• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2009

Objectives : The changing population age structure and rapidly increasing medical costs make providing high-quality, effective medical care for the elderly a challenge. This study assessed the satisfaction with medical care in terms of comprehensiveness, general satisfaction, and accessibility among community-dwelling Korean elders. Methods : Data were obtained from a nationwide representative sample of the older adults(aged 65 years old or older) living in the community, who participated in a 2006 telephone survey conducted using random digit dialing(n=881). General satisfaction, comprehensiveness and accessibility were measured using a 10-item satisfaction survey questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was used to assess the distribution of each of three components of subjective satisfaction. Analysis of covariance(ANCOVA) was used to examine the association of each of the three components with socioeconomic variables. Results : Comprehensiveness and general satisfaction were low among older people with a high socioeconomic status. Accessibility was evaluated as low among older people of low socioeconomic status, those living in rural areas and those who were medical aid beneficiaries. Conclusions : Urgent interventions should be considered in order to improve accessibility to medical care for elders of low socioeconomic status and those living in rural communities. Given the rapid aging of the population, we need to develop a monitoring system to improve the quality of geriatric care.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of the use of external breast prostheses among breast cancer survivors in Korea. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted, using focus groups. Data were collected from breast cancer survivors who were patients of C women's hospital in Seoul, Korea. Data were analyzed using content analysis in order to identify significant themes. Results: Participants included forty breast cancer survivors who had mastectomy as a surgical treatment. Four themes emerged from the collected data were: 1) concern over the high price of external breast prosthesis, 2) irregular use of external breast prosthesis, 3) unsatisfied with mastectomy bra, and 4) wanting to hide or not to talk about using breast prosthesis openly. Conclusion: Since most participants reported irregular use and negative experiences related to external breast prosthesis or mastectomy bra use, healthcare workers should allow more time for proper fitting and counseling and consulting with breast cancer survivors. In addition, health care providers as well as family and friends should keep in mind that cancer survivors need support that can help them cope by using positive reframing. Furthermore, improvements in the coverage of costs and services are needed for these women. This would be helpful for breast prosthesis users.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.91-98
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• 2016

Outbreaks of highly contagious livestock diseases can cause direct and indirect economic impacts such as lower productivity of cattle farms, fall in tourism in damaged areas and countries, and decline in exports. They also incur tremendous social costs associated with disease elimination and restoration work. Thus, it is essential to prevent livestock diseases through monitoring and prediction efforts. Currently, however, it is still difficult to provide accurate predictive information regarding occurrences of livestock diseases, because existing cattle health monitoring or forecasting systems are only limited to monitor environmental conditions of livestock barns and check activities of cattle by using a pedometer or thermal image. In this paper, we present a biosensor-based cattle health monitoring system capable of collecting bio-signals of farm animals in an effective way. For the presented monitoring system, we design an integrated monitoring device consisting of a sensing module to measure bio-signals of cattle such as the heartbeat, the breath rate and the momentum, as well as a Zigbee module designed to transmit the biometric data based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). We verify the validity of the monitoring system by the comparison of the correlations of designed device with a commercial ECG equipment through analyzing the R-peak of measured signals.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.209-228
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• 2012

Structural health monitoring with wireless sensor networks has received much attention in recent years due to the ease of sensor installation and low deployment and maintenance costs. However, sensor network technology needs to solve numerous challenges in order to substitute conventional systems: large amounts of data, remote configuration of measurement parameters, on-site calibration of sensors and robust networking functionality for long-term deployments. We present a structural health monitoring network that addresses these challenges and is used in several deployments for monitoring of bridges and buildings. Our system supports a diverse set of sensors, a library of highly optimized processing algorithms and a lightweight solution to support a wide range of network runtime configurations. This allows flexible partitioning of the application between the sensor network and the backend software. We present an analysis of this partitioning and evaluate the performance of our system in three experimental network deployments on civil structures.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.111-119
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• 2007

