• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2019

This paper presents results from experimental and numerical studies on the response of steel-concrete composite box bridge girders under certain localized fire exposure conditions. Two composite box bridge girders, a simply supported girder and a continuous girder respectively, were tested under simultaneous loading and fire exposure. The simply supported girder was exposed to fire over 40% of its span length in the middle zone, and the two-span continuous girder was exposed to fire over 38% of its length of the first span and full length of the second span. A measurement method based on comparative rate of deflection was provided to predict the failure time in the hogging moment zone of continuous composite box bridge girders under certain localized fire exposure condition. Parameters including transverse and longitudinal stiffeners and fire scenarios were introduced to investigate fire resistance of the composite box bridge girders. Test results show that failure of the simply supported girder is governed by the deflection limit state, whereas failure of the continuous girder occurs through bending buckling of the web and bottom slab in the hogging moment zone. Deflection based criterion may not be reliable in evaluating failure of continuous composite box bridge girder under certain fire exposure condition. The fire resistance (failure time) of the continuous girder is higher than that of the simply supported girder. Data from fire tests is successfully utilized to validate a finite element based numerical model for further investigating the response of composite box bridge girders exposed to localized fire. Results from numerical analysis show that fire resistance of composite box bridge girders can be highly influenced by the spacing of longitudinal stiffeners and fire severity. The continuous composite box bridge girder with closer longitudinal stiffeners has better fire resistance than the simply composite box bridge girder. It is concluded that the fire resistance of continuous composite box bridge girders can be significantly enhanced by preventing the hogging moment zone from exposure to fire. Longitudinal stiffeners with closer spacing can enhance fire resistance of composite box bridge girders. The increase of transverse stiffeners has no significant effect on fire resistance of composite box bridge girders.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.59-65
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• 2022

Background: Since people move through microenvironments rather than staying in one place, they may be exposed to both indoor and outdoor PM_2.5 concentrations. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the exposure level of each sub-population group and evaluate the contribution rate of the major microenvironments. Methods: Exposure scenarios for sub-population groups were constructed on the basis of a 2019 Time-Use survey and the previous literature. A total of five population groups were classified and researchers wearing MicroPEM simulated monitoring PM_2.5 exposure concentrations in real-time over three days. The exposure contribution for each microenvironment were evaluated by multiplying the inhalation rate and the PM_2.5 exposure concentration levels. Results: Mean PM_2.5 concentrations were 33.0 ㎍/m³ and 22.5 ㎍/m³ in Guro-gu and Wonju, respectively. When the exposure was calculated considering each inhalation rate and concentration, the home showed the highest exposure contribution rate for PM_2.5. As for preschool children, it was 90.8% in Guro-gu, 94.1% in Wonju. For students it was 65.3% and 67.3%. For housewives it was 98.2% and 95.8%, and 59.5% and 91.7% for office workers. Both regions had higher exposure to PM_2.5 among the elderly compared to other populations, and their PM_2.5 exposure contribution rates were 98.3% and 94.1% at home for Guro-gu and Wonju, respectively. Conclusions: The exposure contribution rate could be dependent on time spent in microenvironments. Notably, the contribution rate of exposure to PM_2.5 at home was the highest because most people spend the longest time at home. Therefore, microenvironments such as home with a higher contribution rate of exposure to PM_2.5 could be managed to upgrade public health.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.187-198
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• 2002

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide and one of the most commonly and widely used insecticide. However, a little known about the dermal risk of chlorpyrifos on human being. Therefore, this study was conducted for the dermal risk assessment after exposure to chlorpyrifos in Korean farmers. First, skin irritation by chlorpyrifos (10 mg/$\textrm{cm}^2$, 50 mg/$\textrm{cm}^2$, 100 mg/$\textrm{cm}^2$, 250 mg/$\textrm{cm}^2$ in acetone) was determined in rabbits for 5 days considering the usage of chlorpyrifos short term highly exposure. The index of skin irritation by chlorpyrifos was increased in each dose and length of exposure dependent manners. Next, using benchmark dose (BMD$_{5}$) approach, the dose-response relationship was assessed to calculate the reference dose (RfD). The value of RfD was 2.84 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg/day from 142.16 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg/day BMD5 value divided uncertainty factor 50. Finally, we assessed human dermal risk of chlorpyrifos with exposure level and RfD. Skin absorbed levels were assumed with several exposure scenarios encounting the circumstances of exposure that application method, protection equipment and cloth, exposure time and exposure frequency during chlorpyrifos spraying. By the comparison of skin absorbed dose with the reference dose, it was identified that risk values (risk index) to skin chlorpyrifos exposure were 0.958 from the point of above results and it was recommended that the occurrence of hazard effect (skin irritation toxicity) of chlorpyrifos would not be expected. Risk index was smaller than 1 in the case of spraying vehicle mounted application, 1hour exposure time and wearing protective cloth exposure. Whereas, risk index was above 1 in the case of hand-held application, 2hour exposure time and wearing common cloth. Comparing two kinds of application method, total risk index of the hand held application (1.67) was higher than vehicle mounted (0.27). Therefore, chlorpyrifos skin exposure was mainly affected by application equipment and applied form. The results of risk assessment on the human dermal toxicity of chlorpyrifos should be required to control in keeping safety rules, skin surface area available for contact, spraying time ,and spraying frequency.y.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.85-97
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• 2024

