• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2019

Fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 refers to the atmospheric particulate matter that has a diameter less than 2.5 micrometer identified as dangerous element for human health and its concentration can provide us a clear picture about air dust concentration. Humans stay indoor almost 90% of their life time and also there is no official indoor dust concentration data, so our study is focused on measuring the indoor air quality. Indoor dust data monitoring is very important in hospital environments beside that other places can also be considered for monitoring like classrooms, cements factories, computer server rooms, petrochemical storage etc. In this paper, visible light communication system is proposed by Manchester encoding technique for electromagnetic interference (EMI)-free indoor dust monitoring. Important indoor environment information like dust concentration is transferred by visible light channel in wide range. An average voltage-tracking technique is utilized for robust light detection to eliminate ambient light and low-frequency noise. The incoming light is recognized by a photo diode and are simultaneously processed by a receiver micro-controller. We can monitor indoor air quality in real-time and can take necessary action according to the result.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.543-554
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• 2018

From November 2013 to December 2016, ambient fine particulate matter ($PM_{2.5}$) was sampled in the downtown area of Jeju City, South Korea, which has seen rapid urbanization. The atmospheric concentrations of elements were measured in the $PM_{2.5}$ samples. This study focused on Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, As, Sb, Sn, V, and Zn. The concentrations of Al, Na, K, Fe, Ca, Mg, Sr, and La were also obtained for reference. The objectives of this study were to examine the contributions of these elements to $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in downtown Jeju City, and to investigate the inter-element relationships and the elemental sources by using enrichment factors and principal components analysis (PCA). A composition analysis showed that the 19 elements constituted 6.65 % of the $PM_{2.5}$ mass, and Na, K, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, and Zn constituted 98 % of the total ion mass. Seasonal trend analysis for the sampling period indicated that the concentrations of the elements increased from November to April. However, no substantial seasonal variations were found in the concentrations of the elements. The composition ratios of some elements (Cu/Zn, Cu/Cd, Cu/Pb, V/Ni, and V/La) were found to be out of range when compared to the literature from other urban areas. The ratios between the elements and the PCA results showed that local contaminant sources in Jeju City rarely influence the composition of $PM_{2.5}$. This suggests that the major sources of $PM_{2.5}$ in Jeju City may include long-range transport of fine particulate matter produced in other areas.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.353-360
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• 2006

This study identified a particle size distribution (PSD) of fine particulate matter and emission characteristics of V and Ni by the comparison between anthropogenic sources of oil combustion (industrial boiler, oil power plant, etc.) and lab-scale combustion using a drop-tube furnace. In oil combustion source, the mass fraction of fine particles (less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) was higher than that of coarse particles (larger than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) in $PM_{10}$ (less than 10 micrometers in diameter) as like in lab-scale oil combustion. In addition to this, it was identified that ultra-fine particles (less than 0.1 micrometers in diameter) had a large distribution in fine particles. Toxic metals like V and Ni had large mass fractions in fine particles, and most of all was distributed in ultra-fine particles. Most of ultra-fine particles containing toxic metals have been emitted into ambient by combustion source because it is hard to control by the existing air pollution control device. Hence, we must be careful on these pollutants because it is obvious that these are associated with adverse health and environmental effect.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.181-190
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• 2024

Background: Air pollutants have been reported to have harmful effects on human health. Busan is a vulnerable area in terms of air quality due to the installation of various industrial complexes, particularly the port industry. However there is limited research data on the ambient air quality of residential areas near ports and industrial complexes. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the quarterly levels of air pollutants near industrial complexes and ports and to identify trends and characteristics of air pollutant exceedances. Methods: Air measurements were conducted quarterly. The measured air pollutants included O₃, SO₂, CO, NO₂, PM₁₀, and PM_2.5. PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 were measured using BAM-1020 equipment, while O₃, SO₂, CO, and NO₂ were measured using AP-370 Series equipment. The quarterly concentration levels of air pollutants were determined, and the influence of precipitation and commuting hours on fine particulate matter was examined. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine if there was significance between the concentrations of fine particulate matter during commuting hours and non-commuting hours. Results: The concentrations of air pollutants were generally higher in the first and second quarters. Furthermore, the concentrations of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 tended to decrease continuously following consecutive rainfall, with concentrations at the end of rainfall periods lower than those observed at the beginning. The frequency of exceeding average concentrations of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 was higher on weekdays. Moreover, the average concentrations of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 during weekday commuting hours were higher compared to non-commuting hours. Conclusions: The concentrations of air pollutants in the survey area were found to be higher than the overall average in Busan. Based on this study, continuous air quality monitoring is necessary for residential areas near industrial complexes and ports. For further research, health biomonitoring of residents in these areas should be conducted to assess their exposure levels.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.185-196
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• 2024

