• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2020

Background: Childbirth represents a significant transition for women, with physical and psychological sequelae. Reentry to the workplace during the postpartum period is understudied, with implications for maternal well-being and job-related outcomes. This study's aim was to examine selected pregnancy, childbirth, and return-to-work correlates of overall self-rated health within the first month of work reentry after maternity leave. Methods: Between December 2016 and January 2017, we surveyed women employed at a large, public Midwestern university who had given birth in the past five years (N = 249) to examine self-rated overall health in the first month of work reentry. Using ordinal logistic regression, we examined whether physical or psychological health problems during pregnancy, childbirth complications, length of maternity leave, and depression and anxiety at work reentry were related to overall health. Results: Women who experienced depression (odds ratio [OR] = 0.096 [95% confidence interval {CI} = 0.019 to 0.483, p = 0.004]) and anxiety (OR = 0.164, [95% CI = 0.042 to 0.635, p = 0.009]) nearly every day reported worse health at work reentry than those with no symptoms. Controlling for demographics and mental health, women who experienced medical problems during pregnancy (OR = 0.540 [95% CI = 0.311 to .935, p = 0.028]) were more likely to report poor health, while taking a longer maternity leave (OR = 14.552 [95% CI = 4.934 to 42.918, p < 0.001]) was associated with reporting better health at work reentry. Conclusion: Women who experience medical complications during pregnancy, return to the workplace too soon after birth, and experience mental health symptoms are vulnerable physically as they return to work.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.182-187
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• 2018

As the elderly population increases, they are increasingly affected by oral health problems. Therefore, efforts are being made to improve the oral health of older people, alleviate mental discomfort, and reduce unmet dental needs. This study was conducted to confirm the relationship between the National Health Insurance Elderly Denture Coverage and the unmet dental need for the edentulous elderly, as part of the protection policy. We analyzed the 2011 and 2013 Community Health Survey data of the edentulous elderly, aged 75 years or older, before 2012. In order to more precisely confirm the effects of the denture donation policy on unmet dental care, basic life recipients who were subject to the free elderly prosthetic project were excluded from the analysis. The final analysis included 20,400 subjects. According to our investigation of the factors that affect the unmet dental needs of the elderly, the National Health Insurance Elderly Denture Coverage did not affect unmet dental needs. The statistically significant variables that affected the unmet dental needs of the elderly were education and income levels, which are representative socioeconomic status variables. The lower the level of education, the unhealthier the dental care experience, and income levels showed a similar tendency. The elderly who have a low socioeconomic status are more likely to experience unmet dental needs because they lack the knowledge and socioeconomic ability to pay for dental care. Therefore, the policy for health protection of the entire elderly population should be continuously expanded. In addition, the socioeconomically vulnerable groups may have health problems due to the restriction of medical use, which may lead to quality of life deterioration.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.364-375
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• 2019

Background: Ecologists continue to investigate the factors that potentially affect the pattern and magnitude of tree damage during catastrophic windstorms in forests. However, there still is a paucity of research on which trees are more vulnerable to direct damage by winds rather than being knocked down by the fall of another tree. We evaluated this question in a mixed hardwood-softwood forest within the Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP) of southeast Texas, USA, which was substantially impacted by Hurricane Rita in September 2005. Results: We showed that multiple factors, including tree height, shade-tolerance, height-to-diameter ratio, and neighborhood density (i.e., pre-Rita stem distribution) significantly explained the susceptibility of trees to direct storm damage. We also found that no single factor had pervasive importance over the others and, instead, that all factors were tightly intertwined in a complex way, such that they often complemented each other, and that they contributed simultaneously to the overall susceptibility to and patterns of windstorm damage in the BTNP. Conclusions: Directly damaged trees greatly influence the forest by causing secondary damage to other trees. We propose that directly and indirectly damaged (or susceptible) trees should be considered separately when assessing or predicting the impact of windstorms on a forest ecosystem; to better predict the pathways of community structure reorganization and guide forest management and conservation practices. Forest managers are recommended to adopt a holistic view that considers and combines various components of the forest ecosystem when establishing strategies for mitigating the impact of catastrophic winds.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.603-623
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• 2015

