• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.277-286
• /
• 2021

Background: As trade increases, the influx of various alien species and their spread to new regions are prevalent and no longer a special problem. Anthropogenic activities and climate changes have made the distribution of alien species out of their native range common. As a result, alien species can be easily found anywhere, and they have nothing but only a few differences in intensity. The prevalent distribution of alien species adversely affects the ecosystem, and a strategic management plan must be established to control them effectively. To this end, hot spots and cold spots were analyzed according to the degree of distribution of invasive alien plants, and major environmental factors related to hot spots were found. We analyzed the 10,287 distribution points of 126 species of alien plants collected through the national survey of alien species by the hierarchical model of species communities (HMSC) framework. Results: The explanatory and fourfold cross-validation predictive power of the model were 0.91 and 0.75 as AUC values, respectively. The hot spots of invasive plants were found in the Seoul metropolitan area, Daegu metropolitan city, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, southwest shore, and Jeju island. Generally, the hot spots were found where the higher maximum temperature of summer, precipitation of winter, and road density are observed, but temperature seasonality, annual temperature range, precipitation of the summer, and distance to river and sea were negatively related to the hot spots. According to the model, the functional traits accounted for 55% of the variance explained by the environmental factors. The species with higher specific leaf areas were more found where temperature seasonality was low. Taller species preferred the bigger annual temperature range. The heavier seed mass was only preferred when the max temperature of summer exceeded 29 ℃. Conclusions: In this study, hot spots were places where 2.1 times more alien plants were distributed on average than non-hot spots (33.5 vs 15.7 species). The hot spots of invasive plants were expected to appear in less stressful climate conditions, such as low fluctuation of temperature and precipitation. Also, the disturbance by anthropogenic factors or water flow had positive influences on the hot spots. These results were consistent with the previous reports about the ruderal or competitive strategies of invasive plants instead of the stress-tolerant strategy. The functional traits are closely related to the ecological strategies of plants by shaping the response of species to various environmental filters, and our result confirmed this. Therefore, in order to effectively control alien plants, it is judged that the occurrence of disturbed sites in which alien plants can grow in large quantities is minimized, and the river management of waterfronts is required.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.185-192
• /
• 2020

Objectives: Our study aimed to analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of children and adolescents during their first visit to psychiatric outpatient departments for the management of suicidal ideation and behavior, and to compare the changes before and in 2012 or later. Methods: This multicenter study was conducted at five university hospitals in a metropolitan area in South Korea. Medical records of patients aged 6-18 years were retrospectively reviewed from January 2009 to December 2016. Patients were analyzed by classifying them into suicidal and non-suicidal groups based on their visit to the hospital for management of suicidal ideation or suicide attempt and other mental problems, respectively. Results: There were differences in the year of visit, diagnosis, education level, and referral sources between patients in the suicidal and non-suicidal groups. Multiple regression analysis was conducted based on the sex, education level, referral by school, and diagnosis of depression in patients in the suicidal group, which revealed significant association. Conclusion: Suicide-related problems were significantly associated with the sex, education level, referral by school, and a diagnosis of depression in the patients. A well-connected referral system would be necessary for professional mental health management of high-risk children and adolescents.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.21-38
• /
• 2006

The major objectives of this study are to identify the key organizational factors that facilitate and/or inhibit the IS outsourcing in Korean hospitals, and to analyze the differences between adopter & non-adopters and successful ones and not-successful ones. In order to achieve the research objectives, we derived comprehensive lists of potential facilitators and inhibitors from the past research, and conducted a field survey on 135 hospitals in metropolitan area. The analysis results suggest that organizational, financial and strategic factors are the most important facilitators, while organizational, psychological, vendor-related and environmental factors are the most important inhibitors. In addition, it was found that factors differentiating adopters and non-adopters are organizational factor(facilitator) and environmental factor(inhibitor) while strategic factor is a differentiating one between successful hospitals and unsuccessful ones.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.385-390
• /
• 2020

