• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.11-18
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• 2019

It is widely known that agricultural plastic waste incineration by farmers may cause big forest fire or fine dust in rural areas. Hence, how to increase the rate of collection and recycling of the agricultural plastic waste is of concern to policy makers especially for rural environment. The purpose of this study is to find the determinants of the collection rate of agricultural plastic waste. This study used the data from 'Research on Agricultural Waste' by the Korea Environment Corporation from year 2012 to 2015 for 163 regions. This study found that the compensation rate for collection, the frequency of collecting services, and the quality of waste are important to increase the collection rate. And the regions with more elderly and low income people are more likely to have higher collection rate. Finally, the chief producing regions that are specialized in a certain crop shows higher collection rate.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 2018

Background: In recent years, the interest in health and safety in the workplace has increased. Agriculture is one of the human work activities with the highest risk indexes. Studies on risk perception of agricultural workers are often referred to as specific risk factors (especially pesticides), but the risk perception plays an important role in preventing every kind of accident and occupational disease. Methods: The aim of this research is to test a new method for understanding the relation between risk perception among farmers and the main risk factors to which they are exposed. A secondary aim is to investigate the influence of training in risk perception in agriculture. The data collection was realized using a questionnaire designed to investigate the risk perception; the questionnaire was given to a sample of 119 agricultural workers in central Italy. Through the use of the "principal components analysis" it was possible to highlight and verify the latent dimensions underlying the collected data in comparison with scales of attitudes. Results: Results show that the highest percentage of strong negative attitude is among the people who have worked for more years, while farmers who have worked for fewer years have a marked positive attitude. Conclusion: The analysis of the questionnaires through the synthetic index method (Rizzi index) showed that agricultural workers involved, in particular the elderly workers, have a negative attitude towards safety; workers are hostile to safety measures if they have not attended special training courses.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.42-55
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• 2011

The basic approach of this study was to take the theory of cultural fluctuations to investigate the early modern and modern patterns of the use of ox carts and@ the social and economic appropriateness and cultural significance of ox carts. The study chose a village that was the only place that used ox carts in Bugye-myeon. The findings will help to understand how traditional cultural elements would continue or change according to the natural, geographical, economical, and cultural characteristics of a village. Located in Gaho-2-ri, Bugye-myeon, Gunwi-gun, Gyeongbuk Province, Dongrim Village started to use ox carts during the Japanese rule and replaced the traditional version with an improved one in 1972 when a reservoir was built. Until the 1970s, they used ox carts to carry agricultural products and luggage and to visit the markets in distant Bugye-myeon or Gunwi-eup. In the early 1980s when a cultivator was first introduced into the village, ox carts gradually disappeared in the village and eventually remained as a mere means of transportation. As the younger generations were active in introducing modern means of transportation, a cultivator became the main means of transportation in the village in the 1980s and a truck since the latter half of the 1990s. Despite those changes, however, the elderly in their seventies or older continued to use ox carts. With aged labor and inability to use modern means of transportation, they grew cows and oxen to cultivate the inclined fields and gain easy access to fields distributed in distant locations and continued to ox carts through reform. In Dongrim Village, the heritage of using reformed ox carts is the practice of appropriate technology by the old farmers and a cultural representation of an aged agricultural society. That is, the elderly recognized the appropriateness and practicality of traditional culture and renewed a traditional means of transportation called an ox cart. The phenomenon of the old men and women frequently using ox carts in an agricultural village in the mountain with geographical limitations has settled down as a cultural representation of the elderly in Dongrim Village. The continuing usage of ox carts in Dongrim Village is attributed to the fact that ox carts well suit the natural, geographical, and economic aspects of the village and the cultural inertia of the elderly with the aging of the farmers. Thus it is once again shown that human beings transmit and alter culture according to their overall situations and conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.93-105
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• 2020

