A signal subspace approach for modeling the hemodynamic response function in fMRI

Many fMRI analysis methods use a model for the hemodynamic response function (HRF). Common models of the HRF, such as the Gaussian or Gamma functions, have parameters that are usually selected a priori by the data analyst. A new method is presented that characterizes the HRF over a wide range of parameters via three basis signals derived using principal component analysis (PCA). Covering the HRF variability, these three basis signals together with the stimulation pattern define signal subspaces which are applicable to both linear and nonlinear modeling and identification of the HRF and for various activation detection strategies. Analysis of simulated fMRI data using the proposed signal subspace showed increased detection sensitivity compared to the case of using a previously proposed trigonometric subspace. The methodology was also applied to activation detection in both event-related and block design experimental fMRI data using both linear and nonlinear modeling of the HRF. The activated regions were consistent with previous studies, indicating the ability of the proposed approach in detecting brain activation without a priori assumptions about the shape parameters of the HRF. The utility of the proposed basis functions in identifying the HRF is demonstrated by estimating the HRF in different activated regions.     

Multisubject activation detection in fMRI by testing correlation of data with a signal subspace

In this article, a generalized likelihood ratio test is proposed to assess the correlation between multisubject functional MRI (fMRI) time series and bases of a signal subspace for detecting the existence of group activation in each voxel of the brain. The signal subspace is generated by a design matrix using the time series of the desired effects. The proposed method leads to testing the product of eigenvalues of a specific matrix. The eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue is the weighting vector for the linear combination of time series of various subjects that has the maximum correlation with the signal subspace. In another method, namely, canonical correlation analysis, the largest eigenvalue of the above matrix is tested for activation detection. Surrogate data on resting state (no activation) are generated by randomization and used to estimate the statistical distribution of these parameters under the null hypothesis condition. A postprocessing step is applied to prevent false detection of voxels that are not sufficiently active (among subjects) by defining a minimum ratio for the active population. The proposed methods are applied on simulated and experimental fMRI data, and the results are compared with those of the general linear model (GLM; using the SPM and FMRISTAT toolboxes). The proposed methods showed higher detection sensitivity as compared with the GLM for activation detection in simulated data. Similarly, they detected more activated regions than did the GLM from multisubject experimental fMRI data on a visual (sensorimotor) event-related task.     

Most probable transition paths in eutrophicated lake ecosystem under Gaussian white noise and periodic force

The effects of stochastic perturbations and periodic excitations on the eutrophicated lake ecosystem are explored. Unlike the existing work in detecting early warning signals, this paper presents the most probable transition paths to characterize the regime shifts. The most probable transition paths are obtained by minimizing the Freidlin-Wentzell (FW) action functional and Onsager-Machlup (OM) action functional, respectively. The most probable path shows the movement trend of the lake eutrophication system under noise excitation, and describes the global transition behavior of the system. Under the excitation of Gaussian noise, the results show that the stability of the eutrophic state and the oligotrophic state has different results from two perspectives of potential well and the most probable transition paths. Under the excitation of Gaussian white noise and periodic force, we find that the transition occurs near the nearest distance between the stable periodic solution and the unstable periodic solution.     

Reception of a Signal with Unknown Duration

The maximum likely and optimal (Bayesian) algorithms for detecting an arbitrary-shaped signal observed against the background of Gaussian white noise and for measuring the duration are synthesized. Exact expressions for the characteristics of the maximum likely algorithms are found. The characteristics of the Bayesian algorithms are obtained using computer simulations.     

Algorithm for Optimal Estimation of Appearance Times of Pulsed Signals in Discrete Time

Using the methods of optimal nonlinear Markov filtering, we obtain an algorithm for optimal mean-square estimation of appearance times of random pulsed variations in signal parameters against the background of white Gaussian noise in discrete time. Linear difference equations are used to describe signals, noise, and the observed processes. Equations of the algorithm permitting real-time calculations of the a posteriori variances and optimal estimations of pulse-appearance times are obtained in the approximation of Gaussian conditional probability densities. We present simulation results for algorithm operation in the particular problem of estimating the appearance times of two pulsed signals having the known shapes and observed against noise background.     

