• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.47-67
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• 2007

This paper aims at suggesting several ways lo change financial vulnerability and to improve managerial capability of local public hospitals (LPHs) in Korea through the identification of factors affecting profitability. Several findings of the research are as follows: To begin with, LPHs exhibited a statistically significant difference in their profitability from one another, according to tile analyses of their profitable margins from tile general characteristics. It depends on the number of hospitals in the area, the population of the hospital-built area, the number of competing hospitals, the number of staff per 100 beds, the opening of special clinic, the educational function, and the capacity of rooms. However, there was no variable in the managerial characteristics, presenting a significant difference, in contrast with hospitals which have been managed by private companies and made a great amount of profits. Second, according to the analyses of profit differences in behavioral effort-characteristics, a statistically significant difference was revealed upon the basis of the efforts to improve the clinic service, invite special patients, and shorten the period of being hospitalized. Third, the result of analyses about the difference of profitability from medical care and finance is statistically significant in the rate of labor cost, the rate of management cost, bed-occupancy rate, and the period of being hospitalized. Fourth, according to the analyses of the factors influencing the net profit ratio of the entire capital, Adjusted explanatory power(Adjusted $R^2$) was shown up to 65.2%, which is high. To compare the adjusted explanatory power stage by stage, the first stage model applying only two variables such as structural and strategic characteristics exhibited 23.8%, and the second stage model adding financial characteristics showed 51.5%. The explanatory power was much improved up to 65.2% when the third stage model incorporated the outcome of medical care performance. When the return on investment(ROI) was examined by using the multi-variate linear regression analysis at the final model of third stage, it was found that ROI had a positive relationship with the increase rate of patients, labor costs per doctor, and medical care rate of socially protected inpatients. However, it revealed that ROI had a negative relationship with the ratio of labor costs, the number of patients per managerial staff, and occupancy rate of rooms, respectively. The research suggests that in order for LPHs to increase profitability, LPH, should make efforts not only to attract patients to the hospitals without any discrimination of the patients depending on their financial status, but also to develop efficient management methods to reduce labor costs.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.278-285
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• 2016

Epidemiological studies have shown the association between transportation of live animals and the potential transmission of infectious disease between premises. This finding was also observed in the 2014-2015 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Korea. Furthermore, slaughterhouses played a key role in the global spread of the FMD virus during the epidemic. In this context, in-depth knowledge of the structure of direct and indirect contact between slaughterhouses is paramount for understanding the dynamics of FMD transmission. But the social network structure of vehicle movements to slaughterhouses in Korea remains unclear. Hence, the aim of this study was to configure a social network topology of vehicle movements between slaughterhouses for a better understanding of how they are potentially connected, and to explore whether FMD outbreaks can be explained by the network properties constructed in the study. We created five monthly directed networks based on the frequency and chronology of on- and off-slaughterhouse vehicle movements. For the monthly network, a node represented a slaughterhouse, and an edge (or link) denoted vehicle movement between two slaughterhouses. Movement data were retrieved from the national Korean Animal Health Integrated System (KAHIS) database, which tracks the routes of individual vehicle movements using a global positioning system (GPS). Electronic registration of livestock movements has been a mandatory requirement since 2013 to ensure traceability of such movements. For each of the five studied networks, the network structures were characterized by small-world properties, with a short mean distance, a high clustering coefficient, and a short diameter. In addition, a strongly connected component was observed in each of the created networks, and this giant component included 94.4% to 100% of all network nodes. The characteristic hub-and-spoke type of structure was not identified. Such a structural vulnerability in the network suggests that once an infectious disease (such as FMD) is introduced in a random slaughterhouse within the cohesive component, it can spread to every other slaughterhouse in the component. From an epidemiological perspective, for disease management, empirically derived small-world networks could inform decision-makers on the higher potential for a large FMD epidemic within the livestock industry, and could provide insights into the rapid-transmission dynamics of the disease across long distances, despite a standstill of animal movements during the epidemic, given a single incursion of infection in any slaughterhouse in the country.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.89-93
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• 2018

