method for cancer margin detection.

Bicubic uniform B-spline wavefront fitting technology applied in computer-generated holograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Hui; Sun, Jun-qiang; Chen, Guo-jie

2006-02-01

This paper presented a bicubic uniform B-spline wavefront fitting technology to figure out the analytical expression for object wavefront used in Computer-Generated Holograms (CGHs). In many cases, to decrease the difficulty of optical processing, off-axis CGHs rather than complex aspherical surface elements are used in modern advanced military optical systems. In order to design and fabricate off-axis CGH, we have to fit out the analytical expression for object wavefront. Zernike Polynomial is competent for fitting wavefront of centrosymmetric optical systems, but not for axisymmetrical optical systems. Although adopting high-degree polynomials fitting method would achieve higher fitting precision in all fitting nodes, the greatest shortcoming of this method is that any departure from the fitting nodes would result in great fitting error, which is so-called pulsation phenomenon. Furthermore, high-degree polynomials fitting method would increase the calculation time in coding computer-generated hologram and solving basic equation. Basing on the basis function of cubic uniform B-spline and the character mesh of bicubic uniform B-spline wavefront, bicubic uniform B-spline wavefront are described as the product of a series of matrices. Employing standard MATLAB routines, four kinds of different analytical expressions for object wavefront are fitted out by bicubic uniform B-spline as well as high-degree polynomials. Calculation results indicate that, compared with high-degree polynomials, bicubic uniform B-spline is a more competitive method to fit out the analytical expression for object wavefront used in off-axis CGH, for its higher fitting precision and C2 continuity.

SU-G-IeP2-06: Evaluation of Registration Accuracy for Cone-Beam CT Reconstruction Techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, J; Wang, P; Zhang, H

2016-06-15

Purpose: Cone-beam (CB) computed tomography (CT) is used for image guidance during radiotherapy treatment delivery. Conventional Feldkamp and compressed sensing (CS) based CBCT recon-struction techniques are compared for image registration. This study is to evaluate the image registration accuracy of conventional and CS CBCT for head-and-neck (HN) patients. Methods: Ten HN patients with oropharyngeal tumors were retrospectively selected. Each HN patient had one planning CT (CTP) and three CBCTs were acquired during an adaptive radiotherapy proto-col. Each CBCT was reconstructed by both the conventional (CBCTCON) and compressed sens-ing (CBCTCS) methods. Two oncologists manually labeled 23 landmarks of normal tissue andmore » implanted gold markers on both the CTP and CBCTCON. Subsequently, landmarks on CTp were propagated to CBCTs, using a b-spline-based deformable image registration (DIR) and rigid registration (RR). The errors of these registration methods between two CBCT methods were calcu-lated. Results: For DIR, the mean distance between the propagated and the labeled landmarks was 2.8 mm ± 0.52 for CBCTCS, and 3.5 mm ± 0.75 for CBCTCON. For RR, the mean distance between the propagated and the labeled landmarks was 6.8 mm ± 0.92 for CBCTCS, and 8.7 mm ± 0.95 CBCTCON. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that CS CBCT is more accurate than conventional CBCT in image registration by both rigid and non-rigid methods. It is potentially suggested that CS CBCT is an improved image modality for image guided adaptive applications.« less

Analysis of deformable image registration accuracy using computational modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhong Hualiang; Kim, Jinkoo; Chetty, Indrin J.

2010-03-15

Computer aided modeling of anatomic deformation, allowing various techniques and protocols in radiation therapy to be systematically verified and studied, has become increasingly attractive. In this study the potential issues in deformable image registration (DIR) were analyzed based on two numerical phantoms: One, a synthesized, low intensity gradient prostate image, and the other a lung patient's CT image data set. Each phantom was modeled with region-specific material parameters with its deformation solved using a finite element method. The resultant displacements were used to construct a benchmark to quantify the displacement errors of the Demons and B-Spline-based registrations. The results showmore » that the accuracy of these registration algorithms depends on the chosen parameters, the selection of which is closely associated with the intensity gradients of the underlying images. For the Demons algorithm, both single resolution (SR) and multiresolution (MR) registrations required approximately 300 iterations to reach an accuracy of 1.4 mm mean error in the lung patient's CT image (and 0.7 mm mean error averaged in the lung only). For the low gradient prostate phantom, these algorithms (both SR and MR) required at least 1600 iterations to reduce their mean errors to 2 mm. For the B-Spline algorithms, best performance (mean errors of 1.9 mm for SR and 1.6 mm for MR, respectively) on the low gradient prostate was achieved using five grid nodes in each direction. Adding more grid nodes resulted in larger errors. For the lung patient's CT data set, the B-Spline registrations required ten grid nodes in each direction for highest accuracy (1.4 mm for SR and 1.5 mm for MR). The numbers of iterations or grid nodes required for optimal registrations depended on the intensity gradients of the underlying images. In summary, the performance of the Demons and B-Spline registrations have been quantitatively evaluated using numerical phantoms. The results show that

Random regression analyses using B-splines to model growth of Australian Angus cattle

PubMed Central

Meyer, Karin

2005-01-01

Regression on the basis function of B-splines has been advocated as an alternative to orthogonal polynomials in random regression analyses. Basic theory of splines in mixed model analyses is reviewed, and estimates from analyses of weights of Australian Angus cattle from birth to 820 days of age are presented. Data comprised 84 533 records on 20 731 animals in 43 herds, with a high proportion of animals with 4 or more weights recorded. Changes in weights with age were modelled through B-splines of age at recording. A total of thirteen analyses, considering different combinations of linear, quadratic and cubic B-splines and up to six knots, were carried out. Results showed good agreement for all ages with many records, but fluctuated where data were sparse. On the whole, analyses using B-splines appeared more robust against "end-of-range" problems and yielded more consistent and accurate estimates of the first eigenfunctions than previous, polynomial analyses. A model fitting quadratic B-splines, with knots at 0, 200, 400, 600 and 821 days and a total of 91 covariance components, appeared to be a good compromise between detailedness of the model, number of parameters to be estimated, plausibility of results, and fit, measured as residual mean square error. PMID:16093011

Data reduction using cubic rational B-splines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chou, Jin J.; Piegl, Les A.

1992-01-01

A geometric method is proposed for fitting rational cubic B-spline curves to data that represent smooth curves including intersection or silhouette lines. The algorithm is based on the convex hull and the variation diminishing properties of Bezier/B-spline curves. The algorithm has the following structure: it tries to fit one Bezier segment to the entire data set and if it is impossible it subdivides the data set and reconsiders the subset. After accepting the subset the algorithm tries to find the longest run of points within a tolerance and then approximates this set with a Bezier cubic segment. The algorithm uses this procedure repeatedly to the rest of the data points until all points are fitted. It is concluded that the algorithm delivers fitting curves which approximate the data with high accuracy even in cases with large tolerances.

Nonrigid synthetic aperture radar and optical image coregistration by combining local rigid transformations using a Kohonen network.

PubMed

Salehpour, Mehdi; Behrad, Alireza

2017-10-01

This study proposes a new algorithm for nonrigid coregistration of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical images. The proposed algorithm employs point features extracted by the binary robust invariant scalable keypoints algorithm and a new method called weighted bidirectional matching for initial correspondence. To refine false matches, we assume that the transformation between SAR and optical images is locally rigid. This property is used to refine false matches by assigning scores to matched pairs and clustering local rigid transformations using a two-layer Kohonen network. Finally, the thin plate spline algorithm and mutual information are used for nonrigid coregistration of SAR and optical images.

Numerical solution of system of boundary value problems using B-spline with free parameter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Yogesh

2017-01-01

This paper deals with method of B-spline solution for a system of boundary value problems. The differential equations are useful in various fields of science and engineering. Some interesting real life problems involve more than one unknown function. These result in system of simultaneous differential equations. Such systems have been applied to many problems in mathematics, physics, engineering etc. In present paper, B-spline and B-spline with free parameter methods for the solution of a linear system of second-order boundary value problems are presented. The methods utilize the values of cubic B-spline and its derivatives at nodal points together with the equations of the given system and boundary conditions, ensuing into the linear matrix equation.

Non-rigid registration of 3D ultrasound for neurosurgery using automatic feature detection and matching.

PubMed

Machado, Inês; Toews, Matthew; Luo, Jie; Unadkat, Prashin; Essayed, Walid; George, Elizabeth; Teodoro, Pedro; Carvalho, Herculano; Martins, Jorge; Golland, Polina; Pieper, Steve; Frisken, Sarah; Golby, Alexandra; Wells, William

2018-06-04

The brain undergoes significant structural change over the course of neurosurgery, including highly nonlinear deformation and resection. It can be informative to recover the spatial mapping between structures identified in preoperative surgical planning and the intraoperative state of the brain. We present a novel feature-based method for achieving robust, fully automatic deformable registration of intraoperative neurosurgical ultrasound images. A sparse set of local image feature correspondences is first estimated between ultrasound image pairs, after which rigid, affine and thin-plate spline models are used to estimate dense mappings throughout the image. Correspondences are derived from 3D features, distinctive generic image patterns that are automatically extracted from 3D ultrasound images and characterized in terms of their geometry (i.e., location, scale, and orientation) and a descriptor of local image appearance. Feature correspondences between ultrasound images are achieved based on a nearest-neighbor descriptor matching and probabilistic voting model similar to the Hough transform. Experiments demonstrate our method on intraoperative ultrasound images acquired before and after opening of the dura mater, during resection and after resection in nine clinical cases. A total of 1620 automatically extracted 3D feature correspondences were manually validated by eleven experts and used to guide the registration. Then, using manually labeled corresponding landmarks in the pre- and post-resection ultrasound images, we show that our feature-based registration reduces the mean target registration error from an initial value of 3.3 to 1.5 mm. This result demonstrates that the 3D features promise to offer a robust and accurate solution for 3D ultrasound registration and to correct for brain shift in image-guided neurosurgery.

Multi-contrast MRI registration of carotid arteries based on cross-sectional images and lumen boundaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yu-Xia; Zhang, Xi; Xu, Xiao-Pan; Liu, Yang; Zhang, Guo-Peng; Li, Bao-Juan; Chen, Hui-Jun; Lu, Hong-Bing

2017-02-01

Ischemic stroke has great correlation with carotid atherosclerosis and is mostly caused by vulnerable plaques. It's particularly important to analysis the components of plaques for the detection of vulnerable plaques. Recently plaque analysis based on multi-contrast magnetic resonance imaging has attracted great attention. Though multi-contrast MR imaging has potentials in enhanced demonstration of carotid wall, its performance is hampered by the misalignment of different imaging sequences. In this study, a coarse-to-fine registration strategy based on cross-sectional images and wall boundaries is proposed to solve the problem. It includes two steps: a rigid step using the iterative closest points to register the centerlines of carotid artery extracted from multi-contrast MR images, and a non-rigid step using the thin plate spline to register the lumen boundaries of carotid artery. In the rigid step, the centerline was extracted by tracking the crosssectional images along the vessel direction calculated by Hessian matrix. In the non-rigid step, a shape context descriptor is introduced to find corresponding points of two similar boundaries. In addition, the deterministic annealing technique is used to find a globally optimized solution. The proposed strategy was evaluated by newly developed three-dimensional, fast and high resolution multi-contrast black blood MR imaging. Quantitative validation indicated that after registration, the overlap of two boundaries from different sequences is 95%, and their mean surface distance is 0.12 mm. In conclusion, the proposed algorithm has improved the accuracy of registration effectively for further component analysis of carotid plaques.

A GPU-based symmetric non-rigid image registration method in human lung.

PubMed

Haghighi, Babak; D Ellingwood, Nathan; Yin, Youbing; Hoffman, Eric A; Lin, Ching-Long

2018-03-01

Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) of the lungs plays an increasing role in identifying sub-phenotypes of pathologies previously lumped into broad categories such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Methods for image matching and linking multiple lung volumes have proven useful in linking structure to function and in the identification of regional longitudinal changes. Here, we seek to improve the accuracy of image matching via the use of a symmetric multi-level non-rigid registration employing an inverse consistent (IC) transformation whereby images are registered both in the forward and reverse directions. To develop the symmetric method, two similarity measures, the sum of squared intensity difference (SSD) and the sum of squared tissue volume difference (SSTVD), were used. The method is based on a novel generic mathematical framework to include forward and backward transformations, simultaneously, eliminating the need to compute the inverse transformation. Two implementations were used to assess the proposed method: a two-dimensional (2-D) implementation using synthetic examples with SSD, and a multi-core CPU and graphics processing unit (GPU) implementation with SSTVD for three-dimensional (3-D) human lung datasets (six normal adults studied at total lung capacity (TLC) and functional residual capacity (FRC)). Success was evaluated in terms of the IC transformation consistency serving to link TLC to FRC. 2-D registration on synthetic images, using both symmetric and non-symmetric SSD methods, and comparison of displacement fields showed that the symmetric method gave a symmetrical grid shape and reduced IC errors, with the mean values of IC errors decreased by 37%. Results for both symmetric and non-symmetric transformations of human datasets showed that the symmetric method gave better results for IC errors in all cases, with mean values of IC errors for the symmetric method lower than the non-symmetric methods using both SSD and SSTVD

B-spline algebraic diagrammatic construction: Application to photoionization cross-sections and high-order harmonic generation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ruberti, M.; Averbukh, V.; Decleva, P.

2014-10-28

We present the first implementation of the ab initio many-body Green's function method, algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC), in the B-spline single-electron basis. B-spline versions of the first order [ADC(1)] and second order [ADC(2)] schemes for the polarization propagator are developed and applied to the ab initio calculation of static (photoionization cross-sections) and dynamic (high-order harmonic generation spectra) quantities. We show that the cross-section features that pose a challenge for the Gaussian basis calculations, such as Cooper minima and high-energy tails, are found to be reproduced by the B-spline ADC in a very good agreement with the experiment. We also presentmore » the first dynamic B-spline ADC results, showing that the effect of the Cooper minimum on the high-order harmonic generation spectrum of Ar is correctly predicted by the time-dependent ADC calculation in the B-spline basis. The present development paves the way for the application of the B-spline ADC to both energy- and time-resolved theoretical studies of many-electron phenomena in atoms, molecules, and clusters.« less

Image registration using stationary velocity fields parameterized by norm-minimizing Wendland kernel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pai, Akshay; Sommer, Stefan; Sørensen, Lauge; Darkner, Sune; Sporring, Jon; Nielsen, Mads

2015-03-01

Interpolating kernels are crucial to solving a stationary velocity field (SVF) based image registration problem. This is because, velocity fields need to be computed in non-integer locations during integration. The regularity in the solution to the SVF registration problem is controlled by the regularization term. In a variational formulation, this term is traditionally expressed as a squared norm which is a scalar inner product of the interpolating kernels parameterizing the velocity fields. The minimization of this term using the standard spline interpolation kernels (linear or cubic) is only approximative because of the lack of a compatible norm. In this paper, we propose to replace such interpolants with a norm-minimizing interpolant - the Wendland kernel which has the same computational simplicity like B-Splines. An application on the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative showed that Wendland SVF based measures separate (Alzheimer's disease v/s normal controls) better than both B-Spline SVFs (p<0.05 in amygdala) and B-Spline freeform deformation (p<0.05 in amygdala and cortical gray matter).

An isogeometric boundary element method for electromagnetic scattering with compatible B-spline discretizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simpson, R. N.; Liu, Z.; Vázquez, R.; Evans, J. A.

2018-06-01

We outline the construction of compatible B-splines on 3D surfaces that satisfy the continuity requirements for electromagnetic scattering analysis with the boundary element method (method of moments). Our approach makes use of Non-Uniform Rational B-splines to represent model geometry and compatible B-splines to approximate the surface current, and adopts the isogeometric concept in which the basis for analysis is taken directly from CAD (geometry) data. The approach allows for high-order approximations and crucially provides a direct link with CAD data structures that allows for efficient design workflows. After outlining the construction of div- and curl-conforming B-splines defined over 3D surfaces we describe their use with the electric and magnetic field integral equations using a Galerkin formulation. We use Bézier extraction to accelerate the computation of NURBS and B-spline terms and employ H-matrices to provide accelerated computations and memory reduction for the dense matrices that result from the boundary integral discretization. The method is verified using the well known Mie scattering problem posed over a perfectly electrically conducting sphere and the classic NASA almond problem. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of the approach to handle models with complex geometry directly from CAD without mesh generation.

Automatic selection of landmarks in T1-weighted head MRI with regression forests for image registration initialization.

PubMed

Wang, Jianing; Liu, Yuan; Noble, Jack H; Dawant, Benoit M

2017-10-01

Medical image registration establishes a correspondence between images of biological structures, and it is at the core of many applications. Commonly used deformable image registration methods depend on a good preregistration initialization. We develop a learning-based method to automatically find a set of robust landmarks in three-dimensional MR image volumes of the head. These landmarks are then used to compute a thin plate spline-based initialization transformation. The process involves two steps: (1) identifying a set of landmarks that can be reliably localized in the images and (2) selecting among them the subset that leads to a good initial transformation. To validate our method, we use it to initialize five well-established deformable registration algorithms that are subsequently used to register an atlas to MR images of the head. We compare our proposed initialization method with a standard approach that involves estimating an affine transformation with an intensity-based approach. We show that for all five registration algorithms the final registration results are statistically better when they are initialized with the method that we propose than when a standard approach is used. The technique that we propose is generic and could be used to initialize nonrigid registration algorithms for other applications.

A hybrid patient-specific biomechanical model based image registration method for the motion estimation of lungs.

PubMed

Han, Lianghao; Dong, Hua; McClelland, Jamie R; Han, Liangxiu; Hawkes, David J; Barratt, Dean C

2017-07-01

This paper presents a new hybrid biomechanical model-based non-rigid image registration method for lung motion estimation. In the proposed method, a patient-specific biomechanical modelling process captures major physically realistic deformations with explicit physical modelling of sliding motion, whilst a subsequent non-rigid image registration process compensates for small residuals. The proposed algorithm was evaluated with 10 4D CT datasets of lung cancer patients. The target registration error (TRE), defined as the Euclidean distance of landmark pairs, was significantly lower with the proposed method (TRE = 1.37 mm) than with biomechanical modelling (TRE = 3.81 mm) and intensity-based image registration without specific considerations for sliding motion (TRE = 4.57 mm). The proposed method achieved a comparable accuracy as several recently developed intensity-based registration algorithms with sliding handling on the same datasets. A detailed comparison on the distributions of TREs with three non-rigid intensity-based algorithms showed that the proposed method performed especially well on estimating the displacement field of lung surface regions (mean TRE = 1.33 mm, maximum TRE = 5.3 mm). The effects of biomechanical model parameters (such as Poisson's ratio, friction and tissue heterogeneity) on displacement estimation were investigated. The potential of the algorithm in optimising biomechanical models of lungs through analysing the pattern of displacement compensation from the image registration process has also been demonstrated. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quadratic trigonometric B-spline for image interpolation using GA

PubMed Central

Abbas, Samreen; Irshad, Misbah

2017-01-01

In this article, a new quadratic trigonometric B-spline with control parameters is constructed to address the problems related to two dimensional digital image interpolation. The newly constructed spline is then used to design an image interpolation scheme together with one of the soft computing techniques named as Genetic Algorithm (GA). The idea of GA has been formed to optimize the control parameters in the description of newly constructed spline. The Feature SIMilarity (FSIM), Structure SIMilarity (SSIM) and Multi-Scale Structure SIMilarity (MS-SSIM) indices along with traditional Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) are employed as image quality metrics to analyze and compare the outcomes of approach offered in this work, with three of the present digital image interpolation schemes. The upshots show that the proposed scheme is better choice to deal with the problems associated to image interpolation. PMID:28640906

Quadratic trigonometric B-spline for image interpolation using GA.

PubMed

Hussain, Malik Zawwar; Abbas, Samreen; Irshad, Misbah

2017-01-01

In this article, a new quadratic trigonometric B-spline with control parameters is constructed to address the problems related to two dimensional digital image interpolation. The newly constructed spline is then used to design an image interpolation scheme together with one of the soft computing techniques named as Genetic Algorithm (GA). The idea of GA has been formed to optimize the control parameters in the description of newly constructed spline. The Feature SIMilarity (FSIM), Structure SIMilarity (SSIM) and Multi-Scale Structure SIMilarity (MS-SSIM) indices along with traditional Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) are employed as image quality metrics to analyze and compare the outcomes of approach offered in this work, with three of the present digital image interpolation schemes. The upshots show that the proposed scheme is better choice to deal with the problems associated to image interpolation.

4D-CT Lung registration using anatomy-based multi-level multi-resolution optical flow analysis and thin-plate splines.

PubMed

Min, Yugang; Neylon, John; Shah, Amish; Meeks, Sanford; Lee, Percy; Kupelian, Patrick; Santhanam, Anand P

2014-09-01

The accuracy of 4D-CT registration is limited by inconsistent Hounsfield unit (HU) values in the 4D-CT data from one respiratory phase to another and lower image contrast for lung substructures. This paper presents an optical flow and thin-plate spline (TPS)-based 4D-CT registration method to account for these limitations. The use of unified HU values on multiple anatomy levels (e.g., the lung contour, blood vessels, and parenchyma) accounts for registration errors by inconsistent landmark HU value. While 3D multi-resolution optical flow analysis registers each anatomical level, TPS is employed for propagating the results from one anatomical level to another ultimately leading to the 4D-CT registration. 4D-CT registration was validated using target registration error (TRE), inverse consistency error (ICE) metrics, and a statistical image comparison using Gamma criteria of 1 % intensity difference in 2 mm(3) window range. Validation results showed that the proposed method was able to register CT lung datasets with TRE and ICE values <3 mm. In addition, the average number of voxel that failed the Gamma criteria was <3 %, which supports the clinical applicability of the propose registration mechanism. The proposed 4D-CT registration computes the volumetric lung deformations within clinically viable accuracy.

Contour propagation for lung tumor delineation in 4D-CT using tensor-product surface of uniform and non-uniform closed cubic B-splines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Renchao; Liu, Yongchuan; Chen, Mi; Zhang, Sheng; Song, Enmin

2018-01-01

A robust contour propagation method is proposed to help physicians delineate lung tumors on all phase images of four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT) by only manually delineating the contours on a reference phase. The proposed method models the trajectory surface swept by a contour in a respiratory cycle as a tensor-product surface of two closed cubic B-spline curves: a non-uniform B-spline curve which models the contour and a uniform B-spline curve which models the trajectory of a point on the contour. The surface is treated as a deformable entity, and is optimized from an initial surface by moving its control vertices such that the sum of the intensity similarities between the sampling points on the manually delineated contour and their corresponding ones on different phases is maximized. The initial surface is constructed by fitting the manually delineated contour on the reference phase with a closed B-spline curve. In this way, the proposed method can focus the registration on the contour instead of the entire image to prevent the deformation of the contour from being smoothed by its surrounding tissues, and greatly reduce the time consumption while keeping the accuracy of the contour propagation as well as the temporal consistency of the estimated respiratory motions across all phases in 4D-CT. Eighteen 4D-CT cases with 235 gross tumor volume (GTV) contours on the maximal inhale phase and 209 GTV contours on the maximal exhale phase are manually delineated slice by slice. The maximal inhale phase is used as the reference phase, which provides the initial contours. On the maximal exhale phase, the Jaccard similarity coefficient between the propagated GTV and the manually delineated GTV is 0.881 +/- 0.026, and the Hausdorff distance is 3.07 +/- 1.08 mm. The time for propagating the GTV to all phases is 5.55 +/- 6.21 min. The results are better than those of the fast adaptive stochastic gradient descent B-spline method, the 3D  +  t B-spline

An Investigation into Conversion from Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline Boundary Representation Geometry to Constructive Solid Geometry

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

ARL-SR-0347 ● DEC 2015 US Army Research Laboratory An Investigation into Conversion from Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline Boundary...US Army Research Laboratory An Investigation into Conversion from Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline Boundary Representation Geometry to...from Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline Boundary Representation Geometry to Constructive Solid Geometry 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c

Lung texture in serial thoracic CT scans: Assessment of change introduced by image registration1

PubMed Central

Cunliffe, Alexandra R.; Al-Hallaq, Hania A.; Labby, Zacariah E.; Pelizzari, Charles A.; Straus, Christopher; Sensakovic, William F.; Ludwig, Michelle; Armato, Samuel G.

2012-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of four image registration methods on lung texture features extracted from serial computed tomography (CT) scans obtained from healthy human subjects. Methods: Two chest CT scans acquired at different time points were collected retrospectively for each of 27 patients. Following automated lung segmentation, each follow-up CT scan was registered to the baseline scan using four algorithms: (1) rigid, (2) affine, (3) B-splines deformable, and (4) demons deformable. The registration accuracy for each scan pair was evaluated by measuring the Euclidean distance between 150 identified landmarks. On average, 1432 spatially matched 32 × 32-pixel region-of-interest (ROI) pairs were automatically extracted from each scan pair. First-order, fractal, Fourier, Laws’ filter, and gray-level co-occurrence matrix texture features were calculated in each ROI, for a total of 140 features. Agreement between baseline and follow-up scan ROI feature values was assessed by Bland–Altman analysis for each feature; the range spanned by the 95% limits of agreement of feature value differences was calculated and normalized by the average feature value to obtain the normalized range of agreement (nRoA). Features with small nRoA were considered “registration-stable.” The normalized bias for each feature was calculated from the feature value differences between baseline and follow-up scans averaged across all ROIs in every patient. Because patients had “normal” chest CT scans, minimal change in texture feature values between scan pairs was anticipated, with the expectation of small bias and narrow limits of agreement. Results: Registration with demons reduced the Euclidean distance between landmarks such that only 9% of landmarks were separated by ≥1 mm, compared with rigid (98%), affine (95%), and B-splines (90%). Ninety-nine of the 140 (71%) features analyzed yielded nRoA > 50% for all registration methods, indicating that

Evaluation of 4D-CT lung registration.

PubMed

Kabus, Sven; Klinder, Tobias; Murphy, Keelin; van Ginneken, Bram; van Lorenz, Cristian; Pluim, Josien P W

2009-01-01

Non-rigid registration accuracy assessment is typically performed by evaluating the target registration error at manually placed landmarks. For 4D-CT lung data, we compare two sets of landmark distributions: a smaller set primarily defined on vessel bifurcations as commonly described in the literature and a larger set being well-distributed throughout the lung volume. For six different registration schemes (three in-house schemes and three schemes frequently used by the community) the landmark error is evaluated and found to depend significantly on the distribution of the landmarks. In particular, lung regions near to the pleura show a target registration error three times larger than near-mediastinal regions. While the inter-method variability on the landmark positions is rather small, the methods show discriminating differences with respect to consistency and local volume change. In conclusion, both a well-distributed set of landmarks and a deformation vector field analysis are necessary for reliable non-rigid registration accuracy assessment.

Immersogeometric cardiovascular fluid–structure interaction analysis with divergence-conforming B-splines

PubMed Central

Kamensky, David; Hsu, Ming-Chen; Yu, Yue; Evans, John A.; Sacks, Michael S.; Hughes, Thomas J. R.

2016-01-01

This paper uses a divergence-conforming B-spline fluid discretization to address the long-standing issue of poor mass conservation in immersed methods for computational fluid–structure interaction (FSI) that represent the influence of the structure as a forcing term in the fluid subproblem. We focus, in particular, on the immersogeometric method developed in our earlier work, analyze its convergence for linear model problems, then apply it to FSI analysis of heart valves, using divergence-conforming B-splines to discretize the fluid subproblem. Poor mass conservation can manifest as effective leakage of fluid through thin solid barriers. This leakage disrupts the qualitative behavior of FSI systems such as heart valves, which exist specifically to block flow. Divergence-conforming discretizations can enforce mass conservation exactly, avoiding this problem. To demonstrate the practical utility of immersogeometric FSI analysis with divergence-conforming B-splines, we use the methods described in this paper to construct and evaluate a computational model of an in vitro experiment that pumps water through an artificial valve. PMID:28239201

Spline function approximation techniques for image geometric distortion representation. [for registration of multitemporal remote sensor imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anuta, P. E.

1975-01-01

Least squares approximation techniques were developed for use in computer aided correction of spatial image distortions for registration of multitemporal remote sensor imagery. Polynomials were first used to define image distortion over the entire two dimensional image space. Spline functions were then investigated to determine if the combination of lower order polynomials could approximate a higher order distortion with less computational difficulty. Algorithms for generating approximating functions were developed and applied to the description of image distortion in aircraft multispectral scanner imagery. Other applications of the techniques were suggested for earth resources data processing areas other than geometric distortion representation.

Coupled B-snake grids and constrained thin-plate splines for analysis of 2-D tissue deformations from tagged MRI.

PubMed

Amini, A A; Chen, Y; Curwen, R W; Mani, V; Sun, J

1998-06-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is unique in its ability to noninvasively and selectively alter tissue magnetization and create tagged patterns within a deforming body such as the heart muscle. The resulting patterns define a time-varying curvilinear coordinate system on the tissue, which we track with coupled B-snake grids. B-spline bases provide local control of shape, compact representation, and parametric continuity. Efficient spline warps are proposed which warp an area in the plane such that two embedded snake grids obtained from two tagged frames are brought into registration, interpolating a dense displacement vector field. The reconstructed vector field adheres to the known displacement information at the intersections, forces corresponding snakes to be warped into one another, and for all other points in the plane, where no information is available, a C1 continuous vector field is interpolated. The implementation proposed in this paper improves on our previous variational-based implementation and generalizes warp methods to include biologically relevant contiguous open curves, in addition to standard landmark points. The methods are validated with a cardiac motion simulator, in addition to in-vivo tagging data sets.

Two-dimensional mesh embedding for Galerkin B-spline methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shariff, Karim; Moser, Robert D.

1995-01-01

A number of advantages result from using B-splines as basis functions in a Galerkin method for solving partial differential equations. Among them are arbitrary order of accuracy and high resolution similar to that of compact schemes but without the aliasing error. This work develops another property, namely, the ability to treat semi-structured embedded or zonal meshes for two-dimensional geometries. This can drastically reduce the number of grid points in many applications. Both integer and non-integer refinement ratios are allowed. The report begins by developing an algorithm for choosing basis functions that yield the desired mesh resolution. These functions are suitable products of one-dimensional B-splines. Finally, test cases for linear scalar equations such as the Poisson and advection equation are presented. The scheme is conservative and has uniformly high order of accuracy throughout the domain.

The influence of non-rigid anatomy and patient positioning on endoscopy-CT image registration in the head and neck.

PubMed

Ingram, W Scott; Yang, Jinzhong; Wendt, Richard; Beadle, Beth M; Rao, Arvind; Wang, Xin A; Court, Laurence E

2017-08-01

To assess the influence of non-rigid anatomy and differences in patient positioning between CT acquisition and endoscopic examination on endoscopy-CT image registration in the head and neck. Radiotherapy planning CTs and 31-35 daily treatment-room CTs were acquired for nineteen patients. Diagnostic CTs were acquired for thirteen of the patients. The surfaces of the airways were segmented on all scans and triangular meshes were created to render virtual endoscopic images with a calibrated pinhole model of an endoscope. The virtual images were used to take projective measurements throughout the meshes, with reference measurements defined as those taken on the planning CTs and test measurements defined as those taken on the daily or diagnostic CTs. The influence of non-rigid anatomy was quantified by 3D distance errors between reference and test measurements on the daily CTs, and the influence of patient positioning was quantified by 3D distance errors between reference and test measurements on the diagnostic CTs. The daily CT measurements were also used to investigate the influences of camera-to-surface distance, surface angle, and the interval of time between scans. Average errors in the daily CTs were 0.36 ± 0.61 cm in the nasal cavity, 0.58 ± 0.83 cm in the naso- and oropharynx, and 0.47 ± 0.73 cm in the hypopharynx and larynx. Average errors in the diagnostic CTs in those regions were 0.52 ± 0.69 cm, 0.65 ± 0.84 cm, and 0.69 ± 0.90 cm, respectively. All CTs had errors heavily skewed towards 0, albeit with large outliers. Large camera-to-surface distances were found to increase the errors, but the angle at which the camera viewed the surface had no effect. The errors in the Day 1 and Day 15 CTs were found to be significantly smaller than those in the Day 30 CTs (P < 0.05). Inconsistencies of patient positioning have a larger influence than non-rigid anatomy on projective measurement errors. In general, these errors are largest when the

B-spline tight frame based force matching method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Jianbin; Zhu, Guanhua; Tong, Dudu; Lu, Lanyuan; Shen, Zuowei

2018-06-01

In molecular dynamics simulations, compared with popular all-atom force field approaches, coarse-grained (CG) methods are frequently used for the rapid investigations of long time- and length-scale processes in many important biological and soft matter studies. The typical task in coarse-graining is to derive interaction force functions between different CG site types in terms of their distance, bond angle or dihedral angle. In this paper, an ℓ1-regularized least squares model is applied to form the force functions, which makes additional use of the B-spline wavelet frame transform in order to preserve the important features of force functions. The B-spline tight frames system has a simple explicit expression which is useful for representing our force functions. Moreover, the redundancy of the system offers more resilience to the effects of noise and is useful in the case of lossy data. Numerical results for molecular systems involving pairwise non-bonded, three and four-body bonded interactions are obtained to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

Non-rigid registration of serial dedicated breast CT, longitudinal dedicated breast CT and PET/CT images using the diffeomorphic demons method.

PubMed

Santos, Jonathan; Chaudhari, Abhijit J; Joshi, Anand A; Ferrero, Andrea; Yang, Kai; Boone, John M; Badawi, Ramsey D

2014-09-01

Dedicated breast CT and PET/CT scanners provide detailed 3D anatomical and functional imaging data sets and are currently being investigated for applications in breast cancer management such as diagnosis, monitoring response to therapy and radiation therapy planning. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of the diffeomorphic demons (DD) non-rigid image registration method to spatially align 3D serial (pre- and post-contrast) dedicated breast computed tomography (CT), and longitudinally-acquired dedicated 3D breast CT and positron emission tomography (PET)/CT images. The algorithmic parameters of the DD method were optimized for the alignment of dedicated breast CT images using training data and fixed. The performance of the method for image alignment was quantitatively evaluated using three separate data sets; (1) serial breast CT pre- and post-contrast images of 20 women, (2) breast CT images of 20 women acquired before and after repositioning the subject on the scanner, and (3) dedicated breast PET/CT images of 7 women undergoing neo-adjuvant chemotherapy acquired pre-treatment and after 1 cycle of therapy. The DD registration method outperformed no registration (p < 0.001) and conventional affine registration (p ≤ 0.002) for serial and longitudinal breast CT and PET/CT image alignment. In spite of the large size of the imaging data, the computational cost of the DD method was found to be reasonable (3-5 min). Co-registration of dedicated breast CT and PET/CT images can be performed rapidly and reliably using the DD method. This is the first study evaluating the DD registration method for the alignment of dedicated breast CT and PET/CT images. Copyright © 2014 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of quadrilateral spline thin plate elements using the B-net method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Juan; Li, Chong-Jun

2013-08-01

The quadrilateral discrete Kirchhoff thin plate bending element DKQ is based on the isoparametric element Q8, however, the accuracy of the isoparametric quadrilateral elements will drop significantly due to mesh distortions. In a previouswork, we constructed an 8-node quadrilateral spline element L8 using the triangular area coordinates and the B-net method, which can be insensitive to mesh distortions and possess the second order completeness in the Cartesian coordinates. In this paper, a thin plate spline element is developed based on the spline element L8 and the refined technique. Numerical examples show that the present element indeed possesses higher accuracy than the DKQ element for distorted meshes.

TPS-HAMMER: improving HAMMER registration algorithm by soft correspondence matching and thin-plate splines based deformation interpolation.

PubMed

Wu, Guorong; Yap, Pew-Thian; Kim, Minjeong; Shen, Dinggang

2010-02-01

We present an improved MR brain image registration algorithm, called TPS-HAMMER, which is based on the concepts of attribute vectors and hierarchical landmark selection scheme proposed in the highly successful HAMMER registration algorithm. We demonstrate that TPS-HAMMER algorithm yields better registration accuracy, robustness, and speed over HAMMER owing to (1) the employment of soft correspondence matching and (2) the utilization of thin-plate splines (TPS) for sparse-to-dense deformation field generation. These two aspects can be integrated into a unified framework to refine the registration iteratively by alternating between soft correspondence matching and dense deformation field estimation. Compared with HAMMER, TPS-HAMMER affords several advantages: (1) unlike the Gaussian propagation mechanism employed in HAMMER, which can be slow and often leaves unreached blotches in the deformation field, the deformation interpolation in the non-landmark points can be obtained immediately with TPS in our algorithm; (2) the smoothness of deformation field is preserved due to the nice properties of TPS; (3) possible misalignments can be alleviated by allowing the matching of the landmarks with a number of possible candidate points and enforcing more exact matches in the final stages of the registration. Extensive experiments have been conducted, using the original HAMMER as a comparison baseline, to validate the merits of TPS-HAMMER. The results show that TPS-HAMMER yields significant improvement in both accuracy and speed, indicating high applicability for the clinical scenario. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MRI-Based Nonrigid Motion Correction in Simultaneous PET/MRI

PubMed Central

Chun, Se Young; Reese, Timothy G.; Ouyang, Jinsong; Guerin, Bastien; Catana, Ciprian; Zhu, Xuping; Alpert, Nathaniel M.; El Fakhri, Georges

2014-01-01

Respiratory and cardiac motion is the most serious limitation to whole-body PET, resulting in spatial resolution close to 1 cm. Furthermore, motion-induced inconsistencies in the attenuation measurements often lead to significant artifacts in the reconstructed images. Gating can remove motion artifacts at the cost of increased noise. This paper presents an approach to respiratory motion correction using simultaneous PET/MRI to demonstrate initial results in phantoms, rabbits, and nonhuman primates and discusses the prospects for clinical application. Methods Studies with a deformable phantom, a free-breathing primate, and rabbits implanted with radioactive beads were performed with simultaneous PET/MRI. Motion fields were estimated from concurrently acquired tagged MR images using 2 B-spline nonrigid image registration methods and incorporated into a PET list-mode ordered-subsets expectation maximization algorithm. Using the measured motion fields to transform both the emission data and the attenuation data, we could use all the coincidence data to reconstruct any phase of the respiratory cycle. We compared the resulting SNR and the channelized Hotelling observer (CHO) detection signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the motion-corrected reconstruction with the results obtained from standard gating and uncorrected studies. Results Motion correction virtually eliminated motion blur without reducing SNR, yielding images with SNR comparable to those obtained by gating with 5–8 times longer acquisitions in all studies. The CHO study in dynamic phantoms demonstrated a significant improvement (166%–276%) in lesion detection SNR with MRI-based motion correction as compared with gating (P < 0.001). This improvement was 43%–92% for large motion compared with lesion detection without motion correction (P < 0.001). CHO SNR in the rabbit studies confirmed these results. Conclusion Tagged MRI motion correction in simultaneous PET/MRI significantly improves lesion detection

Dimensional Metrology of Non-rigid Parts Without Specialized Inspection Fixtures =

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabri, Vahid

Quality control is an important factor for manufacturing companies looking to prosper in an era of globalization, market pressures and technological advances. Functionality and product quality cannot be guaranteed without this important aspect. Manufactured parts have deviations from their nominal (CAD) shape caused by the manufacturing process. Thus, geometric inspection is a very important element in the quality control of mechanical parts. We will focus here on the geometric inspection of non-rigid (flexible) parts which are widely used in the aeronautic and automotive industries. Non-rigid parts can have different forms in a free-state condition compared with their nominal models due to residual stress and gravity loads. To solve this problem, dedicated inspection fixtures are generally used in industry to compensate for the displacement of such parts for simulating the use state in order to perform geometric inspections. These fixtures and the installation and inspection processes are expensive and time-consuming. Our aim in this thesis is therefore to develop an inspection method which eliminates the need for specialized fixtures. This is done by acquiring a point cloud from the part in a free-state condition using a contactless measuring device such as optical scanning and comparing it with the CAD model for the deviation identification. Using a non-rigid registration method and finite element analysis, we numerically inspect the profile of a non-rigid part. To do so, a simulated displacement is performed using an improved definition of displacement boundary conditions for simulating unfixed parts. In addition, we propose a numerical method for dimensional metrology of non-rigid parts in a free-state condition based on the arc length measurement by calculating the geodesic distance using the Fast Marching Method (FMM). In this thesis, we apply our developed methods on industrial non-rigid parts with free-form surfaces simulated with different types of

Unwarping confocal microscopy images of bee brains by nonrigid registration to a magnetic resonance microscopy image.

PubMed

Rohlfing, Torsten; Schaupp, Frank; Haddad, Daniel; Brandt, Robert; Haase, Axel; Menzel, Randolf; Maurer, Calvin R

2005-01-01

Confocal microscopy (CM) is a powerful image acquisition technique that is well established in many biological applications. It provides 3-D acquisition with high spatial resolution and can acquire several different channels of complementary image information. Due to the specimen extraction and preparation process, however, the shapes of imaged objects may differ considerably from their in vivo appearance. Magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) is an evolving variant of magnetic resonance imaging, which achieves microscopic resolutions using a high magnetic field and strong magnetic gradients. Compared to CM imaging, MRM allows for in situ imaging and is virtually free of geometrical distortions. We propose to combine the advantages of both methods by unwarping CM images using a MRM reference image. Our method incorporates a sequence of image processing operators applied to the MRM image, followed by a two-stage intensity-based registration to compute a nonrigid coordinate transformation between the CM images and the MRM image. We present results obtained using CM images from the brains of 20 honey bees and a MRM image of an in situ bee brain. Copyright 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Choosing the Optimal Number of B-spline Control Points (Part 1: Methodology and Approximation of Curves)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmening, Corinna; Neuner, Hans

2016-09-01

Due to the establishment of terrestrial laser scanner, the analysis strategies in engineering geodesy change from pointwise approaches to areal ones. These areal analysis strategies are commonly built on the modelling of the acquired point clouds. Freeform curves and surfaces like B-spline curves/surfaces are one possible approach to obtain space continuous information. A variety of parameters determines the B-spline's appearance; the B-spline's complexity is mostly determined by the number of control points. Usually, this number of control points is chosen quite arbitrarily by intuitive trial-and-error-procedures. In this paper, the Akaike Information Criterion and the Bayesian Information Criterion are investigated with regard to a justified and reproducible choice of the optimal number of control points of B-spline curves. Additionally, we develop a method which is based on the structural risk minimization of the statistical learning theory. Unlike the Akaike and the Bayesian Information Criteria this method doesn't use the number of parameters as complexity measure of the approximating functions but their Vapnik-Chervonenkis-dimension. Furthermore, it is also valid for non-linear models. Thus, the three methods differ in their target function to be minimized and consequently in their definition of optimality. The present paper will be continued by a second paper dealing with the choice of the optimal number of control points of B-spline surfaces.

