• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.663-671
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• 2011

Although a scooter is a convenient transportation means for a short distance traveling with a light package in the congested urban center, it might be one of the significant sources of air pollutants to which many people can easily be exposed during its passing-by. In this paper, we measured concentrations of gases and particles emitted from a scooter at roadside with no other traffic. To understand the characteristics of scooter emissions with respect to driving speed (idling, 30 km/h) at the roadside, total particle number concentration, particle size distribution, average surface area of particles deposited in the alveolar region, and concentrations of black carbon, CO, and $NO_x$ were measured. The concentrations of the particle number, surface area of deposited particles, CO, and $NO_x$ were highly fluctuated in the scooter's idling condition. The trends of particle number concentration, CO, and $NO_x$ generation were similar to one another. When the scooter started to move, all of $NO_x$, CO and particle number concentrations increased and after it passed by at the speed of 30 km/h, the concentration peaks of the particles and gases appeared at the same time. Unimodal size distribution with ~70 and ~93 nm mode diameters was observed for the idling and cruising condition, respectively. From this work, we found that emission from a passing vehicle could be characterized using a roadside monitoring technique.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2014

An increasing number of recent studies have focused on the impact of particulate matter on human health. As a model for atmospheric particulate inhalation, we investigated the effects of inhaled carbon black nanoparticles (CBNP) on mice with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. The CNBPs were generated by a novel aerosolization process, and the mice were exposed to the aerosol for 4 hours. We found that CBNP inhalation exacerbated lung inflammation, as evidenced by histopathology analysis and by the expression levels of interleukin-6 protein, fibronectin, and interferon-${\gamma}$ mRNAs in lung tissues. Notably, fibronectin mRNA expression showed a statistically significant increase in expression after CBNP exposure. These data suggest that the concentration of CBNPs delivered (calculated to be $12.5{\mu}g/m^3$) can aggravate lung inflammation in mice. Our results also suggest that the inhalation of ultrafine particles like PM 2.5 is an impactful environmental risk factor for humans, particularly in susceptible populations with predisposing lung conditions.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.119-130
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• 2014

Home is a major living environment of children. In urban area, indoor air at home could be severely influenced by combustion sources such as vehicle exhaust and cooking. In this work, the air quality of a high-rise apartment was investigated by monitoring combustion-related air pollutants at both indoor and outdoor in winter of 2014. From 48-h continuous monitoring data, large amount of $NO_x$ was observed at the balcony of the high-rise apartment during the morning traffic hours. It deteriorated indoor air quality of the apartment. During the cooking activity, high peak episodes of ultrafine particles were seen. It was concluded that effects of vehicle exhaust and cooking activity on the indoor air of the high-rise apartment could be easily checked by $NO_x$ and ultrafine particle indicators, respectively.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.149-161
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• 2013

Experiments on photochemical reactions of purified air alone in an indoor smog chamber were carried out after flushing Teflon bags with purified air for many hours in order to check the level of contamination on the chamber wall. Ozone concentrations were linearly increased from <4 ppb up to about 8 ppb with irradiation time for four hours. Outgassing of NOx from the chamber wall was found to be less than 1 ppb. New ultrafine particles were formed and grown up to about 70 nm during the photochemical reactions, and then total number and mass concentrations of particles were increased from <10 particles/$cm^3$ up to about 4,000 particles/$cm^3$ and $1.3{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The wall conditions of these Teflon bags flushed with purified air might not severly affect the chamber experimental results for photochemical reactions of polluted urban ambient air. The difference of gaseous species between two chambers was 2.4 ppb of ozone at most, indicating that the wall cleaning performance of two chambers was nearly similar.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this case study is to assess workers' exposure to carbon nanotubes(CNTs) and characterize particles aerosolized during the process of producing CNT-enabled polytetrafuoroethylene(PTFE) composites at a worksite in Korea. Methods: Personal breathing zone and area samples were collected for determining respirable concentrations of elemental carbon(EC) using NIOSH(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) Method 5040. Personal exposure to nano-sized particles was measured as the number concentration and mean diameter using personal ultrafine particle monitors. The number concentration by particle size was measured using optical particle sizers(OPS) and scanning mobility particle sizers(SMPS). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) area samples were collected on TEM grids and analyzed to characterize the size, morphology, and chemistry of the particles. Results: Respirable EC concentrations ranged from 0.04 to 0.24 ㎍/㎥, which were below 23% of the exposure limit recommended by NIOSH and lower than background concentrations. Number concentrations by particle size measured using OPS and SMPS were not noticeably elevated during CNT-PTFE composite work. Instant increase of number concentrations of nano-sized particles was observed during manual sanding of CNT-PTFE composites. Both number concentrations and mean diameters did not show a statistically significant difference between workers handing CNT-added and not-added materials. TEM analyses revealed the emission of free-standing CNTs and CNT-PTFE aggregate particles from the powder supply task and composite particles embedded with CNTs from the computer numerical control(CNC) machining task with more than tens of micrometers in diameter. No free-standing CNT particles were observed from the CNC machining task. Conclusions: Significant worker exposure to respirable CNTs was not found, but the aerosolization of CNTs and CNT-embedded composite particles were observed during handing of CNT-PTFE powders and CNC machining of CNT-PTFE composites. Considering the limited knowledge on the toxicity of CNTs and CNT composite particles to date, it seems prudent to take a precautionary approach for the protection of workers' health.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.420-421
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• 2006

