• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental organization

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Activity-Based Costing and Management Applied to Occupational and Environmental Health (산업보건 및 환경분야에 대한 활동기준원가계산 및 관리의 응용)

  • Park, Doo Yong;Brandt, Michael T.;Levine, Steven P.;Paik, Nam Won
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.144-155
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    • 1996
  • During the 1990s the workplace has grown more complex and business competition has increased world-wide. All organizations, whether for-profit or non-profit have been forced to respond to market changes. More advanced information and technology, greater product diversity, shorter product life cycles, increased quality requirements, more regulation oversight, decreasing productivity, more competitors, and increasing overhead costs have motivated organizations to focus on ways to deliver products cheaper, better, and faster. Many organizations are searching for ways to reduce costs through downsizing, reengineering business processes, implementing quality management, outsourcing, and improving cost management. Support departments that provide services internal to an organization such as human resources, legal, and environmental, safety, and health (ES&H) are often the first organization targeted for cost reduction and cost control initiatives because these functions are part of a rapidly increasing overhead cost. Recently, ES&H functions are incresingly being integrated into the business of business to contribute value to organization beyond mere compliance with ES&H regulations. The discussions and development of the ISO compatible Environmental Management Standards or Occupational Safety and Health Management Standards is another impetus to integrate ES&H function into the business of business. Thus, ES&H professional need new skills to analyze the cost of their function and communicate the value of the products and services they provide. In recent years, the need for and the importance developing cost management and business skills by ES&H professionals have been emphasized in the literature. Communicating with decision makers in terms of cost and value to the organization, and by using business language and business arguments is the first step toward effectively integrating ES&H activities into the business of business. Activity-based costing (ABC) is a cost management method that measures the cost of a product or service based on the actual use of resources by activities, and based on the actual amount of activities used to produce a product or service. ABC is recommended as a tool for managers of ES&H organizations to determine the cost of developing and providing ES&H products within a for-profit firm or non-profit agency. This paper discusses the trend of integration of ES&H functions into the mainstream of business activities within an organization. The general principles of treditional cost accounting are presented as a bases for understandging why and how ABC will provide more accurate estimates of cost. The principles and concepts of ABS are presented as a tool for determining more accurately the true cost of ES&H products and services.

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The Study on the influencing to adopt national policies on international environmental issues (국제 환경기관의 환경문제가 국가정책채택에 영향력을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Kyung Woo
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.18 no.11
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    • pp.213-220
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    • 2013
  • This research paper examined to the influencing factors to adopt national policies of international organization's environment. For this a multivariate regression model has been used to examine cross-national differences in environmental policy adoption. The data analysis was conducted by regression analysis, the indexed point of international environmental agreements were ratified by each nation on the measure of independent variables for a sample of 130 countries in all parts of the world. From analysis results, overall, the regression analysis illustrates that the regression model generally fits our predictions for independent variables. The finding has revealed that external determinants are stronger than internal ones in explaining the level of national environmental policy adoption in relation to international environmental cooperation. Namely, All international environmental organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, and regional multinational institutes proved to function in a positive way in influencing number nations to have a favorable attitude toward international environmental policies. The findings of this study will provide helpful information on how to improve the efficacy of the Korean environmental policy system.

View and Subjects on the Settling the Area of Ecological Restoration in Korea (우리나라 생태복원분야 정착의 전망과 과제)

  • Moon, Seok-Ki;Koo, Bon-Hak;Nam, Sang-Jun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.67-79
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    • 2001
  • According to the new general movement of ESSD in Korea, the role, background, and subjects, etc. of Ecological Restoration Area were studied to find out the way for this area to be settled as one kind of industry. Questionnaire and literature study were carried out to understand and to find out the way of the area settlement with the conceptual and practical definition of it. The related sub-areas studied were 1. regulations and standards including design and construction 2. researches and developments around the area 3. related curriculums applying in the educational organizations 4. present situation of the industry. Followings are the results of this study and several proposals for the area to be settled in Korea with the other related areas. 1. The boundary of Ecological Restoration could be defined as the concept of preservation(or conservation) and restoration of the ecosystem with ecological planting - including the restoration strategies for the areas of slope, artificial foundations, watersides and wetlands, with in bio-diversity and eco-forests for these areas. 2. It seems that the more investments needed for the elaborate and professional techniques to be developed for the design and construction works to the contrary that the base of this area be matured already in the several sub-areas. 3. For the successful work of Environmental Restoration, defining the new industrial branch -independent from existing construction industry- is recommended through the law system under the control of the Ministry of Environment. It will be better if professional officer system in governmental organization could follow up this. 4. Educational organization and Technical expert qualifying system to train the Ecological Restoration Professionals should be induced for the effective practice of the area.

