• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.151-159
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: In this review paper, the effects of surface cover (SCV), vegetative filter strip (VFS), and vegetated ridge (VRD) on the pollutant runoff from steep-sloping uplands were analyzed to compare the pollutant reduction efficiency in runoff ($PRE_{runoff}$) of the practices and to investigate how slope and rainfall parameters affect the $PRE_{runoff}$. METHODS AND RESULTS: The $PRE_{runoff}$ of SCV, VFS, and VRD for pollutants including suspended solids and biological oxygen demand was compared by analysis of variance. The effect of slope and rainfall parameters on the $PRE_{runoff}$ was explored by either mean comparison or regression analysis. It was found that the $PRE_{runoff}$ differs with the practices due to different pollutant reduction mechanisms of the practices. Though the $PRE_{runoff}$ was likely to be affected by site condition such as slope and rainfall (amount and intensity), more comprehensive understanding was not possible due to the limited data set. CONCLUSION: The $PRE_{runoff}$ of SCV, VFS, and VRD differed due to the distinctive mechanisms of pollutant removal of the practices. It is necessary to accumulate experimental data across a variety of gradient of slope and rainfall for comprehensive understanding of the effects of the practices on pollutant runoff from steep-sloping uplands.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.228-237
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• 2013

Paper relics are affected by a number of complex physical, chemical, biological and artificial damaging factors due to the vulnerability of organic materials. Wet cleaning is a conservation treatment method for removing pollutants from paper artefacts. This study was carried out in order to analyse the effect of wet cleaning on Hanji (Traditional Korean paper made from mulberry trees) which is the main material used in Korean paper relics (historical paper documents). For this study, the color change and folding endurance of artificially degraded paper was analysed before and after immersion wet cleaning. The result showed that washing each twice in 30 minutes is the most appropriate method for obtaining cleaning efficiency and material stability.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2021

In modern society, indoor activities time is increasing due to industrial development. Interest in indoor air quality is increasing as indoor activity time increases. The main causes of indoor air pollution are formaldehyde which a chemical cause, and fungi which a biological cause. Phytoncide effectively reduces Formaldehyde and Fungi. Charcoal which possess porous-structure has a good absorbance of pollutants. In this study, the authors manufactured functional cement matrix using by phytoncide and charcoal to remove formaldehyde and fungi. In this study, Functional cement matrix reduced formaldehyde and Fungi and effectively improve indoor air quality.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.295-304
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• 2023

Background: Adolescents are relatively more sensitive than adults to exposure to indoor pollutants. The indoor air quality in classrooms where students spend time together must therefore be managed at a safe level because it can affect the health of students. Objectives: In this study, three types of green-wall models were applied to classrooms where students spend a long time in a limited space, and the resulting effects on reducing PM were evaluated. Methods: In the middle school classrooms which were selected as the experimental subjects, IoT-based indoor air quality monitoring equipment was installed for real-time monitoring. Three types of plant models (passive, active, and active+light) were installed in each classroom to evaluate the effects on improving indoor air quality. Results: The concentration of PM in the classroom is influenced by outdoor air quality, but repeated increases and decreases in concentration were observed due to the influence of students' activities. There was a PM reduction effect by applying the green-wall model. There was a difference in PM reduction efficiency depending on the type of green-wall model, and the reduction efficiency of the active model was higher than the passive model. Conclusions: The active green-wall model can be used as an efficient method of improving indoor air quality. Additionally, more research is needed to increase the efficiency of improving indoor air quality by setting conditions that can stimulate the growth of each type of plant.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.131-139
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• 2024

This study investigated the chemical properties of Organic Soil Amendments (OSAs) made from organic waste. It also assessed the effectiveness of using these OSAs in the soil layer of Green Infrastructure (GI) to reduce stormwater runoff and non-point source pollutants. The goal was to improve the national environmental value through resource recycling and contribute to the circular economy transformation and carbon neutrality of urban GI. The OSAs used in this study consisted of spent coffee grounds and food waste compost. They were found to be nutrient-rich and stable as artificial soils, indicating their potential use in the soil layer of GI facilities. Applying OSAs to bio-retention cells and permeable pavement resulted in a reduction of approximately 11-17% in stormwater runoff and a decrease of about 16-18% in Total Phosphorus (TP) discharge in the target area. Increasing the proportion of food waste compost in the OSAs had a positive impact on reducing stormwater runoff and pollutant emissions. This study highlights the importance of utilizing recycled resources and can serve as a foundation for future research, such as establishing parameters for assessing the effectiveness of GI facilities through experiments. To enable more accurate analysis, it is recommended to conduct studies that consider both the chemical and biological aspects of substance transfer in OSAs.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.228-236
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• 2015

