• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.89-104
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• 2005

This study examined ecological grade of tidal flats at 59 sites along the west and east coast of Korea from January 1998 to December 2002. Assessment of ecological grade based on 7 headings includes biological and human geographical factors, such as species diversity and richness, utility value of species, possibility of damage and reservation conditions of coastline. Total of 181 species with 37 families of 14 orders were listed in this study. The highest scores (ecological grade I) showed at these five sites, Hagampo in Chungnam, Ui-do and Geomun-do in Jeonnam, Bijin-do and Maemul-do in Gyungnam. Half of thestudy sites belong to ecological grade II and 19 sites showed ecological grade III. Singyeong in Gyeonggi, Janghang in Chungnam, Gyehwado and Gomso in Jeonbuk, Dadepo in Busan were assessed as ecological grade IV. Grade V (the worst) was not found in this study.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.731-741
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• 2015

The objectives of study were to evaluate fish species compositions of trophic guilds and tolerance guilds and apply ecological fish assessment (EFA) models to Bekjae Weir, Keum-River Watershed. The EFA models were Stream Index of Biological Integrity (SIBI) used frequently for running water and Lentic Ecosystem Health Assessment (LEHA) used for assessments of stagnant water. The region of Bekjae Weir as a "four major river project" was originally a lotic ecosystem before the weir construction (2010, $B_{WC}$) but became more like lentic-lotic hybrid system after the construction (2011, $A_{WC}$). In the analysis of species composition and ecological bioindicator (fish), fish species with a preference of running water showed significant decreases (p < 0.05), whereas the species with a preference of stagnant water showed significant increases (p < 0.05). After the weir construction, relative abundances of tolerant species increased, and the proportion of insectivores decreased. This phenomenon indicated the changes of biotic compositions in the system by the weir construction. Applications of SIBI and LEHA models to the system showed that the two model values decreased at the same time after the weir construction ($A_{WC}$), and the region became more like lentic-lotic hybrid system, indicating the degradation of ecosystem health. The model values of SIBI were 19 and 16, respectively, in the BWC and AWC, and the health conditions were both "C-rank". In the mean time, the LEHA model analysis showed that the values was 28 in the BWC and 24 in the AWC, thus the health was turned to be "B-Rank" in the BWC and "C-Rank" in the AWC. indicating a degradation of ecological heath after the weir construction.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2017

This study aimed to suggest priority for developing emission factor (EF) and to develop the methodology of quantitative assessment of EF in the forestry sector. Based on the stock-difference method, 17 kinds of EFs (27 EFs based on forest types) were required to calculate the carbon emission in the forestry sector. Priority for developing EFs followed the standards, which is a development plan by the government agency, importance of carbon stock for greenhouse gas, and EFs by the species. Currently, the most urgent development of EFs was carbon fraction in biomass and carbon stock in dead wood. Meanwhile, the quantitative assessment of EF consisted of 7 categories (5 categories of compulsory and 2 categories of quality evaluation) and 12 verification factors. Category in compulsory verification consisted of administrative document, determination methodology of emission factors, emission characteristic, accuracy of measurement and analysis, and data representative. Category in quality evaluation consisted of data management and uncertainty estimates. Based on the importance of factors in the verification process, each factor was scored separately, however, the score needs to be coordinated by the government agency. These results would help build a reliable and accurate greenhouse gas inventory report of Korea.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.381-386
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• 2018

Objectives: This study aimed to describe the process of utilizing a mobile application for ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to collect data on stress and mood in daily life setting. Methods: A mobile application for the Android operating system was developed and installed with a set of questions regarding momentary mood and stress into a smartphone of a participant. The application sets alarms at semi-random intervals in 60-minute blocks, four times a day for 7 days. After obtaining all momentary affect and stress, the questions to assess the usability of the mobile EMA application were also administered. Results: The data were collected from 97 police officers working in Gyeonggi Province of South Korea. The mean completion rate was 60.0% ranging from 3.5% to 100%. The means of positive and negative affect were 18.34 of 28 and 19.09 of 63. The mean stress was 17.92 of 40. Participants responded that the mobile application correctly measured their affect ($4.34{\pm}0.83$) and stress ($4.48{\pm}0.62$) of 5-point Likert scale. Conclusions: Our study investigated the process of utilizing a mobile application to assess momentary affect and stress at repeated times. We found challenges regarding adherence to the research protocol, such as completion and delay of answering after alarm notification. Despite this inherent issue of adherence to the research protocol, the EMA still has advantages of reducing recall bias and assessing the actual moment of interest at multiple time points that improves ecological validity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.18-30
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• 2023

