• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.631-640
• /
• 2019

Thorium ($^{232}Th$) is four times more abundant than uranium in nature and has become a new important source of energy in the future. This is due to the ability of thorium to undergo the bombardment of neutron to produce uranium-233 ($^{233}U$). The aim of this study is to investigate the production cost of thorium oxide ($ThO_2$) resulted from the thorium extraction process. Four main parameters were studied which include raw material and chemical cost, total capital investment, direct cost and indirect cost. These parameters were justified to obtain the final production cost for the thorium extraction process. The result showed that the raw material costs were $63,126.00 - $104,120.77 (0.5 ton), $126,252.00 - $178,241.53 (1.0 ton), and $1,262,520.00 - $1,782,415.33 (10.0 tons). The total installed equipment and total cost investment were estimated to be approximately $11,542,984.10 and $13,274,431.715 respectively. Hence, the total costs for producing 1 kg $ThO_2$ were $6829.79 - $6911.78, $3540.95 - $3592.94, and $501.18 - $553.17 for 0.5, 1.0, and 10.0 tons respectively. The result concluded that with higher mass production, the cost of 1 kg $ThO_2$ would be reduced which in this scenario, the lowest production cost was $$501.18kg^{-1}$-$$553.17kg^{-1}$ for 10.0 tons of $ThO_2$ production.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.591-596
• /
• 2014

This study investigates the perception of the sunken costs of an urban development project, which is currently a social problem through a questionnaire survey. The results indicate that local and federal governments, political authorities, association members, landowners, etc. partially recognize their responsibility in bearing the sunken cost. It is also found that all stakeholders who participated in the maintenance project felt shared responsibility of bearing the sunken costs and exchanging solutions to mitigate the same, rather than making one party deal with the same. This study also suggests that with regard to reducing these sunken costs, the public sector should offer indirect support (by bearing the cost of infrastructure, tax benefits, regulation relaxation, etc.) rather than direct support so that the association members can make a reasonable choice on the project execution.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.25-34
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study is to calculate and compare construction costs for On-Site Construction and Off-Site Construction in Plant Project. For this purpose, the target for calculating the construction cost was limited to the Pipe Rack(Steel Structure and Piping). The results derived according to the purpose of the study are as follows. 1)The direct construction cost for On-Site Pipe Rack construction was KRW 56 billion, with Steel Structure KRW 25.1 billion and Piping KRW 30.8 billion won. 2)Comparing the rate of change between On-Site Construction and Off-Site Construction, material costs increased by 1.9% and expenses by 192.1%, but labor costs decreased by -9.1%, resulting in a total direct construction cost increase of 8.4%. These results can be used as reference data to check the current status of the increase or decrease in construction costs when constructing Pipe Racks as Off-Site Construction.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.259-264
• /
• 2008

A national consultative project entitled "corrosion cost survey in China and preventive strategies" was funded by the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1998. Soon afterwards, an expert group was organized jointly by the Institute of Metal Research, CAS and Chinese Society of Corrosion and Protection. The report on corrosion cost survey in China was published in 2003. According to this report the overall annual corrosion cost in China estimated by the Uhlig Method and Hoar Method at 1997-2001 was found to be 200.7 billion Yuan RMB and 228.8 billion Yuan RMB respectively, which is equivalent to 2% of the gross national product of China. However the total cost of corrosion including the direct and indirect cost was estimated to be more than 500 billion Yuan RMB per year in China. Among them, corrosion cost of infrastructure ranked in first comparing with other sectors. Although corrosion costs in some sectors, such as electric power, petrochemical, oil pipeline and railway in China has reduced in the past years, significant losses are still being encountered in most sectors of industries and cost-effective methods have not always been implemented. Both successful and unsuccessful cases in corrosion control and corrosion management were collected. As the investment in capital construction continues increasing rapidly in China, the maintenance and life extension of the infrastructures will become a big issue. The preventive strategies have been suggested

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.42
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 2000

Dwindling supplies and increasing costs of conventional highway materials used in road construction as well as concerns over shrinking landfill spaces prompt researchers to investigate the use of waste products, such as fly ash, as substitute materials in highway construction. The highway industry is capable of utilizing waste materials in large quantities if their effect on pavement performance proves to be technically, economically and environmentally satisfactory. This research examines the effects of fly ash when used as partial replacement of aggregate in asphaltic concrete mixtures. And measuring the effect of fly ash on bulk specific gravity, air void, indirect tensile strength (ITS) under dry and wet conditioning as well as the tensile strength ratio (TSR) of asphaltic concrete mixture. The results indicated that asphaltic concrete mixtures containing 2% and 5% fly ash produced about the same TSR value as control mixture. And all of the mixtures met the minimum ITS and TSR requirements established by the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SC DOT) for Type 1A surface courses. At this point and with this limited study, these asphaltic concrete mixtures is recommended in several applications such as parking lot, secondary roads and driveways.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.54-60
• /
• 2015

