• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.798-806
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• 2024

Objective: Dual-layer CT (DLCT) can create virtual monochromatic images (VMIs) at various monochromatic X-ray energies, particularly at low keV levels, with high contrast-to-noise ratio. The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical feasibility of contrast-enhanced chest DLCT with a low keV VMI for preoperative breast cancer staging, in comparison to breast MRI. Materials and Methods: A total of 152 patients with 155 index breast cancers were enrolled in the study. VMIs were generated from contrast-enhanced chest DLCT at 40 keV and maximum intensity projection (MIP) with three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction was performed for both bilateral breast areas. Two radiologists reviewed in consensus the 3D MIP images of the chest DLCT with VMI and breast MRI in separate sessions with a 3-month wash-out period. The detection rate and mean tumor size of the index cancer were compared between the chest DLCT with VMI and breast MRI. Additionally, the agreement of tumor size measurement between the two imaging modalities were evaluated. Results: Of all index cancers, 84.5% (131/155) were detected in the chest DLCT with VMI, while 88.4% (137/155) were detected in the breast MRI (P = 0.210). The Bland-Altman agreement between the chest DLCT with VMI and breast MRI was a mean difference of -0.05 cm with 95% limits of agreement of -1.29 to 1.19 cm. The tumor size in the chest DLCT with VMI (2.3 ± 1.7 cm) was not significantly different from that in the breast MRI (2.4 ± 1.6 cm) (P = 0.106). Conclusion: The feasibility of chest DLCT with VMI was demonstrated for preoperative tumor staging in breast cancer patients, showing comparable cancer detectability and good agreement in tumor size measurement compared to breast MRI. This suggests that chest DLCT with VMI can serve as a potential alternative for patients who have contraindications to breast MRI.

• Archives of design research
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• v.19 no.2 s.64
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• pp.73-80
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• 2006

The main purpose of this study is to help develop the productional system of the three dimensional digital animation domestically. Many 30 digital animation projects are being developed and finished with foreign computer graphics technology. However, the 3D animation market in Korea is not as good as the ones in other countries. One of the most significant problems is the lack of a program of study in Korea concerning productional systems used to create 3D animation. We previously imported an advanced productional system from the U.S., which was adaptable to big projects, and consequently, expanded the international digital animation market. Now, we need to develop a new production system which is fully adaptable to the Korean market. A non-sequential system of 3D digital animation tailored for small projects is more adaptable to domestic industry than the sequential system known as the 'Pipeline system.' A non-sequential system is good for small productions that are trying to create animation on a limited budget. The workers in this system can learn to make animation fast and effectively. They can also learn how to discuss with the others in order to avoid duplication of action. In contrast, in the Pipeline System, many workers repeat confirmation steps during the process for the same animations. The benefit of the non-sequential system is that the worker's interest and education can speed up production, because he/she can quickly learn every step of the animation process instead of just doing a particular job which does not allow him/her to observe the other steps involved. The 'animatic' step is the most important in the non-sequential system. The final animation is produced from the animatic. It is developed from scratch through to the final product but only after the agreement of all the workers, including a director.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.90-98
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• 2003

Purpose : A new virtual simulation technique for craniospinal irradiation (CSI) that uses a CT-simulator was developed to improve the accuracy of field and shielding placement as well as patient positioning. Materials and Methods : A CT simulator (CT-SIM) and a 3-D conformal radiation treatment planning system (3D-CRT) were used to develop CSI. The head and neck were immobilized with a thermoplastic mask while the rest of the body was immobilized with a Vac-Loc. A volumetric image was then obtained with the CT simulator. In order to improve the reproducibility of the setup, datum lines and points were marked on the head and body. Virtual fluoroscopy was performed with the removal of visual obstacles, such as the treatment table or immobilization devices. After virtual simulation, the treatment isocenters of each field were marked on the body and on the immobilization devices at the conventional simulation room. Each treatment fields was confirmed by comparing the fluoroscopy images with the digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR) and digitally composited radiography (DCR) images from virtual simulation. Port verification films from the first treatment were also compared with the DRR/DCR images for geometric verification. Results : We successfully performed virtual simulations on 11 CSI patients by CT-SIM. It took less than 20 minutes to affix the immobilization devices and to obtain the volumetric images of the entire body. In the absence of the patient, virtual simulation of all fields took 20 min. The DRRs were in agreement with simulation films to within 5 mm. This not only reducee inconveniences to the patients, but also eliminated position-shift variables attendant during the long conventional simulation process. In addition, by obtaining CT volumetric image, critical organs, such as the eyes and the spinal cord, were better defined, and the accuracy of the port designs and shielding was improved. Differences between the DRRs and the portal films were less than 3 m in the vertebral contour. Conclusion : Our analysis showed that CT simulation of craniospinal fields was accurate. In addition, CT simulation reduced the duration of the patient's immobility. During the planning process. This technique can improve accuracy in field placement and shielding by using three-dimensional CT-aided localization of critical and target structures. Overall, it has improved staff efficiency and resource utilization by standard protocol for craniospinal irradiation.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.513-518
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• 2009

