• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.427-438
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• 2015

The present work proposes a new image analysis method for the evaluation of the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) distribution in a cement matrix. In this method, white cement was used instead of ordinary Portland cement with MWNT in an effort to differentiate MWNT from the cement matrix. In addition, MWNT-embedded cement composites were fabricated under different flows of fresh composite mixtures, incorporating a constant MWNT content (0.6 wt%) to verify correlation between the MWNT distribution and flow. The image analysis demonstrated that the MWNT distribution was significantly enhanced in the composites fabricated under a low flow condition, and DC conductivity results revealed the dramatic increase in the conductivity of the composites fabricated under the same condition, which supported the image analysis results. The composites were also prepared under the low flow condition (114 mm < flow < 126 mm), incorporating various MWNT contents. The image analysis of the composites revealed an increase in the planar occupation ratio of MWNT, and DC conductivity results exhibited dramatic increase in the conductivity (percolation phenomena) as the MWNT content increased. The image analysis and DC conductivity results indicated that fabrication of the composites under the low flow condition was an effective way to enhance the MWNT distribution.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.279-287
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• 2009

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) is a new medical imaging modality providing cross-sectional images of a conductivity distribution inside an electrically conducting object. MREIT has rapidly progressed in its theory, algorithm and experimental technique and now reached the stage of in vivo animal and human experiments. Conductivity image reconstructions in MREIT require various steps of carefully implemented numerical computations. To facilitate MREIT research, there is a pressing need for an MREIT software package with an efficient user interface. In this paper, we present an example of such a software, called CoReHA which stands for conductivity reconstructor using harmonic algorithms. It offers various computational tools including preprocessing of MREIT data, identification of boundary geometry, electrode modeling, meshing and implementation of the finite element method. Conductivity image reconstruction methods based on the harmonic $B_z$ algorithm are used to produce cross-sectional conductivity images. After summarizing basics of MREIT theory and experimental method, we describe technical details of each data processing task for conductivity image reconstructions. We pay attention to pitfalls and cautions in their numerical implementations. The presented software will be useful to researchers in the field of MREIT for simulation as well as experimental studies.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.461-468
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• 2009

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) enables us to perform high-resolution conductivity imaging of an electrically conducting object. Injecting low-frequency current through a pair of surface electrodes, we measure an induced magnetic flux density using an MRI scanner and this requires a sophisticated MR phase imaging method. Applying a conductivity image reconstruction algorithm to measured magnetic flux density data subject to multiple injection currents, we can produce multi-slice cross-sectional conductivity images. When there exists a local region of fat, the well-known chemical shift phenomenon produces misalignments of pixels in MR images. This may result in artifacts in magnetic flux density image and consequently in conductivity image. In this paper, we investigate chemical shift artifact correction in MREIT based on the well-known three-point Dixon technique. The major difference is in the fact that we must focus on the phase image in MREIT. Using three Dixon data sets, we explain how to calculate a magnetic flux density image without chemical shift artifact. We test the correction method through imaging experiments of a cheese phantom and postmortem canine head. Experimental results clearly show that the method effectively eliminates artifacts related with the chemical shift phenomenon in a reconstructed conductivity image.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.1-6
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• 2007

Two impedance imaging systems of multi-frequency electrical impedance tomography (MFEIT) and magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) are described. MFEIT utilizes boundary measurements of current-voltage data at multiple frequencies to reconstruct cross-sectional images of a complex conductivity distribution (${\sigma}+i{\omega}{\varepsilon}$) inside the human body. The inverse problem in MFEIT is ill-posed due to the nonlinearity and low sensitivity between the boundary measurement and the complex conductivity. In MFEIT, we therefore focus on time- and frequency-difference imaging with a low spatial resolution and high temporal resolution. Multi-frequency time- and frequency-difference images in the frequency range of 10 Hz to 500 kHz are presented. In MREIT, we use an MRI scanner to measure an internal distribution of induced magnetic flux density subject to an injection current. This internal information enables us to reconstruct cross-sectional images of an internal conductivity distribution with a high spatial resolution. Conductivity image of a postmortem canine brain is presented and it shows a clear contrast between gray and white matters. Clinical applications for imaging the brain, breast, thorax, abdomen, and others are briefly discussed.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.219-224
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• 2015

Electrical impedance tomography is an imaging technique to reconstruct the internal conductivity distribution based on applied currents and measured voltages in a domain of interest. In this paper, a modified Gauss-Newton method is proposed for conductivity image reconstruction. In the proposed method, the dimension of the inverse term is reduced by replacing the number of elements with the number of measurement data in the conductivity updating equation of the conventional Gauss-Newton method. Therefore, the computation time is greatly reduced as compared to the conventional Gauss-Newton method. Moreover, the regularization parameter is selected by computing the minimum-maximum from the diagonal components of the Jacobian matrix at every iteration. The numerical experiments with several scenarios were carried out to evaluate the reconstruction performance of the proposed method.

