• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.129-155
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• 2008

The rate of antibiotics prescription for an acute airway infection significantly varies depending upon the diagnosis type, specialty, and the location of the hospital along with many other related factors. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the possible relationship between the antibiotics prescription rates for an acute airway infection and the degree of competition in the hospital market regions of mainly the providers of primary medical care services such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics and otorhinolaryngology department. Using the data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regarding the hospitals' antibiotics prescription rates for the acute airway infection and controlling for selected variables of demand and supply sectors, this study tries to figure out that the degree of competition in the hospital market, regardless of what type of competition indexes we employed, has a statistically significant effect on the variations of antibiotics prescription rate of the clinics in local areas. This result implies that as an economic consideration itself, the change in the degree of competition in the hospital market can play a crucial role influencing the treatment behaviors of the medical doctors. More specifically, this study reveals that as the degree of competition increases the antibiotics prescription rate goes up. This result means that if the market becomes more competitive in a specific region so that it might cause a reduction in doctor's income, doctors with rational decision-making process, recognize that the benefit created from inducing patients' seemingly unnecessary demand for medical care (income effect) would be higher than the costs associated with sustaining their targeted income (substitution effect). It is because that the doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics which create relatively higher margins than other medical care services in order to sustain their targeted income when the hospital market competition becomes tighter. Even though this study empirically confirms that antibiotics prescription can be affected by the economic incentives, it still raises following issues as limitations of the study: first issue is about the representativeness of the hospital regions segregated for this study, which might be weak in explaining whether these regions are mutually exclusive in reality. Patients actually consider the quality of services, transportation cost, time costs, and any other related factors choosing the doctors or hospitals, and in that sense, this study rules out 'border-crossing' in using the medical care services. Second issue arises in capturing the data of antibiotics prescription rate. Since we use the average rate for each medical institution, we cannot figure out the average rate for each patient so that we are not able to control for the variation of patients' medical conditions. It is because of the unavailability of data regarding each patient's medical condition from HIRA. Thirdly, since this study mainly analyzes the medical institutions providing primary care such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics, and otorhinolaryngology department, it is skeptical of whether those institutions can represent the hospital market in respective regions and truly reflect the degree of competition. It needs to extend the study areas and disease types as well as any micro data for future studies.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 1994

Cells of Acinetobacter sp. strain JC1 DSM 3803, an aerobic monoxide-oxidizing bacterium, growing on glucose exhibited high catalase activity at the mid-exponential growth phase. The enzyme activity decreased gradually after then until the early stationary phase, increased again at the mid-stationary phase, and then decreased again thereafter. Cells growing on glucose was found to contain three kinds of catalses. Cat1, Cat2 and Cat3. The activities of Cat1 and Cat3 did change significantly during growth, but that of Cat2 exhibited significant variation. Cat3 was found to present only in cells growing on glucose, but not in cells growing on carbon monoxide of methanol. The activities of call and Cat3 in cell-free extracts were stable upon treatment with ethanol and chloroform, but decreased to some extent when the enzymewere treated with 2mM $H_2O_2$ and/or 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (AT). Cat2 was found to be extremely sensitive to the ethanol-chloroform and $H_2O_2$ treatments, but was insensitive to the AT treatment. Cat1 exhibited enzyme activity after incubation for 1 min at 80$^{\circ}C$. Cat2 and Cat3 did not show enzyme activity after incubation for 1 min at 60$^{\circ}C$ and 70$^{\circ}C$, respectively. Cat2 was found to have peroxidase activity. Cat3 was purified to homogenity in seven steps. The molecular weight of the native enzyme was estimated to be 150,000. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis revealed two identical subunits of molecular weight 65,000. The enzyme was found to show two $K_m$ values of 39 mM and 58mM. The optimal pH for the enzyme activity was 7.0, but the activities at pH 6.0, 8.0, and 9.0, were found to be comparable to that at the optimal pH. The optimal temperature for the enzyme activity was found to be 40$^{\circ}C$. The enzyme also exhibited strong activity at 20$^{\circ}C$, 30$^{\circ}C$, and 50$^{\circ}C$. The purified enzyme was not affected by the ethanol-chloroform treatment. The enzyme, howerver, showed less than 10% of the original activity when it was treated with 12 mN AT, 0.1 mM $NaN_3$ of 1mM KCN.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.85-96
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• 2019

