• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.711-720
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• 2003

To study characteristics of the heavy metal pollution, sediment samples were collected at 67 sites on the roadside of Jeonju city during summer and winter, 2002. The total concentration of metals including Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Mn in the sediment samples were determined. The results indicate that the roadside sediments in Jeonju city have lower (1/2 to 1/7 times) concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd than the metal concentrations previously reported for roadside soil, dust and sewage sludges in Seoul. However, the metal concentrations are higher than environmental quality criteria in soil suggested from several countries, and Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd contents are usually 2-7 times higher than the world average contents of the metals in natural soil. Although pollution index and concentrations of Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn in the roadside sediments at industrial area were usually higher than those of downtown and residential area, the metal having small vehicle- and steel-related industries had high concentrations of metals. The results of chemical partitioning analysis showed that Pb, Zn and Mn are mainly associated with carbonate/adsorbed and Fe-Mn oxide phases but that Cu is largely associated with the organic and sulfide fractions. It thus indicates that both large and small (vehicle- and steel-related) industries are main sources of heavy metal contamination. Due to high solubility of the carbonate phases by natural leaching episodes, the carbonate/adsorbed Cd, Co, Ni, Pb, Zn and Mn in the roadside sediments may serve as a potential source of contamination.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2020

Stormwater runoff is known as a major non-point water pollution source that transports heavy metals, which have accumulated in road surface, to stream and coastal area. Dissolved and particulate metals in stormwater runoffs have been investigated to understand the outflow characteristics of heavy metals during rainfall events and to identify their pollution sources. The concentration of dissolved Co and Ni decreased after the outflow with high concentrations at the beginning of the rainfall, and other metals showed different characteristics depending on the rainfall and rate of discharge. Particulate metals showed a similar trend with the temporal variation of suspended solids concentration in stormwater runoffs. The results of geo-accumulation index (I_geo) indicated that the stormwater runoffs from industrial region were very highly polluted with Cu, Zn and Cd. As a result of comparing the metal concentrations of <125 ㎛ for road dust near the study area, Cu, Zn and Cd were originated from inside of metal manufacturing facilities rather than traffic activities at road surface and these metals accumulated on the surface area of facilities were transported to the water environments during stormwater event. The average discharged amounts of heavy metals for one rainfall event were Cr 128 g, Co 12.35 g, Ni 98.5 g, Cu 607.5 g, Zn 8,429.5 g, As 6.95 g, Cd 3.7 g, Pb 251.75 g, indicating that metal runoff loads in the stormwater runoffs are closely related to surrounding industry types.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 2022

Airborne fine dust (FD) particles smaller than 10 ㎛ in diameter (PM10) are one of the major causes of air pollution in East Asia, including Korea, and have become a major contributor to respiratory and skin problems. FD inordinately promotes the production of reactive oxygen species and inflammatory response in macrophages, leading to cell damage and death. Rosa rugosa, a deciduous shrub of the Rosa genus, has been used in traditional East Asian herbal medicine to treat various illnesses. The present study investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of R. rugosa organ extracts on PM10-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. Compared to non-treated RAW264.7 cells, treatment with 100 ㎍.ml^-1 PM10 resulted in increased nitric oxide (NO) production, similar to lipopolysaccharide treatment. Additionally, 100 ㎍/ml stem extract reduced NO production by more than 45% compared to mock treatment. Furthermore, PM10-induced expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, inducible NO synthase, and cyclooxygenase-2 was significantly reduced by stem extract treatment, indicating that the anti-inflammatory effect of the stem extract is mediated by the inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediators in PM10-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. These results indicate that the R. rugosa stem could be considered a natural remedy with a protective effect against inflammatory responses induced by harmful airborne dust.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.411-429
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• 2015