Forest destruction is an inevitable result of the development processes. According to the environmental impact assessment, over 10% of the destroyed trees need to be recycled and transplanted to minimize the impact of forest destruction. However, the rate of successful transplantation is low, leading to a high rate of tree death. This is attributable to a lack of consideration for environmental factors when choosing a temporary site for transplantation and inadequate management. To monitor transplanted trees, a field survey is essential; however, the spatio-temporal aspect is limited. This study evaluated the applicability of remote sensing for the effective monitoring of transplanted trees. Vegetation indices based on satellite remote sensing were derived to detect time-series changes in the status of the transplanted trees at three temporary transplantation sites. The mortality rate and vitality of transplanted trees before and after the transplant have a similar tendency to the changes in the vegetation indicators. The findings of this study showed that vegetation indices increased after transplantation of trees and decreased as the death rate increased and vitality decreased over time. This study presents a method for assessing newly transplanted trees using satellite images. The approach of utilizing satellite photos and the vegetation index is expected to detect changes in trees that have been transplanted across the country and help to manage tree transplantation for the environmental impact assessment.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

Objectives: This study intends to evaluate the ecological risk of lead (Pb), arsenic (As), and their compounds according to the 2010 action plan on inventory and management for national priority chemicals and provide calculations of risks to the environment. By doing so, we aim to inform risk management measures for the target chemicals. Methods: We conducted species sensitivity distribution (SSD) analysis using the collected ecotoxicity data and obtained predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) for the in-water environment using a hazardous concentration of 5% (HC5) protective of most species (95%) in the environment. Based on the calculated PNECs for aquatic organisms, PNEC values for soil and sediment were calculated using the partition coefficient. We also calculated predicted exposure concentration (PEC) from nation-wide environmental monitoring data and then the hazard quotient (HQ) was calculated using PNEC for environmental media. Results: Ecological toxicity data was categorized into five groups and five species for Pb and four groups and four species for As. Based on the HC5 values from SSD analysis, the PNEC value for aquatic organisms was calculated as 0.40 ㎍/L for Pb and 0.13 ㎍/L for As. PNEC values for soil and sediment calculated using a partition coefficient were 77.36 and 350.50 mg/kg for Pb and 24.20 and 112.75 mg/kg for As. The analysis of national environmental monitoring data showed that PEC values in water were 0.284 ㎍/L for Pb and 0.024 ㎍/L for As, while those in soil and sediment were respectively 45.9 and 44 mg/kg for Pb, and 11.40 and 19.80 mg/kg for As. Conclusions: HQs of Pb and As were 0.70 and 0.18 in water, while those in soil and sediment were 0.59 and 0.13 for Pb and 0.47 and 0.18 for As. With HQs <1 of lead and arsenic in the environment, their ecological risk levels are found to be low.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.125-133
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• 2016

We investigated the distribution of organic matter and trace metals in surface sediment from Tonyeong coast. To determine the status of trace metal pollution, we also conducted an ecological risk assessment. Relatively high concentration of TN (total nitrogen), TOC (total organic carbon), and AVS (acid volatile sulfide) was found in surface sediment located in the narrow channel (site 35-38). Spatial distribution of Cd, Cr, Ni, Co, Hg, and Zn in surface sediment was similar and high Cu concentrations were found in narrow channel. The assessment of heavy metal pollution was derived using the Enrichment factors (EF). The enrichment factor indicated that Cd was no enrichment (EF<1), Pb, Cr, Ni, Co, Zn, and Hg were minor enrichment (1

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.28
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• pp.13.1-13.5
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• 2013

