• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.31.1-31.10
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• 2023

Background: With modernization, air pollution has become increasingly serious, and its effects on health have been revealed. As a result, public interest in environmental pollution has become critical for regulating air pollution. In our study, we aim to evaluate the impact of air pollution levels on public attention to environmental issues and examine whether awareness of the residential environment's impact on health acts as a mediator in this relationship. Methods: We conducted an analysis on 400 individuals surveyed in the preliminary feasibility study on adverse health effects in the Pohang Industrial Complex, to examine the relationship between particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and attention to environmental issues. Logistic regression analysis was performed, and mediation analysis was used to determine whether awareness of the residential environment's impact on health mediated the relationship. Results: The logistic regression analysis results showed that PM2.5 levels were associated with attention to environmental issues (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3-3.5; p = 0.003) and awareness of health impacts (AOR: 3.4; 95% CI: 1.6-7.1; p = 0.001). The PM2.5 levels showed 9.9% (95% CI: 5.4-14.0) increase in the prevalence of high attention to environmental issues, of which, only 1.0% (95% CI: 0.2-2.3) were mediated by health impact awareness. In the overall analysis, 10% of the total effect of PM2.5 on attention to environmental issues was mediated by health impact awareness. Conclusions: According to this study's results, there was a correlation between air pollution levels and attention to environmental issues. Awareness of the health impacts of air pollution partially mediated the effect of air pollution levels on attention to environmental issues. In future studies, it is recommended to identify other mediators to further understand this structure.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1-31
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• 2021

With the growing importance of technology innovation as a key factor for firms' competitive advantage, 'innovation persistence' became also an important research subject. 'Innovation Persistence' is a concept that indicates whether or not firms' innovation activity or performance continues. However, the data used for innovation studies are carried out as cross-sectional surveys in most countries. For this reason, studies dealing with longitudinal aspect of innovation persistence are rare. In particular, there is almost no research on innovation persistence using Korean innovation survey data. This study reviews the concepts and characteristics of innovation persistence based on extant literature, and perform an empirical analysis on the status and features of Korean firms' technology innovation persistence. Based on the data of the Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) conducted every other year from 2012 to 2018, panel data on 3,379 firms which observed multiple times are constructed. As a result, only part of the firms with persistent innovation were observed (for innovation performance 10~12%, for innovation activity 15~17%), and it was found that the persistence of non-innovation was remarkable(about 52~57%). And it was confirmed that the persistence of innovation activities is stronger than that of innovation performance. Besides, some features by sub-types of innovation appeared. Product innovation showed higher persistence than process innovation, and internal R&D also showed higher persistence than joint/external R&D. As a result of additional logit analysis to identify factors, it was found that radical or gradual product innovation is the most influential factor in persisting innovation in the next period. Since the sample selection bias due to a limitations of raw data might exist in the panel data constructed in this study, it should be noted that faulty generalization of the results are not allowed. Nevertheless, this is the first study to examine the technology innovation persistence targeting Korean firms and is expected to be a starting point for follow-up studies. It is anticipated that advanced research results will be drawn through the establishment of official panel data and improved methodologies.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.175-182
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• 2013

Purpose: Spirituality is an important domain and is related with physical and psychological symptoms in terminal cancer patient. The aim of this study is to examine how patients' spirituality is associated with their physical and psychological symptoms as it has been explored by few studies. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 50 patients in the palliative ward of a tertiary hospital were interviewed. Spiritual well-being, depression, anxiety and pain is measured by Functional Assessment of Chronic-Illness Therapy-Spirituality (FACIT-Sp), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and the Korean version of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI-K). The correlations between patients' spiritual well-being and anxiety, depression and pain were analysed. The association between spiritual well-being and age, gender, palliative performance scale (PPS), religion, mean pain intensity, anxiety, depression were assessed by univariate and multivariate regression analyses. Results: Spiritual well-being was negatively correlated with the mean pain intensity (r=-0.283, P<0.05), anxiety (r=-0.613, P<0.05) and depression (r=-0.526, P<0.05). In multivariate regression analysis, spiritual well-being showed negative association with anxiety (OR=-1.03, 95% CI=-1.657~-0.403, P=0.002) and positive association with the existence of religion (OR=9.193, 95% CI=4.158~14.229, P<0.001). Conclusion: In this study, patients' anxiety and existence of religion were significantly associated with spiritual well-being after adjusting age, gender, PPS, mean pain intensity, depression. Prospective studies are warranted.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.736-744
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• 2007

