• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.84-92
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• 2019

The deterioration of the urban heat environment due to climate change and the occurrence of heat-related diseases have emerged as one of the major social problems. This has led to more research on climate change, including heat waves, but it is mainly focused on climate factors. However, the urban heat island phenomenon accelerates the summer heat wave, and the increasing trend of heat-related patients in urban areas suggests the impact of the city's environment. Thus, this study analyzed the effects of physical and social characteristics of urban areas on heat-related patients in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The analysis showed that the ratio of the total area of residential, commercial and industrial facilities, the main source of heat energy locality, among the land use statuses, was not statistically significant, but the road area and the green area were found to have a positive and negative The population density and the percentage of people aged 65 or older, the percentage of people living alone and the proportion of people receiving basic living were all shown to be significant, with only the ratio of elderly living alone and the ratio of population density having negative effects. The results of the study can be used to develop urban policy alternatives related to local warming patients.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.303-315
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• 2008

- Abstract - Objectives: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depression and identify its related factors among an urban elderly. Methods: The data for this study were obtained from 333 men and 514 women, aged 65-79 years who participated in '2007 community health survey' in Donggu, Gwangju metropolitan city. Their depressive symptoms were measured by Korean version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). Results: The mean CES-D score (mean±S.D) for all subjects was 7.68±0.31. The mean CES-D score was significantly greater in the women (9.09±0.43) than in the men (5.51±0.39) (p<0.001). The prevalence rates of possible depression (CES-D score ≥16), probable depression (CES-D score≥21), and definite depression (CES-D score≥25) were 8.1%, 5.4%, and 3.9% in men, respectively. The prevalence rates of possible depression, probable depression, and definite depression were 19.5%, 11.1%, and 7.2% in women, respectively. Existence of spouse (no/yes), education level (no/high school or higher), health security system (medical aid/national health insurance), self-reported health status (poor/good), vascular risk factors (present/absent) proved to be statistically significant related factors of depression. Conclusions: This study suggests that a systematic effort and attention to support for elderly people living alone, low educational level, medical aid, poor self-reported health status and vascular risk factors should be promoted to reduce the incidence of depression.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.88-96
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• 2020

The rate of admission to facilities for people with developmental disabilities in Korea is very high for other types of disabilities. Therefore, 'community care', which supports life in the community for people with developmental disabilities, is very important compared to other types of disabilities. However, in Korea, families with disabilities are the problem of care and are appealing for the burden of support. This study analyzed practical cases through welfare institutional visits and interviews on support for community independence in Japan. As a result of the study, the transition of people with developmental disabilities to communities in Japan was centered on group home. The private sector is providing support for people with severe disabilities in group home to live in communities, and Sapporo City Hall is conducting private connections to solve the problem of caring for the developmentally disabled elderly parents. Accordingly, as Korean policy recommendations, it is proposed to expand group home, switch functions of living facilities for the disabled, cope with the problem of caring for the disabled by elderly parents, and provide preventive services through surveys on the actual condition of adults living alone. As practical suggestions, it is necessary to develop and distribute educational textbooks such as pictures to improve daily life skills for self-reliance, expand sufficient manpower and facilities in vocational training for self-reliance, and operate shelters for adults with developmental disabilities and their guardians.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.506-515
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with the levels of depression of the elderly (living in urban areas). Interviews were performed during the period from July 1, 2015 to August 31, 2015 of 386 elderly people in urban areas. The mean score of depressive symptoms was significantly higher in the subjects of higher age, lower educational level, living alone, having a lower monthly income, relying on government subsidy for their living expenses, having a chronic illness, lower state of subjective health, without regular exercise, poorer subjective sleeping time, lower frequency of going out, irregular eating habits, depending on some level of help for their ADL and IADL, and having lower self-esteem and social support. The depressive symptoms showed a meaningful positive correlation with ADL and IADL and a negative correlation with self-esteem and social support. On multiple regression analysis, the meaningful variables related to their depressive symptoms were their education, monthly income, subjective health status, ADL, self-esteem, and social support. Also, according to the variables was 54.1% of depressive symptoms. Therefore, it is considered that the practice of physical and mental health care, as well as social support, is required to reduce the level of depression in the elderly.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.185-193
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• 2012

This study conducted surveys of 88 eldery people over 100 years in Gyeongnam on April to June, 2011 during 90 days. It was intended to find the factors of longevity, Activity Daily of Living (ADL), and Instrumental Activity Daily of Living (IADL). Major results of this study were as follows: The factors of longevity are getting enough sleep over than seven hours(95.5%), taking in less salty food (69.8%), optimism without even thinking about suicide (86.9%), nonsmoking habit (92%), and moderation in drink (86.4%). The most difficult part of Activity Daily of Living (ADL) is taking a bath, and that of Instrumental Activity Daily of Living (IADL) is taking a bus or subway alone. All items of ADL and IADL, female was higher than the male, but not statistically significant(p<0.05). Therefore, further study is expected to develop the supplementary policy to support the elderly people with declining to carry out physical activities. It is also expected to develop the public welfare programs and policies for the aged, allowing them to take responsibility and to participate as a member of the society.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Industrial Systems Conference
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• 2007.02a
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• pp.87-96
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• 2007

