• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental Accounting

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Activity-Based Costing and Management Applied to Occupational and Environmental Health (산업보건 및 환경분야에 대한 활동기준원가계산 및 관리의 응용)

  • Park, Doo Yong;Brandt, Michael T.;Levine, Steven P.;Paik, Nam Won
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.144-155
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    • 1996
  • During the 1990s the workplace has grown more complex and business competition has increased world-wide. All organizations, whether for-profit or non-profit have been forced to respond to market changes. More advanced information and technology, greater product diversity, shorter product life cycles, increased quality requirements, more regulation oversight, decreasing productivity, more competitors, and increasing overhead costs have motivated organizations to focus on ways to deliver products cheaper, better, and faster. Many organizations are searching for ways to reduce costs through downsizing, reengineering business processes, implementing quality management, outsourcing, and improving cost management. Support departments that provide services internal to an organization such as human resources, legal, and environmental, safety, and health (ES&H) are often the first organization targeted for cost reduction and cost control initiatives because these functions are part of a rapidly increasing overhead cost. Recently, ES&H functions are incresingly being integrated into the business of business to contribute value to organization beyond mere compliance with ES&H regulations. The discussions and development of the ISO compatible Environmental Management Standards or Occupational Safety and Health Management Standards is another impetus to integrate ES&H function into the business of business. Thus, ES&H professional need new skills to analyze the cost of their function and communicate the value of the products and services they provide. In recent years, the need for and the importance developing cost management and business skills by ES&H professionals have been emphasized in the literature. Communicating with decision makers in terms of cost and value to the organization, and by using business language and business arguments is the first step toward effectively integrating ES&H activities into the business of business. Activity-based costing (ABC) is a cost management method that measures the cost of a product or service based on the actual use of resources by activities, and based on the actual amount of activities used to produce a product or service. ABC is recommended as a tool for managers of ES&H organizations to determine the cost of developing and providing ES&H products within a for-profit firm or non-profit agency. This paper discusses the trend of integration of ES&H functions into the mainstream of business activities within an organization. The general principles of treditional cost accounting are presented as a bases for understandging why and how ABC will provide more accurate estimates of cost. The principles and concepts of ABS are presented as a tool for determining more accurately the true cost of ES&H products and services.

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Risk Analyses from Eruption History and Eruptive Volumes of the Volcanic Rocks in Ulleung Island, East Sea (울릉도 화산암류의 분화이력과 분출량에 따른 위험도 분석)

  • Hwang, Sang Koo;Jo, In Hwa
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.49 no.3
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    • pp.181-191
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    • 2016
  • We estimate the eruption history and magmatic eruptive volumes of each rock units to evaluate the volcanic eruption scale and volcanic hazard of the Ulleung Island. Especially, Maljandeung Tuff represents about 19~5.6 ka B.P. from $^{14}C$ dating, and Albong Trachyandesite, about 0.005 Ma from K-Ar dating in recent age dating data. These ages reveal evidences of volcanic activities within the last 10,000 years, indicating that the Ulleung Island can classify as an active volcano with possibility of volcanic eruption near future. Accumulated DRE-corrected eruptive volume is calculated at $40.80km^3$, within only the island. The calculated volumes of each units are $3.71km^3$ in Sataegam Tuff, and $0.10km^3$ in Maljandeung Tuff but $12.39km^3$ in accounting the distal and medial part extended into southwestern Japan. Volcanic explosivity indices range 1 to 6, estimating from the volumes of each pyroclastic deposits. The colossal explosivity indices are 5 in Sataegam Tuff, and 6 in Maljandeung Tuff in accounting the distal and medial part. Therefore, it is necessary for appropriate researches regarding possibility of volcanic eruption of the island, and establishment system of the evaluation and preparation for volcanic hazard based on the researches is required.

HYSTERETIC MODELING ON THE CONVECTIVE TRANSPORT OF ORGANIC SOLVENT IN AN UNSATURATED SOIL ZONE

  • Lee, Kun-Sang
    • Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.11 no.5
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    • pp.241-249
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    • 2006
  • A mathematical model is described for the prediction of convective upward transport of an organic solvent driven by evaporation at the surface, which is known as the major transport mechanism in the in-situ photolysis of a soil contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin(TCDD). A finite-element model was proposed to incorporate the effects of multiphase flow on the distribution of each fluid, gravity as a driving force, and the use of hysteretic models for more accurate description of k-S-p relations. Extensive numerical calculations were performed to study fluid flow through three types of soils under different water table conditions. Predictions of relative permeability-saturation-pressure (k-S-p) relations and fluids distribution for an illustrative soil indicate that hysteresis effects may be quite substantial. This result emphasizes the need to use hysteretic models in performing flow simulations including reversals of flow paths. Results of additional calculations accounting for hysteresis on the one-dimensional unsaturated soil columns show that gravity affects significantly on the flow of each fluid during gravity drainage, solvent injection, and evaporation, especially for highly permeable soils. The rate and duration of solvent injection also have a profound influence on the fluid saturation profile and the amount of evaporated solvent. Key factors influencing water drainage and solvent evaporation in soils also include hydraulic conductivity and water table configuration.