Leptin, as an adipocyte-derived hormone, is an important regulator of food intake and energy expenditure. In the cross-sectional study, leptin was shown to be positively related to body adiposity and metabolic disorders in adults. However, there were very few studies which reported the leptin as a predictor of weight gain over time. We examined whether serum leptin can be used as an indicator of the present and 1-year past weight status in very young children. First grade students from elementary schools in Gwacheon City were enrolled in the study since 2005. The study subjects(total 375 students; 195 boys and 180 girls) participated in the investigation of both 2005 and 2006. Physical examinations including height, weight, waist circumference were done. To examine the prevalence of obesity, obesity index was used. Serum leptin was measured, and their nutritional status was also evaluated based on 3-Day dietary records. Serum leptin levels were strongly positively related with the value of the present BMI and with the value of the BMI one year before. We found no association with leptin levels and amount of energy intake and macronutrient intake in this children population. Children were divided into three groups according to leptin tertiles. The highest leptin tertile group showed highest prevalence of obesity in year 2006 as well as in year 2005. Serum leptin levels can reflect the weight status now and as well as 1-year before. Possibly serum leptin levels can predict the weight gain of year later. Without an action against the obesity on children with high leptin level, those children would maintain the excess adiposity growth and progress into the obesity-related metabolic disorders. Further studies are needed to predict the obesity as early as possible and preventive system then after.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.41-79
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• 2007

This study examines the expiration-day effects of stock index futures and options in the Korean stock market. The so-called 'expiration-day effects', which are the abnormal stock price movements on derivatives expiration days, arise mainly from cash settlement. Index arbitragers have to bear the risk of their positions unless they liquidate their index stocks on the expiration day. If many arbitragers execute large buy or sell orders on the expiration day, abnormal trading volumes are likely to be observed. If a lot of arbitragers unwind positions in the same direction, temporary trading imbalances induce abnormal stock market volatility. By contrast, if some information arrives at market, the abnormal trading activity must be considered a normal process of price discovery. Stoll and Whaley(1987) investigated the aggregate price and volume effects of the S&P 500 index on the expiration day. In a related study, Stoll and Whaley(1990) found a similarity between the price behavior of stocks that are subject to program trading and of the stocks that are not. Thus far, there have been few studies about the expiration-day effects in the Korean stock market. While previous Korean studies use the KOSPI 200 index data, we analyze the price and trading volume behavior of individual stocks as well as the index. Analyzing individual stocks is important for two reasons. First, stock index is a market average. Consequently, it cannot reflect the behavior of many individual stocks. For example, if the expiration-day effects are mainly related to a specific group, it cannot be said that the expiration of derivatives itself destabilizes the stock market. Analyzing individual stocks enables us to investigate the scope of the expiration-day effects. Second, we can find the relationship between the firm characteristics and the expiration-day effects. For example, if the expiration-day effects exist in large stocks not belonging to the KOSPI 200 index, program trading may not be related to the expiration-day effects. The examination of individual stocks has led us to the cause of the expiration-day effects. Using the intraday data during the period May 3, 1996 through December 30, 2003, we first examine the price and volume effects of the KOSPI 200 and NON-KOSPI 200 index following the Stoll and Whaley(1987) methodology. We calculate the NON-KOSPI 200 index by using the returns and market capitalization of the KOSPI and KOSPI 200 index. In individual stocks, we divide KOSPI 200 stocks by size into three groups and match NON-KOSPI 200 stocks with KOSPI 200 stocks having the closest firm characteristics. We compare KOSPI 200 stocks with NON-KOSPI 200 stocks. To test whether the expiration-day effects are related to order imbalances or new information, we check price reversals on the next day. Finally, we perform a cross-sectional regression analysis to elaborate on the impact of the firm characteristics on price reversals. The main results seem to support the expiration-day effects, especially on stock index futures expiration days. The price behavior of stocks that are subject to program trading is shown to have price effects, abnormal return volatility, and large volumes during the last half hour of trading on the expiration day. Return reversals are also found in the KOSPI 200 index and stocks. However, there is no evidence of abnormal trading volume, or price reversals in the NON-KOSPI 200 index and stocks. The expiration-day effects are proportional to the size of stocks and the nearness to the settlement time. Since program trading is often said to be concentrated in high capitalization stocks, these results imply that the expiration-day effects seem to be associated with program trading and the settlement price determination procedure. In summary, the expiration-day effects in the Korean stock market do not exist in all stocks, but in large capitalization stocks belonging to the KOSPI 200 index. Additionally, the expiration-day effects in the Korean stock market are generally due, not to information, but to trading imbalances.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2014

Purpose: Vitamin D has been known to play an important role in the central nervous system and brain functions in the human body, and cumulative evidence has shown that vitamin D deficiency might be linked with various mental health conditions. Epidemiologic studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency may be associated with higher risk of depression in the US and European populations. However, limited information is available regarding the association between vitamin D status and depression in the Korean population. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between vitamin D levels and prevalence of depression. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using nationally representative data from the 2008-2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from which serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were available. A total of 18,735 adults who had available demographic, dietary, and lifestyle information were included in our analysis. We defined "depression" with a diagnosis by a physician. "Depressed condition" was defined as having feelings of sadness or depression without diagnosis by a physician. Results: The prevalence of depression was 1.63% and 5.43% in Korean men and women, respectively; 12.5% of men and 26.1% of women were defined as the group having depressed conditions. In multivariate logistic regression models, no significant associations were observed between vitamin D status and prevalence of depression or depressed conditions in Korean men and women. Conclusion: We found no association between vitamin D insufficiency and depression/depressed conditions in Korean adults. Future large prospective studies and randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm this relationship.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.551-567
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• 2018

Demographic and socio-structural information is useful to identify potential welfare recipients who are in need of disease-prevention and intervention services. Thus, the present study aims to explore the differences in grip strength among middle and old-aged adults by living conditions and by living area. The 5th wave data of Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging was utilized. The dependent variable was grip strength, and the independent variables were living alone (living alone or not) and living area (city or non-city). Covariates were age, education, log-transformed household income, spouse existence, body mass index, self-rated health conditions, depressive symptoms, cognitive function, smoking, regular exercise, frequency of meeting with friends, and the number of social participation. Regression analysis was performed for middle-aged men, middle-aged women, old-aged men, and old-aged women, respectively. ANOVA and Chi-test were additionally used to specifically discuss significant results. Cross-sectional weight was applied to all analyses. According to the results, living alone and living area did not have significant effects on grip strength among middle-aged men, old-aged men, and old-aged women. In middle-aged women, however, living alone and living area were significantly associated with grip strength. To be specific, middle-aged women who lived alone in rural areas had the lowest grip strength compared to other middle-aged women. Additional analysis showed that middle-aged women who lived alone in rural areas had risk factors, such as low education level, low income, or high depressive symptoms. It implies that middle-aged women living alone in rural areas may have physical health risks, so they might be in need of disease prevention. This study is meaningful in that it can provide reliable information on the latent welfare recipients by using representative panel data and applying weight values.

• Korean journal of health promotion
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.177-183
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• 2018

Background: Many studies have reported that adolescents living with single parent have a high risk of obesity. However, those studies did not explore the implication of the gender of single parent living with adolescents. This study investigated the differences in obesity rates according to status of co-residence with their parents in Korean adolescents. The family living with single parent was classified into the family living with single father and the family living with single mother. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 59,602 adolescents who participated in the 2017 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. The data on height, weight, status of co-residence with parents, and the other variables were obtained through online questionnaires. Results: In male adolescents, the family living with single mother was related to a high proportion of obesity (odds ratio [OR] 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.40) and overweight (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.03-1.34). However, in female adolescents, the family living with single father was related to a high proportion of obesity (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.23-1.82). In addition, female adolescents living with neither parent were more likely to be obese (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.13-1.91) and overweight (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.00-1.70). Conclusions: This study showed a risk of obesity in adolescents living with single parent differs according to the gender of single parent living with adolescents. Not adolescents living with a same-gender parent, but those living with an opposite-gender parent have a high risk of obesity.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.4 s.59
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• pp.669-685
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• 1997

Previous studies, reporting the inverse relationship between osteoarthritis and osteoporosis suggest the existence of possible pathophysiologic mechanisms between them. To examinine the hypothesis that 'bone mineral densities of women with osteoarthritis are significantly higher than that of women without osteoarthritis in Korea', subjects from the health and nutritional examination survey in Kuri city were sampled. Samples were selected through multi-stage sampling frame using established clusters in Kuri city. From August 18 to September 10,1997, the survey was conducted. Among the. total number of selected sample population (1,656 people), response .ate was 52.4 percent (348 men and 519 women). 420 women who took BMD measurement, radiologic exam, and anthropometric exam were selected for the analysis. The analytic results are as follows. 1. General characteristics: Mean BMD was $0.493g/cm^2$, mean age was 43.0, mean BMI was $23.9kg/m^2$. The number of women who experienced menopause was 106, hysterectomy was 19. There were 0 case of osteoarthritis of hip, 64 cases of osteoarthritis of knee, and 2 cases of osteoarthritis of hand. 2. Univariate analysis results: Mean BMD of women with the osteoarthritis of knee was significantly lower than that of women without the osteoarthritis of knee(0.4269 vs. $0.5057g/cm^2$). But, there were too few cases of osteoarthritis of hip and hand, so comparative studies of BMD in osteoarthritis of hip and hand could not be conducted. There were significant differences of BMD among pre-menopause group(0.5204), post-menopause group(0.4206), and hysterectomy group(0.4881). Additionally, there were significant differences of BMD among diabetes group(0.4297), impaired glucose tolerance group(0.4874), and normal group(0.5057). Furthermore, age, parity, BMI, bioimpedance were significantly related with BMD. 3. Multivariate analysis results: To examinine the relationship between osteoarthritis and BMD while controlling the other variables' effects which were significant in the univariate analyses, multiple linear regression analysis was done. But, it was found that osteoarthritis of knee was not a significant variable to BMD anymore. While age and menopause had significant negative relationship with BMD. Diabetes, parity, BMI, and bioimpedance did not have significant relationships with BMD. After stratification of subjects according to menopause, multiple linear regression analyses were done to each strata. Consequently, age in post-menopause group, age and osteoarthritis of knee in hysterectomy group showed significant negative relationship with BMD. The results did not support the many results of other previous studies done with white men and women. further studies of biological plausibility to Korean women are recommended. Also it is suggested that longitudinal study to verify the relationship between osteoarthritis and BMD will be valuable.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.1-14
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• 1973

