한국과학재단 연구 인력 DB를 활용하여 지구과학을 포함한 국내 이공계 연구자의 연구 실적을 분석하였다. DB에 수록된 지질과학분야 연구자수는 312명(점유율 1.5%)이고, 최근 5년간(1999년부터 2003년까지) 게재실적은 SCI 학술지가 1,026편(점유율 0.2%)이었고, 일반학술지가 3,265편(점유율 0.5%)이었다. 최근 5년간 1인당 SCI 학술지 게재실적은 지질과학 분야가 3.3편, 수학은 4.0편, 물리학은 57.6편, 화학은 60.4편, 생물학은 33.4편으로 조사되었다. 지질과학분야 중 세부 분야별 연구자의 1인당 SCI 논문 게재실적은 환경지질학 9.6편, 층서퇴적학 4.6편, 지구화학 4.2편, 지하 수학 3.6편, 지질해양 3.5편, 자원공학 3.2편 순이었다. 본 조사분석 연구 결과는 지구과학과 타 이공계 분야간의 연구실적의 양과 질적인 측면에서의 상대 비교를 위한 근거로 활용될 수 있다.

It is necessary to understand the amount of snowfall and area of snow cover of Mt. Halla to ensure the safety of mountaineers and to protect the ecosystem of Mt. Halla against climate change. However, there are not enough related studies and observation posts for monitoring snow load. Therefore, to supplement the insufficient data, this study proposes an analysis of snow load and snow cover using normalized-difference snow index. Using the images obtained from the Sentinel2 satellite, the normalized-difference snow index image of Mt. Halla could be acquired. This was examined together with the meteorological data obtained from the existing observatory to analyze the change in snow cover for the years 2020 and 2021. The normalized-difference snow index images showed a smaller snow pixel number in 2021 than that in 2020. This study concluded that 2021 may have been warmer than 2020. In the future, it will be necessary to continuously monitor the amount of snow and the snow-covered area of Mt. Halla using the normalized-difference snow index image analysis method.

Technology used by human beings has developed drastically over the years. Although people enjoy affluent lives as a result of this development, the depletion of resources has brought about a variety of environmental problems such as emission of fine dust, treatment of waste water, and global warming. Although studies on environmental pollution are being conducted continuously, there are a limited number of studies that analyze research trends from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. In order to examine the current research landscape, we employed Scopus to combine research interest in environmental science with bibliographic analysis. Among 74,089 papers published in 57 journals of environmental science, 3,212 papers were published by Korean authors and citations per publications and Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of those papers were 7.3 and 1.0, respectively. By assessing the bibliometric indicators in the field of environmental science, this study provides insight into research trends and related data to aid researchers in developing research strategies.

Curcumin (C21H20O6) is a hydrophobic polyphenol found in turmeric. Although curcumin has been used as a natural medicine, its major limitation is related to poor absorption from the gut. Therefore, we developed a method for preparation of Curcumin Nanospheres (CN) to improve the aqueous-phase solubility of curcumin and investigate the functional role of CN in promoting feed efficiency and odor reduction in mice. CN showed inhibitory effects on actate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity induced by ecotoxic substance toluene in gut epithelial HCT116 cells. In addition, the weights of internal organs (liver, heart, kidneys, and spleen) and the levels of serum Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase (GOT), Glutamate Pyruvate Transaminase (GPT), and LDH did not show significant differences between mice administered oral CN for two weeks and compared to the control group. Interestingly, CN not only reduced hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3) levels and fecal odor, but also improved feed efficiency in mice. These results demonstrate that oral nano-delivery of anti-ecotoxicological CN is a functional system to deliver curcumin to the gut to improve feed efficiency and reduce fecal odor in mice.