• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.541-549
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• 2023

The aim of this study wasto conduct a quantitative analysis of CT image quality according to an algorithm designed to reduce metal artifacts induced by metal components. Ten baseline images were obtained with the standard filtered back-projection algorithm using spectral detector-based CT and CT ACR 464 phantom, and ten images were also obtained on the identical phantom with the standard filtered back-projection algorithm after inducing metal artifacts. After applying the to raw data from images with metal artifacts, ten additional images for each were obtained by applying the virtual monoenergetic algorithm. Regions of interest were set for polyethylene, bone, acrylic, air, and water located in the CT ACR 464 phantom module 1 to conduct compare the Hounsfield units for each algorithm. The algorithms were individually analyzed using root mean square error, mean absolute error, signal-to-noise ratio, peak signal-to-noise ratio, and structural similarity index to assess the overall image quality. When the Hounsfield units of each algorithm were compared, a significant difference was found between the images with different algorithms (p < .05), and large changes were observed in images using the virtual monoenergetic algorithm in all regions of interest except acrylic. Image quality analysis indices revealed that images with the metal artifact reduction algorithm had the highest resolution, but the structural similarity index was highest for images with the metal artifact reduction algorithm followed by an additional virtual monoenergetic algorithm. In terms of CT images, the metal artifact reduction algorithm was shown to be more effective than the monoenergetic algorithm at reducing metal artifacts, but to obtain quality CT images, it will be important to ascertain the advantages and differences in image qualities of the algorithms, and to apply them effectively.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.135-141
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• 2010

Purpose : The patients who visited this department for pulmonary disease and need CT scans for Follow-up to observe change of CT value, evaluation of image quality and decrease of radiation dose as change of kVp. Subjects and Methods : Subjects were the patients of 20 persons visited this department for pulmonary disease and Somatom Sensation 16(Semens, Enlarge, Germany) was used. Measurement of CT value as change of kVp was done by setting up ROI diameter of 1cm at the height of thyroid, aortic arch, right pulmonary artery in arterial phase image using 100 kVp, measuring 3 times, and recorded the average. CT value of phantom was measured by scanning phantoms which means contrast media diluted by normal saline by various ratio with tube voltage of 80 kVp, 100 kVp, 120 kVp, 140 kVp and recorded the average of 3 CT values of center of phantom image. In analysing radiation dose, CTDIVOL values of the latest arterial phase image of 120 kVp and as this research set that of 100 kVp were analyzed comparatively. 2 observers graded quality of chest images by 5 degrees (Unacceptable, Suboptimal, Adequate, Good, Excellent). Results : CT value of chest image increased at 100 kVp by 14.06%~27.26% in each ROI than 120 kVp. CT value of phantom increased as tube voltage lowered at various concentration of contrast media. CTDIVOL decreased at 100 kVp(5.00 mGy) by 36% than 120 kVp(7.80 mGy) in radiation dose analysis. here were 0 Unacceptable, 1 Suboptimal, 3 Adequate, 10 Good, 6 Excellent in totally 20 persons. Conclusion : Chest CT scanning with low kilo-voltage for patients who need CT scan repeatedly can bring images valuable for diagnose, and decrease radiation dose against patients.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2005.07b
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• pp.682-684
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• 2005

현재 설러 병원에서 PACS 시스템을 도입해 유용하게 사용하고 있다. 병원 진료에서 방사선 영상 정보는 중요한 위치를 차지한다. 방사선 영상은 관전압(KVP)과 관전류(mAs)로 방사선량을 조절한 후 인체에 조사하여 얻게 되는데, KVP와 mAs, 인체의 두께에 따라 영상의 질이 변하게 된다. 이와 같이 장비에서 촬영된 영상은 판독을 거처 진료에 이용되고 일정한 시간이 지나면 압축하여 보관하게 되는데, 압축율을 높게 적용할수록 저장장치에 대한 경제적인 효과는 크다. 이에 저자는 1) CR, DR 촬영 조건별 흉부 영상을 얻어 JPEG 2000 압축방식을 적용해 촬영조건이 압축영상에 미치는 영향을 평가하였고, 2) MOS(Mean opinion score) 평가를 통해 영상판독에 영향을 주지 않는 유효 압축율을 제시하였다.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.96-103
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• 1998

