• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.128-142
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• 2004

To evaluate the effects of critical pathway on the length of hospital stay, the cost and quality of care provided to gastrectomy patients in a tertiary care academic medical center. The basic research design is a retrospective case-control comparative study. 470 patients of gastrectomy were included in the study; 180 before pathway development (control), 163 right after pathway implementation (path group I) and 127 one year after pathway implementation (path groupII). 476 patients of modified radical mastectomy were also analyzed to examine whether the reduction of the length of hospital stay is from the hospital-wide trend or due to the critical pathway. Death after operation, ICU stay, unplanned re-operation, readmission after discharge, the length of hospital stay and cost were analyzed. 2-test, one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni and Turkey's test were used for statistical analysis. (1) There were no significant differences in patient clinical conditions and no sign of deterioration of quality from critical pathway. (2) The length of hospital stay was 13.0 days in control group, 12.2 days in path group I and 10.0 days (p<0.01) in path groupII. (3) The total costs during the hospital stay were reduced. However the cost per day was significantly increased from reduction of hospital stay (358,488won in control, 366,017won in path group I and 413,220won (p<0.01) in path groupII). Critical pathway reduced the length of hospital stay, total hospital costs and resource utilization without harming quality of patient care.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.123-131
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• 2016

Purpose: Human Papillomavirus(HPV) vaccination is the best prevention for cervical cancer. Therefore, this study was to examine the best predictors of HPV vaccination status in female nursing university students. Methods: Five hundred and forty junior and senior female nursing students from Seoul and provinces of Kyunggi, Chungcheong and Gyungsang completed paper and pencil questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, $x^2$ test, t-test, and multiple logistic regression with dummy variables were conducted using SAS 9.2. Results: Of the total students, 56.8% were vaccinated. As a result of the analysis of the bivariate relationships, family economic status, school type, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit and perceived barriers (cost, time, distance from hospital and side effects) were significantly related to vaccination status. After controlling for the general characteristics and the HPV related knowledge score, higher family economic status (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]: 3.78, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.21~11.76), private university (AOR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.14~2.53), higher perceived benefit (AOR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.47~2.20), lower perceived barrier (cost) (AOR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.74~0.99), lower perceived barrier (time) (AOR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.61~0.84), and lower perceived barrier (side effects) (AOR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.72~0.94) were significantly related to HPV vaccination. Perceived benefit, perceived barrier (time) and perceived barrier (side effects) were the top 3 predictors of HPV vaccination status. Conclusion: This study suggests that vaccinated female nursing students were more likely to be from higher family economic status and private universities and have a higher perception of benefit and a lower perception of barriers (cost, time, and side effects). Thus, efforts to increase HPV vaccination rates of female nursing students should focus on improving their perception of benefit while lowering their perception of barriers, particularly cost, time and side effects.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-29
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• 2011

In this study, we designed and constructed a very low-cost electronic board in order to test its efficiency in the classroom as well as provide an easy-to-follow model for front-line teachers to re-create and utilize for their own academic use. For our sample size, we tested 143 high school first grade students. In mathematical achievement, we found meaningful improvement in both genders but we did not find any meaningful gender differences. In the mathematical disposition test, we also found some meaningful changes in curiosity and flexibility in both genders but did not find any meaningful gender differences either. Based on this study, we propose using our low-cost electronic board system, which is easy to make and effective in mathematical achievement, instead of recently promoted high-cost electronic board systems.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.707-716
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• 2020

Objectives: This study aims to provide basic data for high-quality dental services. In addition, we will promote the operation of preventive dentistry that implements preventive measures. It was conducted to study the change of patient's treatment behavior and treatment cost due to the discontinuation of preventive dentistry in university dental hospitals. Methods: This study collected data using the integrated medical information system of the C University Dental Hospital. From September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2019, data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square test using SPSS version 24.0 statistical program, and T-test. Results: There was a significant difference in the number of preventive dental treatment cases from 58.3% of preventive dental operation periods to 41.7% of preventive dental operation periods. As a result of comparing the medical expenses, the total medical expenses during the preventive dental operation period decreased from 521,308,872 won to 379,724,995 won during the discontinuation period, 141,583,877 won. The number of medical treatments by treatment behavior decreased 3,835 (28.4%) from a total of 13,520 preventive dental operation periods to 9,685. Conclusions: This study is meaningful as the first study to confirm the change in the treatment behavior and the change in the cost of treatment due to the discontinuation of the operation of preventive dentistry at university dental hospitals. In conclusion, it is thought that there is a possibility of the lack of accessibility and the limitation of professional preventive care due to the discontinuation of preventive dentistry.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.349-357
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• 2013

