• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.294-303
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• 2015

American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Published Task Group 40 report which includes recommendations for comprehensive quality assurance (QA) for medical linear accelerator in 1994 and TG-142 report for recommendation for QA which includes procedures such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in 2010. Recently, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) published NSSC notification no. 2015-005 which is "Technological standards for radiation safety of medical field". This notification regulate to establish guidelines for quality assurance which includes organization and job, devices, methods/frequency/tolerances and action levels for QA, and to implement quality assurance in each medical institution. For this reason, all of these facilities using medical machine for patient treatment should establish items, frequencies and tolerances for proper QA for medical treatment machine that use the techniques such as non-IMRT, IMRT and SRS/SBRT, and perform quality assurance. For domestic, however, there are lack of guidelines and reports of Korean Society of Medical Physicists (KSMP) for reference to establish systematic QA report in medical institutes. This report, therefore, suggested comprehensive quality assurance system such as the scheme of quality assurance system, which is considered for domestic conditions, based the notification of NSSC and AAPM TG-142 reports. We think that the quality assurance system suggested for medical linear accelerator also help establishing QA system for another high-precision radiation treatment machines.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.48
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• pp.147-176
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• 2016

Korean Peninsula is surrounded by ocean on three sides. Because of this geographical quality over 97% of export and import volumes are exchange by sea. Foreign ship and international passenger vessels carries foreign tourist and globalization and internationalization increases this trends. Leisure population grows with national income increase and interest of ocean. And accidents and incidents rates are also increases. Korea Coast Guard's jurisdiction area is 4.5 times bigger than our country. The length of coastline is 14,963km including islands. One patrol vessel is responsible for 24,068km and one coast guard substation is responsible for 94km. Efficient patrol activities can not be provided. This research focus on this problem. Analyze the status and trends of maritime crime and suggest efficient patrol activities. To deal with increasing maritime crime rate this study suggest to use geographical profile method which developed early 1900s in USA. This geographical profile analyse the spatial characteristic and mapping this result. With this result potential crime zone can be predicted. One of the result is hot spot management which gives data about habitual crime zone. In Korea National Police Agency adopt this method in 2008 and apply on patrol and crime prevention activity by analysis of different criteria. Korea National Police Agency analyse the crime rate with crime type, crime zone and potential crime zone, and hourly, regionally criteria. Korea Coast Guard need to adopt this method and apply on maritime to make maritime crime map, which shows type of crime with regional, periodical result. With this geographical profiling we can set a Criminal Point which shows the place where the crime often occurs. The Criminal Points are set with the data of numerous rates such as homicide, robbery, burglary, missing, collision which happened in ocean. Set this crime as the major crime and manage the data more thoroughly. I expect to enhance the reinforcement of marine crime using this Criminal Points. Because this points will give us efficient way to prevent the maritime crime by placing the patrol vessel where they needed most.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.43
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• pp.67-97
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• 2015

In Korea, a single emergency number, such as 911 of the USA and 999 of the UK, does not exist. This issue became highly controversial, when the Sewol Ferry Sinking disaster occurred last year. So, the Korean government has planned to adopt a single emergency number, integrating 112 of the Police, 119 of the Fire and Ambulance, 122 of the Korean Coast Guard, and many other emergency numbers. However, the integration plan recently proposed by the Ministry of Public Safety Security seems to be, what is called, a "partial integration model" which repeals the 122 number, but still maintains 112, 119, and 110 respectively. In this context, the study looks into USA's (diverse) 911 operating system, and subsequently tries to draw general features or characteristics. Further, the research attempts to derive policy implication from the general features. If the proposed partial integration model reflects the policy implications, the model can virtually operate like the 911 system -i.e. a single emergency number system - creating inter-operability between responding agencies such as police, fire, and ambulance, even though it is not a perfect integration model. The features drawn are (1) integration of emergency call-taking, (2) functional separation of call-taking and dispatching, (3) integration of physical facilities for call-taking and dispatching, and (4) professional call-takers and dispatchers. Moreover, the policy implications derived from the characteristics are (1) a user-friendly system - fast but accurate responses, (2) integrated responses to accidents, (3) professional call-taking and dispatching & objective and comprehensive risk assessment, and finally (4) active organizational learning in emergency call centers. Considering the policy implications, the following suggestions need to be applied to the current proposed plan: 1. Emergency services' systems should be tightly linked and connected in a systemic way so that they can communicate and exchange intelligence with one another. 2. Public safety answering points (call centers) of each emergency service should share their education and training modules, manuals, etc. Common training and manuals are also needed for inter-operability. 3. Personal management to enable-long term service in public safety answering points (call centers) should be established as one of the ways to promote professionalism.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2019

