High frame-rate blood vector velocity imaging using plane waves: simulations and preliminary experiments

Conventional ultrasound methods for acquiring color images of blood velocity are limited by a relatively low frame-rate and are restricted to give velocity estimates along the ultrasound beam direction only. To circumvent these limitations, the method presented in this paper uses 3 techniques: 1) The ultrasound is not focused during the transmissions of the ultrasound signals; 2) A 13-bit Barker code is transmitted simultaneously from each transducer element; and 3) The 2-D vector velocity of the blood is estimated using 2-D cross-correlation. A parameter study was performed using the Field II program, and performance of the method was investigated when a virtual blood vessel was scanned by a linear array transducer. An improved parameter set for the method was identified from the parameter study, and a flow rig measurement was performed using the same improved setup as in the simulations. Finally, the common carotid artery of a healthy male was scanned with a scan sequence that satisfies the limits set by the Food and Drug Administration. Vector velocity images were obtained with a frame-rate of 100 Hz where 40 speckle images are used for each vector velocity image. It was found that the blood flow approximately followed the vessel wall, and that maximum velocity was approximately 1 m/s, which is a normal value for a healthy person. To further evaluate the method, the test person was scanned with magnetic resonance (MR) angiography. The volume flow derived from the MR scanning was compared with that from the ultrasound scanning. A deviation of 9% between the 2 volume flow estimates was found.     

Estimating disease vector population size from citizen science data

Citizen science projects have the potential to address hypotheses requiring extremely large datasets that cannot be collected with the financial and labour constraints of most scientific projects. Data collection by the general public could expand the scope of scientific enquiry if these data accurately capture the system under study. However, data collection inconsistencies by the untrained public may result in biased datasets that do not accurately represent the natural world. In this paper, we harness the availability of scientific and public datasets of the Lyme disease tick vector to identify and account for biases in citizen science tick collections. Estimates of tick abundance from the citizen science dataset correspond moderately with estimates from direct surveillance but exhibit consistent biases. These biases can be mitigated by including factors that may impact collector participation or effort in statistical models, which, in turn, result in more accurate estimates of tick population sizes. Accounting for collection biases within large-scale, public participation datasets could update species abundance maps and facilitate using the wealth of citizen science data to answer scientific questions at scales that are not feasible with traditional datasets.     

Estimation of velocity vector angles using the directional cross-correlation method

A method for determining both velocity magnitude and angle in any direction is suggested. The method uses focusing along the velocity direction and cross-correlation for finding the correct velocity magnitude. The angle is found from beamforming directional signals in a number of directions and then selecting the angle with the highest normalized correlation between directional signals. The approach is investigated using Field II simulations and data from the experimental ultrasound scanner RASMUS and a circulating flow rig with a parabolic flow having a peak velocity of 0.3 m/s. A 7-MHz linear array transducer is used with a normal transmission of a focused ultrasound field. In the simulations the relative standard deviation of the velocity magnitude is between 0.7% and 7.7% for flow angles between 45 degrees and 90 degrees. The study showed that angle estimation by directional beamforming can be estimated with a high precision. The angle estimation performance is highly dependent on the choice of the time ktprf x Tprf (correlation time) between signals to correlate. One performance example is given with a fixed value of ktprf for all flow angles. The angle estimation on measured data for flow at 60 degrees to 90 degrees yields a probability of valid estimates between 68% and 98%. The optimal value of ktprf for each flow angle is found from a parameter study; with these values, the performance on simulated data yields angle estimates with no outlier estimates and with standard deviations below 2 degrees.     

