• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.24-32
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• 2016

Objective: The visually impaired have limited access to health care services and related information, and thus, they can have serious hurdles against properly taking medications. Despite that it is important to improve self-care ability of the visually impaired for correct medication use, there have been few studies investigating their needs for health care services in Korea, particularly focusing on proper medication usage. This study is to explore safety-related issues regarding mediation usage among the visually impaired based on in-depth interview. We particularly focus on any obstacles for safe use of medicines including experience on medication-related adverse effects in order to provide preliminary evidence for policy measures to improve proper medication use among the visually impaired. Methods: Study sample was visually impaired individuals who resided in Seoul area and were registered in the National Association of Visually Impaired. The association helped the process of recruiting the study participants. In-depth interview for each study participants was conducted. Each interview was recorded and later converted into a written script to extract core contents for the analysis. Results: The study participants comprised of three women (42.9%) and four men (57.1%). One was in his 20's, and there were four participants in 30's and two in 40's. Fully impaired participants were majority (5 out of 7). Limitation to physical access to health care providers and health information were the key factors to hamper safe medication utilization among the study participants. Difficulty reading medication information and may take the wrong medication or incorrect doses of medication, resulting in serious consequences, including overdose or inadequate treatment of health problems. Visually impaired patients report increased anxiety related to medication management and must rely on others to obtain necessary drug information. Pharmacists have a unique opportunity to pursue accurate medication adherence in this special population. This article reviews literature illustrating how severe medication mismanagement can occur in the visually impaired elderly and presents resources and solutions for pharmacists to take a larger role in adherence management in this population. Conclusion: The visually impaired had difficulties reading medication information and identifying medicines, and took incorrect doses of medications. Public support for safe medication use and medication management among the visually impaired is necessary.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.179-208
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• 2004

With the outbreak of the financial crisis in mid-1997, the Korean government has removed a majority of M&A-related regulations in order to facilitate M&A transactions. This was based upon the belief that M&As are one of the most efficient ways to restructure financially distressed firms compared to other government-driven restructuring programs. In this paper, we try to empirically assess the role of M&A in restructuring distressed firms in Korea following the financial crisis. In doing so, three empirical analyses have been conducted. The first analysis attempts to identify financial characteristics of the insolvent M&A targets. The second exercise directly tests the change in performance of insolvent M&A targets before and after such M&A transactions. The third analysis is a more general assessment on the role of M&A transactions to determine if being involved in an M&A transaction (regardless of its motivate) has reduced the probability of becoming insolvent in the future. Overall, we find some evidence supporting that M&A activities after the financial crisis have played a positive role in restructuring financially distressed firms in Korea.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.475-487
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• 2013

The aim of this study is to examine an existence of mutual interdependency in terms of military expenditure and arms imports between Northeast Asian countries such as South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan, and U.S. Recently, the mood of post cold war and intensified globalization lead to be disarmament in pursuing a policy on national defence in many countries. Since potential menace to national security has been receiving more concern rather than a direct armed clash, mutual interdependency on military spending should be fully understood. For a methodological tools, ${\beta}$ and ${\sigma}$-convergences, convergence with rational expectation, and Granger causality test are employed. Empirical evidence shows that the convergences which are evaluated by ${\beta}$, ${\sigma}$, and by a model based on rational expectation are in general revealed, and differences are more sensitive to a military decision making procedures. Granger causality, however, is not being existed. To this end, it would be concluded that the Northeast Asian countries are going with a trend in the world than forming their own tendency in this region.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.547-553
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• 2016

This study was conducted to look at the antimicrobial synergistic effect of blended oil into the target skin flora. The essential oils used in antimicrobial test were 100% eucalyptus (EU), lemon (LE), lavender (LA) and four blended oils, EU+LE, LE+LA, EU+LA, and, EU+LE+LA in ratio of 1:1 and 1:1:1 respectively. As a result, LE showed the highest, LA showed the lowest antimicrobial activity among single oil group. In blended oil group, antimicrobial activity of the EU + LA showed significantly increasing effect than the sum of the antimicrobial activity of the single oil. However, the antimicrobial effects of the blend of three oils did not show any synergistic effect. This result showed that the interaction between the chemical components constituting the oil than the number of blended oil seems more significant on the synergistic effect. Therefore, blending essential oil based on scientific evidence becomes more necessary in the future.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.277-285
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• 2017

