Original: T OPOLOGY -A WARE S EGMENTATION U SING D ISCRETE M ORSE T HEORY
Revised: T OPOLOGY -A WARE S EGMENTATION U SING D ISCRETE M ORSE T HEORY

Original: Anonymous authors
Revised: Anonymous authors

Original: Paper under double-blind review
Revised: Paper under double-blind review

Original: A BSTRACT
Revised: A BSTRACT

Original: In the segmentation of ﬁne-scale structures from natural and biomedical images, per-pixel accuracy is not the only metric of concern.
Revised: In the segmentation of ﬁne-scale structures from natural and biomedical images, per-pixel accuracy is not the only metric of concern.

Original: Topological correctness, such as vessel connectivity and membrane closure, is crucial for downstream analysis tasks.
Revised: Topological correctness, such as vessel connectivity and membrane closure, is crucial for downstream analysis tasks.

Original: In this paper, we propose a new approach to train deep image segmentation networks for better topological accuracy.
Revised: In this paper, we propose a new approach to train deep image segmentation networks for better topological accuracy.

Original: In particular, leveraging the power of discrete Morse theory (DMT), we identify global structures, including 1D skeletons and 2D patches, which are important for topological accuracy.
Revised: In particular, leveraging the power of discrete Morse theory (DMT), we identify global structures, including 1D skeletons and 2D patches, which are important for topological accuracy.

Original: Trained with a novel loss based on these global structures, the network performance is signiﬁcantly improved especially near topologically challenging locations (such as weak spots of connections and membranes).
Revised: Trained with a novel loss based on these global structures, the network performance is signiﬁcantly improved especially near topologically challenging locations (such as weak spots of connections and membranes).

Original: On diverse datasets, our method achieves superior performance on both the DICE score and topological metrics.
Revised: On diverse datasets, our method achieves superior performance on both the DICE score and topological metrics.

Original:  I NTRODUCTION
Revised:  I NTRODUCTION

Original: Segmenting objects while preserving their global structure is a challenging yet important problem.
Revised: Segmenting objects while preserving their global structure is a challenging yet important problem.

Original: Various methods have been proposed to encourage neural networks to preserve ﬁne details of objects (Long et al., 2015; He et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2014; 2018; 2017).
Revised: Various methods have been proposed to encourage neural networks to preserve ﬁne details of objects (Long et al., 2015; He et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2014; 2018; 2017).

Original: Despite their high per-pixel accuracy, most of them are still prone to structural errors, such as missing small object instances, breaking thin connections, and leaving holes in membranes.
Revised: Despite their high per-pixel accuracy, most of them are still prone to structural errors, such as missing small object instances, breaking thin connections, and leaving holes in membranes.

Original: These structural errors can signiﬁcantly damage downstream analysis.
Revised: These structural errors can signiﬁcantly damage downstream analysis.

Original: For example, in the segmentation of biomedical structures such as membranes and vessels, small pixel errors at junction will induce signiﬁcant structure error, leading to catastrophic functional mistakes.
Revised: For example, in the segmentation of biomedical structures such as membranes and vessels, small pixel errors at junction will induce signiﬁcant structure error, leading to catastrophic functional mistakes.

Original: See Fig.
Revised: See Fig.

Original: 1 for an illustration.
Revised: 1 for an illustration.

Original: Topology is a very global characterization that needs a lot of observations to learn.
Revised: Topology is a very global characterization that needs a lot of observations to learn.

Original: Any training set is insufﬁcient in teaching the network to correctly reason about topology, especially near challenging spots, e.g., blurred membrane locations or weak vessel connections.
Revised: Any training set is insufﬁcient in teaching the network to correctly reason about topology, especially near challenging spots, e.g., blurred membrane locations or weak vessel connections.

Original: A neural network tends to learn from the clean-cut cases and converge quickly.
Revised: A neural network tends to learn from the clean-cut cases and converge quickly.

Original: Meanwhile, topologically-challenging locations remain mis-classiﬁed, causing structural/topological errors.
Revised: Meanwhile, topologically-challenging locations remain mis-classiﬁed, causing structural/topological errors.

Original: We note that this issue cannot be alleviated even with more annotated (yet still unbalanced) images.
Revised: We note that this issue cannot be alleviated even with more annotated (yet still unbalanced) images.

Original: We propose a novel approach that identiﬁes critical topological structures during training and teaches a neural network to learn from these structures.
Revised: We propose a novel approach that identiﬁes critical topological structures during training and teaches a neural network to learn from these structures.

Original: Our method can produce segmentations with correct topology, i.e., having the same Betti number (i.e., number of connected components and handles/tunnels) as the ground truth.
Revised: Our method can produce segmentations with correct topology, i.e., having the same Betti number (i.e., number of connected components and handles/tunnels) as the ground truth.

Original: Underlying our method is the classic Morse theory (Milnor, 1963), which captures singularities of the gradient vector ﬁeld of the likelihood function.
Revised: Underlying our method is the classic Morse theory (Milnor, 1963), which captures singularities of the gradient vector ﬁeld of the likelihood function.

Original: Intuitively speaking, we treat the likelihood as a terrain function and Morse theory helps us capture terrain structures such as ridges and valleys.
Revised: Intuitively speaking, we treat the likelihood as a terrain function and Morse theory helps us capture terrain structures such as ridges and valleys.

Original: See Fig.
Revised: See Fig.

Original: 1 for illustrations.
Revised: 1 for illustrations.

Original: These structures, constituted of 1D and 2D manifold pieces, reveal the topological information captured by the (potentially noisy) likelihood function.
Revised: These structures, constituted of 1D and 2D manifold pieces, reveal the topological information captured by the (potentially noisy) likelihood function.

Original: We consider these Morse structures as topologically critical ; they encompass all potential skeletons of the object.
Revised: We consider these Morse structures as topologically critical ; they encompass all potential skeletons of the object.

Original: We propose a new loss that utilizes Morse theory to identify these topologically important structures during training and automatically adjust the loss function based on their importance.
Revised: We propose a new loss that utilizes Morse theory to identify these topologically important structures during training and automatically adjust the loss function based on their importance.

Original: By identifying these topologically critical structures, we effectively address the sampling bias issue and ensure that the networks predict correctly near these topologically difﬁcult locations.
Revised: By identifying these topologically critical structures, we effectively address the sampling bias issue and ensure that the networks predict correctly near these topologically difﬁcult locations.

Original: Since the Morse structures are identiﬁed based on the (potentially noisy) likelihood function, they can be both false negatives (a structure can be a true structure but was missed in the segmentation) and false positives (a hallucination of the model and should be removed).
Revised: Since the Morse structures are identiﬁed based on the (potentially noisy) likelihood function, they can be both false negatives (a structure can be a true structure but was missed in the segmentation) and false positives (a hallucination of the model and should be removed).

Original: Our loss ensures that both kinds of structural mistakes are corrected.
Revised: Our loss ensures that both kinds of structural mistakes are corrected.

Original: [Figure]
Revised: [Figure]

Original: Several technical challenges need to be tackled.
Revised: Several technical challenges need to be tackled.

Original: First, the classical Morse theory was deﬁned for smooth functions on smooth domains.
Revised: First, the classical Morse theory was deﬁned for smooth functions on smooth domains.

Original: Computing the Morse structures can be expensive and numerically unstable.
Revised: Computing the Morse structures can be expensive and numerically unstable.

Original: Furthermore, the entire set of Morse structures may include an excessive amount of structures, a large portion of which can be noisy, irrelevant ones.
Revised: Furthermore, the entire set of Morse structures may include an excessive amount of structures, a large portion of which can be noisy, irrelevant ones.

Original: To address these challenges we use the discrete version of Morse theory by Forman (1998; 2002).
Revised: To address these challenges we use the discrete version of Morse theory by Forman (1998; 2002).

Original: For efﬁciency purposes, we also use an approximation algorithm to compute 2D Morse structures with almost linear time.
Revised: For efﬁciency purposes, we also use an approximation algorithm to compute 2D Morse structures with almost linear time.

Original: The idea is to compute zero dimensional Morse structures of the dual image which boils down to a minimum spanning tree computation.
Revised: The idea is to compute zero dimensional Morse structures of the dual image which boils down to a minimum spanning tree computation.

Original: Finally, we use the theory of persistent homology (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000; Edelsbrunner & Harer, 2010) to prune spurious Morse structures that are not topologically critical.
Revised: Finally, we use the theory of persistent homology (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000; Edelsbrunner & Harer, 2010) to prune spurious Morse structures that are not topologically critical.

Original: Our discrete-Morse-theory based loss, called the DMT-loss , can be evaluated efﬁciently and can effectively train the neural network to achieve high performance in both topological accuracy and per-pixel accuracy.
Revised: Our discrete-Morse-theory based loss, called the DMT-loss , can be evaluated efﬁciently and can effectively train the neural network to achieve high performance in both topological accuracy and per-pixel accuracy.

Original: Our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in multiple topology-relevant metrics (e.g., ARI and VOI), on various 2D and 3D benchmarks.
Revised: Our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in multiple topology-relevant metrics (e.g., ARI and VOI), on various 2D and 3D benchmarks.

Original: It has superior performance in the
Revised: It has superior performance in the

Original: Betti number error, which is an exact measurement of the topological ﬁdelity of the segmentation.
Revised: Betti number error, which is an exact measurement of the topological ﬁdelity of the segmentation.

Original: Related work.
Revised: Related work.

Original: Closely related to our method are recent works on persistent-homology-based losses (Hu et al., 2019;
Revised: Closely related to our method are recent works on persistent-homology-based losses (Hu et al., 2019;

Original: Clough et al., 2019).
Revised: Clough et al., 2019).

Original: These methods identify a set of critical points of the likelihood function, e.g., saddles and extrema, as topologically critical locations for the neural network to memorize.
Revised: These methods identify a set of critical points of the likelihood function, e.g., saddles and extrema, as topologically critical locations for the neural network to memorize.

Original: However, only identifying a sparse set of critical points at every epoch is inefﬁcient in terms of training.
Revised: However, only identifying a sparse set of critical points at every epoch is inefﬁcient in terms of training.

Original: Instead, our method identiﬁes a much bigger set of critical locations at each epoch, i.e., 1D or 2D Morse skeletons (curves and patches).
Revised: Instead, our method identiﬁes a much bigger set of critical locations at each epoch, i.e., 1D or 2D Morse skeletons (curves and patches).

Original: This brings beneﬁts in both training efﬁciency and model performance.
Revised: This brings beneﬁts in both training efﬁciency and model performance.

