• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of revision cochlear implant (CI) surgery for better speech comprehension targeting patients with low satisfaction after first CI surgery. Subjects and Methods: Eight patients who could not upgrade speech processors because of an too early CI model and who wanted to change the whole system were included. After revision CI surgery, we compared speech comprehension before and after revision CI surgery. Categoies of Auditory Performance (CAP) score, vowel and consonant confusion test, Ling 6 sounds, word and sentence identification test were done. Results: The interval between surgeries ranged from eight years to 19 years. Same manufacturer's latest product was used for revision surgery in six cases of eight cases. Full insertion of electrode was possible in most of cases (seven of eight). CAP score (p-value=0.01), vowel confusion test (p-value=0.041), one syllable word identification test (p-value=0.026), two syllable identification test (p-value=0.028), sentence identification test (p-value=0.028) had significant improvement. Consonant confusion test (p-value=0.063), Ling 6 sound test (p-value=0.066) had improvement but it is not significant. Conclusions: Although there are some limitations of our study design, we could identify the effect of revision (upgrade) CI surgery indirectly. So we concluded that if patient complain low functional gain or low satisfaction after first CI surgery, revision (device upgrade) CI surgery is meaningful even if there is no device failure.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of revision cochlear implant (CI) surgery for better speech comprehension targeting patients with low satisfaction after first CI surgery. Subjects and Methods: Eight patients who could not upgrade speech processors because of an too early CI model and who wanted to change the whole system were included. After revision CI surgery, we compared speech comprehension before and after revision CI surgery. Categoies of Auditory Performance (CAP) score, vowel and consonant confusion test, Ling 6 sounds, word and sentence identification test were done. Results: The interval between surgeries ranged from eight years to 19 years. Same manufacturer's latest product was used for revision surgery in six cases of eight cases. Full insertion of electrode was possible in most of cases (seven of eight). CAP score (p-value=0.01), vowel confusion test (p-value=0.041), one syllable word identification test (p-value=0.026), two syllable identification test (p-value=0.028), sentence identification test (p-value=0.028) had significant improvement. Consonant confusion test (p-value=0.063), Ling 6 sound test (p-value=0.066) had improvement but it is not significant. Conclusions: Although there are some limitations of our study design, we could identify the effect of revision (upgrade) CI surgery indirectly. So we concluded that if patient complain low functional gain or low satisfaction after first CI surgery, revision (device upgrade) CI surgery is meaningful even if there is no device failure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.570-573
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• 2022

This paper presents the identification of void diameters for a cast-resin transformer using an artificial neural network (ANN) model. A PD signal was measured by the Rogowski coil sensor which has the planar and thin structures fabricated on a printed circuit board (PCB), and the PD electrode system was fabricated to simulate a PD defect by a void. In addition, void samples with different diameters were fabricated by injecting air in a cylindrical aluminum frame using a syringe during the epoxy curing process. To identify the diameter of void defects, PD characteristics such as the discharge magnitude, pulse count, and phase angle were extracted and back propagation algorithm (BPA) was designed using virtual instrument (VI) based on the Labview program. From the experimental results, the BPA algorithm proposed in this paper has over 90% accurate rate to identify the diameter of void defects and is expected to use reference data of maintenance and replacement of insulation for cast-resin transformers in the on-site PD measurement.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.541-553
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• 2023

Retinal prostheses have shown some clinical success in restoring vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. However, the post-implantation visual acuity does not exceed that of legal blindness. The reason for the poor visual acuity might be that (1) degenerate retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are less responsive to electrical stimulation than normal RGCs, and (2) electrically-evoked RGC spikes show a more widespread not focal response. The single-biphasic pulse electrical stimulation, commonly used in artificial vision, has limitations in addressing these issues. In this study, we propose the benefit of multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation. We used C57BL/6J mice and C3H/HeJ (rd1) mice for the normal retina and retinal degeneration model. An 8 × 8 multi-electrode array was used to record electrically-evoked RGC spikes. We compared RGC responses when increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse versus increasing the number of consecutive biphasic pulses at the same stimulus charge. Increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse induced more RGC spike firing while the spatial resolution of RGC populations decreased. For multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation, RGC firing increased as the number of pulses increased, and the spatial resolution of RGC populations was well preserved even up to 5 pulses. Multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation using two or three pulses in degenerate retinas induced as much RGC spike firing as in normal retinas. These findings suggest that the newly proposed multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation can improve the visual acuity in prosthesis-implanted patients.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2001

