• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.718-723
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• 2008

Background: The advances in surgical techniques, anesthesia management, perfusion methodology and postoperative intensive care have markedly decreased the mortality and cardiac morbidity of patients who undergo heart surgery over the past 2 decades. Nevertheless, it is well recognized that cardiac surgery carries a substantial risk for central nervous system complications. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of subclinical cerebrovascular lesions in the head and neck by performing magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and we investigated the clinical course of patients who had abnormal lesion seen on head and neck MRA. Material and Method: The subjects were 107 patients (71 men and 36 women ranging in age from 21 to 83 years) who were scheduled for cardiac surgery under nonemergency conditions between October 2005 and June 2008. Informed consent was obtained before the MRA. The carotid arteries, intracranial arteries and brain parenchyme were examined for subclinical cerebrovascular lesions by performing MRA. We reviewed the patients' medical records and MR findings to evaluate the prevalence of neurologically high risk patients and their clinical course. Result: The overall prevalence of neurologically high risk patients was 15.7% (17 patients). Among these patients, 11 patients had ischemic heart disease and 6 patients had valvular heart disease. Only 2 patients had a history of cerebrovascular disease. The clinical courses of 14 patients (13.1%) were changed according to their MRI findings. Conclusion: The prevalence of subclinical cerebrovascular disease in patients who were scheduled for cardiac surgery was higher than was expected. MR angiography was of value to identify these patients.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of visualizing soft tissue lesions and vascular structures using contrast-enhanced cone-beam computed tomography (CE-CBCT) after the intravenous administration of a contrast medium in an animal model. Materials and Methods: CBCT was performed on six rabbits after a contrast medium was administered using an injection dose of 2 mL/kg body weight and an injection rate of 1 mL/s via the ear vein or femoral vein under general anesthesia. Artificial soft tissue lesions were created through the transplantation of autologous fatty tissue into the salivary gland. Volume rendering reconstruction, maximum intensity projection, and multiplanar reconstruction images were reconstructed and evaluated in order to visualize soft tissue contrast and vascular structures. Results: The contrast enhancement of soft tissue was possible using all contrast medium injection parameters. An adequate contrast medium injection parameter for facilitating effective CE-CBCT was a 5-mL injection before exposure combined with a continuous 5-mL injection during scanning. Artificial soft tissue lesions were successfully created in the animals. The CE-CBCT images demonstrated adequate opacification of the soft tissues and vascular structures. Conclusion: Despite limited soft tissue resolution, the opacification of vascular structures was observed and artificial soft tissue lesions were visualized with sufficient contrast to the surrounding structures. The vascular structures and soft tissue lesions appeared well delineated in the CE-CBCT images, which was probably due to the superior spatial resolution of CE-CBCT compared to other techniques, such as multislice computed tomography.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2016

Multiple color selection techniques are successful in identifying quasars from wide-field broadband imaging survey data. Among the quasars that have been discovered so far, however, there is a redshift gap at 5 ≲ z ≲ 5.7 due to the limitations of filter sets in previous studies. In this work, we present a new selection technique of high redshift quasars using a sequence of medium-band filters: nine filters with central wavelengths from 625 to 1025 nm and bandwidths of 50 nm. Photometry with these medium-bands traces the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a source, similar to spectroscopy with resolution R ~ 15. By conducting medium-band observations of high redshift quasars at 4.7 ≤ z ≤ 6.0 and brown dwarfs (the main contaminants in high redshift quasar selection) using the SED camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the 2.1-m telescope at the McDonald Observatory, we show that these medium-band filters are superior to multi-color broad-band color section in separating high redshift quasars from brown dwarfs. In addition, we show that redshifts of high redshift quasars can be determined to an accuracy of Δz/(1 + z) = 0.002 - 0.026. The selection technique can be extended to z ~ 7, suggesting that the medium-band observation can be powerful in identifying quasars even at the re-ionization epoch.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.74-79
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• 2011

HDR(high dynamic range) imaging techniques supports wider dynamic range than normal images captured from general still camera. These usually need several shots to obtain LDR(low dynamic range) images, causing ghosting artifacts. Accordingly, this paper suggests a method to generate new LDR images from a single Bayer image using Exposure LUT(look-up table) by considering channel dependency. We prior construct exposure LUT for each RGB channel, showing the relationship between input and average output luminance values. In the process, by applying the average luminance of input image and current exposure to LUT, new exposures which are determined by user choice are first estimated. Next, LDR images which are corresponded to new exposures are generated based on each LUT. Saturated areas are improved by considering channel dependency in the last procedure. In the experimental comparison, high PSNR values are obtained between estimated and captured images. Also, we have similar appearance on displayed images.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.207-212
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• 2004

This article reviews recent developments in three-dimensional (3-D) magntotelluric (MT) imaging. The inversion of MT data is fundamentally ill-posed, and therefore the resultant solution is non-unique. A regularizing scheme must be involved to reduce the non-uniqueness while retaining certain a priori information in the solution. The standard approach to nonlinear inversion in geophysis has been the Gauss-Newton method, which solves a sequence of linearized inverse problems. When running to convergence, the algorithm minimizes an objective function over the space of models and in the sense produces an optimal solution of the inverse problem. The general usefulness of iterative, linearized inversion algorithms, however is greatly limited in 3-D MT applications by the requirement of computing the Jacobian(partial derivative, sensitivity) matrix of the forward problem. The difficulty may be relaxed using conjugate gradients(CG) methods. A linear CG technique is used to solve each step of Gauss-Newton iterations incompletely, while the method of nonlinear CG is applied directly to the minimization of the objective function. These CG techniques replace computation of jacobian matrix and solution of a large linear system with computations equivalent to only three forward problems per inversion iteration. Consequently, the algorithms are efficient in computational speed and memory requirement, making 3-D inversion feasible.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.192-198
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• 2009

