• Title/Summary/Keyword: Economic and non-economic

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Evaluation of virulence reversion of an attenuated porcine epidemic diarrhea vaccine strain by serial passages in suckling piglets

  • Da-Jeong Kim;Seung-Chai Kim;Hwan-Ju Kim;Gyeong-Seo Park;Sang Chul Kang;Won-Il Kim
    • Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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    • v.46 no.3
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    • pp.193-202
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    • 2023
  • Porcine epidemic diarrhea is an infectious intestinal disease caused by the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). Especially, when suckling piglets are infected, the mortality rate is close to 100%. PEDV is classified into G1 and G2 types based on genetic differences. The G2 type PEDV outbreak in the United States in 2013 was highly pathogenic and contagious, and it has spread worldwide and caused continuous economic losses. Most commercial vaccines used are G1 type vaccines, and existing vaccines do not fully protect piglets due to genetic differences. In this study, we evaluated the safety of the newly developed G2 type attenuated HSGP vaccine strain by inoculating it into piglets and testing whether the vaccine virus spreads to the non-vaccinated, negative pigs and whether the vaccine reverts to its virulence during serial passage experiments. Each experiment lasted for 7 days for each passage, and fecal viral titers, clinical symptoms, and weight gain were measured daily. After the experiment, necropsy was performed to measure intestinal virus titer and pathological evaluation. As a result of the first passage, no transmission of the vaccine virus to negative pigs co-housed with vaccinated pigs was observed. In addition, after four consecutive passage experiments, the clinical symptoms and small intestine lesions were gradually alleviated, and no virus was detected in the feces in the fourth passage experiment. Therefore, it was concluded that the vaccine was safe without virulence reversion in accordance with the guidelines of the current licensing authority. However, further studies are needed on the genetic changes and biological characteristics of the mutant virus that occur during successive passages of the attenuated vaccine since the replication and clinical symptoms of the virus increased until the third passage during successive passages of the vaccine virus. Based on this study, it was concluded that virulence reversion and safety evaluation of attenuated vaccines through serial passage in target animals can be useful to evaluate the safety of attenuated viruses.

Key Technology for Food-Safety Traceability Based on a Combined Two-Dimensional Code

  • Zhonghua Li;Xinghua Sun;Ting Yan;Dong Yang;Guiliang Feng
    • Journal of Information Processing Systems
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.139-148
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    • 2023
  • Current food-traceability platforms suffer from problems such as inconsistent traceability standards, a lack of public credibility, and slow access to data. In this work, a combined code and identification method was designed that can achieve more secure product traceability using the dual anti-counterfeiting technology of a QR code and a hidden code. When the QR code is blurry, the hidden code can still be used to effectively identify food information. Based on this combined code, a food-safety traceability platform was developed. The platform follows unified encoding standards and provides standardized interfaces. Based on this innovation, the platform not only can serve individual food-traceability systems development, but also connect existing traceability systems. These will help to solve the problems such as non-standard traceability content, inconsistent processes, and incompatible system software. The experimental results show that the combined code has higher accuracy. The food-safety traceability platform based on the combined code improves the safety of the traceability process and the integrity of the traceability information. The innovation of this paper is invoking the combined code united the QR code's rapidity and the hidden code's reliability, developing a platform that uses a unified coding standard and provides a standardized interface to resolve the differences between multi-food-traceability systems. Among similar systems, it is the only one that has been connected to the national QR code identification platform. The project has made profits and has significant economic and social benefits.

