• Title/Summary/Keyword: cost Index

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Low Coverage and Disparities of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening in Thai Women: Analysis of National Representative Household Surveys

  • Mukem, Suwanna;Meng, Qingyue;Sriplung, Hutcha;Tangcharoensathien, Viroj
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.18
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    • pp.8541-8551
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    • 2016
  • Background: The coverage of breast and cervical cancer screening has only slightly increased in the past decade in Thailand, and these cancers remain leading causes of death among women. This study identified socioeconomic and contextual factors contributing to the variation in screening uptake and coverage. Materials and Methods: Secondary data from two nationally representative household surveys, the Health and Welfare Survey (HWS) 2007 and the Reproductive Health Survey (RHS) 2009 conducted by the National Statistical Office were used. The study samples comprised 26,951 women aged 30-59 in the 2009 RHS, and 14,619 women aged 35 years and older in the 2007 HWS were analyzed. Households of women were grouped into wealth quintiles, by asset index derived from Principal components analysis. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: Screening rates for cervical and breast cancers increased between 2007 and 2009. Education and health insurance coverage including wealth were factors contributing to screening uptake. Lower or non-educated and poor women had lower uptake of screenings, as were young, unmarried, and non-Buddhist women. Coverage of the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme increased the propensity of having both screenings, while the universal coverage scheme increased the probability of cervical screening among the poor. Lack of awareness and knowledge contributed to non-use of both screenings. Women were put off from screening, especially Muslim women on cervical screening, because of embarrassment, fear of pain and other reasons. Conclusions: Although cervical screening is covered by the benefit package of three main public health insurance schemes, free of charge to all eligible women, the low coverage of cervical screening should be addressed by increasing awareness and strengthening the supply side. As mammography was not cost effective and not covered by any scheme, awareness and practice of breast self examination and effective clinical breast examination are recommended. Removal of cultural barriers is essential.

A Study about Social Inclusion of Permanent Rental and Lot-Sold Apartment (영구임대 및 분양아파트 단지의 사회적 통합 실태조사)

  • Lee, Min-Ah;Kim, Mi-Hee;Na, Ha-Young
    • Journal of Families and Better Life
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.123-138
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    • 2009
  • The purpose of this study was to investigate the social inclusion of permanent rental and lot-sold apartment and to provide basic source of their physical and social inclusion. The research method was in-depth interview for 32 residents in two apartment complex based on the social inclusion index developed in the previous study. The results of the study were summarized as follows: First, the majority of the residents' average monthly income in the permanent rental apartment were lower than the minimum cost of living. But, they were not seriously realized it and gave up any economic activities due to their poor health and age. Second, the big different indexes from the residents in lot-sold apartment were the family networks and social activity participations. They were not satisfied with their family members, seldom had social gatherings, and did not have any information of community cultural events. Third, since they had narrow sphere of activities, they could not properly evaluate the diversity of neighborhood facilities and the convenience of public transportations. But, they obviously recognized anti-social behaviors and the invasion of the privacy in the apartment complex, and maintained superficial neighborship. Fourth, on the other hand, the residents in lot-sold apartment had the feeling of being harmed by the various troubles of the permanent rental apartment.

Analysis of the Influences on Domestic Wood Market by Prohibiting Illegal Wood Products Trade (불법목재의 교역 제한 조치가 국내 목재 시장에 미치는 영향 분석)

  • Kim, Dong-Hyun;Park, Hyun;Lee, Ho Sang
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.107 no.3
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    • pp.305-315
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    • 2018
  • This study conducted to estimate the influences of policy which prohibits illegal logging trade. Before analyzing of the economic effects for this policy, scenario methods were selected to inflect economic circumstance by implementing it. In order to do, the policy experiments were carried out using equilibrium displacement equation model. Results show that change ratio of log price was increased 0.066%~0.071%. Since the primary import country of log is New zealand which is high CPI score rather than Republic of Korea so that imported quantity of log was decreased thinly. Because imported log price is worked as a cost in the lumber market, if the imported log price was increased, supply of lumber has to be decreased. So that, not the change ratio of domestic lumber price was increased 0.885%~4.179% but supply of domestic lumber was increased 5.367% respectively along the goods features as a heterogeneity or homogeneity on the market.

