• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.836-845
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• 2017

Gravimetric method is usually used to evaluate air-dry density, which is governing physical or mechanical properties of wood. Although it had high evaluation accuracy, the method is time consuming process. Thus, this study was conducted to estimate air-dry density of wood with high accuracy by using polychromatic X-ray and digital detector as alternative of gravimetric method. To quantify polychromatic X-ray projection for evaluating air-dry density, Lambert-Beer's law with the integral value of probability function was used. The integral value was used as weighting factor in the law, and it was determined by conducting simple test at various penetration depths and tube voltage. Mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) of wood also calculated by investigating polychromatic X-ray projection according to species, penetration depth and tube voltage. The species had not an effect on change of MAC. Finally, an air-dry density of wood was estimated by applying the integral value, MAC and Lambert-Beer's law to polychromatic X-ray projection. As an example, the relation of the integral value (${\alpha}$) according to penetration depth (t, cm) at tube voltage of 35 kV was ${\alpha}=-0.00091t{\times}0.0184$ while the regression of the MAC (${\mu}$, $cm^2/g$) was ${\mu}=0.5414{\exp}(-0.0734t)$. When calculation of root mean squared error (RMSE) was performed to check the estimation accuracy, RMSE at 35, 45 and 55 kV was 0.010, 0.013 and $0.009g/cm^3$, respectively. However, partial RMSE in relation to air-dry density was varied according to tube voltage. The partial RMSE below air-dry density of $0.41g/cm^3$ was $0.008g/cm^3$ when tube voltage of 35 kV was used. Meanwhile, the partial RMSE above air-dry density of $0.41g/cm^3$ decreased as tube voltage increased. It was conclude that the accuracy of estimation with polychromatic X-ray and digital detector was quite high if the integral value and MAC of wood were determined precisely or a condition of examination was chosen properly. It was seemed that the estimation of air-dry density by using polychromatic X-ray system can supplant the gravimetric method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2012

In this study, a simple post-reconstruction dual-energy computed tomography (CT) method is proposed. A dual-energy CT algorithm for monochromatic x-rays was adopted and applied to the dual-energy CT of polychromatic x-rays by assigning a representative mono-energy. The accuracy of algorithm implementation was tested with mathematical phantoms. To test the sensitivity of this algorithm to the inaccuracy of representative energy value in energy values, a simulation study was performed with mathematical phantom. To represent a polychromatic x-ray energy spectrum with a single-energy, mean energy and equivalent energy were used, and the results were compared. The feasibility of the proposed method was experimentally tested with two different micro-CTs and a test phantom made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), water, and graphite. The dual-energy calculations were carried out with CT images of all possible energy pairs among 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 kVp. The effective atomic number and the electron density values obtained from the proposed method were compared with theoretical values. The results showed that, except the errors in the effective atomic number of graphite, most of the errors were less than 10 % for both CT scanners, and for the combination of 60 kVp and 70 kVp, errors less than 6.0 % could be achieved with a Polaris 90 CT. The proposed method shows simplicity of calibration, demonstrating its practicality and feasibility for use with a general polychromatic CT.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2854-2863
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• 2023

Objective: To present a hybrid approach that incorporates a constrained beam-hardening estimator (CBHE) and deep learning (DL)-based post-refinement for metal artifact reduction in dental cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Methods: Constrained beam-hardening estimator (CBHE) is derived from a polychromatic X-ray attenuation model with respect to X-ray transmission length, which calculates associated parameters numerically. Deep-learning-based post-refinement with an artifact disentanglement network (ADN) is performed to mitigate the remaining dark shading regions around a metal. Artifact disentanglement network (ADN) supports an unsupervised learning approach, in which no paired CBCT images are required. The network consists of an encoder that separates artifacts and content and a decoder for the content. Additionally, ADN with data normalization replaces metal regions with values from bone or soft tissue regions. Finally, the metal regions obtained from the CBHE are blended into reconstructed images. The proposed approach is systematically assessed using a dental phantom with two types of metal objects for qualitative and quantitative comparisons. Results: The proposed hybrid scheme provides improved image quality in areas surrounding the metal while preserving native structures. Conclusion: This study may significantly improve the detection of areas of interest in many dentomaxillofacial applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.356-362
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• 1999

Based on the assumption that film density increases exponentially with exposure in the industrial radiographic film. an equation representing the characteristic curves of industrial radiographic films and a new density-thickness relation are suggested. The accuracy and reliability of the suggested relation has been tested using radiographs of a carbon steel step wedge with known thickness variation by polychromatic X-ray and ${\gamma}$-ray ($Ir^{192}$). The experimental results were well agreed to the proposed relation in the range of film densities from 1.0 to 3.5 and it was more accurate than the conventional relation. It is also found that ${\gamma}$-ray is more effective in this purpose than polychromatic X-ray, which results in variation of effective linear absorption coefficient due to beam hardening effect as thickness increases. Therefore using the equation and experimentally determined parameters the quantitative evaluation of thickness variation is possible and it can be used to evaluate the depth of local corrosion of pressure vessels in plants.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.215-222
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• 2015

