• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.16-38
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• 1994

The spatial structure of Korea has been changed drastically during the second half of this century. The events such as the Korean War and the resultant division of the Korean Peninsular into two Koreas, rapid industrialization and urbanization are the major causes among others for the spatial changes of the nation. The changes in turn have spawned a number of spatial problems. It is time, we argue, to diagnose how much the nation is now ill-structured, and to discuss of which directions the long-term spatial management be reoriented. A delphi survey was conducted during the early 1993 to fulfill such research needs. Questionnaires were distributed among geographers, planners, and high governmental officials throughout the nation. These 'experts of spatial problems' were requested to evaluate the past spatial policies and strategies, and to identify spatial and environmental problems at the national, regional and local levels. The survey included questions with regard to the spatial problems in North Korea too. A complementary literature survey in the fields of spatial sciences was accomplished as well in order to identify the major research interests and issues with regard to the nations's spatial structure. The delphi survey results indicatee that the present spatial structure: in relation to consumption, housing and economic activities is satisfactory in overall, while rather poor in terms of education, leisure and community activities. Most of the experts consider infrastructural improvements are urgent in the areas of roads, waste disposal facilitles, railroads, harbors, water supply and drainage systems. The over-concentration of economic, social and political function in the Seoul Metropolitan Region is perceived to be the most serious spatial problem in Korea. The long-term solutions suggested are strategies toward a more balanced regional development as well as toward a cleaner environment. The concensus among the experts for the short-term solution is the redistribution of population and industries from the Seoul Metropolitan Region to the intermediate and small cities. The land use policies and concurrent large-scale infrastructural projects are evaluated largely pertinent and desirable in general. It is, however, suggested that development projects be conducted in a more harmonious way with environment. The survey respondents suggest that the present environmental management policies should be reexamined critically. With regard to regional and local problems, transportation and pollutions are thought to be most serious in the Seoul Metropolitan Region, while employment opportunities, and information, education and health care services are most deprived in small cities and rural areas. The majority of the experts consider a city size of 250, 000-500, 000 population is desirable to live within. Respondents beileve that North Korea's physical environment is still not aggravated much whereas its infrastructural provisions are largely pool. The co-authors of this research figure a "environmentaly sound and spatially balanced Korean Penninsular" as the ideal type of spatial structure in Korea. The basic guidelines toward this ideal prototype are suggested: the recovery of spetial integrity, progressive restructuring of the nation, land uses geared to public welfare rather than private interests, and eco-humanistic approach in spatial policies.

• Proceedings of the KOR-KST Conference
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• 1995.02a
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• pp.101-113
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• 1995

The objective of this research is to test the feasibility of developing a statewide truck traffic forecasting methodology for Wisconsin by using Origin-Destination surveys, traffic counts, classification counts, and other data that are routinely collected by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). Development of a feasible model will permit estimation of future truck traffic for every major link in the network. This will provide the basis for improved estimation of future pavement deterioration. Pavement damage rises exponentially as axle weight increases, and trucks are responsible for most of the traffic-induced damage to pavement. Consequently, forecasts of truck traffic are critical to pavement management systems. The pavement Management Decision Supporting System (PMDSS) prepared by WisDOT in May 1990 combines pavement inventory and performance data with a knowledge base consisting of rules for evaluation, problem identification and rehabilitation recommendation. Without a r.easonable truck traffic forecasting methodology, PMDSS is not able to project pavement performance trends in order to make assessment and recommendations in the future years. However, none of WisDOT's existing forecasting methodologies has been designed specifically for predicting truck movements on a statewide highway network. For this research, the Origin-Destination survey data avaiiable from WisDOT, including two stateline areas, one county, and five cities, are analyzed and the zone-to'||'&'||'not;zone truck trip tables are developed. The resulting Origin-Destination Trip Length Frequency (00 TLF) distributions by trip type are applied to the Gravity Model (GM) for comparison with comparable TLFs from the GM. The gravity model is calibrated to obtain friction factor curves for the three trip types, Internal-Internal (I-I), Internal-External (I-E), and External-External (E-E). ~oth "macro-scale" calibration and "micro-scale" calibration are performed. The comparison of the statewide GM TLF with the 00 TLF for the macro-scale calibration does not provide suitable results because the available 00 survey data do not represent an unbiased sample of statewide truck trips. For the "micro-scale" calibration, "partial" GM