• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.326-334
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• 2020

Background: Korea has gradually expanded the coverage of medical care services in its national health insurance system. On April 1, 2018, it implemented a policy that expanded the coverage for an ultrasonography in the upper abdomen. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of the policy on the utilization of the ultrasonography in the upper abdomen in tertiary care hospitals. Methods: Using the dataset of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, we explored changes in the utilization of the ultrasonography in the upper abdomen in tertiary care hospitals from July 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018 through the difference-in-difference (DID) mixed-effects-model method. Facility factor, equipment factor and personnel factors, type of hospital, the total amount of medical care expenses, and geographic region were considered as control variables. Results: On average, the utilization of the ultrasonography in the upper abdomen increased by 228% after the coverage expansion policy. However, the results of DID mixed-effects-model method analysis showed that the utilization increased by 73%. As for the number of beds, the utilization was higher with a group of 844-930, 931-1,217, and 1,218 or greater compared with a group of 843 or fewer, while the utilization of the number of ultrasonic devices was lower with a group of 45-49 compared with a group of 44 or fewer. The utilization decreased with the number of interns and the number of nurse assistants. Besides, relative to Seoul, the utilization was lower in the other metro-cities and provinces. Conclusion: The coverage expansion policy in the national health insurance system increased service utilization among people. Future research needs to investigate the degree to which such coverage expansion policy reduces the unmet medical care needs among the deprived in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.205-230
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• 2008

This study analyzed the regional effects on the poverty status of households and the poverty difference between Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan area in Korea. The Korea Welfare Panel Study was used for the study, and the results are as follows. First, the poverty rate of Non-metropolitan area is higher than Metropolitan area, and the poverty rate of small-sized regions is the highest area among Non-metropolitan areas. It shows that the poverty of regions is deeply related with the development of region. Second, the people living in Non-metropolitan area have experienced more hardships than the people of Metropolitan area, even though they have similar socio-demographic characteristics. It implies that living in the Non-metropolitan area is to have much more risk of poverty. Third, the regional effects on the poverty are found, that is, living in Non-metropolitan areas is positively associated with the poverty probability. Lastly, regional effect, that is the differences of the poverty probability between Metro and Non-metropolitan areas, is estimated as $49.2{\sim}73.7%$ of total poverty differences. Results of this study suggest that regional poverty policies are necessary to solve the regional differences of poverty in Korea.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.98-127
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to provide basic materials needed to enhance quality of organizational life by identifying the improvements of labor union management in the perspective of hospital organization management. The subjects of this study were 510 employees in 1 University Hospital and 3 General Hospitals in Metro Capital including Seoul. Materials were collected from administrators, nurses and medical technicians in target hospitals from April 26 to May 7, 2004 through survey questionnaires. The main results of this study were as follows: First, From the results of multiple regression analysis to identify major influencing factors of labor union commitment level, In University hospitals, males than females, and those who had senior officer posts in labor union showed higher positive correlation with the attitude of their colleagues. In general hospitals, those who had served in Union for shorter period showed higher commitment in union. Second, When looking into the major influencing factors on the level of commitment in labor union according to their jobs, male administrators showed higher positive correlation in the level of commitment in labor union and the relationship with union. Among nurses, those who had lower education level, those who had higher job satisfaction, those who had higher emotional attachment to their job, those who had better relationship with union and better satisfaction in union showed higher commitment level. In medical technicians, those who had higher emotional attachment to their job showed higher commitment level. To summarize study results, the level of commitment in labor union depends on job satisfaction, managers' attitudes, emotional attachment to their jobs, union satisfaction factors, their colleagues attitudes toward union and thee atmosphere of employer-employee relationship. Therefore hospital managers should have democratic and flexible attitudes toward labor union. Additionally, as job satisfaction is important determinant in union commitment, hospital managers should have countermeasures to enhance the job satisfaction level of hospital employees. Moreover, as managerial factors of the principal of hospital influence union commitment directly, the attitudes of hospital managers toward union and transparency of hospital management should be improved.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.148-160
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• 2012

This study proposed more reasonable prediction models on compressive strength and carbonation of concrete structure and developed a more effective tunnel safety diagnosis and maintenance method through field application of the proposed prediction models. For this study, the Seoul Metro's Line 1 through Line 4 were selected as target structures because they were built more than 30 years ago and have accumulated numerous diagnosis and maintenance data for about 15 years. As a result of the analysis of compressive strength and carbonation, we were able to draw prediction models with accuracy of more than 80% and confirmed the prediction model's reliability by comparing it with the existing models. We've also confirmed field suitability of the prediction models by applying field, the average error of an estimate on compressive strength and carbonation depth was about 20%, which showed an accuracy of more than 80%. We developed a more effective maintenance method using durability prediction Map before field inspection. With the durability prediction Map, diagnostic engineers and structure managers can easily detect the vulnerable points, which might have failed to reach the standard of designed strength or have a high probability of corrosion due to carbonation, therefore, it is expected to make it possible for them to diagnose and maintain tunnels more effectively and efficiently.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.669-675
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• 2020

