• Title/Summary/Keyword: Lead determination

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Post-seismic assessment of existing constructions: evaluation of the shakemaps for identifying exclusion zones in Emilia

  • Braga, Franco;Gigliotti, Rosario;Monti, Giorgio;Morelli, Francesco;Nuti, Camillo;Salvatore, Walter;Vanzi, Ivo
    • Earthquakes and Structures
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.37-56
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    • 2015
  • The Emilia, May-July 2012, earthquake has dramatically highlighted the only the hazards facing the people in insufficiently secured workplaces, but also the socio-economic consequences of interruption of production activities. After the event, in order to guarantee suitable safety levels, the Italian government asked for a generalized seismic retrofit of buildingsaffected by the earthquake under consideration. Considering that Emilia is one of the most industrialized Italian region, the number of the industrial buildings to be verified could however lead to not acceptable resumption of production time. So, with the aim to speed up the recovery, were leaved out from this request the buildings which had undergone a strong enoughshaking without any damage. In practice, the earthquakes were being used as a "test" to evaluate the seismic structural strength. Besides, the Italian government provision specifies also the zones, within which buildings that escaped evident damage are exempt from obligatory checks, and termed "exclusion zones", shall be individuated using the data provided by the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in the form of so-called "shakemaps". Obviously, the precision of such data greatly influences the determination of the exclusions zones and so all the economic issues related to them. Starting from these considerations, the present paper describes an evaluation of the reliability of the procedure of shakemap generation with specific regard to the seismic events that struck the Emilia region on May 20 and 29, 2012.

Determination of Heavy Metals and Residual Agricultural Chemicals in Bombyx mori Silkworm Cocoon (누에고치의 중금속 및 농약잔류 가능성 연구)

  • Kweon, HaeYong;Jo, You-Young;Lee, Heui-Sam;Lee, Kwang-Gill;Sung, Gyoo-Byung;Kim, Kee-Young;Ji, Sang-Duk
    • Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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    • v.50 no.2
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    • pp.48-52
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    • 2012
  • Heavy metals and residual agricultural chemicals in Bombyx mori silkworm cocoon for nontextile usages were examined. Proximate composition of silkworm cocoon was examined; contents of moisture, crude protein, crude fat, and ash were about 5 ~ 6%, 93 ~ 94%, 0.4 ~ 0.5%, and 0.3 ~ 0.4%, respectively. The Heavy metals were analyzed by ICP/MS after acid digestion. Arsenic, cadmium, and lead were not detected. The average contents of mercury, zinc, and cupric were 0.317, 3.99, and 2.06 mg/kg, respectively. Agricultural chemicals, such as dichlorvos and paraquart also were not detected. Silkworm cocoon may be safe used for nontextile applications.

A Sensitive, Efficient, and Cost-Effective Method to Determine Rotigotine in Rat Plasma Using Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) and LC-MRM

  • Kim, Ji Seong;Jang, Yong Jin;Kim, Jin Hee;Kim, Jin Hwan;Seo, Jae Hee;Park, Il-Ho;Kang, Myung Joo;Choi, Yong Seok
    • Mass Spectrometry Letters
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.146-151
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    • 2022
  • Rotigotine (RTG) is a non-ergot dopamine agonist used to manage the early stage of Parkinson's disease (PD) as transdermal patch. However, the poor medication compliance of PD patients and skin issues related with repeated applications of RTG patches lead to the search for alternative formulations and it also requires appropriate analytical methods for their in vivo evaluation. Thus, here, a sensitive, efficient, and cost-effective method to determine RTG in rat plasma using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and multiple reaction monitoring was developed. The use of 20 µL of rat plasma for sample treatment, 8-OH-DPAT as the internal standard, and methyl tert-butyl ether as the LLE solvent in the present method gives it advantages over previous methods for the analysis of RTG in biological samples. The good analytical performance of the developed method was confirmed in specificity, linearity (the coefficient of determination ≥0.999 within 0.1-100 ng/mL), sensitivity (the lower limit of quantitation at 0.1 ng/mL), accuracy (81.00-115.05%), precision (≤10.75%), and recovery (81.00-104.48%) by following the FDA guidelines. Finally, the applicability test of the validated method to the in vivo evaluation of a RTG formulation showed that the present method is the only method which can be accurately applied to that longer than 24 hours, critical for the development of formulations with reduced dosing frequencies. Therefore, the present method could contribute to the development of new RTG formulations helpful to people suffering from PD.

