• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.237-245
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• 2022

Objective: Viscoelasticity is an essential feature of nerves, although little is known about their viscous properties. The discovery of shear wave dispersion (SWD) imaging has presented a new approach for the non-invasive evaluation of tissue viscosity. The present study investigated the feasibility of using SWD imaging to evaluate diabetic neuropathy using the sciatic nerve in a diabetic rat model. Materials and Methods: This study included 11 diabetic rats in the diabetic group and 12 healthy rats in the control group. Bilateral sciatic nerves were evaluated 3 months after treatment with streptozotocin. We measured the nerve cross-sectional area (CSA), nerve stiffness using shear wave elastography (SWE), and nerve viscosity using SWD imaging. The motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) was also measured. These four indicators and the histology of the sciatic nerves were then compared between the two groups. The performance of CSA, SWE, and SWD imaging in distinguishing the two groups was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: Nerve CSA, stiffness, and viscosity in the diabetic group was significantly higher than those in the control group (all p < 0.05). The results also revealed a significantly lower MNCV in the diabetic group (p = 0.005). Additionally, the density of myelinated fibers was significantly lower in the diabetic group (p = 0.004). The average thickness of the myelin sheath was also lower in the diabetic group (p = 0.012). The area under the ROC curve for distinguishing the diabetic neuropathy group from the control group was 0.876 for SWD imaging, which was significantly greater than 0.677 for CSA (p = 0.030) and 0.705 for SWE (p = 0.035). Conclusion: Sciatic nerve viscosity measured using SWD imaging was significantly higher in diabetic rats. The viscosity measured using SWD imaging performed well in distinguishing the diabetic neuropathy group from the control group. Therefore, SWD imaging may be a promising method for the evaluation of diabetic neuropathy.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.355-365
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• 2024

Wavefront coding (WFC) imaging systems can redistribute the energy of an interference laser spot on an image plane sensor by wavefront phase modulation and reduce the peak intensity, realizing laser protection while maintaining imaging functionality by leveraging algorithmic post-processing. In this paper, a spiral axicon WFC imaging system is proposed, and the performance for laser protection is investigated by constructing a laser transmission model. An Airy disk on an image plane sensor is refactored into a symmetrical hollow ring by a spiral axicon phase mask, and the maximum intensity can be reduced to lower than 1% and single-pixel power to 1.2%. The spiral axicon phase mask exhibits strong robustness to the position of the interference laser source and can effectively reduce the risk of sensor damage for an almost arbitrary lase propagation distance. Moreover, we revealed that there is a sensor hazard distance for both conventional and WFC imaging systems where the maximum single-pixel power reaches a peak value under irradiation of a power-fixed laser source. Our findings can offer guidance for the anti-laser reinforcement design of photoelectric imaging systems, thereby enhancing the adaptability of imaging systems in a complex laser environment. The laser blinding-resistant imaging system has potential applications in security monitoring, autonomous driving, and intense-laser-pulse experiments.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.276-282
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the performance of 2-dimensional (2D) imaging with microscopy coils in delineating teeth and periodontal tissues compared with conventional 3-dimensional(3D) imaging on a 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit. Materials and Methods: Twelve healthy participants (4 men and 8 women; mean age: 25.6 years; range: 20-52 years) with no dental symptoms were included. The left mandibular first molars and surrounding periodontal tissues were examined using the following 2 sequences: 2D proton density-weighted (PDw) images and 3D enhanced T1 high-resolution isotropic volume excitation (eTHRIVE) images. Two-dimensional MRI images were taken using a 3 T MRI unit and a 47 mm microscopy coil, while 3D MRI imaging used a 3 T MRI unit and head-neck coil. Oral radiologists assessed dental and periodontal structures using a 4-point Likert scale. Inter- and intra-observer agreement was determined using the weighted kappa coefficient. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare 2D-PDw and 3D-eTHRIVE images. Results: Qualitative analysis showed significantly better visualization scores for 2D-PDw imaging than for 3D-eTHRIVE imaging (Wilcoxon signed-rank test). 2D-PDw images provided improved visibility of the tooth, root dental pulp, periodontal ligament, lamina dura, coronal dental pulp, gingiva, and nutrient tract. Inter-observer reliability ranged from moderate agreement to almost perfect agreement, and intra-observer agreement was in a similar range. Conclusion: Two-dimensional-PDw images acquired using a 3 T MRI unit and microscopy coil effectively visualized nearly all aspects of teeth and periodontal tissues.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.507-518
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• 2021

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a key technology that has been seeing increasing use in studying the structural and functional innerworkings of the brain. Analyzing the variability of brain connectome through tractography analysis has been used to increase our understanding of disease pathology in humans. However, there lacks standardization of analysis methods for small animals such as mice, and lacks scientific consensus in regard to accurate preprocessing strategies and atlas-based neuroinformatics for images. In addition, it is difficult to acquire high resolution images for mice due to how significantly smaller a mouse brain is compared to that of humans. In this study, we present an Allen Mouse Brain Atlas-based image data analysis pipeline for structural connectivity analysis involving structural region segmentation using mouse brain structural images and diffusion tensor images. Each analysis method enabled the analysis of mouse brain image data using reliable software that has already been verified with human and mouse image data. In addition, the pipeline presented in this study is optimized for users to efficiently process data by organizing functions necessary for mouse tractography among complex analysis processes and various functions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.554-562
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• 2012

Processing of Scanning electron microscope imaging has been analyzed in both secondary electron (SE) imaging and backscattered electron (BSE) image. Because of unique characteristics of both secondary electron and backscattered electron image, mechanism of imaging process and image quality are quite different each other. For the sake of characterize imaging process, Monte Carlo simulation code have been developed. It simulates electron penetration and depth profile in certain material. In addition, secondary electron and backscattered electron generation process as well as their spatial distribution and energy characteristics can be simulated. Geometries that has fundamental feature have been imaged using the developed Monte Carlo code. Two, SE and BSE images generation process will be discussed. BSE imaging process can be readily used to discriminate in both material and geometry by simply changing position and direction of BSE detector. The developed MC code could be useful to design BSE detector and their position. Furthermore, surface reconstruction technique is possibly developed at the further research efforts. Basics of Monte Carlo simulation method will be discussed as well as characteristics of SE and BSE images.

