• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 1996

Environmental impact assessment survey reflecting farmers` opinion on the residence and production space in rural settlement area by ORD showed that more than 86% of respondents thought their reservoirs and waterways (small rivers) were getting seriously contaminated primarily by garbage and livestock manure. A typical rural settlement unit was taken to assess the impact of improper management of livestock manure in the farms on the water quality of small river flowing down along the villages where swine and dairy farms were situated in Daejook 2, 3-ri, Seolseong-myun, Icheon-gun. Nitrogen compounds such as NO$_3$-N, NO$_2$-N, NH$_3$-N, and phosphorus compound H$_x$PO$_4$, DO, BOD$_5$, COD, and microbial density were analyzed to evaluate water quality at five test sites designated along the water stream. Tests showed. for example, BOD$_5$ at site 4 was average 9.2mg/l which was about 3~8 times higher than that of observation site 2 and 3, at which most livestock houses were situated. This is a clear evidence that the nutrients of livestock manure illegally discharged to small river can lead to an eutrophication of the river at downstream. A soil absorption system with aeration could be one of alternatives to treat the contaminated wastewater by livestock manure. The place at downstream, inbetween observation site 1 and 2, could be the best construction site for the treatment facility from the standpoint of the overall treatment efficiency, An enclosed composting system can also be regarded as a good alternative for treatment of the sludge which is the by-product of the soil absorption system operation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.345-354
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• 2001

The effects on arsenic geochemistry of indigenous microorganisms isolated from an area contaminated with high concentration of arsenic were investigated. Arsenite exerted higher inhibitory effects on the microbes' growth than arsenate. During incubation of the microbes in an arsenate-spiked medium over 24 hours, decrease in microbial growth was observed as arsenate content increased. Arsenate of 150 mM or over apparently inhibited cell growth. However, further incubation for up to 4 days in the high arsenate concentration medium resulted in cell growth, implying that the microorganisms adjusted their biochemical functions to detoxify arsenic and maintain growth. Two types of microbes were observed during 20 hours to reduce arsenate to arsenite in solution through a detoxification mechanism. As well, decrease in the total arsenic content occurred over a 4-day incubation with the same microbes in an arsenate-spiked medium. Therefore it is suggested that microorganisms can influence arsenic speciation in natural settings and this may be applied to efficient bioremediation of arsenic-contaminated sites.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.169-178
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• 2010

The microbial community structure in Thailand soils contaminated with low and high levels of arsenic was determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Band pattern analysis indicated that the bacterial community was not significantly different in the two soils. Phylogenetic analysis obtained by excising and sequencing six bands indicated that the soils were dominated by Arthrobacter koreensis and $\beta$-Proteobacteria. Two hundred and sixty-two bacterial isolates were obtained from arsenic-contaminated soils. The majority of the As-resistant isolates were Gramnegative bacteria. MIC studies indicated that all of the tested bacteria had greater resistance to arsenate than arsenite. Some strains were capable of growing in medium containing up to 1,500 mg/l arsenite and arsenate. Correlations analysis of resistance patterns of arsenite resistance indicated that the isolated bacteria could be categorized into 13 groups, with a maximum similarity value of 100%. All strains were also evaluated for resistance to eight antibiotics. The antibiotic resistance patterns divided the strains into 100 unique groups, indicating that the strains were very diverse. Isolates from each antibiotic resistance group were characterized in more detail by using the repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (rep-PCR) DNA fingerprinting technique with ERIC primers. The PCR products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The genetic relatedness of 100 bacterial fingerprints, determined by using the Pearson product-moment similarity coefficient, showed that the isolates could be divided into four clusters, with similarity values ranging from 5-99%. Although many isolates were genetically diverse, others were clonal in nature. Additionally, the arsenic-resistant isolates were examined for the presence of arsenic resistance (ars) genes by using PCR, and 30% of the isolates were found to carry an arsenate reductase encoded by the arsC gene.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.799-811
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• 2019

