9,208 research outputs found
Segmentation of the left ventricle of the heart in 3-D+t MRI data using an optimized nonrigid temporal model
Modern medical imaging modalities provide large amounts of information in both the spatial and temporal domains and the incorporation of this information in a coherent algorithmic framework is a significant challenge. In this paper, we present a novel and intuitive approach to combine 3-D spatial and temporal (3-D + time) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data in an integrated segmentation algorithm to extract the myocardium of the left ventricle. A novel level-set segmentation process is developed that simultaneously delineates and tracks the boundaries of the left ventricle muscle. By encoding prior knowledge about cardiac temporal evolution in a parametric framework, an expectation-maximization algorithm optimally tracks the myocardial deformation over the cardiac cycle. The expectation step deforms the level-set function while the maximization step updates the prior temporal model parameters to perform the segmentation in a nonrigid sense
The Helicopter Antenna Radiation Prediction Code (HARP)
The first nine months effort in the development of a user oriented computer code, referred to as the HARP code, for analyzing the radiation from helicopter antennas is described. The HARP code uses modern computer graphics to aid in the description and display of the helicopter geometry. At low frequencies the helicopter is modeled by polygonal plates, and the method of moments is used to compute the desired patterns. At high frequencies the helicopter is modeled by a composite ellipsoid and flat plates, and computations are made using the geometrical theory of diffraction. The HARP code will provide a user friendly interface, employing modern computer graphics, to aid the user to describe the helicopter geometry, select the method of computation, construct the desired high or low frequency model, and display the results
Tiling strategies for optical follow-up of gravitational wave triggers by wide field of view telescopes
Binary neutron stars are among the most promising candidates for joint
gravitational-wave and electromagnetic astronomy. The goal of this work is to
investigate the strategy of using gravitational wave sky-localizations for
binary neutron star systems, to search for electromagnetic counterparts using
wide field of view optical telescopes. We examine various strategies of
scanning the gravitational wave sky-localizations on the mock 2015-16
gravitational-wave events. We propose an optimal tiling-strategy that would
ensure the most economical coverage of the gravitational wave sky-localization,
while keeping in mind the realistic constrains of transient optical astronomy.
Our analysis reveals that the proposed tiling strategy improves the
sky-localization coverage over naive contour-covering method. The improvement
is more significant for observations conducted using larger field of view
telescopes, or for observations conducted over smaller confidence interval of
gravitational wave sky-localization probability distribution. Next, we
investigate the performance of the tiling strategy for telescope arrays and
compare their performance against monolithic giant field of view telescopes. We
observed that distributing the field of view of the telescopes into arrays of
multiple telescopes significantly improves the coverage efficiency by as much
as 50% over a single large FOV telescope in 2016 localizations while scanning
around 100 sq. degrees. Finally, we studied the ability of optical counterpart
detection by various types of telescopes. In Our analysis for a range of wide
field-of-view telescopes we found improvement in detection upon sacrificing
coverage of localization in order to achieve greater observation depth for very
large field-of-view - small aperture telescopes, especially if the intrinsic
brightness of the optical counterparts are weak.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 10 pages, 10 figure
Sparse Iterative Learning Control with Application to a Wafer Stage: Achieving Performance, Resource Efficiency, and Task Flexibility
Trial-varying disturbances are a key concern in Iterative Learning Control
(ILC) and may lead to inefficient and expensive implementations and severe
performance deterioration. The aim of this paper is to develop a general
framework for optimization-based ILC that allows for enforcing additional
structure, including sparsity. The proposed method enforces sparsity in a
generalized setting through convex relaxations using norms. The
proposed ILC framework is applied to the optimization of sampling sequences for
resource efficient implementation, trial-varying disturbance attenuation, and
basis function selection. The framework has a large potential in control
applications such as mechatronics, as is confirmed through an application on a
wafer stage.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure
Optical wireless communication based indoor positioning algorithms: performance optimisation and mathematical modelling
In this paper, the performance of the optimal beam radius indoor positioning (OBRIP) and two-receiver indoor positioning (TRIP) algorithms are analysed by varying system parameters in the presence of an indoor optical wireless channel modelled in line of sight configuration. From all the conducted simulations, the minimum average error value obtained for TRIP is 0.61 m against 0.81 m obtained for OBRIP for room dimensions of 10 m × 10 m × 3 m. In addition, for each simulated condition, TRIP, which uses two receivers, outperforms OBRIP and reduces position estimation error up to 30%. To get a better understanding of error in position estimation for different combinations of beam radius and separation between light emitting diodes, the 90th percentile error is determined using a cumulative distribution frequency (CDF) plot, which gives an error value of 0.94 m for TRIP as compared to 1.20 m obtained for OBRIP. Both algorithms also prove to be robust towards change in receiver tilting angle, thus providing flexibility in the selection of the parameters to adapt to any indoor environment. In addition, in this paper, a mathematical model based on the concept of raw moments is used to confirm the findings of the simulation results for the proposed algorithms. Using this mathematical model, closed-form expressions are derived for standard deviation of uniformly distributed points in an optical wireless communication based indoor positioning system with circular and rectangular beam shapes
The final COS-B database now publicly available
The data obtained by the gamma ray satellite COS-B was processed, condensed and integrated together with the relevant mission and experiment parameters into the Final COS-B Database. The database contents and the access programs available with the database are outlined. The final sky coverage and a presentation of the large scale distribution of the observed Milky Way emission are given. The database is announced to be available through the European Space Agency
The First Two Years of Electromagnetic Follow-Up with Advanced LIGO and Virgo
We anticipate the first direct detections of gravitational waves (GWs) with
Advanced LIGO and Virgo later this decade. Though this groundbreaking technical
achievement will be its own reward, a still greater prize could be observations
of compact binary mergers in both gravitational and electromagnetic channels
simultaneously. During Advanced LIGO and Virgo's first two years of operation,
2015 through 2016, we expect the global GW detector array to improve in
sensitivity and livetime and expand from two to three detectors. We model the
detection rate and the sky localization accuracy for binary neutron star (BNS)
mergers across this transition. We have analyzed a large, astrophysically
motivated source population using real-time detection and sky localization
codes and higher-latency parameter estimation codes that have been expressly
built for operation in the Advanced LIGO/Virgo era. We show that for most BNS
events the rapid sky localization, available about a minute after a detection,
is as accurate as the full parameter estimation. We demonstrate that Advanced
Virgo will play an important role in sky localization, even though it is
anticipated to come online with only one-third as much sensitivity as the
Advanced LIGO detectors. We find that the median 90% confidence region shrinks
from ~500 square degrees in 2015 to ~200 square degrees in 2016. A few distinct
scenarios for the first LIGO/Virgo detections emerge from our simulations.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. For accompanying data, see
http://www.ligo.org/scientists/first2year
Deformable face ensemble alignment with robust grouped-L1 anchors
Many methods exist at the moment for deformable face fitting. A drawback to nearly all these approaches is that they are (i) noisy in terms of landmark positions, and (ii) the noise is biased across frames (i.e. the misalignment is toward common directions across all frames). In this paper we propose a grouped -norm anchored method for simultaneously aligning an ensemble of deformable face images stemming from the same subject, given noisy heterogeneous landmark estimates. Impressive alignment performance improvement and refinement is obtained using very weak initialization as "anchors"
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