• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 1989

This study was objected to figure out the soil microarthropod fauna in forests with different flora, and to elucidate how environmental factors affect the diversity of soil microarthropods. Relationships between the distribution density of soil microarthropods and environmental factors were correlated positively with organic matter and C/N ratio. By the calculation of the contribution coefficients, organic matter, amount of precipitation, C/N ratio, and soil moisture were found to be major environmental factors that affect the distribution of soil microarthropods.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.53-58
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• 2002

Adverse environmental conditions such as drought, high salt and cold/freezing are major factors that reduces crop productivity worldwide. According to a survey, 50-80% of the maximum potential yield is lost by these "environmental or abiotic stresses", which is approximately ten times higher than the loss by biotic stresses. Thus, improving stress-tolerance of crop plants is an important way to improve agricultural productivity, In order to develop such stress-tolerant crop plants, we set out to identify key stress signaling components that can be used to develop commercially viable crop varieties with enhanced stress tolerance. Our primary focus so far has been on the identification of transcription factors that regulate stress responsive gene expression, especially those involved in ABA-mediated stress response. Be sessile, plants have the unique capability to adapt themselves to the abiotic stresses. This adaptive capability is largely dependent on the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA), whose level increases under various stress conditions, triggering adaptive response. Central to the response is ABA-regulated gene expression, which ultimately leads to physiological changes at the whole plant level. Thus, once identified, it would be possible to enhance stress tolerance of crop plants by manipulating the expression of the factors that mediate ABA-dependent stress response. Here, we present our work on the isolation and functional characterization of the transcription factors.n factors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5625-5629
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• 2013

Occurrence of breast cancer is related to genetic as well as cultural, environmental and life-style factors. Variations in diversity of these factors among different ethnic groups and geographical areas emphasize the immense need for studies in all racial-ethnic populations. The incidence of breast cancer in Pakistan is highest in Asians after Jews in Israel and 2.5 times higher than that in neighboring countries like Iran and India, accounting for 34.6% of female cancers. The Pakistani population is deficient in information regarding breast cancer etiology and epidemiology, but efforts done so far had suggested consanguinity as a major risk factor for frequent mutations leading to breast cancer and has also shed light on genetic origins in different ethnic groups within Pakistan. World-wide research efforts on different ethnicities have enhanced our understanding of genetic predisposition to breast cancer but despite these discoveries, 75% of the familial risk of breast cancer remains unexplained, highlighting the fact that the majority of breast cancer susceptibility genes remain unidentified. For this purpose Pakistani population provides a strong genetic pool to elucidate the genetic etiology of breast cancer because of cousin marriages. In this review, we describe the known breast cancer predisposition factors found in the local Pakistani population and the epidemiological research work done to emphasize the importance of exploring factors/variants contributing to breast cance, in order to prevent, cure and decrease its incidence in our country.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 1993

As the environmental concerns have shifted gradually from the environmental pollutions to the Quality of Life (QOL) enhancement, it has become increasingly important to implement comprehensive assessment of environmental quality for public information as well as decision making. This study focuses on development of PEI(Public Environment Index) which has purposes to improve regional environment and analyzes the status of environment by public as one kind of environmental indices. Factors of PEI calculations are air, water, noise, green space and landscape. Factors are composed of 20 items including soiling and odor. Major contents are calculation of PEI, correlation analysis of factors and items of PEI, regression analysis of PEI and objective environmental indicators prepared as a dong unit, and PEI presentation using GIS. Also, for applying PEI effectively, environmental information as a dong unit is to be collected and managed periodically.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-29
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• 2003

This paper examines the dynamics of environmental policy development in Korea by reviewing some of the ways on how the policy windows have been opened. There are a lot of theoretical arguments about the major factors influencing policy development or changes. Many scholars have believed that severe pollution accidents or salient environmental episodes might have been the main motivation of environmental policy development. This line of argument seems valid, especially with the water pollution control policy in Korea. Water pollution control programs had rapidly expanded along with the series of water pollution accidents in the tap water sources from the late 1980s to mid-1990s. However, regarding other major env. issues, various other factors have played more important roles in the development of the relevant policies. In case of air pollution control policy international sport events such as, 1986 Asian Games, 1988 Summer Olympics, and 2002 World Cup Competition, have contributed for the development. The municipal solid waste management policy partly owed its development to the introduction of local autonomy system in the mid-1990s. Even the foreign currency crisis occurring in December 1997 helped the policy paradigm shift from rigid supply-oriented to soft demand-oriented approaches. After closely looking at the dynamics of environmental policy development in Korea, this paper tries to identify the logical background of the observed outcomes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors and variables which have significant effects on landscape satisfaction of urban pedestrian road in Bun-dang new town and to suggest basic information for urban pedestrian road design. These works consist of two phase. First, we tested the Hye-Cheon college students' degree of landscape satisfaction for 37 spots of urban pedestrian road and then selected 10 sports slide by the Sturges' formula. Second, we analysed factors and variables on landscape satisfaction of urban pedestrian road using the semantic differential scale method and then processed using descriptive analysis, factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows; 1) The difference of landscape adjectives between the highest score of landscape satisfaction slide and the lowest score landscape satisfaction slide were diversity of vegetation, plenty of the shade of a tree, naturalness and cleanness. 2) Diversity of vegetation, width of road, freedom of danger and diversity of environment can be significant variables of major effects on landscape satisfaction of urban pedestrian road by using the multiple linear regression analysis. 3) Factors covering the landscape satisfaction of urban pedestrian road have been found to be Environment of urban pedestrian road and Constitution of urban pedestrian road. By using the Varimaxs' rotation factor analysis for the number of factors' cumulative percentage has been obtained as 64%. 4) Environment of urban pedestrian road and Constitution of urban pedestrian road can be significant factors of major effects on landscape satisfaction of urban pedestrian road by using the multiple linear regression analysis. In conclusion, the landscape satisfaction factors and variables of urban pedestrian road need to be considered in plan or design the urban pedestrian road.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.541-555
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine heavy metal exposure levels in the blood and urine of a nationally representative adult population in Korea, and to identify the major influence factors for exposure through linkage analysis using questionnaire data. Methods: Biological samples and questionnaire data were collected from adults aged 18 and over who had participated in the Korean National Environmental Health Survey from 2009 to 2017. Lead, mercury, and cadmium exposure levels were presented with geometric mean and 95th percentiles. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the factors affecting heavy metal concentrations. Results: Blood lead levels increased slightly in Cycle 2 compared to Cycle 1, but decreased in Cycle 3. Blood and urinary mercury and urinary cadmium levels decreased over time. The main influence factors included gender, age, and smoking status for blood lead levels; gender, age, and intake of fish at least once a week for blood mercury levels; and age for urinary cadmium levels. Conclusion: The Korean National Environmental Health Survey is an effective tool for confirming over-time changes in exposure to lead, mercury, and cadmium in Korean adults and to identify its influence factors. The results of this study are expected to present basic data for calculating reference values and baseline exposure levels for environmental chemicals in Korean adults.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.276-285
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• 2010