The aim of this study was to evaluate heavy metal contamination and pollution index of agricultural soils around industrial complexes in the Jeon-Buk Regions of Korea. Soil samples near industrial complexes in 2017 were collected at two depths (0 - 15 and 15 - 30 cm) within a 500- and 1000-meter radius before planting. Eight heavy metals (Arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), Cupper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn)) and the pollution index (PI), geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and soil pollution index (SPI) were evaluated based on soil contamination warning standard (SCWS). Overall, the heavy metal concentrations were below the SCWS. The PI ranged from 0.1 to 0.9 and categorized into Group 1 which is not polluted with any heavy metals. The average Igeo values of all the soil samples ranged from - 2.56 to 3.22. The Igeo values of Cd and Hg may not represent well the pollution index because the heavy metal concentrations in the soil is lower compared to the SCWS. In fact, based on the heavy metal concentrations, the Igeo for monitored soils should be categorized into Group 1, uncontaminated to moderately contaminated. However, the Igeo of Cd and Hg are classified into heavily contaminated. These results suggest that for calculating the Igeo, the heavy metal concentration and background concentration should be used very carefully if the heavy metal concentration in the soil is lower than the background concentration. SPI for all the soil samples ranged from 0.00 to 0.11 which indicates no heavy metal pollution was observed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.173-178
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• 2016

Background: In situ gamma spectrometry has been used to measure environmental radiation, assumptions are usually made about the depth distribution of the radionuclides of interest in the soil. The main limitation of in situ gamma spectrometry lies in determining the depth distribution of radionuclides. The objective of this study is to develop a method for subsurface characterization by in situ measurement. Materials and Methods: The peak to valley method based on the ratio of counting rate between the photoelectric peak and Compton region was applied to identify the depth distribution. The peak to valley method could be applied to establish the relation between the spectrally derived coefficients (Q) with relaxation mass per unit area (${\beta}$) for various depth distribution in soil. The in situ measurement results were verified by MCNP simulation and calculated correlation equation. In order to compare the depth distributions and contamination levels in decommissioning KRR site, in situ measurement and sampling results were compared. Results and Discussion: The in situ measurement results and MCNP simulation results show a good correlation for laboratory measurement. The simulation relationship between Q and source burial for the source layers have exponential relationship for a variety depth distributions. We applied the peak to valley method to contaminated decommissioning KRR site to determine a depth distribution and initial activity without sampling. The observed results has a good correlation, relative error between in situ measurement with sampling result is around 7% for depth distribution and 4% for initial activity. Conclusion: In this study, the vertical activity distribution and initial activity of $^{137}Cs$ could be identifying directly through in situ measurement. Therefore, the peak to valley method demonstrated good potential for assessment of the residual radioactivity for site remediation in decommissioning and contaminated site.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.70-79
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• 2013

Since crude oil contains various pollutants including heavy metals, the environmental impact should be assessed for heavy metals as well as oil itself. In order to estimate the extent of heavy metal contamination, surface sediments were collected at the intertidal and coastal zone around the Herbei sprit oil spill area during December 2007 and January 2008. Organic carbon, sulfur and heavy metals were determined to assess heavy metal contamination in sediments. The crude oils contained C, S, V and Ni, but little toxic metals such as As, Cd, etc. From organic carbon content, the highest contaminated site was estimated that oils contributed to sediments up to 10%, and this site showed high V concentration. Potentially contaminated sediments by crude oil could be differentiated from unaffected sediments through V/Al and Ni/Al ratios, which can be used as indicators of oil contamination even after the oils were fully degraded.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.11-23
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• 2020

The effectiveness of in situ sediment capping as a technique for heavy metal risk mitigation in Hyeongsan River estuary, South Korea was studied. Sites in the estuary were found previously to show moderate to high levels of contamination of mercury, methylmercury and other heavy metals. A 400 m × 50 m section of the river was selected for a thin layer capping demonstration, where the total area was divided into 4 sections capped with different combinations of capping materials (zeolite, AC/zeolite, AC/sand, zeolite/sand). Pore water concentrations in the different sites were studied using diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT) probes. All capping amendments showed reduction in the pore water concentration of the different heavy metals with top 5 cm showing %reduction greater than 90% for some heavy metals. The relative maxima for the different metals were found to be translated to lower depths with addition of the caps. For two-layered cap with AC, order of placement should be considered since AC can easily be displaced due to its relatively low density. Investigation of methylmercury (MeHg) in the site showed that MeHg and %MeHg in pore water corresponds well with maxima for sulfide, Fe and Mn suggesting mercury methylation as probably coupled with sulfate, Fe and Mn reduction in sediments. Our results showed that thin-layer capping of active sorbents AC and zeolite, in combination with passive sand caps, are potential remediation strategy for sediments contaminated with heavy metals.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.346-351
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• 2010

