• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.168-176
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• 2020

Objectives : Loneliness and poor sleep quality are common phenomena in old age and are associated with negative physical and mental health. However, little is known regarding the relation between loneliness and sleep quality. The aim of this study was to examine the association of loneliness and sleep quality among the elderly living alone. Methods : This is a cross-sectional study that enrolled 1,090 subjects who are the community-residing elderly living alone. Sociodemographic status, medical condition, cognition, mood disorder, sleep quality and levels of loneliness were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and a specific semi-structured interview conducted by trained nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data regarding sociodemographic variable and loneliness. Univariate and Multivariate regression analyses were applied to examine the association between loneliness and sleep quality after adjustment for multiple confounding variables. Results : The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) mean score of "lonely group" (9.2±4.2) was significantly higher than that of "not lonely group" (7.3±3.7) (student-t test, p<0.001). Loneliness was significantly associated with PSQI (standardized β=0.065, p=0.025), sleep disturbance (standardized β=0.086, p=0.005), use of sleep medication (standardized β=0.065, p=0.034) after adjustment for possible confounding variables including sex and mood disorder. Conclusions : Loneliness was associated with sleep disturbance and this finding implied negative impact of loneliness on sleep quality of older adults. Public health promotion efforts to reduce loneliness may improve sleep quality and mental health in the elderly living alone.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.249-255
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• 2022

Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents a major public health concern and has been identified as a research priority. Clinical research evidence supports that the core cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers for AD, including amyloid-β (Aβ42), total tau (T-tau), and phosphorylated tau (P-tau), reflect key elements of AD pathophysiology. Nevertheless, advances in the clinical identification of new indicators will be critical not only for the discovery of sensitive, specific, and reliable biomarkers of preclinical AD pathology, but also for the development of tests that facilitate the early detection and differential diagnosis of dementia and disease progression monitoring. The early detection of AD in its presymptomatic stages would represent a great opportunity for earlier therapeutic intervention. The chance of successful treatment would be increased since interventions would be performed before extensive synaptic damage and neuronal loss would have occurred. In this study, the importance of developing an early diagnostic method using cognitive decline biomarkers that can discriminate between normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD preclinical stages has been emphasized.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1063-1085
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• 2009

The purposes of this study were to investigate the transition of elderly's welfare service utilization and to examine the factors affecting their utilization as time passed. To solve these research questions, the behavioral model presented by Andersen and Newman(1973) was applied. Using Hallym Aging Panel data consisted of 3 waves from 2003 to 2007, autoregressive modeling and regression analysis were applied for research purposes. The results of this study were as follows; (1) The experiences of welfare service utilization were increasing gradually. The complimentary service for the aged was utilized generally, but leisure service and community service were not used in common. (2) Past experience of service affected service utilization in the following times. (3) The factors affecting older adult's service utilization were different among the types of services. Nonetheless, the factors affecting continuously during the periods were found: age as predisposing factor and area as enabling factor in the complimentary service; area and existence of spouse as enabling factor in leisure service; education as predisposing factor and service cognition as enabling factor in community service. Enabling factor has affected more consistently than other factors. The results showed that special attention should be paid to balanced regional arrangement for welfare resources and the public relation considering the elderly's intellectual level.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.699-721
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare factors affecting the subjective life expectancy among the elderly, and to suggest health practice and social welfare service implications for later life. A total of 4,483 seniors from the 6th wave(2016) of the Korean Longitudinal Study on Aging (KLoSA) were used for analysis. The subjects were divided into three age groups: the young-old (n=2,106, 65~74 years), middle-old (n=1,803, 75~84 years), and oldest-old (n=574, 85 years and older). Control variables were sociodemographic factors and health status factors. Independent variables were health promotion behavior, cognition of public care, participating social activity, economic activity, and receiving basic pension. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. The main results were as follows. Health promotion behavior was associated with the young-old. Social activities and economic activity were associated with the young-old and middle-old. Receiving basic pension had a significant impact on all age groups. In the middle-old, significant results were focused on socio-demographic and health status factors compared to other groups. The results of this study will provide basic data for the elderly policy and welfare service and will help to find and improve the important factors for the life of the elderly.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.27-48
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• 2012

