• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.554-566
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Urban-rural inequities in health and mortality exist in Korea, a highly centralized developed country. The potential impact of multiple health-related lifestyle behaviors on mortality and difference between urban and rural areas is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of high-risk health behaviors on all-cause mortality among residents living in urban and rural in Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on 8,298 adults aged 40 yrs and older from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013-2015. High-risk behaviors were defined as having poor diet quality, current smoking, high-risk drinking, or insufficient physical activity. Mortality status was linked to the Cause of Death data followed up to December 31, 2019. The associations between all-cause mortality and high-risk behaviors were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, income, and survey year. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated, and effect modification analysis was conducted. Participants were stratified by residential area (urban or rural). RESULTS: During the follow-up (median: 5.4 yrs), 313 deaths occurred. A higher proportion of rural residents than urban residents engaged in multiple high-risk behaviors (28.9% vs. 22.6%; P < 0.0001). As individual factors, a greater risk of mortality was associated with poor diet quality, current smoking, and inadequate physical activity, and these tendencies persisted in rural residents, especially for diet quality. Multiple high-risk behaviors were positively associated with a higher risk of mortality in Koreans living in urban and rural areas. PAF (95% confidence interval) was 18.5% (7.35-27.9%) and 29.8% (16.1-40.2%) in urban and rural residents, respectively. No additive or multiplicative effect of the region was observed. CONCLUSION: The higher prevalence of multiple high-risk lifestyle behaviors in rural residents may explain the higher mortality in rural areas compared to urban areas. Comprehensive public health policies to improve health-related behaviors in rural populations may be needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2021

PURPOSE: Social participation is essential for stroke survivors. Although participation restrictions are affected by several factors, a few studies have focused on the effects of living in a particular residential area (urban versus rural) on the participation restrictions after a stroke. This study examined the factors affecting participation restrictions in stroke survivors according to the residential area. METHODS: One hundred sixty-six stroke patients (including 130 living in urban areas and 36 living in rural areas) were recruited for this study. The Korean Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI) was used to assess the activities of daily living (ADL). The Korean Mini-Mental Examination Status (MMSE-K) was used to assess cognition. The motor function was evaluated using the Fugl-Meyer function assessment (FMA). Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized model of participation restriction. RESULTS: The proposed path model showed good fit indices. In rural and urban areas, the direct effects were significant between the ADL and participation restrictions (β = -.673 and -.457, respectively). For urban areas, the direct effects were significant between cognition and participation restrictions (β = -.252). In both area types, motor function and cognition had a significant direct effect on the ADL. CONCLUSION: For urban community-dwelling stroke survivors, the ADL and cognition had direct effects on participation restrictions. For rural area stroke survivors, the ADL had direct effects on participation restrictions. Activity level exercise programs help reduce the participation restrictions. Moreover, it is essential to address cognition training to improve participation in urban community-dwelling stroke survivors.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.475-483
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure accessibility and to examine distribution of restaurants in the local community. Methods: The target area of this study was two urban areas and a rural area in a city. We collected location information on all restaurants in target areas and classified all restaurants according to Korean food restaurants and Non-Korean food restaurants. We measured restaurant density per 100 m from the residences of the study population and calculated the distance of the nearest restaurant from the residences of the subjects using the Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis method. We compared the accessibility and distribution of restaurants in urban areas with that of the rural area, and compared the accessibility and distribution of Korean restaurants with that of Non-Korean restaurants. Results: Restaurants in urban areas were more dense than those in the rural area, and, in urban areas, restaurants were intensively distributed around the subjects' residence. Also, there were more Non-Korean food restaurants than Korean food restaurants in urban areas, and it was opposite in the rural area. Conclusion: It is important that we understood the current state of the restaurant environment in the local community using GIS analysis for the first time in the field of food environment. Further research is necessary on the association of restaurant environments and the dietary life of the population.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.43-54
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to examine the job satisfaction of teachers in urban and rural day care centers. The subjects of this study were 134 teachers in urban(n=68) and rural(n=66) areas. Participants completed an early childhood job satisfaction survey. The statistics used for this data were t-test, one-way ANOVA (Duncan's test), and multiple regression analysis. The study showed significant differences between urban and rural teachers' job satisfaction in the job itself, human relationships, and working environment. The job satisfaction of the teachers in urban day care centers was influenced significantly by the related variables: age of teacher, marital status, education level, educational career, capacity, number of classes, class size, working hours, and the age of the children in class. The job satisfaction of the teachers in rural day care centers was influenced significantly by the above variables. The important factors on predicting the job satisfaction of the urban day care teachers were found to be the age of teachers, educational career, education level, and number of classes. The important factors for predicting the job satisfaction of the rural day care center teachers were found to be the age of teacher, educational career, education level, number of classes and working hours.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.93-103
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• 1995

