• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.597-613
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• 1996

The tonnage of copper and tungsten produced at Dalseong mine by Taehan Tungsten Mining Company from 1961 to 1971 was 48,704 tons (M/T) of 4 wt.% Cu and 1,620 tons (S/T) of 70wt.% WO, but the mine was closed in 1974. Kyeongsan mine is a small abandoned cobalt mine with no data of production. To investigate the pollution level of the mine areas, soils, plants (Ohwi and Pampanini), stream waters and stream sediments were taken and Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Cd and Cr were analysed by ICP. Soils are considerably contaminated by the heavy metals related to ore deposits, The heavy metal contents in plants vary with the species and parts of plants. Stream waters are anomalously high in heavy metals in the vicinity of the mines but the contents decrease downstream in the process of dilution and precipiation. However, heavy metal contents increase very high in stream sediments due to precipiation. To protect environmental damages caused by acid mine drainages wetlands must be constructed outside pits, and it is necessary to fill pits with waters, limestone chips and organic materials, which give reducing and alkaline condition to ores. Under the condition pyrite is protected from oxidation and aqueous iron sulphates precipitate to form stable secondary pyrite.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.391-398
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• 1996

The pretreatment of bark powder with sodium hydroxide and formalin showed the most excellent adsorption ratio, but this method could not practically be used because of the occurrence of dark-colored pigments in filtrates during pretreatment. Instead, acid and formalin were the most affirmative and effective among the pretreatment methods tested, and could be used for this purpose. Among tested species, Quercus acutissima and Robinia pseudo-accacia showed the largest amount of metal adsorption, and $Pb^{2+}$ was the best(83 to 96%) among the four heavy metals tested. The order of adsorption ratios other metals was as follows; $Cu^{2+}$ > $Zn^{2+}$ > $Cd^{2+}$, and the ratio was approximately 45 to 55%. In addition, as the substrate amount increased, the amount of adsorbed heavy metals in subtrates gradually increased, but the adsorbed amount was not proportional to the substrate amount. The order of heavy metal adsorption was as follows; $Pb^{2+}$ > $Cu^{2+}$ > $Cd^{2+}$ > $Zn^{2+}$. Depending on flow rate and column size, pine bark power adsorbed more heavy metals in the 5ml/min flow rate and 3.5cm column size rather than the 10ml/min and 2.0cm. However, oak bark power showed contrary results compared with pine bark powder. The adsorption of $Pb^{2+}$ occurred rapidly in the incipient stagte. Even though bark powders were repeatedly used three times, there was no change in the adsorption ratio(45%), but after four times, the adsorption ratio was significantly reduced to 35%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.373-377
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• 2003

Various groups of industrial and agricultural pollutants (heavy metal ions, cyanides, and pesticides) can be detected by enzymes. Since heavy metal ions inhibit urease, cyanides inhibit peroxidase, organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides inhibit butyrylcholinesterase, these enzymes were co-immobilized into a bovine serum albumin gel on the surface of an ion-sensitive field effect transistor to create a bioprobe that is sensitive to the compounds mentioned above. The sensitivity of the present sensor towards KCN corresponded to $1\;\mu\textrm{M}$ with 1 min of incubation time. The detection limits for Hg(II) ions and the pesticide carbofuran were 0.1 and $0.5\;\mu\textrm{M}$, respectively, when a 10 min sensor incubation time in contaminated samples was chosen. The total time for determining the concentrations of all species mentioned did not exceed 20 min.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.4 s.50
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• pp.291-300
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• 2006

