• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.1187-1195
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• 2018

Objective: To compare correlations between pulmonary function test (PFT) results and different reconstruction algorithms and to suggest the optimal reconstruction protocol for computed tomography (CT) quantification of low lung attenuation areas and airways in healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: A total of 259 subjects with normal PFT and chest CT results were included. CT scans were reconstructed using filtered back projection, hybrid-iterative reconstruction, and model-based IR (MIR). For quantitative analysis, the emphysema index (EI) and wall area percentage (WA%) were determined. Subgroup analysis according to smoking history was also performed. Results: The EIs of all the reconstruction algorithms correlated significantly with the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) (all p < 0.001). The EI of MIR showed the strongest correlation with FEV1/FVC (r = -0.437). WA% showed a significant correlation with FEV1 in all the reconstruction algorithms (all p < 0.05) correlated significantly with FEV1/FVC for MIR only (p < 0.001). The WA% of MIR showed the strongest correlations with FEV1 (r = -0.205) and FEV1/FVC (r = -0.250). In subgroup analysis, the EI of MIR had the strongest correlation with PFT in both eversmoker and never-smoker subgroups, although there was no significant difference in the EI between the reconstruction algorithms. WA% of MIR showed a significantly thinner airway thickness than the other algorithms ($49.7{\pm}7.6$ in ever-smokers and $49.5{\pm}7.5$ in never-smokers, all p < 0.001), and also showed the strongest correlation with PFT in both ever-smoker and never-smoker subgroups. Conclusion: CT quantification of low lung attenuation areas and airways by means of MIR showed the strongest correlation with PFT results among the algorithms used, in normal subjects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권4호
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• pp.529-538
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• 2013

Scattered photons cause blurring and distortions in flash radiography, reducing the accuracy of image reconstruction significantly. The effect of the scattered photons is taken into account and an iterative deduction of the scattered photons is proposed to amend the scattering effect for image restoration. In order to deduct the scattering contribution, the flux of scattered photons is estimated as the sum of two components. The single scattered component is calculated accurately together with the uncollided flux along the characteristic ray, while the multiple scattered component is evaluated using correction coefficients pre-obtained from Monte Carlo simulations.The arbitrary geometry pretreatment and ray tracing are carried out based on the customization of AutoCAD. With the above model, an Iterative Procedure for image restORation code, IPOR, is developed. Numerical results demonstrate that the IPOR code is much more accurate than the direct reconstruction solution without scattering correction and it has a very high computational efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제21권10호
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• pp.1165-1177
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• 2020

Objective: To assess the feasibility of applying a deep learning-based denoising technique to coronary CT angiography (CCTA) along with iterative reconstruction for additional noise reduction. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 82 consecutive patients (male:female = 60:22; mean age, 67.0 ± 10.8 years) who had undergone both CCTA and invasive coronary artery angiography from March 2017 to June 2018. All included patients underwent CCTA with iterative reconstruction (ADMIRE level 3, Siemens Healthineers). We developed a deep learning based denoising technique (ClariCT.AI, ClariPI), which was based on a modified U-net type convolutional neural net model designed to predict the possible occurrence of low-dose noise in the originals. Denoised images were obtained by subtracting the predicted noise from the originals. Image noise, CT attenuation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were objectively calculated. The edge rise distance (ERD) was measured as an indicator of image sharpness. Two blinded readers subjectively graded the image quality using a 5-point scale. Diagnostic performance of the CCTA was evaluated based on the presence or absence of significant stenosis (≥ 50% lumen reduction). Results: Objective image qualities (original vs. denoised: image noise, 67.22 ± 25.74 vs. 52.64 ± 27.40; SNR [left main], 21.91 ± 6.38 vs. 30.35 ± 10.46; CNR [left main], 23.24 ± 6.52 vs. 31.93 ± 10.72; all p < 0.001) and subjective image quality (2.45 ± 0.62 vs. 3.65 ± 0.60, p < 0.001) improved significantly in the denoised images. The average ERDs of the denoised images were significantly smaller than those of originals (0.98 ± 0.08 vs. 0.09 ± 0.08, p < 0.001). With regard to diagnostic accuracy, no significant differences were observed among paired comparisons. Conclusion: Application of the deep learning technique along with iterative reconstruction can enhance the noise reduction performance with a significant improvement in objective and subjective image qualities of CCTA images.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.983-993
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• 2021

Objective: To investigate the image quality of ultralow-dose CT (ULDCT) of the chest reconstructed using a cycle-consistent generative adversarial network (CycleGAN)-based deep learning method in the evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis. Materials and Methods: Between June 2019 and November 2019, 103 patients (mean age, 40.8 ± 13.6 years; 61 men and 42 women) with pulmonary tuberculosis were prospectively enrolled to undergo standard-dose CT (120 kVp with automated exposure control), followed immediately by ULDCT (80 kVp and 10 mAs). The images of the two successive scans were used to train the CycleGAN framework for image-to-image translation. The denoising efficacy of the CycleGAN algorithm was compared with that of hybrid and model-based iterative reconstruction. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were performed to compare the objective measurements and the subjective image quality scores, respectively. Results: With the optimized CycleGAN denoising model, using the ULDCT images as input, the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity index improved by 2.0 dB and 0.21, respectively. The CycleGAN-generated denoised ULDCT images typically provided satisfactory image quality for optimal visibility of anatomic structures and pathological findings, with a lower level of image noise (mean ± standard deviation [SD], 19.5 ± 3.0 Hounsfield unit [HU]) than that of the hybrid (66.3 ± 10.5 HU, p < 0.001) and a similar noise level to model-based iterative reconstruction (19.6 ± 2.6 HU, p > 0.908). The CycleGAN-generated images showed the highest contrast-to-noise ratios for the pulmonary lesions, followed by the model-based and hybrid iterative reconstruction. The mean effective radiation dose of ULDCT was 0.12 mSv with a mean 93.9% reduction compared to standard-dose CT. Conclusion: The optimized CycleGAN technique may allow the synthesis of diagnostically acceptable images from ULDCT of the chest for the evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• 제14권11호
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• pp.4463-4482
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• 2020

