• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.51-58
• /
• 2024

Background: The rise in national health care costs has emerged as a global problem given the ever-aging population and rapid development of medical technology. The utilization of interventional pain management has, similarly, shown a continued rise worldwide. This study evaluates the differences in the medical costs in the field of interventional pain treatment (IPT) between two countries: Korea and Japan. Methods: Korean medical insurance costs for 2019 related to pain management focused on IPT were compared to those of Japan. Purchasing power parity (PPP) was used to adjust the exchange rate differences and to compare prices in consideration of the respective societies' economic power. Results: The cost of trigger point injections in Japan was 1.06 times higher than that of Korea, whereas the perineural and intraarticular injection prices were lower in Japan. The cost of epidural blocks was higher in Japan compared to Korea in both cervical/thoracic and lumbar regions. As for blocks of peripheral branches of spinal nerves, the cost of scapular nerve blocks in Japan was lower than that in Korea, given a PPP ratio 0.09. For nerve blocks in which fluoroscopy guidance is mandatory, the costs of epidurography in Japan were greater than those in Korea, given a PPP ratio 1.04. Conclusions: This is the first comparative study focusing on the medical costs related to IPT between Korea and Japan, which reveals that the costs differed along various categories. Further comparisons reflecting more diverse countries and socio-economic aspects will be required.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.591-596
• /
• 2014

This study investigates the perception of the sunken costs of an urban development project, which is currently a social problem through a questionnaire survey. The results indicate that local and federal governments, political authorities, association members, landowners, etc. partially recognize their responsibility in bearing the sunken cost. It is also found that all stakeholders who participated in the maintenance project felt shared responsibility of bearing the sunken costs and exchanging solutions to mitigate the same, rather than making one party deal with the same. This study also suggests that with regard to reducing these sunken costs, the public sector should offer indirect support (by bearing the cost of infrastructure, tax benefits, regulation relaxation, etc.) rather than direct support so that the association members can make a reasonable choice on the project execution.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2004.05a
• /
• pp.720-723
• /
• 2004

This study is intended to propose a systematic approach for determining optimum Life-Cycle Cost (LCC)-effective seismic design for continuous PSC bridges considering lifetime expected seismic risks. In the paper, a set of cost function for LCC analysis of bridges is proposed. The total LCC functions consist of initial cost and direct/indirect damage costs considering repair/replacement costs, human losses and property damage costs, road user costs, and indirect socio-economic losses. The damage costs are expressed in terms of Park-Ang median global damage indices (Park and Ang, 1985) and lifetime damage probabilities. The proposed approach is applied to model bridges of both moderate seismicity regions like Korea and high seismicity regions like Japan. Since, in case of bridges, a number of parameters may have an influence on optimal target reliability, various sensitivity analyses are performed in this study. It may be expected that the proposed approach can be effectively utilized for the development of cost-effective performance criteria for design and upgrading of various types of bridges as well as continuous PC bridges.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.165-170
• /
• 2004

This paper presents summary results of direct interview survey of Korean industrial customers conducted to evaluate the direct and short duration interruption costs resulting from local random electrical supply interruptions. The cost is evaluated using the questionnaires authors designed, which are mainly on the experience or preparatory actions consumers predicted they would take. Economic evaluation of reliability that traditionally takes into account duration and frequency of interruption does not accurately reflect the lost value or economic impacts of industrial customer, especially large size, caused by any kind of interruption. So, to imply the substantial difference in costs incurred by different customer group, the authors apply the international standards, i.e. IEC, IEEE, to the analysis on the interruption costs.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.401-414
• /
• 2012

