• Land and Housing Review
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

Clean water is an essential urban infrastructure in human daily life, and water plays a vital role in public health. Due to restrictions on outdoor activities during COVID-19, time staying at home has increased. Therefore, it is plausible to assume that large-scale disaster incidences such as COVID-19 will affect water consumption. In this regard, this research aims to explore the factors that influence household water use during COVID-19. The analysis period of the study is 2020, and the geographical scope covers Seoul and Incheon. A dependent variable was water consumption in the autonomous districts of Seoul and Incheon, and the factors reflecting urban characteristics were used as independent variables. Multiple regression was used for analysis, and the unit of analysis was the autonomous district in Seoul and Incheon. The finding confirmed that the pandemic situation caused an increase in water consumption. In addition, it supports policy for the elderly so that they can use water without financial difficulty. It implies that a stable supply of clean water is essential for managing infectious diseases. The findings of this study are expected to provide some implications for efficient water supply policies and efficient water supply management in the event of the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.357-366
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• 2021

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to verify the level of ethical consciousness and decision-making of dental hygiene students in pandemic as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: This study included 249 college students who were interested in new infectious diseases. They completed a questionnaire on a 5-point scale, and data were analyzed by independent t-test, ANOVA, and correlation. Results: The perception of COVID-19 was moderate at 3.42 points. This was higher among males, first graders, emergency management students, those who received education and experienced self-quarantine. The level of ethical consciousness was moderate (3.89 points), which was higher in sophomores, emergency management students. Ethical decision-making was moderate, with a score of 3.44, and was higher in those with first grade, field practice training, and self-quarantine experience. The level of perception positively correlated with ethical consciousness (α=0.310, p<0.01). In addition, as the degree of ethical consciousness increased, the degree of decision-making also increased (α=0.539, p<0.01). Conclusions: In a crisis, involving the spread of COVID-19, providing prospective dental hygienists accurate information and an experience similar to that faced by patient is necessary for raising the level of ethical consciousness and decision-making.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.14-25
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• 2021

With the spread of COVID-19 and the government policy of social distancing, the demand for subways and buses is decreasing, whereas the demand for public bicycles and personal transportation is increasing. Hence, research is needed to understand the characteristics of this phenomenon and to prove the statistical reliability of the correlation between the subway and shared bicycle demands. In this study, the correlation between the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the replacement rate of subway and public bicycle demands was examined, but the statistical significance was not significant. However, during the period of September to December 2020, in which the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Seoul started to increase rapidly, there was a correlation between the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the replacement ratio. If the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increases by more than a certain number, public bicycles are expected to play a significant role as alternates to the subways. It is expected that the role of public bicycles will increase, and that it is possible to suggest the direction of transportation operation and policy establishment for the continuation of COVID-19 countermeasures in field demonstration after elementary technology development. It is also expected that this study will suggest a direction for future development and policymaking.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.462-475
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• 2023

This study is descriptive research to identify the effect of COVID-19 stress on premenstrual syndrome in female college students and the mediating effect of depression and coping with premenstrual syndrome. The data were collected through an on-line survey for 20 days from November 11 to November 30, 2021, targeting female college students attending C College located in S city. As a result of analyzing a total of 161 data, COVID-19 stress was positively correlated with premenstrual syndrome(r=.383, p<.001) and depression(r=.436, p<.001), and coping with premenstrual syndrome had a positive correlation only in premenstrual syndrome(r=.190, p=.016). As a result of verifying the mediating effect of depression and coping with premenstrual syndrome between COVID-19 stress and premenstrual syndrome, COVID-19 stress had a significant direct effect on premenstrual syndrome(β=4.907, p=.002), and depression(β=6.780, p<.001), and depression had a significant direct effect on premenstrual syndrome(β=.383, p=<.001), coping with premenstrual syndrome had a direct effect on premenstrual syndrome(β=4.292, p=.030) respectively. The indirect effect of verifying the mediating effect in the relationship between COVID-19 stress and premenstrual syndrome confirmed that there was a statistically significant effect only in the path via depression(95% CI, 1.282 to 4.140). Therefore, it is necessary to develop an intervention strategy to reduce depression and alleviate premenstrual syndrome symptoms by controlling related stress, such as COVID-19 stress, in preparation for the outbreak of new infectious diseases and pandemic situations such as COVID-19.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.22.1-22.25
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• 2022

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread over the world causing a pandemic which is still ongoing since its emergence in late 2019. A great amount of effort has been devoted to understanding the pathogenesis of COVID-19 with the hope of developing better therapeutic strategies. Transcriptome analysis using technologies such as RNA sequencing became a commonly used approach in study of host immune responses to SARS-CoV-2. Although substantial amount of information can be gathered from transcriptome analysis, different analysis tools used in these studies may lead to conclusions that differ dramatically from each other. Here, we re-analyzed four RNA-sequencing datasets of COVID-19 samples including human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, nasopharyngeal swabs, lung biopsy and hACE2 transgenic mice using the same standardized method. The results showed that common features of COVID-19 include upregulation of chemokines including CCL2, CXCL1, and CXCL10, inflammatory cytokine IL-1β and alarmin S100A8/S100A9, which are associated with dysregulated innate immunity marked by abundant neutrophil and mast cell accumulation. Downregulation of chemokine receptor genes that are associated with impaired adaptive immunity such as lymphopenia is another common feather of COVID-19 observed. In addition, a few interferon-stimulated genes but no type I IFN genes were identified to be enriched in COVID-19 samples compared to their respective control in these datasets. These features are in line with results from single-cell RNA sequencing studies in the field. Therefore, our re-analysis of the RNA-seq datasets revealed common features of dysregulated immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and shed light to the pathogenesis of COVID-19.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.260-265
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• 2024

