• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2009

In order to examine the effects of micrometeorological and climatological influences on urban scale particulate air pollutants observed in Busan, power spectrum analysis was applied to the observed particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ${\le}10{\mu}m$ ($PM_{10}$) for the period from 1991 to 2006. Power spectrum analysis has been employed to the daily mean $PM_{10}$ concentrations obtained at 13 sites to identify different scales of periodicities of $PM_{10}$ concentrations. The results show that, aside from the typical and well-known periodicities such as diurnal and annual variations caused by anthropogenic emission influences, another two significant peaks of power spectrum density were identified: 21 day and $3{\sim}4$ year of periodicities. Cospectrum analysis indicates that the intraseasonal 21 day periodicity are found to be negatively correlated with wind speed and surface pressure but shows consistently positive with relative humidity and temperature. This result implied that 21 day periodicity is presumably relevant to the secondary aerosol formation processes through the photochemical reaction that can be subsequently resulted from hygroscopic characteristics of aerosol formation. However, the interannual $3{\sim}4$ year of periodicity is found to have positive correlation with pressure, and negative with temperature and relative humidity, which is rather consistent with both characteristics of air mass during the Asian dust event and the occurrence frequency of Asian dust whose periodicities have been recorded inter-annually over the Korean peninsula.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.208-216
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• 2016

This paper reports the results of a field evaluation which used sampling and analytical methods to determine the levels of airborne hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) in major industrial complexes in Korea over a seven year period (2007-2013). Cr(VI) concentrations were determined using cellulose filter sampling and ion chromatography analysis. In order to validate the analytical performance of these methods, studies were also carried out to investigate data quality control (QC) parameters, such as the method detection limit (MDL), repeatability, and recovery efficiencies. The average concentrations of Cr(VI) for the nine industrial complexes in Korea were in the range of 0.09 to $1.40ng/m^3$, which is similar to of the concentrations in other industrial areas around the world. The impacts of Cr(VI) emissions from industrial areas on Cr(VI) concentrations in neighboring-residential areas were considerably low, and the dispersion of Cr(VI) from industrial areas to residential areas was estimated to be 'not-significant'. Cr(VI) levels were not affected by seasonal variation, which suggests that chromium was emitted continuously from the industrial sources throughout the year. The concentration of Cr(VI) measured accounted for 0.7 to 9.4 percent of the total chromium level, which is a low percentage compared to those in other urban areas around the world. This is the first report in an international journal of a field study conducted in Korea to determine the concentration of Cr(VI) in the ambient air of industrial and residential areas.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.457-468
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• 2016

Traffic-related air pollutants and particulates from diesel exhaust cause for increasing respiratory health problem. Recent epidemiologic studies have reported adverse effects of urban air pollution on various aspects of respiratory health. Bus or truck terminal workers have high probability of exposure to diesel exhaust particle than general office worker. This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between pulmonary function of people who working at the high-density area of diesel vehicles and pulmonary function of people who working at general office in Seoul. So, this study explored the effects on people with exposure to diesel traffic or exposure to diesel traffic, through the pulmonary function test (PFT). There were significant difference in Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second ($FEV_1$) between high-exposure group and control. High-exposure to diesel particle were increased risk of reduction in pulmonary function in this study. These results provide the necessity additional research that manage people who working at the high-density area of diesel vehicles.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.241-250
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• 2007

A study was carried out on the level of heavy metals, total coliform and benzo(a)pyrene that may be introduced through by-product fertilizers or air pollution to turfgrass in natural turfgrass playground in elementary schools around the western coast and eastern mountain areas in Jeollabuk-do, Korea. The level of heavy metals found in turfgrass was in the order of Cu > Zn > Pb > Cd. The majority of heavy metals was found in the roots. It is presumed that the absorption of some air pollutants and by-product fertilizers or chemical fertilizers. The level of benzo(a)pyrene showed an average of 0.05ng/g with a range between 0.02 to 0.08ng/g in the leaves. In the meantime, none was detected in the stems, while the average for roots was 0.02ng/g with a range between 0.01 and 0.03ng/g. The level detected is that found background level, however, benzo(a)pyrene can be introduced partly from the unstable combustion of fossil fuel or through vehicle emissions. Total coliform distributed in grass showed an average of 12MPN/100ml with a range between 2 and 36MPN/100ml. The density of total coliform displayed no regional predominance. However, in some urban areas, the density was slightly higher. The feces of pets or by-product fertilizers may have contributed to the input of pathogenic micro-organism. Yet the level was found to be negligible.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.21 no.3 s.61
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• pp.15-26
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• 2006

