• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.185-205
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• 2010

Climate change vulnerability assessment based on local conditions is a prerequisite for establishment of climate change adaptation policies. While some studies have developed a methodology for vulnerability assessment at the national level using statistical data, few attempts, whether domestic or overseas, have been made to develop methods for local vulnerability assessments that are easily applicable to a single city. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for climate change vulnerability, and then develop a general methodology for assessment at the regional level applied to a single coastal city, Mokpo, in Jeolla province, Korea. We followed the conceptual framework of climate change vulnerability proposed by the IPCC (1996) which consists of "climate exposure," "systemic sensitivity," and "systemic adaptive capacity." "Climate exposure" was designated as sea level rises of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 meter(s), allowing for a simple scenario for sea level rises. Should more complex forecasts of sea level rises be required later, the methodology developed herein can be easily scaled and transferred to other projects. Mokpo was chosen as a seaside city on the southwest coast of Korea, where all cities have experienced rising sea levels. Mokpo has experienced the largest sea level increases of all, and is a region where abnormal high tide events have become a significant threat; especially subsequent to the construction of an estuary dam and breakwaters. Sensitivity to sea level rises was measured by the percentage of flooded area for each administrative region within Mokpo evaluated via simulations using GIS techniques. Population density, particularly that of senior citizens, was also factored in. Adaptive capacity was considered from both the "hardware" and "software" aspects. "Hardware" adaptive capacity was incorporated by considering the presence (or lack thereof) of breakwaters and seawalls, as well as their height. "Software" adaptive capacity was measured using a survey method. The survey questionnaire included economic status, awareness of climate change impact and adaptation, governance, and policy, and was distributed to 75 governmental officials working for Mokpo. Vulnerability to sea level rises was assessed by subtracting adaptive capacity from the sensitivity index. Application of the methodology to Mokpo indicated vulnerability was high for seven out of 20 administrative districts. The results of our methodology provides significant policy implications for the development of climate change adaptation policy as follows: 1) regions with high priority for climate change adaptation measures can be selected through a correlation diagram between vulnerabilities and records of previous flood damage, and 2) after review of existing short, mid, and long-term plans or projects in high priority areas, appropriate adaptation measures can be taken as per this study. Future studies should focus on expanding analysis of climate change exposure from sea level rises to other adverse climate related events, including heat waves, torrential rain, and drought etc.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.815-826
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• 1994

Skew bridges are found frequently in new bridge construction due to geographical conditions when new constructing bridges are put across the existing highways, railroads or rivers. This study is to investigate the static behaviors of the steel deck plates of skew bridges which are increasingly used in bridges due to outstanding quality of structural steels, development of welding techniques, in order to reduce dead loads and period of constructions. The static behaviours of steel deck plates are analyzed using general purpose FE code SAP90 by modeling the skewed deck plates with rigorous finite elements, as the skew angles vary. The results of finite element analysis for the behaviors of steel deck plates and concrete slabs in acute, obtuse corners and center of decks are compared and discussed as the skew angles vary from $90^{\circ}$ to $30^{\circ}$. Two types of decks are treated, as isotropic plates and orthotropic plates, respectively. From the results of finite element analysis, it is found that more moments, reactions, and deflections occur at the obtuse corners than at the center of skewed decks regardless of isotropy or orthotropy. Especially, in case of the skewed deck plates with skew angles less than 45 degrees, significantly large discrepancies for the values of those internal forces are shown between the skewed and right deck plates. This study estimates the characteristics of deck behaviors according to skew angles, and proposes limitations of skew angles and the ciritical regions of decks.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2005

