• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.671-685
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• 2012

Objective: This study aims to investigate subjects in recuperation to identify the following factors with regard to work-related musculoskeletal diseases: diagnosis in the context of occupational and environmental medicine; assessment systems for judging work-relatedness; recuperation management; workplace management; prevention programs; and care after returning to work. This study intends to analyze differences between subjects and determine what characteristics of subjects account for the differences. Method: A survey was administered to 1,664 workers who were approved by the Korea Worker's Compensation & Welfare Service between 2003 and 2005 for recuperation due to work-related musculoskeletal diseases. The data of 229 subjects who responded the survey questionnaire related to recuperation were analysed. Results: According to the results, demographic, occupational, and musculoskeletal disease-related factors were significant. The demographic factors included gender, age, marital status, and region, while occupational factors included working period, work type, size of workplace, and industry type. The factors related to musculoskeletal diseases were the part of the body in pain, the tissues in pain, and the existence of dysfunction. The above factors were associated with statistically significant differences in the following areas: revealed symptom period, symptoms-diagnosis period, and application for recuperation approval periods; diagnosis and care institutes for recuperarion; the state of patients (body parts in pain, tissues in pain, and existence of dysfunction); return to work; and care after returning to work. Conclusion: The results of this study can serve as basic data in setting priorities for prevention programs for work-related musculoskeletal diseases and selecting target groups.

• Issues in Feminism
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.1-47
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• 2011

The public interventions to care work affect women's labor participation as well as quality of care jobs in the market. We identify five different patterns of ways in which care work has been socialized. Some ways of intervention tend to reinforce the commodification of care work through producing it in the market area. Other ways of intervention has a lot of hazard to return care work to women in the families, after all. We can call it re-familization. Whether care work is re-familized or not largely depends on the ways of public supports for care: cash benefit vs. in-kind benefit. Cash benefits for women's care work negatively affect on their labor market participation. The effects vary across family income levels. In other words, you may expect that cash benefits for care work may reduce female labor supply in lower income classes. The marketization of care service provision may worsen the quality of care jobs while the public provision tends to increase the wage level of care jobs.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.36-39
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• 2011

Objective : To evaluate the efficacy of scalene injection in patients with thoracic outlet syndrome. Methods : We selected 142 patients diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome between January 2005 and October 2009. We performed a series of scalene injection with conservative treatment in all cases. Patients rated their pain degrees using a visual analogue scale. We also evaluated the time to return to everyday life and work, and patients' functional capacity. Results : There were no complications or instances of inadvertent somatic or sympathetic ganglionic blockade after scalene injection. Overall, 111 patients (76.5%) experienced improved symptoms after the first set of scalene injection and 128 patients (88.2%) improved after scalene injection followed by conservative treatment. Of the 68 patients who returned to work during the study period, 54 returned within 1 week, and 62 within 2 weeks. Of those who returned to work, 61 reported nearly full functional capacity. We found that scalene injection was more effective in cases of thoracic outlet syndrome related to trauma than in those related to work-related repetitive stress. Conclusion : In patients with thoracic outlet syndrome, scalene injection effectively reduces pain. We recommend scalene injection as an adjunct to conservative treatment.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2022

Purpose: This study investigated whether parenting stress, work-family conflict, resilience affect retention intent in Korean nurses returning to work after parental leave. Methods: The participants in this study were 111 nurses recruited from 10 hospitals in Korea, who were working after formal parental leave from their hospitals. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, the Mann-Whitney U-test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression. Results: Retention intention (33.80±7.78), parenting stress (101.70±17.57), and resilience (85.02±12.75) were at greater than moderate levels and a midpoint level of work-family conflict (29.63±7.00) was noted in this sample of mostly women nurses in their 30s. The factors affecting retention intent were parental leave duration, the number of times that participants had taken parental leave, health condition, work-family conflict, and resilience. The total explanatory power of these variables was 36.7%. Retention intent had a negative correlation with parenting stress and work-family conflict. Conversely, retention intent was positively correlated with resilience. Conclusion: This study supports the need for flexible adjustment of returning nurses' working hours and family-friendly policies to promote balance between work and family. It is also necessary to develop and apply measures that boost resilience and support health improvement for nurses returning to work.As nurses are often assigned to new areas of work upon return, training programs to aid their adjustment may also be helpful.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.98-101
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• 1999

