• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.272-280
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• 2017

Background: The high cost of intrathecal morphine pump (ITMP) implantation may be the main obstacle to its use. Since July 2014, the Korean national health insurance (NHI) program began paying 50% of the ITMP implantation cost in select refractory chronic pain patients. The aims of this study were to investigate the financial break-even point and patients' satisfaction in patients with ITMP treatment after the initiation of the NHI reimbursement. Methods: We collected data retrospectively or via direct phone calls to patients who underwent ITMP implantation at a single university-based tertiary hospital between July 2014 and May 2016. Pain severity, changes in the morphine equivalent daily dosage (MEDD), any adverse events, and patients' satisfaction were determined. We calculated the financial break-even point of ITMP implantation via investigating the patient's actual medical costs and insurance information. Results: During the studied period, 23 patients received ITMP implantation, and 20 patients were included in our study. Scores on an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) for pain were significantly reduced compared to the baseline value (P < 0.001). The MEDD before ITMP implantation was 0.59 [IQR: 0.55-0.82]. The total MEDD increased steadily to 0.77 [IQR: 0.53-1.08] at 1 year, which was 126% of the baseline (P < 0.001). More than a half (60%) responded that the ITMP therapy was somewhat satisfying. The financial break-even point was 28 months for ITMP treatment after the NHI reimbursement policy. Conclusions: ITMP provided effective chronic pain management with improved satisfaction and reasonable financial break-even point of 28 months with 50% financial coverage by NHI program.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.3-24
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• 2015

Crimes must be reduced not only because of the financial, physical, and emotional damages they bring to the victims but also because crimes increase social costs by elevating distrust in society and instilling fear. With the increasing number of crimes in Korea, finding other factors that affect the occurrence of crimes is needed beyond the current viewpoint for crime analysis. Social support factors can be candidates for studies on the social support effect on crime occurrence in their initial stage. In this study, we identified the effect of social support factors on crime occurrence or deterrence, none of which has been considered important until now, given the emergence of spatial econometrics. The resulting Moran's I values revealed the existence of a spatial autocorrelation in all three crimes: heinous crimes, theft, and violence. As shown in the analysis using spatial econometrics and ordinary least squares, social support from families is significant in reducing all crimes especially violence. Social support from the local government is significant in preventing only theft. The spatial econometrics model is only valid in heinous crimes. These different effects of social support factors and spatial factors on crime occurrences are caused by the different characteristics of crimes. Hence, policymakers should consider the social support effect when they establish policies related to social housing or welfare.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.73-83
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• 2017

This study was conducted to evaluate the chemical composition, digestibility, and energy value of 15 non-conventional feeds produced in South Korea as ruminant feeds. Three Hanwoo steers (body weight, $520{\pm}20.20kg$) fitted with a permanent rumen cannula and duodenal cannula were housed individually in tie-stall barns, followed by a 14-day adaptation period and 3-day experimental period. Chemical composition analysis, in situ nylon bag, and mobile bag technique were used as experiments. As a result of the chemical composition analysis offeeds, crude protein (CP) contentsofmalt meal, perilla meal, soy sauce cake, and soymilk residue were greater than 30%. As a result of the degradability characteristics analysis of feeds using an in situ nylon bag, rumen undegraded protein (RUP) contents of beet pulp, brewer's grain, coffee meal, malt meal, milo bran, perilla meal, ramen residue, and soymilk residue were greater than 50%. Analysis of total digestible nutrient (TDN) values of feeds using an in situ mobile bag showed that TDN values of beet pulp, brewer's grain, makgeolli residue, milo bran, perilla meal, ramen residue, rice bran, soy sauce cake, soybean curd cake, soymilk residue, and wheat bran weregreater than 50%. In summary, these non-conventional feeds have high potential value as good feed resources to replace formulated feeds or roughage. Therefore, the chemical composition, digestibility, and energy value of non-conventional feeds obtained from this study can be used as base data for the manufacture of ruminant total mixed ration (TMR) with improved feed efficiency, reduced feed costs, and reduction of environmental pollution.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.257-265
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• 2020