A Global Perspective on Green Sustainability, Corporate Reputation, and Technological Strength for Firm Performance Across Countries

  • Lee, Jooh
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.10 no.8
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    • pp.15-23
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    • 2012
  • This study is an attempt to explore the nature and characteristics of strategic impact of green strategy by environmental capital, corporate reputation, and technology strengths on the firm's performance across countries. The main question addressed in this paper relates to how corporate sustainability, corporate reputation, technology strength, and capabilities influence the firm's economic performance with respect to diverse dimensions of performance measures including sustained growth through the leading firms across countries in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia-Pacific countries. Particularly, this study attempts to empirically explore the directions and magnitudes of the operational links between new emerging strategic core competencies (e.g., sustainability green strategy by environmental focus for more sustainable path, corporate reputation by corporate social responsibility and image enhancement, and technology strengths to develop a new product and market) and the firm's economic performance with respect to diverse dimensions of performance such as accounting (ROE and EOA) - and market-based performance (Market value and Tobin's q). Considering all possible limitations that might exist with regard to selected samples and methods, this study demonstrates that environmental sustainability, corporate reputation, technological capabilities and competencies through R&D intensity and patent are most likely to be significantly associated with most market-based performance measures, but the strategic significance of other variables such as capital intensity, leverage, and administrative cost efficiency on performance tends to be different depending on which performance measure is used across different countries with diverse economic and business contexts.

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Definition and Classification of Ecosystem Services for Decision Making (의사결정지원을 위한 생태계서비스의 정의와 분류)

  • Ahn, SoEun
    • Journal of Environmental Policy
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.3-16
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    • 2013
  • This review paper examines various terms used for the definitions and classifications of ecosystem services, often times mixed and confused, in the literature and re-establishes the concepts of important terms, including ecosystem functions, services and benefits, to enhance communication among the stake-holders in the process of decision making. The definitions and scopes of ecosystem services are differentiated depending on the policy purposes such as environmental accounting, environmental valuation and natural resource management. The importance of identification and enumeration of final outputs associated with a particular policy is addressed. In addition, the usefulness of an alternative pathway-analysis beginning from benefits, via services and function, to process/structure of ecosystem is emphasized.

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Source Apportionment and the Origin of Asian Dust Observed in Korea by Receptor Modelling (CMB) (수용모델(CMB)을 이용한 한반도에서 관측된 황사의 발원지 추정과 기여도에 대한 연구)

  • Shin S.A.;Han J.S.;Kim S.D.
    • Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.22 no.2
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    • pp.157-166
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    • 2006
  • Ambient TSP at four sites in Korea and soil samples from the source regions of Asian Dust in northern China were collected and analyzed for 15 metal components and 6 water-soluble ions to conduct a chemical mass balance (CMB). CMB receptor model was used to estimate the source contribution of TSP during the Asian Dust period, and the model results showed that China soil was the largest source contributor, accounting for 81% of TSP ($458.2{\mu}g/m^3$). Vehicle emission and geological sources contributed to about 8.8% and 4.4% of aerosol mass, followed by sea salt (1.5%) and secondary aerosol (2.9%). Fuel combustion and industrial process sources were found to be relatively minor contributors to TSP (${\leq}1%$). In addition to source contribution estimates, this study tried to identify the origin of Asian Dust observed in Korea. Among all 13 China soil profiles presented in this study, the most adoptable profile which can project the case well was selected and considered as the origin of the applied case.

Influence of Infrared Radiationon Sowing Quality and Growth Indicators of Winter Wheat Plants

  • Chervinsky, L.;Storozhuk, L.;Pashkovska, N.
    • The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.17-20
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    • 2020
  • Wheat is the most abundant crop in the world, accounting for one third of the world's population diet. In Ukraine, wheat is in fact, in addition to its nutritional value, a national symbol of the state. Therefore, the main thesis on the development of modern plant growing in Ukraine is the reduction of costs and the introduction of innovative technologies. The quality of grain and seed depends on many factors, namely: agro-climatic conditions, sowing condition of the seed material, quality characteristics of the soil, yielding properties of seeds, pre-sowing seed treatment. etc. For this purpose, the photosynthesis and intensity of photosynthesis need to be limited to the width of the leaf and the height of the leaves by a smaller cut of the stem. It is extremely important to ensure that the head and side pagons of wheat are in good condition. All parameters are often secured by the technology of grain preparation before delivery. Prior to this technology, it is possible to introduce processing of the material in the form for the development of the material. This article presents the effectiveness of the use of infrared irradiation for the pre-sowing treatment of winter wheat seeds in Sekobra Research, Germany.

