• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.513-527
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to verify the effect of senior simulation on geriatric unit nurses' attitude and job satisfaction toward the elderly with one group pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study were the 30 nurses who are working in geriatric units in a general hospital in Daegu, Korea and who were well informed about the purpose of this study and allowed to join the study. The data were collected from August 23 to September 6, 2006. The experimental procedure was to do activities for daily living for 45 minutes wearing senior simulation suit. Self administered questionnaires were used to ask the nurses' attitude toward the elderly and job satisfaction in their work before, right after, and one week after senior simulation. According to the results of this study, there were significant changes in the geriatric nurses' attitude toward the elderly and job satisfaction after aging simulation implying that senior simulation is an effective intervention to facilitate nurses to do quality care for the elderly with sympathetic understanding and attitude. Senior simulation needs to be applied to geriatric education for the nursing students and health care providers who are involved in care for the elderly.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.529-546
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• 2009

Depression in old age not only is prevalent but also causes a considerable amount of burden in physical, psychosocial, and economic terms. Intervention, however, is often delayed due to the understanding that considers depressive symptoms as a normal process of aging or signs of physical illnesses. Since the recognition of symptoms often initiate one's help seeking process, a correct identification of symptoms can contribute to early detection and intervention to depression in oneself as well as in others. This study interviewed 104 older adults living in an urban area, and explored their ability to correctly identify depressive symptoms and factors related to identification. The study results show that respondents who were able to correctly identify symptoms of depression were only 14%, and the rest defined the symptoms as social, economic, and other psychological issues. Of the factors in the logistic regression model, age being 75 and over and mass media as source of mental health information affected negatively their ability to correctly identify symptoms; mental health education programs affected positively their ability. Based on these results, it is suggested that such strategies as employing a face-to-face provision of concrete information and counseling can be more effective than delivering information via large-scale lectures. Additionally, a future research deems necessary to conduct an in-depth examination of mental health/illness-related contents on mass media.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.179-189
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• 2023

Korea's port development adjusts the completion time and size of port facilities according to the future port throughput. The current port development system, which is referred to as "throughput-linked port development (Trigger Rule)", has received positive evaluation for efficiently executing the limited port development budget. Recently concerns have been growing over deteriorating service levels in port facilities in Korea due to accelerated aging of terminal facilities. However, the current port development system does not possess any standard for assessing the level of service and utilizing development indicators. The purpose of this paper is to calculate the Port Service Index (PSI) by selecting indicators to measure the Level of Service (LOS) of ports and deriving weights between the indicators, so that the current "throughput-linked port development (Trigger Rule)" can be linked with the level of service. Based on the result of analysis on a variety of preceding studies, the ship waiting rate, berth productivity, ship turnaround time and ship productivity were selected as four indicators to constitute the Port Service Index. The AHP and entropy methodologies were used to derive weights for each of four indicators which were later combined to calculate the comprehensive weight. The calculation formula of the Port Service Index (PSI) was derived by using the aggregated weights of each indicator, based on which the LOS of domestic container and bulk terminals were evaluated and this measurement result was divided into 6 classes to define each LOS. This paper contributes to draw the improvement measures for port development system that are able to connect the quantitative indicator of throughput, as well as a qualitative indicator of the level of "service".

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.480-494
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• 2023

Objectives: This study sought to assess the effectiveness of community-based nutrition counseling on improving nutritional status, managing complex chronic diseases, and enhancing the quality of life for elderly individuals with chronic conditions, particularly in older adults with high levels of food insecurity and multiple chronic illnesses. Methods: Thirty elderly subjects with diabetes and hypertension who were registered at local Senior Welfare Center received individualized nutrition counseling, based on their Nutrition Quotient for the Elderly (NQ-E) index. Over a 16-week period, they received tailored counseling and underwent various health and nutritional assessments. The final analysis included 28 participants after two dropped out. Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS v28.0. Results: The subjects were over 70, with multiple chronic diseases including diabetes and hypertension and predominantly female. After 16 weeks, significant improvements were observed in the subjects' grip strength, and HbA1c levels, as well as in their NQ-E scores, indicating improved dietary balance and diversity. There were no significant improvements in the 'Moderation' subdomain of the NQ-E index, suggesting that this aspect requires further attention in nutritional counseling. The subjects' nutritional risk scores (NSI) were also significantly decreased, indicating less nutritional risk. Lastly, as measured by the SF-36K, the subjects' quality of life showed significant improvement in several domains including physical role performance and social function. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that tailored nutrition counseling, based on the NQ-E index, can improve elderly health, manage chronic diseases, and enhance quality of life. This approach potentially broadens the scope of community nutritionists' roles within an aging society. However, additional research is necessary to evaluate these interventions' long-term effects and sustainability.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.282-295
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• 2023