Urbanization causes many environmental, hydrological and ecological problems such as distortion of the natural water circulation system, increase in nonpoint source pollutants in stormwater runoff, degradation of surface water quality, and damage to the ecosystem. Due to the increase in impervious surface by urbanization, developed countries apply low impact development (LID) techniques as important alternatives to reduce the impacts of urbanization. In Korea, LID techniques were employed since 2012 in order to manage nonpoint source pollutants. LID technology is a technique for removing pollutants using a variety of physical, chemical and biological mechanisms in plants, microorganisms and filter media with the reduced effluence of stormwater runoff by mimicking natural water circulation system. These LID facilities are used in a variety of filter media, but an assessment has not been carried out for the comprehensive comparison evaluation of adsorption and desorption characteristics for the pollutant removal capacity. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the adsorption and desorption characteristics of various filter media used in the LID facilities such as sand, gravel, bioceramic, wood chips and bottom ash etc. in reducing heavy metals(Pb, Cu). In this study, the adsorption affinity for Pb in all filter media was higher than Cu. Pseudo second order equation and Langmuir-3 isotherm are more applicable in the adsorption kinetic model and adsorption isotherm model, respectively. As a result of the desorption experiment, the filter media does not exceed KSLT which is the hazardous substance leaching limit, showing the capability of the filter media in LID. The bioceramic and woodchip as filter medias were evaluated and exhibited excellent adsorption capacity for Pb.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.131-137
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• 2000

The release of hazardous waste materials into the environment poses serious risks in humans and ecosystems. The risk assessment of environmental pollutants including hazardous chemicals requires a comprehensive measurement of hazard and exposure of the chemicals that can be achieved by toxicity evaluation using a biological system such as biomarkers. In this report we have tried to develop a biomarker used to elucidate a molecular basis of, and to monitor abnormal behaviors caused by diazinon in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) as a model organism. First, an attempt was made to clone tyrosine hydroxylase gene from Japanese medaka that would be a candidate for a biomarker for neuronal modulations and behaviors. For monitoring experiments at behavioral and molecular biological levels, the fish were treated under different sublethal conditions of diazinon and their behavioral responses were observed . In this study we have successfully cloned a partial TH gene from the medaka fish through PCR screening of an ovary cDNA library. DNA sequencing analysis revealed that the amplified fragment was 327 bp encoding 109 amino acids. Comparing the DNA sequence of medaka TH with other species, TH gene revealed the DNA sequence was completely identical to that of rat TH. In the RT-PCR, 330 Up of mRNA was consistently amplified in all the treated samples including control There were no significant differences in the TH expression level regardless of treating concentrations (1∼5,000 ppb) and time (0∼48 hr) The reason appeared to be that RT-PCR was not performed using through a quantitative analysis normalized against an actin gene expression. Organ or tissue - specific detection of TH activity and mRNA as biomarkers will be a useful monitoring tool for neurobehavioral changes in fish influenced by toxic chemicals. Furthermore, quantitative analysis of locomotive patterns and its correlation with the neurochemical and molecular data would be highly useful in measuring toxicity and hazard ofvarious environmental pollutants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.687-692
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• 2006

