• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2008

With the effectuation of Kyoto Protocol on the United Nations Framework Convention on the Climate Change, the emission reduction of greenhouse gases became an urgent issue and has been competitively secured among countries as the form of certificates through clean development mechanism (CDM) or joint implementation (JI). Nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) is one of the major greenhouse gases along with carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and methane ($CH_4$) having warming potential 310 times that of carbon dioxide and chemically very stable in the atmosphere to give a life time of more than 120 years so that it reaches to the stratosphere to act as an ozone depleting substance. $N_2O$ hardly decomposes and thus, besides to the adoption of thermal decomposition at high temperature, selective catalytic reduction methods are usually used at temperatures over $400^{\circ}C$ in which the presence of NOx acts as a major impeding material in the decomposition process. In this article, the sources of various $N_2O$ generation, catalytic reduction processes and the status and trends of emission trade with CDM projects for greenhouse gas reduction are summarized and discussed on a condensed basis.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.213-227
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• 2005

The global mean surface temperature has already increased by $0.6{\pm}0.2^{\circ}C$ over the last century, and warming in Korea is approximately twice as large as the global average. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that the majority of warming over the past 50 years could be attributed to human activities (IPCC, 2001a). In addition, the global surface temperature is expected to increase by 1.4 to $5.8^{\circ}C$ depending on the greenhouse gas emission scenarios during the $21^{st}$ century.Climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gas concentrations has the potential to harm societies and ecosystems. Reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and their concentration in the atmosphere will reduce the degree and likelihood of significant adverse conditions due to the anticipated climate change. Mitigation policy has generally been the primary focus of public attention and policy efforts on climate change. However, some degree of climate change is inevitable due to the combination of continued increases in emissions and the inertia of the global climate system. Adaptation actions and strategies are needed for a complementary approach to mitigation. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) currently addresses vulnerability and adaptation in the context of climate change negotiations and in future adaptation may be an important element of work under the Kyoto Protocol. There are several on-going programs to develop effective adaptation strategies and their implementation. But in general, many other countries are still on an initiating stage. The climate change science programs of the United States, Japan, England, and Germany are initiated to understand the current status of climate change science and adaptation researches in the developed countries. In this study, we propose the improvement on systems in policy and research aspects to effectively perform the necessary functions for development of nation-wide adaptation measures and their implementation. In policy aspect, the Korean Panel on Climate Change (KPCC) is introduced as a coordinating mechanism between government organizations related with climate change science, impact assessment and adaptation. Also in research aspect, there is a strong consensus on the need for construction of a national network on climate change research as trans-disciplinary research network.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.326-332
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• 2015

Greenhouse-gas emission factors are widely used to estimate emissions arising from a defined unit of a specific activity. Such estimates are used both for international reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and for a myriad of national and subnational reporting purposes. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a methodology for national and sub-national estimation of known greenhouse gas emissions including $N_2O$ for each sector from which the emissions arise. The objective of this study was to develop an emission factor to estimate the direct $N_2O$ emission from an agricultural field cultivated with Chinese cabbage during spring season in 2010-2012. An estimated emission factor of $N_2O$ calculated over three years from field experiment accounting for cumulative $N_2O$ emission, nitrogen fertilization rate, and background $N_2O$ emission was $0.0056{\pm}0.00254$ (95% CI) Kg $N_2O-N/kg$ N. More extensive studies are needed to develop $N_2O$ emission factors for other upland crops in various regions of Korea because $N_2O$ emission is influenced by many factors including climate characteristics, soil properties agricultural practices and crop species.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.1D
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• pp.111-117
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• 2011

In the wake of increased concerns on reduction of greenhouse emission which started with United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto protocol, Korean government is making various efforts under the represented slogan "Low Carbon, Green Growth". Therefore, it is inevitable that construction industry also follow the Korea government's slogan and the international trend in environmental problems. This study identified several main construction materials and equipments of civil construction projects and suggested a environmental cost estimation method and related estimation standards (Public and private owners are distinguished). A case analysis of a real road construction project is also performed and characteristics according to the owner type is compared. This study analyzed the environmental impact to total construction cost variations. In the result, public owner required 11~16% of extra budget and private owner required 19~22% of extra costs. This study is limited in consideration of environmental factors and carbon trading prices.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.30
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• pp.239-273
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• 2005

