• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.603-617
• /
• 2018

This study surveyed the diversity and community characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates and freshwater fish, which are the main animal classifications in a hydro ecosystem, from May to September 2017 in the western plains of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The results showed a total of 125 species of benthic macroinvertebrates belonging to 66 families, 19 orders, and four phyla in the streams and wetlands. Among benthic macroinvertebrates, Coleoptera (27 spp.: 21.60%) was the largest group in terms of species richness followed by Odonata (26 spp.: 20.80%), non-Insecta (22 spp.: 17.60%), and Hemiptera (11 spp.: 8.80%) occupying in the lentic area. Of the feeding function groups (FFGs), predators (51 spp.: 56.67%) showed a relatively larger presence, indicating the dominance of hygrophilous invertebrates that usually inhabit the freshwater wetlands or ponds. Of the habitat oriented groups (HOGs), climbers (33 spp.: 24.44%) and burrowers (17 spp.: 12.59%) were the dominant groups. This observation is typical in a slow flowing habitat and can lead to the disturbance of the ecosystem due to cannibalism among predators. Cannibalism can be caused by stress induced by various population and environmental factors. For the ecosystem services benchmark (ESB) value, site 13 appeared to be the highest with 82 marks while other sites showed relatively lower rates and indices (III water quality class with ${\alpha}$-mesosaprobic). The analysis result of stability factors showed that almost all sites were evaluated to be the I characteristic group with high resilience and resistance or the III characteristic group that was sensitive to environmental disturbance and formed uneven and unstable communities. Of the freshwater fishes, 46 species (3,405 individuals) belonging to 39 families and 18 orders were identified in all the investigated sites. Among them, Cyprinidae (30 spp.: 65.2%) was the largest group, and Zacco koreanus was identified as the dominant species (728 individuals, 21.4%). The survey of freshwater fish communities found both stable communities (sites 7 and 13) with low dominant index (0.39) and high diversity index (2.29) and unstable communities (sites 2, 3, 8, and 10) in opposite tendency. This survey found five Korean endemic species, 17 species belonging to the export controlled species, two endangered species level II (Lethocerus deyrollei and Cybister chinensis), and rare species (Dytiscus marginalis czerskii) among benthic macroinvertebrates. The survey also found an invasive species, Ampullarius insularus, which was distributed throughout the whole area and thus can continuously disturb the ecosystem in the western plain area in the DMZ. Of freshwater fish, one natural monument (Hemibarbus mylodon) and three endangered species level II (Acheilognathus signifer, Gobiobotia macrocephalus, and G. brevibarba) were observed. The survey also found four introduced species (Pomacea canaliculate, Carassius cuvieri, Lepomis macrochirus, Micropterus salmoides) in the western DMZ area, indicating the need for the protection and conservation measures.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.66-73
• /
• 2019

The Royal Tomb of the Joseon Dynasty, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009, is a cultural resource recognized for its 'outstanding universal value' around the world. The royal tomb of Joseon has been managed with an emphasis on the preservation of cultural assets since it was designated as a historical site in the 1970s, but it has received many visitors as a valuable historical and cultural resource and haven that connects the past and the present in today's bustling city. In order to investigate and analyze the current status of pavements in the royal palace in terms of quality and quantity, and to suggest the direction of improvement, this study conducted a complete survey of 53 royal palace viewing roads in 18 regions, and the results are as follows. First of all, problems are found in both the early Masato pavement of the creation, which was introduced with an emphasis on the preservation and protection of cultural assets, and the hardening pavement(KAP), which began to be used in the 1990s for the convenience of maintenance. In other words, the Masato pavement used to create a more environmentally friendly atmosphere of the Joseon royal tombs is showing a high percentage of use, but it lacks support for walking activities, such as the slippage of the pavement and water pooling during the rainy season or during the ice season. Also, hardening pavement introduced for convenience of maintenance, such as the movement of repair vehicles, is not functioning properly as it is damaged by physical deformation after construction. In addition, in awe zones such as parking lots, although the first image of the Joseon royal tombs is determined, the formation of the functional landscape centered on the carriageway does not harmonize with the traditional landscape, and, because of its lack of walking and environment-friendly features, there is a need for improvement, such as the experimental introduction of relevant pavement materials developed afterwards and continuous monitoring.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.28 no.12
• /
• pp.1507-1515
• /
• 2018

