• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.196-205
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• 2008

Variability in vertical ozone and meteorological profiles was measured by 2Z electrochemical concentration cells (ECC) ozonesonde at Bangyi in Seoul ($37.52^{\circ}N$, $127.13^{\circ}E$) during June $6{\sim}9$, 2003 in odor to identify the vertical distribution of ozone and its relationship with the lower-atmospheric structure resulted in the high ozone concentrations near the surface. The eight profiles obtained in the early morning and the late afternoon during the study period clearly showed that the substantial change of ozone concentrations in lower atmosphere(${\sim}5\;km$), indicating that it is tightly coupled to the variation of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) structure as well as the background synoptic flow. All profiles observed early in the morning showed very low ozone concentrations near the surface with strong vertical gradients in the nocturnal stable boundary layer due to the photochemical ozone loss caused by surface NO titration under very weak vertical mixing. On the other hand, relatively uniform ozone profiles in the developed mixing layer and the ozone peaks in the upper PBL, were observed in the late afternoon. It was noted that a significant increase in ozone concentrations in the lower atmosphere occurred with the corresponding decrease of the mixing height in the late afternoon on June 8. Ozone in upper layer did not vertically vary much compared to that in PBL but changed significantly on June 6 that was closely associated with the variation of synoptic flows. Interestingly, heavily polluted ozone layers aloft (a maximum value of 115 ppb around 2 km) were formed early in the morning on 6 through 7 June under dominant westerly synoptic flows. This indicates the effects of the transport of pollutants on regional scale and consequently can give a rise to increase the surface ozone concentration by downward mixing processes enhanced in the afternoon.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.869-877
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to investigate the trends and patterns of variou kind of water uses in a household by metering in Korea. Water use components are classified by toilet, washbowl, bathing, laundry, kitchen, etc. Flow meters are installed in 146 household selected by sampling in all around Korea. The data are gathered by web-based data collection system from the year 2002 to 2006, considering pre-investigated data such as occupation, revenue, family members, housing types, age, floor area, water saving devices, education, etc. Reliable data are selected by upper fence method for each observed water use component and statistical characteristics are estimated for each residential type to determine liter per capita per day. Estimated domestic per capita day show an indoor water use with the range from $150{\ell}pcd$ to $169{\ell}pcd$ for each housing type as the order of high rise apartment, multi-house, and single house. As the order of consuming amount among water use components, it is investigated that toilet($38.5{\ell}pcd$) is the first, and the second is laundry water($30.8{\ell}pcd$), the third is kitchen($28.4{\ell}pcd$), the fourth is bathtub($24.7{\ell}pcd$), the next is washbowl($15.4{\ell}pcd$). The results are compared with water uses in U.K. and U.S. As life style has been changed into western style, pattern of water use in Korea is tend to be similar with the U.S. water use pattern. Compared with the surveying results by Bradley, on 1985. Thirty liter of total use increased with the advancement of economic level, and a little change of water use pattern can be found. Especially, toilet water take almost half part of total water use and laundry water shows lowest as 11% in surveying at the year of 1985. But, this study shows that 39 liter, 28% of toilet water, has been decreased by the spread of saving devices and campaign. It is supposed that the spread large sized laundry machine make by-hand laundry has been decreased and water use increased. Unit water amount of each end-use in household can be applied to design factor for water and wastewater facilities, and it play a role as information in establishing water demand forecasting and conservation policy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2009

