• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2011

This study aimed to determine the feasibility of survey questionnaires for pesticide poisoning. We conducted a pilot study to develop a questionnaire for evaluating pesticide poisoning symptoms and to examine the validity of self-reported information for individual pesticides used. In December 2010 we interviewed 20 farmers with self-reported pesticide poisoning histories residing in Gyeonggi Province. For validity of pesticide information, the purchased pesticide lists from the agricultural cooperative federation were compared with individual self-reported pesticides used. Neurological symptoms were the most common among clinical symptoms related to pesticide poisoning, followed by gastrointestinal, dermal and eye symptoms. Insecticides were the main causative pesticide class for poisoning. Twenty one major symptoms were selected for screening for acute pesticide poisoning in a field study based on the pilot results and literature reviews. Substantial under-reporting was found in data on self-reported individual pesticides used (9.2%), as well as low accuracy (36%) compared with their actual purchase lists. In this pilot study, we suggest the selected symptom lists may apply to a field survey of pesticide poisoning. However, the self-reported information on individual pesticides may not be valid and alternative methods need to be developed.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.191-207
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• 2004

This study was focused on the development of greenhouse management and environmental control system using internet. The essence of this system were remote automatic control unit connected with greenhouse environmental control according to the growth stages of crops, The specific objectives of the study were; 1) to analyze need of greenhouse environmental remote control system, 2) to investigate the important functions related to greenhouse management program, 3) to explore the possibility of diffusing the system using internet.The study was carried out through review of related literature and need assessment from the research and extension workers in charge of greenhouse management using questionnaire survey, interview and field study. The results of the study were summarized as fallows: 1) About 89% of respondents responded positively on the need to establish automatic control system using internet. 2) The greenhouse management and environmental control system using internet was possible to control the greenhouse in remote, automatic, and simultaneous manner, and additionally by cellular phone in emergent situation. 3) The system was possible to precisely control the greenhouse environment, and it was able to connect the environmental control data with information on growth of crops. 4) By networking the farmer, extension educator of agricultural technology center and researcher, web based farm consulting was possible through the system. Based on the results of the study recommendations were suggested as follows: 1) Thorough spot inspections and field trials should be performed before the diffusion of this system. 2) The costs of the system installation and maintenance should be moderate. 3) The operation of the system should be simple and easy for tamers to adopt. 4) National support should be made to build better internet infrastructure in rural areas.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.495-503
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• 2010

The packing and sorting processes of grape are required repetitive movements to need considerable physical load for a long time. And thereby, there is strong possibility to cause musculoskeletal disorders. In this study, ergonomically designed convenience equipments of worktable and handcart are introduced for improvement of the working movements and less physical load to increase the work efficiency. For objective analysis of the movements and the workload between the ones before and after the improvement, we measured heart rate, OWAS, RULA, REBA, LMM, moving Line and work time. Also, we used a checklist of physical fatigue regions to confirm the subjective evaluation of physical load of workers. As the result of study, it showed lower heart rate, value of Working Postures (OWAS, RULA, REBA) and LMM in the work after introduction of those convenient equipments than the work of before the introduction. The work time and moving Line were shortened and the number of grape boxes packed within the same work time was increased, too. Also the overall load as the subjective evaluation was reduced.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to survey the risk factors of greenhouse vegetables farmers' work-related musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs). To offer the fundamental data for agricultural improvement of greenhouse vegetable farms, the questionnaire of MSDs and heath condition were carried out. A group of 736 workers(males=492, females=244) in 6 branches constitutes the population and database for the analysis between 2004 and 2005. The sample branch was chosen based on paper are watermelon, strawberry, tomato, melon, cucumber, lettuce. The results are as follows: 1. Smoking rates in cucumber and tomato is the highest. 2. Drinking rates in strawberry, cucumber and lettuce is the highest in males, watermelon and melon are the highest in females. 3. Regular exercise rates in melon are the highest. 4. Physical and mental fatigue in females is higher than that of males in most crops except melon. That of strawberry and tomato is the highest. 5. The prevalence rates of medical diagnosed diseases are higher in order of osteoarthritis, herniated nucleus pulposus(HNP), and hypertension. That of strawberry, melon, and cucumber is high in case of osteoarthritis; Strawberry, melon, and watermelon are high in case of HNP. 6. Prevalence rates of musculoskeletal symptoms among the various pain areas are higher in order of low back, knees, and shoulders. That of tomato and watermelon is high in case of low back; strawberry and tomato are high in case of knees. These results can be used practically for agricultural improvement of greenhouse vegetables farms to prevent MSDs.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.53-56
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• 2006

