• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.350-363
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• 2012

To determine ionic species in snowpit samples using ion chromatography system, we described the performance of ion chromatography(IC) system, cleaning method of bottle, and interference by filtering procedure. The limit of detection, reproducibilities, and accuracies determined with BCR$^{(R)}$-408 were 0.01-0.26 ${\mu}g$/L, 0.4-17.4%, 4.5-12.0% for cations and 0.02-0.26 ${\mu}g/L$, 0.1-27.6%, 1.3-5.6% for anions, respectively. Lab blank test for sample bottle indicated that $CH_3CO_2{^-}$, $HCO_2{^-}$, and $NH_4{^+}$ can be easily contaminated in the lab environment. The positive interferences of $NO_3{^-}$ were partly attributed to the cleaning method of bottle. The filtering of melted snow sample should be carefully applied because it can positively affect the concentration levels of some ionic species. Finally, this method was applied to measure ionic species in snowpit samples from the upward area near NEEM camp and the uncertainties of measurement data of $F^-$ were also estimated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2011

Objectives: This investigation is purposed to evaluate the airborne asbestos concentrations in the public buildings having asbestos containing materials(ACMs) in Seoul. Methods: The Seoul Metropolitan Government carried out an asbestos survey to the city-owned public buildings to identify the level of risk exposure, classified into low, moderate and high risk. To evaluate the airborne concentration of asbestos, 11 sampling sites in ten buildings based on the survey were selected. The air samples from the eleven sites were analyzed by Phase Contrast Microscopy(PCM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and compared the analytical results from the both. Results: 1. The airborne fiber concentrations by PCM were less than the detection limit($7f/mm^2$) in 9(82%) out of 11 sampling sites. The highest concentration was 0.0043 f/cc, but it was below the guideline value for indoor air quality(0.01 f/cc), proposed by the Ministry of Environment, Korea. 2. In two sampling sites, having moderate risk level, the chrysotile was identified and showed it's concentrations of 0.0102 s/cc and 0.0058 s/cc, less than $5{\mu}m$ lengths. 3. The ACMs identified in the two sampling sites were a packing material(65% of chrysotile) in mechanical area and a thermal system insulation(5% of chrysotile) in a boiler room. Having more possibility of asbestos emission in the mechanical area, it would be required to set up and carry out the asbestos management plan. Conclusions: Based on the result of this study, the airborne asbestos concentrations in the public buildings with ACMs were generally lower than the guideline value for indoor air quality. There are widespread concerns about the possible health risk resulting from the presence of airborne asbestos fibers in the public buildings. Most of the previous studies about airborne asbestos analysis in Korea were performed based on PCM method that asbestos and non-asbestos fibers are counted together. In the public and commercial buildings, having ACMs, it is suggested that the asbestos be analyzed by TEM method to identify asbestos due to concerns about asbestos exposure to workers and unspecified people.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.142-147
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to monitor residual pesticides in domestic agricultural products and to assess their risk to human health. METHODS AND RESULTS: 123 samples containing both general and environment-friendly certified agricultural products were purchased from traditional domestic markets and supermarkets in six provinces of Korea. Multiresidue analyses of one hundred twenty-two pesticides except for herbicides were performed with gas chromatography-electron capture detector, gas chromatography-nitrogen/phosphorus detector, and high-performance liquid chromatography. Sixteen pesticides were detected in 45 agricultural product samples, which were 38 general, 6 low pesticide and 1 of GAP agricultural product samples and the detection rate was 33.6%. Pesticides detected in agricultural product samples were cypermethrin, lufenuron, fenvalerate, bifenthrin, chlorfenapyr and iprodione. Residual concentration of 18 samples were exceeded the recommended maximum residue limit set by Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and two kinds of unregistered pesticides in korea were also detected in two samples. CONCLUSION(S): In order to do risk assessment by agricultural products consumption, estimated daily intake of residual pesticides were determined and compared to acceptable daily intake, referring to %ADI values. The range of %ADI values was from 0.038% to 2.748%. Taken together, it demonstrates the pesticides found in agricultural products samples were below the safety margin, indicating no effect on human health.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.269-280
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• 2018