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterized by prostatic hypertrophy mainly in the elderly. Corni Fructus is reportedly effective in the prevention and treatment of various diseases, but its efficacy on BPH has not been previously studied. In the present study, we investigated whether or not a Corni Fructus water extract (CF) could prevent testosterone-induced prostatic hyperplasia in rats. To induce BPH, castrated rats were subcutaneously injected with testosterone propionate (TP). CF was administered daily by oral gavage, along with the TP injections, and finasteride, a selective inhibitor of $5{\alpha}$-reductase type 2, was used as a positive control. The results show that CF significantly reduces prostate weight and histopathologic changes while also decreasing levels of serum dihydrotestosterone, similar to the finasteride-treated group. CF also suppresses TP-induced $5{\alpha}$-reductase expression and concentration in prostate tissue and serum, respectively. Furthermore, CF markedly inhibited TP-induced expression of the androgen receptor (AR) and the steroid receptor coactivator 1, an AR coactivator, which was associated with a decrease in prostate-specific antigen levels in both serum and prostate tissue. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that CF weakens BPH status by inactivation of $5{\alpha}$-reductase and AR.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.114-159
• /
• 2012

The Northern Song Dynasty Period (北宋時代) was a drastic transitional era in all aspect of Chinese society including the politico-economic system, ideology and cultural trait. These changes that began in the late Tang (唐) Dynasty Period accomplished in the Northern Song Dynasty. In this phase, the fundamental change influenced in all institutional area; and among them, the capital city planning and its associating building technology to pile stone walls shows one of the significant change of those time. Based on the geographical factor, confluences of many rivers, the Kaifeing (開封) area where the BianLieng palace had developed as a political and economical centre since the Tang Dynasty when the Grand Canal was constructed. According to archaeological researches, the central city structure of Dongjing Walled Town was begun to plan in the late Tang Dynasty and formed in Five Dynasties. The fundamental functional change of city completed in the Midnorthern Song Dynasty. In spite of the relatively late beginning of archaeological investigations to Kaifeng Walled Town and Dongjing Walled Town due to unfavourable natural environment, excavations inaugurated since 1981 have achieved the significant investigations including the actual measurement and excavation to the outer wall, the preliminary excavation to the inner city area, the investigation and excavation to the royal palace of Song and the survey to the royal palace of King Zho in the Ming (明) Dynasty. These surveys have provide important data to reconstruct the 변량 palace, and elucidate the characteristics of city plan in the Dongjing Walled Town and the institutional change of capital city plan of the Northern Song Dynasty. The basic layout of Dongjing Walled Town reflect the realisation of ideality of the late Chinese medieval capital city structure that establish the commercial and economic centre based on the intensification of emperor's power by means of the organisation of ethical institution and the development of commercial economy. Firstly, the central place of the Kaifeng area is encircled with triple walls. This emphasise the authority of emperor located on the summit in the hierarchical ethic system succeeding to the main capital city plan of the late phase of ancient China. Secondly, the location of Dongjing Walled Town was decided by the transport network and the commercial function and defence function. Thirdly, this site shows the change of city structure and landscape of the Northern Song Dynasty. The closed Fengri (坊里: block) system transferred the open Jiexiang (街巷: road) system. Fourthly, the capital city was characterised by the free market trade and the diversification of market place. Fifthly, a convenient transport network in the Bian River, a centre of the Grand Canals, enabled to construct the Kaifeng Walled Town. Therefore, the Northern Song Dynasty continuously accomplished the developed water system as concerning about the utilisation of waterways after the construction of city.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.85-96
• /
• 2019

Solar radiation is an important variable for estimation of energy balance and water cycle in natural and agricultural ecosystems. A deep neural network (DNN) model has been developed in order to estimate the daily global solar radiation. Temperature and precipitation, which would have wider availability from weather stations than other variables such as sunshine duration, were used as inputs to the DNN model. Five-fold cross-validation was applied to train and test the DNN models. Meteorological data at 15 weather stations were collected for a long term period, e.g., > 30 years in Korea. The DNN model obtained from the cross-validation had relatively small value of RMSE ($3.75MJ\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$) for estimates of the daily solar radiation at the weather station in Suwon. The DNN model explained about 68% of variation in observed solar radiation at the Suwon weather station. It was found that the measurements of solar radiation in 1985 and 1998 were considerably low for a small period of time compared with sunshine duration. This suggested that assessment of the quality for the observation data for solar radiation would be needed in further studies. When data for those years were excluded from the data analysis, the DNN model had slightly greater degree of agreement statistics. For example, the values of $R^2$ and RMSE were 0.72 and $3.55MJ\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$, respectively. Our results indicate that a DNN would be useful for the development a solar radiation estimation model using temperature and precipitation, which are usually available for downscaled scenario data for future climate conditions. Thus, such a DNN model would be useful for the impact assessment of climate change on crop production where solar radiation is used as a required input variable to a crop model.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.316-335
• /
• 2021