Background: Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) protects tissues from proteases and promotes cell proliferation and healing. SLPI also reduces periodontal inflammation and alveolar bone resorption by inhibiting proinflammatory cytokine expression in rat periodontal tissues and osteoblasts. However, little is known of the role of SLPI in the expression of osteoclast regulatory factors from osteoblasts, which are crucial for the interaction between osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Therefore, we aimed to determine the effects of SLPI on the regulation of osteoclasts and osteoblasts in LPS-treated alveolar bone and osteoblasts. Methods: Periodontitis was induced in rats using LPS. After each LPS injection, SLPI was injected into the same area. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed with antibodies against SLPI, RANKL, OPG, and Runx2 in the periodontal tissue. RT-PCR and western blotting were performed to determine the expression levels of SLPI, RANKL, OPG, and Runx2 in LPS- and SLPI/LPS-treated MC3T3-E1 cells. SLPI/LPS-treated MC3T3-E1 cells were also stained with Alizarin Red S. Results: Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the expression levels of SLPI, OPG, and Runx2 were higher while that of RANKL was lower in the LPS/SLPI group relative to those in the LPS group. The mRNA and protein expression of SLPI, OPG, and Runx2 was higher in SLPI/LPS/MC3T3-E1 cells than in LPS/MC3T3-E1 cells, and RANKL expression was lower. During differentiation, OPG and Runx2 protein levels were higher whereas RANKL levels were lower in SLPI/LPS/MC3T3-E1 than in LPS/MC3T3-E1 cells on days 0, 4, 7, and 10. In addition, mineralization and matrix deposition were higher in SLPI/LPS/MC3T3-E1 than in LPS/MC3T3-E1 on days 7 and 10. SLPI decreased RANKL expression in LPS-treated alveolar bone and osteoblasts but increased the expression of OPG and Runx2. Conclusion: SLPI can be considered as a regulatory molecule that indirectly regulates osteoclast activation via osteoblasts and promotes osteoblast differentiation.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.100-107
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• 2024

Currently, in Korea, due to the rapid aging and deterioration of facilities, the minimum Maintenance Level and Performance Level' of facilities are required by the 'Facility Safety Act' or 'Infrastructure Management Act'. Since infrastructure assets have a long lifespan and the pattern of deterioration over time is complex, it is very difficult to maintain infrastructure as 'minimum maintenance state' or 'minimum performance state' by the current way of management. 'Asset Management' shall be performed not only by a technical perspective, but also by an accounting perspective such as cost and asset value. However, due to lack of awareness of 'asset management' among stakeholder, only technical perspective management is being carried out in practice. In order to effectively manage infrastructure assets, complex consideration of various asset value factors such as budget and service as well as safety and durability are required. In this paper, we presented a theory to evaluate and quantify the road network value for efficient asset management of the road network. We also presented a method of simulation to apply the theory presented in this paper. Through simulation and the results derived from this study, it is possible to specify the budget for the future national asset management, and to optimize the strategy for the management of old road facilities.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.479-493
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• 2023

