• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.749-754
• /
• 2021

In order to solve problems such as a decrease in the agricultural population and an aging population, research on agricultural robots is being actively conducted for the purpose of automating various agricultural tasks. The harvesting process is the most labor-intensive process among farm work and this process consumes about 2-3 times more compared to other processes. Since the transport of agricultural crops requires the most labor costs and there is a risk of injury during the operation, automating the transport operation through an agricultural robot can improve safety and significantly improve productivity. Therefore, this paper proposes an agricultural robot that is optimized for farm worksites and capable of autonomous driving.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.153-158
• /
• 2023

Most agriculture plantings are based on traditional farming and demand a lot of human work processes. In order to improve the efficiency as well as the productivity of their farms, modern agricultural technology was proven to be better than traditional practices. Internet of Things (IoT) is usually related in modern agriculture which provides the farmer with a real-time monitoring condition of their farm from anywhere and anytime. Therefore, the application of IoT with a sensor to measure and monitors the humidity and the temperature in the mushroom farm that can overcome this problem. This paper proposes an IoT based monitoring system forindoor Ganoderma lucidum cultivation at a minimal cost in terms of hardware resources and practicality. The results show that the data of temperature and humidity are changing depending on the weather and the preliminary experimental results demonstrated that all parameters of the system were optimized and successful to achieve the objective. In addition, the analysis results show that the quality of Ganoderma lucidum produced on the research method conforms to regulations in Vietnam.

• Journal of Wind Energy
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.5-13
• /
• 2023

The commercialization has been of great importance to the clean energy research sector for investing the wind farm development, but it would be difficult to reach a social consensus on the need to expand the economic feasibility of renewable energy due to the lack of reliable and continuous information on levelized cost of Energy (LCOE). Regarding this fact, this paper presents the evaluation of LCOE, focusing on Ulsan offshore region targeting to build the first floating offshore wind farm. Energy production is estimated by the meteorology data combined with the Leanwind Project power curve of an exemplar wind turbine. This work aims to analyze the costs of the Capex depending on site-specific variables. The cost of final LCOE was estimated by using Monte-Carlo method, and it became an average range 297,090 KRW/MWh, a minimum of 251,080 KRW/MWh, and a maximum of 341,910 KRW/MWh. In the year 2021, the SMP (system marginal price) and 4.5 REC (renewable energy certificate) can be paid if 1 MWh of electricity is generated by renewable energy. Considering current SMP and REC price, the floating platform industry, which can earn around 502,000 KRW/MWh, can be finally estimated highly competitive in the Korean market.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.313-321
• /
• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study is to develop products that prevent muscular skeletal disease of farm workers, which would bring improvement for an efficient harvesting work. Background: A pretest for product development and a survey research was carried out to inspect the problems of current harvesting work procedure. The product was developed and assessed based on ideas to supplement and improve these weak points. Method: A total of twenty men were recruited to evaluate the effects of harvest baskets on the upper-limb muscle activity, working hours. For the usability evaluation, electromyogram and working hours of previous working method (disuse of harvest basket, one-hand carriage of the basket) and new working method with the usage of newly-developed harvest basket was examined. The whole anterior deltoid, biceps brachii and erector spinae on both sides, which make a total of six muscle parts, were used for this experiment. The results were analyzed using ANOVA with muscle activity (%MVC) of each three forms of work and required work time from SPSS 18.0. Results: According to the test result, all muscles did not demonstrate any statistically significant difference, with an exception of the backbone erector (right). The muscle activity of backbone erector (right) in the work method that uses the harvest basket developed in this study was detected to be approximately 23% less than that of the previous working method. Moreover, compared to the previous working method, the required work time decreased to a statistically significant degree. Conclusion: As such, the decrease in the amount of waist muscle usage at harvesting work would enable the prevention of muscular skeletal disease and stabilization of lumbar spine. Application: Which in turn would increase the effectiveness and reduce personnel expense (labor costs) while enhancing productivity with a decreased working hours.

• Korean Journal of Rural Living Science
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.37-51
• /
• 1999

The objectives of this study were to understand the working stress of rural women and their coping strategies, and to provide basic data related with rural welfare policy. The data were obtained through 318 samples of rural women under sixty years old who work full-time at their farms with their husbands. The questionnaire employed Likert-type scale with four-point, and then the data were analyzed by statistical methods of frequency, percentage, mean score, analysis of variance, t-test and Duncan test through SAS program. The significance level was p ＜ .05. The results of this study are as follows ; 1) The average stress level of rural women was over 2.9 points out of 4. 2) The stress level showed meaningful correlation with such variables as age, education, perception on economic status, and recognition by their husbands and other family members. The rural women who are over forty years old, below high school, disregarded from their family members were marked high stress level. 3) The level of rural women's stress coping strategies was quite as low as 1.95 out of 4. 4) The level of coping strategies showed meaningful correlation with such socio-demographic variables as age, perception on economic status and job satisfaction level. Those who aged over 40, perceives low economic staus, lives together with husbands'parents, and shows “average” job satisfaction scored significantly lower coping strategy levels. 5) The level of stress didn't indicate significant relation with the type of coping strategy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.103-110
• /
• 2020

