• Development and Reproduction
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.321-327
• /
• 2009

This study aimed to examine the testis toxicities of metal compound, manganese (Mn), which may be generated as mist or fume in the industrial sites. As well as serum prolactin (PRL) concentration was analyzed because Mn accumulation in basal ganglia up-regulates serum PRL and hyperprolactinemia consecutively induces the testis toxicity. Male F344 rats were divided into the 4 groups (2 controls and 2 Mn treated groups, n=10) on the basis of the test condition (inhalation, Mn $1.5mg/m^3$ or not) and treatment period (for 4-weeks and 13-weeks). The treatment time was 6 hr. a day, 5 days a week for the whole body. Basic tests including changes in body weight, feed rate were observed. Blood and testis Mn concentration, and testis toxicity test such as the number and deformity test of sperm were also observed. Serum PRL level was analyzed by ELISA to certify the relationship between the Mn induced increase of the serum PRL level and sperm production. Blood and testis Mn concentrations were significantly and dose-dependently increased. Sperm count was decreased in Mn-treatment groups than control in a treatment time dependent manner. Morphological analysis of cauda epidydimal sperm showed that the frequencies of morphologically abnormal sperms such as bent tail and small head were increased in the both Mn-treatment groups than control. A significant increase in serum PRL levels was found in response to Mn treatment but it was not hyperprolactinemia range. These results suggest that treatment of Mn up-regulates the serum PRL concentration and induces the testis toxicity. The No Aversed Effect Level (NOAEL) of inhaled Mn on the male rat testis may be under the $1.5mg/m^3$.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.10-17
• /
• 1994

To investigate differences with the polluted sources on Cu contents in soils and paddy rices under water pollutions, soils with the distance, the surface(0-15㎝ depth) and subsurface(15-30㎝ depth) in 1982 and 1990, and rice plants at the soil sampling sites in 1990 were separately sample at Mangyeong River area under the influence of municipal and industrial waste water from Jeonju city. Soil samples were extracted with $4M-HNO_3$ and plant samples were digested with mixture of $HNO_3$ and $HClO_4$ for analyzing Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Cu contents in soils ranged from 5.20 to 71.70 mg $kg^{-1}$. Average Cu level in 1990 was higher than that in 1982. Variation of Cu content with the distances from the source of waste water in 1990 was more regularly decreased than that in 1982. A significant correlation was observed between Cu contents in leaf sheath of rice plant and Cu, Zn and Pb contents in soils. Cu contents in soil was correlated with Zn and Pb in soil at area affected by waste water, regardless of years and soil depths. Cu contents in brown rice ranged from 0.4 to 10 mg $kg^{-1}$, and it was the lowest in parts of rice plant, and Cu content in panicle axis was 2.3 times higher than that in brown rice.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2018

