• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.184-196
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• 2019

This study aims to extract a 3D image of micro-cracks generated by hydraulic fracturing tests, using the deep learning method and X-ray computed tomography images. The pixel-level cracks are difficult to be detected via conventional image processing methods, such as global thresholding, canny edge detection, and the region growing method. Thus, the convolutional neural network-based encoder-decoder network is adapted to extract and analyze the micro-crack quantitatively. The number of training data can be acquired by dividing, rotating, and flipping images and the optimum combination for the image augmentation method is verified. Application of the optimal image augmentation method shows enhanced performance for not only the validation dataset but also the test dataset. In addition, the influence of the original number of training data to the performance of the deep learning-based neural network is confirmed, and it leads to succeed the pixel-level crack detection.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.167-173
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• 1999

Since the resolution of the 2-D hole-to-hole seismic traveltime tomography is affected by the limited ray transmission angle, various methods were used to improve the resolution. Linear traveltime interpolation(LTI) ray tracing method was chosen for forward-modeling method. Inversion results using the LTI method were compared with those using the other ray tracing methods. As an inversion algorithm, SIRT method was used. In the iterative non-linear inversion method, the cost of ray tracing is quite expensive. To reduce the cost, each raypath was stored and the inversion was performed from this information. Using the proposed method, fast convergence was achieved. Inversion results are likely to be affected by the initial velocity guess, especially when the ray transmission angle was limited. To provide a good initial guess for the inversion, generalized regression neural network(GRNN) method was used. When the transmitted raypath angle is not limited or the geological model is very complex, the inversion results are not affected by initial velocity model very much. Since the raypath angles, however, are limited in most geophysical tomographic problems, the enhancement of resolution in tomography can be achieved by providing a proper initial velocity model by another inversion algorithm such as GRNN.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.991-1001
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• 2020

Supervised deep learning technologies for improving the image quality of computed tomography (CT) need a lot of training data. When input images have different characteristics with training images, the technologies cause structural distortion in output images. In this study, an imaging model based on the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) was developed for overcoming the drawbacks of the supervised deep learning technologies and reducing noise in CT images. The DRL model was consisted of shared, value and policy networks, and the networks included convolutional layers, rectified linear unit (ReLU), dilation factors and gate rotation unit (GRU) in order to extract noise features from CT images and improve the performance of the DRL model. Also, the quality of the CT images obtained by using the DRL model was compared to that obtained by using the supervised deep learning model. The results showed that the image accuracy for the DRL model was higher than that for the supervised deep learning model, and the image noise for the DRL model was smaller than that for the supervised deep learning model. Also, the DRL model reduced the noise of the CT images, which had different characteristics with training images. Therefore, the DRL model is able to reduce image noise as well as maintain the structural information of CT images.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.295-302
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• 2022

Sparse-view computed tomography (CT) imaging technique is able to reduce radiation dose, ensure the uniformity of image characteristics among projections and suppress noise. However, the reconstructed images obtained by the sparse-view CT imaging technique suffer from severe artifacts, resulting in the distortion of image quality and internal structures. In this study, we proposed a convolutional neural network (CNN) with wavelet transformation and residual learning for reducing artifacts in sparse-view CT image, and the performance of the trained model was quantitatively analyzed. The CNN consisted of wavelet transformation, convolutional and inverse wavelet transformation layers, and input and output images were configured as sparse-view CT images and residual images, respectively. For training the CNN, the loss function was calculated by using mean squared error (MSE), and the Adam function was used as an optimizer. Result images were obtained by subtracting the residual images, which were predicted by the trained model, from sparse-view CT images. The quantitative accuracy of the result images were measured in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM). The results showed that the trained model is able to improve the spatial resolution of the result images as well as reduce artifacts in sparse-view CT images effectively. Also, the trained model increased the PSNR and SSIM by 8.18% and 19.71% in comparison to the imaging model trained without wavelet transformation and residual learning, respectively. Therefore, the imaging model proposed in this study can restore the image quality of sparse-view CT image by reducing artifacts, improving spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy.

• Database Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.124-136
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• 2018

There have been active research activities to use neural networks to analyze OCT images and make medical decisions. One requirement for these approaches to be promising solutions is that the trained network must be generalized to new devices without a substantial loss of performance. In this paper, we use a deep convolutional neural network to distinguish AMD from normal patients. The network was trained using a data set generated from an OCT device. We observed a significant performance degradation when it was applied to a new data set obtained from a different OCT device. To overcome this performance degradation, we propose an image normalization method which performs segmentation of OCT images to identify the retina area and aligns images so that the retina region lies horizontally in the image. We experimentally evaluated the performance of the proposed method. The experiment confirmed a significant performance improvement of our approach.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.88-100
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• 2020

