• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.393-401
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• 2013

Objectives: Endotoxins in dust generated in occupational settings is known to contribute to the occurrence of respiratory illness among workers. The relationship between the level of endotoxins in total dust or respirable particulates collected from swine farms and immunological markers related with respiratory allergy was evaluated among swine husbandry workers. Materials and Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from ten workers at ten swine farms at Gyeonggi province, Korea. Peripheral mononuclear cells were stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin for 48 hours. The levels of various cytokines produced at culture supernatants were determined using a commercially available ELISA kit. The concentration of particulate matter($PM_{10}$) in the indoor air of the swine farms was evaluated using a PVC membrane filter and mini volume air sampler, and endotoxin levels in the dust were measured by Limulus Amebocyte Lysate Kinetic QCL method. Results: Levels of endotoxins in the total dust were categorized into high(geometric mean: $109.35EU/m^3$) and low concentrations (geometric mean: $0.95EU/m^3$) for five swine farms. Interleukin-4 levels were higher in the high endotoxin group than in the low endotoxin group, while interferon-${\gamma}$ levels were lower in the high endotoxin group than in the low endotoxin group. The ratio (interferon-${\gamma}$ to interleukin-4), indicating immunologic skewedness against allergic reactivities, was lower in the high endotoxin group($1.15{\pm}0.60$) than the low endotoxin group($3.09{\pm}2.38$). In addition, the level of interleukin-13, another cytokine contributing to the occurrence of allergic responses, was significantly higher in the at the high endotoxin group($1.12{\pm}0.37ng/m{\ell}$) than in the low endotoxin group($0.37{\pm}0.04ng/m{\ell}$). Hematologic assessment showed significantly lower cellularity in the number of total leukocytes, neutrophils, and eosinophils in the high endotoxin group than in the low endotoxin group. Conclusions: Even though a sufficient number of swine workers and farms were not investigated, this study generlly suggests that the immunological function of swine farm workers exposed to high levels of endotoxin could be modulated toward allergic reactivities.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.564-573
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• 2006

This study was performed to examine the effect of particulate matter less than 10 ${\mu}m$ in diameter($PM_{10}$) on respiratory-related admission in Seoul, 1999. Daily counts of respiratory-related admission were analyzed by generalized additive model with adjustment for effects of air temperature, humidity, and day of the week as confounders in a nonparametric approach. The results follow associations between $PM_{10}$ and asthma, acute upper respiratory disease, acute lower respiratory disease, pneumonia, and chronic respiratory disease. The relative risks were 1.30(95% CI=1.14$\sim$1.50) for pneumonia, 1.18(95% CI=1.01$\sim$1.37) for acute lower respiratory disease in less than 15 years, respectively. The relative risks were 1.85(95% CI=1.22$\sim$2.81) for acute lower respiratory disease, 1.28(95% CI=1.04$\sim$1.57) for asthma, 1.25(95% CI=1.01$\sim$1.54) for pneumonia and 1.19(95% CI=1.01$\sim$1.41) for acute upper respiratory disease in 15 to 64 years, respectively The relative risks were 1.54(95% CI=1.15$\sim$2.08) for asthma, 1.38(95% CI=1.06$\sim$l.80) for chronic respiratory disease in more than 65 years, respectively. The study showed that $PM_{10}$ was considerably affects daily counts of respiratory-related admission in Seoul, 1999 Statistically significant associations were mostly found in the adult group like If to 64 years. The highly relative risks come out in the elderly.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.360-372
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• 2010

Concentrations of ambient air particles such as total suspended particulates (TSP), particulate matter $(PM)_{10}$, and $PM_{2.5}$, were monitored simultaneously from May to June, 2007, at four locations at Alashan and Beijing in China, and Seoul and Gosan in South Korea. These monitoring sites are in the pathway of Asian dust (AD) storms traveling from China to the Korean peninsula. An AD event was observed in the Korean peninsula on May 25-26. During the sampling period, the average concentrations of TSP and PM10 were each higher than $150\;{\mu}g/m^3$ in Alashan and Beijing, but not in Seoul and Gosan. The concentration of TSP in Alashan (where the dust storm originated) on the day of the AD event reached $1824.7\;{\mu}g/m^3$, this being the highest concentration of air particles observed during the sampling period. The level was decreased to 15% of this ($274.7\;{\mu}g/m^3$) in Seoul and to 8.7% ($159.0\;{\mu}g/m^3$) in Gosan when the AD was observed two days later in Korea. Gosan, a representative background site in East Asia, displayed the lowest concentration of particles, with this maximal TSP concentration of $159\;{\mu}g/m^3$. Inorganic element contents in the air particles were also measured, and the concentrations in the four different regions compared. Concentrations of anthropogenically-enriched heavy metals in $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$, such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, were higher in the metropolitan cities of Beijing and Seoul compared to non-industrialized regions of Alashan and Gosan. However, the concentrations of inorganic soil elements including iron, magnesium, aluminum sodium, and manganese, were higher in Alashan compared to those in other sampling sites.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.393-399
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• 2021

