• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 2021

Material Life Cycle Assessment (MLCA) was performed to analyze the environmental impact characteristics of the Mg₂NiH_x-5 wt% CaO hydrogen storage composites' manufacturing process. The MLCA was carried out by Gabi software. It was based on Eco-Indicator 99' (EI99) and CML 2001 methodology. The Mg₂NiH_x-5 wt% CaO composites were synthesized by Hydrogen Induced Mechanical Alloying (HIMA). The metallurgical, thermochemical characteristics of the composites were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), specific surface area analysis (Bruner-Emmett-Teller, BET), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). As a result of the CML 2001 methodology, the environmental impact was 78% for Global Warming Potential (GWP) and 22% for Eutrophication Potential (ETP). In addition, as a result of applying the EI 99' methodology, the acidification was the highest at 43%, and the ecotoxicity was 31%. Accordingly, the amount of electricity used in the manufacturing process may have an absolute effect on environmental pollution. Also, it is judged that the leading cause of Mg₂NiH_x-5 wt% CaO is the addition of CaO. Ultimately, it is necessary to research environmental factors by optimizing the process, shortening the manufacturing process time, and exploring eco-friendly alternative materials.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.16-23
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• 2017

Purposes: Despite the positive health effects of both smokers and non-smokers, the non-smoking area policy is being negatively evaluated because of the vague fears of declining restaurant sales. The purpose of this study is to analyze the changes in sales of general restaurants(including liquor stores) and other restaurants that are considered to have the most applications of smoking cessation policy among the smoking facilities, and to examine the economic impact of the designation and expansion policies of non-smoking areas. Methodology: This study used the wholesale and retail trade survey data of the Korea National Statistical Office from 2011 to 2014 and analyzed 31,577 restaurants excluding missing values. For statistical analysis, t-test, ANOVA and Difference-in-differences(DID) models were used and the interaction term of area and year was entered. Findings: As the non-smoking area policy had been designated and expanded from December 2012 to December 31 2013, high restaurant sales in 2012 declined sharply in 2013. However, despite the expanding of the no-smoking area from January 1 2014 through December 31 2014, restaurant sales slightly recovered in 2014. In the case of other restaurants, there is no significant change in sales since the start of the policy in 2013. Practical Implications: The decline in restaurant sales due to the designation and expansion of non-smoking areas is temporary and can not be sustained over the long term. This result can be used to positively suggest negative perceptions of the designation and expansion policy of non-smoking areas. Also, this result can contribute to health promotion and smoking cessation policies by protecting non-smokers from the risk of secondhand smoking exposure and inducing smokers to decrease smoking rate and smoking amount.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.144-155
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• 2020

This research developed an approach to identify ecologically important areas at local scales and explained how the results of this approach could contribute to extend the protected areas in the Republic of Korea (ROK). While most developed countries have considered various biotic and abiotic factors, ecological processes, migration routes, habitat connectivity, ecosystem services, and etc. to determine the protected areas, ROK has considered a few factors focusing on biodiversity, landscape, and the habitats of endangered organisms. However, for sustainable management of our nature, we need comprehensive understanding of various ecosystem factors and interactions among them at local scales in designating protected areas. Forthis, we developed a conceptual model based on the ecological engineering approach and then explained how the results of this approach could contribute to extend the protected areas. In particular, we considered future land-use and climate change in determining the priority areas for novel protected areas. Our research suggested an effective methodology 1) to include various ecosystem factors and 2) to consider future environmental changes as well as current environmental conditions in finding the ecologically important areas and prioritizing these areas. However, our approach has limitations on the real-world applications due to the lack of fundamental information and data on our ecosystems. To improve the effectiveness of our approach in the real-world applications, we need various long-term ecological research results, environmental and ecological monitoring data, and both current and future spatial environmental data.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.122-131
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• 2020