Parts obsolescence is a component type, in which raw materials or parts that make up a weapons system, are developed and produced according to demand, but they age due to changes in technology or market conditions. The weapon system equipment currently being used by the military is having difficulty in procurement, maintenance, and operation because of the obsolescence of parts. Parts obsolescence during the life cycle of a weapons system affects not only the combat readiness of the military but also the economic loss of material, parts, and equipment manufacturers and suppliers. On the other hand, advanced technology has reduced the life span of electronic components that make up the weapons system. In addition, because of the nature of the weapons system, the obsolescence of components takes decades from development to disposal, which has a serious adverse effect on equipment readiness and life cycle costs. Therefore, it is necessary to manage systematically the parts obsolescence from development until the disposal of the weapons system equipment. This study examined the system of component control in developed countries to present a proper management plan for local situations and propose development plans for the early settlement of component control.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2012

Analysis for back fat thickness (BFAT) and daily body weight gains from birth to the end of a performance test were conducted to find an optimal method for estimation of weaning age effects and to ascertain impacts of weaning age on the growth performance of purebred Berkshire pigs from a closed population in Korea. Individual body weights were measured at birth (B), at weaning (W: mean, 22.9 d), at the beginning of the performance test (P: mean, 72.7 d), and at the end of the performance test (T: mean, 152.4 d). Further, the average daily gains in body weight (ADG) of 3,713 pigs were analyzed for the following periods: B to W (DGBW), W to P (DGWP), P to T (DGPT), B to P (DGBP), B to T (DGBT), and W to T (DGWT). Weaning ages ranged from 17 to 34 d, and were treated as fixed (WF), random with (WC) and random without (WU) consideration of an empirical relationship between weaning ages in the models. WF and WC produced the lowest AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) and least fractions of error variance components in multi-traits analysis, respectively. The fractions of variances due to diverse weaning age and the weaning age correlations among ADGs of different stages (when no overlapping allowed) by WC ranged from 0.09 to 0.35 and from -0.03 to 0.44, respectively. The maximum weaning age effects and optimal back fat thicknesses were attained at weaning ages of 27 to 32 d. With the exception of DGBW, the effects of weaning age on the ADGs increased (ranging from 1.50 g/d to 7.14 g/d) with increased weaning age. In addition, BFAT was reduced by 0.106 mm per increased day in weaning age. In conclusion, WC produced reasonable weaning age correlations, and improved the fitness of the model. Weaning age was one of crucial factors (comparable with heritability) influencing growth performance in Berkshire pigs. Further, these studies suggest that increasing weaning age up to 32 d can be an effective management strategy to improve growth performance. However, additional investigations of the costs and losses related to extension of the suckling period and on the extended range of weaning age are necessary to determine the productivity and safety of this practice in a commercial herd and production system.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.15-29
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• 2020

The aims of this study is to improve physical properties of the sewage sludge and the process sludge generated in the leachate treatment by mixing the dry fuel, to develop the neutral solidifing agents that reduce oder, and to recycle the sewage and the process sludges as landfill cover materials. The mixing ratio (W/W) of sludges and dry fuel was appropriate at about 1:1, and the mixed materials were shown to be homogeneous at that ratio. We could know that when the sludges were mixed with dry fuel, moisture contents and viscosities are reduced, and air passages are formed between particles and particles. The various mixing tests and odor tests showed that the neutral solidifing agent was effective for the odor reduction. The main ingredient of the solidifing agent is the ash of sewage sludge, enabling it competitive in waste recycling and production costs. The landfill cover, using developed neutral solidification agent, improved physical properties to satisfy the quality standards and to increase the compressive strength. It also proved to reduce the value of complex oder and the usage of solidification agent to 1/3 (3,000 to 1,000) and to 1/8 (50% to 6%), respectively, from the comparative study with alkaline solidified landfill cover. Further research is under way to prove that this can be mixed with general soil to be used as a soil improvement agent for plant cultivation.

