Empirical Inference


2024


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Language Models Can Reduce Asymmetry in Information Markets

Rahaman, N., Weiss, M., Wüthrich, M., Bengio, Y., Li, E., Pal, C., Schölkopf, B.

arXiv:2403.14443, March 2024, Published as: Redesigning Information Markets in the Era of Language Models, Conference on Language Modeling (COLM) (techreport)

Abstract
This work addresses the buyer's inspection paradox for information markets. The paradox is that buyers need to access information to determine its value, while sellers need to limit access to prevent theft. To study this, we introduce an open-source simulated digital marketplace where intelligent agents, powered by language models, buy and sell information on behalf of external participants. The central mechanism enabling this marketplace is the agents' dual capabilities: they not only have the capacity to assess the quality of privileged information but also come equipped with the ability to forget. This ability to induce amnesia allows vendors to grant temporary access to proprietary information, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized retention while enabling agents to accurately gauge the information's relevance to specific queries or tasks. To perform well, agents must make rational decisions, strategically explore the marketplace through generated sub-queries, and synthesize answers from purchased information. Concretely, our experiments (a) uncover biases in language models leading to irrational behavior and evaluate techniques to mitigate these biases, (b) investigate how price affects demand in the context of informational goods, and (c) show that inspection and higher budgets both lead to higher quality outcomes.

link (url) [BibTex]

2024

link (url) [BibTex]

2023


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Navigating the Ocean of Biases: Political Bias Attribution in Language Models via Causal Structures

Jenny, D.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, November 2023, external supervision (thesis)

[BibTex]

2023

[BibTex]


Synchronizing Machine Learning Algorithms, Realtime Robotic Control and Simulated Environment with o80
Synchronizing Machine Learning Algorithms, Realtime Robotic Control and Simulated Environment with o80

Berenz, V., Widmaier, F., Guist, S., Schölkopf, B., Büchler, D.

Robot Software Architectures Workshop (RSA) 2023, ICRA, 2023 (techreport)

Abstract
Robotic applications require the integration of various modalities, encompassing perception, control of real robots and possibly the control of simulated environments. While the state-of-the-art robotic software solutions such as ROS 2 provide most of the required features, flexible synchronization between algorithms, data streams and control loops can be tedious. o80 is a versatile C++ framework for robotics which provides a shared memory model and a command framework for real-time critical systems. It enables expert users to set up complex robotic systems and generate Python bindings for scientists. o80's unique feature is its flexible synchronization between processes, including the traditional blocking commands and the novel ``bursting mode'', which allows user code to control the execution of the lower process control loop. This makes it particularly useful for setups that mix real and simulated environments.

arxiv poster link (url) [BibTex]

2022


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Causality, causal digital twins, and their applications

Schölkopf, B.

Machine Learning for Science: Bridging Data-Driven and Mechanistic Modelling (Dagstuhl Seminar 22382), (Editors: Berens, Philipp and Cranmer, Kyle and Lawrence, Neil D. and von Luxburg, Ulrike and Montgomery, Jessica), September 2022 (talk)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

2022

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

2021


Scientific Report 2016 - 2021
Scientific Report 2016 - 2021
2021 (mpi_year_book)

Abstract
This report presents research done at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems from January2016 to November 2021. It is our fourth report since the founding of the institute in 2011. Dueto the fact that the upcoming evaluation is an extended one, the report covers a longer reportingperiod.This scientific report is organized as follows: we begin with an overview of the institute, includingan outline of its structure, an introduction of our latest research departments, and a presentationof our main collaborative initiatives and activities (Chapter1). The central part of the scientificreport consists of chapters on the research conducted by the institute’s departments (Chapters2to6) and its independent research groups (Chapters7 to24), as well as the work of the institute’scentral scientific facilities (Chapter25). For entities founded after January 2016, the respectivereport sections cover work done from the date of the establishment of the department, group, orfacility. These chapters are followed by a summary of selected outreach activities and scientificevents hosted by the institute (Chapter26). The scientific publications of the featured departmentsand research groups published during the 6-year review period complete this scientific report.

Scientific Report 2016 - 2021 [BibTex]

2019


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Multivariate coupling estimation between continuous signals and point processes

Safavi, S., Logothetis, N., Besserve, M.

Neural Information Processing Systems 2019 - Workshop on Learning with Temporal Point Processes, December 2019 (talk)

Talk video link (url) [BibTex]

2019

Talk video link (url) [BibTex]


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Automatic Segmentation and Labelling for Robot Table Tennis Time Series

Lutz, P.