Marine Spatial Planning is an emerging strategy that promoting sustainable development at coastal and marine areas based on the concept of ecosystem services. Regarding its methodology, usage rate of resources and its impact should be considered in the process of spatial planning. Particularly, considering the rapid increase of coastal tourism, visitation pattern is required to be identified across coastal areas. However, actions to quantify visitation pattern have been limited due to its required high cost and labor for conducting extensive field-study. In this regard, this study aimed to pose the usage of social big data in Marine Spatial Planning to identify spatial visitation density and critical management zone throughout coastal areas. We suggested the usage of GPS information from Flickr and Twitter, and evaluated the critical management zone by applying spatial statistics and density analysis. This study's results clearly showed the coastal areas having relatively high visitors in the southern sea of South Korea. Applied Flickr and Twitter information showed high correlation with field data, when proxy excluding over-estimation was applied and appropriate grid-scale was identified in assessment approach. Overall, this study offers insights to use social big data in Marine Spatial Planning for reflecting size and usage rate of coastal tourism, which can be used to designate conservation area and critical zones forintensive management to promote constant supply of cultural services.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.377-390
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• 2020

URBAN ECOLOGICAL MAPS must be created by local governments by NATURAL ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION ACT, and the maps are generally called biotope map. So far, biotope maps study was a tendency to focus on the type of vegetation, naturalness, land use, landscape ecology theories. However, biotope related studies have not reflected the concept of animal habitat, which is a component of biotope, and that is the limitation of biotope map research. This study suggest a methodology to predict potential habitats for fauna using machine learning to quantify habitat values. The potential habitats of fauna were predicted by spatial statistics using machine learning, and the results were converted into species richness. For biotope type assessments, we classified biotope values into vegetation value and habitat value and evaluated them using a matrix for value summation. The vegetation value was divided into 5 stages based on vegetation nature and land use, and the habitat value was classified into five stages by predicting the species richness predicted by machine learning. This is meaningful because our research can positively reflect the results of field surveys of fauna that were negatively reflected in the evaluation of biotope types in the past. Therefore, in the future, if the biotope map manual is revised, our methodology should be applied.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.156-161
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• 2016

An accident of an ammonia tank pipeline at a storage plant resulted in one death and three injuries in 2014. Many accidents including toxic gas releases and explosions occur in the freezing and refrigerating systems using ammonia. Especially, the consequence can be substantial due to that the large amount of ammonia is usually being used in the refrigeration systems. In this study, offsite consequence analysis has been investigated when ammonia leaks outdoors from large storages. Both flammable and toxic effects are under consideration to calculate the affected area using simulation programs for consequence analysis. ERPG-2 concentration (150 ppm) has been selected to calculate the evacuation distance out of various release scenarios for their dispersions in day or night. For offsite residential, the impact area by flammability is much smaller than that by toxicity. The methodology consists of two steps as followings; 1. Calculation for discharge rates of accidental release scenarios. 2. Dispersion simulation using the discharge rate for different conditions. This proactive prediction for accidental releases of ammonia would help emergency teams act as quick as they can.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.275-286
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• 2019

In order to prevent local extinction of organisms and to preserve biodiversity, it is important to ensure connectivity between habitats. Even if the habitat is exposed to various disturbance factors, it is possible to avoid or respond to disturbances if they are linked to other habitats. Habitat connectivity can be assessed from a variety of perspectives, but the importance of functional connectivity based on species movement has been emphasized in recent years due to the development of computational capabilities and related software. Among them, Circuitscape, which is a connectivity evaluation tool, has an advantage it can provide detailed reference data for the city planning because it maps ecological flows on individual grid based on circuit theory. Therefore, in this study, the functional connectivity of Suwon was evaluated by applying Circuitscape and then, the ecological corridor to be conserved and supplemented was suggested based on it. The results of this study are expected to effectively complement the methodology related ecological corridor/axis, which was previously provided only in the form of a diagram, and to be effective in management of development project and urban planning.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.13-21
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• 2019

