• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.26
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• pp.8.1-8.9
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• 2011

Objectives: This study assessed the health risks for children exposed to phthalate through several pathways including house dust, surface wipes and hand wipes in child facilities and indoor playgrounds. Methods: The indoor samples were collected from various children's facilities (40 playrooms, 42 daycare centers, 44 kindergartens, and 42 indoor-playgrounds) in both summer (Jul-Sep, 2007) and winter (Jan-Feb, 2008). Hazard index (HI) was estimated for the non-carcinogens and the examined phthalates were diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP). The present study examined these four kinds of samples, i.e., indoor dust, surface wipes of product and hand wipes. Results: Among the phthalates, the detection rates of DEHP were 98% in dust samples, 100% in surface wipe samples, and 95% in hand wipe samples. In this study, phthalate levels obtained from floor dust, product surface and children's hand wipe samples were similar to or slightly less compared to previous studies. The $50^{th}$ and $95^{th}$ percentile value of child-sensitive materials did not exceed 1 (HI) for all subjects in all facilities. Conclusions: For DEHP, DnBP and BBzP their detection rates through multi-routes were high and their risk based on health risk assessment was also observed to be acceptable. This study suggested that ingestion and dermal exposure could be the most important pathway of phthalates besides digestion through food.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.182-192
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• 2022

Objectives: Understanding the factors influencing mothers' decision to breastfeed their infants is essential to formulate effective breastfeeding interventions. This study explored the determinants of optimal breastfeeding indicators in Indonesia. Methods: We used the 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey to analyze factors associated with early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), and continued breastfeeding at 1 year (CBF-1) and 2 years (CBF-2). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine bio-demographic, socio-cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with breastfeeding after considering the survey design effect. Results: The risk of delayed breastfeeding initiation was higher among infants who were born smaller, first-born children, were delivered via cesarean delivery, and did not have immediate skin-to-skin contact (p<0.01). Infant's age, birth pattern, household wealth index, and the mother's occupation and smoking status were predictors of EBF (p<0.05). CBF-1 was less common among first-time mothers and those working in the non-agricultural sector, mothers from wealthier families, and mothers who had cesarean deliveries (p<0.01). Infant's age was negatively associated with CBF-2 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74 to 0.99). Mothers attending college were less likely to practice CBF-2 than those with no education or primary education (aOR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.77). The absence of postnatal visits was a risk factor for CBF-1 and CBF-2 (p<0.05). Conclusions: Breastfeeding interventions in Indonesia should pay particular attention to at-risk groups such as women from wealthier families, working outside the agricultural sector, and with a higher education level. Nutrition-sensitive programs (e.g., postnatal care and smoking cessation) should also be encouraged.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5993-5999
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• 2015

Background: Molecular testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most objective and reproducible of all cervical cancer screening tests and also less demanding in terms of training and quality assurance. However, there is an impending need for cost effective molecular HPV testing methods with sampling ease, easy storage measures and minimum turn around times suitable for a low resource setting. Objective : Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility of using a fast transfer analysis (FTA) mini elute cartridge for cervical sampling to identify high risk HPV by real time PCR and to compare molecular HPV testing and Pap cytology testing to predict histologically confirmed cervical precancer (CIN 2+ lesions) in a cervical cancer prevention program. Materials and Methods: This was conducted as a pilot study (n=200) on women sampled using FTA mini elute cartridges, genotyped by two different real time PCR assays, detecting 13 high risk HPV (HR HPV) species, including HPV16 along with its physical DNA status. Results obtained from each of the tests were compared and analysed using suitable statistical tests. Results: With FTA mini elute cartridge samples HR HPV positivity was seen in 48/200 (24%). Of these, presence of HPV 16 DNA was observed in 28/48 (58.3%) women. High risk HPV was positive in 20% (37/185) of women with benign cytology and 73.3% (11/15) of women with abnormal cytology findings. A very significant correlation (${\chi}^2=22.090$ ; p=0.000) was observed between cytology and HR HPV findings showing an increasing trend of HR HPV prevalence in 50% (1/2) of LSIL, 75% (3/4) of HSIL and 100% (3/3) of SCC. Of the CIN 2+ lesions identified by histopathology, 88.9% (8/9) had HR HPV. A significant association (${\chi}^2=11.223$ ; p=0.001) of HR HPV and histopathologically confirmed CIN 2+ lesions was found. Sensitivity of the two tests were comparable but specificity of Pap testing was better (90.7% vs 70.4%) to predict histopathologically diagnosed cervical precancers. Conclusions: The current study explored the feasibility of using a FTA mini elute cartridge for cervical sampling for the first time in India as a part of a community based cervical cancer prevention program. We suggest that FTA based sampling is suitable and feasible for real time based HPV testing. Molecular HR HPV testing can be more sensitive and useful to identify high risk women requiring Pap testing which is more specific to detect histologically confirmed cervical precancer.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.45-70
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• 2017

