• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.225-239
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• 2010

A high prevalence of farmer's work-related musculo-skeletal disorders (MSDs) have been reported in precedent studies. Risk factors - physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic risk factor etc. - in farm-work were identified by previous studies. To prevent farmers from exposing to them and reduce, Agricultural Safety Technology were introduced and used on farm. The purpose of this study is to review and summarize the agricultural safety technology on farm in Korea. According to strategy principles, this technology is classified as four criteria - workload reduction by reducing awkward posture, workload reduction by using manual material handling aids, Comfort improvement by protecting worker from hot, cold environment and work efficiency improvement by workplace redesign and cultivation modification. This technology includes transporting tools, working cloth, personal protective equipment, and pesticide-proof Clothing. Anthropometric study of Korean farmers was also carried out to support the development of equipment and clothes. In long terms, it needs to precaution activity from risk factors by using cultivation modification and working improvement. Although working condition gets better and workload reduce by this technology, it required customized safety technology in each crops - rice cultivation, horticulture and livestock farming. And farmers should use the assistive technology and participate voluntarily in ergonomic intervention program.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2005

This study was conducted to measure the exposure levels to noise for the middle and the high school students who worn headsets in the PC rooms. The noise levels from the headsets were measured with noise dosimeters, and the statistical relationships between the utilization pattern, user's views on the PC rooms and it's environment were analyzed for the selected PC rooms in the Ahnshan area. The results were as follows; 1. No significant difference was found in the number of uses and average time spent per day by education level and by sex of the users(p>0.05). 2. No statistical significant difference was found between the contents selected by education level of the users (p>0.05). The male participants overwhelmingly enjoyed the PC games (98.3 %) while females selected for listening music (75.0 %) with significant difference(P<0.05), followed by browsing internet and PC communications (70.0 %), PC game (66.7 %) and chatting (33.3 %). 3. The actual noise measurements of the headsets worn by the users of different sexes and educational backgrounds produced no differences(p>0.05), while a significant difference was found between genders (p<0.05). 4. For sound pressure level measurements, the weighted average(Lavg) of 84.5 dB(A) on the left headsets exceeded that of 79.8 dB(A) on the right headsets significantly(p<0.01) and the maximum value of 96.9 dB(A) on the left headsets exceeded the maximum value of 93.5 dB(A) on the right headsets(p<0.01). 5. The actual noise measurements of the headsets worn by the users of different sexes and educational backgrounds produced no differences(p>0.05), however, the contents selected by the users with different educational backgrounds were noted with significant difference(p<0.05) while no difference was found by gender(p>0.05).

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.198-207
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• 1994

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental intervention of work place, metal mercury concentration in air and in urine of the total 43 workers for 3years from December 1991 to October 1993 in a fluorescent lamp manufacturing industry exposed to mercury, was measured before and after implementation of controls such as establishing exhaust ventilation at the department of exhaustion, coating the floor of work place with epostane, cleaning of the floor, improved housekeeping, and etc. The results were as follows. 1. Before the intervention(December 1991) 39.0% exceeded metal mercury Threshold Limit Value(TLV, $0.05mg/m^3$). After the intervention(October 1993) 10.0% exceeded TLV and geometric mean of mercury in air was $0.1mg/m^3$, and showed effectiveness rate of intervention to be 74.4% 2. After the intervention, geometric means of mercury concentrations in air were 0.013, $0.019mg/m^3$ and showed effectiveness rate of intervention to be 76.6%, 65.5% in A factory(right tube lamp)and at exhaustion department, respectively, A follow up survey fround statistically significant reductions in mercury concetration in air three years later. 3. Mercury concentration in urine of 11 workers(29.7%) exceeded warning level of $100{\mu}l/l$ before the intervention. After the intervention, of 3workers(8.8%) exceeded warning level and geometric mean of mercury concentration($26.5{\mu}l/l$) in urine was 2.4 times than that of before the intervention. Geometric means of mercury concentrations in urine of workers at exhaustion department, at sealing and aging department were 44.0, $77.7{\mu}l/l$, respectively and they decreased 2.3, 3.2 times than that of before the intervention.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.227-239
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• 1993

