• Title/Summary/Keyword: Socio-economic Factors

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IgG Avidity Antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii in High Risk Females of Reproductive Age Group in India

  • Siddiqui, Naushaba;Shujatullah, Fatima;Khan, Haris M.;Rabbani, Tamkin;Khan, Parvez A.
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.52 no.5
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    • pp.487-491
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    • 2014
  • Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that is distributed worldwide. Recently, several tests for avidity of Toxoplasma IgG antibodies have been introduced to help discriminate between recently acquired and distant infections. The study was conducted in Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, India from February 2011 to September 2012. Serum specimens were subjected to Toxoplasma IgM ELISA and IgG avidity ELISA test. Out of 48 patients with abortions, 17 (35.4%) were positive for IgM ELISA, and 8 (16.6%) had low IgG avidity antibodies. Out of 48 patients with other obstetric problems, 23 (47.9%) were positive for IgM ELISA, and 17 (35.4%) had low IgG avidity antibodies. Combining both groups on avidity test, only 25 of 40 (62.5 %) IgM-positive women had low-avidity IgG antibodies suggesting a recent T. gondii infection in these women. More importantly, 15 (37.5%) of the IgM-positive women had high-avidity antibodies suggesting that the infection was acquired before gestation The relation of IgM seropositivity with the following risk factors was not found to be statistically significant; contact with cats (0.13), non-vegetarian food habits (0.05), and low socio-economic status (0.49). While, for IgG avidity ELISA, only contact with cats (0.01) was significantly associated with seropositivity. All other risk factors have P-values of >0.05 (not significant). IgG avidity test when used in combination with IgM test was a valuable assay for diagnosis of ongoing or recently acquired T. gondii infection in India.

Nutritional Status and Related Factors of the Elderly in Longevity Areas - III. Relation among Self-rated Health, Health-related Behaviors, and Nutrient Intake in Rural Elderly - (고령인구 비율이 높은 지역 장년, 노년층의 건강.영양상태 및 이에 영향을 미치는 인자에 관한 연구 - III. 농촌노인의 주관적 건강평가와 건강관련행동 및 식이섭취와의 관련성 -)

  • Choe Jeong-Sook;Kwon Sung-Ok;Paik Hee-Young
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
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    • v.39 no.3
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    • pp.286-298
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    • 2006
  • The study aimed to identify major factors related to global self-rated health of the community-dwelling elderly people in rural areas. Interviews were conducted with 433 persons over 65 years of age. The socio-economic characteristics, chronic disease status, measures of functional and mental health, life satisfaction, health-related behaviors including smoking, drinking, exercise, social activity, dietary habit, and food intakes were analyzed to determine their influence on self-rated health index. Data on food intake were obtained through the 24-hour recall method. The self-rated health of rural elderly was poor or very poor as reported by 42.6% and 52.4% of the men and women, respectively. Poor self-rated health was found to be related to elderly aged $65{\sim}74$, female, absence of work, more chronic diseases, dependence on Instrumental Activity Daily Living (IADL), higher mental unhealthy days, lower current life satisfaction, less social activity, lower dietary habit scores, lower intake of total food, fruit, eggs, fishes & shell fishes, vitamin C (%RDA), and Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR). The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that poor self-rated health index is significantly associated with more chronic diseases, mental unhealthy days, gastrointestinal disease, musculoskeletal disease, less social activity, and lower intake of fruits. The results also suggested that improving the nutritional status and functional ability, and reducing the burden of chronic diseases are beneficial to the self-rated health index of the elderly.

An Ecological Study on Eating Behavior of Middle School Students in Seoul (서울 일부 지역 중학생의 식행동 특성에 관한 생태학적 연구)

  • 김정현;최주현;이민준;문수재
    • Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.292-307
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    • 1998
  • This study was conducted to evaluate the eating behavior and to analyze the various factors affecting eating behavior among middle school students. The subjents consisted of 212 middle school students(106 boys and 106 girls between 13-14 years) residing in Seoul. A questionnaire was used as the questionnaire consisted of four parts : the socio-demographic characteristics of the subjects, value toward food and nutrition, diet diversity(the number of food items) and eating behavior. Results showed that fifty three point five percent of males and fifty seven percent of females skipped breakfast. The main reason for skipping breakfast was shortage of time. Fifty five percent of the total number of subjects stated that they had more than two plasant meals a day. The number of food items eaten was significantly higher in males than in females. In only 16.4% of total subjects(18.5% of male and 14.2% of female), the primary pursuit in having meals was not to satisfy hunger but to consider nutrition and health. The eating behavior of the adolescents showed that 65% of the subjects had a 'good' eating behavior score and 17.4% had scores of 'excellent' and 'poor' respectively. The existence of parents, the economic level of the family, and concern of health and nutrition affected the eating behavior score. The less the subject skipped breakfast, the greater they placed a value toward food and nutrition. Value toward food and nutrition had a significant influence on their eating behavior. Those who placed a value toward food and nutrition had a higher eating behavior. Those who placed a value toward food and nutrition had a higher eating eating behavior. As a result of the multiple regression analysis, factors affecting eating behavior were 'pleasant meal' , 'the value toward food and nutrition' and 'the numbers of food items' in order(R2=0.2984).

