• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.267-275
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• 2007

In this study, relationship between the air pollution of Siheung city and the relative contribution of automobiles to the city's pollution was evaluated for the first time. Then, new air pollution exposure index was developed through simulation. Using the newly developed index, two different urban development scenarios were compared to present a sustainable urban development plan to reduce air pollution from the land utilization point of view. According to the result of this simulation, air quality of the city was found to be affected significantly by human activities. More populated area showed worse level of air quality. Any development in the city resulted in more automobile activity and deterioration of air quality. This simulation result thus explains that a rapid increase of automobiles accompanied by the land development near local roadsides in the city is the major cause of air pollution in Siheung city. In this study, if urban activities are vigorous in an area with high air pollution, people are more likely to be exposed to air pollutant under the bad environmental conditions. On the other hand, if urban activities are less vigorous in an area with high pollution or if urban activities are vigorous in an area with less pollution, the environmental condition was positive. The APEI (Air Pollution Exposure Index) was developed based on these considerations. Scenarios 1 and 2 were compared and analyzed using APEI. In result, scenario 1 is the case in which land is developed and used in an environmentally favorable manner. From this study, it was proved that the impact of air pollution on human health can be minimized with proper land use. The result form the current study can be used as the basic information to solve problems from improper land utilization and air pollution (by road traffic). It also can be utilized to evaluate air pollution level according to land use and road characteristics and to help to choose the best location of land use to comply with the road function and status.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.106-117
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• 2012

In an effort to analyze the impact of climate change, Gangwon provincial forest was divided into three sectors; forest ecology, forest disaster, and forest productivity and analysis of their current status from 2000 to 2009 and vulnerability assessment by climate change has been carried in this study. In case of vulnerability assessment, except for the forest ecology, forest disaster (forest fires and forest pests) and forest productivity sectors were analyzed in current status, the year of 2020, and 2050. It turned out that vulnerability of forest fires in the field of disaster would become worse and forest pests also would make more impact even though there is some variation in different areas. In case of the vulnerability of forest productivity there would be not a big difference in the future compared with current vulnerability. Systematic research on the sensitivity index used for vulnerability assessment is necessary since vulnerability assessment result greatly depends on the use of climate exposure index and adaptive capacity index.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2011

Habitats loss and fragmentation are major threats to biodiversity. There are various kinds of environmental assessment have been developed for various problems to solve. Yet, there are no well-developed methods for quantifying and predicting about biodiversity. To achieve a sustainable conservation for biodiversity, the structural diversity of forest must be assessed by proper indexes. This study aim to quantitatively assess the diversity of forest structure as habitats and results of the verification by bird survey for objective presentation of evidence. As a result of literature review, some indexes were selected as potential prediction tools for biodiversity; area of patch, area of core regions, shape of patch and average age of stand. The assessment results were estimated by monitoring of birds for accuracy verification and the results were almost in agreement with each others. But, 1 and 2 level of forests were showed ambiguous results. Certainly, this study was limited in some valuation indexes on landscape scale. Further studies should be considered that different environmental factors such as land use, disturbances by human and vegetation index. Also, we expect that the additional monitoring of birds should give rise to the result which is improved assessment results.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2021

