• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.341-347
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• 2007

Chinese milk vetch (CMV) is a winter legume that is commonly used as cover crop in Korea. Kill date of cover crop for addition into soil affects N content in cover crop and N availability in soil. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of CMV as green manure cover crop according to kill dates before growing corn without artificial fertilizer. Top of CMV cut three times on 13 April, 27 April, and 11 May were added into soil at a rate of 600 kg per 10a. Sugar content in CMV litter was persistently decreased from mid-April to late-May. The decrease of sugar content might be due to the transformation into starch and/or other storage or structural constituents. The decreased amount of sugars was greater than 12% and the increased amount of starch was less than 0.2%. Concentration of $NH_4^+$ in soil treated by CMV litter cut on May 11 was slightly higher than that in the treatment with early-cut (April 13) CMV, the concentration at 28 and 49 DAT (days after treatment) was higher in the treatment with late-cut CMV litter. Regardless of cut (kill) date of CMV, the phosphatase activity in the treatment of CMV litter was higher compared to the untreated control. Soil dehydrogenase activity was increased steadily by addition of CMV litter implying total microbial activities in the soil were increased. Our results demonstrate that the status of cover crop species at kill date is an important factor influencing soil enzyme activities derived from microorganisms. Therefore, the optimal kill date of cover crop should be examined to improve the efficiency of cover crop as green manure crop regarding the practical sequence in cropping system.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.140-145
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• 1999

Livestock manure is generally beneficial to soil and crop production when appropriate amount is applied, but excessive application may be detrimental to soil and water environments. A proper protocol of livestock waste treatment is required to manage the quality of soil and water. A trickling filter system using rice straw media was employed to treat piggery wastewater from small-scaled livestock farms as an alternative to the currently available methods. Batches of piggery wastewater were treated with this system, and the byproducts of rice straw media and trickling filtrate were applied to the soil with cultivating rye (Secale cereale L.). Objective of this research was to characterize these byproducts for the sustainable soil amendments and rye production. Both the treated straw medium and filtrate were proven to be effective organic fertilizers for rye plant development, with the enhanced but balanced absorption of nutrients. The synergistic effects of filtrate in addition to straw application did not show, but the filtrate appeared to lead to a higher water content of the plant. No specific nutrient deficiency or toxicity symptom was shown due to the salts derived from the byproducts applied. Chemical parameters of the soil quality were significantly improved with the application of straw medium either with or without the filtrate. Judging from parameters relating to the salt accumulations, such as sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), electrical conductivity (EC), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), potassium adsorption ratio (KAR), and residual P concentrations, the byproducts from piggery wastewater exhibited no detrimental effects on soil quality within the ranges of treatments used. In addition to the effectiveness of the rice straw trickling filter system for the small-scaled swine farms, both rice straw medium and filtrate could be recycled for the sustainable soil amendment and plant nutrition.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.589-599
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• 2024

Dispersion occurs when clay soil disperses under specific conditions and is rapidly washed away. While there are numerous methods for rectifying it, they are neither cost nor time-effective. The current study used metakaolin and zeolite to improve heavily dispersive clay soil either separately or in combination at 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% of the soil weight. After 7 days of curing, the samples were tested to determine the extent of change in the dispersion potential, as well as the improvement of the geotechnical properties of the soil. The results indicated that the addition of 2% zeolite with 6% to 8% metakaolin decreased the dispersion potential considerably. Double hydrometry test findings revealed that the dispersion potential decreased by almost 70% and entered the non-dispersive group; the crumb test also revealed this. Atterberg limits testing indicated a decrease in the plasticity index which reduced the flexibility of the samples. The greatest decrease in PI (67.5%) was achieved with the addition of 8% zeolite plus 8% metakaolin to the soil. The results of density tests revealed that a decrease in the optimal moisture content increased the maximum dry density of soil. This increase in density was a response to the high reactivity of metakaolin with calcium hydroxide and the formation of calcium hydroxide hydrate gel. This eventually caused an increase in the unconfined compressive strength, the greatest increase in strength of about 1.8-fold was observed with a combination of 2% zeolite and 6% metakaolin compared to the unmodified sample.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1530-1543
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• 2024

With an increase in the commercialization of bioplastics, the importance of screening for plastic-degrading strains and microbes has emerged. Conventional methods for screening such strains are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, we suggest a method for quickly and effectively screening plastic-degrading microbial strains through dual esterase assays for soil and isolated strains, using p-nitrophenyl alkanoates as substrates. To select microbe-abundant soil, the total amount of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) included in each soil sample was analyzed, and esterase assays were performed for each soil sample to compare the esterase activity of each soil. In addition, by analyzing the correlation coefficients and sensitivity between the amount of PLFAs and the degree of esterase activity according to the substrate, it was confirmed that substrate pNP-C2 is the most useful index for soil containing several microbes having esterase activity. In addition, esterase assays of the isolated strains allowed us to select the most active strain as the degrading strain, and 16S rRNA results confirmed that it was Bacillus sp. N04 showed the highest degradation activity for polybutylene succinate (PBS) as measured in liquid culture for 7 days, with a degradation yield of 99%. Furthermore, Bacillus sp. N04 showed degradation activity against various bioplastics. We propose the dual application of p-nitrophenyl alkanoates as an efficient method to first select the appropriate soil and then to screen for plastic-degrading strains in it, and conclude that pNP-C2 in particular, is a useful indicator.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.189-196
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• 2003

