• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate 106 grassland farms in six provinces including Chungcheongbuk-do, Gangwon-do, Gyeonggi-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeju-do, and Jeollanam-do to present their problems and causes by surveying the actual state of grassland farms during three years(2014~2016). The grassland survey was divided into three categories; used as the perennial grasses and annual forage crops (Complied with Grassland Act), not used as the perennial grasses and annual forage crops (Not complied with Grassland Act) and failed to meet the farmer and some items are missing or inaccurate (Insufficient contents). Among the surveyed grassland farm, 68 farms (64.2 %) were complied with Grassland Act but 30 farms (28.3 %) were not complied with Grassland Act. Especially, the 8 farms (26.7 %) not complied with Grassland Act used the grassland as other purposes such as tree growing, golf club and swine farm etc.. Therefore, strict on-site investigation by local governments is required to prevent the grassland from being used by illegal purposes. And there's a strong likelihood that 5 farms (62.5 %) avoided the survey violate the positive law. Grassland grades used by the local administrative agencies were not influenced by the factors affecting the yield (existence and non-existence of overseeding and fertilization by grassland grade, soil pH and organic matter content). This results suggest that there is a fundamental problem on the current grassland grade system based on the yield and the irregular time of investigation and lack of on-site investigation are another causes for inaccurate grassland grade. Therefore, the new method evaluating grassland grades which is not based on yield and the thorough on-site investigation by local administrative agencies are necessary when the grassland grade is evaluated.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.258-269
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• 2018

Objectives: There was an outbreak of foodborne and waterborne disease among high school students at Okcheon in June, 2018. First attack occurred June $5^{th}$ but seven days later it was notified. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the pathogen of outbreak and cause of delayed notification. Methods: First, we did a questionnaire survey for 61 cases and 122 controls to find what symptoms they had and whether they ate foods or drank water from June $2^{nd}$ to June $12^{th}$. Second, we investigated the environment of cafeteria and drinking water. Third, we examined specimen of cases and environment to identify bacteria or virus. Results: Attack rate of this outbreak was 7.8%. Drinking water was strongly suspected as a source of infection in questionnaire survey but we could not find the exact time of exposure. Norovirus was identified in specimen of cases (2 students), drinking water (at main building and dormitory) and cafeteria (knife, dishtowel, hand of chef) Conclusions: We decided norovirus as the pathogen of this outbreak based on the clinical features of cases with diarrhea vomiting, abdominal pain and recovery within 2 or 3 days after onset, outbreak due to drinking water and microbiologic examination, And the cause of delayed notification might be the non-existence of the nurse teacher at that time and the lack of understanding of teachers on immediate notification under the outbreak. To prevent the delayed notification, notification system about outbreak of foodborne and waterborne disease in school is needed to be improved.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.475-487
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• 2019

Purpose: With the increase of going out to eat, reducing the sodium in restaurant foods has a crucial impact on reducing sodium intake. This study aimed to assess the current status and perceptions of restaurant staffs related to reducing sodium use in restaurants. Methods: Restaurant managers and chefs (n = 312) in Seongnam area completed a questionnaire on the current status related to sodium use, the barriers to practice for reducing sodium use, support needs, and the practicability of methods for reducing sodium use in restaurants. Results: The percentage of restaurants in the preaction stage (including the precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation stages) for reducing sodium use was 79.7%. Logistic regression analysis showed that measuring salinity while cooking was associated with measuring seasoning (OR, 4.761; 95% CI, 2.325 ~ 9.751), action/maintenance stages of behavior change (OR, 2.829; 95% CI, 1.449 ~ 5.525) and providing salinity information of restaurant foods (OR, 6.314; 95% CI, 2.964 ~ 13.45). Maintaining taste and hindering the cooking process were the main barriers to reduce sodium use. The total practicability of actions for reducing sodium was higher in staffs who worked in restaurants that measured seasoning and salinity while cooking (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). The hardest item to practice was 'purchase foods after comparing sodium content in the nutrition labeling'. 'Avoid serving salt-fermented foods as side dishes', 'serve small portions of kimchi and less salty kimchi', and 'put up promotional materials for reducing sodium intake' were selected as easy items to perform. The majority (82%) was willing to reduce sodium in restaurant foods under the support of local government and they desired the promotion of participating restaurants and education on cooking skills to reduce sodium. Conclusion: Measuring seasoning and salinity while cooking is a meaningful practice that is associated with stages of behavior change and the practicability of actions for reducing sodium. It is necessary to provide support and education with a gradual approach to staffs for reducing sodium in restaurant foods.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.277-291
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was undertaken to identify the alcohol drinking status of industrial workers, their health care practice, and dietary behavior, as well as their nutrient intake. Methods: In July 2019, 220 male subjects working in the Chungnam area were enrolled in the study. Their alcohol drinking status was evaluated by applying the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification-K (AUDIT-K) system. Demographic characteristics, status of health care practice, and dietary behaviors were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire; nutrient intakes were analyzed using 24-hour recalls. Data were analyzed by applying χ²-test, ANOVA, Duncan test, and Pearson's correlation analysis with SPSS v. 25.0. Results: Workers were classified by their alcohol drinking status as 'normal' (84, 38.2%), 'problem drinker' (45, 20.5%), 'alcohol dependence I' (60, 27.3%), and 'alcohol dependence II' (31, 16.0%). The alcohol drinking status showed significant differences with age (p < 0.05), monthly income (p < 0.05), smoking status (p < 0.05), and need for weight control (p < 0.05). Moreover, increased alcohol intake resulted in significantly decreased levels of health care practice and dietary behaviors (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively). The energy intake was highest in the 'alcohol dependence I' group, followed by 'alcohol dependence II', 'problem drinker', and 'normal drinker' (p < 0.05). Intakes of vitamin E, vitamin C, and niacin in the 'alcohol dependence I' group were found to be higher than the other groups (p < 0.05). A negative correlation was obtained between alcohol drinking status, health care practice, and dietary behaviors, whereas a positive correlation was determined between alcohol drinking status, energy and water intakes. Conclusion: Considering these results, we conclude the necessity to consider nutritional and alcoholic education programs for improving the quality of work life of industrial workers, based on their alcohol drinking status.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.457-468
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• 2020