A Variational Approach to Video Registration with Subspace Constraints.

PubMed

Garg, Ravi; Roussos, Anastasios; Agapito, Lourdes

2013-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of non-rigid video registration, or the computation of optical flow from a reference frame to each of the subsequent images in a sequence, when the camera views deformable objects. We exploit the high correlation between 2D trajectories of different points on the same non-rigid surface by assuming that the displacement of any point throughout the sequence can be expressed in a compact way as a linear combination of a low-rank motion basis. This subspace constraint effectively acts as a trajectory regularization term leading to temporally consistent optical flow. We formulate it as a robust soft constraint within a variational framework by penalizing flow fields that lie outside the low-rank manifold. The resulting energy functional can be decoupled into the optimization of the brightness constancy and spatial regularization terms, leading to an efficient optimization scheme. Additionally, we propose a novel optimization scheme for the case of vector valued images, based on the dualization of the data term. This allows us to extend our approach to deal with colour images which results in significant improvements on the registration results. Finally, we provide a new benchmark dataset, based on motion capture data of a flag waving in the wind, with dense ground truth optical flow for evaluation of multi-frame optical flow algorithms for non-rigid surfaces. Our experiments show that our proposed approach outperforms state of the art optical flow and dense non-rigid registration algorithms.

Joint deformable liver registration and bias field correction for MR-guided HDR brachytherapy.

PubMed

Rak, Marko; König, Tim; Tönnies, Klaus D; Walke, Mathias; Ricke, Jens; Wybranski, Christian

2017-12-01

In interstitial high-dose rate brachytherapy, liver cancer is treated by internal radiation, requiring percutaneous placement of applicators within or close to the tumor. To maximize utility, the optimal applicator configuration is pre-planned on magnetic resonance images. The pre-planned configuration is then implemented via a magnetic resonance-guided intervention. Mapping the pre-planning information onto interventional data would reduce the radiologist's cognitive load during the intervention and could possibly minimize discrepancies between optimally pre-planned and actually placed applicators. We propose a fast and robust two-step registration framework suitable for interventional settings: first, we utilize a multi-resolution rigid registration to correct for differences in patient positioning (rotation and translation). Second, we employ a novel iterative approach alternating between bias field correction and Markov random field deformable registration in a multi-resolution framework to compensate for non-rigid movements of the liver, the tumors and the organs at risk. In contrast to existing pre-correction methods, our multi-resolution scheme can recover bias field artifacts of different extents at marginal computational costs. We compared our approach to deformable registration via B-splines, demons and the SyN method on 22 registration tasks from eleven patients. Results showed that our approach is more accurate than the contenders for liver as well as for tumor tissues. We yield average liver volume overlaps of 94.0 ± 2.7% and average surface-to-surface distances of 2.02 ± 0.87 mm and 3.55 ± 2.19 mm for liver and tumor tissue, respectively. The reported distances are close to (or even below) the slice spacing (2.5 - 3.0 mm) of our data. Our approach is also the fastest, taking 35.8 ± 12.8 s per task. The presented approach is sufficiently accurate to map information available from brachytherapy pre-planning onto interventional data. It

Value of Nonrigid Registration of Pre-Procedure MR with Post-Procedure CT After Radiofrequency Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Park, Juil; Lee, Jeong Min, E-mail: jmlshy2000@gmail.com, E-mail: jmsh@snu.ac.kr; Lee, Dong Ho

PurposeTo evaluate the value of pre-radiofrequency ablation (RFA) MR and post-RFA CT registration for the assessment of the therapeutic response of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Materials and MethodsA total of 178 patients with single HCC who received RFA as an initial treatment and had available pre-RFA MR and post-RFA CT images were included in this retrospective study. Two independent readers (one experienced radiologist, one inexperienced radiologist) scored the ablative margin (AM) of treated tumors on a four-point scale (1, residual tumor; 2, incomplete AM; 3, borderline AM; 4, sufficient AM), in two separate sessions: (1) visual comparison between pre-and post-RFA images; (2)more » with addition of nonrigid registration for pre- and post-RFA images. Local tumor progression (LTP) rates between low-risk (response score, 3–4) and high-risk groups (1–2) were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method at each interpretation session.ResultsThe patients’ reassignments after using the registered images were statistically significant for inexperienced reader (p < 0.001). In the inexperienced reader, LTP rates of low- and high-risk groups were significantly different with addition of registered images (session 2) (p < 0.001), but not significantly different in session 1 (p = 0.101). However, in the experienced reader, LTP rates of low- and high-risk groups were significantly different in both interpretation sessions (p < 0.001). Using the registered images, the cumulative incidence of LTP at 2 years was 3.0–6.6%, for the low-risk group, and 18.6–27.8% for the high-risk group.ConclusionRegistration between pre-RFA MR and post-RFA CT images may allow better assessment of the therapeutic response of HCC after RFA, especially for inexperienced radiologists, helping in the risk stratification for LTP.« less

Enhanced spatio-temporal alignment of plantar pressure image sequences using B-splines.

PubMed

Oliveira, Francisco P M; Tavares, João Manuel R S

2013-03-01

This article presents an enhanced methodology to align plantar pressure image sequences simultaneously in time and space. The temporal alignment of the sequences is accomplished using B-splines in the time modeling, and the spatial alignment can be attained using several geometric transformation models. The methodology was tested on a dataset of 156 real plantar pressure image sequences (3 sequences for each foot of the 26 subjects) that was acquired using a common commercial plate during barefoot walking. In the alignment of image sequences that were synthetically deformed both in time and space, an outstanding accuracy was achieved with the cubic B-splines. This accuracy was significantly better (p < 0.001) than the one obtained using the best solution proposed in our previous work. When applied to align real image sequences with unknown transformation involved, the alignment based on cubic B-splines also achieved superior results than our previous methodology (p < 0.001). The consequences of the temporal alignment on the dynamic center of pressure (COP) displacement was also assessed by computing the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) before and after the temporal alignment of the three image sequence trials of each foot of the associated subject at six time instants. The results showed that, generally, the ICCs related to the medio-lateral COP displacement were greater when the sequences were temporally aligned than the ICCs of the original sequences. Based on the experimental findings, one can conclude that the cubic B-splines are a remarkable solution for the temporal alignment of plantar pressure image sequences. These findings also show that the temporal alignment can increase the consistency of the COP displacement on related acquired plantar pressure image sequences.

Conformal Solid T-spline Construction from Boundary T-spline Representations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-01

TITLE AND SUBTITLE Conformal Solid T-spline Construction from Boundary T-spline Representations 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM...Zhang’s ONR-YIP award N00014-10-1-0698 and an ONR Grant N00014-08-1-0653. The work of T. J.R. Hughes was supported by ONR Grant N00014-08-1-0992, NSF...GOALI CMI-0700807/0700204, NSF CMMI-1101007 and a SINTEF grant UTA10-000374. References 1. M. Aigner, C. Heinrich, B. Jüttler, E. Pilgerstorfer, B

Random regression analyses using B-splines functions to model growth from birth to adult age in Canchim cattle.

PubMed

Baldi, F; Alencar, M M; Albuquerque, L G

2010-12-01

The objective of this work was to estimate covariance functions using random regression models on B-splines functions of animal age, for weights from birth to adult age in Canchim cattle. Data comprised 49,011 records on 2435 females. The model of analysis included fixed effects of contemporary groups, age of dam as quadratic covariable and the population mean trend taken into account by a cubic regression on orthogonal polynomials of animal age. Residual variances were modelled through a step function with four classes. The direct and maternal additive genetic effects, and animal and maternal permanent environmental effects were included as random effects in the model. A total of seventeen analyses, considering linear, quadratic and cubic B-splines functions and up to seven knots, were carried out. B-spline functions of the same order were considered for all random effects. Random regression models on B-splines functions were compared to a random regression model on Legendre polynomials and with a multitrait model. Results from different models of analyses were compared using the REML form of the Akaike Information criterion and Schwarz' Bayesian Information criterion. In addition, the variance components and genetic parameters estimated for each random regression model were also used as criteria to choose the most adequate model to describe the covariance structure of the data. A model fitting quadratic B-splines, with four knots or three segments for direct additive genetic effect and animal permanent environmental effect and two knots for maternal additive genetic effect and maternal permanent environmental effect, was the most adequate to describe the covariance structure of the data. Random regression models using B-spline functions as base functions fitted the data better than Legendre polynomials, especially at mature ages, but higher number of parameters need to be estimated with B-splines functions. © 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Curvelet-domain multiple matching method combined with cubic B-spline function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Tong; Wang, Deli; Tian, Mi; Hu, Bin; Liu, Chengming

2018-05-01

Since the large amount of surface-related multiple existed in the marine data would influence the results of data processing and interpretation seriously, many researchers had attempted to develop effective methods to remove them. The most successful surface-related multiple elimination method was proposed based on data-driven theory. However, the elimination effect was unsatisfactory due to the existence of amplitude and phase errors. Although the subsequent curvelet-domain multiple-primary separation method achieved better results, poor computational efficiency prevented its application. In this paper, we adopt the cubic B-spline function to improve the traditional curvelet multiple matching method. First, select a little number of unknowns as the basis points of the matching coefficient; second, apply the cubic B-spline function on these basis points to reconstruct the matching array; third, build constraint solving equation based on the relationships of predicted multiple, matching coefficients, and actual data; finally, use the BFGS algorithm to iterate and realize the fast-solving sparse constraint of multiple matching algorithm. Moreover, the soft-threshold method is used to make the method perform better. With the cubic B-spline function, the differences between predicted multiple and original data diminish, which results in less processing time to obtain optimal solutions and fewer iterative loops in the solving procedure based on the L1 norm constraint. The applications to synthetic and field-derived data both validate the practicability and validity of the method.

Modelling inflation in transportation, comunication and financial services using B-Spline time series model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suparti; Prahutama, Alan; Santoso, Rukun

2018-05-01

Inflation is an increase in the price of goods and services in general where the goods and services are the basic needs of society or the decline of the selling power of a country’s currency. Significant inflationary increases occurred in 2013. This increase was contributed by a significant increase in some inflation sectors / groups i.e transportation, communication and financial services; the foodstuff sector, and the housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel sectors. However, significant contributions occurred in the transportation, communications and financial services sectors. In the model of IFIs in the transportation, communication and financial services sector use the B-Spline time series approach, where the predictor variable is Yt, whereas the predictor is a significant lag (in this case Yt-1). In modeling B-spline time series determined the order and the optimum knot point. Optimum knot determination using Generalized Cross Validation (GCV). In inflation modeling for transportation sector, communication and financial services obtained model of B-spline order 2 with 2 points knots produce MAPE less than 50%.

B-spline parameterization of the dielectric function and information criteria: the craft of non-overfitting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Likhachev, Dmitriy V.

2017-06-01

Johs and Hale developed the Kramers-Kronig consistent B-spline formulation for the dielectric function modeling in spectroscopic ellipsometry data analysis. In this article we use popular Akaike, corrected Akaike and Bayesian Information Criteria (AIC, AICc and BIC, respectively) to determine an optimal number of knots for B-spline model. These criteria allow finding a compromise between under- and overfitting of experimental data since they penalize for increasing number of knots and select representation which achieves the best fit with minimal number of knots. Proposed approach provides objective and practical guidance, as opposite to empirically driven or "gut feeling" decisions, for selecting the right number of knots for B-spline models in spectroscopic ellipsometry. AIC, AICc and BIC selection criteria work remarkably well as we demonstrated in several real-data applications. This approach formalizes selection of the optimal knot number and may be useful in practical perspective of spectroscopic ellipsometry data analysis.

Direct Numerical Simulation of Incompressible Pipe Flow Using a B-Spline Spectral Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loulou, Patrick; Moser, Robert D.; Mansour, Nagi N.; Cantwell, Brian J.

1997-01-01

A numerical method based on b-spline polynomials was developed to study incompressible flows in cylindrical geometries. A b-spline method has the advantages of possessing spectral accuracy and the flexibility of standard finite element methods. Using this method it was possible to ensure regularity of the solution near the origin, i.e. smoothness and boundedness. Because b-splines have compact support, it is also possible to remove b-splines near the center to alleviate the constraint placed on the time step by an overly fine grid. Using the natural periodicity in the azimuthal direction and approximating the streamwise direction as periodic, so-called time evolving flow, greatly reduced the cost and complexity of the computations. A direct numerical simulation of pipe flow was carried out using the method described above at a Reynolds number of 5600 based on diameter and bulk velocity. General knowledge of pipe flow and the availability of experimental measurements make pipe flow the ideal test case with which to validate the numerical method. Results indicated that high flatness levels of the radial component of velocity in the near wall region are physical; regions of high radial velocity were detected and appear to be related to high speed streaks in the boundary layer. Budgets of Reynolds stress transport equations showed close similarity with those of channel flow. However contrary to channel flow, the log layer of pipe flow is not homogeneous for the present Reynolds number. A topological method based on a classification of the invariants of the velocity gradient tensor was used. Plotting iso-surfaces of the discriminant of the invariants proved to be a good method for identifying vortical eddies in the flow field.

Algebraic grid generation using tensor product B-splines. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saunders, B. V.

1985-01-01

Finite difference methods are more successful if the accompanying grid has lines which are smooth and nearly orthogonal. The development of an algorithm which produces such a grid when given the boundary description. Topological considerations in structuring the grid generation mapping are discussed. The concept of the degree of a mapping and how it can be used to determine what requirements are necessary if a mapping is to produce a suitable grid is examined. The grid generation algorithm uses a mapping composed of bicubic B-splines. Boundary coefficients are chosen so that the splines produce Schoenberg's variation diminishing spline approximation to the boundary. Interior coefficients are initially chosen to give a variation diminishing approximation to the transfinite bilinear interpolant of the function mapping the boundary of the unit square onto the boundary grid. The practicality of optimizing the grid by minimizing a functional involving the Jacobian of the grid generation mapping at each interior grid point and the dot product of vectors tangent to the grid lines is investigated. Grids generated by using the algorithm are presented.

TU-AB-202-07: A Novel Method for Registration of Mid-Treatment PET/CT Images Under Conditions of Tumor Regression for Patients with Locally Advanced Lung Cancers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharifi, Hoda; Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI; Zhang, Hong

Purpose: In PET-guided adaptive radiotherapy (RT), changes in the metabolic activity at individual voxels cannot be derived until the duringtreatment CT images are appropriately registered to pre-treatment CT images. However, deformable image registration (DIR) usually does not preserve tumor volume. This may induce errors when comparing to the target. The aim of this study was to develop a DIR-integrated mechanical modeling technique to track radiation-induced metabolic changes on PET images. Methods: Three patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were treated with adaptive radiotherapy under RTOG 1106. Two PET/CT image sets were acquired 2 weeks before RT and 18 fractionsmore » after the start of treatment. DIR was performed to register the during-RT CT to the pre-RT CT using a B-spline algorithm and the resultant displacements in the region of tumor were remodeled using a hybrid finite element method (FEM). Gross tumor volume (GTV) was delineated on the during-RT PET/CT image sets and deformed using the 3D deformation vector fields generated by the CT-based registrations. Metabolic tumor volume (MTV) was calculated using the pre- and during–RT image set. The quality of the PET mapping was evaluated based on the constancy of the mapped MTV and landmark comparison. Results: The B-spline-based registrations changed MTVs by 7.3%, 4.6% and −5.9% for the 3 patients and the correspondent changes for the hybrid FEM method −2.9%, 1% and 6.3%, respectively. Landmark comparisons were used to evaluate the Rigid, B-Spline, and hybrid FEM registrations with the mean errors of 10.1 ± 1.6 mm, 4.4 ± 0.4 mm, and 3.6 ± 0.4 mm for three patients. The hybrid FEM method outperforms the B-Spline-only registration for patients with tumor regression Conclusion: The hybrid FEM modeling technique improves the B-Spline registrations in tumor regions. This technique may help compare metabolic activities between two PET/CT images with regressing tumors. The author

Automatic Generation of Boundary Conditions Using Demons Nonrigid Image Registration for Use in 3-D Modality-Independent Elastography

PubMed Central

Ou, Jao J.; Ong, Rowena E.; Miga, Michael I.

2013-01-01

Modality-independent elastography (MIE) is a method of elastography that reconstructs the elastic properties of tissue using images acquired under different loading conditions and a biomechanical model. Boundary conditions are a critical input to the algorithm and are often determined by time-consuming point correspondence methods requiring manual user input. This study presents a novel method of automatically generating boundary conditions by nonrigidly registering two image sets with a demons diffusion-based registration algorithm. The use of this method was successfully performed in silico using magnetic resonance and X-ray-computed tomography image data with known boundary conditions. These preliminary results produced boundary conditions with an accuracy of up to 80% compared to the known conditions. Demons-based boundary conditions were utilized within a 3-D MIE reconstruction to determine an elasticity contrast ratio between tumor and normal tissue. Two phantom experiments were then conducted to further test the accuracy of the demons boundary conditions and the MIE reconstruction arising from the use of these conditions. Preliminary results show a reasonable characterization of the material properties on this first attempt and a significant improvement in the automation level and viability of the method. PMID:21690002

Automatic generation of boundary conditions using demons nonrigid image registration for use in 3-D modality-independent elastography.

PubMed

Pheiffer, Thomas S; Ou, Jao J; Ong, Rowena E; Miga, Michael I

2011-09-01

Modality-independent elastography (MIE) is a method of elastography that reconstructs the elastic properties of tissue using images acquired under different loading conditions and a biomechanical model. Boundary conditions are a critical input to the algorithm and are often determined by time-consuming point correspondence methods requiring manual user input. This study presents a novel method of automatically generating boundary conditions by nonrigidly registering two image sets with a demons diffusion-based registration algorithm. The use of this method was successfully performed in silico using magnetic resonance and X-ray-computed tomography image data with known boundary conditions. These preliminary results produced boundary conditions with an accuracy of up to 80% compared to the known conditions. Demons-based boundary conditions were utilized within a 3-D MIE reconstruction to determine an elasticity contrast ratio between tumor and normal tissue. Two phantom experiments were then conducted to further test the accuracy of the demons boundary conditions and the MIE reconstruction arising from the use of these conditions. Preliminary results show a reasonable characterization of the material properties on this first attempt and a significant improvement in the automation level and viability of the method.

SU-E-J-109: Evaluation of Deformable Accumulated Parotid Doses Using Different Registration Algorithms in Adaptive Head and Neck Radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, S; Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853 China; Liu, B

2015-06-15

Purpose: Three deformable image registration (DIR) algorithms are utilized to perform deformable dose accumulation for head and neck tomotherapy treatment, and the differences of the accumulated doses are evaluated. Methods: Daily MVCT data for 10 patients with pathologically proven nasopharyngeal cancers were analyzed. The data were acquired using tomotherapy (TomoTherapy, Accuray) at the PLA General Hospital. The prescription dose to the primary target was 70Gy in 33 fractions.Three DIR methods (B-spline, Diffeomorphic Demons and MIMvista) were used to propagate parotid structures from planning CTs to the daily CTs and accumulate fractionated dose on the planning CTs. The mean accumulated dosesmore » of parotids were quantitatively compared and the uncertainties of the propagated parotid contours were evaluated using Dice similarity index (DSI). Results: The planned mean dose of the ipsilateral parotids (32.42±3.13Gy) was slightly higher than those of the contralateral parotids (31.38±3.19Gy)in 10 patients. The difference between the accumulated mean doses of the ipsilateral parotids in the B-spline, Demons and MIMvista deformation algorithms (36.40±5.78Gy, 34.08±6.72Gy and 33.72±2.63Gy ) were statistically significant (B-spline vs Demons, P<0.0001, B-spline vs MIMvista, p =0.002). And The difference between those of the contralateral parotids in the B-spline, Demons and MIMvista deformation algorithms (34.08±4.82Gy, 32.42±4.80Gy and 33.92±4.65Gy ) were also significant (B-spline vs Demons, p =0.009, B-spline vs MIMvista, p =0.074). For the DSI analysis, the scores of B-spline, Demons and MIMvista DIRs were 0.90, 0.89 and 0.76. Conclusion: Shrinkage of parotid volumes results in the dose increase to the parotid glands in adaptive head and neck radiotherapy. The accumulated doses of parotids show significant difference using the different DIR algorithms between kVCT and MVCT. Therefore, the volume-based criterion (i.e. DSI) as a quantitative evaluation

Motion tracking in the liver: Validation of a method based on 4D ultrasound using a nonrigid registration technique

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vijayan, Sinara, E-mail: sinara.vijayan@ntnu.no; Klein, Stefan; Hofstad, Erlend Fagertun

Purpose: Treatments like radiotherapy and focused ultrasound in the abdomen require accurate motion tracking, in order to optimize dosage delivery to the target and minimize damage to critical structures and healthy tissues around the target. 4D ultrasound is a promising modality for motion tracking during such treatments. In this study, the authors evaluate the accuracy of motion tracking in the liver based on deformable registration of 4D ultrasound images. Methods: The offline analysis was performed using a nonrigid registration algorithm that was specifically designed for motion estimation from dynamic imaging data. The method registers the entire 4D image data sequencemore » in a groupwise optimization fashion, thus avoiding a bias toward a specifically chosen reference time point. Three healthy volunteers were scanned over several breathing cycles (12 s) from three different positions and angles on the abdomen; a total of nine 4D scans for the three volunteers. Well-defined anatomic landmarks were manually annotated in all 96 time frames for assessment of the automatic algorithm. The error of the automatic motion estimation method was compared with interobserver variability. The authors also performed experiments to investigate the influence of parameters defining the deformation field flexibility and evaluated how well the method performed with a lower temporal resolution in order to establish the minimum frame rate required for accurate motion estimation. Results: The registration method estimated liver motion with an error of 1 mm (75% percentile over all datasets), which was lower than the interobserver variability of 1.4 mm. The results were only slightly dependent on the degrees of freedom of the deformation model. The registration error increased to 2.8 mm with an eight times lower temporal resolution. Conclusions: The authors conclude that the methodology was able to accurately track the motion of the liver in the 4D ultrasound data. The authors

Parallel image registration with a thin client interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saiprasad, Ganesh; Lo, Yi-Jung; Plishker, William; Lei, Peng; Ahmad, Tabassum; Shekhar, Raj

2010-03-01

Despite its high significance, the clinical utilization of image registration remains limited because of its lengthy execution time and a lack of easy access. The focus of this work was twofold. First, we accelerated our course-to-fine, volume subdivision-based image registration algorithm by a novel parallel implementation that maintains the accuracy of our uniprocessor implementation. Second, we developed a thin-client computing model with a user-friendly interface to perform rigid and nonrigid image registration. Our novel parallel computing model uses the message passing interface model on a 32-core cluster. The results show that, compared with the uniprocessor implementation, the parallel implementation of our image registration algorithm is approximately 5 times faster for rigid image registration and approximately 9 times faster for nonrigid registration for the images used. To test the viability of such systems for clinical use, we developed a thin client in the form of a plug-in in OsiriX, a well-known open source PACS workstation and DICOM viewer, and used it for two applications. The first application registered the baseline and follow-up MR brain images, whose subtraction was used to track progression of multiple sclerosis. The second application registered pretreatment PET and intratreatment CT of radiofrequency ablation patients to demonstrate a new capability of multimodality imaging guidance. The registration acceleration coupled with the remote implementation using a thin client should ultimately increase accuracy, speed, and access of image registration-based interpretations in a number of diagnostic and interventional applications.

Random regression analyses using B-spline functions to model growth of Nellore cattle.

PubMed

Boligon, A A; Mercadante, M E Z; Lôbo, R B; Baldi, F; Albuquerque, L G

2012-02-01

The objective of this study was to estimate (co)variance components using random regression on B-spline functions to weight records obtained from birth to adulthood. A total of 82 064 weight records of 8145 females obtained from the data bank of the Nellore Breeding Program (PMGRN/Nellore Brazil) which started in 1987, were used. The models included direct additive and maternal genetic effects and animal and maternal permanent environmental effects as random. Contemporary group and dam age at calving (linear and quadratic effect) were included as fixed effects, and orthogonal Legendre polynomials of age (cubic regression) were considered as random covariate. The random effects were modeled using B-spline functions considering linear, quadratic and cubic polynomials for each individual segment. Residual variances were grouped in five age classes. Direct additive genetic and animal permanent environmental effects were modeled using up to seven knots (six segments). A single segment with two knots at the end points of the curve was used for the estimation of maternal genetic and maternal permanent environmental effects. A total of 15 models were studied, with the number of parameters ranging from 17 to 81. The models that used B-splines were compared with multi-trait analyses with nine weight traits and to a random regression model that used orthogonal Legendre polynomials. A model fitting quadratic B-splines, with four knots or three segments for direct additive genetic effect and animal permanent environmental effect and two knots for maternal additive genetic effect and maternal permanent environmental effect, was the most appropriate and parsimonious model to describe the covariance structure of the data. Selection for higher weight, such as at young ages, should be performed taking into account an increase in mature cow weight. Particularly, this is important in most of Nellore beef cattle production systems, where the cow herd is maintained on range conditions

Accurate tracking of tumor volume change during radiotherapy by CT-CBCT registration with intensity correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Seyoun; Robinson, Adam; Quon, Harry; Kiess, Ana P.; Shen, Colette; Wong, John; Plishker, William; Shekhar, Raj; Lee, Junghoon

2016-03-01

In this paper, we propose a CT-CBCT registration method to accurately predict the tumor volume change based on daily cone-beam CTs (CBCTs) during radiotherapy. CBCT is commonly used to reduce patient setup error during radiotherapy, but its poor image quality impedes accurate monitoring of anatomical changes. Although physician's contours drawn on the planning CT can be automatically propagated to daily CBCTs by deformable image registration (DIR), artifacts in CBCT often cause undesirable errors. To improve the accuracy of the registration-based segmentation, we developed a DIR method that iteratively corrects CBCT intensities by local histogram matching. Three popular DIR algorithms (B-spline, demons, and optical flow) with the intensity correction were implemented on a graphics processing unit for efficient computation. We evaluated their performances on six head and neck (HN) cancer cases. For each case, four trained scientists manually contoured the nodal gross tumor volume (GTV) on the planning CT and every other fraction CBCTs to which the propagated GTV contours by DIR were compared. The performance was also compared with commercial image registration software based on conventional mutual information (MI), VelocityAI (Varian Medical Systems Inc.). The volume differences (mean±std in cc) between the average of the manual segmentations and automatic segmentations are 3.70+/-2.30 (B-spline), 1.25+/-1.78 (demons), 0.93+/-1.14 (optical flow), and 4.39+/-3.86 (VelocityAI). The proposed method significantly reduced the estimation error by 9% (B-spline), 38% (demons), and 51% (optical flow) over the results using VelocityAI. Although demonstrated only on HN nodal GTVs, the results imply that the proposed method can produce improved segmentation of other critical structures over conventional methods.

Spline approximation, Part 1: Basic methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ezhov, Nikolaj; Neitzel, Frank; Petrovic, Svetozar

2018-04-01

In engineering geodesy point clouds derived from terrestrial laser scanning or from photogrammetric approaches are almost never used as final results. For further processing and analysis a curve or surface approximation with a continuous mathematical function is required. In this paper the approximation of 2D curves by means of splines is treated. Splines offer quite flexible and elegant solutions for interpolation or approximation of "irregularly" distributed data. Depending on the problem they can be expressed as a function or as a set of equations that depend on some parameter. Many different types of splines can be used for spline approximation and all of them have certain advantages and disadvantages depending on the approximation problem. In a series of three articles spline approximation is presented from a geodetic point of view. In this paper (Part 1) the basic methodology of spline approximation is demonstrated using splines constructed from ordinary polynomials and splines constructed from truncated polynomials. In the forthcoming Part 2 the notion of B-spline will be explained in a unique way, namely by using the concept of convex combinations. The numerical stability of all spline approximation approaches as well as the utilization of splines for deformation detection will be investigated on numerical examples in Part 3.

Algebraic grid adaptation method using non-uniform rational B-spline surface modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Jiann-Cherng; Soni, B. K.

1992-01-01

An algebraic adaptive grid system based on equidistribution law and utilized by the Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) surface for redistribution is presented. A weight function, utilizing a properly weighted boolean sum of various flow field characteristics is developed. Computational examples are presented to demonstrate the success of this technique.

Kinetic energy classification and smoothing for compact B-spline basis sets in quantum Monte Carlo

DOE PAGES

Krogel, Jaron T.; Reboredo, Fernando A.

2018-01-25

Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of defect properties of transition metal oxides have become feasible in recent years due to increases in computing power. As the system size has grown, availability of on-node memory has become a limiting factor. Saving memory while minimizing computational cost is now a priority. The main growth in memory demand stems from the B-spline representation of the single particle orbitals, especially for heavier elements such as transition metals where semi-core states are present. Despite the associated memory costs, splines are computationally efficient. In this paper, we explore alternatives to reduce the memory usage of splined orbitalsmore » without significantly affecting numerical fidelity or computational efficiency. We make use of the kinetic energy operator to both classify and smooth the occupied set of orbitals prior to splining. By using a partitioning scheme based on the per-orbital kinetic energy distributions, we show that memory savings of about 50% is possible for select transition metal oxide systems. Finally, for production supercells of practical interest, our scheme incurs a performance penalty of less than 5%.« less

Kinetic energy classification and smoothing for compact B-spline basis sets in quantum Monte Carlo

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Krogel, Jaron T.; Reboredo, Fernando A.

Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of defect properties of transition metal oxides have become feasible in recent years due to increases in computing power. As the system size has grown, availability of on-node memory has become a limiting factor. Saving memory while minimizing computational cost is now a priority. The main growth in memory demand stems from the B-spline representation of the single particle orbitals, especially for heavier elements such as transition metals where semi-core states are present. Despite the associated memory costs, splines are computationally efficient. In this paper, we explore alternatives to reduce the memory usage of splined orbitalsmore » without significantly affecting numerical fidelity or computational efficiency. We make use of the kinetic energy operator to both classify and smooth the occupied set of orbitals prior to splining. By using a partitioning scheme based on the per-orbital kinetic energy distributions, we show that memory savings of about 50% is possible for select transition metal oxide systems. Finally, for production supercells of practical interest, our scheme incurs a performance penalty of less than 5%.« less

Kinetic energy classification and smoothing for compact B-spline basis sets in quantum Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krogel, Jaron T.; Reboredo, Fernando A.

2018-01-01

Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of defect properties of transition metal oxides have become feasible in recent years due to increases in computing power. As the system size has grown, availability of on-node memory has become a limiting factor. Saving memory while minimizing computational cost is now a priority. The main growth in memory demand stems from the B-spline representation of the single particle orbitals, especially for heavier elements such as transition metals where semi-core states are present. Despite the associated memory costs, splines are computationally efficient. In this work, we explore alternatives to reduce the memory usage of splined orbitals without significantly affecting numerical fidelity or computational efficiency. We make use of the kinetic energy operator to both classify and smooth the occupied set of orbitals prior to splining. By using a partitioning scheme based on the per-orbital kinetic energy distributions, we show that memory savings of about 50% is possible for select transition metal oxide systems. For production supercells of practical interest, our scheme incurs a performance penalty of less than 5%.

Multivariate Hermite interpolation on scattered point sets using tensor-product expo-rational B-splines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dechevsky, Lubomir T.; Bang, Børre; Laksa˚, Arne; Zanaty, Peter

2011-12-01

At the Seventh International Conference on Mathematical Methods for Curves and Surfaces, To/nsberg, Norway, in 2008, several new constructions for Hermite interpolation on scattered point sets in domains in Rn,n∈N, combined with smooth convex partition of unity for several general types of partitions of these domains were proposed in [1]. All of these constructions were based on a new type of B-splines, proposed by some of the authors several years earlier: expo-rational B-splines (ERBS) [3]. In the present communication we shall provide more details about one of these constructions: the one for the most general class of domain partitions considered. This construction is based on the use of two separate families of basis functions: one which has all the necessary Hermite interpolation properties, and another which has the necessary properties of a smooth convex partition of unity. The constructions of both of these two bases are well-known; the new part of the construction is the combined use of these bases for the derivation of a new basis which enjoys having all above-said interpolation and unity partition properties simultaneously. In [1] the emphasis was put on the use of radial basis functions in the definitions of the two initial bases in the construction; now we shall put the main emphasis on the case when these bases consist of tensor-product B-splines. This selection provides two useful advantages: (A) it is easier to compute higher-order derivatives while working in Cartesian coordinates; (B) it becomes clear that this construction becomes a far-going extension of tensor-product constructions. We shall provide 3-dimensional visualization of the resulting bivariate bases, using tensor-product ERBS. In the main tensor-product variant, we shall consider also replacement of ERBS with simpler generalized ERBS (GERBS) [2], namely, their simplified polynomial modifications: the Euler Beta-function B-splines (BFBS). One advantage of using BFBS instead of ERBS

Deformable Image Registration for Cone-Beam CT Guided Transoral Robotic Base of Tongue Surgery

PubMed Central

Reaungamornrat, S.; Liu, W. P.; Wang, A. S.; Otake, Y.; Nithiananthan, S.; Uneri, A.; Schafer, S.; Tryggestad, E.; Richmon, J.; Sorger, J. M.; Siewerdsen, J. H.; Taylor, R. H.

2013-01-01

Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) offers a minimally invasive approach to resection of base of tongue tumors. However, precise localization of the surgical target and adjacent critical structures can be challenged by the highly deformed intraoperative setup. We propose a deformable registration method using intraoperative cone-beam CT (CBCT) to accurately align preoperative CT or MR images with the intraoperative scene. The registration method combines a Gaussian mixture (GM) model followed by a variation of the Demons algorithm. First, following segmentation of the volume of interest (i.e., volume of the tongue extending to the hyoid), a GM model is applied to surface point clouds for rigid initialization (GM rigid) followed by nonrigid deformation (GM nonrigid). Second, the registration is refined using the Demons algorithm applied to distance map transforms of the (GM-registered) preoperative image and intraoperative CBCT. Performance was evaluated in repeat cadaver studies (25 image pairs) in terms of target registration error (TRE), entropy correlation coefficient (ECC), and normalized pointwise mutual information (NPMI). Retraction of the tongue in the TORS operative setup induced gross deformation >30 mm. The mean TRE following the GM rigid, GM nonrigid, and Demons steps was 4.6, 2.1, and 1.7 mm, respectively. The respective ECC was 0.57, 0.70, and 0.73 and NPMI was 0.46, 0.57, and 0.60. Registration accuracy was best across the superior aspect of the tongue and in proximity to the hyoid (by virtue of GM registration of surface points on these structures). The Demons step refined registration primarily in deeper portions of the tongue further from the surface and hyoid bone. Since the method does not use image intensities directly, it is suitable to multi-modality registration of preoperative CT or MR with intraoperative CBCT. Extending the 3D image registration to the fusion of image and planning data in stereo-endoscopic video is anticipated to support

Deformable image registration for cone-beam CT guided transoral robotic base-of-tongue surgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reaungamornrat, S.; Liu, W. P.; Wang, A. S.; Otake, Y.; Nithiananthan, S.; Uneri, A.; Schafer, S.; Tryggestad, E.; Richmon, J.; Sorger, J. M.; Siewerdsen, J. H.; Taylor, R. H.

2013-07-01

Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) offers a minimally invasive approach to resection of base-of-tongue tumors. However, precise localization of the surgical target and adjacent critical structures can be challenged by the highly deformed intraoperative setup. We propose a deformable registration method using intraoperative cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) to accurately align preoperative CT or MR images with the intraoperative scene. The registration method combines a Gaussian mixture (GM) model followed by a variation of the Demons algorithm. First, following segmentation of the volume of interest (i.e. volume of the tongue extending to the hyoid), a GM model is applied to surface point clouds for rigid initialization (GM rigid) followed by nonrigid deformation (GM nonrigid). Second, the registration is refined using the Demons algorithm applied to distance map transforms of the (GM-registered) preoperative image and intraoperative CBCT. Performance was evaluated in repeat cadaver studies (25 image pairs) in terms of target registration error (TRE), entropy correlation coefficient (ECC) and normalized pointwise mutual information (NPMI). Retraction of the tongue in the TORS operative setup induced gross deformation >30 mm. The mean TRE following the GM rigid, GM nonrigid and Demons steps was 4.6, 2.1 and 1.7 mm, respectively. The respective ECC was 0.57, 0.70 and 0.73, and NPMI was 0.46, 0.57 and 0.60. Registration accuracy was best across the superior aspect of the tongue and in proximity to the hyoid (by virtue of GM registration of surface points on these structures). The Demons step refined registration primarily in deeper portions of the tongue further from the surface and hyoid bone. Since the method does not use image intensities directly, it is suitable to multi-modality registration of preoperative CT or MR with intraoperative CBCT. Extending the 3D image registration to the fusion of image and planning data in stereo-endoscopic video is anticipated to

Non-stationary hydrologic frequency analysis using B-spline quantile regression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasri, B.; Bouezmarni, T.; St-Hilaire, A.; Ouarda, T. B. M. J.

2017-11-01

Hydrologic frequency analysis is commonly used by engineers and hydrologists to provide the basic information on planning, design and management of hydraulic and water resources systems under the assumption of stationarity. However, with increasing evidence of climate change, it is possible that the assumption of stationarity, which is prerequisite for traditional frequency analysis and hence, the results of conventional analysis would become questionable. In this study, we consider a framework for frequency analysis of extremes based on B-Spline quantile regression which allows to model data in the presence of non-stationarity and/or dependence on covariates with linear and non-linear dependence. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm was used to estimate quantiles and their posterior distributions. A coefficient of determination and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) for quantile regression are used in order to select the best model, i.e. for each quantile, we choose the degree and number of knots of the adequate B-spline quantile regression model. The method is applied to annual maximum and minimum streamflow records in Ontario, Canada. Climate indices are considered to describe the non-stationarity in the variable of interest and to estimate the quantiles in this case. The results show large differences between the non-stationary quantiles and their stationary equivalents for an annual maximum and minimum discharge with high annual non-exceedance probabilities.

A Greedy Algorithm for Brain MRI's Registration.

PubMed

Chesseboeuf, Clément

2016-12-01

This document presents a non-rigid registration algorithm for the use of brain magnetic resonance (MR) images comparison. More precisely, we want to compare pre-operative and post-operative MR images in order to assess the deformation due to a surgical removal. The proposed algorithm has been studied in Chesseboeuf et al. ((Non-rigid registration of magnetic resonance imaging of brain. IEEE, 385-390. doi: 10.1109/IPTA.2015.7367172 , 2015), following ideas of Trouvé (An infinite dimensional group approach for physics based models in patterns recognition. Technical Report DMI Ecole Normale Supérieure, Cachan, 1995), in which the author introduces the algorithm within a very general framework. Here we recalled this theory from a practical point of view. The emphasis is on illustrations and description of the numerical procedure. Our version of the algorithm is associated with a particular matching criterion. Then, a section is devoted to the description of this object. In the last section we focus on the construction of a statistical method of evaluation.

Evaluation of Two New Smoothing Methods in Equating: The Cubic B-Spline Presmoothing Method and the Direct Presmoothing Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cui, Zhongmin; Kolen, Michael J.

2009-01-01

This article considers two new smoothing methods in equipercentile equating, the cubic B-spline presmoothing method and the direct presmoothing method. Using a simulation study, these two methods are compared with established methods, the beta-4 method, the polynomial loglinear method, and the cubic spline postsmoothing method, under three sample…

Closed-form Jensen-Renyi divergence for mixture of Gaussians and applications to group-wise shape registration.

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Syeda-Mahmood, Tanveer; Vemuri, Baba C; Beymer, David; Rangarajan, Anand

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose a generalized group-wise non-rigid registration strategy for multiple unlabeled point-sets of unequal cardinality, with no bias toward any of the given point-sets. To quantify the divergence between the probability distributions--specifically Mixture of Gaussians--estimated from the given point sets, we use a recently developed information-theoretic measure called Jensen-Renyi (JR) divergence. We evaluate a closed-form JR divergence between multiple probabilistic representations for the general case where the mixture models differ in variance and the number of components. We derive the analytic gradient of the divergence measure with respect to the non-rigid registration parameters, and apply it to numerical optimization of the group-wise registration, leading to a computationally efficient and accurate algorithm. We validate our approach on synthetic data, and evaluate it on 3D cardiac shapes.

Adaptive Diffeomorphic Multiresolution Demons and Their Application to Same Modality Medical Image Registration with Large Deformation

PubMed Central

Wang, Chang; Ren, Qiongqiong; Qin, Xin

2018-01-01

Diffeomorphic demons can guarantee smooth and reversible deformation and avoid unreasonable deformation. However, the number of iterations needs to be set manually, and this greatly influences the registration result. In order to solve this problem, we proposed adaptive diffeomorphic multiresolution demons in this paper. We used an optimized framework with nonrigid registration and diffeomorphism strategy, designed a similarity energy function based on grey value, and stopped iterations adaptively. This method was tested by synthetic image and same modality medical image. Large deformation was simulated by rotational distortion and extrusion transform, medical image registration with large deformation was performed, and quantitative analyses were conducted using the registration evaluation indexes, and the influence of different driving forces and parameters on the registration result was analyzed. The registration results of same modality medical images were compared with those obtained using active demons, additive demons, and diffeomorphic demons. Quantitative analyses showed that the proposed method's normalized cross-correlation coefficient and structural similarity were the highest and mean square error was the lowest. Medical image registration with large deformation could be performed successfully; evaluation indexes remained stable with an increase in deformation strength. The proposed method is effective and robust, and it can be applied to nonrigid registration of same modality medical images with large deformation.

Adaptive Diffeomorphic Multiresolution Demons and Their Application to Same Modality Medical Image Registration with Large Deformation.

PubMed

Wang, Chang; Ren, Qiongqiong; Qin, Xin; Yu, Yi

2018-01-01

Diffeomorphic demons can guarantee smooth and reversible deformation and avoid unreasonable deformation. However, the number of iterations needs to be set manually, and this greatly influences the registration result. In order to solve this problem, we proposed adaptive diffeomorphic multiresolution demons in this paper. We used an optimized framework with nonrigid registration and diffeomorphism strategy, designed a similarity energy function based on grey value, and stopped iterations adaptively. This method was tested by synthetic image and same modality medical image. Large deformation was simulated by rotational distortion and extrusion transform, medical image registration with large deformation was performed, and quantitative analyses were conducted using the registration evaluation indexes, and the influence of different driving forces and parameters on the registration result was analyzed. The registration results of same modality medical images were compared with those obtained using active demons, additive demons, and diffeomorphic demons. Quantitative analyses showed that the proposed method's normalized cross-correlation coefficient and structural similarity were the highest and mean square error was the lowest. Medical image registration with large deformation could be performed successfully; evaluation indexes remained stable with an increase in deformation strength. The proposed method is effective and robust, and it can be applied to nonrigid registration of same modality medical images with large deformation.

