• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.17
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• pp.107-133
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to analyze a trend of profitability classified by characteristics of hospitals and to analyze related factors. The data for this study were derived from survey material conducted by the Korean Hospital Association on 33 hospitals in Korea between 1993 and 2002. Profitability was measured in the aspect of investment profit rate and operation profit rate with net profit to total assets, normal profit to total assets and operating margin to gross revenue as dependent variables. Independent variables were classified by general factors (ownership, number of beds, period of establishment, region), financial factors (total asset turnover, liabilities to total assets, current ratio, fixed ratio, inventories turnover, personnel costs per operation profit, material costs per operation profits), composition of manpower and facilities(personnel and area per beds), productivity index(the number of daily patients per medical doctor, the number of daily patients per nurse), the score of quality assurance activities. First, Concerning the specialists per beds or area per beds and profitability of hospitals there was not statistically significant. Second, Those hospitals having the most daily patients per nurse had significantly higher profitability than the others, but the number of daily patients per medical doctor had little effect on the profitability. Thirds, Those hospitals having a higher proportion total asset turnover tended to show significantly higher profitability compared to other hospitals, but the liabilities to total assets and liquidity ratio had a little difference to the profitability. Those hospitals having a higher proportion personnel costs per operation profit and material costs per operation profits tended to show significantly lower hospital profitability compared to other hospitals. Fourth, In regression analysis, hospital profitability had negative relationship with personnel costs per operation profit or material costs per operation profits. While it had positive relationship with total asset turnover, the number of daily patients per nurse. In conclusion, private hospitals had higher profitability than that of public hospitals. Though factors related to profitability of hospital were different according to ownership, it is important for securing appropriate profitability by operating appropriate number of nurse, raising total asset turnover, and reducing personnel costs, material costs per operation profits. This study can be used as a baseline data for planning of hospital management. But the study may be limited in that the results cannot be generalized due to its small sample size. However, this longitudinal observation of 33 hospitals over ten year period has significant merit alone.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2015

This review article summarizes the recent progress of quantum dot (QD)-sensitized solar cells based on mesoporous $TiO_2$ thin films. From the intrinsic characteristics of nanoscale inorganic QDs with various compositions, it was possible to construct a variety of 3rd-generation thin film solar cells by solution process. Depending on preparation methods, colloidal QD sensitizers are pre-prepared for later deposition onto the surface of $TiO_2$ or in-situ deposition of QDs from chemical bath is done for direct growth of QD sensitizers over substrates. Recently, colloidal QD sensitizers have shown an overall power conversion efficiency of ~7% by a very precise control of composition while a representative CdS/CdSe from chemical bath deposition have done ~5% with polysulfide electrolytes. In the near future, it is necessary to carry out systematic investigations for developing new hole-conducting materials and controlling interfaces within the cell, thus leading to an enhancement of both open-circuit voltage and fill factor while keeping the current high value of photocurrents from QDs towards more efficient and stable QD-sensitized solar cells.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.400-414
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• 1999

Objectives: This is a descriptive study which was carried out to identify characteristics of the chronic mentally ill and their families in a rural area and the influencing factors on family burden. Methods : Data was collected for seven months beginning April 1, 1998 by questionnaire from chronic mentally ill patients and their families in two towns and seven townships of the rural areas of Kyonggi Province. In additional to the mental diagnosis of the mentally ill patients, family burden was measured by interviewing the other family members using the questionnaire developed by Pai & Kapur (1981). Of those interviewed, 103 patients were selected for final analysis. Results : Of 103 mentally ill patients, 36.1% of the subjects were not under treatment. In particular, of 29 patients with schizophrenia, 48.3% of the subjects had stopped taking medication and 6.9% of the subjects had never been treated. According to the results of a specialized examination by a psychologist, 81% of patients were in need of Hospitalization. Most primary caregivers were parents. Of the 101 primary caregivers in the study, 39.6% were over 65 years old. In case of death of the primary caregiver, 50.5% of these 101 mentally ill patients would not have anyone to care for them. Of the various kinds of family burden, primary caregivers most often reported psychological stress. Overall, the families of dementia and schizophrenia patients complained of the most family burden. Through univariative analysis, the variables of sex, education and current treatment type of the patients, the relationship with the patient and marital status of the primary caregiver and the number of people living together in the household showed significant correlation with the family burden of schizophrenia patients. Univariative analysis also showed that there were a number of variables which were correlated to the family burden in mentally retarded patients. Concerning the need for mental health services, the most common requests were for entitlement to disability benefits and housing programs. Conclusions: Community mental health services in rural areas must be developed, planned and executed in consideration of the local situation. In particular, the development of various family support programs is needed in order to mitigate emotional, mental and economic burdens and carry out a positive role to care for and rehabilitate patients.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.87-101
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• 2007

