• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental Degradation

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Water security assessment of Asian countries for sustainable water management (지속가능한 물 관리를 위한 아시아 국가별 물 안보 평가)

  • Park, Seo-Yeon;Lee, Seungho;Lee, Hyun-Ju;Lee, Joo-Heon
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.53 no.spc1
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    • pp.719-730
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    • 2020
  • Recognizing a complexity of global water challenges, such as water shortage, water pollution, water-related disasters, and degradation of water environments, this study introduces the newly established concept and definition of water security and water security assessment framework based on the review of previous works on water security. In order to critically assess the situations of water security of each country, an water security assessment framework is employed highlighting the four core areas: 1) social equity; 2) economic efficiency; 3) environmental sustainability; and 4) resilience to water-related disasters. 28 Asian countries have been selected and evaluated for the level of water security, and as a consequence, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea demonstrate a high degree of water security whereas India, Pakistan and the Philippines show a relatively low level of water security. The significance of this study lies in clarifying weak areas in water security as well as suggesting the areas that should be improved for achieving sustainable water management.

Situation of Livestock Waste and Strategies for Waste Treatment (축산분뇨의 발생현황과 처리방안)

  • Kim, Chul-Ho
    • Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.31-40
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    • 1994
  • In the later part of 1980's, a great emphasis has been placed on the treatment issues of livestock wastes due to the continuous increase in consumption of livestock and meat products. Continued economic development for three decades has enhanced the nationally general level of life for the purpose of exit out of absolute poverty, thus accompanied with people's demand for a quality of environment beyond the traditional economic factors over times. Such an individual or collective demand for environment of life has been primarily focussed and argued on only rural environment in the early development periods. In perspective of clean water supply and security for urban area, however, it is more important to treat livestock wastes in the oriented-sustainable environment than in the conventional ways without working on environment degradation. Livestock wastes composed of the high-concentrated organic matter ought to be controlled and treated in sound ways, if not, which on one hand may result in pollution of underground water, surface water and a nasty smell, and on the other hand also may cause people to file a civil petition. Therefore on the research paper, reviewing occurrence of livestock waste and situation of treatment in details, through scrutinizing the government regulation and financing or subsidizing for it, author intends to find out the initiative of 'resourcefication' of treating of livestock wastes in the environmental soundness and efficiency

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The Function or Urban River and Sustainable Regional Development : The Case of Kumho River (도시하천과 지속가능한 지역 발전 : 금호강을 중심으로)

  • Choi, Byung-Doo
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.10 no.4
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    • pp.757-774
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    • 2004
  • This paper is to reclassify systematically the functions of urban river: that is, water supply, land management, transportation and energy source as social and economic function; formation of geomorphic surface, water-side landscape, community constitution and boundary and separation between regions as spatial function; and drainage of waste water, purification, habitation, and weather regulation as ecological function. On the basis of this reclassification, it can be argued that the socio-economic functions (eg. water supply) of the river among the functions of the river have been strongly mobilized in the process of modernization, while the spatial function and ecological function of urban river have been ignored. The Kumho river which flows through Daegu and the adjacent area has made a great contribution to the modem development process of the river basin area, but as a result of a selective development of a specific function of the river, that is the social and economic function, it now suffers from the lack of instream flow and is deprived of its original functions with the water pollution and degradation. Moreover the Daegu region seems no longer possible to develop on the dependence of the river. In order to overcome this kind of social and environmental crisis, this paper is to suggest both some principles and main evaluating indicators to restore the original and comprehensive functions of the river, and important measures to make the co-evolution of the city and the river possible.

