• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2014

Pig chronic wasting disease, including porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), have made a continuous economic damage in pig farms. Airborne spread of livestock viruses are an important spread factor which is difficult to analyze due to invisible airflow and limitation of measurement. The objective of this study is to analyze airborne disease spread between buildings in the experimental pig farm by means of field experiment and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The field experiments were conducted to capture airborne virus using air sampler and teflon filter along multi points in the experimental pig farm. The samples were tested in terms of virus detection resulting in positive reaction for PRRS and PCV-2 viruses, which can be a firm evidence of airborne virus spread. The CFD simulation model was developed by considering complex topography, wind conditions, building arrangement, and ventilation systems and was used to analyze airborne virus spread according to different wind conditions. The CFD computed result showed a possibility of airborne virus spread via livestock aerosol from infected pig house to neighboring pig houses according to wind directions. The CFD simulation technique is expected to provide significant data for estimating and making a counterplan against airborne disease spread.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2014

Accurate wind data is essential for predicting airborne spread of virus. OpenFOAM was used for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation procedure which is under GNU GPL (General Public License). Using complex terrain, DEM (Digital Elevation Map) that was prepared from GIS information covering a research site is converted to a three dimensional surface mesh that is composed by quad and full hexahedral space meshes. Around this surface mesh, an extended computational domain volume was designed. Atmospheric flow boundary conditions were used at inlet and roughness height and was considered at terrain by using rough wall function. Two different wind conditions that was relatively stable during certain periods were compared in 3 different locations for validating the accuracy of the CFD computed solution. The result shows about 10 % of difference between the calculated result and measured data. This procedure can simulate a prediction of time-series data for airborne virus spread that can be used to make a web-based forecasting system of airborne virus spread.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.102-113
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• 2009

The SARS virus began to appear and spread in North America and Southeast Asia in the early 2000' s, infecting and harming many people. In the process of examining the causes for the virus, studies on the airborne SARS virus and the way it spread were carried out mainly in the medical field. In the field of architecture, studies were done on the diffusion of air pollutants in buildings using gases such as $CO_2$, $N_2O$, or $SF_6$, but research on virus diffusion was limited. There were also explanations of only the diffusion process without accurate information and discussion on virus characteristics. The aim of this study is to analyze the physical characteristics of airborne virus, consider the possibility of using coupled analysis model and tracer gas for analyzing virus diffusion in building space and, based on reports of how the infection spread in a hospital where SARS patients were discovered, analyze infection risk using tracer gas density and also diffusion patterns according to the location, shape, and volume of supply diffusers and exhaust grilles. This paper can provide standards and logical principles for evaluating various alternatives for making decisions on vertical or horizontal ward placement, air supply and exhaust installation and air volumes in medium or high story medical facilities.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2012

In livestock industry, damage caused by the epidemic diseases such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Highly-Pathogenic-Avian-Influenza (HPAI) and Porcine-Reproductive-and-Respiratory-Syndrome (PRRS) was very serious. The financial loss incurred from FMD alone which occurred on Nov. 2011 in Korea was estimated at 3 billion won, 23 % of annual livestock industry production. The livestock industry in Korea has greater risk of disease infection because of high density production, etc. Investigating the spread of livestock diseases should consider both direct and indirect contact as well as other various factors including airborne. Airborne infection of livestock disease was first hypothesised in the early 1900s, however, field experimental studies are still limited. Furthermore, no protocol is available in detecting airborne viruses in the field. In this study, effective virus samplers were investigated by comparative analysis of the type of samplers used detect to airborne virus. Laboratory experiments were conducted to compare virus samplers such as Bio-sampler, Dust-sampler, Compact-Cascade-Impactor (CCI) and Microflow in detecting PRRSV. Samples were analyzed by Reverse-Transcription PCR to assess the efficiency of the instrument in detecting the airborne virus. First, samples were classified into five levels according to light intensity of gel images and then the classified results were normalized. In every case, Bio-sampler and Dust-sampler were comparable with each other and have shown to be more effective than CCI and Microflow samplers.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 2015

Purpose : When natural disaster occurs, the victims are evacuated to temporary shelters such as indoor gymnasiums or large space buildings until their homes are recovered. If someone in this temporary shelter is infected with an airborne infectious disease, it becomes easier for the disease to spread to the other people in the shelter than it would be under normal conditions. Therefore, temporary shelters need to provide not only water and food but also hygienic indoor conditions. Methods : In this study, the use of mechanical systems such as ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) systems and air cleaners were simulated using numerical analysis to find out how these systems can control airborne infection in temporary shelters. An indoor gymnasium was selected as a temporary shelter for the numerical simulation model considering Korea's post-disaster response system. Influenza A virus was assumed as an airborne infectious disease and the diffusion of the virus was made by one person in the shelter. Results : The result of this study showed that the UVGI systems disinfected the virus more effectively than the air cleaners by creating a more stable airflow after the disinfection process. The air cleaners could remove the virus but since it created an unstable airflow in the temporary shelter, the virus was condensed to a certain area to show a higher virus concentration level than the source location. Implications : In the temporary shelter, it is necessary to use UVGI systems or air cleaners for hygienic indoor conditions.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.87-95
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• 2022

