Efficiency of the modal shift and environmental policy on the Korean railroad

The Kyoto Protocol calls for industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% from 1990 levels by 2008–2012, so developed countries are presenting various policies to reduce greenhouse gas that is produced in transport fields. One of those polices is a modal shift that changes from road freight to sea, inland waterways and railroad transportation that is eco-friendly. The increase of road freight brings road congestion, accidents, logistic costs, air pollution and greenhouse gases. Railroads are superior to the other modes of transportation in mass transportability, high speed, timeliness, safety and environmental-friendliness, but the railway industry has been pushed behind in competition. Korean railroads were used by passengers and for freight transport popularly until the middle of the 20th century. However, because of the sudden change of logistics environments, having time efficiency being most important, railroads lost logistic competitive power against the transportation by truck. This paper intends to examine the modal shift to railroad transportation, which enjoys high interest as environmentally-friendly logistics, i.e., the modal shift strategy. Efficiency analysis is conducted using DEA and exploratory factors are identified for the modal shift of the companies. This paper also proposes an alternative plan for green logistics and environmentally-friendly logistics, by analyzing the characteristics of the railroad cargo transportation system and the conditions of local railroad cargo transportation.     

The impact of the risk environment and energy prices to the budget of Korean households

Energy is closely related to environmental risk. A rising fuel price in the 1970s had hurt consumers and caused disturbance to the natural environment. Households could not afford high imported energy prices and thus resorted to fuel wood. Land competed for fuel wood and agricultural crops, and thus high fuel prices strained the environment with respect to the use of land. If human health and safe housing were included in environmental risk, a high energy price would induce broader environmental risk. Households with limited income would not be able to use expensive fossil energy to warm their houses and would depend on only electric mats or blankets to keep warm. Such insufficient warming methods would not only threaten their health but would also worsen the condition of their houses. The abrupt increase in energy prices in 2007 and 2008 had significantly impacted environmental risk. It forced low income households to spend more on energy, leaving less for other expenditure segments, but had left high income households generally intact. This contrasting effect between different income groups had increased the sustainability of the energy risks at the high prices. This study shows how risks associated with the household economy have increased in response to the recent dramatic increases in energy prices. We develop a method for assessing risk by using the variance of ratios of energy expenditure to current income. We then examine how differently the economic change has increased risk across expenditure segments. We find energy expenditure as the biggest contributor to the risk. In addition, we illustrate how energy expenditure has changed the risk profile for each income group, with the first group (i.e., the lowest income group) experiencing the greatest increase. This group hurts the most during days of high energy prices.     

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a benthic ecosystem in Gwangyang Bay, South Korea

Benthic ecosystem in Gwangyang Bay, a fast developing industrial area with steel production, port container handling, petroleum and other chemical processing in South Korea was studied. The average levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (ΣPCB) in the benthic components were: seawater 2.99 ± 0.13 (ng/L); sediment 294 ± 118 (ng/g TOC); [biota=ng/g lipid] starfish 92; prawn 131 ± 2; mussels 127 ± 22; crab 182 ± 114; clam 187; polychaeta 215; sea cucumber 497 ± 90; squill 603 ± 38; fish 396 ± 159. Levels in the inner bay samples were higher than the outer bay samples suggesting land based pollution. Good correlation (r(2)=0.79; p<0.05) existed between PCB concentration and lipid content indicating partitioning processes in action. PCB signature in the abiotic and biotic components shows enrichment of lower chlorinated congeners emitted by a unique source nearby, viz. steel manufacturing plant.     

Stabilization of arsenic-contaminated mine tailings using natural and calcined oyster shells

Natural oyster shells (NOS) and calcined oyster shells (COS) were used to immobilize arsenic (As) from contaminated mine tailings. In addition, a blend of Portland cement (PC)/cement kiln dust (CKD) was used as a stabilizing agent. The Korean Standard Test (KST) method (1 N HCl extraction) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. The experimental results showed that COS effectively immobilized As in treated mine tailings. Specifically, an As concentration less than 1 mg L⁻¹ was obtained following COS treatment at 25 and 30 wt%. However, all the samples subjected to NOS treatments failed the Korean warning standard of 1.2 mg L⁻¹ after 28 days of curing. All of the COS-PC treatments were successful meeting the Korean warning standard after 7 days of curing. However, the PC-only treatment failed to meet the Korean warning standard. Similarly, the CKD-only treatment was failed to meet the Korean warning standard after 7 days of curing. However, the COS-CKD treatment showed that when the COS content was greater than 20 wt%, less than 1 mg L⁻¹ of As leachability was obtained. Scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX) showed needle-like and torpedo-like Ca–As phases in the COS-treated samples suggesting that As was strongly associated with Ca and O. X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analyses confirmed that As(V) was prevalent in the tailings and that there were no changes in As speciation following NOS or COS treatment.     

