• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.116-124
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• 2010

While groundwater is the major source for drinking and irrigation purposes, arsenic (As) contamination of groundwater is a serious issue in Bangladesh. With a view to reduce As contamination in drinking water the guideline value recommended for Bangladesh is 0.05 mg/L. We assessed groundwater As in an As-affected Sadar Upazilla (small administrative unit) in the District (administrative unit) of Chapai Nabwabganj during 2006, where 50% hand tube well water were above the recommended limit (0.05 mg/L) during dry season. Almost 20% tube well waters were above the recommended limit during rainy season, perhaps due to the dilution of water table. The groundwater in Bangladesh contaminates surface soils and plants thereby As entering the food chain. In 2005, we examined the As levels in different rice varieties grown in different Districts of Bangladesh and the As concentrations in rice grain ranged from 0.07~1.12 mg/kg while the concentrations in 3 rice varieties were above the recommended limit (1 mg/kg rice grain) and the maximum concentration was 1.12 mg/kg rice grain in the rice variety BR 11. With few exceptions, the As content of rice grain in Bangladesh is not considered to be concentration of greater health concern as yet. We also observed enhanced root uptake, efficient root-to shoot translocation, and a much elevated tolerance through internal detoxification all contribute to As hyperaccumulation in a plant, ladder brake fern (Pteris vittata L.). But the phytoremediation technique might not be an appropriate tool to reduce the As calamity in the vast areas of Bangladesh. To mitigate the As problem of Bangladesh, better coordination among governmental agencies and many other organizations will be required to combat the disaster.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.110-126
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• 1995

Korean economy has been developed successfully in the course of implementing the five year economic development plans since 1962. The gap of incomes and quality of life between rural and urban area has been widened and it made rural farm laborers drain to urban areas. Therefore the prevailing situation of labor shortage and wage hike in rural area has made farm management deteriorate in recent years. Under the internal and international unfavorable economic conditions, marginal farm land of 66.5 thousand ha has been idled as of end of 1993. The total area outside agricultural development zone with bad farming conditions including irrigation and drainage, and land consolidation for mechanization were estimated at 360.4thousand ha equivalent to 17.5% of the total farm land area in Korea. Considering the topographical conditions of marginal lands, the effective use of marginal lands should be studied from the view point of public interest rather than from the view point of individual economic conditions. Considering the present agricultural economic settings, such as price decrease, unfavourable benefits of farm products, labour shrotage, free trade of farm products and poor physical condition of marginal lands, the institutional and realistical measures for the effective utilization of idle and marginal land should be studied as soon as possible. Detail land use pattern should be surveyed in the areas outside agricultural development zone and have to be classified as orchard farms, grass land, fish culture farms, lawn and ornamental tree farm, sight seeing and leisure farms for urban peoples, special crops production farms and common farms to be developed for farm mechanization. According to the surveyed results, the expected utilization patterns of the idle and marginal lands could be considerd as village common use, farm land base development, leisure farm development, mutual complementary utilization between urban and rural areas, G't purchase and management, credit supply and new extension services, improvement of cropping patterns and sight seeing and leisure farm patterns. For the successful and reasonable management of the marginal lands, the actions such as institutional improvement, prohibition of idle marginal land, enforcement of activities of farm management committee members and land banking system of RDC including development and utilization systems should be included.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.115-124
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• 2018

Resilience has been widely used in various fields including design and operation of infrastructures. The resilient infrastructures not only reduce the damage scale of various disasters but also reduce the time and cost required for restoration. However, resilience rarely applied to promote efficient management of agricultural infrastructures. Recently, drought is an aggravating disaster by climate change and need countermeasures. Therefore, we tried to demonstrate evaluating measures in case of drought under consideration of resilience. This study applied the robustness-cost index (RCI) to evaluate alternative solution of the supply problem of a large agricultural reservoir under drought conditions. Four structural alternatives were selected to estimate the robustness index (RI) and the cost index (CI) to obtain the RCI values. Structural alternatives are classified into temporary measures and permanent measures. Temporary measures include the development of a tube wells and the installation of the portable pump, while the permanent measures include the installation of a pumping stations and the pumping water to the reservoir (Yeongsan River-Naju reservoir). RCI values were higher in permanent measures than those of temporary measures. Initial storage of the reservoir also affected RCI values of the drought measures. Permanent measures installation and management of early stage of the reservoir storage shortage was identified as the most resilient system.