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A Study of the Environmental Dispute Arbitration System in Korea (우리나라의 환경분쟁조정제도에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Sang-Chan
    • Journal of Arbitration Studies
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.89-114
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    • 2011
  • Environmental disputes not only possess the special characteristics of collectivity and plural value relativity but it also possesses the unique features of difficulty to prove cause and effect as well as the structural maldistribution of evidence and information. Therefore, the positive resolution of an environmental dispute can be brought about more easily with the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) which can take the form of talks, compromises, as well as arbitration or mediation rather than through a trial process. Such being the case, this paper first looks into the problems and effectiveness of the arbitration system of environmental lawsuits and then takes an even closer look at Korea's environmental dispute arbitration system and finally offer some reform methods. In Korea, the environmental dispute arbitration system was implemented in 1991 and has been executed since then. Although this system does have positive features such as the high rate of coming to an agreement between the involved parties but unfortunately, most of the cases rely on decisions based on right and wrong which cannot but be far away from the intentions of the ADR system. It is heavily centered around claims regarding psychological compensation regarding noise and vibrations and the ratio of the actual amount of compensation is comparatively lower than the requested amount. In addition, with the limits in organization and manpower, it leads to a lack of professionalism as well as the problem of low usage with the low awareness rate. As reform measures against the aforementioned problems, this paper suggests the following. First, in order to activate the arbitration process more fully, it proposes aggressive usage of compulsory arbitration as well as submission to arbitration, while at the same time raising ADR professionals to fill in the missing gaps. Secondly, in order to overcome the problem of concentration of related cases, making representative lawsuits of environmental organizations would be a good idea. It also states that in order to make the compensation amount more realistic, it should go out of the across-the-board decision making process and reach a decision about the compensation amount that takes the individual situation's dispute into consideration. In order to boost the professionalism of the environmental dispute arbitration, it is necessary to reform the organization and manpower such as expanding the number of members of full standing, and increasing the professionalism of the examiners. Also, to increase the usage rate of the ADR system, the paper suggests stationing a civilian consultant regarding environment, or activating the compulsory arbitration which is the premise for public participation on the part of the residents.

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Deposition of Aerosols on Leaves in a Cool-temperate Larch Forest in Northern Hokkaido, Japan

  • Tatsuya, Fukazawa;Naoto, Murao;Hisashi, Sato;Masahiro, Takahashi;Masayuki, Akiyama;Takashi, Yamaguchi;Izumi, Noguchi;Hiroyuki, Takahashi;Chikara, Kozuka;Rei, Sakai;Kentaro, Takagi;Yasumi, Fujinuma;Nobuko, Saigusa;Kazuhide, Matsuda
    • Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.6 no.4
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    • pp.281-287
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    • 2012
  • Aerosol concentrations at the CC-Lag site in the Teshio Experimental Forest increased from winter to spring and sometimes showed extremely high values associated with Kosa and/or forest-fire events. The range and mean of the mass concentrations of aerosol chemical species were as follows: total particulate mass, 1.2-29, 5.0; elemental carbon, 0.061-2.2, 0.43; organic carbon, 0.059-3.5, 0.79; and sulfate, 0.12-6.2, 1.8 ${\mu}g/m^3$. The total masses of the deposited particles on hybrid larch and on bamboo leaves were approximately 35 and 30 ${\mu}g/cm^2$, respectively. The amounts of soil particles on the leaves were 6 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ for the upper part of hybrid larch, 2 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ for the lower part of hybrid larch, and 1 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ for Sasa bamboo leaves. The amounts of deposited black carbon were 2.3 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ for the upper part of hybrid larch, 0.6 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ for the lower part of hybrid larch, and 0.2 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ for Sasa bamboo leaves. Half of the total deposited particular mass was attached on the hybrid larch; however, most of the total deposited mass was adhered on the Sasa bamboo leaves. Regardless of the species, there tend to be more deposited particles on the leaves in the upper part than in the lower part, with only a few meters height difference. Comparing the composition of the deposited particles to that of the atmospheric aerosols without any size cut, the fractions of water-soluble material sulfate and sea salt in the deposited aerosols were about one tenth and one hundredth lower than that in the aerosols, respectively. On the basis of the measured concentration and the deposited amount on leaves, the deposition velocity of black carbon was estimated to be approximately 0.5 cm/s.

