• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2015.10a
• /
• pp.503-507
• /
• 2015

Sustainability continues to gain traction in all industry sectors as people become aware of the advantages of green products. The voluntary use of green products in buildings in the United States continues to grow due to long-term cost saving and the ecological benefit to nature. The voluntary installation of green products is associated with end-users' expectations and perceptions including cost saving, sustainable behavior, and social responsibility. Although involuntary use of green products has similar expectations and perceptions, the installation decision is not based on the goodwill from end-users. This paper surveys college students to capture current experience levels, expectations, and perceptions in regard to green products and/or sustainability and to understand their attitudes about involuntary use of a green product. The installation of low water pressure showerheads in a dormitory provides data to support perception, expectation, and future direction of adoption of green products in public buildings. This information may be used to facilitate sustainable behaviors among involuntary groups regarding to the adoption of green products. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the college students' perception of a green product, particularly when the students are involuntarily exposed to the green products. As a secondary objective, the paper also attempts to address the college students' general understanding on sustainability and green products. The findings of this study could support the growing importance of sustainable behavior among higher education beyond social responsibility and provide a benchmark against which to improve future change while fostering sustainable behaviors over time among the public.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.243-252
• /
• 2006

The emergy concept was used to valuate the contributions of a tidal flat ecosystem included in the fourth stage reclamation plan for the Youngsan River area to the Korean economy. Emergy contributions of the ecosystem were compared with those of economic valuations performed on the same ecosystem. The tidal flat ecosystem contributed 3.55 million EmW/ha annually. This, however, cannot be compared directly with those of the economic valuations because both methodologies approach the valuation of ecosystems in different perspectives. The emergy methodology is a donor-based valuation in which what goes into making a product or service is measured, while the economic valuation is a receiver-based approach in which human receivers determine the value of an ecosystem product or service. An emergy valuation was conducted for the three ecosystem functions included in the economic valuations to compare the results of both methodologies on the same basis. Fishery production and pollutants removal contributed 9.86 million EmW/ha/yr and 0.88 million EmW/ha/yr, respective1y. The conservation value of the tidal flat ecosystem was 3.55 million EmW/ha/yr. Overall, the emergy valuation that try to include works of both human and nature on the same basis resulted in higher economic contribution of the tidal flat ecosystem than that calculated by the economic methodologies in which only human works are measured based on the willingness-to-pay of people. This study showed that the emergy concept could provide an alternative tool for policy decision-making regarding utilization and conservation of ecosystems by approaching the ecosystem valuation from a different perspective than that of economic methodologies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.600-605
• /
• 2019

Background: The leaves and roots of Panax ginseng are rich in ginsenosides. However, the chemical compositions of the leaves and roots of P. ginseng differ, resulting in different medicinal functions. In recent years, the aerial parts of members of the Panax genus have received great attention from natural product chemists as producers of bioactive ginsenosides. The aim of this study was the isolation and structural elucidation of novel, minor ginsenosides in the leaves of P. ginseng and evaluation of their antiinflammatory activity in vitro. Methods: Various chromatographic techniques were applied to obtain pure individual compounds, and their structures were determined by nuclear magnetic resonance and high-resolution mass spectrometry, as well as chemical methods. The antiinflammatory effect of the new compounds was evaluated on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Results and conclusions: Two novel, minor triterpenoid saponins, ginsenoside $LS_1$ (1) and 5,6-didehydroginsenoside $Rg_3$ (2), were isolated from the leaves of P. ginseng. The isolated compounds 1 and 2 were assayed for their inhibitory effect on nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, and Compound 2 showed a significant inhibitory effect with $IC_{50}$ of $37.38{\mu}M$ compared with that of NG-monomethyl-L-arginine ($IC_{50}=90.76{\mu}M$). Moreover, Compound 2 significantly decreased secretion of cytokines such as prostaglandin $E_2$ and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$. In addition, Compound 2 significantly suppressed protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. These results suggested that Compound 2 could be used as a valuable candidate for medicinal use or functional food, and the mechanism is warranted for further exploration.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.61-72
• /
• 2008

