• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

This qualitative study analyzed various environmental factors and difficulties faced by school foodservices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus group interviews were conducted by enrolling 12 nutrition teachers and nutritionists. Data collected were subsequently analyzed for changes implemented during the pandemic, in hygiene management, diet management, and distribution management of the school meal. The content and method of delivery of information related to diet guidance and school foodservice by related organizations were also examined. Results of the survey show that personal hygiene (such as maintaining student-to-student distance, checking students for a fever, and hand disinfection) was duly applied, installation of table coverings and distancing between school cafeteria seats were conducted, and mandatory mask-wearing to prevent droplet transmission was enforced. Depending on the COVID-19 situation, the number of students having school meals was limited per grade, and time-spaced meals were provided. To prevent infection, menus that required frequent hand contact were excluded from the meal plan. Overall, it was difficult to manage the meal plan due to frequent changes in tasks, such as the number of orders and meal expenses. These changes were communicated by nutrition teachers and nutritionists wherein the numbers of school meals were adjusted, depending on situations arising from each COVID-19 crisis stage. Furthermore, in some schools, either face-to-face nutrition counseling was stopped entirely, or nutrition education was conducted online. Parent participation was disallowed in the monitoring of school meals, and the prohibition on conversations inside the school cafeteria resulted in the absence of communication among students, nutrition teachers, and nutritionists. Additionally, confusion in meal management was caused by frequent changes in the school meal management guidelines provided by the Office of Education and the School Health Promotion Center in response to COVID-19. In anticipation of the emergence of a new virus or infectious diseases caused by mutations in the years to come, it is suggested that a holistic, well-thought-out response manual for safe meal operation needs to be established, in close collaboration with schools and school foodservice-related institutions.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.93-106
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• 2022

Objective : The COVID-19 pandemic has brought non-face-to-face healthcare service delivery system. Research into telehealth system and its efficacy remains unclear. Methods : Seven healthy adults participated in this study to investigate effects of tele-monitoring with the speech-to-text (STT) application to induce changes in occupational activities on occupational balance in healthy adults. Subjects were requested to choose occupational activities they wanted to have researched and then register them to the STT application. The STT application provided an alarm to check whether the pre-registered activities were performed on time, and whether the subjects performed it by their voice. The subjects were followed for 1 week, with assessments at baseline, and after 1-week's tele-monitoring. Results : Our findings showed that the subjects were willing to participate in tele-monitoring with the STT application with high adherence and satisfaction. In addition, there was a significant improvement in occupational activities related to health (p<.05). Specifically, adherence, satisfaction, and efficacy of the tele-monitoring with the STT application could successfully bring occupational balance in short-term periods. Conclusion : These findings highlight that tele-monitoring with a smartphone could be considered as one promising way to restore occupational balance in lockdown after the COVID-19 outbreak.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.41-47
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• 2022

This study explored the academic emotions of university freshmen depending on the type of online class(pre-recorded lecture vs. real time online class) that they took during the COVID-19 lockdown. 170 freshmen participated in the survey based on the 'Academic Emotion Questionnaire(AEQ)', and the statistical results are as follows; Firstly, research showed that the participants felt higher positive emotions for pre-recorded lecture than for real time online class, and higher negative emotions for real time online class than for pre-recorded lecture(p < .01). Secondly, participants felt different emotions depending on English level(p < .01). Thirdly, participants felt different emotions depending on their majors(p < .01). Students majoring in science & engineering felt higher positive emotions than those in humanities & social studies in pre-recorded lecture class. Fourthly, participants felt different emotions depending on gender(p < .01). Female students felt higher negative emotions than male students. Finally, the pedagogical implications and suggestions were discussed.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.288-299
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the weight fluctuations in college students during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and identify lifestyle and dietary changes related to weight gain. Methods: An online survey was conducted on 270 college students from September 22 to October 26, 2021. A logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the relationship of weight gain with the general characteristics, lifestyle, and dietary changes of the students. Results: Among the respondents, 42.9% of men and 44.7% of women reported weight gain. The main reasons given for weight gain were reduced activities due to restrictions during lockdown and diet changes, mainly relating to delivered or fast foods. Among the general characteristics and lifestyle factors poor perceived health (odds ratio [OR], 3.97, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.98-7.96) and being underweight (OR, 0.19, 95% CI, 0.05-0.83) were significantly associated with weight gain. With respect to the diet, increased frequency of eating breakfasts (OR, 4.44, 95% CI, 1.76-11.21), decreased frequency of eating snacks (OR, 0.35, 95% CI, 0.16-0.77), decreased frequency of fruit intake (OR, 3.0, 95% CI, 1.32-6.80), increased frequency of carbonated and sweetened beverage intake (OR, 2.74, 95% CI, 1.26-5.99) and increased frequency of fast food consumption (OR, 2.32, 95% CI, 1.14-4.70) were significantly associated with weight gain. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic affected weight gain and caused lifestyle and dietary changes. Specific health and nutrition management plans should be prepared for handling future epidemics of infectious diseases based on the results of surveys conducted on larger sample size.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.611-626
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• 2023

