• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.543-553
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• 2023

The current status of domestic a agalmatolite mines in South Korea was investigated with a view to establishing a stable supply of agalmatolite and managing its demand. Most mined agalmatolite deposits were formed through hydrothermal alteration of Mesozoic volcanic rocks. The physical characteristics of pyrophyllite, the main constituent mineral of agalmatolite, are as follows: specific gravity 2.65~2.90, hardness 1~2, density 1.60~1.80 g/cm³, refractoriness ≥29, and color white, gray, grayish white, grayish green, yellow, or yellowish green. Among the chemical components of domestic agalmatolite, SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ contents are respectively 58.2~67.2 and 23.1~28.8 wt.% for pyrophyllite, 49.2~72.6 and 16.5~31.0 wt.% for pyrophyllite + dickite, 45.1 and 23.3 wt.% for pyrophyllite + illite, 43.1~82.3 and 11.4~35.8 wt.% for illite, and 37.6~69.0 and 19.6~35.3 wt.% for dickite. Domestic agalmatolite mines are concentrated mainly in the southwest and southeast of the Korean Peninsula, with some occurring in the northeast. Twenty-one mines currently produce agalmatolite in South Korea, with reserves in the order of Jeonnam (45.6%) > Chungbuk (30.8%) > Gyeongnam (13.0%) > Gangwon (4.8%), and Gyeongbuk (4.8%). The top 10 agalmatolite-producing mines are in the order of the Central Resources Mine (37.9%) > Wando Mine (25.6%) > Naju Ceramic Mine (13.4%) > Cheongseok-Sajiwon Mine (5.4%) > Gyeongju Mine (5.0%) > Baekam Mine (5.0%) > Minkyung-Nohwado Mine (3.3%) > Bugok Mine (2.3%) > Jinhae Pylphin Mine (2.2%) > Bohae Mine. Agalmatolite has low thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, thermal deformation, and expansion coefficients, low bulk density, high heat and corrosion resistance, and high sterilization and insecticidal efficiency. Accordingly, it is used in fields such as refractory, ceramic, cement additive, sterilization, and insecticide manufacturing and in filling materials. Its scope of use is expanding to high-tech industries, such as water treatment ceramic membranes, diesel exhaust gas-reduction ceramic filters, glass fibers, and LCD panels.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_2
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• pp.1651-1669
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• 2023

Sea ice currently covers approximately 7% of the world's ocean area, primarily concentrated in polar and high-altitude regions, subject to seasonal and annual variations. It is very important to analyze the area and type classification of sea ice through time series monitoring because sea ice is formed in various types on a large spatial scale, and oil and gas exploration and other marine activities are rapidly increasing. Currently, research on the type and area of sea ice is being conducted based on high-resolution satellite images and field measurement data, but there is a limit to sea ice monitoring by acquiring field measurement data. High-resolution optical satellite images can visually detect and identify types of sea ice in a wide range and can compensate for gaps in sea ice monitoring using Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II), an ocean satellite with short time resolution. This study tried to find out the possibility of utilizing sea ice monitoring by training a rule-based machine learning model based on learning data produced using high-resolution optical satellite images and performing detection on GOCI-II images. Learning materials were extracted from Liaodong Bay in the Bohai Sea from 2021 to 2022, and a Random Forest (RF) model using GOCI-II was constructed to compare qualitative and quantitative with sea ice areas obtained from existing normalized difference snow index (NDSI) based and high-resolution satellite images. Unlike NDSI index-based results, which underestimated the sea ice area, this study detected relatively detailed sea ice areas and confirmed that sea ice can be classified by type, enabling sea ice monitoring. If the accuracy of the detection model is improved through the construction of continuous learning materials and influencing factors on sea ice formation in the future, it is expected that it can be used in the field of sea ice monitoring in high-altitude ocean areas.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.554-572
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyze the priorities for educational content regarding precautions to be taken to prevent safety accidents for employees in school foodservice using the Borich priority formula and the Locus for Focus model. Methods: A survey was conducted in February 2019 on 194 employees in elementary school and 122 employees in middle- and high school foodservice in the Jeonbuk area. Demographic characteristics, status of safety accidents, safety education, and their importance and performance levels were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. The priorities for the educational content on precautions to prevent safety accidents were based on a 3-step analysis method, including the paired sample t-test, Borich priority formula, and the Locus for Focus Model. Results: The average perceived importance of the precautions to be taken against safety accidents of employees in elementary-, middle-, and high schools was higher compared to the average performance of the employees (p < 0.001). The top priority for elementary school employees was caution against falls during the cleaning of the gas hood and the trench in the kitchen. In addition, 'awareness of chemical signs' was added as one of the top priorities of middle- and high school employees. The second highest priority items were 'do stretching', 'safely adjusting workbench height', 'keeping the right attitude', 'using assistive devices when moving heavy things', and 'checking the material safety data sheet', which were the same for all elementary, middle- and high school employees. Conclusion: Thus, to improve the educational preparedness of employees in the area of safety precautions, eight safety/accident prevention items should be included in the safety education program.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.239-250
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• 2023

