• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.121-131
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• 2017

Although the educational facility are an important considerations on a social equity standpoint, educational environment in rural areas has been continuously deteriorated by numerous social problems such as decreasing birth rate and increasing of local school closing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accessibility of educational environment in rural areas on village level. First, we evaluate physical accessibility based on legally defined commuting distance. Second, the implication of village population of potential accessibility is analyzed. Lastly, the facility centrality index of each village is estimated for assessing the relations of educational accessibility. The main results of this study are as follows; (1) The accessibility of most villages in Pyeongchang-gun is vulnerable that 81.10% for elementary school, 73.17% for middle school, and 82.32% for high school, respectively; (2) The average commuting distance per student considering estimated number of students for each educational facilities indicated 2.75km for elementary school, 4.37km for middle school, and 5.79km for high school; (3) the facility centrality index is highly correlated to educational facilities but not to village population.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.667-671
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• 2014

By analyzing seed germination indexes of cabbage and radish, this study aims to evaluate the toxicity of food waste compost, which is produced by fermentation-extinction technology with bio wood chips. In the experimental results, the seed germination index of food waste compost for cabbage and radish was shown in the range of a minimum 104 and maximum 170. It was satisfied with the over 70 criteria in the level of the Korea fertilizer process specification. Consequently, the food waste compost from fermentation-extinction reaction with bio wood chips was evaluated by the appropriate compost maturity for the plantation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 2017

Soil quality has been regarded as an important factor for maintaining sustainability of ecosystem. Main purpose of this research was i) to select minimum factor for predicting biomass, and ii) to calculate soil quality index for biomass according to soil chemical properties. Result showed that soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and available phosphorus are minimum data set for calculating biomass production in soil. Selected representative soil chemical properties were evaluated for soil quality index and rated from 1 to 5 (1 is the best for biomass production). Percentage of each grade in terms of biomass production in national wide was 14.52, 35.23, 33.03, 6.47, 10.75% respectively. Although, only soil chemical properties were evaluated for calculating optimum soil quality, result of this research can be useful to understand basic protocol of soil quality assessment in national wide.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.165-177
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• 2015

Purpose: Accurate monitoring of soil strength is a key technology applicable to various precision agricultural practices. Soil strength has been traditionally measured using a cone penetrometer, which is time-consuming and expensive, making it difficult to obtain the spatial data required for precision agriculture. To improve the current, inefficient method of measuring soil strength, our objective was to develop and evaluate an in-situ system that could measure horizontal soil strength in real-time, while moving across a soil bin. Methods: Multiple cone-shape penetrometers were horizontally assembled at the front of a vertical plow blade at intervals of 5 cm. Each penetrometer was directly connected to a load cell, which measured loads of 0-2.54 kN. In order to process the digital signals from every individual transducer concurrently, a microcontroller was embedded into the measurement system. Wireless data communication was used between a data storage device and this real-time horizontal soil strength (RHSS) measurement system travelling at 0.5 m/s through an indoor experimental soil bin. The horizontal soil strength index (HSSI) measured by the developed system was compared with the cone index (CI) measured by a traditional cone penetrometer. Results: The coefficient of determination between the CI and the HSSI at depths of 5 cm and 10 cm ($r^2=0.67$ and 0.88, respectively) were relatively less than those measured below 20 cm ($r^2{\geq}0.93$). Additionally, the measured HSSIs were typically greater than the CIs for a given numbers of compactor operations. For an all-depth regression, the coefficient of determination was 0.94, with a RMSE of 0.23. Conclusions: A HSSI measurement system was evaluated in comparison with the conventional soil strength measurement system, CI. Further study is needed, in the form of field tests, on this real-time measurement and control system, which would be applied to precision agriculture.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.304-312
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• 2016

