• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2024

Background: E-waste workers in Hong Kong are handling an unprecedented amount of e-waste, which contains various neurotoxic chemicals. However, no study has been conducted to evaluate the neurological health status of e-waste workers in Hong Kong. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of neurobehavioral alterations and to identify the vulnerable groups among Hong Kong e-waste workers. Methods: We recruited 109 Hong Kong e-waste workers from June 2021 to September 2022. Participants completed standard questionnaires and wore a GENEActiv accelerometer for seven days. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Questionnaire 16/18 (Q16/18) were used to assess subjective neurobehavioral alterations. The GENEActiv data generated objective sleep and circadian rhythm variables. Workers were grouped based on job designation and entity type according to the presumed hazardous level. Unconditional logistic regression models measured the associations of occupational characteristics with neurobehavioral alterations after adjusting for confounders. Results: While dismantlers/repairers and the workers in entities not funded by the government were more likely to suffer from neurotoxic symptoms in Q18 (adjusted odds ratio: 3.18 [1.18-9.39] and 2.77 [1.10-7.46], respectively), the workers from self-sustained recycling facilities also have poor performances in circadian rhythm. Results also showed that the dismantlers/repairers working in entities not funded by the government had the highest risk of neurotoxic symptoms compared to the lowest-risk group (i.e., workers in government-funded companies with other job designations). Conclusion: This timely and valuable study emphasizes the importance of improving the working conditions for high-risk e-waste workers, especially the dismantlers or repairers working in facilities not funded by the government.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.291-301
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the current status of effective folic acid intake and the level of folic acid knowledge of Chinese pregnant women and to analyze the relationship between effective folic acid intake and folic acid knowledge. Methods: From November 2021 to May 2022, 140 pregnant women at Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital in the Chinese province of Shandong, answered questions about their general characteristics, folic acid intake, and folic acid knowledge. The data were analyzed using the t-test, chi-square test, and logistic regression analysis, and were presented with frequency with percentage or mean±standard deviation. Results: Only 16.4% of the pregnant women (n=23) took folic acid effectively, using the following four criteria. Of all pregnant women who took folic acid, 72.2% took folic acid starting 1 month before pregnancy, 70.8% took folic acid up to 3 months after pregnancy, 36.8% took 400 ㎍ every time, and 78.6% took folic acid more than 24 days every month. The score for folic acid knowledge was relatively high (5.61±2.18 on a scale of 0-9). A higher folic acid knowledge score correlated with more effective folic acid intake (t=4.10, p<.001). Conclusions: Our study shows that the current recommendations to prevent neural tube defects through effective folic acid intake supplementation are not being fully implemented in China. Furthermore, folic acid knowledge was positively correlated with the effectiveness of its intake. Future education related to effective folic acid intake should emphasize the four methods of effective folic acid intake, especially regarding the recommended dose of 400 ㎍ every time.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2018

Purposes: This study identifies local Chinese consumers' standard for selecting medical care provider and their standard for choosing medical staff, as well as their expectations and concerns regarding Korean medical care providers. Methodology: A survey was conducted in China, to identify Chinese medical care consumers' standards for selecting a medical provider and the factors that influence their use of general hospitals. A total of 1,500 people across three cities, between the ages 18 and 60 participated in the survey. Moreover, a multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors that affect Chinese medical care consumers' use of general hospitals. Findings: A total of 75.5 percent respondents chose general hospitals as their most frequently-used medical provider. Those who have health insurance, visit general hospitals as outpatients or are hospitalized more frequently than those who do not have a health insurance. Furthermore, those who have private insurance visit general hospitals as outpatients or are hospitalized more frequently than those who are not signed up for private insurance. Major standards for selecting a hospital included: the doctor's skills, word-of-mouth regarding the hospital, and distance to the hospital from the respondents' home. Standards for choosing medical personnel included word-of-mouth regarding the medical team, recommendations from family members or acquaintances, and medical team's notoriety. Friends and neighbors, family members, television and other media outlets were the channels for acquiring information on a hospital. It was found that Chinese people mostly visit the cardiovascular department of Korean hospitals for treatment. For using Korean hospitals in China, the majority of respondents answered that they were concerned about the cost. Practical Implications: Backed by highly skilled medical experts and cutting-edge technology, Korean medical care providers are attempting to enter China's medical care market. To succeed in China's medical care market, it is vital to conduct a clear and precise analysis.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.109-128
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• 2016

This paper presents a new combined forecasting method that is guided by the soft set theory (CFBSS) to predict business failures with different sample sizes. The proposed method combines both qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis to improve forecasting performance. We considered an expert system (ES), logistic regression (LR), and support vector machine (SVM) as forecasting components whose weights are determined by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The proposed procedure was applied to real data sets from Chinese listed firms. For performance comparison, single ES, LR, and SVM methods, the combined forecasting method based on equal weights (CFBEWs), the combined forecasting method based on neural networks (CFBNNs), and the combined forecasting method based on rough sets and the D-S theory (CFBRSDS) were also included in the empirical experiment. CFBSS obtains the highest forecasting accuracy and the second-best forecasting stability. The empirical results demonstrate the superior forecasting performance of our method in terms of accuracy and stability.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.527-550
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• 2012

