Tae-Gyu Ahn

Three-dimensional refractive index tomograms and deformability of individual human red blood cells from cord blood of newborn infants and maternal blood

Abstract. Red blood cells (RBCs) from the cord blood of newborn infants have distinctive functions in fetal and infant development. To systematically investigate the biophysical characteristics of individual cord RBCs in newborn infants, a comparative study was performed on RBCs from the cord blood of newborn infants and from adult mothers or nonpregnant women using optical holographic microtomography. Optical measurements of the distributions of the three-dimensional refractive indices and the dynamic membrane fluctuations of individual RBCs were used to investigate the morphological, biochemical, and mechanical properties of cord, maternal, and adult RBCs at the individual cell level. The volume and surface area of the cord RBCs were significantly larger than those of the RBCs from nonpregnant women, and the cord RBCs had more flattened shapes than that of the RBCs in adults. In addition, the hemoglobin (Hb) content in the cord RBCs from newborns was significantly higher. The Hb concentration in the cord RBCs was higher than that in the nonpregnant women or maternal RBCs, but they were within the physiological range of adults. Interestingly, the amplitudes of the dynamic membrane fluctuations in cord RBCs were comparable to those in nonpregnant women and maternal RBCs, suggesting that the deformability of cord RBCs is similar to that of healthy RBCs in adults.

Geostatistical Approach to Integrated Modeling of Iron Mine for Evaluation of Ore Body

Evaluation of three-dimensional ore body modeling has been performed by applying the geostatistical integration technique to multiple geophysical (electrical resistivity, MT) and geological (borehole data, physical properties of core) information. It was available to analyze the resistivity range in borehole and other area through multiple geophysical data. A correlation between resistivity and density from physical properties test of core was also analyzed. In the case study results, the resistivity value of ore body is decreased contrast to increase of the density, which seems to be related to a reason that the ore body (magnetite) includes heavy conductive component (Fe) in itself. Based on the lab test of physical properties in iron mine region, various geophysical, geological and borehole data were used to provide ore body modeling, that is electrical resistivity, MT, physical properties data, borehole data and grade data obtained from borehole data. Of the various geostatistical techniques for the integrated data analysis, in this study, the SGS (sequential Gaussian simulation) method was applied to describe the varying non-homogeneity depending on region through the realization that maintains the mean and variance. With the geostatistical simulation results of geophysical, geological and grade data, the location of residual ore body and ore body which is previously reported was confirmed. In addition, another highly probable region of iron ore bodies was estimated deeper depth in study area through integrated modeling.

Application of DC Resistivity Survey from Upper Portion of Concrete and Geostatistical Integrated Analysis

A DC resistivity survey was performed to detect anomalies beneath concrete pavement. A set of high conductive media and planar electrodes were used to lessen the effect’s a high contact resistance of concrete. Results of the resistivity survey were analyzed and compared with those of other geophysical surveys such as Ground Penetration Radar (GPR), Impulse Response (IR), and Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW), which were carried out in the same location. The results of resistivity survey showed a high resistive distribution in the section of sink and pavement where a pattern of reinforcement was observed through the GPR survey. Also, a comparison of results between the IR and resistivity surveys indicated that the high resistivity was produced by the high dynamic stiffness in the reinforced section. The co-Kriging of both the results of DC resistivity and MASW surveys at the same location showed that an integrated geostatistical analysis is able to give more accurate description on the anomalous subsurface region than can a separate analysis of each geophysical approach. This study suggests that the integrated geostatistical approaches were used for a decision-making process based on the geophysical surveys.

An Electrical Resistivity Monitoring in Embankment

An electrical resistivity survey is widely conducted for the safety management of embankment. In this study we investigated how a tidal variation affects the interpretation of electrical resistivity monitoring data of the embankment located in west coast. We monitored the variation of electrical resistivity on the coastal embankment where there was a high tidal variation for 3 days in every 3 hours. Electrical resistivity monitoring data showed a variation of resistivity distribution in specific area according to the time, which demonstrated some correlation with a tidal height variation. Therefore, we highly recommend that a tidal effect be considered when electrical resistivity survey is conducted on the embankment where there is a high tidal variation. For further study, we need a long term electrical resistivity monitoring and analyzing on tidal variation.

Application of 3-D Kriging to the seismic refraction survey for calculating earth-volume in cut-slope

This paper presents 3-D modeling results of seismic refraction surveys performed to calculate the earth-volume of cut-slope. 3-D modeling was conducted for four p-wave profiles of seismic refraction data and analysis of physical properties (uniaxial compressive strength, rock core p-wave velocity) of the sampled rock cores was carried out to estimate the correlation between p-wave velocity and stiffness of rocks. As a result, p-wave velocities of rocks are decided for each status of rocks. The 3-D modeling results showed an accurate outline of the actual slope and p-wave velocity distribution. Based on a Kriging technique, p-wave velocity distribution was used to analyze the earth-volume and the total volume of rocks was calculated as 79,444 m3. This value was similar to the calculated total earth-volume used in civil engineering although the volume for each rock types was calculated differently. However, the calculation method traditionally used in civil engineering seemed to have some errors due to the irregular underground structure of the study area; while the Kriging method proposed in this study showed a prominent efficiency to minimize the probable errors when calculating the earth-volume.