• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.95-122
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• 2020

In this article, we evaluated the performance of radiofrequency (RF) coils in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and homogeneity of magnetic resonance images when used for ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) 7T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). High-quality MRI can be obtained when these two basic requirements are met. However, because of the dielectric effect, 7T magnetic resonance imaging still produces essentially a non-uniform magnetic flux (|B₁|) density distribution. In general, heterogeneous and homogeneous RF coils may be designed using electromagnetic (EM) modeling. Heterogeneous coils, which are surface coils, are used in consideration of scalability in the |B₁| region with a high S/N as multichannel loop coils rather than selecting a single loop. Loop coils are considered state of the art for their simplicity yet effective |B₁|-field distribution and intensity. In addition, combining multiple loop coils allows phase arrays (PA). PA coils have gained great interest for use in receiving signals because of parallel imaging (PI) techniques, such as sensitivity encoding (SENSE) and generalized autocalibrating partial parallel acquisition (GRAPPA), which drastically reduce the acquisition time. With the introduction of a parallel transmit coil (pTx) system, a form of transceiver loop arrays has also been proposed. In this article, we discussed the applications and proposed designs of loop coils. RF homogeneous coils for volume imaging include Alderman-Grant resonators, birdcage coils, saddle coils, traveling wave coils, transmission line arrays, composite right-/left-handed arrays, and fusion coils. In this article, we also discussed the basic operation, design, and applications of these coils.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.1005-1018
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• 2017

This paper proposes an App Visualization (AppV) based on IoT Self-diagnosis Micro Control Unit (ISMCU) for accident prevention. It collects a current status of a vehicle through a sensor, visualizes it on a smart phone and prevents vehicles from accident. The AppV consists of 5 components. First, a Sensor Layer (SL) judges noxious gas from a current vehicle and a driver's driving habit by collecting data from various sensors such as an Accelerator Position Sensor, an O2 sensor, an Oil Pressure Sensor, etc. and computing the concentration of the CO collected by a semiconductor gas sensor. Second, a Wireless Sensor Communication Layer (WSCL) supports Zigbee, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth protocol so that it may transfer the sensor data collected in the SL to ISMCU and the data in the ISMCU to a Mobile. Third, an ISMCU integrates the transferred sensor information and transfers the integrated result to a Mobile. Fourth, a Mobile App Block Programming Tool (MABPT) is an independent App generation tool that changes to visual data just the vehicle information which drivers want from a smart phone. Fifth, an Embedded Module (EM) records the data collected through a Smart Phone real time in a Cloud Server. Therefore, because the AppV checks a vehicle' fault and bad driving habits that are not known from sensors and performs self-diagnosis through a mobile, it can reduce time and cost spending on accidents caused by a vehicle's fault and noxious gas emitted to the outside.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.491-498
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• 1998

Based on FDTD(Finite-Difference Time-Domain) method the human head absorbed power radiated from a 1.8 GHz portable phone is computed. For this computation the 7 layered media for the human head modeling and the monopole antenna attached to metallic box for the portable phone are used. To reflect the real circumstances typical sizes of human heads and portable phones are considered in the calculation. The length of monopole antenna is 4.5 cm. Under the predetermined model the distribution of SAR over the human head are calculated, and from which the place of maximum SAR is near the head skin surface, not deep places far into the head. The computation shows the maximum SAR to be 1.4 mWg somewhat less than the internationally adopted value of 1.6 mW/g.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.11
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• pp.1764-1773
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• 2018

A-PET is a quad-head PET scanner developed for use in small-animal imaging. The dimensions of its volumetric field of view (FOV) are $46.1{\times}46.1{\times}46.1mm^3$ and the gap between the detector modules has been minimized in order to provide a highly sensitive system. However, such a small FOV together with the quad-head geometry causes image quality degradation. The main factor related to image degradation for the quad-head PET is the mispositioning of events caused by the penetration effect in the detector. In this paper, we propose a precise method for modelling the system at the high spatial resolution of the A-PET using a LOR (line of response) based ML-EM (maximum likelihood expectation maximization) that allows for penetration effects. The proposed system model provides the detection probability of every possible ray-path via crystal sampling methods. For the ray-path sampling, the sub-LORs are defined by connecting the sampling points of the crystal pair. We incorporate the detection probability of each sub-LOR into the model by calculating the penetration effect. For comparison, we used a standard LOR-based model and a Monte Carlo-based modeling approach, and evaluated the reconstructed images using both the National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU 4-2008 standards and the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission simulation toolkit (GATE). An average full width at half maximum (FWHM) at different locations of 1.77 mm and 1.79 mm are obtained using the proposed system model and standard LOR system model, which does not include penetration effects, respectively. The standard deviation of the uniform region in the NEMA image quality phantom is 2.14% for the proposed method and 14.3% for the LOR system model, indicating that the proposed model out-performs the standard LOR-based model.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.169-181
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• 2016

