• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2003

The emergency response modeling system CARIS has been developed at CCSM (Center for Chemical Safety Management), NIER (National Institute of Environmental Research) to track and predict dispersion of hazardous chemicals for the environmental decision support in case of accidents at chemical or petroleum companies in Korea. The main objective of CARIS is to support making decision by rapidly providing the key information on the efficient emergency response of hazardous chemical accidents for effective approaches to risk management. In particular, the integrated modeling system in CARIS consisting of a real-time numerical weather forecasting model and air pollution dispersion model is supplemented for the diffusion forecasts of hazardous chemicals, covering a wide range of scales and applications for atmospheric information. In this paper, we introduced the overview of components of CARIS and described the operational modeling system and its configurations of coupling/integration in CARIS. Some examples of the operational modeling system is presented and discussed for the real-time risk assessments of hazardous chemicals.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.205-220
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• 2022

This study aimed to describe the prevalence of comorbidities associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their relation with relevant outcomes. A systematic review based on the PRISMA methodology was performed from January 2020 until July 2021. The MEDLINE, Lilacs, and Scielo databases were searched to identify studies related to COPD and its comorbidities. Observational studies on the prevalence of comorbidities in COPD patients and costs with health estimates, reduced quality of life, and mortality were included. Studies that were restricted to one or more COPD pain assessments and only specific comorbidities such as osteoporosis, bronchitis, and asthma were excluded. The initial search identified 1,409 studies and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 studies were finally selected for analysis (comprising data from 447,459 COPD subjects). The most frequent COPD comorbidities were: hypertension (range, 17%-64.7%), coronary artery disease (19.9%-47.8%), diabetes (10.2%-45%), osteoarthritis (18%-43.8%), psychiatric conditions (12.1%-33%), and asthma (14.7%-32.5%). Several comorbidities had an impact on the frequency and severity of COPD exacerbations, quality of life, and mortality risk, in particular malignancies, coronary artery disease, chronic heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmias. Comorbidities, especially cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, are frequent in COPD patients, and some of them are associated with higher mortality.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.543-549
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• 2020

Background: The working conditions of bus drivers are difficult; they lead to occupational diseases and require careful study, particularly in Ukraine. The objective of the article is the description of occupational health risks of passenger bus drivers that lead to deteriorating health. Methods: The risk assessment was performed using a modified Risk Score method, which allowed determining the generalized level of danger to the driver's health. The hygienic hazards level was assessed as based on Stevenson's law, which was generalized later. Results: Based on the modification of the Risk Score method, it was possible to depart from expert assessments method of the risk level and calculate the general indicator based on the degree of dependence of the impact on the human body on its intensity, proposed by V. Minko. This allows objective determining of the impact of hygiene hazards on the health of the driver and to predict the occurrence of occupational diseases associated with the cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal system, and partial or complete disability due to the accumulation of emotional fatigue. The hazard assessment was carried out for three brands of passenger buses common in Ukraine, in which the driver is exposed to the dangers of fever, vibration, noise, harmful impurities in the bus cabin, and emotional load. Conclusion: The health of drivers in the cabins of passenger buses is most affected by hygiene hazards: fever, vibration, and emotional stress. The generalized level of risk is calculated by the modified method of Risk Score is 0.83; -0.99, -0.92 respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2021.06a
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• pp.455-455
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• 2021

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as an environmental impact assessment tool has received increasing attention over the years. Unlike the water footprint (WF) and carbon footprint (CF) assessments whose focus is only on a single environmental aspect, the LCA systematically analyzes the different impacts along the entire life cycle, making possible the identification of potential environmental tradeoffs. In Korea, LCA has drawn much attention from both industry and academia since the mid-90s. However, the level of Korea-related LCA studies with respect to different sectors in the past 20 years has not been analyzed. This study, therefore, sought to assess the status of environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies in Korea, with a view to understanding the current level of sustainability reporting and identify potential research gaps. Online searches of English written articles published between 2000 and 2019 were conducted on Google, Google scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using the Keywords "life cycle assessment", "lca", and "Korea." At the end of the search, about 88 LCA related studies were identified for Korea within the study period. Majority of these studies focused on the construction (49%) and energy (31%) sectors with fewer environmental studies on the transportation (9%), manufacturing (8%), agriculture (2%), and information and communication (1%) industries. Based on publication trend, results show that LCA studies in Korea have been on the rise in the past 20 years, even though the number of publications has not followed a constant pace. In comparison with the economic sectors of the country, reports show an inadequacy in the coverage of major industries of growing economic relevance like the tourism, health, and agriculture, suggesting a need to further increase and improve LCA related studies in these sectors.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.18-31
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the impact of anthropometric indices of obesity (body mass index [BMI], waist circumference, waist hip ratio, and body fat percentage) on the incidence of hypertension in adults with prehypertension. Methods: A longitudinal study design using secondary data form the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study was employed. The study included 1,838 adults with prehypertension tracked every two years from 2001 to 2018. Statistical analyses, including frequency assessments, number of cases per 1,000 person-years, log-rank tests, Kaplan-Meier curves, and Cox's proportional hazards regression, were conducted using SPSS version 25. Results: Over the observation period (15,783.6 person-years), 1,136 individuals developed hypertension. The incidence of hypertension was significantly higher in the obesity groups defined by BMI (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.33), waist circumference (HR = 1.34), waist hip ratio (HR = 1.29), and body fat percentage (HR = 1.31) compared to the non-obese group. These findings indicate an increased risk of hypertension associated with obesity as measured by these indices. Conclusion: The study underscores the importance of avoiding obesity to prevent hypertension in individuals with prehypertension. Specifically, BMI, waist circumference, waist hip circumference, and body fat percentage were identified as significant risk factors for hypertension. The results suggest the need for individualized weight control interventions, emphasizing the role of health professionals in addressing the heightened hypertension risk in this population.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.29-43
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• 2024

