• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.365-371
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• 2007

To evaluate the effect of air pollution on respiratory health in children, We conducted a longitudinal study in which children were asked to record their daily levels of Peak Expiratory Flow Rate(PEFR) using potable peak flow meter(mini-Wright) for 4 weeks. The relationship between daily PEFR and ambient air particle levels was analyzed using a mixed linear regression models including gender, age in year, weight, the presence of respiratory symptoms, and relative humidity as an extraneous variable. The daily mean concentrations of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ over the study period were $64.9{\mu}g/m^3$ and $46.1{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The range of daily measured PEFR in this study was $182{\sim}481\;l/min$. Daily mean PEFR was regressed with the 24-hour average $PM_{10}(or\;PM_{2.5})$ levels, weather information such as air temperature and relative humidity, and individual characteristics including sex, weight, and respiratory symptoms. The analysis showed that the increase of air particle concentrations was negatively associated with the variability in PEFR. We estimated that the IQR increment of $PM_{10}$ or $PM_{2.5}$ were associated with 1.5 l/min (95% Confidence intervals -3.1, 0.1) and 0.8 l/min(95% CI -1.8, 0.1) decline in PEFR. Even though this study showed negative findings on the relationship between respiratory function and air particles, it was worth noting that the findings must be interpreted cautiously because exposure measurement based on monitoring of ambient air likely resulted in misclassification of true exposure levels and this was the first Korean study that $PM_{2.5}$ measurement was applied as an index of air quality.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.100-115
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• 2009

Secondhand smoke (SHS) is one of major public health threats. Since secondhand smoke is complex mixture of toxic chemicals, there has been no standardized method to measure SHS quantitatively. The purpose of this manuscript was to review various quantitative methods to measure SHS. There are two different methods: air monitoring and biological monitoring. Air monitoring methods include exhaled carbon monoxide level, ambient fine particulates, nicotine and 3-ethenylpyridine. Measurement of fine particulates has been utilized due to presence of real-time monitor, while fine particulates can have multiple indoor sources other than SHS. Ambient nicotine and 3-EP are more specific to SHS, although there is no real-time monitor for these chemicals. Biological monitoring methods include nicotine in hair, cotinine in urine, NNK in urine and DNA adducts. Nicotine in hair can provide chronic internal dose, while cotinine in urine can provide acute dose. Since biological monitoring can provide total internal dose, identification of specific exposure source may be difficult. NNK in urine can indicate carcinogenicity of the SHS exposure. DNA adducts can provide overall cancer causing exposure, but not specific to SHS. While there are many quantitative methods to measure SHS, selection of appropriate method should be based on purposes of assessment. Application of accurate and appropriate exposure assessment method is important for understanding health effects and establishing appropriate control measures.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.701-716
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• 2022

This study investigated the distribution behaviors of PM2.5 and PM10 at two air quality monitoring sites, Go-eup (GO) and Backseokeup (BS), located in Yangju City, South Korea. The amounts of emissions sources of pollutants were analyzed based on the Clean Air Policy Support System (CAPSS), and the contribution rates of neighboring cities were enumerated in Yangju. Yangju has a geological basin structure, and it is a city with mixed urban and rural characteristics. The emission concentration of particulate matter was affected by geological and seasonal factors for all sites observed in this study. Therefore, these factors should be considered when establishing policies related to particulate matter. Because the official GO and BS station sites in Yangju are both situated in the southern part of the city, the representativeness of both stations was checked using correlation analysis for the measurement of PM2.5 and PM10 by considering two more sites-those of Bongyang-dong (BY) and the Gumjun (GJ) industrial complex. The data included discharge amounts for business types 4 and 5, which were not sufficiently considered in the CAPSS estimates. Because the 4 and 5 types of businesses represent over 92.6% of businesses in this city, they are workplaces in Yangju that have a significant effect on the total air pollutant emission. These types of businesses should be re-inspected as the main discharge sources in industry, and basic data accumulation should be carried out. Moreover, to manage the emission of particulate matter, attainable countermeasures for the main sources of these emissions should be prepared in a prioritized fashion; such countermeasures include prohibition of backyard burning, supervision of charcoal kilns, and management of livestock excretions and fugitive dust in construction sites and on roads. The contribution rates by neighboring cities was enumerated between 6.3% and 10.9% for PM2.5. Cooperation policies are thought to be required with neighboring cites to reduce particulate matter.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.299-310
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• 2007

