• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.43-50
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• 2001

A daily newspaper in Korea addressed an controversial issue recently that the concentration of radon measured from the groundwater in Taejon was found out a relatively high level. The cancer risk arising from ingestion of such radon should be derived from calculation of the dose absorbed by the tissues at risk. The study performed by the National Research Council in United States confirmed that the use of a PBPK model for the ingested radon could provide the useful information regarding the distribution of radon among the organs of the body. This study presents an approach for the internal dose assessment of ingested radon for this case. At first, the study develops a PBPK model for ingested radon. However, the important issue is how to simulate a more realistic situation using the model associated with repeated oral doses rather than a single oral dose. The simulations are performed for repeated oral exposures per 8-hour interval using the PBPK model for a male adult. The concentration and cumulative value of radon concentration are calculated and analyzed for lung tissue and adipose group, respectively. The results could be used for the realistic prediction of the internal dose of radon in the human body for repeated oral exposures.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.168-172
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• 2013

A preliminary performance test of a 30RT 2-stage screw heat pump was carried out in order to develop a high performance large-scale unutilized energy source heat pump system, which will be used for district heating and cooling. In this study, two issues of the system operating control were investigated. The first issue is the mode switching control from 1-stage to 2-stage. A stable 2-stage heating operation is guaranteed, only if the load-side water inlet temperature is over a certain value, where the 1-stage heating operation should be done first from a cold start. The second issue is oil level control. An oil shortage problem in the low stage compressor, which depends on the degree of suction superheat, was solved by a proper oil level control scheme.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.317-326
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• 2011

With its recent advances, nanotechnology is now being applied to various areas. Despite the benefits of nanoparticles, their risk in the environment has caused controversy, which is now becoming an international issue. Nanoparticles can easily infiltrate into cells, accumulate in biota, and may cause adverse effects in the levels of molecules, cells and organisms, and in the community. If nanoparticles are released into the environment, they can be transferred to organisms in the ecosystem, and eventually to the human body through the food chain. In this study, the research trend of the trophic transfer of nanoparticles in the food chain was investigated. Although a few investigations have been conducted regarding this topic, the trophic transfer of nanoparticles is becoming a significant issue in the area of nanotoxicology due to the potential risk to humans via the biomagnification process. While previous studies have demonstrated evidence of the trophic transfer of nanoparticles intensive future studies are needed to provide further information on the properties of nanomaterials, the exposure media, and the in vivo mechanisms such as uptake, accumulation, and depuration.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.83-92
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• 2007

The past concept of constructing houses was focused on how to overcome the limitation of consuming natural resources such as energy and materials, which increased the official cost and the environmental pollution. On the other hand, the echo-friendly concept has considered the harmony between human being and nature more critically and has applied the characteristics of natural environment into a unique dwelling design by developing constructs and materials adjusted to the particular climate, making them into a unit of impacting positively the complicated system. The current environmental issue is how a dwelling adapts into a given climate in which the design is applied by ecology without damaging the natural environment. In another word, the main issue in the twenty first century will be how we meet the human needs to dwellings applied by the residential environment. Therefore, we have to provide a hospitable place for residents' mental and physical health through "Green Design", emerging as the critical design of urban collective dwellings. Based on these conceptions, the purpose of this study is to suggest the way of designing the urban collective dwelling applied by ecology, proffering wealthy life style to residents with the preservation of natural environment as applying an ecological concept into the design of collective dwellings that represent a contemporary housing type for urban residents.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.215-220
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• 2016

The global cultivation area of genetically modified crops (GM crops) has been increasing every year. Cultivation of GM crops is not only beneficial to the economy but also has positive effects on the environment in decreasing the use of agrochemicals, chemical fertilizers, and agricultural machinery. However, there have been controversies about the admixture of GM crops and non-GM crops and the unintentional release of GM crops to the environment. Especially in Korea, where consumption of agricultural products is import-dependent, the economic importance of GM crops has been a significant issue. The Act on import and distribution of GM crops was established in 2001 to start the management of GM crops in Korea. Recently, the imported amount of GM crops to Korea has reached over 10 million tons and is increasing very rapidly; consequently, the potential environmental impact of GM crops is becoming a big issue in Korea. In Japan, the discovery of imported GM canola plants around ports in 2005 raised awareness of the unintentional release of GM crops. In Korea, GM maize plants were also found in port and feed factory surroundings from 2005 to 2007. It is now necessary to monitor imported GM crops by tracing distribution, transport process for practical environmental risk assessment. Possible gene transfer from GM crops to non-GM crops should also be investigated in the cultivation area and the surroundings as well.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.382-390
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• 2012