Background: From November 2006, The national health insurance system in the Republic of Korea began to cover prescribed long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency. This study examined the current status of LTOT after national health insurance coverage. Methods: Between November 1, 2006 and June 30, 2008, the medical records of patients who were prescribed LTOT by chest physicians were reviewed. The data was collected from 13 university hospitals. Results: 197 patients (131 male and 66 female) were prescribed LTOT. The mean age was 64.3${\pm}$13.0 years. The most common underlying disease was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n=103, 52.3%). Chest physicians prescribed LTOT using arterial blood gas analysis or a pulse oxymeter (74.6%), symptoms (14%), or a pulmonary function test (11.2%). The mean oxygen flow rate was 1.56${\pm}$0.68 L/min at rest, 2.08${\pm}$0.91 L/min during exercise or 1.51${\pm}$0.75 L/min during sleep. Most patients (98.3%) used oxygen concentrators. Only 19% of patients used ambulatory oxygen supplies. The oxygen saturation before and after LTOT was 83.18${\pm}$10.48% and 91.64${\pm}$7.1%, respectively. After LTOT, dyspnea improved in 81.2% of patients. The mean duration of LTOT was 16.85${\pm}$6.71 hours/day. The rental cost for the oxygen concentrator and related electricity charges were 48,414${\pm}$15,618 won/month and 40,352${\pm}$36,815 won/month, respectively. Approximately 75% of patients had a regular visit by the company. 5.8% of patients had personal pulse oxymetry. 54.9% of patients had their oxygen saturation checked on each visit hospital. 8% of patients were current smokers. The most common complaint with LTOT was the limitation of daily activity (53%). The most common complaint with oxygen concentrators was noise (41%). Conclusion: The patients showed good compliance with LTOT. However, only a few patients used an ambulatory oxygen device or had their oxygen saturation measured.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.605-617
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• 2015

The ultimate goal of this research is to develop a botanical biofiltration system that combines a green interior, biofiltering, and automatic irrigation to purify indoor air pollutants according to indoor space and the size of biofilter. This study was performed to compare the stability of air flow characteristics and removal efficiency (RE) of fine dust within a wall-typed (vertical) botanical biofilter depending on humidifying cycle and to investigate RE of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by the biofilter. The biofilter used in this experiment was designed as an integral form of water metering pump, water tank, blower, humidifier, and multi-level planting space in order to be suitable for indoor space utilization. As a result, relative humidity, air temperature, and soil moisture content (SMC) within the biofilter showed stable values regardless of three different humidifying cycles operated by the metering pump. In particular, SMCs were consistently maintained in the range of 27.1-29.7% during all humidifying cycles; moreover, a humidifying cycle of operating for 15 min and pausing for 45 min showed the best horizontal linear regression (y = 0.0008x + 29.09) on SMC ($29.0{\pm}0.2%$) during 120 hour. REs for number of fine dust (PM10) and ultra-fine dust (PM2.5) particles passed through the biofilter were in the range of 82.7-89.7% and 65.4-73.0%, respectively. RE for weight of PM10 passed through the biofilter was in the range of 58.1-78.9%, depending on humidifying cycle. REs of xylene, ethyl benzene, total VOCs (TVOCs), and toluene passed through the biofilter were in the range of 71.3-75.5%, while REs of benzene and formaldehyde (HCHO) passed through the biofilter were 39.7% and 44.9%, respectively. Hence, it was confirmed that the wall-typed botanical biofilter suitable for indoor plants was very effective for indoor air purification.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.39-53
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• 2007

Generally, fractured medium can be described with some key parameters, such as hydraulic conductivities or random field of hydraulic conductivities (continuum model), spatial and statistical distribution of permeable fractures (discrete fracture network model). Investigating the practical applicability of the well-known conceptual models for the description of groundwater flow in fractured media, various types of hydraulic tests were applied to studies on the highly fractured media in Geumsan, Korea. Results from single-hole packer test show that the horizontal hydraulic conductivities in the permeable media are between $7.67{\times}10^{-10}{\sim}3.16{\times}10^{-6}$ m/sec, with $7.70{\times}10^{-7}$ m/sec arithmetic mean and $2.16{\times}10^{-7}$ m/sec geometric mean. Total number of test interval is 110 at 8 holes. The number of completely impermeable interval is 9, and the low permeable interval - below $1.0{\times}10^{-8}$ m/sec is 14. In other words, most of test intervals are permeable. The vertical distribution of hydraulic conductivities shows apparently the good correlation with the results of flowmeter test. But the results from the cross-hole test show some different features. The results from the cross-hole test are highly related to the connectivity and/or the binary properties of fractured media; permeable and impermeable. From the viewpoint of the connection, the application of the general stochastic approach with a single continuum model may not be appropriate even in the moderately or highly permeable fractured medium. Then, further studies on the investigation method and the analysis procedures should be required for the reasonable and practical design of the conceptual model, with which the binary properties, including permeable/impermeable features, can be described.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.19-32
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• 2007

