• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2022

Background: The recent COVID-19 pandemic is one of the worst disease outbreaks of the 21th century. Due to a lack of reliable antiviral therapeutics, wearing face masks is recommended to prevent airborne infection originating from virus-contaminated bioaerosols. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the filtration efficiencies of face masks that are commercially available in South Korea for a biological aerosol of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and murine coronavirus, a well-known surrogate for human coronaviruses. Methods: We collected six different kinds of commercial masks: two Korea Filter (KF)94 (KF94-1, KF94-2) masks, one surgical (Surgical-1) mask, one anti-droplet (KF-AD-1) mask, and two dust (Dust-1, Dust-2) face masks. S. aureus (ATCC 6538), a well-performing test bacteria and murine coronavirus (ATCC VR-764) were prepared under a suitable culture condition. Then, a mask biological filtration tester was used to examine the microbial filtration efficiencies of masks. Test microorganisms were quantitatively measured via cultivation methods and microbial filtration efficiencies were calculated appropriately. Results: All face masks showed over 99.6% filtration efficiency for S. aureus or murine coronavirus. There were no significant differences among the bacterial filtration efficiencies of the face masks. KF94-1 (99.97±0.08%) and Dust-1 mask (99.97±0.07%) showed the highest (over 99.9%) filtration efficiency for murine coronavirus. KF94-1 or Dust-1 masks showed a significant virus filtration efficiency compared to Surgical-1 mask (p<0.05; Mann-Whitney U test). Conclusions: All the commercially available face masks used in this study can filter S. aureus or murine coronavirus in bioaerosols efficiently, regardless of the mask type. Therefore, our results suggest that wearing a certified face mask is a reliable means to prevent the transmission of infectious airborne diseases via biological aerosols.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.51-59
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• 2022

In this work, virion concentration and its dose changes by HVAC and air cleaners were estimated in a subway station platform to control airborne infection of SARS-CoV-2. Collection efficiencies with particle size were measured for the air filter equipped in a HVAC in one subway station in Daejeon. Indoor PM_2.5 changes according to outdoor PM_2.5 with time were also measured to estimate air infiltration rate in the subway station platform. When infected persons generate virions by 10⁴, 10⁵, 10⁶, 3 × 10⁶ and 5 × 10⁶ h^-1 in a 2,400 m³ volume platform, the concentration and dose were estimated as 9, 92, 275 and 458 virions/m³ and 4, 43, 130 and 217 virions after 1 hour exposure, respectively. The concentration and dose were reduced by 70%, and 64%, respectively by operations of both HVAC (with a flow rate of 16,000 m³/h, MERV 11) and ten air cleaners(with total CADR 10,740 m³/h) compared to those without operation of both HVAC and air cleaners. However, virion dose in the platform was estimated to be too low at the general conditions due to a large space, a high air infiltration (3 h^-1) and a short residence time (usually < 10 mins) in the platform irrespective of the operations of HVAC or air cleaners. HVAC with filters and air cleaners would be more necessary in the concourse or shopping areas in the subway stations to reduce the infection dose from a few hundred to several tens virions in a hour.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.9.1-9.8
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• 2021

The most important characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission that makes it difficult to control are 1) asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission, 2) low incidence or lack of dominant systemic symptoms such as fever, 3) airborne transmission that may need a high infectious dose, and 4) super-spread events (SSEs). Patients with COVID-19 have high viral loads at symptom onset or even a few days prior to symptom onset, and most patients with COVID-19 have only mild respiratory symptoms or merely pauci-/null-symptoms. These characteristics of the virus enable it to easily spread to the community because most patients are unaware of their potential infectivity, and symptom-based control measures cannot prevent this type of transmission. Furthermore, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is also capable of airborne transmission in conditions such as aerosol-generating procedures, under-ventilated indoor spaces, and over-crowded areas. In this context, universal mask-wearing is important to prevent both outward and inward transmission until an adequate degree of herd immunity is achieved through vaccination. Lastly, the SSEs of SARS-CoV-2 transmission emphasize the importance of reducing contacts by limiting social gatherings. The above-mentioned transmission characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 have culminated in the failure of long-lasting quarantine measures, and indicate that only highly effective vaccines can keep the communities safe from this deadly, multifaceted virus.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2003