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Betaine Induces Epidermal Differentiation by Enhancement of Autophagy through an mTOR-independent Pathway (Betaine의 mTOR 비의존적 자가포식 작용 촉진에 의한 표피 분화 유도 효과)

  • Choi, Seon-Guk;Kim, Mi-Sun;Kim, Jin-Hyun;Park, Sun Gyoo;Lee, Cheon Koo;Kang, Nae-Gyu
    • Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.95-101
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    • 2018
  • The epidermis which is stratified by epithelial tissue renewal based on keratinocyte differentiation protects the organism from various environmental insults by forming a physical barrier. Autophagy is a mechanism which mediates lysosomal delivery and degradation of protein aggregates, damaged organelles and intracellular microorganisms. Recent reports have shown that autophagy has critical roles for proper terminal differentiation to stratum corneum via removing metabolic organelles and nuclei. However, whether increasing autophagy can activate epidermal differentiation is unknown. Here, we screened a library of natural single compounds and discovered that betaine specifically increased the LC3 positive cytosolic punctate vesicles and LC3-I to LC3-II conversion in HaCaT human keratinocyte cell line, indicating increased autophagy flux. mTOR pathway, which negatively regulates autophagy, was not affected by betaine treatment, suggesting betaine-induced autophagy through an mTOR-independent pathway. Betaine-induced autophagy was also observed in primary human keratinocyte and skin equivalent. Furthermore, epidermal thickness was increased in skin equivalent under betaine treatment. Overall, our finding suggests that betaine as a novel regulator of autophagy may induce epidermal turnover and improve the skin barrier abnormality of the aged epidermis.

Interfacial Adhesion Energy of Ni-P Electroless-plating Contact for Buried Contact Silicon Solar Cell using 4-point Bending Test System (4점굽힘시험법을 이용한 함몰전극형 Si 태양전지의 무전해 Ni-P 전극 계면 접착력 평가)

  • Kim, Jeong-Kyu;Lee, Eun-Kyung;Kim, Mi-Sung;Lim, Jae-Hong;Lee, Kyu-Hwan;Park, Young-Bae
    • Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.55-60
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    • 2012
  • In order to develop electroless-plated Nickel Phosphate (Ni-P) as a contact material for high efficient low-cost silicon solar cells, we evaluated the effect of ambient thermal annealing on the degradation behavior of interfacial adhesion energy between electroless-plated Ni-P and silicon solar cell wafers by applying 4-point bending test method. Measured interfacial adhesion energies decreased from 14.83 to 10.83 J/$m^2$ after annealing at 300 and $600^{\circ}C$, respectively. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis suggested that the bonding interface was degraded by environmental residual oxygen, in which the oxidation inhibit the stable formation of Ni silicide phase between electroless-plated Ni-P and silicon interface.

Flexural Behaviors of GFRP Rebars Reinforced Concrete Beam under Accelerated Aging Environments (GFRP Rebar 보강 콘크리트 보의 급속노화환경에서의 휨 거동에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Yeon-Ho;Choi, Yeol
    • Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.137-144
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    • 2013
  • The use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcing bars in concrete structures has been increased as an alternative of steel reinforcement which has shown greater vulnerability to corrosion problem. However, the long-term performance of concrete members with FRP reinforcement is still questioned in comparison to the used of steel reinforcement. This study presents the results of an experimental study on the long-term behaviors of GFRP (glass fiber reinforced polymer) bar reinforced concrete beams after exposed to accelerated aging in an environmental chamber with temperature of $46^{\circ}C$ ($115^{\circ}F$) and 80% of relative humidity up to 300 days. The objectives of this research was to compare strength degradation and change of ductility between GFRP reinforced concrete beams and steel reinforcement beams after accelerated aging. Two types (wrapped and sand-coated surface) of GFRP bars and steel were reinforced. in concrete beams. Test results show that the failure modes of GFRP bar reinforced concrete beams are very similar with traditional RC beams, and the change of load-carrying capacity of steel reinforcing concrete beam is greater than that of GFRP bar reinforcing concrete beam under the accelerated aging. Test result also shows that the use of GFRP reinforcing in concrete could be introduced more brittle failure than that of steel reinforcing for practical application. The deformability factor up to compression failures indicates no significant variation before and after exposure of accelerated aging.

