• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.91-116
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• 2015

This study aims to provide public sectors with eco-efficiency information. To implement the purposes of the study, environmental and economic variables of Eco-Efficiency were identified through decision tree model, then the relative Eco-Efficiencies of 243 public sectors were evaluated through input-oriented DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) model. Specifically, the amount of public purchasing per a staff and the amount of energy use per a staff were considered as input factors. Sales per a staff was considered as output factor. The result shows that most of the public sectors (94.2%) were evaluated as "inefficient" taking into consideration of average value, 0.501 from market-based public corporations, 0.288 from local public corporations, 0.28 from quasi-market-based public corporations, 0.269 from fund-management-based quasi-governmental institutions, 0.09 from non-classified public institutions, and 0.078 from commissioned-service-based quasi-governmental institutions. Furthermore, it is possible to establish a plan for internal Eco-Efficiency improvement based on information of the reference set. In order to improve the Eco-Efficiency in the public sectors in the long term, environmental impacts of the overall public sectors' operations (e.g., energy saving, water saving, waste reduction, and purchasing of green products) needs to be properly proposed in consideration of BSC (Balanced Scorecard) indicators of public sectors.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2017

In this study, the test results obtained from the performance tests for CA (Korea Association of Cleaning Air) certificated air cleaners which had been commercially available in Korea from 2003 to 2015 were analyzed. Among the test parameters such as flow rate, particle collection efficiency, clean air delivery rate (CADR), ozone emission, odor removal efficiency and noise level, noise level and CADR were correlated with flow rates. Collection and odor removal efficiencies were 20% higher than the limit of the CA certification. The ozone emissions from the air cleaners were negligible because all the air cleaners were equipped with only HEPA filters, not electrostatic precipitation method which produces ozone.

• Architectural research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.93-100
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• 2014

Existing BIM(Building Information Modeling) based energy evaluation tools cannot be utilized enough for the potential performance of BIM because most of them have not provided the integrated model for energy evaluation, assessment of the material, cost of the construction, and so on. This research aims to propose and develop a new application, EcoBIM, to support an integrated evaluation of the energy and cost efficiencies of the design alternatives within the design process. The proposed application functions as a BIM-based evaluation system that calculates energy-savings performance as well as the construction cost of the alternatives at the design stage. This study mainly focuses on the possibilities of developing the proposed technology. We also suggest an advanced design process using the proposed system, corresponding to changes of national regulations in Korea. This study deduce that EcoBIM can allow architects to make suitable decisions regarding energy- and cost-efficient designs. The proposed design process will allow architects not only to check the eco-friendly performance of design alternatives but also predict the operation cost in a certain period in the future. EcoBIM can prevent large-scale design changes required to obtain environmental certification and enable the owner to make an informed decision about the initial investment of construction according to the result of the analysis of the energy requirement at the design stage.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.149-157
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• 2019

Infiltration characteristics of airborne particulate matter had been investigated in real-life for about 90 days over 2 years in a Korean apartment building where a 3-person household had lived and the exclusive private area was 84.9 ㎡. Airtightness was measured by fan depressurization, and the ACH₅₀ was 2.41 times per hour. In and outdoor particle concentrations were measured by optical particle counters. Infiltration factors and filtration efficiencies of the house, which reflect the removal of outdoor particles penetrating building envelope and the deposition inside a building, were obtained from data screened based on an empirical evaluation process. Infiltration factor of fine particles showed a range from about 42% at 0.4 m/s of wind speed to 72% at 4.2 m/s of wind speed with closed windows and doors. Filtration efficiency was like a MERV 13 grade filter with an open window outside at a balcony at low outdoor wind speed under 1 m/s. The grade decreased to MERV 11 by opening another outside window at the other balcony. Filtration efficiencies decreased as much as 29% in average at a range of 0.3~2.5 ㎛.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.3-49
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• 2014