In this work, we performed a proof-of-concept experiment for phase-contrast x-ray imaging (PCXI) based on a single antiscatter grid and a polychromatic x-ray source. We established a table-top setup which consists of a focused-linear grid having a strip density of 200 lines/inch, a microfocus x-ray tube having a focal-spot size of about $5{\mu}m$, and a CMOS-type flat-panel detector having a pixel size of $48{\mu}m$. By using our prototype PCXI system and the Fourier demodulation technique, we successfully obtained attenuation, scattering, and differential phase-contrast images of improved visibility from the raw images of several selected samples at x-ray tube conditions of $90kV_p$ and 0.1 mAs. Further, fusion image (e.g., the attenuation+the scattering) may have an advantage in displaying details of the sample's structures that are not clearly visible in the conventional attenuation image. Our experimental results indicate that single-grid-based approach seems a useful method for PCXI with great simplicity and minimal requirements on the setup alignment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.10
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• pp.1588-1593
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• 2014

This study evaluated the genotoxic effects of 30 kGy of X-ray irradiation to four foods (chicken, egg powder, dried green onion, and black pepper). In bacterial reversion assay with Salmonella Typhimurium TA98, TA100, TA1535, and TA1537, the X-ray irradiated foods did not show a significantly increased number of revertant colonies in the presence or absence of the S9 metabolic activation system. In chromosomal aberration tests with Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, the X-ray irradiated foods showed no increase in the frequency of chromosomal aberrations. In in vivo mouse micronucleus assay, the X-ray irradiated foods did not show any increase in the frequency of polychromatic erythrocytes with micronuclei. These results indicate that 30 kGy of X-ray irradiation to four foods (chicken, egg powder, dried green onion, and black pepper) showed no genotoxic effects under these experimental conditions.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.98-107
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• 2011

Caries remains prevalent throughout modern society and is the main disease in the field of dentistry. Although studies of this disease have used diverse methodology, recently, X-ray microtomography has gained popularity as a non-destructive, 3-dimensional (3D) analytical technique, and has several advantages over the conventional methods. According to X-ray source, it is classified as monochromatic or polychromatic with the latter being more widely used due to the high cost of the monochromatic source despite some advantages. The determination of mineral density profiles based on changes in X-ray attenuation is the principle of this method and calibration and image processing procedures are needed for the better image and reproducible measurements. Using this tool, 3D reconstruction is also possible and it enables to visualize the internal structures of dental caries. With the advances in the computer technology, more diverse applications are being studied, such automated caries assessment algorithms.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.445-448
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• 2015

Recently there has been increasing interest in the filter to reduce the proportion of low-energy photons in the polychromatic X-ray, affect the quality of the image quality by X-ray hardening effect is a situation that has been overlooked. In this study, by evaluating the change in FSR based on the filter and it was quantitatively discuss scatter dose affecting the medical image quality. The results of the experiment, as the thickness of the filter is increased, up to 13.9%p, that tends to FSR increases appearance were evaluated. Based on these results, in compliance with the thickness of the filter that has been recommended in KS standard, even while reducing the radiation dose of the patient, in addition to the noise to about 1%p within the FSR only medical image the contribution to it is conceivable. Therefore, even while reducing radiation dose of the patient, in order to improve the quality of the medical image, the use of appropriate filter is considered important.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2010

Purpose: The X-ray attenuation coefficient based on CT images is used for attenuation correction in PET/CT. The polychromatic X-ray beam can introduce beam-hardening artifact on CT images. The aims of the study were to evaluate the effect of dental metal prostheses in phantom and patients on apparent tracer activity measured with PET/CT when using CT attenuation correction. Materials and Methods: 40 normal patients (mean age $54{\pm}12$) was scanned between Jan and Feb 2010. NEMA(National Electrical Manufactures Association) PET $Phantom^{TM}$ (NU2-1994) was filled with $^{18}F$-FDG injected into the water that insert implant and metal prostheses dental cast. Region of interest were drawn in non-artifact region, bright steak artifact region and dark streak artifact region on the same transaxial CT and PET slices. Patients and phantom with dental metal prostheses and dental implant were evaluated the change rate of CT Number and $SUV_{mean}$ in PET/CT. A paired t-test was performed to compare the ratio and the difference of the calculated values. Results: In patients with dental metal prostheses, $SUV_{mean}$ was reduced 19.64% (p<0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the brightstreak artifact region whereas was increased 90.1% (p>0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the dark streak artifact region. In phantom with dental metal prostheses, $SUV_{mean}$ was reduced 18.1% (p<0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the bright streak artifact region whereas was increased 18.0% (p>0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the dark streak artifact region. In patients with dental implant, $SUV_{mean}$ was increased 19.1% (p<0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the bright streak artifact region whereas was increased 96.62% (p>0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the dark streak artifact region. In phantom with dental implant, $SUV_{mean}$ was increased 14.4% (p<0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the bright streak artifact region whereas was increased 7.0% (p>0.05) in the non-steak artifact region than the dark streak artifact region. Conclusion: When CT is used for attenuation correction in patients with dental metal prostheses, 19.1% reduced $SUV_{mean}$ is anticipated in the dark streak artifact region on CT images. The dark streak artifacts of CT by dental metal prostheses may cause false negative finding in PET/CT. We recommend that the non-attenuation corrected PET images also be evaluated for clinical use.