• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.42-49
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• 2004

Purpose : The quantization noise in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems is analyzed. The signal-to-quantization noise ratio (SQNR) in the reconstructed image is derived from the level of quantization in the signal in spatial frequency domain. Based on the derived formula, the SQNRs in various main magnetic fields with different receiver systems are evaluated. From the evaluation, the quantization noise could be a major noise source determining overall system signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in high field MRI system. A few methods to reduce the quantization noise are suggested. Materials and methods : In Fourier imaging methods, spin density distribution is encoded by phase and frequency encoding gradients in such a way that it becomes a distribution in the spatial frequency domain. Thus the quantization noise in the spatial frequency domain is expressed in terms of the SQNR in the reconstructed image. The validity of the derived formula is confirmed by experiments and computer simulation. Results : Using the derived formula, the SQNRs in various main magnetic fields with various receiver systems are evaluated. Since the quantization noise is proportional to the signal amplitude, yet it cannot be reduced by simple signal averaging, it could be a serious problem in high field imaging. In many receiver systems employing analog-to-digital converters (ADC) of 16 bits/sample, the quantization noise could be a major noise source limiting overall system SNR, especially in a high field imaging. Conclusion : The field strength of MRI system keeps going higher for functional imaging and spectroscopy. In high field MRI system, signal amplitude becomes larger with more susceptibility effect and wider spectral separation. Since the quantization noise is proportional to the signal amplitude, if the conversion bits of the ADCs in the receiver system are not large enough, the increase of signal amplitude may not be fully utilized for the SNR enhancement due to the increase of the quantization noise. Evaluation of the SQNR for various systems using the formula shows that the quantization noise could be a major noise source limiting overall system SNR, especially in three dimensional imaging in a high field imaging. Oversampling and off-center sampling would be an alternative solution to reduce the quantization noise without replacement of the receiver system.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.453-462
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• 2021

A lot of license plate data is required for car number recognition. License plate data needs to be balanced from past license plates to the latest license plates. However, it is difficult to obtain data from the actual past license plate to the latest ones. In order to solve this problem, a license plate recognition study through deep learning is being conducted by creating a synthetic license plates. Since the synthetic data have differences from real data, and various data augmentation techniques are used to solve these problems. Existing data augmentation simply used methods such as brightness, rotation, affine transformation, blur, and noise. In this paper, we apply a style transformation method that transforms synthetic data into real-world data styles with data augmentation methods. In addition, real license plate data are noisy when it is captured from a distance and under the dark environment. If we simply recognize characters with input data, chances of misrecognition are high. To improve character recognition, in this paper, we applied the DeblurGANv2 method as a quality improvement method for character recognition, increasing the accuracy of license plate recognition. The method of deep learning for license plate detection and license plate number recognition used YOLO-V5. To determine the performance of the synthetic license plate data, we construct a test set by collecting our own secured license plates. License plate detection without style conversion recorded 0.614 mAP. As a result of applying the style transformation, we confirm that the license plate detection performance was improved by recording 0.679mAP. In addition, the successul detection rate without image enhancement was 0.872, and the detection rate was 0.915 after image enhancement, confirming that the performance improved.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.9-17
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• 2017

