• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.383-400
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• 2023

Air pollution-related diseases are escalating worldwide, with the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating approximately 7 million annual deaths in 2022. The rapid expansion of industrial facilities, increased emissions from various sources, and uncontrolled release of odorous substances have brought air pollution to the forefront of societal concerns. In South Korea, odor is categorized as an independent environmental pollutant, alongside air and water pollution, directly impacting the health of local residents by causing discomfort and aversion. However, the current odor management system in Korea remains inadequate, necessitating improvements. This study aims to enhance the odor management system by analyzing 1,010,749 data points collected from odor sensors located in Osong, Chungcheongbuk-do, using an Ensemble-Based Multi-Region Integrated Odor Concentration Prediction Model. The research results demonstrate that the model based on the XGBoost algorithm exhibited superior performance, with an RMSE of 0.0096, significantly outperforming the single-region model (0.0146) with a 51.9% reduction in mean error size. This underscores the potential for increasing data volume, improving accuracy, and enabling odor prediction in diverse regions using a unified model through the standardization of odor concentration data collected from various regions.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2024

The present study was aimed to evaluate the removal of the trace pollutants (heavy metals and microplastics) in the sewage treatment plant by using the jellyfish Extract at Immunity reaction (JEI) of Aurelia coerulea. The experiment was conducted on two different scales: the lab scale using a Jar-tester and the Pilot system scale equipped with two newly developed devices in the laboratory, the active tube connection mixed system and the concentration integrated separation device. Compared to anionic polymers currently used in the field, JEI showed similar or higher efficiency to remove the trace pollutants. When JEI was added to the effluent through the Pilot system, the combination of JEI and the trace pollutants was maximized through two mixing processes, and as a result, the removal rate of the trace pollutants was greatly improved. Based on these results, we propose the present technology as an alternative to removing trace pollutants that can reduce ecosystem risk and minimize the generation of inorganic waste, away from the existing method.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.271-280
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• 2024

This study examines the European Union (EU)'s policies on managing nitrate contamination in groundwater and provides implications for the future groundwater management in South Korea. Initiated by the 1991 Nitrate Directive, the EU has pursued a multifaceted approach to reduce agricultural nitrate pollution through sustainable ('good') farming practices, regular nitrate level monitoring, and designating Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. Further policy integrations, like the Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive, have established comprehensive protection strategies, including the use of pollutant threshold values. Recently, the 2019 Green Deal escalated efforts against nitrates, aligning with broader environmental and climate objectives. This review aims to explore these developments, highlighting key mitigation strategies against nitrate pollution, and providing valuable insights for the future sustainable groundwater nitrate management in South Korea, emphasizing the importance of preventive measures and collaborative efforts to restore and improve groundwater quality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.33-50
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• 2023

This study is to propose the ecosystem service valuation method as a complementary or alternative tool to overcome the limitations of the contingent valuation method(CVM), typically used to assess social benefits in preliminary feasibility studies. With an increasing interest in natural and environmental restoration projects, we assessed social benefits with theses CVM and ecosystem service valuation method from a case of Janghang wetland restoration project and compared the extent of the two social benefits. For quantitative evaluation of ecosystem services, the biophysical quantity for each ecosystem service indicator was calculated and then converted into currency (KRW) units to estimate the economic value of ecosystem services. The four ecosystem regulating service indicators were selected including greenhouse gas capture/storage, air pollution, water quantity and quality regulation. The amounts of CO₂ sequestration and storage as a ecosystem's greenhouse gas regulating service in the study area were 73.04 tCO₂/yr and 5,867.53 tCO₂/yr respectively. The reduction of SO₂, one of air pollutant gases by ecosystems was calculated to be 180.27 kg/yr, the reduction of NO₂ to be 378.90 kg/yr, and the reduction of fine dust (PM10) to be 9,713.92 kg/yr. The amount of freshwater regulating service by the ecosystem was estimated to be 459,394,319ℓ/yr, and the amount of nitrogen in freshwater removed by the ecosystem was 78.00kg/yr. Study results show that the benefits derived from the CVM were KRW 227.8 billion over the 30-year analysis period and those from the ecosystem service valuation method were KRW 41.4 billion for regulatory services and KRW 148.8 billion for cultural services, totaling KRW 189.5 billion. With KRW 184.8 billion of the total costs, the benefit/cost ratio using the CVM was 1.23 and that with the ecosystem service valuation method was 1.03. This study implications include that the CVM and ecosystem service valuation method can be applied together to assess and compare social benefits for natural and environmental restoration projects.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.261-269
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• 2001

