• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.637-646
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• 2007

An UET (ultrasound excited thermography) has been used for several years for a remote non-destructive testing in the automotive and aircraft industry. It provides a thermo sonic image for a defect detection. A thermograhy is based On a propagation and a reflection of a thermal wave, which is launched from the surface into the inspected sample by an absorption of a modulated radiation. For an energy deposition to a sample, the UET uses an ultrasound excited vibration energy as an internal heat source. In this paper the applicability of the UET for a realtime defect detection is described. Measurements were performed on two kinds of pipes made from a copper and a CFRP material. In the interior of the CFRP pipe (70mm diameter), a groove (width - 6mm, depth - 2.7mm, and length - 70mm) was engraved by a milling. In the case of the copper pipe, a defect was made with a groove (width - 2mm, depth - 1mm, and length - 110 mm) by the same method. An ultrasonic vibration energy of a pulsed type is injected into the exterior side of the pipe. A hot spot, which is a small area around the defect was considerably heated up when compared to the other intact areas, was observed. A test On a damaged copper pipe produced a thermo sonic image, which was an excellent image contrast when compared to a CFRP pipe. Test on a CFRP pipe with a subsurface defect revealed a thermo sonic image at the groove position which was a relatively weak contrast.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2011

Objectives : The objective of this case report was to observe the effect of musculoskeletal ultrasound-guided acupotomy therapy on posterior headache caused by traffic accident. Methods : Musculoskeletal ultrasound-guided acupotomy therapy was performed to two patients whose brain MRI or CT results were normal, but posterior headache did not improve with general eastern medical treatment. Results : One patient's VAS(visual analogue scale) of posterior headache was decreased for the first time after ultrasound-guided acupotomy therapy, and steadily reduced. The other patient's VAS was also decreased for the first time after musculoskeletal ultrasound-guided acupotomy therapy. Two patient's Korean HIT-6(Korean headache impact test-6) scores were decreased after one month. Conclusions : If general eastern medical treatment had little effect on traffic accident induced posterior headache, musculoskeletal ultrasound-guided acupotomy therapy can be applied.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2014

The piping system accounts for a large portion of the machinery structure of a plant, and is considered as a very important mechanical structure for plant safety. Accordingly, it is used in most energy plants in the nuclear, gas, and heavy chemical industries. In particular, the piping system for a nuclear plant is generally complicated and uses the reactor and its cooling system. The piping equipment is exposed to diverse loads such as weight, temperature, pressure, and seismic load from pipes and fluids, and is used to transfer steam, oil, and gas. In ultrasound infrared thermography, which is an active thermography technology, a 15-100 kHz ultrasound wave is applied to the subject, and the resulting heat from the defective parts is measured using a thermography camera. Because this technique can inspect a large area simultaneously and detect defects such as cracks and delamination in real time, it is used to detect defects in the new and renewable energy, car, and aerospace industries, and recently, in piping defect detection. In this study, ultrasound infrared thermography is used to detect information for the diagnosis of nuclear equipment and structures. Test specimens are prepared with piping materials for nuclear plants, and the optimally designed ultrasound horn and ultrasound vibration system is used to determine damages on nuclear plant piping and detect defects. Additionally, the detected images are used to improve the reliability of the surface and internal defect detection for nuclear piping materials, and their field applicability and reliability is verified.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.647-654
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• 2003

This study investigated the effect of ultrasound on the permeability of the filter paper The investigation involves laboratory experiments, and the laboratory tests were conducted under abroad range of conditions Including energy levels of ultrasonic waves, time for treatment, and temperature. The results of the study show that sonication enhances the permeability of the filter paper significantly. The degree of enhancement varies with sonication power and duration of application. The effect of sonication on permeability with temperature variation and concentration of the test specimens seems not to be significant.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.229-236
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• 2006

The acoustic field analysis method is the superior calibration method for rectifying the ultrasonic probe sensitivity. This method also can be applied to evaluate the probe performance in clinical fields without numerical analysis and precise measurements. In this paper, we propose the method of acoustic field pattern analysis with probe channel division for the evaluation of diagnostic ultrasound probe characterization. In order to verify our purpose, we performed a set of experiments. We measured the acoustic-field pattern of the three inferiority probes by channel division to evaluate an acoustic field distribution and impulse response characteristics. By comparing the results of acoustic field measurement method with that of conventional method such as impulse response and live image test for linear array probes, it is demonstrated that the ultrasound field measurement method is more effective then conventional method in detection of defective elements.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.118-127
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• 2024

Commonly deep learning methods for enhancing the quality of medical images use unpaired dataset due to the impracticality of acquiring paired dataset through commercial imaging system. In this paper, we propose a supervised learning method to enhance the quality of ultrasound images. The U-net model is designed by incorporating a divide-and-conquer approach that divides and processes an image into four parts to overcome data shortage and shorten the learning time. The proposed model is trained using paired dataset consisting of 828 pairs of low-quality and high-quality images with a resolution of 512x512 pixels obtained by varying the number of channels for the same subject. Out of a total of 828 pairs of images, 684 pairs are used as the training dataset, while the remaining 144 pairs served as the test dataset. In the test results, the average Mean Squared Error (MSE) was reduced from 87.6884 in the low-quality images to 45.5108 in the restored images. Additionally, the average Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) was improved from 28.7550 to 31.8063, and the average Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) was increased from 0.4755 to 0.8511, demonstrating significant enhancements in image quality.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.87-93
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• 2002

