• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2006

ln order to manage efficiently many ancient wooden buildings, which have been preserved as cultural properties in Korea, the internal state of wood members should be evaluated exactly and periodically by a NDE (non-destructive evaluation) method. A research project was planned to develop an X-ray CT (computed tomography) system as a NDE method for wood, which could be easily applied in field. This paper includes the first part of this project. First of all, to establish a measuring procedure of wood density using X-ray radiography, the correlation between X-ray intensity and the film brightness was evaluated. Also, initial X-ray intensity was quantified with various radiate conditions controlled by the tube voltage and tube current. And then, the effects of density, annual ring angle, and thickness on the mass attenuation coefficient of wood were examined. Finally, Beer's law was modified with the above results and adopted to calculate the density of wood. As a result of this study, the measuring procedure of wood density was established using a portable soft X-ray device and this procedure was verified with some small wood specimens. This results will he used valuably for the following researches to develop a portable X-ray CT system.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1119-1129
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• 2018

Objective: To compare the image quality of low-tube-voltage and low-iodine-concentration-contrast-medium (LVLC) computed tomography urography (CTU) with iterative reconstruction (IR) with that of conventional CTU. Materials and Methods: This prospective, multi-institutional, randomized controlled trial was performed at 16 hospitals using CT scanners from various vendors. Patients were randomly assigned to the following groups: 1) the LVLC-CTU (80 kVp and 240 mgI/mL) with IR group and 2) the conventional CTU (120 kVp and 350 mgI/mL) with filtered-back projection group. The overall diagnostic acceptability, sharpness, and noise were assessed. Additionally, the mean attenuation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and figure of merit (FOM) in the urinary tract were evaluated. Results: The study included 299 patients (LVLC-CTU group: 150 patients; conventional CTU group: 149 patients). The LVLC-CTU group had a significantly lower effective radiation dose ($5.73{\pm}4.04$ vs. $8.43{\pm}4.38mSv$) compared to the conventional CTU group. LVLC-CTU showed at least standard diagnostic acceptability (score ${\geq}3$), but it was non-inferior when compared to conventional CTU. The mean attenuation value, mean SNR, CNR, and FOM in all pre-defined segments of the urinary tract were significantly higher in the LVLC-CTU group than in the conventional CTU group. Conclusion: The diagnostic acceptability and quantitative image quality of LVLC-CTU with IR are not inferior to those of conventional CTU. Additionally, LVLC-CTU with IR is beneficial because both radiation exposure and total iodine load are reduced.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.624-633
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• 2021

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of CT measurements of muscle quantity and quality using variable CT parameters. Materials and Methods: A phantom, simulating the L2-4 vertebral levels, was used for this study. CT images were repeatedly acquired with modulation of tube voltage, tube current, slice thickness, and the image reconstruction algorithm. Reference standard muscle compartments were obtained from the reference maps of the phantom. Cross-sectional area based on the Hounsfield unit (HU) thresholds of muscle and its components, and the mean density of the reference standard muscle compartment, were used to measure the muscle quantity and quality using different CT protocols. Signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) were calculated in the images acquired with different settings. Results: The skeletal muscle area (threshold, -29 to 150 HU) was constant, regardless of the protocol, occupying at least 91.7% of the reference standard muscle compartment. Conversely, normal attenuation muscle area (30-150 HU) was not constant in the different protocols, varying between 59.7% and 81.7% of the reference standard muscle compartment. The mean density was lower than the target density stated by the manufacturer (45 HU) in all cases (range, 39.0-44.9 HU). The SNR decreased with low tube voltage, low tube current, and in sections with thin slices, whereas it increased when the iterative reconstruction algorithm was used. Conclusion: Measurement of muscle quantity using HU threshold was reliable, regardless of the CT protocol used. Conversely, the measurement of muscle quality using the mean density and narrow HU thresholds were inconsistent and inaccurate across different CT protocols. Therefore, further studies are warranted in future to determine the optimal CT protocols for reliable measurements of muscle quality.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.9
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• pp.1377-1384
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• 2018

