@article{BrueningGoubergritsHepptetal.2017, author = {Br{\"u}ning, Jan and Goubergrits, Leonid and Heppt, Werner and Zachow, Stefan and Hildebrandt, Thomas}, title = {Numerical Analysis of Nasal Breathing - A Pilot Study}, volume = {33}, journal = {Facial Plastic Surgery}, number = {4}, doi = {doi:10.1055/s-0037-1603789}, pages = {388 -- 395}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Background: Currently, there is no fully sufficient way to differentiate between symptomatic and normal nasal breathing. Using the nose's total resistance is disputed as a valid means to objectify nasal airflow, and the need for a more comprehensive diagnostic method is increasing. This work's aim was to test a novel approach considering intranasal wall shear stress as well as static pressure maps obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Methods: X-ray computed tomography (CT) scan data of six symptom-free subjects and seven symptomatic patients were used. Patient-specific geometries of the nasal cavity were segmented from these data sets. Inspiratory and expiratory steady airflow simulations were performed using CFD. Calculated static pressures and wall shear stresses (WSS) were mapped onto a common template of the nasal septum, allowing for comparison of these parameters between the two patient groups. Results: Significant differences in wall shear stress distributions during the inspiratory phase could be identified between the two groups, whereas no differences were found for the expiratory phase. It is assumed that one essential feature of normal nasal breathing probably consists in distinctively different intranasal flow fields for inspiration and expiration. This is in accordance with previous investigations. Conclusion: The proposed method seems to be a promising tool for developing a new kind of patient-specific assessment of nasal breathing. However, more studies and a greater case number of data with an expanded focus, would be ideal.}, language = {en} } @misc{WeiserErdmannSchenkletal.2017, author = {Weiser, Martin and Erdmann, Bodo and Schenkl, Sebastian and Muggenthaler, Holger and Hubig, Michael and Mall, Gita and Zachow, Stefan}, title = {Uncertainty in Temperature-Based Determination of Time of Death}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-63818}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Temperature-based estimation of time of death (ToD) can be per- formed either with the help of simple phenomenological models of corpse cooling or with detailed mechanistic (thermodynamic) heat transfer mod- els. The latter are much more complex, but allow a higher accuracy of ToD estimation as in principle all relevant cooling mechanisms can be taken into account. The potentially higher accuracy depends on the accuracy of tissue and environmental parameters as well as on the geometric resolution. We in- vestigate the impact of parameter variations and geometry representation on the estimated ToD based on a highly detailed 3D corpse model, that has been segmented and geometrically reconstructed from a computed to- mography (CT) data set, differentiating various organs and tissue types. From that we identify the most crucial parameters to measure or estimate, and obtain a local uncertainty quantifcation for the ToD.}, language = {en} } @article{vonTycowiczAmbellanMukhopadhyayetal.2018, author = {von Tycowicz, Christoph and Ambellan, Felix and Mukhopadhyay, Anirban and Zachow, Stefan}, title = {An Efficient Riemannian Statistical Shape Model using Differential Coordinates}, volume = {43}, journal = {Medical Image Analysis}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1016/j.media.2017.09.004}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We propose a novel Riemannian framework for statistical analysis of shapes that is able to account for the nonlinearity in shape variation. By adopting a physical perspective, we introduce a differential representation that puts the local geometric variability into focus. We model these differential coordinates as elements of a Lie group thereby endowing our shape space with a non-Euclidean structure. A key advantage of our framework is that statistics in a manifold shape space becomes numerically tractable improving performance by several orders of magnitude over state-of-the-art. We show that our Riemannian model is well suited for the identification of intra-population variability as well as inter-population differences. In particular, we demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model in experiments on specificity and generalization ability. We further derive a statistical shape descriptor that outperforms the standard Euclidean approach in terms of shape-based classification of morphological disorders.}, language = {en} } @article{BennHiepenOsterlandetal.2017, author = {Benn, Andreas and Hiepen, Christian and Osterland, Marc and Sch{\"u}tte, Christof and Zwijsen, An and Knaus, Petra}, title = {Role of bone morphogenetic proteins in sprouting angiogenesis: differential BMP receptor-dependent signaling pathways balance stalk vs. tip cell competence}, volume = {31}, journal = {FASEB Journal}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1096/fj.201700193RR}, pages = {4720 -- 4733}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Before the onset of sprouting angiogenesis, the endothelium is prepatterned for the positioning of tip and stalk cells. Both cell identities are not static, as endothelial cells (ECs) constantly compete for the tip cell position in a dynamic fashion. Here, we show that both bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) 2 and BMP6 are proangiogenic in vitro and ex vivo and that the BMP type I receptors, activin receptor-like kinase (ALK)3 and ALK2, play crucial and distinct roles in this process. BMP2 activates the expression of tip cell-associated genes, such as DLL4 (delta-like ligand 4) and KDR (kinase insert domain receptor), and p38-heat shock protein 27 (HSP27)-dependent cell migration, thereby generating tip cell competence. Whereas BMP6 also triggers collective cell migration via the p38-HSP27 signaling axis, BMP6 induces in addition SMAD1/5 signaling, thereby promoting the expression of stalk cell-associated genes, such as HES1 (hairy and enhancer of split 1) and FLT1 (fms-like tyrosine kinase 1). Specifically, ALK3 is required for sprouting from HUVEC spheroids, whereas ALK2 represses sprout formation. We demonstrate that expression levels and respective complex formation of BMP type I receptors in ECs determine stalk vs. tip cell identity, thus contributing to endothelial plasticity during sprouting angiogenesis. As antiangiogenic monotherapies that target the VEGF or ALK1 pathways have not fulfilled efficacy objectives in clinical trials, the selective targeting of the ALK2/3 pathways may be an attractive new approach.}, language = {en} } @misc{VegaSchuetteConrad2014, author = {Vega, Iliusi and Sch{\"u}tte, Christof and Conrad, Tim}, title = {SAIMeR: Self-adapted method for the identification of metastable states in real-world time series}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-50130}, year = {2014}, abstract = {In the framework of time series analysis with recurrence networks, we introduce SAIMeR, a heuristic self-adapted method that determines the elusive recurrence threshold and identifies metastable states in complex time series. To identify metastable states as well as the transitions between them, we use graph theory concepts and a fuzzy partitioning clustering algorithm. We illustrate SAIMeR by applying it to three real-world time series and show that it is able to identify metastable states in real-world data with noise and missing data points. Finally, we suggest a way to choose the embedding parameters used to construct the state space in which this method is performed, based on the analysis of how the values of these parameters affect two recurrence quantitative measurements: recurrence rate and entropy.}, language = {en} } @misc{StoppelHegeWiebel2014, author = {Stoppel, Sergej and Hege, Hans-Christian and Wiebel, Alexander}, title = {Visibility-Driven Depth Determination of Surface Patches in Direct Volume Rendering}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.2312/eurovisshort.20141164}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-50266}, year = {2014}, abstract = {This paper presents an algorithm called surfseek for selecting surfaces on the most visible features in direct volume rendering (DVR). The algorithm is based on a previously published technique (WYSIWYP) for picking 3D locations in DVR. The new algorithm projects a surface patch on the DVR image, consisting of multiple rays. For each ray the algorithm uses WYSIWYP or a variant of it to find the candidates for the most visible locations along the ray. Using these candidates the algorithm constructs a graph and computes a minimum cut on this graph. The minimum cut represents a very visible but relatively smooth surface. In the last step the selected surface is displayed. We provide examples for the results in real-world dataset as well as in artificially generated datasets.