Statistical evaluation of the influence of the uncertainty budget on B-spline curve approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xin; Alkhatib, Hamza; Kargoll, Boris; Neumann, Ingo

2017-12-01

In the field of engineering geodesy, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has become a popular method for detecting deformations. This paper analyzes the influence of the uncertainty budget on free-form curves modeled by B-splines. Usually, free-form estimation is based on scanning points assumed to have equal accuracies, which is not realistic. Previous findings demonstrate that the residuals still contain random and systematic uncertainties caused by instrumental, object-related and atmospheric influences. In order to guarantee the quality of derived estimates, it is essential to be aware of all uncertainties and their impact on the estimation. In this paper, a more detailed uncertainty budget is considered, in the context of the "Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement" (GUM), which leads to a refined, heteroskedastic variance covariance matrix (VCM) of TLS measurements. Furthermore, the control points of B-spline curves approximating a measured bridge are estimated. Comparisons are made between the estimated B-spline curves using on the one hand a homoskedastic VCM and on the other hand the refined VCM. To assess the statistical significance of the differences displayed by the estimates for the two stochastic models, a nested model misspecification test and a non-nested model selection test are described and applied. The test decisions indicate that the homoskedastic VCM should be replaced by a heteroskedastic VCM in the direction of the suggested VCM. However, the tests also indicate that the considered VCM is still inadequate in light of the given data set and should therefore be improved.

Registration of parametric dynamic F-18-FDG PET/CT breast images with parametric dynamic Gd-DTPA breast images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magri, Alphonso; Krol, Andrzej; Lipson, Edward; Mandel, James; McGraw, Wendy; Lee, Wei; Tillapaugh-Fay, Gwen; Feiglin, David

2009-02-01

This study was undertaken to register 3D parametric breast images derived from Gd-DTPA MR and F-18-FDG PET/CT dynamic image series. Nonlinear curve fitting (Levenburg-Marquardt algorithm) based on realistic two-compartment models was performed voxel-by-voxel separately for MR (Brix) and PET (Patlak). PET dynamic series consists of 50 frames of 1-minute duration. Each consecutive PET image was nonrigidly registered to the first frame using a finite element method and fiducial skin markers. The 12 post-contrast MR images were nonrigidly registered to the precontrast frame using a free-form deformation (FFD) method. Parametric MR images were registered to parametric PET images via CT using FFD because the first PET time frame was acquired immediately after the CT image on a PET/CT scanner and is considered registered to the CT image. We conclude that nonrigid registration of PET and MR parametric images using CT data acquired during PET/CT scan and the FFD method resulted in their improved spatial coregistration. The success of this procedure was limited due to relatively large target registration error, TRE = 15.1+/-7.7 mm, as compared to spatial resolution of PET (6-7 mm), and swirling image artifacts created in MR parametric images by the FFD. Further refinement of nonrigid registration of PET and MR parametric images is necessary to enhance visualization and integration of complex diagnostic information provided by both modalities that will lead to improved diagnostic performance.

Accurate B-spline-based 3-D interpolation scheme for digital volume correlation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Maodong; Liang, Jin; Wei, Bin

2016-12-01

An accurate and efficient 3-D interpolation scheme, based on sampling theorem and Fourier transform technique, is proposed to reduce the sub-voxel matching error caused by intensity interpolation bias in digital volume correlation. First, the influence factors of the interpolation bias are investigated theoretically using the transfer function of an interpolation filter (henceforth filter) in the Fourier domain. A law that the positional error of a filter can be expressed as a function of fractional position and wave number is found. Then, considering the above factors, an optimized B-spline-based recursive filter, combining B-spline transforms and least squares optimization method, is designed to virtually eliminate the interpolation bias in the process of sub-voxel matching. Besides, given each volumetric image containing different wave number ranges, a Gaussian weighting function is constructed to emphasize or suppress certain of wave number ranges based on the Fourier spectrum analysis. Finally, a novel software is developed and series of validation experiments were carried out to verify the proposed scheme. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can reduce the interpolation bias to an acceptable level.

Utilization of a hybrid finite-element based registration method to quantify heterogeneous tumor response for adaptive treatment for lung cancer patients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharifi, Hoda; Zhang, Hong; Bagher-Ebadian, Hassan; Lu, Wei; Ajlouni, Munther I.; Jin, Jian-Yue; (Spring Kong, Feng-Ming; Chetty, Indrin J.; Zhong, Hualiang

2018-03-01

Tumor response to radiation treatment (RT) can be evaluated from changes in metabolic activity between two positron emission tomography (PET) images. Activity changes at individual voxels in pre-treatment PET images (PET1), however, cannot be derived until their associated PET-CT (CT1) images are appropriately registered to during-treatment PET-CT (CT2) images. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using deformable image registration (DIR) techniques to quantify radiation-induced metabolic changes on PET images. Five patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with adaptive radiotherapy were considered. PET-CTs were acquired two weeks before RT and 18 fractions after the start of RT. DIR was performed from CT1 to CT2 using B-Spline and diffeomorphic Demons algorithms. The resultant displacements in the tumor region were then corrected using a hybrid finite element method (FEM). Bitmap masks generated from gross tumor volumes (GTVs) in PET1 were deformed using the four different displacement vector fields (DVFs). The conservation of total lesion glycolysis (TLG) in GTVs was used as a criterion to evaluate the quality of these registrations. The deformed masks were united to form a large mask which was then partitioned into multiple layers from center to border. The averages of SUV changes over all the layers were 1.0  ±  1.3, 1.0  ±  1.2, 0.8  ±  1.3, 1.1  ±  1.5 for the B-Spline, B-Spline  +  FEM, Demons and Demons  +  FEM algorithms, respectively. TLG changes before and after mapping using B-Spline, Demons, hybrid-B-Spline, and hybrid-Demons registrations were 20.2%, 28.3%, 8.7%, and 2.2% on average, respectively. Compared to image intensity-based DIR algorithms, the hybrid FEM modeling technique is better in preserving TLG and could be useful for evaluation of tumor response for patients with regressing tumors.

Digital anthropomorphic phantoms of non-rigid human respiratory and voluntary body motion for investigating motion correction in emission imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Könik, Arda; Connolly, Caitlin M.; Johnson, Karen L.; Dasari, Paul; Segars, Paul W.; Pretorius, P. H.; Lindsay, Clifford; Dey, Joyoni; King, Michael A.

2014-07-01

and body motion phantoms with a varying extent and character for each individual. In addition to these phantoms, we recorded the position of markers placed on the chest of the volunteers for the body motion studies, which could be used as external motion measurement. Using these phantoms and external motion data, investigators will be able to test their motion correction approaches for realistic motion obtained from different individuals. The non-uniform rational B-spline data and the parameter files for these phantoms are freely available for downloading and can be used with the XCAT license.

Split spline screw

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vranish, John M. (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A split spline screw type payload fastener assembly, including three identical male and female type split spline sections, is discussed. The male spline sections are formed on the head of a male type spline driver. Each of the split male type spline sections has an outwardly projecting load baring segment including a convex upper surface which is adapted to engage a complementary concave surface of a female spline receptor in the form of a hollow bolt head. Additionally, the male spline section also includes a horizontal spline releasing segment and a spline tightening segment below each load bearing segment. The spline tightening segment consists of a vertical web of constant thickness. The web has at least one flat vertical wall surface which is designed to contact a generally flat vertically extending wall surface tab of the bolt head. Mutual interlocking and unlocking of the male and female splines results upon clockwise and counter clockwise turning of the driver element.

Mass preserving registration for heart MR images.

PubMed

Zhu, Lei; Haker, Steven; Tannenbaum, Allen

2005-01-01

This paper presents a new algorithm for non-rigid registration between two doubly-connected regions. Our algorithm is based on harmonic analysis and the theory of optimal mass transport. It assumes an underlining continuum model, in which the total amount of mass is exactly preserved during the transformation of tissues. We use a finite element approach to numerically implement the algorithm.

Mass Preserving Registration for Heart MR Images

PubMed Central

Zhu, Lei; Haker, Steven; Tannenbaum, Allen

2013-01-01

This paper presents a new algorithm for non-rigid registration between two doubly-connected regions. Our algorithm is based on harmonic analysis and the theory of optimal mass transport. It assumes an underlining continuum model, in which the total amount of mass is exactly preserved during the transformation of tissues. We use a finite element approach to numerically implement the algorithm. PMID:16685954

Closed-Form Jensen-Renyi Divergence for Mixture of Gaussians and Applications to Group-Wise Shape Registration*

PubMed Central

Wang, Fei; Syeda-Mahmood, Tanveer; Vemuri, Baba C.; Beymer, David; Rangarajan, Anand

2010-01-01

In this paper, we propose a generalized group-wise non-rigid registration strategy for multiple unlabeled point-sets of unequal cardinality, with no bias toward any of the given point-sets. To quantify the divergence between the probability distributions – specifically Mixture of Gaussians – estimated from the given point sets, we use a recently developed information-theoretic measure called Jensen-Renyi (JR) divergence. We evaluate a closed-form JR divergence between multiple probabilistic representations for the general case where the mixture models differ in variance and the number of components. We derive the analytic gradient of the divergence measure with respect to the non-rigid registration parameters, and apply it to numerical optimization of the group-wise registration, leading to a computationally efficient and accurate algorithm. We validate our approach on synthetic data, and evaluate it on 3D cardiac shapes. PMID:20426043

A Demons algorithm for image registration with locally adaptive regularization.

PubMed

Cahill, Nathan D; Noble, J Alison; Hawkes, David J

2009-01-01

Thirion's Demons is a popular algorithm for nonrigid image registration because of its linear computational complexity and ease of implementation. It approximately solves the diffusion registration problem by successively estimating force vectors that drive the deformation toward alignment and smoothing the force vectors by Gaussian convolution. In this article, we show how the Demons algorithm can be generalized to allow image-driven locally adaptive regularization in a manner that preserves both the linear complexity and ease of implementation of the original Demons algorithm. We show that the proposed algorithm exhibits lower target registration error and requires less computational effort than the original Demons algorithm on the registration of serial chest CT scans of patients with lung nodules.

Real-time motion compensated patient positioning and non-rigid deformation estimation using 4-D shape priors.

PubMed

Wasza, Jakob; Bauer, Sebastian; Hornegger, Joachim

2012-01-01

Over the last years, range imaging (RI) techniques have been proposed for patient positioning and respiration analysis in motion compensation. Yet, current RI based approaches for patient positioning employ rigid-body transformations, thus neglecting free-form deformations induced by respiratory motion. Furthermore, RI based respiration analysis relies on non-rigid registration techniques with run-times of several seconds. In this paper we propose a real-time framework based on RI to perform respiratory motion compensated positioning and non-rigid surface deformation estimation in a joint manner. The core of our method are pre-procedurally obtained 4-D shape priors that drive the intra-procedural alignment of the patient to the reference state, simultaneously yielding a rigid-body table transformation and a free-form deformation accounting for respiratory motion. We show that our method outperforms conventional alignment strategies by a factor of 3.0 and 2.3 in the rotation and translation accuracy, respectively. Using a GPU based implementation, we achieve run-times of 40 ms.

Splines and control theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Zhimin; Tomlinson, John; Martin, Clyde

1994-01-01

In this work, the relationship between splines and the control theory has been analyzed. We show that spline functions can be constructed naturally from the control theory. By establishing a framework based on control theory, we provide a simple and systematic way to construct splines. We have constructed the traditional spline functions including the polynomial splines and the classical exponential spline. We have also discovered some new spline functions such as trigonometric splines and the combination of polynomial, exponential and trigonometric splines. The method proposed in this paper is easy to implement. Some numerical experiments are performed to investigate properties of different spline approximations.

Joint image and motion reconstruction for PET using a B-spline motion model.

PubMed

Blume, Moritz; Navab, Nassir; Rafecas, Magdalena

2012-12-21

We present a novel joint image and motion reconstruction method for PET. The method is based on gated data and reconstructs an image together with a motion function. The motion function can be used to transform the reconstructed image to any of the input gates. All available events (from all gates) are used in the reconstruction. The presented method uses a B-spline motion model, together with a novel motion regularization procedure that does not need a regularization parameter (which is usually extremely difficult to adjust). Several image and motion grid levels are used in order to reduce the reconstruction time. In a simulation study, the presented method is compared to a recently proposed joint reconstruction method. While the presented method provides comparable reconstruction quality, it is much easier to use since no regularization parameter has to be chosen. Furthermore, since the B-spline discretization of the motion function depends on fewer parameters than a displacement field, the presented method is considerably faster and consumes less memory than its counterpart. The method is also applied to clinical data, for which a novel purely data-driven gating approach is presented.

Regional Densification of a Global VTEC Model Based on B-Spline Representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erdogan, Eren; Schmidt, Michael; Dettmering, Denise; Goss, Andreas; Seitz, Florian; Börger, Klaus; Brandert, Sylvia; Görres, Barbara; Kersten, Wilhelm F.; Bothmer, Volker; Hinrichs, Johannes; Mrotzek, Niclas

2017-04-01

The project OPTIMAP is a joint initiative of the Bundeswehr GeoInformation Centre (BGIC), the German Space Situational Awareness Centre (GSSAC), the German Geodetic Research Institute of the Technical University Munich (DGFI-TUM) and the Institute for Astrophysics at the University of Göttingen (IAG). The main goal of the project is the development of an operational tool for ionospheric mapping and prediction (OPTIMAP). Two key features of the project are the combination of different satellite observation techniques (GNSS, satellite altimetry, radio occultations and DORIS) and the regional densification as a remedy against problems encountered with the inhomogeneous data distribution. Since the data from space-geoscientific mission which can be used for modeling ionospheric parameters, such as the Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) or the electron density, are distributed rather unevenly over the globe at different altitudes, appropriate modeling approaches have to be developed to handle this inhomogeneity. Our approach is based on a two-level strategy. To be more specific, in the first level we compute a global VTEC model with a moderate regional and spectral resolution which will be complemented in the second level by a regional model in a densification area. The latter is a region characterized by a dense data distribution to obtain a high spatial and spectral resolution VTEC product. Additionally, the global representation means a background model for the regional one to avoid edge effects at the boundaries of the densification area. The presented approach based on a global and a regional model part, i.e. the consideration of a regional densification is called the Two-Level VTEC Model (TLVM). The global VTEC model part is based on a series expansion in terms of polynomial B-Splines in latitude direction and trigonometric B-Splines in longitude direction. The additional regional model part is set up by a series expansion in terms of polynomial B-splines for

Comparison of arterial spin labeling registration strategies in the multi-center GENetic frontotemporal dementia initiative (GENFI).

PubMed

Mutsaerts, Henri J M M; Petr, Jan; Thomas, David L; De Vita, Enrico; Cash, David M; van Osch, Matthias J P; Golay, Xavier; Groot, Paul F C; Ourselin, Sebastien; van Swieten, John; Laforce, Robert; Tagliavini, Fabrizio; Borroni, Barbara; Galimberti, Daniela; Rowe, James B; Graff, Caroline; Pizzini, Francesca B; Finger, Elizabeth; Sorbi, Sandro; Castelo Branco, Miguel; Rohrer, Jonathan D; Masellis, Mario; MacIntosh, Bradley J

2018-01-01

To compare registration strategies to align arterial spin labeling (ASL) with 3D T1-weighted (T1w) images, with the goal of reducing the between-subject variability of cerebral blood flow (CBF) images. Multi-center 3T ASL data were collected at eight sites with four different sequences in the multi-center GENetic Frontotemporal dementia Initiative (GENFI) study. In a total of 48 healthy controls, we compared the following image registration options: (I) which images to use for registration (perfusion-weighted images [PWI] to the segmented gray matter (GM) probability map (pGM) (CBF-pGM) or M0 to T1w (M0-T1w); (II) which transformation to use (rigid-body or non-rigid); and (III) whether to mask or not (no masking, M0-based FMRIB software library Brain Extraction Tool [BET] masking). In addition to visual comparison, we quantified image similarity using the Pearson correlation coefficient (CC), and used the Mann-Whitney U rank sum test. CBF-pGM outperformed M0-T1w (CC improvement 47.2% ± 22.0%; P < 0.001), and the non-rigid transformation outperformed rigid-body (20.6% ± 5.3%; P < 0.001). Masking only improved the M0-T1w rigid-body registration (14.5% ± 15.5%; P = 0.007). The choice of image registration strategy impacts ASL group analyses. The non-rigid transformation is promising but requires validation. CBF-pGM rigid-body registration without masking can be used as a default strategy. In patients with expansive perfusion deficits, M0-T1w may outperform CBF-pGM in sequences with high effective spatial resolution. BET-masking only improves M0-T1w registration when the M0 image has sufficient contrast. 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;47:131-140. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Non-rigid Earth rotation series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pashkevich, V. V.

2008-04-01

The last years a lot of attempts to derive a high-precision theory of the non-rigid Earth rotation was carried out. For these purposes the different transfer functions are used. Usually these transfer func- tions are applied to the series representing the nutation in longitude and in obliquity of the rigid Earth rotation with respect to the ecliptic of date. The aim of this investigation is a construction of the new high- precision non-rigid Earth rotation series (SN9000), dynamically adequate to the DE404/LE404 ephemeris over 2000 years, which are expressed as a function of Euler angles ψ, θ and φ with respect to the fixed ecliptic plane and equinox J2000.0. The early stages of the previous investigation: 1. The high-precision numerical solution of the rigid Earth rotation have been constructed (V.V.Pashkevich, G.I.Eroshkin and A.Brzezinski, 2004), (V.V.Pashkevich and G.I.Eroshkin, Proceedings of Journees 2004). The initial con- ditions have been calculated from SMART97 (P.Bretagnon, G.Francou, P.Rocher, J.L.Simon,1998). The discrepancies between the numerical solution and the semi-analytical solution SMART97 were obtained in Euler angles over 2000 years with one-day spacing. 2. Investigation of the discrepancies is carried out by the least squares and by the spectral analysis algorithms (V.V.Pashkevich and G.I.Eroshkin, Proceedings of Journees 2005). The high-precision rigid Earth rotation series S9000 are determined (V.V.Pashkevich and G.I.Eroshkin, 2005 ). The next stage of this investigation: 3. The new high-precision non-rigid Earth rotation series (SN9000), which are expressed as a function of Euler angles, are constructed by using the method (P.Bretagnon, P.M.Mathews, J.-L.Simon: 1999) and the transfer function MHB2002 (Mathews, P. M., Herring, T. A., and Buffett B. A., 2002).

A Locally Modal B-Spline Based Full-Vector Finite-Element Method with PML for Nonlinear and Lossy Plasmonic Waveguide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karimi, Hossein; Nikmehr, Saeid; Khodapanah, Ehsan

2016-09-01

In this paper, we develop a B-spline finite-element method (FEM) based on a locally modal wave propagation with anisotropic perfectly matched layers (PMLs), for the first time, to simulate nonlinear and lossy plasmonic waveguides. Conventional approaches like beam propagation method, inherently omit the wave spectrum and do not provide physical insight into nonlinear modes especially in the plasmonic applications, where nonlinear modes are constructed by linear modes with very close propagation constant quantities. Our locally modal B-spline finite element method (LMBS-FEM) does not suffer from the weakness of the conventional approaches. To validate our method, first, propagation of wave for various kinds of linear, nonlinear, lossless and lossy materials of metal-insulator plasmonic structures are simulated using LMBS-FEM in MATLAB and the comparisons are made with FEM-BPM module of COMSOL Multiphysics simulator and B-spline finite-element finite-difference wide angle beam propagation method (BSFEFD-WABPM). The comparisons show that not only our developed numerical approach is computationally more accurate and efficient than conventional approaches but also it provides physical insight into the nonlinear nature of the propagation modes.

Generation of global VTEC maps from low latency GNSS observations based on B-spline modelling and Kalman filtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erdogan, Eren; Dettmering, Denise; Limberger, Marco; Schmidt, Michael; Seitz, Florian; Börger, Klaus; Brandert, Sylvia; Görres, Barbara; Kersten, Wilhelm F.; Bothmer, Volker; Hinrichs, Johannes; Venzmer, Malte

2015-04-01

In May 2014 DGFI-TUM (the former DGFI) and the German Space Situational Awareness Centre (GSSAC) started to develop an OPerational Tool for Ionospheric Mapping And Prediction (OPTIMAP); since November 2014 the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Göttingen (IAG) joined the group as the third partner. This project aims on the computation and prediction of maps of the vertical total electron content (VTEC) and the electron density distribution of the ionosphere on a global scale from both various space-geodetic observation techniques such as GNSS and satellite altimetry as well as Sun observations. In this contribution we present first results, i.e. a near-real time processing framework for generating VTEC maps by assimilating GNSS (GPS, GLONASS) based ionospheric data into a two-dimensional global B-spline approach. To be more specific, the spatial variations of VTEC are modelled by trigonometric B-spline functions in longitude and by endpoint-interpolating polynomial B-spline functions in latitude, respectively. Since B-spline functions are compactly supported and highly localizing our approach can handle large data gaps appropriately and, thus, provides a better approximation of data with heterogeneous density and quality compared to the commonly used spherical harmonics. The presented method models temporal variations of VTEC inside a Kalman filter. The unknown parameters of the filter state vector are composed of the B-spline coefficients as well as the satellite and receiver DCBs. To approximate the temporal variation of these state vector components as part of the filter the dynamical model has to be set up. The current implementation of the filter allows to select between a random walk process, a Gauss-Markov process and a dynamic process driven by an empirical ionosphere model, e.g. the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). For running the model ionospheric input data is acquired from terrestrial GNSS networks through online archive systems

Accuracy and Utility of Deformable Image Registration in {sup 68}Ga 4D PET/CT Assessment of Pulmonary Perfusion Changes During and After Lung Radiation Therapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hardcastle, Nicholas, E-mail: nick.hardcastle@gmail.com; Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong; Hofman, Michael S.

2015-09-01

Purpose: Measuring changes in lung perfusion resulting from radiation therapy dose requires registration of the functional imaging to the radiation therapy treatment planning scan. This study investigates registration accuracy and utility for positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) perfusion imaging in radiation therapy for non–small cell lung cancer. Methods: {sup 68}Ga 4-dimensional PET/CT ventilation-perfusion imaging was performed before, during, and after radiation therapy for 5 patients. Rigid registration and deformable image registration (DIR) using B-splines and Demons algorithms was performed with the CT data to obtain a deformation map between the functional images and planning CT. Contour propagation accuracy andmore » correspondence of anatomic features were used to assess registration accuracy. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine statistical significance. Changes in lung perfusion resulting from radiation therapy dose were calculated for each registration method for each patient and averaged over all patients. Results: With B-splines/Demons DIR, median distance to agreement between lung contours reduced modestly by 0.9/1.1 mm, 1.3/1.6 mm, and 1.3/1.6 mm for pretreatment, midtreatment, and posttreatment (P<.01 for all), and median Dice score between lung contours improved by 0.04/0.04, 0.05/0.05, and 0.05/0.05 for pretreatment, midtreatment, and posttreatment (P<.001 for all). Distance between anatomic features reduced with DIR by median 2.5 mm and 2.8 for pretreatment and midtreatment time points, respectively (P=.001) and 1.4 mm for posttreatment (P>.2). Poorer posttreatment results were likely caused by posttreatment pneumonitis and tumor regression. Up to 80% standardized uptake value loss in perfusion scans was observed. There was limited change in the loss in lung perfusion between registration methods; however, Demons resulted in larger interpatient variation compared with rigid and B-splines registration

Spherical Demons: Fast Surface Registration

PubMed Central

Yeo, B.T. Thomas; Sabuncu, Mert; Vercauteren, Tom; Ayache, Nicholas; Fischl, Bruce; Golland, Polina

2009-01-01

We present the fast Spherical Demons algorithm for registering two spherical images. By exploiting spherical vector spline interpolation theory, we show that a large class of regularizers for the modified demons objective function can be efficiently implemented on the sphere using convolution. Based on the one parameter subgroups of diffeomorphisms, the resulting registration is diffeomorphic and fast – registration of two cortical mesh models with more than 100k nodes takes less than 5 minutes, comparable to the fastest surface registration algorithms. Moreover, the accuracy of our method compares favorably to the popular FreeSurfer registration algorithm. We validate the technique in two different settings: (1) parcellation in a set of in-vivo cortical surfaces and (2) Brodmann area localization in ex-vivo cortical surfaces. PMID:18979813

Spherical demons: fast surface registration.

PubMed

Yeo, B T Thomas; Sabuncu, Mert; Vercauteren, Tom; Ayache, Nicholas; Fischl, Bruce; Golland, Polina

2008-01-01

We present the fast Spherical Demons algorithm for registering two spherical images. By exploiting spherical vector spline interpolation theory, we show that a large class of regularizers for the modified demons objective function can be efficiently implemented on the sphere using convolution. Based on the one parameter subgroups of diffeomorphisms, the resulting registration is diffeomorphic and fast - registration of two cortical mesh models with more than 100k nodes takes less than 5 minutes, comparable to the fastest surface registration algorithms. Moreover, the accuracy of our method compares favorably to the popular FreeSurfer registration algorithm. We validate the technique in two different settings: (1) parcellation in a set of in-vivo cortical surfaces and (2) Brodmann area localization in ex-vivo cortical surfaces.

Beta-function B-spline smoothing on triangulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dechevsky, Lubomir T.; Zanaty, Peter

2013-03-01

In this work we investigate a novel family of Ck-smooth rational basis functions on triangulations for fitting, smoothing, and denoising geometric data. The introduced basis function is closely related to a recently introduced general method introduced in utilizing generalized expo-rational B-splines, which provides Ck-smooth convex resolutions of unity on very general disjoint partitions and overlapping covers of multidimensional domains with complex geometry. One of the major advantages of this new triangular construction is its locality with respect to the star-1 neighborhood of the vertex on which the said base is providing Hermite interpolation. This locality of the basis functions can be in turn utilized in adaptive methods, where, for instance a local refinement of the underlying triangular mesh affects only the refined domain, whereas, in other method one needs to investigate what changes are occurring outside of the refined domain. Both the triangular and the general smooth constructions have the potential to become a new versatile tool of Computer Aided Geometric Design (CAGD), Finite and Boundary Element Analysis (FEA/BEA) and Iso-geometric Analysis (IGA).

Applying the algorithm "assessing quality using image registration circuits" (AQUIRC) to multi-atlas segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datteri, Ryan; Asman, Andrew J.; Landman, Bennett A.; Dawant, Benoit M.

2014-03-01

Multi-atlas registration-based segmentation is a popular technique in the medical imaging community, used to transform anatomical and functional information from a set of atlases onto a new patient that lacks this information. The accuracy of the projected information on the target image is dependent on the quality of the registrations between the atlas images and the target image. Recently, we have developed a technique called AQUIRC that aims at estimating the error of a non-rigid registration at the local level and was shown to correlate to error in a simulated case. Herein, we extend upon this work by applying AQUIRC to atlas selection at the local level across multiple structures in cases in which non-rigid registration is difficult. AQUIRC is applied to 6 structures, the brainstem, optic chiasm, left and right optic nerves, and the left and right eyes. We compare the results of AQUIRC to that of popular techniques, including Majority Vote, STAPLE, Non-Local STAPLE, and Locally-Weighted Vote. We show that AQUIRC can be used as a method to combine multiple segmentations and increase the accuracy of the projected information on a target image, and is comparable to cutting edge methods in the multi-atlas segmentation field.

Rational-Spline Subroutines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schiess, James R.; Kerr, Patricia A.; Smith, Olivia C.

1988-01-01

Smooth curves drawn among plotted data easily. Rational-Spline Approximation with Automatic Tension Adjustment algorithm leads to flexible, smooth representation of experimental data. "Tension" denotes mathematical analog of mechanical tension in spline or other mechanical curve-fitting tool, and "spline" as denotes mathematical generalization of tool. Program differs from usual spline under tension, allows user to specify different values of tension between adjacent pairs of knots rather than constant tension over entire range of data. Subroutines use automatic adjustment scheme that varies tension parameter for each interval until maximum deviation of spline from line joining knots less than or equal to amount specified by user. Procedure frees user from drudgery of adjusting individual tension parameters while still giving control over local behavior of spline.

The influence of the image registration method on the adaptive radiotherapy. A proof of the principle in a selected case of prostate IMRT.

PubMed

Berenguer, Roberto; de la Vara, Victoria; Lopez-Honrubia, Veronica; Nuñez, Ana Teresa; Rivera, Miguel; Villas, Maria Victoria; Sabater, Sebastia

2018-01-01

To analyse the influence of the image registration method on the adaptive radiotherapy of an IMRT prostate treatment, and to compare the dose accumulation according to 3 different image registration methods with the planned dose. The IMRT prostate patient was CT imaged 3 times throughout his treatment. The prostate, PTV, rectum and bladder were segmented on each CT. A Rigid, a deformable (DIR) B-spline and a DIR with landmarks registration algorithms were employed. The difference between the accumulated doses and planned doses were evaluated by the gamma index. The Dice coefficient and Hausdorff distance was used to evaluate the overlap between volumes, to quantify the quality of the registration. When comparing adaptive vs no adaptive RT, the gamma index calculation showed large differences depending on the image registration method (as much as 87.6% in the case of DIR B-spline). The quality of the registration was evaluated using an index such as the Dice coefficient. This showed that the best result was obtained with DIR with landmarks compared with the rest and it was always above 0.77, reported as a recommended minimum value for prostate studies in a multi-centre review. Apart from showing the importance of the application of an adaptive RT protocol in a particular treatment, this work shows that the election of the registration method is decisive in the result of the adaptive radiotherapy and dose accumulation. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-rigid CT/CBCT to CBCT registration for online external beam radiotherapy guidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zachiu, Cornel; de Senneville, Baudouin Denis; Tijssen, Rob H. N.; Kotte, Alexis N. T. J.; Houweling, Antonetta C.; Kerkmeijer, Linda G. W.; Lagendijk, Jan J. W.; Moonen, Chrit T. W.; Ries, Mario

2018-01-01

Image-guided external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) allows radiation dose deposition with a high degree of accuracy and precision. Guidance is usually achieved by estimating the displacements, via image registration, between cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and computed tomography (CT) images acquired at different stages of the therapy. The resulting displacements are then used to reposition the patient such that the location of the tumor at the time of treatment matches its position during planning. Moreover, ongoing research aims to use CBCT-CT image registration for online plan adaptation. However, CBCT images are usually acquired using a small number of x-ray projections and/or low beam intensities. This often leads to the images being subject to low contrast, low signal-to-noise ratio and artifacts, which ends-up hampering the image registration process. Previous studies addressed this by integrating additional image processing steps into the registration procedure. However, these steps are usually designed for particular image acquisition schemes, therefore limiting their use on a case-by-case basis. In the current study we address CT to CBCT and CBCT to CBCT registration by the means of the recently proposed EVolution registration algorithm. Contrary to previous approaches, EVolution does not require the integration of additional image processing steps in the registration scheme. Moreover, the algorithm requires a low number of input parameters, is easily parallelizable and provides an elastic deformation on a point-by-point basis. Results have shown that relative to a pure CT-based registration, the intrinsic artifacts present in typical CBCT images only have a sub-millimeter impact on the accuracy and precision of the estimated deformation. In addition, the algorithm has low computational requirements, which are compatible with online image-based guidance of EBRT treatments.

Multi-modal Registration for Correlative Microscopy using Image Analogies

PubMed Central

Cao, Tian; Zach, Christopher; Modla, Shannon; Powell, Debbie; Czymmek, Kirk; Niethammer, Marc

2014-01-01

Correlative microscopy is a methodology combining the functionality of light microscopy with the high resolution of electron microscopy and other microscopy technologies for the same biological specimen. In this paper, we propose an image registration method for correlative microscopy, which is challenging due to the distinct appearance of biological structures when imaged with different modalities. Our method is based on image analogies and allows to transform images of a given modality into the appearance-space of another modality. Hence, the registration between two different types of microscopy images can be transformed to a mono-modality image registration. We use a sparse representation model to obtain image analogies. The method makes use of corresponding image training patches of two different imaging modalities to learn a dictionary capturing appearance relations. We test our approach on backscattered electron (BSE) scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/confocal and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)/confocal images. We perform rigid, affine, and deformable registration via B-splines and show improvements over direct registration using both mutual information and sum of squared differences similarity measures to account for differences in image appearance. PMID:24387943

Fitting multidimensional splines using statistical variable selection techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, P. L.

1982-01-01

This report demonstrates the successful application of statistical variable selection techniques to fit splines. Major emphasis is given to knot selection, but order determination is also discussed. Two FORTRAN backward elimination programs using the B-spline basis were developed, and the one for knot elimination is compared in detail with two other spline-fitting methods and several statistical software packages. An example is also given for the two-variable case using a tensor product basis, with a theoretical discussion of the difficulties of their use.

B-Spline Filtering for Automatic Detection of Calcification Lesions in Mammograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bueno, G.; Sánchez, S.; Ruiz, M.

2006-10-01

Breast cancer continues to be an important health problem between women population. Early detection is the only way to improve breast cancer prognosis and significantly reduce women mortality. It is by using CAD systems that radiologist can improve their ability to detect, and classify lesions in mammograms. In this study the usefulness of using B-spline based on a gradient scheme and compared to wavelet and adaptative filtering has been investigated for calcification lesion detection and as part of CAD systems. The technique has been applied to different density tissues. A qualitative validation shows the success of the method.

Correcting bias in the rational polynomial coefficients of satellite imagery using thin-plate smoothing splines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Xiang; Liu, Bin; Li, Qing-Quan

2017-03-01

The Rational Function Model (RFM) has proven to be a viable alternative to the rigorous sensor models used for geo-processing of high-resolution satellite imagery. Because of various errors in the satellite ephemeris and instrument calibration, the Rational Polynomial Coefficients (RPCs) supplied by image vendors are often not sufficiently accurate, and there is therefore a clear need to correct the systematic biases in order to meet the requirements of high-precision topographic mapping. In this paper, we propose a new RPC bias-correction method using the thin-plate spline modeling technique. Benefiting from its excellent performance and high flexibility in data fitting, the thin-plate spline model has the potential to remove complex distortions in vendor-provided RPCs, such as the errors caused by short-period orbital perturbations. The performance of the new method was evaluated by using Ziyuan-3 satellite images and was compared against the recently developed least-squares collocation approach, as well as the classical affine-transformation and quadratic-polynomial based methods. The results show that the accuracies of the thin-plate spline and the least-squares collocation approaches were better than the other two methods, which indicates that strong non-rigid deformations exist in the test data because they cannot be adequately modeled by simple polynomial-based methods. The performance of the thin-plate spline method was close to that of the least-squares collocation approach when only a few Ground Control Points (GCPs) were used, and it improved more rapidly with an increase in the number of redundant observations. In the test scenario using 21 GCPs (some of them located at the four corners of the scene), the correction residuals of the thin-plate spline method were about 36%, 37%, and 19% smaller than those of the affine transformation method, the quadratic polynomial method, and the least-squares collocation algorithm, respectively, which demonstrates

A scalable block-preconditioning strategy for divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations of the Stokes problem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cortes, Adriano M.; Dalcin, Lisandro; Sarmiento, Adel F.

The recently introduced divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations allow the construction of smooth discrete velocity–pressure pairs for viscous incompressible flows that are at the same time inf–sup stable and pointwise divergence-free. When applied to the discretized Stokes problem, these spaces generate a symmetric and indefinite saddle-point linear system. The iterative method of choice to solve such system is the Generalized Minimum Residual Method. This method lacks robustness, and one remedy is to use preconditioners. For linear systems of saddle-point type, a large family of preconditioners can be obtained by using a block factorization of the system. In this paper, we show howmore » the nesting of “black-box” solvers and preconditioners can be put together in a block triangular strategy to build a scalable block preconditioner for the Stokes system discretized by divergence-conforming B-splines. Lastly, besides the known cavity flow problem, we used for benchmark flows defined on complex geometries: an eccentric annulus and hollow torus of an eccentric annular cross-section.« less

A scalable block-preconditioning strategy for divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations of the Stokes problem

DOE PAGES

Cortes, Adriano M.; Dalcin, Lisandro; Sarmiento, Adel F.; ...

2016-10-19

The recently introduced divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations allow the construction of smooth discrete velocity–pressure pairs for viscous incompressible flows that are at the same time inf–sup stable and pointwise divergence-free. When applied to the discretized Stokes problem, these spaces generate a symmetric and indefinite saddle-point linear system. The iterative method of choice to solve such system is the Generalized Minimum Residual Method. This method lacks robustness, and one remedy is to use preconditioners. For linear systems of saddle-point type, a large family of preconditioners can be obtained by using a block factorization of the system. In this paper, we show howmore » the nesting of “black-box” solvers and preconditioners can be put together in a block triangular strategy to build a scalable block preconditioner for the Stokes system discretized by divergence-conforming B-splines. Lastly, besides the known cavity flow problem, we used for benchmark flows defined on complex geometries: an eccentric annulus and hollow torus of an eccentric annular cross-section.« less

Spline methods for approximating quantile functions and generating random samples

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schiess, J. R.; Matthews, C. G.

1985-01-01

Two cubic spline formulations are presented for representing the quantile function (inverse cumulative distribution function) of a random sample of data. Both B-spline and rational spline approximations are compared with analytic representations of the quantile function. It is also shown how these representations can be used to generate random samples for use in simulation studies. Comparisons are made on samples generated from known distributions and a sample of experimental data. The spline representations are more accurate for multimodal and skewed samples and to require much less time to generate samples than the analytic representation.

Vision based tunnel inspection using non-rigid registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badshah, Amir; Ullah, Shan; Shahzad, Danish

2015-04-01

Growing numbers of long tunnels across the globe has increased the need for safety measurements and inspections of tunnels in these days. To avoid serious damages, tunnel inspection is highly recommended at regular intervals of time to find any deformations or cracks at the right time. While following the stringent safety and tunnel accessibility standards, conventional geodetic surveying using techniques of civil engineering and other manual and mechanical methods are time consuming and results in troublesome of routine life. An automatic tunnel inspection by image processing techniques using non rigid registration has been proposed. There are many other image processing methods used for image registration purposes. Most of the processes are operation of images in its spatial domain like finding edges and corners by Harris edge detection method. These methods are quite time consuming and fail for some or other reasons like for blurred or images with noise. Due to use of image features directly by these methods in the process, are known by the group, correlation by image features. The other method is featureless correlation, in which the images are converted into its frequency domain and then correlated with each other. The shift in spatial domain is the same as in frequency domain, but the processing is order faster than in spatial domain. In the proposed method modified normalized phase correlation has been used to find any shift between two images. As pre pre-processing the tunnel images i.e. reference and template are divided into small patches. All these relative patches are registered by the proposed modified normalized phase correlation. By the application of the proposed algorithm we get the pixel movement of the images. And then these pixels shifts are converted to measuring units like mm, cm etc. After the complete process if there is any shift in the tunnel at described points are located.

Groupwise Registration and Atlas Construction of 4th-Order Tensor Fields Using the ℝ+ Riemannian Metric*

PubMed Central

Barmpoutis, Angelos

2010-01-01

Registration of Diffusion-Weighted MR Images (DW-MRI) can be achieved by registering the corresponding 2nd-order Diffusion Tensor Images (DTI). However, it has been shown that higher-order diffusion tensors (e.g. order-4) outperform the traditional DTI in approximating complex fiber structures such as fiber crossings. In this paper we present a novel method for unbiased group-wise non-rigid registration and atlas construction of 4th-order diffusion tensor fields. To the best of our knowledge there is no other existing method to achieve this task. First we define a metric on the space of positive-valued functions based on the Riemannian metric of real positive numbers (denoted by ℝ+). Then, we use this metric in a novel functional minimization method for non-rigid 4th-order tensor field registration. We define a cost function that accounts for the 4th-order tensor re-orientation during the registration process and has analytic derivatives with respect to the transformation parameters. Finally, the tensor field atlas is computed as the minimizer of the variance defined using the Riemannian metric. We quantitatively compare the proposed method with other techniques that register scalar-valued or diffusion tensor (rank-2) representations of the DWMRI. PMID:20436782

Automatic Mrf-Based Registration of High Resolution Satellite Video Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Platias, C.; Vakalopoulou, M.; Karantzalos, K.

2016-06-01

In this paper we propose a deformable registration framework for high resolution satellite video data able to automatically and accurately co-register satellite video frames and/or register them to a reference map/image. The proposed approach performs non-rigid registration, formulates a Markov Random Fields (MRF) model, while efficient linear programming is employed for reaching the lowest potential of the cost function. The developed approach has been applied and validated on satellite video sequences from Skybox Imaging and compared with a rigid, descriptor-based registration method. Regarding the computational performance, both the MRF-based and the descriptor-based methods were quite efficient, with the first one converging in some minutes and the second in some seconds. Regarding the registration accuracy the proposed MRF-based method significantly outperformed the descriptor-based one in all the performing experiments.

Validation of TMJ osteoarthritis synthetic defect database via non-rigid registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paniagua, Beatriz; Pera, Juliette; Budin, Francois; Gomes, Liliane; Styner, Martin; Lucia, Cevidanes; Nguyen, Tung

2015-03-01

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders are a group of conditions that cause pain and dysfunction in the jaw joint and the muscles controlling jaw movement. However, diagnosis and treatment of these conditions remain controversial. To date, there is no single sign, symptom, or test that can clearly diagnose early stages of osteoarthritis (OA). Instead, the diagnosis is based on a consideration of several factors, including radiological evaluation. The current radiological diagnosis scores of TMJ pathology are subject to misdiagnosis. We believe these scores are limited by the acquisition procedures, such as oblique cuts of the CT and head positioning errors, and can lead to incorrect diagnoses of flattening of the head of the condyle, formation of osteophytes, or condylar pitting. This study consists of creating and validating a methodological framework to simulate defects in CBCT scans of known location and size, in order to create synthetic TMJ OA database. User-generated defects were created using a non-rigid deformation protocol in CBCT. All segmentation evaluation, surface distances and linear distances from the user-generated to the simulated defects showed our methodological framework to be very precise and within a voxel (0.5 mm) of magnitude. A TMJ OA synthetic database will be created next, and evaluated by expert radiologists, and this will serve to evaluate how sensitive the current radiological diagnosis tools are.

