• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.528-529
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.484-485
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• 2009

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2003

Objectives : I used a case-crossover design to investigate the association between air pollution, and hospital admissions for asthmatic children under the age of 15 years in Seoul, Korea Methods : I estimated the changes in the levels of hospitalization risk from theinterquartile (IQR) increase in each pollutant concentrations, using conditional logistic regression analyses, with controls for weather information. Results : Using bidirectional control sampling, the results from a conditional logistic regression model, with controls for weather conditions, showed the estimated relative risk of hospitalization for asthma among children to be 1.04 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01-1.08) for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10m (IQR=40.4ug/m3); 1.05 (95% CI, 1.00- 1.09) for nitrogen dioxide (IQR=14.6ppb): 1.02 (95% CI,0.97-1.06) for sulfur dioxide (IQR=4.4ppb): 1.03 (95% CI, 0.99-1.08) for ozone (IQR=21.7ppb): and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.99-1.08) for carbon monoxide f10R=1.0ppm). Conclusions : This empirical analysis indicates the bidirectional control sampling methods, by design, would successfully control the confounding factors due to the long-term time trends of air pollution. These findings also support the hypothesis that air pollution at levels below the current ambient air quality standards of Korea is harmful to sensitive subjects, such as asthmatic children.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.333-341
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• 2017

Recently, the earth has shown the limit of environmental capacity. It is also experiencing an environmental crisis with rising energy prices and depletion of coal. Therefore, development of renewable energy is very important solution. However, waste fuel solid are renewable fuels, but they cause environmental problems. In this study, the emission characteristics of hazardous air pollutants were analyzed through measurements at the facilities using solid fuels (SRF, BIO-SRF). Analysis method of PAHs are based on the Korea Standard Methods for Examination. The analysis of PAHs showed that the concentration much higher in Naphthalene, and Benzo(a)pyrene showed at a higher concentration incertain sources. As a result of gas phase and particle phase PAHs, most of Benzo(a)pyrene appeared to be particulate. Through the results of this study will provide basic data for atmospheric environmental management.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.542-553
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• 2018

Since many previous studies reported the health effect of air pollution and indicated traffic as a major pollution source, significant policy efforts have been made to control traffic to reduce air pollution. However, there have been few studies that evaluated such policy implementation. In Seoul, Korea, the exclusive median bus lane system was implemented in 2004, and the metropolitan government applied air pollution reduction policies such as conversion of diesel buses to compressed natural gas buses and installation of emission control devices. This paper aimed to investigate the impact of the exclusive median bus lane system on air pollution reduction. Using hourly concentrations of particulate matter ($PM_{10}$) and nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$) measured at 131 regulatory monitoring sites in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do for 2001-2014, we calculated annual and daily average concentrations at each site. We assessed the impact of the policy using differences-in-differences analysis by annual and daily average models after adjusting for geographic and/or meteorological variables. This method divides population into treatment and control groups with and without policy application, and compares the difference between the two time periods before and after the policy implementation in the treatment group with the difference in the control group. We classified all monitoring sites into treatment and control groups using two definitions: 1) Seoul vs. Gyeonggi-do; 2) within vs. outside 300 meters from the median bus lane. Pre- and post-policy periods were defined as 2001-2005 and 2006-2014, and 2004 and 2014 in the annual and daily models, respectively. The decrease in $PM_{10}$ concentrations between the two periods across monitoring sites in the treatment group was larger by $1.73-5.88{\mu}g/m^3$ than in the control group. $NO_2$ also showed the decrease without statistical significance. Our findings suggest that an efficient public transport policy combined with pollution abatement policies can contribute to reduction in air pollution.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.55-67
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• 2019

