• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.87-93
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• 2023

This study investigates the role of church communities in elderly welfare in Korea after the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research is to explore how church communities can contribute to the well-being of elderly beneficiaries, enabling them to lead more stable and happy lives. It aims to establish efficient elderly welfare networks involving the government, local authorities, community organizations, and churches. The research approach involved qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews with senior pastors and ministers in charge of elderly welfare at various churches. The data collected from these interviews served as the primary source, supplemented by a one-year assessment of elderly welfare programs as the secondary data for analysis. The study highlights the significance of utilizing the role of church communities in elderly welfare to contribute to the advancement of elderly welfare in Korea, even in difficult situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.188-197
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• 2020

Due to hazardous working environments at complex, unstructured, and dynamic construction sites, workers frequently face potential safety and health risks throughout the construction process. In this regard, addressing safety challenges remains one of the top priorities. Construction workers' ability to identify and assess risks is acquired through training, which is one of the primary key factors to determine their safety and wellbeing in hazardous working environments. As such, safety managers constantly focus on the effectiveness of the training materials provided to the workers. However, the construction workers are considerably at greater risk of injuries and fatalities compared to the workers in other industries. In this regard, further studies are required to build up a body of knowledge on the conventional safety training approaches as well as their evaluation techniques in order to boost up the adoption by the practitioners in a widespread manner. This paper provides a systematic review of the current safety training approaches and the various techniques for measuring their effectiveness. The attributes of the current safety training methods for construction workers and their evaluation techniques are identified and analyzed. Results indicated that: 1) immersive environment-based training methods are effective than the traditional safety training methods; 2) this effectiveness can be empirically supported by evaluation strategies, but the current techniques are subjective, intrusive, and error-prone. This research offers fresh opportunities to investigate the training strategies by objectively monitoring the physiological responses of construction crews. The results of this study can be used by researchers and practitioners to identify and determine optimal safety training programs that could potentially become ubiquitous in the construction industry.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.151-165
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• 2009

The objective of this case study is to analyze how effectively KIA SOUL, which is a leading Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV) brand, has created a new market space through innovative product strategy. Up until now, most car manufacturers have focused only on the traditional product market segments missing out on the opportunity of the crossover segment market. KIA SOUL found a new market space by identifying the high crossover utility demand and filling the gap between the current product category values and the emerging crossover product category values. This case study illustrates that an innovative product strategy can be effectively employed to create a new market space in the saturated car manufacturing industry. The case summarizes that the innovative product strategy of KIA SOUL is comprised of four primary pillars: design innovation, market frontier in CUV, the first company to launch customizing service brand-TUON, and functional innovation. The KIA SOUL case study provides valuable insights and implications for many other companies that are planning to find "blue oceans" for their own business.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.332-345
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• 2023

Objectives: We examined the association of hearing with cardio-metabolic diseases, dyslipidemia, hypertension and diabetes mellitus according to the personal and occupational characteristics of workers exposed to noise. Methods: The subjects of the study were 237,028 workers who underwent 2, 3, and 4 kHz airway pure tone audiometry in 2015 and who underwent clinical tests to diagnose cardiovascular-metabolic diseases. Cardiovascular-metabolic diseases were defined using reference values for respective items including blood pressure (systolic/diastolic), fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides. The airway pure tone hearing threshold of 2, 3, and 4 kHz, the average threshold of 2-3-4 kHz, and the hearing loss by the average threshold of the primary examination were distinguished. Results: Workers with cardiovascular-metabolic disease had significantly higher average hearing thresholds and higher rates of hearing loss. Logistic regression analysis, which adjusted for demographic variables of gender and age and occupational variables such as workplace size, industry, and type of work, and cardiovascular-metabolic disease as independent variables, showed that the odds ratio of hypertension to hearing loss in the mid-frequency was 1.239 (95% confidence interval: 1.118-1.374). For hypertension was 1.159 (1.107-1.214) and for diabetes it was 1.166 (1.104-1.230) for hearing loss in the high-frequency. Hearing loss measured by mean hearing was 1.178 (1.105-1.256) for hypertension and 1.181 (1.097-1.271) for diabetes. Conclusions: Cardiovascular-metabolic diseases in noise-exposed workers are associated with an increased risk of hearing loss and should be accompanied by bio-monitoring of cardiovascular-metabolic diseases in addition to auditory surveillance.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1727-1737
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• 2023

Objective: The poultry industry is a primary source of animal protein worldwide. The gut microbiota of poultry birds, such as chickens and ducks, is critical in maintaining their health, growth, and productivity. This study aimed to identify longitudinal changes in the gut microbiota of laying hens from birth to the pre-laying stage. Methods: From a total of 80 Hy-Line Brown laying hens, birds were selected based on weight at equal intervals to collect feces (n = 20 per growth) and ileal contents (n = 10 per growth) for each growth stage (days 10, 21, 58, and 101). The V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene were amplified after extracting DNA from feces and ileal contents. Amplicon sequencing was performed using Illumina, followed by analysis. Results: Microbial diversity increased with growth stages, regardless of sampling sites. Microbial community analysis indicated that Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla in the feces and ileal. The abundance of Lactobacillus was highest on day 10, and that of Escherichia-shigella was higher on day 21 than those at the other stages at the genus level (for the feces and ileal contents; p<0.05). Furthermore, Turicibacter was the most abundant genus after changing feed (for the feces and ileal contents; p<0.05). The fecal Ruminococcus torques and ileal Lysinibacillus were negatively correlated with the body weights of chickens (p<0.05). Conclusion: The gut microbiota of laying hens changes during the four growth stages, and interactions between microbiota and feed may be present. Our findings provide valuable data for understanding the gut microbiota of laying hens at various growth stages and future applied studies.

• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.37-44
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• 2023

As a primary technology of Industry 4.0, human-robot collaboration (HRC) requires additional measures to ensure worker safety. Previous studies on avoiding collisions between collaborative robots and workers mainly detect collisions based on sensors and cameras attached to the robot. This method requires complex algorithms to continuously track robots, people, and objects and has the disadvantage of not being able to respond quickly to changes in the work environment. The present study was conducted to implement a web-based platform that manages collaborative robots by recognizing the emotions of workers - specifically their perception of danger - in the collaborative process. To this end, we developed a web-based application that collects and stores emotion-related brain waves via a wearable device; a deep-learning model that extracts and classifies the characteristics of neutral, positive, and negative emotions; and an Internet-of-things (IoT) interface program that controls motor operation according to classified emotions. We conducted a comparative analysis of our system's performance using a public open dataset and a dataset collected through actual measurement, achieving validation accuracies of 96.8% and 70.7%, respectively.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.414-427
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• 2023

Implantable bioabsorbable combination products undergo inherent degradation and systemic absorption within the physiological environment, thereby streamlining the therapeutic regimen and obviating the imperative for invasive extraction procedures. This inherent property not only enhances patient convenience and therapeutic efficacy but also underpins a paradigm of support characterized by heightened safety parameters. Within the regulatory landscapes of Korea, the United States, and Europe, implantable bioabsorbable combination products are meticulously classified into distinct categories, either as pharmaceutical implants or as implantable medical devices, depending on their primary mode of action. This scholarly investigation systematically examines the regulatory frameworks governing implantable bioabsorbable combination products in South Korea, the United States, and Europe. Notable discrepancies across national jurisdictions emerge concerning regulatory specifics, including terminology, product classification, and product name associated with these products. The conspicuous absence of standardized approval regulations presents a formidable barrier to the commercialization of these advanced medical devices. This academic discourse passionately emphasizes the critical need for formulating and implementing a sophisticated regulatory framework capable of streamlining the product approval process, thereby paving the way for a seamless path to commercializing implantable bioabsorbable combination products.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.773-784
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• 2023

Since 2007, the government has been actively working to enhance the quality of public buildings, as evidenced by initiatives like the "National Basic Architecture Plan" and, since 2014, the "Building Service Industry Promotion Act." Despite these efforts, educational facilities continue to experience more frequent defects compared to large-scale apartment constructions. This study aims to analyze the primary causes of crack formation in educational facilities, employing the 2×2 MATRIX and IPA techniques to develop efficient crack prediction models. The research includes a review of relevant literature and an analysis of data from the Office of Education spanning 2019 to 2021 to pinpoint significant defects. Subsequently, 15 factors related to crack defects were identified through surveys and expert consultations. The 2×2 Matrix analysis of these factors highlighted the challenges in work processes and the effectiveness of preventative measures for crack formation, focusing on key areas for improvement. The findings from this study are anticipated to significantly contribute to the prevention and management of structural cracks in educational facilities, ensuring their long-term integrity.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.83-97
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• 2023

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the influencer's impacts of cryptocurrency markets. By using Elon Musk's twitter activity to compute effects of influencer's impacts in cryptocurrency markets, this study aims to analyze influencer's impacts and to offer implications for cryptocurrency markets. This study used the tweets that Elon Musk posted for the period between the April 1, 2019 to July 31, 2021 to conduct event study to evaluate influencer's impacts in cryptocurrency market. The results revealed that (1) influencer's impacts was disappearing, and (2) speculative investments was still made in the cryptocurrency market, (3) duration of the influencer's impacts was becoming short. The results indicate that objective evaluation system for cryptocurrency and sanction of bad cryptocurrencies should be needed, in order to ensure right cryptocurrency investment environment. On the other hand, the government should make policies to create the right cryptocurrency investment environment and flatform.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.279-294
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• 2024

Agriculture has played a significant role in the national economy, contributing to food security, driving economic growth, and safeguarding the dietary habits of the population. Korean agriculture has been compelled to focus on intensive farming due to its limited cultivation area, excessive input costs, and the limitations of agricultural mechanization. In the Republic of Korea (R.O.K), the concept of environmentally friendly animal agriculture began to be introduced in the early 2000s. This concept ultimately aims to cultivate sustainable animal agriculture (SAA) through environmentally friendly production practices, ensuring the healthy rearing of animals to supply safe animal products. Despite the government's efforts, there are still significant challenges in implementing environmentally friendly agriculture and SAA in the R.O.K. Therefore, the objective of this review is to establish the direction that the animal agriculture sector should take in the era of climate crisis, and to develop effective strategies for SAA tailored to the current situation in the R.O.K by examining the trends in SAA in the U.S. The animal agriculture sector in the U.S. has been working towards creating a SAA system where humans, animals, and the environment can coexist through government initiatives, industry research, technological support, and individual efforts. Efforts have been made to reduce emissions like carbon, and improve factors affecting the environment such as the carbon footprint, odor, and greenhouse gases associated with animal agriculture processes for animals such as cattle and pigs. The transition of the U.S. towards SAA appears to be driven by both external goals related to addressing climate change and the primary objectives of responding to the demand for safe animal products, expanding consumption, and securing competitiveness in overseas export markets. The demand for animal welfare, organic animal products, and processed goods has been increasing in the U.S. consumer market. A major factor in the transformation of the U.S. animal agriculture sector in terms of livestock specifications is attributed to environmentally friendly practices such as high-quality feed, heat stress reduction, improvements in reproductive ability and growth period reduction, and efforts in animal genetic enhancement.