• FLOWER RESEARCH JOURNAL
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2011

Effect of daminozide concentration and application methods, in combination with different planting period, on the growth of chrysanthemum was investigated for small pot-plant production. Daminozide, a plant growth regulator widely used for plant height control, was applied by drench or sub-application. For pot chrysanthemums of first planting time, plant height was reduced over $4,000mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$, when daminozide was drenched directly into the pot medium. However, $5,000mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of daminozide drench affected plant height reduction for secondarily planted pot chrysanthemum. Analysis of variance revealed the plant height was affected by planting time. For sub-application experiment of daminozide, it showed that the daminozide affected the number of flower buds formation and fresh and dry weight. These results suggest that planting period affected growth retardation of chrysanthemum. Therefore, application of growth retardant in combination with planting time and application methods may provide more efficient growth control for pot-chrysanthemum production.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.232-232
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• 2019

The persistence of drought periods and water scarcity is a growing public concern, as climate change projections indicate a more critical scenario in the future. The sustainability of water resources for the increasing population, and to ensuring crop production will unarguably be a daunting task for the water resources managers, with a projected 9.8 billion people by 2050 as well as the need to increase food production by 70 to 100%. Consequently, there is a need for significant irrigation water use for more crop production in the face of stiff competition among water users. However, the available natural resources are already over-constrained, and the allocation of more resources for food production is not feasible. Currently, about two-thirds of global water withdrawer is used by the agricultural sector while 48% of water resources in Korea is used for agricultural production. Despite the apparent ecological deficit and unfavorable conditions of resources utilization, a staggering amount of food waste occurs in the country. Moreover, wastage of food translates to waste of all the resources involved in the food production including water resources. Food waste can also be considered a serious potential for economic and environmental problems. Hence, exploring an alternative approach to efficient resources utilization in a more sustainable way can ensure considerable resources conservation. We hypothesized that reducing food waste will decline the demand for food production and consequently reduce the pressure on water resources. We investigated the food wastage across the food supply chain using the top-down datasets based on the FAO mass balance model. Furthermore, the water footprint of the estimated food wastage was assessed using the representative of selected food crops. The study revealed that the average annual food wastage across the food supply chain is 9.05 million tonnes, signifying 0.51 kg/capita/day and 48% of domestic food production. Similarly, an average of 6.29 Gm3 per annum of water resources was lost to food wastage, which translates to 40% of the total allotted water resources for agriculture in the country. These considerable resources could have been conserved or efficiently used for other purposes. This study demonstrated that zero food waste generation would significantly reduce the impact on freshwater resources and ensure its conservation. There is a need for further investigation on the food waste study using the bottom-up approach, specifically at the consumer food waste, since the top-down approach is based on estimations and many assumptions were made.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.408-408
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• 2019

The persistence of drought periods and water scarcity is a growing public concern, as climate change projections indicate a more critical scenario in the future. The sustainability of water resources for the increasing population, and to ensuring crop production will unarguably be a daunting task for the water resources managers, with a projected 9.8 billion people by 2050 as well as the need to increase food production by 70 to 100%. Consequently, there is a need for significant irrigation water use for more crop production in the face of stiff competition among water users. However, the available natural resources are already over-constrained, and the allocation of more resources for food production is not feasible. Currently, about two-thirds of global water withdrawer is used by the agricultural sector while 48% of water resources in Korea is used for agricultural production. Despite the apparent ecological deficit and unfavorable conditions of resources utilization, a staggering amount of food waste occurs in the country. Moreover, wastage of food translates to waste of all the resources involved in the food production including water resources. Food waste can also be considered a serious potential for economic and environmental problems. Hence, exploring an alternative approach to efficient resources utilization in a more sustainable way can ensure considerable resources conservation. We hypothesized that reducing food waste will decline the demand for food production and consequently reduce the pressure on water resources. We investigated the food wastage across the food supply chain using the top-down datasets based on the FAO mass balance model. Furthermore, the water footprint of the estimated food wastage was assessed using the representative of selected food crops. The study revealed that the average annual food wastage across the food supply chain is 9.05 million tonnes, signifying 0.51 kg/capita/day and 48% of domestic food production. Similarly, an average of $6.29Gm^3$ per annum of water resources was lost to food wastage, which translates to 40% of the total allotted water resources for agriculture in the country. These considerable resources could have been conserved or efficiently used for other purposes. This study demonstrated that zero food waste generation would significantly reduce the impact on freshwater resources and ensure its conservation. There is a need for further investigation on the food waste study using the bottom-up approach, specifically at the consumer food waste, since the top-down approach is based on estimations and many assumptions were made.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.242-251
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• 2021

