118 research outputs found
Automatic Internal Stray Light Calibration of AMCW Coaxial Scanning LiDAR Using GMM and PSO
In this paper, an automatic calibration algorithm is proposed to reduce the
depth error caused by internal stray light in amplitude-modulated continuous
wave (AMCW) coaxial scanning light detection and ranging (LiDAR). Assuming that
the internal stray light generated in the process of emitting laser is static,
the amplitude and phase delay of internal stray light are estimated using the
Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and particle swarm optimization (PSO).
Specifically, the pixel positions in a raw signal amplitude map of calibration
checkboard are segmented by GMM with two clusters considering the dark and
bright image pattern. The loss function is then defined as L1-norm of
difference between mean depths of two amplitude-segmented clusters. To avoid
overfitting at a specific distance in PSO process, the calibration check board
is actually measured at multiple distances and the average of corresponding L1
loss functions is chosen as the actual loss. Such loss is minimized by PSO to
find the two optimal target parameters: the amplitude and phase delay of
internal stray light. According to the validation of the proposed algorithm,
the original loss is reduced from tens of centimeters to 3.2 mm when the
measured distances of the calibration checkboard are between 1 m and 4 m. This
accurate calibration performance is also maintained in geometrically complex
measured scene. The proposed internal stray light calibration algorithm in this
paper can be used for any type of AMCW coaxial scanning LiDAR regardless of its
optical characteristics
Highly precise AMCW time-of-flight scanning sensor based on digital-parallel demodulation
In this paper, a novel amplitude-modulated continuous wave (AMCW)
time-of-flight (ToF) scanning sensor based on digital-parallel demodulation is
proposed and demonstrated in the aspect of distance measurement precision.
Since digital-parallel demodulation utilizes a high-amplitude demodulation
signal with zero-offset, the proposed sensor platform can maintain extremely
high demodulation contrast. Meanwhile, as all cross correlated samples are
calculated in parallel and in extremely short integration time, the proposed
sensor platform can utilize a 2D laser scanning structure with a single photo
detector, maintaining a moderate frame rate. This optical structure can
increase the received optical SNR and remove the crosstalk of image pixel
array. Based on these measurement properties, the proposed AMCW ToF scanning
sensor shows highly precise 3D depth measurement performance. In this study,
this precise measurement performance is explained in detail. Additionally, the
actual measurement performance of the proposed sensor platform is
experimentally validated under various conditions
MCP-1 and RANTES Polymorphisms in Korean Diabetic End-Stage Renal Disease
Macrophage infiltration has been observed in the renal biopsy specimens of diabetic nephropathy (DN), and hyperglycemic state stimulates the renal expression of RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted) and MCP-1 (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1). Upregulation of RANTES and MCP-1 with infiltrating macrophages may play a crucial role in the development and progression of DN. Genetic polymorphisms of RANTES and its receptors were reported to be independent risk factors for DN. We genotyped single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the MCP-1 G-2518A, CCR2 G46295A, RANTES C-28G and G-403A in 177 diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and 184 patients without renal involvement (controls) in order to investigate the effects of these SNPs on DN in Korean patients with type 2 DM. There were no differences in the frequencies of SNPs and the distribution of haplotypes of RANTES promoter SNPs between two groups. In conclusion, there were no associations of MCP-1, CCR2 and RANTES promoter SNPs with diabetic ESRD in Korean population. Prospective studies with clearly-defined, homogenous cohorts are needed to confirm the effect of these genetic polymorphisms on DN
Copy Number Deletion Has Little Impact on Gene Expression Levels in Racehorses
Copy number variations (CNVs), important genetic factors for study of human diseases, may have as large of an effect on phenotype as do single nucleotide polymorphisms. Indeed, it is widely accepted that CNVs are associated with differential disease susceptibility. However, the relationships between CNVs and gene expression have not been characterized in the horse. In this study, we investigated the effects of copy number deletion in the blood and muscle transcriptomes of Thoroughbred racing horses. We identified a total of 1,246 CNVs of deletion polymorphisms using DNA re-sequencing data from 18 Thoroughbred racing horses. To discover the tendencies between CNV status and gene expression levels, we extracted CNVs of four Thoroughbred racing horses of which RNA sequencing was available. We found that 252 pairs of CNVs and genes were associated in the four horse samples. We did not observe a clear and consistent relationship between the deletion status of CNVs and gene expression levels before and after exercise in blood and muscle. However, we found some pairs of CNVs and associated genes that indicated relationships with gene expression levels: a positive relationship with genes responsible for membrane structure or cytoskeleton and a negative relationship with genes involved in disease. This study will lead to conceptual advances in understanding the relationship between CNVs and global gene expression in the horse
Inhalation toxicity of humidifier disinfectants as a risk factor of childrenâs interstitial lung disease in Korea: a case-control study
Abstract Background: The occurrence of numerous cases of interstitial lung disease in children (chILD) every spring in Korea starting in 2006 raised suspicion about a causal relationship with the use of humidifier disinfectants (HDs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between HD use and the risk of chILD
Two-Year clinical outcomes after coronary bifurcation stenting in older patients from Korea and Italy
BackgroundOlder patients who treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are at a higher risk of adverse cardiac outcomes. We sought to investigate the clinical impact of bifurcation PCI in older patients from Korea and Italy.MethodsWe selected 5,537 patients who underwent bifurcation PCI from the BIFURCAT (comBined Insights from the Unified RAIN and COBIS bifurcAtion regisTries) database. The primary outcome was a composite of target vessel myocardial infarction, clinically driven target lesion revascularization, and stent thrombosis at two years.ResultsIn patients aged â„75 years, the mean age was 80.1â±â4.0 years, 65.2% were men, and 33.7% had diabetes. Older patients more frequently presented with chronic kidney disease (CKD), severe coronary calcification, and left main coronary artery disease (LMCA). During a median follow-up of 2.1 years, older patients showed similar adverse clinical outcomes compared to younger patients (the primary outcome, 5.7% vs. 4.5%; pâ=â0.21). Advanced age was not an independent predictor of the primary outcome (pâ=â0.93) in overall patients. Both CKD and LMCA were independent predictors regardless of age group.ConclusionsOlder patients (â„75 years) showed similar clinical outcomes to those of younger patients after bifurcation PCI. Advanced age alone should not deter physicians from performing complex PCIs for bifurcation disease
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