• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.222-226
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• 2014

Background: Focusing on the respiratory function for health effect indices, we conducted a cross-sectional study on workers who did and did not handle toner to compare the longitudinal changes. Methods: Among 116 individuals who worked for a Japanese business equipment manufacturer and participated in the study, the analysis included 69 male workers who we were able to follow up for 4 years. We categorized the 40 workers engaged in toner-handling work as the exposed group and the 29 workers not engaged in these tasks as the referent group, and compared their respiratory function test results: peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), vital capacity (VC), predicted vital capacity (%VC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second ($FEV_1$), and forced expiratory volume in 1 second as a percent of forced vital capacity ($FEV_1%$). Results: The cross-sectional study of the respiratory function test results at the baseline and at the $5^{th}$ year showed no statistically significant differences in PEFR, VC, %VC, $FEV_1$, and $FEV_1%$ between the exposed and referent workers. Also, respiratory function time-course for 4 years was calculated and compared between the groups. No statistically significant differences were shown. Conclusion: Our study does not suggest any toner exposure effects on respiratory function. However, the number of subjects was small in our study; studies of larger populations will be desired in the future.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.247-261
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the association between insulin resistance and the major dietary patterns of Korean adults. Methods: This study used data from the 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects were 2,276 adults aged 19 to 64 years old. Based on the food frequency questionnaire data, 112 food items were reclassified into 30 food groups. The principal component analysis method was applied to identify major dietary patterns. We used homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) value as indicators of insulin resistance. The association between major dietary patterns and insulin resistance was investigated using logistic regression analysis. Results: Three major dietary patterns were identified and assigned descriptive names based on the food items with high loadings: 'healthy Korean meal pattern', 'western meal pattern', and 'white rice, alcohol, meat pattern'. As the 'white rice, alcohol, meat pattern' score increased, significant increasing trends for fasting glucose concentration and HOMA-IR and a significant decreasing trend for QUICKI were observed after adjusting for age and sex. The odds ratio of insulin resistance according to the 'healthy Korean meal pattern' and the 'western meal pattern' were not statistically significant. the 'white rice, alcohol, meat pattern' showed a significant positive association with the risk of insulin resistance after adjusting for covariates. Conclusion: These results suggest that the 'white rice, alcohol, meat pattern' is positively associated with the risk of insulin resistance. The white rice, alcohol, meat pattern was related to the high consumption of alcohol together with rice or meat. This pattern was also associated with the high intake of sodium and low intakes of vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and dietary fiber. To confirm the association, further longitudinal studies are required.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.693-709
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• 2016

This study was to investigate depressive symptoms of caregiving grandmothers in South Korea and related factors focusing on caregiving characteristics. The data were drawn from the fourth wave of Korean Longitudinal Study on Ageing (KLoSA). The study participants were 3,291 grandmothers who had at least one grandchild, and we limited our analysis to 127 grandmothers who had provided care for their grandchild(ren) during the past one year. As for the depressive symptoms, Center for Epidemiological Survey-Depression 10(CES-D 10) short version were applied. Caregiving characteristics including caregiving duration by weeks per year, caregiving hours per week and the number of grandchildren who received grandmother care were examined. A multiple logistic regression was performed to detect association between caregiving characteristics and depressive symptoms while adjusting for general socioeconomic characteristics and health status of caregiving grandmothers. The longer duration of caregiving lowered the depressive symptoms and in contrast, those who spent more hours for providing care to their grandchildren were more exposed to the depressive symptoms. Physical pain significantly increased their depressive symptoms and low income level were more likely to induce depressive symptoms. More detailed studies on grandchild caregiving patterns among grandmothers were needed. Also, tailored support policy and services should be considered to alleviate their burden and depression in the future.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.90-107
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• 2013

The Stone Monument of Taejong King in Heonreung Royal Tomb, Seoul was originally erected in 1424 to pay a tribute to Bang Won Lee's achievement who was named Taejong, the Third King of Joseon Dynasty. The monument has been damaged by Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592 so that another monument was newly made and erected together with the original monument in 1695. The original monument was made of medium-grained biotite granite for the turtle base and medium-grained milky white crystalline limestone for the stele body and the top stone. The turtle base of the original monument is destroyed beyond the original shape and inscription due to irregular shaped breaking and a set of longitudinal crack. Analyzing the deterioration degree by using nondestructive methods, the 88 percentage of the front area and 38 percentage of the back area of the monument are damaged, and the lower part of the stele body is dominantly deteriorated especially due to the combination of discoloration and physical deterioration. The new monument in 1695 is also made of granite and limestone. The weathering indices of the turtle base and stele body stones by the calculation from ultrasonic velocity are 0.10 and 0.74, respectively. This is because the original monument is presumed to be degraded by heat shock and physical attack during the Japanese war, and the long-term outdoor exposure accelerated the weathering of the monument afterward without protective shelter.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.23-40
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• 2019

The main purpose of this study is to analyze and examine the problems of the law systems of the safety and maintenance of nuclear facilities and to propose the improvements with respect to the related problems especialy focused on safety management of aquatic products. Therefore, the results of the paper would be helpful to build an effective management law system of safety and maintenance of nuclear facilities and fisheries products. The research methods are longitudinal and horizontal studies. This study compares domestic policies with foreign policies of nuclear plants and aquatic products. Using the above methods, examining the current system of nuclear-related laws and regulations, we have found that there exist 13 Acts including "Nuclear Safety Act", etc. Safety laws related on nuclear facilities have seven Acts including "Nuclear Safety Act", "the Act on Physical Protection and Radiological Emergency", "Radioactive waste control Act", "Act on Protective Action Guidelines against Radiation in the Natural Environment", "Special Act on Assistance to the locations of facilities for disposal low and intermediate level radioactive waste", "Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety Act". "Act on Establishment and Operation of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission". The seven laws are composed of 119 legislations. They have 112 lower statute of eight Presidential Decrees, six Primeministrial Decrees and Ministrial Decrees, 92 administrative rules (orders), 6 legislations of local self-government aself-governing body. The concluded proposals of this paper are as follows. Firstly, we propose that the relationship between the special law and general law should be re-established. Secondly, the terms with respect to law system of safety and maintenance of nuclear plants should be redefined and specified. Thirdly, it is advisable to re-examine and re-establish the Law System for Safety and Maintenance of Nuclear Facilities. and environmental rights like the French Nuclear Safety Legislation. Lastly, inadequate legislation on the aquatic pollution damage should be re-established. It is necessary to ensure sufficient transparency as well as environmental considerations in the policy decisions of the Korean government and legislation of the National Assembly. It is necessary to further study the possibilities of accepting the implications of the French legal system as a legal system in Korea. In conclusion, the safety management of nuclear facilities is not only focused on the secondary industry and the tertiary industry centering on power generation and supply, but also on the primary industry, which is the food of the people. It is necessary to prevent damage to be foreseen. Therefore, it is judged that there should be no harm to the people caused by contaminated marine products even if the "Food Safety Law for Prevention of Radiation Pollution Damage" is enacted.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.52-63
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• 2016

The Stupa of Buddhist Monk Soyo in Baegyangsa temple, Jangseong, was erected to pay a tribute to the achievement of the Buddhist monk Soyo, who worked for Baegyangsa temple as a chief monk, and is a bellshaped stupa with the detailed pattern of a Korean traditional buddhist bell. It is composed of pinkish-grey sandstone and the body of the stupa was damaged by longitudinal cracks on the front and back areas and the exfoliation caused break-out in the most part of the sculpture on the left and right areas. According to the ultrasonic test and infrared thermography analysis for physical deterioration diagnosis, most weathering aspects appeared on the body of the stupa and some exfoliated part that could not be seen with the naked eye was detected 6.1% and 5.9% on the left and right side respectively. Hyperspectral imaging analysis was also carried out to assess biological deterioration. According to the result, the surface of the stupa was covered 71.8 ~ 79.9% with vegetation like algae, lichen and moss. NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) was higher relatively on the bottom part near the ground, right and back areas of the stupa. Therefore conservation treatment for the exfoliated part and bio-deterioration is necessary and the environment condition needs to be fixed to prevent extra damages on the stupa.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.465-474
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined the association between the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration and the cognitive functions in Korean elderly. Methods: The subjects were 393 adults aged 60 years or older who participated in the Yangpyeong cohort between July 2009 and August 2010. The subjects were classified into deficiency, insufficiency, or adequacy groups according to the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration diagnostic criteria suggested by the US Institute of Medicine (IOM). The cognitive function was assessed based on the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-KC). The dietary intake was assessed using the quantitative food frequency questionnaire with 106 food items. Results: The proportions of deficiency, insufficiency, or adequacy in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D were 6.6%, 44.5%, and 48.9%, respectively. The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was significantly higher in men than in women and in outdoor workers than in other occupations. The adequacy group had higher MMSE-KC scores than the other two groups, but not to a significant degree. The proportion of cognitive impairment tended to decrease with increasing serum vitamin D concentration to deficiency, insufficiency, and adequacy (p for trend = 0.029). The deficiency group had a 2.28 times higher risk of cognitive impairment than the adequacy group, but the difference was not statistically significant (OR, 2.28; 95% CI, 0.18 ~ 1.07, p for trend = 0.119). Conclusion: The serum vitamin D concentration tended to be associated with the cognitive function in elderly Koreans living in rural areas. To confirm the associations, further longitudinal studies with large samples were required.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.80-85
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• 2019

