• Journal of Korean Society of Health-System Pharmacists
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.409-417
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• 2018

Background : Febrile neutropenia (FN) is one of the side effects in the patients treated with chemotherapy, and the patients who have FN generally need immediate treatment with extended-spectrum antibiotics and hospitalization. Pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim, which are used for the prevention of FN as a granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), have been granted insurance coverage in the Republic of Korea for certain breast cancer patients using doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) from September 2016. Methods : The data of the patients with breast cancer using AC regimen and G-CSF were collected retrospectively. This study involves cost-utility analysis of pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim. In this study, we constructed a simple decision tree model for short-term observation and calculated quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and the direct medical costs from the medical provider's perspective. Results : From September 2016 to May 2017, 15 patients were treated with pegfilgrastim and 15 patients were treated with pegteograstim. As a result of dividing the average cost by QALY for each treatment group, it was observed that pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim were consumed 24,923,384 won and 22,808,336 won per 1QALY, respectively. Consequently, incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) showed 2,115,048 won more per pegfilgrastim than pegteograstim per 1QALY, and the cost per 1QALY of both the drugs was lower than 30,500,000 won; the Koreans were willing to pay this amount. Conclusions : This study suggests that pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim can be used to improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients undergoing AC therapy. Among the two drugs, pegteograstim seems to be more cost-effective. However, since this study was conducted as a retrospective observation method on a small scale, it is associated with many limitations. Therefore, a long-term prospective cohort study is needed to supplement the present findings.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2021

Technologies for an MVDC(medium voltage direct current) distribution system are being considered as an effective alternative to overcome the interconnection delay issues of PV systems. However, the implementation of a DC distribution system might lead to economic problems because of the development of DC devices. Therefore, this paper deals with the scale of a PV plant based on its capacity and proposes hosting-capacity models for PV systems to establish a network to evaluate the feasibility of an MVDC distribution system. The proposed models can be classified as AC and DC distribution systems by the power-supply method. PV systems with hundreds of MW, dozens of MW, and a few MW can be categorized as large-scale, medium-scale, and small-scale models, respectively. This paper also performed modeling for an economic evaluation of MVDC distribution system by considering both the cost of AC and DC network construction, converter replacement, operation, etc. The profit was composed of the SMP and REC rate of a PV plant. A simulation for economic evaluation was done for the MVDC distribution system using the present worth and equal-principal costs repayment method. The results confirmed that the proposed model is a useful tool to evaluate economic issues of a DC distribution system.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.243-249
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• 2020

This study analyzes the earnings management that can occur in the process of public offering in the process of SMEs reducing cost of capital, risks and seeking opportunities for direct financing. Since a company is subject to strict supervision during the IPO process, it is possible to prevent the phenomenon that the company value evaluated in the market is underestimated, or to perform earnings management in consideration of overestimation. This study attempted to verify the degree of earnings management through discretionary accruals and actual earnings management values that can affect the earnings ratio of the IPO of a company. For this study, total accruals were calculated and analyzed through discretionary accruals, sales, costs, and actual earnings management adjustments from production activities. As a result of the analysis, discretionary accruals, which are the countermeasures for earnings management during the listing process, have a positive(+) relationship in both the stock price return and the sales adjustment value, which can be viewed as a factor that induces high valuation. As a result of this, there may be a risk of adverse selection for the benefit amount, and information asymmetry may exist for public offering stocks. This study can provide useful guidelines for evaluating corporate value to domestic SMEs and investors that do business with Chinese companies as well as China through the current and type of earnings management of Chinese listed companies.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.325-335
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• 2021