Objectives: This study identified the labor union associates' perception and participation status on SHEW and analyzed these two Constructs correlations with Safety and health education at work(SHEW) in manufacture and construction industries. Methods: Self-administered survey was successfully finished by 103 labor union associates (91 employed in 78 manufacturing companies and 12 employed in 12 constructing companies over 12 areas). Two questionnaires, survey direction slip, the official letter to ask survey participation from Korea Ministry of Labor, and a posted envelop to return were delivered to each workplace labor union office in conveniently selected companies. Most participants' companies were at least medium to large in manufacturing industry and most associates were men and married. A survey questionnaire examined demographic characteristics, SHEW status (participation status included), and perceptions of SHEW. Results: Overall, manufacturing companies had better infrastructures for SHEW, employer support for SHEW, and current educators' competencies than constructing companies. These infrastructures for SHEW were closely correlated with company labor union participation on SHEW and the correlation coefficients were greater than any other expectations or needs variables for SHEW. Conclusions: The primary strategies for better participation and support from labor union need to be developed in supporting for organizational infrastructures related to SHEW and strengthening safety and health education training programs for supervisors or educators at work.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.38-48
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• 1997

This study is an attempt to present a usage of the Web as CAI in the classroom and to give a direction to the future education in the face of information age. Characteristcs of information society, current curriculum, educational and teacher education are first analyzed in this article. The features of internet and 'Web are then summarized to present benefits of usage in the classroom as a CAI tool. The literature shows several characteristics of information society as follows : a technological computer, a provision and sharing of information, multi functional society, a participative democracy', an autonomy, a time value..A problem solving and 4 Cs(e.g., cooperation, copying, communication, creativity) are newly needed in this learning environment. The Internet is a large collection of networks that are tied together so that users can share their vast resources, a wealth of information, and give a key to a successful, efficient. individual study over a time and space. The 'Web increases an academic achievement, a creativity, a problem solving, a cognitive thinking, and a learner's motivation through an easy access to : documents available on the Internet, files containing programs, pictures, movies, and sounds from an FTP site, Usenet newsgroups, WAIS seraches, computers accessible through telnet, hypertext document, Java applets and other multimedia browser enhancements, and much more, In the Web browser will be our primary tool in searching for information on the Internet in this information age.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.1157-1168
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• 2012

In this study, we assess changes in water quality trends over time based on certain control measurements in order to identify and analyze the cause of the trend in water quality. The current water pollution in the Nakdong River was analyzed, as it suggests that the significant changes in water quality have occurred in between 2006 and 2010. Based on monthly average data, we have examined for trends of the Nakdong River watershed in water temperature, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Total Phosphorus (TP). Moreover, we have investigated seasonal variation of water quality of sites within the Nakdong River Basin by implementing further analyses such as, Correlation Coefficient, Regression Analysis, Hierarchical Clustering Method, and Time Series Analysis on SPSS. Geology and topography of the watershed, controlled by various conditions such as, climate, vegetation, topography, soil, and rain medium, have been affected by the non-homogeneity. Our study suggests that such variables could possibly cause eutrophication problems in the river. One possible way to overcome this particular problem is to lay up a ship on the river by increasing the nasal flow measurement of the Nakdong River during rainy season. Moreover, the water management requires arranging the measurement of the flow in order to secure the river while the numerous construction projects need to be continuously observed. However, the water is not flowing tributary of the reason for the timing to be flowing in a natural state of river water and industrial water intake because agriculture. Therefore, ongoing research is needed in addition to configuration of all observations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1612-1612
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• 2001