In this work we htave constructed an under water sonar transducer using Terfenol-D rod employing open magnetic circuit. Normally Sonar transducer using Terfenol-D was designed under closed magnetic flux return path, and permanent magnet for dc bias marnetic field, but high magnetic field should be applied to the transducer coil for high sound power and it brings temperature increase inside of the transducer. To improve this heat dissipation problem, we have designed an open magnetic circuit type transducer and we can get 200 dB (re. 1 Pa @ 1m) sound power for the input power of 650 VA.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.445-450
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• 2023

Background: The impact of COVID-19 infection on workers' work function persists even after the acute phase of the infection. We studied this phenomenon in Japanese workers. Methods: We conducted a one-year prospective cohort study online, starting with a baseline survey in December 2020. We tracked workers without baseline work functioning impairment and incorporated data from 14,421 eligible individuals into the analysis. We estimated the incidence rate ratio for new onset of work functioning impairment due to COVID-19 infection during follow-up, using mixed-effects Poisson regression analysis with robust variance. Results: Participants reporting infection between January and December 2021 showed a significantly higher incidence of new work functioning impairment (adjusted incidence rate ratio: 2.18, 95% confidence interval: 1.75-2.71, p < 0.001). The formality of the recuperation environment correlated with a higher risk of work functioning deterioration in infected individuals (p for trend <0.001). Conclusion: COVID-19-infected workers may continue to experience work difficulties due to persistent, post-acute infection symptoms. Companies and society must urgently provide rehabilitation and social support for people with persistent symptoms, recognizing that COVID-19 is not just a transient acute infection.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.149-157
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• 2016

For workers, industrial accidents exert a bad effect on the productivity, quality of life, and depress the morale. This study aimed to examine the overall influence on job performance of employees who returned to work after industrial accidents. This was a cross-sectional study using the data of 2013 and 2014 Panel Study of Worker's Compensation Insurance (PSWCI), and we performed logistic-regression analysis to analyze an affinity between general characteristics and job performance as independent variable and outcome variable, respectively. As a result, the major factor depressed the job performance were the 1 - 7 degree of disabilities and injuries with convalescence period for 6 to 9month or more than 12 months. In other words, this study shown that job performance was decreased as higher degree of disability and longer convalescence period. Job performance is the factor to identify indirectly worker's successful return to work, and it is important in follow-up of workers who returned to work after industrial accidents. Stable job performance of an industrial disaster victim is the key factor to maintain worker's comfortable and qualitative life as well as increase of productive capacity.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.114-117
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• 2024

A lithium-ion battery is a rechargeable battery that uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy and is the predominant battery type in many industrial and consumer electronics. The lithium-ion batteries are essential to ensure they operate safely. We conducted an exposure assessment five days after a fire in a battery-testing facility. We assessed some of the potentially hazardous materials after a lithium-ion battery fire.We sampled total suspended particles, hydrogen fluoride, and lithium with real-time monitoring of particulate matter (PM) 1, 2.5, and 10 micrometers (㎛). The area sampling results indicated that primary potential hazardous materials such as dust, hydrogen fluoride, and lithium were below the recommended limits suggested by the Korean Ministry of Labor and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Threshold Limit Values. Based on our assessment, workers were allowed to return to work.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2024

High-temperature superconducting rotors offer advantages in terms of output-to-weight ratio and efficiency compared to conventional phase conduction motors or generators. The rotor can be cooled by conduction cooling, which attaches a cryocooler, and by refrigerant circulation, which uses circulating liquid or gas neon, helium and hydrogen. Recent work has focused on environmental issues and on high-temperature superconducting motors cooled with liquid hydrogen that can be combined with fuel cells. However, to ensure smooth supply and return of the cryogenic cooling fluid, a cryogenic rotational coupling between the rotating and stationary parts is necessary. Additionally, the development of a sealing structure to minimize fluid leakage applicable to the coupling is essential. This study describes the design and performance evaluation of a non-contact sealing method, specifically a labyrinth seal, which avoids power loss and heat load caused by friction in contact sealing structures. The seal design incorporates a spiral flow path to reduce leakage using centrifugal force, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to analyze the flow path and rotational speed. A performance evaluation device was configured and employed to evaluate the designed seal. The results of this study will be used to develop a cryogenic rotational coupling with supply and return flow paths for cryogenic applications.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.331-332
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• 1995