Objective: To determine the ability of MR imaging to detect the pathological changes occurring in radiofrequency (RF) thermal lesions and to assess its accuracy in revealing the extent of tissue necrosis. Materials and Methods: Using an RF electrode, thermal lesions were created in the livers of 18 rabbits. The procedure involved three phases. In the acute phase, six animals were killed the day after performing thermal ablation with RF energy, and two on day 3. In the subacute and chronic phases, eight rabbits underwent percutaneous hepatic RF ablation. After performing MR imaging, two animals were sacrificed at 1, 2, 4, and 7 weeks after the procedure, and MRpathologic correlation was performed. Results: In the acute phase, the thermal ablation lesions appeared at gross examination as well-circumscribed, necrotic areas, representing early change in the coagulative necrosis seen at microscopic examination. They were hypointense on T2-weighted images, and hyperintense on T1-weighted images. Gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging showed that a thin hyperemic rim surrounded the central coagulative necrosis. In the subacute phase, ablated lesions also showed extensive coagulative necrosis and marked inflammation at microscopic examination. Beyond two weeks, the lesions showed gradual resorption of the necrotic area, with a peripheral fibrovascular rim. The size of lesions measured by MR imaging correlated well with the findings at gross pathologic examination. Conclusion: MR imaging effectively demonstrates the histopathological tissue change occurring after thermal ablation, and accurately determines the extent of the target area.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1607-1623
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• 2019

Sediment bioelectrochemical systems (SBESs) can be integrated into brackish aquaculture ponds for in-situ bioremediation of the pond water and sediment. Such an in-situ system offers advantages including reduced treatment cost, reusability and simple handling. In order to realize such an application potential of the SBES, in this laboratory-scale study we investigated the effect of several controllable and uncontrollable operational factors on the in-situ bioremediation performance of a tank model of a brackish aquaculture pond, into which a SBES was integrated, in comparison with a natural degradation control model. The performance was evaluated in terms of electricity generation by the SBES, Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and nitrogen removal of both the tank water and the tank sediment. Real-life conditions of the operational parameters were also experimented to understand the most close-to-practice responses of the system to their changes. Predictable effects of controllable parameters including external resistance and electrode spacing, similar to those reported previously for the BESs, were shown by the results but exceptions were observed. Accordingly, while increasing the electrode spacing reduced the current densities but generally improved COD and nitrogen removal, increasing the external resistance could result in decreased COD removal but also increased nitrogen removal and decreased current densities. However, maximum electricity generation and COD removal efficiency difference of the SBES (versus the control) could be reached with an external resistance of $100{\Omega}$, not with the lowest one of $10{\Omega}$. The effects of uncontrollable parameters such as ambient temperature, salinity and pH of the pond (tank) water were rather unpredictable. Temperatures higher than $35^{\circ}C$ seemed to have more accelaration effect on natural degradation than on bioelectrochemical processes. Changing salinity seriously changed the electricity generation but did not clearly affect the bioremediation performance of the SBES, although at 2.5% salinity the SBES displayed a significantly more efficient removal of nitrogen in the water, compared to the control. Variation of pH to practically extreme levels (5.5 and 8.8) led to increased electricity generations but poorer performances of the SBES (vs. the control) in removing COD and nitrogen. Altogether, the results suggest some distinct responses of the SBES under brackish conditions and imply that COD removal and nitrogen removal in the system are not completely linked to bioelectrochemical processes but electrochemically enriched bacteria can still perform non-bioelectrochemical COD and nitrogen removals more efficiently than natural ones. The results confirm the application potential of the SBES in brackish aquaculture bioremediation and help propose efficient practices to warrant the success of such application in real-life scenarios.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.837-850
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• 2002

