• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2018

The Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force on August 16, 2017. It requires Parties to the Convention to control and, where feasible, reduce mercury emissions from the listed sources. To implement the Convention, Japan amended the Air Pollution Control Law and added clauses that force operators to control their mercury emissions below emission limit values (ELVs). The ELVs have been established separately for new and existing sources, targeting the source categories listed in the Convention: coal-fired boilers, smelting and roasting processes used in the production of non-ferrous metals (lead, zinc, copper and industrial gold), waste incineration facilities and cement clinker production facilities. The factors used to establish the ELVs include the present state of mercury emissions from the targeted categories as well as the mercury content in fuels and materials, best available techniques (BATs) and best environmental practices (BEPs) to control and reduce mercury emissions and ELVs or equivalent standards to control mercury emissions in other countries. In this regard, extensive data on mercury emissions from flue gas and the mercury content of fuels and materials were collected and analyzed. The established ELVs range from $8{\mu}g/Nm^3$ for new coal-fired boilers to $400{\mu}g/Nm^3$ for existing secondary smelting processes used in the production of copper, lead and zinc. This paper illustrates the ELVs for the targeted source categories, explaining the rationales and approaches used to set the values. The amended Law is to be enforced on April 1, 2018. From future perspectives, checks of the material flow of mercury, following up on the state of compliance, review of the ELVs and of the measurement and monitoring methods have been noted as important issues.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.419-429
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• 2016

Objectives: According to the new Chemical Control Act from the Korean Ministry of Environment (2014-259), workers handling hazardous chemicals should wear personal protective equipment (PPE). However the act simply states in basic phrases that every worker handling one or more of the 69 listed chemicals should wear PPE and does not consider the unique hazard characteristics of chemicals and work types. The main purpose of this study is to provide basic data to revise the act to suit particular work processes and situations. Methods: The hazard rank of the substances was classified based on hazardous characteristics such as LC50 and vapor pressure using matrix analysis. The workplace exposure risk of the substances was also determined through a matrix analysis based on the previously determined hazard ranks and the demands of manual handling together with the likelihood of accident frequency of the operation combined with the exposure of workers during spill accidents. Results: To meet the demands for developing subsequent guidelines for the risk-based application of PPE in hazardous workplaces, this study sorted the 69 listed chemicals into five hazardous categories based on their LC50 and vapor pressures, and also assigned exposure categories according to exposure vulnerability for various types of work which are frequently performed throughout the life cycle of the chemicals. Conclusion: In the next study, an exposure risk matrix will be produced using the hazard rank of chemicals and workplace exposure risk, and then PPE will be selected to suit the categories of the exposure risk matrix.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2017

This study aimed to suggest priority for developing emission factor (EF) and to develop the methodology of quantitative assessment of EF in the forestry sector. Based on the stock-difference method, 17 kinds of EFs (27 EFs based on forest types) were required to calculate the carbon emission in the forestry sector. Priority for developing EFs followed the standards, which is a development plan by the government agency, importance of carbon stock for greenhouse gas, and EFs by the species. Currently, the most urgent development of EFs was carbon fraction in biomass and carbon stock in dead wood. Meanwhile, the quantitative assessment of EF consisted of 7 categories (5 categories of compulsory and 2 categories of quality evaluation) and 12 verification factors. Category in compulsory verification consisted of administrative document, determination methodology of emission factors, emission characteristic, accuracy of measurement and analysis, and data representative. Category in quality evaluation consisted of data management and uncertainty estimates. Based on the importance of factors in the verification process, each factor was scored separately, however, the score needs to be coordinated by the government agency. These results would help build a reliable and accurate greenhouse gas inventory report of Korea.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.170-178
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• 2013

Objectives: Because TKM-related statistics are scattered in year books, white papers, or web services, it is not easy to use. This study aimed to build a TKM statistical database offering one-stop service. Methods: We collected TKM statistics from year books, white papers, and web services using TKM related keywords which came from the advanced study. Then we removed, merged, or split the statistics looking through data and meta-data of statistics to build a database. Results: First, we classified the statistics into 6 categories and found that the service category was 303, product category 37 and so on. Second, we analyzed the source of statistics and found that the Ministry of Health & Welfare and the Korea statistics were the strongest sources. Third, we analyzed the years of statistics and found that the oldest was 1962, 35% were within the past 3 years, and only 14% were over 10 years old. Finally, we found that the 415 statistics were composed of 1,120 items and the average was 2.70. Conclusions: Through this study we found that more sophisticated TKM statistics must be produced and developed specially in the education, research, and administration categories. We hope that the effort of TKM societies is available to eliminate the lack of statistical producer's understanding about TKM.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1067-1074
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• 2014

Life Cycle Assessment(LCA) has been carried out to evaluate the environmental impacts of glass bottle recycle. The LCA consists of four stages such as Goal and Scope Definition, Life Cycle Inventory(LCI) Analysis, Life Cycle Impact Assessment(LCIA), and Interpretation. The LCI analysis showed that the major input materials were water, materials, sand, and crude oil, whereas the major output ones were wastewater, $CO_2$, and non-hazardous wastes. The LCIA was conducted for the six impact categories including 'Abiotic Resource Depletion', 'Acidification', 'Eutrophication', 'Global Warming', 'Ozone Depletion', and 'Photochemical Oxidant Creation'. As for Abiotic Resource Depletion, Acidification, and Photochemical Oxidant Creation, Bunker fuel oil C and LNG were major effects. As for Eutrophication, electricity and Bunker fuel oil C were major effects. As for Global Warming, electricity and LNG were major effects. As for Ozone Depletion, plate glasses were major effects. Among the six categories, the biggest impact potential was found to be Global Warming as 97% of total, but the rest could be negligible.

