The frequent detection and occurrence of micropollutants (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems has raised public health concerns worldwide. In this study, the behavior of 50 MPs was investigated in three different domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Furthermore, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess the geographical and seasonal variation of MPs in the WWTPs. The results showed that the concentrations of 43 MPs ranged from less than 0.1 to 237.6 μg L-1, while other seven MPs including 17-ethynylestradiol, 17-estradiol, sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine, clofibric acid, simvastatin, and lovastatin were not detected in all WWTPs. Among the detected MPs, the pharmaceuticals such as metformin, acetaminophen, naproxen, and caffeine were prominent with maximum concentrations of 133.4, 237.6, 71.5, and 107.7 μg L-1, respectively. Most perfluorinated compounds and nitrosamines were found at trace levels of 1.2 to 55.3 ng L-1, while the concentration of corrosion inhibitors, preservatives (parabens), and endocrine disruptors ranged from less than 0.1 to 4310.8 ng L-1. Regardless of the type of biological treatment process such as MLE, A2O, and MBR, the majority of pharmaceuticals (except lincomycin, diclofenac, iopromide, and carbamazepine), parabens (except Methyl paraben), and endocrine disruptors were removed by more than 80%. However, the removal efficiencies of certain MPs such as atrazine, DEET, perfluorinated compounds (except PFHxA), nitrosamines, and corrosion inhibitors were relatively low or their concentration even increased after treatment. The results of statistical analysis reveal that there is no significant geographical difference in the removal efficacy of MPs, but there are temporal seasonal variations in all WWTPs.

High-resolution meteorological simulations were conducted using a Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with an Urban Canopy Model (UCM) in the Ulsan Metropolitan Region (UMR) where large-scale industrial facilities are located on the coast. We improved the land cover input data for the WRF-UCM by reclassifying the default urban category into four detailed areas (low and high-density residential areas, commercial areas, and industrial areas) using subdivided data (class 3) of the Environmental and Geographical Information System (EGIS). The urban area accounted for about 12% of the total UMR and the largest proportion (47.4%) was in the industrial area. Results from the WRF-UCM simulation in a summer episode with high temperatures showed that the modeled temperatures agreed greatly with the observations. Comparison with a standard WRF simulation (WRF-BASE) indicated that the temporal and spatial variations in surface air temperature in the UMR were properly captured. Specifically, the WRF-UCM reproduced daily maximum and nighttime variations in air temperature very well, indicating that our model can improve the accuracy of temperature simulation for a summer heatwave. However, the WRF-UCM somewhat overestimated wind speed in the UMR largely due to an increased air temperature gradient between land and sea.

Provider-oriented weather information has been rapidly changing to become more customer-oriented and personalized. Given the increasing interest in wellness and health topics, the demand for health weather information, and biometeorology, also increased. However, research on changes in the human body according to weather conditions is still insufficient due to various constraints, and interdisciplinary research is also lacking. As part of an effort to change that, this study surveyed medical practitioners at an actual treatment site, using questionnaires, to investigate what kind of weather information they could utilize. Although there was a limit to the empirical awareness that medical staff had about weather information, most respondents noted that there is a correlation between disease and weather, with cardiovascular diseases (coronary artery disease (98.5%) and hypertension (95.9% ), skin diseases (atopic dermatitis (100%), sunburn (93.8%)) being the most common weather-sensitive ailments. Although there are subject-specific differences, most weather-sensitive diseases tend to be affected by temperature and humidity in general. Respiratory and skin diseases are affected by wind and solar radiation, respectively.

The effect of weather on disease was investigated based on results reported in academic papers. Weather-sensitive disease was selected by analyzing the frequency distributions of diseases and correlations between diseases and meteorological factors (e.g., temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind speed). Correlations between disease and meteorological factors were most frequently reported for myocardial infarction (MI) (28%) followed by chronic ischemic heart disease (CHR) (12%), stroke (STR) (10%), and angina pectoris (ANG) (5%). These four diseases had significant correlations with temperature (meaningful correlation for MI and negative correlations for CHR, STR, and ANG). Selecting MI, as a representative weather-sensitive disease, and summarizing the quantitative correlations with meteorological factors revealed that, daily hospital admissions for MI increased approximately 1.7%-2.2% with each 1℃ decrease in physiologically equivalent temperature. On the days when MI occurred in three or more patients larger daily temperature ranges (2.3℃ increase) were reported compared with the days when MI occurred in fewer than three patients. In addition, variations in pressure (10 mbar, 1016 mbar standard) and relative humidity (10%) contributed to an 11%-12% increase in deaths from MI and an approximately 10% increase in the incidence of MI, respectively.

Soybean has around 20% oil in total seed compound. Fatty acid concentration of soybean oil is about 12% palmitic acid, 4% stearic acid, 23% oleic acid (ω-9), 54% linoleic acid(ω-6) 54% and 8% linolenic acid(ω-3). To improve oxidative stability and quality of oil, the breeding programs mainly focused on reducing saturated fatty acids, increasing oleic acid and reducing linolenic acid in soybean oil. In plant oil, an essential fatty acid omega-3 fatty acid is in the form of α-linolenic acid (ALA) therefore, increasing ALA in soybean oil became one of the breeding goals for human health. In our research group, we have two breeding programs for concentration of ALA in soybean oil. Wild soybeans have almost twice ALA than that in cultivated soybeans. Introgression of alleles from wild soybean to cultivated soybean may lead to the increase of ALA in soybean seed oil for various applications. We developed several backcross populations by elite cultivars x wild soybean to select high ALA with good agronomic traits. In the case of low linolenic acid program, we developed an EMS (ethyl methane sulfonate) mutation population to select low ALA concentration line and found a mutant line with low ALA in seed oil. The scheme for developing high ALA concentration from wild soybean and molecular characterization for low ALA line will be discussed.