}, language = {en} } @article{PaetschBaumProhaskaetal.2014, author = {Paetsch, Olaf and Baum, Daniel and Prohaska, Steffen and Ehrig, Karsten and Ebell, Gino and Meinel, Dietmar and Heyn, Andreas}, title = {Korrosionsverfolgung in 3D-computertomographischen Aufnahmen von Stahlbetonproben}, journal = {DGZfP-Jahrestagung 2014 Konferenzband}, year = {2014}, language = {de} } @misc{HoffmannSchultzSchellhornetal.2014, author = {Hoffmann, Ren{\´e} and Schultz, Julia A. and Schellhorn, Rico and Rybacki, Erik and Keupp, Helmut and Lemanis, Robert and Zachow, Stefan}, title = {Non-invasive imaging methods applied to neo- and paleo-ontological cephalopod research}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.5194/bg-11-2721-2014}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-50300}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Several non-invasive methods are common practice in natural sciences today. Here we present how they can be applied and contribute to current topics in cephalopod (paleo-) biology. Different methods will be compared in terms of time necessary to acquire the data, amount of data, accuracy/resolution, minimum/maximum size of objects that can be studied, the degree of post-processing needed and availability. The main application of the methods is seen in morphometry and volumetry of cephalopod shells. In particular we present a method for precise buoyancy calculation. Therefore, cephalopod shells were scanned together with different reference bodies, an approach developed in medical sciences. It is necessary to know the volume of the reference bodies, which should have similar absorption properties like the object of interest. Exact volumes can be obtained from surface scanning. Depending on the dimensions of the study object different computed tomography techniques were applied.}, language = {en} } @misc{PaetschBaumEbelletal.2014, author = {Paetsch, Olaf and Baum, Daniel and Ebell, Gino and Ehrig, Karsten and Heyn, Andreas and Meinel, Dietmar and Prohaska, Steffen}, title = {Korrosionsverfolgung in 3D-computertomographischen Aufnahmen von Stahlbetonproben}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-50912}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Kurzfassung. Durch die Alkalit{\"a}t des Betons wird Betonstahl dauerhaft vor Korrosion gesch{\"u}tzt. Infolge von Chlorideintrag kann dieser Schutz nicht l{\"a}nger aufrechterhalten werden und f{\"u}hrt zu Lochkorrosion. Die zerst{\"o}rungsfreie Pr{\"u}fung von Stahlbetonproben mit 3D-CT bietet die M{\"o}glichkeit, eine Probe mehrfach gezielt vorzusch{\"a}digen und den Korrosionsfortschritt zu untersuchen. Zur Quantifizierung des Sch{\"a}digungsgrades m{\"u}ssen die bei dieser Untersuchung anfallenden großen Bilddaten mit Bildverarbeitungsmethoden ausgewertet werden. Ein wesentlicher Schritt dabei ist die Segmentierung der Bilddaten, bei der zwischen Korrosionsprodukt (Rost), Betonstahl (BSt), Beton, Rissen, Poren und Umgebung unterschieden werden muss. Diese Segmentierung bildet die Grundlage f{\"u}r statistische Untersuchungen des Sch{\"a}digungsfortschritts. Hierbei sind die {\"A}nderung der BSt-Geometrie, die Zunahme von Korrosionsprodukten und deren Ver{\"a}nderung {\"u}ber die Zeit sowie ihrer r{\"a}umlichen Verteilung in der Probe von Interesse. Aufgrund der Gr{\"o}ße der CT-Bilddaten ist eine manuelle Segmentierung nicht durchf{\"u}hrbar, so dass automatische Verfahren unabdingbar sind. Dabei ist insbesondere die Segmentierung der Korrosionsprodukte in den Bilddaten ein schwieriges Problem. Allein aufgrund der Grauwerte ist eine Zuordnung nahezu unm{\"o}glich, denn die Grauwerte von Beton und Korrosionsprodukt unterscheiden sich kaum. Eine formbasierte Suche ist nicht offensichtlich, da die Korrosionsprodukte in Beton diffuse Formen haben. Allerdings l{\"a}sst sich Vorwissen {\"u}ber die Ausbreitung der Korrosionsprodukte nutzen. Sie bilden sich in r{\"a}umlicher N{\"a}he des BSt (in Bereichen vorheriger Volumenabnahme des BSt), entlang von Rissen sowie in Porenr{\"a}umen, die direkt am BSt und in dessen Nahbereich liegen. Davon ausgehend wird vor der Korrosionsprodukterkennung zun{\"a}chst eine BSt-Volumen-, Riss- und Porenerkennung durchgef{\"u}hrt. Dieser in der Arbeit n{\"a}her beschriebene Schritt erlaubt es, halbautomatisch Startpunkte (Seed Points) f{\"u}r die Korrosionsprodukterkennung zu finden. Weiterhin werden verschiedene in der Bildverarbeitung bekannte Algorithmen auf ihre Eignung untersucht werden.}, language = {de} } @misc{SchuetteConrad2014, author = {Sch{\"u}tte, Christof and Conrad, Tim}, title = {Showcase 3: Information-based medicine}, volume = {1}, journal = {MATHEON-Mathematics for Key Technologies}, editor = {Deuflhard, Peter and Gr{\"o}tschel, Martin and H{\"o}mberg, Dietmar and Horst, Ulrich and Kramer, J{\"u}rg and Mehrmann, Volker and Polthier, Konrad and Schmidt, Frank and Skutella, Martin and Sprekels, J{\"u}rgen}, publisher = {European Mathematical Society}, pages = {66 -- 67}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @misc{PolthierSullivanZiegleretal.2014, author = {Polthier, Konrad and Sullivan, John and Ziegler, G{\"u}nter M. and Hege, Hans-Christian}, title = {Visualization}, journal = {MATHEON - Mathematics for Key Technologies}, editor = {Deuflhard, Peter and et al.,}, publisher = {European Mathematical Society}, isbn = {978-3-03719-137-8}, doi = {10.4171/137}, pages = {335 -- 339}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @misc{LameckerHegeTabelowetal.2014, author = {Lamecker, Hans and Hege, Hans-Christian and Tabelow, Karsten and Polzehl, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Image Processing}, journal = {MATHEON - Mathematics for Key Technologies}, editor = {Deuflhard, Peter and et al.,}, publisher = {European Mathematical Society}, doi = {10.4171/137}, pages = {359 -- 376}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @misc{EhlkeFrenzelRammetal.2014, author = {Ehlke, Moritz and Frenzel, Thomas and Ramm, Heiko and Lamecker, Hans and Akbari Shandiz, Mohsen and Anglin, Carolyn and Zachow, Stefan}, title = {Robust Measurement of Natural Acetabular Orientation from AP Radiographs using Articulated 3D Shape and Intensity Models}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-49824}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{EngelkeKuhnFlatkenetal.2014, author = {Engelke, Wito and Kuhn, Alexander and Flatken, Markus and Chen, Fang and Hege, Hans-Christian and Gerndt, Andreas and Hotz, Ingrid}, title = {Atmospheric Impact of Volcano Eruptions}, booktitle = {Proceedings IEEE SciVis 2014}, year = {2014}, abstract = {The analysis of data that captures volcanic eruptions and their atmospheric aftermath plays an important role for domain experts to gain a deeper understanding of the volcanic eruption and their consequences for atmosphere, climate and air traffic. Thereby, one major challenge is to extract and combine the essential information, which is spread over various, mostly sparse data sources. This requires a careful integration of each data set with its strength and limitations. The sparse, but more reliable measurement data is mainly used to calibrate the more dense simulation data. This work combines a collection of visualization approaches into an exploitative framework. The goal is to support the domain experts to build a complete picture of the situation. But it is also important to understand the individual data sources, the wealth of their information and the quality of the simulation results. All presented methods are designed for direct interaction with the data from different perspectives rather than the sole generation of some final images.}, language = {en} } @article{FaerberTitschackSchoenbergetal.2016, author = {F{\"a}rber, Claudia and Titschack, J{\"u}rgen and Sch{\"o}nberg, Christine H. L. and Ehrig, Karsten and Boos, Karin and Baum, Daniel and Illerhaus, Bernd and Asgaard, Ulla and Bromley, Richard G. and Freiwald, Andr{\´e} and Wisshak, Max}, title = {Long-term macrobioerosion in the Mediterranean Sea assessed by micro-computed tomography}, volume = {13}, journal = {Biogeosciences}, number = {11}, address = {http://www.biogeosciences.net/13/3461/2016/}, doi = {10.5194/bg-13-3461-2016}, pages = {3461 -- 3474}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Biological erosion is a key process for the recycling of carbonate and the formation of calcareous sediments in the oceans. Experimental studies showed that bioerosion is subject to distinct temporal variability, but previous long-term studies were restricted to tropical waters. Here, we present results from a 14-year bioerosion experiment that was carried out along the rocky limestone coast of the island of Rhodes, Greece, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, in order to monitor the pace at which bioerosion affects carbonate substrate and the sequence of colonisation by bioeroding organisms. Internal macrobioerosion was visualised and quantified by micro-computed tomography and computer-algorithm-based segmentation procedures. Analysis of internal macrobioerosion traces revealed a dominance of bioeroding sponges producing eight types of characteristic Entobia cavity networks, which were matched to five different clionaid sponges by spicule identification in extracted tissue. The morphology of the entobians strongly varied depending on the species of the producing sponge, its ontogenetic stage, available space, and competition by other bioeroders. An early community developed during the first 5 years of exposure with initially very low macrobioerosion rates and was followed by an intermediate stage when sponges formed large and more diverse entobians and bioerosion rates increased. After 14 years, 30 \% of the block volumes were occupied by boring sponges, yielding maximum bioerosion rates of 900 g m^-2 yr^-1. A high spatial variability in macrobioerosion prohibited clear conclusions about the onset of macrobioerosion equilibrium conditions. This highlights the necessity of even longer experimental exposures and higher replication at various factor levels in order to better understand and quantify temporal patterns of macrobioerosion in marine carbonate environments.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Dercksen2015, author = {Dercksen, Vincent J.