• Architectural research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.129-136
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• 2016

People have experienced physical problems including vision problems with aging; some are normal and some are abnormal. When they have abnormal and impaired vision, they have a lower level of life satisfaction than their sighted peers. For the elderly with sight loss, well-designed housing could be an important indicator for their quality of life. Housing adjustment and modification could help the elderly cope with sight loss, do daily activities more independently, and lead to better quality of life. The purpose of this study is to investigate housing conditions for the elderly with vision impaired, state of housing adjustment or modifications, and the effects of housing conditions on the wellness of the elderly in Korea. For this study, 18 housing cases were investigated and a total number of 65 visually impaired people aged over 55 participated. Housing condition of those participated was poor. Most observed home hazards are level differences in living areas, obstacles in the hallway, confined space that is not allowed structural modification, swing doors from wardrobe or cabinets, color contrast, poor lightings, and etc. Majority of households participated in this study did not make modification or refurbishments, rather many of them tend to adapt themselves to their residential environments. Older adults living in better housing condition and under less difficult environments are likely to have higher life satisfaction. The effects of housing condition on wellness could be more influential when individual capabilities (e.g. health condition) are weaker. The findings underline that with intervention of individual characteristics, the effects of housing and physical environment on negative outcomes of vision loss would get ameliorated or reduced.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.240-248
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• 2016

Objectives: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) adversely impacts food security in households of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Little research has focused on food insecurity among PLWHA in India. The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of and factors relating to food security in households of PLWHA in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was carried out among 173 PLWHA residing in Siliguri and registered at the Anti-retroviral Therapy Centre of North Bengal Medical College & Hospital. Data was collected at the household level with interviews of PLWHA using a food security survey instrument. We analyzed the associations using logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of household food security among the participants was 50.9% (88/173). Five years or more of schooling, higher socioeconomic class and males were found to be significantly associated with a higher likelihood of food security. A later stage of the disease and the presence of other family members with HIV/AIDS were significantly associated with a lower likelihood of food security. The major coping strategies to deal with food insecurity in the acute phase HIV infection included borrowing money (56.1%), followed by spousal support, loans from microfinance institutions, banks, or money lenders, borrowing food, or selling agricultural products. Conclusions: The present study revealed that only about half of households with PLWHA were food secure. Prior interventions relating to periods of food and economic crisis as well as strategies for sustaining food security and economic status are needed in this area.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1361-1374
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• 2010

The impact of urbanization on local meteorology (e.g., surface temperature, PBL height, wind speed, etc.) in the Greater Seoul Area (GSA) was quantitatively evaluated based on a numerical modeling approach during a 1-month period of 2001 (9 Sep. through 8 Oct. 2001). The analysis was carried out by two sets of simulation scenarios: (1) with the global land use and topographic data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1990s (i.e., LU-USGS case) and (2) with the land use data from the Environmental Geographic Information System (EGIS) along with the 3 sec elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in 2000s (i.e., LU-EGIS case). The extension of urban areas in the GSA (especially, the southern parts of Seoul) accounted for 1.8% in the LU-USGS case and 6.2% in the LU-EGIS case. For the simulations, the surface temperature and PBL height due to urbanization in the LU-EGIS case was higher (the differences of up to $0.1^{\circ}C$ and 36 m, respectively) than those in the LU-USGS case, whereas the wind speed (up to 0.3 $ms^{-1}$) in the former was lower than that in the latter at 1500 LST. The increase in surface temperature due to urbanization in the GSA (especially, the southern parts of Seoul) was led to the strong convergence of air masses, causing the early sea breeze and its rapid propagation to inland locations. In addition, the vertical mixing motion in the extended urban areas for the LU-EGIS case was predicted to be stronger than that for the LU-USGS case and vice versa for the original urban areas.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1017-1035
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• 2018

The European Union (EU) is the world's third largest producer of beef. This contributes to the economy, rural development, social life, culture and gastronomy of Europe. The diversity of breeds, animal types (cows, bulls, steers, heifers) and farming systems (intensive, extensive on permanent or temporary pastures, mixed, breeders, feeders, etc) is a strength, and a weakness as the industry is often fragmented and poorly connected. There are also societal concerns regarding animal welfare and environmental issues, despite some positive environmental impacts of farming systems. The EU is amongst the most efficient for beef production as demonstrated by a relative low production of greenhouse gases. Due to regional differences in terms of climate, pasture availability, livestock practices and farms characteristics, productivity and incomes of beef producers vary widely across regions, being among the lowest of the agricultural systems. The beef industry is facing unprecedented challenges related to animal welfare, environmental impact, origin, authenticity, nutritional benefits and eating quality of beef. These may affect the whole industry, especially its farmers. It is therefore essential to bring the beef industry together to spread best practice and better exploit research to maintain and develop an economically viable and sustainable beef industry. Meeting consumers' expectations may be achieved by a better prediction of beef palatability using a modelling approach, such as in Australia. There is a need for accurate information and dissemination on the benefits and issues of beef for human health and for environmental impact. A better objective description of goods and services derived from livestock farming is also required. Putting into practice "agroecology" and organic farming principles are other potential avenues for the future. Different future scenarios can be written depending on the major driving forces, notably meat consumption, climate change, environmental policies and future organization of the supply chain.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2010

