• 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.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.455-460
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• 2020

In order to identify the characteristics of fine particle emissions from thermal power plants, this study conducted measurement of the primary emission concentration of TPM, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 according to Korea standard test method (ES 01301.1) and ISO 23210 method (KS I ISO 23210). Particulate matters were sampled in total 74 units of power plants such as 59 units of coal-fired power plants, 7 units of heavy oil power plants, 2 units of biomass power plant, and 6 units of liquid natural gas power plants. The average concentration of TPM, PM₁₀, PM_2.5 by fuel are 3.33 mg/m³, 3.01 mg/m³, 2.70 mg/m³ in coal-fired plant, 3.02 mg/m³, 2.99 mg/m³, 2.93 mg/m³ in heavy oil plant, 0.114 mg/m³, 0.046 mg/m³, 0.036 mg/m³ in LNG plant, respectively. These results of TPM, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 were satisfied with the standards of fine dust emission allowance in all units of power plants, respectively. Also, this study evaluated the characteristics of fine particle emissions by conditions of power plants including generation sources, boiler types and operation years and calculated emission factors and then evaluated fine particle emissions by sources of electricity generation.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.1816-1820
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• 2008

Indoor air quality in public transportation such as railway, subway and bus is hard to control because of spatial restrict and variation of passenger's number. On January 2007, The Ministry of Environment announced "the guideline of indoor air quality in public transportation" for the concentration managements of particulate matter and carbon dioxide. In this study, we measured the PM10 concentration inside the Mugunghwa-ho passenger cabin and outdoor air and counted passengers. By the statistical analysis using SigmaPlot 2001 and SPSS 13.0, we found that indoor PM10 concentration is significantly affected by outdoor air. It is suggested that the air quality of inflow to the passenger cabin for air exchange must be controlled to support the indoor environment comfortably.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.310-317
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• 2022

Recently, interest in the harmful factors of particulate matter (PM), a major component of air pollution, has been increasing. In particular, PM_2.5 with a diameter of less than 2.5 ㎛ is well known to induce oxidative stress accompanied by autophagy in human lung epithelial cells. However, studies on whether PM_2.5 increases autophagy under oxidative stress and whether this process is reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent are insufficient. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether PM_2.5 promotes autophagy through the generation of ROS in human alveolar epithelial A594 cells. According to our results, cells co-treated with PM_2.5 and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) showed a lower cell viability than cells treated with each alone, which was associated with increased total and mitochondrial ROS production. The co-treatment of PM_2.5 and H₂O₂ also increased autophagy induction, which was confirmed through Cyto-ID staining, and the expression of autophagy biomarker proteins increased. However, when ROS generation was artificially blocked by N-acetyl-L-cysteine pretreatment, the reduction in cell viability and induction of autophagy by PM_2.5 and H₂O₂ co-treatment were markedly attenuated. Therefore, the present results suggest that PM_2.5-induced ROS generation may play a critical role in autophagy induction in A549 cells.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.90-98
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• 2013

Objectives: Many studies have shown that air pollution and temperature have adverse effects on mortality and morbidity. But the interactive effect between air pollution and temperature on mortality has been rarely investigated. This study aims to explore whether temperature modifies the associations between ambient particulate matter less than $10{\mu}m$ in diameter ($PM_{10}$) and mortality in Seoul, Korea. Methods: The time-series analysis examined the effect of the interaction between $PM_{10}$ and temperature on mortality from 1999 to 2010 in Seoul. In order to examine the interactive effect between $PM_{10}$ and temperature on mortality, we fitted a response surface model controlling the time-trends and meteorological variables. The effects of $PM_{10}$ were stratified by temperature stratum to quantitatively estimate the $PM_{10}$-health outcome associations. Results: When temperature was low (below the threshold temperature), the percentage increases per $10{\mu}g/m^3$ increase of $PM_{10}$ increased 0.38% (95% Confidence Interval[CI]: 0.09~0.68%) and 0.31% (95% CI: - 0.07~0.68%) of mortality in the all age group and ${\geq}65$ year age group, respectively. When temperature was high (above the threshold temperature), the percentage increases per $10{\mu}g/m^3$ increase of $PM_{10}$ increased 1.09% (95% CI: 0.47~1.72%) and 1.35% (95% CI: 0.65~2.06%) for mortality in the all age group and ${\geq}65$ year age group, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study showed strong modification by temperature in the association between $PM_{10}$ and mortality. We recommend that public health strategies to minimize adverse health impact of heat and $PM_{10}$ should be considered in control and prevention measures for air pollution and weather-related health impacts.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.151-151
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• 2023