Twelve bottom sediments and three cores were collected in Juam reservoir for a study on transportation, which was controlled by particle grain size (2mm-200{\mu}m,\;200-100{\mu}m,\;100-50{\mu}m,\;50-20{\mu}m,\;<20{\mu}m), and vertical distribution of heavy metals. Sediment cores were sliced into 2 to 5 cm intervals to measure heavy metal concentrations in interstitial water and sediments with depth. Pb isotopic compositions of core samples were determined to calculate sedimentation rate. Regardless of sampling sites, levels of heavy metals and trace elements in bottom sediments are nearly constant with mean values of $14.9\;{\mu}g/g\;for\;As,\;0.81{\mu}g/g\;for\;Cd,\;30.7{\mu}g/g\;for\;Cu,\;34.7{\mu}g/g\;for\;Ni,\;63.3{\mu}g/g\;for\;Pb\;and\;87.9{\mu}g/g\;for\;Zn$. In general, Cu, Pb, Zn, Wi, and Cr in fraction of $<20{\mu}m$ exhibit the highest concentration, but content of As is the highest in grain size of $2\;mm-200\;{\mu}m$ and $200-100\;{\mu}m$. Fe and Mn occur as the dissolved compositions of the highest concentrations in interstitial waters and increase in their concentrations toward lower part of cores. On the contrary, concentrations of Zn and Cu show the highest value in the uppermost part in cores, suggesting these elements are released from reductive dissolution of hydroxides and oxidation of organic matters under different redox conditions. The highest accumulations of Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn contents in the sediment cores are observed at 0-4 cm layers, and concentrations of Cu and Pb are especially high, implying these heavy metals are originated from anthropogenic sources. The apparent sedimentation rate estimated using unsupported $^{210}Pb$ is 0.91 cm $year^{-1}$, corresponding about 10 cm sedimentation in total depth since construction of Juam dam. These results will provide available information for management of bottom sediment in Juam reservoir.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.431-449
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• 2022

As many tunnels generally have been constructed, various experiences and techniques have been accumulated for tunnel design as well as tunnel construction. Hence, there are not a few cases that, for some usual tunnel design works, it is sufficient to perform the design by only modifying or supplementing previous similar design cases unless a tunnel has a unique structure or in geological conditions. In particular, for a tunnel blast design, it is reasonable to refer to previous similar design cases because the blast design in the stage of design is a preliminary design, considering that it is general to perform additional blast design through test blasts prior to the start of tunnel excavation. Meanwhile, entering the industry 4.0 era, artificial intelligence (AI) of which availability is surging across whole industry sector is broadly utilized to tunnel and blasting. For a drill and blast tunnel, AI is mainly applied for the estimation of blast vibration and rock mass classification, etc. however, there are few cases where it is applied to blast pattern design. Thus, this study attempts to automate tunnel blast design by means of machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence. For this, the data related to a blast design was collected from 25 tunnel design reports for learning as well as 2 additional reports for the test, and from which 4 design parameters, i.e., rock mass class, road type and cross sectional area of upper section as well as bench section as input data as well as16 design elements, i.e., blast cut type, specific charge, the number of drill holes, and spacing and burden for each blast hole group, etc. as output. Based on this design data, three machine learning models, i.e., XGBoost, ANN, SVM, were tested and XGBoost was chosen as the best model and the results show a generally similar trend to an actual design when assumed design parameters were input. It is not enough yet to perform the whole blast design using the results from this study, however, it is planned that additional studies will be carried out to make it possible to put it to practical use after collecting more sufficient blast design data and supplementing detailed machine learning processes.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.161-170
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• 2020