High sodium dietary habits may cause various diseases, thereby threatening the public health. Various efforts have been made to control high sodium use in diets, but few studies have been conducted on health communication efforts to modify such habits. This study looks for suggestions for diet improvement education by examining whether or not high sodium dietary habits can be predicted by a consumer's perception on the threat and controllability of high sodium diets. In this study, a questionnaire was developed to measure the severity, vulnerability, efficiency, efficacy, and behavioral tendencies of the consumer, which were subscales of the protective motivation theory. The questionnaire was given to university students and their families in Chungnam Province. The results of a statistical analysis were as follows: First, more young people preferred high-sodium diets than older people. Second, the correlation analysis showed that older people knew that they were vulnerable to the negative effects of high sodium diets, but they would not change their dietary habits until they were confident that they could control the high-sodium diet. Third, the structural model analysis showed that the higher the coping perception was, the lower was the tendency to consume a high-sodium diet. These results suggest that in the effort to reduce high-sodium diets, it is more effective to provide viable information and improve efficacy.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.39-46
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• 2011

In correctional facilities with majority of occupants in custody, the safe evacuation guide without getaway accidents should be very important due to complexity in escape paths. Fire causes are various in correctional facilities, for example, arson fire is a major cause in mental treatment facilities, however, old facilities or carelessness of flammable materials consist of fire causes in jail facilities. Both types of correctional facilities are the same in terms of many casualties from the fire cases. The thesis focus on escape paths and evacuation guide plans on the basis of analysis on fire cases and structural vulnerability, and then an electronic unlocking system is concededly installed for safe evacuation of occupants in custody without getaway accidents. Especially, the effect of the electronic unlocking system is going to be analyzed on the basis of RSET (required safe egress time) in order to realize for the occupants to evacuate safely to the front yard in case of emergency. In conclusion, if electronic security allowed system with USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Networks) technology should be installed in multi-storey correctional buildings, it is proposed that the occupants in custody might be a guided safely without getaway trials.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.347-356
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• 2019

Recently, the liberalization of industrial control systems has been accompanied by a major change in the structural paradigm of information systems in the public and public sectors, and potential cyber security problems in the future major infrastructure control systems that cannot respond to the level of security of existing information systems. To cope with this, a cyber security evaluation tool that can evaluate security vulnerability in three dimensions against various infrastructure control system environment is needed. However, a cyber security evaluation in the domestic environments does not have the concept of the current security status and satisfy settings of the infrastructure. Also, the most of items in that environments have had short-term inspection themselves which makes a limitation by a technical area. In order to overcome this problems, many researches are needed to apply CSET (Cyber Security Evaluation Tool) which is the US cyber security evaluation tool to the control environment of various domestic infrastructure. In this paper, first, we analyze methods to apply to the major domain through the analysis of various case studies on existing security assessement tools. Finally, we discuss future directions.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.163-172
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• 2022

This study investigates the IPI (Information Protection Intention) of DHS (Digital Healthcare Service) providers by introducing PMT (Protection Motivation Theory). This study examines the effects of protection motivation, such as threat appraisal and coping appraisal, on IPI, such as ICI(Induction Control Intention) and SDI(Self Defense Intention). The research model, based on the PMT, adopted severity, vulnerability, reaction efficacy and self-efficacy as independent variables. The research model was validated through quantitative research, a survey of 222 DHS providers in South Korea, using structural equation modeling. The results show that (1) a clear awareness of the consequences of security threats increases the understanding of DHS providers on the severity of closure of healthcare information, and thus may decreases abuse of DHS by providers; (2) user confidence and satisfaction on the security system may make them be confident that they can handle the closure of healthcare information by themselves; and (3) although DHS providers are realizing the consequences of closure of healthcare information, they think that they are unlikely to encounter such situations. As a result of this study, venture companies that provide DHS need to provide contents that can continuously increase providers' security level in order to increase providers' information protection intention. It suggests that IPI is important through trust of healthcare service providers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.15-31
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• 2024

