• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.298-310
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• 2007

This study compared the correlation between the accumulated copper content in earthworms and the copper concentration rate of soil measured using several methods to extract heavy metals from soil. For the experiment, a microcosm soil test was carried out using copper contaminated soil from the vicinity of copper-roofed buildings and earthworms (Eisenia fetida). Soils from the study area were used to produce 6 treatments; control, 1C (contamination level with the lowest treated copper concentration rate), 2C, 4C, 8C, and 16C (contamination level with the highest treated copper concentration rate). Microcosm soil test using the 6 treatments proved that as the copper content in soil and the experiment time increased, the growth rate of and the accumulated copper concentration rate in earthworms increased as well. The degree of the increase corresponded to the order of the treated copper concentration levels in microcosm soils. Standard method of the ministry of environment and EPA method 3051 were used to obtain the copper concentration in soil and the total copper content in soil, respectively. The correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9875~0.9993 between the copper content extracted by the standard method and the total copper content shows high positive correlation. The correlation coefficient of the copper content in soil extracted by the standard method and the accumulated copper content in earthworms, and the correlation coefficient of the total copper content in soil and the accumulated copper content in earthworms were ranged from 0.9193 to 0.9728 and from 0.9282 to 0.9844, respectively, showing highly significant positive correlation. Due to the high correlation between the copper concentration in soil and the accumulated copper content in earthworms, it is concluded that earthworms are suitable to be used as biological indicator species or for bio-monitoring against copper contamination of soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.22-29
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• 2008

To understand environmental characteristics and contamination assessment of the Namsan Park soil in Seoul, we divided the Namsan map into 33 sectors and sampled mixed soil in depth 0${\sim}$15 cm, in 5${\sim}$10 points at the sites. We analyzed soil samples collected at 21 sectors twice on May and September. The results were as follows. The hue color ranges of the Namsan soil were 2.5YR${\sim}$10YR, the value ranges were 1${\sim}$4, the water rates were 3.1${\sim}$22.3 and the Ignition losses were 3.4${\sim}$10.4%. The average concentration of Cu and Pb were determined 3.374 and 15.000 mg/kg, Cd and As showed very low level. The mean concentrations of Zn and Ni were showed 103.290 and 11.649 mg/kg and this amount is not different from the nationalwide mean in 2005. The mean pH showed 5.41. The Zn, Ni and Cd in the soil of the circular road of Namsan showed 1.33, 1.48, 1.46 times higher than the other sector of the Namsan soil. The corelation coefficient between water rate and ignition loss were 0.720 and the correlation coefficient between Cu and Pb, Cu and Zn showed 0.827, 0.694 respectively. There was weak corelationship between pH and Zn. The Uniformity coefficient (Uc) of all the survey sites was determined below 5 in the range of 1.5${\sim}$4.4.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.651-660
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• 2007

Acid drainage has been recognized as an environmental concern in abandoned mine sites for long time. Recently, the environmental and structural damage by acid drainage is a current issue in construction sites in Korea. Here, the author introduces the type of damages by acid drainage in construction sites and emphasizes the importance of geoscience discipline in solving the problem. Metasedimentary rock of Okcheon group, coal bed of Pyeongan group, Mesozoic volcanic rock. and Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks are the major rock types with a high potential for acid drainage upon excavation in Korea. The acid drainage causes the acidification and heavy metal contamination of soil, surface water and groundwater, the reduction of slope stability, the corrosion of slope structure, the damage on plant growth, the damage on landscape and the deterioration of concrete and asphalt pavement. The countermeasure for acid drainage is the treatment of acid drainage and the prevention of acid drainage. The treatment of acid drainage can be classified into active and passive treatments depending on the degree of natural process in the treatment. Removal of oxidants, reduction of oxidant generation and encapsulation of sulfide are employed for the prevention of acid drainage generation.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.295-300
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to analyze microbiological hazards for plants, cultivation environments and personal hygiene of perilla leaf farms at the harvesting stage. Samples were collected from three perilla leaf farms(A, B, C) located in Gyeongnam, Korea and tested for sanitary indications, fungi and pathogenic bacteria(Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogens, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus). As a result, total bacteria and coliform in perilla leaf were detected at the levels of 4.4~5.2 and 3.4~4.3 log CFU/g, respectively, but E. coli was not detected in all samples. Among the pathogenic bacteria, B. cereus(perilla leaf: 2.0~2.4 log CFU/g, stem: 1.4~2.1 log CFU/g, water: 0.7 log CFU/ml, soil: 4.2~5.0 log CFU/g, hands: 3.0 log CFU/ hand, gloves: 2.1~2.4 log CFU/100 $cm^2$, glothes: 1.5~2.8 log CFU/100 $cm^2$) and S. aureus(3.4 log CFU/hand) were detected in all samples and worker's hand from farm A, respectively. However, other pathogenic bacteria were not detected. This study demonstrates that perilla leaf at the harvesting stage was significantly contaminated with microbial hazards.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.29-46
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• 2004