Original: Extending the critical location sets from points to 1D curves and 2D patches makes it much more efﬁcient in training.
Revised: Extending the critical location sets from points to 1D curves and 2D patches makes it much more efﬁcient in training.

Original: Compared with TopoLoss, we observe a 3-time speedup in practice.
Revised: Compared with TopoLoss, we observe a 3-time speedup in practice.

Original: Furthermore, by focusing on more critical locations early, our method is more likely to escape poor local minima of the loss landscape.
Revised: Furthermore, by focusing on more critical locations early, our method is more likely to escape poor local minima of the loss landscape.

Original: Thus it achieves better topological accuracy than TopoLoss.
Revised: Thus it achieves better topological accuracy than TopoLoss.

Original: The shorter training time may also contribute to better stability of the SGD algorithm, and thus better test accuracy (Hardt et al., 2016).
Revised: The shorter training time may also contribute to better stability of the SGD algorithm, and thus better test accuracy (Hardt et al., 2016).

Original: Another topology-aware loss (Mosinska et al., 2018) uses pretrained ﬁlters to detect broken connections.
Revised: Another topology-aware loss (Mosinska et al., 2018) uses pretrained ﬁlters to detect broken connections.

Original: However, this method cannot be generalized to unobserved geometry and higher dimensional topology (loops and voids).
Revised: However, this method cannot be generalized to unobserved geometry and higher dimensional topology (loops and voids).

Original: We also refer to other existing work on topological features and their applications (Adams et al., 2017; Reininghaus et al., 2015;
Revised: We also refer to other existing work on topological features and their applications (Adams et al., 2017; Reininghaus et al., 2015;

Original: Kusano et al., 2016; Carriere et al., 2017; Ni et al., 2017; Chen & Quadrianto, 2016;
Revised: Kusano et al., 2016; Carriere et al., 2017; Ni et al., 2017; Chen & Quadrianto, 2016;

Original: Wu et al., 2017).
Revised: Wu et al., 2017).

Original: Deep neural networks have also been proposed to learn from topological features directly extracted from data (Hofer et al., 2017;
Revised: Deep neural networks have also been proposed to learn from topological features directly extracted from data (Hofer et al., 2017;

Original: Carri`ere et al., 2019).
Revised: Carri`ere et al., 2019).

Original: Persistent-homology-inspired objective functions have been proposed for graphics (Poulenard et al., 2018) machine learning (Chen et al., 2019;
Revised: Persistent-homology-inspired objective functions have been proposed for graphics (Poulenard et al., 2018) machine learning (Chen et al., 2019;

Original: Hofer et al., 2019).
Revised: Hofer et al., 2019).

Original: Discrete
Revised: Discrete

Original: Morse theory has been used for image analysis (Delgado-Friedrichs et al., 2015; Robins et al., 2011;
Revised: Morse theory has been used for image analysis (Delgado-Friedrichs et al., 2015; Robins et al., 2011;

Original: Wang et al., 2015; Dey et al., 2019), but only as a preprocessing step.
Revised: Wang et al., 2015; Dey et al., 2019), but only as a preprocessing step.

Original: To the best of our knowledge, our method is the ﬁrst to use the Morse structures for the end-to-end training of a network.
Revised: To the best of our knowledge, our method is the ﬁrst to use the Morse structures for the end-to-end training of a network.

Original: Many methods have leveraged the power of deep neural networks (Ronneberger et al., 2015;
Revised: Many methods have leveraged the power of deep neural networks (Ronneberger et al., 2015;

Original: Long et al., 2015; Badrinarayanan et al., 2017; Ding et al., 2019; Kervadec et al., 2019; Karimi & Salcudean, 2019; Mosinska et al., 2018) for ﬁne-scale structure segmentation.
Revised: Long et al., 2015; Badrinarayanan et al., 2017; Ding et al., 2019; Kervadec et al., 2019; Karimi & Salcudean, 2019; Mosinska et al., 2018) for ﬁne-scale structure segmentation.

Original: One may also enforce connectivity constraints when postprocessing the likelihood map (Han et al., 2003; Le Guyader & Vese, 2008;
Revised: One may also enforce connectivity constraints when postprocessing the likelihood map (Han et al., 2003; Le Guyader & Vese, 2008;

Original: Sundaramoorthi & Yezzi, 2007; S´egonne, 2008;
Revised: Sundaramoorthi & Yezzi, 2007; S´egonne, 2008;

Original: Wu et al., 2017; Gao et al., 2013; Vicente et al., 2008; Nowozin & Lampert, 2009;
Revised: Wu et al., 2017; Gao et al., 2013; Vicente et al., 2008; Nowozin & Lampert, 2009;

Original: Zeng et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2011; Andres et al., 2011; Stuhmer et al., 2013; Oswald et al., 2014; Estrada et al., 2014).
Revised: Zeng et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2011; Andres et al., 2011; Stuhmer et al., 2013; Oswald et al., 2014; Estrada et al., 2014).

Original: However, when the deep neural network itself is topology-agnostic, the likelihood map may be fundamentally ﬂawed and cannot be salvaged topologically.
Revised: However, when the deep neural network itself is topology-agnostic, the likelihood map may be fundamentally ﬂawed and cannot be salvaged topologically.

Original: Speciﬁc to neuron image segmentation, some methods (Funke et al., 2017; Turaga et al., 2009; Januszewski et al., 2018) directly ﬁnd neuron regions instead of their boundary/membranes.
Revised: Speciﬁc to neuron image segmentation, some methods (Funke et al., 2017; Turaga et al., 2009; Januszewski et al., 2018) directly ﬁnd neuron regions instead of their boundary/membranes.

Original: These methods cannot be generalized to other types of data such as satellite images, retinal images, vessel images, etc.
Revised: These methods cannot be generalized to other types of data such as satellite images, retinal images, vessel images, etc.

Original:  M ETHOD
Revised:  M ETHOD

Original: We propose a novel loss to train a topology-aware network end-to-end.
Revised: We propose a novel loss to train a topology-aware network end-to-end.

Original: It uses global structures captured by discrete Morse theory (DMT) to discover critical topological structures.
Revised: It uses global structures captured by discrete Morse theory (DMT) to discover critical topological structures.

Original: In particular, through the language of 1- and 2-stable manifolds, DMT helps identify 1D skeletons or 2D sheets (separating 3D regions) that may be critical for structural accuracy.
Revised: In particular, through the language of 1- and 2-stable manifolds, DMT helps identify 1D skeletons or 2D sheets (separating 3D regions) that may be critical for structural accuracy.

Original: These Morse structures are used to deﬁne a DMT-loss that is essentially the cross-entropy loss constrained to these topologically critical structures.
Revised: These Morse structures are used to deﬁne a DMT-loss that is essentially the cross-entropy loss constrained to these topologically critical structures.

Original: As the training continues, the neural network learns to better predict around these critical structures, and eventually achieves a better topological accuracy.
Revised: As the training continues, the neural network learns to better predict around these critical structures, and eventually achieves a better topological accuracy.

Original: Please refer to Fig.
Revised: Please refer to Fig.

Original: 2 for an overview of our method.
Revised: 2 for an overview of our method.

Original: In what follows, we provide relevant concepts in (discrete)
Revised: In what follows, we provide relevant concepts in (discrete)

Original: Morse theory (Sec. 2.1), describe how to compute and prune the Morse structures efﬁciently (Sec. 2.2), and introduce our proposed DMT-loss function (Sec. 2.3).
Revised: Morse theory (Sec. 2.1), describe how to compute and prune the Morse structures efﬁciently (Sec. 2.2), and introduce our proposed DMT-loss function (Sec. 2.3).

Original: Fig.
Revised: Fig.

Original: 2 shows an overview of the proposed method.
Revised: 2 shows an overview of the proposed method.

Original: 2. M ORSE THEORY
Revised: 2. M ORSE THEORY

Original: Morse theory (Milnor, 1963) identiﬁes topologically critical structures from a likelihood map (Fig. 3(a)).
Revised: Morse theory (Milnor, 1963) identiﬁes topologically critical structures from a likelihood map (Fig. 3(a)).

Original: In particular, it views the likelihood as a terrain function (Fig. 3(b)) and extracts its landscape features such as mountain ridges and their high-dimensional counterparts.
Revised: In particular, it views the likelihood as a terrain function (Fig. 3(b)) and extracts its landscape features such as mountain ridges and their high-dimensional counterparts.

Original: The broken connection in the likelihood map corresponds to a local dip in the mountain ridge of the terrain in
Revised: The broken connection in the likelihood map corresponds to a local dip in the mountain ridge of the terrain in

Original: Fig. 3(b) and Fig. 3(c).
Revised: Fig. 3(b) and Fig. 3(c).

Original: The bottom of this dip is captured by a so-called saddle point ( S in Fig. 3(c)) of the likelihood map.
Revised: The bottom of this dip is captured by a so-called saddle point ( S in Fig. 3(c)) of the likelihood map.

Original: The mountain ridge connected to this bottom point captures the main part of missing pixels.
Revised: The mountain ridge connected to this bottom point captures the main part of missing pixels.

Original: Such “mountain ridges” can be captured by the so-called stable manifold w.r.t.
Revised: Such “mountain ridges” can be captured by the so-called stable manifold w.r.t.

Original: the saddle point using the language of Morse theory.
Revised: the saddle point using the language of Morse theory.

Original: By ﬁnding the saddle points and the stable manifold of the saddle points on the likelihood map, we can ensure the model learns to “correctly” handle pixels near these structures.
Revised: By ﬁnding the saddle points and the stable manifold of the saddle points on the likelihood map, we can ensure the model learns to “correctly” handle pixels near these structures.

Original: We note that an analogous scenario can also happen with such 1D signals (such as blood vessels) as well as 2D signals (such as membranes of cells) in 3D images – they can also be captured by saddles (of different indices) and their stable manifolds.
Revised: We note that an analogous scenario can also happen with such 1D signals (such as blood vessels) as well as 2D signals (such as membranes of cells) in 3D images – they can also be captured by saddles (of different indices) and their stable manifolds.

Original: In this paper, we focus on the application of segmenting 2D and 3D images.
Revised: In this paper, we focus on the application of segmenting 2D and 3D images.

Original: Speciﬁcally, suppose we have a smooth function f : R d → R to model the likelihood (density) map.
Revised: Speciﬁcally, suppose we have a smooth function f : R d → R to model the likelihood (density) map.

Original: Given any point x ∈ R d , the negative gradient −∇ f ( x ) = − [ ∂f∂x 1 , ∂f∂x 2 , . . .
Revised: Given any point x ∈ R d , the negative gradient −∇ f ( x ) = − [ ∂f∂x 1 , ∂f∂x 2 , . . .

