• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: Mine drainage from metal mining districts is a well-recognized source of environmental contamination. Oxidation of metal sulfides in mines, mine dumps and tailing impoundments produces acidic, metal-rich waters that can contaminate the local surface water and soil. METHODS AND RESULTS: This experiment was carried out to investigate the pollution assessment of heavy metal on the water quality of mine drainage, paddy soils and sediment in lower watershed affected by mine drainage of the Sambo mine. The average concentrations of dissolved Cd (0.018~0.035 mg/L) in mine drainage discharged from the main waste rock dumps(WRD) was higher than the water quality standards (0.01 mg/L) for agricultural water in Korea. Also, the average concentrations of dissolved Zn, Fe and Mn were higher than those of recommended maximum concentrations (Zn 2.0, Fe 5.0, Mn 0.2 mg/L) of trace metal in irrigation water proposed by FAO (1994). The average contents of Pb and Zn in paddy soils was higher than those of standard level for soil contamination(Pb 200, Zn 300 mg/kg) in agricultural soil by Soil Environmental Conservation Act in Korea. Also, the concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn in sediment were higher than those of standard level for soil contamination (Cd 10, Pb 400, Zn 600 mg/L) in waterway soil by Soil Environmental Conservation Act in Korea. The enrichment factor (EFc) of heavy metals in stream sediments were in the order as Cd>Pb>Zn> As>Cu>Cr>Ni. Also, the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) of heavy metals in stream sediments were in the order as Zn>Cd>Pb>Cu>As>Cr>Ni, specially, the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) of Zn (Igeo 3.1~6.2) were relatively higher than that of other metals in sediment. CONCLUSION(s): The results indicate that stream water and sediment were affected by mine drainage discharged from the Sambo mine at least to a distance of 1 km downstream (SN-1, SN-2) of the mine water discharge point.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.328-336
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• 2008

Metal mining district drainage is a well recognized source of environmental contamination. Oxidation of metal sulfides produces acidic and metal-rich waters that contaminate local surface water and ground water in mines, mine dumps, and tailing impoundments. This monitoring study was carried out to investigate the stream water quality and pollution as affected by the Sambo mine drainage in relation to the relative distance from the mine. It obvious that pH values of the mine drainage ranged from 5.8 to 6.9, while the average concentrations of the dissolved chemical constituents for EC, $SO_4^{2-}$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $Mg^{2+}$ were $1.77\;dS\;m^{-1}$, 929, 14.6, 263.3, and 46.9 mg/L in mine drainage discharged from the main waste rock dumps (WRD), respectively. Furthermore, EC values and sulfate concentrations exceeded the critical toxicity levels in agricultural water for rice plant ($1.0\;dS\;m^{-1}$ for EC and 54.0 mg/L for $SO_4^{2-}$). Also, the average of dissolved cadmium concentrations ($0.016{\sim}0.021\;mg/L$) was higher than water quality standard (0.01 mg/L) for agricultural water in Korea, in addition to Zn, Fe and Mn were higher than trace metals maximum concentrations which recommended by FAO for irrigation water. The results indicate that mine drainage discharged from the Sambo mine affected stream water at least to distance of 1 km downstream of the mine water discharge point. EC values, $SO_4^{2-}$ and $Ca^{2+}$ concentrations in discharged water positively correlated with dissolved Cd, Zn, Al and Mn concentrations, while the pH values negatively correlated. In addition, EC values, $SO_4^{2-}$ and $Ca^{2+}$ concentrations were negatively correlated with pH values.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.851-859
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• 2014