Objectives: Acute exposure to high concentrations of chemicals can occur when a chemical accident takes place. As such exposure can cause ongoing environmental pollution, such as in the soil and groundwater, there is a need for a tool that can assess health effects in the long term. The purpose of this study was assessing the health risks of residents living near a chemical accident site due to long-term exposure while considering the temporal concentration changes of the toxic chemicals leaked during the accident until their extinction in the environment using a multimedia environmental dynamics model. Methods: A health risk assessment was conducted on three cases of formaldehyde chemical accidents. In this study, health risk assessment was performed using a multimedia environmental dynamics model that considers the behavior of the atmosphere, soil, and water. In addition, the extinction period of formaldehyde in the environment was regarded as extinction in the environment when the concentration in the air and soil fell below the background concentration prior to the accident. The subjects of health risk assessment were classified into four groups according to age: 0-9 years old, 10-18 years old, 19-64 years old, and over 65 years old. Carcinogenic risk assessment by respiratory exposure and non-carcinogenic risk assessment by soil intake were conducted as well. Results: In the assessment of carcinogenic risk due to respiratory exposure, the excess carcinogenic risk did not exceed 1.0×10-6 in all three chemical accidents, so there was no health effect due to the formaldehyde chemical accident. As a result of the evaluation of non-carcinogenic risk due to soil intake, none of the three chemical accidents had a risk index of 1, so there was no health effect. For all three chemical accidents, the excess cancer risk and hazard index were the highest in the age group 0-9. Next, 10-18 years old, 65 years old or older, and 19-64 years old showed the highest risk. Conclusion: This study considers environmental changes after a chemical accident occurs and until the substance disappears from the environment. It also conducts a health risk assessment by reflecting the characteristics of the long-term persistence and concentration change over time. It is thought that it is of significance as a health risk assessment study reflecting the exposure characteristics of the accident substance for an actual chemical accident.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.514-536
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• 2018

GPI (Group Pollution Index) using 29 indicator groups of Korean benthic macroinvertebrates was proposed in 1992, a higher category taxa-level index developed for rapid field assessment of organic water pollution. This study was performed to revise the assessment scheme of GPI based on taxonomic performance and ecological information accumulated since 1992. The original GPI was renamed SBMI (Simple Benthic Macroinvertebrates Index), and SBMI was based on saprobic valency of 26 indicator groups composed of higher category taxa (mainly family ~ phylum) excluding some genus or species-level taxa. SBMI revealed highly significant correlation with concentration of 5-day biochemical oxygen demand ($BOD_5$) (correlation coefficient r = 0.78, n = 569 sites), total suspended solids (r = 0.69), and total phosphorus (r = 0.77). Also, SBMI revealed strong correlation with Shannon-Weaver's species diversity (r = -0.85), Margalef's species richness (r = -0.85), and McNaughton's dominance (r = 0.83). Determination coefficient of SBMI to concentration of water quality items and values of community indices such as species diversity was 3 ~ 8 % and approximately 11 ~ 14 % higher than that of GPI, respectively. Correlation between SBMI and water quality factors or community indices such as species diversity did not reveal much difference compared to that of species-level indices, such as BMI (Benthic Macroinvertebrates Index) and ESB (Ecological Score of Benthic Macroinvertebrates). SMBI is a simple-qualitative index with higher category taxa easily identified, and is applicable for rapid field assessment of water environment impairment.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 1999

This study discussed the appropriateness of organic matter indexes such as biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) and chemical oxygen demand with potassium permanganate($COD_{Mn}$) in water quality environmental standard of streams and lakes and the applicability of the items to water quality environmental standard to add or substitute COD with potassium dichromate ($COD_{Cr}$) and total organic carbon(TOC) being used as index of organic matter. And indexes of organic matter content and organic carbon concentration were distinguished between dissolved and particulate component in water sample to estimate their effect on pollutants loading in lake and stream. The ratio of $COD_{Cr}$/BOD was 5.1 under BOD concentration 3mg/L in river water quality environmental standard II, and 2.67 above it. This ratio was diminished to 2.04 when BOD concentration was more than 8mg/L, in river quality environmental standard IV. Also the ratio of $COD_{Mn}$/BOD showed 2.16 under 3mg/L(BOD), and 1.1 above it. This ratio is also diminished to 0.84 over 8mg/L(BOD). Accordingly, we should apply this ratio depending on the concentration level to add and change organic matter index of water quality environmental standard newly. The ratio $COD_{Cr}/COD_{Mn}$ both in lake and stream shows 2.37(r=0.986, p<0.001). But the ratios showed range of 2.34~2.50, which is no much difference of this ratio according to $COD_{Mn}$ concentration.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.499-508
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• 2010

