• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.32 no.7C
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• pp.601-607
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• 2007

In order to convert MPEG-2 into H.264 format in ubiquitous communication environments, the efficient conversion of the discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients to H.264 transform coefficients is essential. In this paper, two efficient conversion systems are proposed. The proposed systems are composed of two parts. In the first part, the DCT coefficients are denoised using the lapped transform (LT) to reduce the quantization noises and blocking effects. In the second part, the denoised DCT coefficients are converted into the integer transform (IT) coefficients of H.264. Simulation results show that the proposed methods provide visually fine images. Moreover, the computational complexity of the proposed method is reduced compared with the conventional method, since the number of the DCT coefficients, which should be converted, is reduced in the first part.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.681-688
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• 2022

Dose monitoring in CT patients requires accurate dose estimation but most of the CT dose calculation tools are based on Caucasian computational phantoms. We established a library of organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean adults by using four Korean adult male and two female voxel phantoms combined with Monte Carlo simulation techniques. We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for head, chest, abdomen and pelvis, and chest-abdomen-pelvis scans, and compared the results with the existing data calculated from Caucasian phantoms. We derived representative organ doses for Korean adults using Korean CT dose surveys combined with the dose conversion coefficients. The organ dose conversion coefficients from the Korean adult phantoms were slightly greater than those of the ICRP reference phantoms: up to 13% for the brain doses in head scans and up to 10% for the dose to the small intestine wall in abdominal scans. We derived Korean representative doses to major organs in head, chest, and AP scans using mean CTDI_vol values extracted from the Korean nationwide surveys conducted in 2008 and 2017. The Korean-specific organ dose conversion coefficients should be useful to readily estimate organ absorbed doses for Korean adult male and female patients undergoing CT scans.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2010

This paper describes the methodology of calculating the internal dose conversion coefficient in order to assess the radiological impact on non-human species. This paper also presents the internal dose conversion coefficients of 25 radionuclides ($^3H,\;^7Be,\;^{14}C,\;^{40}K,\;^{51}Cr,\;^{54}Mn,\;^{59}Fe,\;^{58}Co,\;^{60}Co,\;^{65}Zn,\;^{90}Sr,\;^{95}Nb,\;^{99}Tc,\;^{106}Ru,\;^{129}I,\;^{131}I,\;^{136}Cs,\;^{137}Cs,\;^{140}Ba,\;^{140}La,\;^{144}Ce,\;^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu,\;^{240}Pu$) for domestic seven reference animals (roe deer, rat, frog, snake, Chinese minnow, bee, and earthworm) and one reference plant (pine tree). The uniform isotropic model was applied in order to calculate the internal dose conversion coefficients. The calculated internal dose conversion coefficient (${\mu}Gyd^{-1}$ per $Bqkg^{-1}$) ranged from $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-2}$ according to the type of radionuclides and organisms studied. It turns out that the internal does conversion coefficient was higher for alpha radionuclides, such as $^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu$, and $^{240}Pu$, and for large organisms, such as roe deer and pine tree. The internal dose conversion coefficients of $^{239}U,\;^{240}Pu,\;^{238}U,\;^{14}C,\;^3H$, and $^{99}Tc$ were independent of the organism.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.98-105
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• 2021

Background: In recent events of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, computed tomography (CT) scans are being globally used as a complement to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. It will be important to be aware of major organ dose levels, which are more relevant quantity to derive potential long-term adverse effect, for Korean pediatric and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean pediatric and adult CT patients directly from Korean pediatric and adult computational phantoms combined with Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques. We then estimated major organ doses delivered to the Korean child and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19 combining the dose conversion coefficients and the international survey data. We also compared our Korean dose conversion coefficients with those from Caucasian reference pediatric and adult phantoms. Results and Discussion: Based on the dose conversion coefficients we established in this study and the international survey data of COVID-19-related CT scans, we found that Korean 7-year-old child and adult males may receive about 4-32 mGy and 3-21 mGy of lung dose, respectively. We learned that the lung dose conversion coefficient for the Korean child phantom was up to 1.5-fold greater than that for the Korean adult phantom. We also found no substantial difference in dose conversion coefficients between Korean and Caucasian phantoms. Conclusion: We estimated radiation dose delivered to the Korean child and adult phantoms undergoing COVID-19-related CT examinations. The dose conversion coefficients derived for different CT scan types can be also used universally for other dosimetry studies concerning Korean CT scans. We also confirmed that the Caucasian-based CT organ dose calculation tools may be used for the Korean population with reasonable accuracy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.424-435
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• 2016

