• Journal of the International Relations & Interdisciplinary Education
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.57-83
• /
• 2024

This study aimed to investigate the impact of scores on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) among foreign exchange students on academic adaptation. Recruited students, approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), totaled seven, and their interview contents were analyzed using a comprehensive analysis procedure based on pragmatic eclecticism (Lee, Kim, 2014), utilizing six stages. As a result, factors influencing academic adaptation of Korean language learners for academic purposes were categorized into three dimensions: academic, daily life, and psychological-emotional aspects. On the academic front, interviewees pointed out difficulties in adapting to specialized terminology and studying in their majors, as well as experiencing significant challenges with Chinese characters and Sino-Korean words. Next, from a daily life perspective, even participants holding advanced TOPIK scores faced difficulties in adapting to university life, emphasizing the necessity of practical expressions and extensive vocabulary for proper adjustment to Korean life. Lastly, within the psychological-emotional dimension, despite being advanced TOPIK holders, they were found to experience considerable stress in conversations or presentations with Koreans. Their lack of knowledge in social-cultural and everyday life culture also led to linguistic errors and contributed to psychological-emotional difficulties, despite proficiency in Korean. Based on these narratives, the conclusion was reached that in order to promote the academic adaptation of Korean language learners, it is essential to provide opportunities for Korean language learning. With this goal in mind, efforts should be directed towards enhancing learners' academic proficiency in their majors, improving Korean language fluency, and fostering interpersonal relationships within the academic community. Furthermore, the researchers suggested as a solution to implement various extracurricular activities tailored for foreign learners.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.8-14
• /
• 2014

The Chinese economic growth rate has been much higher than many countries of the world for many years now. Nowadays, China is experiencing significant economic transformation and structural adjustment. Its speed of development is slowing, and housing and commodity prices are slowly rising. Consequently, a series of economic and social problems have come into being. Under these circumstances, how satisfied are Chinese people on the seven aspects of daily living such as Housing Situation, Household Income, Health, Family Life, Food, Human Relations and Job? The Media and Public Opinion Research Center of Fudan University (FMORC) conducted a phone survey of 606 people living in Beijing, the capital and political and cultural center of China, and Shanghai, the Chinese economic center. The survey results show that the overall satisfaction of Chinese people with their daily life is high. The levels of Family Life and Human Relations are on the top, those of Food, Health and Jobs are listed from the third to the fifth, and satisfaction levels of their Housing Situation and Household Income are on the bottom. The satisfaction levels of males with their Family Life and Health are higher than those of females. Age has a significantly negative correlation with satisfaction with personal health. Monthly income has positive relationships with four aspects of daily life - house income, job, house situation, and family life. Owning a house in cities is another important factor that influences satisfaction with the house situation, house income, food, and family life. Shanghai residents also show higher satisfaction with their health than Beijing residents.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.2547-2556
• /
• 2012

Objectives: Smoking among university students represents a formidable and global public health challenge. We assessed the associations between socio-demographic, health and wellbeing variables as independent variables, with daily smoking, attempts to quit smoking, and agreement with smoking ban as dependent variables. Methods: A sample of 3258 undergraduate students from eleven faculties at Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, completed a general health questionnaire. Results: Overall daily or occasional smoking in last three months prior to the survey was about 9% (8% occasional and 1% daily smokers), and smoking was generally more prevalent among males (male=17%, female=0.6%, P < 0.001). After adjustment for confounders, not having normal BMI and having a mother who completed at least bachelor's degree education was positively associated with daily smoking, and conversely, no history of illicit drug use was a protective factor. About 76% of smokers had attempted to quit smoking within the last 12 months prior to the survey. Although a large proportion of students agreed/strongly agreed with the banning of smoking at university altogether (87%), such agreement was less likely among smokers. Conclusion: There is need for implementation of non-smoking policies on university premises, as well as regular up-to-date information on, and the periodic/yearly monitoring of tobacco use by university students employing standardised data collection instruments and reference periods. In addition, it would be valuable to develop campus-based educational/ awareness campaigns designed to counteract tobacco advertisement directed towards young people in Middle East countries. Otherwise, the danger could be that the current relatively low smoking prevalence among university students may escalate in the future.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.61-72
• /
• 2001

