• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 2021

Purpose: This study compared maternal age at childbirth, the number of live births, and the weight of live births between Korean women and immigrant women using statistical data from the Republic of Korea for the period of 2008-2018. Methods: The analysis was conducted using data from the Microdata Integrated Service of Statistics Korea (https://mdis.kostat.go.kr/index.do). Results: Korean women and immigrant women showed a higher age at childbirth in 2018 than in 2008. The percentage of newborns of Korean women with a birth weight of less than 2.5 kg increased slightly for 3 consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, whereas for immigrant women, this percentage increased in 2017 compared to 2016 and then decreased again in 2018. Very low birth weight (less than 1.5 kg) became more common among immigrant women from 2016 to 2018. Birth at a gestational age of fewer than 37 weeks increased both among Korean and immigrant women from 2016 to 2018. In both groups, the percentage of women who had their first child within their first 2 years of marriage decreased from 2008 to 2018. Conclusion: Immigrant women had higher birth rates than Korean women, while both groups showed an increasing trend in preterm birth. Greater attention should be paid to the pregnancy and birth needs of immigrant women, and steps are needed to ensure health equity and access in order to prevent preterm births. It is also necessary to identify factors that affect preterm birth and birth of very low birth weight infants among immigrant women in the future.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2015

In this paper, a novel method for the classification of term and preterm birth is proposed based on time-frequency analysis of electrohysterogram (EHG) using multivariate empirical mode decomposition (MEMD). EHG is a promising study for preterm birth prediction, because it is low-cost and accurate compared to other preterm birth prediction methods, such as tocodynamometry (TOCO). Previous studies on preterm birth prediction applied prefilterings based on Fourier analysis of an EHG, followed by feature extraction and classification, even though Fourier analysis is suboptimal to biomedical signals, such as EHG, because of its nonlinearity and nonstationarity. Therefore, the proposed method applies prefiltering based on MEMD instead of Fourier-based prefilters before extracting the sample entropy feature and classifying the term and preterm birth groups. For the evaluation, the Physionet term-preterm EHG database was used where the proposed method and Fourier prefiltering-based method were adopted for comparative study. The result showed that the area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was increased by 0.0351 when MEMD was used instead of the Fourier-based prefilter.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.107-128
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• 2019

When parental experience improves parenting skills, parents are likely to behave in favor of children of higher birth orders. To examine this hypothesis, this study analyzes birth month based on birth order of children in South Korea where parents prefer to have babies in the earlier months of a year. This study finds that while more babies are born in the earlier months, second-born children are more likely to be so than first children. This implies that parental experience makes for better parents.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2017

This current study aims to investigate the reason for the low birth rate and increasing aging populations. It aims to offer potential countermeasures and possible solutions that might alleviate the decreasing birth rate and exponentially increasing aging populations. The present research has sought out to uncover the origin of the low birth rates and increasing aging populations by compiling various past studies and statistics in South Korea. It includes additional support from the government for working career women in easing their burden for raising a child and allocating the appropriate funds for the increasing elderly populations. The decreasing birth rate can be contributed as a side effect of the past policies passed in South Korea and in turn created an increase in the aging populations. Policies to tackle this current issue needs to be further investigated and employed for the future of the economic and sociological stability of the society. Consistent efforts need to be made to dispel the continuing decrease for birth rates and alarmingly increasing aging populations. Policies and redistribution of government funds are some of the many things that need to be revised.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.295-300
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• 1995

Data from purebred and crossbred cattle involving Holstein and the Local breed in Bangladesh were used to estimate the genetic effects on average daily milk yield and birth weight A total of 877 records on average daily milk yield for 4 types of breed groups and a total of 418 records on birth weight for 5 breed groups were analyzed. Two different methods were applied in this study; the least squares analysis of variance approach and the linear regression approach. Breed group effects were highly significant for both average daily milk yield and birth weight. The result showed that straightbred Holstein produced the highest milk yield and the 7/8 crosses ranked highest in birth weight For the two traits, the additive breed effect was highly significant, whereas the individual heterosis effect was not significant. Furthermore, this study showed a negative maternal heterosis for average daily milk yields and a positive maternal heterosis for birth weight Comparing the breed least squares means obtained from the linear regression approach revealed that straightbred Holstein produced the highest average milk yield and the 3/4 crosses were predicted to have the largest birth weight. It is indicated that the linear regression approach can adequately separate the genetic component of performance, estimate unknown crossbreeding parameters and predict unknown performance of crosses which are not include in the original data.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between birth weight and appetite related hormones, insulin resistance, and antioxidant status in overweight children aged 9-10 years. Thirty-four healthy overweight children (18 boys, 16 girls) were evaluated with respect to anthropometric measurement, lipid profiles, leptin, ghrelin, glucose, insulin, C-peptide, lipid soluble vitamins, and antioxidant enzyme activities. I found that birth weight was negatively correlated with insulin resistance parameters, ghrelin, and coenzyme Q10 levels. There was a significant positive correlation between present BMI and leptin level, while a negative correlation was noted between the BMI and $\alpha$-tocopherol and lycopene levels. When total subjects were classified into three groups by tertiles of birth weight, the lowest tertile of birth weight (LTB) group showed higher levels of fasting glucose, HOMA-IR, and ghrelin level than the highest tertile of birth weight (HTB) groups. On the other hand, HTB group showed an increased oxidative stress (decreased coenzyme Q10 level and catalase activity) compared to the LTB group. In conclusion, plasma ghrelin level might play an important role in accelerated growth in overweight children with LTB. Increased insulin resistance is present in overweight children with LTB, while decreased coenzyme Q10 and catalase activity in overweight children with HTB. These results suggest that birth weight might be an important factor for determination of treatment for obesity related complications in childhood obesity.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.110-120
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• 2002

