Effects of natural and calcined oyster shells on Cd and Pb immobilization in contaminated soils

In Korea, soils adjacent to abandoned mines are commonly contaminated by heavy metals present in mine tailings. Further, the disposal of oyster shell waste by oyster farm industries has been associated with serious environmental problems. In this study, we attempted to remediate cadmium (Cd)- and lead (Pb)-contaminated soils typical of those commonly found adjacent to abandoned mines using oyster shell waste as a soil stabilizer. Natural oyster shell powder (NOSP) and calcined oyster shell powder (COSP) were applied as soil amendments to immobilize Cd and Pb. The primary components of NOSP and COSP are calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and calcium oxide (CaO), respectively. X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscope analyses conducted in this study revealed that the calcination of NOSP at 770°C converted the less reactive CaCO₃ to the more reactive CaO. The calcination process also decreased the sodium content in COSP, indicating that it was advantageous to use COSP as a liming material in agricultural soil. After 30 days of incubation, we found that the 0.1 N HCl-extractable Cd and Pb contents in soil decreased significantly as a result of an increase in the soil pH and the formation of metal hydroxides. COSP was more effective in immobilizing Cd and Pb in the contaminated soil than NOSP. Overall, the results of this study suggest that oyster shell waste can be recycled into an effective soil ameliorant.     

Koreatown and Korean Small Firms in Los Angeles: Locating in the Ethnic Neighborhoods*

The locations of Korean firms in Los Angeles reflect spatial segmentation in markets and the provision of labor, in that the ethnic neighborhoods facilitate positive business environments for ethnic small firms. While Korean small businesses serve both community needs and broader local markets, firm locations are closely associated with the residential patterns of some ethnic populations. To address the specificity of firm locations, this paper examines Koreatown using historical sources and recent property development, identifies changes in the locational patterns of Korean firms between 1975 and 1986, and analyzes relationships between business density and density of ethnic populations for zip code areas. The findings of this study indicate that both the development of Koreatown and the presence of ethnic neighborhoods are important influences on the location of Korean businesses.     

A framework for coupling shoals and shallow embayments with main channels in numerical modeling of coastal plain estuaries

A simple computational framework is developed to include shoals and shallow embayments (SSE) and their interaction with main channels in estuarine modeling. The scheme, treating SSE as temporary storage areas, accounts for the water and material exchanges between SSE and main channels as the tide rises and falls, and for the biogeochemical processes affecting nonconservative substances such as water-quality parameters in SSE. The scheme, because of its simple nature, can be easily incorporated into one-, two- or three-dimensional models of estuaries with substantial SSE. The concept and the model implementation of the scheme are explained using a vertical two-dimensional model of estuarine hydrodynamics and water quality. The model application to the tidal Rappahannock River, a western shore tributary of Chesapeake Bay, demonstrates the scheme is simple and physically reasonable, and the importance of SSE in estuarine modeling. The inclusion of SSE in a water-quality model not only provides a framework, for computing water-quality conditions therein but also accounts for the interaction between SSE and the main channel. It is shown that significant errors may result if the effects of SSE are not properly accounted for in modeling of an estuary with extensive SSE.     

Influence of Environmental Variables on the Distribution of Macrobenthos in the Han River Estuary, Korea

We compared environmental effects on the macrobenthic community of the Han River Estuary in summer, when freshwater input from the Han River increased, and in spring, when freshwater input decreased. Field samples were taken from the upper region of the Shingok reservoir to the southern area of Ganghwado at 18 sampling sites after rainy (August 2006) and dry (March 2007) seasons. Macrobenthic fauna were collected using a Van Veen Grab (0.025 m² and 0.1 m²) and environmental factors were measured simultaneously. Dominant species of macrobenthic fauna and the macrobenthic community were divided into two areas, the area of the Han River with no salinity (< 0.1 psu) and the southern part of Ganghwado with salinity (> 20 psu). The dominant species Byblis japonicus appeared at Junruri in the dry season. The distributions of two polychaetes, Hediste japonica and Nephtys caeca, were divided into the lower and upper areas of the Singok submerged weir. BIO-ENV (the matching of biotic to environmental patterns) analysis revealed that salinity was the most important factor affecting macrobenthic communities in the Han River Estuary, with other factors such as sediment grain size, bottom dissolved oxygen, and total organic carbon of sediment being secondary.     

