• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2D
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• pp.209-216
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• 2009

This study was conducted to develop a thin paving technique using polymer epoxy resin materials which is considered as a durable pavement materials. The mechanical performance characteristics of the polymer epoxy resin materials were also evaluated to confirm the validity as a pavement materials. To estimate the performance properties of the materials, bending tests and bonding tests were performed using freeze-thaw and ultra-violet rays to accelerate the aging of materials. In addition, HYUNStay, a commercial structural analysis program for cable-stayed bridges, was used to compare the effect of paving materials between the polymer epoxy resin materials and the conventional ones on the reduction of cable tension and on the stability of the main tower. According to the test results, it is noted that the thin paving technique using polymer epoxy resin materials can improve the performance and durability of pavement compared to the conventional one.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1D
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• pp.29-34
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• 2008

The Korean society has been changed to the aging one. The number of elderly people has been in creasing rapidly. For their social and economic activity, more convenient transport services have to be offered. Specifically, increasing mobility is one of the most urgent policies for them. One action of the policy in Seoul has introduced low floor buses since 2003. This paper shows how low floor buses affect on passengers' boarding and alighting time through the field survey. In the analysis of the survey results it has been found that the low floor buses can reduce average boarding time by 0.8 sec, especially, by 1.1 sec (about 36%) for elderly passengers. These outcomes expect total bus operating hours as well as headways could be reduced, and operating cost and passengers' waiting time could be saved.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4A
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• pp.587-596
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• 2006

A half portion of Korean railway bridges depends on the type of steel plate girder bridge. Since these bridges have been built in the early stage of Korean economical boom, numerous maintenance effort suffers from aging and progressive degradation issues at present. In accordance with these efforts, this paper would like to address the detailed analyses of thin steel plates with bolts in order to simulate the connection regions of steel plate girder bridge. The fundamental modal analysis, transient dynamic analysis with 3D piezoelectric element in open circuit loop and signal process with aids of TOF(time of flight) and WC(wavelet coefficient) are extensively discussed.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1025-1041
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a web-based senescence preparation program for the provision of information and education on aging. A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The subjects were 70 middle-aged adults (experimental group: 36, control group: 34) living in Daegu city. The experimental group participated in a web-based senescence preparation program for 10 weeks, where 10 subjects were covered (5 physical, 3 mental/psychological, and 2 social/environmental). As compared to the control group, the knowledge of the experimental group increased significantly, and there was a significant change in their attitudes toward the elderly and old age plans. These results suggest that a web-based senescence preparation program can predict people's old age and help in their preparation. Further, this program is expected to offer individualized learning opportunities to many learners in various settings.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2024

Faced with aging populations, declining resources, and limited agricultural productivity, rural areas in South Korea require innovative solutions. This study investigated the potential of drone-based vegetation indices (VIs) to analyze soybean growth patterns in open-field smart agriculture in Goesan-gun, Chungbuk Province, South Korea. We monitored multi-seasonal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference red edge (NDRE) data for three soybean lots with different irrigation methods (subsurface drainage, conventional, subsurface drip irrigation) using drone remote sensing. Combining NDVI (photosynthetically active biomass, PAB) and NDRE (chlorophyll) offered a comprehensive analysis of soybean growth, capturing both overall health and stress responses. Our analysis revealed distinct growth patterns for each lot. LotA(subsurface drainage) displayed early vigor and efficient resource utilization (peaking at NDVI 0.971 and NDRE 0.686), likely due to the drainage system. Lot B (conventional cultivation) showed slower growth and potential limitations (peaking at NDVI 0.963 and NDRE 0.681), suggesting resource constraints or stress. Lot C (subsurface drip irrigation) exhibited rapid initial growth but faced later resource limitations(peaking at NDVI 0.970 and NDRE 0.695). By monitoring NDVI and NDRE variations, farmers can gain valuable insights to optimize resource allocation (reducing costs and environmental impact), improve crop yield and quality (maximizing yield potential), and address rural challenges in South Korea. This study demonstrates the promise of drone-based VIs for revitalizing open-field agriculture, boosting farm income, and attracting young talent, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and prosperous future for rural communities. Further research integrating additional data and investigating physiological mechanisms can lead to even more effective management strategies and a deeper understanding of VI variations for optimized crop performance.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.137-147
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• 2023

Purpose The domestic aquaculture industry in South Korea utilizes both formulated feeds and live feeds for the cultivation of fish. While nutrient-rich live feeds, particularly using fry, have been preferred since the past, formulated feeds are gaining attention due to issues related to overfishing and environmental concerns. Formulated feeds are advantageous for storage and supply but require a sustained feeding regimen due to the comparatively slower growth rate compared to live feeds. As the aging population in rural areas leads to a shortage of labor, automated feeding systems are increasingly being adopted in aquaculture facilities. To enhance the efficiency of such systems, it is crucial to quantitatively analyze the behavioral changes in fish based on the presence or absence of feed. Design/methodology/approach In the study, RGB cameras and infrared cameras were used to analyze fish activity according to feeding, and an outline extraction algorithm was applied to analyze the differences resulting from this. Findings Unlike RGB cameras, infrared cameras are more suitable for analyzing underwater fish activity as they convert objects' thermal energy into images. It was observed that Canny, Sobel, and Prewitt filters showed the most distinct identification of fish activity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.79-79
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• 2023

