Diffusion tensor imaging with deterministic error bounds

Errors in the data and the forward operator of an inverse problem can be handily modelled using partial order in Banach lattices. We present some existing results of the theory of regularisation in this novel framework, where errors are represented as bounds by means of the appropriate partial order. We apply the theory to diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), where correct noise modelling is challenging: it involves the Rician distribution and the nonlinear Stejskal-Tanner equation. Linearisation of the latter in the statistical framework would complicate the noise model even further. We avoid this using the error bounds approach, which preserves simple error structure under monotone transformations.While at the Center for Mathematical Modelling of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional in Quito, Ecuador, T. Valkonen has been supported by a Prometeo scholarship of the Senescyt (Ecuadorian Ministry of Science, Technology, Education, and Innovation). In Cambridge, T. Valkonen has been supported by the EPSRC grants Nr. EP/J009539/1 “Sparse & Higher-order Image Restoration”, and Nr. EP/M00483X/1 “Efficient computational tools for inverse imaging problems”. A. Gorokh and Y. Korolev are grateful to the RFBR (Russian Foundation for Basic Research) for partial financial support (projects 14-01-31173 and 14-01-91151)

Ensemble tractography

Fiber tractography uses diffusion MRI to estimate the trajectory and cortical projection zones of white matter fascicles in the living human brain. There are many different tractography algorithms and each requires the user to set several parameters, such as curvature threshold. Choosing a single algorithm with a specific parameters sets poses two challenges. First, different algorithms and parameter values produce different results. Second, the optimal choice of algorithm and parameter value may differ between different white matter regions or different fascicles, subjects, and acquisition parameters. We propose using ensemble methods to reduce algorithm and parameter dependencies. To do so we separate the processes of fascicle generation and evaluation. Specifically, we analyze the value of creating optimized connectomes by systematically combining candidate fascicles from an ensemble of algorithms (deterministic and probabilistic) and sweeping through key parameters (curvature and stopping criterion). The ensemble approach leads to optimized connectomes that provide better cross-validatedprediction error of the diffusion MRI data than optimized connectomes generated using the singlealgorithms or parameter set. Furthermore, the ensemble approach produces connectomes that contain both short- and long-range fascicles, whereas single-parameter connectomes are biased towards one or the other. In summary, a systematic ensemble tractography approach can produce connectomes that are superior to standard single parameter estimates both for predicting the diffusion measurements and estimating white matter fascicles.Fil: Takemura, Hiromasa. University of Stanford; Estados Unidos. Osaka University; JapónFil: Caiafa, César Federico. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Wandell, Brian A.. University of Stanford; Estados UnidosFil: Pestilli, Franco. Indiana University; Estados Unido

Unified representation of tractography and diffusion-weighted MRI data using sparse multidimensional arrays

Recently, linear formulations and convex optimization methods have been proposed to predict diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) data given estimates of brain connections generated using tractography algorithms. The size of the linear models comprising such methods grows with both dMRI data and connectome resolution, and can become very large when applied to modern data. In this paper, we introduce a method to encode dMRI signals and large connectomes, i.e., those that range from hundreds of thousands to millions of fascicles (bundles of neuronal axons), by using a sparse tensor decomposition. We show that this tensor decomposition accurately approximates the Linear Fascicle Evaluation (LiFE) model, one of the recently developed linear models. We provide a theoretical analysis of the accuracy of the sparse decomposed model, LiFE_SD, and demonstrate that it can reduce the size of the model significantly. Also, we develop algorithms to implement the optimization solver using the tensor representation in an efficient way.Fil: Caiafa, César Federico. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; Argentina. Indiana University; Estados UnidosFil: Sporns, Olaf. Indiana University; Estados UnidosFil: Saykin, Andy. Indiana University; Estados UnidosFil: Pestilli, Franco. Indiana University; Estados Unidos31st Conference on Neural Information Processing SystemsLong BeachEstados UnidosNational Science Foundatio

Compressive sensing Petrov-Galerkin approximation of high-dimensional parametric operator equations

We analyze the convergence of compressive sensing based sampling techniques for the efficient evaluation of functionals of solutions for a class of high-dimensional, affine-parametric, linear operator equations which depend on possibly infinitely many parameters. The proposed algorithms are based on so-called "non-intrusive" sampling of the high-dimensional parameter space, reminiscent of Monte-Carlo sampling. In contrast to Monte-Carlo, however, a functional of the parametric solution is then computed via compressive sensing methods from samples of functionals of the solution. A key ingredient in our analysis of independent interest consists in a generalization of recent results on the approximate sparsity of generalized polynomial chaos representations (gpc) of the parametric solution families, in terms of the gpc series with respect to tensorized Chebyshev polynomials. In particular, we establish sufficient conditions on the parametric inputs to the parametric operator equation such that the Chebyshev coefficients of the gpc expansion are contained in certain weighted $\ell_p$-spaces for $0<p\leq 1$. Based on this we show that reconstructions of the parametric solutions computed from the sampled problems converge, with high probability, at the $L_2$, resp. $L_\infty$ convergence rates afforded by best $s$-term approximations of the parametric solution up to logarithmic factors.Comment: revised version, 27 page

Efficient Resolution of Anisotropic Structures

We highlight some recent new delevelopments concerning the sparse representation of possibly high-dimensional functions exhibiting strong anisotropic features and low regularity in isotropic Sobolev or Besov scales. Specifically, we focus on the solution of transport equations which exhibit propagation of singularities where, additionally, high-dimensionality enters when the convection field, and hence the solutions, depend on parameters varying over some compact set. Important constituents of our approach are directionally adaptive discretization concepts motivated by compactly supported shearlet systems, and well-conditioned stable variational formulations that support trial spaces with anisotropic refinements with arbitrary directionalities. We prove that they provide tight error-residual relations which are used to contrive rigorously founded adaptive refinement schemes which converge in $L_2$. Moreover, in the context of parameter dependent problems we discuss two approaches serving different purposes and working under different regularity assumptions. For frequent query problems, making essential use of the novel well-conditioned variational formulations, a new Reduced Basis Method is outlined which exhibits a certain rate-optimal performance for indefinite, unsymmetric or singularly perturbed problems. For the radiative transfer problem with scattering a sparse tensor method is presented which mitigates or even overcomes the curse of dimensionality under suitable (so far still isotropic) regularity assumptions. Numerical examples for both methods illustrate the theoretical findings

A mixed ℓ1\ell_1 regularization approach for sparse simultaneous approximation of parameterized PDEs

We present and analyze a novel sparse polynomial technique for the simultaneous approximation of parameterized partial differential equations (PDEs) with deterministic and stochastic inputs. Our approach treats the numerical solution as a jointly sparse reconstruction problem through the reformulation of the standard basis pursuit denoising, where the set of jointly sparse vectors is infinite. To achieve global reconstruction of sparse solutions to parameterized elliptic PDEs over both physical and parametric domains, we combine the standard measurement scheme developed for compressed sensing in the context of bounded orthonormal systems with a novel mixed-norm based $\ell_1$ regularization method that exploits both energy and sparsity. In addition, we are able to prove that, with minimal sample complexity, error estimates comparable to the best $s$-term and quasi-optimal approximations are achievable, while requiring only a priori bounds on polynomial truncation error with respect to the energy norm. Finally, we perform extensive numerical experiments on several high-dimensional parameterized elliptic PDE models to demonstrate the superior recovery properties of the proposed approach.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure