Seoul Metropolitan City Research Articles

The Effects of Marital Status of Hair and Beauty Industry Workers on Strategies to Cope with Violence and Resilience

Workers in the customer service industry including hair and beauty industry workers and department store employees are recently dealing with an increasing need for the supply of excessive services by companies as well as unreasonable demands from consumers. As such, service industry workers who deal with customers are going through not only physical but also verbal and emotional abuse. This study discusses the influences of violence experiences of hair and beauty industry workers on their resilience, an ability to recover, associated with individual characteristics. For such purpose, a total of 247 structured questionnaires obtained from a face-to-face survey of male and female hair and beauty industry workers in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s from Gangbuk and Gangnam District of Seoul Metropolitan City on the influences of experiences of violence from customers on resilience were analyzed. The purpose of this study is to test the influences of violence experiences of hair and beauty industry workers on resilience in association with their general characteristics, and thus analysis of collected data was performed by frequency analysis, testing of reliability with Cronbach's alpha, descriptive statistics, t-test, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis in SPSS 21.0. The results of this study on violence experiences of hair and beauty industry workers associated with general characteristics suggested that, with respect to age, people in their 20s and 30s had a higher level of internal violence experiences than those in their 40s. As to marital status, married people were found to have a higher level of violence experiences than unmarried people. Married people also showed a higher level of resilience associated with general characteristics than unmarried people, which seems the consequence of differences in their ability to communicate with customers and cope with their work based on their career. Therefore, this study implies that there is a need for the utilization of various educational programs which can help hair and beauty industry workers develop their ability to recover by themselves, as well as protection from their work environment and improvements in their relationships with superiors or colleagues in the workplace due to the nature of hair and beauty industry. Keywords: Hair and beauty industry workers; resilience; verbal abuse; violence experience

공동주택 저층부 식재배치 계획에 따른 미세먼지 저감 효과 분석 : 서울시 리모델링 공동주택 실증단지를 중심으로

Purpose: In Korea, since industrialization through compressed growth in the 1970s, population growth and urban concentration have emerged, resulting in a variety of environmental problems. Among them, fine dust has recently been recognized as a serious environmental problem, raising its risk and alertness. In the construction sector, pedestrian-first outer space was planned in low-rise areas to remodel sustainable apartment complexes. This method is the right way to create a pleasant external environment in an apartment house by creating an open space and recording in an external space. Method: In this study, a study was conducted on the arrangement of low-rise plants to reduce fine dust in one apartment complex where remodeling was conducted. Trees those are effective in reducing fine dust have the ability to absorb fine dust and settle fine dust when it rains. In particular, conifers were found to have better performance than broad-leaved trees. We selected two types of conifers and set up an equation for how much fine dust remains depending on the planting density. Result: The conclusions of the study are as follows. First, the microclimate environment was improved due to changes in the low-rise space when remodeling old apartments. Second, the rate of fine dust removal in the complex was found to be effective when setting up trees and shrubs as coniferous trees that are excellent for reducing fine dust. Third, if the wind speed is maintained at a certain speed, it is excellent for reducing fine dust. This study is meaningful in suggesting the right external space landscaping measures in the Seoul Metropolitan City Remodeling Policy Direction, which will make the low-rise a pedestrian-centered nature-friendly space when remodeling old apartments in the future.

PENGEMBANGAN EKONOMI KREATIF SEBAGAI PARADIPLOMASI KOTA METROPOLITAN SEOUL

Seoul Metropolitan City is one of the metropolitan cities in South Korea, which able to perceive its interest with self-government in international activities. Seoul Metropolitan City government has implemented paradiplomacy to develop its creative economy which is limited to aspects of music, drama, and fashion. This article uses qualitative methods with literature studies to support the required data. This article also seeks to describe the paradiplomacy carried out by the Seoul Metropolitan City government with self-government in a unitary state with a literature review covering transgovernmentalism, foreign relations, paradiplomacy, and creative economy. Besides, the authors also argue that the Seoul Metropolitan City government could optimize its potential with policies or actions taken by the Seoul Metropolitan City government on the aspects of music, drama, and fashion towards the global public.

Seasonal Abundance of Culicoides at Yongsan US Army Garrison (USAG) and Camp Humphreys USAG, Republic of Korea, 2010-2013 and 2014-2017.