Objectives : To evaluate the hypothesis that increasing ambient levels of ozone or particulate matter are associated with increased emergency room visits for asthma and to quantify the strength of association, if any, between these. Methods : Daily counts of emergency room visits for asthma, air quality, and weather data were collected from hospitals with over 200 beds and from monitoring Stations in Seoul, Korea from 1994 through 1997. Daily counts of emergency mom visits for asthma attack were analyzed using a general additive Poisson model, with adjustment for the effects of secular trend, seasonal variation, Sunday and holiday, temperature, and humidly, according to levels of ozone and particulate matter. Results : The association between daily counts of emergency room visits for asthma attack and ozone levels was statistically significant in summer(from June to August), and the RR by unit inclement of 100 ppb ozone was 1.30(95% CI = $1.11\sim1.52$) without lag time. With restriction of the period from April to September in 1996, the RR was 1.37(95% CI = $1.06\sim1.76$), and from June to August in 1995, the RR was 1.62(95% CI = $1.12\sim2.35$). In the data for children$(5\sim14yr)$, the RR was 2.57(95% CI = $1.31\sim5.05$) with restriction of the period from April to September in 1997. There was no Significant association between TSP levels and asthma attacks, but a slight association was seen between PM10 levels and asthma attacks in a very restricted period. Conclusion : There was a statistically significant association between ambient levels of ozone and daily counts of emergency room visits for asthma attack. Therefore, we must make efforts to effectively minimize air pollution, in order to protect public health.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.105-114
• /
• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Several previous studies have investigated whether regular walnut consumption positively changes heart-health-related parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of daily walnut intake on metabolic syndrome (MetS) status and other metabolic parameters among subjects with MetS. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study was a two-arm, randomized, controlled crossover study with 16 weeks of each intervention (45 g of walnuts or iso-caloric white bread) with a 6 week washout period between interventions. Korean adults with MetS (n = 119) were randomly assigned to one of two sequences; 84 subjects completed the trial. At each clinic visit (at 0, 16, 22, and 38 weeks), MetS components, metabolic parameters including lipid profile, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), adiponectin, leptin, and apolipoprotein B, as well as anthropometric and bioimpedance data were obtained. RESULTS: Daily walnut consumption for 16 weeks improved MetS status, resulting in 28.6%-52.8% reversion rates for individual MetS components and 51.2% of participants with MetS at baseline reverted to a normal status after the walnut intervention. Significant improvements after walnut intake, compared to control intervention, in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P = 0.028), fasting glucose (P = 0.013), HbA1c (P = 0.021), and adiponectin (P = 0.019) were observed after adjustment for gender, age, body mass index, and sequence using a linear mixed model. CONCLUSION: A dietary supplement of 45 g of walnuts for 16 weeks favorably changed MetS status by increasing the concentration of HDL-C and decreasing fasting glucose level. Furthermore, consuming walnuts on a daily basis changed HbA1c and circulating adiponectin levels among the subjects with MetS. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03267901.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.1125-1134
• /
• 2005

Purpose: This research investigated the daily experiences of patients' lives to develop a formal theory that explains the lives of schizophrenic patients. Method: A grounded theory method(Strauss & Corbin, 1998) guided the data collection and analysis. Thirteen patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia in regional communities participated. Result: The experiences of chronic schizophrenic patients are defined as "escaping from a fallen mine" comparing their suffering to that of entrapped miners trying to free themselves from a collapsed mine tunnel with much difficulty and without hope. In observing participant's time lines of having lived with chronic schizophrenia, it advances with 'surrender', 'collapse', 'reaching out', 'rising', 'preparing to spring up', and 'starting anew'. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the experience of a chronic schizophrenic patient is like that of a miner caught under a fallen mine channel, who, without external help cannot escape the depths 'Of the mine, but at the same time must have conviction and hope of rescue and avert fear to cooperate with outside help. The result indicates that family members, doctors and nurses as well as an institute's persistent and active support is most critical for the patient's adjustment to social life.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.92-100
• /
• 2008

