• Title/Summary/Keyword: environmental actions

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The Opportunities and Challenges of Implementing BEAM Plus in Hong Kong from the Perspectives of Government and Developers

  • Lau, Ka-ho;Fu, Man-man;Yim, Yik-fung;Zayed, Tarek;Sun, Yi
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2020.12a
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    • pp.333-342
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    • 2020
  • Due to the enhancing environmental concerns worldwide with the need of increasing demand for sustainability of building design, maintenance and operation, key stakeholders including the government and developers in many countries strike for the benefits in implementing the green design and building concepts in constructing, infrastructure as well as the buildings. Different countries have their standards or certifications for green buildings while the adoption rate of BEAM-Plus in HK is relatively less compared with other developed countries such as Europe, USA and Japan. Therefore, in the present research, BEAM-Plus, the beginning assessment method of green standard implemented in HK, will be mainly discussed. Current situation of BEAM-Plus implementation in HK will be reviewed and then adopt a systematic approach via literature review and research paper, questionnaire with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to depict the opportunities and challenges from the perspective of government and developers regarding implementing BEAM-Plus in HK and thus investigate the implementation gaps. It is found that for both the macro level of opportunity and challenge, the most important criterion is political, in which the weighting value are 0.3114 and 0.2321 respectively. It is obvious that government plays a critical and significant role in affecting the development of BEAM plus. Technological difficulty is also an important factor that challenging and hindering the implementation of BEAM plus, the weighting value is 0.2194 under challenge hierarchy. More experts and professionals should be imported to Hong Kong to enhance the technique is building green buildings. At the end of this paper, solutions and actions will also be suggested and concluded in alleviating the challenges. Finally, solutions and actions are suggested and concluded in alleviating the challenges. Findings from this research can guide developers to consider adopting green elements, government and Green Building Council in HK to review green buildings' policy.

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Procedures in Establishing Residue Limits of Pesticides on Food Crops in Codex Alimentarius Commission and Foreign Countries (국제기구 및 외국에서 농산물중 농약잔류 허용기준의 설정절차)

  • Lee, Mi-Gyung;Hong, Moo-Gi;Park, Kun-Sang;Choi, Dong-Mi;Lim, Moo-Hyuk;Lee, Su-Rae
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.45-55
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    • 2005
  • This study was undertaken to find out necessary measures to improve the tolerance setting system of pesticide residues on food crops in Korea which is scientifically reasonable and harmonizable with international standards. Information on tolerance setting systems of pesticide residues by Codex Alimentarius Commission, Joint FAO/WHO Meeting of Experts on Pesticide Residues, USA, EU, Japan and Taiwan was collected and analyzed. On the basis of information in the above countries, necessary actions to be taken by the Korean regulatory authorities were recommended with respect to priority setting, maximum residue limits (MRLs) setting based on field residue data, group MRLs, minor crop problems, quantitation limit and dietary intake assessment.

The humidifier disinfectant case and the legislative challenges of the 20th Congress

  • Park, Taehyun
    • Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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    • v.31
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    • pp.15.1-15.6
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    • 2016
  • A number of absurdities surrounding the humidifier disinfectant (HD) incident may have occurred because 1) a judicial system operates on the underlying false assumption that the involved parties are equals in knowledge, information and resource mobilization capabilities, regardless of respective real status as company or individual; 2) there is a lack of a system that mandates a company to prevent and actively manage possible catastrophes; 3) the regulatory scheme makes companies believe that as long as they are complying with the existing regulations, they have satisfied all of their responsibilities. I believe that this issue is an opportunity to bring about changes in the judicial redress system, the system of internal management of manufacturers, and the regulatory system of the government. The following regulation amendments are needed to move towards the changes stated above. First, legislation relating to victim relief that is applicable to the HD incident must be established. Second, a risk management system must be formed within the manufacturing company and to this end an institutional environment for the system must be established within regulatory framework. Furthermore, legislation must be passed that could punish companies themselves that have caused severe damage to individuals because they had failed to take necessary actions to avoid foreseeable harm. Finally, the framework of regulation must be changed so that the company, who has the necessary information regarding the product and the component chemicals used in the product, must self-directed experiment and assessment of the safety of their own products.