The present study was designed to investigate whether ethanol extracts of Sophora flavescens (GS), Glycyrrhiza uralensis (GC), Dictamnus dasycarpus (BSP), and their mixtures (GGB-1, -2, -3, and -4) inhibit 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB)-induced atopic dermatitis (AD) in a mouse model. DNCB was topically applied on the dorsal surface of Balb/c mice to induce AD-like skin lesions. The pathological phenotypes of AD, such as erythema, ear thickness, edema, scabs, and discharge, were significantly decreased in the GGB (DNCB + GS:GC:BSP = 3:1:1 mixture)-1-treated groups compared with the other treated groups. The weight of the spleen in immune organs was significantly decreased in the GGB-1-treated groups, whereas the weight of the liver in a control group was similar to that of the groups treated with the samples. Furthermore, toluidine blue staining analysis, a method used to specifically identify mast cells, showed that master cell infiltration into the dermis of the GGB-1-treated group was significantly decreased. The immunoglobulin E concentration was lower in the GGB-1-treated group. In addition, the levels of inflammatory cytokines (interferon-${\gamma}$, interleukin-1, 4, 5, 6, and 13, $1{\beta}$, and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$) were also significantly reduced in the GGB-1-treated group. Taken together, these results suggest that a mixture of GS, GC, and BSP in a proportion of 3:1:1 (GGB-1) may contribute to the relief of AD symptoms and may be considered an excellent candidate for an AD therapeutic drug.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.85 no.4
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• pp.634-646
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• 1996

This study was carried out to reveal the forest land effect on water purification in mountainous watersheds. Rainfall, throughfall, stemflow, soil and stream water were monitored by pH, electrical conductivity(EC), and dissolved oxygen(DO) in Daehan-Ri and Parkdal-Ri catchments. The results were summarized as follows; 1. Rainfall pH values of Parkdal-Ri and Daehan-Ri were 7.6 and 6.4, respectively. 2. Comparing stemflow and throughfall of Pinus densiflora with Pinus rigida, the pH values of Pinus densiflora were 4.32 and 4.22 and the pH of Pinus rigida were 3.34 and 4.81, respectively. The EC values of Pinus densiflora were $119.7{\mu}S/cm$ and $96.8{\mu}S/cm$ and EC of Pinus rigida were $230.0{\mu}S/cm$ and $82.0{\mu}S/cm$. 3. All pH values were decreased as the streamflow increased except long-term runoff in Daehan-Ri. The EC values also were increased as the streamflow increased, but EC of short-term runoff in Daehan-Ri was gradually decreased as the streamflow increased due to entrance of throughfall which has high EC values at the beginning of rainfall events. The DO concentrations of all experimental plots were elevated as the streamflow increased, because reaeration occurs at the surface of the stream as the increased discharge make turbulence. 4. pH of Stemflow and throughfall in Pinus densiflora were lower than in Quercus acutissima, but EC values were higher in Pinus densiflora. 5. Water purification was mostly influenced by forest soil in forest hydrological processes. 6. Stemflow and throughfall were more influenced by dry deposition and organic acid in crown and bark than those of wet deposition. During the stemflow and throughfall passed forest soil, these acidic stemflow and throughfall were neutralized, and stream water quality was neutral or slightly alkaline.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.7227-7236
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• 2015

The survey revealed that, due to the discharge characteristics of seafood wastewater, irregular inflow loads were caused, making it difficult to treat the wastewater safely. It is crucial for the operation of pressure and floating tanks for the treatment of high-concentration organic wastewater such as seafood wastewater. The survey of operation factors for the pressure and floating tanks revealed this: A/S ratio 0.05 (design criteria 0.01), the pressurized air pressure 8bar(design criteria 6bar), the pressure tank pressure 6bar (design criteria 4.5bar), and HRT 60sec(design criteria: 10sec). Also, the recirculation rate was changed to over 40%(design criteria: 30%), and the surface load rate was changed to under $13.7m^3/m^2{\cdot}hr$(design criteria: under $17.7m^3/m^2{\cdot}hr$); thus, compared to the initial design criteria, the operation factors were changed according to inflow characteristics, thus enhancing the pressure and floating tank performance. The survey of inflow load revealed BOD 140.7%, $COD_{Mn}$ 120.32%, and SS 106.3%, compared to the inflow design criteria, as well as T-N 135.5% and T-P173.3%, higher than the design criteria. The survey of the treatment facility annual operation cost revealed high portions in sludge treatment cost(27.7%) and chemicals costs(26.0%), and the sludge treatment cost will likely further increase due to the ban on ocean dumping. The unit cost for the treatment of seafood wastewater was found to be KRW 3,858 per ton, more than 27 times higher than the sewage treatment cost(KRW 142.6/ton), presumably because the seafood wastewater contains high-concentration organic substances and nutritive salts.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.3279-3285
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• 2014

