• Journal of the Korean Statistical Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.125-134
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• 1989

This paper presents optimum simple step-stress accelerated life test plans for the case where the test process is observed periodically at intervals of the same length. Two types of failure data, periodically observed complete data and periodically observed censored data, are considered. An exponential life distribution with a mean that is a log-linear function of stress, and a cumulative exposure model for the effect of changing stress are assumed. For each type of data, the optimum test plan which minimizes the asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimator of the mean life at a design stress is obtained and its behaviors are studied.

• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.85-105
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• 2016

In this paper accelerated life testing is incorporated in quality control technique of acceptance sampling plan to induce early failures in high reliability products.Stress under accelerated condition can be applied in constant-stress, step-stress and progressive-stress or combination of such loadings. A ramp-stress results when stress is increased linearly (from zero) with time. In this paper optimum failure-censored ramp-stress accelerated life test sampling plan for log-logistic distribution has been formulated with cost considerations. The log-logistic distribution has been found appropriate for insulating materials. The optimal plans consist in finding optimum sample size, sample proportion allocated to each stress, and stress rate factor such that producer's and consumer's interests are safeguarded. Variance optimality criterion is used when expected cost per lot is not taken into consideration, and bilevel programming approach is used in cost optimization problems. The methods developed have been illustrated using some numerical examples, and sensitivity analyses carried out in the context of ramp-stress ALTSP based on variable SSP for proportion nonconforming.

• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.21-44
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• 2017

Accelerated life tests (ALTs) are frequently used in manufacturing industries to evaluate the reliability of products within a reasonable amount of time and cost. Test units are subjected to elevated stresses which yield quick failures. Most of the previous works on designing ALT plans are focused on tests that involve a single stress. Many times more than one stress factor influence the product's functioning. This paper deals with the design of optimum modified ramp-stress ALT plan for Burr type XII distribution with Type-I censoring under two stress factors, viz., voltage and switching rate each at two levels- low and high. It is assumed that usage time to failure is power law function of switching rate, and voltage increases linearly with time according to modified ramp-stress scheme. The cumulative exposure model is used to incorporate the effect of changing stresses. The optimum plan is devised using D-optimality criterion wherein the ${\log}_{10}$ of the determinant of Fisher information matrix is maximized. The method developed has been explained using a numerical example and sensitivity carried out.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.31
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• pp.1.1-1.13
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• 2016

Objectives To investigate the accuracy and scientific validity of the current very low risk factor for hereditary diseases in humans following exposures to ionizing radiation adopted by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation and the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The value is based on experiments on mice due to reportedly absent effects in the Japanese atomic bomb (A-bomb) survivors. Methods To review the published evidence for heritable effects after ionising radiation exposures particularly, but not restricted to, populations exposed to contamination from the Chernobyl accident and from atmospheric nuclear test fallout. To make a compilation of findings about early deaths, congenital malformations, Down's syndrome, cancer and other genetic effects observed in humans after the exposure of the parents. To also examine more closely the evidence from the Japanese A-bomb epidemiology and discuss its scientific validity. Results Nearly all types of hereditary defects were found at doses as low as one to 10 mSv. We discuss the clash between the current risk model and these observations on the basis of biological mechanism and assumptions about linear relationships between dose and effect in neonatal and foetal epidemiology. The evidence supports a dose response relationship which is non-linear and is either biphasic or supralinear (hogs-back) and largely either saturates or falls above 10 mSv. Conclusions We conclude that the current risk model for heritable effects of radiation is unsafe. The dose response relationship is non-linear with the greatest effects at the lowest doses. Using Chernobyl data we derive an excess relative risk for all malformations of 1.0 per 10 mSv cumulative dose. The safety of the Japanese A-bomb epidemiology is argued to be both scientifically and philosophically questionable owing to errors in the choice of control groups, omission of internal exposure effects and assumptions about linear dose response.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.173-183
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• 2021

Objectives: This study evaluated the skin permeability of lawsone in henna hair dyes to understand the exposure characteristics of henna hair dyes in the human body. It examined the protective effects of protectants by applying protectants A, B, and C to test skin. Methods: Skin absorption tests were conducted using Franz diffusion cells according to OECD test guideline 428. After applying one kind of natural henna hair dye and chemical henna hair dye, respectively, to a standardized pig skin model, samples of receptor fluid were collected at 1h, 3h, 6h, and 24h. The skin permeation of lawsone was determined using HPLC. After the skin absorption experiment, the skin to which hair dye was applied was analyzed to determine the residual amount of lawsone in the skin. Results: The cumulative permeation of both natural and chemical henna hair dyes increased over time, and the natural henna hair dye had a flux value (t=3.194, p<.05) high both in the K_p value (t=3.207, p<.05) and the residual amount (t=22.701, p<.001). For skin treated with a protectant, the cumulative permeation of natural henna hair dye 24h control and the cumulative permeation of protectant A, B, and C increased over time. Flux and K_p values were in the order control > protectant A > protectant C > protectant B. The residual amount (F=4.469, p<.05) was in the order of protectant C > protectant A > protectant B > control. At 3h, the dye application time of natural henna hair dye, the lawsone flux value (F=4.454, p<.05) and K_p value (F=4.455, p<.05) were higher in the control group than in the protectant groups. The 24h cumulative permeation of the chemical henna hair dye increased with time in both the control and the protectant groups, and the flux and K_p values were in the order of protectant A > protectant C > protectant B > control. The residual amount (F=7.901, p<.01) was in the order of protectant B > protectant A> protectant C > control. Conclusions: Within the normal dyeing time for henna hair dye (three hours for natural henna hair dyes and 30 minutes for chemical henna hair dyes) lawsone skin penetration was not observed even when no protective agent was applied. After that time, however, evidence of skin penetration and retention of lawsone and the protective effect of protective agents were observed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.108-119
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• 2024

