Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

The design of indoor airflow environments can significantly reduce the risk of respiratory epidemic infections indoors. Some studies have successfully developed theoretical models for calculating the effect of airflow fields on infection rates. However, up until now, studies have primarily focused on simulating and calculating the distribution of viral infection rates in current building scenarios. Due to the lack of a direct influence model for the design parameters and infection rate calculation, the present studies lack a quantitative analysis of the design parameters. This paper investigates the building openings design approach in a medium-sized kindergarten in Germany, intending to explore passive-based design solutions to improve the building's ability to prevent the virus' spread. We calculate the infection rate distribution in space by CFD combined with the Wells-Riley model. And then, use the Grasshopper platform to build an optimization model with the design parameters of building openings and infection rate values to discuss the relationship between geometric parameters and infection rate variation. The results show that the building openings' design parameters in transition spaces significantly affect the indoor infection rate under the condition that the input wind speed at the building openings is stable. We can see that optimizing building openings significantly reduces the average infection rate in space. The infection rate in the area with the largest decrease can be reduced by 18.41%. The distribution of infection rate in space is much more uniform, and the excess area is significantly reduced. This study has implications for future research and practice in designing public buildings under the influence of long-standing and cyclical outbreaks of epidemics.

In this study, the applicability of the composite model for assessing seawater intrusion and soil salinization in coastal aquifers due to climate change was investigated.In this approach, flow in the saturated zone of a coastal aquifer is simulated using a three-dimensional saturated-unsaturated transport model and flow in the unsaturated zone between the surface and groundwater level is simulated using a one-dimensional model in the vertical direction.Long-term sea-level predictions obtained using the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios were applied for computing the sea-level rise for 91 country-managed reclaimed areas in the Republic of Korea.Composite results were obtained and analyzed for seawater intrusion and soil salinization due to sea-level rise.In the results of groundwater and soil salinity in all 91 reclaimed land, the increasing rate of groundwater and soil salinity in the RCP 4.5 scenario was 13.5% and 10.4%, resp.In the RCP 8.5 scenario, the increasing rate of groundwater and soil salinity was 14.1% and 11.1%, resp.The groundwater level increased to 0.41 m in the RCP 4.5 scenario and 0.51 m in the RCP 8.5 scenario.The results for two representative reclaimed land areas in the Heungwang and Deokchon districts were examined in detail.The composite anal. revealed that widespread damage could be caused by sea-level rise in the reclaimed land and that seawater intrusion in many regions will accelerate groundwater salinization over time.In reclaimed land located in small watersheds, the groundwater recharge area was smaller than in land located in larger watershed areas.Consequently, the seawater in small watersheds penetrated further inland.Ponds with water levels higher than the sea level effectively prevented seawater intrusion into groundwater.The composite model developed in this study seems to be one of the simulation methods that can be applied when simulating saturated and unsaturated zone to a large number of sites.

An algific talus slope is composed of broken rocks with vents connected to an ice cave, releasing cool air in summer and relatively warmer air in winter to maintain a more stable microclimate all year round. Such geological features create a very unusual and delicate ecosystem. Although there are around 25 major algific talus slopes in Korea, lichen ecology of these areas had not been investigated to date. In this study, we report the first exploration of lichen diversity and ecology at an algific talus slope, Jangyeol-ri, in Korea. A total of 37 specimens were collected over 2017-2018. Morphological and sequencing analysis revealed 27 species belonging to 18 genera present in the area. Of particular interest among these species was Solorina saccata, as it has previously not been reported in Korea and most members of genus Solorina are known to inhabit alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere. We provide here a taxonomic key for S. saccata alongside molecular phylogenetic analyses and prediction of potential habitats in South Korea. Furthermore, regions in South Korea potentially suitable for Solorina spp. were predicted based on climatic features of known habitats around the globe. Our results showed that the suitable areas are mostly at high altitudes in mountainous areas where the annual temperature range does not exceed 26.6 °C. Further survey of other environmental conditions determining the suitability of Solorina spp. should lead to a more precise prediction of suitable habitats and trace the origin of Solorina spp. in Korea.