Purpose: Integration of the functional information of myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) and the morphoanatomical information of coronary CT angiography (CTA) may provide useful additional diagnostic information of the spatial relationship between perfusion defects and coronary stenosis. We studied to know the added value of three dimensional cardiac SPECT/CTA fusion imaging (fusion image) by comparing between fusion image and MPS. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight patients (M:F=26:22, Age: $63.3{\pm}10.4$ years) with a reversible perfusion defect on MPS (adenosine stress/rest SPECT with Tc-99m sestamibi or tetrofosmin) and CTA were included. Fusion images were molded and compared with the findings from the MPS. Invasive coronary angiography served as a reference standard for fusion image and MPS. Results: Total 144 coronary arteries in 48 patients were analyzed; Fusion image yielded the sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value for the detection of hemodynamically significant stenosis per coronary artery 82.5%, 79.3%, 76.7% and 84.6%, respectively. Respective values for the MPS were 68.8%, 70.7%, 62.1% and 76.4%. And fusion image also could detect more multi-vessel disease. Conclusion: Fused three dimensional volume-rendered SPECT/CTA imaging provides intuitive convincing information about hemodynamic relevant lesion and could improved diagnostic accuracy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.284-284
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• 2016

Topological insulator (TI) is a bulk-insulating material with topologically protected Dirac surface states in the band gap. In particular, $Bi_2Se_3$ attracted great attention as a model three-dimensional TI due to its simple electronic structure of the surface states in a relatively large band gap (~0.3 eV). However, experimental efforts using $Bi_2Se_3$ have been difficult due to the abundance of structural defects, which frequently results in the bulk conduction being dominant over the surface conduction in transport due to the bulk doping effects of the defect sites. One promising approach in avoiding this problem is to reduce the structural defects by heteroepitaxially grow $Bi_2Se_3$ on a substrate with a compatible lattice structure, while also preventing surface degradation by encapsulating the pristine interface between $Bi_2Se_3$ and the substrate in a clean growth environment. A particularly promising choice of substrate for the heteroepitaxial growth is hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), which has the same two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered structure and hexagonal lattice symmetry as $Bi_2Se_3$. Moreover, since h-BN is a dielectric insulator with a large bandgap energy of 5.97 eV and chemically inert surfaces, it is well suited as a substrate for high mobility electronic transport studies of vdW material systems. Here we report the heteroepitaxial growth and characterization of high quality topological insulator $Bi_2Se_3$ thin films prepared on h-BN layers. Especially, we used molecular beam epitaxy to achieve high quality TI thin films with extremely low defect concentrations and an ideal interface between the films and substrates. To optimize the morphology and microstructural quality of the films, a two-step growth was performed on h-BN layers transferred on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) compatible substrates. The resulting $Bi_2Se_3$ thin films were highly crystalline with atomically smooth terraces over a large area, and the $Bi_2Se_3$ and h-BN exhibited a clear heteroepitaxial relationship with an atomically abrupt and clean interface, as examined by high-resolution TEM. Magnetotransport characterizations revealed that this interface supports a high quality topological surface state devoid of bulk contribution, as evidenced by Hall, Shubnikov-de Haas, and weak anti-localization measurements. We believe that the experimental scheme demonstrated in this talk can serve as a promising method for the preparation of high quality TI thin films as well as many other heterostructures based on 2D vdW layered materials.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
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• v.18B no.2
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• pp.51-56
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• 2011

