• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.269-276
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• 2008

Background: Although the prevalence of tuberculosis infections (PTBI) is one of the basic epidemiologic indices, no survey has been carried out since 1995 because the nation-wide tuberculosis prevalence survey was changed to a surveillance system. Subjects without a BCG scar are examined in a tuberculin survey. However, it is very difficult to select these subjects under high vaccination coverage. It is important to evaluate the impact of BCG vaccinations on the tuberculin response and estimate the PTBI regardless of the BCG vaccination status. Methods: A nation-wide, school-based cross-sectional tuberculin survey was carried out among first graders in elementary school in 2006. A total of 5,148 children in 40 schools were selected by quota sampling. Tuberculin testing with 0.1 ml of two tuberculin units of PPD RT23 was carried out on 4,018 children. The maximum transverse diameter of induration was measured 48 to 72 hours later. The presence of a BCG scar was checked separately. Results: There were no BCG scars in 6.3% of the subjects. The mean induration size of tuberculin testing was $3.7{\pm}4.4mm$, which included 1,882 (46.8%) subjects with an induration size of 0 mm. The PTBI was 10.9% (439 subjects) using a cut-off point of ${\geq}10mm$ (conventional method). The annual risk of tuberculosis infections (ARTI) was 1.9% when the mean age of the subjects was assumed to be 6 years. There was no difference in the PTBI according to the presence or absence of a BCG scar [11.2% vs 7.6% (OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 0.98~2.43)]. Using a mirror image technique with 16 mm as the cut-off point, the PTBI and ARTI had decreased to 2.4% and 0.4% respectively. Conclusion: PTBI and ARTI, as estimated by conventional methods, appear to be high among BCG vaccinated children. A mirror image technique is more suitable for estimating the indices in a country with an intermediate burden of tuberculosis than the conventional method.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.105-138
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• 2009

Although the decline in fertility rate is generally observed along the history of economic development throughout the world, the continuing decline hitting below the replacement level in Korea over the recent years gathered serious social concerns on the ground that it accelerates the process of population aging. The total fertility rate in Koreareached 2.08 in 1983, and gradually fell to the levels of 1.08 in 2005 and 1.26 in 2007. The policy debate over the role of the government has been focused mainly on the level of theoretical discussion without substantial basis on firm empirical evidence and the determinants of fertility. The objective of the paper is to empirically investigate the fertility effect of the female wage, which is understood as one of the most important determinants of fertility in Koreasince 1980 focusing on one aspect of fertility, namely birth spacing. Using the Korean National Fertility Survey conducted in 2006, I estimate a duration model of first and second births taking into account individual heterogeneity, which turned out to be an important factor to control for. Compared with previous studies in the literature on the Korean fertility, the study has an advantage of using the complete pregnancy history of women in a more representative sample. Unlike the previous studies, the analysis also deals with the endogeneity of marriage by treating a certain age, rather than age at marriage, as the time in which a woman becomes exposed to the risk of pregnancy. The study shares the common problem in the literature on birth spacing of lacking relevant wage information for respondents in a retrospective survey. I estimate the wage series as a function of the basic characteristics using the annual Wage Structure Survey from 1980 to 2005, which is considered as a nationally representative sample for wage information of employees. The results suggest that the increase in female wage by 10 percent leads to a decrease in second birth hazard by 0.56~0.92 percentage points and that the increase in spouse's wage by the equal amount is accompanied by the increase in second birth hazard by 0.36~1.13 percentage points. These estimates are more precisely estimated and of smaller magnitude than those presented by the previous studies. The results are robust to the different specifications of the wage equation. The simulation analysis based on the predicted values shows that about 17% of the change in the second birth hazard over the period 1980 to 2005 was due to the change in the female wage. Although there is some limitation in data, the results can be viewed as one estimate of the role of female wage on the recent fertility decline in Korea. The question raised by the paper is not a normative one of whether a government should promote childbearing but a positive one thatexplains fertility decline. Therefore, if there is a wide consensus on promoting childbearing, the finding suggests that the policies designed to reduce the opportunity cost of women in the labor market would be effective. The recent movement of implementing a wide range of family-friendly policies including child care support, maternity leave, parental leave and tax benefit in developed countries should be understood in this context.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.556-569
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• 2015