Accurate measurement of the absorbed dose and the effective dose is required in dental panoramic radiography involving relatively low energy with a rotational X-ray tube system using long exposures. To determine the effectiveness of measuring the irradiation by using passive dosimetry, we compared the entrance skin doses by using a radiophotoluminescent glass dosimeter (RPL) and an optically stimulated luminescence detector (OSL) in a phantom model consisting of nine and 31 transverse sections. The parameters of the panoramic device were set to 80 kV, 4 mA, and 12 s in the standard program mode. The X-ray spectrum was applied in the same manner as the panoramic dose by using the SpekCalc Software. The results indicated a mass attenuation coefficient of $0.008226cm^2/g$, and an effective energy of 34 keV. The equivalent dose between the RPL and the OSL was calculated based on a product of the absorbed doses. The density of the aluminum attenuators was $2.699g/cm^3$. During the panoramic examination, tissue absorption doses with regard to the RPL were a surface dose of $75.33{\mu}Gy$ and a depth dose of $71.77{\mu}Gy$, those with regard to the OSL were surface dose of $9.2{\mu}Gy$ a depth dose of $70.39{\mu}Gy$ and a mean dose of $74.79{\mu}Gy$. The effective dose based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 103 tissue weighting factor for the RPL were $0.742{\mu}Sv$, $8.9{\mu}Sv$, $2.96{\mu}Sv$ and those for the OSL were $0.754{\mu}Sv$, $9.05{\mu}Sv$, and $3.018{\mu}Sv$ in the parotid and sublingual glands, orbit, and thyroid gland, respectively. The RPL was more effective than the OSL for measuring the absorbed radiation dose in low-energy systems with a rotational X-ray tube.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.99-108
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• 2006

SNU-RCCS is a water pool type RCCS (Reactor Cavity Cooling System) developed for VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) application by SNU (Seoul National University). Since radiation heat transfer is the major process of passive heat removal in a RCCS, it is important to determine the precise emissivity of the reactor vessel. Review studies have used a constant emissivity in the passive heat removal analysis, even though the emissivity depends on many factors such as temperature, surface roughness, oxidation level, wavelength, direction, atmosphere conditions, etc. Therefore, information on the emissivity of a given material in a real RCCS is essential in order to properly analyze the radiation heat transfer in a VHTR. The objectives of this study are to develop a method for compensation of the factors affecting the emissivity measurement using an infrared thermometer and to estimate the true emissivity from the measured emissivity via the developed method, especially in the SNU-RCCS environment. From this viewpoint, we investigated factors such as the attenuation effect of the window, filling gas, and the effect of background radiation on the emissivity measurements. The emissivity of the vessel surface of the SNU-RCCS facility was then measured using a sight tube. The background radiation was subsequently removed from the measured emissivity by solving a simultaneous equation. Finally, the calculated emissivity was compared with the measured emissivity in a separate emissivity measurement device, yielding good agreement with the emissivity increase with vessel temperature in a range of 0.82 to 0.88.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.271-276
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• 2018

Based on the service design processes, we examined the market conditions and the criteria to be considered in selecting materials and selected CFRP CNT materials in the development of bicycle design. This material was used to develop frame design among the bicycle parts. The bicycle frame, designed with CFRP CNT material through vibration attenuation testing, tensile strength testing, and stiffness test results before prototype production, shows better results than the bicycle frame manufactured with conventional CNT materials in terms of function.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2011