Purpose: Soil strength has been measured using a cone penetrometer, which is making it difficult to obtain the spatial data required for precision agriculture. Our objectives were to evaluate real-time horizontal soil strength (RHSS) to measure soil strength in real time while moving across the field. Using the RHSS data, the tillage depth was determined, and the power consumption of a tractor and rotavators were compared. Methods: The horizontal soil-strength index (HSSI) obtained by the RHSS was compared with the cone index (CI), which was measured using a cone penetrometer. Comparison analysis in accordance with the measurement depth that increased at 5-cm interval was conducted using kriged maps at six sensing depths. For tillage control and evaluation of the power consumption, the system was installed with a potentiometer for tillage depth, a torque sensor from the rear axle, and a power take-off (PTO) shaft. Results: The HSSI was lower than the CI, but they were the same at 54.81% of the total grids for the 5-cm depth and at 3.85% for the 10-cm depth. In accordance with the recommended tillage map, tillage operations between 0 and 15 cm left 2.3% and 7% residue cover on the soil, and that between 20 and 10 cm covered a wider utilization of 3% and 18.4%, respectively. When the tillage depth was 15 cm, the comparison result of the power requirements between the PTO and rear axle in terms of control performance revealed that the maximum power requirements of the axle and PTO were 44.63 and 23.24 kW, respectively. Conclusions: An HSSI measurement system was evaluated by comparison with the conventional soil strength measurement system (CI) and applied to a tractor to compare the tillage power consumption. Further study is needed on its application to various farm works using a tractor for precision agriculture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.356-362
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• 2023

The 2'-fucosyllactose (2'-FL) is the richest components in a human milk oligosaccharide. Several studies have reported that 2'-FL has beneficial effects in infants. However, there are few studies on its immune-enhancing effects. This research aimed to examine the immune-enhancing effect of 2'-FL on immunosuppression by cyclophosphamide (CCP) in ICR mice. Mice were orally administered distilled water or 0.5 mg/kg B.W. 2'-FL for 14 days. An immunocompromised mouse model was induced using CCP 80 mg/kg B.W. at 12-14 days. Using the CCP had effects on reducing their body weight, organ weight, spleen index, natural killer (NK) cell activity, and cytokines concentration and expression. This study also used concanavalin A-mediated T-cell proliferation to verify the immune-enhancing effects in the sample. Body weight, spleen index, organ weight, and cytokine levels were measured to estimate the immune-enhancing effects. The body weight at 14 days tended to increase, and the spleen weight and index significantly increased in the 2'-FL group compared to the CCP group. The NK cell activity increased in the 2'-FL group compared to the CCP group, but there was no significant difference. The concentration of interleukin (IL)-2 tended to recover in the 2'-FL group compared to the CCP group. The 2'-FL group showed a significant increase of IL-10 and IFN-gamma concentration compared to the CCP group. In addition, there was a trend of increased IL-10 mRNA expression compared to the CCP group. These results revealed that 2'-FL improved CCP-induced immunosuppression, suggesting that 2'-FL may have the potential to enhance the immune system.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.200-207
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• 2003

'||'||'||'&'||'||'||'quot;Overheating index'||'||'||'&'||'||'||'quot;, the normalized difference in incident solar energy between a target surface and a level surface, is helpful in estimating the spatial variation in daily maximum temperature at the landscape scale. It can be computed as the ratio of the 4-hour cumulative solar irradiance surplus or deficit from that over a level surface to the maximum possible deviation (15 MJ $m^{-2}$ ) during the midafternoon. Ecosystem models may, for simplicity, use an empirical proxy (exposure index) variable combining slope and aspect in place of the overheating index to account for the variation of midafternoon solar irradiance. A comparative study with real-world landscape data was carried out to evaluate the performance of exposure index in replacing the overheating index. Overheating indices for summer solstice, fall equinox and winter solstice were calculated at 573,650 grid cells constituting the land surface of Donggye-Myun, Sunchang County in Korea, based on a 10-m DEM. Exposure index was also calculated for the same area and fitted for the variation of overheating index to derive a 2$^{nd}$ -order linear regression equation. The coefficient of determination ($R^2$) was 0.50 on summer solstice, 0.56 on fall equinox, and 0.44 on winter solstice, respectively. These are much lower than the theoretically calculated $R^2$ values ranging from 0.7 in summer to 0.9 in autumn. According to our study, exposure index failed to accurately predict the cumulative solar irradiance over a complex terrain, hindering its application to daily maximum temperature estimation. We suggest direct calculation of the overheating index in preference to using the exposure index.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1B
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• pp.161-168
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• 2008