Currently, droplet protective screens (DPSs) are used to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases. As virus particles can maintain their infective in indoor environments, recent studies have investigated the risk of airborne transmission. However, the ability of DPSs to block airborne transmission has not been verified yet. In this study, the preventive ability of DPSs against droplet and airborne transmission was evaluated. Moreover, the effectiveness of a Portable air purifier (PAP) was investigated. According to results, in a simulated room where an infectious person spoke, the DPS blocked more than 90% of the micron-sized droplets (with a diameter larger than 1 ㎛) transmitted to the front of the infectious person. However, sub-micron droplets (with a diameter smaller than 1 ㎛) passed through the DPS and spread in a room. However, the PAP reduced the amount of both micron and sub-micron droplets transmitted to the front of the infectious person. When the PAP airflow direction was set from the DPS surface to the free space near the infectious person, improved prevention against droplet and airborne transmission was recorded. However, airborne transmission was accelerated when the PAP airflow direction was set from the free space to the DPS surface.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2011

HPAI (High pathogenic avian influenza) which is a disease legally designated as an epidemic generally shows rapid spread of disease resulting in high mortality rate as well as severe economic damages. Because Korea is contiguous with China and southeast Asia where HPAI have occurred frequently, there is a high risk for HPAI outbreak. A prompt treatment against epidemics is most important for prevention of disease spread. The spread of HPAI should be considered by both direct and indirect contact as well as various spread factors including airborne spread. There are high risk of rapid propagation of HPAI flowing through the air because of collective farms mostly in Korea. Field experiments for the mechanism of disease spread have limitations such as unstable weather condition and difficulties in maintaining experimental conditions. In this study, therefore, computational fluid dynamics which has been actively used for mass transfer modeling were adapted. Korea has complex terrains and many livestock farms are located in the mountain regions. GIS numerical map was used to estimate spreads of virus attached aerosol by means of designing three dimensional complicated geometry including farm location, road network, related facilities. This can be used as back data in order to take preventive measures against HPAI occurrence and spread.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.73-94
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• 2020

Particulate infectious sources, including infectious viruses, can float in the air, causing airborne infections. To prevent indoor airborne infection, dilution control by ventilation and indoor air cleaners are frequently used. In this study, the risk of airborne infection by the operation of these two techniques was evaluated. In case of dilution control by ventilation, a high efficiency air filter was embedded at the inlet of supply air. In this study, infectious source reduction devices such as indoor air cleaner include all kinds of mechanical-filters, UV-photo catalysts and air ionizers through which air flow is forced by fans. Two mathematical models for influenza virus were applied in an infant care room where infants and young children are active, and the risk reduction efficiency was compared. As a result, in the case of individually operating the ventilator or the infectious source reduction device, the airborne infection risk reduction efficiencies were 55.2~61.2% and 53.8~59.9%, respectively. When both facilities were operated, it was found that the risk of airborne infection was reduced about 72.2~76.8%. Therefore, simultaneous operation of ventilation equipment and infectious source reduction device is the most effective method for safe environment that minimizes the risk of airborne infection of respiratory infectious diseases. In the case of a space where sufficient ventilation operation is difficult, it was found that the operation of an infectious source reduction device is important to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. This study is meaningful in that it provides an academic basis for strategies for preventing airborne infection of respiratory infectious diseases.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.115-123
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• 2017

Recently there is a growing interest in the airborne spread of virus. In particular, there is growing interest in secondary infection through the air in the hospital. The distribution of air-born virus depends on ventilation system installed in a hospital. In this study, simulations were carried out to predict the move of air-born virus by ventilation system at hospital. Simulation results showed that pressure distribution was -372.05Pa ~ -3.45 Pa at 1st floor incase of only used mechanical exhaust at bathroom, shower stall, storage, kitchen etc.. if ventilation switch from used mechanical exhaust to mechanical exhaust & mechanical supply. Simulation results showed that pressure distribution was -336.44Pa at stair hall < -0.2Pa at bathroom < mean 1.19Pa at other room. So simulation results showed that using all of the mechanical supply and mechanical exhaust was more effective then the mechanical exhaust for maintain the pressure distribution in hospital. It was also showed that when using the mechanical supply and mechanical exhaust more effectively prevention of air born virus diffusion.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2023

Respiratory face masks are protective facepieces that are designed to filter inhaled air. They are easy-to-use devices that can protect the wearer against various hazardous particles in the air. Respiratory face masks also prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria-containing droplets that are released from the coughing or sneezing of the infected people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, various types of face masks have circulated on the market. Their ability to filter sub-micron particles, which are the sizes of harmful particulate matter and airborne viruses, needs to be investigated. Their breathability, the easiness of breath through the mask, also needs to be considered. In this study, wwe evaluated the performance of filters used for different types of face masks certified by different standards including Korean (KF94, KF80, KF-AD), USA (N95), and Chinese (KN95) standards. We also tested the filters of nanofiber masks and surgical masks for which there are no standards for filtration test. The N95 mask filters showed the highest quality factor for capturing virus-sized particles. The other types of mask filters have acceptable performance except for nanofiber mask filters whose performance is very low.