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key biophysical variable influencing land surface processes such as photosynthesis, transpiration and energy balance, and is a required input to estimate evapotranspiration in various ecological and hydrological models. The development of more correct and useful LAIs estimation techniques is required by these importance, but LAIs had been assumed in most LAI research through simple relations with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) because the field measurement is difficult on wide area. This paper is to evaluate the MODIS LAI Product's practical use by comparing with LAIs that is derived from NOAA AVHRR NDVIs and the 2 years (2003-2004) measured LAIs of Korea Forest Research Institute in Gyeongancheon watershed (561.12 $Km^2$). As a result, the MODIS LAIs of deciduous forests showed higher values about 14 % and 15~30 % than the measured LAIs and NOAA LAIs. In the year of 2003, the MODIS LAIs in coniferous forests were 5 % higher than the measured LAIs, and showed about 7 % differences comparing with the NOAA LAIs except April. These differences come from the insufficient field data measured in partial points of the target area, and the extracted reference data from MODIS LAIs include the limits of spatial resolution and the error of incorrect land cover classification. Thus, using the MODIS data by the proper correction with the measured data can be useful as an input data for ecological and hydrological models which offers the vegetation information and simulates the water balance of a given watershed.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.349-357
• /
• 2004

Emergy is a measure of the processes required to produce something expressed in units of the same energy form. Emergy based indices can provide insights into the thermodynamic efficiency of the process, the quality of its output, and the interaction between the process and its surrounding environment. However, in an industrial system, the inputs are mostly nonrenewable, renewable energy source is nearly zero, ultimate purpose is pursuit of profits in economic activity. In study, we present two indices based on emergy - EEE(Ecological Economic Efficiency) and ERI(Environmental Responsibility Index). The EEE is taken into account real value of product in market economy. The ERI is shown to be a function of the net yield of the economy, its ‘load’ on the environment and ecological economic efficiency. Manufacturing industry of Korea produced the 30% of total GDP in 2001. We applied these indices to manufacturing industry for environmental management and further sustainable industry. As a results, the highest ERI is 0.34 in recycling industries, the lowest ERI is 0.01 in coke, refined petroleum products which is dominated by ELR. The higher ERI, the more friendly to environment. The suggested indices help us understand relative contributions of various alternatives in company's production and consumption activity, and provide a tool of decision-making for the rearrangement of future industries. Furthermore, they contribute to environmental friendly operation and consumption.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.135-147
• /
• 1986

The simplification and the searching trends of complex data which assumed relationship between predictor variables and object variables are one of primary objective of ecological research. This study was aimed to apply cononical analysis consisting of canonical correlation analysis and canonical variate analysis related to lichen vegetation and several environmental variables which are elevation, height on grond, exposure side and cover values. Data collected from the Duckyoo National Park in August 1985. Lichen species was ranked by eqivocation information theory with cover values. Canonical correlation analysis was applied to one data set both set both environmental variables and lichem family. In order to make two sets of data matrix the scale of position vector ordination was calculated from the vector scalar product for lichen species. Canonical variate analysis was applied to rearranged data which was made by interval class code for environmental variables. The sharpness values was calculated in frequency of cotingency tables and the dispersion profiles of each species in classes of environmental variables was designed to extract component values based on the decomposition of expected frequencies in contingency table. The results of canonical correlation analysis revealed canonical first correlation value 0.815(89%), and second correlation value 0.083(11%). Significance test showed that the hypothesis of joint mutuallity of canonical correlation is accepted (P>0.05). The relation between canonical score of vegetation variables and that of environmental variable indicated linear tendency.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.281-300
• /
• 2023

Recently, the call for better accountability and social responsibility from corporations has been regularly voiced, both in the academic literature and in public discussions. This poses a challenge to the existing literature in understanding consumption behaviors to direct them toward sustainable development. This study investigates the purchase intention of Gen Z consumers in Vietnam with green packaging products. Data were collected from 914 respondents by online questionnaire and then analyzed using OLS. The results suggest the significant influence of customers' income and packaging in driving customers' intention to use environmentally-friendly products. Specifically, consumers in a higher income class participate more actively in green purchases. However, problems associated with inadequate packaging are also illustrated, resulting in the poor perception of green messages and poor practice of ecological actions. Besides, subjective norms and green trust are found to be adversely related to green consumer intention. In addition, gender disparity in green behavior is reported, where female consumers show a higher tendency to ecological consumption than their male counterparts. Other demographic factors are also included in the model as control variables, which are age, education, price, environmental literacy, environmental concern, and psychological awareness, but they do not have a significant impact on green purchase intention.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.982-993
• /
• 2018

