• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.10-18
• /
• 2020

Background: The elevated risk of occupational infection such as tuberculosis among health workers in many countries raises the question of whether the quality of occupational health and safety (OHS) and infection prevention and control (IPC) can be improved by auditing. The objectives of this study were to measure (1) audited compliance of primary health-care facilities in South Africa with national standards for OHS and IPC, (2) change in compliance at reaudit three years after baseline, and (3) the inter-rater reliability of the audit. Methods: The study analyzed audits of 60 primary health-care facilities in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Baseline external audits in the time period 2011-2012 were compared with follow-up internal audits in 2014-2015. Audits at 25 facilities that had both internal and external audits conducted in 2014/2015 were used to measure reliability. Results: At baseline, 25% of 60 facilities were "noncompliant" (audit score<50%), 48% "conditionally compliant" (score >50 < 80%), and only 27% "compliant" (score >80%). Overall, there was no significant improvement in compliance three years after baseline. Percentage agreement on specific items between internal and external audits ranged from 28% to 92% and kappa from -0.8 to 0.41 (poor to moderate). Conclusion: Low baseline compliance with OHS-IPC measures and lack of improvement over three years reflect the difficulties of quality improvement in these domains. Low inter-rater reliability of the audit instrument undermines the audit process. Evidence-based investment of effort is required if repeat auditing is to contribute to occupational risk reduction for health workers.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.83-97
• /
• 2021

Background: The lifetime risk of lung cancer incidence due to radiation for nonsmokers is overestimated because of the use of the average cancer baseline risk among a mixed population, including smokers. In recent years, the generalized multiplicative (GM)-excess relative risk (ERR) model has been developed in the life span study of atomic bomb survivors to consider the joint effect of radiation and smoking. Based on this background, this paper discusses the issues of radiation risk assessment considering smoking in two parts. Materials and Methods: In Part 1, we proposed a simple method of estimating the baseline risk for nonsmokers using current smoking data. We performed sensitivity analysis on baseline risk estimation to discuss the birth cohort effects. In Part 2, we applied the GM-ERR model for Japanese smokers to calculate lifetime attributable risk (LAR). We also performed a sensitivity analysis using other ERR models (e.g., simple additive (SA)-ERR model). Results and Discussion: In Part 1, the lifetime baseline risk from mixed population including smokers to nonsmokers decreased by 54% (44%-60%) for males and 24% (18%-29%) for females. In Part 2, comparison of LAR between SA- and GM-ERR models showed that if the radiation dose was ≤200 mGy or less, the difference between these ERR models was within the standard deviation of LAR due to the uncertainty of smoking information. Conclusion: The use of mixed population for baseline risk assessment overestimates the risk for lung cancer due to low-dose radiation exposure in Japanese males.

• PNF and Movement
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study investigates the effects of task-oriented training for a left trunk flexion pattern using real-time ultrasound imaging in a stroke patient with unilateral neglect symptoms. Methods: This study used the ABA experimental design, which is a single-subject research method among individual case research methods. For the ABA experimental design, changes in the degree of unilateral neglect, balance ability, and the thickness of the lateral abdominal muscle were visually analyzed during the baseline process, in the intervention period, and after the intervention. The experiments were performed 24 times in total for 8 times in each of the 3 periods. The unilateral neglect was measured using the Albert test, balance ability was measured using the Berg balance test, and the thickness of the lateral abdominal muscle was measured using ultrasound imaging. The subject was a 50-year-old male patient with unilateral neglect caused by right cerebral hemorrhage. He performed task-oriented training for a voluntary left trunk flexion pattern using real-time ultrasound imaging during the intervention period. Results: The result of comparing the data collected during the intervention period with the data point average of the baseline process showed that balance ability improved and the tendency line was above the baseline. The tendency line of unilateral neglect was below the baseline and showed a decreasing tendency. The thickness of the lateral abdominal muscle showed an increasing trend and the tendency line was above the baseline. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the task-oriented training for left trunk flexion pattern using real-time ultrasound imaging has a beneficial effect on balance ability, the degree of unilateral neglect, and the strength of the lateral abdominal muscle in unilateral neglect patients.