Original: , ∂f∂x d ] T indicates the steepest descending direction of f .
Revised: , ∂f∂x d ] T indicates the steepest descending direction of f .

Original: A point x = ( x 1 , x 2 , . . .
Revised: A point x = ( x 1 , x 2 , . . .

Original: , x k ) is critical if the gradient of function at this point vanishes (i.e., ∇ f ( x ) = 0 ).
Revised: , x k ) is critical if the gradient of function at this point vanishes (i.e., ∇ f ( x ) = 0 ).

Original: For a well-behaved function (more formally, called Morse function) deﬁned on R d , a critical point could be a minimum, a maximum, or d − 1 types of saddle points.
Revised: For a well-behaved function (more formally, called Morse function) deﬁned on R d , a critical point could be a minimum, a maximum, or d − 1 types of saddle points.

Original: See Fig. 3(c) as an example.
Revised: See Fig. 3(c) as an example.

Original: For d = 2 , there is only one type of saddle point.
Revised: For d = 2 , there is only one type of saddle point.

Original: For d = 3 , there are two types of saddle points, referred to as index-1 and index-2 saddles.
Revised: For d = 3 , there are two types of saddle points, referred to as index-1 and index-2 saddles.

Original: Formally, when taking the eigen-values of the
Revised: Formally, when taking the eigen-values of the

Original: Hessian matrix at a critical point, its index is equal to the number of negative eigenvalues.
Revised: Hessian matrix at a critical point, its index is equal to the number of negative eigenvalues.

Original: Intuitively, imagine we put a drop of water on the graph of f (i.e, the terrain in Fig. 3(b)) at the lift of x onto this terrain, then −∇ f ( x ) indicates the direction along which the water will ﬂow down.
Revised: Intuitively, imagine we put a drop of water on the graph of f (i.e, the terrain in Fig. 3(b)) at the lift of x onto this terrain, then −∇ f ( x ) indicates the direction along which the water will ﬂow down.

Original: If we track the trajectory of this water drop as it ﬂows down, this gives rise to so-called integral line (a ﬂow line).
Revised: If we track the trajectory of this water drop as it ﬂows down, this gives rise to so-called integral line (a ﬂow line).

Original: Such ﬂow lines can only start and end at critical points 1 , where the gradient vanishes.
Revised: Such ﬂow lines can only start and end at critical points 1 , where the gradient vanishes.

Original: The stable manifold S ( p ) of a critical point p is deﬁned as the collection of points whose ﬂow line ends at p .
Revised: The stable manifold S ( p ) of a critical point p is deﬁned as the collection of points whose ﬂow line ends at p .

Original: For a 2D function f : R 2 → R , for a saddle q , its stable manifold S ( q ) starts from local maxima (mountain peaks in the terrain) and ends at q , tracing out the mountain ridges separating different valleys (Fig. 3(c)).
Revised: For a 2D function f : R 2 → R , for a saddle q , its stable manifold S ( q ) starts from local maxima (mountain peaks in the terrain) and ends at q , tracing out the mountain ridges separating different valleys (Fig. 3(c)).

Original: The stable manifold S ( p ) of a minimum p , on the other hand, corresponds to the entire valley around this minimum p .
Revised: The stable manifold S ( p ) of a minimum p , on the other hand, corresponds to the entire valley around this minimum p .

Original: See the valley point V and its corresponding stable ﬁeld in Fig. 3(c).
Revised: See the valley point V and its corresponding stable ﬁeld in Fig. 3(c).

Original: For a 3D function f : R 3 → R , the stable manifold w.r.t.
Revised: For a 3D function f : R 3 → R , the stable manifold w.r.t.

Original: an index-2 saddle connects mountain peaks to saddles, tracing 1D mountain ridges as in the case of a 2D function.
Revised: an index-2 saddle connects mountain peaks to saddles, tracing 1D mountain ridges as in the case of a 2D function.

Original: The stable manifold w.r.t.
Revised: The stable manifold w.r.t.

Original: an index-1 saddle q consists of ﬂow lines starting at index-2 saddles and ending at q .
Revised: an index-1 saddle q consists of ﬂow lines starting at index-2 saddles and ending at q .

Original: Their union, called the 2-stable manifold of f , consists of a collection of 2-manifold pieces.
Revised: Their union, called the 2-stable manifold of f , consists of a collection of 2-manifold pieces.

Original: These stable manifolds indicate important topological structures (graph-like or sheet-like) based on the likelihood of the current neural network.
Revised: These stable manifolds indicate important topological structures (graph-like or sheet-like) based on the likelihood of the current neural network.

Original: Using these structures, we will propose a novel loss (Sec. 2.3) to improve the topological awareness of the model.
Revised: Using these structures, we will propose a novel loss (Sec. 2.3) to improve the topological awareness of the model.

Original: In practice, for images, we will leverage the discrete version of Morse theory for both numerical stability and easier simpliﬁcation.
Revised: In practice, for images, we will leverage the discrete version of Morse theory for both numerical stability and easier simpliﬁcation.

Original: Discrete Morse theory.
Revised: Discrete Morse theory.

Original: Due to space limitations, we brieﬂy explain discrete Morse theory, leaving technical details to the Appendix A.2.1.
Revised: Due to space limitations, we brieﬂy explain discrete Morse theory, leaving technical details to the Appendix A.2.1.

Original: We view a d -dimensional image, d = 2 or 3 , as a ddimensional cubical complex, meaning it consists of 0 -, 1 -, 2 - and 3 -dimensional cells corresponding to vertices (pixels/voxels), edges, squares, and cubes as its building blocks.
Revised: We view a d -dimensional image, d = 2 or 3 , as a ddimensional cubical complex, meaning it consists of 0 -, 1 -, 2 - and 3 -dimensional cells corresponding to vertices (pixels/voxels), edges, squares, and cubes as its building blocks.

Original: Discrete Morse theory (DMT), originally introduced in (Forman, 1998; 2002), is a combinatorial version of Morse theory for general cell complexes.
Revised: Discrete Morse theory (DMT), originally introduced in (Forman, 1998; 2002), is a combinatorial version of Morse theory for general cell complexes.

Original: In this setting, the analog of a gradient vector is a pair of adjacent cells, called discrete gradient vectors.
Revised: In this setting, the analog of a gradient vector is a pair of adjacent cells, called discrete gradient vectors.

Original: The analog of an integral line (ﬂow line) is a sequence of such cell-pairs (discrete gradient vectors), forming a so-called V-path .
Revised: The analog of an integral line (ﬂow line) is a sequence of such cell-pairs (discrete gradient vectors), forming a so-called V-path .

Original: Critical points correspond to critical cells which do not participate in any discrete gradient vectors.
Revised: Critical points correspond to critical cells which do not participate in any discrete gradient vectors.

Original: A minimum, index-1 saddle, index-2 saddle and a maximum for 3D domain intuitively correspond to a critical vertex, critical edge, critical square and critical cube respectively.
Revised: A minimum, index-1 saddle, index-2 saddle and a maximum for 3D domain intuitively correspond to a critical vertex, critical edge, critical square and critical cube respectively.

Original: A 1-stable manifold in 2D will correspond to a V-path, i.e., a sequence of cells, connecting a critical square (a maximum) and a critical edge (a saddle).
Revised: A 1-stable manifold in 2D will correspond to a V-path, i.e., a sequence of cells, connecting a critical square (a maximum) and a critical edge (a saddle).

Original: See Fig. 3(c) for an illustration.
Revised: See Fig. 3(c) for an illustration.

Original: In 3D, it will be a V-path connecting a critical cube and a critical square.
Revised: In 3D, it will be a V-path connecting a critical cube and a critical square.

Original: 2. S IMPLIFICATION AND C OMPUTATION
Revised: 2. S IMPLIFICATION AND C OMPUTATION

Original: In this section, we describe how we extract discrete Morse structures corresponding to the 1-stable manifold and 2-stable manifold in the continuous analog.
Revised: In this section, we describe how we extract discrete Morse structures corresponding to the 1-stable manifold and 2-stable manifold in the continuous analog.

Original: First, we prune unnecessary Morse structures, based on the theory of persistent homology (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000; Edelsbrunner &
Revised: First, we prune unnecessary Morse structures, based on the theory of persistent homology (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000; Edelsbrunner &

Original: Harer, 2010).
Revised: Harer, 2010).

Original: Second, the 2-stable manifold is rather involved to compute based on the original deﬁnition.
Revised: Second, the 2-stable manifold is rather involved to compute based on the original deﬁnition.

Original: We approximate the 2-stable manifold structures using 0-stable manifolds of the dual to achieve high efﬁciency in practice.
Revised: We approximate the 2-stable manifold structures using 0-stable manifolds of the dual to achieve high efﬁciency in practice.

Original: Persistence-based structure pruning.
Revised: Persistence-based structure pruning.

Original: While Morse structures reveal important structural information, they can be sensitive to noise.
Revised: While Morse structures reveal important structural information, they can be sensitive to noise.

Original: Without proper pruning, there can be an excessive amount of
Revised: Without proper pruning, there can be an excessive amount of

Original: Morse structures, many of which are spurious and not relevant to the true signal.
Revised: Morse structures, many of which are spurious and not relevant to the true signal.

Original: See Fig. 4(c) for an example.
Revised: See Fig. 4(c) for an example.

Original: We propose to prune these structures using persistent homology.
Revised: We propose to prune these structures using persistent homology.

Original: Persistent homology is one of the most important developments in the ﬁeld of topological data analysis in the past two decades (Edelsbrunner & Harer, 2010; Edelsbrunner et al., 2000).
Revised: Persistent homology is one of the most important developments in the ﬁeld of topological data analysis in the past two decades (Edelsbrunner & Harer, 2010; Edelsbrunner et al., 2000).

Original: Intuitively speaking, we grow the complex by starting from the empty set and gradually include more and more cells using a decreasing threshold.
Revised: Intuitively speaking, we grow the complex by starting from the empty set and gradually include more and more cells using a decreasing threshold.

Original: Through this course, new topological features can be created upon adding a critical cell, and sometimes a feature can be destroyed upon adding another critical cell.
Revised: Through this course, new topological features can be created upon adding a critical cell, and sometimes a feature can be destroyed upon adding another critical cell.

Original: The persistence algorithm (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000) will pair up these critical cells; that is, its output is a set of pairs of critical cells, where each pair captures the birth and death of topological features during this evolution.
Revised: The persistence algorithm (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000) will pair up these critical cells; that is, its output is a set of pairs of critical cells, where each pair captures the birth and death of topological features during this evolution.

