The purposes of this study were to investigate the patient satisfaction with physical therapy services and find the related factors to patient satisfaction. In this study, three hospitals were selected at large, middle, small city. Ninety subjects (53 males, 37 females) who had received physical therapy service were participated in this survey. Survey data were collected by a written questionnaire. The patient satisfaction scale had a good reliability (Cronbachs alpha=.9134). The collected data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, and Kruskal-Wallis. The scores of patient satisfaction with physical therapy services at large, middle, and small city were 79.67, 76.23, and 86.33 respectively. The score of patient satisfaction at small city was significantly higher than middle and large city (p<.01). There was no significant difference in patient satisfaction with physical therapy services according to gender, age, education years, occupation, marital status, religion and average monthly income. Further studies are needed to identify which specific factors are related to patient satisfaction with physical services. This information will be useful in improving the patient satisfaction.

This study investigates the temporal and spatial variations of marine meterological elements (air temperature (Temp), Sea Surface Temperature (SST), and Significant Wave Height (SWH)) in seven coastal waters of South Korea, using hourly data observed at marine meteorological buoys (10 sites), Automatic Weather System on lighthouse (lighthouse AWS) (9 sites), and AWS (20 sites) during 2013-2017. We also compared the characteristics of Temp, SST, and air-sea temperature difference (Temp-SST) between sea fog and non-sea-fog events. In general, annual mean values of Temp and SST in most of the coastal waters were highest (especially in the southern part of Jeju Island) in 2016, due to heat waves, and lowest (especially in the middle of the West Sea) in 2013 or 2014. The SWH did not vary significantly by year. Wind patterns varied according to coastal waters, but their yearly variations for each coastal water were similar. The maximum monthly/seasonal mean values of Temp and SST occurred in summer (especially in August), and the minimum values in winter (January for Temp and February for SST). Monthly/seasonal mean SWH was highest in winter (especially in December) and lowest in summer (June), while the monthly/seasonal variations in wind speed over most of the coastal waters (except for the southern part of Jeju Island) were similar to those of SWH. In addition, sea fog during spring and summer was likely to be in the form of advection fog, possibly because of the high Temp and low SST (especially clear SST cooling in the eastern part of South Sea in summer), while autumn sea fog varied between different coastal waters (either advection fog or steam fog). The SST (and Temp-SST) during sea fog events in all coastal waters was lower (and more variable) than during non-sea-fog events, and was up to 5.7℃ for SST (up to 5.8℃ for Temp-SST).

Temporal and spatial characteristics of the frequency of several weather types and the change in air pollutant concentrations according to these weather types were analyzed over a decade (2007-2016) in seven major cities and a remote area in Korea. This analysis was performed using hourly (or daily) observed data of weather types (e.g., mist, haze, fog, precipitation, dust, and thunder and lighting) and air pollutant criteria (PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2, CO, and SO2). Overall, the most frequent weather type across all areas during the study period was found to be mist (39%), followed by precipitation (35%), haze (17%), and the other types (≤ 4%). In terms of regional frequency distributions, the highest frequency of haze (26%) was in Seoul (especially during winter and May-June), possibly due to the high population and air pollutant emission sources, while that of precipitation (47%) was in Jeju (summer and winter), due to its geographic location with the sea on four sides and a very high mountain. PM10 concentrations for dust and haze were significantly higher in three cities (up to 250 μg/m3 for dust in Incheon), whereas those for the other four types were relatively lower. The concentrations of PM2.5 and its major precursor gases (NO2 and SO2) were higher (up to 69 μg/m3, 48 ppb, and 16 ppb, respectively, for haze in Incheon) for haze and/or dust than for the other weather types. On the other hand, there were no distinct differences in the concentrations of O3 and CO for the weather types. The overall results of this study confirm that the frequency of weather types and the related air quality depend on the geographic and environmental characteristics of the target areas.