ROV Manipulation from Observation and Exploration using Deep Reinforcement Learning

  • Jadhav, Yashashree Rajendra;Moon, Yong Seon
    • Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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    • v.3 no.3
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    • pp.136-148
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    • 2017
  • The paper presents dual arm ROV manipulation using deep reinforcement learning. The purpose of this underwater manipulator is to investigate and excavate natural resources in ocean, finding lost aircraft blackboxes and for performing other extremely dangerous tasks without endangering humans. This research work emphasizes on a self-learning approach using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). DRL technique allows ROV to learn the policy of performing manipulation task directly, from raw image data. Our proposed architecture maps the visual inputs (images) to control actions (output) and get reward after each action, which allows an agent to learn manipulation skill through trial and error method. We have trained our network in simulation. The raw images and rewards are directly provided by our simple Lua simulator. Our simulator achieve accuracy by considering underwater dynamic environmental conditions. Major goal of this research is to provide a smart self-learning way to achieve manipulation in highly dynamic underwater environment. The results showed that a dual robotic arm trained for a 3DOF movement successfully achieved target reaching task in a 2D space by considering real environmental factor.

Food, Nutrition and Cancer (식품, 영양과 암의 관계)

  • Rhew, Tae-Hyong
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.305-313
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    • 1985
  • There is a trend that the total number of cancer cases is steadily increasing as the population grows. It has been estimated that 85% of the cancer rate in the U.S. is attributed to environmental factors. Among the environmental factors, diet and nutrition appear to be related to the largest number of human cancers. Diet and nutrition might be related to cancer by several mechanisms. Food may contain a direct carcinogen or precursors that become carcinogens by spontanous reactions, or by host metabolism, or through the actions of microbial flora. Chemicals that cause cancers generally have reactive electrophilic centers which can combine with electron-rich atoms in nucleic acids and cause cancers by changing the genetic activity of the cells. A variety of factors in foods might be involved in the etiology of carcinogenesis. Chemicals in food that cause cancers include carcinogens of plants and animal origin and also those in drinking water. Other then these, fungal metabolites alcohol, asbestos, heavy metals, pesticides, and food additives might be included as food carcinogenesis. The method of cooking foods also might contribute to carcinogenesis. Some chemicals in foods act as promoters in carcinogenesis. Prevention of cancers by dietary practises have received much interest. Consumption of certain vegetables or cellulose can reduce carcinogenic activity of several compounds. A variety of antioxidants or micronutrients may be effective anticarciongens. Glutathione in the soluble fraction of the cells, is a major defense against oxidative and alkylating carcinogens. Recently anticarcinogenic activity of chlorophyll was demonstrated. Daily consumption of milk appears to effectively reduce stomach cancer.

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Study on qunatified management for tunnel collapses on construction based on the KICT Tunnel Collapse Hazard index(KTH-Index) (터널 붕괴 위험도 지수(KTH-Index)에 기반한 터널 시공 중 붕괴 위험도 정량적 관리 사례 연구)

  • Kim, Young-Yun;Choi, Yu-Mi;Baek, Yong;Shin, Hyu-Soung;Kim, Bum-Joo
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2010.09a
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    • pp.1294-1301
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    • 2010
  • In this study, a case study, where a hazard management for tunnel collapses has been quantitatively undertaken based on the KICT Tunnel Hazard(KTH) index, is presented. From this, it was able to timely inform the field engineers when the more detailed investigation is required for checking if any risky factor is shown on the tunnel face. At the same time, variable additional information such as sensitivities of major influence factors are also provided to field engineers from the methodology given in this study. The additional information would be helpful for better understanding of tunnel hazard level at the current tunnelling stage and following the required actions for more detailed checks of risky factors.

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Influences of Chitosan, Sericin and Collagen Extract Complexes on the Improvement Actions of Lipid Component in Diabetes (키토산과 세리신 및 콜라겐 추출 혼합물이 당뇨의 혈당 및 지질성분 개선효과)

  • Kim, Han-Soo;Jang, Seong-Ho;Yoon, Myung-Joo;Choi, Woo-Seok;Kang, Jin-Soon
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.20 no.8
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    • pp.1031-1039
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    • 2011
  • This study was conducted to examine the influences of chitosan, sericin and collagen extract complexes (1:1:1, w/w/w, CSC-F-005) in blood glucose and lipid concentrations in the sera of streptozotocin (STZ, 55 mg/kg BW, IP injection)-induced diabetic rats (SD strain) fed on experimental diets for 5 weeks. The concentrations of blood glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, ratio of HDL-cholesterol concentration to total cholesterol, atherosclerotic index, LDL-cholesterol, free cholesterol, cholesteryl ester, triglyceride (TG) and phospholipid (PL) in serum were effective on the metabolic regulation in diabetic rats. The activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and aminotransferase (AST, ALT) in serum were lower in the extract complexes (CSC-F-005) than in the diabetic rats. The results shown above suggested that CSC-F-005 extract complexes supplementation effectively improvement of blood glucose and lipid components in the serum of STZ-induced diabetic rats.