trip tables that correspond to the 00 survey trip tables are extracted from the full statewide GM trip table. These "partial" GM trip tables are then merged and a partial GM TLF is created. The GM friction factor curves are adjusted until the partial GM TLF matches the 00 TLF. Three friction factor curves, one for each trip type, resulting from the micro-scale calibration produce a reasonable GM truck trip model. A key methodological issue for GM. calibration involves the use of multiple friction factor curves versus a single friction factor curve for each trip type in order to estimate truck trips with reasonable accuracy. A single friction factor curve for each of the three trip types was found to reproduce the 00 TLFs from the calibration data base. Given the very limited trip generation data available for this research, additional refinement of the gravity model using multiple mction factor curves for each trip type was not warranted. In the traditional urban transportation planning studies, the zonal trip productions and attractions and region-wide OD TLFs are available. However, for this research, the information available for the development .of the GM model is limited to Ground Counts (GC) and a limited set ofOD TLFs. The GM is calibrated using the limited OD data, but the OD data are not adequate to obtain good estimates of truck trip productions and attractions .. Consequently, zonal productions and attractions are estimated using zonal population as a first approximation. Then, Selected Link based (SELINK) analyses are used to adjust the productions and attractions and possibly recalibrate the GM. The SELINK adjustment process involves identifying the origins and destinations of all truck trips that are assigned to a specified "selected link" as the result of a standard traffic assignment. A link adjustment factor is computed as the ratio of the actual volume for the link (ground count) to the total assigned volume. This link adjustment factor is then applied to all of the origin and destination zones of the trips using that "selected link". Selected link based analyses are conducted by using both 16 selected links and 32 selected links. The result of SELINK analysis by u~ing 32 selected links provides the least %RMSE in the screenline volume analysis. In addition, the stability of the GM truck estimating model is preserved by using 32 selected links with three SELINK adjustments, that is, the GM remains calibrated despite substantial changes in the input productions and attractions. The coverage of zones provided by 32 selected links is satisfactory. Increasing the number of repetitions beyond four is not reasonable because the stability of GM model in reproducing the OD TLF reaches its limits. The total volume of truck traffic captured by 32 selected links is 107% of total trip productions. But more importantly, ~ELINK adjustment factors for all of the zones can be computed. Evaluation of the travel demand model resulting from the SELINK adjustments is conducted by using screenline volume analysis, functional class and route specific volume analysis, area specific volume analysis, production and attraction analysis, and Vehicle Miles of Travel (VMT) analysis. Screenline volume analysis by using four screenlines with 28 check points are used for evaluation of the adequacy of the overall model. The total trucks crossing the screenlines are compared to the ground count totals. L V/GC ratios of 0.958 by using 32 selected links and 1.001 by using 16 selected links are obtained. The %RM:SE for the four screenlines is inversely proportional to the average ground count totals by screenline .. The magnitude of %RM:SE for the four screenlines resulting from the fourth and last GM run by using 32 and 16 selected links is 22% and 31 % respectively. These results are similar to the overall %RMSE achieved for the 32 and 16 selected links themselves of 19% and 33% respectively. This implies that the SELINICanalysis results are reasonable for all sections of the state.Functional class and route specific volume analysis is possible by using the available 154 classification count check points. The truck traffic crossing the Interstate highways (ISH) with 37 check points, the US highways (USH) with 50 check points, and the State highways (STH) with 67 check points is compared to the actual ground count totals. The magnitude of the overall link volume to ground count ratio by route does not provide any specific pattern of over or underestimate. However, the %R11SE for the ISH shows the least value while that for the STH shows the largest value. This pattern is consistent with the screenline analysis and the overall relationship between %RMSE and ground count volume groups. Area specific volume analysis provides another broad statewide measure of the performance of the overall model. The truck traffic in the North area with 26 check points, the West area with 36 check points, the East area with 29 check points, and the South area with 64 check points are compared to the actual ground count totals. The four areas show similar results. No specific patterns in the L V/GC ratio by area are found. In addition, the %RMSE is computed for each of the four areas. The %RMSEs for the North, West, East, and South areas are 92%, 49%, 27%, and 35% respectively, whereas, the average ground counts are 481, 1383, 1532, and 3154 respectively. As for the screenline and volume range analyses, the %RMSE is inversely related to average link volume. 