Chronic diseases have been increasing recently as the average life expectancy of humans has been extended, and this trend has caused problems such as the widespread demand for health and rehabilitation services and rising medical costs. In order to solve this problem, the community-based rehabilitation has been developed and strengthened in Korea and gradually promoted since 2019. It is important to secure access to clients who want to use services to revitalize community-based rehabilitation. So in this study, as part of the community-based rehabilitation, intends to devise smartphone applications designs and develop a prototype to secure access to community-based occupational therapy services based on occupation and activities. For Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF), International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and Allen Diagnostic Module-2 (ADM-2) were used to devise and categorize occupation and activity based application content, and link OTPF, ICF, and ADM-2 through prior research analysis and expert meetings. The derived content was visualized through literature review and activity analysis, and was implemented to enable direct playback within the application using the YouTube API, and finally developed a prototype application. The Android Studio 3.5.2 for Windows 64-bit was used to build the application prototype. In further research, converging various digital technologies for user convenience and additionally researching community-based occupational therapy service providers opinions and service user satisfaction will improve accessibility to community-based occupational therapy services for clients who have difficulty occupational performance in the community.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.782-793
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• 2022

The rise in chronic disease not only has a negative effect on people's lives, but it also increases the cost of medical care owing to the increased usage of medical care as health and medical technology improves, life expectancy rises, and rapid population ageing. In such context, this study examined the difference in the disease cost of hypertension according to demographic information and the effect of the initial diagnosis age and treatment period on the cost. This study used the Korean Health Panel Survey from 2010 to 2017, and selected subjects based on health insurance beneficiaries between the ages of 30 and under 80. With the selected data, the direct and indirect costs of disease loss were calculated according to the cost of illness approach, and we constructed a disease-loss ratio cohort considering the age of diagnosis and time of treatment for hypertension. From the results of the study, the annual cost of disease loss for hypertensive patients differed by gender by 110,107 won, and it was found that the cost increased by 1.8 times as the treatment time increased. In addition, when comparing disease loss ratios between the same age groups, it was found that the disease loss ratios between those in their 60s and 70s were affected by treatment time. This study confirmed that hypertension significantly affects the cost of the disease, and not only requires early diagnosis and management, but also preventive efforts to lower the incidence of hypertensive disease must be strengthened.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.737-746
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• 2023

Purpose: Ground subsidence due to cavity can bring about various problems, such as casualties, decrease of the safety of the structures, and indirect social costs. Therefore, ground subsidence should be prevented through the exploration and recovery of the cavity under the pavements. Method: In this study, GPR exploration method was carried out on both actual roadway and mock-up site to compensate for the problems caused by excavation and restoration process. Result: This study compared the cavity scales obtained from GPR exploration results and the direct excavation of the identified cavity. It was confirmed that the predicted soil depth by GPR exploration was similar to the identified soil depth, but the predicted cavity scale by GPR exploration overestimated the longitudinal and cross-sectional widths compared to the identified cavity scale. Conclusion: Based on the correlation between the predicted cavity scales by GPR exploration, it is possible to qualitatively estimate the cavity scales using the empirical formula proposed in this study.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.693-710
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• 2022

Social interest in occupational safety and health is increasing due to ESG management and the implementation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. This study examines the current status of occupational accidents, which is the safety level of energy companies, and the impact of occupational accidents on the management performance (sales per capita, operating profit per capita, operating margin per capita) of energy companies over the period of 2015 to 2021 was empirically analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the level of occupational accidents in the 157 energy companies to be analyzed was lower than the occupational injury accident rate in Korea, but the disease rate was high.As a result of analyzing the impact of occupational accidents on management performance, it is estimated that an increase in the occupational accident rate reduces per capita sales, per capita operating profit, and gross margin rate.Through this study, the vulnerability of energy companies to occupational accidents was confirmed, and the direct and indirect costs of occupational accidents quantified the negative impact on management performance.Referring to the results of this study, energy companies should strengthen their efforts to prevent occupational accidents by increasing investment in safety and health to protect the lives of valuable workers and create sustainable business performance.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.63-87
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• 2016