Objective: This study was a preliminary study for the prevention programs for farmers' occupational diseases. It selected the priorities recognized by farmers, such as occupational diseases, and also identifies the effectiveness and feasibility of prevention programs among diseases recognized by farmers. Therefore, we plan to use it as basis data for future farmer safety and health programs. Method: The subjects of the study were farmers living in the region, selected through a snowball recruitment method, and a total of 671 people were targeted. The priority selection method was the Basic Priority Rating System (BPRS) method, and among the occupational diseases, programs to prevent musculoskeletal diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and pesticide poisoning were surveyed on the effectiveness and feasibility of farmers. Results: Among occupational diseases, the highest priority was musculo-skeletal disease, followed by respiratory disease and pesticide poisoning. Among the programs for musculoskeletal disease, 'use of agricultural work convenience equipment and auxiliary tools' had the highest perceived effectiveness and feasibility. Among the five programs for pesticide poisoning, 'equipment of protective equipment such as pesticide protective clothing/glove' had the highest effectiveness at 67.4%, and 'compliance with pesticide use instructions' had the highest level of feasibility at 64.3%. Among the four programs to prevent respiratory diseases, 'wearing a dust mask or gas mask' was the highest at 65.5% in terms of both effectiveness and feasibility. Conclusion: When carrying out safety and health programs for farmers, the priorities recognized by farmers should be taken into consideration, and the program contents should also be developed taking into account the size of effect and feasibility recognized by farmers.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.12
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• pp.993-1003
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• 2023

Due to the increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the global mean temperature has risen by 1.1℃ compared to pre-industrial levels, and significant changes are expected in functioning of water supply systems. In this study, we assessed impacts of climate change and instreamflow management on water supply reliability in the Geum River basin, Korea. We proposed univariate climate response functions, where mean precipitation and potential evaporation were coupled as an explanatory variable, to assess impacts of climate stress on multiple water supply reliabilities. To this end, natural streamflows were generated in the 19 sub-basins with the conceptual GR6J model. Then, the simulated streamflows were input into the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) model. The dynamic optimization by WEAP allowed us to assess water supply reliability against the 2020 water demand projections. Results showed that when minimizing the water shortage of the entire river basin under the 1991-2020 climate, water supply reliability was lowest in the Bocheongcheon among the sub-basins. In a scenario where the priority of instreamflow maintenance is adjusted to be the same as municipal and industrial water use, water supply reliability in the Bocheongcheon, Chogang, and Nonsancheon sub-basins significantly decreased. The stress tests with 325 sets of climate perturbations showed that water supply reliability in the three sub-basins considerably decreased under all the climate stresses, while the sub-basins connected to large infrastructures did not change significantly. When using the 2021-2050 climate projections with the stress test results, water supply reliability in the Geum River basin was expected to generally improve, but if the priority of instreamflow maintenance is increased, water shortage is expected to worsen in geographically isolated sub-basins. Here, we suggest that the climate response function can be established by a single explanatory variable to assess climate change impacts of many sub-basin's performance simultaneously.