This study assessed the risk of disaster by using QRE(Quick Risk Estimation - UNISDR Roll Model City of Basic Evaluation Tool) tools for three natural disasters and sixteen social disasters managed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The criteria for selecting 19 disaster types in Seoul are limited to disasters that occur frequently in the past and cause a lot of damage to people and property if they occur. We also considered disasters that are likely to occur in the future. According to the results of the QRE tools for disaster type in Seoul, the most dangerous type of disaster among the Seoul city disasters was "suicide accident" and "deterioration of air quality". Suicide risk is high and it is not easy to take measures against the economic and psychological problems of suicide. This corresponds to the Risk ratings(Likelihood ranking score & Severity rating) "M6". In contrast, disaster types with low risk during the disaster managed by the city of Seoul were analyzed as flooding, water leakage, and water pollution accidents. In the case of floods, there is a high likelihood of disaster such as localized heavy rains and typhoons. However, the city of Seoul has established a comprehensive plan to reduce floods and water every five years. This aspect is considered to be appropriate for disaster prevention preparedness and relatively low disaster risk was analyzed. This corresponds to the disaster Risk ratings(Likelihood ranking score & Severity rating) "VL1". Finally, the QRE tool provides the city's leaders and disaster managers with a quick reference to the risk of a disaster so that decisions can be made faster. In addition, the risk assessment using the QRE tool has helped many aspects such as systematic evaluation of resilience against the city's safety risks, basic data on future investment plans, and disaster response.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.264-276
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• 2023

Purpose: Food environmental factors related to food insecurity affect household food intake in several socio-ecological aspects. This study explores the relationship between food environment factors and food insecurity in households with married immigrant women. Methods: From November 2018 to February 2020, a survey was conducted enrolling 249 married immigrant women residing in the metropolitan areas of South Korea. In the final analysis, 229 subjects were divided into 2 groups classified as food security (n = 154) and food insecurity (n = 75), as assessed by the score of food security. Three aspects of food environments were measured: built·natural, political·economic, and socio-cultural Results: Food environments were significantly different between food security and food insecurity groups, as follows: the number of foods market and their distance from the home and food status for the last week at home in the built·natural domain; monthly cost of food purchase and experience for food assistance in the political·economic domain; total score of social support, parenting, and cooking skills in the socio-cultural domain. A stepwise multivariate linear regression model showed a negative association between the food insecurity score with social support from family and food inventory status in the last week. After adjusting for confounders, a positive association was obtained between the experience of a food support program. The final regression model explains about 30% of the relationship obtained in the three food environment domains and food insecurity (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Not only economic factors, which are common determinants of household food insecurity, but socio-cultural factors such as social support also affect household food insecurity. Therefore, plans for implementing a food assistance program to improve food insecurity for households with immigrant women should consider financial support as well as other comprehensive aspects, including socio-cultural domain such as social support from family and community.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.141-156
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• 2013

