• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environment risk

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Evaluation of Indoor Air Quality in a Department of Radiation Oncology Located Underground (지하에 위치한 방사선종양학과에서의 실내공기 질 평가)

  • Kim, Won-Taek;Shin, Yong-Chul;Kang, Dong-Mug;Ki, Yong-Kan;Kim, Dong-Won;Kwon, Byung-Hyun
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.243-252
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    • 2005
  • Purpose: Indoor air quality (IAQ) in the radiation treatment center which is generally located underground is important to the health of hospital workers and patients treated over a long period of time. this study was conducted to measure and analyze the factors related to IAQ and subjective symptoms of sick building syndrome, and to establish the causes influencing IAQ and find a solution to the problems. Methods and Materials : Self administrated questionnaire was conducted to check the workers' symptoms and understanding of the work environment. Based on a preliminary investigation, the factors related to IAQ such as temperature, humidity, fine particulate. carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), and radon gas were selected and measured for a certain period of time in specific sites where hospital workers stay long in a day. And we also evaluated the surrounding environment and the efficiency of the ventilating system simultaneously, and measured the same factors at the first floor (outdoor) to compare with outdoor all quality, All collected data were assessed by the recommended standard for IAQ of the domestic and international environmental organizations. Results: Hospital workers were discontented with foul odors, humidity and particulate. They complained symptoms related to musculo-skeletal system, neurologic system, and mucosal-irritatation. Most of the factors were not greater than the recommended standard, but the level of TVOC was third or fourth times as much as the measuring level of some offices in the United States. The frequency and the amount of the ventilating system were adequate, however, the problem arising in the position of outdoor-air inlets and indoor-air outlets involved a risk of the indraft of contaminated air. A careful attention was a requirement in handling and keeping chemical substances including a developing solution which has a risk of TVOC emissions, and repositioning the ventilating system was needed to solve the contaminated-air circulation immediately Conclusion We verified that some IAQ-related factors and inadequate ventilating system could cause subjective symptoms in hospital workers. The evaluation of IAQ was surely needed to improve the underground working environments for hospital workers and patients. On the basis of these data, from now on, we should actively engage in designs of the department of radiation oncology or improvement in environments of the existing facilities.

The effects of microplastics on marine ecosystem and future research directions (미세플라스틱의 해양 생태계에 대한 영향과 향후 연구 방향)

  • Kim, Kanghee;Hwang, Junghye;Choi, Jin Soo;Heo, Yunwi;Park, June-Woo
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.37 no.4
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    • pp.625-639
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    • 2019
  • Microplastics are one of the substances threatening the marine ecosystem. Here, we summarize the status of research on the effect of microplastics on marine life and suggest future research directions. Microplastics are synthetic polymeric compounds smaller than 5 mm and these materials released into the environment are not only physically small but do not decompose over time. Thus, they accumulate extensively on land, from the coast to the sea, and from the surface to the deep sea. Microplastic can be ingested and accumulated in marine life. Furthermore, the elution of chemicals added to plastic represents another risk. Microplastics accumulated in the ocean affect the growth, development, behavior, reproduction, and death of marine life. However, the properties of microplastics vary widely in size, material, shape, and other aspects and toxicity tests conducted on several properties of microplastics cannot represent the hazards of all other microplastics. It is necessary to evaluate the risks according to the types of microplastic, but due to their variety and the lack of uniformity in research results, it is difficult to compare and analyze the results of previous studies. Therefore, it is necessary to derive a standard test method to estimate the biological risk from different types of microplastics. In addition, while most of the previous studies were conducted mostly on spheres for the convenience of the experiments, they do not properly reflect the reality that fibers and fragments are the main forms of microplastics in the marine environment and in fish and shellfish. Furthermore, studies have been conducted on additives and POPs (persistent organic pollutants) in plastics, but little is known about their toxic effects on the body. The effects of microplastics on the marine ecosystems and humans could be identified in more detail if standard testing methods are developed, microplastics in the form of fibers and fragments rather than spheres are tested, and additives and POPs are analyzed. These investigations will allow us to identify the impact of microplastics on marine ecosystems and humans in more detail.

