• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to select and predict optimal heatwave indices for describing and predicting heat-related illnesses. Regression analysis was conducted using Heat-related illness surveillance system data for a number of heat-related illnesses and meteorological data from the Korea Meteorological Administration's Automatic Weather Station (AWS) for the period from 2021 to 2023. Daily average temperature, daily maximum temperature, daily average Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), and daily maximum WBGT values were calculated and analyzed. The results indicated that among the four indicators, the daily maximum WBGT showed the highest suitability with an R² value of 0.81 and RMSE of 0.98, with a threshold of 29.94 Celsius. During the entire analysis period, there were a total of 91 days exceeding this threshold, resulting in 339 cases of heat-related illnesses. Predictions of heat-related illness cases from 2021 to 2023 using the regression equation for daily maximum WBGT showed an accuracy with less than 10 cases of error annually, demonstrating a high level of precision. Through continuous research and refinement of data and analysis methods, it is anticipated that this approach could contribute to predicting and mitigating the impact of heatwaves.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2024

PHC piles demonstrate superior resistance to compression and bending moments, and their factory-based production enhances quality assurance and management processes. Despite these advantages that have resulted in widespread use in civil engineering and construction projects, the design process frequently relies on empirical formulas or N-values to estimate the soil-pile friction, which is crucial for bearing capacity, and this reliance underscores a significant lack of experimental validation. In addition, environmental factors, e.g., the pH levels in groundwater and the effects of seawater, are commonly not considered. Thus, this study investigates the influence of vibrating machine foundations on PHC pile models in consideration of the effects of varying pH conditions. Concrete model piles were subjected to a one-month conditioning period in different pH environments (acidic, neutral, and alkaline) and under the influence of seawater. Subsequent repeated direct shear tests were performed on the pile-soil interface, and the disturbed state concept was employed to derive parameters that effectively quantify the dynamic behavior of this interface. The results revealed a descending order of shear stress in neutral, acidic, and alkaline conditions, with the pH-influenced samples exhibiting a more pronounced reduction in shear stress than those affected by seawater.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2024

Biodegradable coating urea plays an important role in reducing the non-pollutants in agroecosystems, maximizing the plant nutrient utilization efficiency and slow-releasing nitrogen. Herein, the objective of this study was to investigate the nitrogen-releasing patterns and greenhouse gas emissions on different biodegradable coating urea. The treatments consisted of the control as an application of chemical fertilizers, NBCF as the non-biodegradable coating urea, NB60, and MDS as biodegradable coating urea. As a result of this study, the maximum accumulated total nitrogen (TN) concentration in the NBCF was higher at 33% than one in the NB60 during the precipitation periods. Its leaching period in the NCBF was prolonged for day 10 compared to the NB60. TN and NO₃-N releasing patterns in the NBCF and NB60 were fitted well on linear types(R²≥0.991), but their control and MDS were fitted well on Sigmoid curves(R²≥0.994) with high releasing concentration in the MDS compared to the control during leaching periods. For the greenhouse gas emissions, CH₄ emissions in the NBCF, NB60, and MDS were increased at 0.38%, 11.36%, and 5.91%, and N₂O emissions were also increased at 50.5%, 32.4%, 58.8% as compared to the control, respectively. Therefore, application of biodegradable polymer coating urea might mitigate the non-point pollutants in agro-ecosystem.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.809-818
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• 2024

This paper proposes an action plan for local governments to safely utilize artificial intelligence technology in various local government policies. The proposed method analyzes cases of application of artificial intelligence-related laws and policies in Gyeonggi Province, Seoul City, and New York City, and then presents matters that local governments should consider when utilizing AI technology in their policies. This paper applies the AILocalism-Korea analysis methodology, which is a modified version of the AILocalsm analysis methodology[1] presented by TheGovLab at New York University. AILocalism-Korea is an analysis methodology created to analyze the current activities of each local government in the fields of legal system, public procurement, mutual cooperation, and citizen participation, and to suggest practical alternatives in each area. In this paper, we use this analysis methodology to present 9 action plans that local governments should take based on safe and reliable use of artificial intelligence. By utilizing various AI technologies through the proposed plan in local government policies, it will be possible to realize reliable public services.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.833-838
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• 2024

