• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.275-286
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• 2013

It is well known that exposure to high level of PM (particulate matter) can adversely affect human health. However, little is known about health burden of PM considering the relationship, exposed level of PM, and health level in local communities. And, there is scarcely methodical assessment of uncertainty for application to policies of these assessment results. The scope of this study is divided into two parts: firstly to estimate the death burden of PM10 (particulate matter less then $10{\mu}m$ in diameter) in Seoul metropolitan region, and secondly to evaluate potential uncertainties in these estimates. To estimate the death burden of PM10 in Seoul metropolitan region from 2005~2010, we firstly assessed the relationship between daily mean PM10 and daily death counts in Seoul from 2000~2010, and calculated the death burden of PM10 using BenMAP (Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program). After that, we identified and characterized uncertainties to substantially influence the results of death burden. The daily mortality risk was increased 1.000227 times (p-value/0.001) associated with $1{\mu}g/m^3$ increase of daily mean PM10 for all ages population, Seoul. And, death burdens of PM10 in Seoul metropolitan region were estimated from 5.51 in 2005 to 5.12 in 2010 per 100,000 people. Finally, we categorized context, model, and input uncertainty and characterized these uncertainties in three dimensions (i.e. location, level, and nature) using uncertainty typology. In our study, we argue that uncertainties need to be identified, assessed, reported and interpreted in order for assessment results to adequately support decision making, such as the establishment of air quality standards based on health burden of air quality.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.93-105
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• 2004

Arkshell clams, Scapharca broughtonii, are economically important edible bivalves and widely cultivated in the Southern coast of Korea. Recently, the production of S. broughtonii has been dramatically decreased and various reasons including chemical pollution were suspected to be related to the production declines. However, it remains unknown whether the chemical pollution levels of the surrounding environments were high enough for the biological and ecological disturbance for the population of S. broughtonii, because no systematic toxicological study using S. broughtonii has been conducted previously. In the present study, we exposed arkshell clams, S. broughtonii to various waterborne pollutants including heavy metals (Cd, Cu and Hg), ammonia and organotins (tributyltin and triphenyltin) to determine the effect concentrations of these pollutants for the survival of S. broughtonii for 20 days. The median lethal concentrations ($LC_50$) of S. broughtonii were 2.1 mg/l for Cd, 0.065 mg/l for Cu, 0.40 mg/l for Hg, 79.4 mg/l for total ammonia (1.9 mg/l for unionized ammonia), 0.5 ${\mu}$g/l for TBT, and 14${\mu}$g/l for TPhT. Lethal toxicity of the most pollutants increased with both exposure duration and concentration. The toxicity of TBT was greatest for S. broughtonii, followed by TPhT > Cu > Hg > Cd > ammonia. The sensitivities of S. broughtonii to heavy metals and TBT were comparable to those of other aquatic organisms, but they were relatively tolerable to ammonia. The environmental concentrations of the tested pollutants were compared with the effect concentrations of those for the survival of S. broughtonii to assess the potential risks of the pollutants in the field conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.6_2
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• pp.781-786
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• 2021

Korean domestic workers are trend to avoid harmful and dangerous jobs calls 3D work due to the poor working conditions. Therefore, the incoming population of foreign workers is increasing to fulfill the required labor force. Mostly these foreign workers are placed in small and medium-size industries. As work that induces musculoskeletal disorders(WMSD) is equally exposed to domestic workers as well as foreign workers, this study attempted to investigate the work burdened by musculoskeletal disorders and derive improvement measures by understanding the actual conditions of the worksites of foreign workers. The result of this investigation defines that the possibility of developing musculoskeletal disorders is very high in the environment in which more than 40% of the respondents work with heavy objects and repetitive work of wrists and elbows. To prevent the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders among foreign workers, three measures were proposed. To reduce the mandatory check-up period of WMSD under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, to revise the employment permit system, and to enhance the practical help of EPS education. Safety and health management of foreign workers is becoming an essential task not only for securing a workforce but also for the national image. Personal and economic losses at the national level should be minimized through policy support such as financial support for small and medium-sized businesses in Korea and supplementation of legal systems for the protection of foreign workers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

