• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.51
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• pp.332.1-332.8
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• 2018

Background: The trend of aging society is occurring globally, and with it, one of the health problems that is emerging is frailty. Efforts are being made to account for the increasing prevalence of frailty, and various modifiable factors are being considered in regards to frailty. Because social contact has shown beneficial effects in terms of health in previous studies, it is increasingly being considered in relation to frailty. The purpose of this study was to assess the association of different types of social contact with frailty status. Methods: A total of 1,200 Korean elders aged 70-84 years old were included in the study. Using Fried's Cardiovascular Health Study index to categorize the frailty status, the relationship between frailty status and frequency of contact (i.e., with family members, friends, or neighbors) was analyzed using multinomial logistic regression accounting for confounders. Results: Adjusting for all covariates, frequency of contact with friends was the most statistically significant. Less frequent contact was associated with a significantly higher odds of pre-frailty: monthly (odds ratio [OR], 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27-3.20), and rarely (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.17-2.99), with daily contact group as reference. Also, those contacting friends monthly (OR, 5.04; 95% CI, 2.29-11.08) or rarely (OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.58-6.61) were more likely to be frail compared to the daily group. Conclusion: Frequency of social contact, especially with friends, is strongly associated with frailty.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2020

Drought events are not clear when those start and end compared with other natural disasters. Because drought events have different timing and severity of damage depending on the region, various studies are being conducted using satellite images to identify regional drought occurrence differences. In this study, we investigated the applicability of drought assessment using the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images. The ESI is an indicator of agricultural drought that describes anomalies in actual and reference evapotranspiration (ET) ratios that are retrieved using remotely sensed inputs of Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Leaf Area Index (LAI). However, these approaches have a limited spatial resolution when mapping detailed vegetation stress caused by drought, and drought hazard in the actual crop cultivation areas due to the small crop cultivation in South Korea. For these reasons, the development of a drought index that provides detailed higher resolution ESI, a 500 m resolution image is essential to improve the country's drought monitoring capabilities. The newly calculated ESI was verified through the existing 5 km resolution ESI and historical records for drought impacts. This study evaluates the performance of the recently developed 500 m resolution ESI for severe and extreme drought events that occurred in South Korea in 2001, 2009, 2014, and 2017. As a result, the two ES Is showed high correlation and tendency using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis. In addition, it will provide the necessary information on the spatial resolution to evaluate regional drought hazard assessment and and the small-scale cultivation area across South Korea.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.85-97
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• 2022

In this study, a method for an integrated flood risk mapping was proposed that simultaneously considers the flood inundation map indicating the degree of risk and the disaster vulnerability index. This method creates a new disaster map that can be used in actual situations by providing various and specific information on a single map. In order to consider the human, social and economic factors in the disaster map, the study area was divided into exposure, vulnerability, responsiveness, and recovery factors. Then, 7 indicators for each factor were extracted using the GIS tool. The data extracted by each indicator was classified into grades 1 to 5, and the data was selected as a disaster vulnerability index and used for integrated risk mapping by factor. The risk map for each factor, which overlaps the flood inundatoin map and the disaster vulnerability index factor, was used to establish an evacuation plan by considering regional conditions including population, assets, and buildings. In addition, an integrated risk analysis method that considers risks while converting to a single vulnerability through standardization of the disaster vulnerability index was proposed. This is expected to contribute to the establishment of preparedness, response and recovery plans for providing detailed and diverse information that simultaneously considers the flood risk including social, humanistic, and economic factors.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.51-57
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• 2019