Overseas examples of the characterization stage of site selection proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency were reviewed to highlight the factors necessary for consideration in the deep disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Studies in Sweden, Finland, the USA, and Canada were considered. Site investigations in Sweden and Finland commonly covered the fields of geology, hydrogeology, and hydrogeochemistry using similar field investigation techniques. The USA considered survey groups and factors under pre- and post-lockdown guidelines, as well as those for desaturated and saturated surveys. involving geophysical, hydrological, hydrogeological, hydrogeochemical, mechanical/physical, and thermal-characterization investigations. Canada provided a list of investigative methods for both preliminary and detailed site assessments including geological, physical, boring, hydrological, laboratory testing, and chemical analysis studies. Results of this study should elucidate site-selection investigation factors and survey methods applicable to Korea.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.38.1-38.8
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• 2021

Recently, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (B.1.1.529) Omicron variant originated from South Africa in the middle of November 2021. SARS-CoV-2 is also called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19. Several studies already suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant would be the fastest transmissible variant compared to the previous 10 SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, interest, and alert. Few clinical studies reported the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant but there is insufficient time to perform actual experiments to prove it, since the spread is so fast. We analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, which revealed a very high rate of mutation at amino acid residues that interact with angiostatin-converting enzyme 2. The mutation rate of COVID-19 is faster than what we prepared vaccine program, antibody therapy, lockdown, and quarantine against COVID-19 so far. Thus, it is necessary to find better strategies to overcome the current crisis of COVID-19 pandemic.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.319-341
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• 2024

The utilization of multispectral imaging systems (MIS) in remote sensing has become crucial for large-scale agricultural operations, particularly for diagnosing plant health, monitoring crop growth, and estimating plant phenotypic traits through vegetation indices (VIs). However, environmental factors can significantly affect the accuracy of multispectral reflectance data, leading to potential errors in VIs and crop status assessments. This paper reviewed the complex interactions between environmental conditions and multispectral sensors emphasizing the importance of accounting for these factors to enhance the reliability of reflectance data in agricultural applications.An overview of the fundamentals of multispectral sensors and the operational principles behind vegetation index (VI) computation was reviewed. The review highlights the impact of environmental conditions, particularly solar zenith angle (SZA), on reflectance data quality. Higher SZA values increase cloud optical thickness and droplet concentration by 40-70%, affecting reflectance in the red (-0.01 to 0.02) and near-infrared (NIR) bands (-0.03 to 0.06), crucial for VI accuracy. An SZA of 45° is optimal for data collection, while atmospheric conditions, such as water vapor and aerosols, greatly influence reflectance data, affecting forest biomass estimates and agricultural assessments. During the COVID-19 lockdown,reduced atmospheric interference improved the accuracy of satellite image reflectance consistency. The NIR/Red edge ratio and water index emerged as the most stable indices, providing consistent measurements across different lighting conditions. Additionally, a simulated environment demonstrated that MIS surface reflectance can vary 10-20% with changes in aerosol optical thickness, 15-30% with water vapor levels, and up to 25% in NIR reflectance due to high wind speeds. Seasonal factors like temperature and humidity can cause up to a 15% change, highlighting the complexity of environmental impacts on remote sensing data. This review indicated the importance of precisely managing environmental factors to maintain the integrity of VIs calculations. Explaining the relationship between environmental variables and multispectral sensors offers valuable insights for optimizing the accuracy and reliability of remote sensing data in various agricultural applications.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.155-172
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• 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic not only posed an enormous human crisis, but also had a profound impact on firms' survival. Social distancing and global lockdown measures designed to protect human lives have paradoxically impaired the business environment. As a result, firms that sought to gain competitive advantage by leveraging external resources were cut off from the external world and faced unexpected challenges. Under these circumstances, researches were conducted in the early stage of the pandemic to explore how certain firms survived while others fell, but they were limited to re-examining business performance using traditional financial factors. However, this study aims to investigate the role of entrepreneurs' competency in crisis situations from the Resource-Based View (RBV), as such competency plays an important role in improving business performance and subsequently the probability of startups' survival. Specifically, we evaluated the performance as of end of 2019 of 1,127 startups evaluated by the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), which provides policy financing based on technology assessment, in 2016. We then conducted an empirical study to determine the mediating role of business performance in the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and firm survival by verifying how many of the sample firms were still in operation at the end of June 2023, when the Korean government declared COVID-19 as an endemic. For this purpose, we defined technological, financial, and marketing competencies as the sub-factors of entrepreneurial competency, and sales growth rate and employment growth rate as the sub-factors of business performance. The results of the empirical analysis showed that technological and financial competencies of the entrepreneur had a positive impact on both business performance and firm survival, and that sales growth rate and employment growth rate mediated the relationship between technological competence and firm survival. However, the positive influence of entrepreneurs' financial competence of the survival of startups was only evident through the growth of employment. This study is the first study in South Korea to define the survival factors of startups in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is expected to contribute to the theoretical and practical discussions on the importance of entrepreneurs' competency as a firms' survival factor based on RVB.