• Title/Summary/Keyword: data pattern

Search Result 8,414, Processing Time 0.039 seconds

Mapping CO2 Emissions Using SNPP/VIIRS Nighttime Light andVegetation Index in the Korean Peninsula (SNPP/VIIRS 야간조도와 식생지수를 활용한 한반도 CO2 배출량 매핑)

  • Sungwoo Park;Daeseong Jung;Jongho Woo;Suyoung Sim;Nayeon Kim;Kyung-Soo Han
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
    • /
    • v.39 no.2
    • /
    • pp.247-253
    • /
    • 2023
  • As climate change problem has recently become serious, studies are being conducted to identify carbon dioxide (CO2) emission dynamics based on satellite data to reduce emissions. It is also very important to analyze spatial patterns by estimating and mapping CO2 emissions dynamic. Therefore, in this study, CO2 emissions in the Korean Peninsula from 2013 to 2020 were estimated and mapped. To spatially estimate and map emissions, we use the enhanced vegetation index adjusted nighttime light index, an index that combines nighttime light (NTL) and vegetation index, to map both areas where NTL is observed and areas where NTL is not observed. In order to spatially estimate and map CO2 emissions, the total annual emissions of the Korean Peninsula were calculated, resulting in an increase of 11% from 2013 to 2017 and a decrease of 13% from 2017 to 2020. As a result of the mapping, it was confirmed that the spatial pattern of CO2 emissions in the Korean Peninsula were concentrated in urban areas. After being divided into 17 regions, which included the downtown area, the metropolitan area accounted for roughly 40% of CO2 emissions in the Korean Peninsula. The region that exhibited the most significant change from 2013 to 2020 was Sejong City, showing a 96% increase.

Pre-service mathematics teachers' noticing competency: Focusing on teaching for robust understanding of mathematics (예비 수학교사의 수학적 사고 중심 수업에 관한 노티싱 역량 탐색)

  • Kim, Hee-jeong
    • The Mathematical Education
    • /
    • v.61 no.2
    • /
    • pp.339-357
    • /
    • 2022
  • This study explores pre-service secondary mathematics teachers (PSTs)' noticing competency. 17 PSTs participated in this study as a part of the mathematics teaching method class. Individual PST's essays regarding the question 'what effective mathematics teaching would be?' that they discussed and wrote at the beginning of the course were collected as the first data. PSTs' written analysis of an expert teacher's teaching video, colleague PSTs' demo-teaching video, and own demo-teaching video were also collected and analyzed. Findings showed that most PSTs' noticing level improved as the class progressed and showed a pattern of focusing on each key aspect in terms of the Teaching for Robust Understanding of Mathematics (TRU Math) framework, but their reasoning strategies were somewhat varied. This suggests that the TRU Math framework can support PSTs to improve the competency of 'what to attend' among the noticing components. In addition, the instructional reasoning strategies imply that PSTs' noticing reasoning strategy was mostly related to their interpretation of noticing components, which should be also emphasized in the teacher education program.

Active Seniors' Organizational and Functional Entrepreneurial Competencies: Discovering Unobserved Heterogeneous Relationships between Entrepreneurial Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Intention using PLS-POS (액티브 시니어의 조직적과 기능적 창업역량: PLS-POS를 이용한 창업 효능감과 창업의지의 이질성 관계 확인)

  • Shin, Hyang Sook;Bae, Jee-eun;Chao, Meiyu;Lee, Yong-Ki
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
    • /
    • v.17 no.2
    • /
    • pp.15-31
    • /
    • 2022
  • This study was conducted to suggest a start-up policy that includes start-up education and support for active seniors with various careers who try to change their careers before and after retirement. From this point of view, this study divided the factors affecting the entrepreneurial will of active seniors into entrepreneurship organizational and functional competency and identified the effect of these competencies on entrepreneurial efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. In the proposed model, start-up competency is divided into organizational competency (leadership, creativity problem-solving, communication, decision-making) and functional competency (management strategy, marketing, business plan). And this study examined the mediating role of entrepreneurial efficacy in the relationship between entrepreneurial competency factors and entrepreneurial intention. Meanwhile, PLS-POS analysis was performed to uncover the heterogeneity and pattern in the proposed structural model. The survey was conducted with the help of an online survey company from November 27 to December 15, 2020 for the active senior age group from 40 to under 65 years old. Data were collected from a total of 433 panelists and analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and SmartPLS 3.3.7 programs. The findings are as follows. First, the finding shows that the entrepreneurial organizational and functional competencies of active seniors had significant positive(+) effects on entrepreneurial efficacy. Second, the result shows that entrepreneurial organizational and functional competencies of active seniors had significant positive(+) effects on entrepreneurial intention. Third, the findings show that entrepreneurship efficacy had a significantly positive(+) effect on entrepreneurial intention. The findings of PLS-POS show that entrepreneurship education needs to be carried out by identifying the needs that require entrepreneurial organizational and functional competency when training for entrepreneurship competency. In summary, the findings of the current study are to determine what the competency factors are for the government (local government) to increase the policy direction necessary for establishing and implementing entrepreneurship education and training programs to develop policies to enhance the economic activity participation rate of active seniors.