The adoption of Green Frame is expected to provide economic benefits, since construction costs are reduced by the in-situ production of precast concrete column and beam. The cost reduction can ultimately be realized by saving transportation costs and the overhead and profit of PC plants. The cost structure of Green Frame, which is built up using composite precast concrete members, is similar to that of a bearing-wall structure, but the difference in construction process has resulted in some cost differences for a few items. In particular, production and installation is the principal work involved in Green Frame made by precast concrete members, while form and concrete work is the principal work for a bearing-wall structure. As such, the rental time and fee for a tower crane should be compared through time analysis. To verify reliability, this study focused on developed residential projects to estimate the construction costs. Through this analysis, it was found that the costs of Green Frame were 1.57% lower than the costs of bearing-wall structure. The results of this study will help in the development of a management plan for the structural work of Green Frame.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.180-187
• /
• 2015

Objectives: Metabolic syndrome is an important etiologic factor in the development of certain types of cancers. The economic cost of the treatment of cancer has been steadily increasing. We therefore estimated the economic burden of cancers attributable to metabolic syndrome in Korea. Methods: We reviewed metabolic syndrome-related cancers and relative risk and then calculated population attributable fractions. We analyzed insurance claims data for metabolic syndrome-related cancers in 2012 in order to estimate the direct costs associated with these cancers, including hospitalization, outpatient visits, transportation costs, and caregivers' costs as well as indirect costs such as loss of productivity due to cancer treatment and premature death. Results: In 2012, 18 070 patients in Korea had cancers attributable to metabolic syndrome. The economic burden was USD 199.8 million and the direct and indirect costs were USD 124.5 million and USD 75.3 million, respectively. Conclusions: We estimated the economic burden of cancers attributable to metabolic syndrome in Korea and the efforts are necessary to reduce this burden.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.421-435
• /
• 2022

The necessity of estimating the time and cost required for tunnel construction has led to extensive research in this regard. Since geological conditions are significant factors in terms of time and cost of road tunnels, considering these conditions is crucial. Uncertainties about the geological conditions of a tunnel alignment cause difficulties in planning ahead of the required construction time and costs. In this paper, the continuous-space, discrete-state Markov process has been used to predict geological conditions. The Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation (MCS) method is employed to estimate the construction time and costs of a road tunnel project using the input data obtained from six tunneling expert questionnaires. In the first case, the input data obtained from each expert are individually considered and in the second case, they are simultaneously considered. Finally, a comparison of these two modes based on the technique presented in this article suggests considering views of several experts simultaneously to reduce uncertainties and ensure the results obtained for geological conditions and the construction time and costs.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.381-391
• /
• 2005

The level of reliability attained largely depends upon the investment in reliability growth programs during development phase. In order to find the relationship between reliability growth test time and BRTE(basic reliability tasks effectiveness) in a reliability improvement program that minimizes LCC in which contains the reliability growth cost, repair and replacement costs, and spare parts ordering costs in service with given service rate in management policy, the growth rate has been suggested proper LCC versus growth rate. This model employs the reliability growth projection with delayed fixes in avionic equipment based on AMSAA.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.35-47
• /
• 1986

The progress in computer technology has significantly improved the capabilities of the microcomputer image processing systems and brought down their hardware costs. This on-going trend of technological development seems to bring further substantive improvements in microcomputer image processing and decreasing hardware costs. The technical development in microcomputer image processing system including VLSI technology, semiconductor memory, disk and tape storage, and image display subsystems have been reviewed and their future trend have been projected. The impact of this technology to the development of image processing has been assessed in the time period of immediate future (2-3 years) and near future (5 years).

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.43 no.3
• /
• pp.1-32
• /
• 2021

With CB data in South Korea, this study examines whether the credit risk of borrowers changes when the regulation on bank mortgage supply is relaxed. We analyze the effect of deregulation on LTV and DTI limits in the Seoul-metropolitan area in August 2014 with a difference-in-difference approach. We find that the probability of delinquency is lower in the Seoul metropolitan area after the deregulation than in other urban areas. The effect is noticeable among low-income and low-credit borrowers. We also find that borrowers change their debt structure to reduce the interest costs utilizing their improved access to bank mortgages. The findings suggest the necessity to consider the burden of the high interest costs of unsecured loans for debtors with low incomes and low credit ratings in designing housing finance regulations.