• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.442-453
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• 2020

Underwater color images suffer from low visibility and color cast effects caused by light attenuation by water and floating particles. This study applied single image enhancement techniques to enhance the quality of underwater images and compared their performance with real underwater images taken in Korean waters. Dark channel prior (DCP), gradient transform, image fusion, and generative adversarial networks (GAN), such as cycleGAN and underwater GAN (UGAN), were considered for single image enhancement. Their performance was evaluated in terms of underwater image quality measure, underwater color image quality evaluation, gray-world assumption, and blur metric. The DCP saturated the underwater images to a specific greenish or bluish color tone and reduced the brightness of the background signal. The gradient transform method with two transmission maps were sensitive to the light source and highlighted the region exposed to light. Although image fusion enabled reasonable color correction, the object details were lost due to the last fusion step. CycleGAN corrected overall color tone relatively well but generated artifacts in the background. UGAN showed good visual quality and obtained the highest scores against all figures of merit (FOMs) by compensating for the colors and visibility compared to the other single enhancement methods.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.477-482
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• 2020

Recently, one of the authors has been reported an optically tunable fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with a photomechanical polymer. It was based on a typical FBG with a downsized diameter of 60 ㎛, coated with azobenzene-containing polymer material. Azobenzene is a well-known reversibly photomechanical stretchable material under ultraviolet (UV) light. The small part of the functional-coating region on the FBG absorbed UV light, which pulled the UV-exposed part of the grating. It was selectable as tunable FBG or tunable chirped FBG, by adjusting the position of UV exposure on the grating. As proof of concept for the tunable FBG device, the characteristics just including UV-induced center-wavelength shift and spectral-width changes of the device were reported. In this paper, we report for the first time that the microactuator makes it possible to control the spectral shape of the FBG reflection, according to the specifications (shape and intensity) of the UV beam that reaches the FBG coated with the azobenzene polymer. In addition, we provide the group-delay profiles for the chirped FBG, so that the sign of its dispersion (normal or anomalous) can be tailored by simply selecting the moving direction of the UV light's displacement in the experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.103-108
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• 2020

RBC (red blood cell) deformability is one of factors inducing blood shear thinning effect. Reduction of RBC deformability increases blood viscosity in high shear region. In this study, 3D printed chip with proper distribution of wall shear rate (WSR) was proposed to measure RBC deformability of blood samples. To fabricate 3D printed chip, the design of 3D printed chip determined through numerical simulation was modified based on the resolution of the 3D printer. For the estimation of pressure drop in the 3D printed chip, two bypass outlets with low and high WSR are exposed to atmospheric pressure through the needles. By positioning the outlet of needles in the gravity direction, the formation of droplets at bypass outlets can be captured by smartphone. Through image processing and fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis, the frequency of droplet formation was analyzed. Since the frequency of droplet formation is related with the pressure at bypass, high pressure drop caused by reduction of RBC deformability can be estimated by monitoring the formation of blood droplets using the smartphone.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.110-147
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• 2022

Many megacities are exposed to natural hazards such as earthquakes, and when located in coastal regions, are also vulnerable to hurricanes and tsunamis. The physical infrastructures of transportation systems in megacities have become so complicated that very few organizations can understand their response to extreme events such as earthquakes and can effectively mitigate subsequent economic downfalls. The technological advances made in recent years to support these complex systems have not grown as fast as the rapid demand on these systems burdened by population shift toward megacities. The objective of this paper is to examine the risks imposed on and recoveries of transportation systems in megacities as the result of extreme events such as an earthquake. First, the physical damage to transportation infrastructure, loss of the transportation system performance, and the corresponding economic loss from disruptions to passenger and freight traffic is evaluated. Then, traffic flows are re-routed to reduce vehicles' delay due to earthquakes using a microscopic traffic flow simulator with an optimization model and macroscopic terminal simulator. Finally, the economic impact of the earthquake is estimated nationwide. Southern California is regarded as the region of study. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated model and provide what and how to prepare innovative resilience policies of urban infrastructure for a natural disaster occurrence.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.314-321
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• 2022

