• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.169-177
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• 2005

This study focuses on investigating roles of microorganisms in decontamination of reed rhizosphere in Sunchon Bay, Korea, which is considered one of the marsh and mud environment severely affected by human activities such as agriculture and fisheries. In general, the bay is known to play the role of the buffering zone to reduce the sudden impact or change by environmental stresses. In our initial efforts to elucidate the microbial functions in decontamination process in reed rhizosphere, pure bacteria capable of degrading aromatic hydrocarbons were isolated from reed (Phragmites communis) rhizosphere of Sunchon bay by enrichment culture using either benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, or xylene (BTEX) as a sole source of carbon and energy. Measurement of the rates of BTEX degradation and cell growth during the incubation in BTEX media under several temperature conditions demonstrated maximized degradation of BTEX at $37^{\circ}C$ in both strains. Both strains were also resistant to all the heavy metals and antibiotics tested in this study, as well as they grew well at $42^{\circ}C$. Identification of the isolates based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, and a variety of phenotypic and morphologic properties revealed that the two strains capable of BTEX catabolism were among Microbacterium sp., and Rhodococcus sp. with over $95{\%}$ confidence, designated Microbacterium sp. EMB-1 and Rhodococcus sp. EMB-2, respectively This result suggested that in the rhizosphere of reed, one of major salt marsh plants they might play an important roles in decontamination process of reed rhizosphere contaminated with petroleum such as BTEX.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2002

This study was performed to investigate the possibility of water purification by a wild train of Oenanthe javanica DC. Three commercially available dishwashing detergents and a standard surfactant, linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), were used for this study. The experiment was done in 1.5 ι transluscent aquariums. The plants were distributed into various concentrations of detergents and various kinds of detergent in the separate aquariums. The wet weight of the plants was significantly decreased (p<0.05), and the visual vitality of the plants also decreased in 2 days. The higher the concentration of detergent was, and the more time the plants were exposed to the detergents, the more decrease of growth was observed. The pH value of the culture media decreased in 2 days and in 4 days, then slightly increased in 6 days. However, the pH value of the media did not return to the initial neutral level of pH in 6 days. The pH value of the culture media containing the LAS remarkably increased in 6 days and increased to a neutral pH value in 18 days (p<0.01) as the pH of the other culture media. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the culture media gradually increased over the 4 days. A decrease of COD was observed in 6 days, but no tendency was observed between 12 and 18 days. The detergent in the culture media was highly significantly decreased in 2 days (p<0.01) and gradually decreased after this. After 6 days the remaining detergent was 12.4∼23.7% from the various levels of initially added concentration, and 22.4 ∼34.2% from the flour kinds of detergents. These results show that the reduction of detergent was caused by Oenanthe javanica and the effect was significant during the first 6 days when the plants were still growing well. These results indicate that the plant purifies contaminated water for several days and the effect could be variable according to the level of contamination and the environment in which the plant grows.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.347-354
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• 2002

Near the Gapcheon, a new suburban city will be developed by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, and a intracity highway will be constructed by Daejeon Metropolitan City. By these new plans, rapid disruption of environmental conditions near the Gapcheon will be anticipated. The new construction of the city and highway will raise a problem of environmental pollution and disruption of natural status of this area, and will have an adverse influence to environment of the Dunsan area and an industrial complex which are located at the downstream of the Gapcheon. This re-search was conducted on the Gapcheon area, Daejeon (Gasuwongyo to Wonchongyo) from August, 2001 to June, 2002 years. Microorganisms of Gapcheon are three forms, 17 varieties, 105 species, 58 geneva, 31 families, and totalled 125 taxa. And zooidal micro-organisms, one varieties, 16 species, 12 genera, eight families, and totalled 17 taxa. Hydrogen ion concentration of the stream is ranged from 7.10 to 9.98 with great variation, especially high below bridges of Gasuwongyo and Mannyeongyo. The clean water quality of the stream is still maintained very well due to dense distribution of diverse aqua-tic and swamp plants. Furthermore, species diversity of microorganisms in the stream does help to purify the quality of water, and to keep the health of the Gapcheon as natural. More environmentally controlled and continuous efforts to keep the Gapcheon in a natural status and to purify the quality of water should be made by Daejeon Metropolitan City Officials who ave now spending about 6G,5()0 million won for overall conservation plans of the stream (from 1999 to 2003 years).

