• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.4729-4733
• /
• 2016

Objectives: Lung cancer is a major public health problem and one of the most costly illnesses. The study aimed to estimate the economic burden of lung cancer in Iran in 2014. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the direct and indirect costs for patients with lung cancer using a prevalence-based approach. A human capital approach was employed to estimate the indirect costs. Data were obtained from several sources such as through patient interview using structured questionnaire, medical records, the GLOBOCAN databases, the Iranian Statistical Center, the Iranian Ministry of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Results: The economic burden of lung cancer in Iran in the year 2014 was 3,225,998,555,090 IR. The main components of the cost were associated with mortality (81.9 %) and hospitalization (7.6 %). The costs of direct medical care, non-medical aspects, patient time, and mortality accounted for 10.8%, 2.7%, 4.5%, and 81.5% of the total cost, respectively. Conclusion: Findings from this study indicated that the economic burden of lung cancer is substantial both to Iran's health system and to society as a whole. Early diagnosis, strengthening cancer prevention, implementing new cancer therapy and medical technology, and effective smoking-cessation interventions could offset some of the costs associated with lung cancer in Iran.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
• /
• v.28 no.8
• /
• pp.687-697
• /
• 2004

This paper is aimed to guide ocean-going companies to reasonable decisions and to increase the competitiveness of Korean shipping industry by clarifying the determinants of political costs of ocean-going companies, which only depend for the enormous amount of money to introduce the operating fixed assets, or the vessels, upon the supporting policy from the government or the loan from the related financial institutions. As independent variables of the political costs, 5 elements were settled such as company size(sales, total assets and market share), debit ratio, capital concentration ratio, profitability(operating profit) and marine risk(sales fluctuation). To verify the relations and the effect level between dependent variables and political costs, the Multiple Regression Analysis Model was applied The result of the analysis shows significantly positive relations between size variables and political cost of shipping industry. Moreover, debt ratio and profitability were proved significant related with political costs of shipping industry.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.59 no.1
• /
• pp.60-67
• /
• 2021

This study presented techno-economic analysis of a 500 MWe oxy-coal power plant with CO2 capture. The power plant included a circulating fluidized-bed (CFB), ultra-supercritical steam turbine, flue gas conditioning (FGC), air separation unit (ASU), and CO2 processing unit (CPU). The dry flue gas recirculation (FGR) was used to control the combustion temperature of CFB. One FGR heat exchanger, one heat exchanger for N2 stream exiting ASU, and a heat recovery from CPU compressor were considered to enhance heat efficiency. The decrease in the temperature difference (ΔT) of the FGR heat exchanger that means the increase in heat recovery from flue gas enhanced the electricity and exergy efficiencies. The annual cost including the FGR heat exchanger and FGC cooling water was minimized at ΔT = 10 ℃, where the electricity efficiency, total capital cost, total production cost, and return on investment were 39%, 1371 M$, 90 M$, and 7%/y, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.496-523
• /
• 2018

The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic feasibility of two fast pyrolysis and biooil upgrading (FPBU) plants including feed drying, fast pyrolysis by fluidized-bed, biooil recovery, hydro-processing for biooil upgrading, electricity generation, and wastewater treatment. The two FPBU plants are Case 1 of an FPBU plant with steam methane reforming (SMR) for $H_2$ generation (FPBU-HG, 20% yield), and Case 2 of an FPBU with external $H_2$ supply (FPBUEH, 25% yield). The process flow diagrams (PFDs) for the two plants were constructed, and the mass and energy balances were calculated, using a commercial process simulator (ASPEN Plus). A four-level economic potential approach (4-level EP) was used for techno-economic analysis (TEA) under the assumption of sawdust 100 t//d containing 40% water, 30% equity, capital expenditure equal to the equity, $H_2$ price of $1050/ton, and hydrocarbon yield from dried sawdust equal to 20 and 25 % for Case 1 and 2, respectively. TCI (total capital investment), TPC (total production cost), ASR (annual sales revenue), and MFSP (minimum fuel selling price) of Case 1 were $22.2 million, $3.98 million/yr, $4.64 million/yr, and $1.56/l, respectively. Those of Case 2 were $16.1 million, $5.20 million/yr, $5.55 million/yr, and $1.18/l, respectively. Both ROI (return on investment) and PBP (payback period) of Case 1(FPBU-HG) and Case 2(FPBU-EH) were the almost same. If the plant capacity increases into 1,500 t/d for Case 1 and Case 2, ROI would be improved into 15%/yr.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.264-272
• /
• 2019

