• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.384-397
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• 2021

Background: With volatile organic compounds (VOCs) containing aromatic and halogenated hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, and xylene that can adversely affect the respiratory and cardiovascular systems when a certain concentration is reached, it is important to accurately evaluate the source and the corresponding health risk effects. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to provide scientific evidence for the city of Seoul's VOC reduction measures by confirming the risk of each VOC emission source. Methods: In 2020, 56 VOCs were measured and analyzed at one-hour intervals using an online flame ionization detector system (GC-FID) at two measuring stations in Seoul (Gangseo: GS, Bukhansan: BHS). The dominant emission source was identified using the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model, and health risk assessment was performed on the main components of VOCs related to the emission source. Results: Gasoline vapor and vehicle combustion gas are the main sources of emissions in GS, a residential area in the city center, and the main sources are solvent usage and aged VOCs in BHS, a greenbelt area. The risk index ranged from 0.01 to 0.02, which is lower than the standard of 1 for both GS and BHS, and was an acceptable level of 5.71×10^-7 to 2.58×10^-6 for carcinogenic risk. Conclusions: In order to reduce the level of carcinogenic risk to an acceptable safe level, it is necessary to improve and reduce the emission sources of vehicle combustion and solvent usage, and eco-car policies are judged to contribute to the reduction of combustion gas as well as providing a response to climate change.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_2
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• pp.1803-1818
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• 2021

As the frequency of drought increases due to climate change, it is very important to have a monitoring system that can accurately determine the situation of widespread drought. However, while ground-based meteorological data has limitations in identifying all the complex droughts in Korea, satellite remote sensing data can be effectively used to identify the spatial characteristics of drought in a wide range of regions and to detect drought. This study attempted to analyze the possibility of using remote sensing data for drought identification in South Korea. In order to monitor various aspects of drought, remote sensing and ground observation data of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, which are major variables affecting drought, were collected. The evaluation of the applicability of remote sensing data was conducted focusing on the comparison with the observation data. First, to evaluate the applicability and accuracy of remote sensing data, the correlations with observation data were analyzed, and drought indices of various aspects were calculated using precipitation and potential evapotranspiration for meteorological drought monitoring. Then, to evaluate the drought monitoring ability of remote sensing data, the drought reproducibility of the past was confirmed using the drought index. Finally, a high-resolution drought map using remote sensing data was prepared to evaluate the possibility of using remote sensing data for actual drought in South Korea. Through the application of remote sensing data, it was judged that it would be possible to identify and understand various drought conditions occurring in all regions of South Korea, including unmeasured watersheds in the future.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.174-189
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• 2012

This study aims to examine the traditional living space to reflect the environment-friendly design methods and principles of reestablishment. To do so, this study carried on a related literature study and field survey. The traditional living space in terms of the environmental friendliness is reflected on site selection and space composition, and utilization of natural energy and natural materials. Focused on the Kwangajeong in Yangdong Village, this study is to identify eco-friendly techniques on the traditional living space. As a result, it shows that Kwangajeong with the side of the southeast in site selection had been considered in aspect of environmental control such as sunshine and solar radiation. Also building construction techniques had been used to minimize the variation of terrain. In aspect of environmental conservation, Kwangajeong had structurally arranged the gate, an inner yard and an inner floor to allow good ventilation. In aspect of space composition, Kwangajeong with the emphasis of scenic view had utilized the methods that attract external landscape through the control of its fences. Environment-friendly techniques and control principles in traditional space had been developed by a long experience through the long periods and the traditional techniques suitable for local climate and local environment have been developed. The technical development of these techniques to resolve the global environmental and energy issues and create a more pleasant living environment of human beings might be critical.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.63-74
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• 2019

This study carried out a human risk assessment of Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni contained in soil contaminated by improperly buried heavy metal wastes in railway sites. The purpose of the human risk assessment is to derive the need for soil remediation and factors that should be considered during soil remediation. Risk assessment was performed in accordance with the Environment Ministry's Risk Assessment Guidelines. The results of the human risk assessment of contaminated heavy metal soil contaminated by improperly buried waste in the railway site were presented after the process of determining exposure concentration, calculating exposure, and determining carcinogenic hazards. The heavy metal content of soil is 621.3 Cu mg/kg, 2,824.5 Pb mg/kg, 1,559.1 Zn mg/kg and 45 Ni mg/kg, which is the exposure concentration of the target contaminant. The results of human exposure according to exposure pathways were high in the order of soil outdoor dust >soil ingestion >soil contact, and Pb >Zn >Cu >Ni were higher in order of contaminant. The carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks of soil contaminated with heavy metal waste were higher than the allowable carcinogenic risks (TCR> $10^{-6}$) and the risk index (Hi < 1.0) suggested by USEPA. Therefore, the site needs to be remediated.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.265-276
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• 2021