Estimating 2-D vector velocities using multidimensional spectrum analysis

Wilson (1991) presented an ultrasonic wideband estimator for axial blood flow velocity estimation through the use of the 2-D Fourier transform. It was shown how a single velocity component was concentrated along a line in the 2-D Fourier space, where the slope was given by the axial velocity. Later, it was shown that this approach could also be used for finding the lateral velocity component by also including a lateral sampling. A single velocity component would then be concentrated along a plane in the 3-D Fourier space, tilted according to the 2 velocity components. This paper presents 2 new velocity estimators for finding both the axial and lateral velocity components. The estimators essentially search for the plane in the 3- D Fourier space, where the integrated power spectrum is largest. The first uses the 3-D Fourier transform to find the power spectrum, while the second uses a minimum variance approach. Based on this plane, the axial and lateral velocity components are estimated. Several phantom measurements, for flow-to-depth angles of 60, 75, and 90 degrees, were performed. Multiple parallel lines were beamformed simultaneously, and 2 different receive apodization schemes were tried. The 2 estimators were then applied to the data. The axial velocity component was estimated with an average standard deviation below 2.8% of the peak velocity, while the average standard deviation of the lateral velocity estimates was between 2.0% and 16.4%. The 2 estimators were also tested on in vivo data from a transverse scan of the common carotid artery, showing the potential of the vector velocity estimation method under in vivo conditions.     

多接收基元合成孔径声呐频域数据融合算法

单接收基元合成孔径声呐基阵的速度是严格受到限制的,这主要是由于为了保证方位向不出现栅瓣,方位的采样间隔必须小于换能器的半径。通过使用Vernier阵技术可以增加声呐平台的速度,同时在相同的时间内获得比单个接收基元合成孔径声呐更大的测绘面积。虽然我们可以通过预处理把多接收基元的回波数据转换成单接收基元的回波数据,但是这种处理需要耗费大量的时间,因此最终影响整个合成孔径处理算法的效能。文章提供了一个高效的多接收基元合成孔径声呐数据融合方法,该方法主要是利用了快速的傅里叶变换算法把数据变换到频域,然后再进行数据预处理,因此提高了数据融合的有效性,水池试验结果表明该算法是有效的和精确的。     

单矢量水听器二维DOA估计算法

为了减小传统声压阵的布阵规模,提高传统声压阵的测量精度,利用矢量水听器的阵列流形特性,使用阵列信号处理的原理进行二维DOA估计。将单个矢量水听器理解成一个声压水听器和三个振速水听器组成的阵列,在无需知道信号先验知识的条件下,分别采用MUSIC算法和ESPRIT算法对多个不相关的单频窄带信号的二维DOA进行了估计。仿真结果表明:在高信噪比情况下,两种算法的精度都很高,优于5阵元的声压平行线阵。利用单矢量水听器能够对信号的二维到达角进行有效估计,远小于传统声压阵的布阵规模。     

Computed tomography sound velocity reconstruction using incomplete data

An approach based on limited-angle transmission tomography for reconstruction of the sound velocity distribution in the breast is proposed. The imaging setup is similar to that of x-ray mammography. With this setup, the time-of-flight data are acquired by a linear array positioned at the top of the compressed breast that both transmits and receives, and a metal plate is placed at the bottom as a reflector. The setup allows acoustic data acquisition for simultaneous B-mode image formation and the tomographic sound velocity reconstruction. In order to improve the sound velocity estimation accuracy, a new reconstruction algorithm based on a convex programming formulation has been developed. Extensive simulations for both imaging and time-of-flight data based on a 5-MHz linear array were performed on tissues with different geometries and acoustic parameters. Results show that the sound velocity error was generally 1-3 m/s, with a maximum of 5.8 m/s. The radii of the objects under investigation varied from 2 to 6 mm, and all of them were detected successfully. Thus, the proposed approach has been shown to be both feasible and accurate. The approach can be used to complement conventional B-mode imaging to further enhance the detection of breast cancer.     

