• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.203-209
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• 2014

Background: Coal mining is of significant economic importance to the Australian economy. Despite this fact, the related workforce is subjected to a number of psychosocial risks and musculoskeletal injury, and various psychological disorders are common among this population group. Because only limited research has been conducted in this population group, we sought to examine the relationship between physical (pain) and psychological (distress) factors, as well as the effects of various demographic, lifestyle, and fatigue indicators on this relationship. Methods: Coal miners (N = 231) participated in a survey of musculoskeletal pain and distress on-site during their work shifts. Participants also provided demographic information (job type, age, experience in the industry, and body mass index) and responded to questions about exercise and sleep quality (on-and off-shift) as well as physical and mental tiredness after work. Results: A total of 177 workers (80.5%) reported experiencing pain in at least one region of their body. The majority of the sample population (61.9%) was classified as having low-level distress, 28.4% had scores indicating mild to moderate distress, and 9.6% had scores indicating high levels of distress. Both number of pain regions and job type (being an operator) significantly predicted distress. Higher distress score was also associated with greater absenteeism in workers who reported lower back pain. In addition, perceived sleep quality during work periods partially mediated the relationship between pain and distress. Conclusion: The study findings support the existence of widespread musculoskeletal pain among the coal-mining workforce, and this pain is associated with increased psychological distress. Operators (truck drivers) and workers reporting poor sleep quality during work periods are most likely to report increased distress, which highlights the importance of supporting the mining workforce for sustained productivity.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.40-50
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• 2022

Background: Underground mines have several hazards that could lead to serious consequences if they come into effect. Acquiring, evaluating, and using the real-time data from the atmospheric monitoring system and miner's positional information is crucial in deciding the best course of action. Methods: A graphical user interface-based software is developed that uses an AutoCAD-based mine map, real-time atmospheric monitoring system, and miners' positional information to guide on the shortest route to mine exit and other locations within the mine, including the refuge chamber. Several algorithms are implemented to enhance the visualization of the program and guide the miners through the shortest routes. The information relayed by the sensors and communicated by other personnel are collected, evaluated, and used by the program in proposing the best course of action. Results: The program was evaluated using two case studies involving rescue relating to elevated carbon monoxide levels and increased temperature simulating fire scenarios. The program proposed the shortest path from the miner's current location to the exit of the mine, nearest refuge chamber, and the phone location. The real-time sensor information relayed by all the sensors was collected in a comma-separated value file. Conclusion: This program presents an important tool that aggregates information relayed by sensors to propose the best rescue strategy. The visualization capability of the program allows the operator to observe all the information on a screen and monitor the rescue in real time. This program permits the incorporation of additional sensors and algorithms to further customize the tool.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.507-517
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• 2003

Self-organizing map (SOM) has been developed mainly by T. Kohonen and his colleagues as a unsupervised learning neural network. Because of its topological ordering property, SOM is known to be very useful in pattern recognition and text information retrieval areas. Recently, data miners use Kohonen´s mapping method frequently in exploratory analyses of large data sets. One problem facing SOM builder is that there exists no sensible criterion for evaluating goodness-of-fit of the map at hand. In this short communication, we propose valid evaluation procedures for the Kohonen SOM of any size. The methods can be used in selecting the best map among several candidates.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.899-902
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• 2002

Effect of hand-transmitted vibration on human discomfort and health was reviewed. Since the effect by hand tool was more serious than those by any other vibration environments, western countries have protected hand tool workers by regulations. International organization for standardization legislate standard, ISO 5349, at 1979 for the measurement and evaluation of the effect. Afterwards, more than twenty standards on hand-arm vibration were enacted to Protect any damage of hand tool users. Even though Korea Standards adopted ISO 5349 in 2001, it is required an action plan should be applied to all of work environments, especially to the workers using pneumatic tool workwers such as miners, construction workers, and etc.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.239-246
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• 2003