This study has been carried out to reveal the mineralogical compositions, the concentrations of heavy metals, and related factors in the sediments of the Kumho River which is the main tributary of the Nakdong River. Even though this river flows in a short distance, it runs through different geology and industrial areas and can be a good candidate to study different geological and anthropogenic factors affecting the concentrations of heavy metals in the sediment. The major rock-forming minerals were quartz and albite. Minor amount of orthoclase, microcline, and amphybole were also identified. Clay minerals including illite, chlorite, kaolinite were associated with those minerals. In the downstream, no noticeable changes in species and amount of minerals were observed, indicating there is almost no influence on the mineralogical compositions from rock types. The concentrations of heavy metals in the sediments are in the order of Zn > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr > Co > Cd. Following the downstream, the concentrations of heavy metals generally increase, except Pb. The regional increase of the heavy metal content is well correlated with the location of the tributary. Without changes in mineral compositions, the main factors controlling the heavy metal contents are the locations of pollutant sources. Except Pb and Ni, most of the concentrations of heavy metals were thought to be enriched by the past pollutant sources.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 1999

This study was carried out to assess heavy metal pollution at 16 abandoned mining areas and to get basic data for phytoremediation. In most of surveyed area, there was no vegetation cover and soil reaction shows in low to moderate pH. Low CEC, low organic matter content were the general properties of these soils. Heavy metals content of these soils were exceed background level of unpolluted soil in Korea, especially Cu content was 2,634mg/kg at Jeil site, 3,415mg/kg Zn, 8.03mg/kg Cd at Yonhwa 2 site. This is far above tolerance limit In plant survey, very often observed plants were Pinus densiflora, and Rohinia psuedo-acacia in woody plant, Artemisia princeps, and Dianthus sinensis in herbs. Artemisia princeps had higher concentration of Zn, Cd and Dianthus sinensis had higher concentration than other plants. From the results, heavy metal concentration in plants and plant's ecotype properties, could be said that Artemisia princeps and Miscanthus sinensis have a potential of soil remediation plant. More studies are demanded to find the heavy metal tolerance species and to understand physiology property of tolerance plants, soil condition, climate etc., for successful soil remediation by plants.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.9.1-9.13
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• 2017

Background: Metal-responsive transcription factor-1 (MTF-1) is a key transcriptional regulator playing crucial roles in metal homeostasis and cellular adaptation to diverse oxidative stresses. In order to understand cellular pathways associated with metal regulation and stress responses in Pacific abalone (Haliotis discus hannai), this study was aimed to isolate the genetic determinant of abalone MTF-1 and to examine its expression characteristics under basal and experimentally stimulated conditions. Results: The abalone MTF-1 shared conserved features in zinc-finger DNA binding domain with its orthologs; however, it represented a non-conservative shape in presumed transactivation domain region with the lack of typical motifs for nuclear export signal (NES) and Cys-cluster. Abalone MTF-1 promoter exhibited various transcription factor binding motifs that would be potentially related with metal regulation, stress responses, and development. The highest messenger RNA (mRNA) expression level of MTF-1 was observed in the testes, and MTF-1 transcripts were detected during the entire period of embryonic and early ontogenic developments. Abalone MTF-1 was found to be Cd inducible and highly modulated by heat shock treatment. Conclusion: Abalone MTF-1 possesses a non-consensus structure of activation domains and represents distinct features for its activation mechanism in response to metal overload and heat stress. The activation mechanism of abalone MTF-1 might include both indirect zinc sensing and direct de novo synthesis of transcripts. Taken together, results from this study could be a useful basis for future researches on stress physiology of this abalone species, particularly with regard to heavy metal detoxification and thermal adaptation.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.793-804
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• 2009

In this study, high school students' perceptions of chemically ill-defined ‘heavy metals’ were examined through questionnaires. Nineteen classes of 11th graders (N = 611) were divided into two groups according to completion of 'Chemistry I', which were 10 science-classes and 9 liberal art-classes and compared each other. Three terms of students' cognition and definition, impact on the formation of their cognition, and their chemical knowledge of 'heavy metals' were analyzed by SPSS. The findings revealed that most of students recognized ‘the heavy metal’ as the metal which causes to be accumulated on any living thing and is hazardous in human body regardless of different major between liberal art and science. Mass media and school instruction were found to be the greatest impact on the formation of these cognitions. Especially, school instruction had more effects on students majoring in science than students majoring in liberal art, which bring the result that students in science-classes have more misconception about the definition of 'heavy metals' with human toxicant regardless of metal species and its content in human body and physical density due to the ill-defined terminology of the textbook than students in liberal art-classes do. It is interesting that students in science-classes understood hazard and chemical structure of 'heavy metals' better, while students in liberal art-classes answered the question better about hazardous properties of heavy metals.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.139-144
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• 2013