The urban railway sleeper floating track(STEDEF) is a structure that structurally separates the sleepers and the concrete bed using sleeper boots and resilience pads to reduce vibration transmitted to the concrete bed. Recently, the resilience pads of sleeper floating tracks that have been in use for more than 20 years are deteriorating. Accordingly, in order to evaluate the performance of the resilience pad, a static spring stiffness test is being performed after extracting the resilience pad. This evaluation technique is performed after replacing the resilience pad in use. However, the track natural frequency can change depending on the resilience pad spring stiffness and the uplift and subsidence of the concrete bed. In this study, modal testing technique was used to evaluate the track natural frequency. For this purpose, the sleeper boots material, resilience pad spring stiffness, and track natural frequency according to concrete bed uplift and subsidence were measured using modal tests at a laboratory scale. It was analyzed that the natural frequency of the sleeper floating track was directly affected by changes in the spring stiffness of the resilience pad. In addition, the change in natural frequency due to the uplift and subsidence of the concrete bed was also found to be large. Therefore, it is believed that the modal test technique presented in this study can be used to evaluate the resilience pad deterioration and voided sleepers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.51-65
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• 2023

The Jeongmaeks are Korea's unique forest space recognition system that diverged from the Baekdudaegan. The Jeongmaeks are easily exposed to pressure because it is adjacent to the living area. Among them, Nakdong-Jeongmaek has high biodiversity, but damage is accelerating. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2022, the target is to expand the area of terrestrial and marine protected areas to 30% of national territory by 2030. As of September 2023, the area of terrestrial protected areas in South Korea is only 16.97% of the country's territory. This is due in part to the high proportion of private forests in the region, which makes it difficult to establish protected areas. Therefore, there is a need to establish Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measure (OECMs), which pursue complex and effective conservation that considers multiple values, as an alternative to protected areas. This study aims to identify areas suitable for OECM and to provide opinions on the establishment of appropriate management plans for each value using SOM and InVEST Habitat Quality model. This study evaluated the habitat quality of 206 villages located within 1km of the Nakdong-Jeongmaek and compared the characteristics of villages classified by SOM. As a result, the habitat quality was 0.867 for Tourism village (ClusterIV), 0.838 for Conservation village (ClusterVI), 0.835 for Mixed village (ClusterI), 0.796 for Production (ClusterV), 0.731 for Rural village (ClusterIII) and 0.625 for Urban village (ClusterII). When the distribution was identified through statistical analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the distributions were not identical, with a p-value of 1.53e-08. Dunn's test showed a difference between Tourism, Conservation and Rural, Urban village. However, Mixed village was overestimated due to the lack of villages and the small area included in the study area. Moreover, Conservation village was somewhat under-evaluated in the analysis due to the use of a single weight for protected areas. It is necessary to perform additional reinforcement of the value evaluation of Jeongmaeks by conducting Forest Resource Survey and the National Natural Environment Survey. Therefore, we believe that sufficient validity for the establishment of OECMs in the Nakdong-Jeongmaek can be provided by addressing these limitations and conducting additional research.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.32-48
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• 2024

