• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.3651-3656
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• 2012

The size-segregated atmospheric aerosols have been collected at 1100 m site of Mt. Halla in Jeju, a background area in Korea, using 8-stage cascade impact air sampler during Asian dust and non-Asian dust storm periods. Their ionic and elemental species were analyzed, in order to examine the pollution characteristics and composition change between Asian dust and non-Asian dust periods. The major ionic species such as nss-$SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NH_4{^+}$, and $K^+$ were predominantly distributed in the fine particles (below $2.1{\mu}m$ diameter), and besides the $NO_3{^-}$ was distributed more in coarse particle fraction than fine particle. On the other hand, the typical soil and marine species i.e., nss-$Ca^{2+}$, $Na^+$, $Cl^-$, and $Mg^{2+}$, were mostly existed in the coarse particles (over $2.1{\mu}m$ diameter). As well in the elemental analysis of aerosols, the major soil-originated Al, Fe, Ca, and others showed prominently high concentrations in the coarse particle fraction, whereas the anthropogenic S and Pb were relatively high in the fine particle fraction. From the comparison of aerosol compositions between Asian dust and non-Asian dust periods, the concentrations of the soil-originated species such as nss-$Ca^{2+}$, Al, Ca, Fe, Ti, Mn, Ba, Sr have increased as 2.7-4.2 times during the Asian dust periods. Meanwhile the concentrations of nss-$SO_4{^{2-}}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ have increased as 1.4 and 2.0 times, and on the contrary $NH_4{^+}$ concentrations have a little bit decreased during the Asian dust periods. Especially the concentrations of both soil-originated ionic and elemental species increased noticeably in the coarse particle mode during the dust storm periods.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.577-582
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this survey was to assess the concentrations of heavy metals in the atmosphere of Pocheon City by measuring heavy metals in the industrial complex area and at the city air measuring station, and also to assess the degree of impact that the industrial area has on urban air quality. Methods: Sampling was carried out between February 2018 and November 2018 at two sites in the industrial complex and in the city air monitoring stations. Results: At the industrial complex in Pocheon City, air pollutant emitting businesses were emitting concentrations of fine dust (PM₁₀) between 45 and 60 ㎍/㎥ higher than in the city air. The daily maximum concentrations of lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and cadmium (Cd) in the industrial complex are below the WHO recommendation standard (annual average), and the impact on the urban atmosphere is judged to be insignificant. Three to five percent of fine dust (PM₁₀) consists of metallic materials, and as the fine dust increased, metals were detected proportionally. Although cadmium (Cd) and beryllium (Be) were not detected in the city air in Pocheon and chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), and arsenic (As) were found to be 50 percent or less, it is deemed that copper (Cu) was detected at unusually high levels due to unknown air pollutants, which requires regular heavy metal measurement and cause verification. Conclusions: An analysis of the heavy metals in the industrial zone and the urban atmosphere in Pocheon City in this study showed that the linear relationship of heavy metals in the industrial zone, or the direct impact relationship, on the heavy metals in the urban atmosphere could not be estimated. The sampling device for equivalent assessment of particulate matter installed at air pollution monitoring stations is highly likely to be used for analysis of fine dust and heavy metals.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.561-569
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• 2012

Study attempts to evaluate the environmental cost and benefit for management of particulate matters of Donghae harbor in Gangwondo. The level of fine dust suspended in the vicinity of the harbor was quite high, exceeding the national standard ($100{\mu}g/m^3$) depending on the places. The test field harbor deals with lots of limestone and coal, so that fine particulates could be generated while loading it and unloading. It was estimated that the direct handling of cargos might produce 12 tons of PM10(Particulate Matters of $10{\mu}m$) a year. In addition, heavy vehicles for transportation of various cargos including raw materials emit huge amount of diesel soots and cause to redispersion of road dust. The local government spends more than 2 billion won every year, and it contributes to reduce the atmospheric dust. According to the prediction of cost to benefit, it will present the effectiveness in 720 % maximum and at least 240 %.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.129-142
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• 2022

