• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.548-556
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the applicability of lignocellulosic fiber and coconut shell activated carbon (CSA) for the production of a particulate matter (PM)-reducing air-filter as raw materials to solve the environmental problems of non-woven fabrics. CSA had a good potential to use as a raw material of air-filter for reducing volatile organic compounds as well as noxious metals, and reduction capability of the CSA was 5 times higher than that of wood fiber. Natural adhesives formulated with proteinaceous wastes mostly were applied successfully to fabricate air-filters with the shape of fiberboard. The air-filter fabricated with the minimum target density of 200 kg/m³ and the maximum CSA-content of 40 wt% in fiberboard had a good manageable strength. However, the fiberboard filters was required to make vent-holes for improving an air-permeability of the filters. Size of the CSA particles was adjusted to greater than 2 mesh with the consideration of strength and formability of the fiberboard. Three-layers fiberboard that only wood fiber and the mixture of wood fiber and CSA were formed in the surface and middle layers, respectively, was determined to the optimal condition for the production of air-filters. In addition, traditional Korean paper handmade from mulberry trees (TKP) showed a good PM-reducing property as an air-filter. It is concluded that air-filtering set composed of fiberboard with vent-holes and TKP instead of conventional air-filters made with non-woven fabrics can be used as a filter for reducing the concentrations of PM, VOC and noxious metals existed in indoor and outdoor spaces.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.179-185
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• 2007

Nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) is an important trace gas in the atmosphere not only because of its large global warming potential (GWP) but also because of the role in the ozone depletion in the stratosphere. It has been known that soil is the largest natural source of $N_2O$ in global emission. However, anthropogenic sources contributing from industrial section is likely to increase with rising the energy consumption, and transportation as well. In this study, a total of 32 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles (ranging from small to large engine's displacement and also ranging from aged catalyst to new catalyst) were tested on the chassis dynamometer system in order to elucidate the characteristics of $N_2O$ emission from automobiles under different driving modes. Ten different driving modes developed by NIER were adapted for the test. The results show that the $N_2O$ emission decreases logarithmically with increase of vehicle speed over the all test vehicles ($N_2O$) emission = -0.062 Ln (vehicle speed) + $0.289,\;r^2=0.97$). It revealed that the larger engine's displacement, the more $N_2O$ emission were recorded. The correlation between $N_2O$ emission and catalyst aging was examined. It found that the vehicles with aged catalyst (odometer record more than 8,0000km) emit more $N_2O$ than those with new catalyst. Average $N_2O$ emission was $0.086{\pm}0.095\;N_2O-g/km$ (number of samples=210) for the all test vehicles over the test driving modes.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.146-153
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• 2000

To elucidate succession of bacterial populations, especially nitrifying bacteria during the composting of cattle manure with apple pomace, fluorescent in situ hybridization(FISH) using rRNA targeted oligonucleotide probes were applied. The density of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria was ranged from $3,3{\times}10^6cells/g$ dw to $13,4{\times}10^6cells/g$ dw with the peak value after 26 composting days whereas that of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria varied between $6.0{\times}10^6cells/g$ dw and $17.2{\times}10^6cells/g$ dw with the peak value after 7 composting days. And the tendency that the numbers of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were higher than those of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, and the peak-time of their densities were the same as that of data determined by the ratio of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria to eubacteria. The peak of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria followed the peak of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, at the late phase of composting process could be probably caused by the depletion of volatile ammonia of composting materials. Besides these results indicate that FISH method is a useful tool for detection of slow growing nitrifying bacteria.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.409-416
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• 2013

Recently, the property damage has been increasing due to climate change in South Korea. While the general public has become more aware of the environmental issues, but the environmental education system has not been able to meet up with the demands of the public. The purpose of this study is to suggest preliminary data which is needed for developing a environmental textbook. A survey was conducted to meet the following requirements. Respondent's level of interest in problems or situations concerning the following eight themes: fundamental science, health and medicine, aerospace engineering, life science, electrical electronics, telecommunication, mineral and energy resources, environment. The data was collected from 139 students in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The results showed that health and medicine issues interest students the most (49.6%), followed by environment (46.8%). We asked the respondents who were very interested in each question for their reasons, and they answered that environmental issue is related to the improvement of their life quality (53.8%) than their curiosity (38.5%). Students were very interested in the other issues because of just curiosity. Most students (90.6%) said seasonal change was not same each year. 18.0% of respondents replied that they and their friends had experienced climate change. The majority of students (94.2%) thought that they will experience natural disaster blamed on climate change during their life. In other words, climate change is already the day-to-day events of their lives. The majority of their opinions, more then three than ten students(30.9%) said the South Korean government should conduct an energy saving campaign to climate change problems followed by expanding new renewable energy (24.5%), conducting adaptation policies of climate change(22.3 %), introducing of a system as like $CO_2$ emissions trading(20.9%) and so on. There are more Stu- dents (69.1%) who know of new renewable energy than students who don't know it; however, respondents who know the meaning very well were just 18.7% showing that most students dimly know the meaning of new renewable energy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.10-17
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• 1999

