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This study examined the disagreement between an insurer’s recommendation for long-term care (LTC) services and beneficiaries’ choices and analyzed the factors associated with the disagreement. Data from the National Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) and the Standard Care Plan were merged to create a dataset of 43,319 LTCI beneficiaries. The dependent variable was the disagreement between beneficiaries and insurers. Predisposing, enabling, and needs factors were independent variables based on the Andersen’s Model. Disagreement between the insurer’s recommendation of home care services and the beneficiaries’ choice of institution service was 6.7% (n = 2357). The opposite disagreement occurred in 23.0% (n = 1820) of cases. A multivariate analysis showed that the OR for disagreement between insurer-recommended home care services and beneficiary-selected institution services increased with age, living with someone, having Medical Aid, living in a facility, and having high care needs, dementia, and poor subjective hearing. The OR for disagreement between insurer-recommended institution service and beneficiary-selected home care service increased for men and decreased for those 90 years or older, living with someone, having Medicaid etc, and living at institution. Korean beneficiaries of LTCI have a high preference for aging in their home, and changes in LTCI contents must be made to address the needs of this population.

Aim The purpose of the present study was to identify the relationship between staff mix in nursing homes and quality of care by level of case mix in Korea. Methods Data used in the present study came from Long-Term Care Insurance claims data with basic information of nursing homes with >29 beds (n = 1137) and quality evaluation reports. Staff mix was calculated as the number of nursing staff, social workers and care workers per total staff number. Results In multinomial logistic regression analyses, institutions with a higher ratio of social workers were classified as top-quality class institutes after controlling ownership, location, size and percentage of high level of care needs residents. In analyzing the higher case mix nursing homes, institutions with a high ratio of nursing staff and social workers were more likely to be classified as top-quality class than the lowest class institutions. However, there was no significant association between quality of care and ratio of staff mix in the lower case mix nursing homes. Conclusions A higher staff mix was positively related to nursing home quality of care, but the relationship was affected by case mix of residents' care demand. Therefore, the current minimum staffing standard for personnel in nursing homes should be modified considering the acuity of the residents. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 438-443.

Humans play sports to improve their athletic ability. The robot, especially humanoid robot, is also able to improve its athletic performances, such as reaction speed and balancing, through robot sports. Therefore, robots have been developed through performing various robot sports events such as robot soccer, robot marathon, robot fight and so on. In this reason, The Ski Robot Challenge was held in South Korea in commemoration of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. The event was an Alpine slalom skiing competition in the almost same rules to human's but on a relatively short course (80m). To participate in this ski tournament, the skiing robot DIANA has been developed. In this video, the skiing robot technologies were introduced. At first, she must be able to recognize the flags. The deep learning method was used to recognize them. Secondly, she had a motion pattern to perform the carving turn, the most difficult and fastest skiing technique. In order to improve the stability, she compensated her motion to follow reference COP, based on the measured F/T sensor data. In addition, IMU sensor was used to remove instantaneous disturbance. Using these methods, the humanoid robot, DIANA, that can perform the carved turn on a realworld slope was successfully developed.

This paper describes the technical approach, hardware design, and software algorithms that have been used by Team THOR in the DARPA Robotics Challenge DRC Trials 2013 competition. To overcome big hurdles such as a short development time and limited budget, we focused on forming modular components-in both hardware and software-to allow for efficient and cost-effective parallel development. The hardware of THOR-OP Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot-Open Platform consists of standardized, advanced actuators and structural components. These aspects allowed for efficient maintenance, quick reconfiguration, and most importantly, a relatively low build cost. We also pursued modularity in the software, which consisted of a hybrid locomotion engine, a hierarchical arm controller, and a platform-independent remote operator interface. These modules yielded multiple control options with different levels of autonomy to suit various situations. The flexible software architecture allowed rapid development, quick migration to hardware changes, and multiple parallel control options. These systems were validated at the DRC Trials, where THOR-OP performed well against other robots and successfully acquired finalist status.

