• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.71-74
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• 2006

We analyzed retrospectively our experience to evaluate an effect of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) for renal stone with infundibular stenosis. From January 2002 to August 2005, 35 patients with renal stone with infundibular stenosis were treated with ESWL. The diagnosis of infundibular stenosis was made by intraveneous pyelography or retrograde pyelography. The final follow-up check was performed by simple abdominal film or computed tomography and interview after 6 months to 24 months (mean 10 months). 7(20.0%) of 35 patients was freed completely, but Stone free rate including less than 2 mm size was 80%(28/35). 30(85.7%) patients became asymptomatic, 4(11.4%) patients were continued, and 1(2.9%) patient was required the percutaneous nephrostolithotomy. Although ESWL has a low complete stone free rate, We suggest that renal stone with infundibular stenosis should be treated with ESWL, because that is likely to produce a high symptom free and low complications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.109-119
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• 2021

Thermal environment of city is getting worse due to severe urban heat island caused by climate change and urbanization. Green roof improves the urban thermal environment and save the cooling energy in buildings. This study presented a green roof combined with a storage system that stores rain-water and supplies water through a wick and evaluated the temperature reduction effect as surface temperature and amount of evapotranspiration. For about a week, the surface temperature using a infrared thermal imager and the evapotranspiration by recording change of module weight were measured at intervals of 30 minutes from sunrise to sunset. The results show that the mean surface temperature of the green roof was 15.4 degrees lower than that of the non-green roof from 12:00 P.M. to 14:00 P.M. There was no significant difference between mean surface temperature of green roof with and without storage system immediately after rain, but more than a week after rain, there was a difference with average of 2.49 degrees and maximum of 4.72 degrees. The difference in daily amount of evapotranspiration was measured to be 1.66 times on average. As drought stress increased over time, the difference in daily amount of evapotranspiration and surface temperature between with/without storage system increased simultaneously. The results of the study show a more excellent cooling effect of green roof combined with the rainwater storage system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.121-132
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• 2021

Green facade has a significant impact on building's energy performance by controlling the absorption of solar radiation and improving outdoor thermal comfort through shading and evapotranspiration. In particular, since high-density building does not enough green space, green facade, and rooftop greening using artificial ground plants are highly utilized. However, the level of cooling effect according to plant traits and irrigation control is different. Therefore, in this study, the cooling effect analyzed for a total of 4 cases by controlling the irrigation condition based on hedera and spurge. Although hedera under sufficient water had the highest cooling effect(-2℃~-4℃), had the lowest cooling effect under non-irrigation(+1.1℃~+4.4℃). In addition, hedera under sufficient water had cooling effect than hedera under non-irrigation(-1℃~-8.1℃) and in the case of spurge, it had cooling effect(-0.3℃~-7.8℃) more than non-irrigation. As a result of measuring the amount of transpiration according to the light intensity (PAR) and carbon dioxide concentration conditions, transpiration of hedera was higher than the spurge (respectively 0.63204mmolm^-2s^-1, 0.674367mmolm^-2s^-1). The difference in the cooling effect of the green facade under irrigation condition was significant. But the potential cooling effect of green facade according to plants species was different. Therefore, in order to maximize and continuously provide the cooling effect of green facade in urban areas, it is necessary to consider the characteristics of plants and the control of water supply through the irrigation system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.47-59
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• 2023

Due to climate change and urbanization, abnormally high temperatures and heat waves are expected to increase in urban and deteriorate thermal comfort. Planting of street trees and changing the albedo of urban surfaces are the strategies for mitigating the thermal environment of urban, and both of these strategies affect the exposure and blocking of radiative fluxes to pedestrians. After measuring the shortwave and longwave radiation according to the ground surface with different albedo and the presence of street trees using the CNR4 net radiometer, this study analyzed the relationship between this two strategies in terms of thermal environment mitigation by calculating the MRT(Mean Radiant Temperature) of each environment. As a result of comparing the difference between the downward shortwave radiation measured under the right tree and at the control, the shortwave radiation blocking effect of the tree increased as the downward shortwave radiation increased. During daytime hours (from 11 am to 3 pm), the MRT difference caused by the albedo difference(The albedo of the surfaces are 0.479 and 0.131, respectively.) on surfaces with no tree is approximately 3.58℃. When tree is present, the MRT difference caused by the albedo difference is approximately 0.49℃. In addition, in the case of the light-colored ground surface with high albedo, the surface temperature was low and the range of temperature change was lower than the surrounding surface with low albedo. This result shows that the urban thermal environment can be midigate through the planting of street trees, and that the ground surface with high albedo can be considered for short pedestrians. These results can be utilized in planning street and open space in urban by choosing surfaces with high albedo along with the shading effect of vegetation, considering the use by various users.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.51-59
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• 2023