The Korea Ministry of Environment has established an air quality standard for $PM_{2.5}$ in 2012 and it is effective from January 2015. In this study, we review various aspects of $PM_{2.5}$ in China, including its measurement, modeling, source apportionment, and health effect, and suggest future research directions for $PM_{2.5}$ studies in Korea. Measurements studies for $PM_{2.5}$ have examined organic marker compounds and $^{14}C$ as well as inorganic aerosols for distinguishing sources. Modeling results supported that the control of $PM_{2.5}$ pollution in big city needs effective cooperation between city and its surrounding regions. The major $PM_{2.5}$ sources in China have been identified to be secondary sulfur, motor vehicle emissions, coal combustion, dust, biomass burning, and industrial sources, however, they have seasonal dependency. Especially, the severe haze pollution event during January 2013 over eastern and northern China was driven to a large extent by secondary aerosol formation. Short-term exposure to $PM_{2.5}$ is strongly associated with the increased risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as total non-accidental mortality. Considered previous $PM_{2.5}$ studies in China, analysis of specific organic species using online measurement, chamber experiment for secondary aerosol formation mechanism, and development of parameterizing this process in the model are needed to elucidate factors governing the abundance and composition of $PM_{2.5}$ in Korea.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.219-223
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• 1981

Experiments on methane gas digestion were conducted to prevent livestock pollution and develop substitute energy. When about 30(w/w)% of sludge was added to cow feces, pig feces, and poultry feces and digested at 37$^{\circ}C$ for 20 days, methane gas produced per Kg of organic matter for cow feces, pig feces, poultry feces was 131, 248 and 235 l, respectively. pH decreased slightly at first but increased gradually afterwards during digestion period. When 20, 30, and 40(w/w)% of sludge were added to the mixture of cow feces (300g) and water (200g), the volumes of gas produced were 6.1, 14.5 and 13.4 l, respectively. Volume of methane gas produced from the mixture of cow feces and saw dust was much more than that from the mixture of cow feces and rice polishings. The contents of N, K, P for digestion residues were sufficient to be utilized as a fertilizer. When methane gas digestion was carried out with cow feces in a submersible pump digester the volume of methane gas produced per Kg of organic matter was 188 l. The price of total methane gas produced at this digestion was similar to that of the electric power consumed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.157-167
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• 2017

Millions of People die every year from diseases caused by exposure to outdoor air pollution. Especially, one of the most severe types of air pollution is fine particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5). South Korea also has been suffered from severe PM. This paper analyzes regional risks induced by PM10 and PM2.5 that have affected domestic area of Korea during 2014~2016.3Q. We investigated daily maxima of PM10 and PM2.5 data observed on 284 stations in South Korea, and found extremely high outlier. We employed extreme value distributions to fit the PM10 and PM2.5 data, but a single distribution did not fit the data well. For theses reasons, we implemented extreme mixture models such as the generalized Pareto distribution(GPD) with the normal, the gamma, the Weibull and the log-normal, respectively. Next, we divided the whole area into 16 regions and analyzed characteristics of PM risks by developing the FN-curves. Finally, we estimated 1-month, 1-quater, half year, 1-year and 3-years period return levels, respectively. The severity rankings of PM10 and PM2.5 concentration turned out to be different from region to region. The capital area revealed the worst PM risk in all seasons. The reason for high PM risk even in the yellow dust free season (Jun. ~ Sep.) can be inferred from the concentration of factories in this area. Gwangju showed the highest return level of PM2.5, even if the return level of PM10 was relatively low. This phenomenon implies that we should investigate chemical mechanisms for making PM2.5 in the vicinity of Gwangju area. On the other hand, Gyeongbuk and Ulsan exposed relatively high PM10 risk and low PM2.5 risk. This indicates that the management policy of PM risk in the west side should be different from that in the east side. The results of this research may provide insights for managing regional risks induced by PM10 and PM2.5 in South Korea.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.93-98
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• 2020