• PNF and Movement
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.123-132
• /
• 2014

Purpose: The discovery of mirror neuron system may positively affect functional recovery; therefore, rehabilitation is needed that is practical for use in clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of action observation training on upper motor function in people who had suffered strokes. Methods: Three elderly patients with stroke, aged to years, were recruited from a stroke rehabilitation center. A nonconcurrent, multiple baseline subject approach was taken, with an A-B-A treatment single-subject experimental design, and the experiment was conducted for 3 weeks. The action observation training was repeated 5 times in 5 days during the intervention period. The arm function, including WMFT, BBT, and grip and pinch strength, was evaluated in each subject 5 times during the baseline period, the intervention period, and the baseline regression period. Results: The results of the evaluation for each subject were presented as mean values and video graphs. The WMFT scores of 2 subjects were improved during the intervention period in comparison with the baseline period, and this improvement was maintained even during the regression baseline period. The BBT and the grip and pinch strength were not improved. Conclusion: Based on these results, we suggest that the action observation training for 5 sessions was effective in improving upper limb function of stroke patients but was not effective in improving hand dexterity or grip and pinch strength.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.72-84
• /
• 2023

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of whole-body vibration stimulation training on the thickness of the transversus abdominis muscle and the balance of sitting posture in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Design: Single-subject design(A-B-A-B). Methods: The subjects of this study were 9 children with spastic cerebral palsy. The study period was 12 weeks in total, and the baseline period and the intervention period were each assigned 3 weeks. Intervention was conducted twice a week for 30 minutes. During the baseline period, trunk stabilization exercise was performed, and during the intervention period, trunk stabilization exercise and whole-body vibration stimulation training were performed. Measurements were carried out at before the experiment, baseline 1, intervention 1, baseline 2, intervention 2 and the total number of measurements was 5 times. Repeated ANOVA was performed to compare the effects of exercise according to the intervention method. Results: The thickness of the transversus abdominis muscle and the balance of the sitting posture were statistically significantly increased compared to the baseline during whole-body vibration stimulation training (p<.05). Conclusion: Therefore, it was confirmed that whole-body vibration stimulation training improved the thickness of the transversus abdominis muscle in children with spastic cerebral palsy and was an effective intervention method for improving sitting posture balance.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.56 no.5
• /
• pp.449-457
• /
• 2023

Objectives: This study investigated the association between baseline exposures to particulate matter with a diameter <2.5 microns (PM_2.5) and subsequent temporal changes in PM_2.5 exposure with the incidence of type 2 diabetes among Royal Thai Army personnel. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using nationwide health check-up data from 21 325 Thai Army personnel between 2018 and 2021. Multilevel mixed-effects parametric survival statistics were utilized to analyze the relationship between baseline (i.e., PM_2.5-baseline) and subsequent changes (i.e., PM_2.5-change) in PM_2.5 exposure and the occurrence of type 2 diabetes. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were employed to assess this association while considering covariates. Results: There was a significant association between both PM_2.5 baseline and PM_2.5-change and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in a dose-response manner. Compared to quartile 1, the HRs for quartiles 2 to 4 of PM_2.5-baseline were 1.11 (95% CI, 0.74 to 1.65), 1.51 (95% CI, 1.00 to 2.28), and 1.77 (95% CI, 1.07 to 2.93), respectively. Similarly, the HRs for quartiles 2 to 4 of PM_2.5-change were 1.41 (95% CI, 1.14 to 1.75), 1.43 (95% CI, 1.13 to 1.81) and 2.40 (95% CI, 1.84 to 3.14), respectively. Conclusions: Our findings contribute to existing evidence regarding the association between short-term and long-term exposure to PM_2.5 and the incidence of diabetes among personnel in the Royal Thai Army.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.193-208
• /
• 2000

