• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.923-933
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• 2011

In this study, we derived seven customer value factors to evaluate the levels of service in wastewater utilities required by customers. Levels of service according to the customer value were categorized into environmental amenity, accessibility of wastewater service, affordability of wastewater charge, quality of wastewater service, health and safety of wastewater service provision, reliability and responsiveness of wastewater service provision, and satisfaction of customer service. To investigate the levels of wastewater service, questionnaires were prepared according to the customer value factors, and the questionnaire survey was performed with 800 adults in all over Korea including male and female samples. The comprehensive satisfaction score for the wastewater service was 57.5 points, indicating a slightly good satisfaction level. The detailed analysis of the result showed that the satisfaction level was high in the wastewater service accessibility and call center service provision but it was relatively low in the river water quality and nasty smell of wastewater. It was concluded that the quality of wastewater service and customer service satisfaction need to be elevated primarily in order to improve levels of wastewater service required by the customers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.39
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• pp.395-423
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• 2008

This study investigated population characteristics that influencing treatment service use of people who are voluntarily using drug dependency treatment services by using logistic and hierarchical regression analysis. The research model of the current study was driven by the framework of the 'the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use(the Andersen model)' that has been broadly applied to study on health behavior. This study used data from a sample group of 80 adults by using purposive sampling. This study found that some predisposing factors, enabling factors and need factors have direct effects on service use. In detail, individuals who graduated from high school use drug dependency treatment utilities more than those who did not. Further, individuals who were given more support from family, peers, or others, use the treatment utilities more frequently and were more willing to use the utilities continuously. Furthermore, the greater the perceived need felt by the dependent, the greater the tendency to enter hospitals or shelters. The important implications of this study for social work practice and social policy can be summarized as follows: first, this study supports the idea that intervention for drug dependents in Korea should be focused on environment resources rather than population characteristics; and government must support drug dependent treatment systems; the present study was the first to investigate Korean drug dependents through taking a more positive view, as well as the first to apply 'the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use', and as such represents an example of how studies could be productively conducted in the future. Despite these implications, there remain some limitations in this study. These include the following: limitation in generalizability of the results; the cross-sectional nature of the study design; survey research through the questionnaire method; using foreign scales; and the difficulty of classifying treatment settings.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.165-182
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• 1997

The purpose of the study is to analyze the family economic status by wife's employment. The data used in the study was taken from 1994 Expenditure Survey of Urban Families. The results showed that 33.2% of family income of employed-wife families was from wife's earnings and employed-wife families took more family income compared to nonemployed-wife families. In total expenditure eployed-wife families spent more than nonemployed-wife families. Employed-wife families spent more than nonemployed-wife families these categories such as food away from home rent domestic services clothing & shoes education public transportation and miscellaneous; spent on health care utilities communication and private transportation. The amount of savings of employed-wife families was more than of nonemployed-wife families.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.121-136
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• 2011

A bench-scale test has recently been proposed as a predictive tool to minimize the scope of pilot-scale testing or to optimize the operation of full-scale membrane filtration systems. Consequently, a bench-scale testing unit was developed for this purpose and systematically evaluated in this study. This unit was capable of accommodating commercially available, low pressure, hollow fiber (LPHF) membranes with various configurations for testing under conditions comparable to real-world applications. Reproducibility of this unit in assessing membrane fouling and microbial removal efficiency of LPHF membranes was tested and statistically comparable results were obtained. This unit serves as a useful apparatus for academic researchers and utilities to evaluate the performance of LPHF membranes used for water treatment.

• Korean Journal of Family Medicine
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.364-369
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• 2018

Background: Compared with other chronic diseases, hearing loss is generally overlooked from the perspective of disease burden. However, hearing loss is emerging as an important issue in the current society. The objective of this study was to investigate disease burdens and marginal utilities associated with hearing loss and other chronic diseases. Methods: This study analyzed the cross-sectional data of 32,986 participants aged 19 years and older who completed the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys between 2009 and 2013. Additionally, this study used the pure tone audiometric test, European Quality of Life-Five Dimensions Questionnaire, and chronic disease status. The data were analyzed using a multiple linear regression method. Results: The data of 23,297 people who underwent a pure tone audiogram and completed the European Quality of Life-Five Dimensions Questionnaire were used in this analysis. The marginal utility of hearing loss ranked fifth among nine chronic diseases. The estimated loss of quality-adjusted life years associated with hearing loss was -93.69 years per 100,000 people, which is similar to other chronic diseases. Conclusion: This study assessed the marginal utilities and public burdens of hearing loss and eight chronic diseases in a South Korean population. Although the values may vary depending on country and race, this study may provide an indispensable foundation for more detailed studies on hearing loss.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.353-358
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• 2004

