• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.137-145
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• 2022

As many studies on the harmfulness of fine dust have been reported, awareness of its seriousness is spreading. Recently, interest in indoor air quality as well as air pollution is increasing, and research on measures to block fine dust flowing into the room from the outside is being conducted. The clothing company is launching functional clothing to prevent fine dust attached to clothing from entering the room through outdoor activities. However, it is difficult to confirm whether there is actually fine-dust blocking performance, and there is no evaluation standard. In this study, the contamination rate caused by fine dust was quantitatively compared through image processing after contamination of the outer fabric for 4 types of commercially available functional clothing with fine-dust blocking effect. The difference in particle contamination according to the material of the outer fabric was analyzed by comparing the surface resistance, and it was found that the higher the surface resistance of the outer fabric material, the more fine dust was attached. The analysis method of this study is expected to be able to quantitatively compare and evaluate the fine-dust blocking performance of functional clothing.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2009

A material database has been developed for VOCs and formaldehyde emitted from building materials in this study. New classification system has been made by correlating the classification methods used in Korean Air Cleaning and Environmental Protection Agency. The developed databases include emission rates of TVOC, 5VOC and formaldehyde emitted from each building material. In addition, the databases can be used as an input variable to estimate indoor air quality (IAQ) using computer simulation since they also contain chemical component and general imformation. Box plot was used to do statistical analysis for emission rates of formaldehyde and TVOCs from different types of building materials. Also we confirmed the building materials worsening IAQ by categorizing the emission characteristic of different types of pollutants.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3659-3665
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• 2015

Background: Waterpipe tobacco smoking has becoming popular especially among young people worldwide. Smokers are attracted by its sweeter, smoother smoke, social ambience and the misconception of reduced harm. The objective of this study was to systematically review the effects of waterpipe tobacco policies and practices in reducing its prevalence. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted electronically using the PubMed, OVID, Science Direct, Proquest and Embase databases. All possible studies from 1980 to 2013 were initially screened based on titles and abstracts. The selected articles were subjected to data extraction and quality rating. Results: Three studies met the inclusion criteria and were eligible for this review. Almost all of the waterpipe tobacco products and its accessories did not comply with the regulations on health warning labelling practices as stipulated under Article 11 of WHO FCTC. In addition, the grisly new warning labels for cigarettes introduced by Food and Drug Administration did not affect hookah tobacco smoking generally. Indoor air quality in smoking lounges was found to be poor and some hookah lounges were operated without smoke shop certification. Conclusions: Our findings revealed the availability of minimal information on the practices in controlling waterpipe smoking in reducing its prevalence. The lack of comprehensive legislations or practices in controlling waterpipe smoking warrants further research and policy initiatives to curb this burgeoning global epidemic, especially among the vulnerable younger population.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.313-319
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• 2011

In a modern society, various type of transportation modes are utilized, among them the subway system is the one of the main transportation mode which more than 7.21 million people ride a day in Seoul. Due to the increased interests on the indoor air quality (IAQ) of underground facilities, public concerns on IAQ of subway system are increasing also. Platform screen door (PSD) recently installed at the whole stations of Seoul subway and tunnel washing-out appeared to be effective in reducing particulate matters in the platform and tunnel. However there has not been any attempt to improve IAQ of subway cabin inside. Most technologies for removing airborne particulate matters are known to be difficult to adopt on the subway cabin due to the problem of maintenance cost. Therefore, the object of this study is a practical development of cabin air cleaning system which can reduce the concentration of airborne particles and harmful gases at the same time. In this paper, we focused on the development of particle removing system utilizing a roll-filter for increasing operating time of air filter. The prototype of system was designed and manufactured based on the numerical prediction results. For rollfilter device, 5 candidate filter materials were tested in point of particle collection efficiency and pressure drop. It was found that the electrically charged filter material showed the highest performance among them.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2015

Seoul subway plays an important part for the public transportation service in Seoul metropolitan area. As the subway system is typically a closed environment, frequent air pollution problems occurred and passengers get malhealth impact. Especially particulate matters (PM) is well known as one of the major pollutants in subway environments. The purpose of this study was to compare the concentrations of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ in the Seoul subway system and to provide fundamental data in order to management of subway system. $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected in the M station platform and tunnel of Subway Line 4 in Seoul metropolitan and in an outdoor location close to it from Apr. 21, 2010~Oct. 27, 2013. The samples collected on teflon filters using $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ mini-volume portable samplers and PM sequential sampler. The PM contributions were $48.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (outdoor), $84.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (platform) and $204.8{\mu}g/m^3$ (tunnel) for $PM_{10}$, and $34.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (outdoor), $49.7{\mu}g/m^3$ (platform) and $83.1{\mu}g/m^3$ (tunnel) for $PM_{2.5}$. The $PM_{10}$ levels inside stations and outdoors are poorly correlated, indicating that $PM_{10}$ levels in the metro system are mainly influenced by internal sources. In this study, we compared PM concentrations before and after operation of ventilation and Electrostatic Precipitator (EP). Despite the increased PM concentration at outdoor, $PM_{10}$ concentration at platform and tunnel showed the 31.2% and 32.3% reduction efficiency after operation the reduction system. The overall results of this study suggest that the installation and operation of the ventilating system and EP should have served as one of the important components for maintaining the air quality in the subway system.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.41-50
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• 2022

