• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.57-61
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• 2012

To compare the accuracy of breath-hold magnetic resonance imaging sequences to establish the most effective superparamagnetic iron oxide-enhanced sequence for detection of hepatic metastases. A total of 100 patients(50men and 50women, mean age: 60years) with liver disease(including malignant and benign liver lesions) were investigated at 3.0T machine (GE, General Electric Medical System, Excite HD) with 8Ch body coil. Pulse sequence for MR imaging decided to the FS-T2-FSE-RT(TR/TE/Thick./Freq./Phase=12857ms/100ms/7mm/512/384), MGRE(TR/TE/Thick./Freq./Phase=100ms/9.7ms/7mm/384/288), in-out of phase echo(TR/$TE_1$, $TE_2$/Thick./Freq./Phase=140ms/2.4, 5.8ms/7mm/352/300), Images obtained before the injection of SPIO. Six sequences were optimized for lesion detection: FS-T2-FSE-RT, multigradient recalled echo data image(MGRE), T2-weighted MGRE with an 9.7msec echo time. Images were reviewed independently by five blinded observers. The accuracy of each sequence was measured by using picture archiving communication system analysis. All results were correlated with findings at multidectator computed tomography examination. Differences between the mean results of the six observers were measured by using paired student t-test analysis. Postcontrast T2-weighted MGRE sequences were the most accurate and were significantly superior to postcontrast FS-T2-FSE-RT, T2-weighted MGRE, in-out of phase MR sequences(p < .05). For all lesions that were malignant or smaller than 1 cm, respectively, contrast to noise ratio of pre and postcontrast sequences were -1and -0.3 for T2-weighted FSE, 0.53 and 4.5 in-out of phase, 7, 7.08, 5.08, 3.32, 1.7, 1.16, 0.79, 0.68 for GRE with 2.9, 7.5, 12.1, 16.6, 21.2, 25.8, 30.4, 35.0 TE values. Breath-hold various TE precontrast sequences offer improvement in sensitivity compared with fixed multigradient recalled echo sequences alone.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.626-629
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• 2004

Texture imaging, which means texture image creation by co-occurrence relation, has been known as one of useful image analysis methodologies. For this purpose, most commercial remote sensing software provides texture analysis function named GLCM (Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix). In this study, texture-imaging program for GLCM algorithm is newly implemented in the MS Visual IDE environment. While, additional texture imaging modules based on GLDV (Grey Level Difference Vector) are contained in this program. As for GLCM/GLDV texture variables, it composed of six types of second order texture function in the several quantization levels of 2(binary image), 8, and 16: Homogeneity, Dissimilarity, Energy, Entropy, Angular Second Moment, and Contrast. As for co-occurrence directionality, four directions are provided as $E-W(0^{\circ}),\;N-E(45^{\circ}),\;S-W(135^{\circ}),\;and\;N-S(90^{\circ}),$ and W-E direction is also considered in the negative direction of E- W direction. While, two direction modes are provided in this program: Omni-mode and Circular mode. Omni-mode is to compute all direction to avoid directionality problem, and circular direction is to compute texture variables by circular direction surrounding target pixel. At the second phase of this study, some examples with artificial image and actual satellite imagery are carried out to demonstrate effectiveness of texture imaging or to help texture image interpretation. As the reference, most previous studies related to texture image analysis have been used for the classification purpose, but this study aims at the creation and general uses of texture image for urban remote sensing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.690-693
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• 2003

Soft x-ray microscopy provides a unique set of capabilities in-between those of visible light and electron microscopy. It has long been recognized that nature provides a 'water window' spectral region between the K shell x-ray absorption edges of carbon (~290eV) and oxygen (~540eV), where organic materials show strong absorption and phase contrast, while water is relatively non-absorbing. This enables imaging of hydrated biological specimens that are several microns thick with high intrinsic contrast using x-rays with a wavelength of 2.3~4.4nm. Soft X-ray microscopy is therefore well suited to the study of specimens like single biological cells. The most direct advantage of X-ray microscope is their high spatial resolution when compared with visible light microscopes, combined with an ability to image hydrated specimens that are several microns with a minimum of preparation. Our study describes the conceptual design of soft x-ray microscope system based on a laser-based source for biomedical application with high resolution ($\leq$50nm) and short exposure time ($\leq$30sec).