Original: The persistence of a pair is deﬁned as the difference of function values of the two critical cells, intuitively measuring how long the topological feature lives in term of f .
Revised: The persistence of a pair is deﬁned as the difference of function values of the two critical cells, intuitively measuring how long the topological feature lives in term of f .

Original: Using persistence, we can prune critical cells that are less topologically salient, and thus their corresponding Morse structures.
Revised: Using persistence, we can prune critical cells that are less topologically salient, and thus their corresponding Morse structures.

Original: Recall each 1- and 2-stable Morse structure is constituted by Vpaths ﬂowing into a critical cell (corresponding to a saddle in continuous setting).
Revised: Recall each 1- and 2-stable Morse structure is constituted by Vpaths ﬂowing into a critical cell (corresponding to a saddle in continuous setting).

Original: We then use the persistence associated with this critical cell to determine the saliency of the corresponding Morse structure.
Revised: We then use the persistence associated with this critical cell to determine the saliency of the corresponding Morse structure.

Original: If the persistence is below a certain threshold (cid:15) , we prune the corresponding Morse structure via an operation called Morse cancellation (more details are in the Appendix A.2.2).
Revised: If the persistence is below a certain threshold (cid:15) , we prune the corresponding Morse structure via an operation called Morse cancellation (more details are in the Appendix A.2.2).

Original: 2 See Fig. 4(d) for example Morse structures after pruning.
Revised: 2 See Fig. 4(d) for example Morse structures after pruning.

Original: We denote by S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and S 2 ( (cid:15) )
Revised: We denote by S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and S 2 ( (cid:15) )

Original: the remaining sets of 1and 2-stable manifolds after pruning.
Revised: the remaining sets of 1and 2-stable manifolds after pruning.

Original: We’ll use these Morse structures to deﬁne the loss (Sec. 2.3).
Revised: We’ll use these Morse structures to deﬁne the loss (Sec. 2.3).

Original: Computation.
Revised: Computation.

Original: We need an efﬁcient algorithm to compute S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and S 2 ( (cid:15) ) from a given likelihood f , because this computation needs to be carried out at each epoch.
Revised: We need an efﬁcient algorithm to compute S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and S 2 ( (cid:15) ) from a given likelihood f , because this computation needs to be carried out at each epoch.

Original: It is especially more involved to deﬁne and compute S 2 ( (cid:15) ) in the discrete Morse setting (Delgado-Friedrichs et al., 2015).
Revised: It is especially more involved to deﬁne and compute S 2 ( (cid:15) ) in the discrete Morse setting (Delgado-Friedrichs et al., 2015).

Original: Furthermore, this also requires the computation of persistent homology up to 2-dimensions, which takes time
Revised: Furthermore, this also requires the computation of persistent homology up to 2-dimensions, which takes time

Original: T =
Revised: T =

Original: O ( n ω ) (where ω ≈ 2 .
Revised: O ( n ω ) (where ω ≈ 2 .

Original: 37 is the exponent in the matrix multiplication time, i.e., time to multiply two n × n matrices).
Revised: 37 is the exponent in the matrix multiplication time, i.e., time to multiply two n × n matrices).

Original: To this end, we propose to approximate S 2 ( (cid:15) ) by (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) )
Revised: To this end, we propose to approximate S 2 ( (cid:15) ) by (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) )

Original: (more details could be found in Appendix A.2.3) which intuitively comes from the “boundary” of the stable manifold for minima.
Revised: (more details could be found in Appendix A.2.3) which intuitively comes from the “boundary” of the stable manifold for minima.

Original: Note that in the smooth case for a function f : R 3 → R , the closure of 2-stable manifolds exactly corresponds to the 2 D sheets on the boundary of stable manifolds of minima.
Revised: Note that in the smooth case for a function f : R 3 → R , the closure of 2-stable manifolds exactly corresponds to the 2 D sheets on the boundary of stable manifolds of minima.

Original: This is both conceptually clear and also avoids the costly persistence computation.
Revised: This is both conceptually clear and also avoids the costly persistence computation.

Original: In particular, given a minimum q with persistence greater than the pruning threshold (cid:15) , the collections of V-paths ending at the minimum q form a spanning tree T q .
Revised: In particular, given a minimum q with persistence greater than the pruning threshold (cid:15) , the collections of V-paths ending at the minimum q form a spanning tree T q .

Original: In fact, consider all minima { q 1 , . .
Revised: In fact, consider all minima { q 1 , . .

Original: , q (cid:96) } with persistence at least (cid:15) .
Revised: , q (cid:96) } with persistence at least (cid:15) .

Original: { T q i } form a maximum spanning forest among all edges with persistence value smaller than (cid:15) (Bauer et al., 2012; Dey et al., 2018).
Revised: { T q i } form a maximum spanning forest among all edges with persistence value smaller than (cid:15) (Bauer et al., 2012; Dey et al., 2018).

Original: Hence it can be computed easily in O ( n log n ) time, in which n is the image size.
Revised: Hence it can be computed easily in O ( n log n ) time, in which n is the image size.

Original: We then take all the edges incident to nodes from different trees.
Revised: We then take all the edges incident to nodes from different trees.

Original: The dual of these edges, denoted as (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) , serve as the “boundaries” separating different spanning trees (representing stable manifolds to different minima with persistence ≥ (cid:15) ).
Revised: The dual of these edges, denoted as (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) , serve as the “boundaries” separating different spanning trees (representing stable manifolds to different minima with persistence ≥ (cid:15) ).

Original: See Fig.
Revised: See Fig.

Original: Overall, the computation of (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) takes only O ( n log n ) by a maximum spanning tree algorithm.
Revised: Overall, the computation of (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) takes only O ( n log n ) by a maximum spanning tree algorithm.

Original: As for S 1 ( (cid:15) ) , we use a simpliﬁed algorithm of (Dey et al., 2018), which can compute S 1 ( (cid:15) ) in O ( n log n ) time for a 2D image, in which n is the image size.
Revised: As for S 1 ( (cid:15) ) , we use a simpliﬁed algorithm of (Dey et al., 2018), which can compute S 1 ( (cid:15) ) in O ( n log n ) time for a 2D image, in which n is the image size.

Original: For a 3D image, the time is O ( n log n + T ) , where T = O ( n ω ) is the time to compute persistent homology, where ω ≈ 2 .
Revised: For a 3D image, the time is O ( n log n + T ) , where T = O ( n ω ) is the time to compute persistent homology, where ω ≈ 2 .

Original: 37 is the exponent in matrix multiplication time.
Revised: 37 is the exponent in matrix multiplication time.

Original: 2. T HE DMT- BASED L OSS F UNCTION AND T RAINING D ETAILS
Revised: 2. T HE DMT- BASED L OSS F UNCTION AND T RAINING D ETAILS

Original: Our loss has two terms, the cross-entropy term, L bce and the DMT-loss, L dmt : L ( f, g )
Revised: Our loss has two terms, the cross-entropy term, L bce and the DMT-loss, L dmt : L ( f, g )

Original: =
Revised: =

Original: L bce ( f, g )+ βL dmt ( f, g ) , in which f is the likelihood, g is the ground truth, and β is the weight of L dmt .
Revised: L bce ( f, g )+ βL dmt ( f, g ) , in which f is the likelihood, g is the ground truth, and β is the weight of L dmt .

Original: Here we focus on one single image, while the actual loss is aggregated over the whole training set.
Revised: Here we focus on one single image, while the actual loss is aggregated over the whole training set.

Original: The DMT-loss enforce the correctness of the topologically challenging locations discovered by our algorithm.
Revised: The DMT-loss enforce the correctness of the topologically challenging locations discovered by our algorithm.

Original: These locations are pixels of the (approximation of)
Revised: These locations are pixels of the (approximation of)

Original: 1- and 2-stable manifolds S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) of the likelihood, f (Fig. 1(e)).
Revised: 1- and 2-stable manifolds S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) of the likelihood, f (Fig. 1(e)).

Original: Denote by M f a binary mask of the union of pixels of all
Revised: Denote by M f a binary mask of the union of pixels of all

Original: Morse structures in S 1 ( (cid:15) ) ∪ (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) .
Revised: Morse structures in S 1 ( (cid:15) ) ∪ (cid:98) S 2 ( (cid:15) ) .

Original: We want to enforce these locations to be correctly segmented.
Revised: We want to enforce these locations to be correctly segmented.

Original: We use the cross-entropy between the likelihood map f and ground truth g restricted to the Morse structures, formally, L dmt ( f, g )
Revised: We use the cross-entropy between the likelihood map f and ground truth g restricted to the Morse structures, formally, L dmt ( f, g )

Original: =
Revised: =

Original: L bce ( f ◦ M f , g ◦ M f ) , in which ◦ is the Hadamard product.
Revised: L bce ( f ◦ M f , g ◦ M f ) , in which ◦ is the Hadamard product.

Original: Different types of topological errors.
Revised: Different types of topological errors.

Original: Recall the Morse structures are computed over the potentially noisy likelihood function of a neural network, which can help identify two types of structural errors: (1) false negative : a true structure that is incomplete in the segmentation, but can be visible in Morse structures.
Revised: Recall the Morse structures are computed over the potentially noisy likelihood function of a neural network, which can help identify two types of structural errors: (1) false negative : a true structure that is incomplete in the segmentation, but can be visible in Morse structures.

Original: This types of false negatives (broken connection, holes in membrane) can be restored as the additional cross-entropy loss near the Morse structures will force the network to increase its likelihood value on these structures.
Revised: This types of false negatives (broken connection, holes in membrane) can be restored as the additional cross-entropy loss near the Morse structures will force the network to increase its likelihood value on these structures.

Original: (2) false positive : a phantom structure hallucinated by the network when they do not exist (spurious branches, membrane pieces).
Revised: (2) false positive : a phantom structure hallucinated by the network when they do not exist (spurious branches, membrane pieces).

Original: These errors can be eliminated as the extra cross entropy loss on these structures will force the network to decrease the likelihood values along these structures.
Revised: These errors can be eliminated as the extra cross entropy loss on these structures will force the network to decrease the likelihood values along these structures.

Original: We will provide a more thorough discussion in the Appendix A.1.2.
Revised: We will provide a more thorough discussion in the Appendix A.1.2.

Original: Differentiability.
Revised: Differentiability.

Original: We note that the Morse structures are recomputed at every epoch.
Revised: We note that the Morse structures are recomputed at every epoch.

Original: The structures, as well as their mask M f , may change with f .
Revised: The structures, as well as their mask M f , may change with f .