Objectives: Potential environmental risks caused by chemicals that could be released from a recycled plastic product were assessed using a screening risk assessment procedure for chemicals in recycled products. Methods: Plastic slope protection blocks manufactured from recycled plastics were chosen as model recycled products. Ecological risks caused by four model chemicals - di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb)-were assessed. Two exposure models were built for soil below the block and a hypothetic stream receiving runoff water. Based on the predicted no-effect concentrations for the selected chemicals and exposure scenarios, the allowable leaching rates from and the allowable contents in the recycled plastic blocks were also derived. Results: Environmental risks posed by slope protection blocks were much higher in the soil compartment than in the hypothetic stream. The allowable concentrations in leachate were $1.0{\times}10^{-4}$, $1.2{\times}10^{-5}$, $9.5{\times}10^{-3}$, and $5.3{\times}10^{-3}mg/L$ for DEHP, DINP, Cd, and Pb, respectively. The allowable contents in the recycled products were $5.2{\times}10^{-3}$, $6.0{\times}10^{-4}$, $5.0{\times}10^{-1}$, and $2.7{\times}10^{-1}mg/kg$ for DEHP, DINP, Cd, and Pb, respectively. Conclusions: A systematic ecological risk assessment approach for slope protection blocks would be useful for regulatory decisions for setting the allowable emission rates of chemical contaminants, although the method needs refinement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.20-30
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• 2007

Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map (ECVAM) is the class map to divide the national land into conservation areas and development areas based on legal and ecological assessment criteria. It contributes to enhancements of the efficiency and the scientificity when framing a policy in various fields including the environment. However, it is impossible to understand the multiphase vegetation structure as data on judging the national forest class in ECVAM are restricted to areal information of Ecological Nature Status, Degree of Green Naturality and Forest Map. This point drops the reliability of ECVAM. Therefore we constructed vegetation information using LiDAR (Light Detection And Raging) technology. We generated Biomass Class Maps as final results of this study, to introduce the new forest assessment criterion in ECVAM that alternates or makes up for existing forest assessment criteria. And then, we compared these with Forest Map and Landsat TM NDVI image. As a result, biomass classes are generally higher than stand age classes and DBH classes of Vegetation Map, and lower than NDVI of Landsat TM image because of the difference of time on data construction. However distributions between these classes are mostly similar. Therefore we estimates that it is possible to apply the biomass item to the new forest assessment criterion of ECVAM. The introduction of the biomass in ECVAM makes it useful to detect the vegetation succession, to adjust the class of the changed zone since the production of Vegetation Map and to rectify the class error of Vegetation Map because variations on tree heights, forest area, gaps between trees, vegetation vitality and so on are acquired as interim findings in process of computing biomass.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 2012

This research was to examine the physiochemical factors and the attached diatoms of ecological wetland in Paju from August 2010 to May 2011. As a result of physicohemical water quality assessment, the water temperature did not fluctuate much due to ample riparian vegetation and aquatic plants growing at the site. Due to the effect of Han River Estuary, site 4, 5 and 6 had high electricity conductivity. The BOD concentration was high at site 2, 3, and 4 caused by decrease in water quantity and inflow of polluted water. At all sites, T-N and T-P concentrations ranged from eutrophic to hypertrophic status. At the downstream, the T-N and T-P concentrations decreased by inhabiting aquatic plant. Total of 98 taxa of attached diatoms were found. As for dominant taxa, Achnanthes convergens, A. minutissima, Gomphonema gracile, G. parvulum, Melosira varians, Navicula seminulum, N. minima, N. pseudolanceolata, Nitzschia amphibia, N. palea, Surirella minuta and Synedra ulna var. fragilariodes appeared. The result of biological assessment of water quality rated the sites B(suboptimal)~D(poor) during seasons of low water temperature, Fall and Winter, with DAIpo ranging 24.1~68.2 and TDI of 48.4~85.6. During Spring and Summer, all sites were rated D(poor) with DAIpo lower than or equal to 40, and TDI above or equal to 70. The biological assessment of water quality at the research site showed inferior TDI result compared to that of DAIpo.