• Title/Summary/Keyword: Indirect Inspection

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Seroreactivity to Q Fever Among Slaughterhouse Workers in South Korea

  • Chu, Hyuk;Yoo, Seok-Ju;Hwang, Kyu-Jam;Lim, Hyun-Sul;Lee, Kwan;Park, Mi-Yeoun
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.50 no.3
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    • pp.195-200
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    • 2017
  • Objectives: Q fever is a zoonotic disease that occurs worldwide; however, little is known about its prevalence in South Korea. We attempted to determine the prevalence of Q fever seroreactivity among Korean slaughterhouse workers and the risk factors for seroreactivity according to the type of work. Methods: The study was conducted among 1503 workers at a total of 73 slaughterhouses and 62 residual-product disposal plants. During the study period, sites were visited and surveys were administered to employees involved in slaughterhouse work, and serological tests were performed on blood samples by indirect immunofluorescence assays. Serological samples were grouped by job classification into those of slaughter workers, residual-product handlers, inspectors and inspection assistants, and grading testers and testing assistants. Employee risk factors were analyzed according to the type of work. Results: Out of 1481 study subjects who provided a blood sample, 151 (10.2%) showed reactive antibodies. When these results were analyzed in accordance with the type of work, the result of slaughter workers (11.3%) was similar to the result of residual-product handlers (11.4%), and the result of inspectors and assistants (5.3%) was similar to the result of grading testers and assistants (5.4%). Among those who answered in the affirmative to the survey question, "Has there been frequent contact between cattle blood and your mouth while working?" the proportions were 13.4 and 4.6%, respectively, and this was identified as a risk factor that significantly varied between job categories among slaughterhouse workers. Conclusions: This study found a Q fever seroreactivity rate of 10.2% for slaughterhouse workers, who are known to be a high-risk population. Contact with cattle blood around the mouth while working was the differential risk factor between job categories among slaughterhouse workers.

Study on the Changes in Allergen and Allergenicity Originated from Shrimp by Physical Treatments (물리적 처리에 의한 새우유래 Allergen 및 Allergenicity 변화)

  • Kim, Seong-Mi;Park, Jin-Gyu;Kim, Koth-Bong-Woo-Ri;Lee, Ju-Woon;Byun, Myung-Woo;Park, Sun-Mee;Ahn, Dong-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.35 no.8
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    • pp.990-996
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    • 2006
  • This research was conducted to evaluate the changes in allergenicity of shrimp by physical treatments using competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Ci-ELISA). Shrimp was subjected to physical treatments such as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), sonication, autoclave and microwave. Heat-stable protein (HSP) purified from raw shrimp was used as a major allergen. The binding ability of monoclonal IgG and shrimp-allergic patients' IgE to HSP treated with HHP decreased, increasing the pressure up to 400 MPa. Especially, it became less than 50% at 400 MPa. The binding ability of mAb to HSP treated with sonication (10, 20, 30 and 60 min) decreased with the treated time. Especially, it became less than 60% with the treatment for 60 min. The allergenicity change of HSP treated with autoclave and microwave little decreased. The binding ability of mAb to HSP during the treatment for 20 min became more than 70%. The results suggest that allergenicity of HSP in raw shrimp be more easily lost by HHP or sonication treatment than by autoclave or microwave treatment.

Development of an Ecological Model to Improve Health Care Management for Children in Child Care Centers (보육시설 아동의 건강관리향상을 위한 생태학적 모형 개발)

  • Park, Eun-Sook;Im, Yeo-Jin;Cho, Eun-Ji
    • Child Health Nursing Research
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.59-68
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    • 2013
  • Purpose: This study was conducted to identify current health care management and barriers in health care management according to ecological systems, and to develop an ecological model for enhancing health care in child care centers. Methods: Focus group interviews were conducted with directors and teachers of child care centers, and with parents of children enrolled in child care. Data were analyzed by the latent content analysis method. Results: Twelve categories of health care management were identified. Barriers to child health care included knowledge deficit and lack of competence in health care by teachers, lack of useful health care manuals, non-existence of professional child health care personnel in child care centers, lack of mutual information sharing and disagreement on child health conditions between child care personnel and parents, lack of specific health related child care inspection criteria and time flexible child care centers with a lack of policy on collaboration with health care facilities. The ecological model developed included specific strategies to improve health care management in child care. Conclusion: The proposed ecological model to improve child health care management should be useful to plan future health care program considering both the immediate and indirect social environment surrounding children in child care.

