• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.187-201
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• 2019

This study examined the physicochemical water quality and evaluated the ecological health in 14 sites of Geum River (upstream, mid-stream, and downstream) using the fish community distribution and guilds and eight multi-variable matrices of FAI (Fish Assessment Index) during June 2008-May 2009. The analysis of the water quality variables showed no significant variation in the upstream and mid-stream but a sharp variation due to the accumulation of organic matter from the point where the treated water of Gap and Miho streams flew. The analysis of physicochemical water properties showed that BOD, COD, TN, TP, Cond, and Chl-a tended to increase while DO decreased to cause eutrophication and algae development from the downstream where Miho and Gap stream merged. The analysis of fish community showed that the species richness index and species diversity index increased in the mid-stream area but decreased in the downstream area, indicating the stable ecosystem in the upper stream and the relatively unstable ecosystem in the downstream. The analysis of the species distribution showed that the dominant species were Zacco platypus that accounted for 20.9% of all fish species and Zacco koreanus that accounted for 13.1%. The analysis of the fish tolerance and feeding guild characteristics showed that the sensitive species, the insectivore species, and the aquatic species were dominant in the mid-stream point. On the other hand, contaminants from the sewage water treatment plant of Miho stream had a profound effect in the downstream to show the dominance of tolerant species, omnivorous species, and lentic species. Therefore, it is necessary to improve water quality by reducing the load of urban pollutants and to pay attention to the conservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.101-112
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• 2019

Over the last few years, air pollution ($PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$) in the Seoul metropolitan area (SMA) has emerged as one of the most concerned and threatening environmental issues among the residents. It brings about various harmful effects on human health, as well as ecosystem and industrial activities. Governments and individuals pay various costs to mitigate the level of air pollutants. This study aims to empirically find the willingness to pays (WTP) among the parents from different socio-cultural groups - international and domestic groups to mitigate air pollution ($PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$) in their residential area. Contingent Valuation Methods (CVM) is used with employing single-bounded dichotomous choice technique to elicit the respondent's WTP. Using tobit (censored regression) and probit models, the monthly mean WTP of the pooled sample for green electricity which contributes to improve air quality in the region was estimated as 3,993 KRW (3.58 USD). However, the mean WTP between the international group and domestic group through a sub-sample analysis shows broad distinction as 3,325KRW (2.98 USD) and 4,449 KRW (3.98 USD) respectively. This is because that socio-cultural characteristics of each group such as socio-economic status, personal experience, trust in institutions and worldview are differently associated with the WTP. Based on the results, the society needs to raise awareness of lay people to find a strong linkage between the current PM issue and green electricity. Also, it needs to improve trust in the government's pollution abatement policy to mobilize more assertive participation of the people from different socio-cultural background.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.283-295
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• 2011

Many actions against climate change have been taken to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions at home and abroad. As of 2007, the GHGs emitted from buildings accounted for about 23 % of Korea's total GHGs emission, which is the second largest GHG reduction potential following industry. In this study, we introduced Carbon Zero Building (CZB), which was constructed by the National Institute of Environmental Research to cut down GHGs from buildings in Korea, and evaluated the main applied technologies, the amount of energy load and reduced energy, and economic values for CZB to provide data that could be a basis in the future construction of this kind of carbon-neutral buildings. A total of 66 technologies were applied for this building in order to achieve carbon zero emissions. Applied technologies include 30 energy consumption reduction technologies, 18 energy efficiency technologies, and 5 eco-friendly technologies. Out of total annual energy load ($123.8kWh/m^2$), about 40% of energy load ($49kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using passive technologies such as super insulation and use of high efficiency equipments and the other 60% ($74.8kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using active technologies such as solar voltaic, solar thermal, and geothermal energy. The construction cost of CZB was 1.4 times higher than ordinary buildings. However, if active technologies are excluded, the construction cost is similar to that of ordinary buildings. It was estimated that we could save annually about 102 million won directly from energy saving and about 2.2 million won indirectly from additional saving by the reduction in GHGs and atmospheric pollutants. In terms of carbon, we could reduce 100 ton of $CO_2$ emissions per year. In our Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, the Break Even Point (BEP) for the additional construction cost was estimated to be around 20.6 years.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 2019