}, title = {Visual computing techniques for the reconstruction and analysis of anatomically realistic neural networks}, year = {2015}, abstract = {To understand how the brain translates sensory input into behavior, one needs to identify, at the cellular level, the involved neural circuitry and the electrical signals it carries. This thesis describes methods and tools that enable neuroscientists to obtain important anatomical data, including neuron numbers and shapes, from 3D microscopy images. On this basis, tools have been developed to create and visually analyze anatomically realistic 3D models of neural networks: 1. An automatic segmentation method for determining the number and location of neuron cell bodies in 3D microscopy images. Application of this method yields a difference of merely ∼4\% between automatically and manually counted cells, which is sufficiently accurate for application in large-scale counting experiments. 2. A method for the automatic alignment of 3D section volumes containing filamentous structures. To this end, an existing point-matching-based method has been adapted such that sections containing neuron and microtubule fragments could be successfully aligned. 3. The Filament Editor, a 3D proof-editing tool for visual verification and correction of automatically traced filaments. The usefulness of the Filament Editor is demonstrated by applying it in a validated neuron reconstruction pipeline to create 3D models of long-range and complex neuronal branches. 4. The tool NeuroNet, which is used to assemble an anatomical model of a neural network representing the rat barrel cortex (or subnetworks therein, e.g. individual cortical columns), based on reconstructed anatomical data, such as neuron distributions and 3D morphologies. The tool estimates synaptic connectivity between neurons based on structural overlap between axons and dendrites. 5. A framework for the interactive visual analysis of synaptic connectivity in such networks at multiple scales. It works from the level of neuron populations down to individual synapse positions on dendritic trees. It comprises the Cortical Column Connectivity Viewer, developed to analyze synaptic connections between neuron populations within and between cortical columns. The usefulness of these methods is demonstrated by applying them to reconstruct and analyze neural networks in the rat barrel cortex. Finally, I describe several applications of these methods and tools by neuroscientists, yielding significant biological findings regarding neuron anatomy and connectivity.}, language = {en} } @misc{KozlikovaKroneFalketal.2015, author = {Kozlikova, Barbora and Krone, Michael and Falk, Martin and Lindow, Norbert and Baaden, Marc and Baum, Daniel and Viola, Ivan and Parulek, Julius and Hege, Hans-Christian}, title = {Visualization of Biomolecular Structures: State of the Art}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.2312/eurovisstar.20151112}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-57217}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Structural properties of molecules are of primary concern in many fields. This report provides a comprehensive overview on techniques that have been developed in the fields of molecular graphics and visualization with a focus on applications in structural biology. The field heavily relies on computerized geometric and visual representations of three-dimensional, complex, large, and time-varying molecular structures. The report presents a taxonomy that demonstrates which areas of molecular visualization have already been extensively investigated and where the field is currently heading. It discusses visualizations for molecular structures, strategies for efficient display regarding image quality and frame rate, covers different aspects of level of detail, and reviews visualizations illustrating the dynamic aspects of molecular simulation data. The survey concludes with an outlook on promising and important research topics to foster further success in the development of tools that help to reveal molecular secrets.}, language = {en} } @article{Zachow2015, author = {Zachow, Stefan}, title = {Computational Planning in Facial Surgery}, volume = {31}, journal = {Facial Plastic Surgery}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1055/s-0035-1564717}, pages = {446 -- 462}, year = {2015}, abstract = {This article reflects the research of the last two decades in computational planning for cranio-maxillofacial surgery. Model-guided and computer-assisted surgery planning has tremendously developed due to ever increasing computational capabilities. Simulators for education, planning, and training of surgery are often compared with flight simulators, where maneuvers are also trained to reduce a possible risk of failure. Meanwhile, digital patient models can be derived from medical image data with astonishing accuracy and thus can serve for model surgery to derive a surgical template model that represents the envisaged result. Computerized surgical planning approaches, however, are often still explorative, meaning that a surgeon tries to find a therapeutic concept based on his or her expertise using computational tools that are mimicking real procedures. Future perspectives of an improved computerized planning may be that surgical objectives will be generated algorithmically by employing mathematical modeling, simulation, and optimization techniques. Planning systems thus act as intelligent decision support systems. However, surgeons can still use the existing tools to vary the proposed approach, but they mainly focus on how to transfer objectives into reality. Such a development may result in a paradigm shift for future surgery planning.}, language = {en} } @misc{LamasRodriguezEhlkeHoffmannetal.2015, author = {Lamas-Rodr{\´i}guez, Juli{\´a}n and Ehlke, Moritz and Hoffmann, Ren{\´e} and Zachow, Stefan}, title = {GPU-accelerated denoising of large tomographic data sets with low SNR}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-56339}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Enhancements in tomographic imaging techniques facilitate non-destructive methods for visualizing fossil structures. However, to penetrate dense materials such as sediments or pyrites, image acquisition is typically performed with high beam energy and very sensitive image intensifiers, leading to artifacts and noise in the acquired data. The analysis of delicate fossil structures requires the images to be captured in maximum resolution, resulting in large data sets of several giga bytes (GB) in size. Since the structural information of interest is often almost in the same spatial range as artifacts and noise, image processing and segmentation algorithms have to cope with a very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Within this report we present a study on the performance of a collection of denoising algorithms applied to a very noisy fossil dataset. The study shows that a non-local means (NLM) filter, in case it is properly configured, is able to remove a considerable amount of noise while preserving most of the structural information of interest. Based on the results of this study, we developed a software tool within ZIBAmira that denoises large tomographic datasets using an adaptive, GPU-accelerated NLM filter. With the help of our implementation a user can interactively configure the filter's parameters and thus its effectiveness with respect to the data of interest, while the filtering response is instantly visualized for a preselected region of interest (ROI). Our implementation efficiently denoises even large fossil datasets in a reasonable amount of time.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KozlikovaKroneLindowetal.2015, author = {Kozlikova, Barbora and Krone, Michael and Lindow, Norbert and Falk, Martin and Baaden, Marc and Baum, Daniel and Viola, Ivan and Parulek, Julius and Hege, Hans-Christian}, title = {Visualization of Biomolecular Structures: State of the Art}, booktitle = {EuroVis 2015 STARS Proceedings}, doi = {10.2312/eurovisstar.20151112}, pages = {61 -- 81}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Structural properties of molecules are of primary concern in many fields. This report provides a comprehensive overview on techniques that have been developed in the fields of molecular graphics and visualization with a focus on applications in structural biology. The field heavily relies on computerized geometric and visual representations of three-dimensional, complex, large, and time-varying molecular structures. The report presents a taxonomy that demonstrates which areas of molecular visualization have already been extensively investigated and where the field is currently heading. It discusses visualizations for molecular structures, strategies for efficient display regarding image quality and frame rate, covers different aspects of level of detail, and reviews visualizations illustrating the dynamic aspects of molecular simulation data. The report concludes with an outlook on promising and important research topics to enable further success in advancing the knowledge about interaction of molecular structures.}, language = {en} } @article{GreweSchreiberZachow2015, author = {Grewe, Carl Martin and Schreiber, Lisa and Zachow, Stefan}, title = {Fast and Accurate Digital Morphometry of Facial Expressions}, volume = {31}, journal = {Facial Plastic Surgery}, number = {05}, publisher = {Thieme Medical Publishers}, address = {New York}, doi = {10.1055/s-0035-1564720}, pages = {431 -- 438}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @misc{KuhnTroemel2015, author = {Kuhn, Alexander and Tr{\"o}mel, Silke}, title = {Intercomparison Study of Cloud Feature Extraction and Tracking Algorithms}, volume = {17}, journal = {Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol 17}, pages = {ID 14128}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Clouds and precipitation systems are fundamental features in the global climate cycle and are one focus aspect of recent high resolution, cloud resolving simulations and measurement modalities. Highly resolved data sources allow for more precise methodologies to extract and track cloud features on different scales and enable novel evaluation tasks such as life-cycle tracking, feature-based statistics, and feature-based comparison of simulation and measurements. However, their complex dynamics and highly variable shape morphology makes extraction and tracking of clouds a challenging task with respect to stable and reliable algorithms. In this work we will present our efforts on establishing an community-wide inter-comparison study to provide an overview of state-of-the-art algorithms for cloud extraction and tracking. We propose a set of 2D and 3D benchmark data sets (from simulations and measurements) that are used as a common basis for comparison. In addition we describe a joint feature-based evaluation framework and provide an in depth analysis and comparison of those algorithms. The goal is to systematically compare and assess numerical extraction and tracking techniques for cloud features in meteorological data and provide a comprehensive overview of suitable application scenarios, describe current strengths and limitations, and derive statements about their variability for feature-based analysis tasks.