• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.545-564
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• 2016

Recently as fine and ultra fine particles become major environmental issues in Korea, it is very important to develop effective solutions to air pollution. Accordingly this study aims at detecting causes of air pollution by using models and examining if diesel price increases contribute to reduction of diesel consumption and air pollution. TSP, PM10, $NO_X$, $SO_X$, CO, and VOC are included as major air pollutants. As a result, we found invert U shape curve between pollution and income for all air pollutants except CO. Consumer price index, coal power capacity, diesel consumption, frequency of yellow dust, number of natural gas buses, number of transport business, annual average temperature, number of manufacturing businesses are also influential in explaining causes of air pollution. As diesel price increases by 1%, air pollutants decline between 0.07~0.12% in the short run. Simultaneously, the additional revenue from increases in diesel prices might be transferred to support expansion of biofuel market. Also, stronger policy should be developed to mitigate the current air pollution problem.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.353-368
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• 2013

All Koreans had suffered heavily from municipal and industrial air pollution problems since 1960's to 1980's. However the levels of $SO_2$, CO, and Pb have been dramatically decreased since 1990's due to various air pollutants' reduction policies under the provisions of the 1978 Environmental Preservation Act and the 1990 Air Quality Preservation Act such as increasing the supply of low-sulfur fuel, the use of cleaner fuel, no use of solid fuel, and so on. Even though the national ambient air quality standard has been strengthened to protect public health and welfare, the levels of $NO_2$, $O_3$, and $PM_{10}$ frequently exceed the corresponding standards; for example, only 4 stations (1.7%) out of 239 nationwide monitoring stations satisfied the 24-hr based PM10 standard in 2011. Moreover, upto the present time, since there are serious underlying policies of economism and growth-first which can not be solely solved by the environmental laws, it is difficult to root out undesirable social evils such as public indifference, passive academic activities, complacent government bureaucracy, insufficient social responsibility of enterprise, and radical activities of environmental groups. The paper initially reviewed air pollution history of Korea with surveying various environmental factors affecting in/out-door air pollution in the past Korea. Further this study extensively investigated legal and political changes on air pollution control and management for the last 50 years, and then intensively discussed the present environment-related laws and policies unreasonably enforced in Korea. It is necessary to practically revise many outdated legal policies based on health-oriented thinking and on our current economic levels as well.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2020

Mobile digital devices are very familiar and useful devices in the daily life of modern people, and are used for various tasks such as communication, reading, writing, and playing media. As the use of mobile digital devices has become more prevalent, user time has also been increasing. In particular, the number of people who use digital devices before sleep is growing. The light pollution associated with these devices is classified into four categories: urban sky glow, glare, light trespass, and clutter. The pattern in which modern people use digital devices corresponds to light pollution caused by light trespass and clutter from light exposure to artificial light at night. The light pollution caused by digital devices can cause melatonin secretion suppression, delayed sleep onset, reduction of sleepiness before bedtime, and periodic rhythm and cognitive function disturbances. In addition, a study of children and adolescents showed there may be disturbances in the sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythm, deterioration of sleep quality, and daytime fatigue due to light pollution caused by artificial light at night from mobile digital devices. A multi-faceted research effort is also necessary to investigate the healthy use of mobile digital devices based on research evidence and insights with an accurate evaluation of the influence of mobile digital devices as a form of light pollution.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.343-355
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• 2023

After the implementation of the total pollution load control system, the effect of improving river water quality by expanding investments in basic environmental facilities, inducing operational efficiency, and reducing the load of various pollutants was clear. However, since the implementation of the system, the management of non-point pollutants has been neglected; management focused on specific substances (biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total phosphorus (T-P)) and lacked specific cause analysis and action plans, failed to establish a relationship between water quality and pollution load, failed to reflect stakeholder demands for river water quality management, and failed to apply technical conditions. Therefore, to overcome the limitations raised and achieve a practical and efficient advanced total pollution system, the current system was partially improved and will continue to be improved. This study analyzed the performance and limitations of the total pollution system and introduced recent improvements and the contents that are being improved. The main contents included reducing emissions and reduction monitoring, using water quality tele-monitoring system (TMS) data and self-measurement data, adding population-inducing facilities, and adjusting regional development projects from 20 to 30 multi-family housing units, currentizing each pollutant source according to the roadmap. If the system is improved in a developmental direction and responds to various changes, it will be a more practical and effective policy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.269-278
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• 2016

