• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.209-220
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• 2022

Objectives: This study was performed to suggest how to re-establish criterion for toxic substances under the Chemical Control Act (CCA) in South Korea by comparing the GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals) score and toxic properties. Methods: Toxic substances were classified into seven groups (Acute toxicity (1A), Chronic toxicity (2C), Environmental hazards (3E), Acute toxicity & chronic toxicity (4AC), Chronic toxicity & environmental hazards (5CE), Acute toxicity & environmental hazards (6AE), and Acute toxicity & chronic toxicity & environmental hazards (7ACE)) according to their toxic properties. The GHS score was calculated to sum up five toxicity indicators (health acute toxicity, health repeated toxicity, carcinogenicity, health other chronic toxicity and environmental hazards). Results: The GHS score of 7ACE was higher by 7 times that of 1A. 1A is the only group which has lower than the total GHS score. The highest score was 47, for sodium chromate (CAS no. 7775-11-3), which belongs to group 7ACE. This is classified as acute toxicity, carcinogenicity, germ cell mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, and acute and chronic environmental hazard. On the other hand, the lowest score was 2.75, which was assigned to 177 chemicals belonging to group 1A. When the health acute toxicity indicator was omitted from the toxic criterion, toxic substances could be divided into the sub-groups 'human chronic hazards group' (HCG) and 'environmental hazards group' (EG) according to their GHS score and properties. Conclusions: The proposed criterion for toxic substances is to establish sub-groups defined as HCG and EG for separate control and that the 1A group be moved to substances requiring preparation for accidents under the CCA.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.272-281
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• 2022

Background: The constant consumption of chemical products owing to expanding industrialization has led to an increase in public interest in chemical substances. As the production and disposal processes for these chemical products cause environmental problems, regional information on the hazard level of chemical substances is required considering their effects on humans and in order to ensure environmental safety. Objectives: This study aimed to identify hazard contribution and spatiotemporal characteristics by region and chemical by calculating a hazard-based result score using pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) data. Methods: This study calculated the chemical discharge and hazard-based result score from the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model, analyzed their spatiotemporal patterns, and identified hotspot areas where chemical discharges and high hazard-based scores were concentrated. The amount of chemical discharge and hazard-based risk scores for 250 cities and counties across South Korea were calculated using PRTR data from 2011 to 2018. Results: The chemical discharge (high densities in Incheon, Daegu, and Busan) and hazard-based result scores (high densities in Incheon, Chungcheongnam-do, and some areas of Gyeongsangnam-do Province) showed varying spatial patterns. The chemical discharge (A, B) and hazard-based result score (C, D) hotspots were identified. Additionally, identification of the hazard-based result scores revealed differences in the type of chemicals contributing to the discharge. Ethylbenzene accounted for ≥80% of the discharged chemicals in the discharge hotspots, while chromium accounted for >90% of the discharged chemicals in the hazard-based result score hotspots. Conclusions: The RSEI hazard-based result score is a quantitative indicator that considers the degree of impact on human health as a toxicity-weighted value. It can be used for the management of industries discharging chemical substances as well as local environmental health management.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.20 no.2 s.49
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• pp.109-121
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• 2005

A chemical ranking and scoring (CRS-Korea) system was developed and proposed to use as the first step to prioritize the toxic chemicals for the purpose of monitoring and detailed risk assessment that might follow as necessary. The CRS-Korea system takes a basic concept of risk assessment (both human health risk and ecological risk) in that risk score is determined by the product of toxicity score and exposure score. Included in the toxicity category are acute toxicity, chronic/sub -chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity, and other toxicity. The exposure category consists of quantity released to the environment, bioconcentration, and persistence. A consistent scheme and a comprehensive chemical data base are offered in the CRS-Korea system to calculate a score for the each component in the two categories by using specific physicochemical, fate, and toxic properties and the quantity of the chemical used. The toxicity score is obtained by adding up all the individual scores for the components in the toxicity category. The exposure score is determined by multiplication of the score of the quantity released with the sum of persistent score and bioconcentration score. Equal weight is given to the toxicity score and the exposure score. As the CRS-Korea system was applied to identify 50 national priority chemicals, it was found that significant data gap exists on toxicity and fate properties and that the uncertainty associated with estimating the quantify released to the environment is notably high. The proposed CRS system is only a screening tool in the first step toward the priority setting and should be used with expert judgement and other considerations necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.9-18
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• 2016

G-SEED(Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design) is the certification system to evaluate environmental friendliness of buildings for the purpose of reducing environmental burden generated from the entire process of buildings, which is classified into 4 grades according to the evaluated score. Green building certification rule regulate to get over green 2nd grade for the public office buildings of $3000m^2$ or more. However, detailed measures on the applied level of each issue to obtain targeted certification grade have not been prepared yet. For each issue, the score distribution and the ratio of score in proportion to credit were analyzed by certification grade for office buildings which get the G-SEED certification. And applied level of issues were presented for each certification grade.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1117-1126
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• 2022

This study analyzed the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) score on information asymmetry from the perspective of investors, who are important stakeholders of the company. For KOSPI-listed companies from 2017 to 2020, the effect of ESG overall score and each item score (E, S, G) on the bid-ask spread, which is a proxy for information asymmetry, was confirmed. The results are as follows. First, the increase in corporate CSR activities resulted in lowering information asymmetry of investors. It was found that the higher the ESG score, an indicator of CSR activity, the lower the bid-ask spread, which is a proxy variable for information asymmetry. Second, as a result of analysis using ESG scores for each section, information asymmetry decreased as companies with higher scores in the environmental (E) and social (S) aspects, while the governance (G) score did not have a statistically significant effect. The analysis confirmed that corporate CSR activities can contribute to improving market efficiency by resolving information asymmetry of investors and convergence of the stock market into a state of equilibrium. This means that the company's CSR activities are reflected in the investment decision-making, which suggests that the company should consider the investor as a stakeholder in decision-making related to CSR activities.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.225-235
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• 1994