The enormous production of spores by the fruitbodies in the cultivation of oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) is develop an allergy with symptoms similar to an "extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EEA)". the sporeless strain would noy only benefit health of mushroom workers but also reduce the risk of viral infections on the mushroom farms. For the development of a sporeless strain of P. ostreatus we used strain ASI 2069. This non-commercial strain is completely nonsporulating. We have recovered both nuclear types of strain ASI 2069 as monokaryons (hereafter referred to as neohaplonts) by protoplasting the mycelium. Crosses between neohaplonts and SSI's(single spore isolates) obtained from a sporulating commercial strain ASI 2180 yielded fruitbodies that isolated 128 strains. 13 excellent strains are selected from 30 bred strains by quality of fruitbodies and spore number. Among 13 excellent strains, G192 strain is chose finally to high yield and sporelessness.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.170-179
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the occupational radiation exposures of emergency medical technicians(EMTs) in emergency medical centers in Korea. The results will provide a basis for developing prevention programs to minimize adverse health effects relating to radiation exposure among emergency medical technicians working in this area. Methods: Radiation exposure doses were measured for twenty-two EMTs working in six emergency medical centers. Thermo Luminescent Dosimeters(TLD) were placed on three representative body parts, including chest, neck, and a finger. Measurements were conducted over the entire working hours of the participants for foor weeks. Dosimeters were analyzed according to a standard method by a KFDA-designated lab. Detection rate, annual radiation exposure dose, and relative levels to dose limit were derived based on the measured doses from the dosimeters. SPSS/Win 18.0 software(IBM, US) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Detection rates were 45.5%, 36.4%, and 45.5% for the dosimeters sampled from chest, neck, and a finger, respectively. The average annual doses were $2.39{\pm}3.44mSv/year$(range 0.38-10.0 mSv/year) for the chest, $2.72{\pm}3.05mSv/year$(2.00-11.34) for the neck, and $20.98{\pm}17.57mSv/year$(1.25-53.50) for the hand dose. The average annual eye dose was estimated to $3.61{\pm}2.37mSv/year$(1.50-8.34). The exposure dose levels of EMTs were comparable to those of radiologists, who showed relatively higher radiation dose among health care workers, as reported in another study. Conclusions: EMTs working in emergency medical centers are considered to be at risk of radiation exposure. Although the radiation exposure dose of EMTs does not exceed the dose limit, it is not negligible comparing to other professionals in health care sectors.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2017

Purpose: To reduce the costs of potato seeds and labor of workers, a fully automatic in-situ seeding machine for cutting seed potatoes was developed. Methods: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the seeder performance of the prototype of potato planter by cutting seeds in farmlands from March to April 2017. The study tested the seeder performance at working speeds ranging from 0.28 to 0.45 m/s. The seeding rate and seeding distance were also investigated according to the planned distance between planted seeds from 20 to 30 cm, with 5 cm intervals. Results: Tests on the performance of the developed cutting blade on the automatic potato seeder show that whole potatoes should be used instead of half potatoes. The seeding rates were 88.8% and 82.5% for whole and half potatoes, respectively. When the tractor working speed was increased from 0.28 to 0.45 m/s, the successful seeding rate decreased from 98.8% to 96.3%, respectively. However, with planted seed distances of 20, 25, and 30 cm, the successful seeding rates were near 98%. Conclusions: The developed automatic potato seeder can to improve the labor productivity and cultivation environment of potato farms by the mechanization of the seeding process, which is currently associated with high-labor, -costs, and -hours. Therefore, based on this study, the developed automatic potato seeder provides the mechanization necessary for improved potato cultivation conditions in farmlands.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.227-242
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• 2012