A phenomenological study is conducted to investigate the experience of mothers with very low birth weight. Sample of 8 mothers participate. Seven theme clusters emerge when the formulated meanings were organized into categories. The participants are 8 mothers who gave birth in the general hospital located in Kyunggi-Province and still live there. The data are collected from the intensive interviews on the experience of mothers whose baby is very low birth weight infant. Data collection is through in depth personal interviews two or three times with each mother. On the basis of the meanings of the experience of mothers with very low birth weight infant, the seven essential themes have been obtained Theme 1:Being surprised and perplexed due to the unexpected sudden delivery Theme 2:Experiencing emotional pain such as anxiety, sorrow, fear, confusion and self-blaming caused by a small and feeble baby. Theme 3: Pouring all their time and efforts into the baby under the acute tension Theme 4:Undergoing intolerable difficulties in confronting reality `Theme 5:Raising the special infant into an normal one by themselves Theme 6: Being on the vigilance for their baby even though they can be relieved Theme 7:Finding out a reward for the difficulties they have experienced The results obtained in this study will enable us to comprehensively understand the experience by mothers whose baby is very low birth weight infant and furthermore to provide a new insight which helps baby.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the neonatal birth weight, birth height, Apgar scores, sucking power, and digestion difficulties between smoking and non-smoking women following cesarean birth. This study analyzed the effects of smoking on the neonatal health status in pregnant women to provide fundamental data for smoking prevention education for women of childbearing ages and non-smoking practice protocols for pregnant women with smoking. Methods: A comparative survey design was used. Fifty-four newborn infants of pregnant women with smoking and seventy-four newborn infants of pregnant women with non-smoking participated in this study. The scores of neonatal birth weight, birth height, Apgar scores, sucking power, and digestion difficulties were assessed. Data were analyzed using SPSS Windows 15.0 program. Results: Smoking in pregnant women leads to the decrease of birth weight (F=4.75, p=.030) and birth height (F=14.19, p<.001), negative effects on the Apgar scores (F=36.02, p<.001) and sucking power (t=-4.26~-5.60, p<.001), and digestion difficulties ($x^2$=6.72, p=.010) of neonates. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that smoking in pregnant women leads to the decrease of fetus development. These findings would be utilized for the development of not only smoking prevention programs for women of childbearing ages but also prenatal education programs for pregnant women.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.233-242
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• 2018

Purpose: To identify risk factors for premature birth among premature obstetric labor women. Methods: Participants were 129 hospitalized women who were diagnosed with potential premature obstetric labor with 20 weeks to 37 weeks of gestation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, $x^2$ test, t-test, and binary logistic regression. Results: Of 129 women, 78(60.5%) gave premature birth and 51 (39.5%) gave full-term birth. Risk factors for premature birth were education level (${\leq}$bachelor's degree), abnormal bowel condition (constipation or diarrhea), time firstly diagnosed with a premature obstetric labor (below 28 weeks of pregnancy), and multiple pregnancy. There were also increased risks of premature birth for participants with high level of anxiety and high level of prenatal stress. In social support, there was an increased risk of premature birth for participants with low level of social support. Conclusion: Prenatal nursing programs should consider not only psychosocial factors such as anxiety, prenatal stress, and social support, but also some general and obstetric factors such as education level, abnormal bowel condition, time firstly diagnosed with a premature obstetric labor, and multiple pregnancy to increase maternal and child health.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.566-573
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• 2016

Sustainability in fashion cannot ignore fashion attributes required for the design of rapidly changing and innovative products. This study examines "Re-Birth Design" development and provides a means to apply academic and industry perspectives to the investigation of Re-Birth fashion product development. This study defines "Re-Birth Design" as stock that has been designed and launched through distribution channels, subsequently returned unused, then improved and reborn into a new product for redistribution. This study analyzed specific cases. We selected 100 designs for Re-Birth from 11 brands of "K" fashion company in Korea, to be successfully sold in 2014. These cases are used in the analysis and are categorized into design types. As a result of the analysis, "Re-Birth Design" had five levels: Level 1. Changes in supplementary materials such as adding or removing decoration, Level 2. Changes in patterns or materials (changes within the product), Level 3. Partial changes in design (leading to a new design), Level 4. Complete deconstruction and rebirth of the design, and Level 5. Complete deconstruction followed by the use of the design source for a new product that is not a garment. This study analyzed products owned by brands, as well as successful cases of Re-Birth designs that reused existing resources, reduced energy consumption, and increased environmental and economic efficiency by recreating new products that could be resold.