• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.393-398
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• 2022

Purpose: This study proposed a generative adversarial network (GAN) model for T2-weighted image (WI) synthesis from proton density (PD)-WI in a temporomandibular joint(TMJ) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol. Materials and Methods: From January to November 2019, MRI scans for TMJ were reviewed and 308 imaging sets were collected. For training, 277 pairs of PD- and T2-WI sagittal TMJ images were used. Transfer learning of the pix2pix GAN model was utilized to generate T2-WI from PD-WI. Model performance was evaluated with the structural similarity index map (SSIM) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) indices for 31 predicted T2-WI (pT2). The disc position was clinically diagnosed as anterior disc displacement with or without reduction, and joint effusion as present or absent. The true T2-WI-based diagnosis was regarded as the gold standard, to which pT2-based diagnoses were compared using Cohen's ĸ coefficient. Results: The mean SSIM and PSNR values were 0.4781(±0.0522) and 21.30(±1.51) dB, respectively. The pT2 protocol showed almost perfect agreement(ĸ=0.81) with the gold standard for disc position. The number of discordant cases was higher for normal disc position (17%) than for anterior displacement with reduction (2%) or without reduction (10%). The effusion diagnosis also showed almost perfect agreement(ĸ=0.88), with higher concordance for the presence (85%) than for the absence (77%) of effusion. Conclusion: The application of pT2 images for a TMJ MRI protocol useful for diagnosis, although the image quality of pT2 was not fully satisfactory. Further research is expected to enhance pT2 quality.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.637-648
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• 2023

When an earth pressure balance (EPB) shield machine bores a tunnel in gravelly sand stratum, the excavated natural soil is normally transformed using foam and water to reduce cutter wear and the risk of direct muck squeezing out of the screw conveyor (i.e., muck spewing). Understanding the undrained shear behavior of conditioned soils under pressure is a potential perspective for optimizing the earth pressure balance shield tunnelling strategies. Owing to the unconventional properties of conditioned soil, a pressurized vane shear apparatus was utilized to investigate the undrained shear behavior of foam-conditioned gravelly sands under normal pressure. The results showed that the shear stress-displacement curves exhibited strain-softening behavior only when the initial void ratio (e₀) of the foam-conditioned sand was less than the maximum void ratio (e_max) of the unconditioned sand. The peak and residual strength increased with an increase in normal pressure and a decrease in foam injection ratio. A unique relation between the void ratio and the shear strength in the residual stage was observed in the e-ln(τ) space. When e₀ was greater than e_max, the fluid-like specimens had quite low strengths. Besides, the stick-slip behavior, characterized by the variation coefficient of measured shear stress in the residual stage, was more evident under lower pressure but it appeared to be independent of the foam injection. A comparison between the results of pressurized vane shear tests and those of slump tests indicated that the slump test has its limitations to characterize the chamber muck fluidity and build the optimal conditioning parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.67-78
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• 2008

In this study, artificial cemented sand made of a few portland cement and Nak-Dong river sand was researched closely to investigate cementing effect quantitatively through unconfined tests and triaxial tests. The peak strength and elastic modulus increased and dilation of cemented sand was restricted by the cementation, but after breakage of the cementation, dilation and negative excess pore water pressure increased. In stress-strain curve, strain-softening behavior appeared in drained condition but strain-hardening behavior was appeared in undrained condition as a result of the increase of effective stress. The test was quantitatively analyzed by multiple regression models, correlating each response variable with input variable. The equations are valid only over the range investigated. Its adjusted coefficient of determination was $0.81{\sim}0.91$, and dry density is important factor for estimating strength of cemented sand.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.132-138
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• 2022

