• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.29-34
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• 2019

Purpose An examination guide is a useful medium to provide the patient with an overview, pre- and post-test preparation, and precautions of nuclear testing. The design and arrangement of existing written texts and announcements were evaluated to elucidate the comprehension of patients undergoing testing. Materials and Methods Informational material describing bone scanning and $^{201}thallium$ myocardium perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), as a secondary examination, which accounts for the largest portion of gamma imaging at Asan Hospital (Seoul, South Korea), was selected as an improvement target in consultation with a national innovation center. Existing informational material was dispensed to patients scheduled for bone scans from November 2016 to February 2017 and the revised material was issued from March 2017 to May 2017. A survey was conducted of 200 patients who underwent $^{201}thallium$ myocardium perfusion SPECT before and after the revisions (n = 100 each time period) to assess the patients' understanding of the informational material. Results When comparing the use of the conventional vs. revised material, the number of patients who received treatment before bone scanning had decreased from 130 to 60, while the number of those who required additional imaging decreased from 53 to 14. Prior to the revision, 43% of patients underwent testing before preparation and 18% underwent additional testing. The decreased need for additional image acquisition after revision of the informational material resulted in a decrease in acquisition time of about 2 min, from 16.5 to 14.2 min. In the case of $^{201}thallium$ myocardium perfusion SPECT, patient comprehension of all five items surveyed had increased, while the number of patients who had repeatedly asked about various facets of the procedure pre- and post-testing had decreased from 36% to 16% and 31% to 14%, respectively. Conclusion Lower patient comprehension is accompanied by a decrease in image quality due to non-compliance during pre-testing and may lead to repetitive questions from the patient, which may also negatively affect the fatigue and work efficiency of the examiner. Improved readability and visibility of informational material through visualization was correlated with greater patient comprehension as well as improved image quality and acquisition time.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.67-74
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose is to correct for position errors caused by long treatment times. By correcting the target motion that can occur during lung SBRT using IntraFraction CBCT. Methods and materials: We analyzed retrospectively the IFM data of 14 patients with two treatment arc in the treatment plan for lung cancer with stereotactic radiotherapy. An IntraFraction Motion was applied to the Arccheck phantom to acquire the Gamma index data. Results : IntraFraction Motion during the first treatment arc is in the left-right(LR), superiorinferior(SI), anterior-posterior(AP) directions were $0.16{\pm}0.05cm$, 0.72 cm(max error), $0.2{\pm}0.14cm$, 1.26 cm, $0.24{\pm}0.08cm$, 0.82 cm and rotational directions was $0.84{\pm}0.23^{\circ}$, $2.8^{\circ}$(pitch), $0.72{\pm}0.23^{\circ}$, $2.5^{\circ}$(yaw), $0.7{\pm}0.19^{\circ}$, $2^{\circ}$(roll). IntraFraction Motion during the second treatment arc is in the LR, SI, AP directions were $0.1{\pm}0.04cm$, 0.37 cm, $0.14{\pm}0.17cm$, 2 cm, $0.12{\pm}0.04cm$, 0.5 cm and rotational directions was $0.45{\pm}0.12^{\circ}$, $1.3^{\circ}$, $0.37{\pm}0.1^{\circ}$, $1^{\circ}$, $0.35{\pm}0.1^{\circ}$, $1.2^{\circ}$. Gamma index pass rates were $82.64{\pm}10.51%$, 48.4 %. Conclusions : In this study, we examined the validity of IntraFraction Motion correction in lung SBRT and the efficiency of IntraFraction CBCT. Due to the nature of SBRT treatment, IFM may increase due to the increased treatment time. It is believed that the increase in IFM with the increase in treatment time can be improved with the use of FFF Beam and additional position correction using CBCT during treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• 제47권3호
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• pp.31-38
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• 2019

