• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.663-670
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• 2023

In this study, we aimed to perform a comparative evaluation using quantitative factors between a region-growing based segmentation with noise reduction algorithms and a U-Net based segmentation. Initially, we applied median filter, median modified Wiener filter, and fast non-local means algorithm to computed tomography (CT) images, followed by region-growing based segmentation. Additionally, we trained a U-Net based segmentation model to perform segmentation. Subsequently, to compare and evaluate the segmentation performance of cases with noise reduction algorithms and cases with U-Net, we measured root mean square error (RMSE) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), universal quality image index (UQI), and dice similarity coefficient (DSC). The results showed that using U-Net for segmentation yielded the most improved performance. The values of RMSE, PSNR, UQI, and DSC were measured as 0.063, 72.11, 0.841, and 0.982 respectively, which indicated improvements of 1.97, 1.09, 5.30, and 1.99 times compared to noisy images. In conclusion, U-Net proved to be effective in enhancing segmentation performance compared to noise reduction algorithms in CT images.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.410-418
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• 2023

Recently, advancements and commercialization in the field of maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) has rapidly progressed. Concurrently, studies are also underway to develop methods for automatically surveying the condition of various on-board equipment remotely to ensure the navigational safety of MASS. One key issue that has gained prominence is the method to obtain values from analog gauges installed in various equipment through image processing. This approach has the advantage of enabling the non-contact detection of gauge values without modifying or changing already installed or planned equipment, eliminating the need for type approval changes from shipping classifications. The objective of this study was to identify a dynamically changing indicator needle within noisy images of analog gauges. The needle object must be identified because its position significantly affects the accurate reading of gauge values. An analog pressure gauge attached to an emergency fire pump model was used for image capture to identify the needle object. The acquired images were pre-processed through Gaussian filtering, thresholding, and morphological operations. The needle object was then identified through Hough Transform. The experimental results confirmed that the center and object of the indicator needle could be identified in images of noisy analog gauges. The findings suggest that the image processing method applied in this study can be utilized for shape identification in analog gauges installed on ships. This study is expected to be applicable as an image processing method for the automatic remote survey of MASS.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.1275-1284
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• 2019

Objective: To develop algorithms using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automatic segmentation of acute ischemic lesions on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and compare them with conventional algorithms, including a thresholding-based segmentation. Materials and Methods: Between September 2005 and August 2015, 429 patients presenting with acute cerebral ischemia (training:validation:test set = 246:89:94) were retrospectively enrolled in this study, which was performed under Institutional Review Board approval. Ground truth segmentations for acute ischemic lesions on DWI were manually drawn under the consensus of two expert radiologists. CNN algorithms were developed using two-dimensional U-Net with squeeze-and-excitation blocks (U-Net) and a DenseNet with squeeze-and-excitation blocks (DenseNet) with squeeze-and-excitation operations for automatic segmentation of acute ischemic lesions on DWI. The CNN algorithms were compared with conventional algorithms based on DWI and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) signal intensity. The performances of the algorithms were assessed using the Dice index with 5-fold cross-validation. The Dice indices were analyzed according to infarct volumes (< 10 mL, ≥ 10 mL), number of infarcts (≤ 5, 6-10, ≥ 11), and b-value of 1000 (b1000) signal intensities (< 50, 50-100, > 100), time intervals to DWI, and DWI protocols. Results: The CNN algorithms were significantly superior to conventional algorithms (p < 0.001). Dice indices for the CNN algorithms were 0.85 for U-Net and DenseNet and 0.86 for an ensemble of U-Net and DenseNet, while the indices were 0.58 for ADC-b1000 and b1000-ADC and 0.52 for the commercial ADC algorithm. The Dice indices for small and large lesions, respectively, were 0.81 and 0.88 with U-Net, 0.80 and 0.88 with DenseNet, and 0.82 and 0.89 with the ensemble of U-Net and DenseNet. The CNN algorithms showed significant differences in Dice indices according to infarct volumes (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The CNN algorithm for automatic segmentation of acute ischemic lesions on DWI achieved Dice indices greater than or equal to 0.85 and showed superior performance to conventional algorithms.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.155-162
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• 1998

Ho-l66 was produced by neutron reaction in a reactor at the Korea Atomic Energy Institute (Taejon, Korea). Ho-l66 emits a high energy beta particles with a maximum energy of 1.85 MeV and small proportion of gamma rays (80 keV). Therefore, the radiation absorbed dose estimation could be based on the in-vivo quantification of the activity in tumors from the gamma camera images. Approximately 1 mCi of Ho-l66 in solution was mixed into the flood phantom and planar scintigraphic images were acquired with and without patient interposed between the phantom and scintillation camera. Transmission factor over an area of interest was calculated from the ratio of counts in selected regions of the two images described above. A dual-head gamma camera(Multispect2, Siemens, Hoffman Estates, IL, USA) equipped with medium energy collimators was utilized for imaging(80 keV${\pm}$10%). Fifty-nine year old female patient with hepatoma was enrolled into the therapeutic protocol after the informed consent obtained. Thirty millicuries(110MBq) of Ho-166-CHICO was injected into the right hepatic arterial branch supplying hepatoma. When the injection was completed, anterior and posterior scintigraphic views of the chest and pelvic regions were obtained for 3 successive days. Regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn over the organs in both the anterior and posterior views. The activity in those ROIs was estimated from geometric mean, calibration factor and transmission factors. Absorbed dose was calculated using the Marinelli formula and Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) schema. Tumor dose of the patient treated with 1110 MBq(30 mCi) Ho-l66 was calculated to be 179.7 Gy. Dose distribution to normal liver, spleen, lung and bone was 9.1, 10.3, 3.9, 5.0 % of the tumor dose respectively. In conclusion, tumor dose and absorbed dose to surrounding structures were calculated by daily external imaging after the Ho-l66 therapy for hepatoma. In order to limit the thresholding dose to each surrounding organ, absorbed dose calculation provides useful information.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.312-321
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• 2003

