• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.49 no.12
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• pp.797-806
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• 2000

In this paper, the torque characteristics and the bar loss distribution are analyzed when a general cage induction motor with skewed slots is fed by a 6-step inverter. For the electromagnetic analysis, time-stepping finite element method is used. And the multi-slice technique and sliding surface technique are respectively utilized to consider the skew effect and the rotation of the rotor. As a result, the effects of skewed rotor bar and the inverter output voltage on the characteristics of the torque and bar loss in the rotor are investigated. The simulation results are verified by measurement of flux density distribution axially in the stator teeth.

• 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.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.10-16
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• 2009

Purpose: As the number of patients has increased since the installation of a PET/CT, we are now examining about 2500-3000 annually. We have realized that if we properly adjust a pitch under the same condition of a CT during a PET/CT exam, radiation quantity that reaches the patient can change. In order to reduce the exposure dose of a patient, the research examines a method of reducing the exposure dose of a patient by controlling the pitch during a PET/CT exam, viewing whether the adjustment of the pitch influences CT image and PET SUV. Methods: The equipment used is a Biograph Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scanner (CT type: TRCT-240-130 (WCT-240-130)) of Siemens company. For the evaluation of exposure dose of a patient, we measured radiation quantities using a PTW-DIADOS 11003/1383, which is a CT radiation measurement instrument used by Siemens. We measured and analyzed the space resolutions of CT images caused by the change of pitches using an AAPM Standard Phantom in order to see how the adjustment of pitches influenced the CT images. In addition, in order to obtain SUVs caused by each change of pitches using a PET source made with a solid radioactive cylinder phantom, we confirmed whether the SUVs changed in the PET/CT images by calculating the SUVs of the fusion images caused by the change of pitches after obtaining CT and PET images and finishing the test. Results: 2slice CT scanner showed that radiation quantities largely dropped when pitches ranged from 0.7 to 1.3 and that the reduction of radiation quantities were smaller when pitches ranged from 1.5 to 1.9. That is, we found that the bigger pitch values are the smaller the radiation quantities of a patient are. Moreover, we realized that there is no change of SUVs caused by the increase of pitches and that pitch values do not influence PET SUVs and the quality of CT images. It is judged that using 1.5 as a pitch value contributes to the reduction of exposure dose of a patient as long as there is no problem in the quality of an image. Conclusions: When seeing the result of the research, hospital using a PET/CT should make an effort to reduce the exposure dose of a patient seeking pitch values appropriate for their hospital within the range in which there is no image distortion and PET SUVs are not influenced from pitches. We think that the research can apply to all multi-detectors having a CT scanner and that such a research will be needed for other equipments in the future.

• Advances in biomechanics and applications
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2014

Computed tomography (CT) is being utilized in orthopaedics and related research to estimate bone strength. These applications benefit from calibration of Hounsfield units to mineral density typical of long bone, up to $1750mg/cm^3$. This study describes a method for establishing repeatable calibration of Hounsfield units to density, and determines the effects of imaging medium on calibration accuracy. Four hydroxyapatite standards were imaged in air on 7 occasions over 19 weeks using a helical multi-slice CT scanner. Each standard was scanned 5 times in different media: porcine soft tissue, water, and air. Calibrated densities were highly repeatable (CV<3.5%). No difference in density was observed between water and soft tissue conditions (p>0.08). This work provides a model for determining repeatable scanner-specific density calibration, demonstrates that the linear relationship between Hounsfield units and density extends to values typical of cortical bone, and supports the practice of imaging calibration standards in an environment similar to that of the target bone.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.137-144
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of reducing of craniofacial radiation dose using automatic exposure control (AEC) technique in the 64 multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). We used SOMATOM Definition 64 multi-detector CT, and head of whole body phantom (KUPBU-50, Kyoto Kagaku CO. Ltd). The protocol were helical scan method with 120 kVp, 1 sec of rotation time, 5 mm of slice thickness and increment, 250 mm of FOV, $512{\times}512$ of matrix size, $64{\times}0.625\;mm$ of collimation, and 1 of pitch. The evaluation of dose reducing effect was compared the fixed tube current of 350 with AEC technique. The image quality was measured the noise using standard deviation of CT number. The range of craniofacial bone was to mentum end from calvaria apex, which devided three regions: calvaria~superciliary ridge (1 segment), superciliary ridge~acanthion (2 segment), and acanthion~mentum (3 segment). In the fixed tube current technique, CTDIvol was 57.7 mGy, DLP was $640.2\;mGy{\cdot}cm$ in the all regions. The AEC technique was showed that 1 segment were 30.7 mGy of CTDIvol, 340.7 $mGy{\cdot}cm$ of DLP, 2 segment were 46.5 mGy of CTDIvol, $515.0\;mGy{\cdot}cm$ of DLP, and 3 segment were 30.3 mGy of CTDIvol, $337.0\;mGy{\cdot}cm$ of DLP. The standard deviation of CT number was 2.622 with the fixed tube current technique and 3.023 with the AEC technique in the 1 segment, was 3.118 with the fixed tube current technique and 3.379 with the AEC technique in the 2 segment, was 2.670 with the fixed tube current technique and 3.186 with the AEC technique in the 3 segment. The craniofacial radiation dose using AEC Technique in the 64 MDCT was evaluated the usefulness of reducing for the eye, the parotid and thyroid with high radiation sensitivity particularly.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2011

