• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.442-454
• /
• 2017

Biological weapon is manipulated and produced from microorganisms such as bacteria, virus, rickettsia, fungi etc. It is classified as one of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) along with chemical weapon and radiological weapon. Biological weapon has a number of operational advantages over the other WMDs including ease of development and production, low cost and possibility of covert dissemination. In this study we analyze the history of biological weapon's development and the existing biological threats. Then, we predict the social impact of biological attack based on the physical properties of biological agent and infection mechanisms. By analyzing the recognition, dispersion pattern of agents, characteristics of the diseases in the biological weapon related historical events such as Sverdlovsk anthrax accident, 2001 anthrax attack, we found out some of the facts that biological attack would not likely to be recognized rapidly, produce large number of the exposed, increase number of paients who suffed from severe respiratory illness. It would lead the public health and medical service providers to be struggled with hugh burden. Base on the facts that we found from this case study, we suggested the main capabilities of public health required to respond to bioterrorism event efficiently. Syndromic surveillance and other reporting system need to be operated effeciently so that any suspicious event should be detected promptly. the pathogen which suspected to be used should be identified through laboratory diagnostic system. It is critical for the public health agency to define potentially exposed population under close cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Lastly, massive prophylaxis should be provided rapidly to the people at need by operating human and material resources effeciently. If those capacities of public health are consistantly fortified we would be able to deal with threat of bioterrorism successfully.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.53 no.8
• /
• pp.627-636
• /
• 2020

Debris flow disasters primarily occur in mountainous terrains far from cities. As such, they have been underestimated to cause relatively less damage compared with other natural disasters. However, owing to urbanization, several residential areas and major facilities have been built in mountainous regions, and the frequency of debris flow disasters is steadily increasing owing to the increase in rainfall with environmental and climate changes. Thus, the risk of debris flow is on the rise. However, only a few studies have explored the characteristics of flooding and reduction measures for debris flow in areas designated as steep slopes. In this regard, it is necessary to conduct research on securing independent disaster prevention technology, suitable for the environment in South Korea and reflective of the topographical characteristics thereof, and update and improve disaster prevention information. Accordingly, this study aimed to calculate the amount of debris flow, depending on disaster prevention performance targets for regions designated as steep slopes in South Korea, and develop an independent model to not only evaluate the impact of debris flow but also identify debris barriers that are optimal for mitigating damage. To validate the reliability of the two-dimensional debris flow model developed for the evaluation of debris barriers, the model's performance was compared with that of the hydraulic model. Furthermore, a 2-D debris model was constructed in consideration of the regional characteristics around the steep slopes to analyze the flow characteristics of the debris that directly reaches the damaged area. The flow characteristics of the debris delivered downstream were further analyzed, depending on the specifications (height) and installation locations of the debris barriers employed to reduce the damage. The experimental results showed that the reliability of the developed model is satisfactory; further, this study confirmed significant performance degradation of debris barriers in areas where the barriers were installed at a slope of 20° or more, which is the slope at which debris flows occur.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.214-226
• /
• 2013

