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Cardiac Intracoronary Stenting vs CABG: Prevention of Medical Accident (심장 스텐트 시술과 의료사고 예방)

  • Kim, Kyoung Reay;Park, Kook Yang
    • The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.163-194
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    • 2017
  • Coronary artery disease has increased in Korea as the country enters the aged society. It is well known that the incidence of coronary artery disease is related to aging, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and dietary habit. For effective treatment of significant coronary stenosis, close coordination between cardiac surgery and cardiology team is essential. Especially cardiologists' decision whether to do the stent placement or CABG is very important because the cardiologists usually start to consult the patients for their treatment. Recently, non-surgical interventions(that is stent placement) in cardiology field have dramatically increased as the national insurance system removed the limitation of the number of stents deployed. However, accidents are often caused by inappropriate use of stents, especially in patients with triple coronary disease or left main disease with heavy coronary calcifications. Another aspect of stent placement is to cope with an emergency case in the event of coronary rupture or pericardial tamponade during coronary interventions without cardiac surgeons. In the past two years, the Korea Consumer Agency (Consumer Dispute Coordination Committee) analyzed eight cases of medical dispute settlement. Only two hospitals were manned with both cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. Seven patients died of procedures of stenting and five patients died on the day of the procedure. Among the 8 cases, 5 cases showed 3 vessel disease and the rest of the cases had either severe calcification, complete occlusion or poor coronary antomies for stenting According to a 2017 national data registry of coronary stenting, less than 3 drug-eluting stents were implanted in 98% of all patients. In 2015, the number of stent procedures was 38,922, and approximately in 800 (2%) cases, more than four stents were used per patient. We emphasize that it is necessary to seriously consider the cost-benefit analysis between stent and CABG. The patient has the right to choose the right procedure by asking the liability of 'instruction explanation obligation'. He should be well informed of the pros and cons of both procedures to avoid overuse of stent. It can be solved by intimate discussion of individual cases with the cardiac surgeon and the patient. Unilateral dialogue with the patient, forceful restriction on the number of stenting, lack of surgeon's backup in difficult cases should all be avoided. It is also necessary to solve the problem not only at the hospital level, such as multidisciplinary integrated medical care, but also a nationwide solution such as expanding cardiac surgeons as essential personnel to public officials.

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Impact of Net-Based Customer Service on Firm Profits and Consumer Welfare (기업의 온라인 고객 서비스가 기업의 수익 및 고객의 후생에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Eun-Jin;Lee, Byung-Tae
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.123-137
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    • 2007
  • The advent of the Internet and related Web technologies has created an easily accessible link between a firm and its customers, and has provided opportunities to a firm to use information technology to support supplementary after-sale services associated with a product or service. It has been widely recognized that supplementary services are an important source of customer value and of competitive advantage as the characteristics of the product itself. Many of these supplementary services are information-based and need not be co-located with the product, so more and more companies are delivering these services electronically. Net-based customer service, which is defined as an Internet-based computerized information system that delivers services to a customer, therefore, is the core infrastructure for supplementary service provision. The importance of net-based customer service in delivering supplementary after-sale services associated with product has been well documented. The strategic advantages of well-implemented net-based customer service are enhanced customer loyalty and higher lock-in of customers, and a resulting reduction in competition and the consequent increase in profits. However, not all customers utilize such net-based customer service. The digital divide is the phenomenon in our society that captures the observation that not all customers have equal access to computers. Socioeconomic factors such as race, gender, and education level are strongly related to Internet accessibility and ability to use. This is due to the differences in the ability to bear the cost of a computer, and the differences in self-efficacy in the use of a technology, among other reasons. This concept, applied to e-commerce, has been called the "e-commerce divide." High Internet penetration is not eradicating the digital divide and e-commerce divide as one would hope. Besides, to accommodate personalized support, a customer must often provide personal information to the firm. This personal information includes not only name and address, but also preferences information and perhaps valuation information. However, many recent studies show that consumers may not be willing to share information about themselves due to concerns about privacy online. Due to the e-commerce divide, and due to privacy and security concerns of the customer for sharing personal information with firms, limited numbers of customers adopt net-based customer service. The limited level of customer adoption of net-based customer service affects the firm profits and the customers' welfare. We use a game-theoretic model in which we model the net-based customer service system as a mechanism to enhance customers' loyalty. We model a market entry scenario where a firm (the incumbent) uses the net-based customer service system in inducing loyalty in its customer base. The firm sells one product through the traditional retailing channels and at a price set for these channels. Another firm (the entrant) enters the market, and having observed the price of the incumbent firm (and after deducing the loyalty levels in the customer base), chooses its price. The profits of the firms and the surplus of the two customers segments (the segment that utilizes net-based customer service and the segment that does not) are analyzed in the Stackelberg leader-follower model of competition between the firms. We find that an increase in adoption of net-based customer service by the customer base is not always desirable for firms. With low effectiveness in enhancing customer loyalty, firms prefer a high level of customer adoption of net-based customer service, because an increase in adoption rate decreases competition and increases profits. A firm in an industry where net-based customer service is highly effective loyalty mechanism, on the other hand, prefers a low level of adoption by customers.

