• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.353-365
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• 2023

The effects of climate change on green infrastructure and environmental media remain uncertain and context-specific despite numerous climate projections globally. In this study, the extreme weather conditions in seven major cities in South Korea were characterized through statistical analysis of 20-year daily meteorological data extracted fro m the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Additionally, the impacts of extreme weather on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) were determined through a comprehensive review. The results of the statistical analysis and comprehensive review revealed the studied cities are potentially vulnerable to varying extreme weather conditions, depending on geographic location, surface imperviousness, and local weather patterns. Temperature extremes were seen as potential threats to the resilience of NbS in Seoul, as both the highest maximum and lowest minimum temperatures were observed in the mentioned city. Moreover, extreme values for precipitation and maximum wind speed were observed in cities from the southern part of South Korea, particularly Busan, Ulsan, and Jeju. It was also found that extremely low temperatures induce the most impact on the resilience of NbS and environmental media. Extremely cold conditions were identified to reduce the pollutant removal efficiency of biochar, sand, gravel, and woodchip, as well as the nutrient uptake capabilities of constructed wetlands (CWs). In response to the negative impacts of extreme weather on the effectiveness of NbS, several adaptation strategies, such as the addition of shading and insulation systems, were also identified in this study. The results of this study are seen as beneficial to improving the resilience of NbS in South Korea and other locations with similar climate characteristics.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-41
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• 2024

The carbon balance serves as a valuable indicator of a plant's physiological status under diverse environmental conditions. We investigated the photosynthetic and respiratory responses of the Asian surfgrass Phyllospadix iwatensis along the northeast coast of the Korean peninsula in response to changing water temperature (ranging from 5℃ to 30℃) to estimate the seasonal whole-plant carbon balance through a series of incubation experiments. The maximum gross photosynthetic rate (P_max) showed a significant difference among the temperature treatments, while there was no significant difference in photosynthetic efficiency (α). The maximum gross photosynthetic rate of P. iwatensis reached its peaks at 20℃ treatment (101.65 μmol O₂ g^-1 DW h^-1) but decreased rapidly at 30℃. The saturation irradiance (I_k), compensation irradiance (I_c), and respiration rate (R) of P. iwatensis exhibited significant differences among the temperature treatments. The saturation irradiance increased up to 20-25℃ (121.59-124.50 μmol photons m^-2 s^-1) and sharply decreased at 30℃. The compensation irradiance and respiration rate increased steadily with rising water temperature. The ratio of P_max to R (P_max:R ratio) was the highest at 5℃ but dramatically decreased at 30℃. The whole-plant carbon balance, calculated based on photosynthetic parameters, respiration rates, and biomass, exhibited distinct seasonal variation, increasing during winter and spring and decreasing during summer and fall, which is consistent with the highest in situ growth in spring and severely limited growth at the highest water temperature conditions. Phyllospadix iwatensis displayed a negative carbon balance during late summer, fall, and winter, but demonstrated a positive carbon balance during spring and early summer. Our findings suggest that the rising seawater temperatures associated with climate change may lead to significant alterations in the seagrass ecosystem functioning along the rocky shores of the Korean east coast.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2004

An experiment was conducted to establish comparison of ventilation efficiency in an enclosed and conventional growing-finishing pig house. The experimental pigs were in winter and summer. The main results of the experiment are as follows : Then the air from planar slot inlet the pig house flow out through the sidewall outlet operated by exhaust fan(Gl). The second structure has an air input through the circular duct inlet are plated side the juncture of the entering wall and the air into the pig house flow out through the chimney and pit outlet are operated by exhaust fan(G2). Through the air into relay fan the pig house flow out through the curtains in sidewall(G3). Similarly, air comes in through the circular duct inlet are placed the air into the pig house flow out through the curtains in sidewall (G4). Air flow rate on the floor level which is the low part of pen and the living area of pigs in the G2 and G4 system during winter was measured at 0.2 to 0.3 m/s at the 0.5 to 0.6 m/s at the maximum ventilation efficiency. As for the results of detrimental gas(ammonia) concentration ratio analysis, while G2 and G4 system sustained of summer 13.3 $\~$ 16.6 ppm, winter 14.0 $\~$ 14.6 ppm level, Gl and G3 system sustained of summer 14.6 $\~$ 20.3 ppm, winter 20.3 $\~$ 25.0 ppm, and the latter one is lower than that of the G1 and G3 system.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.593-599
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• 1999

