• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3341-3355
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• 2016

Background: A recent WHO data report on mortality attributable to tobacco use including cigarette smoking indicated a very high burden of deaths in Asia and that people often initiate smoking as early as young adolescents. The objectives of this study were to systematically review peer-reviewed articles on cigarette smoking initiation among Asian adolescents and to develop a conceptual model of factors influencing smoking initiation by integrating all relevant factors based on existing data. Materials and Methods: Following a PRISMA guideline, a systematic review of articles published between 2005 and June 2015 was conducted using 5 databases on cigarette smoking initiation among adolescents (aged 10-19 years) living in Asia. We summarized the main findings of each study according to our research questions and data that emerged during the data extraction process. Analysis and categorization were based on the TTI and TPB models and classification of factors extracted from the study, were as follows: personal factors, social factors, broader environmental factors, mediators, and intention to initiate smoking and smoking behavior. Results: Of 1,227 identified studies, only 20 were included in this review. Our findings found that the mean age of cigarette smoking initiation ranged from 10 to 14 years and those who are more likely to initiate smoking are male, older adolescents, adolescents with low parental SES, individuals with low parental monitoring, low parental education level and having no discussion on smoking at home, those living in public housing and those exhibiting health-risk behavior. Our study also revealed that the risk of smoking initiation increased when they are exposed to smokers, influenced by peers, exposed to tobacco advertisements, receive pocket money, have lack of knowledge about smoking, have poor school performance, have a family conflict and have psychological problems. The conceptual model developed demonstrated complex networks of factors influencing initiation. Conclusions: This systematic review presents various factors influencing smoking initiation of the Asian adolescents and provides a conceptual framework to further analyze factors. Future studies should have a standard measure of smoking initiation, should analyze interactions and the intensity of relationships between different factors or variables in the conceptual model. This will in turn consolidate the understanding of the different factors affecting smoking initiation and will help to improve interventions in this area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Organic Agriculture Conference
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• 2009.12a
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• pp.281-281
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• 2009

Although national and regional environmentally friend agriculture (EFA) and food development programmes such as the Life-Food Development Plan (LFDP) have been established in Korea, some policy measures in these programmes seem to be unsuitable for Korean organic farming development. Policy measures tend to support external input purchases of organic fertilizers rather than market development actions such as providing consumer information, research, education, training and statistical data collection. The development of an organic action plan (OAP) for Korea is therefore considered essential for the sustainable future of organic farming in Korea. The purposes of OAP are 1) to define and set the clear goals/targets for the organic sector development, 2) to integrate various organic stakeholders and public institutions in partnership, 3)to focus on specific issues with tailored measures and 4) to integrate and develop different policy measures (Stolze, 2005). Most EU member state countries have developed their own OAPs and each reflects its own priorities with regard to organic sector development. This study compares and contrasts the Welsh, England and EU OAP with the Korean Jeonnam Life-Food Development Plan (LFDP) in order to facilitate the development of the organic food and farming sector in Korea. Early action plan, for example, the first Welsh OAP(1999) focused support on developing the supply of organic products whereas later action plans (e.g. England OAPs in 2002 and 2004 and the second Welsh OAP in 2005) focussed more on developing consumer demands for organic products. The EU OAP (2004) also aims at market support related to consumer demand and then organic farming production for its environmental and other social benefits. OAPs not only provide specific issue-solving tools but also perform a role as providing a focus for organic sector development as a whole. The Korean LFDP provides issue-solving tools but plays no regulatory role such as policy development, harmonizing various policy measures and conflicting factors and providing evaluation tools for further development. A national-level OAP could also facilitate international trade of organic products. To achieve better harmonized and sustainable approaches for the Korean organic industry, National- as well as regional- regulatory policy systems are urgently required in the form of an Organic Action Plan.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.85-93
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• 2013

