• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.325-332
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• 2023

Currently, the world's population has already entered a super-aging era, and the rate is expected to increase rapidly to about 40% by 2050. However, the rapid development of automation technology and the online service sector, the main technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are still further isolating them in a world where many inconveniences and development technologies are applied. As such, alienation in daily life is widely expanded in various fields, but the financial service sector is one of the must-use areas regardless of age because of its strong nature in the public service sector, and is a very important factor in the period when branches are rapidly decreasing. However, the current utilization rate of mobile banking services is not around 5%, so users over 60 are rarely able to use them. The UX design of the most frequently used remittance service screen in mobile banking services was proposed, and the difficulty of trying to find the preferred bank among 56 or more banks was solved by analyzing the usage rate of each bank and dividing it into three stages by age group from 50 or older. In addition, it was designed to strengthen customized services by showing their recently used banks as the top priority. The design proposed in this study obtained an average of 4.8 points or more out of 5 points as a result of usability satisfaction through interviews with less than 50 senior groups. This study is believed to help each bank upgrade its different mobile banking designs in a unified manner.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: As a result of rural exodus, aging of rural population, development of high-yield rice varieties and so on, abandoned paddy fields of South Korea have generally increased. The phytosociological studies are needed to recommend the effective vegetation management methods of abandoned paddy fields. The current study performed an analysis of vegetation characteristics by classifying plant communities for abandoned paddy fields in South Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: A comparative analysis of syntaxonomy, synecology, and syndynamics was performed by using the Z.-M. method of phytosociology and vegetation survey which was obtained from an enumeration district of total 203 phytosociological releves of 5 regions in Gangwon-do, 5 regions in Gyeonggi-do, 2 regions in Chungcheong-do, 18 regions in Gyeongsang-do, and 10 regions in Jeolla-do. Alopecurus aequalis community, Juncus effusus var. decipiens community and Salix koreensis community were, respectively, identified as successional plant communities of the early stage, the middle stage, and the late stage in the vegetation of abandoned paddy field. Sere of abandoned paddy field can be classified, developmentally, into annual plant stage, perennial plant stage, shrub plant stage, and forest tree stage. Several kinds of dominant species rather than a distinct species were found in the middle stage of abandoned paddy field. CONCLUSION(S): In this study, changing pattern in vegetational communities of abandoned paddy field were understood. These results will provide important information for restoring and conserving the ecology of fallow ground.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.47-68
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• 2020

Since the early 2000s, Korea has continued to increase the proportion of the elderly population due to low fertility and increased life expectancy. As a result, Korea has now entered the aging society. Because of this demographic change, proportion of active elderly have increased, and many academics, such as sociology, economics, and psychology, have conducted various studies on the active elderly. This study focused on active elderly based on the activity theory of old age and the positive effect of small community participation activity on the elderly. The purpose of this study is to examine whether active elderly' participation in everyday activities, small community participation of the elderly affect citizen participation actively in society as a citizen, and in the process, mediates the effect of small community cohesion and the moderating effect of small community selfishness. This study performed a stepwise regression analysis and a hierarchical regression analysis of 700 elderly people who are participated actively in various small communities. As a result, the partial mediating effect of small community cohesion was shown in the relationship between participation in everyday activities and citizen participation, and the moderating effect of small community selfishness was also shown. These findings suggest that government and interested parties need to develop and implement policies for the small community participation of elderly citizens in consideration of their small community activities, small community cohesion and small community egoism.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2015

