• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.192-199
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• 2024

Background: Safety data sheets (SDSs) are hazard communication materials that accompany chemicals/hazardous products in the workplace. Many SDSs contain dense, technical text, which places considerable comprehension demands on workers, especially those with lower literacy skills. The goal of this study was to assess SDSs for readability, comprehensibility, and suitability (i.e., fit to the target audience). Methods: The Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) tool assessed SDSs for suitability and readability. We then amended the SAM tool to further assess SDSs for comprehensibility factors. Both the original and amended SAM tool were used to score 45 randomly selected SDSs for content, literacy demand, graphics, and layout/typography. Results: SDSs performed poorly in terms of readability, suitability, and comprehensibility. The mean readability scores were Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (9.6), Gunning Fog index (11.0), Coleman-Liau index (13.7), and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook index (10.7), all above the recommended reading level. The original SAM graded SDSs as "not suitable" for suitability and readability. When the amended SAM was used, the mean total SAM score increased, but the SDSs were still considered "not suitable" when adding comprehensibility considerations. The amended SAM tool better identified content-related issues specific to SDSs that make it difficult for a reader to understand the material. Conclusions: In terms of readability, comprehensibility, and suitability, SDSs perform poorly in their primary role as a hazard communication tool, therefore, putting workers at risk. The amended SAM tool could be used when writing SDSs to ensure that the information is more easily understandable for all audiences.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.29.1-29.14
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• 2022

Background: Hotel housekeepers are one of the most important occupational group within tourism hotel sector; various health problems related to their job have been described, above all musculoskeletal disorders. The objective of this study is to understand the experiences and perceptions of hotel housekeepers and key informants from the Balearic Islands (Spain) regarding occupational health conditions and the strategies employed to mitigate them. Methods: A qualitative study was carried out. Six focus groups with hotel housekeepers and 10 semi-structured interviews with key informants were conducted. Next, we carried out a content analysis. Results: Hotel housekeepers reported musculoskeletal disorders, anxiety and stress as main occupational health problems; health professionals underscored the physical problems. Hotel housekeepers perceived that their work (physically demanding and with repetitive movements) caused their health conditions. To solve health issues, they used medication (anti-inflammatory agents, painkillers, sedatives and anxiolytics), which allowed them to continue working; health public services, generally rated as satisfactory; individual protective equipment; ergonomics (with difficulties due to high work pace and hotel facilities) and physical activity. Two contrasting attitudes were identified regarding sick leave: HHs who refused to accept a doctor-prescribed sick leave (due to fear of being fired, sense of responsibility, ...), and those who accepted it (because they could not continue working, they prioritised health before work). Conclusions: Our results might contribute to plan improvement strategies and programs to address health problems among hotel housekeepers. These programs should include interventions, such as coping strategies for the work-related risk factors (i.e., stress) and strategies to reduce medicine consumption. Additionally, hotel facilities should adopt policies focused on making workplaces more ergonomic (i.e., furniture) and to diminish the work pace.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2010

Cold in-place recycling (CIR) using emulsified asphalt or foamed asphalt has become a more common practice in rehabilitating the existing asphalt pavement due to its cost effectiveness and the conservation of paving materials. As CIR continues to evolve, the engineered emulsified asphalt was developed to improve the field performances such as coating, raveling, retained stability value and curing time. The main objective of this research is to compare the laboratory responses of the engineered emulsified asphalt (CIR-EE) mixtures against the foamed asphalt (CIR-foam) mixtures using the reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)materials collected from the CIR project on U.S. 20 Highway in Iowa. Based on the visual observation of laboratory specimens, the engineered emulsified asphalt coated the RAP materials better than the foamed asphalt because the foamed asphalt is to create a mastic mixture structure rather than coating RAP materials. Given the same compaction effort, CIR-EE specimens exhibited lesser density than CIR-foam specimens. Both Marshall stability and indirect tensile strength of CIR-EE specimens were about same as those of CIR-foam specimens. However, Marshall stability and indirect tensile strength of the vacuum-saturated wet specimens of CIR-EE mixtures were higher than those of CIR-foam mixtures. After four hours of curing in the room temperature, the CIR-EE specimens showed less raveling than the CIR-foam specimens. On the basis of test results, it can be concluded that the CIR-EE mixtures is less susceptible to moisture and more raveling resistant than CIR-foam mixtures.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.1507-1516
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• 2002

