• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.324-333
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• 2023

Background: Human exposure to phthalates in indoor environments occurs via dermal absorption, oral ingestion of indoor dust, and inhalation of indoor air. However, systematic studies to investigate the exposure rate to phthalates among the three exposure routes in indoor environments are currently limited. Objectives: A theoretical exposure ratio between inhalation and oral exposure was calculated based on the total amount of di(2-ethyl-hexyl) phthalate (DEHP) emitted into indoor air and deposited into floor dust in a test house. Methods: Flooring and wallpaper containing DEHP were installed in a test house and the concentration of DEHP in both indoor air and floor dust were monitored for five months. Based on the measured DEHP concentrations, the theoretical total amount ratio of DEHP that could be exposed through inhalation and oral ingestion was calculated. Results: Considering the period of operation in the test house, the theoretical total amount of DEHP through inhalation and oral ingestion exposures in the entire test house space was calculated to be 0.014 mg and 5.5 mg, respectively. The exposure ratio of the two routes between inhalation and oral exposure corresponding to the total DEHP amount in flooring and wallpaper was 6.0×10^-7% and 2.3×10^-4%, indicating that theoretical oral exposure to DEHP is approximately 380 times higher than inhalation. Conclusions: Monitoring results from a test house has shown that oral exposure is the main exposure route for DEHP in indoor environments. The experimental design employed in this study and theoretical exposure ratio obtained can be applied to investigate actual exposure to DEHP and to determine the exposure characteristics of various types of semi-volatile organic compounds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.574-579
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• 2005

Optimal management of indoor air quality in a confined pig house, especially in winter, is indispensable for preventing infectious respiratory disease to workers and animals. This study was performed to elucidate the correlation of aerial contaminants and climate factors in a confinement. It was observed that indoor air contaminants ion in the confinement was the highest at 2:00-5:00 pm in a day, followed by 8:00-11:00 pm and 8:00-11:00 am. This was attributed to the increase of pig activities in the afternoon. The concentration of total dust and total airborne bacteria was found to have a significant correlation with temperature and relative humidity (p<0.05). Correlation of total dust and total airborne bacteria, total dust and ammonia, and total dust and odor were shown statistically significant at 95% confidence level. In conclusion, temperature and total dust concentration correlated significantly with all the parameters except for hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$). This could be explained by the fact the dryness of pig feces by increase of interior temperature and resuspension of feed deposited on the floor by the pig activity, resulted in high generation of dust which adsorbed and carried the airborne bacteria and odor compounds in a confined pig house. It was proved that the adsorptive capacity of dust with ammonia ($NH_3$) was higher than that with hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.68-69
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• 2020

Recently, the problem of air pollution is drawing attention as a social problem worldwide. Particularly, fine dust is the biggest issue among air pollutants, and it is analyzed that fine dust is generated from air pollutants such as burning fossil fuels such as petroleum or coal, or exhaust gases from automobiles. In addition, yellow dust originating from China adjacent to Korea flows into the Korean Peninsula in a western wind, causing the concentration of fine dust to deteriorate. Fine dust is a harmful substance to the human body such as asthma or respiratory disease, and awareness of the risk is also increasing to a degree designated as a primary carcinogen. In this study, as a method for improving the indoor air quality, the Properties of the matrix according to the mixing ratio of powdered activated carbon based on blast furnace slag are reviewed. The flexural strength and compressive strength were measured, and a fine dust concentration measurement experiment will be conducted later.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.115-124
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• 2024

Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess indoor air quality within and around buildings and evaluate the health risks associated with exposure to indoor air pollution. The study compares IAQ standards established by the World Health Organization with those set by South Korea's Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Education. Methods: The study utilized an Anderson Sampler and DustTrak^TM II to collect samples of total airborne bacteria and PM in indoor and outdoor environments. Collected samples were analyzed using biological and biochemical methods. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS to examine the correlation between airborne bacteria and PM. Results: The study revealed that the concentration of total airborne bacteria in indoor air generally remained below the Ministry of Environment's standard of 800 CFU/m³, although it surpassed this threshold in certain instances. PM concentrations did not exceed the standards. Indoor fine dust concentration was higher when there were people (P<0.05). There was no difference in total floating bacterial concentrations between indoor and outdoor environments (P=0.184). Finally, there was a correlation between fine dust and airborne bacteria concentrations. Conclusion: The study evaluated the concentrations of total airborne bacteria and PM in indoor air, emphasizing the importance of managing IAQ. Further research in various environments is essential to ensure a healthy indoor environment. The findings underscore the need for ongoing research and management to enhance IAQ and create safer and healthier living environments.

