• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.6
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• pp.1493-1504
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• 2021

Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the utility of the 16-cm axial volume scan technique for calculating the coronary artery calcium score (CACS) using non-enhanced chest CT. Materials and Methods This study prospectively enrolled 20 participants who underwent both, non-enhanced chest CT (16-cm-coverage axial volume scan technique) and calcium-score CT, with the same parameters, differing only in slice thickness (in non-enhanced chest CT = 0.625, 1.25, 2.5 mm; in calcium score CT = 2.5 mm). The CACS was calculated using the conventional Agatston method. The difference between the CACS obtained from the two CT scans was compared, and the degree of agreement for the clinical significance of the CACS was confirmed through sectional analysis. Each calcified lesion was classified by location and size, and a one-to-one comparison of non-contrast-enhanced chest CT and calcium score CT was performed. Results The correlation coefficients of the CACS obtained from the two CT scans for slice thickness of 2.5, 1.25, and 0.625 mm were 0.9850, 0.9688, and 0.9834, respectively. The mean differences between the CACS were -21.4% at 0.625 mm, -39.4% at 1.25 mm, and -76.2% at 2.5 mm slice thicknesses. Sectional analysis revealed that 16 (80%), 16 (80%), and 13 (65%) patients showed agreement for the degree of coronary artery disease at each slice interval, respectively. Inter-reader agreement was high for each slice interval. The 0.625 mm CT showed the highest sensitivity for detecting calcified lesions. Conclusion The values in the non-contrast-enhanced chest CT, using the 16-cm axial volume scan technique, were similar to those obtained using the CACS in the calcium score CT, at 0.625 mm slice thickness without electrocardiogram gating. This can ultimately help predict cardiovascular risk without additional radiation exposure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.6
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• pp.1412-1423
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• 2020

Purpose Some patients with neonatal seizures show diffuse, symmetric diffusion-restricted lesions in the cerebral white matter. The aim of this study was to describe clinical and imaging findings of patients with neonatal seizures who had diffuse, symmetric diffusion-restricted lesions without any structural or metabolic etiology. Materials and Methods A total of 56 neonates aged less than 1 week underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for evaluation of seizures from November 2008 to February 2017. After excluding 43 patients, 13 patients showed diffuse white matter abnormality on diffusion-weighted imaging. Initial and follow-up clinical and MRI findings were analyzed retrospectively. Results All 13 patients were born at full term. Among the ten patients who underwent a stool test for viruses, six were positive for rotavirus and one for astrovirus. MRI revealed diffuse, symmetric diffusion-restricted lesions distributed along the cerebral white matter, thalami, and midbrain variably. Conclusion Diffuse, symmetric diffusion-restricted lesions involving the cerebral white matter can be seen in patients with neonatal seizures without any structural or metabolic etiology. Rotavirus is commonly but not exclusively detected in these patients. Nevertheless, viral infection-associated encephalopathy should be considered for patients with characteristic clinical and MRI findings.

• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.189-198
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• 2024

Lipreading is one of the important parts of speech recognition, and several studies have been conducted to improve the performance of lipreading in lipreading systems for speech recognition. Recent studies have used method to modify the model architecture of lipreading system to improve recognition performance. Unlike previous research that improve recognition performance by modifying model architecture, we aim to improve recognition performance without any change in model architecture. In order to improve the recognition performance without modifying the model architecture, we refer to the cues used in human lipreading and set other regions such as chin and cheeks as regions of interest along with the lip region, which is the existing region of interest of lipreading systems, and compare the recognition rate of each region of interest to propose the highest performing region of interest In addition, assuming that the difference in normalization results caused by the difference in interpolation method during the process of normalizing the size of the region of interest affects the recognition performance, we interpolate the same region of interest using nearest neighbor interpolation, bilinear interpolation, and bicubic interpolation, and compare the recognition rate of each interpolation method to propose the best performing interpolation method. Each region of interest was detected by training an object detection neural network, and dynamic time warping templates were generated by normalizing each region of interest, extracting and combining features, and mapping the dimensionality reduction of the combined features into a low-dimensional space. The recognition rate was evaluated by comparing the distance between the generated dynamic time warping templates and the data mapped to the low-dimensional space. In the comparison of regions of interest, the result of the region of interest containing only the lip region showed an average recognition rate of 97.36%, which is 3.44% higher than the average recognition rate of 93.92% in the previous study, and in the comparison of interpolation methods, the bilinear interpolation method performed 97.36%, which is 14.65% higher than the nearest neighbor interpolation method and 5.55% higher than the bicubic interpolation method. The code used in this study can be found a https://github.com/haraisi2/Lipreading-Systems.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.373-384
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• 2023

