• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.21-31
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• 2012

This paper presents the short-term and long-term measures to determine the fugitive dust concentration in a contaminated site, which is a crucial step for the determination of particulate emission factor (PEF) for risk assessment. As a long-term measure, USEPA method employing Q/C value (inverse of the ratio of the geometric mean air concentration to the emission flux at center of a 0.5-acre square source) seems to be suitable as it reflects regional-specific meteorological conditions. However, it requires nation-wide database collection and interpretation. Use of ASTM method is an alternative as a short-term measure. The method is readily field-applicable as PEF calculation equation is simple and input parameters can be easily derived at the site of interest as well without the nation-wide efforts. Using ASTM method, PEF at the Former Janghang Smelter Site was determined. According to various mode of aggregate size distribution and fractions of vegetative cover, which are the most important factors in PEF calculation, PEF values at the Former Janghang Smelter Site varied greatly. When the mode of aggregate size distribution was set at 0.25 mm, PEF values at the Former Janghang Smelter Site was 5~20 times higher than the default PEF value (i.e., 35 ${\mu}g/m^3$) shown in the current Korean Soil Contamination Risk Assessment Guidance. On contrast, when the mode was set at 2 mm, PEF values at the Former Janghang Smelter Site was 160~640 times lower than the default PEF value in the Korean Guidance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.71-76
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• 2011

In this study, a heavy metal stabilization treatment using waste resource stabilizing agents was utilized on army firing range soil contaminated with Pb and Cu. Both calcined oyster shells (COS; 5% w/w) and waste cow bone (WCB; 3% w/w) were applied for a wet-curing duration of 28 days. Following the stabilization treatment, the process efficiency was evaluated by various extraction methods for Pb and Cu. Neutral and weak acid extraction methods, such as water soluble extraction and SPLP, did not show positive results for heavy metal stabilization with very low leachability. On the other hand, TCLP and 0.1 N HCl extraction showed that the stabilizing agents significantly reduced the amount of the heavy metals leached from the soil, which strongly supports that the treatment efficiency is positively evaluated in acidic leaching conditions. Specifically, in the 0.1 N HCl extraction, the reduction efficiencies of Pb and Cu leaching were 99.9% and 83.9%, respectively. From the sequential extraction results, a difference between Pb and Cu stabilization was observed, which supports that Pb stabilization is more effective due to the formation of insoluble Pb complexes. This study demonstrates that the application of waste resources for the stabilization of heavy metals is feasible.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2010

Objectives : Arsenic (As) is ubiquitously distributed in the environment and has been known as a human carcinogen. The main source of arsenic exposure in general population is an oral route through As-contaminated water and foods. This study was performed to estimate the daily intake of As from diet and associated factors in Korean adults. Methods : We investigated 590 adults, 249 males and 341 females, with age of 20 years and older, who had not been exposed to the As occupationally. Study subjects were interviewed for demographic characteristics, lifestyles and diets during the last 24 hours. The estimation of As intake daily was based on amount of food consumption and As concentration in each food by using database of As concentrations in 117 food species. Results : Daily As intake was estimated as $56.46\;{\mu}g$/day, $56.60\;{\mu}g$/day in male and $56.36\;{\mu}g$/day in female. As intake was not significant from sex, age group, smoking and alcoholic habits, while was by occupation with the most intake of As in fishery. The daily As intakes was positively correlated with the total food consumption, specifically related with fishes and shellfishes, seaweeds, oils, grains and flavors. About 75% of As intake from diet was contributed by seafoods, such as $32.07\;{\mu}g$/day from fishes & shellfishes and $10.05\;{\mu}g$/day from seaweeds. However, it is necessary to evaluate if the dietary As intake affects on the levels of As in the body. Conclusions : The amount of As intake daily in Korean adults was estimated as $56.46\;{\mu}g$/day, and is determined mainly by diet behavior. The seafoods, such as fishes & shellfishes and seaweeds, is major source of As exposure from diet in Korean.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.654-659
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• 2013