Despite its rising labor costs these days, China still serves the role as 'World's Factory' thanks to a great deal of foreign direct investment, still remaining one of the world's highest, and the global companies, which have been willingly establishing foreign subsidiaries in China. While enjoying the benefits from the Chinese market, these global companies can now take advantages of another market; the one of Korea. If a product produced by a certain global company is actually manufactured in the local factory in China and the product meets specifications of Rules of Origin, the product shall receive preferential treatment under China-Korea FTA. In the perspective of global market, therefore, it is found that China-Korea FTA may have negative effects on chemical industry in Korea, which is considered one of the representatives of China-Korea FTA. This study examines such risks by network analysis, with several cases of 'Beauty or Make-up Preparations (HS Code 3304).' Analysis shows that Korea is classified as the marginal country group but not main country group when it comes to beauty products family. So this can be a great chance to the global cosmetic companies with local factories in China in the sense that they can increase their sales towards the market of Korea based on the China-Korea FTA. Under these concerns, this study suggests two policy alternatives for the chemical industry in Korea to deal with current challenges rising from China-Korea FTA. The suggested alternatives are: to actively attract the global chemical corporations which are yet to directly enter the Chinese market; and to invest on chemical products with high potential of growth as a priority.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.49-55
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• 2023

The discovery of lunar ice in the lunar polar region has fueled international interest in in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and the construction of lunar habitats. Unlike Earth's atmosphere, the Moon presents unique challenges, including frequent meteoroid impacts, direct exposure to space radiation, and extreme temperature variations. To safeguard lunar habitats from these threats, the construction of a protective shield is essential. Lunar regolith, as a construction material, offers distinct advantages, reducing transportation costs and ensuring a sustainable supply of raw materials. Moreover, it streamlines manufacturing, integration schedules, and enables easy repairs and modifications without Earth resupply. Adjusting the shield's thickness within the habitat's structural limits remains feasible as lunar conditions evolve. Although extensive research on protective shields using lunar regolith has been conducted, unresolved conflicts persist regarding shield requirements. This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of the primary lunar threats and suggests a minimum shield thickness of 2 m using lunar regolith. Furthermore, it outlines the necessary technology for the rapid construction of such protective shields.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.67 no.1
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• pp.84-93
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• 2024

Objective : We aimed to examine trends in critically ill neurology-neurosurgery (NNS) patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in South Korea and identify risk factors for in-hospital mortality after ICU admission in NNS patients. Methods : This nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study enrolled adult NNS adult patients admitted to the ICU from 2010 to 2019 extracted from the National Health Insurance Service in South Korea. The critically ill NNS patients were defined as those whose main admission departments were neurology or neurosurgery at ICU admission. The number of ICU admission, age, and total cost for hospitalization from 2010 to 2019 in critically ill NNS patients were examined as trend information. Moreover, multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to identify risk factors for in-hospital mortality among critically ill NNS patients. Results : We included 845474 ICU admission cases for 679376 critically ill NNS patients in South Korea between January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2019. The total number of ICU admissions among NNS patients was 79522 in 2010, which increased to 91502 in 2019. The mean age rose from 62.8 years (standard deviation [SD], 15.6) in 2010 to 66.6 years (SD, 15.2) in 2019, and the average total cost for hospitalization per each patient consistently increased from 6206.1 USD (SD, 5218.5) in 2010 to 10745.4 USD (SD, 10917.4) in 2019. In-hospital mortality occurred in 75455 patients (8.9%). Risk factors strongly associated with increased in-hospital mortality were the usage of mechanical ventilator (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 19.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 19.42-20.26; p<0.001), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (aOR, 3.49; 95% CI, 2.42-5.02; p<0.001), and continuous renal replacement therapy (aOR, 6.47; 95% CI, 6.02-6.96; p<0.001). In addition, direct admission to ICU from the emergency room (aOR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.36-1.41; p<0.001) and brain cancer as the main diagnosis (aOR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.22-1.39; p<0.001) are also potential risk factors for increased in-hospital mortality. Conclusion : In South Korea, the number of ICU admissions increased among critically ill NNS patients from 2010 to 2019. The average age and total costs for hospitalization also increased. Some potential risk factors are found to increase in-hospital mortality among critically ill NNS patients.