• Journal of the Korean Graphic Arts Communication Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.133-145
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• 2002

A study on electronic imaging system with silver halide photography emulation by a parametric approach will be introduced. The study contains the comparison analysis between silver halide imaging process and electronic imaging process, the characterization of the detailed process in those imaging chains, such as exposure, developing, photographic print and the other photographic and digital process. We investigated the characteristic curve between optical density and the amount of exposure in silver halide and digital photography systems. Under wide range of exposure condition, several sensitometric parameters were obtained via studio and outdoor photographic experiments with conventional photography and a digital camera. whose experimental results will be shown. Finally, the comparison between electronic imaging and conventional photography via silver halide photography emulation and modeling the silver halide process wi13 be discussed.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.110-116
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• 2006

Finite element method (FEM) provides several advantages over other numerical methods such as boundary element method, since it allows truly volumetric analysis and incorporation of realistic electrical conductivity values. Finite element mesh generation is the first requirement in such in FEM to represent the volumetric domain of interest with numerous finite elements accurately. However, conventional mesh generators and approaches offered by commercial packages do not generate meshes that are content-adaptive to the contents of given images. In this paper, we present software that has been implemented to generate content-adaptive finite element meshes (cMESHes) based on the contents of MR images. The software offers various computational tools for cMESH generation from multi-slice MR images. The software named as the Content-adaptive FE Mesh Generation Toolbox runs under the commercially available technical computation software called Matlab. The major routines in the toolbox include anisotropic filtering of MR images, feature map generation, content-adaptive node generation, Delaunay tessellation, and MRI segmentation for the head conductivity modeling. The presented tools should be useful to researchers who wish to generate efficient mesh models from a set of MR images. The toolbox is available upon request made to the Functional and Metabolic Imaging Center or Bio-imaging Laboratory at Kyung Hee University in Korea.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.330-335
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• 2020

We have investigated optimization of the working distance (WD) for a highly miniaturized imaging probe for endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT). The WD is the axial distance from the distal end of the imaging probe to its beam focus, which is demanded for dimensional margins of protective structures, operational safety, or full utilization of the axial imaging range of OCT. With an objective lens smaller than a few hundred micrometers in diameter, a micro-optic imaging probe naturally exhibits a very short WD due to the down-scaled optical structure. For a maximized WD careful design is required with the optical aperture of the objective lens optimally filled by the incident beam. The diffraction-involved effect was taken into account in our analysis of the apertured beam. In this study, we developed a simple design formula on the maximum achievable WD based on our diffraction simulation. It was found that the maximum WD is proportional to the aperture size squared. In experiment, we designed and fabricated very compact OCT probes with long WDs. Our 165-㎛-thick fiber-optic probes provided WDs of 3 mm or longer w ith reasonable OCT imaging performance.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.413-417
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• 2022

We retrospectively evaluated the clinical and imaging features of 6 patients with bone hydatid disease confirmed by surgery and pathological examination. Among the 6 patients, 2 were infected with Echinococcosis granulosus metacestode and 4 were infected with E. multilocularis metacestode. The 2 cases with cystic echinococcosis were diagnosed by computed tomographic (CT) examination, and other 4 cases were diagnosed by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. On the initial evaluation, 1 case each was misdiagnosed as a giant cell tumor or neurogenic tumor, and 2 were misdiagnosed as tuberculosis. The imaging manifestations of bone hydatid disease are complex, but most common findings include expansive osteolytic bone destruction, which may be associated with sclerosing edges or dead bone formation, localized soft tissue masses, and vertebral lesions with wedge-shaped changes and spinal stenosis. Combining imaging findings with the patient's epidemiological history and immunological examinations is of great help in improving the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of bone hydatid disease.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.270-276
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to find a rapid determination of the hot air stress in maize (Zea mays L.) leaves using a portable chlorophyll fluorescence imaging instrument. To assess the photosynthetic activity of maize leaves, an imaging analysis of the photochemical responses of maize was performed with chlorophyll fluorescence camera. The observed chlorophyll imaging photos were numerically transformed to the photochemical parameters on the basis of chlorophyll a fluorescence. Chlorophyll a fluorescence imaging (CFI) method showed that a rapid decrease in maximum fluorescence intensity ($F_m$) of leaf occurred under hot air stress. Although no change was observed in the maximum quantum yield ($F_v/F_m$) of the hot air stressed maize leaves, the other photochemical parameters such as maximum fluorescence intensity ($F_m$) and Maximum fluorescence value ($F_p$) were relatively lowered after hot air stress. In hot air stressed maize leaves, an increase was observed in the nonphotoquenching (NPQ) and decrease in the effective quantum yield of photochemical energy conversion in photosystem II (${\Phi}PSII$). Thus, NPQ and ${\Phi}PSII$ were available to be determined non-destructively in maize leaves under hot air stress. Our results clearly indicated that the hot air could be a source of stress in maize leaves. Thus, the CFI analysis along with its related parameters can be used as a rapid indicating technique for the determining hot air stress in plants.