• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 1999

In this study, questionnaire were made to environment-friendly producers of apples regarding farm management methods in low-input production method. utilizing organic materials, production and marketing of apples with lower agricultural chemical residues. Besides, five apples farms were visited to find out their management situation by employing the low-input production method in order to protect the environment as well as consumer's health. Those five low-input apple farms were scattered in Kyungbuk, Chungnam, and Chonnam Provinces, There were not many low-input apple farms across the nation from the beginning and, as a result, increasing the sample size was basically very difficult. Most of these farms were using 140hrs of labor per 10a, of which 30hrs in pre-season management, 25hrs in plowing and weed control, 15hrs in disease and pest control, 20hrs in harvest and marketing and 50hrs in miscellaneous activities. Relatively, pest control takes much time in that they would spray pesticides 7-10 times a season to control the apple disease, 9 times on the average. The average gross revenue of low-input apple farms was about \2,000,000/10a, and their average yield was 2,000kg/10a, which are 25% and 13% lower, respectively, than the ordinary apple production case. This means the low-input farmers are inefficient in marketing their products. On the other hand, their production costs were 20.4% higher than the ordinary apple farms on the average. Since the imported foreign fruits including apples must use various agricultural chemicals on their way to the export markets, the domestic low-input apples have competitive edge over them in therms of food safety. In order to improve the low-input apple industry, active cooperation is needed among the producers, government and researchers more than ever. Among other things, production cost reduction and quality improvement with lower chemical residues are part of the urgent matters to be done.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.285-300
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• 1996

This study is aimed to provide data of low-input rice cultivation for agricultural policy, to reveal the problems of low-input cultivation through comparing the economic result of low-input cultivation with the common one, to search for solution or mitigation of the problems of low-input cultivation, and to forecast the future prospect of low-input rice cultivation. The following were the results obtained from the survey and analysis. The working hours per 10a inputted 45.4 hours which is 32% more than 34.5 hours of common cultivation. Yield per 10a was 355kg which was 101kg less than 456kg of common cultivation. But the farm received price per kg was 1,984.9 won which was 547.9 won more than 1,436.5 won of common cultivation. Gross receipts per 10a was 704,438 won which was higher than 655,044 won of common cultivation, and management cost was 230,820 won which slightly higher than 188,157 won of common cultivation. Consequently, the income of low-input rice cultivation was 473,617 won which somewhat exceed to 466,887 won of common cultivation.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.45-71
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• 2001

The duck-rice forming system is increasingly spread up throughout Korea since 1992. It is discussed the rice field, rice quality, weed and pest management in the duck-rice weeding system compared to conventional farming system. Moreover the optimizing duck population, system management and fertilizer application rate were reported. Energy input and output by duck-rice farming system were carefully compared with those of low input sustainable paddy field and conventional farming paddy field. To find out the environmentally sound function of duck-rice system, the total nitrogen in paddy soil and paddy water, and nitrogen cycle in paddy rice cultivation system were analysed. finally the input and output were calculated, and ecological characteristic were determined in terms of nitrogen balance, labor input, animal input, renewable energy input, turnover of soil organic matter, energy loss, non-renewable indirect and direct energy input. It was concluded duck-rice weeding system could be recommended in terms of net only environmentally sound, but also farmer's income. But there are still some research needs for successful adaption of duck-rice farming to investigate to determine the optimal population of duck in rice paddy field unit, release time of duckling, duck management after release, and strategy for duck marketing and duck processing.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.174-179
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• 2018

In this paper, design of high-efficiency DC-DC converter is presented for low-power PMIC (power management integrated circuit). As PMIC technologies for IoT and wearable devices have been continuously improved, high-efficiency energy harvesting schemes should be essential. Since the supply voltage resulting from energy harvesting is low and widely variable, design techniques to achieve high efficiency over a wide input voltage range are required. To obtain a constant switching frequency for wide input voltage range, frequency compensation circuit using supply-voltage variation sensing circuit is included. In order to obtain high efficiency performance at very low-power condition, accurate burst-mode control circuit was adopted to control switching operations. In the proposed DC-DC buck converter, output voltage is set to be 0.9V at the input voltage of 0.95~3.3V and maximum measured efficiency is up to 78% for the load current of 180uA.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.293-304
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• 2015

