• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.205-221
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• 2009

Countries around the world are actively investing in development and industrial application of RFID, a new wireless communications technology widely perceived as a next-generation growth engine with the potential for creation of new business value. In this paper, we empirically study factors influencing the acceptance of RFID by stage of introduction, to contribute making policies aimed at stimulating demand for this technology and accelerating its penetration. The process of acceptance of RFID was divided, in this paper, into three stages: perception, adoption and implementation, and influence factors, both Internal and external to an organization, drawn from existing literature, are analyzed. A conceptual model comprising internal influence factors, including technical, organization and economic factors, and external factors related to environment and this model was tested through structural equation analysis. To obtain data for empirical analysis, we surveyed public institutions and general companies that are potential users of RFID. The data thus collected were analyzed to determine factors influencing the acceptance of RFID by stage, and practical implications for the RFID promotion policy at the level of demand creation and industrial application were derived from the results of this analysis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.21 no.48
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• pp.37-52
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• 1998

In many distribution systems important cost reductions and/or service improvements may be achieved by adopting an efficient inventory policy and proper selection of facilities. These efficiency improvements and service enhancements clearly require an integrated approach towards various logistical planning functions. The areas of inventory control and transportation planning need to be closely coordinated. The purpose of this paper is to construct an integrated model that can minimize the total cost of the transportation and inventory systems between multiple origin and destination points, where in origin point i has the supply of commodities and in destination point j requires the commodities. In this case, demands of the destination points are assumed random variables which have a known probability distribution. Using the lot-size reorder-point policy and the safety stock level that minimize total cost we find optimal distribution centers which transport the commodities to the destination points and suggest an optimal inventory policy to the selected distribution center. We also show if a demand greater than one unit will occur at a particular time, we describe the approximate optional replenishment policy from computational results of this lot-size reorder-point policy. This model is formulated as a 0-1 nonlinear integer programming problem. To solve the problem, this paper proposes heuristic computational procedures and a computer program with UNIX C language. In the usefulness review, we show the meaning and validity of the proposed model and exhibit the results of a comparison between our approach and the traditional approach, respectively.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.1-20
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• 2001

Korean government had introduced copayment system as cost sharing to office-based medical care in order to reduce the demand for care in 1986. This review focuses on trends and characteristics of copayment on office-based medical care from 1991 to the end of Jan. 2001. Objectives of this study is ${\circled}1$ to analyse historical trends of copayment on office-based medical care during the last decade, ${\circled}2$ to analyse the effect of copayment introduced to office-based medical care on NHI finance, ${\circled}3$ to analyse the changing trends of the size of copayment in utilizing office-based medical care for the past 10 years, ${\circled}4$ to evaluate the meaning of copayment alteration implemented after the introduction of new prescription system and finally ${\circled}5$ to draw a some policy implications from the results of this review. We found that the main purpose of copayment introduction had been reduction in the expenditure of NHI finance. But, the reduction effect of insurer's expenditure has turned out to be negative and NHI finance has been in crisis after the introduction of new prescription system. Also, the copayment level of the insured has increased actually on a large scale. It seems that the introduction of new prescription system has changed the meanings and its policy implications of copayment system.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

Widespread public vaccination is one of the effective mechanisms to ensure the health and prevent deaths in societies. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is a stark instance in this regard. Vaccine development is a complex process requiring firm-level capabilities, various infrastructures, long-term planning, and stable and efficient policies. Due to the global demand for vaccines during the pandemic, the national capability to produce vaccines is critical. To this end, the current paper investigates influential factors, at the firm- and policylevel, in the COVID-19 vaccine development process in Iran. By adopting a qualitative research method and conducting 17 semi-structured interviews and analyzing policy documents, news, and reports, we extracted internal and external factors affecting the success and failure of a vaccine development project. We also discuss the characteristics of the vaccine ecosystem and the gradual maturity of policies. This paper draws lessons for vaccine development in developing countries at both firm and policy levels.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.39 no.7 s.168
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• pp.563-574
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• 2006

Economic theory tell us, consumers always make a choice to maximize their utility. In the market system, consumers' choices are revealed and policy maker taking into account the aggregated consumers choice such as price, supply and demand. However, water resources as a public goods, therefore typically there is no market and does no aggregated information for residential water use. This study explore the consumers' willingness to pay for higher quality for residential water. Over 1,000 households responded for this survey and willingness to pay has been estimated. Furthermore, consumers' behaviors of residential water are examined. Consumers are willing to reduce the amount of water use with more than 50% of increasing water price, but stay almost constant with less than 25% of increasing which mean that current price level is not high enough to derive water saving. If consumers can have better quality of water, they willing to pay additional 16%, $153\;won/m^3/month$, more than their current price. Based on the derived information, we suggested policy direction for residential water policy.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2009

