• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.484-494
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• 2019

This paper presents a preliminary investigation of the optimum nutrients combination required for bioremediation of spent-engine oil contaminated soil using Box-Behnken-Design. Three levels of cow-manure, poultry-manure and inorganic nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) fertilizer were used as independent biostimulants variables; while reduction in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) and total soil porosity (TSP) response as dependent variables were monitored under 6-week incubation. Ex-situ data generated in assessing the degree of biodegradation in the soil were used to develop second-order quadratic regression models for both TPH and TSP. The two models were found to be highly significant and good predictors of the response fate of TPH-removal and TSP-improvement, as indicated by their coefficients of determination: $R^2=0.9982$ and $R^2=1.000$ at $p{\leq}0.05$, respectively. Validation of the models showed that there was no significant difference between the predicted and observed values of TPH-removal and TSP-improvement. Using numerical technique, the optimum values of the biostimulants required to achieve a predicted maximum TPH-removal and TSP-improvement of 67.20 and 53.42%-dry-weight per kg of the contaminated soil were as follows: cow-manure - 125.0 g, poultry-manure - 100.0 g and NPK-fertilizer - 10.5 g. The observed values at this optimum point were 66.92 and 52.65%-dry-weight as TPH-removal and TSP-improvement, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.247-257
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• 2021

The study area has been contaminated with explosive materials and heavy metals for several decades. For the design of the pump and treat remediation method, groundwater flow before and during groundwater pumping in a contaminated aquifer system was simulated, calibrated, and predicted using a generalized multidimensional hydrological numerical model. A three-dimensional geologic formation model representing the geology, hydrogeology, and topography of the aquifer system was established. A steady-state numerical simulation with model calibration was performed to obtain initial steady-state spatial distributions of groundwater flow and groundwater table in the aquifer system before groundwater pumping, and its results were illustrated and analyzed. A series of transient-state numerical simulations were then performed during groundwater pumping with the four different pumping rates at a potential location of the pumping well. Its results are illustrated and analyzed to provide primary reference data for the pump and treat remediation method. The results of both steady-state and transient-state numerical simulations show that the spatial distribution and properties of the geologic media and the topography have significant effects on the groundwater flow and thus depression zone.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2003

Objective : We investigate the effects of multiple attempts of embryo transfer because of retained embryos in the catheter and of contaminated mucus on the transferred catheter. Materials and Methods: We respectively analysed data between November 1998 and August 2002 from 305 patients of 369 cycles who underwent IVF-ET. Of these patients, 47 patients of 50 cycles (Group 2) were required multiple trial of embryo transfer. They were compared with an age-matched control groups (Group 1) with female factor infertility. Pearson's $?^2$ and Fisher's tests were used to compare proportions between discrete variables. Noncategorical data were compared using t-test. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Embryos were significantly more likely to be retained when catheter was contaminated with mucus (Group 1: 22.4%; Group 2: 44.0%). The clinical pregnancy rates, however, for the contaminated mucus or not, were 46.8%, 43.5% respectively. There was no significant difference clinical pregnancy rate between those who had all their embryos transferred at the first attempt (45.4%) and those who required more than one attempt (48.0%). Conclusions: Contaminated mucus in the catheter is associated with failed embryo transferred at the first attempt. Embryo transfers, however, that are repeated attempts do not adversely affect pregnancy rates following IVF-ET.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2004

The concectration and distribution of contaminants obtained from a contaminated land investigation or an environmental geochemistry survey constitutes the basis of a decision-making process on environmental policies or of scientific researches. As the quality of data determines the reliability of the result, the investigation plan should be adjusted according to the purpose of the investigation. In general, the effort to improve the data quality had been focused mainly on the QA/QC procedures in laboratories. The rapid progress of analytical instrument has also contributed toward improving the analytical precision to a sacrificable degree. Nevertheless, in many cases, it is not the analytical precision that needs improvement for the better precision of overall measurement process: it is rather during the sampling process in the field that is responsible for the poor precision. To assess the data quality on a measured value, ISO recommends to provide information on "measurement uncertainty" along with the measured value. The measurement uncertainty in an environmental measurement context can be explained as the statistical number that expresses the degree of the uncertainty stemming from the sampling and analytical procedures. There is a cost involved in order to improve the precision of sampling and analytical methods so as to decrease the degree of measurement uncertainty. The economical point of compromise in an investigation planning can be achieved when the allowable degree of uncertainty has been set before-hand. The investigation can then be planned accordingly not to exceed the uncertainty limit. Furthermore, if the measurement uncertainty estimated from the preliminary investigation can be separated into sampling and analytical uncertainties, it can be used as a criterion where the resources for the investigation should be allotted cost-effectively to reinforce the weakest link of the whole investigation process. This paper aims to present a method of estimating the level of measurement uncertainty of a measured contamination concentration at a site used as an example and to show how the estimated uncertainty can be applied to serve the particular purpose of an investigation.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.2_spc
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• pp.28-54
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• 2020

