• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.327-333
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• 2008

In general, a lens with large NA makes image quality better. There are many kinds of cheap concave mirrors with large aperture and NA. This paper presents a method that uses a large aperture projection imaging system to enhance the image used for 3D shape measurement. This method makes it possible to enhance reflection uniformity on the object surface and increases SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio). Using a large aperture lens, it is possible to obtain a brighter image, reducing the shading nature in the image boundary, and enhancing the reflection uniformity even on woven surfaces. Because of the exorbitant cost of a large aperture projection lens larger than 150 mm in diameter, a refractive lens was exchanged with a concave mirror resulting in the same optical effect. In experiment, changing NA $0.15{\sim}0.8$, image contrast was enhanced from 46 to 1.33. Incidentally, the effect of the concave mirror was tested successfully through the experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.305-314
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• 2023

With the development of medical technology and radiation treatment equipment, the frequency of high-precision radiation therapy such as intensity modulation radiation therapy has increased. Image-guided radiation therapy has become essential for radiation therapy in precise and complex treatment plans. In particular, with the introduction of imaging equipment for diagnosis in a linear accelerator, CBCT scanning became possible, which made it possible to calibrate and correct the patient's posture through 3D images. Although more precise reproduction of the patient's posture has become possible, the exposure dose delivered to the patient during the image acquisition process cannot be ignored. Radiation optimization is necessary in the field of radiation therapy, and efforts to reduce exposure are necessary. However, when acquiring 3D CBCT images by changing the imaging conditions to reduce exposure, there should be no image quality or artefacts that would make it impossible to align the patient's position. In this study, Rando phantom was used to scan and evaluate images for each shooting condition. The highest SNR was obtained at 100 kV 80 mA 25 ms F1 filter 180°. As the tube voltage and tube current increased, the noise decreased, and the bowtie filter showed the optimal effect at high tube current. Based on the actual scanned images, it was confirmed that patient alignment was possible under all imaging conditions, and that image-guided radiation therapy for patient alignment was possible under the condition of 70 kV 10 mA 20 ms F0 filter 180°, which showed the lowest SNR. In this study, image evaluation was conducted according to the imaging conditions, and low tube voltage, tube current, and small rotation angle scan are expected to be effective in reducing radiation exposure. Based on this, the patient's exposure dose should be kept as low as possible during CBCT imaging.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.74-79
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• 2017

Purpose Proton therapy can deliver an optimal dose to tumor while reducing unnecessary dose to normal tissue as compared the conventional photon therapy. As proton beams are irradiated into tissue, various positron emitters are produced via nuclear fragmentation reactions. These positron emitters could be used for the dose verification by using PET. However, the short half-life of the radioisotopes makes it hard to obtain the enough amounts of events. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of off-line PET imaging scan time on the PET image quality. Materials and Methods The various diameters of spheres (D=37, 28, 22 mm) filled with distilled water were inserted in a 2001 IEC body phantom. Then proton beams (100 MU) were irradiated into the center of the each sphere using the wobbling technique with the gantry angle of $0^{\circ}$. The modulation widths of the spread out bragg peak were 16.4, 14.7 and 9.3 cm for the spheres of 37, 28 and 22 mm in diameters respectively. After 5 min of the proton irradiation, the PET images of the IEC body phantom were obtained for 50 min. The PET images with different time courses (0-10 min, 11-20 min, 21-30 min, 31-40 min and 41-50 min) were obtained by dividing the frame with a duration of 10 min. In order to evaluate the off-line PET image quality with the different time courses, the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the PET image calculated for each sphere. Results The CNRs of the sphere (D=37 mm) were 0.43, 0.42, 0.40, 0.31 and 0.21 for the time courses of 0-10 min, 11-20 min, 21-30 min, 31-40 min and 41-50 min respectively. The CNRs of the sphere (D=28 mm) were 0.36, 0.32, 0.27, 0.19 and 0.09 for the time courses of 0-10 min, 11-20 min, 21-30 min, 31-40 min and 41-50 min respectively. The CNR of 37 mm sphere was decreased rapidly after 30 min of the proton irradiation. In case of the spheres of 28 mm and 22 mm, the CNR was decreased drastically after 20 min of the irradiation. Conclusion The off-line PET imaging time is an important factor for the monitoring of the proton therapy. In case of the lesion diameter of 22 mm, the off-line PET image should be obtained within 25 min after the proton irradiation. When it comes to small size of tumor, the long PET imaging time will be beneficial for the proton therapy treatment monitoring.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.275-280
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• 2017

