The Analysis of Pixel Intensity (Myocardial Signal Density) Data: The Quantification of Myocardial Perfusion by Imaging Methods.

This paper described a number of important issues in the analysis of pixel intensity data, as well as approaches for dealing with these. We particularly emphasized the issue of clustering, which may be ubiquitous in studies of pixel intensity data. Clustering can take many forms, e.g., measurements of different sections of a heart or repeated measurements of the same research participant. Clustering typically has the effect of increasing variance estimates. When one fails to account for clustering, variance estimates may be unrealistically small, resulting in spurious significance. We illustrated several possible approaches to account for clustering, including adjusting standard errors for design effects and modeling the covariance structure within clusters using mixed models. These methods offer great flexibility for dealing with a wide variety of research designs and include the capability for adjusting for covariates and different case weights. Similar methods can be used to account for clustering in both superiority and equivalence analyses. In situations where clustering affects the true cluster mean, µ, but not the difference between measures of the mean, it is possible that clustering will have a much greater impact on superiority analyses than on equivalence analyses

Calculation of the Response of Angle Beam EMATs to Flaws in the Far Field

In the design of a system for NDE, it is necessary to quantify the relationship of flaw size and orientation to transducer signal levels. This is particularly true for automated systems, in which the transducer coordinates cannot be adjusted by an operator to maximize the signal. This paper presents the result of a model calculation for the case of angle beam inspection using EMATs, which appear likely to find extensive use in such systems. Included in the model are calculations of the elastic wave radiation pattern in three dimensions for plates, calculations of the elastic wave scattering from cracks using existent approximate models, and calculation of the electrical response to the scattered wave. Transducer apodization is used to reduce spurious side lobe signals and blind areas where flaws are weakly detected. Emphasis is placed on the case of SH wave generation