• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.157-164
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• 2006

This paper presents the durability characteristics of commercially available CFRP rebars under various environmental conditions. Two types of GFRP rebars were tested by using an accelerated aging method. A total of 264 rebar specimens were conditioned up to 132 days in the moisture, chloride. alkaline, and freeze-thaw environmental conditions. The durability characteristics of conditioned rebars were obtained by comparing the tensile strength, horizontal shear strength, and elastic modulus between the unconditioned and conditioned GFRP rebars. The test results indicated that the mechanical properties of GFRP were significantly reduced after conditioning. Long-term degradation of GFRP rebars was also estimated using the results of a short-term durability test.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.30
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• pp.2.1-2.9
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• 2015

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the association between presence of depression symptoms and the exposure level to insecticides among aged population in rural area, determined via measured levels of urinary 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), after controlling for socioeconomic confounding factors. Methods Using a cross-sectional study design, we randomly recruited participants for our study (161 male and 239 female) from rural areas of Asan, Chungnam, Korea. Environmental risk factor exposure was assessed using a questionnaire, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze urinary 3-PBA levels. We used a logistic regression analysis to assess the association of urinary 3-PBA levels with the presence of self-reported depression symptoms. Results After controlling for creatinine levels, the median (interquartile range) concentration of 3-PBA was approximately 1.5 times (p<0.05) higher among female (1.54 [0.90 to 2.35]) ${\mu}g/g$) than among male (1.06 [0.64 to 1.81] ${\mu}g/g$). Our study found that among female participants, the unit increase in 3-PBA levels exhibited a likely positive association (odds ratio, 1.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.25) with an increased risk of presence of self-reported depression symptoms, after adjusting for socioeconomic insurance type, daily physical condition, marital status, smoking status, and age. Conclusions Given our finding of a potential association between the presence of self-reported depression symptoms and 3-PBA levels, precautions should be considered to minimize exposure to insecticides and thus protect the health of aged residents in rural areas.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.317-324
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• 2007

The sewage treatment sludge disposal has become a serious environmental problem because of restricted direct land-filling and oceandumping in spite of their large amounts discharged. So the recycling of sewage treatment sludge is very useful alternative for waste management. Here, we studied the feasibility of zeolite synthesis in open system from the sewage treatment sludge incinerator fly ash by means of hydrothermal synthesis. We considered the concentration of NaOH, reaction time, reaction temperature and reaction step as synthesis variables. The phase of zeolite products was identified by X-ray diffractometer(XRD) and ammonium ion exchange test was performed for the raw fly ash and two zeolite products(Z-3 and Z-5). In leaching test of the raw fly ash, hazard metal is detected very low level compared with regulatory leaching test standard. But in total recoverable test, the total contents of the fly ash were very high in terms of the standard for waste-derived fertilizer. Through hydrothermal reaction, small amount of zeolite P was synthesied in 1 N of NaOH solution and relatively large amount of hydroxysodalite was synthesied in 3 N and 5 N of NaOH solution with similar peak intensity. Addition of an aging step in the synthesis didn't increase the amount of zeolite phase. Maximum $NE_4^+-N$ exchange capacity is 1.49 mg $NH_4^+-N/g$ in Z-3 and 1.38 mg $NH_4^+-N/g$ in Z-5. Most of the ammonium ion is exchanged in 30 minutes and disorption did not occur until 5 hours.

• Atmosphere
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.407-420
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• 2007

Optical characteristics of aerosols in Seoul are investigated from the measurements of sky radiance by Skyradiometer at Yonsei University from December 2005 to November 2006. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) shows a maximum in June due to weak ventilation and particle growth by aging process and hygroscopic effect. Single scattering albedo (SSA) and Angstrom Exponent (AE) show the lowest value in spring due to the Asian dust. It is clear that coarse mode is dominant in spring and fine mode is dominant in summer from the volume size distribution measured in this study. The explanations on the changes of aerosol loadings are provided through the correlation between AOD and AE, while the pattern of wavelength dependency related to particle size is shown through the correlation between SSA and AE. Backward trajectory analysis by HYSPLIT provides information about origin of aerosol, which allows us to classify the case according to the source region and the path distance. Although the direction of backward trajectory traces back mostly to west, coarse mode particle is dominant in the case of long pathway and fine mode particle is dominant in the case of short pathway. This discrepancy is caused by the regional difference of emitted particles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.67-77
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• 2017

Demands for housing has diversified recently due to low birth rate and the growth of aging population. Also, a share of idle houses and obsolete houses over 20 years old is gradually rising. Therefore, there is a need for a sustainable, environment-friendly improvement policy that is in line with a new housing paradigm and avoids full-scale new construction, such as a customized housing renovation plan considering local economic circumstances. Therefore, afforestation system applicable to buildings are assessed positively, but lack objective performance evaluation. Through one-year, long-term monitoring of replicated obsolete buildings that have poor insulation performance, this study calculated monthly average power consumption and analyzed power charges by applying pricing plans before and after the revision of progressive tax in order to examine economic effects expected by applying the afforestation system. In the obsolete buildings, the study showed that monthly average power consumption was reduced by 16.6kWh with 5.2% average reduction rate. Highest reduction was made in July at 11.3%. Aggregate monthly power consumption charges were relatively high in winter before and after the revision of progressive tax. Power charges reduction effect was highest in March when monthly power consumption was reduced to 300kWh level by applying the afforestation system.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