Presenteeism and Traffic Accident Among Taxi Drivers: A Prospective Cohort Study in Japan

  • Makoto Okawara;Kei Tokutsu;Keiki Hirashima;Tomohiro Ishimaru;Yoshihisa Fujino
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.208-212
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    • 2024
  • Background: Traffic accidents involving professional drivers have serious societal repercussions. Unique occupational stressors and health risks exacerbate the likelihood of traffic accidents among professional drivers. This study explores the association between presenteeism-impaired work performance due to working while unwell-and traffic accident risk among professional taxi drivers in Japan. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted from June 2022 to February 2023, involving taxi drivers from a single company in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Presenteeism was assessed using the Work Functioning Impairment Scale (WFun). Primary outcome involved the number of self-reported minor traffic accidents. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) of minor traffic accident occurrences was estimated using a Poisson regression analysis, adjusted for confounders including sex, age, and driving experience. Results: Of 838 targeted drivers, 435 were included in the analysis. Higher baseline work functioning impairment was associated with a significant trend of increasing IRR of minor traffic accidents (p for trend = 0.045). A dose-response relationship was seen between the degree of presenteeism and incidence rate of minor traffic accidents. Conclusion: Higher levels of presenteeism were associated with an increased risk of traffic accidents among taxi drivers. The findings underscore the need for socio-economic support and prioritized health management to mitigate traffic accident risk among professional drivers. This study highlights the importance of managing non-critical health issues alongside serious health conditions for safer driving practices among professional drivers in Japan.

Analysis of the Current Hypertension Control Program in Public Health Centers (지역사회 고혈압 관리 사업의 방향 재설정)

  • Chin, Young-Ran;Lee, In-Sook
    • Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.385-396
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    • 2004
  • Purpose: Hypertension has been a major cause of death in Korea since the 1970s, and has resulted in being a significant economic burden to the finances of national health care. The Ministry of Health and Welfare made several efforts. but hypertension control programs in Korea are still non standardized and ineffective. We wanted to investigate the current hypertension control program in public health centers systematically and suggest the direction for future programs. Method: The design of this study is a cross sectional investigation. From September to October in 2002, we sent a set of questionnaires to all PHCs, and 179 centers responded (response rate = 74.0%). The instrument was developed based on components of National health systems. Results: 1) Resources: The department responsible for hypertension control programs is the Department of Health Promotion. Health Education Center, Community Health Center, Citizen's Health Center, etc. The chief personnel of those departments are nurses. but 27.4% of PHCs have no full time nurse for hypertension management programs. PHCs had a lot of teaching materials (nine types per a PHC) and most of the recommended contents were included. But, periodical evaluation and revision were not being made, 2) Management: Nurses' (13.03 9.46 in 23 score) actions for hypertension control were not qualitative, but regular training and evaluation were seldom carried out. Need assessment (25.9%) and evaluation (about 10-20%) for the hypertension control program were indicated as low. 3) Programs: Programs focused on individuals rather than community or public, and 2nd prevention rather than 1st, 3rd prevention. Conclusion: The Ministry of Health and Welfare has to construct the infrastructure for hypertension control programs. Related scholars and committees should develop and declare standardized manuals for hypertension control and the management system, as well.

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Development and Practical Use of Rubblization Method (원위치파쇄기층화 공법의 개발 및 실용화 연구)

  • Ko, Seok-Beom;Kim, Kyung-Taek;Lee, Young-Chul;Lee, Seung-Woo
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2005.10a
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    • pp.405-416
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    • 2005
  • The rubblization technique is breaking the aged concrete pavement slab into rubblized concrete aggregate, and use it as an base material at its original position, then builds overlay above the rubblized base. This method has been successively used in USA due to the advantage of good contructibility, cost-effectiveness as well as the capability of preventing of reflection cracks. However, constructibility and economic performance of rubblization on typical Korean concrete pavements needed to be investigate since to typical Korean concrete pavements have thick slab, as well include lean concrete subbase course. This stud explored optimum breaking depth and suggested minimum 10cm based on reflection crack simulation test. Also proper head shape and impact energy were investigated based on small breaking field tests. It was found that $127kg/cm^2$ of stress with 52.3% of head contact area are breaking requirement. Also, Multi-head type breaker suitable for Korean condition was designed and developed. This multi-head type breaker was designed to rubblize old concrete to the suggested optimum rubblized-depth and rubblized-concrete-aggregate size to prevent reflection crack and maintain high bearing capacity. This machine was used for the test of rubblization of old concrete pavement on a non-use old concrete and a in-serviced road. In these two tests, engineering properties of rubblized base and constructability and cost were investigated. In both tests, the old concrete rubblized to targeted size and depth, and high-level bearing capacity was achieved. Also, superior constructability and lower cost compared with traditional reconstruction was examined.