This study is an experimental study that examines the policy attributes that local governments should choose to manage the quality of life of rural residents. The analysis data used raw materials for the survey of the welfare status of farmers and fishermen surveyed by the Rural Development Administration. The analysis method used Quantile Regression. The policy attributes of public services were interpreted on the basis of Peterson (1981)'s theory of policy types and the discussion of Holland (2015). According to the analysis results, the higher the quality of life, the greater the importance of the relationship between the safety sector and the neighbors. The effective policy attributes for improving quality of life in rural areas are the policies of local governments where policy benefits can directly go to individuals, or lead to social improvement. It shows that the higher the level of safety and the quality of life of our neighbors, the greater its importance.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.759-765
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• 2023

Owing to the increase in the elderly population at aquaculture farm and decrease in the number of aquaculture farmers, the need to improve aquaculture production system is increasing. In addition, asvirtual interactions become new normal after COVID-19 pandemic, the speed at which science and technology such as the internet of things (IoT), information and communications technology (ICT), and artificial intelligence (AI) are applied to each field is accelerating. Efforts are being made to enhance the quality of life of aquaculture farmer and competitiveness of the aquaculture industry by incorporating digital technology. This study analyzed national and global aquaculture technology development and policy trends, smart aquaculture terminology application scenarios, and prior research cases to propose smart aquaculture industrialization models and technology development directions considering technology, economy, and environment. This study can also provide valuable reference for promoting smart and efficient development of aquaculture.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.304-310
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• 2023

With the development of information and communication technology, modern people are receiving various benefits, and knowledge and use of information and communication technology are becoming essential qualities in modern people's lives. There are people who do not enjoy the rich benefits of this information and communication society, and the so-called 'digital divide' acts as an obstacle that prevents the information and communication from enjoying a rich life. Currently, there are four major information underprivileged classes in Korea, the disabled, the elderly, low-income class and farmers and fishermen, respectively. The purpose of this study is to identify the current status of the digital divide for the low-income class and to analyze the causes of the digital divide. To this end, in this study, we analyze statistics on digital divide at the national level and analyzed the digital divide of low-income class from three perspectives: information access, information capability, and information use. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the lack of information capability was the biggest cause of the digital divide, and in particular, information management ability was the most insufficient among information capabilities.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2024

Objectives: Presenteeism is known to be a much more economically damaging social cost than disease rest while going to work despite physical pain. Since COVID-19, social discussions on the sickness benefit have been taking place as a countermeasure against presenteeism, and in particular, farmers and fishermen do not have an institutional mechanism for livelihood support when a disease other than work occurs. This study attempted to examine the relationship between agricultural, fishing, and forestry workers and presenteeism using the 6th Korean Work Conditions Survey. Methods: From October 2020 to January 2021, data from the 6th working conditions survey conducted on 17 cities and provinces in Korea were used, and a total of 34,981 people were studied. Control variables were gender, age, self-health assessment, education level, night work, shift work, monthly income, occupation, working hours per week, and employment status. Results: As a result of the analysis, farmers and fishermen showed the characteristics of the self-employed and the elderly, and as a result of the regression analysis, when farmers and fishermen analyzed the relationship with presenteeism tendency compared to other industry workers, farmers and fishermen increased by 23% compared to other industry groups. Conclusion: This study is significant in that it has representation by utilizing the 6th working conditions survey and objectively suggests the need for a sickness benefit for farmers and fishermen who may be overlooked in the sickness benefit.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2024

