• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1075-1086
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• 2008

In order to investigate the applicability and suitability of the industrial by-products to apply mono-layer cover system for non-sanitary landfill sites, 6 different industrial by-products, such as construction waste, bottom ash, gypsum, blast furnace and steel manufacture slags, and stone powder sludge, were evaluated. Various physicochemical and hydrodynamic properties of the industrial byproducts were investigated. The environmental safety was monitored using batch and long-term leaching tests as well. In addition, the flexibility of plants was observed by cultivating them in the industrial by-products. The results for physicochemical properties indicate that most of the materials considered appeared to be suitable for landfill cover. Particularly, the concentration levels of hazardous elements regulated by the Korean Law for Waste Management did not exceed the regulatory limits in all target materials. In addition, the concentrations of regulated elements for the Korean Soil Conservation Law were examined below the regulatory limits in most of materials considered, except for the stone powder sludge. The results of batch and long-term experiments showed bottom ash and construction waste were the most suitable materials for landfill cover among the industrial by-products considered. The results of plant studies indicate that the bottom ash among industrial by-products considered was most effective in developing vegetation on landfill site, showing fast germination and large growth index. At the final covering system made of mixture of soil and bottom ash, the optimum application rate of farmyard manure was observed to be 40-50 Mg/ha.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2010

Physical, chemical and biological properties of soils and cadmium(Cd) content of Artemisia princeps var. orientalis collected from 10 metalliferous mines were analysed. Cd contents of unplanted soils and rhizosphere soils were not significantly different(p < 0.05), and mean values were 5.92 and 5.91 mg/kg, respectively. In addition, Cd content of rhizosphere soils were correlated with Cd content of Artemisia princeps (p < 0.05, ${R^2}_{shoot}$ = 0.3120, ${R^2}_{root}$ = 0.4177). Minimum data set(MDS) of soil quality parameters for statistical assessment of Cd uptake was established by principal component analysis, and it was identified as organic matter(OM), dehydrogenase activity(DHA), pH, exchangeable Mg. According to multiple regression analysis using the MDS, coefficients of determination ($R^2$) for Cd uptake of shoot and root of Artemisia princeps were found to be 0.3418 and 0.5121, respectively. This suggests that statistical soil quality assessment using the MDS seems a useful tool to interpret heavy metal uptake of plant.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.22-32
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• 2015

This study investigated the difference in fish community structures in a main channel and an isolated former channel, considering the environmental factors in the Mangyeong River, Korea. Principal component analysis (PCA) with environmental factors showed that former channels were composed of a fine substrate covered by in-stream vegetation, whereas the main channel was covered by a wide range of substrates with a higher dissolved oxygen and conductivity. The result of the hierarchical cluster analysis with species abundance delineated to the four main groups; three abandoned channel groups and one main channel group. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showed that fish community structures of each study site differed from environmental factors: former channel fish communities were positively related to in-stream vegetation cover, whereas main channel fish communities were positively associated with dissolved oxygen and conductivity. The results indicated that channelization, where there was a separation between the former channel and the main channel, had detrimental effects on fish community structures of both the main channel and the abandoned channel in the Mangyeong River. In conclusion, this study suggested that the connectivity between the main channel and abandoned channel were required to enhance both habitat structural diversity and species diversity of the Mangyeong River.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.304-313
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• 2019

Biopolymer based on microbial β-glucan and xanthan gum is effective for vegetation and has a function of enhancing soil strength, which can be used as soil reinforcement and stabilization materials in river embankment. The purpose of this study is to verify the vegetation effect of the surface of levee by biopolymer with seed spraying method. Mixed soils with biopolymer were used to cover the surface of embankments. The strength is higher in biopolymer-treated soil and xanthan gum based biopolymer has advantage for quality control in field scale. In addition, the vegetation of F. arundinacea and L. perenne showed various reactions with types of biopolymers. Biopolymer has a positive effect on the vegetation of them. In contrast, root growth tended to decrease in biopolymer-treated soils. The results indicate that root growth is slow down due to increasing ability to retain water in biopolymer-treated soil. In order to apply biopolymer to river embankment, it is necessary to examine the effects of biopolymers on a wide range of plant species in river embankment.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.69-83
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• 2023

Forest fires increase the risk of subsequent soil erosion and mass movement in burned areas, even under rainfall conditions below landslide alert thresholds, by destroying plants and vegetation and causing changes to soil properties. These effects of forest fires can alter runoff in burned areas by altering soil composition, component minerals, soil water repellency, soil mass stability, and soil fabric. Heat from forest fires not only burns shallow organic matter and plants but also spreads below the surface, affecting soil constituents including minerals. This study analyzed X-ray diffraction and physical properties of topsoil and subsoil obtained from both burned and non-burned areas to identify the composition and distribution of clay minerals in the soil. Small amounts of mullite, analcite, and hematite were identified in burned soils. Vermiculite and mixed-layer illite/vermiculite (I/V) were found in topsoil samples from burned areas but not in those from non-burned areas. These findings show changes in soil mineral composition caused by forest fires. Expansive clay minerals increase the volume of soil during rainfall, degrading the structural stability of slopes. Clay minerals generated in soil in burned areas are therefore likely to affect the long-term stability of slopes in mountainous areas.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.64-72
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• 2023

