• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.515-528
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• 2016

Since 1960s the rural population of Korea has continually decreased as a result of the rapid rural-to-urban migration and this caused an economic recession as well as the accelerated aging phenomenon in the rural communities. Such problems got worse in smaller rural villages and marginal villages began to appear among the rural communities. This study aims to analyze the structures and characteristics of rural marginal villages. A case study on the county of Goheung, Jeollanamdo, is carried out using survey and stakeholder interviews. With the survey results a series of comparative analysis are done revealing the commonalities and peculiarities between two different types of marginal villages. This study also tries to reveal the residents's perceptions on the marginal villages and the potential determinants of rural rehabilitation.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.33-41
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• 2014

The bra is one of the most essential pieces of women's underwear which gives support for the breasts and holds them in position to make better outer appearance of upper body. Despite being worn by most women of all ages, brassiere manufacturers often use brassiere sizes and shapes that are close to the body measurements of women in their 20s, which raises questions whether the bras are suitable for older women's physique. Also, many lingerie markets tend to center on designs and tastes of younger women, leaving those of older women are largely ignored in the manufacturing process despite the fact that their purchasing power and market shares are expected to grow in conjunction with the aging of the global population. Against this backdrop, this study attempts to provide information about bra preferences and breast perceptions of the middle-aged and older US women over the age of 40 years to help manufacturers better understand the bra purchasing priorities and bra elements of older women and prompt them to design bras with a high level of fit and comfort that are appreciated by the population groups as a means to ultimately acquire competitive edge in the fast growing aging market. An email survey and interviews were conducted with 301 US women who live in New York City. The findings of this study suggest that there are internal and external factors such as changes in body and breast shapes with age influence the level of fitness and effectiveness of bra components, and thus the responses to the questions on bra preferences and breast perceptions varied between the researched age groups.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.394-417
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• 2008

The population of Korean Society is aging rapidly at a pace which is unprecedented in the world. This demographic change results in the various socioeconomic and cultural changes accompanied by spatial changes. The purpose of this study is to examine major characteristics of residential medical facilities for the elderly and the life of those using the facilities of the Capital Region in Korea. Major findings of the study are as follows. The characteristics of the location of residential medical facilities for the elderly and the life of those using the facilities are influenced not only by the mobility of the elderly. but also by the distance between the facilities and Seoul and also by the residential environments of the facilities. The location of the facilities and the mobility of the elderly, followed by the residential location of the family have an effect on everyday life of the elderly. Therefore, the location for residential medical facilities is not recommended to be far from the metropolitan area.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.13-20
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to provide a fundamental data and establish policies for the utilization of closed schools in Korea. The closed schools have been increased in Korea because not only the birth rate, and the number of students have been decreased, but also a greate number of people have moved to big cities or the elderly population is increasing. In this context, this research explores the current circumstance of Japan where experienced the similar phenomenon before Korea had. The results of this study are summarized as follows: The reason for the closed schools in Japan is a decrease in population due to the urbanization and reducing students themselves by aging. The recycling proportion of the closed schools is only approximately 62% in Japan. It means that fewer facilities have been recycled due to the transfer of the managemental departments and the lack of budgets for purchasing the closed schools. As the number of children decreases, but elderly people increases as the same time, it is necessary to positively examine the transition of the closed schools to new facilities for the elderly people. Even though the number of children had been declined, and it is recently turning back to an increasing of the residential children in 23 districts of Tokyo, there are still existing many closed schools. This phenomenon is caused by the decrease of the children and residential areas due to the aging and urbanization. For these reasons, there are many diverse demands for the practical and valuable recycling of the closed schools. However, it seems that there are few cases of successful disposal or transfer of management to other suitable ministry. Therefore, it is necessary for the closed schools to be remodeled the facilities required by current residents.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.285-293
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• 2022

Background: This study was conducted to analyze the effects of low skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) and obesity on aging-related osteoarthritis (OA) in the Korean population. Methods: A total of 16,601 participants who underwent a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and 3,976 subjects with knee X-rays according to the modified Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) system were enrolled. Knees of ≥KL grade 2 were classified as radiologic OA. The severity of joint space narrowing (JSN) was classified by X-rays as normal, mild-to-moderate, and severe JSN in radiologic OA. The subjects were grouped as normal SMI (SMI of ≥-1 standard deviation [SD] of the mean), low SMI class I (SMI of ≥-2 SDs and <-1 SD), and low SMI class II (SMI of <-2 SDs). Obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) of ≥27.5 kg/m². Results: The modified KL grade and JSN severity were negatively correlated with the SMI and positively correlated with BMI and age. The SMI was negatively correlated with age. JSN severity was significantly associated with a low SMI class compared to a normal SMI, which was more prominent in low SMI class II than class I. Obesity was significantly associated with more severe JSN, only for obesity with a low SMI class. Furthermore, patients with a low SMI class, regardless of obesity, were prone to having more severe JSN. Conclusion: This study suggested that a low SMI class was associated with aging and that an age-related low SMI was more critically related to the severity of JSN in OA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.242-244
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• 2022