Influence of Water Foxtail on Growth of Rice and Weed in No-Tillage Transplanted Rice (벼 무경운재배시 둑새풀 우점 정도가 벼 생육 및 잡초 발생에 미치는 영향)

  • 강양순;곽태순;송문태
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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    • v.41 no.5
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    • pp.619-624
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    • 1996
  • An experiment was carried out to find out the effects of water foxtail on weed control and rice yield as well as on the reduction of nitrogen application in no tillage transplanted paddy field. Paddy field was dominated by water foxtail whose soil covering degree was adjusted from 8 to 6 by treatment of paraquat (70 l /10a of solution diluted by 1, 000 times). Thirty five-day old seedling was mechanically transplanted and reduced nitrogen, 80% of conventional application was applied at the paddy field. The higher failure in seedling stand was observed at higher degree of soil covering by water foxtail. The failure of seedling stand with covering degree of 8(no paraquat) was 37.4%, while that of covering degree of 6(paraquat-treated) was 12.3%. However, the seedling stand failure was completely recovered at covering degree of six at two weeks after transplanting. The mechanical transplanting made water foxtail in the paddy field fall on the ground whose panicle part was recovered from falling sometimes after transplanting and whole plant died with slow scenesence untill the late of June. But the water foxtail affected by paraquat produced the new panicle from uppernode of stem with dead leaves at early of June and it become die slowly untill the early of July. Though several rice field weeds were observed in the order of Echinochloa crusgallis, Cyperus serotinus, Lemma paucicostata during the active tillering stage of rice, the value of weed control due to the dominance of water foxtail was 77~78%. The death and subsequent decay of water foxtail during the active tillering stage of rice induced the soil reduction which again defect the growth of rice root. The more vigerous rice growth was observed in the plot dominated with water foxtails, than control plot. The yields of rice in the water foxtail (degree 6) plot was 629kg per l0a as brown rice, the same as that of control plot. In conclusion, the no-tillage transplanting with control of covering degree of water foxtail (to degree 6) was effective in reduction of input cost such as herbicide and nitrogen fertilizer, as well as weed control without reduction of rice yield.

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Usefulness of the Chin Press Maneuver in Assessing the Severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (폐쇄성 수면무호흡증후군의 진단에 있어 턱 압박술의 유용성)

  • Kim, Moo-Jin
    • Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.22-29
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    • 2001
  • Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) is a moderately prevalent disorder. Even though much progress has been made in the diagnosis of this disorder, the cost-effectiveness of nocturnal polysomnography is undertermined and physicians and patients are still hesitant to undergo this procedure. The authors wanted to see the validity of chin press/tongue curl maneuver in estimating the severity of OSA which is easy to measure and was originally proposed by Simmons etc. by looking at the correlations between this score and the conventional respiratory disturbance indices. Methods: Forty-three sleep-related breathing disorder patients (28 OSA patients and 15 upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) patients) who underwent investigation for posssible OSA were studied. Two conventional indices of OSA (apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) and oxygen saturation dip rate (SaO2 dips)), four other sleep variables (lowest SaO2, % of time with SaO2<90% (%SaO2 <90), % of sleep stage 1, mean length of SaO2 dips) and the score of Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) were compared with the chin press score (CPS) which was newly revised by the author and ranges from 0 to 6. Results: The age of subjects was $45.95{\pm}12.47$ (range 14-76) and their average BMI was $25.98{\pm}3.61$ (range 19.65-37.64). There were no significant differences in age, sex and BMI except repiratory disturbance indices and ESS (p<0.05) between OSA and UARS group. Grouped median CPS of the all subjects was 4.14 (range 1-6). There was a remarkable relationship between CPS and diagnosis category (Likelihood Ratio $X^2$ test; $X^2$=17.41, df=5, p=0.004) and measures of association (Somers' $d=0.65{\pm}0.12$, t=4.83, p=0.000) indicated that CPS increased when the diagnosis changed from UARS to OSA. Spearman's rank correlations between CPS and SaO2 dips (R=0.83), between CPS and AHI (R=0.77) were good (p<0.001). Other variables except mean length of SaO2 dips showed good correlations with CPS as well (p<0.05). Regression analysis indicated that when CPS is 3 there is a provability of 0.35 to have AHI of less than 5. Conclusion: Chin press scores that can be measured easily is well correlation with the conventional sleep apnea indices. They may therefore provide a useful guide in diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea synrome.

