• Title/Summary/Keyword: Household environment

Search Result 640, Processing Time 0.023 seconds

Infection Source and Epidemiology of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Lung Disease

  • Jeon, Doosoo
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
    • /
    • v.82 no.2
    • /
    • pp.94-101
    • /
    • 2019
  • Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous organisms that are generally found not only in the natural environment but also in the human engineered environment, including water, soil, and dust. These organisms can form biofilms and can be readily aerosolized because they are hydrophobic owing to the presence of the lipid-rich outer membrane. Aerosolization and subsequent inhalation were the major route of NTM lung disease. Water distribution systems and household plumbing are ideal habit for NTM and the main transmission route from natural water to household. NTM have been isolated from drinking water, faucets, pipelines, and water tanks. Studies that used genotyping have shown that NTM isolates from patients are identical to those in the environment, that is, from shower water, showerheads, tap water, and gardening soil. Humans are likely to be exposed to NTM in their homes through simple and daily activities, such as drinking, showering, or gardening. In addition to environmental factors, host factors play an important role in the development of NTM lung disease. The incidence and prevalence of NTM lung disease are increasing worldwide, and this disease is rapidly becoming a major public health problem. NTM lung disease is associated with substantially impaired quality of life, increased morbidity and mortality, and high medical costs. A more comprehensive understanding of the infection source and epidemiology of NTM is essential for the development of new strategies that can prevent and control NTM infection.

Methods to Improve the Design of Household Fire Extinguishers through an Empirical Analysis of Consumer Compatibility (소비자의 적합성 실증분석을 통한 가정용 소화기의 디자인 개선방안)

  • Lee, Sung-Woo
    • Fire Science and Engineering
    • /
    • v.34 no.3
    • /
    • pp.58-66
    • /
    • 2020
  • Households are categorized as exceptions in the Fire Services Act; oftentimes, the 'Golden Time' is missed at the early stages of a fire, resulting in loss of life. As such, due to the high number of deaths caused by household fires, the Korean government amended the Fire Services Act to make it mandatory for all detached houses to be equipped with a fire extinguisher from 2017 onwards. Only 34.8% of households were properly equipped with a fire extinguisher, according to the 2018 factual survey on fire extinguishing facilities in households conducted by the Fire Department. Fire extinguishers are crucial in case of fire but many households avoid them because they are red and have a rough aesthetic, which does not suit the household environment. There is now a need for diverse simple fire extinguisher designs so that they can be used as interior décor in the household in the day-to-day while being available for putting out a fire when necessary. If fire extinguishers have designs that go well with any household space like other decorative ornaments, this will greatly increase consumers' motivation to purchase them. It is greatly anticipated that various companies will work on developing designs for fire extinguishers to commercialize them for households in the future.

Resident Evaluation on Housing and Demand on Residential Service according to Type of Public Rental Housing (공공임대주택의 유형에 따른 거주자 평가와 주거서비스 조사)

  • Lee, So Young;Oh, Myoung Won
    • Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
    • /
    • v.35 no.1
    • /
    • pp.11-18
    • /
    • 2019
  • There is a growing demand for public rental housing since housing price increased rapidly and socially vulnerable people need more stable housing. The purpose of this study is to investigate housing evaluation (satisfaction), moving plan, and residential service according to the type of the public rental housing and the characteristics of the resident, and to suggest the development direction for comprehensive housing services including the community level. Data used for analysis in this study are from 2016 Seoul panel survey of public rental housing residents. A total of 3009 questionnaire from public rental households were collected in 2016 Seoul panel survey. In order to investigate housing requirements, we analyzed household characteristics, housing satisfaction, moving plans, welfare services, residential activities and community facilities, social environment. In this study, the difference of residential satisfaction, moving plan, and residential service according to the type of the public rental housing and the characteristics of the resident is analyzed to identify their housing demands. As a result, there were differences in residential satisfaction, moving plan, and residential service depending on type of public rental housing and characteristics of residents. Residents in public rental housing modified from the multi-family housing after purchase showed lower residential satisfaction, and higher intention for moving plan compared to residents living in other type of public rental housing. In the residential service, residents in permanent lease type have higher experience of housing service as well as demand on housing service. Especially single household, elderly household, female household, or household with handicapped person indicated higher demand for housing services.

Living Behavioral Patterns of Single or Spouse Elderly Households and Ubiquitous Home Services for Each Household Type (노인단독가구 유형별 생활행태 특성 및 유비쿼터스 홈 서비스 요소 제안)

  • Kwon, Oh Jung
    • 한국노년학
    • /
    • v.30 no.3
    • /
    • pp.759-778
    • /
    • 2010
  • The purposes of this study were to identify living behavioral patterns in of single or couple elderly households in residential environment, to find out ubiquitous home services for the elders, and finally to suggest the ubiquitous home services according to each household's type. For this study, literature review, field works for ubiquitous home services for the elders, and in-depth interview and observation by 74 elderly participants were conducted. The major findings of the study were as follows: single or spouse elderly households were classified into 8 types according to the combination of their household types, income level, and health status. Among 8 types, 2 types were excluded for final analysis due to small sample size. Living behavioral characteristics of 6 types were analyzed and the behavioral pattern of each type was drawn. Based on this behavioral pattern of each type, ubiquitous home services which meet the needs of each type were suggested. The implications and limitations of this study were also discussed and the suggestions for further studies were recommended.

Investigating the Causes and Control Measures for Precipitated Suspended Solids in the Underground Reservoir Tank in an Apartment (공동주택 지하저수조 내 침전된 부유성 고형물의 발생원인 및 제어방안)

  • JunYoung Jang;JooWon Kim;KiPal Kim;HyunSang Shin;ByungRan Lim
    • Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
    • /
    • v.39 no.2
    • /
    • pp.153-161
    • /
    • 2023
  • The reservoir tank in an apartment is crucial for maintaining the quality of drinking water after it has undergone treatment. Investigating the water quality and potential contaminants in the reservoir tank is essential to ensure the safety of the drinking water. This study examined the water quality and precipitated suspended solids that accumulate at the bottom of the reservoir tanks in four apartments located in Gyeonggi province. As a result of the water quality investigation, turbidity increased proportionally to the distance from the water treatment plant (WTP) to the household. Heavy metals were also detected in the reservoir tank inlet but not in the water supplied from the WTP. The precipitated suspended solids (SS) in the reservoir tank contain high levels of heavy metals and total organic carbon (TOC). The precipitated SS mainly consists of Al, Mn, and Fe, which are expected to be a combination with turbidity-inducing substances. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the presence of γ-FeO(OH), MnO2, and β-Fe2O3 in the SS. Additionally, F-EEM analysis indicates that the dissolved organic matter in the SS is mainly derived from a natural water source and microorganism activities, including metal-oxidizing bacteria and biofilms that can absorb metal ions. Based on these findings, several countermeasures can be taken to prevent the inflow of SS into the household, including regularly cleaning the reservoir tank, replacing or cleaning old pipes in the water supply system, and implementing monitoring and filtering systems to manage the SS.

A Remote Control System Using Bluetooth (블루투스를 이용한 가전기기 원격제어 시스템)

  • 이우중;황우식;김정선
    • Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
    • /
    • v.41 no.2
    • /
    • pp.33-42
    • /
    • 2004
  • Controlling household devices using an infra-ray (IR) has a limitation since the IR signal cannot only be extended, but also cannot be transmitted over the physical barrier. Using a radio frequency (RF) may overcome these shortcomings. Bluetooth is one of the emerging RF_based standard protocols for short-range wireless communications among various control devices. In this paper, we describe a control system for household appliances using Bluetooth under embedded Linux environment. The control system consists of a centralized main controller and geographically scattered wallplates. Some of the challenges and lessons learned will be outlined in the presentation. As a result of this research, we found that the Bluetooth is a promising technology for realizing wireless control systems for household appliances.

Recovery Support System and Operation for Individual Household in Recent Earthquake Disasters in Japan

  • Takashima, Masasuke
    • 한국방재학회:학술대회논문집
    • /
    • 2009.02b
    • /
    • pp.26-35
    • /
    • 2009
  • Efficient recovery assistance for individual households is one of the inevitable issues in management after a disaster. Discussion on how the assistance should be provided to them, however, has been put aside whereas amount or contents of it have been disputed every time a disaster happens. Public support system in a time of disaster in Japan is very complicated because many laws are related to recovery support and each law covers just a part of total recovery needs of affected household. It is difficult to see whole picture of the system for affected households. Therefore, households must have many interactions with various sections in charge of particular assistance service to know the contents of each assistance and requirements to receive it to decide combination of supports they use. It is crucial for efficient recovery assistance operation to manage those customer relations since considerable part of troubles in individual recovery came from failure in each interactions caused by lack of common understanding on each recovery process between them. In this paper, I want to introduce how support system in Japan is fragmented, a case of Anamizu town which adopted a customer-oriented framework of information management system for their assistance operation after Mar. 2007 Noto peninsula earthquake and what was learned from the case.