The objective of this study is to develop a belt-type dryer with a capacity of 1 ton/day, thereby improving drying efficiency by more than 70% and reducing the size of dryers by more than 50%, and thus making dryers smaller and lighter to reduce the installation and operation costs by more than 20%. We identified structural improvements by analyzing existing dryers employing indirect heating and verified the superior drying performance of the proposed method through some basic experiments. Furthermore, we verified the improvements in the heat transfer and drying characteristics as we conducted the experiments at reduced pressure.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.51 no.9
• /
• pp.977-986
• /
• 2008

Purpose : This study aims to estimate the financial cost of rotavirus infection in Korea in the year of 2005. Methods : The incidence rates used were from the epidemiological profile at Jeoungeub District (5.8 cases/1,000 children <5 years old for inpatients, and 22.65 cases/1,000 children <5 years old for outpatients, per year). The health care cost per capita of rotavirus infection (ICD code: A08.0) was extracted from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database in Korea. The patient survey was conducted to capture information about non-medical costs and associated productivity loss incurred by adult caregivers. Results : The number of annual national cases among children <5 years old with rotavirus infection was estimated to be 69,122 (i.e., 55,030 outpatients and 14,092 inpatients). The total cost of rotavirus infection was estimated at 13.3 billion Korean won, comprising 11 billion Korean won (82.7%) of direct medical costs, 1.6 billion Korean won (12.0%) of direct non-medical costs (e.g., transportation and supplies), and 0.68 billion Korean won (5.1%) of productivity lost by adult caregivers. Conclusion : Rotavirus infection carries not only medical costs but also non-medical and indirect costs; together, these costs incur a significant burden on South Korean society. The impact of rotavirus on quality of life and health among patient caregivers was not considered in this study, but it does merit further research.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.179-222
• /
• 2011

This research investigates the influence of relational characteristics on 'co-defection', customer defection following salesperson turnover, in the context of salesperson-customer relationship. Based on the social exchange theory, it was hypothesized that perceived relational benefits and switching costs affect directly the customer's intentions to defect. Key constructs in relationship marketing such as customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty were hypothesized to affect the customer's intention to defect as well as perceived relational benefits and switching costs. The results of structural equation modeling using a survey sample of 503 insurance customers who purchased life insurance policies through salespersons unveiled that the customer satisfaction with salesperson and the customer trust in salesperson strongly influence the salesperson-owned customer loyalty. However, they did not have significant direct effects on co-defection intentions. All paths from salesperson-owned customer loyalty to perceived relational benefits and perceived switching costs were also significant. Salesperson-owned customer loyalty did not have significant direct effects on co-defection intentions, but it had significant indirect effects on co-defection intentions through relational benefits and switching costs. Three sub-dimensions of perceived relational benefits had significant positive effects on co-defection intentions while the perceived switching costs had significant negative effects on co-defection intentions. The significance of our research findings were verified by comparing the hypothesized model and the rival model in the past studies.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.331-345
• /
• 2012

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of operational practices of contract foodservice management company on relationship quality and recontract intention. To verify research model, 126 data were collected from client companies of E contract foodservice management company and analyzed using structural equation modeling and multiple regression. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, direct factors such as operational costs, menu management, and service management had significant influences on food service quality. On the other hand, indirect factors such as operational supportability, brand image, and capacity of sales management were not important to food service quality. Second, indirect operational practices had significant effects on trust. That is, when operational supportability was increased, brand image was enhanced, and capacity of sales management was strengthened, client company's trust on contract foodservice company was increased. Among them, brand image showed the highest effect. Also, direct practices such as operational costs, menu management, and sanitary/facilities management significantly influenced on trust. Third, food service quality significantly affected trust. Finally, only trust had significant effect on recontract intention but food service quality did not. This means that food service quality alone is not enough to earn recontract intention. Relationship marketing efforts to form trust should be made between contract foodservice company and client company.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.71-88
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study is to analyze the cost-effectiveness of four medications for treating and preventing osteoporosis -HRT therapy(conjugated equine estrogen 0.625mg for 25 days and medroxyprogesterone acetate 5mg for 01112 days), Alendronate(10mg and 5mg), Active Vitamin D(Calcitriol), and Calcium. Total costs include the direct medical cost -examination fee, consultation fee, prescription fee, fee for preparing medications, and the price of pharmaceuticals- and the indirect cost of patients such as traffic expenses and time cost. In addition, the costs of monitoring in adverse reactions are added. The effects of four medications are expressed as BMD(Bone Mineral Density) percent change measured by DEXA(Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) in lumbar spine(L2-L4) and femoral neck site. A mixed model based on meta analysis provides the estimates of effectiveness, which are then appled to the hypothetical cohort consisting of postmenopausal women at the age of 50-59. HRT therapy is the most cost-effective medication at 172,433.64 won (lumbar spine site) and 546,328.28 won (femoral neck site) per BMD percent change for osteoporosis. Alendronate 10mg is more cost-effective than Alendronate 5mg as 345,971.23 won and 378,441.63 won per lumbar BMD percent change at 0.991ｇ/$cm^2$, respectively. Alendronate 10mg is more cost-effective than Alendronate 5mg as 1,329,257.89 won and 1,467,291.23 won per femoral neck BMD percent change at 0.834ｇ/$cm^2$, respectively.