}, language = {en} } @misc{DeuflhardHege2015, author = {Deuflhard, Peter and Hege, Hans-Christian}, title = {Raumtiefe in Malerei und Computergrafik}, journal = {R{\"a}ume - Bilder - Kulturen}, editor = {Lepper, Verena and Deuflhard, Peter and Markschies, Christoph}, publisher = {Walter De Gruyter}, isbn = {978-3-11-035993-0}, pages = {33 -- 46}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Einf{\"u}hrung: Die Tiefenwirkung dreidimensionaler R{\"a}ume in einem zweidimensionalen Bild einzufangen, ist ein Faszinosum nahezu aller Kulturen der Menschheitsgeschichte. Der vorliegende Aufsatz folgt den Spuren dieses Faszinosums, vergleichend in der Malerei und der mathematisierten Computergrafik. Die Entdeckung der Zentralperspektive in der italienischen Renaissance zeigt bereits den engen Zusammenhang von Malerei und Mathematik. Auf der Suche nach Maltechniken, mit denen Raumtiefe bildnerisch dargestellt werden kann, beginnen wir in Kap. 2 mit einem chronologischen Gang durch verschiedene Epochen der europ{\"a}ischen Malerei. Hieraus abgeleitete Prinzipien, soweit sie im Rechner realisierbar scheinen, stellen wir in Kap. 3 am Beispiel moderner Methoden der mathematischen Visualisierung vor.}, language = {de} } @incollection{LameckerZachow2016, author = {Lamecker, Hans and Zachow, Stefan}, title = {Statistical Shape Modeling of Musculoskeletal Structures and Its Applications}, volume = {23}, booktitle = {Computational Radiology for Orthopaedic Interventions}, publisher = {Springer}, isbn = {978-3-319-23481-6}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-23482-3}, pages = {1 -- 23}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Statistical shape models (SSM) describe the shape variability contained in a given population. They are able to describe large populations of complex shapes with few degrees of freedom. This makes them a useful tool for a variety of tasks that arise in computer-aided madicine. In this chapter we are going to explain the basic methodology of SSMs and present a variety of examples, where SSMs have been successfully applied.}, language = {en} } @article{ZachowHeppt2015, author = {Zachow, Stefan and Heppt, Werner}, title = {The Facial Profile}, volume = {31}, journal = {Facial Plastic Surgery}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1055/s-0035-1566132}, pages = {419 -- 420}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Facial appearance in our societies is often associated with notions of attractiveness, juvenileness, beauty, success, and so forth. Hence, the role of facial plastic surgery is highly interrelated to a patient's desire to feature many of these positively connoted attributes, which of course, are subject of different cultural perceptions or social trends. To judge about somebody's facial appearance, appropriate quantitative measures as well as methods to obtain and compare individual facial features are required. This special issue on facial profile is intended to provide an overview on how facial characteristics are surgically managed in an interdisciplinary way based on experience, instrumentation, and modern technology to obtain an aesthetic facial appearance with harmonious facial proportions. The facial profile will be discussed within the context of facial aesthetics. Latest concepts for capturing facial morphology in high speed and impressive detail are presented for quantitative analysis of even subtle changes, aging effects, or facial expressions. In addition, the perception of facial profiles is evaluated based on eye tracking technology.}, language = {en} } @article{ZahnGrotjohannRammetal.2015, author = {Zahn, Robert and Grotjohann, Sarah and Ramm, Heiko and Zachow, Stefan and Putzier, Michael and Perka, Carsten and Tohtz, Stephan}, title = {Pelvic tilt compensates for increased acetabular anteversion}, volume = {40}, journal = {International Orthopaedics}, number = {8}, doi = {10.1007/s00264-015-2949-6}, pages = {1571 -- 1575}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Pelvic tilt determines functional orientation of the acetabulum. In this study, we investigated the interaction of pelvic tilt and functional acetabular anteversion (AA) in supine position.}, language = {en} } @misc{KuhnEngelkeFlatkenetal.2016, author = {Kuhn, Alexander and Engelke, Wito and Flatken, Markus and Hege, Hans-Christian and Hotz, Ingrid}, title = {Topology-based Analysis for Multimodal Atmospheric Data of Volcano Eruptions}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-44684-4_2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-57043}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Many scientific applications deal with data from a multitude of different sources, e.g., measurements, imaging and simulations. Each source provides an additional perspective on the phenomenon of interest, but also comes with specific limitations, e.g. regarding accuracy, spatial and temporal availability. Effectively combining and analyzing such multimodal and partially incomplete data of limited accuracy in an integrated way is challenging. In this work, we outline an approach for an integrated analysis and visualization of the atmospheric impact of volcano eruptions. The data sets comprise observation and imaging data from satellites as well as results from numerical particle simulations. To analyze the clouds from the volcano eruption in the spatiotemporal domain we apply topological methods. Extremal structures reveal structures in the data that support clustering and comparison. We further discuss the robustness of those methods with respect to different properties of the data and different parameter setups. Finally we outline open challenges for the effective integrated visualization using topological methods.}, language = {en} } @misc{GuentherLameckerWeiser2011, author = {G{\"u}nther, Andreas and Lamecker, Hans and Weiser, Martin}, title = {Direct LDDMM of Discrete Currents with Adaptive Finite Elements}, journal = {Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Mathematical Foundations of Computational Anatomy - Geometrical and Statistical Methods for Modelling Biological Shape Variability}, editor = {Pennec, X. and Joshi, S. and Nielsen, M.}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2011}, abstract = {We consider Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping of general \$m\$-currents. After stating an optimization algorithm in the function space of admissable morph generating velocity fields, two innovative aspects in this framework are presented and numerically investigated: First, we spatially discretize the velocity field with conforming adaptive finite elements and discuss advantages of this new approach. Second, we directly compute the temporal evolution of discrete \$m\$-current attributes.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MukhopadhyayOksuzBevilacquaetal.2015, author = {Mukhopadhyay, Anirban and Oksuz, Ilkay and Bevilacqua, Marco and Dharmakumar, Rohan and Tsaftaris, Sotirios}, title = {Data-Driven Feature Learning for Myocardial Segmentation of CP-BOLD MRI}, volume = {9126}, booktitle = {Functional Imaging and Modeling of the Heart}, publisher = {Springer}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-20309-6_22}, pages = {189 -- 197}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Cardiac Phase-resolved Blood Oxygen-Level-Dependent (CP- BOLD) MR is capable of diagnosing an ongoing ischemia by detecting changes in myocardial intensity patterns at rest without any contrast and stress agents. Visualizing and detecting these changes require significant post-processing, including myocardial segmentation for isolating the myocardium. But, changes in myocardial intensity pattern and myocardial shape due to the heart's motion challenge automated standard CINE MR myocardial segmentation techniques resulting in a significant drop of segmentation accuracy. We hypothesize that the main reason behind this phenomenon is the lack of discernible features. In this paper, a multi scale discriminative dictionary learning approach is proposed for supervised learning and sparse representation of the myocardium, to improve the myocardial feature selection. The technique is validated on a challenging dataset of CP-BOLD MR and standard CINE MR acquired in baseline and ischemic condition across 10 canine subjects. The proposed method significantly outperforms standard cardiac segmentation techniques, including segmentation via registration, level sets and supervised methods for myocardial segmentation.