基于分数阶可停振动系统的周期未知微弱信号检测方法

本文建立了分数阶可停振动系统, 其可停振动状态的改变对周期策动力敏感, 对零均值随机微小扰动不敏感, 这事实上为周期未知微弱信号检测提供了一种新的高效检测方法和判别标准. 与现有的利用混沌系统的大尺度周期状态变化检测周期未知弱信号的方法 需逐一尝试设置不同频率内置信号以便期望与待检周期信号发生共振不同, 利用分数阶可停振动系统的可停振动状态变化检测周期未知微弱信号的方法, 除了同样具有因为状态变化对周期信号的敏感性而能够实现极低检测门限的特点外, 还具有混沌系统信号检测所不具有的优点: 1)无需预先估计待检信号的周期; 2)无需计算系统状态的临界阈值; 3)可停振动状态可由本文设计的指数波动函数可靠地进行判断; 4)通过系统微分阶数的变化, 将检测系统层次化, 从而可得到比整数阶检测系统更低的检测门限, 特别是在色噪声环境下, 通过选取合适的微分阶数, 基于分数阶可停振动系统的微弱周期信号检测法能够大幅度的降低检测门限, 在本文的仿真试验中, 检测门限可达-182 dB. 关键词： 分数阶非线性系统 Duffing振子 弱信号检测     

A novel local PCA-based method for detecting activation signals in fMRI.

A novel local principal component analysis (LPCA) technique is presented for activation signal detection in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) without explicit knowledge about the shape of the model activation signal. Unlike the traditional PCA methods, our LPCA algorithm is based on a measure of separation between two clusters formed by the signal segments in active periods and inactive periods, which is computed in an eigen-subspace. In addition, we only applied PCA to the temporal sequence of each individual voxel instead of applying PCA to the fMRI data set. In our algorithm, we first applied a linear regression procedure to alleviate the baseline drift artifact. Then, the baseline-corrected temporal signals were partitioned into active and inactive segments according to the paradigm used for the fMRI data acquisition. Principal components were computed from all these segments for each voxel by PCA. By projecting the segments of each voxel onto a linear subspace formed by the corresponding most dominant principal components, two separate clusters were formed from active and inactive segments. An activation measure was defined based on the degree of separation between these two clusters in the projection space. We show experimental results on the activation signal detection from various sets of fMRI data with different types of stimulation by using the proposed LPCA algorithm and the standard t-test method for comparison. Our experiments indicate that the LPCA algorithm in general provides substantial signal-to-noise ratio improvement over the t-test method.     

Independent component analysis in the presence of noise in fMRI

A noisy version of independent component analysis (noisy ICA) is applied to simulated and real functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The noise covariance is explicitly modeled by an autoregressive (AR) model of order 1. The unmixing matrix of the data is determined using a variant of the FastICA algorithm based on Gaussian moments. The sources are estimated using the principle of maximum likelihood by modeling the source densities as asymmetric exponential functions. Effect of dimensionality reduction on the effective noise covariance used, accuracy of the obtained mixing matrix and degree of improvement in estimating fMRI sources are investigated. The primary conclusions after using this method of evaluation are as follows: (a) weighting matrix estimates are similar for noisy and conventional ICA in the realm of typical fMRI data, and (b) source estimates are improved by 5% (as measured by the correlation coefficient) in realistic simulated data by explicitly modeling the source densities and the noise, even when just a simple white noise model is used.     

