• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.38-47
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the exposure levels of forklift operators to diesel engine exhaust(DEE) using black carbon(BC), elemental carbon(EC), and nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$) as indicators. Methods: A total of eight forklift operators in six collection companies were assessed over a period of two months from July to September 2015. BC was measured using a real-time monitor and respirable EC samples were analyzed using the NIOSH method 5040. $NO_2$ samples were collected using a passive badge-type sampler. Results: The geometric mean of BC, EC and $NO_2$ were $3.1-19.1{\mu}g/m^3$, $2.1-23.8{\mu}g/m^3$, and 12.5-166.6 ppb at all companies. When forklifts were operating both outside and inside, BC concentrations increased 2.0-5.6 times. The highest increase was observed when forklifts were operating indoors. The increase in BC concentrations varied by company(company A: 2.0 times, B: 3.2 times, C: 5.6 times, D: 2.1 times, E: 5.1 times, F: 2.6 times). The geometric mean of BC, EC, and $NO_2$ for the forklift operators was $9.6{\mu}g/m^3$, $7.9{\mu}g/m^3$, and 48.9 ppb, respectively. The geometric mean of BC, EC, and $NO_2$ for manufacturing workers was $9.3{\mu}g/m^3$, $0.9{\mu}g/m^3$, and 85.2 ppb, respectively. The mean BC and EC exposure levels for the forklift operators were slightly higher than those for manufacturing workers, but $NO_2$ levels for manufacturing workers were higher than those for the forklift operators(p>0.05). Multiple regression analysis revealed that diesel exhaust emissions standard, forklift weight and forklift manufacturer were the most influential factors in determining worker exposure. Conclusions: In the DEE work environment, workers who perform tasks within the workplace as well as inside forklifts as operators are likely to be exposed to a lack of ventilation. Further study of forklift operators' exposure to DEE indicators should be conducted to include a wider range of occupational and environmental situations, such as collection procedures, seasonal situations, types of fuel used, and number of forklifts.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

Vehicle exhaust is a dominant source of air pollutants in urban areas. Since people are easily exposed to vehicle exhaust particles while driving a car and/or traveling via public transportation, air pollution near traffic has been extensively studied in developed countries. In this paper, investigations on vehicle-related fine particulate air pollution at roadsides and on roads in Seoul, Korea were reviewed to understand air pollution near traffic. Comparison of $PM_{10}$ concentrations in Seoul showed that roadside air is more contaminated than urban air, implying that exposure levels near vehicular emissions are more critical to sensitive persons. Concentrations of ultrafine particles and BC (black carbon) at roadsides of Seoul fluctuate highly for short durations, responding to traffic situations. Diurnal variations of ultrafine particles and BC concentrations at roadsides seem to be affected by traffic volume, mixing layer height, and wind speed. Concentrations of ultrafine particles and BC decrease as distance from the road increases due to dilution during transport. On-road air pollution seems to be more severe than roadside air pollution in Seoul. Since nearby traffic air pollution has not been well understood in Seoul, further studies including various vehicular air pollutants and representative locations are needed.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.159-172
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• 2019

To investigate the influence of pollution events on the chemical composition and formation processes of aerosol particles, 24-h integrated size-segregated particulate matter (PM) was collected during the fall season at an urban site of Gwangju, Korea and was used to determine the concentrations of mass, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and ionic species. Furthermore, black carbon (BC) concentrations were observed with an aethalometer. The entire sampling period was classified into four periods, i.e., typical, pollution event I, pollution event II, and an Asian dust event. Stable meteorological conditions (e.g., low wind speed, high surface pressure, and high relative humidity) observed during the two pollution events led to accumulation of aerosol particles and increased formation of secondary organic and inorganic aerosol species, thus causing $PM_{2.5}$ increase. Furthermore, these stable conditions resulted in the predominant condensation or droplet mode size distributions of PM, WSOC, $NO_3{^-}$, and $SO{_4}^{2-}$. However, difference in the accumulation mode size distributions of secondary water-soluble species between pollution events I and II could be attributed to the difference in transport pathways of air masses from high-pollution regions and the formation processes for the secondary chemical species. The average absorption ${\AA}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent ($AAE_{370-950}$) for 370-950 nm wavelengths > 1.0 indicates that the BC particles from traffic emissions were likely mixed with light absorbing brown carbon (BrC) from biomass burning (BB) emissions. It was found that light absorption by BrC in the near UV range was affected by both secondary organic aerosol and BB emissions. Overall, the pollution events observed during fall at the study site can be due to the synergy of unfavorable meteorological conditions, enhanced secondary formation, local emissions, and long-range transportation of air masses from upwind polluted areas.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2014