Background: The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommendations and the Federal Guidance Report (FGR) published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been widely applied worldwide in the fields of radiation protection and dose assessment. The dose conversion coefficients of the ICRP and FGR are widely used for assessing exposure doses. However, before the coefficients are used, the user must thoroughly understand the derivation process of the coefficients to ensure that they are used appropriately in the evaluation. Materials and Methods: The ICRP provides recommendations to regulatory and advisory agencies, mainly in the form of guidance on the fundamental principles on which appropriate radiological protection can be based. The FGR provides federal and state agencies with technical information to assist their implementation of radiation protection programs for the U.S. population. The system of radiation dose assessment and dose conversion coefficients in the ICRP and FGR is reviewed in this study. Results and Discussion: A thorough understanding of their background is essential for the proper use of dose conversion coefficients. The FGR dose assessment system was strongly influenced by the ICRP and the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), and is hence consistent with those recommendations. Moreover, the ICRP and FGR both used the scientific data reported by Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) and United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) as their primary source of information. The difference between the ICRP and FGR lies in the fact that the ICRP utilized information regarding a population of diverse races, whereas the FGR utilized data on the American population, as its goal was to provide guidelines for radiological protection in the US. Conclusion: The contents of this study are expected to be utilized as basic research material in the areas of radiation protection and dose assessment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2022

Background: The effects of radiation on the health of radiation workers who are constantly susceptible to occupational exposure must be assessed based on an accurate and reliable reconstruction of organ-absorbed doses that can be calculated using personal dosimeter readings measured as H_p(10) and dose conversion coefficients. However, the data used in the dose reconstruction contain significant biases arising from the lack of reality and could result in an inaccurate measure of organ-absorbed doses. Therefore, this study quantified the biases involved in organ dose reconstruction and calculated the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose coefficients for the use in epidemiological studies of Korean radiation workers. Materials and Methods: Two major biases were considered: (a) the bias in H_p(10) arising from the difference between the dosimeter calibration geometry and the actual exposure geometry, and (b) the bias in air kerma-to-H_p(10) conversion coefficients resulting from geometric differences between the human body and slab phantom. The biases were quantified by implementing personal dosimeters on the slab and human phantoms coupled with a Monte Carlo method and considered to calculate the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients. Results and Discussion: The bias in H_p(10) was significant for large incident angles and low energies (e.g., 0.32 for right lateral at 218 keV), whereas the bias in dose coefficients was significant for the posteroanterior (PA) geometry only (e.g., 0.79 at 218 keV). The bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients derived in this study were up to 3.09- fold greater than those from the International Commission on Radiological Protection publications without considering the biases. Conclusion: The obtained results will aid future studies in assessing the health effects of occupational exposure of Korean radiation workers. The bias-corrected dose coefficients of this study can be used to calculate organ doses for Korean radiation workers based on personal dose records.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2001

In order to find the exposure conversion coefficients for 3"X3" NaI spectrum, we measured the exposure rates with the pressurized ion chamber at 29 different areas in the range of $4{\sim}23{\mu}R\;h^{-1}$, and also measured the gamma spectra with 3"X3" and 4"X4" NaI detectors, simultaneously. The exposure conversion coefficient of the total energy method was determined using the linear relation between the measured exposure rate and the gamma spectrum energy. In order to find the exposure conversion coefficients of the energy band method, we applied the exposure conversion coefficients recommended by NCRP to the 4"X4" NaI spectra, and calculated the exposure rates due to $^{40}K,\;^{238}U$, and $^{232}Th$ series respectively. Using the linearly proportional relation between the obtained $^{232}Th$ series exposure rate and peak area of 2614 keV that represents the $^{232}Th$ series, we obtained the exposure conversion coefficients for $^{232}Th$ series. We also determined the conversion coefficients for $^{238}U$ series and $^{40}K$ using a similar method.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.32 no.8C
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• pp.729-737
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• 2007

The H.264/AVC video coding standard provides higher coding efficiency compared to the conventional MPEG-2 standard. Since a lot of videos have been encoded using MPEG-2, the format conversion from MPEG-2 to H.264 is essential. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for the conversion of DCT coefficients to H.264/AVC transform coefficients. This conversion is essential, since $8{\times}8$ DCT and $4{\times}4$ integer transform are used in MPEG-2 and H.264/AVC, respectively. The mathematical analysis and computer simulation show that the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is reduced compared to the conventional algorithm, while the loss caused by the conversion is negligible.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.827-830
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• 2003

This paper proposes an area-efficient FIR filter architecture for sampling rate conversion of hi-fi audio data. Sampling rate conversion(SRC) block converts audio data sampled at 96KHz down to 48KHz sampled data and vice versa. 63-tap FIR filter coefficients have been synthesized that gives 100dB stop band attenuation and 5.2KHz transition bandwidth. Time-shared filter architecture requires only one multiplier and accumulator for 63-tap filter operation. This results in huge hardware saving of up to 10~19 times smaller compared with traditional FIR structure.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.33 no.9C
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• pp.697-703
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• 2008

The H.264/AVC video coding standard provides higher coding efnciency compared to the conventional MPEG-2 standard. Since a lot of videos have been encoded using MPEG-2, the format conversion from MPEG-2 to H.264 is essential. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for the conversion of DCT coefficients to H.264/AVC transform coefficients. This conversion is essential, since $8{\times}8$ DCT and $4{\times}4$ integer transform are used in MPEG-2 and H.264/AVC, respectively. The mathematical analysis and computer simulation show that the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is reduced compared to the conventional algorithm, while the loss caused by the conversion is negligible.