• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.477-491
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• 2014

This study was carried out to evaluate the concentration variations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the office environments located in a large urban area with respect to seasonality, smoking status, types of ventilation and heating. Indoor air sampling was undertaken in 37 and 30 offices in Daegu city during summer and winter, respectively. The VOC samples were collected using adsorbent tubes, and were determined by thermal desorption coupled with GC/MS analysis. The analytical method was validated for repeatability, method detection limits (MDL), and duplication precision. A total of 34 VOCs of environmental concern were determined, including 15 aromatics and 19 halogenated hydrocarbons. Average concentrations of BTEX appeared to 1.91 ppb, 22.98 ppb, 3.44 ppb, and 3.70 ppb, respectively. These values were relatively higher levels than those measured at homes and outdoor roadsides reported by other researches. In general, the concentrations of VOCs were higher in winter than summer, in smoking offices than non-smoking offices, in forced ventilation type than natural ventilation type, and in combustion heating than non-combustion heating offices. However, such differences were not always significant at a level of 0.05 by statistical tests (t-test and/or Mann-Whitney test) with some exceptions for BTEX and styrene. This study demonstrated that smoking status, ventilation type and presence of combustion sources indoors could be important factors on the elevated concentrations of some VOCs in the office environment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.39-51
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• 2008

This study focuses on the reconstruction of buffer greens which were installed to reduce environmental effects on roadsides constructed in the 1980s, in order to supplement various urban green functions. The subjects were buffer greens installed along the Songpadaero and Nambusunwhanro in Songpa-gu. Planting was suggesting to strengthen the buffer, landscape, shading and ecological function according to the use of the buffer green surroundings. The surroundings of the green axis subjects are high-rise apartment areas, neighboring commercial areas, commercial working areas, transportation facility areas, urban support facility areas, schools, parks, etc. However, the structure of the buffer greens were uniformed with Plantanus occidentalis and Ginkgo biloba and Zelkova serrata in the canopy layer and with Forsythia koreana and Ligustrum obtusifoliumin the shrub layer in lineal or alternate order, functioning only as buffer space. Therefore, the buffer greens need to be reconstructed， supplementing various functions according to land use, in order to improve the pedestrian walk area in terms of landscape and use of greens. In line with that, the planting improvement plans according to the land use patterns, and physical and ecological structure were classified into buffer and landscape, landscape and buffer, buffer and shading, and buffer and ecological function. In addition, improving planting function, species and facilities are suggested.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2021

The application of nature-based solutions, such as low impact development (LID) techniques and green infrastructures, for stormwater management continue to increase in urban areas. Plants are usually utilized in LID facilities to improve their pollutant removal efficiency through phytoremediation. Plants can also reduce maintenance costs and frequency by means of reducing the accumulation of pollutants inside the facility. Plants have long been used in different LID facilities; however, proper plant-selection should be considered since different species tend to exhibit varying pollutant uptake capabilities. This study was conducted to investigate the pollutant uptake capabilities of plants by comparing the dry matter and nutrient contents of different plant species in roadsides, LID facilities, and landscape areas. The dry matter content of the seven herbaceous plants, shrubs, and arboreal trees ranged from 60% to 90%. In terms of nutrient content, the total nitrogen (TN) concentration in the tissues of herbaceous plants continued to increase until the summer season, but gradually decreased in the succeeding periods. TN concentrations in shrubs and trees were observed to be high from early spring up to the late summer seasons. All plant samples collected from the LID facility exhibited high TP content, indicating that the vegetative components of LID systems are efficient in removing phosphorus. Overall, the nutrient content of different plant species was found to be highly influenced by the urban environment which affected the stormwater runoff quality. The results of this study can be beneficial for establishing plant selection criteria for LID facilities.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2021