In this study, 3D analysis was compared in evaluating the track deformation of subway structures during adjacent excavation. For the 3D analysis model, the boundary conditions of the tunnel model and the application level of the ground water were analyzed as variables. As the result of the effects of track irregularity using the 3D model, the analysis model considering the site ground water level instead of the design values and changing the constraint of the boundary condition is more reasonable. In addition, the influence of track irregularity due to the boundary condition and load condition of the analytical model is more obvious in the factors directly affected by the longitudinal relative displacement of the rail, such as alignment, cross level and gauge irregularity. Therefore, the evaluation on track stability according to adjacent excavation work was appropriate to analysed the longitudinal deformation of the track by using 3D model that could be investigate the deformation of rail. In addition, the boundary condition and load condition(ground water level) of the numerical model was important for accurate analysis results.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.702-708
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• 2016

The railway signaling system has evolved to maximize its safety and maintainability based on the experiences in the construction and operation of railway systems. The newly developed systems was established to cope with the changes in an operating environment. In the process of a transition to the new system, both the existing ATS (Automatic Train Stop) and new ATP/ATO (Automatic Train Protection/Automatic Train Operation) systems are operating simultaneously in parallel. In this situation, modifications of the conditions of the interlocking diagram and logic are necessarily required on the existing ATS systems due to the frequent improvements in signaling equipment. This paper reports the enhancement of safety and operational efficiency of the system through an improvement of the security and the interlocking conditions of the existing ATS systems. The independent display of signals for each track was ensured to avoid giving the effect of On/Off signals for the selected track on the opposite side, and the security was improved by adjusting the position and interlocking conditions. In addition, the increased traffic density of railway systems was achieved by removing the unnecessary conditions and detailed signal display, which resulted in enhanced operational efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.181-209
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• 2018

This study aims to examine the relationship between physical environment and depression symptoms of middle-aged and older adults in metro city. To verify correlates of community environment and depression, mediating effect model structured by social capital and sense of coherence(SOC) were used. For the purpose, a survey was conducted aged 48 - 70 from the local community centers and senior welfare centers in Seoul, and the total collected cases were 331. After data cleaning, total 309 cases were used. The structured equation modeling applied to analyse the direct and indirect effects. The findings were followed : First, the community environment did not directly affect level of depression. Second, in the indirect effect analysis, social capital was not statistically significant, thus indirect effect was confirmed only through the SOC. To be specific, the higher the satisfaction of the physical environment increased SOC, and decreased the level of depression. The results of this study shed lights on practical interventions to promote mental health of the middle-aged and older adults those who are exposed to poor community environment.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.379-385
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to investigate the damage status of wood sleepers on concrete track of urban transit at different locations and to analyze the causes of damages. In addition, the turnout maintenance history during the service period of about 24 years was analyzed in conjunction with the train passing tonnage and that was to compare the current repair history. The most frequent damage components were rail, tie plate, spike and wooden sleeper. And, the damage caused by the defect of the rail fastening system such as spike and tie plate according to the deformation of the wooden sleeper was analyzed as the main type of damage. As a result, the damage of track components of turnout system was on the increase because they are directly affected by the train passing tonnage. The supplementary points of the check sheet for current turnout maintenance were derived and the improvement proposal was suggested based on the research results.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.387-394
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• 2019

In this study, in order to evaluate the damage and deterioration of the track components of sleeper floating track (STEDEF), the field samples(specimens) were taken from the serviced line over 20 years old, and the track components were visually inspected, and investigated by laboratory tests and finite element analysis. As a result of visual inspection, the damage of the rail pad and fastener was slight, but the rubber boot was worn and torn at the edges of bottom. The resilience pads were clearly examined for thickness reduction and fatigue hardening layer. As a result of spring stiffness test of rail pad and resilience pad, the deterioration of rail pad was insignificant, but the deterioration of resilience pad exceeded design standard value. Therefore resilience pad was directly affected by train passing tonnage. As a result of comparing the deterioration state of the field sample and the numerical analysis result, the stress and displacement concentration position of the finite element model and the damage position of the field sample were coincident.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.630-638
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• 2015

The total number of passengers on the KTX since its construction in 2004 surpassed 500 million in October, 2015. The operation of KTX made it possible to reach anywhere in a country in half a day, which subsequently altered people's lifestyle. As the KTX has become an important mode of transportation, there is a growing interest in the optimal size and location of its stations. Currently, the stations are constructed through public-private partnerships since a sufficient amount of budget is hard to secure only from the public sector; however, because railway stations are traditionally aimed at promoting public interests, an emphasis on the profitability of the private sector could compromise public interests. At this juncture, this study separately computes the number of users based on each of the two primary functions of the stations-as a railway station and as a sales facility-and estimates the numbers of people according to various transportation modes that are taken to access the stations. This estimation is applied to the case of Dongdaegu Station, which will open in 2016. Such an application helps to predict and respond to possible congestion as brought about by the expansion of the sales facility.