In order to improve air quality in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), the "Special Act on Seoul Metropolitan Air Quality Improvement" has been enforced since 2005. The strategy has resulted in some reduction of air pollution, but there has not been much research into the quantitative impact analysis of each separate preventive countermeasure. Therefore, we analyzed nitrogen oxide reduction resulting from implementation of the emission control plan for on-road mobile sources. The MM5-SMOKE-CMAQ model system was employed for air quality prediction. Reduced $NO_x$ emissions for SMA was 16,561 ton, 4.7% of reduction rate, in 2007. One countermeasure, tighter acceptable standards for manufacturing vehicles, dominated other countermeasures for effective $NO_x$ emission control. Large spatial differences in reduced emissions, those for Seoul being twice that of Incheon and Gyeonggi, showed greater $NO_x$ emission reduction impact in the heart of the metropolitan complex. The $NO_2$ concentration decreased by 0.60 ppb (2.0%), 0.18 ppb (1.5%), and 0.22 ppb (1.7%) in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi, respectively. Concentration decreases in spring and winter were larger, 1.5~2.0 times, than summer and fall. However, the $NO_2$ reduction impact did not correspond directly to local $NO_x$ emission controls in the city area because of the natural flow and dispersion, both urban and downwind.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.230-238
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• 2003

Objectives : To estimate the value of statistical life (VSL) and health damage cost on theoretical mortality estimates due to environmental pollution. Methods : We assessed the health risk on three environmental problems and eight sub-problems. Willingness to pay (WTP) was elucidated from a questionnaire survey with dichotomous contingent valuation method and VSL (which is the division of WTP by the change of risk reduction) calculated from WTP. Damage costs were estimated by multiplying VSL by the theoretical mortality estimates. Results : VSLs from death caused by air pollution, indoor air pollution and drinking water contamination were about 0.3, 0.5 and 0.3 billion won, respectively. Damage costs of particulate matters ($PM_{10}$) and radon were higher in the sub-problems and were above 100 billion won. Because damage cost depends on theoretical mortality estimate and WTP, its uncertainty is reduced in the estimating process. Conclusion : Health damage cost or risk benefit should be considered as one scientific criterion for decision making in environmental policy.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2012

For effective watershed management, it is very important to select the tributaries through selection and concentration of targeted tributary catchments for improving water quality within the limited financial conditions. This study introduced the selection and diagnosis procedure of tributary catchments for improving water quality at Chungcheongnam-do based on water quality and flowrate monitoring, stream grouping method. The tributaries with high value of water quality and flowrate were selected for improving water quality according to stream grouping method. The diagnosis of selected tributaries for improving water quality was performed with analysis of the pollution load (generated, discharged, delivered) and point source discharged pollution load density. The plans for improving water quality of tributaries were suggested thorough various diagnosis of tributary catchments. For improving water quality of tributaries in Chungcheongnam-do, the tributary catchments in the Dangjin, Asan, Yesan, Cheonan, Hongseong area should be preferentially considered. The water quality improving plans for those tributary catchments, in accordance with the reduction of sources of pollution by population and livestock, should be established.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 1999

Recently, with a rapid industry development, the recognition of environmental pollution is being increased. And the technique of pollution-prevention is also being studied. In the past, management direction for environmental pollution was limited only to concentration reduction and technique for treatment. But ,in these day, its direction is moved to a high level study such as a management and estimation of pollution material. In this study we establish a conception about EIS(Environmental Information System) building and present its building method. And we present a method for a database building, searching, analysis and printing. Also we produced the landuse map processing LANDSAT TM image. Using DDE(Dynamic Data Exchange) between Excel and ArcView on PC platform, we are enable to write and/or update a Report - waste discharge facility approval management leader - and to recover weakness about the report management of exsiting GSIS program.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.47-52
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• 2013

The problems of light pollution first became an issue in the 1970s when astronomers identified the degradation of the night sky due to the increase in lighting associated with development and growth. As more impacts to the environment by lighting have been identified, many attempts have been made for reducing light pollutions. To prevent light pollution and increase energy efficiency, Seoul Metropolitan Government(SMG) replaced metal halide road lighting to LED luminaire in four arterial highway in Seoul. The present study compared the lighting characteristics of metal halide and LED luminaire in terms of Korea Standard for road lighting(KS A 3701) and BUG rating from Illuminating Engineering Society of North America(IESNA). The results showed that LED luminaire increased road surface luminance up to 2 times in average compared to the metal halide environment. Also, LED luminaire reduced the glare value by 2 times and luminous flux over 50% than the metal halide luminaire. In comparison with the BUG ratings, LED luminaire rated 1 degree lower for the backlight ratings and 3-4 degrees lower for the uplight ratings. The measured values testified that the LED luminaire is effective for roadway lighting and light pollution reduction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.232-233
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• 2018

Among the recent environmental pollution, indoor air pollution has an adverse effect on the health of indoor residents. Radon, one of the causes of indoor air pollution, is released from concrete, gypsum board and asbestos slate among building materials. Radon is a primary carcinogen and is a colorless, tasteless, odorless inert gas that adheres to airborne dust and enters the body through breathing. At this time, there is a risk of developing cancer if the alpha rays from the lononggas entering the human body destroys the lung tissue and is continuously exposed to a high concentration of lonon gas. The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized the reduction of radon and its exposure to radon by classifying it as a first-level carcinogen, but many people have not recognized it yet, and the research is underdeveloped. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the properties of adsorbed coconut radon to prevent the inflow of radon gas, which is an air pollution source of indoor air, and to prevent inflow into the human body.