• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.69-73
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• 2002

There have been few reports on the survey of pathological findings of cetaceans stranded on the coast of Japan. This is partly because of lack of the procedures and/or network of systemic sampling of fresh tissues for the pathological study of stranded marine mammals. In contrast, there are a numbers of reports on the cause of illness and death in wild, free-living cetaceans examined in other countries; the commonest cause of death was parasitic and bacterial pneumonia except for entanglement in fishing gear. Anthracosis, lung and hilar lymph nodes polluted by suspended particulate matter in the air, has been recently found in some cetaceans stranded on the coast of Japan. In addition to the data from the chemical analysis of tissues, scientific data obtained from pathological study of stranded marine mammals would be also one of the useful base for the assessment of global environment. Usefulness of metallothionein in the hepatopancreas of crabs as a biomarker of marine pollution monitoring was also discussed in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.108-121
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• 2009

The suspended particulate matters have been collected on membrane filters and glass fiber filters by an 8-stage cascade impactor for 2 years (Sep. 2005${\sim}$Sep. 2007) in Kyung Hee University-Global Campus located on the border of Yongin and Suwon. The 20 chemical species (Al, Mn, Si, Fe, Cu, Pb, Cr, Ni, V, Cd, Ba, $Na^+$, ${NH_4}^+$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, ${NO_3}^-$, and ${SO_4}^{2-}$) were analyzed by an ICP-AES and an IC after performing proper pre-treatments of each sample filter. Based on these chemical information, the PMF receptor model was applied to identify the source of ambient size-by-size particulate matters. The receptor modeling is the one of the statistical methods to achieve resonable air pollution management strategies. A total of 10 sources was identified in 9 size-ranges such as long-range transport, secondary aerosol, $NH_{4}NO_{3}$ related source, coal combustion, sea-salt, soil, oil combustion, auto emission, incineration, and biomass burning. Especially, the secondary aerosol source assorted in fine and coarse modes was intensively studied.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.346-354
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• 2014

Objectives: Although a number of epidemiologic studies have examined the association between air pollution and mortality, data limitations have resulted in fewer studies of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ${\leq}2.5{\mu}m$ ($PM_{2.5}$). We conducted a time-series study of the acute effects of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ${\leq}10{\mu}m$($PM_{10}$) and $PM_{2.5}$ on the increased risk of death for all causes and cardiovascular mortality in Seoul, Korea from 2006 to 2010. Methods: We applied the generalized additive model (GAM) with penalized splines, adjusting for time, day of week, holiday, temperature, and relative humidity in order to investigate the association between risk of mortality and particulate matter. Results: We found that $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ were associated with an increased risk of mortality for all causes and of cardiovascular mortality in Seoul. A $10{\mu}g/m^3$ increase in the concentration of $PM_{10}$ corresponded to 0.44% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.25-0.63%), and 0.95% (95% CI: 0.16-1.73%) increase of all causes and of cardiovascular mortality. A $10{\mu}g/m^3$ increase in the concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ corresponded to 0.76% (95% CI: 0.40-1.12%), and 1.63% (95% CI: 0.89-2.37%) increase of all causes and cardiovascular mortality. Conclusion: We conclude that $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ have an adverse effect on population health and that this strengthens the rationale for further limiting levels of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ in Seoul.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.659-663
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• 2021

10 m³/min (CMM) multi-pollutants abatement system was successfully developed by effectively integrating ozone oxidation, wet scrubbing, and wet electrostatic precipitation for the simultaneous removal of particulate matters (PMs) and NOx in a semiconductor fabrication process. The sophisticated control and optimization of operating parameters were conducted to maximize the destruction and removal efficiency of NOx. In particular, the stability test of a wet electrostatic precipitator was carried out in parallel for 30 days to validate the reliability of core parts including a power supply. An O₃/NO ratio, which is the most important operating parameter, was optimized to be about 1.5 and the optimization of wet scrubbing with a reducing agent made it possible to analyze the contribution of neutralization reaction.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.165-173
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• 2021

One of the major sources of air pollution is urban particulate matter (UPM), which causes lung diseases involving oxidative stress, inflammation, and cancer. Codonopsis lanceolata (CL) has been used in East Asia as a traditional oriental medicinal ingredient for lung diseases (e.g., asthma and bronchitis). However, the connection between the impact of CL and UPM in the lungs has rarely been investigated. This study aimed to confirm the inhibitory activity of the ethanol extract of CL (ECL) against oxidative stress and disruption of tight cell junctions in human pulmonary epithelial cells after exposure to UPM. As the lung cells were pre-treated with ECL, the UPM-induced increase in cellular reactive oxygen species production suppressed tight junction proteins (e.g., N-cadherin, fibronectin, occludin, zonula occludens-1, and claudin-4). These results suggest that ECL prevents the possible effects of UPM toxicity on the lungs.

