• Advances in environmental research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.71-86
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• 2014

Macronutrients ($Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$), yield and yield components, bioaccumulation and translocation of metal in plant parts of three Vigna species (V. cylindrica, V. mungo, V. radiata) were evaluated at 0, 50, 100 and $150mgkg^{-1}$ soil of Nickel (Ni). A marked inhibition (p < 0.001) in the distribution of various macronutrients was noticed in these Vigna species except for $Mg^{2+}$ content of the shoot and leaves. Similarly, all species retained more $Ca^{2+}$ in their roots (p < 0.05) as compared to the aerial tissues. Ni induced a drastic decline (p < 0.001) for various yield and yield attributes except for 100 seed weight. Toxicity and accumulation of Ni in plant tissues considerably increased in a concentration dependent manner. Vigna species signify an exclusion approach for Ni tolerance as both bioaccumulation factor (BF) and translocation factor (TF) were less than 1.0. The Ni content of plants being root > shoot > leaves > seeds. Scoring for percentage stimulation and inhibition (respective to control) at varying levels of Ni revealed tolerance of the species in an order of V. radiata > V. cylindrica > V. mungo. The acquisition of Ni tolerance in V. radiata seems to occur through an integrated mechanism of metal tolerance that includes sustainable macronutrients uptake, stronger roots due to greater deposition of $Ca^{2+}$in the roots, restricted transfer of Ni to above ground tissues and seeds as well as exclusion capacity of the roots to bind appreciable amount of metal to them. Thus, metal tolerant potential of V. radiata could be of great significance to remediate metal contaminated soil owing lesser impact of Ni on macro-nutrients, hence the yield.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.267-275
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• 2009

To investigate the possible applications of plants to remediate heavy-metal-contaminated soil, a pilot experiment was performed for four years in a reclaimed dredging area using two Alnus species, i.e., Alnus firma and Alnus hirsuta. In a comparison of phytomass of the two species at two different planting densities, the phytomass of Alnus planted at low density was twice as high as that of Alnus planted at high density after four years. The Alnus species showed active acclimation to the heavy-metal-contaminated soil in a reclaimed dredging area. A. hirsuta showed greater accumulation of phytomass than A. firma, indicating that it is the better candidate for the phytoremediation of heavy-metal-contaminated soils. In the pilot system, Alnus plants took metals up from the soil in the following order; Pb > Zn > Cu > Cr > As > Cd. Uptake rates of heavy metals per individual phytomass was higher for Alnus spp. planted at low density than those planted at high density in the pilot system. Low plant density resulted in higher heavy metal uptake per plant, but the total heavy metal concentration was not different for plants planted at low and high density, suggesting that the plant density effect might not be important with regard to total uptake by plants. The quantity of leached heavy metals below ground was far in excess of that taken up by plants, indicating that an alternative measurement is required for the removal of heavy metals that have leached into ground water and deeper soil. We conclude that Alnus species are potential candidates for phytoremediation of heavy-metal- contaminated surface soil in a reclaimed dredging area.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.424-433
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to understand the changes on species composition of the epilithic diatoms and the appearance of morphological abnormalities in the upper region of the Nakdong River where heavy metal inflow is observed. The samples were collected once a week for a month of September 2016 from selecting 7 sampling stations. The heavy metals of cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) were not detected during the survey period, but zinc (Zn) was detected in st.4 - st.6 with the range of $0.015{\sim}0.188mg\;L^{-1}$. Metal sensitive species such as Achnanthes convergens, Cocconeis placentula, Cocconeis placentula var. euglypta, Cocconeis placentula var. lineata showed high dominance in st.1 - st.3, st.7. However, metal tolerant species such as Nitzschia palea, Achnanthes minutissima showed high dominance in st.4 - st.6. It is concluded that heavy metal inflow directly affects the changes in species composition of epilithic diatoms. As a result of CCA, the characteristics of the sampling sites were divided into 3 groups. Group 1 was represented the non-detected Zn sites with C. placentula, C. placentula var. euglypta, C. placentula var. lineata. Group 2 was showed the detected Zn sites with Navicula minima and Nitzschia palea. Group 3 was included st.3 - st.7 on 4th week that was stabilized the community structure. Total 8 taxa of abnormal frustules observed. This occurrence of abnormal frustules reflected the temporal and quantitative indicators of heavy metal pollution, in particular, it was confirmed that genus Fragilaria, which has a high abnormality according to heavy metal pollution, can be used as an indicator species.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.603-610
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• 2008

