• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was to explore situations that might put the middle-aged Korean-Chinese female migrant workers at risk for work-related musculoskeletal diseases (WMSDs). At the development phase of a continuing health project, the study aimed to clarify health promotion program needs of the migrant population. Methods: A qualitative description research design was used with three focus groups of 23 Korean-Chinese female migrant workers. Each focus group interview was conducted for 70-minutes using semi-structured interview guidelines. The data were analyzed using directed qualitative content analysis techniques. Results: The majority of the participants were household workers and their work included heavy material handling, standing for a long time, and working in awkward postures. They experienced discrimination from employers, lack of control at work, limitations in open-communication, job insecurity, and acculturation. They had needs to have health promotion programs for preventing and managing chronic diseases, depression and menopause as well as WMSDs. Conclusion: The participants were situated in work environments with physical demanding tasks, acculturative and job-related stress and lack of opportunities to participate in health promotion programs. It is suggested to develop a comprehensive program to better meet the needs of middle-aged Korean-Chinese female migrant workers rather than targeting the reduction of WMSDs.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2014

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important cause of occupational mortality in miners exposed to coal mine dust. Although the inflammatory mediators involved in COPD have not been defined, many studies have shown that inflammatory mediators such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species are involved in orchestrating the complex inflammatory process in COPD. Methods: To investigate the relevance of exhaled biomarkers of oxidative and nitrosative stress in participants with COPD, we determined the levels of hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde (MDA), and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in 90 retired elderly coal miners (53 non-COPD and 37 COPD participants). Results: Mean levels of MDA (4.64 nMvs. 6.46 nM, p = 0.005) and 3-NT (3.51 nMvs. 5.50 nM, p = 0.039) in EBC were significantly higher in participants with COPD. The median level of MDA did show statistical difference among the COPD severities (p = 0.017), and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve forMDA (0.67) for the diagnostic discrimination of COPD indicated the biomarker. The optimal cutoff values were 5.34 nM (64.9% sensitivity and 64.2% specificity) and 5.58 nM (62.2% sensitivity and 62.3% specificity) forMDA and 3-NT, respectively. The results suggest that high levels ofMDA and 3-NT in EBC are associated with COPD in retired elderly miners. Conclusion: These results showed that the elevated levels of EBC MDA and EBC 3-NT in individuals with COPD are biomarkers of oxidative or nitrosative stress.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.281-306
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• 2014

This paper explores the how the disability type, severeness and economic activeness affects marital satisfaction, and seeks to improve marital satisfaction among disabled by clarifying mediating effects of discriminatory experiences in everyday experiences. This research was done with 3,463 married disabled who were prone to everyday discrimination, among whom were enrolled in research database of Employment Development Institute of Korea Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled. The research showed positive effects between marital satisfaction and everyday discriminatory experience except for unemployed people and severe among all the disabled type (external disability, sensory disability, mental disability, internal disability), disability severeness (severe and light), and economic activeness (paid workers, self-employed, home-worker, unemployed, not economically active). Also, relationship between disability type, severeness, economical activeness and marital satisfaction was partly mediated through everyday discriminatory experiences. Therefore, active movements to reduce everyday discrimination are strongly advised.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.82
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• pp.275-309
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• 2024

This study examines artists' acts of resistance in the turbulent social climate of the 1960s and beyond, and considers the meaning of these documents in a contemporary context. It focuses on the Art Workers' Coalition, organised in 1969 by artists, writers, filmmakers and critics. Art Workers' Coalition demanded basic rights for artists in the art world and challenged war, discrimination, and injustice in society at large. Not only did they actively intervene in the structural problems of society through collective actions, protests, and statements, as seen in other acts of resistance, but they also expanded their reach through the medium of art. Studies of the Art Workers' Coalition, which can be considered as activist art of the late 1960s, have mainly chronicled their actions in the context of art history, without paying particular attention to the nature and value of the documentation produced in the process of resistance. However, the archives of Art Workers' Coalition have an informational and evidential value, which is a key value of archives, as they provide information not only about the activities of the organisation, but also about the activities of the individuals who comprised the unions, their intricate connections, and the social climate. In addition to the basic function of proving the activities of a group of artists, the archives of Art Workers' Coalition are also significant as a medium for providing information on people and events that have been marginalised in mainstream studies of artworks and artists, and for incorporating them into historical memory. Therefore, this study aims to identify the current status of Art Workers' Coalition-related archives as a medium to prove the activities of artists of the time, and to propose a different way of reading history through the contextual information of archives.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2009

Whole body counters (WBCs) are used to monitor radiation workers for internal contamination of radionuclides at domestic nuclear power plants (NPPs). A WBC is a scintillation detector using sodium iodide (NaI) and provides the identification of inhaled radionuclide and the measurement of its internal radioactivity in a short time. However, it is often possible to estimate external contamination as internal contamination due to radionuclides attached to the skin of radiation workers and this leads to an excessively conservative estimation of radioactive contamination. In this study, several experiments using a WBC and the Korean humanoid phantom were performed to suggest the more systematic method of discrimination between external and internal contamination. Furthermore, a WBC geometry experiment was conducted to suggest the optimal WBC geometry in consideration of deposited areas inside the body for dominant radionuclides at NPPs. The procedure of measurement and estimation of internal radioactivity for radiation workers at NPPs was improved on the basis of experimental results. Thus, it is expected to prevent from estimating internal exposure dose conservatively owing to the application of accurate whole body counting program to NPPs.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.302-314
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• 2024