Recently, as the amount of particulate matter blowing from China increases, the domestic air environment is rapidly deteriorating. This pollution of the atmosphere greatly affects the light energy reaching the ground. Particularly, since the light enters the solar cell module in various forms, the amount of input energy of the solar power generation system may be changed depending on the ratio of direct beam irradiation and diffused horizontal irradiation. In this paper, we analyze how the ratio of direct beam component and diffused component on global horizontal irradiation varies with the atmospheric conditions. In addition, the reliability of the regression equation, designed to decompose the global horizontal irradiation into horizontal direct beam irradiation and diffused horizontal irradiation, was verified according to the level of air pollution. So, we derive the most suitable decomposition model for use in domestic climatic conditions in Korea by comparing the ratio of direct and diffuse component on the horizontal which is calculated with Perez model and Watanabe model using the meteorological weather data observed for 14 months. Finally, to reduce the error of the transposition result, we verified the reliability of the decomposition which depends on the atmospheric environment.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2021

Ambient air pollution, in particular, particulate matter (PM) pollution imposes serious health concerns such as hospitalization and premature deaths, worldwide. While commercial breathing masks are in use for protection against this hazardous issue, yet their efficiency in filtering PM was not up to the par, besides several other discomforts such as poor breathability due to reduced air flow, sweat production etc. In this study, commercial face mask coated with β-glucan, a high molecular weight polymer is tested for its efficacy in filtering PM. Quantification of PM before and after filtration and microscopic observation (using scanning electron microscopy (SEM)) of the fabric used in filtering the dust pollutants (generated from wood chips and cigarette) showed that β-glucan coated fabric were significantly efficient in capturing PM (size of 10 and 2.5 ㎛ in diameter) than that of the untreated control fabric, wherein the former had filtration efficacy with fold increase of 11.6 and 2.6 towards capturing PM2.5 and PM10 respectively than the latter. Thus, β-glucan coated fabric was found to be effective in filtering PM.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.17-41
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• 2021

Kazakhstan's cities experience high concentrations levels of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), which is well-known for its highly detrimental effect on the human health. A further increase in PM concentrations in the future could lead to a higher air pollution-caused morbidity and mortality, causing an increase in healthcare expenditures by the government. However, to prevent elevated PM concentrations in the future, more stringent standards could be implemented by lowering current maximum allowable PM concentration limit to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s limits. Therefore, this study aims to find out what impact this change in environmental policy towards PM has on state economy in the long run. Future PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were estimated using multiple linear regression based on gross regional product (GRP) and population growth parameters. Dose-response model was based on World Health Organization's approach for the identification of mortality, morbidity and healthcare costs due to air pollution. Analysis of concentrations revealed that only 6 out of 21 cities of Kazakhstan did not exceed the EU limit on PM10 concentration. Changing environmental standards resulted in the 71.7% decrease in mortality and 77% decrease in morbidity cases in all cities compared to the case without changes in environmental policy. Moreover, the cost of morbidity and mortality associated with air pollution decreased by $669 million in 2030 and $2183 million in 2050 in case of implementation of OECD standards. Thus, changing environmental regulations will be beneficial in terms of both of mortality reduction and state budget saving.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.593-604
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• 2017

The suspended particulate matter(PM) was measured in subway tunnel of Seoul Line 1 to 9 in order to evaluate the pollution degree and characteristics of the PM in the subway tunnel. Also, to analyze the effect of outdoor aerosol concentration on the PM concentration of subway tunnels, the ambient PM concentration around the subway station was extracted by spatial analysis using $PM_{10}$ data of Seoul air pollution monitoring network. Finally, in order to understand pollution pattern in the Seoul subway tunnels, cluster analysis was performed based on input data set such as PM levels in tunnel, tunnel depth, length, curvature radius, outdoor ambient air pollution levels and so on. The average concentration of $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, and $PM_1$ on subway tunnels were $98.0{\pm}37.4$, $78.4{\pm}28.7$, and $56.9{\pm}19.2{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. As a result of the cluster analysis, tunnels from Seoul subway Line-1 to Line-9 were classified into five classes, and the concentrations and physical properties of the tunnels were compared. This study can provide a method to reduce PM concentration in tunnel for each pollution pattern and provide basic information about air quality control in Seoul subway tunnel.