6,345 research outputs found
Application of Fractal Dimension for Quantifying Noise Texture in Computed Tomography Images
Purpose
Evaluation of noise texture information in CT images is important for assessing image quality. Noise texture is often quantified by the noise power spectrum (NPS), which requires numerous image realizations to estimate. This study evaluated fractal dimension for quantifying noise texture as a scalar metric that can potentially be estimated using one image realization. Methods
The American College of Radiology CT accreditation phantom (ACR) was scanned on a clinical scanner (Discovery CT750, GE Healthcare) at 120 kV and 25 and 90 mAs. Images were reconstructed using filtered back projection (FBP/ASIR 0%) with varying reconstruction kernels: Soft, Standard, Detail, Chest, Lung, Bone, and Edge. For each kernel, images were also reconstructed using ASIR 50% and ASIR 100% iterative reconstruction (IR) methods. Fractal dimension was estimated using the differential box‐counting algorithm applied to images of the uniform section of ACR phantom. The two‐dimensional Noise Power Spectrum (NPS) and one‐dimensional‐radially averaged NPS were estimated using established techniques. By changing the radiation dose, the effect of noise magnitude on fractal dimension was evaluated. The Spearman correlation between the fractal dimension and the frequency of the NPS peak was calculated. The number of images required to reliably estimate fractal dimension was determined and compared to the number of images required to estimate the NPS‐peak frequency. The effect of Region of Interest (ROI) size on fractal dimension estimation was evaluated. Feasibility of estimating fractal dimension in an anthropomorphic phantom and clinical image was also investigated, with the resulting fractal dimension compared to that estimated within the uniform section of the ACR phantom. Results
Fractal dimension was strongly correlated with the frequency of the peak of the radially averaged NPS curve, having a Spearman rank‐order coefficient of 0.98 (P‐value \u3c 0.01) for ASIR 0%. The mean fractal dimension at ASIR 0% was 2.49 (Soft), 2.51 (Standard), 2.52 (Detail), 2.57 (Chest), 2.61 (Lung), 2.66 (Bone), and 2.7 (Edge). A reduction in fractal dimension was observed with increasing ASIR levels for all investigated reconstruction kernels. Fractal dimension was found to be independent of noise magnitude. Fractal dimension was successfully estimated from four ROIs of size 64 × 64 pixels or one ROI of 128 × 128 pixels. Fractal dimension was found to be sensitive to non‐noise structures in the image, such as ring artifacts and anatomical structure. Fractal dimension estimated within a uniform region of an anthropomorphic phantom and clinical head image matched that estimated within the ACR phantom for filtered back projection reconstruction. Conclusions
Fractal dimension correlated with the NPS‐peak frequency and was independent of noise magnitude, suggesting that the scalar metric of fractal dimension can be used to quantify the change in noise texture across reconstruction approaches. Results demonstrated that fractal dimension can be estimated from four, 64 × 64‐pixel ROIs or one 128 × 128 ROI within a head CT image, which may make it amenable for quantifying noise texture within clinical images
From homogeneous to fractal normal and tumorous microvascular networks in the brain
We studied normal and tumorous three-dimensional (3D) microvascular networks in primate and rat
brain. Tissues were prepared following a new preparation technique intended for high-resolution
synchrotron tomography of microvascular networks. The resulting 3D images with a spatial
resolution of less than the minimum capillary diameter permit a complete description of the entire
vascular network for volumes as large as tens of cubic millimeters. The structural properties of the
vascular networks were investigated by several multiscale methods such as fractal and power-
spectrum analysis. These investigations gave a new coherent picture of normal and pathological
complex vascular structures. They showed that normal cortical vascular networks have scale-
invariant fractal properties on a small scale from 1.4 lm up to 40 to 65 lm. Above this threshold,
vascular networks can be considered as homogeneous. Tumor vascular networks show similar
characteristics, but the validity range of the fractal regime extend to much larger spatial dimensions.
These 3D results shed new light on previous two dimensional analyses giving for the first time a
direct measurement of vascular modules associated with vessel-tissue surface exchange
Texture analysis by multi-resolution fractal descriptors
This work proposes a texture descriptor based on fractal theory. The method
is based on the Bouligand-Minkowski descriptors. We decompose the original
image recursively into 4 equal parts. In each recursion step, we estimate the
average and the deviation of the Bouligand-Minkowski descriptors computed over
each part. Thus, we extract entropy features from both average and deviation.
The proposed descriptors are provided by the concatenation of such measures.
