• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.687-692
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• 2018

In this paper, the development of an automotive thermal imaging camera providing image information for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist System) and autonomous vehicles is described and an improved technique to enhance the details of the image is proposed. Thermal imaging cameras are used in various fields, such as the medical, industrial and military fields, for the purpose of temperature measurement and night vision. In automobiles, they are utilized for night vision systems. For their utilization in ADAS and autonomous vehicles, appropriate image resolution and enhanced detail are required for object recognition. In this study, a $640{\times}480$ resolution thermal imaging camera that can be applied to automobiles is developed and the BDE (Block-Range Detail Enhancement) technique is applied to improve the details of the image. In order to improve the image detail obtained in various driving environments, the block-range values between the target pixel and the surrounding 8 pixels are calculated and classified into 5 levels. Then, different factors are added or subtracted to obtain images with high utilization. The improved technique distinguishes the dark part of the image by the resulting temperature difference of 130mK and shows an improvement in the fine detail in both the bright and dark parts of the image. The developed thermal imaging camera using the improved detail enhancement technique is applied to a test vehicle and the results are presented.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2016

Engineered bone tissue is thought to be the ideal alternative for bone grafts in the treatment of related bone diseases. BMP9 has been demonstrated as one of the most osteogenic factors, and enhancement of BMP9-induced osteogenesis will greatly accelerate the development of bone tissue engineering. Here, we investigated the effect of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) on BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation, and unveiled a possible molecular mechanism underling this process. We found that IGF1 and BMP9 are both detectable in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Exogenous expression of IGF1 potentiates BMP9-induced alkaline phosphatase (ALP), matrix mineralization, and ectopic bone formation. Similarly, IGF1 enhances BMP9-induced endochondral ossification. Mechanistically, we found that IGF1 increases BMP9-induced activation of BMP/Smad signaling in MSCs. Our findings demonstrate that IGF1 can enhance BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation in MSCs, and that this effect may be mediated by the enhancement of the BMP/Smad signaling transduction triggered by BMP9.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.2689-2693
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• 2012

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and $C_{60}$-encapsulated SWNTs ($C_{60}@SWNTs$) are introduced to Ru-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells (PECs), and photocurrents are compared between two cells, i.e., an $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/SWNTs/ITO cell and an $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/$C_{60}@SWNTs$/ITO cell. [L = 2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid, DAPV = di-(3-aminopropyl)-viologen, and ITO = indium-tin oxide] The photocurrents are increased by 70.6% in the presence of $C_{60}@SWNTs$. To explain the photocurrent increase, the reverse-field emission method is used, i.e., $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/SWNTs/ITO cell (or $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/$C_{60}@SWNTs$/ITO cell) as an anode and a counter electrode Pt as a cathode in the external electric field. The improved field emission properties, i.e., ${\beta}$ (field enhancement factor) and emission currents in the reverse-field emission with $C_{60}@SWNTs$ indicate the enhancement of the PEC electric field, which implies the improvement of the electron transfer rate along with the reduced charge recombination in the cell.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.71-78
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• 2012

In order to improve the shear strength of conventional pre-tensioned spun high strength concrete (PHC) pile, concrete-infilled composite PHC (ICP) pile, a PHC pile reinforced by means of shear reinforcement and infilled concrete, is proposed. Two types of specimens were cast and tested according to KS (Korean Standards) to verify the shear strength enhancement of ICP pile. Based on the test results, it was found that the KS method was not suitable due to causing shear failure of ICP pile. However, shear strength enhancement was clearly verified. The obtained shear strength of the ICP pile was more than twice that of conventional PHC pile. In addition, the shear strength of ICP pile reinforced with longitudinal reinforcement was estimated to be more than 2.5 times greater than that of conventional PHC pile. The allowable shear force of ICP pile, which was determined by the allowable stress design process, indicated a large safety factor of more than 2.9 compared to the test results.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.201-208
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• 1997

It is becoming increasingly clear that the inflammatory reaction can be ascribed to a complex array of mediators generated and released from activated phagocytes. In this study, the effect of PAF on interleukin-1(IL-1) activity by rat alveolar macrophages(AM) was examined using thymocyte proliferation assay in the supernate of sample obtained after 24 hr culture. When AM were cultured with PAF alone, no change in IL-1 activity was observed. However, the combined addition of PAF and muramyl dipeptide(MDP) or lipopolysaccharide(LPS) to AM cultures markedly enhanced IL-1 activity by 2-3 fold compared with AM cultures with the stimulant alone in a concentration dependent fashion. The peack effect was found at $10^{-8}$ M PAF with MDP and $10^{-14}$ M PAF with LPS. the effect of PAF was also tested in silica, toxic respirable dust, -added AM cultures as well as in the cultures containing bacterial compounds. Although silica did not stimulate the IL-1 activity, PAF could enhance IL-1 activity by 2 fold above the value of the silica-treated AM cultures with the peak response at $10^{-12}$ M PAF. Optimal enhancement of IL-1 activity occured when MDP and PAF were present together at the initiation of the 24 hr AM cultures. Additionaly, the biologically inactive precursor/metabolite of PAF, lyso-PAF failed to induce enhancement of IL-1 activity. When the specific, but structurally different PAF receptor antagonists, BN 52021($10^{-5}$ M) and CV 3988($10^{-5}$ M) was treated 15 min before addition of PAF($10^{-8}$ M) and MDP$(10\;{\mu}g/ml)$ to the AM cultures, it markedly inhibited the enhancement of IL-1 activity induced by PAF. The effects of these PAF antagonists were also observed in LPS$(10\;{\mu}g/ml)$-stimulated cells. Collectively, these data suggest that PAF enhances IL-1 activity by interaction with a specific receptor.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics S
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• v.36S no.12
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• pp.58-66
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• 1999

