• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.689-698
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• 2021

Since the mine reclamation scheme was implemented from 2007 in Korea, various remediation programs have been decontaminated the pollution associated with mining and 254 mines were managed to reclamation from 2011 to 2015. However, as the total amount of contaminated mine drainage has been increased due to the discovery of potential hazards and contaminated zone, more efficient and economical treatment technology is required. Therefore, in this study, the adsorption properties of arsenic was evaluated according to the adsorbents which were derived from water treatment sludge(Alum based adsorbent, ABA-500) and granular ferric hydroxide(GFH), already commercialized. The alum sludge and GFH adsorbents consisted of aluminum, silica materials and amorphous iron hydroxide, respectively. The point of zero charge of ABA-500 and GFH were 5.27 and 6.72, respectively. The result of the analysis of BET revealed that the specific surface area of GFH(257 m²·g^-1) was larger than ABA-500(126~136 m²·g^-1) and all the adsorbents were mesoporous materials inferred from N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherm. The adsorption capacity of adsorbents was compared with the batch experiments that were performed at different reaction times, pH, temperature and initial concentrations of arsenic. As a result of kinetic study, it was confirmed that arsenic was adsorbed rapidly in the order of GFH, ABA-500(granule) and ABA-500(3mm). The adsorption kinetics were fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model for all three adsorbents. The amount of adsorbed arsenic was increased with low pH and high temperature regardless of adsorbents. When the adsorbents reacted at different initial concentrations of arsenic in an hour, ABA-500(granule) and GFH could remove the arsenic below the standard of drinking water if the concentration was below 0.2 mg·g^-1 and 1 mg·g^-1, respectively. The results suggested that the ABA-500(granule), a low-cost adsorbent, had the potential to field application at low contaminated mine drainage.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.103-125
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• 2022

This study aims to identify the community characteristics of meiofauna inhabiting the Yellow Sea continental shelf. To this end an annual survey was conducted considering the seasons from 2018 to 2020 at 13 stations with a depth of 18~90 m of the Yellow Sea located at latitudes 35, 36 and 37 degrees north latitude. The survey was conducted in three seasons of spring, summer, and autumn at 5 stations in October 2018, 9 stations in April 2019, and 6 stations in August 2020 was used to collect 3 repetitions at each station. The habitat density of meiobenthos in the surveyed area was in the range of 45~1029 inds./10 cm², which was similar to the previous studies conducted in the Yellow Sea. The density of meiobenthos according to the seasons was 800±69 inds./10 cm² in autumn, the highest, and the lowest at 260±48 inds./10 cm² in summer. A total of 19 taxa appeared in meiobenthos, and the average value showed the number of nine taxa. Among the appearing taxa, the most dominant taxon was nematodes, accounting for 80.8% of the total density, followed by benthic copepods (8.8%) and benthic foraminifers (4.7%). As for the size distribution of medium benthic animals, the density of organisms corresponding to the size of 63~125 ㎛ was the highest, and 1~0.5 mm was the lowest. As for the vertical distribution in the sediments of medium benthic animals, the habitat density gradually decreased as the depth increased in the sediment surface layer. As a result of analysis of the N/C ratio, MPI, and ITD index using medium-sized benthic animals to identify the benthic environment, there were differences by season, but no values indicating pollution overall.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.77-82
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• 2022

This study aims to understand how mobile and stationary air pollution sources affect the air quality and soil properties in urban parks. We selected three sites of urban parks in Seoul as follows: Ha-neul Park in Mapo-gu (Site_M), Ill-won Eco-Park in Gangnam-gu (Site_G), and Yangjae Citizen's Forest in Seocho-gu (Site_Y), and compared the results of each site's traffic volume, air quality concentration, and soil analysis. Traffic volume was high in Site_M, followed by Site_G and Y; Site_M and G were closer to the resource recovery facility than Site_Y. Hence, we hypothesized that PM and NO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere were higher in Site_M than Site_G and Y, causing different soil nitrogen content among sites due to different atmospheric deposition. Consistent with our hypothesis, the concentrations of PM2.5 and NO₂ were higher in Site_M and G than Site_Y, while Site_Y had higher PM10 than other sites. The soil NO₃^- contents showed no significant difference among three sites, whereas the soil NH₄+ content was extremely high in Site_Y. This high content of soil NH₄⁺ is thought to be due to acidification from excessive fertilization. Lower soil pH of Site_Y further supported the evidence of heavy fertilization in this site. Overall nitrogen dynamics implies that soil nitrogen status is more influenced by park management such as fertilization rather than atmospheric deposition. Despite of lower soil NH₄⁺ content of Site_M and G than Y, vegetation vitality looked similar among three sites. This indirectly indicates that excessive fertilizer input in urban park management needs to be reconsidered. This study showed that even if the air quality was different due to mobile and stationary sources, it did not directly affect the soil nitrogen nutrient status of the adjacent urban park.