Global warming has been hot issue world wide. Korea has been dealing with the global issue under the slogan of low carbon and green-growth such as setting national greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets and allocation to each industrial sector. Infrastructure construction, in which enormous social overhead capital (SOC) is input, has great role as one of the actions. Road is one of the representative infrastructure and large amount of resources is utilized in its construction, operation and maintenance stage. The estimation methodology of life cycle carbon emissions was developed and applied to a case study of highway currently under construction in this study. Also, total carbon emissions of all the highway in South Korea at present (2009) and cumulative carbon emissions from 2009 to 2020 were estimated using the results of case study.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.463-470
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• 2002

Environmental protection and precaution are the most frequently considered issues in the recent research fields for our present and future surroundings. However, it seems that these environmental issues were less reflected in local-level development plans, and caused several cases of environmental pollution, therefore it became a major concern of local governments and the communities. The role of a 'Local EIA(Environment Impact Assessment)' can be a core issue for the positive preferences of the local-level development plans. Cases of Local EIA in Germany which have been implied successfully are reviewed to generate a local EIA movement and to produce a guideline for Korean local governments. The local EIA in Germany was broadly commenced in the middle of 1980s, and a decade later it was carried out for over 200 of local governments. To produce a better suggestion for Korean local EIA, comparison and analysis of detail data of the German local EIA was carried out, and tested for fourteen cities in Korea based on five categories: i) assessment subject, ii) assessment procedure, iii) main office for assessment, iv) assessment factor and v) assessment standard. Prior suggestions for greater preference of local EIA in Korea are: it is necessary that I) launch of a support system in central government to help the movement of local government; Ⅱ) a knowledge-based expert group in local government which has by all means of exclusive responsibility far any action(new application or performance of local EIA) : 111) establishment of 'environmental protection measure' in local government level for environmental precaution based on individual environmental character and values in their communities.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.238-251
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• 1998

Environmental education, which has been thought as the most fundamental solution to environmental problems, should be performed not only in school but also in home and society with a long-term plan. In line with this, environmental-friendly attitude in daily life should be achieved by the perception of the vital environmental principle-new understanding of relation between nature and human being. It is in the city park that children in urban area, who has little opportunity to contact nature, have rather easier access to nature and realize the principle. Despite such great potential, the city park in Korea has not played its pivotal role because of lack of both facilities and activities. In addition, existing studies on this issue are not satisfactory. Therefore, this study is aimed at analyzing and evaluating city parks' environmental education function, potential and problems according to their types, then offering practical reform measures and programs in order to make students better understand the parks as an everyday natural experience spot. These plans are not based on full-scale revision, instead focuses on optimizing potential of existing natural environment and parks. Additionally, activities to experience various nature are included in the study. The value of city park is not decided by the park itself, but by its relationship with visitors. Environmental education function of city park is not confined to building up facilities and providing programs. It also should be complemented and improved, reflecting visitors' opinions and evaluation of environmental education.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.266-278
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• 2024

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is a complex, multifaceted global health issue that poses a serious threat to livestock, humans, and the surrounding environment. It entails several elements and numerous potential transmission routes and vehicles that contribute to its development and spread, making it a challenging issue to address. AR is regarded as an One Health issue, as it has been found that livestock, human, and environmental components, all three domains are interconnected, opening up channels for transmission of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB). AR has turned out to be a critical problem mainly because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, with the anticipation of 10 million annual AR-associated deaths by 2050. The fact that infectious diseases induced by ARB are no longer treatable with antibiotics foreshadows an uncertain future in the context of health care. Hence, the One Health approach should be emphasized to reduce the impact of AR on livestock, humans, and the environment, ensuring the longevity of the efficacy of both current and prospective antibiotics.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1489-1494
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• 2017

The use of a room-temperature gamma spectrometer is an issue in environmental radiation monitoring. To monitor radionuclides released around a nuclear power plant, suitable instruments giving fast and reliable information are required. High-pressure xenon (HPXe) chambers have range of resolution and efficiency equivalent to those of other medium resolution detectors such as those using NaI(Tl), CdZnTe, and $LaBr_3:Ce$. An HPXe chamber could be a cost-effective alternative, assuming temperature stability and reliability. The CEA LIST actively studied and developed HPXe-based technology applied for environmental monitoring. Xenon purification and conditioning was performed. The design of a 4-L HPXe detector was performed to minimize the detector capacitance and the required power supply. Simulations were done with the MCNPX2.7 particle transport code to estimate the intrinsic efficiency of the HPXe detector. A behavioral study dealing with ballistic deficits and electronic noise will be utilized to provide perspective for further analysis.