• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2018

Objectives: To protect individuals working at the site as well as the surrounding general population from a chemical accident, several emergency exposure guidance levels have been used to set a level of concern for certain chemicals. However, a level of concern has not been established for many substances that are frequently used or produced in large quantities in Korean workplaces. In the present study, we investigated the guidance levels for protecting populations from chemical exposure and the estimation of level of concern using acute inhalation and oral toxicity data. Methods: The number of chemicals to which emergency exposure guidance levels (e.g., ERPG-2, AEGL-2, PAC-2, and IDLH) can be applied were determined among 822 hazardous chemicals according to the 'Technical Guidelines for the Selection of Accident Scenarios (revised December 2016)'. The ERPG and AEGL values were compared across all three tiers for the 31 substances that appeared on both lists. We examined the degree of difference between the emergency exposure guidance levels and the estimates of level of concern calculated from acute inhalation or acute oral toxicity data. Results: Among the 822 hazardous chemicals, emergency exposure guidance levels can be applied to 359 substances, suggesting that the estimates of level of concern should be calculated using acute toxicity data for 56.3% of the hazardous chemicals. When comparing the concordance rates of ERPG and AEGL for 31 substances, the difference between the two criteria was generally small. However, about 40% of the substances have values diverging by more than three-fold in at least one tier. Such discrepancies may cause interpretation and communication problems in risk management. The emergency exposure guidance levels were similar to the estimates of level of concern calculated using acute inhalation toxicity data, but the differences were significant when using acute oral toxicity data. These results indicate that the level of concern derived from acute oral toxicity data may be insufficient to protect the population in some cases. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the development of standardized guidance values for emergency chemical exposure in the Korean population should be encouraged. It is also necessary to analyze acute toxicity data and fill the information gaps for substances that are important in Korean workplace situations.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.313-319
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• 2015

3-Monochloro-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) and 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol (1,3-DCP) are not only produced in the manufacturing process of foodstuffs such as hydrolyzed vegetable proteins and soy sauce but are also formed by heat processing in the presence of fat and low water activity. 3-MCPD exists both in free and ester forms, and the ester form has been also detected in various foods. Free 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP are classified as Group 2B by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Although there is no data confirming the toxicity of either compound in humans, their toxicity was evidenced in animal experimentation or in vitro. Although few studies have been conducted, free 3-MCPD has been shown to have neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and carcinogenicity. In contrast, 1,3-DCP only has mutagenic activity. The purpose of this study was to analyze 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP in various foods using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP were analyzed using phenyl boronic acid derivatization and the liquid-liquid extraction method, respectively. The analytical method for 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP was validated in terms of linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation, accuracy and precision. Consequently, the LODs of 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP in various matrices were identified to be in the ranges of 4.18~10.56 ng/g and 1.06~3.15 ng/g, respectively.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.525-534
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• 2023

Gas leak detection system is a key to minimize the loss of life due to the explosiveness and toxicity of gas. Most of the leak detection systems detect by gas sensors or thermal imaging cameras. To improve the performance of gas leak detection system using single-modal methods, the paper propose multimodal approach to gas sensor data and thermal camera data in developing a gas type identification model. MultimodalGasData, a multimodal open-dataset, is used to compare the performance of the four models developed through multimodal approach to gas sensors and thermal cameras with existing models. As a result, 1D CNN and GasNet models show the highest performance of 96.3% and 96.4%. The performance of the combined early fusion model of 1D CNN and GasNet reached 99.3%, 3.3% higher than the existing model. We hoped that further damage caused by gas leaks can be minimized through the gas leak detection system proposed in the study.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2016

Formamide is a colorless fluid with ammonia odor, and irritable when inhaled. It has $LD_{50}$ value of > 5,577 mg/kg in rats for acute oral toxicity and NOAEL of 113 mg/kg/day for target organ (liver) of whole body toxicity. It is also known as reproductive toxicant (1B) and TWA(Time Weighted Average) for it is 10 ppm. Workplace measurements of work places dealing with formamide showed the ppm of all 25 samples was very lower than WEL. However, the exposure concentration can change, depending on workplace condition such as the intensity of work, operating local ventilation system, and wearing protection equipment (Respirators). Therefore, considering it with the risk of whole body toxicity and reproductive toxicity, exposure quantity of each imaginary scenario was calculated at 5.16, 1.72, and $0.43mg/m^3$. The average value was calculated at 0.02-0.58, 0.02-0.66 at 90 percent of cumulative distribution, 0.02-0.69 at 95 percent of cumulative distribution. Therefore, it was generally evaluated to be safe because all values were below 1. However, caution is required to prevent health hazard because it has hepatotoxicity and reproductive toxicity and risk of a high level momentary exposure, depending on the condition of workplace.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.6-17
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to obtain information regarding Globally Harmonized System(GHS) classification and health hazards that may result from a 4 weeks inhalation exposure of 3-Methylpentane in Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods : The testing method was conducted in accordance with OECD guidelines for the testing of chemicals No. 412(Subacute Inhalation Toxicity). The Rats were divided into 4 groups(5 male and 5 female rats in each group) and exposed to 0 ppm, 284 ppm, 1,135 ppm, 4,540 ppm 3-Methylpentane in each exposure chamber for 6 h/day, 5 days/week, for 4 weeks. After two weeks, the test animals were autopsied and carried out blood test and biochemical tests and histopathological examination. We used PRISTIMA (Toxicology data management system) to confirm the system and to have confidence of the raw data. Results : No death and particular clinical presentation including weight change and change of feed rate was observed. Relationship between dose, gender and response was also not significantly changed in hematologic examination, biochemical examination of blood and blood coagulation time. The histopathologic lesions caused by the test substance did not appear. Conclusions : NOAEL(No Observable Adverse Effect Level) of 3-Methylpentane is more than 4,540 ppm in male group and female group and the Ministry of Employment and Labor Guidance Announcement No. 2013-37(criteria for the classification marks and Safety of Chemicals) Specific target organ toxicity(repeated exposure) was determined with a substance that is not the separator material.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.14-24
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• 2008