Mesh model generated from 3D reconstruction usually comes with lots of noise, which challenges the performance and robustness of mesh simplification approaches. To overcome this problem, we present a novel method for mesh simplification which could preserve structure and improve the accuracy. Our algorithm considers both the planar structures and linear features. In the preprocessing step, it automatically detects a set of planar structures through an iterative diffusion approach based on Region Seed Growing algorithm; then robust linear features of the mesh model are extracted by exploiting image information and planar structures jointly; finally we simplify the mesh model with plane constraint QEM and linear feature preserving strategies. The proposed method can overcome the known problem that current simplification methods usually degrade the structural characteristics, especially when the decimation is extreme. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method, compared to other simplification algorithms, can effectively improve the quality of mesh and yield an increased robustness on noisy input mesh.

• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.92-98
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• 2021

Purpose: This study automatically discriminates homogeneous and structure edge regions on computed tomography (CT) images, and it evaluates the noise level and edge preservation ratio (EPR) according to the different types of iterative reconstruction (IR). Methods: The dataset consisted of CT scans of 10 patients reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP), statistical IR (iDose⁴), and iterative model-based reconstruction (IMR). Using the 10th and 85th percentiles of the structure coherence feature, homogeneous and structure edge regions were localized. The noise level was estimated using the averages of the standard deviations for five regions of interests (ROIs), and the EPR was calculated as the ratio of standard deviations between homogeneous and structural edge regions on subtraction CT between the FBP and IR. Results: The noise levels were 20.86±1.77 Hounsfield unit (HU), 13.50±1.14 HU, and 7.70±0.46 HU for FBP, iDose⁴, and IMR, respectively, which indicates that iDose⁴ and IMR could achieve noise reductions of approximately 35.17% and 62.97%, respectively. The EPR had values of 1.14±0.48 and 1.22±0.51 for iDose⁴ and IMR, respectively. Conclusions: The iDose⁴ and IMR algorithms can effectively reduce noise levels while maintaining the anatomical structure. This study suggested automated evaluation measurements of noise levels and EPRs, which are important aspects in CT image quality with patients' cases of FBP, iDose⁴, and IMR. We expect that the inclusion of other important image quality indices with a greater number of patients' cases will enable the establishment of integrated platforms for monitoring both CT image quality and radiation dose.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 제어로봇시스템학회 2000년도 제15차 학술회의논문집
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• pp.527-527
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• 2000

Wean modal parameter estiimation technique by developing a residual based system reconstruction and using the system matrix coordinate transformation. The modal parameters can be estimated from and residues of the system transfer functions expressed in modal coordinate basis, derived from the state space system matrices. However, for modal parameter estimation of mllltivariable and order structural systems over broad frequency bands, this non-iterative algorithm gives high accuracy in the natural fre and damping ratios. From vibration tests on cross-ply and angle-ply composite laminates, the natural frequencies and damping ratios can be estimated using the coordinates of the structural system reconstructed from the experimental frequency response. These results are compared with those of finite element analysis and single-degree-of-freedom curve-fitting..

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• 제73권11호
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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.

• 대한원격탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한원격탐사학회 2007년도 Proceedings of ISRS 2007
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• pp.270-273
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• 2007

In this paper, a SAR-despeck1ing approach of adaptive iteration based a Bayesian model using the lognormal distribution for image intensity and a Gibbs random field (GRF) for image texture is proposed for noise removal of the images that are corrupted by multiplicative speckle noise. When the image intensity is logarithmically transformed, the speckle noise is approximately Gaussian additive noise, and it tends to a normal probability much faster than the intensity distribution. The MRF is incorporated into digital image analysis by viewing pixel types as states of molecules in a lattice-like physical system. The iterative approach based on MRF is very effective for the inner areas of regions in the observed scene, but may result in yielding false reconstruction around the boundaries due to using wrong information of adjacent regions with different characteristics. The proposed method suggests an adaptive approach using variable parameters depending on the location of reconstructed area, that is, how near to the boundary. The proximity of boundary is estimated by the statistics based on edge value, standard deviation, entropy, and the 4th moment of intensity distribution.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.181-190
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• 2017

The movements of the human body are difficult to capture owing to the complexity of the three-dimensional skeleton model and occlusion problems. In this paper, we propose a motion capture system that tracks dynamic human motions in real time. Without using external markers, the proposed system adopts multiple depth sensors (Microsoft Kinect) to overcome the occlusion and body rotation problems. To combine the joint data retrieved from the multiple sensors, our calibration process samples a point cloud from depth images and unifies the coordinate systems in point clouds into a single coordinate system via the iterative closest point method. Using noisy skeletal data from sensors, a posture reconstruction method is introduced to estimate the optimal joint positions for consistent motion generation. Based on the high tracking accuracy of the proposed system, we demonstrate that our system is applicable to various motion-based training programs in dance and Taekwondo.