• Advances in environmental research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.127-137
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• 2017

Cotton is the major fiber crop in Pakistan that accounts for 2% of total national gross domestic product (GDP). After picking of cotton, the dry stalks are major organic waste that has no fate except burning to cook food in villages. Present research focuses use of cotton stalks as feedstock for biochar production, its characterization and effects on soil characteristics. Dry cotton stalks collected from agricultural field of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan were combusted under anaerobic conditions at $450^{\circ}C$. The physicochemical analysis of biochar and cotton stalks show higher values of % total carbon, phosphorus and potassium concentrations in biochar as compared to cotton stalks. The concentration of nitrogen was decreased in biochar. Similarly biochar had greater values of fixed carbon that suggest its role for carbon sequestration and as a soil amendment. The fourier transformation infrared spectroscopic spectra (FTIR) of cotton stalks and biochar exposed more acidic groups in biochar as compared to cotton stalks. The newly developed functional groups in biochar have vital role in increasing surface properties, cation exchange capacity, and water holding capacity, and are responsible for heavy metal remediation in contaminated soil. In a further test, results show increase in the water holding capacity and nutrient retention by a sandy soil amended with biochar. It is concluded that cotton stalks can be effectively used to prepare biochar.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.35-42
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• 2014

The efforts to reduce carbon emission have been made in many aspects and in road, the study to develop the construction method which will replace asphalt and cement is also underway. But given the low cost and high performance offered by cement, among many solidification agents, it's difficult to seek the competent alternative. Polymeric material has been used in various ways for its advantages including lightweight and easy process for complex function and generates less carbon emission, and thus it would possibly be efficient if it replaces soil pavement using cement. This study, using three different types of organic polymeric solidification agents with different solidification principle, is intended to identify the difference in strength depending on curing method, natural dry or oven dry. Applicability of organic polymeric solidification agents to walkway and bike lane was investigated and as a result of unconfined strength test, all of them satisfied the minimum strength requirements of bike lane. Furthermore, strength characteristics of soil pavement depending on variation of water content was evaluated to identify the relationship, thereby appropriate curing method using organic polymeric solidification agent is proposed.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2015

The goal of this study was to identify relationships between the composition of sulfate reducing bacterial assemblages and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) patterns in rice paddy and dry farming soils. Samples of organic farming soils, conventional farming soils, and dry field farming soils were collected in August and November. Analyses of the soil chemical composition revealed similar total nitrogen, total carbon and total inorganic phosphorus levels; however, the moisture content and total carbon were higher than in the other soils in both August and November, respectively. Sulfate reducing bacteria utilizing lactic acid were more widely distributed than those that used acetic acid, and the number of sulfate reducing bacteria in organic farming soil was most abundant. Phylogenetic analysis based on 181 clones revealed that most showed low similarity with cultured sulfate reducing bacteria, but more than 90% similarity with an uncultured sulfate reducing bacteria isolated from the environment. T-RFLP analysis revealed that fragments of 91, 357, 395, and 474 bp were most common, and the community structure of sulfate reducing bacteria changed seasonally.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.257-265
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• 2009

The long-term effects of soil management history on microbial communities are still poorly understood. Our objectives were to determine the impact of long-term application of soil amendments on microbial communities in rice paddy fields. The treatments selected were control where crops were grown without any nutrient application (CON); nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK); NPK plus compost (CNPK); NPK plus lime (LNPK); and NPK plus silicate (WNPK). The long-term addition of organic and inorganic amendments significantly changed soil chemical properties. The amount of organic carbon increased in the treatments with fertilizer and amendments over that in the soil without inputs. However, we could not observe the differences of bacterial population among the treatments, but the number of aerobic bacteria increased by the addition of amendments. Isolates from the rice paddy soils before irrigation were Dactylosporangium, Ewingella, Geobacillus, Kocuria, Kurthia, Kytococcus, Lechevalieria, Micrococcus, Micromonospora, Paenibacillus, Pedobacter, Pseudomonas, Pseudoxanthomonas, Rhodococcus, Rothia, Sphingopyxis, Stenotrophomonas, and Variovorax. Dominant genera were Arthrobacter, Kocuria, Kurthia, and Bacillus in the long-term field. Microbial biomass was the highest in the compost treatment (CNPK), and was the lowest in the CON. Dehydrogenase activity in soils treated with rice compost straw was the highest and the activity showed an increasing trend according to treatment as follows: CON < WNPK < NPK = LNPK < CNPK. These results demonstrate that soil management practice, such as optimal application of fertilizer and amendment, that result in accumulations of organic carbon may increase microbial biomass and dehydrogenase activity in long-term rice paddy soils.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.415-425
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• 2005

To examine the geochemical behavior and pollution of soils in Gwangju City, an analysis was carried out for pH, on the contents of metals, and organic carbon. Soil samples were taken from environs areas, industrial areas and downtown areas. The major factor controlling the behavior of metallic elements in the soil was chemical weathering of clay mineral in the environs areas, industrialization, and urbanization. Heavy metals including Cu, Pb and Zn were highly enriched for the samples from central part of downtown area. This indicated that the urbanization and the industrialization affected soil pollution. The results show that soil pollution in a metropolitan city which is caused by harmful heavy metals is severest in the center of the city. In consequence, it is inevitable that practical measures should be taken to prevent soil pollution expansion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.195-198
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• 2001