This paper reports the results of field evaluation to determine the levels of heavy metals in major industrial complexes in Korea over a seven year period (2007~2013). The measurement of heavy metal was conducted using quartz fiber filter sampling and ICP-AES analysis. In order to validate the analytical performance of these methods, studies were also carried out to investigate data quality control(QC) parameters, such as the method detection limit (MDL), repeatability, and recovery efficiencies. The average concentrations of total suspended particulates (TSP) for the nine industrial complexes in Korea were $104{\sim}169{\mu}g/m^3$, which was higher than other industrial complexes and urban areas. The Sihwa and Banwol industrial complexes were shown to be the biggest contributing sources to high TSP emission ($159{\mu}g/m^3$ and $169{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively). The concentrations of heavy metals in TSP were higher in the order of Fe>Cu>Zn, Pb, Mn>Cr, Ni, As and Cd. It was observed that Fe was the highest in the Gwangyang and Pohang steel industrial complexes. The concentrations of Zn and Pb were high in Onsan, Sihwa and Banwol industrial complexes, and this was attributed to the emission from the nonferrous industry. Additionally, Cr and Ni concentrations were high in the Sihwa and Banwol industrial complexes due to plating industry. On the other hand, Ulsan and Onsan industrial complexes showed high Cr and Ni concentrations as a response to the emission of metal industry related to automobile. The correlation analysis revealed the high correlation between Cr and Ni in plating industry from Sihwa and Banwol industrial complexes. Adding to this, components related to coal combustion and road dust showed high correlation in Pohang and Gwangyang industrial complexes. Then Onsan and Ulsan industrial complexes showed high correlation among components related to the nonferrous metals.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.471-479
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• 2011

This study analyzes flavor ingredients according to types of whisky and maturation periods based on total 40 different types of whisky that are mainly distributed to Korea via imports. Whisky was classified into four categories based on origin, and also into different categories based on maturity period, ingredients such as fusel alcohol, fatty acid, and fatty acid esters and proportion of patterns were analyzed. As a result of an analysis for fusel alcohol, high qualified types of alcohol including 3-methylbutanol, 2-methylbutanol, iso-butanol, and 1-propanol were detected from all Scotch whiskys, America whiskys, and Canadian whiskys. In particular, the proportional sum of 3-methylbutanol and 2-methylbutanol, and the sum of 3-methylbutanol and 2-methylbutanol/iso-butanol were regarded as core factors to determine each type of whisky. Acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, and acetic acid increased as maturation and storage period became longer. As a result of the fatty acid and fatty acid ethyl ester analysis, the major fatty acids were dodecanoic acid and decanoic acid, both with detection of octanoic acid and hexanoic acid. However, dodecanoic acid, decanoic acid, and octanoic acid were lower than the detectable limit in American and Canadian whiskys, showing a unique phenomenon that hexanoic acid was detected only in very small amounts. Malt Scotch whisky showed higher significance than blended Scotch whisky, making it possible to classify types of whisky. Fatty acid ethyl ester contents showed significance with fatty acid either. In addition, changes in the whiskys based on maturation period were confirmed via proportions of fatty acids and fatty acid ethyl esters. In general, the proportion of fatty acids and fatty acid ethyl esters decreased as the storage period increased. This study provided basic data to classify types of whisky based on maturation periods by analyzing the proportion of flavor ingredients such as fusel alcohols, fatty acids, and fatty acid ethyl esters.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.142-146
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• 2020

