• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2009

Heavy metal pollution may be one of the most serious challenges confront crop production and human health. Therefore, the selection of heavy metal tolerance cultivars which adapted to the contaminated fields will introduced a suitable solution for management this critical environmental risk. The objectives of this research is to assess human health risk using geochemical analyses and exposure assessment of heavy metals in rice cultivars. Risk for inhabitants in the closed mine area was comparatively assessed for As, Cd, Cu and Pb in 10 rice varieties as a major exposure pathway. The average daily dose (ADD) of each heavy metal was estimated by analyzing the exposure pathways to rice and soil. For the non-carcinogenic risk characterization, Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Hazard Index (HI) were calculated using toxicity indices provided by US-EPA IRIS. The different rice varieties revealed a wide range of HI values from 23.6 to 34.3, indicating that all rice varieties have a high potential toxic risk. The DA rice variety showed the lowest HI value while the TB rice variety the highest. The probabilities of cancer risk for As via rice consumption were varied with rice varieties ranging from 2.0E-03 to 3.5E-03 which exceeded the regulatory acceptable risk of 1 in 10,000 set by US-EPA. The DA rice variety also showed the lowest value while the TB rice variety gave the highest value. Our results indicate that risk assessment can be contribute to screen the pollution safe rice cultivars in paddy fields affected by the mining activity.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.112-131
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• 2011

This article reports the results of scientific analysis using SEM-EDX, XRD, TG/DTA, performed on 5 green glaze samples of the brick and roofing tile excavated from the Sacheonwang temple site in Gyeongju in order to verify the chemical compositions and melting temperature. The glaze samples on 2 clay statues have similar chemical composition (PbO 74~81%, $SiO_2$ 14~18%) and melting temperature range ($970{\sim}1070^{\circ}C$), whereas the 2 tiles of goblin's face and 1 rhomb brick have different characteristics. Sample SC 003 (made of PbO 63~67%, $SiO_2$ 25~28%), one of the tiles of goblin's face, shows low melting temperature range (below $970^{\circ}C$), and sample SC 004 (composed of PbO 64~70%, $SiO_2$ 19~25% and melting point $970{\sim}1070^{\circ}C$), the other tile of goblin's face, shows different chemical characteristics compared with 2 clay statues. The green glaze on rhomb brick shows different composition compared with all the others from Sacheonwang temple site in that it does not show any impurity elements other than the main components (PbO 87~88%, $SiO_2$ 12~13%) with very low melting temperature range ($750{\sim}770^{\circ}C$). Surprizingly, the chemical and optical characteristics of this green-glaze on rhomb brick are very similar to that on the bricks from Yeongmyo temple site, Gyeongju. The above results indicate that raw material and manufacturing method are not same for 5 green-glaze samples from Sacheonwang temple site and therefore suggests that further study on the provenance of raw material such as lead isotope analysis is necessary. Our work will provide basic data for future reproduction study of green glazed brick of Sacheonwang temple site, Gyeongju and will also serve as a reference data for the study of raw material and manufacturing method of green glaze from other sites of cultural assets.