• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2020

Controlling the quality of indoor air is important in order to maintain a healthy life. In this study, we investigated the correlation between the hazardous substance concentration of indoor air and circulation based on different ventilation methods in the apartment, which is one of the representative housing types in Korea. As target substances, we considered the hazardous substances which are generated during the cooking process and radon gas which is originated from building materials. We measured the concentrations of carbon dioxide and fine particles in relation to type of food and ventilation methods in order to determine the change in the concentration levels of hazardous substances which are generated during the cooking process. On the other hand, we measured the concentration of radon gas before and after letting fresh air into a room through windows in order to determine the change in the concentration level of radon gas which is originated from building materials. The results show that turning on the ventilation fan plays a major role in reducing the concentration levels of hazardous substances in the kitchen, and that it is more effective to turn on the ventilation fan during cooking than after cooking to prevent the diffusion of hazardous materials produced by cooking through the indoor air. Also, the results indicate that letting fresh air into a room through windows more than one time a day is necessary to reduce the concentration level of radon gas in the room to safe concentration range.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.264-275
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• 2007

The objective of this study was to offer basic and scientific data for decision-making of policy for improvement and management of radon, natural radiation gas, in Korea and to form the foundation of radon related international cooperation. Therefore, this study collected and re-analysed the articles on exposure of radon in various indoor environment in journals related environment in Korea since 1980 and estimated the annual exposure dose and effective dose by exposure of radon received by inhabitants in them. The highest pooled average radon concentration of $50.17{\pm}4.08\;Bq/m^3$ (95% CI : $42.17{\sim}58.17\;Bq/m^3$) was found in dwelling house among various indoor environment. All of pooled average radon concentration estimated in this study showed lower than the guideline concentration ($148\;Bq/m^3)$ of US EPA and the Korean Ministry of Environment. The annual effective dose received by inhabitants in various indoor environment was estimated 1.071 mSv/yr. That is equal to annual effective dose (1.0 mSv/yr) by exposure of radon estimated by UNSCEAR.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.447-455
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• 2013

Objectives: This study aims to understand the concentration, diversity, and antibiotic characteristics of staphylococci present in the indoor air of child-care facilities. Methods: Air sampling was performed from October 2012 to January 2013 in 120 child-care facilities in Seoul, Korea. Methicillin-resistant bacteria were selected from the total obtained airborne bacteria and subjected to 16S rRNA analysis for methicillin-resistant staphylococcal species determination. Identified staphylococcal strains were tested for resistance to a range of antibiotics. Results: Average total airborne bacterial concentration was $508.9{\pm}246.3CFU/m^3$. Indoor concentration of total airborne bacteria had a significant positive correlation with the $CO_2$ concentration in the child-care facilities. Methicillin-resistant staphylococci were present in 13.3% of the child-care facilities studied. A total of four species (S. epidermidis, S. cohnii, S. saprophyticus, S. sp.) and 55 strains were identified from the indoor air of the child-care facilities. Staphylococcus cohnii was the most common species (54.5%), followed by S. epidermidis (38.2%). All of the isolated staphylococcal strains exhibited high resistance to oxacillin, erythromycin, mupirocin, and ceftizoxime. Especially, S. saprophyticus strains showed more multidrug resistance to oxacillin, vancomycin, clindamycin, erythromycin, lincomycin, ceftizoxime, mupirocin, and tetracycline than did other species. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that a monitoring system for multidrug-resistant bacteria is needed in facilities for children, as the community-associated infections of these bacteria are increasing.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.745-760
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• 2010

The purposes of this study were to investigate the state of indoor thermal and air environment during winter in the one-room type multi-family houses occupied by university students and to analyze factors which influenced this environment. Field survey was conducted in 10 houses between 30th January, 2009 and 13th February, 2009 which measured indoor thermal and air elements as well kept records of interviews with residents and other related factors. Measured elements were air temperature, relative humidity, as well as concentrations of $CO_2$, CO, TVOC, and PM-10. The results can be summarized as follows. 1) The mean air temperature in each house ranged from 19.3 to $25.3^{\circ}C$, so most houses were not suitable for evaluation criteria($20-22^{\circ}C$). The average $CO_2$ concentration in each house was 965~3259ppm, so most houses exceeded evaluation criteria(1000ppm). The average TVOC concentration in each house were 0.00~1.17ppm, 5 houses exceeded evaluation criteria(0.12ppm). 2) Relative humidity, CO concentration, and PM-10 concentration were suitable for evaluation criteria. Therefore, indoor thermal and air environment during winter in one-room type multi-family housing occupied by university students was found to be generally uncomfortable. Important factor which were found to influence air temperature and the concentration of $CO_2$ were smaller space capacity than general house. Other factors which were found to influence the environment of these houses were the existence of a balcony as well as factors relating to the behavior of occupants such whether or not heating were operated, whether windows were opened, whether fans used, whether occupants smoked or used cosmetics, and whether the space was dusted.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.1011-1016
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• 2006

Recently, volatile organic compound(VOC) has been noted as a main cause of air pollution. VOC, with its toxic and offensive odor, is hazardous to health. Furthermore indoor, underground and hish-rise buildings are preferable living spaces. People spend more than 80% of the day indoor, so indoor air pollution is a matter of importance. In Korea, from 2004, 10 types of indoor pollutants in public facilities have been identified. However, there is no standard for individual VOC, so the regulation has not yet effectively been carried out. In this study, we have studied on the diffusion of Benzene in a room using a numerical analysis for various air-controlled conditions consisted of door, window and ventilation system. This study investigates spatial concentration distribution and time-history of room-averaged benzene concentration for several cases. The results of this study show that when the room is ventilated by a small fan only for 30 minutes, the average concentration of benzene is decreased a very little, thus the impact to human body would be serious compared to the case of natural ventilation by window and door, In the case of natural ventilation by window and door, if the wind speed is higher than 0.5m/s, it takes small than 4 minutes for benzene to spread to the target concentration of $1.2mg/m^3$.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.134-144
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• 1998

