• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental issue

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Development of an Emissions Processing System for Climate Scenario Inventories to Support Global and Asian Air Quality Modeling Studies

  • Choi, Ki-Chul;Lee, Jae-Bum;Woo, Jung-Hun;Hong, Sung-Chul;Park, Rokjin J.;Kim, Minjoong J.;Song, Chang-Keun;Chang, Lim-Seok
    • Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.11 no.4
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    • pp.330-343
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    • 2017
  • Climate change is an important issue, with many researches examining not only future climatic conditions, but also the interaction of climate and air quality. In this study, a new version of the emissions processing software tool - Python-based PRocessing Operator for Climate and Emission Scenarios (PROCES) - was developed to support climate and atmospheric chemistry modeling studies. PROCES was designed to cover global and regional scale modeling domains, which correspond to GEOS-Chem and CMAQ/CAMx models, respectively. This tool comprises of one main system and two units of external software. One of the external software units for this processing system was developed using the GIS commercial program, which was used to create spatial allocation profiles as an auxiliary database. The SMOKE-Asia emissions modeling system was linked to the main system as an external software, to create model-ready emissions for regional scale air quality modeling. The main system was coded in Python version 2.7, which includes several functions allowing general emissions processing steps, such as emissions interpolation, spatial allocation and chemical speciation, to create model-ready emissions and auxiliary inputs of SMOKE-Asia, as well as user-friendly functions related to emissions analysis, such as verification and visualization. Due to its flexible software architecture, PROCES can be applied to any pregridded emission data, as well as regional inventories. The application results of our new tool for global and regional (East Asia) scale modeling domain under RCP scenario for the years 1995-2006, 2015-2025, and 2040-2055 was quantitatively in good agreement with the reference data of RCPs.

Study on the Optimal Location Selection for Environmental Noise Monitoring Systems (환경소음측정망 최적 위치선정에 관한 연구)

  • Shin, Sangmun;Won, Jeongwoo;Kim, Hwail
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.23 no.7
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    • pp.1307-1320
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    • 2014
  • A number of problems associated with environmental noises in urban areas have significantly been considered. Specific measurement and estimation of the environmental noise became a primary issue in local governments. Environmental noise monitoring system is required in order to estimate and verify the a city noise map. However, current monitoring positions may not perfectly represent and incorporate many different view points, such as districts of a city, different utilizations of a city by the law, populations, and classifications and traffics of roads. In addition, scientific method to provide specific noise monitoring positions my not be avaliable in current literature. For this reason, the primary objective of this paper is to propose a new method for introducing a number of monitoring positions in the entire city. First, the quality function deployment (QFD) method was utilized to simultaneously represent both districts and utilizations of a city. Second, a new algorithm to find a number of monitoring positions was proposed by compromising many different view points: populations, classifications of roads and areas, and traffics of roads. Finally, the proposed monitoring positions and a sample noise map was provided for verification purposes. Based on these results, the proposed algorithm including the QFD concept may successfully provide specific noise monitoring positions by simultaneously consider may different view points and requirements of a city.

Basic Research for development of children cloth diaper - Environmental-friendly oriented - (영.유아용 천기저귀 개발을 위한 기초연구 - 친환경 소재를 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Jung-Soon;Han, Gyung-Hee;Koo, Mi-Ran
    • Journal of Fashion Business
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.107-119
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    • 2011
  • The rate of disposable diaper usage has been increased continuously from convenience of disposable diapers and increment of women's entry in workforce. However, a new perspective toward disposable diapers has been come to the fore in various sides like babies' health, environment, and cost. Furthermore, cloth diaper has started to attract more attention. Since parents and grandparents pay more attention to children as birth rate dropped, they tend to purchase expensive goods if the quality or design of the goods is worthy enough. Therefore, this study has the purpose in presenting the basic data for developing functional and pleasant cloth diaper with analyzing the consuming patterns (convergence in nature, health and technology) and cloth diaper characteristics. The research on the actual condition about children cloth diapers and environmental-friendly materials is as follows. Firstly, as a result of analyzing pros and cons about disposable diapers and cloth diapers, the cloth diapers are estimated to have better health, environment, and cost factors than disposable diapers, only excluding convenience. Secondly, as a result of examining patent registered diapers, the disposable diapers have been improved from shape-centered development to well-being material development, and the cloth diapers have mainly developed functional shape-centered. Thirdly, as a result of analyzing children's goods made with environmental-friendly materials, the children's clothes already use organics and natural resources like beans, bamboo trees, ginkgo, and chitosan. Recently, the diaper industry starts to pay attention to environmental-friendly because the skin ailment from environmental pollution has been an issue. To conclude, children's cloth diaper should be appropriate to their body shape and optimized to have convenient form and functional materials. If environmental-friendly materials are used, quality, functionality, various demands from customers and vitalization of goods industry will be all satisfied.

