• 전기학회논문지P
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• 제62권2호
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• pp.90-94
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• 2013

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm to improve the contrast ratio, to preserve information of bright regions and to maintain the color of backlight image that appears with a great relative contrast. Backlight images of the natural environment have characteristics for difference of local brightness; the overall image contrast improvement is not easy. To improve the contrast of the backlight images, MSR (Multi-Scale Retinex) algorithm using the existing multi-scale Gaussian filter is applied. However, existing multi-scale Gaussian filter involves color distortion and information loss of bright regions due to excessive contrast enhancement and noise because of the brightness improvement of dark regions. Moreover, it also increases computational complexity due to the use of multi-scale Gaussian filter. In order to solve these problems, a linear MSR is performed that reduces the amount of computation from the HSV color space preventing the color distortion and information loss due to excessive contrast enhancement. It can also remove the noise of the dark regions which is occurred due to the improved contrast through edge preserving filter. Through experimental evaluation of the average color difference comparison of CIELAB color space and the visual assessment, we have confirmed excellent performance of the proposed algorithm compared to conventional MSR algorithm.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.130-137
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• 2011

Visual stimuli of nets, which affect fishing selectivity, vary by twine diameter, color, and material under different light conditions and visual geometries. In this study, two cylindrical model codends of two mesh sizes, 28 and 43 mm, were made of high-contrast, dark brown polyethylene (PE) netting twine and low contrast, light-blue polyamid (PA) monofilament twine. Each model codend was filled with juvenile seabream and set in the water channel of a light-blue circular tank under a flow speed 0.8 m/s for 30 min. Light conditions were set to relatively bright, dim, and dark. The resulting retention rates of juvenile seabream were 15-35% lower for the low-contrast codend with PA monofilament than for the high contrast PE twine netting under bright and dim light conditions, while no difference was observed under dark conditions. The effects of mesh size and netting contrast on the retention rate were dependent on the light level, while the retention rate due to netting contrast was independent of mesh size. Therefore, low-contrast nets in the codend could help to reduce juvenile bycatch by disturbing the orderly optomotor response.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제55권1호
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• pp.47-52
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to determine if contrast media would enhance visualization of the endocardium for assessment of left ventricle (LV) function. In addition, differences between pre- and post-contrast evaluation for the cardiac output measurements including the modified Simpson's method and automated contour tracking (ACT) method were examined. Ten clinically healthy adult beagle dogs (three males and seven females) between 2~3 years old and weighing 6.6~10.8 kg were used. Echocardiographic examinations were performed to compare pre- and post-contrast LV endocardium visualization using a segmental scoring method. Two different methods for measuring cardiac output were also compared. LV visualization was significantly enhanced in post-contrast echocardiography (p < 0.01). Significant differences between pre- and post-contrast measurements for the modified Simpson's method (p < 0.05) were also observed. No significant difference was found for the ACT method. Contrast echocardiography provides better LV chamber opacification and significantly improves wall segment visualization. Furthermore, contrast echocardiography for measuring cardiac output is helpful for the modified Simpson's method.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.1233-1243
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• 2015

The contrast enhancement is great challenge in the image processing when images are suffering from poor contrast problem. Therefore, in order to overcome this problem an automatic method is proposed for contrast enhancement of natural color images. The proposed method consist of two stages: in first stage lightness component in YIQ color space is normalized by sigmoid function after the adaptive histogram equalization is applied on Y component and in second stage automatic color contrast enhancement algorithm is applied on output of the first stage. The proposed algorithm is tested on different NASA color images, hyperspectral color images and other types of natural color images. The performance of proposed algorithm is evaluated and compared with the other existing contrast enhancement algorithms in terms of colorfulness metric and color enhancement factor. The higher values of colorfulness metric and color enhancement factor imply that the visual quality of the enhanced image is good. Simulation results demonstrate that proposed algorithm provides higher values of colorfulness metric and color enhancement factor as compared to other existing contrast enhancement algorithms. The proposed algorithm also provides better visual enhancement results as compared with the other existing contrast enhancement algorithms.

• 한국안광학회지
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.355-362
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• 2015

목적: 확산적 흐림의 투과율이 시력과 대비감도에 미치는 영향에 대하여 알아보았다. 방법: 평균연령 $22.83{\pm}0.50$세의 대학생 30명(남 13명, 여 17명)을 대상으로 Optec$^{(R)}$ 6500으로 시력과 대비감도를 측정하였다. 확산적 흐림의 도구로 백내장 시뮬레이터용 확산필름을 사용하였고, 백내장의 진행 정도나 안개의 농도가 반영될 수 있도록 확산적 흐림의 투과율을 변화시키면서 측정하였다. 결과: 시력과 확산적 흐림의 투과율은 비례식 $VA(T)=1.84{\times}10^{-2}T-0.65$으로 맞춤되었다. 대비감도는 모든 공간주파수에서 감소하였는데, 고공간주파수 대역에서의 대비감도가 더 큰 영향을 받아 정상범위를 먼저 벗어났고 대비감도의 정점은 저공간주파수 방향으로 이동하였다. 대비감도함수들의 교차점으로부터 대비감도가 정상범위를 벗어나는 확산적 흐림의 투과율 및 정점공간주파수의 이동을 산출한 결과, 투과율이 약 78.70%이 되면 대비감도의 정점이 6 cpd에서 3 cpd로 이동하는 것으로, 그리고 약 69.71%이 되면 모든 공간주파수에서의 대비감도가 정상범위를 벗어나는 것으로 평가되었다. 결론: 확산적 흐림의 투과율의 감소는 시력의 저하와 더불어 대비감도의 감소, 정상범위의 이탈 및 정점대비감도 이동 등을 유발시켜 시각적 불편함을 일으킨다는 점에서 백내장이나 안개 운전 시에는 더 많은 주의가 요구된다.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.255-261
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• 2016