• Journal of the Korean Graphic Arts Communication Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2007

Offset printing is one of the well known printing technique of lithographic process and consists of image area and 'non-image area on a flat image carrier. The surface tension of dampening water can be controlled by adding IPA after mixing of raw water and etching solution. The etching solution contains a surfactant for reducing surface energy, a clean agent for non-imaging area, wetting agent for protecting non-imaging area from oil components like ink and also an emulsifying agent for controlling emulsification. In this study, the present situation of dampening water maintenance has examined by collecting dampening water using at domestic companies. The pH related to dampening water, conductivity, contact angle, emulsification curve are measured to define the current situation of dampening water control of each companies and to analyze the relationship among measured properties. In the study most of companies among 16 printing companies tested controlling dampening water through pH value. However, the quality of printing has varied depending upon conductivity, contact angle, IPA content, and emulsification value. The control of dampening water should be carry at the state of the standard when adding proper ratio of etching solution. It would be more effective when pH or conductivity control carries out in parallel with controlling dampening water. Therefore the concept that pH5.5 is correct is based concept. Based on these initial tests it is defined that the standardization of dampening water control is required.

• Communications of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.459-485
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• 2001

The aim of EIT (electrical impedance tomography) system is to image cross-section conductivity distribution of a human body by means of both generating and sensing electrodes attached on to the surface of the body, where currents are injected and voltages are measured. EIT has been suffered from the severe ill-posedness which is caused by the inherent low sensitivity of boundary measurements to any changes of internal tissue conductivity values. With a limited set of current-to-voltage data, figuring out full structure of the conductivity distribution could be extremely difficult at present time, so it could be worthwhile to extract some necessary partial information of the internal conductivity. We try to extract some key patterns of current-to-voltage data that furnish some core information on the conductivity distribution such s location and size. This overview provides our recent observation on the location search and the size estimation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.179-184
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• 2009

Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT) is a new bio-imaging modality providing cross-sectional conductivity images from measurements of internal magnetic flux densities produced by externally injected currents. Recent MREIT studies demonstrated successful conductivity image reconstructions of postmortem and in vivo canine brain. However, the whole head imaging was not achieved due to technical issues related with electrodes and noise in measured magnetic flux density data. In this study, we used a new carbon-hydrogel electrode with a large contact area and injected 30 mA imaging current through a canine head. Using a 3T MREIT system, we performed a postmortem canine experiment and produced high-resolution conductivity images of the entire canine head. Collecting magnetic flux density data inside the head subject to multiple injection currents, we reconstructed cross-sectional conductivity images using the harmonic $B_z$ algorithm. The conductivity images of the canine head show a good contrast not only inside the brain region including white and gray matter but also outside the brain region including the skull, temporalis muscle, mandible, lingualis proprius muscle, and masseter muscle.

• Journal of the Korean Graphic Arts Communication Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2008

We have manufactured Ag pastes for gravure printing by adding different solvent contents. Then the gravure printability and properties of conductive patterns gravure-printed by the different rheology characteristics of pastes were investigated. The dispersity of pastes was increased and the viscosity and shear rate dependence of viscosity for pastes were decreased by increasing the solvent content. Also storage modulus G', loss modulus G" and angular frequency value when G" starts to be bigger than G' of pastes were increased by decreasing the solvent content. These mean a flow drop of paste. As a result of gravure printing using two plates which have different line counts(175line and 350line), conductive patterns printed using 175line were spreaded more but Ag packing, thickness and conductivity of the conductive patterns were better than those printed using 350line. And the spread values of conductive patterns were increased with solvent contents but the best properties for Ag packing, surface roughness and conductivity of the conductive pattern were obtained by paste (3) which has 550cps of viscosity at $100s^{-1}$ and tan ${\delta}$ > 1 at 10rad/s. As a result of gravure printing using 350 line plate and paste (3), the conductive pattern has $1.2{\mu}m$ of film thickness and $1.9{\times}10^{-5}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ of conductivity.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.436-442
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• 2008

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography(MREIT) has been suggested to produce cross-sectional conductivity images of an electrically conducting object such as the human body. In most previous studies, recessed electrodes have been used to inject imaging currents into the object. An MRI scanner was used to capture induced magnetic flux density data inside the object and a conductivity image reconstruction algorithm was applied to the data. This paper reports the performance of a thin and flexible carbon-hydrogel electrode that replaces the bulky and rigid recessed electrode in previous studies. The new carbon-hydrogel electrode produces a negligible amount of artifacts in MR and conductivity images and significantly simplifies the experimental procedure. We can fabricate the electrode in different shapes and sizes. Adding a layer of conductive adhesive, we can easily attach the electrode on an irregular surface with an excellent contact. Using a pair of carbon-hydrogel electrodes with a large contact area, we may inject an imaging current with increased amplitude primarily due to a reduced average current density underneath the electrodes. Before we apply the new electrode to a human subject, we evaluated its performance by conducting MREIT imaging experiments of five swine legs. Reconstructed conductivity images of the swine legs show a good contrast among different muscles and bones. We suggest a future study of human experiments using the carbon-hydrogel electrode following the guideline proposed in this paper.