Structure of the Phytoplanktonic communities in Jeju Strait and Northern East China Sea and Dinoflagellate Blooms in Spring 2004: Analysis of Photosynthetic Pigments (봄철 제주해협과 동중국해 북부해역에서 식물플랑크톤의 광합성 색소분석을 이용한 군집 분포 특성과 dinoflagellate 적조)

  • Park, Mi-Ok;Kang, Sung-Won;Lee, Chung-Il;Choi, Tae-Seob;Lantoine, Francois
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
    • /
    • v.13 no.1
    • /
    • pp.27-41
    • /
    • 2008
  • Distribution characteristics of phytoplankton community were investigated by HPLC and flow cytometry in Jeju Strait and the Northern East China Sea (NECS) in May 2004, in order to understand the relationship between physical environmental factors and distribution pattern of phytoplankton communities. Based on temperature and salinity data, three distinct water masses were identified; warm and saline Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), which is flowing from northwest of Jeju Island, warm and low saline water at the center of Jeju Strait, which is originated from China Coastal Water (CCW) and relatively cold and high saline water originated from Yellow Sea at the bottom of the Jeju Strait. At Jeju Strait, less saline water (<33 psu) of 15 km width occupied surface layer up to 20 m which located at 20 km offshore and strong thermal front between warm and saline water and cold and less saline water was found in the middle of the Jeju Strait. Vertical transect of temperature and salinity at the NECS also showed that low saline (<33 psu) water occupied the upper 20 m layer and cold and saline water was present at the eastern part. Chl a was measured as $0.06{\sim}3.07\;{\mu}g/L$. Spring bloom of phytoplankton was recognized by the high concentrations of Chl a at the low saline water masses influenced by the CCW and subsurface chlorophyll maximum layer appeared between $20{\sim}30\;m$ depth, which was at thermocline depth or below. Abundances of Synechococcus and picoeukaryote were $0.2{\sim}9.5{\times}10^4\;cells/mL$ and $0.43{\sim}4.3{\times}10^4\;cells/mL$, respectively. Dinoflagellate, diatom and prymnesiophyte were major groups and minor groups were chlorophyte+prasinophyte, chrysophyte, cryptophyte and cyanophyte. Especially high abundance of dinoflagellate was identified by high concentration (>1\;{\mu}g/L$) of peridinin at the bottom of the thermocline, which showed an outbreak of red tide by high density of dinoflagellates. Abundances of picoeukaryote in Jeju Strait were about $5{\sim}10$ times higher than abundance measured in Kuroshio water and showed a good correlation with Chl b (Pras+Viola), which implies the most of population of picoeukaryote was composed of prasinophytes. Prochlorococcus was not detected at all, which suggests that Kuroshio Current did not directly influenced on the study area. Based on the strong negative correlations between biomass of phytoplankton (Chl a) and temperature+salinity, the primary production and biomass of phytoplankton in the study area were controlled by the nutrients supply from CCW.

Development and validation of the Kkondae tendency scale (꼰대경향성 척도 개발 및 타당화)