This paper describes a multi-step method of intonation modeling for corpus-based Korean speech synthesizer. We selected 1833 sentences considering various syntactic structures and built a corresponding speech corpus uttered by a female announcer. We detected the pitch using laryngograph signals and manually marked the prosodic boundaries on recorded speech, and carried out the tagging of part-of-speech and syntactic analysis on the text. The detected pitch was separated into 3 frequency bands of low, mid, high frequency components which correspond to the baseline, the word tone, and the syllable tone. We predicted them using the CART method and the Viterbi search algorithm with a word-tone-dictionary. In the collected spoken sentences, 1500 sentences were trained and 333 sentences were tested. In the layer of word tone modeling, we compared two methods. One is to predict the word tone corresponding to the mid-frequency components directly and the other is to predict it by multiplying the ratio of the word tone to the baseline by the baseline. The former method resulted in a mean error of 12.37 Hz and the latter in one of 12.41 Hz, similar to each other. In the layer of syllable tone modeling, it resulted in a mean error rate less than 8.3% comparing with the mean pitch, 193.56 Hz of the announcer, so its performance was relatively good.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.276-284
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Previous studies have shown that anger can lead to frontal lobe α (8-13 Hz) band asymmetry (FAA) in electroencephalogram (EEG), in accordance with motivational direction. This pilot study aimed to investigate the impact of acupuncture on FAA elicited by anger. Methods: Thirty-four right-handed participants scoring above 75 points on the Novaco Anger Scale were included. Baseline EEG signals were recorded for eight minutes using a 32-channel cap under comfortable conditions. Anger was induced through a nine-minute sequence of Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) task. Following that, participants received acupuncture at GB20 and GB21 for 10 minutes. Fast Fourier transform was employed for frequency analysis, and repeated measure ANOVA was conducted for statistical analysis. Results: The results revealed that participants exhibited significantly higher FAA (p = 0.026), particularly in the left hemisphere, after the ATSS task sequence compared to the baseline. During acupuncture treatment, the greater left-sided FAA was significantly reduced (p = 0.027) and reversed. Upon the cessation of acupuncture, FAA returned to a value between the baseline and the anger-evoked stage (p = 0.046). Conclusion: The EEG results of this study revealed that anger stimulation induced an increase in left-sided FAA, which was effectively alleviated by acupuncture. This led to an immediate restoration of FAA asymmetry induced by anger. These findings suggest the potential of acupuncture as a treatment option for reducing FAA associated with anger.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.319-325
• /
• 2023

In this study, we proposed a method for hyperparameter optimization in the building and training of a deep learning model designed to process point cloud data collected by a millimeter-wave radar system. The primary aim of this study is to facilitate the deployment of a baseline model in resource-constrained IoT devices. We evaluated a RadHAR baseline deep learning model trained on a public dataset composed of point clouds representing five distinct human activities. Additionally, we introduced a coarse-to-fine hyperparameter optimization procedure, showing substantial potential to enhance model efficiency without compromising predictive performance. Experimental results show the feasibility of significantly reducing model size without adversely impacting performance. Specifically, the optimized model demonstrated a 3.3% improvement in classification accuracy despite a 16.8% reduction in number of parameters compared th the baseline model. In conclusion, this research offers valuable insights for the development of deep learning models for resource-constrained IoT devices, underscoring the potential of hyperparameter optimization and model size reduction strategies. This work contributes to enhancing the practicality and usability of deep learning models in real-world environments, where high levels of accuracy and efficiency in data processing and classification tasks are required.

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.245-256
• /
• 2024

Following the introduction of civilian navigation, the commercial Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers' market has been expanding in various fields such as autonomous driving and smart cities. With improved receiver performance and widespread use of GNSS, the configurations of base and rover receivers are becoming more complex. As a result, user must consider combinations of base stations with different qualities, costs, and performances. To address these issues, we conducted zero-baseline tests to analyze the double-differenced code-pseudorange noise of various receiver combinations, ranging from low- to high-cost. The results showed that the noise varied depending on the receiver combination. Notably, receivers from the same manufacturer exhibited similar noise and positioning errors despite significant price differences. We also found that the double-differenced noise of all receiver combinations was correlated with the Carrier-to-Noise Density Ratio (C/N0), the satellite elevation angle, and the Doppler shift, and it did not perfectly follow a normal distribution. Further analysis based on Modified Allan Deviation (MDEV) showed that different types of noise were observed for each receiver combination and the double-differenced noise and positioning errors have similar statistical characteristics. From this study, the importance of receiver combinations and their various characteristics can be better understood.