During the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology was used for surveying infectious diseases. In this study, wastewater surveillance was employed to monitor COVID-19 outbreaks. Wastewater influent samples were collected from four sewage treatment plants in Ulsan (Gulhwa, Yongyeon, Nongso, and Bangeojin) between August 2022 and August 2023. The samples were concentrated using the polyethylene glycol-sodium chloride pretreatment method. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA was extracted and detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Next generation sequences was used to perform correlation analysis between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and COVID-19 cases and for COVID-19 variant analysis. A strong correlation was observed between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and COVID-19 cases (correlation coefficient, r = 0.914). The COVID-19 variant analysis results were similar to the clinical variant genomes of three epidemics during the study period. In conclusion, monitoring COVID-19 via analyzing wastewater facilitates early recognition and prediction of epidemics.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.206-216
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• 2022

This study aimed to investigate the frequency of dental visits after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children and adolescents in comparison to that of adults. The data on the number of dental visits on the basis of different classification and treatment codes for all the age groups were provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from January 2017 to December 2020. To reduce the impact of the population change, dental visits per 1000 people was used. After the start of the pandemic, dental visits per 1000 people decreased in all age groups when analyzed for the diseases of pulp and periapical tissues classification code and dental visits per 1000 people decreased over 5 years age groups when analyzed for the pulp treatment code. Regarding the restorative treatment code, visits in the 0 - 19 years age group decreased after the pandemic. Based on the comparison of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to that of monthly dental visits by treatment codes, the change rate of pulp and restorative treatments gradually decreased after the waves of the pandemic in February and August 2020 in Korea. Furthermore, dental visits per 1000 people for gingivitis and periodontal disease classification code increased after the pandemic in all age groups. The rate of decrease in dental visits per 1000 people for restorative treatments in children and adolescents was higher than that in adults. The rate of decrease in the number of dental visits for multi-visit pulp treatments showed a rapid decrease as compared to that of 1-visit pulp treatments after the pandemic. This study identified changes in the number of dental visits of children and adolescents after COVID-19 transmission in comparison to that observed in adults.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.12
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• pp.53-62
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• 2020

The COVID 19 pandemic has led to a new global recession and is still causing a lot of issues because of the delays in the employment of people. This scenario has severe consequences for many countries' labor markets in the world. This problem's complexity and importance requires an integrated method of subjective and objective evaluation rather than intuitive decisions. This research aims to investigate sustainable indexes for assessing the unemployment problem by using a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model (MCDM). Grey theory and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (GDEMATEL) are deployed to transform the experts' opinions into quantitative data. The analysis based on 20 crucial criteria is employed to determine the weights of sustainability of unemployment problems. The results revealed that the top ten of determinants are Economic growth, Industrialization, Foreign direct investment, Real GDP per capita, Education level, Trade Openness, Capacity Utilization Rate, Urbanization, Employability skills, Education system expansion, which have the most significant effects on the unemployment rate under COVID 19 impacts. Furthermore, GDEMATEL could effectively assess the sustainable indicators for unemployment problems in "deep and wide" aspects. The study proposes the Grey MCDM model, contributes to the literature, provides future research directions, and helps policymakers and researchers achieve the best solutions to the unemployment problems under "economic shocks."

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.599-609
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• 2020

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has rapidly become a global pandemic with over 26.4 million confirmed cases and approximately 871,000 fatalities worldwide as of this writing. In the Republic of Korea, disease clusters frequently occurred in long-term care hospitals where the majority of residents are elderly with underlying medical conditions. Despite the fact that public health authorities and local community health centers have put tremendous efforts into preventing the spread of disease, positive cases have continued to occur. Thus, the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention rapid response team decided to conduct an environmental investigation of a long-term care hospital to identify whether environmental contamination has remained and contributed to the spread of COVID-19. Methods: An environmental investigation was conducted at Hospital A. The characteristics of the facility and its HVAC system were assessed by checking the layout and interviewing the people in charge. A total of 64 surface samples were collected from areas of concern, including patient rooms, toilets, elevators, and nurses' station. These samples were tested by a regional health and environmental research institute using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: All samples from Hospital A were confirmed to be negative. Through interviews with high-level personnel at the regional community health center, we found that extensive disinfection is frequently performed on potentially contaminated areas in Hospital A in accordance with government guidelines. Conclusion: The environmental control measures implemented in Hospital A had been sufficient for mitigating the risk of further infection, suggesting that such measures may also be effective for other long-term health care facilities.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.203-220
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• 2020

With the COVID-19 pandemic being prolonged, the society is being converted into an untact society, thereby affecting the service methodology of domestic and foreign library systems. This study thus surveyed the librarians' awareness of COVID-19 response measures of public libraries, and proposed public libraries' response measures in situations where the novel infectious disease is spreading and prolonging. Specifically, the proposed measures include, first, preparing national-centered library countermeasures to jointly respond to the epidemic disease, second, strengthening various untact and online services of various public libraries through government-level budget support, third, a thorough prevention of epidemics and preemptive response from the viewpoint of employees and users, and fourth, the expansion of library services aimed at resolving the digital cultural divide among classes of people, including information unfairness.