• Clean Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2024

Zeolite template carbon (ZTC) was synthesized as an adsorbent to remove low-concentration CH₄ from the atmosphere. The synthesis of ZTC was performed using CH₄ and C₂H₂ as carbon precursors and their impact on adsorption was investigated. ZTC was also synthesized using Y zeolite ion-exchanged with CaCl₂ and LiCl as templates to investigate the effect of using metals in ion exchange. The comparison of the carbon precursors revealed that C₂H₂ had a higher carbon yield than CH₄. The synthesized ZTC exhibited developed micropores due to carbon deposition deep inside the micropores of the zeolite template. The kinetic diameter of C₂H₂ (0.33 nm) is smaller than that of CH₄ (0.38 nm), which allowed for its deposition. The study compared metal precursors used for ion exchange and confirmed that the CaCl₂-based ZTC developed more micropores compared to the LiCl-based ZTC. The ion-exchanged Ca inhibited pore blocking by the carbon precursor, allowing it to enter the pores. The ability of synthesized ZTC to adsorb N₂ and CH₄ at 298 K was investigated. The results showed that CH₄ had a higher overall adsorption amount than N₂. The sample synthesized using C₂H₂ and CaY exhibited the highest N₂ and CH₄ adsorption capacity. However, the sample synthesized with CH₄ had the highest CH₄/N₂ gas uptake ratio, which is a crucial factor in designing an adsorption process. The observed difference was likely caused by the underdevelopment of ultrafine pores that are associated with N₂ adsorption. This resulted in a reduction of N₂ adsorption, leading to an increase in CH₄/N₂ separation.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2024

The international community adopts the SSP (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways) scenario as a new greenhouse gas emission pathway. As part of efforts to reflect these international trends and support for climate change adaptation measure in the agricultural sector, the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (NAS) produced high-resolution (1 km) climate change scenarios for the Korean Peninsula based on SSP scenarios, certified as a "National Climate Change Standard Scenario" in 2022. This paper introduces SSP climate change scenario of the NAS and shows the results of the climate change projections. In order to produce future climate change scenarios, global climate data produced from 18 GCM models participating in CMIP6 were collected for the past (1985-2014) and future (2015-2100) periods, and were statistically downscaled for the Korean Peninsula using the digital climate maps with 1km resolution and the SQM method. In the end of the 21^st century (2071-2100), the average annual maximum/minimum temperature of the Korean Peninsula is projected to increase by 2.6~6.1℃/2.5~6.3℃ and annual precipitation by 21.5~38.7% depending on scenarios. The increases in temperature and precipitation under the low-carbon scenario were smaller than those under high-carbon scenario. It is projected that the average wind speed and solar radiation over the analysis region will not change significantly in the end of the 21st century compared to the present. This data is expected to contribute to understanding future uncertainties due to climate change and contributing to rational decision-making for climate change adaptation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

Mn-M/Al₂O₃ (M = Cu, Fe, Co, and Ce) catalysts were prepared for simultaneous oxidation of NO, CO, and CH₄, and their oxidation activities were compared. The Mn-Cu/ Al₂O₃ catalyst with the best simultaneous oxidation activity was characterized by XRD, Raman, XPS, and O₂-TPD analysis. The result of XRD indicated that Mn and Cu existed as complex oxides in the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Raman and XPS results showed that electron transfer between Mn ions and Cu ions occurred during the formation of the Mn-O-Cu bond in the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The XPS O 1s and O₂-TPD analyses showed that the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst has more adsorbed oxygen species with high mobility than the Mn/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The high simultaneous oxidation activity of the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst is attributed to these results. Gas-phase NO promotes the oxidation reactions of CO and CH₄ in the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst while suppressing the NO oxidation reaction. These results were presumed to be because the oxidized NO was used as an oxidizing agent for CO and CH₄. On the other hand, the oxidation reactions of CO and CH₄ competed on the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst, but the effect was not noticeable because the catalyst activation temperature was different.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.45-59
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• 2023