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.203-209
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• 2010

This study was performed to investigate photosynthetic responses of 4 foliage plants in relation to light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration, and media, and to select efficient plants for the indoor environment control based on the results. Four foliage plants used in this study included Syngonium podophyllum, Schefflera arboricola cv. Hong Kong, Dieffenbachia amoena, and Dracaena deremensis cv. Warneckii Compacta. The plants cultivated in two different growth media, peatmoss and hydroball, and subjected to various light intensities (0, 30, 50, 80, 100, 200, 400, and $600\;{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ PPFD) and $CO_2$ levels (0, 50, 100, 200, 400, 700, 1000, and $1500\;{\mu}mol{CO_2}{\cdot}mol^{-1}$). As a result of the photosynthetic rate of foliage plants according to change of light intensity and $CO_2$ levels, Schefflera arboricola and Dieffenbachia amoena showed high apparent quantum yield, which stands for the photosynthetic rate under low light intensity, and both plants also recorded higher photosynthetic rate under high $CO_2$ concentration compared to the other two indoor plants. Dracaena deremensis showed the lowest photosynthetic rate under the low light intensity or high $CO_2$ concentration. There were inconsistent results in photosynthetic rate of foliage plants grown in peatmoss or hydroball. Higher photosynthetic rate was observed in Schefflera arboricola with peatmoss rather than hydroball as light and $CO_2$ concentration increased. However, hydroball had a positive effect on Dieffenbachia amoena in terms of photosynthetic rate. In case of Syngonium podophyllum, peatmoss induced higher photosynthetic rate according to increased light intensity, but there was no effect of media on the rate under various $CO_2$ treatements. In contrast, media did not affect to photosynthetic efficiency of Dracaena deremensis subjected to various light intensities and the rate of Dracaena deremensis with peatmoss was a little high when $CO_2$ concentration increased. In conclusion, potential plants for the indoor air pulification and environmental control were Schefflera arboricola and Dieffenbachia amoena because they showed high photosynthetic rate under typical indoor conditions, low light intensity and high $CO_2$ concentration.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.49-59
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• 2021

The effects of green manure crops, hairy vetch and sesban, supplemented with HS (humic substance) on biological soil health indicators was studied in a pot containing two kinds of reclaimed soil previously contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons; a soil remediated by land-farming (DDC) and another soil by low-temperature thermal desorption (YJ). Treatments include no plant (C), plants only (H), and plants+2% HS (PH), which were evaluated in a pot containing respective soil. Biological indicators include microbial community analysis as well as soil enzyme activities of dehydrogenase, 𝛽-glucosidase, N-acetyl-𝛽-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), acid/alkaline phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and urease. Results showed an increase of enzyme activities in pot soils with plants and even greater in soils with plants+HS. The enzyme activities of DDC soil with plants (DDC_P) and with plants+HS (DDC_PH) increased 1.6 and 3.9 times on average, respectively than those in the control. The enzyme activities YJ soil with plants (YJ_P) and with plant+HS (YJ_PH) increased 1.8 and 3.8 times on average, respectively than those in the control. According to microbial community analysis, the relative abundance of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in DDC and YJ soil was increased from 1.5% to 7% and from 0 to 5%, respectively, after planting hairy vetch and sesban. This study showed that mixed planting of green manure crops with a supplement of humic substance is highly effective for the restoration of biological health indicators of reclaimed soils.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2006

Objectives of this experiment were to select of the optimum water plant and to investigate the removal efficiency of the major nutrients in the constructed wetland by natural purification method for municipal sewage treatment in the farming and fishing village. For the experiment we used "constructed wetland" which was consisted of aerobic (vertical filter system) and anaerobic systems (horizontal filter system). Both systems were filled with gravel and filter media, and grew water plants on top of them. And then, we investigated several items such as sewage treatment efficiency, growth status of water plants and the absorbed amount of inorganic element in water plants with periodical periods. In aerobic area, removal efficiencies of BOD, COD, T-N and T-P were over 92%, 74%, 25% and 57%, respectively, and then when the water is passed through anaerobic area, the efficiency was over 96%, 84%, 44% and 71%, respectively, which was increased more treatment efficiency than that of aerobic area. Absorption amount of nitrogen and phosphorous in Miscanthus sacchariflorus BENTH were the highest in the water plants as 17.7 and 2.41 g/plant in the aerobic area, respectively. Absorption amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous in Scirpus tabernaemontani GMEL were the highest in the water plants as 8.7 and 1.13 g/plant in the anaerobic area, respectively. For the selection of optimum water plants in the constructed wetland by natural purification method for municipal sewage treatment, it were observed that there were Miscanthus sacchariflorus BENTH, Phragmites japonica STEUD and Phragmites communis TRINIUS in the aerobic area and were Zizania latifolia TURCZ, Scirpus tabernaemontani GMEL, Typha orientalis PRESL, Iris pseudoacorus L and Cares dispalata BOOTT in the anaerobic area.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 2004