Purpose: The tissue description and electron density indicated by the Computed Tomography(CT) number (also known as Hounsfield Unit) in radiotherapy are important in ensuring the accuracy of CT-based computerized radiotherapy planning. The internal metal implants, however, not only reduce the accuracy of CT number but also introduce uncertainty into tissue description, leading to development of many clinical algorithms for reducing metal artifacts. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate the accuracy and the clinical applicability by analyzing date from SMART MAR (GE) used in our institution. Methode: and material: For assessment of images, the original images were obtained after forming ROIs with identical volumes by using CIRS ED phantom and inserting rods of six tissues and then non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images were obtained and compared in terms of CT number and SD value. For determination of the difference in dose by the changes in CT number due to metal artifacts, the original images were obtained by forming PTV at two sites of CIRS ED phantom CT images with Computerized Treatment Planning (CTP system), the identical treatment plans were established for non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images by obtaining unilateral and bilateral titanium insertion images, and mean doses, Homogeneity Index(HI), and Conformity Index(CI) for both PTVs were compared. The absorbed doses at both sites were measured by calculating the dose conversion constant (cCy/nC) from ylinder acrylic phantom, 0.125cc ionchamber, and electrometer and obtaining non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images from images resulting from insertions of unilateral and bilateral titanium rods, and compared with point doses from CTP. Result: The results of image assessment showed that the CT number of SMART MAR images compared to those of non-SMART MAR images were more close to those of original images, and the SD decreased more in SMART compared to non-SMART ones. The results of dose determinations showed that the mean doses, HI and CI of non-SMART MAR images compared to those of SMART MAR images were more close to those of original images, however the differences did not reach statistical significance. The results of absorbed dose measurement showed that the difference between actual absorbed dose and point dose on CTP in absorbed dose were 2.69 and 3.63 % in non-SMRT MAR images, however decreased to 0.56 and 0.68 %, respectively in SMART MAR images. Conclusion: The application of SMART MAR in CT images from patients with metal implants improved quality of images, being demonstrated by improvement in accuracy of CT number and decrease in SD, therefore it is considered that this method is useful in dose calculation and forming contour between tumor and normal tissues.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2009

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among korean woman. Therefore, the early detection activities of breast cancer such as breast self-examinations, clinical breast examinations, mammography are important. A yearly mammography examination has been recommended for women aged 40 and older for the early detection of breast cancer in asymptomatic periods. However, the glandular tissue of breast is the most radiation-sensitive tissue, and the determination of average glandular dose (AGD) forms an important part of the quality control of the mammographic systems. Because of the difficulty of estimating AGD directly, it is often estimated from the measurements of the incident air kerma and by applying the appropriate conversion factors. The primary objective of this study was to standardize the method of measuring AGD. The secondary objective was to evaluate the relationships between AGD per various composition and thickness of the breast using Monte Carlo simulations. As a result, we standardized the method of measuring AGD according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines (CoP: an international code of practice). Overall, AGD for mammographic practice in Korea was less than 3.0 mGy recommended by the Korea Food and Drug Adminstration (KFDA) protocol, and Korean Institute for Accreditation of Medical Image (KIAMI). The measured and simulated AGD for a given condition were calculated as 1.7 and 1.6 mGy, respectively. For the AGDs obtained, there was no significant difference between them. The simulated AGD was dependent on the fraction of glandular tissue of the breast. The AGD increases with increasing of the breast glandularity due to increasing absorption of low energy photons. The AGD also increases as a function of breast thickness. In conclusion, the results of this study could be used as a baseline to establish a reference level of radiation dose in mammography.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.110-119
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• 2009