Development of Marine Environmental Composite Index (해양환경 종합지수의 개발)

  • Kwak, Seung-Jun;Yoo, Seung-Hoon;Chang, Jeong-In
    • Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.487-513
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    • 2003
  • Currently, development of environmental index has been an increasingly important issue to achieve sustainable development, providing critical information to policy-makers. In particular, marine environmental composite index for Korea is widely required to establish. This paper constructs a marine environmental composite index using the OECD pressure-state-response (PSR) framework and employing multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT). The PSR framework links human activities as a pressure to environmental state and policy response. Weights are calculated by the MAUT technique. The paper provides annual pressure, state, response indices, and state index by sea area from 1991 to 2001 in Korea. The implications of the results and application plan of the index are also discussed.

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Technical and Strategic Approach for the Control of Cyanobacterial Bloom in Fresh Waters (담수수계에서 남조류 증식억제의 기술적, 전략적 접근)

  • Lee, Chang Soo;Ahn, Chi-Yong;La, Hyun-Joon;Lee, Sanghyup;Oh, Hee-Mock
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.233-242
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    • 2013
  • Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are not only the first oxygenic organisms on earth but also the foremost primary producers in aquatic environment. Massive growth of cyanobacteria, in eutrophic waters, usually changes the water colour to green and is called as algal (cyanobacterial) bloom or green tide. Cyanobacterial blooms are a result of high levels of primary production by certain species such as Microcystis sp., Anabaena sp., Oscillatoria sp., Aphanizomenon sp. and Phormidium sp. These cyanobacterial species can produce hepatotoxins or neurotoxins as well as malodorous compounds like geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (MIB). In order to solve the nationwide problem of hazardous cyanobacterial blooms in Korea, the following technically and strategically sound approaches need to be developed. 1) As a long-term strategy, reduction of the nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen in our water bodies to below permitted levels. 2) As a short term strategy, field application of combination of already established bloom remediation techniques. 3) Development of emerging convergence technologies based on information and communication technology (ICT), environmental technology (ET) and biotechnology (BT). 4) Finally, strengthening education and creating awareness among students, public and industry for effective reduction of pollution discharge. Considering their ecological roles, a complete elimination of cyanobacteria is not desirable. Hence a holistic approach mentioned above in combination to addressing the issue from a social perspective with cooperation from public, government, industry, academic and research institutions is more pragmatic and desirable management strategy.

Statistical Analysis of PM10 and Meteorological Data in Pohang, a Steel-Industrial City (철강 산업도시 포항의 미세먼지 농도 및 관련 기상자료에 대한 통계적 분석)

  • Choi, Min-Suk;Baek, Sung-Ok
    • Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.32 no.3
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    • pp.329-341
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    • 2016
  • Pohang is a well-known industrial city in Korea with a large steel-industrial complexes. The biggest environmental issue in the city is associated with fine particulate matter (hereinafter, $PM_{10}$). The concentration of $PM_{10}$ is generally dependent on the local emission sources and meteorological conditions. Iron and steel industrial complexes are likely serious pollution sources of $PM_{10}$ in Pohang. In this study, daily $PM_{10}$ data from a large database from the year of 2000 to 2012 were statistically analyzed, together with meteorological data. The average concentrations of $PM_{10}$ were evaluated according to the frequency of Asian dust, haze, mist, and fog. The number of days exceeding short-term standard for $PM_{10}$ were also examined, taking into consideration of weather conditions. It was found that the concentration of $PM_{10}$ was reduced about 18% to 26% because of precipitation. In addition, the effects of wind direction and wind speed on the $PM_{10}$ concentrations were investigated.