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Walking test for assessing lung function and exercise performance in patients with cardiopulmonary disease (심폐질환 환자에서 걷기검사를 이용한 폐기능 및 운동기능의 평가)

  • Jung, Hye Kyung;Chang, Jung Hyun;Cheon, Seon Hee
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.43 no.6
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    • pp.976-986
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    • 1996
  • BACKGROUND : Dyspnea is common among patients with cardiopulmonary disease, and "daily disability" is defined as a functional impairment resulting from exercise intolerance. The maximal oxygen uptake(VO2max) during exhausting work is not only the best single physical indicator of the capacity of a man for sustaining hard muscular work, but also the most objective method by which one can determine the physical fitness of an individual as reflected by his cardiovascular system. However, the expense, time and personnel requirements make this procedure prohibitive for testing large group. The walking test is well-known type of exercise and it cost nothing to perform and have good reproducibility. Thus we performed the walking test and investigated correlations with spirometry, ABG and exercise test. METHOD: We observed the walking test and exercise test by cycle ergometer in 37 patients who visited our hospital because of dyspnea. Arterial blood gas analysis and spiromety, dyspnea index were performed, too. RESULT : (1) The VO2max was significantly lower in patients with COPD and cardiovascular disease than asthma and dyspnea on exertion group(p<0.05). The walking test distance was also lower in former. (2) The 12 minute walking test was significantly correlated with VO2max, PaCO2, FVC(%), FEV1(%) in all patients(p<0.05), and the walking test was only conelated with VO2max in patients with COPD(p<0.05). (3) In COPD patients, the VO2max was best correlated with FEV1(%) and FVC(%) and significantly correlated with walking test. But there was no correlation between walking test and FEV1(%) & FVC(%). (4) The 6 minute walking test was well correlated with 12 minute walking test(r=0.92. p<0.01). CONCLUSION : The walking test is the simple method for assessing exercise performance in patient with cardiopulmonary disease and a reliable indicator for VO2max. And the walking test is practical method for assessing on everyday disability rather than maximal exercise capacity. The 6 minute walking test is highly correlated with 12 minute walking test and a less exhausting for the patients and a time-saving for the investigator.

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Case Study on Economical Fabrication and Erection of Steel Structure and Reduction in Field Erection Time (경제적 철골제작$\cdot$설치 및 공기단축 사례분석연구)

  • Ahn Jae-Bong;Choi Yoon ki
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.5 no.5 s.21
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    • pp.183-192
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    • 2004
  • Even in Korea the number of steel structure buildings that allow internal space and easy change of their layouts in accordance with the purpose of buildings and box-type steel bridges constructed with thick plates with thickness in a rage just from a few $\beta$AE to \$100\beta$AE is increasing these days and therefore, domestic fabrication and processing technology of members for steel structures is being improved at a pace faster than in the past to meet the growing requirements of consumers for high reliability on quality control on the related steel structures. However, most domestic fabricators os steel structures who are turning out their steel products in accordance with the designs prepared by engineering companies in their respective works for the sake of cost cut more than anything else, hesitating to introduce any advanced new technology into themselves. In the case of the steel structure design application for small and mid-size buildings in particular, it is quite meaningful not only for those who are involved in steel structure business, but also for the people working at construction work fields to review the result of the study on the connections of steel structure members deigned to obtain superb quality of steel structures within short period for steel fabrication and erection at fields in economical ways, as there is a glowing tendency seeking standardization of connection of steel structure members as well as whole structure together with the development on design of construction system of buildings including their exterior and interior decoration materials, manufacture of the related members and fabrication technique structure. This paper has been prepared with the aim to review the peculiar characteristics of buildings constructed with the main frames of steel structures and actual cases of the change made ing the connections between steel structure columns and between columns and girder members in order to reduce the work period necessary for fabrication and erection of steel structures at the maximum as well as the some examples of steel structures fabricated through automatic welding by robots for box-type columns in addition to the description of the problems found in the course of fabricating those steel structures, suggesting possible counter-measures to solve them.

