• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.272-281
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• 2022

Background: The constant consumption of chemical products owing to expanding industrialization has led to an increase in public interest in chemical substances. As the production and disposal processes for these chemical products cause environmental problems, regional information on the hazard level of chemical substances is required considering their effects on humans and in order to ensure environmental safety. Objectives: This study aimed to identify hazard contribution and spatiotemporal characteristics by region and chemical by calculating a hazard-based result score using pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) data. Methods: This study calculated the chemical discharge and hazard-based result score from the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model, analyzed their spatiotemporal patterns, and identified hotspot areas where chemical discharges and high hazard-based scores were concentrated. The amount of chemical discharge and hazard-based risk scores for 250 cities and counties across South Korea were calculated using PRTR data from 2011 to 2018. Results: The chemical discharge (high densities in Incheon, Daegu, and Busan) and hazard-based result scores (high densities in Incheon, Chungcheongnam-do, and some areas of Gyeongsangnam-do Province) showed varying spatial patterns. The chemical discharge (A, B) and hazard-based result score (C, D) hotspots were identified. Additionally, identification of the hazard-based result scores revealed differences in the type of chemicals contributing to the discharge. Ethylbenzene accounted for ≥80% of the discharged chemicals in the discharge hotspots, while chromium accounted for >90% of the discharged chemicals in the hazard-based result score hotspots. Conclusions: The RSEI hazard-based result score is a quantitative indicator that considers the degree of impact on human health as a toxicity-weighted value. It can be used for the management of industries discharging chemical substances as well as local environmental health management.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.384-401
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• 2016

The vegetation assessment indicator has been developed recently as a biological part of the integrated assessment system for river environment to improve the efficiency of river restoration projects. This study carried out to test the vegetation assessment indicator and to reset its grade criteria on experimental streams. We classified and mapped vegetation communities at the level of physiognomic-floristic composition by each assessment unit. A total of 204 sampling quadrats were set up on the 68 assessment units at 5 experimental streams. By analyzing the vegetation data collected, we examined the appropriate numbers of sampling quadrats, the criteria of vegetation index score, classification of vegetation community, and grade criteria for vegetation assessment. The developed vegetation assessment indicator composed with the vegetation complexity index (VCI), the vegetation diversity index (VDI), and the vegetation naturalness index (VNI) was proved to reflect the current conditions of the streams sufficiently. The contribution of vegetation naturalness index to grading by vegetation assessment indicator was larger, but three indexes were closely correlated to each other. Also there was more clearer discrimination of grading with the application of adjusted criteria of vegetation assessment indicator and the standardized classification of vegetation community, but the stream segment type did not influence the vegetation assessment grade significantly.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2010

Indicator bacteria of fecal pollution were enumerated and compared by various detection methods for influent and final effluent of a sewage treatment plant. Total coliforms were enumerated by four methods including most probable numbers, chromogenic enzyme substrate test, membrane filtration, and plate counts and were about $10^4$ for influent and $10^2{\sim}10^3\;CFU/ml$ for final effluent. Fecal coliforms ranged between $10^3$ and $10^4$ for influent and $10^2\;CFU/ml$ for effluent by chromogenic enzyme substrate test and membrane filtration. Fecal streptococci counts were 1-log less than fecal coliforms counts, $10^2{\sim}10^3$ for influent and $10^1\;CFU/ml$ for effluent. Total coliforms numbers by plate count both in influent and in effluent showed 1-log higher than by the other three methods. Statistical analysis revealed that numbers of total coliforms by plate count in final effluent had the highest average of correlation (r=0.778, p<0.01) compared with those by the other three methods. In addition, total coliforms numbers by plate count showed most significant correlation (r=0.835, p<0.01) with those by chromogenic test which is well-known as its highest recovery efficiency. These results suggest that the plate count would be the optimum detection method for total coliforms in wastewater treatment plants which are the only microbiological standard of final effluent from wastewater treatment plants in the Republic of Korea, considering economic aspects and difficulties in laboratories.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.285-291
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• 2016

