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@PHDTHESIS{Terhag:1024583,
author = {Terhag, Felix},
othercontributors = {Tempone, Raul and Basermann, Achim and Kebaier, Ahmed},
title = {{S}tructure-exploiting uncertainty quantification and
control : {B}ayesian inference and {I}tô {SDE} methods from
{MRI} segmentation to autonomous sensing},
school = {RWTH Aachen University},
type = {Dissertation},
address = {Aachen},
publisher = {RWTH Aachen University},
reportid = {RWTH-2026-00164},
pages = {1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen},
year = {2025},
note = {Veröffentlicht auf dem Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen
University 2026; Dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, 2025},
abstract = {Uncertainty is a defining feature of both medical imaging
and autonomous decision-making. In clinical diagnostics,
inaccurate predictions can lead to harmful outcomes, while
in autonomous sensing, uncertainty in partial observations
can hinder safe and efficient control. This thesis develops
methods that both quantify uncertainty and exploit
problem-specific structure, demonstrating their
effectiveness across two distinct but connected domains. The
first part addresses challenges in cardiac magnetic
resonance imaging, where automated segmentation methods
often produce overconfident estimates of ventricular
volumes. A post-hoc uncertainty quantification method based
on Itô stochastic differential equations is introduced to
model prediction error dynamics; we establish the existence
of a unique strong solution that is non-negative almost
surely and prove that the procedure is bias-free with
respect to the underlying automatic segmentation. Moving
from classical cine MRI to real-time MRI, where thousands of
frames must be processed to capture both cardiac and
respiratory motion, the main challenge shifts from
overconfidence to the prohibitive cost of manual labeling.
To address this, we employ sparse Bayesian learning, to
automatically prune irrelevant frequency components,
leveraging the dominant frequency structure of heartbeat and
respiration to identify the most informative frames to
label. We show that the resulting greedy selection scheme
admits approximation guarantees relative to the optimal
scheme. Finally, spatial correlations between slices are
incorporated into the Bayesian framework, improving
predictive accuracy when labeled data are scarce. The second
part turns to multi-agent localization of an unknown
pollutant source under partial observation. We cast the
problem as a continuous–discrete stochastic control
system: between measurements, the value function evolves
according to Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman dynamics, and at
observation times Gaussian Bayesian updates incorporate new
data. Directly solving the high-dimensional HJB equation is
computationally demanding, so we exploit structural
properties of the problem to improve efficiency. For
example, since the dominant uncertainty often aligns with
the wind direction, the discretization of the posterior can
be concentrated along this axis, reducing the number of grid
points required. Similarly, permutation symmetry across
agents allows a decomposition of the value function
analogous to analysis of variance, enabling scalable
approximations by retaining only single- and pairwise
interaction terms. This approach mitigates the curse of
dimensionality and provides flexibility, as objectives such
as collision avoidance or patrolling trajectories can be
incorporated seamlessly. This work combines Bayesian
inference and stochastic differential equations to address
challenges in cardiac imaging and autonomous sensing. By
exploiting inherent problem structure, it renders otherwise
intractable inference and control problems computationally
feasible, advancing both the theory and application of
uncertainty quantification and optimal decision-making.},
cin = {118110 / 110000},
ddc = {510},
cid = {$I:(DE-82)118110_20190107$ / $I:(DE-82)110000_20140620$},
pnm = {HDS LEE - Helmholtz School for Data Science in Life, Earth
and Energy (HDS LEE) (HDS-LEE-20190612) /
Doktorandenprogramm (PHD-PROGRAM-20170404)},
pid = {G:(DE-Juel1)HDS-LEE-20190612 /
G:(DE-HGF)PHD-PROGRAM-20170404},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)11},
doi = {10.18154/RWTH-2026-00164},
url = {https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/1024583},
}