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MukhopadhyayOksuzBevilacquaetal.2015, author = {Mukhopadhyay, Anirban and Oksuz, Ilkay and Bevilacqua, Marco and Dharmakumar, Rohan and Tsaftaris, Sotirios}, title = {Unsupervised myocardial segmentation for cardiac MRI}, volume = {LNCS 9351}, booktitle = {Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention -- MICCAI 2015}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-24574-4_2}, pages = {12 -- 20}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Though unsupervised segmentation was a de-facto standard for cardiac MRI segmentation early on, recently cardiac MRI segmentation literature has favored fully supervised techniques such as Dictionary Learning and Atlas-based techniques. But, the benefits of unsupervised techniques e.g., no need for large amount of training data and better potential of handling variability in anatomy and image contrast, is more evident with emerging cardiac MR modalities. For example, CP-BOLD is a new MRI technique that has been shown to detect ischemia without any contrast at stress but also at rest conditions. Although CP-BOLD looks similar to standard CINE, changes in myocardial intensity patterns and shape across cardiac phases, due to the heart's motion, BOLD effect and artifacts affect the underlying mechanisms of fully supervised segmentation techniques resulting in a significant drop in segmentation accuracy. In this paper, we present a fully unsupervised technique for segmenting myocardium from the background in both standard CINE MR and CP-BOLD MR. We combine appearance with motion information (obtained via Optical Flow) in a dictionary learning framework to sparsely represent important features in a low dimensional space and separate myocardium from background accordingly. Our fully automated method learns background-only models and one class classifier provides myocardial segmentation. The advantages of the proposed technique are demonstrated on a dataset containing CP-BOLD MR and standard CINE MR image sequences acquired in baseline and ischemic condition across 10 canine subjects, where our method outperforms state-of-the-art supervised segmentation techniques in CP-BOLD MR and performs at-par for standard CINE MR.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{OksuzMukhopadhyayBevilacquaetal.2015, author = {Oksuz, Ilkay and Mukhopadhyay, Anirban and Bevilacqua, Marco and Dharmakumar, Rohan and Tsaftaris, Sotirios}, title = {Dictionary Learning Based Image Descriptor for Myocardial Registration of CP-BOLD MR}, volume = {9350}, booktitle = {Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention -- MICCAI 2015}, publisher = {Springer}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-24571-3_25}, pages = {205 -- 213}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Cardiac Phase-resolved Blood Oxygen-Level-Dependent (CP- BOLD) MRI is a new contrast agent- and stress-free imaging technique for the assessment of myocardial ischemia at rest. The precise registration among the cardiac phases in this cine type acquisition is essential for automating the analysis of images of this technique, since it can potentially lead to better specificity of ischemia detection. However, inconsistency in myocardial intensity patterns and the changes in myocardial shape due to the heart's motion lead to low registration performance for state- of-the-art methods. This low accuracy can be explained by the lack of distinguishable features in CP-BOLD and inappropriate metric defini- tions in current intensity-based registration frameworks. In this paper, the sparse representations, which are defined by a discriminative dictionary learning approach for source and target images, are used to improve myocardial registration. This method combines appearance with Gabor and HOG features in a dictionary learning framework to sparsely represent features in a low dimensional space. The sum of squared differences of these distinctive sparse representations are used to define a similarity term in the registration framework. The proposed descriptor is validated on a challenging dataset of CP-BOLD MR and standard CINE MR acquired in baseline and ischemic condition across 10 canines.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SalehSahuZafaretal.2015, author = {Saleh, Salah and Sahu, Manish and Zafar, Zuhair and Berns, Karsten}, title = {A Multimodal Nonverbal Human-robot Communication System}, booktitle = {VI International Conference on Computational Bioengineering}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Socially interactive robot needs the same behaviors and capabilities of human to be accepted as a member in human society. The environment, in which this robot should operate, is the human daily life. The interaction capabilities of current robots are still limited due to complex inter-human interaction system. Humans usually use different types of verbal and nonverbal cues in their communication. Facial expression and head movement are good examples of nonverbal cues used in feedback. This paper presents a biological inspired system for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). This system is based on the interactive model of inter-human communication proposed by Schramm. In this model, the robot and its interaction partner can be send and receive information at the same time. For example, if the robot is talking, it also perceive the feedback of the human via his/her nonverbal cues. In this work, we are focusing on recognizing the facial expression of human. The proposed facial expression recognition technique is based on machine learning. Multi SVMs have been used to recognize the six basic emotions in addition to the neutral expression. This technique uses only the depth information, acquired by Kinect, of human face.}, language = {en} } @misc{TackKobayashiGaueretal.2015, author = {Tack, Alexander and Kobayashi, Yuske and Gauer, Tobias and Schlaefer, Alexander and Werner, Ren{\´e}}, title = {Bewegungsfeldsch{\"a}tzung in artefaktbehafteten 4D-CT-Bilddaten: Vergleich von paar- und gruppenweiser Registrierung}, volume = {Supplement 1}, journal = {21st Annual Meeting of the German-Society-for-Radiation-Oncology}, edition = {191}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Strahlentherapie und Onkologie}, doi = {10.1007/s00066-015-0847-x}, pages = {65 -- 65}, year = {2015}, abstract = {In der Strahlentherapie von Lungentumoren kann mittels Dosisakkumulation der Einfluss von Atembewegungen auf statisch geplante Dosisverteilungen abgesch{\"a}tzt werden. Grundlage sind 4D-CT-Daten des Patienten, aus denen mittels nicht-linearer Bildregistrierung eine Sequenz von Bewegungsfeldern berechnet wird. Typischerweise werden Methoden der paarweisen Bildregistrierung eingesetzt, d.h. konsekutiv zwei Atemphasen aufeinander registriert. Hierbei erfolgt i.d.R. eine physiologisch nicht plausible Anpassung der Felder an CT-Bewegungsartefakte. Gruppenweise Registrierungsans{\"a}tze ber{\"u}cksichtigen hingegen gleichzeitig s{\"a}mtliche Bilddaten des 4D-CT-Scans und erm{\"o}glichen die Integration von zeitlichen Konsistenzbetrachtungen. In diesem Beitrag wird der potentielle Vorteil der gruppen- im Vergleich zur paarweisen Registrierung in artefaktbehafteten 4D-CT-Daten untersucht.}, language = {de} } @misc{TitschackBaum2014, author = {Titschack, J{\"u}rgen and Baum, Daniel}, title = {Advanced computed tomography analyses of cold-water coral mound cores: new insights into mound formation processes}, journal = {Poster, 19th International Sedimentological Congress, Geneva, Switzerland, 2014, August 18 - 22}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @misc{TitschackBaum2015, author = {Titschack, J{\"u}rgen and Baum, Daniel}, title = {Ambient occlusion - a powerful algorithm to segment skeletal intrapores and gastral cavities in dendrophyllid cold-water corals}, journal = {Poster, 31st IAS Meeting of Sedimentology, 2015, June 22-25, Krak{\´o}w, Poland}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @article{KastenReininghausHotzetal.2016, author = {Kasten, Jens and Reininghaus, Jan and Hotz, Ingrid and Hege, Hans-Christian and Noack, Bernd and Daviller, Guillaume and Morzyński, Marek}, title = {Acceleration feature points of unsteady shear flows}, volume = {68}, journal = {Archives of Mechanics}, number = {1}, pages = {55 -- 80}, year = {2016}, abstract = {A framework is proposed for extracting features in 2D transient flows, based on the acceleration field to ensure Galilean invariance. The minima of the acceleration magnitude, i.e. a superset of the acceleration zeros, are extracted and discriminated into vortices and saddle points --- based on the spectral properties of the velocity Jacobian. The extraction of topological features is performed with purely combinatorial algorithms from discrete computational topology. The feature points are prioritized with persistence, as a physically meaningful importance measure. These features are tracked in time with a robust algorithm for tracking features. Thus a space-time hierarchy of the minima is built and vortex merging events are detected. The acceleration feature extraction strategy is applied to three two-dimensional shear flows: (1) an incompressible periodic cylinder wake, (2) an incompressible planar mixing layer and (3) a weakly compressible planar jet. The vortex-like acceleration feature points are shown to be well aligned with acceleration zeros, maxima of the vorticity magnitude, minima of pressure field and minima of λ2.}, language = {en} } @misc{KastenReininghausHotzetal.2015, author = {Kasten, Jens and Reininghaus, Jan and Hotz, Ingrid and Hege, Hans-Christian and Noack, Bernd and Daviller, Guillaume and Morzyński, Marek}, title = {Acceleration feature points of unsteady shear flows}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-58397}, year = {2015}, abstract = {A framework is proposed for extracting features in 2D transient flows, based on the acceleration field to ensure Galilean invariance. The minima of the acceleration magnitude, i.e. a superset of the acceleration zeros, are extracted and discriminated into vortices and saddle points --- based on the spectral properties of the velocity Jacobian. The extraction of topological features is performed with purely combinatorial algorithms from discrete computational topology. The feature points are prioritized with persistence, as a physically meaningful importance measure. These features are tracked in time with a robust algorithm for tracking features. Thus a space-time hierarchy of the minima is built and vortex merging events are detected. The acceleration feature extraction strategy is applied to three two-dimensional shear flows: (1) an incompressible periodic cylinder wake, (2) an incompressible planar mixing layer and (3) a weakly compressible planar jet. The vortex-like acceleration feature points are shown to be well aligned with acceleration zeros, maxima of the vorticity magnitude, minima of pressure field and minima of λ2.