• 한국환경복원기술학회지
• /
• 제4권1호
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the creation techniques of eco-pond, one of biotopes to promote biodiversity in urban residence area. Investigation were classified out plant, mammals, amphibia, reptiles, birds, fishes and insects. The results were summarized as follows: Around the eco-pond shows simple vegetation structurs, consisted of Pinus densoflora S et Z. and Robinia pseudoacacia under competition. In case of shrub, consisted of 4 species but plant growing appearence diversely by seasons. The evaluation of vegetation of eco-pond, there are found 4 species of aquatic plants. Inside the revetment of pond, Echinochloa crus-galli, Persicaria hydropiper, Digiaria sanguinalis, Cyperus microiria and Bidens frondosa L. are mainly distributed. Near the revetment, Trifolium repens L. and Digiaria sanguinalis are prevailed. And in its background, Erigeron canadensis, Erigeron annuus and vines are begins to make their appearances. When evaluation animals in eco-pond and contrast plot, it show simple species and numbers of mammals. It seemed to be resulted from its isolation and outside intervention by users In eco-pond, Pica pica and Streptopelia orientalis are mainly found and in contrast plot of Columba livia, which are so strong adaptation to city life environment. In case of amphibia and reptiles, none is observed in contrast plot, but in ecological pond, Rana nigromaculata and Hyla japonica are constantly observed. In case of insects, more species are found in eco-pond than contrast plot. And in eco-pond, more dragonflies are visibly increased one year after its construction. In floral zone inside of pond revetment, grasshopper and Locusta migratoria are frequently observed. In case of butterflies, they are mainly found in log fence and willow(salix) around eco-pond. In case of fishes inside of eco-pond, the species and its density are remarkable increased one year after the construction. With above evaluation results, we have identify the increase effect of biodiversity after construction of the eco-pond.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• 제22권1호
• /
• pp.52-57
• /
• 2009

Background: Transforaminal epidural injection (TEI) may be useful to treat unilateral pain that has a dermatomal distribution. In this approach, the needle tip can be placed closer to the dorsal root ganglion and ventral aspect of the nerve root. However many studies have reported that serious complications following TEI occurred more frequently when it was conducted at the cervical level. One of the presumptive mechanisms of the complication is intravascular injection. Therefore this study was conducted to identify the incidence of complications in response to intravascular injections at cervical segments. Methods: This study included all patients, who visited our pain clinic and had radicular symptoms or herpes zoster associated pain. All procedures were conducted under fluoroscopic guidance with contrast enhancement by one of the authors. After the ideal needle position was confirmed by biplanar fluoroscopy, the blood aspiration through the needle hub was evaluated, and a 3 ml mixture of nonionic contrast (2 ml) with normal saline (1 ml) was injected at a rate of 0.3-0.5 ml/sec continuously under real time fluoroscopic visualization. We then classified the contrast spreading pattern as neural, simultaneous neural and vascular, or vascular. Results: A total 71 cervical TEIs were performed. In 26 cases (36.6%), the contrast only spread to the nerve sheath. However, 45 cases (63.4%) showed an intravascular spreading pattern, 37 (52.1%) of which showed a neural and vascular pattern and 8 (11.3%) of which showed only a vascular pattern. Conclusions: Approximately two thirds of the cases of cervical TEI were found to lead to intravascular spreading, which is much higher than the incidence reported in previous studies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• 제41권3호
• /
• pp.290-297
• /
• 2017

Background: The use of X-ray phase-contrast microtomography for the investigation of Chinese medicinal materials is advantageous for its nondestructive, in situ, and three-dimensional quantitative imaging properties. Methods: The X-ray phase-contrast microtomography quantitative imaging method was used to investigate the microstructure of ginseng, and the phase-retrieval method is also employed to process the experimental data. Four different ginseng samples were collected and investigated; these were classified according to their species, production area, and sample growth pattern. Results: The quantitative internal characteristic microstructures of ginseng were extracted successfully. The size and position distributions of the calcium oxalate cluster crystals (COCCs), important secondary metabolites that accumulate in ginseng, are revealed by the three-dimensional quantitative imaging method. The volume and amount of the COCCs in different species of the ginseng are obtained by a quantitative analysis of the three-dimensional microstructures, which shows obvious difference among the four species of ginseng. Conclusion: This study is the first to provide evidence of the distribution characteristics of COCCs to identify four types of ginseng, with regard to species authentication and age identification, by X-ray phase-contrast microtomography quantitative imaging. This method is also expected to reveal important relationships between COCCs and the occurrence of the effective medicinal components of ginseng.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• 제20권1호
• /
• pp.26-30
• /
• 2007

