• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.286-295
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• 2022

In this study, the concentration distribution of indoor radon in Daejeon Metropolitan City was investigated and the reduction efficiency was evaluated by applying the radon reduction methods. Based on the results of the National Institute of Environmental Research, indoor radon measurements were conducted on 24 selected houses, and the average value of District A was 261 Bq/m3, far exceeding the standard, and even in the same house, indoor radon concentration was affected by measurement point and time. In the case of eight houses that applied the soil venting method to reduce radon, the indoorradon level was significantly lowerthan the standard value, and the average reduction efficiency was also around 55%, indicating a good reduction effect. In addition, the average reduction efficiency was around 90% in the two houses that carried out the shielding method, showing the very excellent effect of the indoorradon reduction. Even if the same reduction method is applied when reducing radon, the reduction efficiency may vary depending on various factors such as the structure of the building, the frequency of ventilation, and the season, so it is necessary to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of the reduction method in the future. Based on this, it is necessary to establish indoor radon management measures in Daejeon Metropolitan City to reduce human harm caused by radon exposure.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-35
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• 2007

In the last decades, the decrease in biological or chemical availability of sorbed contaminants as contact time passed, is generally accepted. This phenomenon so called as "aging" or "sequestration" is known to directly affect risk of the contaminats. This was observed for mainly for hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs), but also reported for heavy metals. Aging is known to be directly related to sorption-desorption hysteresis, irreversible sorption, desorption-resistance, nonequilibrium sorption, etc. The decrease in bioavailability due to aging or sequestration indicates realistic decrease in risk potential. Recently a risk-based management concept by scientific evidences but not the simple measurement of contaminant concentration has been attempted to determine environmentally acceptable remedial endpoint. This is because selection of remedial endpoint based on not total concentration but the bioavailability and toxicity of contaminants can reduce both the treatment cost and remedial activities of the contaminated sites. The bioavailability and toxicity of the residual contaminants are highly affected by the fate and transport and also directly affect the exposure pathways and bioaccumulation of contaminants in the living biota. In this paper, scientific feasibility on the risk-based clean-up and management of contaminated sites is reviewed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.59-63
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• 2000

At military bases, environmental restoration activities resulting from oil contamination are growing concerns of preventing adverse effects on human health and environments. Its technologies are still under developing stage through some countries such as United States and Germany. This study is focused on developing model for a decision-maker to assist the restoration priority under the situation of limited resources such as budget and time. The Model, named the Base Restoration Priority Decision model(BRP model), is composed of the three factors : oil contaminants receptors, and the potential migration pathways. Each risk rating of factor is combined in the 27 matrix blocks and set immediate, moderate, and delayed action category designated restoration priority. This is categorized to group sites into three degree using the simplest of assessment system. As a result, the model will be able to apply to the effective allocation of resources for the restoration by any decision-maker because the model is easy to understand. Also, the continuous study will have established risk assessment system for the restoration of contaminated military with this study as the starting point.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2011

Health risk assessments for the abandoned asbestos mine were usually performed with activity-based sampling (ABS) method, which was not a effective tool for indexing health risk on an exact small area of mine. A newly proposed potential index of health risk (PIHR) was applied with proper spatial determination of geographical information system (GIS) to assess quantitatively health risks. A new trial was applied to a certain abandoned mine in Boryong as follows: A high grade area of PIHR was estimated 7.8% of the whole area of the mine (about 27.3 ha). Based on US EPA IRIS (integrated risk information system) model considering lifetime excess cancer risk (LECR), the health risk assessment indicated that the high grade area increased from 3.0 ha through 12.9 ha to 19.5 ha with an increase of asbestos contents in soil from 0.36% (1E-04 level) through 0.1% (3E-05 level) to 0.04% (1E-05 level). These results can be effectively applied to determine reclamation area of the abandoned asbestos mine.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.372-381
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• 2019

In this study, the National Disaster Management System (NDMS) was analyzed to evaluate the disaster impact assessment standards for steep slopes. Problems in the assessment methods and systems were discovered, which could be reasons for poor reliability. The disaster-risk evaluation index needs improvement to evaluate various types of retaining walls, such as concrete/reinforced soil walls and reinforcing stone masonry. Additionally, using the same score for overturning, bulging, and efflorescence could be reasons for poor reliability, and different weighting factors are needed. Assessment methods are needed to subdivide the social influence evaluation index while considering environmental conditions of steep slopes, such as railroads and reservoirs. For the evaluation of steep slopes, standards for start and end points of steep slopes should be created for effective management, and disaster impact assessment needs to be performed after redevelopment from an advanced index for protection and reinforcement. These problems were derived from a current evaluation system, so a disaster impact assessment is necessary to supplement the results of this study.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.105-116
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• 2011