Solar radiation is an important variable for estimation of energy balance and water cycle in natural and agricultural ecosystems. A deep neural network (DNN) model has been developed in order to estimate the daily global solar radiation. Temperature and precipitation, which would have wider availability from weather stations than other variables such as sunshine duration, were used as inputs to the DNN model. Five-fold cross-validation was applied to train and test the DNN models. Meteorological data at 15 weather stations were collected for a long term period, e.g., > 30 years in Korea. The DNN model obtained from the cross-validation had relatively small value of RMSE ($3.75MJ\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$) for estimates of the daily solar radiation at the weather station in Suwon. The DNN model explained about 68% of variation in observed solar radiation at the Suwon weather station. It was found that the measurements of solar radiation in 1985 and 1998 were considerably low for a small period of time compared with sunshine duration. This suggested that assessment of the quality for the observation data for solar radiation would be needed in further studies. When data for those years were excluded from the data analysis, the DNN model had slightly greater degree of agreement statistics. For example, the values of $R^2$ and RMSE were 0.72 and $3.55MJ\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$, respectively. Our results indicate that a DNN would be useful for the development a solar radiation estimation model using temperature and precipitation, which are usually available for downscaled scenario data for future climate conditions. Thus, such a DNN model would be useful for the impact assessment of climate change on crop production where solar radiation is used as a required input variable to a crop model.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.187-192
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• 2013

Purpose: We investigate the results of changed heart volume and heart dose in the left breast cancer patients while considering the movements of respiration. Materials and Methods: During the months of March and May in 2012, we designated the 10 patients who had tangential irradiation with left breast cancer in the department of radiation Oncology. With acquired images of free breathing pattern through 3D and 4D CT, we had planed enough treatment filed for covered up the whole left breast. It compares the results of the exposed dose and the volume of heart by DVH (Dose Volume histogram). Although total dose was 50.4 Gy (1.8 Gy/28 fraction), reirradiated 9 Gy (1.8 Gy/5 Fraction) with PTV (Planning Target Volume) if necessary. Results: It compares the results of heart volume and heart dose with the free breathing in 3D CT and 4D CT. It represents the maximum difference volume of heart is 40.5%. In addition, it indicated the difference volume of maximum and minimum, average are 8.8% and 27.9%, 37.4% in total absorbed dose of heart. Conclusion: In case of tangential irradiation (opposite beam) in left breast cancer patients, it is necessary to consider the changed heart volume by the respiration of patient and the heartbeat of patient.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.99-108
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• 2016

The shuttle breeding of Korean winter wheat has been able to develop high-yielding and day-length-intensive varieties with a wide range of ecologic adoption. However, the phenology of winter wheat has been changed due to recent rises in the winter temperature of Toluca and increasing frequency of high temperatures. We defined two wheat groups (group II and III) with vernalization and evaluated the impact of cold exposure duration and heading ratio due to changes in sowing dates by measuring changes in cold exposure duration and corresponding heading states of each group. The wheat cultivars were sown on three dates in two years. The cold exposure requirement of wheat sown on 6 November 2013 was unfulfilled. The cold exposure requirement of wheat sown on 22 November and 6 December 2013 was fulfilled. However, in 2014, the cold exposure requirement of wheat sown on 5 and 20 November was fulfilled, but that of wheat sown on 5 December was unfulfilled. The differences for the two early November sowings were because winter temperature rises, which caused high temperatures in 2013, whereas early November 2014 saw normal temperatures for the area. The heading ratio of group II did not show a clear difference among the three sowing dates, while the heading ratio of group III was reduced by about half. This implies that the efficiency of shuttle breeding of group III will be high since it showed strong sensitivity to changes in sowing dates. We calculated future sowing dates of each group under near future climate scenarios; the future available sowing dates of group II were projected, but the dates of group III were never estimated in the temperature rise scenario in Toluca. Our findings suggest that change of sowing dates should be considered in the strategy for shuttle breeding of Korean winter wheat.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.27 no.6 s.65
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• pp.905-916
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• 1997

