• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.676-683
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• 2022

Due to the effects of rapid changes in the living environment since 2000 and the recent unforeseen pandemic, people are refraining from domestic and international traveling and movement, and outdoor activities for health and the public value of forest trails, called Dullegil Trail in Korea, have become more important. This study estimated the environmental value of the tentatively named "East-West Trail," which connects the forest trails crossing Chungcheong and Gyeongsang Provinces using CVM (Contingent Valuation Method). It surveyed visitors to the East-West Trail, and 725 questionnaires were used for analysis. The average characteristics of respondents were those who exercised 2-3 times per week, visited a forest trail not far from their residence with friends or family, and showed a tendency to spend 50 thousand Korean won or more per visit. Visitors to the Dullegil Trail felt that there was a shortage of information boards on the forest trail, and they preferred a shelter in appropriate locations. We used a double-bounded dichotomous choice (BDDC) logit model proposed by Hanemann to measure the conservation value of the East-West Trail. It was estimated that the environmental value that a visitor to the East-West Trail could obtain was 30,087 won per trip. The estimated environmental value of the East-West Trail can be converted to about 94 billion won total visitors annually based on the population belonging to the direct-use zone near the East-West Trail. As there has been no study on the environmental value of forest trails using CVM, the results of this study will be able to suggest the feasibility of the government policies on forest trails.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.88-100
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• 2018

Methane emissions from rice paddies are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector, but there are significant regional differences depending on the surrounding conditions and cultivation practices. To visualize these differences and to analyze their causes and characteristics, the methane emissions from each administrative district in South Korea were calculated according to the IPCC guidelines using the data from the 2010 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Census, and then the results were mapped by using the ArcGIS. The nationwide average of methane emissions per unit area was $380{\pm}74kg\;CH_4\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$. The western region showed a trend toward higher values than the eastern region. One of the major causes resulting in such regional differences was the $SF_o$ (scaling factor associated with the application of organic matter), where the number of cultivation days played an important role to either offset or deepen the differences. Comparison of our results against the actual methane emissions data observed by eddy covariance flux measurement in the three KoFlux rice paddy sites in Gimje, Haenam and Cheorwon showed some differences but encouraging results with a difference of 10 % or less depending on the sites and years. Using the updated GWP (global warming potential) value of 28, the national total methane emission in 2010 was estimated to be $8,742,000tons\;CO_2eq$ - 13% lower than that of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report (i.e., $10,048,000tons\;CO_2eq$). The administrative districts-based map of methane emissions developed in this study can help identify the regional differences, and the analysis of their key controlling factors will provide important scientific basis for the practical policy makings for methane mitigation.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.65-78
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• 2011

Construction business, which is complex and long-term business, requires accurate estimation and verification in construction costs and payment procedure from project planning to the completion of construction phase. And more importantly, it is necessary to investigate and determine the risk factors related to construction costs during the entire process including design planning, construction drawings, and quantity calculating. But, currently, it is not seem to be adequate to cope with the risk and increased construction costs against the operational budget in terms of actual costs when screening and estimating the bidding cost of public apartment. Therefore, this study selected and analyzed 40 sites' report of construction completion account from 2004 to 2010 focused on the adequacy on the modification of contract and design planning and on the complication of the budget in the beginning of the project. This study deducted various risk causes and results by analyzing actual costs according to year, architectural area, region, construction cost and sale/lease classification. We could find out construction risk according to annual variation of government policy and economy, and also deducted risk items by construction characteristic according to region and architectural area. Study result, we first found out the problems of lowest price award system according to the construction costs. The weight of the cost increase risk was analyzed that subcontract and material costs are very high. Roof and tile work were analyzed highly in subcontract cost risk and reinforcing bar and cement were analyzed highly in material cost risk, among direct construction cost. Finally, this study results could be used in comparing the categories of the construction costs made by specific construction process, belonging to the construction costs, with the operational budget made in the beginning of the project that can enable to grasp unpredictable risks over the construction costs and making quantitative analysis for it through analyzing the range of fluctuation and variations led by the fluctuations in the actual construction costs.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.279-309
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• 2009