}, language = {en} } @misc{OsterlandBennProhaskaetal.2015, author = {Osterland, Marc and Benn, Andreas and Prohaska, Steffen and Sch{\"u}tte, Christof}, title = {Single Cell Tracking in Phase-Contrast Microscopy}, journal = {EMBL Symposium 2015 - Seeing is Believing - Imaging the Processes of Life}, year = {2015}, abstract = {In this work, we developed an automatic algorithm to analyze cell migration in chemotaxis assays, based on phase-contrast time-lapse microscopy. While manual approaches are still widely used in recent publications, our algorithm is able to track hundreds of single cells per frame. The extracted paths are analysed with traditional geometrical approaches as well as diffusion-driven Markov state models (MSM). Based on these models, a detailed view on spatial and temporal effects is possible. Using our new approach on experimental data, we are able to distinguish between directed migration (e.g. towards a VEGF gradient) and random migration without favored direction. A calculation of the committor probabilities reveals that cells of the whole image area are more likely to migrate directly towards the VEGF than away from it during the first four hours. However, in absence of a chemoattractant, cells migrate more likely to their nearest image border. These conclusions are supported by the spatial mean directions. In a next step, the cell-cell interaction during migration and the migration of cell clusters will be analyzed. Furthermore, we want to observe phenotypical changes during migration based on fluorescence microscopy and machine learning. The algorithm is part of a collaborative platform which brings the experimental expertise of scientists from life sciences and the analytical knowledge of computer scientists together. This platform is built using web-based technologies with a responsive real-time user interface. All data, including raw and metadata as well as the accompanying results, will be stored in a secure and scalable compute cluster. The compute cluster provides sufficient space and computational power for modern image-based experiments and their analyses. Specific versions of data and results can be tagged to keep immutable records for archival.}, language = {en} } @masterthesis{Schotte2015, type = {Bachelor Thesis}, author = {Schotte, Merlind}, title = {Automatische Dickenbestimmung der mineralisierten Schicht in Skelettelementen von Knorpelfischen anhand von CT- Bilddaten}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Diese Bachelorarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Entwicklung eines allgemeinen Verfahrens, welches die Dicke der mineralisierten Schicht von Haikieferelementen automatisch bestimmt. Dabei soll das Verfahren die Dicke näherungsweise im zweidimensionalen (2D) Raum sowie im dreidimensionalen (3D) Raum anhand von Computertomografie-Scans berechnen (im Folgenden als zweidimensionaler bzw. dreidimensionaler Fall bezeichnet). Es werden drei mögliche Verfahren eingef{\"u}hrt und im Anschluss auf ihre Verwendbarkeit analysiert. F{\"u}r die Implementierung zur Dickenbestimmung wird der Kern der Rayburst Sampling Methode verwendet und im Weiteren f{\"u}r den 2D-Raum durch kleinere Optimierungen verbessert. Die Überpr{\"u}fung der Genauigkeit des f{\"u}r den zweidimensionalen Fall entwickelten Programms erfolgt manuell. F{\"u}r einen Vergleich im 3D-Raum wird ein zweites Verfahren programmiert, das auf der Berechnung der Isoflächen basiert. Diese Arbeit ist in den Bereich der angewandten Mathematik mit dem Schwerpunkt Informatik einzuordnen. Das entwickelte Programm wird im Anschluss Anwendung im Bereich der Biologie am Max-Planck-Institut f{\"u}r Grenzflächen- und Kolloidforschung Potsdam-Golm finden.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Weber2015, author = {Weber, Britta}, title = {Reconstruction of Microtubule Centerlines from Electron Tomograms}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The organization of the mitotic spindle, a structure that separates the chromosomes during cell division, is an active research topic in molecular cell biology. It is composed of microtubules, elongated tubular macromolecules with a diameter of 25 nm. The only volumetric imaging technique that is available to a wide community and provides the required resolution to capture details about microtubules is electron tomography. However, the automatic detection of microtubules in electron tomograms is a difficult task due to the low contrast of the data. Furthermore, thick samples have to be cut into 300 nm thin sections before electron tomography can be applied. Software for automatically segmentation and stitching of the microtubules are not available and therefore these tasks have to be performed manually. Unfortunately, manual segmentation is time consuming for large samples and manual stitching of the tomograms is often infeasible due to the lack of prominent features for registration. Conclusions drawn from electron tomographic data is currently mostly based on either small samples containing few microtubules or single sections of complex structures. Consequently, simple properties, such as the length of microtubules in the spindle or their number, are still unknown for most model organisms. In this thesis, we present methods for 1) an automatic segmentation of microtubule centerlines in electron tomograms, and 2) an automatic stitching of the lines extracted from serial sections. For the centerline segmentation, we use 3D template matching and exploit knowledge about shape of microtubules and microscopy artifacts to design the templates. For the registration of the lines, we present a way to model the orientation of lines as a mixture of Fisher-Mises distributions where we estimate transformation parameters with the expectation maximization algorithm. The final line matching problem is formulated in terms of a probabilistic graphical model. To find the correct correspondences of line ends, we use belief propagation. We handle the poor convergence properties of this algorithm by detecting ambiguous and conflicting assignments of lines automatically. An expert can then influence the final output of the algorithm by solving conflicts manually. A detailed error analysis on true biological data and assessment of the reliability of the results is the prerequisite for analyzing the resulting line representations of the microtubules. To this end, the developed workflow for segmenting and stitching of microtubule centerlines is evaluated on plasticembedded samples of C. elegans early embryos and of spindles from X. laevis egg extracts. Our results suggest that the output of the presented algorithms together with little manual correction is of sufficient quality to allow a detailed analysis of dense microtubule networks. Finally, we exemplarily show results for the centrosome of a C. elegans mitotic spindle.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Poethkow2015, author = {P{\"o}thkow, Kai}, title = {Modeling, Quantification and Visualization of Probabilistic Features in Fields with Uncertainties}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Eine grundlegende Eigenschaft von naturwissenschaftlichen Daten ist, dass der wahre Wert einer Gr{\"o}ße nicht beliebig genau bestimmbar ist. Es ist lediglich m{\"o}glich, ihn durch Intervalle einzugrenzen oder die Unsicherheit durch eine Wahrscheinlichkeitsverteilung zu charakterisieren. Dies gilt f{\"u}r alle reellwertigen Daten, sowohl f{\"u}r Mess-, als auch f{\"u}r Simulationsergebnisse. Beispiele sind Messungen von grundlegenden physikalischen Gr{\"o}ßen wie Geschwindigkeit oder auch langfristige Temperaturvorhersagen, die durch Klimamodelle berechnet werden. Die Unsicherheit von Ergebnissen ist eine wichtige Information, die in Natur- und Ingenieurwissenschaften h{\"a}ufig durch Konfidenzintervalle in 1D-Plots und Tabellen angezeigt wird. Im Gegensatz dazu ist es bisher bei der Visualisierung von 2D- und 3D-Daten mithilfe von Standardmethoden meist unm{\"o}glich, die Datenunsicherheit zu repr{\"a}sentieren. Diese Arbeit stellt wahrscheinlichkeitstheoretisch fundierte Methoden vor, die die Analyse und Visualisierung von Skalar-, Vektor- und Tensorfeldern mit Unsicherheiten erm{\"o}glichen. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf der Extraktion von raumzeitlichen geometrischen und topologischen Merkmalen aus den Feldern (z.B. Isokonturen und kritische Punkte). Wir nutzen parametrische und nichtparametrische Zufallsfelder, um Variabilit{\"a}t und r{\"a}umliche Korrelation mathematisch zu modellieren. Die Wahrscheinlichkeitsverteilungen werden aus Ensemble-Datens{\"a}tzen gesch{\"a}tzt, die mehrere Simulationsergebnisse (z.B. basierend auf variierenden Simulationsparametern) zusammenfassen. Wir untersuchen die Konditionszahlen von Merkmalsextraktionsmethoden, um die Sensitivit{\"a}t, d.h. die Verst{\"a}rkung oder Abschw{\"a}chung der Unsicherheit der Ergebnisse relativ zu Unsicherheiten in den Eingangsdaten abzusch{\"a}tzen. Wir stellen einen allgemeiner Ansatz f{\"u}r die probabilistische Merkmalsextraktion vor, der die Basis f{\"u}r die Berechnung r{\"a}umlicher Wahrscheinlichkeitsverteilungen von verschiedenen Merkmalen in Skalar-, Vektor- und Tensorfeldern bildet. In diesem Framework werden Wahrscheinlichkeiten f{\"u}r die Existenz von Merkmalen aus lokalen Randverteilungen und formalen Merkmalsdefinitionen berechnet. Numerisch k{\"o}nnen die Wahrscheinlichkeiten durch Monte-Carlo­-Integration bestimmt werden. Um den hohen Rechenaufwand dieses Ansatzes zu vermeiden, schlagen wir schnelle Berechnungsmethoden vor, wobei Merkmalswahrscheinlichkeiten n{\"a}herungsweise mit Hilfe von Surrogatfunktionen bzw. Lookup-Tabellen gesch{\"a}tzt werden. Die vorgeschlagenen Methoden werden anhand von Daten aus Klima- und Biofluidmechaniksimulationen sowie aus der medizinischen Bildgebung qualitativ und quantitativ evaluiert.