• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.301-308
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• 2007

Sesame has usually been harvested manually in korea. The conventional sesame harvest procedures consists of cutting, binding, drying and pod shattering. The procedures of drying and shattering are repeated $2{\sim}3$ times. By manual works of this conventional shattering, it was found that some extent of pods were has always remained unopened. Therefore, this study was conducted to find a way to save the labor of sesame shattering by use of a drying device; a prototype of shattering machine was developed and tested the performance. The developed prototype consists of several parts: a continuous horizontal inlet using a chain conveyer, a shattering by a shocking agitator, a rotating cone for shattering of remaining closed pods, and a winnow. The shattering ratio measured by this prototype was 90.3%, 6.4% and 3.3% at the first, second and third shattering step, respectively. We found that in contrast to the conventional method which required at least 3 times operations for complete shattering, this shattering prototype with the condition of sufficient dried sesame pod offered more than 90% of shattering ratio in the first operation.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.71-97
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• 2015

This study examines the effects of several factors indicating economic openness-imported intermediate goods, total imports, IFDI (inward foreign direct investment), and foreign ownership-on regular, irregular jobs and the ratio of irregular employment to regular employment. Findings revealed that imported intermediate inputs and IFDI affected neither regular nor irregular job figures. However, an increase in total imports led to a decrease in the number of irregular jobs without affecting regular full time jobs, leading to a decrease in the ratio of irregular jobs to regular jobs. On the other hand, changes in foreign ownership structure had a contrary effect, that is, a decrease in the number of regular jobs and an increase in irregular ones, and, thus, an increase in the ratio of irregular jobs to regular jobs. Overall results showed that a rise in imports results in depressed overall employment, irregular employment in particular, while more IFDI results in more irregular jobs replacing regular ones, effectively exacerbating job insecurity. The implication of this analysis is that greater economic openness may have a negative impact on the South Korean labor market overall.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.75-97
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• 2016

This paper estimates the peer effect of how improving the under-performing students can affect the academic performance of other students, focusing on the ratio of students more than proficient. We take advantage of the regression discontinuity design of the policy assignment rule of School-for-Improvement (SFI), which targeted the under-performing schools as an identification strategy. The estimation results from the 2009-2010 NAEA (National Assessment of Educational Achievement) reveal that the decrease of the ratio of under-performing students tends to increase the ratio of excellent or proficient students at around the policy cutoff. The finding turns out to be robust to various falsification tests.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2002

The trend of consumption of vegetable soybeans is increasing because they are recognized as the clean vegetable. The works requiring the most intensive labor are threshing and seperation ones, and they form about 80% of total labour for vegetable soybeans production. It is necessary to develop the vegetable soybeans-thresher for the sake of cost down of vegetable soybeans production. The purpose of this study is to acquire the basic informations to design of the vegetable soybeans-thresher. We make the experimental system which control the speed of threshing cylinder and the teeth gap and investigate the detachment forces. The result are as follows ; The ratio of un-threshed soybeans-pod to stem after threshing work is decreasing as the threshing cylinder speed increases: 0.0% and 2.8% at 55m/s and 18m/s of threshing cylinder speed respectively. Also the ratio of un-threshed soybeans-pod to stem is shown as 2.0% below in the condition of 64~160mm of teeth gap and over 28m/s of threshing cylinder speed. The damaged pod ratio of detached soybeans after threshing work is decreasing as the threshing cylinder speed increases: 4.8% and 1.3% at 55m/s and 18m/s of threshing cylinder speed respectively. The minimum damaged pod ratio of detached soybeans are shown as 1.0%, 1.5% and 1.9% at 18m/s, 28m/s and 37m/s of threshing cylinder speed respectively. The average detachment forces of pods are shown as 1.5kg$_{f}$ for 3 grains, 1.2kg$_{f}$ for 2 grains and 0.8kg$_{f}$ for 1 grain respectively. The maximum detachment force of pod is shown as 2.7kg$_{f}$ for 3 grains. grains.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2021

Background: We aimed to determine whether routine second trimester complete blood cell (CBC) count parameters, including neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), could predict obstetric outcomes. Methods: We included singleton pregnancies for which the 50-g oral glucose tolerance test and CBC were routinely performed between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation in our outpatient clinic from January 2015 to December 2017. The subjects were divided into three groups according to their pregnancy outcomes as follows: group 1, spontaneous preterm births, including preterm labor and preterm premature rupture of membranes; group 2, indicated preterm birth due to maternal, fetal, or placental causes (hypertensive disorder, fetal growth restriction, or placental abruption); and group 3, term deliveries, regardless of the indication of delivery. We compared the CBC parameters using a bivariate correlation test. Results: The study included 356 pregnancies. Twenty-eight subjects were in group 1, 20 in group 2, and 308 in group 3. There were no significant differences between the three groups in neutrophil, monocyte, lymphocyte, and platelet counts. Although there was no significant difference in NLR, LMR, and PLR between the three groups, LMR showed a negative correlation with gestational age at delivery (r =-0.126, p =0.016). Conclusion: We found that a higher LMR in the second trimester was associated with decreased gestational age at delivery. CBC parameters in the second trimester of pregnancy could be used to predict adverse obstetric outcomes.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to estimate the cost of dental implant using the bottom-up approach with the current data from dental clinics. Materials and methods: In this study, direct and indirect costs required for each treatment were calculated using the bottom-up approach. In the bottom-up costing, the average monthly total cost of dental clinic includes labor and material costs, administrative expenses, medical malpractice costs, and opportunity costs of invested capital. For the dental implant cost components, those include direct costs (labor costs, laboratory costs, material costs, depreciation or other operating costs), indirect costs (administrative costs), and the opportunity costs of investment for dental clinic. Results: Dental implant costs of metal crown, porcelain crown and over-denture were 1,449,000 won, 1,583,000 won, and 2,471,000 won respectively. The proportion of cost components was as follows. The labor cost were 50%, and material, administrative and other cost were 33%, 15% and 2%, respectively. For direct, indirect and investment cost, the ratio were 83%, 15% and 2%, respectively. Conclusion: The labor costs were evaluated to comprise largest proportion (about 50%, 730,000 won). Dental implant cost using Bottom-up costing was 1,450,000 won for metal crown and 1,580,000 won for porcelain crown.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.66-122
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• 2019