Evaluation of Interpolation Effects on Upsampling and Accuracy of Cost Functions-Based Optimized Automatic Image Registration

PubMed Central

Mahmoudzadeh, Amir Pasha; Kashou, Nasser H.

2013-01-01

Interpolation has become a default operation in image processing and medical imaging and is one of the important factors in the success of an intensity-based registration method. Interpolation is needed if the fractional unit of motion is not matched and located on the high resolution (HR) grid. The purpose of this work is to present a systematic evaluation of eight standard interpolation techniques (trilinear, nearest neighbor, cubic Lagrangian, quintic Lagrangian, hepatic Lagrangian, windowed Sinc, B-spline 3rd order, and B-spline 4th order) and to compare the effect of cost functions (least squares (LS), normalized mutual information (NMI), normalized cross correlation (NCC), and correlation ratio (CR)) for optimized automatic image registration (OAIR) on 3D spoiled gradient recalled (SPGR) magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the brain acquired using a 3T GE MR scanner. Subsampling was performed in the axial, sagittal, and coronal directions to emulate three low resolution datasets. Afterwards, the low resolution datasets were upsampled using different interpolation methods, and they were then compared to the high resolution data. The mean squared error, peak signal to noise, joint entropy, and cost functions were computed for quantitative assessment of the method. Magnetic resonance image scans and joint histogram were used for qualitative assessment of the method. PMID:24000283

Evaluation of interpolation effects on upsampling and accuracy of cost functions-based optimized automatic image registration.

PubMed

Mahmoudzadeh, Amir Pasha; Kashou, Nasser H

2013-01-01

Interpolation has become a default operation in image processing and medical imaging and is one of the important factors in the success of an intensity-based registration method. Interpolation is needed if the fractional unit of motion is not matched and located on the high resolution (HR) grid. The purpose of this work is to present a systematic evaluation of eight standard interpolation techniques (trilinear, nearest neighbor, cubic Lagrangian, quintic Lagrangian, hepatic Lagrangian, windowed Sinc, B-spline 3rd order, and B-spline 4th order) and to compare the effect of cost functions (least squares (LS), normalized mutual information (NMI), normalized cross correlation (NCC), and correlation ratio (CR)) for optimized automatic image registration (OAIR) on 3D spoiled gradient recalled (SPGR) magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the brain acquired using a 3T GE MR scanner. Subsampling was performed in the axial, sagittal, and coronal directions to emulate three low resolution datasets. Afterwards, the low resolution datasets were upsampled using different interpolation methods, and they were then compared to the high resolution data. The mean squared error, peak signal to noise, joint entropy, and cost functions were computed for quantitative assessment of the method. Magnetic resonance image scans and joint histogram were used for qualitative assessment of the method.

Nonlinear identification using a B-spline neural network and chaotic immune approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

dos Santos Coelho, Leandro; Pessôa, Marcelo Wicthoff

2009-11-01

One of the important applications of B-spline neural network (BSNN) is to approximate nonlinear functions defined on a compact subset of a Euclidean space in a highly parallel manner. Recently, BSNN, a type of basis function neural network, has received increasing attention and has been applied in the field of nonlinear identification. BSNNs have the potential to "learn" the process model from input-output data or "learn" fault knowledge from past experience. BSNN can be used as function approximators to construct the analytical model for residual generation too. However, BSNN is trained by gradient-based methods that may fall into local minima during the learning procedure. When using feed-forward BSNNs, the quality of approximation depends on the control points (knots) placement of spline functions. This paper describes the application of a modified artificial immune network inspired optimization method - the opt-aiNet - combined with sequences generate by Hénon map to provide a stochastic search to adjust the control points of a BSNN. The numerical results presented here indicate that artificial immune network optimization methods are useful for building good BSNN model for the nonlinear identification of two case studies: (i) the benchmark of Box and Jenkins gas furnace, and (ii) an experimental ball-and-tube system.

17 CFR 270.8b-5 - Time of filing original registration statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Time of filing original registration statement. 270.8b-5 Section 270.8b-5 Commodity and Securities Exchanges SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE... original registration statement. An investment company shall file a registration statement with the...

TU-G-BRA-05: Predicting Volume Change of the Tumor and Critical Structures Throughout Radiation Therapy by CT-CBCT Registration with Local Intensity Correction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Park, S; Robinson, A; Kiess, A

2015-06-15

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an accurate and effective technique to predict and monitor volume changes of the tumor and organs at risk (OARs) from daily cone-beam CTs (CBCTs). Methods: While CBCT is typically used to minimize the patient setup error, its poor image quality impedes accurate monitoring of daily anatomical changes in radiotherapy. Reconstruction artifacts in CBCT often cause undesirable errors in registration-based contour propagation from the planning CT, a conventional way to estimate anatomical changes. To improve the registration and segmentation accuracy, we developed a new deformable image registration (DIR) that iteratively corrects CBCTmore » intensities using slice-based histogram matching during the registration process. Three popular DIR algorithms (hierarchical B-spline, demons, optical flow) augmented by the intensity correction were implemented on a graphics processing unit for efficient computation, and their performances were evaluated on six head and neck (HN) cancer cases. Four trained scientists manually contoured nodal gross tumor volume (GTV) on the planning CT and every other fraction CBCTs for each case, to which the propagated GTV contours by DIR were compared. The performance was also compared with commercial software, VelocityAI (Varian Medical Systems Inc.). Results: Manual contouring showed significant variations, [-76, +141]% from the mean of all four sets of contours. The volume differences (mean±std in cc) between the average manual segmentation and four automatic segmentations are 3.70±2.30(B-spline), 1.25±1.78(demons), 0.93±1.14(optical flow), and 4.39±3.86 (VelocityAI). In comparison to the average volume of the manual segmentations, the proposed approach significantly reduced the estimation error by 9%(B-spline), 38%(demons), and 51%(optical flow) over the conventional mutual information based method (VelocityAI). Conclusion: The proposed CT-CBCT registration with local CBCT intensity

Non-Rigid Structure Estimation in Trajectory Space from Monocular Vision

PubMed Central

Wang, Yaming; Tong, Lingling; Jiang, Mingfeng; Zheng, Junbao

2015-01-01

In this paper, the problem of non-rigid structure estimation in trajectory space from monocular vision is investigated. Similar to the Point Trajectory Approach (PTA), based on characteristic points’ trajectories described by a predefined Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) basis, the structure matrix was also calculated by using a factorization method. To further optimize the non-rigid structure estimation from monocular vision, the rank minimization problem about structure matrix is proposed to implement the non-rigid structure estimation by introducing the basic low-rank condition. Moreover, the Accelerated Proximal Gradient (APG) algorithm is proposed to solve the rank minimization problem, and the initial structure matrix calculated by the PTA method is optimized. The APG algorithm can converge to efficient solutions quickly and lessen the reconstruction error obviously. The reconstruction results of real image sequences indicate that the proposed approach runs reliably, and effectively improves the accuracy of non-rigid structure estimation from monocular vision. PMID:26473863

[Elastic registration method to compute deformation functions for mitral valve].

PubMed

Yang, Jinyu; Zhang, Wan; Yin, Ran; Deng, Yuxiao; Wei, Yunfeng; Zeng, Junyi; Wen, Tong; Ding, Lu; Liu, Xiaojian; Li, Yipeng

2014-10-01

Mitral valve disease is one of the most popular heart valve diseases. Precise positioning and displaying of the valve characteristics is necessary for the minimally invasive mitral valve repairing procedures. This paper presents a multi-resolution elastic registration method to compute the deformation functions constructed from cubic B-splines in three dimensional ultrasound images, in which the objective functional to be optimized was generated by maximum likelihood method based on the probabilistic distribution of the ultrasound speckle noise. The algorithm was then applied to register the mitral valve voxels. Numerical results proved the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Polychromatic sparse image reconstruction and mass attenuation spectrum estimation via B-spline basis function expansion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gu, Renliang, E-mail: Venliang@iastate.edu, E-mail: ald@iastate.edu; Dogandžić, Aleksandar, E-mail: Venliang@iastate.edu, E-mail: ald@iastate.edu

2015-03-31

We develop a sparse image reconstruction method for polychromatic computed tomography (CT) measurements under the blind scenario where the material of the inspected object and the incident energy spectrum are unknown. To obtain a parsimonious measurement model parameterization, we first rewrite the measurement equation using our mass-attenuation parameterization, which has the Laplace integral form. The unknown mass-attenuation spectrum is expanded into basis functions using a B-spline basis of order one. We develop a block coordinate-descent algorithm for constrained minimization of a penalized negative log-likelihood function, where constraints and penalty terms ensure nonnegativity of the spline coefficients and sparsity of themore » density map image in the wavelet domain. This algorithm alternates between a Nesterov’s proximal-gradient step for estimating the density map image and an active-set step for estimating the incident spectrum parameters. Numerical simulations demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme.« less

Fuzzy B-spline optimization for urban slum three-dimensional reconstruction using ENVISAT satellite data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marghany, Maged

2014-06-01

A critical challenges in urban aeras is slums. In fact, they are considered a source of crime and disease due to poor-quality housing, unsanitary conditions, poor infrastructures and occupancy security. The poor in the dense urban slums are the most vulnerable to infection due to (i) inadequate and restricted access to safety, drinking water and sufficient quantities of water for personal hygiene; (ii) the lack of removal and treatment of excreta; and (iii) the lack of removal of solid waste. This study aims to investigate the capability of ENVISAT ASAR satellite and Google Earth data for three-dimensional (3-D) slum urban reconstruction in developed countries such as Egypt. The main objective of this work is to utilize some 3-D automatic detection algorithm for urban slum in ENVISAT ASAR and Google Erath images were acquired in Cairo, Egypt using Fuzzy B-spline algorithm. The results show that the fuzzy algorithm is the best indicator for chaotic urban slum as it can discriminate between them from its surrounding environment. The combination of Fuzzy and B-spline then used to reconstruct 3-D of urban slum. The results show that urban slums, road network, and infrastructures are perfectly discriminated. It can therefore be concluded that the fuzzy algorithm is an appropriate algorithm for chaotic urban slum automatic detection in ENVSIAT ASAR and Google Earth data.

Robust registration in case of different scaling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gluhchev, Georgi J.; Shalev, Shlomo

1993-09-01

The problem of robust registration in the case of anisotropic scaling has been investigated. Registration of two images using corresponding sets of fiducial points is sensitive to inaccuracies in point placement due to poor image quality or non-rigid distortions, including possible out-of-plane rotations. An approach aimed at the detection of the most unreliable points has been developed. It is based on the a priori knowledge of the sequential ordering of rotation and scaling. A measure of guilt derived from the anomalous geometric relationships is introduced. A heuristic decision rule allowing for deletion of the most guilty points is proposed. The approach allows for more precise evaluation of the translation vector. It has been tested on phantom images with known parameters and has shown satisfactory results.

Isogeometric Bézier dual mortaring: Refineable higher-order spline dual bases and weakly continuous geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Z.; Scott, M. A.; Borden, M. J.; Thomas, D. C.; Dornisch, W.; Brivadis, E.

2018-05-01

In this paper we develop the isogeometric B\\'ezier dual mortar method. It is based on B\\'ezier extraction and projection and is applicable to any spline space which can be represented in B\\'ezier form (i.e., NURBS, T-splines, LR-splines, etc.). The approach weakly enforces the continuity of the solution at patch interfaces and the error can be adaptively controlled by leveraging the refineability of the underlying dual spline basis without introducing any additional degrees of freedom. We also develop weakly continuous geometry as a particular application of isogeometric B\\'ezier dual mortaring. Weakly continuous geometry is a geometry description where the weak continuity constraints are built into properly modified B\\'ezier extraction operators. As a result, multi-patch models can be processed in a solver directly without having to employ a mortaring solution strategy. We demonstrate the utility of the approach on several challenging benchmark problems. Keywords: Mortar methods, Isogeometric analysis, B\\'ezier extraction, B\\'ezier projection

Regional vertical total electron content (VTEC) modeling together with satellite and receiver differential code biases (DCBs) using semi-parametric multivariate adaptive regression B-splines (SP-BMARS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durmaz, Murat; Karslioglu, Mahmut Onur

2015-04-01

There are various global and regional methods that have been proposed for the modeling of ionospheric vertical total electron content (VTEC). Global distribution of VTEC is usually modeled by spherical harmonic expansions, while tensor products of compactly supported univariate B-splines can be used for regional modeling. In these empirical parametric models, the coefficients of the basis functions as well as differential code biases (DCBs) of satellites and receivers can be treated as unknown parameters which can be estimated from geometry-free linear combinations of global positioning system observables. In this work we propose a new semi-parametric multivariate adaptive regression B-splines (SP-BMARS) method for the regional modeling of VTEC together with satellite and receiver DCBs, where the parametric part of the model is related to the DCBs as fixed parameters and the non-parametric part adaptively models the spatio-temporal distribution of VTEC. The latter is based on multivariate adaptive regression B-splines which is a non-parametric modeling technique making use of compactly supported B-spline basis functions that are generated from the observations automatically. This algorithm takes advantage of an adaptive scale-by-scale model building strategy that searches for best-fitting B-splines to the data at each scale. The VTEC maps generated from the proposed method are compared numerically and visually with the global ionosphere maps (GIMs) which are provided by the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE). The VTEC values from SP-BMARS and CODE GIMs are also compared with VTEC values obtained through calibration using local ionospheric model. The estimated satellite and receiver DCBs from the SP-BMARS model are compared with the CODE distributed DCBs. The results show that the SP-BMARS algorithm can be used to estimate satellite and receiver DCBs while adaptively and flexibly modeling the daily regional VTEC.

Genetic evaluation and selection response for growth in meat-type quail through random regression models using B-spline functions and Legendre polynomials.

PubMed

Mota, L F M; Martins, P G M A; Littiere, T O; Abreu, L R A; Silva, M A; Bonafé, C M

2018-04-01

The objective was to estimate (co)variance functions using random regression models (RRM) with Legendre polynomials, B-spline function and multi-trait models aimed at evaluating genetic parameters of growth traits in meat-type quail. A database containing the complete pedigree information of 7000 meat-type quail was utilized. The models included the fixed effects of contemporary group and generation. Direct additive genetic and permanent environmental effects, considered as random, were modeled using B-spline functions considering quadratic and cubic polynomials for each individual segment, and Legendre polynomials for age. Residual variances were grouped in four age classes. Direct additive genetic and permanent environmental effects were modeled using 2 to 4 segments and were modeled by Legendre polynomial with orders of fit ranging from 2 to 4. The model with quadratic B-spline adjustment, using four segments for direct additive genetic and permanent environmental effects, was the most appropriate and parsimonious to describe the covariance structure of the data. The RRM using Legendre polynomials presented an underestimation of the residual variance. Lesser heritability estimates were observed for multi-trait models in comparison with RRM for the evaluated ages. In general, the genetic correlations between measures of BW from hatching to 35 days of age decreased as the range between the evaluated ages increased. Genetic trend for BW was positive and significant along the selection generations. The genetic response to selection for BW in the evaluated ages presented greater values for RRM compared with multi-trait models. In summary, RRM using B-spline functions with four residual variance classes and segments were the best fit for genetic evaluation of growth traits in meat-type quail. In conclusion, RRM should be considered in genetic evaluation of breeding programs.

Volumetric T-spline Construction Using Boolean Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-01

SUBTITLE Volumetric T-spline Construction Using Boolean Operations 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d...Acknowledgements The work of L. Liu and Y. Zhang was supported by ONR-YIP award N00014- 10-1-0698 and an ONR Grant N00014-08-1-0653. T. J.R. Hughes was sup- 16...T-spline Construction Using Boolean Operations 17 ported by ONR Grant N00014-08-1-0992, NSF GOALI CMI-0700807/0700204, NSF CMMI-1101007 and a SINTEF

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 50 - Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program B... Part 50—Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program A. Registration Criteria 1. Initial Registration a. Insurers must demonstrate continuous successful operation in the life insurance business for a period of...

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 50 - Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program B... Part 50—Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program A. Registration Criteria 1. Initial Registration a. Insurers must demonstrate continuous successful operation in the life insurance business for a period of...

Curve fitting and modeling with splines using statistical variable selection techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, P. L.

1982-01-01

The successful application of statistical variable selection techniques to fit splines is demonstrated. Major emphasis is given to knot selection, but order determination is also discussed. Two FORTRAN backward elimination programs, using the B-spline basis, were developed. The program for knot elimination is compared in detail with two other spline-fitting methods and several statistical software packages. An example is also given for the two-variable case using a tensor product basis, with a theoretical discussion of the difficulties of their use.

MRI non-uniformity correction through interleaved bias estimation and B-spline deformation with a template.

PubMed

Fletcher, E; Carmichael, O; Decarli, C

2012-01-01

We propose a template-based method for correcting field inhomogeneity biases in magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the human brain. At each algorithm iteration, the update of a B-spline deformation between an unbiased template image and the subject image is interleaved with estimation of a bias field based on the current template-to-image alignment. The bias field is modeled using a spatially smooth thin-plate spline interpolation based on ratios of local image patch intensity means between the deformed template and subject images. This is used to iteratively correct subject image intensities which are then used to improve the template-to-image deformation. Experiments on synthetic and real data sets of images with and without Alzheimer's disease suggest that the approach may have advantages over the popular N3 technique for modeling bias fields and narrowing intensity ranges of gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid. This bias field correction method has the potential to be more accurate than correction schemes based solely on intrinsic image properties or hypothetical image intensity distributions.

MRI Non-Uniformity Correction Through Interleaved Bias Estimation and B-Spline Deformation with a Template*

PubMed Central

Fletcher, E.; Carmichael, O.; DeCarli, C.

2013-01-01

We propose a template-based method for correcting field inhomogeneity biases in magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the human brain. At each algorithm iteration, the update of a B-spline deformation between an unbiased template image and the subject image is interleaved with estimation of a bias field based on the current template-to-image alignment. The bias field is modeled using a spatially smooth thin-plate spline interpolation based on ratios of local image patch intensity means between the deformed template and subject images. This is used to iteratively correct subject image intensities which are then used to improve the template-to-image deformation. Experiments on synthetic and real data sets of images with and without Alzheimer’s disease suggest that the approach may have advantages over the popular N3 technique for modeling bias fields and narrowing intensity ranges of gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid. This bias field correction method has the potential to be more accurate than correction schemes based solely on intrinsic image properties or hypothetical image intensity distributions. PMID:23365843

Spline screw payload fastening system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vranish, John M. (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A system for coupling an orbital replacement unit (ORU) to a space station structure via the actions of a robot and/or astronaut is described. This system provides mechanical and electrical connections both between the ORU and the space station structure and between the ORU and the ORU and the robot/astronaut hand tool. Alignment and timing features ensure safe, sure handling and precision coupling. This includes a first female type spline connector selectively located on the space station structure, a male type spline connector positioned on the orbital replacement unit so as to mate with and connect to the first female type spline connector, and a second female type spline connector located on the orbital replacement unit. A compliant drive rod interconnects the second female type spline connector and the male type spline connector. A robotic special end effector is used for mating with and driving the second female type spline connector. Also included are alignment tabs exteriorally located on the orbital replacement unit for berthing with the space station structure. The first and second female type spline connectors each include a threaded bolt member having a captured nut member located thereon which can translate up and down the bolt but are constrained from rotation thereabout, the nut member having a mounting surface with at least one first type electrical connector located on the mounting surface for translating with the nut member. At least one complementary second type electrical connector on the orbital replacement unit mates with at least one first type electrical connector on the mounting surface of the nut member. When the driver on the robotic end effector mates with the second female type spline connector and rotates, the male type spline connector and the first female type spline connector lock together, the driver and the second female type spline connector lock together, and the nut members translate up the threaded bolt members carrying the

Demonstration of accuracy and clinical versatility of mutual information for automatic multimodality image fusion using affine and thin-plate spline warped geometric deformations.

PubMed

Meyer, C R; Boes, J L; Kim, B; Bland, P H; Zasadny, K R; Kison, P V; Koral, K; Frey, K A; Wahl, R L

1997-04-01

This paper applies and evaluates an automatic mutual information-based registration algorithm across a broad spectrum of multimodal volume data sets. The algorithm requires little or no pre-processing, minimal user input and easily implements either affine, i.e. linear or thin-plate spline (TPS) warped registrations. We have evaluated the algorithm in phantom studies as well as in selected cases where few other algorithms could perform as well, if at all, to demonstrate the value of this new method. Pairs of multimodal gray-scale volume data sets were registered by iteratively changing registration parameters to maximize mutual information. Quantitative registration errors were assessed in registrations of a thorax phantom using PET/CT and in the National Library of Medicine's Visible Male using MRI T2-/T1-weighted acquisitions. Registrations of diverse clinical data sets were demonstrated including rotate-translate mapping of PET/MRI brain scans with significant missing data, full affine mapping of thoracic PET/CT and rotate-translate mapping of abdominal SPECT/CT. A five-point thin-plate spline (TPS) warped registration of thoracic PET/CT is also demonstrated. The registration algorithm converged in times ranging between 3.5 and 31 min for affine clinical registrations and 57 min for TPS warping. Mean error vector lengths for rotate-translate registrations were measured to be subvoxel in phantoms. More importantly the rotate-translate algorithm performs well even with missing data. The demonstrated clinical fusions are qualitatively excellent at all levels. We conclude that such automatic, rapid, robust algorithms significantly increase the likelihood that multimodality registrations will be routinely used to aid clinical diagnoses and post-therapeutic assessment in the near future.

Deformable image registration using convolutional neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eppenhof, Koen A. J.; Lafarge, Maxime W.; Moeskops, Pim; Veta, Mitko; Pluim, Josien P. W.

2018-03-01

Deformable image registration can be time-consuming and often needs extensive parameterization to perform well on a specific application. We present a step towards a registration framework based on a three-dimensional convolutional neural network. The network directly learns transformations between pairs of three-dimensional images. The outputs of the network are three maps for the x, y, and z components of a thin plate spline transformation grid. The network is trained on synthetic random transformations, which are applied to a small set of representative images for the desired application. Training therefore does not require manually annotated ground truth deformation information. The methodology is demonstrated on public data sets of inspiration-expiration lung CT image pairs, which come with annotated corresponding landmarks for evaluation of the registration accuracy. Advantages of this methodology are its fast registration times and its minimal parameterization.

Deep Adaptive Log-Demons: Diffeomorphic Image Registration with Very Large Deformations

PubMed Central

Jia, Kebin

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a new framework for capturing large and complex deformation in image registration. Traditionally, this challenging problem relies firstly on a preregistration, usually an affine matrix containing rotation, scale, and translation and afterwards on a nonrigid transformation. According to preregistration, the directly calculated affine matrix, which is obtained by limited pixel information, may misregistrate when large biases exist, thus misleading following registration subversively. To address this problem, for two-dimensional (2D) images, the two-layer deep adaptive registration framework proposed in this paper firstly accurately classifies the rotation parameter through multilayer convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and then identifies scale and translation parameters separately. For three-dimensional (3D) images, affine matrix is located through feature correspondences by a triplanar 2D CNNs. Then deformation removal is done iteratively through preregistration and demons registration. By comparison with the state-of-the-art registration framework, our method gains more accurate registration results on both synthetic and real datasets. Besides, principal component analysis (PCA) is combined with correlation like Pearson and Spearman to form new similarity standards in 2D and 3D registration. Experiment results also show faster convergence speed. PMID:26120356

Deep Adaptive Log-Demons: Diffeomorphic Image Registration with Very Large Deformations.

PubMed

Zhao, Liya; Jia, Kebin

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a new framework for capturing large and complex deformation in image registration. Traditionally, this challenging problem relies firstly on a preregistration, usually an affine matrix containing rotation, scale, and translation and afterwards on a nonrigid transformation. According to preregistration, the directly calculated affine matrix, which is obtained by limited pixel information, may misregistrate when large biases exist, thus misleading following registration subversively. To address this problem, for two-dimensional (2D) images, the two-layer deep adaptive registration framework proposed in this paper firstly accurately classifies the rotation parameter through multilayer convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and then identifies scale and translation parameters separately. For three-dimensional (3D) images, affine matrix is located through feature correspondences by a triplanar 2D CNNs. Then deformation removal is done iteratively through preregistration and demons registration. By comparison with the state-of-the-art registration framework, our method gains more accurate registration results on both synthetic and real datasets. Besides, principal component analysis (PCA) is combined with correlation like Pearson and Spearman to form new similarity standards in 2D and 3D registration. Experiment results also show faster convergence speed.

TU-F-BRF-02: MR-US Prostate Registration Using Patient-Specific Tissue Elasticity Property Prior for MR-Targeted, TRUS-Guided HDR Brachytherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, X; Rossi, P; Ogunleye, T

2014-06-15

Purpose: High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy has become a popular treatment modality for prostate cancer. Conventional transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided prostate HDR brachytherapy could benefit significantly from MR-targeted, TRUS-guided procedure where the tumor locations, acquired from the multiparametric MRI, are incorporated into the treatment planning. In order to enable this integration, we have developed a MR-TRUS registration with a patient-specific biomechanical elasticity prior. Methods: The proposed method used a biomechanical elasticity prior to guide the prostate volumetric B-spline deformation in the MRI and TRUS registration. The patient-specific biomechanical elasticity prior was generated using ultrasound elastography, where two 3D TRUS prostate images were acquiredmore » under different probe-induced pressures during the HDR procedure, which takes 2-4 minutes. These two 3D TRUS images were used to calculate the local displacement (elasticity map) of two prostate volumes. The B-spline transformation was calculated by minimizing the Euclidean distance between the normalized attribute vectors of the prostate surface landmarks on the MR and TRUS. This technique was evaluated through two studies: a prostate-phantom study and a pilot study with 5 patients undergoing prostate HDR treatment. The accuracy of our approach was assessed through the locations of several landmarks in the post-registration and TRUS images; our registration results were compared with the surface-based method. Results: For the phantom study, the mean landmark displacement of the proposed method was 1.29±0.11 mm. For the 5 patients, the mean landmark displacement of the surface-based method was 3.25±0.51 mm; our method, 1.71±0.25 mm. Therefore, our proposed method of prostate registration outperformed the surfaced-based registration significantly. Conclusion: We have developed a novel MR-TRUS prostate registration approach based on patient-specific biomechanical elasticity

Theory, computation, and application of exponential splines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccartin, B. J.

1981-01-01

A generalization of the semiclassical cubic spline known in the literature as the exponential spline is discussed. In actuality, the exponential spline represents a continuum of interpolants ranging from the cubic spline to the linear spline. A particular member of this family is uniquely specified by the choice of certain tension parameters. The theoretical underpinnings of the exponential spline are outlined. This development roughly parallels the existing theory for cubic splines. The primary extension lies in the ability of the exponential spline to preserve convexity and monotonicity present in the data. Next, the numerical computation of the exponential spline is discussed. A variety of numerical devices are employed to produce a stable and robust algorithm. An algorithm for the selection of tension parameters that will produce a shape preserving approximant is developed. A sequence of selected curve-fitting examples are presented which clearly demonstrate the advantages of exponential splines over cubic splines.

17 CFR 249b.200 - Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 § 249b.200 Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and for amendment to registration as a...

17 CFR 249b.200 - Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 § 249b.200 Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and for amendment to registration as a...

17 CFR 249b.200 - Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 § 249b.200 Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and for amendment to registration as a...

17 CFR 249b.200 - Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 § 249b.200 Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and for amendment to registration as a...

17 CFR 249b.200 - Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 § 249b.200 Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Form CA-1, 1 form for registration or for exemption from registration as a clearing agency and for amendment to registration as a...

2-Dimensional B-Spline Algorithms with Applications to Ray Tracing in Media of Spatially-Varying Refractive Index

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-01

In the approach, photon trajectories are computed using a solution of the Eikonal equation (ray-tracing methods) rather than linear trajectories. The...coupling the radiative transport solution into heat transfer and damage models. 15. SUBJECT TERMS: B-Splines, Ray-Tracing, Eikonal Equation...multi-layer biological tissue model. In the approach, photon trajectories are computed using a solution of the Eikonal equation (ray-tracing methods

17 CFR 270.8b-16 - Amendments to registration statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... (CONTINUED) RULES AND REGULATIONS, INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940 § 270.8b-16 Amendments to registration statement. (a) Every registered management investment company which is required to file a semi-annual report... management investment company whose registration statement was filed on Form N-2; provided that the following...

PetIGA-MF: A multi-field high-performance toolbox for structure-preserving B-splines spaces

DOE PAGES

Sarmiento, Adel; Cortes, Adriano; Garcia, Daniel; ...

2016-10-07

We describe the development of a high-performance solution framework for isogeometric discrete differential forms based on B-splines: PetIGA-MF. Built on top of PetIGA, PetIGA-MF is a general multi-field discretization tool. To test the capabilities of our implementation, we solve different viscous flow problems such as Darcy, Stokes, Brinkman, and Navier-Stokes equations. Several convergence benchmarks based on manufactured solutions are presented assuring optimal convergence rates of the approximations, showing the accuracy and robustness of our solver.

Rational-spline approximation with automatic tension adjustment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schiess, J. R.; Kerr, P. A.

1984-01-01

An algorithm for weighted least-squares approximation with rational splines is presented. A rational spline is a cubic function containing a distinct tension parameter for each interval defined by two consecutive knots. For zero tension, the rational spline is identical to a cubic spline; for very large tension, the rational spline is a linear function. The approximation algorithm incorporates an algorithm which automatically adjusts the tension on each interval to fulfill a user-specified criterion. Finally, an example is presented comparing results of the rational spline with those of the cubic spline.

Registration of organs with sliding interfaces and changing topologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berendsen, Floris F.; Kotte, Alexis N. T. J.; Viergever, Max A.; Pluim, Josien P. W.

2014-03-01

Smoothness and continuity assumptions on the deformation field in deformable image registration do not hold for applications where the imaged objects have sliding interfaces. Recent extensions to deformable image registration that accommodate for sliding motion of organs are limited to sliding motion along approximately planar surfaces or cannot model sliding that changes the topological configuration in case of multiple organs. We propose a new extension to free-form image registration that is not limited in this way. Our method uses a transformation model that consists of uniform B-spline transformations for each organ region separately, which is based on segmentation of one image. Since this model can create overlapping regions or gaps between regions, we introduce a penalty term that minimizes this undesired effect. The penalty term acts on the surfaces of the organ regions and is optimized simultaneously with the image similarity. To evaluate our method registrations were performed on publicly available inhale-exhale CT scans for which performances of other methods are known. Target registration errors are computed on dense landmark sets that are available with these datasets. On these data our method outperforms the other methods in terms of target registration error and, where applicable, also in terms of overlap and gap volumes. The approximation of the other methods of sliding motion along planar surfaces is reasonably well suited for the motion present in the lung data. The ability of our method to handle sliding along curved boundaries and for changing region topology configurations was demonstrated on synthetic images.

Estimation of contour motion and deformation for nonrigid object tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Jie; Porikli, Fatih; Chellappa, Rama

2007-08-01

We present an algorithm for nonrigid contour tracking in heavily cluttered background scenes. Based on the properties of nonrigid contour movements, a sequential framework for estimating contour motion and deformation is proposed. We solve the nonrigid contour tracking problem by decomposing it into three subproblems: motion estimation, deformation estimation, and shape regulation. First, we employ a particle filter to estimate the global motion parameters of the affine transform between successive frames. Then we generate a probabilistic deformation map to deform the contour. To improve robustness, multiple cues are used for deformation probability estimation. Finally, we use a shape prior model to constrain the deformed contour. This enables us to retrieve the occluded parts of the contours and accurately track them while allowing shape changes specific to the given object types. Our experiments show that the proposed algorithm significantly improves the tracker performance.

Instantiation and registration of statistical shape models of the femur and pelvis using 3D ultrasound imaging.

PubMed

Barratt, Dean C; Chan, Carolyn S K; Edwards, Philip J; Penney, Graeme P; Slomczykowski, Mike; Carter, Timothy J; Hawkes, David J

2008-06-01

Statistical shape modelling potentially provides a powerful tool for generating patient-specific, 3D representations of bony anatomy for computer-aided orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) without the need for a preoperative CT scan. Furthermore, freehand 3D ultrasound (US) provides a non-invasive method for digitising bone surfaces in the operating theatre that enables a much greater region to be sampled compared with conventional direct-contact (i.e., pointer-based) digitisation techniques. In this paper, we describe how these approaches can be combined to simultaneously generate and register a patient-specific model of the femur and pelvis to the patient during surgery. In our implementation, a statistical deformation model (SDM) was constructed for the femur and pelvis by performing a principal component analysis on the B-spline control points that parameterise the freeform deformations required to non-rigidly register a training set of CT scans to a carefully segmented template CT scan. The segmented template bone surface, represented by a triangulated surface mesh, is instantiated and registered to a cloud of US-derived surface points using an iterative scheme in which the weights corresponding to the first five principal modes of variation of the SDM are optimised in addition to the rigid-body parameters. The accuracy of the method was evaluated using clinically realistic data obtained on three intact human cadavers (three whole pelves and six femurs). For each bone, a high-resolution CT scan and rigid-body registration transformation, calculated using bone-implanted fiducial markers, served as the gold standard bone geometry and registration transformation, respectively. After aligning the final instantiated model and CT-derived surfaces using the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm, the average root-mean-square distance between the surfaces was 3.5mm over the whole bone and 3.7mm in the region of surgical interest. The corresponding distances after aligning the

Interindividual registration and dose mapping for voxelwise population analysis of rectal toxicity in prostate cancer radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dréan, Gaël; Acosta, Oscar, E-mail: Oscar.Acosta@univ-rennes1.fr; Simon, Antoine

2016-06-15

Purpose: Recent studies revealed a trend toward voxelwise population analysis in order to understand the local dose/toxicity relationships in prostate cancer radiotherapy. Such approaches require, however, an accurate interindividual mapping of the anatomies and 3D dose distributions toward a common coordinate system. This step is challenging due to the high interindividual variability. In this paper, the authors propose a method designed for interindividual nonrigid registration of the rectum and dose mapping for population analysis. Methods: The method is based on the computation of a normalized structural description of the rectum using a Laplacian-based model. This description takes advantage of themore » tubular structure of the rectum and its centerline to be embedded in a nonrigid registration-based scheme. The performances of the method were evaluated on 30 individuals treated for prostate cancer in a leave-one-out cross validation. Results: Performance was measured using classical metrics (Dice score and Hausdorff distance), along with new metrics devised to better assess dose mapping in relation with structural deformation (dose-organ overlap). Considering these scores, the proposed method outperforms intensity-based and distance maps-based registration methods. Conclusions: The proposed method allows for accurately mapping interindividual 3D dose distributions toward a single anatomical template, opening the way for further voxelwise statistical analysis.« less

Smoothing data series by means of cubic splines: quality of approximation and introduction of a repeating spline approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wüst, Sabine; Wendt, Verena; Linz, Ricarda; Bittner, Michael

2017-09-01

Cubic splines with equidistant spline sampling points are a common method in atmospheric science, used for the approximation of background conditions by means of filtering superimposed fluctuations from a data series. What is defined as background or superimposed fluctuation depends on the specific research question. The latter also determines whether the spline or the residuals - the subtraction of the spline from the original time series - are further analysed.Based on test data sets, we show that the quality of approximation of the background state does not increase continuously with an increasing number of spline sampling points and/or decreasing distance between two spline sampling points. Splines can generate considerable artificial oscillations in the background and the residuals.We introduce a repeating spline approach which is able to significantly reduce this phenomenon. We apply it not only to the test data but also to TIMED-SABER temperature data and choose the distance between two spline sampling points in a way that is sensitive for a large spectrum of gravity waves.

Galerkin method for unsplit 3-D Dirac equation using atomically/kinetically balanced B-spline basis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fillion-Gourdeau, F., E-mail: filliong@CRM.UMontreal.ca; Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H3T 1J4; Lorin, E., E-mail: elorin@math.carleton.ca

2016-02-15

A Galerkin method is developed to solve the time-dependent Dirac equation in prolate spheroidal coordinates for an electron–molecular two-center system. The initial state is evaluated from a variational principle using a kinetic/atomic balanced basis, which allows for an efficient and accurate determination of the Dirac spectrum and eigenfunctions. B-spline basis functions are used to obtain high accuracy. This numerical method is used to compute the energy spectrum of the two-center problem and then the evolution of eigenstate wavefunctions in an external electromagnetic field.

Fully relativistic B-spline R-matrix calculations for electron collisions with xenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartschat, Klaus; Zatsarinny, Oleg

2009-05-01

We have applied our recently developed fully relativistic Dirac B-spline R-matrix (DBSR) code [1] to calculate electron scattering from xenon atoms. Results from a 31-state close-coupling model for the excitation function of the metastable (5p^5 6s) J=0,2 states show excellent agreement with experiment [2], thereby presenting a significant improvement over the most sophisticated previous Breit-Pauli calculations [3,4]. This allows for a detailed and reliable analysis of the resonance structure. The same model is currently being used to calculate electron-impact excitation from the metastable J=2 state. The results will be compared with recent experimental data [5] and predictions from other theoretical models [6,7]. [1] O. Zatsarinny and K. Bartschat, Phys. Rev. A 77 (2008) 062701. [2] S. J. Buckman et al., J. Phys. B 16 (1983) 4219. [3] A. N. Grum-Grzhimailo and K. Bartschat, J. Phys. B 35 (2002) 3479. [4] M. Allan et al., Phys. Rev. A 74 (2006) 030701(R). [5] R. O. Jung et al., Phys. Rev. A 72 (2005) 022723. [6] R. Srivastava et al., Phys. Rev. A 74 (2006) 012715. [7] J. Jiang et al., J. Phys. B 41 (2008) 245204.

Automatic and accurate reconstruction of distal humerus contours through B-Spline fitting based on control polygon deformation.

PubMed

Mostafavi, Kamal; Tutunea-Fatan, O Remus; Bordatchev, Evgueni V; Johnson, James A

2014-12-01

The strong advent of computer-assisted technologies experienced by the modern orthopedic surgery prompts for the expansion of computationally efficient techniques to be built on the broad base of computer-aided engineering tools that are readily available. However, one of the common challenges faced during the current developmental phase continues to remain the lack of reliable frameworks to allow a fast and precise conversion of the anatomical information acquired through computer tomography to a format that is acceptable to computer-aided engineering software. To address this, this study proposes an integrated and automatic framework capable to extract and then postprocess the original imaging data to a common planar and closed B-Spline representation. The core of the developed platform relies on the approximation of the discrete computer tomography data by means of an original two-step B-Spline fitting technique based on successive deformations of the control polygon. In addition to its rapidity and robustness, the developed fitting technique was validated to produce accurate representations that do not deviate by more than 0.2 mm with respect to alternate representations of the bone geometry that were obtained through different-contact-based-data acquisition or data processing methods. © IMechE 2014.

Automatic optimal filament segmentation with sub-pixel accuracy using generalized linear models and B-spline level-sets.

PubMed

Xiao, Xun; Geyer, Veikko F; Bowne-Anderson, Hugo; Howard, Jonathon; Sbalzarini, Ivo F

2016-08-01

Biological filaments, such as actin filaments, microtubules, and cilia, are often imaged using different light-microscopy techniques. Reconstructing the filament curve from the acquired images constitutes the filament segmentation problem. Since filaments have lower dimensionality than the image itself, there is an inherent trade-off between tracing the filament with sub-pixel accuracy and avoiding noise artifacts. Here, we present a globally optimal filament segmentation method based on B-spline vector level-sets and a generalized linear model for the pixel intensity statistics. We show that the resulting optimization problem is convex and can hence be solved with global optimality. We introduce a simple and efficient algorithm to compute such optimal filament segmentations, and provide an open-source implementation as an ImageJ/Fiji plugin. We further derive an information-theoretic lower bound on the filament segmentation error, quantifying how well an algorithm could possibly do given the information in the image. We show that our algorithm asymptotically reaches this bound in the spline coefficients. We validate our method in comprehensive benchmarks, compare with other methods, and show applications from fluorescence, phase-contrast, and dark-field microscopy. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

RATIONAL SPLINE SUBROUTINES

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schiess, J. R.

1994-01-01

Scientific data often contains random errors that make plotting and curve-fitting difficult. The Rational-Spline Approximation with Automatic Tension Adjustment algorithm lead to a flexible, smooth representation of experimental data. The user sets the conditions for each consecutive pair of knots:(knots are user-defined divisions in the data set) to apply no tension; to apply fixed tension; or to determine tension with a tension adjustment algorithm. The user also selects the number of knots, the knot abscissas, and the allowed maximum deviations from line segments. The selection of these quantities depends on the actual data and on the requirements of a particular application. This program differs from the usual spline under tension in that it allows the user to specify different tension values between each adjacent pair of knots rather than a constant tension over the entire data range. The subroutines use an automatic adjustment scheme that varies the tension parameter for each interval until the maximum deviation of the spline from the line joining the knots is less than or equal to a user-specified amount. This procedure frees the user from the drudgery of adjusting individual tension parameters while still giving control over the local behavior of the spline The Rational Spline program was written completely in FORTRAN for implementation on a CYBER 850 operating under NOS. It has a central memory requirement of approximately 1500 words. The program was released in 1988.

Visualization of Sliding and Deformation of Orbital Fat During Eye Rotation

PubMed Central

Hötte, Gijsbert J.; Schaafsma, Peter J.; Botha, Charl P.; Wielopolski, Piotr A.; Simonsz, Huibert J.