The author selected 77 dust emissing processes from 71 types of industries which placed in Sasang Industrial Complex in Pusan. The level of total dust was measured as areal concentration and personal exposure concentration by low volume air sampler and personal air sampler, respectively. Collected samples were classified into 5 groups (chemicals and rubber product, metal product, sawmills and wood, foundries and others). Respirable particulate and total dust of areal and personal exposure were analyzed. The results were as follows; 1. All of the respirable dust concentration and total dust of areal and personal concentration were log-normally distributed. 2. Geometric mean of respirable particulate of personal exposure concentration measured $0.55mg/m^3$ in the first group, $0.86mg/m^3$ in the second group, $0.39mg/m^3$ in the third group, $0.81mg/m^3$ in the forth group and $0.52mg/m^3$ in the fifith group. The exceed rates over TLV (thehold limit values) of total dust were 31.3% in the first group, 31.3% in the second group, 70% in the third group, 80% in the forth group and 13.3% in the fifth group. 3. There were singnificant difference between areal and personal exposure concentration and personal exposure concentration was higher than that of area. 4. In the case of high ratio of respirable particulate to total dust, pneumoconiosis incidence was high even though the workshop was opened and emissing dust concentration was low. These findings suggest that it is desirable to measure respirable particulate in environmental assessment of dust emissing workshops.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.2 s.89
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• pp.140-148
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• 2006

Recently, indoor air quality (IAQ) in workplace, residential environments and schools has been concerned of people, scientists and related the public, and has recognized the health effects related to indoor air pollution. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate the characteristics of IAQ in 55 kindergartens, elementary school, middle schools, and high schools from June, 2004 to May, 2005 in Korea. We measured indoor air pollutants($PM_{10},\;CO_2$, HCHO, total bacteria colony(TBC), CO, radon, TVOCs, asbestos, and $O_3$), and physical factors(noise, temperature, relative humidity, and illumination) with necessary of management for IAQ in school. We classified into 5 kinds of the school by period since building completion, <1 year, 1-3 years, 3-5 years, and 5-10 years. The concentration of pollutants and the level of physical factors compared with standards and guidelines of IAQ on the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. The major results obtained from this study were as follows. Temperature, relative humidity and illumination among the physical factors did not exceed the standards, but noise exceeded it. Asbestos and $O_3$ did not detect in surveyed classrooms. CO, TBC, TVOCs, and HCHO in kindergartens, TBC in elementary schools, TBC, TVOCs dnd HCHO in middle schools, and HCHO in high schools detected the standards. This study is conducted as a part of efforts to provide a foundational data for further relative researches on management of IAQ of school. Therefore, we suggest that country plan for management of IAQ in school should be established through long-term and continuous investigation for assessment on IAQ in school and health risk assessment for students.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.5 s.92
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• pp.485-491
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• 2006

It is widely known that Environmental Tobacco Smoke(ETS) is not good for health. ETS is composed of a lot of chemicals. So indicators are needed to evaluate the risk of ETS in air. One of the indicators is Nicotine. Active sampler has been used to measure nicotine concentration in air. The experiments were conducted to compare the active sampler method with diffusive sampler in exposure chamber and smoking areas, respectively. Sampling rate was 40.5 ml/min in exposure chamber. Experimental sampling rate (40.5 ml/min) was more than theoretical sampling rate (33.52 ml/min). And the higher was the concentration in air, the higher was experimental sampling rate. The average desorption, rate was 113.6%. The overall precision was 7.31 %. The overall accuracy was 18.96%, which were under NIOSH criteria. The average(GM) concentrations of nicotine by two sampling methods were $8.29{\mu}g/m^{3}$ (active sampler), $7.54{\mu}/m^{3}$ (diffusive sampler) in smoking area and smoking room. There was no regression between active sampler and diffusive sampler ($R^{2}=0.2397$). But slope, coefficient of determination was 1.017, 0.9292, respectively after removing outliers. And the slope (1.017) was close to the theoretical slope (1). In conclusion, this study indicated that diffusive sampler can be used to evaluate concentration of nicotine in air instead of active sampler.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.27-33
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• 2017