In vivo validation of a blood vector velocity estimator with MR angiography

Conventional Doppler methods for blood velocity estimation only estimate the velocity component along the ultrasound beam direction. This implies that a Doppler angle under examination close to 90° results in unreliable information about the true blood direction and blood velocity. The novel method transverse oscillation (TO), which combines estimates of the axial and the transverse velocity components in the scan plane, makes it possible to estimate the vector velocity of the blood regardless of the Doppler angle. The present study evaluates the TO method with magnetic resonance phase contrast angiography (MRA) by comparing in vivo measurements of stroke volume. Eleven healthy volunteers were included in this prospective study. From the obtained data sets recorded with the 2 modalities, vector velocity sequences were constructed and stroke volume calculated. Angle of insonation was approximately 90° for TO measurements. The correlation between the stroke volume estimated by TO and MRA was 0.91 (p < 0.01) with the equation for the line of regression: MRA = 1.1?TO-0.4. A Bland-Altman plot was additionally constructed where the mean difference was 0.2 ml with limits of agreement at ?1.4 ml and 1.9 ml. The results indicate that reliable vector velocity estimates can be obtained in vivo using the presented angle-independent 2-D vector velocity method. The TO method can be a useful alternative to conventional Doppler systems by avoiding the angle artifact, thus giving quantitative velocity information.     

Analysis of metabolomic data using support vector machines

Metabolomics is an emerging field providing insight into physiological processes. It is an effective tool to investigate disease diagnosis or conduct toxicological studies by observing changes in metabolite concentrations in various biofluids. Multivariate statistical analysis is generally employed with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or mass spectrometry (MS) data to determine differences between groups (for instance diseased vs healthy). Characteristic predictive models may be built based on a set of training data, and these models are subsequently used to predict whether new test data falls under a specific class. In this study, metabolomic data is obtained by doing a (1)H NMR spectroscopy on urine samples obtained from healthy subjects (male and female) and patients suffering from Streptococcus pneumoniae. We compare the performance of traditional PLS-DA multivariate analysis to support vector machines (SVMs), a technique widely used in genome studies on two case studies: (1) a case where nearly complete distinction may be seen (healthy versus pneumonia) and (2) a case where distinction is more ambiguous (male versus female). We show that SVMs are superior to PLS-DA in both cases in terms of predictive accuracy with the least number of features. With fewer number of features, SVMs are able to give better predictive model when compared to that of PLS-DA.     

Estimating antiviral effectiveness against pandemic influenza using household data

Current estimates of antiviral effectiveness for influenza are based on the existing strains of the virus. Should a pandemic strain emerge, strain-specific estimates will be required as early as possible to ensure that antiviral stockpiles are used optimally and to compare the benefits of using antivirals as prophylaxis or to treat cases. We present a method to measure antiviral effectiveness using early pandemic data on household outbreak sizes, including households that are provided with antivirals for prophylaxis and those provided with antivirals for treatment only. We can assess whether antiviral drugs have a significant impact on susceptibility or on infectivity with the data from approximately 200 to 500 households with a primary case. Fewer households will suffice if the data can be collected before case numbers become high, and estimates are more precise if the study includes data from prophylaxed households and households where no antivirals are provided. Rates of asymptomatic infection and the level of transmissibility of the virus do not affect the accuracy of these estimates greatly, but the pattern of infectivity in the individual strongly influences the estimate of the effect of antivirals on infectivity. An accurate characterization of the infectiousness profile—informed by strain-specific data—is essential for measuring antiviral effectiveness.     

Estimating building dimensions from synthetic aperture radar image sequences

The problem of automatically extracting building dimensions from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image sequences of urban scenes is considered. An algorithm based on the delineation of shadows using active contours constrained by a simple wire-frame building model has been developed and demonstrated using SAR imagery of a village on Salisbury plain. The core of the algorithm is a novel technique for target delineation involving multiple active contours evolving simultaneously. In particular, a technique referred to as multiple hypothesis delineation, in which contours can be in several states simultaneously, is developed and shown to lead to considerable improvement in convergence time and delineation accuracy when used to delineate multiple targets in close proximity. The technique is applied to the automatic estimation of building dimensions by delineation of shadows in a sequence of SAR images of an urban scene. The estimation of building dimensions is automatic; user interaction is limited identifying a building of interest and a region of background clutter close to the building. Results are presented for six different buildings, in each case two SAR images were used in the estimation process separated in illumination angle by either 28deg or 90deg. The estimates of building dimensions are compared with the actual building dimensions obtained from architectural drawings. The algorithm was found to perform robustly and provide reasonably accurate estimates of the building dimensions, typically within ~10% of the true values.     