Purpose: This study proposes a fall detection model based on a top-down deep learning pose estimation model to automatically determine falls of multiple workers in an underground utility tunnel, and evaluates the performance of the proposed model. Method: A model is presented that combines fall discrimination rules with the results inferred from YOLOv8-pose, one of the top-down pose estimation models, and metrics of the model are evaluated for images of standing and falling two or fewer workers in the tunnel. The same process is also conducted for a bottom-up type of pose estimation model (OpenPose). In addition, due to dependency of the falling interference of the models on worker detection by YOLOv8-pose and OpenPose, metrics of the models for fall was not only investigated, but also for person. Result: For worker detection, both YOLOv8-pose and OpenPose models have F1-score of 0.88 and 0.71, respectively. However, for fall detection, the metrics were deteriorated to 0.71 and 0.23. The results of the OpenPose based model were due to partially detected worker body, and detected workers but fail to part them correctly. Conclusion: Use of top-down type of pose estimation models would be more effective way to detect fall of workers in the underground utility tunnel, with respect to joint recognition and partition between workers.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.137-154
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• 2013

In an ever-tougher competitive environment caused by globalization, domestic companies are increasingly adopting business strategies aimed at continuously securing competitive advantage by taking advantage of globally-competitive foreign professionals. Despite a persistent rise of such trend, domestic researches regard migrant workers as the socially underprivileged, and delve into the issue of migrant workers from the policy, welfare, and ethical perspectives. With a growing need to deal with migrant professionals from the strategic viewpoint - to acquire professional talent in an era of global competition, it becomes essential to verify the real effectiveness of migrant professionals. Yet, there has been relatively little discussion of it. This study assumes that based on th137e integration-learning perspective on diversity, the greater the number of foreign professionals, the greater the effect on organizational innovative performance. Also could be effective in managing diversity is diversity-friendly HRM which involves eliminating discrimination against migrant professional workers and treating them fairly. Based on the data collected from 72 domestic companies, this study conducted an empirical analysis of the impact of the percentage of foreign professionals in the total workforce on organizational innovative performance and of the moderating role of diversity-friendly HRM. The results show that the proportion of foreign professionals in the entire workforce has had no significant impact on organizational innovative performance, and that the proportion of foreign professionals in the total workforce and diversity-friendly HRM have had a interaction effect on organizational innovative performance. Based on these research results, the study attempted to interpret the significance of the proportion that migrant professionals make up of the total workforce and of diversity-friendly HRM in relation to organizational innovative performance, and their implications for diversity management.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.85-111
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• 2018

This study examines the puzzle of institutional change of irregular worker protection system in Korea through a theory of incremental institutional change. It is the case of "conversion" mode of institutional change that occurs when ambiguous rules permit reinterpretations of rules and regulations for converting functions of institutions into new ones without formal revision. Management sectors with enforcement power have circumvented main rules of high discretion since 2007. In institutional dimension, the extent of irregular workers and the provisions of limit on employment-period and prohibition-correction on discrimination lack sufficient details. In political context, veto possibilities have been downward. Irregular workers were hardly organized independently and two labor union federations mainly composed of regular workers were less receptive to them. Veto possibilities in legislation were also low: the Economic and Social Development Commission ended up in weak labor representation and labor parties in the National Assembly have undergone dissolution.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.439-448
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting the pros and cons of 'Jol-hon' among workers. For this purpose, 288 workers were surveyed in Chungnam area. The main result are as follows. First, there were positively significant correlation among a hope, growth mindset, and organizational communication. Second, according to the discrimination analysis, the lower the age, the unmarried, the lower the hope, and the lower the organizational communication, the more favorable the 'Jol-hon'. In the case of married persons, there was no difference between the groups favoring and rejecting 'Jol-hon'. In the case of unmarried people, the lower the organizational communication, the more favorable the 'Jol-hon'. Finally, this study will present the theoretical basis for studying 'Jol-hon' in the future and suggest the policy implications to solve middle and senior couple problems.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.89-117
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• 2014

Employing female in the field of science and engineering is becoming increasingly important with diversity and creativity emerging as key factors to build Creative Economy. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to recognize and discourage gender discrimination in the labor market by analyzing wages - the market value of labor which determines one's economic status. This study uses the Oaxaca-Ransom decomposition (1994) to analyze the gender wage gap and identify factors influencing the pay gap in science and engineering labor force. The results of this study are as follows: First, the average wage of female scientists and engineers reaches only 65% of that of male labor force, and the male scientist and engineers are superior in terms of personal attributes, for instance, education background. Second, looking at the factors that influence wages, wage premiums are associated with higher education background, older age, longer period of service, and weekly working hours for both male and female in managerial positions. Third, the wage decomposition shows that in the case of science and engineering labor force, the productivity difference by personal attributes reaches about 58%, and gender discrimination by the characteristics of the labor market stands at about 41%. This means the wage gap by productivity level in science and engineering labor force is wider, and the gender gap is smaller compared to non-science and engineering fields. However, the results of an analysis on specialties and education background of male and female scientists and engineers suggest that the discrimination against women is more serious when the percentage of the female labor force is low and the percentage of temporary workers in the labor market is high. In order to eliminate this discrimination, it is necessary to reduce the imbalance of female scientists and engineers in the labor market, among others, while female scientists and engineers, themselves, need to make continuous efforts to strengthen their capabilities.