• 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 Health Sciences
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• v.31 no.2 s.83
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• pp.120-126
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• 2005

To assess exposure of allergy patients to a biological environment, measurements were made of levels of airborne bacteria and fungi, house dust endotoxin and mite allergens in homes of 7 allergy patients and 12 healthy families. Concentrations of airborne total bacteria and the ratio of indoor and outdoor concentrations(I/O) in allergy patient's homes were high compared to non-allergy houses. But no significant differences could be shown for the concentration of spores of viable fungi and staphylococcus in indoor air between the homes of allergic patients and healthy families. The results of investigation on house dust mites, Dermatophagoids farinae were detected in all mattress samples and the levels in the allergy patient's homes were generally high, with individual measurements exceeding $2{\mu}g/g$ dust found in $30\%$ samples. In contrast with, Dermatophagoids pteronyssinus were detected in only $60\%$ samples and the concentrations were very low. The levels of endotoxin in dust samples collected from the allergy patient's home mattresses were higher than those of control houses. There was a positive correlation between the endotoxin levels and the house dust mite allergens.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.189-190
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• 2020

The importance of indoor air quality management has recently been highlighted due to environmental problems such as indoor air pollution. Among indoor air pollutants, carbon dioxide occurs in cooking, heating, burning, and causes forgetfulness, dementia and amnesia. Radon, which occurs in building materials, soil and ground, is a type 1 carcinogen that causes lung cancer in the body through breathing. These substances can be released from the room through ventilation, but there is a limit to reducing the amount of indoor activity due to reduced ventilation conditions due to increased indoor activity time. However, these substances can be removed from the gas by adsorption. The purpose of this study was to identify the properties of granular active and powdered active white soil and mix them to make cement-based active white soil adsorbent matrix for carbon dioxide, fine dust and radon gas adsorption, and to evaluate indoor air improvements according to the mixing scale. The results of the experiment showed that active carbon dioxide adsorption performance increased for carbon dioxide and radon as the exchange rate increased through physical adsorption. In particular, the higher the replacement rate of the granular active bag, the better adsorption performance was shown.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2020.11a
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• pp.143-144
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• 2020

For modern people who spend 80% of the day indoors, indoor air quality is an important factor in their lives. Radon and fine dust, which are indoor air quality pollutants, cause various diseases and lung diseases, so a method is needed to reduce them. Therefore, this study intends to utilize the air pollutant adsorption properties of the carbonized sludge by using the carbonized sludge generated through drying and carbonization of the sludge. As a result of the experiment, it was shown that the concentration of radon and fine dust gradually decreased as the replacement ratio of carbonized sludge increased. The reason is that the carbonized sludge has the ability to adsorb fine dust and radon, so it is considered that it gradually decreases as the replacement ratio increases. Also, the compressive strength and flexural strength tend to decrease gradually. The reason for this is that the carbonized sludge has a number of internal voids, and as the replacement ratio increases, the internal voids increase and the strength decreases. If the refinement and strength of the carbonized sludge replacement ratio are supplemented, it is believed that it will be able to replace the existing finishing materials.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.26
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• pp.8.1-8.9
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• 2011

Objectives: This study assessed the health risks for children exposed to phthalate through several pathways including house dust, surface wipes and hand wipes in child facilities and indoor playgrounds. Methods: The indoor samples were collected from various children's facilities (40 playrooms, 42 daycare centers, 44 kindergartens, and 42 indoor-playgrounds) in both summer (Jul-Sep, 2007) and winter (Jan-Feb, 2008). Hazard index (HI) was estimated for the non-carcinogens and the examined phthalates were diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP). The present study examined these four kinds of samples, i.e., indoor dust, surface wipes of product and hand wipes. Results: Among the phthalates, the detection rates of DEHP were 98% in dust samples, 100% in surface wipe samples, and 95% in hand wipe samples. In this study, phthalate levels obtained from floor dust, product surface and children's hand wipe samples were similar to or slightly less compared to previous studies. The $50^{th}$ and $95^{th}$ percentile value of child-sensitive materials did not exceed 1 (HI) for all subjects in all facilities. Conclusions: For DEHP, DnBP and BBzP their detection rates through multi-routes were high and their risk based on health risk assessment was also observed to be acceptable. This study suggested that ingestion and dermal exposure could be the most important pathway of phthalates besides digestion through food.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.6610-6617
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• 2013

This study examined the current and future Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) control device markets and analyzed the recent studies on indoor air pollutantr emoval to develop a new technology for fine dust control. Currently, the mechanical filter technique occupies the bulk of the IAQ control market but the electronic technique is emerging as an alternative to control fine dust efficiently. Among the gaseous VOCs and fine dust particles contaminating the indoor air quality, fine dust particles are more problematic because they threaten human health by penetrating deep into the body and producing secondary contaminants by chemical reaction with VOCs. The electronic IAQ control device using dielectrophoretic and electrostatic forces is a good option for public spaces where many people pass, and at the same time, it needs to consider temperature, humidity, and the particle properties of specific areas to highlight the control efficiency. Electronic-related technology is expected to be used widely in many public/private spaces wherever a dust-free environment is required.