In order to confirm the effectiveness of the natural river improvement technique, the analysis of vegetation was carried out in Yangjae stream between 1996 and 1998. The results of this study showed the numbers of riparian plants had increased from 41 species to 53 species, and the dominant species had changed from annual and biannual(Humulus japonicus, Persicaria thunbergii, Persicaria hydropiper, Panicum dichotomiflorum, Echinochloa crus-galli) to perennials (Phragmites communis). The variation in biomass and biodiversity index were measured and calculated according to the rehabilitation method. Biomass were varied 302 to $828g/m^2$ and biodiversity index was varied 1.53 to 1.52 at point bar plots(A treatment plots) from 1996 to 1998. In conclusion, the natural river improvement technique which has operated in Yanjaecheon for three years has contributed to restoration of riparian plants. Additionally, subsequent study using this technique should be followed in the near future.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 1998

To reduce the environmental contamination and to utilize fly ash massively produced from the coal power plant every year, we synthesized the artificial zeolite using fly ash treated with alkaline, and then analyzed the mineralogical and morphological properties by X-ray, IR, and SEM. The amount of $NH_4{^+}$, $K^+$, and $H_2PO_4{^-}$ adsorbed by the fly ash and the artificial zeolite were determined with reaction time, amount of adsorbate used, ion concentrations. The results obtained from the pot experiments packed with the top soil, amended with granulated artificial zeolite which was made by treatment of 4% polyvinylalcohol, showed that CEC of the artificial zeolite was $257.7cmol^+kg^{-1}$, that was almost 36 times greater than that of fly ash. The ratio of $SiO_2/Al_2O_3$ decreased but the amount of Na increased. The physico-chemical properties analyzed by X-ray, IT, and SEM represented that the artificial zeolite synthesized had a similar morphological structure to that of the natural zeolite. The structures of the artificial zeolite had a significantly enlarged surface having a lot of pores, while the fly ash looked like spherical smooth shape with having not pores on the surface. Thus, the artificial zeolite was successfully synthesized. The results of adsorption isotherms of fly ash and artificial zeolite showed that the amount of $NH_4{^+}$, $K^+$, and $H_2PO_4{^-}$ adsorbed increased as the equilibrium concentration increased, while $NH_4{^+}$ was strongly adsorbed on the surface of fly ash and artificial zeolite than that of $K^+$. The most distinctive growth of Chinese cabbage was found from the top soil(NPK + soils + 20% of granulated artificial zeolite + 5% of compost). Therefore, we concluded that one of the most effective methods to effectively recycle a fly ash was to make the artificial zeolite as we did in this experiment.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.181-193
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• 2018

The present study was conducted to analyze the quality of the habitats of Abies koreana WILS. by using the InVEST model based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique and to evaluate the economic value by estimating the carbon fixation. Abies koreana WILS., an original biological species of South Korea, may be an essential element in establishing the national biological sovereignty in the future. The subjects of the present study were the national parks in Mt. Halla, Mt. Jiri, and Mt. Sobaek, which are the habitats of Abies koreana WILS. As suggested by previous studies as a limitation of the InVEST model, the utilization of the data from relevant international publications as the input data, due to the lack of the domestic input data, may decrease the accuracy of the modeling. Therefore, the AHP technique was applied for the input data. The modeling was performed with reference to the years of 1980, 1990, and 2000 for the scenario analysis. The result of the modeling showed that the habitat quality was changed most in the national park in Mt. Halla, as the habitat quality score was decreased from 0.96 in 1980 to 0.97 in 1990 and 0.94 in 2000. In the national part of Mt. Sobeak, the habitat quality was changed most in the sub-alpine zone, as the habitat quality score was decreased from 0.98 in 1980 and 0.98 in 1990 to 0.97 in 2000. The habitat quality was best conserved in the national part in Mt. Jiri, as the habitat quality score was 0.98 in 1980, 0.99 in 1990, and 0.99 in 2000. The estimated economic loss by the change of the habitat quality was 19,280,000 USD for Mt. Halla and 8,030,000 USD for Mt. Sobeak. In the present study, the habitat quality of the Abies koreana WILS, the original species of South Korea, was evaluated and the economic value of the ecological services provided by the habitats was estimated quantitatively. The result showed that the ecosystem service model may be used to qualitatively analyze the quality of a habitat located in a specific region and to estimate the economic value quantitatively. The objective evaluation of ecosystem services demonstrated in the present study may be applied to promote sustainable utilization of natural resources and conservation of the ecosystem by predicting the changes that may be caused by external factors including the development of preservation areas.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2016