• Atmosphere
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2022

This study evaluates the economic values for the several first precipitation events during Changma period. The selected three years are 2015, 2019, and 2020, where average precipitation amounts across the 58 Korean stations are 12.8, 20.1 and 13.3 mm, respectively. The four categories are used to assess the values including air quality improvement, water resource acquisition/accumulation, drought mitigation, and forest fire prevention/recovery. Economic values for these three years are estimated 50~150 billion won. Among the four factors considered, the effect of air quality improvement is most highly valued, amounting to 70 to 90% of the total economic values. Wet decomposition of air pollution (PM₁₀, NO₂, CO, and SO₂) is the primary reason. The next valuable element is water resource acquisition, which is estimated 9~15 billion won. Effects of drought mitigation and fire prevention are deemed relatively small. This study is the first to estimate the value of the precipitation events during Changma onset. An analysis for more Changma years will be performed to achieve a more reliable estimate.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.329-352
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• 2022

It is reported that particulate matter(PM) penetrates the lungs and blood vessels and causes various heart diseases and respiratory diseases such as lung cancer. The subway is a means of transportation used by an average of 10 million people a day, and although it is important to create a clean and comfortable environment, the level of particulate matter pollution is shown to be high. It is because the subways run through an underground tunnel and the particulate matter trapped in the tunnel moves to the underground station due to the train wind. The Ministry of Environment and the Seoul Metropolitan Government are making various efforts to reduce PM concentration by establishing measures to improve air quality at underground stations. The smart air quality management system is a system that manages air quality in advance by collecting air quality data, analyzing and predicting the PM concentration. The prediction model of the PM concentration is an important component of this system. Various studies on time series data prediction are being conducted, but in relation to the PM prediction in subway stations, it is limited to statistical or recurrent neural network-based deep learning model researches. Therefore, in this study, we propose four transformer-based models including spatiotemporal transformers. As a result of performing PM concentration prediction experiments in the waiting rooms of subway stations in Seoul, it was confirmed that the performance of the transformer-based models was superior to that of the existing ARIMA, LSTM, and Seq2Seq models. Among the transformer-based models, the performance of the spatiotemporal transformers was the best. The smart air quality management system operated through data-based prediction becomes more effective and energy efficient as the accuracy of PM prediction improves. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the efficient operation of the smart air quality management system.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.95-108
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• 2016

This study was performed to investigate the community structure of macrobenthic assemblages in the Environmental Conservation area, Korea. Benthic animals were collected by van Veen grab sampler at spring (May) and summer (August) 2009. The total species number and mean density were 195 species 5.6 m^-2 and 667 individuals m^-2, respectively. Polychaetes were the most dominant faunal group in species (96 species) and abundance (431 individuals m^-2). The major dominant species were the polychaetes Lumbrineris longifolia (76±224 individuals m^-2), Mediomastus californiensis (42±117 individuals m^-2), Tharyx sp.3 (26±110 individuals m^-2), the bivalvia Theora fragilis (54±78 individuals m^-2) and the amphipod Eriopisella schellensis (70±146 individuals m^-2). Based on the cluster and nMDS ordination analysis, macrobenthic communities were divided into three faunal groups. The first group was characterized by high abundance of the polychaeta Sternaspis scutata and the amphipod Ampelisca cyclops iyoensis, which is located by most stations of Hampyeong Bay and St. 4 of Deungnyang Bay. The second group was numerically dominated by the polychaeta Capitella capitata at St. 4 and St. 5 in Gamak Bay where was most pollutant area. Finally, the third group was dominated by the polychaetes Heteromastus filiformis, Tharyx sp.3 and the amphipod Sinocorophium sinensis. Therefore, geochemical characteristics such as the bay shape and pollution gradient may be important factors controlling of the macrobenthic community structure in Environment Conservation Area.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.320-329
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• 2023

Cadmium (Cd), a heavy metal found in the aquatic environment, accumulates in organisms through the food chain. In the study, we investigated the survival rates, measurement of body Cd levels, and expression analysis of the stress response genes (Heat shock protein 70: HSP70 and Heat shock protein 60: HSP60) and antioxidant enzyme Glutathione S-Transferases (GST) on benthic oligochaete worm Tubifex tubifex exposed three concentrations of Cd, to analyze the bioaccumulation and changes of stress gene expressions to exposure toxicity of the Cd-spiked sediment. Survival rates of T. tubifex exposed to the Cdspiked sediment were 93% at 0.4 mg kg^-1 Cd, 96% at 1.87 mg kg^-1 Cd, and 93% at 6.09 mg kg^-1 Cd for 10 days. Cd concentration in the body of T. tubifex was higher than that in the sediment. After Cd exposures for 10 days, the body Cd levels were 18.4 mg kg^-1, 13.06 mg kg^-1, and 79.11 mg kg^-1 at exposed three concentrations of Cd, respectively. Upregulation of HSP70 gene expression was observed at all concentrations of exposed Cd as a time-dependent manner, whereas transcriptional expression of the HSP60 gene increased as a timedependent manner in T. tubifex exposed to the relative high concentration (6.09 mg kg^-1) of Cd. However, GST gene expression increased on day 1 at all concentrations after Cd exposures, and then downregulated until 10 days. These results indicate to ecotoxicological and molecular effects in benthic oligochaete worm T. tubifex to Cd-spiked sediment and provide the basic information for the utilization of environmental toxicity assessment using the T. tubifex as a aquatic pollution indicator species.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_1
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• pp.655-667
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• 2023

