• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.217-226
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• 2010

The lower limb orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator, which is intended for the assistance and the enhancement of muscular activities of lower limbs was developed in this study. Compared to other knee extension assistive devices being developed by other researchers, our device is designed especially for the elderly people and intended only for slight assistance so that the subjects can keep their muscular strength. For the effectiveness of system, muscular activities of major muscles in lower limbs during sit-to-stand (STS) and squat motion were measured and analyzed. Subjects were performed the STS and squat motion with and without lower limb orthosis. We made comparison muscular activities between with and without lower limb orthosis. Lower limb orthosis was controlled using muscular stiffness force feedback that is controlled by muscular activities of the measured muscle from force sensor. For analysis of muscular activities, electromyography of the subjects was measured during STS and squat motion, and these were measured using MP 150(BIOPAC Systems, Inc.). Muscles of interest were rectus femoris(RF), vastus lateralis(VL), vastus medialis(VM) and vastus intermedius(VI) muscles in lower limbs of the right side. A biodex dynamometer was used to measure the maximal concentric isokinetic strength of the knee extensors of wearing and not wearing orthosis on right side. The test were performed using the concentric isokinetic mode of test with the velocity set at 60°/s for muscles around the knee joints. The experimental result showed that muscular activities in lower limbs wearing orthosis using muscular stiffness force of a vastus medialis muscle was reduced and knee extension torque of an knee joint wearing lower limb orthosis was increased. With this, we confirmed the effectiveness of the developed lower limb orthosis.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.107-112
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• 2014

In keeping with the increasing demand for medical services in accordance with the economic development, the use of oriental medicine is on the rise year by year. In particular, it is a tendency that the elderly over age 65 prefer the oriental medicine to the western medicine in Korea. Under the circumstance, changing into an aging society, the importance of oriental medical services has been growing. In this regard, this study evaluated the quality of medical services by conducting the density analysis and the accessibility analysis of oriental medical clinic targeting Jinju, which is one of local small and medium-sized cities. The study results reveal that oriental medical hospitals accounted for 27% of the entire medical facilities in Jinju, and there was an imbalance in the quality of the oriental medical services according to districts(called dong) because oriental medical hospitals were mainly concentrated in the central commercial areas. In particular, in terms of the analysis on the accessibility of an aging population over age 65 to the oriental medical hospitals, over 50% of the whole districts (dongs) in Jinju were blind spots in medical services, showing a very vulnerable condition. Accordingly, it is judged that systematic measures for improvement in support of the oriental medical services in local small and medium-sized cities should be provided in Korea when we consider the characteristics of Korea where an aging population is rapidly increasing.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2017

This study has some issues about the elderly, the disabled, and the vulnerable groups whose economic ability is low even if the disaster or disaster situation is not a big problem for the people. we should emphasize the necessity of disaster preparedness action manual considering the characteristics of disaster vulnerable classes and taking serious risks to them even in the same situation. We also want to conduct research only for people with disabilities who are choosing the same definition of the world among the vulnerable groups. I would like to provide a basis for developing a site action manual for people with disabilities by comparing the cases of Korea and Japan. Therefore, through the cases of Japan and Korea, it is possible to maintain the independence of everyday life during disasters, the communication function in disasters, the method of moving information and mobile information, the function of recognizing emergency response, Action Emphasize the urgency of developing action manuals. From this domestic situation, we will conclude the discussion on the disaster safety and action manual for the disabled.

• 한국정책학회보
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.161-198
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• 2014

The various types of improper usages in the process of delivering social services have been increasingly paid to attention in South Korea. This study, relying on empirical data about the various improper behaviors, explore whether the audit activity can reduce the degree of the improper behavior. In order to estimate the impact of the audit, we use the DID(Difference in difference) method, comparing the experimental group with the audit treatment and the control group without it. We control for size(the number of Service personnel and user), types of social service (elderly, disabled, etc.), organizational forms(profit, non-profit), region(metropolitan areas, small-medium cities, rural areas), and the number times of audit (1, 2, and 3 number). Our empirical results show that the audit decreased the ratio of payment violation by about 4.02 percent, the number of violations from providers' improper payment by approximately 5.07 and the number of violations from users' improper payment by approximately 9.59. Further research is required to explore why and how the audit can decrease the improper usage in social service with rigorous theoretical models.