2016-01-01

Purpose Little is known about the way orbital fat slides and/or deforms during eye movements. We compared two deformation algorithms from a sequence of MRI volumes to visualize this complex behavior. Methods Time-dependent deformation data were derived from motion-MRI volumes using Lucas and Kanade Optical Flow (LK3D) and nonrigid registration (B-splines) deformation algorithms. We compared how these two algorithms performed regarding sliding and deformation in three critical areas: the sclera-fat interface, how the optic nerve moves through the fat, and how the fat is squeezed out under the tendon of a relaxing rectus muscle. The efficacy was validated using identified tissue markers such as the lens and blood vessels in the fat. Results Fat immediately behind the eye followed eye rotation by approximately one-half. This was best visualized using the B-splines technique as it showed less ripping of tissue and less distortion. Orbital fat flowed around the optic nerve during eye rotation. In this case, LK3D provided better visualization as it allowed orbital fat tissue to split. The resolution was insufficient to visualize fat being squeezed out between tendon and sclera. Conclusion B-splines performs better in tracking structures such as the lens, while LK3D allows fat tissue to split as should happen as the optic nerve slides through the fat. Orbital fat follows eye rotation by one-half and flows around the optic nerve during eye rotation. Translational Relevance Visualizing orbital fat deformation and sliding offers the opportunity to accurately locate a region of cicatrization and permit an individualized surgical plan. PMID:27540495

BSR: B-spline atomic R-matrix codes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zatsarinny, Oleg

2006-02-01

BSR is a general program to calculate atomic continuum processes using the B-spline R-matrix method, including electron-atom and electron-ion scattering, and radiative processes such as bound-bound transitions, photoionization and polarizabilities. The calculations can be performed in LS-coupling or in an intermediate-coupling scheme by including terms of the Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian. New version program summaryTitle of program: BSR Catalogue identifier: ADWY Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADWY Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland Computers on which the program has been tested: Microway Beowulf cluster; Compaq Beowulf cluster; DEC Alpha workstation; DELL PC Operating systems under which the new version has been tested: UNIX, Windows XP Programming language used: FORTRAN 95 Memory required to execute with typical data: Typically 256-512 Mwords. Since all the principal dimensions are allocatable, the available memory defines the maximum complexity of the problem No. of bits in a word: 8 No. of processors used: 1 Has the code been vectorized or parallelized?: no No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 69 943 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 746 450 Peripherals used: scratch disk store; permanent disk store Distribution format: tar.gz Nature of physical problem: This program uses the R-matrix method to calculate electron-atom and electron-ion collision processes, with options to calculate radiative data, photoionization, etc. The calculations can be performed in LS-coupling or in an intermediate-coupling scheme, with options to include Breit-Pauli terms in the Hamiltonian. Method of solution: The R-matrix method is used [P.G. Burke, K.A. Berrington, Atomic and Molecular Processes: An R-Matrix Approach, IOP Publishing, Bristol, 1993; P.G. Burke, W.D. Robb, Adv. At. Mol. Phys. 11 (1975) 143; K.A. Berrington, W.B. Eissner, P.H. Norrington, Comput

Construction of the Non-Rigid Earth Rotation Series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pashkevich, V. V.

2007-01-01

Last years a lot of attempts to derive a high-precision theory of the non-rigid Earth rotation are carried out. For these purposes different transfer functions are used. Usually these transfer functions are applied to the series representing the nutation in the longitude and the obliquity of the rigid Earth rotation with respect to the ecliptic of date. The aim of this investigation is a construction of new high-precision non-rigid Earth rotation series (SN9000), dynamically adequate to the DE404/LE404 ephemeris over 2000 time span years, which are presented as functions of the Euler angles Ψ, θ and φ with respect to the fixed ecliptic plane and equinox J2000.0.

Optimized SIFTFlow for registration of whole-mount histology to reference optical images

PubMed Central

Shojaii, Rushin; Martel, Anne L.

2016-01-01

Abstract. The registration of two-dimensional histology images to reference images from other modalities is an important preprocessing step in the reconstruction of three-dimensional histology volumes. This is a challenging problem because of the differences in the appearances of histology images and other modalities, and the presence of large nonrigid deformations which occur during slide preparation. This paper shows the feasibility of using densely sampled scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) features and a SIFTFlow deformable registration algorithm for coregistering whole-mount histology images with blockface optical images. We present a method for jointly optimizing the regularization parameters used by the SIFTFlow objective function and use it to determine the most appropriate values for the registration of breast lumpectomy specimens. We demonstrate that tuning the regularization parameters results in significant improvements in accuracy and we also show that SIFTFlow outperforms a previously described edge-based registration method. The accuracy of the histology images to blockface images registration using the optimized SIFTFlow method was assessed using an independent test set of images from five different lumpectomy specimens and the mean registration error was 0.32±0.22  mm. PMID:27774494

Mammogram registration: a phantom-based evaluation of compressed breast thickness variation effects.

PubMed

Richard, Frédéric J P; Bakić, Predrag R; Maidment, Andrew D A

2006-02-01

The temporal comparison of mammograms is complex; a wide variety of factors can cause changes in image appearance. Mammogram registration is proposed as a method to reduce the effects of these changes and potentially to emphasize genuine alterations in breast tissue. Evaluation of such registration techniques is difficult since ground truth regarding breast deformations is not available in clinical mammograms. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach to evaluate sensitivity of registration methods to various types of changes in mammograms using synthetic breast images with known deformations. As a first step, images of the same simulated breasts with various amounts of simulated physical compression have been used to evaluate a previously described nonrigid mammogram registration technique. Registration performance is measured by calculating the average displacement error over a set of evaluation points identified in mammogram pairs. Applying appropriate thickness compensation and using a preferred order of the registered images, we obtained an average displacement error of 1.6 mm for mammograms with compression differences of 1-3 cm. The proposed methodology is applicable to analysis of other sources of mammogram differences and can be extended to the registration of multimodality breast data.

Geometric and computer-aided spline hob modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brailov, I. G.; Myasoedova, T. M.; Panchuk, K. L.; Krysova, I. V.; Rogoza, YU A.

2018-03-01

The paper considers acquiring the spline hob geometric model. The objective of the research is the development of a mathematical model of spline hob for spline shaft machining. The structure of the spline hob is described taking into consideration the motion in parameters of the machine tool system of cutting edge positioning and orientation. Computer-aided study is performed with the use of CAD and on the basis of 3D modeling methods. Vector representation of cutting edge geometry is accepted as the principal method of spline hob mathematical model development. The paper defines the correlations described by parametric vector functions representing helical cutting edges designed for spline shaft machining with consideration for helical movement in two dimensions. An application for acquiring the 3D model of spline hob is developed on the basis of AutoLISP for AutoCAD environment. The application presents the opportunity for the use of the acquired model for milling process imitation. An example of evaluation, analytical representation and computer modeling of the proposed geometrical model is reviewed. In the mentioned example, a calculation of key spline hob parameters assuring the capability of hobbing a spline shaft of standard design is performed. The polygonal and solid spline hob 3D models are acquired by the use of imitational computer modeling.

The estimation of time-varying risks in asset pricing modelling using B-Spline method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurjannah; Solimun; Rinaldo, Adji

2017-12-01

Asset pricing modelling has been extensively studied in the past few decades to explore the risk-return relationship. The asset pricing literature typically assumed a static risk-return relationship. However, several studies found few anomalies in the asset pricing modelling which captured the presence of the risk instability. The dynamic model is proposed to offer a better model. The main problem highlighted in the dynamic model literature is that the set of conditioning information is unobservable and therefore some assumptions have to be made. Hence, the estimation requires additional assumptions about the dynamics of risk. To overcome this problem, the nonparametric estimators can also be used as an alternative for estimating risk. The flexibility of the nonparametric setting avoids the problem of misspecification derived from selecting a functional form. This paper investigates the estimation of time-varying asset pricing model using B-Spline, as one of nonparametric approach. The advantages of spline method is its computational speed and simplicity, as well as the clarity of controlling curvature directly. The three popular asset pricing models will be investigated namely CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model), Fama-French 3-factors model and Carhart 4-factors model. The results suggest that the estimated risks are time-varying and not stable overtime which confirms the risk instability anomaly. The results is more pronounced in Carhart’s 4-factors model.

Adaptive Registration of Varying Contrast-Weighted Images for Improved Tissue Characterization (ARCTIC): Application to T1 Mapping

PubMed Central

Roujol, Sébastien; Foppa, Murilo; Weingartner, Sebastian; Manning, Warren J.; Nezafat, Reza

2014-01-01

Purpose To propose and evaluate a novel non-rigid image registration approach for improved myocardial T1 mapping. Methods Myocardial motion is estimated as global affine motion refined by a novel local non-rigid motion estimation algorithm. A variational framework is proposed, which simultaneously estimates motion field and intensity variations, and uses an additional regularization term to constrain the deformation field using automatic feature tracking. The method was evaluated in 29 patients by measuring the DICE similarity coefficient (DSC) and the myocardial boundary error (MBE) in short axis and four chamber data. Each image series was visually assessed as “no motion” or “with motion”. Overall T1 map quality and motion artifacts were assessed in the 85 T1 maps acquired in short axis view using a 4-point scale (1-non diagnostic/severe motion artifact, 4-excellent/no motion artifact). Results Increased DSC (0.78±0.14 to 0.87±0.03, p<0.001), reduced MBE (1.29±0.72mm to 0.84±0.20mm, p<0.001), improved overall T1 map quality (2.86±1.04 to 3.49±0.77, p<0.001), and reduced T1 map motion artifacts (2.51±0.84 to 3.61±0.64, p<0.001) were obtained after motion correction of “with motion” data (~56% of data). Conclusion The proposed non-rigid registration approach reduces the respiratory-induced motion that occurs during breath-hold T1 mapping, and significantly improves T1 map quality. PMID:24798588

Deformable registration of CT and cone-beam CT with local intensity matching.

PubMed

Park, Seyoun; Plishker, William; Quon, Harry; Wong, John; Shekhar, Raj; Lee, Junghoon

2017-02-07

Cone-beam CT (CBCT) is a widely used intra-operative imaging modality in image-guided radiotherapy and surgery. A short scan followed by a filtered-backprojection is typically used for CBCT reconstruction. While data on the mid-plane (plane of source-detector rotation) is complete, off-mid-planes undergo different information deficiency and the computed reconstructions are approximate. This causes different reconstruction artifacts at off-mid-planes depending on slice locations, and therefore impedes accurate registration between CT and CBCT. In this paper, we propose a method to accurately register CT and CBCT by iteratively matching local CT and CBCT intensities. We correct CBCT intensities by matching local intensity histograms slice by slice in conjunction with intensity-based deformable registration. The correction-registration steps are repeated in an alternating way until the result image converges. We integrate the intensity matching into three different deformable registration methods, B-spline, demons, and optical flow that are widely used for CT-CBCT registration. All three registration methods were implemented on a graphics processing unit for efficient parallel computation. We tested the proposed methods on twenty five head and neck cancer cases and compared the performance with state-of-the-art registration methods. Normalized cross correlation (NCC), structural similarity index (SSIM), and target registration error (TRE) were computed to evaluate the registration performance. Our method produced overall NCC of 0.96, SSIM of 0.94, and TRE of 2.26 → 2.27 mm, outperforming existing methods by 9%, 12%, and 27%, respectively. Experimental results also show that our method performs consistently and is more accurate than existing algorithms, and also computationally efficient.

Deformable registration of CT and cone-beam CT with local intensity matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Seyoun; Plishker, William; Quon, Harry; Wong, John; Shekhar, Raj; Lee, Junghoon

2017-02-01

Cone-beam CT (CBCT) is a widely used intra-operative imaging modality in image-guided radiotherapy and surgery. A short scan followed by a filtered-backprojection is typically used for CBCT reconstruction. While data on the mid-plane (plane of source-detector rotation) is complete, off-mid-planes undergo different information deficiency and the computed reconstructions are approximate. This causes different reconstruction artifacts at off-mid-planes depending on slice locations, and therefore impedes accurate registration between CT and CBCT. In this paper, we propose a method to accurately register CT and CBCT by iteratively matching local CT and CBCT intensities. We correct CBCT intensities by matching local intensity histograms slice by slice in conjunction with intensity-based deformable registration. The correction-registration steps are repeated in an alternating way until the result image converges. We integrate the intensity matching into three different deformable registration methods, B-spline, demons, and optical flow that are widely used for CT-CBCT registration. All three registration methods were implemented on a graphics processing unit for efficient parallel computation. We tested the proposed methods on twenty five head and neck cancer cases and compared the performance with state-of-the-art registration methods. Normalized cross correlation (NCC), structural similarity index (SSIM), and target registration error (TRE) were computed to evaluate the registration performance. Our method produced overall NCC of 0.96, SSIM of 0.94, and TRE of 2.26 → 2.27 mm, outperforming existing methods by 9%, 12%, and 27%, respectively. Experimental results also show that our method performs consistently and is more accurate than existing algorithms, and also computationally efficient.

G/SPLINES: A hybrid of Friedman's Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) algorithm with Holland's genetic algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, David

1991-01-01

G/SPLINES are a hybrid of Friedman's Multivariable Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) algorithm with Holland's Genetic Algorithm. In this hybrid, the incremental search is replaced by a genetic search. The G/SPLINE algorithm exhibits performance comparable to that of the MARS algorithm, requires fewer least squares computations, and allows significantly larger problems to be considered.

Attenuation correction in 4D-PET using a single-phase attenuation map and rigidity-adaptive deformable registration

PubMed Central

Kalantari, Faraz; Wang, Jing

2017-01-01

Purpose Four-dimensional positron emission tomography (4D-PET) imaging is a potential solution to the respiratory motion effect in the thoracic region. Computed tomography (CT)-based attenuation correction (AC) is an essential step toward quantitative imaging for PET. However, due to the temporal difference between 4D-PET and a single attenuation map from CT, typically available in routine clinical scanning, motion artifacts are observed in the attenuation-corrected PET images, leading to errors in tumor shape and uptake. We introduced a practical method to align single-phase CT with all other 4D-PET phases for AC. Methods A penalized non-rigid Demons registration between individual 4D-PET frames without AC provides the motion vectors to be used for warping single-phase attenuation map. The non-rigid Demons registration was used to derive deformation vector fields (DVFs) between PET matched with the CT phase and other 4D-PET images. While attenuated PET images provide useful data for organ borders such as those of the lung and the liver, tumors cannot be distinguished from the background due to loss of contrast. To preserve the tumor shape in different phases, an ROI-covering tumor was excluded from non-rigid transformation. Instead the mean DVF of the central region of the tumor was assigned to all voxels in the ROI. This process mimics a rigid transformation of the tumor along with a non-rigid transformation of other organs. A 4D-XCAT phantom with spherical lung tumors, with diameters ranging from 10 to 40 mm, was used to evaluate the algorithm. The performance of the proposed hybrid method for attenuation map estimation was compared to 1) the Demons non-rigid registration only and 2) a single attenuation map based on quantitative parameters in individual PET frames. Results Motion-related artifacts were significantly reduced in the attenuation-corrected 4D-PET images. When a single attenuation map was used for all individual PET frames, the normalized root mean

An ITK framework for deterministic global optimization for medical image registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dru, Florence; Wachowiak, Mark P.; Peters, Terry M.

2006-03-01

Similarity metric optimization is an essential step in intensity-based rigid and nonrigid medical image registration. For clinical applications, such as image guidance of minimally invasive procedures, registration accuracy and efficiency are prime considerations. In addition, clinical utility is enhanced when registration is integrated into image analysis and visualization frameworks, such as the popular Insight Toolkit (ITK). ITK is an open source software environment increasingly used to aid the development, testing, and integration of new imaging algorithms. In this paper, we present a new ITK-based implementation of the DIRECT (Dividing Rectangles) deterministic global optimization algorithm for medical image registration. Previously, it has been shown that DIRECT improves the capture range and accuracy for rigid registration. Our ITK class also contains enhancements over the original DIRECT algorithm by improving stopping criteria, adaptively adjusting a locality parameter, and by incorporating Powell's method for local refinement. 3D-3D registration experiments with ground-truth brain volumes and clinical cardiac volumes show that combining DIRECT with Powell's method improves registration accuracy over Powell's method used alone, is less sensitive to initial misorientation errors, and, with the new stopping criteria, facilitates adequate exploration of the search space without expending expensive iterations on non-improving function evaluations. Finally, in this framework, a new parallel implementation for computing mutual information is presented, resulting in near-linear speedup with two processors.

Surface-based prostate registration with biomechanical regularization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van de Ven, Wendy J. M.; Hu, Yipeng; Barentsz, Jelle O.; Karssemeijer, Nico; Barratt, Dean; Huisman, Henkjan J.

2013-03-01

Adding MR-derived information to standard transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images for guiding prostate biopsy is of substantial clinical interest. A tumor visible on MR images can be projected on ultrasound by using MRUS registration. A common approach is to use surface-based registration. We hypothesize that biomechanical modeling will better control deformation inside the prostate than a regular surface-based registration method. We developed a novel method by extending a surface-based registration with finite element (FE) simulation to better predict internal deformation of the prostate. For each of six patients, a tetrahedral mesh was constructed from the manual prostate segmentation. Next, the internal prostate deformation was simulated using the derived radial surface displacement as boundary condition. The deformation field within the gland was calculated using the predicted FE node displacements and thin-plate spline interpolation. We tested our method on MR guided MR biopsy imaging data, as landmarks can easily be identified on MR images. For evaluation of the registration accuracy we used 45 anatomical landmarks located in all regions of the prostate. Our results show that the median target registration error of a surface-based registration with biomechanical regularization is 1.88 mm, which is significantly different from 2.61 mm without biomechanical regularization. We can conclude that biomechanical FE modeling has the potential to improve the accuracy of multimodal prostate registration when comparing it to regular surface-based registration.

Patient-specific model of a scoliotic torso for surgical planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmouche, Rola; Cheriet, Farida; Labelle, Hubert; Dansereau, Jean

2013-03-01

A method for the construction of a patient-specific model of a scoliotic torso for surgical planning via inter-patient registration is presented. Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) of a generic model are registered to surface topography (TP) and X-ray data of a test patient. A partial model is first obtained via thin-plate spline registration between TP and X-ray data of the test patient. The MRIs from the generic model are then fit into the test patient using articulated model registration between the vertebrae of the generic model's MRIs in prone position and the test patient's X-rays in standing position. A non-rigid deformation of the soft tissues is performed using a modified thin-plate spline constrained to maintain bone rigidity and to fit in the space between the vertebrae and the surface of the torso. Results show average Dice values of 0:975 +/- 0:012 between the MRIs following inter-patient registration and the surface topography of the test patient, which is comparable to the average value of 0:976 +/- 0:009 previously obtained following intra-patient registration. The results also show a significant improvement compared to rigid inter-patient registration. Future work includes validating the method on a larger cohort of patients and incorporating soft tissue stiffness constraints. The method developed can be used to obtain a geometric model of a patient including bone structures, soft tissues and the surface of the torso which can be incorporated in a surgical simulator in order to better predict the outcome of scoliosis surgery, even if MRI data cannot be acquired for the patient.

Gear Spline Coupling Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guo, Yi; Errichello, Robert

2013-08-29

An analytical model is developed to evaluate the design of a spline coupling. For a given torque and shaft misalignment, the model calculates the number of teeth in contact, tooth loads, stiffnesses, stresses, and safety factors. The analytic model provides essential spline coupling design and modeling information and could be easily integrated into gearbox design and simulation tools.

NoRMCorre: An online algorithm for piecewise rigid motion correction of calcium imaging data.

PubMed

Pnevmatikakis, Eftychios A; Giovannucci, Andrea

2017-11-01

Motion correction is a challenging pre-processing problem that arises early in the analysis pipeline of calcium imaging data sequences. The motion artifacts in two-photon microscopy recordings can be non-rigid, arising from the finite time of raster scanning and non-uniform deformations of the brain medium. We introduce an algorithm for fast Non-Rigid Motion Correction (NoRMCorre) based on template matching. NoRMCorre operates by splitting the field of view (FOV) into overlapping spatial patches along all directions. The patches are registered at a sub-pixel resolution for rigid translation against a regularly updated template. The estimated alignments are subsequently up-sampled to create a smooth motion field for each frame that can efficiently approximate non-rigid artifacts in a piecewise-rigid manner. Existing approaches either do not scale well in terms of computational performance or are targeted to non-rigid artifacts arising just from the finite speed of raster scanning, and thus cannot correct for non-rigid motion observable in datasets from a large FOV. NoRMCorre can be run in an online mode resulting in comparable to or even faster than real time motion registration of streaming data. We evaluate its performance with simple yet intuitive metrics and compare against other non-rigid registration methods on simulated data and in vivo two-photon calcium imaging datasets. Open source Matlab and Python code is also made available. The proposed method and accompanying code can be useful for solving large scale image registration problems in calcium imaging, especially in the presence of non-rigid deformations. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of nonrigid and semirigid airships

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stapfer,

1922-01-01

One of the main subjects of airship science consists in establishing cooperation between two vertical forces, the buoyancy of the air and the attraction of gravity. The mechanism for establishing this cooperation must have the minimum weight and offer the minimum head resistance. Starting with this principle, let us consider what improvements can be made in the present type of non-rigid airships.

Recent researches in airship construction III : a new type of nonrigid airship

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Naatz, H

1924-01-01

The author describes experiments in designing nonrigid airships. A nonrigid airship of 32,000 cubic meters, the PL 27 withstood all stresses with 20 kg/m(exp 2) hull pressure during its life of two years. The moment of resistance is known, as also the stresses in the envelope for the given hull pressure. The mean internal pressure necessary to give the airship the requisite rigidity and to prevent buckling was also investigated.

Smoothing Spline ANOVA Decomposition of Arbitrary Splines: An Application to Eye Movements in Reading

PubMed Central

Matuschek, Hannes; Kliegl, Reinhold; Holschneider, Matthias

2015-01-01

The Smoothing Spline ANOVA (SS-ANOVA) requires a specialized construction of basis and penalty terms in order to incorporate prior knowledge about the data to be fitted. Typically, one resorts to the most general approach using tensor product splines. This implies severe constraints on the correlation structure, i.e. the assumption of isotropy of smoothness can not be incorporated in general. This may increase the variance of the spline fit, especially if only a relatively small set of observations are given. In this article, we propose an alternative method that allows to incorporate prior knowledge without the need to construct specialized bases and penalties, allowing the researcher to choose the spline basis and penalty according to the prior knowledge of the observations rather than choosing them according to the analysis to be done. The two approaches are compared with an artificial example and with analyses of fixation durations during reading. PMID:25816246

SU-E-J-87: Building Deformation Error Histogram and Quality Assurance of Deformable Image Registration.

PubMed

Park, S B; Kim, H; Yao, M; Ellis, R; Machtay, M; Sohn, J W

2012-06-01

To quantify the systematic error of a Deformable Image Registration (DIR) system and establish Quality Assurance (QA) procedure. To address the shortfall of landmark approach which it is only available at the significant visible feature points, we adapted a Deformation Vector Map (DVM) comparison approach. We used two CT image sets (R and T image sets) taken for the same patient at different time and generated a DVM, which includes the DIR systematic error. The DVM was calculated using fine-tuned B-Spline DIR and L-BFGS optimizer. By utilizing this DVM we generated R' image set to eliminate the systematic error in DVM,. Thus, we have truth data set, R' and T image sets, and the truth DVM. To test a DIR system, we use R' and T image sets to a DIR system. We compare the test DVM to the truth DVM. If there is no systematic error, they should be identical. We built Deformation Error Histogram (DEH) for quantitative analysis. The test registration was performed with an in-house B-Spline DIR system using a stochastic gradient descent optimizer. Our example data set was generated with a head and neck patient case. We also tested CT to CBCT deformable registration. We found skin regions which interface with the air has relatively larger errors. Also mobile joints such as shoulders had larger errors. Average error for ROIs were as follows; CTV: 0.4mm, Brain stem: 1.4mm, Shoulders: 1.6mm, and Normal tissues: 0.7mm. We succeeded to build DEH approach to quantify the DVM uncertainty. Our data sets are available for testing other systems in our web page. Utilizing DEH, users can decide how much systematic error they would accept. DEH and our data can be a tool for an AAPM task group to compose a DIR system QA guideline. This project is partially supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) grant 1R18HS017424-01A2. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Automated retina identification based on multiscale elastic registration.

PubMed

Figueiredo, Isabel N; Moura, Susana; Neves, Júlio S; Pinto, Luís; Kumar, Sunil; Oliveira, Carlos M; Ramos, João D

2016-12-01

In this work we propose a novel method for identifying individuals based on retinal fundus image matching. The method is based on the image registration of retina blood vessels, since it is known that the retina vasculature of an individual is a signature, i.e., a distinctive pattern of the individual. The proposed image registration consists of a multiscale affine registration followed by a multiscale elastic registration. The major advantage of this particular two-step image registration procedure is that it is able to account for both rigid and non-rigid deformations either inherent to the retina tissues or as a result of the imaging process itself. Afterwards a decision identification measure, relying on a suitable normalized function, is defined to decide whether or not the pair of images belongs to the same individual. The method is tested on a data set of 21721 real pairs generated from a total of 946 retinal fundus images of 339 different individuals, consisting of patients followed in the context of different retinal diseases and also healthy patients. The evaluation of its performance reveals that it achieves a very low false rejection rate (FRR) at zero FAR (the false acceptance rate), equal to 0.084, as well as a low equal error rate (EER), equal to 0.053. Moreover, the tests performed by using only the multiscale affine registration, and discarding the multiscale elastic registration, clearly show the advantage of the proposed approach. The outcome of this study also indicates that the proposed method is reliable and competitive with other existing retinal identification methods, and forecasts its future appropriateness and applicability in real-life applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling respiratory mechanics in the MCAT and spline-based MCAT phantoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Segars, W. P.; Lalush, D. S.; Tsui, B. M. W.

2001-02-01

Respiratory motion can cause artifacts in myocardial SPECT and computed tomography (CT). The authors incorporate models of respiratory mechanics into the current 4D MCAT and into the next generation spline-based MCAT phantoms. In order to simulate respiratory motion in the current MCAT phantom, the geometric solids for the diaphragm, heart, ribs, and lungs were altered through manipulation of parameters defining them. Affine transformations were applied to the control points defining the same respiratory structures in the spline-based MCAT phantom to simulate respiratory motion. The Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) surfaces for the lungs and body outline were constructed in such a way as to be linked to the surrounding ribs. Expansion and contraction of the thoracic cage then coincided with expansion and contraction of the lungs and body. The changes both phantoms underwent were spline-interpolated over time to create time continuous 4D respiratory models. The authors then used the geometry-based and spline-based MCAT phantoms in an initial simulation study of the effects of respiratory motion on myocardial SPECT. The simulated reconstructed images demonstrated distinct artifacts in the inferior region of the myocardium. It is concluded that both respiratory models can be effective tools for researching effects of respiratory motion.

Automatic optimal filament segmentation with sub-pixel accuracy using generalized linear models and B-spline level-sets

PubMed Central

Xiao, Xun; Geyer, Veikko F.; Bowne-Anderson, Hugo; Howard, Jonathon; Sbalzarini, Ivo F.

2016-01-01

Biological filaments, such as actin filaments, microtubules, and cilia, are often imaged using different light-microscopy techniques. Reconstructing the filament curve from the acquired images constitutes the filament segmentation problem. Since filaments have lower dimensionality than the image itself, there is an inherent trade-off between tracing the filament with sub-pixel accuracy and avoiding noise artifacts. Here, we present a globally optimal filament segmentation method based on B-spline vector level-sets and a generalized linear model for the pixel intensity statistics. We show that the resulting optimization problem is convex and can hence be solved with global optimality. We introduce a simple and efficient algorithm to compute such optimal filament segmentations, and provide an open-source implementation as an ImageJ/Fiji plugin. We further derive an information-theoretic lower bound on the filament segmentation error, quantifying how well an algorithm could possibly do given the information in the image. We show that our algorithm asymptotically reaches this bound in the spline coefficients. We validate our method in comprehensive benchmarks, compare with other methods, and show applications from fluorescence, phase-contrast, and dark-field microscopy. PMID:27104582

SU-E-J-119: Head-And-Neck Digital Phantoms for Geometric and Dosimetric Uncertainty Evaluation of CT-CBCT Deformable Image Registration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shen, Z; Koyfman, S; Xia, P

2015-06-15

Purpose: To evaluate geometric and dosimetric uncertainties of CT-CBCT deformable image registration (DIR) algorithms using digital phantoms generated from real patients. Methods: We selected ten H&N cancer patients with adaptive IMRT. For each patient, a planning CT (CT1), a replanning CT (CT2), and a pretreatment CBCT (CBCT1) were used as the basis for digital phantom creation. Manually adjusted meshes were created for selected ROIs (e.g. PTVs, brainstem, spinal cord, mandible, and parotids) on CT1 and CT2. The mesh vertices were input into a thin-plate spline algorithm to generate a reference displacement vector field (DVF). The reference DVF was applied tomore » CBCT1 to create a simulated mid-treatment CBCT (CBCT2). The CT-CBCT digital phantom consisted of CT1 and CBCT2, which were linked by the reference DVF. Three DIR algorithms (Demons, B-Spline, and intensity-based) were applied to these ten digital phantoms. The images, ROIs, and volumetric doses were mapped from CT1 to CBCT2 using the DVFs computed by these three DIRs and compared to those mapped using the reference DVF. Results: The average Dice coefficients for selected ROIs were from 0.83 to 0.94 for Demons, from 0.82 to 0.95 for B-Spline, and from 0.67 to 0.89 for intensity-based DIR. The average Hausdorff distances for selected ROIs were from 2.4 to 6.2 mm for Demons, from 1.8 to 5.9 mm for B-Spline, and from 2.8 to 11.2 mm for intensity-based DIR. The average absolute dose errors for selected ROIs were from 0.7 to 2.1 Gy for Demons, from 0.7 to 2.9 Gy for B- Spline, and from 1.3 to 4.5 Gy for intensity-based DIR. Conclusion: Using clinically realistic CT-CBCT digital phantoms, Demons and B-Spline were shown to have similar geometric and dosimetric uncertainties while intensity-based DIR had the worst uncertainties. CT-CBCT DIR has the potential to provide accurate CBCT-based dose verification for H&N adaptive radiotherapy. Z Shen: None; K Bzdusek: an employee of Philips Healthcare; S Koyfman

Registration of High Angular Resolution Diffusion MRI Images Using 4th Order Tensors⋆

PubMed Central

Barmpoutis, Angelos; Vemuri, Baba C.; Forder, John R.

2009-01-01

Registration of Diffusion Weighted (DW)-MRI datasets has been commonly achieved to date in literature by using either scalar or 2nd-order tensorial information. However, scalar or 2nd-order tensors fail to capture complex local tissue structures, such as fiber crossings, and therefore, datasets containing fiber-crossings cannot be registered accurately by using these techniques. In this paper we present a novel method for non-rigidly registering DW-MRI datasets that are represented by a field of 4th-order tensors. We use the Hellinger distance between the normalized 4th-order tensors represented as distributions, in order to achieve this registration. Hellinger distance is easy to compute, is scale and rotation invariant and hence allows for comparison of the true shape of distributions. Furthermore, we propose a novel 4th-order tensor re-transformation operator, which plays an essential role in the registration procedure and shows significantly better performance compared to the re-orientation operator used in literature for DTI registration. We validate and compare our technique with other existing scalar image and DTI registration methods using simulated diffusion MR data and real HARDI datasets. PMID:18051145

Automatic lung lobe segmentation of COPD patients using iterative B-spline fitting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shamonin, D. P.; Staring, M.; Bakker, M. E.; Xiao, C.; Stolk, J.; Reiber, J. H. C.; Stoel, B. C.

2012-02-01

We present an automatic lung lobe segmentation algorithm for COPD patients. The method enhances fissures, removes unlikely fissure candidates, after which a B-spline is fitted iteratively through the remaining candidate objects. The iterative fitting approach circumvents the need to classify each object as being part of the fissure or being noise, and allows the fissure to be detected in multiple disconnected parts. This property is beneficial for good performance in patient data, containing incomplete and disease-affected fissures. The proposed algorithm is tested on 22 COPD patients, resulting in accurate lobe-based densitometry, and a median overlap of the fissure (defined 3 voxels wide) with an expert ground truth of 0.65, 0.54 and 0.44 for the three main fissures. This compares to complete lobe overlaps of 0.99, 0.98, 0.98, 0.97 and 0.87 for the five main lobes, showing promise for lobe segmentation on data of patients with moderate to severe COPD.

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 50 - Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

.... Insurers must be listed in Best's Life-Health Insurance Reports and be assigned a rating of B+ (Very Good... that occur during the fiscal year of registration must be reported to the MWR Policy Directorate at the.... Failure to report such material changes may result in termination of registration regardless of how it...

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 50 - Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

.... Insurers must be listed in Best's Life-Health Insurance Reports and be assigned a rating of B+ (Very Good... that occur during the fiscal year of registration must be reported to the MWR Policy Directorate at the.... Failure to report such material changes may result in termination of registration regardless of how it...

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 50 - Overseas Life Insurance Registration Program

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

.... Insurers must be listed in Best's Life-Health Insurance Reports and be assigned a rating of B+ (Very Good... that occur during the fiscal year of registration must be reported to the MWR Policy Directorate at the.... Failure to report such material changes may result in termination of registration regardless of how it...

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 77 - DD Form 2581, Operation Transition Employer Registration

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false DD Form 2581, Operation Transition Employer Registration B Appendix B to Part 77 National Defense Department of Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE... to Part 77—DD Form 2581, Operation Transition Employer Registration ER10AU94.042 ER10AU94.043 ...

Estimation of Rectal Dose Using Daily Megavoltage Cone-Beam Computed Tomography and Deformable Image Registration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Akino, Yuichi, E-mail: akino@radonc.med.osaka-u.ac.jp; Department of Radiology, Osaka University Hospital, Suita, Osaka; Yoshioka, Yasuo

2013-11-01

Purpose: The actual dose delivered to critical organs will differ from the simulated dose because of interfractional organ motion and deformation. Here, we developed a method to estimate the rectal dose in prostate intensity modulated radiation therapy with consideration to interfractional organ motion using daily megavoltage cone-beam computed tomography (MVCBCT). Methods and Materials: Under exemption status from our institutional review board, we retrospectively reviewed 231 series of MVCBCT of 8 patients with prostate cancer. On both planning CT (pCT) and MVCBCT images, the rectal contours were delineated and the CT value within the contours was replaced by the mean CTmore » value within the pelvis, with the addition of 100 Hounsfield units. MVCBCT images were rigidly registered to pCT and then nonrigidly registered using B-Spline deformable image registration (DIR) with Velocity AI software. The concordance between the rectal contours on MVCBCT and pCT was evaluated using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC). The dose distributions normalized for 1 fraction were also deformed and summed to estimate the actual total dose. Results: The DSC of all treatment fractions of 8 patients was improved from 0.75±0.04 (mean ±SD) to 0.90 ±0.02 by DIR. Six patients showed a decrease of the generalized equivalent uniform dose (gEUD) from total dose compared with treatment plans. Although the rectal volume of each treatment fraction did not show any correlation with the change in gEUD (R{sup 2}=0.18±0.13), the displacement of the center of gravity of rectal contours in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction showed an intermediate relationship (R{sup 2}=0.61±0.16). Conclusion: We developed a method for evaluation of rectal dose using DIR and MVCBCT images and showed the necessity of DIR for the evaluation of total dose. Displacement of the rectum in the AP direction showed a greater effect on the change in rectal dose compared with the rectal volume.« less

4D-PET reconstruction using a spline-residue model with spatial and temporal roughness penalties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ralli, George P.; Chappell, Michael A.; McGowan, Daniel R.; Sharma, Ricky A.; Higgins, Geoff S.; Fenwick, John D.

2018-05-01

4D reconstruction of dynamic positron emission tomography (dPET) data can improve the signal-to-noise ratio in reconstructed image sequences by fitting smooth temporal functions to the voxel time-activity-curves (TACs) during the reconstruction, though the optimal choice of function remains an open question. We propose a spline-residue model, which describes TACs as weighted sums of convolutions of the arterial input function with cubic B-spline basis functions. Convolution with the input function constrains the spline-residue model at early time-points, potentially enhancing noise suppression in early time-frames, while still allowing a wide range of TAC descriptions over the entire imaged time-course, thus limiting bias. Spline-residue based 4D-reconstruction is compared to that of a conventional (non-4D) maximum a posteriori (MAP) algorithm, and to 4D-reconstructions based on adaptive-knot cubic B-splines, the spectral model and an irreversible two-tissue compartment (‘2C3K’) model. 4D reconstructions were carried out using a nested-MAP algorithm including spatial and temporal roughness penalties. The algorithms were tested using Monte-Carlo simulated scanner data, generated for a digital thoracic phantom with uptake kinetics based on a dynamic [18F]-Fluromisonidazole scan of a non-small cell lung cancer patient. For every algorithm, parametric maps were calculated by fitting each voxel TAC within a sub-region of the reconstructed images with the 2C3K model. Compared to conventional MAP reconstruction, spline-residue-based 4D reconstruction achieved  >50% improvements for five of the eight combinations of the four kinetics parameters for which parametric maps were created with the bias and noise measures used to analyse them, and produced better results for 5/8 combinations than any of the other reconstruction algorithms studied, while spectral model-based 4D reconstruction produced the best results for 2/8. 2C3K model-based 4D reconstruction generated

Spherical demons: fast diffeomorphic landmark-free surface registration.

PubMed

Yeo, B T Thomas; Sabuncu, Mert R; Vercauteren, Tom; Ayache, Nicholas; Fischl, Bruce; Golland, Polina

2010-03-01

We present the Spherical Demons algorithm for registering two spherical images. By exploiting spherical vector spline interpolation theory, we show that a large class of regularizors for the modified Demons objective function can be efficiently approximated on the sphere using iterative smoothing. Based on one parameter subgroups of diffeomorphisms, the resulting registration is diffeomorphic and fast. The Spherical Demons algorithm can also be modified to register a given spherical image to a probabilistic atlas. We demonstrate two variants of the algorithm corresponding to warping the atlas or warping the subject. Registration of a cortical surface mesh to an atlas mesh, both with more than 160 k nodes requires less than 5 min when warping the atlas and less than 3 min when warping the subject on a Xeon 3.2 GHz single processor machine. This is comparable to the fastest nondiffeomorphic landmark-free surface registration algorithms. Furthermore, the accuracy of our method compares favorably to the popular FreeSurfer registration algorithm. We validate the technique in two different applications that use registration to transfer segmentation labels onto a new image 1) parcellation of in vivo cortical surfaces and 2) Brodmann area localization in ex vivo cortical surfaces.

An algorithm for surface smoothing with rational splines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schiess, James R.

1987-01-01

Discussed is an algorithm for smoothing surfaces with spline functions containing tension parameters. The bivariate spline functions used are tensor products of univariate rational-spline functions. A distinct tension parameter corresponds to each rectangular strip defined by a pair of consecutive spline knots along either axis. Equations are derived for writing the bivariate rational spline in terms of functions and derivatives at the knots. Estimates of these values are obtained via weighted least squares subject to continuity constraints at the knots. The algorithm is illustrated on a set of terrain elevation data.

Non-rigid Reconstruction of Casting Process with Temperature Feature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Jinhua; Wang, Yanjie; Li, Xin; Wang, Ying; Wang, Lu

2017-09-01

Off-line reconstruction of rigid scene has made a great progress in the past decade. However, the on-line reconstruction of non-rigid scene is still a very challenging task. The casting process is a non-rigid reconstruction problem, it is a high-dynamic molding process lacking of geometric features. In order to reconstruct the casting process robustly, an on-line fusion strategy is proposed for dynamic reconstruction of casting process. Firstly, the geometric and flowing feature of casting are parameterized in manner of TSDF (truncated signed distance field) which is a volumetric block, parameterized casting guarantees real-time tracking and optimal deformation of casting process. Secondly, data structure of the volume grid is extended to have temperature value, the temperature interpolation function is build to generate the temperature of each voxel. This data structure allows for dynamic tracking of temperature of casting during deformation stages. Then, the sparse RGB features is extracted from casting scene to search correspondence between geometric representation and depth constraint. The extracted color data guarantees robust tracking of flowing motion of casting. Finally, the optimal deformation of the target space is transformed into a nonlinear regular variational optimization problem. This optimization step achieves smooth and optimal deformation of casting process. The experimental results show that the proposed method can reconstruct the casting process robustly and reduce drift in the process of non-rigid reconstruction of casting.

17 CFR 270.8b-16 - Amendments to registration statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... on Form N-SAR, as prescribed by rule 30b1-1 (17 CFR 270.30b1-1), shall amend the registration... information is transmitted to shareholders in its annual report to shareholders: (1) If the company offers a dividend reinvestment plan to shareholders, information about the plan required to be disclosed in the...

17 CFR 270.8b-16 - Amendments to registration statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... on Form N-SAR, as prescribed by rule 30b1-1 (17 CFR 270.30b1-1), shall amend the registration... information is transmitted to shareholders in its annual report to shareholders: (1) If the company offers a dividend reinvestment plan to shareholders, information about the plan required to be disclosed in the...

17 CFR 270.8b-16 - Amendments to registration statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... on Form N-SAR, as prescribed by rule 30b1-1 (17 CFR 270.30b1-1), shall amend the registration... information is transmitted to shareholders in its annual report to shareholders: (1) If the company offers a dividend reinvestment plan to shareholders, information about the plan required to be disclosed in the...

17 CFR 270.8b-16 - Amendments to registration statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... on Form N-SAR, as prescribed by rule 30b1-1 (17 CFR 270.30b1-1), shall amend the registration... information is transmitted to shareholders in its annual report to shareholders: (1) If the company offers a dividend reinvestment plan to shareholders, information about the plan required to be disclosed in the...

Galileo Redux or, How Do Nonrigid, Extended Bodies Fall?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newburgh, Ronald; Andes, George M.

1995-01-01

Presents a model for the Slinky that allows for calculations that agree with observed behavior and predictions that suggest further experimentation. Offers an opportunity for introducing nonrigid bodies within the Galilean framework. (JRH)

Spline smoothing of histograms by linear programming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bennett, J. O.

1972-01-01

An algorithm for an approximating function to the frequency distribution is obtained from a sample of size n. To obtain the approximating function a histogram is made from the data. Next, Euclidean space approximations to the graph of the histogram using central B-splines as basis elements are obtained by linear programming. The approximating function has area one and is nonnegative.

Influence of image registration on apparent diffusion coefficient images computed from free-breathing diffusion MR images of the abdomen.

