• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2016

Total mercury (TM) is a hazardous element that is of particular concern to human health. Due to the diversity of dietary habits among fishes, tissue-specific analysis of hazardous elements is necessary. In this study, the tissue-specific TM in cultured fish was analyzed to conduct risk assessment. The highest concentrations of TM were found in the farmed marine fish Pagrus major (0.111 mg/kg) and in the farmed freshwater fish Channa argus (0.162 mg/kg). TM concentration was significantly correlated with total fish length (P<0.01). Significant differences in TM were found between three types of fish tissue, with the concentration in fish muscle being significantly higher than those of gill or liver (P<0.01). Moreover, the tissue-specific TM concentrations of farmed freshwater fish were significantly higher than those of farmed marine fish (P<0.01). According to the risk assessment, the TM body exposure rate of muscle and liver in cultured fishes ranged from 0.001 to 0.389% of the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake. Therefore, these results showing the tissue-specific TM contents of cultured fish could be useful to assess the health risks of Korean dietary habits.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1279-1290
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• 2018

Sea gulls are high trophic level consumers in the coastal environment, and thus, which have been widely used to monitor contamination biomagnified through a food web. However, such monitoring studies using sea gulls have been rare in the Korean literature. The National Environmental Specimen Bank chose eggs of a black-tailed gulls (Larus crassirostris) to serve as an environmental specimen for the long-term monitoring of the coastal ecosystem affected by terrestrial pollutants. Black-tailed gull eggs were collected from Baengnyeongdo, Hongdo and Uleungdo, and their DDTs and total mercury content were determined. The highest concentration of ${\Sigma}DDTs$ was $231.6{\pm}106.1{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Baengnyeongdo, followed by $230.0{\pm}123.8{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Ulleungdo, and $117.7{\pm}18.3{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Hongdo. In addition, total mercury was detected at $414.5{\pm}97.6{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Ulleungdo, $363.9{\pm}123.6{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Hongdo, and $237.5{\pm}42.3{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Baengnyeongdo. Relatively high concentrations of the target pollutants were recorded in specimens from Ulleungdo. Additional comprehensive and prolonged studies are required to elucidate spatial and temporal patterns of contamination in black-tailed gull eggs with regard to monitoring contaminant trends in eggs and prey.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.118-131
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of evidence-based reasoning practiced by middle school gifted students. Data were collected through an online task in which middle school students in gifted education institutes of a university located in the metropolitan area, Korea, performed inquiry about the shape of a planet's orbit. The students were given data of Mercury's greatest elongations and asked to draw the planet's orbit with the data. Each of the students was also asked to provide his or her hypothesis of Mercury's orbit before the drawing and to reason about the orbit again using his or her own drawing as evidence. The content analysis of the students' reports revealed 5 different types of judgement about the shape of Mercury's orbit, 4 types of reasoning about the hypothesis and evidence, and the characteristics of evidence-based reasoning within the judgement types. Based upon the analysis results, the importance of proper interpretations of evidence in evidence-based reasoning, the core role of the theory-evidence coordination, and the usefulness of working with multiple hypotheses were discussed. In addition, implications for earth science education were suggested.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.419-430
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• 2021

Investigation on the compressibility and shear strength of compacted loess is of great importance for the design and operation of engineering infrastructures in filling area. In this study, the mechanical behaviors of Yan'an compacted loess are investigated at various dry densities and water contents by conducting one dimensional compression and direct shear tests. And the elastic compressibility, plastic compressibility, yield stress and strength are obtained from the experiments. Results show that when water content increases, plastic compressibility parameter increases, but yield stress decreases. However, the increase of dry density leads to a decrease in plastic compressibility parameter but an increase in yield stress. In addition, elastic compressibility parameter is found to be a constant which is irrelevant to water content and dry density. As for strength, cohesion and internal friction angle is directly proportional to dry density, but inversely proportional to water content. Moreover, the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests were also performed to observe the pore size distribution and microstructure of the specimens. Finally, by using results of MIP and SEM tests, the compressibility and strength behaviours of Yan'an compacted loess are explained from the perspective of pore-size distribution and microstructure.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.595-601
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• 2000

The seven trace metals contents of agricultural products in Kwang-ju were investigated to provide the basic data for its residual limits. Ten kinds of agricultural products (onion, welsh onion, garlic, lettuce, cabbage, pepper, spinach, radish, pear, peach) collected within from Kwang-ju in 1999 were analyzed by Mercury Analyzer for mercury. Inductively Coupled Plasma spectrometer and Atomic Absorption spectrophotometer equipped with Vapor Generation Accessory for Cu, Cd, Mn, Pb, Zn and As. Hg contents were not detected in all samples and As content were detected N.D. ∼0.005 ppm. Cd and Pb contents were detected N.D ∼0.088 ppm and N.D.∼0.096 ppm, respectively, Cu, Mn and Zn contents were 0.109∼1.072 ppm. 0.829∼6.195 ppd and 0.731∼6.176 ppm, respectively. The trace metal concentrations of the agricultural products in Kwang-ju called clean area were within the background level which growth is facilitated.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.369-375
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• 2004

This experiment was studied to obtain basic environmental effects and biological information on the early growth of larval mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis). Mitten crabs were maintained for each larval stage with solutions containing 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 ppm of cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg). The relationship between survival rate of mitten crabs and metal content in the growth chamber showed a positive correlations. However, it showed a significant difference in the 96 $hr- LC^{50}$ values of Cd and Hg for the E. sinensis larvae from the first zoea larva to juvenile. Hg was more toxic to E. sinensis larval than Cd. When Cd and Hg are released into the water, they enter E. sinensis larval and are biological magnified. These results of survival rate and bioaccumulation are very important when considering the survival of the mitten crab.