Growing interest of stakeholders on corporate responsibilities for environment and tightening environmental regulations are highlighting the importance of environmental management more than ever. However, companies' awareness of the importance of environment is still falling behind, and related academic works have not shown consistent conclusions on the relationship between environmental performance and economic performance. One of the reasons is different ways of measuring these two performances. The evaluation scope of economic performance is relatively narrow and the performance can be measured by a unified unit such as price, while the scope of environmental performance is diverse and a wide range of units are used for measuring environmental performances instead of using a single unified unit. Therefore, the results of works can be different depending on the performance indicators selected. In order to resolve this problem, generalized and standardized performance indicators should be developed. In particular, the performance indicators should be able to cover the concepts of both environmental and economic performances because the recent idea of environmental management has expanded to encompass the concept of sustainability. Another reason is that most of the current researches tend to focus on the motive of environmental investments and environmental performance, and do not offer a guideline for an effective implementation strategy for environmental management. For example, a process improvement strategy or a market discrimination strategy can be deployed through comparing the environment competitiveness among the companies in the same or similar industries, so that a virtuous cyclical relationship between environmental and economic performances can be secured. A novel method for measuring eco-efficiency by utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is able to combine multiple environmental and economic performances, is proposed in this report. Based on the eco-efficiencies, the environmental competitiveness is analyzed and the optimal combination of inputs and outputs are recommended for improving the eco-efficiencies of inefficient firms. Furthermore, the panel analysis is applied to the causal relationship between eco-efficiency and economic performance, and the pooled regression model is used to investigate the relationship between eco-efficiency and economic performance. The four-year eco-efficiencies between 2010 and 2013 of 23 companies are obtained from the DEA analysis; a comparison of efficiencies among 23 companies is carried out in terms of technical efficiency(TE), pure technical efficiency(PTE) and scale efficiency(SE), and then a set of recommendations for optimal combination of inputs and outputs are suggested for the inefficient companies. Furthermore, the experimental results with the panel analysis have demonstrated the causality from eco-efficiency to economic performance. The results of the pooled regression have shown that eco-efficiency positively affect financial perform ances(ROA and ROS) of the companies, as well as firm values(Tobin Q, stock price, and stock returns). This report proposes a novel approach for generating standardized performance indicators obtained from multiple environmental and economic performances, so that it is able to enhance the generality of relevant researches and provide a deep insight into the sustainability of environmental management. Furthermore, using efficiency indicators obtained from the DEA model, the cause of change in eco-efficiency can be investigated and an effective strategy for environmental management can be suggested. Finally, this report can be a motive for environmental management by providing empirical evidence that environmental investments can improve economic performance.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2018

We have developed an electrostatic precipitation (ESP) type air cleaner for indoor air quality and investigated its performances regarding CADR (Clean air delivery rate), single-pass efficiency and gas removal efficiency. The ESP air cleaner used an ACF (Activated carbon fiber) filter for gas removal and the ACF as a high voltage electrode for particle removal. The ESP air cleaner was tested in a chamber with the volume of $1m^3$ regarding CADR and gas removal efficiency. The applied CADR area of the ESP was $1.8m^2$. Gas removal efficiency was tested with 3 gases (Acetaldehyde, Acetic acid, Ammonia). As the results of the gas removal efficiency, the ESP air cleaner shows the removal efficiencies of 90, 98 and 85% for acetaldehyde, acetic acid and ammonia, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.257-263
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• 1995