This experiment was performed to evaluate the characteristics of BNR system performance, behavior of pollutants as organic and nitrogen at each basin and the effects of C/N ratio on biological nitrogen removal with methanol as an external carbon source for a low C/N ratio municipal wastewater. A lab-scale $A_2O$ system by employing the aerobic basin with the fluidized polyurethane media, which was $10{\sim}20$ mm rube type like a sponge, was used. The aerobic basin was hybrid type to be suspended and fixed biomass. The obtained results from this study were as follows; When no methanol was added, suspended biomass was 3 times more than that of the fluidized media in this system(total biomass 80 g). Biomass growed by an external carbon was firstly attached on media, and then suspended. $COD_{Cr}$ concentration for the effluent was a range of 13 to 29 mg/L regardless of pouring an external carbon. For nitrogen, the effluent concentration was $20.0{\sim}35.9mg/L$(removal efficiency; 18%) in case of no addition of an external carbon, but was $2.5{\sim}9.0mg/L$(removal efficiency ; $71{\sim}83%$) with addition of methanol. For the characteristics of pollutants removal, most of $COD_{Cr}$ were removed at the anaerobic basin when no external organic carbon was added, and were removed at the anoxic basin in case of adding external organic carbon but at the aerobic basin in case of adding excess external organic carbon. On the other hand, most TIN(total inorganic nitrogen) were removed at the anaerobic basin when no external organic carbon was added, but when an external organic carbon was added, they were removed at the anaerobic basin under unstable condition and at the anoxic basin under stable condition.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.37-45
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• 2006

Recently, wood-framed houses has been built in the Korea for pension. Wood is good material for human healthy, while the construction lumbers are treated with preservative such as CCA (chromated copper arsenate), which contain some toxic elements for human body. However, if the waste woody biomass treated with various heavy metals, which has been collected from house construction or demolition, was fired in the field, and incinerated or landfilled after mass collection, such components will result in the toxic air pollutants in the burning or land fills, and spreaded into other areas. So the careful selection of wood and chemicals are required in advance for house construction, in particular, for environment-friendly housings. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the content of toxic heavy metals in woody materials such as domestic hinoki and imported hemlock treated with CCA for housing materials, and the post-treated wood components such as organic fertilizer, sludge, dry-distilled charcoal and carbonized charcoal, to be returned finally into soil. The results are as follows. 1) The chemical analysis of toxic trace elements in various solid biomass required accurate control and management of laboratory environment, and reagents and water used, because of the error of data due to various foreign substances added in various processing and transporting steps. So a systematic analyzers was necessary to monitor the toxic pollutants of construction materials. 2) In particular, the biomass treated with industrial biological or thermal conditions such as sludge or charcoals was not fully dissolvable after third addition of $HNO_3$ and HF. 3) The natural woody materials such as organic fertilizer, sludge. and charcoals without any treatment of preservatives or heavy metal components were nontoxic in landfill because of the standard of organic fertilizers, even after thermal or biological treatments. 4) The CC A-treated wood for making the construction wood durable should not be landfilled, because of its higher contents of toxic metals than the criterion of organic fertilizer for agriculture or of natural environment. So the demolished waste should be treated separately from municipal wastes.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.349-357
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• 2015

Objectives: The 2007 Korea National Survey for Environmental Pollutants in the Human Body found the highest blood mercury levels nationwide among residents in Seoksan-ri, Goro-myeon, Gunwi-gun, Gyeonsangbuk-do. With the aim to reduce the blood mercury levels of residents in this region, we conducted this study to identify the association between mercury exposure levels and shark meat consumption. Methods: This survey was conducted with 118 participants in Seoksan-ri before the Chuseok festival and 113 residents were added afterwards. Information on participants was collected via questionnaires. Total mercury concentrations in biological samples were measured using a mercury analyzer with the gold-amalgam collection method. Results: To identify this, we conducted mercury exposure level analysis before and after the Chuseok festival and found that blood and urinary mercury levels after Chuseok (GM of $6.9{\mu}g/L$ in blood and $1.68{\mu}g/g$_cr in urine) were higher than those before (GM of $5.29{\mu}g/L$ in blood and $1.44{\mu}g/g$_cr in urine). This area maintains a custom of using shark meat as one of the ancestral rite foods, and the performance of such rites and shark meat consumption have been identified as main sources of mercury exposure. Other than this, smoking, dental amalgam treatment and residential period in the area also contributed to an increase in mercury exposure levels. On the other hand, recent consumption of oriental medicine and vaccination did not have a significant influence on mercury levels. Conclusion: The results were attributed to the local custom of consuming shark meat with high mercury concentrations during rituals taking place during the festival and ancestral rites. Given that the blood mercury levels in 23.2% of the residents exceeded the HBM II values recommended by the German Commission on Human Biological Monitoring, it is suggested that further appropriate actions and follow-up measures be taken to reduce the mercury exposure levels of the residents that exceeded the reference values.