The purpose of this investigation were to evaluate facial vortical changes occurring in patients treated orthodontically with first premolar, second remolar and second molar extractions : to compare these changes with those occurring in patients treated orthodontically without extractions : and finally, to evaluate the effects of extractions in facial vortical changes. Cephalometric records of 50 male & female nonextraction patients and 88 male & female extraction patients were obtained from the department of orthodontics at Chosun University, College of Dentistry. The second molar fully erupted pPatients to have little variation according to growth were chosen as the sample for this investigation. For comparisons, the samples of 88 male & female extraction patients were subdivided into 42 first premolar extraction, 24 second premolar extraction, and 22 second molar extraction patients. Fourteen cephalometric measurements were selected to examine whether orthodontic extraction treatment led to vertical changes or not. The pretreatment and posttreatment lateral cephalographs were taken on the same radiographic unit. $SPSS/PC^+$ statistical program was used to compare and to analyze the changes between 'before & after' orthodontic treatment. The results of this study were as follows. 1. There were no statistical significances in any cephalometric measurements between 'before & after' orthodontic treatment regardless of orthodontic extractions for each group. 2. On average, the upper 6 to palatal Plane and the lower 6 to mandibular plane after orthodontic treatment were increased in all group. This means most of orthodontic mechanics are extrusive in nature. Especially, in orthodontic extraction. cases, it may be caused by orthodontic mechanics for space closure and alignments. 3. On average, in the second molar extraction group, the facial vertical dimension was increased after orthodontic treatment. It nay be induced as a result of moving the molars distally to gain enough space to correct the molar relationship and to simultaneously improve the deep bite. 4. There was no statistical significance between orthodontic extractions and facial vertical changes. This means that orthodontic extractions have no influence on facial vortical changes. 5. The cephalometric measurements with statistical significance in ficial vertical changes for each group were PP-MP, Op-MP, $\underline{1}$ to PP and $\overline{1}$ to MP.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.349-355
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• 1984

Samples of plant tissue and xylem sap collected from pot-grown three soybean cultivars (Hwangkum, Williams 79, Wild) were analyzed for ureide and amide, and their distribution and changes in contents were measured over the growth period to study whether there are any differences in the changes of ureide contents among soybean cultivers. Application of ureide content as an indicator of $N_2$-fixation was examined. There was little evidence of soybean cultivars affecting the patterns of the change of ureide contents, while relative ureide contents of plant organ or xylem sap were significantly different among soybean cultivars. In plant stem and xylem sap, negative correlation ($r=-0.5193^{**}$, $-0.5053^*$ respectively) were found between ureide-N and amide-N content. Considering that exogeneous nitrogen caused a decrease in ureide accumulation and that nodule is the main site of ureide formation, the results demonstrated that there were differences in the effect of $N_2$-fixation among soybean cultivars. Consequently, the relative uredie content of xylem sap or plant stem could be used as a practical indicator of $N_2$-fixation in soybeans.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.183-196
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• 1991

In order to establish ELISA method to detect antibody against IBV various factors involved were examined. Antigen was prepared from Massachusetts type IBV which is known to be one of serotypes distributed most widely. The virus was grown in embryonated SPF chicken eggs. Allantoic fluid harvested was processed to ultracentrifugation and sucrose density gradient centrifugation to produce a purified antigen The antisera selected from the field samples based on hemagglutination inhibition test were used as the standard positive and negative sera for this study and the results obtained were summarized as follows. 1 , It was found that ELISA test was satisfactory when the purified antigen was coated on the plate in the amount of about 40ng protein per well. In case of the phospholipase treated hemagglutinating antigen it gave satisfactory results when the each well wns coated with 1.2 to 2.5 hemagglutinating unit which was equivalent to 40 to 90ng of protein. 2. There was no significant difference in the ratio of optical density of positive to that of negative serum whether the coated antigen was held for 1 hour at 37$^{\circ}C$ or it was held overnight at 4$^{\circ}C$. The coated antigen could be kept in dried state without change of antigenecity for at least one month of experimental period at 4$^{\circ}C$. 3. There was a big variation in the optical density and P/N values depending on the maker of the plates and on the plate of the same maker. 4. It was found that background optical density was negligible when serum was diluted more than 1：50 and serum dilution of 1：100 appeared to be appropriate as a routine test dilution to screen the antibody. 5. Optical density was fairly constant 15 minutes afterward from the time substrate was treated and during the 4 hours after stopper was treated. 6. There was a low correlation(r＝0.42) between ELISA and HI test. However, when 74serum samples were tested for the IBV antibody, 98.7% were found to be positive by both tests in which titers of 2$^{6}$ or more by HI test and P/N values of 1.4 or more by ELISA were considered to be positive, 7 Day-old IBV vaccinated chickens shows a similar antibody decay and rising pattern until 8 weeks of age by the two tests, ELISA and HI.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 2013