Objectives: Excess mortality associated with long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) has been documented. However, research on the disease burden following short-term exposure is scarce. We investigated the cause-specific mortality burden of short-term exposure to PM_2.5 by considering the potential non-linear concentration-response relationship in Korea. Methods: Daily cause-specific mortality rates and PM_2.5 exposure levels from 2010 to 2019 were collected for 8 Korean cities and 9 provinces. A generalized additive mixed model was employed to estimate the non-linear relationship between PM_2.5 exposure and cause-specific mortality levels. We assumed no detrimental health effects of PM_2.5 concentrations below 15 ㎍/m³. Overall deaths attributable to short-term PM_2.5 exposure were estimated by summing the daily numbers of excess deaths associated with ambient PM_2.5 exposure. Results: Of the 2 749 704 recorded deaths, 2 453 686 (89.2%) were non-accidental, 591 267 (21.5%) were cardiovascular, and 141 066 (5.1%) were respiratory in nature. A non-linear relationship was observed between all-cause mortality and exposure to PM_2.5 at lag0, whereas linear associations were evident for cause-specific mortalities. Overall, 10 814 all-cause, 7855 non-accidental, 1642 cardiovascular, and 708 respiratory deaths were attributed to short-term exposure to PM_2.5. The estimated number of all-cause excess deaths due to short-term PM_2.5 exposure in 2019 was 1039 (95% confidence interval, 604 to 1472). Conclusions: Our findings indicate an association between short-term PM_2.5 exposure and various mortality rates (all-cause, non-accidental, cardiovascular, and respiratory) in Korea over the period from 2010 to 2019. Consequently, action plans should be developed to reduce deaths attributable to short-term exposure to PM_2.5.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2022

Fine dust threatens human health in various forms, depending on the particle size, such as by causing respiratory, cardiovascular, and brain diseases, after entering the body via the lungs. The aim of this study was to correlate fine dust exposure with changes in brain blood flow in Sprague Dawley rats by using micro-positron emission tomography and elucidate the possibility of developing cerebrovascular diseases caused by fine dust. The subjects were exposured to an average fine dust (particulate matter 2.5) of 206.2 ± 7.74 to ten rats four times a day, twice a day for 90 min. Before the experiment, they were maintained at NPO to the maximize the intake of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxy glucose(¹⁸F-FDG) and minimize changes in the ¹⁸F-FDG biomass depending on the ambient environment and body temperature of the rats. PET images were acquired in the list mode 40 min after injecting ¹⁸F-FDG 44.4 MBq into the rats tail vein using a micro-PET scanner pre and post exposure to fine dust. We found that the whole brain level of ¹⁸F-FDG standardized uptake value in rats averaged 5.21 ± 0.52 g/mL pre and 4.22 ± 0.48 g/mL post exposure to fine dust, resulting in a statistically significant difference. Fine dust was able to alter brain activity after entering the body via the lungs in various forms depending on the particle size.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.322-329
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• 2017

Perturbation in ambient particulate matter ($PM_1$, $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10}$) and black carbon (BC) concentrations was studied during a firecracker bursting episode in Diwali (Festival of Lights) celebrations in Nagpur, India. Firecracker bursting resulted in greater escalation in fine particulates over coarse particulates while $PM_{2.5}$ was found to be dominated by $PM_1$ concentration. On the Diwali day, daily mean concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{10}$ exceeded Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards by over 1.8 and 1.5 times, respectively, while daily mean BC concentration on the same day was almost two times higher than the previous day. The BC/$PM_1$ ratio reduced remarkably from about 0.26 recorded before fire-cracker bursting activity to about 0.09 during fire-cracker bursting on Diwali night in spite of simultaneous escalation in ambient BC concentration. Such aberration in BC/$PM_1$ was evidently a result of much higher escalation in $PM_1$ than BC in ambient air during firecracker bursting. The study highlighted strong perturbations in ambient $PM_1$, $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10}$ concentrations and BC/$PM_1$ during the firecracker bursting episode. Altered atmospheric BC/$PM_1$ ratios could serve as indicators of firecracker-polluted air and similar BC/$PM_1$ ratios in local and regional air masses might be used as diagnostic ratios for firecracker smoke.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.153-157
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• 2001

