• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.123-127
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• 1978

The major objective of this research is to identify those hospital characteristics that best explain cost variation among hospitals and to formulate linear models that can predict hospital costs. Specific emphasis is placed on hospital output, that is, the identification of diagnosis related patient groups (DRGs) which are medically meaningful and demonstrate similar patterns of hospital resource consumption. A casemix index is developed based on the DRGs identified. Considering the common problems encountered in previous hospital cost research, the following study requirements are estab-lished for fulfilling the objectives of this research: 1. Selection of hospitals that exercise similar medical and fiscal practices. 2. Identification of an appropriate data collection mechanism in which demographic and medical characteristics of individual patients as well as accurate and comparable cost information can be derived. 3. Development of a patient classification system in which all the patients treated in hospitals are able to be split into mutually exclusive categories with consistent and stable patterns of resource consumption. 4. Development of a cost finding mechanism through which patient groups' costs can be made comparable across hospitals. A data set of Medicare patients prepared by the Social Security Administration was selected for the study analysis. The data set contained 27,229 record abstracts of Medicare patients discharged from all but one short-term general hospital in Connecticut during the period from January 1, 1971, to December 31, 1972. Each record abstract contained demographic and diagnostic information, as well as charges for specific medical services received. The 'AUT-OGRP System' was used to generate 198 DRGs in which the entire range of Medicare patients were split into mutually exclusive categories, each of which shows a consistent and stable pattern of resource consumption. The 'Departmental Method' was used to generate cost information for the groups of Medicare patients that would be comparable across hospitals. To fulfill the study objectives, an extensive analysis was conducted in the following areas: 1. Analysis of DRGs: in which the level of resource use of each DRG was determined, the length of stay or death rate of each DRG in relation to resource use was characterized, and underlying patterns of the relationships among DRG costs were explained. 2. Exploration of resource use profiles of hospitals; in which the magnitude of differences in the resource uses or death rates incurred in the treatment of Medicare patients among the study hospitals was explored. 3. Casemix analysis; in which four types of casemix-related indices were generated, and the significance of these indices in the explanation of hospital costs was examined. 4. Formulation of linear models to predict hospital costs of Medicare patients; in which nine independent variables (i. e., casemix index, hospital size, complexity of service, teaching activity, location, casemix-adjusted death. rate index, occupancy rate, and casemix-adjusted length of stay index) were used for determining factors in hospital costs. Results from the study analysis indicated that: 1. The system of 198 DRGs for Medicare patient classification was demonstrated not only as a strong tool for determining the pattern of hospital resource utilization of Medicare patients, but also for categorizing patients by their severity of illness. 2. The wei틴fed mean total case cost (TOTC) of the study hospitals for Medicare patients during the study years was $11,27.02 with a standard deviation of $117.20. The hospital with the highest average TOTC ($1538.15) was 2.08 times more expensive than the hospital with the lowest average TOTC ($743.45). The weighted mean per diem total cost (DTOC) of the study hospitals for Medicare patients during the sutdy years was $107.98 with a standard deviation of $15.18. The hospital with the highest average DTOC ($147.23) was 1.87 times more expensive than the hospital with the lowest average DTOC ($78.49). 3. The linear models for each of the six types of hospital costs were formulated using the casemix index and the eight other hospital variables as the determinants. These models explained variance to the extent of 68.7 percent of total case cost (TOTC), 63.5 percent of room and board cost (RMC), 66.2 percent of total ancillary service cost (TANC), 66.3 percent of per diem total cost (DTOC), 56.9 percent of per diem room and board cost (DRMC), and 65.5 percent of per diem ancillary service cost (DTANC). The casemix index alone explained approximately one half of interhospital cost variation: 59.1 percent for TOTC and 44.3 percent for DTOC. Thsee results demonstrate that the casemix index is the most importand determinant of interhospital cost variation Future research and policy implications in regard to the results of this study is envisioned in the following three areas: 1. Utilization of casemix related indices in the Medicare data systems. 2. Refinement of data for hospital cost evaluation. 3. Development of a system for reimbursement and cost control in hospitals.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.685-695
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• 2012

