• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.14-27
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• 2006

The proper management of discarded electronic devices (often called electronic-waste) is an emerging issue for solid waste professionals throughout the world because of the large growth of the waste stream, and the content of toxic metals in them, most notably heavy metals such as lead. Notebook computers are becoming one of the major components of discarded computer devices and will continue to increase in the waste stream in the future. While the computers hold great promise for recycling, a substantial amount of this waste is often disposed in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) is commonly used to simulate worse case leaching conditions where a potentially hazardous waste is assumed to be disposed along with municipal solid waste in a landfill with actively decomposing materials overlying an aquifer. The objective of this study was to examine leaching potential of lead from discarded notebook computers using the scale-up TCLP, other standard leaching tests such as California waste extraction test (Cal WET), and the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) and actual landfill leachates as leaching solution. The scale-up TCLP is a modified TCLP (where the device was disassembled and leached in or near entirety) to meet the intent of the TCLP. The results showed that the scale-up TCLP resulted in relatively high lead found in the leachate with an average of 23.3 mg/L. The average level was less than those by the standard TCLP and WET (37.0 mg/L and 86.0 mg/L, respectively), but much greater than those by the SPLP and the extractions with the landfill leachates (0.55 mg/L and 1.47 mg/L, respectively). The pH of the leaching solution and the ability of the organic acids in the TCLP and WET to complex with the lead were identified as major factors that controlled the amount of lead leached from notebook computers. Based on the results obtained by a number of leaching tests in this study, notebook computers may present a potential leaching risk to the environment and human health upon land disposal. However, further investigation is still needed to assess the true risk posed by the land disposal of discarded notebook computers.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.541-550
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• 2013

Noise is defined to be unwanted (or undesirable) sounds, and it can be subdivided into occupational and environmental noises. The occupational noise is largely emitted from workplaces, but the environmental noise is produced from various sources such as transportation, construction, and even neighborhood. Transportation, particularly road vehicles, has been recognized to play a major role in emitting environmental noise and having adverse effects on urban communities. Considering this issue, this research investigated how severe the impacts of road traffic noise on a variety of land uses in a highly urbanized area, Fulton County, Georgia, United States. Daytime and nighttime road traffic noise maps were derived with Traffic Noise Model that was developed by Federal Highway Administration at United States Department of Transportation. Individual noise maps were overlaid on three-tiered land use type maps in order to evaluate the magnitude of noise impacts on the study area, as a noise exposure assessment. This study found that many land use parcels and buildings were exposed to noise levels exceeding the guideline values of the World Health Organization and the Atlanta Code of Ordinance. Therefore, it would be required to take an action that can protect many urban residents from ill effects of road traffic noise.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.421-429
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• 2010

The reliability of the measurement of ambient trace species is an important issue, especially, in background area such as Gosan in Jeju Island. In a previous episodic study, it was suggested that the PM10 measurement result by the gravimetric method(GMM) was not in agreement with the result by the ${\beta}$-ray absorption method(BAM). In this study, a systematic comparison was carried out for the data between 2001 and 2008 at Gosan(GMM and BAM) and Jeju city (BAM) which is near to Gosan. It was found that at Gosan the PM10 concentration by BAM was higher than GMM and the correlation between them was low. The BAM results at Gosan and Jeju city showed similar trend implying the discrepancy at Gosan was not caused by instrumental problem of the BAM at Gosan. Based on the previous studies two probable reasons for the discrepancy are identified; (1) negative measurement error by the evaporation of volatile ambient species at the filter in GMM such as nitrate and ammonium and (2) positive error by the absorption of water vapor during measurement in BAM. There was no heater at the inlet of BAM at Gosan during the sampling period. Based on the size-segregated measurement data, it was identified that the evaporation error was minor, if any. The relationship between the two methods did not vary with the ambient relative humidity. Thus, at present, it is not clear why the discrepancy had been occurring and when using the PM10 data at Gosan, one should be aware the possible errors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.99-110
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• 2018

Compared to yellow dust coming from China or particulate matter created naturally in spring due to Total Suspended Particulate(TSP), particulate matter in winter season have much more serious effect on human body as they penetrate cell membranes. Although such particulate matter are becoming a social issue, there are no concrete plans on how to reduce them. Air-purifying plants are limited in maintaining the indoor air quality of large area because it is usually difficult to quantify their performance. In order to improve this, a bio-filter that can be connected to air conditioner is suggested as an option. This study seeks to improve air conditioning model-based monitoring method for bio-filters from prior studies and objectify correlations between applied vegetation and growing environment into quantitative indicators. By doing so, this study seeks to provide criteria on plants applied to artificial soil-based vegetation bio-filters and basic information to set air-conditioning features. The study results confirmed significant tendency on the growing stability of each purifying plant in mechanical air-conditioning environment. Among three models selected for bio-filter vegetation models, epipremnum aureum showed high performance in quantitative indicators, including soil moisture, EC, and leaf temperature, etc., indicating that it would assure the highest growing stability in this test air-conditioning environment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.673-676
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• 2009

