• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2006

The objective of this study is to provide fundamental data for pertinent management of indoor air quality through investigating the size-based characteristics of bioaerosol distributed in the general hospital. Measurement sites are main lobby, ICU, ward and laboratory and total five times were sampled with six-stage cascade impactor. Based on the result of this study, concentrations of airborne bacteria and fungi were the highest in main lobby as followed by an order of ward, ICU and laboratory. Concentrations of airborne bacteria was generally higher than those of airborne fungi and the ratio of indoor and outdoor concentration of both exceeded 1.0 in all the measurement sites of the general hospital. The predominant genera of airborne bacteria identified in the general hospital were Staphylococcus spp.(50%), Micrococcus spp.(15-20%), Corynebacterium spp.(5-20%), and Bacillus spp.(5-15%). On the other hand, the predominant genera of airborne fungi identified in the general hospital were Cladosporium spp.(30%), Penicillium spp.(20-25%), Aspergillus spp.(15-20%), and Alternaria spp.(10-20%). In regard to size distribution of bioaerosol, the detection rate was generally highest on 5 stage($1.1-2.1{\mu}m$) for airborne bacteria and on 1 stage(>$7.0{\mu}m$) for airborne fungi. Cleanliness of facilities in the general hospital and condition of HVAC system should be monitored regularly to prevent indoor air contamination by airborne microorganisms.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.641-651
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• 2015

The aim of this study was to estimate the service life of alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ)-treated wood. The service life of preservative-treated wood was estimated by comparing a residual quantity of ACQ in wood with toxic threshold to fungi. Indoor and outdoor leaching tests were carried out in order to predict residual ACQ quantity within wood. As a result, the leaching ratio of ACQ from treated wood above ground via precipitation was 18.1% for 50 years. When the H4 treated wood, which is traditionally used in contact with the ground and fresh water, is used above-ground, the leaching ratio of ACQ for 50 years is 18.1% and the residual quantity of ACQ is $4.2kg/m^3$, which is higher than the toxic threshold of ACQ. Thus, the H4 treated wood used above-ground will be resistant to biodeterioration for at least 50 years.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.183-191
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• 2010

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the distribution patterns and exposure concentrations of bioaerosols in industries suspected to have high levels of bioaerosol exposure. Methods: We selected 11 plants including 3 livestock feed plants (LF industry), 3 metal working fluids handling plants (MWFs industry), and 5 sawmills and measured total airborne bacteria, fungi, endotoxins, as well as dust. Airborne bacteria and fungi were measured with one stage impactor, six stage cascade impactor, and gelatin filters. Endotoxins were measured with polycarbonate filters. Results: The geometric means (GM) of the airborne concentrations of bacteria, fungi, and endotoxins were 1,864, $2,252\;CFU/m^3$, and $31.5\;EU/m^3$, respectively at the sawmills, followed by the LF industry (535, $585\;CFU/m^3$, and $22.0\;EU/m^3$) and MWFs industry (258, $331\;CFU/m^3$, and $8.7\;EU/m^3$). These concentrations by industry type were significantly statistically different (p < 0.01). The ratio of indoor to outdoor concentration was 6.2, 1.9, 3.2, and 3.2 for bacteria, fungi, endotoxins, and dust in the LF industry, 5.0, 0.9, 2.3, and 12.5 in the MWFs industry, and 3.7, 4.1, 3.3, and 9.7 in sawmills. The respiratory fractions of bioaerosols were differentiated by bioaerosol types and industry types: the respiratory fraction of bacteria in the LF industry, MWF industry, and sawmills was 59.4%, 72.0%, and 57.7%, respectively, and that of fungi was 77.3%, 89.5%, and 83.7% in the same order. Conclusion: We found that bioaerosol concentration was the highest in sawmills, followed by LF industry facilities and MWFs industry facilities. The indoor/outdoor ratio of microorganisms was larger than 1 and respiratory fraction of microorganisms was more than 50% of the total microorganism concentrations which might penetrate respiratory tract easily. All these findings suggest that bioaerosol in the surveyed industries should be controlled to prevent worker respiratory diseases.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.109-127
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• 2022

Recently, low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors have been widely used in monitoring mass concentration. Maintaining the accuracy of the sensors is important and requires rigorous performance evaluation and calibration. In this study, two commercial low-cost PM sensors(LCS), Plantower PMS3003 and Plantower PMS7003, were evaluated in the laboratory and field with a reference-grade PM monitor (GRIMM 11-D). Laboratory evaluation was conducted with single/mixed particles of PSL (Poly Styrene Latex) in an acrylic chamber at 20℃ and relative humidity of 20%. Field evaluation was conducted inside a building of Yonsei University (Shinchon) from February 12 to March 31, 2022. In both evaluations, LCS measured values became different from reference measured values when the relative humidity was high or the outdoor air PM10/PM2.5 ratio was high. Based on the field evaluation, the LCS measured values were corrected through four different regression analysis models. As a result, the multivariate polynomial regression analysis model showed highest matching with the reference PM monitor (PM2.5 >0.9, PM10 >0.85). In this model, the PM10/PM2.5 ratio and relative humidity were chosen as independent variables.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.213-220
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• 2016

