• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.28
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• pp.8.1-8.5
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• 2013

Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Korea for the last 30 years. Cancer patients' 5-year survival rate between 2005 and 2009 was 62.0%, representing a highly advanced standard of care, as much as developed countries in the EU and the US. The Korean government formulated its first 10-year plan for cancer control in 1996 and has been carrying out a second 10-year plan for cancer control since 2006. But despite the Korean government's efforts, the cancer burden in Korea continues to increase. Many separate laws have gone into effect concerning the management of carcinogen exposure. However, there are no integrated regulatory laws or management systems against carcinogen exposure in Korea. Dead zones remain where carcinogen exposure cannot be controlled properly in Korea. In this paper, we suggest the need to establish a national carcinogen list based on international harmonization as a prerequisite for a paradigm shift in cancer control policy from treatment to primary prevention.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.77-105
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• 2004

Given the limitations of UI benefit and self-insurance through precautionary savings, this paper suggests a new scheme of income support for the unemployed, which offers unemployed workers not only UI benefit but also borrowings from their future pension incomes. Allowing individuals to have effective self-insurance through pension- borrowing, this scheme provides them with consumption-smoothing and reduction in risk burden while maintaining search incentives of the unemployed. Simulation study based upon household panel data in Korea suggests that a heavy reliance should be set upon self-insurance through pension-borrowings rather than upon UI benefit, even for the low-income individuals who are subsidized under UI system. This result provides us with insightful implications for a social safety net in (fast-growing) developing countries, where people cannot afford a good amount of UI benefit or of precautionary savings against unemployment although they expect their incomes to be much higher in the future. Indeed, it is consumption-smoothing effect of self-insurance through pension- borrowings, as well as its incentive-maintaining effect, that makes it a promising alternative of social safety net in developing countries.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.255-268
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to deepen our understanding about mothers' parenting stress in multi-cultural families. The study was conducted through in-depth interviews of 6 mothers from Mongolia, Philippines, and Japan who were living in Seoul. The findings of this study were as follows. First, mothers of multi-cultural families had difficulties of giving birth and child rearing, especially in the earliest years of their children. They were not fully adapted to the ways of living in Korea with little social support from family members and neighbors. Second, they were worried about their children's development, particularly language development due to their lack of understanding and fluency in Korean. Third, they were concerned about the cultural and racial discrimination against their children. They expected their children to be treated and respected equally like ordinary Korean children. Fourth, they were anxious about the fact that their children might not acquire the basic academic skills before they enter the elementary schools. Furthermore, they were worried that their children might not get as much educational support as they want. Fifth, despite the burden of mother's role in Korea, they wished to get a job to support their children for better education. In conclusion, the marriage immigrant mothers experienced the stress due to the lack of social support, the discrimination against immigrants, the possibilities of their children's delays in development, the disparity in the level of support for educating their children and the high expectations about their children's education in Korean society. Therefore it is necessary for the policy makers to consider more practical support system for the multi-cultural families in order for the marriage immigrant mothers to build up self-confidence in child rearing and educating their children.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.447-461
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• 2020

This study explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed family life and relationships as well as how these changes affect perceived stress among married men and women. This study investigated changes in family time use, household work, child care, leisure activities, income and expenditures along with relationships between spouses and children using a sample of 627 married persons surveyed online from May 19 to 25, 2020. The results showed that the amount of time spent on household work, child care, and family leisure have increased and that the perceived burden of household work and child care has also increased. Gender differences were found in time use, household work, and child care. Leisure activities have changed toward more time watching TV or online media and playing online games and less time on outdoor activities, shopping, and meeting friends. About 38% of respondents reported a reduction in household income and 22% reported an increase in household debt. The majority experienced no change in the quality of relationships with spouses and children, approximately 20% of the sample reported a positive change in relationships with spouses and children. The findings of multivariate regression indicated that change in work time, negative change in household economy, negative change in household work and negative change in relationships with spouses were associated with marital stress. However, this study found that negative changes in child care and in relationships with children did not affect stress among married parents with children in elementary or secondary school.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.253-275
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to examine the difference of features between poor group and non-poor group. And, it is examined whether there are man and woman's differences. The investigation targeted the person who were using 'Regional self-support center'. They were classified into poor and non-poor group depending on the participation pattern of the self-support programs. Using logistic regression technique, I analyzed the effects of a series of independent variables on the dependent variable of whether or not person is in poor group and then compared the analysis results. The findings and policy implications are as follows. First, it was found that the health condition of women has a significant effect on the likelihood of poverty. Therefore, it is necessary to support appropriate medical service and improvement of health condition to them. Second, the business career of women was one of the factors affecting. Whether the business career is or not, it is necessary to do different support. Third, like what has been known until now, care giving was found to be a heavy burden for woman.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.215-244
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• 2015