In the present, external environmental factors affect human health. In particular, the most important issue is fine dust in these days. Because fine dust is inhaled through the human respiratory system is known to be harmful to health. Tunnels for cars and people can also be easily seen around us. This study, the amount of scattering radiation was measured for walkable tunnels about dust. For the measurement method, dust and radiation dose in the tunnel were measured on good weather (fine dust level: 0 ~ 30 ㎍/㎥) and normal day (fine dust level: 0 ~ 80 ㎍/㎥). The measurement resulted in an increase of 10~20 % of dust in the center of the tunnel on a good weather day and an increase of 20~30 % of dust in the center of the tunnel on normal weather. On the other hand, the results of tunnel measurement of radiation dose increased by 10~20 % at the center of the tunnel non-depending on the weather. As a result, pedestrians should pay attention to scattering dust and scattered radiation while moving through the tunnel. Therefore, it is recommended to wear a filter mask of PM2.5 or less during frequent tunnel walking.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.114-126
• /
• 2016

Domestic risk factors that are thought to be correlated with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak are migratory birds and moving objects such as poultry farm vehicles. In particular, the commercial vehicles that routinely circulate the local and/or remote poultry farms produce are thought to be major HPAI risk factors in South Korea. In this study, the driving histories of the vehicles belonging to poultry farms and/or commercial companies registered in the Korea Animal Integrated System (KAHIS) were analyzed using statistical and social networking tools in a Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to understand the pattern of the HPAI (H5N8) outbreak that occurred in 2014 in South Korea. Based on the 2014 HPAI outbreak patterns, HPAI-infected poultry farms were categorized according to geological features. The HPAI-infected poultry farms were categorized as 'regional-accumulation', 'regional-distribution', 'metropolitan-accumulation', 'metropolitan-distribution' and 'national-distribution' in endemic or non-endemic regions. We were able to categorize most HPAI-infected poultry farms into the five proposed categories, but further studies are required to categorize all such farms. Based on this categorization system, we propose efficient but economical prevention boundaries in South Korea. We strongly believe that our research could hugely impact government decisions to estimate the prevention area.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.8
• /
• pp.1135-1140
• /
• 2005

Dogs are a very good indicator of the pollution load on the environment. They share people's environment and are exposed to the action of the same pollutants. This study was to estimate the heavy metal contents in dog hairs in domestic districts, and to assess effects of age, sex, feed habits, living area, breeding environment and smoking habit of owner. The mean concentrations of heavy metals in 204 samples were 0.09${\pm}$0.10 ${\mu}g$/g, 0.21${\pm}$0.09 ${\mu}g$/g, 0.82${\pm}$0.09 ${\mu}g$/g and 0.48${\pm}$0.07 ${\mu}g$/g (Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Lead (Pb) and Chromium (Cr)) in dog hairs, respectively. Concentrations of Pb, Cd, Hg and Cr in dog hairs in Yeongnam including Ulsan and Seoul, were higher than in Chungchong and Honam, and concentrations of Pb were significantly different (p<0.01). Concentrations of Cd, Hg, Pb and Cr in dog hairs increased with age (p<0.05). Only dogs fed commercial pet foods had significantly higher Cd and Cr concentrations in hairs than dogs fed dog feed and human diet (p<0.01 in Cd and p<0.05 in Cr). Cr concentrations of dog hairsfrom dogs kept on cement floors were the highest of the other environments (p<0.01). Heavy metal concentrations of dogs owned by smokers, were higher than dogs of non-smokers, but there were no significant differences.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.11
• /
• pp.1623-1627
• /
• 2005

Heavy metal pollution has become a serious health concern in recent years. Dogs are a very good indicator of the pollution load on the environment. They share people's environment and are exposed to the action of the same pollutants. This study estimated the heavy metal contents in the serum of dogs in domestic districts, and assessed the age, sex, feeding habits, living area, breeding environment and smoking habit of the owners. The findings suggest that dogs can be used to monitor the environmental quality of heavy metals. The mean concentrations of heavy metals in the dog serum from 204 samples (108 male and 96 female) were 0.22${\pm}$0.01 $\mu$g/ml, 0.24${\pm}$0.04 $\mu$g/ml, 0.61${\pm}$0.08 $\mu$g/ml, and 0.50${\pm}$0.06 $\mu$g/ml (for Cd, Hg, Pb, and Cr), respectively. Concentrations of Pb, Cd, Hg, and Cr in the dog serum were higher in Yeongnam including Ulsan, and Seoul higher than those of Chungchong and Honam, especially Pb concentration, which was significantly higher (p<0.01). Concentrations of Cd, Hg, Pb, and Cr in serum, were increased by age (p<0.05). When commercial pet food was provided to dogs, Cd and Cr concentrations were significantly higher in dog serum than dogs fed a human diet (p<0.01 in Cd and p<0.05 in Cr). Heavy metal concentrations of dogs owned by smoking owners, were higher than non-smoking owners although there was no significant difference.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.35-42
• /
• 2011

