• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 2001

Differences in risk perception on major environmental issues between general public and environmental experts were investigated in this study. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to samples from general public and environmental experts during March and April, 2000. Total number of responses was 1,126 including 773 persons from general public and 353 experts. Risk perceptions on 26 environmental issues were related with the need to regulate each issue, controllability, experience, political views, interest in environmental problem, satisfaction of environment, severity of environmental pollution. There was statistically significant difference in risk perceptions between general public and experts. Overall, general public was likely to perceive risks associated with environmental problem, as well as social need to regulate these problems more than experts. The issues with high risk perception and need to regulate were 'automobile exhaust', 'industrial air pollution', ocean pollution by industrial waste and oil exhaust', 'air pollution by chemicals', 'surface water pollution by waste from household', 'industrial and hospital waste', 'surface water pollution by pesticide'and'sewage and food waste'. Consequently, it seems necessary to manage these issues, prior to others.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.295-309
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• 2019

Eight years have passed since the Korean government's medical agency officially reported that the fatal lung disease found in some hospitals in 2011 was caused by chemical disinfectants used in household humidifiers, marking the introduction of the humidifier disinfectant disaster. Over the past eight years, a medical-scientific approach has been taken by the Korean government in its efforts to solve the problems in terms of relief of and compensation for the potential victims. One of the unintended consequence of this approach has been the fact that the number of "official victims" recognized by the government is quite small compared to the total number of applicants who claim to be suffering from the humidifier disinfectant disaster. This is mainly due to the fact that the medical-scientific approach relies on excessively strict, rigid, and narrow medical-scientific criteria provided by medical experts for judging the degree of applicants' bodily damage from the use of humidifier disinfectants. As a result, this medical-scientific approach is becoming increasingly criticized by patients' organizations mainly composed of rejected applicants. Based on the analysis of the limits of this medical-scientific approach and after clarifying the social implications of the disaster from a sociological perspective, this paper proposes certain social approaches focused on participatory governance as a means of dealing with the current issue. Finally, the paper emphasizes that the act of taking social responses to the humidifier disinfectant disaster should also be considered a process of enlarging and deepening democracy in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.81-82
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• 2024

Urban air mobility (UAM) is emerging as an innovative transportation solution for cities. However, the potential noise impact on urban life must be carefully examined. Continuous exposure to UAM noise, with its unique frequency characteristics and temporal variability, may adversely affect citizens' health by causing sleep disorders, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive impairmenet, particularly in children. NASA has formed a UAM Noise Working Group to study this issue comprehensively. In Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Government's UAM demonstration project is expected to accelerate related research and development. Scientific analysis, including noise measurement, prediction modeling, and health impact assessment, must be prioritized. Measures to minimize noise should be established based on this evidence, such as optimizing flight modes, developing noise reduction technologies, and establishing new noise management standards. Transparency and social consensus are crucial throughout this process. Expert review and open communication with civil society are necessary to address related concerns. Sharing demonstration project results and providing opportunities to experience UAM noise through digital twin simulations can help address public concerns and build social consensus. Proactively and scientifically tackling noise issues is essential for the sustainable development and successful integration of UAM into daily life.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.18 no.1 s.26
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• pp.70-81
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• 2005

The importance of classes aiming at enhancing students ability in problem solving and decision making has been being recognized as chances of individual citizen for taking part in social decision making processes. This study was intended to find whether teachers' opinion presentation have effects on students' decision making in a class introducing environmental issues. Total of 6 classes, 202 middle school students have participated in a series of experiments including 4 different environmental issues. Only two issues had been addresses in classes as experimental issues and other two issues not addressed as control issues. For each of the two experimental issues, the teacher researcher applied three different approaches to his students that included positive, negative, or no opinion. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; First, the results showed that students changed their decisions on environmental issues more frequently when dealing with those issues in a class than when not dealing with them. Second, as examining the relationship between patterns in which students make decisions and whether a teacher proposed his opinions or not, it is shown that the rates of students whose opinions is not changed nearly have no difference, while when teachers propose their opinions, it is shown that students who haven't yet chosen their positions easily make their decisions into pros or cons, compared with the opposite case. Third, the results of this study partly supported the third hypothesis that teachers opinion presentation would effect on decision-making of students. It was found that there has been a significant effect in the case of car free day system issue, but no statistically meaningful result in the case of no pets in the national park issue. However, in the issue of car free day system, it seems pretty clear that the students followed the direction of teachers' opinion no matter what it was pros or cons.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.85-94
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• 2000

The comparative evaluation is the most effective method for site selection because the selection of waste treatment facility is to determine the optimum site out of limited candidate sites. This study adopted the ordinal scale evaluation, one of methods of comparative evaluation. The ordinal scale evaluation aims to determine the investigating items referring to the character of sites, to determine the importance factors for investigating items, and to determine the optimum site according to the quantitative evaluation. This study has focussed on reflecting the opinion of residents to the maximum extent with a weight on social and economic aspects, considering the state of confrontation against each other between the autonomous government organization and local residents, which is being emerged as a social issue relating to the evaluation rating on each item of site selection of an optimum site. Therefore, rational, and clear validity investigations and proper reduction of both time and expenses in site selection as well through this a study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.169-178
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• 2001