Even though a systematic sampling approach is very crucial in both the general and detailed investigation phases to produce the best conceptual site model for contaminated sites, the concept is not yet established in South Korea. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the 'Strategic Sampling Approaches Technical guide' in 2018 to help environmental professionals choose which sampling approaches may be needed and most effective for given site conditions. The EPA guide broadly defines strategic sampling as the application of focused data collection across targeted areas of the conceptual site model (CSM) to provide the appropriate amount and type of information needed for decision-making. These strategic sampling approaches can prevent the essential data from missing, minimize the uncertainty of projects and secure the data which are necessary for the important site-decisions. Furthermore, these provide collaborative data sets through the life cycle phases of projects, which can generate more positive proofs on the site-decisions. The strategic sampling approaches can be divided by site conditions. This technical guide categorized it into eight conditions; High-resolution site characterization in unconsolidated environments, High-resolution site characterization in fractured sedimentary rock environments, Incremental sampling, Contaminant source definition, Passive groundwater sampling, Passive sampling for surface water and sediment, Groundwater to surface water interaction, and Vapor intrusion. This commentary paper introduces specific sampling methods based on site conditions when the strategic sampling approaches are applied.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1372-1377
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• 2009

For the remediation of the subsurface contaminated by nonaqueous phase liquids(NAPLs), it is important to characterize the NAPL zone properly. Conventional characterization methods provide data at discrete points. To overcome the weak points of conventional characterization methods, the partitioning tracer method has been developed and studied. The average saturation of NAPL($S_n$), which is the representative and continuous saturation value within contaminated site, can be calculated by comparing the transport of the partitioning tracers to that of the conservative tracer in the partitioning tracer method. In this study, the application of the partitioning tracer method in heterogeneous media was investigated. To represent the heterogeneous condition of subsurface, a two-dimensional soil box was divided into four layers and each layer contained different sized soils. Soils in the soil box were contaminated by the mixture of kerosene and diesel, and partitioning tracer tests were conducted before and after the contamination using methanol as conservative tracer and 4-methyl-2-pentanol, 2-ethyl-1-butanol, and hexanol as partitioning tracers. The response curves of partitioning tracers from contaminated soils were separated and retarded in comparison with those from non-contaminated soils. The contamination of soils by NAPLs, therefore, can be detected by partitioning tracer method considering these retardations of tracers. From our experiment condition, the average saturation of NAPLs calculated by partitioning tracer method using the methanol as conservative tracer and hexanol as partitioning tracer showed the highest accuracy, though all results were underestimated. Further studies, therefore, were needed for improving the accuracy using the partitioning tracer test in heterogeneous media.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.225-230
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• 2007

A physical model experiment with GPR and 3-D resisitivity survey were conducted to investigate the geoelectrical response of hydrocarbon-impacted zone, so called smeared zone, on the geophysical data. The results from the experiment show that GPR signals were enhanced when LNAPL was present as a residual saturation in the water saturated system (${\varepsilon}_r$ = 21) due to less attenuation of the electromagnetic energy through the medium, compared to when the medium was saturated with only water (${\varepsilon}_r$ = 21). 3-D resistivity data obtained from the former gas station site demonstrate that the highly contaminated zones could be imaged with low resistivities attributed to the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons at the aged, hydrocarbon-impacted sites. The study results also show that the geophysical methods, as a non-invasive sounding technique, can be a very useful tool for mapping hydrocarbon-contaminated zones.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Environmental problems typically occurring in abandoned mine lands (AML) include: contaminated and acidic surface water and groundwater; stockpiled waste rock and mill tailings; and ground subsidences due to mining operations. This study examines the effectiveness of various geophysical techniques for mapping potential hazard and contaminated zones. Four AML sites with sedimentation contamination problems, acid mine drainage (AMD) channels, ground subsidence, manmade liner leakage, and buried mine tailings, were selected to examine the applicability of various geophysical methods to the identification of the different types of mine hazards. Geophysical results were correlated to borehole data (core samples, well logs, tomographic profiles, etc.) and water sample data (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and heavy metal contents). Zones of low electrical resistivity (ER) corresponded to areas contaminated by heavy metals, especially contamination by Cu, Pb, and Zn. The main pathways of AMD leachate were successfully mapped using ER methods (low anomaly peaks), self-potential (SP) curves (negative peaks), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) at shallow penetration depths. Mine cavities were well located based on composite interpretations of ER, seismic tomography, and well-log records; mine cavity locations were also observed in drill core data and using borehole image processing systems (BIPS). Damaged zones in buried manmade liners (used to block descending leachate) were precisely detected by ER mapping, and buried rock waste and tailings piles were characterized by low-velocity zones in seismic refraction data and high-resistivity zones in the ER data.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.239-251
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• 1999

The elimination process of cloud-contaminated pixels is one of important steps before obtaining the accurate parameters of land and ocean surface from AVHRR imagery. We developed a 6step threshold method to detect the cloud-contaminated pixels from NOAA-14/AVHRR datime imagery over land using different combination of channels. This algorithm has two phases : the first is to make a cloud-free characteristic data of land surface using compositing techniques from channel 1 and 5 imagery and a dynamic threshold of brightness temperature, and the second is to identify the each pixel as a cloud-free or cloudy one through 4-step threshold tests. The merits of this method are its simplicity in input data and automation in determining threshold values. The threshold of infrared data is calculated through the combination of brightness temperature of land surface obtained from AVHRR imagery, spatial variance of them and temporal variance of observed land surface temperature. The method detected the could-comtaminated pixels successfully embedded inthe NOAA-14/AVHRR daytime imagery for the August 1 to November 30, 1996 and March 1 to July 30, 1997. This method was evaluated through the comparison with ground-based cloud observations and with the enhanced visible and infrared imagery.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 1996

A linear neural unit with a modified anti-Hebbian learning rule has been shown to be able to optimally fit curves, surfaces, and hypersurfaces by adaptively extracting the minor component of the input data set. In this paper, we study how to use the robust version of this neural fitting method for linear regression analysis. Furthermore, we compare this method with other methods when data set is contaminated by outliers.