Algorithms for intrinsic images reduce color differences in RGB images caused by the temperature of black-body radiators. Based on the reference light and detecting single invariant direction, these algorithms are weak in real images which can have multiple invariant directions when the scene illuminant is a colored illuminant. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a method of acquiring an intrinsic image by omnidirectional projection of an ROI and a translation of white patch in the ${\chi}$-chromaticity space. Because it is not easy to analyze an image in the three-dimensional RGB space, the ${\chi}$-chromaticity is also employed without the brightness factor in this paper. After the effect of the colored illuminant is decreased by a translation of white patch, an invariant direction is detected by omnidirectional projection of an ROI in this chromaticity space. In case the RGB image has multiple invariant directions, only one ROI is selected with the bin, which has the highest frequency in 3D histogram. And then the two operations, projection and inverse transformation, make intrinsic image acquired. In the experiments, test images were four datasets presented by Ebner and evaluation methods was the follows: standard deviation of the invariant direction, the constancy measure, the color space measure and the color constancy measure. The experimental results showed that the proposed method had lower standard deviation than the entropy, that its performance was two times higher than the compared algorithm.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.861-874
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• 2019

A great interest in the seismic performance evaluation of small size tunnel structures such as utility tunnel has been taken since recent earthquakes at Pohang and Gyeongju in Korea. In this study, the three-dimensional dynamic analyses of vertical shaft and horizontal tunnel under seismic load were carried out using FLAC3D. Especially, parametric analyses was performed to investigate the effects of interfacial stiffness on interfacial behavior between soil and structure. The parametric analysis showed that the interfacial stiffness scarcely gave an effect on the global dynamic behavior of the structure, while had a significant effect on the local displacement behavior of the connections. The magnitude of the interfacial stiffness was inversely proportional to the displacement, while the magnitude of interface stiffness was proportional to the normal and shear stresses. The results of this study suggest the limitations of the existing empirical equations for interfacial stiffness and emphasize the need to develop new interfacial stiffness models.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.213-224
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• 2014

Recently, tunnelling with TBM is getting popular for the construction of cable tunnel in urban area. Mechanized tunnelling method using shield TBM has various advantages such as minimization of ground settlement and prevention of vibration induced by blasting that should be accompanied by conventional tunnelling. In Korea, earth pressure balance (EPB) type shield TBM has been mainly used. Despite the popularity of EPB shield TBM for cable tunnel construction, study on the mechanical behavior of cable tunnel driven by shield TBM is insufficient. Especially, the effect of backfill grout injection on the behavior of cable tunnel driven by shield TBM is investigated in this study. Tunnelling with shield TBM is simulated using 3D FEM. The distance of backfill grout injection from the end of shield skin varies. Sectional forces such as axial force, shear force and bending moment are monitored. Vertical displacement at the ground surface is measured. Futhermore, the relation between volume loss and the distance of backfill grout injection from the end of skin plate is derived. Based on the stability analysis with the results obtained from the numerical analysis, the most appropriate injection distance can be obtained.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.143-153
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• 2015

Polymer flooding for enhancing hydrocarbon production injects into a reservoir polymer solution that is viscous. It is very important to monitor the behavior pattern of the polymer solution in order to evaluate the effectiveness of polymer flooding. To monitor the distribution of polymer solution and thus fluid substitution within the reservoir, we first construct seismic and resistivity rock physics models (RPMs), which are functions of reservoir parameters such as rocks and type of fluid, fluid saturation. For the seismic and resistivity RPMs, responses of seismic and electromagnetic (EM) tomography are numerically simulated as polymer injection, using two dimensional (2D) staggered-grid finite difference elastic modeling and 2.5D finite element EM modeling algorithms, respectively. In constructing RPM for EM tomography, three different reservoir rocks are considered: clean-sand, dispersed shale-sand, and sand-shale lamination rocks. The polymer solution is assumed to have 2 wt% of polymer as normally generated, while water is freshwater or saltwater. Further, neutron logging is also considered to check its sensitivity to polymer flooding. The techniques discussed in the paper are important in monitoring not only hydrocarbon but also geothermal reservoirs.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.109-122
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• 2003

In order to release the pressure fluctuations and micro-pressure wave induced by the entering of train into the small cross sectional tunnel, it has been reported that the construction of air shaft has more advantages with respect to economy and constructability than the enlargement of cross section of existing tunnel. The field monitorings and analytical studies were conducted simultaneously in this study to analyze the mechanical behavior of existing railway tunnel, new cross tunnel and new shaft by the construction of new shaft nearby. The results showed that the minimum distance from existing tunnel to new shaft which secures the stability of existing tunnel was found to be half diameter of existing tunnel. On the three dimensional mechanical behavior of existing tunnel by the construction of new shaft, the results from the analytical study and field monitoring had a similar trend. The analytical study and field monitoring results, however, produced somewhat different results on the mechanical behavior of new shaft itself. These conclusions induce that the analytical method which has been applied on the analyses of horizontal tunnel could not be applied in the same way on the analysis of vertical shaft.