• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.205-219
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• 2016

Objectives: No children-specified review and meta-analysis paper about the short-term effect of fine particulate matter ($PM_{2.5}$) on hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma has been published. We calculated more precise pooled effect estimates on this topic and evaluated the variation in effect size according to the differences in study characteristics not considered in previous studies. Methods: Two authors each independently searched PubMed and EMBASE for relevant studies in March, 2016. We conducted random effect meta-analyses and mixed-effect meta-regression analyses using retrieved summary effect estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and some characteristics of selected studies. The Egger's test and funnel plot were used to check publication bias. All analyses were done using R version 3.1.3. Results: We ultimately retrieved 26 time-series and case-crossover design studies about the short-term effect of $PM_{2.5}$ on children's hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma. In the primary meta-analysis, children's hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma were positively associated with a short-term $10{\mu}g/m^3$ increase in $PM_{2.5}$ (relative risk, 1.048; 95% CI, 1.028 to 1.067; $I^2=95.7%$). We also found different effect coefficients by region; the value in Asia was estimated to be lower than in North America or Europe. Conclusions: We strengthened the evidence on the short-term effect of $PM_{2.5}$ on children's hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma. Further studies from other regions outside North America and Europe regions are needed for more generalizable evidence.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.3
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• pp.15-33
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• 2002

Researchers' common findings is that there are positive or negative effect of alcohol expectancy on drinking behavior. Therefore we would effectively prevent troublesome drinking of the youth and university students by inquiring and controlling critical factors affecting alcohol expectancy. The purposes of this thesis are, first, to empirically test factors affecting the alcohol expectancy level of elementary schoolchild(potential drinker).; second, to suggest the necessity for development of pre-alcohol prevention programs. On the basis of previous research, eighteen factors included in four categories(general characters, environmental characters, alcohol knowledge, drinking experience) affecting alcohol expectancy level were found out. 623 subjects used in this study were drawn from 8 elementary schools in Daegu, Korea. The empirical results suggested that the alcohol expectancy level of elementary schoolchildren was negative in general. And it was proved that 9 factors were significantly correlated with alcohol expectancy level. To put it concretely(see Fig.), (1) It was proved that schoolchildren with bad environment(live in oneself, displeased drinking feeling) rather than good environment(live with parents, nice drinking feeling) for drinking had more negative alcohol expectancy. (2) Korean traditional culture that partakes of sacrificial food and drink have an influence on the first drinking of most elementary schoolchildren. And it was proved that schoolchildren with this drinking experience rather than any other motives had less negative alcohol expectancy. (3) It was proved that schoolchildren adapting themselves rather than being difficult in school life had more negative alcohol expectancy. And the more knowledge about alcohol or drinking schoolchildren had, the more they had negative alcohol expectancy (4) It was proved that schoolchildren having drinking experience or drinking at present rather than having no drinking experience or not-drinking at present had less negative alcohol expectancy. (5) It was proved that schoolchildren having strong drinking intention rather than having weak or no drinking intention in the future had more positive alcohol expectancy. Based on previous results, guideline for development of pre-alcohol prevention programs can be represented: discriminated programs development on educatee, drinking education programs development increasing the power of self-control about alcohol and drinking, social education or continuing education programs development on drinking, open preschool education to substantially prevent drinking or alcoholism etc. The findings, however, should be interpreted with caution, because this study has several limitations in measurement and sampling as follows. First, selection bias because of limited selection of sampling. It is because the subjects are drawn from only 8 elementary schools in Daegu. Second, less refined measurement ; Therefore, it is necessary to develop more detailed measures on alcohol knowledge, alcohol expectancy level especially. Further researches should be suggested and encouraged with more refined methodologies.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2016