A Study on Recent Research Trend in New Product Development Using Keyword Network Analysis (키워드 네트워크 분석을 이용한 NPD 연구의 진화 및 연구동향)

  • Pyun, JeBum;Jeong, EuiBeom
    • Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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    • v.23 no.5
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    • pp.119-134
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    • 2018
  • Today, many firms face the environment of high uncertainty and severe competition due to the rapid technology development and the diverse needs of customers. In the business environment, one of the most important ways to gain sustainable competitive advantage and future growth engine is related to NPD (New Product Development), which is a very important issue for practice and academia. Thus, this study intends to provide new values to practitioners and researchers related to NPD by analyzing current research trends and future trends in NPD field. For this, we bibliometrically analyzed keyword networks which consist of keywords that were already published in the eminent journals from Scopus database to generate insights that have not been captured in the previous reviews on the topic. As a result, we could understand the extant research streams in NPD field, and suggest the changes of specific research topics based on the connected relationships among keywords over the time. In addition, we also foresaw the general future research trends in NPD field based on the keywords according to preferential attachment processes. Through this study, it was confirmed that NPD keyword network is a small world network that follows the distribution of power law and the growth of network is formed by link formation by keyword preferential attachment. In addition, through component analysis and centrality analysis, keywords such as Innovation, New product innovation, Risk management, Concurrent engineering, Research and development, and Product life cycle management are highly centralized in NPD keyword network. On the other hand, as a result of examining the change of preferential attachment of keywords over the time, we suggested the required new research direction including i) NPD collaboration with suppliers, ii) NPD considering market uncertainty, iii) NPD considering convergence with the other academic areas like technology management and knowledge management, iv) NPD from SME(Small and medium enterprises) perspective. The results of this study can be used to determine the research trends of NPD and the new research themes for interdisciplinary studies with other disciplines.

Key Methodologies to Effective Site-specific Accessment in Contaminated Soils : A Review (오염토양의 효과적 현장조사에 대한 주요 방법론의 검토)

  • Chung, Doug-Young
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.383-397
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    • 1999
  • For sites to be investigated, the results of such an investigation can be used in determining foals for cleanup, quantifying risks, determining acceptable and unacceptable risk, and developing cleanup plans t hat do not cause unnecessary delays in the redevelopment and reuse of the property. To do this, it is essential that an appropriately detailed study of the site be performed to identify the cause, nature, and extent of contamination and the possible threats to the environment or to any people living or working nearby through the analysis of samples of soil and soil gas, groundwater, surface water, and sediment. The migration pathways of contaminants also are examined during this phase. Key aspects of cost-effective site assessment to help standardize and accelerate the evaluation of contaminated soils at sites are to provide a simple step-by-step methodology for environmental science/engineering professionals to calculate risk-based, site-specific soil levels for contaminants in soil. Its use may significantly reduce the time it takes to complete soil investigations and cleanup actions at some sites, as well as improve the consistency of these actions across the nation. To achieve the effective site assessment, it requires the criteria for choosing the type of standard and setting the magnitude of the standard come from different sources, depending on many factors including the nature of the contamination. A general scheme for site-specific assessment consists of sequential Phase I, II, and III, which is defined by workplan and soil screening levels. Phase I are conducted to identify and confirm a site's recognized environmental conditions resulting from past actions. If a Phase 1 identifies potential hazardous substances, a Phase II is usually conducted to confirm the absence, or presence and extent, of contamination. Phase II involve the collection and analysis of samples. And Phase III is to remediate the contaminated soils determined by Phase I and Phase II. However, important factors in determining whether a assessment standard is site-specific and suitable are (1) the spatial extent of the sampling and the size of the sample area; (2) the number of samples taken: (3) the strategy of taking samples: and (4) the way the data are analyzed. Although selected methods are recommended, application of quantitative methods is directed by users having prior training or experience for the dynamic site investigation process.

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Manganese and Iron Interaction: a Mechanism of Manganese-Induced Parkinsonism