Background: Longitudinal connectivity in river systems strongly affects biological components related to ecosystem functioning, thereby playing an important role in shaping local biodiversity and ecosystem health. Environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding has an advantage of enabling to sensitively diagnose the presence/absence of species, becoming an efficient/effective approach for studying the community structure of ecosystems. However, little attention has been paid to eDNA-based biomonitoring for river systems, particularly for assessing the river longitudinal connectivity. In this study, by using eDNA we analyzed and compared species diversity and composition among artificial barriers to assess the longitudinal connectivity of the fish community along down-, mid- and upstream in the Hotancheon from the Geum River basin. Moreover, we investigated temporal variation in eDNA fish community structure and species diversity according to season. Results: The results of species detected between eDNA and conventional surveys revealed higher sensitivity for eDNA and 61% of species (23/38) detected in both methods. The results showed that eDNA-based fish community structure differs from down-, mid- and upstream, and species diversity decreased from down to upstream regardless of season. We found that there was generally higher species diversity at the study sites in spring (a total number of species across the sites [n] = 29) than in autumn (n = 27). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and heatmap analyses further suggest that there was a tendency for community clusters to form in the down-, mid- and upstream, and seasonal variation in the community structure also existed for the sites. Dominant species in the Hotancheon was Rhynchocypris oxycephalus (26.07%) regardless of season, and subdominant species was Nipponocypris koreanus (16.50%) in spring and Odontobutis platycephala (15.73%) in autumn. Artificial barriers appeared to negatively affect the connectivity of some fish species of high mobility. Conclusions: This study attempts to establish a biological monitoring system by highlighting the versatility and power of eDNA metabarcoding in monitoring native fish community and further evaluating the longitudinal connectivity of river ecosystems. The results of this study suggest that eDNA can be applied to identify fish community structure and species diversity in river systems, although some shortcomings remain still need to be resolved.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2024

An image-reconstruction technology, involving the deployment of an unmanned mobility equipped with high-speed LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) has been proposed to reconstruct the shape of abandoned mine. Unmanned mobility operation is remarkably useful in abandoned mines fraught with operational difficulties including, but not limited to, obstacles, sludge, underwater and narrow tunnel with the diameter of 1.5 m or more. For cases of real abandoned mines, quadruped robots, quadcopter drones and underwater drones are respectively deployed on land, air, and water-filled sites. In addition to the advantage of scanning the abandoned mines with 2D solid-state lidar sensors, rotation of radiation at an inclination angle offers an increased efficiency for simultaneous reconstruction of mineshaft shapes and detecting obstacles. Sensor and robot posture were used for computing rotation matrices that helped compute geographical coordinates of the solid-state lidar data. Next, the quadruped robot scanned the actual site to reconstruct tunnel shape. Lastly, the optimal elements necessary to increase utility in actual fields were found and proposed.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.62-77
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• 2024

In the maritime shipping industry, imbalance between supply and demand has persistently increased, leading to the utilization of blank sailings by major shipping companies worldwide as a key means of flexibly adjusting vessel capacity in response to shipping market conditions. Traditionally, blank sailings have been frequently implemented around the Chinese New Year period. However, due to unique circumstances such as the global pandemic starting in 2020 and trade tensions between the United States and China, shipping companies have recently conducted larger-scale blank sailings compared to the past. As blank sailings directly impact freight transport delays, they can have negative repercussions from perspectives of both businesses and consumers. Therefore, this study employed Poisson regression models and negative binomial regression models to analyze the influence of maritime freight rate determinants on shipping companies' decisions regarding blank sailings, aiming to proactively address potential consequences. Results of the analysis indicated that, in Poisson regression analysis for 2M, significant variables included global container shipping volume, container vessel capacity, container ship scrapping volume, container ship newbuilding index, and OECD inflation. In negative binomial regression analysis, ocean alliance showed significance with global container shipping volume and container ship order volume, the alliance with container ship capacity and interest rates, non-alliance with international oil prices, global supply chain pressure index, container ship capacity, OECD inflation, and total alliance with container ship capacity and interest rates.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.34-48
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• 2024

As global supply chain risks proliferate unpredictably, the high interdependence of port and logistics industry intensifies the risk burden. This study conducted fundamental research to explore diverse safety issues in domestic ports. Utilizing news article data about Busan Port, we employed LDA topic modeling and time-series linear regression to understand key safety trends. Over the past 30 years, Busan Port faced nine major safety issues-maritime safety, import cargo inspection, labor strikes, and natural disasters emerged cyclically. Major port safety issues in Busan Port are primarily characterized by an unpredictable nature, falling under socio-environmental and natural phenomena types, indicating a significant impact of global uncertainty. Therefore, systematic policies need to be formulated based on identified port safety issues to enhance port safety in Busan Port. Additionally, there is a need to strengthen the resilience of port safety for unpredictable risk situations. In conclusion, advanced research activities are necessary to promote port safety enhancement in response to dynamically changing social conditions.