Recently the Korean government has tried to cut down the $PM_{10}$ concentration by the Special Law for Air Quality Improvement. But the concentrations of $PM_{10}$ have exceeded the air quality standard at most monitoring stations. Primary $PM_{10}$ emitted from various sources and emission data have large uncertainty. The biomass burning is one of the major sources of $PM_{10}$ emission. The biomass burning is composed of wood stove usage, meat cooking and agricultural combustion etc.. Activity data and emission factors for the biomass burning are limited, and it is hard to calculate the air pollution emissions from these sources. In this study, we tried to estimate the air pollution emission from residential wood stove usage. The number of total wood stoves is estimated by the survey of wood stove manufacturer. And air pollution emission factors for the wood stove are investigated using the flue gas measurement by U.S. EPA particulate test method (Method 5G). As the results, the $PM_{10}$ and CO emission factors of wood stove are estimated as 7.7 g/kg-wood and 78.8 g/kg-wood respectively. The annual $PM_{10}$ and CO emissions from wood stove are calculated as 1,200~3,600 ton/year and 12,600~36,400 ton/year in Korea. It is confirmed that wood stove is the one of major sources of biomass burning, and the survey for activity data and the measurement for emission factors are needed for reducing the uncertainty of these emission data.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.235-253
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• 2017

This study was conducted for analyzing the contribution factors on ozone concentrations and its long term trends in each major city and province in Korea through several statistical methods such as simple linear regression, generalized linear model, KZ-filer, correlation matrix, Kringing method, and cluster analysis. The overall ozone levels in South Korea have been consistently increasing over the past 10 years. The ozone concentrations in Seoul, the biggest city in Korea, are the lowest in all areas with the highest increasing ratio for $95^{th}%$ ozone. It is thought that the active photochemical reaction could affect the higher ozone concentration increase. On the other hand, the ozone concentrations in Jeju are the highest in Korea with the highest increasing ratio for $5^{th}%$, $33^{th}%$, and $50^{th}%$ ozone. It is also thought that the weak $NO_x$ titration could be the reason of higher ozone concentrations in Jeju. In case of Jeju, transport related factors is the major factor affecting the ozone trend. Thus, it is assumed that the variation of ozone trend of Asian region affecting the ozone trend in Jeju, where domestic ozone photochemical reaction is less active than urban area. It is thought that the photochemical reaction plays the role of increasing of ozone concentrations in the urban area, even though the LRT affected on the increase of ozone concentrations in non-urban area.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2002

Generally, inaccurate reports on environmental issues occur due to various factors. The purpose of this study was to find out a way to enhance accuracy of environmental reporting. So the reporters' career and college major had been compared to the accuracy of their articles. The by-lined environmental articles in nine dailies published in 1991 were checked. Results of this study were as follows. (I) Inaccuracy rate in environmental articles was 54.2%. Inaccuracies appeared 1.7 times per an article, while the average frequency of inaccuracies in overall articles was 0.9 time. (2) Errors in the articles consist of 65.8% of subjective inaccuracies and 34.2% of subjective inaccuracies. They derive from the false usage of terminology(15.8% ),misquotation(14.5%), incorrect statistics(13%), exaggeration(13%), inaccurate title(7.9%), and false comparison(5%). (3) Inaccuracy rate by the type of articles was 66.7% in columns, 60% in feature stories, 54.5% in-depth stories, 40.9% in straight news, respectively. (4) Inaccuracy rate by the specific field was shown 71.4% in environmental impacts assessment, 52.5% in water pollution, 37.5% in waste management, and 35.7% in air pollution. (5) According to the result of chi-square test analysis, there were no statistically significant differences of inaccuracy rate and of subjective, and objective inaccuracies relevant to the period of reporters' career covering environmental reporting and the nature of articles, and college major.