This study aims to confirm the average chronologic age according to the developmental stages of the mandibular canine (L3), first and second premolars (L4, L5), and second and third molars (L7, L8) in children and adolescents, and to confirm the developmental stage of L3, L4, L5, and L7, which can estimate the development of L8. A total of 1,956 digital panoramic radiographs of healthy individuals aged between 6 and 15 years who visited Seoul National University Dental Hospital from January 2019 to December 2020 were selected. The developmental stages of L3, L4, L5, L7, and L8 on both sides were evaluated using the dental maturity scoring system proposed by Demirjian and Goldstein. The average age at which the follicle of L8 was first observed was around 9.34 ± 1.35 years and varied from 6 to 12 years. The possibility of agenesis of L8 was high when no traces of L8 were observed after the following stages: L3, L4, and L5 at the developmental stage F and L7 at the developmental stage E; the age was about 10 years. In estimating the development of L8, when only one tooth was considered, estimation accuracy with L5 was the highest, and there was no significant difference when all four teeth were included. This study showed the age distribution according to the developmental stages of L3, L4, L5, L7, and L8 in children and adolescents and confirmed the developmental stages of L3, L4, L5, and L7, which can be used to estimate the development of L8.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.233-241
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• 2024

This study was conducted to investigate the geological distribution characteristics of fluorine in rocks, which can be a major resource of forest aggregates in Korea. Samples of forest aggregates were collected from 224 sites in 22 cities and counties for this study. The national background concentration was 344 mg/kg, which was significantly lower than the average fluorine concentration of crustal, which was 625 mg/kg, and slightly higher than the average fluorine concentration of world soil, which was 321 mg/kg. In terms of region and tectonic structure, fluorine concentrations were investigated to be highest in Gyeonggi-do(394 mg/kg) and Gyeonggi massif(396 mg/kg), respectively. The concentration distribution by the origin of the parent rock was in the order of metamorphic rock(362 mg/kg) > sedimentary rock(354 mg/kg) > igneous rock(328 mg/kg), and the concentration distribution by geologic ages was the highest in the Paleozoic at 394 mg/kg. The concentration distribution by rock types was in the order of diorite(515 mg/kg) > gneisses(377 mg/kg) > schists(344 mg/kg) > phyllite(306 mg/kg) > granites(305 mg/kg) > quartz porphyry(298 mg/kg). Consequently, it is speculated that gneisses and schists, Precambrian metamorphic rocks in the Gyeonggi massif that forms the crust of Gyeonggi-do, contain high fluorine concentrations.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.87-92
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• 2024

'Miha' is a new strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cultivar, which was released by the Highland Agriculture Research Institute in 2019. The 'Miha' cultivar originates from a 2014 cross between 'Monterey' and 'Saebong No. 3', both of which exhibited excellent ever-bearing characteristics, including continuous flowering and large fruits under long-day and high temperature conditions. This new cultivar was initially named 'Saebong No. 12' after examining its characteristics and productivity during summer cultivation between 2015 and 2019. After regional adaptability tests, 'Miha' was selected from 'Saebong No. 12' as an elite cultivar. The general characteristics of 'Miha' include intermediate, elliptic leaves, and strong growth. The fruits are conical and of a dark-red color. The number of leaves of 'Miha' was 21.9, which was 6.2 fewer than that of the control cultivar, 'Goha' with 28.1. The number of flower clusters of 'Miha' was similar to that of 'Goha'. The average fruit weight of 'Miha' was 13.4 g, which was 4.3 g heavier than that of 'Goha'. The fruit hardness of 'Miha' was 36.2 g·mm^-2, which was 10.1 g·mm^-2 harder than that of 'Goha'. The marketable yield of 'Miha' was 37,393 kg·ha^-1, 156% more than that of 'Goha' with 23,970 kg·ha^-1. Therefore, the new cultivar of ever-bearing strawberry 'Miha' is expected to be very popular in the export or bakery market because it is hard.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.161-170
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• 2024

This study was conducted to estimate the days to flowering based on the effective accumulated temperature at various altitudes in the Jiri mountain region and to compare growth and yield characteristics according to the sowing date of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) four genetic resources (local variety, IT323225, IT333473, and IT333482). The safflower four resources were sown on March 29, May 3, May 13, May 24, and June 2. The days from sowing to flowering of the safflower four resources by sowing dates were in the order of the local variety (61.0 days), IT333482 (73.2 days), IT323225 (74.0 days), and IT333473 (74.2 days). The base temperature and effective accumulated temperature for the days to flowering of the safflower four resources calculated based on the daily mean temperature were local variety 6℃, 579℃, IT323225 11℃, 766℃, IT333473 11℃, 768℃, IT333482 10℃, 750℃, respectively. As a result of applying the calculated effective accumulated temperature and daily mean temperature of the past five years (2019 to 2023) by various altitudes and the different sowing dates (every 15 days from April 1 to August 15), the days to flowering of the safflower four resources decreased from April 1 to July 15 during the sowing date and then tended to increase from August 1. In addition, the days to flowering at various altitudes were investigated in the order of plains, mid-mountain, and mountain regions. Among the yield characteristics, plant height, number of branches, number of capitula, number of seeds, and seed weight decreased as the sowing dates were delayed for the safflower four resources.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2024