This study reviewed the change of theory of ecological niche(concepts and definitions) over time to provide a theoretical basis for habitat-related studies of animals and plants. Accordingly, it analyzed and summarized the major discussion trends of ecological niche worldwide in each period from the 1900s to the present. Countries advanced in ecological studies, such as the EU and the USA, have conducted theoretical and empirical studies on the ecological niche since the early 1990s. The concept of the ecological niche was introduced in the early 1900s, developed in the mid-1900s, and advanced from the mid-1900s to the late 1900s. Since the 2000s, the advanced concept has diversified with new developments in technologies and research methods. The factors suggested by theoretical and empirical studies in defining the ecological niche of a species include 1) population dynamics of the target species, 2) all biotic conditions to sustain a population (food relationship and material flow in the food chain), 3) all non-biotic conditions to sustain a population (physical environmental conditions), 4) all direct and indirect interactions between these environmental factors, and 5) response and adaptation mechanisms that include the migratory ability of the target species or genetic diversity and adaptability to change. Unlike such international advancement, there have not been sufficient theoretical, philosophical, and empirical studies of ecological niche in Korea. The concepts and definitions by Greennell, Elton, and Hutchinson were selectively and partially borrowed for empirical studies without full description. Considering that the theory of ecological niche becomes the foundation for habitat-based species conservation and restoration, it is necessary to seek diversification and advancement of theoretical and empirical research and research methods and technological development. It will provide an important foundation for the academic advancement of ecology and for establishing and implementing policies to preserve and restore ecology and biodiversity effectively and successfully in Korea.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.549-561
• /
• 2020

This study aimed to assess the performance and life of nine natural mineral dancheong pigments: Seokganju, Jinsa, Hwangto, Jahwang, Wunghwang, Seokrok, Noerok, Seokcheong, and Baekto. The design of the accelerated weathering test considered the domestic climate characteristics and the location of Dancheong. Outdoor weathering tests were conducted at the Research Institute in Daejeon and the Sungnyemun Gate in Seoul to confirm the field reproducibility of the accelerated weathering test. Monitoring of the physical changes in pigments through accelerated and outdoor weathering tests are based on ultraviolet exposure dose. Despite small cracks at the beginning of the tests, the monitoring showed that Seokganju and Baekto had no marked physical changes, but the surface cracks of Jinsa and Seorok continue to expand. Hwangto and Noerok were marked with water or were resin stained, and the particles of Jahwang, Wunghwang, and Seokcheong had lost their luster. Despite the absolute difference in color change in each test, the final chromaticity change patterns of pigments were similar in that the color difference between Baekto and Noerok was below five, and Jina was above 28. The physical and surface color pigment changes were more concentrated in outdoor weathering tests than in accelerated tests, and the Seoul site was more intense than the Daejeon site. This is because outdoor weathering tests are exposed to severe variations of temperature and moisture or deposition of dust particles and, in the case of Seoul, the site is more exposed to the external environment than the Daejeon site.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.612-623
• /
• 2020

This study was initiated to quantitatively evaluate the inhibitory effects of five heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni) on bacterial growth and phosphorus removal in the binary culture of Alcaligenes sp. plus Pseudomonas sp. IC50 values of Alcaligenes sp. plus Pseudomonas sp. for Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Ni were 0.75, 10.93, 7.08, 13.30, and 15.78 mg/L, respectively. For the binary treatments of heavy metals, IC50 was the lowest in the treatment of Cd + Cu, whereas, it was the highest in the Ni + Pb treatment. The EC50 values for Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Ni were 0.54, 11.08, 6.14, 9.33, and 13.81 mg/L, respectively. For the binary treatments of heavy metals, EC50 was the lowest in the Cd + Zn, whereas, the highest in the Zn + Ni. Based on both IC50 and EC50 values for the binary culture of bacteria with the binary mixtures of heavy metals, the most interactive effect was found to be antagonistic, though the only synergistic effect was found in Cu + Ni treatment. Therefore, our results can provide basic data on the toxic effects of heavy metals on the bacterial growth and phosphorus removal in the wastewater treatment process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.100 no.3
• /
• pp.483-493
• /
• 2011