Nation-wide systematic and comprehensive measurements of air quality criteria species have been made over 340 sites currently in Korea since 1990. Using these data, temporal and spatial trends of $SO_2$, $PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, $O_3$, CO and $O_x(NO_2+O_3)$ were analyzed to characterize and evaluate implementing efficiency of air quality policy and regulations. Due to strict and effective policy to use cleaner fuels in late 1980s and 1990s, the primary pollutants, such as $SO_2$, CO, and $PM_{10}$ decreased sharply by early 2000s in all parts of Korea. After this period, their concentrations declined with much lower rates in most parts of Korea. In addition, isolated but noticeable numbers of places, especially in major ports, newly developing towns and industrial parks, sustained high levels or even showed further degradation. Despite series of emission control strategies were enforced since early 1990s, $NO_2$ concentrations haven't changed much till 2005, due to significant increase in number of automobiles. Nevertheless, we confirmed that the staggering levels of $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ improved evidently after 2005, especially in Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), where enhanced regulations for $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ emissions was imposed to automobiles and large emission sources. However, their decreasing trends were much lessened in recent years again as current air quality improvement strategies has been challenged to revise further. In contrast to these primary species, annual $O_3$, which is secondary product from $NO_2$ and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), has increased consistently with about 0.6 ppbv per year in every urban part of Korea, while yearly average of daily maximum 8-hour $O_3$ in summer season had a much higher rate of 1.2 ppbv per year. Increase of $O_3$ can be explained mainly by reductions of NO emission. Rising background $O_3$ in the Northeast Asia and increasing oxidizing capacity by changing photochemistry were likely causes of observed $O_3$ increase. The future air quality policy should consider more effective ways to lower alarming level of $O_3$ and $PM_{10}$.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.430-457
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to present meaningful information and policy implications concerning the determinants of royalties of technology transfer to stakeholder. To identify key determinants of royalties in technology transfer, this study conducted AHP survey analysis (Survey period: 01/09~31/10, 2016) of 96 government-funded research centers and 85 companies which were participants of the R&D project "Next Generation BioGreen21" of R.D.A in the "N" center from 2011 to 2015. Research results show that both parties acknowledge 'Technical considerations for determining the profitability of the technologies' and 'The interest and willingness of the management group' as critical factors for the determinants of royalties. The difference of each party is that private companies acknowledge 'Available budget plan' as a critical factor while the government-funded research centers value 'Market competitiveness'. These findings suggest four main policy implications which are the investigation of technological demands reflecting specific needs of industrial sites, the diversification of royalty payments for private companies, the differentiated research evaluation system for the purpose of technology transfer and the planning of public R&D project reflecting research time span of private companies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.147-158
• /
• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the assessment of exposure to welding fume and heavy metals among construction welders. Methods: Activity-specific personal air samplings(n=206) were carried out at construction sites of three apartment, two office buildings, and two plant buildings using PVC(poly vinyl chloride) filters with personal air samplers. The concentration of fumes and heavy metals were evaluated for five different types of construction welding jobs: general building pipefitter, chemical plant pipefitter, boiler maker, ironworker, metal finishing welder. Results: The concentration of welding fumes was highest among general building pipefitters($4.753mg/m^3$) followed by ironworkers($3.765mg/m^3$), boilermakers($1.384mg/m^3$), metal finishing welders($0.783mg/m^3$), chemical pipefitters($0.710mg/m^3$). Among the different types of welding methods, the concentration of welding fumes was highest with the $CO_2$ welding method($2.08mg/m^3$) followed by SMAW(shield metal arc welding, $1.54mg/m^3$) and TIG(tungsten inert gas, $0.70mg/m^3$). Among the different types of workplace, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($1.97mg/m^3$) followed by outdoor($0.93mg/m^3$) and indoor(wall opening as $0.87mg/m^3$). Specifically comparing the workplaces of general building welders, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($7.75mg/m^3$) followed by indoor(wall opening as $2.15mg/m^3$). Conclusions: It was found that construction welders experience a risk of expose to welding hazards at a level exceeding the exposure limits. In particular, for high-risk welding jobs such as general building pipefitters and ironworkers, underground welding work and $CO_2$ welding operations require special occupational health management regarding the use of air supply and exhaust equipment and special safety and health education and fume mask are necessary. In addition, there is a need to establish construction work monitoring systems, health planning and management practices.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.43-49
• /
• 1968

Epidemiological and statistical observations were made of fire hazards that occurred during the past 18 years, 1948 to 1965. Injury and mortality rates for all ages were computed chronologically. For the years of 1955, 1961 and 1965, all fire accidents were epidemiologically analysed to draw characteristic patterns in relation to the seasonal and 24 hour distribution, causes and sites of accidents etc.. Fire hazards observed herein are the categorys E 916 of the International Classification of Causes of Death, 1955, and includes all accidents caused by fire and explosion of combustible materials. The following conclusion was made: 1. The average number of annual deaths due to fire was 183 and the number of the in jured due to the same cause was 335. The mortality rate per 100,000 population was 0.8 and the ratio of injuries per death was 1.83. 2. The casually rate including both the dead and injured was 5.0 per 100,000 in Seoul, the highest among the provinces and followed by 3.4 in Cheju -Do, 2.1 in Kangwon-Do, 1.7 in Kyunggi-Do accordingly. The other provinces had a range of 0.6 to 1.2. 3. The monthly distribution of fro accidents showed that the winter months, December through February, had more frequent accidents, while the summer season, June through August had less. The 24 hour distribution of accidents showed more cases from 12:00 to 18:00 and less from 4:00 to 10:00 hours. 4. The per cent distribution of causes of accidents showed; 90.0% for careless, 10.0% for arson. The cause of carelessness was further breakdown into; 15.0% for kitchen fire places, 13.8% for fire playing, 9,4% for electrical heating and wires, 8.3% for fuels, 6.3% for matches, 5.2% for ash dumps and the remaining for others. 5. The accidents as classified by place revealed that 56.8% of the total occurred at the common dwelling houses, 11.3 at various industrial workshops, 9.3% at the street shops and the remaining at the miscellaneous places.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.365-372
• /
• 1993

