• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.486-495
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• 2021

Background: Particulate matter (PM) is one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide. Previous studies in South Korea have applied a relative risk calculated from Western populations when estimating the disease burden attributable to PM. However, the relative risk of PM on health outcomes may not be the same across different countries or regions. Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the premature deaths and socioeconomic costs attributable to long-term exposure to PM in South Korea. We considered not only the difference in PM concentration between regions, but also the difference in relative risk. Methods: National monitoring data of PM concentrations was obtained, and missing values were imputed using the AERMOD model and linear regression model. As a surrogate for relative risk, hazard ratios (HRs) of PM for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality were estimated using the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. The nation was divided into five areas (metropolitan, central, southern, south-eastern, and Gangwon-do Province regions). The number of PM attributable deaths in 2018 was calculated at the district level. The socioeconomic cost was derived by multiplying the number of deaths and the statistical value of life. Results: The average PM₁₀ concentration for 2014~2018 was 45.2 ㎍/m³. The association between long-term exposure to PM₁₀ and mortality was heterogeneous between areas. When applying area-specific HRs, 23,811 premature deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory disease in 2018 were attributable to PM₁₀ (reference level 20 ㎍/m³). The corresponding socioeconomic cost was about 31 trillion won. These estimated values were higher than that when applying nationwide HRs. Conclusions: This study is the first research to estimate the premature mortality caused by long-term exposure to PM using relative risks derived from the national population. This study will help precisely identify the national and regional health burden attributed to PM and establish the priorities of air quality policy.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.623-641
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• 2013

The fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite panel, with the benefits of light weight, high strength, good corrosion resistance, and long-term durability, has been considered as one of the prosperous alternatives for structural retrofits and replacements. Although with these advantages, a further application of FRPs in bridge engineering may be restricted, and that is partly due to some unsatisfied thermal performance observed in recent studies. In this regard, Kansas Department of Transportation (DOT) conducted a field monitoring program on a bridge with glass FRP (GFRP) honeycomb hollow section sandwich panels. The temperatures of the panel surfaces and ambient air were measured from December 2002 to July 2004. In this paper, the temperature distributing behaviors of the panels are firstly demonstrated and discussed based on the field measurements. Then, a numerical modeling procedure of temperature fields is developed and verified. This model is capable of predicting the temperature distributions with the local environmental conditions and material's thermal properties. Finally, a parametric study is employed to examine the sensitivities of several temperature influencing factors, including the hollow section configurations, environmental conditions, and material properties.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.18 no.E3
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• pp.129-142
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• 2002

This paper provides a long-term perspective for ozone concentrations at 20 national air quality monitoring sites in Seoul from 1989 to 1998, which were managed by the Korean Ministry of Environment. Ozone episodes occurred more frequently in the east areas (Bangi, Guui, Seongsu, and Ssangmun) than in the west area (Guro and Oryu). When an ozone episode happened, hourly ozone concentrations over 80 ppb continued for an average of 4.0 hours at all sites. Annual variations in daily mean and maximum oBone concentrations showed broadly consistent upward trends at Ssangmun and Gwanaksan. Monthly mean ozone concentrations were the highest from May to June and the 99$^{th}$ and 95$^{th}$ percentile levels appeared higher during June, July, and August. The diurnal patterns of hourly mean ozone levels in urban areas showed typical photochemical formation and destruction, while the flat diurnal shape before 1996 at Gwanaksan indicated few significant photochemical reactions due to a lack of precursors of ozone. The occurrence of ozone over 80 ppb was ascribed to meteorological conditions such as high temperature, strong solar radiation, low relative humidity, and low wind speed with winds most frequently in a westerly direction.

