• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.22-29
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• 2020

In this study, the fire patterns, heat emissions, and smoke generated by means of fire tests developed for representative combustibles in residential facilities were analyzed from among seven fire types. These combustibles were selected in a previous study to simulate real-world situations and professionalism required while dealing with these types of fires and develop the field commander training content. Consequently, the maximum heat dissipation was recorded as 728.6 kW, followed by the dissipation measured from the combination of a mattress and electric blanket, desk and chair, and TV and mattress. The total heat emission of sofas (226.2 MJ) and the combination of mattress and electric blanket (2,259.5 ㎡) was recorded. In this study, the scope of the tests was limited to the fire characteristics and characteristics of the combustibles, and it is expected that a simulation using various data acquisition methods and FDS would be performed and evaluated at a later stage.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 2009

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a persistent environmental contaminant and is present in tobacco smoke. BaP is considered a major contributor of cardiovascular disease. While the activation of endothelial cells by stimuli including tobacco smoke and air pollution contributes importantly to cardiovascular disease, the nature of BaP's mechanism is unclear. In this study, gene expression profiles were investigated in BaPtreated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Various atherosclerosis related genes could be up- and down-regulated more than 2-fold by BaP, and mRNA levels of atherosclerosis related genes encoding apolipoproteinC III, TLR 2, ICAM 1 and exportin 4 were significantly increased by BaP. Our data suggest that BaP-mediated changes in gene expression contribute to the progression of cardiovascular disease.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was performed using a longitudinal approach to explore the predictors for current smoking among male high school students. Methods : Baseline data was collected in May 2004 through a self-administrated questionnaire completed by 607 male students in a technical high school in Daegu city, Korea. Subsequently, their smoking behaviors were followed one year after. Among the 544 followed participants, data for 439 non-smokers in the first year was used in longitudinal analysis. Current smokers were defined as those respondents who had smoked one or more cigarettes within the 30 days preceding the survey. Several potential predictors for smoking were investigated including smoking history(never, experimental, former smoker), sociodemographic factors, environmental factors, attitudes toward smoking, and behavioral factors. Logistic regression was used to predict smoking with SPSS ver. 12.0. Results : According to multiple logistic regression analysis, those students who were more likely to smoke after one year were former smokers(OR: 2.12, 95% CI=1.01-4.44), current drinkers(OR: 2.55, 95% CI=1.33-4.89), who had four or five smokers among five best friends(OR: 3.43. 95% CI=1.14-10.30). In addition, those who had smokers among family members besides parents or siblings(OR: 1.66, 95% CI=0.92-2.98), exhibited a high level of subjective stress(OR: 1.77, 95% CI=0.96-3.26), or had a very good relationship with friends(OR: 1.93, 95% CI=0.99-3.75) were also more likely to smoke albeit with marginal statistical significance(p<0.1). Conclusions : A smoking prevention program aimed at high school students may be more effective with due consideration of the predictors highlighted in this study. However, further studies with larger sample size and various target populations are necessary to find potential predictors not found in this study but suggested in other longitudinal studies.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.242-248
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• 2019

Fire flame and smoke detection algorithm studies are challenging task in computer vision due to the variety of shapes, rapid spread and colors. The performance of a typical sensor based fire detection system is largely limited by environmental factors (indoor and fire locations). To solve this problem, a deep learning method is applied. Because it extracts the feature of the object using several methods, so that if a similar shape exists in the frame, it can be detected as false postive. This study proposes a new algorithm to reduce false positives by using frame similarity before using deep learning to decrease the false detection rate. Experimental results show that the fire detection performance is maintained and the false positives are reduced by applying the proposed method. It is confirmed that the proposed method has excellent false detection performance.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.299-308
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to investigate cadmium concentrations among metals in ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) of indoor environments and to evaluate the cadmium as a marker of ETS. The correlations of cadmium concentrations and nicotine, 3-EP, RSP, SD (Smoking Density), and SI (Smoking Index). Air samples of metals, nicotine, 3-EP, and RSP were taken in smoking room, smoking allowed office, corridor outside smoking room, and non-smoking office respectively. The SD, ACH, and SI were investigated during sampling. Airborne concentration of cadmium known as human carcinogen were qualified and quantified. The SD was 0.2 to $2.6cig/m^2{\cdot}hr$, and the mean value of SD in smoking rooms was $1.2cig/m^2{\cdot}hr$ that is higher than other researches. The mean of ACH in smoking rooms was 11.1. The concentrations of cadmium showed log-normal distributions and the geometric mean concentrations of cadmium in smoking rooms, corridor outside smoking rooms, smoking allowed offices, and non-smoking offices were $0.045{\mu}g/m^3$, $0.018{\mu}g/m^3$, $0.021{\mu}g/m^3$, and $0.017{\mu}g/m^3$ respectively. The concentrations of cadmium in smoking room showed significant difference according to category of indoor office environments (p<0.05) and showed compliance with occupational exposure limits. The correlation coefficients between cadmium and nicotine, 3-EP, and RSP were 0.53, 0.41, 0.43 respectively. The cadmium among metals showed the highest correlations (r=0.63) with SI. It was recommended cadmium among metals is a good indicator for ETS.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.97-109
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• 2007

