• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2008

The disturbance zone and measured values are affected by the size of the penetrometer. The local value may be measured by the smaller penetrometer. An ultra small Micro-Cone penetrometer (5mm in outer diameter) is designed and manufactured to characterize soil properties with minimum disturbance during penetration tests. The tip resistance is measured by using stain gauges attached near the Micro-Cone. In addition, the friction sleeve is adopted to effectively remove the skin friction from the tip resistance. Design concern includes the installation of stain gauges, circuits, penetration systems, penetration rate, sampling rate, operating temperature, and calibration. Application tests show that the clay interface, and the soil layers consisting of clay and sand are clearly detected by the Micro-Cone. Furthermore, the cone tip resistances measured by the Micro-Cone and the miniature cone (16mm in outer diameter) are similar. Note the resolution is much higher in the Micro-Cone. This study shows that the Micro-Cone may effectively detect the soil interface with high resolution, and with minimum disturbance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2011

Human occupational exposure to n-hexane has been associated with neurobehavioral symptoms such as depression, irritablity, acute irritation symptom, concentration disturbance and fatigue. Effects of monoamine oxidase (MAO) B and serotonin transporter receptor (5-HTTR) polymorphisms on the neurobehavioral symptoms were investigated in 70 male workers from TV and computer monitor manufacturing plants exposed to n-hexane. Neurobehavioral symptoms were assessed through a self-reported questionnaire and ambient level of n-hexane was measured by NIOSH method. Blood and urine were collected from each workers to determine the MAO(B), 5-HTTR and urinary 2,5-hexanedione(2,5-HD). The mean concentration of volatile n-hexane was $18.8{\pm}28.8ppm$ and that of urinary 2,5-HD was $1.07{\pm}1.47mg/g$ creatinine. Statistically significant associations with sexual disturbance were age and smoking. The frequencies of MAO(B) AA, AG and GG were 18.6%, 45.7% and 35.7%, respectively, and the frequencies of 5-HTTR ll, ls and ss genotype were 82.9%, 15.7% and 1.4%, respectively. MAO (B) gene polymorphisms had susceptibility to the neurobehavioral symptoms such as fatigue, concentration disturbance, irritability and acute irritation symptom and 5-HTTR gene polymorphism had susceptibility to the sleep disturbance and acute irritation symptom. On multiple logistic regression analysis for the neurobehavioral symptoms, memory disturbance was significantly associated with smoking(OR=6.752, 95% CI=37.46) and drinking(OR=4.033, 95% CI=1.252-12.98), emotional lability was MAO(B) genotype(OR=0.412, 95% CI=0.170-0.996), fatigue (OR=1.011, 95% CI=1.000-1.021) and acute irritation(OR=0.990, 95% CI=0.981-1.000) were working duration and sexual disturbance were significantly associated with age(OR=1.208, 95% CI=1.042-1.399), ambient n-hexane(OR=1.077, 95% CI=1.005-1.154) and 2,5-HD(OR=0.186, 95% CI=0.041-0.841). This finding implies that the MAO (B) and 5-HTTR polymorphisms may affect susceptibility for specific neurobehavioral symptoms associated with n-hexane exposure in workers.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.49-60
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• 2014

Fish assemblages play an integral role in stream ecosystem and are influenced by stream environmental conditions and habitat disturbances. Fish community structures and habitat parameters of U.S. EPA rapid bio-assessment protocol were surveyed to investigate the effect of stream environment and habitat disturbance on fish communities at 13 study sites in the Gapyeong Stream, a typical gravel-bed stream. Principal component analysis (PCA) based on data from habitat assessment at each study site indicated that the study sites were differentiated by habitat parameters such as embeddedness, velocity/depth regime and sediment deposition, which were related with bed slope. A total of 46 species belonging to 12 families were collected in the Gapyeong Stream. A dominant species was Zacco koreanus, subdominant species was Z. platypus. Hierarchical cluster analysis based on species abundance classified fish communities into the three main groups along the stream longitudinal change. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) portrayed that fish community structures were related to major habitat parameters, i.e., epifaunal substrate/available cover, embeddedness, velocity/depth regime, sediment deposition, channel alternation and frequency of riffles. These results suggested that fish community structures were primary affected by the longitudinal environmental changes, and those were modified by habitat disturbance in the Gapyeong Stream, a gravel-bed stream.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.239-246
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• 2022

Lactuca scariola L. is one of ecosystem-disturbance plants that grow everywhere such as roadsides, grasslands, railroads, banks, and fields. L. scariola usually occurs in autumn. It overwinters in rosette form. It flowers and produces seeds in early summer of the next year. Seeds of L. scariola can germinate immediately without dormancy when the temperature is over 20℃. Due to endogenous bacteria in seeds of L. scariola, it has a strong drought tolerance. Thus, it can grow well on roadsides. L. scariola should be controlled as it can result in 60-80% of soybean yield loss at densities above 50 plants m^-2. It is advisable to remove L. scariola as it competes with native plants by acting as a pioneer to other ecosystem-disturbance plants. Among various control methods, chemical control is the most effective method that is widely used. Soil treatment with herbicides such as oxyfluorfen EC and pendimethalin EC can inhibit the development of L. scariola. Foliar treatment herbicides glyphosate and glufosinateammonium are widely used. L. scariola is resistant to 2,4-D, dicamba, and MCPA among foliar treatment herbicides. Thus, it is recommended to apply herbicides with different modes of action.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.113-124
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• 2006

