• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.103-114
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• 2012

Purpose : In an attempt to further improve the radiofrequency (RF) magnetic ($B_1$) field strength in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) imaging, a 4-channel spiral-loop coil array with RF circuitry was designed and compared with a 4-channel single-loop coil array in terms of $B_1$ field, RF transmit (${B_1}^+$), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and applicability to TMJ imaging in 7T MRI. Materials and Methods: The single- and 4-channel spiral-loop coil arrays were constructed based on the electromagnetic (EM) simulation for the investigation of $B_1$ field. To evaluate the computer simulation results, the $B_1$ field and ${B_1}^+$ maps were measured in 7T. Results: In the EM simulation result and MRI study at 7T, the 4-channel spiral-loop coil array found a superior $B_1$ performance and a higher ${B_1}^+$ profile inside the human head as well as a slightly better SNR than the 4-channel single-loop coil array. Conclusion: Although $B_1$ fields are produced under the influence of the dielectric properties of the subject rather than the coil configuration alone at 7T, each RF coil exhibited not only special but also specific characteristics that could make it suited for specific application such as TMJ imaging.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2007

Purpose : The purpose of the present study was to develop and optimize solenoid coil for animal- model in 3 T MRI system and investigate and compare with the birdcage coil concerning the image quality with the various parameters such as SNR and Q-factor. Materials and Methods : Solenoid coil for animal-model was made on the acryl structure (diameter 4 cm, length 10 cm) 3 times-winding cooper tape of width 2 cm, thickness 0.05 cm and length 10 cm with 2 cm interval between winded tapes. Capacitors from 2 pF to 100 pF were used, and the solenoid coil was designed for receiver only coil. Results : SNR of the developed solenoid was 985 in CuSO4 0.7 g/L and 995 in rat experiment. Q-factor was 84-89 in unloaded condition and 203-206 in loaded condition. Conclusion : The resolution of the image obtained from solenoid was relatively higher than that of the conventional birdcage coil. In addition, the homogeneity of RF field by coil simulation was significantly excellent. The present study demonstrated that the solenoid coil could be useful to obtain small animal images with better contrast, resolution, visibility than images from birdcage.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.354-359
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• 2013

In this paper, we suggested the method for implementation of unsupervised nonlinear classification using Binary Harmony Search (BHS) algorithm, which is known as a optimization algorithm. Various algorithms have been suggested for classification of feature vectors from the process of machine learning for pattern recognition or EEG signal analysis processing. Supervised learning based support vector machine or fuzzy c-mean (FCM) based on unsupervised learning have been used for classification in the field. However, conventional methods were hard to apply nonlinear dataset classification or required prior information for supervised learning. We solved this problems with proposed classification method using heuristic approach which took the minimal Euclidean distance between vectors, then we assumed them as same class and the others were another class. For the comparison, we used FCM, self-organizing map (SOM) based on artificial neural network (ANN). KEEL machine learning datset was used for simulation. We concluded that proposed method was superior than other algorithms.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.344-351
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• 2009

Purpose: Optical imaging is providing great advance and improvement in genetic and molecular imaging of animals and humans. Optical imaging system consists of optical imaging devices, which carry out major function for monitoring, tracing, and imaging in most of molecular in-vivo researches. In bio-luminescent imaging, small animals containing luciferase gene locally irradiate light, and emitted photons transmitted through skin of the small animals are imaged by using a high sensitive charged coupled device (CCD) camera. In this paper, we introduced optical imaging system for the image acquisition of bio-luminescent signals emitted from small animals. Materials and Methods: In the system, Nikon lens and four LED light sources were mounted at the inside of a dark box. A cooled CCD camera equipped with a control module was used. Results: We tested the performance of the optical imaging system using effendorf tube and light emitting bacteria which injected intravenously into CT26 tumor bearing nude mouse. The performance of implemented optical imaging system for bio-luminescence imaging was demonstrated and the feasibility of the system in small animal imaging application was proved. Conclusion: We anticipate this system could be a useful tool for the molecular imaging of small animals adaptable for various experimental conditions in future.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.608-615
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• 2000

A determination method of trace nickel and cobalt in water samples was studied and developed by adsorbing their complexes on ion exchange resin suspension. The analytical ions were formed as complexes with a ligand of APDC (ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate) and adsorbed on anion exchange resin of Dowex 2-X8. After the suspension was filtered out with membrane filter, the complexes were dissolved in HCl solution by an ultrasonic vibrator for ET-AAS determination. Several conditions were optimized as followings. pH of sample solution: 5.0, amount of ligand APDC: more than 430 times in mole ratio, the type and concentration of acid: 0.1 M HCl, and vibration time: 7 minutes. The addition of palladium in the HCl solution could improve the reproducibility and sensitivity by a matrix modification in the absorbance measurement. This procedure was applied for the analysis of three kinds of real water samples. The detection limits equivalent to 3 times standard deviation of blank were Co 0.36 ng/mL and Ni 0.27 ng/mL and recoveries in spiked samples were 99-102% for cobalt and 100-105% for nickel.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.348-360
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• 2011