Vertical distribution and optical properties of atmospheric aerosols above the Korean peninsula are quite important to estimate effects of aerosol on atmospheric environment and regional radiative forcing. For the first time in Korea, vertical microphysical properties of atmospheric aerosol obtained by inversion algorithm were analyzed based on optical data of multi-wavelength Raman lidar system developed by the Advanced Environmental Monitoring Research Center (ADEMRC), Gwangju Institute Science and Technology (GIST). Data collected on 14 June 2004 at Gwangju ($35.10^{\circ}N,\;126.53^{\circ}E$) and 27 May 2005 at Anmyeon island ($36.32^{\circ}N,\;126.19^{\circ}E$) were used as raw optical data for inversion algorithm. Siberian forest fire smoke and local originated haze were observed above and within the height of PBL, respectively on 14 June 2004 according to NOAA/Hysplit backstrajectory analysis. The inversion of lidar optical data resulted in particle effective radii around $0.31{\sim}0.33{\mu}m$, single scattering albedo between $0.964{\sim}0.977$ at 532 nm in PBL and effective radii of $0.27{\mu}m$ and single scattering albedo between $0.923{\sim}0.924$ above PBL. In the case on 27 May 2005, biomass burning from east China was a main source of aerosol plume. The inversion results of the data on 27 May 2005 were found to be particle effective radii between $0.23{\sim}0.24{\mu}m$, single scattering albedo around $0.924{\sim}0.929$ at 532 nm. Additionally, the inversion values were well matched with those of Sun/sky radiometer in measurement period.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.4 s.59
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• pp.852-869
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• 1997

This study was conducted to develop and evaluate the reliability and the validity of a questionnaire in order to determine the applicability as a screening tool for estimating environmental exposure and health effects related to air pollution. The questionnaire was developed with adopting some items of others such as ISAAC or ATS-DLD. And then we performed test-retest to 89 middle school students and their mothers at interval of three months. Cohen's Kappa values, weighted Kappa values, Spearman's correlation coefficients, and Pearson's correlation coefficients for each item were computed as reliability coefficients. The validity coefficients and validity coefficient bounds were also obtained by simply using these reliability coefficients. As results, Kappa ranged broadly from 0.10 to 0.61 of the items 'diet', $0.52\sim0.79$ of the environmental tobacco smoke, $0.39\sim0.44$ of the functional categories of surrounding environment, and $0.39\sim0.44$ of the using transportation systems; these items were regarded as confounding factors. For items related to health outcomes, Kappa ranged from -0.02 to 0.37 in the respiratory system of past medical history, and from 0.11 to 0.55 in the current health status. But Kappa of the others were over 0.60. In conclusion, if some items can be corrected or modified, the questionnaire developed in this study can be used as a tool for evaluating environmental exposure and health effects associated with air pollution.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.223-230
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• 2015

Objectives: There is considerable evidence that polluted ambient air contributes to the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Heart rate variability (HRV) is defined as the variation in heartbeat intervals and has been reported as a biological marker of cardiovascular disease. This article reviews the existing literature in order to examine the association between air pollution and HRV. Methods: Literature was searched using Web of Science with the key words of "air pollution", "heart rate variability" and other related terms. A total of 156 articles were listed. For review, 21 of those listed publications were chosen after excluding studies regarding chamber studies, occupational environment, secondhand smoke and automobile exhaust. Results: Research methods employed in the publications were classified by type of participants (elderly/adult), air pollution monitoring (ambient/personal) and HRV monitoring (continuous/spot). Among HRV parameters, power in the low frequency range (LF), power in the high frequency range (HF) and standard deviation of all NN intervals (SDNN) were all associated with air pollutants. The chosen studies were mostly based on elderly populations. In studies based on continuous HRV monitoring, LF and SDNN significantly decreased when $PM_{2.5}$ exposure increased. Conclusion: Continuous HRV monitoring combined with personal exposure monitoring has been one of the most common study methods in recent publications. We expect that this review will be useful for the study of the association between air pollution and cardiovascular effects using HRV.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.96-106
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• 2017