  • Ji Hyun Jung;Jin Kook Tak
    • The Korean Journal of Coaching Psychology
    • /
    • v.7 no.3
    • /
    • pp.153-196
    • /
    • 2023
  • The purpose of this study is to development and validate kkondae tendency scale. Kkondae tendencies are defined as "a response pattern to others in a way that values authority in social relationships, is self-centered, and does not accept other people's opinions," and the subjects of the study are workers aged 19 or older who act as seniors, seniors, and bosses in the workplace. In Study 1, 65 preliminary questions were produced with 7 factors for the compositional concept of kkondae tendency through literature review, expert interviews, and open questionnaire survey. In Study 2, a preliminary survey was conducted with 65 questions derived from Study 1. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted based on the responses of a total of 395 people, and 22 items for 4 factors were derived. In Study 3, this survey was conducted with 22 questions derived from Study 2. A total of 880 responses were analyzed, and cross-validation verification was conducted by dividing the data into two groups (Group 1 and Group 2). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on Group 1 (N=429) to derive 19 items with 4 factors. The four factors are authoritarianism(3 items), egocentrism (5 items), inertial thinking (5 itemss), and one-sided communication (6 items). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on 19 questions obtained from Group 1 for Group 2 (N = 451), and 19 questions of four factors were accepted due to the good fit of the model. To verify the convergent validity of the Kkondae tendency scale, the correlation with the Kkondae scale was examined, and to verify the criterion-related validity, the relationship between self-reflection, relationship conflict, social connectedness was examined. All were statistically significant, and convergence validity and criterion-related validity were verified. Finally, discussions on the process and results of this study, differences from related measures, academic significance, practical implications, limitations of the study, and future research directions were presented.

Exploring Pre-Service Earth Science Teachers' Understandings of Computational Thinking (지구과학 예비교사들의 컴퓨팅 사고에 대한 인식 탐색)

  • Young Shin Park;Ki Rak Park
    • Journal of the Korean earth science society
    • /
    • v.45 no.3
    • /
    • pp.260-276
    • /
    • 2024
  • The purpose of this study is to explore whether pre-service teachers majoring in earth science improve their perception of computational thinking through STEAM classes focused on engineering-based wave power plants. The STEAM class involved designing the most efficient wave power plant model. The survey on computational thinking practices, developed from previous research, was administered to 15 Earth science pre-service teachers to gauge their understanding of computational thinking. Each group developed an efficient wave power plant model based on the scientific principal of turbine operation using waves. The activities included problem recognition (problem solving), coding (coding and programming), creating a wave power plant model using a 3D printer (design and create model), and evaluating the output to correct errors (debugging). The pre-service teachers showed a high level of recognition of computational thinking practices, particularly in "logical thinking," with the top five practices out of 14 averaging five points each. However, participants lacked a clear understanding of certain computational thinking practices such as abstraction, problem decomposition, and using bid data, with their comprehension of these decreasing after the STEAM lesson. Although there was a significant reduction in the misconception that computational thinking is "playing online games" (from 4.06 to 0.86), some participants still equated it with "thinking like a computer" and "using a computer to do calculations". The study found slight improvements in "problem solving" (3.73 to 4.33), "pattern recognition" (3.53 to 3.66), and "best tool selection" (4.26 to 4.66). To enhance computational thinking skills, a practice-oriented curriculum should be offered. Additional STEAM classes on diverse topics could lead to a significant improvement in computational thinking practices. Therefore, establishing an educational curriculum for multisituational learning is essential.

Preliminary Report of the $1998{\sim}1999$ Patterns of Care Study of Radiation Therapy for Esophageal Cancer in Korea (식도암 방사선 치료에 대한 Patterns of Care Study ($1998{\sim}1999$)의 예비적 결과 분석)