The purpose of this study identified the effectiveness of the existent interventions, which had been applied to the teens in multicultural families in South Korea. Totally 29 relevant studies, including dissertations and published articles, published from 2008 to 2014, were systematically searched and analyzed through meta-analytic method. The study results revealed the specific conditions which made the intervention more effective for the teens in multicultural families. Specifically, the program could be most effective when the program had a social adaptation intervention type as well as aimed to middle school students as a target population. Also, the program could be most effective when the program had lower than 8 sessions, run 3-5 times a week, and had from 21 to 30 participants in one intervention group. In addition, current existing programs showed higher effect sizes on outcomes focusing on relationships rather than on those focusing on psychological problems. This study is theoretically meaningful in terms of quantitatively synthesizing the existing intervention programs for the teens in multicultural families. In addition, we expect that this study would practically contribute to develop evidence-based programs for those teens in multicultural families.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a new fall-prevention exercise intervention for the community-dwelling elderly and to examine the effects of program. Methods: A total of 7 older adults were participated in a 10-week fall-prevention exercise intervention (1 day per a week in community centers, 2 days per a week in a home). The exercise program consisted of warming-up, extension exercises, muscle strength exercises, balance exercises, and finishing exercise. Data were collected before the exercise and after 10 weeks of exercise. In this study, muscle strength of lower limbs was measured by 10 times of standing up and sitting on a chair. Static balance was measured by one-leg standing, and dynamic balance was measured by 6 meter walking. Results: After a 10-week exercise program, muscle strength of lower limbs (t=4.18, p<.05), statical balance were significantly improved (left leg, t=-3.11, p<.05; right leg, t=-4.56, p<.05). Seven of 11 items measuring fear of falls were significantly decreased (p<.05), and dynamic balance tended to be improved (p=.117). Conclusion: This result suggests that evidence-based, fall-prevention exercise program can improve muscle strength, static and dynamic balance, and fear of falling in the community living elderly.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.143-171
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• 2017

Along with the well-established evidence on the negative effect of social isolation on physical mental health and mortality, increasing attention has been paid to multi-dimensional nature of social isolation. In this study, the main effect and interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on heterogeneous age cohort related to the onset of dementia, which is becoming a social problem due to rapid aging of health issues, was examined through binary logistic regression analysis. Data came from the first wave of Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP) (N= 814). Findings showed 1) in the young-old, objective isolation was a significant on the incidence of dementia, 2) in the old-old, subjective isolation increased the risk of dementia. In summary, the relative influence of objective and subjective social isolation related to the incidence of dementia varies depending on the young-old and old-old. On the other hand, the interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on dementia was not significant in both the young-old and old-old. Based on the findings, we discussed implications and suggestions for future research and relevant policy and program development(dementia-friendly communities) for ameliorating objective and subjective social isolation.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.109-114
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• 2018

The objective of this paper is to suggest plans to properly establish and promote the use of hospice music therapy by examining its necessity and how it is being used in Korea. Hospice music therapy is a clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions administered by a professional to alleviate total pains suffered by hospice patients and their families. While the effects of hospice music therapy have been reported by many studies, its meaning and value are still poorly understood in Korea, which explains the lack of related institutions in the nation. Recently policy-wise and legislative efforts have been made to promote hospice and palliative care, which in turn will likely fuel demand for hospice music therapy. Therefore, the meaning and role of hospice music therapy should be defined by major hospice and palliative care institutions and societies, followed by institutional and academic efforts as follows. First, a set of qualification criteria for hospice music therapists should be established to provide proven music therapy interventions to patients and their families. Second, a systematic program offering both theoretical and practical trainings needs to be developed to foster hospice music therapists. Last but not least, clinical studies should be promoted with development of a research road map for hospice music therapy and a standard protocol.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.331-342
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• 2019

Objectives: This study examines the intake of food and nutrients of children according to the employment and working hours of their mothers. Methods: The married women in the source data from the 6th National Health and Nutrition Survey were classified into full-time working mothers, part-time working mothers and housewives according to the working type and the data on their children from 3 to 18 years old were analyzed using SAS 9.4. Results: The group from 3 to 5 years old was the smallest group with 682 children (20.2%), followed by the group from 6 to 11 years with 1,345 children (39.8%) and the group from 12 to 18 years old with 1,355 children (40.1%). The lowest rates for having no breakfast and dinner were observed in the group with housewives (p<0.05). The calcium and phosphorous intakes were the highest in the group with housewives at 61.9% and 126.8%, respectively, and the lowest in the group with full-time working mothers at 54.7% and 115.3%, respectively (p<0.05). The group with full-time working mothers had the highest rate in the calcium and iron intake less than the dietary reference intake at 74.9% and 30.0%, respectively. It indicated that the group with full-time working mothers did not have sufficient nutrients as compared to the other two groups. Moreover, the group with the part-time working mothers showed the high vitamin A intake ratio of 41.4% (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study found evidence of a negative association between mother's employment status and children's diet quality. The employment and economic activity of married women will continuously increase in the future. Therefore, a national nutrition policy is required to provide quality nutrition care for children in the households.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.99-122
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• 2019

ODA (Official Development Assistance) aims for practicing international humanitarianism in developing countries. However, ODA donors also seek to find convincing evidence meeting the national economic & political interests in the international community. In this regards, precise & unbiased estimation of the policy effects of ODA aid on the donors' exports to the recipient countries has recently become one of the primary concerns of the ODA donors, especially developing countries including Korea of which economy structure heavily relies on exports for economic growth. Based on the basic gravity model, this study empirically analyzes the effects of technical cooperation ODA delivering skills, knowledge and technical know-how on Korea's exports to the ODA recipient countries using 10-year panel data from 2007 to 2016. Specifically, by incorporating major variables affecting trade such as GDP, distance, FDI etc, the effect of technical cooperation ODA on Korea's exports to the ODA recipient countries is estimated with various kinds of panel models. As a result, technical cooperation ODA has a statistically significant impact on Korea's exports to ODA recipient countries, especially in the exports of intermediate goods. And the detail process of this black-boxed mechanism is scrutinized through case studies on Uzbekistan, The Philippines, and Morocco.