The objective of this study is to investigate the cooling performance of an air-conditioning system for a special purpose vehicle under tropical and severe weather conditions. In order to evaluate and compare the cooling performances, the dual refrigeration cycle using R-134a was tested on a special purpose vehicle with various refrigerant charge amounts and indoor temperatures. The cycle was tested considering indoor cooling speed and compression ratio (discharge pressure), and was optimized at the refrigerant charge amount of 1.5 kg and outdoor temperature of $40.0^{\circ}C$. The time to reach indoor temperature of $15.0^{\circ}C$ increased by 86.5% and 38.1%, at the indoor temperatures from $25.0^{\circ}C$ to $32.5^{\circ}C$ and from $32.5^{\circ}C$ to $40.0^{\circ}C$, respectively. In addition, with the increase in indoor temperature from $25.0^{\circ}C$ to $40.0^{\circ}C$, the cooling capacity increased by 7.3%, from 19.1 kW to 20.5 kW, but decreased by 7.0% from 4.67 to 5.1.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.78-86
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• 2008

The aim of this paper is to show the daylight environment of a light pipe system according to sun movement. A light pipe system has been mounted on the roof of the windowless full scale model: the solar spot has diameter of 0.65m and is 1.3m long, giving an aspect ratio of 1:2. The full scale model was installed on the rooftop of the SHINAN apartment in Yongin city that has no obstructions against sunlight. The test room is equipped with sensors for the measurements of the internal illuminance and has an area of 6m(W)$\times$6m(D)$\times$4m(H). The system has been monitored with a data-logger to evaluate the cumulative distribution of illuminance on a floor-plane from 16th, April to 29th, May, 2008 over one month and selected clear sky condition. For the daylight performance of floor area, the totally 49 measuring points has been used to determine the internal illuminance and an HP datalogger(HP34970A) records the measurements for one consecutive month. The horizontal external illuminance has been measured with two outdoor sensors. This paper presents the results of monitoring light pipe system with internal/external illuminance ratio and cumulative frequency distribution of floor-plane illuminance are discussed The results show that lightpipe is proficient device for introducing daylight into the building. However It provided different daylight indoor environment with wide or narrow Interquatile range of illuminance, internal/external illuminance ratio and cumulative frequency distribution according to solar positions under suuny sky condition. For more achieving the improvement of lightpipes also include energy savings, user visual comfort with various indicators; seasonal solar height, room and lightpipes geometries.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.2530-2547
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• 2015

In the recent years, femtocell technology has received a considerable attention due to the ability to provide an efficient indoor wireless coverage as well as enhanced capacity. However, under the spectrum sharing between femtocell user equipment (FUEs) and the owner of spectrum macrocell user equipment (MUEs), both may experience higher uplink interference to each other. This paper proposes a novel distributed power control algorithm for the interference management in two-tier femtocell networks. Due to the assignment of licensed radio frequency to the outdoor macrocell users, the access priority of MUEs should be higher than FUEs. In addition, the quality of service (QoS) of MUEs that is expressed in the target signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) must always be achieved. On the other hand, we consider an efficient QoS provisioning cost function for the low-tier FUEs. The proposed algorithm requires only local information and converges even in cases where the frontiers of available power serve the target SINRs impossible. The advantage of the algorithm is the ability to implement in a distributed manner. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm based on our cost function provides effective resource allocation and substantial power saving as compared to the traditional algorithms.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.115-123
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• 2021

The emission gas from meat grilled restaurants has unpleasant odor and sticky particulate matters (PM) in form of oil mist. This affects the residents living nearby. In oder to decrease the odor and PM, electrostatic precipitators (ESP) were installed at several restaurants by support of Seoul metropolitan government and emission characteristics of PM and odor were investigated. The removal efficiency of odor and PM at before- and after-ESP was that total hydrocarbon (THC), NH₃, H₂S, acetaldehyde, butyraldehyde were not much decreased. Total suspended particles (TSP) emitted from the vent was below the value of 7 mg/m³ regardless of the concentration of before-ESP and removal efficiency was in the range of 64 ~ 86%. The ratio of PM_1.0 to PM₁₀ of emission gas was over 0.9. So it was revealed that most PM of emission gas was PM1.0. The PM concentration in the air of the street near the vent was higher than another street due to the emission gas and the PM of indoor air of restaurant grilling meats was measured very high compared to outdoor air. So it needs more powerful ventilation of indoor air.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.6-15
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• 2024

Background: People's activities have been restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes in activity patterns may lead to a decrease in fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) concentrations. Additionally, the level of population exposure to PM_2.5 may be changed. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the impact of population movement and meteorological factors on the distribution of PM_2.5 concentrations before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: The study area was Guro-gu in Seoul. The research period was selected as January to March 2020, a period of significant population movement changes caused by COVID-19. The evaluation of the dynamic population was conducted by calculating the absolute difference in population numbers between consecutive hours and comparing them to determine the daily average. Ambient PM_2.5 concentrations were estimated for each grid using ordinary kriging in Python. For the population exposure assessment, the population-weighted average concentration was calculated by determining the indoor to outdoor population for each grid and applying the indoor to outdoor ratio to the ambient PM_2.5 concentration. To assess the factors influencing changes in the ambient PM_2.5 concentration, a statistical analysis was conducted, incorporating population mobility and meteorological factors. Results: Through statistical analysis, the correlation between ambient PM_2.5 concentration and population movement was positive on both weekends and weekdays (r=0.71, r=0.266). The results confirmed that most of the relationships were positive, suggesting that a decrease in human activity can lead to a decrease in PM_2.5 concentrations. In addition, when population-weighted concentration averages were calculated and the exposure level of the population group was compared before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, the proportion of people exceeding the air quality standard decreased by approximately 15.5%. Conclusions: Human activities can impact ambient concentrations of PM_2.5, potentially altering the levels of PM_2.5 exposure in the population.