Objectives : This study aims to explore the prevalence of depressive symptoms among elderly residents in the relatively stable rural areas of Jeju and to examine the relationships between levels of depression, sociodemographic factors, and health habits. Methods : The study site was within rural Jeju, where elderly individuals aged 65 and older were randomly selected from the 'Agricultural Cohort' registered at the Centers for Farmers' Safety and Health Center. Trained interviewers conducted surveys using the Short Form Geriatric Depression Scale (sGDS-K), defining those with scores of 6 or above as experiencing depressive symptoms for the analysis. Other variables such as sex, age, educational level, marital status, annual income, subjective health status, underlying disease, perceived stress levels, smoking, and drinking status were also recorded Results : Out of 533 subjects, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 35.3%, with 28.5% in male and 45.6% in female (p<0.001). Factors significantly associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms included marital status (p=0.014), educational level (p<0.001), annual income (p=0.034), subjective health status (p<0.001), perceived stress level (p<0.001), feeling of despair (p<0.001) and suicidal ideas (p<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that subjective health status, perceived stress level, and feelings of despair were associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms. Conclusions : The high prevalence of depressive symptoms among the rural elderly in Jeju highlights the need for targeted mental health interventions. Addressing sociocultural factors and improving early detection and intervention strategies can help reduce the socioeconomic impact of depression in this population.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 1997

This study was carried out to reveal the status of health examination among farmers and to attract more attention to the health care system for farmers. Ten pre-trained medical students interviewed the rural residents 18 years of age and older in eight villages which were randomly selected from a county near Taegu city in Korea, in August 1996. Finally 751 persons were interviewed of whom the percentages of male and female were 41.8%, 58.2% respectively. Among the subjects, 361(48.3%) were fully engaged in farming, 184(24.4%) were partly engaged, and the remaining 206(27.3%) were not engaged in farming at all. The overall prevalence of farmer's disease was 23.0% and there was no significant difference between the group of fully engaged in farming(23.3%) and the group of not-fully engaged(22.9%). But the prevalence of farmer's disease in female subjects(27.8%) was significantly higher than that in male(16.2%)(p<0.01). Among the 288 farmer engaged in spraying pesticide, 113(39.2%) had experienced one or more pesticide related symptoms during last one year, but only 18(15.9%) of them had visited medical facilities due to their symptoms. The experience of receiving education about pesticide was significantly correlated with the degree of wearing protectors during pesticide spraying(p<0.001). Among the 736 persons excluding non-respondents, 281(38.2%) received health examination during last one year ; 176(62.6%) of them received free health examination, and 105(37.4%) received charged one. Among the 533 persons 40 years age and older, only 124(23.3%) had received the 'health examination for the elderly' during last one year, which is provided for the 40 years age and older by Korea medical insurance corporation and medical insurance societies. Most of all beneficiaries of self-employed medical insurance thought the imposed contributions as very expensive(77.4%) or moderately expensive(13.2%). The great majority of farmers are exposed to various health risk factors including pesticide, high temperature, overwork etc. comparable to industrial workers. But farmers are excluded from the regular yearly worker's health examination because of not belonging to a company despite they pay relatively more medical insurance contributions compared with the industrial workers and the urban self-employed medical insureds. It is necessary to develop special health management program for farmers such as the special health examination for the industrial workers exposed harmful agents.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.27 no.spc
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• pp.703-714
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• 2016

Dwelling environments that can help elderly farmers to live more safely, independently, and conveniently are becoming more and more important. Many rural houses are built without any particular architectural or energy-related criteria, so most of them have poor insulation. The construction technology used is also not precise, which increases the loads for heating and cooling. Therefore, rural houses need to be improved. Also, there is more and more need for plans to realize eco-friendly dwellings, so the principle of nature-oriented plans related to the direction, insulation, or landscaping of a house is being emphasized. Insulation is one of the most effective ways to save energy for heating and cooling. This preliminary study to improve the insulation of rural houses examined three regions in South Korea: the central region, the southern region, and the Jeju Island. A field investigation was conducted on a total of 18 houses, including six from each town in the selected regions. The information was used to figure out the current status of rural houses and the characteristics of the buildings. The main living spaces are the living room for the central region and the main room in the southern region and Jeju Island. The southern regions are plane shapes surrounded by rooms, and all ventilation is accomplished by windows. The studied houses were mostly masonry structures with slate rooftops. Additions and improvements included room expansions and bathroom interior installations.