Objective: We aimed to develop and validate a deep learning system for fully automated segmentation of abdominal muscle and fat areas on computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and Methods: A fully convolutional network-based segmentation system was developed using a training dataset of 883 CT scans from 467 subjects. Axial CT images obtained at the inferior endplate level of the 3rd lumbar vertebra were used for the analysis. Manually drawn segmentation maps of the skeletal muscle, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat were created to serve as ground truth data. The performance of the fully convolutional network-based segmentation system was evaluated using the Dice similarity coefficient and cross-sectional area error, for both a separate internal validation dataset (426 CT scans from 308 subjects) and an external validation dataset (171 CT scans from 171 subjects from two outside hospitals). Results: The mean Dice similarity coefficients for muscle, subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat were high for both the internal (0.96, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively) and external (0.97, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively) validation datasets, while the mean cross-sectional area errors for muscle, subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat were low for both internal (2.1%, 3.8%, and 1.8%, respectively) and external (2.7%, 4.6%, and 2.3%, respectively) validation datasets. Conclusion: The fully convolutional network-based segmentation system exhibited high performance and accuracy in the automatic segmentation of abdominal muscle and fat on CT images.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2019

Purpose: It has been proposed that using new prediction methods, such as neural networks based on dental data, could improve age estimation. This study aimed to assess the possibility of exploiting neural networks for estimating age by means of the pulp-to-tooth ratio in canines as a non-destructive, non-expensive, and accurate method. In addition, the predictive performance of neural networks was compared with that of a linear regression model. Materials and Methods: Three hundred subjects whose age ranged from 14 to 60 years and were well distributed among various age groups were included in the study. Two statistical software programs, SPSS 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and R, were used for statistical analyses. Results: The results indicated that the neural network model generally performed better than the regression model for estimation of age with pulp-to-tooth ratio data. The prediction errors of the developed neural network model were acceptable, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 4.40 years and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 4.12 years for the unseen dataset. The prediction errors of the regression model were higher than those of the neural network, with an RMSE of 10.26 years and a MAE of 8.17 years for the test dataset. Conclusion: The neural network method showed relatively acceptable performance, with an MAE of 4.12 years. The application of neural networks creates new opportunities to obtain more accurate estimations of age in forensic research.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1269-1279
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• 2019

In medical image analysis, segmentation is considered as a vital process since it partitions an image into coherent parts and extracts interesting objects from the image. In this paper, we consider automatic segmentations of OCT retinal images to find six layer boundaries using convolutional neural networks. Segmenting retinal images by layer boundaries is very important in diagnosing and predicting progress of eye diseases including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and AMD (age-related macular degeneration). We applied well-known CNN architecture for general image segmentation, called Segnet, U-net, and CNN-S into this problem. We also proposed a shortest path-based algorithm for finding the layer boundaries from the outputs of Segnet and U-net. We analysed their performance on public OCT image data set. The experimental results show that the Segnet combined with the proposed shortest path-based boundary finding algorithm outperforms other two networks.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.83-93
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• 2021

COVID-19 poses a major risk to global health, highlighting the importance of faster and proper diagnosis. To handle the rise in the number of patients and eliminate redundant tests, healthcare information exchange and medical data are transmitted between healthcare centres. Medical data sharing helps speed up patient treatment; consequently, exchanging healthcare data is the requirement of the present era. Since healthcare professionals share data through the internet, security remains a critical challenge, which needs to be addressed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, computed tomography (CT) and X-ray images play a vital part in the diagnosis process, constituting information that needs to be shared among hospitals. Encryption and image steganography techniques can be employed to achieve secure data transmission of COVID-19 images. This study presents a new encryption with the image steganography model for secure data transmission (EIS-SDT) for COVID-19 diagnosis. The EIS-SDT model uses a multilevel discrete wavelet transform for image decomposition and Manta Ray Foraging Optimization algorithm for optimal pixel selection. The EIS-SDT method uses a double logistic chaotic map (DLCM) is employed for secret image encryption. The application of the DLCM-based encryption procedure provides an additional level of security to the image steganography technique. An extensive simulation results analysis ensures the effective performance of the EIS-SDT model and the results are investigated under several evaluation parameters. The outcome indicates that the EIS-SDT model has outperformed the existing methods considerably.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.187-195
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• 2022

Purpose: This study developed a convolutional neural network (CNN) model to diagnose maxillary sinusitis on panoramic radiographs(PRs) and cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images and evaluated its performance. Materials and Methods: A CNN model, which is an artificial intelligence method, was utilized. The model was trained and tested by applying 5-fold cross-validation to a dataset of 148 healthy and 148 inflamed sinus images. The CNN model was implemented using the PyTorch library of the Python programming language. A receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted, and the area under the curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive values for both imaging techniques were calculated to evaluate the model. Results: The average accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the model in diagnosing sinusitis from PRs were 75.7%, 75.7%, and 75.7%, respectively. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the deep-learning system in diagnosing sinusitis from CBCT images were 99.7%, 100%, and 99.3%, respectively. Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of the CNN for maxillary sinusitis from PRs was moderately high, whereas it was clearly higher with CBCT images. Three-dimensional images are accepted as the "gold standard" for diagnosis; therefore, this was not an unexpected result. Based on these results, deep-learning systems could be used as an effective guide in assisting with diagnoses, especially for less experienced practitioners.