• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2021

Objectives: This study examined demographic factors hampering access to healthcare at hospitals and suggests policy approaches to improve healthcare management in Thailand. Methods: The data for the study were drawn from a health and welfare survey conducted by the National Statistical Office of Thailand in 2017. The population-based health and welfare survey was systematically carried out by skilled interviewers, who polled 21 519 384 individuals. The independent variables related to demographic data (age, sex, religion, marital status, education, occupation, and area of residence), chronic diseases, and health insurance coverage. The dependent variable was the degree of access to healthcare. Multiple logistic regression analysis was subsequently performed on the variables found to be significant in the univariate analysis. Results: Only 2.5% of the population did not visit a hospital when necessary for outpatient-department treatment, hospitalization, or the provision of oral care. The primary reasons people gave for not availing themselves of the services offered by government hospitals when they were ill were-in descending order of frequency-insufficient time to seek care, long hospital queues, travel inconvenience, a lack of hospital beds, unavailability of a dentist, not having someone to accompany them, and being unable to pay for the transportation costs. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that failure to access the health services provided at hospitals was associated with demographic, educational, occupational, health welfare, and geographic factors. Conclusions: Accessibility depends not only on health and welfare benefit coverage, but also on socioeconomic factors and the degree of convenience associated with visiting a hospital.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3682-3694
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• 2022

The expansion of a country's ecological footprint generates resources for economic development. China's import bill and carbon footprint can be reduced by investing in green transportation and energy technologies. A sustainable environment depends on the cessation of climate change; the current study investigates nuclear energy efficiency, economic complexity, air transportation, and industrial improvement for reducing environmental footprint. Using data spanning the years 1983-2016, the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulation method has demonstrated the short- and long-term variability in the impact of regressors on the ecological footprint. The study findings revealed that economic complexity in China had been found to have a statistically significant impact on the country's ecological footprint. Moreover, the industrial improvement process is helpful for the ecological footprint in China. In the short term, air travel has a negative impact on the ecological footprint, but this effect diminishes over time. Additionally, energy innovation is negative and substantial both in the short and long run, thus demonstrating its positive role in reducing the ecological footprint. Policy implications can be extracted from a wide range of issues, including economic complexity, industrial improvement, air transportation, energy innovation, and ecological impact to achieve sustainable goals.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.54-64
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• 2022

Airlines have been introducing self check-in kiosks to reduce check-in time and improve operational efficacy to increase business revenue. The domestic airlines have actively provided kiosks at airports which are expected to reduce their operating costs and enrich their passengers' travel convenience. Based on the above background, the study investigates the factors influencing intention to use the self check-in kiosks by employing the Extended Technology Acceptance Model (ETAM). The study, therefore, designed a research model by reviewing theories and studies on the relationship among information quality, innovativeness, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intention to use the kiosks. The structural equation model revealed the following. Information quality and innovativeness had a significantly positive influence on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness; furthermore, perceived ease of use had a significantly positive influence on perceived usefulness. In addition, both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness had a significantly positive influence on intention to use. The results indicate that the airlines should constantly develop user-friendly contents and design of the self check-in kiosks.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.97-112
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to design and test a new way of public transportation route guidance system for persons with disabilities, including wheelchair users. The guidance system is smartphone app-based, using, routes that involve disabled-friendly facilities in the vicinity can be searched. A database that contains publicly available data on low-floor bus services, location and extent of disabled-friendly facilities, and suitable subways and stations, was developed for this purpose. The app uses the database to access and query the required information. A pilot study was conducted to test the effectiveness of the guidance system. It was found that the system was able to convey information about the disabled-friendly routes and related guidance information even inside subway stations, effectively. The performance of the system was compared with route guidance services that do not explicitly use data on disabled-friendly services. A notable difference was observed in the travel time estimated by this program and other guidance services. The difference was around 4 to 15 minutes. This is significant savings for persons with disabilities if they use the app and service. The study thus shows that exclusive use of disabled-friendly data in route guidance will bring more benefits for persons with disabilities.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2023

This paper proposes and examines the economic impact of infrastructure improvement on the San-En-Nanshin region in the Chubu area of Japan. We develop a single transportation computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for each subregion within the San-En-Nanshin region. The explicit modeling of the transportation infrastructure is defined based on interregional commuting flows and business trips, considering the spatial structure of the San-En-Nanshin economy. A CGE model is integrated with an interregional transportation network model to enhance the framework's potential for understanding the infrastructure's role in regional development. To evaluate the economic impact of transportation improvement, we analyze the interrelationship between travel time savings and regional output and income. The economic impact analysis under the CGE framework reveals how transportation facilities and systems affect firm and household behavior and therefore induce changes in the production and consumption of commodities and transportation services. The proposed theoretical model was tested by using data from the 2005 IO tables of each subregion and the 2006 transport flow dataset issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism in Japan. As a result, the paper confirms the positive effect of transportation investment on the total output and income of the studied region. Specifically, we found that while economic benefits typically appear in urban areas, rural areas can still potentially benefit from transportation improvement projects.

