21,254 research outputs found
Doctor of Philosophy
dissertationInverse Electrocardiography (ECG) aims to noninvasively estimate the electrophysiological activity of the heart from the voltages measured at the body surface, with promising clinical applications in diagnosis and therapy. The main challenge of this emerging technique lies in its mathematical foundation: an inverse source problem governed by partial differential equations (PDEs) which is severely ill-conditioned. Essential to the success of inverse ECG are computational methods that reliably achieve accurate inverse solutions while harnessing the ever-growing complexity and realism of the bioelectric simulation. This dissertation focuses on the formulation, optimization, and solution of the inverse ECG problem based on finite element methods, consisting of two research thrusts. The first thrust explores the optimal finite element discretization specifically oriented towards the inverse ECG problem. In contrast, most existing discretization strategies are designed for forward problems and may become inappropriate for the corresponding inverse problems. Based on a Fourier analysis of how discretization relates to ill-conditioning, this work proposes refinement strategies that optimize approximation accuracy o f the inverse ECG problem while mitigating its ill-conditioning. To fulfill these strategies, two refinement techniques are developed: one uses hybrid-shaped finite elements whereas the other adapts high-order finite elements. The second research thrust involves a new methodology for inverse ECG solutions called PDE-constrained optimization, an optimization framework that flexibly allows convex objectives and various physically-based constraints. This work features three contributions: (1) fulfilling optimization in the continuous space, (2) formulating rigorous finite element solutions, and (3) fulfilling subsequent numerical optimization by a primal-dual interiorpoint method tailored to the given optimization problem's specific algebraic structure. The efficacy o f this new method is shown by its application to localization o f cardiac ischemic disease, in which the method, under realistic settings, achieves promising solutions to a previously intractable inverse ECG problem involving the bidomain heart model. In summary, this dissertation advances the computational research of inverse ECG, making it evolve toward an image-based, patient-specific modality for biomedical research
Multi-View Power Modeling based on UML MARTE and SysML
The development of SoC involves different activities, usually driven by specialists. These specialists use specific languages and tools to manipulate their specific concepts. The problem is that the multiple views of the system are split into different tools with redundant information. It makes it difficult to ensure consistency as well as to change from one tool to another. We propose a multi-view model where each view represents the specialist concepts in a tool-agnostic manner. The model can be kept consistent by using explicit associations instead of redundancy and tool transformation can be performed to analysis-specific tools. The approach is based on UML and two of its extensions: MARTE and SysML. It is illustrated by adding specific views to specify power management techniques. The resulting model is then transformed into a tool-specific model; \ie a model for Docea Aceplorer, a power analysis tool
Clafer: Lightweight Modeling of Structure, Behaviour, and Variability
Embedded software is growing fast in size and complexity, leading to intimate
mixture of complex architectures and complex control. Consequently, software
specification requires modeling both structures and behaviour of systems.
Unfortunately, existing languages do not integrate these aspects well, usually
prioritizing one of them. It is common to develop a separate language for each
of these facets. In this paper, we contribute Clafer: a small language that
attempts to tackle this challenge. It combines rich structural modeling with
state of the art behavioural formalisms. We are not aware of any other modeling
language that seamlessly combines these facets common to system and software
modeling. We show how Clafer, in a single unified syntax and semantics, allows
capturing feature models (variability), component models, discrete control
models (automata) and variability encompassing all these aspects. The language
is built on top of first order logic with quantifiers over basic entities (for
modeling structures) combined with linear temporal logic (for modeling
behaviour). On top of this semantic foundation we build a simple but expressive
syntax, enriched with carefully selected syntactic expansions that cover
hierarchical modeling, associations, automata, scenarios, and Dwyer's property
patterns. We evaluate Clafer using a power window case study, and comparing it
against other notations that substantially overlap with its scope (SysML, AADL,
Temporal OCL and Live Sequence Charts), discussing benefits and perils of using
a single notation for the purpose
Everything you always wanted to know about a-posteriori error estimation in finite element methods, but were afraid to ask
In this paper the basic concepts to obtain a posteriori error estimates for the finite element method are reviewed. Explicit residual-based, implicit (namely subdomain and element) residual-based, hierarchical-based, recovery-base and functional-based error estimators as well as goal oriented error estimators are presented for a test elliptic boundary value problem. These notes are an introductory presentation, reviewing in a not-too-technical way the fundamental concepts involved in the subject and do not aim at being exhaustive or complete but rather simple and easy to follow. For more detailed explanations, we refer the interested reader to [3] and eventually to [4],[9],[15],[27],[30], chapter 4 of [37],[38],[39] – and the references therein – where most of the material contained in this report can be found
Numerical simulation of electrocardiograms for full cardiac cycles in healthy and pathological conditions
This work is dedicated to the simulation of full cycles of the electrical
activity of the heart and the corresponding body surface potential. The model
is based on a realistic torso and heart anatomy, including ventricles and
atria. One of the specificities of our approach is to model the atria as a
surface, which is the kind of data typically provided by medical imaging for
thin volumes. The bidomain equations are considered in their usual formulation
in the ventricles, and in a surface formulation on the atria. Two ionic models
are used: the Courtemanche-Ramirez-Nattel model on the atria, and the "Minimal
model for human Ventricular action potentials" (MV) by Bueno-Orovio, Cherry and
Fenton in the ventricles. The heart is weakly coupled to the torso by a Robin
boundary condition based on a resistor- capacitor transmission condition.
Various ECGs are simulated in healthy and pathological conditions (left and
right bundle branch blocks, Bachmann's bundle block, Wolff-Parkinson-White
syndrome). To assess the numerical ECGs, we use several qualitative and
quantitative criteria found in the medical literature. Our simulator can also
be used to generate the signals measured by a vest of electrodes. This
capability is illustrated at the end of the article
Incremental Latency Analysis of Heterogeneous Cyber-Physical Systems
REACTION 2014. 3rd International Workshop on Real-time and Distributed Computing in Emerging Applications. Rome, Italy. December 2nd, 2014.Cyber-Physical Systems, as used in automotive, avionics, or aerospace domains, have critical real-time require-ments. Time-related issues might have important impacts and, as these systems are becoming extremely software-reliant, validate and enforcing timing constraints is becoming difficult. Current techniques are mainly focused on validating these constraints late by using integration tests and tracing the system execution. Such methods are time-consuming and labor-intensive and, discovering timing issue late in the development process might incur significant rework efforts. In this paper, we propose an incremental model-based ap-proach to analyze and validate timing requirements of cyber-physical systems. We first capture the system functions, its related latency requirements and validate the end-to-end latency at a high level. This functional architecture is then refined into an implementation deployed on an execution platform. As system description is evolving, the latency analysis is being refined with more precise values. Such an approach provide latency analysis from a high level specification without having to implement the system, saving potential re-engineering efforts. It also helps engineers to select appropriate execution platform components or change the deployment strategy of system functions to ensure that latency requirements will be met when implementing the system.This material is based upon work funded and supported by the Department of Defense under Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of
the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center
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