Zintl phase Mg₃Sb₂ is a promising thermoelectric material in medium to high temperature range due to its low band gap energy and characteristic electron-crystal phonon-glass behavior. P-type Mg₃Sb₂ has conventionally exhibited lower thermoelectric properties compared to its n-type counterparts, which have poor electrical conductivity. To address these problems, a small amount of Sn doping was considered in this alloy system. P-type Mg₃Sb₂ was synthesized by controlled melting, pulverizing, and subsequent vacuum hot pressing (VHP) method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate phases and microstructure development during the process. Single phase Mg₃Sb₂ was successfully formed when 16 at.% of Mg was excessively added to the system. Nominal compositions of Mg_3.8Sb_2-xSn_x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.008) were considered in this study. Thermoelectric properties were evaluated in terms of Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity. A peak ZT value ≈ 0.32 was found for the specimen Mg_3.8Sb_1.994Sn_0.006 at 873 K, showing an improved ZT value compared to intrinsic one. Transport properties were also evaluated and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.709-715
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• 2023

In this study, the performance evaluation of image quality for noise reduction was implemented using the U-net deep learning architecture in computed tomography (CT) images. In order to generate input data, the Gaussian noise was applied to ground truth (GT) data, and datasets were consisted of 8:1:1 ratio of train, validation, and test sets among 1300 CT images. The Adagrad, Adam, and AdamW were used as optimizer function, and 10, 50 and 100 times for number of epochs were applied. In addition, learning rates of 0.01, 0.001, and 0.0001 were applied using the U-net deep learning model to compare the output image quality. To analyze the quantitative values, the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were calculated. Based on the results, deep learning model was useful for noise reduction. We suggested that optimized hyper parameters for noise reduction in CT images were AdamW optimizer function, 100 times number of epochs and 0.0001 learning rates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.615-631
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• 2023

To investigate the seismic behavior of steel slag self-stressing concrete-filled circular steel tubular (SSSCFCST) columns, 14 specimens were designed, namely, 10 SSSCFCST columns and four ordinary steel slag (SS) concrete (SSC)-filled circular steel tubular (SSCFCST) columns. Comparative tests were conducted under low reversed cyclic loading considering various parameters, such as the axial compression ratio, diameter-thickness ratio, shear-span ratio, and expansion ratio of SSC. The failure process of the specimens was observed, and hysteretic and skeleton curves were obtained. Next, the influence of these parameters on the hysteretic behavior of the SSSCFCST columns was analyzed. The self stress of SS considerably increased the bearing capacity and ductility of the specimens. Results indicated that specimens with a shear-span ratio of 1.83 exhibited compression bending failure, whereas those with shear-span ratios of 0.91 or 1.37 exhibited drum-shaped cracking failure. However, shear-bond failure occurred in the nonloading direction. The stiffness of the falling section of the specimens decreased with increasing shear-span ratio. The hysteretic curves exhibited a weak pinch phenomenon, and their shapes evolved from a full shuttle shape to a bow shape during loading. The skeleton curves of the specimens were nearly complete, progressing through elastic, elastoplastic, and plastic stages. Based on the experimental study and considering the effects of the SSC expansion rate, shear-span ratio, diameter-thickness ratio, and axial compression ratio on the seismic behavior, a peak displacement coefficient of 0.91 was introduced through regression analysis. A simplified method for calculating load-displacement skeleton curves was proposed and loading and unloading rules for SSSCFCST columns were provided. The load-displacement restorative force model of the specimens was established. These findings can serve as a guide for further research and practical application of SSSCFCST columns.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1537-1546
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• 2021