Biting midges (Culicoides: Ceratopogonidae) were collected using New Jersey light traps at Yongsan US Army Garrison (USAG;urban), Seoul Metropolitan city and Camp Humphreys USAG (rural), Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do (province), Republic of Korea, from May-October 2010–2013 and 2015–2017, to determine species composition and seasonal distribution patterns in urban and rural habitats. A total of 9,958 female (53.85%) and 8,533 male (46.15%) Culicoides comprising 16 species were collected. Overall, the most commonly collected species was Culicoides arakawae (74.3%), followed by C. circumscriptus (16.2%), C. kibunensis (2.5%), C. nasuensis (2.2%), C. clavipalpis (1.4%), and C. pallidulus (1.3%), while the remaining 10 species accounted for <2.1% of all Culicoides spp. collected. The 2 predominant species collected were C. circumscriptus (47.4%) and C. arakawae (33.4%) at Yongsan, and C. arakawae (90.4%) and C. circumscriptus (3.9%) at Camp Humphreys. The seasonal abundance of these 2 species varied between years and between sites but on average peaked in August–September for C. arakawae and June–July for C. circumscriptus. Annual variations in abundance were observed for most species collected during this study. Unusually high proportions of male specimens were observed for most species at both sites which may be due to the use of the New Jersey trap.

Relationship Between Urban Decline and Walking Trips by Trip Purpose in Seoul Metropolitan City: Focused on Urban Decline Index

Relationship Between Urban Decline and Walking Trips by Trip Purpose in Seoul Metropolitan City: Focused on Urban Decline Index

Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Policy in South Korea on the Reduction of Preterm or Low Birth Weight Birth Rate: A Single Center Experience.

The government of South Korea implemented social distancing measures to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. This study aimed to compare the composite preterm (PT) or low birth weight (LBW) birth rates during the COVID-19 pandemic period in South Korea to those during the prior decade, and to find out the associations of childbirth during the pandemic period with PT or LBW births. Over a ten-year period, this retrospective cohort study was performed in a single hospital in the Seoul metropolitan city. The COVID-19 period was defined as running from 22 March 2020, to 31 October 2020, and the pre-COVID-19 period as the sum of parallel periods from 2011 to 2019. Trends in composite birth rates were investigated, and logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate independent factors associated with composite births. There were 246 and 2765 singleton deliveries during the COVID-19 period and the pre-COVID-19 period, respectively. The composite birth rate decreased from 16.5% to 9.8%. Childbirth during the pandemic was independently associated with a decreased composite birth rate (adjusted odds ratio, 0.563; 95% confidence interval, 0.355−0.844, p = 0.015). These findings suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic might provide an opportunity to find out preventive factors for PT or LBW births.

Analysing the injury severity characteristics of urban elderly drivers’ traffic accidents through the generalised ordered logit model: A case of Seoul, South Korea

As ageing population is growing faster, traffic accidents involving elderly drivers become a serious social problem in South Korea. The present study aims to examine the impact of environmental characteristics on the injury severity of accidents involving elderly drivers in Seoul, South Korea. To achieve the purpose, the study divided elderly drivers into the following two groups: young-elderly drivers aged 65–69 years and middle- and old-aged drivers over 69 years old. The study also analysed non-elderly drivers aged 30 to 64 years as the comparative group. The study used the generalised ordered logit model, which is widely used to analyse data with ordinal scales. The findings from the study draw attention to the fact that (1) the characteristics of traffic accidents by injury severity considerably differed by age group. (2) risk of accident severity involving elderly drivers increase in areas with heavy traffic volumes and facilities that may create a complex driving condition to elderly drivers, (3) since elderly drivers tend to require longer response time with impaired vision under complex driving environment, it increased the risk of traffic accidents that older drivers face a higher risk of fatal injuries than younger counterparts. Thus, in order to reduce traffic accidents involving elderly drivers, the traffic safety policies should take environmental characteristics as well as the human factor concerning elderly drivers’ difficulties because of ageing and longer cognitive response time. This study contributes to the research in traffic accidents involving elderly drivers in that not only the accident characteristics (human factors, road condition, weather), mostly used for traffic accident analysis, but also environmental factors concerning the urban characteristics of Seoul Metropolitan City were analysed to compare the risk of traffic accidents and accident severity by age groups.

Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea

BackgroundThe complete contact tracing of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) cases in South Korea allows a unique opportunity to investigate cluster characteristics. This study aimed to investigate all reported COVID-19 clusters in the Seoul metropolitan area from January 23 to September 24, 2020. MethodsPublicly available COVID-19 data was collected from the Seoul Metropolitan City and Gyeonggi Province. Community clusters with ≥5 cases were characterized by size and duration, categorized using K-means clustering, and the correlation between the types of clusters and the level of social distancing investigated. ResultsA total of 134 clusters comprised of 4033 cases were identified. The clusters were categorized into small (type I and II), medium (type III), and large (type IV) clusters. A comparable number of daily reported cases in different time periods were composed of different types of clusters. Increased social distancing was related to a shift from large to small-sized clusters. ConclusionsClassification of clusters may provide opportunities to understand the pattern of COVID-19 outbreaks better and implement more effective suppression strategies. Social distancing administered by the government may effectively suppress large clusters but may not effectively control small and sporadic clusters.

A Study on Cremated Bodies Types at Public Cremation Facilities of Metropolitan Cities that Using E-Haneul Funeral Information System

We studies show that ratio of corpse among cremated bodies in public cremation facilities in metropolitan cities using E-Haneul funeral information system is average 90.1%, which is high, in bigger metropolitan cities with over 2 million of population (Incheon, Busan, and Daegu), but is average 81.4%, which is relatively low, in smaller metropolitan cities with less than 2 million of population(Daejeon, Gwangju, and Ulsan). In addition, the cremated bodies ratio of opening remains is average 17.4% in smaller metropolitan cities with less than 2 million of population, but is average 8.9% in those with over 2 million of population, which is relatively low. Finally, the cremated bodies ratio of dead fetuses is average 1.2% in smaller metropolitan cities with less than 2 million of population, and average 1.0% in those with over 2 million of population, which is low. Based on the above result, we are the following suggestions to improve the effectiveness of funeral facility use by the increase of demand for public cremation facilities in metropolitan cities. First, Busan and Daegu, where the shortage of supply is expected due to the increase of demand for cremation of corpse, need to implement supply expansion policy of public cremation facilities to build or expand cremation furnaces. Second, Daejeon, Gwangju, and Ulsan, where the cremated bodies ratio of corpse is low, need to expand supply through expanded operation from existing 4~8 cremation numbers of public cremation facilities to 11 cremation numbers, which is the level of Seoul Metropolitan City. Third, there should be cremation furnaces exclusively for opening remains to prepare the increase of demand for opening remains in the years with leap month.

Efficiency in reducing air pollutants and healthcare expenditure in the Seoul Metropolitan City of South Korea

This study analyzes efficiency in the reduction of air pollutants and the associated healthcare costs using a stochastic frontier cost function panel data approach. For the empirical analysis, we use monthly data covering 25 districts in the Seoul metropolitan city of South Korea observed over the period January 2010 to December 2017. Our results show large variations in air pollution and healthcare costs across districts and over time and their efficiency in reducing air pollutants. The study concludes that efforts are needed to apply the World Health Organization’s air quality standards for designing and implementing location-specific customized policies for improving the level of air quality and its equal distribution, provision of health services, and improved efficiency in improving air quality standards. The study identifies a number of determinants of air pollutants and efficiency enhancement which provide useful pointers for policymakers for addressing the current environmental problems in South Korea.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Cases at Universities and Colleges in Seoul Metropolitan Area.

BackgroundTo facilitate evidence-based policy-making on safe reopening of higher education facilities, there is an urgent need to assess baseline profile of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) incidents within the university/college settings. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 in universities/colleges in Seoul Metropolitan Area during COVID-19 pandemic period.MethodsAmong the 38 universities in Seoul, 23 have agreed to participate in the study. Confirmed COVID-19 cases were identified from individual-level case reports submitted to the universities and to the health authorities from February 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. Through the linkage with the Central Disease Control Headquarters' database, number of secondary infected cases (both within and outside of the campus) were counted.ResultsBetween February 2020 and June 2021, a total of 827 COVID-19 cases were confirmed and reported in the universities across Seoul Metropolitan City. Generally, the community-associated cases had peaks preceding the university/college-associated. Of those with the documented clinical parameters, 38.6% of the cases were asymptomatic. Among them, 93% were potentially exposed off-campus, and 87.7% of the cases had not produced the secondary infection cases.ConclusionIn the setting of rigorous infection prevention measures in combination with on- and off- hybrid classes, COVID-19 incidences and outbreaks were limited in university and college campus area across Seoul Metropolitan Area. The evidence around the infection preventive measures in higher education facilities in Seoul Metropolitan Area, suggest insignificant impact on community transmission.