Tourist industry has many sensitive issues with climate change and is worthy of study from an aspect that it could provide new opportunities and threats from the low-carbon - green- growth point of view. To study how the change of awareness and attitude of the customers due to climate change affects the tourism demand and tourism choices is very important. Even at present, the effect is ongoing. In this paper, diverse needs and changes of tourists, who are the subjects of tourism activities, have been grasped through the examination of psychological characteristics according to climate change after defining the influencing relations of tourism experience, tourism value, tourism risk factors, satisfaction, and behavioral intention, affected by awareness of climate change and their attitude toward it. Through this, the implications that are necessary for establishing marketing strategies could be provided. The results of this present paper are as follows: First, it was shown that awareness of climate change did not affect tourism risk factors while it had a significant influence on tourism experience and tourism value. Secondly, it was revealed that the Chinese tourists generally influenced more greatly than the Koreans. Thirdly, it was shown that the attitude toward climate change did not affect tourism value while it influenced significantly on tourism experience and tourism risk factors. Fourthly, it was revealed that tourism risk factors did not affect tourism satisfaction while tourism experience and tourism value had a significant influence on tourist satisfaction. Fifthly and last, it was shown that tourism experience, tourism value, and tourism risk factors did not influence behavioral intention respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.331-341
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• 2020

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate perceptions of safety and risk among Korean industrial hygienists and the change between before and after the Sewol Ferry Disaster in 2014. Two surveys with questionnaires composed of 51 questions were completed by attendees of the Korea Industrial Hygiene Association(KIHA) conference. Methods: One was conducted at the 2013 KIHA Fall Conference(N=181) and the other was from the 2014 KIHA Summer Conference(N=123). Between these two surveys was the Sewol Ferry Disaster on April 14, 2014, which was believed to seriously affect safety and risk perceptions in Korea. Results: It was revealed that industrial hygienists' awareness of safety rules strengthened after the Sewol Ferry Disaster(p<0.05). It was apparent that people over the age of 30 were more sensitive to social safety. There was no significant difference in the evaluation and attitude regarding governmental safety policy between the years of 2013 and 2014. The credibility of public organizations responsible for the disaster management system decreased. The self-evaluation of respondents' safety level also decreased. This trend shows mainly in the younger generation. It was evaluated that the overall social safety level decreased and the anxiety level increased. The score on social safety on a ±5 Likert scale was 0.68 in the 2013 survey and -0.33 in the 2014 survey(p<0.05). It was reported that the most serious threat factors for accident or disaster were 'building collapse > illegalities and corruption > side effects of radiation therapy >accidents in normal activity > occupational disease,' in order. They picked 'safety ignorance > hurry-up habits and culture > focusing on short-term benefit > easy-going attitude > insufficient safety education' for the causes of low social safety levels in 2013. In 2014, they were 'safety ignorance > easy-going attitude > focusing on short-term benefit > insufficient safety education > hurry-up habits and culture'. Conclusions: This study has some limitations because it was originally not designed to survey attitudes prior to the Sewol Ferry disaster in 2013. In addition, the survey targets are industrial hygienists who are familiar with occupational disease and injury.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.445-453
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• 2021

CT scan is reported to have a high risk of cancer due to a relatively high dose among medical radiological examinations. In particular, exposure to radiation to the breast, which is sensitive to radiation, is inevitable during a chest CT scan for female patient. In this study, the dose reduction effect of wearing a compression band during chest CT scans in women was evaluated, and the lifetime attributable risk due to the effective dose exposed during the CT scan was estimated. As a result, when the compression band was used, the effective tube current decreased as the outer perimeter of the chest became smaller, and it was analyzed that the CT dose index and effective dose were also reduced. In addition, the lifetime attributable risk by chest CT scan was found to reduce the cancer risk by 3.2 per 100,000 for all cancers, 0.2 per 100,000 for solid cancer, and 0.8 per 100,000 for breast cancer, based on women in their 30s when using a compression band. It is judged that the risk of cancer can be reduced through the use of appropriate scan parameters and dose optimization measures such as compression bands for future CT examinations.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.89-111
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• 2008