Optimization of Anion-exchange Chromatography for the Separation of Agarase from Culture Broth of Pseudoalteromonas sp. (Pseudoalteromonas sp. 배양액으로부터 아가레이즈 분리를 위한 음이온교환 크로마토그래피 최적화)

  • Kim, Yu-Na;Lee, Jae-Ran;Kim, Mu-Chan;Kim, Sung-Bae;Chang, Yong-Keun;Hong, Soon-Kwang;Kim, Chang-Joon
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.49 no.6
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    • pp.840-845
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    • 2011
  • Degradation products of agarose are biologically active and thus used as an ingredient in pharmaceuticals or functional cosmetics. Furthermore, it has been strongly considered as a substrate for bio-ethanol fermentation. Recently, we isolated new agarase-producing microorganism, Pseudoalteromonas sp. from south sea of Korea. In this study, we aimed to separate and purify the agarase from culture broth of this strain. Separation of agarase was performed by ion- exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose resin. Equilibrium pH and volume ratio of resin to the amount of protein were optimized for the efficient adsorption of protein. 410 ${\mu}g$ of protein was completely adsorbed to 3 mL of resin at pH 7.5. The total amount of eluted protein increased as NaCl concentration increased to 400 mM at isocratic elution. Agarase was separated by linear gradient elution of NaCl (0~1,000 mM). Three major protein peaks were observed and the presence or absence of agarase in these eluted proteins was measured by Lugol's staining technique. Only six eluted protein fractions showed strong agarase activity.

Effect of the Starch Content on the Silicate Dispersion and Rheological Properties of Polypropylene/Starch/Silicate Composites (폴리프로필렌/전분/실리케이트 복합체의 실리케이트 분산 및 유변학적특성에 미치는 전분 함량의 영향)

  • Kim, Youn Cheol;Lee, Chang-Young
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.46 no.1
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    • pp.106-111
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    • 2008
  • Polypropylene (PP)/corn starch master batch (starch-MB)/silicate composites with different corn starch compositions of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 were prepared by melt compounding at $200^{\circ}C$, using lab scale Brabender mixer. The content of silicate was fixed at 5 wt%. The composition of starch-MB in composites was confirmed by the existence of hydroxy group and peak intensity in fourier-transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectrum. The thermal properties of the PP/starch-MB/silicate composites were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). There was no district change in melting temperature, and TGA curve indicates a decrease in degradation temperature with the increase of starch-MB content. The silicate dispersion of the composites was measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The degree of silicate dispersion in PP/starch-MB/silicate composites depended on the content of starch-MB. There was detectable change in d-spacing and peak intensity of the composite when the content of starch-MB was higher than 20 wt%. The rheological behavior of the composites was explained by both shear thinning effect and elastic property with the starch-MB amount. These effects were remarkable when the content of starch-MB was higher than 20 wt%. These were confirmed by an oscillatory viscometer at $200^{\circ}C$.

Clinical Test on Application of ShiHo-GuizhiTang (시호계지탕(柴胡桂枝湯)의 임상치험(臨床治驗)에 관(關)한 소고(小考))

