• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.245-252
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• 2016

Background: Ingestion of $^{210}Po$ laden seafood accounts for a substantial amount of the effective dose of $^{210}Po$. Among seafood items, mollusks, especially domestically produced oysters and mussels, are highly enriched in $^{210}Po$ and are consumed in large quantities in Korea. Materials and Methods: Oysters and mussels around the Korean coasts were collected from major farm areas in November 2013. Samples were spiked with an aliquot of $^{209}Po$ as a yield tracer, and they were digested with $6mol{\cdot}L^{-1}$ $HNO_3$ and $H_2O_2$. The $^{210}Po$ and $^{209}Po$ were spontaneously deposited onto a silver disc in an acidic solution of $0.5mol{\cdot}L^{-1}$ HCl and measured using an alpha spectrometer. The activity concentrations of $^{210}Pb$ and $^{210}Po$ were decay corrected to the sampling date, accounting for the possible in-growth and decay of $^{210}Po$. Results and Discussion: $^{210}Po$ activity concentrations in oysters were in a range from 41.3 to $206Bq{\cdot}(kg-ww)^{-1}$ and mussels in a range from 42.9 to $46.7Bq{\cdot}(kg-ww)^{-1}$. The $^{210}Po$ activity concentration of oysters in the turbid Western coast was higher than the Southern coast. The $^{210}Po$ activity concentration of the oysters was positively correlated ($R^2=0.89$) with those of the suspended particulate matter in the surface water. The calculated annual effective dose of $^{210}Po$ from oysters and mussels consumed by the Korean population was 21-104 and $5.01-5.46{\mu}Sv{\cdot}y^{-1}$. The combined effective dose due to the consumption of oysters and mussels appears to account for about $35{\pm}19%$ of that arising from seafood consumption in the Korean population. Conclusion: The annual effective dose of $^{210}Po$ for oysters in the Korean population was found to be higher than other countries. The total annual effective dose of $^{210}Po$ due to consumption of oysters and mussels consumed in Korea was found to be $76{\pm}42{\mu}Sv{\cdot}y^{-1}$, accounting for $28{\pm}16%$ of the total effective dose of $^{210}Po$ from food in Korea.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2004

Different adhesives(CF-clear, arabic gum, cethylmethyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, hydroxy propyl cellulose, methyl cellulose) and particulate matters(bentonite, kaolin, calcium carbonate, peatmoss, talcum, vermiculite, zeolite, calcium hydroxide, plaster, calcium phosphate, vermiculite + calcium carbonate, vermiculite + kaolin, vermiculite + talcum) were evaluated by coating index method. According to the weight of single coated seeds, CF-clear and polyvinyl alcohol appeared to be the best coating adhesives for red clover and tall fescue seeds. Both vermiculite and vermiculite + talc(l : 1) for red clover, and vermiculite + talc(l : 1) for tall fescue appeared to be the best particulate matter(P < 0.01). Percent friability showed excellent results for the arabic gum, CF-clear, and polyvinyl alcohol when compared to others(p < 0.01). The coating index showed high with vermiculite and vermiculite + talc(l : 1) in coating red clover seed, and talc, vermiculite, and vermiculite + talc showed good coating index in coating tall fescue seed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.560-569
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• 2003