A mathematical model was developed to understand how the presence of plants affects vertical profiles of electron acceptors, their reduced species, and trace metals in the wetland sediments. The model accounted for biodegradation of organic matter utilizing sequential electron acceptors and subsequent chemical reactions using stoichiometric relationship. These biogeochemical reactions were affected by the combined effects of oxygen release and evapotranspiration driven by wetland plants. The measured data showed that $SO_4{^{2-}}$ concentrations increased at the beginning of the growing season and then gradually decreased. Based on the measured data, it was hypothesized that the limitation of the solid phase sulfide in direct contact with the roots may result in the gradual decrease of $SO_4{^{2-}}$ concentrations. With the dynamic formulation for the limitation of the solid phase sulfide, model simulated time variable sulfate profiles using published model parameters. Oxygen release from roots produced divalent metal species (i.e. $Cd^{2+}$) as well as oxidized sulfur species (i.e. $SO_4{^{2-}}$) in the sediment pore water. Evapotranspiration-induced advection increased flux of divalent metal species from the overlying water column into the rhizosphere. The increased divalent metal species were converted to the metal sulfide with sufficient FeS around the rhizosphere, which contributed to the decrease of bioavailability and toxicity of divalent metal activity in the pore water. Since the divalent metal activity is a good predictor of the metal bioavailability, this model with a proper simulation of solid phase sulfide plays an essential role to predict the dynamics of trace metals in the wetland sediments.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2004

Three kinds of toxic heavy metals, such as lead, copper, and cadmium, existing abundantly in contaminated soils were selected to investigate pH change, electroosmotic flow, and the removal rate in the application of electrokinetic process. In the change of pHs, they reached to about 12 and 2 at each cathodic and anodic region, respectively, and maintained for reaction being proceeded. Electroosmotic flow rates were not influenced by the kind of metal species but by electropotential gradient. On the soils contaminated by each metal, the removal rate of Cd was the fastest among three as in the order of Cd>Pb>Cu. While on the soils contaminated by mixed metal species, Cu was the fastest. Metal species transported by electrokinetic processes were distributed in between 0.9 and 1.0 of normalized region. In the case of soils contaminated by one kind of metal. the relative concentrations of Pb and Cd estimated in between normalized region 0.9 and 1.0 were 5.2 and 5.7, respectively.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.61-68
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• 2010

Phytoextraction, one type of phytoremediation processes, has been widely used in the removal of heavy metals from polluted soil. This paper reviewed literature on metal uptake by plants and characterized the metal uptake by types of metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, and As), plant species, initial metal concentrations in soil and the distribution of metals in different parts of plants. The potential of metal accumulation and transport by plants was closely related to plants species, types of metals, and initial metal concentrations in soil. The plants belonging to Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, Poaceae, and Convolvulaceae families have shown the high potential capacity of Cd accumulation. The Gentianaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Polygonaceae families have exhibited relatively high Pb uptake potential while the Pteridaceae and Cyperaceae families have shown relatively high Zn uptake potential. The Pteridaceae family could uptake a remarkably high amount of As compared with other plant families. The potential metal accumulation per plant biomass has increased with increasing initial metal concentration in soil up to a certain level and then decreased for Cd and Zn. For As, only Pteris vittata had a linear relationship between initial concentration in soil and potential of metal uptake. However, a meaningful relationship for Pb was not found in this study. Generally, the plants having high metal uptake potential for Cd or Pb mainly accumulated the metal in their roots. However, the Euphorbiaceae family has accumulated more than 80% of Pb in shoot. Zn has evenly accumulated in roots and stems except for the plants belonging to the Polygonaceae and Rosaceae families which accumulated Zn in their leaves. The Pteridaceae family has accumulated a higher amount of As in leaves than roots. The types of metals, plant species, and initial metal concentration in soil influence the metal uptake by plants. It is important to select site-specific plant species for effective removal of metals in soil. Therefore, this study may provide useful and beneficial information on metal accumulation by plants for the in situ phytoremediation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2013