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Prevalence of Known Risk Factors in Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer at Inmol Hospital, Lahore, Punjab

  • Mansha, Muhammad;Saleem, Maryam;Wasim, Muhammad;Tariq, Muhammad
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.563-568
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    • 2016
  • Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide and its frequency is increasing gradually in many countries. Over the last three decades an increase in the breast cancer has been witnessed in the earlier low-risk Asian countries including Pakistan. Purpose: The objective of the current study was to assess the prevalence of known risk factors like early menarche, late menopause, socio economic, reproductive and demographic factors, among women diagnosed with breast cancer at INMOL hospital, Lahore, Punjab, as little information exists in this regard. Materials and Methods: A survey study was conducted on 200 women diagnosed with breast cancer who were seen at Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology (INMOL) hospital, Lahore. A structured questionnaire was administered to these patients regarding the known risk factors through face to face interviews after obtaining appropriate consent. Results: Regarding non-modifiable risk factors, our study showed that majority of the breast cancer patients were diagnosed at 35-45 years (32.5%) or at older age (${\leq}46$) and experienced menarche at 12 years or older (66 %). Likewise, a large number of patients reached menopause at the age of 45 years (60%), had no family and personal history of breast cancer (80%) and hence fell in a low risk category. Regarding modifiable risk factors in women diagnosed with breast cancer, most of the patients fell in low risk strata as the majority were married (98%) at young age, breastfed their children for 12 months or more (88%) and bore two to three children (80%). Considering income criteria, the majority of the patients had a low risk profile as they belonged to middle class (70%), urban area (60%) and were house wives (80%). However, it was noted that a considerable number of women (34%) diagnosed with breast cancer experienced menarche at an early age (<12) and reached menopause after the age of 45 years. This situation is further augmented by environmental changes and dietary habits and places them in a high risk category.

Trends of Recycling Technologies in Utilization of Coal Combustion Byproducts for Manufacturing Geopolymers through Patent and Literature Analysis (특허와 논문으로 본 석탄 연소부산물의 지오폴리머 원료화 기술 동향)

  • Lee, Sujeong;Cho, Young-Ju;Cho, Bong-Gyoo
    • Resources Recycling
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.81-89
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    • 2014
  • Approximately 8.5 million tons of fly ash and 740,000 tons of briquette ash were produced in 2010. Inefficient recycling of coal ash has been a heavy economic and environmental burden and economical coal ash utilization technologies are required to turn coal ash into valuable resources. In this study the patents and literature were analyzed to understand the present situation of coal ash recycling technologies and to promote utilization of coal ash for producing a non-sintering green cement, geopolymer. The survey was based on the open patents of USA, European Union, Japan and Korea, and the papers in SCI - indexed journals published between 1979 and 2013. Technical key words were used for data collection and noise filtering. Trends of recycling technologies in utilization of coal ash for producing geopolymers were discussed in terms of time periods, countries, companies and various forms of technologies.

Problems of South-North Arbitral Cooperation under Agreement on Settlement Procedure of Commercial Disputes between south and north Korea (남북분쟁 해결합의서 체결에 따른 중재협력의 과제)

