• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.136-140
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• 2008

$TiO_2$ photocatalyst has been known to exhibit a notable disinfecting activity against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. A lot of commercial $TiO_2$ photocatalyst products have been developed for antimicrobial purposes. However, a standard method has not yet been proposed for use in testing antimicrobial activity. In this study, we developed a $TiO_2$ photocatalytic adhesion test method with film as the standard testing method for the evaluation of antimicrobial activity. This method was devised by modifying the previous antimicrobial products test method, which has been widely used, and considering the characteristics of $TiO_2$ photocatalytic reaction. The apparatus for testing the antimicrobial activity was composed of a Black Light Blue (BLB) lamp as UV-A light source, a Petri dish as the cover material, and a polypropylene film as the adhesion film. The standard $TiO_2$ photocatalyst sample, Degussa P25 $TiO_2$ - coated glass, could only be used once. The optimal initial concentration of the microorganism, proper light intensity, and light irradiation time were determined to be $10^6$ CFU/mL, 1.0 mW/$cm^2$, and 3 hr, respectively, for testing and evaluating antimicrobial activity on the $TiO_2$ surface.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.5 s.92
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• pp.451-461
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• 2006

Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to study the conversion of sludge from conventional activated sludge to nitrogen-phosphorus removal sludge using two types of sequencing batch reactor (SBR) systems, a conventional SBR and sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR). The nitrogen and phosphorus removal characteristics were similar between SBR and SBBR and the removal efficiencies were very low when the influent TOC concentrations were low. The nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies in SBR were 96% and 77.5%, respectively, which were higher than those in SBBR (88% and 42.5%) at the high influent TOC concentration. In SBBR, the simultaneous nitrification-denitrification was occurred because of the biofilm process. The variations of pH, DO concentration and ORP were changed as the variation of influent TOC concentration both in SBR and SBBR and their periodical characteristics were cleary shown at the high influent TOC concentration. Especially, the pH, DO concentration and ORP inflections, were cleary occurred in SBR compared with SBBR.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.555-560
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• 2018

This study conducted to analyze the growth characteristics of old Prunus yedoensis on Jeju island. The diameter growth per year was measured using a DTRS-2000 instrument. The DBH, ground DBH and height of the investigated P. yedoensis were 137 cm, 143 cm, and 15.5 m, respectively. Our analysis showed that the age of the old P. yedoensis was 93 years. An annual diameter growth of $2.85mm{\pm}0.96$ was observed. The result of age estimation, about $265{\pm}64$ years in P. yedoensis on Jeju island. This information could be useful to understand the annual diameter growth characteristics the P. yedoensis distributed on Jeju island.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.563-571
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the environmental pollution caused by exposure to air pollution in Korea. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate environmental and health factors through big data. Methods: Among the environmental diseases, the data centered on "percentage per day in 2015 to 2018". Data of environmental diseases and concentrations of air pollution monitoring network were analyzed. Results: Lung cancer and bronchiolitis obliterans were correlated with 0.027 and 0.0158, respectively, in the contamination concentration of fine dust ($PM_{10}$). Ozone, COPD, allergic rhinitis, and bronchiolitis obliterans were correlated with 0.0022, 0.0028 and 0.0093, respectively. At the concentration of $SO_2$ and the diseases of asthma, atopic dermatitis, lung cancer and bronchiolitis obliterans were 0.0008, 0.0523, 0.0016 and 0.0126, respectively. Conclusions: We surveyed the trends of air pollution according to the characteristics of Seoul area in Korea and evaluated the perception of Korea and the world. As a result, respiratory lung disease is thought to be a major factor in exposure to environmental pollution.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.131-141
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• 2023