Composition and distribution of phytoplankton with size fraction results at southwestern east/japan sea

Abundance and distribution of phytoplankton in seawater at southwestern East/Japan Sea near Gampo were investigated by HPLC analysis of photosynthetic pigments during summer of 1999. Detected photosynthetic pigments were chlorophyll a, b, c₁₊₂ (Chl a, Chl b, Chl c₁₊₂), fucoxanthin (Fuco), prasinoxanthin (Pras), zeaxanthin (Zea), 19’-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin (But-fuco) and beta-carotene (β-Car). Major carotenoid was fucoxanthin (bacillariophyte) and minor carotenoids were Pras (prasinophyte), Zea (cyanophyte) and But-fuco (chrysophyte). Chl a concentrations were in the range of 0.16-8.3/land subsurface chlorophyll maxima were observed at 0-10m at inshore and 30–50 m at offshore. Thermocline and nutricline tilted to the offshore direction showed a mild upwelling condition. Results from size-fraction showed that contribution from nano+picoplankton at Chl a maximum layer was increased from 18% at inshore to 69% at offshore on average. The maximum contribution from nano+picoplankton was found as 87% at St. E4. It was noteworthy that contribution from nano+picoplanktonic crysophytes and green algae to total biomass of phytoplankton was significant at offshore. Satellite images of sea surface temperature indicated that an extensive area of the East/Japan Sea showed lower temperature (<18 °C) but the enhanced Chl a patch was confined to a narrow coastal region in summer, 1999. Exceptionally high flux of low saline water from the Korea/Tsushima Strait seemed to make upwelling weak in summer of 1999 in the study area. Results of comparisons among Chl a from SeaWIFs, HPLC and fluorometric analysis showed that presence of Chl b cause underestimation of Chl a about 30% by fluorometric analysis but overestimation by satellite data about 30-75% compared to HPLC data.     

Multi‐scale system reliability analysis of lifeline networks under earthquake hazards

Recent earthquake events evidenced that damage of structural components in a lifeline network may cause prolonged disruption of lifeline services, which eventually results in significant socio‐economic losses in the affected area. Despite recent advances in network reliability analysis, the complexity of the problem and various uncertainties still make it a challenging task to evaluate the post‐hazard performance and connectivity of lifeline networks efficiently and accurately. In order to overcome such challenges and take advantage of merits of multi‐scale analysis, this paper develops a multi‐scale system reliability analysis method by integrating a network decomposition approach with the matrix‐based system reliability (MSR) method. In addition to facilitating system reliability analysis of large‐size networks, the multi‐scale approach enables optimizing the level of computational effort on subsystems; identifying the relative importance of components and subsystems at multiple scales; and providing a collaborative risk management framework. The MSR method is uniformly applied for system reliability analyses at both the lower‐scale (for link failure) and the higher‐scale (for system connectivity) to obtain the probability of general system events, various conditional probabilities, component importance measures, statistical correlation between subsystem failures and parameter sensitivities. The proposed multi‐scale analysis method is demonstrated by its application to a gas distribution network in Shelby County of Tennessee. A parametric study is performed to determine the number of segments during the lower‐scale MSR analysis of each pipeline based on the strength of the spatial correlation of seismic intensity. It is shown that the spatial correlation should be considered at both scales for accurate reliability evaluation. The proposed multi‐scale analysis approach provides an effective framework of risk assessment and decision support for lifeline networks under earthquake hazards. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of tides on the volume of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean

Tides are believed to drive vertical mixing in the Arctic Ocean, thereby helping heat to reach the bottom of the sea ice layer, especially in regions with thick ice covers. However, tides are usually not included in ocean models. We investigated the effect of tides on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean using an ice-coupled ocean model that includes tides simultaneously. We found that with tidal forcing, the volume of sea ice increased by 8.5% in Baffin Bay, whereas it decreased by 17.8% in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The increase in sea ice volume in Baffin Bay results from the convergence of sea ice, driven by tidal residual currents. In contrast, the decrease in ice volume in the Canadian Archipelago is due to the suppression of ice formation in winter, especially in areas with steep topography, where the vertical mixing of temperature is enhanced by tides. Our results imply that tides should be directly included into the oceanic general circulation model (OGCM) to realistically reproduce the distribution of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.     