Meat and bone meal is a valuable protein and mineral source in diets of production animals and contributes to the protein, energy and mineral component of diets. The aim of the present study was to more accurately characterise the apparent ileal amino acid digestibility of meat and bone meals produced in New Zealand and evaluate routine in vitro assays used in practise to measure meat and bone meal quality. A total of 94 commercial meat and bone meals from 25 New Zealand rendering plants over a two and a half year period were analysed for proximates, gross energy, gross amino acid content (incl. hydroxyproline, hydroxylysine and lanthionine), apparent ileal amino acid digestibility, pepsin nitrogen digestibility, protein solubility and bone content. The mean crude protein content of the 94 meat and bone meal samples was 56.8% with a range of >35% units and a coefficient of variation of 9.8%. The mean crude fat and ash content were 10.0 and 28.4% respectively. These latter components showed a large range (16 and 43%, respectively) with coefficients of variation above 22%. Amino acid digestibility between samples was highly variable with lysine and sulphur amino acids digestibility ranging between 45.8-89.0 and 38.2-85.5%, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients are presented between crude protein content and individual gross amino acids, crude protein content and individual digestible amino acid content, and pepsin N digestibility and individual digestible amino acid content. There was a significant relationship between the digestible amino acid nitrogen content and the crude protein content while pepsin nitrogen digestibility was not correlated to ileal amino acid nitrogen digestibility (r=-0.06). Meat meals with a high protein content had relatively low hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine levels something that was attributed to the levels of collagen from bone. The data indicated that lanthionine (formed upon heat treatment of cysteine with a hydroprotein) is not a good indicator of the heat treatment employed to meat and bone meals. Step-wise multiple regression equations to predict the apparent digestible content of amino acids from rapid in vitro assays are presented. The most selected variables included ash and crude fat content. In general the equations derived for the essential amino acids had a higher degrees of fit (R2) compared to the non-essential amino acids. The R2 for the essential amino acids ranged from 0.43 for histidine and 0.68 for leucine. These equations provide a means of more rapidly estimating the apparent ileal digestible amino acid content (protein quality) of meat and bone meal using standard analyses.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.787-796
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• 1996

The biodegradation experiment, the TOD analysis and the element analysis for dispersant, Bunker-A oil and Bunker-B oil were conducted to study the biodegradation characteristics of a mixture of Bunker-A oil with dispersant and a mixture of Bunker-B oil with dispersant in the seawater. The results of biodegradation experiment showed 1mg of dispersant to be equivalent to 0.26 mg of $BOD_5$ and to 0.60 mg of $BOD_{20}$ in the natural seawater. The results of TOD analysis showed each 1 mg of dispersant, Bunker-A oil and Bunker-B oil to be equivalent to 2.37 mg, 2.94 mg and 2.74 mg of TOD, respectively. The results of element analysis showed carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus contents of dispersant to be $82.1\%,\;13.8\%,\;1.8\%\;and\;2.2\%$, respectively. Carbon and hydrogen contents of Bunker-A oil were found to be $73.3\%\;and\;13.5\%$, respectively, and carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen contents of Bunker-B oil to be $80.4\%,\;12.3\%\;and\;0.7\%$, respectively. Accordingly, the detection of nitrogen and phosphorus in dispersant shows that dispersants should be used with caution in coastal waters, with relation to eutrophication. The biodegradability of dispersant expressed as the ratio of $BOD_5/TOD$ was found to be $11.0\%$. As the mix ratios of dispersant to Bunker-A oil (3 mg/l) and a mixture of Bunker-B oil (3mg/l) were changed from 1 : 10 to 5 : 10, the biodegradabilities of a mixture of Bunker-A oil with dispersant and Bunker-B oil with dispersant increased from $2.1\%\;to\;7.2\%$ and from $1.0\%\;to\;4.4\%$, respectively. Accordingly, the dispersant belongs to the organic matter group of middle-biodegradability while mixtures in the mix ratio range of $1:10\~5:10$ belong to the organic matter group of low-biodegradability. The deoxygenation rate constant $(K_1)$ and ultimate biochemical oxygen demand $(L_0)$ obtained from the biodegradation experiment and Thomas slope method were found to be 0.125/day and 2.487 mg/l for dispersant (4 mg/l), respectively. $K_1\;and\;L_0$, were found to be $0.079\~0.131/day$ and $0.318\~2.052\;mg/l$ for a mixture of Bunker-A oil with dispersant and to be $0.106\~0.371/day$ and $0.262\~1.106\;mg/l$ for a mixture of Bunker-B oil with dispersant, respectively, having $1:10\~5:10$ mix ratios of dispersant to Bunker-A oil and Bunker-B oil. The ultimate biochemical oxygen demands of the mixtures increased as the mix ratio of dispersant to Bunker-A, B oils changed from 1 : 10 to 5 : 10. This suggests that the more dispersants are applied to the sea for the cleanup of Bunker-A oil or Bunker-B oil, the more decreases the dissolved oxygen level in the seawater.

• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.973-980
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• 2018

Study Design: Retrospective review. Purpose: To identify the trends in stimulator use, pair those trends with various grafting materials, and determine the influence of stimulators on the risk of revision surgery. Overview of Literature: A large number of studies has reported beneficial effects of electromagnetic energy in healing long bone fractures. However, there are few clinical studies regarding the use of electrical stimulators in spinal fusion. Methods: We used insurance billing codes to identify patients with lumbar disc degeneration who underwent anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). Comparisons between patients who did and did not receive electrical stimulators following surgery were performed using logistic regression analysis, chi-square test, and odds ratio (OR) analysis. Results: Approximately 19% of the patients (495/2,613) received external stimulators following ALIF surgery. There was a slight increase in stimulator use from 2008 to 2014 (multi-level $R^2=0.08$, single-level $R^2=0.05$). Patients who underwent multi-level procedures were more likely to receive stimulators than patients who underwent single-level procedures (p<0.05; OR, 3.72; 95% confidence interval, 3.02-4.57). Grafting options associated with most frequent stimulator use were bone marrow aspirates (BMA) plus autograft or allograft for single-level and allograft alone for multi-level procedures. In both cohorts, patients treated with bone morphogenetic proteins were least likely to receive electrical stimulators (p<0.05). Patients who received stimulation generally had higher reimbursements. Concurrent posterior lumbar fusion (PLF) (ALIF+PLF) increased the likelihood of receiving stimulators (p<0.05). Patients who received electrical stimulators had similar revision rates as those who did not receive stimulation (p>0.05), except those in the multilevel ALIF+PLF cohort, wherein the patients who underwent stimulation had higher rates of revision surgery. Conclusions: Concurrent PLF or multi-level procedures increased patients' likelihood of receiving stimulators, however, the presence of comorbidities did not. Patients who received BMA plus autograft or allograft were more likely to receive stimulation. Patients with and without bone stimulators had similar rates of revision surgery.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 1997

Purpose : This study is to report experience with Fractionated Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (FSRT) for locally recurrent nasopharynx cancer after curative conventional radiation therapy. Materials and Methods : Three Patients with locally recurrent and symptomatic nasopharynx cancer were given FSRT as reirradiation method between the Period of September of 1995 and August of 1996 For two Patients, application of FSRT is their third radiation therapy directed to the nasopharynx. Two patients were given low dose chemotherapy as radiation sensitizer concurrently with FSRT Authors used 3-dimensional coordinate system by individually made, relocatable Gill-Thomas-Cosman (GTC) stereotactic frame and multiple non-coplanar arc therapy dose Planning was done using Xknife-3. Total of 45 Gy/18 fractions or 50 Gy/20 fractions were given. Results : Authors observed satisfactory symptomatic improvement and remarkable objective tumor size decrease by follow-up MR images taken 1 month Post-FSRT in ali three patients, while no neurologic side effect attributable to reirradiation was noticed. Two died at 7 and 9 months with loco-regional and distant seeding outside FSRT field, while one patient is living for 4 month. Conclusion Authors experienced satisfactory therapeutic effectiveness and safety of FSRT as reirradiatlon method for locally recurrent nasopharynx cancer Development of more effective systemic chemotherapeutic regimen is desired for distant metastasis

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7295-7302
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• 2015