As a first step for developing Lactobacillus strains capable of fermenting starch directly, the $\alpha$-amylase gene (amyL) from Bacillus licheniformis (Kim et al., 1988. Kor. J. Appl. Microbiol. Bioeng. 16: 369-373) was introduced into Lactobacillus casei strains and the level of $\alpha$-amylase expression in transformants was examined. 3 kb EcoRI fragments encompassing amyL were subcloned into the suitable lactococcal cloning vectors (pSA3, pMG36e, and p1L2530) and then recombinant plasmids were introduced into E. coli and L. casei strains by electroporation. Only one recombinant plasmid, $pIL2530\alpha$ was able to transform few L. casei strains tested at low efficiencies. The transformation efficiencies with the plasmid into L. casei YIT 9018 and L. casei A Tee 4646 were less than $10^2/\mu$ g pIL2530\alpha$. The level of amylase activities in L. casei was five to ten-fold lower than that in E. coli cells. $p1L2530\alpha$ was stably maintained in Lactobacillus strains in the presence of Em (5 $\mu $g/ml) but without antibiotic selection, it was unstable so more than 95$%$ of cells lost plasmids after a week of daily subculturing.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.144-149
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• 2019

Landfill leachate constitutes one of the most polluting wastewaters. Their treatment was considered difficult due to the presence of high concentration of organic matter, ammonia, toxic organic compounds and heavy metals. Biological processes were found to be effective in several cases, but they are limited by the presence of inhibitory compounds in leachate. In this study we develop a biological process for the leachate biodetoxification using Trametes trogii (T. trogii; CLBE55). Results show that laccase activity, mycelia growth and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies varied depending on the leachate and ammonium concentration. Indeed T. trogii was able to grow in the presence of low concentration of landfill leachate of 10 and 30%. In fact, the biomass produced was 4.7 and 3.7 g/L, respectively leading to a COD removal of 66 and 53%, respectively. However, when the concentration of the introduced leachate exceeds 30%, the treatment efficiency and particularly the COD removal decreases to reach 15% at 100% leachate. The effect of the ammonia was also studied and results showed that the addition of 5 g/L of ammonia inhibited totally the production of laccase and the COD removal.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.70-75
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to develop water-purification vegetation mats consisting of the eco-friendly materials and to validate their water purification capabilities with the objective of reducing nonpoint pollution into streams. The developed vegetation mats are made of coconut fiber shell and filling consisted of zeolite, diatomaceous earth or a mixture of calcinated foam media. The bench scale assessment of the water purification capability of the three filling materials showed that the removal efficiencies of suspended solid (SS), total nitrogen (T-N) and total phosphorus (T-P) were higher in the foam media than in zeolite or diatomaceous earth. From the results of the field experiment, the removal efficiencies of the vegetation mats filled with the foam media were 60.1% in SS, 32.2% in T-N and 20.2% in T-P. Therefore the vegetation mats filled with the foam media calcinated from zeolite and diatomaceous earth should have higher efficiencies in controlling the nonpoint source pollutions in streams.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.453-462
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• 2010

Nowadays, the challenges of ensuring good water quality and quantity of river are becoming more important for human society, but there has been troublesome for purifying river water. In this study, we performed the fundamental study of a river water treatment system using riverside soil and eco-friendly optimal media for improving river water quality and can also treat a large amount of river water. As the results of the physical and chemical characterization of the two different soils (Kyungan and Chungrang, The Republic of Korea), which were collected from real stream sides in the Han River basin, and five kinds of media (zeolite, perlite, steel slag, woodchip and mulch), both soils were all classified as a sand, and effective size ($D_{10}$) and uniformity coefficient (U) of the soil were about 0.2 mm and 4 or so, respectively. Through the batch and column experiments with the soil and eco-friendly media, zeolite and mulch were found to be efficient for decreasing nitrogen. In addition, steel slag was especially superior to the other media for phosphorus removal. From soil reforming tests volume ratios were 2.8, 1, and 1 of Kyungan soil, zeolite, and steel slag hydraulic conductivity of mixed soil was increased $1.30{\times}10^{-2}$ from $2.85{\times}10^{-3}$ of Kyungan soil, and the removal efficiencies of nitrogen and phosphorus were also improved. These results show that reforming of the soil enhanced the purification of a large amount of water, and zeolite, mulch, and steel slag might be facilitated as proper functional media.