Modern fire fighting jobs have been expanded to include areas of rescue, emergency medical service as well as conventional fire suppression, so that load for fire fighting jobs has been increased. Specifically, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) such as low back injury have been considered as one of major industrial hazards in heavy manual material handling during fire fighting jobs. This study tried to evaluate risk levels and to prepare background for reducing risk levels associated with heavy manual material handling during fire fighting jobs. This study applied two major tools in evaluating heavy manual material handling jobs which were NLE (NIOSH Lifting Equation) and 3DSSPP (3D Static Strength Prediction Program). A risk index in terms of heavy manual material handling during fire fighting jobs was identified. This index consisted of seven risk levels ranged from nine points (the first level) to three points (the seventh level). There was no job associated with the first level (the highest risk level) of index. There was only one job (life saving job) belonging to the second level (the second highest risk level) of index. The third level had jobs such as usage of destruction equipment and lifting patient. A total of basic eighteen jobs was categorized into six different levels (2nd-7th levels) of index. The outcome of the study could provide a good basis for conducting job intervention, preparing good equipment and developing good education program in order to prevent and reduce MSDs including low back injury of fire fighting jobs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.550-561
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the improvement of the working environment for health prevention and related countermeasures for shift workers. This study was conducted based on the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS), which analyzed the health effects of shift work forces and compared them with preceding studies. Methods: By analyzing secondary rates using raw data from the 5th KWCS, 4,870 (9.7%) of the 50,184 total study subjects were divided into shift work and 45,314 (90.3%) non-shift work groups based on the response to shift status. Variables that could affect work health issues were identified and corrected. A cross-analysis was conducted to examine demographic characteristics (gender, age, and education level) of the workers and occupation characteristics (monthly net earnings, employment type, occupation, working period up to now, workplace scale, type of work system, and weekly working hours). In order to find the work health issue ratio between the shift and non-shift work groups, logistic regression was analyzed and the association with health problems according to shift type by gender was looked at through cross-analysis. Results: According to the surveys conducted from the 1st KWCS (2006) to the 5th KWCS (2017), the proportion of shift workers continued to increase. Also, muscular pains in the lower limbs (hips, legs, knees, feet, etc.) (OR=1.135, 95%CI 1.031-1.251), headaches, eyestrain (OR=1.580, 95% CI 1.428-1.748), anxiety (OR=1.715, 95% CI 1.402-2.099), difficulty falling asleep (OR=1.391), and other problems (OR=7.392) were reported. In addition, back pain, muscular pains in shoulders, neck and/or upper limbs, muscular pains in lower limbs (hips, legs, knees, feet, etc.), headaches, eyestrain, depression, anxiety, overall fatigue resulted in significant results for both male and female shift workers. Depression and anxiety were higher in female shift/circulation compared to males. Conclusions: The social nets for the health and safety of shift workers should be explored in a variety of ways, including management and supervision of shift sites, attempts to reorganize and improve the shift system, development of workers' health recovery programs, promotion, systematic treatment, and compensation systems.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.329-348
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• 2003

This paper has examined the origin of organic fanning, its development stages, its certification program, and its distributional characteristics in South Korea. Organic agriculture in South Korea originated in the late 1970s as several organic farmers' associations started to be formed. However, the certification of organic farm products, based upon the Codex guideline on organic produce as well as the FAO/WHO find standards, was not institutionalized with the year 2001. A majority of organic products are currently certified as farm products grown with low chemical input. Vegetables grown without any chemical input occupy the largest proportion of the certified produce, while fruits take the smallest. The average size of farms practicing organic agriculture is 0.88 hectare, smaller than the scale of conventional farms being 1.39 hectare. These organic farms are concentrated in Gyeonggi, Chungcheongbuk, and Jeju Province, where organic farmers' associations were first founded. The roles of those associations not only in developing and extending organic farming techniques but also in promoting organic agriculture to consumers were most critical in the regional development of organic farming. It would be desirable for local governments to promote organic farming in tandem with a whole environmental movement.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.623-638
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• 2007

This paper debates on two different theoretical positions in explaining corporate adaptation. Until the 1980s, a restructuring perspective had dominated in explaining corporate success and adaptation. However, this perspective pays little attention to how firms adapt to environmental change and why some firms adapt successfully, while some others fail to adapt. Thus a restructuring perspective does not give insights into a context-specific explanation of corporate learning and adaptation. More recently, especially since the 1990s, academic focus on corporate adaptation and evolution has shifted towards exploring the nature of learning that leads to the dynamic competitiveness. A learning perspective emphasizes the influence of knowledge, learning and competence on corporate evolution. However, it reveals that this view is also less appropriate for explaining corporate adaptation in radical shifts in environment. In this context, the evolutionary theories of the firm need to seek to maintain a balance between two theoretical positions in order to understand more effectively the dynamic evolution and adaptation of the firm. This paper shows that the dynamics of corporate adaptation and evolution are an outcome of the mixture of perpetual processes of restructuring and learning, both continuous and discontinuous.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2018