The landfarming treatment for the remediation of the petroleum contaminated soil at the returned U.S. Military bases was investigated in this study. Specifically, the bioaugmentation performance using various commercially available petroleum-degrading bacteria was evaluated and the directions for enhancing the performance of the landfarming treatment were suggested. The environmental factors of the soils at the returned U.S. Military bases chosen for remediation indicate that the landfarming treatment can be used as the remediation technique; however, the addition of nitrogen or phosphorus is required. The lab-scale landfarming treatment tests using the model soil and the site soil showed that the degradation efficiency was greater with the model soil than the site soil and that the treatment performance was not affected by the number of bacteria present in the soil in the range of $10^6-10^{12}$ CFU/g. These results suggest that the successful landfarming treatment depends on the petroleum degradability of bacteria used and the environmental conditions during the treatment rather than the number of petroleum-degrading bacteria used.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.1431-1437
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• 2008

The small-strain shear modulus ($G_{max}$) of uncemented sand is affected by the the mean principal stress and void ratio, and it has been known that the cementation and aging also affect to $G_{max}$ of sand. For extensive understanding about the effect of cementation on the $G_{max}$ of sand, a series of bender element tests was conducted on the cemented specimens prepared in a large calibration chamber by pluviation of the sand-gypsum mixture. It was observed from the experimental results that the $G_{max}$ of cemented sand is higher above 10 times than value of uncemented one, and it increases exponentially with the gypsum content increases. Whereas, the increase of the vertical stress from 50kPa to 200kPa and the relative density from 40% to 80% result in 20~30% and 2 times increase of $G_{max}$, respectively. It means that the gypsum content, that is cementation level, is the most influential factor on the $G_{max}$ of cemented sand. In addition, the effect of relative density on $G_{max}$ was more apparent on cemented sand than uncemented one.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.54-63
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• 2017

Atmospheric nitrogen containing organic compounds(e.g. amino acids) has attracted considerable attention from the viewpoint of the oceanic biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen as well as the long range transfer. However, only a few measurements of organic nitrogen compounds have been conducted due to analytical difficulties. In this study, total of nine amino acids such as Glutamic acid, Histidine, Arginine, Tyrosine, Cystine, Valine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Lysine have been analytically determined by Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry Mass Spectrometry (LC-MSMS). As results, Fragmentor Voltage (FV), Precursor Ion, Collision Energy, Product Ion related to individual amino acid compounds are shown. Based on the operational conditions, Lysine, Glutamine Acid, Tyrosine were analyzed during the China Oriented Smog Period. High concentrations of Lysine, Glutamine Acid, and Tyrosine are discussed with organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and water soluble ions. The results can provide to understand the sources with aging process related to amino acids influenced by the long-range transport from the Yellow Sea area.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.43-51
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• 2019

At present, the ground anchor method is commonly applied to securing the slope stability in Korea. The ground anchor is reported to decrease in tensile load due to aging and environmental influences with time such as corrosion, relaxation, creep and so on. In Korea, the lift-off test is performed for the periodic inspection or cases when the symptoms of deterioration on anchors and the residual tensile load of the anchors is checked. However, the current lift-off test standard (MOLIT, 2010) is not fully specified in details. In this study, the factors affecting the lift-off test were investigated based on the previous research and foreign standards and lift-off tests were performed with consideration for the loading and unloading cycle, load increment method, and tensioning tendon method. Based on the results, this paper proposes improved testing and evaluation procedures of the lift-off test considering the workability and time limits in the field.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.669-681
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• 2019

Bridge collapses may deliver a huge impact on our society in a very negative way. Out of many reasons why bridges collapse, poor maintenance is becoming a main contributing factor to many recent collapses. Furthermore, the aging of bridges is able to make the situation much worse. In order to prevent this unwanted event, it is indispensable to conduct continuous bridge monitoring and timely maintenance. Visual inspection is the most widely used method, but it is heavily dependent on the experience of the inspectors. It is also time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, disruptive, and even unsafe for the inspectors. In order to address its limitations, in recent years increasing interests have been paid to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which is expected to make the inspection process safer, faster and more cost-effective. In addition, it can cover the area where it is too hard to reach by inspectors. However, this strategy is still in a primitive stage because there are many things to be addressed for real implementation. In this paper, a typical procedure of bridge inspection using UAVs consisting of three phases (i.e., pre-inspection, inspection, and post-inspection phases) and the detailed tasks by phase are described. Also, three major challenges, which are related to a UAV's flight, image data acquisition, and damage identification, respectively, are identified from a practical perspective (e.g., localization of a UAV under the bridge, high-quality image capture, etc.) and their possible solutions are discussed by examining recently developed or currently developing techniques such as the graph-based localization algorithm, and the image quality assessment and enhancement strategy. In particular, deep learning based algorithms such as R-CNN and Mask R-CNN for classifying, localizing and quantifying several damage types (e.g., cracks, corrosion, spalling, efflorescence, etc.) in an automatic manner are discussed. This strategy is based on a huge amount of image data obtained from unmanned inspection equipment consisting of the UAV and imaging devices (vision and IR cameras).