Objectives: This study was intended to investigate the revision status of the occupational exposure standards for aluminum at home and abroad; to investigate worker exposure at domestic aluminum manufacturing and handling workplaces; to conduct social and economic evaluation for the revision of domestic aluminum exposure limits. Methods: We investigated the current status of occupational exposure limits for aluminum at home and abroad, and analyzed supporting data. An exposure survey was conducted targeting domestic aluminum manufacturing and handling workplaces. Based on these, revised aluminum occupational exposure limits were proposed. Results: The major aluminum exposure limits at home and abroad show a notable difference. The toxicity of aluminum, which was revealed through animal experiments and epidemiological investigations. The average concentration of aluminum in the air at 12 workplaces was 0.016 mg/m³, and the maximum was 0.0776 mg/m³. When total dust and respiratory dust were measured side by side and simultaneously for the same process, 12.1% of the total mass concentration of aluminum dust was respiratory dust. As a result of measuring and comparing the size distribution of dust with an optical particle counter in real time, 48.1% of the total dust in the form of welding fume and pyro-powder was respiratory dust. Based on the literature review and workplace survey, three proposals for changing the aluminum exposure limit were proposed. Proposal (1): For all types, 10 mg/m³ is unified as the exposure limit except for soluble salts and alkyls. Proposal (2): 1(R) mg/m³ as the exposure limit for all forms except soluble salts and alkyl. Proposal (3): 1(R) mg/m³ for pyro-powder and welding fume, and 10 mg/m³ for metal dust, aluminum oxide, and insoluble compounds as exposure standards. A pyro-powder was defined as dry aluminum powder of 200 mesh size (74 ㎛) or smaller (larger size classified as metal dust). Reason for setting: In the workplace survey, the ratio of respiratory dust to total dust was analyzed to be about 1:10, so it was judged that the domestic standard and the ACGIH standard were compatible. Conclusions: In all scenarios according to the revision of the exposure standard, the B/C ratio was greater than 1 or only benefits existed, so it was evaluated as sufficiently reasonable as a result of the socio-economic evaluation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.284-290
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• 2015

Road traffic noise is closely related with urban forms and urban components, such as population, building, traffic and land-use, etc. Hence, it is possible to minimize the noise exposure problem depending on how to plan new town or urban planning alteration. This paper provides ways to apply for urban planning in consideration of noise exposure through road traffic noise estimation for alteration of small-scale urban form. Spatial autoregressive model from the former study is used as statistical model for noise simulation. The simulation results by the spatial statistical model are compared with those by the engineering program-based modeling for 5 scenarios of small-scale urban form alteration. The error from the limitation of containing informations inside the grid cell and the difficulties of reflecting acoustic phenomena exists. Nevertheless, in the stage of preliminary design, the use of the statistical models that have been estimated well could be useful in time and economically.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4181-4190
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• 2023

Nuclear power plants are subjected to various processes during decommissioning, including cutting, decontamination, disposal, and treatment. The cutting of massive bio-shields is a significant step in the decommissioning process. Cutting is performed near the target structure, and during this process, workers are exposed to potential radioactive elements. However, studies considering worker exposure management during such cutting operations are limited. Furthermore, dismantling a nuclear power plant under certain circumstances may result in the unnecessary radiation exposure of workers and an increase in secondary waste generation. In this study, a cutting scenario was formulated considering the bio-shield as a representative structure. The specifications of a standard South Korean radioactive waste disposal drum were used as the basic conditions. Additionally, we explored the hot-to-cold and cold-to-hot methods, with and without the application of polishing during decontamination. For evaluating various scenarios, different cutting time points up to 30 years after permanent shutdown were considered, and cutting speeds of 1-10nullm²/h were applied to account for the variability and uncertainty attributable to the design output and specifications. The obtained results provide fundamental guidelines for establishing cutting methods suitable for large structures.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.137-154
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• 2019

Triclosan (TCS) is an antimicrobial compound used in consumer products. The purpose of current study was to examine toxicology and risk assessment of TCS based on available data. Acute toxicities of oral, transdermal and inhalation routes were low, and phototoxicity and neurotoxicity were not observed. Topical treatment of TCS to animal caused mild irritation. TCS did not induce reproductive and developmental toxicity in rodents. In addition, genotoxicity was not considered based on in vitro and in vivo tests of TCS. It is not classified as a carcinogen in international authorities such as International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). No-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) was determined 12 mg/kg bw/day for TCS, based on haematoxicity and reduction of absolute and relative spleen weights in a 104-week oral toxicity study in rats. Percutaneous absorption rate was set as 14%, which was human skin absorption study reported by National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) (2009). The systemic exposure dosage (SED) of TCS has been derived by two scenarios depending on the cosmetics usage of Koreans. The first scenario is the combined use of representative cosmetics and oral care products. The second scenario is the combined use of rinse-off products of cleansing, deodorants, coloring products, and oral care products. SEDs have been calculated as 0.14337 mg/kg bw/day for the first scenario and 0.04733 mg/kg bw/day for the second scenario. As a result, margin of safety (MOS) for the first and second scenarios was estimated to 84 and 253.5, respectively. Based on these results, exposure of TCS contained in rinse-off products, deodorants, and coloring products would not pose a significant health risk when it is used up to 0.3%.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2018