}, language = {en} } @article{ZahnGrotjohannRammetal.2016, author = {Zahn, Robert and Grotjohann, Sarah and Ramm, Heiko and Zachow, Stefan and Pumberger, Matthias and Putzier, Michael and Perka, Carsten and Tohtz, Stephan}, title = {Influence of pelvic tilt on functional acetabular orientation}, volume = {25}, journal = {Technology and Health Care}, number = {3}, publisher = {IOS Press}, doi = {10.3233/THC-161281}, pages = {557 -- 565}, year = {2016}, language = {en} } @article{LemanisKornZachowetal.2016, author = {Lemanis, Robert and Korn, Dieter and Zachow, Stefan and Rybacki, Erik and Hoffmann, Ren{\´e}}, title = {The Evolution and Development of Cephalopod Chambers and Their Shape}, volume = {11}, journal = {PLOS ONE}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0151404}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The Ammonoidea is a group of extinct cephalopods ideal to study evolution through deep time. The evolution of the planispiral shell and complexly folded septa in ammonoids has been thought to have increased the functional surface area of the chambers permitting enhanced metabolic functions such as: chamber emptying, rate of mineralization and increased growth rates throughout ontogeny. Using nano-computed tomography and synchrotron radiation based micro-computed tomography, we present the first study of ontogenetic changes in surface area to volume ratios in the phragmocone chambers of several phylogenetically distant ammonoids and extant cephalopods. Contrary to the initial hypothesis, ammonoids do not possess a persistently high relative chamber surface area. Instead, the functional surface area of the chambers is higher in earliest ontogeny when compared to Spirula spirula. The higher the functional surface area the quicker the potential emptying rate of the chamber; quicker chamber emptying rates would theoretically permit faster growth. This is supported by the persistently higher siphuncular surface area to chamber volume ratio we collected for the ammonite Amauroceras sp. compared to either S. spirula or nautilids. We demonstrate that the curvature of the surface of the chamber increases with greater septal complexity increasing the potential refilling rates. We further show a unique relationship between ammonoid chamber shape and size that does not exist in S. spirula or nautilids. This view of chamber function also has implications for the evolution of the internal shell of coleoids, relating this event to the decoupling of soft-body growth and shell growth.}, language = {en} } @misc{KnoetelSeidelWeaveretal.2015, author = {Kn{\"o}tel, David and Seidel, Ronald and Weaver, James C. and Baum, Daniel and Dean, Mason N.}, title = {Segmentation of the Tessellated Mineralized Endoskeleton of Sharks and Rays}, journal = {Poster, Tomography for Scientific Advancement symposium (ToScA), Manchester, UK, September 3 - 4, 2015}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The cartilaginous endoskeletons of sharks and rays are covered by tiles of mineralized cartilage called tesserae that enclose areas of unmineralized cartilage. These tesselated layers are vital to the growth as well as the material properties of the skeleton, providing both flexibility and strength. An understanding of the principles behind the tiling of the mineralized layer requires a quantitative analysis of shark and ray skeletal tessellation. However, since a single skeletal element comprises several thousand tesserae, manual segmentation is infeasible. We developed an automated segmentation pipeline that, working from micro-CT data, allows quantification of all tesserae in a skeletal element in less than an hour. Our segmentation algorithm relies on aspects we have learned of general tesseral morphology. In micro-CT scans, tesserae usually appear as round or star-shaped plate-like tiles, wider than deep and connected by mineralized intertesseral joints. Based on these observations, we exploit the distance map of the mineralized layer to separate individual tiles using a hierarchical watershed algorithm. Utilizing a two-dimensional distance map that measures the distance in the plane of the mineralized layer only greatly improves the segmentation. We developed post-processing techniques to quickly correct segmentation errors in regions where tesseral shape differs from the assumed shape. Evaluation of our results is done qualitatively by visual comparison with raw datasets, and quantitatively by comparison to manual segmentations. Furthermore, we generate two-dimensional abstractions of the tiling network based on the neighborhood, allowing representation of complex, biological forms as simpler geometries. We apply our newly developed techniques to the analysis of the left and right hyomandibulae of four ages of stingray enabling the first quantitative analyses of the tesseral tiling structure, while clarifying how these patterns develop across ontogeny.}, language = {en} } @misc{KnoetelSeidelHosnyetal.2016, author = {Kn{\"o}tel, David and Seidel, Ronald and Hosny, Ahmed and Zaslansky, Paul and Weaver, James C. and Baum, Daniel and Dean, Mason N.}, title = {Understanding the Tiling Rules of the Tessellated Mineralized Endoskeleton of Sharks and Rays}, journal = {Poster, Euro Bio-inspired Materials 2016, Potsdam, Germany, February 22 - 25, 2016}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The endoskeletons of sharks and rays are composed of an unmineralized cartilaginous core, covered in an outer layer of mineralized tiles called tesserae. The tessellated layer is vital to the growth as well as the material properties of the skeletal element, providing both flexibility and strength. However, characterizing the relationship between tesseral size and shape, and skeletal growth and mechanics is challenging because tesserae are small (a few hundred micrometers wide), anchored to the surrounding tissue in complex three-dimensional ways, and occur in huge numbers. Using a custom-made semi-automatic segmentation algorithm, we present the first quantitative and three-dimensional description of tesserae in micro-CT scans of whole skeletal elements. Our segmentation algorithm relies on aspects we have learned of general tesseral morphology. We exploit the distance map of the mineralized layer to separate individual tiles using a hierarchical watershed algorithm. Additionally, we have developed post-processing techniques to quickly correct segmentation errors. Our data reveals that the tessellation is not regular, with tesserae showing a great range of shapes, sizes and number of neighbors. This is partly region-dependent: for example, thick, columnar tesserae are arranged in series along convex edges with small radius of curvature (RoC), whereas more brick-or disc-shaped tesserae are found in planar areas. We apply our newly developed techniques on the left and right hyomandibula (skeletal elements supporting the jaws) from four different ages of a stingray species, to clarify how tiling patterns develop across ontogeny and differ within and between individuals. We evaluate the functional consequences of tesseral morphologies using finite element analysis and 3d-printing, for a better understanding of shark skeletal mechanics, but also to extract fundamental engineering design principles of tiling arrangements on load-bearing three-dimensional objects.}, language = {en} } @article{KnightTullyKaplanetal.2016, author = {Knight, James C and Tully, Philip J and Kaplan, Bernhard and Lansner, Anders and Furber, Steve}, title = {Large-scale simulations of plastic neural networks on neuromorphic hardware}, volume = {10:37}, journal = {Frontiers in Neuroanatomy}, doi = {10.3389/fnana.2016.00037}, year = {2016}, abstract = {SpiNNaker is a digital, neuromorphic architecture designed for simulating large-scale spiking neural networks at speeds close to biological real-time. Rather than using bespoke analog or digital hardware, the basic computational unit of a SpiNNaker system is a general-purpose ARM processor, allowing it to be programmed to simulate a wide variety of neuron and synapse models. This flexibility is particularly valuable in the study of biological plasticity phenomena. A recently proposed learning rule based on the Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN) paradigm offers a generic framework for modeling the interaction of different plasticity mechanisms using spiking neurons. However, it can be computationally expensive to simulate large networks with BCPNN learning since it requires multiple state variables for each synapse, each of which needs to be updated every simulation time-step. We discuss the trade-offs in efficiency and accuracy involved in developing an event-based BCPNN implementation for SpiNNaker based on an analytical solution to the BCPNN equations, and detail the steps taken to fit this within the limited computational and memory resources of the SpiNNaker architecture. We demonstrate this learning rule by learning temporal sequences of neural activity within a recurrent attractor network which we simulate at scales of up to 2.0 × 10^4 neurons and 5.1 × 10^7 plastic synapses: the largest plastic neural network ever to be simulated on neuromorphic hardware. We also run a comparable simulation on a Cray XC-30 supercomputer system and find that, if it is to match the run-time of our SpiNNaker simulation, the super computer system uses approximately 45× more power. This suggests that cheaper, more power efficient neuromorphic systems are becoming useful discovery tools in the study of plasticity in large-scale brain models.