• Trans-
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• v.14
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• pp.35-63
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• 2023

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological disease that affects even basic daily life movements due to impairment of body function caused by a lack of dopamine, which is charge of the body movement. Presently, it is hard to cure Parkinson's disease entirely with medical technology, so movement therapy as a solution to delay and prevent disease is getting more attention. Therefore, this study aims at desiging and disseminating a body movement program that concentrates on individual self-care and balacing the state of body and mind by applying the Feldenkrais Method® to patients with Parkinson's disease. The Feldenkrais Method® is a mind-body perceptual learning method using body movements. It is a methodology that re-educates the nervous system by connecting the brain and behavior as a function of neuroplasticity. In this study, the body movement program developed and verified by the researcher was modified and supplemented with a focus on the self-awareness of the Feldenkrais Method®. A 24-session physical exercise program was composed of 5 stages to improve the self-management ability of patients with Parkinson's disease. The stages include self-awareness, self-observation, self-organization, self-control, and self-care. The overall changes recognize one's condition and improve one's ability to detect modifications in the internal sense and external environment. In conclusion, the body movement program improves the body movement program improves mental and physical functions and self-care for Parkinson's disease patients through the Feldenkrais method. The availability of the program's on-site applicability remains a follow-up task. Furthermore, it is necessary to establish a systematic structure to spread it more widely through convergent cooperation with the scientific field applied with metaverse as a reference for the wellness of the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.35-59
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• 2011

As the long term care insurance for the elderly has been established for 3 years it was noticed that the success of the policy is depending on the care workers. This study is to analyze and evaluate what are the characteristics and factors influencing their job satisfaction. The questionnaire survey was conducted over 291 care workers who are employed at 61nursing home for the elderlyin Jeollanamdo. The survey result is as following. Firstly, 93.5% of workers were female, 78% of them were over 40-50 years old, and 68.7% of them werelower than a high school graduate as their academic background. Secondly, 63.2% were contract-based or temporary employees, 53.3% had a work-related education less than 5 times for the past year, and 79.7% had an annual salary lower than KRW 20 million. Thirdly, the overall job satisfaction was 3.19 on the Likert scale of 5. Also, the job satisfaction was higher for the care workers working and getting paid by home than by company, for full-time workers than temporary workers. In addition, it was found that the more workers have work-related education and the higher their annual salary is, the higher their job satisfaction is. The study evaluated the factor influencing on their job satisfaction and suggested the way to improve it based on the survey analysis.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.49-62
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• 2023

In order to create an organizational culture that prevents women's career breaks and promotes economic activities, this study aimed at developing educational content for workplace culture improvement for both male and female workers working at small and medium-sized enterprises in Jeollanam-do. The core content composition and content design specifically consider the characteristics of Jeollanam-do based on an advisory meeting of the field experts and researchers to ensure the on-site utilization of the content and the validity and consistency of the teaching content. The educational content is divided into three areas: understanding, effectiveness, and the implementation of a gender-sensitive work-life balance organizational culture. The aim of the content is for all employees to understand the meaning of work-life balance and to improve the organizational culture of their company from the perspective of individuals, families, companies, and society. In particular, the intention was to personally identify and implement measures to improve a gender-equal work-life balance, not only at work, but also with regard to domestic labor and leisure time. Furthermore, the content is presented from a gender-sensitive perspective that encompasses diversity, systems, and programs targeting women, men, single people, married people, young people, the elderly, and people with disabilities - all these groups are explained as examples. The content emphasizes that we should all actively participate in improving the organizational culture of our companies. In addition, the Women's New Work Center should seek ways to increase the motivation for the voluntary participation by companies and strengthen the expertise of instructors in work-life balance education.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.1-12
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the trends of the start-up research in Korea. To accomplish this, meta-analysis was carried out using text mining methodology by dividing the entrepreneur-related master's and doctoral theses registered in RISS into the first term of entrepreneurship research by 2009 and the second term of entrepreneurship research from 2010. As a result of this study, it can be seen from the three different analysis that the entrepreneurship education and government policy and support are the subject of continuous research topics in the whole period and that the researches on small business start-ups have been studied continuously and conducted more in the second half. In addition, empirical analysis is strengthened in the latter stage of entrepreneurial research. The TF-IDF analysis reveals that many researches on veterans have been carried out in the field of entrepreneurship research, and in the latter period, it was found that many studies related to the elderly were conducted with cultural contents and aging society. In addition, research on brand-related research has been carried out throughout the entire period, and research on venture-related research, characteristics of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship motivation and start-up strategy have been conducted a lot and female entrepreneurship was also studied. In the latter period, we have emphasized entrepreneurial achievements and found that research on start-ups such as industry-academia cooperation, start-up investment, and social enterprise diversified. This study is meaningful to apply the method which is becoming a recent issue such as text mining and topic analysis to the meta-analysis related to start-up. Future research will need to be undertaken on a variety of more detailed topics related to entrepreneurship.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2007