Recently, research on carbon adsorbents has been active as an interest in improving the environment such as indoor and outdoor air quality. Considering that causative substances deteriorate the air quality are basically volatile organic compounds, it is important to improve the hydrophobicity of the carbon materials for better removal efficiency. This study presents a method for improving hydrophobicity of carbon and a measurement of the hydrophobicity. Generally, methods of improving the hydrophobicity of carbon materials are heat treatment, acid/alkali treatment, coating and immersion with hydrophobic materials. However, it collapses the pore structure and reduces the adsorption capacity. Therefore, this study briefly introduce not only the general method for improving carbon materials' hydrophobicity but also the method for converting the precursor of the material is briefly introduced. Futhermore, this study introduces a analytical technique used to determine hydrophobic modification or not, and aims to enhance the understanding of carbon materials.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2014

The ventilation frequency of 0.5 times in residential facilities is applied mandatorily to the housing facilities containing more than 100 house units to improve the indoor air quality and create comfortable interior conditions and pleasantness for residents. The Building Energy Efficiency Rating system requires the implementation of leakage test based on ventilation frequency with the test results being reflected in the efficiency ratings, thereby stimulating the precise construction of the fittings in the periphery of windows and savings of energy that can be lost due to the infiltration air. The inspection results of the Building Energy Efficiency Rating at the site showed that the ventilation frequency was in the range between 0.63 and 0.71 and that the difference was found to have a significant effect on the amount of energy reduction. It is urgent to conduct the study on highly leakage-proof buildings and construction methods, along with the expansion of mandatory leakage-proof diagnosis of non-residential buildings, considering the mandatory ventilation frequency below 0.6 for passive houses under the European standards and the target set by Korea to introduce the passive house, the rigorous standard for energy efficiency in buildings and mitigating their ecological footprint, by 2017 and achieve the zero house by 2025.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1002-1011
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• 2020

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the composition and diversity of the fungal flora at various control points in cheese ripening rooms of 10 dairy farms from six different provinces in the Republic of Korea. Methods: Floor, wall, cheese board, room air, cheese rind and core were sampled from cheese ripening rooms of ten different dairy farms. The molds were enumerated using YM petrifilm, while isolation was done on yeast extract glucose chloramphenicol agar plates. Morphologically distinct isolates were identified using sequencing of internal transcribed spacer region. Results: The fungal counts in 8 out of 10 dairy farms were out of acceptable range, as per hazard analysis critical control point regulation. A total of 986 fungal isolates identified and assigned to the phyla Ascomycota (14 genera) and Basidiomycota (3 genera). Of these Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Cladosporium were the most diverse and predominant. The cheese ripening rooms was overrepresented in 9 farms by Penicillium (76%), while Aspergillus in a single farm. Among 39 species, the prominent members were Penicillium commune, P. oxalicum, P. echinulatum, and Aspergillus versicolor. Most of the mold species detected on surfaces were the same found in the indoor air of cheese ripening rooms. Conclusion: The environment of cheese ripening rooms persuades a favourable niche for mold growth. The fungal diversity in the dairy farms were greatly influenced by several factors (exterior atmosphere, working personnel etc.,) and their proportion varied from one to another. Proper management of hygienic and production practices and air filtration system would be effective to eradicate contamination in cheese processing industries.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.443-449
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• 2017

The imbalance of air supply and the exhaust on subway platforms has led to the installation of platform screen doors in underground subway stations. This imbalance causes the accumulation of pollutants on the platform and loss of comfort due to the lack of ventilation. In this study, a floor exhaust system was optimized using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and an optimization program. The optimized floor exhaust system was manufactured and tested experimentally to evaluate the particle collection efficiency. CFX 17.0 and HEEDS were used to analyze the flow field and optimize the principal dimensions of the exhaust system. As a result of the three-step optimization, the optimized floor exhaust system had a total height of 1.78 m, pressure drop of 430 Pa, and particle collection capability of 61%. A fine dust particle collection experiment was conducted using a floor exhaust system that was manufactured at full scale based on the optimized design. The experiment indicated about 65% particle collection efficiency. Therefore, the optimized design can be applied to subway platforms to draw in exhaust air and remove particulate matter at the same time.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2023

Objectives: This study was conducted to measure the level of radon in the air at a highway tunnel construction site in a gneiss area using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) and to evaluate exposure levels by occupation. Methods: Radon concentrations in the air were measured using E-PERM at points 300 m, 600 m, and 900 m from the tunnel entrance during the excavation and waterproofing work inside the tunnel. In addition, radon concentrations were measured during external excavation to compare with the inside of the tunnel. Personal exposure levels for major occupations including tunnel workers, construction equipment operators, waterproofers, shotcrete workers, and safety and health managers who participated in the construction were estimated using radon concentration measured in the work process area and working hours by occupation. Results: As a result of a total of 77 radon measurements, the geometric mean (GM) concentration was 71.1 Bq/m³, and the maximum concentration was 127.3 Bq/m³, which was below the indoor air quality criteria. Radon concentration by process decreased in the order of the tunnel excavation process (GM= Bq/m³, GSD=1.2), waterproofing process (GM=73.35 Bq/m³, GSD=1.2), and outside excavating process (GM=45.28 Bq/m³, GSD=1.2). Processes inside the tunnel were significantly higher than outside excavating processes (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in radon concentration measured inside by distance from the tunnel entrance, but the innermost point of the tunnel, 900 m (GM=79.24 Bq/m³, GSD=1.27), measured the highest. Conclusions: The occupation with the highest individual exposure to radon was tunnel worker (64.16 Bq/m³), followed by construction equipment driver (64.04 Bq/m³) and waterproofer (63.13 Bq/m³).