  • Zheng, Wei
    • Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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    • 2003.10a
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    • pp.34-63
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    • 2003
  • Occupational and environmental exposure to manganese continue to represent a realistic public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Increased utility of MMT as a replacement for lead in gasoline creates a new source of environmental exposure to manganese. It is, therefore, imperative that further attention be directed at molecular neurotoxicology of manganese. A Need for a more complete understanding of manganese functions both in health and disease, and for a better defined role of manganese in iron metabolism is well substantiated. The in-depth studies in this area should provide novel information on the potential public health risk associated with manganese exposure. It will also explore novel mechanism(s) of manganese-induced neurotoxicity from the angle of Mn-Fe interaction at both systemic and cellular levels. More importantly, the result of these studies will offer clues to the etiology of IPD and its associated abnormal iron and energy metabolism. To achieve these goals, however, a number of outstanding questions remain to be resolved. First, one must understand what species of manganese in the biological matrices plays critical role in the induction of neurotoxicity, Mn(II) or Mn(III)? In our own studies with aconitase, Cpx-I, and Cpx-II, manganese was added to the buffers as the divalent salt, i.e., $MnCl_2$. While it is quite reasonable to suggest that the effect on aconitase and/or Cpx-I activites was associated with the divalent species of manganese, the experimental design does not preclude the possibility that a manganese species of higher oxidation state, such as Mn(III), is required for the induction of these effects. The ionic radius of Mn(III) is 65 ppm, which is similar to the ionic size to Fe(III) (65 ppm at the high spin state) in aconitase (Nieboer and Fletcher, 1996; Sneed et al., 1953). Thus it is plausible that the higher oxidation state of manganese optimally fits into the geometric space of aconitase, serving as the active species in this enzymatic reaction. In the current literature, most of the studies on manganese toxicity have used Mn(II) as $MnCl_2$ rather than Mn(III). The obvious advantage of Mn(II) is its good water solubility, which allows effortless preparation in either in vivo or in vitro investigation, whereas almost all of the Mn(III) salt products on the comparison between two valent manganese species nearly infeasible. Thus a more intimate collaboration with physiochemists to develop a better way to study Mn(III) species in biological matrices is pressingly needed. Second, In spite of the special affinity of manganese for mitochondria and its similar chemical properties to iron, there is a sound reason to postulate that manganese may act as an iron surrogate in certain iron-requiring enzymes. It is, therefore, imperative to design the physiochemical studies to determine whether manganese can indeed exchange with iron in proteins, and to understand how manganese interacts with tertiary structure of proteins. The studies on binding properties (such as affinity constant, dissociation parameter, etc.) of manganese and iron to key enzymes associated with iron and energy regulation would add additional information to our knowledge of Mn-Fe neurotoxicity. Third, manganese exposure, either in vivo or in vitro, promotes cellular overload of iron. It is still unclear, however, how exactly manganese interacts with cellular iron regulatory processes and what is the mechanism underlying this cellular iron overload. As discussed above, the binding of IRP-I to TfR mRNA leads to the expression of TfR, thereby increasing cellular iron uptake. The sequence encoding TfR mRNA, in particular IRE fragments, has been well-documented in literature. It is therefore possible to use molecular technique to elaborate whether manganese cytotoxicity influences the mRNA expression of iron regulatory proteins and how manganese exposure alters the binding activity of IPRs to TfR mRNA. Finally, the current manganese investigation has largely focused on the issues ranging from disposition/toxicity study to the characterization of clinical symptoms. Much less has been done regarding the risk assessment of environmenta/occupational exposure. One of the unsolved, pressing puzzles is the lack of reliable biomarker(s) for manganese-induced neurologic lesions in long-term, low-level exposure situation. Lack of such a diagnostic means renders it impossible to assess the human health risk and long-term social impact associated with potentially elevated manganese in environment. The biochemical interaction between manganese and iron, particularly the ensuing subtle changes of certain relevant proteins, provides the opportunity to identify and develop such a specific biomarker for manganese-induced neuronal damage. By learning the molecular mechanism of cytotoxicity, one will be able to find a better way for prediction and treatment of manganese-initiated neurodegenerative diseases.

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Design of Comprehensive Security Vulnerability Analysis System through Efficient Inspection Method according to Necessity of Upgrading System Vulnerability (시스템 취약점 개선의 필요성에 따른 효율적인 점검 방법을 통한 종합 보안 취약성 분석 시스템 설계)

  • Min, So-Yeon;Jung, Chan-Suk;Lee, Kwang-Hyong;Cho, Eun-Sook;Yoon, Tae-Bok;You, Seung-Ho
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.18 no.7
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2017
  • As the IT environment becomes more sophisticated, various threats and their associated serious risks are increasing. Threats such as DDoS attacks, malware, worms, and APT attacks can be a very serious risk to enterprises and must be efficiently managed in a timely manner. Therefore, the government has designated the important system as the main information communication infrastructure in consideration of the impact on the national security and the economic society according to the 'Information and Communication Infrastructure Protection Act', which, in particular, protects the main information communication infrastructure from cyber infringement. In addition, it conducts management supervision such as analysis and evaluation of vulnerability, establishment of protection measures, implementation of protection measures, and distribution of technology guides. Even now, security consulting is proceeding on the basis of 'Guidance for Evaluation of Technical Vulnerability Analysis of Major IT Infrastructure Facilities'. There are neglected inspection items in the applied items, and the vulnerability of APT attack, malicious code, and risk are present issues that are neglected. In order to eliminate the actual security risk, the security manager has arranged the inspection and ordered the special company. In other words, it is difficult to check against current hacking or vulnerability through current system vulnerability checking method. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for extracting diagnostic data regarding the necessity of upgrading system vulnerability check, a check item that does not reflect recent trends, a technical check case for latest intrusion technique, a related study on security threats and requirements. Based on this, we investigate the security vulnerability management system and vulnerability list of domestic and foreign countries, propose effective security vulnerability management system, and propose further study to improve overseas vulnerability diagnosis items so that they can be related to domestic vulnerability items.

