• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.66-74
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• 2024

This study analyzed the occurrence of abnormal muscle coactivations based on the assistance of upper limb weight during reaching task in stroke patients. Nine chronic stroke survivors with hemiplegia performed reaching tasks using a programmable haptic robot. Electromyography (EMG) coactivation levels in the upper limb muscles were analyzed using a linear model describing the activation levels of two muscles when the patient's upper limb weight was assisted at 0%, 25%, and 50%. As the upper limb weight assistance of the haptic robot decreased, the magnitude of the EMG signal in both the deltoid and biceps muscles increased simultaneously on both the paretic and non-paretic sides. However, no difference was found between the paretic and non-paretic sides when comparing the slope of the linear model describing the activation relationship between the deltoid and biceps. The aforementioned results suggest that in some stroke survivors, the deltoids, triceps, and biceps on the paretic side may not be abnormally coupled when supporting the upper limbs against gravity. Furthermore, these results suggest that the combination of haptic robots and EMG analysis might be utilized for evaluating abnormal coactivations in stroke patients.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

Background: The interest in robotic cardiac surgery has recently grown but there has not been much clinical research reported on this. The aim of this study is to examine our initial experience, since August 2007, with robotic cardiac surgery using the da $Vince^{TM}$ surgical system and to evaluate the feasibility and safety of it. Material and Method: Between August and December 2007, a total of 20 patients underwent robotic cardiac surgery using the da Vinci surgical system. For mitral valve repair (n=11), tricuspid valve repair (n=1), and ASD repair (n=1), cannulation, antegrade cardioplegia and transthoracic aortic cross-clamping were conducted for the right femoral vessels and the right internal jugular vein. For minimally invasive direct CABG (MIDCAB) (n=7), the internal thoracic artery (ITA) was harvested with the da Vinci surgical system. Result: The mean age of the patients was 50.1 (range: $26{\sim}78$) years. Three concomitant Maze procedures and one tricuspid annuloplasty were combined with mitral valve repair. The mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was $208.0{\pm}61.3$ minutes and the aortic cross clamp time was $158.8{\pm}40.6$ minutes. No patients showed more than mild mitral regurgitation after repair and the median hospital stay was 4 days. The robotic-harvested ITA was used for either left ITA (n=6) or bilateral ITA (n=1). The mean harvest time was $43.2{\pm}12.0$ minutes. The harvested ITA showed good flow and it was anastomosed under direct vision after left anterolateral thoracotomy. The patency of all the grafts was 100% (18/18) in MIDCAB. Conclusion: Robotic cardiac surgery using the da Vinci surgical system was variously adapted to areas such as mitral and tricuspid valve repair, ASD repair and ITA harvest for MIDCAB. The early results of the robotic cardiac surgery showed its safety and feasibility. With this primary report, we anticipate that clinical applications and further studies on robotic cardiac surgery using the da Vinci surgical system will be actively conducted in Korea.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.5 s.250
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• pp.366-370
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• 2005

Background: In general, cardiac surgery has been performed via median sternotomy. During the past decade, improvements in endoscopic equipment and operative techniques have resulted in development of minimally invasive cardiac operation using small incisions. With the advent of a voice controlled camera-holding robotic arm (AESOP 3000, Automated Endoscope System for Optimal Positioning), cardiac surgery entered the robotic age. Material and Method: Between April 2004 and December 2004, a total of seventy eight patients underwent robotic cardiac surgery, of whom sixty four patients underwent robot-assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgery via 5cm right lateral minithoracotomy using voice controlled robotic arm, femoral vessels cannulation, percutaneous internal jugular cannulation, transthoracic aortic cross clamp. Other fourteen patients underwent MIDCAB via internal mammary artery harvesting using AESOP. Result: Robotic cardiac surgery were mitral valve repair in 37 cases, mitral valve replacement in 10 cases, aortic valve replacement in 1 case, MIDCAB in 14 cases, ASD operation in 9 cases, and isolated Maze procedure in 1 case. In mitral operation, mean CPB time was $165.3\pm43.1$ minutes and mean ACC time was $110.4\pm48.2$ minutes. Median length of hospital stay was 6 days (range 3 to 30) in mitral operation, 4 days (range 2 to 7) in MIDCAB, and 4 days (range 2 to 6) in ASD operation. For complications, 3 patients were required by reoperation for bleeding. There was no hospital mortality. Conclusion: Our experience of robot cardiac surgery suggests that many cardiovascular surgeons will be able to perform minimally invasive cardiac operations through small incisions with robot-assisted video-direction. Well-designed studies and close long-term follow-up will be required to analyze the benefits of robot-assisted operation.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.807-820
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• 2023