One of the most difficult problems involving installing a rescue robot into a disaster site is maintaining constant communication. In a disaster site, it is highly probable that facilities for communication have been destroyed or rendered inoperative. Therefore, it should be assumed that nearby communication devices cannot be used, limiting communication to the equipment native to the robot itself. In this paper, we propose the operation of a segmented robot capable of multi-hop communication to overcome environments with limited communication options. As the robot that is composed of several detachable modules enters a disaster area, detaches the part equipped with a wireless router, as some lizards would shed their tail, and attempts multi-hop communication to secure reliable wireless communication when the signal strength becomes weak. In this paper, we introduce a method for multi-hop communication in segmented robots. In particular, the method by which a GUI using ROS can be constructed to operate a robot is also introduced.

Objective The injury-related disease burden in South Korea is relatively high compared to that in other nations. This study was conducted to identify the scale and causes of injury by severity, using an injury pyramid and analyzing the sex and age-dependent differences and the basic demographic characteristics. Methods Unintentional injury was estimated for each group after classifying injury-related deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatient department (OPD) visits based on their severity. The injury pyramid was calculated by classifying the injury outcomes into deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatient visits. Results The incidence of unintentional injury included 31.74 deaths, 1,715.27 hospitalizations, and 7,317.55 OPD visits per 100,000 persons. The incidence of injury was higher among males than that among females. There were more hospitalizations and OPD visits than deaths among females. The mortality and hospitalization rates due to injury per 100,000 persons were the highest among those ≥75 years old, and the OPD visit rate was the highest among preschool children aged 0 to 6 years. The injury mechanisms that caused most deaths and hospitalizations in South Korea were injuries related to traffic, falls, poisoning, and burns/fires. Conclusion The scale of unintentional injury varies based on sex, age, and injury mechanism; additionally there are differences in the incidence of injuries between males and females depending on their age and injury mechanism. The high incidence of injury in elderly people could be a factor that increases the burden of injury in South Korea; hence, it is necessary to develop an injury prevention program that targets the elderly.

Background: This study was to provide an analysis of long-term care hospitals in major foreign countries and to ultimately drive suggestions for the role of the long-term care hospital system in Korea. Methods: Services, composition of the workforce, admission criteria, and collaboration with related organization were reviewed. Japan, Canada, United States (US) and the Netherlands were selected for analysis using the case study research method. Results: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defined long-term care hospital as long-term care beds in hospitals. A few OECD countries institutionalized long-term care beds in hospitals, focusing at palliative care or geriatric care. In Japan, Canada, US, and the Netherlands, all having similar long-term care hospitals as Korea, a key difference was that the hospitals in these four countries provide comprehensive post-acute and nursing care. They have clearly defined admission criteria by preadmission review and systemization of referral from other organizations. Conclusion: Based on this review of the systems in foreign countries serving as examples for Korea and considering the policy needs and the present problems raised by providers, discussions on the future role of long-term care hospitals in Korea should be conducted.

This paper describes the hardware design and motion control algorithms that have been used by Team THOR in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials 2013 competition. The robotic hardware we use, the THOR-OP robot, consists of standardized and general purpose actuators and structural components, which greatly reduce the build and reconfiguration time and allows for quick field repair capability. Our software framework is also composed of fully modular function modules. This modular structure helps us to keep up easily with hardware changes and to have multiple control options to suit various situations. We validated our approach at the DRC Trials where we fared well against other robots many times more expensive and acquired the finalist status.

Impact of Nurse Staffing Level and Oral Care on Hospital Acquired Pneumonia in Long-term Care Hospitals Chae, Jung Mi · Song, Hyunjong · Kang, Gunseog · Lee, Ji Yun Health Insurance Review & Assessment Research Department Department of Health Policy and Management, Sangji University Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Soongsil University Department of Nursing, Kangwon National University