• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.55-59
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• 2024

The remarkable economic growth achieved in the modern era has revitalized various industries, including pet trade. More than 2,000 species of non-native species have been introduced to South Korea and approximately 7.7 tonnes of alien turtles are imported annually. Turtles belonging to the family Kinosternidae. They are mostly small and popular pets, although they are designated as Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) species. In the present study, we present the first two species of musk turtles found in the wild in South Korea. On April 5, 2023 and July 8, 2023, an eastern musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) and a razorbacked musk turtle (Sternotherus carinatus) were captured in Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do and Jung-gu, Daejeon, respectively. The carapace length was 88.6 mm for S. odoratus and 105.68 mm for S. carinatus. They were identified based on their morphological characteristics and mtDNA cytochrome b gene. These turtles were found in waterfront areas with over 1.4 million annual visitors. Both sites were found to have threatened amphibians and reptiles. There is an urgent need to continue monitoring and conducting risk assessments for the protection of endemic species in Korea.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2021

Vegetarians have claimed and actively promoted the advantages of plant-based alternative milks as the best option for human nutrition and health, compared to the natural dairy milk. However, numerous scientific evidences and reports have demonstrated that the natural milk possesses more beneficial nutrients and bioactive components than artificially manufactured plant-derived milks. The biochemical and nutritional advantages and functionalities of natural dairy milk cannot be replaced by man-made or crafted plant-based beverage products. On the other hand, the tremendous increase in production and consumption of the plant-based alternative milks in recent years has led a serious business downturn in traditional roles and stability of the dairy industry, especially in the major dairy producing Western countries. Although plant-based milk alternatives may have some benefits on nutrition and health of certain consumers, the plant-derived alternative milks may not overshadow the true values of natural milk. Milk is not a high fat and high cholesterol food as animal meat products. Unlike plant-based alternative milks, natural milk contains many bioactive as well as antiappetizing peptides, which can reduce body weight. It has proven that taking low-fat, cultured and lactase treated milk and dairy products with other diversified nutritionally balanced diets have been shown to be healthier dietary option than plant-based milk/foods alone.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.44-60
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• 2011

Background : Surgical site infection(SSI) is one of the important nosocomial infections with pneumonia, urinary tract infection. SSI increases mortality, morbidity, length of stay, and costs for postoperative patients. The purpose of this study was to estimate length of stay(LOS) and health care costs from SSI using the large observational data. The ultimate objective was to show the effect of prevention of SSI. Method : This study used antibiotic prophylaxis evaluation data and claims data of the HIRA(Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service). The study population included 18,361 patients who underwent gastric surgery, endoscopic cholecystectomy, colon surgery, hysterectomy, cesarean section in nationwide hospitals from August to October 2007. SSI group and non-SSI group were matched according to propensity score resulted from logistic regression. The paired t-test was used to compare the difference of the LOS and health care costs between SSI group and non-SSI group. Results : The 598 cases of SSI were detected of total subjects, and the crude SSI rate was 3.3%. For each surgery, SSI rates were 5.5% for gastric surgery, 4.7% for cholecystectomy, 6.6% for colon surgery, 2.6% for hysterectomy, and 1.6% for cesarean section. The 596 cases of SSI and the 596 cases of non-SSI were matched by propensity score. The LOS of SSI group was longer than that of non-SSI group, and the difference was statistically significant. Health care costs of SSI group was more than that of non-SSI group which was significant. Conclusions : SSI increased apparently the LOS and healthcare costs. The economic loss might affect the cost of national healthcare as well as patients and hospitals. This study provided the evidence that the healthcare expenditure could be reduced by preventing SSI.

• Management Science and Financial Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.89-104
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• 2008

Growth curves including Bass, Logistic and Gompertz functions are widely used in forecasting the market demand. Nonlinear least square method is often adopted for estimating the model parameters but it is difficult to set up the starting value for each parameter. If a wrong starting point is selected, the result may lead to erroneous forecasts. This paper proposes a method of selecting starting values for model parameters in estimating some growth curves by nonlinear least square method through grid search and transformation into linear regression model. Resealing the market data using the national economic index makes it possible to figure out the range of parameters and to utilize the grid search method. Application to some real data is also included, where the performance of our method is demonstrated.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.83-91
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• 1977