Temporal variations of optical properties of urban aerosol in Seoul were estimated by the Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) model, based on hourly aerosol sampling data in Seoul during the year of 2010. These optical properties were then used to calculate direct radiative forcing during the study period. The optical properties and direct radiative forcing of aerosol were calculated separately for four chemical components such as water-soluble, insoluble, black carbon (BC), and sea-salt aerosols. Overall, the coefficients of absorption, scattering, and extinction, as well as aerosol optical depth (AOD) for water-soluble component predominated over three other aerosol components, except for the absorption coefficient of BC. In the urban environment (Seoul), the contribution of AOD (0.10~0.12) for the sum of OC and BC to total AODs ranged from 23% (spring) to 31% (winter). The diurnal variation of AOD for each component was high in the morning and low in the late afternoon during the most of seasons, but the high AODs at 14:00 and 15:00 LST in summer and fall, respectively. The direct negative radiative forcing of most chemical components (especially, $NO_3{^-}$ of water-soluble) was highest in January and lowest in September. Conversely, the positive radiative forcing of BC was highest in November and lowest in August due to the distribution pattern of BC concentration.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.458-472
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• 2017

The optical properties and direct aerosol radiative forcing (DARF) of different aerosol components in $PM_{2.5}$ (water-soluble, insoluble, black carbon (BC), and sea-salt) were estimated using the hourly resolution data measured at Aewol intensive air monitoring site on Jeju Island during 2013, based on a modeling approach. In general, the water-soluble component was predominant over all other components with respect to its impact on the optical properties(except for absorbing BC) and DARF. The annual mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm for the water-soluble component was $0.14{\pm}0.14$ ($0.04{\pm}0.01$ for BC). The total DARF at the surface ($DARF_{SFC}$) and top of the atmosphere ($DARF_{TOA}$), and in the atmosphere ($DARF_{ATM}$) for most aerosol components(except for sea-salt) during the daytime were highest in spring and lowest in fall and/or summer. The maximum $DARF_{SFC}$ of most aerosol components occurred around noon (12:00~14:00 LST) during all seasons, while the maximum $DARF_{TOA}$ occurred in the afternoon (13:00~16:00 LST) during most seasons (except for spring). In addition, the estimated $DARF_{SFC}$ and $DARF_{ATM}$ of the water-soluble component were -20 to $-59W/m^2$ and +3.5 to $+14W/m^2$, respectively, while those of BC were -18 to $-29W/m^2$ and +23 to $+37W/m^2$, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.553-573
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• 2013

This paper aims to give a summary and review of the research trend about subjects of Asian Dust (AD) storm in the last three decades. The AD research was focused on classification of synoptic scale data and finding inflow pathway in early stage. Recently, new approaches have been made to explain chemical composition, transportation, transboundary movement reaction of AD, using satellite data, 3D modeling, the aerosol time of flight mass spectroscopy, etc. During AD events, a large amount of dust particles flow into Korea and Japan from AD source areas, and they are highly likely to be mixed with toxic substances when air mass contained AD particles pass over seriously polluted areas. We concluded that, considering that AD events were classified into two cases according to the source area and pathway, the concentrations of crustal components did not increase at the initial stage of AD events, Whereas ammonium-sulfate, trace metal element, OC, EC relatively increased in the early stage. This explains AD events have the possibility of being accompanied with polluted air mass or particles. Also, we further need to compare and summarize the results of AD studies which already have been conducted, and prepare strategies for particle management, particularly for Black Carbon (BC) and Brown Carbon (BrC) which are considered to induce climate change effects.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.32-41
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• 2016

Particle-phase concentrations were measured at 10, 80, and 200 m from the roadside of a national highway near Seoul in January and May 2008. The highway has two lanes each way, with an average hourly traffic volume of 1,070 vehicles. In January 2008, $PM_{10}$ concentrations decreased from 10 to 80 m but increased at 200 m. Black carbon (BC) decreased only slightly with distance due to the influence of biomass burning and open burning from the surrounding areas. In May 2008, the effect of secondary formation on both $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ was significant due to high temperatures compared with January. Because on-road emissions had little effect on secondary formation for a short time, variations in $PM_{10}$ concentrations became smaller, and $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations increased with distance. The effects of fugitive dust on PM concentrations were greater in May than in January when the mean temperature was below freezing. In the composition variations, the amounts of primary ions, organic carbon (OC), and BC were larger in January, while those of secondary ions and others were larger in $PM_{10}$, as well as $PM_{2.5}$ in May.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.633-641
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• 2016

Two identical Particle Into Liquid Samplers-Total Organic Carbon (PILS-TOC) were operated to measure fine particle Water Soluble Organic Carbon (WSOC) for one week on Feb. in 2016. The dual instrument operations provided validated WSOC concentrations to have a continuous WSOC measurement during the sample analysis period. Both PILS-TOC instruments were operated downstream of an carbon denuder to remove positive adsorption artifacts associated with semi-volatile organic compounds. Comparison of WSOC showed good agreement each other. The linear regression had a coefficient of determination ($r^2$) of 0.92 and a regression slope of 1.01 for the first period. The lower collection efficiency due to lower steam temperature is discussed. In addition, the potential primary source related to WSOC based on the comparison of black carbon (BC) concentrations is explained. The results of good agreement between two PILS-TOC measurements can provide the validation of WSOC cooperations and knowledge regarding the origins of WSOC and their behaviors.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.196-200
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• 2024

Weather forecasting is considered to be of utmost important among various important sectors such as flood management and hydro-electricity generation. Although there are various numerical methods for weather forecasting but majority of them are reported to be Mechanistic computationally demanding due to their complexities. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and build models for accurately predicting the weather conditions which are faster as well as efficient in comparison to the prevalent meteorological models. The study has been undertaken to forecast various atmospheric parameters in the city of Bangalore using Naïve Bayes algorithms. The individual parameters analyzed in the study consisted of wind speed (WS), wind direction (WD), relative humidity (RH), solar radiation (SR), black carbon (BC), radiative forcing (RF), air temperature (AT), bar pressure (BP), PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 of the Bangalore city collected from Air Quality Monitoring Station for a period of 5 years from January 2015 to May 2019. The study concluded that Naive Bayes is an easy and efficient classifier that is centered on Bayes theorem, is quite efficient in forecasting the various air pollution parameters of the city of Bangalore.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2014

Biochar (BC) from biomass pyrolysis is a carbonaceous material that has been used to remove various contaminants in the environment. The eliminatory action for burcucumber (Sicyos angulatus L.) as an invasive plant is being consistently carried out because of its harmfulness and ecosystem disturbance. In this study, burcucumber biomass was converted into BCs at different pyrolysis temperatures of 300 and $700^{\circ}C$ under a limited oxygen condition. Produced BCs were characterized and investigated to ensure its efficiency on antibiotics' removal in water. The adsorption experiment was performed using two different types of antibiotics, tetracycline (TC) and sulfamethazine (SMZ). For the BC pyrolyzed at a high temperature ($700^{\circ}C$), the values of pH, electrical conductivity, and the contents of ash and carbon increased whereas the yield, mobile matter, molar ratios of H/C and O/C, and functional groups decreased. Results showed that the efficiency of BCs on antibiotics' removal increased as pyrolysis temperature increased from 300 to $700^{\circ}C$ (38 to 99% for TC and 6 to 35% for SMZ). The reaction of ${\pi}-{\pi}$ EDA (electron-donor-acceptor) might be involved in antibiotics' adsorption to BCs. BC has potential to be a superior antibiotics' adsorbent with environmental benefit by recycling of waste/invasive biomass.