• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2014

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important cause of occupational mortality in miners exposed to coal mine dust. Although the inflammatory mediators involved in COPD have not been defined, many studies have shown that inflammatory mediators such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species are involved in orchestrating the complex inflammatory process in COPD. Methods: To investigate the relevance of exhaled biomarkers of oxidative and nitrosative stress in participants with COPD, we determined the levels of hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde (MDA), and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in 90 retired elderly coal miners (53 non-COPD and 37 COPD participants). Results: Mean levels of MDA (4.64 nMvs. 6.46 nM, p = 0.005) and 3-NT (3.51 nMvs. 5.50 nM, p = 0.039) in EBC were significantly higher in participants with COPD. The median level of MDA did show statistical difference among the COPD severities (p = 0.017), and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve forMDA (0.67) for the diagnostic discrimination of COPD indicated the biomarker. The optimal cutoff values were 5.34 nM (64.9% sensitivity and 64.2% specificity) and 5.58 nM (62.2% sensitivity and 62.3% specificity) forMDA and 3-NT, respectively. The results suggest that high levels ofMDA and 3-NT in EBC are associated with COPD in retired elderly miners. Conclusion: These results showed that the elevated levels of EBC MDA and EBC 3-NT in individuals with COPD are biomarkers of oxidative or nitrosative stress.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2000

Seismic reflection data was obtained by using 28 and 100 Hz geophones at the ground subsidence sites in an old coal mine area. Frequency spectrum of the geophone analyzed with offset revealed that 1) In the near offset ($1\~10m$), the signals in the 100 Hz geophone data contains higher frequency components (up to 300 Hz) than that of the 28 Hz (<200 Hz), 2) In the intermediate offset ($11\~39m$), although the 28 Hz geophone data showed very similar frequency characteristics as the near offset data, the 100Hz geophone data seemed to be contaminated by noise at high frequency zone (>200 Hz). In the far offset ($\geq40\;m$), the signals in both the 28 and 100 Hz geophone data are attenuated to noise level at high frequency Bone more than 150 Hz.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.519-525
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• 1995

Recently, there have been several cases of serious accidents on concrete structure resulting from rapid deterioration of concrete strength. On the view point of long term stability of concrete, deterioration of concrete strength is mostly due to chemical reaction between alkali and reactive aggregates (alkali-aggreagte reaction; AAR) in concrete rather than a problem of execution. For long-term stability of concrete, concrete aggregates must be carefully selected. Some of rocks used for concrete aggregates contain deleterious minerals reactive to alkali components in concrete. Most of AAR result from chemical reaction between alkali components and reactive silica minerals in aggregates (so called alkali-silica reaction; ASR). The silica minerals are as follows; quartz with seriously distorted lattice structure, volcanic glass, chalcedony, opal, cristobalite, tridymite, etc. ASR may cause expansion and cracks, further collapse in concrete structure, in a few years. In case of crushed aggregates, only a part of rock mass without reactive minerals must be produced in aggregates mine after thorough examination of the distribution of rocks with reactive minerals. In case of natural aggregates, the total content of reactive minerals must be calculated, if, the content is more than 20%, the rate should be lower by mixing other non-reactive crushed- or natural aggregates. If it is obliged to use concrete aggregates all containing deleterious minerals in a discrete area, they must be used with low alkali cement Even if it is low quality in the chemical properties, aggregates with suitable range in the physical properties can be utilized as the aggregate of other purposes.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.154-165
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• 2016

This paper presents experimental results to investigate the affects of acidic solution under loading condition on rock properties. In the experiment, the variations of various rock properties including effective porosity, thermal conductivity, and etc were investigated with different pHs of solution and magnitudes of loading. The results show that the rock property change was increased with low pH under loading. It was predicted that chemical reaction rate would be increased in low pH. Below the crack initiation stress of the rock specimen, the variation of rock property change was reduced with increased loading. It could be explained with the reduced chemical reaction area by the compressional loading if there is no crack generation.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.43-50
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• 2018

In a previous study, the feasibility of four materials (bentonite, steelmaking slag, lime and organic compost) to induce soil aggregate formation was assessed and the mixtures of organic compost and lime were chosen as most effective amendments in terms of cost benefit. This work is a subsequent study to evaluate the effectiveness of those amendments in reducing soil loss in $15^{\circ}$ sloped agricultural area by using rainfall simulation test. Three different soils were treated with two conditions of organic compost/lime mixtures (2% + 2%, 3% + 1%, w/w). In the amended soils, soil fertility was increased due to the increase of CEC, T-N, and T-P. During the rainfall simulation, suspended solid in run-off water from amended soil were reduced by 43% ~ 78%. When the content of organic compost was higher than that of lime, reduction of soil loss was also increased by 67% ~ 78%. Sediment discharge was also decreased by 72% ~ 96% in the amended soil. Similar to the suspended solid analysis, higher organic compost content led to more reduction of soil discharging, which implies organic compost is more effective than lime in reducing soil loss. The overall result suggests that the mixtures of organic compost and lime could be used as amendment materials to reduce soil loss in sloped farmland.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4253-4264
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• 2022