  • Lee, Min-seop;Kim, Dong-hee;Shin, Soon-shik
    • Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.201-214
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    • 2000
  • Precise and detailed clinical research and evaluation based on objective standards are imperative factors in securing reliability of a clinical test. Built on this principle, this clinical test has been conducted during the period between March 1999 and March 2000 dealing with 31 outpatients treated with ShiHo-GuizhiTang or ShiHo-GuizhiTang modify and ShiHo-GuizhiTang mixed prescriptions at the Sung-bo ORIENTAL MEDICAL CLINIC. A variety of information relating to those patients has been collected and analyzed under such criteria as precise diagnoses and their clinical effectiveness. The analysis was duly based on "The theory of cold syndrome". Then, the 31 patients' individual clinical information was compared one another by breaking down the results into sub-categories including gender, age, disease, main symptom, blood pressure, pulse beats, syndrome of abdomen, treatment period, modify and mixed prescription, and evaluation. The result of this clinical test can be summarized as follows: First, ShiHo-GuizhiTang appears to be more frequently prescribed in the case of female patients than in the case of male patients despite the fact that it does not necessarily need to be applied only to female. In addition, the numbers of prescriptions of ShiHo-GuizhiTang in the two age groups consisting of elementary school children and economically active adults respectively were the highest among other age groups. Second, ShiHo-GuizhiTang proved to be most effective in treatment for respiratory ailments and arthritis. Third, ShiHo-GuizhiTang brought down blood pressure of hypertension patients and at the same time benefited patients with normal or lower-than-normal blood pressure who were vulnerable to diseases due to low disease-resistance. Fourth, ShiHo-GuizhiTang was effective in the case of frequent pulse(rapid pulse) and thereby indicating the fact it carries Taiyang superficies syndrome. 지맥 arises from suppressed immune responses owing to adrenocortical hormones. ShiHo-GuizhiTang controls and revitalizes those suppressed immune systems which stem from slow pulse and, as a consequence of that process, helps them return to normal condition of pulse. Fifth, from the standpoint of syndrome of abdomen, feeling of obstruction in the epigastrium serves as an important standard in the process of diagnosing diseases and evaluating effectiveness of treatments. Sixth, according to the results of the clinical test with the 31 patients, a total of 81 percent of test subjects benefited from the treatment. The figure is the sum of 52 percent of I-class (both main symptom and accompanying symptoms had been eliminated) and 29 percent of II-class (part of main symptom and accompanying symptoms had been eliminated) respectively. All told it is safe to say that ShiHo-GuizhiTang can elect to be a viable clinical treatment. In conclusion, it is estimated that this clinical study has drawn up guidelines for objective diagnostic standards and evaluation on specific treatments' effectiveness. This will lead to more general application of ShiHo-GuizhiTang. On top of that, this study could also provide an opportunity to stress the significance of ShiHo-GuizhiTang and ShiHo-GuizhiTang modify and ShiHo-GuizhiTang mixed prescriptions as an alternative treatment for collagen disease which comes from environmental degradation and pollution.

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Case Study for Rural Landscape Analysis Used by GIS Technology - Focused on the Jeiu Stone Wall Landscape - (GIS를 활용한 농촌경관 분석 사례연구 - 제주도 돌담경관을 중심으로 -)

  • Choi, Yong-Bok;Chung, Moon-Sub
    • Spatial Information Research
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    • v.14 no.3 s.38
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    • pp.349-361
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    • 2006
  • New directions on rural policy have been discussed due to the domestic and international environmental changes such as the price degradation of agricultural products, maintenance of rural landscape, and so on. Development of amenity in rural areas has been come out as the one of new policy directions. Amenity defines as, in a very broad way, the public benefits accruing from the condition of a place, such as aesthetic beauty, clean air and water, or good street lighting. Amenity in rural area is referred as a resource with a potential possibility for development. Among them rural landscape is regarded as the one of major resources. In Jeju, particularly, stone wall retains the most esthetic landscape in rural regions. In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism appointed stone wall as the one of important components in rural landscape and one of the 100 national historic symbols. Stone wall in Jeju has its intrinsic and real value and is widespread in rural regions. However, in spite of it's popularity, the landscape of stone wall has been degraded without any concerns and has been partly destroyed. Landscape of stonewall should be maintained and the depth of concerns and systematic management measures for protection should be discussed. In this sense, the purpose of this paper, first of all, is to examine the status of stone wall and to evaluate the landscape of stone wall in Jeju. GIS is used as an analysis tool. Several areas such as Hankyung, Namyeup, and so on in Jeju are selected as the case areas for this study.

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