• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2016

This study analyzes the economic efficiency of the virtual power plant (VPP) model that aims to integrate a number of emergency generators installed at the consumer end and operate them as a single power plant. Several factors such as the demand response benefits from VPP operation and costs incurred for converting emergency generators into VPP are considered to assess the economic efficiency of the proposed VPP model. Scenarios for yearly VPP conversion are prepared based on the installed capacities of the emergency generators distributed in South Korea, while the costs and benefits are calculated from the viewpoints of participants and power companies in accordance with California Test Methods. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is conducted on the cost factors among those affecting the economic efficiency of VPP business because these two factors have a great impact on benefits.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.165-170
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• 2004

This paper presents summary results of direct interview survey of Korean industrial customers conducted to evaluate the direct and short duration interruption costs resulting from local random electrical supply interruptions. The cost is evaluated using the questionnaires authors designed, which are mainly on the experience or preparatory actions consumers predicted they would take. Economic evaluation of reliability that traditionally takes into account duration and frequency of interruption does not accurately reflect the lost value or economic impacts of industrial customer, especially large size, caused by any kind of interruption. So, to imply the substantial difference in costs incurred by different customer group, the authors apply the international standards, i.e. IEC, IEEE, to the analysis on the interruption costs.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.356-362
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• 2015

Many burial sites were constructed in a short time to prevent the rapid spread of foot and mouth disease in infected livestock carcasses in Korea. More than 4,700 carcass burial sites were constructed in 2011. Approximately seven million poultry and 3.5 million livestock, including cattle and swine, were buried on farmland. Some burial sites were suspected of leachate leakage and were excavated and carcasses redisposed in a bioaugmentation process. This study performed interviews in order to understand the economic issues related to carcass burial and redisposal. The internal data from local government and the assumption data from online sites were analyzed to evaluate the costs; the focus was on burial site construction. The results showed that the local government paid $4.7 and $10.9 per carcass for traditional burial and redisposal. The comparable costs shown online were $4.5. This study found that the standard operating procedures should be carried out to reduce environmental impact and avoid additional costs. We estimated that the cost could be reduced by the advance preparations of materials against the emergency situations such as catastrophe of epidemics. In addition, the innovative technology for the stabilization of carcasses should be established through a future study.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.57-63
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• 2015

Purpose: Ground source heat pump system has been attracted in the horticulture industry for the reduction of energy costs and the increasing of farm income. Even though it has higher initial costs, if it uses in combination with heat storage, it is able to reduce the initial costs and operate efficiently. In order to have significant effect of heat storage type ground source heat pump system, it is required to design the capacity considering various conditions such as energy load pattern and operating schedule. Method: In this study, we have designed heat storage type ground source heat pump system in 5 cases by the operating schedule, and examined the system to find the most economic and having superb performance regarding the system COP(Coefficient of Performance) and energy consumption, using dynamic energy simulation, TRNSYS 17. Result: Conventional ground source heat pump system has lower energy consumption than heat storage type, but following the result of LCC(Life Cycle Cost) analysis, the heat storage type was more economic due to the initial costs. In addition, it has the most efficient performance and energy costs in the case of the smallest heat storage time.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.239-267
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• 2009

Investment in health through an array of public health policies will lead to improvement of health at all levels, and the improved health can reduce the socioeconomic costs incurred with diseases. And finally, with reduced healthcare costs associated with diseases and health problems, economy will be able to achieve economic growth and development. Using simultaneous equations model, this study aims to identify this possible channel from public health policies to economic growth. Specifically, the policy effect is investigated on a basis of main disease groups and aging groups. The public health policies are proved to reduce healthcare costs related with disease groups including respiratory, digestive, circulative, and infectious disease, and with all age groups except 20~39 group. And the reduced healthcare costs have shown to increase the real gross domestic products in those group above.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1209-1215
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• 2015

Since lamb is a commodity, producers cannot control the price of the product they sell. Therefore, managing production costs is a necessity. We explored the study of elasticities as a tool for basing decision-making in sheep production, and aimed at investigating the composition and elasticities of lamb production costs, and their influence on the performance of the activity. A representative sheep production farm, designed in a panel meeting, was the base for calculation of lamb production cost. We then performed studies of: i) costs composition, and ii) cost elasticities for prices of inputs and for zootechnical indicators. Variable costs represented 64.15% of total cost, while 21.66% were represented by operational fixed costs, and 14.19% by the income of the factors. As for elasticities to input prices, the opportunity cost of land was the item to which production cost was more sensitive: a 1% increase in its price would cause a 0.2666% increase in lamb cost. Meanwhile, the impact of increasing any technical indicator was significantly higher than the impact of rising input prices. A 1% increase in weight at slaughter, for example, would reduce total cost in 0.91%. The greatest obstacle to economic viability of sheep production under the observed conditions is low technical efficiency. Increased production costs are more related to deficient zootechnical indexes than to high expenses.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2021