Climate change is the issue that attracts the most attention in the field of environment, as well as the most challenging task faced by the human race. There are various ways to resolve this issue. South Korea has established the primary and secondary national climate change adaptation plans at the national level, and is making it compulsory for each local government (lower and municipal-level) to establish climate change adaptation plans. Climate change vulnerability assessment plays an essential role in establishing climate change adaptation action plans. However, vulnerability assessment has a difficulty performing individual assessments since the results are produced through complex calculations of multiple impact factors. Accordingly, this study developed a web-based supporting tool(VESTAP) for climate change vulnerability assesment that can be used by lower and municipal-level local governments. The VESTAP consists of impact DB and vulnerability assessment and display tool. The index DB includes total 455 impacts of future climate data simulated with RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) 4.5 and 8.5, atmospheric environment data, other humanities and social statistics, and metadata. The display tool has maximized convenience by providing various analytical functions such as spatial distribution, bias and schematization of each vulnerability assessment result. A pilot test of health vulnerability assessment by particulate matters in Sejong Metropolitan Autonomous City was performed using the VESTAP, and Bukang-myeon showed the highest vulnerability. By using the developed tool, each local government is expected to be able to establish climate change adaptation action plans more easily and conveniently based on scientific evidence.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1493-1498
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide with a rising incidence rate in most countries. Considering the increase in life expectancy and change in lifestyle of Iranian women, this study investigated the age-adjusted trend of breast cancer incidence during 2000-2009 and predicted its incidence to 2020. Materials and Methods: The 1997 and 2006 census results were used for the projection of female population by age through the cohort-component method over the studied years. Data from the Iranian cancer registration system were used to calculate the annual incidence rate of breast cancer. The age-adjusted incidence rate was then calculated using the WHO standard population distribution. The five-year-age-specific incidence rates were also obtained for each year and future incidence was determined using the trend analysis method. Annual percentage change (APC) was calculated through the joinpoint regression method. Results: The bias adjusted incidence rate of breast cancer increased from 16.7 per 100,000 women in 2000 to 33.6 per 100,000 women in 2009. The incidence of breast cancer had a growing trend in almost all age groups above 30 years over the studied years. In this period, the age groups of 45-65 years had the highest incidence. Investigation into the joinpoint curve showed that the curve had a steep slope with an APC of 23.4% before the first joinpoint, but became milder after this. From 2005 to 2009, the APC was calculated as 2.7%, through which the incidence of breast cancer in 2020 was predicted as 63.0 per 100,000 women. Conclusions: The age-adjusted incidence rate of breast cancer continues to increas in Iranian women. It is predicted that this trend will continue until 2020. Therefore, it seems necessary to prioritize the prevention, control and care for breast cancer in Iran.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.63-94
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• 2001

Based on the human capital theory, the wage differentials among laborers are generated from the discrepancy of human capital stock which depends on individual laborer's decision. Hence, the wage differentials among laborers or between male and female are not the results of discrimination, but the results of individual choice. But, if the individual choice for human capital stock would be affected by the male-female discrimination, the explanation for male-female wage differentials base on the human capital stock has a bias. Actually, women have experienced in the discrimination on labor market participation due to gravity, parturition, infant rearing. Also, it is a fact that women have been discriminated against men in labor market owing to social, traditional, and cultural discriminations. If woman or her parent will less invest on human capital than man owing to the existence of discrimination in labor market, the 'expected human capital stock' instead of human capital stock will explain male-female wage differentials better. Therefore, in this study, we set up three models; first model includes working hours, industry, occupation, etc which are in general used as explanatory variables for wage decision, second model includes the variables which reflect the traditional human capital stock together with the first model's explanatory variables, third model employes the 'expected human capital stock' instead of traditional human capital stock. From the empirical test, the estimates of discrimination in three models are .93, .60, and, .48 respectively. This result implies that the male-female wage differentials in Korea can be explained by the discrepancy of 'expected human capital stock'. Since the discrepancy in expected human capital stock depend on the disparity in life-cycle labor force participation, male-female wage differentials can largely be attributed to male-female disparity in expected lifetime labor force participation.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.173-198
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• 2016

Financial distress can damage stakeholders and even lead to significant social costs. Thus, financial distress prediction is an important issue in macroeconomics. However, most existing studies on building a financial distress prediction model have only considered idiosyncratic risk factors without considering systematic risk factors. In this study, we propose a prediction model that considers both the idiosyncratic risk based on a financial ratio and the systematic risk based on a business cycle. Ultimately, we build several IT artifacts associated with financial ratio and add them to the idiosyncratic risk factors as well as address the imbalanced data problem by using an oversampling technique and synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) to ensure good performance. When considering systematic risk, our study ensures that each data set consists of both financially distressed companies and financially sound companies in each business cycle phase. We conducted several experiments that change the initial imbalanced sample ratio between the two company groups into a 1:1 sample ratio using SMOTE and compared the prediction results from the individual data set. We also predicted data sets from the subsequent business cycle phase as a test set through a built prediction model that used business contraction phase data sets, and then we compared previous prediction performance and subsequent prediction performance. Thus, our findings can provide insights into making rational decisions for stakeholders that are experiencing an economic crisis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.91-97
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• 2007