Technical University Darmstadt, Germany, August 2019 (thesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


Scientific Report 2016 - 2018
Scientific Report 2016 - 2018
2019 (mpi_year_book)

Abstract
This report presents research done at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems from January 2016 to December 2018. It is our third report since the founding of the institute in 2011. This status report is organized as follows: we begin with an overview of the institute, including its organizational structure (Chapter 1). The central part of the scientific report consists of chapters on the research conducted by the institute’s departments (Chapters 2 to 5) and its independent research groups (Chapters 6 to 18), as well as the work of the institute’s central scientific facilities (Chapter 19). For entities founded after January 2016, the respective report sections cover work done from the date of the establishment of the department, group, or facility.

Scientific Report 2016 - 2018 [BibTex]

2016


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Analysis of multiparametric MRI using a semi-supervised random forest framework allows the detection of therapy response in ischemic stroke

Castaneda, S., Katiyar, P., Russo, F., Calaminus, C., Disselhorst, J. A., Ziemann, U., Kohlhofer, U., Quintanilla-Martinez, L., Poli, S., Pichler, B. J.

World Molecular Imaging Conference, 2016 (talk)

link (url) [BibTex]

2016

link (url) [BibTex]


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Multi-view learning on multiparametric PET/MRI quantifies intratumoral heterogeneity and determines therapy efficacy

Katiyar, P., Divine, M. R., Kohlhofer, U., Quintanilla-Martinez, L., Siegemund, M., Pfizenmaier, K., Kontermann, R., Pichler, B. J., Disselhorst, J. A.

World Molecular Imaging Conference, 2016 (talk)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]

2015


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Causal Inference for Empirical Time Series Based on the Postulate of Independence of Cause and Mechanism

Besserve, M.

53rd Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, September 2015 (talk)

[BibTex]

2015

[BibTex]


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Independence of cause and mechanism in brain networks

Besserve, M.

DALI workshop on Networks: Processes and Causality, April 2015 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Information-Theoretic Implications of Classical and Quantum Causal Structures

Chaves, R., Majenz, C., Luft, L., Maciel, T., Janzing, D., Schölkopf, B., Gross, D.

18th Conference on Quantum Information Processing (QIP), 2015 (talk)

Web link (url) [BibTex]

Web link (url) [BibTex]


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Assessment of brain tissue damage in the Sub-Acute Stroke Region by Multiparametric Imaging using [89-Zr]-Desferal-EPO-PET/MRI

Castaneda, S. G., Katiyar, P., Russo, F., Disselhorst, J. A., Calaminus, C., Poli, S., Maurer, A., Ziemann, U., Pichler, B. J.

World Molecular Imaging Conference, 2015 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Early time point in vivo PET/MR is a promising biomarker for determining efficacy of a novel Db(\alphaEGFR)-scTRAIL fusion protein therapy in a colon cancer model

Divine, M. R., Harant, M., Katiyar, P., Disselhorst, J. A., Bukala, D., Aidone, S., Siegemund, M., Pfizenmaier, K., Kontermann, R., Pichler, B. J.

World Molecular Imaging Conference, 2015 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Cosmology from Cosmic Shear with DES Science Verification Data

Abbott, T., Abdalla, F. B., Allam, S., Amara, A., Annis, J., Armstrong, R., Bacon, D., Banerji, M., Bauer, A. H., Baxter, E., others,

arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.05552, 2015 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]


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The DES Science Verification Weak Lensing Shear Catalogs

Jarvis, M., Sheldon, E., Zuntz, J., Kacprzak, T., Bridle, S. L., Amara, A., Armstrong, R., Becker, M. R., Bernstein, G. M., Bonnett, C., others,

arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.05603, 2015 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]


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The search for single exoplanet transits in the Kepler light curves

Foreman-Mackey, D., Hogg, D. W., Schölkopf, B.

IAU General Assembly, 22, pages: 2258352, 2015 (talk)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]


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Unsupervised identification of neural events in local field potentials

Besserve, M., Schölkopf, B., Logothetis, N. K.

44th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience), 2014 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Quantifying statistical dependency

Besserve, M.

Research Network on Learning Systems Summer School, 2014 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2013


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Studying large-scale brain networks: electrical stimulation and neural-event-triggered fMRI

Logothetis, N., Eschenko, O., Murayama, Y., Augath, M., Steudel, T., Evrard, H., Besserve, M., Oeltermann, A.

Twenty-Second Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2013), July 2013, journal = {BMC Neuroscience}, year = {2013}, month = {7}, volume = {14}, number = {Supplement 1}, pages = {A1}, (talk)

Web [BibTex]

2013

Web [BibTex]


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Animating Samples from Gaussian Distributions

Hennig, P.

(8), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany, 2013 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Domain Generalization via Invariant Feature Representation

Muandet, K.

