• Title/Summary/Keyword: unique habitat

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Mollusk Species Associated with the Scleractinian Coral Alveopora japonica Eguchi, 1968 Forming a Coral Carpet in Northwestern Jeju Island

  • Ronald G., Noseworthy;Hyun-Ki, Hong;Se-Jong, Ju;Hyun-Sung, Yang;Kwang-Sik, Choi
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.44 no.4
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    • pp.331-338
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    • 2022
  • The high latitude scleractinian coral Alveopora japonica Eguchi, 1965 occurs in high density in the shallow rocky subtidal in Jeju Island, forming coral carpets. Despite its ecological role providing a unique habitat for other benthic organisms, the benthic fauna associated with the A. japonica coral carpet is poorly known. To identify fauna associated with the coral carpet, we explored three sites dominated by A. japonica and one control site on northwestern Jeju Island in May 2013. Using SCUBA, we collected A. japonica and the epibenthic mega-fauna associated with the colonies in 1×1 m2 and identified them to the species level. At a depth of 10 to 15 m, A. japonica colonies heavily covered the seafloor, forming a layer called a coral carpet, with a density of 94 (Keumneung-ri), 133 (Biyangdo), and 155 (Gwidok-ri) colonies/m2. Thirty-four molluscan species were identified from the four sites, including 20 bivalves and 14 gastropods. The coral carpets were enriched with sessile bivalves compared to the control site, as we identified twenty bivalve and eight gastropod species from the coral carpets. Most bivalve species associated with the coral carpets had tropical-subtropical affinities, while gastropods were mainly subtropical and subtropical-low boreal species. Leiosolenus lischkei M. Huber, 2010, in the family Mytilidae and Barbatia steamsi (Pilsbry, 1895), in the family Arcidae, were the two most abundant bivalve species in the coral carpet, L. lischkei being a borer, and B. stearnsi a nestler. The tropical to subtropical Pacific star shell Astralium haematragum (Menke, 1829)was the most abundant gastropod at the study sites. The bivalves and gastropods associated with the coral carpet were small-sized juveniles or sub-adults, suggesting that the coral carpet provides a micro-habitat for the bivalves and gastropods.

A Study on Vascular Plants, Distribution Status and Management Plans of the Cactus Habitat (No. 429 Natural Monument) in Wolryung-ri, Jeju Island (제주 월령리 선인장군락지(천연기념물 제429호)의 관속식물상, 분포실태, 관리방안에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Cheol-Ho;Jang, Gye-Hyun;Ryu, Tae-Bok;Choi, Byoung-Ki
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.36 no.1
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    • pp.55-66
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    • 2018
  • The cactus habitat in Jeju Island has a phytogeographically specific distribution in the East Asian region, and forms a unique landscape as the only native cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) habitat in Korea. However, there has been no detailed investigation on the distribution of cacti in the habitat and no investigation on the diversity of the mixed composition of plants in the habitats and their correlation with the distribution of cactus populations. This study attempted to investigate the diversity of vascular plants in the Wollyeong-ri cactus habitat and record the actual distribution and trends of cactus distribution. In addition to the distribution characteristics of cacti, we also discuss the characteristics of species reflecting the characteristics of the habitat among the mixed population of plant species, as well as the biological and environmental factors that threaten the maintenance of cactus populations or require management for preservation of cacti. Considering the phenological character, we conducted the field surveys for flora identification six times between June 2015 and September 2017. The Engler classification system was used for the arrangement sequence and names of plants, and the Korean Plant Names Index was adopted for the Korean name of the species. The study results showed that the Wolryung-ri cactus habitat in Jeju Island has the characteristic physiognomy of an area dominated by cactus. For the vascular plants, a total of 125 taxa were identified, including 53 families, 104 genera, 109 species, 15 varieties and 1 forma. Endangered plants specified by the Ministry of Environment were not found. Two species, Cyrtomium falcatum and Asplenium incisum, were identified as the ferns, and no gymnosperms were found. In addition, 123 taxa of angiosperms, 91 taxa of dicotyledones and 32 taxa of monocotyledons were identified. The distributions of cacti were confirmed in 289 meshes corresponding to 59.3% of the total 487 meshes in the cactus protected area, which showed various coverage distributions ranging from 5% to 95%. Most of the meshes where no cacti were found are coastal areas with exposed basalt rocks where the soil depth has not developed or extremely restricted due to repeated waves, or areas where artificial facilities, grasslands, and observation paths have been constructed. On the other hand, there were 71 lattice points in 14.5% of the total area where the cactus showed 70% or higher dominance. Cacti are randomly distributed in these areas. They have adapted to the microhabitat environment and are found to be opportunistically distributed along the growable locations. Considering that the reproduction of cacti in the habitat is mostly dependent on parthenogenesis, the present distribution seems to reflect the potentially distributable regions of cacti in the habitat. Based on the results of field surveys, a management plan for conservation and protection of the protected areas has been proposed.

