• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.103-127
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• 2007

This study presents the political economics models to explore the political landscape of special interest groups influencing the government's decision making process for implementing international environmental standard. Starting with the popular menu-auction types of lobbying frameworks in the literature, the study extends its scope of research to multi-principal and multi-agency based international interest group politics and its hybrid case in order to bring the interaction of the relevant interest politics to the fore. Within a specific factor model of international trade between 2 small open economies, we compare the political equilibrium environmental standards in different institutional frameworks which can be feasible in the sense of recently growing role of environmental interest group. Although the conventional finding suggests that cooperative bargaining between the two countries can attain the globally optimal level of the standard, the paper rather explains that the cooperation between the national interest groups and the hybrid case also generate the stricter standard then national interest politics usually do.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1105-1109
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• 2012

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women in India and the disease burden is increasing annually. The lack of awareness initiatives, structured screening, and affordable treatment facilities continue to result in poor survival. We present a breast cancer survival scenario, in urban population in India, where standardised care is distributed equitably and free of charge through an employees' healthcare scheme. We studied 99 patients who were treated at our hospital during the period 2005 to 2010 and our follow-up rates were 95.95%. Patients received evidence-based standardised care in line with the tertiary cancer centre in Mumbai. One-, three- and five-year survival rates were calculated using Kaplan-Meier method. Socio-demographic, reproductive and tumor factors, relevant to survival, were analysed. Mortality hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using Cox proportional hazard method. Survival in this series was compared to that in registries across India and discrepancies were discussed. Patients mean age was 56 years, mean tumor size was 3.2 cms, 85% of the tumors belonged to T1 and T2 stages, and 45% of the patients belonged to the composite stages I and IIA. Overall 5-year survival was 74.9%. Patients who presented with large-sized tumors (HR 3.06; 95% CI 0.4-9.0), higher composite stage (HR 1.91; 0.55-6.58) and undergone mastectomy (HR 2.94; 0.63-13.62) had a higher risk of mortality than women who had higher levels of education (HR 0.25; 0.05-1.16), although none of these results reached the significant statistical level. We observed 25% better survival compared to other Indian populations. Our results are comparable to those from the European Union and North America, owing to early presentation, equitable access to standardised free healthcare and complete follow-up ensured under the scheme. This emphasises that equitable and affordable delivery of standardised healthcare can translate into early presentation and better survival in India.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.389-395
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• 2016

Objectives: Acute methanol poisonings known to be typical occupational diseases occurring in developing countries broke out in sub-contract manufacturers in the early 2016. The present paper attempted to identify underlying causes which hide under apparent findings, and suggest alternative policies to prevent recurrence of similar intoxication Methods: We evaluated occupational health and safety characteristics of workers in micro-enterprises similar to workplaces with methanol poisoning by in depth-interview of employers, workers, and labor inspectors, and literature review. Results: The common findings of workplaces with methanol poisoning were addressed; First, the victims were illegal agency workers. Second, the workplaces were sub-contract micro-manufacturers with less than 5 employees. Investigators found that local ventilations did not work, while most of workers did not wear any proper personal respiratory protective equipment in the workplace. In addition, periodic environmental monitoring and medical check-ups were not done. However, these apparent findings do not appear to be root causes of methanol poisoning. Our in depth-analysis clarified a root cause; micro-enterprises with less than 5 employees are exempted with essential regulations of OSH Act, and employers do not know about OSH Act. Conclusions: We suggest occupational health policies to prevent recurrence of similar intoxication; First, government should introduce programs so that all employers should know about employers' responsibilities in OSH Act from the start of business. Second, even manufacturers with less than 5 employees should not be exempted with essential regulations of OSH Act. Finally, employers should take responsibilities for health and safety of all the workers including agency workers working in workplaces.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.603-609
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• 2019

Objectives: This case report aims to contribute to the enhancement of training quality for occupational accident prevention by conducting surveys on customers' satisfaction with the training course management by the Occupational Safety and Health Training Institute (OSHTI) of KOSHA. Methods: Surveys were conducted through phone calls, customer service documents, and questionnaires from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. Results: The surveys showed an answer rate of 97.36% and handling rate of 97.47% in 2018, an increase of 1.15% compared to 2017. The number of monthly inbound calls in 2018 was 5,902, rising 0.10% year-on-year, and the average inbound calls per day in 2018 was 289, a decline from 291 the year before. The number of provisions of customer service in 2018 was 68,952, increasing 1.89% year-on-year. The number of inquiries on the training curriculum was 58,744 in 2018, an increase of 3.98% compared to the 56,498 recorded in 2017. Inquiries on job training centers were the most common, numbering 27,114 (39.32%), followed by e-learning 18,470 (26.79%) and expert courses 13,160 (19.09%). Of the 149 answers to the customer service survey, 'Nothing to complain about' accounted for 86 (56.72%) and 'Diversifying training time and programs' numbered 22 (14.77%). Conclusions: Customer satisfaction in 2018 increased compared to that in 2017. However, there is a need to reflect the demands of customers for diversifying training time and programs, offer practice-centered training, and collect opinions on providing information in order to maintain high quality training course management.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.50
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• pp.326.1-326.10
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• 2018