  • PDF

A New Estimation Model of MSW Generation Based on Household Composition-types and Floor Area in Apartment House (공동주택의 세대 구성유형과 면적에 따른 MSW 발생량 추정모델 개발)

  • Kim, Hyo-Kyung;Hong, Won-Hwa;Kim, Young-Chan
    • Journal of the Korean housing association
    • /
    • v.23 no.5
    • /
    • pp.41-49
    • /
    • 2012
  • As improving our standard of living, demographic change or industrial development, MSW that is closely linked to human behavior has been occurred much change. Notably, we usually have incinerated the combustible waste. In the process, they also emit a large amount of greenhouse gas that has directly affected the global warming and environmental pollution. Therefore, we need to make control system to manage future production and reduce generation of MSW. Thus this study analyzed the generation of MSW according to household members and floor area in apartment housing occupies the highest share. Then, we used both a correlation analysis and a regression analysis to make new estimation model of MSW generation. Based on this study, the results were used to suggest a method to efficiently handle MSW in the case of planning urban environment. Also, build a database to set up the integrated management system of MSW in the future.

A Study on the Characteristic of Resettlement Decision in Urban Redevelopment Project District (도시정비사업지구의 거주자 재입주 선택 특성에 관한 연구)

  • Son, Yeong-Wung;Kim, Seung-Woon;Lee, Joo-Hyung
    • KIEAE Journal
    • /
    • v.12 no.1
    • /
    • pp.11-19
    • /
    • 2012
  • The subject of this study is capital area including Seoul and Incheon, and metropolitan area including Daejeon and Busan among urban redevelopment project district that are currently promoting urban redevelopment project. Data for analysis is implemented collected through visiting each households in project district. Resettlement decision characteristics are analyzed with considering householder's characteristic, house member's characteristic, residential space's characteristic, and area characteristic of families residing in urban redevelopment project area. Through researching characteristics and preferences of residents in project area by urban redevelopment business, improvement were found and implications were provided. Consequently, there are many factors to consider resettlement when deciding household's resettlement when deciding on household's resettlement after the redevelopment project depending on household's characteristics. So, political methods are needed to accomplish urban redevelopment project by resident's position through characteristic and preference survey of resident on project district. Therefore, the study can be utilized as basic data that considers characteristic of each households and region when establishing house policy in order to correspond to housing market that satisfies future consumer's demand.

The Characteristic and Improvement of Flexibility Performance Item evaluated by "Housing Performance Grading System" (주택성능등급 가변성 세부성능 항목의 특성 및 개선방안)

  • Lee, Sung-Ok
    • KIEAE Journal
    • /
    • v.11 no.6
    • /
    • pp.29-35
    • /
    • 2011
  • This study aims to suggest improvement plans and explain about the current situation for facilitating Long-life housing, based on the results on flexibility items among 27 items consisting the "Housing Performance Grading System". From the 9th of January, 2006 to the month of July in 2011, study has analyzed evaluation results on 216 different types for each grade and reviewed evaluation criteria and methods. Current evaluation criteria applies quantitative analysis, by calculating in percentage how much bearing walls and columns, which hinder flexibility, take up space in the household. The evaluation rate for each household was assessed in relation to its structural system, and a higher grade was given to column-typed structures. In addition, to facilitate long-life housing, this study extracted harmful factors, expanding the range of evaluation. The first step was to evaluate structure, which is the basic element. The second step can to evaluate the probability of applying resources in response to the changes of structural systems. As The third step, Flexibility item will evaluate the probability of moving the water-using area, suggesting gradual approach. Thus, through evaluations of flexibility items, the study aims to improve the quality of life in household, by avoiding uniform structures and acquiring more freedom for space designs.