• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2014

Background: Health care professionals (HCPs) are at high risk of contracting blood-borne infections due to their occupational exposure to blood and body fluids (BBFs). The incidence of these infections among HCPs are higher in low income countries such as Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to investigate the extent of occupational exposure to BBFs and its associated factors among HCPs in Bahir Dar town, Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was used from October 1, 2012 to October 30, 2012. Three hundred and seventeen HCPs were included in the study using a simple random sampling technique. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 16. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify the factors related to exposure to BBFs. Results: Two hundred and nine (65.9%) HCPs were exposed to BBFs in the past year, of which 29.0% were needlestick injuries. Work experience [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 4.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.56-10.91], inconsistent use of gloves (AOR 1.98, 95% CI 1.04-3.43), and not complying with standard precautions (AOR 1.80, 95% CI 1.00-3.22) were the factors associated with occupational exposure to BBFs. Conclusion: A high proportion of HCPs was exposed to BBFs in this study. Occupational exposure to BBFs was determined by the use of gloves and not complying with standard precautions. Ensuring the availability of gloves, training about standard precautions, and motivation of HCPs to implement standard precautions should be emphasized to avoid such exposures.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.113-127
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• 2021

Purpose: This study examined health behaviors, use of health services, and depression among women who perform daytime and shift work in Korea, as well as factors related to depression. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis using data from the 2018 data of the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Data on women, 1,493 regular daytime workers and 322 shift workers, were analyzed. Results: Women shift workers (χ²=43.97, p<.001), had a lower education level (χ²=45.56, p<.001), and lower personal income (χ²=16.85, p=.030) than their daytime counterparts. A higher proportion of shift workers were unmarried (χ²=37.47, p<.001) and they typically worked fewer than 40 hours per week (χ²=69.94, p<.001). The depression score of shift workers was higher than that of daytime workers (t=2.85, p=.005). A higher proportion of shift workers also drank alcohol (χ²=6.49, p=.032) and smoked (χ²=30.79, p<.001). Over 8% of shift workers typically slept fewer than 5 hours per night (χ²=14.17, p=.024). It was confirmed that depression in women shift workers was affected by age, personal income, marital status, health status, and smoking status, in addition to cancer screening participation, unmet medical care needs, and unmet dental care needs. Conclusion: More attention should be given to the health needs of women working shifts. Health promotion programs specific for women shift workers are needed to improve their physical and mental health, encourage use of medical care services, and improve public health policies and systems.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.30-44
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• 2022

The primary function of an electronic records management system (ERMS) is to support organisations in providing effective records management services by enabling efficient remote access to the organisations' records. This helps the organisation to continue running during emergency events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The need to study ERMS for accessing records remotely has increased dramatically, due to the increase in daily use. The situation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for implementing proper digital systems, such as ERMS, to enable efficient work processes and enhance business continuity. An ERMS has the potential to allow organisations to create records and workflows off-site. During a pandemic, the ability to structure processes digitally helps in maintaining operations remotely. This study aims to provide a narrative review of the ERMS literature with an emphasis on explaining the primary components of ERMS that act as enablers for the implementation of the system in the oil and gas sector of developing countries. The current study proposes ERMS roles and responsibilities that could enhance business continuity. The authors use a qualitative narrative review and analyse the literature related to this study and its findings. The results show that, in cases of risk or crises, staff members need to have easy access to their records and documents to remain productive. An ERMS allows professionals to remain active and work off-site. Thus, ERMS play a significant role in protecting an organisation's content through the monitoring and control over who has authorisation to access its records.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.725-731
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• 2009

Construction documents are recognized as an essential component for making a decision and supporting on construction processes. In construction, the management of project document is a complex process due to different factors such as document types, stakeholder involvement, document flow, and document flow processes. Therefore, inappropriate management of project documents can cause several impacts on construction work processes such as delay or poor quality of work. Several information and communication technologies (ICT) were proposed to overcome problems concerning document management practice in construction projects. However, the adoption of ICT may have some limitation on the compatibility of specific document workflow. Lack of understanding on designing document system may cause many problems during the use and implementation phase. Thus, this paper proposes the framework that integrates Soft System Methodology (SSM) concept and Integrated Definition Modeling Technique (IDEF) for analyzing document management system in construction project. Research methodology is classified as the case study. Five main construction building projects are selected as case studies. The qualitative data related to problems and processes are collected by interviewing construction project participants such as main contractors, owners, consultants, and designers. The findings from case study show the benefits of using SSM and IDEF. The use of SSM can help identify the problems in managing construction document in rich picture view whereas IDEF can illustrate the document flow in construction project in details. In addition, the idea of integrating these two concepts can be used to identify the root causes of process problems at the information level. As the results, this idea can be applied to analyze and design web-based document management system in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.231-241
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the input status of exposure-related information in the working environment monitoring database (WEMD) and special health examination database (SHED) for the construction of a national exposure surveillance system. Methods: The industrial and process code input status of WEMD and SHED for 21 carcinogens from 2014 to 2016 was compared. Data from workers who performed both work environment monitoring and special health examinations in 2019 and 2020 were extracted and the actual status of input of industrial and process codes was analyzed. We also investigated the cause of input errors through a focus group interview with 12 data input specialists. Results: As a result of analyzing WMED and SHED for 21 carcinogens, the five-digit industrial code matching rate was low at 53.5% and the process code matching rate was 19% or less. Among the data that simultaneously conducted work environment monitoring and special health examination in 2019 and 2020, the process code matching rate was very low at 18.1% and 5.2%, respectively. The main causes of exposure-related data input errors were the difference between the WEMD and SHED process code input systems from 2020, the number of standard process and job codes being too large, and the inefficiency of the standard code search system. Conclusions: In order to use WEMD and SHED as a national surveillance system, it is necessary to simplify the number of standard code input codes and improve the search system efficiency.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.139-169
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• 2022

