• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.57-68
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• 2014

Since the introduction of National Health Insurance(NHI) in 1977, it has grown rapidly and contributed to extend patient's access to the health care services. However, limited coverage for health care services of NHI has been ongoing challenge and private health insurance(PHI) has been rising as an alternative source of enhancing coverage and saving out-of-pocket(OOP) expenditure for patients. In this study, after controlling for socio-demographic, economic, health related variables, we identified the patients' healthcare utilization and subsequent OOP expenditure depending on their PHI enrollment and their enrollment types(fixed benefit, indemnity, fixed benefit plus indemnity). Data were collected from the 2010 Korean Health Panel. The unit of analysis was a member of household(n=13,324). Of the 13,324 cases, 70.7% of patients held PHI, in detail, fixed benefit(47.0%), indemnity(3.6%), fixed benefit plus indemnity(20.1%). Major findings showd that patients who enrolled in PHI used more outpatient services(outpatient visit, number of physician visit, number of examination) and spent more OOP expenditure than non-PHI patients. There were also differences of healthcare utilization and OOP expenditure among the types of PHI. In addition, PHI patients used more inpatient services(inpatient use, number of hospitalization, LOS), but there was no significant difference between PHI and non-PHI patients with regard to the OOP expenditure. Thus, we could not find any distinct relationship between the types of PHI and patients' tertiary hospital use. Policy-makers should need careful political deliberation for monitoring the effect of PHI on health care utilization and subsequent expenditure not only to improve patients' coverage but also to save their OOP expenditures.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.51-64
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• 2017

Objectives : This study examined the effect of private health insurance on medical care utilization by subscription type. Methods : The data used were the six waves of the Korea Health Panel (2009-2014), and 16,187 persons were the subjects of the analysis. We performed a panel regression with a fixed effects model. Results : Indemnity private health insurance was positively related to the number of physician visits, number of admissions, and total length of stays. However, fixed-benefit private health insurance was not related to medical care utilization. Conclusions : The result of this study, which shows the difference by subscription type in the effect of private health insurance on medical care utilization, suggests that continuous monitoring of indemnity private health insurance is needed in the future.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.58-69
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• 2017

Recently, with the increase in the number of private health insurance subscribers, interest in overuse of the medical service is increasing. This study analyzed the impacts of private health insurance (PHI) on medical institution selection in outpatient service utilization among persons with arthritis. In order to control patients' health status, we extracted outpatient episodes with the same disease (KCD6, M13) from Korea Health Panel. The unit of analysis was an outpatient visit with arthritis in 2014 (n=23,363). In the light of insurance coverage, we redefined three type of private health insurance (ex, indemnity, fixed benefit, and non-insured) as a test variable and two type of medical institution (ex, hospital and physician visit) as a dependent variable. We conducted a probit regression analysis to identify the impacts of PHI on medical institution selection controlling for heteroscedasticity. The results of this study showed that the insured with indemnity were more likely to choose hospital departments than clinics (marginal effect=0.0475, p=0.000). The impact of participation of fixed benefit PHI was not as clear as that of indemnity type (marginal effect=0.0162, p=0.047). In conclusion, this study confirmed that PHI, particularly indemnity type has a significant impact on the selection of medical institutions. Healthcare policy makers should consider that PHI not only affects the overall quantitative increase in healthcare utilization, but also influences the selection of medical institutions.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.325-337
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• 2023

Background: While there are many studies estimating the effects of private health insurance on various types of health care utilization, few have examined how such effects change in conjunction with important policy reforms in national health insurance (NHI). This study examined how the effect of private health insurance (supplemental and fixed cash benefit) on high-cost outpatient imaging test utilization changed following the expansion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) coverage in 2018, which is a key example of the NHI benefit expansion policy in recent years. Methods: Data from the 2017 and 2019 Korea Health Panel Survey, which contained information about healthcare utilization before and after the expansion of MRI coverage in 2018, were used. The incremental effect of private health insurance on high-cost outpatient imaging test utilization for each period were quantified and compared, with special attention given to the type of private health insurance. Results: While people with supplemental private health insurance were more likely to use high-cost outpatient imaging tests than those without, both before and after the expansion of MRI coverage, the incremental effect increased from 1.6% points in 2017 to 2.5% points in 2019. Conclusion: Benefit expansion in NHI does not necessarily reduce disparities in the use of health care between private health insurance subscribers and non-subscribers. The results of our study also suggest that the path through which private health insurance affects healthcare utilization may not be limited to the price mechanism alone but can be more complex.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.49-63
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• 2002

In order to supply 85% of total organic feed in ruminants and 80% in non-ruminants for organic animal production, nitrogen fixation ability of legume should be used in domestic roughages production. 50% of Europe organic farmer use intercropping legume in as green manure. This article is dealing with amount of biologically fixed nitrogen used by legumes and methods for estimating the transfer of biologically fixed N in rotation and separating the N benefit into fixed N and non-fixed N components are reviewed. Available data indicate that transfer amount of N to non legumes was from 50∼9.6(kg/ha) in legume-cereal rotations and proportion of legume N varied with seasons, 90% in summer, 50% in autumn. The important point in cropping system for legumes have to be included for organic forage production 6 year rotation is based on pasture system of 3 year pasture + 2 year annual(com, sudangrass), again pasture. Rye, barly and Italian ryegrass+legumes(vetch, crimson and pea) can be one of option in spring, com, soybean, sudangrass and Japanese bamyard millet would be seeded after spring harvest in the field. Farmer can make good use of rice paddy field as forge production potential area after harvesting rice. Italian, burly and rye+vetch and crimsonclover may be grown in autumn or spring time at the rice field.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.151-162
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• 1993