Ubiquitous is a Latin-derived word meaning "to exist at any time and place" like water or air. In computing, the word "ubiquitous" indicates an environment in which users have access to networks without any limitation regarding computer networks or places. Important issues in building Ubiquitous Korea (U-Korea) are the social problems appearing with a rapid increase in the old age population. Nowadays, with the rise of the nuclear family, the increase in the number of elderly people living alone, and the change in the status of women, both wives and husbands are employed outside the home, and the relatives who would be responsible for supporting the elderly sometimes are on long or short business trips, and it happens that old people can't be looked after. Therefore the government developed a wireless paging system for the sick, disabled, old and weak so that when an emergency happens, by just simply dialing 119, an emergency aid center could take prompt action. However, the present wireless paging systems composing the under-layer of the emergency aid information system have some problems, such as, a lack of reliability, problems among terminals, mobile transmitters and receiving terminals, the users' refusal to admit the need for the system and poor operational skills, administrators' perfunctory management and checks, etc. On account of these problems, the system efficiency has degraded and therefore a system upgrade is necessary. In this paper, we attempt to evaluate the newly implemented SAFE119 system, a new wireless paging system seeking to correct the problems of the current system.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.412-419
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• 2016

Objective: Because the number of geriatric cancer patients is on the rise but information on treatments for this population is limited, this study aimed to analyze clinical characteristics and the factors that influence treatment decisions among elderly cancer patients.Method: Data on elderly cancer patients (≥65 years of age) who were admitted to a traditional Korean medicine hospital from March 2014 to February 2016 were collected. We compared the clinical characteristics and overall survival rates of the chemotherapy group and the non-chemotherapy group.Results: Nineteen patients were included in this study. Nine people received chemotherapy, and ten people did not receive chemotherapy due to concerns about quality of life. Age, activities of daily living (ADL) score, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status all showed differences between the two groups, although median survival times did not differ significantly between the two. Compared with chemotherapy alone, traditional Korean medicine combined with chemotherapy prolonged median survival times.Conclusion: Old age and low ECOG performance status and ADL scores appear to be influential factors for the decision to undergo chemotherapy. Further studies are needed to confirm that these factors influence decisions about cancer treatment methods among geriatric cancer patients.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.10a
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• pp.370-372
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• 2021

According to the Clinical Research Center for Dementia, 840,000 Koreans aged 65 or older had dementia patients, with a prevalence rate of 10.39%. The prevalence rate is one in 10 elderly people, but difficult for families to take care of them all day. Judged that possible to manage the conditions and schedules of elderly people living alone by utilizing AI speaker system where schedule management is stored. This paper implements modules for AI schedulers in patients with dementia. Configured to link AWS, a remote IOT, inside the raspberry pi, and to output the schedule to speakers using a calendar from Google API. Through this study, judged that ease of scheduling will help manage and schedule dementia patients.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.526-535
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• 2017

This study was conducted to identify the effects of a comprehensive health care program for elderly living alone on blood pressure, fasting glucose, body composition, and depression at a senior welfare center in M city. The study employed a one-group, pre-posttest design. The comprehensive health care program lasted for three months, from March to June in 2015, and consisted of open health education, exercise class, health consulting and personal education, nutritional consultation, and a self-support group. The sample elements of this study were individuals over 65-years-old with hypertension or diabetes mellitus, living near a welfare center in M city. A total of 34 participants were initially selected, but five subjects who were attended less than five times were excluded; therefore, a total of 29 individuals were included. The t-test and Pearson's correlation were used to analyze the data. The characteristics of subjects were 19 male(65.52%) and 10 female(34.48%). The most common age was 70 (16 subjects;55.17%). Additionally, 14 subjects were suffering from hypertension and diabetes mellitus (48.27%), which were occupied in the largest number in this study. The average attendance number of health programs was 10.28 times(${\pm}4.17$). In this study of subjects were significantly lower systolic blood pressure(t=3.275, p=0.004), body weight(t=3.878, p=0.001), depression(t=3.308, p=0.004) compared to pre-test. As the elderly population has increased, the number of individuals living alone has also increased. Accordingly, then need for physical and psycho-social health programs targeting the elderly is greater.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.4493-4501
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• 2011

This study was performed to determine the levels of MMSE-K among the elderly people affiliated with long-term care insurance services in rural areas, and to reveal its association with related variables. The interviews were performed, during the period from March 1st, to May 31th, 2009, to 410 elderlies in rural areas. As a results, The prevalence of cognitive functions among all subjects were 80.5% of severe cognitive impairment, 11.7% of mild cognitive impairment, and 7.8% of normal. The prevalence of cognitive functions were lower according to the higher grade of long-term care insurance. And the prevalence of cognitive functions were lower in the group of lower educational level, unemployed, live alone, lower monthly income, bear for living expenses by sons and daughters and medical aid, lower visual acuity, with urinary incontinence, with amnesia, without regular exercise and lower frequency of going out than their respective counterparts. The hierarchial multiple regression analysis was used to reveal the explanatory powers of factors influencing on the cognitive functions level. Such factors as age, bear for living expenses, visual acuity, urinary incontinence, amnesia, regular exercise and grade of long-term care services were significantly influenced with cognitive functions. especially the factors of health status were significantly influenced with cognitive functions.