• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.891-903
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• 2018

This study investigated the relation between frailty, social support, and health-related quality of life to provide basic data to improve the health-related quality of life of old-old elderly who are a high risk group for frailty. For this descriptive study, one-on-one interviews with structured questionnaires were conducted for elderly aged 75 years or older at elderly welfare facilities in K county from March 01 to 31 in 2016, and a total of 211 elderly were interviewed. The collected data were analyzed by t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and path analysis using SPSS/WIN and AMOS 18.0 program. For the differences between the age groups, those aged over 80 years had a significantly higher frailty (t=-2.51, p=.013) and a lower health-related quality of life than those aged below 80 years (t=3.29, p=.001); however, there was no significant difference in social support (t=1.28, p=.201). The correlation between frailty, social support and health-related quality of life showed that as frailty became higher, social support (r=-.21, p=.003) and health-related quality of life (r=-.65, p<.001) were significantly lower, and health-related quality of life was significantly higher with a higher social support (r=.18, p=.010). As a result of investigating the mediating effects of frailty between social support and health-related quality of life, social support had a significant direct effect on frailty (${\beta}=-.21$, p=.016) and frailty had a significant direct effect on health-related quality of life (${\beta}=-.06$, p=.004); however, social support had no significant direct effect on health-related quality of life (${\beta}=.00$, p=.562). Social support had a significant indirect effect on health-related quality of life and a mediating effect on frailty (${\beta}=.01$, p=.012); therefore, the full mediation effect of frailty between social support and health-related quality of life was verified. Social support prevents frailty, and improving frailty enhances health-related quality of life. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a multifactorial frailty prevention program that includes age-specific social support strategies to improve the health-related quality of life in old-old elderly.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.61-77
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• 2019

If a new utility tunnel is planned for high density existing urban areas in Korea, a rational decision-making process such as the determination of optimum design capacity by using the feasibility evaluation system based on quantitative evaluation indexes and the economic evaluation is needed. Thus, the previous study presented the important weight of individual higher-level indexes (3 items) and sub-indexes (16 items) through a hierarchy analysis (AHP) for quantitative evaluation index items, considering the characteristics of each urban type. In addition, an economic evaluation method was proposed considering 10 benefit items and 8 cost items by adding 3 new items, including the effects of traffic accidents, noise reduction and socio-economic losses, to the existing items for the benefit cost analysis suitable for urban utility tunnels. This study presented a quantitative feasibility evaluation method using the important weight of 16 sub-index items such as the road management sector, public facilities sector and urban environment sector. Afterwards, the results of quantitative feasibility and economic evaluation were compared and analyzed in 123 main road sections of the Seoul. In addition, a comprehensive evaluation method was proposed by the combination of the two evaluation results. The design capacity optimization program, which will be developed by programming the logic of the quantitative feasibility and economic evaluation system presented in this study, will be utilized in the planning and design phases of urban community zones and will ultimately contribute to the vitalization of urban utility tunnels.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to find out the main factors affecting air quality in urban physical space factors, and provide clues for environmental improvement. Nine monitoring stations in China's industrial city, Changchun, collected AQI concentration data from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019. This paper analyzes the types and distribution characteristics of urban physical facilities within a radius of 300m with the detection station as the center. The monitoring station is divided into three groups, and the difference in floating dust concentration among the three groups in different seasons is analyzed. The results show that AQI concentration is the highest in spring and winter, followed by summer, and the lowest in autumn. The place with the highest concentrations of AQI in spring are F (93.00), D (91.10), I (89.20), in summer are D (69.05), A (67.89), B (84.44), in autumn are I (62.80), G (60.84), D (53.27), D (53.27), in winter are I (95.82), H (95.60), f (94.04). Through SPSS analysis, it shows that the air index in a space with a diameter of 600 meters is related to forest land, grassland, bare land, water space, tree height, building area (average value), and building volume (average value). According to the statistical analysis results of spring and winter with the most serious pollution, forest land area (43,637m², 15.44%) and water surface area (18,736m², 6.63%) accounted for the majority, and group 1 (A, B, C) with the least average building area (448m², 0.17%) and average building volume (10,201m²) had the lowest pollution concentration. On the contrary, group 2 (D, E, F) had the highest AQI concentration, with less or no woodland (1,917m², 0.68%) and water surface area (0m², 0%), and the highest average building area (1,056m², 0.37%) and average building volume (17,470m³). It is confirmed that the characteristics of the area with the highest AQI concentration are that the more the site ratio of tree height above 12m, the smaller the site ratio of bare land, and the lower the pollution degree. On the contrary, the larger the area of bare land, the higher the pollution degree. By analyzing the characteristics of nine monitoring stations in Changchun, it can be seen that the air quality brought by the physical characteristics of urban space is closely related to the above factors.