A comprehensive air quality monitoring was carried out to investigate the criteria concentration of air pollutant in indoor of subway stations of Seoul City. The samples were collected twice per year (the first and the second half of the year) at each sampling point from February to September in 1997. Sampling point of subway stations was ticket office and platform. The measurement of indoor air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide(SO$_2$), nitrogen dioxide(NO$_2$), carbon monoxide(CO), carbon dioxide(CO$_2$), total suspended particulate(TSP) was performed to determine the indoor air quality. Heavy metals(Pb, Cd, Cu, Cr, As, Hg) were also measured together with those air pollutants. The annual average concentration of CO$_2$ and TSP in subway stations were relatively high while those of heavy metals were within 10% of environmental recommended standard concentration in all stations. As results of regression analysis between line and line of air factors, the concentrations of CO, CO$_2$, TSP, Pb, Cd, Cr and Cu were highly correlated, but those of $SO_2, NO_2$ and Hg were not correlated. As results of regression analysis between ticket office and platform, the concentrations of heavy metals such as Cr and Cu were highly correlated. Results of oneway analysis of variance between the first and the second half of the year air factors also indicated that CO, CO$_2$, Cd, Cu, Hg were significant($\alpha$=0.01), respectively. The average contration of total suspended particulate(TSP) in subway line No. 1 was shown high concentration(200 $\mu g/m^3\cdot$ day) level.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.43-48
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• 1996

Indoor air quality(IAQ) in museum is very important for protection of cultural properties. In our study, we measured air pollutants($NO_x, NH_3, SO_2, O_3$, CO, $CO_2$, TSP), temperature and humidity to evaluate IAQ of national central museum. Indoor carbon dioxide and TSP concentrations were higher than outdoor concentrations. Temperature, huinidity and TSP had large deviation depending on air conditioning operates or not. Indoor gas phase pollutants except $CO_2$ were lower than outdoor concentrations, but $SO_2$ concentration was high in storage. $CO_2$ and TSP were influenced by the number of spectators.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2022

As the COVID-19 pandemic situation worsens, the time spent indoors increases, and the exposure to indoor environmental pollution such as indoor air pollution and noise also increases, causing problems such as deterioration of human health, stress, and discord between neighbors. This paper designs and implements a system that measures and monitors indoor air quality and noise, which are representative evaluation criteria of the indoor environment. The system proposed in this paper consists of a particulate matter measurement subsystem that measures and corrects the concentration of particulate matters to monitor indoor air quality, and a noise measurement subsystem that detects changes in sound and converts it to a sound pressure level. The concentration of indoor particulate matters is measured using a laser-based light scattering method, and an error caused by temperature and humidity is compensated in this paper. For indoor noise measurement, the voltage measured through a microphone is basically measured, Fourier transform is performed to classify it by frequency, and then A-weighting is performed to correct loudness equality. Then, the RMS value is obtained, high-frequency noise is removed by performing time-weighting, and then SPL is obtained. Finally, the equivalent noise level for 1 minute and 5 minutes are calculated to show the indoor noise level. In order to classify noise into direct impact sound and air transmission noise, a piezo vibration sensors is mounted to determine the presence or absence of direct impact transmitted through the wall. For performance evaluation, the error of particulate matter measurement is analyzed through TSI's AM510 instrument. and compare the noise error with CEM's noise measurement system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.397-400
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• 2007

Indoor air-conditioning system(IAS) using wireless sensor network serves to reduce the amount of pollution entering the room from outside and also the pollution that is generated indoor. Small-size and lower power wireless sensor node and sensor interface board was designed for indoor air-conditioning system in buildings of offices and industrial establishments. Many sensor nodes forms Ad-hoc network topology using simple forwarding routing to transmit polluting gas concentration data from different rooms to the indoor air-conditioning system. Sensor node analyzes pollution concentration in the each room and air-conditioning system performs to air-distribution and air-inhalation according to room's pollution by regulating the fan of indoor air-conditioning system. To reduce power consumption electrochemical gas sensor was used in the design. Thus the designed system can optimize state of indoor environment. Graphic user interface displays node sate, gas concentration and temperature of each room.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.491-497
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• 2005

In this study, we investigated $PM_{10},\;NO_2$, and l-hydroxypyrene(1-OHP) in urine at indoor environments which are 35 houses and 20 hospitals for using air cleaner and non-using air cleaner in Seoul metropolitan area and Kyoung-gi province from April, 2003 to February, 2004. Moreover, we examined effect of improvement for indoor air quality and health effect by concentration of 1-OHP also we investigated removal efficiency by air cleaner for $PM_{10},\;NO_2$, and 1-OHP that were 28.5\%,\;27.4\%,\;and\;42.1\%$ respectively. Concentration of$PM_{10},\;NO_2$, and 1-OHP were $19.02\pm18.14{\mu}g/m^3,\;8.66\pm3.06ppb,\;and\;0.19\pm0.18{\mu}g/g$, creatinine when air cleaner was no worked. The concentration for $PM_{10},\;NO_2$. and 1-OHP were $13.60\pm10.79{\mu}g/m^3,\; 6.29\pm2.71ppb,\;and\;0.11\pm0.10{\mu}g/g$ creatinine, respectively. It was significant statistically. Therefore, it is considered using the air cleaner to remove the partial pollutants in indoor environment and is positive effect for health.