This study proposed a life cycle impact assessment index that can indicate the environment-related information of the product in monetary value such that the national geographical, environmental, and social features are fully reflected based on a damage-oriented model. First, the estimation process was classified into characterization, damage assessment, and integration stages considering the six biggest impact categories: resource depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, and photochemical oxidant creation. Moreover, this study came up with the 16 category endpoints related to the 6 impact categories, and the damage function, to the 4 largest safeguard subjects. The integration indices of finally identified impact categories were KRW 21.8/kg Sb, KRW 6.19/kg$CO_2$, KRW 53,000/kg CFC-11, KRW 13,100/kg $SO_2$, KRW 2,310/kg ${PO_4}^{3-}$, and KRW 3,030/kg $C_2H_4$. Using the results of this research, environmental impacts based on the environmental load generated throughout the entire life cycle of a product can serve as a single index in monetary value; thus enhancing understanding and utilization of the results of life cycle impact assessments.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.81-82
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• 2006

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.109-118
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• 2015

This study was performed to propose the site selection plan for the restoration of the target Reeve's turtle (Maunemys reevesii) habitat and has developed the AHP model to select the optimal site for Reeve's turtle habitat restoration on the basis of the Reeve's turtle Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) items (factors and variables). The assessment areas were established by the Reeve's turtle HSI factors such as breeding space, feed, cover, water, threatening factors and others and the sub-assessment items by each assessment area were established based on the Reeve's turtle HSI variables. The weighting values of the assessment areas and items were calculated by the developed AHP method. The weighting values of the 5 assessment areas were arranged in order as breeding space(0.293), food(0.273), water(0.217), cover(0.113), and threatening factor(0.104). The final weighting values of the 17 assessment items were arranged in order of height as all kind of food(0.222), water depth(0.096), altitude of spawning ground(0.093). The scoring criteria according to the assessment items and factors were marked and applied by equal intervals considering the criteria by HSI items of the Reeve's turtle and finally the scoring criteria diagram as been proposed for the optimal site selection of the Reeve's turtle habitat restoration.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.841-857
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• 2012

Preliminary ecological environmental assessments including physico-chemical constituents, water quality, fish fauna analysis, physical habitat health, and ecological health assessment were conducted as a primary step for Jeungchon micro-habitat ecosystem restoration in 2012. Water chemistry analysis of conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a and etc. indicated that there were no significant differences(p < 0.05) among 6 sites between the headwaters and downstream. Multi-metric model analysis of Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index(QHEI) showed that brooklets were at "good condition" as a mean QHEI of 158.7(n = 6) and the longitudinal differences of the model values between the sites were minor(QHEI range: 153 - 165). Total fish species and the number of individuals were 12 and 481, respectively, and dominant species were Zacco platypus(49.5%) and Zacco koreanus(36.8%). Tolerance guild analysis showed that the proportion of sensitive species($S_S$) had a negative linear function[$S_S=86.35-0.31(D_H)$; $R^2$ = 0.892, p < 0.01] with a distance from the headwaters, while the proportion of tolerant species($T_S$) had a positive linear function($R^2$ = 0.950, F = 90.28, p < 0.001) with the distance. Trophic feeding guild analysis showed that the proportion of insectivore species($I_n$) had a negative linear function($R^2$ = 0.934, p < 0.01) with a distance from the headwaters, while the proportion of omnivore species($O_m$) had a positive linear function($R^2$ = 0.958, p < 0.001) with the distance. Index of Biological Integrity(IBI) model, based on fish assemblages, showed a "fair condition" as a mean IBI of 23(n = 6), and there was a distinct differences of ecological health between the headwaters(S1 = 30; "good condition") and the downstreams(S6 = 14; "poor condition"). Overall, the preliminary environmental impact assessments suggest that water quality, physical habitat conditions(QHEI model), and ecological health(IBI model) were maintained well, even if the state was not an excellent conditions.