The global focus on mitigating climate change has traditionally centered on carbon dioxide, but recent attention has shifted towards methane as a crucial factor in climate change adaptation. Natural settings, particularly aquatic environments such as wetlands, reservoirs, and lakes, play a significant role as sources of greenhouse gases. The accumulation of organic contaminants on the lake and reservoir beds can lead to the microbial decomposition of sedimentary material, generating greenhouse gases, notably methane, under anaerobic conditions. The escalation of methane emissions in freshwater is attributed to the growing impact of non-point sources, alterations in water bodies for diverse purposes, and the introduction of structures such as river crossings that disrupt natural flow patterns. Furthermore, the effects of climate change, including rising water temperatures and ensuing hydrological and water quality challenges, contribute to an acceleration in methane emissions into the atmosphere. Methane emissions occur through various pathways, with ebullition fluxes-where methane bubbles are formed and released from bed sediments-recognized as a major mechanism. This study employs Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) tests to analyze and quantify the factors influencing methane gas emissions. Methane production rates are measured under diverse conditions, including temperature, substrate type (glucose), shear velocity, and sediment properties. Additionally, numerical simulations are conducted to analyze the relationship between fluid shear stress on the sand bed and methane ebullition rates. The findings reveal that biochemical factors significantly influence methane production, whereas shear velocity primarily affects methane ebullition. Sediment properties are identified as influential factors impacting both methane production and ebullition. Overall, this study establishes empirical relationships between bubble dynamics, the Weber number, and methane emissions, presenting a formula to estimate methane ebullition flux. Future research, incorporating specific conditions such as water depth, effective shear stress beneath the sediment's tensile strength, and organic matter, is expected to contribute to the development of biogeochemical and hydro-environmental impact assessment methods suitable for in-situ applications.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.276-284
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• 2023

Nitrogen is a major and essential macronutrient for plant growth and development. However, excessive nitrogen application can lead to ecological pollution or greenhouse gas emissions, consequently resulting in climate change. In this study, we used 153 genetic resources of rice to evaluate the effects of the levels of nitrogen application on grain yield and yield-related traits. Significant differences were noted in the yield and yield-related traits of genetic resources between two nitrogen application levels, namely, 4.5 kg/10a (NN: normal nitrogen condition) and 9.0 kg/10a (LN: low-nitrogen condition). Among the tested traits, days to heading (DTH), clum length (CL), grain yield per plant (GYP), number of panicles per plant (NPP), and number of spikelets per panicle (NSP) decreased by 1.8 to 17.9% when the nitrogen application levels decreased from NN to LN. The 1,000-grain weight (TWG) and percentage of ripened grain (PRG) increased by 2.6 to 11.2% under these conditions. Based on nitrogen application levels, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated significant differences in GYP, NPP, and PRG but not in NSP and TGW. NPP exhibited negative correlations with NSP (-0.44) and TGW (-0.44), and TGW displayed a negative correlation with PRG (-0.34), whereas, GYP exhibited a positive correlation with PRG (0.37) and NSP (0.38). A similar pattern was recorded under the LN condition. NPP, TGW, and PRG were clustered as PA (principle axis) 1 under the LN condition by factor analysis. NSP and GYP were clustered as PA (principle axis) 2. These results demonstrated NPP and NSP as the primary factors contributing to the decrease in grain yield under LN conditions. In conclusion, we selected eight genetic resources that exhibited higher GYP under both NN and LN conditions with higher NPP or NSP. These genetic resources can be considered valuable breeding materials for the adaptation of plants to nitrogen deficiency.