Non-point pollutants, which mainly originate from high traffic roads and rural areas, contaminate the environment by flowing into various rivers and lakes and thus are of interest as an environmental issue. Accordingly, efforts have been made to design and maintain efficient filter systems for the control of the non-point pollutants. Meanwhile, clay-type materials are widely used for the absorption of chemicals included in pollutants and the absorption performances of various clays have been reported in the literature. Thus, the present study proposes a non-destructive monitoring method for the performance of a clay-type filter using electrical resistivity measurement. A series of experimental tests is performed on celite-based particulate filters with infiltrating non-point source pollutants having the same characteristics as pollutants on high traffic roads. Each test measures permeability, resistivity of the filter materials and resistivity of the filtrated water. As the particulate filter materials filtrate pollutants and absorb heavy chemicals (e.g., $Cr^{6+}$, lead, nickel, among others), ionic concentration increases resulting as the electrical resistivity decrease. When the filter systems approach the end of their lifetime, the electrical resistivity of the filter material converges to a very low value due to lowered filter absorption efficiency. Hence, the electrical resistivity of the filtrated water also converges to a low value due to high concentrations of heavy metals. The permeability converges to a very low value because of significantly reduced porosity due to clogging and absorption of pollutants on the filter material. The experimental results show that electrical resistivity monitoring of filter materials is a promising approach to estimation of filter performance and its life expectancy.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.563-568
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• 2015

Natural Organic Matter (NOM) is a precursor of disinfection by products. Recently, with the increase in NOM concentration caused by a large amount of algae, the creation of disinfection by-products is becoming a big issue. Therefore, in this study, PAC+Membrane+F/A hybrid process was organized to control disinfection by-products in small-scale water treatment plants. The optimal dosage of PAC was set at 20 mg/L through Lab. scale test. Also, it is judged that NOM concentration must be less than 1.0 mg/L to meet the recommended criteria of drinking water quality monitoring items of disinfection by-products during chlorination. The existing conventional water treatment process was compared to the independent F/A process and the PAC+Membrane+F/A hybrid process through pilot plant operation, and the result showed that there is a need to apply an advanced water treatment process to remove not only NOMs but also Geosmin caused by algae. Accordingly, it is considered that applying the PAC+Membrane+F/A process will help in controling a clogged filter caused by a large amount of algae and disinfection by-products created by chlorination and can be used as an advanced water treatment process to meet the recommended criteria of drinking water quality monitoring items.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.329-338
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• 2017

The problem of disposal of brine due to increased MD/RO desalination plant has recently become a big social issue. The chlor-alkali process through electrolysis of brine has been studied as a method to overcome this problem. In order to increase the electrolysis efficiency, a pretreatment process for removal of hard substances must be preceded. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of removal of hardness through chemical precipitation. As a result, Ca was greatly influenced by addition of $Na_2CO_3$, and Mg was strongly influenced by pH. Also, the addition of NaOH and $Na_2CO_3$ enabled simultaneous removal of Ca and Mg, and showed a removal efficiency of 99.9% or more. Finally, the residual concentrations of Ca and Mg in the brine after the reaction were 0.14 and 0.13 mg/L, respectively. Saturation index was calculated using Visual MINTEQ 3.1, and solid phase analysis of the precipitate was performed by FE-SEM and PXRD analysis. It was confirmed that precipitate formed by the formation of calcite and brucite.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.399-411
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• 2020

This study aims to explore how elementary students perceive and approach the issue of plastic debris in marine habitats by examining students' perspectives on the ecosystem and environmental solutions. The study was conducted to 143 Grade Four elementary school students in Seoul. After implementing two class-units on plastic waste, students' constructed responses on the problem of and solutions to plastic debris in marine habitats were collected. Data were analyzed through semantic network analysis and the keywords were visualized to reflect their relationships. Furthermore, students' responses on how they perceive environmental problems were further analyzed based on the following analysis criteria: students' perspectives on the ecosystem, the level of complexity of food chain(s), and the scope of their perspective. Also, student responses on environmental solutions were classified to be either at a personal or social level. Through semantic network analysis, keywords identified for students' perceptions on the problem were the sea, plastic, debris, animals, living things, humans, extinction, while keywords extracted for the solutions were plastic, debris, recycling, disposable, and I. Based on the analysis criteria, it was found that students were well aware of the food chain concept, could perceive the ecosystem as having comprised of both biotic and abiotic factors, and could approach the problem beyond the scope of the marine environment. Also, most students mentioned the solutions only at a personal level. Based on the findings, implications on how to move forward in educating environmental issues related to the ecosystem in science education is further discussed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2020

Population concentration in urban areas has led traffic management a central issue. To mitigate traffic congestions, the government has planned to construct large-cross-section tunnels deep underground. This study focuses on estimating the damage caused to frame structures owing to tunnel excavation. When constructing a tunnel network deep underground, it is necessary to divide the main tunnel and connect the divergence tunnel to the ground surface. Ground settlement is caused by excavation of the adjacent divergence tunnel. Therefore, predicting ground settlement using diverse variables is necessary before performing damage estimation. We used the volume loss and cover-tunnel diameter ratio as the variables in this study. Applying the ground settlement values to the settlement induction device, we measured the extent of damage to frame structures due to displacement at specific points. The vertical and horizontal displacements that occur at these points were measured using preattached LVDT (Linear variable differential transformer), and the lateral strain and angular distortion were calculated using these displacements. The lateral strain and angular distortion are key parameters for structural damage estimation. A damage assessment chart comprises the "Negligible", "Very Slight Damage", "Slight Damage", "Moderate to Severe Damage", and "Severe to Very Severe Damage" categories was developed. This table was applied to steel frame and concrete frame structures for comparison.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2017

Recently frequent occurrence of ground subsidence cases has become social issue, and people's concern on this problem has been growing accordingly. Meanwhile, understanding on the mechanism of ground subsidence formation is not enough. Therefore, this study aims for evaluating formation mechanism of ground subsidence under various groundwater conditions through model test when groundwater and soil are leaked together. Major factors found through model tests are direction of groundwater flow, head difference around the leakage point, and strehgth of the ground to support the underground cavity. Firstly, direction of groundwater flow has an influence on the direction of cavity expansion and ground collapse. Secondly, it is observed that the speed of ground subsidence formation increases as the head difference increases. Lastly, the expansion of the cavity can eventually lead to a sudden collapse.