This study is intended to identify issues on the basis of investigating the actual state of laboratory environment and outlet circuit, and derive end states by expressing sequences from the initiating event of disaster to accident in leakage current, poor contact and overload through ETA(event tree analysis). To this end, this study investigated the actual state of electric equipment of laboratory at universities in all parts of country. And it is shown that most of them are failure in electric work and user negligence in the investigation of actual state. It is found that there is earth fault and defect in wire diameter in the failure of electric work and the problem of partial disconnection due to wire bundling and poor contact in user negligence. Outlet-related component, failure rate and initiating events are composed of a total of 41 initiating events, i.e., 30 internal initiating events and 11 external initiating events. And end states are composed of a total of 15 parts, i.e., 3 electric power parts and 12 safety parts. Earthing class 3 is the most important safety device against leakage current (initiating event). And in case of poor contact, it is necessary for manager to check thoroughly because there is no safety device. In case of overload/overcurrent, when high-capacity equipment is connected, a molded case circuit breaker, safety device, worked. However, in most cases, it is verified that this doesn't work. This study can be utilized as electric equipment safety guide for laboratory safety manager and managers.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.573-581
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• 2013

This study examined the relationship among supervision behaviors, self-efficacy, and job stress of childcare teachers for infants. This study also investigated whether the childcare teachers' supervision behaviors affected self-efficacy and job stress and whether their self-efficacy acted as a mediating effects on job stress and supervisory behaviors. The participants were 292 childcare teachers for infants in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The instruments utilized were the parent supervision attributes scale, Korean occupational stress scale, and teacher self-efficacy scale. The data analyzed by means of Pearson's correlation coefficients and hierarchical regression analysis. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis, Which Baron & Kenny first proposed, was conducted. The significance of the mediation effect was verified by the Sobel test. The results were as follows: First, the childcare teachers' supervision behaviors had a positive correlation with the teachers' self-efficacy, while the teachers' supervision behaviors and self-efficacy had a negative correlation with job stress. Second, job stress appeared to have a negative on supervision behaviors. Self-efficacy appeared to have a positive effect on supervision behaviors. Third, the mediating effect of self-efficacy was verified in the relationship between supervision behaviors and job stress. The more self-efficacy the childcare teachers had, the more supervision behaviors they performed. The greater their self-efficacy, the more the childcare teachers were able to control job stress. Therefore, by enhancing the self-efficacy of childcare teachers, their level of supervision behaviors should increase and their level of job stress should decrease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5573-5578
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• 2015

Background: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to compare the post-recurrence survival with hepatic re-resection versus transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after initial resection. Materials and Methods: All relevant papers were searched via PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled using a random-effects model. Subgroup analysis was performed according to country. Sensitivity analysis was performed in studies which clearly reported the recurrent regions, in moderate/high-quality studies, in studies published in full-text form, and in studies published after 2005. Results: In total, twelve papers were included in our study. Five and seven of them were of moderate- and poor-quality, respectively. The overall meta-analysis demonstrated a statistically significantly higher post-recurrence survival in the hepatic re-resection group than in those undergoing TACE (HR=0.64, 95%CI=0.52-0.79, P<0.0001). Heterogeneity was statistically significant and statistical significance remained in the subgroup analysis. Sensitivity analyses were also consistent with the overall analysis. Conclusions: Hepatic re-resection might provide a better post-recurrence survival than TACE for recurrent HCC after initial resection. However, considering the low quality of published studies and the potential bias of treatment selection, further randomized trials should be warranted to confirm these findings.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.20 no.3 s.50
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• pp.215-221
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• 2005

Environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbones (PAHs), which are formed during incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, are widely distributed in our environment. Human exposure to PAHs may occur through smoking, polluted air, food consumption and occupational contact. Urinary naphthols, 1-and 2-naphthol, have been suggested as route -specific biomarkers for exposure to airborne PAHs. Cytochrome p450 2E1 (CYP2E1) is known to be a great importance for the metabolism of organic solvents, which is a precacinogens with small molecular weight. This study describes the metabolic differences between PstI and RsaI polymorphisms (c1 allele: PstI-. RsaI+ ; c2 allele: PstI+, RsaI-) of CYP2E1 5-flanking region by genetically modified HepG2 cells, which overexpress the polymorphic regions. The results of CAT assay and western blot in the c2 allele overexpressed cells have higher activities than the cl allele over-expressing cells. However, the metabolism of naphthalene to 2-naphthol has no difference due to the two genotypes. In this study, we established the CYP2E1 polymorphic allele transduced HepG2 cells to screen susceptibility -differences in PAH exposure. In conclusion, the CYP2E1 polymorphism may hardly induce susceptibility differences in PAH exposure monitoring with urinary naphthols.