• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.287-316
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• 2023

As global energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged as social issues, there is a growing demand for companies to move away from profit-centric business models and embrace sustainable management that balances environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. ESG activities of companies vary across industries, and industry-specific weights are applied in ESG evaluations. Therefore, it is important to develop strategic management approaches that reflect the characteristics of each industry and the importance of each ESG factor. Additionally, with the stance of strengthened focus on ESG disclosures, specific guidelines are needed to identify and report on sustainable management activities of domestic companies. To understand corporate sustainability strategies, analyzing ESG reports and news articles by industry can help identify strategic characteristics in specific industries. However, each company has its own unique strategies and report structures, making it difficult to grasp detailed trends or action items. In our study, we analyzed ESG reports (2019-2021) and news articles (2019-2022) of six companies in the 'Finance,' 'Manufacturing,' and 'IT' sectors to examine the sustainability strategies of leading domestic ESG companies. Text mining techniques such as keyword frequency analysis and topic modeling were applied to identify industry-specific, ESG element-specific management strategies and issues. The analysis revealed that in the 'Finance' sector, customer-centric management strategies and efforts to promote an inclusive culture within and outside the company were prominent. Strategies addressing climate change, such as carbon neutrality and expanding green finance, were also emphasized. In the 'Manufacturing' sector, the focus was on creating sustainable communities through occupational health and safety issues, sustainable supply chain management, low-carbon technology development, and eco-friendly investments to achieve carbon neutrality. In the 'IT' sector, there was a tendency to focus on technological innovation and digital responsibility to enhance social value through technology. Furthermore, the key issues identified in the ESG factors were as follows: under the 'Environmental' element, issues such as greenhouse gas and carbon emission management, industry-specific eco-friendly activities, and green partnerships were identified. Under the 'Social' element, key issues included social contribution activities through stakeholder engagement, supporting the growth and coexistence of members and partner companies, and enhancing customer value through stable service provision. Under the 'Governance' element, key issues were identified as strengthening board independence through the appointment of outside directors, risk management and communication for sustainable growth, and establishing transparent governance structures. The exploration of the relationship between ESG disclosures in reports and ESG issues in news articles revealed that the sustainability strategies disclosed in reports were aligned with the issues related to ESG disclosed in news articles. However, there was a tendency to strengthen ESG activities for prevention and improvement after negative media coverage that could have a negative impact on corporate image. Additionally, environmental issues were mentioned more frequently in news articles compared to ESG reports, with environmental-related keywords being emphasized in the 'Finance' sector in the reports. Thus, ESG reports and news articles shared some similarities in content due to the sharing of information sources. However, the impact of media coverage influenced the emphasis on specific sustainability strategies, and the extent of mentioning environmental issues varied across documents. Based on our study, the following contributions were derived. From a practical perspective, companies need to consider their characteristics and establish sustainability strategies that align with their capabilities and situations. From an academic perspective, unlike previous studies on ESG strategies, we present a subdivided methodology through analysis considering the industry-specific characteristics of companies.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.47-54
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• 2020

To develop the bright-vivid red- and yellow-inorganic fluorescent pigments with high luminescence properties, A₃V₅O₁₄ (A = K and Rb) and Cs₂V₄O₁₁ inorganic pigments were synthesized by a water assisted solid state reaction (WASSR) method and a conventional solid state reaction method. Although impurity peaks corresponding to the AVO₃ and AV₃O₈ (A = K, Rb, and Cs) were observed in all samples prepared, the trigonal structure A₃V₅O₁₄ (A = K and Rb) and orthorhombic structure Cs₂V₄O₁₁ were successfully obtained as a main phase. These inorganic pigments showed the broad absorption band (under 550 nm) originated from CT transitions of VO₄ polyhedron, and the strong broad red- and green-emission bands due to ³T₂ → ¹A₁ and ³T₁ → ¹A₁ transitions of the [VO₄]^3- group. The A₃V₅O₁₄ (A = K and Rb) and Cs₂V₄O₁₁ pigments showed a bright-vivid red- and yellow-body color, where the a* values of the A₃V₅O₁₄ (A = K and Rb) were +35.5 and +45.9, respectively, and b* value of Cs₂V₄O₁₁ pigments was +50.3. The L* values of the A₃V₅O₁₄ (A = K and Rb) and Cs₂V₄O₁₁ inorganic pigments were over +45. These results indicate that the A₃V₅O₁₄ (A = K and Rb) and Cs₂V₄O₁₁ inorganic pigments could be an attractive candidate as a bright-vivid red- and yellow inorganic pigments.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2005