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.218-223
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• 2014

This paper presents a method of controlling the stiffness of a tungsten probe for an atomic force microscope (AFM) in order to provide high-quality phase contrast images in accordance with sample characteristics. While inducing sufficient deformation on sample surfaces with commercial Si or $Si_3N_4$ probes is difficult because of their low stiffness, a tungsten probe fabricated by electrochemical etching with appropriately high stiffness can generate relatively large elastic deformation without damaging sample surfaces. The fabrication of the tungsten probe involves two separate procedures. The first procedure involves immersing a tungsten wire with both ends bent parallel to the surface of an electrolyte and controlling the stiffness of the tungsten cantilever by decreasing its diameter using electrochemical etching in the direction of the central axis. The second procedure involves immersing the end of the etched tungsten cantilever in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the electrolyte and fabricating a tungsten tip with a tip radius of 20-50 nm via the necking phenomenon. The latter etching process applies pulse waves every 0.25 seconds to the manufactured tip to improve its yield. Finite element analysis (FEA) of the stiffness of the tungsten probe as a function of its diameter showed that the stiffness of the tungsten probes greatly varies from 56 N/m to 3501 N/m according to the cantilever diameters from $30{\mu}m$ to $100{\mu}m$, respectively. Thus, the proposed etching method is effective for producing a tungsten probe having specific stiffness for optimal use with an AFM and certain samples.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.568-573
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• 2016

We explore the crystalline structure and phase transition of lithium thiophosphate ($Li_7P_3S_{11}$) solid electrolyte using electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The glass-like $Li_7P_3S_{11}$ powder is prepared by the high-energy mechanical milling process. According to the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and selected area diffraction (SAD) analysis, the glass powder shows chemical homogeneity without noticeable contrast variation at any specific spot in the specimen and amorphous SAD ring patterns. Upon heating up to $260^{\circ}C$ the glass $Li_7P_3S_{11}$ powder becomes crystallized, clearly representing crystal plane diffraction contrast in the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image. We further confirm that each diffraction spot precisely corresponds to the diffraction from a particular $Li_7P_3S_{11}$ crystallographic structure, which is also in good agreement with the previous X-ray diffraction results. We expect that the microscopic analysis with EDS and SAD patterns would permit a new approach to study in the atomic scale of other lithium ion conducting sulfides.

• Journal of International Society for Simulation Surgery
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.37-40
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• 2014

Purpose For living donor liver transplantation, liver segmentation is difficult due to the variability of its shape across patients and similarity of the density of neighbor organs such as heart, stomach, kidney, and spleen. In this paper, we propose an automatic segmentation of the liver using multi-planar anatomy and deformable surface model in portal phase of abdominal contrast-enhanced CT images. Method Our method is composed of four main steps. First, the optimal liver volume is extracted by positional information of pelvis and rib and by separating lungs and heart from CT images. Second, anisotropic diffusing filtering and adaptive thresholding are used to segment the initial liver volume. Third, morphological opening and connected component labeling are applied to multiple planes for removing neighbor organs. Finally, deformable surface model and probability summation map are performed to refine a posterior liver surface and missing left robe in previous step. Results All experimental datasets were acquired on ten living donors using a SIEMENS CT system. Each image had a matrix size of $512{\times}512$ pixels with in-plane resolutions ranging from 0.54 to 0.70 mm. The slice spacing was 2.0 mm and the number of images per scan ranged from 136 to 229. For accuracy evaluation, the average symmetric surface distance (ASD) and the volume overlap error (VE) between automatic segmentation and manual segmentation by two radiologists are calculated. The ASD was $0.26{\pm}0.12mm$ for manual1 versus automatic and $0.24{\pm}0.09mm$ for manual2 versus automatic while that of inter-radiologists was $0.23{\pm}0.05mm$. The VE was $0.86{\pm}0.45%$ for manual1 versus automatic and $0.73{\pm}0.33%$ for manaual2 versus automatic while that of inter-radiologist was $0.76{\pm}0.21%$. Conclusion Our method can be used for the liver volumetry for the pre-surgery planning of living donor liver transplantation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.209-216
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• 1995