Due to the development of digital technology, studies regarding smart wear integrating daily life have rapidly increased. However, consumer research about perception and attitude toward smart clothing hardly could find. The purpose of this study was to identify innovative characteristics and perceived risk of smart clothing and to analyze the influences of theses factors on product attitudes and intention to adopt. Specifically, five hypotheses were established. H1: Perceived attributes of smart clothing except for complexity would have positive relations to product attitude or purchase intention, while complexity would be opposite. H2: Product attitude would have positive relation to purchase intention. H3: Product attitude would have a mediating effect between perceived attributes and purchase intention. H4: Perceived risks of smart clothing would have negative relations to perceived attributes except for complexity, and positive relations to complexity. H5: Product attitude would have a mediating effect between perceived risks and purchase intention. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. After pretest, the data were collected during September, 2006, from university students in Korea who were relatively sensitive to innovative products. A total of 300 final useful questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 program. About 60.3% were male with the mean age of 21.3 years old. About 59.3% reported that they were aware of smart clothing, but only 9 respondents purchased it. The mean of attitudes toward smart clothing and purchase intention was 2.96 (SD=.56) and 2.63 (SD=.65) respectively. Factor analysis using principal components with varimax rotation was conducted to identify perceived attribute and perceived risk dimensions. Perceived attributes of smart wear were categorized into relative advantage (including compatibility), observability (including triability), and complexity. Perceived risks were identified into physical/performance risk, social psychological risk, time loss risk, and economic risk. Regression analysis was conducted to test five hypotheses. Relative advantage and observability were significant predictors of product attitude (adj $R^2$=.223) and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.221). Complexity showed negative influence on product attitude. Product attitude presented significant relation to purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.692) and partial mediating effect between perceived attributes and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.698). Therefore hypothesis one to three were accepted. In order to test hypothesis four, four dimensions of perceived risk and demographic variables (age, gender, monthly household income, awareness of smart clothing, and purchase experience) were entered as independent variables in the regression models. Social psychological risk, economic risk, and gender (female) were significant to predict relative advantage (adj $R^2$=.276). When perceived observability was a dependent variable, social psychological risk, time loss risk, physical/performance risk, and age (younger) were significant in order (adj $R^2$=.144). However, physical/performance risk was positively related to observability. The more Koreans seemed to be observable of smart clothing, the more increased the probability of physical harm or performance problems received. Complexity was predicted by product awareness, social psychological risk, economic risk, and purchase experience in order (adj $R^2$=.114). Product awareness was negatively related to complexity, meaning high level of product awareness would reduce complexity of smart clothing. However, purchase experience presented positive relation with complexity. It appears that consumers can perceive high level of complexity when they are actually consuming smart clothing in real life. Risk variables were positively related with complexity. That is, in order to decrease complexity, it is also necessary to consider minimizing anxiety factors about social psychological wound or loss of money. Thus, hypothesis 4 was partially accepted. Finally, in testing hypothesis 5, social psychological risk and economic risk were significant predictors for product attitude (adj $R^2$=.122) and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.099) respectively. When attitude variable was included with risk variables as independent variables in the regression model to predict purchase intention, only attitude variable was significant (adj $R^2$=.691). Thus attitude variable presented full mediating effect between perceived risks and purchase intention, and hypothesis 5 was accepted. Findings would provide guidelines for fashion and electronic businesses who aim to create and strengthen positive attitude toward smart clothing. Marketers need to consider not only functional feature of smart clothing, but also practical and aesthetic attributes, since appropriateness for social norm or self image would reduce uncertainty of psychological or social risk, which increase relative advantage of smart clothing. Actually social psychological risk was significantly associated to relative advantage. Economic risk is negatively associated with product attitudes as well as purchase intention, suggesting that smart-wear developers have to reflect on price ranges of potential adopters. It will be effective to utilize the findings associated with complexity when marketers in US plan communication strategy.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.647-651
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• 2004

FPSOs are commonly proposed and used for offshore oil production. Due to the fundamental requirement of FPSOs to remain moored at their location, they are unable to avoid severe weather. FPSOs normally operate head to the weather, and sensitive equipment located near the bow will be susceptible to green water damage. Damage may occur to both equipment and superstructure, with resulting risk to personnel. To initially access green water is allowed by the physical understanding of green water events. In this paper the main focus is put on the physical phenomena of green water accounted for with the tested data in regular waves.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.105-115
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• 2011

Mercury is a toxic, persistent pollutant that bioaccumulates and biomagnifies through food webs. People are exposed to methyhnercruy mainly through their diet, especially through the consumption of freshwater and marine fish and of other animals that consume fish (e.g., marine mammals). All humans are exposed to low levels of mercury. Dietary patterns can increase exposure to a fish-eating population where the fish and seafood are contaminated with mercury. The primary toxicity targets of mercury and mercury compounds are the nervous system, kidneys, and cardiovascular system. It is generally accepted that developing organ systems are most sensitive to the toxic effects of mercury. The fetal-brain mercury levels appear to be significantly higher than the maternal-blood mercury levels, and the developing central nervous system of the fetus is currently regarded as the main system of concern as it demonstrates the greatest sensitivity. The subpopulation that may be at greater risk for mercury toxicity are those exposed to higher levels of methylmercury due to carnivorous fish, including sharks.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.641-656
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• 2015

Using large monopod bucket foundations as an alternative to monopiles for offshore wind turbines offers the potential for large cost savings compared to typical piled foundations. In this paper, numerical simulations are carried out to assess the risk of structural buckling during installation of large-diameter bucket foundations. Since shell structures are generally sensitive to initially imperfect geometries, eigenmode-affine imperfections are introduced in a nonlinear finite-element analysis. The influence of modelling the real lid structure compared to classic boundary conditions is investigated. The effects of including soil restraint and soil-structure interaction on the buckling analysis are also addressed.