The ecological environmental zones in coastal area, like tidal flat and salt marsh, were gradually decreased due to large scale of coastal development projects, reclamation and so on. Therefore, the development of artificial tidal flat and salt marsh has been emphasized in coastal area as mitigation concept and studies on related this background has performed. But studies on the quantitative evaluation for degree of restoration were insufficient. In this paper, as a fundamental study for evaluation of restoration on the creation of ecological environmental zones in coastal area, it was conducted that the monitoring and experiment for bio-chemical factors (bio-diversity, population and biomass of macro-benthos, survival ratio of reed, the number of heterotrophic bacteria and physico-chemical characteristics such as COD, IL, TN, TP and pH) using a in-situ pilot plant of tidal flat (Zone. P1) and salt marsh (Zone. P2), which was distinguished by content of dredged soil, in Jinudo, Nakdong estuary. From results of this study, the restoration index (RI), for evaluation concerning degree of restoration on the creation of ecological environmental zones in coastal area, was suggested and quantitative evaluation was performed using a restoration index (RI).

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 2024

Background: This study examines the relationship between functional disability and work ability in workers affected by low back pain (LBP) through an analysis of correlations between the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Work Ability Index (WAI). The role of personal and work factors on functional disability/work ability levels has also been studied. LBP is the most common musculoskeletal problem and a major disabling health problem worldwide. Its etiology is multifactorial. Multidisciplinary approaches may help reduce the burden of pain and disability and improve job continuity and reintegration at work. Methods: A cohort of 264 patients affected by LBP from an Italian outpatient clinic were included in a clinical diagnostic/therapeutic trial aiming at rehabilitation and return to work through an integrated investigation protocol. Data were collected during the first medical examination using anamnestic and clinical tools. The final sample is composed of 252 patients, 57.1% man, 44.0 % blue collars, 46.4% with the high school degree, 45.6% married. Results: WAI and ODI reported a negative and fair correlation (r = -0.454; p = .000). Workers with acute LBP symptoms have a higher probability of severe disability than those with chronic LBP symptoms. White collars without depressive symptoms reported higher work ability - even in chronic disability conditions-than those with depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The study found that ODI and WAI have a convergent validity and this suggests that the two tools measure capture distinctive aspects of disability related to personal, environmental, and occupational characteristics. The most important and modifiable prognostic factors found for ODI and WAI were depressive symptoms, workday absence, and intensity of back pain. The study also found a mild association between age and ODI. The study's findings highlight the importance of using a multidisciplinary approach to manage and prevent disability due to LBP.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2016

Heavy metal pollution in agricultural fields at the abandoned metal mines has been serious problems in Korea. In order to manage heavy metal pollution in surface water and soil, numerous remediation strategies have been established. Therefore, main purpose of this research was to examine feasibility of ecological toxicity assessment for establishing management strategy in heavy metal polluted agricultural fields. Heavy metal concentration in surface water and soil was monitored along with ecotoxicity experiment with Daphnia magna and Eisenia fetida. Result showed that high toxicity was observed in heavily polluted agricultural field with heavy metals. In case of mortality of Daphnia magna (85%) and Eisenia fetida (6.7%), the highest ratio was observed when heavy metal concentration in surface and soil was high. Calculated ecotoxicity index (EI) ranged 0.06-0.30 and the highest EI was observed in heavily polluted sites among 5 abandoned metal mines. Overall, ecological toxicity assessment is necessary to evaluate heavy metal pollution in agricultural fields near at the abandoned metal mines along with chemical concentration analysis.