There has been an accelerating increase in water reuse due to growing world population, rapid urbanization, and increasing scarcity of water resources. However, it is well recognized that water reuse practice is associated with many human health and ecological risks due to numerous chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms. Especially, the potential transmission of infectious disease by hundreds of pathogenic viruses in wastewater is one of the most serious human health risks associated with water reuse. In this study, we determined the response of different bacteriophages representing various bacteriophage groups to chlorination in real wastewater in order to identify a more reliable bacteriophage indicator system for chlorination in wastewater. Different bacteriophages were spiked into secondary effluents from wastewater plants from three different geographic areas, and then subjected to various doses of free chlorine and contact time at $5^{\circ}C$ in a bench-scale batch disinfection system. The inactivation of ${\phi}X174$ was relatively rapid and reached ~4 log10 with a CT value of 5 mg/L*min. On the other hand, the inactivation of bacteriophage PRD1 and MS2 were much slower than the one for ${\phi}X174$ and only ~1 log10 inactivation was achieved by a CT value of 10 mg/L*min. Overall, the results of this study suggest that bacteriophage both MS2 and PRD1 could be a reliable indicator for human pathogenic viruses for chlorination in wastewater treatment processes and water reuse practice.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.209-220
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• 2022

Objectives: This study was performed to suggest how to re-establish criterion for toxic substances under the Chemical Control Act (CCA) in South Korea by comparing the GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals) score and toxic properties. Methods: Toxic substances were classified into seven groups (Acute toxicity (1A), Chronic toxicity (2C), Environmental hazards (3E), Acute toxicity & chronic toxicity (4AC), Chronic toxicity & environmental hazards (5CE), Acute toxicity & environmental hazards (6AE), and Acute toxicity & chronic toxicity & environmental hazards (7ACE)) according to their toxic properties. The GHS score was calculated to sum up five toxicity indicators (health acute toxicity, health repeated toxicity, carcinogenicity, health other chronic toxicity and environmental hazards). Results: The GHS score of 7ACE was higher by 7 times that of 1A. 1A is the only group which has lower than the total GHS score. The highest score was 47, for sodium chromate (CAS no. 7775-11-3), which belongs to group 7ACE. This is classified as acute toxicity, carcinogenicity, germ cell mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, and acute and chronic environmental hazard. On the other hand, the lowest score was 2.75, which was assigned to 177 chemicals belonging to group 1A. When the health acute toxicity indicator was omitted from the toxic criterion, toxic substances could be divided into the sub-groups 'human chronic hazards group' (HCG) and 'environmental hazards group' (EG) according to their GHS score and properties. Conclusions: The proposed criterion for toxic substances is to establish sub-groups defined as HCG and EG for separate control and that the 1A group be moved to substances requiring preparation for accidents under the CCA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.51-66
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• 2017

This study was conducted to develop detailed evaluation indicator as a way for evaluating sustainable urban ecosystem health focused on ecological urban elements from an eco-cultural point of view after the appearance of Eco-cultural City to meet various needs. And this study was also conducted to search for ways to utilize the detailed evaluation indicator like institutionalization. Eco-cultural City was defined as a city where ecological environment and cultural environment coexist and was aimed to derive applicable planning indicators in Korea. For this, FGI was executed, planning indicators were derived, and suitability was examined. The weights were calculated based on the selected indicators through AHP expert survey. After getting the result of FGI, experts reviewed the adequacy of definition from Eco-cultural City and its necessity, and the applicability of planning indicators was examined with evaluation of suitability. As a result of evaluating suitability, it was judged that 41 indicators based on an overall average of 4 areas were relatively high on suitability and also important among sectors. As for the analysis result, the priority order in multistage classification was as followed : harmony between human and environment(B) 0.349, environmental resources(A) 0.266, city environment and quality of culture(C) 0.208, and role division and citizen participation(D) 0.177. In the second level of relative importance, environment protection and infra in the role and citizen participation section was the highest, 0.449, harmonization policy and system in calculating weights was the highest.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2006