Big data project management by agile approach: in the case of the Seoul Metropolitan City Owl Bus

Big data project management by agile approach: in the case of the Seoul Metropolitan City Owl Bus

편의보정된 고해상도 다중지역기후모델을 이용한 서울의 미래 기후변화 불확실성 추정

This study analyzed future projections on daily mean values and extremes for temperature and daily precipitation over Seoul metropolitan city using bias-corrected high-resolution multi-regional climate models. The factors of uncertainty for the future projection of climate variables were defined. In the time series analysis of future projections for regional climate models, the average daily temperature and the number of days of the hot day-hot night were predicted to have a stable trend in the RCP2.6 scenario, and showed a tendency to increase continuously in the RCP8.5 scenario. The daily mean precipitation and RX1day (annual daily maximum precipitation) had large annual variabilities in the models. In the estimation of the fraction of total variance, the daily mean temperature was dominated by the internal variability in the early 21st century and the most contributing to the scenario uncertainty in the late 21st century. The daily mean precipitation showed a remarkable contribution from the internal variability over the entire period. The number of days of the hot day-hot night showed a similar contribution pattern to that of the daily mean temperature. For the RX1day, the internal variability dominated over the entire period, and the scenario uncertainty had little contribution. This study will help establish more scientific climate change adaptation policies by providing the uncertainty information for future climate change projection.

Spatial-seasonal variations and source identification of volatile organic compounds using passive air samplers in the metropolitan city of Seoul, South Korea

The large emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an important environmental issue in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. However, the spatial distribution of VOC emissions has not yet been clearly revealed. In this study, passive air samplers (PASs) were seasonally deployed to measure 50 VOCs at 26 urban, 4 road, and 6 background sites in Seoul. Among the target compounds, toluene (summer: 8.72 μg/m3; winter: 5.47 μg/m3), ethyl acetate (summer: 2.36 μg/m3; winter: 3.51 μg/m3), and ethylbenzene (summer: 1.72 μg/m3; winter: 0.88 μg/m3) exhibited higher mean concentrations than other compounds. Printing offices and industrial facilities seem to have strong influences on the VOC levels in the center and southwest of Seoul, respectively. Diagnostic ratios indicated that the main sources of VOCs were related to local volatilization in summer and vehicular exhaust and transport from other areas in winter. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) suggested four major sources of VOCs: residential/commercial solvents for printing and painting (Factor 1); transport from other areas (Factor 2); industrial solvents for painting, manufacturing, and cleaning (Factor 3); and gasoline/diesel vehicular exhausts (Factor 4). Factors 1 and 3 were dominant in summer, and Factors 2 and 4 were dominant in winter. In conclusion, the seasonal meteorological conditions (e.g., temperature and wind patterns) were found to play an important role in the spatial distribution of VOCs in Seoul, and solvent use was a predominant source.

The Effect of Job Satisfaction of Privately Opened Brokers on Turnover Intention: Seoul Metropolitan City

The Effect of Job Satisfaction of Privately Opened Brokers on Turnover Intention: Seoul Metropolitan City

Optimal Planning of Real-Time Bus Information System for User-Switching Behavior

Seoul Metropolitan City’s buses cater to more than 50% of the average daily public transportation use, and they are the most important transportation mode in Korea, together with the subway. Since 2004, all public transportation records of passengers have been stored in Seoul, using smart transportation cards. This study explores the environmental and psychological factors in implementing a smart transportation system. We analyze the switching behavior of traffic users according to traffic congestion time and number of transfers based on public transportation data and show that bus-use behavior differs according to the traffic information of users and the degree of traffic congestion. Information-based switching behavior of people living near bus stops induces people to change routes during traffic congestion. However, in non-congested situations, the original routes are used. These results can guide the formulation of policy measures on bus routes. We made it possible to continuously change the routes for certain buses, which were temporarily implemented due to traffic congestion. Moreover, we added a service that posts the estimated arrival time to major stops while reflecting real-time traffic conditions in addition to the bus location and arrival time information through the global positioning system.