In addition to tumors, normal tissues, such as the brain and myocardium can intake $^{18}F$-FDG, and the amount of $^{18}F$-FDG intake by normal tissues can be altered by the surrounding environment. Therefore, a process is necessary during which the contrasts of the tumor and normal tissues can be enhanced. Thus, this study examines the effects of glucose levels on FDG PET images of brain tissues, which features high glucose activity at all times, in small animals. Micro PET scan was performed on fourteen mice after injecting $^{18}F$-FDG. The images were compared in relation to fasting. The findings showed that the mean SUV value w as 0.84 higher in fasted mice than in non-fasted mice. During observation, the images from non-fasted mice showed high accumulation in organs other than the brain with increased surrounding noise. In addition, compared to the non-fasted mice, the fasted mice showed higher early intake and curve increase. The findings of this study suggest that fasting is important in assessing brain functions in brain PET using $^{18}F$-FDG. Additional studies to investigate whether caffeine levels and other preprocessing items have an impact on the acquired images would contribute to reducing radiation exposure in patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.211-220
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• 2020

High-quality computed tomography (CT) images enable precise lesion detection and accurate diagnosis. A lot of studies have been performed to improve CT image quality while reducing radiation dose. Recently, deep learning-based techniques for improving CT image quality have been developed and show superior performance compared to conventional techniques. In this study, a super-resolution convolutional neural network (SRCNN) model was used to improve the spatial resolution of CT images, and image quality according to the hyperparameters, which determine the performance of the SRCNN model, was evaluated in order to verify the effect of hyperparameters on the SRCNN model. Profile, structural similarity (SSIM), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) were measured to evaluate the performance of the SRCNN model. The results showed that the performance of the SRCNN model was improved with an increase of the numbers of epochs and training sets, and the learning rate needed to be optimized for obtaining acceptable image quality. Therefore, the SRCNN model with optimal hyperparameters is able to improve CT image quality.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 2010

The Digital TV(DTV) standard has ushered in a new era in TV broadcasting and raised a great demand for DTV tuners. There are many challenges in designing a DTV tuner, of which the most difficult part is the frequency synthesizer. This paper presents the design of a frequency synthesizer for DTV Tuners in a $0.18{\mu}m$ CMOS process. It satisfies the DTV(ATSC) frequency band(54~806MHz). A scheme is proposed to cover the full band using only one VCO. The VCO has been designed to operate at 1.6~3.6GHz band such that the LO pulling effect is minimized, and reliable broadband characteristics have been achieved by reducing the variations of VCO gain and frequency step. The simulation results show that the designed VCO has gains of 59~94MHz(${\pm}$17.7MHz/V,${\pm}$23%) and frequency steps of 26~42.5MHz(${\pm}$8.25MHz/V,${\pm}$24%), and a very wide tuning range of 76.9%. The designed frequency synthesizer has a phase noise of -106dBc/Hz at 100kHz offset, and the lock time is less than $10{\mu}$sec. It consumes 20~23mA from a 1.8V supply, and the chip size including PADs is 2.0mm${\times}$1.8mm.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.611-619
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• 2021

Porous asphalt pavement (PAP) has many functions, such as reducing accidents and decreasing noise. On the other hand, vulnerability is inevitable because PAP contains approximately 20% porosity. This study evaluated the effects of the maximum aggregate size (MAS), temperature, and porosity on the PAP durability. The indirect tensile strength measures durability. This study tested the samples that stayed dry and were moisturized by freezing and thawing for mixtures having the same porosity of 20% and MAS of 13mm, 10mm, and 8mm. The same test was performed on a mixture of 20% and 22% voids made of the same material with a MAS of 10mm. As a result, for 20% porosity, significant differences in the changes in MAS and temperature were found. A clear difference was observed between 8mm and 13mm under dry conditions, but there were no other significant differences in the MAS change. Furthermore, there was a clear difference in temperature for the change in porosity and temperature, but the gap in 2% porosity at 20% did not show a clear difference. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a more durable PAP through quantitative evaluations of the factors affecting the PAP durability.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.227-233
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• 2020