Original: However, the change is not continuous; the output of the discrete Morse algorithm is a combinatorial solution that does not change continuously with f .
Revised: However, the change is not continuous; the output of the discrete Morse algorithm is a combinatorial solution that does not change continuously with f .

Original: Instead, it only changes at singularities, i.e., when function values of f at different pixels/voxels are the same.
Revised: Instead, it only changes at singularities, i.e., when function values of f at different pixels/voxels are the same.

Original: In other words, for a general f , the likelihood function is real-valued, so it is unlikely two pixels share the exact same value.
Revised: In other words, for a general f , the likelihood function is real-valued, so it is unlikely two pixels share the exact same value.

Original: In case if they are, the persistence homology algorithm by default will break the tie and choose one as critical.
Revised: In case if they are, the persistence homology algorithm by default will break the tie and choose one as critical.

Original: The mask M f remains a constant within a small neighborhood of current f .
Revised: The mask M f remains a constant within a small neighborhood of current f .

Original: Therefore, the gradient of L dmt exists and can be computed naturally.
Revised: Therefore, the gradient of L dmt exists and can be computed naturally.

Original: Training details.
Revised: Training details.

Original: Although our method is architecture-agnostic, for 2D datasets, we select an architecture driven by 2D U-net (Ronneberger et al., 2015); for 3D datasets, we select one architecture inspired by 3D U-Net (C¸ic¸ek et al., 2016).
Revised: Although our method is architecture-agnostic, for 2D datasets, we select an architecture driven by 2D U-net (Ronneberger et al., 2015); for 3D datasets, we select one architecture inspired by 3D U-Net (C¸ic¸ek et al., 2016).

Original: Both U-Net and 3D U-Net were originally designed for neuron image segmentation tasks, capturing the ﬁne-structures of images.
Revised: Both U-Net and 3D U-Net were originally designed for neuron image segmentation tasks, capturing the ﬁne-structures of images.

Original: In practice, we ﬁrst pretrain the network with only the cross-entropy loss, and then train the network with the combined loss.
Revised: In practice, we ﬁrst pretrain the network with only the cross-entropy loss, and then train the network with the combined loss.

Original:  E XPERIMENTS ON 2D AND 3D D ATASETS
Revised:  E XPERIMENTS ON 2D AND 3D D ATASETS

Original: Experiments on 2D dataset.
Revised: Experiments on 2D dataset.

Original: Six natural and biomedical 2D datasets are used: ISBI12 (ArgandaCarreras et al., 2015), ISBI13 (Arganda-Carreras et al., 2013), CREMI , CrackTree (Zou et al., 2012), Road (Mnih, 2013) and DRIVE (Staal et al., 2004).
Revised: Six natural and biomedical 2D datasets are used: ISBI12 (ArgandaCarreras et al., 2015), ISBI13 (Arganda-Carreras et al., 2013), CREMI , CrackTree (Zou et al., 2012), Road (Mnih, 2013) and DRIVE (Staal et al., 2004).

Original: More details about the datasets are included in Appendix A.3.1.
Revised: More details about the datasets are included in Appendix A.3.1.

Original: For all the experiments, we use a three-fold cross-validation  and report the mean performance over the validation set, and this holds for 3D experiments.
Revised: For all the experiments, we use a 3-fold cross-validation to tune hyperparameters for both the proposed method and other baselines, and report the mean performance over the validation set. This also holds for 3D experiments.

Original: Evaluation metrics.
Revised: Evaluation metrics.

Original: We use ﬁve different evaluation metrics: Pixel-wise accuracy , DICE score ,
Revised: We use ﬁve different evaluation metrics: Pixel-wise accuracy , DICE score ,

Original: ARI , VOI and the most important one is Betti number error , which directly compares the topology (number of handles/voids) between the segmentation and the ground truth.
Revised: ARI , VOI and the most important one is Betti number error , which directly compares the topology (number of handles/voids) between the segmentation and the ground truth.

Original: More details about the evaluation metrics are provided in Appendix A.3.2.
Revised: More details about the evaluation metrics are provided in Appendix A.3.2.

Original: The last three metrics are topology-aware.
Revised: The last three metrics are topology-aware.

Original: Baselines.
Revised: Baselines.

Original: DIVE (Fakhry et al., 2016) is a popular neural network that predicts the probability of a pixel being a membrane (border) pixel or not.
Revised: DIVE (Fakhry et al., 2016) is a popular neural network that predicts the probability of a pixel being a membrane (border) pixel or not.

Original: U-Net (Ronneberger et al., 2015) is a one of the most powerful image segmentation method trained with cross-entropy loss.
Revised: U-Net (Ronneberger et al., 2015) is a one of the most powerful image segmentation method trained with cross-entropy loss.

Original: Mosin.
Revised: Mosin.

Original: (Mosinska et al., 2018) constructs a topology-aware loss based on the response of selected ﬁlters from a pretrained
Revised: (Mosinska et al., 2018) constructs a topology-aware loss based on the response of selected ﬁlters from a pretrained

Original: CNN.
Revised: CNN.

Original: TopoLoss (Hu et al., 2019) proposes a novel topological loss to learn to segment with correct topology.
Revised: TopoLoss (Hu et al., 2019) proposes a novel topological loss to learn to segment with correct topology.

Original: For all methods, we generate segmentations by thresholding the predicted likelihood maps at 0.5, and this also holds for 3D experiments.
Revised: For all methods, we generate segmentations by thresholding the predicted likelihood maps at 0.5, and this also holds for 3D experiments.

Original: Quantitative and qualitative results.
Revised: Quantitative and qualitative results.

Original: Table 1 shows quantitative results for four 2D image datasets,
Revised: Table 1 shows quantitative results for four 2D image datasets,

Original: ISBI13, CREMI, CrackTree and Road.
Revised: ISBI13, CREMI, CrackTree and Road.

Original: The results are highlighted when they are signiﬁcantly better,and the statistical signiﬁcance is determined by t-test.
Revised: The results are highlighted when they are signiﬁcantly better,

Original: Results for ISBI12 and DRIVE are included in

Original: [Table]
Revised: [Table]

Original: Appendix A DMT-loss outperforms others DICE and topological accuracy ( VOI and BettiError).
Revised: VOI and Betti

Original: Please note that here the backbone of TopoLossis thesame as in (Hu et al., 2019), a heavily designed network.
Revised: Please note that here the backbone of TopoLoss the in ( et al heavily designed network

Original: The performance of TopoLoss will be worse if we use the U-Net backbone as DMT-Loss.
Revised: The performance of TopoLoss will be worse if we use the U-Net backbone as -Loss.

Original: Comparisons with the same backbones can be found in Appendix A.3.4.
Revised: Comparisons with the same backbones can be found in Appendix A.

Original: Fig.
Revised: Fig.

Original: 6 shows qualitative results.
Revised: 6 shows qualitative results.

Original: Our method correctly segments ﬁne structures such as membranes, roads and vessels.
Revised: Our method correctly segments ﬁne structures such as membranes, roads and vessels.

Original: Our loss is a weighted combination of cross entropy loss and DMT-loss.
Revised: Our loss is a weighted combination of cross entropy loss and DMT-loss.

Original: When β = 0 , the proposed method degrades to standard U-Net.
Revised: When β = 0 , the proposed method degrades to standard U-Net.

Original: The improvement of the performance over all datasets (Line U-Net and DMT in Table 1) demonstrates that our DMT-loss is helping the deep neural nets to learn a better structural segmentation.
Revised: The improvement of the performance over all datasets (Line U-Net and DMT in Table 1) demonstrates that our DMT-loss is helping the deep neural nets to learn a better structural segmentation.

Original: Experiments on 3D datasets.
Revised: Experiments on 3D datasets.

Original: We use three different biomedical 3D datasets: ISBI13 , CREMI and 3Dircadb (Soler et al., 2010).
Revised: We use three different biomedical 3D datasets: ISBI13 , CREMI and 3Dircadb (Soler et al., 2010).

Original: ISBI13 and CREMI , which have been mentioned above, are originally 3D datasets, can be used in both 2D and 3D settings.
Revised: ISBI13 and CREMI , which have been mentioned above, are originally 3D datasets, can be used in both 2D and 3D settings.

Original: We also use the open dataset 3Dircadb to evaluate our proposed method, which contains 20 enhanced CT volumes with artery annotations.
Revised: We also use the open dataset 3Dircadb to evaluate our proposed method, which contains 20 enhanced CT volumes with artery annotations.

Original: Evaluation metrics.
Revised: Evaluation metrics.

Original: We use similar evaluation metrics as the 2D part.
Revised: We use similar evaluation metrics as the 2D part.

Original: To be noted that, in terms of 2D cases, for ARI and VOI, we compute the numbers for each slice and then average the numbers for
Revised: To be noted that, in terms of 2D cases, for ARI and VOI, we compute the numbers for each slice and then average the numbers for

Original: [Table]
Revised: [Table]

Original: [Table] [Table]
Revised: [Table] [Table]

Original: [Table] [Table]
Revised: [Table] [Table]

Original: [Table]
Revised: [Table]

Original: different slices as the ﬁnal performance; for 3D images, we compute the performance for the whole volume.
Revised: different slices as the ﬁnal performance; for 3D images, we compute the performance for the whole volume.

Original: For 2D images, we compute 1D Betti number (number of holes) to obtain the Betti Error; while for 3D images, we compute 2D Betti number (number of voids) to obtain the Betti Error.
Revised: For 2D images, we compute 1D Betti number (number of holes) to obtain the Betti Error; while for 3D images, we compute 2D Betti number (number of voids) to obtain the Betti Error.

Original: Baselines.
Revised: Baselines.

Original: 3D DIVE (Zeng et al., 2017), 3D U-Net (C¸ic¸ek et al., 2016), 3D TopoLoss (Hu et al., 2019) are the 3D versions for DIVE , U-Net and TopoLoss .
Revised: 3D DIVE (Zeng et al., 2017), 3D U-Net (C¸ic¸ek et al., 2016), 3D TopoLoss (Hu et al., 2019) are the 3D versions for DIVE , U-Net and TopoLoss .

Original: MALA (Funke et al., 2017) trains the
Revised: MALA (Funke et al., 2017) trains the

Original: U-Net using a new structured loss function.
Revised: U-Net using a new structured loss function.

Original: Quantitative and qualitative results.
Revised: Quantitative and qualitative results.

Original: Table 2 shows the quantitative results for three different 3D image datasets, ISBI13, CREMI and 3Dircadb.
Revised: Table 2 shows the quantitative results for three different 3D image datasets, ISBI13, CREMI and 3Dircadb.

