PURPOSES : This study investigated the field applicability of pervious concrete to pavement base courses. Pervious concrete was developed at laboratory level, and the compaction methods, field moisture content, and fundamental properties when the material was constructed in the field were studied. METHODS : Field-applied pervious concrete was compacted at different levels using a tandem roller, and cores were taken to investigate the compressive strength, infiltration rate, continued porosity, and freeze-thaw resistance. In addition, the optimum field construction and quality control of the moisture content of a batch plant were measured. RESULTS : The moisture content of pervious concrete has an essential effect on workability and quality control during field test construction. From the test herein, the optimum value at a batch plant was found to be approximately 2.5±0.1%. The compaction level is also a crucial parameter at construction sites because it affects the mechanical and penetration properties. Considering both compressive strength and drainage, the recommended compaction was three times the round trip when a tandem roller was used. The penetration coefficient was 0.88 cm/sec when applying three times the round trip of the tandem roller. The freezing and thawing weight loss rates of the applied pervious concrete satisfied the required condition of 14% or less, regardless the compaction level. CONCLUSIONS : With the suggested mixed proportions of pervious concrete, the recommended compaction was three times the round trip of a tandem roller and a moisture content of approximately 2.5±0.1% from a batch plant. When these conditions were satisfied, the mechanical and drainage properties satisfied the required criteria.

Cyanobacterial resting cells, such as akinetes, are important seed cells for cyanobacteria’s early development and bloom. Due to their importance, various methods have been attempted to isolate resting cells present in the sediment. Ludox is a solution mainly used for cell separation in marine sediments, but finding an accurate method for use in freshwater is difficult. This study compared the two most commonly used Ludox methods (direct sediment treatment and sediment distilled water suspension treatment). Furthermore, we proposed a highly efficient method for isolating cyanobacterial resting cells and eDNA amplification from freshwater sediments. Most of the resting cells found in the sediment were akinete to the Nostocale and were similar to those of Dolichospermum, Cylindrospermum, and Aphanizomenon. Twenty times more akinetes were found in the conical tube column using the sediment that had no treatment than in the sample treated by suspending the sediment in distilled water. Akinete separated through Ludox were mainly spread over the upper and lower layers in the column rather than concentrated at a specific depth in the column layer. The mibC, Geo, and 16S rDNA genes were successfully amplified using the sediment directly in the sample. However, the amplification products of all genes were not found in the sample in which the sediment was suspended in distilled water. Therefore, 5 g to 10 g of sediment is used without pretreatment when isolating cyanobacterial resting cells from freshwater sediment. Cell isolation and gene amplification efficiency are high when four times the volume of Ludox is added. The Ludox treatment method presented in this study isolates cyanobacterial resting cells in freshwater sediment, and the same efficiency may not appear in other biotas. Therefore, to apply Ludox to the separation of other biotas, it is necessary to conduct a pre-experiment to determine the sediment pretreatment method and the water layer where the target organism exists.

Recently, Korean government has introduced Multi Metric Indices (MMI) using various biocommunity information for aquatic ecosystem monitoring and ecosystem health assessment at the national level. MMI is a key tool in national ecosystem health assessment programs. The MMI consists of indices that respond to different target environmental factors, including environmental disturbance (e.g. nutrients, hydrological and hydraulic situation of site etc.). We used zooplankton community information collected from Korean lakes to estimate the availability of candidate zooplankton MMI indices that can be used to assess lake ecosystem health. First, we modified the candidate indices proposed by the U.S. EPA to suit Korean conditions. The modified indices were subjected to individual index suitability analysis, correlation analysis with environmental variables, and redundancy analysis among indices, and 19 indices were finally selected. Taxonomic diversity was suggested to be an important indicator for all three taxonomic groups (cladoceran, copepod, rotifer), on the other hand, the indices using biomass for large cladocerans and copepods, while the indices using abundance were suggested for small cladocerans and rotifers.