To understand the changing patterns in phytoplankton communities, we conducted 12 surveys along the Nakdong River, its estuary, and adjacent coastal areas between January 2011 and October 2012 (during the period of barrage construction and sediment dredging). Monthly precipitation ranged from 0 to 502 mm during the survey period, and salinity ranged between 0.1 psu and 0.3 psu in the Nakdong River, regardless of the depth, indicating no seawater influence, while salinity showed large seasonal fluctuations in the estuarine and coastal station, ranging from 0.1 psu to 34.8 psu. A total of 402 phytoplankton species were identified, 178 species from the river and 331 species from the estuary and coastal areas. Phytoplankton standing crop increased in 2012 compared to that in 2011, and was found to be highest in the river, followed by the estuary and coastal areas. Among the top 20 species in frequency of occurrence and dominance, Stephanodiscus spp., Aulacoseira granulata, and Aulacoseira granulata var. angustissima and Pseudo-nitzschia spp. were important species along the river-estuary-coastal areas. Diatoms were the major taxonomic group inhabiting the Nakdong river-estuary-coastal areas. A comparison of seasonal dominant phytoplankton species revealed a slight decrease over the years, from 13 species in 2011 to 10 species in 2012. However, no significant difference was found in the diversity of phytoplankton species between the two survey years, although lightly greater diversity was observed in the coastal areas than in the river and estuary. Cluster analysis with community composition data revealed that the community structure varied significantly in 2011 depending on the time of survey, while in 2012, it hardly showed any variation and was simpler. An increase in the phytoplankton standing crop, fewer dominant species, and simpler community structure in 2012 compared to those in 2011 are probably due to the rapid environmental changes along the Nakdong River. To investigate these ecological relationships, it is necessary to conduct further studies focusing on integrated analyses of biocenosis, including phytoplankton with respect to the changes in nutrient distribution, variation of freshwater discharge, and effect area of freshwater in the Nakdong estuary and adjacent coastal areas.

• Fire Science and Engineering
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2017

Electric power which is the energy source of economy and industries requires long distance transportation due to regional difference between its production and consumption, and it is supplied through the multi-loop transmission and distribution system. Prior to its actual use, electric power flows through several transformations by voltage transformers in substations depending on the characteristics of each usage, and a transformer has the structure consisting of the main body, winding wire, insulating oil and bushings. A transformer fire that breaks out in substations entails the primary damage that interrupts the power supply to houses and commercial facilities and causes various safety accidents as well as the secondary economic losses. It is considered that causes of such fire include the leak of insulating oil resulting from the destruction of bottom part of bushings, and the chain reaction of fire due to insulating oil that reaches its ignition point within 1 second. The smoke detector and automatic fire extinguishing system are established in order to minimize fire damage, but a difficulty in securing golden time for extinguishing fire due to delay in the operation of detector and release of gas from the extinguishing system has become a problem. Accordingly, this study was carried out according to needs of active mechanism to prevent the spread of fire and block the leak of insulating oil, in accordance with the importance of securing golden time in extinguishing a fire in its early stage. A bushings fireproof structure was developed by applying the high temperature shape retention materials, which are expanded by flame, and mechanical flame cutoff devices. The bushings fireproof structure was installed on the transformer model produced by applying the actual standards of bushings and flange, and the full scale fire test was carried out. It was confirmed that the bushings fireproof structure operated at accurate position and height within 3 seconds from the flame initiation. It is considered that it could block the spread of flame effectively in the event of actual transformer fire.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.35-42
• /
• 2020

17β-estradiol (E₂) is a natural hormone secreted by ovary, and continuously discharged from household and livestock wastewater into aquatic environment. Due to its strong estrogenic activity, it has adverse effects on development and reproduction in crustacean as an endocrine disrupting chemical. Although ecdysteroid signaling pathway play a key role in development in crustacean, little information on transcriptional modulation of ecdysteroid-related genes in response to E₂ is available in small crustacean. Here, we investigated the acute toxicity of E₂ to obtain 24-h LC_x values in the brackish water flea Diaphanosoma celebensis. Time-dependent expression patterns of seven ecdysteroid pathway - related genes (CYP314a1, EcRA, EcRB, USP, ERR, Vtg, VtgR) were further examined using quantitative real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). As results, 24-h LC₅₀ and LC₁₀ values were 9.581 mg/l and 4.842 mg/l, respectively. The mRNA expression of CYP314a1, EcRA, USP, VtgR was significantly up-regulated at 12 or 24 h after exposure to E₂. These findings indicate that E₂ can affect their molting and reproduction by modulating the expression of ecdysteroid pathway - related in D. celebensis. This study will be useful for better understanding of molecular mode of action of endocrine disrupting chemicals on molting process in small crustacean.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.268-276
• /
• 2018

