• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.383-392
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• 2023

Post-earthquake building condition assessment is crucial for subsequent rescue and remediation and can be automated by emerging computer vision and deep learning technologies. This study is based on an endeavour for the 2nd International Competition of Structural Health Monitoring (IC-SHM 2021). The task package includes five image segmentation objectives - defects (crack/spall/rebar exposure), structural component, and damage state. The structural component and damage state tasks are identified as the priority that can form actionable decisions. A multi-task Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is proposed to conduct the two major tasks simultaneously. The rest 3 sub-tasks (spall/crack/rebar exposure) were incorporated as auxiliary tasks. By synchronously learning defect information (spall/crack/rebar exposure), the multi-task CNN model outperforms the counterpart single-task models in recognizing structural components and estimating damage states. Particularly, the pixel-level damage state estimation witnesses a mIoU (mean intersection over union) improvement from 0.5855 to 0.6374. For the defect detection tasks, rebar exposure is omitted due to the extremely biased sample distribution. The segmentations of crack and spall are automated by single-task U-Net but with extra efforts to resample the provided data. The segmentation of small objects (spall and crack) benefits from the resampling method, with a substantial IoU increment of nearly 10%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.471-484
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• 2023

Compost is widely used as an organic additive to improve the bioremediation of diesel-contaminated soil. In this study, the effects of compost amendment on the remediation performance, functional genes, and bacterial community are evaluated during the bioremediation of diesel-contaminated soils with various ratios of compost (0-20%, w/w). The study reveals that the diesel removal efficiency, soil enzyme (dehydrogenase and urease) activity, soil CH₄ oxidation potential, and soil N₂O reduction potential have a positive correlation with the compost amendment (p < 0.05). The ratios of denitrifying genes (nosZI, cnorB and qnorB) to 16S rRNA genes each show a positive correlation with compost amendment, whereas the ratio of the CH₄-oxidizing gene (pmoA) to the 16S rRNA genes shows a negative correlation. Interestingly, the genera Acidibacter, Blastochloris, Erythrobacter, Hyphomicrobium, Marinobacter, Parvibaculum, Pseudoxanthomonas, and Terrimonas are strongly associated with diesel degradation, and have a strong positive correlation with soil CH₄ oxidation potential. Meanwhile, the genera Atopostipes, Bacillus, Halomonas, Oblitimonas, Pusillimonas, Truepera, and Wenahouziangella are found to be strongly associated with soil N₂O reduction potential. These results provide useful data for developing technologies that improve diesel removal efficiency while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions in the bioremediation process of diesel-contaminated soil.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.101-126
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate current practices in blended instruction. In particular, the study explored (1) the types of instructional delivery methods, technologies, and instructional components, (2) the reasons why faculty apply blend instruction, and (3) the advantages and challenges in delivering blended instruction. This study focused on the practices in the Universities that have the extensive doctoral research programs classified by the Carnegie Foundations. The survey was performed with the sample of faculty from 30 universities and the survey data included 133 faculties out of the total 1,000 randomly selected faculty members. Of the 133 responses, 111 (77.7%) participants had certain degree of experience, while 17 faculty (or instructors) (13.3%) did not have any practice with blended instruction. The most common instructional delivery format in the participating universities was blended instruction that added supplementary online instructional components in the class. Online Course Management Systems (CMS) and multimedia presentation tools were common technology for course delivery, and "discussion" was the most general instructional activity for the class. The participating faculty often preferred the blended format since it provides students and faculty with convenience, flexibility, active engagement, efficiency in using resource materials, and a feeling of connection between/among students and instructor. Benefits to the class were availability of more authentic experience and diverse curricular materials, and the instructional format that meets the needs of remediation and enhancement of students. This study addressed not only advantages and challenges of blended instruction, but also suggestions based on the comments by the participating faculty.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.113-125
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• 2018