It is important to identify geometries of fracture that act as a conduit of fluid flow for characterization of ground water flow in fractured rock. Fracture geometries control hydraulic conductivity and stream lines in a rock mass. However, we have difficulties to acquire whole geometric data of fractures in a field scale because of discontinuous distribution of outcrops and impossibility of continuous collecting of subsurface data. Therefore, it is needed to develop a method to describe whole feature of a target fracture geometry. This study suggests a new approach to develop a method to characterize on the whole feature of a target fracture geometry based on the Fourier transform. After sampling of specimens along a target fracture from borehole cores, effective frequencies among roughness components were selected by the Fourier transform on each specimen. Then, the selected effective frequencies were averaged on each frequency. Because the averaged spectrum includes all the frequency profiles of each specimen, it shows the representative components of the fracture roughness of the target fracture. The inverse Fourier transform is conducted to reconstruct an averaged whole roughness feature after low pass filtering. The reconstructed roughness feature also shows the representative roughness of the target subsurface fracture including the geometrical characteristics of each specimen. It also means that overall roughness feature by scaling up of a fracture. In order to identify the characteristics of permeability coefficients along the target fracture, fracture models were constructed based on the reconstructed roughness feature. The computation of permeability coefficient was performed by the homogenization analysis that can calculate accurate permeability coefficients with full consideration of fracture geometry. The results show a range between $10^{-4}{\;}and{\;}10^{-3}{\;}cm/sec$, indicating reasonable values of permeability coefficient along a large fracture. This approach will be effectively applied to the analysis of permeability characteristics along a large fracture as well as identification of the whole feature of a fracture in a field scale.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

The health benefits associated with consumption of fresh produce have been clearly demonstrated and encouraged by international nutrition and health authorities. However, since fresh produce is usually minimally processed, increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables has also led to a simultaneous escalation of foodborne illness cases. According to the report by the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 10 people suffer from foodborne diseases and 420,000 die every year globally. In comparison to other processed foods, fresh produce can be easily contaminated by various routes at different points in the supply chain from farm to fork. This review is focused on the identification and characterization of possible sources of foodborne illnesses from chemical, biological, and physical hazards and the applicable methodologies to detect potential contaminants. Agro-chemicals (pesticides, fungicides and herbicides), natural toxins (mycotoxins and plant toxins), and heavy metals (mercury and cadmium) are the main sources of chemical hazards, which can be detected by several methods including chromatography and nano-techniques based on nanostructured materials such as noble metal nanoparticles (NMPs), quantum dots (QDs) and magnetic nanoparticles or nanotube. However, the diversity of chemical structures complicates the establishment of one standard method to differentiate the variety of chemical compounds. In addition, fresh fruits and vegetables contain high nutrient contents and moisture, which promote the growth of unwanted microorganisms including bacterial pathogens (Salmonella, E. coli O157: H7, Shigella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus) and non-bacterial pathogens (norovirus and parasites). In order to detect specific pathogens in fresh produce, methods based on molecular biology such as PCR and immunology are commonly used. Finally, physical hazards including contamination by glass, metal, and gravel in food can cause serious injuries to customers. In order to decrease physical hazards, vision systems such as X-ray inspection have been adopted to detect physical contaminants in food, while exceptional handling skills by food production employees are required to prevent additional contamination.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.320-329
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• 2023

Cadmium (Cd), a heavy metal found in the aquatic environment, accumulates in organisms through the food chain. In the study, we investigated the survival rates, measurement of body Cd levels, and expression analysis of the stress response genes (Heat shock protein 70: HSP70 and Heat shock protein 60: HSP60) and antioxidant enzyme Glutathione S-Transferases (GST) on benthic oligochaete worm Tubifex tubifex exposed three concentrations of Cd, to analyze the bioaccumulation and changes of stress gene expressions to exposure toxicity of the Cd-spiked sediment. Survival rates of T. tubifex exposed to the Cdspiked sediment were 93% at 0.4 mg kg^-1 Cd, 96% at 1.87 mg kg^-1 Cd, and 93% at 6.09 mg kg^-1 Cd for 10 days. Cd concentration in the body of T. tubifex was higher than that in the sediment. After Cd exposures for 10 days, the body Cd levels were 18.4 mg kg^-1, 13.06 mg kg^-1, and 79.11 mg kg^-1 at exposed three concentrations of Cd, respectively. Upregulation of HSP70 gene expression was observed at all concentrations of exposed Cd as a time-dependent manner, whereas transcriptional expression of the HSP60 gene increased as a timedependent manner in T. tubifex exposed to the relative high concentration (6.09 mg kg^-1) of Cd. However, GST gene expression increased on day 1 at all concentrations after Cd exposures, and then downregulated until 10 days. These results indicate to ecotoxicological and molecular effects in benthic oligochaete worm T. tubifex to Cd-spiked sediment and provide the basic information for the utilization of environmental toxicity assessment using the T. tubifex as a aquatic pollution indicator species.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.203-210
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• 2004