Occurrence of four waterborne viruses at five typical raw water resources in the Republic of Korea during August 2013 to February 2019.

Waterborne diseases have critical public health issues and socioeconomic relevancy worldwide. Various viral pathogens are ordinarily associated with waterborne diseases. Six-year-surveillance (a total of 20 times) of norovirus, hepatitis A virus, group C rotavirus, and enterovirus was conducted at five raw water sampling sites including two lakes (Lakes Soyang and Juam), Hyundo region of Geum River in Daejeon City, and Guui region of Han River in Seoul Metropolitan City and Moolgeum region of Nakdong River in Gimhae City which are located near two water intake plants. In this study, we routinely investigated virus contamination in water samples through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and integrated cell culture RT-PCR with high sensitivity and specificity. A total 100 samples were tested. Most of the targeted viruses were found in 32% of the samples and at least one of the indicator bacteria was detected in 65% of these occurrences. Among all the detected viruses, enterovirus was the most prevalent with a detection frequency of 12% and 2.71 MPN/10 L on average, while hepatitis A virus was the least prevalent with a detection frequency of 4%. Nearly all of the analyzed viruses (except for group C rotavirus) were present in samples from Han River (the Guui region), Geum River (the Hyundo region), Lake Juam, and Nakdong River (the Moolgeum region), while group C rotavirus was detected in those from the Guui region. During the six-year sampling period, the targeted waterborne viruses in water samples exhibited seasonal patterns in their occurrence that were different from the indicator bacteria levels in the water samples. The fact that they were detected in the five representative Korean water environments makes it necessary to establish the chemical and biological analysis systems for waterborne viruses and sophisticated management systems.

언어네트워크 분석을 활용한 핫플레이스 이미지 연구

Recently, people are active in sharing their experiences with visiting trendy places on Social Network Service (SNS). Such places are expressed as ‘hot place’, and the unique atmosphere of hot places including restaurants have become a major reason to visit. This study used semantic network analysis to examine the images of hot places mentioned in social media focusing on restaurants by limiting the spatial scope to Seoul Metropolitan City. This study used the Textom for Text Mining using data from blogs of NAVER and DAUM, news articles of Google, Facebook, and Twitter. To examine the seasonal effect, data from two seasons (summer and winter) were collected and analyzed accordingly. This study verified the images of hot places by conducting the centrality analysis using the UCINET, and classified similar keywords into clusters through the structural equivalence analysis. The results showed that Seongsu-dong, Hongdae, Ikseon-dong, and Eulji-ro were mentioned the most as hot places of Seoul region. The keywords such as ‘cafe’ and ‘date’ were mostly searched. The images of places were verified as follows: Seongsu-dong as industrial interior design and remodeling factories, Hongdae as a place with great clubs and cost effectiveness, Ikseon-dong as new-tro using Hanok, and Eulji-ro as a place coexisting with the past and present. It has been found that the image of a region is variously recognized, and the image of a restaurant food and the image of a place do not necessarily match. The findings could serve as useful information for restaurant start-ups and local marketing.

Residential environmental satisfaction, social capital, and place attachment: the case of Seoul, Korea

This study examines the relationship between residential environmental satisfaction, social capital, and place attachment. Previous studies on place attachment and residential environments have not fully considered the components of residential environments or executed an integrated analysis. This study includes diverse aspects of residential environmental satisfaction such as accessibility, comfort, and safety, which permits a comparison of the influence of each element. Furthermore, this study examined the mediating effect of social capital between residential environments and place attachment. Online surveys were conducted with 750 residents in the metropolitan city of Seoul, Korea, and mediation regression analysis as employed. The results indicated that residential environmental satisfaction had a positive effect on place attachment. In particular, accessibility had the greatest effect on place attachment. Furthermore, social capital had a mediating effect on all sub-components of residential environments. Today, many countries, including China and India, pursue and experience rapid urbanization much like Seoul, which has undergone it over several decades. However, this causes a variety of urban problems that might hinder long-term sustainable development. Therefore, this study suggests that the importance of qualitative development for sustainability should be recognized and incorporated together with quantitative development.

Stress and Satisfaction of Primary Care-givers Who Participated in Self-help Group of Dementia Safety Centers - Focused on Seoul Metropolitan City

Stress and Satisfaction of Primary Care-givers Who Participated in Self-help Group of Dementia Safety Centers - Focused on Seoul Metropolitan City