Despite countries' efforts to reduce carbon emissions, carbon emissions have increased in recent decades along with energy use, of which building energy uses account for a large proportion. Energy savings are essential as a strategy to reduce carbon emissions in existing buildings. The field experiment on the roof of a building located in Seoul was designed to measure the temperature reduction effect of green roof with rainwater storage tank to reduce cooling energy consumption in summer. The results showed that the mean mean surface temperature under the green roof was 14.77 degrees lower than that of the non-green roof from 13:00 P.M. to 15:00 P.M., which would have a great effect on reducing cooling energy. From 01:00 A.M. to 03:00 A.M., the effect was 3.36 degrees, showing that tropical nights could be improved. The temperature reduction effect due to the rainwater storage system increased by 1.45 degrees during the day and decreased by 0.63 degrees at night. The storage system can be strategically utilized to reduce carbon emissions during the week when cooling energy increases significantly.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to select and predict optimal heatwave indices for describing and predicting heat-related illnesses. Regression analysis was conducted using Heat-related illness surveillance system data for a number of heat-related illnesses and meteorological data from the Korea Meteorological Administration's Automatic Weather Station (AWS) for the period from 2021 to 2023. Daily average temperature, daily maximum temperature, daily average Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), and daily maximum WBGT values were calculated and analyzed. The results indicated that among the four indicators, the daily maximum WBGT showed the highest suitability with an R² value of 0.81 and RMSE of 0.98, with a threshold of 29.94 Celsius. During the entire analysis period, there were a total of 91 days exceeding this threshold, resulting in 339 cases of heat-related illnesses. Predictions of heat-related illness cases from 2021 to 2023 using the regression equation for daily maximum WBGT showed an accuracy with less than 10 cases of error annually, demonstrating a high level of precision. Through continuous research and refinement of data and analysis methods, it is anticipated that this approach could contribute to predicting and mitigating the impact of heatwaves.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.30-35
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• 2011

Purpose: The Boramae Hospital are currently using Wide beam reconstruction (WBR: UltraSPECT, Israel) to improve the resolution. The Xact-bone belongs to the WBR. It has been reported that Xact-bone helps us to improve image resolution and contrast. This study will be evaluated clinical usefulness of Xact-bone method. Materials and Methods: The usefulness evaluation of Xact-bone method was analyzed in resolution test and contrast ratio. The resolution test in Planar image were obtained from Full width at half maximum (FWHM) by using capillary tube. And the contrast ratio was obtained from Bone and Soft tissue (B/S) ratio values that were acquired from bone scan study of 50 patients before and after using the Xact-bone method. We prepared the Triple Line Source Phantom, NEMA IEC Body Phantom and Standard Jaszczak Phantom to acquire the FWHM and Contrast Ratio values of Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) image. Subsequently we compared among the Filtered backprojection (FBP), Orderd subset expectation maximization (OSEM) and Xact-Bone image. Results: The results of the planar Xact-bone data improved resolution about 20% by using capillary tube. In addition it was improved B/S ratio about 15%. When using Triple Line Source Phantom, SPECT Xact-bone data improved resolution for both FBP, OSEM methods about 20% and 10%, respectively. Contrast ratio in each spheres has also been increased for both methods that using NEMA IEC body Phantom and Standard Jaszczak Phantom. Conclusion: When we were using Xact-bone method, we could see to improve the resolution and Contrast ratio as compared to do not use the Xact-bone method. Accordingly, by using WBR's Xact-bone method is expected to improve the image quality. However, when introducing new software, it is needed to match the characteristics of the hospital protocol and clinical application.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.33-38
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• 2014