Bioremediation of hazardous hydrophobic organic compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), is a major environmental concern due to their toxic and carcinogenic properties. Bue to their low solubility in water, the compounds are microbiologically persistent. This work investigates optimal conditions to enhance the biodegradation of phenanthrene in water and soil-slurry systems. Biodegradation tests were performed with three different types of supplements: glucose as a general carbon source, salicylate as an enzyme inducer, and Triton X-100 as a surfactant. The tests indicate that glucose and Triton X-100 were not very effective to increase biodegradation rate, even though the number of microorganisms are highly increased in the case of glucose addition. Salicylate accelerated biodegradation of phenanthrene, but the addition above optimal concentration inhibited microbial growth. Salicylate is considered to be an attractive alternative for the successful bioremediation of PAH-contaminated soil.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2007

The relationships between the cover of herbaceous species and 15 soil chemical properties (organic carbon contents, total N, available P, exchangeable K, Na, Ca and Mg, HCl-extractable Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in nine poorly controlled waste landfill sites in Korea were examined by correlation analysis and multiple regression equations. Species showed different patterns of correlation between their cover values and soil chemical properties. The cover of Ambrosia artemisiifolia var. elatior, Aster subulatus var. sandwicensis and Erechtites hieracifolia were negatively correlated with the contents of Fe, Mn and Ni within landfill soils. Total cover of all species in quadrats was positively correlated with the contents of Cd and negatively correlated with the contents of Mn and Fe from stepwise regression analysis with 15 soil properties. Canonical correspondence analysis demonstrated that the distribution of native and exotic plants on poorly controlled landfills was significantly influenced by the contents of Na and Ca in soils, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.231-234
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• 2002

According to recent investigations regarding Fenton-like reaction, it was reported that there was a key factor to decompose organic materials by not only the hydoroxyl radical but also several reductants which were superoxide anion and hydroperoxide anion. This research was focused on an investigation of the decomposition of carbon tetrachloride(CT) by reductants which were generated by pyrolusite with hydrogen peroxide. Generally, CT decomposition rate increased with raising pH values. Especially,, CT was decomposed over 60 percent by 10,000 ppm of hydrogen peroxide within 10 minutes in neutral condition. In addition, the decomposition of chlorinated compounds would be accelerated in alkaline condition, even with low concentration of hydrogen peroxide.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.893-899
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• 2008

Changes in spectroscopic characteristics and pyrene binding coefficients of terrestrial dissolved organic matters(DOM) were investigated during microbial incubation. The incubation studies were conducted for 21 days using a leaf litter DOM and a soilderived DOM with an inoculum from a river. The dissolved organic carbon(DOC), the specific UV absorbance(SUVA), the synchronous fluorescence spectra, and the pyrene organic carbon-normalized binding coefficient(K$_{oc}$) of the DOM were measured at the incubation days of 0, 3, 7, 14 and 21. After the 21-day incubation, DOC were reduced to 61% and 51% of the original concentrations of the litter DOM and the soil-derived DOM, respectively. Comparison of the spectroscopic characteristics before and after the incubation revealed that the SUVA, the fulvic-like fluorescence(FLF), the humic-like fluorescence(HLF) of the different DOM were enhanced by the incubation whereas the protein-like fluorescence(PLF) was reduced. This indicates that more aromatic and humic-like compounds were enriched during the biodegradation process while biodegradable and weak carbon structures were depleted. Irrespective of the DOM sources, SUVA values showed a positive relationship with pyrene K$_{oc}$ with a correlation coefficient of 0.97. The FLF and HLF also exhibited good correlations with K$_{oc}$ values although different regression equations were obtained from the different DOM. Our results suggest that the selected spectroscopic characteristics could be good estimation indices for the changes of the binding reactivity of DOM for hydrophobic organic contaminants during biodegradation process.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.29-35
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• 2010

Soil organic carbon (SOC), being a help to forest formation and control of carbon dioxide in the air, is found to be an important factor by which global warming is influenced. Excavating the samples by whole area is very inefficient method to discovering the distribution of SOC. So, the development of suitable model for expecting the relative amount of the SOC makes better use of expecting the SOC. In the present study, a model based on a decision tree algorithm is introduced to estimate the amount of SOC along with accessing influencing factors such as altitude, aspect, slope and type of trees. The model was applied to a real site and validated by 10-fold cross validation using two softwares, See 5 and Weka. From the results given by See 5, it can be concluded that the amount of SOC in surface layers is highly related to the type of trees, while it is, in middle depth layers, dominated by both type of trees and altitude. The estimation accuracy was rated as 70.8% in surface layers and 64.7% in middle depth layers. A similar result was, in surface layers, given by Weka, but aspect was, in middle depth layers, found to be a meaningful factor along with types of trees and altitude. The estimation accuracy was rated as 68.87% and 60.65% in surface and middle depth layers. The introduced model is, from the tests, conceived to be useful to estimation of SOC amount and its application to SOC map production for wide areas.