Consumers' interests in the environment have been growing; hence, their consciousness about the environment has changed and affected their clothing shopping behavior. Prior study indicated attitude-behavior inconsistency in eco-friendly consumer behavior. It was because consumers' consciousness or attitude was often measured at an abstract level, not at a product specific level. This study investigated eco-friendly clothing knowledge, eco-friendly clothing consciousness, and ecological clothing consumption behavior. The effects of consumers' level of clothing involvement and subjective norms in this process were also investigated. For the empirical research, a questionnaire was developed, and responses from 480 women in their 20s to 50s were statistically analyzed. Results indicated that interest and fashion consciousness dimensions of clothing involvement had a significant influence on eco-friendly clothing knowledge, which thereby significantly influenced the three factors of eco-friendly clothing consciousness: social responsibility, health orientation, and clothing resource-saving consciousness. Such factors had different roles in the clothing consumption process. Social responsibility had a significant influence on the entire process of clothing consumption: shopping, purchasing, using, and disposing behaviors. Health orientation consciousness had a significant influence on shopping and purchasing behaviors, whereas resource-saving consciousness had a significant impact only on shopping behavior. Subjective norms were significantly correlated with all aspects of the clothing consumption process. Influence on disposing behavior was relatively weaker than other aspects of clothing consumption behavior.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.32 no.10
• /
• pp.1325-1334
• /
• 2022

Global warming has accelerated in recent decades due to the continuous consumption of petroleum-based fuels. Cyanobacteria-derived biofuels are a promising carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels that may help achieve a cleaner environment. Here, we propose an effective strategy based on the large-scale cultivation of a newly isolated cyanobacterial strain to produce phycobiliprotein and biodiesel, thus demonstrating the potential commercial applicability of the isolated microalgal strain. A native cyanobacterium was isolated from Goryeong, Korea, and identified as Pseudanabaena mucicola GO0704 through 16s RNA analysis. The potential exploitation of P. mucicola GO0704 was explored by analyzing several parameters for mixotrophic culture, and optimal growth was achieved through the addition of sodium acetate (1 g/l) to the BG-11 medium. Next, the cultures were scaled up to a stirred-tank bioreactor in mixotrophic conditions to maximize the productivity of biomass and metabolites. The biomass, phycobiliprotein, and fatty acids concentrations in sodium acetate-treated cells were enhanced, and the highest biodiesel productivity (8.1 mg/l/d) was achieved at 96 h. Finally, the properties of the fuel derived from P. mucicola GO0704 were estimated with converted biodiesels according to the composition of fatty acids. Most of the characteristics of the final product, except for the cloud point, were compliant with international biodiesel standards [ASTM 6761 (US) and EN 14214 (Europe)].

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.32 no.11
• /
• pp.745-756
• /
• 2023

Growing stringent global regulations in Korea poses a threat to corporate sustainability. Companies must respond strategically to navigate these regulations and avoid greenwashing. Objective of this research was to analyze how Korean companies are responding to the global trend of reducing plastic use and propose improved management strategies. Seven indicators were developed to assess companies' post-plastic strategies and applied to analyze the sustainability reports of Amore Pacific and LG Household & HealthCare. These indicators included, 1) disclosure of plastic raw materials used by weight or volume, 2) disclosure of recycled plastic raw materials used by weight or volume, 3) disclosure of waste recycling, reuse amounts, and disposal using waste treatment method 4) strategies to reduce environmental impact of plastics, 5) plastic packaging, reduce, recycle, reuse, and composting (in the real environment), 6) plastic management roadmap for the circular economy, and 7) education for sustainable plastic management. Based on the review of considered companies, we propose in-listed sustainable plastics management strategies: disclosing the ratio of plastic raw materials and recycled raw materials for all products, considering recycling rate throughout the product value chain, and not only for the production phase, reviewing carbon dioxide emissions based on life cycle assessment rather than reducing plastic consumption, studying the biodegradability of biodegradable plastics in natural environment such as soil, considering the consumer's perspective.