• Journal of the Korean Graphic Arts Communication Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-74
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• 2011

Critical environmental elements for long term preservation of a paper are temperature, humidity, dust, light, contaminants in air, and mold. Especially, temperature and humidity need special care, because they can not only directly degrade paper but also affect the degradation of the other elements. Therefore methods to monitor variation of temperature and relative humidity were studied. One of the methods was to use preservation index for evaluating preservation environment. Since the evaluation for preservation environment of a stack room investigated firstly by D. K. Sebera, PI(preservation index) and TWPI(Time-Weighted Preservation Index) by IPI is made to evaluate relatively preservation environment in a stack room. T. Padfield developed method which could calculate easy PI and TWPI. In this study, the preservation environment of stack rooms for paper storage in NAK(National Archives Korea) was evaluated by PI and TWPI. PI and TWPI of stack rooms for paper storage in NAK maintained good condition but PI depended on season. Then the preservation environment of stack rooms for paper storage in NAK was required to maintain continuously PI and TWPI regardless of season change.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4554-4560
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• 2023

Continuous monitoring of radioactive substances over a prolonged duration can yield crucial insights into the levels of radiation exposure through inhalation, both in the vicinity of nuclear facilities and/or general environments. In this study, we evaluated long-term measurements (2012-2022) of gross alpha-beta activities in the air in the vicinity of nuclear facilities and reference site, distribution characteristics of temporal trends and spatial fluctuations, and factors affecting radioactivity levels. The average airborne gross-α (in mBq m^-3) for onsite and off-site were 0.124 and 0.117, respectively, and the average airborne gross-β (in mBq m^-3) measurements were 1.10 and 1.04, respectively. The activity ratio (AR) of gross-α and gross-β were calculated as a ratio of 0.12. The distribution characteristics of gross-α and gross-β activities in this study area are likely influenced by the meteorological factors and variations in airborne PM concentrations rather than the operation of the nuclear facility.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2018

Nation-wide systematic and comprehensive measurements of air quality criteria species have been made over 340 sites currently in Korea since 1990. Using these data, temporal and spatial trends of $SO_2$, $PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, $O_3$, CO and $O_x(NO_2+O_3)$ were analyzed to characterize and evaluate implementing efficiency of air quality policy and regulations. Due to strict and effective policy to use cleaner fuels in late 1980s and 1990s, the primary pollutants, such as $SO_2$, CO, and $PM_{10}$ decreased sharply by early 2000s in all parts of Korea. After this period, their concentrations declined with much lower rates in most parts of Korea. In addition, isolated but noticeable numbers of places, especially in major ports, newly developing towns and industrial parks, sustained high levels or even showed further degradation. Despite series of emission control strategies were enforced since early 1990s, $NO_2$ concentrations haven't changed much till 2005, due to significant increase in number of automobiles. Nevertheless, we confirmed that the staggering levels of $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ improved evidently after 2005, especially in Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), where enhanced regulations for $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ emissions was imposed to automobiles and large emission sources. However, their decreasing trends were much lessened in recent years again as current air quality improvement strategies has been challenged to revise further. In contrast to these primary species, annual $O_3$, which is secondary product from $NO_2$ and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), has increased consistently with about 0.6 ppbv per year in every urban part of Korea, while yearly average of daily maximum 8-hour $O_3$ in summer season had a much higher rate of 1.2 ppbv per year. Increase of $O_3$ can be explained mainly by reductions of NO emission. Rising background $O_3$ in the Northeast Asia and increasing oxidizing capacity by changing photochemistry were likely causes of observed $O_3$ increase. The future air quality policy should consider more effective ways to lower alarming level of $O_3$ and $PM_{10}$.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.571-580
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• 2012