Pulse centroid velocity of the Poynting vector

The evolution of the pulse centroid velocity of the Poynting vector for both ultrawideband rectangular and ultrashort Gaussian envelope pulses is presented as a function of the propagation distance in a dispersive, absorptive dielectric material. The index of refraction of the material is described by the Lorentz-Lorenz formula in which a single-resonance Lorentz model is used to describe the mean molecular polarizability. The results show that, as the propagation distance increases above a value that is on the order of an absorption depth at the pulse carrier frequency, the centroid velocity of an ultrawideband/ultrashort pulse tends toward the rate at which the Brillouin precursor travels through the medium. For small propagation distances when the carrier frequency of the optical pulse lies in the absorption band of the material, the centroid velocity can take on superluminal and negative values.     

利用超声多普勒技术测量低速血流

利用常规的多普勒系统较难进行低速血流的测量，本文在讨论了常规的多普勒系统的局限后，就一种可测量低速血流的超声多普勒技术的原理，方法进行讨论，并通过计算机模拟实验实现了这种方法。     

Monitoring nonlinear profile data using support vector regression method

In today's manufacturing industries, if the quality characteristic of a product or a process is assumed to be represented by a functional relationship between the response variable and one or more explanatory variables, then the data generated from such a relationship are called profile data. Generally speaking, the functional relationship of the profile data rarely occurs in linear form, and the real data usually do not follow normal distribution. Thus, in this paper, the functional relationship of profile data is described via a nonparametric regression model and a nonparametric exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart is developed for detecting the process shifts for nonlinear profile data in the Phase II monitoring. We first fit the nonlinear profile data via a support vector regression model and use the fitted values to calculate the five metrics. Then, the nonparametric EWMA control chart with the five metrics can be constructed accordingly. Moreover, a simulation study is conducted to evaluate the detecting performance of the new control chart under various process shifts using the out‐of‐control average run length. Finally, a realistic nonlinear profile example is used to demonstrate the usefulness of our proposed nonparametric EWMA control chart and its monitoring schemes. It is expected that the proposed nonparametric EWMA control chart can enhance the monitoring efficiency for nonlinear profile data in the phase II study.     

Effects influencing focusing in synthetic aperture vector flow imaging

Previously, a synthetic aperture vector velocity estimation method was proposed. Data are beamformed at different directions through a point, where the velocity is estimated. The flow direction is estimated by a search for the direction where the normalized cross-correlation peaks and the velocity magnitude along this direction are found. In this paper, different effects that influence the focusing in this method are investigated. These include the effect of phase errors in the emitted spherical waves, motion effects, and the effect of various interpolation methods in beam-forming. A model based on amplitude drop and phase error for spherical waves created using the virtual source concept is derived. This model can be used to determine the opening angle of a virtual source. Simulations for different virtual source placements are made, and it is recommended that the virtual sources be placed behind the aperture when shallow structures are imaged, and when deeper-lying structures are imaged the virtual sources be placed in front of the aperture. Synthetic aperture methods involve summation of data from numerous emissions. Motion between these emissions results in incoherence and affects resolution, contrast, and the signal-to-noise ratio. The effects of motion on the synthetic aperture vector velocity estimation method are investigated, and it is shown that for both axial and lateral motion, the contrast and signal-to-noise ratio can be seriously affected. A compensation method using the previous vector velocity estimate, when new data are beamformed, is implemented and tested. It is shown from a number of flow phantom experiments that a significant improvement with respect to bias and standard deviation of the velocity estimates can be obtained by using this compensation. Increased performance is gained at the expense of computation time. Different interpolation methods can be used for beam-forming the data. In this paper, the velocity estimation performance using various more complex interpolation schemes are compared to that using linear interpolation. No significant difference in the performance of the method is seen when other interpolation methods are used.     