BACKGROUND: In the month of January 2018, fine dust alerts and warnings were issued 36 times for $PM_{10}$ and 81 times for PM2.5. Air quality is becoming a serious issue nation-wide. Although interest in air-purifying plants is growing due to the controversy over the risk of chemical substances of regular air-purifying solutions, industrial spread of the plants has been limited due to their efficiency in air-conditioning perspective. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study aims to propose a vegetation-based bio-filter system that can assure total indoor air volume for the efficient application of air-purifying plants. In order to evaluate the quantitative performance of the system, time-series analysis was conducted on air-conditioning performance, indoor air quality, and comfort index improvement effects in a lecture room-style laboratory with 16 persons present in the room. The system provided 4.24 ACH ventilation rate and reduced indoor temperature by $1.6^{\circ}C$ and black bulb temperature by $1.0^{\circ}C$. Relative humidity increased by 24.4% and deteriorated comfort index. However, this seemed to be offset by turbulent flow created from the operation of air blowers. While $PM_{10}$ was reduced by 39.5% to $22.11{\mu}g/m^3$, $CO_2$ increased up to 1,329ppm. It is interpreted that released $CO_2$ could not be processed because light compensation point was not reached. As for the indoor comfort index, PMV was reduced by 83.6 % and PPD was reduced by 47.0% on average, indicating that indoor space in a comfort range could be created by operating vegetation-based bio-filters. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed that the vegetation-based bio-filter system is effective in lowering indoor temperature and $PM_{10}$ and has positive effects on creating comfortable indoor space in terms of PMV and PPD.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.107-113
• /
• 2019

Numerical model that considered the shrinking core model and elutriation and degradation of particles was developed to predict selective chlorination of ilmenite and carbo-chlorination of $TiO_2$ in a two stage fluidized bed chlorination furnace. It is possible to analyze the fluidized bed chlorination reaction to be able to reflect particle distribution for mass balances and the chlorination reaction. The numerical model showed an accuracy with error less than 6% compared with fluidized bed experiments. The chlorination degree with particle size change was greater with a smaller particle size, and there was a 100 min difference to obtain a chlorination degree of 1 between $75{\mu}m$ and $275{\mu}m$. This was not shown to such a great extent with variation of temperature ($800{\sim}1000^{\circ}C$), and there was only a 10 min difference to obtain a chlorination degree of 0.9. In the first selective chlorination process, the mass reduction rate approached to the theoretical value of 0.4735 after 180 min, and chlorination changed the Fe component into $FeCl_2$ or $FeCl_3$ and showed nearly 1. In the second carbo-chlorination process, the chlorination degree of $TiO_2$ approached 0.98 and the mass fraction reached 0.02 with conversion into $TiCl_4$. In the first selective chlorination process, 98% of $TiO_2$ was produced at 180 min, and this was changed into 99% of $TiCl_4$ after an additional 90 min. Also the mass reduction rate of $TiO_2$ was reduced to 99% in the second continuous carbo-chlorination process.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.21
• /
• pp.283-322
• /
• 2009

Legislation and enforcement of the Presidential Records Management Law was an important turning point in Korean archival management history. In the past, the notion of presidential records was vague. The law was a starting point of establishing presidential records management. The Presidential Records Management Law provides the definition of presidential records and its scope, and establishes the protection of presidential records through restricted access to the records. The key to the law is to enable a president freely to produce records and transfer them to the next administration without omission. In other words, it aims to stop the practice that presidential records are produced but never be left. But, 'disputes over the release of presidential records' and the disclosing of access-restricted presidential records presented a crisis to national records management as well as the prospect of presidential records management, even if they were 'legal procedures.' The instability of presidential records management could give a serious impact on the national records management and its operation. Amid this situation, it is required to review the presidential records management system and provide recommendations for improvement, even if the enforcement of law has just started. The most urgent things in improving presidential records management are to secure its independence, specialty, and to complement restricted access to presidential records. For securing independency, presidential records management should be done by a separate organization other than the National Archives of Korea while for promoting specialty, a newly established organization could serve as a professional archive. And for complementing restricted access to the presidential records, the access should be more limited. In other words, more discretion is needed in permitting access. And more specific regulations should be applied to the permitted records. However, these regulatory actions may not have effects unless independency is not secured. Thus, more fundamentally, independency of the National Archives of Korea should be first established.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.100 no.3
• /
• pp.522-534
• /
• 2011