This study investigated the characteristics of fish communities and river health in the Sincheon stream of Imgin River between April and October 2019. The survey collected 3,677 objects in 30 species belonging to 12 families from 23 survey stations. The dominant and subdominant species were Zacco platypus (28.4%) and Oryzias sinensis (13.6%), respectively, followed by Z. koreanus (11.8%), Rhynchocypris oxycephalus (11.7%), Carassius auratus (9.6%), and Pseudorasbora parva (7.9%) in that order. Among the fish species collected, 10 (33.3%) were endemic species in Korea. The exotic species were 5 (16.7%), including Micropterus salmoides, Lepomis macrochirus, Cyprinus carpio (Israeli type), Poecilia reticulata, and Xiphophorus maculatus. The land-locked species included Cottus koreanus and Rhinogobius brunneus, while C. koreanus was a climate change-sensitive species. The dominance of the fish community was low, and the diversity was high in the Sincheon mainstream, Sudongcheon and Cheongdamcheon, whereas Dongducheon and Sangpaecheon showed higher dominance and low diversity. The river health was very good and good in the uppermost and Sudongcheon areas, whereas the upper stream was normal, and the middle and lower streams were poor and very poor, respectively. The water quality was also mostly poor or very poor from the midstream to the downstream, and only Sudongcheon was very good. Therefore, the water quality had a great impact on fish habitat and eventually affected river health significantly. Although the water quality of Shincheon has improved each year, the introduction of several foreign species had a very negative effect. Improvement of river health in Shincheon requires water quality improvement and management of exotic fish species.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.123-133
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• 2021

In order to use Osmia cornifrons more effectively in apples, we investigated the pollination effect and nesting activity of O. cornifrons on 'Hongro', the middle-season cultivar, and 'Fuji', the late-season cultivar. There was a significant difference in the nesting activity and pollination effect of O. cornifrons depending on the apple cultivar. The nesting activity, rate of trap nesting, and reproduction in 'Fuji' were 2.5, 1.5, and 3.8 times greater than in 'Hongro', respectively. The pollination effect according to cultivar 'Fuji' was 1.6 times greater than that of 'Hongro' in the central fruit set. In terms of the quality of fruit, the asymmetry index of 'Fuji' was 2.5 times lower than that of 'Hongro', and the number of apple seeds of 'Fuji' was 1.9 times greater than that of 'Hongro'. The main reason for this result was the air temperature. The activity of O. cornifrons was most affected by air temperature (R2 = 0.578). It is expected that the nesting activity and pollination effect are great in 'Fuji' (17.4-24.1℃) when the temperature during the blooming period is higher than that of 'Hongro' (12.5-20.2℃). Our study provides important information on stable apple production for apple cultivators, and can be used as an evidence for changes in flora and insect fauna caused by climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.15-29
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• 2021

Urban green spaces offer a variety of benefits to living things and humans. However, existing green spaces have been reduced and fragmented due to urbanization, and there is a limit to creating new large green spaces in densely developed cities. Street trees have fewer restrictions on land use, which can be a measure to secure green areas in cities. In Korea, excessive pruning is being done on some street trees for reasons such as blocking of building signboards, contact with electric wires, and restrictions on sidewalk widths. Therefore, it is necessary to quantitatively understand the relationship between the benefits provided by street trees and their structures to come up with an efficient and systematic planning and management plan for urban street trees. In this study, we quantitatively analyzed the relationship between the thermal comfort improvement by the shades of street trees and the vertical structure, planting environment, and types of street trees. To calculate the thermal comfort felt by human body, we calculated UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index) of each street tree. For the vertical structure of street trees, we used Terrestrial LiDAR and the point clouds of street tree's crown was sliced vertically at 1m intervals. We conducted a multiple regression analysis on the thermal comfort improvement using the variables we obtained from fields. As a result, in the case of a street tree's vertical structure, the lager the volume of tree's crown located 3-4m (β=0.298, p<.05) and 6-7m (β=0.568, p<.001) above clear length, the better the cooling effect. In addition, the thermal comfort improvement was assessed to decrease as the DBH increased (β=-0.435, p<.001). In general, the crown diameter and DBH are positively correlated, with a cooling effect occurring as crown diameter increases. In this study, the opposite result was obtained due to the small number of trees measured, so additional research is needed by increasing the number of tree samples. In the case of the planting environment, the effect of improving thermal comfort was higher in the shaded area of trees planted to the south (β=-0.541, p<.001). Since unsystematic management of street trees can deteriorate the function of them, quantitative evaluations of the vertical structure of street trees are required, which can provide specific measures for planning and management of urban street trees with thermal comfort effect.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.481-494
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• 2022