In this paper, an advanced histogram equalization algorithm for contrast enhancement is presented. Histogram equalization is the most popular algorithm. Global histogram equalization is simple and fast, but its contrast enhancement power is relatively low. Local histogram equalization, on the other hand, can enhance overall contrast more effectively, but the complexity of computation required is very high. In this paper, a low pass filter type mask is used to get a sub-block histogram equalization function to more simply produce the high contrast. The low pass filter type mask is realized by partially overlapped sub-block histogram equalization (POSHE). With the proposed method. the computation overhead is reduced by a factor of about one hundred compared to that of local histogram equalization while still achieving high contrast.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.231-236
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• 2014

The transit time of contrast agents and the parameters of time-intensity curves in ultrasonography are important factors to diagnose various diseases of a digestive organ. We have implemented an automatic parametric imaging method to overcome the difficulty of the diagnosis by naked eyes. However, the micro-bubble noise and the respiratory motions may degrade the reliability of the parameter images. In this paper, we introduce an optimization technique based on MRF(Markov Random Field) model to enhance the quality of the parameter images, and present an image tracking algorithm to compensate the image distortion by respiratory motions. A method to extract the respiration periods from the ultrasound image sequence has been developed. We have implemented the ROI(Region of Interest) tracking algorithm using the dynamic weights and a momentum factor based on these periods. An energy function is defined for the Gibbs sampler of the image enhancement method. Through the experiments using the data to diagnose liver lesions, we have shown that the proposed method improves the quality of the parametric images.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.278-282
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• 2009

The in-vitro immunomodulatory function of the activity of murine natural-killer (NK) cells induced by redginseng acidic polysaccharide (RGAP) was examined. RGAP induced the significant enhancement of NK cell activity against the Yac-1 tumor cells. The treatment of splenocytes cultured with RGAP for 16 h resulted in a significant increase in NK activity at the E:T ratio of 100:1, and in a 239 and 250% increase at 10 and $100{\mu}g$/ml, respectively. We also demonstrate that RGAP treatment increased the production of interferon (IFN)-$\gamma$ (17-125%) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ (15-100%), suggesting that the increase in NK cell cytotoxicity could be due to the enhancement of the NK cell production of both cytokines. In addition, RGAP had a stimulating effect on lymphocyte proliferation in the presence of mitogens. Overall, these results suggest that RGAP has an immunopotentiating effect on NK cells, which can support the development of clinical studies on RGAP.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.163-177
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• 2024

The fingerprint image quality relies on the clearness of separated ridges by valleys and the uniformity of the separation. The condition of skin still dominate the overall quality of the fingerprint. However, the identification performance of such system is very sensitive to the quality of the captured fingerprint image. Fingerprint image quality analysis and enhancement are useful in improving the performance of fingerprint identification systems. A fuzzy technique is introduced in this paper for both fingerprint image quality analysis and enhancement. First, the quality analysis is performed by extracting four features from a fingerprint image which are the local clarity score (LCS), global clarity score (GCS), ridge_valley thickness ratio (RVTR), and the Global Contrast Factor (GCF). A fuzzy logic technique that uses Mamdani fuzzy rule model is designed. The fuzzy inference system is able to analyse and determinate the fingerprint image type (oily, dry or neutral) based on the extracted feature values and the fuzzy inference rules. The percentages of the test fuzzy inference system for each type is as follow: For dry fingerprint the percentage is 81.33, for oily the percentage is 54.75, and for neutral the percentage is 68.48. Secondly, a fuzzy morphology is applied to enhance the dry and oily fingerprint images. The fuzzy morphology method improves the quality of a fingerprint image, thus improving the performance of the fingerprint identification system significantly. All experimental work which was done for both quality analysis and image enhancement was done using the DB_ITS_2009 database which is a private database collected by the department of electrical engineering, institute of technology Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya, Indonesia. The performance evaluation was done using the Feature Similarity index (FSIM). Where the FSIM is an image quality assessment (IQA) metric, which uses computational models to measure the image quality consistently with subjective evaluations. The new proposed system outperformed the classical system by 900% for the dry fingerprint images and 14% for the oily fingerprint images.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.448-455
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• 2024

We conducted a study on excessive doping of the Cr and In elements in Bi-Sb-Te materials satisfying the Hume-Rothery rule, and investigated the resulting electrical and thermal properties. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) results, we confirmed the formation of a single phase even with excessive doping. Through analysis of electrical properties, we observed the highest enhancement in electrical characteristics at y = 0.2, suggesting that the appropriate ratio of Bi-Sb significantly influences this enhancement. Using the Callaway-von Baeyer (CvB) model to assess scattering due to point defects, we calculated the experimental point defect scattering factor (Γ_CvB.exp), which was notably high due to the substantial differences in volume and atomic weight between the substituted (Cr, In) and original (Bi, Sb) elements. Additionally, we conducted a single parabolic band (SPB) modeling analysis of materials with compositions y = 0.1 and 0.2, where, despite a decrease in density-of-states effective mass (m_d^*) during the enhancement process from y = 0.1 to 0.2, a sharp increase in non-degenerate mobility (μ₀) led to an 88 % increase in weighted mobility (μ_w). Furthermore, analyzing zT with respect to n_H revealed a 51 % increase in zT at a composition of y = 0.2. This study confirmed a significant reduction in lattice thermal conductivity with the co-doping strategy, and with further compositional studies to improve electrical properties, we anticipate achieving high zT.