This study was conducted to identify an optimal ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C/N ratio) for denitrification of nitrate using molasses as an external carbon source. A series of batch and column tests was conducted using an indigenous bacterium Pseudomonas sp. KY1 isolated from a nitrate-contaminated soil. For the initial nitrate-nitrogen concentration of 100 mg-N/L, batch test results indicated that C/N ratio of 3/1 was the optimal ratio with a relatively high pseudo-first-order reaction constant of $0.0263hr^{-1}$. At C/N ratio of 3/1, more than 80% of nitrate-nitrogen concentration of 100 mg-N/L was removed in 100 hrs. Results of column tests with a flow velocity of 0.3 mL/min also indicated that the C/N ratio of 3/1 was optimal for denitrification with minimizing remaining molasses concentrations. After 172 hrs of column operation (35 pore volumes) with an influent nitrate-nitrogen concentration of 100 mg-N/L, the effluent met the drinking water standard (i.e., 10 mg $NO_3$-N/L).

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.468-478
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• 2009

This research was performed to provide basic data for the development of infection related dental hygiene studies by surveying the current condition of recognition among students in the department of dental hygiene toward hospital infection management while receiving the following results by using a personal self-administered survey method targeting 303 students in the department of dental hygiene from certain areas. 1. With the current condition of recognition on the sanitization and sterilization of instruments among students in the department of dental hygiene(study), the rate at which surgical instruments are to be sterilized with autoclaves was 79.9% which was relatively higher than other instruments while it was shown that prosthetic instruments for treatment was 56.4%, conservative instruments for treatment was 51.8%, and ultrasonic scaler tip was 51.1% while the way syringe tips(36.1%) and the dental anesthetic apparatus(27.9%) were revealed to require sanitization by alcohol. 2. The 'hand wash' area was the highest with 4.71 while the 'materials and environment management' area and 'equipment management' area appeared high respectively with 4.43 and 4.41. 3. With the current condition of recognition on equipment management, 'equipments used for contagious patients are separately washed after a one-time use and must be sterilized or separated-and-discarded' was the highest with 4.82 while 'sterilization equipments with humidity or water on it are considered contaminated and are not used' showed the lowest recognition level with 3.90. 4. Regarding the current condition of materials and environment management, 'contagious and general trash are separated and discarded' was the highest with 4.70 while 'the refrigerator for medicine storage is cleaned on a regular basis once a month' was revealed as the lowest with 4.11. 5. With the current condition of recognition on hand washing, 'one must wash their hands after coming in contact with contagious patients, was the highest with 4.90 while washing hands after taking off gloves' appeared as the lowest with 4.51 point. To conclude department of dental hygiene there is to infection management and necessary about organization disinfecting and pasteurization to strengthen an education in order raising a stamp helping practical ratio about the infection management which whole, is from presence at a sickbed and connection does and about the infection management which is substantial and educational program development leads feed with the fact that deepening studying which is continuous must become accomplished becomes.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.709-717
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• 2008

Rhizofiltration for cesium uptake by sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris var.) was investigated for groundwater contamination. The cesium removal by sunflowers was greater than 98% of the total cesium in solution, and the uptake by beans was also greater than 99% within 24 hours of the rhizofiltration, showing that the rhizofiltration has a great capability to remove cesium from the contaminated water system. Experiments at various pH of solution indicated that a solution of pH $5{\sim}9$ yielded very high cesium accumulation in two plants. From the results of the analysis for cesium accumulation in plant parts, about 80% of cesium transferred into the plant from solution was accumulated in the root part and less than 20% of cesium existed in the shoot part (including leaves). Results suggest that only the roots of the fully grown plant used for rhizofiltration should be disposed or post-treated and thus the cost and time to treat massive amounts of grown plants could be dramatically reduced when sunflower and bean are used in the real field. The results of SEM and EDS analyses indicated that the most of cesium were accumulated in the root surface as a ionic phase rather than a soil precipitation phase.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2004