'The SELINK adjustments of productions and attractions resulted in a very substantial reduction in the total in-state zonal productions and attractions. The initial in-state zonal trip generation model can now be revised with a new trip production's trip rate (total adjusted productions/total population) and a new trip attraction's trip rate. Revised zonal production and attraction adjustment factors can then be developed that only reflect the impact of the SELINK adjustments that cause mcreases or , decreases from the revised zonal estimate of productions and attractions. Analysis of the revised production adjustment factors is conducted by plotting the factors on the state map. The east area of the state including the counties of Brown, Outagamie, Shawano, Wmnebago, Fond du Lac, Marathon shows comparatively large values of the revised adjustment factors. Overall, both small and large values of the revised adjustment factors are scattered around Wisconsin. This suggests that more independent variables beyond just 226; population are needed for the development of the heavy truck trip generation model. More independent variables including zonal employment data (office employees and manufacturing employees) by industry type, zonal private trucks 226; owned and zonal income data which are not available currently should be considered. A plot of frequency distribution of the in-state zones as a function of the revised production and attraction adjustment factors shows the overall " adjustment resulting from the SELINK analysis process. Overall, the revised SELINK adjustments show that the productions for many zones are reduced by, a factor of 0.5 to 0.8 while the productions for ~ relatively few zones are increased by factors from 1.1 to 4 with most of the factors in the 3.0 range. No obvious explanation for the frequency distribution could be found. The revised SELINK adjustments overall appear to be reasonable. The heavy truck VMT analysis is conducted by comparing the 1990 heavy truck VMT that is forecasted by the GM truck forecasting model, 2.975 billions, with the WisDOT computed data. This gives an estimate that is 18.3% less than the WisDOT computation of 3.642 billions of VMT. The WisDOT estimates are based on the sampling the link volumes for USH, 8TH, and CTH. This implies potential error in sampling the average link volume. The WisDOT estimate of heavy truck VMT cannot be tabulated by the three trip types, I-I, I-E ('||'&'||'pound;-I), and E-E. In contrast, the GM forecasting model shows that the proportion ofE-E VMT out of total VMT is 21.24%. In addition, tabulation of heavy truck VMT by route functional class shows that the proportion of truck traffic traversing the freeways and expressways is 76.5%. Only 14.1% of total freeway truck traffic is I-I trips, while 80% of total collector truck traffic is I-I trips. This implies that freeways are traversed mainly by I-E and E-E truck traffic while collectors are used mainly by I-I truck traffic. Other tabulations such as average heavy truck speed by trip type, average travel distance by trip type and the VMT distribution by trip type, route functional class and travel speed are useful information for highway planners to understand the characteristics of statewide heavy truck trip patternS. Heavy truck volumes for the target year 2010 are forecasted by using the GM truck forecasting model. Four scenarios are used. Fo~ better forecasting, ground count- based segment adjustment factors are developed and applied. ISH 90 '||'&'||' 94 and USH 41 are used as example routes. The forecasting results by using the ground count-based segment adjustment factors are satisfactory for long range planning purposes, but additional ground counts would be useful for USH 41. Sensitivity analysis provides estimates of the impacts of the alternative growth rates including information about changes in the trip types using key routes. The network'||'&'||'not;based GMcan easily model scenarios with different rates of growth in rural versus . . urban areas, small versus large cities, and in-state zones versus external stations. cities, and in-state zones versus external stations.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.191-204
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• 2015

According to the '2013 Performance Assessment Report on the Financial Program' from the National Assembly Budget Office, the unfilled recruitment ratio of Software(SW) Developers in South Korea was 25% in the 2012 fiscal year. Moreover, the unfilled recruitment ratio of highly-qualified SW developers reaches almost 80%. This phenomenon is intensified in small and medium enterprises consisting of less than 300 employees. Young job-seekers in South Korea are increasingly avoiding becoming a SW developer and even the current SW developers want to change careers, which hinders the national development of IT industries. The Korean government has recently realized the problem and implemented policies to foster young SW developers. Due to this effort, it has become easier to find young SW developers at the beginning-level. However, it is still hard to recruit highly-qualified SW developers for many IT companies. This is because in order to become a SW developing expert, having a long term experiences are important. Thus, improving job continuity intentions of current SW developers is more important than fostering new SW developers. Therefore, this study surveyed the job continuity intentions of SW developers and analyzed the factors associated with them. As a method, we carried out a survey from September 2014 to October 2014, which was targeted on 130 SW developers who were working in IT industries in South Korea. We gathered the demographic information and characteristics of the respondents, work environments of a SW industry, and social positions for SW developers. Afterward, a regression analysis and a decision tree method were performed to analyze the data. These two methods are widely used data mining techniques, which have explanation ability and are mutually complementary. We first performed a linear regression method to find the important factors assaociated with a job continuity intension of SW developers. The result showed that an 'expected age' to work as a SW developer were the most significant factor associated with the job continuity intention. We supposed that the major cause of this phenomenon is the structural problem of IT