The study primarily aims to examine the characteristics of the transition from natural landscape to modern agricultural landscape on the Daesan plain in Dong-myeon, Changwon-si, in the lower reaches of the Nakdong River. The periods covered in the transition include the late Joseon Dynasty, the early Japanese colonial period, and the late Japanese colonial period. The study concluded the following: It was found that the Daesan Plain used to function as a hydrophilic landscape before it formed into a rural landscape. This is characterized by the various water resources in the Plain, primarily by the Nakdong River, with its back marsh tributaries, the Junam Reservoir and Jucheon. To achieve its recent form, the Daesan Plain was subjected to human trial and error. Through installation of irrigation facilities such as embankments and sluices, the irregularly-shaped wetlands were transformed into large-scale farmlands while the same irrigation facilities underwent constant renovation to permanently stabilize the rural landscape. These processes of transformation were similarly a product of typical colonial expropriation. During the Japanese colonial period, Japanese capitalists initiated the construction of private farms which led to the national land development policy by the Governor-General of Korea. These landscape changes are indicative of resource capitalism depicted by the expansion of agricultural production value by the application of resource capital to undeveloped natural space for economic viability. As a result, the hierarchical structure was magnified resulting to the exacerbation of community and economic structural imbalances which presents an alternative yet related perspective to the evolution of landscapes during the Japanese colonial period. In addition, considering Daesan Plain's vulnerability to changing weather conditions, natural processes have also been a factor to its landscape transformation. Such occurrences endanger the sustainability of the area as when floods inundate cultivated lands and render them unstable, endangering residents, as well as the harvests. In conclusion, the Daesan Plain originally took the form of a hydrophilic landscape and started significantly evolving into a rural landscape since the Japanese colonial period. Human-induced land development and geophysical processes significantly impacted this transformation which also exemplifies the several ways of how undeveloped natural landscapes turn into mechanized and capitalized rural landscapes by colonial resource capitalism and development policies.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.427-436
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• 2018

In this study, experimental and numerical analysis were performed on the survivability of a long pipe-type buoy structure in waves. The buoy structure is an articulated tower consisting of an upper structure, buoyancy module, and gravity anchor with long pipes forming the base frame. A series of experiment were performed in the ocean engineering basin of KRISO with the scaled model of 1/ 22 to evaluate the survivability of the buoy structure at West Sea in South Korea. Survival condition was considered as the wave of 50 year return period. Additional experiments were performed to investigate the effects of current and wave period. The factors considered for the evaluation of the buoy's survival were the pitch angle of the structure, anchor reaction force, and the number of submergence of the upper structure. Numerical simulations were carried out with the OrcaFlex, the commercial program for the mooring analysis, with the aim of performing mutual validation with the experimental results. Based on the evaluation, the behavior characteristics of the buoy structure were first examined according to the tidal conditions. The changes were investigated for the pitch angle and anchor reaction force at HAT and LAT conditions, and the results directly compared with those obtained from numerical simulation. Secondly, the response characteristics of the buoy structure were studied depending on the wave period and the presence of current velocity. Third, the number of submergence through video analysis was compared with the simulation results in relation to the submergence of the upper structure. Finally, the simulation results for structural responses which were not directly measured in the experiment were presented, and the structural safety discussed in the survival waves. Through a series of survivability evaluation studies, the behavior characteristics of the buoy structure were examined in survival waves. The vulnerability and utility of the buoy structure were investigated through the sensitivity studies of waves, current, and tides.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.438-457
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• 2019

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the entry types and locational determinants of North Korean workers in cross-border regions between North Korea and China. More specifically, the paper has attempted to divide the entry type of them in the regions into two; 1) entry via transactions between Chinese traders with North Korea and North Korea trade companies, and 2) entry via transactions between Korean-Chinese middlemen and North Korean trade companies. Also, it has analyzed main factors of their locational determinants in the spatial contexts of the regions. There have been changes in two perspectives in terms of the entry paths and types of them in accordance with the transformation of characteristics of United Nations sanction against North Korea from 'call-upon' to 'decide' after UN Security Council Resolution 2094 in 2013. Firstly, main agents who have dealing with North Korean trade companies which have right to dispatch North Korean workers have been changed from Chinese traders into Korean-Chinese brokers who are specialized in the introduction of North Korean workers with one-stop service from visa administrative to labor managements. Secondly, there has been a transfer of North Korean workers in the regions from formal to informal workers who has been admitted into China with a short stay or a tourist visa, and then remained illegally to be employed in China. Therefore, as demands on service which is able to guarantee the security of North Korean informal workers and their managements have increased, Korean-Chinese brokers have been stimulated in the regions after the operation of real international sanctions against overseas North Korean workers. In addition, the main factors of their locational determinants in cross-border regions between North Korea and China are could be analyzed in three perspectives; 1) an increase in real wages in accordance with the reform of the Chinese social insurance system after 2011, 2) the structural vulnerability of labor markets in the regions, 3) the utilization of stable and manageable workers.