Greenhouse gas emissions should be precisely forecast to reduce the emissions from industrial production processes. This study calculated the direct and indirect $CO_2$ emission intensities of 401 industries using the Input-Output tables 2003 and statistical data on the amount of energy use. This study had some limitations in drawing study findings because overseas data were used given the lack of domestic data. Other limiting factors included the oil distribution problems in the oil refinery sector, re-review of carbon neutral, and insufficient consideration of waste treatment. Nonetheless, this study is very meaningful since the direct and indirect $CO_2$ emission intensities of 401 industries were calculated. Specifically, this study considered from the zero-waste perspective the effects of waste, which attract interest worldwide since coke gas and gas from the steel industry are obtained as byproducts for the first time in Korea. According to the results of the analysis of $CO_2$ emission intensity per industry, typical industries whose indirect $CO_2$ emission intensity is high include crude steel making, Remicon, steel wire rods & track rail, cast iron, and iron reinforcing rods & bar steel. These industries produce products using the raw materials produced in the industrial sector whose $CO_2$ emission intensity is high. The representative industries whose direct $CO_2$ emission intensity is high include cement, pig iron, lime & plaster products, andcoal-based compounds. These industries extract raw ore from nature and refine them into raw materials that are useful in other industries. The findings in this study can be effectively used for the following case: estimation of target $CO_2$ emission reduction level reflecting each industrial sector's characteristics, calculation of potential emission reduction of each policy to reduce $CO_2$ emissions, identification of a firm's $CO_2$ emission level, and setting of the target level of emission reduction. Moreover, the findings in this study can be utilized widely in fields such as System of integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting(SEEA) and Material Flow Analysis(MFA) as the current topic of research in Korea.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.68-76
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• 2021

Foodborne outbreaks frequently occur worldwide and result in huge economic losses. It is the therefore important to estimate the costs associated with foodborne diseases to minimize the economic damage. At the same time, it is difficult to accurately estimate the economic loss from foodborne disease due to a wide variety of cost components. In Korea, there are a limited number of analytical studies attempting to estimate such costs. In this study we investigated the components of economic cost used in foreign countries to better estimate the cost of foodborne disease in Korea. Seven recent studies investigated the cost components used to estimate the cost of foodborne disease in humans. This study categorized the economic loss into four types of cost: direct costs, indirect costs, food business costs, and government administration costs. The healthcare costs most often included were medical (outpatient) and hospital costs (inpatient). However, these cost components should be selected according to the systems and budgets of medical services by country. For non-healthcare costs, several other studies considered transportation costs to the hospital as an exception to the cost of inpatient care. So, further discussion is needed on whether to consider inpatient care costs. Among the indirect costs, premature mortality, lost productivity, lost leisure time, and lost quality of life/pain, grief and suffering costs were considered, but the opportunity costs for hospital visits were not considered in any of the above studies. As with healthcare costs, government administration costs should also be considered appropriate cost components due to the difference in government budget systems, for example. Our findings will provide fundamental information for economic analysis associated with foodborne diseases to improve food safety policy in Korea.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.189-203
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• 2008

The physical and chemical properties of radioactive waste drums, which have been temporarily stored on site, should be characterized before their shipment to a disposal facility in order to prove that the properties meet the acceptance guideline. The investigation of NDT(Nondestructive Test) method was figured out that the contents in drum, the quantitative analysis of free standing water and void fraction can be examined with X-ray NDT techniques. This paper describes the characteristics of X-ray NDT such as its principles, the considerations for selection of X-ray system, etc. And then, the waste drum characteristics such as drum type and dimension, contents in drum, etc. were examined, which are necessary to estimate the optimal X-ray energy for NDT of a drum. The estimation results were that: $(R)\acute{A}$ the proper X-ray energy is under 3 MeV to test the drums of 320 ${\beta}\S$ and less; $(R)\ddot{E}$ both X-ray systems of 450 keV and/or 3 MeV might be needed considering the economical efficiency and the realization. The number of drums that can be tested with 450 keV and 3 MeV X-ray system was figured out as 42,327 and 18,105 drums (based on storage of 2006. 12), respectively. Four testing scenarios were derived considering equipment procurement method, outsourcing or not, etc. The economical and feasibility assessment for the scenarios was resulted in that an optimal scenario is dependent on the acceptance guide line, the waste generator's policy on the waste treatment and the delivery to a disposal facility, etc. For example, it might be desirable that a waste generator purchases two 450 keV mobile system to examine the drums containing low density waste, and that outsourcing examination for the high density drums, if all NDT items such as quantitative analysis for 'free standing water' and 'void fraction', and confirmation of contents in drum have to be characterized. However, one 450 keV mobile system seems to be required to test only the contents in 13,000 drums per year.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2009