Implications of the Rician distribution for fMRI generalized likelihood ratio tests

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the general linear model test (GLMT) is widely used for brain activation detection. However, the GLMT relies on the assumption that the noise corrupting the data is Gaussian distributed. Because the majority of fMRI studies employ magnitude image reconstructions, which are Rician distributed, this assumption is invalid and has significant consequences in case the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is low. In this study, we show that the GLMT should not be used at low SNR. Furthermore, we propose a generalized likelihood ratio test for magnitude MR data that has the same performance compared to the GLMT for high SNR, but performs significantly better than the GLMT for low SNR.     

周期矩形信号作用下时滞非对称单稳系统 的随机共振

研究了周期矩形信号对时滞非对称单稳系统随机共振的影响,系统中加入的噪声均为Gauss白噪声.得到了信噪比的解析表达式,通过分析信噪比曲线发现系统存在随机共振现象.数值结果还表明乘性与加性噪声强度对信噪比的影响是不同的,在SNR-D参数平面上共振与抑制共存.在信噪比随着时滞量变化的曲线图上发现,当系统的非对称性|r|取值很大或者乘性与加性噪声强度比D/α小于1时,参数平面上的随机共振现象会消失.     

A subspace approach based on embedded prewhitening for voice activity detection

This paper presents a subspace approach for voice activity detection (VAD). The proposed approach is based on an embedded prewhitening scheme for the simultaneous diagonalization of the clean speech and noise covariance matrices to provide a decision rule based on likelihood ratio test in signal subspace domain. Experimental results show that the proposed subspace-based VAD algorithm outperforms the method using a Gaussian model in a conventional discrete Fourier transform domain at the low signal-to-noise conditions.     

Pseudo-periodic surrogate test to sample time series in stochastic softening Duffing oscillator

Identification of typical noise-contaminated sample response is a hard task in a nonlinear system under stochastic background since irregularity of the sample response may come from measure noise, dynamical noise, or nonlinear effect, etc., and conventional dynamical methods are generally not useful. Here, the pseudo-periodic surrogate algorithm by Small is employed to test the sample time series in the softening Duffing oscillator under the Gaussian white noise excitation. The correlation dimensions of the noisy periodic and the noise-induced chaotic time series of the system are compared with those of their corresponding surrogate data respectively, the leading Lyapunov exponents by Rosenstein's algorithm are also presented for comparison.     

To smooth or not to smooth? ROC analysis of perfusion fMRI data

Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast has been widely used for visualizing regional neural activation. Temporal filtering and parameter estimation algorithms are generally used to account for the intrinsic temporal autocorrelation present in BOLD data. Arterial spin labeling perfusion imaging is an emerging methodology for visualizing regional brain function both at rest and during activation. Perfusion contrast manifests different noise properties compared with BOLD contrast, represented by the even distribution of noise power and spatial coherence across the frequency spectrum. Consequently, different strategies are expected to be employed in the statistical analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data based on perfusion contrast. In this study, the effect of different analysis methods upon signal detection efficacy, as assessed by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) measures, was examined for perfusion fMRI data. Simulated foci of neural activity of varying amplitude and spatial extent were added to resting perfusion data, and the accuracy of each analysis was evaluated by comparing the results with the known distribution of pseudo-activation. In contrast to the BOLD fMRI, temporal smoothing or filtering reduces the power of perfusion fMRI data analyses whereas spatial smoothing is beneficial to the efficacy of analyses.     

Respiratory noise correction using phase information

Respiratory noise is a confounding factor in functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data analysis. A novel method called Respiratory noise Correction using Phase information is proposed to retrospectively correct for the respiratory noise in functional MRI (fMRI) time series. It is demonstrated that the respiratory movement and the phase of functional MRI images are highly correlated in time. The signal fluctuation due to respiratory movements can be effectively estimated from the phase variation and removed from the functional MRI time series using a Wiener filtering technique. In our experiments, this new method is compared with RETROICOR, which requires recording respiration signal simultaneously in an fMRI experiment. The two techniques show comparable performance with respect to the respiratory noise correction for fMRI time series. However, this technique is more advantageous because there is no need for monitoring the subjects’ respiration or changing functional MRI protocols. This technique is also potentially useful for correcting respiratory noise from abnormal breathing or when the respiration is not periodic.     