Background: Lung cancer has been a major health problem in developed countries for several decades, and has emerged recently as the leading cause of cancer death in many developing countries. The incidence of lung cancer appears to be increasing more rapidly in rural than in urban areas of China. This paper presents the trends of lung cancer incidence and survival derived from a 40-year population-based cancer monitoring program in a rural area, Qidong, China. Materials and Methods: The Qidong cancer registration data of 1972-2011 were used to calculate the crude rate, age-standardized rate by Chinese population (CASR) and by world population (WASR), birth cohort rates, and other descriptive features. Active and passive methods were used to construct the data set, with a deadline of the latest follow-up of April 30, 2012. Results: The total number of lung cancer cases was 15,340, accounting for 16.5% of all sites combined. The crude incidence rate, CASR and WASR of this cancer were 34.1, 15.7 and 25.4 per 100,000, respectively. Males had higher crude rates than females (49.7 vs 19.0). Rapidly increasing trends were found in annual percent change resulting in lung cancer being a number one cancer site after year 2010 in Qidong. Birth cohort analysis showed incidence rates have increased for all age groups over 24 years old. The 5 year observed survival rates were 3.55% in 1973-1977, 3.92 in 1983-1987, 3.69% in 1993-1997, and 6.32% in 2003-2007. Males experienced poorer survival than did females. Conclusions: Lung cancer has become a major cancer-related health problem in this rural area. The rapid increases in incidence likely result from an increased cigarette smoking rate and evolving environmental risk factors. Lung cancer survival, while showing some improvement in prognosis, still remains well below that observed in the developed areas of the world.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.101-141
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• 2014

Idealistic Rural Community Movement(Rural Utopia Movement) was one of the most powerful rural community movements in the world. Regardless of the East or the West, people started dreaming of happiness through idealization of rural communities as early as several centuries ago and have tried to implement this as a social movement to make the dream come true. Western rural utopia movement started when Thomas More published "Utopia" in England in 1516 and spread to many other countries in various forms. Chinese version of rural utopia was well portrayed in both "So Gook Gwa Min" (small population in a small country) written by Lao-tzu in the 6th century B.C. and "Arcadia" by Do, Yun-Myoung in the $4^{th}$ century. In Korea, the rural utopia people pursued was vividly described in the following three. First, Yul Do Gook portrayed in "Hong Gil Dong Jun" written by Hu Gyoon. Second, Gong Do portrayed in "Hu Sang Jun" written by Park Ji Won. Third, Sin Min Hwe's rural utopia movement made in the entire nation as well as Manchuria and America so as to save the country, which contributed to protecting the rural communities and arousing hopes in farmers by making a good model. This movement is especially important in that it became the foundation of modernization of Korea through Ga Na An(Canaan) Farmers' School and Sae Ma Ul Woon Dong(New village movement), which were heavily influenced by continued Sin Min Hwe's rural utopia movement.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.718-726
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to develop and validate secondary models that can predict growth parameters of L. monocytogenes Scott A as a function of concentrations (0-3%) of a commercial potassium lactate (PL) and sodium diacetate (SDA) mixture, pH (5.5-7.0), and temperature (4-37DC). A total of 120 growth curves were fitted to the Baranyi primary model that directly estimates lag time (LT) and specific growth rate (SGR). The effects of the variables on L. monocytogenes Scott A growth kinetics were modeled by response surface analysis using quadratic and cubic polynomial models of the natural logarithm transformation of both LT and SGR. Model performance was evaluated with dependent data and independent data using the prediction bias ($B_f$) and accuracy factors ($A_f$) as well as the acceptable prediction zone method [percentage of relative errors (%RE)]. Comparison of predicted versus observed values of SGR indicated that the cubic model fits better than the quadratic model, particularly at 4 and $10^{\circ}C$. The $B_f$and $A_f$for independent SGR were 1.00 and 1.08 for the cubic model and 1.08 and 1.16 for the quadratic model, respectively. For cubic and quadratic models, the %REs for the independent SGR data were 92.6 and 85.7, respectively. Both quadratic and cubic polynomial models for SGR and LT provided acceptable predictions of L. monocytogenes Scott A growth in the matrix of conditions described in the present study. Model performance can be more accurately evaluated with $B_f$and $A_f$and % RE together.