Concidering environmental education as an ultimate resolution for environmental problems, we conducted a study focusing on affective matters. An instrument was developed to evaluate attitudes of elementary and middle school students toward environmental problems. To develop a reliable Likert-type evaluation instrument scale with which emotional intensity could be judged, mean, standard deviation, response frequency distribution, discrimination index, reliability were calculated. As a result, 21 statements for recognition level and 14 statements for behavioral level were made(The Cronbach alpha coefficient of the instrument was .786). This instrument was used to evaluate 5th and 6th grade elementary school students and 1st and 2nd grade middle school students(total number of subjects was 980). The result of this survey can be summarized as follows. 1. Students recognized the seriousness of environmental problems but they did not behave in such a manner as to prevent it. 2. As a result of t-test, behavioral level score of elemenatary school students was significantly higher than that of middle school students(p<.001). 3. This study showed that there was a significant correlation between the recognition level score and the behavioral level score(r=.386, p<.001). 4. Two-Way ANOVA was used to analyze that there was any significant difference according to grade and sex. The results were as follows. (1) No significant difference was found in total score. (2) On recognition level, female students' score was signigicantly higher than that of male students(p<.01). (3) On behavioral level, higher-grade students' score was lower than that of lower-grade-students (p<.001).

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.171-176
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• 1998

This study was conducted to evaluate water quality utilizing principal component analysis in the Nakdong River Estuary. From the results of analysis, water quality in the Nakdong River Estuary could be explained up to 65.3 Percente by three factors which were Included In river loadlnwastes from the Nakdong River and rainfalls : 39.1%1, sediment resuspension(13.7BS) and metabolism(12.5%). In the eastern part of estuary In flowing the Nakdong River, river loading factor score(factor 1 Pas higher than that In western part. Sediment resuspension factor score(factor 2) was high in shallow water, while metabolism factor score(factor 3) was high in deeper water. For seasonal variations of factors score, factor 1 was h19h- 1y related to rainfall season.

• Korean Journal of Rural Living Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.57-72
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to investigate some influencing variables related to the management behavior on environmental preservation of housewives in Pusan. The subject of this study were 411 housewives and interviewed with a questionnaire. The data was analyzed by SPSS/PC＋ Program for the frequency, mean, standard deviation, Cronbach's$\alpha$, t-test, F-test, Duncan's multiple range test and regression. The major result of this study were as follows : 1. The level of Environmental Management Knowledge was relatively high. The perceived level of environmental pollution was relatively high. The score of perception on water pollution was the highest. The level of management behavior on environmental preservation was relativity low. The score of management behavior on food pollution was the highest. 2. Frequencies of management behavior on environmental preservation differ according to age, education, relegion, and mass - media. 3. The influenced level of perception on air pollution was the highest among the other variables.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.611-621
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• 2011

This study aims to find out an effect of 3 types of environment worksheets used for 5th elementary graders's environmental class on their environmental perceptions and behavior. 104 of 5th graders in M elementary school in Ulsan Metropolitan City were selected and divided into A group(35), B group(34) and C group(35) for this study, and to A group, a class used worksheet of the photo taken clean, unpolluted environment, and to B group, a class used worksheet of the photo taken polluted environment and to C group, a class used worksheet of only text without photo were carried out. The worksheet used class was conducted 5 times, and then after the classes, the student's change in environmental perceptions and behavior by group was put into verification Below are the study results. First, the worksheets used for the environment class have incurred significant differences in student's environmental perceptions by their types. A. B groups were higher than C group in their post-test environmental perceptions score, a statistically significant differences. Meanwhile, statistically insignificant differences appeared in environmental perceptions score between A and B groups. Second, the type of worksheet used for environment class represented considerable differences in he students' environmental behavior. A group was higher than B. C groups in post test environment behavior score, the difference of which was statistically significant. While statistically insignificant difference represented in environmental behavior between B, C groups. Third, the both types of worksheets of the photo of positive environment and that of negative environment appeared to be effective statistically in changing the elementary students' environmental behavior, while the worksheets of the photo of positive environment appeared to be effective statistically in their environmental behavior.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.29
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• pp.17.1-17.6
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• 2014

Objectives Antimicrobial chemicals are used in a variety of household and personal care products. Exposure to antimicrobial household products has been hypothesized to lead to allergic diseases in children. Methods We investigated antimicrobial household product exposure and allergic symptoms in Korean children. An antimicrobial exposure (AE) score was derived. To examine the symptoms of allergic diseases (current wheeze, current rhinitis, and current eczema) in the past 12 months, we used a questionnaire based on the core module of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children. Complete data for the analysis were available for 25,805 of the 35,590 (72.5%) children. Results The prevalence of current allergic diseases was as follows: wheeze, 5.6%; allergic rhinitis, 32.6%; and eczema, 17.7%. The mean (standard deviation) AE score was 14.3 (9.3) (range: 0-40). Compared with subjects with a low AE score (reference), subjects with a high AE score (fourth quartile) were more likely to have symptoms of wheezing and allergic rhinitis (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] for wheezing 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.45, p for trend=0.24; aOR for allergic rhinitis 1.30, 95% CI, 1.20-1.40, p <0.01). Conclusions These findings suggest that frequent use of antimicrobial household products was associated with current wheeze and current allergic rhinitis.