Background: The appropriate management of diabetes mellitus(DM) can help reduce its relapse and economic burden, but the level of management of DM in Korea is reported to be insufficient. This study aims to identify the management level of DM by figuring out the HbA1c examination performance rate of the diabetics and analyzing the variation according to the characteristic of a diabetic. Methods: This study used the Korean National Health Insurance Database which includes E10-14(ICD-10 code) as a primary or secondary disease as of 2006. Study population is 1,892,062 diabetics excluding 393,784 patients with the first attack of DM in 2006, 33,440 diabetics who died in 2006, and 21,299 patients with DM having no record of ambulatory care among the 2,340,585 DM patients in total. Results: The HbA1c examination performance rate of all DM patients in our country is estimated to be 41.5% as of 2006 and shows variation according to the characteristic of individual DM patients. The highest performance odds was shown by the patients who were below 19 of age, insured for health insurance, attended more than 3 ambulatory care providers, made ambulatory care visits more than 10 times annually, attended a specialized general hospital as their main attending medical institution, had a record of hospitalization or had co-morbidity. Conclusion: This study propose that is necessary to make politic preparations for the appropriate management of diabetes at a national level, and particularly, the patients with advanced age, the ones dependent on Medical Aid, and the ones using hospitals or clinics, whose appropriate management seems vulnerable, demand a careful management.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.411-422
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• 2010

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the factors related to Korean physicians' trust in the government. Methods: We used structured questionnaires that were composed of multidimensional scales for each of the various categories. Results: The recognition levels of trust of the government by Korean physicians were not high, and they ranged from 3.6 to 4.8 for ten scales. The factors related to trust in the government were categorized into seven factors on the basis of a factor analysis. On the regression analysis, a positive relationship was found between "the individual propensity to trust" and trust in the government, while a negative relationship was found between "the recognition level regarding the government as an authoritarian power" and trust in the government. "Confidence about participation in the policy process" as internal efficacy and "belief in governmental ability and motivation toward public demand" as external efficacy also showed a strong positive relationship with trust in the government. Conclusions: From these results, we can draw the conclusion that making efforts to improve the recognition level of trust in the government among physicians is an important policy task. To increase the trust level, participation of physicians in the policy process in various ways and open communication between the physicians' associations and the government should be facilitated.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2020

Background: The out-of-pocket maximum is one of the distinctive healthcare systems which sets a ceiling on co-payment in order to reduce the burden of households from the unpredictable medical expenditure. However, this leads to an increase in the demand for healthcare services especially in long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) in Korea. Methods: This study analyzed the influence factor of medical service overuse of 165,592 inpatients in LTCHs which out-of-pocket maximum is applied, by utilizing data from the National Health Insurance Service (2016). Based on Anderson Model, the medical service overuse, as a dependent variable, was defined as long-stay admission more than 180 days at the LTCHs. Independent variable was comprised of predisposing factors (gender, age), enabling factors (income level, types of out-of-pocket maximum) and need factors (illness level, patient use of tertiary hospital). Results: The most powerful factor of medical service overuse in LTCHs was availability of pre-payment for the out-of-maximum (odds ratio [OR], 191.66; p<0.001). This tendency was found in high income level status (p<0.001). Furthermore, mild inpatients (OR, 1.50; p<0.001) which had no experience with the tertiary hospitals (OR, 2.06; p<0.001) were more relevant to the medical service overuse in LTCHs, compared to the severe inpatients. Conclusion: It is suggested that a separate standard of out-of pocket maximum with regards to LTCHs is required to secure the beneficial functions of long-term hospitals and prevent unnecessary financial leakage to achieve sustainable and financially sound National Health Insurance.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 1985

A stochastic model for an inventory system in which depletion of stock takes place due to random demand as well as random loss of items is studied under the assumption that the intervals between successive unit demands, as well as those between successive unit losses are independently and identically distributed random variables having negative exponential distribution with respective parameters. We have derived the steady state probability distribution of the stock level assuming instantaneous delivery of order under (s, S) inventory policy. Also we have derived total expected cost expression and the necessary conditions to be satisfied for an optimal solution.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.267-279
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• 2009

Child care in Korea has been officially institutionalized due to the legislation of the Child Care Act in 1991. Since then, the predominant social phenomena such as growing female workforce, more intensified female education, and the low birth rates have led the stronger demand for child care at the national level. Accordingly, the supply of child care services and the demand of families using the services have increased dramatically, producing enhancement of the quality of child care via improved and extended laws and regulations. Such movements have arisen academic interests and policy issues to specific sectors with details including child care policies, curriculum and professionals working with young children at child care centers, needs of children and their families attending child care centers, and program evaluations.