In order to manage non-point sources, the paradigm of the system should be changed so that the management of non-point sources will be systematized from the beginning of the use and development of the land. It is necessary to change the method of national subsidy support and poeration plan for the non-point source management area. In order to increase the effectiveness of the non-point source reduction project, it is necessary to provide a minimum support ratio and to provide additional support according to the performance of the local government. A new system should be established to evaluate the performance of non-point source reduction projects and to monitor the operational effectiveness. It is necessary to establish the related rules that can lead the local government to take responsible administration so that the local governments faithfully carry out the non-point source reduction project and achieve the planned achievement and become the sustainable maintenance. Alternative solutions are needed, such as problems with the use of $100{\mu}m$ filter in automatic sampling and analysis, timely acquisition of water sampling and analysis during rainfall, and effective management of non-point sources network operation management. As an alternative, it is necessary to consider improving the performance of sampling and analysis equipment, and operate the base station. In addition, countermeasures are needed if the amount of pollutant reduction according to the non-point source reduction facility promoted by the national subsidy is required to be used as the development load of the TMDLs. As an alternative, it is possible to consider supporting incentive type of part of the maintenance cost of the non-point source reduction facility depending on the amount of pollutants reduction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Urban Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.485-494
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• 2018

This study aims to identify the characteristics of oxidation and chemical composition of PM in winter season, 2017 at Incheon area. The mean concentration of air pollutants were $46{\pm}22{\mu}g/m^3-PM_{10}$, $29{\pm}18{\mu}g/m^3/-PM_{2.5}$, $5{\pm}3ppb-SO_2$, $0.56{\pm}0.24ppm-CO$, $21{\pm}13ppb-O_3$ and $28{\pm}17ppb-NO_2$, respectively. The dominant ion of the $PM_{1.0}$ chemical component were organic with $3.2{\mu}g/m^3$ and nitrate with $1.9{\mu}g/m^3$. The day and night variation of the $PM_{1.0}$ chemical components was higher in nighttime than those of daytime. The averaged nitrate oxidation rate (SOR) was 0.06 and sulfate oxidation rate was 0.11 during the field campaign. In the high mass loading period, nitrate oxidation rate (NOR) was up to 0.6 and also the nitrate in $PM_{1.0}$ was increased. The averaged ratio of $NO_x/SO_2$ was 8.7 and nitrate/sulfate was 3.1, respectively. In this results, the nitrate component in $PM_{1.0}$ was influenced by NOx from the stationary source as power plant and the mobile source around the measurement site.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Environmental Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.503-513
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• 2018

In order to continuous watershed management and improve water quality at Yeong-san river system, we analyzed and evaluated data on the monitoring of small stream in city and county boundaries within the watershed. In-period monitoring is estimated to be more frequent in the second quarter than the first quarter, so it should be considered when evaluating the target water quality by setting the target water quality. A small stream in the Yeong-san river system has higher concentration in the downstream area than the upstream area. As a result of calculating the load of the measuring point, Y.b B3(Pungyeongjeongcheon) and Y.b E1(Sampocheon) were high. The result of correlation analysis by monitoring point in order to evaluate the correlation between BOD and T-P items, BOD was highly correlated with COD and TOC, and was affected by emission of pollutants related to organic matter. T-P was highly correlated with SS and COD, and was affected by rainfall. This study will provide basic data and direction for designing efficient and scientific method for water quality management by analyzing accumulated water quality data by conducting long-term monitoring.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.719-730
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• 2021

The objective of this study is to develop the water quality and aquatic ecosystem model for Andong lake using SWAT-WET (Soil and Water Assessment Tool-Water Ecosystem Tool) and to evaluate the applicability of WET. To quantify the pollutants load flowing into Andong lake, a watershed model of SWAT was constructed for Andong Dam basin (1,584 km²). The calibration results for Dam inflow and water quality loads (SS, T-N, T-P) were analyzed that average R² was more than 0.76, 0.69, 0.84, and 0.60 respectively. The calibrated SWAT results of streamflow and nutrients concentration was used into WET input data. WET was calibrated and validated for water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and water quality concentration (T-N, T-P) of Andong lake. The WET calibrated results was analyzed that PBIAS was +19%, -13%, +4%, and +26.5% respectively and showed that it was simulated to a significant level compared with the observation data. The observed dry weight (gDW/m²) of zoobenthos was less than 0.5, but the average value of simulation was analyzed to be 0.8, which is because the WET model considers zoobenthos with a broader concept. Although accurate calibration is difficult due to the lack of observed data, SWAT-WET can analyze the effects of environmental change in the upstream watershed on the lake based on long-term simulation based on watershed model. Therefore, the results of this study can be used as basic data for managing the aquatic environment of Andong lake.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.297-308
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• 2019

