15,450 research outputs found
Singularity-sensitive gauge-based radar rainfall adjustment methods for urban hydrological applications
Gauge-based radar rainfall adjustment techniques have been widely used to improve the applicability of radar rainfall estimates to large-scale hydrological modelling. However, their use for urban hydrological applications is limited as they were mostly developed based upon Gaussian approximations and therefore tend to smooth off so-called "singularities" (features of a non-Gaussian field) that can be observed in the fine-scale rainfall structure. Overlooking the singularities could be critical, given that their distribution is highly consistent with that of local extreme magnitudes. This deficiency may cause large errors in the subsequent urban hydrological modelling. To address this limitation and improve the applicability of adjustment techniques at urban scales, a method is proposed herein which incorporates a local singularity analysis into existing adjustment techniques and allows the preservation of the singularity structures throughout the adjustment process. In this paper the proposed singularity analysis is incorporated into the Bayesian merging technique and the performance of the resulting singularity-sensitive method is compared with that of the original Bayesian (non singularity-sensitive) technique and the commonly used mean field bias adjustment. This test is conducted using as case study four storm events observed in the Portobello catchment (53 km2) (Edinburgh, UK) during 2011 and for which radar estimates, dense rain gauge and sewer flow records, as well as a recently calibrated urban drainage model were available. The results suggest that, in general, the proposed singularity-sensitive method can effectively preserve the non-normality in local rainfall structure, while retaining the ability of the original adjustment techniques to generate nearly unbiased estimates. Moreover, the ability of the singularity-sensitive technique to preserve the non-normality in rainfall estimates often leads to better reproduction of the urban drainage system's dynamics, particularly of peak runoff flows
A Statistical Model for Simultaneous Template Estimation, Bias Correction, and Registration of 3D Brain Images
Template estimation plays a crucial role in computational anatomy since it
provides reference frames for performing statistical analysis of the underlying
anatomical population variability. While building models for template
estimation, variability in sites and image acquisition protocols need to be
accounted for. To account for such variability, we propose a generative
template estimation model that makes simultaneous inference of both bias fields
in individual images, deformations for image registration, and variance
hyperparameters. In contrast, existing maximum a posterori based methods need
to rely on either bias-invariant similarity measures or robust image
normalization. Results on synthetic and real brain MRI images demonstrate the
capability of the model to capture heterogeneity in intensities and provide a
reliable template estimation from registration
Monte Carlo-based Noise Compensation in Coil Intensity Corrected Endorectal MRI
Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer found
in males making early diagnosis important. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has
been useful in visualizing and localizing tumor candidates and with the use of
endorectal coils (ERC), the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be improved. The
coils introduce intensity inhomogeneities and the surface coil intensity
correction built into MRI scanners is used to reduce these inhomogeneities.
However, the correction typically performed at the MRI scanner level leads to
noise amplification and noise level variations. Methods: In this study, we
introduce a new Monte Carlo-based noise compensation approach for coil
intensity corrected endorectal MRI which allows for effective noise
compensation and preservation of details within the prostate. The approach
accounts for the ERC SNR profile via a spatially-adaptive noise model for
correcting non-stationary noise variations. Such a method is useful
particularly for improving the image quality of coil intensity corrected
endorectal MRI data performed at the MRI scanner level and when the original
raw data is not available. Results: SNR and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR)
analysis in patient experiments demonstrate an average improvement of 11.7 dB
and 11.2 dB respectively over uncorrected endorectal MRI, and provides strong
performance when compared to existing approaches. Conclusions: A new noise
compensation method was developed for the purpose of improving the quality of
coil intensity corrected endorectal MRI data performed at the MRI scanner
level. We illustrate that promising noise compensation performance can be
achieved for the proposed approach, which is particularly important for
processing coil intensity corrected endorectal MRI data performed at the MRI
scanner level and when the original raw data is not available.Comment: 23 page
Improving the applicability of radar rainfall estimates for urban pluvial flood modelling and forecasting
This work explores the possibility of improving the applicability of radar rainfall estimates (whose accuracy is generally insufficient) to the verification and operation of urban storm-water drainage models by employing a number of local gauge-based radar rainfall adjustment techniques. The adjustment techniques tested in this work include a simple mean-field bias (MFB) adjustment, as well as a more complex Bayesian radar-raingauge data merging method which aims at better preserving the spatial structure of rainfall fields. In addition, a novel technique (namely, local singularity analysis) is introduced and shown to improve the Bayesian method by better capturing and reproducing storm patterns and peaks. Two urban catchments were used as case studies in this work: the Cranbrook catchment (9 km2) in North-East London, and the Portobello catchment (53 km2) in the East of Edinburgh. In the former, the potential benefits of gauge-based adjusted radar rainfall estimates in an operational context were analysed, whereas in the latter the potential benefits of adjusted estimates for model verification purposes were explored. Different rainfall inputs, including raingauge, original radar and the aforementioned merged estimates were fed into the urban drainage models of the two catchments. The hydraulic outputs were compared against available flow and depth records. On the whole, the tested adjustment techniques proved to improve the applicability of radar rainfall estimates to urban hydrological applications, with the Bayesian-based methods, in particular the singularity sensitive one, providing more realistic and accurate rainfall fields which result in better reproduction of the urban drainage system’s dynamics. Further testing is still necessary in order to better assess the benefits of these adjustment methods, identify their shortcomings and improve them accordingly