Effects of Pahs and Pcbs and Their Toxic Metabolites on Inhibition of Gjic and Cell Proliferation in Rat Liver Epithelial Wb-F344 Cells

  • Miroslav, Machala;Jan, Vondracek;Katerina, Chramostova;Lenka, Sindlerova;Pavel, Krcmar;Martina, Pliskova;Katerina, Pencikova;Brad, Upham
    • Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.56-62
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    • 2003
  • The liver progenitor cells could form a potential target cell population fore both tumor-initiating and -promoting chemicals. Induction of drug-metabolizing and antioxidant enzymes, including AhR-dependent CYP1A1, NQO-1 and AKR1C9, was detected in the rat liver epithelial WB-F344 "stem-like" cells. Additionally, WB-F344 cells express a functional, wild-type form of p53 protein, a biomarker of genotoxic events, and connexin 43, a basic structural unit of gap junctions forming an important type of intercellular communication. In this cellular model, two complementary assays have been established for detection of the modes of action associated with tumor promotion: inhibition of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and proliferative activity in confluent cells. We found that the PAHs and PCBs, which are AhR agonists, released WB-F344 cells from contact inhibition, increasing both DNA synthesis and cell numbers. Genotoxic effects of some PAHs that lead to apoptosis and cell cycle delay might interfere with the proliferative activity of PAHs. Contrary to that, the nongenotoxic low-molecular-weight PAHs and non-dioxin-like PCB congeners, abundant in the environment, did not significantly affect cell cycle and cell proliferation; however both groups of compounds inhibited GJIC in WB-F344 cells. The release from contact inhibiton by a mechanism that possibly involves the AhR activation, inhibition of GJIC and genotoxic events induced by environmental contaminants are three important modes of action that could play an important role in carcinogenic effects of toxic compounds. The relative potencies to inhibit GJIC, to induce AhR-mediated activity, and to release cells from contact inhibition were determined for a large series of PAHs and PCBs and their metabolites. In vitro bioassays based on detection of events on cellular level (deregulation of GJIC and/or proliferation) or determination of receptor-mediated activities in both ?$stem-like^{\circ}{\times}$ and hepatocyte-like liver cellular models are valuable tools for detection of modes of action of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. They may serve, together with concentration data, as a first step in their risk assessment.

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Tunnel wall convergence prediction using optimized LSTM deep neural network

  • Arsalan, Mahmoodzadeh;Mohammadreza, Taghizadeh;Adil Hussein, Mohammed;Hawkar Hashim, Ibrahim;Hanan, Samadi;Mokhtar, Mohammadi;Shima, Rashidi
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.31 no.6
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    • pp.545-556
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    • 2022
  • Evaluation and optimization of tunnel wall convergence (TWC) plays a vital role in preventing potential problems during tunnel construction and utilization stage. When convergence occurs at a high rate, it can lead to significant problems such as reducing the advance rate and safety, which in turn increases operating costs. In order to design an effective solution, it is important to accurately predict the degree of TWC; this can reduce the level of concern and have a positive effect on the design. With the development of soft computing methods, the use of deep learning algorithms and neural networks in tunnel construction has expanded in recent years. The current study aims to employ the long-short-term memory (LSTM) deep neural network predictor model to predict the TWC, based on 550 data points of observed parameters developed by collecting required data from different tunnelling projects. Among the data collected during the pre-construction and construction phases of the project, 80% is randomly used to train the model and the rest is used to test the model. Several loss functions including root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R2) were used to assess the performance and precision of the applied method. The results of the proposed models indicate an acceptable and reliable accuracy. In fact, the results show that the predicted values are in good agreement with the observed actual data. The proposed model can be considered for use in similar ground and tunneling conditions. It is important to note that this work has the potential to reduce the tunneling uncertainties significantly and make deep learning a valuable tool for planning tunnels.

A Study on the Nationality Determination Criteria of Chinese Courts for Arbitral Awards Made by Foreign Arbitration Institutions in China as the Place of Arbitration (외국중재기관이 중국을 중재지로 하여 내린 중재판정에 대한 중국 법원의 국적 결정기준에 관한 연구)

  • Hyun-Soo Ha
    • Journal of Arbitration Studies
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.3-21
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    • 2023
  • Chinese law does not directly stipulate the criteria for determining the nationality of arbitral awards, and the Civil Procedure Law stipulates that arbitral awards are divided into domestic arbitral awards and foreign arbitral awards based on the location of the arbitration institution managing the arbitration cases. This indirectly classifies the nationality of the arbitral award based on the location of the arbitral institution. However, with regard to the nationality of eight arbitral awards in this paper made in China by the foreign arbitration institutions, the Chinese courts determined the nationality by arbitrarily selecting the criteria for the location of the arbitration institution and the criteria for the place of arbitration, except for arbitral awards made in Hong Kong. China's unclear attitude toward the criteria for determining the nationality of arbitral award has resulted not only obscures the country that can exercise the right to revoke arbitral award, but also obscures the laws and regulations applied to the approval and execution of arbitral awards. In other words, since the right to revoke the arbitral awards resides with the country of nationality of the awards, such an ambiguous attitude in China prevents the parties from responding to the cancellation lawsuit by predicting the nationality of the arbitral awards in advance. Furthermore, since China made a declaration of reciprocity reservations while joining the New York Convention, in cases where the criteria for location of the arbitral institution is applied, if the arbitration institution belongs to a contracting state, the it must apply the New York Convention to approve and execute arbitration decisions, but if it is not a contracting state, it must be approved and executed by mutual arbitration agreements or reciprocity principles. These results can lead to different results in approval and execution of the same arbitral awards depending on how the nationality is determined.

Case Study on Determination of the Level of New RoHS II Substances in Domestic Electronic and Electrical Equipments (국내 전기전자 제품에 함유된 신규 RoHS II 물질 검출 사례 연구)

  • Song, Moon-Hwan;Son, Seung-Hwan;Cho, Young-Dal;Choe, Eun-Kyung
    • Clean Technology
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.124-133
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    • 2011
  • In addition to six substances regulated in EU RoHS including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), priority substances are identified in new RoHS II as hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). In this study, 20 plastic samples were collected from 12 domestic electrotechnical companies and levels of four restricted substances were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Among 20 parts that compose washer, refrigerator or microwave oven, HBCDD was detected in three samples of NBR material with the amount of 42~381 mg/kg while DBP and BBP was not detected in any samples collected respectively, implying that these substance may not be used widely in plastic materials for EEE. However, DEHP was detected in all samples of NBR, PP, PBT, EPDM and PVC materials with the amount of 42 up to 59,400 mg/kg that exceeds the limit value of 0.1 wt% (1,000 mg/kg). Presence of a restricted substance in polymer material makes a great negative influence on a number of final product. To cope with coming RoHS II as well as REACH, action not to use DEHP in plastic material or the relevant notification in case of REACH seems to be needed. Screening test of Arsenic compounds such as diarsenic pentaoxide, diarsenic trioxide, lead hydrogen arsenate, triethyl arsenate that are included in REACH SVHC was done by ICP measurement Arsenium was detected in four samples made of NBR and PBT materials in the level of 15~700 mg/kg. By considering the screening method used in this study, the amount of arsenium compounds in the thermistor made of PBT material has a high chance of exceeding the regulated limit value.

A Study on the Economical Nutrition Supplement of Cereal Food for Improvement in our National Eating Habits (국민식생활(國民食生活) 향상(向上)을 위(爲)한 곡류제품(穀類製品)의 경제적( 經濟的) 영향강화(營養强化)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Ju, Jin-Soon;Yu, Jong-Yull;Kim, Sook-He;Lee, Ki-Yull;Han, In-Kyu
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.1-9
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    • 1973
  • I. Subject of the Study: Studies on the economical nutrition supplement of cereal foods for the improvement in our notional eating habits. II. Purpose and Importance of the Study: 1. Our nation is confronted with the situation that the rice, a principal food, short of some essential amino acids, lysine and threonine, leads to imbalanced meals insufficient in the nutrient of protein, to bring many difficulties in the elevation of our national physique. 2. The shortage of even the rice imperfect in the nutrient of protein makes the import of lots of foreign rice inevitable. It is considered that the protein supplement and decrease in the consumption amount, of rice, is a serious key to the solution of our food difficulty, and then a way of the proetin supplement of rice through the addition of essential amino acid is to be rarely applied in the view of the our present finance and situation. 3. In the present experiment, therefore, it aims to the suggestion of an aspect of the improvement in our national eating habits guiding in the nutrition elevation which our nation can afford economically through the development of first, a way of the protein supplement by the mixture of cereals producted plentifully in our country, and second, a way of the decrease in the consumption amount and the improvement in the nutrition of rice through the substitution of the other cereals for rice. III. Contents of Scope of the Study: 1. Objects of the study: Objects of the study are the following three items; a) The nutrition supplement of rice through the mixture of cereals. Our nation makes mainly rice as a principal food, but practically many kinds of cereal are produced in our country. They contain different levels and qualities of each nutrient and they are different from one another in the kinds of essential amino acid consisting protein. For that reason, the mutual complement efficeincy of insufficient nutrients is observed through the mixture of cereals. b) The nutrition supplement of rice through the addition of superior protein sources to rice, a principal food. The development of rice as superior foods in the sense of nutrition is conducted through the risement in protein quality by the addition of protein sources in good quality, for example, fish flour (anchovy flour), egg powder, milk powder, and so on, and through the supplement of vitamins and minerals. c) The decrease in the consumption amount of rice through the substitution of the other cereals for rice, as a principal food. The compensation for the short amount of rice is made by the reduction in the consumption of rice through the discovery of a way of substitution of the other cereals for rice, as a principal food and of the settlement of problems in nutrition and finance subsequent to this. 2. Contents of the study: a) An ideal mixture-ratio of cereals is established for rats by feeding mixed foods(rice-barely or rice-wheat) containing 5%, 15%, 25%, 35% and 45% level of either barely or wheat. b) The nutritive value is determined in the whole subsititution of other foods for rice, and then, a way of the complement of over and under nutrients is devised. c) The ideal combination is investigated for rats through feeding mixed foods of main food, rice and supplement foods of protein sources, soy bean, fish flour, egg powder and milk Powder. d) According to results from the above three experiments, the concise functional test for men and the examination of economical property are made. 3. Scope of the study: a) The observation of the effect of each diet on the growth rate for rats. The growth rate of rats was observed for 15 groups of mixed foods of a main food, rice, and wheat flour, barley powder or soy bean powder, respectively, and 12 groups of wheat flour diets supplemented with $1{\sim}3%$ milk powder, and rice or wheat flour diets supplemented with 5% of milk powder, egg powder, fish flour or soy bean powder, respectively. b) The determination of food consumption. The food consumption was determined at weekly intervals for 27 kinds of diet described in a) item. c) The determination of food efficiency rate. The food efficiency rate for each diet was determined by calculation from the gained body weight and the food consumption amount at the same intervals described in b) item. d) The determination of protein efficiency rate. The protein efficiency rate for each diet was determined by calculation form gained body weight and the protein amount of the food consumption amount at the same intervals described c) item. e) The determination of the body component. The hematocrite and hemoglobin levels in the blood, total nitrogen in the serum, blood sugar, and lipids and glycogen in the liver were determined. f) The observation of nitrogen balance. As a means of the observation of nitrogen balance, the total nitrogen in the urine was determined. g) The analysis of economical property. The economical property was analyzed as the gained body weight to the amount equivalent to one won through the conversion of the food consumption amount into money. h) The functional test for men. The concise functional test for men was made in order to establish if the best diet for experimental animals can be applied to men. IV. Results of the Study: The national food product plan, nationwide nutritive enlightment and the improvement activities in our country eating habits, especially, mixed and powder food problems are to be significantly referred, and the following results must be applied. a) In the mixed foods of cereals, the mixed food of the rice-barley containing $5{\sim}15%$ level of barley is best in terms of nutrition. b) The addition of superior protein sources, egg, Bilk, soy bean, or fish, respectively to either rice or wheat flour makes a great risement in the nutritive value. c) The animal protein is more effective in the elevation of nutritive value of cereals. d) Rice takes the most nutritive operation and has the highest preference, among rice, wheat flour and barley. e) Wheat flour is more economical than rice in evaluation of the gained body weight to the regular money, and the addition of fish or soy bean is more economical than that of any other supplement food. But the above results are true of the range of nutrition and economical property. f) The study on the nutrition composition and barley will lead to the improvement in our national eating habits as mixed food of the rice-barley containing $5{\sim}15%$ level of barley is more nutritive. g) This study on the nutrition only for the growing animal can not be considered as a perfect and entire evaluation. Consequently, the perfect data for our national nutrition can be obtained from the experiment similar to this for the much longer period examining, in details, the growth rate, change of physical strength, mental and bodily change, average life span, and resistance ability to infectious diseases.