Purpose - This study aims to improve the distribution structure of the OLED market and develop cost-effective optimization techniques. Specifically, it is a study on the optimization of ferric chloride to improve the etch of SUS MASK for OLED. Research design, data, and methodology - Applying the optimal conditions of the experiment, the final confirmation was evaluated for improvement by the Process Capability Index (Cpk). It is possible to derive social performance such as improvement of precision of SUS MASK manufacturing, economic performance such as defect rate, reduction of waste generation and treatment cost, technological achievement such as SUS MASK production technology, improvement of profit structure of technology development and process improvement do. Results - The improvement of the Cpk before the improvement was made was confirmed to be 0.57% with a defect estimate of 25.07% with a failure estimate of 0.57% after the improvement, and 8.84% with a failure estimate of 0.57% level after the improvement. Conclusions - If the conclusions obtained from the specimen experiment are applied to the manufacturing process of SUS MASK, it will be possible to expect excellent cost-effective competitiveness due to the improvement of precision and reduction of defect rate to enhance the OLED market penetration.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.588-598
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• 2020

Objectives: Human indices were developed to determine returning point of residents and damage restoration after the chemical accident Methods: To determine the returning point of residents after the chemical accident, a new concept, the standard man model was introduced as a human index, in which both H-code and its acute effects were main idea. To evaluate the applicability, a hydrogen fluoride leakage accident in Gumi was applied. The returning point were suggested as the conservative remission period of acute effects among relevant hazard effects and compared with actual returning point. The coverage of each age group were considered with reflecting average daily dose expected for actual residents. In addition, a relief-index as a social-scientific approach was reflected as well to apply the damage restoration Results: Actual returning point of residents in Gumi was 88 days; and that of standard man model suggested was 84 days. The expected amount of exposure at aged 12 or under was at least 2.35 times greater than that of this model, 40s, theoretically. However, their population ratio was less than 1%, so 99% of residents could be applied when the standard man model was applied. The relief-index was as an objective and quantitative methodology to apply the qualitative aspect. Conclusions: Although evaluated as a relatively positive result, there was a limitation such as the number of accident applied to the verification of standard man model. The relief index was also considered, but further research should be carried out to find threshold level for the relief.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2022

Background: Potato is the main crop of Ardabil Plain (accounting for one-fifth of potato production in Iran). Its health hazard risk to farmers is rising due to the increasing rate of pesticide use. The present study analyzes potato farmers' health hazard risk in the use of chemical pesticides. Methods: The rate of pesticide use by farmers (n = 370) was first compared with the recommended dosage (on pesticide label). Then, a composite index was employed to estimate the health hazard risk of farmers during pesticide use, and the variables accounting for pesticide overuse and nonoveruse were analyzed. Safety behavior was examined in four steps, namely of pesticide purchase and storage, preparation, application, and postapplication. Results: It was found that 74.6 percent of potato farmers used pesticides in higher concentrations than the recommended dosage. The higher average rate of pesticide use versus recommendation (label instruction) was related to Chlorpyrifos and Trifluralin, and the highest average health hazard risk among farmers was related to the use of Chlorpyrifos and Metribuzin. Farmers with a higher risk of health hazard displayed much lower safety behavior than the other farmers at all steps of pesticide use. Conclusion: The most important variables discriminating the health hazard risk of farmers' overuse included health behavior identity, attitude, knowledge and awareness, and cues to action. Therefore, using social media, holding local exhibitions, and engaging local leaders and skilled farmers in the region to improve farmers' attitudes and health behavior identity toward the dangers of chemical pesticides can play a significant role in motivating farmers' display of overuse preventive behaviors.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.171-176
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• 2012

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess work ability of Korean workers in the shipbuilding industry. Background: Old age is associated with inevitable time-dependent losses in physical capabilities. However the maintenance of physical capabilities is essential for continuing independence in old age. The work ability index(WAI) was constructed to reveal how well a worker is able to perform his or her work. Method: The WAI is a kind of survey methods developed to estimate the work capacity of aged workers by the Finish Institute of Occupational Health(FIOH) in 1998. The difference of the WAI between groups in each category was tested using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and the relationship between the WAI and the workers' ages was tested by the Correlation test. Results: This study surveyed 2,709 persons working in the shipbuilding industry in Korea. The average WAI score for all workers was 40.0 denoting a Good Level. Also, workers in the shipbuilding industry had lower work ability, as compared to the results of other industries. The WAI was analyzed for different age groups(${\leq}29$; 30~34; 35~39; 40~44; 45~49; 50~54; ${\geq}55$). The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed that significant difference was identified on the effect of aging(p<0.05). Conclusion: Advanced countries like the Finland showed decreasing tendency in good and excellent levels as aged, but there was no decreasing tendency in Korean population. The results may be attributable to the general characteristics of Korean society, such as poor social security and burden caused by role of the patriarch. It may bring forth higher work ability in aged population even their physical condition is getting worse. Application: This finding could be used for developing more accurate assessment tool of work ability for working environment.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.293-303
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• 2022

