• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.4 no.7
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• pp.297-300
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• 2015

In medical ultrasonography, transit time and contrast enhancement patterns are considered as important parameters to analyze liver diseases. In many recent researches, time-intensity curves(TIC) have been used for calculating the transit time of the contrast agents. However, the intensity curve may include the variations which are caused by the micro-bubble effect of contrast agents. In this paper, we propose a complementary approach to diagnostic parameter extraction which utilizes a density information as well as the intensity data. The proposed technique improves the accuracy in extraction of the transit time and velocity of contrast agents for detection and characterization of focal liver lesions. Through the experiments using a set of clinical data, we show that the proposed methods can improve the reliability of the parametric image data.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.115-125
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• 2023

Arteriovenous fistula flow dysfunction is the leading cause of vascular access thrombosis and loss in patients undergoing hemodialysis. However, data regarding the influence of access flow rate measurements on the long-term outcomes of access are limited. This study aims to identify accesses at a high risk of thrombosis and loss among patients undergoing hemodialysis by measuring the access flow rate and exploring an optimal threshold value for predicting future access thrombosis. We enrolled 220 patients with arteriovenous fistula undergoing hemodialysis. The primary outcome was the occurrence of access thrombosis. Access flow rates were measured monthly using the ultrasound dilution method and were averaged using all measurements from patients with patent access. In patients experienced access thrombosis, those immediately before the thrombosis were selected. Using these data, we calculated the access flow rate threshold for thrombosis occurrence by analyzing the receiver operating characteristic curve, and the patients were divided into two groups according to whether access flow rates were higher or lower than 400 mL/min. During a median follow-up period of 3.1 years, 4,510 access flows were measured (median measurements per patient, 33 times; interquartile range, 11-54). A total of 65 access thromboses and 19 abandonments were observed. Access thrombosis and loss were higher in the lowflow group than in the high-flow group. This study revealed that low access flow rates are strongly associated with access thrombosis occurrence and subsequent loss of arteriovenous fistulas in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.50-65
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• 2011

Objectives: Moxibustion has been used for various post-stroke symptoms and has also been known to have effect on peripheral blood flow. This study investigated the effect of moxibustion on radial artery blood flow by Doppler ultrasound and on heart rate variability in post-stroke hemiplegia patients. Methods: Moxibustion was applied on the points of LI4, TE3, TE5 and LI11 on the affected side, and blood flow of the radial artery was measured using the Minimax-Doppler-K device. Blood flow velocity and pulsation index were analyzed before, during, and after moxibustion. Simultaneously LF, HF, and LF/HF as variables for HRV were measured by FM-150. Results: The mean value of blood flow velocity in all patients (n=23) showed significant increase between before and after moxibustion, but there was no significant difference in pulsation index and LF, HF, LF/HF ratio between before and after moxibustion. In Yin (n=9) and Yang (n=14) groups, both showed significant increase of blood flow velocity between before and after moxibustion, but there was no significant difference in pulsation index and LF, HF, LF/HF ratio between before and after moxibustion. In Deficiency (n=14) and Fullness (n=9) groups, only the Deficiency group showed significant increase of blood flow velocity between before and after moxibustion, while the Fullness group showed no significant difference in blood flow velocity between before and after moxibustion, and also there was no significant difference in pulsation index and LF, HF, LF/HF ratio between before and after moxibustion. Conclusions: This study suggests that moxibustion on LI4, TE3, TE5 and LI11 on the affected side of stroke patients increase the peripheral blood flow in the affected arm, which was most remarkable in those with Yin and Deficiency pattern.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.401-406
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• 2017

Breast cancer rates are increasing every year, biopsy for diagnosing breast cancer is increasing as well. Biopsy also invasive test, have bad side effects from patients anxiety, infection, bleeding. In this study, Conduct a survey of 69 patients who brest lesion patient, both B-mode ultrasound and elastography exam and B-mode ultrasound was classified according to the BI-RADS category, and the elastography exam was classified according to the Color overlay pattern that the value of the kPa expressed in relation to the propagation velocity of Transverse waves. The optimal cut off value of the highest sensitivity and specificity was 54.70 kPa. In the color overlay pattern, Dark Blue 42 people, Light blue ~ Red 27 people classified results and BI-RADS classification results, benign 40 people and malignant 29 people classified results showed similar results. Therefore, It is judged that the color overlay pattern is positive when classified into Dark Blue, and malignant when classified into Light blue ~ Red. In conclusion, breast elastography is expected to play a innovative role in reducing the number of breast cancer examinations and classify between benign and malignant tumor.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.121-126
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• 2008