Statisticians, or data miners, are often requested to assess the importances of input variables in the given supervised learning model. For the purpose, one may rely on separate ad hoc measures depending on modeling types, such as linear regressions, the neural networks or trees. Consequently, the conceptual consistency in input variable importance measures is lacking, so that the measures cannot be directly used in comparing different types of models, which is often done in data mining processes, In this short communication, we propose a unified approach to the importance measurement of input variables. Our method uses sensitivity analysis which begins by perturbing the values of input variables and monitors the output change. Research scope is limited to the models for continuous output, although it is not difficult to extend the method to supervised learning models for categorical outcomes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.455-458
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• 2003

Effect of hand-transmitted vibration on human discomfort and health was reviewed. Since the effect by hand tool was more serious than those by any other vibration environments, western countries have protected hand tool workers by regulations. International organization for standardization legislate standard, ISO 5349, at 1979 for the measurement and evaluation of the effect. Afterwards, more than twenty standards on hand-arm vibration were enacted to protect any damage of hand tool users. Even though Korea Standards adopted ISO 5349 in 2001, it is required an action plan should be applied to all of work environments, especially to the workers using pneumatic tool workers such as miners, construction workers, and etc.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 1997

Pneumoconiosis is the result of the long-continued inhalation of dusts and it depends on the interaction between the man and the cloud to which he is exposed. The health effects of dusts, especially silica dust exposure have been since Egyptians had constructed the pyramids in ancient times. Subsequently, many works, including miners, milers, quarry workers, sandblasters, tunnel drivers, are occupationally exposed to mineral dusts. These workers may develop pneumoconiosis and in some instances, malignant neoplasms, particularly lung cancer, as a result of such exposures.Both quantity and quality of mineral dusts in the lungs show significant correlation with the degree of damage from pneumoconiosis. So mineralogical techniques require in pathological studies and in estimation of the airborne dusts in working places.Mineralogy has played an important role in both branches of the protective procedure. This lecture presents the knowledge on lung dust, cytotoxicity and fibrogenetic activity of minerals and control procedures for pneumoconiosis from pont of mineralogist.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.162-166
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• 2022

The family Gracillariidae, belonging to the superfamily Gracillarioidea, is one of the major group of leaf-miners. Among them, the genus Telamoptilia Kumata & Kuroko, 1988 has been known as a small genus with only nine described species over worldwide to date. In this study, the genus Telamoptilia Kumata & Kuroko, 1988, is reported for the first time from Korea. In addition, two species of the genus Telamoptilia, T. grewiae Liu, Wang & Li, 2015 and T. tiliae Kumata & Ermolaev, 1988, are newly recorded in Korea. All the known species are enumerated with their available information. The adults and genitalia of all species are redescribed and illustrated.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.214-219
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• 2017

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are characterized as chronic inflammation of the lung in miners exposed to coal mine dust. The aim of the present study was to compare the levels of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LD) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as the inflammatory indices between subjects with CWP and those with CWP and COPD (CWP+COPD), among a total of 97 subjects (27 control, 40 CWP, and 30 CWP+COPD patients). The mean levels of serum LD (165.7 vs 184.6 U/L, p=0.016) and CRP (0.08 vs 0.15 mg/dL, p=0.002) in subjects with CWP were higher than those of in subjects without CWP. The mean level of serum CRP (0.10 vs 0.19 mg/dL, p=0.008) in subjects with COPD was higher than that in subjects without COPD. In an analysis of covariance adjusted by age, the mean level of serum CRP showed statistical significance among the study groups, control, CWP, and CWP+COPD (0.07 vs 0.13 vs 0.19 mg/dL, p=0.005); the mean level of serum CRP in the CWP+COPD group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p=0.001). The results suggest that a high level of CRP in the serum may be associated with CWP and COPD in retired coal miners.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.16 no.1 s.30
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• pp.33-39
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• 1977

The Present survey was conducted to clarify species of moths infesting apple and the general biology of the dominant species as a basis for effective control. From the results of a survey in Suweon area, 24 species of leafrollers, 3 species of fruit-moths, 4 species of leaf-miners, 4 species of fruit-piercing moths and 28 other leaf-feeders were identified as pests of apple or apple trees.