The term, "food safety", has traditionally been viewed as a practical science aimed at assuring the prevention acute illnesses caused by biological microorganisms, and only to a minor extent, chronic diseases cause by chronic low level exposures to natural and synthetic chemicals or pollutants. "food safety" meant to prevent microbiological agents/toxins in/on foods, due to contamination any where from "farm to Fork", from causing acute health effects, especially to the young, immune-compromised, genetically-predisposed and elderly. However, today a broader view must also include the fact that diet, perse (nutrients, vitamins/minerals, calories), as well as low level toxins and pollutant or supplemented synthetic chemicals, can alter gene expressions of stem/progenitor/terminally-differentiated cells, leading to chronic inflammation and other mal-functions that could lead to diseases such as cancer, diabetes, atherogenesis and possibly reproductive and neurological disorders. Understanding of the mechanisms by which natural or synthetic chemical toxins/toxicants, in/on food, interact with the pathogenesis of acute and chronic diseases, should lead to a "systems" approach to "food safety". Clearly, the interactions of diet/food with the genetic background, gender, and developmental state of the individual, together with (a) interactions of other endogenous/exogenous chemicals/drugs; (b) the specific biology of the cells being affected; (c) the mechanisms by which the presence or absence of toxins/toxicants and nutrients work to cause toxicities; and (d) how those mechanisms affect the pathogenesis of acute and/or chronic diseases, must be integrated into a "system" approach. Mechanisms of how toxins/toxicants cause cellular toxicities, such as mutagenesis; cytotoxicity and altered gene expression, must take into account (a) irreversible or reversal changes caused by these toxins or toxicants; (b)concepts of thresholds or no-thresholds of action; and (c) concepts of differential effects on stem cells, progenitor cells and terminally differentiated cells in different organs. This brief Commentary tries to illustrate this complex interaction between what is on/in foods with one disease, namely cancer. Since the understanding of cancer, while still incomplete, can shed light on the multiple ways that toxins/toxicants, as well as dietary modulation of nutrients/vitamins/metals/ calories, can either enhance or reduce the risk to cancer. In particular, diets that alter the embryo-fetal micro-environment might dramatically alter disease formation later in life. In effect "food safety" can not be assessed without understanding how food could be 'toxic', or how that mechanism of toxicity interacts with the pathogenesis of any disease.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.77-83
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• 2015

Background: To prepare for possible emergency situations during dental treatment, it is helpful to know how often and what kinds of emergencies may arise. This study set out to evaluate the incidences, causes, treatments, and outcomes of emergency situations in the outpatient clinic of a dental teaching hospital in Korea. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients who had experienced an emergency situation and emergency response team activated in a selected outpatient clinic between November 2004 and November 2013. Specific information about the emergency cases was collected, including the patient characteristics and the frequency, types, treatments, and outcomes of the emergency situations. Results: We identified 35 instances of emergency situations in 2,890,424 patients (incidence = 0.012 per 10,000 outpatients). The number of cases was as follows: 10 (28.6%) in the Department of Periodontics, 10 (28.6%) in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 6 (17.1%) in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, 4 (11.4%) in the Department of Prosthodontics, 2 (5.7%) in the Department of Conservative Dentistry, 2 (5.7%) in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, and 1 (2.9%) in the Department of Orthodontics. Three (8.6%) of the emergency situations arose before treatment, 22 (62.9%) during treatment, 7 (20.0%) after treatment, and 2 (5.7%) in a patient's guardian. Conclusions: In accordance with the growing elderly population and more aggressive dental procedures, the number of emergency situations may increase in the future. We recommend that clinicians keep in mind airway management and the active control of emergency situations.