This study analyzes the strategy of determining economic development planning on SME improvement in Indonesia. A qualitative approach was conducted through interview questionnaires with twenty respondents, including sixteen Regional Apparatus Work Unit, Fisheries and Marine Office lecturers, subdistrict heads, and development observers. The method used is Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP prioritizes criteria and sub-criteria to increase economic growth, reduce poverty, and increase community participation, while indicating the sub-criteria to optimize resource potential, strengthen micro-economy, develop tourism potential, utilize fishery potential and cultivation, and improve institutional performance. The AHP weighting results based on competitiveness and regional development of Bantaeng Regency is the priority in policy-making for a solution. The research shows that the government strategy, based on the perception of the stakeholders, is: optimizing resources strategy with priority to maximize the resource-carrying capacity that includes agriculture and farm, tourism development potential strategy, self-reliance of community groups and coaching and management. Strategies to strengthen micro economy include: industrial control, SMEs, community cooperatives and infrastructure improvements, strategies to improve institutional performance work capacity and work ethic, and strategies to utilize fisheries and cultivation potential technological development, provision of processed industries of fishery products, and improvement of the quality of the environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.29-36
• /
• 2011

This study analyzed the convenience and productivity before and after adopting self-propelled power transportation devices to the harvest and transportation of fruit and vegetable products in the Gyeongbuk region, by applying the REBA and RULA techniques. In the REBA analysis, the work risk was low with 4~6 points before adoption which became 2~3 points after adoption. As for the RULA analysis, work loading appeared to have decreased with 6~7 points before adoption which became 3~4 points after adoption. The annual work time reduction was about 48~179 hours while labor costs were reduced to 364~1,345 thousand won annually. This indicated a labor cost reduction effect of about 10~15%. Therefore, the adopted self-propelled power transportation devices appeared to prevent musculo skeletal diseases of the human body and also improve productivity even after using it for long hours according to the REBA, RULA measures level.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.40 no.5
• /
• pp.413-424
• /
• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to seek measures for improvement and management of farm work safety and health by conducting questionnaire surveys and on-site investigations to ascertain the present state of occurrence of safety accidents and safety and health management levels among swine farmers. In particular, the purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the establishment of measures for the management of safety and health suitable to the characteristics of related working environments. Methods: Questionnaire surveys were conducted among 223 farmers engaged in swine farming in 14 regions, and 10 farms were visited in order to implement multilateral methods, including in-depth interviews, along with field surveys. Results: The surveys indicated that 26.2% of all respondents experienced farm-work related safety accidents and body-reaction related accidents showed a high ratio at 31.1% of all respondents. With regard to cause materials of safety accidents, work other than that directly related to swine raising showed high ratios of safety accidents, with pigsty facility related accidents at 26.6%. Although most workers recognized the dangers latent in the working environments, their behavior and responses to the prevention of safety accidents were still insufficient due to a lack of understanding of safety and health management. In the survey on the present state of personal hygiene and wearing of protective equipment, workers were found to have been exposed to dangerous and harmful environments both inside and outside pigsties, but the actual states of their wearing protective safety equipment were very poor. Conclusion: Given the results of this study, swine farmers well recognize problems in their control of safety accidents and management of safety and health, but their knowledge about safety and health education and management guidelines was insufficient. Therefore, safety and health education, public relations, and customized personal protective equipment suitable for swine raising work should be developed in order to address the foregoing problem.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.62 no.1
• /
• pp.105-115
• /
• 2020

With the decrease of the agricultural population in Korea, the workers who is vulnerable to labor are increasing in agricultural industry because of aging, feminization of population. They are exposed in poor working environment with higher temperature and concentrations of dust, gas. Higher concentration of harmful gas and dust can cause chronic and acute disease to workers depending on exposure intensity and frequency. In order to improve the working environment in the livestock facilities, It is important to secure monitoring data of the thermal environment and the concentration of harmful gases and fine dust. Multi-point measurement was performed to analyze the regional environmental conditions in the pig rooms. When analyzing the working environment, video monitoring was conducted to analyze the concentration changes of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and fine dust according to worker movement and work type. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide monitoring result showed 1.5~2 times higher concentrations than other work when working in the pigs living zone, and 2~4 times higher than other work when working to increase the activity of pigs. In the case of fine dust, the result was 1.3 times higher than the worker's exposure standard in a specific work. The concentrations of gases and dusts from pig farms are not of concern for acute poisoning in normal work, but there is a risk of chronic respiratory disease if they are continuously exposed. Accordingly, there is a need for development of work environment monitoring device tailored to workers and preparation of alternatives.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.29 no.8 s.145
• /
• pp.1176-1187
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of cooling vests developed for farm workers harvesting red pepper in summer. The study was performed using the following two steps: 1) Climatic chamber test, 2) Field test. For the chamber test, a work environment was simulated as $33^{\circ}C$ and $65\%$RH, and the thermo-physiological and subjective responses were measured with and without cooling vests. Twelve young males participated as subjects. For the field test, three farmers participated while harvesting red pepper on the form, in summer. The measurements used were same as in the chamber test. Subjects were tested without any cooling vests, as a control. They were tested wearing vests with 2 frozen gel packs (CV2: Cooling area, $308cm^2$), and vests with 4 frozen gel packs (CV4: Sooting area, $616cm^2$). As a result of the chamber test, rectal temperature($T_{re}$) and mean skin temperature( $T_{sk}$) were lower in both CVs than in Control, and this tendency was statistically significant in CV4 (p<.05). Clothing microclimate temperature ($T_{clo}$) and total sweat rate (TSR) were significantly lower when wearing cooling vests (p<.05) Heart rate (HR) was also lower in wearing cooling vests than in Control, and the speed of recovery to the comfort level was faster when the subjects wore cooling vests. In addition, subjects felt 'less hot, less humid, and less uncomfortable' in both CVs than in Control. Field tests showed a similar tendency with the chamber tests. In particular, wearing the cooling vest was effective in restraining the raise of $T_{clo}$ on the back. It can be concluded that the cooling vest was effective in alleviating heat strain and discomfort in both the chamber test and the field test, despite the cooling area of the cooling vest being just $3.4\%$ of the body surface area ($616cm^2$).