Objective: To assess whether computed tomography (CT) conversion across different scan parameters and manufacturers using a routable generative adversarial network (RouteGAN) can improve the accuracy and variability in quantifying interstitial lung disease (ILD) using a deep learning-based automated software. Materials and Methods: This study included patients with ILD who underwent thin-section CT. Unmatched CT images obtained using scanners from four manufacturers (vendors A-D), standard- or low-radiation doses, and sharp or medium kernels were classified into groups 1-7 according to acquisition conditions. CT images in groups 2-7 were converted into the target CT style (Group 1: vendor A, standard dose, and sharp kernel) using a RouteGAN. ILD was quantified on original and converted CT images using a deep learning-based software (Aview, Coreline Soft). The accuracy of quantification was analyzed using the dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and pixel-wise overlap accuracy metrics against manual quantification by a radiologist. Five radiologists evaluated quantification accuracy using a 10-point visual scoring system. Results: Three hundred and fifty CT slices from 150 patients (mean age: 67.6 ± 10.7 years; 56 females) were included. The overlap accuracies for quantifying total abnormalities in groups 2-7 improved after CT conversion (original vs. converted: 0.63 vs. 0.68 for DSC, 0.66 vs. 0.70 for pixel-wise recall, and 0.68 vs. 0.73 for pixel-wise precision; P < 0.002 for all). The DSCs of fibrosis score, honeycombing, and reticulation significantly increased after CT conversion (0.32 vs. 0.64, 0.19 vs. 0.47, and 0.23 vs. 0.54, P < 0.002 for all), whereas those of ground-glass opacity, consolidation, and emphysema did not change significantly or decreased slightly. The radiologists' scores were significantly higher (P < 0.001) and less variable on converted CT. Conclusion: CT conversion using a RouteGAN can improve the accuracy and variability of CT images obtained using different scan parameters and manufacturers in deep learning-based quantification of ILD.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2002

This paper demonstrates that the largest Lyapunov exponent λ of recurrent neural networks can be controlled efficiently by a stochastic gradient method. An essential core of the proposed method is a novel stochastic approximate formulation of the Lyapunov exponent λ as a function of the network parameters such as connection weights and thresholds of neural activation functions. By a gradient method, a direct calculation to minimize a square error (λ - λ$\^$obj/)$^2$, where λ$\^$obj/ is a desired exponent value, needs gradients collection through time which are given by a recursive calculation from past to present values. The collection is computationally expensive and causes unstable control of the exponent for networks with chaotic dynamics because of chaotic instability. The stochastic formulation derived in this paper gives us an approximation of the gradients collection in a fashion without the recursive calculation. This approximation can realize not only a faster calculation of the gradient, but also stable control for chaotic dynamics. Due to the non-recursive calculation. without respect to the time evolutions, the running times of this approximation grow only about as N$^2$ compared to as N$\^$5/T that is of the direct calculation method. It is also shown by simulation studies that the approximation is a robust formulation for the network size and that proposed method can control the chaos dynamics in recurrent neural networks efficiently.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.643-651
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• 2007

The various blood pressure simulators have been proposed to evaluate and improve the performance of the automatic sphygmomanometer. These have some problems such as the deviation of the actual blood pressure waveform, limitation in the blood pressure condition of the simulator, or difficulty in displaying the blood flow. An improved simulator using disturbance observer is proposed to supplement the current problems of the blood pressure simulator. The proposed simulator has an artificial arm model capable of feeding appropriate fluids that can generate the blood pressure waveform to evaluate the automatic sphygmomanometer. A controller was designed and thereafter, simulation was performed to control the output signal with respect to the reference input in the fluid dynamic model using the proposed proportional control valve. To minimize the external fluctuation of pressure applied to the artificial arm, a disturbance observer was designed on the plant. A hybrid controller combined with a proportional controller and feed-forward controller was fabricated after applying a disturbance observer to the control plant. Comparison of the simulations between the conventional proportional controller and the proposed hybrid controller indicated that even though the former showed good control performance without disturbance, it was affected by the disturbance signal induced by the cuff. The latter exhibited an excellent performance under both situations.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1991.10b
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• pp.1796-1800
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• 1991

