• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.85-94
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• 2021

Infrastructure capacities are essential elements and one of the sustainable lines to drive economic growth. Infrastructure development, both physical and social, is vital to sector-wise economic development. However, there is limited evidence of how infrastructure development in certain sectors benefits the economy as a whole. This study explains the relationships between infrastructure and economic growth in selected middle-income Asian countries, highlighting the essential criteria to benefit from both physical and social infrastructure, as well as sectoral (agriculture, industry, and services) economic output. The research uses the data from 1990 to 2020 for empirical estimations. The study used Levin, Lin, & Chu test, ADF- Fischer chi- Square, and PP- Fischer Chi-Square to test unit root and to observe the stationary nature of the panel. Padroni and Kao cointegration is applied to check the cointegration among different panes. A Fully Modified OLS was employed for checking the association between physical and social infrastructure and economic growth. Results show that physical and social infrastructure negatively impact sectoral output in Asia's middle-income countries. Apart from infrastructure the per capita GDP growth, tax to GDP ratio, and population growth shows a simultaneous relation between infrastructure and sectoral economic growth.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.111-127
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• 2011

The study aims to analyse whether Korea and Taiwan have reduced the elderly poverty effectively through income transfer system in a comparative perspective. It covers 12 Western welfare states and 2 East Asian welfare states(korea and Taiwan). Utilising Luxembourg Income Study(LIS) datasets, empirical analyses focus on old-age income mix and poverty reduction effects of income transfer. Major findings are as follows. Frist, whilst public transfer income takes a major part in old-age income mix in Western welfare states, Korea and Taiwan reveal genuine mixed states - i.e., the relative proportion of private transfers and market income are high. Secondly, public transfers have effectively reduced the old-age poverty in Western welfare state. However, thirdly, those effects are still limited in Korea and Taiwan. Rather, the poverty reduction effects of private transfers are relatively high. Based on the empirical findings, the study suggests future research agendas and policy implications.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2002

The U.S. government have concerned about food safety over the last two decades. The concept of the continuum, “from farm to table” was created to explore ways to prevent foodborne illnesses in all stages of food systems. On the continuum, consumers were recognized as the last line of defense to prevent foodborne illnesses, and much efforts were made to educate them safe food handling. This research was conducted to investigate infant formula handling and hand-washing behaviors of low-income families, especially parents and guardians of infants. The subject was selected from participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children(WIC), a federal program for low-income families in the U.S. Stratified 200 local WIC offices were randomly selected based on the number of WIC participants in each state, and 20 randomly selected WIC participants from each selected office were asked to complete questionnaires. SPSS for Windows was used for statistical analyses including frequency, cross- tabulation, and chi-square analyses. A total of 87 WIC offices returned completed question-naires (N = 1,598), and 492 were parents/guardians of infants. Most respondents were white (51.3%), high school graduates (41.5%) , and participated in WIC>1 yew. Most respondents (80.9%) teamed about food safety from WIC, and only limited number of respondents (10.2%) used the Internet for food safety information. Most respondents stored prepared formula safely (94.6%) and discarded formula left in the bottle after feeding (84.5%) , but fewer used brushes to wash formula bottles (71.3%) and boiled water(15.2%) Chi-square analyses showed respondents in different race/ethnicity had different food handling behaviors. Respondents showed generally good hand-washing behaviors as 94.2% always washing hands after using restroom, 93.2% after touching meat items, and 87.l% before preparing foods. Fewer respondents, however, washed hands after changing baby diapers (77.0%) and touching pets (67.2%). Researchers concluded that WIC education on food safety was effective, as limited food safety education covered during WIC education were followed well (e.g., storing prepared formula and discarding leftover). However, results also indicated that there were many behaviors needed to be reinforced especially to overcome family tradition and culture on food handling behaviors. The WIC may serve as good food safety resources and education agents utilizing mandatory education sessions because the vast amount of food safety information on the Internet was not readily accessible for this low-Income Population.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.435-445
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• 2017

This study was conducted to overcome the limitations of prior research on the equity of medical care performed by identifying simple differences in the use of medical care or using limited medical needs and medical utilization indicators. Specifically, we used activity limits, chronic diseases, and subjective health status as medical needs, and used outpatient, inpatient, and emergency services as medical uses. In addition, we used concentration index, concentration curve, and Le Grand factor to analyze the equity of medical use considering medical needs. The main results are as follows. First, the amount of medical care for the low-income class is higher than that of the high-income class when considering the concentration of medical use. In particular, the number of hospitalization days for low-income households and hospitalization fees were higher than the fees of outpatient medical consultation and emergency room usage. Second, medical needs were concentrated in the low income class. In other words, low-income group is not as healthy as the high-income group. Third, the Le Grand factor was calculated in order to confirm the fairness of the medical uses considering the medical needs. Even if medical needs are taken into consideration, the high-income earners will have a large amount of medical care. In addition, when considering the limitation of activity and the number of chronic diseases, the medical use of the high income class was more frequent. However, when the subjective health condition and the chronic illness were considered, medical use of the low income class was more frequent. This may be due to the underestimation of the medical needs of the low-income earners by neglecting their own health status and perception of chronic diseases.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.373-383
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• 2013

Purpose: In this study, we analyzed refractive power of school children in low income family. Methods: We have done a comparative analysis with 112 subjects of low-income of 17 elementary schools in the Yeongcheon area and low-income children less than -6 D of refractive errors from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Report 2010. Results: Spherical equivalent (SE) with low-income group of nation was -1.99 D for right eye and -1.81 D for left eye, while high income group of nation showed -1.26 D and -1.21 D for right eye and left eye respectively. The SE with low income group in Yeongcheon area was -1.85 D for right eye and -1.81 D for left eye. The SE with orphan was -2.75 D and -2.42 D. Single parent family was -2.10 D and -1.96 D, and two parent family was -1.75 D and -1.73. Conclusions: The lack of attention to children eye care may be one of cause for myopia, so the role of the parents and teacher is very important. However, limited role of parents to children due to low income, it is necessary to provide an institutional strategy and social interest to prevent children vision' in low income family.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.393-400
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• 2017