Observed trends in climate change, globalization and an aging population have an effect on public health conditions in Korea, prompting a reevaluation of current environmental regulations. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the total coliform (TC) standard, which is the only microbiological standard in the current regulation regime for hot spring water, by estimating correlation with the presence/absence of Legionella, a non-fecal opportunistic pathogen with heat-tolerance. Microbiological data in 7 studies that surveyed Legionella in hot spring waters were subjected to meta-analyses with the odds ratio (OR) as the effect size. The presence/absence of Legionella was significantly correlated to TC levels [OR = 3.1(1.5–6.4, 95% CI), p = 0.002]. Due to there being no direct explanation as to the reason for the occurrence of TC, mesophilic fecal bacteria, being coupled with Legionella presence, the mechanism of the correlation between the two kinds of bacteria was further investigated. Legionella presence was more prevalent with a high heterotrophic plate count [HPC; 4.0(2.2–7.2); p < 0.001] and water temperature [4.3(1.4–13.6), p = 0.011] when the temperature range was <40℃. However, it was reverse-correlated with water temperature when the temperature was >50℃ [0.2(0.1–0.4), p < 0.001]. Therefore, bacterial standing crops in hot spring waters appear to be determined by water temperature in general, and this forces TC and Legionella levels be correlated. In accordance with this relationship, HPC rather than TC reflect the levels of non-fecal contamination better. Therefore, employing HPC as the sole microbiological standard, or adding HPC into the current standard of hot spring water assessment, is suggested as a proactive measure to prevent health issues arising from contamination.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.56-70
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• 2014

Background: Korea shows rapid population aging and increase in healthcare service use and expenditure. Also, this would be accelerated because of the baby boomers who will be 65 years old and more in 2020. Chronic disease is another reason that increases the use of healthcare service and expenditure of the middle- and old-aged households. Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) is the index which can indicate the households' burden of health spending. Despite the importance, there are few studies on CHE of middle- and old-aged households and especially no panel study yet. This is the reason that this study is carried out. Methods: This study used 3-year data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study conducted from 2009 to 2011. We defined CHE if a household's health expenditure is equal or greater than the threshold value if income remaining after subsistence needs has been met. We used 4 different threshold values which are 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%. In order to look at the households which experienced CHE, we conducted panel logit analysis after correspondence analysis and conditional transition probability analysis. Results: This study showed three notable results. First, there has been a difference among age groups, which implies that the older people are, the more easily they can experience CHE. Second, the households with no private insurance are shown to have a higher CHE occurrence rate. Lastly, there has been a significant difference among the kinds of chronic diseases. The households which have cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and heart disease have a higher CHE occurrence rate. However, the households with diabetes have no significant effects to CHE occurrence. Also, hypertension has a negative effect to the occurrence. Conclusion: With the results, it can be implied that elderly people with chronic disease are more needed in medical coverage and healthcare. Also, private insurance can play its role in protecting households from CHE. Therefore, it needs to conduct studies on CHE especially about different age groups, private insurance, and chronic disease.

• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.27-32
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• 2020

Along with the aging of the population, the number of dementia patients is increasing, and the social and economic burden is also increasing. Currently, the effective way to manage dementia patients is to identify patients with dementia early. However, in rural and island areas where medical staff are scarce, there is a problem that it is difficult to visit a hospital and get an early examination. Therefore, we propose a remote early detection system for dementia to solve the problems. The remote dementia early diagnosis system is a system that allows a patient to receive examination and treatment from a remote dementia expert using remote medical technology based on real-time image communication. The remote early diagnosis system for dementia consists of a local client system used by medical staff at health centers in the island, an image server that transmits, stores and manages images, and an expert client used by remote dementia experts. The local client subsystem satisfies the current medical law's remote collaboration by allowing the patient to use it with the health center's medical staff. In addition, expert clients are used by dementia experts, and can store/manage patient information, analyze patient history information, and predict the degree of dementia progression in the future.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.583-589
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• 2021