Sensitivity analysis for the GIS-based mapping of the ground subsidence hazard near abandoned underground coal mines

Ground subsidence around abandoned underground coal mines can cause much loss of life and property. We analyze factors that can affect ground subsidence around abandoned mines in Jeongahm in Kangwon-do by sensitivity analysis in geographic information system (GIS). Spatial data for the subsidence area, topography and geology and various ground engineering data were collected and used to make a factor raster database for a ground subsidence hazard map. To determine the importance of extracted subsidence-related factors, frequency ratio model and sensitivity analysis were employed. Sensitivity analysis is a method for comparing the combined effects of all factors except one. Sensitivity analysis and its verification showed that using all factors provided 91.61% accuracy. The best accuracy was achieved by not considering the groundwater depth (92.77%) and the worst by not considering the lineament (85.42%). The results show that the distance from the lineament and the distance from the drift highly affected the occurrence of ground subsidence, and the groundwater depth, land use and rock mass rating had the least effects. Thus, we determined causes of ground subsidence in the study area and this information could help in the prediction of ground subsidence in other areas.     

National-scale assessment of landslide susceptibility to rank the vulnerability to failure of rock-cut slopes along expressways in Korea

The objective of this study is to perform a preliminary national-scale assessment of the landslide susceptibility of rock-cut slopes along expressways in Korea. A geographic information system (GIS) database was compiled based on data from topographical and geological maps, and rock-cut slope data, including the locations of past landslides. Seven factors (i.e., slope height, slope length, slope gradient, upper slope gradient, lithology, distance from nearest fault, and dip direction of slope) were extracted from the GIS database to assess the relationship between each factor and landslide events. Weight of evidence (WOE), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and fuzzy logic methods, as well as hybrid methods, were used to establish the rating of classes for each factor, weightings for the factors, and to combine multiple factor layers into landslide-susceptibility maps. A comparison of the results obtained using several different methods, based on the area under curve technique, revealed that the WOE method showed the highest accuracy of 74%. The annual cost of traffic congestion resulting from slope failures was evaluated to identify those rock-cut slopes where detailed investigations and landslide warning systems are required.     

Design of the roll stabilization controller, using fin stabilizers and pod propellers

Ships experience roll motion due to waves in a seaway. Therefore, fin stabilizers are installed to stabilize such roll motion. A fin stabilizer is effective at reducing the roll motion at moderate speeds but not at low speeds. Recently, pod propellers have been used with fin stabilizers for roll stabilization. In the paper, a MIMO (multi-input multi-output) optimal control system that has two control inputs such as fin stabilizers and pod propellers is designed. The LQR (linear quadratic regulator) control algorithm is applied to reduce the roll motion of cruise ships in regular waves. Also, the nominal plant and the frequency-weighted LQR are applied to reduce the roll motion in irregular waves. The roll motion of cruise ships is effectively reduced when the fin and pod propeller are used as the control actuators at low speeds. The optimal control gain is easily found when the frequency-weighted LQR is applied.     

Design and implementation of time efficient trajectories for autonomous underwater vehicles

This paper discusses control strategies adapted for practical implementation and efficient motion of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). For AUVs we would like efficiency in both the measured time and the energy consumption, the mission dictating the weight to put on each of these cost. As a first approach to this problem, we focus in this paper on time minimization. Based on the structure of the time optimal trajectories and of the pure motions, we develop an algorithm to design time efficient trajectories corresponding to piecewise constant thrust arcs with few actuator switchings. We do that by solving a new optimization problem where the unknowns are the time period between two actuator switchings as well as the values of the constant thrust arcs. We apply a direct method to compute the solutions numerically. With our algorithm, we gain considerable computational time. Moreover, with as few as three actuator switchings, the duration of our trajectories is within 10% of the optimal trajectories. Since our control strategies have a simple structure they can be implemented on a test-bed vehicle. For the experiments displayed in this paper we use a spherical underwater vehicle which exhibits with almost no preference of direction or orientation for movement; this gives us a very controllable and versatile vehicle.     

Seasonal variation in the community and size structure of nano- and microzooplankton in Gyeonggi Bay,Yellow Sea

To investigate the seasonal variation and community structure of nano- and microzooplankton in Gyeonggi Bay of the Yellow Sea, the abundance and carbon biomass of nano- and microzooplankton were evaluated at 10-day intervals from January 1997 to December 1999. Four major groups of nano- and microzooplankton communities were classified: heterotrophic ciliates, heterotrophic dinoflagellates (HDF), heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF), and copepod nauplii. The total carbon biomass of nano- and microzooplankton ranged from 10.2 to 168.8 μg C L⁻¹ and was highest during or after phytoplankton blooms. Nano- and microzooplankton communities were composed of heterotrophic ciliates (7.4–81.4%; average 41.7% of total biomass), HDF (0.1–70.3%; average 26.1% of total biomass), copepod nauplii (1.6–70.6%; average 20.7% of total biomass), and HNF (0.8–59.5%; average 11.5% of total biomass). The relative contribution of individual components in the nano- and microzooplankton communities appeared to differ by seasons. Ciliates accounted for the most major component of nano- and microzooplankton communities, except during summer and phytoplankton blooming seasons, whereas HDF were more dominant during the phytoplankton blooming seasons. The abundance and biomass of nano- and microzooplankton generally followed the seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton. The size and community distribution of nano- and microzooplankton was positively correlated with size-fractionated phytoplankton. The carbon requirement of microzooplankton ranged from 60 to 83% of daily primary production, and was relatively high when phytoplankton biomass was high. Therefore, our result suggests that the seasonal variation in the community and size composition of nano- and microzooplankton appears to be primarily governed by phytoplankton size and concentration as a food source, and their abundance may greatly affect trophic dynamics by controlling the seasonal abundance of phytoplankton.