In this study, the rate of return on investment used as a proxy variable for the entity's value and financial structure (liability ratio) is related to positive balance. This is consistent with the Static Tradeoff Theory (STT) that the entity's value and financial structure are related to a positive balance because the capital expense of a debt (tax-saving effects) that is less than its equity cost before it is in financial difficulty. Also, operating profitability (EBITDA/Sales), investment safety, total asset growth, net working capital and depreciation expenses are related to negative (-) with financial structure (liability ratio). This is the result of an analysis consistent with the Pecking Order Theory (POT). Fuel costs, borrowing, total asset turnover, financial costs, and tangible asset ratios have a significant positive relationship with the debt ratio. This is consistent with the agency theory and confirms that excessive chartering expenses, such as the bankrupt H company, are the main factors that pressure the financial structure of Korean ocean carriers.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.1-16
• /
• 2014

Purpose. For a more efficient hospital management, this study aims to provide basic data so that the hospital management and staff in charge of hospital administration may systematically classify and collect hospital information, by analyzing the ordinary characters of an upper-level general hospital system and its common-type balance sheet, common-type profit and loss statement and financial ratio. Methods. By using information about an upper-level general hospital in C Province, provided by Alio(www.alio.go.kr), a public organization information provision site, Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service(www.hira.or.kr) and Ministry of Health and Welfare(www.mw.go.kr), this study analyzed 3 year's data from 2010 to 2012 and provided basic data by analyzing the ordinary characters of an upper-level general hospital system, and its common-type balance sheet, common-type profit and loss statement and financial ratio. Results. After analyzing the ordinary characters, common-type balance sheet, common-type proft and loss statement and financial ration of this general hospital, based on the 2010 to 2012 data, this study came to the following conclusions. Firstly, out of all the 1,069 hospital staff, there were 272 doctors working for 24 medical departments, out of whom the majority was 33 physicians. Most of the nurses were third-class ones, and about 2,000 outpatients and 600 inpatients on average were treated per day. Secondly, as a result of analyzing the common-type balance sheet, this study discovered that intangible assets out of fixed assets accounted for 41%, the majority, out of which usable and profitable donation asset buildings were of great importance, and the liquid assets increased more in 2012 than 2011. In the financial structure, the ratio of liquid liabilities was over 50% out of all the liabilities in 2012, and the ratio of purchase payables was high as well. The ratio of fixed liabilities reached up to 40%, out of which the retirement benefit appropriation fund was quite high. The capital was over 80%, but the surplus was in a deficit state. Compared to the capital, the ratio of total liabilities was about 90%, which indicates the financial structure of this general hospital was vulnerable. Thirdly, as a result of analyzing the common-type profit and loss statement, this study found out that the medical profits from inpatients were higher than profits from outpatients. The material cost was related to the medical quality of this general hospital, and it was as high as 30% out of the total costs and was about 45% of the labor cost. This general hospital showed 10% in the ratio of non-medical profits, and it seemed because of government subsidies. The ratios of medical profits and current net income were gradually changing for the better in 2012, compared to 2011. Lastly, as a result of analyzing the financial ratio, it was found that the liquidity ratio kept decreasing, from 110.7% in 2010 and 102.0% in 2011 to 77.2% in 2012. Besides, it was analyzed that the liquidity ratio and the net working capital ratio greatly decreased, while the quick ratio and the liquid ratio kept decreasing. Conclusions. 1. It is necessary to take the risk management into more consideration, and particularly, it is needed to differentiate and manage the levels of risk in detail. 2. By considering the fact that investments into hospital infrastructures were mostly based on liabilities, it is needed to deal with the scale of losses when evaluating risks. 3. By reflecting the character that investments into hospital infrastructures were based on liabilities, it is necessary to consider the ratio of ordinary profits as well as the ratio of operating profits to sales, and it is also important to consider sales productivity factors, such as the sales amount per a sickbed, by comparing them with other hospitals. As for limitations of this study, there may be some problems in terms of data interpretation because of the lack of information about the number of inpatients and the number of outpatients per year, which are needed for the break-even point analysis. Besides, to suggest a direction for the improvement of hospital management through analyses, non-financial factors should be reflected, such as the trend of economy, medical policies, and politic backgrounds. However, this study only focused on the common-type balance sheet, common-type profit and loss statement and financial ratio, so this study is actually limited to generalizing all the factors by analyzing public data only.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.24 no.4 s.36
• /
• pp.531-548
• /
• 1991

