• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.85-96
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• 2017

Existing agricultural reservoirs are considered as alternative source for the water welfare of rural area. In this study, domestic water supply potential of 476 reservoirs, which has storage capacity more than one million cubic meter, out of 3,377 agricultural reservoirs managed by Korean Rural Community Corporation (KRC) were investigated. Among them water quality of 136 reservoirs met the criteria of domestic water source which show less than COD 3 ppm. Available amount for domestic water of reservoirs, which meet the water quality, for ten year return period of drought was analyzed with reservoir water balance model. The results showed that 116 reservoirs has potential for supplementary domestic water supply while satisfying irrigation water supply. Finally, economic analysis using Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit-Cost (B/C) ratio, Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Profitability Index (PI) methods was also conducted. The analysis showed that 19 reservoirs satisfied economic feasibility when water is provided from reservoir outlet but only 9 reservoirs meet the economic feasibility if water delivered from a reservoir to treatment plant by newly built conveyance canal. In order to supply the domestic water through the agricultural reservoirs managed by KRC, it is necessary to flexibly interpret and operate the 'Rearrangement of Agricultural and Fishing village Act'. Also, it is reasonable to participate in the water service business when there is a supply request from other Ministries. In addition, the KRC requires further effort to change the crop system for saving water and improve efficiency of irrigation systems.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.19-41
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• 2011

Home shopping is called the flower of future distribution. Among them, for TV home shopping, Korea should lead the industry as an advanced country in IT technology. It is difficult for small and medium businesses, however. This is due to the failure of the policies of Korea Communications Commission. In order to complement such policy failure, this study intends to analyze the preceding domestic studies and foreign status, and reflect such on the policy. Especially the domestic business will be predicted through foreign home shopping status and policy cases, and the items that should be supplemented with governmental policy in order to vitalize small & medium businesses were analyzed; these should be actively reflected by the government. In case of general PP, it already runs on the registration system, and the home shopping channel should also be the same and be committed to the market. The increased number of channels would allow a greater opportunity for small and medium businesses who are the suppliers, and for the consumers, the product prices would be able to be stabilized at an appropriate cost and high quality and diversity of items could be obtained through home shopping, thus improving consumer welfare. If it is difficult to adopt the registration system for home shopping right away, the best alternative is to strengthen the approval system. As home shopping requires a re-approval every 3 years, strengthened re-approval conditions would resolve part of the problem.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.502-507
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• 2016

The transition from a carbon economy based on fossil fuels to a hydrogen economy is necessary to ensure energy security and to combat climate change. In order to pursue the transition to a hydrogen economy while achieving sustainable economic growth, a preliminary study into the establishment of the necessary infrastructure for the future hydrogen economy needs to be carried out. This study addresses the economic and environmental interactions in a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model focusing on the economic effects of the introduction of renewable energy into the Korean energy system. Firstly, the introduction of hydrogen results in an increase in the investment in hydrogen production and the reduction of the production cost, ultimately leading to GDP growth. Secondly, the mandatory introduction of renewable energy and associated government subsidies bring about a reduction in total demand. Additionally, the mandatory introduction of hydrogen energy into the power sector helps to reduce CO2 emissions through the transition from a carbon economy-based on fossil energy to a hydrogen economy. This means that hydrogen energy needs to come from non-fossil fuel sources in order for greenhouse gases to be effectively reduced. Therefore, it seems necessary for policy support to be strengthened substantially and for additional studies to be conducted into the production of hydrogen energy from renewable sources.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.91-113
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• 2002

We report and analyze the Korean physicians' recent general strike over the implementation of the Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Practice (SPDP) in which more than 18,000 private clinics and 280 hospitals participated. Utilizing game-theoretic models of bargaining we explain why the Korean physicians were so successful in organizing intense collective action against the government and securing very favorable policy outcomes. In particular, we highlight the role of distributional conflict among social actors in shaping the details of institutional reform. The introduction of the SPDP was a necessary first step in the overall reform of health care system in Korea. However, the SPDP was perceived to be a serious threat to the economic viability of their profession by the vast majority of Korean physicians who had long been relied on the profits from selling medicines to compensate for the loss of income due to the low service fee under the previous health care system. The strong political coalition among heterogeneous physicians enabled them to organize an intense form of collective action, the general strike. Thus, physicians were successful not only in dragging the government to a bargaining table, but also winning in the bargaining and securing an outcome vastly favorable to them. On the other hand, the lack of an overall reform plan in the health care policy area, especially the finance of the National Health Insurance and the need for maintaining an image as a successful reform initiator, motivated the government to reach a quick resolution with the striking physicians.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.69 no.6
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• pp.434-441
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• 2010

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health problem resulting in significant burden for patients and families. However, family caregivers' burden has not been well recognized. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the level of caregivers' burden and to explore the related factors based on family, patient, and social support factors. Methods: A face-to-face interview with 86 family caregivers who had been taking care of COPD patients was conducted. The participants answered a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included the level of family caregivers' burden, health status and the relationship within the family, functional limitation of patients perceived by family caregivers and the social support. Results: The level of caregivers' burden among participants was considerably high. Risk factors for caregivers' burden included low educational level of family caregivers, low family income, hours of caregiving, and functional limitation of the patients. Protective factors for caregivers' burden were good relationship within the family and support from other family members or friends. Conclusion: It is proved that family caregivers are facing significant burden in taking care of COPD patients. To reduce family caregivers' burden, it is necessary to address socioeconomic status of the family and to provide various community resources including financial support and nursing services.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.162-170
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• 2017