This study quantified, through a direct harvesting method, storage and annual uptake of carbon from open-grown trees for three landscape tree species frequently planted in the southern region of Korea, and developed quantitative models to easily estimate the carbon reduction by tree growth for each species. The tree species for the study included Camellia japonica, Lagerstroemia indica, and Quercus myrsinaefolia, for which no information on carbon storage and uptake was available. Ten tree individuals for each species (a total of 30 individuals) were sampled considering various stem diameter sizes at given intervals. The study measured biomass for each part of the sample trees to quantify the total carbon storage per tree. Annual carbon uptake per tree was computed by analyzing the radial growth rates of the stem samples at breast height or ground level. Quantitative models were developed using stem diameter as an independent variable to easily calculate storage and annual uptake of carbon per tree for study species. All the quantitative models showed high fitness with $r^2$ values of 0.94-0.98. The storage and annual uptake of carbon from a Q. myrsinaefolia tree with dbh of 10 cm were 24.0 kg and 4.5 kg/yr, respectively. A C. japonica tree and L. indica tree with dg of 10 cm stored 11.2 kg and 8.1 kg of carbon and annually sequestered 2.6 kg and 1.2 kg, respectively. The above-mentioned carbon storage equaled the amount of carbon emitted from the gasoline consumption of about 42 L for Q. myrsinaefolia, 20 L for C. japonica, and 14 L for L. indica. A tree with the diameter size of 10 cm annually offset carbon emissions from gasoline use of approximately 8 L for Q. myrsinaefolia, 5 L for C. japonica, and 2 L for L. indica. The study pioneers in quantifying biomass and carbon reduction for the landscape tree species in the southern region despite difficulties in direct cutting and root digging of the planted trees.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.38-42
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• 2019

Purpose Although computed tomography (CT) is used for coronary artery calcification, it is difficult to differentiate between high risk microcalcifications. Studies have shown that $^{18}F$-sodium fluoride ($^{18}F-NaF$) is very useful for the diagnosis of microcalcifications. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of $^{18}F-NaF$ PET imaging in quantitative evaluation of calcification. Materials and Methods A total of 45 patients ($67.1{\pm}6.9years\;old$) were injected with 250 MBq of $^{18}F-NaF$ for 1 hour and images were acquired for 30 minutes. All patients underwent CT angiography (CTAngiography, CTA) before the PET scan. The SUVmax of calcification was measured and the background radioactivity of the left atrium was measured to determine Target to Background (TBR) and quantitatively analyzed. High risk group was classified through ROC curve (Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve). Results There were 226 coronary artery calcifications in the cohort and SUVmax was $1.15{\pm}0.39$. Of the 28 patients (62%), 58 were classified as high risk (TBR > 1.25). The remaining 168 were $TBR{\leq}1.25$. Conclusion $^{18}F-NaF$ PET images were available for quantitative assessment of microcalcifications and could be classified into high-risk groups. The combination of angiographic CT and $^{18}F-NaF$ PET may be a new method for early diagnosis of high-risk microcalcifications.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.21-36
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• 2019

Dead fuel moisture content is a key variable in fire danger rating as it affects fire ignition and behavior. This study evaluates simple regression models estimating the moisture content of standardized 10-h fuel stick (10-h FMC) at three sites with different characteristics(urban and outside/inside the forest). Equilibrium moisture content (EMC) was used as an independent variable, and in-situ measured 10-h FMC was used as a dependent variable and validation data. 10-h FMC spatial distribution maps were created for dates with the most frequent fire occurrence during 2013-2018. Also, 10-h FMC values of the dates were analyzed to investigate under which 10-h FMC condition forest fire is likely to occur. As the results, fitted equations could explain considerable part of the variance in 10-h FMC (62~78%). Compared to the validation data, the models performed well with R2 ranged from 0.53 to 0.68, root mean squared error (RMSE) ranged from 2.52% to 3.43%, and bias ranged from -0.41% to 1.10%. When the 10-h FMC model fitted for one site was applied to the other sites, $R^2$ was maintained as the same while RMSE and bias increased up to 5.13% and 3.68%, respectively. The major deficiency of the 10-h FMC model was that it poorly caught the difference in the drying process after rainfall between 10-h FMC and EMC. From the analysis of 10-h FMC during the dates fire occurred, more than 70% of the fires occurred under a 10-h FMC condition of less than 10.5%. Overall, the present study suggested a simple model estimating 10-h FMC with acceptable performance. Applying the 10-h FMC model to the automatic mountain weather observation system was successfully tested to produce a national-scale 10-h FMC spatial distribution map. This data will be fundamental information for forest fire research, and will support the policy maker.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.65-71
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• 2019