• Atmosphere
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.391-404
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• 2020

To understand the characteristics of the relationship between visibility and particulate matter (PM) in different meteorological conditions, we investigated the contributions of PM and relative humidity (RH) to visibility in Seoul, South Korea. For the period from 2001 to 2018, both PM and RH show descending trends, resulting in a visibility increase. PM has little impact on the hourly variation of visibility, which could be explained more by the RH variability. Meanwhile, the daily change of PM accounts for daily visibility variation. For the monthly variation of visibility, both PM and RH showed similar influence. The correlation coefficients of PM10, PM2.5, and RH with visibility was -0.486, -0.644, and -0.556, respectively, which became higher during the high PM seasons of spring and winter. The correlation coefficient between PM2.5 and visibility was -0.454 for RH higher than 80%, and -0.780 for RH between 40% and 60%. From 2017 to 2018, there were 10 cases of extreme visibility impairment, among which five cases were incurred by high PM pollution, and two cases were by high humidity. Further analysis with PM chemical composition measurements is required to better understand the characteristics of visibility in Seoul.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.29
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• pp.5.1-5.7
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• 2014

Objectives Numerous studies have revealed the adverse health effects of acute and chronic exposure to particulate matter less than $10{\mu}m$ in aerodynamic diameter ($PM_{10}$). The aim of the present study was to examine the spatial distribution of $PM_{10}$ concentrations and cardiovascular mortality and to investigate the spatial correlation between $PM_{10}$ and cardiovascular mortality using spatial scan statistic (SaTScan) and a regression model. Methods From 2008 to 2010, the spatial distribution of $PM_{10}$ in the Seoul metropolitan area was examined via kriging. In addition, a group of cardiovascular mortality cases was analyzed using SaTScan-based cluster exploration. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) was applied to investigate the correlation between $PM_{10}$ concentrations and cardiovascular mortality. Results An examination of the regional distribution of the cardiovascular mortality was higher in provincial districts (gu) belonging to Incheon and the northern part of Gyeonggi-do than in other regions. In a comparison of $PM_{10}$ concentrations and mortality cluster (MC) regions, all those belonging to MC 1 and MC 2 were found to belong to particulate matter (PM) 1 and PM 2 with high concentrations of air pollutants. In addition, the GWR showed that $PM_{10}$ has a statistically significant relation to cardiovascular mortality. Conclusions To investigate the relation between air pollution and health impact, spatial analyses can be utilized based on kriging, cluster exploration, and GWR for a more systematic and quantitative analysis. It has been proven that cardiovascular mortality is spatially related to the concentration of $PM_{10}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.79-84
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• 2003

The main objective of this study was to investigate the chemical characteristics of post-harvest biomass burning aerosols from field burning of barley straw in late spring and rice straw in late fall in rural area in Korea. 12-hr integrated intensive sampling of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ biomass burning aerosols had been conducted continuously at Gwangju, Korea 4-15 June 2001 and 8 October-14 November 2002. The fine and coarse particles of biomass burning aerosols were collected for mass, ionic, elemental, and carbonaceous species analysis. Average fine and coarse mass concentrations of biomass burning aerosols were measured to be 129.6, 24.2 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ in June 2001 and 47.1, 33.2 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ in October to November 2002, respectively. Exceptionally high level of $PM_{2.5}$ concentration up to 157.8 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ well above 24-hour standard was observed during the biomass burning event days under stagnant atmosphere condition. During biomass burning periods dominant ionic species were $Cl^{-}$, ${NO_3}^{-}$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$, and ${NH_4}^{+}$ in fine and coarse mode. In the fine mode $Cl^{-}$ and ${KCl}^{+}$ were unusually rich due to the high content of the semiarid vegetation. High OC values and OC/EC ratios were also measured during the biomass burning periods. Increased amount of fine aerosols with high enrichment, which were originated from biomass burning of post-harvest agricultural waste, resulted in extremely severe particulate air pollution and visibility degradation in the region. Particulate matters from open field burning of agricultural wastes cause great adverse impact on local air quality and regional climate.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.401-406
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• 2023

With the development of industry, fine dust is causing difficulties in various fields such as environment, health, and life, and a large amount of pollutants generated from human social activities are emerging as a serious environmental problem due to air pollution. Therefore, in this study, activated carbon was added to remove fine dust and volatile organic compounds by spinning cellulose acetate polymer fibers on a silicon support using the electrospinning method. By varying the activated carbon ratio and electrospinning time, the fine dust blocking effect and toluene adsorption performance were confirmed according to the activated carbon ratio and filter thickness. As a result, it was shown that the particles were effectively blocked with the increase in the electrospinning time due to the filter thickness increase. Adsorbed amount of toluene was increased with increase in activated carbon amount. Light transmittance was decrease with increase in electrospinning time, showing that there were light transmittance in filters electrospun for 20~30 minutes.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.601-614
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• 2013

The commercial charcoal kiln was projected the largest source of biomass burning sector in Korea. Commercial charcoal kiln was operated to emit air pollutants into the air without any air pollution prevention equipment. The object of this field survey was to understand characteristics of air pollutants concentration and emission factors and to provide preliminary data for effective processor from oak charcoal manufacturing process. As result of field survey, TSP, $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ concentration from charcoal kiln were 400~37,000 $mg/m^3$. These values were over the 100 $mg/m^3$ in TSP, this value was effluent quality standard of Clean Air Conservation Act. The average concentration of CO, $SO_2$ and TVOC were 2~5%. 0~110 ppm and 820~10,000 ppm respectively. The emission factors were 42.4 g-PM/kg-oak in TSP, 40.3 g-PM/kg-oak in $PM_{10}$, 38.2 g-PM/kg-oak in $PM_{2.5}$, 182.5 g-CO/kg-oak, 1.0 g-NO/kg-oak, $SO_2$ 0.2 g-$SO_2/kg$-oak and 104.4 g-TVOC/kg-oak. The part of commercial charcoal kiln had air pollution prevention equipment but it was difficult to work properly. Much wood tar excreted in exhaust emissions from oak charcoal manufacturing process. This wood tar was cause of many troubles sticking in the air pollutant prevention equipment. For handling particulate matters and gaseous air pollutants from oak charcoal manufacturing process in biomass burning, air pollutant prevention equipment design and management needs preprocessor for removal wood tar.