Landscape structure, habitat types, vegetation structure and biodiversity in the Bokha stream chosen as a reference stream were investigated to get ecological information necessary for restoration of urban stream degraded by excessive artificial interference. Landscape structure showed a slight change between before and after flooding. Habitat types of nine sorts were identified based on ecological information obtained from field survey such as micro-topography, hydrological characteristics, disturbance regime, and so on. Each habitat holds specific organisms to each site. Consequently, the number of plant communities, and species of benthos and fish increased as the kinds of habitat type increase. Ordination of habitat types based on vegetation, benthos, and fish data reorganized them into three groups of pool types of two kinds depending on whether they are connected to the water course or not and riffle one. Vegetation showed different stratification and species composition depending on topographical position in relation to disturbance cycle. Based on the results from this study, relationship between environmental heterogeneity and biodiversity was discussed and a restoration plan was suggested in a viewpoint of vegetation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.123-130
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• 2009

Fragmentation due to land developments causes disturbances and changes of composition in forest vegetation. The purpose of the study was to develop the impact assessment model for quantitative distance or degree of disturbance by land developments. This study conducted a survey about structure and composition of forest vegetation to determine degree of impact from land developments. The results of field survey, there was a difference in structure and composition of forest vegetation such as tree canopy, herbaceous cover, and number of vine and alien species the distances from edge to interior area such as 0m, 10m, 20m, 40m, and over 60m. To assess the disturbance of forest vegetation, the factors selected were the rate of vine's cover and appearance of alien species. The impact assessment model about vine species explained by a distance, forest patch size, type of forest fragmentation, and type of vegetation ($R^2$=0.44, p<0.001). The other model about alien species explained by a distance, type of forest fragmentation, type of vegetation, and width of road (85.9%, p<0.005). The models applied to Samsong housing development in Goyang-si, Gyunggi-do. The vines and alien species in the study area have had a substantial impact on forest vegetation from edge to 20 or 40m. The impact assessment models were high reliability for estimating impacts to land developments. The impact of forest vegetation by development activities could be minimized thorough the adoption of the models introduced at the stage of EIA.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.98-100
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• 2007

Tropical forests have variety of biodiversity values, which provide invaluable services to the living being on earth. In the recent years, tropical forests are regarded as valuable global resources that act as sink for carbon dioxide in order to mitigate global climatic change. In many parts of the world, tropical forests are being rapidly cleared by various means. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is concentrated in the upper 12 inches of the soil. So it is readily depleted owing to the degradation activities. In the present study, it was aimed to assess the magnitude of disturbance in the availability of SOC in a semi- evergreen forest, situated in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. The forest density of this region was mapped with QuickBird satellite data. Intensive field soil sampling and floristic study were conducted to estimate the SOC status in different density classes and to identify the species availability. The SOC density ranged from 274.06 t/ha to 147.84 t/ha in the very dense and degraded semi-evergreen forest respectively. The SOC content was also varied from 3.70 to 1.83 % in the very dense semi-evergreen and medium semi-evergreen forests respectively. The species composition in different density classes was also varied considerably. As a result of this study, it was identified that the disturbance to forests by various means not only affect the density of forests but also affect the below ground SOC status proportionately.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.290-297
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• 2019

The estuary is a transition zone where fresh water and salt water meet because the stream is connected to the open sea area. So estuaries have very high biodiversity and form a unique ecosystem. However, before the recognition of the ecological value of the estuaries, various damage and disturbances have been occurred so countermeasures are needed. The river master plan is acting as a disturbance factor. However, the river master plan has the public object such as water disaster defense, river function improvement, and national water resources management. Therefore, it is necessary to study the ways in which the opposite relationship of development and ecosystem protection coexist. In this study, the concept of environmental windows were used to estimate the low impact development duration. We expected that proposed method for low impact development duration estimation can be used as a basis and basic data to protected the ecosystem from development project and disturbance in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.35-53
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• 2021

A field survey was carried out targeting 59 pine wilt disease control areas distributed in Andong, and the ecological characteristics of the areas affected by pine wilt disease were analyzed using vegetation information, ecological information, and land use information. Vegetation characteristics of Pine wilt disease affected forest area showed a 3-layer vegetation structure, high percentage of accidental occurrence species (37%) and secondary vegetation species (59.6%), appearing 12 taxa naturalized plants and 3 taxa ecosystem disturbance organisms designated by the Ministry of Environment. Ecological information of Pine wilt affected area showed frequent occurrence of water stress in south and west slopes, low lying grounds in mountains, and in well-drained soils. Also, surrounding the area has been used as roads, tombs, and cultivation where intensive human activities were the cause of disturbance and stress to the pine forest. It was analyzed that the pine forest in Andong city suffered extensive damage due to the onset of pine wilt disease while the pine trees were weakened due to continuous human activities. Conclusively, the spread and onset of pine wilt disease are worsened by artificial factors than natural environmental conditions.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.550-560
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to research spatial diffusion, a condition for spread of Ailanthus altissima, and conduct flora analysis to provide useful information for management of it. Three research spots where the community dominance value was found to be high and habitat was homogeneous according to a 2010 in-depth species study were selected, and census was conducted using a line-transect method. The diffusion area included 1,435 $m^2$ in Yangpyeong, 1,118 $m^2$ in Gimcheon and 760 $m^2$ in Sancheong, in order of increasing size, and a total of 510 trees were found to be randomly diffused in space. An average of 83.2% of Ailanthus altissima were found to be included in DBH classes I (1.0-3.4 cm) and II (3.5-6.4 cm), showing that young trees were dominant in Ailanthus altissima communities and there was an age diffusion pattern according to degree of disturbance in habitats. A total of 41 families 75 genera and 91 species of flora made up the list, and Therophytes were most widely found in all of the three areas. This shows that habitats in these areas have recently been disturbed. It was evaluated that elimination of roadside population and mountainous area population was necessary to prevent diffusion of Ailanthus altissima.