Background : A large number of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and ozone influence on the body. These pollutants put a burden on the lung and the sequelae resulting from the oxidative stress are thought to contribute to the development of fibrotic lung disease, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer. Also, carbon monoxide generated from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing compounds is an important component of air pollution caused by traffic exhaust fumes and has the toxic effect of tissue hypoxia and produce various systemic and neurologic complications. The objective of this study is to compare the difference of pulmonary function and serum carboxyhemoglobin(CO-Hb) level between the traffic policemen and clerk policemen. Method : Three hundred and twenty-nine of traffic policemen, and one hundred and thirty clerk policemen were included between 2001 May and 2002 August. The policemen who took part in this study were asked to fill out a questionnaire which included questions on age, smoking, drinking, years of working, work-related symptoms and past medical history. The serum CO-Hb level was measured by using carboxyoximeter. Pulmonary function test was done by using automated spirometer. Additional tests, such as elecrocardiogram, urinalysis, chest radiography, blood chemistry, and CBC, were also done. Results : $FEV_1(%)$ was $97.1{\pm}0.85%$, and $105.7{\pm}1.21%$(p<0.05). FVC(%) was $94.6{\pm}0.67%$, and $102.1{\pm}1.09%$, respectively(p<0.05). Serum CO-Hb level was $2.4{\pm}0.06%$, and $1.8{\pm}0.08%$(p<0.05). After correction of confounding factors (age, smoking), significant variables were FVC(%), $FEV_1(%)$ and serum CO-Hb level(%)(p<0.05). Conclusion : Long exposure to air pollution may influence the pulmonary function and serum CO-Hb level. But, further prospective cohort study will be needed to elucidate detailed influences of specific pollutants on pulmonary function and serum carboxyhemoglobin level.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2003

Indoor air quality(IAQ) in workplace and residential environments has been concern of people. Recently, Ministry of Environment in Korea has recognized the potential risk on the healthy effect related to indoor air pollution at home. Therefore, the purpose of this study was performed to measure the indoor air pollutants of IAQ at different homes and investigate to compare the perception of IAQ recognition at home from questionnaire survey in Seoul. We estimated the IAQ of selected 6 homes based on site region and housing type. The indoor air pollutants and parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, respirable suspended particulate matter($PM_{10}$), formaldehyde(HCHO), total bacteria counts, carbon monooxide(CO) and carbon dioxide($CO_2$) were monitored for summer and winter. In monitoring results, the respirable suspended particulate matter(($PM_{10}$) and indoor airborne bacteria level of home 5 and 6 were higher than the standard of the public $150{\;}{\mu}g/m^3$ and $500{\;}{\mu}g/m^3$, the level formaldehyde(HCHO) was exceed 0.1 ppm of the standard of Korea at all monitored homes. In statistics analysis, we could find a correlation between the building age and the concentration of CO, TBC were significant at 0.01 level and Relative Humidity was significant at 0.05 level for summer. Finally, the important air pollutants of IAQ in home were HCHO and total bacteria counts(TBC). And we performed a questionnaire survey of 500 people about their awareness for the importance of IAQ in our home during same period. In results, all most response of occupant has recognized the importance of IAQ at home. Therefore, it can be concluded that the IAQ of selected 6 home studied was perceived as acceptable, it is recommended that the government related IAQ was suggested the guideline and control of IAQ problems, and the occupants need to be effort to reduce the exposure of sources to undesirable pollutants.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2023

Due to the development of industry, interest in air pollutants has increased. Air pollutants have affected various fields such as environmental pollution and global warming. Among them, environmental diseases are one of the fields affected by air pollutants. Air pollutants can affect the human body's skin or respiratory tract due to their small molecular size. As a result, various studies on air pollutants and environmental diseases have been conducted. Asthma, part of an environmental disease, can be life-threatening if symptoms worsen and cause asthma attacks, and in the case of adult asthma, it is difficult to cure once it occurs. Factors that worsen asthma include particulate matter and air pollution. Asthma is an increasing prevalence worldwide. In this paper, we study how air pollutants correlate with the number of emergency room admissions in asthma patients and predict the number of future asthma emergency patients using highly correlated air pollutants. Air pollutants used concentrations of five pollutants: sulfur dioxide(SO₂), carbon monoxide(CO), ozone(O₃), nitrogen dioxide(NO₂), and fine dust(PM₁₀), and environmental diseases used data on the number of hospitalizations of asthma patients in the emergency room. Data on the number of emergency patients of air pollutants and asthma were used for a total of 5 years from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. The model made predictions using two models, Informer and LTSF-Linear, and performance indicators of MAE, MAPE, and RMSE were used to measure the performance of the model. The results were compared by making predictions for both cases including and not including the number of emergency patients. This paper presents air pollutants that improve the model's performance in predicting the number of asthma emergency patients using Informer and LTSF-Linear models.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.572-580
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• 2019