  • 김상호
    • Journal of Arbitration Studies
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.3-35
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    • 2001
  • $\ulcorner$The South-North Joint Declaration$\lrcorner$ of June 15, 2000 made by President Kim Dae Jung and National Defense Committee Chairman Kim Jong Il will contribute to the activation of economic exchange between south and north Korea. To realize the fundamental spirit of the South-North Joint Declaration, the authorities concerned of south and north Korea have reached an agreement titled $\ulcorner$Agreement on Settlement Procedure of Commercial Disputes$\lrcorner$ last December. In this connection, a speedy and reasonable settlement of commercial disputes arising therefrom is becoming a problem of vital importance between south and north Korea. Also, south and north arbitral institutions have to consider a possible arbitration agreement carefully to solve the disputes systematically under the Agreement, which will serve as an example for similar arrangements and possible harmonization in East-West commercial relations. A variety of dispute settlements including friendly consultations, conciliation and arbitration will be used more frequently within the framework of the bilateral agreements of governmental or non-governmental level which have been concluded in the past between socialist and capitalistic economy countries. There is a growing tendency that East-West trade parties recognize and accept the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules in their contracts. So it is advisable to use the UNCITRAL Rules in arbitrations of south and north Korea in case that the interested parties fail to agree on applicable rules. Finally it should be noted that pre-arbitral settlement called ‘joint conciliation’ should be reflected in the settlement mechanism of commercial disputes between south and north Korean parties as proved to be successful between the U.S. and China trade in the past.

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Body Weight and Body Image: A Risk Factor Analysis in Korea

  • Kim, Sang-Wook
    • Survey Research
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.143-172
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    • 2011
  • The relationship between body weight and body image, an objective and subjective measure of body shape, respectively, has long been a recurrent concern in the area of medical sociology and health-related studies. This concern stems from the argument and findings in the literature indicating that the two are not necessarily likely to be strongly correlated due mostly to the fact that one's own idea or conception about his/her body shape could be pretty different from one's actual shape. This study tries to empirically address the two issues based on the analysis of a national sample survey data in Korea: to what extent body weight and body image are correlated with or deviated from each other, on the one hand, and what factors help to account for the relationship between the two, on the other. The latest(2010) national sample data of KGSS(Korean General Social Survey) is used to evaluate the issues. Results of data analysis demonstrate that body weight and image have a moderate amount of correlation, and that the correlation tends to vary to a large extent depending on a few major socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Most important, the risk factor analysis attempted in this study could identify several salient risk factors, which include gender, age, chronic diseases, smoking, physical exercises, and medical checkup. To be precise, those who may be best characterized as particularly risky to weight gains are females, who are in their 20's, who have chronic diseases, non-smokers, who exercise regularly, and who conduct medical checkups on a regular basis. To extrapolate, the findings suggest that the most typically risky kinds of individuals in Korea are "young women who care very much for their health." The findings are interpreted and discussed with suggesting a recommendation for further studies.

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The Burden in Women with Hysterectomy (자궁절제 여성의 부담감에 관한 연구)

  • Seong, Mi-Hye
    • Women's Health Nursing
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.180-191
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    • 1997
  • When women are removed with their matrix which is a emotionally significant organ of symbol in psychologically adapting themselves to mother and woman, that is threatened and injured with woman role decisively. The nursing for women with hysterectomy is limited to medical treatment and the nursing related to troubles in psychology, emotion they experience in general situation due to operations is hardly realized. New basis for nursing can be realized when we both have relation with lived human experience related th health and become to be a part of it. We need to catch their experience due to the loss of matrix to understand women with hysterectomy. The subjects of the study were nine patients who were admitted to a gynecological ward of a hospital in Seoul, suffering from vaginal bleeding, back pain, abdominal pain and so on and diagnosing as non-cancer. The data were collected from April to May 1997 by listening to the subjects' expression of their experience and by participant observation of the subjects' reactions. A tape-recorder was used under the permission of the subjects, to prevent the loss of spoken information. The result of the study was as follows : The data on burden content from the interview were categorized as psych-emotional, physical, personal interaction, financial burden and maternal role burden. The factors which have influence on the burden of the subjects are an offer of information, support system, age, occupation, economic situation, family history, character, season, the existence of ovary and religion. In conclusion, since we ascertained that the nursing in the process of recovery decide the quality of life, though women with hysterectomy undergo various burden experience and adapt to it in the end, it is necessary to give them enough information and educate husband, having on important effect on the burden experience, to be a good supporter. And technically skilled nurses of consultant are thought to be able to contrive better qualitative life of women with hysterectomy as an important bridge between the subjects and their required information, since the nurses have their well-formed position of relationship of confidence through continuous contact with patients and their family.

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