This study analyzed total concentrations and existing forms of heavy metals in soils of Ulsan using a sequential extraction method. Soil samples were collected from 6 categorized areas including green, residential, heavy traffic, petrochemical industrial complex(IC), mechanical and shipbuilding IC, and non-ferrous metal IC areas. which represent different emission characteristics. The highest total concentrations of heavy metals by a sequential extraction analysis were observed in the soils collected from the non-ferrous metal IC area, followed by the mechanical and shipbuilding IC and heavy traffic areas. Dominant(> 50%) existing forms of Cd, Cr and Ni were residual forms followed by Fe and Mn oxides in almost areas. Residual fractions in the non-ferrous metal IC areas were relatively lower than those in other areas. However, the fractions of organic and sulphides in the IC areas were higher. The dominant farms of Cu were much different with the investigated areas. In most areas, the dominant forms of Pb and Zn were Fe and Mn oxides, followed by residual fraction for Pb. The exchangeable and carbonate fractions represent mobility of metallic elements in soils. They are also significantly affected by the environmental renditions, such as pHs of soil and rainfall. In this study the exchangeable and carbonate fractions were lower than other fractions. Because the total concentrations of heavy metals in the soils of the non-ferrous metal IC area were extremely high, however, the mobile fractions of heavy metals in the IC area would be significant. Thus a large amount of heavy metals can be released into plants, water bodies, and soils. Therefore, urgent measures, such as source control for soil remediation of heavy metals, in the non-ferrous metal IC areas are essentially required. Analysis results obtained from the sequential extraction and the aqua regia extraction showed a high correlation, whose determination coefficients(R2) of heavy metals except Cd approximately ranged from 0.7 to 0.9.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.198-206
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• 2015

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the effect of combined various microgrooves and thermal oxidation on the titanium (Ti) and to evaluate various in vitro responses of human periodontal ligament cells (PLCs). Materials and methods: Grade II titanium disks were fabricated. Microgrooves were applied on titanium discs to have $0/0{{\mu}m}$, $15/3.5{{\mu}m}$, $30/10{{\mu}m}$, and $60/10{{\mu}m}$ of respective width/depth by photolithography. Thermal oxidation was performed on the microgrooves of Ti substrata for 3 h at $700^{\circ}C$ in air. The experiments were divided into 3 groups: control group (ST), thermal oxidation group (ST/TO), and combined microgrooves and thermal oxidation group (Gr15-TO, Gr30-TO, Gr60-TO). Surface characterization was performed by field-emission scanning microscopy. Cell adhesion, osteoblastic differentiation, and mineralization were analyzed using the bromodeoxyurdine (BrdU), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and extracellular calcium deposition assays, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using the oneway analysis of variance and Pearson's bivariate correlation analysis (SPSS Version 17.0). Results: In general, the combined microgrooves and thermal oxidation group (Gr15-TO, Gr30-TO, Gr60-TO) showed significantly higher levels compared with the control (ST) or thermal oxidation (ST-TO) groups in the BrdU expression, ALP activity, and extracellular calcium deposition. Gr60-TO group induced highest levels of cell adhesion and osteoblastic differentiation. Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, we conclude that the Ti surface treatment using combined microgrooves and thermal oxidation is highly effective in inducing the cell adhesion andosteoblastic differentiation. The propose surface is also expected to be effective in inducing rapid and strong osseointegration of Ti oral implants.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.241-249
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• 2013