The changes of rural landscape are currently spread everywhere and are rapidily being processed both in quality and in quantities of changes From such aspects, it is urgent to control the land scape change, and is required to know what is valued or preferred in rural landscape, This study was conducted to investigate preferences and differences of the responses between urban and rural residents to rural scenery. As a method, color-slide surrogates for rural landscape settings are shown to urban and rural residents, For a given 52 scenes of rural landscapes the respondents judged the familiarity, orality, and preference along a ten point scale. The following facts are found: 1) Refponses to certain types of landscape settings are influenced by the place of residence of the respondents. The urban residents highly rated natural components of the rural landscape. In contrast rural residents preferred the scenes with visible sign of development 2) The relations among the estimation of preference, familiarity and rurality in rural landscape were deeply correlated. When the rural lands(:ape is adequately ref resented as 'familiarity' or 'rurality' well the landscape is more preferred 3) It is found what is valued or preferred in rural landscape : Readjusted agricultural land, big tree, grassland hi dominated visually were preferred in rural landscape. The implication of this study is that successful planning of development or management in rural area will occur only when these different needs and values are acknowledged and accommodated.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.867-881
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• 2009

This study's goal is to compare influencing factors to life satisfaction and sport participation of the elderly in the rural and urban area. And it is to provide basic information that is appropriate to the local peculiarity. In the research, we used the 2006 KLoSA, got the following result through the more than 60 years old 502 peoples in the rural area and 1129 in the urban area. There were significant differences of factors related to the life satisfaction between rural and urban elderly, and the most sport participants have higher life satisfaction than non-participants. Through the probit analysis, the result shows that significant factors affecting sport participation for the rural elderly are gender, age, working/retired, and for urban elderly, the education level and income are added. About the participation, there were also significant differences on the participation frequency for the rural elderly and on the participation hours for urban elderly. The significant factors of life satisfaction for rural elderly are the education level, subjective health, and sport participation, and for urban elderly were the education level, income, subjective health, and sport participation. Overall, it shows the urban elderly have higher life satisfaction than the rural elderly. The welfare system to improve the sports participation and life satisfaction needs the differentiated support reflecting the social demographic characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.33 no.1 s.108
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• pp.71-80
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• 2005

In order to search for ecologically indicative characteristics on the street tree plots in Daegu area, plant communities and their floras were investigated. A total of 105 plots were collected and numerically analyzed by PCoA(Principal Coordinates Analysis). These plots were classified into 4 types containing 139 species, 97 genera, 42 families(including 37 exotic species): urban-dry type, urban-wet type, rural-dry type, rural-wet type. Habitat connectivity to the surrounding vegetation cover, extent and frequency of human impacts, and soil moisture recognizably were the main factors to allow the plots differentiation. Indicative species composition to these four types was generated as Eleusine indica-Eragrostis multicaulis-Oxalis corniculata to the urban-wet, Digitaria ciliaris-Eleusine indica-Eragrostis multicaulis to the urban-dry, Setaria viri-dis-Artemisia-Lactuca indica var. laciniata to the rural-wet, and Setaria viridis-Digitaria ciliaris-Erigeron canadensis to the rural-dry, respectively. Mean species number per plot for rural type was 2.5 times higher than for urban types. Street tree species representative to the rural-wet type is Zelkova serrata, which is a key species of potential natural vegetation in the alluvial land of Daegu area. Street tree plots were characterized by Eleusine indica showing the highest r-NCD value and also C4-assimilation grass plants. Views on the efficacy of the rural-wet type and the reinforcement of vegetation connectivity and soil moisture in rehabilitating street tree plots, are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.453-464
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• 2019