Temperature and weather are all around us, quite literally. Furthermore, temperature and weather not only permeate our atmosphere, constantly affecting our visceral states of warmth and coldness, but they metaphorically permeate our language. People, products, and ideas can all be "hot" or "cold." Given this ubiquity, it is perhaps surprising that relatively little research has systematically examined the influence of temperature on choice and judgment. Temperature-related words such as "hot" and "cold" are often used to describe impulsive and calculated behaviors, respectively. These metaphoric connotations of thermal concepts raise the question as to whether temperature, psychological states and decision making are related to each other, and if so, how. The current research examines these questions and finds support for a relationship. Across one field study and one laboratory experiment, I demonstrate that both hot ambient room temperature (Spa) and hot temperature primes (words) trigger decision outcomes in line with the metaphoric association between hot temperature and impulsivity. In the field study, participants were recruited in hot (40-50 degrees Celsius) and cold (10 degrees Celsius) rooms at a spa. Participants were simply asked to indicate their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for three product categories (travel package, birthday dinner, and cell phone). The results showed that participants in the hot room in comparison to those in the cold room were willing to pay more for the same products. Next, I tested if our results would go beyond ambient temperature and would hold if I were to prime temperature concepts by using a different priming method (i.e., subliminal vs. supraliminal). In line with the previous findings in the spa, participants in the hot priming condition were more likely to choose the wrong answer for the bat and baseball question than those in the cold priming condition. In addition, product type (e.g., pleasure vs. necessity) can moderate the effect of hot temperature on impulsivity. Mood and arousal did not mediate participants' responses. My findings seem to suggest that the effects of temperature on decision outcomes can be attributed to metaphoric associations rather than incidental mood or arousal. The current research applies a novel perspective in understanding the relationship between temperature and judgment and decision making. Also, the results have practical implications for packaging, advertising, merchandising, and pricing of goods and services, as well as for public policy and awareness. One of the most natural implications of my findings would be that retailers would be better off carrying more impulse purchase items on hot days. Furthermore, point-of-purchase promotions encouraging impulse purchase is more likely to be effective in retail environments with higher temperature than with lower temperature. In addition, advertisements and product packages evoking hot temperature associations (e.g., beach, sunshine, summer) might lead consumers to pay higher price for the advertised product than those with cold temperature associations.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.519-529
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of food insecurity in Korean elderly and to analyze the health status as well as food and nutrient intakes according to food insecurity status. Methods: A total of 939 elderly subjects (over 65 years old) were used in our analysis from the fifth 2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-1). The variables consisted of general characteristics, physical and mental health, nutrient intake, rate of deficient intake of energy and nutrients compared with Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans (KDRIs) and food quality and diversity according to the status of food insecurity. Food insecurity status was measured using a self-reported food security questionnaire on the dietary situation in the previous year, and participants were classified according to three groups: food secure group, mildly food insecure group, and moderately/severely food insecure group. Results: The proportion of the food insecure group was approximately 67% and the food insecure group had lower income and educational status than the food secure group. Food insecurity was associated with worse physical and mental health status after adjusting potentially confounding variables. The results showed that food insecurity in Korean elderly significantly affected mental health (including stress cognition, depression experience, and suicide thoughts) which exceeded stages of physical health. In addition, food insecurity showed significant association with low nutrient intake and high rate of deficient intakes of energy and nutrients compared with KDRIs, and a reduction of dietary quality and diversity was indicated in the food insecure group. Conclusion: This study concludes that the prevalence of food insecurity may affect the physical and mental health as well as dietary intake of the elderly Korean population. Therefore, food insecurity should be considered as an important public health issue in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.130
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• pp.305-335
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• 2014

Counseling is conducted through dialogue in relation to counselor and client. Therefore the philosophical counseling first must consider the circumstances, prescribe the main concepts and proceed to the specific methodology in order to be the practical study. The philosophical counseling includes the six necessary concepts-subjects, time, place, object, method, and purpose-because of its behavioral concepts. The subjects are counsellor and client, the place is where public institutions authorize officially for counseling, the time is when the two parties are meeting face to face, the object is the client's facing problems right now, the method is the philosophical assistance, and the purpose is to dissolve the client's problems. The client's facing problems here are the developmental tasks according to the developmental stages and the maladaptive behaviors related to the cognitive distortions appearing in the process. And the philosophical assistance methods are the types to make the facilitating environment and dispute the wrong thoughts and the irrational beliefs. However, the client's problems in counseling often appear in the causes combined between the cognitive elements and the emotive elements which are treated mainly in the psychological counseling. In that case, the way to solve the problems in the philosophical counseling should be applied to with the psychological methods in parallel or in regular succession. Therefore the six necessary concepts of the philosophical counseling are not the absolute meanings but the meanings in general. If so, the concept of the philosophical counseling can be defined as the process in which counselor and client meet face to face and dissolve the client's facing problems through mainly the philosophical methods with the counselor's assistance. If the main concepts of the philosophical counseling can be prescribed as mentioned above, post study needs to proceed to the specific methodology.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.51-60
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• 2021