• Journal of Information Technology and Architecture
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

From 2004 to 2013, the annual investment for the ICT sector in Korea amounted to about 3.2 trillion won. Depending on whether the government policy allowed for budget increases and/or decreases, this impacted the investment in the ICT sector. In particular, the fixed costs of operation and maintenance lead to a reduced chance for a new potential demands in IT programs. Even though a situation may exist that there are insufficient funds available, there is a need for building a sustainable long-term IT investment management system. The purpose of this study is to conduct basic research for the arrangement of preparation to meet IT needs required in the public sector. For this, this paper introduces the concept of IT Investment Management based on prudent forecasting. After both foreign and domestic relevant cases are reviewed, implications will be derived from the aforementioned cases. Through this process, the direction of IT Investment Management based on forecasting for the IT projects decision making will be suggested. These research results could be used for helping to develop better policies and a more efficient management of the public sector IT budget.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.355-362
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• 2016

The pipe material is selected according to the physical and chemical properties of the fluid flowing within it. Because the fluid used in fire extinguish systems is water, the various foreign substances dissolved in it cause scale to form on the pipe wall and accelerate the corrosion and aging of the pipe itself. This results in an increase in the friction loss and eventually degrades the efficiency of the pump. The use of CPVC (Chlorinated Poly-Vinyl Chloride) pipes was confirmed to reduce the friction loss compared to conventional steel pipes in the design and construction stages. The friction loss was found to be 76.64MPa with a C-value of 120 for the steel pipe and 50.72 MPa with a C-value of 150 for the CPVC pipe in an actual apartment construction environment. It was confirmed that the friction loss was improved by about 34% when using the CPVC pipe. When the steel and CPVC pipes were employed in the construction, the construction costs were 1,585,158 and 931,842 won, respectively. Therefore, it was shown that the construction cost was reduced by about 41%. We investigated the safety of the fire extinguishing system and the improvement in the economic performance due to the reduction in the total installed capacity by studying practical applications in the field.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.740-745
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• 2016

Cables are installed for tens of thousands of connections between various pieces of equipment to operate and control a commercial ship. The correct shortest-route data is necessary since these are complicated cable installations. Therefore, an overfill interval commonly exists in the shortest paths for cables as estimated by Dijkstra's algorithm, even if this algorithm is generally used. It is difficult for an electrical engineer to find the overfill interval in 3D cable models because the occupancy rate data exist in a data sheet unlinked to three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided design (CAD). The purpose of this study is to suggest a visualization method that displays the cable path and overfill interval in 3D CAD. This method also provides various color visualizations for different overfill ranges to easily determine the overfill interval. This method can reduce cable-installation man-hours from 7,000 to 5,600 thanks to a decreased re-installation rate, because the cable length calculation's accuracy is raised through fast and accurate reviews based on 3D cable visualization. As a result, material costs can also be reduced.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.543-548
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• 2017

This paper examines the effects of strong corporate governance for listed companies in accessing capital markets from the point of view of the weighted average cost of capital. Results found that corporate governance had a significant negative(-) relation to the weighted average cost of capital. This finding is consistent with previous research and implies that the higher shareholder ownership and foreign ownership have confidence in the financial information of the company, and therefore, risk is reduced for investors. This results in lower expected rates of return and companies will pay a lower cost of capital. Second, tax evasion had a positive effect(+) on the weighted average cost of capital. The low quality of corporate accounting information is expected to increase tax avoidance. Accordingly, this results in increased risk. If the required rate of return is high in its impact,it leads to increased capital costs. In addition, corporate governance and tax avoidance factors showed a negative affect (-) on the weighted average cost of capital. Corporate governance plays an important role in tax avoidance and the weighted average cost of capital, and strong corporate governance reducesthe impact on tax avoidance. In addition, the weighted average cost of capital in capital markets showed the reducing effect.