Objective : To determine the quality of life and cost consequences for deaf adults who received a cochlear implant. Methods : The data from 11 patients, post-lingual deaf adults who received cochlear implants from 1990 to 2002, underwent cost-utility analysis. The average age of the participants was 49.6 years. The main outcomes were direct cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) using the visual analog scale (VAS), health utility index (HUI), EuroQol (EQ-5D), and quality well-being (QWB), with costs and utilities being discounted 3% annually. Results : Recipients had an average of 5.6 years of implant use. Mean VAS scores increased by 0.33, from 0.27 before implantation to 0.60 at survey. HUI scores increased by 0.36, from 0.29 to 0.65, EQ-5D scores increased by 0.26, from 0.52 to 0.78, and QWB scores increased by 0.16, from 0.45 to 0.61. Discounted direct costs were $22,320, yielding $19,223/QALY using VAS, $17,387/QALY using HUI, $24,604/QALY using EQ-5D, and $40,474/QALY using QWB. Cost-utility ratios using VAS, HUI, and EQ-5D were all below $25,000 per QALY, except using QWB. Conclusion : Cochlear implants in post-lingual deaf adult have a positive effect on quality of life at reasonable direct costs and appear to produce a net saving to society.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.75-97
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• 2005

The research objective is to empirically investigate the compensation packages maximizing the utilities of internal customers by applying the market segmentation theory. Data was collected from four Korean hospitals in Seoul, Busan and Gyunggi-do. The research is designed to seek the compensation package maximizing the utility of doctors by mixture regression model, which has been applied as latent structure and other type of finite mixture models from various academic fields since early 1980s. The mixture regression model shows the optimal segments number and fuzzy classification for each observation by EM(expectation-maximization algorism). The finite mixture regression model is to unmix the sample, to identify the groups, and to estimate the parameters of the density function underlying the observed data within each group. The doctors were segmented into 5 groups by their preference for the compensation package. The results of this study imply that the utility of doctors increases with differentiated compensation package segmented by their preference.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.169-186
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• 1998

The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of wife's employment to the family expenditures. The data used in the study was 28,329 husband-wife families taken from 1994 Expenditure Survey of Urban Families. The results showed that total expenditure for employed-wife families was 1,171,651won, which is more than 1,078,788won for non-employed-wife families. After controlling other income(total family income minus wife's income), employed-wife families spent more than non-employ-wife famillies for all expenditure categories. Also, when family income and other characteristics to be constant, expenditures of employed-wife families were more on food way from home, domestic services, public transportation, personal care services, and fees, but less on food at home, utilities, health care, and communication, compared to those of non-employed-wife families. Families with high-income-employed wife spent more on clothing services, but less on education, than those with non-employed-wife families.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.45-57
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• 2007

The causes of indebted overspending were investigated by examining household expenditure patterns using the data from the 2002 Family Expenditure Survey. The five major expenditure categories were identified by factor analysis, and the six types of indebted overspending were clustered. About 28% of the indebted overspending was done out of necessity, and food, utilities, housing, and health care accounted for about 42% of the household expenditure. Luxury spending accounted for about 25% of the overspending by indebted households who spent about 24% of the household expenditure on clothing, entertainment, and private education. Cars (22%) and education (20%) were found to be other major causes of indebted overspending. Paying off debt and durable purchases were identified as the major causes of indebted overspending, but had a low frequency. Finally, the financial status of the four major types of indebted overspending households was evaluated.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.90-108
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• 2001

This research examines the compensation package maximizing the utilities of internal customers by applying the market segmentation theory. Data were collected from four Korean hospitals in Seoul, Pusan and Kyunggi-do. The research is designed to seek the compensation package maximizing the utility of doctors and nurses by applying the market segmentation theory. The compensation package for doctors and nurses was classified into 5 attributes which are level of salary, payment method, education, promotion, reward method. The test results were as follows. First, the relative importance of each attribute in the compensation package is different. The level of salary is the most important, reward method is the next. Second, the utility of doctors increases by 8.7%, when they are segmented on the basis. of their preference for compensation attributes while that of nurses increases by 39.8%. The results of this study imply that the utility of doctors and nurses increases with differentiated compensation package for internal customer segmented by their preference.