The demand for rainfall data in gridded digital formats has increased in recent years due to the close linkage between hydrological models and decision support systems using the geographic information system. One of the most widely used tools for digital rainfall mapping is the PRISM (parameter-elevation regressions on independent slopes model) which uses point data (rain gauge stations), a digital elevation model (DEM), and other spatial datasets to generate repeatable estimates of monthly and annual precipitation. In the PRISM, rain gauge stations are assigned with weights that account for other climatically important factors besides elevation, and aspects and the topographic exposure are simulated by dividing the terrain into topographic facets. The size of facet or grid cell resolution is determined by the density of rain gauge stations and a $5{\times}5km$ grid cell is considered as the lowest limit under the situation in Korea. The PRISM algorithms using a 270m DEM for South Korea were implemented in a script language environment (Python) and relevant weights for each 270m grid cell were derived from the monthly data from 432 official rain gauge stations. Weighted monthly precipitation data from at least 5 nearby stations for each grid cell were regressed to the elevation and the selected linear regression equations with the 270m DEM were used to generate a digital precipitation map of South Korea at 270m resolution. Among 1.25 million grid cells, precipitation estimates at 166 cells, where the measurements were made by the Korea Water Corporation rain gauge network, were extracted and the monthly estimation errors were evaluated. An average of 10% reduction in the root mean square error (RMSE) was found for any months with more than 100mm monthly precipitation compared to the RMSE associated with the original 5km PRISM estimates. This modified PRISM may be used for rainfall mapping in rainy season (May to September) at much higher spatial resolution than the original PRISM without losing the data accuracy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.226-233
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to evaluate salt-related dietary attitudes, behaviors, and nutrition knowledge according to urinary salt signal of university students. Based on urinary salt signal, we classified subjects into an "adequate Na intake (ANI)" group (n=52) (salt ${\leq}6g$) and "excess Na intake (ENI)" group (n=66) (salt >6 g). Subjects were asked about general characteristics, lifestyle, salt-related dietary attitudes, behaviors, and nutritional knowledge using questionnaire. The ENI group had more subjects who were drinkers (P<0.05) compared to the ANI group. The ENI group (33.45) showed a significantly lower score in terms of salt-related dietary attitudes compared to the ANI group (35.50) (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the total score of salt-related dietary behavior between the groups. The score of nutrition knowledge was significantly higher in the ANI (9.77) group than in the ENI (8.82) group (P<0.05). The correlation analysis indicated that the urinary salt signal had a negative correlation with the salt-related dietary attitude score after adjustments for age, sex, and body mass index (r=-0.2100, P<0.05). These results support the validity of using the urinary salt signal to simplify estimation of sodium intake.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.49-70
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• 2011

The numerous efforts have been made in understanding generation and transportation mechanism of nonpoint source pollutants from agricultural areas. Also, the water quality degradation has been exacerbated over the years in many parts of Korea as well as other countries. Nonpoint source pollutants are transported into waterbodies with direct runoff and baseflow. It has been generally thought that groundwater quality is not that severe compared with surface water quality. However its impacts on groundwater in the vicinity of stream quality is not negligible in agricultural areas. The SWAT model has been widely used in hydrology and water quality studies worldwide because of its flexibilities and accuracies. The spatial property of each HRU, which is the basic computational element, is not presented. Thus, the SWAT HRU mapping module was developed in this study and was applied to the study watershed to evaluate recharge rate and $NO_3-N$ loads in groundwater. The $NO_3-N$ loads in groundwater on agricultural fields were higher than on forests because of commercial fertilizers and manure applied in agricultural fields. The $NO_3-N$ loads were different among various crops because of differences in crop nutrient uptake, amount of fertilizer applied, soil properties in the field. As shown in this study, the SWAT HRU mapping module can be efficiently used to evaluate the pollutant contribution via baseflow in agricultural watershed.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.258-266
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• 2023

This study analyzed methodologies for estimating carbon stocks of perennial woody crops and the research cases in overseas countries. As a result, we found that Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, and Japan are using the stock-difference method, while Austria, Denmark, and Germany are estimating the change in the carbon stock based on the gain-loss method. In some overseas countries, the researches were conducted on estimating the carbon stock change using image data as tier 3 phase beyond the research developing country-specific factors as tier 2 phase. In South Korea, convergence studies as the third stage were conducted in forestry field, but advanced research in the agricultural field is at the beginning stage. Based on these results, we suggest directions for the following four future researches: 1) securing national-specific factors related to emissions and removals in the agricultural field through the development of allometric equation and carbon conversion factors for perennial woody crops to improve the completeness of emission and removals statistics, 2) implementing policy studies on the cultivation area calculation refinement with fruit tree-biomass-based maturity, 3) developing a more advanced estimation technique for perennial woody crops in the agricultural sector using allometric equation and remote sensing techniques based on the agricultural and forestry satellite scheduled to be launched in 2025, and to establish a matrix and monitoring system for perennial woody crop cultivation areas in the agricultural sector, Lastly, 4) estimating soil carbon stocks change, which is currently estimated by treating all agricultural areas as one, by sub-land classification to implement a dynamic carbon cycle model. This study suggests a detailed guideline and advanced methods of carbon stock change calculation for perennial woody crops, which supports 2050 Carbon Neutral Strategy of Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs and activate related research in agricultural sector.