find_variance_lines.tcsh


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find_variance_lines.tcsh   - look for high temporal variance columns

   usage : find_variance_lines.tcsh [options] datasets ..."

Look for bars of high variance that might suggest scanner interference.

   inputs: multiple runs of EPI datasets
   output: a directory containing
           - variance maps per run: original and scaled
           - cluster reports and x,y coordinates at high averages
           - a JPEG image showing locations of high variance

This program takes one or more runs of (presumably) EPI time series data,
and looks for slice locations with consistently high temporal variance across
the (masked) slices.

   steps:
      - (possibly) automask, erode and require columns of 5 voxels
      - (possibly) detrend at regress polort level, default = A
      - compute temporal variance volume
      - get p90 = 90th %ile in volume mask, default %ile = 90
      - scale variance to val/p90, with max of 1
      - Localstat -mask mean over columns
      - find separate clusters of them

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Examples:

  1. Run using defaults.

        find_variance_lines.tcsh epi_r1.nii epi_r2.nii epi_r3.nii
          OR
        find_variance_lines.tcsh epi_r*.nii

  2. What would afni_proc.py do?

        find_variance_lines.tcsh -rdir vlines.pb00.tcat -nerode 2 \
            pb00*tcat*.HEAD |& tee out.vlines.pb00.tcat.txt

  3. Provide a mask (and do not erode).  Do not detrend time series.
     Use the default output directory, vlines.result.

        find_variance_lines.tcsh -mask my_mask.nii.gz -polort -1 \
              epi_run*.nii.gz

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Options (terminal):

   -help                : show this help
   -hist                : show the version history
   -ver                 : show the current version

Options (processing):

   -do_clean VAL        : do we clean up a little? (def=1)

                             VAL in {0,1}

                          Remove likely unneeded datasets, particular the
                          large time series datasets.

   -do_img VAL          : make vline images? (def=1)

                             VAL in {0,1}

                          Specify whether to make jpeg images of high
                          variance locations.

   -echo                : run script with shell 'echo' set (def=no)
                          (this is VERY verbose)

                          With this set, it is as if running the (tcsh) as in:

                             tcsh -x .../find_variance_lines.tcsh ...

                          So all shell commands (including setting variables,
                          "if" evaluations, etc.) are shown.  This is useful
                          for debugging.

   -mask VAL            : mask for computations (def=AUTO)

                             VAL in {AUTO, NONE, dataset}

                          Specify a mask dataset to restrict variance
                          computations to.  VAL should be a dataset, with
                          exception for special cases:

                             AUTO : generate automask with 3dAutomask
                             NONE : do not mask

   -min_cvox VAL        : min voxels for valid mask column (def=5)

                             VAL in Z+ (positive integers)

                          In the input or automask, after any eroding, remove
                          voxels that do not have at least 'VAL' voxels in the
                          vertical column.  Otherwise, edge voxels might end
                          up in the result.

   -min_nt VAL          : minimum number of time points required (def=10)

                             VAL > 1 (integer)

                          This is just a minimum limit to be sure the input
                          time series are long enough to be reasonable.

   -nerode VAL          : how much to erode input or auto-mask (def=0)

                             VAL >= 0 (integer)

                          Specify the number of levels to erode any mask by.
                          "3dmask_tool -dilate -VAL " is used.

   -nfirst VAL          : discard the first VAL time points (def=0)

                             VAL >= 0 (integer)

                          Specify the number of time points to discard from
                          the start of each run (pre-steady state, presumably).

   -perc VAL            : percentile of variance vals to scale to (def=90)

                             VAL in {0..99}

                          When looking for high variance, the values are scaled
                          by this percentile value, with a scaled limit of 1.
                          So if the 90%-ile of variance values were 876.5, then
                          variance would be scaled using v_new = v_old/876.5,
                          with v_new limited to the range [0,1].

                          This allows evaluation relative to a modestly extreme
                          value, without worrying about the exact numbers.

   -polort VAL          : polynomial detrending degree (def=A)

                             VAL >= -1 (integer), or in {A,AUTO,NONE}

                          Specify the polynomial degree to use for time series
                          detrending prior to the variance computation.  This
                          should be an integer >= -1 (or a special case).  The
                          default is the same as that used by afni_proc.py and
                          3dDeconvolve, which is based on the duration of the
                          run, in seconds.

                          Special cases or examples:

                                A       : auto = floor(run_duration/150)+1
                                AUTO    : auto = floor(run_duration/150)+1
                                NONE    : do not detrend (same as -1)
                                -1      : do not detrend
                                0       : only remove the mean
                                3       : remove a cubic polynomial trend

   -rdir VAL            : name of the output directory (def=vlines.result)

                             VAL is a new directory name

                          All output is put into this results directory.


- R Reynolds, P Taylor, D Glen
  Nov, 2022
  version 0.4, 23 Nov, 2022