Background: Tritium (³H) analysis in groundwater was difficult because of its low activity. Therefore, the electrolytic enrichment method was used. To improve the detection limit and for performing simple analysis, a high-volume counting vial with the available liquid scintillation counter (LSC) was investigated. Further, it was compared with a conventional 20-mL counting vial. Materials and Methods: The LSC with the electrolytic enrichment method was used ³H analysis in groundwater. A high-volume 145-mL counting vial was compared with a conventional 20-mL counting vial to determine the counting characteristics of different LSCs. Results and Discussion: When a Quantulus LSC was used, the counting window between channels 35 and 250 was used. The background count was approximately 1.86 cpm, and the counting efficiency increased from 8% to 40% depending on the mixing ratio of the volume of sample and cocktail solution. For LSC-LB7, the optimum counting window was between 1 and 4.9 keV, which was selected by the factory (Hitachi Aloka Medical Ltd., Japan) by considering quenching using a standard external gamma source. The background count of LSC-LB7 was approximately 3.60 ± 0.29 cpm when the 145-mL vial was used and 2.22 ± 0.17 cpm when the 20-mL vial was used. The minimum detectable activity (MDA) of the 20-mL vial was greater for LSC-LB7 than for Quantulus. The MDA with the 145-mL vial was improved to 0.3 Bq/L when compared with the value of 1.6 Bq/L for the 20-mL vial. Conclusion: The counting efficiency when using the 145-mL vial was 27%, whereas it was 18% when using the 20-mL vial. This difference can be attributed to the vial volume. The figure of merit (FOM) of the 145-mL vial was four times greater than that of the 20-mL vial because the volume of the former vial is approximately seven times greater than that of the latter. Further, the MDA for ³H decreased from 1.6 to 0.3 Bq/L. The counting efficiency and FOM of LSC-LB7 was slightly less than those of Quantulus when the 20-mL vial was used. The background counting rate of the Quantulus was lower than that of the LSC-LB7.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.100-110
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• 2020

Objective: The objective of this study was to isolate proteolytic microorganisms and evaluate their effects on proteolysis in total mixed ration (TMR) silages of soybean curd residue. Methods: TMRs were formulated with soybean curd residue, alfalfa or Leymus chinensis hay, corn meal, soybean meal, a vitamin-mineral supplement, and salt in a ratio of 25.0: 40.0:30.0:4.0:0.5:0.5, respectively, on a basis of dry matter. The microbial proteinases during ensiling were characterized, the dominate strains associated with proteolysis were identified, and their enzymatic characterization were evaluated in alfalfa (A-TMR) and Leymus chinensis (L-TMR) TMR silages containing soybean curd residue. Results: Both A-TMR and L-TMR silages were well preserved, with low pH and high lactic acid concentrations. The aerobic bacteria and yeast counts in both TMR silages decreased to about 10⁵ cfu/g fresh matter (FM) and below the detection limit, respectively. The lactic acid bacteria count increased to 10⁹ cfu/g FM. The total microbial proteinases activities reached their maximums during the early ensiling stage and then reduced in both TMR silages with fermentation prolonged. Metalloproteinase was the main proteinase when the total proteinases activities reached their maximums, and when ensiling terminated, metallo and serine proteinases played equally important parts in proteolysis in both TMR silages. Strains in the genera Curtobacterium and Paenibacillus were identified as the most dominant proteolytic bacteria in A-TMR and L-TMR, respectively, and both their proteinases were mainly with metalloproteinase characteristics. In the latter ensiling phase, Enterococcus faecium strains became the major sources of proteolytic enzymes in both TMR silages. Their proteinases were mainly of metallo and serine proteinases classes in this experiment. Conclusion: Proteolytic aerobic bacteria were substituted by proteolytic lactic acid bacteria during ensiling, and the microbial serine and metallo proteinases in these strains played leading roles in proteolysis in TMR silages.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.437-445
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to develop an analytical method for sulfonamide antibiotics (sulfadiazine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole, sulfathiazole) and their metabolites ($N^4$-acetylsulfadiazine, $N^4$-acetylsulfamerazine, $N^4$-acetylsulfamethazine, $N^4$-acetylsulfamethoxazole, sulfamethoxazole-$N^1$-glucuronide) in environmental samples. The solid phase extraction (SPE) with LC/ESI-MS/MS have been used for the analysis of target compounds, and the recoveries of SPE clean-up were at the range of 12-94% for C18 cartridge, 60-95% for HLB cartridge, 25-123% for MCX cartridge, and 70-90% for tandem HLB/MCX. By established method, detection limit, recovery, and relative standard deviation were 0.001~0.187 ng/mL, 66~115%, and 5~17%, respectively. This method was effective and sensitive to use for the simultaneous determination of sulfonamide antibiotics and their metabolites in environmental samples. Four sulfonamide antibiotics were detected at the range of 0.008~2.153 ng/mL. For metabolites, only $N^4$-acetylsulfamethoxazole was detected, but the concentration was under the MDL level.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.734-741
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• 1998