Pulse diagnosis refers to the process of diagnosing a patient by feeling an artery on the wrist based on the shape that the pulse take s while the hold-down pressure increase. The styloid process artery on the wrist is usually felt, and the pulse is taken on Chon, Gwan and Cheok using three fingers. This study is to examine the structural difference in the location of pulse diagnosis by measuring and analyzing blood diameter, blood depth, and blood flow velocity of the location of pulse diagnosis by using ultrasonic wave (VOLUSION730 PRO, GE Medical, U.S.A). This study also attempted to grasp whether the characteristics of blood vessels differ depending on Body Mass Index (BMI) and analyzed their correlation with Oriental medical pulse diagnosis. The male subjects without cardiovascular diseases were divided into the normal BMI group, the underweight group and the overweight group and 10 people of each group were measured, Blood depth, blood diameter and blood flow velocity at the location of pulse diagnosis (Chon, Gwan, Cheok) of the wrists of left and right hands were measured and the pulse wave was measured by using pulse diagnosis instrument (3-D Mac, DaeyoMedi, Korea).The results of this study showed that the characteristics of blood vessels differ depending on the degrees of obesity, and the characteristics of floating pulse and sinking pulse of Oriental medical pulses were related to the degrees of obesity. This shows that the characteristics of the blood vessels of subjects and BMI information are the major indicators for diagnosis and are the matters that must always be considered when developing the algorithm of pulse diagnosis.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.399-407
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• 2024

This study nondestructively examined the evolution of crack density in ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) upon cyclic loading. Uniaxial compression was repeatedly applied to the cylindrical specimens at levels corresponding to 32% and 53% of the maximum load-bearing capacity, each at a steady strain rate. At each stage, both P-wave and S-wave velocities were measured in the absence of the applied load. In particular, the continuous monitoring of P-wave velocity from the first loading prior to the second loading allowed real-time observation of the strengthening effect during loading and the recovery effect afterwards. Increasing the number of cycles resulted in the reduction of both elastic wave velocities and Young's modulus, along with a slight rise in Poisson's ratio in both tested cases. The computed crack density showed a monotonically increasing trend with repeated loading, more significant at 53% than at 32% loading. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the crack density along the height was achieved, validating the directional dependency of microcracking development. This study demonstrated the capability of the crack density to capture the evolution of microcracks in UHPC under cyclic loading condition, as an early-stage damage indicator.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2011

In the present study, copper and nickel foams with an open-celled structure as trabecular-bone-mimicking phantoms were used to investigate the dependencies of group velocity and attenuation coefficient on structural properties such as trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) and trabecular separation (Tb.Sp) in trabecular bone. The group velocity and attenuation coefficient of the copper and nickel foams were measured by a through-transmission method in water, using a pair of broadband, unfocused transducers with a diameter of 12.7 mm and a center frequency of 1.0 MHz. The separation of the Biot's fast and slow waves was consistently observed in the ultrasonic signals transmitted through the copper and nickel foams. The group velocities of the copper and nickel foams showed highly positive correlations with Tb.Th and Tb.Sp. The attenuation coefficient of the copper foam showed a highly negative correlation with Tb.Th and Tb.Sp, whereas that of the nickle foam showed a highly positive correlation with Tb.Th and Tb.Sp. These results advance our understanding of those previously reported by other researchers using trabecular bone samples or phantoms.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 1997

We measured the blood flow velocity of the anterior cerebral artery via anterior fontanelle approach of fifty five preterm neonates with duplex Doppler sonography and analyzed the waveform and calculated pulsatility index, resistive index. Intracranial velocities and pulsatility indexes were increased with increasing gestational age, birth weight, and age of the neonate, but resistive indices decreased. In sick babies, characteristic resistive index increment were seen in patients with intraventricular hemorrhage, but no statistical difference was seen in patients with respiratory distress syndrome. Our results suggest that duplex Doppler sonography is a useful noninvasive means of monitoring cerebrohemodynamics in normal preterm neonates and flow change of sick babies.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 2017

The three dimensional ultrasonic anemometer was constructed to reduce the disadvantages of the two-dimensional anemometer and to be free from the use environment. Three pairs of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sensors were designed to face each other at an angle of $45^{\circ}$ to the upper and lower surfaces at intervals of $120^{\circ}$. 200 kHz ultrasonic sensor Oscillation, transmission and reception, level detection, power supply circuit were designed and U, V, W wind speed vector components were obtained by measuring the time of first received ultrasonic pulse by transmitting pulse ultrasound. It is implemented as firmware in ARM Coretex-M3 processor so that horizontal and vertical wind direction and wind speed can be converted into digital signal by vector calculation. In this study, The three-dimensional ultrasonic anemometer can complement the disadvantages of the two-dimensional anemometer (mechanical and ultrasonic), and it is expected to gradually replace the two-dimensional anemometer due to its high utilization rate by collecting additional information such as vertical wind.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2010

Ultrasonic inspection of heavy walled cast austenitic stainless steel(CASS)welds is very difficult due to complex and coarse grained structure of CASS material. The large size of anisotropic grain strongly affects the propagation of ultrasound by severe attenuation, change in velocity, and scattering of ultrasonic energy. therefore, the signal patterns originated from flaws can be difficult to distinguish from scattered signals. To improve detection and sizing capability of ID connected defect for heavy walled CASS piping welds, the low frequency segmented TRL Pulse Echo and Phased Array probe has been developed. The experimental studies have been performed using CASS pipe mock-up block containing artificial reflectors(ID connected EDM notch). The automatic pulse echo and phase array technique is applied the detection and the length sizing of the ID connected artificial reflectors and the results for detection and sizing has been compared respectively. The goal of this study is to assess a newly developed ultrasonic probe to improve the detection ability and the sizing of the crack in coarse-grained CASS components.