The current smart lighting is shaped to offer the lighting environment suitable for current context, after identifying user's action and location through a sensor. The sensor-based context awareness technology just considers a single user, and the studies to interpret many users' various context occurrences and conflicts lack. In existing studies, a fuzzy theory and algorithm including ReBa have been used as the methodology to solve context conflict. The fuzzy theory and algorithm including ReBa just avoid an opportunity of context conflict that may occur by providing services by each area, after the spaces where users are located are classified into many areas. Therefore, they actually cannot be regarded as customized service type that can offer personal preference-based context conflict. This paper proposes a priority-based LED lighting control system interpreting multiple context conflicts, which decides services, based on the granted priority according to context type, when service conflict is faced with, due to simultaneous occurrence of various contexts to many users. This study classifies the residential environment into such five areas as living room, 'bed room, study room, kitchen and bath room, and the contexts that may occur within each area are defined as 20 contexts such as exercising, doing makeup, reading, dining and entering, targeting several users. The proposed system defines various contexts of users using an ontology-based model and gives service of user oriented lighting environment through rule based on standard and context reasoning engine. To solve the issue of various context conflicts among users in the same space and at the same time point, the context in which user concentration is required is set in the highest priority. Also, visual comfort is offered as the best alternative priority in the case of the same priority. In this manner, they are utilized as the criteria for service selection upon conflict occurrence.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.357-363
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• 2008

This study investigates the durability of carbon/epoxy composites for use on train car bodies under a salt water spray environment. Salt water solution with 5% NaCl, similar to natural salt water, was used for the salt water environmental tests. The specimens were obtained from a composite panel consisting of an epoxy matrix reinforced with T700 carbon fabric. The specimens were exposed to the salt water environment for up to 12 months. Mechanical tests were performed to obtain tensile properties, flexural properties, and shear properties. Dynamic mechanical analysis was used to measure such thermal properties as storage modulus, loss modulus, and tan $\delta$. Also FT/IR tests were conducted to investigate changes in chemical structure with exposure. The results revealed that fiber-dominated mechanical properties were not affected much by exposure time, but matrix-dominated mechanical properties decreased with increasing exposure time. Storage modulus was not very sensitive to exposure time, but glass transition temperature was affected, slightly decreasing with increasing exposure time. Although the peak intensity of FT/IR curves was affected slightly by exposure time, the peak shape and peak location of FT/IR curves were not noticeably changed. Carbon/epoxy composites used for this study were relatively stable to the salt water environment.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.410-420
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• 2019

Citrus unshiu peel extracts possess a variety of beneficial effects, and studies on their anticancer activity have been reported. However, the exact mechanisms underlying this activity remain unclear. In the current study, the apoptotic effect of ethanol extract of C. unshiu peel (EECU) on human breast adenocarcinoma MDA-MB-231 cells and related mechanisms were investigated. The results showed that the survival rate of MDA-MB-231 cells treated with EECU was significantly inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptosis. EECU-induced apoptosis was associated with the activation of caspase-8 and caspase-9, which initiate extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways, respectively, and caspase-3, a representative effect caspase. EECU suppressed the expression of the inhibitor of apoptosis family of proteins, leading to an increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and proteolytic degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. EECU also enhanced the loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release from the mitochondria to the cytosol, along with truncation of Bid. In addition, EECU activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and compound C, an AMPK inhibitor, significantly weakened EECU-induced apoptosis and cell viability reduction. Furthermore, EECU promoted the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which acted as upstream signals for AMPK activation as pretreatment of cells, with the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine reversing both EECU-induced AMPK activation and apoptosis. Collectively, these findings suggest that EECU inhibits MDA-MB-231 adenocarcinoma cell proliferation by activating intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways, which was mediated through ROS/AMPK-dependent pathways.