• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1102-1108
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• 2003

We studied the effects of phytolaccosides, saponins from Phytolacca americana, on the intestinal absorption of heparin in vitro and in vivo. The absorption enhancing activity of these compounds (phytolaccosides B, $D_2$, E, F, G and I) was determined by changes in transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and the transport amount of heparin disaccharide, the major repeating unit of heparin, across Caco-2 cell monolayers. With the exception of phytolaccoside G, all of them decreased TEER values and increased the permeability in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. In vitro, phytolaccosides B,$D_2$, and E showed significant absorption enhancing activities, while effects by phytolaccoside F and I were mild. In vivo, phytolaccoside E increased the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and thrombin time, indicating that phytolaccoside E modulated the transport of heparin in intestinal route. Our results suggest that a series of phytolaccosides from Phytolacca americana can be applied as pharmaceutical excipients to improve the permeability of macromolecules and hydrophilic drugs having difficulty in absorption across the intestinal epithelium.

• Entomological Research
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.429-438
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• 2018

Fine structural characteristics of the cardiac muscle and its sarcomere organization in the black widow spider, Latrodectus mactans were examined using transmission electron microscopy. The arrangement of cardiac muscle fibers was quite similar to that of skeletal muscle fibers, but they branched off at the ends and formed multiple connections with adjacent cells. Each cell contained multiple myofibrils and an extensive dyadic sarcotubular system consisting of sarcoplasmic reticulum and T-tubules. Thin and thick myofilaments were highly organized in regular repetitive arrays and formed contractile sarcomeres. Each repeating band unit of the sarcomere had three apparent striations, but the H-zone and M-lines were not prominent. Myofilaments were arranged into distinct sarcomeres defined by adjacent Z-lines with relatively short lengths of $2.0{\mu}m$ to $3.3{\mu}m$. Cross sections of the A-band showed hexagon-like arrangement of thick filaments, but the orbit of thin filaments around each thick filament was different from that seen in other vertebrates. Although each thick filament was surrounded by 12 thin filaments, the filament ratio of thin and thick myofilaments varied from 3:1 to 5:1 because thin filaments were shared by adjacent thick filaments.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.247-254
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• 2002

In order to develop the ion exchange membranes which would be used in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), the polysulfone polymer was sulfonated using chlorosulfonic acid (CSA) and trimethylchlorosilane(TMCS). It has been characterized in terms of ion conductivities, methanol crossover, swelling degree and ion exchange capacities for the heat untreated and treated membranes at $150^{\circ}C.$ Typically, the methanol permeability and ion conductivity at the mole ratio of 1.4 between polysulfone repeating unit and sulfonating agents showed $2.87{\times}10^{-7}\; cm^2/s$(without heat treatment), $1.52{\times}10^{-7}\; cm^2/s$(with heat treatment) and $1.10{\times}10^{-2}\; S/cm$(without heat treatment), $0.87{\times}10^{-2}\;$ S/cm(with heat treatment), respectively. After the mole ration of 1.4 both values indicated mild increase.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2011

We demonstrate a new surface modification of high-voltage lithium cobalt oxide ($LiCoO_2$) cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries. This approach is based on exploitation of a polarity-tuned gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) coating. Herein, two contrast polymers having different polarity are chosen: polyimide (PI) synthesized from thermally curing 4-component (pyromellitic dianhydride/biphenyl dianhydride/phenylenediamine/oxydianiline) polyamic acid (as a polar GPE) and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) containing 12 wt% vinyl acetate repeating unit (as a less polar GPE). The strong affinity of polyamic acid for $LiCoO_2$ allows the resulting PI coating layer to present a highly-continuous surface film of nanometer thickness. On the other hand, the less polar EVA coating layer is poorly deposited onto the $LiCoO_2$, resulting in a locally agglomerated morphology with relatively high thickness. Based on the characterization of GPE coating layers, their structural difference on the electrochemical performance and thermal stability of high-voltage (herein, 4.4 V) $LiCoO_2$ is thoroughly investigated. In comparison to the EVA coating layer, the PI coating layer is effective in preventing the direct exposure of $LiCoO_2$ to liquid electrolyte, which thus plays a viable role in improving the high-voltage cell performance and mitigating the interfacial exothermic reaction between the charged $LiCoO_2$ and liquid electrolytes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2015

The oxide films formed on etched aluminum foils play an important role as dielectric layers in aluminum electrolytic capacitors. $Y_2O_3$-doped $ZrO_2$ (YZ) films were coated on the etched aluminum foils by sol-gel dip coating, and the electrical properties of YZ-coated Al foils were characterized. YZ films annealed at $450^{\circ}C$ were crystallized into a cubic phase, and as the $Y_2O_3$ doping content increased, the unit cell of $ZrO_2$ expanded and the grain size decreased. The etch pits of Al foils were filled by YZ sol when it dried at atmospheric pressure after repeating for several times, but this step could essentially be avoided when being dried in a vacuum. YZ-coated foils indicated that the specific capacitance and dissipation factor were $2-2.5{\mu}F/cm^2$ and 2-4 at 1 kHz, respectively, and the leakage current and withstanding voltage of films approximately 200 nm thick were $5{\times}10^{-4}A$ at 21 V and 22 V, respectively. After being anodized at 500 V, the foils exhibited a specific capacitance and dissipation factor of $0.6-0.7{\mu}F/cm^2$ and 0.1-0.2, respectively, at 1 kHz, while the leakage current and withstanding voltage were $2{\times}10^{-4}-3{\times}10^{-5}A$ at 400 V and 420-450 V, respectively. This suggests that YZ film is a promising dielectric that can be used in high voltage Al electrolytic capacitors.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.71-75
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• 2021

Despite the development of computational resources, the need to analyze models is increasing. The size of model has been increased to analyze the entire structure more accurately and precisely. As the analysis model becomes larger and more complex, the computation time increases exponentially. Various industries use many structures that have repeated patterns. We focus on these structures with repeated patterns and propose a dynamic analysis method to efficiently calculate these repeated structures. To devise an efficient method for repeated structures, the substructuring scheme and the degree of freedom-based reduction method are used in this study. We modify the existing reduction method in consideration of the characteristics of the repeating structure. In the proposed method, the entire structure was expressed as a combination of substructures, where each substructure was represented as an unit cell of repeated structures. The substructures were condensed and assembled using the substructuring scheme and the modified condensation method. Finally, numerical examples were demonstrated to verify the efficiency and accuracy of proposed method.