Erosion control dams play a primary role in preventing or controlling natural disasters (landslide and debris flow etc.) and also conserve ecosystem in forested watersheds. This study examines structural characteristics of the dams such as the height of ecosystem control and the ecosystem permeability of the erosion control dams under standard drawings and the existing construction works. The objective of this study was to characterize the type classification of erosion control dams as ecosystem. Average permeability was highest on eco-piller dam (63.0%), followed in increasing order by wire rope (13.9%), silt dam (10.9%), multifunctional dam (7.2%), and gravity dam (0.4%). The height of ecosystem control was highest on gravity dam (3.2 m), followed in increasing order by multifunctional dam (1.7 m), wire rope dam (1.2 m), silt dam (0.6 m), and eco-piller dam (0.0 m). Criteria for defining the height of ecosystem control was indefinite. We grouped erosion control dams into three functional types (eco-connection, eco-semi connection, and eco-disconnection) by considering physical and structural characteristics such as the ecosystem permeability and the height of ecosystem control. The type of eco-connection (permeability > 20%) had connection areas from streambed to adjacent riparian areas, and these connection areas serve as ecosystem corridors for fauna and flora. Typical wildlife species includes mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. The type of eco-semi connection (5% < permeability < 20%) had < 2 m in the eco-barrier height from streambed, however, this type of dams partially serve as wildlife corridors and often provide fish ways. The type of eco-disconnection (permeability < 5%) had > 2 m in the eco-barrier height from streambed, thereby preventing wildlife movement.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.105-120
• /
• 2011

A moat is a pond or waterway paved on the outside of a fortress that is one of the facilities to prevent enemy from approaching the fortress wall or classify it as the boundary space, moats had existed in Europe, Asia and the America from ancient times to medieval times. however it is has been disappeared in modem society. In addition, a moat is a great value in historical and cultural sense such as offering a variety of cultural activities and habitats for animals, but unfortunately there is little consideration of its restoration plan. This research is aimed to investigate historical and cultural meaning and significance of moats which had been existing from ancient times to medieval times in the Eastern and Western. For this purpose, this research analyzed concepts and functions in consideration with times and ideological backgrounds of moats in Korea, China, and Japan. Results were as follows: 1. Moats in Korea existed not only in the castle towns of Goguryeo but also in ancient castle towns of Baekje and Silla. Natural moats and artificial moats existed around castles that were built to prevent and disconnect accessibility of enemies In Goryeo Dynasty and Chosun Dynasty, moats were also used as a defensive function. 2. A moat was generally installed by digging in the ground deep and wide at regular intervals from the ramparts, A moat was installed not only around a castle but also in its interiors. Moats outside castles played an important role in stomping the ground hard besides enhancing its defensive power. In addition, water bodies around a facility often discouraged people's access and walls or fences segregated space physically, but a moat with its open space had an alert and defensive means while pertaining its visual characteristics. 3. The moat found at Nagan Eupseong rumor has it that a village officials' strength was extremely tough due to strong energy of the blue dragon[Dongcheon] in Pungsujiri aspects, so such worries could be eliminated by letting the stream of the blue dragon flow in the form of 'S'. 4. The rampart of the Forbidden City of China is 7.9 meters high, and 3,428 meters long in circumference. It was built with 15 layers of bricks which were tamped down after being mixed with glutinous rice and earth, so it is really solid. The moat of the Forbidden City is 52 meters in width and 6 meters in depth, which surrounds the rampart of the Forbidden City, possibly blocking off enemies' approach. 5. Japan moats functioned as waterways due to their location in cities, further, with the arrangement of leisure facilities nearby, such as boating, fishing from boats, and restaurants, it helped relieve city dwellers' stress and functions as a lively city space. 6. Korean moats are smaller in scale than those of the Forbidden City of China, and Edo, and Osaka castles in Japan, Moats were mostly installed to protect royal palaces or castles in the Eastern Asia whereas moats were installed to protect kings, lords, or properties of wealthy people in the west.