• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.61-64
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• 2015

A number of dynamic stabilization systems have been used to overcome the problems associated with spinal fusion with rigid fixation recently and the demand for an ideal dynamic stabilization system is greater for younger patients with multisegment disc degeneration. Nitinol, a shape memory alloy of nickel and titanium, is flexible at low temperatures and regains its original shape when heated, and the Nitinol shape memory loop (SML) implant has been used as a posterior tension band mostly in decompressive laminectomy cases because the Nitinol implant has various characteristics such as high elasticity and a tensile force, flexibility, and biological compatibility. The reported short-term outcomes of the application of SMLs as posterior column supporters in cervical and lumbar decompressive laminectomies seem to be positive, and complications are minimal except for the rare occurrence of pullout and fracture of the SML. However, there was no report of neurological complications related to neural compression in spite of the use of the loop of SML in the epidural space. The authors report a case of delayed development of radiating pain caused by subsidence of the SML resulting epidural compression.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.07d
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• pp.2807-2808
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• 2003

말초 신경계에서 손상된 신경은 그 손상된 정도에 따라 재생의 정도가 달라진다. 이러한 신경 재생의 정도를 확인할 수 있는 방법으로 초미세 전극 어레이 기술이 연구되고 있는데 이것은 전기신호경로(via hole)를 초미세 전극어레이를 제작하여, 손상된 신경의 근위부(proximal stump)와 원위부(distal stump) 사이에 직접 삽입하여 선경으로부터 재생되어온 신경 섬유의 전기적 전도 선호를 측정 및 기록하는 것이다. 이는 신경 재생을 관찰하는 방법으로서 신경보철(neural prostheses) 기술에 이용된다. 따라서, 본 논문에서는 손상된 신경의 재생을 관찰하기 위한 implantable microelectrode array system을 설계하고, 원 신호인 선경 전도 신호의 특성과 제작된 이식형 초미세전극(implantable microelectrode)의 특성을 고찰하며, 동물 실험을 통하여 그 성능을 검증하였다.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.58-65
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• 2015

This paper presents the design of an implantable stimulation IC intended for neural prosthetic devices using $0.18-{\mu}m$ standard CMOS technology. The proposed single-channel biphasic current stimulator prototype is designed to deliver up to 1 mA of current to the tissue-equivalent $10-k{\Omega}$ load using 12.8-V supply voltage. To utilize only low-voltage standard CMOS transistors in the design, transistor stacking with dynamic gate biasing technique is used for reliable operation at high-voltage. In addition, active charge balancing circuit is used to maintain zero net charge at the stimulation site over the complete stimulation cycle. The area of the total stimulator IC consisting of DAC, current stimulation output driver, level-shifters, digital logic, and active charge balancer is $0.13mm^2$ and is suitable to be applied for multi-channel neural prosthetic devices.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.443-448
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• 2009

For successful visual perception by visual prosthesis using electrical stimulation, it is essential to develop an effective stimulation strategy based on understanding of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) responses to electrical stimulation. We studied RGC responses to repetitive electrical stimulation pulses to develop a stimulation strategy using stimulation pulse frequency modulation. Retinal patches of photoreceptor-degenerated retinas from rd1 mice were attached to a planar multi-electrode array (MEA) and RGC spike trains responding to electrical stimulation pulse trains with various pulse frequencies were observed. RGC responses were strongly dependent on inter-pulse interval when it was varied from 500 to 10 ms. Although the evoked spikes were suppressed with increasing pulse rate, the number of evoked spikes were >60% of the maximal responses when the inter-pulse intervals exceeded 100 ms. Based on this, we investigated the modulation of evoked RGC firing rates while increasing the pulse frequency from 1 to 10 pulses per second (or Hz) to deduce the optimal pulse frequency range for modulation of RGC response strength. RGC response strength monotonically and linearly increased within the stimulation frequency of 1~9 Hz. The results suggest that the evoked neural activities of RGCs in degenerated retina can be reliably controlled by pulse frequency modulation, and may be used as a stimulation strategy for visual neural prosthesis.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.44 no.2 s.314
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• pp.18-23
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• 2007

