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We propose a variational regularization approach based on cylindrical shearlets to deal with dynamic imaging problems, with dynamic tomography as guiding example. The idea is that the mismatch term essentially integrates a sequence of separable, static problems, while the regularization term sees the non-stationary target as a spatio-temporal object. We motivate this approach by showing that cylindrical shearlets provide optimally sparse approximations for the class of cartoon-like videos, i.e., a class of functions useful to model spatio-temporal image sequences and videos, which we introduce extending the classic notion of cartoon-like images. To formulate our regularization model, we define cylindrical shearlet smoothness spaces, which is pivotal to obtain suitable embeddings in functional spaces. To complete our analysis, we prove that the proposed regularization strategy is well-defined, the solution of the minimisation problem exists and is unique (for $ p > 1$). Furthermore, we provide convergence rates (in terms of the symmetric Bregman distance) under deterministic and random noise conditions, and within the context of statistical inverse learning. We numerically validate our theoretical results using both simulated and measured dynamic tomography data, showing that our approach leads to a practical and robust reconstruction strategy., Comment: 51 pages, 11 figures

Blind inpainting algorithms based on deep learning architectures have shown a remarkable performance in recent years, typically outperforming model-based methods both in terms of image quality and run time. However, neural network strategies typically lack a theoretical explanation, which contrasts with the well-understood theory underlying model-based methods. In this work, we leverage the advantages of both approaches by integrating theoretically founded concepts from transform domain methods and sparse approximations into a CNN-based approach for blind image inpainting. To this end, we present a novel strategy to learn convolutional kernels that applies a specifically designed filter dictionary whose elements are linearly combined with trainable weights. Numerical experiments demonstrate the competitiveness of this approach. Our results show not only an improved inpainting quality compared to conventional CNNs but also significantly faster network convergence within a lightweight network design.

Efficient representations of multivariate functions are critical for the design of state-of-the-art methods of data restoration and image reconstruction. In this work, we consider the representation of spatio-temporal data such as temporal sequences (videos) of 2- and 3-dimensional images, where conventional separable representations are usually very inefficient, due to their limitations in handling the geometry of the data. To address this challenge, we define a class $\mathcal{E}(A) \subset L^2(\mathbb{R}^4)$ of functions of 4 variables dominated by hypersurface singularities in the first three coordinates that we apply to model 4-dimensional data corresponding to temporal sequences (videos) of 3-dimensional objects. To provide an efficient representation for this type of data, we introduce a new multiscale directional system of functions based on cylindrical shearlets and prove that this new approach achieves superior approximation properties with respect to conventional multiscale representations. We illustrate the advantages of our approach by applying a discrete implementation of the new representation to a challenging problem from dynamic tomography. Numerical results confirm the potential of our novel approach with respect to conventional multiscale methods., Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures, 1 table

When it comes to computed tomography (CT), the possibility to reconstruct a small region-of-interest (ROI) using truncated projection data is particularly appealing due to its potential to lower radiation exposure and reduce the scanning time. However, ROI reconstruction from truncated projections is an ill-posed inverse problem, with the ill-posedness becoming more severe when the ROI size is getting smaller. To address this problem, both ad hoc analytic formulas and iterative numerical schemes have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach for ROI CT reconstruction, formulated as a convex optimization problem with a regularized term based on shearlets. Our numerical implementation consists of an iterative scheme based on the scaled gradient projection (SGP) method and is tested in the context of fan beam CT. Our results show that this approach is essentially insensitive to the location of the ROI and remains very stable also when the ROI size is rather small., Comment: 13 pages, 30 figures

Region-of-Interest (ROI) tomography aims at reconstructing a region of interest $C$ inside a body using only x-ray projections intersecting $C$ with the goal to reduce overall radiation exposure when only a small specific region of the body needs to be examined. We consider x-ray acquisition from sources located on a smooth curve $\Gamma$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$ verifying classical Tuy's condition. In this situation, the {\it non-trucated} cone-beam transform $D f$ of smooth densities $f$ admits an explicit inverse $Z$; however $Z$ cannot directly reconstruct $f$ from ROI-truncated projections. To deal with the ROI tomography problem, we introduce a novel reconstruction approach. For densities $f$ in $L^{\infty}(B)$ where $B$ is a bounded ball in $\mathbb{R}^3$, our method iterates an operator $U$ combining ROI-truncated projections, inversion by the operator $Z$ and appropriate regularization operators. Assuming only knowledge of projections corresponding to a spherical ROI $C \subset B$, given $\epsilon >0$, we prove that if $C$ is sufficiently large our iterative reconstruction algorithm converges uniformly to an $\epsilon$-accurate approximation of $f$, where the accuracy depends on the regularity of $f$ quantified in the Sobolev norm $W^5(B)$. This result shows the existence of a critical ROI radius ensuring the convergence of the ROI reconstruction algorithm to $\epsilon$-accurate approximations of $f$. We numerically verified these theoretical results using simulated acquisition of ROI-truncated cone-beam projection data for multiple acquisition geometries. Numerical experiments indicate that the critical ROI radius is fairly small with respect to the support region~$B$.