It will be necessary to make proper management plans to preserve the air quality in good level for the public. In order to make these plans, source information and detail emission inventories of the city and near industrial areas should be given. However, lack of the source measurements data makes us more difficult to complete the source inventory. VOC source Inventory could be utilized for the feasibility study to estimate the contribution of VOC sources presenting to the receptor such as residential area. It may give policy maker an idea how to control the air quality, and improve their social environment in the area. This study shows data that measured VOCs concentrations from the local industrial areas in Jeonju during from May 2005 to January 2006. The samples were collected from the near sources in 7 major factories in the industrial park as well as 5 general sources in near city Jeonju area to elucidate the abundances of speciated VOCs and their spacial and temporal distributions depending on source bases. Industrial sources are as follows; chemical, food, paper, wood, metal, non-metal (glass), and painting (coating) industries. The 5 general sources are sampled from tunnel, gasoline gas station, dry cleaning shop, printing (copy) shop, and road pavement working place in urban area. To understand the near source effect at receptor, samples from the 2 receptor sites (one is at center of the industrial complex and the other site is at distance residential area downwind from the center) were collected and analyzed for the comparison to source concentration. The mass contributions of the speciated VOC to total mass of VOCs measured from the different sources and ambient (2 receptors) were presented and discussed.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2020

The organic carbon in the ambient particulate matter (PM) is divided into primary organic carbon (POC) and secondary organic carbon (SOC) by their formation way. To regulate PM effectively, the estimation of the amount of POC and SOC separately is one of important consideration. Since SOC cannot be measured directly, previous studies have evaluated determination of SOC by the EC tracer method. The EC tracer method is a method of estimating the SOC value from calculating the POC by determining (OC/EC)pri which is the ratio of the measured values of OC and EC from the primary combustion source. In this study, three different ways were applied to OC and EC concentrations in PM_2.5 measured at Seoul for determining (OC/EC)pri: 1) the minimum value of OC/EC ratio during the measurement period; 2) regression analysis of OC vs. EC to select the lower 5-20% OC/EC ratio; 3) determining the OC/EC ratio which has lowest correlation coefficient value (R²) between EC and SOC which is reported as minimum R squared method (MRS). Each (OC/EC)pri ratio of three ways are 0.35, 1.22, and 1.77, respectively from the 1 hourly data. We compared the (OC/EC)pri ratio from 1hourly data with 24 hourly data and revealed that (OC/EC)pri estimated from 24 hourly data had twice larger than 1hourly data due to the low time resolution of sampling. We finally confirmed that the most appropriate value of (OC/EC)pri is that calculated by a regression analysis of 1 hourly data and estimated SOC amounts at PM_2.5 of the Seoul atmosphere.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.642-655
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• 2013

In this study, semi-continuous measurements of $PM_{2.5}$ mass, organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), black carbon (BC), and ionic species concentrations were made for the period of April 03~13, 2012, at a South Area Supersite at Gwangju. Possible sources causing the high concentrations of major chemical species in $PM_{2.5}$ observed during a haze episode were investigated. The measurement results, along with meteorological parameters, gaseous pollutants data, air mass back trajectory analyses and PSCF (potential source contribution function) results, were used to study the haze episode. Substantial enhancements of OC, EC, BC, $K^+$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $NO{_3}{^-}$, $NH{_4}{^+}$, and CO concentrations were closely associated with air masses coming from regions of forest fires in southeastern China, suggesting likely an impact of the forest fires. Also the PSCF maps for EC, OC, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, and $K^+$ demonstrate further that the long-range transport of smoke plumes of forest fires detected over the southeastern China could be a possible source of haze phenomena observed at the site. Another possible source leading to haze formation was likely from photochemistry of precursor gases such as volatile organic compounds, $SO_2$, and $NO_2$, resulting in accumulation of secondary organic aerosol, $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO{_3}{^-}$. Throughout the episode, local wind directions were between 200 and $230^{\circ}C$, where two industrial areas are situated, with moderate wind speeds of 3~5 m/s, resulting in highly elevated concentration of $SO_2$ with a maximum of 15 ppb. The $SO{_4}^{2-}$ peak occurring in the afternoon hours coincided with maximum ambient temperature ($24^{\circ}C$) and ozone concentration (~100 ppb), and were driven by photochemistry of $SO_2$. As a result, the pattern of $SO{_4}^{2-}$ variations in relation to wind direction, $SO_2$ and $O_3$ concentrations, and the strong correlation between $SO_2$ and $SO{_4}^{2-}$ ($R^2=0.76$) suggests that in addition to the impact of smoke plumes from forest fires in the southeastern China, local $SO_2$ emissions were likely an important source of $SO{_4}^{2-}$ leading to haze formation at the site.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.320-328
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• 2016