With about 75% of the population of Korea criticizing the government's disaster policy and a failure to respond to large-scale emergency like the Sewol ferry sinking means that there is a deep distrust in the government. In order to prevent dreadful disasters such as the Sewol ferry sinking, it is important to secure a prime time with respect to disaster safety. Improving crisis management skills and managerial role of police officers who are in close proximity to the people is necessary for the success of disaster management. With disaster management as one of the most essential missions of the police, as a part of a national crisis management, a step by step strengthening of the disaster safety management system of the police is necessary, as below. First, at the prevention phase, law enforcement officers were not injected into for profit large-scale assemblies or events, but in the future the involvement, injection should be based on the level of potential risk, rather than profitability. In the past and now, the priortiy was the priority was on traffic flow, traffic communication, however, the paradigm of traffic policy should be changed to a safety-centered policy. To prevent large-scale accidents, police investigators should root out improper routines and illegal construction subcontracting. The police (intelligence) should strengthen efforts to collect intelligence under the subject of "safety". Second, with respect to the preparatory phase, on a survey of police officers, the result showed that 72% of police officers responded that safety management was not related to the job descriptions of the police. This, along with other results, shows that the awareness of disaster safety must be adopted by, or rather changed in the police urgently. The training in disaster safety education should be strengthened. A network of experts (private, administrative, and police) in safety management should be established to take advantage of private resources with regard to crisis situtions. Third, with respect to the response phase, for rapid first responses to occur, a unified communication network should be established, and a real-time video information network should be adopted by the police and installed in the police situation room. Fourth, during the recovery phase, recovery teams should be injected, added and operated to minimize secondary damage.

• Journal of Korean Society of societal Security
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2011

In order to resolve the problem of change in global climate which is worsening as days go by and to preemptively cope with strengthened restriction on carbon emission, the government enacted 'Framework Act on Low Carbon Green Growth' in 2010 and selected green technology and green industry as new national growth engines. For this reason, the necessity to use the un-utilized waste heat across the whole industrial system has become an issue, and studies on and applications of recycling in the agricultural and fishery fields such as cultivation of tropical crops and flatfishes by utilizing the waste heat and thermal effluent generated by large industrial complexes including power plants are being actively carried out. In this study, we looked into the domestic and overseas examples of having utilized waste heat abandoned in the form of power plant thermal effluent, and carried out economic efficiency evaluation of sturgeon aquaculture utilizing thermal effluent of Yeongwol LNG Combined Cycle Power Plant in Gangwon-do. In this analysis, we analyzed the economic efficiency of a model business plan divided into three steps, starting from a small scale in order to minimize the investment risk and financial burden, which is then gradually expanded. The business operation period was assumed to be 10 years (2012~2021), and the NVP (Net Present Value) and economic efficiency (B/C) for the operation period (10 years) were estimated for different loan size by dividing the size of external loan by stage into 80% and 40% based on the basic statistics secured through a site survey. Through the result of analysis, we can see that reducing the size of the external loan is an important factor in securing greater economic efficiency as, while the B/C is 1.79 in the case the external loan is 80% of the total investment, it is presumed to be improved to 1.81 when the loan is 40%. As the findings of this study showed that the economic efficiency of sturgeon aquaculture utilizing thermal effluent of power plant can be secured, it is presumed that regional development project items with high added value can be derived though this, and, in addition, this study will greatly contribute to reinforcement of the capability of local governments to cope with climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.448-462
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• 2020