This study is to enhance drug penetration via skin and investigate anti-inflammation effect following adoption of ultrasound. For this goal gel containing triamcinolone was prepared and the skin penetration rate and the change effects of blood plasma ingredients and serum enzyme were investigated. Using Franz type diffusion cell and the skin of hairless mouse, the permeation enhancing effect of ultrasound was tested. After the injury by direct trauma, the blood test was performed by measuring WBC, lymphocyte, and neutrophyl, and by analyzing CPK and LDH. The ultrasound transducer whose technical specification is geometric area(GA) $1.4\;cm^2$, effective radiation area(ERA) $0.8\;cm^2$, and beam non-uniformity ratio(BNR) 6.0 max was used. The influence of frequency having an effect on skin permeation rate was higher in the case of using 1MHz and continuous treatment. The temperature of receptor phase was not influenced in skin permeation by phonophoresis. Skin permeation increase attended by intensity of ultrasound, the permeation of triamcinolone was accelerated at $2.5\;w/cm^2\;than\;1.0\;w/cm^2$. Following muscle injury phonophoretic group the number of WBC, neutrophil and lympholyte were decreased significantly as compared with both control group and ultrasound group. The result of variation of serum CPK and LDH activity conformed to the phonophoretic effect as same pattern with the variation of WBC, neutrophil and lymphocyte.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.76-80
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• 2013

Purpose: The objective of this study was to offer primary clinical data examining whether change of imaging structure and quantitative evaluation of muscle activity on myofascial trigger points can lead to implementation of an analytical technique for evaluation of myofascial pain diagnoses. In addition, we examined the effect of a variety of mediation techniques, in order to examine neuromuscular physiological characteristics of myofascial trigger points muscle by comparing differences in pressure pain threshold and ultrasound imaging. Methods: Participants in the study included 30 adults in their twenties. The subjects were divided into the normal and myofascial trigger points groups. Clinical outcomes were evaluated by pressure pain threshold for pain and ultrasound imaging was performed for evaluation of the structural characteristics of muscle. Independent t-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: The two groups showed statistical significance in the change in pressure pain threshold (p<0.05). Findings of ultrasound imaging analysis showed no significant differences, increased muscle thickness was observed (p>0.05). Findings of ultrasound imaging analysis showed significant differences, increased muscle echodensity was observed (p<0.05). Findings on ultrasound imaging analysis showed significant differences, increased muscle white area index was observed (p<0.05). Conclusion: From these results, active myofascial trigger points muscle showed quality deterioration on ultrasound imaging. Thorough evaluation of imaging structure and physiological characteristics can be useful quantitative analytical techniques for diagnosis of myofascial pain syndrome and a primary factor reflected in physical therapy intervention.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.439-443
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• 2010

Nano sized SiC particles (270 nm) are easily agglomerated in nickel sulfamate electrolytic bath during a composite electrodeposition process. The agglomeration of nano particles in composite coatings can significantly reduce the mechanical properties of the composite coatings. In this study, Ni-SiC nano composite coatings were fabricated using a conventional electrodeposition process with the aid of ultrasound. Nano particles were found to be distributed homogeneously with reduced agglomeration in the ultrasonicated samples. Substantial improvements in mechanical properties were observed in the composite coatings prepared in presence of ultrasound over those without ultrasound. Ni-SiC composite coatings were prepared with variable ultrasonic frequencies ranging from 24 kHz to 78 kHz and ultrasonic powers up to 300 watts. The ultrasonic frequency of 38 kHz with ultrasonic power of 200 watt was revealed to be the best ultrasonic conditions for homogeneous dispersion of nano SiC particles with improved mechanical properties in the composite coatings. The microstructures, phase compositions, and mechanical properties of the composite coatings were observed and evaluated using SEM, XRD, Vickers microhardness, and wear test. The Vickers microhardness of composite coatings under ultrasonic condition was significantly improved as compared to the coatings without ultrasound. The friction coefficient of the composite coating prepared with an ultrasonic condition was also smaller than the pure nickel coatings. A synergistic combination of superior wear resistance and improved microhardness was found in the Ni-SiC composite coatings prepared with ultrasonic conditions.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 2022

Breast ultrasonic reading is critical as a primary screening test for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. However, breast ultrasound examinations show significant differences in diagnosis based on the difference in image quality according to the ultrasonic equipment, experience, and proficiency of the examiner. Accordingly, studies are being actively conducted to analyze the texture characteristics of normal breast tissue, positive tumors, and malignant tumors using breast ultrasonography and to use them for computer-assisted diagnosis. In this study, breast ultrasonography was conducted to select 247 ultrasound images of 71 normal breast tissues, 87 fibroadenomas among benign tumors, and 89 malignant tumors. The selected images were calculated using a statistical method with 21 feature parameters extracted using the gray level co-occurrence matrix algorithm, and classified as normal breast tissue, benign tumor, and malignancy. In addition, we proposed five feature parameters that are available for computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer classification. The average classification rate for normal breast tissue, benign tumors, and malignant tumors, using this feature parameter, was 82.8%.