PubMed

Guyader, Jean-Marie; Bernardin, Livia; Douglas, Naomi H M; Poot, Dirk H J; Niessen, Wiro J; Klein, Stefan

2015-08-01

To evaluate the influence of image registration on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) images obtained from abdominal free-breathing diffusion-weighted MR images (DW-MRIs). A comprehensive pipeline based on automatic three-dimensional nonrigid image registrations is developed to compensate for misalignments in DW-MRI datasets obtained from five healthy subjects scanned twice. Motion is corrected both within each image and between images in a time series. ADC distributions are compared with and without registration in two abdominal volumes of interest (VOIs). The effects of interpolations and Gaussian blurring as alternative strategies to reduce motion artifacts are also investigated. Among the four considered scenarios (no processing, interpolation, blurring and registration), registration yields the best alignment scores. Median ADCs vary according to the chosen scenario: for the considered datasets, ADCs obtained without processing are 30% higher than with registration. Registration improves voxelwise reproducibility at least by a factor of 2 and decreases uncertainty (Fréchet-Cramér-Rao lower bound). Registration provides similar improvements in reproducibility and uncertainty as acquiring four times more data. Patient motion during image acquisition leads to misaligned DW-MRIs and inaccurate ADCs, which can be addressed using automatic registration. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A quantitative comparison of the performance of three deformable registration algorithms in radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Fabri, Daniella; Zambrano, Valentina; Bhatia, Amon; Furtado, Hugo; Bergmann, Helmar; Stock, Markus; Bloch, Christoph; Lütgendorf-Caucig, Carola; Pawiro, Supriyanto; Georg, Dietmar; Birkfellner, Wolfgang; Figl, Michael

2013-01-01

We present an evaluation of various non-rigid registration algorithms for the purpose of compensating interfractional motion of the target volume and organs at risk areas when acquiring CBCT image data prior to irradiation. Three different deformable registration (DR) methods were used: the Demons algorithm implemented in the iPlan Software (BrainLAB AG, Feldkirchen, Germany) and two custom-developed piecewise methods using either a Normalized Correlation or a Mutual Information metric (featureletNC and featureletMI). These methods were tested on data acquired using a novel purpose-built phantom for deformable registration and clinical CT/CBCT data of prostate and lung cancer patients. The Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) between manually drawn contours and the contours generated by a derived deformation field of the structures in question was compared to the result obtained with rigid registration (RR). For the phantom, the piecewise methods were slightly superior, the featureletNC for the intramodality and the featureletMI for the intermodality registrations. For the prostate cases in less than 50% of the images studied the DSC was improved over RR. Deformable registration methods improved the outcome over a rigid registration for lung cases and in the phantom study, but not in a significant way for the prostate study. A significantly superior deformation method could not be identified. PMID:23969092

Batch settling curve registration via image data modeling.

PubMed

Derlon, Nicolas; Thürlimann, Christian; Dürrenmatt, David; Villez, Kris

2017-05-01

To this day, obtaining reliable characterization of sludge settling properties remains a challenging and time-consuming task. Without such assessments however, optimal design and operation of secondary settling tanks is challenging and conservative approaches will remain necessary. With this study, we show that automated sludge blanket height registration and zone settling velocity estimation is possible thanks to analysis of images taken during batch settling experiments. The experimental setup is particularly interesting for practical applications as it consists of off-the-shelf components only, no moving parts are required, and the software is released publicly. Furthermore, the proposed multivariate shape constrained spline model for image analysis appears to be a promising method for reliable sludge blanket height profile registration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hierarchical Volume Representation with 3{radical}2 Subdivision and Trivariate B-Spline Wavelets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Linsen, L; Gray, JT; Pascucci, V

2002-01-11

Multiresolution methods provide a means for representing data at multiple levels of detail. They are typically based on a hierarchical data organization scheme and update rules needed for data value computation. We use a data organization that is based on what we call n{radical}2 subdivision. The main advantage of subdivision, compared to quadtree (n = 2) or octree (n = 3) organizations, is that the number of vertices is only doubled in each subdivision step instead of multiplied by a factor of four or eight, respectively. To update data values we use n-variate B-spline wavelets, which yields better approximations formore » each level of detail. We develop a lifting scheme for n = 2 and n = 3 based on the n{radical}2-subdivision scheme. We obtain narrow masks that could also provide a basis for view-dependent visualization and adaptive refinement.« less

A mass-conserving mixed Fourier-Galerkin B-Spline-collocation method for Direct Numerical Simulation of the variable-density Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reuter, Bryan; Oliver, Todd; Lee, M. K.; Moser, Robert

2017-11-01

We present an algorithm for a Direct Numerical Simulation of the variable-density Navier-Stokes equations based on the velocity-vorticity approach introduced by Kim, Moin, and Moser (1987). In the current work, a Helmholtz decomposition of the momentum is performed. Evolution equations for the curl and the Laplacian of the divergence-free portion are formulated by manipulation of the momentum equations and the curl-free portion is reconstructed by enforcing continuity. The solution is expanded in Fourier bases in the homogeneous directions and B-Spline bases in the inhomogeneous directions. Discrete equations are obtained through a mixed Fourier-Galerkin and collocation weighted residual method. The scheme is designed such that the numerical solution conserves mass locally and globally by ensuring the discrete divergence projection is exact through the use of higher order splines in the inhomogeneous directions. The formulation is tested on multiple variable-density flow problems.

Data approximation using a blending type spline construction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dalmo, Rune; Bratlie, Jostein

2014-11-18

Generalized expo-rational B-splines (GERBS) is a blending type spline construction where local functions at each knot are blended together by C{sup k}-smooth basis functions. One way of approximating discrete regular data using GERBS is by partitioning the data set into subsets and fit a local function to each subset. Partitioning and fitting strategies can be devised such that important or interesting data points are interpolated in order to preserve certain features. We present a method for fitting discrete data using a tensor product GERBS construction. The method is based on detection of feature points using differential geometry. Derivatives, which aremore » necessary for feature point detection and used to construct local surface patches, are approximated from the discrete data using finite differences.« less

Comparison of Ionospheric Vertical Total Electron Content modelling approaches using spline based representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krypiak-Gregorczyk, Anna; Wielgosz, Pawel; Borkowski, Andrzej; Schmidt, Michael; Erdogan, Eren; Goss, Andreas

2017-04-01

Since electromagnetic measurements show dispersive characteristics, accurate modelling of the ionospheric electron content plays an important role for positioning and navigation applications to mitigate the effect of the ionospheric disturbances. Knowledge about the ionosphere contributes to a better understanding of space weather events as well as to forecast these events to enable protective measures in advance for electronic systems and satellite missions. In the last decades, advances in satellite technologies, data analysis techniques and models together with a rapidly growing number of analysis centres allow modelling the ionospheric electron content with an unprecedented accuracy in (near) real-time. In this sense, the representation of electron content variations in time and space with spline basis functions has gained practical importance in global and regional ionosphere modelling. This is due to their compact support and their flexibility to handle unevenly distributed observations and data gaps. In this contribution, the performances of two ionosphere models from UWM and DGFI-TUM, which are developed using spline functions are evaluated. The VTEC model of DGFI-TUM is based on tensor products of trigonometric B-spline functions in longitude and polynomial B-spline functions in latitude for a global representation. The UWM model uses two dimensional planar thin plate spline (TPS) with the Universal Transverse Mercator representation of ellipsoidal coordinates. In order to provide a smooth VTEC model, the TPS minimizes both, the squared norm of the Hessian matrix and deviations between data points and the model. In the evaluations, the differenced STEC analysis method and Jason-2 altimetry comparisons are applied.

Towards adaptive radiotherapy for head and neck patients: validation of an in-house deformable registration algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veiga, C.; McClelland, J.; Moinuddin, S.; Ricketts, K.; Modat, M.; Ourselin, S.; D'Souza, D.; Royle, G.

2014-03-01

The purpose of this work is to validate an in-house deformable image registration (DIR) algorithm for adaptive radiotherapy for head and neck patients. We aim to use the registrations to estimate the "dose of the day" and assess the need to replan. NiftyReg is an open-source implementation of the B-splines deformable registration algorithm, developed in our institution. We registered a planning CT to a CBCT acquired midway through treatment for 5 HN patients that required replanning. We investigated 16 different parameter settings that previously showed promising results. To assess the registrations, structures delineated in the CT were warped and compared with contours manually drawn by the same clinical expert on the CBCT. This structure set contained vertebral bodies and soft tissue. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), overlap index (OI), centroid position and distance between structures' surfaces were calculated for every registration, and a set of parameters that produces good results for all datasets was found. We achieve a median value of 0.845 in DSC, 0.889 in OI, error smaller than 2 mm in centroid position and over 90% of the warped surface pixels are distanced less than 2 mm of the manually drawn ones. By using appropriate DIR parameters, we are able to register the planning geometry (pCT) to the daily geometry (CBCT).

Improving the Diagnostic Specificity of CT for Early Detection of Lung Cancer: 4D CT-Based Pulmonary Nodule Elastometry

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

as thin - plate spline (1-3) or elastic-body spline (4, 5), is locally controlled. One of the main motivations behind the use of B- spline ...FL. Principal warps: thin - plate splines and the decomposition of deformations. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence...Weese J, Kuhn MH. Landmark-based elastic registration using approximating thin - plate splines . IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. 2001;20(6):526-34

17 CFR 240.15b11-1 - Registration by notice of security futures product broker-dealers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... § 240.15b11-1 Registration by notice of security futures product broker-dealers. (a) A broker or dealer... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Registration by notice of security futures product broker-dealers. 240.15b11-1 Section 240.15b11-1 Commodity and Securities Exchanges...

Geometry-aware multiscale image registration via OBBTree-based polyaffine log-demons.

PubMed

Seiler, Christof; Pennec, Xavier; Reyes, Mauricio

2011-01-01

Non-linear image registration is an important tool in many areas of image analysis. For instance, in morphometric studies of a population of brains, free-form deformations between images are analyzed to describe the structural anatomical variability. Such a simple deformation model is justified by the absence of an easy expressible prior about the shape changes. Applying the same algorithms used in brain imaging to orthopedic images might not be optimal due to the difference in the underlying prior on the inter-subject deformations. In particular, using an un-informed deformation prior often leads to local minima far from the expected solution. To improve robustness and promote anatomically meaningful deformations, we propose a locally affine and geometry-aware registration algorithm that automatically adapts to the data. We build upon the log-domain demons algorithm and introduce a new type of OBBTree-based regularization in the registration with a natural multiscale structure. The regularization model is composed of a hierarchy of locally affine transformations via their logarithms. Experiments on mandibles show improved accuracy and robustness when used to initialize the demons, and even similar performance by direct comparison to the demons, with a significantly lower degree of freedom. This closes the gap between polyaffine and non-rigid registration and opens new ways to statistically analyze the registration results.

On the spline-based wavelet differentiation matrix

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jameson, Leland

1993-01-01

The differentiation matrix for a spline-based wavelet basis is constructed. Given an n-th order spline basis it is proved that the differentiation matrix is accurate of order 2n + 2 when periodic boundary conditions are assumed. This high accuracy, or superconvergence, is lost when the boundary conditions are no longer periodic. Furthermore, it is shown that spline-based bases generate a class of compact finite difference schemes.

Spherical Demons: Fast Diffeomorphic Landmark-Free Surface Registration

PubMed Central

Yeo, B.T. Thomas; Sabuncu, Mert R.; Vercauteren, Tom; Ayache, Nicholas; Fischl, Bruce; Golland, Polina

2010-01-01

We present the Spherical Demons algorithm for registering two spherical images. By exploiting spherical vector spline interpolation theory, we show that a large class of regularizors for the modified Demons objective function can be efficiently approximated on the sphere using iterative smoothing. Based on one parameter subgroups of diffeomorphisms, the resulting registration is diffeomorphic and fast. The Spherical Demons algorithm can also be modified to register a given spherical image to a probabilistic atlas. We demonstrate two variants of the algorithm corresponding to warping the atlas or warping the subject. Registration of a cortical surface mesh to an atlas mesh, both with more than 160k nodes requires less than 5 minutes when warping the atlas and less than 3 minutes when warping the subject on a Xeon 3.2GHz single processor machine. This is comparable to the fastest non-diffeomorphic landmark-free surface registration algorithms. Furthermore, the accuracy of our method compares favorably to the popular FreeSurfer registration algorithm. We validate the technique in two different applications that use registration to transfer segmentation labels onto a new image: (1) parcellation of in-vivo cortical surfaces and (2) Brodmann area localization in ex-vivo cortical surfaces. PMID:19709963

Optic disc boundary segmentation from diffeomorphic demons registration of monocular fundus image sequences versus 3D visualization of stereo fundus image pairs for automated early stage glaucoma assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatti, Vijay; Hill, Jason; Mitra, Sunanda; Nutter, Brian

2014-03-01

Despite the current availability in resource-rich regions of advanced technologies in scanning and 3-D imaging in current ophthalmology practice, world-wide screening tests for early detection and progression of glaucoma still consist of a variety of simple tools, including fundus image-based parameters such as CDR (cup to disc diameter ratio) and CAR (cup to disc area ratio), especially in resource -poor regions. Reliable automated computation of the relevant parameters from fundus image sequences requires robust non-rigid registration and segmentation techniques. Recent research work demonstrated that proper non-rigid registration of multi-view monocular fundus image sequences could result in acceptable segmentation of cup boundaries for automated computation of CAR and CDR. This research work introduces a composite diffeomorphic demons registration algorithm for segmentation of cup boundaries from a sequence of monocular images and compares the resulting CAR and CDR values with those computed manually by experts and from 3-D visualization of stereo pairs. Our preliminary results show that the automated computation of CDR and CAR from composite diffeomorphic segmentation of monocular image sequences yield values comparable with those from the other two techniques and thus may provide global healthcare with a cost-effective yet accurate tool for management of glaucoma in its early stage.

Isogeometric Divergence-conforming B-splines for the Darcy-Stokes-Brinkman Equations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

dimensionality ofQ0,h using T-splines [5]. However, a proof of mesh-independent discrete stability remains absent with this choice of pressure space ... the boundary ∂K +/− of element K+/−. With the above notation established, let us define the following bilinear form: a ∗h(w,v) = np∑ i=1 ( (2ν∇sw,∇sv...8.3 Two- Dimensional Problem with a Singular Solution To examine how our discretization performs in

Image registration with auto-mapped control volumes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schreibmann, Eduard; Xing Lei

2006-04-15

registration of inhale and exhale phases of a lung 4D CT. Algorithm convergence was confirmed by starting the registration calculations from a large number of initial transformation parameters. An accuracy of {approx}2 mm was achieved for both deformable and rigid registration. The proposed image registration method greatly reduces the complexity involved in the determination of homologous control points and allows us to minimize the subjectivity and uncertainty associated with the current manual interactive approach. Patient studies have indicated that the two-step registration technique is fast, reliable, and provides a valuable tool to facilitate both rigid and nonrigid image registrations.« less

17 CFR 274.14 - Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... statements of face-amount certificate companies. 274.14 Section 274.14 Commodity and Securities Exchanges... Registration Statements § 274.14 Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies. This form shall be used for registration statements of face-amount certificate companies registered...

17 CFR 274.14 - Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... statements of face-amount certificate companies. 274.14 Section 274.14 Commodity and Securities Exchanges... Registration Statements § 274.14 Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies. This form shall be used for registration statements of face-amount certificate companies registered...

17 CFR 274.14 - Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... statements of face-amount certificate companies. 274.14 Section 274.14 Commodity and Securities Exchanges... Registration Statements § 274.14 Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies. This form shall be used for registration statements of face-amount certificate companies registered...

17 CFR 274.14 - Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... statements of face-amount certificate companies. 274.14 Section 274.14 Commodity and Securities Exchanges... Registration Statements § 274.14 Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies. This form shall be used for registration statements of face-amount certificate companies registered...

17 CFR 274.14 - Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... statements of face-amount certificate companies. 274.14 Section 274.14 Commodity and Securities Exchanges... Registration Statements § 274.14 Form N-8B-4, registration statements of face-amount certificate companies. This form shall be used for registration statements of face-amount certificate companies registered...

Improving the Diagnostic Specificity of CT for Early Detection of Lung Cancer: 4D CT-Based Pulmonary Nodule Elastometry

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

malignant PNs treated with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy ( SABR ) with those of the lung. Methods: We analyzed breath-hold images of 30...patients with malignant PNs who underwent SABR in our department. A parametric nonrigid transformation model based on multi-level B-spline guided by Sum of...and 50 of 4D CT and deep inhale and natural exhale of breath-hold CT images of 30 MPN treated with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy ( SABR ). The

Robust registration of sparsely sectioned histology to ex-vivo MRI of temporal lobe resections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goubran, Maged; Khan, Ali R.; Crukley, Cathie; Buchanan, Susan; Santyr, Brendan; deRibaupierre, Sandrine; Peters, Terry M.

2012-02-01

Surgical resection of epileptic foci is a typical treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy, however, accurate preoperative localization is challenging and often requires invasive sub-dural or intra-cranial electrode placement. The presence of cellular abnormalities in the resected tissue can be used to validate the effectiveness of multispectralMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in pre-operative foci localization and surgical planning. If successful, these techniques can lead to improved surgical outcomes and less invasive procedures. Towards this goal, a novel pipeline is presented here for post-operative imaging of temporal lobe specimens involving MRI and digital histology, and present and evaluate methods for bringing these images into spatial correspondence. The sparsely-sectioned histology images of resected tissue represents a challenge for 3D reconstruction which we address with a combined 3D and 2D rigid registration algorithm that alternates between slice-based and volume-based registration with the ex-vivo MRI. We also evaluate four methods for non-rigid within-plane registration using both images and fiducials, with the top performing method resulting in a target registration error of 0.87 mm. This work allows for the spatially-local comparison of histology with post-operative MRI and paves the way for eventual registration with pre-operative MRI images.

A geometric modeler based on a dual-geometry representation polyhedra and rational b-splines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klosterman, A. L.

1984-01-01

For speed and data base reasons, solid geometric modeling of large complex practical systems is usually approximated by a polyhedra representation. Precise parametric surface and implicit algebraic modelers are available but it is not yet practical to model the same level of system complexity with these precise modelers. In response to this contrast the GEOMOD geometric modeling system was built so that a polyhedra abstraction of the geometry would be available for interactive modeling without losing the precise definition of the geometry. Part of the reason that polyhedra modelers are effective is that all bounded surfaces can be represented in a single canonical format (i.e., sets of planar polygons). This permits a very simple and compact data structure. Nonuniform rational B-splines are currently the best representation to describe a very large class of geometry precisely with one canonical format. The specific capabilities of the modeler are described.

Adaptive radiotherapy for NSCLC patients: utilizing the principle of energy conservation to evaluate dose mapping operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Hualiang; Chetty, Indrin J.

2017-06-01

Tumor regression during the course of fractionated radiotherapy confounds the ability to accurately estimate the total dose delivered to tumor targets. Here we present a new criterion to improve the accuracy of image intensity-based dose mapping operations for adaptive radiotherapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Six NSCLC patients were retrospectively investigated in this study. An image intensity-based B-spline registration algorithm was used for deformable image registration (DIR) of weekly CBCT images to a reference image. The resultant displacement vector fields were employed to map the doses calculated on weekly images to the reference image. The concept of energy conservation was introduced as a criterion to evaluate the accuracy of the dose mapping operations. A finite element method (FEM)-based mechanical model was implemented to improve the performance of the B-Spline-based registration algorithm in regions involving tumor regression. For the six patients, deformed tumor volumes changed by 21.2  ±  15.0% and 4.1  ±  3.7% on average for the B-Spline and the FEM-based registrations performed from fraction 1 to fraction 21, respectively. The energy deposited in the gross tumor volume (GTV) was 0.66 Joules (J) per fraction on average. The energy derived from the fractional dose reconstructed by the B-spline and FEM-based DIR algorithms in the deformed GTV’s was 0.51 J and 0.64 J, respectively. Based on landmark comparisons for the 6 patients, mean error for the FEM-based DIR algorithm was 2.5  ±  1.9 mm. The cross-correlation coefficient between the landmark-measured displacement error and the loss of radiation energy was  -0.16 for the FEM-based algorithm. To avoid uncertainties in measuring distorted landmarks, the B-Spline-based registrations were compared to the FEM registrations, and their displacement differences equal 4.2  ±  4.7 mm on average. The displacement differences were

Nonrigid Autofocus Motion Correction for Coronary MR Angiography with a 3D Cones Trajectory

PubMed Central

Ingle, R. Reeve; Wu, Holden H.; Addy, Nii Okai; Cheng, Joseph Y.; Yang, Phillip C.; Hu, Bob S.; Nishimura, Dwight G.

2014-01-01

Purpose: To implement a nonrigid autofocus motion correction technique to improve respiratory motion correction of free-breathing whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) acquisitions using an image-navigated 3D cones sequence. Methods: 2D image navigators acquired every heartbeat are used to measure superior-inferior, anterior-posterior, and right-left translation of the heart during a free-breathing CMRA scan using a 3D cones readout trajectory. Various tidal respiratory motion patterns are modeled by independently scaling the three measured displacement trajectories. These scaled motion trajectories are used for 3D translational compensation of the acquired data, and a bank of motion-compensated images is reconstructed. From this bank, a gradient entropy focusing metric is used to generate a nonrigid motion-corrected image on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The performance of the autofocus motion correction technique is compared with rigid-body translational correction and no correction in phantom, volunteer, and patient studies. Results: Nonrigid autofocus motion correction yields improved image quality compared to rigid-body-corrected images and uncorrected images. Quantitative vessel sharpness measurements indicate superiority of the proposed technique in 14 out of 15 coronary segments from three patient and two volunteer studies. Conclusion: The proposed technique corrects nonrigid motion artifacts in free-breathing 3D cones acquisitions, improving image quality compared to rigid-body motion correction. PMID:24006292

Using patient-specific phantoms to evaluate deformable image registration algorithms for adaptive radiation therapy

PubMed Central

Stanley, Nick; Glide-Hurst, Carri; Kim, Jinkoo; Adams, Jeffrey; Li, Shunshan; Wen, Ning; Chetty, Indrin J.; Zhong, Hualiang

2014-01-01

The quality of adaptive treatment planning depends on the accuracy of its underlying deformable image registration (DIR). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of two DIR algorithms, B-spline–based deformable multipass (DMP) and deformable demons (Demons), implemented in a commercial software package. Evaluations were conducted using both computational and physical deformable phantoms. Based on a finite element method (FEM), a total of 11 computational models were developed from a set of CT images acquired from four lung and one prostate cancer patients. FEM generated displacement vector fields (DVF) were used to construct the lung and prostate image phantoms. Based on a fast-Fourier transform technique, image noise power spectrum was incorporated into the prostate image phantoms to create simulated CBCT images. The FEM-DVF served as a gold standard for verification of the two registration algorithms performed on these phantoms. The registration algorithms were also evaluated at the homologous points quantified in the CT images of a physical lung phantom. The results indicated that the mean errors of the DMP algorithm were in the range of 1.0 ~ 3.1 mm for the computational phantoms and 1.9 mm for the physical lung phantom. For the computational prostate phantoms, the corresponding mean error was 1.0–1.9 mm in the prostate, 1.9–2.4 mm in the rectum, and 1.8–2.1 mm over the entire patient body. Sinusoidal errors induced by B-spline interpolations were observed in all the displacement profiles of the DMP registrations. Regions of large displacements were observed to have more registration errors. Patient-specific FEM models have been developed to evaluate the DIR algorithms implemented in the commercial software package. It has been found that the accuracy of these algorithms is patient-dependent and related to various factors including tissue deformation magnitudes and image intensity gradients across the regions of interest. This may

3D full-field quantification of cell-induced large deformations in fibrillar biomaterials by combining non-rigid image registration with label-free second harmonic generation.

PubMed

Jorge-Peñas, Alvaro; Bové, Hannelore; Sanen, Kathleen; Vaeyens, Marie-Mo; Steuwe, Christian; Roeffaers, Maarten; Ameloot, Marcel; Van Oosterwyck, Hans

2017-08-01

To advance our current understanding of cell-matrix mechanics and its importance for biomaterials development, advanced three-dimensional (3D) measurement techniques are necessary. Cell-induced deformations of the surrounding matrix are commonly derived from the displacement of embedded fiducial markers, as part of traction force microscopy (TFM) procedures. However, these fluorescent markers may alter the mechanical properties of the matrix or can be taken up by the embedded cells, and therefore influence cellular behavior and fate. In addition, the currently developed methods for calculating cell-induced deformations are generally limited to relatively small deformations, with displacement magnitudes and strains typically of the order of a few microns and less than 10% respectively. Yet, large, complex deformation fields can be expected from cells exerting tractions in fibrillar biomaterials, like collagen. To circumvent these hurdles, we present a technique for the 3D full-field quantification of large cell-generated deformations in collagen, without the need of fiducial markers. We applied non-rigid, Free Form Deformation (FFD)-based image registration to compute full-field displacements induced by MRC-5 human lung fibroblasts in a collagen type I hydrogel by solely relying on second harmonic generation (SHG) from the collagen fibrils. By executing comparative experiments, we show that comparable displacement fields can be derived from both fibrils and fluorescent beads. SHG-based fibril imaging can circumvent all described disadvantages of using fiducial markers. This approach allows measuring 3D full-field deformations under large displacement (of the order of 10 μm) and strain regimes (up to 40%). As such, it holds great promise for the study of large cell-induced deformations as an inherent component of cell-biomaterial interactions and cell-mediated biomaterial remodeling. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

21 CFR 1309.42 - Certificate of registration; denial of registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...; denial of registration. (a) The Administrator shall issue a Certificate of Registration (DEA Form 511) to..., shall hold a hearing on the application pursuant to § 1309.51. (b) The Certificate of Registration (DEA...

21 CFR 1309.42 - Certificate of registration; denial of registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

...; denial of registration. (a) The Administrator shall issue a Certificate of Registration (DEA Form 511) to..., shall hold a hearing on the application pursuant to § 1309.51. (b) The Certificate of Registration (DEA...

Stock price forecasting for companies listed on Tehran stock exchange using multivariate adaptive regression splines model and semi-parametric splines technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rounaghi, Mohammad Mahdi; Abbaszadeh, Mohammad Reza; Arashi, Mohammad

2015-11-01

One of the most important topics of interest to investors is stock price changes. Investors whose goals are long term are sensitive to stock price and its changes and react to them. In this regard, we used multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) model and semi-parametric splines technique for predicting stock price in this study. The MARS model as a nonparametric method is an adaptive method for regression and it fits for problems with high dimensions and several variables. semi-parametric splines technique was used in this study. Smoothing splines is a nonparametric regression method. In this study, we used 40 variables (30 accounting variables and 10 economic variables) for predicting stock price using the MARS model and using semi-parametric splines technique. After investigating the models, we select 4 accounting variables (book value per share, predicted earnings per share, P/E ratio and risk) as influencing variables on predicting stock price using the MARS model. After fitting the semi-parametric splines technique, only 4 accounting variables (dividends, net EPS, EPS Forecast and P/E Ratio) were selected as variables effective in forecasting stock prices.

An Adaptive B-Spline Neural Network and Its Application in Terminal Sliding Mode Control for a Mobile Satcom Antenna Inertially Stabilized Platform.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaolei; Zhao, Yan; Guo, Kai; Li, Gaoliang; Deng, Nianmao

2017-04-28

The mobile satcom antenna (MSA) enables a moving vehicle to communicate with a geostationary Earth orbit satellite. To realize continuous communication, the MSA should be aligned with the satellite in both sight and polarization all the time. Because of coupling effects, unknown disturbances, sensor noises and unmodeled dynamics existing in the system, the control system should have a strong adaptability. The significant features of terminal sliding mode control method are robustness and finite time convergence, but the robustness is related to the large switching control gain which is determined by uncertain issues and can lead to chattering phenomena. Neural networks can reduce the chattering and approximate nonlinear issues. In this work, a novel B-spline curve-based B-spline neural network (BSNN) is developed. The improved BSNN has the capability of shape changing and self-adaption. In addition, the output of the proposed BSNN is applied to approximate the nonlinear function in the system. The results of simulations and experiments are also compared with those of PID method, non-singularity fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) control and radial basis function (RBF) neural network-based NFTSM. It is shown that the proposed method has the best performance, with reliable control precision.

Understanding geological processes: Visualization of rigid and non-rigid transformations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shipley, T. F.; Atit, K.; Manduca, C. A.; Ormand, C. J.; Resnick, I.; Tikoff, B.

2012-12-01

Visualizations are used in the geological sciences to support reasoning about structures and events. Research in cognitive sciences offers insights into the range of skills of different users, and ultimately how visualizations might support different users. To understand the range of skills needed to reason about earth processes we have developed a program of research that is grounded in the geosciences' careful description of the spatial and spatiotemporal patterns associated with earth processes. In particular, we are pursuing a research program that identifies specific spatial skills and investigates whether and how they are related to each other. For this study, we focus on a specific question: Is there an important distinction in the geosciences between rigid and non-rigid deformation? To study a general spatial thinking skill we employed displays with non-geological objects that had been altered by rigid change (rotation), and two types of non-rigid change ("brittle" (or discontinuous) and "ductile" (or continuous) deformation). Disciplinary scientists (geosciences and chemistry faculty), and novices (non-science faculty and undergraduate psychology students) answered questions that required them to visualize the appearance of the object before the change. In one study, geologists and chemists were found to be superior to non-science faculty in reasoning about rigid rotations (e.g., what an object would look like from a different perspective). Geologists were superior to chemists in reasoning about brittle deformations (e.g., what an object looked like before it was broken - here the object was a word cut into many fragments displaced in different directions). This finding is consistent with two hypotheses: 1) Experts are good at visualizing the types of changes required for their domain; and 2) Visualization of rigid and non-rigid changes are not the same skill. An additional important finding is that there was a broad range of skill in both rigid and non-rigid

Nonrigid registration-based coronary artery motion correction for cardiac computed tomography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhagalia, Roshni; Pack, Jed D.; Miller, James V.

2012-07-15

Purpose: X-ray computed tomography angiography (CTA) is the modality of choice to noninvasively monitor and diagnose heart disease with coronary artery health and stenosis detection being of particular interest. Reliable, clinically relevant coronary artery imaging mandates high spatiotemporal resolution. However, advances in intrinsic scanner spatial resolution (CT scanners are available which combine nearly 900 detector columns with focal spot oversampling) can be tempered by motion blurring, particularly in patients with unstable heartbeats. As a result, recently numerous methods have been devised to improve coronary CTA imaging. Solutions involving hardware, multisector algorithms, or {beta}-blockers are limited by cost, oversimplifying assumptions aboutmore » cardiac motion, and populations showing contraindications to drugs, respectively. This work introduces an inexpensive algorithmic solution that retrospectively improves the temporal resolution of coronary CTA without significantly affecting spatial resolution. Methods: Given the goal of ruling out coronary stenosis, the method focuses on 'deblurring' the coronary arteries. The approach makes no assumptions about cardiac motion, can be used on exams acquired at high heart rates (even over 75 beats/min), and draws on a fast and accurate three-dimensional (3D) nonrigid bidirectional labeled point matching approach to estimate the trajectories of the coronary arteries during image acquisition. Motion compensation is achieved by employing a 3D warping of a series of partial reconstructions based on the estimated motion fields. Each of these partial reconstructions is created from data acquired over a short time interval. For brevity, the algorithm 'Subphasic Warp and Add' (SWA) reconstruction. Results: The performance of the new motion estimation-compensation approach was evaluated by a systematic observer study conducted using nine human cardiac CTA exams acquired over a range of average heart rates between

Multicategorical Spline Model for Item Response Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrahamowicz, Michal; Ramsay, James O.

1992-01-01

A nonparametric multicategorical model for multiple-choice data is proposed as an extension of the binary spline model of J. O. Ramsay and M. Abrahamowicz (1989). Results of two Monte Carlo studies illustrate the model, which approximates probability functions by rational splines. (SLD)

Learned Non-Rigid Object Motion is a View-Invariant Cue to Recognizing Novel Objects

PubMed Central

Chuang, Lewis L.; Vuong, Quoc C.; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.

2012-01-01

There is evidence that observers use learned object motion to recognize objects. For instance, studies have shown that reversing the learned direction in which a rigid object rotated in depth impaired recognition accuracy. This motion reversal can be achieved by playing animation sequences of moving objects in reverse frame order. In the current study, we used this sequence-reversal manipulation to investigate whether observers encode the motion of dynamic objects in visual memory, and whether such dynamic representations are encoded in a way that is dependent on the viewing conditions. Participants first learned dynamic novel objects, presented as animation sequences. Following learning, they were then tested on their ability to recognize these learned objects when their animation sequence was shown in the same sequence order as during learning or in the reverse sequence order. In Experiment 1, we found that non-rigid motion contributed to recognition performance; that is, sequence-reversal decreased sensitivity across different tasks. In subsequent experiments, we tested the recognition of non-rigidly deforming (Experiment 2) and rigidly rotating (Experiment 3) objects across novel viewpoints. Recognition performance was affected by viewpoint changes for both experiments. Learned non-rigid motion continued to contribute to recognition performance and this benefit was the same across all viewpoint changes. By comparison, learned rigid motion did not contribute to recognition performance. These results suggest that non-rigid motion provides a source of information for recognizing dynamic objects, which is not affected by changes to viewpoint. PMID:22661939

Distance-preserving rigidity penalty on deformable image registration of multiple skeletal components in the neck

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Jihun, E-mail: jihun@umich.edu; Saitou, Kazuhiro; Matuszak, Martha M.

Purpose: This study aims at developing and testing a novel rigidity penalty suitable for the deformable registration of tightly located skeletal components in the head and neck from planning computed tomography (CT) and daily cone-beam CT (CBCT) scans of patients undergoing radiotherapy. Methods: The proposed rigidity penalty is designed to preserve intervoxel distances within each bony structure. This penalty was tested in the intensity-based B-spline deformable registration of five cervical vertebral bodies (C1–C5). The displacement vector fields (DVFs) from the registrations were compared to the DVFs generated by using rigid body motions of the cervical vertebrae, measured by the surfacemore » registration of vertebrae delineated on CT and CBCT images. Twenty five pairs of planning CT (reference) and treatment CBCTs (target) from five patients were aligned without and with the penalty. An existing penalty based on the orthonormality of the deformation gradient tensor was also tested and the effects of the penalties compared. Results: The mean magnitude of the maximum registration error with the proposed distance-preserving penalty was (0.86, 1.12, 1.33) mm compared to (2.11, 2.49, 2.46) without penalty and (1.53, 1.64, 1.64) with the existing orthonormality-based penalty. The improvement in the accuracy of the deformable image registration was also verified by comparing the Procrustes distance between the DVFs. With the proposed penalty, the average distance was 0.11 (σ 0.03 mm) which is smaller than 0.53 (0.1 mm) without penalty and 0.28 (0.04 mm) with the orthonormality-based penalty. Conclusions: The accuracy of aligning multiple bony elements was improved by using the proposed distance-preserving rigidity penalty. The voxel-based statistical analysis of the registration error shows that the proposed penalty improved the integrity of the DVFs within the vertebral bodies.« less

Distance-preserving rigidity penalty on deformable image registration of multiple skeletal components in the neck

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Jihun, E-mail: jihun@umich.edu; Saitou, Kazuhiro; Matuszak, Martha M.

2013-12-15

Purpose: This study aims at developing and testing a novel rigidity penalty suitable for the deformable registration of tightly located skeletal components in the head and neck from planning computed tomography (CT) and daily cone-beam CT (CBCT) scans of patients undergoing radiotherapy. Methods: The proposed rigidity penalty is designed to preserve intervoxel distances within each bony structure. This penalty was tested in the intensity-based B-spline deformable registration of five cervical vertebral bodies (C1–C5). The displacement vector fields (DVFs) from the registrations were compared to the DVFs generated by using rigid body motions of the cervical vertebrae, measured by the surfacemore » registration of vertebrae delineated on CT and CBCT images. Twenty five pairs of planning CT (reference) and treatment CBCTs (target) from five patients were aligned without and with the penalty. An existing penalty based on the orthonormality of the deformation gradient tensor was also tested and the effects of the penalties compared. Results: The mean magnitude of the maximum registration error with the proposed distance-preserving penalty was (0.86, 1.12, 1.33) mm compared to (2.11, 2.49, 2.46) without penalty and (1.53, 1.64, 1.64) with the existing orthonormality-based penalty. The improvement in the accuracy of the deformable image registration was also verified by comparing the Procrustes distance between the DVFs. With the proposed penalty, the average distance was 0.11 (σ 0.03 mm) which is smaller than 0.53 (0.1 mm) without penalty and 0.28 (0.04 mm) with the orthonormality-based penalty. Conclusions: The accuracy of aligning multiple bony elements was improved by using the proposed distance-preserving rigidity penalty. The voxel-based statistical analysis of the registration error shows that the proposed penalty improved the integrity of the DVFs within the vertebral bodies.« less

The influence of CT based attenuation correction on PET/CT registration: an evaluation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yaniv, Ziv; Wong, Kenneth H.; Banovac, Filip; Levy, Elliot; Cleary, Kevin

2007-03-01

We are currently developing a PET/CT based navigation system for guidance of biopsies and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of early stage hepatic tumors. For these procedures, combined PET/CT data can potentially improve current interventions. The diagnostic efficacy of biopsies can potentially be improved by accurately targeting the region within the tumor that exhibits the highest metabolic activity. For RFA procedures the system can potentially enable treatment of early stage tumors, targeting tumors before structural abnormalities are clearly visible on CT. In both cases target definition is based on the metabolic data (PET), and navigation is based on the spatial data (CT), making the system highly dependent upon accurate spatial alignment between these data sets. In our institute all clinical data sets include three image volumes: one CT, and two PET volumes, with and without CT-based attenuation correction. This paper studies the effect of the CT-based attenuation correction on the registration process. From comparing the pairs of registrations from five data sets we observe that the point motion magnitude difference between registrations is on the same scale as the point motion magnitude in each one of the registrations, and that visual inspection cannot identify this discrepancy. We conclude that using non-rigid registration to align the PET and CT data sets is too variable, and most likely does not provide sufficient accuracy for interventional procedures.

A segmentation and point-matching enhanced efficient deformable image registration method for dose accumulation between HDR CT images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhen, Xin; Chen, Haibin; Yan, Hao; Zhou, Linghong; Mell, Loren K.; Yashar, Catheryn M.; Jiang, Steve; Jia, Xun; Gu, Xuejun; Cervino, Laura

2015-04-01

Deformable image registration (DIR) of fractional high-dose-rate (HDR) CT images is challenging due to the presence of applicators in the brachytherapy image. Point-to-point correspondence fails because of the undesired deformation vector fields (DVF) propagated from the applicator region (AR) to the surrounding tissues, which can potentially introduce significant DIR errors in dose mapping. This paper proposes a novel segmentation and point-matching enhanced efficient DIR (named SPEED) scheme to facilitate dose accumulation among HDR treatment fractions. In SPEED, a semi-automatic seed point generation approach is developed to obtain the incremented fore/background point sets to feed the random walks algorithm, which is used to segment and remove the AR, leaving empty AR cavities in the HDR CT images. A feature-based ‘thin-plate-spline robust point matching’ algorithm is then employed for AR cavity surface points matching. With the resulting mapping, a DVF defining on each voxel is estimated by B-spline approximation, which serves as the initial DVF for the subsequent Demons-based DIR between the AR-free HDR CT images. The calculated DVF via Demons combined with the initial one serve as the final DVF to map doses between HDR fractions. The segmentation and registration accuracy are quantitatively assessed by nine clinical HDR cases from three gynecological cancer patients. The quantitative analysis and visual inspection of the DIR results indicate that SPEED can suppress the impact of applicator on DIR, and accurately register HDR CT images as well as deform and add interfractional HDR doses.

A segmentation and point-matching enhanced efficient deformable image registration method for dose accumulation between HDR CT images.

PubMed

Zhen, Xin; Chen, Haibin; Yan, Hao; Zhou, Linghong; Mell, Loren K; Yashar, Catheryn M; Jiang, Steve; Jia, Xun; Gu, Xuejun; Cervino, Laura

2015-04-07

Deformable image registration (DIR) of fractional high-dose-rate (HDR) CT images is challenging due to the presence of applicators in the brachytherapy image. Point-to-point correspondence fails because of the undesired deformation vector fields (DVF) propagated from the applicator region (AR) to the surrounding tissues, which can potentially introduce significant DIR errors in dose mapping. This paper proposes a novel segmentation and point-matching enhanced efficient DIR (named SPEED) scheme to facilitate dose accumulation among HDR treatment fractions. In SPEED, a semi-automatic seed point generation approach is developed to obtain the incremented fore/background point sets to feed the random walks algorithm, which is used to segment and remove the AR, leaving empty AR cavities in the HDR CT images. A feature-based 'thin-plate-spline robust point matching' algorithm is then employed for AR cavity surface points matching. With the resulting mapping, a DVF defining on each voxel is estimated by B-spline approximation, which serves as the initial DVF for the subsequent Demons-based DIR between the AR-free HDR CT images. The calculated DVF via Demons combined with the initial one serve as the final DVF to map doses between HDR fractions. The segmentation and registration accuracy are quantitatively assessed by nine clinical HDR cases from three gynecological cancer patients. The quantitative analysis and visual inspection of the DIR results indicate that SPEED can suppress the impact of applicator on DIR, and accurately register HDR CT images as well as deform and add interfractional HDR doses.

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 77 - DD Form 2581, Operation Transition Employer Registration

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false DD Form 2581, Operation Transition Employer Registration B Appendix B to Part 77 National Defense Department of Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PERSONNEL, MILITARY AND CIVILIAN PROGRAM TO ENCOURAGE PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE Pt. 77, App. B Appendix B...

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 77 - DD Form 2581, Operation Transition Employer Registration

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false DD Form 2581, Operation Transition Employer Registration B Appendix B to Part 77 National Defense Department of Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PERSONNEL, MILITARY AND CIVILIAN PROGRAM TO ENCOURAGE PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE Pt. 77, App. B Appendix B...

Penalized spline estimation for functional coefficient regression models.

PubMed

Cao, Yanrong; Lin, Haiqun; Wu, Tracy Z; Yu, Yan

2010-04-01

The functional coefficient regression models assume that the regression coefficients vary with some "threshold" variable, providing appreciable flexibility in capturing the underlying dynamics in data and avoiding the so-called "curse of dimensionality" in multivariate nonparametric estimation. We first investigate the estimation, inference, and forecasting for the functional coefficient regression models with dependent observations via penalized splines. The P-spline approach, as a direct ridge regression shrinkage type global smoothing method, is computationally efficient and stable. With established fixed-knot asymptotics, inference is readily available. Exact inference can be obtained for fixed smoothing parameter λ, which is most appealing for finite samples. Our penalized spline approach gives an explicit model expression, which also enables multi-step-ahead forecasting via simulations. Furthermore, we examine different methods of choosing the important smoothing parameter λ: modified multi-fold cross-validation (MCV), generalized cross-validation (GCV), and an extension of empirical bias bandwidth selection (EBBS) to P-splines. In addition, we implement smoothing parameter selection using mixed model framework through restricted maximum likelihood (REML) for P-spline functional coefficient regression models with independent observations. The P-spline approach also easily allows different smoothness for different functional coefficients, which is enabled by assigning different penalty λ accordingly. We demonstrate the proposed approach by both simulation examples and a real data application.