With regard to current Neck CT, Bismuth shielding boards are often being used to reduce exposure to superficial organs such as the thyroid. However, beam hardening often occurs near superficial organs with Bismuth shielding boards and variations in CT Number, Noise, and Uniformity values occur severely. This study looked into the usefulness of shielding boards made from aluminum and silicone that can be easily obtained and have good machinability by comparing them to the existing Bismuth shielding board. An Aluminum 7.3mm and a Silicone 21.5mm were made with shielding ratios similar to that of the Bismuth(0.06 mmPb). TLD (TLD-100) was placed on the thyroid area of the Phantom (RS-108T) and 5 doses were measured for each. To compare image quality, CT Number and Noise variations in axial images of the thyroid area in Neck CT images were compared. Also, variations in CT Number, Noise, and Uniformity were measured in the AAPM phantom images and compared. In the results, when thyroid doses for each shielding board were compared, the Bismuth shielding board showed a 14% reduction, the Silicone 21.5mm showed a 15% reduction, and the Aluminum 7.3mm showed a 13% reduction compared to the Non-Shield. Statistically, there were no significant differences in comparison with the Bismuth shielding board. In CT Number variations of thyroid area images, variations were largest for the Bismuth shielding board. With Uniformity evaluations of the AAPM phantom, the Bismuth shielding board was found unsuitable and the Aluminum 7.3mm and Silicone 21.5mm satisfied the acceptance criteria. Research results show that the Aluminum 7.3mm and Silicone 21.5mm have a similar shielding ratio to the high-priced Bismuth shielding board that is currently being used clinically and in comparison tests of CT Number attenuation coefficient variations, Noise, and Uniformity which are phantom image evaluation items, they proved to be better than Bismuth shielding boards. If various shielding boards are made using aluminum and silicone, sized appropriately for superficial organs, it would be useful in decreasing patient doses.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.374-384
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• 2021

In this study, we propose a new approach for automatic fracture detection in CT scan images of rock specimens. This approach is built on top of two-stage object detection deep learning algorithm called Faster R-CNN with a major modification of using rotated bounding box. The use of rotated bounding box plays a key role in the future work to overcome several inherent difficulties of fracture segmentation relating to the heterogeneity of uninterested background (i.e., minerals) and the variation in size and shape of fracture. Comparing to the commonly used bounding box (i.e., axis-align bounding box), rotated bounding box shows a greater adaptability to fit with the elongated shape of fracture, such that minimizing the ratio of background within the bounding box. Besides, an additional benefit of rotated bounding box is that it can provide relative information on the orientation and length of fracture without the further segmentation and measurement step. To validate the applicability of the proposed approach, we train and test our approach with a number of CT image sets of fractured granite specimens with highly heterogeneous background and other rocks such as sandstone and shale. The result demonstrates that our approach can lead to the encouraging results on fracture detection with the mean average precision (mAP) up to 0.89 and also outperform the conventional approach in terms of background-to-object ratio within the bounding box.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• 제52권10호
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• pp.743-752
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• 2019