In view of the numerous discussions on global environmental issues, policies have been implemented to limit emissions in the field of marine transport, which accounts for a major part of international trade. In this study, a ship's emissions were calculated by applying the engine load factor to determine the total quantity of emissions based on the ship's speed reduction. For ships entering and leaving the Busan North Port from 1 January to 31 December 2017, emissions were calculated and analyzed based on the ship's type and its speed in the reduced speed zone (RSZ), which was set to 20 nautical miles. The comparison of the total amount of emissions under all situations, such as cruising, maneuvering, and hotelling modes revealed that the vessels that generated the most emissions were container ships at 76.1 %, general cargo ships at 7.2 %, and passenger ships at 6.8 %. In the cruising and maneuvering modes, general cargo ships discharged a lesser amount of emission in comparison with passenger ships; however, in the hotelling mode, the general cargo ships discharged a larger amount of emission than passenger ships. The total emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), particulate matter (PM), and volatile organic compounds (VOC), were 49.4 %, 45 %, 4 %, and 1.6 %, respectively. Furthermore, the amounts of emission were compared when ships navigated at their average service speed, 12, 10, and 8 knots in the RSZ, respectively. At 12 knots, the reduction in emissions was more than that of the ships navigating at their average service speed by 39 % in NOx, 40 % in VOC, 42 % in PM, and 38 % in Sox. At 10 knots, the emission reductions were 52 %, 54 %, 56 %, and 50 % in NOx, VOC, PM, and Sox, respectively. At 8 knots, the emission reductions were 62 %, 64 %, 67 %, and 59 % in NOx, VOC, PM, and Sox, respectively. As a result, the emissions were ef ectively reduced when there was a reduction in the ship's speed. Therefore, it is necessary to consider limiting the speed of ships entering and leaving the port to decrease the total quantity of emissions.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.120-128
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• 2003

Purpose: Recently, while the authors were experiencing that the epidemic period of rotaviral infection happened more in the early spring, we tried to find out how the outbreaks of rotaviral infection are changing in detail depending on the weather condition since it has something to do with the climate factors and PM10. Methods: Fourteen hundreds seventy nine patients who were proved to be positive to rotavirus were chosen among children less than 5 years old from January 1995 to June 2003. Among various climate factors, monthly average temperature, humidity, rainfall and PM10 were selected. Results: Rotaviral infection was most active in 2002 as 309 (20.9%) patients. It has been the spring that is the most active period of rotaviral infection since 2000. The temperature (RR=0.9423, CI=0.933424~0.951163), rainfall (RR=1.0024, CI=1.001523~1.003228) and PM10 (RR=1.0123, CI=1.009385~1.015248) were significantly associated with the monthly distribution of rotaviral infection. Conclusion: Through this study we determined that the epidemic period of rotaviral infection is changed to spring, which is different from the usual seasonal periods such as late fall or winter as reported in previous articles. As increased PM10 which could give serious influence to the human body, and changing pattern of climate factors such as monthly average temperature and rainfall have something to do with the rotaviral infection, we suppose that further study concerning this result is required in the aspects of epidemiology, biology and atmospheric science.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