Recent Progress in Image Deblurring
This paper comprehensively reviews the recent development of image
deblurring, including non-blind/blind, spatially invariant/variant deblurring
techniques. Indeed, these techniques share the same objective of inferring a
latent sharp image from one or several corresponding blurry images, while the
blind deblurring techniques are also required to derive an accurate blur
kernel. Considering the critical role of image restoration in modern imaging
systems to provide high-quality images under complex environments such as
motion, undesirable lighting conditions, and imperfect system components, image
deblurring has attracted growing attention in recent years. From the viewpoint
of how to handle the ill-posedness which is a crucial issue in deblurring
tasks, existing methods can be grouped into five categories: Bayesian inference
framework, variational methods, sparse representation-based methods,
homography-based modeling, and region-based methods. In spite of achieving a
certain level of development, image deblurring, especially the blind case, is
limited in its success by complex application conditions which make the blur
kernel hard to obtain and be spatially variant. We provide a holistic
understanding and deep insight into image deblurring in this review. An
analysis of the empirical evidence for representative methods, practical
issues, as well as a discussion of promising future directions are also
presented.Comment: 53 pages, 17 figure
DPO - Denoising, Deconvolving, and Decomposing Photon Observations
The analysis of astronomical images is a non-trivial task. The D3PO algorithm
addresses the inference problem of denoising, deconvolving, and decomposing
photon observations. Its primary goal is the simultaneous but individual
reconstruction of the diffuse and point-like photon flux given a single photon
count image, where the fluxes are superimposed. In order to discriminate
between these morphologically different signal components, a probabilistic
algorithm is derived in the language of information field theory based on a
hierarchical Bayesian parameter model. The signal inference exploits prior
information on the spatial correlation structure of the diffuse component and
the brightness distribution of the spatially uncorrelated point-like sources. A
maximum a posteriori solution and a solution minimizing the Gibbs free energy
of the inference problem using variational Bayesian methods are discussed.
Since the derivation of the solution is not dependent on the underlying
position space, the implementation of the D3PO algorithm uses the NIFTY package
to ensure applicability to various spatial grids and at any resolution. The
fidelity of the algorithm is validated by the analysis of simulated data,
including a realistic high energy photon count image showing a 32 x 32 arcmin^2
observation with a spatial resolution of 0.1 arcmin. In all tests the D3PO
algorithm successfully denoised, deconvolved, and decomposed the data into a
diffuse and a point-like signal estimate for the respective photon flux
components.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics;
refereed version, 1 figure added, results unchanged, software available at
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/ift/d3po
Modeling and inference of multisubject fMRI data
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a
rapidly growing technique for studying the brain in
action. Since its creation [1], [2], cognitive scientists
have been using fMRI to understand how we remember,
manipulate, and act on information in our environment.
Working with magnetic resonance physicists, statisticians, and
engineers, these scientists are pushing the frontiers of knowledge
of how the human brain works.
The design and analysis of single-subject fMRI studies
has been well described. For example, [3], chapters 10
and 11 of [4], and chapters 11 and 14 of [5] all give accessible
overviews of fMRI methods for one subject. In contrast,
while the appropriate manner to analyze a group of
subjects has been the topic of several recent papers, we do
not feel it has been covered well in introductory texts and
review papers. Therefore, in this article, we bring together
old and new work on so-called group modeling of fMRI
data using a consistent notation to make the methods more
accessible and comparable
A Bayesian Heteroscedastic GLM with Application to fMRI Data with Motion Spikes
We propose a voxel-wise general linear model with autoregressive noise and
heteroscedastic noise innovations (GLMH) for analyzing functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The model is analyzed from a Bayesian
perspective and has the benefit of automatically down-weighting time points
close to motion spikes in a data-driven manner. We develop a highly efficient
Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm that allows for Bayesian variable
selection among the regressors to model both the mean (i.e., the design matrix)
and variance. This makes it possible to include a broad range of explanatory
variables in both the mean and variance (e.g., time trends, activation stimuli,
head motion parameters and their temporal derivatives), and to compute the
posterior probability of inclusion from the MCMC output. Variable selection is
also applied to the lags in the autoregressive noise process, making it
possible to infer the lag order from the data simultaneously with all other
model parameters. We use both simulated data and real fMRI data from OpenfMRI
to illustrate the importance of proper modeling of heteroscedasticity in fMRI
data analysis. Our results show that the GLMH tends to detect more brain
activity, compared to its homoscedastic counterpart, by allowing the variance
to change over time depending on the degree of head motion
- …