In this paper, we propose an EEG-based response time prediction method during a yes/no cognitive decision task. In the experimental task, a subject goes through responding of visual stimulus, understanding the given problem, controlling hand motions, and hitting a key. Considering the subject's varying brain activities, we model subjects' mental states with defining CT (cut time), ST (selection time), and RP (repeated period). Based on the assumption between ST and RT in the mental model, we predict subjects' response time by detection of selection time. To recognize the subjects' selection time ST, we extract 3 types of feature from the filtered brain waves at frequency bands of $\alpha$, $\beta$, ${\gamma}$ waves in 4 electrode pairs combined by spatial relationships. From the extracted features, we construct specific rules for each subject and meta rules including common factors in all subjects. Applying the ST detection rules to 8 subjects gives 83% success rates and also shows that the subjects will hit a key in 0.73 seconds after ST detected. To validate the detection rules and parameters, we test the rules for 2 subjects among 8 and discuss about the experimental results. We expect that the proposed detection method can be a basic technology for brain-computer-interface by combining with left/right hand movement or yes/no discrimination methods.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.37-45
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• 2014

An embedded length of monopile caused by a scouring should be evaluated to monitor the stability of offshore foundations, because offshore foundations are affected by horizontal load. The objective of this study is to evaluate the scouring around offshore foundation by using electrical resistivity and to estimate ground stiffness by using shear wave tomography. The electrical resistivity profiles and shear wave tomography were measured according to the scour depth of model ground prepared with sand and cement. Several electrodes and bender elements were used to measure the electrical resistivity and shear waves, respectively. The electrode sets are attached on the monopile surface and bender elements are arranged in $7{\times}7$ arrays by using nylone frames. The electrical resistivity profiles and shear wave tomography are acquired by laboratory experiment. Maximum scour depth was estimated by electrical resistivity profiles and the ground stiffness of model ground was estimated by shear wave tomography. This study suggests that the electrical resistivity profiles and shear wave tomography may be useful for monitoring the stability of the offshore foundations.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.585-589
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• 1994

The complexation of cadmium(II) with a well characterized local soil fulvic acid was investigated at different solution pH and fulvic acid concentration using ion selective electrode. The stability constants were determined using a continuous distribution model based on Scatchard Plot; this model takes into consideration the diversitv of cation binding sites on a naturally occurring organic macromolecules even if the nature of the binding sites may not be known. The mean value of $logKi(\mu)$ was found to increase at higher pH(pH 4.0: ${\mu}=3.79{\pm}0.74$ l\;mol^{-1}; pH 6.0: ${\mu}=4.51{\pm}0.78$ l\;mol^{-1}$), and in more dilute fulvic acid concentration([FA] = 50 mgl$^{-1}: {\mu}=4.16{\pm}0.60$ l\;mol^{-1}; [FA]=151 mgl$^{-1}:{\mu}=3.75{\pm}0.5\;l\;mol^{-1}$). The intrinsic constant(logKint) for binding at the strongest site was measured to be around $4.72\;l\;mol^{-1}$ at both pH4.0 and 5.0, but was found to be increased to $6.03\;l\;mol^{-1}$ when pH was 6.0.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.831-841
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• 2010

The conventional vertical probe has the thin and long signal path that makes transfer characteristic of probe worse because of the S-shaped structure. So we propose the new vertical probe structure that has branch springs in the S-shaped probe. It makes closed loop when the probe mechanically connects to the electrode on a wafer. We fabricated the proposed vertical probe and measured the transfer characteristic and mechanical properties. Compared to the conventional S-shaped vertical probe, the proposed probe has the overdrive that is 1.2 times larger and the contact force that is 2.5 times larger. And we got the improved transfer characteristic by 1.4 dB in $0{\sim}10$ GHz. Also we developed the simulation model of the probe card by using full-wave simulator and the simulation result is correlated with measurement one. As a result of this simulation model, the cantilever probe and PCB have the worst transfer characteristic in the probe card.