Purpose: To compare the time intervals to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and surgical treatment in patients having traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) with and without bony lesions. Methods: Retrospectively analyzed adult patients visited Kyungpook National University Hospital and underwent surgical treatment for cervical SCI within 24 hours. The patients who were suspected of having cervical SCI underwent plain radiography and computed tomography (CT) upon arrival. After the initial evaluation, we evaluated the MRI findings to determine surgical treatment. Waiting times for MRI and surgery were evaluated. Results: Thirty-four patients were included. Patients' mean age was 57 (range, 23-80) years. Patients with definite bony lesions were classified into group A, and 10 cases were identified (fracture-dislocation, seven; fracture alone, three). Patients without bony lesions were classified into group B, and 24 cases were identified (ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, 16; cervical spondylotic myelopathy, eight). Mean intervals between emergency room arrival and start of MRI were 93.60 (${\pm}60.08$) minutes in group A and 313.75 (${\pm}264.89$) minutes in group B, and the interval was significantly shorter in group A than in group B (p=0.01). The mean times to surgery were 248.4 (${\pm}76.03$) minutes in group A and 560.5 (${\pm}372.56$) minutes in group B, and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.001). The American Spinal Injury Association scale at the time of arrival showed that group A had a relatively severe neurologic deficit compared with group B (p=0.046). There was no statistical significance, but it seems to be good neurological recovery, if we start treatment sooner among patients treated within 24 hours (p=0.198). Conclusions: If fracture or dislocation is detected by CT, cervical SCI can be easily predicted resulting in MRI and surgical treatment being performed more rapidly. Additionally, fracture or dislocation tends to cause more severe neurological damage, so it is assumed that rapid diagnosis and treatment are possible.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.95-123
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• 2016

As Korean society grows rapidly older, a systematic analysis of the determinants of labor supply behavior among the elderly becomes a prerequisite for designing more effective senior employment policies and income security regime for the elderly. Literatures review shows that a majority of previous researches have been ignoring the problem of "endogenous predictor" especially when it comes to the estimation of the effects of the two key variables, education and non-labor income, on labor supply decisions among older people. They have failed to take into consideration the unobserved heterogeneities which might affect both labor supply decisions of the elderly and their levels of education and non-labor income, which means, according to some econometric literatures, that the estimated coefficients of the two predictors can be inconsistent. The paper tries to redress the endogeneity problem by employing a panel logit model with data from the 1st. to 4th. wave of the KLoSA(Korean Longitudinal Survey of Ageing) to estimate the effects of key predictors on the probability of getting jobs among older people(ages of 60 or older). Both a random effects and a fixed effects model reaffirms that non-labor income has a negative effect on the chances of being employed. And a random effects model shows that the effect of education is also negative, as has frequently been reported by previous studies. That means the effects of education and non-labor income on elderly employment remain negative after the effect of unobserved heterogeneities is controled for and the problem of endogenous predictors is redressed through an appropriate panel data analysis. These findings mean, in turn, that when Korean baby-boomers, who had acquired an unprecedentedly higher level of education and were expected to enjoy ever-larger amount of non-labor income than their preceding generations, retires in near future, their incentives to work will become much weaker and the lack of labor-force and the burden of financing increased public pension expenditure will become more troublesome. The paper concludes with recommending some policy initiatives helpful to solve these expected problems.

• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.129-147
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• 2016

Objective: This study examined the role of siblings with respect to living arrangements between married children and their parents. Previous studies have rarely considered the possibility that family context such as siblings may be associated with intergenerational residential proximity. Method: Using data from first wave of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006), I investigated if, among married children, their sibling characteristics may be associated with the probability of their coresiding with the parent(s), living nearby (within a 30-minute distance from parent(s) by public transportation), or living further away. Specifically, the total numbers of sisters and brothers, the numbers of siblings coresiding with the parent(s) and living nearby, their relative position in the sibling network (first-born son, later-born son, first-born daughter, later-born daughter), and sibship existence and gender configurations (only child, son with brother(s) only, son with sister(s) only, son with both brother(s) and sister(s), daughter with brother(s) only, daughter with sister(s) only, daughter with both brother(s) and sister(s)) were evaluated in the study. For data analysis, multinomial logit models with robust standard errors were estimated using the Stata mlogit procedure. Results: Results suggest that the probability of a married child living together with the parent(s), relative to living close by, was significantly higher the more sisters he or she has. Being a son, especially first-born son, was associated with a higher probability of intergenerational coresidence compared to near residence, respectively. Also, the numbers of siblings coresiding with the parent(s) and living in close proximity were linked to a higher risk of intergenerational coresidence and near residence. Supplementary analyses revealed that the last finding was held over and above the total number of siblings, their relative position in the sibling network, as well as sibling existence and gender configurations. Conclusion: Overall, the study findings indicate that sibling characteristics have significant impacts on intergenerational living arrangement. The influence of traditional patrilineal norm of intergenerational coresidence and a trend towards modified extended family have emerged when siblings characteristics are taken into consideration as determinants of intergenerational living arrangement.