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems(PACS) provide an integration of digital imaging information in a hospital, which encompasses various imaging equipment, viewing workstations, database archive systems, and a high speed fiber optic network. One of the most important requirements for integration is the standardization of communication protocols to connect devices from different vendors. Since 1985, the ACR-NEMA standard provides a hardware interface, a set of software commands, and a consistent set of data formats for point-to-point interconnection of medical equipment. However, it has been shown to be inadequate for PACS networking environments, because of its point-to-point nature and its inflexibility to allow other services and protocols in the future. Based on previous experience of PACS developments in The University of Arizona, a new communication protocol for PACS networks has been suggested to the ACR-NEMA Working Group VI. The defined PACS protocol is intended to facilitate the development of PACS's capable of interfacing with other hospital information systems. Also, it is intended to allow the creation of diagnostic information data bases which can be interrogated by a variety of distributed devices. A particularly important goal is to support communications in a multivendor environment. The new protocol specifications are defined primarily as a combination of the International Organization for Standardization / Open Systems Interconnection (ISO/OSI) protocols and the data format portion of ACR-NEMA standard. This paper addresses the specification and implementation of the proposed PACS protocol into network node. The protocol specification, which covers Presentation, Session, Transport, and Network layers, is summarized briefly. The implementation has natural extentions to Global PACS environments. The protocol implementation is discussed based on our implementation efforts in the UNIX Operating System Environment. At the same time, results of performance evaluation are presented to demonstrate the implementation of defined protocol. The testing of performance analysis is performed on the PACS prototype node.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.139-148
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• 2015

The purpose of image fusion is to combine the relevant information from a set of images into a single image, where the resultant fused image will be more informative and complete than any of the input images. Image fusion techniques can improve the quality and increase the application of these data important applications of the fusion of images include medical imaging, remote sensing, and robotics. In this paper, we suggest a new method to generate a fusion image using the close relation of image features obtained through maximum entropy threshold and mutual information. This method represents a good image registration in case of using a blurring image than other image fusion methods.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.4
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• pp.567-576
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• 2020

Considerable controversy surrounds the choice of the best abutment type for implant prosthetics. The two most common structures are hex and non-hex abutments. The non-hex abutment typically furnishes a larger contact area between itself and the implant than that provided by a hex structure. However, when a hex abutment is loaded, the position of its contact area may be deeper than that of a non-hex abutment. Hence, the purpose of this study is to determine the different biomechanical behaviors of an internal bone-level implant based on the abutment type-hex or non-hex-and clinical crown length under static and cyclic loadings using finite element analysis (FEA). The hex structure was found to increase the implant and abutment stability more than the nonhex structure among several criteria. The use of the hex structure resulted in a smaller volume of bone tissues being at risk of hypertrophy and fatigue failure. It also reduced micromovement (separation) between the implant components, which is significantly related to the pumping effect and possible inflammation. Both static and fatigue analyses, used to examine short- and long-term stability, demonstrated the advantages of the hex abutment over the non-hex type for the stability of the implant components. Moreover, although its impact was not as significant as that of the abutment type, a large crown-implant ratio (CIR) increased bone strain and stress in the implant components, particularly under oblique loading.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 2011

The technique of localization is the core technology for information exchange or environment monitering to measure the position of an object or person. Today, the techniques of localization have been studied extensively and it can be applied to logistics, medical, robotics, etc. But, a lot of money to apply technique of localization is needed. Hence in this paper, we proposed AoA localization system based on Zigbee at low cost. The System measured the RSSI value by rotating the directional antenna using a step motor and Zigbee module. When the measured RSSI is the largest, the receiver measures the angles from beacons which are located at the corners with the rotating angle of a stepping motor and the position of the receiver will be calculated by appling AoA localization method. The measured results show an error about 35~36 cm.