Biopolymer is a versatile material used in food processing, medicine, construction, and soil reinforcement. 𝛽-glucan is one of the biopolymers that improves the soil water content and ion adsorption in a drought or toxic metal contaminated land for plant survival. We analyzed drought stress damage reduction in sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas L. cv. Sodammi) by measuring the growth and major protein expression and activity under 𝛽-glucan soil amendment. The result showed that sweet potato leaf length and width were not affected by drought stress for 14 days, but sweet potatoes grown in 𝛽-glucan-amended soil showed an effect in preventing wilting caused by drought in phenotypic changes. Under drought stress, sweet potato leaves did not show any changes in electrolyte leakage, but the relative water content was higher in sweet potatoes grown in 𝛽-glucan-amended soil than in normal soil. 𝛽-glucan soil amendment increased the expression of plasma membrane (PM) H⁺-ATPase, but it decreased the aquaporin PIP2 (plasma membrane intrinsic protein 2) in sweet potatoes under drought stress. Moreover, water maintenance affected the PM H⁺-ATPase activity, which contributed to tolerance under drought stress. These results indicate that 𝛽-glucan soil amendment improves the soil water content during drought and affects the water supply in sweet potatoes. Consequently, 𝛽-glucan is a potential material for maintaining soil water contents, and analysis of the major PM proteins is one of the indicators for evaluating the biopolymer effect on plant survival under drought stress.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.5B
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• pp.437-444
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• 2010

Soil moisture has been recognized as the essential parameter when understanding the complicated relationship between land surface and atmosphere in water and energy recycling system. It has been generally known that it is related with the temperature, wind, evaporation dependent on soil properties, transpiration due to vegetations and other constituents. There is, however, little research concerned about the relationship between soil moisture and these constitutes, thus it is needed to investigate it in detail. We estimated the soil moisture and then compared with field data using the hydrometerological data such as atmospheric temperature, specific humidity, and wind obtained from the Flux tower in Selmacheon, Korea. In the winter season, subterranean temperature showed highly positive correlation with soil moisture while it was negatively correlated from the spring to the fall. Estimation of seasonal soil moisture was compared with field measurements with the correlation of determination, R=0.82, 0.81, 0.82, and 0.96 for spring, summer, fall, and winter, respectively. Comprehensive relationship from this study can supply useful information about the downscaling of soil moisture with relatively large spatial resolutions, and will help to deepen the understanding of the water and energy recycling on the earth's surface.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.74-99
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• 2022

Surface ozone is produced by photochemical reactions of nitrogen oxides(NOx) and volatile organic compounds(VOCs) emitted from vehicles and industrial sites, adversely affecting vegetation and the human body. In South Korea, ozone is monitored in real-time at stations(i.e., point measurements), but it is difficult to monitor and analyze its continuous spatial distribution. In this study, surface ozone concentrations were interpolated to have a spatial resolution of 1.5km every hour using the stacking ensemble technique, followed by a 5-fold cross-validation. Base models for the stacking ensemble were cokriging, multi-linear regression(MLR), random forest(RF), and support vector regression(SVR), while MLR was used as the meta model, having all base model results as additional input variables. The results showed that the stacking ensemble model yielded the better performance than the individual base models, resulting in an averaged R of 0.76 and RMSE of 0.0065ppm during the study period of 2020. The surface ozone concentration distribution generated by the stacking ensemble model had a wider range with a spatial pattern similar with terrain and urbanization variables, compared to those by the base models. Not only should the proposed model be capable of producing the hourly spatial distribution of ozone, but it should also be highly applicable for calculating the daily maximum 8-hour ozone concentrations.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.221-230
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• 2016

Multi-functional floating wetland island (mFWI) was developed in order to prevent algal bloom and to improve water quality through several unit purification processes. A test bed was applied in the stagnant watershed in an urban area, from the summer to the winter season. For the advanced treatment, an artificial phosphorus adsorption/filtration medium was applied with micro-bubble generation, as well as water plants for nutrient removal. It appeared that the efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phosphorus (T-P) removal was higher in the warmer season (40.9%, 45.7%) than in the winter (15.9%, 20.0%), and the removal performance (suspended solid, chlorophyll a) in each process differs according to seasonal variation; micro-bubble performed better (33.1%, 39.2%) in the summer, and the P adsorption/filtration and water plants performed better (76.5%, 59.5%) in the winter season. From the results, it was understood that the mFWI performance was dependent upon the pollutant loads in different seasons and unit processes, and thus it requires continuous monitoring under various conditions to evaluate the functions. In addition, micro-bubbles helped prevent the formation of anaerobic zones in the lower part of the floating wetland. This resulted in the water circulation to form a new healthy aquatic ecosystem in the surrounding environment, which confirmed the positive influence of mFWI.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.163-170
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• 2019

The civil engineering materials used to stabilize the slopes of new riverbanks have a great impact on the types and growth of vegetation introduced after the completion of construction procedure. Recently, microbial-derived, ${\beta}$-glucan- and xanthan gum-based biopolymers are attracting attention as an ecofriendly strengthening material of riverbanks that can possibly stimulate plant growth. This study aimed to assess ecological effects of biopolymer application on native plants in Korean riverbanks. In particular, since dominant plant species could shape characteristics of an ecosystem, we examined the effects of biopolymer on the dominant plant species in riverbanks. Overall, biopolymer did not affect seed germination rates of testing plant species. In contrast, plants grew more vigorously in the soil mixed with biopolymer compared to those in the control soil. The biomass of Echinochloa crus-galli especially increased around two times more in the biopolymer treatment. Plants produced heavier root biomass and leaves with larger specific leaf area, which possibly contributes to the tolerance of environmental stress like drought. These results suggest that biopolymers treated on river banks are expected to stimulate plant growth and increase stress tolerance of domestic dominant plant species.