In Korea, there have been various methods of estimating groundwater recharge which generally can be subdivided into three types: baseflow separation method by means of groundwater recession curve, water budget analysis based on lumped conceptual model in watershed, and water table fluctuation method (WTF) by using the data from groundwater monitoring wells. However, groundwater recharge rate shows the spatial-temporal variability due to climatic condition, land use and hydrogeological heterogeneity, so these methods have various limits to deal with these characteristics. To overcome these limitations, we present a new method of estimating recharge based on water balance components from the SWAT-MODFLOW which is an integrated surface-ground water model. Groundwater levels in the interest area close to the stream have dynamics similar to stream flow, whereas levels further upslope respond to precipitation with a delay. As these behaviours are related to the physical process of recharge, it is needed to account for the time delay in aquifer recharge once the water exits the soil profile to represent these features. In SWAT, a single linear reservoir storage module with an exponential decay weighting function is used to compute the recharge from soil to aquifer on a given day. However, this module has some limitations expressing recharge variation when the delay time is too long and transient recharge trend does not match to the groundwater table time series, the multi-reservoir storage routing module which represents more realistic time delay through vadose zone is newly suggested in this study. In this module, the parameter related to the delay time should be optimized by checking the correlation between simulated recharge and observed groundwater levels. The final step of this procedure is to compare simulated groundwater table with observed one as well as to compare simulated watershed runoff with observed one. This method is applied to Mihocheon watershed in Korea for the purpose of testing the procedure of proper estimation of spatio-temporal groundwater recharge distribution. As the newly suggested method of estimating recharge has the advantages of effectiveness of watershed model as well as the accuracy of WTF method, the estimated daily recharge rate would be an advanced quantity reflecting the heterogeneity of hydrogeology, climatic condition, land use as well as physical behaviour of water in soil layers and aquifers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2018

This study reviews three eco-friendly energy towns with hybrid thermal energy supply systems and borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) in Canada and Denmark. The district heating and cooling systems were designed by using multi-source energy for the higher efficiency and reliability as well as environment. ADEU (Alexandra District Energy Utility) located at the developing area in the city of Richmond, Canada was designed to supply district energy with the installation of 726 borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) and a backup boiler using natural gas. DLSC (Drake Landing Solar Community) located in the town of Okotoks, Canada is a district system to store solar thermal energy underground during the summer season by seasonal BTES with 144 BHEs. Brædstrup Solpark district heating system located in Denmark has been conducted energy supply from multiple energy sources of solar thermal, heat pump, boiler plants and seasonal BTES with 48 BHEs. These systems are designed based on social and economic benefits as well as nature-friendly living space according to the city based energy perspective. Each system has the energy center which distribute the stored thermal energy to each house for heating during the winter season. The BHE depth and ground thermal storage volume are designed by the heating and cooling load as well as the condition of ground water flow and thermophysical properties of the ground. These systems have been proved the reliance and economic benefits by providing consistent energy supply with competitive energy price for many years. In addition, the several expansions of the service area in ADEU and Brædstrup Solpark have been processed based on energy supply master plan. In order to implement this kind of project in our country, the regulation and policy support of government or related federal organization are required. As well as the government have to make a energy management agency associated with long-term supply energy plan.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.101 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2012