The relationship between SPM (Suspended Particulate Matter) and fungal spore in the air was investigated in Seosan, a rural county of Korea, in spring of 2000. SPM concentrations in the air were $199.8\mu{g}\;m^{-3}$, in the 1st Yellow Sand Period (March, 23-24), $249.4\mu{g}\;m^{-3}$ in the 2nd Yellow Sand Period (April, 7-9) and $98.9\mu{g}\;m^{-3}$ in the Non Yellow Sand Period (May, 12-16), respectively. Although there was somewhat difference in total SPM concentration between the two Yellow Sand Periods, majority of the total SPM were composed of $5\mu{m}$ sized coarse particles over the two periods. However, fine particles sized about $1\mu{m}$and coarse particles sized about $5-6\mu{m}$ ultimately showed peaks, which was within typical bimodal pattern at the graph of SPM size distribution in the Non Yellow Sand Period. Four mold genera grown from airborne fungal spores were finally identified in full-grown colonies at the SPM samples during the Yellow Sand Periods. These genera were Fusarium, Aspergillus, Penicillium and Basipetospora.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.20 no.4 s.51
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• pp.365-374
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• 2005

Ambient air particulate matters are classified into two distinct modes in sire distribution, namely the coarse and fine particles. Correlation between high particulate concentration and adverse effect on human populations has long been recognized. However, the toxicology of these adverse efforts has not been clarified. We investigated the genotoxic effect of PM 2.5 collected from urban area in Seoul by comet assay (A549 cells), CBMN assay (CHO-K1 cells) and EROD-microbioassay (H4IIE cells). Results from in vitro micronucleus assay and comet assay showed that PM 2.5 samples collected from traffic area, residential area and indoor air induced chromosomal damage and DNA breakage in a non-cytotoxic dose. The complex mixture effect of these PM 2.5 extracts was quantified by EROD-microbioassay in terms of its bio-TEQ (biologiral -TCDD equivalent concentration) which was 70.87$\pm$28.07, 93.55$\pm$21.80 and 14.31 $\pm$ 1.10 ng/g-PM 2.5 in traffic area, residental area and indoor air samples, respectively. Conclusively, we suggested that PM 2.5 collected from traffic area and residential area contains CYPIA inducer and genotoxic materials.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.590-603
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• 2006

Size-and time-resolved aerosol samples were collected using an eight-stage Davis rotating unit for monitoring (DRUM) sampler from 23 March to 29 April 2001 at Gosan, Jeju Island, Korea, which is one of the super sites of Asia-Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment(ACE-Asia). These samples were analyzed using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence for 3-hr average concentrations of 19 elements including Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, and Pb. The size-resolved data sets were then analyzed using the positive matrix factorization(PMF) technique to identify possible sources and estimate their contributions to particulate matter mass. PMF analysis uses the uncertainty of the measured data to provide an optimal weighting. Twelve sources were resolved in eight size ranges($0.09{\sim}12{\mu}m$) and included continental soil, local soil, sea salt, biomass/biofuel burning, coal combustion, oil combustion, municipal incineration, nonferrous metal source, ferrous metal source, gasoline vehicle, diesel vehicle, and volcanic emission. The PMF result of size-resolved source contributions showed that natural sources represented by local soil, sea salt, continental soil, and volcanic emission contributed about 79% to the predicted primary particulate matter(PM) mass in the coarse size range ($1.15{\sim}12{\mu}m$) while anthropogenic sources such as coal combustion and biomass/biofuel burning contributed about 58% in the fine size range($0.56{\sim}2.5{\mu}m$). The diesel vehicle source contributed mostly in ultra-fine size range($0.09{\sim}0.56{\mu}m$) and was responsible for about 56% of the primary PM mass.