Preparation of Highly Tough Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) Heterogeneous Cation Exchange Membranes and Their Properties of Desalination

  • Kim, In Sik;Ko, Dae Young;Canlier, Ali;Hwang, Taek Sung
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.56 no.3
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    • pp.361-369
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    • 2018
  • A manufacturing method has been devised to prepare novel heterogeneous cation exchange membranes by mixing ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers with a commercial cation exchange resin. Optimum material characteristics, mixture ratios and manufacturing conditions have been worked out for achieving favorable membrane performance. Ion exchange capacity, electrical resistance, water uptake, swelling ratio and tensile strength properties were measured. SEM analysis was used to monitor morphology. Effects of vinyl acetate (VA) content, melt index (MI) and ion exchange resin content on properties of heterogeneous cation exchange membranes have been discussed. An application test was carried out by mounting a selected membrane in a membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) system to investigate its desalination capability. 0.92 meq/g of ion exchange capacity, $8.7{\Omega}.cm^2$ of electrical resistance, $40kgf/cm^2$ of tensile strength, 19% of swelling ratio, 42% of water uptake, and 56.4% salt removal rate were achieved at best. VA content plays a leading role on the extent of physical properties and performance; however, MI is important for having uniform distribution of resin grains and achieving better ionic conductivity. Overall, manufacturing cost has been suppressed to 5-10% of that of homogeneous ion exchange membranes.

Human-Technology Integration for Implementing Electronic Approval System in a Hospital (의료기관 전자결제시스템 도입을 위한 Human-Technology Integration에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Jae-Sung;Park, Ki-Soo
    • Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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    • v.7 no.3
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    • pp.102-120
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    • 2002
  • The purpose of study is to understand human-technology integration mechanism by using the study model that takes the core concept and motivation assumptions of technology acceptance model(TAM) into account. This study identifies three motivation mechanisms in adopting or using computer mediated communication(CMC) tool for work. The mechanism comprises with extrinsic, extrinsic motivation, and subjective norm pressure. One hospital with 430 beds and 367 human power was identified and we administered the questionnaire during their work hours. There is 32.4% response rate. The fitting index of the study model surpass the acceptable level, GFI = .980 for none-users, GFI =.986 for users, NNFI = .973 for none-users, and NNFI = .989 for users. In the case of none-users, perceived ease of use determines perceived usefulness that explains behavioral intention to use. As a result, adotpers' usage motivation is based on extrinsic motivation that does not consider their affective factor, attitude, in use of CMC. Users considers their attitudes as the mediating factor of all behavioral beliefs for using CMC continually. Thus, users are likely to depend their adoption behaviors on their affective factor. Moreover, users' behavioral intention is subject to pressures of use from other persons who are important to them, such as supervisor, director, or boss. Achieving human-technology integration in a hospital may cause cost saving and work efficiency. However, the success of information system should base on a profound understanding of employees' adoption behaviors in rejecting, adopting, using, continually using of IT, and organization culture in using IT.

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Performance Measurement of ISO Quality Management System in the Construction Industry (건설산업 ISO 품질경영시스템의 성과측정에 관한 연구)

  • Lee Woo-Chang;Kim Kyung-Rai;Shin Dong-Woo
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • 2004.11a
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    • pp.414-418
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    • 2004
  • Quality system of construction industry in Korea was a means to prevent unqualified construction work. But lately, it has became an essential requirement. So, lots of construction companies acquire ISO quality management system which provides fundamental management criteria. Now, most of the Korean construction companies have got IS0 quality management system. So, getting ISO quality management system doesn't mean advantage in public competition of construction bidding and that causes increase in the maintenance cost. That's why some construction companies abandon the 150 certificate. Therefore, the authors need to check the effect of ISO quality management system. For this, the authors provide the performance measurement index of ISO quality management system.

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The Short Term Effects of the Decompression (KNX $7000^{(R)}$) and Traction Device on Pain in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain with or without Radicular Pain (만성 요통 및 하지방사통 환자에서 감압치료(KNX $7000^{(R)}$)와 견인치료의 단기 치료 효과)

  • Park, So-Hyun;Kim, Chul-Seoung;Lee, Dong-Gyu;Ahn, Sang-Ho
    • The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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    • v.23 no.5
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    • pp.29-34
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    • 2011
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the short term effects of the traction and decompression device, which is a newly developed domestic medical device, on pain and functional activity in patients with chronic low back pain with or without radicular pain. Methods: Forty patients with chronic low back pain were included and allocated to decompression (n=20) and traction groups (n=20). They received decompression or traction therapy for 20 minutes a day, 3 days per week for two weeks. For evaluating pain and functional activity, a visual analogue scale (VAS) for low back pain and the Oswestry back pain disability index (ODI) were obtained on pre-treatment, and at 6, 12 and 15 days after treatment. Patients'satisfaction levels were measured 15 days after treatment. Results: VAS was significantly decreased at 12 days and 15 days post-treatment compared to pre-treatment in both groups (p<0.05). ODI was significantly decreased at 12 days and 15 days post-treatment compared to pre-treatment in the decompression group (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the VAS and ODI scales (p>0.05). Patients' satisfaction levels were significantly higher in the decompression group than in the traction group (p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings suggest that decompression therapy might be effective for increasing functional activity in patients with low back pain and could provide patients with higher satisfaction than traction therapy. This study provided validity data for the therapeutic effects of the decompression device in patients with low back pain and it will be useful for medical cost development and patient education of this device.