Recently, a new tailored RF gradient echo (TRFGE) sequence was reported. This technique not only enhances the magnetic susceptibility effect but also allows us to measure local changes in brain oxygenation. In this study, a phantom and cat brain experiments were performed on a 4.7 Tesla BIQSPEC (BRUKER) instrument with a 26 cm gradient system. We have demonstrated that the signal intensity (SI) of the TRFGE sequence varies according to the concentration of susceptibility contrast agent. Three capillary tubes with different concentrations of Gd-DTPA (0.01, 0.05, 0.1 mMOI/l) were placed at the middle of a cylindrical water phantom. Using both TRFGE and conventional gradient echo (CGE) sequences, phantom images of the slices which contain all three tubes were obtained. For the animal experiment, cats were anesthetized and ventilated using halotane (0.5%) and a $N_2O/ O_2$ mixture (2:1), and blood pressure and heart rate were monitored and kept normal. For the observation of tue first pass of Gd- DTPA, imaging was started at t = 0. At t = 8 ~ 12s, 0.2 mMol/Kg Gd-DTPA was manually injected in the femoral vein. The imaging parameters were TRITE = 25/10 msec, flip angle = $30^{\circ}$, FOV = 10cm, image matrix size = $128{\times}128$ with 64 phase encodings and the image data acquisition window was 10 msec. SI-time curves were then obtained from a series of 30 images which were collected at 2 sec intervals using both CGE and TRFGE pulse sequences before, during, and following the contrast injection.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.275-282
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• 2013

In medical image processing field, object recognition is usually carried out by computerized processing of various input information such as brightness, shape, and pattern. If the information mentioned does not make sense, however, many limitations could occur with object recognition during computer processing. Therefore, this paper suggests effective object recognition method based on the magnetic resonance (MR) theory to resolve the basic limitations in computer processing. We propose the efficient method of robust gray-white matter segmentation by texture analysis through the Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI) for contrast enhancement. As a result, an average area difference of 5.2%, which was higher than the accuracy of conventional region segmentation algorithm, was obtained.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.151-155
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• 2010

Primary hepatic lymphoma is extremely rare, representing less than 1% of all extranodal lymphomas. We report MR imaging features and pathologic correlation of a case of primary hepatic lymphoma. MR images showed a large lobulated mass with gradual contrast enhancement, resembling intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. However, both hepatobiliary phase image obtained 20 minutes after injection of hepatocyte specific contrast agent and diffusion-weighted image demonstrated characteristic three layered pattern representing viable lymphoma in the outer layer, tumor necrosis in the middle layer and necrotic hepatic parenchyma in the center.

• Journal of KIISE
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• v.44 no.9
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• pp.992-1004
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• 2017

To assess image quality accurately, an image quality assessment (IQA) metric is required to reflect the human visual system (HVS) properly. In other words, the structure, color, and contrast ratio of the image should be evaluated in consideration of various factors. In addition, as mobile embedded devices such as smartphone become popular, a fast computing speed is important. In this paper, the proposed IQA metric combines color similarity, gradient similarity, and phase similarity synergistically to satisfy the HVS and is designed by using optimized pooling and quantization for fast computation. The proposed IQA metric is compared against existing 13 methods using 4 kinds of evaluation methods. The experimental results show that the proposed IQA metric ranks the first on 3 evaluation methods and the first on the remaining method, next to VSI which is the most remarkable IQA metric. Its computing speed is on average about 20% faster than VSI's. In addition, we find that the proposed IQA metric has a bigger amount of correlation with the HVS than existing IQA metrics.