Along with economic growth and industrial development, there is an increasing demand for various electronic components and device production of semiconductor, SMT component, and electrical battery products. However, these products may contain foreign substances coming from manufacturing process such as iron, aluminum, plastic and so on, which could lead to serious problems or malfunctioning of the product, and fire on the electric vehicle. To solve these problems, it is necessary to determine whether there are foreign materials inside the product, and may tests have been done by means of non-destructive testing methodology such as ultrasound ot X-ray. Nevertheless, there are technical challenges and limitation in acquiring X-ray images and determining the presence of foreign materials. In particular Small-sized or low-density foreign materials may not be visible even when X-ray equipment is used, and noise can also make it difficult to detect foreign objects. Moreover, in order to meet the manufacturing speed requirement, the x-ray acquisition time should be reduced, which can result in the very low signal- to-noise ratio(SNR) lowering the foreign material detection accuracy. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a five-step approach to overcome the limitations of low resolution, which make it challenging to detect foreign substances. Firstly, global contrast of X-ray images are increased through histogram stretching methodology. Second, to strengthen the high frequency signal and local contrast, we applied local contrast enhancement technique. Third, to improve the edge clearness, Unsharp masking is applied to enhance edges, making objects more visible. Forth, the super-resolution method of the Residual Dense Block (RDB) is used for noise reduction and image enhancement. Last, the Yolov5 algorithm is employed to train and detect foreign objects after learning. Using the proposed method in this study, experimental results show an improvement of more than 10% in performance metrics such as precision compared to low-density images.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-41
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• 2024

The carbon balance serves as a valuable indicator of a plant's physiological status under diverse environmental conditions. We investigated the photosynthetic and respiratory responses of the Asian surfgrass Phyllospadix iwatensis along the northeast coast of the Korean peninsula in response to changing water temperature (ranging from 5℃ to 30℃) to estimate the seasonal whole-plant carbon balance through a series of incubation experiments. The maximum gross photosynthetic rate (P_max) showed a significant difference among the temperature treatments, while there was no significant difference in photosynthetic efficiency (α). The maximum gross photosynthetic rate of P. iwatensis reached its peaks at 20℃ treatment (101.65 μmol O₂ g^-1 DW h^-1) but decreased rapidly at 30℃. The saturation irradiance (I_k), compensation irradiance (I_c), and respiration rate (R) of P. iwatensis exhibited significant differences among the temperature treatments. The saturation irradiance increased up to 20-25℃ (121.59-124.50 μmol photons m^-2 s^-1) and sharply decreased at 30℃. The compensation irradiance and respiration rate increased steadily with rising water temperature. The ratio of P_max to R (P_max:R ratio) was the highest at 5℃ but dramatically decreased at 30℃. The whole-plant carbon balance, calculated based on photosynthetic parameters, respiration rates, and biomass, exhibited distinct seasonal variation, increasing during winter and spring and decreasing during summer and fall, which is consistent with the highest in situ growth in spring and severely limited growth at the highest water temperature conditions. Phyllospadix iwatensis displayed a negative carbon balance during late summer, fall, and winter, but demonstrated a positive carbon balance during spring and early summer. Our findings suggest that the rising seawater temperatures associated with climate change may lead to significant alterations in the seagrass ecosystem functioning along the rocky shores of the Korean east coast.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.343-355
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• 2009

In order to restore the identity of sound environment and expand the sound culture of a region, the purpose of this study are to excavate the resources of soundscape and find out the plans for the preservation and promotion of soundscape resources peculiar to the region. For this purpose, this research is conducted through an interview survey of residents and an observation survey using listening walk in Hongdo, one of the southwesten island of Korea. The results of survey confirm that there are so many sounds to hear around Hongdo island, those are, natural sounds such as the song of the birds, the roar of the waves, the whistling sounds, the shriek of the seagulls, and the pebbles sounds washed away by the waves, and artificial sounds such as the steam-whistle signals, the ship's broadcasts, the voice of tourists, the sounds of church bells, lighthouse sirens etc. The results suggest that it is necessary to consider several ways for restoration of an unique soundscape in Hongdo island, those are, improvement for efficient management of a ship's broadcasts in public areas, removal of a ferry in Hongdo swimming beach, management of Dangsanje (a religious service), preservation of a lighthouse siren and a foghorn, restoration and improvement of underground stream, management and control of public fish market, restoration of brooklet, management of cooperative system for a fish market, restoration of PoongO-Gut (a ritual for a large harvest) and a skate festival, management of a Hongdo sports meeting, sound quality modification of a boat whistle, restoration of orientalia such as a funeral bier, ecosystem preservation activity of the shore and ocean, and promotion of amenity for fascination and vitality in a rural community. Also, a sound map is drawn up for many tourists so as to realize the importance of sound environment and identity of soundscape and to gain their experience at first hand in Hongdo island.