This study proposed a evaluation of the monthly vulnerable period for groundwater level management in the Miho stream watershed and a technique for evaluating the vulnerable period for future groundwater level management using LSTM. Observation data from groundwater level and precipitation observation stations in the Miho stream watershed were collected, LSTM was constructed, predicted values for precipitation and groundwater levels from 2020 to 2022 were calculated, and future groundwater management was evaluated when vulnerable. In order to evaluate the vulnerable period of groundwater level management, the correlation between groundwater level and precipitation was considered, and weights were calculated to consider changes caused by climate change. As a result of the evaluation, the Miho stream watershed showed high vulnerability to underground water management in February, March, and June, and especially near the Cheonan Susin observation well, the vulnerability index for groundwater level management is expected to deteriorate in the future. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the evaluation of the vulnerable period of groundwater level management and the derivation of preemptive countermeasures to the problem of groundwater resources in the basin by presenting future prediction techniques using LSTM.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.49-70
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• 2022

Sea Surface Temperature (SST), one of the ocean features, has a significant impact on climate, marine ecosystem and human activities. Therefore, SST prediction has been always an important issue. Recently, deep learning has drawn much attentions, since it can predict SST by training past SST patterns. Compared to the numerical simulations, deep learning model is highly efficient, since it can estimate nonlinear relationships between input data. With the recent development of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) in computer, large amounts of data can be calculated repeatedly and rapidly. In this study, Short-term SST will be predicted through Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based U-Net that can handle spatiotemporal data concurrently and overcome the drawbacks of previously existing deep learning-based models. The SST prediction performance depends on the seasonal and interannual SST variabilities around the southern coast of Korea. The predicted SST has a wide range of variance during spring and summer, while it has small range of variance during fall and winter. A wide range of variance also has a significant correlation with the change of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index. These results are found to be affected by the intensity of the seasonal and PDO-related interannual SST fronts and their intensity variations along the southern Korean seas. This study implies that the SST prediction performance using the developed deep learning model can be significantly varied by seasonal and interannual variabilities in SST.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.184-194
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• 2022

Triplochiton scleroxylon K. Schum is the plant species most affected by logging activities in the East Region of Cameroon due to its market value. This logging has impacted the ecological niche of the fern plant for which limited research has been done. The aim of this study is to contribute towards improving knowledge of fern richness and biomass on T. scleroxylon within the Central African sub-region. Fern data collection was done on 20 felled/harvested T. scleroxylon where, in addition to fern inventory, fern biomass was collected by the destructive method. The diameter and height of T. scleroxylon measured were used as explanatory variables in allometric equations for fern biomass estimation. Fern inventory was characterized using diversity index. Eight fern species were recorded on T. scleroxylon (≈5 species/T. scleroxylon). The minimum diameter where fern could be found is 59.4 cm. The average fern biomass found was 23.62 kg/T. scleroxylon. Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive correlation (r>0.55) between fern biomass and T. scleroxylon diameter. For allometric equation, the logarithmic model improved better the adjustment than the non-logarithmic model. However, the quality of the adjustment is improved more when only the diameter is considered as an explanatory variable. Fern biomass is estimated to 90.08 kg/ha^-1 with 76.02 kg/ha^-1 being lost due to T. scleroxylon exploitation in the study area. This study is a contribution towards increasing knowledge of fern diversity specific to T. scleroxylon, and also fern biomass contribution to climate change mitigation and the potential carbon loss due to T. scleroxylon exploitation.