Soil-cement column is often used as a contaminant barrier. This study presents the results of experimental study performed to investigate the changes of properties of soil-cement column under the attack of acids. Sulfuric nitric, and ascetic acid were used as contaminants. Specimen were made of clayey and sandy soils with addition of cement and water Permeability of soil-cement decreased with time during permeability test. When significant amount of acid percolated the specimen, permeability increased and compressive strength decreased due to the dissolution and leaching of cement and its chemical reaction compounds. Sulfuric and nitric acid were more effective than ascetic acid in deteriorating soil-cement column. Amount of acid required to lower the pH of soil cement below 12 was calculated from the results of permeability tests. This leads to a conclusion that, under the conditions employed in this study, the chemical stability of soil-cement column could be maintained against acid attack for longer than generally accepted lifetime of contaminant barriers.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.65-73
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• 1996

The objective of this study is to investigate the removal efficiency of volitile organic compounds in soil, and the mechanism of desorption by bench scale microwave heating, Silt soil used for experiment and was impregnated with toluene, tetrachloroethylene, o-xylene and p-dichlorobenzene and the microwave treatment was conducted in a modified domestic microwave oven : 2450MHz, 700W. According to the results of the research the removal efficiency was improved with increasing water contents and the soil temperature appeared to plateau period extending to 2-3minutes corresponds to the temperature a which steam distillation was expected. The value of removal rate constant (k) were calculated on dry and moisty silt soil, respectively, which showed linear with increasing microwave heating time. Therefore, addition of a certain amount of water to the contaminated soil can efficiently enhance the ability of the soil to absorb microwave energy and promote the evaporation of the volitile contaminants.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.116-122
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• 1996

This study has been focused on the applicability of microwave treatment of soil contaminated by volitile organic chemicals. Substrates studied were sand and sandy soil. These substrates were impregnated with toluene, tetrachloroethylene, o-xylene and p-dichlorobenzene. The microwave treatment was conducted in a modified domestic microwave oven: 2450 MHz, 700 W. The sandy soil temperature added water went up rapidly to about 130$\circ$C for 4 minutes. And then, the temperature appeared to plateau out. A series of tests were performed to depict the effectiveness of microwave treatment technique to organic contaminants from soils. Removal efficiencies in sandy soil and sand were increased with increasing water content and exposure time. Microwave radiation penetrates the soil and heats water throughout the matrix. Therefore, addition of a certain amount of water to the contaminated soil can efficiently enhance the ability of the soil to absorb microwave energy and promote the evaporation of the volitile contaminants. And the vapour pressure of impregnated organic contaminants becomes lower. the removal efficiency becomes poor.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 2019

The feasibility of using hydrated lime ($Ca(OH)_2$) was assessed in reducing soil loss in sloped land under field condition. During 6-month monitoring from May to October, amendment of hydrated lime (3%, w/w) to a test plot decreased soil loss by 76% as compared to the unamended plot. However, the growth of natural vegetation was hampered by hydrated lime addition due to pH increase. Hydrated lime can be used as an effective agent to prevent soil loss in sloped land, but additional treatments are needed to preserve vegetation growth, especially in crop fields.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.373-386
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• 2022

The development of performance-based design methodologies requires a reasonable definition of a displacement-response spectrum. Although ground motions are known to be significantly affected by the resonant-like amplification behavior caused by multiple wave reflections within the surface soil, such a soil-resonance effect is seldom explicitly considered in current-displacement spectral models. In this study, an analytical approach is developed for the construction of displacement-response spectra by considering the soil-resonance effect. For this purpose, a simple and rational equation is proposed for the response spectral ratio at the site fundamental period (SRTg) to represent the soil-resonance effect based on wave multiple reflection theory. In addition, a bilinear model is adopted to construct the soil displacement-response spectra. The proposed model is verified by comparing its results with those obtained from actual observations and SHAKE analyses. The results show that the proposed model can lead to very good estimations of SRTg for harmonic incident seismic waves and lead to reasonable estimations of SRTg and soil displacement-response spectra for earthquakes with a relatively large magnitude, which are generally considered for seismic design, particularly in high-seismicity regions.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.302-309
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• 2017

Background: Large-scale land-use change is being caused by various socioeconomic problems. Land-use change is necessarily accompanied by changes in the regional carbon balance in terrestrial ecosystems and affects climate change. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the correlation between environmental factors altered by land-use change and the carbon balance. To address this issue, we studied the characteristics of soil carbon flux and soil moisture content related to rainfall events in mountain pastures converted from deciduous forest in Korea. Results: The average soil moisture contents (SMC) during the study period were 23.1% in the soil respiration (SR) plot and 25.2% in the heterotrophic respiration (HR) plot. The average SMC was increased to 2.1 and 1.1% in the SR and HR plots after rainfall events, respectively. In addition, saturated water content was 29.36% in this grassland. The soil water content was saturated under the consistent rainfall of more than $5mm\;h^{-1}$ rather than short-term heavy rainfall event. The average SR was increased to 28.4% after a rainfall event, but the average HR was decreased to 70. 1%. The correlation between soil carbon flux rates and rainfall was lower than other environmental factors. The correlation between SMC and soil carbon flux rates was low. However, HR exhibited a tendency to be decreased when SMC was 24.5%. In addition, the correlation between soil temperature and respiration rate was significant. Conclusions: In a mountain pasture ecosystem, rainfall induced the important change of soil moisture content related to respiration in soil. SR and HR were very sensitive to change of SMC in soil surface layer about 0-10-cm depth. SR was increased by elevation of SMC due to a rainfall event, and the result was assumed from maintaining moderate soil moisture content for respiration in microorganism and plant root. However, HR was decreased in long-time saturated condition of soil moisture content. Root has obviously contributed to high respiration in heavy rainfall, but it was affected to quick depression in respiration under low rainfall. The difference of SMC due to rainfall event was causative of a highly fluctuated soil respiration rate in the same soil temperature condition. Therefore, rainfall factor or SMC are to be considered in predicting the soil carbon flux of grassland ecosystems for future climate change.