Corrosion Resistance and Thermo-optical Properties of Lithium Polysilicate Spray Coated Anodized AZ31B Magnesium Alloy for Space Applications

  • Ghosh, Rahul;Thota, Hari K.;Rani, R. Uma
    • Corrosion Science and Technology
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    • v.18 no.5
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    • pp.182-189
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    • 2019
  • A thin spray coating of inorganic black lithium polysilicate (IBLP) on black anodized AZ31B magnesium alloy was fabricated for better corrosion resistance and thermo-optical properties for thermal control of spacecraft components. The morphology of the specimens with and without IBLP-based spray coating was characterized by SEM-EDS techniques. Impedance and potentiodynamic measurements on the specimens revealed better corrosion resistance for the specimen with a thin coating of lithium polysilicate. This was primarily due to the presence of lithium polysilicate inside the micro-cracks of the black anodized specimen, restricting the diffusion paths for corrosive media. Environmental tests, namely, humidity, thermal cycling, thermo vacuum performance, were used to evaluate the space-worthiness of the coating. The thermo-optical properties of the coating were measured before and after each environmental test to ascertain its stability. The specimen with an IBLP-based spray coating showed enhanced thermo-optical properties, greater than ~0.90. Hence, the proposed coating demonstrated better handling, better corrosion resistance, and space-worthiness during the pre-launch phase owing to its improved thermo-optical properties.

A new nano-ZnO/perlite as an efficient catalyst for catalytic ozonation of azo dye

  • Shokrollahzadeh, Soheila;Abassi, Masoud;Ranjbar, Maryam
    • Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.513-520
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    • 2019
  • In this investigation, nano ZnO was sonochemically synthesized by a novel method using a methionine precursor. A narrow size distribution (41-50 nm) of nano ZnO was achieved that was immobilized on perlite and applied as a catalyst in catalytic ozonation. The catalyst was characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, BET surface area, and field emission scanning electron microscope. The ozonation of recalcitrant Remazol black 5 (RB5) di-azo dye solution by means of the synthesized catalyst was investigated in a bubble column slurry reactor. The influence of pH values (7, 9, 11), catalyst dosage (8, 12, 15, $20g\;L^{-1}$) and reaction time (10, 20, 30, 60 min) was investigated. Although the dye color was completely removed by single ozonation at a higher reaction time, the applied nanocatalyst improved the dye declorination kinetics. Also, the degradation of the hazardous aromatic fraction of the dye was enhanced five-times by catalytic ozonation at a low reaction time (10 min) and a neutral pH. The second-order kinetics was best fitted in terms of both RB5 color and its aromatic fraction removal. The total organic carbon analysis indicated a significant improvement in the mineralization of RB5 by catalytic ozonation using the nano-ZnO/perlite catalyst.

Impact of particulate matter on the morbidity and mortality and its assessment of economic costs

  • Ramazanova, Elmira;Tokazhanov, Galym;Kerimray, Aiymgul;Lee, Woojin
    • Advances in environmental research
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.17-41
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    • 2021
  • Kazakhstan's cities experience high concentrations levels of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), which is well-known for its highly detrimental effect on the human health. A further increase in PM concentrations in the future could lead to a higher air pollution-caused morbidity and mortality, causing an increase in healthcare expenditures by the government. However, to prevent elevated PM concentrations in the future, more stringent standards could be implemented by lowering current maximum allowable PM concentration limit to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s limits. Therefore, this study aims to find out what impact this change in environmental policy towards PM has on state economy in the long run. Future PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were estimated using multiple linear regression based on gross regional product (GRP) and population growth parameters. Dose-response model was based on World Health Organization's approach for the identification of mortality, morbidity and healthcare costs due to air pollution. Analysis of concentrations revealed that only 6 out of 21 cities of Kazakhstan did not exceed the EU limit on PM10 concentration. Changing environmental standards resulted in the 71.7% decrease in mortality and 77% decrease in morbidity cases in all cities compared to the case without changes in environmental policy. Moreover, the cost of morbidity and mortality associated with air pollution decreased by $669 million in 2030 and $2183 million in 2050 in case of implementation of OECD standards. Thus, changing environmental regulations will be beneficial in terms of both of mortality reduction and state budget saving.

KNOWLEDGE DECOUPLING: AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO THE GAP BETWEEN CREATION AND UTILIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES (지식창출과 활용의 괴리: 녹색기술인증의 제도론적 분석)

  • Park, Sangchan;Cha, Hyeonjin
    • Knowledge Management Research
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.117-138
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    • 2017
  • While prior work has noted the importance of knowledge creation in gaining competitive advantages, much less is understood about why firms do not actually use what they create. Building upon institutional approaches to organization studies, we offer a new framework to explain the gap between knowledge creation and utilization. We test our framework in an empirical context of sustainable innovation and environmental technologies where ideas of environmental sustainability have recently gained public popularity and shaped how interested audiences make evaluative assessments of firms. In such a context, firms are apt to perceive the social attention toward sustainability to be a normative pressure, which causes them to create new knowledge and develop technologies consistent with the pressure. Using data from the government-initiated certification system for green technologies, our study finds that firms do not always fully implement new environmental technologies they develop in response to the certification program, the situation we refer to as knowledge decoupling. We also examine a set of conditions under which knowledge decoupling becomes more or less amplified. Taken together, our findings show how a firm's knowledge creation and utilization is shaped by its external institutional environment as well as internal learning processes.