As the Korean economy grew, employment expanded steadily, with the number of economically active people increasing and the employment-to-population rate also increasing. However, the working age population started to decline in 2017, and the employment of women and young people has been sluggish. The proportion of non-salaried workers in Korea is much higher than in other OECD countries, and is also excessive, considering Korea's income levels. In addition, the proportion of non-regular workers and the proportion of workers employed at small companies are particularly high among salaried workers. In light of these characteristics of Korean employment, the urgent problems facing the employment structure can be summarized by the deepening dual structure of the labor market, the increase in youth unemployment, sluggish female employment figures, and an excessive share of self-employment. Overall, it is seen that labor market duality is the main structural factor of the employment problems in Korea. Therefore, in order to fundamentally address this employment problem, it is necessary to concentrate policy efforts on alleviating labor market duality.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.613-629
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• 2005

This research analyzes household financial structures and ratios to understand factors of household utility. Its main themes are as following: First, what kinds financial structures are found at each level of income? Second, how are they different by the level of income? Third, what factors contribute to appropriate financial ratios? The themes are supported by the texts on financial ratios from both inside and outside of Korea and proved by the Korean Labor and Income Panel Survey, the fifth annual edition. The households are exempted that do not support the household principle record in the principle and household economy record. Accordingly, this survey is from a financial structure analysis of 3,762 households. The analysis utilizes SPSS Window (Version 10.0) program. The following are the results: First, the income level 4 and above, in which the increasing number indicates a higher level of income, are highly ranked on the income-expense level and the asset-debt rate. Also, level 4 has a strong financial structure, whereas level 1 does not. Apparently, the management of the household is complicated by debt redemption and a lower level of assets. Second, Ratio 1, Ratio 2, Ratio 4, and Ratio 5 are different by the level of income. Third, the level of income contributes to the appropriate financial ratio. The financial safety and prospective financial structure at each income level is an important variable. Households with a high income, in particular, have to balance their finances and capital, reducing liabilities and increasing the total assets. In other words, the family must hold assets to enhance efficiency according to the character and income level of the household. This research is a useful resource for such a decision-making as to improve household financial structure stability. Also, it can be adopted to evaluate financial products for specific households and be used for economic and social welfare planning to predict how households influence the nationwide economy.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.138-155
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• 2001

This study was designed to find out the factors which influence on the financial performance of the hospital. Out of 32 provincial hospitals which were established by the government, 10 hospitals were selected as sample hospitals. Ten hospitals were divided into two groups(5 hospitals each), one of which was profit-making and the other loss-making. The criteria in selecting profit or loss-making hospitals was net profit to total revenue. The major finding of the study was as follows; 1. Whether or not a hospital had specialized in certain departments was proved to be the major factor influencing on the financial performance. Three out of five profit-making hospitals could harvest following results by operating specific departments. (1) Man powers needed for the operation of specific departments were 14.6 persons per 100 bed, which was only 1/7 of the general hospital. (2) The number of doctors has not increased in proportion to the increase of the number of beds. (3) Ratio of total revenue to MD.'s payroll expenses of the profit-making hospitals was 75.0% higher than the loss-making hospitals. (4) The average length of stay of specific department was very long(388.1 days). However, the specific departments were found to have contributed much to the financial performance because the occupancy rate of such departments was very high(94.5%). 2. The headcount per 100 bed of the profit-making hospitals was 23.9 persons(24.0%) less than the loss-making hospitals and the ratio of payroll expenses to total revenue 15.1% less. 3. Averagel revenue per specialist of the profit-making hospitals was 100 million(25.1%) more than loss-making hospitals and the ratio of total revenue to MD's payroll expenses of profit-making hospital was 75.0% higher. 4. Profit-making hospitals have introduced new systems or renovation in 36 fields, such as incentive payment system, utilization of contracted man powers, change of the payroll structure of the nurses, specialization in certain departments, etc; however, loss-making hospitals introduced only 25 new systems or renovations. These kind of renovation could not be achieved without the cooperation of the labor union and the strong will of the top management. Therefore, it could be said that the labor union of the profit-making hospitals seems to have been very cooperative compared with that of loss-making hospitals.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.322-326
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• 2017

In 1992, the quality control program was introduced in Republic of Korea to improve the reliability of the work environment monitoring, which was introduced in the 1980s. The commission entrusted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute has conducted the program for industrial hygiene laboratories including designated monitoring institutions and spontaneously participating agencies. The number of institutions that participated in the program has increased from 30 to 161. The initial conformance ratio in the participants was 43% (organic solvents) and 52% (metals). Thereafter, the conformance ratio increased rapidly and it has remained in a stable state at more than 89% since 1996. As subject materials, 13 kinds of organic solvents and 7 kinds of metals were used. To improve the capability of measurement and analysis of private institutions, educational courses were conducted annually. An assessment at the actual sites of participants was additionally introduced into the program in 2013. Thus, the program turned into a system that administrates the overall process of participants. For the future, the scope of target materials will be extended through additional items. Thus, the reliability of the results of the work environment monitoring is expected to increase accordingly.