• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.243-252
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• 2023

This paper aims to introduce Korea's total current health expenditure (CHE) and National Health Accounts of the year 2021 and their 2022 preliminary figures constructed on the basis of the System of Health Accounts 2011. As CHE includes expenditures for prevention, tracking, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compensation for losses to medical institutions from 2020, the details are also introduced. Korea's total CHE in 2021 is 193.3 trillion won, which is 9.3% of gross domestic product (GDP). The preliminary figure in 2022, 209.0 trillion won, exceeded the 200 trillion won line for the first time, and its "ratio to GDP" of 9.7% is expected to exceed the average of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development member countries for the first time. Korea's health expenditures, which were well controlled until the end of the 20th century, have increased at an alarming rate since the beginning of the 21st century, threatening the sustainability of national health insurance. The increase in health expenditure after 2020 is partly due to a temporary increase in response to COVID-19. However, when considering the structure of Korea's health insurance price hike, where the ratchet effect of increased medical expenses works particularly strongly, it is unlikely that the accelerating growth trend that has lasted for more than 20 years will stop easily. More aggressive policies to control medical expenses are required in the national health insurance which not only constitutes the main financing sources of the Korean health system but also has the most powerful policy means in effect for changes in the health care provision.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.209-216
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• 2022

Purpose: This study was performed to investigate humoral immune response and adverse events upon the heterologous prime-boost with a single dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine among fully CoronaVac-vaccinated, infection-naïve healthcare workers in Indonesia. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty-five eligible healthcare workers were recruited from one hospital for this prospective cohort study. Blood collection was conducted twice, i.e., on 7 days before and 28 days after the booster vaccination. The titer of anti-SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) antibodies was quantified accordingly. The post-vaccination adverse event was recorded for both CoronaVac and mRNA-1273 vaccinations. Any breakthrough infection was monitored during the follow-up period. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test was used to test differences between groups. Results: A significant increase was observed in the titer of anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibodies upon receiving the mRNA-1273 booster (geometric mean titers of 65.57 and 47,445 U/mL in pre-and post-booster, respectively), supporting the argument to use heterologous prime-boost vaccination to improve the protection against COVID-19 in a high-risk population. The mRNA1273 vaccine, however, caused a higher frequency of adverse events than the CoronaVac vaccine. Nonetheless, the adverse events were considered minor medical events and temporary as all subjects were not hospitalized and fully recovered. Of note, no breakthrough infection was observed during the follow-up to 12 weeks post-booster. Conclusion: The heterologous prime-boost vaccination of healthcare workers with a single dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine generated a significant elevation in humoral immune response towards RBD of SARS-CoV-2 and was associated with a higher frequency, but minor and transient, adverse events.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.154-162
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• 2021

The naturally opened Han river estuary is a place where the flows of the Han river, Imjin river, Yaesung river meet with West Sea of Korea, so the hydrodynamic mechanism(Impact-Response) structure of Han river estuary is complex. Continuous observation and measurement due to the morphological characteristics at the estuary are required to maintain the estuary environment and river management facilities. However, the Sannam wetland(the study area) is in the military operation area. Therefore, Sannam wetland has the limited access under the control from military office. In 2020, there had a natural disaster due to flooding in August and COVID-19, and it made a survey hard. The noncontact survey technique, the analysis of LANDSAT images at Sannam wetland, was applied to analyze riverbed fluctuation and morphological transformation around Sannam wetland. LANDSAT images obtained from EarthExplorer, USGS and analyzed by QGIS. The analysis was performed based on the area and the distance near Sannam wetland. As a result, an erosion was happened on the downstream of the study area, and the upstream of the study area did not have any serious sediment transport. Considering the resolution of LANDSAT images, this noncontect survey technique is applicable to manage the study area. From the analysis of LANDSAT images, it is assumed that the tidal effect is greater than the inflow from the upstream. The pattern change of tidal response causes the damage of the river facilities near the Hangang river estuary.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.188-211
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• 2021