Objectives: To relieve the financial burden faced by households, the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) system introduced a "copayment ceiling," which evolved into a differential ceiling in 2009, with the copayment ceiling depending on patients' income. This study aimed to examine the effect of the differential copayment ceiling on financial protection and healthcare utilization, particularly focusing on whether its effects varied across different income groups. Methods: This study obtained data from the Korea Health Panel. The number of households included in the analysis was 6555 in 2008, 5859 in 2009, 5539 in 2010, and 5372 in 2011. To assess the effects of the differential copayment ceiling on utilization, out-of-pocket (OOP) payments, and catastrophic payments, various random-effects models were applied. Utilization was measured as treatment days, while catastrophic payments were defined as OOP payments exceeding 10% of household income. Among the right-hand side variables were the interaction terms of the new policy with income levels, as well as a set of household characteristics. Results: The differential copayment ceiling contributed to increased utilization regardless of income levels both in all patients and in cancer patients. However, the new policy did not seem to reduce significantly the incidence of catastrophic payments among cancer patients, and even increased the incidence among all patients. Conclusions: The limited effect of the differential ceiling can be attributed to a high proportion of direct payments for services not covered by the NHI, as well as the relatively small number of households benefiting from the differential ceilings; these considerations warrant a better policy design.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.461-471
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• 2018

The role of urban agriculture should not be limited as a small-scale crop cultivation activity as it was, but it has to be considered as an entire process of a agriculture activity for the restoration of the city community. This study is based on the assumption that there has been a significant change in urban lifestyle and urban farming preference, considering the overall improvement in standard of living after implementation of five day work week system. It was conducted for urban citizens who were interested in actual urban agriculture for ages 19 and over who visited the Korea Urban Agriculture Exhibition in 2018. Only 115 valid samples were used for the empirical analysis. To analyze the demographic characteristics and effects of urban agriculture, frequency analysis and descriptive statistics were conducted. In order to analyze the reliability and validity of the measurement variables of the effect, the variables that deteriorate the validity were removed and 15 variables of the urban agricultural effect were selected. According to the result of factor analysis, three factors were extracted as follows: socially sustainable effect, negative effect and economically sustainable effect. In order to examine the effects of urban agriculture depending on income level, the one-way ANOVA, which is a statistical technique for verifying differences in the sample means, was performed. The psychological stability of people, the recovery of humanity through communion with nature, and the vitalization of agriculture linked with local agriculture had significant correlations with income level. The negative effect showed no significant correlation with income level. The improvement of the local environment was found to have an impact in relation with income level. We expect that there will be more studies on policies for the new types and models of urban agriculture in order to make it easier for urban citizens to approach it.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.151-184
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the development process and current status of income maintenance policies after the financial crisis, to sort out key issues or problems, and to explore future plans or directions that can overcome the limitation. In order to develop intensive argument, the scope of research is limited to the National Pension, Basic Pension, and the National Basic Livelihood Security System. The research also focused on two values of the 'universalism' and the 'adequacy' based on the 'SPF(social protection floor)' in the overall narrative process. Additionally, this paper briefly summarized the related contents released by the Moon Jae-in Government and presented an affirmative strategy and a transformational strategy centered on social allowance and basic income respectively, to establish an integrated income guarantee scheme. Although some improvements to the present system are also required, it is an effort to expand the practical effect of social benefits through the full and comprehensive reform of benefit structure and method.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.27-36
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• 2016

Purpose - Considering the importance of housing needs to real estate market, domestic studies on real estate prices from the perspective of demand are basically based on macro-data, but relatively few are associated with micro-data of urban real estate demand. We try to find a reliable relation of elasticity of demand and commercial housing market. Research design, data, and methodology - In this paper, we have derived housing demand theoretic method and have utilized micro-data of residential family housing survey of downtown area in Kunming City in October, 2015 to estimate income elasticity and price elasticity of housing demand respectively and make a comparative analysis. Results - The results indicate that income elasticity and price elasticity of families with owner-occupied housing are both larger than those of families with rental housing. Income elasticity of housing demand of urban residential families in Kunming is far below the foreign average and eastern coastal cities level, however, the corresponding price elasticity is far higher. Conclusions - We suggest that housing affordability of urban families in western China are constrained by the level of economic development, and the current housing price level has exceeded the economic affordability and psychological expectation of ordinary residents. Furthermore, noticing the great rigidity of housing demand, the expansion space of housing market for improvement and for commodity is limited.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.18-29
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• 2014

Purpose: This study sought to ascertain and describe u-Health nurses (ubiquitous healthcare nurse, tele-nurse)' experiences working with low-income elders in Korea. Methods: Data were collected through semi-structured interview, focus group interviews of 6 nurses and participant observations in community places in public rental housing in the city of Seoul. The ethnographical analysis method, proposed by Spradley, was used to analyze interview data. Results: We identified two major clusters of themes on common issues and concerns experienced by nurses: "work environment" and "daily work life." In addition, ten themes and fourteen sub-themes were extracted from the field work data. Conclusion: The study provided a deeper understanding of the experiences and services of u-Health nurses in Korea, of which much remains to be understood, as the healthcare services they currently provide are limited. Moreover, its findings could empower novice nurses and expand nurse's professional knowledge and competence.