• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.331-338
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• 2014

Descriptive statistics methods were used to study the spatiotemporal variations and sources of ambient particulate matter ($PM_{10}$) in Luzhou, China. The analyzed datasets were collected from four national air quality monitoring stations: Jiushi (S1), Xiaoshi (S2), Zhongshan (S3), Lantian (S4) over the period of 2003-2012. This city was subjected serious $PM_{10}$ pollution, and the long-term annual average $PM_{10}$ concentrations varied from 76 to $136{\mu}g/m^3$. The maximum concentration was more than 3-fold of the annual average ($40{\mu}g/m^3$) issued by EPA-China for the ambient air quality. General temporal pattern was characterized by high concentrations in winter and low concentrations in summer, and general spatial gradient was in the reduction order of S2 > S4 > S3 > S1, which were both due to different particulate contributors and special meteorological conditions. The source apportionment indicated that vehicular emissions, road dusts, coal burning and chemical dusts were the major contributors of the identified $PM_{10}$ pollution, and the vehicular emissions and the road wear re-suspended particles dominated the heavy $PM_{10}$ pollution in recent years. Two other potential sources, agricultural and celebration activities could decrease the air quality in a short term. Finally, some corresponding suggestions and measures were provided to improve the air quality.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.64-73
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• 2013

Because some particulate matter emission sources may inherently produce soluble species, or some soluble species may be produced during atmospheric transport, it is important to understand the origin of a particles's solubility when water-soluble tracers are used in source apportionment studies. Laboratory experiments were performed on three types of soils (Mongolia grassland, Mongolia desert, and Korean rural soils), to study the impact of acidification by nitric acid vapor on the solubility of metals in the soils. To achieve this goal, concentrations of water-soluble metals (Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Mn, and Fe) in the soils measured before and after acidification. Contributions of concentrations of water-soluble metal species before and after acidification attack to their total concentrations varied little with soil type. Concentrations of water-soluble Mg, Al, K, Ca, Mn, and Fe from the soils after interaction with nitric acid vapor increased, with significant increases in soluble Ca and Mn for all soil types suggesting soil acidification enhances the amount of leachable metal species in soil dust. There was little increase in water-soluble Na and K after acidification for each soil type. This experiment demonstrates that quantities of water-soluble metal species in particulate matter are produced under high gaseous nitric acid conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.103-114
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• 2019

Despite recent projects to create urban forests to reduce the levels of particulate matter, objective evaluation criteria for selecting suitable sites for the projects have not been provided. The purposes of this study are to identify assessment items for the evaluation of available spaces for urban forests for the reduction of particulate matter and to analyze the relative importance of the items using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). We identified a total of 19 items in five categories through a literature review and a panel discussion. A total of 29 responses were collected from surveys given to experts, and an AHP analysis was conducted on the results. As a result, 'locational characteristics' (0.355) received the highest weighted value among the five categories, followed by 'planting type of existing green space' (0.184), 'weather conditions' (0.183), 'physical characteristics' (0.15), and 'human social environment' (0.128). In addition, among all the assessment items, 'proximity of source apportionment of particulate matter' (0.143) had higher weighted value while 'plantation of existing green space' (0.024) had the lowest weighted value. This study will present objective criteria and directions in the selecting of available spaces to create urban forests for the reduction of particulate matter.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.135-144
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• 2018

Based on a two-year measurement data, major sources for the ambient carbonaceous aerosols at the Anmyeon Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station were identified by using the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model. The particulate matter less than or equal to $2.5{\mu}m$ in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) aerosols were sampled between June 2015 to May 2017 and carbonaceous species including ~80 organic compounds were analyzed. When the number of factors was 5 or 6, the performance evaluation parameters showed the best results, With 6 factor case, the characteristics of transported factors were clearer. The 6 factors were identified with various analyses including chemical characteristics and air parcel movement analysis. The 6 factors with their relative contributions were (1) anthropogenic Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOA) (10.3%), (2) biogenic sources (24.8%), (3) local biomass burning (26.4%), (4) transported biomass burning (7.3%), (5) combustion related sources (12.0%), and (6) transported sources (19.2%). The air parcel movement analysis result and seasonal variation of the contribution of these factors also supported the identification of these factors. Thus, the Anmyeon Island GAW station has been affected by both regional and local sources for the carbonaceous aerosols.