A survey of risk perception in Korea was conducted in 2001 with a special emphasis on industrial and technological risks. This article summarizes the characteristics of risk perception in consideration of socio-demographic background of respondents. The survey with sample size of 1,870 evaluates the perceived level of 25 risk items in the areas of transportation, chemicals, environment, industry, and nuclear power generation. Risks are categorized by using factor analysis to clarify attitudinal or behavioral properties of risk perception. Research findings show that the level of perceived risk does not correspond to the statistical level. Socio-demographic variables are significant predictors in explaining risk perception, or the discrepancies between "subjective" and "objective" risks. Effective risk communication can reduce the perceptional discrepancies, improve the awareness of technological risks, and ultimately facilitate the process of making and implementing policies for risk management and safety regulation. This article tries to provides policy guidelines for "Who is the target for risk communication" and "Which risk has the policy priority for safety improvement." Married females at the age of 30s and 40s with lower education and lower income in small cities are more vulnerable to risk misperception than other groups. More information and knowledge regarding unfamiliar, intangible, new technological risks should be delivered to the vulnerable groups for reducing perceptional bias. Society-wide safety can be improved by integrating policy, human, and social factors as well as techno-engineering advances.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.74-88
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• 2019

Objectives The aim of this study is systematic evaluation of the quality of qualitative studies related to short stature. It will be utilized as fundamental data for future qualitative research about Korean Medicine Pediatrics treatment for short stature. Methods We searched qualitative studies related to short stature in the Pubmed. Two researchers independently assessed the quality of the qualitative researches by using Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) and Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP). We also qualitatively synthesized theme of each included studies. We presented integrated theme and categories with in vivo coding about qualitative research about short stature. Results A total of 47 papers were screened and 7 papers were finally selected. In the quality assessment using COREQ, detalied information about the researchers, methods of approach, reasons for non-participation, presence of non-participants, participant's review of the transcript, and participant's review of the findings were insufficient. In the quality evaluation using CASP, there were lack of justifications for the research methods, description method of research, and bias in process of data analysis. The findings were synthesized into three themes: fixed idea about height, discomfort caused by small stature and personal coping strategy with stress caused by short stature. Conclusions In further qualitative research, it is necessary to report the research according to COREQ and CASP checklist. It is also necessary to understand the stress and coping strategies to short stature of patients, We need to develop a social management strategy for short stature.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.273-284
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• 2019

Objective: This study was performed to estimate the number of those who used humidifier disinfectants (HDs) and experienced health effects from exposure to HDs in Korea between 1994 and 2011. Methods: A nationwide interview survey was conducted for the representative sample to identify the proportion of those who used HDs among the general population (n=3,001). Another online survey was conducted for those exposed to HDs to find the proportion of those who experienced health effects among those who were exposed to HDs (n=3,993). Statistics for population size by region and year (1994-2011) were used to estimate the cumulative number of those exposed to HDs and those who experienced health effects. In terms of the proportion of those exposed to HDs, those less than 30 years of age were excluded due to an issue related to information bias. Various approaches for estimation included the capture-recapture method for estimation of those who experienced health effects. Results: The cumulative proportion of those exposed to HDs was 6.7% among the general population, and the proportion of those who experienced health effects among those who were exposed to HDs was 13.9%. Based on these factors, it was estimated that 3.5 to 4.0 million people were exposed to HDs and 350 to 400 thousand experienced health effects at least requiring visiting a hospital. Conclusion: It is suggested that a nationwide representative sample may be essential for population size estimation of those exposed to environmental risk factors and of those who experienced health effects.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.153-216
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• 2018

The contemporary practices of Big-Data based automated decision making algorithms are widely deployed not just because we expect algorithmic decision making might distribute social resources in a more efficient way but also because we hope algorithms might make fairer decisions than the ones humans make with their prejudice, bias, and arbitrary judgment. However, there are increasingly more claims that algorithmic decision making does not do justice to those who are affected by the outcome. These unfair examples bring about new important questions such as how decision making was translated into processes and which factors should be considered to constitute to fair decision making. This paper attempts to delve into a bunch of research which addressed three areas of algorithmic application: criminal justice, law enforcement, and national security. By doing so, it will address some questions about whether artificial intelligence algorithm discriminates certain groups of humans and what are the criteria of a fair decision making process. Prior to the review, factors in each stage of data mining that could, either deliberately or unintentionally, lead to discriminatory results will be discussed. This paper will conclude with implications of this theoretical and practical analysis for the contemporary Korean society.