• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.107-115
• /
• 2016

Currently, there are 442 operating nuclear power plants in the world, and 62 more are under construction. According to this reasoning, the treatment of radioactive waste is important to prevent the environmental ecosystem including humans, animals, and plants. Especially, a leakage of radioactive waste causes not only regional problem but also serious global one. In this study, we demonstrate the effect of radioisotopes (e.g., cesium, strontium, and cobalt) on a 3D culture cell. To develop the 3D cell culture system, we used a 96-well-culture plate with biocompatible agarose hydrogel. Using this method, we can perform the 3D cell culture system with three different cell lines such as HeLa, HepG2, and COS-7. In addition, we conducted a cell viability test in the presence of radioisotopes. Interestingly, the 3D morphological cells showed 42% higher cell viability than those on the 2D against cesium. This result indicates that the 3D platform provides cells morphological and physiological characteristic similar to in vivo grown tissues. Moreover, it overcomes the limitation of conventional cell culture system that can't reflect in vivo systems. Finally, we believe that the proposed approach can be applied a new strategy for simple high-throughput screening and accurate evaluation of metal toxicity assay.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.57-82
• /
• 2005

In this study, we propose methods for. the efficient management and integrity of groundwater in response to a diminishing supply. As an alternative water resource for the future. we investigated and comparatively analyzed the quality standards of groundwater in the US (New York, Wisconsin and Texas), Austria, Netherlands, Canada, Japan and United Kingdom. These developed countries heavily depend on groundwater, more than 70%, for drinking water and apply those drinking water standards to groundwater quality. However, there exists few differences in the quality standards of groundwater among the countries, because each country possesses its own individual environment and management. In Korea, surface water pollution is getting serious and its water resources are diminishing. Therefore we propose several new quality criteria that many countries regulate at these days for their efficient management of groundwater. There is a need to divide BTEX criterion into Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene, individually. In. addition, it is needed to establish BTEX criteria into agricultural water and industrial water use standards as well as daily life use standards. Also, regulations for some PAHs, showing carcinogenicity, are required. Due to rapid industrialization various hazardous chemicals were utilized and their uses are increasing each year. Therefore, there is a strong need to introduce n~w standards and tighter regulations of the levels. At the same time, the criterion of nitrogenous compounds need' to be regulated individually in order to prevent the damage incurred by the compounds. Several developed countries have established standards for radon, previously caused environmental accidents in Korea. Therefore, we propose the necessity of groundwater quality standards for radon in this study.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.5B
• /
• pp.475-481
• /
• 2011

The TMDL standard flow as applying watershed management regime uses the average low flow of past 10 years. Moreover, the TMDL implementation assessment has been enforced through management of pollutant load satisfied objective water quality. Even though the present allocation and management through averaged low flow are still convenient, they are not enough to solve ultimate goals of watershed management to keep up recovery of water body. To maintain the same water quality concentration, the standard flow is required to consider total discharge in management plan which helps to keep healthy ecosystem. In view of this, it would be possible to approach reasonable assessment by reflecting variably changeable discharge from precipitation-streamflow relation and the TMDL standard establishment considering artificial regulated flow. Therefore, this study attempts to develop the TMDL method using Load Duration Curve (LDC) and Streamflow-Load Rating Curve (QLRC) considering total discharge and finds drawbacks with solutions as applying on Nakdong river TMDL unit watershed. Finally, this research evaluates possibility of application on pollutant load allocating and implementation assessment in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.97 no.3
• /
• pp.237-248
• /
• 2008

Recently the social movement which emphasizes the new balanced relationships between human and its environment has been arisen. In the field of forestry also the new paradigm which requires to manage forest resources in a sustainable way has been issued. Furthermore forest policy environment in Korea has been rapidly changed. The Forest Law era lasted over 40 and more years was ended and the new Forest Basic Law era which emphasizes the sustainable forest management just started in 2006. Under these circumstances this study explored the attitudinal changes of the Korea Forest Service employees, who have strong influence in forest policy making and implementing, on the multiple use issues of national forests, the new environmental paradigm and resources management paradigm between 1993 and 2006. The study results indicate that there are no significant differences on attitudes and beliefs between the staff and line employee groups. But there are attitudinal changes between 1993 and 2006 groups. Generally the KFS employees favored using national forest lands for the timber production and recreational uses, but they did not favor the livestock forage and mineral development. The KFS employees have pro-environmental attitudes and beliefs. On the other hand they perceive the KFS policy position is more toward commodity production or neutral.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.706-723
• /
• 2010

The impervious surface was frequently employed as a proxy of the total environmental burden in the urban area. The impervious surface was extracted from a satellite image and the GIS (Geographical Information System) database for childhood asthma hospitalizations was generated for a total of 62,136 children using the National Health Insurance database of South Korea. Children living in an impervious environment do result in almost twice as many hospitalizations (26.58%) for asthma, as compared to the sub-urban pervious living (15.82%). Furthermore, the risk zones with persistently high hospitalizations for three years were specifically identified over the impervious sub-district alone. The impervious zone showed a small inter-year variation of hospitalizations (r: 0.937) while the sub-urban pervious fringe was found to display a yearly variation(r: 0.371). The strong temporal autocorrelation means that the impervious areas have frequent long-lived hospitalizations for asthma, thus children living in impervious areas were likely to have had more chronic asthma attacks than those living in pervious areas. These experimental results indicate that an impervious surface as thematic parameter of analysis is a crucial explanatory variable for asthma hospitalizations and its longer persistence among children.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.85-93
• /
• 2008