In this paper, we implement robot which are ability to recognize obstacles and moving automatically to destination. we present two results in this paper; hardware implementation of image processing board and software implementation of visual feedback algorithm for a self-controlled robot. In the first part, the mobile robot depends on commands from a control board which is doing image processing part. We have studied the self controlled mobile robot system equipped with a CCD camera for a long time. This robot system consists of a image processing board implemented with DSPs, a stepping motor, a CCD camera. We will propose an algorithm in which commands are delivered for the robot to move in the planned path. The distance that the robot is supposed to move is calculated on the basis of the absolute coordinate and the coordinate of the target spot. And the image signal acquired by the CCD camera mounted on the robot is captured at every sampling time in order for the robot to automatically avoid the obstacle and finally to reach the destination. The image processing board consists of DSP (TMS320VC33), ADV611, SAA7111, ADV7l76A, CPLD(EPM7256ATC144), and SRAM memories. In the second part, the visual feedback control has two types of vision algorithms: obstacle avoidance and path planning. The first algorithm is cell, part of the image divided by blob analysis. We will do image preprocessing to improve the input image. This image preprocessing consists of filtering, edge detection, NOR converting, and threshold-ing. This major image processing includes labeling, segmentation, and pixel density calculation. In the second algorithm, after an image frame went through preprocessing (edge detection, converting, thresholding), the histogram is measured vertically (the y-axis direction). Then, the binary histogram of the image shows waveforms with only black and white variations. Here we use the fact that since obstacles appear as sectional diagrams as if they were walls, there is no variation in the histogram. The intensities of the line histogram are measured as vertically at intervals of 20 pixels. So, we can find uniform and nonuniform regions of the waveforms and define the period of uniform waveforms as an obstacle region. We can see that the algorithm is very useful for the robot to move avoiding obstacles.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.479-488
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• 2002

In recent years the amount of digital video used has risen dramatically to keep pace with the increasing use of the Internet and consequently an automated method is needed for indexing digital video databases. Textual information, both superimposed and embedded scene texts, appearing in a digital video can be a crucial clue for helping the video indexing. In this paper, a new method is presented to extract both superimposed and embedded scene texts in a freeze-frame of news video. The algorithm is summarized in the following three steps. For the first step, a color image is converted into a gray-level image and applies contrast stretching to enhance the contrast of the input image. Then, a modified local adaptive thresholding is applied to the contrast-stretched image. The second step is divided into three processes: eliminating text-like components by applying erosion, dilation, and (OpenClose+CloseOpen)/2 morphological operations, maintaining text components using (OpenClose+CloseOpen)/2 operation with a new Geo-correction method, and subtracting two result images for eliminating false-positive components further. In the third filtering step, the characteristics of each component such as the ratio of the number of pixels in each candidate component to the number of its boundary pixels and the ratio of the minor to the major axis of each bounding box are used. Acceptable results have been obtained using the proposed method on 300 news images with a recognition rate of 93.6%. Also, my method indicates a good performance on all the various kinds of images by adjusting the size of the structuring element.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.535-544
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• 2021

Agricultural water occupies 48% of water demand, and management of agricultural reservoirs is essential for water resources management within agricultural basins. For more efficient use of agricultural water, monitoring the distribution of water resources in agricultural reservoirs and agricultural basins is required. Therefore, in this study, three threshold determination methods (i.e., fixed threshold, Otsu threshold, Kittler-Illingworth (KI) threshold) were compared to detect terrestrial water bodies using Sentinel-1 images for 3 years from 2018 to 2020. The purpose of this study was to evaluate methods for determining threshold values to more accurately estimate the reservoir area. In addition, by analyzing the relationship between the water surface and water storage at the Edong, Gosam, and Giheung reservoirs, water storage based on the SAR image was estimated and validated with observations. The thresholding method for detecting a waterbody was found to be the most accurate in the case of the KI threshold, and the water storage estimated by the KI threshold indicated a very high agreement (r = 0.9235, KGE' = 0.8691). Although the seasonal error characteristics were not observed, the problem of underestimation at high water levels may occur; the relationship between the water surface and the water storage could change rapidly. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the water surface area and water storage through ground observation data for a more accurate estimation of water storage. If the use of SAR data through water resources satellites becomes possible in the future, based on the results of this study, it is judged that it will be beneficial for monitoring water storage and managing drought.