This study aimed to understand seasonal and geographical characteristic of chlorophyll-${\alpha}$ (chl-${\alpha}$), COD (chemical oxygen demand) and Escherichia coli at Gwangyang Bay during the period from February 2010 to November 2012. The bay is divided into three different zones based on the pollutant levels and geographical characteristics. During the study periods, water temperature, salinity, Chl. ${\alpha}$, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) varied in the range of $4.68-28.63^{\circ}C$, 1.94-33.84 psu, 0.31-35.10 ${\mu}gL^{-1}$, and 0.70-13.35 $mgL^{-1}$, respectively. Total chl-a concentration were high at the zone I, which can be characterized as a semi-enclosed eutrophic area, and it were low at the zone III, which is influenced by low nutrients of surface warm water current from offshore of the bay. The high concentration of COD was observed at inner bay during the four seasons and the water quality level was kept to be bad condition during spring season at the zone II, which is influenced by Seomjin River water. The highest colony form of E. coli was recorded to be 3550 $cfuL^{-1}$ during summer at station 1 (zone I), whereas it was relatively kept low level during all seasons at the zone III. As a result, the E. coli was correlated with water temperature (r=0.31 p<0.05) and salinity (r=-0.55 p<0.05), implying that those parameters have play an important crucial role in proliferation of E. coli. Consequently, our results indicated that the E. coli can be significantly promoted within pollutant sources including the high nutrients supplied by rive discharge during spring and summer rainy seasons in semi-enclosed area of Gwangyang Bay.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_2
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• pp.1691-1707
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• 2022

Cheonji Lake, the caldera of Baekdu Mountain, located on the border of the Korean Peninsula and China, alternates between melting and freezing seasonally. There is a magma chamber beneath Cheonji, and variations in the magma chamber cause volcanic antecedents such as changes in the temperature and water pressure of hot spring water. Consequently, there is an abnormal region in Cheonji where ice melts quicker than in other areas, freezes late even during the freezing period, and has a high-temperature water surface. The abnormal area is a discharge region for hot spring water, and its ice gradient may be used to monitor volcanic activity. However, due to geographical, political and spatial issues, periodic observation of abnormal regions of Cheonji is limited. In this study, the degree of ice change in the optimal region was quantified using a Landsat -5/-7/-8 optical satellite image and a Modified U-Net regression model. From January 22, 1985 to December 8, 2020, the Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) band of 83 Landsat images including anomalous regions was utilized. Using the relative spectral reflectance of water and ice in the VNIR band, unique data were generated for quantitative ice variability monitoring. To preserve as much information as possible from the visible and near-infrared bands, ice gradient was noticed by applying it to U-Net with two encoders, achieving good prediction accuracy with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 140 and a correlation value of 0.9968. Since the ice change value can be seen with high precision from Landsat images using Modified U-Net in the future may be utilized as one of the methods to monitor Baekdu Mountain's volcanic activity, and a more specific volcano monitoring system can be built.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