industries in South Korea, which requires SW developers to change the work field from developing area to management as they are promoted. Also, a 'motivation' to become a SW developer and a 'personality (introverted tendency)' of a SW developer are highly importantly factors associated with the job continuity intention. Next, the decision tree method was performed to extract the characteristics of highly motivated developers and the low motivated ones. We used well-known C4.5 algorithm for decision tree analysis. The results showed that 'motivation', 'personality', and 'expected age' were also important factors influencing the job continuity intentions, which was similar to the results of the regression analysis. In addition to that, the 'ability to learn' new technology was a crucial factor for the decision rules of job continuity. In other words, a person with high ability to learn new technology tends to work as a SW developer for a longer period of time. The decision rule also showed that a 'social position' of SW developers and a 'prospect' of SW industry were minor factors influencing job continuity intensions. On the other hand, 'type of an employment (regular position/ non-regular position)' and 'type of company (ordering company/ service providing company)' did not affect the job continuity intension in both methods. In this research, we demonstrated the job continuity intentions of SW developers, who were actually working at IT companies in South Korea, and we analyzed the factors associated with them. These results can be used for human resource management in many IT companies when recruiting or fostering highly-qualified SW experts. It can also help to build SW developer fostering policy and to solve the problem of unfilled recruitment of SW Developers in South Korea.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.558-570
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• 2015

Purpose: The objective of this study is to investigate the work performances and the factors contributing to the work performance of nutrition teachers and school dieticians according to employment status in Daejeon and Chungcheongnamdo. Methods: A survey was conducted among 415 school dieticians from selected elementary, middle, and high schools in the area. This survey was used for analysis of the general characteristics and the status of working and foodservice environments. The frequency of occurrence was measured using the ${\chi}^2$-test while analysis of differences in work performance of 57 variables grouped according to 12 categories by mean ${\pm}$ SD was performed using student t-test. In addition, a regression analysis was performed to assess the influence of occupational (working and foodservice) environment on work performances. Results: All 14 environmental factors including general characteristics were different between nutrition teachers and school dieticians. In 12 of 57 variables there were significant differences in work performance between the two groups. When compared using average work performance, 5 domains showed significant difference in work performance between the two groups. These 5 domains were other works (T = 6.050), dietary habit guide (T = 4.789), menu (nutrition) management (T = 3.524), foodservice administration and evaluation (T = 2.757), and production and service management (T = 2.588). Overall, the work performances of nutrition teachers were comparably higher than those of school dietitians. A correlation analysis between occupational (working or foodservice) environments and work performances of the two groups showed that the work performances of nutrition teachers were influenced by the number of employees, number of students, meal frequency a day, annual salary, age, foodservice years of school, and school type. Conclusion: Meanwhile, the work performances of school dieticians were influenced by the number of students, number of employees, meal frequency a day, work hour, education level, age, school type, and service years as a dietitian.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.19 no.1 s.43
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• pp.99-114
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• 2007

This study aims at investigating how middle school students perceive the content of the 'Me and My Family Relations' unit in the technology and home economics textbook, act on such perceptions and how this connects with their healthy family relations. In addition, the study also points at inquiring into what kind of differences and mutual influences can be found in the above-mentioned three factors according to family environment. With this objective. this research has analyzed survey data conducted on 401 7th grade middle school students residing in Incheon Greater city, collected by the random sampling method. The findings are as follow: First, the students were found to have positive perceptions on the 'family relations and communication' unit in the technology and home economics text book. However. they were also found to perceive that the content was not as realizable in their everyday family lives. Second, the number of students who perceived their family lives to be healthy was found to be quite high. The students perceived their family lives to be healthy projecting from such aspects as the degree of gratification and affection, extent of family bonding, communication patterns, and problem solving abilities, in the same order. In addition, the higher the families' socio-economic level, and in the cases that the students had working mothers and the fathers held higher degrees, the degree to which the families were perceived to be healthy was higher. Third, in investigating the influence that such factors as the students' family environment, the degree that students perceived the text book content positively, and the degree that the students perceive the content to be realizable have on healthy family relations, among these factors, the students' perceived degree of how healthy their family relations are had the most bearing over the above-mentioned factors. The second influential factor on how healthy family relations are was the family's affectional environment, found to be more influential than such factors as family type, the mother's employment status, living standards, and the parents' educational level. On the other hand, the perceived level of realizability was found to have a lower influence on the students' family relations than the perceived positivity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1646-1652
