• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2006

Purpose: Renal stones are common and typically arise within the collecting system. The renal sinus are contains the collection system, the renal vessels, lymphatcs, fat, and fibrous tissue. Because of the compression of all the large echoes in signal processing, the echo from the renal stone generally cannot be distinguished from large echoes emanating from normal structures of the renal sinus. Use of ultrasonography has been difficult for detecting small renal stone without posterior shadowing and chemical composition of stone. The aim of study was measuring for posterior acoustic shadowing to a stone for various scan parameter and it examines a help in renal stone diagnosis. Material & Methods: The stone was place on sponge examined in a water bath with a 3.5MHz or 7.5MHz transducer(LOGIQ 400, USA). First, tested a variety of gain. Second, tested a variety of dynamic range. Third, tested a variety of focal zone. Fourth, measuring of the echo level for low and high frequency for depth. Results: 1) Average echo level was 98 for low total gain(10 dB) and was 142 for high total gain(40 dB). Posterior acoustic shadowing of renal stone was clear for low gain. 2) Average echo level was 129 for low dynamic range(42 dB) and was 101 for high dynamic range(72 dB). Posterior acoustic shadowing of renal stone was clear for high dynamic range. 3) When stone is in focal zone of transducer, definite posterior acoustic shadow is identified. 4) Stone was clear appeared for high frequency(7.5 MHz) than low frequency(3.5 MHz) and it is not distorted. Conclusion: The demonstration of an posterior acoustic shadow of renal stone dependents on several technical factors such as gain, dynamic range, focus, and frequency. This various factors are a help in renal stone diagnosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.220-225
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• 2014

Generally, the nonlinearity of ultrasonic waves is measured using a nonlinear parameter ${\beta}$, which is defined as the ratio of the second harmonic's magnitude to the power of the fundamental frequency component after the ultrasonic wave propagates through a material. Nonlinear parameter ${\beta}$ is recognized as an effective parameter for evaluating material degradation. In this paper, we evaluated the nonlinear parameter of Al6061-T6 which had been subjected to an artificial aging heat treatment. The measurement was using the transmitted signal obtained from contact-type transducers. After the ultrasonic test, a micro Vickers hardness test was conducted. From the result of the ultrasonic nonlinear parameter, the microstructural changes resulting from the heat treatment were estimated and the hardness test proved that these estimates were reasonable. Experimental results showed a correlation between the ultrasonic nonlinear parameter and microstructural changes produced by precipitation behavior in the material. These results suggest that the evaluation of mechanical properties using ultrasonic nonlinear parameter ${\beta}$ can be used to monitor variations in the mechanical hardness of aluminum alloys in response to an artificial aging heat-treatment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.682-692
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• 2007

This study presents an automatic system to predict parturition time in the crated sows. The system relies on ultrasonic transducers mounted from above along the length of the crate. Using a 40 kHz time of flight (TOF) single envelope wave, the momentary distances between the sensors are measured. Therefore, the local momentary height of the sow and the momentary posture, i.e. standing posture (SDP), kneeling posture (KP), sitting posture (STP) and lateral lying posture (LLP) are determined. Crated sows change their postures from standing to lying and vice versa which follows a characteristic pattern. As parturition approaches, sows exhibit uneasiness, restlessness and the stand up sequence (SUS, the posture transition from LLP to SDP) rate increases because of labor pains. In time series, the SUS rate demonstrates a peak and it happens approximately 0-12 h before parturition. In this paper, the basic parturition threshold value method (BPTVM) and the same hour method (SHM) are proposed for predicting parturition, both of which are based on the SUS rate. The BPTVM mainly detects the peak of the SUS rate. As the SUS rate exceeds the threshold value, the parturition becomes predictable. Moreover, the SHM calculates the difference in the SUS rates between a particular time of day and the corresponding time of the preceding day. Compared to the BPTVM, the SHM can eliminate the circadian rhythm of the SUS rate influenced by feeding behavior. Using the SHM the parturition can be approximately predicted within hours. In an attempt to define the threshold parameters of predicting parturition, a data set with 32 sows of the SUS rate are used to estimate assumable predicting probability. The results show the assumable probability of the parturition prediction within 9 h is 96.9% for the SHM and 84.4% for the BPTVM. Moreover, the SHM can even reach a 75% probability of prediction within three hours of parturition. We conclude that the SHM is more accurate and is more useful for parturition time prediction. When parturition is detected, the proposed algorithm generates a warning signal which can inform human personnel to protect the mother and newborn piglets.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2003

In order to replace the manual ultrasonic testing(UT) with an automated UT(AUT), a scanner which enables us to control the positions of a transducer is essential. Encoders have been commonly used to obtain the position information from the conventional scanners controlled by motor. Encoders have various advantages in many aspects. However, if the slip of motor wheel occurs during scanning, various errors are involved in the position accuracy. Thus, the position information of encoders becomes meaningless in case of slip. The reliability of AUT results nay become serious problem. Hence, slip must be avoided, but it can not be completely avoided at present time. In this paper, a new idea that surface wave is used to solve this problem and replace encoders has been proposed. It is shown that this idea can be employed in AUT scanner without encoders. That is, one transducer transmitting surface wave is fixed and the other transducer attached to the scanner receives UT signal. Then, computer calculates the present position of scanner based on the information given by surface wave. Thus, the movement of a scanner can be controlled by the amount of input based on the information obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.1385-1393
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• 2022

Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast is a heterogeneous group of neoplasms with mixed epithelial and mesenchymal differentiation. Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast is a rare and aggressive malignancy, with high recurrence and metastasis. Metaplastic carcinoma with chondroid differentiation is an uncommon subtype that tends to have a relatively good prognosis than that of other subtypes. We report the imaging features of three cases of pathologically proven metaplastic carcinoma with chondroid differentiation as follows: a high-density mass with amorphous or coarse heterogeneous calcifications on mammography; a microlobulated or partially indistinct, complex cystic, and solid mass on sonography; and a relatively circumscribed or partially indistinct, irregular mass with heterogeneous T2 high-signal intensity and heterogeneous or rim enhancement with initial fast enhancement and delayed washout on MRI.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.379-394
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• 2020

Purpose To design a scoring system to predict malignancy of additional MRI-detected lesions in breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods Eighty-six lesions (64 benign and 22 malignant) detected on preoperative MRI of 68 breast cancer patients were retrospectively included. The clinico-radiologic features were correlated with the histopathologic results using the Student's t-test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression analysis. The scoring system was designed based on the significant predictive features of malignancy, and its diagnostic performance was compared with that of the Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category. Results Lesion size ≥ 8 mm (p < 0.001), location in the same quadrant as the primary cancer (p = 0.005), delayed plateau kinetics (p = 0.010), T2 isointense (p = 0.034) and hypointense (p = 0.024) signals, and irregular mass shape (p = 0.028) were associated with malignancy. In comparison with the BI-RADS category, the scoring system based on these features with suspicious non-mass internal enhancement increased the diagnostic performance (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: 0.918 vs. 0.727) and detected three false-negative cases. With this scoring system, 22 second-look ultrasound examinations (22/66, 33.3%) could have been avoided. Conclusion The scoring system based on the lesion size, location relative to the primary cancer, delayed kinetic features, T2 signal intensity, mass shape, and non-mass internal enhancement can provide a more accurate approach to evaluate MRI-detected lesions in breast cancer patients.

• 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.