Development of Engineering Model for a Barge Moulted Seabed Sludge Treatment Plant (해저 오염 퇴적층 복원 처리를 위한 BMP 패키지 기술 개발)

  • 배준홍;하문근;어경해;김승혁;박찬후;김병우;구근회;윤철원
    • Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.8-13
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    • 2003
  • Soil, ground water, and sea bed are exposed to a continuous accumulation of polluted materials, causing serious environmental damage. It has been reported that such pollution causes a massive mortality of fish stock in rivers due to the resuspension of toxic chemicals, occurring during strong wind conditions. Therefore, it becomes apparent that there is an immediate demand for the restoration treatment of polluted river bed (or sea bed) sediment layers. Pollution levels of major rivers and ports, such as Paldang, Kyungan rivers, and Masan port, are becoming of great public concern, and are posing a serious environmental threat. In particular, the pollution of the Shi-hwa river has become a nation wide issue for the last few years. In spite of such public concern, the pollution levels of such rivers or ports are worsening everyday. In this study, an environmentally sound engineering package is introduced that helps to restore the polluted river bed or sea bed sediments. This engineering package consists of a suction facility, followed by a series of mechanical, chemical, and biological treatment units. The suction facility is designed to minimize secondary pollution that occurs from the resuspension of toxic materials during suction. The sea bed cleaning engineering package is designed to be installed on the top of a floating barge. Such a combination of environmental plant and shipbuilding technology provides a cost-effective solution, minimizing the transportation between suction and treatment facilities.

Active Control of Offshore Structures for Wave Response Reduction Using Probabilistic Neural Network

  • Kim, Doo-Kie;Kim, Dong-Hyawn;Chang, Sang-Kil;Chang, Seong-Kyu
    • Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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    • v.20 no.5 s.72
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2006
  • Offshore structures are subjected to wave, wind, and earthquake loads. The failure of offshore structures can cause sea pollution, as well as losses of property and lives. Therefore, safety of the structure is an important issue. The reduction of the dynamic response of offshore towers, subjected wind generated random ocean waves, is a critical problem with respect to serviceability, fatigue life and safety of the structure. In this paper, a structural control method is proposed to control the vibration of offshore structures by the probabilistic neural network (PNN). The state vectors of the structure and control forces are used for training patterns of the PNN, in which control forces are prepared by linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control algorithm. The proposed algorithm is applied to a fixed offshore structure under random ocean waves. Active control of the fixed offshore structure using the PNN control algorithm shows good results.

Gene Expression Profiling in Rice Infected with Rice Blast Fungus using SAGE

  • Kim, Sang-Gon;Kim, Sun-Tae;Kim, Sung-Kun;Kang, Kyu-Young
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.384-391
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    • 2008
  • Rice blast disease, caused by the pathogenic fungus Magnaporthe grisea, is a serious issue in rice (Oryza sativa L.) growing regions of the world. Transcript profiling in rice inoculated with the fungus has been investigated using the transcriptomics technology, serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE). Short sequence tags containing sufficient information which are ten base-pairs representing the unique transcripts were identified by SAGE technology. We identified a total of 910 tag sequences via the GenBank database, and the resulting genes were shown to be up-regulated in all functional categories under the fungal biotic stress. Compared to the compatible interaction, the stress and defense genes in the incompatible interaction appear to be more up-regulated. Particularly, thaumatin-like gene (TLP) was investigated in determining the gene and protein expression level utilizing Northern and Western blotting analyses, resulting in an increase in both the gene and the protein expression level which arose earlier in the incompatible interaction than in the compatible interaction.

Electrical impedance-based crack detection of SFRC under varying environmental conditions

  • Kang, Man-Sung;An, Yun-Kyu;Kim, Dong-Joo
    • Smart Structures and Systems
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.1-11
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    • 2018
  • This study presents early crack detection of steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) under varying temperature and humidity conditions using an instantaneous electrical impedance acquisition system. SFRC has the self-sensing capability of electrical impedance without sensor installation thanks to the conductivity of embedded steel fibers, making it possible to effectively monitor cracks initiated in SFRC. However, the electrical impedance is often sensitively changed by environmental effects such as temperature and humidity variations. Thus, the extraction of only crack-induced feature from the measured impedance responses is a crucial issue for the purpose of structural health monitoring. In this study, the instantaneous electrical impedance acquisition system incorporated with SFRC is developed. Then, temperature, humidity and crack initiation effects on the impedance responses are experimentally investigated. Based on the impedance signal pattern observation, it is turned out that the temperature effect is more predominant than the crack initiation and humidity effects. Various crack steps are generated through bending tests, and the corresponding impedance damage indices are extracted by compensating the dominant temperature effect. The test results reveal that propagated cracks as well as early cracks are successfully detected under temperature and humidity variations.