• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.132-142
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• 2007

In this study, a structural performance of R/C columns controlled by shear, strengthened with Sprayed FRP, was investigated. For this purpose, six 2/3-scaled column specimens were designed and tested by the pseudo-static reversed cyclic load under a constant axial load, which is 10% of the nominal axial strength of the column. Four specimens were strengthened by Sprayed FRP with different combinations of short fibers (carbon or glass) and resins (epoxy or vinyl ester). For comparison purpose, tests of a specimen strengthened with carbon fiber sheet (CFS) and a control specimen without strengthening were carried out, respectively. The result reveals that shear strengths and ductility capacities of columns strengthened with Sprayed FRP improved remarkably, compared to those of the control column, and the Sprayed FRP technique developed in this study is able to use the strengthening scheme of existing R/C columns.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.17 no.4 s.77
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• pp.481-490
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• 2005

This paper summarizes the full-scale test results on the CFT column-to-flat plate connections subjected to gravity loading. CFT construction has gained wide acceptance in a relatively short time in domestic building construction practice due to its various structural and construction advantages. Constructing an underground parking floor as a flat plate system is often regarded as essential for both cost savings and rapid construction. Efficient details for CFT-column-to-flat-plate connections have not been proposed yet, however, and their development is urgently needed. Based on some strategies that maximize economical field construction, several connecting schemes were proposed and tested based on a full-scale model. The test results showed that the proposed connection details can exhibit punching shear strength and connection stiffness comparable to or greater than those of their R/C flat plate counterpart.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.615-626
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• 2018

The seismic vulnerability of Turkey is relatively high due to its active fault systems with potential to create destructive earthquakes. Thus, reducing the loss of life and property, the number of the earthquake-prone buildings and their retrofit requirements are considerably significant key issues under the scenario earthquakes. The street survey based rapid assessment (SSRA) method can be considered as a powerful tool to determine the seismic vulnerability of building stock of an earthquake-prone city/state. In this study, the seismic vulnerability of the building stock of the Kirikkale province in Turkey is aimed to be estimated adopting the street survey based rapid assessment method (SSRA). For this purpose, central 2074 existing reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings were structurally surveyed with rapid visual site screening and disadvantages such as, the existence of short-column, soft-story, heavy overhangs, pounding effect and local soil conditions were determined for obtaining the structural performance score of each. The results obtained from the study demonstrate that 11-25% of the surveyed buildings in the study region needs to be investigated through more advanced assessment methods. Besides, higher correlation between increasing story number and unsafe/safe building ratio is obtained for the buildings with soft-story parameter than that for those with heavy overhangs and short-column parameters. The conformity of the results of the current study with the previous documented cases of rapid assessment efforts in the recent earthquakes in Turkey shows that the SSRA method for the Kirikkale province performed well, and thus this methodology can be reliably used for similar settlement areas.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.552-559
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• 2008

Ethyl (S)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate is an intermediate for the synthesis of Atorvastatin, a chiral drug used for hypercholesterolemia. A Rhodococcus erythropolisstrain (No.7) able to convert 4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyronitrile into 4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyric acid has recently been isolated from soil. This activity has been regarded as having been caused by the successive actions of the nitrile hydratase and amidase. In this instance, the corresponding amidase gene was cloned from the R. erythropolis strain and expressed in Escherichia coli cells. A soluble active form of amidase enzyme was obtained at $18^{\circ}C$. The Ni column-purified recombinant amidase was found to have a specific activity of 3.89 U/mg toward the substrate isobutyramide. The amidase was found to exhibit a higher degree of activity when used with mid-chain substrates than with short-chain ones. Put differently, amongst the various amides tested, isobutyramide and butyramide were found to be hydrolyzed the most rapidly. In addition to amidase activity, the enzyme was found to exhibit acyltransferase activity when hydroxyl amine was present. This dual activity has also been observed in other enzymes belonging to the same amidase group (E.C. 3.5.1.4). Moreover, the purified enzyme was proven to be able to enantioselectively hydrolyze 4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyramide into the corresponding acid. The e.e. value was measured to be 52% when the conversion yield was 57%. Although this e.e. value is low for direct commercial use, molecular evolution could eventually result in this amidase being used as a biocatalyst for the production of ethyl (S)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2019

A novel esterase gene (est7S) was cloned from an enriched metagenomic library derived from an oil-spill area. The gene encoded a protein of 505 amino acids, and the molecular mass of the Est7S was estimated to be 54,512 Da with no signal peptide. Est7S showed the highest identity of 40% to an esterase from a sludge metagenome compared to the characterized enzymes with their properties, although it showed 99% identity to a carboxylesterase in the genome sequence of Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2. Est7S had catalytic triad residues, Ser183, Glu312, and His420, and the GESAG motif in most family VII lipolytic enzymes. Est7S was purified from the crude extract of clone SM7 using Sephacryl S-200 HR and HiTrap Q column chromatographies. The purified Est7S was optimally active at $50^{\circ}C$ and pH 10.0. Est7S showed a high specific activity of 366.7 U/mg protein. It preferred short length esters, particularly p-nitrophenyl acetate, efficiently hydrolyzed R- and S-enantiomers of methyl-3-hydroxy-2-methylpropionate, and glyceryl tributyrate. These properties of Est7S may provide potential merits in biotechnological applications such as detergent and paper processing under alkaline conditions.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.331-338
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• 2006