The demand for porous asphalt mixtures is increasing because it has a range of functions, such as reducing traffic accidents and traffic noise. On the other hand, its application is delayed due to concerns about durability. This study examined the effects of the maximum aggregate size, temperature, and porosity of an asphalt mixture on the durability. To this end, the durability measure was set to the Cantabro loss rate. Mixtures having the same porosity of 20% and the maximum aggregate diameters of 13 mm, 10 mm, and 8 mm were tested at 20℃ and -20℃. Mixtures containing 20% and 22% voids with the same material having the same diameter were tested. With 20% porosity, there was no significant difference in durability when there was a change in the maximum aggregate size. There was a significant difference between 20℃ and -20℃, but no significant difference in durability when there was a 2% difference between 20% and 22%. The significance of this study is that the durability was presented quantitatively by tests and statistical analysis. This research will help improve the durability of porous asphalt mixtures by evaluating the factors affecting the durability quantitatively.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2010

Purpose: The Wide Beam Reconstruction (WBR) algorithms that UltraSPECT, Ltd. (U.S) has provides solutions which improved image resolution by eliminating the effect of the line spread function by collimator and suppression of the noise. It controls the resolution and noise level automatically and yields unsurpassed image quality. The aim of this study is WBR of whole body bone scan in usefulness of clinical application. Materials and Methods: The standard line source and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) reconstructed spatial resolution measurements were performed on an INFINA (GE, Milwaukee, WI) gamma camera, equipped with low energy high resolution (LEHR) collimators. The total counts of line source measurements with 200 kcps and 300 kcps. The SPECT phantoms analyzed spatial resolution by the changing matrix size. Also a clinical evaluation study was performed with forty three patients, referred for bone scans. First group altered scan speed with 20 and 30 cm/min and dosage of 740 MBq (20 mCi) of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP administered but second group altered dosage of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP with 740 and 1,110 MBq (20 mCi and 30 mCi) in same scan speed. The acquired data was reconstructed using the typical clinical protocol in use and the WBR protocol. The patient's information was removed and a blind reading was done on each reconstruction method. For each reading, a questionnaire was completed in which the reader was asked to evaluate, on a scale of 1-5 point. Results: The result of planar WBR data improved resolution more than 10%. The Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) of WBR data improved about 16% (Standard: 8.45, WBR: 7.09). SPECT WBR data improved resolution more than about 50% and evaluate FWHM of WBR data (Standard: 3.52, WBR: 1.65). A clinical evaluation study, there was no statistically significant difference between the two method, which includes improvement of the bone to soft tissue ratio and the image resolution (first group p=0.07, second group p=0.458). Conclusion: The WBR method allows to shorten the acquisition time of bone scans while simultaneously providing improved image quality and to reduce the dosage of radiopharmaceuticals reducing radiation dose. Therefore, the WBR method can be applied to a wide range of clinical applications to provide clinical values as well as image quality.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2015

Purpose Various methods for reducing radiation exposure have been continuously being developed. The aim of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of dose reduction, image quality and PET SUV changes by applying combination of automatic exposure dose(AEC), automated dose-optimized selection of X-ray tube voltage(CAREkV) and sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction(SAFIRE) which can be controled by user. Materials and Methods Torso, AAPM CT performance and IEC body phantom images were acquired using biograph mCT64, (Siemens, Germany) PET/CT scanner. Standard CT condition was 120 kV, 40 mAs. Radiation exposure and noise were evaluated by applying AEC, CAREkV(120 kV, 40 mAs) and SAFIRE(120 kV, 25 mAs) with torso phantom compare to standard CT condition. And torso, AAPM and IEC phantom images were acquired with combination of 3 methods in condition of 120 kV, 25 mAs to evaluate radiation exposure, noise, spatial resolution and SUV changes. Results When applying AEC, CTDIvol and DLP were decreased by 50.52% and 50.62% compare to images which is not applying AEC. mAs was increased by 61.5% to compensate image quality according to decreasing 20 kV when applying CAREkV. However, CTDIvol and DLP were decreased by 6.2% and 5.5%. When reference mAs was the lower and strength was the higher, reduction of radiation exposure rate was the bigger. Mean SD and DLP were decreased by 2.2% and 38% when applying SAFIRE even though mAs was decreased by 37.5%(from 40 mAs to 25 mAs). Combination of 3 methods test, SD decreased by 5.17% and there was no significant differences in spatial resolution. And mean SD and DLP were decreased by 6.7% and 36.9% compare to 120 kV, 40 mAs with AEC. For SUV test, there was no statistical differences(P>0.05). Conclusion Combination of 3 methods shows dose reduction effect without degrading image quality and SUV changes. To reduce radiation exposure in PET/CT study, continuous effort is needed by optimizing various dose reduction methods.