To verify the volatile compounds contributing to coffee off-flavor, medium roasted Colombian, Sumatra, Ethiopian and light and dark roasted Colombian bean coffees were sequentially and studiously over extracted. Eight espresso samples and eight filter-dripped samples were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with the solidphase microextraction method and evaluated by sensory tests. In total, 67 compounds were detected, and desirable aroma decreased sharply, while off-flavors increased rapidly after 30 mL of espresso and 200 mL of drip coffee. Percent peak area of 4-ethylguaiacol revealed a linear increase during extraction and was highly correlated with increasing off-flavor, suggesting that it could be an indicator of over extraction. Considering the odor activity value, guaiacol and 4- vinylguaiacol were also contributory compounds to off-flavors.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.157-168
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• 2016

In image processing and computer vision fields, mean squared error (MSE) has popularly been used as an objective metric in image quality optimization problems due to its desirable mathematical properties such as metricability, differentiability and convexity. However, as known that MSE is not highly correlated with perceived visual quality, much effort has been made to develop new image quality assessment (IQA) metrics having both the desirable mathematical properties aforementioned and high prediction performances for subjective visual quality scores. Although recent IQA metrics having the desirable mathematical properties have shown to give some promising results in prediction performance for visual quality scores, they also have high computation complexities. In order to alleviate this problem, we propose a new fast IQA metric using a simple Laplace operator. Since the Laplace operator used in our IQA metric can not only effectively mimic operations of receptive fields in retina for luminance stimulus but also be simply computed, our IQA metric can yield both very fast processing speed and high prediction performance. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed IQA metric, our method is compared to some state-of-the-art IQA metrics. The experimental results showed that the proposed IQA metric has the fastest running speed compared the IQA methods except MSE under comparison. Moreover, our IQA metric achieves the best prediction performance for subjective image quality scores among the state-of-the-art IQA metrics under test.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.171-178
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• 2010

Pipeline structure is one of core underground infrastructure which transports primary sources. Since the almost pipeline structures are placed underground and connected each other complexly, it is difficult to monitor their structural health condition continuously. In order to overcome this limitation of recent monitoring technique, recently, a Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) system based on on-line and real-time monitoring system is being developed by the authors' research group. In this study, real-time pipeline health monitoring (PHM) methodology is presented based on electromechanical impedance methods using USN. Two types of damages including loosened bolts and notches are artificially inflicted on the pipeline structures, PZT and MFC sensors that have piezoelectric characteristics are employed to detect these damages. For objective evaluation of pipeline conditions, Damage metric such as Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) value was computed from the impedance signals to quantify the level of the damage. Optimal threshold levels for decision making are estimated by generalized extreme value(GEV) based statistical method. Throughout a series of experimental studies, it was reviewed the effectiveness and robustness of proposed PHM system.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between exposure index (EI) and dose factors related to radiation dose optimization in digital radiography (DR) system. Two phantoms with built-in regional test object for quantitative assessment of images were used to produce image signals that acquired in chest radiography background. EI and entrane surface dose (ESD) increased proportionally with rise of radiation dose (kVp, mAs) in both DR and CR systems. Especially, DR detector was effective to form good contrast and hence, reached easily to improvement of image quality with minimal dose changes. It made operators possible to expect the accuracy of EI values deeply related to absorbed dose of the detector. The evaluation of images was obtained specially employed calculation of noise to signal ratio (NSR) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR). These measurements were performed for how exposure factors affect image quality. NSR was inversely proportional to kVp and mAs and low NSR represented high signal detection efficiency. Consequently, EI values was the measure of the amount of exposure received by the image receptor and it was proportional to exposure factors. Therefore the EI in a recommended range from manufacturer can offer optimal image quality. Also, continuous monitoring of EI values in the digital radiography can reduce the unnecessary patient dose and help the quality control of the system.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.225-238
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• 2019

Migration velocity analysis (MVA) for creating optimum depth-domain velocities in seismic imaging was applied to marine long-offset multi-channel data, and the effectiveness of the MVA approach was demonstrated by the combinations of conventional data processing procedures. The time-domain images generated by conventional time-processing scheme has been considered to be sufficient so far for the seismic stratigraphic interpretation. However, when the purpose of the seismic imaging moves to the hydrocarbon exploration, especially in the geologic modeling of the oil and gas play or lead area, drilling prognosis, in-place hydrocarbon volume estimation, the seismic images should be converted into depth domain or depth processing should be applied in the processing phase. CMP-based velocity analysis, which is mainly based on several approximations in the data domain, inherently contains errors and thus has high uncertainties. On the other hand, the MVA provides efficient and somewhat real-scale (in depth) images even if there are no logging data available. In this study, marine long-offset multi-channel seismic data were optimally processed in time domain to establish the most qualified dataset for the usage of the iterative MVA. Then, the depth-domain velocity profile was updated several times and the final velocity-in-depth was used for generating depth images (CRP gather and stack) and compared with the images obtained from the velocity-in-time. From the results, we were able to confirm the depth-domain results are more reasonable than the time-domain results. The spurious local minima, which can be occurred during the implementation of full waveform inversion, can be reduced when the result of MVA is used as an initial velocity model.