Illegal Transactions and Import Restriction Policy (불법거래행위(不法去來行爲)와 수입제한정책(輸入制限政策))

  • Lee, Hong-gue
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.81-94
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    • 1990
  • Illegal transactions such as blackmarketing and smuggling allegedly result from too restrictive trade policies. A recent U.S. Senate hearing on the blackmarketing of American goods imported into Korea for the purpose of supporting United States troops and their dependents stationed in Korea concluded with the allegation that Korea's highly restrictive trade practices are responsible for the emergence of the black market. It has also suggested that the removal of such restrictive trade policies would eliminate black market activities. This study addresses the relationship between trade policy and blackmarketing by investigating whether trade liberalization results in the reduction of illegal transactions, and whether the eradication of blackmarketing indeed improves social welfare. When both legally imported goods and illegally exchanged items command the same price, trade liberalization, meaning a decrease in tariff rates or an increase in import quotas, will increase the quantity of legal imports at the expense of illegally transacted goods on the black market. But the price of legally imported goods usually differs from that of illegally sold ones. In this case, a change in the relative prices of these two groups of goods due to a change in trade policy will give rise to income, as well as substitution, effects. Initially, a decrease in the import price due to a decrease in import tax rates or an increase in the allotted quota will reduce illegal transactions, since the decrease in the import price will induce the substitution of legal imports for illegally exchanged, but otherwise, identical goods. On the other hand, the demand for the illegally transacted goods will rise, because of the income effect of the reduced import price. Thus, assuming the positive income effect overwhelms the negative substitution effect, the demand for illegal goods will increase, thwarting the reduction of blackmarketing through trade liberalization. Yet, stepping up the enforcement measures which are geared to preventing blackmarketing itself will drastically reduce the extent of illegal transactions, since it increases the cost of blackmarketing and hence the price of the illegally transacted goods. What this study suggests is that the emergence of the black market in Korea should be attributed more to the excessive supply of duty-free goods imported through U.S. commissaries and exchanges than to the excessive demand for foreign goods. On the other hand, blackmarketing, in most cases, improves economic welfare, since it constitutes an increase in the "actual" amount of imported goods. Suppressing blackmarketing through stepped-up enforcement methods is beneficial only when the substitution effect of the legally transacted goods resulting from the increase in the price of the illegal goods prevails, since the increase in the demand for legal imports must override the decrease in the demand for black market goods as well as the negative income effect.

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The Policy of Park Asset Transfers in England: A Move toward Community Ownership and Park Management (커뮤니티의 공원 소유와 관리·운영 방안으로서 영국의 공원 커뮤니티자산이전 정책)

  • Kim, Yeun-Kum
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.43 no.1
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    • pp.108-119
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    • 2015
  • Recently, the ways in which individual communities own and manage parks have been both discussed and realized in America and England. Some benefits of these asset transfers are that local governments can reduce the financial cost of management as well as improve the service of the parks. In addition, communities can develop these parks as unique assets. Ultimately, this is a new understanding of parks as community commons. This study examines the policy of park asset transfers to communities in England. These transfers, which involve reallocating land and building management and/or ownership from the public sector to a community group, are part of a policy agenda known as "Big Society", which aims to create a "small government" within a "big society". The agenda is pursued by both the English Conservative and Unionist Party governments. Eight case studies of community park asset transfers in England were examined in this study, under three categories-transfer process, partnership among stakeholders, and financial structure-and synthesized along three issues-financial contribution, level of public transparency, and closeness of the relationship between park and community. In some cases, new community groups were created specifically to receive park assets, while in other communities, existing groups became the park trustees. For most parks, community groups raise park maintenance funding through diverse methods; however, these groups are often not entirely financially independent from local government. Thus, many park trustees have already created, or are planning to create, other assets from which parks can benefit. Second, some efforts for public transparency include trusts that are registered as charities, of which their public nature is admitted officially. These trusts resolve important decisions through boards of trustees, in an effort to promote income-generating business while not excluding users. Ultimately, a close relationship between park and community empowers the community to participate in managing and maintaining the park; in turn, the park's capacities are improved. Current struggles include the many limits involved in communities accepting ownership and management of a park, and a lack of local government experience regarding public-private management and maintenance of a public asset. This study, however, details interesting policy implications for Korean community involvement as well as diverse financial methods to facilitate park management.