Researchers in welfare services of local government in Korea have rather been on isolated issues as disables, childcare, aging phenomenon, etc. (Kang, 2004; Jung et al., 2009). Lately, local officials, yet, realize that they need more comprehensive welfare services for all residents, not just for above-mentioned focused groups. Still cases dealt with focused group approach have been a main research stream due to various reason(Jung et al., 2009; Lee, 2009; Jang, 2011). Social Security Information System is an information system that comprehensively manages 292 welfare benefits provided by 17 ministries and 40 thousand welfare services provided by 230 local authorities in Korea. The purpose of the system is to improve efficiency of social welfare delivery process. The study of local government expenditure has been on the rise over the last few decades after the restarting the local autonomy, but these studies have limitations on data collection. Measurement of a local government's welfare efforts(spending) has been primarily on expenditures or budget for an individual, set aside for welfare. This practice of using monetary value for an individual as a "proxy value" for welfare effort(spending) is based on the assumption that expenditure is directly linked to welfare efforts(Lee et al., 2007). This expenditure/budget approach commonly uses total welfare amount or percentage figure as dependent variables (Wildavsky, 1985; Lee et al., 2007; Kang, 2000). However, current practice of using actual amount being used or percentage figure as a dependent variable may have some limitation; since budget or expenditure is greatly influenced by the total budget of a local government, relying on such monetary value may create inflate or deflate the true "welfare effort" (Jang, 2012). In addition, government budget usually contain a large amount of administrative cost, i.e., salary, for local officials, which is highly unrelated to the actual welfare expenditure (Jang, 2011). This paper used local government welfare service data from the detailed data sets linked to the Social Security Information System. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that affect social welfare spending of 230 local authorities in 2012. The paper applied multiple regression based model to analyze the pooled financial data from the system. Based on the regression analysis, the following factors affecting self-funded welfare spending were identified. In our research model, we use the welfare budget/total budget(%) of a local government as a true measurement for a local government's welfare effort(spending). Doing so, we exclude central government subsidies or support being used for local welfare service. It is because central government welfare support does not truly reflect the welfare efforts(spending) of a local. The dependent variable of this paper is the volume of the welfare spending and the independent variables of the model are comprised of three categories, in terms of socio-demographic perspectives, the local economy and the financial capacity of local government. This paper categorized local authorities into 3 groups, districts, and cities and suburb areas. The model used a dummy variable as the control variable (local political factor). This paper demonstrated that the volume of the welfare spending for the welfare services is commonly influenced by the ratio of welfare budget to total local budget, the population of infants, self-reliance ratio and the level of unemployment factor. Interestingly, the influential factors are different by the size of local government. Analysis of determinants of local government self-welfare spending, we found a significant effect of local Gov. Finance characteristic in degree of the local government's financial independence, financial independence rate, rate of social welfare budget, and regional economic in opening-to-application ratio, and sociology of population in rate of infants. The result means that local authorities should have differentiated welfare strategies according to their conditions and circumstances. There is a meaning that this paper has successfully proven the significant factors influencing welfare spending of local government in Korea.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2016

Background: It is necessary to consider the overall countermeasure for analysis of nuclear activities according to the increase of the nuclear facilities like nuclear power and reprocessing plants in the neighboring countries including China, Taiwan, North Korea, Japan and South Korea. South Korea and comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty organization (CTBTO) are now operating the monitoring instruments to detect radionuclides released into the air. It is important to estimate the origin of radionuclides measured using the detection technology as well as the monitoring analysis in aspects of investigation and security of the nuclear activities in neighboring countries. Materials and methods: A three-dimensional forward/backward trajectory model has been developed to estimate the origin of radionuclides for a covert nuclear activity. The developed trajectory model was composed of forward and backward modules to track the particle positions using finite difference method. Results and discussion: A three-dimensional trajectory model was validated using the measured data at Chernobyl accident. The calculated results showed a good agreement by using the high concentration measurements and the locations where was near a release point. The three-dimensional trajectory model had some uncertainty according to the release time, release height and time interval of the trajectory at each release points. An atmospheric dispersion model called long-range accident dose assessment system (LADAS), based on the fields of regards (FOR) technique, was applied to reduce the uncertainties of the trajectory model and to improve the detective technology for estimating the radioisotopes emission area. Conclusion: The detective technology developed in this study can evaluate in release area and origin for covert nuclear activities based on measured radioisotopes at monitoring stations, and it might play critical tool to improve the ability of the nuclear safety field.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.153-185
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• 2020