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A Study on Gamers Segmentation based upon Uses and Gratifications of Mobile games (모바일게임 이용 충족이론을 기반으로 한 모바일 게이머 유형 분석에 관한 연구)

  • Han, Kwang-Hyun;Kim, Tae-Ung
    • Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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    • 2005.10a
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    • pp.133-164
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    • 2005
  • Mobile games have emerged as the most innovative entertainment technology, adding new revenue streams, taking advantage of the potential of wireless applications and service offerings. Mobile games, like any other types of computer game, offer a unique value for users in providing an exciting digital experience in virtual worlds. Players can become empowered through the development of new characters and strategies within games to achieve rewarding successes against the computers and other players. The overall trend for mobile games is towards bigger, more colorful, more involving and exciting contents, which will build upon the developing capabilities of mobile phones and networks in order to bring new styles, concepts and experiences of game play to the users. In this paper, we attempt to investigate the demographic factors which play critical roles in determining the level of playing times; classify mobile gamers based on their motives for playing games; and empirically test differences in their demographic factors and mobile game usage. Statistical results show that significant differences in playing times exist, depending upon their age, gender, mobile device, mobile phone usage, mobile game experiences, and preferred games genres. Applying Factor analysis, we have identified Escape, Social interaction, Challenge and Competition, Fantasy, Diversion and Relaxation, Ease of Accessibility as key motivators for playing mobile games. Additional cluster analysis shows that the categorization of gamers, according to their usage habits and the key motivators for playing, can be made as follows: M-gamers, Multi-gamers and Communication-focused gamers. Further correlation of these grouping with socio-economic data shows the significant differences in gaming habits and patterns of mobile phone use.

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Effects of Students' Perceived Safety of Public Outdoor Environment on Academic Achievement at University Campus

  • Kim, Wonpil
    • Architectural research
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.13-20
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    • 2015
  • The physical environment can dramatically affect students' feeling and their behavior, educational attainment, and the way in which we do school activities. Unlimited access to campus areas without appropriate securities have reported an increase of crime in school area and safety issues has encouraged school facility planners to install securities devices at every corner of buildings. However, it is still questionable whether this approach is enough to protect students and staffs from the victimization of crime, including thefts, burglaries and sexual offences. There has been continued doubt about the safety of educational facilities where individual college students are studying and enjoying extra-curricular activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is intended to investigate the effects of perception of safety by students on the level of academic performance at public outdoor environment of university campus. An extensive literature noted that the central element of modern school design principle mainly holds the theory of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) and the concept of defensible space. The second generation of CPTED also focused on social soft issues as well as situational factors, which extends beyond mere physical design to include social factors. The correlation analysis found that the effect of sense of safety does appear to be statistically significant on the facilitation of academic achievement. However, the analysis of Chi-square concluded that the perception of safety was not related to demographic and socio-economic profiles of the group except for gender. Further, stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the most prime predictor for academic achievement were 'safe public outdoor space/paths' at university campus environment, implying careful design of public open space and sidewalks based on the guideline of CPTED. The study also demonstrated that as the level of positive perception of safety rose, the overall academic achievement also responded to the specified rate (${\beta}=.99$). Finally, the findings reinforce an evidence that high-quality school environments are a positive factor in student academic performance.

Psychology of Young Adulthood (청년기심리 (靑年期心理))

  • Cho, Doo-Young
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.223-236
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    • 1997
  • One faces four major developmental tasks to achieve in young adulthood, ages between 20 and 40 : intimacy, vocation, marriage and child-rearing. Intimacy is the capacity to commit oneself to concrete affiliations and partnerships and to develop the ethical strength to abide by such commitments, even though they call for significant sacrifices and compromises. Through vocation and marriage young adults become united to networks of persons, find tasks that demand involvement, and gain roles into which they fit and are fitted and which help define their identities. An occupation represents much more than a set of skills and functions : it means a way of life. The extent of vocational choice increases with educational level, and the unconscious factors are frequency the decisive element. The vocational choice stare with fantasy choices in childhood, passes through tentative choices in adolescence, realistic choices in college days, and crystallized choices in post-college days, and finally ends up to the choice of specification. Along with the hazards and the need for realignment of personality functioning, the marriage brings with it new opportunities for self-fulfillment and completion. Motives other than a romantic love gain more importance in the decision to marry and in the choice of a partner. The impulsions to marry are sexual gratification, the desire to propagate, narcissistic gratification, and a need of interdependence. Many factors such as oedipal wishes, sexuality and sexual attractions, socio-economic classes, and geography involve in selection of marriage partner. There are also various motivations to marry a romantic love, the desire for a home of one's own, sexual attractions, the wish for security and a shelter, and the wish for children. The hostile marriage, the marriage on the rebound, the marriage rooted in rescue fantasies, and sado-masochistic marriage are the examples of pathological marriages. A successful marriage will usually both Lead to and require a marked reorganization of the personality structure of each partner that will influence the lurker personality development of each. Many marital problems are largely dependent upon the personality characteristics of one partner which might well create difficulties no manor who was the spouse.