In recent years, new media art is developing to play its roles as a means of remediation to overturn, reuse, and alter the old technologies rather than technology-dependent art to accept new technologies and use them as artistic tools. Here, the concept of new should mean looking at the old technologies in an indirect way and finding new meanings in them rather than presenting new technologies. The starting point of this study was the concept of spatialization in which the concept of new media art would externalize games from inside to outside the screen in gamification-applied spaces. Participatory new media art adds a platform for viewer's participation and utilizes the entire space of the exhibition hall instead of allowing for simple viewing at the exhibition hall. The study focused on the changes and phenomena in the process of games belonging to the artistic space through the interactivity of gamification. Here, the premise was that gamification meant the "spatialization of games." The study examined several cases of games being altered in the spatialization process to figure out interactivity for viewers and developmental directions for interface design at a gallery.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.195-206
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• 2017

In situ capping technology for marine sediment pollution control has never been applied in South Korea. In this study a pilot project for the capping was carried out in Busan N Harbor. Pipeline and clamshell capping technologies were implemented for the pollution control. Changes of capping shapes, sediment contamination, and the time and costs required for the two constructions were compared. Both the pipeline and clamshell technologies were found to satisfy the target thickness of 50 cm on average. However, the pipeline method did not operate sensitively in terms of change of the sea floor topography, resulting in an uneven shape and a thickness. Organic carbon and ignition loss quite decreased after the pipeline or the clamshell capping while pH showed no significant change. Organic and residual fraction of Cd, Ni, and Zn in the sediments appeared to decrease after all cappings. The pipeline method took a construction time four times as much as the clamshell method. The clamshell method was demonstrated to reduce the construction cost by about 40% compared with the pipeline method. However, a monitoring for all the parameters needs to be conducted at least two years in order to better evaluate an efficiency of the pollution control by these capping constructions.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.11-17
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• 2005

Characteristics of phenanthrene removal in the Electrokinetic (EK)-Fenton process were investigated in a 2-dimensional test cell in a viewpoint of the effect of gravity and electrosmotic flow (EOF). When the constant voltage of 100 V was applied to this system, the current decreased from 1,000 to 290 mA after 28 days, because soil resistance increased due to the exhaustion of ions in soil by electroosmosis and electromigration. Accumulated EOF in two cathode reservoirs was 10.3 L and the EOF rate was kept constant for 28 days. At the end of operation, the concentration of phenanthrene was observed to be very low near the anode and increased in the cathode region because hydrogen peroxide was supplied from anode to cathode region following the direction of EOP. Additionally, the concentration of phenanthrene decreased at the bottom of the test cell because the electrolyte solution containing hydrogen peroxide was largely transported toward the bottom due to a low capillary action in the soil with high porosity. Average removal efficiency of phenanthrene by EK-Fenton process was 81.4% for 28 days. In-situ EK-Fenton process would overcome the limitations of conventional remediation technologies and effectively remediate the contaminated sites.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.63-75
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• 2010

There are several remediation technologies for heavy metal contaminated soils but increasing cost limits the application of the technology if the contaminated area is large. Therefore, stabilization, which blocks the release of heavy metals or makes slow the release, is one of the applicable technology for the heavy metal contaminated soil. Current study is an applicability test for a smelter area with various stabilizer such as magnetite, hematite, zeolite-A, zeolite-X, zeolite-Y, zinc oxide, calcium oxide, carbon trioxide, manganese oxide, manganese dioxide, fish bone, sodium phosphate. The soil contaminated with arsenic, lead, copper, nickel, and zinc could not be stabilized only one stabilizer which is known to have stability for certain metal. Many of the stabilizer works for a few metal but not all of the heavy metal. In several cases, stabilizers increase the release of the other metals while they stabilize some metals. In general, the stabilizing efficiency was increased with time. For Ni, Pb, calcium oxide, carbon trioxide, manganese oxide had good stabilizing effect in water extractable portion. For Cu, manganese oxide, zeolite showed good results especially in the exchangeable portion of the sequential extraction. For As, magnetite had good ability but most of the metal oxide which showed good result for other heavy metals increased with the release of As. Current study suggest that multiple stabilizers are needed for the contaminated soil and dose of the stabilizer and stabilizing time should be carefully considered for the soil contaminated with various metals.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.62-69
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• 2014

