• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.1055-1061
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• 2011

In this study, main parameters: aperture, first bend and second bend which express a structure of ear canal are extracted in order to modeling and manufacture the ready-made ear shells of hearing aids. The proposed parameter extraction method consists of 2 important algorithms, aperture detection and feature detection. In the aperture detection algorithm, aperture of 3-D scanned virtual ear impression and parameters relating to ear shell of hearing aid are determined. The feature detection algorithm detects first bend, second bend, and related parameters. Through these two algorithms, parameters for aperture, first bend, and second bend are extracted to model the ready-made ear shell of hearing aid. The values of these extracted parameters from 36 people's right ear impression are analyzed and measured statistically. As a result of the analysis, it has been found that it is possible to classify ready-made ear shell parameters by age and size. The ready-made ear shell parameters are classified 3-size for 20 years old and 2-size for 60 years olde. Using 3D rhino program, virtual ready-made ear shell is reconstructed by parameters of every type, and simulated to model it. A final product was produced by transferring simulation result with rapid prototyping system. The modeled ready-made ear shell is evaluated with the objective and subjective method. Objective method is the comparison volume ratio and overlapped volume ratio of ear impression from randomly chosen 18 people and ready-made ear shell. And subjective method is that the final product of ready-made ear shell is used by users and the satisfaction number drawn from well fitting and comfortable testing was evaluated. In the result of the evaluation, it has been found that volume ration is 70%, big and middle size ready-made ear shell products are possible, and the satisfaction number is high.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.321-327
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• 2010

Most of the ear shells of hearing aids are manufactured manually, and it is one of the reasons that the cost of the custom-made hearing aids can be increased. Thus it is required to manufacture the ready-made ear shell for the purpose of easy manufacturing and decrease in cost. In this study, we extract parameters in order to manufacture the ready-made ear shell for CIC type hearing aids and simulate to reconstruct the ear shell using the extracted parameters. To parameter extraction, we set up the eleven parameters for the ready-made ear shell based on anatomical characteristics of the ear canal, and we found values of the parameters from twenty-one impressions in their 20s and twelve impressions in their 60s using aperture detection and feature detection algorithms. Classifying the parameters by size, we also determine the parameters of ready-made ear shell into three types for people in their 20s and two types for people in their 60s. Each ready-made ear shell was simulated to reconstruct using figured parameters, and evaluated the rate of agreement with unused impressions for setting parameters. To evaluate the ready-made ear shell, we calculate the volume ratio and intersection between of the each impression and ready-made ear shell, and the intersection ratio using the intersection volume and ready-made ear shell volume. As a result, the volume ratio was about 70%, and volume match ratio was also up to 70%. It means that the ready-made ear shell we simulated is the significantly matched to impression.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.813-816
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• 2005

Ear detection is an important part of an non-invasive ear recognition system. In this paper we propose human ear detection from side face images. The proposed method is made by imitating the human recognition process using feature information and color information. First, we search face candidate area in an input image by using 'skin-color model' and try to find an ear area based on edge information. Then, to verify whether it is the ear area or not, we use the SVM (Support Vector Machine) based on a statistical theory. The method shows high detection ratio in indoors environment with stable illumination.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.875-882
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• 2008

Ear detection in an image processing is the one of the important area in biometrics. In this paper we propose a human ear detection algorithm with side face images. First, we search a face candidate area in an input image by using skin-color model and try to find an ear area based on Haar-like feature. Then, to verity whether it is the ear area or not, we use the template which is excellent object classification compare to recognize the characters in the plate. In this experiment, the proposed method showed that the processing speed is improved by 60% than previous works and the detection success rate is 92%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.1395-1397
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• 2002

The tyrosinase gene was selected as a candidate for uncovering genetic mechanism causing 'black ear' coat color in rabbits. A PCR-SSCP detection method was established for the $881^A{\rightarrow}881^G$ mutation located in the central region of the tyrosinase gene between the CuA and CuB binding region signatures, and this was confirmed by sequencing and alignment. Fully consistent associations between the SNP and 'black ear' coat color were observed by analysis in a "black ear" pedigree and on 61 unrelated individuals. This SNP can serve as a molecular marker for use in "back ear" wool rabbit breeding.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.187-193
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• 2007