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Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Analysis of SEER Medulloblastoma and Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor (PNET) Outcome Data: Identification and Optimization of Predictive Models

  • Cheung, Min Rex
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.16
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    • pp.6781-6785
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    • 2014
  • Purpose: This study used receiver operating characteristic curves to analyze Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) medulloblastoma (MB) and primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) outcome data. The aim of this study was to identify and optimize predictive outcome models. Materials and Methods: Patients diagnosed from 1973 to 2009 were selected for analysis of socio-economic, staging and treatment factors available in the SEER database for MB and PNET. For the risk modeling, each factor was fitted by a generalized linear model to predict the outcome (brain cancer specific death, yes/no). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was computed. Similar strata were combined to construct the most parsimonious models. A Monte Carlo algorithm was used to estimate the modeling errors. Results: There were 3,702 patients included in this study. The mean follow up time (S.D.) was 73.7 (86.2) months. Some 40% of the patients were female and the mean (S.D.) age was 16.5 (16.6) years. There were more adult MB/PNET patients listed from SEER data than pediatric and young adult patients. Only 12% of patients were staged. The SEER staging has the highest ROC (S.D.) area of 0.55 (0.05) among the factors tested. We simplified the 3-layered risk levels (local, regional, distant) to a simpler non-metastatic (I and II) versus metastatic (III) model. The ROC area (S.D.) of the 2-tiered model was 0.57 (0.04). Conclusions: ROC analysis optimized the most predictive SEER staging model. The high under staging rate may have prevented patients from selecting definitive radiotherapy after surgery.

A study on the total housing cost of households living in rental house (임차가구의 주거비용에 관한 연구)

  • 곽인숙;김순미
    • Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.127-144
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    • 1999
  • The purposes of this study were to identify the housing maintenance cost, imputed rent fee and total housing cost of households living in rental house, to analyze the factors related to their housing maintenance cost, imputed rent fee and total housing cost and to investigate the factors contributing to total housing cost to total household income ratio. The data used for these purposes, was 97 KHPS of Daewoo Economic Research Institute. Sample size of households living in rental house, was 663. Statistics performed for the analysis were frequencies, percentiles, t-test, Lorenz cutie and Gini coefficient, Tobit analysis, OLS and Logistic analysis. The results of this study were as fellows: First, monthly cost of monthly rent & maintenance and repairs of households living in rental house with a deposit was lower than rental house, while the imputed rent fee of households living rental house with a deposit was higher than monthly rent households'And, total housing cost of households living in rental house with a deposit was higher than monthly rent households'. Second, Gini coefficient of the housing maintenance cost was 0.440, Gini coefficient of imputed rent fee was 0.362, and Gini coefficient of total housing cost was 0.291. Third, the variables related to their housing maintenance cost were family type, total household expenditure of socio-demographic characteristics and residence, type of rent, housing type of housing environmental factor. Also, the variables contributing to imputed rent fee were job type and educational attainment of household hearts, the number of family members, total household expenditure, residence, type of rent, housing type and tole number of rooms. In addition, the variables associated with total housing cost were job type and educational attainment of household head, total household income and residence, type of rent, housing type and the number of room. Finally, age, job type, educational attainment of household head, wife's employment status, the number of family members, family type, total household expenditure, residence, rent type of rent, housing type, the size of living space, and the number of room were significant variables contributing to total household cost to total household income ratio.

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Spatial Pattern and Causative Factor Analysis of Vacant Housing in Daegu, South Korea Using Individual-level Building DB (개별건축물 데이터를 활용한 대구광역시 빈집 발생의 공간적 분포 및 발생요인 분석)

  • Park, Jeong-Il;Oh, Sang-Kyu
    • Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.35-47
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    • 2018
  • This research aims to examine the spatial patterns of vacant housings and the factors determining housing vacancy in Daegu using individual-level building DB. The results of the spatial pattern analysis showed a donut shaped-spatial concentration of vacant housings in the central areas of the city. The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that not only individual building characteristics, such as building area, number of floors, and building age, but also socio-economic characteristics of community, such as urban redevelopment district, number of adjacent vacancies, recent population change, and ratio of elderly, are important factors affecting housing vacancies.

A Study on the Factors Influencing on R&D Outputs of Government-funded Research Institutions (정부출연연구기관 연구성과에 영향을 미치는 요인 분석)

  • Min, Chul-Koo;Park, Sung-Uk
    • Journal of Technology Innovation
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.121-140
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    • 2013
  • The establishment of function and role in government-funded research institute becomes a vital issue as fierce international technology-competition and enhanced industrial convergence makes science and technology important and influential more and in socio-economic level. This paper defines independent and dependent variables to identify factors which influence on research performance. As the independent variables, research funds, research personnel and research support staff are chosen. Dependent variables which are selected as proxy variables of research performance are royalties, papers and patents. Values from regression analysis were drawn by time-series analysis and cross-section analysis. As a result, the significance of correlation coefficients is sequential, research personnel, research support staff and research funds respectively. This finding is expected to give implication of future direction on government-funded research institute development.