• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental indicators

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Present Status of the Quality Assurance and Control (QA/QC) for Korean Macrozoobenthic Biological Data and Suggestions for its Improvement (해양저서동물의 정량적 자료에 대한 정도관리 현실과 개선안)

  • CHOI, JIN-WOO;KHIM, JONG SEONG;SONG, SUNG JOON;RYU, JONGSEONG;KWON, BONG-OH
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.263-276
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    • 2021
  • Marine benthic organisms have been used as the indicators for the environment assessment and recently considered as a very important component in the biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. In Korean waters, the quantitative data on marine benthos was used as one of major components for the marine pollution assessment for 50 years since 1970s. The species identification which is an important factor for the quantitative biological data was mainly performed by the marine benthic ecologists. This leads to the deterioration of the data quality on marine benthos from the misidentication of major taxonomic groups due to the lack of taxonomic expertise in Korea. This taxonomic problem has not been solved until now and remains in most data from national research projects on the marine ecosystems in Korean waters. Here we introduce the quality assurance and control (QA/QC) system for the marine biological data in UK, that is, NMBAQC (Northeast Atlantic Marine Biological Analytic and Quality Control) Scheme which has been performed by private companies to solve similar species identification problems in UK. This scheme asks for all marine laboratories which want to participate to any national monitoring programs in UK to keep their identification potency at high level by the internal quality assurance systems and provides a series of taxonomic workshops and literature to increase their capability. They also performs the external quality control for the marine laboratories by performing the Ring Test using standard specimens on various faunal groups. In the case of Korea, there are few taxonomic expertise in two existing national institutions and so they can't solve the taxonomic problems in marine benthic fauna data. We would like to provide a few necessary suggestions to solve the taxonomic problems in Korean marine biological data in short-terms and long-terms: (1) the identification of all dominant species in marine biological data should be confirmed by taxonomic expertise, (2) all the national research programs should include taxonomic experts, and (3) establishing a private company, like the Korea marine organism identification association (KMOIA), which can perform the QA/QC system on the marine organisms and support all Korean marine laboratories by providing taxonomic literature and species identification workshops to enhance their potency. The last suggestion needs more efforts and time for the establishment of that taxonomic company by gathering the detailed contents and related opinions from diverse stakeholders in Korea.

Biodiversity Changes and Community Characteristics of Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Weir Section of the Nakdong River, South Korea (낙동강 보 구간 저서성 대형무척추동물의 생물다양성 변화와 군집 특성)

  • Jung, Sang Woo;Kim, Yoon-Ho;Lee, Jae-Ha;Kim, Dong-Gun;Kim, Min-Kyung;Kim, Hyun-Mac
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.36 no.2
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    • pp.150-164
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    • 2022
  • The objective of this study is to analyze the biodiversity changes and characteristics of the benthic macroinvertebrate community in the Nakdong River with eight weirs, which was constructed as one of the Four Major River Restoration Projects from May to October 2020. The study also includes the analysis of changes in the major groups of benthic macroinvertebrates for about ten years, from 2010 to 2020. The surveys collected 97 species of benthic macroinvertebrates belonging to 83 genera, 52 families, 18 orders, five classes, three phyla, and 128.1 individuals/m2. Chironomidae sp. and Tubificidae spp., which are pollutant indicators, dominated throughout the sections. The community analysis result shows the average dominant index and the diversity index of 0.62±0.20 and 1.87±0.63, respectively, and indicated the most stability of the freshwater ecosystem in the upper stream of the Nakdong River. The survey showed dominance by Chironomidae sp. at the center of the Nakdong River weir and the most unstable community in Chilgok and Gangjeong Goryeong weirs. The results of the community stability analysis showed a high distribution of the characteristic group I with high resilience and resistance and small distribution of characteristic group III with low resistance and resilience, indicating a very unstable condition of communities in the Nakdong River weir section. Predators were relatively abundant among the functional feeding groups (FFGs), whereas shredders, gathering-collectors, and filtering-collectors were relatively lower. Among the habitat orientation groups (HOGs), burrowers and climbers were dominant, indicating a wide distribution of groups in ecosystems with low dissolved oxygen. An endangered species level II of Macromia daimoji was found in Sangju and Nakdan weirs. The analysis results for 10 years from 2010 showed that the number of species and populations increased immediately after the dam construction but plummeted in 2016 and are now stabilizing. Chironomidae spp. has been dominant in all sections over the past 10 years, and they are currently maintained at a rate of about 50%. The EPT groups have decreased significantly since 2011, and the Plecoptera and Trichoptera of the group have not yet been restored. The population of Tubificidae spp. showed an increase after construction was completed in 2012 and drastically increased in 2015 and 2020. The species of Cristaria plicata, designated as endangered species level I, has not been observed since 2011 in Hapcheon Changnyeong weir. Moreover, Macromia daimoji was rarely observed in seven weirs until 2015, and it has been confirmed that the current distribution habitat has decreased rapidly.