Dietary nutrition is a critical lifestyle factor that can reduce the risk of future cognitive impairments caused by dementia. Accumulating evidence suggests that dietary supplementation with Sulforaphane may help the prevention of cognitive impairments and dementia. Thus, Sulforaphane-enriched broccoli extract would hold promise to improve cognitive impairments of dementia patients. Here, we have used broccoli extracts, prepared from broccoli cultivated in Magma Seawater, to test if the broccoli extracts can be dietary supplement to improve cognitive impairments. Magma Seawater originated from Jeju Island, Korea is unique in terms of containing high concentrations of usable minerals (Zinc, Vanadium and Germanium etc.). Broccoli, grown in Magma Seawater, would contain Sulforaphane and the extra amount of usable minerals. The chemical compositions of the broccoli extracts were analyzed using LC-Q-orbitrap to detect Sulforaphane and Glucoraphanin. Analysis method based on HPLC was developed for measurement of sulforaphane levels in the broccoli extracts. We have tested if the broccoli extracts have anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects on neuron-like SH-SY5Y cells. In addition, we examined if the broccoli extracts are able to upregulate expression of synaptic plasticity-associated proteins (BDNF and phospho-CREB) and to inhibit acetylcholine esterase (AchE) activity. We have shown that the broccoli extracts inhibited the apoptotic pathway and inflammatory responses. Finally, we present evidence showing that AchE activity was inhibited by the broccoli extracts, but expression of BDNF and phospho-CREB was upregulated. Taken together, these findings suggest that the broccoli extracts from Magma Seawater-grown broccoli would be a good source of dietary nutrition to improve cognitive impairments in the future.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.457-479
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• 2013

Through a Chinese rise, Chinese dream is actualizing as the world's great power. According to outlook of World Bank and IMF, Around 2030 China will be a great power bigger than America's economic power. The rise of China will give a huge impact to the whole world. China expands her influence through a global manufacturing base and a global market. To actualize 'Peaceful Rise' Strategy, China has many constraints. Chinese society is facing many difficult social problem due to side effects of a rapid development. Such as the spread of corruption, the severity of wealth gap, environmental degradation and energy shortage. Internationally there are containment from hegemon so-called 'China threat' dispute, Taiwan issue and territorial disputes. Western countries are hostile to China for two reasons. Based on expectations, one is China's socialist system and the other is the rising China which will compete for supremacy with Europe and America. Recent emergence of Chinese nationalism and the containment of the neighboring countries are also serious limiting factors. Domestically they have the rampant corruption in the bureaucracy, weakened capacity of Communist rule, wealth disparity due to the discriminatory economic development strategy, seriousness of rural problem, social instability, lack of social security systems and the development gap between the eastern coastal areas and western inland areas, ethnic minorities problems, the constraint of sustainable development issues due to lack of resources, environmental pollution and energy constraints. Like the former Soviet Union, China may face a dismantlement. After the rise, China may encounter possibilities of a war between great powers or a collapse of Chinese society caused by deepening internal conflict. Serious economic polarization would make peasants and urban workers, who are social vulnerable people, to turn their back to communist party and threaten the justification and the appropriateness of the ruling communist party. Chinese government will think internal system security threat is more formidable risk factor than a system security threat from the hegemon. The decline of great country comes from internal reasons rather than external reasons. To achieve peaceful rise, unification with Taiwan is an essential prerequisite. Taiwan issues are complex problems which equipped with international and domestic factors. Lack of energy resources, environmental pollution in China will bring economic crisis to Korean enterprises. Important influence to Korean economy will be a changeover of the method in economic development. It will turn the balance of investment and consumption, GDP-centered growth to consumption and environment-centered growth. Services industries including finance, environment, culture, education, health care and social welfare will grow. Change in China's growth model will give a great challenge upon the intermediate goods industry in Korea. Korea should reduce the portion of machinery, automotive, semiconductor, steel and chemical-centered export industry to China, and should increase the proportion of the service industry.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2007

Purpose: A pancreas-preserving total gastrectomy (PPTG) was introduced to decrease the postoperative complications due to pancreatic resection. However, some complications, such as leakage of pancreatic juice, are still reported. Thus, the purpose of this study was to propose a supplementary procedure based on the results of treatment for gastric cancer at our hospital. Materials and Methods: From Jan. 1997 to Dec. 2004, the cases of 141 patients who underwent a PPTG for gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively. The patients were divided into Group A (38 cases), patients who were treated using a conventional PPTG, and Group B (103 cases), patients who were treated using a new and improved PPTG. Their postoperative complications were compared. Results: No statistically significant differences in clinicopathologic data were noted between the two groups. The comparison of complications showed for groups A and B, respectively, 4 and 0 cases of pancreatic fistula, 1 and 0 cases of intraabdominal abscess, 2 and 0 cases of intraoperative pancreatic necrosis, and 2 and 2 cases of minor leakage. The difference in the prevalence of complications between the two groups was statistically significant (P=0.0001). Conclusion: In order to reduce the risk of PPTG-related complications, we used vascular clamps to observe the necrosis of the pancreatic tail before dividing the splenic artery, and this method resulted in a significant decrease in postoperative complications. Thus, we conclude that our use of vascular clamps in a PPTG is a simple and useful method for preventing postoperative complications.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.779-797
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• 2016