Removal efficiencies for diesel fuel and diesel hydrocarbons ($C_10$∼$C_22$) using microwave-enhanced SVE process were evaluated with dry and moist soil, respectively. Diesel removal rates of microwave-enhanced SVE process were 7 times for dry soil and 1580 times for moist soil as great as those of the SVE process without microwave heating. High dielectric property of water contents may accelerate the absorption of microwave energy into soil and thus vaporized the diesel fuel components drastically. The diesel removals were 67.7∼78.4% for $C_10$ and $C_12$, and 0∼18.5% for $C_14$∼$C_22$ for dry and moist soil with SVE process only. On the other hand, dry soil with microwave-enhanced SVE process showed 89.3∼99.4% removal for $C_10$ to and $C_12$ and 35.6∼67.0% for hydrocarbons over $C_14$. All hydrocarbons ($C_10$∼$C_22$) studied were significantly removed (93.6∼99.8%) for moist soil with microwave-enhanced SVE process.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1046-1051
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• 2012

In order to investigate the changes in bioactive materials induced in goldfish brains by $^{18}F$ irradiation, the variations in the neurotransmitter levels in the whole brain were studied. The distance between the goldfish and 580 mCi of $^{18}F$ was about 4 cm, and the exposure lasted for 4 hrs. The absorption level calculated based on the distance, exposure time, and half-life of $^{18}F$ was approximately 2 Gy. After sacrifice by $^{18}F$ irradiation or untreated conditions, ten brains were dissected or immediately frozen, respectively. The tissues were extracted in acetic acid. After lyophilization, the samples were dissolved in distilled water and were further purified on a reverse-phase HPLC column. There were no differences in the intensities of the bioactive materials between $^{18}F$-exposed goldfish and control goldfish, while the only peak corresponded to 13 min, which indicated a significant increase in the irradiated brains. Our analysis has found that this compound is tryptophan. This result suggests that $^{18}F$ leads to changes in a classical neurotransmitter, tryptophan, in both the brains of control goldfish and goldfish contaminated by irradiation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.845-850
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• 2011

Norovirus (NoV) causes major acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis in humans. NoV genus is a member of the family Caliciviridae, which is transmitted by contaminated food and water or from human to human. Many genotypes of genogroups I and II have been reported because of their high genetic diversity. To obtain molecular epidemiological information on gastroenteritis sporadic cases in Busan, Korea, we analyzed the nucleotide sequences of NoV strains detected during 2008~2010. We performed one step RT-PCR amplifying the open reading frame (ORF) 2 (capsid region) followed by semi-nested PCR. Fecal samples were collected from 4,071 acute gastroenteritis, and genotypes of the 421 positive samples were determined by sequence analysis. Based on partial sequence of capsid region, 7 NoV were categorized into genogroup I and 13 into genogroup II. Prevalent genotypes among gastroenteritis patients within Busan were GII.4, GI.6, GII.5 in 2008~2010. The results of this study will contribute to the currently available epidemiological data and improve public health and hygiene via development of diagnostic methods and sustainable surveillance.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.43-52
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• 2006

Effectiveness of activated soil containing directly enriched atrazine-degrading soil microorganisms as an inoculant to bioaugment degradation of atrazine in soils was investigated. A Wooster silt loam (Typic Fragiudalf) was spiked with atrazine at a rate of 4 mg/kg soil three successive times to create activated soil. Atrazine degradation was significantly enhanced (p < 0.05) after the first treatment. After the second treatment, there was an increase in the number, based on MPN, of microorganisms utilizing atrazine as a C- and N-source by 3 logs and 1 log of magnitude, respectively. Inoculation of typical agricultural soils collected from Ohio with activated soil at a rate as low as 0.5% reduced the extractable atrazine remaining in soils to the level below 2% of that initially recovered (initially added at a rate of 4 mg/kg soil) after 4 days. Inoculation at a higher rate was required to achieve the same result in soils with non-typical properties (pH of 4.5 or organic matter of 43% w/w). Activated soil was stable, in terms of atrazine degradation activity, at least up to 6 months when it was kept at low temperature (< $10^{\circ}C$) and moistened (water content above 15%). The results of this study indicate that microorganisms capable of degrading atrazine are relatively easily enriched in soil to create activated soil. Use of activated soil can be a practical option for bioremediation of contaminated soils.