Purpose : To assess the clinical utility of turbo contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography(CE MRA) in the evaluation of the aortic arch and its major branches and to compare the image quality of CE MRA among different coils used. Materials and Methods : Turbo three-phase dynamic CE MRA encompassing aortic arch and its major branches was prospectively performed after manual bolus IV injection of contrast material in 29 patients with suspected cerebrovascular diseases at 1.0T MR unit. the raw data were obtained with 3-D FISH sequence (TR 5.4ms, TE 2.3ms, flip angle 30, slab thickness 80nm, effective slice thickness 4.0mm, matrix size $100{\times}256$, FOV 280mm). Total data acquisition time was 4. to 60 seconds. We subjectively evaluated the imge quality with three-rating scheme : "good" for unequivocal normal finding, "fair" for relatively satisfactory quality to diagnose 'normal' despite intravascular low signal, and "poor" for equivocal diagnosis or non-visualization of the origin or segment of the vessels due to low signal or artifacts which needs catheter angiography. At the level of the carotid bifurcation, it was compared with conventional 2D-TOF MRA image. Overall image quality was also compared visually and quantitatively by measuring signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the ascending aorta, the innominate artery and both common carotid arteries among the three different coils used(CP body array(n=12), CP neck array(n=9), and head-and-neck(n=8). Results : Demonstration of the aortic arch and its major branches was rated as "good" in 55% (16/29) and "fair" in 34%(10/29). At the level of the carotid bifurcation, image quality of turbo CE MRA was same as or better than conventional 2D-TOF MRA in 65% (17/26). Overall image quality and SNR were significantlygreater with CP body array coil than with CP neck array or head-and-neck coil. Conclusions : Turbo CE MRA can be used as a screening exam in the evaluation of the major branches of the aortic arch from their origin to the skull base. Overall imagequality appears to be better with CP body array coil than with CP neck array coil or head-and-neck coil.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.129-138
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• 2014

Various interpolations for digital imaging devices with a single image sensor have proposed. However, conventional methods did not consider the resolution modus of image sensor using periodic sampling. Therefore, the resulting images have problems such as quality degradation and color artifacts(color moire, zipper). In this paper, we propose a color interpolation algorithm for pixel resolution modus of image sensor. The proposed algorithm consisted of an initial step to compensate edge prediction effectively and refinement step using minimum directions for pixel resolution modus. To analyze a result of the proposed algorithm with conventional methods, we evaluated subjectively using images quality comparison and objectively using PSNR(Peak Signal to Noise Ratio). Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm was more successful in eliminating the color artifacts than conventional methods judged by both objective and subjective criteria.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1376-1382
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• 2016

In this paper, we present a visual quality enhancement technique for conventional three-dimensional (3D) photon counting integral imaging using background noise removal algorithm. Photon counting imaging can detect a few photons from desired objects and visualize them under severely photon-starved conditions such as low light level environment. However, when a lot of photons are generated from background, it is difficult to detect photons from desired objects. Thus, the visual quality of the reconstructed image may be degraded. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new photon counting imaging method that removes unnecessary background noise and detects photons from only desired objects. In addition, integral imaging can be used to obtain 3D information and visualize the 3D image by statistical estimations such as maximum likelihood estimation. To prove and evaluate our proposed method, we implement the optical experiment and calculate mean square error.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.143-147
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• 2016

Recently, digital tomosynthesis system (DTS) has been developed to reduce overlap using conventional X-ray and to overcome high patient dose problem using computed tomography (CT). The purpose of this study was to develop image reconstruction algorithm and to evaluate image characteristics and dose with chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) system. Image reconstruction was used for filtered back-projection (FBP) methods and system geometry was constructed ${\pm}10^{\circ}$, ${\pm}15^{\circ}$, ${\pm}20^{\circ}$, and ${\pm}30^{\circ}$ angular range for acquiring phantom images. Image characteristics carried out root mean square error (RMSE) and signal difference-to-noise ratio (SDNR), and dose is evaluated effective dose with ${\pm}20^{\circ}$ angular range. According to the results, the phantom image with slice thickness filter has superb RMSE and SDNR, and effective dose was 0.166 mSv. In conclusion, we demonstrated usefulness of developed CDT image reconstruction algorithm and we constructed CDT basic output data with measuring effective dose.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.589-591
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• 2022