In construction work, it can be difficult to know the exact number of full-time workers, so the accident rate is calculated using the approximate number of full-time workers. In addition, as the accident rate calculation is performed based on the assumption that the number of accidents is proportional to the approximate number of workers, the reliability of the calculation result may be questionable. This study proposed a new indicator for accident level based on the progress payment and the number of injuries. The accident-progress ratio, which can be calculated by simply dividing the number of injuries by progress payment, can replace the existing accident rate index or be used as an auxiliary indicator of the accident level. The correlation coefficient between the number of injuries and the progress payment was higher than that between the number of injuries and the number of construction workers. In addition, over the past 10 years, the accident rate has been increasing, whereas the accident-progress ratio has showed a decreasing tendency. This might leave room for different interpretations of the annual variation in the accident level in the construction industry.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.305-311
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• 2015

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship nursing personal and workplace system factors (work disability) and work ability index scores in Ontario, Canada. Methods: A total of 111 registered nurses were randomly selected from the total number of registered nurses on staff in the labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum areas of four northeastern Ontario hospitals. Using a stratified random design approach, 51 participants were randomly selected in four northeastern Ontario cities. Results: A total of 51 (45.9% response rate) online questionnaires were returned and another 60 (54.1% response rate) were completed using the paper format. The obstetric workforce in northeastern Ontario was predominately female (94.6%) with a mean age of 41.9 (standard deviation = 10.2). In the personal systems model, three variables: marital status (p = 0.025), respondent ethnicity (p = 0.026), and mean number of patients per shift (p = 0.049) were significantly contributed to the variance in work ability scores. In the workplace system model, job and career satisfaction (p = 0.026) had a positive influence on work ability scores, while work absenteeism (p = 0.023) demonstrated an inverse relationship with work ability scores. In the combined model, all the predictors were significantly related to work ability scores. Conclusion: Work ability is closely related to job and career satisfaction, and perceived control at work among obstetric nursing. In order to improve work ability, nurses need to work in environments that support them and allow them to be engaged in the decision-making processes.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.458-465
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• 2020

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the interaction between neck and/or wrist pain and hand grip strength (HGS) and to investigate factors (age, sex, neck disorders, and carpal tunnel syndrome) influencing the HGS of industrial quality proofing workers (N = 145). Methods: Standardized questionnaires [Neck Disability Index (NDI), Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire] were used to evaluate existing neck and/or wrist pain. HGS measurements were performed in different wrist positions. Results: Significant differences between participants with and without neck pain were found in different wrist positions, in neutral wrist position right [without neck pain (n = 48) 46.34 (43.39 - 49.30); with neck pain (n = 97) 38.46 (36.20 - 40.72), F_(1,144) = 16.82, p < 0.001, ŋ_p² = 0.11] and left [without neck pain 44.06 (41.19 - 46.94); with neck pain 37.36 (35.13 - 39.58), F_(1,144) = 12.70, p < 0.001, ŋ_p² = 0.08]. A significant difference between participants with and without wrist pain was found for neutral wrist position right [without wrist pain (n = 105) 42.53 (40.37 - 44.70); with wrist pain (n = 40) 37.24 (33.56 - 40.91), F_(1,144) = 6.41, p = 0.01, ŋ_p² = 0.04]. Regression analysis showed significant results especially for steps two (age and weight, NDI) and three (age and weight, NDI, Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire) for neutral position right (R² = 0.355, R² = 0.357, respectively). Conclusion: Neck pain has an impact on HGS but should be evaluated in consideration of age and sex.