The production of grain for export and domestic use is one of Australia's most important agricultural industries, and the NIR technique has been used extensively over many years for the routine monitoring of grain quality, particularly moisture and protein content. Because most Australian grain is intended for human food production, the determinants of grain quality for livestock feed, apart from protein, have been largely ignored. However the increasing use of grain for feeding to pigs, poultry, beef cattle and dairy cows has led to an important national research project entitled “Premium Grains for Livestock”. Two of the objectives of this project are to determine the compositional and functional characteristics of grains which influence their nutritional quality for the various classes of livestock, and to adopt rapid and objective analytical tests for these quality criteria. NIR has been used in this project firstly to identify a set of grain samples from a large population of breeders' lines which showed a wide spectral variation, and hence a potentially wide variation in nutritional value. The selected samples were not only subjected to an extensive array of chemical, physical and in vitro analyses, but also were grown out to produce sufficient quantities of grain to feed to animals in vivo studies. Additional grains were also strategically selected from farms in order to include the effect of weather damage, such as rain, drought and frost. In this study to date, NIR calibrations have been derived or attempted, on both ground and whole grains, for in vivo dry matter digestibility (DMD), pepsin-cellulase dry matter disappearance, protein, fat, acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre, starch, in sacco DMD and in vitro assays to simulate starch digestion in the lumen and small intestine. Results so far indicate high calibration accuracy for chemical components (SECV 0.3 to 2.6%) and very promising statistics for in vivo DMD (SECV 1.8, $R^2$ 0.93, SD 7.0, range 61.9 to 92.3, n=60). There appears to be some potential for NIR to estimate some in vitro properties, depending upon the accuracy of reference methods and appropriate sample populations. Current work is in progress to extend the range of grains with in vivo DMD values (a very laborious and expensive process) and to increase the robustness of the various NIR calibrations, with the aim of implementing uniform testing procedures for nutritional value of grains throughout Australia.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.585-593
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• 2007

This paper presents a model for durability evaluation of concrete structures exposed to marine environment, considering mainly a build-up of surface chloride $(C_s)$ as well as diffusion coefficient (D) and chloride threshold level $(C_{lim})$. In this study, time dependency of $C_s$ and D were extensively studied for more accurate evaluation of service life of concrete structures. An analytical solution to the Fick's second law was presented for prediction of chloride ingress for time varying $C_s$. For the time varying $C_s$, a refined model using a logarithm function for time dependent $C_s$ was proposed by the regression analysis, and averaging integrated values of the D with time over exposed duration were calculated and then used for prediction of the chloride ingress to consider time dependency of D. Durability design was also carried out for railway concrete structures exposed to marine environment to ensure 100 years of service life by using the proposed models along with the standard specification on durability in Korea. The proposed model was verified by the so-called performance-based durability design, which is widely used in Europe. Results show that the standard specification underestimates durability performances of concrete structures exposed to marine environment, so the cover depth design using current durability evaluation in the standard specifications is very much conservative. Therefore, it is found that utilizing proposed models considering time dependent characteristics of $C_s$ and D can evaluate service lift of concrete structures in marine environment more accurately.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.373-392
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• 2018

The emission of air pollutants in China has increased rapidly as its economy expanded over the last decades. The Chinese government has recently acknowledged the seriousness of the resulting air pollution and is trying to improve air quality in many ways. Here, we review the air quality control and management policies in China, one of our closest neighbors, because these policies may also influence the air quality in Korea. This study examined the recent policies on $PM_{2.5}$ reduction and analyzed the variation in air quality and air pollutant emissions in China. The ambient air quality and emission standards in China have been strengthened, based on China's Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan of 2013. As a result, the annual mean concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ in 2015 in 74 large Chinese cities declined by 23.6% compared with 2013 values. Coal consumption in China also has been reduced by more than 10% per year since 2013. Furthermore, the laws controlling atmospheric emissions were revised again in 2016, and an air pollution forecasting and warning system was implemented to help manage air pollution problems. At present, the Chinese government is trying to evaluate its policies on $PM_{2.5}$ and find a new paradigm to mitigate ongoing $PM_{2.5}$ pollution. In this context, a joint study between Korea and China has been initiated to investigate the characteristics and sources of ambient $PM_{2.5}$ and to identify factors contributing to the high $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in northeast China. We expect that this academic collaboration will benefit both countries in their search for new policies for $PM_{2.5}$ reduction.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.21-48
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• 2019

In the basic research field, quantitative expansion is carried out with active support from the government, but there is no research and policy data suggesting systematic investment plans or data-based financial requirements yet. Therefore, this study predicted future financial requirements of basic research support programs by using time series prediction model. In order to consider various factors including the characteristics of the basic research field, we selected the ARIMAX model which can reflect the effect of multi valuable factors rather than the ARIMA model which predicts the value of single factor over time. We compared the predictions of ARIMAX and ARIMA models for model suitability and found that the ARIMAX model improves the prediction error rate. Based on the ARIMAX model, we predicted the fiscal spending of basic research support programs for five years from 2017 to 2021. This study has significance in that it considers the financial requirements of the basic research support programs as a pilot research conducted by applying a time series model, which is a statistical approach, and multi-variate rather than single-variate. In addition, considering the policy trends that emphasize the importance of basic research investment such as 'the expansion of basic research budget twice', which is the current government's national policy task, it can be used as reference data in establishing basic research investment strategy.