Electrode characteristics were studied in the interface between sample solutions and $K^+$ ion selective PVC membrane electrodes containing neutral carriers, dibenzo-18-crown-6(D18Cr6) and valinomycin(Val). The effect of doping of base electrolytes, the chemical structure and the content of carrier, variation of plasticizer, membrane thickness, and concentration variation of sample solution on the response characteristics of electrode such as the measured Nernstian slope, the detection limit, the linear response range, and potentiometric selectivity coefficients, were studied. In order to synthesize the membrane D18Cr6 and Val as neutral carriers were used, and complex between the carrier and $K^+$ ions were used as active materials. PVC membrane electrodes were made of plasticizers (DBP, DOS, and DBS), the base electrolyte[potassium tetraphenylborate(KTPB)], and solvent(THF). The chemical structure of carrier D18Cr6 was best for electrode and ideal electrode characteristics were appeared especially in case of doping of TPB. The optimum carrier content was about 3.23 wt % in case of D18Cr6 and Val. DBP was best as a plasticizer. As membrane thickness decreased the electrode characteristics was improved. But its characteristics were lowered below the optimum membrane thickness because of the elution of carrier, deterioration of membrane strength, etc. In the case of D18Cr6, the selectivity coefficients by the mixed solution method for the $K^+$ ion were in the order of $NH_4{^+}>Ca^{2+}>Mg^{2+}>Na^+$.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.626-636
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• 2022

Shellfish are exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates that consume various organic and inorganic substances floating in seawater through filter feeding. Heavy metals are known as absorbed and accumulated in seawater. Some of the toxic heavy metals are highly accumulated in seawater, and exposure to them can cause a variety of risks to the human body. Since Koreans like to eat seafood, they are more likely to be exposed to contaminated seafood with heavy metals. In this study, nine types of heavy metals were analyzed on ten different shellfish species in the coastal area of South Korea. The risk assessment was also done on shellfish in which heavy metals were detected. Zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) were identified at an average of 56.7 mg/kg (6.70 to 466 mg/kg) and 13.2 mg/kg (0.064 to 143 mg/kg), respectively. Lead (Pb) average of 0.208 mg/kg (0.000750 to 1.02 mg/kg), cadmium (Cd) average of 0.454 mg/kg (0.0388 to 1.56 mg/kg) and mercury (Hg) average of 0.0266 mg/kg (0.00548 to 0.174 mg/kg) were identified. Additionally, arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and silver (Ag) were also identified as average concentrations of 4.02 (0.460 to 15.0 mg/kg), 0.167 (< limit of quantification [LOQ] to 0.820 mg/kg), 0.281 (< LOQ to 1.46 mg/kg), and 0.158 mg/kg (< LOQ to 1.15 mg/kg). The result indicates that the monitoring results of heavy metals in most shellfish satisfied the Korean standard. However, Pb and Cd have exceeded some foreign standards, such as the United States and the EU. The permissible human exposure calculated using the heavy metal intake and detection amount was lower than the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives human safety standard, and the risk of heavy metals from shellfish consumption was at an acceptable level.