• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2013

Background: Diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) has recently been introduced in Korea as a demonstration project and it has aimed the improvement of accuracy in bundled payment instead of Diagnosis related group (DRG). The purpose of this study is to investigate that the model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) score as the severity classification of liver diseases is adequate for improving reimbursement of DPC. Methods: The subjects of this study were 329 patients of liver disease (Korean DRG ver. 3.2 H603) who had discharged from National Health Insurance Corporation Ilsan Hospital which is target hospital of DPC demonstration project, between January 1, 2007 and July 31, 2010. We tested the cost differences by severity classifications which were DRG severity classification and clinical severity classification-MELD score. We used a multiple regression model to find the impacts of severity on total medical cost controlling for demographic factor and characteristics of medical services. The within group homogeneity of cost were measured by calculating the coefficient of variation and extremal quotient. Results: This study investigates the relationship between medical costs and other variables especially severity classifications of liver disease. Length of stay has strong effect on medical costs and other characteristics of patients or episode also effect on medical costs. MELD score for severity classification explained the variation of costs more than DRG severity classification. Conclusion: The accuracy of DRG based payment might be improved by using various clinical data collected by clinical situations but it should have objectivity with considering availability. Adequate compensation for severity should be considered mainly in DRG based payment. Disease specific severity classification would be an alternative like MELD score for liver diseases.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.151-161
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• 2018

Background: Family values of a married woman may be related to her own depressive mood. Since depressive mood of a married woman is likely to exert a negative influence, in terms of mental health, on her, her family members, and the whole society's, it may be very important to explore the relationship between family values in married women and their depressive mood. Methods: In this study, we analyzed nationally representative 5,818 married women aged 20 years or older from the 4th panel data of 2012 Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families. As for variables of interest, we constructed three family values variables: family-oriented view of marriage, individualistic view of marriage, and traditional view of marital roles. Then we employed multivariate logistic regression analyses to explore the relationship between family values and depressive mood, adjusting for family and socio-demographic factors. Results: In total, 804 married women (18.4%) had experienced depressive mood. All of the three family values variables were significant in their relationships with depressive mood. The women categorized as 'very weak' in family-oriented view of marriage were more likely to experience depressive mood than the women categorized as 'very strong' (odds ratio [OR], 1.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.53-2.55). By contrast, the women categorized as 'very weak' in individualistic view of marriage (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.33-0.55) and in traditional view of marital roles (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51-0.92) were less likely to experience depressive mood than their respective counterpart women categorized as 'very strong.' Conclusion: In Korea, married women's values towards marriage itself and roles between wives and husbands had significant associations with their depressive mood. This suggests that in order to improve mental health in married women, we need to take social and cultural dimensions into consideration along with public health interventions.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.324-334
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• 2017

The simulators for a plant unit master control (UMC) developed by domestic or overseas researchers have been developed for operator-training purposes. UMC simulators normally constructed at the end of the plant construction, despite the UMC logics, should be simulated to pre-check many signal interfaces within the power generation systems. Because of the differences in construction schedule, it is difficult for logic designers or commissioning engineers to simulate the UMC logic during the design or commissioning stage. In this background, this paper proposes a simulation method that can be used easily by plant logic designers or operators in the MATLAB Simulink programming environment. The core of the UMC is realized with a unique simulation algorithm based on mathematical analysis and functional blocks combination. In addition, an integer-based configuration was proposed to realize the plant target value control for the equipment in the logic. With these simulation methods, functions, e.g., load distribution, high-low limitations, frequency compensation, etc. were simulated. The results showed that the plant UMC logic can be simulated in Simulink without a plant simulator. The various functions proposed in this paper can provide useful information about Simulink-based simulation design for plant logic designers or commissioning engineers during the power plant construction period.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.336-345
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• 2020

Vessel Traf ic Services (VTS) is a system for ship safety and accident prevention. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and the Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) established regulations related to VTS from an early stage. On December 3, 2019, South Korea enacted a special act called the "Act on Vessel Traffic Services (VTS Act)," which will take ef ect on June 4, 2020. In this paper, the background of this act's enactment is examined and its provisions are critically reviewed. In particular, the study intensively examines the reasons the immunity provisions for the VTS operator were removed and the current direction of improvements to the VTS Act is presented in terms of its feasibility. Most countries that do not have an Act related to VTS and its operator, refer to that of Korea. Therefore, it is necessary to reinforce the structures and definition of the VTS Act, as well as the immunity provisions for the VTS operator. The latter were removed during the National Assembly's legislation process, but were included in the initial bill, and should be reflected in subsequent revisions of the VTS Act.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.41
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• pp.4.1-4.10
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• 2019