In this study, optimal conditions to infect CD34 positive cells containing hematopoietic stem cells obtained from cord blood and bone marrow were found using two different retroviral vectors expressing human growth hormone (hGH) and $\beta$-galactosidase. CD34 positive cells were successfully infected with recombinant retroviruses only when the CD34 positive cells were co-cultured with packaging cells secreting recombinant retroviruses. To find the highest infection efficiency for the gene transfer, CD34 positive cells from cord blood were co-cultured with packaging cells secreting recombinant retroviruses encoding E. coli lacZ gene. The highest infection efficiency was obtained when CD34 positive cells were cultured for 3 days, and then co-culturing was done for another 2 days. When CD34 positive cells from bone marrow were co-cultured with packaging cells secreting recombinant retroviruses encoding hGH gene, the maximum amount of hGH was also secreted at the same conditions found above, i.e. 3 days of culture and 2 days of co-culture. These results show that there are optimal conditions for the gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells regardless of sources of target cells or retroviral vectors used to infect.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.273-275
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• 2017

It has been forty years since the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) in South Korea. Following the 1977 legislature mandating medical insurance for employees and dependents in firms with more than 500 employees, South Korea expanded its health insurance to urban residents in 1989. Resultantly, total expenses of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) have greatly increased from 4.5 billion won in 1977 to 50.89 trillion won in 2016. With multiple insurers merging into the NHI system in 2000, a single-payer healthcare system emerged, along with separation policy of prescribing and dispensing. Following such reform, an emerging financial crisis required injections from the National Health Promotion Fund. Forty years following the introduction of the NHI system, both praise and criticism have been drawn. In just 12 years, the NHI achieved the fastest health population coverage in the world. Current medical expenditure is not high relative to the rest of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The quality of acute care in Korea is one of the best in the world. There is no sign of delayed diagnosis and/or treatment for most diseases. However, the NHI has been under-insured, requiring high-levels of out-of-pocket money from patients and often causing catastrophic medical expenses. Furthermore, the current environmental circumstances of the NHI are threatening its sustainability. Low birth rate decline, as well as slow economic growth, will make sustainment of the current healthcare system difficult in the near future. An aging population will increase the amount of medical expenditure required, especially with the baby-boomer generation of those born between 1955 and 1965. Meanwhile, there is always the problem of unification for the Korean Peninsula, and what role the health insurance system will have to play when it occurs. In the presidential election, health insurance is a main issue; however, there is greater focus on expansion and expenditure than revenue. Many aspects of Korea's NHI system (1977) were modeled after the German (1883) and Japanese (1922) systems. Such systems were created during an era where infections disease control was most urgent and thus, in the current non-communicable disease (NCD) era, must be redesigned. The Korean system, which is already forty years old, must be redesigned completely. Although health insurance benefit expansion is necessary, financial measures, as well as moral hazard control measures, must also be considered. Ultimately, there are three aspects that we must consider when attempting redesign of the system. First, the health security system must be reformed. NHI and Medical Aid must be amalgamated into one system for increased effectiveness and efficiency of the system. Within the single insurer system of the NHI must be an internal market for maximum efficiency. The NHIS must be separated into regions so that regional organizers have greater responsibility over their actions. Although insurance must continue to be imposed nationally, risk-adjustment must be distributed regionally and assessed by different regional systems. Second, as a solution for the decreasing flow of insurance revenue, low premium level must be increased to an appropriate level. Likewise, the national reserve fund (No. 36, National Health Insurance Act) must be enlarged for re-unification preparation. Third, there must be revolutionary reform of benefit package. The current system built a focus on communicable diseases which is inappropriate in this NCD era. Medical benefits must not be one-time events but provide chronic disease management. Chronic care models, accountable care organization, patient-centered medical homes, and other systems that introduce various benefit packages for beneficiaries must be implemented. The reimbursement system of medical costs should be introduced to various systems for different types of care, as is the case with part C (Medicare Advantage Program) of America's Medicare system that substitutes part A and part B. Pay for performance must be expanded so that there is not only improvement in quality of care but also medical costs. Moreover, beneficiaries of the NHI system must be aware of the amount of their expenditure through a deductible payment system so that spending can be profiled and monitored. The Moon Jae-in Government has announced its plans to expand the NHI system; however, it is important that a discussion forum is created so that more accurate analysis of the NHI, its environments, and current status of health care system, can take place for reforming NHI.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.197-202
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• 2010