In this study, measurements of size-segregated particulate matter (PM) emitted from the combustion of rice straw, pine needles, and sesame stem were conducted in a laboratory chamber. The collected samples were used to analyze amounts of organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), humic-like substances (HULIS), and ionic species. The light absorption properties of size-resolved water extracts were measured using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. A solid-phase extraction method was first used to separate the size-resolved HULIS fraction, which was then quantified by a total organic carbon analyzer. The results show that regardless of particle cut sizes, the contributions of size-resolved HULIS ($=1.94{\times}HULIS-C$) to PM size fractions ($PM_{0.32}$, $PM_{0.55}$, $PM_{1.0}$, and $PM_{1.8}$) were similar, accounting for 25.2-27.6, 15.2-22.4 and 28.2-28.7% for rice straw, pine needle, and sesame stem smoke samples, respectively. The $PM_{1.8}$ fraction revealed WSOC/OC and HULIS-C/WSOC ratios of 0.51 and 0.60, 0.44 and 0.40, and 0.50 and 0.60 for the rice straw, pine needle, and sesame stem burning emissions, respectively. Strong absorption with decreasing wavelength was found by the water extracts from size-resolved biomass burning aerosols. The absorption ${\AA}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m $ exponent values of the size-resolved water extracts fitted between 300 and 400 nm wavelengths for particle sizes of $0.32-1.0{\mu}m$ were 6.6-7.7 for the rice straw burning samples, and 7.5-8.0 for the sesame stem burning samples. The average mass absorption efficiencies of size-resolved WSOC and HULIS-C at 365 nm were 1.09 (range: 0.89-1.61) and 1.82 (range: 1.33-2.06) $m^2/g{\cdot}C$ for rice straw smoke aerosols, and 1.13 (range: 0.85-1.52) and 1.83 (range: 1.44-2.05) $m^2/g{\cdot}C$ for sesame stem smoke aerosols, respectively. The light absorption of size-resolved water extracts measured at 365 nm showed strong correlations with WSOC and HULIS-C concentrations ($R^2=0.89-0.93$), indicating significant contribution of HULIS component from biomass burning emissions to the light absorption of ambient aerosols.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2010

Objectives : The purposes of this study were to evaluate exhaust ventilation systems(EVSs) and to suggest problems and improvements. Methods : For 50 small and medium-sized enterprises, we carried out evaluation of EVSs. We evaluated hoods with smoke tester and measurement of capture velocity. In addition, we used several indicators for performance evaluation designed in this study. Results : 1. Based on the smoke flow pattern and the criteria of occupational health and safety act, 67.8% of hoods were rated 'good' level at smoke test whereas 26.3% were rated 'good' level at measurement of capture velocity. 2. 29.3% of hoods, of which ratio of measured actual air flow at hood(Qah) to required ideal exhaust air flow at hood(Qih) was 1 or more, were rated 'good' level. 3. The % of EVS, of which ratio of measured actual air flow at stack(Qast) to total required ideal exhaust air flow at hood(Qith) was 1 or more, was 29.0%. 4. For the ratio of measured Qast to existing air flow at fan(Qfan), only 5% of EVSs were 1 or more and 26.0% were 0.8 or more but less than 1.0. 5. For the ratio of measured Qast to total measured actual exhaust air flow at hood(Qath), 74.0% were 0.8 or more but less than 1.0. 6. The percentage of EVS, of which ratio of total measured Qath to existing Qfan was 0.8 or more, was 19.0%. 7. The percentage of EVS, of which ratio of total measured Qath to total required ideal exhaust Qith was 1 or more, was 26.0%. 8. For the comprehensive evaluation indicators designed in this study, 29.0% were 0.8 or more. Conclusions : We found that few exhaust local ventilations at small and medium-sized enterprises were rated 'good' level and that most exhaust local ventilations had 'poor' design and installation. Therefore, relevant professional manpower and enterprises have to construct exhaust local ventilation where it is needed, and technical guidance and economic support are needed to improve 'poor' exhaust local ventilation after self-evaluation.