In this study, experiments were conducted to estimate the PM concentrations by learning the nighttime CCTV images of various PM concentrations environments. In the case of daytime images, there have been many related studies, and the various texture and brightness information of images is well expressed, so the information affecting learning is clear. However, nighttime images contain less information than daytime images, and studies using only nighttime images are rare. Therefore, we conducted an experiment combining nighttime images with non-uniform characteristics due to light sources such as vehicles and streetlights and building roofs, building walls, and streetlights with relatively constant light sources as an ROI (Region of Interest). After that, the correlation was analyzed compared to the daytime experiment to see if deep learning-based PM concentrations estimation was possible with nighttime images. As a result of the experiment, the result of roof ROI learning was the highest, and the combined learning model with the entire image showed more improved results. Overall, R² exceeded 0.9, indicating that PM estimation is possible from nighttime CCTV images, and it was calculated that additional combined learning of weather data did not significantly affect the experimental results.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2461-2476
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• 2013

To assess environmental contamination with carcinogens, carbonaceous compounds, water-soluble ionic species and trace gaseous species were identified and quantified every three hours for three days st three different atmospheric layer at the heart of chiang-Mai, bangkok and hat-Yai from December 2006 to February 2007. A DRI model 2001 Themal/Optical Carbon Analyzer with the IMPROVE thermal/optical reflectance (TOR) protocol was used to quantify the organic carbon(OC) and elemental carbon content in $PM_{10}$. Diurnal and vertical variability was also carefully investigated. In general, OC and EC contenttration shoeed the highest values at the monitoring period o 21.00-00.00 as consequences of human activities at night bazaar coupled with reduction of mixing layer, decreased wind speed and termination of photolysis nighttime. Morning peaks of carboaceous compounds were observed during the sampling period of 06:00 -09:00, emphasizing the main contribution of traffic emission in the three cities. The estimation of incremental lifetime partculate matter exposure (ILPE) raises concern of high risk of carbonaceous accumulation over workers and residents living close to the observatory sites. The average values of incremental lifrtime particulate matter exposure (ILPE) of total carbon at Baiyoke Suit Hotel and Baiyoke Sky Hotel are approsimately ten time shigher then those air sample collected at prince of songkla University Hat-Yai campus corpse incinerator and fish-can maufacturing factory but only slightly higher than those of rice straw burnig in Songkla province. This indicates a high risk of developing lung cancer and other respiratory diseases across workers and residents living in high buildings located in Pratunam area. Using knowledge of carbonaceous fractions in $PM_{10}$, one can estimate the gas-particle partitioning of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Dachs-Eisenreich model highlights the crucial role of adsorption in gas-particle partitioning of low molecular weight PAHs, whereas both absorption and adsorption tend to account for gas-particle partitioning of high molecular weight PAHs in urban residential zones of Thailand. Interestingly, the absorption mode alone plays a minor role in gas-partcle partitiining of PAHs in Chiang-Mai, Bangkok and hat-Yai.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.302-313
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• 2008

The purposes of this study are to investigate the concentration levels of fine particles, so called PM$_{2.5}$, to identify the affecting sources, and to estimate quantitatively the source contributions of PM$_{2.5}$. Ambient air sampling was seasonally carried out at two sites in Pohang(a residential and an industrial area) during the period of March to December 2003. PM$_{2.5}$ samples were collected by high volume air samplers with a PM$_{10}$ Inlet and an impactor for particle size segregation, and then determined by gravimetric method. The chemical species associated with PM$_{2.5}$ were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma spectrophotometery(ICP) and ion chromatography(IC). The results showed that the most significant season for PM$_{2.5}$ mass concentrations appeared to be spring, followed by winter, fall, and summer. The annual mean concentrations of PM$_{2.5}$ were 36.6 $\mu$g/m$^3$ in the industrial and 30.6 $\mu$g/m$^3$ in the residential area, respectively. The major components associated with PM$_{2.5}$ were the secondary aerosols such as nitrates and sulfates, which were respectively 4.2 and 8.6 $\mu$g/m$^3$ in the industrial area and 3.7 and 6.9 $\mu$g/m$^3$ in the residential area. The concentrations of chemical component in relation to natural emission sources such as Al, Ca, Mg, K were generally higher at both sampling sites than other sources. However, the concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cr in the industrial area were higher than those in the residential area. Based on the principal component analysis and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis for both areas, it was found that soil/road dust and secondary aerosols are the most significant factors affecting the variations of PM$_{2.5}$ in the ambient air of Pohang. The source apportionments of PM$_{2.5}$ were conducted by chemical mass balance(CMB) modeling. The contributions of PM$_{2.5}$ emission sources were estimated using the CMB8.0 receptor model, resulting that soil/road dust was the major contributor to PM$_{2.5}$, followed by secondary aerosols, vehicle emissions, marine aerosols, metallurgy industry. Finally, the application and its limitations of chemical mass balance modeling for PM$_{2.5}$ was discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.118-128
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• 2016