Background: With increasing economic evaluation studies on the treatment of or screening tools for liver diseases that cause hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), interest in the analysis of the medical utilization and costs of HCC treatment is increasing. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the medical utilization and costs of HCC patients, and calculate the cost of main procedures for HCC treatment, including liver transplant (LT), hepatic resection (HR), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Methods: We analyzed claim data from January to December 2018 from the Health Insurance and Review and Assessment Service-National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS-2018) dataset, including data of patients diagnosed with HCC (Korean Standard Classification of Diseases code C22.0) who had at least one inpatient claim for HCC. Results: A total of 715 HCC patients were identified. In 2018, the yearly average medical cost per HCC patient was ₩18,460K (thousand), of which ₩14,870K was attributed to HCC. Among the total medical costs of HCC patients, the inpatient cost accounted for the largest portion of both the total medical and HCC-related costs. The major procedures of HCC treatment occurred most frequently in the order of TACE, RFA, HR, and LT. The average medical cost per treatment episode was the highest for LT (₩87,280K), followed by HR (₩10,026K), TACE (₩4,047K), and RFA (₩2,927K). Conclusion: By identifying the medical costs of HCC patients and the costs of the main procedures of HCC treatment, our results provide basic information that could be utilized for cost estimation in liver disease-related economic evaluation studies.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2024

Background: The rise in national health care costs has emerged as a global problem given the ever-aging population and rapid development of medical technology. The utilization of interventional pain management has, similarly, shown a continued rise worldwide. This study evaluates the differences in the medical costs in the field of interventional pain treatment (IPT) between two countries: Korea and Japan. Methods: Korean medical insurance costs for 2019 related to pain management focused on IPT were compared to those of Japan. Purchasing power parity (PPP) was used to adjust the exchange rate differences and to compare prices in consideration of the respective societies' economic power. Results: The cost of trigger point injections in Japan was 1.06 times higher than that of Korea, whereas the perineural and intraarticular injection prices were lower in Japan. The cost of epidural blocks was higher in Japan compared to Korea in both cervical/thoracic and lumbar regions. As for blocks of peripheral branches of spinal nerves, the cost of scapular nerve blocks in Japan was lower than that in Korea, given a PPP ratio 0.09. For nerve blocks in which fluoroscopy guidance is mandatory, the costs of epidurography in Japan were greater than those in Korea, given a PPP ratio 1.04. Conclusions: This is the first comparative study focusing on the medical costs related to IPT between Korea and Japan, which reveals that the costs differed along various categories. Further comparisons reflecting more diverse countries and socio-economic aspects will be required.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6903-6908
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• 2015

Background: As smoking is the leading preventable cause of multiple diseases and premature cancer deaths, estimating the burden of cancer attributable to smoking has become the standard in documenting the adverse impact of smoking. In Indonesia, there is a dearth of studies assessing the economic costs of cancers related to smoking. This study aimed to estimate indirect mortality costs of premature cancer deaths and years of potential life lost (YPLL) attributable to smoking among the Indonesian population. Materials and Methods: A prevalence based method was employed. Using national data, we estimated smoking-attributable cancer mortality in 2013. Premature mortality costs and YPLL were estimated by calculating number of cancer deaths, life expectancy, annual income, and workforce participation rate. A human capital approach was used to calculate the present value of lifetime earnings (PVLE). A discount rate of 3% was applied. Results: The study estimated that smoking attributable cancer mortality was 74,440 (30.6% of total cancer deaths), comprised of 95% deaths in men and 5% in women. Cancers attributed to smoking wereresponsible for 1,207,845 YPLL. Cancer mortality costs caused by smoking accounted for USD 1,309 million in 2013. Among all cancers, lung cancer is the leading cause of death and economic burden. Conclusions: Cancers related to smoking pose an enormous economic burden in Indonesia. Therefore, tobacco control efforts need to be prioritized in order to prevent more losses to the nation. The data of this study are important for advocating national tobacco control policy.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.299-304
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• 1998

From 1993 to 1996, 1,500 cases of foodborne disease was reported annually in Korea. Salmonellosis were 55.1% of the reported bacterial fordborne disease cases. However, in general, it is estimated that the reported incidence of salmonellosis represents less than the real incidence. This study showed that salmonellosis estimates 177,000 cases (about 150 times of reported cases) costing 5.9 billion won in Korea. Only medical costs and productivity losses were included in the estimate of costs of the 177,000 cases estimated to occur in 1996. This estimates were considerably difference to U.S.A. in cases and costs, but not significantly difference in cases/population (%), expense/GDP (%). Understanding the social economic costs of foodborne disease will be endorsed risk assessment as a necessary method for evaluation and improving food safety regulatory programs in Korea.