Objectives : The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between electrical detection of ear acupuncture points and musculoskeletal pain. Methods : 18 adults who have musculoskeletal pain without trauma factorsparticipated in this study. They answered the questionnaire and their ear acupuncture points were examined with electrical detectors. We analyzed the relationship between electrical detection of ear acupuncture points and musculoskeletal pain with concordance rate and validity. Results : Total concordance rates of the head region was 68.00%(questionnaire) 32.08%(investigation), that of vertebral region was 67.86%, 59.38%, that of both upper limbs was 86.67%, 39.69%, and that of both lower limbs was 50.00%, 23.46%. The true positive rate was 0.704, the true negative rate was 0.492, the false positive rate was 0.508, and the false negative rate was 0.296 in the validity test. In the head, two concordance rates of the temporal and occipital regions were relatively higher than those of the parietal and frontal regions. In the vertebral region, two concordance rates of the cervical and lumbar regions were relatively higher than those of the thoracic and sacrum regions. In the upper limb, two concordance rates of the shoulder and shoulder joints were relatively higher than those of the others. In the lower limb, concordance rates of investigation were relatively low at all areas. The right lower limb was relatively higher than the left in concordance rates of the questionnaire. Conclusions : The results suggest that electrical detection of ear acupuncture points can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal pain.

• Journal of the korean veterinary medical association
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.641-660
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• 1991

Preventive ear management, early detection and treatment of ear diseases, and effective follow-up evaluations are the best approach to eradicating ear diseases. Up to 50$\%$ of dogs with chronic otitis externa may have concurrent otitis media d

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.306-313
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• 2017

An early detection of infiltration in veins is essential to minimize the injuries caused during infusion therapy, which is one of the most important tasks for nurses in clinical settings. We report that bioelectrical impedance analysis is useful in the early detection of infiltration at puncture sites. When infiltration was intentionally induced in the vein of a rabbit's ear, impedance parameters showed significant difference before and after infiltration. In particular, the relative resistance at 20 kHz in the vein of rabbit's ear reduced largely at infiltration, decreased slowly, and then stayed at a constant value. This indicates that the vein in the ear of the rabbit is small, and hence the infiltrated intravenous (IV) solution no longer accumulates after 3 minutes of infiltration. However, when infiltration was induced in the vein of a human's forearm, the relative resistance at 20 kHz decreased gradually over time. In the $R-X_c$ graph, the positions in infiltration induced in the rabbit's ear rapidly shifted before and after infiltration whereas the positions in infiltration induced in the human's forearm changed gradually during infiltration. Our findings suggest that bioelectrical impedance analysis is an effective method to detect the infiltration early in a noninvasive and quantitative manners.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.34-44
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• 2018

An early detection of intravenous (IV) infiltration is essential to minimize the injuries during infusion therapy, which is one of the most important tasks for nurses in nursing settings. We report that bioelectrical impedance analysis is useful in the early detection of infiltration at puncture sites. When infiltration was intentionally induced in the vein of a pig's posterior ear, impedance parameters (R, $X_C$, $C_m$) showed significant differences before and after infiltration. In particular, the relative resistance ($R/R_{BI}$) decreased significantly at infiltration and then slowly decreased. This indicates that the vein in pig's ear is thin and the amount of surrounding subcutaneous tissue, and hence the infiltrated solution accumulates slowly after infiltration. However, when infiltration was induced in the vein of human's forearm, the relative resistance at 20 kHz decreased gradually over time. In the $R-X_C$ graph, the positions in the case of infiltration induced in the pig' ear shifted rapidly before and after infiltration, whereas the positions in the case of infiltration induced in the human's forearm moved gradually during infiltration. Our findings suggest that the impedance parameters (R, $R/R_{BI}$, $X_C$, R vs. $X_C$, and $C_m$) are effective indicators to detect the infiltration early in a non-invasive and quantitative manners.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.275-279
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• 2023

Throughout the 20th century, the transition of pig farms from extensive to intensive commercial operations amplified the risk of disease transmission, particularly involving African swine fever (ASF). Real-time temperature monitoring systems have emerged as essential tools for early ASF diagnosis. In this paper, we introduce new real-time temperature monitoring ear tags (RTMEs) modeled after existing ear tag designs. Our crafted Pig-Temp platforms have three primary advantages. First, they can be effortlessly attached to pig ears, ensuring superior compatibility. Second, they enable real-time temperature detection, and the data can be displayed on a personal computer or smartphone application. Furthermore, they demonstrate excellent measurement accuracy, ranging from 98.9% to 99.8% at temperatures between 2.2 and 360℃. A linear regression approach enables fever symptoms associated with ASF to be identified within 3 min using RTMEs. The communication range extends to approximately 12 m (452 m²), enabling measurements from an estimated 75 to 2,260 pigs per gateway. These newly developed Pig-Temp platforms offer singifcant enhancement of early ASF detection.