混沌背景中微弱信号检测的神经网络方法

基于复杂非线性系统相空间重构理论，提出了混沌背景中微弱信号检测的神经网络方法，利用神经网络强大的学习和非线性处理能力，建立了混沌背景噪声的一步预测模型，从预测误差中检测淹没在混沌背景噪声中的微弱目标信号(包括周期信号和瞬态信号)，研究了混沌背景中存在白噪声时该方法的检测能力，指出了目标信号为瞬态信号和周期信号时检测原理的异同点，最后以Lorenz系统作为混沌背景噪声进行了仿真实验，实验表明该方法能有效地将混沌背景中极其微弱的信号检测出来. 关键词： 混沌 神经网络 信号检测     

非高斯噪声激励下FitzHugh-Nagumo神经元系统的随机共振

研究了乘性非高斯噪声和加性高斯白噪声共同激励下FitzHugh-Nagumo(FHN) 神经元系统的随机共振问题. 利用路径积分法和两态模型理论, 推导出系统信噪比的表达式. 研究结果表明: 系统参数在不同的取值条件下, FHN神经元模型出现了随机共振和双重随机共振现象. 此外, 非高斯参数q在不同的取值条件下, 乘性噪声强度和加性噪声强度对信噪比的影响是不同的. 非高斯噪声的加入有利于增强FHN神经元系统的信号响应.     

Stochastic resonance in FitzHugh-Nagumo system with time-delayed feedback

The dynamics of a periodically driven FitzHugh-Nagumo system with time-delayed feedback and Gaussian white noise is investigated. The stochastic resonance which is characterized by the Fourier coefficient Q is numerically calculated. It is found that the stochastic resonance of the system is a non-monotonic function of the noise strength and the signal period. The variation of the time-delayed feedback can induce periodic stochastic resonance in the system.     

Trading detection for resolution in active sonar receivers

This paper proposes an active sonar receivers that offers a smooth trade-off between detection and resolution. A matched filter is the optimal detector of known signals in white Gaussian noise but may fail to resolve the targets if the time separation of targets is less than the mainlobe width of the autocorrelation function of the transmitted signal. An inverse filter achieves optimal resolution performance for multiple targets in the absence of noise, but amplifies the noise outside the signal bandwidth in a manner that makes it impractical in many realistic scenarios. The proposed active sonar receiver, the variable resolution and detection receiver (VRDR) combines the matched and inverse filter properties to achieve a smooth trade-off between detection and resolution. Simulated receiver operating characteristics demonstrate that for a range of dipole sonar targets, the performance of the VRDR is superior to the matched and inverse filter, as well as another previously proposed bandlimited inverse filter.     

Two Stochastic Resonances Induced by Two Different Multiplicative Telegraphic Noises for an Electric System

In this paper, an electric system with two dichotomous resistors is investigated. It is shown that this system can display two stochastic resonances, which are the amplitude of the periodic response as the functions of the two dichotomous resistors strengthes respectively. In the limits of Gaussian white noise and shot white noise (i.e., the two noises are both Gaussian white noise or shot white noise), no phenomena of resonance appear. By further study, we find that when the system is with three or more multiplicative telegraphic noises, there are three or more stochastic resonances.     

Effects of noise on periodic orbits of the logistic map

Noise can induce an inverse period-doubling transition and chaos. The effects of noise on each periodic orbit of three different period sequences are investigated for the logistic map. It is found that the dynamical behavior of each orbit, induced by an uncorrelated Gaussian white noise, is different in the mergence transition. For an orbit of the period-six sequence, the maximum of the probability density in the presence of noise is greater than that in the absence of noise. It is also found that, under the same intensity of noise, the effects of uncorrelated Gaussian white noise and exponentially correlated colored (Gaussian) noise on the period-four sequence are different.