  • Hur, Won-Joo;Choi, Young-Min;Lee, Hyung-Sik;Kim, Jeung-Kee;Kim, Il-Han;Lee, Ho-Jun;Lee, Kyu-Chan;Kim, Jung-Soo;Chun, Mi-Son;Kim, Jin-Hee;Ahn, Yong-Chan;Kim, Sang-Gi;Kim, Bo-Kyung
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
    • /
    • v.25 no.2
    • /
    • pp.79-92
    • /
    • 2007
  • [ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: For the first time, a nationwide survey in the Republic of Korea was conducted to determine the basic parameters for the treatment of esophageal cancer and to offer a solid cooperative system for the Korean Pattern of Care Study database. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: During $1998{\sim}1999$, biopsy-confirmed 246 esophageal cancer patients that received radiotherapy were enrolled from 23 different institutions in South Korea. Random sampling was based on power allocation method. Patient parameters and specific information regarding tumor characteristics and treatment methods were collected and registered through the web based PCS system. The data was analyzed by the use of the Chi-squared test. $\underline{Results}$: The median age of the collected patients was 62 years. The male to female ratio was about 91 to 9 with an absolute male predominance. The performance status ranged from ECOG 0 to 1 in 82.5% of the patients. Diagnostic procedures included an esophagogram (228 patients, 92.7%), endoscopy (226 patients, 91.9%), and a chest CT scan (238 patients, 96.7%). Squamous cell carcinoma was diagnosed in 96.3% of the patients; mid-thoracic esophageal cancer was most prevalent (110 patients, 44.7%) and 135 patients presented with clinical stage III disease. Fifty seven patients received radiotherapy alone and 37 patients received surgery with adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy. Half of the patients (123 patients) received chemotherapy together with RT and 70 patients (56.9%) received it as concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The most frequently used chemotherapeutic agent was a combination of cisplatin and 5-FU. Most patients received radiotherapy either with 6 MV (116 patients, 47.2%) or with 10 MV photons (87 patients, 35.4%). Radiotherapy was delivered through a conventional AP-PA field for 206 patients (83.7%) without using a CT plan and the median delivered dose was 3,600 cGy. The median total dose of postoperative radiotherapy was 5,040 cGy while for the non-operative patients the median total dose was 5,970 cGy. Thirty-four patients received intraluminal brachytherapy with high dose rate Iridium-192. Brachytherapy was delivered with a median dose of 300 cGy in each fraction and was typically delivered $3{\sim}4\;times$. The most frequently encountered complication during the radiotherapy treatment was esophagitis in 155 patients (63.0%). $\underline{Conclusion}$: For the evaluation and treatment of esophageal cancer patients at radiation facilities in Korea, this study will provide guidelines and benchmark data for the solid cooperative systems of the Korean PCS. Although some differences were noted between institutions, there was no major difference in the treatment modalities and RT techniques.