利用超声回波跟踪技术测量血流速度的实验研究

文章主要介绍了利用超声回波跟踪技术进行血流速度测量的原理和方法,通过对运动弦线速度的测量实验,比较了这种方法和传统的超声多谱勒技术在血流速度测量上的性能差异。     

机载LIDAR点云数据估测单株木生物量

使用黑河流域遥感-地面观测同步试验获取的机载激光雷达(LIDAR)点云数据估测了典型树种的单株木生物量。首先由点云数据生成冠层高度模型(CHM),然后采用优化的单株木树冠特征识别算法估测相关的结构参数,最后通过回归分析建立估测参数(树高、冠幅)与实测参数(树高、冠幅、胸径)之间的最优回归方程,并与现有的单株木生物量实测相关生长方程联立,得到单株木生物量估测相关生长方程。结果表明,由LIDAR点云数据得到的单株木估测参数与实测参数显著相关,可以估测单株木生物量(R~2为0.729)。     

Directional velocity estimation using a spatio-temporal encoding technique based on frequency division for synthetic transmit aperture ultrasound

This paper investigates the possibility of flow estimation using spatio-temporal encoding of the transmissions in synthetic transmit aperture imaging (STA). The spatial encoding is based on a frequency division approach. In STA, a major disadvantage is that only a single transmitter (denoting single transducer element or a virtual source) is used in every transmission. The transmitted acoustic energy will be low compared to a conventional focused transmission in which a large part of the aperture is used. By using several transmitters simultaneously, the total transmitted energy can be increased. However, to focus the data properly, the signals originating from the different transmitters must be separated. To do so, the pass band of the transducer is divided into a number of subbands with disjoint spectral support. At every transmission, each transmitter is assigned one of the subbands. In receive, the signals are separated using a simple filtering operation. To attain high axial resolution, broadband spectra must be synthesized for each of the transmitters. By multiplexing the different waveforms on different transmitters over a number of transmissions, this can be accomplished. To further increase the transmitted energy, the waveforms are designed as linear frequency modulated signals. Therefore, the full excitation amplitude can be used during most of the transmission. The method has been evaluated for blood velocity estimation for several different velocities and incident angles. The program Field II was used. A 128-element transducer with a center frequency of 7 MHz was simulated. The 64 transmitting elements were used as the transmitting aperture and 128 elements were used as the receiving aperture. Four virtual sources were created in every transmission. By beamforming lines in the flow direction, directional data were extracted and correlated. Hereby, the velocity of the blood was estimated. The pulse repetition frequency was 16 kHz. Three different setups were investigated with flow angles of 45, 60, and 75 degrees with respect to the acoustic axis. Four different velocities were simulated for each angle at 0.10, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 m/s. The mean relative bias with respect to the peak flow for the three angles was less than 2%, 2%, and 4%, respectively.     

Experimental investigation of computed tomography sound velocity reconstruction using incomplete data

An approach for reconstructing the sound velocity distribution in the breast was previously proposed and verified by simulations, and the present study investigated the approach experimentally. The experimental setup comprised a 5-MHz, 128-channel linear array, a programmable digital array system, a phantom containing objects with differing physical properties, and a computer. The array system was used to collect channel data for simultaneous B-mode image formation and limited-angle tomographic sound velocity reconstruction. The phantom was constructed from materials mimicking the following tissues in the breast: glandular tissue, fat, cysts, high-attenuation tumors, and irregular tumors. The sound velocities in these materials matched those in the corresponding real tissues. The imaging setup is similar to that of x-ray mammography, in which a linear array is placed at the top of the breast and a metal plate is placed at the bottom for reflecting sound waves. Thus, both B-mode images and the sound velocity distribution can be acquired using the same setup. An algorithm based on a convex programming formulation was used to reconstruct the sound velocity images. By scanning the phantom at different positions, nine cases were evaluated. In each of the nine cases, the image object comprised a background (glandular tissue) and one or three regions of interest (fat, tumor, or cyst). The sound velocity was accurately estimated in the nine cases evaluated, with sound velocity errors being less than 5 m/s in 8 of 11 regions of interest. Thus, obtaining the sound velocity distribution is feasible with a B-mode imaging setup using linear arrays. Knowledge of the sound velocity distribution in the breast can be used to complement B-mode imaging and to enhance the detection of breast cancer.