This study is a study on the development of virtual reality to prepare for the increase in disasters of households living with companion animals due to the increase of companion animals. The increase in single-person households and DINKs(Double Income, No Kid) along with the low birth rate and aging population is raising the risk of disasters caused by companion animals in particular. Among these disasters, there is an increase in the occurrence of fires primarily due to the raising of companion animals. Electric stove fires caused by pets are the most common fires. In particular, the frequency of electric stove fires caused by cats is the highest. Careful precautions by the owner are necessary to reduce fires caused by pets. Parenting of companion animals causes pet loss syndrome due to emotional exchange. There are injuries to pets in escalators and injuries to owners in elevators due to disasters caused by the owner's negligence. In order to reduce injuries on escalators and elevators, basic etiquette for using escalators and elevators with pets is required as basic etiquette. It is necessary to utilize virtual reality to reduce disasters caused by such companion animals. Virtual reality can be experienced without a physical space in advance training to overcome disasters, so real disaster cases can be experienced immersively. Therefore, learning how to reduce fires caused by companion animals, disasters caused by owner's negligence, and petloss syndrome through virtual reality will greatly contribute to disaster prevention and reduction of social costs.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.183-190
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to determine the change trend of emergency department visits among elderly patients with chronic diseases. Using the National Emergency Department Information System data, from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2019, the selected patient data were evaluated for the emergency department discharge main diagnosis codes for eight chronic diseases. The incidence of elderly chronic diseases, emergency department visits, and admission rates were analyzed. Since 2014, there has been a consistent increase in the number of elderly patients visiting the emergency department, especially among those aged over 85 years. The number of emergency department visits among the elderly chronically ill patients also increased, with a significant increase in ischemic heart disease and arthrosis cases. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the number of chronically ill patients in each year from 2014-2019 (P<0.001). With respect to the trend of admission rates to the emergency department by chronic disease, most diseases showed an increasing trend (P<0.001). however, hyperlipidemia showed a continuous decreasing trend in all age groups since 2014 (P<0.001). Among the elderly chronically ill patients, a greater increase in the admission rate following emergency department visits was noted in those over 85 years of age, with a significant difference in all diseases, except for hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and tuberculosis (P<0.001). As the aging population grows, the emergency department admission rates among the elderly chronically ill patients will rise rapidly. This could create issues with respect to the use and consumption of emergency medical resources. Hence, it is necessary to manage chronic diseases effectively in the elderly.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.160-165
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• 2012

Osteoporotic fracture became a serious social problem, which related with mortality and morbidity in old age population. Osteoclast which is responsible for bone resorption is originated from hematopoietic cell line and plays a key role osteoporotic bone loss. Cynanchum wilfordii (Asclepiadaceae) roots have been used in Korean folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes mellitus and aging progression. Also, recent studies have shown that the extract and fractions of Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix have various pharmacological actions including scavenging free radicals, enhancing immunity, reducing high serum cholesterol, and anti-tumor activity. However, the effect of extract of Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix in osteoclast differentiation had not been reported. Thus, we evaluated the effect of Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix on receptor activator of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation. Through our study, we found that Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix significantly inhibited osteoclast differentiation induced by RANKL. Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix suppressed the activation of p38 pathway and $NF{\kappa}B$ in bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) treated with RANKL. Also, Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix significantly inhibited the mRNA expression of c-Fos, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR), nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT)c1 and cathepsin K in BMMs treated with RANKL. Particularly, Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix inhibited the protein expression of c-fos and NFATc1. Taken together, our results demonstrated that Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix may be useful treatment option of bone-related disease such as osteoporosis leads to fracture of bone and rheumatoid arthritis.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine the knowledge of dental hygienists about the elderly and their attitude toward them as dental hygienists played vital roles in oral health care for elderly patients. It's ultimately meant to help improve their right understanding of the elderly to provide quality oral health care service to the elderly population in preparation for an aging society. The subjects in this study were 241 dental hygienists, on whom a self-administered survey was implemented. After the collected data were analyzed, the following findings were given: They got a mean of $12.40{\pm}2.99$ out of possible 22 points on knowledge of the elderly. Their general characteristics and characteristics related to the elderly made no statistically significant differences to their knowledge. As for attitude toward the elderly, they got a mean of $3.13{\pm}0.28$. Concerning links between their general characteristics and attitude toward the elderly, the better-educated dental hygienists took a more favorable attitude to the elderly.