The author installed $3.75mm\times10mm$ $Br{\aa}nrmark$ osseointegrated implants and $3.5mm\times8mm$ I.T.I. hollow screw implants(Benefit) as a free standing abutment to replace lower left and right molars of 44-year-old female patient. Form the foregoing procedure, the author obtained the following results. 1. Free-standing $Br{\aa}nrmark$ and I.T.I. Hollow screw implants(Benefit) could be used to replace molars effectively without reduction of adjacent natural teeth, 2. Rotation of occlusal gold screw of $Br{\aa}nrmark$ implants was observed under occlusal force. 3. Adjustment of height of I.T.I. abutments was necessary in the mandibular second molar because of the limited occlusal clearance. 4. Form the oral examination, patient comments, panoramic and periapical radiographs, there were no pain, gingival imflammation and mobility, but slight reduction of alveolar bone level was shown around both implant systems. 5. Patient comments were comfortable on both systems. but the patient complained about economic problem of $Br{\aa}nrmark$ system and long treatment treatment time of both systems.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.479-491
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• 2007

This paper presents a new adaptive observer design method for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems by using spline approximation. This scheme leads to a simplified observer structure which requires only fixed number of integrations, regardless of the number of parameters to be estimated. This benefit can reduce the number of integrations of the observer filter dramatically. Moreover, the proposed adaptive observer automatically generates the required spline elements according to the varying output value and, as a result, does not requires the pre-knowledge of upper and lower bounds of the output. This is another benefit of our approach since the requirement for known output bounds have been one of the main drawbacks of practical universal approximation problems. Both of the benefits stem from the local support property, which is specific to splines.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.231-257
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• 2016

This study intends to analyze issues of purchasing process in public libraries by the 2014 revised Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea and fixed book price. Furthermore, this study suggests future tasks for restoring the intent of revising the laws and toward a better book purchases. The main contents of this study are as follow: 1) preparing the effective methods for selecting book vendor with evaluating the performance not price competition, 2) establishing concept and scope of local bookstore as book vendor for restoring the intent of the activation policy of local bookstore, 3) establishing the well-defined regulation about benefit of the economic dimension.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.382-392
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• 2021

In recent years, floating offshore wind turbines have attracted more attention as a new renewable energy resource while bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines reach their limit of water depth. Various projects have been proposed with the rapid increase in installed floating wind power capacity, but the economic aspect remains as a biggest issue. To figure out sensible approaches for saving costs, a comparison analysis of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) between floating and bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines was carried out. The LCOE was reviewed from a social perspective and a cost breakdown and a literature review analysis were used to itemize the costs into its various components in each level of power plant and system integration. The results show that the highest proportion in capital expenditure of a floating offshore wind turbine results in the substructure part, which is the main difference from a bottom-fixed wind turbine. A floating offshore wind turbine was found to have several advantages over a bottom-fixed wind turbine. Although a similarity in operation and maintenance cost structure is revealed, a floating wind turbine still has the benefit of being able to be maintained at a seaport. After emphasizing the cost-reduction advantages of a floating wind turbine, its LCOE outlook is provided to give a brief overview in the following years. Finally, some estimated cost drivers, such as economics of scale, wind turbine rating, a floater with mooring system, and grid connection cost, are outlined as proposals for floating wind LCOE reduction.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.33-43
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• 2007

Because usually signal controllers on the crosswalks of mid-block provide pedestrian signals every cycle based on the fixed signal plan, pedestrian signals are provided even when there is no pedestrian demand. Consequently, signal is operated inefficiently and this may cause drivels to experience useless delay or violate the signal. Even though recently pushbuttons have been installed to improve the efficiency of pedestrian signal control in the crosswalks of mid-block and the pedestrian safety. they are not spread out national-wide in Korea because of the cost of the pushbutton equipments and the lack of an acknowledgement of the efficiency of the pushbutton. In this study, the effectiveness of the pushbutton on saving the vehicle delay was verified through before and after study in 4 study sites using a traffic micro-simulation model, VISSIM. To evaluate the viability of the pushbutton, a benefit/cost analysis was also performed for 4 study sites. It was found that B/C ratio of all of 4 study sites was greater than 1. The sensitivity analysis for the traffic volume and pedestrian volume were performed to identify the impact of the both volume on the operation of pushbutton. And, a benefit/cost analysis was performed for all scenarios. It was found that when the pedestrian volume is greater than 90ped/h, the pedestrian signal was operated same as the fixed signal plan. That is, there is no benefit of pushbutton at all once the pedestrian volume is greater than 90ped/h. When the pedestrian volume is equal to or less than 90ped/h and the traffic volume is greater than 2,500veh/h, B/C ratio is greater than 1. Also it was found that as traffic volume increases and pedestrian volume decreases, the benefit increases. In this study, the criteria for installation of pushbutton on the crosswalks of mid-block are developed through the sensitivity analysis and benefit/cost analysis. The results of this study may be used as a criteria for expansion of pushbutton system.