An Improved Method of Total Variation Superiorization Applied to Reconstruction in Proton Computed Tomography

Previous work showed that total variation superiorization (TVS) improves reconstructed image quality in proton computed tomography (pCT). The structure of the TVS algorithm has evolved since then and this work investigated if this new algorithmic structure provides additional benefits to pCT image quality. Structural and parametric changes introduced to the original TVS algorithm included: (1) … Read more

Cyclic Coordinate Update Algorithms for Fixed-Point Problems: Analysis and Applications

Many problems reduce to the fixed-point problem of solving $x=T(x)$. To this problem, we apply the coordinate-update algorithms, which update only one or a few components of $x$ at each step. When each update is cheap, these algorithms are faster than the full fixed-point iteration (which updates all the components). In this paper, we focus … Read more

Fast Bundle-Level Type Methods for unconstrained and ball-constrained convex optimization

It has been shown in \cite{Lan13-1} that the accelerated prox-level (APL) method and its variant, the uniform smoothing level (USL) method, have optimal iteration complexity for solving black-box and structured convex programming problems without requiring the input of any smoothness information. However, these algorithms require the assumption on the boundedness of the feasible set and … Read more

Inertial primal-dual algorithms for structured convex optimization

The primal-dual algorithm recently proposed by Chambolle \& Pock (abbreviated as CPA) for structured convex optimization is very efficient and popular. It was shown by Chambolle \& Pock in \cite{CP11} and also by Shefi \& Teboulle in \cite{ST14} that CPA and variants are closely related to preconditioned versions of the popular alternating direction method of … Read more

Optimal subgradient algorithms with application to large-scale linear inverse problems

This study addresses some algorithms for solving structured unconstrained convex optimization problems using first-order information where the underlying function includes high-dimensional data. The primary aim is to develop an implementable algorithmic framework for solving problems with multi-term composite objective functions involving linear mappings using the optimal subgradient algorithm, OSGA, proposed by {\sc Neumaier} in \cite{NeuO}. … Read more

Projected subgradient minimization versus superiorization

The projected subgradient method for constrained minimization repeatedly interlaces subgradient steps for the objective function with projections onto the feasible region, which is the intersection of closed and convex constraints sets, to regain feasibility. The latter poses a computational difficulty and, therefore, the projected subgradient method is applicable only when the feasible region is “simple … Read more

A splitting method for separate convex programming with linking linear constraints

We consider the separate convex programming problem with linking linear constraints, where the objective function is in the form of the sum of m individual functions without crossed variables. The special case with m=2 has been well studied in the literature and some algorithms are very influential, e.g. the alternating direction method. The research for … Read more

A Fast Algorithm for Total Variation Image Reconstruction from Random Projections

Total variation (TV) regularization is popular in image restoration and reconstruction due to its ability to preserve image edges. To date, most research activities on TV models concentrate on image restoration from blurry and noisy observations, while discussions on image reconstruction from random projections are relatively fewer. In this paper, we propose, analyze, and test … Read more

Solving Constrained Total-Variation Image Restoration and Reconstruction Problems via Alternating Direction Methods

In this paper, we study alternating direction methods for solving constrained total-variation image restoration and reconstruction problems. Alternating direction methods can be implementable variants of the classical augmented Lagrangian method for optimization problems with separable structures and linear constraints. The proposed framework allows us to solve problems of image restoration, impulse noise removal, inpainting and … Read more

Block-Iterative and String-Averaging Projection Algorithms in Proton Computed Tomography Image Reconstruction

Proton computed tomography (pCT) is an imaging modality that has been suggested as a means for reducing the range uncertainty during proton radiation treatments. By measuring the spatial location of individual protons pre- and post-patient, as well as the energy lost along the proton path, three dimensional maps of patient water equivalent electron densities can … Read more