This study was aimed to provide the fundamental data about oxidized hair color products. For this reason, we collected 125 oxidized hair color products, which were distributed in domestic market from January to October, 2012, and measured the heavy metal concentrations of lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, manganese, nickel, copper in the samples. Results were compared by domestic, foreign, henna, type and color. The average metal concentrations were as follows; 0.211 ${\mu}g/g$ for lead, 0.008 ${\mu}g/g$ for cadmium, 0.051 ${\mu}g/g$ for arsenic, 0.954 ${\mu}g/g$ for chromium, 6.250 ${\mu}g/g$ for manganese, 0.591 ${\mu}g/g$ for nickel and 0.544 ${\mu}g/g$ for copper. In case of lead and arsenic, the concentrations were much less than the regulated amount (20 ${\mu}g/g$ and 10 ${\mu}g/g$, respectively) suggested by MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety). In henna (p < 0.05), the concentrations were significantly higher than those of other domestic and foreign oxidized hair color products as follows; 1.264 ${\mu}g/g$ for lead, 0.267 ${\mu}g/g$ for arsenic, 0.025 ${\mu}g/g$ for cadmium, 4.055 ${\mu}g/g$ for chromium, 72.044 ${\mu}g/g$ for manganese, 3.076 ${\mu}g/g$ for nickel and 4.640 ${\mu}g/g$ for copper. Statistically, it showed that the heavy metal concentrations were quite different for the different types of hair color products. The cream and liquid type products had the highest average concentration in chromium (0.708 ${\mu}g/g$, 0.478 ${\mu}g/g$, respectively). On the other hand, powder type products showed the highest concentration in manganese (60.041 ${\mu}g/g$). In addition, the concentrations of heavy metals and the color of products are not quite correlated. It was shown that average concentrations of lead and chromium were higher for yellow, chromium for red and pink, manganese for brown and black, and nickel for green.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.125-148
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• 2014

This paper performs a historical analysis on the various factors contributing to the current carbon lock-in of Korean electricity industry by using techo-institutional complex. The possibilities of the industry's carbon lock-out toward more sustainable development are also investigated. It turns out that market, firm, consumer, and government factors are all responsible for the development of the carbon lock-in of Korean power industry; the Korean government consistently favoring large power plants based on the economy of scale; below-cost electricity tariff; inflation policy to suppress increases in power price; rapid demand growth in summer and winter seasons; rigidities of electricity tariff; and expansion of gas-fired and imported coal-fired large power plants. On the other hand, except for nuclear power generation and smart grid, environment laws and new and renewable energy laws are the other remaining factors contributing to the carbon lock-out. Considering three key points that Korea is an export-oriented economy, the generation mix is the most critical factor to decide the amounts of carbon emission in the power industry, and the share of industry and commercial power consumption is over 85%, it is unlikely that Korea will achieve the carbon lock-out of power industry in the near future. Therefore, there are needs for more integrated approaches from market, firm, consumer, and government all together in order to achieve the carbon lock-out in the electricity industry. Firstly, from the market perspective, it is necessary to persue more active new and renewable energy penetration and to guarantee consumer choices by mitigating the incumbent's monopoly power as in the OECD countries. Secondly, from the firm perspective, the promotion of distributed energy system is urgent, which includes new and renewable resources and demand resources. Thirdly, from the consumer perspective, more green choices in the power tariff and customer awareness on the carbon lock-out are needed. Lastly, the government shall urgently improve power planning frameworks to include the various externalities that were not properly reflected in the past such as environmental and social conflict costs.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.886-891
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• 2010