We studied the detailed bathymetry and the geophysical characteristics of the summit of the Dokdo volcano using mutibeam echosounding and geophysical survey data. The bathymetry around the main east and west islets of the Dokdo volcano shows very shallow within about 10 m water depth. From near islets to about 30 m b.s.l., the shallow water area has very steep slope and many irregular sunken rocks. The area from about 30 m to about 80 m b.s.l. shows gentle rises and falls, and less steep slope. The area from 80 m b.s.l. has gradually flat undulation and smooth slope seabaed and is extended to offshore. The main islets of the Dokdo volcano and the rocky sea bottom elongated from the islets might be the residual part of the eroded and collapsed main crater of the Dokdo volcano. The bathymetry and the seafloor image(from backscattering) data show small craters, assumed to be formed by the eruption of later volcanism. The seafloor images propose that, except some areas with shallow sand sedimentary deposits, there are typical rocky bottom such as rocky protrusions and lack of sediments in the main morphology of the survey area. The stepped slopes of the seabed are deduced to be submarine terraces. The several prominent submarine terraces are found at the summit of the Dokdo volcano, suggesting repetition of sea level changes(transgressions and regressions) in the Quaternary. The results of the magnetic anomaly and the analytic signal have a good coherence with other geophysical consequences regarding to the location of the residual crater.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.3-39
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• 2011

People may operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) thousands of miles from the drone's location. Drones were first used (like balloons) for surveillance. By 2001, the United States began arming drones with missiles and using them to strike targets during combat in Afghanistan. By mid-2010, over forty states and other entities possessed drones, many with the capability of launching missiles and dropping bombs. Each new development in military weapons technology invites assessment of the relevant international law. This Insight surveys the international law applicable to the recent innovation of weaponizing drones. In determining what international law rules govern drone use, the most salient feature is not the fact that drones are unmanned. The fact drones carry no human operator may be the most important new technological breakthrough, but the key feature for international law purposes is the type of weaponry drones carry. Whether law enforcement rules govern drone use depends on the situation and not necessarily who is operating the drone. Battlefield weapons may also be lawfully used before an armed conflict in the following situations: when initiating self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter; when authorized by the UN Security Council; when a government seeks to suppress internal armed conflict; and, perhaps, when a state is invited to assist a government in suppressing internal armed conflict. The rules governing resort to force in self-defense are found in Article 51 of the UN Charter and a number of decisions by international courts and tribunals. Commentators continue to debate whether drone technology represents the next revolution in military affairs. Regardless of the answer to that question, drones have not created a revolution in legal affairs. The current rules governing battlefield launch vehicles are adequate for regulating resort to drones. More research must be undertaken, however, to understand the psychological effects of deploying unmanned vehicles and the effects on drone operators of sustained, close visual contact with the aftermath of drone attacks.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.581-596
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• 1995

Clinical practice in nursing education provides an opportunity for students, through the process of ap-plying theoretical knowledge to practice, and to learn nursing skills as well as being socialized into nursing and as such decrease the reality shock of actual nursing practice. Because of a shortage of nursing faculty, the job of achieving the objectives of the clinical practice had been turned over to the head nurses. This resulted in many problems, such as, unclear location of responsibilities and inadequate feedback from head nurses. Therefore this study was done to introduce and evaluate the use of preceptors as a way to minimize the above problems, and to maximize the achievement of the clinical practice objectives. Using an adaptation of Zerbe's (1991) three-tiered team model, clinical practice was done using a preceptor, a head nurse and a clinical instructor, each with different and well defined roles. The subjects of this study were 67 senior students of the College of Nursing of Y University in Seoul whose clinical practice in adult nursing was carried out between May 1, 1994 and December 8, 1994. There were 22 preceptors who had at least two years of clinical experience and who were recommended by their head nurses. They were given additional education on the philosophy and objectives of the College of Nursing, on communication skills, on the theory and practice of education, and on nursing diagnosis and education evaluation. The role of the preceptor was to work one-to-one with students in their practice. The role of the head nurse was to supervise and evaluate the preceptors. The role of the clinical instructor was to provide the education program for the preceptors, to provide ad-vice and suggestions to the preceptors and to maintain lines of communication with the college. With each of these roles in place, it was thought that the effectiveness and efficiency of the clinical practice could be increased significantly. To evaluate the effectiveness of the preceptorship, the three - tiered model, Lowery's Teacher Evaluation Opinion Form translated and adapted to Korea was used to measure student statisfaction. The Clinical Practice Compentency Evaluation Tool developed by Lee et ai was also used to measure student competencies. The results of this study are as follows 1. The satisfaction with clinical practice was higher with the introduction of the perceptors than it was before they were used. (t=-5.96, p=<.005) 2. The clinical practice competencies were higher with the introduction of the preceptors than it was before they were used(t=-5.l3, p<.005) 3. In order to analyze areas not measured by the quantitative tools additional analysis of the open questions was done. The results of this analysis showed that : 1) The students felt positive about their sense of security, confidence, handling of responsbility, and being systematic. They also felt positive about improvements in knowledge, opportunities for direct care, and socialization. 2) The students felt negative about the technical part of their role, lack of knowledge by the preceptor, unprofessional attitudes on the part of the preceptor, difficulty in the role of the professional nurse(student). 3) The preceptors felt positive about their responsibility, motivation, and relationship with the college. 4) The preceptors felt negative about their bur-den. Introduction of the preceptorship model will lead to change and improvement in the negative factors discussed above, solve problems in the present clinical education system, increase continuity in the education of the students, help with socialization of the students and motivation of the preceptors to up-grade their education and increase their confidence. These objectives must be obtained to further the development of professional nursing, and thus, making the preceptorship a reality is our job for the future.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.67-84
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• 2001