Algal bloom outbreaks are frequently reported around the world, and serious water pollution problems arise every year in Korea. It is necessary to protect the aquatic ecosystem through continuous management and rapid response. Many studies using satellite images are being conducted to estimate the concentration of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), an indicator of algal bloom occurrence. However, machine learning models have recently been used because it is difficult to accurately calculate Chl-a due to the spectral characteristics and atmospheric correction errors that change depending on the water system. It is necessary to consider the factors affecting algal bloom as well as the satellite spectral index. Therefore, this study constructed a dataset by considering water quality, hydrological and meteorological factors, and sentinel-2 images in combination. Representative ensemble models random forest and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) were used to predict the concentration of Chl-a in eight weirs located on the Nakdong river over the past five years. R-squared score (R²), root mean square errors (RMSE), and mean absolute errors (MAE) were used as model evaluation indicators, and it was confirmed that R² of XGBoost was 0.80, RMSE was 6.612, and MAE was 4.457. Shapley additive expansion analysis showed that water quality factors, suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, and the band ratio using red edge bands were of high importance in both models. Various input data were confirmed to help improve model performance, and it seems that it can be applied to domestic and international algal bloom detection.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.217-242
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• 2023

This study aims to analyze the factors influencing the logistics demand of inland ports along the Yangtze River and predict future port logistics demand based on these factors. The logistics demand prediction using system dynamics techniques was conducted for a total of six ports, including Chongqing and Yibin ports in the upper reaches, Jingzhou and Wuhan ports in the middle reaches, and Nanjing and Suzhou ports in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The logistics demand for all ports showed an increasing trend in the mid-term prediction until 2026. The logistics demand of Chongqing port was mainly influenced by the scale of the hinterland economy, while Yibin port appeared to heavily rely on the level of port automation. In the case of the upper and middle reach ports, logistics demand increased as the energy consumption of the hinterland increased and the air pollution situation worsened. The logistics demand of the middle reach ports was greatly influenced by the hinterland infrastructure, while the lower reach ports were sensitive to changes in the urban construction area. According to the sensitivity analysis, the logistics demand of ports relying on large cities was relatively stable against the increase and decrease of influential factors, while ports with smaller hinterland city scales reacted sensitively to changes in influential factors. Therefore, a strategy should be established to strengthen policy support for Chongqing port as the core port of the upper Yangtze River and have surrounding ports play a supporting role for Chongqing port. The upper reach ports need to play a supporting role for Chongqing port and consider measures to enhance connections with middle and lower reach ports and promote the port industry. The development strategy for inland ports along the Yangtze River suggests the establishment of direct routes and expansion of the transportation network for South Korean ports and stakeholders. It can suggest expanding the hinterland network and building an efficient transportation system linked with the logistics hub. Through cooperation, logistics efficiency can be enhanced in both regions, which will contribute to strengthening the international position and competitiveness of each port.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.189-203
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• 2024

This study conducted a survey two times at 20 points from April to June and from August to October 2022 to characterize the fish community and reveal the health of the Anyang stream. The survey collected 3,186 individuals belonging to 5 orders, 10 families and 34 species. The dominant species was Zacco platypus (43.4%), followed by Carassius auratus (10.1%), Cyprinus carpio (7.6%), Zacco koreanus (6.2%), Pungtungia herzi (5.2%), Oryzias sinensis (5.1%), Pseudorasbora parva (4.7%), Squalidus gracilis majimae (4.4%), Rhynchocypris oxycephalus (3.5%), Hemiculter eigenmanni (3.3%), Rhodeus ocellatus (1.4%), and Chelon haematocheilus (1.0%). Among the emerged species, 5 species (14.7%), including Rhodeus uyekii, Squalidus japonicus coreanus, and Odontobutis interrupta, were endemic to Korea, and 4 species (11.8%), including Cyprinus carpio (Israeli type), Lepomis macrochirus, Micropterus salmoides, and Poecilia reticulata, were exotic. The fish community analysis showed that the dominance was higher at the upper reaches of the Anyang stream and decreased downstream, and diversity, richness, and evenness were higher in tributary than mainstream. Stream health (fish assessment index, FAI) was generally poor, as it was rated as moderate (C) at seven sites, poor (D) at eight sites, and very poor (E) at five sites. Water quality was evaluated at eight sites, and it was rated as poor (V) at two sites, slightly poor (IV) at one site, moderate (III) at four sites, and slightly good (II) at one site, indicating that the overall water quality was poor and that the water quality had a significant impact on river health and fish habitat. Moreover, it was found that many weirs without fishways were constructed in the Anyang stream and became an obstacle to fish migration. Therefore, a systematic management plan to improve water quality and add fishways is necessary to improve the stream's health and conserve stable fish habitat.