A Study on Red Cell Protoporphyrin Concentration and Iron Metabolism (적혈구(赤血球) Protoporphyrin과 철분대사(鐵分代謝)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Cho, Kyung-Hwan;Tchai, Bum-Suk
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
    • /
    • v.7 no.3
    • /
    • pp.1-13
    • /
    • 1974
  • The relative state of human iron storage may be ascertained more reliably through determination of the serum iron, iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation and absorption of radioactive iron in conjunction with studies of red cell morphology than from the study of red cell morphology alone. Recent investigations have shown that there is an increase in red cell protoporphyrin concentration in iron deficiency anemia. The significance of the red cell protoporphyrin has been discussed greatly during the years since its discovery. Two of the main factors which appear to influence the amaunt of protoporphyrin are increased erythropoiesis and factors interfering with the utilization of iron in the synthesis of hemoglobin, and iron deficiency. Recently Heller et al. have described a simplified method for blood protoporphyrin assay and this technique could be used assess nutritional iron status, wherein even minor insufficiencies are detectable as increased protoporphyrin concentrations. Based on the evaluation of the relationship between nutritional iron status and red cell protoporphyrin as an index suitable for the detection of the iron deficiency is described in this paper. RESULTS 1. Hemoglobin Concentrations and Anthropometric Measurements. The mean and standard deviations of the various anthropometric measurements of different age and sex groups are shown in table 1. There measurements have been compared with the Korean Standard. In the absence of local standards for arm circumference and skin-fold thickness over triceps, they have been compared with the standard from Jelliffe. Table 2,3, and 4 give anthropometric measurements and frequency (%) of anemia in children surveyed. The mean height of the children studid was 10 to 20 percent; below the Korean Standard. The distribution of height below 80 percent of the Standard was 21.2 percent, however, among anemic group this percentage was 27.7 percent. In general, the mean weight of the children was 10 to 15 percent below the Korean Standard. The percentage of children with weight less than 80 percent of the Standard was about 35 percent. But in the anemic group of the children, this percentage was 44 percent. The mean arm circumference was about 15 percent lower than the Jelliffe's standard. 61.2 percent of the children had values of arm circumference below 80 percent of the standard. Children with low hemoglobin levels, this percentage was 80 percent. The mean skinfold thickness over the triceps of the children studied was about 25 Percent lower than the Jelliffe's standard and 61.2 percent of the children had the value less than 80 percent of the standard. Among anemic children, this percentage was 70.8%. As may be seen from table 5, the mean hemoglobin concentration of the total group was 11.3g/100ml. Hemoglobin concentration was less than 11.0g/100ml. in 65(36.5%) of the 178 children. The degree of anemia in most of these children was mild with a hemoglobin level of less than 8.0g/100ml. found in only one child. In general, the prevalence of anemia was high in female children than male and decreased its frequency with increasing age. Relatively close relationship was observed between hemoglobin level and anthrophometric measurements especially high between arm circumference and skinfold thickness and hemoglobin but very low in height and low in weight and hemoglobin level, estimated by chi-square value. II. Serum iron, Transferrin saturation (1) Serum iron, and transferrin saturation Serum iron, transferrin saturation and red cell protoporphyrin concentrations were estimated in sub-sample of 84 children from 1 to 6 years and 24 older children between 7 and 13 years of age. The findings are presented in table 6. The mean serum iron concentration of the total group was 59ug/100ml. However, the level incrased with age from 36.6ug/100ml. (1-3years) to 80.8ug/100ml. (7-13 years). 60 percent of these children had a serum iron level less than 50ug/10ml. in the 1-3 years age group and 31.4 percent for 4-6 years group. These contrast with the finding of 12.5 percent anemic children in the 7-13 years age group. The mean transferrin saturation for the total group was 18.1 percent and frequency of anemia by transferrin saturation was observed same pattern as serum iron concentration. (2) Red cell protoporphyrin concentrations. (a) Red cell protoporphrin levels of children: Red cell protoporphyrin and other biochemical data are shown in table 4. The mean concentration in red cell of all children was fround 46.3ug/100ml. RBC. and differences with age groups were observed; in the age group 1-3 years, the mean concentration was $59.5{\pm}32.14$ ug/100ml. RBC; 4-6 years $44.1{\pm}22.57$ ug/100ml. RBC. and 7-13 years, $39.0{\pm}13.56$ ug/100ml. RBC. (b) Normal protoporphyrin values in adults: It was observed that in 10 normal adult males studied here the level of protoporphyrin in red cell ranged from 18 to 54 ug/100ml. RBC. and the mean concentration was $47.5{\sim}14.47$ ug/100ml. RBC. Other biochemical determination made on the same subjects are presented in table 8. (c) Red tell protoporphyrin concentration of occupational blood donors: The results of analyses for red cell protoporphyrin as well as serum iron, transferrin saturation and hemoglobin in the 76 blood donors are presented in table 7 and 8. In this experiment, donors were selected at random, however, most of them bled repeatedly because of poor economic situation, I doubt. Table 9 shows the distribution of red cell protoporphyrin concentration and hemoglobin concentration of occupational donors. The mean hemoglobin value for the total was 11.9 g/100 ml. When iron deficiency anemia is defined as a transferrin saturation below 15%, prevalence of anemia was 47.4 percent and the mean serum iron was 27.1ug/100ml. and red cell protoporphyrin, 168.3ug/100ml. RBC. However, mean serum iron and protoporphyrin concentration of above 15% transferrin saturation were 11.6 ug/100 ml. and 58.8 ug/100 ml. RBC. respectively. The mean Protoporphyrin concentration of non-anemic (above 15% transferrin saturation) donors was slightly higher than the results of normal adult males.

  • PDF

A Time Series Graph based Convolutional Neural Network Model for Effective Input Variable Pattern Learning : Application to the Prediction of Stock Market (효과적인 입력변수 패턴 학습을 위한 시계열 그래프 기반 합성곱 신경망 모형: 주식시장 예측에의 응용)

