• Title/Summary/Keyword: natural environments

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Development of Copper Corrosion Products and Relation between Surface Appearance and Corrosion Rate

  • Tran, Thi Ngoc Lan;Nguyen, Thi Thanh Binh;Nguyen, Nhi Tru;Yoshino, Tsujino;Yasuki, Maeda
    • Corrosion Science and Technology
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.99-111
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    • 2008
  • Copper was exposed unsheltered and sheltered in four humid tropical sites, representing urban, urban-industrial, urban-marine and rural environments. The corrosion rates and the sequence of corrosion product formation are presented and discussed in relation with climatic and atmospheric pollution parameters. Chemical compositions of corrosion products were found to depend on environments and duration of exposure. In all environments, cuprite was the predominating corrosion product that formed first and continuously increased during the exposure. Among the sulphur-containing corrosion products, posnjakite and brochantite were more frequently found and the first formed earlier. Nantokite was the most common chlorine-containing products for most cases, except the high-chloride environment, where atacamite was detected instead. The corrosion rate of copper was well indicated by the colour of patina. The red-purple colour corresponded to the high corrosion rate and the greenish grey colour corresponded to the low corrosion rate. Corrosion rate of sheltered copper in urban-marine environment increased with the exposure time.

Green Adhesives Using Tannin and Cashew Nut Shell Liquid for Environment-friendly Furniture Materials

  • Lee, Jeong-Hun;Jeon, Ji-Soo;Kim, Su-Min
    • Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.219-229
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    • 2011
  • Sick building syndrome symptoms that are experienced by building occupants may be caused by toxic substances such as formaldehyde and VOCs, which are known to be emitted from building materials and wood composite products such as wood-based panel, furniture, engineered flooring and construction adhesive. In Korea, the use of wood composite products for indoor environments has increased over the last decade. Recently, wood composite products have been installed in approximately 95% of newly constructed residential buildings. The use of these products has resulted in problems related to human health, and consequently a realization about the importance of indoor air quality. In addition, consumer demand is increasing for natural materials because conventional building materials and wood composite products are made by adding urea-formaldehyde resin or they contain formaldehyde-based resin. More recently, many efforts have been made to reduce formaldehyde emission from building materials that laid in the indoor environment. Especially, if conventional formaldehyde-based adhesives are replaced with green adhesives for residential spaces, it is possible to reduce most of the emission amounts of formaldehyde in indoor environments. In line with this expectation, many researches are being conducted using natural materials such as tannin and cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL). This study discussed the affects and possibilities of green adhesives to reduce formaldehyde emission in indoor environments.

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Diversity of Yeasts Associated with Natural Environments in Korea

  • Hong, Soon-Gyu;Lee, Kang-Hyun;Bae, Kyung-Sook
    • Journal of Microbiology
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.55-62
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    • 2002
  • Biodiversity af yeasts in various natural environments including soils, swamps and plants was investigated. By molecular identification methods based on the partial sequences of 265 rDNA, 69 isolates were assigned to 44 taxa including 27 known species. The remaining 17 taxa could potentially form new species. All of them were classified into Ascomycota, Hymenomycetes, Urediniomycetes and Ustilaginomycetes. Ascomycetous and ustilaginomycetous yeasts were generally isolated from flower samples, and hymenomycetous and urediniomycetous yeasts were generally isolated from soil samples. Distribution of yeast groups exhibited geographical variation. Yeast biodiversity of root sail also varied according to the associated plant species.

Development of a Potential Centrality Evaluation Model for Rural Villages ( I ) -Developing Model by MCE Method- (농촌마을의 중심성 평가 모형의 개발 (I) -MCE법에 의한 모형의 개발 -)

  • 김대식;정하우
    • Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.69-80
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    • 2002
  • This study aims to develop a potential centrality evaluation model (PCEM) which can evaluate the potential centrality of villages within the catchment boundaries. PCEM is a tool for evaluation of villages\` centralities by the potential centrality index (PCI) developed in this study. For quantification of PCI, total 31 evaluation criteria on the accessibility to other villages and the natural and human environment of the village were introduced. The weighting values of criteria were calculated from the step wise pair-comparision results of 14 specialists in academic fields on rural planning using by AHP (Analytic Hierachy Process) of MCE (multi-criteria evaluation) method. In the results, the weighting values of the spatial accessibility, the natural environments and the human environments were 448, 338 and 214, respectively, among total value being 1,000.