Side scan sonar and SBP (sub-bottom profiler) play a very important role in the survey for seafloor imaging and sub-bottom profiling. In this study, we have acquired side scan sonar and SBP data from the artificial reef area. We applied digital image processing techniques to side scan sonar data in order to improve an image quality. For the enhancement of data quality and image resolution, we applied the typical seismic data processing sequence including gain recovery, muting, spectrum analysis, predictive deconvolution, migration to SBP data. We could easily estimate if artificial reef structures were settled properly and their distribution on the seafloor from the integrated interpretation of side scan sonar and SBP data. From the sampling analysis of seabed sediments, texture filtering of side scan sonar data and SBP data interpretation, we could evaluate the sediment type, distribution and thickness of seafloor sediments in detail.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

High dynamic range (HDR) images represent a far wider numerical range of exposures than common digital images. Thus it can accurately store intensity levels of light found in the specific scenes generated by light sources in the real world. Although a kind of professional HDR cameras which support fast accurate capturing has been developed, high costs prevent from employing those in general working environments. The common method to produce a HDR image with lower cost is to take a set of photos of the target scene with a range of exposures by general purpose cameras, and then to transform them into a HDR image by commercial softwares. However, the method needs complicate and accurate camera calibration processes. Furthermore, creating HDR environment maps which are used to produce high quality imaging contents includes delicate time-consuming manual processes. In this paper, we present an automatic HDR panorama environment map generating system which was constructed to make the complicated jobs of taking pictures easier. And we show that our system can be effectively applicable to photo-realistic compositing tasks which combine 3D graphic models with a 2D background scene using image-based lighting techniques.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.360-366
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• 2010

To generate on-board digital tomosynthesis (DTS) for three-dimensionalimage-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) as an alternative to conventional portal imaging or on-board cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), two clinical cases (liver and bladder) were selected to illustrate the capabilities of on-board DTS for IGRT. DTS images were generated from subsets of CBCT projection data (45, 162 projections) using half-fan mode scanning with a Feldkamp-type reconstruction algorithm. Digital tomosynthesis slices appeared similar to coincident CBCT planes and yielded substantially more anatomic information. Improved bony and soft-tissue visibility in DTS images is likely to improve target localization compared with radiographic verification techniques and might allow for daily localization of a soft-tissue target. Digital tomosynthesis might allow targeting of the treatment volume on the basis of daily localization.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.273-280
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• 2016

Purpose: This experiment was conducted to detect water stress in terms of the moisture content of cucumber seedlings under water stress condition using a hyperspectral image acquisition system, linear regression analysis, and partial least square regression (PLSR) to achieve a non-destructive measurement procedure. Methods: Changes in the reflectance spectrum of cucumber seedlings under water stress were measured using hyperspectral imaging techniques. A model for estimating moisture content of cucumber seedlings was constructed through a linear regression analysis that used the moisture content of cucumber seedlings and a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). A model using PLSR that used the moisture content of cucumber seedlings and reflectance spectrum was also created. Results: In the early stages of water stress, cucumber seedlings recovered completely when sub-irrigation was applied. However, the seedlings suffering from initial wilting did not recover when more than 42 h passed without irrigation. The reflectance spectrum of seedlings under water stress decreased gradually, but increased when irrigation was provided, except for the seedlings that had permanently wilted. From the results of the linear regression analysis using the NDVI, the model excluding wilted seedlings with less than 20% (n=97) moisture content showed a precision ($R^2$ and $R^2_{\alpha}$) of 0.573 and 0.568, respectively, and accuracy (RE) of 4.138% and 4.138%, which was higher than that for models including all seedlings (n=100). For PLS regression analysis using the reflectance spectrum, both models were found to have strong precision ($R^2$) with a rating of 0.822, but accuracy (RMSE and RE) was higher in the model excluding wilted seedlings as 5.544% and 13.65% respectively. Conclusions: The estimation model of the moisture content of cucumber seedlings showed better results in the PLSR analysis using reflectance spectrum than the linear regression analysis using NDVI.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.225-228
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• 2006

Purpose: Accurate clinical evaluation of the alignment of the calcaneus relative to the tibia in the coronal plane is essential in the evaluation and treatment of hindfoot pathologic condition. Previously described standard anteroposterior, lateral, and oblique radiographic methods of the foot or ankle do not demonstrate alignment of the tibia relation to the calcaneus in the coronal plane. The purpose of this study was to introduce hindfoot coronal alignment view. Material : 1) Both feet were imaged simultaneously on an elevated, radiolucent foot stand equipment. 2) Both feet stood on a radiolucent platform with equal weight on both feet. 3) Both feet are located foot axis longitudinal perpendicular to the platform. 4) Silhouette tracing around both feet are made, and line is then drawn to bisect the silhouette of the second toe and the outline of the heel. 5) The x-ray beam is angled down approximately $15^{\circ} to $20^{\circ} Result : 1) This image described tibial axis and medial, lateral tuberosity of calcaneus. 2) Calcaneus do not rotated. 3) The view is showed by talotibial joint space. Conclusion: Although computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging techniques are capable of demonstrating coronal hindfoot alignment, they lack usefulness in most clinical situations because the foot is imaged in a non-weight bearing position. But hindfoot coronal alignment view is obtained for evaluating position changing of inversion, eversion of the hindfoot and varus, valgus deformity of calcaneus.