• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.640-645
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to evaluate the present conventional selection program of a swine nucleus farm and compare it with a new selection strategy employing genomic enhanced breeding value (GEBV) as the selection criteria. The ZPLAN+ software was employed to calculate and compare the genetic gain, total cost, return and profit of each selection strategy. The first strategy reflected the current conventional breeding program, which was a progeny test system (CS). The second strategy was a selection scheme based strictly on genomic information (GS1). The third scenario was the same as GS1, but the selection by GEBV was further supplemented by the performance test (GS2). The last scenario was a mixture of genomic information and progeny tests (GS3). The results showed that the accuracy of the selection index of young boars of GS1 was 26% higher than that of CS. On the other hand, both GS2 and GS3 gave 31% higher accuracy than CS for young boars. The annual monetary genetic gain of GS1, GS2 and GS3 was 10%, 12%, and 11% higher, respectively, than that of CS. As expected, the discounted costs of genomic selection strategies were higher than those of CS. The costs of GS1, GS2 and GS3 were 35%, 73%, and 89% higher than those of CS, respectively, assuming a genotyping cost of $120. As a result, the discounted profit per animal of GS1 and GS2 was 8% and 2% higher, respectively, than that of CS while GS3 was 6% lower. Comparison among genomic breeding scenarios revealed that GS1 was more profitable than GS2 and GS3. The genomic selection schemes, especially GS1 and GS2, were clearly superior to the conventional scheme in terms of monetary genetic gain and profit.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.73-116
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• 2005

When people contact the government they can use a variety of channels. That is, they go in person to an office, use a telephone service, access information via the Internet, send a letter, or use a third party. Since the Australian Government first recognised the potential of online technology to improve service delivery in its 1997 Investing for Growth statement, it has articulated its policies and strategies for e-government in a number of papers. E-government involves government agencies delivering better programs and services online through the use of new information and communication technologies. The policy papers included Government Online-The Commonwealth's Strategy, launched in April 2000, and a new framework for e-government, Better Services. Better Government, launched in November 2002. Most recently, the Government released Australia's Strategic Framework for the Information Economy in July 2004. These papers outlined the broad directions and priorities for the future of e-government in Australia, and sought to maintain the momentum of agencies' actions under Government Online. One of its key objectives was for agencies to achieve greater efficiency in providing services and a return on their investments in ICT (Information and Communication Technology)-based service delivery. They also stated that investing in e-government should deliver tangible returns, whether they take the form of cost reductions, increased efficiency and productivity, or improved services to business and the broader community Implementation of the Government policy has led to considerable agency investment in ICT-based service delivery. However government policy also requires managers to ensure that program and service delivery is efficient and effective. Efficient and effective use of ICT has the potential to improve service delivery and to make financial savings. This paper outlines how people are using the channels to contact the government in Australia. It also examines the level of satisfaction they have with those services and their preferences and expectations. In addition, this paper aims at identifying the methods used by Australian Government to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of their delivery of services, and at assessing the adequacy of these methods.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.2111-2131
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• 2015

Tiered wireless sensor network is a network model of flexibility and robustness, which consists of the traditional resource-limited sensor nodes and the resource-abundant storage nodes. In such architecture, collected data from the sensor nodes are periodically submitted to the nearby storage nodes for archive purpose. When a query is requested, storage nodes also process the query and return qualified data as the result to the base station. The role of the storage nodes leads to an attack prone situation and leaves them more vulnerable in a hostile environment. If any of them is compromised, fake data may be injected into and/or qualified data may be discarded. And the base station would receive incorrect answers incurring malfunction to applications. In this paper, an efficient verifiable top-k query processing scheme called EVTQ is proposed, which is capable of verifying the authentication and completeness of the results. Collected data items with the embedded information of ordering and adjacent relationship through a hashed message authentication coding function, which serves as a validation code, are submitted from the sensor nodes to the storage nodes. Any injected or incomplete data in the returned result from a corresponded storage node is detected by the validation code at the base station. For saving communication cost, two optimized solutions that fuse and compress validation codes are presented. Experiments on communication cost show the proposed method is more efficiency than previous works.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2020