본 연구는 호우(heavy rain) 발생 시 대기 중 미세먼지(particulate matter, PM) 저감효과를 규명하고 강우 지속에 따른 빗물 수질(pH, 전기전도도(electrical conductivity, EC), 수용성 이온) 분석을 통해 대기 중 PM이 빗물 수질에 미치는 영향을 평가하였다. 2020년 3월부터 2021년 2월까지강우 강도(7.5 mm/h)를 기준으로 총 6회의 강우를 대상으로 하였으며 빗물 샘플은 집수장치를 통해 50 mL를 연속적으로 수집하여 수질을 분석하였다. 대기 중 PM_2.5 (≤ 2.5 ㎛ in diameter) 및 PM₁₀ (≤ 10 ㎛ in diameter) 농도는 기상청 내 부산 남구 대연동 관측소의 automatic weather system (AWS)에서 측정된 일평균 자료를 이용하였다. 강우에 따른 대기 중 PM의 저감효율은 상대적으로 PM₁₀에서 뚜렷하게 나타났으며, 특히 강우 강도 7.5 mm/h 이상(유형 1)의 호우 발생 시60% 이상의 저감효율을 보였다. 반면, 강우 강도 7.5 mm/h 이하(유형 2)일 때는 10% 이하의 저감효율을 보였으며, 강우 지속에 따라 대기 중 PM₁₀ 농도가 증가하는 경향을 보이기도 하였다. 총108개의 빗물 샘플 수질을 분석한 결과, 유형 1의 경우 초기 빗물의 평균 EC는 58.5 µS/cm으로 상대적으로 높았으며 대기 중 PM₁₀과 양의 상관관계(r = 0.99)를 보였고 평균 pH는 4.3으로 산성도가 높게 나타났으며 대기 중 PM₁₀과 음의 상관관계(r = -0.99)를 보였다. 반면, 유형 2의 경우 대기 중 PM₁₀과 EC (r = -0.56) 및 pH (r = -0.41) 간 뚜렷한 상관관계가 나타나지 않았다. 또한 강우가 지속됨에 따라 EC와 수용성 양이온(Na⁺, Mg²⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, NH₄⁺) 및 음이온(Cl^-, NO₃^-, SO₄^2-)의 농도는 지속적으로 감소하는 경향을 보였으나 pH의 경우 강우 강도에 따라 증감의 경향이 다르게 나타났다. 유형 1의 경우 강우 지속에 따라 pH가 증가하여 산성도가 낮아졌으나 유형 2는 pH의 증감 형태를 뚜렷하게 확인하기 어려웠다. 연구 결과를 통해 강우 초기 높은 강도로 강우가 지속될 경우 대기 중 PM₁₀이 빗물 수질에 영향을 미칠 수 있는 것으로 판단되며, 이에 따라 호우 발생 시 강우가 대기 중 오염물질을 지표면으로 유입시킬 수 있는 매개체로 작용할 수 있음을 지시한다.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2014

Recent episodes of severe air pollution in eastern Asia have been reported in the scientific literature and news media. Therefore, there is growing concern about the systemic effects of air pollution on human health. Along with the other well-known harmful effects of air pollution, recently, several animal models have provided strong evidence that air pollutants can induce liver toxicity and act to accelerate liver inflammation and steatosis. This review briefly describes examples where exposure to air pollutants was involved in liver toxicity, focusing on how particulate matter (PM) or carbon black (CB) may be translocated from lung to liver and what liver diseases are closely associated with these air pollutants.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 1999

This paper aims to describe the characteristics of air pollution using air pollutants concentration and meteorological data observed at Kimhae from December 1996 to November, 1997. The results are as follows : The concentration distribution of sulfur dioxide($SO_2$), carbon monoxide(CO), particulate matter(PM-10), and nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$) is high during the late fall and winter and low during the summer, but ozone concentration is low during the winter season and high during summer season except Jangma period and these distributions appear to be closely connected with insolation and the number of clear day. Diurnal variation of concentrations for sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide are high during the rush hours and nighttime and low during the daytime and these variations are distinct toward the winter season. And diurnal variation of nitrogen dioxide concentration has also same pattern and these patterns are closely related to the increasing traffic volume at rush hours. Diurnal variation of ozone concentration is generally increase for daytime and decrease for the late afternoon and are closely related to the insolation and photochemical reaction. The 24 hour average concentrations of air pollutant observed at Kimhae represented a positive correlation and a negative correlation for $O_3$ and also a negative correlation for the meteorological elements such as wind speed and cloud cover.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.109-127
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• 2022

Recently, low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors have been widely used in monitoring mass concentration. Maintaining the accuracy of the sensors is important and requires rigorous performance evaluation and calibration. In this study, two commercial low-cost PM sensors(LCS), Plantower PMS3003 and Plantower PMS7003, were evaluated in the laboratory and field with a reference-grade PM monitor (GRIMM 11-D). Laboratory evaluation was conducted with single/mixed particles of PSL (Poly Styrene Latex) in an acrylic chamber at 20℃ and relative humidity of 20%. Field evaluation was conducted inside a building of Yonsei University (Shinchon) from February 12 to March 31, 2022. In both evaluations, LCS measured values became different from reference measured values when the relative humidity was high or the outdoor air PM10/PM2.5 ratio was high. Based on the field evaluation, the LCS measured values were corrected through four different regression analysis models. As a result, the multivariate polynomial regression analysis model showed highest matching with the reference PM monitor (PM2.5 >0.9, PM10 >0.85). In this model, the PM10/PM2.5 ratio and relative humidity were chosen as independent variables.

• Journal of the korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.35-38
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• 2004

이미 알려진 바와 같이 차세대 차량에 채용될 동력 시스템의 연구개발이 배출가스 규제에 대한 배기 성능의 획기적 개선에 집중되고 있는 한편, 포괄적 친환경 차량 개발 또한 일반의 관심을 끌고 있다. 현재에 이르기까지 배출가스 규제치 즉, 대기로 배출되는 질소산화물(NOx), 입자상물질(Particulate Matter, PM) 및 미연탄화수소 등에 대한 정량적 규제치의 만족여부가 차량의 친환경 여부를 가리는 척도로 주로 인식되어 왔으나, 금후 보다 본격적으로 완성차량 조립을 위한 전 제품의 제조과정으로부터 차량 폐기까지를 총괄한 포괄적 환경 영향 평가가 필수 불가결한 요소로 등장하리라 예측된다. (중략)