This study was intended to set development priorities for five undeveloped neighborhood parks scattered throughout the downtown area of Cheongju City using a PDPI(Park Development Pressure Index). In order to calculate the PDPI, this study employed an additive integration method. The PDPI was graded from 1 to 5, based on the evaluation scores in accordance with nine indicators selected through literature reviews and interviews with public officials. The indicators have been classified into three categories: physical environment, utilization possibility, and facility distribution. The indicators are as follows: 1) 'altitude and inclination' and 'NDVI' as physical environment indicators; 2) 'ratio of residential area', 'forecasted utility population', 'undeveloped period', 'redevelopment near parks', 'ratio of area divided by main streets', reflecting utilization possibility; and 3) 'Distance between Neighborhood Parks' and 'Distribution of alternative facilities' as facility distribution. The following results were found: 1) three neighborhood parks including 'Sagic 2', 'Sachen', and 'Dangsan' were ranked in the first grade of PDPI; and, 2) one neighborhood park 'Samsungdang' was ranked in the fifth grade of PDPI. The above results mean that among undeveloped neighborhood parks, three have been exposed to extremely strong park development pressure, and that while two neighborhood parks have had strong exposure to park development pressure due to potential users according to their close location to Sagic Ro, an east-west main axis of Cheongju City, one neighborhood park has had weak exposure to development pressure because of the close location to 'Chuungbuk National University' and a lack of residential areas, showing a low possibility for development.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.359-369
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• 2013

Chronic effects such as reproduction and population dynamics with elevated $CO_2$ concentration were evaluated using two representative marine benthic species, copepod (Tisbe sp.) and amphipod (Monocorophium acherusicum) adopting long-term exposure. Juvenile copepod and amphipod individuals were cultivated in the seawater equilibrated with control air (0.395 mmol $CO_2$/air mol) and high $CO_2$ air having 0.998, to 3.03, 10.3, and 30.1 mmol $CO_2$/air mol during 20 and 46 days, respectively. After the exposure period, the number of benthic invertebrate was counted with separate larval and juvenile stage such as naupliar, copepodid and adult for copepod, or neonate and adult for amphipod, respectively. The individual number of both test species at each life-stage was significantly decreased in seawater with 10.3 mmol $CO_2$/air mol or higher. Recently, the technology of marine $CO_2$ sequestration has been developed for the reduction of $CO_2$ emission, which may cause climate change. However, under various scenarios of $CO_2$ leaks during the injection process or sequestrated $CO_2$ in marine geological structure, the potential risk to organism including various invertebrates can be expected to exposure. So the results of this study suggested that the detailed consideration on the adverse effect with marine ecosystem can be prerequisite for the marine $CO_2$ sequestration projects.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2017

Previous studies have found that firefighters have a tenfold higher prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) compare to the general population. Firefighters are constantly exposed to various occupational hazards including toxic chemicals of fire residue and the toxic chemicals can effects development and progression of PD. Nevertheless, there were no studies about the association between exposure to chemical byproducts of combustion and the development of PD among firefighters. Thus the aim of this study is to look into existing researches regarding the effect of chemical byproducts of combustion on the development of PD. An extensive literature search was conducted to identify harmful chemical components of smoke and fire residue, using the PubMed database during November of 2016. We searched for relevant articles by combining several keywords that contained "Parkinson's disease" and each of the different toxic chemicals, yielding a total of 1401 articles. After applying the selection criteria, 12 articles were chosen. Chemical substances reported to have a harmful effect on PD, in at least one article, were carbon monoxide, toluene, manganese and lead. Carbon monoxide and metal substances including manganese and lead were found to be associated with an increased PD risk in more than two articles. There was a heightened risk of PD in firefighters due to exposure of chemical byproducts of combustion including carbon monoxide, toluene, manganese and lead. However, to the best of our knowledge, to support this result we need more systematic epidemiological studies about these risk factors of PD among firefighters. In addition, further studies for the effects of prolonged exposure to toxic fire residue on the development and progression of PD in firefighters are needed.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.84-92
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• 2001

In today's world, rise in the establishment of social infrastructure resulting from population saturation in large cities has led to more extensive and frequent use of chemical materials on facilities. A result, unexpected and serious accidents, hazards, contingencies and disasters are more prevalent than ever. Such phenomenon calls for more devoted and concerted efforts towards finding ways to reduce the safety hazards that are seen to take place more often than before with the increase in the number of facilities that are prone to bring disaster and hazard coupled with the conventional safety problems that continue to exist even today. In developed countries, such challenge is addressed by various appropriate countermeasures drawn up by local professional committees on industrial facilities, whose members conduct offsite and onsite evaluation un the potential industrial disasters and its seriousness and provide their advice thereof. Against this backdrop, this study aims at identifying a comprehensive safety allowance level (safety acceptable level) when imposing limitation on the development of conventional or new facilities, for the fur pose of establishing a safety allowance level of disastrous and dangerous facilities in Korea. This is done by assessing and applying the level of danger each individual is exposed to in a randomly selected region (disastrous and dangerous areas in Seoul) based on probability of quantitative hazards, as well as simulation and calculation methods which include: i) social disaster evaluation method applying Quantified Risk Assessment of Health & Safety Executive of UK and Matrix of Risk of Evaluated Sources of Hazard; ii) Fault Tree or Event Tree Analysis and etc.

