Atopic dermatitis (AD), a common childhood skin disorder, can limit a child's learning and physical activities. South Korean mothers, as primary caregivers, experience anxiety and helplessness when caring for their ill children. The aim of this study was to develop a hybrid AD education programme (consisting of a face-to-face session followed by 8 online sessions) and evaluate its effects on anxiety, caregiving efficacy and caregiving behaviour among mothers of children with AD. Twenty mothers of patients with AD treated in a South Korean hospital received one on-site session and 8 weekly online modules. After the intervention, mothers' mean±standard deviation anxiety reduced (from 50.3 ± 14.2 to 31.7 ± 6.3 points, t = 5.75, p < 0.001). Their caregiving efficacy and caregiving behaviour improved significantly, from 18.3 ± 3.5 to 29.4 ± 3.2 points (t = -9.64, p < 0.001) and from 47.7 ± 7.7 to 78.8 ± 4.9 points (t = -14.4, p < 0.001), respectively. The effects of the hybrid education programme for this population were significant. Healthcare providers should consider examining the programme nationwide, including in rural areas, while investigating its long-term effects.

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We are having 23 units of nuclear power plants in operation and 5 units of nuclear power plants under construction in Korea as of September 2012. However, we don’t have any experience on shutdown permanently and decommissioning of nuclear power plants. There are only two research reactors being decommissioned since 1997. It is realized that improvement of the regulatory framework for decommissioning of nuclear facilities has been emphasized constantly from the point of view of IAEA’s safety standards. It is also known that IAEA will prepare the safety requirement on decommissioning of facilities; its title is the Safe Decommissioning of Facilities, General Safety Requirement Part 6. According to the result of IAEA’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission to Korea in 2011, it was recommended that the regulatory framework should require decommissioning plans for nuclear installations to be constructed and operated and these plans should be updated periodically. In addition, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March of 2011, preparedness for early decommissioning caused by an unexpected severe accident became important issues and concerns. In this respect, it is acknowledged that the regulatory framework for decommissioning of nuclear facilities in Korea need to be improved. First of all, we focus on identifying the current status and relevant issues of regulatory framework for decommissioning of nuclear power plants compared to the IAEA’s safety standards in order to achieve our goal. And then the plan is established for improvement of regulatory framework for decommissioning of nuclear power plants in Korea. It is expected that if the things will go forward as planned, the revised regulatory framework for decommissioning could enhance the safety regime on the decommissioning of nuclear power plants in Korea in light of international standards.

The concept of the representative person recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is difficult to apply to dose assessment to the public because the representative habit data could not be determined in advance for general radiation exposure situations. So, a stylized method for constructing habit data of the representative person is needed to ensure consistency and validity of the dose estimation. This paper presents a generalized model of the representative habit data based on optimization by a linear programming technique to handle complex environmental exposure situations such as radioactive waste disposal. The model is devised in such a way that it can fully embody the ICRP's criteria for the representative person by ensuring the upper 5% exposure in the population and it is applicable to general exposure systems. The model was illustrated for Korea's low-and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal system to show its applicability to complex exposure systems with multiple scenarios and pathways.