Epidemiologic studies of air pollution need accurate exposure assessments at unmonitored locations. A land use regression (LUR) model has been used successfully for predicting traffic-related pollutants, although its application has been limited to Europe, North America, and a few Asian region. Therefore, we modeled traffic-related pollutants by LUR then examined whether LUR models could be constructed using a regulatory monitoring network in Metropolitan area in Korea. We used the annual-mean nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$) in 2010 in the study area. Geographic variables that are considered to predict traffic-related pollutants were classified into four groups: road type, traffic intensity, land use, and elevation. Using geographical variables, we then constructed a model to predict the monitored levels of $NO_2$. The mean concentration of $NO_2$ was 30.71 ppb (standard deviation of 5.95) respectively. The final regression model for the $NO_2$ concentration included five independent variables. The LUR models resulted in $R^2$ of 0.59. The mean concentration of $NO_2$ of elementary schools was 34.04 ppb (standard deviation of 5.22) respectively. The present study showed that even if we used regulatory monitoring air quality data, we could estimate $NO_2$ moderately well. These analyses confirm the validity of land use regression modeling to assign exposures in epidemiological studies, and these models may be useful tools for assessing health effects of long-term exposure to traffic related pollution.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.4 s.91
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• pp.304-315
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• 2006

This study is performed to reexamine the association between ambient air pollution and daily mortality in seven major cities of Korea using a method of meta-analysis with the data filed for the period 1998-2001. These cities account for half of the Korean population (about 23 million). The observed concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO, mean=1.08 ppm), ozone ($O_3$, mean=33.97 ppb), particulate matter less than 10 ${\mu}m$ ($PM_{10},\;mean=57.11\;{\mu}g/m^3$), nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$, mean=25.09 ppb), and sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$, mean=9.14 ppb) during the study period were at levels below Korea's current ambient air quality standards. Generalized additive models were applied to allow for the highly flexible fitting of seasonal and long-term time trends in air pollution as well as nonlinear associations with weather variables, such as air temperature and relative humidity. Also, we calculated a weighted mean as a meta-analysis summary of the estimates and its standard error. In city-specific analyses, an increase of $41.17{\mu}g/m^3(IQR)\;of\;PM_{10}$ corresponded to $1{\sim}12%$ more deaths, given constant weather conditions. 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 district-specific estimate since a monitoring station is better representative of air quality of the matched district. Significant heterogeneity was found for the effect of all pollutants. The estimated relative risks from meta-like analysis increased compared to those relative risks from pooled analysis. The similar results to those from the previous studies indicated existence of health effect of air pollution at current levels in many industrialized countries, including Korea.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.365-375
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• 2016

This study was interpreted the forming process of surface contaminants on ten-story stone pagoda of Wongaksa temple, Seoul. Results of research, we estimated that black contaminants were formed by graphite stuck carbon in air pollution substance after that gypsum was generated by chemical weathering on stone pagoda. White contaminants were built by recrystallization of calcite that were made by decomposition of finishing materials and structure on the stone surface. To preserve a long-term of stone pagoda in Wongaksa temple, there were required that continuous monitoring, anticorrosion treatment and contaminants cleaning of protective facilities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.56-67
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• 1999

It is desired to use a domestically manufactured ocean data buoy for the long-term operational ocean monitoring. The ocean data buoy manufacturing technology was introduced through the research cooperation with the Qingkong University of Taiwan. The introduced ocean data buoy system was further expanded and improved for more efficient application for the marine environmental monitoring in Korea. The size of the ocean data buoy is 2.5 m in diameter, which is smaller compared to the NOAA's 3.0 m discus buoy to allow easy land transportation and ocean deployment as well. From the dynamic response test of the buoy carried out numerically, it was shown that the measurement of waves with period greater than 4 seconds is acceptable. The measurement and control system of the data buoy were improved to increase the number of measuring parameters, to reduce power consumption and to enhance better data analysis and management. Each component of the improved data buoy system was described in detail in this paper. Water quality sensors of water temperature, salinity, DO, pH and turbidity were added to the system in addition to the marine meteorological sensors of wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity, air pressure and wave. Inmarsat satellite communication system is used for the real-time data telemetry from the buoy deployed offshore. A field performance test of the improved and domestically manufactured buoy was carried out for a month at the open sea off Pohang together with DatawelI's Wave-rider buoy to compare the wave data. The results of the test were satisfactory.