This study investigated the inactivation of the total coliform, an indicator organism in chlorine dioxide, in order to assess the optimal disinfection procedure for drinking water treatment and distribution systems. This research focus on a number of factors, including the dosage of disinfectant, contact time, pH, temperature and DOC. Water samples were taken from the outlet of a settling basin at a conventional surface water treatment system. As the pH increased in the range of pH 6-9, the bactericidal effects of disinfectants decreased. Changes in levels of pH did not significantly after the disinfection effect of chlorine dioxide for total coliform. With an increase in temperature, there was a subsequent increase in the bactericidal effects of disinfectants. Thus, it is evident that a decrease in temperature will higher the CT values required to inactivate coliform for during the winter. DOC addition can also reduce total coliform inactivation. DOC is the most significant variable in total coliform inactivation with chlorine dioxide.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.4 s.91
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• pp.282-291
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• 2006

This study investigated the inactivation of the total coliform, an indicator organism in chlorine and chlorine in order to control microbial regrowth for water distribution systems and select an appropriate disinfection strategy for drinking water systems. The disinfection effects of chlorine and chlorine dioxide with regard to the dosage of disinfectant, contact time and DOC was investigated experimentally. In spite of the consistency of chlorine residuals at approximately 0.2 mg/l, bacteria regrowth was detected in the distribution system and it was confirmed by the scanning electron microscope results. The influence of organic carbon change on the killing effect of chlorine dioxide was strong.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.594-602
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• 2021

Recently, quantitative and repetitive inspections of the old urban area were conducted because many structures exceed their designed lifetime. The health of a building can be validated from the condition of the outer wall, while the slant angle of the wall widely serves as an indicator of urban regeneration projects. Mostly, the inspector directly measures the inclination of the wall or partially uses 3D point measurements using a static light detection and ranging (LiDAR). These approaches are costly, time-consuming, and only limited space can be measured. Therefore, we propose a mobile mapping system and automatic slant map generation algorithm, configured to capture urban environments online. Additionally, we use the LiDAR-inertial mapping algorithm to construct raw point clouds with gravity information. The proposed method extracts walls from raw point clouds and measures the slant angle of walls accurately. The generated slant angle map is evaluated in indoor and outdoor environments, and the accuracy is compared with real tiltmeter measurements.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.493-502
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• 2012

This study aimed to determine the management and environmental factors affecting medical expense reduction. For analysis, medical expenses were divided into hospitalization expenses and outpatient treatment expenses, and the rate of medical expense reduction was classified into initial and final reduction rates. Data were collected through a direct survey among 205 directors of independent health insurance review departments of hospital-level medical institutions in Korea. The results of the study are discussed below: In the analysis, differences in the initial and final reduction rates of hospitalization expenses and outpatient treatment expenses were compared. The results showed that, in hospitalization expenses, the initial and final reduction rates were both significantly affected by the following management factors: number of beds, number of departments, number of personnel reviewing health insurance cases, and total number of employees. Further, in outpatient treatment expenses, the initial and final reduction rates were both affected significantly by the following management factors: management of medical records, number of beds, number of departments, number of personnel reviewing health insurance, and total number of employees. The management factors significantly affecting both the initial and final reduction rates were higher number of beds for hospitalization expenses and electronic medical record management for outpatient treatment expenses. The environmental factors significantly affecting both the initial and final reduction rates of hospitalization expenses were a highly cooperative work environment, better implementation of indicator management systems, and overtime pay. Better implementation of indicator management system and a committee for handling medical expenses had significant effects on the initial reduction rate for outpatient treatment expenses. A highly cooperative work environment, better implementation of indicator management system, and overtime pay had significant effects on the final reduction rate for outpatient treatment expenses.