Problems arising during pile design works for plant construction, civil and architecture work are mostly come from uncertainty of geotechnical characteristics. In particular, obtaining the N-value measured through the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the most important data. However, it is difficult to obtain N-value by drilling investigation throughout the all target area. There are many constraints such as licensing, time, cost, equipment access and residential complaints etc. it is impossible to obtain geotechnical characteristics through drilling investigation within a short bidding period in overseas. The geotechnical characteristics at non-drilling investigation points are usually determined by the engineer's empirical judgment, which can leads to errors in pile design and quantity calculation causing construction delay and cost increase. It would be possible to overcome this problem if N-value could be predicted at the non-drilling investigation points using limited minimum drilling investigation data. This study was conducted to predicted the N-value using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) which one of the Artificial intelligence (AI) method. An Artificial Neural Network treats a limited amount of geotechnical characteristics as a biological logic process, providing more reliable results for input variables. The purpose of this study is to predict N-value at the non-drilling investigation points through patterns which is studied by multi-layer perceptron and error back-propagation algorithms using the minimum geotechnical data. It has been reviewed the reliability of the values that predicted by AI method compared to the measured values, and we were able to confirm the high reliability as a result. To solving geotechnical uncertainty, we will perform sensitivity analysis of input variables to increase learning effect in next steps and it may need some technical update of program. We hope that our study will be helpful to design works in the future.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.179-198
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• 2021

Purpose: This study examined general characteristics, health status, accessibility to medical services, health-related quality of life, dietary behavior, and energy and nutrient intakes of the elderly at different levels of food security utilizing data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2018). Methods: The elderly subjects (1,721 males and 2,271 females) were divided into 3 groups (secure, mildly insecure, moderately/severely insecure) according to their food security levels. Health and nutrient status was determined using energy intake, nutrient density, the prevalence of insufficient nutrient intake, dietary behavior, and health status. Results: The elderly with food insecurities had a lower self-evaluated health status and a higher prevalence of physician-diagnosed chronic diseases such as arthritis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis for males, and hypertension, stroke, arthritis, and osteoarthritis for females. The associated financial burden was the major reason for not accessing medical services in the food insecure group. Furthermore, the food insecure group had a higher risk of impaired health-related quality of life compared to the secure group. The proportion of subjects with an energy intake below the estimated energy requirement was higher in the food insecure group and a significantly higher prevalence of insufficient intake was observed for all the nutrients (proteins, vitamin A, vitamin B₁, vitamin B₂, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, and iron) assessed in this study compared to the food secure group. Conclusion: This study suggests that food insecurity poses a challenge to the health and nutritional status of the elderly population in Korea and needs proper management. It would be helpful to develop food and nutrition assistance programs to ensure the food stability of the elderly population and assure quality to address gaps in their nutrient intake.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.181-188
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• 2022