Purpose: In this study consumers' preference for housing for elderly people was analyzed as well as the recognition by elders of silver town facilities, and their preference for service provided by silver town. The study was done to provide basic data for the development of silver town facilities that are low in cost and high in efficiency. Methods: A sample research was used in this study to analyze the understanding of old age, silver town, and service preference. Results: First, interest and intention to live in silver town was very positive, however low cost was also preferred and that is quite different to current silver towns of Korea. Second, women have more understanding of, requests for, and intention to move into silver town facilities than men. Women's demands for silver town facilities must be reflected in the development strategy of silver towns. Third, the most important part of activating silver town facilities is price strategy. Government political support is required in order to keep silver town move-in costs affordable. Fourth, silver towns must function as total service complex towns. Conclusion: This study is meaningful as efficient operation of silver town is suggested rather than facility degradation to achieve price reduction. This result is important to the development of silver towns based on consumer preference, as it suggests a development direction that is focused on securing differentiated services and programs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3601-3606
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• 2014

Single nucleotide polymorphisms located at microRNA (miRNA)-binding sites are likely to affect the expression of miRNA targets and may contribute to the susceptibility of humans to common diseases. Here 335 candidate lung cancer-related inflammatory genes were selected according to the existing literature and database. We identified putative miRNA-binding sites of 149 genes by specialised algorithms and screened SNPs in the 3'UTRs of these genes. By calculating binding free energy, we sorted 269 SNPs on the basis of the possibility of prediction. The proposed approach could help to easy the identification of functionally relevant SNPs and minimize the workflow and the costs.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.279-291
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• 2001

Rapid progress in modern medical technology has made it possible to sustain life and/or delay death using 'heroic' treatments. The availability of life-sustaining treatment brings several issues in end-of-life care such as 'dying with dignity' and an radical increase in health care costs. The use of Advance Directives(AD) have been widely heralded by health care providers, gerontologists, and advocacy groups as means of protecting patients' right to accept or refuse life-sustaining treatment in end-of-life care. The use of AD can not only improve patients' autonomy and quality of life but also bring efficiency in distributing health care resources. The proportion of older persons in Korean population has been increasing. Those 65 years of age or over were about 7 percent of the population. Death and dying is not limited to older persons, but it is more prevalent among them. In conjunction with an aging population and the increasing prevalence of death, the issues of death and dying will become crucial in near future in terms of 'dying with dignity', 'autonomy', and 'self-control'. This paper attempts to explode and establish the concept of advance directives (AD) based on literature review. Data sources are computer searches with the MEDLINE database. Due to the lack of prior study on AD for a Korean cases, studies abroad are reviewed. This paper suggests the need for future study on the possibility of the use of AD in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.143-148
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to provide direction in the improvement of sodium labeling in an effort to reduce consumption. We surveyed confirmation and importance of food labeling and nutrition information and we also analyzed the willingness to pay on new nutrients labeling. Consumers checked the sell-by-date, product name, method of intake, but not nutritional information. They also checked for calories and carbohydrates but they were not interested in sodium, sugar, and trans fat which are health hazard nutrients. It is necessary to improve nutrition labeling, because consumers are experiencing difficulties in obtaining sodium information under the nutrition labeling system. Consumers will pay about 0.66% more if new sodium labeling is introduced. In conclusion, food labeling system can be improved by smooth and efficient access of information. for health-hazard nutritional components, such as sodium, it is important to introduce policies that reduce their intake. This can be done by providing consumers with clear and concise information. The social costs of high sodium intake could be reduced, hence improving the national health.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.43-47
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• 2006

Korean eyeglasses export has continuously decreased at the annual average rate of 10% since year 2000. On the other hand, China - the number 1 competing country - is chasing after Korea while accomplishing average 20% of export increase per annum after year 2000. Considering these factors, main cause of stagnation in domestic eyeglasses industry can be seen as China's pursuit propelled by their low labor costs as well as investment on Research &Development. Other important causes are insufficient investment on R &D, decrease in competitiveness due to increase of import, deficiency of exploitative ability on own brand and own design, lack of infrastructure in eyeglasses expo, and etc.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.123-130
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• 1999

I attempted to suggest a better method to separate a refractory cast in order to solve the problems caused by bonding between refractory casts and ceramics in the firing-processing of all ceramic crowns as a part of dental prosthodontics. I emphasize the advantages and effectiveness of easy separation after firing by using the separating materials about the refractory cast dies. 1. We must not usse HF(55%) that is used as the chemical separating methods. 2. We decrease such methods as grinding, blasting, bur, and point 3. We can save time, costs and manual labors by using this methods. 4. This method regulates the expansion and constriction of heat because of the chemical reaction of the separating materials. 5. This method contribute to the breaking down without modification by minimizing the chemical and mechanical damages of the marginal and interior parts.