• The Journal of the Korean Institute of Forest Recreation
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.59-69
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• 2018

This is a cross-sectional study that suggests ways to activate forest welfare services (FWS) by investigating the infrastructure, service status, and perception on FWS in Korea. In August 2016, a structured email survey was conducted in nation widely. The respondents were mostly directors and general secretary (75.0%). The considerable number (16.3%) of nursing homes (NH) use some floors of the complex buildings that would be difficult to have FWS infrastructure and about 30% of those without forests near the facilities. The directors of NH recognize that FWS has positive effects on the elderly. However, FWS is not an requisite of the longterm care insurance benefit, and so costly and effort-intensive that FWS has not been activated so far. In order to activate FWS in NHs, it is necessary to develop and disseminate the guidelines on FWS that anyone can easily followed. In addition, when the National Health Insurance Corporation evaluates NHs, they should evaluate not only whether there is a wandering or walking space, but also whether it has forest healing factors such as forests. It is also necessary to create a barrier-free environment both inside and outside of NHs, increasing accessibility to the toilet in gardens, paving a passage for wheelchairs and lifts in forests near NHs. Through these efforts, it is expected that FWS will be activated to provide physical, mental rest and comfort, appropriate cognitive stimulation to the NH residents at the end of life.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.47-66
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• 2023

This study reviews prior studies on the residential environment characteristics, residential satisfaction, residential ownership consciousness and housing movement of MZ generation and analyze the structural equation models using the 2020 Korea Housing Survey data. Using 14 residential characteristics based on three classifications, we explore the effects on residential satisfaction, residential ownership consciousness, and housing movement. The empirical results are summarized as follows. First, based on factor analysis with Varimax of principal component analysis, parking facility items were excluded from the analysis by hindering validity, and as a result, KMO was 0.925 and Bartlett's test result showed a significant probability of less than 0.01. This indicates that the factor analysis model was suitable. Second, the results of the structural equation analysis for the MZ generation show that the surrounding environment, which is a potential variable of the residential environment characteristics, was statistically significant, but the accessibility and convenience were not statistically significant. Third, we find that the higher the satisfaction with the accessibility of commercial facilities, the more significant the sense of housing ownership appears. This suggests that the younger generation such as the MZ generation has a stronger desire for consumption. Fourth, the overall housing satisfaction of the MZ generation was significant for housing movement, but not for housing ownership. Compared to the industrialized generation, the baby boom generation, and the X generation, MZ generation shows distinct factors for housing satisfaction, housing ownership, and housing movement. Therefore, the residential environment characteristics of the residential survey should be improved and supplemented following the trend of the times. In addition, the government and local governments should prioritize actively participating in the housing market that suits the environment and characteristics of the target generation. Finally, our study provides implications regarding the need for housing-related research on how differ in special temporal situations such as COVID-19 in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.273-288
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• 2023