• Journal of Korea Spatial Information System Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.17-24
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• 2007

The noise problem is one of the major problems associated with large cities and is considered important factor not only in maintenance but also in development of cities. Accordingly, the noise map is being increasingly used in city planning and design. However, the existing two-dimensional noise maps only show regional, planar distribution of noise. This study presented a method to build a data model for analyzing and visualizing noise levels at fine scale considering the vertical distribution of noise in a building. By expanding the 2D topology concept used in conventional GIS to 3D, it suggested a 3D GIS data model that makes 3D spatial queries, analyses and visualization possible and applied the proposed approach to building a 3D noise information system. By building and testing the system, the study showed different functionalities including 3D spatial queries and 3D visualization of noise levels varying temporally or according as the height of sound-proof walls. In each case, the population exposed to noise was quantitatively computed to illustrate the potential in the areas of city planning and design.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4339-4345
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• 2015

Occupational exposure to wood dust is one cause of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC); however, assessing this exposure remains problematic. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a semi-quantitative exposure assessment method and then utilize it to evaluate the association between occupational exposure to wood dust and the development of NPC. In addition, variations in risk by histology were examined. A case-control study was conducted with 327 newly diagnosed cases of NPC at the National Cancer Institute and regional cancer centers in Thailand with 1:1 controls matched for age, gender and geographical residence. Occupational information was obtained through personal interviews. The potential probability, frequency and intensity of exposure to wood dust were assessed on a job-by-job basis by experienced experts. Analysis was performed by conditional logistic regression and presented in odds ratio (ORs) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Overall, a non significant relationship between occupational wood dust exposure and NPC risk for all subjects was observed (ORs=1.61, 95%CI 0.99-2.59); however, the risk became significant when analyses focused on types 2 and 3 of NPC (ORs=1.62, 95%CI 1.03-2.74). The significant association was stronger for those exposed to wood dust for > 10 year (ORs=2.26, 95%CI 1.10-4.63), for those with first-time exposure at age > 25 year (ORs=2.07, 95%CI 1.08-3.94), and for those who had a high cumulative exposure (ORs=2.17, 95%CI 1.03-4.58) when compared with those considered unexposed. In conclusion, wood dust is likely to be associated with an increased risk of type 2 or 3 NPC in the Thai population. The results of this study show that semi-quantitative exposure assessment is suitable for occupational exposure assessment in a case control study and complements the information from self-reporting.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.1158-1167
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• 2012

During the peeling, cutting, and shredding of wild root vegetables, the surface is exposed to air. This results in a rapid deterioration in quality and an increase in the potential of contamination by microorganisms, both of which reduce the shelf-life of wild root vegetables in retail markets. Thus, in this study, the effects of various washing treatments on the quality of wild root vegetables, including lotus root, burdock root, and bellflower root, were investigated at 10 and $24^{\circ}C$. Lotus root, burdock root and bellflower root were washed with 0.2% acetic acid (AA), 0.2% citric acid (CA), 500 ppm acidified sodium chlorite (ASC), and tap water (TW), which was used as a control, and stored at $10^{\circ}C$ and $24^{\circ}C$. The changes in total plate counts, coliform groups, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, color, pH, and exterior appearance of the samples were then evaluated. The pH and initial microbial contamination levels were reduced when the root vegetables were washed with AA, CA, and ASC. In particular, initial population levels of total plate counts and coliform groups were not detected in lotus root and burdock root that had been washed with ASC and their growth was significantly (p<0.05) inhibited during storage at 10 and $24^{\circ}C$ when compared to the control (TW). In addition, the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities of the root vegetables washed with AA, CA and ASC were lower than that of root vegetables washed with TW. ASC was determined to be the most effective treatment for preventing microbial growth, tissue softening, and the development of browning and an unpleasant smell. At $10^{\circ}C$, the overall qualities of the wild root vegetables were maintained longer when compared to $24^{\circ}C$.