This paper investigates the reliability characteristics of a system consisting of a unit operating on-line and backed by n spares among which m units are kept "warm" as standbys ready to go on-line. The on-line unit has an arbitrary lifetime distribution, while the warm standbys have exponential failure time distributions. The Failed units are repaired and brought back to service. The cold spares do not fail while in storage. Solution of this extremely complicated queuing problem using a "renewal counting" approach is presented and extended to the situation where the warming-up takes non-negligible time. Finally, an approach to the economic system management is discussed, considering the long-run availability, cost of keeping spares and repair facility, and the associated cost of restarting the system, after a system failure. The model presented in this paper will have many applications including the determination of the spares inventory and the number of field spares to be "carried".

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.207-235
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• 1994

Regarding the study in innovation/R&D programs evaluation, twelve cases from the U.S ., U. K., Germany, France, Sweden, Australia, Japan, and EC are analyzed, and its implications to Korean situation are investigated. From the analysis of the cases, some valuable guidelines for Korea are developed. Some of the guidelines are: the evaluation must be treated as an integral part of the Government supported programs, specialists in evaluation should be raised, the long-term effects and non-economic/social effects should also be included in the evaluation, various efforts to acquire more exact and versatile information necessary for quality evaluation should be made, and additional effort is required for the evaluation to be actualized.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.27-80
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• 1993

It is widely known that patients' utilization pattern for medical care facilities and the patientflow are influenced by multi-factors, such as demographic characteristics, structural characteristics of society, socio-psychological characteristics(value, attitude, norms, culture, health behavior, etc.), economic characteristics(income, medical price, relative price, physician induced demand, etc.), geographical accessibility, systematic characteristics(health care delivery system, payment methods for physician fees, form of health care security, etc.), and characteristics of medical facilities(reliability, quality of medical care, convenience, kindness, tec.). This study was conducted to research the mechanism of patient-flow according to changes of health care system(implementation of national health insurance, health care referral system and regionalization of health care utilization, etc.) and characteristics of medical facilities(ownership of hospital, characteristics of medical services, non-medical characteristics, etc.). In this study, the fact could be ascertained that the patient-flow had been influenced by changes of health care system and characteristics of medical facilities.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.480-488
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• 2010

The CGS method is non-discharge replacement method improving ground stiffness by the effect of static compaction with injecting very low slump mortar into ground, and is applied for increasing bearing capacity and filling ground cavity by lifting or restoring differential settled structures and preventing differential settlement. This paper suggests design of ground improvement and construction case history for civil engineering structures by CGS method. This method can be used for reinforcing soft ground and liquefaction of loose sandy soil. This method was used in SongDo area in Incheon Economic Free Zone due to its low vibration of ground while it can improve the soft soil where underground structures(subway and box culvert) are already existed.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.140-171
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• 2015

As China's economic development brings the country out of poverty and into modernity, a long-lasting debate concerns whether the Chinese public's value system is also changing toward the so-called "modern values," or whether some distinctly traditional Chinese values remain unchanged. Using empirical data collected at three points in time during the 1990s and the first two decades of the 21st Century (1993, 2002, and 2011), I found that Chinese citizens who benefitted from urbanization, rising levels of education and employment in non-farm, knowledge-based industries displayed stronger modern values. People with stronger modern values are more likely to emphasize individual autonomy, competition, gender equality, and market transaction, among others. Some characteristics of the Chinese people, most importantly family values, however, seem to remain stable amidst rapid social changes.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.81-96
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• 2016

This study analyzes how breach fee under long-term contract and/or cap regulation on the breach fee can affect the impacts of "Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act" on handset bundle price, average revenue per unit (ARPU), and social welfare. We conduct comparative analysis with an economic model of duopoly competition in price when users are under long-term contract and the breach fee can be regulated. The results show that the Act lowers the equilibrium prices, lower than incumbent price without the Act. Price of non-dominant Mobile Network Operator (MNO) can be lower than poaching price without the Act if significant portion of switching cost is breach fee or the market is significantly asymmetric. Under the significant circumstances, the Act can raise ARPU even though it improves social welfare. By contrast, the Act increases consumer surplus without affecting social welfare if breach fee is the only source of user's switching cost and is capped by the regulation, and more symmetric market and the stronger cap leads to higher consumer surplus.