Among biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) in the natural ecosystem, monoterpenes, along with isoprene, play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and make significant impacts on air pollution and climate change, especially due to their contribution to secondary organic aerosol production and photochemical ozone formation. It is essential to measure monoterpene concentrations accurately for understanding their oxidation processes, emission processes and estimation, and interactions between biosphere and atmosphere. Thus, traceable calibration standards are crucial for the accurate measurement of monoterpenes at ambient levels. However, there are limited information about developing calibrations standards for monoterpenes in pressured cylinders. This study describes about developing primary standard gas mixtures (PSMs) for monoterpenes at about 2 nmol/mol, near ambient levels. The micro-gravimetric method was applied to prepare monoterpene (${\alpha}$-pinene, 3-carene, R-(+)-limonene, 1,8-cineole) PSMs at $10{\mu}mol/mol$ and then the PSMs were further diluted to 2 nmol/mol level. To select an optimal cylinder for the development of monoterpene PSMs, three different kinds of cylinders were used for the preparation and were evaluated for uncertainty sources including long-term stability. Results showed that aluminum cylinders with a special internal surface treatment (Experis) had little adsorption loss on the cylinder internal surface and good long-term stability compared to two other cylinder types with no treatment and a special treatment (Aculife). Results from uncertainty estimation suggested that monoterpene PSMs can be prepared in pressured cylinders with a special treatment (Experis) at 2 nmol/mol level with an uncertainty of less than 4%.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.8-20
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• 2011

Atmospheric visibility is one of the indicators used to evaluate the status of air quality. Based on a conceptual definition of visibility as the maximum distance at which the outline of the selected target can be recognized, an image analysis technique is introduced here and an algorithm is developed for visibility monitoring. Although there are various measurement techniques, ranging from bulk and precise instruments to naked eye observation techniques, each has their own limitations. In this study, a series of image analysis techniques were introduced and examined for in-situ application. An imaging system was built up using a digital camera and was installed on the study sites in Incheon and Seoul separately. Visual range was also monitored by using a dual technology visibility sensor in Incheon and transmissometer in Seoul simultaneously. The Sobel mask filter was applied to detect the edge lines of objects by extracting the high frequency from the digital image. The root mean square (RMS) index of variation among the pixels in the image was substantially correlated with the visual ranges in Incheon and Seoul with correlations of $R^2$=0.88 and $R^2$=0.71, respectively. The regression line equations between the visual range and the RMS index in Incheon and Seoul were VR=$2.36e^{0.46{\times}(RMS)}$ and VR=$3.18e^{0.15{\times}(RMS)}$, respectively. It was also confirmed that the fine particles ($PM_{2.5}$) have more impacts to the impairment of visibility than coarse particles.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.177-182
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• 1999

Objectives: To reexamine the association between air pollution and daily mortality in Seoul, Korea using a method of meta-analysis with the data filed for 1991 through 1995. Methods: A separate Poisson regression analysis on each district within the metropolitan area of Seoul was conducted to regress daily death counts on levels of each ambient air pollutant, such as total suspended particulates (TSP), sulfur dioxide $(SO_2)$, and ozone $(O_3)$, controlling for variability in the weather condition. We calculated a weighted mean as a meta-analysis summary of the estimates and its standard error. Results: We found that the p value from each pollutant model to test the homogeneity assumption was small (p<0.01) because of the large disparity among district-specific estimates. Therefore, all results reported here were estimated from the random effect model. Using the weighted mean that we calculated, the mortality at a $100{\mu}g/m^3$ increment in a 3-day moving average of TSP levels was 1.034 (95% Cl 1.009-1.059). The mortality was estimated to increase 6% (95% Cl 3-10%) and 3% (95% Cl 0-6%) with each 50 ppb increase for 9-day moving average of SO2 and 1-hr maximum O3, respectively. Conclusions: Like most of air pollution epidemiologic studies, this meta-analysis cannot avoid fleeing from measurement misclassification since no personal measurement was taken. However, we can expect that a measurement bias be reduced in a district-specific estimate since a monitoring station is hefter representative cf air quality of the matched district. The similar results to those from the previous studios indicated existence of health effect of air pollution at current levels in many industrialized countries, including Korea.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2013

This study focused on a comprehensive and detailed interpretation for the springtime air quality influenced by both artificial (particulate matter (PM) and asbestos) and biological (pollen) sources in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. An intensive measurement of PM was conducted at four characteristic sites (i.e., a heavy traffic area, a residential area, an industrial area, and a desolate area) in the Fukuoka Prefecture during spring of 2007. Analysis of major ionic species in $PM_{2.5}$ was performed by an Ion Chromatography, and asbestos and pollen were identified by Scanning Electron Microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). $PM_{2.5}$ concentration ($65.3{\mu}gm^{-3}$) measured in an industrial area (site C) was extraordinarily high compared to those monitored in other areas; it greatly exceeded the Japan's $PM_{2.5}$ criteria (a daily average of $35{\mu}gm^{-3}$). NOAA's HYSPLIT dispersion model suggests that this high level of $PM_{2.5}$ monitored at site C is unlikely to affect the Asian continent. The ambient concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$-related anions ($NH_4{^+}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $SO_4{^{2-}}$) and their relative contributions to $PM_{2.5}$ were also investigated in four study areas. The concentrations of these major water-soluble ions exhibit not only strong spatial dependence but also different ratios to each other. Asbestos fiber (crocidolite and amosite) concentration values changed in the range of 2.5 to 14.4 f per liter of air. The number of pollen grains showed that Cedar ranked higher in concentration than other types of pollen, with the maximum concentration at site A.