Ammonia ($NH_3$) is an important pollutant that plays a key role in several air pollution problems. It can create odors and have negative impacts on animal and human health. The largest source contributing to Ammonia emission is the agricultural production, in particular animal operation, in Korea. The present study evaluated flux profiles of Ammonia emitted from the cattle housing using a dynamic flux chamber. We have developed the emission factor of Ammonia from the cow housing. Analysis of Ammonia flux variation was made with respect to manure surface temperature, pH, and ammonium concentration. Ammonia has been measured from calf and cattle housing between October and December in 2007. In the fall, average Ammonia flux from calf and cattle housing was estimated 1.342(${\pm}0.728$) and 1.323(${\pm}0.655$)mg/$m^2$/min, respectively. In the winter, average Ammonia flux was estimated 0.889(${\pm}0.362$)mg/$m^2$/min from the calf housing and 0.925(${\pm}0.511$)mg/$m^2$/min from the cattle housing. The correlation coefficient between Ammonia flux and ammonium concentration showed stronger relationship than the relationship between manure pH and temperature. In the fall, Ammonia emission factor from calf and cattle housing was estimated 4.46(${\pm}2.39$) and 6.03(${\pm}3.27$)kg-$NH_3$/animal/yr, respectively. In the winter, average Ammonia flux was estimated 2.88(${\pm}1.53$) from the calf housing and 4.24({$\pm}1.63$)kg-$NH_3$/animal/yr from the cattle housing.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.67-79
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• 2016

The forecasting of air pollution is an important and popular topic in environmental engineering. Due to health impacts caused by unacceptable particulate matter (PM) levels, it has become one of the greatest concerns in metropolitan cities like Karaj City in Iran. In this study, the concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ was predicted by applying a multilayer percepteron (MLP) neural network, a radial basis function (RBF) neural network and a Markov chain model. Two months of hourly data including temperature, NO, $NO_2$, $NO_x$, CO, $SO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ were used as inputs to the artificial neural networks. From 1,488 data, 1,300 of data was used to train the models and the rest of the data were applied to test the models. The results of using artificial neural networks indicated that the models performed well in predicting $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations. The application of a Markov chain described the probable occurrences of unhealthy hours. The MLP neural network with two hidden layers including 19 neurons in the first layer and 16 neurons in the second layer provided the best results. The coefficient of determination ($R^2$), Index of Agreement (IA) and Efficiency (E) between the observed and the predicted data using an MLP neural network were 0.92, 0.93 and 0.981, respectively. In the MLP neural network, the MBE was 0.0546 which indicates the adequacy of the model. In the RBF neural network, increasing the number of neurons to 1,488 caused the RMSE to decline from 7.88 to 0.00 and caused $R^2$ to reach 0.93. In the Markov chain model the absolute error was 0.014 which indicated an acceptable accuracy and precision. We concluded the probability of occurrence state duration and transition of $PM_{2.5}$ pollution is predictable using a Markov chain method.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.7-25
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• 1991

Until now, pure drinking water grnerally menas the water without taste, odor, general bacteria, coliform, and other exotic substance. Such a definition has been changing recently due to the finding of numerous other inorganic and organic substances unknown to us. 10 years ago, major causes of death were infectious agents and parasites contained in water, but recently, it has become apparent that some substances contained in drinking water cause cancer and heart diseases. We must drink about 2L of water everyday in order to maintain healthy condition. Waters used for drinking include tap water, well water, spring water, filtered water, etc., but the quality of drinking water has more polluted due to the industrial development and population increase. For example, industrial waste waters from industrial plants pollute the water supply sources ; toxic substances contained in the waste waters pollute the ground water sources by penetrating the geological strata, and municipal, livestock, public building waste waters also pollute the water supply sources. Sometimes, the polluted surface waters were announced to be polluted by various kinds of orgainc substance, and it is reported that the pollution of ground water by orga nic substances has few in number but high in its concectration comparing with those of surface water. As the water quality pollution level increases, so the amount of disinfectant also increase. For example, chlorine solution, one of widely used disinfectants, creates trihalomethane(THM), a carcinogen, and halogen compounds. According to Oliver, through chlorine disinfection process, humine substance and chlorine create bolatile organic halide and nonvolatile organic halide by chemical reaction. There are tens or hundreds filtering devices, but filtering principles and maintenance metjhods are different, so their efficiency tests are needed. According to Smith, the effeciency tests aginst over 30 Ameican filtering devices show that 10 devices can remove 85% of volatile organics and further studies on filtered waters are underway. In consideration of important impacts of polluted drinking water on national health, authors studied the state of water quality pollution against tap water used as drinking water, filtration device passed water, ground water, and conserved drinking water ; tested the efficiency of filtration devices for tap water ; tried to sep up the detection method by using ion chromatography based on negative ion and positive ion by using single column, and attemped the simple filtration method for general households.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.181-208
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• 2010

