Let's start to introduce the topics that we are considering this winter semester.

The following sections in this chapter are basically covering a few ideas that you need

to know if you want to follow the methods and algorithms we are going to discuss until

February.

So I will explain to you basically the topics, then we will talk a little bit about modalities

that are used in medical imaging.

What is a modality?

That's basically some device that generates images and there are different devices that

use different principles from physics to visualize things in the human body.

Then we will talk about molecular imaging, a very hot topic in science and industry these

days.

And then I will explain to you what is the difference between diagnostic and interventional

imaging.

That's something that most of you won't be aware of.

And as usual at the end of the lecture I will conclude with a take home messages, so what

are the important things that I have told you and I also give a pointer to further readings

where you will find additional literature covering the topics that we have considered

within the lecture.

So that's the program for the next 45 minutes I would say.

And let's look into the topics that we are going to consider and I start with a few generic

comments.

Basically when I selected the topics that we want to discuss here I followed a few guidelines

and I wanted to be some kind of unique in its contents saying we are doing things that

others don't do.

And that hopefully makes us a little bit special and hopefully makes you very much attractive

for industry because you gain here knowledge that maybe many people at companies don't

have and if they want to hire somebody you fulfill some kind of profile that they really

need and that will compensate maybe a few problems they actually have in their team.

I try to challenge you so my experience is that students when they show up in the oral

exam they tell me it was so much and it was so difficult, quite often that happens, so

I try to challenge you but I really don't want to overload you with information so if

it's too much let me know, if I'm too fast slow me down by smart questions.

If I ask many questions in the lecture what is the implication that means that I'm not

well prepared and I don't have so much things to say in the lecture so I try to stretch

it.

That happens sometimes, my PhD students know exactly when that happens.

Good, we will hopefully have some fun in working on these topics, at least I will have fun

as I told you, it's something I love to do, it makes fun and hopefully somehow you will

also get motivated to work on images and image processing problems.

I also try to be as close as possible to the research we are actually doing so I will explain

to you what are problems that we are considering and what type of things are not yet solved,

problems are not yet solved and I have to say I had a very exciting experience two weeks

ago in the oral exam because I had one problem, it was in interventional image processing,

I was thinking about that for quite a long time and I had no good idea how to solve this

problem in an easy manner.

I had a solution but it was very complicated and so I resisted to do that in the lecture,

a proof for a certain statement and there was a student in the lecture, in the oral

exam and he was telling me oh yes and then you have said that the singular values fulfil

this property and it's very easy to show look and then he was writing a proof, it was

two lines and I was thinking no, this guy has solved the problem and that tells me if