• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.28
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• pp.9.1-9.5
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• 2013

Objectives Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a powerful tool for assessing exposure in epidemiologic studies. We used GIS to determine the geographic extent of contamination by perfluorooctanoic acid, C8 (PFOA) that was released into the environment from the DuPont Washington Works Facility located in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Methods Paper maps of pipe distribution networks were provided by six local public water districts participating in the community cross-sectional survey, the C8 Health Project. Residential histories were also collected in the survey and geocoded. We integrated the pipe networks and geocoded addresses to determine which addresses were serviced by one of the participating water districts. The GIS-based water district assignment was then compared to the participants' self-reported source of public drinking water. Results There were a total of 151,871 addresses provided by the 48,800 participants of the C8 Health Project that consented to geocoding. We were able to successfully geocode 139,067 (91.6%) addresses, and of these, 118,209 (85.0%) self-reported water sources were confirmed using the GIS-based method of water district assignment. Furthermore, the GIS-based method corrected 20,858 (15.0%) self-reported public drinking water sources. Over half (54%) the participants in the lowest GIS-based exposure group self-reported being in a higher exposed water district. Conclusions Not only were we able to correct erroneous self-reported water sources, we were also able to assign water districts to participants with unknown sources. Without the GIS-based method, the reliance on only self-reported data would have resulted in exposure misclassification.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.173-182
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• 2022

Healthcare organizations are overwhelmingly embracing smart value-based care strategies, which focuses on providing superior treatment at a significantly lower cost and quality of service (QoS). For these purposes, fifth generation (5G) of mobile service provides an innumerable improvement that clearly outperforms previous generations e.g., 3G and 4G. However, as with most advancements, 5G is projected to introduce new challenges, prompting the community to think about what comes next. This research was conducted to examine the most recent smart 5G technology applications and the solutions they provide to the healthcare industry. Finally, the paper discusses how the upcoming 6G technology has the potential to transform the future of healthcare sector even beyond the current 5G systems.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.371-375
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• 2018

Objectives: To successfully introduce an Internet of Things (IoT) system in the hospital environment, this study aimed to identify issues that should be considered while implementing an IoT based on a user demand survey and practical experiences in implementing IoT environment monitoring systems. Methods: In a field test, two types of IoT monitoring systems (on-premises and cloud) were used in Department of Laboratory Medicine and tested for approximately 10 months from June 16, 2016 to April 30, 2017. Information was collected regarding the issues that arose during the implementation process. Results: A total of five issues were identified: sensing and measuring, transmission method, power supply, sensor module shape, and accessibility. Conclusions: It is expected that, with sufficient consideration of the various issues derived from this study, IoT monitoring systems can be applied to other areas, such as device interconnection, remote patient monitoring, and equipment/environmental monitoring.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2013

Objectives: This study assessed the status of domestic industrial hygiene laboratories using data from on-site investigation for revision of quality control systems in 2012-2013. Methods: The target laboratories were 60 industrial hygiene laboratories chosen by random selection and nationwide distribution which had participated in on-site investigations for revision of quality control systems from March 2012 to August 2013. The investigation was performed on-site following standard quality control procedures. The score between each group was compared using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and the correlation between analytical career, sex, academic major of analyst and score of analytical performance was expressed as Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: The assessment revealed that the items to be improved, in sequence, were effort at staff training (score 65.5), ability to calculate data (score 73.4), establishment of internal quality control guidelines (score 75.7), laboratory facilities (score 77.1), degree of understanding and skill at gas chromatography (score 77.1). Analysis performance showed a positive correlation with career of analyst (r=0.56, p<0.01). Conclusions: The practice of on-site investigation for quality control systems showed the current status of industrial hygiene laboratories in the first trial. There were many laboratories which needed improvement and development of analytical systems. This assessment can provide information for the systematic operation and improvement of facilities at each laboratory. Further practice of this investigation will lead to a proficiency testing and accreditation system for autonomous quality control as is the practice in many countries, rather than mandatory practice by legal regulation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.297-301
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• 2006