This study compares the Korean and U.S. media's coverage of the No Gun Ri massacre, analyzing their usages of sources in the stories and explaining by the perspective of media sociology why they differed in them. For the comparison with the AP's report, we selected only the reports of the Korean media which dealt with the incident itself. It was found that most of the Korean media utilized a very small number of sources, and that they relied on the victims alone. In contrast, the AP's sources were much more numerous drawn from both the victims and offenders. As a result, the Korean media failed to ensure the 'diversity of sources' and to illuminate the whole picture of the incident, although they had started to report it far earlier than the AP. From the depth interviews with the reporters, through the framework of media sociology, it was found first at the personal level, that the difference was brought about by the divergent news evaluation. It seemed that the Korean journalists regarded the incident with relatively lower news value than their U.S. counterparts. Next, at the intra-organizational level, it was conceded, neither did the Korean new media have so flexible news collecting system, nor so murk man-power and resource as the AP, which were required for the coverage of such an incident. The Korean media had not established the convention to utilize various sources with conflicting interests. Last, at the extra-organizational level, the Korean news media's coverage was still influenced by the self-censorship mechanism due to the ideologies of 'pro-Americanism' and 'anti-communism', even though the democratization of Korean society itself enabled the sensitive incident to be dealt with eventually by the media.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1215-1224
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• 2013

Great efforts have been made worldwide to reduce the Green House Gas (GHG) emission following the "Kyoto Protocol" declared during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1997. Many industries have restructured to meet the standard set by the Protocol. However, no clear guidance has been established for the purpose of reducing the GHG emission in construction industry. In addition, no significant effort has been made to conserve the energy during construction activities. For more effective energy saving in construction industry, it is essential to collect data about energy consumption, quantity of environmental emissions and costs. However, most studies on sustainable construction have been concentrated on the use of equipment, maintenance and repair works during construction due to the difficulties of collecting such data. This study suggests a method to select the most environmentally friendly equipment combination for earthwork with comparing environmental loads and costs using the database of Life Cycle Inventory in the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Ministry of Environment of Korea.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.63
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• pp.159-184
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• 2014

Climate change is one of the biggest dangers facing all living creatures in the earth. It has been understood that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity is the cause of climate change. Cars are responsible for around 12% of total EU emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) is an international environmental treaty adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) on 9 May, 1992, which entered into force on 21 March 1994. The European Commission first adopted a Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from cars in 1995. On 19 December 2007, the European Commission proposed "Proposal for Setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars to reduce CO2 emissions", which was adopted on 23 April 2009 as "Regulation (EC) No 443/2009". Prior to submitting the Proposal, the European Commission performed impact assessment and prepared impact assessment report which was reviewed by the Impact Assessment Board. The objective of this Regulation is to set emission performance standards for new passenger cars registered in the Community, which forms part of the Community's integrated approach to reducing CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles while ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market. In the event that a manufacturer fails to meet its target, it will be required to pay an excess emissions premium in respect of each calendar year from 2012 onwards. On 11 March 2014, Regulation (EC) No 333/2014 amending Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 was adopted. Regulation (EC) No 333/2014 amends Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 to implement the modalities of meeting the 95g CO2/km target for new passenger cars to be reached in 2020. As industry benefits from indications of the regulatory regime that would apply beyond 2020, the Regulation includes a further review to take place by, at the latest, 31 December 2014.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.464-473
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• 2008