Purpose: Recently, many hospitals have been tried to increase the satisfaction of the outpatients through blood-gathering, exam, result notice and process in a day. Each laboratory has been used the automatic equipment for the rapid requests of the result notice and the increase of the reliability and efficiency. Current automatic equipments that have been limited short TAT(Turn-Around Time)because of the restricted batch lists and 1 tip-5 detectors. The Gamma Pro which is made in Korea to improve the shortcomings of existing automation equipment, complemented with capacity to perform a wide range of domestic automation equipment. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness and reliability of short TAT by comparing Gamma Pro with current automatic equipment. Materials and Methods: We studied the correlation between Gamma Pro and RIA-mat 280 using the respective 100 specimens of low or high density to the patients who were requested the thyroid hormone test (Total T3, TSH and Free T4) in Samsung Medical Center Sep. 2009. To evaluate the split-level Gamma Pro, First, we measured accuracy and carry over on the tips. Second, the condition of optimal incubation was measured by the RPM (Revolution Per Minute) and revolution axis diameter on the incubator. For the analysis for the speed of the specimen-processing, TAT was investigated with the results in a certain time. Result: The correlation coefficients (R2) between the Gamma Pro and RIA-mat 280 showed a good correlation as T3 (0.98), TSH (0.99), FT4 (0.92). The coefficient of variation (C.V) and accuracy was 0.38 % and 98.3 % at tip 1 and 0.39 % and 98.6 % at tip 2. Carry over showed 0.80 % and 1.04% at tip 1 and tip 2, respectively. These results indicate that tips had no effect on carry over contamination. At the incubator condition, we found that the optimal condition was 1.0mm of diameter at 600RPM in 1.0mm and 1.5mm of at 500RPM or 1.0mm and 1.5 mm of diameter at 600 RPM. the Gamma Pro showed that the number of exam times were increased as maximum 20 times/day comparing to 6 times/day by current automatic equipment. These results also led to the short TAT from 4.20 hour to 2.19 hours in whole processing. Conclusion: The correlation of between the Gamma Pro and RIA-mat 280 was good and has not carry over contamination in tips. The domestic automation equipment (Gamma Pro) decreases the TAT in whole test comparing to RIA-280. These results demonstrate that Gamma Pro has a good efficiency, reliability and practical usefulness, which may contribute to the excellent skill to process the large scale specimens.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.28-40
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• 2004

Box experiments were performed to evaluate the removal efficiency of SVE (soil vapor extraction) for gasoline in soil. An activated carbon sorption tower and a biofilter were operated as post-treatment processes to remove VOCs extracted from extraction wells of SVE. An acrylic resin box (65 cm${\times}$20 cm${\times}$30 cm) was used to make artificial soil layers and two injection wells and one extraction well were built for SVE process in the box. Gases from extraction wells flew into the activated carbon sorption tower or the biofilter. Gasoline concentrations of VOCs emitted from the extraction well were compared with those after post treatments. More than 92% of initial gasoline mass in soil were removed by SVE within few days, suggesting that SVE is very available to remove VOCs from contaminated soils. To treat VOCs from extraction wells of SVE, an activated carbon sorption tower and a biofilter were attached to SVE process and their gasoline removal efficiencies were measured. These post treatment systems lowered gasoline concentrations to below 1.0 ppm within few days. Average remediation efficiency was 98% of gasoline for the activated carbon sorption tower and 84.1% for the biofilter. The maximum removal capacity of a biofilter was 10.7 g/L/hr, which was ten times higher than general biofilter removal capacity. Results from the study suggest that the activated carbon sorption tower and the biofilter would be available for the post treatment process to remove VOCs generated from SVE process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1126-1133
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• 2010

A two-stage biofilter was constructed and utilized to determine the removal efficiency when treating dynamic loading of a mixture of odorous compounds including benzene, toluene, p-xylene, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. A yeast strain, Candida tropicalis, and a sulfur oxidizing bacterial (SOB) strain, Acidithiobacillus caldus sp., were immobilized in polyurethane media and packed in the two-stage biofilter. The experiment of dynamic loading variation was composed of (1) stepwise loading variation of all the odorous compounds (total EC test), (2) stepwise loading variation of each odorous compound, and (3) intermittent loading variation with 2-day-off and 3-day-on. The total EC test showed that the maximum elimination capacity was $61\;g/m^3/hr$ for total VOCs, and 5.2 and $9.1\;g/m^3/hr$ for ammonia and hydrogen, respectively. In addition, the inhibition between VOCs was observed when the loading of each individual VOC was varied. Especially the stepwise increase in toluene loading resulted in decreases of benzene and p-xylene removal efficiencies about 30% and 25%, respectively. However, the inhibition between organic and inorganic compounds was not observed. The intermittent loading variation with 2-day-off and 3-day-on showed that greater than 95% of the overall removal efficiency was restored in two days after the loading resumed. Consequently, the two-stage biofilter packed with immobilized microorganisms showed advantages over conventional biofilters for the simultaneous treatment of the mixture of organic and inorganic odorous compounds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.505-513
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• 2017