The method is tested in a classification experiment under well known datasets,
that is, Brodatz and Vistex. The results demonstrate that the proposed
technique achieves better results than classical and state-of-the-art texture
descriptors, such as Gabor-wavelets and co-occurrence matrix.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Face image matching using fractal dimension
A new method is presented in this paper for calculating the correspondence between two face images on a pixel by pixel basis. The concept of fractal dimension is used to develop the proposed non-parametric area-based image matching method which achieves a higher proportion of matched pixels for face images than some well-known methods
Characterization of nanostructured material images using fractal descriptors
This work presents a methodology to the morphology analysis and
characterization of nanostructured material images acquired from FEG-SEM (Field
Emission Gun-Scanning Electron Microscopy) technique. The metrics were
extracted from the image texture (mathematical surface) by the volumetric
fractal descriptors, a methodology based on the Bouligand-Minkowski fractal
dimension, which considers the properties of the Minkowski dilation of the
surface points. An experiment with galvanostatic anodic titanium oxide samples
prepared in oxalyc acid solution using different conditions of applied current,
oxalyc acid concentration and solution temperature was performed. The results
demonstrate that the approach is capable of characterizing complex morphology
characteristics such as those present in the anodic titanium oxide.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication Physica
Multiscale Fractal Descriptors Applied to Nanoscale Images
This work proposes the application of fractal descriptors to the analysis of
nanoscale materials under different experimental conditions. We obtain
descriptors for images from the sample applying a multiscale transform to the
calculation of fractal dimension of a surface map of such image. Particularly,
we have used the}Bouligand-Minkowski fractal dimension. We applied these
descriptors to discriminate between two titanium oxide films prepared under
different experimental conditions. Results demonstrate the discrimination power
of proposed descriptors in such kind of application
Multifractal analysis of discretized X-ray CT images for the characterization of soil macropore structures
A correct statistical model of soil pore structure can be critical for understanding flow and transport processes in soils, and creating synthetic soil pore spaces for hypothetical and model testing, and evaluating similarity of pore spaces of different soils. Advanced visualization techniques such as X-ray computed tomography (CT) offer new opportunities of exploring heterogeneity of soil properties at horizon or aggregate scales. Simple fractal models such as fractional Brownian motion that have been proposed to capture the complex behavior of soil spatial variation at field scale rarely simulate irregularity patterns displayed by spatial series of soil properties. The objective of this work was to use CT data to test the hypothesis that soil pore structure at the horizon scale may be represented by multifractal models. X-ray CT scans of twelve, water-saturated, 20-cm long soil columns with diameters of 7.5 cm were analyzed. A reconstruction algorithm was applied to convert the X-ray CT data into a stack of 1480 grayscale digital images with a voxel resolution of 110 microns and a cross-sectional size of 690 × 690 pixels. The images were binarized and the spatial series of the percentage of void space vs. depth was analyzed to evaluate the applicability of the multifractal model. The series of depth-dependent macroporosity values exhibited a well-defined multifractal structure that was revealed by singularity and Rényi spectra. The long-range dependencies in these series were parameterized by the Hurst exponent. Values of the Hurst exponent close to one were observed indicating the strong persistence in variations of porosity with depth. The multifractal modeling of soil macropore structure can be an efficient method for parameterizing and simulating the vertical spatial heterogeneity of soil pore space
The Data Big Bang and the Expanding Digital Universe: High-Dimensional, Complex and Massive Data Sets in an Inflationary Epoch
Recent and forthcoming advances in instrumentation, and giant new surveys,
are creating astronomical data sets that are not amenable to the methods of
analysis familiar to astronomers. Traditional methods are often inadequate not
merely because of the size in bytes of the data sets, but also because of the
complexity of modern data sets. Mathematical limitations of familiar algorithms
and techniques in dealing with such data sets create a critical need for new
paradigms for the representation, analysis and scientific visualization (as
opposed to illustrative visualization) of heterogeneous, multiresolution data
across application domains. Some of the problems presented by the new data sets
have been addressed by other disciplines such as applied mathematics,
statistics and machine learning and have been utilized by other sciences such
as space-based geosciences. Unfortunately, valuable results pertaining to these
problems are mostly to be found only in publications outside of astronomy. Here
we offer brief overviews of a number of concepts, techniques and developments,
some "old" and some new. These are generally unknown to most of the
astronomical community, but are vital to the analysis and visualization of
complex datasets and images. In order for astronomers to take advantage of the
richness and complexity of the new era of data, and to be able to identify,
adopt, and apply new solutions, the astronomical community needs a certain
degree of awareness and understanding of the new concepts. One of the goals of
this paper is to help bridge the gap between applied mathematics, artificial
intelligence and computer science on the one side and astronomy on the other.Comment: 24 pages, 8 Figures, 1 Table. Accepted for publication: "Advances in
Astronomy, special issue "Robotic Astronomy
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