Objectives: To protect individuals working at the site as well as the surrounding general population from a chemical accident, several emergency exposure guidance levels have been used to set a level of concern for certain chemicals. However, a level of concern has not been established for many substances that are frequently used or produced in large quantities in Korean workplaces. In the present study, we investigated the guidance levels for protecting populations from chemical exposure and the estimation of level of concern using acute inhalation and oral toxicity data. Methods: The number of chemicals to which emergency exposure guidance levels (e.g., ERPG-2, AEGL-2, PAC-2, and IDLH) can be applied were determined among 822 hazardous chemicals according to the 'Technical Guidelines for the Selection of Accident Scenarios (revised December 2016)'. The ERPG and AEGL values were compared across all three tiers for the 31 substances that appeared on both lists. We examined the degree of difference between the emergency exposure guidance levels and the estimates of level of concern calculated from acute inhalation or acute oral toxicity data. Results: Among the 822 hazardous chemicals, emergency exposure guidance levels can be applied to 359 substances, suggesting that the estimates of level of concern should be calculated using acute toxicity data for 56.3% of the hazardous chemicals. When comparing the concordance rates of ERPG and AEGL for 31 substances, the difference between the two criteria was generally small. However, about 40% of the substances have values diverging by more than three-fold in at least one tier. Such discrepancies may cause interpretation and communication problems in risk management. The emergency exposure guidance levels were similar to the estimates of level of concern calculated using acute inhalation toxicity data, but the differences were significant when using acute oral toxicity data. These results indicate that the level of concern derived from acute oral toxicity data may be insufficient to protect the population in some cases. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the development of standardized guidance values for emergency chemical exposure in the Korean population should be encouraged. It is also necessary to analyze acute toxicity data and fill the information gaps for substances that are important in Korean workplace situations.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.261-268
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• 2014

In advanced countries, a variety of consumer exposure assessment models including CONSEXPO, are developed to manage risks of consumer products containing hazardous materials. The models are used to assess the risks of exposure to hazardous chemicals in consumer products, which serves as a foundation for regulation standards. In this study, exposure assessment models applicable for various scenarios were reviewed and a proper model was applied for the selected products and risk assessment was conducted at each stage to establish a risk assessment procedure for different types of products. Based on the exposure scenario, exposure factor was selected and according to the algorithm produced based on CONSEXPO exposure model, some level of phthalates were detected from some types of PVC flooring. However, a correlation between phthalate content and migration rate showed r-square 0.0065, little correlation, which is inadequate for estimating standard value. For this reason, it seems valid that the current standard be in place. Additionally, any new standard was not suggested as VOCs were not found harmful to human health, allowing the existing standard to be continuously applied. No migration rate was found for heavy metals and risk assessment was not performed accordingly. In this aspect, it is presumed that hazards to health through dermal exposure would be very little.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.12 no.3_4
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• pp.31-41
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• 1997

Public concerns about hazardous health effect from the exposure to organic by-products of the chlorination have been increased. There are numerous studies reporting that chlorination of drinking water produces numerous chlorinated organic by-products including THMs, HAAs, HANs. Some of these products are known to be animal carcinogens. The purpose of this study was to estimate health risk of DBPs by chlorinated drinking water ingestion in Seoul based on methodologies that have been developed for conducting risk assessment of complex-chemical-mixture. The drinking water sample was collected seperately at six water treatment plant in Seoul at March, April, 1996. In tap water of households in Seoul, DBPs were measured wilfh the mean value of 36.6 $\mu$g/L. Risk assessment processes,. which include processes for the estimation of human cancer potency using animal bioassay data and calculation of human exposure, entail uncertainties. In the exposure assessment process, exposure scenarios with various assumptions could affect the exposure amount and excess cancer risk. The reference dose of haloacetonitriles was estimated to be 0.0023 mg/kg/day by applying dibromoacetonitrile NOAEL and uncertainty factor to the mean concentration. In the first case, human excess cancer risk was estimated by the US EPA method used to set the MCL (maximum contaminant level). In the second and third case, the risk was estimated for multi-route exposure with and without adopting Monte-Carlo simulation, respectively. In the second case, exposure input parameters and cancer potencies used probability distributions, and in the third case, those values used point estimates (mean, and maximum or 95% upper-bound value). As a result, while the excess cancer risk estimated by US EPA method considering only direct ingestion tended to be underestimated, the risk which was estimated by considering multi-route exposure without Monte-Carlo simulation and then using the maximum or 95% upper-bound value as input parameters tended to be overestimated. In risk assessment for Trihalomethanes, considering multi-route exposure with adopting Monte-Carlo analysis seems to provide the most reasonable estimations.