• Korean journal of aerospace and environmental medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.21-23
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• 2021

Purpose: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination schedule is recommended by Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization of World Health Organization to achieve high efficacy and immunogenicity. However, the patients often cannot keep up their schedule for several reasons. Methods: Monthly numbers of visitors for HPV vaccination between 2019 and 2021 were analyzed to measure the impact of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) outbreak which was the main cause of this delay. Results: In February 2020, the number of foreign patients vaccinated with HPV was dropped suddenly due to COVID-19. Prior to this impact, the average patients per month for HPV vaccination was 160 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 143-176). It was then 30 (95% CI: 20-40). However recent trends show a gradual recovery. Conclusion: If a woman is pregnant after starting the HPV vaccine series, the reminder doses should be delayed until she is no longer pregnant. If this series is interrupted for any length of time, it can be resumed without restarting the series. HPV vaccine series need to be administered with a minimum interval of 14 days before or after administration of COVID-19 vaccines.

• Korean journal of aerospace and environmental medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.61-63
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• 2021

In Vol. 31, No. 3, our journal prepared three review articles, an original paper, and two case reports. First, as COVID-19 continues for a long time, aviation workers, including pilots, are also experiencing mental problems such as depression. Therefore, we have compiled the basic principles for improving the mental health of pilots. Next, it is difficult to properly perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) when a cardiac arrest situation occurs in an aircraft. Moreover, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, CPR is more difficult because medical staff and other passengers may also be exposed to infections. Therefore, we have summarized the principles of CPR on board and ways to perform CPR while keeping the safety of medical staff and other passengers in the COVID-19 situation. The sudden change of gravity caused by space travel has various effects on the human body, and among them, the effect on the immune system is profound. Therefore, we reviewed the research methods to study the effect of gravity on the immune system and the results. In addition, we analyzed the demographic characteristics and health status of immigrant visa applicants who intended to immigrate to the United States over the past five years. Next, through two case reports, we reported cases of determining physical fitness for aviation service in patients who recovered after receiving appropriate treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia or renal cell carcinoma.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.99-111
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• 2022

Objectives: Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (RRP) has been used as a traditional remedy to treat gynecology and endocrine diseases. Recently, studies on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of RRP have been reported, so it was judged that RRP extracts would have an anti-depressive effect. Methods: We investigated the anti-neuroinflammatory and anti-depressive effect of RRP on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression and LPS-stimulated BV2 microglia. RRP inhibited the LPS-stimulated excessive release of nitrite in the BV2 cells. RRP also significantly inhibited the inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta and IL-6 in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglial cells. Results: RRP significantly suppressed the LPS-induced mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) and nuclear factor (NF)-𝜅B activation. In addition, administration of RRP not only inhibited the immobility time in the forced swimming test (FST) but also increased the total travel distance in the open field test (OFT). Also, RRP inhibited the elevation of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-6 in brain of LPS-injected mice. Conclusions: Considering the overall results, our study showed that RRP exhibited the anti-neuroinflammatory and anti-depressive activities via deactivation of MAPKs and NF-𝜅B.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.9
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• pp.639-646
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• 2022

Landing site searching algorithms are developed for a quadrotor using a depth map in unknown environment. Guidance and control system of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) consists of a trajectory planner, a position and an attitude controller. Landing site is selected based on the information of the depth map which is acquired by a stereo vision sensor attached on the gimbal system pointing downwards. Flatness information is obtained by the maximum depth difference of a predefined depth map region, and the distance from the UAV is also considered. This study proposes three landing methods and compares their performance using various indices such as UAV travel distance, map accuracy, obstacle response time etc.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.171-177
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• 2022

The number of people who own indoor plants is growing today, but as a result of their busy lifestyles-such as work or travel-as well as a lack of enthusiasm in caring for their plants, their plants wither. The use of an irrigation control system with a surveillance camera can assist such folks in taking care of their plants. Such a device can assist in remotely watering plants at predetermined times and checking on the health of the plants. The proprietors would be able to live comfortably without feeling bad thanks to this change. Internet access is required for this technology in order to monitor the plants and control the watering through apps. A sensor is installed in the soil to monitor soil humidity and send data to the microcontroller for irrigation, allowing the owner to schedule irrigation as they see fit and keep an eye on their plants all day. With the use of a remote irrigation control system, the plants will grow properly and be irrigated with the proper amount of water, and the owners will be so glad and delighted to watch their plants. Knowing the time and quantity of water are vital parts of the plant growth.