Purpose: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of urinary incontinence among nursing home residents and to identify the factors associated with this condition. Method: The data were collected from 618 subjects (146 males and 472 females; mean age $79.9{\pm}8.4$ yr; range 65-102 yr) of 30 nursing homes in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do in this cross-sectional study. The data were analyzed by chi-square test, t-test, and multiple logistic regression by using the SPSS/PC ver 12.0 program. Results: The prevalence of UI was 64.7% (64.6% in women; 65.1% in men). After adjustment for each of the variables considered in this study, six potential factors were strongly associated with UI: activities of daily living, comorbidity, age, cognition, specialty of the facility, and a bladder training program. Conclusion: Our finding suggests that it is necessary to develop a program for promotion of activities of daily living and to provide a bladder training program to prevent urinary incontinence among nursing home residents.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.116-124
• /
• 1989

Based on the theory of runoff equation proposed by SCS, the actual storage capacity(Sa) as a modified retention paramater was introduced to estimate the effective rainfall for the daily streamfiow analysis. During a storm, the actual storage capacity is limited by either soil water storage or infiltration rate as precipitation increases. Therefore, it was assumed that Sa is dependent on the baseflow before storm runoff(Qb) corresponding to soil water storage and the total amount of precipitation(P) corresponding to infiltration rate of a watershed. Effective rainfalls (Direct run-offs) estimate4 from SCS equation using Sa were compared with observed effective rainfalls at 10 watersheds in Geum river watershed boundary. 1. Regression equation for Sa was supposed Sa=Co+C$_1$XP+C$_2$X Qb Regression coefficients were highly significant at the level of 0. 01 and R$^2$ were 0.57 to 0.73. 2. The adjustment of coefficient of initial abstraction was made according to the storm size. It was adjusted to 025 for 30mm or less, 0.23 for 30 to 80mm, 0.20 for 80 to 200mm, and 0.1 for 200mm or more. 3. Regression equations between estimated and observed effective rainfall showed that slopes were 0.857 to 1.029 and R$^2$ were 0.779 to 0.989,

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.625-637
• /
• 2003

This study was performed to examine the relationship between air pollution exposure and mortality in Seoul for the years of 1998∼2001. Daily counts of death were analyzed by general additive Poisson model, with adjustment for effects of seasonal trend, air temperature, humidity, and day of the week as confounders in a nonparametric approach. Daily death counts were associated with CO (current day),O$_3$ (current day), PM$_{10}$ (current day), NO$_2$ (1 day before), SO$_2$ (1 day before). Increase of 41.71 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ (interquartile range) in PM$_{10}$ was associated with 1.3% (95% CI = 0.7∼1.9％) increase in the daily number of death. $O_3$ concentrations resulted in an increased risk of 1.3% for 23.86 ppb in all-aged mortality [RR = 1.013 (1.004-1.023)1. This effect was greater in children (less than 15 aged) and elderly (more than 65 aged). After ozone level exceeds 25 ppb, the dose-response relationship between mortality and ozone was almost linear. We concluded that Seoul had 1∼5％ increase in mortality in association with IQR (interquartile range) in air pollutants. Daily variations in air pollution within the range currently occurring in Seoul might have an adverse effect on daily mortality. These findings also support the hypothesis that air pollution, at levels below the current ambient air quality standards of Korea, is harmful to sensitive subjects, such as children or elderly.rly.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.191-199
• /
• 1999

Objectives: To examine the relationship between air pollution exposure and mortality in Seoul for the years of 1991-1995, Methods: Daily counts of death were analyzed by general additive Poisson model, with adjustment for effects of secular trend, seasonal factor, day of the week, heat wave, temperature, and humidity. Pollution variables were ozone, nitrogen dioxide, total suspended particles(TSP), and sulfur dioxide. Results: Daily death counts were associated with ozone(1 day before), nitrogen dioxide(1 day before), TSP(2 days before), sulfur dioxide(2 days before). The association with ozone was most statisfically significant and independent of other air pollutants. Increase of 100 ppb in ozone was associated with 0%(95% Cl= 2%-10%) increase in the daily number of death, This effect was greater in persons aged 65 and older. The relative risks of death from respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease were greater than for all-cause mortality in each pollutant. After ozone level exceeds 25 ppb, the dose-response relationship between mortality and ozone was almost linear. However, the effect of TSP, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide on mortality might be confounded with each other. Conclusion: Daily variations in air pollution within the range currently occurring in Seoul might have an adverse effect on daily mortality.