In this study, the current state of management efficiency of ocean carriers in Korea and the factors affecting them were analyzed. The purpose of this research is to enhance global competitiveness of ocean carriers by presenting suggestions that can improve management efficiency based on the analysis results. The measurement of management efficiency was made using the DEA model. The results of testing the adequacy of the input and output variables used are as follows. Appropriate inputs are total assets, cost of goods sold, charter expenses, sales and general management expenses, and interest expenses. Appropriate variables are sales, operating income, and operating cash flow. According to the analysis results of the DEA model by these variables, inefficient carriers (78%) are nearly four times more than efficient carriers(22%). However, container carriers have the most improved management efficiency compared to 2016 and 2017. According to the panel regression analysis, the charter rate has the greatest negative impact on efficiency (CRS), and the debt rate has a significant negative impact. Thus, it appears that reducing the charter size and the debt-to-sale rate facilitate improvement of the management efficiency of ocean carriers. Additionally, the pre-sales tax return rate, value added rate, total asset turnover rate, and the scale variable and interest coverage rate have a positive (+) effect. Thus ocean carriers should restore their global competitiveness by improving management efficiency by securing stable cargoes increasing sales profitability from the cost management perspective, increasing productivity, and enhancing the efficiency of their total assets through efficient fleet management.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.7
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• pp.1032-1038
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• 2017

Recently, regulation on carbon emissions has been strengthened according to the new climate change convention (COP21) held in Paris, and then Korea has decided to reduce CO2 emissions by 37% until 2030. As one of countermeasures, the government has energetically performed demonstration projects of island micro-grid including solar power, wind power and energy storage system. However, in order to smoothly introduce island micro-grid, it is a critical issue to carry out the economic evaluation for power utility aspect and independent power producer aspect. Therefore, this paper proposes economic evaluation algorithms of island micro-grid which are based on the present worth method, considering cost and benefit factors in the aspect of both sides. Firstly, in case of power utility this paper proposes algorithm to estimate a period of return on investment according to the introduction capacity of distributed generators replacing diesel generator. And also, in case of independent power producer, this paper proposes evaluation algorithm to estimate weighting factor of SMP and benefit rate based on break-even point related with cost and benefit. From a case study result on real island micro-grid model, it is confirmed that proposed algorithms are useful and practical for the economic evaluation of island micro-grid.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.109-129
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• 2018

This study is to evaluate economic effect of the creation project of Octopus Ochellatu spawning and habitat ground in Taean County. The main results of this study are summarized as follows: first, the creation project cost of Octopus Ochellatus spawning and habitat ground invested in Taean from 2015 to 2017 was 3,400 million won. Second, The creation project of Octopus Ochellatus spawning and habitat ground directly provides fishing benefits, recreational boat fishing benefits, festival benefits, research and development benefits, and employment benefits. Third, on the basis of above benefits, the creation project of Octopus Ochellatus spawning and habitat ground has a net present value of 14,478 million won, internal rate of return 60.8%, and benefit-cost of 5.03 under a 4.5% social discount rate. Also, the creation project creates 47 jobs. This indicates that the creation project of Octopus Ochellatus spawning and habitat ground contributes not only to the increase in the income of coastal fishery, recreational boat fishing business and fishing villages but also to the job making. In conclusion, with all these results, a project for making spawning grounds and habitats in the specified region gives species more numerically abundant and this gives more profits to fishermen in the coastal area. In addition, this project helps to make attractions to visitors or people who came to those specified regions to participate in events or have recreation, which means it improves profits to that fishing village and improve a settlement condition.