This work presents a new method for enhancing the performance of a dual band Planer Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) and its lumped equivalent circuit formulation. The performance of a PIFA in terms of return loss, bandwidth, gain, and efficiency is improved with the addition of the proposed open stub in the radiating element of the PIFA without disturbing the operating resonance frequencies of the antenna. In specific cases, various simulated and fabricated PIFA models illustrate that the return loss, bandwidth, gain, and efficiency values of antennas with longer optimum open stub lengths can be enhanced up to 4.6 dB, 17%, 1.8 dBi, and 12.4% respectively, when compared with models that do not have open stubs. The proposed open stub is small and does not interfere with the surrounding active modules; therefore, this method is extremely attractive from a practical implementation point of view. The second presented work is a simple procedure for the development of a lumped equivalent circuit model of a dual band PIFA using the rational approximation of its frequency domain response. In this method, the PIFA's measured frequency response is approximated to a rational function using a vector fitting technique and then electrical circuit parameters are extracted from it. The measured results show good agreement with the electrical circuit results. A correlation study between circuit elements and physical open stub lengths in various antenna models is also discussed in detail; this information could be useful for the enhancement of the performance of a PIFA as well as for its systematic design. The computed radiated power obtained using the electrical model is in agreement with the radiated power results obtained through the full wave electromagnetic simulations of the antenna models. The presented approach offers the advantage of saving computation time for full wave EM simulations. In addition, the electrical circuit depicting almost perfect characteristics for return loss and radiated power can be shared with antenna users without sharing the actual antenna structure in cases involving confidentiality limitations.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.759-768
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• 2016

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) treatment urgently requires a novel drug. The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are a family of Ser/Thr protein kinases, but still have to be characterized in Echinococcus granulosus. We identified a 1,107 bp cDNA encoding a 368 amino acid MAPK protein (Egp38) in E. granulosus. Egp38 exhibits 2 distinguishing features of p38-like kinases: a highly conserved T-X-Y motif and an activation loop segment. Structural homology modeling indicated a conserved structure among Egp38, EmMPK2, and H. sapiens $p38{\alpha}$, implying a common binding mechanism for the ligand domain and downstream signal transduction processing similar to that described for $p38{\alpha}$. Egp38 and its phosphorylated form are expressed in the E. granulosus larval stages vesicle and protoscolices during intermediate host infection of an intermediate host. Treatment of in vitro cultivated protoscolices with the p38-MAPK inhibitor ML3403 effectively suppressed Egp38 activity and led to significant protoscolices death within 5 days. Treatment of in vitro-cultivated protoscolices with $TGF-{\beta}1$ effectively induced Egp38 phosphorylation. In summary, the MAPK, Egp38, was identified in E. granulosus, as an anti-CE drug target and participates in the interplay between the host and E. granulosus via human $TGF-{\beta}1$.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.671-677
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• 2013

In this paper, we propose a method of near-field analysis for vehicle LF antennas in order to estimate the accurate reading range of a smart key. The LF antenna consists of a ferrite core and a conducting wire which is coated with polyethylene for insulation, and it is mounted at the rear bumper frame of a commercial vehicle. The reading range of a smart key is measured at nine azimuthal directions distributed around the rear bumper, and then, the received power at each maximum reading range is measured by using a spectrum analyzer. The measurement shows that the maximum reading range exists between 1.38 m and 1.53 m, and the radiated power is between -83.6 dBmW and -75.0 dBmW. We further conducted EM simulation to estimate the reading range and the received power under the same condition that we applied for the measurement. The results demonstrate that an accurate reading range and received power can be achieved by simulation.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.107-119
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• 2014

Purpose : To efficiently evaluate phased array coil performance using a software tool box with which we can make visual comparison of the sensitivity of every coil element between the real experiment and EM simulation. Materials and Methods: We have developed a $C^{{+}{+}}$- and MATLAB-based software tool called Phased Array Coil Evaluator (PACE). PACE has the following functions: Building 3D models of the coil elements, importing the FDTD simulation results, and visualizing the coil sensitivity of each coil element on the ordinary Cartesian coordinate and the relative coil position coordinate. To build a 3D model of the phased array coil, we used an electromagnetic 3D tracker in a stylus form. After making the 3D model, we imported the 3D model into the FDTD electromagnetic field simulation tool. Results: An accurate comparison between the coil sensitivity simulation and real experiment on the tool box platform has been made through fine matching of the simulation and real experiment with aids of the 3D tracker. In the simulation and experiment, we used a 36-channel helmet-style phased array coil. At the 3D MRI data acquisition using the spoiled gradient echo sequence, we used the uniform cylindrical phantom that had the same geometry as the one in the FDTD simulation. In the tool box, we can conveniently choose the coil element of interest and we can compare the coil sensitivities element-by-element of the phased array coil. Conclusion: We expect the tool box can be greatly used for developing phased array coils of new geometry or for periodic maintenance of phased array coils in a more accurate and consistent manner.