30th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML2013), 2013 (talk)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Detailed models of the focal plane in the two-wheel era

Hogg, D. W., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Lang, D., Montet, B. T., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B.

arXiv:1309.0653, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]


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Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Searching the habitable zones of the brightest stars

Montet, B. T., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Hogg, D. W., Lang, D., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B.

arXiv:1309.0654, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]

2012


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Support Vector Machines, Support Measure Machines, and Quasar Target Selection

Muandet, K.

Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics (CCPP), New York University, December 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

2012

[BibTex]


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Hilbert Space Embedding for Dirichlet Process Mixtures

Muandet, K.

NIPS Workshop on Confluence between Kernel Methods and Graphical Models, December 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Simultaneous small animal PET/MR in activated and resting state reveals multiple brain networks

Wehrl, H., Lankes, K., Hossain, M., Bezrukov, I., Liu, C., Martirosian, P., Schick, F., Pichler, B.

20th Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), May 2012 (talk)

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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A new PET insert for simultaneous PET/MR small animal imaging

Wehrl, H., Lankes, K., Hossain, M., Bezrukov, I., Liu, C., Martirosian, P., Reischl, G., Schick, F., Pichler, B.

20th Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), May 2012 (talk)

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Evaluation of a new, large field of view, small animal PET/MR system

Hossain, M., Wehrl, H., Lankes, K., Liu, C., Bezrukov, I., Reischl, G., Pichler, B.

50. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Nuklearmedizin (NuklearMedizin), April 2012 (talk)

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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High Gamma-Power Predicts Performance in Brain-Computer Interfacing

Grosse-Wentrup, M., Schölkopf, B.

(3), Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme, Tübingen, February 2012 (techreport)

Abstract
Subjects operating a brain-computer interface (BCI) based on sensorimotor rhythms exhibit large variations in performance over the course of an experimental session. Here, we show that high-frequency gamma-oscillations, originating in fronto-parietal networks, predict such variations on a trial-to-trial basis. We interpret this nding as empirical support for an in uence of attentional networks on BCI-performance via modulation of the sensorimotor rhythm.

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Support Measure Machines for Quasar Target Selection

Muandet, K.

Astro Imaging Workshop, 2012 (talk)

Abstract
In this talk I will discuss the problem of quasar target selection. The objects attributes in astronomy such as fluxes are often subjected to substantial and heterogeneous measurement uncertainties, especially for the medium-redshift between 2.2 and 3.5 quasars which is relatively rare and must be targeted down to g ~ 22 mag. Most of the previous works for quasar target selection includes UV-excess, kernel density estimation, a likelihood approach, and artificial neural network cannot directly deal with the heterogeneous input uncertainties. Recently, extreme deconvolution (XD) has been used to tackle this problem in a well-posed manner. In this work, we present a discriminative approach for quasar target selection that can deal with input uncertainties directly. To do so, we represent each object as a Gaussian distribution whose mean is the object's attribute vector and covariance is the given flux measurement uncertainty. Given a training set of Gaussian distributions, the support measure machines (SMMs) algorithm are trained and used to build the quasar targeting catalog. Preliminary results will also be presented. Joint work with Jo Bovy and Bernhard Sch{\"o}lkopf

Web [BibTex]


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PAC-Bayesian Analysis: A Link Between Inference and Statistical Physics

Seldin, Y.

Workshop on Statistical Physics of Inference and Control Theory, 2012 (talk)

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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PET Performance Measurements of a Next Generation Dedicated Small Animal PET/MR Scanner

Liu, C., Hossain, M., Lankes, K., Bezrukov, I., Wehrl, H., Kolb, A., Judenhofer, M., Pichler, B.

Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS-MIC), 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Simultaneous small animal PET/MR reveals different brain networks during stimulation and rest

Wehrl, H., Hossain, M., Lankes, K., Liu, C., Bezrukov, I., Martirosian, P., Reischl, G., Schick, F., Pichler, B.

World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC), 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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PAC-Bayesian Analysis of Supervised, Unsupervised, and Reinforcement Learning

Seldin, Y., Laviolette, F., Shawe-Taylor, J.

Tutorial at the 29th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), 2012 (talk)

Web Web [BibTex]

Web Web [BibTex]


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Influence of MR-based attenuation correction on lesions within bone and susceptibility artifact regions

Bezrukov, I., Schmidt, H., Mantlik, F., Schwenzer, N., Brendle, C., Pichler, B.

Molekulare Bildgebung (MoBi), 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Structured Apprenticeship Learning

Boularias, A., Kroemer, O., Peters, J.

European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning (EWRL), 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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PAC-Bayesian Analysis and Its Applications

Seldin, Y., Laviolette, F., Shawe-Taylor, J.