The scale and nature of the recent earthquakes in the world and the related earthquake disaster index coerce the concerned community to become anxious about it. Therefore, it is crucial that seismic lateral load effect will be appropriately considered in structural design. Application of seismic isolation system stands as a consistent alternative against this hazard. The objective of the study is to evaluate the structural and economic feasibility of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with base isolation located in medium risk seismic region. Linear and nonlinear dynamic analyses as well as linear static analysis under site-specific bi-directional seismic excitation have been carried out for both fixed based (FB) and base isolated (BI) buildings in the present study. The superstructure and base of buildings are modeled in a 3D finite element model by consistent mass approach having six degrees of freedom at each node. The floor slabs are simulated as rigid diaphragms. Lead rubber bearing (LRB) and High damping rubber bearing (HDRB) are used as isolation device. Change of structural behaviors and savings in construction costing are evaluated. The study shows that for low to medium rise buildings, isolators can reduce muscular amount of base shears, base moments and floor accelerations for building at soft to medium stiff soil. Allowable higher horizontal displacement induces structural flexibility. Though incorporating isolator increases the outlay, overall structural cost may be reduced. The application of base isolation system confirms a potential to be used as a viable solution in economic building design.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2020

Background: Dental treatment has shifted to the center of the community, and the public policy of the country has expanded to support the vulnerable classes such as the disabled. The dental profession needs education regarding oral health services for persons with disabilities, and it is necessary to derive the competencies for this. Therefore, we conducted this study to derive the normative ability to understand the role of a dental hygienist in the oral health service for persons with disabilities and improvement plans for education. Methods: We conducted a qualitative analysis for deriving competencies by analyzing the data collected through in-depth interviews with experts in order to obtain abilities through practical experience. Based on the competency criterion, relevant competency in the interview response was derived using the priori method, and it was confirmed whether the derived ability matched the ability determined by the respondent. Results: The professional conduct competencies of dental hygienists, devised by the Korean Association of Dental Hygiene, consists of professional behavior, ethical decision-making, self-assessment skills, lifelong learning, and accumulated evidence. Also, core competencies of the American Dental Education Association competencies for dental hygienist classification such as ethics, responsibility for professional actions, and critical thinking skills were used as the criterion. The dental hygienist's abilities needed for oral health care for people with disabilities, especially in the detailed abilities to fulfill these social needs, were clarified. Conclusion: To activate oral health care for people with disabilities, it is necessary for dental hygienists to fulfill their appropriate roles, and for this purpose, competency-based curriculum restructuring is indispensable. A social safety net for improving the oral health of people with disabilities can be secured by improving the required skills-based education system of dental hygienists and strengthening the related infrastructure.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.99-111
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• 2019

This paper aims to analysize the regional disparity of rural life service. In other words, analyzing the spatial distribution of the single-households elderly and service accessibility to public transportation, and the relationship between them in rural. The results of this study are as follows. First, there is a high concentration of the single-households elderly in Gyeongsangbuk-do and Jeollanam-do, and the distribution of them shows a tendency to cluster locally. Second, the vulnerability area of public transportation are concentrated on the myeon area. Third, The above-average proportion of vulnerable single-households elderly in Gyeongsangbuk-do and Jeollanam-do are concentrated on the myeon area. This result show that there is a positive correlation and high values are concentrated. This paper is expected to contribute to the regional development projects and effective implementation of rural polices.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