Efficient space plans are built upon relations of both human and physical compositions, and the standard of the interaction is basically the human scale. Especially in medical areas, the character of the users within human scale design environment is quite significant. Unlike large hospitals with great plans and scalability performed by experts, mid-sized clinics tend to have limited space, designed by non-specialists who highlight aesthetics over functionality in floor plans which leads to poor quality in medical service. For this reason, this study will include the application of human scale based therapy rooms within the clinic from a physical standpoint and will further analyze and pinpoint any room for improvement to further enable more efficient ergonomic space planning. In this study, theoretically will contemplate over human scale, mid-sized clinic, therapies, and therapists, while the case study will include status of the recent human scale based mid-sized clinic from a physical viewpoint, classification and analysis amongst human and physical compositions chosen by discretion from either a newly opened or a newly re-modeled clinic within the last 2 years, which has 15 beds or more, minimum 3 physical therapists, with more than 5 different therapy facilities in the metropolitan area in order to measure the human scale of therapy rooms in a mid-sized clinic. As a result, the area where improvement can practically be applied is the physical composition, which does not include human scale like human composition factors as therapists and patients, and hence, I suggest the human scale applied efficient medical space plan become the base of this study and look forward to subsequent improvement in the quality of medical services.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.33-44
• /
• 2003

The atmospheric concentrations of particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with PM$_{10}$ were determined in Taegu metropolitan area. Sampling was undertaken every five days throughout one year period from 1993 to 1994 at four sites, representing a residential, a commercial, an industrial, and a sub-urban area, respectively. Benzo (e) pyrene, benzo (k) fluoranthene, and chrysene were found to be the most abundant com-pounds during the study period. The concentrations of benzo (a) pyrene, one of carcinogenic PAHs, ranged 2.0~4.8 ng/㎥ in winter and 0.5~1.5 ng/㎥ in summer season, indicating a marked seasonal variation. It was found that there were very similar patterns in the relative profiles of PM$_{10}$-bound PAH concentrations among the four sampling sites, while the absolute levels of each PAH were significantly different from each site. In addition, the patterns of summer to winter concentration ratios for each PAH were almost identical between the different sites. Despite difficulties due to the lack of good markers for specific sources in the target compounds, we were able to evaluate and describe the effects of vehicle emissions and space heatings, using relative profiles of PAHs, winter to summer (W/S) ratios, PAH-to-PAH ratios, and the result of principal component analysis. As a con-sequence, it was concluded that the vehicle emissions in urban and sub -urban areas are likely to be a major contributor for PAH loadings in the ambient atmosphere during the non-heating season, while the contributions of residential heating and local industrial oil burning emissions were highly significant in heating season.son.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
• /
• v.7 no.7
• /
• pp.599-608
• /
• 2017

This study investigated factors that are associated with companion animal ownership among urban elderly persons. This study was based on data from 2014 Seoul Survey, and a total of 4,717 people aged 60 years or older were selected for the analyses. Community level data were from 2014 Seoul statistics and they included park area per person, number of elderly recreational facilities, and number of public sports facilities based on 25 districts of Seoul Metropolitan City. This study examined differences between companion animal owners and non-owners concerning individual level factors and community level factors. Factors that are associated with companion animal ownership were examined using multilevel logistic regression analysis. Among individual level variables, companion animal ownership was associated with gender, marital status, income, number of household members, and housing type. Among community level variables, park area per person was a significant factor that is associated with companion animal ownership. Study findings can be used Based on study findings, implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed.