• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.23-26
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the concentration of total airborne bacteria (TAB) in biosafety cabinets (BSCs) at universities and hospital microbial laboratories to assess the performance of BSCs. Methods: TAB was determined by using the single-stage Anderson sampler (BioStage Viable Cascade Impactor). The samples were obtained three times (with the BSC turned off and the shield open; with the BSC turned off and the shield closed; and with the BSC tuned on and operating) from the areas in front of 11 BSCs. Results: TAB concentrations of accredited and nonaccredited BSCs were determined. No significant differences were observed in the TAB concentrations of the accredited BSCs and the nonaccredited BSCs for the areas outside the BSCs in the laboratories (p > 0.05). TAB concentrations for the BSCs sampled with the shield open and the instrument turned off showed differences based on the sampling site outside the BSC in each laboratory. Conclusion: These results imply that TAB concentration is not altered by the performance of the BSCs or TAB itself and/or concentration of TAB outside the BSC is not a good index of BSC performance.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.541-549
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• 2003

Aerosol measurement were carried out to investigate the characteristics of its chemical composition directly affected by the local emissions of Jeju City, Jeju Island by using an eight-stage cascade impactor from Dec. 1999 to Aug. 2000. The ambient aerosol concentrations measured at Jeju City were generally very low but the fine particle concentrations were to be higher than the US standard of PM2.5. The majority of sulfate were non sea salt and contained in the fine particles. In the fine particles, the concentrations of Na$\^$+/, K$\^$+/, Mg$\^$2+/, Ca$\^$2+/, Cl$\^$-/ and NO$\sub$3$\^$-/ had a tendency to increase during the springtime rather than the other seasons. However, the springtime sulfate and ammonium concentrations in the fine particles were slightly lower than those during the other seasons. On the other hand, associated with the coarse particles, the concentrations of ionic species except potassium and ammonium were elevated during the springtime. The calcium concentrations in the coarse particles were increased up to 8 times relative to the other seasons.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2000

The mass fraction of PM10 had a bimodal distribution in the middle of between 2.1 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, and the average mass fraction of particles less than 2.1~3.1 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ was 54.1% for Pb and 890.8 ng/㎥ for Fe, respectively. For the concentration of PM10 and metallic elements by seasonal variation, PM10 showed bimodal distribution, while metallic elements showed different distributions by their sources. The ratios of fine particles to total mass were 0.45 for PM10, 0.41 for Cr, and 0.20 for Fe, 0.57 for Zn, 0.68 for Cd and 0.63 for Pb, respectively. That facts indicated that PM10, Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb were from anthropogenic sources, and Fe was from natural source. The geometric means and geometric standard deviations by seasonal variations were 3.6 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ , 2.31 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in winter, 3.0 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ , 2.49 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in spring, 2.7 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ , 2.03 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in summer respectively. And, total efficiency of cascade impactor by seasonal variations were 49.6% in winter, 45.9% in spring and 44.5% in summer.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.442-450
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• 2001

Experiments were carried out on agglomeration of bipolarly charged particles in an alternating current electric field. Laboratory-scale setup was built and experiments were conducted at atmospheric condition. DOS(Di-octyl Sebacate) particles with 100% purity were generated by an atomizer. The particles were branched into two, each of which passed through a wire-to-plate type charging section where a positive or a negative DC high voltage was applied and was charged positively or negatively. These bipolarly charged particles together passed through an agglomeration section where an $\pm$20kV AC power was applied between two plates. The resident time in the agglomeration section was adjusted as l sec. Particle sampling was made by a cascade impactor (MOUDI). The effect of agglomeration system on the reduction ratio of particles below l ㎛ was 42∼45%. Effect of AC frequency on the particle size distribution was found insignificant.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.334-344
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• 2024

In Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do, there are not only power plants and large steel complexes, but also small and medium-sized air pollutant emission facilities. The dust generated by these facilities has a very small particle size and a large surface area due to condensation and physical and chemical reactions, and is discharged containing various harmful substances. Therefore, this study analyzed the distribution of particulate matter and heavy metal concentrations by particle size in the vicinity of the steel complex, residential area, and reference point using an eight-stage Cascade Impactor. Overall, the direct impact sites with a short distance from the steel complex had the highest concentration, followed by the indirect impact sites, and the non-impact sites had the lowest concentration, indicating that they are directly affected by the steel complex. The atmospheric dust concentration distribution showed a bimodal distribution with a minimum value around the 1.1 to 2.1 ㎛ particle diameter. However, during the yellow dust event, the maximum concentration was biased toward coarse particles. The proportion of PM2.5 in the dust tended to be higher in winter, while the ratio between PM2.5 and PM10 was relatively higher in spring. Regardless of the location of the impact point, heavy metals in the dust were dominated by iron and aluminum, followed by zinc, lead, and manganese.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.287-301
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate size distribution characteristics of water-soluble ionic components in the airborne particulate matter (PM) collected from an urban area in Busan using a MOUDI cascade impactor from March to October 2010. The inorganic constituents in the fine particles (${\leq}1.8{\mu}m$) predominantly consisted of sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and potassium. Sulfate and ammonium concentrations showed a high correlation and similar equivalent concentrations in the fine modes including $0.18{\sim}0.32{\mu}m$, $0.32{\sim}0.56{\mu}m$, and $0.56{\sim}1.0{\mu}m$. This indicates that the main chemical component in the fine particles would be forms of ammonium sulfate such as $(NH_4)_3H(SO_4)_2$, $(NH_4)_2SO_4$, and $(NH_4)HSO_4$. Back trajectory analysis showed that relatively higher concentrations of ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate in the fine mode, compared to the coarse mode, are caused both by domestic sources and long-range transports originated from China continent. High concentration episodes of PM both in the fine mode and the coarse mode were attributed both by anthropogenic sources, such as ship emissions and traffic emissions, and by natural sources such as seawater (sea salt), respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.462-470
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate quartz concentrations in airborne respirable dust and particle size-related quartz concentrations. Methods: Respirable dust samples were collected using a 10 mm Dorr-Oliver nylon cyclone equipped with a 37 mm, $5{\mu}m$ pore size PVC filter. Dust samples were collected with a Marple's personal cascade impactor from stone grinding operations in five stone-related business located in the Gyeongsangbuk-do area. Results: The geometric mean of quartz concentration in the respirable dust was $0.170mg/m^3$, and the rate of exceeding the Korean Occupational Exposure Limit(KOEL) was 93.3%. The quartz concentration by particle size shows that it was the highest($0.115mg/m^3$) in stage 5($3.50-6.00{\mu}m$), which corresponds with the size of respirable particle. The smaller the particle sizes were, the higher quartz the content became. The mass fractions of inhalable, thoracic, and respirable dust were 72.1%, 36.0%, and 14.4%. Conclusions: The rate of the quartz concentration in respirable dust from stone grinding operations exceeding the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Threshold Limit Values was 100%, which means proper work environmental management is required through regular working environmental measurements. Given that the stone grinding operations had a higher small size dust concentrations, there is a need to reduce respirable dust, such as through wet operation and local exhaust ventilation.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 2012

Objectives: Bioaerosols released by treating organic-waste resources cause a variety of environmental and hygiene problems. The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution characteristics of the airborne bacteria emitted from a pig manure composting plant, a principal site for organic-waste resource facilities. Methods: Three types of pig manure composting plant were selected based on fermentation mode: screw type, rotary type and natural-dry type. Each site was visited and investigated on a monthly basis between September 2009 and August 2010. A total of 36 air samplings were obtained from the pig manure composting plants. The air sampling equipment was a six-stage cascade impactor. Quantification and qualification of airborne bacteria in the air samples was performed by agar culture method and identification technique, respectively. Results: The mean concentrations of airborne bacteria in pig manure composting plant were 7,032 (${\pm}1,496$) CFU $m^{-3}$ for screw type, 3,309 (${\pm}1,320$) CFU $m^{-3}$ for rotary type, and 5,580 (${\pm}1,106$) CFU $m^{-3}$ for natural dry type. The screw type pig manure composting plant showed the highest concentration of airborne bacteria, followed by the natural dry type and the rotary type. The ratio of respirable to total airborne bacteria was approximately 40-60%. The predominant genera of airborne bacteria identified were Micrococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Escherichia spp. Conclusion: Monthly levels of airborne bacteria were highest in August and lowest in November regardless of fermentation mode. There was no significant correlation relationship between airborne bacteria and environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity and particulate matters in pig manure composting plants.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.79-93
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• 2020

To determine the size distributions of water-soluble inorganic ionic species (WSIS) in roadside aerosols, sampling experiments were carried out in the urban roadside area of Jeju City on August 2018 and January 2019 by using the eight-stage cascade impactor sampler. The mass of roadside aerosols were partitioned at 57% in fine fraction, 36-37% in coarse fraction, and 6-7% in giant fraction, regardless of summer and winter. The mass concentrations of WSIS except for Na+ and SO42- in roadside aerosols were higher in winter than in summer. The size distributions of Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Cl^- were characterized by bimodal types with coarse particle mode peaking around 3.3-4.7 ㎛ and 5.8-9.0 ㎛. The size distributions of NO₃^- and K⁺ shifted from a single fine mode peaking around 0.7-1.1 ㎛ in winter to bimodal and/or trimodal types with peaks around coarse mode in summer. SO₄^2- and NH₄⁺ showed a single fine mode peaking around 0.7-1.1 ㎛. The MMAD of roadside aerosols was lower than that of Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Cl-. Based on the marine enrichment factors and the ratio values of WSIS and the corresponding value for sea water, the composition of roadside aerosols in Jeju City may be practically affected by terrestrial sources rather than marine source.