As traffic in city-centre around the world continues to increase, so levels of atmospheric pollutants continue to rise. High concentrations of NOx can have negative effects on human health, and we must find new ways to reduce their levels in the air we breathe. Nitrogen oxide gas (NOx), consisting of nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide $(NO_2)$ produced using $O_3$ oxidation, at a low concentration corresponding to that on roads as a result of exhaust from automobiles, was carried out to evaluate the removal characteristics of NOx through a laboratory-scale biofilter packed with soil as a packing material. A mixture media (yellow soil (30%): soil (40%): compost (10%): a used briquet (20%)) was applied. After about 1day of operation, the removal efficiency for $NO_2$ in all experiments with a constant condition ($25^{\circ}C$ and water humidity (60%)) was over 98%. The retention times of the section between phase I and phase II for formation and reduction of $NO_3$ NO and $NO_2$ on the initial $NO_3$ concentration was 50min $(O_3:195\;ppb),\;55min\;(O_3:925\;ppb),\;65min\;(O_3:1743\;ppb),\;70min\;(O_3:2616\;ppb),\;75min\;(O_3:3500\;ppb)$, respectively The soil biofilter system is a unique technology that purifies urban air by utilizing the natural processes that take place in the soil. Although some of the processes are quite complex, they can broadly be summarized as adsorption onto soil particles, dissolution into soil pore water, and biochemical.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.543-553
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• 2014

The environmental behavior of $SO_2$ was investigated in terms of the factors affecting the temporal variabilities by analyzing the data sets obtained from the Yongsan district in Seoul from 2004 till 2013. To this end, the relationship between $SO_2$ and relevant parameters including particulate matters (such as $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10}$, and TSP (total suspended particulates)) and gaseous components ($CH_4$, CO, THC (total hydrocarbon), NMHC (non-methane hydrocarbon), NO, $NO_2$, NOx, and $O_3$) was investigated in several aspects. Over a decade, the annual mean concentrations of $SO_2$ varied in the range of $4.36-5.86nmole\;mole^{-1}$ (min-max) which was about five times lower than the regulation guideline set for the air quality management in Korea. In fact, this pattern greatly contrasts with some other air pollutants of which concentrations exceeded their guideline values significantly. According to our analysis, $SO_2$ was strongly correlated to the temperature and other relevant parameters. The overall results of this study confirm that the administrative regulation of $SO_2$ levels has been made effectively relative to other airborne pollutants.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.566-574
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• 2022

Heavy metals are one of the dangerous pollutants that threaten urban biodiversity due to their accumulation over a long period without being decomposed in vivo. Accordingly, there is a need for biological monitoring to compare accumulation concentrations in living organisms according to the degree of heavy metal exposure to evaluate heavy metal contamination in the air in urban areas. This study aims to examine the possibility of using nesting materials as heavy metal monitoring samples and determine the effects of heavy metals on Paridae. We installed 54 artificial nest boxes in the research areas that included campus green spaces (14), urban forests (11), and urban parks (29) on a university campus in Cheonan City, Chungcheongnam Province. The birds' use rate of artificial nest boxes was 11/14 (78.57%) in campus green spaces, 8/11 (72.72%) in urban forests, and 6/29 (20.68%) in urban parks. Moss materials were collected from collected nests, and the heavy metal accumulation characteristics of each type of urban green space and the effects of heavy metals on the success of fledging of Paridae were compared through heavy metal analysis. The analysis showed that the average concentrations of zinc and lead were 228.08±209.62 ㎍/dry g and 17.67 ± 6.72 ㎍/dry g, respectively. There was no significant difference in zinc concentration for each type of urban green space (Kruskal-Wallis test, p-value=0.28), but lead concentration showed a significant difference (Kruskal-Wallis test, p<0.05^*). Of the 21 Paridae, nests analyzed for heavy metals, fledging of birds was observed in 11 nests (52.38%). Fledging of birds observed in each urban green space type was 7 campus green spaces (77.78%), 6 in urban forests (85.71%), and 1 in urban park (20%), mainly in urban forests and green spaces on campus. Heavy metal concentrations were compared to check the effect of heavy metal accumulation on the successful fledging of Paridae, but there was no statistically significant difference (Zn: W=44, p-value=0.74, Pb: t=0.64676, df =7.2422, p-value=0.54). This study is a basic study using the nesting materials of Paridae as heavy metal monitoring samples, and it is determined that it can be used as basic data for non-invasive biological monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Urban Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.485-494
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• 2018