There is systematic spatial variations in environmental properties due to sensitive reaction to external conditions at plastic greenhouse occupied 99.2% of domestic agricultural facilities. In order to construct 3 dimensional distribution of temperature, relative humidity, CO₂ and illuminance, measurement matrix as 3 by 3 by 5 in direction of width, height and length, respectively, dividing indoor space of greenhouse was designed and tested at experimental site. Linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate optimal estimation method in terms with horizontal and vertical variations. Even though sole measurement point for temperature and relative humidity could be feasible to assess indoor condition, multiple measurement matrix is inevitably required to improve spatial precision at certain time domain such as period of sunrise and sunset. In case with CO₂, multiple measurement matrix could not successfully improve the spatial predictability during a whole experimental period. In case with illuminance, prediction performance was getting smaller after a time period of sunrise due to systematic interference such as indoor structure. Thus, multiple sensing methodology was proposed in direction of length at higher height than growing bed, which could compensate estimation error in spatial domain. Appropriate measurement matrix could be constructed considering the transition of stability in indoor environmental properties due to external variations. As a result, optimal measurement matrix should be carefully designed considering flexibility of construction relevant with the type of property, indoor structure, the purpose of crop and the period of growth. For an instance, partial cooling and heating system to save a consumption of energy supplement could be successfully accomplished by the deployment of multiple measurement matrix.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.5-19
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• 2019

Considering the natural phenomenon in which steep slopes ($65^{\circ}{\sim}85^{\circ}$) consisting of rock mass remain stable for decades, slopes steeper than 1:0.5 (the standard of slope angle for blast rock) may be applied in geotechnical conditions which are similar to those above at the design and initial construction stages. In the process of analysing the stability of a good to fair continuum rock slope that can be designed as a steep slope, a general method of estimating rock mass strength properties from design practice perspective was required. Practical and genealized engineering methods of determining the properties of a rock mass are important for a good continuum rock slope that can be designed as a steep slope. The Genealized Hoek-Brown (H-B) failure criterion and GSI (Geological Strength Index), which were revised and supplemented by Hoek et al. (2002), were assessed as rock mass characterization systems fully taking into account the effects of discontinuities, and were widely utilized as a method for calculating equivalent Mohr-Coulomb shear strength (balancing the areas) according to stress changes. The concept of calculating equivalent M-C shear strength according to the change of confining stress range was proposed, and on a slope, the equivalent shear strength changes sensitively with changes in the maximum confining stress (${{\sigma}^{\prime}}_{3max}$ or normal stress), making it difficult to use it in practical design. In this study, the method of estimating the strength properties (an iso-angle division method) that can be applied universally within the maximum confining stress range for a good to fair continuum rock mass slope is proposed by applying the H-B failure criterion. In order to assess the validity and applicability of the proposed method of estimating the shear strength (A), the rock slope, which is a study object, was selected as the type of rock (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary) on the steep slope near the existing working design site. It is compared and analyzed with the equivalent M-C shear strength (balancing the areas) proposed by Hoek. The equivalent M-C shear strength of the balancing the areas method and iso-angle division method was estimated using the RocLab program (geotechnical properties calculation software based on the H-B failure criterion (2002)) by using the basic data of the laboratory rock triaxial compression test at the existing working design site and the face mapping of discontinuities on the rock slope of study area. The calculated equivalent M-C shear strength of the balancing the areas method was interlinked to show very large or small cohesion and internal friction angles (generally, greater than $45^{\circ}$). The equivalent M-C shear strength of the iso-angle division is in-between the equivalent M-C shear properties of the balancing the areas, and the internal friction angles show a range of $30^{\circ}$ to $42^{\circ}$. We compared and analyzed the shear strength (A) of the iso-angle division method at the study area with the shear strength (B) of the existing working design site with similar or the same grade RMR each other. The application of the proposed iso-angle division method was indirectly evaluated through the results of the stability analysis (limit equilibrium analysis and finite element analysis) applied with these the strength properties. The difference between A and B of the shear strength is about 10%. LEM results (in wet condition) showed that Fs (A) = 14.08~58.22 (average 32.9) and Fs (B) = 18.39~60.04 (average 32.2), which were similar in accordance with the same rock types. As a result of FEM, displacement (A) = 0.13~0.65 mm (average 0.27 mm) and displacement (B) = 0.14~1.07 mm (average 0.37 mm). Using the GSI and Hoek-Brown failure criterion, the significant result could be identified in the application evaluation. Therefore, the strength properties of rock mass estimated by the iso-angle division method could be applied with practical shear strength.