Objectives: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was approximately 16% in populations of over age 30 years, and deaths from diabetes mellitus became the sixth most prevalent cause of death by disease. To assess the relationship between HbA1c and heavy metal level in blood and urine, targeted residents were evaluated in a vast steel industrial complex. Methods: We selected 414 subjects for analysis after applying the following exclusion criterion: 18 persons with diabetes mellitus. They took part in a questionnaire survey and underwent blood and urinary assessments. HbA1c and lead (Pb) level were measured in blood and, cadmium (Cd), inorganic arsenic (iAs) and mercury (Hg) were evaluated in urine. Two subgroups were divided by HbA1c 6.5%. Each subgroup was divided by 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th, 80th and 90th percentile levels of biological exposure index of the heavy metals for logistic regression. Results: Odd ratios have a tendency to increase as they go from the 90th to the 10th percentile of cadmium. However, lead, arsenic and mercury did not have significant relationships with HbA1c. In correction of age, region, gender and smoking history, a higher distribution in the subgroup with cadmium above 0.8318 ㎍/g creatinine (30th percentile) was demonstrated in the subgroup with HbA1c levels above the 6.5%, with an odds ratio of 5.26 (95% C.I. ; 1.44~19.17). Conclusion: This study found a significant correlation between urinary levels of cadmium and HbA1c in correction of several factors. It is meaningful that this outcome may be used as a basis for a study to establish the acceptable limit of urinary cadmium in Korea.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.105-117
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• 2022

This study analyzes the effects between stock returns and interest rate spread, difference between long-term and short-term interest rate through the polynomial linear regression analysis. The existing research concentrated on the business forecast through the interest rate spread focusing on the US market. The previous studies verified the interest rate spread based on the leading indicators of business forecast by moderating the period of long-term/short-term interest rates and analyzing the degree of leading. After the 7th reform of composite indices of business indicators in Korea of 2006, the interest rate spread was included in the items of composing the business leading indicators, which is utilized till today. Nevertheless, there are a few research on stock returns of each industry and interest rate spread in domestic stock market. Therefore, this study analyzed the stock returns of each industry and interest rate spread targeting Korean stock market. This study selected the long-term/short-term interest rates with high causality through the regression analysis, and then understood the correlations with each leading period and industry. To overcome the limitation of the simple linear regression analysis, polynomial linear regression analysis is used, which raised explanatory power. As a result, the high causality was verified when using differences between returns of corporate bond(AA-) without guarantee for three years by leading six months and call rate returns as interest rate spread. In addition, analyzing the stock returns of each industry, the relation between the relevant interest rate spread and returns of the automobile industry was the closest. This study is significant in the aspect of verifying the causality of interest rate spread, business forecast, and stock returns in Korea. Even though it could be limited to forecast the stock price by using only the interest rate spread, it would be working as a strong factor when it is properly utilized with other various factors.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.163-177
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to examine changes in fraudulent claim counts and total reimbursements before and after enhancements in counterfeit claim controls and monitoring of provider claim patterns under the "Proactive self-audit pilot program of fraudulent claims." Methods: This study used the claims data and hospital information (July 2021-February 2022) of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The data was collected from 1,129 hospitals assigned to the pilot program, selected from the providers who filed a claim for reimbursement for intravenous injections. Paired and independent t-tests, along with regression analysis, were utilized to analyze changing patterns and factors influencing claim behaviors. Results: This program led to a reduction in the number of fraudulent claims and the total amount of reimbursements across all levels of hospitals in the experimental groups (except for physicians below 40 years old). In the control group, general hospitals and hospitals demonstrated some significant decreases based on the duration since opening, while clinics showed significant reductions in specified subjects. Additionally, a notable increase was observed among male physicians over the age of 50 years. Overall, claims and reimbursements significantly declined after the intervention. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between hospital opening duration and claim numbers, suggesting longer-established hospitals were more likely to file claims. Conclusion: The results indicate that the pilot program successfully encouraged providers to autonomously minimize fraudulent claims. Therefore, it is advised to extend further support, including promotional activities, training, seminars, and continuous monitoring, to nonparticipating hospitals to facilitate independent improvements in their claim practices.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.102-117
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• 2009

This study was carried out to investigate the extent to which benthic environment of Ulsan Bay was disturbed by organic materials and trace metals from the megacity and industrial complex. Field survey for benthic environment and macroinvertebrate community was seasonally conducted from February to November 2006 at nine stations covering the inside and outside of the bay. TOC was on average 1.7% while four (As, Cu, Pb, Zn) out of seven trace metals measured exceeded the Effects Range Low (ERL) in most of the stations. Total number of species sampled was 199 and mean density was 4,578 ind./$m^2$, both of which were greatly dominated by the polychaetes. Dominant species were Aphelochaeta monilaris (22.6%), Ruditapes philippinarum (17.1%), Magelona japonica (12.2%), Lumbrineris longifolia (9.9%) and their distribution was ruled by the difference in the benthic environmental condition of each station. From the multivariate analyses, four stational groups were identified: northern part of the bay, middle and lower part of the bay, the intersection of Taewha River and Gosa stream and outside of the bay. As a result, the community heterogeneity of inner bay was much more greater than that of outer bay. SIMPER analysis showed that four groups were represented by R. philippinarum-Capitella capitata, A. monilaris-Balanoglossus carnosus, Sinocorophium sinensis-Cyathura higoensis and M. japonica-Ampharete arctica, respectively. Spatio-temporal changes of macroinvertebrate communities in Ulsan Bay were closely related to those of depth, mean grain size and organic content, and Zn was also a meaningful factor in that context.