• Atmosphere
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.405-420
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• 2020

In this study, we investigate the predictability of intraseasonal monthly temperature and precipitation variations using hindcast datasets from eight global circulation models participating in the operational multi-model ensemble (MME) seasonal prediction system of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Climate Center for the 1983~2010 period. These intraseasonal monthly variations are defined by categorical deterministic analysis. The monthly temperature and precipitation are categorized into above normal (AN), near normal (NN), and below normal (BN) based on the σ-value ± 0.43 after standardization. The nine patterns of intraseasonal monthly variation are defined by considering the changing pattern of the monthly categories for the three consecutive months. A deterministic and a probabilistic analysis are used to define intraseasonal monthly variation for the multi-model consisting of numerous ensemble members. The results show that a pattern (pattern 7), which has the same monthly categories in three consecutive months, is the most frequently occurring pattern in observation regardless of the seasons and variables. Meanwhile, the patterns (e.g., patterns 8 and 9) that have consistently increasing or decreasing trends in three consecutive months, such as BN-NN-AN or AN-NN-BN, occur rarely in observation. The MME and eight individual models generally capture pattern 7 well but rarely capture patterns 8 and 9.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.99-112
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• 2020

This study aims to propose biotope field datasheet and biotope type classification based on habitat-based by analyzing the German biotope system. The German system began in 1976 and has established a habitat-based national biotope classification system. On the other hand, Korea institutionalized in 2018 to build a classification system based on land use and land cover, which is a classification system that does not fully reflect ecosystem in Korea. Germany operates 44 biotope classification systems and 40 biotope field datasheet. Korea uses a single biotope field datasheet regardless of the biotope type. This classification system may not reflect the characteristics of Korea's biotope ecological habitat. The biotope classification system of Korea was proposed by dividing it into five categories: mountain ecology, freshwater ecology, land ecology, coastal ecology, and development area to reflect ecosystem habitat. The biotope type was designed as a system of large-classification-middle-small classification and subdivided into medium-classification and subdivided in each biotope system. The major classifications were classified into 44 categories according to the mountainous biotope(11), freshwater biotope(8), terrestrial biotope (12), coastal biotope(6), and development biotope(7). Unlike Germany, Korea's biotope field datasheet was proposed in five ways according to the classification of major ecosystem types. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the policy suggestion and the utilization of ecosystem conservation because the biotope classification system is classified to reflect the characteristics of ecosystem habitats.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.777-790
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• 2011

To elucidate the biodiversity of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in Korea, 7,638 bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of plant species growing in many different regions were screened. A large number of PGPR were identified by testing the ability of each isolate to promote the growth of cucumber seedlings. After redundant rhizobacteria were removed via amplified rDNA restriction analysis, 90 strains were finally selected as PGPR. On the basis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences, 68 Gram-positive (76%) and 22 Gram-negative (24%) isolates were assigned to 21 genera and 47 species. Of these genera, Bacillus (32 species) made up the largest complement, followed by Paenibacillus (19) and Pseudomonas (11). Phylogenetic analysis showed that most of the Grampositive PGPR fell into two categories: low- and high- G+C (Actinobacteria) strains. The Gram-negative PGPR were distributed in three categories: ${\alpha}$-proteobacteria, ${\beta}$- proteobacteria, and ${\gamma}$-proteobacteria. To our knowledge, this is the largest screening study designed to isolate diverse PGPR. The enlarged understanding of PGPR genetic diversity provided herein will expand the knowledge base regarding beneficial plant-microbe interactions. The outcome of this research may have a practical effect on crop production methodologies.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.197-202
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• 2017

This paper aimed to evaluate the test results of acute toxicity on effluent samples which were exempted from applying of ecotoxicity criteria. Total 316 effluent samples which were free from controlling of ecotoxicity regulation, were tested. Ratio of effluent samples which were exceeded the ecotoxicity criteria (TU > 1) indicated 23.7%. This ratio was a little bit higher than previous study (22.7%) on effluent samples which were controlled under ecotoxicity criteria. These results mean that our ecotoxicity management system is not appropriate and applying of ecotoxicity criteria to all effluent samples (82 industry categories) were needed in order to improve our ecotoxicity system. In addition, the same numeric criteria (TU 1 or 2) for all industry categories were proposed in consideration of these results. Ratio of effluent samples which exceeded the ecotoxicity criteria (TU > 1) with D. magna indicated 23.7%. However V. fischeri showed 14.6%. As a acute toxicity test organism, D. magna seemed to be more sensitive than V. fischeri. Ratio of samples which were exceeded TU 1 with D. magna by 24 h exposure period test indicated 35 %, whereas 48 h showed 41%.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2016

Jeju Dogs have high academic value due to their unique characteristics and conditions, but they have received little attention in the research field. This paper attempts to secure fundamental data to clarify the general characteristics of Jeju Dogs. For this purpose, an inspection of the basic body shape was performed to establish the shape and breed standards. Jeju Dogs were also exposed to 12 behavior tests to check their distinct character categories and an objective ethogram was built on each of the character categories to conduct a behavior analysis. The body shape of 34 clinically healthy Jeju Dogs aged 18 months or older was inspected using ten divided parts. For the behavior analysis, 10 Jeju Dogs were examined. A variety of behavioral variables were recorded based on 12 behavior tests that were categorized into four characters: sociality, aggressiveness, anxiety and submissiveness. The results of the body shape inspection indicated that most of the male dogs' parts had larger measured values than the female dogs' parts. The behavior analysis results revealed that the Jeju Dog displays excellent qualities such as submissiveness, reliability and fidelity and, hence, it is believed that this breed of dog is very appropriate for most duties and has the potential to be a household dog or working dog.