Laver, a red algae belonging to the genus Porphyra, is one of the most widely consumed edible seaweeds. The most popular commercial dried laver species, P. tenera and P. haitanensis, were collected from Korea and China, respectively, and evaluated for proximate composition, amino acids, minerals, trace heavy metals, and color. The moisture and ash contents of P. tenera and P. haitanensis ranged from 3.66~6.74% and 8.78~9.07%, respectively; crude lipid and protein contents were 1.96~2.25% and 32.16~36.88%, respectively. Dried lavers were found to be a good source of amino acids, such as asparagine, isoleucine, leucine, and taurine, and ${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid. K, Ca, Mg, Na, P, I, Fe, and Se minerals were selected for analysis. A clear regional variation existed in the amino acid, mineral, and trace metal contents of lavers. Regular consumption of lavers may have heath benefits because they are relatively low in fat and high in protein, and contain functional amino acids and minerals.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.13-19
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• 2013

The effect of pH on the citrate leaching behavior of heavy metal ion was investigated to develop an eco-friendly process for removing heavy metals from soil contaminated with copper, zinc, and lead. The leaching tests were performed using citrate solution with pH adjusted by mixing citric acid and sodium citrate under the following leaching conditions: particle size, under $75{\mu}m$; temperature, $50^{\circ}C$; citrate concentration, $1kmol/m^3$; pulp density, 5%; shaking speed, 100 rpm; leaching time, 1 hour. The difference of pH before and after the leaching test was not observed, and this result indicates the direct effect of hydrogen ion concentration on the leaching of metals was insignificant. The removal ratios of copper, zinc, and lead from the contaminated soil decreased with increasing pH. The thermodynamic calculation suggests that the leaching behaviors of metal ions were determined by two reactions; one is the reaction to form complex ions between heavy metal ions and citrate ion species, and the other is the reaction to form metal hydroxide between heavy metal ions and hydroxide ion.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2013

This study was carried out to understand the long-term effects of organic waste treatments on the fate of heavy metals in soils originated from the organic wastes and consequent uptake of heavy metals by plant, together with examination of changes in soil properties and plant growth performance. In this study, the soils treated with three different organic wastes (municipal sewage sludge, alcohol fermentation processing sludge, pig manure compost) at three different rates (12.5, 25.0, 50.0 ton $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$) for 7 years (1994 - 2000) were used. To see the long-term effect, plant growth study and soil examination were conducted twice in 2000 and 2010, respectively. There was no additional treatments of organic wastes for 10 years after the organic waste treatment for 7 years. Compared to plant growth examination conducted in 2000 using radish (Raphanus sativus cv. sodamaltari), it appeared that height, root length and diameter, fresh weight of radish grown in 2010 decreased in the plots treated with municipal sewage sludge and alcohol fermentation processing sludge and that the extent of decrease was higher with increase of sludge application rates. On the other hand, pig compost treatment increased plant height, root length and diameter, fresh weight with increasing application rates. Cu and Pb concentrations in radish root and leaves increased in 2010 compared to those in 2000 while Ni concentrations in root and leaves decreased. Zn concentration was increased only in the soils treated with pig manure compost. Multiple regression analysis among heavy metal species fractions in soils, soil pH, and metal concentrations in radish root and leaves indicated that the metal uptake by radish was governed mainly by the soil pH and subsequent increase of available heavy metal fractions in soils with organic waste treatments.