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine whether dietary quality varies among different age groups and geographic areas, and whether the difference between geographic areas varies across several age groups in Korea. Methods: The subjects were 14,170 subjects who participated in the 2013-2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The dietary quality was assessed using the Korean Health Eating Index (KHEI). Age groups were categorized into six groupings, and areas were categorized into urban and rural according to their administrative districts. The effect of area on the KHEI score was analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The KHEI was the lowest in the 20-30s group (57.7 ± 0.4 score for 20s and 61.2 ± 0.3 score for 30s) and increased with age (p<0.001), showing the highest score in the 60s (67.9 ± 0.3 score), and then decreased again in the 70s and older (64.6 ± 0.3 score). As a result of comparing the KHEI score by area, the urban areas had higher KHEI scores than did the rural areas (63.5 ± 0.2 score for urban area and 62.2 ± 0.4 score for rural area, p=0.002). The difference between areas was dependent on the age group, showing a significant difference for subjects who were aged from 50s and older (p=0.002 for 50s, p<0.001 for 60s and p<0.001 for 70s and older). After adjusting for confounding factors, the effect of area on the KHEI score was only shown for those subjects in the over 60 years old group (p=0.035 for 60s and p<0.001 for 70s and older). Conclusions: The dietary quality differed according to the age group and geographic area. The dietary quality was lower for younger people than that for older people, and in rural areas compared to that in urban areas, and especially for older adults. The area factor was a very important factor for the dietary quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.111-122
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• 2007

This study aims at providing basic policy materials to build a basis for supplying and creating urban parks balanced across Gyeonggi province and improving the quality of life of residents through, an extensive analysis of all city parks in cities/counties in Gyeonggi province. The study result showed that first, the number of parks is only 40% of the adequate number and, thus, accessibility of Gyeonggi province residents to parks in neighborhoods is significantly low. Second, a proportion of park types in children's park, neighborhood park, urban nature park is 67% : 24% : 2%, which is adequate in Gyeonggi province as a whole. Third, as for the area of parks per resident, the area of designated park is $17.7m^2$/person, which is over three times of legal requirement in urban planning area ($6m^2$/person). However, created park area is only $5.6m^2$/person, which fails to meet the legal requirement. Fourth, when park area of each city was compared, the areas varied significantly across cities. The Gyeonggi provincial government needs to secure funds aggressively and accelerate setting up and expanding facilities at designated parks located within the current urban areas. The findings from this study should be used as important materials when developing supply & demand policies for urban parks in Gyeonggi province. The study implicates that independent park policies and management by each city/county as well as the establishment and management of a comprehensive park policy at a provincial level is significantly important.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.181-189
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• 2014

PURPOSES : Ambiguous decision on whether rural or urban area for road design can increase the construction cost and restrict the land use of surrounding area. However, administrative classification on rural and urban area is not directly related to road design because of this classification is not based on the engineering viewpoint, so method which can explain the road design context is required. METHODS : Method which enables to identify the area for road design is suggested based on the deceleration expected to be experienced by drivers who use the road section concerned. Deceleration rate corresponding to the area such as rural or urban suggested in Road Design Guideline is used as the criteria to identify the area by comparing this value with the estimated deceleration rate at the road section concerned. Speed profile method is utilized to derive the deceleration rate, and speed estimation way for reflecting both road geometry and intersection is suggested using stopping sight distance concept. RESULTS : The procedure of the method application is suggested, and the design example utilizing the method is provided. CONCLUSIONS : The method is expected to be used to identify the area for road design with engineering viewpoint, and design consistency among the roads with similar driving environment can be made.