Background: Epidural steroid injections (ESI) are a common treatment for spinal disorders. Previous research has shown that aspiration of the syringe is not a sensitive test for placement of an intravascular needle. Serious complications have been reported from injection of steroids and local anesthetics into the vascular space. In addition to safety concerns, the efficacy may decline with partial injection outside the desired epidural location. We hypothesized that incidence of vascular problems is increased in patients who undergo spine surgery compared with the patients who don't undergo spine surgery. We investigated the incidence of vascular problems during lumbosacral transforaminal ESI and we compared the difference of vascular problems between the patients who undergo spinal surgery and those patients who don't undergo spinal surgery. Methods: Two hundreds and three patients were consecutively recruited and they received 299 fluoroscopically guided lumbosacral transforaminal ESIs. Injection of contrast was performed under live dynamic fluoroscopy with using digital substraction analysis. The observed uptake pattern was classified into one of three categories: flashback, aspirated, and positive contrast with negative flashback and aspiration. Results: The vascular incidence rate was 20.4%. Transforaminal ESIs performed at S1 had avascular incidence rate of 27.8% compared with 17.7% for all the other lumbar injection sites. The sensitivity of spontaneous observation of blood in the needle hub or blood aspirate for predicting an intravascular injection in lumbar transforaminal ESIs was 70.4%. Conclusions: There is a high incidence of intravascular problems when performing transforaminal ESIs, and this is significantly increased in patients with previous spine surgery. Using a flash or blood aspiration to predict an intravascular injection is not sensitive therefore; a negative flash or aspiration is not reliable. Fluoroscopically guided procedures without contrast confirmation are prone to instill medications intravascularly. This finding confirms the need for not only fluoroscopic guidance, but also for contrast injection instillation when performing lumbosacral transforaminal ESIs, and especially for patients with previous spine surgery.

• 방송공학회논문지
• /
• 제23권2호
• /
• pp.206-217
• /
• 2018

본 논문은 영상 신호의 방향을 고려하여 기존의 multiband energy scaling 방법의 문제점을 보완하면서 human visual system(HVS)에 적합한 영상 local contrast 향상 방법을 개발하였다. 기존의 multiband energy scaling 방법은 신호 방향에 대한 고려 없이 화질을 향상시켜 ringing artifact가 발생하였으나 본 논문에서는 block gradient를 사용하여 신호의 방향을 측정하고 측정된 신호 방향에 따라 주파수 신호를 향상시켜 ringing artifact의 발생 없이 화질을 향상시켰다. 또한 본 논문은 human visual system(HVS)은 각 신호의 값 하나하나 보다는 각 신호가 가지는 주파수에 성분에 민감하게 반응한다는 것을 이용하여 주파수 성분에 대한 인간 시각의 민감도를 모델링한 contrast sensitivity function(CSF)에 따라 영상의 화질을 향상시켰다. 결국 본 논문에서 제안하는 방법은 신호의 특성과 인간 시각의 특성을 모두 고려하여 영상의 화질을 향상시키기 때문에 기존의 화질 향상 방법들에 비해 영상 신호와 인간 시각 특성에 더욱 적합하게 화질을 향상시킬 수 있다.

• 정보과학회 논문지
• /
• 제42권7호
• /
• pp.910-918
• /
• 2015

본 논문에서는 조영증강 초음파영상의 분석과정에서 육안판별의 한계를 극복하기 위한 파라미터 가시화기법을 소개하고, 이 과정에서 영상의 왜곡과 노이즈를 보정하기 위한 방법론을 제시한다. 초음파영상에서 조영제의 전이형태에 대한 동적패턴은 간질환 진단에서 의미있는 파라미터가 되는데, 전이시간 정보와 조영증강 패턴을 정적인 단일영상으로 표현함으로써 급속도로 진행되는 동영상에서 정확한 정보를 효과적으로 판별할 수 있게 한다. 진단파라미터 데이터의 신뢰도를 저하시키는 요인으로 호흡에 의한 흔들림현상과 마이크로 버블에 의한 노이즈를 들 수 있다. 이에 대한 대안으로 영상의 움직임추적을 위한 다단계 알고리즘과 마르코프 랜덤 필드 모델에 기반한 영상개선기법을 제안한다. 실제 임상데이터를 사용한 실험결과를 통하여, 제안된 방법의 유용성을 실험적으로 고찰한다.

• 전자공학회논문지
• /
• 제52권11호
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2015

동영상 대조비 개선 과정에서 단일 영상을 위해 연구된 대조비 개선 방법들을 사용할 수 있지만, 동영상의 연속성이 고려되지 않으면 원본 동영상에 없는 깜박임을 야기할 수 있다. 또한 동영상의 연속성을 고려하는 경우, 깜박임은 억제할 수 있지만 연속성 때문에 조명의 급격한 변화할 때 불필요한 페이드인/아웃(fade-in/out) 현상이 발생하는 단점이 발생할 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 깜박임과 페이드인/아웃 현상 없이 동영상의 대조비를 개선하는 방법을 제안한다. 제안하는 방법은 Fast Gray-Level Grouping(FGLG)를 사용하여 각 프레임의 대조비를 개선하고, 깜박임을 억제하기 위해 Exponential smoothing 필터를 사용한다. 불필요한 페이드인/아웃 현상을 억제하기 위해서는 S형 함수로 Exponential smoothing 필터의 평활화 비율을 프레임 별로 적응적으로 계산하여 적용한다. 실험에서 제안하는 방법과 기존의 방법들은 6가지 측정 기준을 적용하여 성능을 비교 및 분석한다. 실험 결과, 제안하는 방법은 영상 형태 보존을 측정하는 MSSIM과 깜박임을 측정하는 Flickering score에서 정량적으로 가장 높은 결과를 보여주었으며, 시각적인 품질 비교를 통해 조명 변화에 따른 적응적인 개선을 정성적 결과로 입증하였다.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
• /
• 제53권1호
• /
• pp.61-67
• /
• 2023

Purpose: The aim of this study was to objectively detect simulated tooth ankylosis using a novel method involving cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and Methods: Tooth ankylosis was simulated in single-rooted human permanent teeth, and CBCT scans were acquired at different current levels (5, 6.3, and 8 mA) and voxel sizes (0.08, 0.125, and 0.2). In axial reconstructions, a line of interest was perpendicularly placed over the periodontal ligament space of 21 ankylosed and 21 non-ankylosed regions, and the CBCT grey values of all voxels along the line of interest were plotted against their corresponding X-coordinates through a line graph to generate a profile. The image contrast was increased by 30% and 60% and the profile assessment was repeated. The internal area of the resulting parabolas was obtained from all images and compared between ankylosed and non-ankylosed regions under different contrast enhancement conditions, voxel sizes, and mA levels using multi-way analysis of variance with the Tukey post hoc test(α=0.05). Results: The internal area of the parabolas of all non-ankylosed regions was significantly higher than that of the ankylosed regions(P<0.05). Contrast enhancement led to a significantly greater internal area of the parabolas of non-ankylosed regions (P<0.05). Overall, voxel size and mA did not significantly influence the internal area of the parabolas(P>0.05). Conclusion: The proposed novel method revealed a relevant degree of applicability in the detection of simulated tooth ankylosis; increased image contrast led to greater detectability.

• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
• /
• 제19권4호
• /
• pp.201-208
• /
• 2008

물리적 평가(physical evaluation)가 영상품질의 객관화와 정량화를 위한 토대를 제공함에도 불구하고, 부정확하고 가변적인 특성을 지닌 주관적 평가(subjective evaluation)가 영상평가에 중요한 역할을 하게 된다. 본 연구에서는 디지털 방사선 영상의 물리적 평가와 주간적 평가의 단점을 상호 보완하고 객관적 정량화를 위한 새로운 방법을 제안하고자 한다. 임상에 사용되고 있는 4대의 디지털 방사선 영상 촬영장치로부터 동일한 임상조건에서 흉부 팬톰 영상을 획득하였다. 물리적 영상평가를 위하여 디지털 흉부 팬톰 내에서 3개의 영역(폐, 심장, 그리고 복부)에 존재하는 CNR (contrast-to-noise ratio)를 측정하였고 분할(segmentation)과 정합(registration)등 다양한 영상처리기술이 적용되었다. 주관적 평가는 5명의 관찰자에 의한 저 대조도 물체의 식별 정도를 점수화 하였다. 두 평가의 특성을 보완 및 결합하고자 퍼지적분 이론이 도입되었다. 4대의 시스템으로부터의 평가결과가 비교되었으며, 물리적 평가와 주관적 평가가 항상 비례하지 않음을 보였다. 물리적 평가에서는 높은 점수를 보였던 시스템이 주관적 평가에서는 상대적으로 낮은 평가를 보였다. 본 연구에서 제안한 퍼지적분에 의한 영상평가의 정량화는 물리적 평가와 주관적 평가를 모두 포함하는 총체적인 평가 방법이며, 다양한 영상품질 평가에 유용할 것이라 사료된다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• 제15권12호
• /
• pp.5089-5095
• /
• 2014

Background: As a common and essential contrast medium at present, gadobenate dimeglumine has shown better performance than some other agents when applied to Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging Screening (Breast MRI Screening). Nevertheless, reports on the diagnostic performance of these two mediums (gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine) are not completely consistent. Objective: To assess the diagnostic value of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine for Breast MRI Screening in patients suffering from breast cancer and to provide more convinced evidence to guide clinical practice in terms of appropriate contrast agents. Data Sources and Review Methods: Original articles in English and Chinese published before January 2013 were selected from available databases (The Cochrane Library, PUBMED, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese Scientific Journals Full-text Database, Chinese Journal Full-text). The criteria for inclusion and exclusion were based on the standard for diagnosis tests. Meta-Disc software (Version 1.4) was used for data analysis. Then, the area under curve (AUC) of SROC and the spearman rank correlation of sensitivity against (1-specificity) were calculated. Results: Total of 17 researches involving 1934 patients were included. The pooled sensitivity of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine were 0.99 (0.97, 1.00) and 0.93 (0.88, 1.00) respectively. The pooled specificity for these two contrast agents were 0.924 (0.902, 0.943) and 0.838 (0.817, 0.858) respectively, and the AUC of SROC curve were 0.9781 and 0.9215 respectively. Conclusions: Gadobenate dimeglumine can be regarded as a more effective and feasible contrast medium for Breast MRI Screening. At least 5% differences in diagnostic performance are usually considered as clinically relevant.