A rapid, selective and sensitive reverse-phase HPLC methods for the determination of atenolol and chlorthalidone in human serum and whole blood were validated, and applied to the pharmacokinetic study of atenolol and chlorthalidone combination therapy. Atenolol and an internal standard, pindolol, were extracted from human serum by liquid-liquid extraction, and analyzed on a $\mu$-Bondapak C18 $10-{\mu}$ column in a mobile phase of methanol-0.01 M potassium dihydrogenphosphate(30:70, v/v, adjusted to pH 3.5) and fluorescence detection(emission: 300 nm, excitation: 224 nm). Chlorthalidone and an internal standard, probenecid, were extracted form human whole blood by liquid-liquid extraction, and analyzed on a Luna C18 $5-{\mu}$ column in a mobile phase of acetonitrile containing 77% 0.01 M sodium acetate and UV detection at 214 nm. These analysis were performed at three different laboratories using the same quality control(QC) samples. The chromatograms showed good resolution, sensitivity, and no interference by human serum and whole blood, respectively. The methods showed linear responses over a concentration range of 10-1,000 ng/mL for atenolol and 0.05-20 ${\mu}g/mL$ for chlorthalidone, with correlation coefficients of greater than 0.999 at all the three laboratories. Intra- and inter-day assay precision and accuracy fulfilled international requirements. Stability studies(freeze-thaw, short-, long-term, extracted sample and stock solution) showed that atenolol and chlorthalidone were stable. The lower limit of quantitation of atenolol and chlorthalidone were 10 ng/mL and 0.05 ${\mu}g/mL$, respectively, which was sensitive enough for pharmacokinetic studies. These methods were applied to the pharmacokinetic study of atenolol and chlorthalidone in human volunteers following a single oral administration of Hyundai $Tenoretic^{\circledR}$ tablet(atenolol 50 mg and chlorthalidone 12.5 mg) at three different laboratories.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.352-359
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• 2011

An analytical method for solvent-free determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) in water using repetitive membrane extractions coupled to cryofocusing and GC-MS was derived. BTEX compounds that permeated through a nonporous silicone membrane from the aqueous phase and evaporated into the acceptor phase were purged into a cryofocusing trap ($-100^{\circ}C$) with helium gas. The BTEX compounds, thus enriched in the trap, were thermally desorbed into a capillary column GC and detected using an MS. The flow rate of the donor phase (30 mL water) was set at 10 mL/min, and membrane extractions, accomplished by returning the water drained from the extraction module to the sample container, were repeated three times at $20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. Although recoveries (%) were variable, from the highest for benzene (approximately 80%) to the lowest for ethylbenzene and xylenes (3.5-10%), the method showed satisfactory precision (RSD 2.2-10%) with good-linearity calibration curves ($r^2$ 0.9976-0.9997 in 1-100 ${\mu}g$/L range) for all of the compounds. The method detection limits (MDLs) ranged from 0.16 to 1.8 ${\mu}g$/L. The results showed the method's advantages such as short analysis time and overall simplicity without solvent compared to the conventional techniques.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2006

A selective and sensitive reversed-phase HPLC method for the determination of pentoxifylline in human serum was developed, validated, and applied to the pharmacokinetic study of pentoxifylline. Pentoxifylline and internal standard, chloramphenicol, were extracted from the serum by liquid-liquid extraction with dichloromethane and analyzed on a Luna CI8(2) column with the mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.034 M phosphoric acid (25:75, v/v, adjusted to pH 4.0 with 10 M NaOH). Detection wavelength of 273 nm and flow rate of 0.8 mL/min were used. This method showed linear response over the concentration range of 10-500 ng/mL with correlation coefficients greater than 0.999. The lower limit of quantification using 0.5 mL of the serum was 10 ng/mL, which was sensitive enough for pharmacokinetic studies of pentoxifylline. The overall accuracy of the quality control samples ranged from 89.3 to 92.7% for pentoxifylline with overall precision (% C.V.) being 4.1-9.2%. The relative mean recovery of pentoxifylline for human serum was 105.8%. Stability (stock solution, short and long-term) studies showed that pentoxifylline was not stable during storage. But three freeze-thaw cycles and extracted serum samples were stable. This method showed good ruggedness (within 15% C.V.) and was successfully applied for the analysis of pentoxifylline in human serum samples for the pharmacokinetic studies of orally administered $Trental^{\circledR}$ tablet (400 mg pentoxifylline), demonstrating the suitability of the method.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 1996

Immobilized bioprocess was carried out for continuous production of cyclosporin A (CyA) produced intracellularly as a secondary metabolite by a filamentous fungus, Tolypocladium inflatum. Immobilization procedure for entrapping conidiospores of the producer was significantly simplified by use of a modified immobilization technique. A newly-designed immobilized perfusion reactor system (IPRS) showed good process benefits as demonstrated by the role of the high density immobilized cells as an efficient biomass generator, continuously supplying highly active CyA-producing free cells (1.0g/$\ell$/hr) even at very high dilution rate ($0.1hr^{-1}$). IPRS bioprocess was possible since efficient decantor system developed in our laboratory separated the sloughed-off free cells from the immobilized biomass effectively, thus overcoming wash-out phenomenon frequently encountered in continuous free cell cultures. Furthermore the released-free cells remaining in the bulk solution did not appear to cause substrate mass transfer limitation which was often experienced in suspended mycelial fungal cell fermentations. The primary reason for this was that the suspension broth of the IPRS mainly consisted of roundshaped short mycelial fragments and conidiospores, still remaining Newtonian even at high cell density. In parallel with IPRS bioprocess development, other key factors to be considered necessarily for significant increase in CyA productivity would be strain improvement and medium optimization for the immobilized cells.