An algorithm for longitudinal registration of PET/CT images acquired during neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: preliminary results.

PubMed

Li, Xia; Abramson, Richard G; Arlinghaus, Lori R; Chakravarthy, Anuradha Bapsi; Abramson, Vandana; Mayer, Ingrid; Farley, Jaime; Delbeke, Dominique; Yankeelov, Thomas E

2012-11-16

By providing estimates of tumor glucose metabolism, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) can potentially characterize the response of breast tumors to treatment. To assess therapy response, serial measurements of FDG-PET parameters (derived from static and/or dynamic images) can be obtained at different time points during the course of treatment. However, most studies track the changes in average parameter values obtained from the whole tumor, thereby discarding all spatial information manifested in tumor heterogeneity. Here, we propose a method whereby serially acquired FDG-PET breast data sets can be spatially co-registered to enable the spatial comparison of parameter maps at the voxel level. The goal is to optimally register normal tissues while simultaneously preventing tumor distortion. In order to accomplish this, we constructed a PET support device to enable PET/CT imaging of the breasts of ten patients in the prone position and applied a mutual information-based rigid body registration followed by a non-rigid registration. The non-rigid registration algorithm extended the adaptive bases algorithm (ABA) by incorporating a tumor volume-preserving constraint, which computed the Jacobian determinant over the tumor regions as outlined on the PET/CT images, into the cost function. We tested this approach on ten breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy. By both qualitative and quantitative evaluation, our constrained algorithm yielded significantly less tumor distortion than the unconstrained algorithm: considering the tumor volume determined from standard uptake value maps, the post-registration median tumor volume changes, and the 25th and 75th quantiles were 3.42% (0%, 13.39%) and 16.93% (9.21%, 49.93%) for the constrained and unconstrained algorithms, respectively (p = 0.002), while the bending energy (a measure of the smoothness of the deformation) was 0.0015 (0.0005, 0.012) and 0.017 (0.005, 0

Inter and intra-modal deformable registration: continuous deformations meet efficient optimal linear programming.

PubMed

Glocker, Ben; Paragios, Nikos; Komodakis, Nikos; Tziritas, Georgios; Navab, Nassir

2007-01-01

In this paper we propose a novel non-rigid volume registration based on discrete labeling and linear programming. The proposed framework reformulates registration as a minimal path extraction in a weighted graph. The space of solutions is represented using a set of a labels which are assigned to predefined displacements. The graph topology corresponds to a superimposed regular grid onto the volume. Links between neighborhood control points introduce smoothness, while links between the graph nodes and the labels (end-nodes) measure the cost induced to the objective function through the selection of a particular deformation for a given control point once projected to the entire volume domain, Higher order polynomials are used to express the volume deformation from the ones of the control points. Efficient linear programming that can guarantee the optimal solution up to (a user-defined) bound is considered to recover the optimal registration parameters. Therefore, the method is gradient free, can encode various similarity metrics (simple changes on the graph construction), can guarantee a globally sub-optimal solution and is computational tractable. Experimental validation using simulated data with known deformation, as well as manually segmented data demonstrate the extreme potentials of our approach.

Accurate quantification of local changes for carotid arteries in 3D ultrasound images using convex optimization-based deformable registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Jieyu; Qiu, Wu; Yuan, Jing; Fenster, Aaron; Chiu, Bernard

2016-03-01

Registration of longitudinally acquired 3D ultrasound (US) images plays an important role in monitoring and quantifying progression/regression of carotid atherosclerosis. We introduce an image-based non-rigid registration algorithm to align the baseline 3D carotid US with longitudinal images acquired over several follow-up time points. This algorithm minimizes the sum of absolute intensity differences (SAD) under a variational optical-flow perspective within a multi-scale optimization framework to capture local and global deformations. Outer wall and lumen were segmented manually on each image, and the performance of the registration algorithm was quantified by Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and mean absolute distance (MAD) of the outer wall and lumen surfaces after registration. In this study, images for 5 subjects were registered initially by rigid registration, followed by the proposed algorithm. Mean DSC generated by the proposed algorithm was 79:3+/-3:8% for lumen and 85:9+/-4:0% for outer wall, compared to 73:9+/-3:4% and 84:7+/-3:2% generated by rigid registration. Mean MAD of 0:46+/-0:08mm and 0:52+/-0:13mm were generated for lumen and outer wall respectively by the proposed algorithm, compared to 0:55+/-0:08mm and 0:54+/-0:11mm generated by rigid registration. The mean registration time of our method per image pair was 143+/-23s.

Spline-Screw Multiple-Rotation Mechanism

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vranish, John M.

1994-01-01

Mechanism functions like combined robotic gripper and nut runner. Spline-screw multiple-rotation mechanism related to spline-screw payload-fastening system described in (GSC-13454). Incorporated as subsystem in alternative version of system. Mechanism functions like combination of robotic gripper and nut runner; provides both secure grip and rotary actuation of other parts of system. Used in system in which no need to make or break electrical connections to payload during robotic installation or removal of payload. More complicated version needed to make and break electrical connections. Mechanism mounted in payload.

TU-B-19A-01: Image Registration II: TG132-Quality Assurance for Image Registration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brock, K; Mutic, S

2014-06-15

AAPM Task Group 132 was charged with a review of the current approaches and solutions for image registration in radiotherapy and to provide recommendations for quality assurance and quality control of these clinical processes. As the results of image registration are always used as the input of another process for planning or delivery, it is important for the user to understand and document the uncertainty associate with the algorithm in general and the Result of a specific registration. The recommendations of this task group, which at the time of abstract submission are currently being reviewed by the AAPM, include themore » following components. The user should understand the basic image registration techniques and methods of visualizing image fusion. The disclosure of basic components of the image registration by commercial vendors is critical in this respect. The physicists should perform end-to-end tests of imaging, registration, and planning/treatment systems if image registration is performed on a stand-alone system. A comprehensive commissioning process should be performed and documented by the physicist prior to clinical use of the system. As documentation is important to the safe implementation of this process, a request and report system should be integrated into the clinical workflow. Finally, a patient specific QA practice should be established for efficient evaluation of image registration results. The implementation of these recommendations will be described and illustrated during this educational session. Learning Objectives: Highlight the importance of understanding the image registration techniques used in their clinic. Describe the end-to-end tests needed for stand-alone registration systems. Illustrate a comprehensive commissioning program using both phantom data and clinical images. Describe a request and report system to ensure communication and documentation. Demonstrate an clinically-efficient patient QA practice for efficient evaluation

Astronaut mass measurement using linear acceleration method and the effect of body non-rigidity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Hui; Li, LuMing; Hu, ChunHua; Chen, Hao; Hao, HongWei

2011-04-01

Astronaut's body mass is an essential factor of health monitoring in space. The latest mass measurement device for the International Space Station (ISS) has employed a linear acceleration method. The principle of this method is that the device generates a constant pulling force, and the astronaut is accelerated on a parallelogram motion guide which rotates at a large radius to achieve a nearly linear trajectory. The acceleration is calculated by regression analysis of the displacement versus time trajectory and the body mass is calculated by using the formula m= F/ a. However, in actual flight, the device is instable that the deviation between runs could be 6-7 kg. This paper considers the body non-rigidity as the major cause of error and instability and analyzes the effects of body non-rigidity from different aspects. Body non-rigidity makes the acceleration of the center of mass (C.M.) oscillate and fall behind the point where force is applied. Actual acceleration curves showed that the overall effect of body non-rigidity is an oscillation at about 7 Hz and a deviation of about 25%. To enhance body rigidity, better body restraints were introduced and a prototype based on linear acceleration method was built. Measurement experiment was carried out on ground on an air table. Three human subjects weighing 60-70 kg were measured. The average variance was 0.04 kg and the average measurement error was 0.4%. This study will provide reference for future development of China's own mass measurement device.

The algorithms for rational spline interpolation of surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schiess, J. R.

1986-01-01

Two algorithms for interpolating surfaces with spline functions containing tension parameters are discussed. Both algorithms are based on the tensor products of univariate rational spline functions. The simpler algorithm uses a single tension parameter for the entire surface. This algorithm is generalized to use separate tension parameters for each rectangular subregion. The new algorithm allows for local control of tension on the interpolating surface. Both algorithms are illustrated and the results are compared with the results of bicubic spline and bilinear interpolation of terrain elevation data.

Alternative face models for 3D face registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salah, Albert Ali; Alyüz, Neşe; Akarun, Lale

2007-01-01

3D has become an important modality for face biometrics. The accuracy of a 3D face recognition system depends on a correct registration that aligns the facial surfaces and makes a comparison possible. The best results obtained so far use a one-to-all registration approach, which means each new facial surface is registered to all faces in the gallery, at a great computational cost. We explore the approach of registering the new facial surface to an average face model (AFM), which automatically establishes correspondence to the pre-registered gallery faces. Going one step further, we propose that using a couple of well-selected AFMs can trade-off computation time with accuracy. Drawing on cognitive justifications, we propose to employ category-specific alternative average face models for registration, which is shown to increase the accuracy of the subsequent recognition. We inspect thin-plate spline (TPS) and iterative closest point (ICP) based registration schemes under realistic assumptions on manual or automatic landmark detection prior to registration. We evaluate several approaches for the coarse initialization of ICP. We propose a new algorithm for constructing an AFM, and show that it works better than a recent approach. Finally, we perform simulations with multiple AFMs that correspond to different clusters in the face shape space and compare these with gender and morphology based groupings. We report our results on the FRGC 3D face database.

Multivariate spline methods in surface fitting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guseman, L. F., Jr. (Principal Investigator); Schumaker, L. L.

1984-01-01

The use of spline functions in the development of classification algorithms is examined. In particular, a method is formulated for producing spline approximations to bivariate density functions where the density function is decribed by a histogram of measurements. The resulting approximations are then incorporated into a Bayesiaan classification procedure for which the Bayes decision regions and the probability of misclassification is readily computed. Some preliminary numerical results are presented to illustrate the method.

17 CFR 249b.300 - FORM NRSRO, application for registration as a nationally recognized statistical rating...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... registration as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization pursuant to section 15E of the... 1934 § 249b.300 FORM NRSRO, application for registration as a nationally recognized statistical rating... nationally recognized statistical rating organization pursuant to section 15E of the Securities Exchange Act...

17 CFR 249b.300 - FORM NRSRO, application for registration as a nationally recognized statistical rating...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... registration as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization pursuant to section 15E of the... 1934 § 249b.300 FORM NRSRO, application for registration as a nationally recognized statistical rating... nationally recognized statistical rating organization pursuant to section 15E of the Securities Exchange Act...

An Examination of New Paradigms for Spline Approximations.

PubMed

Witzgall, Christoph; Gilsinn, David E; McClain, Marjorie A

2006-01-01

Lavery splines are examined in the univariate and bivariate cases. In both instances relaxation based algorithms for approximate calculation of Lavery splines are proposed. Following previous work Gilsinn, et al. [7] addressing the bivariate case, a rotationally invariant functional is assumed. The version of bivariate splines proposed in this paper also aims at irregularly spaced data and uses Hseih-Clough-Tocher elements based on the triangulated irregular network (TIN) concept. In this paper, the univariate case, however, is investigated in greater detail so as to further the understanding of the bivariate case.

A smoothing algorithm using cubic spline functions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, R. E., Jr.; Price, J. M.; Howser, L. M.

1974-01-01

Two algorithms are presented for smoothing arbitrary sets of data. They are the explicit variable algorithm and the parametric variable algorithm. The former would be used where large gradients are not encountered because of the smaller amount of calculation required. The latter would be used if the data being smoothed were double valued or experienced large gradients. Both algorithms use a least-squares technique to obtain a cubic spline fit to the data. The advantage of the spline fit is that the first and second derivatives are continuous. This method is best used in an interactive graphics environment so that the junction values for the spline curve can be manipulated to improve the fit.

A non-rigid point matching method with local topology preservation for accurate bladder dose summation in high dose rate cervical brachytherapy.

PubMed

Chen, Haibin; Zhong, Zichun; Liao, Yuliang; Pompoš, Arnold; Hrycushko, Brian; Albuquerque, Kevin; Zhen, Xin; Zhou, Linghong; Gu, Xuejun

2016-02-07

GEC-ESTRO guidelines for high dose rate cervical brachytherapy advocate the reporting of the D2cc (the minimum dose received by the maximally exposed 2cc volume) to organs at risk. Due to large interfractional organ motion, reporting of accurate cumulative D2cc over a multifractional course is a non-trivial task requiring deformable image registration and deformable dose summation. To efficiently and accurately describe the point-to-point correspondence of the bladder wall over all treatment fractions while preserving local topologies, we propose a novel graphic processing unit (GPU)-based non-rigid point matching algorithm. This is achieved by introducing local anatomic information into the iterative update of correspondence matrix computation in the 'thin plate splines-robust point matching' (TPS-RPM) scheme. The performance of the GPU-based TPS-RPM with local topology preservation algorithm (TPS-RPM-LTP) was evaluated using four numerically simulated synthetic bladders having known deformations, a custom-made porcine bladder phantom embedded with twenty one fiducial markers, and 29 fractional computed tomography (CT) images from seven cervical cancer patients. Results show that TPS-RPM-LTP achieved excellent geometric accuracy with landmark residual distance error (RDE) of 0.7  ±  0.3 mm for the numerical synthetic data with different scales of bladder deformation and structure complexity, and 3.7  ±  1.8 mm and 1.6  ±  0.8 mm for the porcine bladder phantom with large and small deformation, respectively. The RDE accuracy of the urethral orifice landmarks in patient bladders was 3.7  ±  2.1 mm. When compared to the original TPS-RPM, the TPS-RPM-LTP improved landmark matching by reducing landmark RDE by 50  ±  19%, 37  ±  11% and 28  ±  11% for the synthetic, porcine phantom and the patient bladders, respectively. This was achieved with a computational time of less than 15 s in all cases

A non-rigid point matching method with local topology preservation for accurate bladder dose summation in high dose rate cervical brachytherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Haibin; Zhong, Zichun; Liao, Yuliang; Pompoš, Arnold; Hrycushko, Brian; Albuquerque, Kevin; Zhen, Xin; Zhou, Linghong; Gu, Xuejun

2016-02-01

GEC-ESTRO guidelines for high dose rate cervical brachytherapy advocate the reporting of the D2cc (the minimum dose received by the maximally exposed 2cc volume) to organs at risk. Due to large interfractional organ motion, reporting of accurate cumulative D2cc over a multifractional course is a non-trivial task requiring deformable image registration and deformable dose summation. To efficiently and accurately describe the point-to-point correspondence of the bladder wall over all treatment fractions while preserving local topologies, we propose a novel graphic processing unit (GPU)-based non-rigid point matching algorithm. This is achieved by introducing local anatomic information into the iterative update of correspondence matrix computation in the ‘thin plate splines-robust point matching’ (TPS-RPM) scheme. The performance of the GPU-based TPS-RPM with local topology preservation algorithm (TPS-RPM-LTP) was evaluated using four numerically simulated synthetic bladders having known deformations, a custom-made porcine bladder phantom embedded with twenty one fiducial markers, and 29 fractional computed tomography (CT) images from seven cervical cancer patients. Results show that TPS-RPM-LTP achieved excellent geometric accuracy with landmark residual distance error (RDE) of 0.7  ±  0.3 mm for the numerical synthetic data with different scales of bladder deformation and structure complexity, and 3.7  ±  1.8 mm and 1.6  ±  0.8 mm for the porcine bladder phantom with large and small deformation, respectively. The RDE accuracy of the urethral orifice landmarks in patient bladders was 3.7  ±  2.1 mm. When compared to the original TPS-RPM, the TPS-RPM-LTP improved landmark matching by reducing landmark RDE by 50  ±  19%, 37  ±  11% and 28  ±  11% for the synthetic, porcine phantom and the patient bladders, respectively. This was achieved with a computational time of less than 15 s in all cases

MO-C-17A-11: A Segmentation and Point Matching Enhanced Deformable Image Registration Method for Dose Accumulation Between HDR CT Images

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhen, X; Chen, H; Zhou, L

2014-06-15

Purpose: To propose and validate a novel and accurate deformable image registration (DIR) scheme to facilitate dose accumulation among treatment fractions of high-dose-rate (HDR) gynecological brachytherapy. Method: We have developed a method to adapt DIR algorithms to gynecologic anatomies with HDR applicators by incorporating a segmentation step and a point-matching step into an existing DIR framework. In the segmentation step, random walks algorithm is used to accurately segment and remove the applicator region (AR) in the HDR CT image. A semi-automatic seed point generation approach is developed to obtain the incremented foreground and background point sets to feed the randommore » walks algorithm. In the subsequent point-matching step, a feature-based thin-plate spline-robust point matching (TPS-RPM) algorithm is employed for AR surface point matching. With the resulting mapping, a DVF characteristic of the deformation between the two AR surfaces is generated by B-spline approximation, which serves as the initial DVF for the following Demons DIR between the two AR-free HDR CT images. Finally, the calculated DVF via Demons combined with the initial one serve as the final DVF to map doses between HDR fractions. Results: The segmentation and registration accuracy are quantitatively assessed by nine clinical HDR cases from three gynecological cancer patients. The quantitative results as well as the visual inspection of the DIR indicate that our proposed method can suppress the interference of the applicator with the DIR algorithm, and accurately register HDR CT images as well as deform and add interfractional HDR doses. Conclusions: We have developed a novel and robust DIR scheme that can perform registration between HDR gynecological CT images and yield accurate registration results. This new DIR scheme has potential for accurate interfractional HDR dose accumulation. This work is supported in part by the National Natural ScienceFoundation of China (no 30970866

Smoothing two-dimensional Malaysian mortality data using P-splines indexed by age and year

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamaruddin, Halim Shukri; Ismail, Noriszura

2014-06-01

Nonparametric regression implements data to derive the best coefficient of a model from a large class of flexible functions. Eilers and Marx (1996) introduced P-splines as a method of smoothing in generalized linear models, GLMs, in which the ordinary B-splines with a difference roughness penalty on coefficients is being used in a single dimensional mortality data. Modeling and forecasting mortality rate is a problem of fundamental importance in insurance company calculation in which accuracy of models and forecasts are the main concern of the industry. The original idea of P-splines is extended to two dimensional mortality data. The data indexed by age of death and year of death, in which the large set of data will be supplied by Department of Statistics Malaysia. The extension of this idea constructs the best fitted surface and provides sensible prediction of the underlying mortality rate in Malaysia mortality case.

Spline curve matching with sparse knot sets

Treesearch

Sang-Mook Lee; A. Lynn Abbott; Neil A. Clark; Philip A. Araman

2004-01-01

This paper presents a new curve matching method for deformable shapes using two-dimensional splines. In contrast to the residual error criterion, which is based on relative locations of corresponding knot points such that is reliable primarily for dense point sets, we use deformation energy of thin-plate-spline mapping between sparse knot points and normalized local...

From Data to Assessments and Decisions: Epi-Spline Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-08

From Data to Assessments and Decisions: Epi-Spline Technology∗ Johannes O. Royset Roger J-B Wets Department of Operations Research Department of...2014 ∗This material is based upon work supported in part by the U. S. Army Research Laboratory and the U. S. Army Research Office under grant numbers...ADDRESS(ES) Naval Postgraduate School,Department of Operations Research ,Monterey,CA,93943 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING

Dynamic Projection Mapping onto Deforming Non-Rigid Surface Using Deformable Dot Cluster Marker.

PubMed

Narita, Gaku; Watanabe, Yoshihiro; Ishikawa, Masatoshi

2017-03-01

Dynamic projection mapping for moving objects has attracted much attention in recent years. However, conventional approaches have faced some issues, such as the target objects being limited to rigid objects, and the limited moving speed of the targets. In this paper, we focus on dynamic projection mapping onto rapidly deforming non-rigid surfaces with a speed sufficiently high that a human does not perceive any misalignment between the target object and the projected images. In order to achieve such projection mapping, we need a high-speed technique for tracking non-rigid surfaces, which is still a challenging problem in the field of computer vision. We propose the Deformable Dot Cluster Marker (DDCM), a novel fiducial marker for high-speed tracking of non-rigid surfaces using a high-frame-rate camera. The DDCM has three performance advantages. First, it can be detected even when it is strongly deformed. Second, it realizes robust tracking even in the presence of external and self occlusions. Third, it allows millisecond-order computational speed. Using DDCM and a high-speed projector, we realized dynamic projection mapping onto a deformed sheet of paper and a T-shirt with a speed sufficiently high that the projected images appeared to be printed on the objects.

Automated Registration of Multimodal Optic Disc Images: Clinical Assessment of Alignment Accuracy.

PubMed

Ng, Wai Siene; Legg, Phil; Avadhanam, Venkat; Aye, Kyaw; Evans, Steffan H P; North, Rachel V; Marshall, Andrew D; Rosin, Paul; Morgan, James E

2016-04-01

To determine the accuracy of automated alignment algorithms for the registration of optic disc images obtained by 2 different modalities: fundus photography and scanning laser tomography. Images obtained with the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II and paired photographic optic disc images of 135 eyes were analyzed. Three state-of-the-art automated registration techniques Regional Mutual Information, rigid Feature Neighbourhood Mutual Information (FNMI), and nonrigid FNMI (NRFNMI) were used to align these image pairs. Alignment of each composite picture was assessed on a 5-point grading scale: "Fail" (no alignment of vessels with no vessel contact), "Weak" (vessels have slight contact), "Good" (vessels with <50% contact), "Very Good" (vessels with >50% contact), and "Excellent" (complete alignment). Custom software generated an image mosaic in which the modalities were interleaved as a series of alternate 5×5-pixel blocks. These were graded independently by 3 clinically experienced observers. A total of 810 image pairs were assessed. All 3 registration techniques achieved a score of "Good" or better in >95% of the image sets. NRFNMI had the highest percentage of "Excellent" (mean: 99.6%; range, 95.2% to 99.6%), followed by Regional Mutual Information (mean: 81.6%; range, 86.3% to 78.5%) and FNMI (mean: 73.1%; range, 85.2% to 54.4%). Automated registration of optic disc images by different modalities is a feasible option for clinical application. All 3 methods provided useful levels of alignment, but the NRFNMI technique consistently outperformed the others and is recommended as a practical approach to the automated registration of multimodal disc images.

A fast and fully automatic registration approach based on point features for multi-source remote-sensing images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Le; Zhang, Dengrong; Holden, Eun-Jung

2008-07-01

Automatic registration of multi-source remote-sensing images is a difficult task as it must deal with the varying illuminations and resolutions of the images, different perspectives and the local deformations within the images. This paper proposes a fully automatic and fast non-rigid image registration technique that addresses those issues. The proposed technique performs a pre-registration process that coarsely aligns the input image to the reference image by automatically detecting their matching points by using the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) method and an affine transformation model. Once the coarse registration is completed, it performs a fine-scale registration process based on a piecewise linear transformation technique using feature points that are detected by the Harris corner detector. The registration process firstly finds in succession, tie point pairs between the input and the reference image by detecting Harris corners and applying a cross-matching strategy based on a wavelet pyramid for a fast search speed. Tie point pairs with large errors are pruned by an error-checking step. The input image is then rectified by using triangulated irregular networks (TINs) to deal with irregular local deformations caused by the fluctuation of the terrain. For each triangular facet of the TIN, affine transformations are estimated and applied for rectification. Experiments with Quickbird, SPOT5, SPOT4, TM remote-sensing images of the Hangzhou area in China demonstrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed technique for multi-source remote-sensing image registration.

Thin-plate spline quadrature of geodetic integrals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vangysen, Herman

1989-01-01

Thin-plate spline functions (known for their flexibility and fidelity in representing experimental data) are especially well-suited for the numerical integration of geodetic integrals in the area where the integration is most sensitive to the data, i.e., in the immediate vicinity of the evaluation point. Spline quadrature rules are derived for the contribution of a circular innermost zone to Stoke's formula, to the formulae of Vening Meinesz, and to the recursively evaluated operator L(n) in the analytical continuation solution of Molodensky's problem. These rules are exact for interpolating thin-plate splines. In cases where the integration data are distributed irregularly, a system of linear equations needs to be solved for the quadrature coefficients. Formulae are given for the terms appearing in these equations. In case the data are regularly distributed, the coefficients may be determined once-and-for-all. Examples are given of some fixed-point rules. With such rules successive evaluation, within a circular disk, of the terms in Molodensky's series becomes relatively easy. The spline quadrature technique presented complements other techniques such as ring integration for intermediate integration zones.

Weighted cubic and biharmonic splines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kvasov, Boris; Kim, Tae-Wan

2017-01-01

In this paper we discuss the design of algorithms for interpolating discrete data by using weighted cubic and biharmonic splines in such a way that the monotonicity and convexity of the data are preserved. We formulate the problem as a differential multipoint boundary value problem and consider its finite-difference approximation. Two algorithms for automatic selection of shape control parameters (weights) are presented. For weighted biharmonic splines the resulting system of linear equations can be efficiently solved by combining Gaussian elimination with successive over-relaxation method or finite-difference schemes in fractional steps. We consider basic computational aspects and illustrate main features of this original approach.

Quasi interpolation with Voronoi splines.

PubMed

Mirzargar, Mahsa; Entezari, Alireza

2011-12-01

We present a quasi interpolation framework that attains the optimal approximation-order of Voronoi splines for reconstruction of volumetric data sampled on general lattices. The quasi interpolation framework of Voronoi splines provides an unbiased reconstruction method across various lattices. Therefore this framework allows us to analyze and contrast the sampling-theoretic performance of general lattices, using signal reconstruction, in an unbiased manner. Our quasi interpolation methodology is implemented as an efficient FIR filter that can be applied online or as a preprocessing step. We present visual and numerical experiments that demonstrate the improved accuracy of reconstruction across lattices, using the quasi interpolation framework. © 2011 IEEE

Nonlinear mechanics of non-rigid origami: an efficient computational approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, K.; Paulino, G. H.

2017-10-01

Origami-inspired designs possess attractive applications to science and engineering (e.g. deployable, self-assembling, adaptable systems). The special geometric arrangement of panels and creases gives rise to unique mechanical properties of origami, such as reconfigurability, making origami designs well suited for tunable structures. Although often being ignored, origami structures exhibit additional soft modes beyond rigid folding due to the flexibility of thin sheets that further influence their behaviour. Actual behaviour of origami structures usually involves significant geometric nonlinearity, which amplifies the influence of additional soft modes. To investigate the nonlinear mechanics of origami structures with deformable panels, we present a structural engineering approach for simulating the nonlinear response of non-rigid origami structures. In this paper, we propose a fully nonlinear, displacement-based implicit formulation for performing static/quasi-static analyses of non-rigid origami structures based on `bar-and-hinge' models. The formulation itself leads to an efficient and robust numerical implementation. Agreement between real models and numerical simulations demonstrates the ability of the proposed approach to capture key features of origami behaviour.

Nonlinear mechanics of non-rigid origami: an efficient computational approach.

PubMed

Liu, K; Paulino, G H

2017-10-01

Origami-inspired designs possess attractive applications to science and engineering (e.g. deployable, self-assembling, adaptable systems). The special geometric arrangement of panels and creases gives rise to unique mechanical properties of origami, such as reconfigurability, making origami designs well suited for tunable structures. Although often being ignored, origami structures exhibit additional soft modes beyond rigid folding due to the flexibility of thin sheets that further influence their behaviour. Actual behaviour of origami structures usually involves significant geometric nonlinearity, which amplifies the influence of additional soft modes. To investigate the nonlinear mechanics of origami structures with deformable panels, we present a structural engineering approach for simulating the nonlinear response of non-rigid origami structures. In this paper, we propose a fully nonlinear, displacement-based implicit formulation for performing static/quasi-static analyses of non-rigid origami structures based on 'bar-and-hinge' models. The formulation itself leads to an efficient and robust numerical implementation. Agreement between real models and numerical simulations demonstrates the ability of the proposed approach to capture key features of origami behaviour.

Registration of liver images to minimally invasive intraoperative surface and subsurface data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yifei; Rucker, D. C.; Conley, Rebekah H.; Pheiffer, Thomas S.; Simpson, Amber L.; Geevarghese, Sunil K.; Miga, Michael I.

2014-03-01

Laparoscopic liver resection is increasingly being performed with results comparable to open cases while incurring less trauma and reducing recovery time. The tradeoff is increased difficulty due to limited visibility and restricted freedom of movement. Image-guided surgical navigation systems have the potential to help localize anatomical features to improve procedural safety and achieve better surgical resection outcome. Previous research has demonstrated that intraoperative surface data can be used to drive a finite element tissue mechanics organ model such that high resolution preoperative scans are registered and visualized in the context of the current surgical pose. In this paper we present an investigation of using sparse data as imposed by laparoscopic limitations to drive a registration model. Non-contact laparoscopicallyacquired surface swabbing and mock-ultrasound subsurface data were used within the context of a nonrigid registration methodology to align mock deformed intraoperative surface data to the corresponding preoperative liver model as derived from pre-operative image segmentations. The mock testing setup to validate the potential of this approach used a tissue-mimicking liver phantom with a realistic abdomen-port patient configuration. Experimental results demonstrates a range of target registration errors (TRE) on the order of 5mm were achieving using only surface swab data, while use of only subsurface data yielded errors on the order of 6mm. Registrations using a combination of both datasets achieved TRE on the order of 2.5mm and represent a sizeable improvement over either dataset alone.

Co-Registration Between Multisource Remote-Sensing Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, J.; Chang, C.; Tsai, H.-Y.; Liu, M.-C.

2012-07-01

Image registration is essential for geospatial information systems analysis, which usually involves integrating multitemporal and multispectral datasets from remote optical and radar sensors. An algorithm that deals with feature extraction, keypoint matching, outlier detection and image warping is experimented in this study. The methods currently available in the literature rely on techniques, such as the scale-invariant feature transform, between-edge cost minimization, normalized cross correlation, leasts-quares image matching, random sample consensus, iterated data snooping and thin-plate splines. Their basics are highlighted and encoded into a computer program. The test images are excerpts from digital files created by the multispectral SPOT-5 and Formosat-2 sensors, and by the panchromatic IKONOS and QuickBird sensors. Suburban areas, housing rooftops, the countryside and hilly plantations are studied. The co-registered images are displayed with block subimages in a criss-cross pattern. Besides the imagery, the registration accuracy is expressed by the root mean square error. Toward the end, this paper also includes a few opinions on issues that are believed to hinder a correct correspondence between diverse images.

Influence of image registration on ADC images computed from free-breathing diffusion MRIs of the abdomen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guyader, Jean-Marie; Bernardin, Livia; Douglas, Naomi H. M.; Poot, Dirk H. J.; Niessen, Wiro J.; Klein, Stefan

2014-03-01

The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is an imaging biomarker providing quantitative information on the diffusion of water in biological tissues. This measurement could be of relevance in oncology drug development, but it suffers from a lack of reliability. ADC images are computed by applying a voxelwise exponential fitting to multiple diffusion-weighted MR images (DW-MRIs) acquired with different diffusion gradients. In the abdomen, respiratory motion induces misalignments in the datasets, creating visible artefacts and inducing errors in the ADC maps. We propose a multistep post-acquisition motion compensation pipeline based on 3D non-rigid registrations. It corrects for motion within each image and brings all DW-MRIs to a common image space. The method is evaluated on 10 datasets of free-breathing abdominal DW-MRIs acquired from healthy volunteers. Regions of interest (ROIs) are segmented in the right part of the abdomen and measurements are compared in the three following cases: no image processing, Gaussian blurring of the raw DW-MRIs and registration. Results show that both blurring and registration improve the visual quality of ADC images, but compared to blurring, registration yields visually sharper images. Measurement uncertainty is reduced both by registration and blurring. For homogeneous ROIs, blurring and registration result in similar median ADCs, which are lower than without processing. In a ROI at the interface between liver and kidney, registration and blurring yield different median ADCs, suggesting that uncorrected motion introduces a bias. Our work indicates that averaging procedures on the scanner should be avoided, as they remove the opportunity to perform motion correction.

A rib-specific multimodal registration algorithm for fused unfolded rib visualization using PET/CT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaftan, Jens N.; Kopaczka, Marcin; Wimmer, Andreas; Platsch, Günther; Declerck, Jérôme

2014-03-01

Respiratory motion affects the alignment of PET and CT volumes from PET/CT examinations in a non-rigid manner. This becomes particularly apparent if reviewing fine anatomical structures such as ribs when assessing bone metastases, which frequently occur in many advanced cancers. To make this routine diagnostic task more efficient, a fused unfolded rib visualization for 18F-NaF PET/CT is presented. It allows to review the whole rib cage in a single image. This advanced visualization is enabled by a novel rib-specific registration algorithm that rigidly optimizes the local alignment of each individual rib in both modalities based on a matched filter response function. More specifically, rib centerlines are automatically extracted from CT and subsequently individually aligned to the corresponding bone-specific PET rib uptake pattern. The proposed method has been validated on 20 PET/CT scans acquired at different clinical sites. It has been demonstrated that the presented rib- specific registration method significantly improves the rib alignment without having to run complex deformable registration algorithms. At the same time, it guarantees that rib lesions are not further deformed, which may otherwise affect quantitative measurements such as SUVs. Considering clinically relevant distance thresholds, the centerline portion with good alignment compared to the ground truth improved from 60:6% to 86:7% after registration while approximately 98% can be still considered as acceptably aligned.

dPIRPLE: a joint estimation framework for deformable registration and penalized-likelihood CT image reconstruction using prior images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dang, H.; Wang, A. S.; Sussman, Marc S.; Siewerdsen, J. H.; Stayman, J. W.

2014-09-01

Sequential imaging studies are conducted in many clinical scenarios. Prior images from previous studies contain a great deal of patient-specific anatomical information and can be used in conjunction with subsequent imaging acquisitions to maintain image quality while enabling radiation dose reduction (e.g., through sparse angular sampling, reduction in fluence, etc). However, patient motion between images in such sequences results in misregistration between the prior image and current anatomy. Existing prior-image-based approaches often include only a simple rigid registration step that can be insufficient for capturing complex anatomical motion, introducing detrimental effects in subsequent image reconstruction. In this work, we propose a joint framework that estimates the 3D deformation between an unregistered prior image and the current anatomy (based on a subsequent data acquisition) and reconstructs the current anatomical image using a model-based reconstruction approach that includes regularization based on the deformed prior image. This framework is referred to as deformable prior image registration, penalized-likelihood estimation (dPIRPLE). Central to this framework is the inclusion of a 3D B-spline-based free-form-deformation model into the joint registration-reconstruction objective function. The proposed framework is solved using a maximization strategy whereby alternating updates to the registration parameters and image estimates are applied allowing for improvements in both the registration and reconstruction throughout the optimization process. Cadaver experiments were conducted on a cone-beam CT testbench emulating a lung nodule surveillance scenario. Superior reconstruction accuracy and image quality were demonstrated using the dPIRPLE algorithm as compared to more traditional reconstruction methods including filtered backprojection, penalized-likelihood estimation (PLE), prior image penalized-likelihood estimation (PIPLE) without registration, and

Automatic human body modeling for vision-based motion capture system using B-spline parameterization of the silhouette

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaume-i-Capó, Antoni; Varona, Javier; González-Hidalgo, Manuel; Mas, Ramon; Perales, Francisco J.

2012-02-01

Human motion capture has a wide variety of applications, and in vision-based motion capture systems a major issue is the human body model and its initialization. We present a computer vision algorithm for building a human body model skeleton in an automatic way. The algorithm is based on the analysis of the human shape. We decompose the body into its main parts by computing the curvature of a B-spline parameterization of the human contour. This algorithm has been applied in a context where the user is standing in front of a camera stereo pair. The process is completed after the user assumes a predefined initial posture so as to identify the main joints and construct the human model. Using this model, the initialization problem of a vision-based markerless motion capture system of the human body is solved.

Registration of 3D ultrasound computer tomography and MRI for evaluation of tissue correspondences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopp, T.; Dapp, R.; Zapf, M.; Kretzek, E.; Gemmeke, H.; Ruiter, N. V.

2015-03-01

3D Ultrasound Computer Tomography (USCT) is a new imaging method for breast cancer diagnosis. In the current state of development it is essential to correlate USCT with a known imaging modality like MRI to evaluate how different tissue types are depicted. Due to different imaging conditions, e.g. with the breast subject to buoyancy in USCT, a direct correlation is demanding. We present a 3D image registration method to reduce positioning differences and allow direct side-by-side comparison of USCT and MRI volumes. It is based on a two-step approach including a buoyancy simulation with a biomechanical model and free form deformations using cubic B-Splines for a surface refinement. Simulation parameters are optimized patient-specifically in a simulated annealing scheme. The method was evaluated with in-vivo datasets resulting in an average registration error below 5mm. Correlating tissue structures can thereby be located in the same or nearby slices in both modalities and three-dimensional non-linear deformations due to the buoyancy are reduced. Image fusion of MRI volumes and USCT sound speed volumes was performed for intuitive display. By applying the registration to data of our first in-vivo study with the KIT 3D USCT, we could correlate several tissue structures in MRI and USCT images and learn how connective tissue, carcinomas and breast implants observed in the MRI are depicted in the USCT imaging modes.

Automatic detection of diabetic foot complications with infrared thermography by asymmetric analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Chanjuan; van Netten, Jaap J.; van Baal, Jeff G.; Bus, Sicco A.; van der Heijden, Ferdi

2015-02-01

Early identification of diabetic foot complications and their precursors is essential in preventing their devastating consequences, such as foot infection and amputation. Frequent, automatic risk assessment by an intelligent telemedicine system might be feasible and cost effective. Infrared thermography is a promising modality for such a system. The temperature differences between corresponding areas on contralateral feet are the clinically significant parameters. This asymmetric analysis is hindered by (1) foot segmentation errors, especially when the foot temperature and the ambient temperature are comparable, and by (2) different shapes and sizes between contralateral feet due to deformities or minor amputations. To circumvent the first problem, we used a color image and a thermal image acquired synchronously. Foot regions, detected in the color image, were rigidly registered to the thermal image. This resulted in 97.8%±1.1% sensitivity and 98.4%±0.5% specificity over 76 high-risk diabetic patients with manual annotation as a reference. Nonrigid landmark-based registration with B-splines solved the second problem. Corresponding points in the two feet could be found regardless of the shapes and sizes of the feet. With that, the temperature difference of the left and right feet could be obtained.

Multiresolution image registration in digital x-ray angiography with intensity variation modeling.

PubMed

Nejati, Mansour; Pourghassem, Hossein

2014-02-01

Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is a widely used technique for visualization of vessel anatomy in diagnosis and treatment. However, due to unavoidable patient motions, both externally and internally, the subtracted angiography images often suffer from motion artifacts that adversely affect the quality of the medical diagnosis. To cope with this problem and improve the quality of DSA images, registration algorithms are often employed before subtraction. In this paper, a novel elastic registration algorithm for registration of digital X-ray angiography images, particularly for the coronary location, is proposed. This algorithm includes a multiresolution search strategy in which a global transformation is calculated iteratively based on local search in coarse and fine sub-image blocks. The local searches are accomplished in a differential multiscale framework which allows us to capture both large and small scale transformations. The local registration transformation also explicitly accounts for local variations in the image intensities which incorporated into our model as a change of local contrast and brightness. These local transformations are then smoothly interpolated using thin-plate spline interpolation function to obtain the global model. Experimental results with several clinical datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm in motion artifact reduction.

GEE-Smoothing Spline in Semiparametric Model with Correlated Nominal Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, Noor Akma; Suliadi

2010-11-01

In this paper we propose GEE-Smoothing spline in the estimation of semiparametric models with correlated nominal data. The method can be seen as an extension of parametric generalized estimating equation to semiparametric models. The nonparametric component is estimated using smoothing spline specifically the natural cubic spline. We use profile algorithm in the estimation of both parametric and nonparametric components. The properties of the estimators are evaluated using simulation studies.

Spline-Screw Payload-Fastening System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vranish, John M.

1994-01-01

Payload handed off securely between robot and vehicle or structure. Spline-screw payload-fastening system includes mating female and male connector mechanisms. Clockwise (or counter-clockwise) rotation of splined male driver on robotic end effector causes connection between robot and payload to tighten (or loosen) and simultaneously causes connection between payload and structure to loosen (or tighten). Includes mechanisms like those described in "Tool-Changing Mechanism for Robot" (GSC-13435) and "Self-Aligning Mechanical and Electrical Coupling" (GSC-13430). Designed for use in outer space, also useful on Earth in applications needed for secure handling and secure mounting of equipment modules during storage, transport, and/or operation. Particularly useful in machine or robotic applications.

Illumination estimation via thin-plate spline interpolation.

PubMed

Shi, Lilong; Xiong, Weihua; Funt, Brian

2011-05-01

Thin-plate spline interpolation is used to interpolate the chromaticity of the color of the incident scene illumination across a training set of images. Given the image of a scene under unknown illumination, the chromaticity of the scene illumination can be found from the interpolated function. The resulting illumination-estimation method can be used to provide color constancy under changing illumination conditions and automatic white balancing for digital cameras. A thin-plate spline interpolates over a nonuniformly sampled input space, which in this case is a training set of image thumbnails and associated illumination chromaticities. To reduce the size of the training set, incremental k medians are applied. Tests on real images demonstrate that the thin-plate spline method can estimate the color of the incident illumination quite accurately, and the proposed training set pruning significantly decreases the computation.

Influence of scanning parameters on the estimation accuracy of control points of B-spline surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aichinger, Julia; Schwieger, Volker

2018-04-01

This contribution deals with the influence of scanning parameters like scanning distance, incidence angle, surface quality and sampling width on the average estimated standard deviations of the position of control points from B-spline surfaces which are used to model surfaces from terrestrial laser scanning data. The influence of the scanning parameters is analyzed by the Monte Carlo based variance analysis. The samples were generated for non-correlated and correlated data, leading to the samples generated by Latin hypercube and replicated Latin hypercube sampling algorithms. Finally, the investigations show that the most influential scanning parameter is the distance from the laser scanner to the object. The angle of incidence shows a significant effect for distances of 50 m and longer, while the surface quality contributes only negligible effects. The sampling width has no influence. Optimal scanning parameters can be found in the smallest possible object distance at an angle of incidence close to 0° in the highest surface quality. The consideration of correlations improves the estimation accuracy and underlines the importance of complete stochastic models for TLS measurements.