Background: Although interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) is now available alternatives to tuberculin skin test (TST) for detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), the cost of IGRA test is much higher than TST. So economic analysis of LTBI screening strategies have been done in many countries, but there are few reports in Korea. This study examined cost analysis of LTBI screening strategies in Korea. Methods: The economic outcomes were evaluated by five strategies. These were 1) TST alone, 2) IGRA alone, 3) combination of TST and IGRA (TST followed by IGRA) and 4) no testing no prevention, 5) no testing all prevention. Last two strategies were added to compare with three main LTBI screening strategies. Decision analysis model were used to perform economic analysis. A cohort study of Korean Institute of Tuberculosis and the data of published literatures were used to estimate the cost analysis. Results: In a base-case scenario which was assumed that TST specificity was 80%, TST alone was the least expensive strategy. In a alternative scenario which was assumed that TST specificity was 97%, the combination of TST and IGRA was the least expensive strategy. Sensitivity analysis shows that patients adherent rate to LTBI treatment, TST sensitivity, IGRA sensitivity and IGRA specificity did not have a significant impact on the outcomes. Conclusion: In Korea, for the diagnosis of LTBI at the time of child and adolescent, TST alone reduces medical costs compared with IGRA alone or combination of TST and IGRA.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1649-1659
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• 2004

Text Generation is a process of generating comprehensible texts in human languages from some underlying non-linguistic representation of information. Among several sub-processes for text generation to generate coherent texts, this paper concerns referring expression generation which produces different types of expressions to refer to previously-mentioned things in a discourse. Specifically, we focus on pronominalization by zero pronouns which frequently occur in Korean. To build a generation model of referring expressions for Korean, several features are identified based on grammatical information and cost-based centering model, which are applied to various machine learning techniques. We demonstrate that our proposed features are well defined to explain pronominalization, especially pronominalization by zero pronouns in Korean, through 95 texts from three genres - Descriptive texts, News, and Short Aesop's Fables. We also show that our model significantly outperforms previous ones with a 99.9% confidence level by a T-test.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.331-338
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• 2021

This study used data from the 10rd and 15th year of the Korean Welfare Panel to evaluate the effects of the Energy Voucher Program(EVP) on the consumption and expenditure of EVP users' households. The study consisted of program group using EVP and control group not using. Chi-square and t-test were used for the characteristic differences among the groups, and the difference of consumption expenditure was identified by multiple regression analysis. As a result, EVP had a statistically significant effect on the health care costs of EVP users' households, resulting in an increase in health care costs(𝛽=3.06). However, there was no statistically significant effect on the total cost of living, basic cost, education cost, and recreation/entertainment cost. Therefore, in order to increase the effectiveness of the EVP system, it is required to improve the EVP system by expanding the level of benefits and easing the qualification standards for the eligibility for benefits.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.343-349
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• 2019

This study used data from the 3rd and 11th year of the Korean Welfare Panel to evaluate the effects of the Long-Term Care Insurance(LTCI) system on the consumption and expenditure of LTCI users' households. The study consisted of program group using LTCI and control group not using. Chi-square and t-test were used for the characteristic differences among the groups, and the difference of consumption expenditure was identified by multiple regression analysis. As a result, LTCI had a statistically significant effect on the health care costs of LTCI users' households, resulting in an increase in health care costs(${\beta}=3.06$). However, there was no statistically significant effect on the total cost of living, basic cost, education cost, and recreation/entertainment cost. Therefore, in order to show the effect of LTC system, we should try to reduce of self-pay and improve the contents and quality of the service of the LTC system.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2011

This study is to performed to find the optimum mix proportion of the high strength and self compacting concrete for the above-ground LNG storage tank construction and field application. If LNG storage tank wall thicknesscan be reduced, the construction cost and quality can be improved by using self-compacting high strength concrete with compressive strength 60~80 MPa. For this purpose, low heat cement (Type IV) and class F fly ash are used in concrete mix to control hydration heat, flowability, and viscosity. Mix design variables of unit water, fly ash replacement ratio, water-binder ratio, and fine aggregate ratio are selected and tested for material properties and manufacturing cost of the concrete. Also, fly ash replacement ratio is considered using confined water ratio test. The test results showed that the optimum mix proportion of the self-compacting high strength concrete characteristics are as follows. 1) In case of the concrete with specified compressive strength of 60 MPa, the optimum mix proportion is fly ash replacement ratio of 20% and water- binder ratio of 27~30%. 2) In case of the concrete with the strength of 80 MPa, the optimum mix proportion is fly ash replacement ratio of 10% and water-binder ratio 25%. But unit water and fine aggregate ratio are 165 $kg/m^3$ and $51{\pm}2%$, respectively, regardless of the traget concrete compressive strength range. Also, test results showed that concrete manufacturing cost of 60 MPa and 80 MPa concrete require additional costs of 14~22% and 33%, respectively, compared to the manufacturing cost of 40 MPa concrete. Therefore, application of the self-compacting high strength concrete has proven to be economical in the perspective of the material cost, quality control, and site management.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.389-398
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• 2020

Test cases in the existing weapon system software were created manually by the tester analyzing the test items defined in the software integration test procedure. However, existing test case generation method has two limitations. First, the quality of test cases can vary depending on the tester's ability to analyze the test items. Second, excessive time and cost may be incurred in writing test cases. This paper proposes a method to automatically generate test cases based on the requirements model and specifications to overcome the limitations of the existing weapon system software test case generation. Generate test sequences and test data based on the use case event model, a model representing the requirements of the weapon system software, and the use case specification specifying the requirements. The proposed method was applied to 8 target models constituting the avionics control system, producing 30 test sequences and 8 test data.