Environmental Health Surveillance of Low Birth Weight in Seoul using Air Monitoring and Birth Data (2002년 서울시 대기오염과 출생 자료를 이용한 저체중아 환경보건감시체계 연구)

  • Seo, Ju-Hee;Kim, Ok-Jin;Kim, Byung-Mi;Park, Hye-Sook;Leem, Jong-Han;Hong, Yun-Chul;Kim, Young-Ju;Ha, Eun-Hee
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.40 no.5
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    • pp.363-370
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    • 2007
  • Objectives: The principal objective of this study was to determine the relationship between maternal exposure to air pollution and low birth weight and to propose a possible environmental health surveillance system for low birth weight. Methods: We acquired air monitoring data for Seoul from the Ministry of Environment, the meteorological data from the Korean Meteorological Administration, the exposure assessments from the National Institute of Environmental Research, and the birth data from the Korean National Statistical Office between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003. The final birth data were limited to singletons within $37{\sim}44$ weeks of gestational age. We defined the Low Birth Weight (LBW) group as infants with birth weights of less than 2500g and calculated the annual LBW rate by district. The air monitoring data were measured for $CO,\;SO_2,\;NO_2,\;and\;PM_{10}$ concentrations at 27 monitoring stations in Seoul. We utilized two models to evaluate the effects of air pollution on low birth weight: the first was the relationship between the annual concentration of air pollution and low birth weight (LBW) by individual and district, and the second involved a GIS exposure model constructed by Arc View 3.1. Results: LBW risk (by Gu, or district) was significantly increased to $1.113(95%\;CI=1.111{\sim}1.116)\;for\;CO,\;1.004(95%\;CI=1.003{\sim}1.005)\;for\;NO_2,\;1.202(95%\;CI=1.199{\sim}1.206\;for\;SO_2,\;and\;1.077(95%\;CI=1.075{\sim}1.078)\;\;for\;PM_{10}$ with each interquartile range change. Personal LBW risk was significantly increased to $1.081(95%\;CI=1.002{\sim}1.166)\;for\;CO,\;1.145(95%\;CI=1.036{\sim}1.267)\;for\;SO_2,\;and\;1.053(95%\;CI=1.002{\sim}1.108)\;for\;PM_{10}$ with each interquartile range change. Personal LBW risk was increased to $1.003(95%\;CI=0.954{\sim}1.055)\;for\;NO_2$, but this was not statistically significant. The air pollution concentrations predicted by GIS positively correlated with the numbers of low birth weights, particularly in highly polluted regions. Conclusions: Environmental health surveillance is a systemic, ongoing collection effort including the analysis of data correlated with environmentally-associated diseases and exposures. In addition. environmental health surveillance allows for a timely dissemination of information to those who require that information in order to take effective action. GIS modeling is crucially important for this purpose, and thus we attempted to develop a GIS-based environmental surveillance system for low birth weight.

Meditating effect of Planned Happenstance Skills between the Belief in Good luck and Entrepreneurial Opportunity (행운에 대한 신념과 창업 기회 역량과의 관계에서 우연기술의 매개효과에 관한 연구)

  • Hwangbo, Yun;Kim, YoungJun;Kim, Hong-Tae
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.14 no.5
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    • pp.79-92
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    • 2019
  • When asked about the success factors of successful entrepreneurs and celebrities, he says he was lucky. The remarkable fact is that the attitude about luck is different. However, despite the fact that the belief that we believe is lucky is actually a dominant concept, there has not been much scientific verification of luck. In this study, we saw good luck not being determined randomly by the external environment, but by being able to control luck through the internal attributes of individuals. This study is significant that we have empirically elucidated what kind of efforts have gained good luck, whereas previous research has largely ended in vague logic where luck ends up with an internal locus of control among internal entrepreneurial qualities and efforts can make a successful entrepreneur. We introduced the concept of good luck belief to avoid confirmation bias, which is, to interpret my experience in a direction that matches what I want to believe, and used a good luck belief questionnaire in previous studies and tried to verify that those who have a good belief can increase entrepreneurial opportunity capability through planned happenstance skills. The reason for choosing the entrepreneurial opportunity capacity as a dependent variable was based on the conventional research, that is, the process of recognizing and exploiting the entrepreneurial opportunity is an important part of the entrepreneurship research For empirical research, we conducted a questionnaire survey of a total of 332 people, and the results of the analysis turned out that the belief of good luck has all the positive impacts of planned happenstance skills' sub-factors: curiosity, patience, flexibility, optimism and risk tolerance. Second, we have shown that only the perseverance, optimism, and risk tolerance of planned happenstance skills' sub-factors have a positive impact on this opportunity capability. Thirdly, it was possible to judge that the sub-factors of planned happenstance skills, patience, optimism, and risk tolerance, had a meditating effect between belief in luck and entrepreneurial opportunity capability. This study is highly significant in logically elucidating that people in charge of business incubation and education can get the specific direction when planning a training program for successful entrepreneur to further enhance the entrepreneurial opportunity ability, which is an important ability for the entrepreneur's success.