Numerous regulations have been introduced and a various kinds of institutional intervention have been made by government against the occupational safety and health problems. However, it was serious issue to the workers that what can be claimed by those who meet with apparently harmful and risky working conditions in their social systems. In the view point of employees, their right to be free from unacceptable risk and hazards has not been clearly defined. Therefore, workers have very limited rights to take any actions unless employer or government do their actions. It is believed that this undesirable conditions resulted from Jack of legal definition of workers' right to work in the safe and healthy environment. It has been found increased social pressure to make intervention to the industry to protect workers' health. Also, increased pressure has been kept for deregulation. This conflict lay the current situation in dilemma. The concept of the working environmental right has been developed and discussed in this study to overcome this trade-off confliction. It should be clearly separated between legal aspects and administrative and Policy area to make the regulations effective. Strong enforcement to the industry based on the law should be minimum, however, it should be practically effective in the aspect of workers' right. Administration and policy should be focused on supportive and leading activities to achieve the ultimate goal, safe and healthy working environment. It is concluded that establishment of working environmental right would satisfy workers and industry and it would result in improvement workers' environment and conditions.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 1997

Nowadays, the environmental conservation has become a hot issue. Also the sustainable city issue is recognized as one of the most important tasks to be solved urgently for urban development. Therefore, the current indicator for sustainable city has been analyzed only as a segment of the environmental indicator which is one kind of branch of social indicator. However, considering the degree of pollution and heightened concern, it is time to develop a new and improved framework for the analysis of the sustainable city indicator. This study aims for the development of sustainable city indicator and the examination of practical method for the use of them. Urban sustainable city indicators are based on the "Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework" which has been adopted by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The indicators suggested in this study is composed of the following categories: 1. Indicators of natural environment itself, such as land structure (available land use index etc.), bio-species (bio-diversity index etc.), environment resources (water quantity index etc.) 2. Indicators of relationship between man and environment, such as sustainability of using material (recycle of water index etc.), pressure size (pressure index on air etc.), effort of prevention (environmental basic facility index, etc.) 3. Indicators of environmental state, such as landscape and culture (historical & cultural index etc.), environmental pollution (air pollution index etc.) A sustainable city environment is necessary and obtainable, yet its realization seems to be difficult. The urban pollution problems have become more serious than ever before thus requiring much interest. Therefore, this kind of study is meaningful for the establishment of policy objective, and the development and management environmentally sound and sustainable cities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.6 s.78
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• pp.88-95
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• 2006

The aim of apartment house remodeling should be accomplished by three courses; first, to reduce resources and environmental pollution, and second, to overcome social issue such as sick house syndrome on the point of residents' safety, and last, to secure life quality of apartment house healthy and nature friendly through satisfying residents' desire comfortable and safety course. Thus, this study aims to suggest the basic data to improve remodeling of apartment house considering residents' safety on the point of greenness, because of preventing social issue such as sick house syndrome, creating comfortable interior space, deducing indiscreet remodeling, and developing sustainable construction, through grasping customers' demand, and analyzing the correlation between remodeling status and residents' attitude survey of sick house syndrome.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.61-71
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• 2024

Purpose: This study explores the impact of discrimination experience on stress levels among Seoul's public housing complex residents, emphasizing the moderating role of social capital. Research design, data and methodology: Utilizing the 2019 Seoul public housing (PH) panel data and an ordered logit model, the research categorizes residents based on personal and environmental factors, contrasting them across different local housing price levels. Results: We find that public housing residents' experience of discrimination has a significant impact on stress, and local housing prices are positively related to stress. Interestingly, stress due to discrimination is more pronounced in high-priced neighborhoods, which are associated with real estate inequality. Conversely, this impact is less pronounced in lower-priced neighborhoods. Importantly, social capital not only has a significant moderating effect on stress for all residents, but in high-priced neighborhoods, it also moderates the stress caused by experiences of discrimination for social housing residents. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for policy interventions to strengthen social capital and address socioeconomic disparities in public housing, and are significant for analyzing the nuanced relationship between neighborhood, housing affordability, discrimination, and stress in urban communities for public housing residents, which is a socially problematic issue.

• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.124-128
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• 2009

As the problem of destroying natural environment is emerging as a common social issue world widely, recently in the filed of architecture there has been increasing interests in environment-friendly architecture according to the awakening and understanding of environmental pollution. The social problem caused by pursuing affluent urban life is now making the quality of life an issue against the urban policy that has been simply emphasizing quantitative expansion only. Accordingly, development and popularization of such a type as environment-friendly low-rise house is being suggested as an alternative idea, because it can combine secured independent space, which is a merit of independent houses, and characteristic architectural shapes, making possible the development of large scale environment-friendly complexes. Based on the analysis of the examples of Environment-friendly low-rise house in other countries that are utilizing amenity concepts, such as environment, ecology, culture and history, the present research proposed an alternative idea for highly dense high-rise houses, by resolving the problems of low-rise house complex caused by the variable of ecological environment. An effort was made to understand the concept of low-rise house through theoretical investigation, and based on the analysis of domestic and foreign cases, a method for improving the problems was deduced as a conclusion.