This study was conducted to examine beauty shop workers' views of job. Data were collected from the workers in Seoul, Daegu, Pohang, Junjoo, and Kimhae from June 1, 2000 to August 31, 2000. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1. According to general characteristics of the subjects, 28,7% of them was female; 94.2% 'specialized in hair'; 46.4% 'below twenty nine years old'; 47.1% 'married'; 59.7% 'highschool graduate'; 33.9% 'worked for below three years'; 28.5% 'monthly income of five hundred thousand to nine hundred ninety thousand won'; 62.3% 'working for above twelve hours a day' ; 41.0% 'above five workers' ; 40.6% 'working in city'. 2. 54.8% of the respondents thought that they were in good health. 76.3% of them smoked and 54.8% drank. 62.8% of them did not exercise and 78.7% was under stress. 61.5% responded that they chose the job because of its possibility of professional vocation. 91.0% of them obtained the beauty skill from beauty schools. 3. Among the factors which influenced job satisfaction, 'stable job and life security' was highest(43.9%), while 'interest in the job and amount of pay' was lowest(3.2%). 'Personal ability and use of originality' was 19.4% and 'harmonious relationship with fellow workers' was 18.1%. 'Job environment' was 7.1% and 'harmonious relationship with higher workers' was 4.5%. 4. The level workers' view of job was $113.8{\pm}17.3$ points on the basis of 150 points. On the basis of 75 points, each item showed it points in order of self-development($22.3{\pm}3.8$), service for customers($20.1{\pm}3.1$), vocational mission($15.6{\pm}3.1$), harmony with the others($18.9{\pm}3.5$), working environment($18.6{\pm}3.6$), and working condition($14.3{\pm}5.1$). 5. Among the reasons why they considered leaving the job, 24.0% of them considered it because they could not free time, while 15.4% considered it because undesirable living environment or long distance from home. 15.0% thought it because they could not receive proper treatment as much as they worked and 12.8% thought they overworked. 6. When they move into new working places, they consider such factors as good working environment(24.1%), good place to open their own beauty shops(16.7%), good beauty shop to learn beauty skill(15.6%), chance to have job training(9.5%), and close place from home(9.0%). 7. 40.6% of the respondents wanted to leave the job, while 32.3% of them did not want to leave the job. The intention of leaving the displayed significant difference in the variables of age, working period, monthly income, marital status, the number of workers, location of the shop, rank, and reason of selecting the job. 8. According to the results of a regression analysis of factors which influenced job satisfaction, it was affected significantly by intention of leaving job, the number of workers, health condition, level of stress, and monthly income. The beauty shop workers showed low satisfaction level with working environment, working condition, and working mission, They considered leaving the job because of lack of free time, overwork, poor working environment, improper treatment, etc. Therefore, related professionals and organizations must device adequate measures in order to make them work with pride as creators of beauty.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_1
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• pp.1773-1784
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• 2021

In order to minimize damage to oil spill accidents in the ocean, it is essential to collect a spilled area as soon as possible. Thus satellite-based remote sensing is a powerful source to detect oil spills in the ocean. With the recent rapid increase in the number of available satellites, it has become possible to generate a status report of marine oil spills soon after the accident. In this study, the oil spill area was calculated using various satellite images for the Symphony oil spill accident that occurred off the coast of Qingdao Port, China, on April 27, 2021. In particular, improving the accuracy of oil spill area determination was applied using high-resolution commercial satellite images with a spatial resolution of 2m. Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, LANDSAT-8, GEO-KOMPSAT-2B (GOCI-II) and Skysat satellite images were collected from April 27 to May 13, but five images were available considering the weather conditions. The spilled oil had spread northeastward, bound for coastal region of China. This trend was confirmed in the Skysat image and also similar to the movement prediction of oil particles from the accident location. From this result, the look-alike patch observed in the north area from the Sentinel-1A (2021.05.01) image was discriminated as a false alarm. Through the survey period, the spilled oil area tends to increase linearly after the accident. This study showed that high-resolution optical satellites can be used to calculate more accurately the distribution area of spilled oil and contribute to establishing efficient response strategies for oil spill accidents.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.17-26
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• 2010

Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.