Samples of size-fractionated PM10 (airborne particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than $10\mu\textrm{m}$) were collected at an urban site in Jeju city from May to September 2002. The mass concentration and chemical composition of the samples were measured. The data sets were then applied to the CMB receptor model to estimate the source contribution of PM10 in Jeju area. The average PM10 mass concentration was 28.80$\mu\textrm{g}/m^3$ ($24.6~33.49\mu\textrm{g}/m^3$), and the FP (fine particle with aerodynamic diameter less than $2.l\mu\textrm{m}$ fraction in PM10 was approximately 8% higher than the CP (coarse particle with aerodynamic diameter greater than $2.l\mu\textrm{m}$ and less than $10\mu\textrm{m}$ fraction in PM10. The CP composition was obviously different from the FP composition, that is, the most abundant water soluble species was nitrate ion in the FP, but sulfate ion in the CP. Also sulfur was the most dominant element in the FP, however, sodium was that in the CP. From CMB receptor model results, it was found that road dust was the largest contributor to the CP mass concentration (45% of the CP) and ammonium nitrate, domestic boiler, and marine aerosol were major sources to the CP mass. However, the secondary aerosol was the most significant contributor to the FP mass concentration (45% of the FP). In this study, it was suggested that the contributions of soil dust and gasoline vehicle became very low due to collinearity with road dust and diesel vehicle, respectively.

• Atmosphere
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.469-477
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• 2018

We performed the comparison of observed $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ at both the Yonsei University and the AIRKOREA site in the same Seodaemun-gu district, Seoul from March to December 2016. Generally, the moderate correlations between two sites were found for both $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$, but monthly difference was somewhat occurred, implying that the measurement situation is not equally maintained even in a closely located area. Particularly correlations became weaker in June and July, which seems the impact of rainy conditions. Correlations between two stations were higher for $PM_{10}$ compared to $PM_{2.5}$, probably indicating the spatially larger difference of fine mode particle. Monthly mean variation was similar between two sites showing a maximum in March and minimum in August. Diurnal variation was somewhat different: morning peak at Yonsei University but evening peak at the Seodaemun-gu AIRKOREA site, reflecting the difference of local air condition. We also compared the extent of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ according to the local wind speed and direction. In general, the level of particulate matter was high when the wind is blowing from the northwestern area with low wind speed, meaning the high accumulation effect of transported air particles. Findings of this study can be usefully considered for the investigation about the discrepancy of aerosol measurement in a local scale.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.79-86
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• 2022

Many commercial air purifiers currently have deployed granular activated carbon (GAC) filters for removing volatile organic compounds in the indoor air. GACs are generally used to remove gaseous contaminants in the air through adsorption by the inner surfaces of pores. In addition, airborne particles can be also filtered by the surface adsorption of the GACs, which can improve the life-time of the particulate filters. In this study, the filtration efficiency of GACs to ultrafine particles through surface adsorption was investigated at different volume flow rates by deploying a continuous particle filtration system. The polydisperse sodium chloride (NaCl) particles were generated by a set of an atomizer and a diffusion dryer, and then mixed with particle-free air at different volume flow rates. The penetration of ultrafine particles and pressure drop for each experimental condition were measured to figure out the effect of the volume flow rate on the surface adsoprtion of the GACs to particles, ~ 2 mm. The particle filtration efficiency of the GACs decreased as the volume flow rate increased from 4 to 14 lpm. However, the 5 times thicker GAC filter layer decreased the penetration of ultraparticles than a preious study. The filtration efficiency of the single granule was also higher than the previous result in the literature with smaller granule filter materials.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.628-634
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• 2008

