• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.338-344
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• 2015

Background: The present study aims to investigate job stressors and stress relievers for Korean emotional laborers, specifically focusing on the effects of work conditions and emotional labor properties. Emotional laborers are asked to hide or distort their real emotions in their interaction with clients. They are exposed to high levels of stress in the emotional labor process, which leads to serious mental health risks including burnout, depression, and even suicide impulse. Exploring job stressors and relieving factors would be the first step in seeking alternatives to protect emotional laborers from those mental health risks. Methods: Using the third wave data of Korean Working Conditions Survey, logistic regression analysis was conducted for two purposes: to examine the relations of emotional labor and stress, and to find out job stressors and relievers for emotional laborers. Results: The chances of stress arousal are 3.5 times higher for emotional laborers; emotional laborers experience double risk-burden for stress arousal. In addition to general job stressors, emotional laborers need to bear burdens related to emotional labor properties. The effect of social support at the workplace is not significant for stress relief, unlike common assumptions, whereas subjective satisfaction (wage satisfaction and work-life balance) is proven to have relieving effects on emotional laborers' job stress. Conclusion: From the results, the importance of a balanced understanding of emotional labor for establishing effective policies for emotional laborer protection is stressed.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.35-46
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• 2019

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been evolving to recognize and learn the languages, voice tones, and facial expressions of users so that they can respond to users' emotions in various contexts. Many AI-based services of particular importance in communications with users provide emotional interaction. However, research on nonverbal interaction as a means of expressing emotion in the AI system is still insufficient. We studied the effect of lighting on users' emotional interaction with an AI device, focusing on color and flickering motion. The AI device used in this study expresses emotions with six colors of light (red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white) and with a three-level flickering effect (high, middle, and low velocity). We studied the responses of 50 men and women in their 20s and 30s to the emotions expressed by the light colors and flickering effects of the AI device. We found that each light color represented an emotion that was largely similar to the user's emotional image shown in a previous color-sensibility study. The rate of flickering of the lights produced changes in emotional arousal and balance. The change in arousal patterns produced similar intensities of all colors. On the other hand, changes in balance patterns were somewhat related to the emotional image in the previous color-sensibility study, but the colors were different. As AI systems and devices are becoming more diverse, our findings are expected to contribute to designing the users emotional with AI devices through lighting.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.3-8
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• 1994

With the recent development of sleep medicine, insomnia has been perceived as a disease from a simple symptom. As there are various causes in a disease, proper treatment according to each cause is necessary for a more effective treatment In general, insomnia is classified into five categrories of physical, physiological, psychological, psychiatric and pharmacological aspects. However, such categorizations are often insufficient in treating insomnia. Furthermore understanding of the developmental mechanisms of insomnia is required. The function of sleep is developed and maintained through the balance of the reciprocal forces of sleep and arousal. These forces are contantly regulated by what is called a circadian rhythm. Sleep is induced by this rhythm which is affected by factors such as awakening time in the morning, amount of intellectual function, amount and time length of physical exercise and sunlight Insomnia could develop when this rhythm is delayed and leads to a "forbidden zone" which is a very difficult period for inducing sleep about two to four hours before the routine bedtime. Whereas sleep gradually develops in line with the circardian rhythm, arousal can occur very abruptly by any cause triggered by emotional discomfort or anxiety. Such characteristic and emotional factors as perfectionism, separation anxiety, secondary gain, insecurity, and negative cognition may provoke the inner anxiety and fear for insomnia, which can lead acute insomnia to a chronic one. As chronic insomnia is developed by multiple causes and factors, integrated approaches through analysis of above mentioned factors will be more effective in the treatment of insomnia than a simple administration of hypnotics.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.37-42
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• 1999

Long-term exposure to loud noise affects performance since it changes arousal level, distracts attention, and also is able to evoke subjective stress accompanied by negative emotional states. The purpose of the study was to analyze dynamics of subjective and physiological variables during a relatively long-lasting (30 min) exposure to white noise (85 dB[A]). Physiological signals were recorded on 15 college students during 30 min of intense auditory stimulation. Autonomic variables, namely skin conductance level , non-specific SCR number, inter-best intervals in ECG, heart rate variability index (HF/LF ratio of HRV), skin temperature, as well as respiration rate were analyzed on 5 min epoch basis. Psychological assessment (subjective rating of stress level) was also repeated every 5 min. Statistical analysis was employed to trace the time course of the dynamics of subjective and autonomic physiological variables and their relationships. Results showed that the intense noise evoked subjective stress as well as associated autonomic nervous system responses. However it was shown that physiological variables endured specific changes in the process of exposure to the loud white noise. Discussed were probable psychophysiological mechanisms mediating reactivity to long-term auditory stimulation of high intensity, namely short-term activation, followed by transient adaptation (with relatively stable autonomic balance) and then a subsequent wave of arousal due to tonic sympathetic dominance.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.22-32
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• 2017

Purpose: This research was conducted to determine the effects of fall prevention exercise and education on physical fitness, fall efficacy, and fall prevention behavior among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This study applied nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected from January 8th to March 4th, 2015. There were 24 subjects in the experimental group and 21 in the control group from two different senior citizen center in B city. The fall prevention program consisted of exercise, education, and telephone coaching was developed using self-efficacy theory: 'Performance accomplishment', 'Vicarious experience', 'Verbal persuasion', 'Emotional arousal'. Then, it was conducted once a week for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed with $x^2$ test and t-test using the SPSS program. Results: The findings indicated that fall prevention program conducted on older adults is good for improving their muscular strength in lower extremities (t=6.25, p<.001), physical balance (t=2.66, p=.014), physical flexibility (t=2.88, p<.001) and fall prevention behavior (t=6.19, p<.001). Conclusion: The fall prevention program can be used for community-dwelling older adults as a nursing intervention that enables older adults to enhance their self-care continuously. It is necessary to conduct a follow-up study to see if a self-help meeting could improve self-efficacy.