A Review on Fire Safety Engineering: Key Issues for High-Rise Buildings

  • Li, Guo-Qiang;Zhang, Chao;Jiang, Jian
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.7 no.4
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    • pp.265-285
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    • 2018
  • This paper presents a state-of-the-art review on the design, research and education aspects of fire safety engineering (FSE) with a particular concern on high-rise buildings. FSE finds its root after Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, followed by Great London Fire in 1666. The development of modern FSE is continuously driven by industry revolution, insurance community and government regulations. Now FSE has become a unique engineering discipline and is moving towards performance-based design since 1990s. The performance-based fire safety design (PBFSD) involves identification of fire safety goals, design objectives, establishment of performance criteria, and selection of proper solutions for fire safety. The determination of fire scenarios and design fires have now become major contents for PBFSD. To experience a rapid and positive evolution in design and research consistent with other engineering disciplines, it is important for fire safety engineering as a profession to set up a special educational system to deliver the next-generation fire safety engineers. High-rise buildings have their unique fire safety issues such as rapid fire and smoke spread, extended evacuation time, longer fire duration, mixed occupancies, etc., bringing more difficulties in ensuring life safety and protection of property and environment. A list of recommendations is proposed to improve the fire safety of high-rise buildings. In addition, some source information for specific knowledge and information on FSE is provided in Appendix.

Comparison between village characteristics and habitat quality to application OECM in Nakdong-Jeongmaek (낙동정맥 내 OECM 적용 가능 지역 발굴을 위한 마을 특성과 서식지 질 비교)

  • Oh, Ju-Hyeong;Kim, Su-Jin;Kim, Tae-Su;Jang, Gab-Su;Jeon, Seong-Woo
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.26 no.6
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    • pp.51-65
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    • 2023
  • The Jeongmaeks are Korea's unique forest space recognition system that diverged from the Baekdudaegan. The Jeongmaeks are easily exposed to pressure because it is adjacent to the living area. Among them, Nakdong-Jeongmaek has high biodiversity, but damage is accelerating. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2022, the target is to expand the area of terrestrial and marine protected areas to 30% of national territory by 2030. As of September 2023, the area of terrestrial protected areas in South Korea is only 16.97% of the country's territory. This is due in part to the high proportion of private forests in the region, which makes it difficult to establish protected areas. Therefore, there is a need to establish Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measure (OECMs), which pursue complex and effective conservation that considers multiple values, as an alternative to protected areas. This study aims to identify areas suitable for OECM and to provide opinions on the establishment of appropriate management plans for each value using SOM and InVEST Habitat Quality model. This study evaluated the habitat quality of 206 villages located within 1km of the Nakdong-Jeongmaek and compared the characteristics of villages classified by SOM. As a result, the habitat quality was 0.867 for Tourism village (ClusterIV), 0.838 for Conservation village (ClusterVI), 0.835 for Mixed village (ClusterI), 0.796 for Production (ClusterV), 0.731 for Rural village (ClusterIII) and 0.625 for Urban village (ClusterII). When the distribution was identified through statistical analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the distributions were not identical, with a p-value of 1.53e-08. Dunn's test showed a difference between Tourism, Conservation and Rural, Urban village. However, Mixed village was overestimated due to the lack of villages and the small area included in the study area. Moreover, Conservation village was somewhat under-evaluated in the analysis due to the use of a single weight for protected areas. It is necessary to perform additional reinforcement of the value evaluation of Jeongmaeks by conducting Forest Resource Survey and the National Natural Environment Survey. Therefore, we believe that sufficient validity for the establishment of OECMs in the Nakdong-Jeongmaek can be provided by addressing these limitations and conducting additional research.