}, language = {en} } @misc{SeidelKnoetelBaumetal.2014, author = {Seidel, Ronald and Kn{\"o}tel, David and Baum, Daniel and Weaver, James C. and Dean, Mason N.}, title = {Material and structural characterization of mineralized elasmobranch cartilage - lessons in repeated tiling patterns in mechanically loaded 3D objects}, journal = {Poster, Tomography for Scientific Advancement symposium (ToScA), London, UK, September 1 - 3, 2014}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Biological tissues achieve a wide range of properties and function, however with limited components. The organization of these constituent parts is a decisive factor in the impressive properties of biological materials, with tissues often exhibiting complex arrangements of hard and soft materials. The "tessellated" cartilage of the endoskeleton of sharks and rays, for example, is a natural composite of mineralized polygonal tiles (tesserae), collagen fiber bundles, and unmineralized cartilage, resulting in a material that is both flexible and strong, with optimal stiffness. The properties of the materials and the tiling geometry are vital to the growth and mechanics of the system, but had not been investigated due to the technical challenges involved. We use high-resolution materials characterization techniques (qBEI, µCT) to show that tesserae exhibit great variability in mineral density, supporting theories of accretive growth mechanisms. We present a developmental series of tesserae and outline the development of unique structural features that appear to function in load bearing and energy dissipation, with some structural features far exceeding cortical bone's mineral content and tissue stiffness. To examine interactions among tesserae, we developed an advanced tiling-recognition-algorithm to semi-automatically detect and isolate individual tiles in microCT scans of tesseral mats. The method allows quantification of shape variation across a wide area, allowing localization of regions of high/low reinforcement or flexibility in the skeleton. The combination of our material characterization and visualization techniques allows the first quantitative 3d description of anatomy and material properties of tesserae and the organization of tesseral networks in elasmobranch mineralized cartilage, providing insight into form-function relationships of the repeating tiled pattern. We aim to combine detailed knowledge of intra-tesseral morphology and mineralization to model the relationships of tesseral shapes and skeletal surface curvature, to understand fundamental tiling laws important for complex, mechanically loaded 3d objects.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{JacomeEggelerPoethkowetal.2015, author = {J{\´a}come, Leonardo Agudo and Eggeler, Gunter and P{\"o}thkow, Kai and Paetsch, Olaf and Hege, Hans-Christian}, title = {Three-Dimensional Characterization of Superdislocation Interactions in the High Temperature and Low Stress Creep Regime of Ni-Base Superalloy Single Crystals}, booktitle = {Proceedings of CREEP 2015 - 13th International Conference on Creep and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, May 31 - June 4, 2015, Toulouse, France}, pages = {16 -- 17}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Monocrystaline Ni-base superalloys are the material of choice for first row blades in jet engine gas turbines. Using a novel visualization tool for 3D reconstruction and visualization of dislocation line segments from stereo-pairs of scanning transmission electron microscopies, the superdislocation substructures in Ni-base superalloy LEK 94 (crept to ε = 26\%) are characterized. Probable scenarios are discussed, how these dislocation substructures form.}, language = {en} } @misc{BojarovskiHegeLieetal.2015, author = {Bojarovski, Stefan and Hege, Hans-Christian and Lie, Han Cheng and Weber, Marcus}, title = {Topological analysis and visualization of scalar functions characterizing conformational transitions of molecules on multiple time-scales}, journal = {Shape Up 2015 - Exercises in Materials Geometry and Topology, 14-18 Sept. 2015, Berlin, Germany}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Molecular processes such as protein folding or ligand-receptor-binding can be understood by analyzing the free energy landscape. Those processes are often metastable, i.e. the molecular systems remain in basins around local minima of the free energy landscape, and in rare cases undergo gauche transitions between metastable states by passing saddle-points of this landscape. By discretizing the configuration space, this can be modeled as a discrete Markov process. One way to compute the transition rates between conformations of a molecular system is by utilizing Transition Path Theory and the concept of committor functions. A fundamental problem from the computational point of view is that many time-scales are involved, ranging from 10^(-14) sec for the fastest motion to 10^(-6) sec or more for conformation changes that cause biological effects. The goal of our work is to provide a better understanding of such transitions in configuration space on various time-scales by analyzing characteristic scalar functions topologically and geometrically. We are developing suitable visualization and interaction techniques to support our analysis. For example, we are analyzing a transition rate indicator function by computing and visualizing its Reeb graph together with the sets of molecular states corresponding to maxima of the transition rate indicator function. A particular challenge is the high dimensionality of the domain which does not allow for a straightforward visualization of the function. The computational topology approach to the analysis of the transition rate indicator functions for a molecular system allows to explore different time scales of the system by utilizing coarser or finer topological partitioning of the function. A specific goal is the development of tools for analyzing the hierarchy of these partitionings. This approach tackles the analysis of a complex and sparse dataset from a different angle than the well-known spectral analysis of Markov State Models.}, language = {en} } @article{BrandtTycowiczHildebrandt2016, author = {Brandt, Christopher and Tycowicz, Christoph von and Hildebrandt, Klaus}, title = {Geometric Flows of Curves in Shape Space for Processing Motion of Deformable Objects}, volume = {35}, journal = {Computer Graphics Forum}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1111/cgf.12832}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We introduce techniques for the processing of motion and animations of non-rigid shapes. The idea is to regard animations of deformable objects as curves in shape space. Then, we use the geometric structure on shape space to transfer concepts from curve processing in Rn to the processing of motion of non-rigid shapes. Following this principle, we introduce a discrete geometric flow for curves in shape space. The flow iteratively replaces every shape with a weighted average shape of a local neighborhood and thereby globally decreases an energy whose minimizers are discrete geodesics in shape space. Based on the flow, we devise a novel smoothing filter for motions and animations of deformable shapes. By shortening the length in shape space of an animation, it systematically regularizes the deformations between consecutive frames of the animation. The scheme can be used for smoothing and noise removal, e.g., for reducing jittering artifacts in motion capture data. We introduce a reduced-order method for the computation of the flow. In addition to being efficient for the smoothing of curves, it is a novel scheme for computing geodesics in shape space. We use the scheme to construct non-linear B{\´e}zier curves by executing de Casteljau's algorithm in shape space.}, language = {en} } @article{SahuMoermanMewesetal.2016, author = {Sahu, Manish and Moerman, Daniil and Mewes, Philip and Mountney, Peter and Rose, Georg}, title = {Instrument State Recognition and Tracking for Effective Control of Robotized Laparoscopic Systems}, volume = {5}, journal = {International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research}, number = {1}, doi = {10.18178/ijmerr.5.1.33-38}, pages = {33 -- 38}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Surgical robots are an important component for delivering advanced paradigm shifting technology such as image guided surgery and navigation. However, for robotic systems to be readily adopted into the operating room they must be easy and convenient to control and facilitate a smooth surgical workflow. In minimally invasive surgery, the laparoscope may be held by a robot but controlling and moving the laparoscope remains challenging. It is disruptive to the workflow for the surgeon to put down the tools to move the robot in particular for solo surgery approaches. This paper proposes a novel approach for naturally controlling the robot mounted laparoscope's position by detecting a surgical grasping tool and recognizing if its state is open or close. This approach does not require markers or fiducials and uses a machine learning framework for tool and state recognition which exploits naturally occurring visual cues. Furthermore a virtual user interface on the laparoscopic image is proposed that uses the surgical tool as a pointing device to overcome common problems in depth perception. Instrument detection and state recognition are evaluated on in-vivo and ex-vivo porcine datasets. To demonstrate the practical surgical application and real time performance the system is validated in a simulated surgical environment.}, language = {en} }