Leakage accidents in businesses dealing with hazardous chemicals can have a great impact on the workers inside the workplace, as well as residents outside the workplace. In fact, there were cases where hazardous chemicals leaked from many businesses. As a result, the Chemicals Control Act(CCA) was enacted in 2015, the Ministry of Environment introduced an Off-site Risk Assessment(ORA). The purpose of the ORA is to secure safety from the installation of the design of the workplace facilities so that chemical accidents of hazardous chemical handling facilities do not cause human or physical damage outside the workplace. In general, the ORA qualitatively determines where a protected facility is within the scope of the accident scenario. However, elderly who belong to the sensitive group is more sensitive than the general group under the same chemical accident effect, and the extent of the damage is serious. According to data from the Korea National Statistic Office, the number of elderly people is expected to increase steadily. Therefore, a quantitative risk analysis considering the elderly is necessary as a result of a chemical accident. In this study, accident scenarios for 14 locations were set up to perform emergency evacuation due to toxic gas leakage of Cl₂(Chlorine) and HF(Hydrogen Fluoride), and the effects of exposure were analyzed based on the evacuation velocity difference of age 20s and 60s. The ALOHA(Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres) program was used to calculate the concentration for assessing the effects. The time of exposure to toxic gas was calculated based on the time it took for the evacuation to run from the start point to the desired point and a methodology was devised that could be applied to the risk calculation. As a result of the study, the relative risk of the elderly, the sensitive group, needs to be determined.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.33-43
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to assess the greening of investment flows as well as the orientation of financial sources of effective environmental protection. Both India and Vietnam are considered to be two Asian countries that are radically affected by global climate change. Governments of the two countries have implimented numerous measures against environmental pollution through the banking and finance sector. Developing green banking operations in India and Vietnam is a new direction in the socio-economic development strategy coupled with effective environmental protection. Research design, data and methodology: The data was mainly based on Asia Development Bank Institution (ADBI) and Bank of India (BOI) from 2015 - 2018. This paper focused on comparing and evaluating the development of green banks between the two countries. Result: The banks' contribution to green growth and green economy is shown in two basic aspects: (i) the connection between organizations, and individuals, and management process for investment projects, including environmental risks; and (ii) the operation of banks has a direct impact on the environment, through the application of technology to pay documents and apply e-banking. Conclusion: Paper reflects, compares and evaluates green banking operations in India and Vietnam to provide new directions aiming to develop financial and economic system along with effective and efficient step toward climate change control. India's green banking operations, after a specific assessment, will be lessons for the Government of Vietnam during the process of socio-economic development and environmental protection.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.97-105
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• 2021

Most of the rural development projects for the welfare of residents are mainly new construction and remodeling projects for community buildings such as village halls and senior citizens. However, in the case of the construction industry, it has been studied that 23% of the total carbon dioxide emissions generated in Korea are generated in the building-related sector. (GGIC, 2015) In order to reduce the emission of environmental pollutants resulting from construction of rural community buildings, there is a need to establish a system for rural buildings by predicting the environmental impact. As a result of this study, the emissions of air pollutants from buildings in rural communities were analyzed by dividing into seven stages: material production, construction, operation, maintenance, demolition, recycling, and transportation activities related to disposal. As a result, 12 kg of carbon dioxide (CO), 0.06 kg of carbon monoxide (CO), 0.02 kg of methane (CH), 0.04 kg of nitrogen oxides (NO), 0.02 kg of sulfurous acid gas (SO), and non-methane volatile organics per 1m of buildings in rural communities It was analyzed that 0.02 kg of compound (NMVOC) and 0.00011 kg of nitrous oxide (NO) were released. This study proved that environmentally friendly design is possible with a quantitative methodology for the comparison of operating energy and air pollutant emissions through the design specification change based on the statement of the rural community building. It is considered that it can function as basic data for further research by collecting major structural changes and materials of rural community buildings.