Objectives: Abrupt changes in air pollution levels associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak present a unique opportunity to evaluate the effects of air pollution on influenza risk, at a time when emission sources were less active and personal hygiene practices were more rigorous. Methods: This time-series study examined the relationship between influenza cases (n=22 874) and air pollutant concentrations from 2018 to 2021, comparing the timeframes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in and around Thailand's Khon Kaen province. Poisson generalized additive modeling was employed to estimate the relative risk of hospitalization for influenza associated with air pollutant levels. Results: Before the COVID-19 outbreak, both the average daily number of influenza hospitalizations and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 ㎛ or less (PM_2.5) concentration exceeded those later observed during the pandemic (p<0.001). In single-pollutant models, a 10 ㎍/m³ increase in PM_2.5 before COVID-19 was significantly associated with increased influenza risk upon exposure to cumulative-day lags, specifically lags 0-5 and 0-6 (p<0.01). After adjustment for co-pollutants, PM_2.5 demonstrated the strongest effects at lags 0 and 4, with elevated risk found across all cumulative-day lags (0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, and 0-6) and significantly greater risk in the winter and summer at lag 0-5 (p<0.01). However, the PM_2.5 level was not significantly associated with influenza risk during the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusions: Lockdown measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic could mitigate the risk of PM_2.5-induced influenza. Effective regulatory actions in the context of COVID-19 may decrease PM_2.5 emissions and improve hygiene practices, thereby reducing influenza hospitalizations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4699-4704
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• 2015

Medical diagnostic X-ray workers are one occupational group that expose to the long-term low-dose external radiation over their working lifetime, and they may under risk of different cancers. This study aims to determine the relationship between the occupational X-ray radiation exposure and cancer risk among these workers in Jiangsu, China. We conducted Nested case-control study to investigate the occupational X-ray radiation exposure and cancer risk. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaire, which includes but not limits to demographic data, personal behaviors and family history of cancer. Retrospective dose reconstruction was conducted to estimate the cumulative doses of the x-ray workers. Inferential statistics, t-test and 2 tests were used to compare the differences between each group. We used the logistic regression model to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of cancer by adjusting the age, gender. All 34 breast cancer cases and 45 esophageal cancer cases that detected in a cohort conducted among health workers between 1950~2011 were included in this presented study, and 158 cancer-free controls were selected by frequency-matched (1:2). Our study found that the occupational radiation exposure was associated with a significantly increased cancer risk compared with the control, especially in breast cancer and esophageal cancer (adjusted OR=2.90, 95% CI: 1.19-7.04 for breast cancer; OR=4.19, 95% CI: 1.87-9.38 for esophageal cancer, and OR=3.43, 95% CI: 1.92-6.12 for total cancer, respectively). The occupational X-ray radiation exposure was associated with increasing cancer risk, which indicates that proper intervention and prevention strategies may be needed in order to bring down the occupational cancer risk.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2012

Objectives: Lifting heavy weights involves the Valsalva manoeuvre, which leads to intraocular pressure spikes. We used data from a case-control study to further investigate the hypothesis that occupational lifting is a risk factor for retinal detachment. Methods: The study population included 48 cases (patients operated for retinal detachment) and 84 controls (outpatients attending an eye clinic). The odds ratios (OR) of idiopathic retinal detachment were estimated with a logistic regression model (adjusted for age, sex and body mass index). Three indexes were used to examine exposure to lifting; 1) maximum load lifted, 2) average weekly lifting, 3) lifelong cumulative lifting. Results: For all indexes, the most exposed subjects showed an increased risk of retinal detachment compared with the unexposed (index 1: OR 3.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21-10.48; index 2: OR 3.24, 95% CI 1.32-7.97; index 3: OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.27-8.74) and dose-response relationships were apparent. Conclusion: These results reinforce the hypothesis that heavy occupational lifting may be a relevant risk factor for retinal detachment.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.80-99
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• 1997

This paper considers designing the simple (2-level) constant-and step-stress ALTs minimizing the asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimator of the accelaeration factor, which is defined as the ratio of the 100qth percentile at use stress to that a specified stress, for items having lognormally-distributed lives. It is assumed that (i) the log-linear relationship exists between the stress and the mean log life, (ii) the standard deviation of the log life is constant, and (iii) the cumulative exposure model holds for the effect of changing stress. For the constant-stress ALT the low stress and the sample proportion allocated to low stress are determined and for two modes of stress loading of step-stress ALTs, the low-to-high and high-to-low, the low stress and the stress change time are determined. For selected values of the design parameters the optimum plans are figured, two modes of step-stress ALTs and the constant-stress ALT are compared to each other, and the effects of the incorrect pre-estimates of the design parameters are investigated.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.193-209
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• 1992

We consider a Step Life Testing which is deviced for a two-component serial system with the considerably long life time. In the modelling stage we discuss the bivariate exponential distribution suggested by Block and Basu as the bivariate survival function for the two-component system, and develope the cumulative exposure model introduced by Nelson so that it can be used under the bivariate function. We consider inference on the component life time when the components are at work in the system by combining the information from system life test and that from the component tests carried out separately under the controlled environment. In data analysis, maximum likelihood estimators are discussed with the initial value obtained by an weighted least square method. Finally we discuss the optimal time for changing the stress in the simple step stress life testing.