Structural monitoring and identification of civil infrastructure in the United States

  • Nagarajaiah, Satish;Erazo, Kalil
    • Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.51-69
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    • 2016
  • Monitoring the performance and estimating the remaining useful life of aging civil infrastructure in the United States has been identified as a major objective in the civil engineering community. Structural health monitoring has emerged as a central tool to fulfill this objective. This paper presents a review of the major structural monitoring programs that have been recently implemented in the United States, focusing on the integrity and performance assessment of large-scale structural systems. Applications where response data from a monitoring program have been used to detect and correct structural deficiencies are highlighted. These applications include (but are not limited to): i) Post-earthquake damage assessment of buildings and bridges; ii) Monitoring of cables vibration in cable-stayed bridges; iii) Evaluation of the effectiveness of technologies for retrofit and seismic protection, such as base isolation systems; and iv) Structural damage assessment of bridges after impact loads resulting from ship collisions. These and many other applications show that a structural health monitoring program is a powerful tool for structural damage and condition assessment, that can be used as part of a comprehensive decision-making process about possible actions that can be undertaken in a large-scale civil infrastructure system after potentially damaging events.

Evaluation of Wetland as Application on Limits of Acceptable Change: LAC.Recreation Opportunity Spectrum: ROS Methods (허용변화한계법(Limits of Acceptable Change: LAC)과 휴양기회분포(Recreation Opportunity Spectrum: ROS)를 적용한 갯벌자원 평가)

  • 김진선
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.57-66
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    • 2003
  • The purpose of this study is to evaluate the resource value of existing mud flats in JANGWHARI, KANGWHADO, as strategies for ecotourism. The research methods used in this study are Limits of Acceptable Change(LAC), and Recreation Opportunity Spectrum(ROS). The LAC process draws attention to the existing area conditions that are judged to be acceptable. Managers must define desired area conditions and undertake actions to maintain or achieve these conditions. The ROS is within each of the recreation opportunity classes identified as being used at the regional level. The Results of this study are as follows: 1) The Opportunity Class of the ROS is ecological, physical, social, managerial setting as primitive, semi-primitive. non-motorized, semi-primitive$.$motorized, and roaded natural. 2) The indicator of the LAC is ecological, physical, social, and managerial setting; the indicator of ecological is wildlife populations, water quality, road paving; the indicator of physical is facilities; the indicator of social is visitor needs for knowledge, adventure, eco-experience, and environmental education programs; and, the indicator of managerial is limits of law, and degree of management. 3) Currently, the Opportunity Class of the ROS of JANGWHARI, KANGWHADO is levels II-III, and the Opportunity Class of the suggested ROS is levels I-II. 4) This paper describes strategies for mud flat area management: detection of water quality, resolving problems of equipment, supply of both environmental education programs and guide equipment.

Seasonal and Spatial Distribution of Trichoderma species in Forest Soils of Mt. Geryongsan (계룡산 산림토양내의 수종 Trichoderma spp.의 분포 특성에 관하여)

  • Rhee, Young-Ha;Hong, Soon-Woo
    • Korean Journal of Microbiology
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.157-165
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    • 1984
  • Seasonal and spatial variations in propagule numbers of Trichoderma species were investigated every other month for one year in deciduous and coniferous forest soils and evaluated the relationships of Trichoderma spp. populations to soil environmental factors. The total population of Trichoderma spp. increased until summer and then declined until winter. The yearly mean frequency of Trichoderma spp. exceeded 1.4% of total fungal propagules in two sites. Decreases of absolute an relative propagule numbers of Trichoderma spp. with increasing soil depth were found and variation in Trichoderma spp. propagules caused by differences in soil depth ($0{\sim}50cm$) was greater than that caused by differences in sampling time. The most common species occurring in two sites was T. viride, followed by T. polysporum, T. koningii, and T. hamatum. Individual species of Trichoderma showed diferent abundance trend in accordance with sampling time. T. viride was dorminant from spring to autumn, while T. polysporum dominated over the other speicies in winter. Variations in propagule number of Trichoderma sppp. were principally mediated by the actions of biotic environmental factors rather than by the direct effects of abiotic factors. In multiple-regression analyses, 48% of the total vaiation in Trichoderma spp. propagules in deciduous site could be accounted for by total fungal propagules and soil CMCase actvity. In coniferous site, 65% of total variation could be accounted for by total fungal and bacterial propagules, moisture content and organic carbon content.

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