In recent years, cross-contamination has become one of the noticeable issues in dental clinic. Two major routes of contamination are the direct-contamination through blood and oral secretion and the indirect-contamination through dental office equipments. Especially, air-contamination through air-floating pollutant in a confined space like hospital, and also contamination through aerosol ejected from high-speed handpiece in a dental office was interested. The purpose of this study was to understand risk of bacterial infection through aerosol from handpiece in a dental office, which will help the practitioner with prevention of contamination during dental treatment. The main findings are as follows. 1. In a comparative test, the group using handpiece has higher bacterial number than the group not using handpiece with significant statistical difference(P<0.01). 2. The group using handpiece with rubber dam has lower bacterial number than the group using handpiecewithout rubber dam with significant statistical difference(P<0.01). 3. Comparing the group using drainage water with the group using distilled water as a handpiece water source results in 22.4 cfu and 17.0 cfu respectively but the difference is no statistically significant(P>0.05). 4. Measuring cfu at 0.5m and 1.5m distance, 0.5m distance showed higher bacterial number with statistical significance(P<0.01). 5. Classification of bacterial types showed the largest bacterial number came from gram-positive micrococcus(73.9%), and gram-negative micrococcus, gram-negative bacillus, and gram-positive bacillus follow in descending order.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.615-622
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• 2015

East Asia is characterized by anthropogenic emissions resulting from the large population and fast economic growth of this region. Since the prevailing wind is westerly and northwesterly, emissions from Ul-jin can be expected to contribute to acidic deposition increase in downwind direction. Aerosols collected at the near coast site, Uljin geun, gyungbook and were analyzed for $NH_4{^+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Na^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, $SO_4{^{2-}}$, and $NO_3{^-}$ from Aug. 2012 to Feb. 2013. The seasonal averaged aerosol concentration showed the highest potassium and calcium ion in winter and the highest ammonium ion due to a meadow and high solar intensity in summer. Sodium and chloride ion showed the same ratio all seasons and sulfate and nitrate species showed the maximum value in winter Chemical components of aerosols collected at the near coast site, Uljin geun, gyungbook were lower by 16 to 73% than those collected at other similar environment site such as kanghwa, yangyang. Comparing air quality data at the near coast site, Uljin geun, gyungbook, There was found that Uljin coast site is less influenced by the sea salts(potassium, magnesium, calcium) and nss-$SO_4{^{2-}}$ percentage is 3~13% higher than similar condition site.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.380-391
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• 2010

Airborne in-situ measurements of aerosol/cloud number concentrations were analyzed to investigate the effects of aerosols on warm cloud formation in the Pacific Dust Experiment (PACDEX) during April and May 2007. In the air masses originating from the Asian continent, high concentrations of fine particles including black carbon (BC) were observed when compared to other regions. A strong correlation (r=0.88) between condensation nuclei (CN) having sizes ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 mm ($CN_{0.1-1.0}$) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) at 0.4% supersaturation ($CCN_{0.4%}$) suggests that most of the $CN_{0.1-1.0}$ can contribute to cloud formation. The possibility of a cloud droplet formation by BC particles was expected at the high water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) and the abundance of water-soluble components at the low altitude less than 3 km.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.251-263
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• 2019

Sentinel-2 Multi Spectral Instrument(MSI) launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) offered high spatial resolution optical products, enhanced temporal revisit of five days, and 13 spectral bands in the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared wavelengths similar to Landsat mission. Landsat satellite imagery has been applied to various previous studies, but Sentinel-2 optical satellite imagery has not been widely used. Currently, for global coverage, Sentinel-2 products are systematically processed and distributed to Level-1C (L1C) products which contain the Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance. Furthermore, ESA plans a systematic global production of Level-2A(L2A) product including the atmospheric corrected Bottom-of-Atmosphere (BOA) reflectance considered the aerosol optical thickness and the water vapor content. Therefore, the Sentinel-2 L2A products are expected to enhance the reliability of image quality for overall coverage in the Sentinel-2 mission with enhanced spatial,spectral, and temporal resolution. The purpose of this work is a quantitative comparison Sentinel-2 L2A products and fully simulated image to evaluate the applicability of the Sentinel-2 dataset in cultivated land growing various kinds of crops in Korea. Reference image of Sentinel-2 L2A data was simulated by airborne hyperspectral data acquired from AISA Fenix sensor. The simulation imagery was compared with the reflectance of L1C TOA and that of L2A BOA data. The result of quantitative comparison shows that, for the atmospherically corrected L2A reflectance, the decrease in RMSE and the increase in correlation coefficient were found at the visible band and vegetation indices to be significant.