In the present study, ultrafined Zr-V-Fe based alloy powder prepared by a plasma arc discharge process with changing process parameters. The chemical composition of synthesized powder was strongly influenced by the process parameters, especially the hydrogen volume fraction in the powder synthesis atmosphere. The synthesized powder had an average particle size of 50 nm. The synthesized Zr-V-Fe based particles had a shell-core structure composed of metal in the core and oxidse in the shell.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.803-808
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• 2002

Nickel powders were prepared from nickel chloride solution by wet reduction process, and the size control of the particles was investigated with reactant concentration, dispersant agent, and the addition of ethanol as an organic solvent in NiCl$_2$ aqueous solution. The size of the particle decreased with the increase of nickel chloride concentration. Their average particle size were 1.9$\mu\textrm{m}$, 1.6$\mu\textrm{m}$ and $1.5\mu\textrm{m}$ with 0.5M, 0.8M and 1.0M of nickel chloride concentration respectively. The spherical particle was easily controlled by the addition of ethanol as an organic solvent. Especially, in 30 vol% of ethanol, the average particle size and specific surface area were about 0.2$\mu\textrm{m}$ and 8.98m$^2$/g, respectively.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.87-98
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• 2005

Human exposure to nano-sized particles (NSP) has increased over the last century with anthropogenic sources, and the rapid development of nanotechnology becomes an another source of such exposure. Information regarding the safety of nanotechnology and its product, nanoparticles, is urgently needed when assuming exposure through inhalation, oral intake, and penetration across skin is ever increasing as growing nanotechnology rapidly. The recent advancement of biokinetic studies with NSP and newer epidemiologic and toxicologic studies with ultrafine particles can be the basis for the nanotoxicology. Some concepts of nanotoxicology can be known from the results of these results. Specific small size of NSP, when inhaled, facilitates deposition by difusional mechanism in all regions of the respiratory tract and uptake into cells, ranscytosis across epithelial and endothelial cells into the blood and lymph circulation to reach target sites. Translocation along axons and dendrites of neuron makes an access to CNS and ganglia. These biokinetics are dependent on NSP surface chemistry. Risk assessments of NSP include appropriate and relevant doses/concentration selections, the increase effects in the organism and the benefits of possible desirable effects. An interdisciplinary team approach is desirable for nanotoxicology research and an appropriate risk assessment.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.39-40
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• 2002

대기 중 초미세입자 (0.1 마이크론 이하)들을 최근 건강 위해성에 대한 연관성이 추정됨에 따라 도시지역 초미세입자에 대한 다각적인 연구의 필요성이 증대하고 있다. 초미세입자들은 전체 질량농토에 대한 그 기여도가 매우 낮아 수 농도와 크기분포에 의하여 보다 잘 표현되지만 도시지역 초미세입자의 수 농도 크기분포에 대한 자료는 아직 부족한 실정이다. (중략)

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.850-855
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• 2002

Silica powders were prepared from $SiCl_4$-$H_2$O system by chemical vapor deposition process, and investigated on size control of the products with reaction conditions. The products were amorphous and nearly spherical particles with 130nm~50nm in size. The size distribution became narrow with the increase of [$H_2$O]/[SiCl$_4$] concentration ratio. The particle size decreased with the increase of reaction temperature, [$H_2$O]/[SiCl$_4$] concentration ratio and total flow rate. The specific surface area measured by BET method was about three times larger than that of electron microscope method.