Intra-body communication' is a wireless communication technology that uses a body as a transmission medium for electrical signals. Generally, an 'earth ground' is used to create an electric field for operating the system; however this operating method could not apply to telemetry for implanted neural prosthetic devices. So this paper suggests a newly designed intra-body communication for neural prosthetic devices. A floating system which has a couple of electrodes with body was studied to remove an influence of the 'earth ground'. We found that 10MHz is the most suitable carrier frequency in skin experiments and over 3MHz in subcutaneous experiments. The system has been applied to a current stimulator circuit for cochlear implant that uses pulse width modulation (PWM) method at 480kbps rate successfully.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.145-152
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: The present study aims to investigate whether the cochlear implant electrode array design affects the electrophysiological and psychophysical measures. Subjects and Methods: Eighty five ears were used as data in this retrospective study. They were divided into two groups by the electrode array design: lateral wall type (LW) and perimodiolar type (PM). The electrode site was divided into three regions (basal, medial, apical). The evoked compound action potential (ECAP) threshold, T level, C level, dynamic range (DR), and aided air conduction threshold were measured. Results: The ECAP threshold was lower for the PM than for the LW, and decreased as the electrode site was closer to the apical region. The T level was lower for the PM than for the LW, and was lower on the apical region than on the other regions. The C level on the basal region was lower for the PM than for the LW whereas the C level was lower on the apical region than on the other regions. The DRs on the apical region was greater for the PM than for the LW whereas the DR was narrower on the apical region than on the other regions. The aided air conduction threshold was not different for the electrode design and frequency. Conclusions: The current study would support the advantages of the PM over the LW in that the PM had the lower current level and greater DR, which could result in more localized neural stimulation and reduced power consumption.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.145-152
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: The present study aims to investigate whether the cochlear implant electrode array design affects the electrophysiological and psychophysical measures. Subjects and Methods: Eighty five ears were used as data in this retrospective study. They were divided into two groups by the electrode array design: lateral wall type (LW) and perimodiolar type (PM). The electrode site was divided into three regions (basal, medial, apical). The evoked compound action potential (ECAP) threshold, T level, C level, dynamic range (DR), and aided air conduction threshold were measured. Results: The ECAP threshold was lower for the PM than for the LW, and decreased as the electrode site was closer to the apical region. The T level was lower for the PM than for the LW, and was lower on the apical region than on the other regions. The C level on the basal region was lower for the PM than for the LW whereas the C level was lower on the apical region than on the other regions. The DRs on the apical region was greater for the PM than for the LW whereas the DR was narrower on the apical region than on the other regions. The aided air conduction threshold was not different for the electrode design and frequency. Conclusions: The current study would support the advantages of the PM over the LW in that the PM had the lower current level and greater DR, which could result in more localized neural stimulation and reduced power consumption.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.33-42
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• 2009

A polymer-based flexible neural probe was fabricated for monitoring of neural activities from a brain. To improve the insertion stiffness, a 5 ${\mu}m$ thick biocompatible Au layer was electroplated between the top and bottom polymer layers. The developed neural probe penetrated a gel whose elastic modulus is similar to that of a live brain tissue without any fracture, To minimize mechanical residual stress and bending from the probe, two new methods were employed: (1) use of a thermal annealing process after completing the device and (2) incorporation of multiple different layers to compensate the residual stress between top and bottom layers. Mechanical bending around the probe tip was clearly removed after employing the two processes. In electrical test, the developed probe showed a proper impedance value to record neural signals from a brain and the result remained the same for 72 hours. In simple in-vitro probe characterization, the probe showed a great removal of residual stress and an excellent recording performance. The in-vitro recording results did not change even after 1 week, suggesting that this electrode has the potential for great recording from neuron firing and long-term implant performance.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.7-10
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• 2014

In order to develop smart grid communications infrastructure, a high level of interconnectivity and reliability among its nodes is required. Sensors, advanced metering devices, electrical appliances, and monitoring devices, just to mention a few, will be highly interconnected allowing for the seamless flow of data. Reliability and security in this flow of data between nodes is crucial due to the low latency and cyber-attacks resilience requirements of the Smart Grid. In particular, Artificial Intelligence techniques such as Fuzzy Logic, Bayesian Inference, Neural Networks, and other methods can be employed to enhance the security gaps in conventional IDSs. A distributed FPGA-based network with adaptive and cooperative capabilities can be used to study several security and communication aspects of the smart grid infrastructure both from the attackers and defensive point of view. In this paper, the vital issue of security in the smart grid is discussed, along with a possible approach to achieve this by employing FPGA based Radial Basis Function (RBF) network intrusion.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.287-293
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• 2013

Cochlear implant (CI) is an auditory prosthesis that delivers electrical stimulation via inserted electrodes into a cochlea. To evaluate CI performance, it is important to understand how auditory nerves are responded to electrical stimulations. In clinic, electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) is measured. In this study, we developed 3D finite element (FE) cochlear model to simulate ECAP in response to electrical stimulation. The model prododuced ECAP similar to that measured in animal experiments and clinics. This 3D FE cochlear model could be used in electrical stimulus method study to improve CI by analyzing neural responses to electrical stimulations.