Background: This retrospective study analyzed the causes of failure in the management process from the identification of brain-dead potential organ donors to actual donation in Korea over the past 5 years. Methods: Data of 8,120 potential brain deaths reported to the Korea Organ Donation Agency were used, including information received at the time of reporting, donation suitability evaluation performed by the coordinator after the report, and data obtained from interviews of hospital medical staff and the donor's family. Results: From January 2012 to December 2016, the total number of brain-dead potential organ donors in Korea was 8,120, of which 2,348 (28.9%) underwent organ procurement surgery with designated recipients. While the number of transplant donors has increased over time, the ratio of transplant donors to medically suitable brain-dead donors has decreased. The common causes of donation failure included donation refusal (27.6%), non-brain death (15.5%), and incompatible donation (11.6%); 104 potential donors (7.8%) were unable to donate their organs because they were not pronounced brain dead. Conclusion: The rate of successful organ donation may be increased by analyzing the major causes of failure in the brain-dead organ donation management process and engaging in various efforts to prevent such failures.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.3-14
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the distribution characteristics of the agency-managed shared housings in Seoul and draw the possible implications from it. The needed data for the study was obtained from an on-line shared housing portal service which provides housing information from various shared housing management agencies. By mapping out the locations and other related data into a GIS(Geographic Information System) program, this study shows that shared housings in Seoul can be sorted into four large clusters. Each cluster has a different ratio of housing types and room capacities reflecting each regional circumstance and common causes. Women-only shared housing takes up 79% of the overall shared housing ratio and, while multi-family housing type has the most count, the apartment type has a noticeably high ratio in women-only housing compared to the apartment type ratio among the other gender-specific housings. Given the high crime rate against the single-person household of young adult women, the reason for the popularity of shared-apartment housing among young women can be deduced. However, the potential tenants' practical choices and their concern for safety are not the only causes that drive the current shared housing market. The young adults in their 20's and 30's choose to live in popular places where they can engage social activities. A new tier of shared housing market has also appeared in places where young adults could not have afforded if they lived alone. Choosing where we live is no longer about just meeting the requirements for a house based on what she/he needs but also about satisfying the preferences for a living based on what she/he desires. This paper indicates that although there is an undeniable premise that 'sharing a house' revolves around the realm of housing welfare and is not a typical topic for the upper-income households, the way we live and how we choose our place to live is shifting.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.108-118
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• 2017

In this paper, the path tracking controller for a surface vessel based on the sliding mode control (SMC) with the switching law is proposed. In order to have no restriction on movement and improved tracking performance, the proposed control system is developed as follows: First, the kinematic and dynamic models in Cartesian coordinates are considered to solve the singularity problem at the origin. Second, the new multiple sliding surfaces are designed with the SMC and approach angle concept to solve the under-actuated property. Third, the switching control system is designed to improve tracking performance. To prove the stability of the proposed switching system under the arbitrary switching, the Lyapunov stability analysis method with the common Lyapunov function is used. Finally, the computer simulations are performed to demonstrate the performance, effectiveness and stability of the proposed tracking controller of a surface vessel.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.2513-2533
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• 2018

In cognitive radio technology, the overall efficiency of communications systems can be improved without allocating additional bands by allowing a secondary system to utilize the licensed band when the primary system, which has the right to use the band, does not use it. In this paper, we propose a fast and reliable common channel initialization protocol without any exchange of initialization messages between the cluster head and the member nodes in cognitive ad-hoc networks. In the proposed method, the cluster and member nodes perform channel-based spectrum sensing. After sensing, the cluster head transmits a system activation signal through its available channels with a predetermined angle difference pattern. To detect the cluster head's transmission channels and to join the cluster, each member node implements fast Fourier transform (FFT) and computes autocorrelation for the angle difference sequence of the received signal patterns. This is compared to the predetermined reference angle difference pattern. The join-request and channel-decision procedures are presented in this paper. Performance evaluation of the proposed method is presented in the simulation results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2011

The relationships among long-term variation in catches of Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) and main food organism such as common mackerel (Scomber japonicus), anchovy (Engraulis japonicus), and oceanic condition in Korean waters were analyzed using 40 years of time-series data from 1971－2010. In the 1990s, oceanic conditions around the Korean peninsula shifted to a warmer regime with higher SST (sea surface temperature). The total catch of Spanish mackerel in Korean waters increased dramatically since the early 2000s, and main fishing ground form into South Sea in winter season from December to January. From the results of correlation analysis, we found a significant relationship between the Spanish mackerel catch and environmental factor such as SST, common mackerel and anchovy catch in Korean waters.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.115-123
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• 2018

In this paper, we consider the applicability of time-hopping(TH) systems for anti-jamming(AJ) communication. We first briefly summarize fundamentals of TH systems and several common jamming scenarios that have been considered in the literature. We then analyze the AJ performance of TH systems under those common jamming environments. From our simulation results, we reveal that among narrow band, partial band, broadband, and sweep jamming, partial band and sweep jamming are the best ones from jammer perspective. For the partial band jamming case, we show that the most effective bandwidth ratio and location are 50 % and 2.5-3.5 Ghz, respectively. For the sweep jamming case, we illustrate that the AJ performance of the TH system is enhanced when the sweep duration approaches to the bit duration. In addition, we pointed out that the most efficient jamming bandwidth ratio is 1/2. Finally, our results show that the TH-BPSK system greatly outperforms the TH-PPM counterpart.