Decreasing response rates to traditional survey methods, like face-to-face and telephone interviews, have led survey practitioners around the world to seek new ways of conducting surveys in recent years." The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this problem because it made conducting face-to-face interviews even more difficult than before. For example, it made conducting face-to-face surveys infeasible in 2020 in South Korea, and so the Korean Academic Multimode Open Survey (KAMOS) was unable to conduct a planned face-to-face survey to recruit new panel members. The entire 8,514-member panel, established via two-stage probability-based sampling from 2016 to 2019, was invited to take three online/telephone surveys in 2020. Of these panel members, 1,352 responded to at least one survey in 2020. To test to what extent the panel remained representative of the adult South Korean population, we compared the two groups of panel members: those who responded to at least one survey in 2020 and those who did not. After weighting both groups on the basis of age, sex, and geographical area, we analyzed their responses to some of the questions that were asked during multiple rounds of the face-to-face panel-recruiting interviews. Using Cohen's d for survey items that could be analyzed numerically and Cramér's V for categorical items, we were able to conclude that the respondents to the 2020 surveys were equivalent to the non-respondents in terms of both demographics and in the answers they originally gave to substantive questions on a variety of topics related to social science or public opinion research, including questions about quality of life, societal issue, and politics (Cohen's d items <0.2, 95% CI; Cramér's V items <0.1, 95% CI). This analysis may provide a model for others who wish to test the continued representativeness of their panel or who would like to use a different survey mode or change some other aspect of their methodology and test whether it is equivalent to their former methodology. Our success in building a panel that retained its representativeness may be useful to those in other countries where face-to-face surveys had previously been the norm but are becoming increasingly difficult to conduct.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.224-241
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• 2021

According to data from the National Police Agency, 75.5 percent of dead traffic accidents in Korea are truck accidents. About 1,000 people die in cargo truck accidents in Korea every year, and two to three people die in cargo truck accidents every day. In the survey, Korean cargo workers answer poor working conditions as an important cause of constant truck accidents. COVID 19 is increasing demand for non-face-to-face logistics. The inefficiency of the Korean transportation system is leading to excessive work burden for small logistics The inefficiency of the Korean transportation system is causing excessive work burden for small individual carriers. The inefficiency of the Korean transportation system is also evidenced by the number of deaths from logistics industry disasters that have risen sharply since 2020. Small and medium-sized Korean Enterprises located in CIPs (Connected Industrial Parks) often do not have smart access certification systems. And as a result, a lot of transportation time is wasted at the final destination stage. In the logistics industry, time is the cost and time is the revenue. The logistics industry is the representative industry in which time becomes money. The smart access authentication system architecture proposed in this paper allows small logistics private carriers to improve legal stability, and SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) in CIPs to reduce logistics transit time. The CIPs smart access system proposed in this paper utilizes the currently active Mobile OTP (One Time Password), which can significantly reduce system design costs, significantly reduce the data capacity burden on individual cell phone terminals, and improve the response speed of individual cell phone terminals. It is also compatible with the OTP system, which was previously used in various ways, and the system reliability through the long period of use of the OTP system is also high. User customers can understand OTP access systems more easily than other smart access systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.217-218
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• 2021

With the prolonged Covid-19 epidemic, movement restrictions such as social distancing are prolonged, and as people stay indoors for a longer time, interest in indoor air pollution is increasing. Indoor air quality is not easily purified unlike outdoors. Among indoor building materials, paints and flooring contain formaldehyde that causes sick house syndrome and VOCs that contain carcinogenicity and harmfulness. For modern people who spend a lot of time living indoors for more than an hour, the occurrence of these harmful substances can be said to be fatal. In response to these risks, in July 2019, the government reinforced the standards for indoor air quality to protect the public's health by raising the detection standards for fine dust, ultrafine dust, and formaldehyde in indoor multi-use facilities. People use machines such as air purifiers to improve indoor air quality, or make efforts such as periodic ventilation. In order to reduce or support these other ancillary efforts more effectively, to reduce the generation of pollutants in the building itself, or to adsorb or purify pollutants in the air, use carbon black as an admixture to make a cement hardened body, and to grasp basic physical properties and adsorption capacity. And the result is as follows. As a result of the experiment to determine the appropriate amount of carbon black, it was confirmed that the more the amount of carbon black was added, the better it was in the formaldehyde emission test, but the tendency was not clear when measuring the flexural strength, so a further experiment to improve this is needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.52-59
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• 2023