• Obstetrics & gynecology science
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.675-683
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• 2018

Objective This study aimed to evaluate patient-reported satisfaction following robot-assisted hysterectomy due to benign uterine disease, and to identify the factors associated. Methods We used a questionnaire to evaluate patients' satisfaction with robot-assisted hysterectomy. The questions concerned overall patient-reported satisfaction and specific factors affecting satisfaction, including postoperative pain, return to daily life, the hospital experience, wounds, cost, the doctor-patient relationship, whether expectations were met, and whether detailed information was provided. We also collected data from patient records, such as uterine weight, rate of pelvic adhesion, operation time, rate of transfusion, delayed discharge, and readmission. One hundred patients who underwent robot-assisted hysterectomy participated in the study. Seventy-three fully completed questionnaires were returned. Results The majority of patients (95.9%) were satisfied with robot-assisted hysterectomy. The doctor-patient relationship, whether expectations were met, the hospital experience, wounds, and whether detailed information was provided were statistically significant factors influencing patients' overall satisfaction. Payment of fees and clinical and surgical outcomes did not significantly influence patients' overall satisfaction. Conclusion Our findings show that most patients reported high levels of satisfaction following robot-assisted hysterectomy, regardless of cost or clinical and surgical outcomes. Therefore, if gynecologists consider robot-assisted hysterectomy suitable for patients they need not hesitate based on potential costs; they should feel confident in recommending the procedure to patients.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.490-498
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• 2009

This study attempted to examine the profitability and marketing costs of seed potato under contract farming system of BADC (Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation) with the help of primary and secondary data. Total 45 contract farmers were randomly selected. Attempts were made to calculate costs, returns and profitability of seed potato production under contract farming system, and to identify marketing channels of seed potato. The field level data were collected by a farm survey during the months of April 2005 through direct interviews with contract farmers and registered dealers using a structure survey questionnaire. The results showed that the gross return per hectare was Tk. 252,464 for all categories of farms. Cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and human labor were critical inputs for profitability of seed potato. Cobb-Douglas production function analysis was used to determine the effects of the key variables to seed potato production under contract farming system. The elasticity of seed potato production was at 0.727 for all categories of farms. The findings exhibited that the summation of elasticity of different inputs for seed potato production was less than one, implying that the production function exhibited decreasing returns to scale. Registered dealers and Upazila Sales Centers were involved in seed potato marketing formed a straightforward marketing channel. The total marketing costs of registered dealers were Tk. 759.49 per ton of seed potato. The net marketing margin of registered dealers was estimated at Tk. 465.51 per ton of seed potato. The selected contract farmers and registered dealers faced a number of problems and some of recommendations were suggested.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.31 no.11B
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• pp.997-1004
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• 2006

There is a growing demand to access the broadband internet while on the very fast move. In order to meet these users needs, much research has been made for providing the broadband internet and HDTV services via satellite broadband internet systems even at top train speeds above 200km/h. In this paper, economic analyses on the satellite broadband internet services for KTX are to be reviewed. Broadband internet to trains in Europe are investigated, and Boeing cases for planes are also examined. In the first step, system configuration which is composed of a hub, terminals, satellite, and gap fillers for the tunnel areas has been proposed. A terminal includes a ultra-fast high gain antenna installed on the roof of the train, and APs inside the coaches. Secondly, cost estimation on the capital expenditures as well as operating expenditures has been performed in the proposed configuration. From the european and Boeing cases, demand and tariff are postulated, consequently, service revenues are derived on the scenario basis. Thirdly, estimated costs and derived revenues make up net present value and internal rate of return in each scenario. Finally, conclusions and contribution of this study are presented.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.26-38
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• 2022

Purposes: We analyzed the profitability determinants of regional public hospitals during the entire period between 2010 and 2020 and the period before and after COVID-19. We intended to provide fundamental data for developing publicness evaluation index and task of establishing and expanding regional public hospitals. Methodology: The financial and non-financial information of the regional public hospitals were used as the main analysis data; The financial data was established by the Center for Public Healthcare Policy of National Medical Center, and the non-financial data by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. T-test and regression analysis were used. Findings: The results can be summarized in two. First, the main determinants of profitability of the regional public hospitals were appeared to be the total asset turnover rate and the labor cost rate. Second, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the regional public hospitals, the number of sickbeds, the number of isolation rooms, the total asset turnover rate and the labor cost rate appeared to be the factor worsening the profitability. Practical Implication: The results of this study suggests that the management of the regional public hospitals is not aiming for the profit making, but it performs the functions as the community healthcare safety net such as controlling infectious diseases.