E171, a mixture of titanium dioxide, has been widely used as a food additive due to its whitening effect and low toxicity. However, it has been proven that E171 is no longer safe for public health. So far, there are insufficient studies on the toxic effects of E171 on organisms especially using standardized test methods. In this study, toxicity assessments of E171 to two aquatic species, water flea (Daphnia magna) and zebrafish (Danio rerio), were performed using modified standardized test methods based on the physicochemical properties of E171. The hydrodynamic diameter, polydispersity index, and turbiscan stability index (TSI) were measured to ensure the dispersion stability of E171 in exposure media during the test period. The EC50 for immobilization of water flea was 141.7 mg L-1 while zebrafish was not affected until 100 mg L-1 of E171. Measurements of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzyme activities confirmed that E171 induced oxidative stress, leading to the activation of superoxide dismutase and catalase in both water flea and zebrafish, although the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes differed between species. These results suggested the potential risk of E171 to aquatic organisms and provided toxicological insights into the impacts of E171 on the environment.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) can exist in both intracellular and extracellular forms in natural ecosystems. When targeting harmful cyanobacteria, extracellular eDNA indicates the presence of traces of cyanobacteria, while intracellular eDNA indicates the potential for cyanobacteria to occur. However, identifying the “actual” potential for harmful cyanobacteria to occur is difficult using the existing sediment eDNA analysis method, which uses silica beads and cannot distinguish between these two forms of eDNA. This study analyzes the applicability of a density gradient centrifugation method (Ludox method) that can selectively analyze intracellular eDNA in sediment to overcome the limitations of conventional sediment eDNA analysis. PCR was used to amplify the extracted eDNA based on the two different methods, and the relative amount of gene amplification was compared using electrophoresis and Image J application. While the conventional bead beating method uses sediment as it is to extract eDNA, it is unknown whether the mic gene amplified from eDNA exists in the cyanobacterial cell or only outside of the cell. However, since the Ludox method concentrates the intracellular eDNA of the sediment through filtration and density gradient, only the mic gene present in the cyanobacteria cells could be amplified. Furthermore, the bead beating method can analyze up to 1 g of sediment at a time, whereas the Ludox method can analyze 5 g to 30 g at a time. This gram of sediments makes it possible to search for even a small amount of mic gene that cannot be searched by conventional bead beating method. In this study, the Ludox method secured sufficient intracellular gene concentration and clearly distinguished intracellular and extracellular eDNA, enabling more accurate and detailed potential analysis. By using the Ludox method for environmental RNA expression and next-generation sequencing (NGS) of harmful cyanobacteria in the sediment, it will be possible to analyze the potential more realistically.

In 2022, the Korean Ministry of Environment designated Parthenium hysterophorus as an ecosystem-disturbing plant. The purpose of this study was to present a management plan for P. hysterophorus considering its distribution, morphological, physiological, and ecological characteristics, and to introduce various control techniques. P. hysterophorus is native to Central America and occurs in about 45 countries worldwide. However, in Korea, it only grows in some areas of Tongyeong and Changwon, Gyeongsangnam Province. P. hysterophorus is an annual plant and spreads by seeds, moves between countries in the process of importing and/or exporting agricultural seeds, and spreads by agricultural machinery and vehicles after introduction. P. hysterophorus releases parthenin, an allelochemical that suppresses the occurrence of the surrounding vegetation, from its stems and roots. In addition, P. hysterophorus causes damage to humans and livestock through various allergens. P. hysterophorus can be controlled by physical methods, such as cutting its stems or pulling roots, and by treatment with non-selective herbicides, such as glyphosate. Many biological control research studies have been conducted and, unfortunately, there is no a practical solution so far.

This study was designed to evaluate the objective meat qualities of Hanwoo longissimus lumborum muscle after a period of long-term storage (40 days) in which conditions similar to those under which the meat would be stored for export to the Hong Kong beef market were simulated. Twelve LL muscles were sampled from animals slaughtered the previous day at a commercial beef export abattoir and assigned to one of three groups. Each group was subjected to a different packaging condition; Shrink film packed (SFP), vacuum packed (VP), or modified atmosphere packed (MAP)(O2/60%, CO2/40%). Objective meat qualities were assessed at day 1, 7, 21 and 40 of storage. Different Packaging conditions had no noticeable influence on cooking loss significantly. However, the moisture content in both the SFP and MAP groups tended to decline in a linear manner with storage periods throughout the 40 days period. Drip loss of MAP (5.68%) group was much higher in the SFP (3.18%) and VP (2.64%) groups at storage day 40. Redness (CIE a*) of meat color responded in a significant and completely different manner to each packaging method. Redness significantly (p<0.05) and continuously increased 17.51 at day 1 to 20.41 at day 40 in VP group, while MAP linearly dropped and ultimately reached 10.6 after 40 days of aging (p<0.05), at which point the meat had a brown color. Tests of Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) indicated that the tenderness levels of the ready-for-export Hanwoo LL muscles were acceptable 7 days postmortem in the SFP and VP groups, however there was no significant difference between each group. Our gathered data suggests that the packaging method selected for export determines how well the objective qualities of the beef hold up, and indicate that VP is likely the most reliable method.