• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.24-33
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• 2016

Objectives: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the benefit of Traditional Korean Medicine as an adjuvant therapy in management of early uterine contractions and the prevention of Preterm Birth (PTB). Methods: It is a case report of a 38 year-old-woman hospitalized for irregular uterine contractions and cervical change at 33^+3/7weeks of gestation. After 7 trials of IVF and artificial insemination, conception was successful via IVF with help of traditional Korean medicines. 2 TKMs were prescribed: Gami-danggui-san, and Antae-eum. 120 ml of Gami-danggui-san was given twice a day morning and evening along with same amount of Antae-eum once a day from 31 August 2013 to 28 November 2013. Tocolytics (Ritodrine) was administered as a first aid for maintenance of pregnancy. Information regarding progress until the delivery was collected during the patient’s visit. Results: As of 34^+2/7 weeks of gestation, intermittent uterine contractions appeared (5-12 min) on cardiotocography and vaginal bleeding was also smeared at 34^+3/7 weeks. However, enhanced tocolytics and continuous administration of herbal medicine sustained the pregnancy to term. At 37^+2/7 weeks, no sign of labor with restored cervical length was confirmed. The woman gave a term birth to a healthy infant via vaginal delivery at 39^+3/7 gestational weeks. Conclusions: Our report implies the potential of herbal medicine as a adjuvant therapy for preterm labor treatment. Further studies are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of TKM herbal medicine as a therapeutic alternative for curing preterm birth.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.41
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• pp.7-36
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• 2014

Recently the Korean government announced that minimum wage policy would be applied even to apartment security staffs by 2015 who had been waived from the policy enforcement for their unique work conditions. This caused apartment management to introduce unmanned security system instead of employing security staffs because of fearing possible hike of management fees. People recklessly tend to believe unmaned system is cheaper than maned system if minimum wage guideline is applied. This study examines the economic feasibility of two different apartment security systems by utilizing cost-benefit analysis: maned and unmaned security systems. The authors estimate the costs and the benefits of each security system for 5 years(2014-2018) with application of social discount rate(5.5%). Thirty six apartment complexes at 8 different areas(meons and dongs) in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do province were surveyed. And to attain the exact costs of unmaned system establishment and operation, the authors interviewed persons working for the unmaned security corporations. The benefit-cost(B/C) ratio for unmanned security system is 1.66% at minimum and 1.30% at maximum. while B/C ratio for manned security system is 1.42% and 1.66% respectively. This results mean that people's belief is not correct, that is, transferring from maned system to unmaned is not always economically efficient. Benefits of maned security system is more diverse than unmaned system. The former provides living conveniences(parking helps and keeping parcels) and social benefits(employing aged worker and giving them opportunities to enjoy happier lives) as well as security benefits like crime prevention. The latter provides security benefits only, but that effect is also doubtable. Taking into account these diverse benefits maned system provides, the B/C ratio of maned system is equitable or higher than unmaned system.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.5-21
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• 2015

An energy pile is a novel type of ground heat exchangers (GHEX's) which sets up heat exchange pipes inside a pile foundation, and allows to circulate a working fluid through the pipe for exchanging thermal energy with the surrounding ground stratum. Using existing foundation structure, the energy pile can function not only as a structural foundation but also as a GHEX. In this paper, six full-scale energy piles were constructed in a test bed with various configurations of the heat exchange pipe inside large-diameter cast-in-place piles, that is, three parallel U-type heat exchangers (5, 8 and 10 pairs), two coil type heat exchangers (with a 500 mm and 200 mm pitch), and one S-type heat exchanger. During constructing the energy piles, the constructability of each energy pile was evaluated with consideration of the installation time, the number of workers and any difficulty for installing. In order to evaluate the thermal performance of energy piles, the thermal performance tests were carried out by applying intermittent (8 hours operating-16 hours pause) artificial cooling operation to simulate a cooling load for commercial buildings. Through the thermal performance tests, the heat exchange rates of the six energy piles were evaluated in terms of the heat exchange amount normalized with the length of energy pile and/or the length of heat exchange pipe. Finally, the economic feasibility of energy pile was evaluated according to the various types of heat exchange pipe by calculating demanded expenses per 1 W/m based on the thermal performance test results along with the market value of heat exchange pipes and labor cost.