This study examined the factors which have influence on the welfare facilities for the elderly and analyzes their efficiency. It investigated theoretical studies and preceding studies and divided the efficiency evaluation factors into input and output factors. Input factors included budget, the number of workers and clients and facility area and output factors were operation management, the number of clients, profitability and welfare for the elderly. To sum up the analysis results of evaluation factors of welfare facilities for the elderly, the analysis of relative importance of input showed that budget was most important. As a result of analyzing the relative importance among detailed items, balance sheet and professional manpower were highest. Input factors by facility types showed that the budget for utility facilities and living facilities were highest. In output factors, utility facilities and living facilities were highest in management systematization and welfare for the elderly, respectively. In efficiency evaluation, utility facilities for the elderly showed 100% of efficiency in CCR and BCC models. In welfare facilities for the elderly, while CCR model showed 100% of efficiency in facility types A, C, D, and F, the efficiency was low in facility B (79.89%), E (77.14%), and G (80.72%). In BCC model, facility E was low as 78.69%. In efficiency comparison between utility facilities and living facilities for the elderly welfare, the efficiency of utility facilities for the elderly welfare was higher. Therefore, this study investigated the efficiency of welfare facilities for the elderly as its main purpose and presented policy suggestions based on the research results as the alternative.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.819-827
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• 2006

We study on the dynamic interaction with a simulated physical-biological coupled model response to nutrient reduction scenario in Jinhae Bay. According to the low relative errors, high regression coefficients of COD and DIN, and realistic distribution in comparison to the observation, our coupled model could be applicable for assessing the marine ecosystem response to nutrient input reduction in Jinhae Bay. Due to the new construction and expansion of sewage treatment plant from our government, we reduce 50% nutrient inputs near Masan Bay and sewage treatment plant. COD achieves Level II in Korea standard of the water quality from the middle of the Masan Bay to all around Jinhae Bay except the inner Masan Bay remaining at Level III. When our experiment reduces 50% nutrient inputs near Masan Bay and Dukdong sewage treatment plant simultaneously, COD decreases to about 0.1-1.2 mg/L $(128^{\circ}30'{\sim}128^{\circ}40'\;E,\;35^{\circ}05'{\sim}35^{\circ}11'\;N)$. The COD from the middle of the Masan Bay to Jinhae Bay achieves Level II.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.231-241
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the input status of exposure-related information in the working environment monitoring database (WEMD) and special health examination database (SHED) for the construction of a national exposure surveillance system. Methods: The industrial and process code input status of WEMD and SHED for 21 carcinogens from 2014 to 2016 was compared. Data from workers who performed both work environment monitoring and special health examinations in 2019 and 2020 were extracted and the actual status of input of industrial and process codes was analyzed. We also investigated the cause of input errors through a focus group interview with 12 data input specialists. Results: As a result of analyzing WMED and SHED for 21 carcinogens, the five-digit industrial code matching rate was low at 53.5% and the process code matching rate was 19% or less. Among the data that simultaneously conducted work environment monitoring and special health examination in 2019 and 2020, the process code matching rate was very low at 18.1% and 5.2%, respectively. The main causes of exposure-related data input errors were the difference between the WEMD and SHED process code input systems from 2020, the number of standard process and job codes being too large, and the inefficiency of the standard code search system. Conclusions: In order to use WEMD and SHED as a national surveillance system, it is necessary to simplify the number of standard code input codes and improve the search system efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.213-231
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• 2021