Education on the environment and plants offered by arboretum for today's people not only contribute to foster a better natural environment in urban region but also provide visitors with decent refreshment environment and beyond. In the study, the author undertook the observation on usage behavior and satisfaction model of arboretum visitors expect and investigated the facilities and programs to be offered by arboretum in order to propose the opinion regarding the service. For observation size of variables in a multiple regression analysis of variables is influencing satisfaction rankings walks the line of flow, the educational effect on the environment, cleanliness of the facility, visits pay, natural beauty, diversity of trees, accessibility and friendliness of staff, expansion of facilities in the arboretum and appeared as a complement. In case of visitor attribute, the residents living near the facility showed the highest visit frequency of more than 5 times, especially as part of taking a walk. This proves that the visit to arboretum is considered as part of everyday life, and thus a new program and walk path as well as movement route are needed to be developed for the visitors. In the question relating to the facilities and operation programs in Daegu Arboretum, particularly the requests by visitors, they responded that the establishment of cultural event, beautiful natural scenery, refreshment and convenience facilities is the most critical issue. In addition, the management on withered trees and bare lands is an urgent issue as well. In this sense, the Operation and Management Strategies based upon the visitor behaviors and model of satisfaction are needed to deal with the adoption of diverse events and festivals joined by local residents, ombudsman program, environmental program development for students and teachers within the region, negligent bare lands and withered tree replacement, and cafeteria facility improvement and supplement as well as the bench marking of other facilities than arboretums located in other regions. These items are thought to be sufficiently dealt with by Daegu Arboretum having no more external resources. It is recognized that the visitor satisfaction begins from a minor thing, and a small difference determines a great satisfaction, and thus the software approach rather than hardware one is in need.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.587-609
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• 2019

Short-and long-term stabilities of bentonite, favored material as buffer in geological repositories for high-level waste were reviewed in this paper in addition to alternative design concepts of buffer to mitigate the thermal load from decay heat of SF (Spent Fuel) and further increase the disposal efficiency. It is generally reported that the irreversible changes in structure, hydraulic behavior, and swelling capacity are produced due to temperature increase and vapor flow between $150{\sim}250^{\circ}C$. Provided that the maximum temperature of bentonite is less than $150^{\circ}C$, however, the effects of temperature on the material, structural, and mineralogical stability seems to be minor. The maximum temperature in disposal system will constrain and determine the amount of waste to be disposed per unit area and be regarded as an important design parameter influencing the availability of disposal site. Thus, it is necessary to identify the effects of high temperature on the performance of buffer and allow for the thermal constraint greater than $100^{\circ}C$. In addition, the development of high-performance EBS (Engineered Barrier System) such as composite bentonite buffer mixed with graphite or silica and multi-layered buffer (i.e., highly thermal-conductive layer or insulating layer) should be taken into account to enhance the disposal efficiency in parallel with the development of multilayer repository. This will contribute to increase of reliability and securing the acceptance of the people with regard to a high-level waste disposal.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.30-58
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• 2022

The deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste disposal is a multi barrier system comprised of engineered barriers and a natural barrier. The long-term integrity of the deep geological repository is affected by the coupled interactions between the individual barrier components. Erosion and piping phenomena in the compacted bentonite buffer due to buffer-rock interactions results in the removal of bentonite particles via groundwater flow and can negatively impact the integrity and performance of the buffer. Rapid groundwater inflow at the early stages of disposal can lead to piping in the bentonite buffer due to the buildup of pore water pressure. The physiochemical processes between the bentonite buffer and groundwater lead to bentonite swelling and gelation, resulting in bentonite erosion from the buffer surface. Hence, the evaluation of erosion and piping occurrence and its effects on the integrity of the bentonite buffer is crucial in determining the long-term integrity of the deep geological repository. Previous studies on bentonite erosion and piping failed to consider the complex coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical behavior of bentonite-groundwater interactions and lacked a comprehensive model that can consider the complex phenomena observed from the experimental tests. In this technical note, previous studies on the mechanisms, lab-scale experiments and numerical modeling of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are introduced, and the future expected challenges in the investigation of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are summarized.