Surface water pollution is a serious environmental problem in developing countries, like India, due to the unregulated discharge of untreated wastewater. To overcome this, the constructed wetlands (CWs) have been proven to be an efficient technology for wastewater treatment. In this study, different existing and experimental facilities were reviewed to be able to determine the current status of constructed wetlands in India. Based on the collected data from published literature, industrial wastewater contained the highest average chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). In terms of total nitrogen (TN), Total phosphorous (TP), the lowest concentration was found on domestic wastewater. Vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCW) and Horizontal flow constructed wetland (HFCW) were more effective in removing TSS, BOD, TP in domestic and industrial wastewater, whereas hybrid constructed wetlands (HCW) showed the highest removal for COD. The use of constructed wetlands as advanced wastewater treatment facilities in India yielded better water quality. The treatment of wastewater using constructed wetlands also enabled further reuse of wastewater for irrigation and other agricultural purposes. Overall, this study can be beneficial in evaluating and promoting the use of constructed wetlands in India.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.21-27
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• 1979

Canal construction is not the only area in which mechanization has advanced with great strides. All phases of the construction industry, including earthmoving, land clearing and levelling, road construction, and drainage and water control projects, have benefited from today's technological advancements. Lasers, an excellant example of advanced technology, have been refined for use as guidance systems for construction machinery, increasing accuracy and the speed of operation. The use of explosives by contractors is becoming more commonplace. One of the most valuable modern tools available today is the two-way radio. On today's sophisticated projects a single machine being down can frequently stop the progress of the entire project, delaying hundreds of men and machines from completing their assigned work for the day. The use of two-way radios in all the pickups and cars being used on a project facilitates communication so that emergency repairs can be effected immediately, and costly down time on any project can be reduced to a minimum. Not every construction project is suitable to mechanization. However, on the majority of projects mechanization has a great deal to offer the Korean contractor, and all contractors, in savings of time and money. Each and every project being considered by a contractor, should be closely examined for the most effective and efficient machinery application available. The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) has formed a committee on construction techniques being used in canal construction today. Two publications are now available describing the advances made in recent years. Standards for construction have been established for mechanized systems and this information is being distributed worldwide.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.429-439
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• 2013

This study was conducted to identify the relationship between environmental factors and algal bloom, and provide information for efficient management based on the results of monitoring the environmental parameters and algal diversity in the Jundai reservoir from March 2011 to October 2013. Little change in the weather conditions was observed during the study period except for a slight decrease in rainfall. Concentration of TN and TP in the reservoir exceeded water quality standards for agriculture and significant correlation between algal growth and environmental factors was observed. Phytoplankton in Jundai reservoir included 6 classes, 40 genus, 62 species, and the phytoplankton abundance was in the range of $1.3{\times}10^4{\sim}2.8{\times}10^6$ cells $mL^{-1}$. The annual average of phytoplankton abundance and Chl-a gradually decreased as TN and TP concentrations decreased. Overall Anabaena sp., Oscillatoria sp., and Microcystis sp. were the dominant species in Jundai reservoir. As the water temperature increased, the dominant species were Anabaena sp., Microcystis sp. and Oscillatoria sp., in that order. Anabaena sp. was dominant from spring to early summer with increase in water temperature and pollutant concentrations, and high correlation with environmental factors was observed. Microcystis sp. was dominant depending on changes in the nutrient levels. In the case of Oscillatoria sp., there was no significant correlation between phytoplankton biomess and Chl-a. However, efficient management of water environment and practical control of algal bloom in small scale reservoir polluted by livestock and farm irrigation should be achieved by identification of the relationship between algal growth and environmental factors.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.26-46
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• 2020

An irrigated-maize agroecosystem is viewed as an open thermodynamic system upon which solar radiation impresses a large gradient that moves the system away from equilibrium. Following the imperative of the second law of thermodynamics, such agroecosystem resists and reduces the externally applied gradient by using all means of this nature-human coupled system acting together as a nonequilibrium dissipative process. The ultimate purpose of our study is to test this hypothesis by examining the energetics of agroecosystem growth and development. As a first step toward this test, we employed the eddy covariance flux data from 2003 to 2014 at the AmeriFlux NE1 irrigated-maize site at Mead, Nebraska, USA, and analyzed the energetics of this agroecosystem by scrutinizing its radiation, energy and entropy exchange. Our results showed: (1) more energy capture during growing season than non-growing season, and increasing energy capture through growing season until senescence; (2) more energy flow activity within and through the system, providing greater potential for degradation; (3) higher efficiency in terms of carbon uptake and water use through growing season until senescence; and (4) the resulting energy degradation occurred at the expense of increasing net entropy accumulation within the system as well as net entropy transfer out to the surrounding environment. Under the drought conditions in 2012, the increased entropy production within the system was accompanied by the enhanced entropy transfer out of the system, resulting in insignificant net entropy change. Drought mitigation with more frequent irrigation shifted the main route of entropy transfer from sensible to latent heat fluxes, yielding the production and carbon uptake exceeding the 12-year mean values at the cost of less efficient use of water and light.