Although many studies have been conducted on techniques and effects that can be applied to forest meditation in domestic forest healing meditation research, there has been little research on the space where forest meditation takes place. Nevertheless, a meditation space is not just a place concept but a forest environment element responsible for the healing function of a forest, i.e., a place containing healing factors, and can be an essential clue to the healing mechanism. Therefore, to determine whether a healing forest meditation space is suitable for meditation, this study selected the attribute items of the meditation space using the Delphi expert survey and then surveyed the user satisfaction of the healing forest meditation space using the IPA (Importance Performance Analysis) technique. The survey was conducted from August to November 2022, targeting 315 adults who used the forest meditation space at the National Center for Forest Therapy, the Saneum Healing Forest, and the Jathyanggi Pureunsup Arboretum in Gyeonggi Province. The result of the IPA analysis showed the average satisfaction with the forest meditation space was relatively high at 4.33 points on a 5-point Likert scale (4.33 points for the National Center for Forest Therapy, 4.34 points for the Saneum Healing Forest, and 4.37 points for the Jathyanggi Pureunsup Arboretum), indicating that the three healing forest meditation spaces were suitable for forest meditation. Satisfaction with the "Sounds of nature" was high in all three forests. On the other hand, all three forests showed a relatively low satisfaction with "Quietness," indicating it to be a priority problem to be addressed. Also, an open-ended questionnaire survey showed that the mediation space's natural elements, such as natural sounds, scenery, air, forest spaces, and scents, had a higher positive impact on meditation satisfaction than artificial elements, such as facilities. Therefore, it is essential to secure sound resources such as the sound of water and birds around the meditation space, and it is also necessary to consider ways to create a meditation forest in an independent area to avoid encounters with visitors and allow only participants in the forest healing meditation program to enter to increase satisfaction with forest meditation.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.217-228
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• 2019

This study was designed to investigate the effect of exercise prescription service on user satisfaction and reuse intention of fitness center users in C region, Gangwon-do. The subjects of this study were 250 fitness center users aged 20 and over. Survey was conducted to examine users satisfaction and reuse intention. The final analysis data is 227 copies and the results are as follows. First, there was a significant difference in sex at the facility of satisfaction of use(t=2.308, p=.022). The marriage showed a significant difference in the price among user satisfaction(t=2.490, p=.014) and reuse intention(t=-1.968, p=.05). Age showed significant differences in the duration of participation(F=7.117, p=.000), frequency (F=6.171, p=.000), and intensity(F=2.791, p=.027). User satisfaction showed significant differences according to price(F=6.171, p=.000), leader(F=3.083, p=.017) and reuse intention(F=2.699, p=.032). There was a significant difference in education groups in terms of duration of participation(F=3.656, p=.007) and frequency(F=3.164, p=.015). leader(F=5.170, p=.001) and price(F=2.899, p=.023) were different in user satisfaction. Jobs showed a significant difference in the duration of participation(F=4.685, p=.000), intensity(F=2.373, p=.023) and reuse intention(F=4.840, p=.000). Monthly income showed a significant difference in user satisfaction(F=4.651, p=.001) and facility(F=2.606, p=.037). Second, there was a significant difference in the duration of participation according to presence or absence of exercise prescription service(t=-4.410, p=.000). There was also significant differences in the user satisfaction(t=-7.951, p=.000), leader(t=5.304, p=.000), facility(t=2.033, p=.043) and reuse intention(t=4.640, p=.000) in terms of the presence of exercise prescription service. Third, in the relation between exercise prescription service and the participation level, there was a significant effect of the leader(β=.221, p=.001) and the price(β=.135, p=.045) of user satisfaction, and the reuse intention(β=.182, p=.007). Fourth, among the user satisfaction influenced by exercise prescription service, facilities(β=.178, p=.005) and leader(β=.497, p=.000) were found to affect reuse intention.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.34
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• pp.327-337
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• 2018