In the past, interest in air pollution was concentrated on greenhouse gases, but in recent years, interest in fine dust has been increasing. The media and environmental organizations continue to emphasize air pollution caused by fine dust. The awareness of fine dust is increasing, and air pollution generated at ports is analyzed to be serious as a domestic factor excluding foreign inflows. Recognizing this, in order to reduce air pollution generated at ports, special laws on improving air quality, such as port areas, have been enacted in Korea, and attempts are being made to curb air pollution caused by ports. In this law, it is a policy that regulates air pollutants generated not only by ships but also throughout ports such as vehicles and unloading machines, and representative are ECA, VSR, and AMP. This study attempted to analyze the effects of these eco-friendly policies at Incheon Port. First of all, a study was conducted to calculate emissions assuming that there was no policy, analyze each policy, and finally calculate and compare actual emissions reflecting all policies. The methodology presented by the European Environmental Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was used, and pollutants to be analyzed were analyzed for sulfur oxides (SO_X), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO_X), total floating substances (TSP), fine dust and ultrafine dust (PM₁₀, PM_2.5) and ammonia (NH₃). As a result of the analysis, it was analyzed that the actual emission reflecting all policies was about 4,097 tons/year, which had an emission reduction effect of about 760 tons/year compared to about 4,857 tons/year when the policy was not reflected. When the effects of each policy were analyzed individually, it was found that ECA 4,111 tons/year, VSR 4,854 tons/year, and AMP 4,843 tons of air pollutant emissions occurred The results of this study can be used as basic data and evidence for policy establishment related to the atmospheric environment at Incheon Port.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.163-172
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• 2018

Air pollution is increasing, along with consumption of fossil fuels such as coal and diesel gas. Air pollutants are known to be a major cause of respiratory-related illness and death, however, there are few reports on the genotoxic characterization of diverse air pollutants in Korea. In this study, we investigated the mutagenic activity of various particles such as diesel exhaust particles (DEP), combustion of rice straw (RSC), pine stem (PSC), and coal (CC), tunnel dust (TD), and road side dust (RD). Ultra-fine particles (UFPs) were collected by the glass fiber filter pad. Then, we performed a chemical analysis to see each of the component features of each particulate matter. The mutagenicity of various UFPs was determined by the Ames test with four Salmonella typhimurium strains with or without metabolic activation. The optimal concentrations of UFPs were selected based on result of a concentration decision test. Moreover, in order to compare relative mutagenicity among UFPs, we selected and tested DEP as mutation reference. DEP, RSC, and PSC induced concentration-dependent increases in revertant colony numbers with TA98, TA100, and TA1537 strains in the absence and presence of metabolic activation. DEP showed the highest specific activity among the particulate matters. In this study, we conclude that DEP, RSC, PSC, and TD displayed varying degrees of mutagenicity, and these results suggest that the mutagenicity of these air pollutants is associated with the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in these particulate matters.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.157-163
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• 2020

Long-term exposure to environmental pollutants can impair the human skin's barrier function and promote skin aging mechanisms. The visible consequences of these effects are dryness, wrinkles, black spots and worsening skin sensitivity. As awareness of the effects of environmental stressors on the skin has recently increased, consumers' demand for cosmetics that can provide anti-pollution effects is increasing. In this study, the possibility of anti-pollution cosmetic material was investigated by measuring the inhibitory effect of free radicals using a mixture of Nypa fruticans Wurmb (NF), Saussurea neoserrata (SN), Codium fragile (CF) and Enteromorpha compressa (EC), which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects against irritation caused by dust. Combining the experimental results of a mixture of NF, SN, CF and EC by induction of fine dust stimulation, inhibition of inflammatory factors (PGE₂) and intracellular free radicals (ROS) by inhibiting effects were significant, indicating the possibility of use as anti-pollution cosmetics. The most plants used as sources of anti-pollution cosmetic ingredients contain antioxidants as active substances. In our highly industrialized and chemically polluted world, it is not surprising that most plants used as sources of anti-pollution cosmetic ingredients contain antioxidants as active substances. Considering our results, it can be suggested that this anti-pollutant consisting of NF, SN, CF and EC may be a good ingredient for skincare products for the cosmetic industry due to their antioxidant properties, which may especially alter skin aging.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.68-81
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• 2023