• Nano
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.1850116.1-1850116.14
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• 2018

In this study, we report the mercury ions ($Hg^{2+}$) mediated phosphorus-containing carbon dots (PCDs) as a selective "off-on" fluorescence probe for glutathione (GSH), cysteine (Cys) and homocysteine (Hcys). PCDs obtained by hydrothermal reaction are sensitive to $Hg^{2+}$ ions and its fluorescence can be significantly quenched owing to the electron transfer from the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of PCDs to $Hg^{2+}$. Interestingly, the weak fluorescence of $Hg^{2+}$-mediated PCDs could be gradually recovered with the addition of GSH, Cys and Hcys. This can be attributed to the formation of $Hg^{2+}-S$ complex due to the super affinity of $Hg^{2+}$-sulfydryl bond. The formation of $Hg^{2+}-S$ complex extremely reduces the oxidation ability of $Hg^{2+}$ that inhibits the electron transfer from LUMO of PCDs to $Hg^{2+}$ and re-opens the native electron transition from LUMO to the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of PCDs. Thus, the green fluorescence of PCDs is switched on. Furthermore, the present $Hg^{2+}$-mediated PCDs assay exhibits a high selectivity for GSH, Cys and Hcy and has been successfully used to detect the total biothiols content in human urine samples.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.158-162
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• 1974

Some ecological attributes of perennial plants and Pb contamination were analyzed for study plots near an entrance of Nevade Test Site at Mercury Valley, Nye County, Nevada. The surface of the desert pavement soil was composed of stones (1 to 4cm diameter). The underside of each stone was coated with coarse and fine sand (about 90%). The profiles of soil were constituted with the A-horizon and C-horizon only. The soil pH at the plots ranges from 7.6 to 8.5, C/N was 13 and cation exchange capacity showed 15me/100g. Nine species and 42 number of individuals were found in all plots. Franseria dumosa and Larrea divaricata were dominant species. The discrete clumps of vegetation were consisted of 9 species of common perennials and these were covered about 25% on desert pavement, on the other words, bare area without vegetation was about 75%. The size and spacing of the plants was irregular. Community coefficient as comparison between shrub species in these study area and those in near the low elevation desert indicated a low degree of similarity. Density, cover and productivity in the study plots as compared with those in the nearest study areas in Mercury Valley showed a higher value. The soils in the studied area involved high heavy metal contents in the plant tissue was higher than those of its soil. The leavds of Lycium andersonii tended to accumulate more Zn and Mo than those of the other species. Larrea divaricata leaves accumulated very high leaves of Fe and Ephedra nevadensis were generally high in Mn. Lead contamination was apparent in foliage of desert vegetation collected alongside the roadway, reflecting the variation in traffic volume. Lead contents greater than fifteen-fold of normal (low traffic) were found in plant foliage alongside the heavily traveled roadway. Lead content of old foliage by the heavily traveled roadway was as much as 129 ppm but that of new foliage 17 ppm only.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1368-1370
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• 2003

Conventional methods investigating soil Hg contamination are time-consuming and expensive. A quicker method is developed to predict soil Hg content with convolved HyMap, ASTER, and TM spectra. The prediction accuracy for each sensor is satisfactory and similar. It suggests that low spectral resolution is not a limitation for predicting soil Hg content. Correlation analysis reveals that Hg -sorption by iron oxides is the mechanism by which to predict spectrally featureless Hg with reflectance spectra. Future study with field measurements and remote sensing data is recommended.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2017

Objectives: This study was performed to provide basic data for the re-establishment of standards (criteria) and analytical methods for hazardous metals in nail enamel. Methods: Ten metals (lead; Pb, arsenic; As, cadminum; Cd, antimony: Sb, cobalt; Co, nikel; Ni, copper; Cu, chromium; Cr, aluminum; Al, and mercury; Hg) were measured in 67 commercial nail enamels containing glitter and/or pearls. The content of hazardous metals (excepting Hg) was determined by using an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) after microwave digestion. Mercury content was measured by a mercury analyzer without any preparation. Results: The detected ranges of the intact samples were as follows: $ND-1.756{\mu}g/g$ for Pb, $ND-1.24{\mu}g/g$ for As, ND for Cd, $ND-20.41{\mu}g/g$ for Sb, $ND-12.36{\mu}g/g$ for Co, $ND-7.908{\mu}g/g$ for Ni, $0.088-79.27{\mu}g/g$ for Cu, $0.281-18.54{\mu}g/g$ for Cr, $13.78-3563{\mu}g/g$ for Al, and $ND-0.044{\mu}g/g$ for Hg. After centrifugation, the detected ranges of supernatant were as follows: $ND-0.435{\mu}g/g$ for Pb, $ND-0.504{\mu}g/g$ for As, ND for Cd, $ND-0.035{\mu}g/g$ for Sb, $ND-13.17{\mu}g/g$ for Co, $ND-0.232{\mu}g/g$ for Ni, $0.117-90.07{\mu}g/g$ for Cu, $0.174-2.787{\mu}g/g$ for Cr, and $9.459-1565{\mu}g/g$ for Al. The results of this analysis showed that the levels of heavy metals such as Pb, As, and Sb were much higher in the intact samples than those of supernatant. Conclusion: In the present study, we found that the levels of hazardous metals were significantly different depending on the status of the presence of glitter. Based on the results, we recommend that the product consumer refrain from prolonged application of nail enamel, avoid biting or chewing the nails, and wear gloves during cooking and washing dishes.