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of smoking conditions on the in vitro toxicological activity of mainstream smoke. The 2R4F reference cigarette was machine-smoked by International Organization for Standardization(ISO) and Canadian Intense(CI) conditions. Smoke was analysed for chemical composition and in vitro toxicity. The cytotoxic potencies of both the total particulate matter(TPM), which were collected in Cambridge filter pad, and gas/vapor phase(GVP), which was bubbled through in phosphate-buffer saline in a gas-washing bottle, were assessed neutral red up take assay with chinese hamster ovary(CHO) cells. The assessment for genotoxicity of TPMs generated under ISO and CI conditions was determined using Salmonella mutagenicity assay and in vitro micronucleus assay. When calculated on an equal TPM basis, in vitro toxicity of TPM obtained under CI condition was decreased compared to TPM generated under ISO condition. The results of chemical composition analyses revealed that the lower toxicological activity under CI condition than that of ISO condition could be explained by the decreased in the contents of phenols, N-nitrosoamines and aromatic amines of TPM on an equal TPM basis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.120-123
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• 2013

Inhalation of toxic gases can lead to pneumonitis. It has been known that methane gas intoxication causes loss of consciousness or asphyxia. There is, however, a paucity of information about acute pulmonary toxicity from methane gas inhalation. A 21-year-old man was presented with respiratory distress after an accidental exposure to methane gas for one minute. He came in with a drowsy mentality and hypoxemia. Mechanical ventilation was applied immediately. The patient's symptoms and chest radiographic findings were consistent with acute pneumonitis. He recovered spontaneously and was discharged after 5 days without other specific treatment. His pulmonary function test, 4 days after methane gas exposure, revealed a restrictive ventilatory defect. In conclusion, acute pulmonary injury can occur with a restrictive ventilator defect after a short exposure to methane gas. The lung injury was spontaneously resolved without any significant sequela.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.765-771
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• 2012

$SF_6$ gas has been used as arc quenching and insulating medium for high and extra high voltage switching devices due to its high dielectric strength, its excellent arc-quenching capabilities, its high chemical stability and non toxicity. Despite of its significant contributions, the gas was classified as one of the greenhouse gas in the Kyoto Protocol. Thus, many researches are conducted to find out the replacement materials and to develop the $SF_6$ gas useless electrical equipment. This paper describes experiments on the temperature change-related breakdown characteristics of $SF_6$ gas ($SF_6$) and $SF_6$ liquid ($LSF_6$) in a model GIS(Gas-Insulated Switchgear) chamber in order to show the possibility of more stable and safe usages of $SF_6$ gas. The breakdown characteristics are classified into three stages, namely the gas stage of $SF_6$ according to Paschen's law, the coexisting stage of $SF_6$ gas with liquid in considerable deviation at lower temperature, and the stage of $LSF_6$ and remaining air. The result shows that the ability of the $LSF_6$ insulation is higher than the high-pressurized $SF_6$. Moreover, it reveals that the breakdown characteristics of $LSF_6$ are produced by bubble-formed $LSF_6$ evaporation and bubbles caused by high electric emission and the corona. In addition, the property of dielectric breakdown of $LSF_6$ is determined by electrode form, electrode arrangement, bubble formation and movement, arc extinguishing capacity of the media, difficulty in corona formation, and the distance between electrodes. The bubble formation and flow separation phenomena were identified for $LSF_6$. It provides fundamental data not only for $SF_6$ gas useless equipment but also for electric insulation design of high-temperature superconductor and cryogenic equipment machinery, which will be developed in future studies.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1527-1532
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• 2007

We have evaluated the toxicity of interior materials for the railway passenger car by checking the release of $CO_2$, CO, NOx, SO2, HCl, HF, HBr, HCN. The NOx is one of the most effective for the determination of Toxic Index R value. It is generally known that the mechanism of thermal NOx generation without the Interior Material nitrogen source. This study started from the idea to check the NOx difference according to the furnace temperature. But from the results, it was revealed that NOx is not so sensitive for the furnace temperature in case of solid burning. Other gases such as HCN, CO were more changeable to the furnace Temp. We reported the test result as for toxicity index r(x).

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.111-120
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• 2021

Asbestos products had been widely used until 2007 in Korea since the 1930s. A total ban on their production and applications has been imposed because of the toxic effect of asbestos fibers on the human health. The inhaled asbestos fibers increase reactive oxygen species and inflammatory reactions in the respiratory airway including the alveolar sac, resulting in DNA damages and secretion of several inflammatory cytokines or chemokines. These paracrine communications promote the proliferation of fibroblasts and the synthesis of collagen fibers, thereby depositing them into the extracellular matrix at the interstitial space of alveoli. The fibrotic tissue hindered the gas exchange in the alveolus. This reviews describes not only the cytotoxic effects of asbestos fibers with different physical or chemical characteristics but also the interaction of cells that make up the respiratory airway to understand the molecular or cellular mechanisms of asbestos fiber-induced toxicity. In addition, we propose a pulmonary toxicity research technique based on the mini-lung that can mimic human respiratory system as an alternative to overcome the limitations of the conventional risk assessment of asbestos fibers.