To assess the adequacy of medical manpower and medical fee for the newborn nursery care, the author visited 20 out of 24 hospitals with the pediatric training program in Youngnam area between July 29 and August 14, 1991. Total number of newborn, both normal and sick, admission and discharge in 1-30 June 1991 was obtained from the logbook of nursery. Head nurse and staff pediatrician of the nursery were interviewed to get the current staffing for the nursery and their subjective opinion on the adequacy of nursery manpower and the difficulties in recruiting manpower. Average medical fee charged for the maternity and normal newborn nursery care was obtained from the division of self-audit of medical insurance claim of each hospital. Average minimum requirement of nursing care time for one normal newborn per day was 179.5 (${\pm}58.6$) minutes; 202.3(${\pm}50.7$) minutes for the university hospitals and 164.2(${\pm}60.5$) minutes for the general hospitals. The ratio of minimum requirement of nursing care time and available nursing time was 1.42 on the average. Taking the additional requirement of nursing care for the sick newborns into consideration, the ratio was 2.06. The numbers of R. N. and A. N. in the nurserys of study hospitals were 31%, and 17%, respectively, of the nursing manpower for the nursery recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. These findings indicate that the nursing manpower in newborn nursery is in severe shortage. Ninety percent of the head nurses and 85% of the staff pediatrician stated that the newborn nursery is short of R.N. and 75% of them said that the nurse's aide is also short. Major reason for not recruiting R.N. was the financial constraint of hospital. For the recruitment of nurse's aide, short supply was the second most important reason next to the financial constraint. However, limit of quarter in T.O. was the mar reason for the national university hospitals. Average total medical fee for the maternity and newborn nursery cares of a normal vaginal delivery who stayed two nights and three days at hospital was 219,430won. Out of the total medical fee, 20,323won(9.3%) was for the newborn nursery care. In case of C-section delivery who stayed six nights and seven days, total medical fee was 732,578won and out of the total fee 76,937won (12.0%) was for the newborn care. Cost for a newborn care per day by cost accounting was 16,141won for the tertiary care hospitals and 14,576won for the all other hopitals. The ratio of cost and the fee schedule of the medical insurance for a newborn care per day was 5.0 for the tertiary care hospitals and 4.9 for the all other hospitals. Considering the current wage level of the medical personnel, capital investment for the hospital facilities and equipments, and the cost for hospital maintenance, it is hard to expect adequate quality care in the newborn nursery under the current medical insurance fee schedule.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.40 no.9
• /
• pp.557-567
• /
• 2016