Original: Our method outperforms existing methods in topological accuracy (in all three topology-aware metrics), which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Revised: Our method outperforms existing methods in topological accuracy (in all three topology-aware metrics), which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Original: More qualitative results for 3D cases are included in Appendix A.3.5.
Revised: More qualitative results for 3D cases are included in Appendix A.3.5.

Original: The beneﬁt of the proposed DMT-loss.
Revised: The beneﬁt of the proposed DMT-loss.

Original: Instead of capturing isolated critical points in TopoLoss (Hu et al., 2019), the proposed DMT-loss captures the whole V-path as critical structures.
Revised: Instead of capturing isolated critical points in TopoLoss (Hu et al., 2019), the proposed DMT-loss captures the whole V-path as critical structures.

Original: Taking the patch in Fig. 4(a) as an example, TopoLoss identiﬁes ≈ 80 isolated critical pixels for further training, whereas the critical structures captured by DMT-loss contain ≈ 1000 critical pixels (Fig. 4(d)).
Revised: Taking the patch in Fig. 4(a) as an example, TopoLoss identiﬁes ≈ 80 isolated critical pixels for further training, whereas the critical structures captured by DMT-loss contain ≈ 1000 critical pixels (Fig. 4(d)).

Original: We compare efﬁciency of DMT-loss and TopoLoss using a same backbone network, evaluated on CREMI 2D dataset.
Revised: We compare efﬁciency of DMT-loss and TopoLoss using a same backbone network, evaluated on CREMI 2D dataset.

Original: Both methods start from a pre-trained reasonable likelihood map.
Revised: Both methods start from a pre-trained reasonable likelihood map.

Original: TopoLoss achieves 1.113 (Betti Error), taking ≈ 3h to converge; while DMT-loss achieves 0.956 (Betti Error), taking ≈ 1.2h to converge (the standard U-Net takes ≈ 0.5h instead).
Revised: TopoLoss achieves 1.113 (Betti Error), taking ≈ 3h to converge; while DMT-loss achieves 0.956 (Betti Error), taking ≈ 1.2h to converge (the standard U-Net takes ≈ 0.5h instead).

Original: Aside from converging faster, DMT-loss is also less likely to converge to low-quality local minima.
Revised: Aside from converging faster, DMT-loss is also less likely to converge to low-quality local minima.

Original: We hypothesize that the loss landscape of the topological loss will have more local minima than that of the DMT-loss, even though the global minima of both landscapes may have the same quality.
Revised: We hypothesize that the loss landscape of the topological loss will have more local minima than that of the DMT-loss, even though the global minima of both landscapes may have the same quality.

Original: Ablation study for persistence threshold (cid:15) .
Revised: Ablation study for persistence threshold (cid:15) .

Original: As illustrated in Fig.
Revised: As illustrated in Fig.

Original: 4, different persistence thresholds (cid:15) will identify different critical structures.
Revised: 4, different persistence thresholds (cid:15) will identify different critical structures.

Original: The ablation experiment is also conducted on CREMI 2D dataset.
Revised: The ablation experiment is also conducted on CREMI 2D dataset.

Original: When (cid:15) = 0 .
Revised: When (cid:15) = 0 .

Original: 2 (See Fig. 4(d)), the proposed DMT-loss achieves best performance 0.
Revised: 2 (See Fig. 4(d)), the proposed DMT-loss achieves best performance 0.

Original: (Betti Error).
Revised: (Betti Error).

Original: When (cid:15) = 0 .
Revised: When (cid:15) = 0 .

Original: 1 and (cid:15) = 0 .
Revised: 1 and (cid:15) = 0 .

Original: 3 , the performance drops to 1.206 and 2.105 (both in Betti
Revised: 3 , the performance drops to 1.206 and 2.105 (both in Betti

Original: Error), respectively.
Revised: Error), respectively.

Original: This makes sense for following reasons: 1) for (cid:15)
Revised: This makes sense for following reasons: 1) for (cid:15)

Original: = 0 .
Revised: = 0 .

Original: 1 , the DMT-loss captures lots of unnecessary structures which mislead the neural networks; 2) for (cid:15) = 0 .
Revised: 1 , the DMT-loss captures lots of unnecessary structures which mislead the neural networks; 2) for (cid:15) = 0 .

Original: 3 , the DMT-loss misses lots of important critical structures, making the performance drop signiﬁcantly.
Revised: 3 , the DMT-loss misses lots of important critical structures, making the performance drop signiﬁcantly.

Original: The (cid:15) is chosen via cross-validation.
Revised: The (cid:15) is chosen via cross-validation.

Original: The ablation study for balanced term β is provided in Appendix A.3.6.
Revised: The ablation study for balanced term β is provided in Appendix A.3.6.

Original:  C ONCLUSION
Revised:  C ONCLUSION

Original: In this paper, a new DMT-loss is proposed to train deep image segmentation neural networks for better topological accuracy.
Revised: In this paper, a new DMT-loss is proposed to train deep image segmentation neural networks for better topological accuracy.

Original: With the power of discrete Morse theory (DMT), we could identify 1D skeletons and 2D patches which are important for topological accuracy.
Revised: With the power of discrete Morse theory (DMT), we could identify 1D skeletons and 2D patches which are important for topological accuracy.

Original: Trained with the new loss based on these global structures, the networks are signiﬁcantly improved especially near topologically challenging locations (such as weak spots of connections and membranes).
Revised: Trained with the new loss based on these global structures, the networks are signiﬁcantly improved especially near topologically challenging locations (such as weak spots of connections and membranes).

Original: A A PPENDIX
Revised: A A PPENDIX

Original: In Sec.
Revised: In Sec.

Original: A.1, we will discuss different types of topological errors.
Revised: A.1, we will discuss different types of topological errors.

Original: In Sec.
Revised: In Sec.

Original: A.2, we will provide more details for the method part.
Revised: A.2, we will provide more details for the method part.

Original: In Sec.
Revised: In Sec.

Original: A.3, more details and results for the experiments will be provided.
Revised: A.3, more details and results for the experiments will be provided.

Original: A. D IFFERENT TYPES OF TOPOLOGICAL ERRORS A.1. I LLUSTRATION OF 3D TOPOLOGICAL ERRORS
Revised: A. D IFFERENT TYPES OF TOPOLOGICAL ERRORS A.1. I LLUSTRATION OF 3D TOPOLOGICAL ERRORS

Original: In Sec.2.1 of the main paper, we have already introduced discrete Morse theory with a 2D example.
Revised: In Sec.2.1 of the main paper, we have already introduced discrete Morse theory with a 2D example.

Original: Here, we would like to illustrate 3D topological errors with 3D examples.
Revised: Here, we would like to illustrate 3D topological errors with 3D examples.

Original: Fig.
Revised: Fig.

Original: 7 and Fig.
Revised: 7 and Fig.

Original: 8 illustrate two different types of topological errors for 3D data.
Revised: 8 illustrate two different types of topological errors for 3D data.

Original: Fig.7 illustrates an index-1 topological error for 3D synthetic data.
Revised: Fig.7 illustrates an index-1 topological error for 3D synthetic data.

Original: 3D EM/neuron has the same type of topological error as the synthetic data.
Revised: 3D EM/neuron has the same type of topological error as the synthetic data.

Original: Fig.8 illustrates index-2 topological error for 3D vessel data.
Revised: Fig.8 illustrates index-2 topological error for 3D vessel data.

Original: A.1. F ALSE NEGATIVE AND FALSE POSITIVE ERRORS
Revised: A.1. F ALSE NEGATIVE AND FALSE POSITIVE ERRORS

Original: In the main paper we have mentioned that the proposed DMT-loss can capture and ﬁx two different types of topological errors: false negative and false positive.
Revised: In the main paper we have mentioned that the proposed DMT-loss can capture and ﬁx two different types of topological errors: false negative and false positive.

Original: We illustrate these two types in Fig. 9.
Revised: We illustrate these two types in Fig. 9.

Original: The two highlighted red rectangles represent the two types of topological errors: 1) The red rectangle on the right represents a sample of false negative error; part of the membrane structure is missing, due to a blurred region near the membrane.
Revised: The two highlighted red rectangles represent the two types of topological errors: 1) The red rectangle on the right represents a sample of false negative error; part of the membrane structure is missing, due to a blurred region near the membrane.

Original: The red rectangle on the left represents a sample of false positive error.
Revised: The red rectangle on the left represents a sample of false positive error.

Original: In this speciﬁc case, it is caused by mitochondria which are not the boundary of neurons.
Revised: In this speciﬁc case, it is caused by mitochondria which are not the boundary of neurons.

Original: In summary, with the help of the proposed DMT-loss, we can identify both these two types of topological errors, and then force the network to increase/decrease its likelihood value on these structures to correctly segment the images with with correct topology.
Revised: In summary, with the help of the proposed DMT-loss, we can identify both these two types of topological errors, and then force the network to increase/decrease its likelihood value on these structures to correctly segment the images with with correct topology.

Original: A. A DDITIONAL DETAILS ON THE METHOD A.2. D ISCRETE M ORSE T HEORY
Revised: A. A DDITIONAL DETAILS ON THE METHOD A.2. D ISCRETE M ORSE T HEORY

Original: We view a d D image, d = 2 or 3 , as a d -dimensional cubical complex, meaning it consists of 0 -, 1 -, 2and 3 -dimensional cells corresponding to vertices, edges, squares, and voxels (cubes) as its building blocks.
Revised: We view a d D image, d = 2 or 3 , as a d -dimensional cubical complex, meaning it consists of 0 -, 1 -, 2and 3 -dimensional cells corresponding to vertices, edges, squares, and voxels (cubes) as its building blocks.

Original: Discrete Morse theory (DMT), originally introduced in (Forman, 1998; 2002), is a combinatorial version of Morse theory for general cell complexes.
Revised: Discrete Morse theory (DMT), originally introduced in (Forman, 1998; 2002), is a combinatorial version of Morse theory for general cell complexes.

Original: There are many beautiful results established for
Revised: There are many beautiful results established for

Original: [Figure]
Revised: [Figure]

Original: DMT, analogous to classical Morse theory.
Revised: DMT, analogous to classical Morse theory.

Original: We will however only brieﬂy introduce some relevant concepts for the present paper and we will describe it in the setting of cubical complexes (instead of simplicial complexes) as it is more suitable for images.
Revised: We will however only brieﬂy introduce some relevant concepts for the present paper and we will describe it in the setting of cubical complexes (instead of simplicial complexes) as it is more suitable for images.

Original: Let K be a cubical complex.
Revised: Let K be a cubical complex.