Pollution reduction and/or control technology becomes one of the pressing post-semiconductor research field to lead an advanced industrial structure. Soil/groundwater remediation techniques may act as a core technology which will create many demands on pollution reduction areas. A plenty numbers of abandoned metal mines were left without any remediation action in Korea, and it may be potential sources of heavy metal and As contamination in the ecosystem. In order to bring this soil contamination to a settlement, the emerging soil/groundwater remediation techniques should be introduced. Main research topics in the United States and Europe move towards the clean remediation technology without any secondary impact and the feasible application of developing technique into the field scale study. With these advantages, several soil/groundwater techniques such as electrokinetic soil processing, permeable reactive barrier, stabilization/solidification, biosorption, soil flushing with biosurfactant, bioleaching and phytoremediation will be summarized in this paper.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Floral Art and Design
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• no.44
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• pp.3-31
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• 2021

To verify the types of effects that plants have in our general living conditions, I examined an air quality in living rooms of the three, 129.78m² size, apartments that were with and without plants. and the findings of the study were as addressed below. 1) Experiments showed no statistically significant differences in Case A. However, in Case B and Case C, the standard deviation of PM10, PM2.5 and PM 1.0 verified that each had statistically significant (p<.01) differences. 2) It is believed that the effect of reducing particle matters due to the installation of plants in the indoor space is to vary significantly depending on the indoor environmental conditions, the cleanliness of the room, and the amount of furniture and may also differ depending on the daily dietary cooking method. In addition, it is believed that the planterior will not only reduce indoor fine dust, but also reduce the psychological comfort and eye fatigue of the residents. Nevertheless, supplementary research is needed. 3) In the planterior design for reducing indoor particle matters, various measures were examined. Among them, the vertical wall design method was tested and suggested through empirical experiments. In addition, maintenance methods were proposed depending on the type of indoor plant.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1060-1068
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• 2007

Perchlorate contamination in aquatic system is a growing concern due to the human health and ecological risks associated with perchlorate exposure. In spite of potential risks associated with perchlorate, drinking water standard has not been established worldwide. Recently, US EPA has issued new protective guidance for cleaning up perchlorate contamination with a preliminary clean-up goal of 24.5 ppb. In Korea, the drinking water standard and discharge standard for perchlorate has not been established yet and little information is available to address perchlorate problems. Perchlorate treatment technologies include ion exchange, microbial reactor, carbon adsorption, composting, in situ bioremediation, permeable reactive barrier, phytoremediation, and membrane technology. The process description, capability, and advantage/disadvantages of each technology were described in detail in this review. One of recent trends in perchlorate treatment is the combination of available treatment options such as combined microbial reduction and permeable reactive burier. In this review, we provided a brief perspective on perchlorate treatment technology and to identify an efficient and cost-effective approach to manage perchlorate problem.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.61-68
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• 2010

Phytoextraction, one type of phytoremediation processes, has been widely used in the removal of heavy metals from polluted soil. This paper reviewed literature on metal uptake by plants and characterized the metal uptake by types of metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, and As), plant species, initial metal concentrations in soil and the distribution of metals in different parts of plants. The potential of metal accumulation and transport by plants was closely related to plants species, types of metals, and initial metal concentrations in soil. The plants belonging to Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, Poaceae, and Convolvulaceae families have shown the high potential capacity of Cd accumulation. The Gentianaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Polygonaceae families have exhibited relatively high Pb uptake potential while the Pteridaceae and Cyperaceae families have shown relatively high Zn uptake potential. The Pteridaceae family could uptake a remarkably high amount of As compared with other plant families. The potential metal accumulation per plant biomass has increased with increasing initial metal concentration in soil up to a certain level and then decreased for Cd and Zn. For As, only Pteris vittata had a linear relationship between initial concentration in soil and potential of metal uptake. However, a meaningful relationship for Pb was not found in this study. Generally, the plants having high metal uptake potential for Cd or Pb mainly accumulated the metal in their roots. However, the Euphorbiaceae family has accumulated more than 80% of Pb in shoot. Zn has evenly accumulated in roots and stems except for the plants belonging to the Polygonaceae and Rosaceae families which accumulated Zn in their leaves. The Pteridaceae family has accumulated a higher amount of As in leaves than roots. The types of metals, plant species, and initial metal concentration in soil influence the metal uptake by plants. It is important to select site-specific plant species for effective removal of metals in soil. Therefore, this study may provide useful and beneficial information on metal accumulation by plants for the in situ phytoremediation.