Phytopythium and Pythium Species (Oomycota) Isolated from Freshwater Environments of Korea

  • Nam, Bora;Choi, Young-Joon
    • Mycobiology
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    • v.47 no.3
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    • pp.261-272
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    • 2019
  • Oomycetes are widely distributed in various environments, including desert and polar regions. Depending upon different habits and hosts, they have evolved with both saprophytic and pathogenic nutritional modes. Freshwater ecosystem is one of the most important habitats for members of oomycetes. Most studies on oomycete diversity, however, have been biased mostly towards terrestrial phytopathogenic species, rather than aquatic species, although their roles as saprophytes and parasites are essential for freshwater ecosystems. In this study, we isolated oomycete strains from soil sediment, algae, and decaying plant debris in freshwater streams of Korea. The strains were identified based on cultural and morphological characteristics, as well as molecular phylogenetic analyses of ITS rDNA, cox1, and cox2 mtDNA sequences. As a result, we discovered eight oomycete species previously unknown in Korea, namely Phytopythium chamaehyphon, Phytopythium litorale, Phytopythium vexans, Pythium diclinum, Pythium heterothallicum, Pythium inflatum, Pythium intermedium, and Pythium oopapillum. Diversity and ecology of freshwater oomycetes in Korea are poorly understood. This study could contribute to understand their distribution and ecological function in freshwater ecosystem.

RISK MANAGEMENT IN CIVIL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS - FROM COST ESTIMATING PERSPECTIVE

  • Ashley Jaensch;Jian Zuo;Nicholas Chileshe
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2011.02a
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    • pp.162-167
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    • 2011
  • Construction projects are full of risks. This is particularly the case in civil construction projects that are often featured with large scale, complexity and involving a large number of participating parties. The eventuation of risks typically results in extended project durations leading to an increase in the total project budget. The consequence can be amplified considering the significant impacts of civil construction projects on the society, from economical, environmental and social perspectives. This research investigates the significance of risks within civil construction projects and approaches to deal with risks. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with local industry practitioners in South Australia on this matter. It is found that the industry is fairly aware of risks associated with civil construction projects and subsequently has procedures in place to attempt to minimize the impacts of these risks on the project outcomes. The interview results also indicate that there is limited utilization of software for the risk management purpose from the cost estimation perspective.

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Research Perspectives for Developing Seawater Intrusion Indicators in Changing Environments with Case Studies of Korean Coastal Aquifers: A Review

  • Chang, Sun Woo;Kim, Il Hwan
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.44 no.4
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    • pp.465-482
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    • 2024
  • The global use of groundwater in coastal areas has increased. Events such as seawater intrusion (SWI) are expected to increase along with the acceleration of natural disasters owing to environmental changes such as climate change, resulting in large-scale damage worldwide. Current trends in the research of coastal groundwater and related natural disasters include testing and verifying technologies using major case studies from individual countries. We identified global research trends in coastal groundwater, related these trends to changing environments and climate, and confirmed the qualitative and quantitative growth of these studies. This study describes the theoretical background and techniques for coastal groundwater analysis and details regional-scale SWI indicators based on analytical and numerical studies. This review highlights recent technologies that consider uncertainty and promotes discussions on field data obtained using new technologies. Finally, the research findings and trends for a regional coastal aquifer in Korea are discussed to describe recent SWI approaches for groundwater resources.

Molecular Ecological Stabilities of Genetically Modified 4CB-Degrading Bacteria and Their Gene DNAs in Water Environments (유전공학적으로 변형시킨 4CB 분해세균 및 그 유전자 DNA에 대한 수계에서의 분자생태학적 안정성)

  • Park, Sang-Ho;Myong-Ja Kwak;Ji-Young Kim;Chi-Kyung Kim
    • The Korean Journal of Ecology
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.109-120
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    • 1995
  • As the genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs) and their recombinant plasmid DNAs could be released into natural environments, their stabilities and impacts to indigenous microorganisls have become very importhant research subjects concerning with environmental and ecological aspects. In this study, the genetically modified E. coli CU103 and its recombinant pCU103 plasmid DNA, in which pcbCD genes involving in degradation of biphenyl and 4-chlorobiphenyl were cloned, were studied for their survival and stability in several different waters established under laboratory conditions. E. coli CU103 and its host E. coli XL1-Blue survived longer in sterile distilled water (SDW) and filtered autoclaved river water (FAW) than in filtered river water (FW). A lot of extracellular DNAs were released from E. coli CU103 by lytic action of phages in FW and the released DNAs were degraded by DNase dissolved in the water. Such effects of the factors in FW on stability of the recombinant pCU103 plasmid were also observed in the results of gel electrophoresis, quantitative analysis with bisbenzimide, and transformation assay. Therefore, the recombinant plasmids of pCU103 were found to be readily liberated from the genetically modified E. coli CU103 into waters by normal metabolic processes and lysis of cells. And the plasmid DNAs were quite stable in waters, but their stabilities could be affected by physicoKDICical and biological factors in non-sterile natural waters.

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