Original: Given a p -cell τ , we denote by σ < τ if σ is a ( p − 1 )-dimensional face for τ .
Revised: Given a p -cell τ , we denote by σ < τ if σ is a ( p − 1 )-dimensional face for τ .

Original: A discrete gradient vector (also called a V-pair for simplicity) is a pair ( τ, σ ) where σ < τ .
Revised: A discrete gradient vector (also called a V-pair for simplicity) is a pair ( τ, σ ) where σ < τ .

Original: Now suppose we are given a collection of V-pairs M ( K ) over the cubical complex K .
Revised: Now suppose we are given a collection of V-pairs M ( K ) over the cubical complex K .

Original: A sequence of cells π : τ p + , σ p 1 , τ p + , σ p 2 , · · · , σ pk , τ p +1 k , σ pk +1 , where the superscript p in α p stands for the dimension of this cell α , form a V-path if ( τ i , σ i )
Revised: A sequence of cells π : τ p + , σ p 1 , τ p + , σ p 2 , · · · , σ pk , τ p +1 k , σ pk +1 , where the superscript p in α p stands for the dimension of this cell α , form a V-path if ( τ i , σ i )

Original: ∈ M ( K ) for for any i ∈ [1 , k ] and σ i <
Revised: ∈ M ( K ) for for any i ∈ [1 , k ] and σ i <

Original: τ i − 1 for any i ∈ [1 , k + 1] .
Revised: τ i − 1 for any i ∈ [1 , k + 1] .

Original: A V-path π is acyclic if ( τ 0 , σ k +1 ) / ∈ M ( K ) .
Revised: A V-path π is acyclic if ( τ 0 , σ k +1 ) / ∈ M ( K ) .

Original: This collection of V-pairs M ( K ) form a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld 4 if (cond-i) each cell in M ( K ) can only appear in at most one pair in M ( K ) ; and (cond-ii) all V-paths in M ( K ) are acyclic.
Revised: This collection of V-pairs M ( K ) form a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld 4 if (cond-i) each cell in M ( K ) can only appear in at most one pair in M ( K ) ; and (cond-ii) all V-paths in M ( K ) are acyclic.

Original: Given a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld
Revised: Given a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld

Original: M ( K ) , a simplex σ ∈ K is critical if it is not in any V-pair in M ( K ) .
Revised: M ( K ) , a simplex σ ∈ K is critical if it is not in any V-pair in M ( K ) .

Original: Even though a discrete gradient vector (a V-pair), say ( τ, σ ) is a combinatorial pair instead of a real vector, it still indicates a “ﬂow” from τ to its face σ .
Revised: Even though a discrete gradient vector (a V-pair), say ( τ, σ ) is a combinatorial pair instead of a real vector, it still indicates a “ﬂow” from τ to its face σ .

Original: A V-path thus corresponds to a ﬂow path (integral line) in the smooth setting.
Revised: A V-path thus corresponds to a ﬂow path (integral line) in the smooth setting.

Original: However, to make a collection of V-pairs a valid analog of gradient ﬁeld, (cond-i) says that at each simplex there should only be one “ﬂow” direction; while (cond-ii) is necessarily as ﬂow lines traced by gradient can only go down in function values and thus never come back (thus acyclic).
Revised: However, to make a collection of V-pairs a valid analog of gradient ﬁeld, (cond-i) says that at each simplex there should only be one “ﬂow” direction; while (cond-ii) is necessarily as ﬂow lines traced by gradient can only go down in function values and thus never come back (thus acyclic).

Original: A critical simplex has “vanishing gradient” as it is not involved in any V-pair in M ( K ) (i.e, there is no ﬂow at this simplex).
Revised: A critical simplex has “vanishing gradient” as it is not involved in any V-pair in M ( K ) (i.e, there is no ﬂow at this simplex).

Original: Given a 2D cubical complex K a a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld M ( K ) , we can view critical 0 -, 1 -, 2 - and 3 -cells as minima, saddle points, and maxima, respectively.
Revised: Given a 2D cubical complex K a a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld M ( K ) , we can view critical 0 -, 1 -, 2 - and 3 -cells as minima, saddle points, and maxima, respectively.

Original: If K is 3D, then we can view critical 0 -, 1 -, 2 - and 3 -cells as minima, index-1 saddle, index-2 saddle and maxima, respectively.
Revised: If K is 3D, then we can view critical 0 -, 1 -, 2 - and 3 -cells as minima, index-1 saddle, index-2 saddle and maxima, respectively.

Original: Hence, a 1-stable manifold in 2D will correspond to a V-path connecting a critical square (a maximum) and a critical edge (a saddle), while in 3D, it will be a V-path connecting a critical cube and a critical square.
Revised: Hence, a 1-stable manifold in 2D will correspond to a V-path connecting a critical square (a maximum) and a critical edge (a saddle), while in 3D, it will be a V-path connecting a critical cube and a critical square.

Original: Morse cancellation.
Revised: Morse cancellation.

Original: A given discrete gradient ﬁeld M ( K ) could be noisy, e.g, there are shallow valleys where the mountain ridge around it should be ignored.
Revised: A given discrete gradient ﬁeld M ( K ) could be noisy, e.g, there are shallow valleys where the mountain ridge around it should be ignored.

Original: Fortunately, the discrete Morse theory provides an elegant and purely combinatorial way to cancel pairs of critical simplices (and thus reduce their stable manifolds).
Revised: Fortunately, the discrete Morse theory provides an elegant and purely combinatorial way to cancel pairs of critical simplices (and thus reduce their stable manifolds).

Original: In particular, given M ( K ) , a pair of critical simplices (cid:104) δ
Revised: In particular, given M ( K ) , a pair of critical simplices (cid:104) δ

Original: ( p +1) ,γ p (cid:105) is cancellable if there is a unique V-path π
Revised: ( p +1) ,γ p (cid:105) is cancellable if there is a unique V-path π

Original: = δ = δ 0 , γ 1 , δ 1 , . .
Revised: = δ = δ 0 , γ 1 , δ 1 , . .

Original: , δ s , γ s +1 =
Revised: , δ s , γ s +1 =

Original: γ from δ to γ .
Revised: γ from δ to γ .

Original: The
Revised: The

Original: Morse cancellation operation simple reverse all V-pairs along this path by removing all V-pairs along these path, and adding ( δ i − 1 , γ i ) to M ( K ) for any i ∈ [1 , s + 1] .
Revised: Morse cancellation operation simple reverse all V-pairs along this path by removing all V-pairs along these path, and adding ( δ i − 1 , γ i ) to M ( K ) for any i ∈ [1 , s + 1] .

Original: It is easy to check that after the cancellation neither δ nor γ is critical.
Revised: It is easy to check that after the cancellation neither δ nor γ is critical.

Original: A.2. P ERSISTENCE PRUNING
Revised: A.2. P ERSISTENCE PRUNING

Original: We can extend this vertex-valued function ρ to a function ρ : K → R , by setting ρ ( σ ) for each cell to be the maximum ρ -value of each vertex in σ .
Revised: We can extend this vertex-valued function ρ to a function ρ : K → R , by setting ρ ( σ ) for each cell to be the maximum ρ -value of each vertex in σ .

Original: How to obtain a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld from such function ρ : K → R ?
Revised: How to obtain a discrete gradient vector ﬁeld from such function ρ : K → R ?

Original: Following the approach developed in (Wang et al., 2015; Dey et al., 2018), we initialize a trivial discrete gradient vector ﬁeld where all cells are initially critical.
Revised: Following the approach developed in (Wang et al., 2015; Dey et al., 2018), we initialize a trivial discrete gradient vector ﬁeld where all cells are initially critical.

Original: Let (cid:15) > 0 be a threshold for simpliﬁcation.
Revised: Let (cid:15) > 0 be a threshold for simpliﬁcation.

Original: We then perform persistence algorithm (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000) induced by the super-level set ﬁltration of ρ and pair up all cells in K , denoted by P ρ ( K ) .
Revised: We then perform persistence algorithm (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000) induced by the super-level set ﬁltration of ρ and pair up all cells in K , denoted by P ρ ( K ) .

Original: Persistent homology is one of the most important development in the ﬁeld of topological data analysis in the past two decades (Edelsbrunner & Harer, 2010; Edelsbrunner et al., 2000; Zomorodian &
Revised: Persistent homology is one of the most important development in the ﬁeld of topological data analysis in the past two decades (Edelsbrunner & Harer, 2010; Edelsbrunner et al., 2000; Zomorodian &

Original: Carlsson, 2005).
Revised: Carlsson, 2005).

Original: We will not introduce it formally here.
Revised: We will not introduce it formally here.

Original: Imagine we grow the complex K by starting from the empty set and gradually include more and more cells in decreasing ρ values.
Revised: Imagine we grow the complex K by starting from the empty set and gradually include more and more cells in decreasing ρ values.

Original: (More formally, this is the so-called super-level set ﬁltration of K induced by ρ .)
Revised: (More formally, this is the so-called super-level set ﬁltration of K induced by ρ .)

Original: Through this course, new topological feature can be created upon adding a simplex σ , and sometiems a feature can be destroyed upon adding a simplex τ .
Revised: Through this course, new topological feature can be created upon adding a simplex σ , and sometiems a feature can be destroyed upon adding a simplex τ .

Original: Persistence algorithm (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000) will pair up simplices; that is, its output is a set of pairs of simplices P ρ ( K ) =
Revised: Persistence algorithm (Edelsbrunner et al., 2000) will pair up simplices; that is, its output is a set of pairs of simplices P ρ ( K ) =

Original: { ( σ, τ ) } , where each pair captures the birth and death of topological features during this evolution.
Revised: { ( σ, τ ) } , where each pair captures the birth and death of topological features during this evolution.

Original: The persistence of a pair, say p =
Revised: The persistence of a pair, say p =

Original: ( σ, τ ) , is deﬁned as pers( p ) =
Revised: ( σ, τ ) , is deﬁned as pers( p ) =

Original: ρ ( σ ) − ρ ( τ ) , measuring how long the topological feature captured by p lives in term of ρ .
Revised: ρ ( σ ) − ρ ( τ ) , measuring how long the topological feature captured by p lives in term of ρ .

Original: In this case, we also write pers( σ ) = pers( τ ) =
Revised: In this case, we also write pers( σ ) = pers( τ ) =

Original: pers( p ) – the persistence of a simplex (say σ or τ ) can be viewed as the importance of this simplex.
Revised: pers( p ) – the persistence of a simplex (say σ or τ ) can be viewed as the importance of this simplex.