Modern society is becoming more informed and intelligent with the development of digital technology, in which humans, objects, and networks relate with each other. In accordance with the changing times, a garden system has emerged that makes it easy to supply the ideal temperature, humidity, sunlight, and moisture conditions to grow plants. Therefore, this study attempted to grasp the concept, perception, and trends of smart gardens, a recent concept. To achieve the purpose of this study, previous studies and text mining were used, and the results are as follows. First, the core characteristics of smart gardens are new gardens in which IoT technology and gardening techniques are fused in indoor and outdoor spaces due to technological developments and changes in people's lifestyles. As technology advances and the importance of the environment increases, smart gardens are becoming a reality due to the need for living spaces where humans and nature can co-exist. With the advent of smart gardens, it will be possible to contribute to gardens' vitalization to deal with changes in garden-related industries and people's lifestyles. Second, in current research related to smart gardens and users' experiences, the technical aspects of smart gardens are the most interesting. People value smart garden functions and technical aspects that enable a safe, comfortable, and convenient life, and subjective uses are emerging depending on individual tastes and the comfort with digital devices. Third, looking at the usage behavior of smart gardens, they are mainly used in indoor spaces, with edible plants are being grown. Due to the growing importance of the environment and concerns about climate change and a possible food crisis, the tendency is to prefer the cultivation of plants related to food, but the expansion of garden functions can satisfying users' needs with various technologies that allow for the growing of flowers. In addition, as users feel the shapes of smart gardens are new and sophisticated, it can be seen that design is an essential factor that helps to satisfy users. Currently, smart gardens are developing in terms of technology. However, the main components of the smart garden are the combination of humans, nature, and technology rather than focusing on growing plants conveniently by simply connecting potted plants and smart devices. It strengthens connectivity with various city services and smart homes. Smart gardens interact with the landscape of the architect's ideas rather than reproducing nature through science and technology. Therefore, it is necessary to have a design that considers the functions of the garden and the needs of users. In addition, by providing citizens indoor and urban parks and public facilities, it is possible to share the functions of communication and gardening among generations targeting those who do not enjoy 'smart' services due to age and bridge the digital device and information gap. Smart gardens have potential as a new landscaping space.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.171-193
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• 2018