The purpose of present study was to introduce a multimetric approach, so called the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) as a tool for evaluations of water environments. We used 11 metric systems for the IBI to evaluate stream conditions, based on the fish community, and modified 5 original metric attributes suggested by Karr (1981). Overall IBI values in Kap Stream averaged 36 (n = 5) and ranged 17${\sim}$49, indicating a 'fair condition' according to the modified criteria of Karr (1981) and U.S. EPA (1993). However, there were distinct differences in the IBI values among 5 study sites. The IBI values at sites 1, 2, and 3 were 49, 45, and 41, which indicated 'good${\sim}$excellent', 'good', and 'fair' condition, respectively, while values at sites 4 and 5 were 17 and 29, which indicated 'very poor' and 'poor', respectively. The minimum IBI at site 4 was probably due to continuous inputs of wastewater from wastewater disposal plants. The condition at site 4 resulted in predominance of tolerant species (50%), omnivore species (50%), and high abnormalies (43%). In the mean time, the IBI value at site 5, located near 5km downstream from the site 4, increased compared to that of site 4, and this seemed to be a result of recovery of water quality as the polluted water goes downward. We believe that present bioassessment methodology of IBI applied in this study may be used as a key tool to set up specific goals for stream restoration plans and dentify recovery levels of lotic ecosystems after restoration activities(i.e., prevention of point-source pollutant input, restoration of physical habitats, construction of riparian vegetation) as well as a biological measure diagnosing current stream conditions.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.628-634
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• 2008

In recent years, cross-contamination has become one of the noticeable issues in dental clinic. Two major routes of contamination are the direct-contamination through blood and oral secretion and the indirect-contamination through dental office equipments. Especially, air-contamination through air-floating pollutant in a confined space like hospital, and also contamination through aerosol ejected from high-speed handpiece in a dental office was interested. The purpose of this study was to understand risk of bacterial infection through aerosol from handpiece in a dental office, which will help the practitioner with prevention of contamination during dental treatment. The main findings are as follows. 1. In a comparative test, the group using handpiece has higher bacterial number than the group not using handpiece with significant statistical difference(P<0.01). 2. The group using handpiece with rubber dam has lower bacterial number than the group using handpiecewithout rubber dam with significant statistical difference(P<0.01). 3. Comparing the group using drainage water with the group using distilled water as a handpiece water source results in 22.4 cfu and 17.0 cfu respectively but the difference is no statistically significant(P>0.05). 4. Measuring cfu at 0.5m and 1.5m distance, 0.5m distance showed higher bacterial number with statistical significance(P<0.01). 5. Classification of bacterial types showed the largest bacterial number came from gram-positive micrococcus(73.9%), and gram-negative micrococcus, gram-negative bacillus, and gram-positive bacillus follow in descending order.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.212-216
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: Green manure and graminaceousmanure crops have several benefits, such as improving soil physical and chemical properties and utilizing excessive greenhouse nutrients that they have a potential to be a water pollutant source. METHODS AND RESULTS: The objective of this study was to investigate nitrogen (N) supplying capabilities of green manure and graminaceous manure crops for lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L.) grown under greenhouse conditions. For this two leguminous manures (Crotalaria juncea (Cr.) and Sesbaniaexaltata (Se.)) and two graminaceous manures (Sorghum bicolor; Haussolgo(Ha.) and Sudangrass (Sg.)) in the greenhouse were grown, cut, and incorporated into the greenhouse soil before planting. Chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizer rate was estimated based on N recommendation for lettuce and Chinese cabbage. 100% of the N recommended rates (1N) were 70 kg N $ha^{-1}$ for lettuce and 60 kg N $ha^{-1}$ for Chinese cabbage and 50% of the N recommendation rates (0.5N) were 35 kg N $ha^{-1}$ for lettuce and 30 kg N $ha^{-1}$ for Chinese cabbage. Nitrogen treatments were control (0N), Cr., Se., Cr + 0.5 N, Se + 0.5 N, Ha + 0.5 N, Sg + 0.5 N, and N recommendation rate (1N). Incorporated N from green manure and graminaceous manure crops were 130, 116, 93, and 87 kg N $ha^{-1}$ for Cr., Se., Ha., and Sg., respectively. Lettuce and Chinese cabbage were grown after incorporated green manure crops into the greenhouse soil. There was no significant difference in lettuce and Chinese cabbage yields under N treatments except control (0 kg/ha). Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE)was from 44% to 73% and the highest NUE was under Se. treatment. Although yields were not statistically different under N treatments except control, actual yield increase ranged from 170 to 1,100 kg/ha for lettuce and ranged from 2,770 to 5,210 kg/ha for Chinese cabbage compared to yield under N recommendation rate. Estimated economic benefit from this would be higher approximately between \2,770,000 and \5,210,000/ha under N treatments except control than the N recommendation rate. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that incorporating green manure crops, such as Cr. and SeSe. into soil or adding 0.5 N after incorporation of them can be beneficial in many ways in that it increases economic return because of yield increase, reduces the use of chemical N, and decreases the negative environmental impact on water quality because excessive N in the greenhouse soil can be used by green manure crops during the fallow.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.157-181
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• 2020