The aim of this study is to draw forth the tasks for establishing the right of native biology in Korea through the case study on 'Access on genetic resources and Benefit Sharing'. For this purpose, this study decided on its research subject by selecting Hoodia, on which ABS treaty was made the most recently, through the examination of the representative ABS precedents on plant species. This study analyzed the process background of ABS on Hoodia, and compared & analyzed the ABS procedures of 'Bonn Guidelines' adopted by the 6th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002 and Hoodia case. Together with the ABS major issues in common drawn as a result of this analysis, and "Nagoya Protocol" adopted by the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, this study intended to shed a light on the impending tasks which Korea faces at present and its role relationship. The research results are as follows: 1. It is required that species habitats should be divided based on biological classification and its subsequent community should be established with the development of infrastructure such as a community's independent production, management and monitoring of bio-species. 2. There needs to be a designation of ABS National Focal Point for sharing of ABS-related general information, boosting of implementation of the relevant convention. 3. There needs to be the establishment of ABS convention system consequent on legislative, administrative, political procedures, and designation of the Competent National Authorities for the provision of the format of Prior Informed Consent (PIC) and Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT) and their contents assessment and confirmation. 4. There should be the establishment of integrated management system of ABS-related research and development of forest biological resources and its relevant research projects. 5. There should be information development through the distribution of responsibility and role between the ministries and offices concerned according to bio-resources, and there needs to be efforts in aiming for opening a working group of academic-industrial institutions for developing a mutually interchangeable system. 6. It's required that the efficient access between industrial circles and the people should be promoted by setting up ABS support center of biological resources in ministry and office's charge. 7. There should be a selection of a national supervisory organization for securement of the right of a local community and monitoring of ABS convention implementation, and a countermeasure system for preventing outflow of forest bioresources. Conclusively, it's judged that it will be possible to inquire into the countermeasures for the establishment of the native forest biology dominion through such research results.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.24-38
• /
• 2021

Microhabitat In the upper stream is created by various environment variables such as the bottom substrate and the physicochemical factors, and may influence the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates. We investigated the bottom substrate and environmental variables influencing the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate in 26 stream-type waterways established at upper reaches of Geum River. During study period, total 85 families, 160 species, 9305 individuals of benthic macroinvertebrates were recorded. The stream-type waterways, where the bottom substrates consist mainly of pebble (16~64 mm) and cobble (64~256 mm) or with rapid water velocity (more than 0.2 m/s) and high dissolved oxygen (more than 120%), were supported by high species diversity of benthic macroinvertebrate. Hierological cluster analysis and the nonparametric multidimensional scale (NMDS) divided 26 stream-type waterways into a total of three clusters. In Cluster 1, the invertebrate species, such as Branchiura sowerbyi, Cloeon dipterum, Ischnura asiatica, Paracercion calamorum, and Radix auricularia, closely related to aquatic macrophytes, and Chironomidae spp., Limnodrilus gotoi, and Tanypodinae sp. were abundant in waterways, with high coverage of silt and clay as well as high turbidity and total nitrogen. The benthic macroinvertebrate species (Cheumatopsyche brevilineata, Drunella ishiyamana, Dugesia japonica, Ephemera orientalis, Gumaga KUa, Macrostemum radiatum, Potamanthus formosus, Semisulcospira libertine, Stenelmis vulgaris, and Teloganopsis punctisetae) included in Cluster 2 were dominated in sites with high cover rates of pebble and gravel. Cluster 3 was predominantly covered by the Cobbles, was supported by Simulium sp. Such a clear distinction in the study sites means that each stream-type waterways is governed by a clear habitat environment. In the case of some sites with low species diversity, improvement measures are required to restore nature, such as improving the function of inflows and outflows, creating meandering channel, and inducing the settlement of littoral vegetation.