Urban stormwater runoff contains heavy metals that accumulate in on-site treatment systems, thus resulting to facility deterioration and maintenance problems. In order to resolve these problems, low impact development (LID) technologies that promote natural materials circulation are widely used. LID facilities are capable of treating heavy metals in the runoff by means of plant uptake; however, the uptake or phytoremediation capabilities of plants have not been studied extensively, making it difficult to select the most suitable plant species for a certain LID design. This study investigated the vegetative components of an LID facility, roadside plants, and plants in landscape areas with different heavy metal exposure and frequency to determine the uptake capabilities of different plant species. The plants harvested inside the LID facilities and roadsides with high vehicular traffic exhibited greater heavy metal concentrations in their tissues as compared with the plants in landscape areas. Generally, the accumulation of heavy metals in the plant tissues were found to be influenced by the environmental characteristics (i.e. influent water quality, air pollution level, etc.). Dianthus, Metasequoia, Rhododendron lateritium, and Mugwort were found to be effective in removing Zn in the urban stormwater runoff. Additionally, Dianthus, Metasequoia, Mugwort, and Ginkgo Biloba exhibited excellent removal of Cu. Cherry Tree, Metasequoia, and mugwort efficiently removed Pb, whereas Dianthus was also found to be effective in treating As, Cr, and Cd in stormwater. Overall, different plant species showed varying heavy metal uptake capabilities. The results of this study can be used as an effective tool in selecting suitable plant species for removing heavy metals in the runoff from different land use types.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.57-66
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• 2011

This study researched those universities for which fence opening and greening projects are being conducted by Seoul city. The forms of opened fences at 24 universities which have accomplished this project were classified into several types for each type of university, representative cases with many diverse facilities and active users were selected and investigated. The study was carried out using methods of field observations, literature review, and surveys. To maintain the confidentiality of the collected questionnaire analysis, the analysis of each type's usage frequency, overall satisfaction and a regression analysis with space environment and facilities, a one-way ANOVA for was used to validate the difference between types regarding satisfaction with the project. The results of usage type analysis were found to agree with the 3 analysis criteria-- installation location, user characteristics, and usage purpose--which were the legislative concepts. In overall satisfaction with facilities, it appeared that except for Seoul Women's College of Nursing with its rural district neighborhood type park, users were satisfied: with the small urban neighborhood park of Methodist Theological College, Konkuk University's small urban square park, and Sejong University's green space small city park. In general, users appeared to not have satisfaction with such features as fountains / hydroponic facilities, fitness facilities, and square facilities, which should be taken into consideration when pursuing further opening and greening projects. Regarding full satisfaction with the space environment, it was found that users were not satisfied with Seoul Women's College of Nursing's rural district neighborhood-style park, whereas they were satisfied with Methodist Theological College's small urban neighborhood park, Konkuk University's small urban square-style park, and Sejong University's green space small city park. In addition, it was shown that facilities use, convenience and privacy of the four parks were largely unsatisfactory for users, and that the small city parks located at roadsides were unsatisfactory regarding noise level, both of which should be most highly considered when conducting similar projects in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.273-280
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• 2014

This study examined whether Dybowski's brown frogs(Rana dybowskii) in noisy highway roadsides had different mating calls from those in natural sites. We selected four study sites: two rice paddy sites in Youngdong Highway roadside and two nearby natural counterparts. Frog calls were recorded between 18:30 and 20:00 on February 24, February 27, and March 14, 2014. Frog calls in the natural sites had fundamental frequency approximately at 700 Hz with two to four apparent harmonics, while frog calls in the highway sites had higher fundamental frequency with up to seven apparent harmonics. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that a roadside site that are directly exposed to highway noise had statistically higher frog calling frequency than other study sites. However, the higher calling frequency was not found in another roadside site that differed in elevation from the highway and was buffered by forests. These results indicate that male frogs in a noisy highway roadside called females with a higher pitch and more apparent harmonics to avoid being masked by highway noise. These results also suggest that there is a threshold noise level that interrupts frog's mating behavior and it is needed to maintain highway roadside noise to this threshold level.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.483-489
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• 2020

Particulate matter is divided into PM10 (particle diameter of 10 ㎛ or less) and PM2.5 (particle diameter of 2.5 ㎛ or less), which are approximately 1/5 of the thickness of the hair. Due to its effect on the human body, lung disease, arteriosclerosis and heart It is known as a carcinogen that causes various diseases such as diseases. It is known that the main cause of such fine dust is nitrogen dioxide (NOx), which is emitted from automobiles in about 57.3% of urban roadsides. Therefore, in this study, as part of the development of functional construction materials to reduce NOx generated from road transport pollutants, comparative evaluation of NOx reduction performance was conducted according to the replacement rate of cement mortar in which cement was replaced with a porous material. In addition, the NOx reduction performance of cement mortar according to the photocatalyst application method and the number of applications was compared an d evaluated. As a result of the experiment, when activated ocher was substituted by 30%, it showed a reduction effect of about 32.7%, showing the best reduction performance.