Seasonal phytoplankton dynamics in oligotriphic offshore water of Dokdo, 2018 (2018년 독도 주변 빈영양 수괴에서 계절별 식물플랑크톤 동태)

  • Lee, Minji;Kim, Yun-Bae;Kang, Jung Hoon;Park, Chan Hong;Baek, Seung Ho
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.19-30
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    • 2019
  • To investigate the characteristics of seasonal environment and phytoplankton community structure in the coastal area of Dokdo, a survey of Dokdo around waters was conducted during the four seasons. Phytoplankton of 4 phylum 72 species in four seasons were collected in Dokdo around water. The seasonal mean abundance of phytoplankton were $3.32{\times}10^4cells\;L^{-1}$ in winter, $1.04{\times}10^4cells\;L^{-1}$ in spring, $0.28{\times}10^4cells\;L^{-1}$ in summer, and $4.86{\times}10^4cells\;L^{-1}$ in autumn in Dokdo around water. During winter, the diatoms Chaetoceros spp. had dominated. During spring, when the nutrients in the euphotic layer were depleted, the nano-flagellates and Cryptomonas appeared at surface layer. In summer, the abundance of phytoplankton was relatively low, which lead to occurrence of diatoms such as genus of Chaetoceros, Rhizosolenia, and Skeletonema. In autumn, Pseudo-nitzschia spp. was the most dominant species and tropical species such as Amphisolenia sp. and Ornithocercus magnificus were observed, implying that they may have introduced within warm water current such as Kurosiwo Current. Therefore, although natural phytoplankton communities in the vicinity water of Dokdo are mainly influenced by Tsushima Warm Current branched Kurosiwo Current, their population dynamics was affected on the spatio-temporal change of physicochemical factors by short-term wind events, namely "island effect". Long-term survey research is needed to facilitate food-web response in marine ecosystem associated with phytoplankton biomass and physicochemical factors including the warm water current in oligotrophic offshore water of Dokdo, which may have significant role for sustainable use of Dokdo.

A Study of Life Safety Index Model based on AHP and Utilization of Service (AHP 기반의 생활안전지수 모델 및 서비스 활용방안 연구)

  • Oh, Hye-Su;Lee, Dong-Hoon;Jeong, Jong-Woon;Jang, Jae-Min;Yang, Sang-Woon
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.864-881
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: This study aims is to provide a total care solution preventing disaster based on Big Data and AI technology and to service safety considered by individual situations and various risk characteristics. The purpose is to suggest a method that customized comprehensive index services to prevent and respond to safety accidents for calculating the living safety index that quantitatively represent individual safety levels in relation to daily life safety. Method: In this study, we use method of mixing AHP(Analysis Hierarchy Process) and Likert Scale that extracted from consensus formation model of the expert group. We organize evaluation items that can evaluate life safety prevention services into risk indicators, vulnerability indicators, and prevention indicators. And We made up AHP hierarchical structure according to the AHP decision methodology and proposed a method to calculate relative weights between evaluation criteria through pairwise comparison of each level item. In addition, in consideration of the expansion of life safety prevention services in the future, the Likert scale is used instead of the AHP pair comparison and the weights between individual services are calculated. Result: We obtain result that is weights for life safety prevention services and reflected them in the individual risk index calculated through the artificial intelligence prediction model of life safety prevention services, so the comprehensive index was calculated. Conclusion: In order to apply the implemented model, a test environment consisting of a life safety prevention service app and platform was built, and the efficacy of the function was evaluated based on the user scenario. Through this, the life safety index presented in this study was confirmed to support the golden time for diagnosis, response and prevention of safety risks by comprehensively indication the user's current safety level.