The purpose of this work was to investigate the characteristics of a biosurfactant-producing bacterium isolated from crude-oil contaminated soils. During the incubation of strain HK-3 with 1% crude-oil, bacterial growth pattern, the amount of biosurfactant production, and pH changes were monitored. In order to examine the effect of supplemented carbons on the production of biosurfactant, cultivation of HK-3 cells in BH media with different carbons (e.g. glucose, dextrose, mannitol, citrate, or acetate) revealed that the production of biosurfactant reached the maximal level at the 72 h incubation with mannitol, which the area of clear zone was measured to approximately 7.64 $cm^2$. Identification test using the BIOLOG system, morphology study based on scanning electron microscopy and the 16S rRNA sequence-based phylogenetic analysis assigned strain HK-3 to a Pseudoalteromonas species, designated as Pseudoalteromonas sp. HK-3 which was registered in GenBank as [FJ477041].

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.271-276
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• 2006

The outbreak cases of Cryptosporidium or Giardia from drinking water in abroad have drawn attentions on the public health. It is well known that Cryptosporidium is the most resistant organism against chlorine disinfection. To guesstimate the levels of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Korean surface water, 1~2 samples from 22 drinking water sources in four Korean major rivers of Han, Keum, Nakdong, and Youngsan were monitored. In addition, two sites in Kyunganchon, a contaminated river were monitored for comparison. In source waters, detection rates of Cryptosporidium and Giardia were 15% (6/39) and 21% (5/24) with the range of 1~3 oocysts/10 L and 1~6 cysts/10 L, respectively. In Kyunganchon, they were 60% (6/10) and 70% (7/10) in the range of 1~9 oocysts/10 L and 10~72 cysts/10 L, respectively. When one of the source waters in Han river was monitored monthly, Cryptosporidium were found mostly in cold season. Matrix of the samples gave influence on the recoveries of the spiked protozoa. The recoveries of both Cryptosporidium and Giardia increased in the samples of Kyunganchon, known as contaminated area. However, protozoan recovery did not show significant relation with turbidity, the index of matrix contamination, which implies that there are additional unveiled features of matrix affecting the recoveries of the protozoa. The protozoan distribution in Kyunganchon showed significant relations with Cl. perfringens, anaerobic and spore forming indicator bacteria of fecal contamination by regression analysis, but not with turbidity, the general indicator of water quality.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.215-223
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• 2005

The bacteria on the surface of slaughtered meat was monitored to investigate the relationships between microbiological quality and sanitation management in slaughter process of cattle and pig. It was conducted to evaluate the microbiological quality on the surface of slaughtered beef and pork in Seoul from January to December 2004. Two hundred and thirty three beef and 233 pork carcasses were surveyed on generic E coli counts and standard plate count for microbiological quality and Salmonella spp, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens and E coli O157: H7 as pathogenic microorganisms. The prevalence of the excellent or good grade $(10^4\;CFU/cm^2)$ in beef and pork carcasses were $100\%\; and\;99.2\%$, respectively. The frequency of beef carcasses with less than $10^2\;CFU/cm^2$ of generic I coli counts was $100\%$, while that of pork carcasses was $99.6\%$. Of 233 beef carcasses, $1(0.42\%)$ was contaminated with L monocytogenes and $6(2.58\%)$ with C perfringens. Of 233 pork carcasses, $11(4.72\%),\;2(0.86\%),\;and\;2(0.86\%)$ were contaminated with L monocytogenes, C perfringens, and S aureus, respectively, Salmonella spp and E coli O157:H7 were not detected with all of the beef and pork carcasses. In conclusion, this study emphasized the Importance of relationship between microbiological quality and sanitation management in slaughter process of cattle and pig, in abattoirs.