  • Lee, Mo-Se;Ahn, Hyunchul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.24 no.1
    • /
    • pp.167-181
    • /
    • 2018
  • Over the past decade, deep learning has been in spotlight among various machine learning algorithms. In particular, CNN(Convolutional Neural Network), which is known as the effective solution for recognizing and classifying images or voices, has been popularly applied to classification and prediction problems. In this study, we investigate the way to apply CNN in business problem solving. Specifically, this study propose to apply CNN to stock market prediction, one of the most challenging tasks in the machine learning research. As mentioned, CNN has strength in interpreting images. Thus, the model proposed in this study adopts CNN as the binary classifier that predicts stock market direction (upward or downward) by using time series graphs as its inputs. That is, our proposal is to build a machine learning algorithm that mimics an experts called 'technical analysts' who examine the graph of past price movement, and predict future financial price movements. Our proposed model named 'CNN-FG(Convolutional Neural Network using Fluctuation Graph)' consists of five steps. In the first step, it divides the dataset into the intervals of 5 days. And then, it creates time series graphs for the divided dataset in step 2. The size of the image in which the graph is drawn is $40(pixels){\times}40(pixels)$, and the graph of each independent variable was drawn using different colors. In step 3, the model converts the images into the matrices. Each image is converted into the combination of three matrices in order to express the value of the color using R(red), G(green), and B(blue) scale. In the next step, it splits the dataset of the graph images into training and validation datasets. We used 80% of the total dataset as the training dataset, and the remaining 20% as the validation dataset. And then, CNN classifiers are trained using the images of training dataset in the final step. Regarding the parameters of CNN-FG, we adopted two convolution filters ($5{\times}5{\times}6$ and $5{\times}5{\times}9$) in the convolution layer. In the pooling layer, $2{\times}2$ max pooling filter was used. The numbers of the nodes in two hidden layers were set to, respectively, 900 and 32, and the number of the nodes in the output layer was set to 2(one is for the prediction of upward trend, and the other one is for downward trend). Activation functions for the convolution layer and the hidden layer were set to ReLU(Rectified Linear Unit), and one for the output layer set to Softmax function. To validate our model - CNN-FG, we applied it to the prediction of KOSPI200 for 2,026 days in eight years (from 2009 to 2016). To match the proportions of the two groups in the independent variable (i.e. tomorrow's stock market movement), we selected 1,950 samples by applying random sampling. Finally, we built the training dataset using 80% of the total dataset (1,560 samples), and the validation dataset using 20% (390 samples). The dependent variables of the experimental dataset included twelve technical indicators popularly been used in the previous studies. They include Stochastic %K, Stochastic %D, Momentum, ROC(rate of change), LW %R(Larry William's %R), A/D oscillator(accumulation/distribution oscillator), OSCP(price oscillator), CCI(commodity channel index), and so on. To confirm the superiority of CNN-FG, we compared its prediction accuracy with the ones of other classification models. Experimental results showed that CNN-FG outperforms LOGIT(logistic regression), ANN(artificial neural network), and SVM(support vector machine) with the statistical significance. These empirical results imply that converting time series business data into graphs and building CNN-based classification models using these graphs can be effective from the perspective of prediction accuracy. Thus, this paper sheds a light on how to apply deep learning techniques to the domain of business problem solving.

Referral Patterns and Needs for Specialist Care among Patient Referred from Health Center (보건소의 진료의뢰 양상과 의뢰환자들의 전문과목 요구도)

  • Hwang, Tae-Yoon;Kim, Chang-Yoon;Kang, Pock-Soo
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
    • /
    • v.29 no.1 s.52
    • /
    • pp.133-143
    • /
    • 1996
  • This study was conducted to assess the referral patterns to specialist from general practitioners in health center and perceived needs of referred patients for specialist care in health center. The study subjects were 249 patients who visited to health centers and were referred to other medical facilities. The data were obtained from questionnaire survey which was conducted in Kyongju-City Health Center, Seongju-Gun Health Center and Koryong-Gun Health Center in Kyongsangbuk-Do, from June 10 to October 17, 1995. The total referral rate was 2.7%. The proportion of patients who wished to be referred to medical specialists was 85.9%, and the proportion of patients referred by general practitioners in health centers was 14.1%. Among the patients who wished to be referred to medical specialists, 45.9% visited directly to health centers, 34.6% visited health centers via local clinics and 19.5% visited health centers to get referral permission only. The reasons for getting referral permission in health centers were easy geographical accessibility(34.6%), easy to get referral permission in health centers(27.1%), and very difficult to get referral permission in local clinics(16.4%). Among the diseases of referred patients, diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue were most prevalent on a whole, but diseases of nervous system and sensory organs were comparatively high among the patients who wished to be referred to medical specialists and infectious and parasitic diseases were comparatively high among the patients referred by general practitioners in health centers. The most favorable medical facility was general hospital including university hospital in both groups of patients who wished to be referred to medical specialist and the patient referred by general practitioners in health centers. Regarding the needs for specialist care in health center, 75.2% of patients who wished to be referred to medical specialists and 74.3% of patients referred by general practitioners in health center wanted the specialist care. The most frequently requested specialty is internal medicine(47.1%), and then orthopedics and general surgery. Based on above results, this study revealed that the majority of patients referred from health center wished to be referred to medical specialists at their own will, so, referral system at health center level should be changed. And if specialist care in health center be provided, the medical care by internist could be provided first, and then that of orthopedics and general surgery could be provided. These kinds of medical cares could be covered by local clinicians as a part-time job on a voluntary basis.

  • PDF