Winter migratory birds gather in paddy rice fields to feed shed rice grains. The Korean Ministry of Environment has practiced a policy program Contract on Paddy Field Management (CPFM) during winter fallow since 2002. This program starts with a contract between local governments and farmers, and the government pays a differential subsidy to farmers who finish spreading rice straw, cultivating barley, letting the whole rice plant without harvest, and submerging paddy fields for winter migratory birds. As more local governments have operated CPFM program, the total area on the contract and subsidy budget has increased yearly since 2002. This program could have its stable position as a successful policy by giving profits to farmers. With the program extended, the population of winter migratory birds has been greatly. For the evaluation of environmental performance of a policy, we analyzed this CPFM program by introducing some indicators in the form of Driving Force-State-Response Framework. The indicators were composed of 3 categorized indicators; the area of paddy land contracted under this program as 'driving force' indicator, population of birds, the number of bird species and the amount of feces as 'state' indicators, and the size of monetary support, the number of farmers or local governments participating, and public perception as 'response' indicators. The contract area of paddy field under CPFM could be a good biodiversity indicator reflecting potential performance of this policy measure in the light of its linkage to the population of winter migratory birds. And the share of CPFM land of the whole agricultural land might also be used as a useful indicator of policy evaluation for improvement of wildlife diversity. The 'state' indicators such as population of birds and the number of bird species could be matched to 'driving force' indicator, but the total CPFM area of each site could not reflect the effect of areas under different management practices. However, the amount of bird feces could reflect differences in environmental performance with management practices as 'state' indicators. The development of indicators indicating 'response' such as farmers' behavior, public perception, and policy makers' willingness is also needed to support a successful implementation and improvement of this policy measure with the development of 'performance' indicators integrating all these indicators.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-28
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• 2012

Since its establishment in 1948, World Health Organization (WHO) has tried and facilitated international cooperation of public health under the goal of "the highest attainable health," and gained outcomes like the eradication of smallpox and polio, turning itself into the representative of international public health. However, there was discord between member nations during the cold war era, and the status of WHO experienced rise and fall after its establishment. WHO, the representative international health organization, also has not been freed from influences from international regime changes, which means that the discussion on the internal causes of WHO functionings should be expanded more. In this study, functionalism was tested as one of international relations theory that tries to explain the establishment and role of WHO. Especially, this study analyzed the problems and problem-solving process that WHO had to face by using Imber's five steps theory that arranged chronologically the theory of Mitrany. We mainly investigated the secondary source that described historic facts on the rise and fall of WHO in terms of roles and functionings during establishment of WHO, the cold war era, and international cooperation of public health. The roles of WHO were analyzed by selecting the gains of WHO in the post cold war era. The functionalism arrangement of Imber was appropriate to some extent in explaining the establishment and role of WHO. The first step was International Sanitary Conference in 1851 that made nations to recognize international cooperation of public health, and the second step was the establishment of WHO that handles public health as an international organization. Recent cases of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and International Health Regulations showed that each nation agreed with an international norm that they had to cooperate each other to tackle infectious diseases and smoking, and this implies that these were emergence of global governance. This process was the third step of Imber's theory (nations had a gain from international cooperation would agree with the expansion of authority of international organization). However, the last two steps of the theory are still not realized. The partial success of WHO was based on the functional elements that WHO deals with non-political elements, human resources centering on professionals, and democratic decision making process. This essential and non-political characteristics mean that necessity of international cooperation catalyzed by WHO would continue despite of the global governance era when global health governance get faced more challenges.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2020

The rapid climate change is strengthening carbon emissions regulations internationally. Korea is strongly pressed to accept the obligation to reduce greenhouse gases as one of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This article analyzed the Granger causalities among environmental regulation, economic growth, electricity consumption, and CO₂ emission in Korea, using unit root test, cointegration test, and vector error correction model. As the results, environmental regulation has shown the bidirectional causalities with electricity consumption and CO₂ emission, while being unilaterally affected by economic growth in the long-run and strong relationship. Economic growth has affected electricity consumption, CO2 emission, and environmental regulation in the long-run, in the complex structure of the unilateral and short-run causality with electricity consumption and the bidirectional causality with CO2 emission. The policy implications will be as follows: ① environmental regulation should induce sustainable growth through encouraging technological innovation relating to CO2 reduction and productivity enhancement. ② Responding to the international CO2 reduction regulation, the synthetic policy initiatives will be considered to make synergy effects among policies relating to economic growth, electricity consumption.