The MAEULSOOP, Korean traditional village groves have been installed and survived since 7th Century to serve local village dwellers as a community forest. The common sense of their reasons for being is related to the surroundings such as hills, waterways and wind-ways. To understand the roles in a local community, spatial characteristics of distribution, locations and shapes were tested at the two-characterized regions, the Southwestern Flat Region and the Eastern Hilly Region. Approximately more than 500 written evidences related to trees and forests were surveyed, for example village names, folk tales and lists of designated trees for protection. Twenty sites in each region were selected and tested for the spatial analysis. Aerial photographs, DEM and the ArcGIS with a modified AML for slope analysis are applied based on the criteria of the KLCIS(Kwon, 2002; 권진오, 2008). The major factors in the role of the MAEULSOOP based on the spatial character of two regions are; the array and locations of hills for encircling or exposure, locations against corridors and waterway or not, locations of the community to serve, the conservation of energy. Although locations and shapes of the MAEULSOOP are slightly different, it seems that one of the prime roles is what makes their everyday life difficult the most in the community.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2016

BACKGROUND: Burcucumber(Sicyos angulatus L.) is an invasive plant species and disturbs ecosystems in Korea. The main method for prevention of burcucumber is cutting or pulling out. However, the studies accounting for the use of the by-product of burcucumber after cutting remain incomplete. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the applicability of burcucumber as a substitute for nitrogen fertilizer.METHODS AND RESULTS: Burcucmber plants only including stem, leaves, and petiole were collected from the Sky Park in Seoul and divided in to three categories based on the length of stem of burcucumber; 10-30 cm, 30-100 cm, and 100-200 cm. And they were input into soil with 20 kg-N/10 a. After 4 weeks aging, chemical properties of treated soils and the productivity of lettuce(Lactuca sativa L.) were examined. Both the inorganic nitrogen contents in soils and the growth of lettuce were increased with the decreases in length of burcucumber standing for young plant. And the inorganic nitrogen content and the productivity of lettuce were positively correlated(r= 0.9409).CONCLUSION: The C/N ratio of burcucumber was low, indicating fast decomposition and nitrogen supplying rate, resulting in the increase in lettuce growth. Burcucumber could be a good substitute for nitrogen organic fertilizer.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.114-126
• /
• 2020

Bloom-forming toxic cyanobacteria Microcystis spp. are common in the summer season in temperate freshwater ecosystems. Often, it leads to the degradation of water quality and affects the quality of drinking water. In a previous study, NQ (naphthoquinone) compounds were shown to be effective, selective, and ecologically safe algicides for Microcystis spp. blooms. To analyze the superiority of developed NQ derivatives, we conducted a microcosm experiment using clay, which is frequently used in South Korea. Similar to previous studies, the NQ 40 and NQ 2-0 compounds showed high algicidal activities of 99.9% and 99.6%, respectively, on Microcystis spp. at low concentrations (≥1 μM) and enhanced phytoplankton species diversity. However, when treated with clay, a temporary algicidal effect was seen at the beginning of the experiment that gradually increased at the end. In addition, treatment with the NQ compounds did not affect either the abiotic or biological factors, and similar trends were observed with the control. These results showed that the NQ 2-0 compound was more effective, with no ecosystem disturbance, and more economical than the currently used clay. These results suggest that NQ 2-0 compound could be a selective, economically and ecologically safe algicide to mitigate harmful cyanobacterial blooms in the field.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2017

Bioretention systems, an advance low impact development and green infrastructure approach were currently utilized in different parts of the world because it promotes biodiversity thereby mimicking and preserving the pre-developed state of an area. This study investigated and compared the capability of four bioretention systems to identify factors affecting the hydraulic capabilities and pollutant removal efficiencies of each system. The two bioretention type A referred as Type A-C and Type A-FC were planted with perennials such as Chrysanthemum and Fan columbine, respectively. On the other hand, the two type B bioretention systems referred as Type B-A and Type B-JM were planted with shrub plant species such as Azalea and Japanese Meadowsweet, respectively. Based on the results, TV, infiltration mechanism, filter media depth and plant species were identified as the factors affecting the difference in flow attenuation, retained volume and pollutant removal efficiency of Type A-C, Type A-FC, Type B-A and Type B-JM bioretention systems. The design of bioretention Type B-A and Type B-JM were advantageous considering greater volume retention, groundwater recharge, longer HRT and peak flow attenuation and greater pollutant removal efficiency. On the other hand, the design of bioretention Type A-C and Type A-FC was more appropriate for design considering reduced groundwater contamination.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2015

To assess the dormancy associated weedy risk of the F1 hybrid generated by hybridization between Brassica juncea (maternal) and Brassica napus (paternal), seed germination, dormancy and longevity were examined sequentially after seed harvest. The F1 hybrids exhibited the intermediate characteristics of their parents in seed germination and dormancy with relatively high dormancy rate of 41.1%. In summer, F1 hybrid seeds buried in the 3 cm soil exhibited greater viability (52.4%) than those in the soil surface with greater seed longevity (74.6%) than its maternal (63.3%) and paternal (33.7%) parents at 100 days of over-summering in soil. In winter, F1 seeds buried in the soil surface were more viable than those in the 3 cm soil with greater seed longevity (83.5%) than its maternal (39.0%) and paternal (71.7%) parents at 100 days of over-wintering in soil. Therefore, it is concluded that F1 hybrid resulted from gene flow from OSR to mustard has high seed dormancy and longevity during summer and winter, suggesting its weedy risk potential. Further studies are required to examine the reproductivity and fitness cost of F1 hybrid to make a clearer conclusion of its weedy risk.