LOD(Linked Open Data) cloud is a practical implementation of semantic web. We suggested a new method that provides identity links conveniently in LOD cloud. It also allows changes in LOD to be reflected to searching results without any omissions. LOD provides detail descriptions of entities to public in RDF triple form. RDF triple is composed of subject, predicates, and objects and presents detail description for an entity. Links in LOD cloud, named identity links, are realized by asserting entities of different RDF triples to be identical. Currently, the identity link is provided with creating a link triple explicitly in which associates its subject and object with source and target entities. Link triples are appended to LOD. With identity links, a knowledge achieves from an LOD can be expanded with different knowledge from different LODs. The goal of LOD cloud is providing opportunity of knowledge expansion to users. Appending link triples to LOD, however, has serious difficulties in discovering identity links between entities one by one notwithstanding the enormous scale of LOD. Newly added entities cannot be reflected to searching results until identity links heading for them are serialized and published to LOD cloud. Instead of creating enormous identity links, we propose LOD to prepare its own link policy. The link policy specifies a set of target LODs to link and constraints necessary to discover identity links to entities on target LODs. On searching, it becomes possible to access newly added entities and reflect them to searching results without any omissions by referencing the link policies. Link policy specifies a set of predicate pairs for discovering identity between associated entities in source and target LODs. For the link policy specification, we have suggested a set of vocabularies that conform to RDFS and OWL. Identity between entities is evaluated in accordance with a similarity of the source and the target entities' objects which have been associated with the predicates' pair in the link policy. We implemented a system "Change Acceptable In-Depth Searching System(CAIDS)". With CAIDS, user's searching request starts from depth_0 LOD, i.e. surface searching. Referencing the link policies of LODs, CAIDS proceeds in-depth searching, next LODs of next depths. To supplement identity links derived from the link policies, CAIDS uses explicit link triples as well. Following the identity links, CAIDS's in-depth searching progresses. Content of an entity obtained from depth_0 LOD expands with the contents of entities of other LODs which have been discovered to be identical to depth_0 LOD entity. Expanding content of depth_0 LOD entity without user's cognition of such other LODs is the implementation of knowledge expansion. It is the goal of LOD cloud. The more identity links in LOD cloud, the wider content expansions in LOD cloud. We have suggested a new way to create identity links abundantly and supply them to LOD cloud. Experiments on CAIDS performed against DBpedia LODs of Korea, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. They present that CAIDS provides appropriate expansion ratio and inclusion ratio as long as degree of similarity between source and target objects is 0.8 ~ 0.9. Expansion ratio, for each depth, depicts the ratio of the entities discovered at the depth to the entities of depth_0 LOD. For each depth, inclusion ratio illustrates the ratio of the entities discovered only with explicit links to the entities discovered only with link policies. In cases of similarity degrees with under 0.8, expansion becomes excessive and thus contents become distorted. Similarity degree of 0.8 ~ 0.9 provides appropriate amount of RDF triples searched as well. Experiments have evaluated confidence degree of contents which have been expanded in accordance with in-depth searching. Confidence degree of content is directly coupled with identity ratio of an entity, which means the degree of identity to the entity of depth_0 LOD. Identity ratio of an entity is obtained by multiplying source LOD's confidence and source entity's identity ratio. By tracing the identity links in advance, LOD's confidence is evaluated in accordance with the amount of identity links incoming to the entities in the LOD. While evaluating the identity ratio, concept of identity agreement, which means that multiple identity links head to a common entity, has been considered. With the identity agreement concept, experimental results present that identity ratio decreases as depth deepens, but rebounds as the depth deepens more. For each entity, as the number of identity links increases, identity ratio rebounds early and reaches at 1 finally. We found out that more than 8 identity links for each entity would lead users to give their confidence to the contents expanded. Link policy based in-depth searching method, we proposed, is expected to contribute to abundant identity links provisions to LOD cloud.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.3 s.58
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• pp.630-642
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to examine the mortality risk associated with cognitive impairment among the rural elderly. The subjective of study was 558 of 'A Study on the Depression and Cognitive Impairment in the Rural Elderly' of Jung Ae Rhee and Hyang Gyun Jung's study(1993). Cognitive impairment and other social and health factors were assessed in 558 elderly rural community residents. For this study, a Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSEK) was used as a global indicator of cognitive functioning. And mortality risk factors for each cognitive impairment subgroup were identified by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. At baseline 22.6% of the sample were mildly impaired and 14.2% were severely impaired. As the age increased, the cognitive function was more impaired. Sexual difference was existed in the cognitive function level. Also the variables such as smoking habits, physical disorders had the significant relationship with cognitive function impairment. Across a 3-year observation period the mortality rate was 8.5% for the cognitively unimpaired, 11.1% for the mildly impaired, and 16.5% for the severly impaired respendents. And the survival probability was .92 for the cognitively unimpaired, .90 for the mildly impaired, and .86 for the severly impaired respondents. Compared to survival curve for the cognitively unimpaired group, each survival curve for the mildly and the severely impaired group was not significantly different. When adjustments models were not made for the effects of other health and social covariates, each hazard ratio of death of mildly and severely impaired persons was not significantly different as compared with the cognitively unimpaired. But, as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death decreased. Employing Cox univariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, smoking habits, physical disorders. Also when adjustments were made for the effects of other health and social covariates, there was no difference in hazard ratio of death between those with severe or mild impairment and unimpaired persons. And as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death did not decrease. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, physical disorders. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model by sex, at men and women statistically significant variable was only age. For both men and women, also cognitive impairment was not a significant risk factor. Other investigators have found that cognitive impairment is a significant predictor of mortality. But we didn't find that it is a significant predictor of mortality. Even though the conclusions of our study were not related to cognitive impairment and mortality, early detection of impaired cognition and attention to associated health problems could improve the quality of life of these older adults and perhaps extend their survival.