• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.246-262
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• 2007

The performance of projects has always been an area of interest in the construction industry. Roles of all construction supply chain partners are necessary; however the role of a contractor firm in the construction project is pivotal. So, this research intended to explore a Construction Firm's performance criteria which could measure the level of performance of that firm in an ongoing project. Data was collected from construction professionals working in three principal project participant organizations, namely Owner, Consultant and Contractor. A total of 113 nos. of performance measuring items were sorted from literature review and used to collect data. Statistical tools processed by SPSS program was employed to analyze the data. Out of total 113 items, only 65 nos. of variables were found to be acceptable to every population group of this study. Factor analysis revealed 12 key performance predicting factors (KPPF) with 53 predictive indicators. 12 KPPFS with index weight are: work progress and smoothening (9.3%), change order management and work accuracy (9.1%), business relationship building (8.1%), adequacy of construction work procedure (8.6%), quality performance (8.0%), health and site safety adequacy (8.8%), Innovative contractor (8.0%), adequacy of construction site information (6.8%), compliance with contract plan/specification requirements (8.9%), creditworthiness and financial capability (8.3%), intra-agency relationship and responsiveness (7.0%) and resource management (9.2%). These results could be useful to project management body to evaluate performance of its contractor firm on site as well as the contractor itself to assess own performance and its subcontractors on-site.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2917-2921
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• 2016

Background: To explore factors that influence quality of life (QOL) in patients receiving breast conserving therapy (BCT). Materials and Methods: In this sequential mixed methods study, 118 women from Songklanagarind Hospital were included. We used participants' characteristics, Body Image Scale (BIS), and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy with the Breast Cancer Subscale (FACT-B) for analysis. The BIS transformed into presence of body image disturbance (BID). Factors that influenced QOL were determined by stepwise multiple linear regression. Forty-one participants were selected for qualitative analysis. Our female researcher performed the semi-structured interviews with questions based on the symbolic interaction theory. Final codes were analysed using thematic analysis along with investigator triangulation methods. Results: Ninety percent had early stage breast cancer with post-completed BCT, for an average of 2.7 years. The median BIS score and FACT-B score were 2 (IQR=10) and 130 (IQR=39). In the regression analysis, an age of more than 50 years and BID were significant factors. As for the value of conserved breasts, two themes emerged: a conserved breast is an essential part of a participant's life and also the representation of her womanhood; the importance of a breast is related to age. Conclusions: Body image influenced QOL in post BCT participants. The conserved breasts also lead to positive and better impact on their body image as an essential part of their life.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 2014

Objective: We developed a Motor-Assisted Rowing Machine (MARM) for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), by modification of the Concept II rowing machine, so that the seats could be operated automatically in a backward and forward direction by a motor. Design: Case report. Methods: Motor rowing consisted of a chair with inclination control, a motor system, control button, monitor, program, leg supporter, safety belt, and seat. The patients were 2 men rowing athletes with SCI, classified as American Spinal Injury Association class B, participated in the study. Level of thoracic injury ranged from T8 to T10. The subjects rowed at a self-selected stroke rate with 50 watts. Two different rowing methods (static rowing without movement of the seat, dynamic rowing using MARM) were assigned to each participant during 10 minutes; 34 reflective markers were attached to their full bodies. Kinematic data were collected using the Vicon motion analysis system. Based on the full body model provided as a default by the equipment. In the rowing exercise, the rowing motions were divided into Drive Phase and Recovery Phase. Results: The two rowing methods differ in handle range, seat range, handle and seat ratio, handle velocity, and seat velocity during static and dynamic rowing. The rowing exercise using a rowing machine developed MARM increased tendency to the range of motion in the dynamic method compared to the static method. Conclusions: The newly developed MARM could be a useful whole body exercise for people with SCI.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with stress related to home mechanical ventilator (HMV) care in general ward nurses. Methods: The study participants were 110 general ward nurses. Data on participant characteristics, level of knowledge, education needs, coping ability in emergency situations, confidence, and stress were collected from August 1 to 30, 2018 using a structured questionnaire by web-based surveys. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 20.0 for descriptive statistics and independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Results: Significant factors associated with stress related to HMV care were ward career, intensive care unit (ICU) career, intensive care room (ICR) career, education experience, and satisfaction level of HMV education. Stress had negative correlations with confidence and positive correlations with education needs. The determining factors affecting stress related to HMV care in the general ward were confidence (${\beta}=-.31$, p=.004), ICR career (${\beta}=-.27$, p<.001), education needs (${\beta}=.24$, p=.005), education frequency (${\beta}=-.18$, p=.040), and ICU career (${\beta}=-.18$, p=.025); their explanation power was about 41.8%. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop HMV care training manuals and guidelines and consider ICU or ICR careers for patient safety.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.395-397
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• 2019