With the development of digital technology, the size of the smart agriculture market at home and abroad is rapidly expanding. It is necessary to establish a foundation for sustainable precision agriculture in order to respond to the aging of rural areas and labor shortages. This study was conducted to establish an automated digital agricultural test bed for soybean production management using data suitable for agricultural environmental conditions in Korea and to demonstrate the field of leading complexes. In order to manage water smartly, we installed a subsurface drip irrigation system in the upland field and an underground water level control system in the paddy field. Based on data collected from sensors, water management was controlled by utilizing an integrated control system. Irrigation was carried out when the soil moisture was less than 20%. For effective water management, soil moisture was measured at the surface, 15cm, and 30cm depth. The main growth characteristics and yield, such as stem length, number of branches, and number of nodes of the main stem, were investigated during the main growth period. During the operation of the test bed, drought appeared during the early vegetative growth period and maturity period, but in the open field smart agriculture test bed, water was automatically supplied, reducing labor by 53% and increasing yield by 2%. A test bed was installed for each field digital farming element technology, and it is planned to verify it once more this year. In the future, we plan to expand the field digital farming technology developed for leading farmers to the field.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.53-64
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• 2024

Global population growth has resulted in an increased demand for food production. Simultaneously, aging rural communities have led to a decrease in the workforce, thereby increasing the demand for automation in agriculture. Drones are particularly useful for unmanned pest control fields. However, the current method of uniform spraying leads to environmental damage due to overuse of pesticides and drift by wind. To address this issue, it is necessary to enhance spraying performance through precise performance evaluation. Therefore, as a foundational study aimed at optimizing drone-based pest control technologies, this research evaluated water-sensitive paper (WSP) via density map estimation using convolutional neural networks (CNN) with a encoder-decoder structure. To achieve more accurate estimation, this study implemented multi-task learning, incorporating an additional classifier for image segmentation alongside the density map estimation classifier. The proposed model in this study resulted in a R-squared (R²) of 0.976 for coverage area in the evaluation data set, demonstrating satisfactory performance in evaluating WSP at various density levels. Further research is needed to improve the accuracy of spray result estimations and develop a real-time assessment technology in the field.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.158-163
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• 2024

Objectives: The present paper aimed to examine whether an aging workforce is associated with an increase in work-related fatal injuries and to explore the underlying reasons for this potential increase. Material and methods: Aged workers were defined as those who were at least 55 years old. Work-related fatalities were assessed in aged and young workers who were registered with the workers' compensation system in 2021 in the Republic of Korea. Total waged workers, based on raw data from the Local Area Labor Force Survey in 2021, were used as the denominator to estimate the work-related fatality rates. Results: Most work-related fatalities in the aged workers occurred among individuals working in the "construction sector" (58.9%), those with "elementary occupations (unskilled workers)" (46.1%), and those with the employment status of "daily worker" (60.8%). The estimated incidence (0.973/10,000) of work-related fatalities among aged workers was about four times higher than that (0.239/10,000) among younger workers. "Falling," "collision," "struck by an object," and "trip and slip" were more frequent types of work-related fatalities among aged workers relative to young workers. The category of "buildings, structures, and surfaces" was a more frequent cause of work-related fatalities among aged workers than among young workers. Conclusions: Aged workers had a higher incidence of work-related fatalities than young workers. Frequent engagement in precarious employment and jobs, coupled with the greater physical vulnerability of aged workers, were likely causes of their higher level of work-related fatal injuries.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.103-118
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• 1989

In order to investigate the uptake of the systemic insecticide, carbofuran, 2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-7-benzofuranyl-N-methyl(arbamate) residues, fresh and aged, by rice plants, they were grown for 42 days in soils containing freshly treated (T-1), 3-month-aged (T-2), and 6-month-aged residues (T-3). The amounts of $^{14}CO_2$ evolved from $^{14}C-carbofuran$ during the 3-and 6-month aging in soil (temp. $22{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ ; moisture, 50% of the maximum water-holding capacity) were 8.9 and 26.7% of the original radioactivity applied, respectively. Mineralization of $^{14}C-carbofuran$ in soil to $^{14}CO_2$ during 42 days of rice growing was 4.4% (T-1), 11.0% (T-2), and 15.7 (T-3). The methanol extract of the 3-and 6-month-aged soils revealed that 3-keto carbofuran phenol (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-3-oxo-7-benzofuranol) was the major metabolite, where as 3-hydroxy carbofuran (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-3-hydroxy-7-benzofuranyl-N-methylcarbamate) turned out to be the major metabolite in the shoots by the enzymatic cleavage of the possible conjugate present in the methanol extract. Volatilization of $^{14}C-carbofuran$ in soil during 3-and 6-month-aging, and 42 days of rice growing was 0.026, 0.05, and 0.012-0.018% of the applied radioactivity, respectively. The $^{14}C-radioactivity$ which was absorbed from the soils by rice plants during 42 days of the growing period and persisted in rice plant tissues was 26.8, 21.4, and 10.3% in T-1, T-2, and T-3, respectively. The non-extractable bound residues were 8.3, 37.9, and 54.6% of the originally applied carbofuran in T-1. T-2, and T-3, respectively. The small translocation of $^{14}C-radioactivity$ in T-3 upwards suggests that major metabolite 3-keto carbofuran phenol is conjugated in roots and the low recovery in T-1 indicates the loss of carbofuran from the shoots.