This study aims to identify the characteristics of oxidation and chemical composition of PM in winter season, 2017 at Incheon area. The mean concentration of air pollutants were $46{\pm}22{\mu}g/m^3-PM_{10}$, $29{\pm}18{\mu}g/m^3/-PM_{2.5}$, $5{\pm}3ppb-SO_2$, $0.56{\pm}0.24ppm-CO$, $21{\pm}13ppb-O_3$ and $28{\pm}17ppb-NO_2$, respectively. The dominant ion of the $PM_{1.0}$ chemical component were organic with $3.2{\mu}g/m^3$ and nitrate with $1.9{\mu}g/m^3$. The day and night variation of the $PM_{1.0}$ chemical components was higher in nighttime than those of daytime. The averaged nitrate oxidation rate (SOR) was 0.06 and sulfate oxidation rate was 0.11 during the field campaign. In the high mass loading period, nitrate oxidation rate (NOR) was up to 0.6 and also the nitrate in $PM_{1.0}$ was increased. The averaged ratio of $NO_x/SO_2$ was 8.7 and nitrate/sulfate was 3.1, respectively. In this results, the nitrate component in $PM_{1.0}$ was influenced by NOx from the stationary source as power plant and the mobile source around the measurement site.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.237-246
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• 2015

We conducted intensive observations of ozone, CO, $NO_x$ (=NO and $NO_2$), $NO_y$ (total odd nitrogen species including particulate nitrate) and total nitrate (the sum of gaseous $HNO_3$ and particulate nitrate) at Cape Hedo, Okinawa, Japan, from 19 March to 3 April, 2009, to investigate ozone production during long-range transport from the Asian continent. Ozone production efficiency (OPE) was used to evaluate photochemical ozone production. OPE is defined as the number of molecules of ozone produced photochemically during the lifetime of a $NO_x$ molecule. OPE is calculated by the ratio of the concentration increase of ozone to that of $NO_z$ ($=NO_y-NO_x$). Average OPE during observation was estimated to be $12.6{\pm}0.5$, but concentrations of ozone increased nonlinearly with those of $NO_z$. This non-linearity suggests that OPE depends on air mass origin and $NO_z$ concentrations. There were very different values of OPE for the same air mass origin, so that only the air mass origin alone does not control OPE. OPE was low when $NO_z$ concentration was high. We examined the correlation between $NO_z$ and $CO/NO_y$ ratios, which we used instead of the ratio of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) to $NO_x$. The $CO/NO_y$ ratios decreased with increasing $NO_z$ concentrations. These results indicate that competition reactions of OH with NMHCs and $NO_2$ are the rate determining steps of photochemical ozone production during long-range transport from the Asian continent to Cape Hedo, for high concentrations of nitrogen oxides.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.205-217
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• 2005

Purpose: To evaluate the factors affecting hospital utilization for respiratory diseases by ecological study design and GIS tool. To raise the social concern for respiratory disease by the result. Methods: Hospital admission data supported by national health insurance cooperation were transformed to spread sheet data format and combined with air monitoring dataset. Air pollution data were collected from the annual report of air monitoring published by Korea Ministry of Environment. Socioeconomic statistics including population density, age distribution, forest ratio etc.. were filed using Korea National Statistical Office database. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the factors affecting hospital utilization for respiratory diseases. Analytical unit was 52 cities. Results: The factors affecting hospital utilization for respiratory diseases were the proportion of population 60 years and over, seaside city, $O_3$ level, smoking rate. Conclusions: However, outdoor pollutants monitoring data and smoking rate have weakness in reflecting individual exposure. Further research is required to propose more illustrative means to evaluate causal relationship between air pollution and respiratory health effect factors.