Accurate estimation of milk production cost is very important for dairy farmers in establishing strategies for business management (e.g. planning a program for milk production, deciding the size of business and investment, determining the milk price for sale). Since the estimated cost of milk production is used as an important index to determine the basal price of milk in Korea, there has been much interest and debate on the method used to estimate milk production cost among the stakeholder. This study was thus carried out to identify problems in the current methodology for estimating cost of milk production, and to find a better way to improve it. We propose several alternatives and better ways to improve the current method for estimating cost of milk production. Estimation of the income and cost per head should be based on the number of cattle converted to grown cows. Cost estimation per liter of milk should be made for both whole milk and 3.4% milk fat corrected milk. The value of purchased cows and raised replacement heifers should be the same as their market value. The productive life span of cows should be less 4 years, and the terminal or salvage value of cows needs to be 30 to 40% less than her initial value. When calculating depreciation of cows over the productive life span, however, the salvage value should be 0 or 1 Korean won. On calculating labor costs, the farm labor wage corresponding to the average wage of nonfarm industrial workers should be assumed. Beside of these, better estimation procedures for other items are also given. The proposed methods from this study should improve the accuracy of estimation of milk production cost and help to achieve consensus among the stakeholder.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.14 no.4 s.25
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• pp.185-192
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• 1975

Various plant species, as many as 145 species in 43 families, were tested for susceptibility to the ordinary strain of the cucumber nosaic virus for two years from 1973 to 1974. Inoculations were made by mechanical method using carborundum. Plants in 71 species belonging to 27 families were infected. Of these species, systemic mosaic developed on the new leaves of plants in 57 species belonging to 24 families. Twenty-four species of plants, previously not reported as hosts of the CMV, were found to be infected in this experiment. These are Stellaria aquatica, Achyrauthes japonica, Agerratum houstonianum, Centipeda minima, Gillardia pulchella, Henisteptalyrate, Ixeris dentata, Saussurea uchiyamana, Brassica campestris, Lepidiumapetalum, Lobelia chinensis, Chenopodium bryoniaefolium, Carex neofilipes, Acalypha austalis, Amphicarpaea edgeworthii, Lotus corniculatus var japonicus, Phaseolus angularis, Sedum aizoom var heterodontum, Mosla punctulata, Perilla frutescens var japonica, Teucrium japonicum,. Linum usitatissimum, Mazus japonicus, Verbena hybrida. Twenty-three species reported to be susceptible by previous workers, but negative results were obtained in our experiment with Allium cepa, Celosia cristat, Daucus carota var. sativa, Artemisia asiatica, Callistenphus chinensis, Erigeron canadensis, Helianthusannuus, Tagetes eracta, Impatiens balsamina, Raphanus sativus, Ipomea batatas, Glycine max, Phaseolus vulgaris, Lilium longifolium, Papaver gomniferum, Sorghum vulgare, Triticum aestivum, Zea mays, Rumex coreanus, Potulaca grandiflora.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.145-162
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• 2021

Purpose: The 2018 General survey of emergency assistance was conducted to examine the working conditions and welfare, including educational direction, interests, and awareness of work, of the fire department emergency medical technicians (EMT). This would be used as basic data for future policy directions. Methods: Among the fire-fighting officers in 16 cities nationwide, emergency rescue workers engaged in first-aid activities were targeted. With prior consent, a survey was conducted through electronic documents. Of the total 1,227 people, responses from 1,151 were finally analyzed, excluding 76 who did not respond appropriately. Results: The working conditions and welfare of 119 firefighters were moderate, but in the fields of education and interest, the learning according to the regulations was high. In particular, satisfaction with the scope of work was found to be below average. However, it was positive that it will play a role as a social safety net in the future and will converge with cutting-edge science. Conclusion: Although this study was a total investigation of the EMT survey, conducting an EMT survey on all fire fighters in Korea is difficult. Further research is needed, particularly on first-class emergency medical personnel who play a major role in 119 paramedics.