$CO_2$ methanation was performed over Ni supported on cation-exchanged Y zeolites under atmospheric pressure at $250{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ and $H_2/CO_2$ mole ratio of 4. Adsorption strength between carbon dioxide and nickel was found to be Influenced by the cation exchanged in the zeolite. TPD(Temperature-programmed desorption) results show that the adsorption strength decreases in the order of Ni/NaY>Ni/MaY>Ni/HY. TPSR(Temperature-programmed surface reaction) results indicate that enhanced methanation activity is obtained when the adsorption strength between carbon dioxide and nickel is stroing. As the reduction temperature increases, the methantion activity of the catalyst increase. From this result the larger size nickel particle seems advantageous for $CO_2$ methanation reaction. The maximum activity is obtained when nickel loading is 3.3wt%. Carbon monoxide is produced as a by-product throughout the reaction temperature range, and as the contact time increases, the selectivity to methane increases and the selectivity to carbon monoxide decreases steadily. Thus methane seems to be produced from $CO_2$ via CO as an intermediate species. In the temperature range of $410{\sim}450^{\circ}C$, the methane production rate is found to be dependent on the orders of 3.3~-0.5 and 1.4~3.6 with respect to $CO_2$ and $H_2$ partial pressures, respectively. This clearly shows that $CO_2$ and $H_2$ are competing for adsorption sites and as the reaction temperature increases, it becomes increasingly difficult for $H_2$ to be adsorbed on the catalyst surface.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.337-343
• /
• 2007

The reforming catalyst and the electrodes in fuel cells can be poisoned by the organic sulfur compound which is added as an odorant for checking out the leakage of natural gas, and that makes a big problem of system degradation. In this study, various adsorbents, such as silica, ${\gamma}$-alumina, activated carbon, HZSM-5, Ultra-stable Y zeolite (USY), and beta zeolite (BEA), were utilized to remove tetra-hydrothiophene (THT) and tert-butylmercaptan (TBM), and to confirm the performance in the adsorption of those odorants by using a continuous adsorptive bed. The effects of Si/Al ratio of zeolites, adsorption temperature and the type of balance gas (methane or He) on the adsorption performance in the packed bed have been investigated. In addition, the competitive adsorption between TBM and THT on the adsorbents was also estimated. The result shows that H-type BEA zeolite exhibited the highest adsorption capacity for TBM and THT odorant, and the higher amount of THT was removed adsorptively on the same adsorbent than TBM. The physical and chemical adsorption of those compounds on acid sites of zeolite were confirmed by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and infrared spectrum (IR) analyses.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.250-261
• /
• 2016

The Philippines is a naturally water-rich archipelago capable of sustaining its ecological goods and providing services and needs of its people. Several waterbodies have been declared as natural wetlands in the country supporting the needs of community like water and food. In this study, 65 natural wetlands were considered including six sites that were identified as 'Wetlands of International Importance' such as Naujan Lake National Park, Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Las $Pi{\tilde{n}}as-Para{\tilde{n}}aque$ Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area and Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. There are 22 wetland types presented in this research categorizing the Philippine wetlands. Philippine wetlands are now facing tremendous challenges such as land use conversion, abuse of resources, pollution coming from domestic, industrial and agricultural activities, and climate change. This paper provides an overview of Philippine wetlands in terms of their characteristics and components, impacts in the ecosystem, and the challenges they are dealing with. Moreover, the preservation measures that the government and private agencies implements to these wetlands were discussed and assessed. The enforcement of local and national laws concerning wetlands is found to be inadequate resulting in poor quality wetlands. The preservation and utilization of these wetlands can be maximized with a voluntary participation of whole Philippine community.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.550-561
• /
• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the improvement of the working environment for health prevention and related countermeasures for shift workers. This study was conducted based on the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS), which analyzed the health effects of shift work forces and compared them with preceding studies. Methods: By analyzing secondary rates using raw data from the 5th KWCS, 4,870 (9.7%) of the 50,184 total study subjects were divided into shift work and 45,314 (90.3%) non-shift work groups based on the response to shift status. Variables that could affect work health issues were identified and corrected. A cross-analysis was conducted to examine demographic characteristics (gender, age, and education level) of the workers and occupation characteristics (monthly net earnings, employment type, occupation, working period up to now, workplace scale, type of work system, and weekly working hours). In order to find the work health issue ratio between the shift and non-shift work groups, logistic regression was analyzed and the association with health problems according to shift type by gender was looked at through cross-analysis. Results: According to the surveys conducted from the 1st KWCS (2006) to the 5th KWCS (2017), the proportion of shift workers continued to increase. Also, muscular pains in the lower limbs (hips, legs, knees, feet, etc.) (OR=1.135, 95%CI 1.031-1.251), headaches, eyestrain (OR=1.580, 95% CI 1.428-1.748), anxiety (OR=1.715, 95% CI 1.402-2.099), difficulty falling asleep (OR=1.391), and other problems (OR=7.392) were reported. In addition, back pain, muscular pains in shoulders, neck and/or upper limbs, muscular pains in lower limbs (hips, legs, knees, feet, etc.), headaches, eyestrain, depression, anxiety, overall fatigue resulted in significant results for both male and female shift workers. Depression and anxiety were higher in female shift/circulation compared to males. Conclusions: The social nets for the health and safety of shift workers should be explored in a variety of ways, including management and supervision of shift sites, attempts to reorganize and improve the shift system, development of workers' health recovery programs, promotion, systematic treatment, and compensation systems.