In recent years, the number of single-person households is increasing with the aging of the population and the number of the elderly living alone is increasing rapidly with the aging of the population. Therefore, the lonely death of the elderly living alone has become a social issue. In many cases, the body is discovered several days after death. In particular, lonely death of the elderly living alone is being taken more seriously in society, as there is no one to arrange funerals, organize and dispose of their belongings. Since the body is usually found after a few days, the decomposition of the body is often severe. Therefore, this paper proposes an indoor monitoring system using a temperature and humidity sensor and a human body sensor to prevent and respond to lonely deaths in the elderly living alone.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.81-91
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• 2019

Recently, the nation has been suffering from a variety of problems, such as the rapid aging of the population and the weakening of the family's role due to rapid industrialization, such as the problem of supporting the elderly or the decline in the quality of supporting them. Among them, the issue of supporting the sentiment of the elderly is a major issue in terms of the quality of the stimulus. The best solution would be to resolve this issue of emotional support through various physical and human support. However, due to various limitations, access to efficient utilization of resources is being sought, among which support efforts through the convergence of digital technologies need to be noted. In this study, we took note of the problems of aging population shortage due to aging phenomenon and the problems of the emotional side of the problem of declining quality of the service, and analyzed the types of digital technology applied to support the emotional side through the convergence of digital technology. Among them, the Commission proposed emotional support through smart speakers, confirming the possibility of supporting the elderly through smart speakers. In addition, the Commission proposed guidelines for smart speaker communication systems to support the sentiment of older adults by conducting an in-depth interview with the In-Depth interview with the evaluation of the usability of smart speakers for older people. Based on the results of this study, it is expected that it will be the basic data for designing a communication system when developing smart speakers to support the emotions of the elderly.

• The Journal of Sustainable Design and Educational Environment Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.53-65
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• 2007

Our society is changing into the society of knowledge and information since the advent of 21st century. This may require that schooling need to have a new paradigm. Korea has already entered into the aging society with the help of various population control policies such as birth control from 1960s, and is expecting to go into the so called ultra- aging society. Elementary and middle schools have been facing the rapid decrease in the number of students since the mid-1980s, which high schools are now confronting with. The present study investigates how to effectively utilize extra classrooms at schools. The present study offers eight basic directions that may help establish the utilization planning of extra classrooms. One direction is offering an appropriate space utilization environment, another is to present a plan for having special classrooms. Others are having multi-purpose classrooms, management on the unified rooms for library and audio-visual teaching, securing facilities rooms for the school staff. And others are the planning of the diversion of living space for improving sanitation and the provision of meals, the necessity of the extension or rebuilding of school buildings for other uses according to school development schemes, the utilization planning for community residents to which each school belong.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 2009

Korea reached an aging society in 2000, and it is progressed quickly now. Government forecasts that the number of aged people over 65 years old will increase from 7.2%(2000) to above 14.3% among total population in 2018. Workers over fifty years old are increasing in construction field every year. These aged workers are exposed to various construction accidents, and also their accident rate is very high because of physical and psychological changes by aging. Specially, a disaster of aged workers more than 50 years old is fronted at the serious situation in the construction industry which has variable working environment. Thus, the purpose of this study is to suggest the precaution by analysing disaster characteristics of aged construction workers. Also, this study aims to present a basic counter-plan according to important safety management list which is abstracted from the work, aged construction workers' accident rate is high.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1591-1595
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• 2018

The number of healthy older adults is rapidly increasing recently owing to the increase of the elderly population. Therefore, programs for improving the cognitive functions of these healthy seniors are actively being expanded. This study aimed to prevent the decline of cognitive function due to aging by applying a program enhancing cognitive functions to healthy older adults. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of Korean computer-based cognitive rehabilitation program (CoTras), which is commonly used in cognitive therapy for the aging, on the memory of the elderly. The subjects had scored at least 24 points in MMSE-K. CoTras was applied once a week (30 minutes) for one month. Electronic pegboard programs were used as an evaluation tool: order memory (difficulty=low) and location memory (difficulty=medium). The order and location memories were compared before and after the intervention. The Wilcoxon signed rank-sum test was used for the study at the significance level of ${\alpha}=.05$. The results showed that CoTras significantly improved order memory and location memory. Therefore, CoTras can be applied to the healthy elderly for improving that memory improvement training has a positive impact on healthy older adults result in the development of memory enhancement programs can be expanded in the future.