In the results of monitoring nitrate concentration in more than 8,000 groundwater wells around agro-livestock, the average and maximum nitrate concentration was 9.4 mg/L and 101.2 mg/L, respectively. Since about 31% of the monitoring wells was exceed the quality standard for drinking water, nitrate control such as remediation or source regulation is required to conserve safe-groundwater in South Korea. Typical nitrate-treatment technologies include ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and biological denitrification. Among the treatment methods, biological denitrification by indigenous microorganism has environmental and economic advantages for the complete elimination of nitrate because of lower operating costs compared to other methods. Major mechanism of the process is microbial reduction of nitrate to nitrite and nitrogen gas. Three functional genes (nosZ, nirK, nirS) that encode for the enzyme involved in the pathway. In this work, we tried to develop simple process to determine possibility of natural denitrification reaction by monitoring the functional gene. For the work, the functional genes in nitrate-contaminated groundwater were monitored by using PCR with specific target primers. In the result, functional genes (nosZ and nirK) encoding denitrification enzymes were detected in the groundwater samples. This method can help to determine the possibility of natural-nitrate degradation in target groundwater wells without multiplex experimental process. In addition, for field-remediation application we selected nitrate-contaminated site where 200~600 mg/L of nitrate is continuously detected. To determine the possibility of nitrate-degradation by stimulated-natural attenuation, groundwater was sampled in two different wells of the site and nitrate concentration of the samples was 300 mg/L and 616 mg/L, respectively. Fumarate for different C/N ratio was added into microcosm bottles containing the groundwater to examine denitrification rate depending on carbon concentration. In the result, once 1.5 times more than amount of fumarate stoichiometry required was added, the 616 mg/L of nitrate and 300 mg/L of nitrate were completely degraded in 8 days and 30 days. The nitrite, byproduct of denitrification process, was also completely degraded during the experimental period.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.5 s.174
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• pp.571-577
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• 2005

Permeable reactive barrier using iron oxide coated sand is one of effective technologies for As(V) contaminated groundwater. However, this method is restricted to As(III), because As(III) species tends to be more weakly bound to adsorbent. In order to overcome the limitation of iron oxide coated sand application to As(III) contaminated groundwater, manganese oxide materials as promoter of As(III) removal were combined to the conventional technology in this study. For combined use of iron oxide coated sand and manganese oxide coated sand, two kinds of removal methods, sequential removal method and simultaneous removal method, were introduced. Both methods showed similar removal efficiency over $85\%$ for 6 hrs. However, the sequential method converted the As contaminated water to acid state (pH 4.5), on the contrary, the simultaneous method maintained neutral state (pH 6.0). Therefore, simultaneous As removal method was ascertained as a suitable treatment technology of As contaminated water. Moreover, for more effective As(III) remediation technique, polypropylene textile which has the characteristics of high surface area, low specific gravity and flexibility was applied as alternative material of sand. The combined use of coated polypropylenes by simultaneous method showed much more prominent and rapid remediation efficiency over $99\%$ after 6 hrs; besides, it has practical advantages in replacement or disposal of adsorbent for simple conventional removal device.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.17-22
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• 2007

The feasibility of soil washing was investigated to remediate Pb-contaminated field soil. Hydrochloric acid was used as a washing agent. As mixing time increased from 5 min to 120 min, removal efficiency of Pb from contaminated soil increased from 69.3% to 81.9%. Two times washing with 0.2 M HCl showed 96% removal efficiency even at mixing time of 10 min. The Pb content in soil increased sharply as particle size of soil decreased, and removal efficiency was highly dependent on mixing time and temperature. Based on this result, acid washing technologies can be applied to remediate the Pb-contaminated soil used in this study.