terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention as used herein the singular forms u201c a u201d u201c an u201d and u201c the u201d are intended to include the plural forms as well unless the context clearly indicates otherwise it will be further understood that the terms u201c comprises u201d u201c comprising u201d u201c includes u201d and or u201c including u201d when used herein specify the presence of stated features integers steps operations elements and or components but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features integers steps operations elements components and or groups thereof it should also be noted that in some alternative implementations the functions acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the flowcharts for example two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order depending upon the functionality acts involved as used herein the term u201c image u201d refers to multi dimensional data composed of discrete image elements e g pixels for 2 d images and voxels for 3 d images the image may be for example a medical image of a subject collected by computer tomography magnetic resonance imaging ultrasound or any other medical imaging system known to one of skill in the art the image may also be provided from non medical contexts such as for example remote sensing systems electron microscopy etc although an image can be thought of as a function from r 3 to r the methods of the.