The 1993 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Daubert v. Merrel Dow Chemical, Inc. has changed the ways in which scientific evidence is evaluated for legal purposes. A new set of guidelines, called thereafter the Daubert Standard, that was intended to increase the judge's authority in determining the admissibility of scientific evidence in the court, turns out to have increased the burden of proof on the part of plaintiffs and have also considerably influenced the outcome of policy decisions in the regulatory areas. This paper analyzes the changes made in the relationship between science and law after the introduction of the Daubert Standard, examining the epistemological differences between its proponents and opponents. The judge's dilemma as a gatekeeper, this paper argues, is not simply that of an 'amateur scientist' seeking to learn and practice scientific knowledge per se. Rather, the dilemma ought to be that of an 'legal expert,' faithful to ethos of social justice without succumbing to the practical convenience of the Daubert Standard. This paper also suggests that there is much room for STS scholars to make contributions to the use of science in legal settings by conducting in-depth studies on court cases in the broad social and political context.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.289-297
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• 2004

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine factors affecting workers' physiological somatic complain using the Job Stress Model proposed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Method: Data were collected from the 1st to the 30th of December 1999. The subjects were 2.123 workers employed at 155 work sites. Collected date were analyzed through SAS/PC program. Result: According to individual characteristics, younger and women groups showed significantly higher physiological somatic complaint than elder men groups. By work condition, groups with higher physiological somatic complaint included workers of irregular shift work. Dark lighting, improper temperature in winter, improper ventilation, inappropriate humidity, unpleasant work environment and crowded work place were significantly related with physiological somatic complaint. By work-related factor, physiological somatic complaint was high in those with higher variance in work load, quantitative work load, role conflict, job burden, role ambiguity and future ambiguity. On the other hand, physiological somatic complaint was low in those with little underutilization of ability. As for the relationships between physiological somatic complaint and non-work related factors, physiological somatic complaint was high in workers who had a side job, were bringing up infants alone, cleaned the house alone, cared for the elderly and disabled persons, were studying, were volunteering at another organization, and were spending 5-10 hours in religious activities per week. Physiological somatic complain was in significantly negative correlations with overall social support, supervisory support and family support, but in significantly positive correlations with co-worker support. Conclusion: The main predictors of physiological somatic complain were gender, shift work pattern, overtime work, ventilation, role ambiguity, role conflict, future ambiguity, job control, variance in work load, overall social support, worker with side job, worker who cleans the house alone, worker who is studying. These predictors explained 19.10% of the total variance of physiological somatic complain.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.27-37
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• 2013

Because of rapid aging, housing stability of elderly household is becoming an important social problem. The population of the elderly people was 11.3% and that of the elderly household was 23.2%, about 407 million, in 2010. Yet, social policies for elderly people are focusing on the household who takes care of the elderly people, not on the elderly headed households. These policies fail to reflect the reality. Housing satisfaction of the elderly household is different based on the tenure type and the satisfaction can be further affected by the types of elderly household within the same tenure group. Thus, strengthening the policies for the elderly headed households as well as differentiating the policies based on the types of household is required in order to meet the needs of the elderly households. For the elderly household living in a rent house in a city, a housing voucher is needed and for the low income elders who own their houses, housing renovation is required. Public housing affects only the residential satisfaction of single elderly households, not for all elderly households probably because public housing does not meet the demand of the elderly households appropriately. Since the elderly households wanting to move is noticeably small, a policy that provides proper facilities within the elders' neighborhood is most necessary. Also, in order to lessen the burden of housing expenses of the elders with low income, a public housing policy, in which 2-3 people living together in one public housing, needs to be examined.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to identify and compare the risk factors of depression among middle-class Korean workers. Methods: A cross sectional study was designed for secondary data analysis. From the 8th Korean Medical Panel Survey (2008~2013), a total of 3,056 data was drawn and analyzed. With SPSS version 24, a developmental stage comparison, with the stage being young adults (20~39), middle-aged adults (40~64), and older adults (65+) were conducted. Frequency, percentage, 𝑥² test and logistic regression analysis were statistical tools used to analyze the data. Results: In all developmental groups, experience of frustration was found to be a common risk factor of depression. Stress from excessive task, peer-compared subjective health status, and self-perceived social class were risk factors of depression in the young adults and the middle-aged adults. Anxiety for the future significantly influenced depression in the middle-aged adults and older adults. Conclusion: Experience of frustration was a major risk factor of depression among Korean middle-class workers. Interventions to reduce depression need to be developed focusing on the specific risk factors by developmental stages such as experience of frustration, stress from task burden, poor peer-compared subjective health status and anxiety for the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1701-1704
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• 2016

Background: Stomach cancer (SC) is the second leading cause of cancer death with the rate of 10.4% in the world. The correlation between the incidence and mortality rates of SC and human development index (HDI) has not been globally determined. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the association between the incidence and mortality rates of SC and HDI in various regions. Materials and Methods: In this global ecological study, we used the data about the incidence and mortality rate of SC and HDI from the global cancer project and the United Nations Development Programme database, respectively. Results: In 2012, SCs were estimated to have affected a total of 951,594 individuals (crude rate: 13.5 per 100,000 individuals) with a male/female ratio of 1.97, and caused 723,073 deaths worldwide (crude rate: 10.2 per 100,000 individuals). There was a positive correlation between the HDI and both incidence (r=0.28, P<0.05) and mortality rates of SC (r=0.13, P = 0.1) in the world in 2012. Conclusions: The high incidence and mortality rates of SC in countries with high and very high HDI is remarkable which should be the top priority of interventions for global health policymakers. In addition, health programs should be provided to reduce the burden of this disease in the regions with high incidence and mortality rates of SC.