Deep Foundations for High-Rise Buildings in Hong Kong

  • Sze, James W.C.
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.4 no.4
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    • pp.261-270
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    • 2015
  • Hong Kong is a renowned small city with densely placed skyscrapers. It is no surprise that heavy duty or even mega foundations are built over the years to support these structures. To cope with the fast construction pace, several heavy deep foundation types have been widely adopted with some prescribed design rules. This Paper has selected two commonly adopted but distinctive foundation types, namely large diameter bored piles and percussive steel H-piles to illustrate the special design and construction considerations related to these pile types in related to local context. The supervision requirement in related to foundation works for which again may be unique in Hong Kong will also be highlighted. A case history is also discussed in the later part of the Paper to illustrate the application of one of these foundations and to highlight the importance of considering foundation design and basement excavation method in a holistic manner.

Fire & Life Safety Challenges in Sustainable Tall Building Design

  • Li, Fang;Reiss, Martin
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.31-38
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    • 2013
  • The movement towards sustainable building design can result in unique fire protection challenges and concerns, especially with super tall buildings in relationship to traditional prescriptive code compliance. Different countries haves different code requirements as well as local best practices and may cause conflict with the design features when designing green buildings. These include, but not limited to green roofs, sprinkler water quality and testing, fire department access and areas of refuge with direct or indirect impact by the perspective code compliance. The solutions to these prescriptive code challenges and fire safety concerns can range from simple alternatives to more detailed engineering performance-based design analyses with good solid practice.

Curtain Wall Façades on the New Generation of Supertall Buildings Present and Future Directions

  • Oh, Sae Hwang
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.113-125
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    • 2020
  • Beginning in the late 19th century, construction of skyscrapers spread throughout Chicago, New York City, and then the world as demand of space in buildings and increase of cost of land. With this change curtain wall systems have evolved to be more visually complex; these unique profiles of the skyscraper became powerful images and symbols of our cities. A curtain wall is defined as usually aluminum-framed wall containing in-fills of glass and metal panels. The framing is attached to the building structure and does not carry the floor or roof loads of the building.

The Structural Design of "China Zun" Tower, Beijing

  • Liu, Peng;Cheng, Yu;Zhu, Yan-Song
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.5 no.3
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    • pp.213-220
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    • 2016
  • The "China Zun" tower in Beijing will rise to 528 meters in height and will be the tallest building in Beijing once built. Inspired by an ancient Chinese vessel, the "Zun", the plan dimensions reduce gradually from the bottom of the tower to the waist and then expand again as it rises to form an aesthetically beautiful and unique geometry. To satisfy the structural requirement for seismic and wind resistance, the structure is a dual system composed of a perimeter mega structure made of composite mega columns, mega braces, and belt trusses, and a reinforced-concrete core with steel plate-embedded walls. Advanced parametric design technology is applied to find the most efficient outer-perimeter structure system. The seismic design basically follows a mixed empirical and performance-based methodology that was verified by a shaking table test and other specimen lab tests. The tower is now half-way through its construction.

Predictive Distribution Modelling of Calamus andamanicus Kurz, an Endemic Rattan from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

  • Sreekumar, V.B.;Suganthasakthivel, R.;Sreejith, K.A.;Sanil, M.S.
    • Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.94-98
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    • 2016
  • Calamus andamanicus Kurz is one of the commercially important solitary rattans endemic to Andaman and Nicobar islands. The habitat suitability modeling program, MaxEnt, was used to predict the potential ecological niches of this species, based on bioclimatic variables. The study revealed high potential distribution of C. andamanicus across both Andaman and Nicobar islands. Of the 33 spatially unique points, 21 points were recorded from South and North Andamans and 12 from Great Nicobar Islands. The islands like Little Andaman, North Sentinel, Little Nicobar, Tllangchong, Teressa were also predicted positive even though this rattan is not recorded from these islands. Mean diurnal range, higher precipitation in the wettest month of the year, annual precipitation and precipitation in the driest month are the main predictors of this species distribution.

Three Points of the Residential High-Rise: Designing for Social Connectivity

  • Gang, Jeanne
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.117-125
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    • 2016
  • In this paper we discuss the terms "exo-spatial design," "solar carving," and "bridging" as strategies for creating more socially connective tall buildings. As a typology, high-rise residential buildings have a unique set of challenges to becoming fully activated urban participants in the cities in which they are located. While there is a general recognition and appreciation that tall buildings provide identity to a city, there is often criticism of how they relate to their surroundings. Critics have posited that tall buildings are insular and foreboding by their very nature. This paper explores several design avenues for architects to consider in order to improve the social aspect of tall buildings. As all cities become taller and denser to accommodate growth, the need to design social space in, on, and around tall buildings must be continually examined if we are to have cohesive urban fabric that supports communities.