Korea is rapidly becoming an aging society as much as it takes the first place among OECD countries, and as the life expectancy of Korea gradually increases, the proportion of the elders in society increases. Accordingly, the happiness of the elders is contributed to the overall social atmosphere and happiness, however, the lower quality of life of the elders due to physical, psychological and social changes can be developed into social problems such as depression and rising suicide rate. As a result, there is a social interest in improving the quality of life and satisfaction of the elders, and the senior citizen center is receiving renewed attention as a form of welfare facility that can play a pivotal role in the social activities of the elders. In recent years, efforts to improve the environment of the senior citizen center have been made due to the growing role of it, however, there is a controversy over whether the quality of the indoor environment is user-friendly or not due to the limitations of material resources and human resources. It is considered that the quality of the color environment should be improved in the senior citizen center in the way that the color environment is not only an indoor environmental factor which gives high psychological and mental effects to users but also a way to improve the environmental satisfaction at the lowest cost. Previous studies on the facilities related to the elders have been actively carried out, but they were very sporadic and there was very little information about the color environment in the related laws or in the guideline presented by cities. It is necessary to integrate guidelines that are scattered within a comprehensive range without any specific target in order to grasp the current status of the color environment and to properly evaluate it. In addition, considering that the senior citizen center is an important leisure facility for the elders that functions in a residential area with a nationwide network, the results of this study are expected to contribute to the environmental improvement of existing senior citizen center which will be activated in the future by enabling the improvement of psychological satisfaction of the elders.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.77-93
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• 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant social changes through government prevention and control measures, changes in people's risk perceptions, and lifestyle changes. In response, urban inhabitants changed their behaviors significantly, including their preferences for transportation modes and urban spaces in response to government quarantine policies and concerns over the potential risk of infection in urban spaces. These changes may have long-lasting effects on urban spaces beyond the COVID-19 pandemic or they may evolve and develop new forms. Therefore, this study aims to explore the potential for urban spaces to adapt to the present and future pandemics by examining changes in urban residents' preferences in travel modes and urban space use due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study found that overall preferences for travel modes and urban spaces significantly differ between the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods. During the pandemic, preferences for travel modes and urban spaces has decreased, except for privately owned vehicles and green spaces, which are perceived to be safe from transmission, show more favorable than others. Post-pandemic preferences for travel modes and urban spaces are less favorable than pre-pandemic with urban spaces being five times less favorable than transportation. Although green spaces and medical facilities that were positively perceived during the pandemic are expected to return to the pre-pandemic preference level, other factors of urban spaces are facing a new-normal. The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on urban residents' preferences for travel modes and urban space use. Understanding these changes is crucial for developing strategies to adapt to present and future pandemics and improve urban resilience.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.500-508
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• 2024

Recently, there has been increasing interest in enhancing the indoor air quality, particularly in response to the growing utilization of public facilities. The focus of this study was on assessing the efficacy and safety of an air sterilizer equipped with electrolytic salt catalysts. To that end, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of the vapor spraying from the air sterilizer and its cytotoxicity in condensed form on human cell lines (HaCaT, BEAS-2B, and THP-1). Against the test organisms, which comprised five bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium) and one fungal strain (Candida albicans), the air sterilizer exhibited relatively high antimicrobial activities ranging from 10.89 to 73.98% following 1 and 3 hr of vapor spraying, which were notably time-dependent. Importantly, cytotoxicity assessments on human cells indicated no significant harmful effect even at a 1.0% concentration. Comprehensive safety evaluations included morphological observations, gene expression (Bcl-2, Bax) tests, and FACS analysis of intracellular ROS levels. Consistent with previous cytotoxicity findings, these estimates demonstrated no significant changes, highlighting the air sterilizer's safety and antimicrobial activities. In a simulated 20-hr operation within an indoor environment, the air sterilizer not only showed an 89.4% removal of total bacteria but also a 100.0% removal of Escherichia sp. and fungi. This research outlines the potential of the developed electrolytic salt catalyst air sterilizer to effectively remove indoor microbial pollutants without compromising human safety, underscoring the solution that it offers for improving indoor air quality.