Air pollution due to the fine dust level updating every day, and the problem of indoor air pollution due to ventilation difficulties and indoor discharge pollutants is also serious. In order to improve the indoor air quality, the air purification effect using the plants is prominent. In this study was started to investigated the living environment of modern people, the risk of indoor air pollution and the improvement function of plants, and to activate plant application. The purpose of this study is to analyze the main functions and design status of domestic and overseas plant - related applications, and to understand the actual use of modern plant applications and to help them learn more convenient plant - related knowledge. Therefore, this paper attempted to establish a basis for suggesting a new plant application by conducting a survey on the health effects of indoor air pollution and user awareness of plant - related applications. The results and contents of the study are as follows. First, as a theoretical review, indoor air pollution is more dangerous to modern people who have a high proportion of indoor living time and adversely affects their health. In order to solve such a problem, it has been shown that air conditioning and stress reduction can be effectively achieved by placing plants in the indoor space. Second, the analysis of the previous study shows the risk of indoor air pollution and its adverse effects on health. In addition, I have been able to find some researches related to the improvement of the indoor air by using the air purifying plants, and I can see the improvement of the user's behavior through the development or improvement of the application. Third, as a result of the survey on the status of domestic and overseas plant application, the main function of the application having high installation number was watering notification, provision of basic information of plants, and most of the functions were plant discerment through cameras. Fourth, most of the survey respondents have either raised or raised plants. Those who have little experience with plant applications have also shown positive feedback in the future on the use of plant-related applications. In addition, due to social problems such as air pollution, air purification using plants and functional plants showed high interest. Based on these results, we propose the need for a multi-functional plant application that can improve the indoor air pollution and facilitate the provision of information related to it.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.299-308
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• 2021

Fe(II) released from mining activities is precipitated as various Fe(III)-oxyhydroxides when exposed to an oxidizing environment including mine drainage. Ferrihydrite, one of the representative precipitated Fe(III) minerals, is easy to adsorb heavy metals and other pollutants due to the large specific surface area caused by very low crystallinity. Ferrihydrite is transformed to thermodynamically more stable goethite in the natural environment. Hence, information on the transformation of ferrihydrite to goethite and the related mobility of heavy metals in the acid mine drainage is important to predict the behaviors of those elements during ferrihydrite to goethite transition. The behaviors of heavy metals during the transformation of ferrihydrite to goethite were investigated for core samples collected from an AMD treatment system in the Heungjin-Taemaek coal mine by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), chemical analysis, and statistical analysis. XRD results showed that ferrihydrite gradually transformed to goethite from the top to the bottom of the core samples. Chemical analysis showed that the relative concentration of As was significantly high in the core samples compared with that in the drainage, indicating that As was likely to be adsorbed strongly on or coprecipitated with iron oxyhydroxide. Correlation analysis also indicated that As can be easily removed from mine drainage during iron mineral precipitation due to its high affinity to Fe. The concentration ratio of As, Cd, Co, Ni, and Zn to Fe generally decreased with depth in the core samples, suggesting that mineral transformation can increase those concentrations in the drainage. In contrast, the concentration ratio of Cr to Fe increased with depth, which can be explained by the chemical bond of iron oxide and chromate, and surface charge of ferrihydrite and goethite.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.21-25
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• 2011

In this study, anatase/brookite hybrid $TiO_2$ was prepared using different acid catalysts and microwave to improve photodegradation of organic pollutants. The methylene blue photodegradation properties of the prepared photocatalysts with different particle/crystal size and brookite fractions were investigated. Surface characteristics and particle sizes of anatase/brookite hybrid $TiO_2$ were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser diffraction particle size analyzer, respectively and crystal structures were investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD). Methylene blue photodegradation properties were evaluated with UV-vis spectrophotometer. Anatase and anatase/brookite hybrid $TiO_2$ had less than 500 nm size of clusters and the average particle size of $6.66{\sim}6.85{\mu}m$, suggesting that types of acid catalysts did not affect the size. XRD of the prepared $TiO_2$ showed that the photocatalysts had anatase/brookite hybrid crystal structure and applying microwave did not change their crystal structure. Photodegradation of methylene blue with the prepared photocatalyst did not increased proportionally to the fraction of brookite and the crystal size and decreased when brookite fraction and the crystal size increased further. Anatase/brookite hybrid $TiO_2$ with brookite fraction of 9.4% and crystal size of 4.53 nm shows the best photodegradation activity of methylene blue.