The cathode, which is one of the four major components of a lithium secondary battery, is an important component responsible for the energy density of the battery. The mixing process of active material, conductive material, and polymer binder is very essential in the commonly used wet manufacturing process of the cathode. However, in the case of mixing conditions of the cathode, since there is no systematic method, in most cases, differences in performance occur depending on the manufacturer. Therefore, LiMn₂O₄ (LMO) cathodes were prepared using a commonly used THINKY mixer and homogenizer to optimize the mixing method in the cathode slurry preparation step, and their characteristics were compared. Each mixing condition was performed at 2000 RPM and 7 min, and to determine only the difference in the mixing method during the manufacture of the cathode other experiment conditions (mixing time, material input order, etc.) were kept constant. Among the manufactured THINKY mixer LMO (TLMO) and homogenizer LMO (HLMO), HLMO has more uniform particle dispersion than TLMO, and thus shows higher adhesive strength. Also, the result of the electrochemical evaluation reveals that HLMO cathode showed improved performance with a more stable life cycle compared to TLMO. The initial discharge capacity retention rate of HLMO at 69 cycles was 88%, which is about 4.4 times higher than that of TLMO, and in the case of rate capability, HLMO exhibited a better capacity retention even at high C-rates of 10, 15, and 20 C and the capacity recovery at 1 C was higher than that of TLMO. It's postulated that the use of a homogenizer improves the characteristics of the slurry containing the active material, the conductive material, and the polymer binder creating an electrically conductive network formed by uniformly dispersing the conductive material suppressing its strong electrostatic properties thus avoiding aggregation. As a result, surface contact between the active material and the conductive material increases, electrons move more smoothly, changes in lattice volume during charging and discharging are more reversible and contact resistance between the active material and the conductive material is suppressed.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.62-69
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• 2017

In order to assess the potential environmental factors in the vicinity of a fish cage farm, we investigated the biotic and abiotic factors during a short-term period in summer 2016 in two inner stations of Tongyeong Obi. High water temperature on August 10^th was apparent among the full depth of up to 29℃, which might have been related to the abnormally high temperatures of large amounts of the Changjiang River discharge along the Tongyeong coast. The concentration of nitrate+nitrite, ammonium, phosphate, and silicate ranged from 0.08 to 5.11 μM, 0.08 to 34.62 μM, 0.01 to 1.15 μM, and 1.46 to 31.79 μM, respectively. The nutrients were mainly supplied by precipitation and leaching from the bottom sediments in the fish culture farm area. It was not retained for a long duration because of the phytoplankton consumption and diffusion by water currents. The chlorophyll a concentration varied from 0.49 ㎍ l^-1 to 7.39 ㎍ l^-1. At that time, Chaetoceros debilis, C. pseudocurvisetus, and Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima were rapidly proliferated and reached the level of 4.74 × 10⁹ cells l^-1. In particular, the lowest dissolved oxygen was recorded at 4.52 ㎍ l^-1 at the bottom layer after bloom. Therefore, even though phytoplankton blooms in summer have frequently occurred in a fish culture farm area, the oxygen-deficient environments were not found in neither the surface nor bottom layers, which implied that the water masses might be well exchanged from the mouth of the northwest and southeast between Obi and Mireuk Island in the study area.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.13-35
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• 2023

Ocean currents play the most important role in causing and controlling global climate change. The water depth of the Yellow Sea is very shallow compared to the East Sea, and the circulation and currents of seawater are quite complicated owing to the influence of various wind fields, ocean currents, and river discharge with low-salinity seawater. The Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) is one of the most representative currents of the Yellow Sea in winter and is closely related to the weather of the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula, so it needs to be treated as important in secondary-school textbooks. Based on the 2015 revised national educational curriculum, secondary-school science and earth science textbooks were analyzed for content related to the YSWC. In addition, a questionnaire survey of secondary-school science teachers was conducted to investigate their perceptions of the temporal variability of ocean currents. Most teachers appeared to have the incorrect knowledge that the YSWC moves north all year round to the west coast of the Korean Peninsula and is strong in the summer like a general warm current. The YSWC does not have strong seasonal variability in current strength, unlike the North Korean Cold Current (NKCC), but does not exist all year round and appears only in winter. These errors in teachers' subject knowledge had a background similar to why they had a misconception that the NKCC was strong in winter. Therefore, errors in textbook contents on the YSWC were analyzed and presented. In addition, to develop students' and teachers' data literacy, class materials on the YSWC that can be used in inquiry activities were developed. A graphical user interface (GUI) program that can visualize the sea surface temperature of the Yellow Sea was introduced, and a program displaying the spatial distribution of water temperature and salinity was developed using World Ocean Atlas (WOA) 2018 oceanic in-situ measurements of water temperature and salinity data and ocean numerical model reanalysis field data. This data visualization materials using oceanic data is expected to improve teachers' misunderstandings and serve as an opportunity to cultivate both students and teachers' ocean and data literacy.