In this study, the relationship between organic carbon distribution characteristics and decomposition rate classified according to the particle size and biological degradation characteristics in water was investigated for the Nam river and Geumho river. The average concentrations of TOC in the Nam river and Geumho river were 2.7±1.2 mg/L and 5.0±1.2 mg/L, respectively, but the composition ratios for each type of organic carbon were similar. An average value of 80.9% of TOC was present as DOC and 72.8% of DOC consisted of Refractory-DOC (RDOC). In addition, the change in the RDOC composition ratio according to temporal and spatial distribution was the smallest. There was no difference in the decomposition rate of organic carbon except for TOC by the site (p≥0.108, one-way ANOVA), and the decomposition rates of Labile-POC (LPOC) and LDOC were similar at 0.139±0.102 and 0.137±0.149 day^-1, respectively (p=0.110, paired t-test). The coefficient of variation (CV) of the decomposition rate of DOC (average 8.1%), which had the smallest composition ratio of organic carbon, was 1.1, showing the largest temporal variation. The TOC, POC, and DOC decomposition rates showed a significant correlation with the ratio of the initial concentration to the concentration after 25 days of decomposition (OC₂₅/OC₀) (r²=0.89~0.94, p<0.001), and the decomposition rates of LPOC and LDOC were significantly correlated with the ratio of the initial concentration to the concentration after 5 days of decomposition (LOC₅/LOC₀) (r²=0.67~0.75). This suggests that it is possible to estimate the decomposition rate through the concentration of each type of organic carbon.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1291-1298
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• 2018

Marine ecosystems are frequently exposed to a variety of chronic and acute pollutants derived from anthropogenic production and consumption activities. Mussels are sessile (can provide location-specific information), medium-sized (have enough tissue matrix for chemical analysis) filter-feeders (show accumulation of pollutant chemicals from seawater). These biological and ecological characteristics make mussels virtually ideal for pollution monitoring. In this study, Korean mussels (Mytilus coruscus) were collected from nine different sites situated along the coasts of the western sea to the eastern sea of Korea in 2017. Total mercury concentration was highest (mean ${\pm}$ standard error, $92.7{\pm}3.5ng/g\;dry$) on Baengnyeongdo Island in the western sea, and the sites in the southern sea showed the lowest mean concentrations (42.3 - 44.5 ng/g dry). These results were discussed in terms of possible pollution sources.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.36-45
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• 2004

This study was conducted to formulate management guidelines for monumental old trees in Korea through analysis of growing environments. A total of 20 old trees designated as natural monuments in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi provinces were surveyed for biological characteristics, surrounding environments, root collar conditions, tree health, and soil characteristics. Relationships among root collar conditions, tree health, and soil characteristics were analyzed by correlation. The old solitary trees designated as natural monuments included Pinus bungeana(4 trees), Juniperus chinensis(3 trees), Ginkgo biloba(3 trees), Poncirus trifoliata(2 trees), Actinidia arguta, Wisteria floribunda, Thuja orientalis, Quercus variabilis, Sophora japonica, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, Zelkova serrata, and Pinus densiflora. The tree height ranged from 3.56 to 67m, and root collar diameter ranged from 1.01 to 15.2m. The monumental old trees were growing on the various sites ranging from gardens, historical sites, open agricultural fields, mountain hills, to near the ocean beaches and streams. The coverage of bald land ranged from 50 to 100%, and depth of filled soil around the root collar ranged from 0 to 50cm. Tree health was expressed as the amount of branch dieback, cavity development, detachment of cambial tissue, infliction by diseases and insects. The branch dieback ranged from 5 to 20%, cavity development ranged from 10 to 100$cm^3$, detachment of cambial tissue ranged from 5 to 45%, and infliction by diseases and insects ranged from 5 to 20%. Soil pH ranged from 5.9 to 8.3, organic matter contents from 12 to 56%, phosphorus contents from 104 to 618ppm, while soil compaction ranged from 7 to 28mm. Results of correlation analysis showed that coverage of bald land was the most serious factor to deteriorate the cavity development and detachment of cambial tissue. In addition, chemical properties of soils seemed to be related to the health of the trees.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.103-118
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• 2018