This study is designed to meet the following objectives: (1) To study attitude and behavior regarding marriage and age at marriage, (2) To learn correlates of age at marriage and to examine their relations, (3) To measure relative importance of the correlates of age at marriage, and (4) To study relations of age at marriage and family planning practice to fertility and their relative importance as correlates of fertility. The data are obtained by an independent cross-sectional survey in three study areas purposively selected to represent metropolitan. semihuman. rural population. The study population is confined to women age 17-50 as of survey. The overall response rate is 90%. Reliability of data is measured by . individual and aggregate inconsistency based upon a 15% subsample of the original interviews. The individual inconsistency (31%) is found to be high compared to the aggregate inconsistency (6%) for all 85 variables. However, the magnitude of differences between means is small, and the mean absolute shifts and proportional shifts are also small on the whole. In a word respondents did not change their answers too extremely or radically. The study populations of each study area are compared on some basic characteristics. It is found that the three study populations have more dissimilarities than similarities. The findings on seven different attitudinal positions of women toward marriage indicate that there have been tremendous changes in all study areas Iron "traditional" attitudes which have been prevalent for a long time in Korean society to "liberalized" or "modernized" attitudes. An apparent tendency is that women generally take a position of a "golden mean" attitude by not preferring either extreme of marriage attitudes. Nevertheless, the young, single, educated, and urbanite appears more "liberalized. " There has been some increase in ideal age at marriage from 1958 to 1970 for both sexes. No age group, marital status, or study area differentials in ideal age at marriage are found, the average ideal age at marriage in every sub-group being 24-25. Awareness of existing legal marriageable ages is low; only 4.4% are aware that "with parental permission: minimum age for males is 18 years and for females 16 years,"and only 3.7% are aware that "without parental permission: 27 years for males and 23 years for females." People in Korra tend to marry spouses who are in various social ways like themselves: the similarities include (a) education, occupational status of father, (c) economic status, (d) usual residence before marriage, and (e) religion. Both singulars and actual mean ages at marriage in this study confirm the trend of rising age at marriage previously established by other independent studies. The urban-rural differential in age at marriage is observed, but the differential narrows down gradually from 1935 to 1970. All socio-economic, demographic, and other variables pertaining to wife before and at first marriage, excluding (a) religion, (b) father′s of occupation, and (c) as: of menarche, are correlated with respondent's age at first marriage, whereas only three variables out of all socio-economic variables relating to husband before and at wife′s first marriage, viz., (a) education, (b) usual residence, and (c) economic level of his old home, are correlated with respondent′s age at marriage. Among socio-economic and modernity variables related to either husband or wife at the time of survey, only education and duration of residence are correlated with wife′s age at first marriage. Among the correlates of respondent′age at first marriage, education is in general the most important variable. However, it is found that wife′s education is more important than husband′s. The combined effects or the correlates studied explain no more than about 40% of variance for any of the selected groups of variables. Points which might counteract the effects of late marriage on fertility are not serious in Korea. For each of the correlates of the three fertility indices chosen for this study. namely, (a) number of living children, (b) number of live births, and (c) number of pregnancies, age at marriage is the major contributor to the variance in all age groups except the age group of 20-29 in which the index of family planning practice is the major contributor. The proportion of variability in fertility indices accounted for by the correlates is never more than 40% of the total variance in any age group. Based upon the findings from this study, it could be concluded that in the foreseeable future (a) celibate group will no! be increased to a point that would slow down population growth rate in Korea, (b) age at marriage will not increase continually, (c) although education stands out as the major contributing variable which independently explains the variation in age at marriage, it seems probable that education may not be the major variable in the near future, and (d) despite the fact found by this study that age at marriages has been the major contributor to the variance of each of the fertility indices used, family planning practice will play a more important role in the reduction of fertility in the Korean society. Therefore, factors interrupting practice of family planning must be eliminated and family planning program should be strengthened if further fertility reduction is needed.