As the interest on the air-pollution is gradually rising up at home and abroad, automotive and fuel researchers have been working on the exhaust emission reduction from vehicles through a lot of approaches, which consist of new engine design, innovative after-treatment systems, using clean (eco-friendly alternative) fuels and fuel quality improvement. This research has brought forward two main issues : exhaust emission and PM (particulate matter) particle emissions of gasoline vehicle. Exhaust emission and PM particle of automotive had many problem that cause of ambient pollution, health effects. In addition, researcher studied the environment problems of the MTBE contained in the fuel as oxygenate additives. The researchers have many data about the health effects of ingestion of MTBE. However, the data support the conclusion that MTBE is a potential human carcinogen at high doses. Based on the oxygenated fuel additive types (MTBE, Bio-ETBE, Bio-ethanol, Bio-butanol), this paper discussed the influence of oxygen contents on gasoline fuel properties and evaporative emission characteristics. Also, this paper assessed the acceleration and power performance of gasoline vehicle for the fuel property.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.49-59
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• 2020

Various devices have been developed to the measurement of particulate matter pollutants, and Optical Particle Counter (OPC) that can be easily and quickly measured is widely used lately. The measured value by OPC is converted to weight concentration using the correction factor (CF). The calculation of CF is very important to improve the reliability and accuracy of OPC. In this study, the CF calculation study of light scattering laser photometer (model 8533, TSI) was carried out to measure in the atmospheric environment using 2 gravimetric devices and 3 light scattering laser photometer devices. Regression analysis and Tukey tests were used to significance the test of measurement devices. Measurements were carried out twice. There was a comparative analysis of measurement data between light scattering laser photometer and gravimetric devices in 1st measurement, and then the Evaluation of PM2.5 concentration corrected by CF performed in 2nd measurement. As a result of the significance analysis between light scattering laser photometer and gravimetric devices, the correlation between the same method was high, but the correlation between different methods was low. CF was calculated as 0.4258 based on the measurement results, and it is a similar level to previous studies at home and abroad. It is expected that these results can be used as basic data in the future study for air quality measurement research using light scattering laser photometer. Also, in order to improve the accuracy of the measurement techniques and the development of technology in the atmospheric environment, CF calculation research should be conducted continuously.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.17-25
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• 2016

In this study, the air quality of underground and overground railway stations was evaluated focusing on the degree of influence of the outside air quality. The measured components were particulate matter ($PM_{10}$), carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$), formaldehyde (HCHO), ozone ($O_3$), total airborne bacteria (TAB), total volatile organic carbon (TVOC), and Radon (Rn), which are included in the maintenance standards and recommended standards of the Indoor Air Quality Management Act. Also, the indoor/outdoor concentration ratios of $PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, and $O_3$ were calculated to estimate the influence of the outdoor air quality. The concentrations of $PM_{10}$ HCHO, TVOC, $NO_2$, and Rn in the underground stations were found to be higher than those in the overground stations. These results indicate that the (present) generation of contaminants are caused by the indoor source of the underground station. The ozone concentration of the overground stations was higher than that of the underground stations, which indicates that the outdoor ozone concentration influenced that of the overground stations directly. Thus, methods of improving the IAQ should take into consideration the types of contamination.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.483-489
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• 2020

Particulate matter is divided into PM10 (particle diameter of 10 ㎛ or less) and PM2.5 (particle diameter of 2.5 ㎛ or less), which are approximately 1/5 of the thickness of the hair. Due to its effect on the human body, lung disease, arteriosclerosis and heart It is known as a carcinogen that causes various diseases such as diseases. It is known that the main cause of such fine dust is nitrogen dioxide (NOx), which is emitted from automobiles in about 57.3% of urban roadsides. Therefore, in this study, as part of the development of functional construction materials to reduce NOx generated from road transport pollutants, comparative evaluation of NOx reduction performance was conducted according to the replacement rate of cement mortar in which cement was replaced with a porous material. In addition, the NOx reduction performance of cement mortar according to the photocatalyst application method and the number of applications was compared an d evaluated. As a result of the experiment, when activated ocher was substituted by 30%, it showed a reduction effect of about 32.7%, showing the best reduction performance.