최근 생명 연장과 삶의 질에 관한 많은 관심에 따라서 의료 부문에 있어서도 Ubiquitous 환경을 도입하는 노력이 시도되고 있다. 그 중 Ubiquitous Hospital은 여러 가지 병원 서비스 부분의 편의성을 제공하고자 분야로써 이것을 이용하여 시간과 장소의 제약 없이 각종 의료서비스와 건강관리를 제공 받을 수 있는 Ubiquitous Healthcare 서비스에 대한 관심이 증대되고 있다. 본 논문에서는 이 Ubiquitous Healthcare 서비스 제공 system 구현을 위한 framework을 제안한다. 이 framework에서는 사용자가 되는 의사와 환자에 적합한 인터페이스를 제공하고 환자에 대한 추적 관찰과 증상의 판단 및 환자 진료시의 지원 서비스를 제공한다. 또한 보험회사나 병원과 같은 외부시스템과 연계하여 필요한 데이터의 공유가 가능하도록 한다. 그리고 제안된 framework를 이용하여 전립선 환자를 위한 BPH 환자관리 시스템을 구현한다.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.3313-3332
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• 2022

This study is an investigation into the factors affecting patient dissatisfaction among Saudi hospitals. The selected factors considered for analysis are security of information sharing, operational practices, disruptive technologies, and the ease of use of EHR patient information management systems. From the literature review section, it was clear that hardly any other studies have embraced these concepts in one as was intended by this study. The theories that the study heavily draws from are the service dominant logic and the feature integration theory. The study surveyed 350 respondents from three large major hospitals in three different metropolitan cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This sample came from members of the three hospitals that were willing to participate in the study. The number 350 represents those that successfully completed the online questionnaire or the limited physical questionnaires in time. The study employed the structural equation modelling technique to analyze the associations. Findings suggested that security of information sharing had a significant direct effect on patient satisfaction. Operational practice positively mediated the effect of security of information sharing on patient dissatisfaction. However, ease of use failed to significant impact this association. The study concluded that to improve patient satisfaction, Saudi hospitals must work on their systems to reinforce them against the active threats on the privacy of patients' data by leveraging disruptive technology. They should also improve their operational practices by embracing quality management techniques relevant to the healthcare sector.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.45
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• pp.126-155
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• 2001

It has been 5 years since evaluation systems were introduced to the social welfare field in Korea. More than half of social welfare agencies (617 out of 1,267) were evaluated in the past two years. Most areas of the agencies were the target of an extensive evaluation in 2000. As "the Evaluation Era" has come, problems were raised especially regarding the Accreditation system of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. More specifically, the problems were related to operation and management of the evaluation systems including the issue of evaluators' objectivity and fairness. In addition, evaluation costs have been too high to the government. The evaluation systems of OECD nations including the United States were quite different. These nations have used the Performance Measurement in order to secure the objectivity and the fairness. Although the quantity of information was limited compared to that of the Accreditation system, these nations have taken the lead in the governmental evaluation. In this context, this study compared social welfare evaluation systems between Korea and the United States. It presented the current status and problems of the Accreditation system of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, discussed the American Performance Measurement and its limitations, and compared the strengths and weaknesses of the two evaluation systems. In addition, this study suggested the strategies of Korean evaluation systems in the long term as well as in the short term.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.2989-2996
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to search for the effects of health self-efficacy and technology self-efficacy on user's behavioural intention by the extended TAM focused on smartphone base ubiquitous health system. In this research, in view of small sample size, PLS - SEM methodology was applied to this study in order to the proposed research model. As a result of analysis, the statistical fitness of proposed research model was confirmed through GoF value and the path coefficient was calculated for the hypotheses test. Finally, the implications of analysis result showed that when the use of smartphone device could be easily accessed in the side of technology self-efficacy, the possibility of user's behavioural intention also might be higher.

• Journal of Computing Science and Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.246-256
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• 2011

Due to the increasingly aging population, there is a rising demand for assistive living technologies for the elderly to ensure their health and well-being. The elderly are mostly chronic patients who require frequent check-ups of multiple vital signs, some of which (e.g., blood pressure and blood glucose) vary greatly according to the daily activities that the elderly are involved in. Therefore, the development of novel wearable intelligent systems to effectively monitor the vital signs continuously over a 24 hour period is in some cases crucial for understanding the progression of chronic symptoms in the elderly. In this paper, recent development of Wearable Intelligent Systems for e-Health (WISEs) is reviewed, including breakthrough technologies and technical challenges that remain to be solved. A novel application of wearable technologies for transient cardiovascular monitoring during water drinking is also reported. In particular, our latest results found that heart rate increased by 9 bpm (P < 0.001) and pulse transit time was reduced by 5 ms (P < 0.001), indicating a possible rise in blood pressure, during swallowing. In addition to monitoring physiological conditions during daily activities, it is anticipated that WISEs will have a number of other potentially viable applications, including the real-time risk prediction of sudden cardiovascular events and deaths.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences Conference
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• 2006.07a
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• pp.375-375
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• 2006