In this study, the optimal design of heat exchangers, including the evaporator and condenser of a solar-heating ocean thermal energy conversion (SH-OTEC), is investigated. The power output of the SH-OTEC is assumed to be 100 kW, and the SH-OTEC uses the working fluid of R134a and high-performance commercial tubes. The surface heat transfer area and the pressure drop were strongly dependent on the number of tubes, as well as the number of tube passes. To solve the reciprocal tendency between the heat transfer area and pressure drop with respect to the number of tubes, as well as the number of tube passes, a genetic algorithm (GA) with two objective functions of the heat transfer area (the capital cost) and operating cost (pressure drop) was used. Optimal results delineated the feasible regions of heat transfer area and operating cost with respect to the pertinent number of tubes and tube passes. Pareto fronts of the evaporator and condenser obtained from multi-objective GA provides designers or investors with a wide range of optimal solutions so that they can select projects suitable for their financial resources. In addition, the surface heat transfer area of the condenser took up a much higher percentage of the total heat transfer area of the SH-OTEC than that of the evaporator.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.69-75
• /
• 2015

The concrete purpose of this study is to suggest actually a debt ratio to optimize the capital structure providing a kind of approach to estimate the proper debt ratio with an analytical model and empirical data in Korean shipping industry. The mathematical and analytical model is started from the first equation about ROE, return of net operating income on equity, with an independent variable, debt ratio. It is constructed with several parameters, ROS(return of operating income on sales), TAT(total assets turnover), and NFCL(net finance cost to liabilities). There could not be a certain relationship between debt ratio and ROS or TAT, while some correlation or causality between debt ratio and NFCL. In other words, most of firms with high debt ratio is likely to burden higher finance cost than others with low one. In this case, there is a linearity relationship between debt ratio and NFCL, so then the second equation considering this relation could be included within the analytical approach of this paper. To be short, if the criteria of adequate debt ratio has to be defined as some level of debt ratio to optimize ROE, the ROE could be illustrated as a quadratic equation to debt ratio from two equations. Next, this research estimated those parameters' numbers through the single regression method with data over 12 years of Korean shipping industry, and identified empirically the fact that optimal debt ratio would be approximately 400%. To conclude, if that industry's sales and operating incomes are stable, the debt ratio could be accepted until twice of 200% had forced in order to guarantee its financial safety in past time.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.155-182
• /
• 1998

There exists a remarkable differences in use of MRI scanning among income classes. The poor can hardly utilize it. This is because, among high cost technnologies, MRI is the only equipment not covered under health insurance benefits in Korea. This study was designed 1) to reveal the status of nation-wide MRI installation, customary charges and per unit annual scanning performance, and 2) to analyse factors influencing the above variables. The data for this study came from "MRI Prevalence Survey" conducted by the National Federation of Medcial Insurance(NFMI) in 1997, and were analyzed through SAS packages for T-test, analysis of variance and stepwise multiple regression. Data were collected from 188 hospitals equipped with MRI scanners. Major findings are summarized as follows : The number of MRI scanners has increased from 69 in 994 to 158 in 1996(2.3 times) while per unit annual scanning performance has risen by 11.2% from 2,173 cases in 1994 to 2,417 cases in 1996. Such a rapid increase was made possible mainly due to the inclusion of CT scanning under the health insurance benefit package. The customary charges for MRI scanning with or without contrast media, on average, amounted to 484,000 Won and 402,000 Won, respectively, with the percentile increase of 17.8% and 8.1% each during the same time. Korea ranks the third worldwidely in terms of number of MRI installations, 4.8 scanners per one million persons, only next to Japan and United States. Geographical variation of MRI, however, was rather high, 7.91 unit, in Cheju area compared to 1.82 in Kyongnam area. Variations of customary charges of MRI scanning can be explained as much as by 44.8% by both the total amount of claims to NFMI and geographical variable. The charges were more likely to be higher in metropolitan areas like Seoul and in hospitals with a bigger amount of claims. While those of per unit annual scanning performance can be explained as much as by 30.7% by both MRI installation cost and level of MRI-installed organizations. Per capital scannig performance was higher in tertiary hospitals and hospitals equipped with more expensive scanners than hospitals with less expensive scanners. Two measures are called for the remedying the existing excessive abundance in MRI units in korea : One is to set a ceiling of MRI units in an area like a province or a metropolitan district. The other is to establish a committee on introduction of high cost technologies for reviewing its effective use.ctive use.