This study analyzed the current situation of medium and small-sized hospital nursing staff and related policies, and identified the factors that affect staffing level to provide evidence for planning and adopting policy. By analyzing the statistical data published by public institutions such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the result was viewed based on the understanding of various internal and external health care environments. The number of active nurses was less than 50% of the number of licensed nurses and has decreased every year. This means that the cost-effectiveness of increases in nursing college enrollment should be reconsidered. Inpatient nursing fees by staffing grades has caused nurses to move from medium and small-sized hospitals, where there is a severe lack of staff, to more advanced general hospitals. As a result, the lack of nursing staff in medium and small-sized hospitals has worsened. In conclusion, reexamination is needed to improve effectiveness of inpatient nursing fees by staffing grades as a policy to secure the workforce of medium and small-sized hospitals. Furthermore, the tracking management system of licensed nurses must be able to solve the imbalance between demand and supply of nursing staff.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.3499-3510
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• 2015

To cope with the increased demand on the intra-city transportation by urban rails, the introduction of the light rail transit (LRT) systems has been expedited in Korea due to the possible reduction of both the development and operation costs from adopting LRT systems. The LRT systems have so far been designed, constructed and operated based on the corresponding law and regulations. It has been conceived that fully complying with the existing guidelines may incur some extra costs on LRT. In addition, the present design of LRT stations seems to require unnecessarily long flow of passengers traffic, particularly for disabled people. In this paper, as an approach to solving the aforementioned issues, an introduction of 'LRT stops' has been studied where the stops are similar in concept to bus stops and are intended to replace the stations of a bigger scale in general. Specifically, necessary guidelines for design have been developed by modifying the existing ones to be fit with LRT stops. A design case was also presented to evaluate them. The effective use of the results reported here will provide an opportunity of cost reduction in connection with the construction and operation, and also let people benefit from convenient use of rails, thereby resulting in enhanced transportation welfare.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.4031-4039
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• 2015

The problems related with blood supply shortage and the stability of blood transfusion are on the rise, as it is expected that the blood doners will decrease but the blood use amount for aged population will increase, owing to low birth and aged population increase. The purpose of this study is to analyze the hospital characteristics which affect patients receiving and non-receiving blood transfusion for the knee and hip total replacement arthroplasty. Data were collected from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service's 2011 sample data, and 5,370 inpatients were abstracted from them. Logistic regression analysis was performed, using SPSS 20. Independent variables used are hospital characteristics variables and patient characteristics variables. Hospital characteristics variables are hospital type, ownership, residence and the number of usable beds, and patient characteristics variables are gender, age, severity, type of anesthesia, main diagnosis, whether or not of anemia and insurance class. At the result of this study, it was found that hospital type, region, gender, age, severity, main diagnosis and whether or not of anemia were the factors that mostly affected the blood transfusion for knee arthroplasty. And hospital type, residence, gender, age, severity, type of anesthesia and whether of not of anemia were the factors that mostly affected the blood transfusion for hip arthroplasty. In addition to that, it is expected that this research which analyzed the present state of blood transfusion and its influence factors are cost effective, and would make a good use of preliminary data for good quality of medical service.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.366-375
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of hospital, hospitalization, medical service, discharge and power of medical care patients who are concerned about moral hazard. We conducted focus group interview with 3 medical care patients and their families and 5 workers who had worked for more than 4 years in a nursing hospital. The main results and implications are as follows. First, admission to nursing hospitals was mostly based on the linkage between the medical institutions and the competition to attract the patients rather than the choice of the patients. Second, the main cause of the long-term hospitalization of medical assistance patients was the lack of social protection measures such as absences of residence and care giver, although there are factors that cause moral hazard such as low self-pay. Third, most of the patients were in need of treatment, but they were admitted to the hospital even though their needs were not higher than those of the health insurance patients. Fourth, the rehabilitation service is the mainstay of the medical service of the nursing hospital, and the roles of nursing staff and care givers are important. Fifth, medical care patients are paying medical expenses for nursing hospitals due to cost of living and family support, but they are exempted from the hospital expenses or the burden of their own expenses in the hospital. Sixth, public institutions and social welfare institutions have not managed continuously since commissioning patients to nursing hospitals and have neglected the connection with community services after discharge.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2021

Recently, housing prices in metropolitan areas is also increasing in the UK and Australia. Their governments are trying to solve this problem by the housing development in the quarry sites near cities. The cases reviewed in this study, Erith Hill Quarry (The Quarry), Plymstock Quarry, Lilydale Quarry (Kinley), and Bombo Quarry are the mixed-used development cases in the closed quarry sites through the urban planning system. In the UK, the local government uses the urban planning scheme such as the planning permit system, section 106. The local government permits the quarry site development on the condition that it provides necessary public facilities, such as schools and affordable housing for the local community. In Australia, local governments use up-zoning permission rights to convert land uses in quarries from industrial to mixed-use. Development plans have to include urban infrastructure and open space in addition to affordable housings. In the case of Australia, establishing a development plan in advance and filling the quarry pit with overburden through a phased development is expected to have the effect of reducing the project cost. Both countries think that developing brownfields, such as quarry sites, is a more sustainable and eco-friendly development from the perspective of future generations than developing new green fields. Such a perspective of the UK and Australia will be able to give policy implications for our slightly rigid urban development system.