Automated assessment of cracks on concrete surfaces using adaptive digital image processing

  • Liu, Yufei;Cho, Soojin;Spencer, Billie F. Jr;Fan, Jiansheng
    • Smart Structures and Systems
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.719-741
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    • 2014
  • Monitoring surface cracks is important to ensure the health of concrete structures. However, traditional visual inspection to monitor the concrete cracks has disadvantages such as subjective inspection nature, associated time and cost, and possible danger to inspectors. To alter the visual inspection, a complete procedure for automated crack assessment based on adaptive digital image processing has been proposed in this study. Crack objects are extracted from the images using the subtraction with median filter and the local binarization using the Niblack's method. To adaptively. determine the optimal window sizes for the median filter and the Niblack's method without distortion of crack object an optimal filter size index (OFSI) is proposed. From the extracted crack objects using the optimal size of window, the crack objects are decomposed to the crack skeletons and edges, and the crack width is calculated using 4-connected normal line according to the orientation of the local skeleton line. For an image, a crack width nephogram is obtained to have an intuitive view of the crack distribution. The proposed procedure is verified from a test on a concrete reaction wall with various types of cracks. From the crack images with different crack widths and patterns, the widths of cracks in the order of submillimeters are calculated with high accuracy.

Application of ELISA for the Detection of Oxytetracycline Residue in Live Animals

  • Lee, H.J.;Lee, M.H.;Han, In K.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.13 no.12
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    • pp.1775-1778
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    • 2000
  • Oxytetracycline has been widely used in the cattle industry to control pneumonia, shipping fever, foot rot, bacterial enteritis, and uterine infections. Extensive use of antibiotics in veterinary clinics has resulted in residues in tissue and bacterial resistance to antibiotics. To prevent unwanted drug residues from entering the human food chain, extensive control measures have been established by both government authorities and industries. The demands for reliable, simple, sensitive, rapid and low-cost methods for residue analysis of foods are increasing. In this study, we established a rapid test for tissue residues of oxytetracycline in cattle. The recommended therapeutic dose of oxytetracycline (withdrawal time, 14 days) was administered to 10 cattle. Blood samples were collected from each cow before drug administration and during the withdrawal period. The concentration of oxytetracycline in plasma, determined by a semi-quantitative ELISA, was compared to that of the internal standard, 10 ppb. The absorbance ratio of internal standard to sample (B/Bs) was employed as an index to determine whether the residues in cattle tissues were negative or positive. That is, a B/Bs ratio less than 1 was considered as residue positive and that greater than 1 as negative. Based on this criterion, all plasma samples from cattle were negative to oxytetracycline at pre-treatment. Oxytetracycline could be detected in the plasma treated cattle until day 14 post-treatment. The present study showed that the semi-quantitative ELISA could be easily adapted in predicting tissue residues for oxytetracycline in live cattle.

Effective indexing of moving objects for current position management in Road Networks (도로 네트워크 환경에서 이동 객체의 현재 위치 관리를 위한 효율적인 색인 기법)

  • Kim, Tae-Gyu;Shin, Soong-Sun;Chung, Weo-Nil;Bae, Hae-Young
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.16 no.10
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    • pp.33-43
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    • 2011
  • Recently, advances in mobile communication and location identifying technology of the moving object is evolving. Therefore, the location-based services based on request for service have increased and a variety of the indexing for the position management of moving objects has been studied. Because the index based on Euclidean space are no restriction of movement, it is difficult to apply to the real world. Also, there is additional cost to find adjacent road segments in road networks-based indexing. Existing studies of fixed static objects such as buildings or hospitals are not considered. In this paper, we propose an efficient road networks-based indexing for management of current positions. The proposed indexing partitions road networks by grids and has integrated road connection informations and manage separated extra indexing for fixed static objects. Through the experiment, we show that the proposed indexing based on road networks improves the performance of operation for search or update than existing indexing.