Importance of climate change and its impact on agriculture and environment have increased with a rise of greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentration in Earth's atmosphere, which caus an increase of temperature in Earth. Greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), methane ($CH_4$) and nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) in the Upland field need to be assessed. GHGs fluxes using chamber systems in two upland fields having different soil textures during pepper cultivation (2005) were monitored under different soil textures at the experimental plots of National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS), Rural Development Administration (RDA) located in Suwon city, Korea. $CO_2$ emissions were 12.9 tonne $CO_2\;ha^{-1}$ in clay loam soil and 7.6 tonne $CO_2\;ha^{-1}$ in sandy loam soil. $N_2O$ emissions were 35.7 kg $N_2O\;ha^{-1}$ in clay loam soil and 9.2 kg $N_2O\;ha^{-1}$ in sandy loam soil. $CH_4$ emissions were 0.054 kg $CH_4\;ha^{-1}$ in clay loam soil and 0.013 kg $CH_4\;ha^{-1}$ in sandy loam soil. Total emission of GHGs ($CO_2$, $N_2O$, and $CH_4$) during pepper cultivation was converted by Global Warming Potential (GWP). GWP in clay loam soil was higher with 24.0 tonne $CO_2$-eq. $ha^{-1}$ than that in sandy loam soil (10.5 tonne $CO_2$-eq. $ha^{-1}$), which implied more GHGs were emitted in clay loam soil.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.635-646
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• 2018

This study sought to identify the characteristics of seasonal concentration differences of particulate matter influenced by land cover types associated with particulate matter emission and reductions, namely forest and urbanized regions. PM10 and PM2.5 was measured with quantitative concentration in 2016 on 23 urban air monitoring stations in Seoul, classified the stations into 3 groups based on the ratio of urbanized and forest land covers within a range of 3km around station, and analysed the differences in particulate matter concentration by season. The center values for the urbanized and forest land covers by group were 53.4% and 34.6% in Group A, 61.8% and 16.5% in Group B, and 76.3% and 6.7% in Group C. The group-specific concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 by season indicated that the concentration of Group A, with high ratio of forests, was the lowest in all seasons, and the concentration of Group C, with high ratio of urbanized regions, had the highest concentration from spring to autumn. These inter-group differences were statistically significant. The concentration of Group C was lower than Group B in the winter; however, the differences between Groups B to C in the winter were not statistically significant. Group A concentration compared to the high-concentration groups by season was lower by 8.5%, 11.2%, 8.0%, 6.8% for PM10 in the order of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and 3.5%, 10.0%, 4.1% and 3.3% for PM2.5. The inter-group concentration differences for both PM10 and PM2.5 were the highest in the summer and grew smaller in the winter, this was thought to be because the forests' ability to reduce particulate matter emissions was the most pronounced during the summer and the least pronounced during the winter. The influence of urbanized areas on particulate matter concentration was lower compared to the influence of forests. This study provided evidence that the particulate matter concentration was lower for regions with higher ratios of forests, and subsequent studies are required to identify the role of green space to manage particulate matter concentration in cities.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.41-59
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• 2022

In accordance with the enactment of 'the Paris Agreement' in 2015 and 'the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Response to the Climate Crisis' in 2021, each local government has set appropriate reduction target of greenhouse gas to achieve the nationally determined contribution (NDC, the reduction target of 40% compared to 2018) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2030. In this study, the current distribution of GHG emissions was analyzed in a time series centered on the Chungbuk region for the period from 1990 to 2018, with the aim of reducing GHG emissions in Chungbuk by 2030 based on the 2030 NDC and scenario. In addition, the prospected reduction by 2030 was estimated considering the projected emissions according to Busines As Usual in order to achieve the target reduction of GHG emissions. Our results showed that GHG emissions in Chungbuk and Korea have been increasing since 1990 owing to population and economic growth. GHG emissions in 2018 in Chungbuk were very low (3.9 %) relative to the national value. Moreover, emissions from fuel combustion, such as cement and lime production, manufacturing and construction industries, and transportation industries, were the main sources. Furthermore, the 2030 target of GHG emission reduction in Chungbuk was set at 40.2% relative to the 2018 value, in accordance with the 2030 NDC and 2050 carbon-zero national scenario. Therefore, when projected emissions were considered, the prospected reduction to achieve the target reduction of GHG emissions was estimated to be 46.8% relative to 2018. The above results highlight the importance of meeting the prospected reduction of GHG emissions through reduction means in each sector to achieve the national and local GHG reduction target. In addition, to achieve the 2030 NDC and 2050 carbon zero, the country and each local government, including Chungbuk, need to estimate projected emissions by year, determine reduction targets and prospect reductions every year, and prepare specific means to reduce GHG emissions.