9,991 research outputs found
Improving Fiber Alignment in HARDI by Combining Contextual PDE Flow with Constrained Spherical Deconvolution
We propose two strategies to improve the quality of tractography results
computed from diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) data. Both
methods are based on the same PDE framework, defined in the coupled space of
positions and orientations, associated with a stochastic process describing the
enhancement of elongated structures while preserving crossing structures. In
the first method we use the enhancement PDE for contextual regularization of a
fiber orientation distribution (FOD) that is obtained on individual voxels from
high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) data via constrained
spherical deconvolution (CSD). Thereby we improve the FOD as input for
subsequent tractography. Secondly, we introduce the fiber to bundle coherence
(FBC), a measure for quantification of fiber alignment. The FBC is computed
from a tractography result using the same PDE framework and provides a
criterion for removing the spurious fibers. We validate the proposed
combination of CSD and enhancement on phantom data and on human data, acquired
with different scanning protocols. On the phantom data we find that PDE
enhancements improve both local metrics and global metrics of tractography
results, compared to CSD without enhancements. On the human data we show that
the enhancements allow for a better reconstruction of crossing fiber bundles
and they reduce the variability of the tractography output with respect to the
acquisition parameters. Finally, we show that both the enhancement of the FODs
and the use of the FBC measure on the tractography improve the stability with
respect to different stochastic realizations of probabilistic tractography.
This is shown in a clinical application: the reconstruction of the optic
radiation for epilepsy surgery planning
Kinematics in Kapteyn's Selected Area 76: Orbital Motions Within the Highly Substructured Anticenter Stream
We have measured the mean three-dimensional kinematics of stars in Kapteyn's
Selected Area (SA) 76 (l=209.3, b=26.4 degrees) that were selected to be
Anticenter Stream (ACS) members on the basis of their radial velocities, proper
motions, and location in the color-magnitude diagram. From a total of 31 stars
ascertained to be ACS members primarily from its main sequence turnoff, a mean
ACS radial velocity (derived from spectra obtained with the Hydra multi-object
spectrograph on the WIYN 3.5m telescope) of V_helio = 97.0 +/- 2.8 km/s was
determined, with an intrinsic velocity dispersion sigma_0 = 12.8 \pm 2.1 km/s.
The mean absolute proper motions of these 31 ACS members are mu_alpha cos
(delta) = -1.20 +/- 0.34 mas/yr and mu_delta = -0.78 \pm 0.36 mas/yr. At a
distance to the ACS of 10 \pm 3 kpc, these measured kinematical quantities
produce an orbit that deviates by ~30 degrees from the well-defined swath of
stellar overdensity constituting the Anticenter Stream in the western portion
of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey footprint. We explore possible explanations for
this, and suggest that our data in SA 76 are measuring the motion of a
kinematically cold sub-stream among the ACS debris that was likely a fragment
of the same infalling structure that created the larger ACS system. The ACS is
clearly separated spatially from the majority of claimed Monoceros ring
detections in this region of the sky; however, with the data in hand, we are
unable to either confirm or rule out an association between the ACS and the
poorly-understood Monoceros structure.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 48 pages, 20 figures, preprint forma
Application of new electro-optic technology to Space Station Freedom data management system
A low risk design methodology to permit the local bus structures to support increased data carrying capacities and to speed messages and data flow between nodes or stations on the Space Station Freedom Data Management System in anticipation of growing requirements was evaluated and recommended. The recommended design employs a collateral fiber optic technique that follows a NATO avionic standard that is developed, tested, and available. Application of this process will permit a potential 25 fold increase in data transfer performance on the local wire bus network with a fiber optic network, maintaining the functionality of the low-speed bus and supporting all of the redundant transmission and fault detection capabilities designed into the existing system. The application of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology to both the local data bus and global data bus segments of the Data Management System to support anticipated additional highspeed data transmission requirements was also examined. Techniques were examined to provide a dual wavelength implementation of the fiber optic collateral networks. This dual wavelength implementation would permit each local bus to support two simultaneous high-speed transfers on the same fiber optic bus structure and operate within the limits of the existing protocol standard. A second WDM study examined the use of spectral sliced technology to provide a fourfold increase in the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) global bus networks without requiring modifications to the existing installed cable plant. Computer simulations presented indicated that this data rate improvement can be achieved with commercially available optical components
The effect of aerosol on surface cloud radiative forcing in the Arctic
International audienceCloud radiative forcing is a very important concept to understand what kind of role the clouds play in climate change with thermal effect or albedo effect. In spite of that much progress has been achieved, the clouds are still poorly described in the climate models. Due to the complex aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions, high surface albedo of snow and ice cover, and without solar radiation in long period of the year, the Arctic strong warming caused by increasing greenhouse gases (as most GCMs suggested) has not been verified by the observations. In this study, we were dedicated to quantify the aerosol effect on the Arctic cloud radiative forcing by Northern Aerosol Regional Climate Model (NARCM). Major aerosol species such as Arctic haze sulphate, black carbon, sea salt, organics and dust have been included during our simulations. By inter-comparisons with the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) data, we find surface cloud radiative forcing (SCRF) is ?22 W/m2 for shortwave and 36 W/m2 for longwave. Total cloud forcing is 14 W/m2 with minimum of ?35 W/m2 in early July. If aerosols are taken into account, the SCRF has been increased during winter while negative SCRF has been enhanced during summer. Our estimate of aerosol forcing is about ?6 W/m2 in the Arctic
Accretion onto the Companion of Eta Carinae During the Spectroscopic Event. IV. the Disappearance of Highly Ionized Lines
We show that the rapid and large decrease in the intensity of high-ionization
emission lines from the Eta Carinae massive binary system can be explained by
the accretion model. These emission lines are emitted by material in the nebula
around the binary system that is being ionized by radiation from the hot
secondary star. The emission lines suffer three months long deep fading every
5.54 year, assumed to be the orbital period of the binary system. In the
accretion model, for ~70 day the less massive secondary star is accreting mass
from the primary wind instead of blowing its fast wind. The accretion event has
two effects that substantially reduce the high-energy ionizing radiation flux
from the secondary star. (1) The accreted mass absorbs a larger fraction of the
ionizing flux. (2) The accreted mass forms a temporarily blanked around the
secondary star that increases its effective radius, hence lowering its
effective temperature and the flux of high energy photons. This explanation is
compatible with the fading of the emission lines at the same time the X-ray is
declining to its minimum, and with the fading being less pronounced in the
polar directions.Comment: ApJ, in pres
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