Analysis of Environmental Design Data for Growing Pleurotus ervngii (큰 느타리버섯 재배사의 환경설계용 자료 분석)

  • Yoon, Yong-Cheol;Suh, Won-Myung;Lee, In-Bok
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.95-105
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    • 2005
  • This study was carried out to file up using effect and requirement of energy for environmental design data of Pleurotus eryngii growing houses. Heating and cooling Degree-Hour (D-H) were calculated and compared for. some Pleurotus eryngii growing houses of sandwich-panel (permanent) o. arch-roofed(simple) type structures modified and suggested through field survey and analysis. Also thermal resistance (R-value) was calculated for the heat insulating and covering materials of the permanent and simple-type, which were made of polyurethane or polystyrene panel and $7\~8$ layers heat conservation cover wall. The variations of heating and cooling D-H simulated for Jinju area was nearly linearly proportional to the setting inside temperatures. The variations of cooling D-H was much more sensitive than those of heating D-H. Therefore, it was expected that the variations of required energy in accordance with setting temperature or actual temperature maintained inside of the cultivation house could be estimated and also the estimated results of heating and cooling D-H could be effectively used far the verification of environmental simulation as well as for the calculation of required energy amounts. When the cultivation floor areas are all equal, panel type houses to be constructed by various combinations of materials were found to by far more effective than simple type pipe house in the aspect of energy conservation maintenance except some additional cost invested initially. And also the energy effectiveness of multi-span house compared to single span together with the prediction of energy requirement depending on the level insulated for the wall and roof area could be estimated. Additionally, structural as well as environmental optimizations are expected to be possible by calculating periodical and/or seasonal energy requirements for those various combinations of insulation level and different climate conditions, etc.

Innovation Technology Development & Commercialization Promotion of R&D Performance to Domestic Renewable Energy (신재생에너지 기술혁신 개발과 R&D성과 사업화 촉진 방안)

  • Lee, Yong-Seok;Rho, Do-Hwan
    • Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.788-818
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    • 2009
  • Renewable energy refers to solar energy, biomass energy, hydrogen energy, wind power, fuel cell, coal liquefaction and vaporization, marine energy, waste energy, and liquidity fuel made out of byproduct of geothermal heat, hydrogen and coal; it excludes energy based on coal, oil, nuclear energy and natural gas. Developed countries have recognized the importance of these energies and thus have set the mid to long term plans to develop and commercialize the technology and supported them with drastic political and financial measures. Considering the growing recognition to the field, it is necessary to analysis up-to-now achievement of the government's related projects, in the standards of type of renewable energy, management of sectional goals, and its commercialization. Korean government is chiefly following suit the USA and British policies of developing and distributing renewable energy. However, unlike Japan which is in the lead role in solar rays industry, it still lacks in state-directed support, participation of enterprises and social recognition. The research regarding renewable energy has mainly examinedthe state of supply of each technology and suitability of specific region for applying the technology. The evaluation shows that the research has been focused on supply and demand of renewable as well as general energy and solution for the enhancement of supply capacity in certain area. However, in-depth study for commercialization and the increase of capacity in industry followed by development of the technology is still inadequate. 'Cost-benefit model for each energy source' is used in analysis of technology development of renewable energy and quantitative and macro economical effects of its commercialization in order to foresee following expand in related industries and increase in added value. First, Investment on the renewable energy technology development is in direct proportion both to the product and growth, but product shows slightly higher index under the same amount of R&D investment than growth. It indicates that advance in technology greatly influences the final product, the energy growth. Moreover, while R&D investment on renewable energy product as well as the government funds included in the investment have proportionate influence on the renewable energy growth, private investment in the total amount invested has reciprocal influence. This statistic shows that research and development is mainly driven by government funds rather than private investment. Finally, while R&D investment on renewable energy growth affects proportionately, government funds and private investment shows no direct relations, which indicates that the effects of research and development on renewable energy do not affect government funds or private investment. All of the results signify that although it is important to have government policy in technology development and commercialization, private investment and active participation of enterprises are the key to the success in the industry.

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