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• 2004

This study is to help management of foodservices with the means of preparing a favorable food service environment which will likely improve employees' job satisfaction and present the plans for Quality leadership which are capable of effectively improving the aims of food service. Transformational leadership (4.08) that includes charisma (4.12), intellectual stimulation (4.12) and individual consideration (4.01) was more strongly observed by employees than transactional leadership (3.35) that includes contingent reward (3.99) and management by exception (2.70). According to employees' age, it was shown that individuals over 40 observed transformational leadership significantly more frequently than those below 30. When considering academic background, both transformational leadership and transactional leadership were more strongly observed in the group of lower education. When the type of employment was considered, contract workers showed higher individual consideration and contingent reward than regular workers. Also, when the consideration of working places was taken into account, employees who were employed by schools presented a stronger observance of transactional leadership than employees in industrial cooperation or hospitals. Employees, especially in schools, were more receptive to dietitians' contingent reward than hospital employees. Regarding age, dietitians below the age of 40 had stronger transformational leadership skills, but there was no significant difference in the case of transactional leadership. According to these items of leadership, dietitians over 40 felt stronger in management without exception. Relationship with co-workers was the highest among job satisfaction (3.84), coworkers (4.00), stability (3.60), autonomy (3.76). In the collective food service organization, there was a positive correlation between management expectations and the expectations of the dietitians' management styles and employees' job satisfaction.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2017

In Korea, small and medium sized domestic enterprises (SMEs) play an pivotal role in the national economy, accounting for 99.8% of all enterprises, 87.9% of total employment, and 48.3% of production. and SMEs were driving a real force of the development of national economy in many respects such as innovation, job creation, industrial diversity, balanced regional development. Despite their crucial role in the national development, most of SMEs suffer from a lack of R&D capabilities and equipments as well as funding capacity. Government-Supported Research Institute (GRI) can provide SMEs with valuable supplementary technological knowledges and help them build technological capacities. so, In order to effectively support SMEs, government and GRI must be a priority to know about the factors influencing the performance related to technology transfer and technological collaborations. The paper analyzes the effects of Korean IT SMEs Venture external collaborations and technology transfer on their performances, according to their collaboration activities and technology transfer experiences. The results show that there was a significant difference between '3~5times' of technology transfer experience and 'zero technology transfer experience' in the case of technology transfer experience. In case of technological collaboration type, there was a significant difference between 'R&D manpower' and 'enhancement of technological capabilities including core technologies'. The results show that the effectiveness of technology transfer of Korean IT SMEs Venture depends on experiences, types of collaboration activities. so the results of this research will be useful for Government-Supported research institute (GRI)' policy makers when establishing technology commercialization support policies and strategic planning of small and medium sized domestic enterprises.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine the business awareness of dental coordinators and preferred working condition according to educational period, to suggest what improvements should be made. A survey was conducted for a year and four months from March 2007 to June 2008, and the collected data were analyzed, which made use of ${\chi}^2$(Chi-square) test, t-test. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. In regard to preferred conditions of employment, a dental hospital (42.0%) was most preferred by the incumbent dental hygienists investigated, followed by a dental clinic(29.4%). The largest number of the students who took dental coordinator courses had a liking for a dental hospital(41.9%), followed by university hospital and general hospital(29.0%)(p<0.001). 2. As for perception of dental coordinator, all the dental hygienists were aware of that occupation, and most of the students(81.9%) were cognizant of it(p<0.001). Concerning the necessity of that occupation, the students who felt the need for that(94.8%) outnumbered the dental hygienists who did(85.2%)(p<0.05). 65.9 percent of the dental hygienists and 84.5 percent of the students looked upon a dental hygienist as the best occupation that also could serve as a dental coordinator(p<0.01). 3. Concerning a favorite type of work including an official title, the dental hygienists wanted to work as the chief of counseling section the most(34.1%), and the largest group of the students hoped to become a section chief or team leader(35.2%). In regard to the most integral field of work, the dental coordinators(51.1%) and students(65.8%) attached the most importance to counseling(p<0.05). 4. The dental hygienists were better gratified than the students in every regard(p<0.001). The former($4.00{\pm}0.41$) looked at that occupation in a better way than the students($3.81{\pm}0.50$) as well(p<0.01). The abovementioned findings suggested that it would be advisable to provide dental hygienists with a certain level of a clinical career with education in order to ensure the success of dental coordinator education.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6521-6526