Background: In this study, the degree of anxiety, depression, and stress caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified, as well as the need for psychological prevention measures among medical students in the Daegu region that was designated the first special disaster area due to the spread of COVID-19. Methods: The subjects of this study were 318 medical students in Daegu who voluntarily participated in an online test using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Impact of Event Scale-Revised Korean version. As a result of the test, risk students received immediate telephone counseling, and the effect of this telephone counseling was analyzed. Results: There were no differences in depression, anxiety, or stress according to gender and grade. As a result of immediate telephone counseling for risk students, significant differences were found in depression, anxiety, and stress, and the counseling was found to be effective. Conclusion: For medical students who are easily exposed to stress, the importance of psychological prevention measures and effectiveness of non-face-to-face counseling should be recognized. In the field of medical education, we must do our best to build a system that can be used immediately at the appropriate time for these programs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.2357-2363
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• 2021

Silicon carbide is widely used in radiation environments due to its excellent properties. However, when exposed to the strong radiation environment constantly, plenty of defects are generated, thus causing the material performance downgrades or failures. In this paper, the two-temperature model (2T-MD) is used to explore the defect recovery process by applying the electronic energy loss (Se) on the pre-damaged system. The effects of defect concentration and the applied electronic energy loss on the defect recovery process are investigated, respectively. The results demonstrate that almost no defect recovery takes place until the defect density in the damage region or the local defect density is large enough, and the probability of defect recovery increases with the defect concentration. Additionally, the results indicate that the defect recovery induced by swift heavy ions is mainly connected with the homogeneous recombination of the carbon defects, while the probability of heterogeneous recombination is mainly dependent on the silicon defects.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.415-423
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• 2021

For a battery module where single cells are connected in series, the single cells should each have a similar state of charge (SOC) to prevent them from being exposed to an overcharge or over-discharge during charge-discharge cycling. To detect the existence of unbalanced SOC cells in a battery module, we propose a simple measurement method using a single-frequency response of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). For a commercially available graphite/nickel-cobalt-aluminum-oxide lithium-ion cell, the cell impedance increases significantly below SOC20%, while the impedance in the medium SOC region (SOC20%-SOC80%) remains low with only minor changes. This impedance behavior is mostly due to the elementary processes of cathode reactions in the cell. Among the impedance values (Z, Z', Z"), the imaginary component of Z" regarding cathode reactions changes heavily as a function of SOC, in particular, when the EIS measurement is performed around 0.1 Hz. Thanks to the significant difference in the time constant of cathode reactions between ≤SOC10% and ≥SOC20%, a single-frequency EIS measurement enlarges the difference in impedance between balanced and unbalanced cells in the module and facilitates an ~80% improvement in the detection signal compared to results with conventional EIS measurements.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.219-236
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• 2022

The Oxford area is one of the major innovative regions of the world. The innovative characteristics of the area, however, have not been well exposed to the academic communities of the world and Korea. In fact, the area was a base of breading the Cambridge area and has also been playing important roles in creating the major British high-technology region, called "Golden Triangle," composed of Oxford, Cambridge and London. This paper investigates the process of growing innovativeness of the Oxford area and sheds more lights on the birth, growth and key actors of the area's Regional Innovation Systems(RISs). For this research, the author reviewed the literature related to the RISs, and gathered data based on the Internet, statistical data sources, interviews with local scholars and practitioners.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.455-461
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• 2023

We investigated the electrical characteristics of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with air exposure that is a widely used electron transport layer for quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). Upon air exposure, we observed changes in the density of states (DOS) of the trap levels of ZnO NPs. In particular, with air exposure, the concentration of deep trap energy levels in ZnO NPs decreased and electron mobility significantly improved. Consequently, the air-exposed ZnO reduced leakage current by approximately one order of magnitude and enhanced the external quantum efficiency at the low driving voltage region of the QLED. In addition, based on the excellent conductivity properties, high-brightness QLEDs could be achieved.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.6
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• pp.1589-1593
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• 2021

Rheumatoid nodules are the most common extra-articular presentations of rheumatoid arthritis. Although rheumatoid nodules can develop anywhere in the body, they develop most commonly in the subcutaneous region, where they are easily exposed to repetitive trauma or pressure. However, an infrascapular presentation has not yet been reported. We report a case of giant bilateral rheumatoid nodules that developed in the infrascapular area, complicating its distinction from elastofibroma dorsi on radiological examination.