Purpose : A new inhomogeneity correction method based on two-point Dixon sequence is proposed to obtain water and fat images at 0.35T, low field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. Materials and Methods : Joint phase-magnitude density function (JPMF) is obtained from the in-phase and out-of-phase images by the two-point Dixon method. The range of the water signal is adjusted from the JPMF, and 3D inhomogeneity map is obtained from the phase of corresponding water volume. The 3D inhomogeneity map is used to correct the inhomogeneity field iteratively. Results : The proposed water-fat imaging method was successfully applied to various organs. The proposed 3D inhomogeneity correction algorithm provides good performances in overall multi-slice images. Conclusion : The proposed water-fat separation method using JPMF is robust to field inhomogeneity. Three dimensional inhomogeneity map and the iterative inhomogeneity correction algorithm improve water and fat imaging substantially.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.6-15
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• 2012

Purpose : The objective of this study was to develop background gradient correction method using excitation pulse profile compensation for accurate fat and $T_2{^*}$ quantification in the liver. Materials and Methods: In liver imaging using gradient echo, signal decay induced by linear background gradient is weighted by an excitation pulse profile and therefore hinders accurate quantification of $T_2{^*}$and fat. To correct this, a linear background gradient in the slice-selection direction was estimated from a $B_0$ field map and signal decays were corrected using the excitation pulse profile. Improved estimation of fat fraction and $T_2{^*}$ from the corrected data were demonstrated by phantom and in vivo experiments at 3 Tesla magnetic field. Results: After correction, in the phantom experiments, the estimated $T_2{^*}$ and fat fractions were changed close to that of a well-shimmed condition while, for in vivo experiments, the background gradients were estimated to be up to approximately 120 ${\mu}T/m$ with increased homogeneity in $T_2{^*}$ and fat fractions obtained. Conclusion: The background gradient correction method using excitation pulse profile can reduce the effect of macroscopic field inhomogeneity in signal decay and can be applied for simultaneous fat and iron quantification in 2D gradient echo liver imaging.

• Journal of International Society for Simulation Surgery
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.37-40
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• 2014

Purpose For living donor liver transplantation, liver segmentation is difficult due to the variability of its shape across patients and similarity of the density of neighbor organs such as heart, stomach, kidney, and spleen. In this paper, we propose an automatic segmentation of the liver using multi-planar anatomy and deformable surface model in portal phase of abdominal contrast-enhanced CT images. Method Our method is composed of four main steps. First, the optimal liver volume is extracted by positional information of pelvis and rib and by separating lungs and heart from CT images. Second, anisotropic diffusing filtering and adaptive thresholding are used to segment the initial liver volume. Third, morphological opening and connected component labeling are applied to multiple planes for removing neighbor organs. Finally, deformable surface model and probability summation map are performed to refine a posterior liver surface and missing left robe in previous step. Results All experimental datasets were acquired on ten living donors using a SIEMENS CT system. Each image had a matrix size of $512{\times}512$ pixels with in-plane resolutions ranging from 0.54 to 0.70 mm. The slice spacing was 2.0 mm and the number of images per scan ranged from 136 to 229. For accuracy evaluation, the average symmetric surface distance (ASD) and the volume overlap error (VE) between automatic segmentation and manual segmentation by two radiologists are calculated. The ASD was $0.26{\pm}0.12mm$ for manual1 versus automatic and $0.24{\pm}0.09mm$ for manual2 versus automatic while that of inter-radiologists was $0.23{\pm}0.05mm$. The VE was $0.86{\pm}0.45%$ for manual1 versus automatic and $0.73{\pm}0.33%$ for manaual2 versus automatic while that of inter-radiologist was $0.76{\pm}0.21%$. Conclusion Our method can be used for the liver volumetry for the pre-surgery planning of living donor liver transplantation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.461-468
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• 2009

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) enables us to perform high-resolution conductivity imaging of an electrically conducting object. Injecting low-frequency current through a pair of surface electrodes, we measure an induced magnetic flux density using an MRI scanner and this requires a sophisticated MR phase imaging method. Applying a conductivity image reconstruction algorithm to measured magnetic flux density data subject to multiple injection currents, we can produce multi-slice cross-sectional conductivity images. When there exists a local region of fat, the well-known chemical shift phenomenon produces misalignments of pixels in MR images. This may result in artifacts in magnetic flux density image and consequently in conductivity image. In this paper, we investigate chemical shift artifact correction in MREIT based on the well-known three-point Dixon technique. The major difference is in the fact that we must focus on the phase image in MREIT. Using three Dixon data sets, we explain how to calculate a magnetic flux density image without chemical shift artifact. We test the correction method through imaging experiments of a cheese phantom and postmortem canine head. Experimental results clearly show that the method effectively eliminates artifacts related with the chemical shift phenomenon in a reconstructed conductivity image.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.814-821
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to evaluate of resolution parameter and reconstitution filter in the 256 multi detector computed tomography(MDCT) by using the head phantom. We used 256 MDCT, and head phantom of philips system. We evaluated to image quality by using Extended Brilliance Workspace. The protocol were axial scan method with 120 kVp, 0.5 sec of rotation time, 5 mm of slice thickness and increment, 250 mm of field of view(FOV), $512{\times}512$ of matrix size, 1.0 of pitch, $128{\times}0.625$ mm of collimations. The resolution parameter was applied for 'Standard', 'High' and 'Ultrahigh'. The reconstitution filters were changed to seven type of 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'UA', 'UB', 'UC'. The assesment factors of image quality were the uniformity, the noise, the linearity and 50% and 10% of the modulation transfer function(MTF). Finally The good image quality in 'High' resolution parameter showed at the uniformity, the linearity and 50% and 10% of MTF. The 'UA', 'UB' reconstitution filter showed at the good image quality of the uniformity and the noise and 'C' reconstitution filter showed at the same result of the linearity and 50% and 10% of MTF.