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• 2015

Background: This study aimed toanalyze the risk behavior for cervical cancer (CC) and the human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and resolution among women who received care through the private healthcare network of a municipality in southern Brazil. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and retrospective study was conducted with 25 women aged 20 to 59 years who received care through the private healthcare network and were treated at a specialty clinic in the period from January to December 2012 in a municipality in Northwest Parana, Southern Brazil. Data from medical records with cytological and HPV results were used. Following treatment, these women were followed-up and reassessed after 6 months. Data were statistically analyzed using the t-test and chi-squared test at a 5% significance level. Results: The mean age of the studied women was $27.8{\pm}7.75$ years old, and the majority were married, with paid employment and were non-smokers. The mean age at menarche was $13.0{\pm}0.50$ years old, and the mean age at first intercourse was $17.5{\pm}1.78$ years, with only 8.0% (2) initiating sexual activity at an age ${\leq}15$ years old. The majority had 1 to 2 children (60.0%), while 88.0% reported having had one sexual partner in their lifetime, and all the women were sexually active. A total of 68.0% used a hormonal contraceptive method. All the women had leukorrhea and pain and were infected by a single HPV type. Regarding the lesion grade, 80.0% showed high risk and 20.0% low risk. The most prevalent high-risk HPV strain was 16. Conclusions: These findings provide relevant information on HPV risk factors and infection, as well as the treatment and 6-month follow-up results, in economically and socially advantaged women with no traditional risk factors, corroborating previous reports that different risk factors may be described in different populations. Thus, this study reinforces the fact that even women without the traditional risk factors should undergo HPVmonitoring and assessment to determine the persistence of infection, promoting early diagnosis of the lesions presented and appropriate treatment to thus prevent the occurrence of CC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8607-8612
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer patients experience a variety of altered appearance - such as loss or disfigurement of breasts, discolored skin, and hair loss - which result in psychological distress that affect their quality of life. This study aims to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic status on the altered appearance distress, body image, and quality of life among Korean breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at advocacy events held at 16 different hospitals in Korea. Subjects were eligible to participate if they were 18 years of age or older, had a histologically confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer, had no evidence of recurrence or metastasis, and had no psychological problems at the time of the survey. Employment status, marital status, education, and income were assessed for patient socioeconomic status. Altered appearance distress was measured using the NCI's cancer treatment side effects scale; body image and quality of life were measured by the EORTC QLC-C30 and BR23. Means and standard deviations of each outcome were compared by socioeconomic status and multivariate linear regression models for evaluating the association between socioeconomic status and altered appearance distress, body image, and quality of life. Results: A total of 126 breast cancer patients participated in the study; the mean age of participants was 47.7 (SD=8.4). Of the total, 83.2% were married, 85.6% received more than high school education, 35.2% were employed, and 41% had more than $3000 in monthly household income. About 46% had mastectomy, and over 30% were receiving either chemotherapy or radiation therapy at the time of the survey. With fully adjusted models, the employed patients had significantly higher altered appearance distress (1.80 vs 1.48; p<0.05) and poorer body image (36.63 vs 51.69; p<0.05) compared to the patients who were unemployed. Higher education (10.58, standard error (SE)=7.63) and family income (12.88, SE=5.08) was positively associated with better body image after adjusting for age, disease stage at diagnosis, current treatment status, and breast surgery type. Similarly, patients who were married and who had higher education had better quality of life were statistically significant in the multivariate models. Conclusions: Socioeconomic status is significantly associated with altered appearance distress, body image, and quality of life in Korean women with breast cancer. Patients who suffer from altered appearance distress or lower body image are much more likely to experience psychosocial, physical, and functional problems than women who do not, therefore health care providers should be aware of the changes and distresses that these breast cancer patients go through and provide specific information and psychosocial support to socioeconomically more vulnerable patients.