This study was conducted to assessment organic compound and bioassay (density of inhabited animal, fluctuation of predominant fungi, and survival ratio of earthworm) for finding damage on red pepper by heavily amount application of sludges in soil, which was treated with 3 pharmaceutical byproducts and a cosmetic industry wastewater sludge as raw materials of compost, and for establishing estimation method. HEM contents in the soil treated with pharmaceutical byproducts sludge2 (PS2) and cosmetic sludge (CS) were 0.51, 1.10 mg/kg respectively. PAHs content of PS2 treatment in the soil was 3406.8 ug/kg on July 8. In abundance of soil faunas, the pharmaceutical byproducts sludge2 treatment was the most highest. The next was decreased in the order of pig manure (PM) and the cosmetic sludge treatment. However the other pharmaceutical sludge treatments were remarkably reduced populations of soil inhabited animals. In upland soil treated with organic sludges, the numbers of bacteria and fungi of the pharmaceutical sludge treatment were 736, 909 cfu/g and those of the cosmetic sludge treatment were 440, 236 cfu/g, respectively. The pharmaceutical sludge treatments and the cosmetic sludge treatment in identification of predominant bacteria were not any tendency to compare with non fertilizer and pig manure treatments, but they had diverse bacteria than NPK treatment. In microcosm tests, the survival of the tiger earthworm in five soil samples was hardly affected against the soil of PSI (20%) after three months treated in the upland But after six months, survival of PS1 was 80%. At present, raw material of compost was authorized by contents of organic matter, heavy metal (8 elements), and product processing according to 'The specified gist on possible materials of using after analysis and investigation among raw materials of compost', however, for preparing to change regulation of raw material of compost and for considering to possibility of application, this study was conducted to investigate toxic organic compound and bioassay methods using inhabited animal, fungi, and earthworm without current regulation.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.315-332
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• 2005

This study was conducted to assess the nutritional value and the safety of the fermented food wastes (FFW) made by adding lactobacillus spp. and bacillus spp. at the ratio of 3:7, respectively to food wastes collected everywhere, and also to determine effects on the performances, carcass characteristics and economical profitability when FFW was fed to pigs. For swine trial, FFW was formulate to pellet by utilizing different feed ingredients, and its formulated FFW pellet was used in this feeding trial. Treatments were consisted of different ratios (T1: $100+0\%$, T2: $75+25\%$, T3: $50+50\%$, T4: $25+75\%$, T5: $0+100\%$) of FFW pellet to commercial diet. A total of 20 male pigs were allotted to treatments of five groups of four pigs per pen. Experimental period lasted for 4 months. The nutritional composition of FFW was 56.7, 19.5 and $19.5\%$ for moisture, crude protein and ether extract, respectively. Salt content was $0.39\%$. Noxious microorganisms such as salmonella and E. coli were not detected in FFW, and contents of heavy metal and aflatoxin B1 were lower than the standard. Nutritional values of FFW pellet satisfied over $100\%$ of requirements presented in official Korean feeding standard for swine. Feeding trial for pigs showed that feed intakes were significantly (P<0.05) decreased with increasing levels of FFW pellet. T2 treatment was ideal ratio under the consideration of economical value of feeds and body weight gain of pigs. For carcass characteristics, dressing rate ($\%$) was highest in T3, and carcass grades for T2, T3 and T4 treatments were estimated as 'A'. Feed cost for FFW per kg was ${\won}167.95$, which implies $52\%$ of commercial feed cost (${\won}350/kg$). Thus, this result implied the decreased feed cost in the swine farm. Conclusively, the utilization of food wastes as feed source may lead to the reduced environmental pollution and the practice of organic livestock farming. However, our results showed that excessive amount of fermented food wastes supplementation to pigs might give rise to their reduced palatability and delayed growth.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2012

This experiment was carried out to investigate soil properties and the requirement of livestock manure compost in a large-scale environment-friendly agricultural complex (EFAC), Gosan, Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk. Total cultivation area of major crops was 2,353 ha. This complex area included different types of environment-friendly cropping sections (402.9ha) and livestock farming including 21,077 Korean beef cattle, 1,099 dairy cow, and 32,993 hog. Amount of livestock waste carried in to Resource Center for Crop and Livestock Farming (RCCLF) was 32 Mg per day and the production of manure compost was 9,600 Mg per year. The manure contained 1.4% total nitrogen (T-N), 2.7% phosphorus as $P_2O_5$, 2.1% potassium as $K_2O$, 0.9% magnesium as MgO, 2.5% calcium as CaO. Amount of compost used in the EFAC was 6,588 Mg per year. Soil pH values in the EFAC were varied as follows: 78.1% of paddy field soil, 58.2% of upland soil, 60.3% of orchard field soil, and 62.1% of greenhouse soil were in proper range. For the content of soil organic matter, 41.7% of paddy field soil, 46.5% of upland soil, 40.5% of orchard field soil, and 81.4% of greenhouse soil were higher than proper range. The content of available phosphorus was mostly higher than proper value on the different fields except upland soil. The contents of exchangeable $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $Mg^{2+}$ were also exceeded in the orchard field and greenhouse soils. In addition, microbial population, especially aerobic bacteria, in the EFAC was higher than that in regular farming land.