14 CFR 47.43 - Invalid registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... REGISTRATION Certificates of Aircraft Registration § 47.43 Invalid registration. (a) The registration of an...) compliance with 49 U.S.C. 44101-44104. (b) If the registration of an aircraft is invalid under paragraph (a) of this section, the holder of the invalid Certificate of Aircraft Registration shall return it as...

Active Voodoo Dolls: A Vision Based Input Device for Nonrigid Control.

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-08-01

A vision based technique for nonrigid control is presented that can be used for animation and video game applications. The user grasps a soft...allowing the user to control it interactively. Our use of texture mapping hardware in tracking makes the system responsive enough for interactive animation and video game character control.

Gradient-based optimization with B-splines on sparse grids for solving forward-dynamics simulations of three-dimensional, continuum-mechanical musculoskeletal system models.

PubMed

Valentin, J; Sprenger, M; Pflüger, D; Röhrle, O

2018-05-01

Investigating the interplay between muscular activity and motion is the basis to improve our understanding of healthy or diseased musculoskeletal systems. To be able to analyze the musculoskeletal systems, computational models are used. Albeit some severe modeling assumptions, almost all existing musculoskeletal system simulations appeal to multibody simulation frameworks. Although continuum-mechanical musculoskeletal system models can compensate for some of these limitations, they are essentially not considered because of their computational complexity and cost. The proposed framework is the first activation-driven musculoskeletal system model, in which the exerted skeletal muscle forces are computed using 3-dimensional, continuum-mechanical skeletal muscle models and in which muscle activations are determined based on a constraint optimization problem. Numerical feasibility is achieved by computing sparse grid surrogates with hierarchical B-splines, and adaptive sparse grid refinement further reduces the computational effort. The choice of B-splines allows the use of all existing gradient-based optimization techniques without further numerical approximation. This paper demonstrates that the resulting surrogates have low relative errors (less than 0.76%) and can be used within forward simulations that are subject to constraint optimization. To demonstrate this, we set up several different test scenarios in which an upper limb model consisting of the elbow joint, the biceps and triceps brachii, and an external load is subjected to different optimization criteria. Even though this novel method has only been demonstrated for a 2-muscle system, it can easily be extended to musculoskeletal systems with 3 or more muscles. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sequential deconvolution from wave-front sensing using bivariate simplex splines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Shiping; Zhang, Rongzhi; Li, Jisheng; Zou, Jianhua; Xu, Rong; Liu, Changhai

2015-05-01

Deconvolution from wave-front sensing (DWFS) is an imaging compensation technique for turbulence degraded images based on simultaneous recording of short exposure images and wave-front sensor data. This paper employs the multivariate splines method for the sequential DWFS: a bivariate simplex splines based average slopes measurement model is built firstly for Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor; next, a well-conditioned least squares estimator for the spline coefficients is constructed using multiple Shack-Hartmann measurements; then, the distorted wave-front is uniquely determined by the estimated spline coefficients; the object image is finally obtained by non-blind deconvolution processing. Simulated experiments in different turbulence strength show that our method performs superior image restoration results and noise rejection capability especially when extracting the multidirectional phase derivatives.

Registration of in vivo MR to histology of rodent brains using blockface imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uberti, Mariano; Liu, Yutong; Dou, Huanyu; Mosley, R. Lee; Gendelman, Howard E.; Boska, Michael

2009-02-01

Registration of MRI to histopathological sections can enhance bioimaging validation for use in pathobiologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic evaluations. However, commonly used registration methods fall short of this goal due to tissue shrinkage and tearing after brain extraction and preparation. In attempts to overcome these limitations we developed a software toolbox using 3D blockface imaging as the common space of reference. This toolbox includes a semi-automatic brain extraction technique using constraint level sets (CLS), 3D reconstruction methods for the blockface and MR volume, and a 2D warping technique using thin-plate splines with landmark optimization. Using this toolbox, the rodent brain volume is first extracted from the whole head MRI using CLS. The blockface volume is reconstructed followed by 3D brain MRI registration to the blockface volume to correct the global deformations due to brain extraction and fixation. Finally, registered MRI and histological slices are warped to corresponding blockface images to correct slice specific deformations. The CLS brain extraction technique was validated by comparing manual results showing 94% overlap. The image warping technique was validated by calculating target registration error (TRE). Results showed a registration accuracy of a TRE < 1 pixel. Lastly, the registration method and the software tools developed were used to validate cell migration in murine human immunodeficiency virus type one encephalitis.

Automated Geo/Co-Registration of Multi-Temporal Very-High-Resolution Imagery.

PubMed

Han, Youkyung; Oh, Jaehong

2018-05-17

For time-series analysis using very-high-resolution (VHR) multi-temporal satellite images, both accurate georegistration to the map coordinates and subpixel-level co-registration among the images should be conducted. However, applying well-known matching methods, such as scale-invariant feature transform and speeded up robust features for VHR multi-temporal images, has limitations. First, they cannot be used for matching an optical image to heterogeneous non-optical data for georegistration. Second, they produce a local misalignment induced by differences in acquisition conditions, such as acquisition platform stability, the sensor's off-nadir angle, and relief displacement of the considered scene. Therefore, this study addresses the problem by proposing an automated geo/co-registration framework for full-scene multi-temporal images acquired from a VHR optical satellite sensor. The proposed method comprises two primary steps: (1) a global georegistration process, followed by (2) a fine co-registration process. During the first step, two-dimensional multi-temporal satellite images are matched to three-dimensional topographic maps to assign the map coordinates. During the second step, a local analysis of registration noise pixels extracted between the multi-temporal images that have been mapped to the map coordinates is conducted to extract a large number of well-distributed corresponding points (CPs). The CPs are finally used to construct a non-rigid transformation function that enables minimization of the local misalignment existing among the images. Experiments conducted on five Kompsat-3 full scenes confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed framework, showing that the georegistration performance resulted in an approximately pixel-level accuracy for most of the scenes, and the co-registration performance further improved the results among all combinations of the georegistered Kompsat-3 image pairs by increasing the calculated cross-correlation values.

Nonlinear spline wavefront reconstruction through moment-based Shack-Hartmann sensor measurements.

PubMed

Viegers, M; Brunner, E; Soloviev, O; de Visser, C C; Verhaegen, M

2017-05-15

We propose a spline-based aberration reconstruction method through moment measurements (SABRE-M). The method uses first and second moment information from the focal spots of the SH sensor to reconstruct the wavefront with bivariate simplex B-spline basis functions. The proposed method, since it provides higher order local wavefront estimates with quadratic and cubic basis functions can provide the same accuracy for SH arrays with a reduced number of subapertures and, correspondingly, larger lenses which can be beneficial for application in low light conditions. In numerical experiments the performance of SABRE-M is compared to that of the first moment method SABRE for aberrations of different spatial orders and for different sizes of the SH array. The results show that SABRE-M is superior to SABRE, in particular for the higher order aberrations and that SABRE-M can give equal performance as SABRE on a SH grid of halved sampling.

14 CFR 47.43 - Invalid registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... REGISTRATION Certificates of Aircraft Registration § 47.43 Invalid registration. (a) The registration of an...) compliance with 49 U.S.C. 44101-44104. (b) If the registration of an aircraft is invalid under paragraph (a) of this section, the holder of the invalid Certificate of Aircraft Registration, AC Form 8050-3, must...

14 CFR 47.43 - Invalid registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... REGISTRATION Certificates of Aircraft Registration § 47.43 Invalid registration. (a) The registration of an...) compliance with 49 U.S.C. 44101-44104. (b) If the registration of an aircraft is invalid under paragraph (a) of this section, the holder of the invalid Certificate of Aircraft Registration, AC Form 8050-3, must...

Spline-based procedures for dose-finding studies with active control

PubMed Central

Helms, Hans-Joachim; Benda, Norbert; Zinserling, Jörg; Kneib, Thomas; Friede, Tim

2015-01-01

In a dose-finding study with an active control, several doses of a new drug are compared with an established drug (the so-called active control). One goal of such studies is to characterize the dose–response relationship and to find the smallest target dose concentration d*, which leads to the same efficacy as the active control. For this purpose, the intersection point of the mean dose–response function with the expected efficacy of the active control has to be estimated. The focus of this paper is a cubic spline-based method for deriving an estimator of the target dose without assuming a specific dose–response function. Furthermore, the construction of a spline-based bootstrap CI is described. Estimator and CI are compared with other flexible and parametric methods such as linear spline interpolation as well as maximum likelihood regression in simulation studies motivated by a real clinical trial. Also, design considerations for the cubic spline approach with focus on bias minimization are presented. Although the spline-based point estimator can be biased, designs can be chosen to minimize and reasonably limit the maximum absolute bias. Furthermore, the coverage probability of the cubic spline approach is satisfactory, especially for bias minimal designs. © 2014 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. PMID:25319931

A spline-based regression parameter set for creating customized DARTEL MRI brain templates from infancy to old age.

PubMed

Wilke, Marko

2018-02-01

This dataset contains the regression parameters derived by analyzing segmented brain MRI images (gray matter and white matter) from a large population of healthy subjects, using a multivariate adaptive regression splines approach. A total of 1919 MRI datasets ranging in age from 1-75 years from four publicly available datasets (NIH, C-MIND, fCONN, and IXI) were segmented using the CAT12 segmentation framework, writing out gray matter and white matter images normalized using an affine-only spatial normalization approach. These images were then subjected to a six-step DARTEL procedure, employing an iterative non-linear registration approach and yielding increasingly crisp intermediate images. The resulting six datasets per tissue class were then analyzed using multivariate adaptive regression splines, using the CerebroMatic toolbox. This approach allows for flexibly modelling smoothly varying trajectories while taking into account demographic (age, gender) as well as technical (field strength, data quality) predictors. The resulting regression parameters described here can be used to generate matched DARTEL or SHOOT templates for a given population under study, from infancy to old age. The dataset and the algorithm used to generate it are publicly available at https://irc.cchmc.org/software/cerebromatic.php.

Multi-spectral brain tissue segmentation using automatically trained k-Nearest-Neighbor classification.

PubMed

Vrooman, Henri A; Cocosco, Chris A; van der Lijn, Fedde; Stokking, Rik; Ikram, M Arfan; Vernooij, Meike W; Breteler, Monique M B; Niessen, Wiro J

2007-08-01

Conventional k-Nearest-Neighbor (kNN) classification, which has been successfully applied to classify brain tissue in MR data, requires training on manually labeled subjects. This manual labeling is a laborious and time-consuming procedure. In this work, a new fully automated brain tissue classification procedure is presented, in which kNN training is automated. This is achieved by non-rigidly registering the MR data with a tissue probability atlas to automatically select training samples, followed by a post-processing step to keep the most reliable samples. The accuracy of the new method was compared to rigid registration-based training and to conventional kNN-based segmentation using training on manually labeled subjects for segmenting gray matter (GM), white matter (WM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 12 data sets. Furthermore, for all classification methods, the performance was assessed when varying the free parameters. Finally, the robustness of the fully automated procedure was evaluated on 59 subjects. The automated training method using non-rigid registration with a tissue probability atlas was significantly more accurate than rigid registration. For both automated training using non-rigid registration and for the manually trained kNN classifier, the difference with the manual labeling by observers was not significantly larger than inter-observer variability for all tissue types. From the robustness study, it was clear that, given an appropriate brain atlas and optimal parameters, our new fully automated, non-rigid registration-based method gives accurate and robust segmentation results. A similarity index was used for comparison with manually trained kNN. The similarity indices were 0.93, 0.92 and 0.92, for CSF, GM and WM, respectively. It can be concluded that our fully automated method using non-rigid registration may replace manual segmentation, and thus that automated brain tissue segmentation without laborious manual training is feasible.

Analyzing degradation data with a random effects spline regression model

DOE PAGES

Fugate, Michael Lynn; Hamada, Michael Scott; Weaver, Brian Phillip

2017-03-17

This study proposes using a random effects spline regression model to analyze degradation data. Spline regression avoids having to specify a parametric function for the true degradation of an item. A distribution for the spline regression coefficients captures the variation of the true degradation curves from item to item. We illustrate the proposed methodology with a real example using a Bayesian approach. The Bayesian approach allows prediction of degradation of a population over time and estimation of reliability is easy to perform.

Analyzing degradation data with a random effects spline regression model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fugate, Michael Lynn; Hamada, Michael Scott; Weaver, Brian Phillip

This study proposes using a random effects spline regression model to analyze degradation data. Spline regression avoids having to specify a parametric function for the true degradation of an item. A distribution for the spline regression coefficients captures the variation of the true degradation curves from item to item. We illustrate the proposed methodology with a real example using a Bayesian approach. The Bayesian approach allows prediction of degradation of a population over time and estimation of reliability is easy to perform.

Ab Initio Effective Rovibrational Hamiltonians for Non-Rigid Molecules via Curvilinear VMP2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Changala, Bryan; Baraban, Joshua H.

2017-06-01

Accurate predictions of spectroscopic constants for non-rigid molecules are particularly challenging for ab initio theory. For all but the smallest systems, ``brute force'' diagonalization of the full rovibrational Hamiltonian is computationally prohibitive, leaving us at the mercy of perturbative approaches. However, standard perturbative techniques, such as second order vibrational perturbation theory (VPT2), are based on the approximation that a molecule makes small amplitude vibrations about a well defined equilibrium structure. Such assumptions are physically inappropriate for non-rigid systems. In this talk, we will describe extensions to curvilinear vibrational Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (VMP2) that account for rotational and rovibrational effects in the molecular Hamiltonian. Through several examples, we will show that this approach provides predictions to nearly microwave accuracy of molecular constants including rotational and centrifugal distortion parameters, Coriolis coupling constants, and anharmonic vibrational and tunneling frequencies.

GPU accelerated optical coherence tomography angiography using strip-based registration (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heisler, Morgan; Lee, Sieun; Mammo, Zaid; Jian, Yifan; Ju, Myeong Jin; Miao, Dongkai; Raposo, Eric; Wahl, Daniel J.; Merkur, Andrew; Navajas, Eduardo; Balaratnasingam, Chandrakumar; Beg, Mirza Faisal; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2017-02-01

High quality visualization of the retinal microvasculature can improve our understanding of the onset and development of retinal vascular diseases, which are a major cause of visual morbidity and are increasing in prevalence. Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A) images are acquired over multiple seconds and are particularly susceptible to motion artifacts, which are more prevalent when imaging patients with pathology whose ability to fixate is limited. The acquisition of multiple OCT-A images sequentially can be performed for the purpose of removing motion artifact and increasing the contrast of the vascular network through averaging. Due to the motion artifacts, a robust registration pipeline is needed before feature preserving image averaging can be performed. In this report, we present a novel method for a GPU-accelerated pipeline for acquisition, processing, segmentation, and registration of multiple, sequentially acquired OCT-A images to correct for the motion artifacts in individual images for the purpose of averaging. High performance computing, blending CPU and GPU, was introduced to accelerate processing in order to provide high quality visualization of the retinal microvasculature and to enable a more accurate quantitative analysis in a clinically useful time frame. Specifically, image discontinuities caused by rapid micro-saccadic movements and image warping due to smoother reflex movements were corrected by strip-wise affine registration estimated using Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) keypoints and subsequent local similarity-based non-rigid registration. These techniques improve the image quality, increasing the value for clinical diagnosis and increasing the range of patients for whom high quality OCT-A images can be acquired.

On the nature of data collection for soft-tissue image-to-physical organ registration: a noise characterization study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Jarrod A.; Heiselman, Jon S.; Weis, Jared A.; Clements, Logan W.; Simpson, Amber L.; Jarnagin, William R.; Miga, Michael I.

2017-03-01

In image-guided liver surgery (IGLS), sparse representations of the anterior organ surface may be collected intraoperatively to drive image-to-physical space registration. Soft tissue deformation represents a significant source of error for IGLS techniques. This work investigates the impact of surface data quality on current surface based IGLS registration methods. In this work, we characterize the robustness of our IGLS registration methods to noise in organ surface digitization. We study this within a novel human-to-phantom data framework that allows a rapid evaluation of clinically realistic data and noise patterns on a fully characterized hepatic deformation phantom. Additionally, we implement a surface data resampling strategy that is designed to decrease the impact of differences in surface acquisition. For this analysis, n=5 cases of clinical intraoperative data consisting of organ surface and salient feature digitizations from open liver resection were collected and analyzed within our human-to-phantom validation framework. As expected, results indicate that increasing levels of noise in surface acquisition cause registration fidelity to deteriorate. With respect to rigid registration using the raw and resampled data at clinically realistic levels of noise (i.e. a magnitude of 1.5 mm), resampling improved TRE by 21%. In terms of nonrigid registration, registrations using resampled data outperformed the raw data result by 14% at clinically realistic levels and were less susceptible to noise across the range of noise investigated. These results demonstrate the types of analyses our novel human-to-phantom validation framework can provide and indicate the considerable benefits of resampling strategies.

76 FR 51415 - Ideal Pharmacy Care, Inc., D/B/A Esplanade Pharmacy; Revocation of Registration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-18

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Drug Enforcement Administration Ideal Pharmacy Care, Inc., D/B/A Esplanade... Pharmacy Care, Inc., d/b/a Esplanade Pharmacy (Registrant), of New Orleans, Louisiana. The Show Cause Order... included shortages of: (1) 3,891 dosage units of hydrocodone 7.5/650 mg, 78 percent of the accountable...

Multilevel summation with B-spline interpolation for pairwise interactions in molecular dynamics simulations.

PubMed

Hardy, David J; Wolff, Matthew A; Xia, Jianlin; Schulten, Klaus; Skeel, Robert D

2016-03-21

The multilevel summation method for calculating electrostatic interactions in molecular dynamics simulations constructs an approximation to a pairwise interaction kernel and its gradient, which can be evaluated at a cost that scales linearly with the number of atoms. The method smoothly splits the kernel into a sum of partial kernels of increasing range and decreasing variability with the longer-range parts interpolated from grids of increasing coarseness. Multilevel summation is especially appropriate in the context of dynamics and minimization, because it can produce continuous gradients. This article explores the use of B-splines to increase the accuracy of the multilevel summation method (for nonperiodic boundaries) without incurring additional computation other than a preprocessing step (whose cost also scales linearly). To obtain accurate results efficiently involves technical difficulties, which are overcome by a novel preprocessing algorithm. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the resulting method offers substantial improvements in accuracy and that its performance is competitive with an implementation of the fast multipole method in general and markedly better for Hamiltonian formulations of molecular dynamics. The improvement is great enough to establish multilevel summation as a serious contender for calculating pairwise interactions in molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, the method appears to be uniquely capable for molecular dynamics in two situations, nonperiodic boundary conditions and massively parallel computation, where the fast Fourier transform employed in the particle-mesh Ewald method falls short.

Multilevel summation with B-spline interpolation for pairwise interactions in molecular dynamics simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardy, David J.; Wolff, Matthew A.; Xia, Jianlin; Schulten, Klaus; Skeel, Robert D.

2016-03-01

The multilevel summation method for calculating electrostatic interactions in molecular dynamics simulations constructs an approximation to a pairwise interaction kernel and its gradient, which can be evaluated at a cost that scales linearly with the number of atoms. The method smoothly splits the kernel into a sum of partial kernels of increasing range and decreasing variability with the longer-range parts interpolated from grids of increasing coarseness. Multilevel summation is especially appropriate in the context of dynamics and minimization, because it can produce continuous gradients. This article explores the use of B-splines to increase the accuracy of the multilevel summation method (for nonperiodic boundaries) without incurring additional computation other than a preprocessing step (whose cost also scales linearly). To obtain accurate results efficiently involves technical difficulties, which are overcome by a novel preprocessing algorithm. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the resulting method offers substantial improvements in accuracy and that its performance is competitive with an implementation of the fast multipole method in general and markedly better for Hamiltonian formulations of molecular dynamics. The improvement is great enough to establish multilevel summation as a serious contender for calculating pairwise interactions in molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, the method appears to be uniquely capable for molecular dynamics in two situations, nonperiodic boundary conditions and massively parallel computation, where the fast Fourier transform employed in the particle-mesh Ewald method falls short.

An automated, quantitative, and case-specific evaluation of deformable image registration in computed tomography images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kierkels, R. G. J.; den Otter, L. A.; Korevaar, E. W.; Langendijk, J. A.; van der Schaaf, A.; Knopf, A. C.; Sijtsema, N. M.

2018-02-01

A prerequisite for adaptive dose-tracking in radiotherapy is the assessment of the deformable image registration (DIR) quality. In this work, various metrics that quantify DIR uncertainties are investigated using realistic deformation fields of 26 head and neck and 12 lung cancer patients. Metrics related to the physiologically feasibility (the Jacobian determinant, harmonic energy (HE), and octahedral shear strain (OSS)) and numerically robustness of the deformation (the inverse consistency error (ICE), transitivity error (TE), and distance discordance metric (DDM)) were investigated. The deformable registrations were performed using a B-spline transformation model. The DIR error metrics were log-transformed and correlated (Pearson) against the log-transformed ground-truth error on a voxel level. Correlations of r  ⩾  0.5 were found for the DDM and HE. Given a DIR tolerance threshold of 2.0 mm and a negative predictive value of 0.90, the DDM and HE thresholds were 0.49 mm and 0.014, respectively. In conclusion, the log-transformed DDM and HE can be used to identify voxels at risk for large DIR errors with a large negative predictive value. The HE and/or DDM can therefore be used to perform automated quality assurance of each CT-based DIR for head and neck and lung cancer patients.

A 3D MR-acquisition scheme for nonrigid bulk motion correction in simultaneous PET-MR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kolbitsch, Christoph, E-mail: christoph.1.kolbitsch@kcl.ac.uk; Prieto, Claudia; Schaeffter, Tobias

Purpose: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a highly sensitive medical imaging technique commonly used to detect and assess tumor lesions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides high resolution anatomical images with different contrasts and a range of additional information important for cancer diagnosis. Recently, simultaneous PET-MR systems have been released with the promise to provide complementary information from both modalities in a single examination. Due to long scan times, subject nonrigid bulk motion, i.e., changes of the patient's position on the scanner table leading to nonrigid changes of the patient's anatomy, during data acquisition can negatively impair image quality and tracermore » uptake quantification. A 3D MR-acquisition scheme is proposed to detect and correct for nonrigid bulk motion in simultaneously acquired PET-MR data. Methods: A respiratory navigated three dimensional (3D) MR-acquisition with Radial Phase Encoding (RPE) is used to obtain T1- and T2-weighted data with an isotropic resolution of 1.5 mm. Healthy volunteers are asked to move the abdomen two to three times during data acquisition resulting in overall 19 movements at arbitrary time points. The acquisition scheme is used to retrospectively reconstruct dynamic 3D MR images with different temporal resolutions. Nonrigid bulk motion is detected and corrected in this image data. A simultaneous PET acquisition is simulated and the effect of motion correction is assessed on image quality and standardized uptake values (SUV) for lesions with different diameters. Results: Six respiratory gated 3D data sets with T1- and T2-weighted contrast have been obtained in healthy volunteers. All bulk motion shifts have successfully been detected and motion fields describing the transformation between the different motion states could be obtained with an accuracy of 1.71 ± 0.29 mm. The PET simulation showed errors of up to 67% in measured SUV due to bulk motion which could be reduced to

Flip-avoiding interpolating surface registration for skull reconstruction.

PubMed

Xie, Shudong; Leow, Wee Kheng; Lee, Hanjing; Lim, Thiam Chye

2018-03-30

Skull reconstruction is an important and challenging task in craniofacial surgery planning, forensic investigation and anthropological studies. Existing methods typically reconstruct approximating surfaces that regard corresponding points on the target skull as soft constraints, thus incurring non-zero error even for non-defective parts and high overall reconstruction error. This paper proposes a novel geometric reconstruction method that non-rigidly registers an interpolating reference surface that regards corresponding target points as hard constraints, thus achieving low reconstruction error. To overcome the shortcoming of interpolating a surface, a flip-avoiding method is used to detect and exclude conflicting hard constraints that would otherwise cause surface patches to flip and self-intersect. Comprehensive test results show that our method is more accurate and robust than existing skull reconstruction methods. By incorporating symmetry constraints, it can produce more symmetric and normal results than other methods in reconstructing defective skulls with a large number of defects. It is robust against severe outliers such as radiation artifacts in computed tomography due to dental implants. In addition, test results also show that our method outperforms thin-plate spline for model resampling, which enables the active shape model to yield more accurate reconstruction results. As the reconstruction accuracy of defective parts varies with the use of different reference models, we also study the implication of reference model selection for skull reconstruction. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

77 FR 43342 - Notice Regarding Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act Registration Period

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-24

... Regarding Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act Registration Period AGENCY: Department of Health and... INFORMATION: I. Background Section 340B(a)(4) of the Public Health Service Act (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 256b... of these date parameters listed above except when the Secretary has declared a Public Health...

14 CFR 47.43 - Invalid registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... REGISTRATION Certificates of Aircraft Registration § 47.43 Invalid registration. Link to an amendment published... registration of an aircraft is invalid if, at the time it is made— (1) The aircraft is registered in a foreign... knowledge) compliance with 49 U.S.C. 44101-44104. (b) If the registration of an aircraft is invalid under...

Characterizing vaccine-associated risks using cubic smoothing splines.

PubMed

Brookhart, M Alan; Walker, Alexander M; Lu, Yun; Polakowski, Laura; Li, Jie; Paeglow, Corrie; Puenpatom, Tosmai; Izurieta, Hector; Daniel, Gregory W

2012-11-15

Estimating risks associated with the use of childhood vaccines is challenging. The authors propose a new approach for studying short-term vaccine-related risks. The method uses a cubic smoothing spline to flexibly estimate the daily risk of an event after vaccination. The predicted incidence rates from the spline regression are then compared with the expected rates under a log-linear trend that excludes the days surrounding vaccination. The 2 models are then used to estimate the excess cumulative incidence attributable to the vaccination during the 42-day period after vaccination. Confidence intervals are obtained using a model-based bootstrap procedure. The method is applied to a study of known effects (positive controls) and expected noneffects (negative controls) of the measles, mumps, and rubella and measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccines among children who are 1 year of age. The splines revealed well-resolved spikes in fever, rash, and adenopathy diagnoses, with the maximum incidence occurring between 9 and 11 days after vaccination. For the negative control outcomes, the spline model yielded a predicted incidence more consistent with the modeled day-specific risks, although there was evidence of increased risk of diagnoses of congenital malformations after vaccination, possibly because of a "provider visit effect." The proposed approach may be useful for vaccine safety surveillance.

Predicting protein concentrations with ELISA microarray assays, monotonic splines and Monte Carlo simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Daly, Don S.; Anderson, Kevin K.; White, Amanda M.

Background: A microarray of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, or ELISA microarray, predicts simultaneously the concentrations of numerous proteins in a small sample. These predictions, however, are uncertain due to processing error and biological variability. Making sound biological inferences as well as improving the ELISA microarray process require require both concentration predictions and creditable estimates of their errors. Methods: We present a statistical method based on monotonic spline statistical models, penalized constrained least squares fitting (PCLS) and Monte Carlo simulation (MC) to predict concentrations and estimate prediction errors in ELISA microarray. PCLS restrains the flexible spline to a fit of assay intensitymore » that is a monotone function of protein concentration. With MC, both modeling and measurement errors are combined to estimate prediction error. The spline/PCLS/MC method is compared to a common method using simulated and real ELISA microarray data sets. Results: In contrast to the rigid logistic model, the flexible spline model gave credible fits in almost all test cases including troublesome cases with left and/or right censoring, or other asymmetries. For the real data sets, 61% of the spline predictions were more accurate than their comparable logistic predictions; especially the spline predictions at the extremes of the prediction curve. The relative errors of 50% of comparable spline and logistic predictions differed by less than 20%. Monte Carlo simulation rendered acceptable asymmetric prediction intervals for both spline and logistic models while propagation of error produced symmetric intervals that diverged unrealistically as the standard curves approached horizontal asymptotes. Conclusions: The spline/PCLS/MC method is a flexible, robust alternative to a logistic/NLS/propagation-of-error method to reliably predict protein concentrations and estimate their errors. The spline method simplifies model selection and

Design Evaluation of Wind Turbine Spline Couplings Using an Analytical Model: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guo, Y.; Keller, J.; Wallen, R.

2015-02-01

Articulated splines are commonly used in the planetary stage of wind turbine gearboxes for transmitting the driving torque and improving load sharing. Direct measurement of spline loads and performance is extremely challenging because of limited accessibility. This paper presents an analytical model for the analysis of articulated spline coupling designs. For a given torque and shaft misalignment, this analytical model quickly yields insights into relationships between the spline design parameters and resulting loads; bending, contact, and shear stresses; and safety factors considering various heat treatment methods. Comparisons of this analytical model against previously published computational approaches are also presented.

Voxel-based modeling and quantification of the proximal femur using inter-subject registration of quantitative CT images.

PubMed

Li, Wenjun; Kezele, Irina; Collins, D Louis; Zijdenbos, Alex; Keyak, Joyce; Kornak, John; Koyama, Alain; Saeed, Isra; Leblanc, Adrian; Harris, Tamara; Lu, Ying; Lang, Thomas

2007-11-01

We have developed a general framework which employs quantitative computed tomography (QCT) imaging and inter-subject image registration to model the three-dimensional structure of the hip, with the goal of quantifying changes in the spatial distribution of bone as it is affected by aging, drug treatment or mechanical unloading. We have adapted rigid and non-rigid inter-subject registration techniques to transform groups of hip QCT scans into a common reference space and to construct composite proximal femoral models. We have applied this technique to a longitudinal study of 16 astronauts who on average, incurred high losses of hip bone density during spaceflights of 4-6 months on the International Space Station (ISS). We compared the pre-flight and post-flight composite hip models, and observed the gradients of the bone loss distribution. We performed paired t-tests, on a voxel by voxel basis, corrected for multiple comparisons using false discovery rate (FDR), and observed regions inside the proximal femur that showed the most significant bone loss. To validate our registration algorithm, we selected the 16 pre-flight scans and manually marked 4 landmarks for each scan. After registration, the average distance between the mapped landmarks and the corresponding landmarks in the target scan was 2.56 mm. The average error due to manual landmark identification was 1.70 mm.

3D/2D image registration method for joint motion analysis using low-quality images from mini C-arm machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghafurian, Soheil; Hacihaliloglu, Ilker; Metaxas, Dimitris N.; Tan, Virak; Li, Kang

2017-03-01

A 3D kinematic measurement of joint movement is crucial for orthopedic surgery assessment and diagnosis. This is usually obtained through a frame-by-frame registration of the 3D bone volume to a fluoroscopy video of the joint movement. The high cost of a high-quality fluoroscopy imaging system has hindered the access of many labs to this application. This is while the more affordable and low-dosage version, the mini C-arm, is not commonly used for this application due to low image quality. In this paper, we introduce a novel method for kinematic analysis of joint movement using the mini C-arm. In this method the bone of interest is recovered and isolated from the rest of the image using a non-rigid registration of an atlas to each frame. The 3D/2D registration is then performed using the weighted histogram of image gradients as an image feature. In our experiments, the registration error was 0.89 mm and 2.36° for human C2 vertebra. While the precision is still lacking behind a high quality fluoroscopy machine, it is a good starting point facilitating the use of mini C-arms for motion analysis making this application available to lower-budget environments. Moreover, the registration was highly resistant to the initial distance from the true registration, converging to the answer from anywhere within +/-90° of it.

40 CFR 79.23 - Registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Additive Registration Procedures § 79.23 Registration. (a) If the... additive which includes all of the information and assurances required by § 79.21 and has satisfactorily... the fuel additive and notify the fuel manufacturer of such registration. (b) The Administrator shall...

40 CFR 79.23 - Registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Additive Registration Procedures § 79.23 Registration. (a) If the... additive which includes all of the information and assurances required by § 79.21 and has satisfactorily... the fuel additive and notify the fuel manufacturer of such registration. (b) The Administrator shall...

40 CFR 79.23 - Registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Additive Registration Procedures § 79.23 Registration. (a) If the... additive which includes all of the information and assurances required by § 79.21 and has satisfactorily... the fuel additive and notify the fuel manufacturer of such registration. (b) The Administrator shall...

40 CFR 79.23 - Registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Additive Registration Procedures § 79.23 Registration. (a) If the... additive which includes all of the information and assurances required by § 79.21 and has satisfactorily... the fuel additive and notify the fuel manufacturer of such registration. (b) The Administrator shall...

40 CFR 79.23 - Registration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Additive Registration Procedures § 79.23 Registration. (a) If the... additive which includes all of the information and assurances required by § 79.21 and has satisfactorily... the fuel additive and notify the fuel manufacturer of such registration. (b) The Administrator shall...

17 CFR 274.13 - Form N-8B-3, registration statement of unincorporated management investment companies currently...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... statement of unincorporated management investment companies currently issuing periodic payment plan...-8B-3, registration statement of unincorporated management investment companies currently issuing..., pursuant to section 8(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, by unincorporated management investment...

14 CFR 47.16 - Temporary registration numbers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION General § 47.16 Temporary registration numbers. (a) Temporary registration numbers... Registration Certificates for temporary display on aircraft during flight allowed under Subpart C of this part. (b) The holder of a Dealer's Aircraft Registration Certificate may apply to the FAA Aircraft Registry...

14 CFR 47.16 - Temporary registration numbers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION General § 47.16 Temporary registration numbers. (a) Temporary registration numbers... Registration Certificates, AC Form 8050-6, for temporary display on aircraft during flight allowed under Subpart C of this part. (b) The holder of a Dealer's Aircraft Registration Certificate may apply to the...

14 CFR 47.16 - Temporary registration numbers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION General § 47.16 Temporary registration numbers. (a) Temporary registration numbers... Registration Certificates, AC Form 8050-6, for temporary display on aircraft during flight allowed under Subpart C of this part. (b) The holder of a Dealer's Aircraft Registration Certificate may apply to the...

14 CFR 47.16 - Temporary registration numbers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION General § 47.16 Temporary registration numbers. (a) Temporary registration numbers... Registration Certificates, AC Form 8050-6, for temporary display on aircraft during flight allowed under Subpart C of this part. (b) The holder of a Dealer's Aircraft Registration Certificate may apply to the...

14 CFR 47.16 - Temporary registration numbers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION General § 47.16 Temporary registration numbers. (a) Temporary registration numbers... Registration Certificates, AC Form 8050-6, for temporary display on aircraft during flight allowed under Subpart C of this part. (b) The holder of a Dealer's Aircraft Registration Certificate may apply to the...

A cubic spline approximation for problems in fluid mechanics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rubin, S. G.; Graves, R. A., Jr.

1975-01-01

A cubic spline approximation is presented which is suited for many fluid-mechanics problems. This procedure provides a high degree of accuracy, even with a nonuniform mesh, and leads to an accurate treatment of derivative boundary conditions. The truncation errors and stability limitations of several implicit and explicit integration schemes are presented. For two-dimensional flows, a spline-alternating-direction-implicit method is evaluated. The spline procedure is assessed, and results are presented for the one-dimensional nonlinear Burgers' equation, as well as the two-dimensional diffusion equation and the vorticity-stream function system describing the viscous flow in a driven cavity. Comparisons are made with analytic solutions for the first two problems and with finite-difference calculations for the cavity flow.

Non-rigid, but not rigid, motion interferes with the processing of structural face information in developmental prosopagnosia.

PubMed

Maguinness, Corrina; Newell, Fiona N

2015-04-01

There is growing evidence to suggest that facial motion is an important cue for face recognition. However, it is poorly understood whether motion is integrated with facial form information or whether it provides an independent cue to identity. To provide further insight into this issue, we compared the effect of motion on face perception in two developmental prosopagnosics and age-matched controls. Participants first learned faces presented dynamically (video), or in a sequence of static images, in which rigid (viewpoint) or non-rigid (expression) changes occurred. Immediately following learning, participants were required to match a static face image to the learned face. Test face images varied by viewpoint (Experiment 1) or expression (Experiment 2) and were learned or novel face images. We found similar performance across prosopagnosics and controls in matching facial identity across changes in viewpoint when the learned face was shown moving in a rigid manner. However, non-rigid motion interfered with face matching across changes in expression in both individuals with prosopagnosia compared to the performance of control participants. In contrast, non-rigid motion did not differentially affect the matching of facial expressions across changes in identity for either prosopagnosics (Experiment 3). Our results suggest that whilst the processing of rigid motion information of a face may be preserved in developmental prosopagnosia, non-rigid motion can specifically interfere with the representation of structural face information. Taken together, these results suggest that both form and motion cues are important in face perception and that these cues are likely integrated in the representation of facial identity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multilevel summation with B-spline interpolation for pairwise interactions in molecular dynamics simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hardy, David J., E-mail: dhardy@illinois.edu; Schulten, Klaus; Wolff, Matthew A.

2016-03-21

The multilevel summation method for calculating electrostatic interactions in molecular dynamics simulations constructs an approximation to a pairwise interaction kernel and its gradient, which can be evaluated at a cost that scales linearly with the number of atoms. The method smoothly splits the kernel into a sum of partial kernels of increasing range and decreasing variability with the longer-range parts interpolated from grids of increasing coarseness. Multilevel summation is especially appropriate in the context of dynamics and minimization, because it can produce continuous gradients. This article explores the use of B-splines to increase the accuracy of the multilevel summation methodmore » (for nonperiodic boundaries) without incurring additional computation other than a preprocessing step (whose cost also scales linearly). To obtain accurate results efficiently involves technical difficulties, which are overcome by a novel preprocessing algorithm. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the resulting method offers substantial improvements in accuracy and that its performance is competitive with an implementation of the fast multipole method in general and markedly better for Hamiltonian formulations of molecular dynamics. The improvement is great enough to establish multilevel summation as a serious contender for calculating pairwise interactions in molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, the method appears to be uniquely capable for molecular dynamics in two situations, nonperiodic boundary conditions and massively parallel computation, where the fast Fourier transform employed in the particle–mesh Ewald method falls short.« less

Weighted spline based integration for reconstruction of freeform wavefront.

PubMed

Pant, Kamal K; Burada, Dali R; Bichra, Mohamed; Ghosh, Amitava; Khan, Gufran S; Sinzinger, Stefan; Shakher, Chandra

2018-02-10

In the present work, a spline-based integration technique for the reconstruction of a freeform wavefront from the slope data has been implemented. The slope data of a freeform surface contain noise due to their machining process and that introduces reconstruction error. We have proposed a weighted cubic spline based least square integration method (WCSLI) for the faithful reconstruction of a wavefront from noisy slope data. In the proposed method, the measured slope data are fitted into a piecewise polynomial. The fitted coefficients are determined by using a smoothing cubic spline fitting method. The smoothing parameter locally assigns relative weight to the fitted slope data. The fitted slope data are then integrated using the standard least squares technique to reconstruct the freeform wavefront. Simulation studies show the improved result using the proposed technique as compared to the existing cubic spline-based integration (CSLI) and the Southwell methods. The proposed reconstruction method has been experimentally implemented to a subaperture stitching-based measurement of a freeform wavefront using a scanning Shack-Hartmann sensor. The boundary artifacts are minimal in WCSLI which improves the subaperture stitching accuracy and demonstrates an improved Shack-Hartmann sensor for freeform metrology application.

SU-E-J-114: A Practical Hybrid Method for Improving the Quality of CT-CBCT Deformable Image Registration for Head and Neck Radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, C; Kumarasiri, A; Chetvertkov, M

2015-06-15

Purpose: Accurate deformable image registration (DIR) between CT and CBCT in H&N is challenging. In this study, we propose a practical hybrid method that uses not only the pixel intensities but also organ physical properties, structure volume of interest (VOI), and interactive local registrations. Methods: Five oropharyngeal cancer patients were selected retrospectively. For each patient, the planning CT was registered to the last fraction CBCT, where the anatomy difference was largest. A three step registration strategy was tested; Step1) DIR using pixel intensity only, Step2) DIR with additional use of structure VOI and rigidity penalty, and Step3) interactive local correction.more » For Step1, a public-domain open-source DIR algorithm was used (cubic B-spline, mutual information, steepest gradient optimization, and 4-level multi-resolution). For Step2, rigidity penalty was applied on bony anatomies and brain, and a structure VOI was used to handle the body truncation such as the shoulder cut-off on CBCT. Finally, in Step3, the registrations were reviewed on our in-house developed software and the erroneous areas were corrected via a local registration using level-set motion algorithm. Results: After Step1, there were considerable amount of registration errors in soft tissues and unrealistic stretching in the posterior to the neck and near the shoulder due to body truncation. The brain was also found deformed to a measurable extent near the superior border of CBCT. Such errors could be effectively removed by using a structure VOI and rigidity penalty. The rest of the local soft tissue error could be corrected using the interactive software tool. The estimated interactive correction time was approximately 5 minutes. Conclusion: The DIR using only the image pixel intensity was vulnerable to noise and body truncation. A corrective action was inevitable to achieve good quality of registrations. We found the proposed three-step hybrid method efficient and practical

FZUImageReg: A toolbox for medical image registration and dose fusion in cervical cancer radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Bai, Penggang; Du, Min; Ni, Xiaolei; Ke, Dongzhong; Tong, Tong

2017-01-01

The combination external-beam radiotherapy and high-dose-rate brachytherapy is a standard form of treatment for patients with locally advanced uterine cervical cancer. Personalized radiotherapy in cervical cancer requires efficient and accurate dose planning and assessment across these types of treatment. To achieve radiation dose assessment, accurate mapping of the dose distribution from HDR-BT onto EBRT is extremely important. However, few systems can achieve robust dose fusion and determine the accumulated dose distribution during the entire course of treatment. We have therefore developed a toolbox (FZUImageReg), which is a user-friendly dose fusion system based on hybrid image registration for radiation dose assessment in cervical cancer radiotherapy. The main part of the software consists of a collection of medical image registration algorithms and a modular design with a user-friendly interface, which allows users to quickly configure, test, monitor, and compare different registration methods for a specific application. Owing to the large deformation, the direct application of conventional state-of-the-art image registration methods is not sufficient for the accurate alignment of EBRT and HDR-BT images. To solve this problem, a multi-phase non-rigid registration method using local landmark-based free-form deformation is proposed for locally large deformation between EBRT and HDR-BT images, followed by intensity-based free-form deformation. With the transformation, the software also provides a dose mapping function according to the deformation field. The total dose distribution during the entire course of treatment can then be presented. Experimental results clearly show that the proposed system can achieve accurate registration between EBRT and HDR-BT images and provide radiation dose warping and fusion results for dose assessment in cervical cancer radiotherapy in terms of high accuracy and efficiency. PMID:28388623