Sediments from rivers, lakes and marine ports serve as end points for pollutants discharged into the water, and at the same time serve as sources of pollutants that are continuously released into the water. Until now, the contaminated sediments have been landfilled or dumped at sea. Landfilling, however, was expensive and dumping at sea was completely banned due to the London Convention. Therefore, this study applied contaminated sedimentation soil of 'Royal Palace Livestock Complex' as soil purification method. Soil remediation methods were applied to pretreatment, composting, soil washing, electrokinetics, and thermal desorption by selecting overseas application cases and domestically applicable application technologies. As a result of surveying the site for pollutant characteristics, Disolved Oxigen (DO), Suspended Solid (SS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Total Phosphorus (TP) exceeded the discharged water quality standard, and especially SS, COD, TN, and TP exceeded the standard several tens to several hundred times. Soil showed high concentrations of copper and zinc, which promote the growth of pig feed, and cadmium exceeded 1 standard of Soil Environment Conservation Act. In the pretreatment technology, hydrocyclone was used for particle size separation, and the fine soil was separated by more than 80%. Composting was performed on organic and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) contaminated soils. TPH was treated within the standard of concern, and E. coli was analyzed to be high in organic matter, and the fertilizer specification was satisfied by applying the optimum composting conditions at 70℃, but the organic matter content was lower than the fertilizer specification. As a result of continuous washing test, Cd has 5 levels of residual material in fine soil. Cu and Zn were mostly composed of ion exchange properties (stage 1), carbonates (stage 2), and iron / manganese oxides (stage 3), which facilitate easy separation of contamination. As a result of applying acid dissolution and multi-stage washing step by step, hydrochloric acid, 1.0M, 1: 3, 200rpm, 60min was analyzed as the optimal washing factor. Most of the contaminated sediments were found to satisfy the Soil Environmental Conservation Act's standards. Therefore, as a result of the applicability test of this study, soil with high heavy metal contamination was used as aggregate by applying soil cleaning after pre-treatment. It was possible to verify that it was efficient to use organic and oil-contaminated soil as compost Maturity after exterminating contaminants and E. coli by applying composting.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2005

This study investigated air pollutant levels and physiological variation of Ginkgo biloba in Chuncheon. The results were as follows: The annual average concentrations of $SO_2,\;NO_2\;and\;PM10$ were 0.004ppm, 0.013 ppm and $66{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The volume weighted average concentrations of ionic components were $SO_4\;^{2-}\;3.584 mg/m^3,\;NO_3^-\; 2.803 mg/m^3,\;Cl^-\;1.485 mg/m^3\;and\;NH_4\;^+\;0.998 mgg/m^3$ in precipitation. The annual wet deposition amount of the major ions was shown to be $SO_4^{2-}\;3.865g/m^2/yr,\;NO_3^-\;2.924g/m^2/yr,\;Cl^-\;2.773g/m^2/yr\;and\; NH_4\;^+\;1.485 g/m^2/yr$ during this study period. The seasonal averaged pH in leaves were spring pH 5.9 0.5, summer pH 5.5 0.4 and fall pH 5.1 0.3. The seasonal average water soluble sulfur content in leaves were spring 0.012 0.004%, summer $0.012\;0.002\%\;and\;fall\;0.020\;0.007\%$. The seasonal average water soluble sulfur content in bark were spring $0.0071\;0.0003\%,\;summer\; 0.0066\;0.0004\%,\;fall\;0.0063\;0.0004\%\;and\;winter\;0.0071\;0.0003\%$.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.274-281
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• 2015

BACKGROUND: A lasting release of low levels of persistence chemicals including pesticides and pharmaceuticals into river has a bad influence on aquatic ecosystems and humans. The present study monitored pesticide residues in the Yeongsan and Seomjin river basins and their tributaries as a fundamental study for water quality standard of pesticides.METHODS AND RESULTS: Nine pesticides(aldicarb, carbaryl, carbofuran, chlorpyrifos, 2,4-D, MCPA, methomyl, metolachlor, and molinate) were determined from water samples using SPE-Oasis HLB(pH 2) and LC/MS/MS. Validation of the method was conducted through matrix-matched internal calibration curve, method detection limit(MDL), limit of quantification(LOQ), accuracy, precision, and recovery. MDLs of all pesticides satisfied the GV/10 values. Linearity(r²) was 0.9965- 0.9999, and a percentage of accuracy, precision, and recovery was 89.4-113.6%, 3.1-14.0%, and 90.8-106.2%, respectively. All pesticides exclusive of aldicarb were determined in the river samples, and there was a connection between the positive monitoring results and agricultural use of the pesticides.CONCLUSION: Monitoring outcomes of the present study implied that pesticides were a possible non-point pollutant source in the Yeongsan and Seomjin river basins and tributaries. Therefore, it is required to produce and accumulate more monitoring results on pesticides in river waters to set water quality standards, finally to preserve aquatic ecosystems.