The flow in the meandering channel is characterized by the spiral motion of secondary currents that typically cause the erosion along the outer bank. Hydraulic structures, such as spur dike and groyne, are commonly installed on the channel bottom near the outer bank to mitigate the strength of secondary currents. This study is to investigate the effects of submerged vanes installed in a $90^{\circ}$ meandering channel on the development of secondary currents through three-dimensional numerical modeling using the hybrid RANS/LES method for turbulence and the volume of fluid method, based on OpenFOAM open source toolbox, for capturing the free surface at the Froude number of 0.43. We employ the second-order-accurate finite volume methods in the space and time for the numerical modeling and compare numerical results with experimental measurements for evaluating the numerical predictions. Numerical results show that the present simulations well reproduce the experimental measurements, in terms of the time-averaged streamwise velocity and secondary velocity vector fields in the bend with submerged vanes. The computed flow fields reveal that the streamwise velocity near the bed along the outer bank at the end section of bend dramatically decrease by one third of mean velocity after the installation of vanes, which support that submerged vanes mitigate the strength of primary secondary flow and are helpful for the channel stability along the outer bank. The flow between the top of vanes and the free surface accelerates and the maximum velocity of free surface flow near the flow impingement along the outer bank increases about 20% due to the installation of submerged vanes. Numerical solutions show the formations of the horseshoe vortices at the front of vanes and the lee wakes behind the vanes, which are responsible for strong local scour around vanes. Additional study on the shapes and arrangement of vanes is required for mitigate the local scour.

• Conservation Science in Museum
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• 제24권
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• pp.1-16
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• 2020

This paper presents the process of re-conservation and the results of research on the production method of the Iron Sword with Ring Pommel with Three-Pointed Leaf Decoration, one of the excavation findings from Tomb No. 55 in the Dalseong Ancient Tomb Complex in Daegu. This iron sword is a double weapon with two large swords housed within a single sheath. Four smaller swords are attached to the surface of the sheath, two on the upper portion and the other two below. It is the only such two-in-one weapon excavated intact thus far from an ancient Korean tomb. The records show that it underwent conservation treatment twice in the past. In this study, it was subjected to conservation treatment again to replace the stiffener in some cracking areas, and its material, composition, and production method were analyzed by CT, XRF analysis, and stereoscopic microscopy. The sword is mainly made of copper, but the golden component contains both gold and mercury, which suggests that the copper was plated in gold using mercury amalgamation. The examination of the production methods indicates that it was intended more to demonstrate the authority of its owner rather than to serve any practical use. The two upper small swords on the sheath were made in the same manner as the main swords, and the two small lower swords were cut from a single metal sheet. The sheath was made by cutting two metal sheets. Supports were used to attach the two small swords to the upper portion of the sheath, while the lower portion of the sheath was slit to allow the other two small swords to be inserted into it. The ring pommels of the main swords have a three-pointed leaf decoration. As for the other designs, the handle of the main sword features a series of semicircles, the decorative bands on the sheath have waves in dots, and the fish tail of the sheath shows diagonal lines of dots.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.15-20
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• 2021

Purpose This article studies the relationship between the length of a kidney measured by two scanning methods: Kidney Computed Tomography (CT) and ^99mTc-Dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) renal scan. Kidney CT provides a better anatomic assessment, while ^99mTc-DMSA renal scan is superior in the kidney function test. Materials and Methods From January to December of 2019, two hundred patients who had Kidney CT and Tc^99m-DMSA renal scan were chosen for this study. SPSS17.0 was selected for statistical analysis. Results Due to the effect of the breathing and resolution of ^99mTc-DMSA renal scan, it showed the kidney's relatively longer length than the length of Kidney CT. For the same kidney, the length comparison among different brands' Gamma cameras was negligible. The length difference within the same age group did not show a noticeable discrepancy. However, there was a length difference between the radio technologists. Kidney CT and ^99mTc-DMSA renal scan indicated a strong positive correlation between the length of the left and right kidney. Conclusion It is necessary to establish a standardized measurement method for measuring kidney length using ^99mTc-DMSA renal scan. The kidney's functional changes and length changes are indications of Kidney diseases. Especially, pediatric patients tend to use ^99mTc-DMSA renal scan for assessing the kidney's shape and the function to avoid potential radiation exposure during the Kidney CT. Therefore, it is significant to provide not only the kidney's functional information but also an anatomic analysis, including the kidney's size, length, and location through the ^99mTc-DMSA renal scan.