Maternity services is often perceived as a troublesome business and obstetric litigation is on the increase in Western countries. Overall, the number of claim and cost of litigation to the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) from maternity services in the UK is increasing every year. Maternity services account for 60-70% of the total sum paid. This has widespread implications for both the individual practitioners and the institutions where they work, due to increasing malpractice insurance premiums. Fear of litigation is also attracting fewer medical graduates into the specialty, leading to a recruitment crisis in obstetrics and gynaecology. The litigation process can cause pain, suffering and distress to clinicians as well as to the patients and their families. Litigation in maternity services is the result of a complex of events when malpractice (presumed or real) impacts on the attitude of pregnant women and their environment. In such complexity, information is mandatory but may often be misinterpreted. If messages are not tailored to the receiver's capacity, communicating well with the pregnant patient becomes crucial. Therefore, to reduce medicallegal issues in obstetrics, increasing attention and an applicable standard of obstetric care to avoid negligence and medical errors should go along with other measures. Considering UK's experiences, NHS redress scheme make it easier to pursue small claims and birth related claims, without necessarily reducing the number of claims processed through the conventional legal system and perhaps encouraging even more of them. The task of dealing with the greater number of inquiries into their practice would inevitably create an added burden for clinicians and hospital managers. Thus further proposals are required to limit the cost of processing inflated claims and to consider whether clinicians should be given some protection from litigation alleging a failure to prevent birth related impairment.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2017

Objective: The prevalence rate of osteoarthritis in Koreans aged 50 years or older is 14.3%, and the total amount of medical costs is more than KRW 1 trillion. Recently, the reimbursement guidelines for osteoarthritis treatment have changed. Methods: In this study, we sought to describe prescription patterns of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and gastro-protective agent (GPA) and analyze the clinical and economic impacts of the new policy using the national health insurance claims data. The incidence of upper gastrointestinal adverse event by policy change was identified through the odds ratio, and changes in medicine and medical costs related to osteoarthritis through mean and median. Results: There were 204,552 patients before the reimbursement guidelines relaxation and 239,710 after it, a 17.2% rise. The prescription ratio was 3.3% for the patients prescribed with COX-2 selective NSAIDs alone and 1.3% for those with both COX-2 selective NSAIDs and GPA combination before the reimbursement guidelines relaxation. The reimbursement guidelines relaxation significantly increased their ratios to 6.9% and 2.8%, respectively. Gastrointestinal adverse events significantly reduced by 1.21%p after reimbursement guidelines relaxation. The average medicine cost per person increased significantly to KRW 140,291 from KRW 137,323 after the reimbursement guidelines relaxation, while the average medical cost per person slightly decreased from KRW 311,605 to KRW 310,755 after the relaxation, showing no meaningful difference. Conclusion: The reimbursement guidelines relaxation may influence on decreasing the upper gastrointestinal adverse event, increasing the medicine costs and maintaining the medical costs for osteoarthritis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.30 no.6 s.154
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• pp.829-839
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• 2006

Sustainable development is generally defined as an approach that 'meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' (World Commission on Environment and Development: WCED, 1987, p. 43). The sustainable development is a holistic concept that encompasses three aspects: environmental protection, economic development, and social contribution. From the sustainable development perspective, environmental management must consider contributions to other economic and social aspects. In this sense, it differs from narrowed environmental management which focuses on only environmental impacts, and a well-being concept in Korea that mainly appeals to health. Recently, leading apparel firms, such as Nike, Otto, and Marks & Spencer, are increasingly adopting the environmental management to achieve the future competitive advantage. The environmental management can be achieved through integrated supply chain management. Despite of flowing importance of environmental supply chain management in practice, academic attention to this area has been seriously lacking. This study regards the environmental management by the sustainable development perspective as a solution for Korean apparel firms to solve their current sluggish growth. The purpose of this study was to provide Korean apparel firms with guidelines toward the environmental management based on extensive literature reviews and case studies. The paper started with two important research frameworks, the sustainable development and the environmental supply chain. Within the frameworks, the leading cases of the environmental management of Korean and foreign apparel firms were analyzed. Both macroscopic and microscopic applications of the environmental supply chain management for Korean apparel firms were suggested based on the analyses.