Tutorial at The European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECML-PKDD), 2012 (talk)

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Kernel Bellman Equations in POMDPs

Nishiyama, Y., Boularias, A., Gretton, A., Fukumizu, K.

Technical Committee on Infomation-Based Induction Sciences and Machine Learning (IBISML'12), 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Beta oscillations propagate as traveling waves in the macaque prefrontal cortex

Panagiotaropoulos, T., Besserve, M., Logothetis, N.

42nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience), 2012 (talk)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2011


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Combined whole-body PET/MR imaging: MR contrast agents do not affect the quantitative accuracy of PET following attenuation correction

Lois, C., Kupferschläger, J., Bezrukov, I., Schmidt, H., Werner, M., Mannheim, J., Pichler, B., Schwenzer, N., Beyer, T.

(SST15-05 ), 97th Scientific Assemble and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), December 2011 (talk)

Abstract
PURPOSE Combined PET/MR imaging entails the use of MR contrast agents (MRCA) as part of integrated protocols. We assess additional attenuation of the PET emission signals in the presence of oral and intraveneous (iv) MRCA made up of iron oxide and Gd-chelates, respectively. METHOD AND MATERIALS Phantom scans were performed on a clinical PET/CT (Biograph HiRez16, Siemens) and integrated whole-body PET/MR (Biograph mMR, Siemens) using oral (Lumirem) and intraveneous (Gadovist) MRCA. Reference PET attenuation values were determined on a small-animal PET (Inveon, Siemens) using standard PET transmission imaging (TX). Seven syringes of 5mL were filled with (a) Water, (b) Lumirem_100 (100% conc.), (c) Gadovist_100 (100%), (d) Gadovist_18 (18%), (e) Gadovist_02 (0.2%), (f) Imeron-400 CT iv-contrast (100%) and (g) Imeron-400 (2.4%). The same set of syringes was scanned on CT (Sensation16, Siemens) at 120kVp and 160mAs. The effect of MRCA on the attenuation of PET emission data was evaluated using a 20cm cylinder filled uniformly with [18F]-FDG (FDG) in water (BGD). Three 4.5cm diameter cylinders were inserted into the phantom: (C1) Teflon, (C2) Water+FDG (2:1) and (C3) Lumirem_100+FDG (2:1). Two 50mL syringes filled with Gadovist_02+FDG (Sy1) and water+FDG (Sy2) were attached to the sides of (C1) to mimick the effects of iv-contrast in vessels near bone. Syringe-to-background activity ratio was 4-to-1. PET emission data were acquired for 10min each using the PET/CT and the PET/MR. Images were reconstructed using CT- and MR-based attenuation correction. RESULTS Mean linear PET attenuation (cm-1) on TX was (a) 0.098, (b) 0.098, (c) 0.300, (d) 0.134, (e) 0.095, (f) 0.397 and (g) 0.105. Corresponding CT attenuation (HU) was: (a) 5, (b) 14, (c) 3070, (d) 1040, (e) 13, (f) 3070 and (g) 347. Lumirem had little effect on PET attenuation with (C3) being 13% and 10% higher than (C2) on PET/CT and PET/MR, respectively. Gadovist_02 had even smaller effects with (Sy1) being 2.5% lower than (Sy2) on PET/CT and 1.2% higher than (Sy2) on PET/MR. CONCLUSION MRCA in high and clinically relevant concentrations have attenuation values similar to that of CT contrast and water, respectively. In clinical PET/MR scenarios MRCA are not expected to lead to significant attenuation of the PET emission signals.

Web [BibTex]

2011

Web [BibTex]


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Cooperative Cuts: a new use of submodularity in image segmentation

Jegelka, S.

Second I.S.T. Austria Symposium on Computer Vision and Machine Learning, October 2011 (talk)

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Effect of MR Contrast Agents on Quantitative Accuracy of PET in Combined Whole-Body PET/MR Imaging

Lois, C., Bezrukov, I., Schmidt, H., Schwenzer, N., Werner, M., Pichler, B., Kupferschläger, J., Beyer, T.

2011(MIC3-3), 2011 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference (NSS-MIC), October 2011 (talk)

Abstract
Combined whole-body PET/MR systems are being tested in clinical practice today. Integrated imaging protocols entail the use of MR contrast agents (MRCA) that could bias PET attenuation correction. In this work, we assess the effect of MRCA in PET/MR imaging. We analyze the effect of oral and intravenous MRCA on PET activity after attenuation correction. We conclude that in clinical scenarios, MRCA are not expected to lead to significant attenuation of PET signals, and that attenuation maps are not biased after the ingestion of adequate oral contrasts.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]