This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of $T_{1/2}$ upon count rates in the analysis of dynamic scan using NaI (Tl) scintillation camera, and suggest a new quality control method with this effects. We producted a point source with $^{99m}TcO_4^-$ of 18.5 to 185 MBq in the 2 mL syringes, and acquired 30 frames of dynamic images with 10 to 60 seconds each using Infinia gamma camera (GE, USA). In the second experiment, 90 frames of dynamic images were acquired from 74 MBq point source by 5 gamma cameras (Infinia 2, Forte 2, Argus 1). There were not significant differences in average count rates of the sources with 18.5 to 92.5 MBq in the analysis of 10 to 60 seconds/frame with 10 seconds interval in the first experiment (p>0.05). But there were significantly low average count rates with the sources over 111 MBq activity at 60 seconds/frame (p<0.01). According to the second analysis results of linear regression by count rates of 5 gamma cameras those were acquired during 90 minutes, counting efficiency of fourth gamma camera was most low as 0.0064%, and gradient and coefficient of variation was high as 0.0042 and 0.229 each. We could not find abnormal fluctuation in $x^2$ test with count rates (p>0.02), and we could find the homogeneity of variance in Levene's F-test among the gamma cameras (p>0.05). At the correlation analysis, there was only correlation between counting efficiency and gradient as significant negative correlation (r=-0.90, p<0.05). Lastly, according to the results of calculation of $T_{1/2}$ error from change of gradient with -0.25% to +0.25%, if $T_{1/2}$ is relatively long, or gradient is high, the error increase relationally. When estimate the value of 4th camera which has highest gradient from the above mentioned result, we could not see $T_{1/2}$ error within 60 minutes at that value. In conclusion, it is necessary for the scintillation gamma camera in medical field to manage hard for the quality of radiation measurement. Especially, we found a tendency that count rate changes over time at this study, and we proved that it can effect $T_{1/2}$. And also, there is need of appropriate phantoms and the method of quality management like this study, because there are not any advice or limitation degrees for domestic medical purpose scintillation camera.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.322-331
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• 2003

As the complexity of a 3D game is increased by various factors of the game scenario, it has a problem for controlling the interrelation of the game objects. Therefore, a game system has a necessity of the coordination of the responses of the game objects. Also, it is necessary to control the behaviors of animations of the game objects in terms of the game scenario. To produce realistic game simulations, a system has to include a structure for designing the interactions among the game objects. This paper presents a method that designs the dynamic control mechanism for the interaction of the game objects in the game scenario. For the method, we suggest a game agent system as a framework that is based on intelligent agents who can make decisions using specific rules. Game agent systems are used in order to manage environment data, to simulate the game objects, to control interactions among game objects, and to support visual authoring interface that ran define a various interrelations of the game objects. These techniques can process the autonomy level of the game objects and the associated collision avoidance method, etc. Also, it is possible to make the coherent decision-making ability of the game objects about a change of the scene. In this paper, the rule-based behavior control was designed to guide the simulation of the game objects. The rules are pre-defined by the user using visual interface for designing their interaction. The Agent State Decision Network, which is composed of the visual elements, is able to pass the information and infers the current state of the game objects. All of such methods can monitor and check a variation of motion state between game objects in real time. Finally, we present a validation of the control method together with a simple case-study example. In this paper, we design and implement the supervised classification systems for high resolution satellite images. The systems support various interfaces and statistical data of training samples so that we can select the most effective training data. In addition, the efficient extension of new classification algorithms and satellite image formats are applied easily through the modularized systems. The classifiers are considered the characteristics of spectral bands from the selected training data. They provide various supervised classification algorithms which include Parallelepiped, Minimum distance, Mahalanobis distance, Maximum likelihood and Fuzzy theory. We used IKONOS images for the input and verified the systems for the classification of high resolution satellite images.