Sosang Pal-Kyung(瀟湘八景), which originated in China and means eight scenes of So River and Sang River, greatly influenced the poems and the pictures in East Asia for a long time and became a cultural phenomenon leading the stereotype of the traditional landscapes in Korea and Japan. Studies on 'Kyung(a scene)' such as 'Pal-Kyung(八景)', have been made continuously until now, but there are no results of a study intensively focusing on the meaning and the form of Sosang Pal-Kyung, which is the origin of the domestic Pal-Kyung culture. The goal of this study is to investigate the typical form observed in Sosang Pal-Kyung-Ga(瀟湘八景歌) and Sosang Pal-Kyung-Do(瀟湘八景圖), as a text of a cultural landscape, and to clear up the coherence structure between a recognition system and a way of thinking that existed in the cultural phenomenon of Sosang Pal-Kyung. In this study, the symbolism of Pal(八) was summarized and the surface structure and the correlation of each Kyung of Sosang Pal-Kyung was explained in light of semiotics through segmenting and disjointing the lexeme of a landscape while the coherence structure and the meaning of Sosang Pal-Kyung-Ga and Sosang Pal-Kyung-Do as a text were investigated. Sosang Pal-Kyung is based on the view of the Sun and the Moon(or Positive and Negative) and the Eight Trigrams(八卦) for divination and is a linguistic symbol in which human life and the principle of circulation and conversion of nature are expressed as characters and picture texts. Its structure has strong coherence and cohesion, which attempt to move the abstruse truth of nature into human consciousness by developing and corresponding the grammatical structure and form of the sentences and the implicative languages emphasizing the symbolism of the words to the characteristics of similarities and contrast. In addition, Sosang Pal-Kyung expresses human life, the processes of birth and death of nature and the mutual response dialectically by putting various factors of the landscape in the frame of regular formality and structure. It is considered that the image signs in Sosang Pal-Kyung emphasize the theory of circulation of human life and nature are narrative scenery, which one looks at with a contemplative view in the circulation system of the time and the season. The cultural phenomena of Sosang Pal-Kyung in the Joseon Dynasty, which had been handed down from the Goryeo Dynasty, had become the driving force of leading aesthetics of Joseon's art and literature by adding the scenery of the point of view of Sung Confucianism. Its coherence structure was changed, but its cohesion was handed down continuously so that it became not only the basic text of the traditional and cultural landscape but also, the typical Korean-style stereotype of a landscape.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.387-397
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• 2023

Plant height is a growth parameter that provides visible insights into the plant's growth status and has a high correlation with yield, so it is widely used in crop breeding and cultivation research. Investigation of the growth characteristics of crops such as plant height has generally been conducted directly by humans using a ruler, but with the recent development of sensing and image analysis technology, research is being attempted to digitally convert growth measurement technology to efficiently investigate crop growth. In this study, the canopy height of rice grown at various nitrogen fertilization levels was measured using a laser scanner capable of precise measurement over a wide range, and a comparative analysis was performed with the actual plant height. As a result of comparing the point cloud data collected with a laser scanner and the actual plant height, it was confirmed that the estimated plant height measured based on the average height of the top 1% points showed the highest correlation with the actual plant height (R² = 0.93, RMSE = 2.73). Based on this, a linear regression equation was derived and used to convert the canopy height measured with a laser scanner to the actual plant height. The rice growth curve drawn by combining the actual and estimated plant height collected by various nitrogen fertilization conditions and growth period shows that the laser scanner-based canopy height measurement technology can be effectively utilized for assessing the plant height and growth of rice. In the future, 3D images derived from laser scanners are expected to be applicable to crop biomass estimation, plant shape analysis, etc., and can be used as a technology for digital conversion of conventional crop growth assessment methods.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.258-266
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• 2023

This study analyzed methodologies for estimating carbon stocks of perennial woody crops and the research cases in overseas countries. As a result, we found that Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, and Japan are using the stock-difference method, while Austria, Denmark, and Germany are estimating the change in the carbon stock based on the gain-loss method. In some overseas countries, the researches were conducted on estimating the carbon stock change using image data as tier 3 phase beyond the research developing country-specific factors as tier 2 phase. In South Korea, convergence studies as the third stage were conducted in forestry field, but advanced research in the agricultural field is at the beginning stage. Based on these results, we suggest directions for the following four future researches: 1) securing national-specific factors related to emissions and removals in the agricultural field through the development of allometric equation and carbon conversion factors for perennial woody crops to improve the completeness of emission and removals statistics, 2) implementing policy studies on the cultivation area calculation refinement with fruit tree-biomass-based maturity, 3) developing a more advanced estimation technique for perennial woody crops in the agricultural sector using allometric equation and remote sensing techniques based on the agricultural and forestry satellite scheduled to be launched in 2025, and to establish a matrix and monitoring system for perennial woody crop cultivation areas in the agricultural sector, Lastly, 4) estimating soil carbon stocks change, which is currently estimated by treating all agricultural areas as one, by sub-land classification to implement a dynamic carbon cycle model. This study suggests a detailed guideline and advanced methods of carbon stock change calculation for perennial woody crops, which supports 2050 Carbon Neutral Strategy of Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs and activate related research in agricultural sector.