Ecosystems in subalpine regions are recognized as areas vulnerable to climatic changes because rainfall and the possibility of flora migration are very low due to the characteristics of topography in the regions. In this context, habitat niche was formulated for representative species of arbors in subalpine regions in order to understand the effects of climatic changes on alpine arbor ecosystems. The current potential habitats were modeled as future change areas according to the climatic change scenarios. Based on the growth conditions and environmental characteristics of the habitats, the study was conducted to identify direct and indirect causes affecting the habitat reduction of Abies nephrolepis. Diverse model algorithms for explanation of the relationship between the emergence of biological species and habitat environments were reviewed to construct the environmental data suitable for the six models(GLM, GAM, RF, MaxEnt, ANN, and SVM). Weights determined through TSS were applied to the six models for ensemble in an attempt to minimize the uncertainty of the models. Based on the current climate determined by averaging the climates over the past 30years(1981~2010) and the HadGEM-RA model was applied to fabricate bioclimatic variables for scenarios RCP 4.5 and 8.5 on the near and far future. The results of models of the alpine region tree species studied were put together and evaluated and the results indicated that a total of eight national parks such as Mt. Seorak, Odaesan, and Hallasan would be mainly affected by climatic changes. Changes in the Baekdudaegan reserves were analyzed and in the results, A. nephrolepis was predicted to be affected the most in the RCP8.5. The results of analysis as such are expected to be finally utilizable in the survey of biological species in the Korean peninsula, restoration and conservation strategies considering climatic changes as the analysis identified the degrees of impacts of climatic changes on subalpine region trees in Korean peninsula with very high conservation values.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2002

Bench scale experiments were carried out with two biological nutrient removal(BNR) units, A/O and $A^2O$ processes, to investigate the behavior of phosphorus in the system and to compare the characteristics of phosphorus removal in two BNR processes. To achieve this goal, COD/T-P and COD/TKN ratios of the influent was varied in the range of 23~64 and 5~24, respectively. In A/O process, influent COD/T-P ratio should be kept higher than 44mg/L to meet the final effluent T-P concentration lower than 1mg/L and in $A^2/O$ process, influent COD/T-P and COD/TKN ratios higher than 56 and 10, respectively, were required for good phosphorus release and uptake with no influence of nitrate nitrogen in return sludge. At this conditions, the rate of phosphorus release in the anaerobic basin should be kept higher than 0.1 kg S-P/kg MLVSS d In A/O process, the phosphorus content of anaerobic and aerobic sludges was increased as SRT of total system was becoming longer resulting in decreasing the difference of phosphorus content between two sludges while phosphorus release in anaerobic basin and phosphorus uptake in aerobic basin was not incident. In $A^2/O$ process, the phosphorus content of anaerobic and aerobic sludges were not increased with higher SRT of total system due to the relatively high nitrate concentration in return sludge. However, the difference of phosphorus content between anaerobic and aerobic sludges was incident when phosphorus release and uptake was observed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.103-114
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• 2012

The purpose of this research is classifying stream into different types depending on various factor from the perspective of stream corridor restoration and using it as basic data, which are used to consider efficient management and planning for the healthy stream according to the characteristic by types. In this study, 130 points of location of the Nakdong river basin which consist of various geographic factors have been chosen and hierarchical cluster analysis has been carried out in these points by using biological and physiochemical factors whose health can be considered to be predicted and evaluated. As a result of cluster analysis, there were three divided types. Type A whose biology and water quality are considered the best was the highest in forest area percentage so that it was classified into natural stream. Type B was classified into a rural region stream with a mixture of urban and agricultural region. Type C, with the most damaged water quality and biology health had the most urban region surface area and was named as urban region stream. Moreover, an overall restoration strategy according to characteristic by stream types was set. By the results of correlation analysis on factors, water quality showed a high correlation with biological properties and was affected by surrounding land usage. In evaluation of streams, it proves the need to consider not only other habitat's geographical and biological factors but also the water quality and land usage factors. There needs to be further research on stream ecosystem functionality factors and structural aspects by using a more objective and total evaluation result in selecting additional index and various other specific classification methods by stream types and its restoration strategies.