An Empirical Study on the Effects of SMEs Competition, ESG Management Activities and Organizational Justice on Job Satisfaction : Focusing on Mediating Effects of Self-efficacy (중소기업의 경쟁력, ESG 경영 활동 및 조직공정성이 직무만족에 미치는 영향에 관한 실증 연구 : 자기효능감의 매개효과를 중심으로)

  • Jun, Se-hoon
    • Journal of Venture Innovation
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    • v.6 no.4
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    • pp.41-62
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    • 2023
  • Given that SME workers are the driving force of national competitiveness and the basis and cornerstone of the industry, it is meaningful to study workers' job satisfaction and the factors that affect job satisfaction. In addition to variables related to corporate competitiveness and organizational justice, this study introduced variables such as environmental(E) activities, social(S) activities, and governance(G) activities, which th national government uses as major management evaluation indicators. Therefore, a literature study and empirical analysis were conducted on how self-efficacy affects job satisfaction when workers are faced with a changed work environment. To conduct this study, 300 copies of data were collected from workers in small and medium-sized enterprises and used for analysis. For data analysis, the SPSS statistical program (Ver. 25.0) was used. The study finds, first, that product or service quality and employee competency among corporate competitiveness had a significant positive(+) effect on job satisfaction. Secondly, among ESG management activities, social(S) activities and governance(G) activities were found to have a significant positive(+) effect on job satisfaction. Third, among organizational justice, distribution justice and procedural justice were found to have a positive(+) effect on job satisfaction. Fourth, self-efficacy was found to mediate the effect of product or service quality, employee competency, social(S) and governance(G) activities among ESG management activities, and procedural justice among organizational justice on job satisfaction. The academic value of this study is that it empirically analyzed the factors that ESG management activities affect workers' jobs,. As a result, it was confirmed that workers were satisfied with their jobs by actively showing interest in social(S) activities and governance(G) activities among ESG management activities and participating in corporate management. In addition, workers sensitive to changes in the external environment can become satisfied with their jobs through self-efficacy when SMEs actively enhance corporate competitiveness, execute ESG management activities, and provide a fair organizational culture. Finally, this study suggests that there's a possibility of improving the competitiveness of SMEs through a virtuous cycle created by a change in perception of job conversion and a decrease in turnover.

An Analysis of the Specialist's Preference for the Model of Park-Based Mixed-Use Districts in Securing Urban Parks and Green Spaces Via Private Development (민간개발 주도형 도시공원.녹지 확보를 위한 공원복합용도지구 모형에 대한 전문가 선호도 분석)