Legally protected species are one of the crucial considerations in the field of natural ecology when conducting environmental impact assessments (EIAs). The occurrence of legally protected species, especially 'Endangered Wildlife' designated by Ministry of Environment, significantly influences the progression of projects subject to EIA, necessitating clear investigations and presentations of their habitats. In perspective of statistics, a minimum of 30 occurrence coordinates is required for population prediction, but most of endangered wildlife has insufficient coordinates and it posing challenges for distribution prediction through modeling. Consequently, this study aims to propose modeling methodologies applicable when coordinate data are limited, focusing on Rodgersia podophylla, representing characteristics of endangered wildlife and northern plant species. For this methodology, 30 random sampling coordinates were used as input data, assuming little survey data, and modeling was performed using individual models included in BIOMOD2. After that, the modeling results were evaluated by using discrimination capacity and the reality reflection ability. An optimal modeling technique was proposed by ensemble the remaining models except for the MaxEnt model, which was found to be less reliable in the modeling results. Alongside discussions on discrimination capacity metrics(e.g. TSS and AUC) presented in modeling results, this study provides insights and suggestions for improvement, but it has limitations that it is difficult to use universally because it is not a study conducted on various species. By supporting survey site selection in EIA processes, this research is anticipated to contribute to minimizing situations where protected species are overlooked in survey results.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.843-853
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• 2010

A successful deployment of multimedia applications over wireless environments entails improving the quality of service (QoS), not only from a technical point of view, but also considering the quality of experience (QoE) from the final user's perception. Although objective QoE measure models avoid the difficulties of subjective surveys, subjective QoE assessments are essential to understand the way users evaluate the QoS. In this work, we study the effect of a wide range of parameters on the QoE of VVoIP applications in a real wireless scenario. Through a complete statistical analysis of users' ratings, we identify the following facts. Although the use of VVoIP in wireless networks does not yet represent an advantage for users, there are great expectations for all applications under study, and with greater popularity comes higher expectations. It is easier for respondents to identify good behavior than poor behavior. Whereas the respondents' frequency of Internet use does not impact on the scores, respondents' gender does. Finally, the most determining parameters of quality from a user's perspective were instability, video quality, voice distortion, usefulness, and graphical interface.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.431-438
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• 2011

To ensure that equipment outages do not directly impact the reliability of the ISO-controlled grid, market participants request permission and receive approval for planned outages from the independent system operator (ISO) in competitive electricity markets. In the face of major generation outages, the ISO will make a critical decision as regards the scheduling of the essential maintenance for myriads of generating units over a fixed planning horizon in accordance with security and adequacy assessments. Mainly, we are concerned with a fundamental framework for ISO's maintenance coordination in order to determine precedence of conflicting outages. Simulated annealing, a powerful, general-purpose optimization methodology suitable for real combinatorial search problems, is used. Generally, the ISO will put forward its best effort to adjust individual generator maintenance schedules according to the time preferences of each power generator (GENCO) by taking advantage of several factors such as installed capacity and relative weightings assigned to the GENCOs. Thus, computer testing on a four-GENCO model is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and the applicability of the solution scheme to large-scale maintenance scheduling coordination problems.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.503-522
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of peer-to-peer relay feedback strategy on achievement in mathematical problem solving and mathematical communication ability. The experimental instruction was given to 99 students. They were divided into two groups. In this research a strategy of peer-to-peer relay feedback is developed. To enhance lateral communication, students were instructed according to the strategy to read open-type problems, to write mathematical ideas individually and to share their ideas and get feedback in relay method with peers within a small subgroup. The results are as follows. 1) Mathematics achievement assessments were carried six times in the cleanup phases of the class. There was no difference at the 1st test. 2) The second t-test of mathematical communication abilities showed that there was meaningful difference and that peer-to-peer relay feedback was effective. But there was no difference on reading. 3) Peer-to-peer relay feedback strategy has a positive impact.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.148-155
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• 2012

Since the reformation of the National Health Insurance Act in 2000, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) in the Republic of Korea has performed quality assessments for healthcare providers. The HIRA Value Incentive Program (VIP), established in July 2007, provides incentives for excellent-quality institutions and disincentives for poorquality ones. The program is implemented based on data collected between July 2007 and December 2009. The goal of the VIP is to improve the overall quality of care and decrease the quality gaps among healthcare institutions. Thus far, the VIP has targeted acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and Caesarian section (C-section) care. The incentives and disincentives awarded to the hospitals by their composite quality scores of the AMI and C-section scores. The results of the VIP showed continuous and marked improvement in the composite quality scores of the AMI and C-section measures between 2007 and 2010. With the demonstrated success of the VIP project, the Ministry of Health and Welfare expanded the program in 2011 to include general hospitals. The HIRA VIP was deemed applicable to the Korean healthcare system, but before it can be expanded further, the program must overcome several major concerns, as follows: inclusion of resource use measures, rigorous evaluation of impact, application of the VIP to the changing payment system, and expansion of the VIP to primary care clinics.