Since the implementation of the phosphate project in Bled El-Hadba (BEH) deposit, western region of Tébessa, no detailed study has been conducted to assess the natural radioactivity distribution and the associated radiological risk parameter for this open-pit mine. For the sake of determining a credible premining reference database for the region of interest, 21 samples were collected from different geological layers of the above-mentioned deposit. Gamma Spectrometry was applied for measuring radioactivity using a high resolution HPGe semiconductor detector. The obtained activity results have shown a significant broad variation in the radioactive contents for the different phosphate samples. The total average concentrations (in Bq·kg^-1) for ²²⁶Ra, ²³⁸U, ²³⁵U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K computed for the different type of phosphate layers were found to be 570 ± 169, 788 ± 280, 52 ± 18, 66 ± 6 and 81 ± 18 respectively. The mean activity concentrations of the measured radionuclides were compared to other regional and worldwide deposits. The ratios between the detected radioisotopes have been calculated for spatial distribution of natural radionuclides in the study area. Based on the aforementioned activity concentrations, the corresponding radiation hazard parameters were assessed. Correlations between the obtained parameters were drawn and a multivariate statistical analysis (Pearson Correlation, Cluster and Factor analysis) was carried out in order to identify the existing relationships.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.25-36
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• 2010

Tertiary unconsolidated mudstones spread throughout the eastern coast area. The demand for high quality filling materials in these areas is increasing due to harbors and large-scale residential land development. Rock produced in-situ or near site has been used as road subbase construction or reclamation materials for economical reason, but it is hard to decide appropriateness of quality specification because of its characteristics. The test results showed that unconsolidated rocks are diversely considered according to a different method of the applied geotechnical investigation. Therefore, the site of tertiary unconsolidated mudstones, the classification of rock and evaluation of rock properties that must be evaluated by objective criteria and apply a different set of criteria are needed. In addition, the environmental impact must be considered due to acid mine drainage.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.472-482
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• 2023

The grid-type or room-and-pillar method is applied for the purpose of mining horizontally buried minerals. In this study, design and pilot test were performed to apply the room-and-pillar method which uses natural rock as a rock pillar to the construction of underground space. The area where the pilot test was conducted was in stone mine and had good rock conditions with an appropriate depth (about 30 m) to apply the pilot test. The pilot test site was selected by reviewing accessibility and ground conditions and then site construction was performed through detailed ground investigation and design. The pilot test was designed with a column shape of 8×8 m and a cross-section of 8×12 m. The blasting pattern was determined through test blasting at the site, and blasting of 3 m excavation with 89 holes was performed. Through field observations, the average width of 12.5 m and the average height of 8.3 m were measured. Therefore, it is possible to proceed similar to the cross-sectional shape considered in the design.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.433-444
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• 1993

Electrum (32~73 atom. % Ag)-sulfide mineralization of the Bodeok mine in the Boseong area was deposited in two stages of mineralogically simple, massive quartz veins that fill the fractures along fault shear zones in Precambrian gneiss. Radiometric dating indicates that mineralization is Late Jurassic age ($155.9{\pm}2.3$ Ma). Fluid inclusion data show that ore mineralization was formed from $H_2O-CO_2$ fluids with variable $CO_2$ contents ($X_{CO_2}=0.0$ to 0.7) and low salinities (0.0 to 7.4 wt. % eq. NaCl) at temperatures between $200^{\circ}$ and $370^{\circ}C$. Evidence of fluid unmixing ($CO_2$ effervescence) indicates pressures up to 1 kbar. Gold-silver deposition occurred later than base-metal sulfide deposition, at temperatures near $250^{\circ}C$ and was probably a result of cooling and decreasing sulfur activity caused by sulfide precipitation and/or $H_2S$ loss (through fluid unmixing). Calculated sulfur isotope compositions of ore fluids (${\delta}^{34}S_{{\Sigma}S}=1.7$ to 3.3‰) indicate an igneous source of sulfur in hydrothermal fluids. Measured and calculated O and H isotope compositions of ore fluids (${\delta}^{18}O_{water}=4.8$ to 7.2‰, ${\delta}D_{water}=-73$ to -76‰) indicate that mesothermal auriferous fluids at Bodeok were likely mixtures of $H_2O-rich$, isotopically evolved meteoric waters and magmatic $H_2O-CO_2$ fluids.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.147-164
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• 1975

19 amphibolite samples from the Precambrian Sobaegsan metamorphic belt including the Ogbang mine amphibolites were analyzed for 24 elements each, by wet chemical and emission spectroscopic methods. All the chemical data were evaluated by the methods outlined by Evans and Leake(1960) and Leake(1964) and by Shaw and Kudo(1965). The chemical similarity of all the studied rocks analyzed to basic igneous rocks is consistently indicated particularly by trace element abundance and variation trends. Petrography and oxidation ratios were also considered in attempting to determine the nature of the parent rocks. 3 analyses of W-bearing mafic metamorphic rocks from Sangdong area of the Ogcheon geosynclinal zone are also presented and discussed. Geochemical data for these latter rocks have been possibly derived from mafic tuffs deposited in an area of carbonate deposition.