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On the Determination of Slope Stability to Landslide by Quantification(II) (수량화(數量化)(II)에 의한 산사태사면(山沙汰斜面)의 위험도(危險度) 판별(判別))

  • Kang, Wee Pyeong;Murai, Hiroshi;Omura, Hiroshi;Ma, Ho Seop
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.75 no.1
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    • pp.32-37
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    • 1986
  • In order to get the fundamental information that could be useful to judge the potentiality of occurrence of rapid shallow landslide in the objective slope, factors selected on Jinhae regions in Korea, where many landslides were caused by heavy rainfall of daily 465 mm and hourly 52mm in August 1979, was carried out through the multiple statistics of quantification method (II) by the electronic computer. The net system with $2{\times}2cm$ unit mesh was overlayed with the contour map of scale 1:5000. 74 meshes of landslides and 119 meshes of non-landslide were sampled out to survey the state of vegetative cover and geomorphological conditions, those were divided into 6 items arid 27 categories. As a result, main factors that would lead to landslide were shown in order of vegetation, slope type, slope position, slope, aspect and numbers of stream. Particularly, coniferous forest of 10 years old, concave slope and foot of mountain were main factors making slope instability. On the contrary, coniferous forest of 20-30 years old, deciduous forest, convex slope and summit contributed to the stable against Landslide. The boundary value between two groups of existence and none of landslides was -0.123, and its prediction was 72%. It was well predicted to divide into two groups of them.

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A Study on Image of the Nurse (간호사 이미지에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Hyung-Ja;Kim, Hyeon-Ok
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.97-110
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    • 2001
  • An image exists in the thought of every subjective person and it exercises its influence over everything, having a great power in the real world. An positive image of the nurse has an influence on her faith, value and confidence, therefore increasing her job satisfaction, helping to upgrade her level of profession of nursing through qualitative nursing service as a result, considering the necessity of such an image when it comes to improvement of the profession, the confirmation of the image is indispensable to its evaluation of a speciality in nursing. This study is intended to help that improvement of the nursing profession in the present so that the total effort in every field of nursing is made and to offer basic material for developing a strategy to improve the image of nurses. This study is designed to investigate such an image descriptively. The subjects include 105 nurses, 60 doctors, 68 office workers, 88 medical engineers, 127 patients and there protectors with a total of 448 adapted with accidental sampling, who work at Y and W general hospital in Chonju. The measuring instrument consists of 40 question, with the researcher amended and made from on of Inja Song(1993), Donsoon Lee(1995), Ilsim yang(1998), and its Cronbach's alpha coefficient is .95. Data were collected from March 1 2000 to March 20, 2000 using self-reported questionnairs, analyzed with SPSS WIN 7.5 after encoding. The results are as follows: 1. Most of the subjects thinks the nursing as a hard, stressful, always busy job(more than 75%), and consider nurses as good-looking, supportive and responsible to co-workers to above average degree($50.0{\sim}74.9%$), especially it shows the idea that nursing is independently academic job and has come to fasten itself upon the public. But it shows below the everage($25.0%{\sim}49.9%$) in regard to self development as a specialist, affection for there job, an association activity, service to the community, high intelligence level and direct given patient nursing service. It also rated low as a recommendable job, independently nursing accomplishment, social position. 2. The nurses, patients and there protectors expressed more positive opinions than doctors, medical engineers, office workers about the image of the nurse(F=18.80, p=.00). This fact indicates that the former group evaluated the image similarly contrary to lowness of the latter. 3. In the study on what influenced upon the image, it defines to 79.8% by direct contact in the hospital or acquaintance with nurses, and 16.3% by mass media. 67.3% answered that they saw the image in a new light through hospitalization, which suggests an important source for the image management originates from caring for the quality of nursing service. Considering the evaluation of the image above, we need strategies to lead a unique professional knowledge and technological development, insurance of professional self-determination, high social position, participation in group activities, dedication to lifetime job, in order that nursing comes to expand as a professional occupation. Also, as for generating more positive images, we must take the quality of nursing service into account and offer and monitor correct information about the expanded role and function of the nurse continuously so that mass media reflect a more accurate image of nurses in general.

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