Original: With this intuition of the persistence pairings, we next perform Morse-cancellation operation to all pairs of these cells (
Revised: With this intuition of the persistence pairings, we next perform Morse-cancellation operation to all pairs of these cells (

Original: σ, τ ) ∈ P ρ ( K ) in increasing order their persistence if (i) its persistence pers( δ, γ ) < (cid:15) (i.e, this pair has low persistence and thus not important); and (ii) this pair ( δ, γ ) is cancellable.
Revised: σ, τ ) ∈ P ρ ( K ) in increasing order their persistence if (i) its persistence pers( δ, γ ) < (cid:15) (i.e, this pair has low persistence and thus not important); and (ii) this pair ( δ, γ ) is cancellable.

Original: Let M (cid:15) ( K ) be the resulting discrete gradient ﬁeld after simplifying all low-persistence critical simplices.
Revised: Let M (cid:15) ( K ) be the resulting discrete gradient ﬁeld after simplifying all low-persistence critical simplices.

Original: We then construct the 1-stable and 2-stable manifolds for the remaining (high persistence, and thus important) saddles (critical 1-cell and 2-cells) from M (cid:15) ( K ) .
Revised: We then construct the 1-stable and 2-stable manifolds for the remaining (high persistence, and thus important) saddles (critical 1-cell and 2-cells) from M (cid:15) ( K ) .

Original: Let S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and S 2 ( (cid:15) ) be the resulting collection of 1- and 2-stable manifolds respectively.
Revised: Let S 1 ( (cid:15) ) and S 2 ( (cid:15) ) be the resulting collection of 1- and 2-stable manifolds respectively.

Original: In particular, see an illustration of a
Revised: In particular, see an illustration of a

Original: V-path (highlighted in black) corresponding to a 1-stable manifold of the green saddle in Fig. 3(c).
Revised: V-path (highlighted in black) corresponding to a 1-stable manifold of the green saddle in Fig. 3(c).

Original: A.2. M ORE DETAILS ON THE APPROXIMATION OF S 2 VIA ˆ S 2 .
Revised: A.2. M ORE DETAILS ON THE APPROXIMATION OF S 2 VIA ˆ S 2 .

Original: We approximate S 2 by taking the boundary of the stable manifold of the minima (basins/valleys in the terrain).
Revised: We approximate S 2 by taking the boundary of the stable manifold of the minima (basins/valleys in the terrain).

Original: This is like a watershed algorithm: growing the basins from all minima until they meet.
Revised: This is like a watershed algorithm: growing the basins from all minima until they meet.

Original: The stable manifolds of the minima is approximated using spanning trees.
Revised: The stable manifolds of the minima is approximated using spanning trees.

Original: This algorithm is inspired by the continuous analog for Morse functions.
Revised: This algorithm is inspired by the continuous analog for Morse functions.

Original: A. E XPERIMENTS A.3. D ATASETS
Revised: A. E XPERIMENTS A.3. D ATASETS

Original: We conduct experiments on six different 2D datasets.
Revised: We conduct experiments on six different 2D datasets.

Original: The ﬁrst three datasets are neuron images (Electron Microscopy images).
Revised: The ﬁrst three datasets are neuron images (Electron Microscopy images).

Original: The task is to segment membranes and eventually partition the image into neuron regions.
Revised: The task is to segment membranes and eventually partition the image into neuron regions.

Original: CREMI contains 125 images.
Revised: CREMI contains 125 images.

Original: The resolution for each image is 1250x1250.
Revised: The resolution for each image is 1250x1250.

Original: ISBI12 (Arganda-Carreras et al., 2015) contains 30 images.
Revised: ISBI12 (Arganda-Carreras et al., 2015) contains 30 images.

Original: The resolution for each image is 512x512.
Revised: The resolution for each image is 512x512.

Original: ISBI13 (Arganda-Carreras et al., 2013) contains 100 images.
Revised: ISBI13 (Arganda-Carreras et al., 2013) contains 100 images.

Original: The resolution for each image is 1024x1024.
Revised: The resolution for each image is 1024x1024.

Original: The next three are natural image datasets, and their structures are vital for their functionality.
Revised: The next three are natural image datasets, and their structures are vital for their functionality.

Original: CrackTree (Zou et al., 2012) contains 206 images of cracks in road.
Revised: CrackTree (Zou et al., 2012) contains 206 images of cracks in road.

Original: The resolution for each image is 600x800.
Revised: The resolution for each image is 600x800.

Original: Road (Mnih, 2013) has 1108 images from the Massachusetts Roads Dataset.
Revised: Road (Mnih, 2013) has 1108 images from the Massachusetts Roads Dataset.

Original: The resolution for each image is 1500x1500.
Revised: The resolution for each image is 1500x1500.

Original: DRIVE (Staal et al., 2004) is a retinal vessel segmentation dataset with 20 images.
Revised: DRIVE (Staal et al., 2004) is a retinal vessel segmentation dataset with 20 images.

Original: The resolution for each image is 584x565.
Revised: The resolution for each image is 584x565.

Original: A.3. E VALUATION METRICS
Revised: A.3. E VALUATION METRICS

Original: We use ﬁve different evaluation metrics to evaluate the proposed DMT-loss.
Revised: We use ﬁve different evaluation metrics to evaluate the proposed DMT-loss.

Original: Pixel-wise accuracy: Pixel-wise accuracy is one of the most common metrics which measures the percentage of correctly classiﬁed pixels.
Revised: Pixel-wise accuracy: Pixel-wise accuracy is one of the most common metrics which measures the percentage of correctly classiﬁed pixels.

Original: DICE score: DICE score (also known as DICE coefﬁcient, DICE similarity index) is the same as the
Revised: DICE score: DICE score (also known as DICE coefﬁcient, DICE similarity index) is the same as the

Original: F1 score.
Revised: F1 score.

Original: Adapted Rand Index (ARI) : ARI is the maximal F-score of the foreground-restricted Rand index, a measure of similarity between two clusters.
Revised: Adapted Rand Index (ARI) : ARI is the maximal F-score of the foreground-restricted Rand index, a measure of similarity between two clusters.

Original: On this version of the Rand index we exclude the zero component of the original labels (background pixels of the ground truth).
Revised: On this version of the Rand index we exclude the zero component of the original labels (background pixels of the ground truth).

Original: Variation of Information (VOI) : VOI is a measure of the distance between two clusterings.
Revised: Variation of Information (VOI) : VOI is a measure of the distance between two clusterings.

Original: It is closely related to mutual information; indeed, it is a simple linear expression involving the mutual information.
Revised: It is closely related to mutual information; indeed, it is a simple linear expression involving the mutual information.

Original: Betti number error : which directly compares the topology (number of handles) between the segmentation and the ground truth.
Revised: Betti number error : which directly compares the topology (number of handles) between the segmentation and the ground truth.

Original: We randomly sample patches over the segmentation and report the average absolute difference between their Betti numbers and the corresponding ground truth patches.
Revised: We randomly sample patches over the segmentation and report the average absolute difference between their Betti numbers and the corresponding ground truth patches.

Original: A.3. Q UANTITATIVE RESULTS FOR MORE 2D DATASETS
Revised: A.3. Q UANTITATIVE RESULTS FOR MORE 2D DATASETS

Original: Table.
Revised: Table.

Original: 3 shows quantitative results for ISBI12 and DRIVE
Revised: 3 shows quantitative results for ISBI12 and DRIVE

Original: . A.3. F AIRNESS COMPARISONS WITH SAME BACKBONE NETWORKS
Revised: . A.3. F AIRNESS COMPARISONS WITH SAME BACKBONE NETWORKS

Original: We copy the numbers of TopoLoss from (Hu et al., 2019), which is TopoLoss+DIVE.
Revised: We copy the numbers of TopoLoss from (Hu et al., 2019), which is TopoLoss+DIVE.

Original: And in this paper, we use U-Net as the backbone.
Revised: And in this paper, we use U-Net as the backbone.

Original: Indeed, with U-Net, TopoLoss will be worse and the gap will be even bigger.
Revised: Indeed, with U-Net, TopoLoss will be worse and the gap will be even bigger.

Original: The DIVE used in (Hu et al., 2019) is more expensive and better designed speciﬁcally for EM images.
Revised: The DIVE used in (Hu et al., 2019) is more expensive and better designed speciﬁcally for EM images.

Original: We choose U-Net in this manuscript as it is lightweight and easy to generalize to many datasets.
Revised: We choose U-Net in this manuscript as it is lightweight and easy to generalize to many datasets.

Original: We also apply our backbone-agnostic DMT-loss to the DIVE network (Fakhry et al., 2016).
Revised: We also apply our backbone-agnostic DMT-loss to the DIVE network (Fakhry et al., 2016).

Original: All the experiments are conducted on CREMI 2D dataset.
Revised: All the experiments are conducted on CREMI 2D dataset.

Original: The quantitative results (Betti
Revised: The quantitative results (Betti

Original: Error) are shown in the Table 4.
Revised: Error) are shown in the Table 4.

Original: A.3. Q UALITATIVE RESULTS FOR 3D DATASETS
Revised: A.3. Q UALITATIVE RESULTS FOR 3D DATASETS

Original: Fig.
Revised: Fig.

Original: 10 shows qualitative results for ISBI13 dataset.
Revised: 10 shows qualitative results for ISBI13 dataset.

Original: [Table] [Table]
Revised: [Table] [Table]

Original: A.3. T HE ABLATION STUDY FOR BALANCED TERM β .
Revised: A.3. T HE ABLATION STUDY FOR BALANCED TERM β .

Original: We conduct another ablation study for the balanced weight of parameter β .
Revised: We conduct another ablation study for the balanced weight of parameter β .

Original: To be noted that, the parameter β is dataset dependent.
Revised: To be noted that, the parameter β is dataset dependent.

Original: We conduct the ablation experiment on CREMI 2D dataset.
Revised: We conduct the ablation experiment on CREMI 2D dataset.

Original: When β = 3 , the proposed DMT-loss achieves best performance 0.982 (Betti Error).
Revised: When β = 3 , the proposed DMT-loss achieves best performance 0.982 (Betti Error).

Original: When β = 2 and β = 4 , the performance drops to 1.074 and 1.181 (both in Betti Error), respectively.
Revised: When β = 2 and β = 4 , the performance drops to 1.074 and 1.181 (both in Betti Error), respectively.

Original: The parameter β is also chosen via cross-validation.
Revised: The parameter β is also chosen via cross-validation.

Original: A.3. C OMPARED WITH RE - WEIGHTING CROSS ENTROPY LOSS
Revised: A.3. C OMPARED WITH RE - WEIGHTING CROSS ENTROPY LOSS

Original: [Figure]
Revised: [Figure]