PURPOSES: The purpose of this study is to examine public transport service indexes to deal with traffic congestion problems that occur in old industrial complexes during peak hours in an attempt to shift personal car-oriented transportation to public transit-oriented transportation. METHODS : We developed several models to evaluate the effect of public transport service indexes on worke’s mode choice using two primary parameters: overall bus service frequency in old industrial complexes and accessibility to bus stops. Ten old industrial complexes were selected to conduct the survey of workers’commuting patterns. From the survey, personal and travel time attributes were collected and used to estimate a binary logistic model with public transport service parameters. RESULTS : As a result, the mode choice model including the overall bus service frequency variable, better explains than other models indicating providing more frequent bus services to workers in the old industrial complexes can attract them to shift their travel mode to bus transit from personal car. Results can be applied to corresponding city’s bus transit service policy decisions. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, it was possible to estimate the variation of mode choice ratio according to the change of the public transport index, and the mode choice variation by each individual industrial complex can be expected to examine in the further study.

This study was designed 10 investigate the effects of therapeutic gymnastic ball exercise on pain, flexibility, lumbar disability level and daily activity levels in male patients of the armed forces medical hospital who complain of chronic low back pain. Twenty-three males were placed in the experimental group and twenty-nine males were placed in the control group. All of the subjects were chosen on the basis of availability among in-patients who were diagnosed with low back pain. The control patients were matched to the experimental group and they were selected considering gender, pain duration and age. Gymnastic ball exercise therapy was developed by the author with the assistance of a rehabilitation specialist. Gymnastic ball exercise therapy includes muscle relaxation, flexibility, muscle strength and posture development exercises. The gymnastic ball exercise therapy was carried out by the experimental group three times a week for eight weeks. Before and after the experiments, the intensity of pain, the lumbar joint mobility (flexibility), the lumbar disability levels, and the daily activity levels of the subjects were measured, respectively. The intensity of pain and the lumbar disability levels were measured by the Visual Analogue Scale, the level of flexibility by a measurement ruler, and the level of disability by the Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Scale. Data were analysed using a t-test, a paired t-test and an unpaired t-test. The results were as follows: 1. The intensity of pain in the lumbar spine in the experimental group was significantly decreased compared with that of the control group during the 4th week and 8th week. 2. The flexibility of the lumbar spine in the experimental group was significantly increased compared with that of the control group during the 4th week and 8 week. 3. The level of pain caused by anterior, posterior, left lateral and right lateral bending and by rotation in experimental group was significantly decreased compared with that of the control group. 4. The Oswestry Disability score of the experimental group was significantly increased compared with that of control group. These findings indicate that gymnastic ball exercise therapy could be effective in decreasing pain and lumbar disability, and increasing the daily activity levels and lumbar flexibility in patients with chronic low back pain. The study also suggests that gymnastic ball exercise therapy could be an essential factor for effective nursing intervention for patients suffering from chronic low back pain.