Objective: This study was performed to evaluate whether ambient temperature and dietary glycerol addition affect growth performance, and blood metabolic and immunological parameters, in beef cattle. Methods: Twenty Korean cattle steers ($405.1{\pm}7.11kg$ of body weight [BW], $14.2{\pm}0.15$ months of age) were divided into a conventional control diet group (n = 10) and a 2% glycerol- added group (n = 10). Steers were fed 1.6% BW of a concentrate diet and 0.75% BW of a timothy hay diet for 8 weeks (4 weeks from July 28th to August 26th and 4 weeks from August 27th to September 26th). Blood was collected four times on July 28th, August 11th, August 27th, and September 26th. Results: The maximum indoor ambient temperature-humidity index in August (75.8) was higher (p<0.001) than that in September (70.0), and in August was within the mild heat stress (HS) category range previously reported for dairy cattle. The average daily gain (ADG; p = 0.03) and feed efficiency (p<0.001) were higher in hotter August than in September. Glycerol addition did not affect ADG and feed efficiency. Neither month nor glycerol addition affected blood concentrations of cortisol, triglyceride, or non-esterified fatty acid. Blood concentrations of cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, glucose, and albumin were lower (p<0.05) on August 27th than on September 26 th, and blood phosphorus, calcium and magnesium concentrations were also lower on August 27th than on September 27th. Glycerol addition did not affect these blood parameters. Percentages of $CD4^+$ T cells and $CD8^+$ T cells were higher (p<0.05) on July 28th than on August 27th and September 26th. The blood $CD8^+$ T cell population was lower in the glycerol supplemented-group compared to the control group on July 28th and August 27th. Conclusion: Korean cattle may not be significantly affected by mild HS, considering that growth performance of cattle was better in hotter conditions, although some changes in blood metabolic and mineral parameters were observed.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.99-143
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• 2016

General aviation and air transport are two wings of the civil aviation industry. Chinese air transport is developing rapidly, and has become the world second air transport system only second to US since 2005. However, Chinese civil aviation is far behind the world average level, and cannot meet requirements of economic construction and social development. The transition and structural adjustment of Chinese economy provide the general aviation with a unprecedented broad market. The prospect of general aviation is promising and anticipated. The development of general aviation industry needs the legislative supports, and the current legislative conditions of Chinese general aviation are undoubtedly far behind the realistic requirements. Accelerating the legislation in Chinese general aviation industry requires scientific legislation concept. First, Legislation must promote development of general aviation industry. The general aviation will serves as a Chinese emerging industry that boosts domestic demand, promotes employment and expedite domestic economic development. We should, based on both the concept of promoting the industrial development of general aviation and national industrial planning, enact and rectify relative laws and regulations. And we should also straighten out the relationship between aviation security and industrial development and promote the revolution of low-altitude airspace management in an all-round way, in order to improve the utilization rate of airspace resources, classify and establish airspace, simplify examination and approval procedure and intensify operation management. In addition, what we should do is to expedite the infrastructure layout construction, guide the differentiated but coordinated development of general aviation industries in various areas, establish a united supervision mechanism of general aviation, redistrict the responsibilities of Chinese Air Control Agency and set up legislation, law enforcement and judicial systems with clarified institutions, clear positioning and classified responsibilities, so as to usher in a new era of the legislative management of Chinese general aviation industry. Second, shift the focus from regulations to both regulations and services. Considering the particularity of the general aviation, we should use American practices for reference and take into account both regulation and service functions when enacting general aviation laws. For example, we should reduce administrative licensing and market supervision, and adopt "criteria" and "approval" management systems for non-commercial and commercial aviation. Furthermore, pay attention to social benefits. Complete social rescuing mechanism through legislation. It should be clarified in legislation that general aviation operators should take the responsibilities of, and ensure to realize social benefits of environmental protection and ecological balance .Finally, rise in line with international standards. Modify Chinese regulations which is inconsistent with international ones to remove barriers to international cooperation. Specify basic legislative principles. One is the principle of coordination. Realize coordination between the civil aviation and general aviation, between military aviation and civil aviation, and among departments. Two is the principle of pertinence. The general aviation has its own rules and specialties, needing to be standardized using specialized laws and regulations. Three is the principle of efficiency. To realize time and space values of general aviation, we should complete rules in aerospace openness, general aviation airport construction, general aviation operations, and regulation enforcement. Four is the principle of security. Balance the maximum use of resources of Chinese airspace and the according potential threats to Chinese national interests and social security, and establish a complete insurance system which functions as security defense and indemnificatory measure. Establish a unified legal system. Currently, the system of Chinese general aviation laws consists of national legislation, administrative laws and regulations and civil aviation regulations (CAR). Some problems exist in three components of the system, including too general content, unclear guarantee measures, incomplete implementation details, and lacking corresponding pertinence and flexibility required by general aviation regulations, stringency of operation management and standards, and uniformity of standards. A law and regulation system, centered on laws and consisting of administrative laws regulations, industrial regulations, implementation details, industrial policies and local laws and regulations, should be established. It is suggested to modify the Civil Aviation Law to make general aviation laws complete, enact the Regulations of General Aviation Development, and accelerate the establishment, modification and abolition of Chinese general aviation laws to intensify the coordination and uniformity of regulations.