Impact of multiple component deterioration and exposure conditions on seismic vulnerability of concrete bridges

  • Ghosh, Jayadipta;Padgett, Jamie E.
    • Earthquakes and Structures
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    • v.3 no.5
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    • pp.649-673
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    • 2012
  • Recent studies have highlighted the importance of accounting for aging and deterioration of bridges when estimating their seismic vulnerability. Effects of structural degradation of multiple bridge components, variations in bridge geometry, and comparison of different environmental exposure conditions have traditionally been ignored in the development of seismic fragility curves for aging concrete highway bridges. This study focuses on the degradation of multiple bridge components of a geometrically varying bridge class, as opposed to a single bridge sample, to arrive at time-dependent seismic bridge fragility curves. The effects of different exposure conditions are also explored to assess the impact of severity of the environment on bridge seismic vulnerability. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on a representative class of aging multi-span reinforced concrete girder bridges typical of the Central and Southeastern United States. The results reveal the importance of considering multiple deterioration mechanisms, including the significance of degrading elastomeric bearings along with the corroding reinforced concrete columns, in fragility modeling of aging bridge classes. Additionally, assessment of the relative severity of exposure to marine atmospheric, marine sea-splash and deicing salts, and shows 5%, 9% and 44% reduction, respectively, in the median value bridge fragility for the complete damage state relative to the as-built pristine structure.

Study on the optimization of partial nitritation using air-lift granulation reactor for two stage partial nitritation/Anammox process

  • Jung, Minki;Oh, Taeseok;Jung, Kyungbong;Kim, Jaemin;Kim, Sungpyo
    • Membrane and Water Treatment
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    • v.10 no.4
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    • pp.265-275
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    • 2019
  • This study aimed to develop a compact partial nitritation step by forming granules with high Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria (AOB) fraction using the Air-lift Granulation Reactor (AGR) and to evaluate the feasibility of treating reject water with high ammonium content by combination with the Anammox process. The partial nitritation using AGR was achieved at high nitrogen loading rate ($2.25{\pm}0.05kg\;N\;m-3\;d^{-1}$). The important factors for successful partial nitritation at high nitrogen loading rate were relatively high pH (7.5~8), resulting in high free ammonia concentration ($1{\sim}10mg\;FA\;L^{-1}$) and highly enriched AOB granules accounting for 25% of the total bacteria population in the reactor. After the establishment of stable partial nitritation, an effluent $NO_2{^-}-N/NH_4{^+}-N$ ratio of $1.2{\pm}0.05$ was achieved, which was then fed into the Anammox reactor. A high nitrogen removal rate of $2.0k\; N\;m^{-3}\;d^{-1}$ was successfully achieved in the Anammox reactor. By controlling the nitrogen loading rate at the partial nitritation using AGR, the influent concentration ratio ($NO_2{^-}-N/NH_4{^+}-N=1.2{\pm}0.05$) required for the Anammox was controlled, thereby minimizing the inhibition effect of residual nitrite.

Evaluation of Economic Damage Caused by Drought in Central Region Vietnam: A Case Study of Phu Yen Province

  • Truong, Dinh Duc;Tri, Doan Quang
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.54 no.6
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    • pp.649-657
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    • 2021
  • This paper aims to study the impact of natural disasters on per capita income in Vietnam both the short and long-term, specifically impact loss of income caused by the extreme drought 2013 for agriculture, forestry and fishery in Phu Yen Province, Central Vietnam. The study valued economic damage by applying the synthetic control method (SCM), which is a statistical method to evaluate the effect of an intervention (e.g. natural disasters) in different case studies. It estimates what would have happened to the treatment group if it had not received the treatment by constructing a weighted combination of control units (e.g. control provinces). The results showed that the 2013 drought caused a decrease in income per capita, mainly in the agriculture, forestry, and fishery sector in Phu Yen. The reduced income was estimated to be VND 160,000 (1 USD = 23,500 VND (2021)) for one person per month, accounting for 11% of total income per capita and continued to affect the income 6 years later. Therefore, authorities need to invest in preventive solutions such as early and accurate warnings to help people to be more proactive in disaster prevention.