This study derived determinants of 'Decent Work' in the logistics industry and aims to use the analysis results as basic data for policymaking related to labor in the logistics industry and to prepare policies suitable for the characteristics of the logistics industry. As the dependent variable of the model, the Decent Job derived from the first study was used, and the target model was derived from panel data of whole industries to understand the unique characteristics of logistics industry jobs and applied to the logistics industry model. This study found that in the logistics industry, developing the expertise of the logistics industry through "vocational training" compared to whole industries is an important factor rather than raising the "academic level" through the regular curriculum. This seems to reflect the characteristics of the logistics industry as specialized vocational training is required in the case of "railway transportation", "inland water and port transportation", and "air cargo transportation", which have a high proportion of decent job workers among the detailed logistics industries analyzed in this study. Therefore, developing job expertise through additional manpower training programs such as vocational training as well as academic fields learned through regular curriculum is a very important factor in engaging in "Decent Work" not only in the logistics industry but also in other industries.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.231-242
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• 2012

This research work aims to develop an optimal design using Finite Element (FE) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) methods to replace the traditional concrete and timber material by a Synthetic Polyurethane fibre glass composite material in railway sleepers. The conventional timber railway sleeper technology is associated with several technical problems related to its durability and ability to resist cutting and abrading action of the bearing plate. The use of pre-stress concrete sleeper in railway industry has many disadvantages related to the concrete material behaviour to resist dynamic stress that may lead to a significant mechanical damage with feasible fissures and cracks. Scientific researchers have recently developed a new composite material such as Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyurethane (GFRP) foam to replace the conventional one. The mechanical properties of these materials are reliable enough to help solving structural problems such as durability, light weight, long life span (50-60 years), less water absorption, provide electric insulation, excellent resistance of fatigue and ability to recycle. This paper suggests appropriate sleeper design to reduce the volume of the material. The design optimization shows that the sleeper length is more sensitive to the loading type than the other parameters.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.217-232
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• 2003

Purpose : This paper was attempted to identify the job stress related factors among the staff nurses and to provide the basic data concerning development of stress management program focused on hospitals. Method : The subjects were 309 staff nurses at two general hospitals in Seoul. Data were collected with self-reported questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS-PC+10.0 for descriptive analysis, ANOVA, stepwise multiple regression, factor analysis. Results : The subjects exhibit significantly highest level of 'the participation in decision making factor'. The mean score of 'control coping strategies' was higher than 'avoid coping strategies'. The mean scores of social support and stress responses were high. The main factor that affected the stress responses was 'the job characteristic factor' and it was explained 23.0% out of the total variance of the stress responses. Also, it would be explained 42.6% out of the total variance of the stress responses with 'the control coping strategies, work overload factors, social support, and participation in decision making factors'. Conclusion: For developing the hospital- focused stress management program for staff nurses, 'the participation in decision making factors' and 'the job characteristics' should be considered. Also, the organizational efforts and supports should be required to support and use of 'control coping strategies' of nurses

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2001

Sa-Mul-Tang (Si-Wu-Tang, SMT), a kind of Chinese medicine, has been used for the hemato-deficient disease for hundreds of years. In this work, investigations on the anti-anemic activity of an aqueous extract of SMT were undertaken in order to find the pharmacological basis for the ethnomedical use of the formulation. Three kinds of Angelicase species, such as Angelica sinensis, Angelica acutiloba, and Angelica gigas, were used for preparing the water extracts of SMT. Anemic model rats were induced by the treatment of phenylhydrazine (40 mg/kg/day, i.p.) for 4 days. After the treatment of phenylhydrazine, rats were divided into several groups for their different treatment of three kinds of SMT. Red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (Hg), and hematocrit (Hct) were determined on the day 0, 3, 6, 10, 14 after the treatment of SMTs and erythrocytes deformabilities were also determined at the end of experiments. Oral administration of SMT (1g/kg/day) for 14 days did not ameliorate drug-induced anemic states evaluated by RBC counts, Hg contents, and Hct values. However, the erythrocyte deformabilities were improved in phenylhydrazine-treated group by the administragest that SMTs (p<0.05). Especially, these effects were high in the Angelica acutiloba group. These results suggest that SMTs have an ameliorative effect on blood rheology related to the blood stasis syndrome in oriental diagnostics not on the blood deficient states related to the anemic syndrome.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.326-329
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• 2005

A worker who grinded the inner parts of camshafts for automobile engines using water-soluble metalworking fluid (MWF) for 14 years was diagnosed with sinusitis. We postulated that the outbreak of sinusitis could be associated with exposure to microbes contaminated in water-soluble MWF during the grinding operation. To suggest responsible agents for this outbreak, quantitative exposure assessment for chemical and biological agents and prevalence of work-related respiratory symptoms by questionnaire were studied. The exposure ranges of MWF mist (0.59 $mg/m^3$to 2.12 $mg/m^3$) measured during grinding exceeded 0.5 $mg/m^3$ of the recommended exposure limit (REL). Grinder's exposures to bacteria, fungi and endotoxins were also generally higher than not only the proposed standards, but also those reported by several studies to identify the cause of respiratory effects. Statistical test indicated that the prevalence rate of reported symptoms related to nasal cavities showed no significant differences among the operations. Evaluation on grinding operation characteristics and quantitative exposure assessment indicated that repeated exposure to MWF mist including microbes contaminated from the use of water-soluble MWF may cause respiratory diseases like sinusitis or at least increase susceptibility to the development of sinusitis