Objective: To assess the role of arterial spin-labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI in identifying cerebral perfusion changes after indirect revascularization in children with moyamoya disease. Materials and Methods: We included pre- and postoperative perfusion MRI data of 30 children with moyamoya disease (13 boys and 17 girls; mean age ± standard deviation, 6.3± 3.0 years) who underwent indirect revascularization between June 2016 and August 2017. Relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and qualitative perfusion scores for arterial transit time (ATT) effects were evaluated in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory on ASL perfusion MRI. The rCBF and relative time-to-peak (rTTP) values were also measured using dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) perfusion MRI. Each perfusion change on ASL and DSC perfusion MRI was analyzed using the paired t test. We analyzed the correlation between perfusion changes on ASL and DSC images using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results: The ASL rCBF values improved at both the ganglionic and supraganglionic levels of the MCA territory after surgery (p = 0.040 and p = 0.003, respectively). The ATT perfusion scores also improved at both levels (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). The rCBF and rTTP values on DSC MRI showed significant improvement at both levels of the MCA territory of the operated side (all p < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between the improvements in rCBF values on the two perfusion images (r = 0.195, p = 0.303); however, there was a correlation between the change in perfusion scores on ASL and rTTP on DSC MRI (r = 0.701, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Recognizing the effects of ATT on ASL perfusion MRI may help monitor cerebral perfusion changes and complement quantitative rCBF assessment using ASL perfusion MRI in patients with moyamoya disease after indirect revascularization.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.118-124
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• 2010

In this paper, design parameters of dynamic vibration absorber, which is used to reduce bending vibrations of a vehicle drive line, is optimized. For obtaining the correct dynamic response characteristics, a flexible-body drive line is made by applying the flexibility data extracted from vibration analysis of propeller shafts to the drive line dynamic model. Inner tube mass, rubber stiffness and rubber damping coefficient of the dynamic vibration absorber are taken as design parameters for optimization. To minimize the vertical acceleration of the drive line, a second-order regression equation of the objective function is generated by performing the central composite experimental design with 3 factors, 2 levels and 15 test runs. And the design parameters of the dynamic vibration absorber are determined by using optimization program. The vehicle model with optimized dynamic vibration absorber reduces the vertical acceleration peak of the drive line by 17.1 % in compared with the initial model.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2024

The digital medical imaging, especially, computed tomography (CT), should necessarily be considered in terms of noise distribution caused by converting to X-ray photon to digital imaging signal. Recently, the denoising technique based on deep learning architecture is increasingly used in the medical imaging field. Here, we evaluated noise reduction effect according to various noise types based on the U-net deep learning model in the lung CT images. The input data for deep learning was generated by applying Gaussian noise, Poisson noise, salt and pepper noise and speckle noise from the ground truth (GT) image. In particular, two types of Gaussian noise input data were applied with standard deviation values of 30 and 50. There are applied hyper-parameters, which were Adam as optimizer function, 100 as epochs, and 0.0001 as learning rate, respectively. To analyze the quantitative values, the mean square error (MSE), the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were calculated. According to the results, it was confirmed that the U-net model was effective for noise reduction all of the set conditions in this study. Especially, it showed the best performance in Gaussian noise.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2024

Objective: This study aims to assess the reliability and validity of the new hand-held spirometer as a potential substitute for traditional pulmonary function testing (PFT) devices. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: In this study, thirty healthy adults underwent spirometry using both the new hand-held spirometer and the MIR spirometer, which is a standard PFT device. Parameters including peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁), and forced vital capacity (FVC) were measured and analyzed for validity and reliability. Inter-rater reliability and validity were evaluated through 95% limits of agreement (LOA) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Statistical analyses, including the Bland-Altman plots and the ICC, were utilized to assess agreement between the two devices. Results: The new hand-held spirometer exhibited a good agreement with intra-class coefficient (ICC [2,1]) ranging 0.762 to 0.956 and 95% LOA of -1.94 to 1.80 when compared with MIR. The test-retest reliability of the hand-held spirometer analyzed using - ICC [2,1] demonstrated a good level of consistency (ICC [2,1] =0.849-0.934). Conclusions: In conclusion, the study aimed to assess the potential of the new hand-held spirometer as a viable alternative to traditional PFT devices, with a specific focus on its reliability and validity in spirometric measurements. The new hand-held spirometer exhibited good test-retest reliability across all measured variables, suggesting its potential as a valid and reliable tool for simultaneous PFT measurements.