The need for safety management has arisen due to the increasing number of years of operated underground structures, such as tunnels and utility tunnels, and accidents caused by those aging infrastructures. However, in the case of privately managed underground utility ducts, there is a lack of detailed guidelines for facility safety and maintenance, resulting in inadequate safety management. Furthermore, the absence of basic design information and the limited space for safety assessments make applying currently used non-destructive testing methods challenging. Therefore, this study suggests non-destructive inspection methods using ultrasonic and impact-echo techniques to assess the quality of underground structures. Thickness, presence of rebars, depth of rebars, and the presence and depth of internal defects are assessed to provide fundamental data for the safety assessment of box-type general underground structures. To validate the proposed methodology, different conditions of concrete specimens are designed and cured to simulate actual field conditions. Applying ultrasonic and impact signals and collecting data through multi-channel accelerometers determine the thickness of the simulated specimens, the depth of embedded rebar, and the extent of defects. The predicted results are well agreed upon compared with actual measurements. The proposed methodology is expected to contribute to developing safety diagnostic methods applicable to general underground structures in practical field conditions.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.24-33
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• 2024

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate individual- and community-level factors on suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among Korean adults. Methods : This study was conducted on 225,965 adults collected through data from the 2021 Community Health Survey and the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS). The general characteristics, suicidal behavior (e.g., suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts), and community-level characteristics of the study subjects were analyzed using frequency (%) and mean (standard deviation). The effects on individual- and community-level factors on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts was analyzed using multilevel logistic regression models. Results : The community-level factor associated with suicidal ideation was unmet health care (Odds Ratio [OR]=1.053, 95% CI=1.035-1.071), and the community-level factor associated with suicide attempt was the aging rate (OR=1.015, 95% CI=1.001-1.030). Regarding health-related variables, the individual-level factors associated with suicidal ideation were stress status (OR=9.388, 95% CI=8.629-10.213), depressive experience in the past year (OR=6.737, 95% CI=6.454-7.032), and the predominantly individual-level factors associated with suicide attempt were also stress status (OR=5.213, 95% CI=3.699-7.347), and depressive experience in the last one year (OR=13.433, 95% CI: 11.247-16.044). Conclusions : We confirmed individual-level and community-level factors influencing suicidal ideation and suicide attempt. Through these findings, we need to establish suicide prevention policies, considering managing individual-level factors such as stress and depression as well as community-level factors such as unmet health care.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.139-161
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• 2018

As Korea became one of the oldest countries in the world, successful aging emerged as an important issue to individuals as well as to society. This study aims to determine not only the Korean seniors' happiness and unhappiness factors but also the means to enhance their happiness and deal with unhappiness. We collected news articles related to the happiness and unhappiness of seniors with nine keywords based on Alderfer's ERG Theory. We then applied a topic modeling technique, Latent Dirichlet Allocation, to examine the main issues underlying the seniors' happiness and unhappiness. According to the analysis, we investigated the conditions of happiness and unhappiness by inspecting the topics based on each keyword. We also conducted a detailed analysis based on the main factors from topic modeling. We proposed specific ways to increase and overcome the happiness and unhappiness of seniors, respectively, in terms of government, corporate, family, and other social welfare organizations. This study indicates the major factors that affect the happiness and unhappiness of seniors. Specific methods to boost happiness and relief unhappiness are suggested from the additional analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2024

Through the development of construction technology, various construction projects such as redevelopment projects, undergrounding of roads, expansion of subways, and metro railways are being carried out. However, this has led to an increase in the number of construction projects in existing urban centers and neighborhoods, resulting in an increase in the number of damages and disputes between neighboring buildings and residents, as well as an increase in safety accidents due to the aging of existing buildings. In this study, digital data was applied to a graphics program to objectify the progress of cracks by comparing the creation of cracks and the increase in length and width through photographic images and presenting the degree of cracks numerically. Through the application of the program, the error caused by the subjective judgment of crack change, which was mentioned as a shortcoming of the existing field survey, was solved. It is expected that the program can be used universally in the building diagnosis process by improving its reliability if supplemented and improved in the process of use. As a follow-up study, it is necessary to apply the extraction algorithm of the digital graphic data program to calculate the length and width of the crack by itself without human intervention in the preprocessing work and to check the overall change of the building.