Background: The mandibular third molar (M3) is typically the last permanent tooth to erupt because of insufficient space and thick soft tissues covering its surface. Problems such as alveolar bone loss, development of a periodontal pocket, exposure of cementum, gingival recession, and dental caries can be found in the adjacent second molars (M2) following M3 extraction. The specific aims of the study were to assess the amount and rate of bone regeneration on the distal surface of M2 and to evaluate the aspects of bone regeneration in terms of varying degree of impaction. Methods: Four series of panoramic radiographic images were obtained from the selected cases, including images from the first visit, immediately after extraction, 6 weeks, and 6 months after extraction. ImageJ software^® (NIH, USA) was used to measure linear distance from the region of interest to the distal root of the adjacent M2. Radiographic infrabony defect (RID) values were calculated from the measured radiographic bone height and cementoenamel junction with distortion compensation. Repeated measures of analysis of variance and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to analyze the statistical significant difference between RID and time, and a Spearman correlation test was conducted to assess the relationship between Pederson's difficulty index (DI) and RID. Results: A large RID (> 6 mm) can be reduced gradually and consistently over time. More than half of the samples recovered nearly to their normal healthy condition (RID ≤ 3 mm) by the 6-month follow-up. DI affected the first 6 weeks of post-extraction period and only showed a significant positive correlation with respect to the difference between baseline and final RID. Conclusions: Additional treatments on M2 for a minimum of 6 months after an M3 extraction could be recommended. Although DI may affect bone regeneration during the early healing period, further study is required to elucidate any possible factors associated with the healing process. The DI does not cause any long-term adverse effects on bone regeneration after surgical extraction.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.264-275
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• 2003

The purpose of this study were to develop a smoking preventive education program for elementary students and evaluate it's effectiveness. This study was a quasi experimental study under the nonequivalent control group with pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study were 62 who are attending elementary school(31 for each group), 2 different district elementary school. The subjects were matched by grade, similar in anti-smoking educational background of smoking, as well as their residence and income level of their families. The instruments used in this study was 18 criterion referenced test items modeled by Dick & Carey that were developed by researchers for evaluating the subjects' knowledge and attitude about smoking. A pretest was administered a week before treatment The program given to the experimental group is composed of the texts explaining the poisonous substances in tobacco, social and cultural harmfulness of smoking to the body and psychology, indirect smoking, smoking of pregnant women, motives of smoking, refusal skills of smoking; and for the subjects' understanding and the better results of study - pictures, role play, discussion, text through computer based multi-media, puzzle searching for hidden pictures, cross-word puzzle, and finally compensation. The data were collected for 50 days form mid- September to the end of October in the year of 2000, composed of formative evaluation, pre-test and summative evaluation via 2 sessions. Accordingly, the collected data were analysed by t-test, paired t-test, repeated measure ANOVA by the SAS program. This research summarize the findings as follows; 1. There was a significant difference in knowledge between the experimental group(after 1 wks t=10.4680, p=.0001; after 4 wks t= 9.310, p=.0001) and control group(after 1 wks t=0.0420, p= .9669; after 4 wks t= -0.378 p=.7079) in between the results of 1 and 4 week after education in summative evaluation (F=27.45, P=.0001). 2. There was non statistical significant difference in attitude between the experimental group (after 1 wks t=1.2292, p=0.2286 ; after 4 wks t=1.330, p=0.1935) and control group (after 1 wks t=0.1819, p=0.8569 ; after 4 wks t=0.2970, p=0.7685) in between the results of 1 and 4 week after education in summative evaluation(F=0.71, P=0.494). To sum up, the statistics of conclusive analysis evaluative for the children under school age of the 'knowledge acquisition' about smoking harmfulness. On the other hand, as there was already sound attitude about smoking, the evaluation of attitude was non significant difference between control group and experimental group, just there was partially significant difference.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.245-255
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• 1997