This study aims to establish a scenario based on the spacing and arrangement of the roadside trees to reduce heat waves and fine dust in cities that occurred during the urbanization process and to quantitatively analyze the degree of reduction. The ENVI-met 5.0.2v model, a micro-climate simulation program, was used to analyze the degree of improvement in the thermal environment and fine dust according to the roadside tree scenario. As a result of temperature analysis according to street tree spacing, the narrower the distance between roadside trees, the lower the temperature during the day as the number of planted trees increased, and a similar pattern was shown regardless of the distance between roadside trees in the morning and evening. In the case of fine dust emitted from the road, the concentration of fine dust increased slightly due to the increase in roadside trees, but the concentration of sidewalks where people walk increased slightly or there was no difference because of blocking fine dust on trees. The temperature according to the arrangement of street trees tended to decrease as the number of planted trees increased as the arrangement increased. However, not only the amount of trees but also the crown projected area was judged to have a significant impact on the temperature reduction because the temperature reduction was greater in the scenario of planting the same amount of trees and widening the interval of arrangement. In terms of the arrangement, the fine dust concentration showed a difference from the results according to the interval, suggesting that the fine dust concentration may change depending on the relationship between the main wind direction and the tree planting direction. By quantitatively analyzing the degree of thermal environment and fine dust improvement caused by roadside trees, this study is expected to promote policies and projects to improve the roadside environment efficiently, such as a basic plan for roadside trees and a project for wind corridor forests.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.139-142
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• 2021

Coal-fired power plants use coal as the main raw material, and when a coal is moved, a dust generation and spontaneous ignition of coal occur. To prevent this, water is sprayed. As a result, wastewater called "coal-dust water" flows out of coal dust and water mixed together, causing environmental pollution. In this study, in order to solve this problem, we developed a natural flocculant that can purify water by aggregating fine dust using chitosan and tried to prove its applicability. It was found that the optimum flocculation concentration was 4 ppm by adding various concentrations of flocculant to the coal-dust water, and it was confirmed that the developed material had very good coal-dust flocculation capacity through permeability and coal-dust removal efficiency. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the flocculant was evaluated through the MTT assay and it was found that there is no toxicity at all. We believe that the flocculant developed in this study can effectively adsorb coal-dust without affecting human and natural ecosystems.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.545-564
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• 2016

Recently as fine and ultra fine particles become major environmental issues in Korea, it is very important to develop effective solutions to air pollution. Accordingly this study aims at detecting causes of air pollution by using models and examining if diesel price increases contribute to reduction of diesel consumption and air pollution. TSP, PM10, $NO_X$, $SO_X$, CO, and VOC are included as major air pollutants. As a result, we found invert U shape curve between pollution and income for all air pollutants except CO. Consumer price index, coal power capacity, diesel consumption, frequency of yellow dust, number of natural gas buses, number of transport business, annual average temperature, number of manufacturing businesses are also influential in explaining causes of air pollution. As diesel price increases by 1%, air pollutants decline between 0.07~0.12% in the short run. Simultaneously, the additional revenue from increases in diesel prices might be transferred to support expansion of biofuel market. Also, stronger policy should be developed to mitigate the current air pollution problem.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.9-17
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• 2019

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that connects to the Internet with built-in sensors and communication functions on various objects and has been used in various fields such as smart home and smart factory. Recently, as interest in air pollution information such as fine dust is increasing, the apps for providing weather information and air pollution information based on IoT technology are being developed. In this study, we aims to provide visual air pollution and weather information and develop useful services such as appliance automation using this information. for this study, we designed and implemented Smart Services that provide home automation, messaging and alarm, visual air pollution and weather information using air pollution and weather information based on IoT.