흉부 X-ray 영상은 폐 질환을 진단하는 기본적인 도구로써 널리 사용되고 있다. 정확한 진단을 위해 흉부 X-ray 영상의 품질을 평가하는 과정을 거쳐야 하는데, 이 과정은 주관적인 기준에 따라 수 작업으로 이루어지기 때문에 많은 시간과 비용이 소요된다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 임상 현장에서 사용되는 흉부 X-ray 영상 화질 평가 가이드라인을 기반으로 인공음영, 포함범위, 환자자세, 흡기정도, 그리고 투과 상태의 5가지 품질 평가를 자동화하는 도구를 제안한다. 제안하는 도구는 품질 판단에 소요되는 시간과 비용을 줄여주고, 더 나아가 흉부 병변 진단을 위한 학습 모델 개발의 양질의 학습 데이터를 선별하는 전처리 과정에 활용될 수 있다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.284-289
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• 2008

H.264/AVC among moving picture compression standard is the standard format for high compression rate and reliable video transimission. It generates blocking effects in video due to compressing video using block-based DCT and includes de-blocking filter to reduce blocking effect. Therefore, the filter makes the video over-smoothing and the quality of it is reduced. In this paper, we propose a improved de-blocking filter to solve the demerit. The proposed de-blocking filter redetermine the block boundary strength and apply the comer filtering to eliminate artifacts in low frequency domain. To evaluate the performance, we apply the proposed deblocking filter and exiting method to various video and evaluated the quality of image subjectively and objectively by analyzing the result. The simulation result shows the proposed method preserves the edge of video, reduces blocking effects and improves PSNR than the existing method.

• Broadcasting and Media Magazine
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.28-39
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• 2007

다양한 디지털 기술의 발전으로 인하여 방송형태의 이동 멀티미디어 서비스가 다국적으로 제안되고, 국내에서는 이동 멀티미디어 방송 (DMB: Digital Multimedia Broadcasting)을 통하여 야외나 이동시에도 시청이 가능한 방송서비스가 활발해지고 있다. 휴대 및 이동수신 방송 환경에서 비디온 오디오 및 데이터를 포함한 멀티미디어 방송 서비스를 효율적으로 제공하기 위해서는 다양한 장소에서 수신 영상에 대한 품질 확보가 필수적이다. 본 논문에서는 현재 이동 멀티미디어 방송이 비디오 압축방식으로 채택하고 있는 H.264/AVC 압축 파라미터의 성능 연구에 대하여 기술한다. 현재 국내의 위성/지상파 DMB의 경우 비디오의 압축 방법으로 H.264/AVC baseline 1.3의 표준규격을 사용한다. 이러한 비디오 코덱(codec) 이용하여 비디오 영상을 압축할 경우 관련 파라미터(parameter) 조절이 가능한데, 비디오를 압축할 경우 관련 파라미터들을 어떻게 정하느냐에 따라 서로 다른 수신환경에서 압축 효율 및 재생된 비디오의 화질에 많은 영향을 미친다. 따라서 수신 환경에 가장 적합한 비디오 화질을 얻기 위해서는 관련 파라미터 설정이 매우 중요하다. 본 논문에서는 다양한 압축 파라미터들 중 화질에 많은 영향을 미치는 항목을 선정하여, 해당 파라미터의 변화가 재생된 비디오 화질에 미치는 영향을 객관적 평가척도인 PSNR, Bit-rate, 수행시간 등을 이용하여 분석하였다. 또한, 실험 결과를 바탕으로 이동 멀티미디어 방송 환경에서의 H.264 인코더의 적정 압축 파라미터 및 인코더의 성능 개선 방안을 제안한다.