Background: Thoracic epidural anesthesia is frequently used to maintain intraoperative and postoperative analgesia. Frequently, 3 ml of local anesthetic is used as a test dose, or for intermittent epidural injection. We assessed the extent of the spread of 3 ml of contrast medium in the thoracic epidural space and attempted to identify any correlating factors affecting the epidurography. Methods: A total of 70 patients were enrolled in the study, and thoracic epidural catheterizations were performed under fluoroscopic guidance. Using 3 ml of contrast medium, epidurography was evaluated to confirm the number of spinal segments covered by the contrast medium. Correlation analysis was performed between patient characteristics (sex, age, body mass index, weight, height, and location of catheter tip) and the extent of the contrast spread. Results: The mean number of vertebral segments evaluated by contrast medium was $7.9{\pm}2.2$ using 3 ml of contrast medium. The contrast spread in the cranial direction showed more extensive distribution than that in the caudal direction, with statistical significance (P < 0.01). Patient height demonstrated a negative correlation with the extent of distribution of contrast medium (r = -0.311, P < 0.05). Conclusions: Thoracic epidurography using 3 ml of contrast medium results in coverage of a mean of $7.9{\pm}2.2$ spinal segments, with more extensive cranial spread, and patient height showed a weak negative correlation with the distribution of contrast medium.

• 전자공학회논문지SC
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.15-24
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• 2008

본 논문은 영상의 블록기반 지역 명암대비 향상을 통한 전역 명암대비 향상 기법을 제안한다. 전역 명암대비 향상 기법은 영상의 특성을 고려하지 않고 히스토그램 평활화만을 통해 명암값의 재분배를 수행함으로써 과도한 밝기값의 화소들을 갖는 결과영상을 유발한다. 반면에 블록기반 지역 명암대비 향상 기법은 블록화 현상 및 이를 줄이는 과정에서 영상의 중요한 특징을 훼손하는 문제점을 갖고 있다. 이런 문제점들을 해결하기 위해 본 논문은 입력영상을 다양한 블록 크기로 분할한 임시영상들에 대해 블록기반 히스토그램 평활화를 수행한다. 그리고 지역 명암대비 향상을 통해 얻어진 전역 히스토그램 평활화 함수를 원 영상에 적용하는 전역 명암대비 향상 기법을 수행한다. 지역 명암대비가 향상된 임시 영상으로부터 전역 히스토그램 평활화 함수를 얻기 때문에 제안하는 방법은 지역 명암대비 향상 기법과 전역 명암대비 향상 기법의 장점들을 갖는다.

• 한국멀티미디어학회논문지
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• 제15권12호
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• pp.1409-1416
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• 2012

An image segmentation result depends on pre-processing steps such as contrast enhancement, edge detection, and smooth filtering etc. Especially medical images are low contrast and contain some noises. Therefore, the contrast enhancement and noise removal techniques are required in the pre-processing. In this study, we present an extension by a novel histogram equalization in which both local and global contrast is enhanced using neighborhood metrics. When checking neighborhood information, filters can simultaneously improve image quality. Most important is that original image information can be used for both global brightness preserving and local contrast enhancement, and image quality improvement filtering. Our experiments confirmed that the proposed method is more effective than other similar techniques reported previously.

• 대한음성학회지:말소리
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• 제56호
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• pp.1-13
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• 2005

This study examined the speech intelligibility of one-syllable words with phonetic contrasts and analyzed segmental factors that can predict the overall speech intelligibility in hearing-impaired adults. To identify the speech error characteristics, a Korean word list was audio-recorded by 7 hearing-impaired adults, and 35 listeners selected the heard word out of 5 choices. Based in part on previous studies of speech of the hearing impaired, the word list consisted of monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) real word pairs. Stimulus words included 77 phonetic contrast pairs. The results showed that the percentage of errors in final position (coda) contrast was higher than in any other position in syllable. And the intelligibility deficit factors of phonetic contrast in the hearing-impaired were analyzed through stepwise regression analysis. The overall intelligibility was predicted by the error rate of manner contrast at coda, voicing contrast (homorganic triplets) at onset and high-low contrast at nucleus.

• 한국자기공명학회논문지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.9-17
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• 2010

The water proton relaxation rates increase linearly with concentrations of contrast agents, and could be expressed as a function of the concentrations. In this paper, we have investigated MR properties of two different contrast agents, $GdCl_3$ and $CoCl_2$. Relaxivity coefficients were calculated from individual contrast agent solutions, and used for predicting relaxation rates at mixtures of two contrast agents. From the experimental results, we have discussed the feasibility of constructing water solutions with the desired relaxation times using specific mixtures of contrast agents.