We studied the optimal location where the radiation dose of radiological technologists is minimally measured. The measured scatter dose has been compared with the distance inverse square law. We measured the primary X-ray with different tube conditions (60, 70, 81 and 90 kVp) and distances (60, 120 and 180 cm). The scatter ray has been measured with various locations (42.5, 52.4 and 62.4 cm for front and back side, 0 to 60 cm with 10 cm interval for left and right side). The results of this study showed that the dose of primary X-ray was attenuated to 20.52 (27.20%), 28.58 (25.20%), 38.82 (26.32%) and 48.20 mR (26.27%) for each tube voltages at 120 cm. In addition, The dose were 7.06 (8.91%), 9.90 (8.73%), 13.64 (9.25%) and 16.60 mR (9.05%) at 180 cm. As for the scatter in front and back side, the attenuated dose were 0.15 mR (23.09%) and 0.15 mR (22.08%) at 120 cm, and 0.07 mR (10.43%) and 0.06 mR (8.83%) at 180 cm. Scatter was decreased in third quadrant. Therefore, it is recommended that radiological technologists should keep long distance from the object.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.408-416
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• 2021

In the ultrasonic dispersion, in order to avoid direct contact of the radiation surface of ultrasonic transducers with a liquid sample, the liquid sample is separated by a glass container and it receives ultrasonic energy through an acoustic medium. The transmission efficiency of the ultrasonic energy in the multi-layered ultrasonic system is an important factor. In this study, we suggested a method that can improve the ultrasonic energy transfer efficiency by using a propylene glycol solution as a liquid matching layer in the multi-layered acoustic system. In this method, a propylene glycol solution was filled between the Langevin-type ultrasonic transducer and the luminol solution and the sonoluminescence phenomena in the luminol solution, which is caused by nonlinear effect of high power ultrasound radiated from the transducer, was examined by using a Photo Multiplier Tube (PMT). The transmission efficiency depending on the concentration of propylene glycol solution was observed, and we can see that as the concentration of the propylene glycol solution increased, the matching effect increased while the acoustic attenuation increased. It was confirmed that there is an optimal concentration compromised these two conflicting conditions, and the optimum concentration of the propylene glycol solution was determined experimentally.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.83-91
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• 2017

In this work, we investigated the recently proposed phase-contrast x-ray imaging (PCXI) technique, the so-called single grid-based PCXI, which has great simplicity and minimal requirements on the setup alignment. It allows for imaging of smaller features and variations in the examined sample than conventional attenuation-based x-ray imaging with lower x-ray dose. We performed a systematic simulation using a simulation platform developed by us to investigate the image characteristics. We also performed a preliminary PCXI experiment using an established a table-top setup to demonstrate the performance of the simulation platform. The system consists of an x-ray tube ($50kV_p$, 5 mAs), a focused-linear grid (200-lines/inch), and a flat-panel detector ($48-{\mu}m$ pixel size). According to our results, the simulated contrast of phase images was much enhanced, compared to that of the absorption images. The scattering length scale estimated for a given simulation condition was about 117 nm. It was very similar, at least qualitatively, to the experimental contrast, which demonstrates the performance of the simulation platform. We also found that the level of the phase gradient of oriented structures strongly depended on the orientation of the structure relative to that of linear grids.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.451-464
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• 2018

This paper presents some quasi-static tests for 4 mixed columns composed of CFST column and RC column. The seismic performance and failure mode were studied under low-cyclic revised loading. The failure mode was observed under different axial compression ratios. The hysteretic curve and skeleton curve were obtained. The effects of axial compression ratio on yield mechanism, displacement ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness and strength attenuation were analyzed. The results indicate that the failure behavior of CFST-RC mixed column with archaized style is mainly caused by bending failure and accompanied by some shear failure. The axial compression ratio performs a control function on the yielding order of the upper and lower columns. The yielding mechanism has a great influence on the ductility and energy dissipation capacity of specimens. Based on the experiment, finite element analysis was made to further research the seismic performance by ABAQUS software. The variable parameters were stiffness ratio of upper and lower columns, axial compression ratio, yielding strength of steel tube, concrete strength and rebar ratio. The simulation results show that with the increase of stiffness ratio of the upper and lower columns, the bearing capacity and ductility of specimens can correspondingly increase. As the axial compression ratio increases, the ductility of the specimen decreases gradually. The other three parameters both have positive effect on the bearing capacity but have negative effect on the ductility. The results can provide reference for the design and engineering application of mixed column consisted of CFST-RC in Chinese archaized buildings.