Despite technical advance, human error is the main reason for maritime accidents. To ensure a safety of maritime transporting environment, technical and methodological improvement to react to various types of maritime accidents should be developed instead of ambiguously anticipating maritime accidents due to human errors. Survey, questionnaires, and interview have been routinely applied to understand objective human lookout pattern differences in various navigational situations. Although the descriptive methodology helps systematically categorizing different patterns of human behavior to avoid accidents, the subjective methods limit to objectively recognize physical behavior patterns during navigation. The purpose of the study is to develop an objective lookout pattern detection system using wearable sensors in the simulated navigation environment. In the simulated maritime navigation environment, each participant performed a given navigational situation by wearing the wearable sensors on the wrist, trunk, and head. Activity classification algorithm that was developed in the previous navigation activity classification research was applied. The physical lookout behavior patterns before and after situation-aware showed distinctive patterns, and the results are expected to reduce human errors of navigators.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.311-323
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• 2021

Objective: The disabled are in a blind spot for obtaining information on drugs, and the pharmacies' counseling on drug use is centered on non-disabled people. Few studies have investigated the current statuses of drug use by type of disability. The purpose of this study is to understand the drug use by type of disability and by life cycle of visually impaired and hearing impaired in Korea. Methods: The study participants consisted of 16 people with visually impairments, 12 people with hearing impairments. One in-depth interview was conducted per participant, and each interview was recorded and documented. Results: Common barriers against safe medication and medical service uses across disability types are 'lack of consideration and service for the disabled, limited access to medical facilities due to disability, limited access to information regarding medication use, psychological anxiety about drug use and side effects, and inconvenience regarding COVID-19 epidemic. The specific factors were 'difficulties in identifying proper medicines and following prescribed dosages' in the case of visually impaired, and 'problems with sign language interpretation system' for the hearing impaired. Conclusion: Disabled people are hindered from using medicines properly due to various factors. Based on the content derived from this study, it is necessary to eliminate the inhibition factors and devise specific measures for the safety of each type of disorder such as developing a method for medication counseling considering disabilities and establishing communication support systems.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.411-422
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• 2020

Background and objective: This study was conducted to find out the effects of healing farm resources and participant satisfaction on the level of stress and loyalty. Methods: The experiment was conducted on 18 subjects who participated in agro-healing activities (aged 49.5 years on average) and the concentration of cortisol, the level of stress and satisfaction with the services and program of a healing farm. The healing-agriculture activities were performed once a week, a total of 7 sessions, for 90 minutes and their saliva was collected before and after the activities. Results: The concentration of cortisol, a stress hormone, was statistically significantly reduced after the healing-agriculture activities in 5 out of 7 sessions. The total cortisol concentration showed statistically significant differences. The 6th session was comprised of different activities, compared to others, such as understanding weeds, managing a garden and making a pizza with fermentation enzymes, and the level of cortisol in the 6th session was the lowest after participating in the agro-healing activities, which indicated that the activities have the positive effect of lowering the level of stress. The level of stress was lowered from 18.39 to 16.78, which was consistent with the results of the concentration of cortisol. The level of satisfaction in the last session was below 50%, which indicated that the owner of the farm might be a little inexperienced in education and marketing on information and safety. The variables of participants including stress and satisfaction with services showed a strong influence on their loyalty. Conclusion: Satisfaction with services and loyalty to the healing farm showed a very high correlation, which was statistically significant. It also showed that participants' stress level and satisfaction with the services and program of the healing farm have a strong influence on their loyalty.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.126-133
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• 2024

Background: Medication's benefits and harms require careful management. Laws mandate pharmacists to provide essential medication details since inadequate counseling may pose risks. This study explores public expectations for pharmacist-provided side effect information to enhance safety. Methods: A self-developed questionnaire was created for participant to self-report, refined through pilot surveys with experts and laypersons. Nineteen items were categorized into four sections, using closed-ended questions. Adults over 20, having obtained prescription medications within the past year, were surveyed via convenience sampling. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics and T-tests using IBM SPSS Statistics 21 and Microsoft Excel. Results: The study involved 189 participants, with a slightly higher proportion of females (59.3%) than males (40.7%), predominantly in their 20s (45.0%) and college graduates (57.1%). Health professionals represented 76.2% of respondents. Over half visited pharmacies at least 5 times yearly for prescriptions. Indirect experience with side effects was more common (30.2%) than direct experience (17.5%). Most (82.0%) showed interest in media-reported side effect events. Satisfaction with pharmacist-provided side effect explanations was low (59.7%), but importance was high (98.9%). Preferences favored combined verbal and written explanations (65.1%), with a majority desiring explanations for common but less serious side effects (82.5%). Healthcare professionals found explanations significantly more sufficient than non-professionals did. Older individuals, those living with elderly, and frequent pharmacy visitors attributed greater importance to pharmacist-provided explanations. Conclusion: Koreans view pharmacist-provided medication side effect explanations as vital but find current services lacking. Enhancements in content and delivery methods are needed in pharmacy counseling to meet public expectations.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.215-239
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• 2011