The objectives of this study were (1) to analyze the degree of rice farmers' knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM), (2) to determine the related variables for decisions on pest control, and (3) to indicate desirable direction for IPM farmers' field training. The study was carried out through a questionnaire method and sane interviewing survey of 300 rice farmers by the IPM trainers who participated in IPM training in 1994 or 1995. The data were collected from 268 respondents to the questionnaire consisted of KAP and related variables. The major findings of the study were as follows: 1. The KAP score of the farmers concerning IPM were 71 for knowledge, 76.2 for attitude and 74 for practice on average. 2. The KAP score was higher for farmers cultivating larger land size and for those with more participation in IPM training. Also the KAP was higher for the members of the Rural Leaders Association and Future Farmers Association than any other groups. 3. The IPM farmers had strong positive attitudes towards the resistant rice varieties. However, the practical pest control rate of the IPM farmers was low for conservation of natural enemies, timely control following occurrence and plant compensation what few pest were presence in the paddy field. 4. The KAP Score on the economic threshold level and safe pesticide use was relatively low for elder farmers and for those with lower educational background. Most farmers preferred calendar spraying methods for preventive pest control to any other method of pest control. Knowledge was relatively low on pesticide and environmental contamination. 5. Decision making on pest control depends on the extension officer and rural leader's opinion. The survey method for pest occurrence by directly counting pest in the field was only 22.9% among the farmers of this study. 6. Most farmers used pesticide for preventive pest occurrence even when pest didn't occur in their field. The average number of pesticide applications per cropping season in rice field was 3.7 times, and the number of mixed pesticides per application was 4.3 kinds of pesticides. Also 6 recommendations were made in this study for improvement of IPM farmer's training.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-108
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• 2014

Recent examples of abuse by black consumers (including air travellers) against emotional laborers have become a serious social issue in Korea in that they are likely to violate human rights of those laborers. Emotional labor is a form of emotion regulation that creates a publicly visible facial and bodily display, and also emotional management within the workforce that creates a situation in which the emotion management by workers can be exchanged in the marketplace. Example professions that require emotional labor are: nurses, doctors, waiting staff, and television actors. However, as the economy moves from a manufacturing to a service-based economy, many more workers in a variety of occupational fields are expected to manage their emotions according to employer demands when compared to the past. One of symptoms deriving from emotional labor is smile mask syndrome abbreviated SMS, which is a psychological disorder proposed by professor Makoto Natsume where subjects develop depression and physical illness as a result of prolonged, unnatural smiling. And higher degree of using emotion regulation on the job is related to higher levels of employees' emotional exhaustion, and lower levels of employees' job satisfaction. In most part, emotional laborers are more abused and hurt by so called black consumers who are raising complaints relating to products and services purchased against service providers for the purpose of maliciously getting compensation. Against this background, the Korean Government abolished "the Consumer Protection Act" and instead promulgated "the Basic Consumer Act" in September 2006 which stipulates that consumers are expected to have protection as well as responsibility and duty. The Aviation Security Act cites the examples of prohibited behaviors (unruly passengers) while they are travelling. In addition, human rights of emotional laborers could be more protected by the enhancement of etiquettes and cavalry and improvement of culture and working environment.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.31-37
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• 2017

Recently, governmental authority and local government are looking for a method of utilizing location information of smart phone for urgent rescue in fire and kidnap situation. Under this background, in this study, a method of rapidly collecting, constructing location determination based Wi-Fi AP data utilizing location information of smart phone and mobile mapping system was suggested in order to construct precise positioning information that could be utilized under urgent situation. By performing compensation work for GPS/INS/DMI through collected outcome, position of collected vehicle was acquired. In addition, source data integrating Wi-Fi information and collected position by coupling based on Wi-Fi AP collector and GPS time was constructed and Wi-Fi radiomap was constructed by removing Wi-Fi signal noise that reduces precise position performance. As a result of performing location determination performance assess ment by selecting 10 test positions by each local government, result value of 25.46cm for total local government average and 27.76m for SD could be obtained. It is considered that this result could be utilized as a technology of being able to supplement or substituting GPS location determination technology that is impossible in plocation determination of mobile communication company's base station (200m~2km) and indoor being used at present.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.7 no.7
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• pp.896-904
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• 2004

In this paper, We present an efficient variable rate speech coder for spectral efficiency and packet processing technique for packet loss compensation of a voice codec with 10msec frame in VoIP service. Through disconnecting the users from the spectral resource during silence interval of about 60% period, a variable rate voice coder based on a voice activity detection(VAD) can increase spectral gain by two times. The performance of the method was analyzed by variation of detected voice activity factor and degraded speech frame ratio under various background noise level, and compared those of G.729B of ITU-T 8kbps standard speech codec. A method to compensate lost packets utilized addition of recovery data to a main stream and error concealment scheme for speech quality enhancement, the performance is verified by reconstructed speech quality. The proposed scheme can achieve spectral gain by two times or enhance speech quality by 3dB through reserved bandwidth of VAD. Therefore, the proposed method can enhance a spectral efficiency or speech quality of VoIP.