Due to the routine nature of social distancing in accordance with the COVID-19 pandemic, the logistics industry is under rapid development, given that offline demand is focused on online platforms. The number of warehouse workplaces and workers are steadily increasing per annum, and the industrial accident rate of transportation, warehouse, and telecommunication industries to which warehouse employees belong is higher than the total industrial accident rate in Korea. In previous studies, warehouse workers reported exposure to health hazards such as musculoskeletal disorders due to the handling of heavy objects and improper working postures. Accordingly, in this study, a survey was conducted to investigate symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders with focus on parcel delivery workers nationwide. The questionnaire included a musculoskeletal disorder symptom survey table to identify information such as worker occupational history, work type, and signs or symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders. Survey response data from 453 people were obtained to determine the influence of delivery business characteristics on occupational musculoskeletal disorders, and the influencing factors were analyzed. Based on the results, in the analysis of pain with respect to body part, the duration, degree, and frequency of pain were highest in the leg part, and as a result, the average value for the leg part exhibited a significant difference from those of other body parts. In addition, 52.32% of workers exhibited symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders, and a high number of patients with musculoskeletal disorders was observed in the work group with less than three years of service and with ages ranging from 30-39. The results of this study can serve as basic data for the derivation of a management plan that meets the characteristics of musculoskeletal disorders that impact logistics workers overburdened with work due to the rapid increase in parcel delivery volume in accordance with an increase in online consumption.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.151-179
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• 2020

This study explores the potential of using a library chatbot to improve the non-face-to-face digital reference services for academic library users by designing and implementing a library chatbot. Through data analysis, user needs and library services were analyzed, and a scenario was designed by selecting an appropriate development method. For user-friendly interaction, the personality of the chatbot and user interface was designed to evaluate its usability. In addition, the accuracy was verified through the response accuracy evaluation and performance evaluation of the chatbot, and the effectiveness of the chatbot was evaluated through a user satisfaction survey. In order to manage the operation and maintain service quality, the chatbot is improved by monitoring user-chatbot conversations and reflecting user feedback. Based on these findings, recommendations for designing and implementing a library chatbot were made to help improve library reference services.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.1433-1444
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• 2021

This study was conducted for the purpose of developing a curriculum to educate the practical skills required in the industry by convergence with the 4th industry in the beauty field, which has been accelerated since the Corona era. As a result of an exploratory investigation of several literatures and collecting expert opinions, it was analyzed that the field of beauty industry will expand to a personalized service providing industry that combines medical, bio, ICT, and artificial intelligence technologies, rather than providing a single item or service. Based on the analysis contents, the curriculum was composed and subjects were derived by adding digital application skills to have in addition to the basic job skills required in the traditional beauty industry. The post-Corona era will bring changes in various industries based on the Fourth industrial revolution, and in response to these changes, universities should always pay attention to changes in the industry to develop talent for the development and sustainability of the beauty industry.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2023

With the restriction of foreigners' entry into Korea due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fishery industry faced significant challenges in supplying migrant workers. In response to this, there is growing interest in methods that could facilitate the stable employment of migrant workers. This paper investigates whether the current system used for the employment of migrant workers in the fishery industry, which is highly dependent on them, adequately performs its function of providing a stable and skilled workforce amid the intensified labor shortage resulting from decreasing numbers of households with employment in the fishery and the aging Korean fishermen. To this end, past studies and government documents pertaining to the current system were analyzed, and a survey targeting the owners of offshore fishing boats that employ migrant workers was conducted. A total of 147 owners of fishing boats responded to the survey, and the data of 499 migrant workers employed by them were used for the analysis. The analysis indicated that the migrant fishermen had difficulty in acquiring minimum scores for the change of visa status according to the criteria for the Skilled Worker Points System. Furthermore, distinct differences were found between the characteristics and working conditions of migrant workers employed through the Employment Permit System (EPS) and the Foreign Seamen System. Based on this result, this paper suggests the reorganization of the skilled migrant worker system in the fishery industry and the expansion of the regional specialized visa pilot project.