We are now entering the era of Commercial Space Transportation with the rapid commercialization of space. Commercial Space Tourism will be realized first of all in the commercial space transportation and the spacecraft is developing for it led by private enterprise such as Virgin Galatic and XCOR Aerospace. The spacecraft for space tourism is developed as Reusable Launch Vehicle(RLV). RLV Spaceship I & II manufactured by the Scaled Composites for Virgin Galatic had completed experimental flight successfully and is going to put to the operation for space travel around the year 2012. In our country, Yecheon Astro-Space Center located in Yecheon, Kyungbuk Province, signed a binding-MOU with XCOR Aerospace and going to start space travel in the year 2013 with the spacecraft LYNX MARK-II. Thus, now space travel has become a reality to us. But it is also reality that there's no study by legal basis preparing for the space tourism domestically and internationally. In this regards, this thesis dealt with legal issues related to space tourism. These are as follows : (1) the applicabe law issue that is which law between air law and space law will apply, (2) the status of space tourist issue that is space tourist can be considered as personnel of a spacecraft and/or space flight participant and has the duty to obey the order of the captain of spacecraft, (3) the responsibility of the government for the non-governmental entities such as private enterprise which involved in space tourism in case space accident occurs during the space travel, (4) license permit and supervision issue by the government (In this point, for activating the market of the space tourism, I think it is essential to guarantee the safety of the spacecraft by the government authority, though U. S. government declared that it has not certified the launch vehicle as safe for carrying crew or space flight participants), (5) registration issue, (6) space insurance issue. For all the issues mentioned above, I have studied the existing international treaties and several country's domestic law to the space by referring U.S's Commercial Space Launch Amendment Act of 2004 and New IGA of 1998 and concluded that uniform legal regime to govern these issues should be established domestically and internationally in the near future.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.361-370
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• 2016

Objective:The aim of this study is to evaluate contributions of individual finger forces associated with various levels of submaximal voluntary contraction tasks. Background: Although many researches for individual finger force have been conducted, most of the studies mainly focus on the maximal voluntary contraction. However, Information concerning individual finger forces during submaximal voluntary contraction is also very important for developing biomechanical models and for designing hand tools, work equipment, hand prostheses and robotic hands. Due to these reasons, studies on the contribution of individual finger force in submaximal grip force exertions should be fully considered. Method: A total of 60 healthy adults without any musculoskeletal disorders in the upper arms participated in this study. The young group (mean: 23.7 yrs) consisted of 30 healthy adults (15 males and 15 females), and the elderly group (mean: 75.2 yrs) was also composed of 30 participants (15 males and 15 females). A multi-Finger Force Measurement (MFFM) System developed by Kim and Kong (2008) was applied in order to measure total grip strength and individual finger forces. The participants were asked to exert a grip force attempting to minimize the difference between the target force and their exerted force for eight different target forces (5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, and 75% MVCs). These target forces based on the maximum voluntary contraction, which were obtained from each participant, were randomly assigned in this study. Results: The contributions of middle and ring fingers to the total grip force represented an increasing trend as the target force level increased. On the other hand, the contributions of index and little fingers showed a decreasing trend as the target force level increased. In particular, Index finger exerted the largest contribution to the total grip force, followed by middle, ring and little fingers in the case of the smallest target force level (5% MVC), whereas middle finger showed the largest contribution, followed by ring, index and little fingers at the largest target force levels (65 and 75% MVCs). Conclusion: Each individual finger showed a different contribution pattern to the grip force exertion. As the target force level increase from 5 to 75% MVC, the contributions of middle and ring fingers showed an increasing trend, whereas the contributions of index and little fingers represented a decreasing trend in this study. Application: The results of this study can be useful information when designing robotic hands, hand tools and work equipment. Such information would be also useful when abnormal hand functions are evaluated.