The removal of organic carbon and nutrients (i.e. N and P) from wastewater is essential for the protection of the water environment. Especially, nitrogen compounds cause eutrophication in the water environment, resulting in bad water quality. Conventional nitrogen removal systems require high aeration costs and additional organic carbon. Microbial electrochemical system (MES) is a sustainable environmental system that treats wastewater and produces energy or valuable chemicals by using microbial electrochemical reaction. Innovative and cost-effective nitrogen removal is feasible by using MESs and increasing attention has been given to the MES development. In this review, recent trends of MESs for nitrogen removal and their mechanism were conclusively reviewed and future research outlooks were also introduced.

Statistical analysis for the 703 air purifiers certified by Korea Air Cleaning Association from 2003 to 2019 was performed. Sixty-one percent of the products had an area coverage of 15 m2~30 m2 and the median value of the total products was 37.6 m2. The number of certified products by the top five manufacturers was 325, which corresponds to 46.2% of the total products. The median value of the clean air delivery rate (CADR) of the 703 products was 4.8 m3/min but the number of air purifiers over the value increased to 62.5%~66.3% since 2018. The odor removal ratio showed a median of 86.0% which was higher than the certification criteria but had large differences in efficacy in the five test compounds. Removal efficiencies of each compound in terms of the median and ratio to the average value showed acetate > formaldehyde > toluene > ammonia > acetaldehyde in descending order with large variances. The median noise level average value from five positions of air purifiers was 47.7 dB(A). However the medians of the top position and the front, where purified air was vented out, were relatively higher in 49.8 dB(A) and 48.2 dB(A), respectively. Noise level ratio to noise criteria had a median value of 96.4%, which showed that most of the noise levels were distributed near the criteria limit. The probability of the noise level at 100% of the criteria was calculated ton 0.232, which indicated excess noise levels.

Microbial parameters of indoor air containing systematic, random, and accidental error were analyzed statistically by the water quality control guidelines to suggest a guideline of indoor air. Samples were collected from 20 subway stations of Seoul Metropolitan City. Systematic errors resulted from sampling devices were checked and removed by using same devices and flow rate check. Another source of systematic error resulted from different testing personals were assessed and qualified by proficiency test. Increase of replicate sample numbers could minimize random errors and use of geometric mean instead of arithmetic mean gave more statically reliable representative values for microbial parameters. Considerations for the culture media, colony counting results with incubation time, and statement of supplemented statistical data were also suggested.

The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 14(2). This paper explores the characteristics of feminine and masculine language use through an examination of word frequency in modern Korean novels. Through several blind tests of sample paragraphs from sixteen novels by Kong Seon-ok, Kim So-jin, Shin Kyeong-suk, and Yun Dae-nyeong, subjects were required to identify the gender of the author. The most striking result of the blind tests involved the unanimous identification of two paragraphs from the same novel as feminine. Applying the monoconc program to this novel by Shin Kyeong-suk, an analysis was conducted on word frequency. The result showed that there was a high frequency of words that functioned as hedges, mitigators, and positive back-channel cues. Taking these words that apparently led the blind test subjects to deem the author of Shin's novel to be feminine, a word search was conducted for the other fifteen novels. Though certain words in Shin's novels showed a similar rate of frequency, it was discovered that they involved different collocations. Hence, it may be speculated that this brought about a more mixed response from the blind test subjects. Such explorations show that the perception of feminine/masculine language use involves not only individual words but more importantly, their collocation within sentences.

Bioaerosols are airborne particles of biological origins including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and all varieties of living materials. In suitable hosts, bioaerosols are capable of causing acute or chornic diseases that may be infectious, allergenic, or toxigenic. Bioaerosols from outdoor air accumulate on filters of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system in large quantities and are able to multiply there under certain conditions. In this study, silver was coated on activated carbon fiber (ACF) filters by an electroless plating method, and their efficacy for bioaerosols removal was tested. Physical filtration and biological antimicrobial test were performed. SEM and XRD analyses were used to characterize the morphology and components of ACF filters. Electroless silver-plated ACF filters showed antimicrobial efficiency, whereas pure ACF filters did not. It was found that electroless silver plating did not influence the physical filtration efficiency of ACF filters.