Korean Resource Center

Anomaly detection in financial transactions is a critical component in combating fraud, ensuring regulatory compliance, and safeguarding user trust. With the increasing complexity of online transaction system, traditional rule-based methods are often insufficient in identifying subtle or evolving fraud patterns. Deep generative models, particularly Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), have emerged as powerful tools for unsupervised anomaly detection in high-dimensional financial datasets. However, these methods often suffer from a lack of interpretability, limiting their adoption in transparent and regulated financial environments. To address this gap, we propose an explainable generative AI framework that integrates attention-enhanced VAE architectures with post-hoc interpretability tools such as SHAP. Our model not only detects anomalous behavior but also offers transaction-level attribution that help human analysts understand the reasoning behind outlier classification. Evaluated on the IEEE-CIS Fraud Detection dataset, the model demonstrates high performance in identifying rare fraudulent patterns while maintaining a balance between detection accuracy and interpretability. The proposed methodology represents a significant step towards the practical deployment of explainable generative AI in financial anomaly detection workflow.

The increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its complications including cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease threaten Korean Americans (KAs). High dietary sodium intake contributes to both conditions. The purpose of the study was to assess dietary sodium consumption and to examine the predictors of sodium intake among KA with T2DM. A total 232 KA who had uncontrolled diabetes participated in this study. The majority of the sample (69%) consumed more sodium than current national guidelines. A high level of energy intake was the strongest predictor for sodium intake with gender and marital status also related. Our findings identified predictive factors to excessive sodium intake and these data support the need for culturally-tailored education about appropriate dietary sodium and energy intake are needed for patients about T2DM.

The study's objectives were to calculate the costs and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of implementing a health literacy-focused intervention to promote breast and cervical cancer screenings among Korean American women overdue for these tests. Researchers estimated the costs of a cluster-randomized controlled trial that evaluated this intervention. Effectiveness was measured as the number of breast or cervical cancer screenings received by women in either the intervention and control arms of the study. Cost-effectiveness was calculated as the incremental cost of each additional screening received by the intervention group. Comparing the intervention and control group, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was estimated to be US$236 per screening, without program development costs. These findings suggest this program, when compared with others, offered a more cost-effective approach for promoting cancer screening. Local health officials could use this information to guide decisions about reducing cancer disparities among recent immigrant women.

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the level of compliance of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) and its relation to blood pressure (BP) control among hypertensive adults in a community setting. A total of 377 middle-aged Korean Americans with high BP participated in this study. Along with structured behavioral education, the participants were instructed to measure their BP 3 times in a row upon waking and thrice again at bedtime, at least 2 or more times a week for 48 weeks. Using multivariate logistic regression, the authors examined the patterns and factors affecting HBPM and its relation to BP control status. The analyses revealed that older participants were more compliant with the HBPM instruction than were younger participants (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 5.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.77–15.81) and those with more depressive symptoms were less compliant (OR, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.04–0.88). Participants who were more compliant to HBPM instruction were 4 times more likely than those who were noncompliant to have controlled their BP by the end of the intervention period (OR, 4.28; 95% CI, 1.79–10.23). These results suggest that the participants who checked their BP regularly at home had a stronger tendency to achieve BP control.

Today's Korean American elderly are predominantly first-generation immigrants who face stern challenges of acculturation, which is often associated with depression. Social support has been identified as an effective personal resource for alleviating acculturative stress and achieving better mental health outcomes. The purposes of this study were to describe available sources of social support utilized by Korean elders and to examine the relationships among acculturative stress, social support, and depression. In particular, social support was operationalized as an integrative concept encompassing the size of the social network, satisfaction with the support received, and appraisals of the level of social support. This study was a secondary data analysis of an existing survey of 205 elderly Korean immigrants (>or=60 years) in a major metropolitan city on the East coast. Adult children were found to be the main source of support utilized by elders, even when the elder had a living spouse. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that higher acculturative stress and lower social support were associated with higher depression scores after demographics and health status were controlled for, whereas network size and satisfaction with support were not. Future interventions should address the cultural/social needs of these immigrants, not only by reinforcing their existing social network but also by providing additional support for their family members to prevent social isolation and depression in the population.