This study examined the particulate removal performance of three different types of air filters inside a heat exchanger. Of interest was the ability of each filter type in reducing the transmission of outdoor particulate matter of PM10 from entering an apartment while the heat exchanger was in operation. The study tested one commonly used medium filter (E11 grade) and two HEPA filters (H13 grade) of different thicknesses. Two different concentrations of particulate matter were used in the experiment to address different ambient air quality conditions in Korea, 32.75 ㎍/㎥ and 67.26 ㎍/㎥. Study results indicated that under the particulate matter concentration of 32.75 ㎍/㎥, all three filters were capable of removing more than 95% of the fine dust. However at a particulate matter concentration of 67.26 ㎍/㎥, the medium E11 grade filter was only able to remove about 90% of the particulates whereas the HEPA H13 grade filters were able to remove 95% or more of the particulates. The thicker HEPA filter (40T) was also more effective in removing particulates than the thinner HEPA filter (20T) by about 1.6 to 3 percentage points. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that HEPA filters of 20T thickness or greater be used during the high air pollution seasons of winter and spring in Korea while medium filters can be used during the other seasons to reduce outdoor air pollution transmission indoors.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.297-308
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• 2019

Air pollution due to the fine dust level updating every day, and the problem of indoor air pollution due to ventilation difficulties and indoor discharge pollutants is also serious. In order to improve the indoor air quality, the air purification effect using the plants is prominent. In this study was started to investigated the living environment of modern people, the risk of indoor air pollution and the improvement function of plants, and to activate plant application. The purpose of this study is to analyze the main functions and design status of domestic and overseas plant - related applications, and to understand the actual use of modern plant applications and to help them learn more convenient plant - related knowledge. Therefore, this paper attempted to establish a basis for suggesting a new plant application by conducting a survey on the health effects of indoor air pollution and user awareness of plant - related applications. The results and contents of the study are as follows. First, as a theoretical review, indoor air pollution is more dangerous to modern people who have a high proportion of indoor living time and adversely affects their health. In order to solve such a problem, it has been shown that air conditioning and stress reduction can be effectively achieved by placing plants in the indoor space. Second, the analysis of the previous study shows the risk of indoor air pollution and its adverse effects on health. In addition, I have been able to find some researches related to the improvement of the indoor air by using the air purifying plants, and I can see the improvement of the user's behavior through the development or improvement of the application. Third, as a result of the survey on the status of domestic and overseas plant application, the main function of the application having high installation number was watering notification, provision of basic information of plants, and most of the functions were plant discerment through cameras. Fourth, most of the survey respondents have either raised or raised plants. Those who have little experience with plant applications have also shown positive feedback in the future on the use of plant-related applications. In addition, due to social problems such as air pollution, air purification using plants and functional plants showed high interest. Based on these results, we propose the need for a multi-functional plant application that can improve the indoor air pollution and facilitate the provision of information related to it.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.175.1-175.1
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• 2016

In recent, tract infections such as atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and a respiratory disease are increasing, giving rise to the atmospheric pollution, inflow of micro-size dust and side effect of humidifier disinfectant. In this context, the environment-friendly technology is required to eliminate airborne pathogens. We propose solution of the previous problems, making use of Radical Mist Generator (RMG). Existing technologies of air purification using a gas discharge produce harmful substances such as ozone, NOx, etc. However, the RMG uses a pure water as a plasma forming material. The RMG sprays the water mist, which contains reactive radicals to sterilize microorganisms. RMG is comprised of a power supply, plasma electrodes and a nozzle. In order to analyze the electrical characteristic and concentrations of reactive radicals, we employ an oscilloscope and a titration method. To test the sterilization effect of RMG, we used E.coli. We confirmed that E.coli was killed over 90%. Eventually, we expect that RMG can be promising tool for a purified system.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.27-31
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• 2018

The People have a bad perception about diesel vehicle because of serious air pollution, increase fine dust and global vehicle company's diesel gate. Starting the project in 2005, Ministry of Environment has been supporting that is exhaust gas reduction devices (DPF) on diesel vehicles in the metropolitan area. During the period of 2017.01.01 to 2017.12.31, 10,030 diesel vehicles installed exhaust gas reduction devices (DPF). Among them, 9,921 diesel vehicles that they have sufficient data for analysis were analyzed amount of particulate matter reduction before and after exhaust gas reduction devices (DPF) was installed. Opacity smoke meter measures the concentration of particulate matter. So concentration of particulate matter was converted into a mass unit, and then calculated the total amount of reduced particulate matter. It was estimated that social benefits is costs required to remove it from the total amount of particulate matter.