A calibrated hydrological model is a useful tool for quantifying the impacts of the climate variations and land use/land cover changes on sediment load, water quality and runoff. In the rainy season each year, the Xe Bang Fai river basin is provisionally flooded because of typhoons, the frequency and intensity of which are sensitive to ongoing climate change. Severe heavy rainfall has continuously occurred in this basin area, often causing severe floods at downstream of the Xe Bang Fai river basin. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the climate change impact on river discharge using a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model based on future climate change scenarios. In this study, the simulation of hydrological river discharge is used by SWAT model, covering a total area of $10,064km^2$ in the central part of country. The hydrological model (baseline) is calibrated and validated for two periods: 2001-2005 and 2006-2010, respectively. The monthly simulation outcomes during the calibration and validation model are good results with $R^2$ > 0.9 and ENS > 0.9. Because of ongoing climate change, three climate models (IPSL CM5A-MR 2030, GISS E2-R-CC 2030 and GFDL CM3 2030) indicate that the rainfall in this area is likely to increase up to 10% during the summer monsoon season in the near future, year 2030. As a result of these precipitation increases, the SWAT model predicts rainy season (Jul-Aug-Sep) river discharge at the Xebangfai@bridge station will be about $800m^3/s$ larger than the present. This calibrated model is expected to contribute for preventing flood disaster risk and sustainable development of Laos

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.225-270
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• 2008

We analyze macroeconomic consequences of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) public pension system with a simple overlapping generations model. Contrary to large body of existing literatures offering quantitative results based on simulation study, we take another route by adopting a highly simplified framework in search of qualitatively tractable analytical results. The main contribution of our results lies in providing a sound theoretical foundation that can be utilized in interpreting various quantitative results offered by simulation studies of large scale general equilibrium models. We present a simple overlapping generations model with a defined benefit(DB) PAYGO public pension system as a benchmark case and derive an analytical equilibrium solution utilizing graphical illustration. We also discuss the modifications of the benchmark model required to encompass a defined contribution(DC) public pension system into the basic framework. Comparative statics analysis provides three important implications; First, introduction and expansion of the PAYGO public pension, DB or DC, result in lower level of capital accumulation and higher expected rate of return on the risky asset. Second, it is shown that the progress of population aging is accompanied by lower capital stock due to decrease in both demand and supply of risky asset. Moreover, risk premium for risky asset increases(decreases) as the speed of population aging accelerates(decelerates) so that the possibility of so-called "the great meltdown" of asset market cannot be excluded although the odds are not high. Third, it is most likely that the switch from DB PAYGO to DC PAYGO would result in lower capital stock and higher expected return on the risky asset mainly due to the fact that the young generation regards DC PAYGO pension as another risky asset competing against the risky asset traded in the market. This theoretical prediction coincides with one of the firmly established propositions in empirical literature that the currently dominant form of public pension system has the tendency to crowd out private capital accumulation.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.295-302
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• 2013

We estimated secondary scattered and leakage doses for intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) and tomotherapy (TOMO) in patients with liver cancer. Five liver patients were planned by IMRT, VMAT and TOMO. Secondary scatter (and leakage) dose and organ equivalent doses (OEDs) are measured and estimated at various points 20 to 80 cm from the iso-center by using radiophotoluminescence glass dosimeter (RPLGD). The secondary dose per Gy from IMRT, VMAT and TOMO for liver cancer, measured 20 to 80 cm from the iso-center, are 0.01~3.13, 0.03~2.34 and 0.04~1.29 cGy, respectively. The mean values of relative OED of secondary dose of VMAT and TOMO for five patients, which is normalized by IMRT, measured as 75.24% and 50.92% for thyroid, 75.14% and 40.61% for bowel, 72.30% and 47.77% for rectum, 76.21% and 49.93% for prostate. The secondary dose and OED from TOMO is relatively low to those from IMRT and VMAT. OED based estimation suggests that the secondary cancer risk from TOMO is less than or comparable to the risks from conventional IMRT and VMAT.