  • Lee, Jeung-Eun;Cho, Se-Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.39 no.6
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    • pp.1-11
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    • 2011
  • The research was aimed to verify the feasibility of the model of Park-Based Mixed-Use Districts(PBMUD) around urban large park to secure private-based urban parks through the revision of the urban zoning system. The PBMUD is a type of urban zoning district in which park-oriented land use is mixed with the urban land uses of residents, advertising, business, culture, education and research. The PBMUD, delineated from and based on a new paradigm of landscape urbanism, is a new urban strategy to secure urban parks and to cultivate urban regeneration around parks and green spaces to enhance the quality of the urban landscape and to ameliorate urban environmental disasters like climate change. This study performed a questionnaire survey and analysis after a review of literature related to PBMUD. The study looked for specialists in the fields of urban planning and landscape architecture such as officials, researchers and engineers to respond to the questionnaire, which asked about degree of preference. The conclusions of this study were as follows. Firstly, specialists prefer the PBMUD at 79.3% for to 20.7% against ratio, indicating the feasibility of the model of PBMUD. The second, the most preferable reasons for the model, were the possibility of securing park space around urban parks and green spaces that assures access to park and communication with each area. The third, the main reason for non-preference for the model, was a lack of understanding of PBMUD added to the problems of unprofitable laws and regulations related to urban planning and development. These proposed a revision of the related laws and regulations such as the laws for planning and use of national land, laws for architecture etc. The fourth, the most preferred type of PBMUD, was cultural use mixed with park use in every kind of mix of land use. The degree of preference was lower in the order of use of commercial, residential, business, and education(research) when mixed with park use. The number of mixed-use amenities with in the park was found to be an indicator determining preference. The greater the number, the lower was preference frequencies, especially when related to research and business use. The fifth, the preference frequencies of the more than 70% among the respondents to the mixed-use ratio between park use and the others, was in a ratio of 60% park use and 40% other urban use. These research results will help to launch new future research subjects on the revision of zoning regulations in the laws for the planning and uses of national land and architectural law as well as criteria and indicators of subdivision planning as related to a PBMUD model.

Interlaboratory Comparison of Blood Lead Determination in Some Occupational Health Laboratories in Korea (일부 산업보건기관들의 혈중연 분석치 비교)

  • Ahn, Kyu Dong;Lee, Byung Kook
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.8-15
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    • 1995
  • The reliable measurement of metal in biological media in human body is one of critical indicators for the proper evaluation of its toxic effect on human health. Recently in Korea the necessity of quality assurance of measurement in occupational health and occupational hygiene fields brought out regulatory quality control program. Lead is often used as a standard metal for the program in both fields of occupational health and hygiene. During last 20 years lead poisoning was prevalent in Korea and still is one of main heavy metal poisoning and the capability of the measurement of blood lead is one of prerequisites for institute of specialized occupational health in Korea. Furthermore blood lead is most important indicator to evaluate lead burden of human exposure to lead and the reliable and accurate analysis is most needed whenever possible. To evaluate the extent of the interlaboratory differences of blood lead measurement in several well-known institute specialized in occupational health in Korea, authors prepared 68 blood samples from two storage battery industries and all samples were divided into samples with 2 ml. One set of 68 samples were analyzed by authors's laboratory(Soonchunhyang University Institute of Industrial Medicine: SIIM) and 40 samples of other set were analyzed by C University Institute of Industrial Medicine(CIIM) and the rest 28 samples of other set were analyzed by Japanese institute(K Occupational Health Center:KOHC). Authors also prepared test bovine samples which were obtained from Japanese Federation of Occupational Health Organization (JFOHO) for quality control. Authors selected 2 other well-known occupational health laboratories and one laboratory specialized for instrumental analysis. A total of 6 laboratories joined the interlaboratory comparison of blood lead measurement and the results obtained were as follows: 1. There was no significant difference in average blood lead between SIIM and CIIM in different group of blood lead concentration, and the relative standard deviation of two laboratories was less than 3.0%. On the other hand, there was also no significant difference of average blood lead between SIIM and KOHC with relative standard deviation of 6.84% as maximum. 2. Taking less than 15% difference of mean or less than 6 ug/dl difference in below 40 ug/dl in whole blood as a criteria of agreement of measurement between two laboratories, agreement rates were 87.5%(35/40) and 78.6%(22/28) between SIIM and CIIM, SIIM and KOHC respectively. 3. The correlation of blood lead between SIIM and CIIM was 0.975 (p=0.0001) and the regression equation was SIIM = 2.19 + 0.9243 ClIM, whereas the correlation between SUM and KOHC was O.965(p=0.0001) with the equation of SIIM = 1.91 + 0.9794 KOHC. 4. Taking the reference value as a dependent variable and each of 6 laboratories's measurement value as a independent variable, the determination coefficient($R^2$) of simple regression equations of blood lead measurement for bovine test samples were very high($R^2>0.99$), and the regression coefficient(${\beta}$) was between 0.972 and 1.15 which indicated fairly good agreement of measurement results.

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