The main goal of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the life satisfaction of elderly individuals living alone. We analyzed the data obtained in 2016 through "Survey on Residents'Quality of Life in Gyeonggi Province", performing stepwise multiple regression on 824 cases. The results were as follows: First, age, income, and education had a significant impact on life satisfaction, while sex, marital status, and employment had no influence on life satisfaction. Second, as individual-level factors, self-rated health, exercise, and participation in religious activities and social associations had a significant and positive impact on life satisfaction. Third, the results showed that both helping others in neighborhood and trusting people in the neighborhood, between-person factors, positively influenced their subjective quality of life, but receiving help from the neighborhood did not significantly affect life satisfaction. Fourth, satisfaction with cultural facilities, one of the physical environmental factors, was associated with life satisfaction. These results suggest that multi-level factors influencing life satisfaction should be considered to enhance the quality of life of elderly individuals. In particular, they suggest that when planning measures, it is necessary to consider built-environments for the elderly.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.67-76
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• 2018

Purpose - Electrical energy saving is one of the practical virtues relating to sustainable living. Therefore, policy-makers has tried to find a way to change the behaviors of individuals to encourage them to actively practice electrical energy saving, even if they have never had this concern or have only passively practiced electrical energy saving to this point. Prior research related to electrical energy saving can be categorized into several types. The first is focused on consumer characteristics linked to electrical energy saving. These studies are based on individual or household socio-demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, household income, education level, occupants, marital status, number of households), and psycho-graphics (e.g., environmental consciousness, value, attitude, motivation, lifestyle). The second is focused on policies (e.g., monetary incentives, information sharing, social comparison, feedback), and technologies (e.g., energy-efficiency home appliances, energy-reduced products, renewable resources). People generally have a favorable attitude towards electrical energy saving, while electrical energy saving practices tend to be less favorable. Therefore, it is necessary for policy-makers to seek out gaps between attitudes and behaviors and find alternatives to reduce these gaps. This study investigates the influence of authenticity on the behavioral intention of electrical energy saving. It is supposed that electrical energy saving practices are likely to be stronger as authenticity of individual or household becomes stronger. This study reviews prior literature and examines various studies to provide an understanding of the relationships between authenticity and electrical energy saving behavioral intention. Research design, data, and methodology - Hypothesis was drawn from analysis based on previous research. The items related to authenticity and electrical energy saving were selected from items found in previous research. To verify this hypothesis, data were collected via experimental survey method and the resulting data were analyzed using reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results - This study found that authenticity had a positive impact on the behavioral intention of electrical energy saving. The higher the perceived degree of authenticity, the higher the behavioral intention of electrical energy saving. Conclusions - This study assesses the impact of authenticity on the behavioral intention of electrical energy saving. In order to enhance the practice of electrical energy saving, it is efficient strategy for policy-maker to improve the perceived authenticity of individuals.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2020

There have been often cases of collapse for geogrid reinforced soil (GRS) retaining wall. Hence, social interest in the reinforcement and restoration of the collapsed GRS wall is increasing day by day. However, there are only few researches. For this reason, a series of numerical analyses using the Plaxis 2D program was conducted in this study to analyze the suitable reinforcement methods that can be applied on the existing damaged GRS wall caused by overturning of the modular blocks facing and the surface settlement at the backfill as the results from the design failure. The restoration plan used in this study is composed of two cases: (Case 1) soil nailing reinforcement and reinforced concrete (RC) wall facing construction on the existing damaged GRS wall; and (Case 2) removal of the entire damaged GRS wall and then reconstruction. The results on the internal stability of the GRS wall show that Case 1 obtained a greater safety factor than Case 2 for tensile force while Case 2 had a greater safety factor than Case 1 for pullout failures. Case 1 was found to be more stable than Case 2 in terms of the global slope safety by shear strength reduction method and the external deformation behavior by numerical analysis. In this study, the existing damaged GRS wall which was reinforced using Case 1 method shows more stable external behavior.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 1996

The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of obesity and factors with it Ulsan secondary school girls. A cross-sectional study involving a sample of 485 students aged 12 to 15 years was obtained form secondary schools. Obesity was determined using body mass index(BMI=wt/Ht$^2$). The findings revealed that the average BMI was 19.3, and 4.5% of girls were either overweight and obese(BMI$\geq$25). Subjects were grouped into three categories based on the BMI, sibling obesity, self-consciousness of obesity, eating patterns such as eating snack after dinner and prejudice in food selection, and food frequency score were significantly associated nth BMI, while nutrition knowledge score was not associated with BMI. The fact that several social, environmental and health factors are associated with obesity means that a multisectorial intervention program must be considered in order to decrease the problem of overweight among secondary girls. Such program should include dietary intervention to modify food habits, nutrition education through mass media, introducing information on prevention and control obesity in school curriculum, and allocating sufficient time in the school schedule for exercise activities.