Transgenic zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) expressing the bar gene inserted in the plant genome has been generated previously through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. The GM zoysiagrass (event: JG21) permits efficient management of weed control of widely cultivated zoysiagrass fields, reducing the frequency and cost of using various herbicides for weed control. Now we have carried out the environmental risk assessment of JG21 prior to applying to the governmental regulatory agency for the commercial release of the GM turf grass outside of test plots. The morphological phenotypes, molecular analysis, weediness and gene flow from each test plot of JG21 and wild-type zoysiagrasses have been evaluated by selectively analyzing environmental effects. There were no marked differences in morphological phenotypes between JG21 and wild-type grasses. The JG21 retained its stable integration in the host plant in T1 generation, exhibiting a 3:1 segregation ratio according to the Mendelian genetics. We confirmed the copy number (1) of JG21 by using Southern blot analysis, as the transgenic plants were tolerant to ammonium glufosinate throughout the culture period. From cross-fertilization and gene flow studies, we found a 9% cross-pollination rate at the center of JG21 field and 0% at distances over 3 m from the field. The JG21 and wild-type zoysiagrass plants are not considered "weed" because zoysiagrasses generally are not dominant and do not spread into weedy areas easily. We assessed the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of the transgene DNA to soil microorganisms from JG21 and wild-type plants. The bar gene was not detected from the total genomic DNA extracted from each rhizosphere soil of GM and non-GM Zoysia grass fields. Through the monitoring of JG21 transgene's unintentional release into the environment, we found no evidence for either pollen mediated gene flow of zoysiagrass or seed dispersal from the test field within a 3 km radius of the natural habitat.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2002

Cyanogenic glycosides are secondary plant metabolites that are known as plant defense chemicals. They are found in cassava, bamboo, flax, and other plants. In this paper, the role of cyanogenic glycosides, their characteristics, and their interactions with insects are discussed. Previous and current research in our laboratory found that several natural and synthetic cyanohydrins were effective against stored-product insects as fumigants. Due to their insecticidal activity to insects, cyanohydrins can be used as an alternative fumigant and also as soil fumigants. Risk assessment, however, should be done to account for possible environmental problems, non-target wildlife effects, and human health effects.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 2019

Compound disaster is the type that increases the impact affected by two or more hazard events, and attention to compound disaster and multi-hazards risk is growing due to potential damages which are difficult to predict. The objective of this study is to analyze the possible impacts of post-fire landslide scenario quantitatively by using TRIGRS (Transient Rainfall Infiltration and Grid-Based Regional Slope-Stability Analysis), a physics-based landslide model. In the case of wildfire, soil organic material and density are altered, and saturated hydraulic conductivity decrease because of soil exposed to high temperature. We have included the change of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity into the TRIGRS model through literature review. For a case study, we selected the area of $8km^2$ in Pyeongchang County. The landslide modeling process was calibrated before simulate the post-wildfire impact based on landslide inventory data to reduce uncertainty. As a result, the mean of the total factor of safety values in the case of landslide was 2.641 when rainfall duration is 1 hour with rainfall intensity of 100mm per day, while the mean value for the case of post-wildfire landslide was lower to 2.579, showing potential landslide occurrence areas appear more quickly in the compound disaster scenario. This study can be used to prevent potential losses caused by the compound disaster such as post-wildfire debris flow or landslides.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2003

Metabolism of a new fungicide ethaboxam by soil fungi was studied. Among the fungi tested, Cunninghamelia elegans produced metabolites from ethaboxam, which were not found in the control experiments. M5, a major metabolite from ethaboxam was firmly identified as N-deethylated ethaboxam by LC/MS/MS and NMR. N-Deethylated ethaboxam has been found as a single metabolite in in vitro metabolism with rat liver microsomes. Ml was proved to be 4-ethyl-2-(ethylamino)-1,3-thiazole-5-carboxamide (ETC) by comparing with the authentic compound. In addition, M2, M3, and M4, and M6 were tentatively Identified by LC/MS/MS as hydroxylated and methoxylated ethaboxams, respectively. Production of the major metabolite, N-deethylated ethaboxam, by the fungus suggested that C. elegans would be an efficient eukaryotic microbial candidate for evaluating xenobiotic-driven mammalian risk assessment.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.985-992
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• 2007

There are about 40,000 chemicals used in Korea and 300 new types of chemicals are added to the list every year, influencing quality of air, soil and water. Water quality standards that serve as the basis for water quality management have been proved inefficient and insufficient compared to those of advanced countries. This study aims to improve the existing water quality standards. Most importantly, the water quality standards need to take into account not only protection of human health but also aquatic resources. To that end, water quality criteria need to be set by monitoring each watershed every year and conducting risk assessment. Criteria for human health are set at $10^{-6}$ cancer risk level, and for aquatic life at conservative level, adopting the methodology of the U.S. and Australia, respectively. After carrying out technical and economic feasibility studies, more conservative criteria will be used to decide final water quality standards. The development of this system to establish integrated water quality standards for both human health and aquatic resources protection is urgently needed.