The Effect of Information Quality and Self-efficacy on Car-sharing Usage Intention (정보품질과 자기효능감이 카셰어링 재이용의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Liu, Bo;Byun, Sookeun
    • Journal of Service Research and Studies
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.20-38
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    • 2023
  • Recently, car sharing has shown the most remarkable growth among sharing economy services. In the process of analyzing the intention to reuse the car sharing service, this study tried to reflect the unique characteristics of the service, which consists of non-face-to-face self-service, such as reservation, approval, handover, inspection, and return of the vehicle. Specifically, in addition to the perceived benefits and the perceived risks, we considered 'information quality' as a platform characteristic and 'self-efficacy' as a personal characteristic. To collect data, an online survey was conducted on adults with experience in car sharing, and a total of 320 responses were used for analysis. As a result of analyzing the structural equation model, it was found that information quality and self-efficacy increased the perceived benefits of services, and the higher the information quality, the higher the self-efficacy. On the other hand, the role of information quality and self-efficacy in lowering perceived risks was insignificant, and the intention to reuse services was more affected by perceived benefits than perceived risks. As a result of further analysis using Process Macro, it was found that the effect of self-efficacy on reuse intention was mediated by perceived benefits. It was analyzed that the indirect effects of information quality on reuse intention through perceived benefits or self-efficacy were all significant. These results suggest that providing timely, sufficient, and easy-to-understand information required by users on the platform improves self-efficacy and increases service reuse intention. In order to increase the number of service users, it is important for service providers not only to provide promotional activities such as offering attractive prices, but also to provide high-quality information so that users can use it more easily.

A Study on Improvement on National Legislation for Sustainable Progress of Space Development Project (우주개발사업의 지속발전을 위한 국내입법의 개선방향에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Kang-Bin
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.97-158
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    • 2010
  • The purpose of this paper is to research on the contents and improvement of national legislations relating to space development in Korea to make the sustainable progress of space development project in Korea. Korea has launched its first satellite KITST-1 in 1992. The National Space Committee has established "The Space Development Promotion Basic Plan" in 2007. The plan addressed the development of total 13 satellites by 2010 and the space launch vehicle by 2020, and the launch of moon exploration spaceship by 2021. Korea has built the space center at Oinarodo, Goheng Province in June 2009. In Korea the first small launch vehicle KSLV-1 was launched at the Naro Space Center in August 2009, and its second launch was made in June 2010. The United Nations has adopted five treaties relating to the development of outer space as follows : The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the Rescue and Return Agreement of 1968, the Liability Convention of 1972, the Registration Convention of 1974, and the Moon Treaty of 1979. All five treaties has come into force. Korea has ratified the Outer Space Treaty, the Rescue and Return Agreement, the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention excepting the Moon Treaty. Most of development countries have enacted the national legislation relating to the development of our space as follows : The National Aeronautic and Space Act of 1958 and the Commercial Space Act of 1998 in the United States, Outer Space Act of 1986 in England, Establishment Act of National Space Center of 1961 in France, Canadian Space Agency Act of 1990 in Canada, Space Basic Act of 2008 in Japan, and Law on Space Activity of 1993 in Russia. There are currently three national legislations relating to space development in Korea as follows : Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act of 1987, Outer Space Development Promotion Act of 2005, Outer Space Damage Compensation Act of 2008. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy of Korea has announced the Full Amendment Draft of Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act in December 2009, and it's main contents are as follows : (1) Changing the title of Act into Aerospace Industry Promotion Act, (2) Newly regulating the definition of air flight test place, etc., (3) Establishment of aerospace industry basic plan, establishment of aerospace industry committee, (4) Project for promoting aerospace industry, (5) Exploration development, international joint development, (6) Cooperative research development, (7) Mutual benefit project, (8) Project for furthering basis of aerospace industry, (9) Activating cluster of aerospace industry, (10) Designation of air flight test place, etc., (11) Abolishing the designation and assistance of specific enterprise, (12) Abolishing the inspection of performance and quality. The Outer Space Development Promotion Act should be revised with regard to the following matters : (1) Overlapping problem in legal system between the Outer Space Development Promotion Act and the Aerospace industry Development promotion Act, (2) Distribution and adjustment problem of the national research development budget for space development between National Space Committee and National Science Technology Committee, (3) Consideration and preservation of environment in space development, (4) Taking the legal action and maintaining the legal system for policy and regulation relating to space development. The Outer Space Damage Compensation Act should be revised with regard to the following matters : (1) Definition of space damage and indirect damage, (2) Currency unit of limit of compensation liability, (3) Joint liability and compensation claim right of launching person of space object, (4) Establishment of Space Damage Compensation Council. In Korea, it will be possible to make a space tourism in 2013, and it is planned to introduce and operate a manned spaceship in 2013. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the policy relating to the promotion of commercial space transportation industry. Also it is necessary to make the proper maintenance of the current Aviation Law and space development-related laws and regulations for the promotion of space transportation industry in Korea.

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A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

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