Purpose Auto exposure control (AEC) in SPECT/CT automatically controls the exposure dose (mA) according to patient's shape and size. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of AEC in SPECT/CT on exposure dose reduction and image quality. Materials and Methods The model of SPECT/CT used in this study was Discovery 670 (GE, USA), Smart mA for AEC; and $^{99m}Tc$ as a radioisotope. To compare SPECT and CT images by CT exposure dose variation, we used a standard technique set at 80, 100, 120, 140 kVp, 10, 30, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 mA, and AEC at 80, 100, 120, 140 kVp, 10-250 mA. To evaluate resolution and contrast of SPECT images, triple line phantom and flangeless Esser PET phantom were used. For CT images, noise and uniformity were checked by anthropomrphic chest phantom. For dose evaluation to find DLP value, anthropomorphic chest phantom was used and the CT protocol of torso was applied by standard technique (120 kVp, 100 mA) and AEC (120 kVp, 10-250 mA). Results When standard and AEC were applied, the resolutions at SPECT images with attenuation correction (AC) were the same as FWHM by center 3.65 mm, left 3.48 mm, right 3.61 mm. Contrasts of standard and AEC showed no significant difference: standard 53.5, 29.8, 22.5, 15.8, 6.0, AEC 53.5, 29.6, 22.4, 15.7, 6.1 In CT images, noise values at standard and AEC were 15.4 and 18.5 respectively. The application of AEC increases noise but the value of coefficient variation were 33.8, 24.9 respectively, obtaining uniform noise image. The values of DLP at standard and AEC were 426.78 and 352.09 each, which shows that the application of AEC decreases exposure dose more than standard by approximately 18%. Conclusion The results of our study show that there was no difference of AC in SPECT images based on the CT exposure dose variation at SPECT/CT images. It was found that the increased CT exposure dose leads to the improvement of CT image quality but also increases the exposure dose. Thus, the use of AEC in SPECT/CT contributes to obtaining equal AC SPECT images, and uniform noise in CT images while reducing exposure dose.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.166-171
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• 2010

Purpose: The SPECT/CT is able to acquire diagnostic information resolved the difficult problems that discriminate regions of focals by intergrating functional images and anatomical images. We introduce the usefulness of "Volumetrix Suite" which can describe 3D images by the convergence of the SPECT/CT images and reference CT images. Materials and Methods: We applied Volumetrix Suite program (Volumetrix IR, Volumetrix 3D) to patients, Bone, Venography, Parathyroid, WBC, taken diagnostic CT examination which have same regions of focal in Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center. After acquiring SPECT/CT images and reference CT images, we fused a couple of scans applying for this programs. The CT scan of Infinia Hawkeye 4 shows limitation of anatomical information. For this reason, we tried to transfer CT images that have lots of diagnostic informations as the form of Dicom file in PACS, and changed from 2D images to 3D images after image registering in Xeleris Workstaion of Hawkeye 4. Results & Conclusion: By using Volumetrix Suite program, we're able to acquire more accurate anatomical informations with 3D rendering which can distinguish both location and range of focals in Infinia Hawkeye 4. Thus, the result of utilizing this program indicate that nuclear medicine anatomical images can be improved by providing more diagnostic imformations produced by its program.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2018

Purpose Standardized uptake value(SUV) has been widely used as a quantitative metric of uptake in PET/CT for diagnosis of malignant tumors and evaluation of tumor therapy response. However, the SUV depends on various factor including PET/CT scanner specifications and reconstruction parameter. The purpose of this study is to validate a EQ PET to evaluate SUV across different PET/CT systems. Materials and Methods First, NEMA IEC body phantom data were used to calculate the EQ filter for OSEM3D with PSF and TOF reconstruction from three different PET/CT systems in order to obtain EARL compliant recovery coefficients of each spheres. The Biograph true point 40 PET/CT images were reconstructed with a OSEM3D+PSF reconstruction, images of the Biograph mCT 40 and Biograph mCT 64 PET/CT scanners were reconstructed with a OSEM3D+PSF, OSEM3D+TOF, OSEM3D+PSF+TOF. Post reconstructions, the proprietary EQ filter was applied to the reconstruction data. Recovery coefficient can be estimated by ratio of measured to true activity concentration for spheres of different volume and coefficient variability(CV) value of RC for each sphere was compared. For clinical study, we compared SUVmax applying different reconstruction algorithms in FDG PET images of 61 patients with lung cancer using Biograph mCT 40 PET/CT scanner. Results For the phantom studied, the mean values of CV for OSEM3D, OSEM3D+PSF, OSEM3D+TOF and OSEM3D+PSF+TOF reconstructions were 0.05, 0.04, 0.04 and 0.03 respectively for RC. Application of the proprietary EQ filter, the mean values of CV for OSEM3D, OSEM3D+PSF, OSEM3D+TOF and OSEM3D+PSF+TOF reconstructions were 0.04, 0.03, 0.03 and 0.02 respectively for RC. Clinical study, there were no statistical significance of the difference applying EQ PET on SUVmax of 61 patients FDG PET image. (p=1.000) Conclusion This study indicates that CV values of RC in phantom were decreased after applying EQ PET for different PET/CT system and The EQ PET reduced reconstruction dependent variation in SUVs for 61 lung cancer patients, Therefore, EQ PET will be expected to provide accurate quantification when the patient is scanned on different PET/CT system.