The interface between nanomaterials and biosystems is emerging as one of the broadest and most dynamic areas of science and technology, bringing together biology, chemistry, physics and many areas of engineering, biomedicine. The combination of these diverse areas of research promised to yield revolutionary advances in healthcare, medicine, and life science. For example, the creation of new and powerful nanosensors that enable direct, sensitive, and rapid analysis of biological and chemical species can advance the diagnosis and treatment of disease, discovery and screening of new drug molecules. Nanowire based sensors are emerging as a powerful and general platform for ultrasensitive and multiplex detection of biological and chemical species. Here, we present the studies about noble metal nanowire sensors that can be used for sensitive detection of a wide-range of biological and chemical species including nucleic acids, proteins, and toxic metal ions. Moreover, the optical and electrochemical applications of noble metal nanowires are introduced. Noble metal nanowires are successfully used as plasmonic antennas and nanoelectrodes, thereby provide a pathway for a single molecule sensor, in vivo neural recording, and molecular injection and detection in a single living cell.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.64-73
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• 2013

Because some particulate matter emission sources may inherently produce soluble species, or some soluble species may be produced during atmospheric transport, it is important to understand the origin of a particles's solubility when water-soluble tracers are used in source apportionment studies. Laboratory experiments were performed on three types of soils (Mongolia grassland, Mongolia desert, and Korean rural soils), to study the impact of acidification by nitric acid vapor on the solubility of metals in the soils. To achieve this goal, concentrations of water-soluble metals (Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Mn, and Fe) in the soils measured before and after acidification. Contributions of concentrations of water-soluble metal species before and after acidification attack to their total concentrations varied little with soil type. Concentrations of water-soluble Mg, Al, K, Ca, Mn, and Fe from the soils after interaction with nitric acid vapor increased, with significant increases in soluble Ca and Mn for all soil types suggesting soil acidification enhances the amount of leachable metal species in soil dust. There was little increase in water-soluble Na and K after acidification for each soil type. This experiment demonstrates that quantities of water-soluble metal species in particulate matter are produced under high gaseous nitric acid conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.232-235
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• 2001

Electrophoretic resolution of superoxide dismutase (SOD) from the highly UV-resistant bacteria, Deinococcus species revealed multiple forms of superoxide dismutases (SODs) in D. radiodurans, D. grandis, and D. proteolyticus, as judged from electrophoretic properties and metal cofactors. A single SOD occurred in both D. radiophilus and D. radiopugnans. Deinococcal SODs were either MnSOD, FeSOD or cambialistic Mn/FeSOD. The unique SOD profile of each mesophilic Deinococcus species, multiplicity and metal cofactors would be valuable in identifying Deinococcus species.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.27-33
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was in search of native plant species showing metal-resistant property and excessively accumulating heavy metals in metal-contaminated soil or abandoned mines as well as in evaluation of applicability of phytoremediation. In the study area, species showing excessively accumulating heavy metals were a shepherd´s purse, pampas grass, a Korean lettuce, a Hwansam vine, the Korean persicary, a foxtail, a goosefoot, and a water pepper. The first screened plant species in Sambo mine were as shepherd's purse, Korean lettuce and pampas grass Among them the shepherd´s purse can be excluded because it is a seasonal plant and has lower removal capacity for heavy metals. The Korean lettuce was also excluded because of having lower removal capacity for heavy metals. Pampas grass is a highly bionic plant species constantly growing from spring. However it has weak points such as little accumulation capacity for zinc as well as small values of an accumulation factor and a translocation factor. Another problem is regarded as removal of roots after the clean up if pampas grass is applied to a farmland. In Sanyang mine, wormwood and Sorijaengi were considered as adaptable species.