In principle, even if serious consequences such as death or serious injury of a patient occur as a result of a medical accident, if the medical malpractice of a health care worker is not recognized, the health care worker is not held liable for said consequences. However, with the opening of the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency on April 7, 2012, a system was established to compensate health care personnel for their medical malpractices only in the case of "injuries caused by medical accidents in the course of childbirth" (hereinafter referred to as "program for compensation of medical accidents"). Article 46 paragraph 1 of the current Medical Dispute Mediation Act, which is the basis of the Force Majeure Medical Accident Compensation System, stipulates that "medical accidents under delivery" claims are to be determined by the Medical Accident Compensation Review Committee are subject to the compensation project. And the details of the compensation, ratio of sharing financial resources for compensation, scope of compensation, and the guidelines and procedure for the payment of compensations are prescribed by Presidential Decree. In other words, the Presidential Decree requires the state to pay 70 percent of the compensation funds, and 30 percent of the above funds among health care providers. The Constitutional Court has decided on the 2015Hun-Ga13 that the scope of the health care institution's founders and the share of the compensation funds cannot be directly determined by the law, and that the portion delegated by the Presidential decree does not violate the Principle of Legal Protection nor Comprehensive Nondelegation Doctrine. However, this can be seen as an exclusion of accountability for force-induced delivery accidents even if there is no negligence of the medical staff. If the nature of the system is a type of social security system with a social compensatory nature, it could consider eliminating the health care innovator's cost-sharing provisions, leaving the full cost to the state. However, it is also necessary to review institutional protocols that strengthen the efforts of medical institutions in areas such as analysis of the causes of medical accidents and measures to prevent their recurrence. In addition, I think that the conclusion of the Act is in line with the purpose of the Comprehensive Wage Support Regulations that at minimum the law sets an upper limit of the compensation funds that are to be paid by health and medical institutions. Moreover, it is reasonable for the Medical Accident Compensation Review Committee to specify gestational age and weight of births, which are the criteria for compensation, under the Enforcement Decree of the Medical Dispute Mediation Act, in relation to the criteria for payment of contributions by the Medical Accident Compensation Review Committee, and to set the detailed criteria.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2004

Rice is not only main food but also key farm income source of Korean farmers. In spite of the above facts, rice productivity was decreased on account of drought in every 2 or 3 years interval owing to the vulnerability of irrigation facilities throughout Korea in the past decades. As an context of the first five year economic development plan, all weather farming programme including 4 big river basin comprehensive development projects and large and medium sized irrigation water development projects were carried out successfully. Therefore the area of irrigated paddy were increased from 58% in 1970 to 76.2% in 1999. In the past decades, the Government had invested heavy financial funds to develop irrigation water but as an factor share analysis, the contribution rates of irrigation water and investment for farmland base development project have not been identified yet in national agricultural economic level. It is very scarce to find out the papers concerned to macro-economic factor share analysis or contribution rates of water and investment cost to rice production value in Korea considering the production function of the quantity of irrigation water and investment cost as independent variables. Accordingly this paper covered and aimed at identifying (1) derivation of rice production function with the time serial data from 1965 to 1999 and the contribution rates of irrigation water and total investment cost for farmland base development project. The analytical model of the contribution rates was adapted the famous Cobb-Douglass production function. According to the model analysis, the contribution rate of irrigation water to rice production in Korea was shown 37.8% which was equivalent to 0.28 of the production elasticity of water. The contribution rate of farmland base development project cost was revealed 22% and direct production cost of rice was contributed 60% in the growth of rice production and farm mechanization costs contributed to 18% of it respectively. The two contribution rates comparing with the direct production cost were small but without irrigation water and farmland base development, application of high-pay off inputs and farm mechanization might be impossible. Considering the food security and to cope with the frequent drought, rice farming and investment for the irrigation water development should be continued even in WTO system.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.1-39
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• 2003

Using a comprehensive sample of convertible security offerings by Korean firms from 1981 to 1999, we examine the effect of convertible bond issues on firm value. We find that the announcement of convertible bond issues has a positive effect on firm value. However, the announcement of private convertible bond issues by chaebol firms has a significant negative effect on their market values. This result is different from that in Japan, suggesting that the efficiency of the financing decision by Korean chaebol is different from that by Japanese keiretsu. In addition, we find that the announcement effect of private convertible bond issues by chaebol firms has a significant relation with the corporate governance variables such as ownership structure, bank relationship. These results indicate that convertible bond issues can be used as a mechanism for chaebol owner-manager to give rise agency problems at the expense of the wealth of minority shareholders.