The $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected at Gosan Site of Jeju Island, and analyzed, in order to investigate the size distribution and pollution characteristics of their components. $NH{_4}{^+}$, nss-$SO{_4}^{2-}$, $K^+$, and $CH_3COO^-$ were mostly existed in fine particles. Meanwhile, $NO{_3}{^-}$ was distributed in both fine and coarse particles, and $Na^+$, $Cl^-$, $Mg^{2+}$, nss-$Ca^{2+}$ were rich in coarse particle mode. The concentrations of nss-$Ca^{2+}$ and $NO{_3}{^-}$ were increased 36.7 and 3.2 times in coarse particles, and 15.0 and 3.1 times in fine particles during the Asian Dust periods. Especially, the concentrations of crustal elemental species such as Al, Fe, Ca, K, Mg, Ti, Mn, Sr, Ba were highly increased for those periods. In the haze events, the concentrations of secondary air pollutants were increased 1.3~2.6 and 1.5~4.2 times in coarse and fine particles, respectively. Moreover, the remarkable increase of $NO{_3}{^-}$ concentration was also observed in fine particle mode. The factor analysis showed that the composition of coarse particles was influenced mainly by marine sources, followed by soil and anthropogenic sources. On the other hand, the fine particles were influenced by anthropogenic sources, followed by marine and soil sources.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.279-285
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• 2005

Background : Ambient particles during Asian dust events are usually less than $10{\mu}m$ in size, and known to be associated with the adverse effects on the general population. There is little evidence linking Asian dust to adverse effects on the airways. In 2002, the authors found that particulate matter during Asian dust events had an effect on the symptoms and pulmonary function of patients with bronchial asthma. An aggravating factor might be that of a viral infection, but this remains unclear. Conversely, it has been speculated that African dust may carry the virus responsible for foot and mouth disease. Asian dust events are also likely to be responsible for transporting viruses, some of which are pathogenic, and common in many environments. Therefore, in this study, air samples were screened for the presence of viruses. Methods : Air samples were collected 20 times each during Asian dust events and under non-dust conditions, for at least 6 hours per sample, using a high volume air sampler (Sibata Model HV500F), with an airflow rate of 500L/min, between April and August 2003, and between April and August 2004. The samples were then screened for the presence of targeted viruses (Influenza A, B, Hog cholera virus, and Aphthovirus) using a polymerase chain reaction method. Results : One Asian dust event occurred between April and August 2003, and 3 between April and August 2004, with a 24 hour average PM10 level of $148.0{\mu}g/m^3$. The 24 hour average PM10 level was $57{\mu}g/m^3$. There was a significant difference in the PM10 concentration between dusty and clear days. No viruses (Influenza virus, Aphthovirus, and Hog cholera virus) were identified in the air samples obtained during the dusty days. Conclusions : Although no virus was detected in this study, further studies will be needed to identify suspected viruses carried during Asian dust events, employing more appropriate virus detection conditions.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.197-206
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• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the concentration and characteristics of dust originating from windowless broiler building in each season. 12.0m width and 46m tenth with side wall height of 3.0m was investigated and capacity was 12,800 birds at a stock density of 23.2 birds per square meter. Dust concentrations in terms of total suspended particles (TSP), and particulate matter of sizes $10{\mu}m(PM10),\;2.5{\mu}m (PM2.5),\;and\;1{\mu}m(PM1)$ were measured at 30-minute intervals. On the basis of broiler age, the average dust concentration in summer in TSP as follows: 1,229 904.5 558.8 and $1,053{\mu}g/m^3$ on the broilers' first to fourth week of age, respectively. But during winter, the average dust concentration showed an increasing pattern, as follows: 465.4, 1,401, 4,497, 5,097 and $6,873{\mu}g/m^3$ on the broilers' first to fifth week of age, respectively. The maximum dust concentration of $11,132{\mu}g/m^3$ was observed on the fifth week. On a daily basis, the maximum dust concentration during summer was detected in early morning, and the minimum in the afternoon. The aerial dust particle size of $0.05\~0.35{\mu}m$ was the highest in number. But on volume basis, particle size of 16~99 un had the largest percentage in the broiler house. Crude protein of the dust $(42.8\~65.2\%)$, on dry matter basis, was higher than that $(20.5\~24.5\%)$ fed to the broilers. Heavy metal concentration of the dust also had high levels compared with that of the feed.