Comparative analysis of four stem taper models for Quercus glauca in Mount Halla,Jeju Island,South Korea

This study was conducted to fit the diameter-height data of Quercusglaucain Jeju Island, South Korea to the four commonly used stem taper equations andto evaluate the performance of the four stem taper models using four statistical criteria： Fit index （FI）, root mean square error （RMSE）, bias （）,and absolute mean difference （AMD）. Results showed that the Kozak02stem taper equation provided the best FI（0.9847）, RMSE（1.5745）,（-0.0030 cm） and AMD （1.0990 cm） whileMax and Burkhart model had the poorest performance among the four stem taper models based on the four evaluation statistics （FI ： 0.9793,RMSE ： 1.8272, ： 0.3040 cm and AMD ： 1.3060 cm）. These stem taper equations can serve as a useful tool for forest managers in estimating the diameter outside bark at any given height, merchantable stem volumes and total stem volumesof the standing trees of Quercusglaucain theGotjawal forests located in Mount Halla, Jeju Island, South Korea.     

Wave-tide-surge coupled simulation for typhoon Maemi

The main task of this study focuses on studying the effect of wave-current interaction on currents, storm surge and wind wave as well as effects of current induced wave refraction and current on waves by using numerical models which consider the bottom boundary layer and sea surface roughness parameter for shallow and smooth bed area around Korean Peninsula. The coupled system (unstructured-mesh SWAN wave and ADCIRC) run on the same unstructured mesh. This identical and homogeneous mesh allows the physics of wave-circulation interactions to be correctly resolved in both models. The unstructured mesh can be applied to a large domain allowing all energy from deep to shallow waters to be seamlessly followed. There is no nesting or overlapping of structured wave meshes, and no interpolation is required. In response to typhoon Maemi (2003), all model components were validated independently, and shown to provide a faithful representation of the system’s response to this storm. The waves and storm surge were allowed to develop on the continental shelf and interact with the complex nearshore environment. The resulting modeling system can be used extensively for prediction of the typhoon surge. The result show that it is important to incorporate the wave-current interaction effect into coastal area in the wave-tide-surge coupled model. At the same time, it should consider effects of depth-induced wave breaking, wind field, currents and sea surface elevation in prediction of waves. Specially, we found that: (1) wave radiation stress enhanced the current and surge elevation otherwise wave enhanced nonlinear bottom boundary layer decreased that, (2) wind wave was significantly controlled by sea surface roughness thus we cautiously took the experimental expression. The resulting modeling system can be used for hindcasting (prediction) the wave-tide-surge coupled environments at complex coastline, shallow water and fine sediment area like areas around Korean Peninsula.     

Growth,feeding and ecological roles of the mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs

Planktonic mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are ubiquitous protists and often abundant in marine environments. Recently many phototrophic dinoflagellate species have been revealed to be mixotrophic organisms and also it is suggested that most dinoflagellates may be mixotrophic or heterotrophic protists. The mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on diverse prey items including bacteria, picoeukaryotes, nanoflagellates, diatoms, other dinoflagellates, heterotrophic protists, and metazoans due to their diverse feeding mechanisms. In turn they are ingested by many kinds of predators. Thus, the roles of the dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs are very diverse. The present paper reviewed the kind of prey which mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on, feeding mechanisms, growth and ingestion rates of dinoflagellates, grazing impact by dinoflagellate predators on natural prey populations, predators on dinoflagellates, and red tides dominated by dinoflagellates. Based on this information, we suggested a new marine planktonic food web focusing on mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates and provided an insight on the roles of dinoflagellates in the food web.