Purpose: This study intends to provide decision-making information to improve efficiency by analyzing the management efficiency of smart greenhouse business entities and identifying factors that affect the efficiency based on input and output. Methods: The subjects of analysis were business entities for cultivating strawberries in smart greenhouses in Jeolla region (northern and southern Jeolla provinces), and the analysis focused on the management performance of the 2019-2020 crop period (year). Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) was applied as an analysis method for efficiency analysis, Quantile Regression(QR) analysis was applied as a factor affecting the efficiency. Results: The reason for the efficiency gap between business entities was that there were many business entities that did not minimize the input cost at the current level of output, and the area where the variance among business entities was large was the fixed cost per 10a. In the results of the affecting factor analysis, it was found that the seed-seedlings cost, fertilizer cost, other material cost, and employment and labor cost had a negative (-) effect on the efficiency, and that the repair and maintenance cost had a positive (+) effect. Conclusion: Therefore, to achieve the efficiency of scale, it is necessary to reduce the input scale to an appropriate level. In the case of business entities with low efficiency by quartile, the seed-seedlings, fertilizer, and other material costs reduce expenditures, and repair maintenance costs can improve efficiency by increasing expenditures.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.54-90
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• 2006

Medical clinics are core institutes that cover the primary medical care in Korea. Financial viability of the clinics is essential for them to conduct their roles and functions, and can be improved by increasing their operating profitability. On this ground, this study aimed at finding important factors that affect the operating profitability, and thereby at suggesting strategic alternatives that can contribute to the improvement of the profitability. Operating margin was set as a dependent variable, and such factors as general management conditions, number of visits, medical revenue, marketing activities, input resources, medical cost as independent variables. Nineteen hypotheses related to the variables were established and tested using data collected from 138 sample clinics for the year 2003. The results of the study are as follows : Firstly, such variables as percent ratio of the depreciation plus rent costs to total administration costs, type of clinical department manifested whether medical, surgical, or quasi-surgical, percent ratio of the interior facility investment to total fixed assets, and total number of outpatient visit are important factors that affect, positively or negatively, the medical profitability of the clinics. Secondly, following measures are needed to be established and implemented to improve the medical profitability. (1) Administration costs share 53.2% of the total medical costs, and depreciation plus rent costs 16.3% of the total administration costs. This implies that such measures as reinforcement of marketing activities, establishment of the cooperative utilizing system of the facility and equipment, or group practice are needed to increase cost-effectiveness. (2) Occupancy rate of the clinics with inpatient bed is as low as 45.5%, causing high fixed costs and low medical profitability. For its improvement, the resource input structure should be reorganized. Thirdly, in the future, a study that can increase sample representativeness of the study and explanation power of the variables should be performed for each type of clinical department to find more specific determinant factors and to contribute to the improvement of the medical profitability of the clinics.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.35-47
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• 2022

Expansion of potato production areas can improve the food security in North Korea because the given crop has less requirements for agricultural materials and facilities. The Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ) model, which was developed to evaluate climate suitability under different cultivation conditions, was used to identify potential areas for the potato production. The spatial estimates of crop suitability under low and high input management conditions were downloaded from the GAEZ data portal. The values of suitability were obtained at the potato occurrence sites retrieved from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database. The suitable areas for the potato production were identified using a threshold value derived from the suitability estimates at the occurrence sites. It was found that 90% of the occurrence sites had the suitability index value >3,333, which was set to be the threshold value. The suitable areas in North Korea were summarized by province and county. Rice cultivation areas were excluded from the analysis. The reported relative acreage of potato production was better represented by the suitable areas under the low input management options than the high input conditions. The suitable areas also had a similar distribution to the reported acreage of potato production by county. These results indicated that the GAEZ model would be useful to identify the candidate production areas, which would facilitate the increases in potato production especially under future climate conditions. Furthermore, monthly maps of crop suitability can be used to design cropping systems that would improve crop production under the limited use of agricultural materials and facilities.