This study is aimed to compare individualism and collectivism propensity of married immigrant women in a Korean rural area. By result of comparison on nationality, the level of collectivism was higher than it of individualism in every country, but the level of collectivism among the countries was no significant difference. The level of individualism among the countries was difference significantly, and the level of individualism of Chinese is most high but it of Japanese is most low. By logistic regression analysis the probability to be involved in the group that level of individualism is high was heightened as respondent have no religion or their's satisfaction on rural life increase. The level of horizontal propensity was higher than it of vertical propensity both individualism and collectivism. But the result of comparison on nationality, difference between horizontal and vertical propensity was no significant. Besides of these results, practical implications were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.115-132
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to provide baseline information on the risk-taking health behavior of alcohol consumption in four ethnic groups, Caucasian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, residing in the State of Hawaii. Secondary data from the State-based Health Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, designed by the Center for Disease Control, were used. The total sample analyzed for this study contained 6,068 persons. Univariate and logistic regression analysis were performed in order to determine sociodemographic profiles and the predictor variables to produce the findings of this study. The percentage distribution of six sociodemographic factors by race was very similar in all alcohol consumption factors, acute drinking, chronic drinking, and drinking and driving. In this study there were significant ethnic differences in alcohol consumption factors except drinking and driving.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.1064-1079
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• 2019

Information security has become increasingly important with the rapid development of mobile devices and internet. An efficient encryption system is a key to this end. In this paper, we propose an image encryption method based on the cross diffusion of two chaotic maps. We use two chaotic sequences, namely the Logistic map and the Chebyshev map, for key generation which has larger security key space than single one. Moreover, we use these two sequences for further image encryption diffusion which decreases the correlation of neighboring pixels significantly. We conduct extensive experiments on several well-known images like Lena, Baboon, Koala, etc. Experimental results show that our algorithm has the characteristics of large key space, fast, robust to statistic attack, etc.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate sub-health status (SHS) of people living in China during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection-induced acute infectious disease, which is featured by universal susceptibility and strong infectivity, and SHS (a status of low quality health) refers to a status of low-quality health. COVID-19 has gradually developed into a global pandemic, making the public in a high stress situation in physiological, psychological and social states in the short term. Methods: From March 6 to 11, 2020, a large-scale cross-sectional survey was conducted by convenient sampling, and SHS assessment scale was used in the questionnaire. The ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors affecting SHS. Results: In this study, 17,078 questionnaires were delivered with 16,820 effective questionnaires collected, and 10,715 subjects (63.7%) were found with SHS, with moderate SHS primarily. Physiological sub-scale scored the highest, followed by psychological and social sub-scales. Ordinal logistic regression analysis indicated that man, only-child, workers and farmers were risk factors of SHS. Protective factors of SHS included living in rural areas and townships, laid-off retirees and education degree. Conclusion: It shows many people in China place in a poor health status during COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary that relevant departments pay more attention to people with poor health such as men, only-child, urban people, workers and farmers, and groups with high education degree during and after pandemic stabilization.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2369-2378
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• 2012

Objectives: To assess knowledge of HPV and attitudes towards HPV vaccination among the general female population, government officials, and healthcare providers in China to assist the development of an effective national HPV vaccination program. Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiologic survey was conducted across 21 urban and rural sites in China using a short questionnaire. 763 government officials, 760 healthcare providers, and 11,681 women aged 15-59 years were included in the final analysis. Data were analyzed using standard descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Knowledge of HPV among the general female population was low; only 24% had heard of HPV. Less than 20% of healthcare providers recognized sexually na$\ddot{i}$ve women as the most appropriate population for HPV vaccination. There was high acceptance of the HPV vaccine for all categories of respondents. Only 6% of women were willing to pay more than US $300 for the vaccine. Conclusions: Aggressive education is necessary to increase knowledge of HPV and its vaccine. Further proof of vaccine safety and efficacy and government subsidies combined with increased awareness could facilitate development and implementation of HPV vaccination in China.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.4095-4099
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• 2014

The X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 protein (XRCC1) plays important roles in the DNA base excision repair pathway which may influence the development of lung cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the potential association of the XRCC1 c.1178G>A genetic polymorphism with lung cancer risk. The created restriction site-polymerase chain reaction (CRS-PCR) and DNA sequencing methods were utilized to evaluate the XRCC1 c.1178G>A genetic polymorphism among 376 lung cancer patients and 379 controls. Associations between the genetic polymorphism and lung cancer risk were determined with an unconditional logistic regression model. Our data suggested that the distribution of allele and genotype in lung cancer patients was significantly different from that of controls. The XRCC1 c.1178G>A genetic polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer (AA vs GG: OR=2.91, 95%CI 1.70-4.98, p<0.001; A vs G: OR=1.52, 95%CI 1.22-1.90, p<0.001). The allele A and genotype AA may contribute to risk of lung cancer. These preliminary results suggested that the XRCC1 c.1178G>A genetic polymorphism is statistically associated with lung cancer risk in the Chinese population.