This study analyzes the effect of the level of satisfaction with the living environment of rural people on migration. The analysis data were used by the Rural Development Administration for the survey of welfare systems for farmers and fishermen in 2017, and samples of 3,776 were used for the analysis. The analysis variables were divided into a group of migrants, a group of permanent residents, and a group of decision-keeping, and the level of satisfaction with the living environment of each of the 10 rural areas was used as an independent variable. According to the analysis results, the basic living base and safety of rural residents were having a positive effect. The results show that the projects for developing rural areas, which increase the basic living base, are making substantial contributions to preventing the breakaway of the rural population. Safety has been neglected in the area of rural planning, but if the level of discontent is not enough, it has had the greatest impact on the livelihoods of rural residents. Welfare and cultural leisure set the main demand level for welfare and cultural leisure to the elderly and vulnerable classes, and interpret it as a result of weakened defense against stress from relocation of residence, difficulty of migration due to low income levels, and migration. Therefore, the paradoxical analysis results could be interpreted as showing that measures to increase the satisfaction of the people on welfare and cultural leisure should be taken.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.41-50
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• 2018

In our society, recently, the concept of social economy stands out as an alternative to the mainstream economy in the market. It is noteworthy that although the social economy has the nature of practical field of civil society, the government has a willingness to actively support the social economy as a means of getting visible result of job creation. The social economy in Korea is being fostered by the government and understood within the framework of a very limited policy goal of providing jobs for the vulnerable. The problem is that the social value and community implications of the social economy are disappearing while the social economic organizations have higher policy status and become more and more dependent on the government's financial support. This paper suggests that the discourse on the social economy should be reconstructed while holding the problem of this situation.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.13-23
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• 2019

In this study, an overtopping model experiments and three dimensional seepage characteristics at the deteriorated homogeneous reservoirs were performed to investigate the behavior of failure for embankment and spillway transitional zone due to overtopping. The failure pattern, pore water pressure, earth pressure and settlement by overtopping were compared and analyzed. The pattern of the failure by overtopping was gradually enlarged towards reservoirs crest from the spillway transition zone at initial stage. In the rapid stage and peak stage, the width and depth of failure gradually increased, and the pattern of the failure appeared irregular and several direction of the erosion. In the early stage, the pore water pressure at spillway transitional zone was more affected as its variation and failure width increased. In the peak stage, the pore water pressure was significantly increased in all locations due to the influence of seepage. The earth pressure increased gradually according to overtopping stage. The pore pressure by the numerical analysis was larger than the experimental value, and the analysis was more likely to increase steadily without any apparent variation. The horizontal and vertical displacements were the largest at the toe of slope and at the top of the dam crest, respectively. The results of this displacement distribution can be applied as a basis for determining the position of reinforcement at the downstream slope and the crest. The collapse in the overtopping stage began with erosion of the most vulnerable parts of the dam crest, and the embankment was completely collapsed as the overtopping stage increased.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.61-73
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• 2021

Recently, the deterioration of water quality in Wonju stream has been reported due to the increase in diverse pollution sources along with community development and urbanization. Various types of attempts with a huge budget were made for better water quality so far, but its effectiveness is still doubted. In order to establish site-oriented measures for water quality improvement, the topographic and hydrologic factors were evaluated based on site inspection and survey. As the major streams merged into the Wonju stream, the Hwa and Heungyang streams were found to have higher pollution loads and contributions compared to other streams due to the scattered livestock farms and industries, and vulnerable land use. Notably, the discharge water from the Wonju Public Sewage Treatment Plant had the highest level of pollution load, impacting on the water quality of Wonju Stream. According to the SWAT model as water quality measures, the improvement effect of water quality in this treatment plant can be reached to the reductions in BOD 11.06%, T-N 23.56%, T-P 10.60% when the proper managements applied, whereas the improvement of water quality would be 3.89%, 1.23%, and 3.32% for BOD, T-N, T-P, respectively, for the industries. The reduction of the livestock industry was generally very high as a pollution source, but it was not much higher at the end of Wonju Stream than other measures. These results recommended that the water q uality improvement measures should be designated for each upper-middle-lower section in Wonju stream.