• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.97-108
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• 1996

A new type of passive samplers were designed and produced by authors. After evaluating the quality of activated carbon by measuring recovery rate of organic vapors and steadiness of sampling rate, activated carbon with 30 - 35 mesh produced by Company S in Korea was selected. In each passive sampler, an amount of 400 mg of the activated carbon was filled in 25-mm cassette and covered by fixed screen (or wire screen with 100 mesh). In addition to the fixed screen, a wind screen (or wire screen with 300 mesh) was also attached at outer face. The sampling rate of the new Korean passive samplers was estimated Conclusions obtained in the study are as follows. 1. Sampling rates of the newly developed Korean passive samplers were affected by sampling time. For n-hexane, sampling rates of 15- and 60-minute samples were 70.92 and 37.45 ml/min, respectively. Sampling rate of both 200- and 450-minute samples was 25.96 ml/min. It is concluded that, when passive samplers are used for measuring organic vapors, samples be collected longer than 60 minutes. 2. Sampling rate of the passive samplers was also affected by airborne concentration of organic vapors. Lower sampling rates were determined at level of 1/2 threshold limit values (TLVs) recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). It is recommended that sampling rate of the passive samplers be obtained at site by measuring concentrations using both the NIOSH Method and passive samplers simultaneously. 3. When the passive samplers, which collected organic vapors, were exposed to clean air for five hours, there was no significant loss of organic vapors due to reverse diffusion. 4. When samples were stored at room temperature ($21.8{\pm}0.7^{\circ}C$) and refrigerator ($3.8{\pm}0.7^{\circ}C$), there was no significant difference in the accuracy of results. For trichloroethylene and n-hexane, accuracies were within 25 % at both temperatures until seven days. However, poor accuracy exceeding 25 % was indicated in toluene from the first day. It is recommended that samples be stored at freezing temperature below $0^{\circ}C$. 5. Sampling efficiency was significantly affected by direction of the passive samplers. Results of samplers facing wind and down, respectively, were compared. Lower amount of organic vapors were collected when the sampler was oriented down. It is recommended that, when air velocity is low in plants, the passive samplers be oriented to the wind. However, when air velocity is high, the passive samplers be oriented down.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.346-355
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was conducted to ascertain the difference between impinger and passive sampling methods in the process of sampling and analyzing on airborne formaldehyde. Formaldehyde generating workplaces included in this study comprised four types of manufacturing industry such as two workplaces of products of wood, cork, straw and plaiting materials manufacturing industries, one casting metal manufacturing industry, and one parts and accessories for motor vehicles and it′s engines manufacturing industry. Workplaces contained in this study were located in some manufacturing area of Busan industrial complex and this study was carried out during a period from January 2003 to December 2004. Analytical accuracy, precision and detection limit of two methods was compared. Exposure level of its airborne concentration was evaluated in formaldehyde generating workplaces those were classified by types of industry, working process, and time. The results were as follows ; 1. A rate of recovery was 107.1% in impinger method and 101.8% in passive method, and precision was 7.79% in impinger method and 4.40% in passive method. There was no statistical significance in analytical accuracy and precision between two methods. A limitation of detection was 0.011 ppm in passive method which was lower than that of impinger method (0.020 ppm) by 1.8 times. 2. Airborne formaldehyde concentration of impinger method was different from passive method. It′s concentration by passive method was higher by 5.1 times than that by impinger method in the parts and accessories for motor vehicles and it′s engines manufacturing industry (P<0.05). Only in molding process among several types of processes, formaldehyde concentration in passive method was higher by 5.1 times than that in impinger method (P<0.05). Furthermore, formaldehyde concentration in passive method was higher by 1.7 times than that in impinger method (P<0.05) in the first half of year 2003. 3. The geometric mean of formaldehyde concentration in impinger method was lower than that in passive method, but there was no statistical significance of formaldehyde concentration by the difference of sampling method. In conclusion, it is difficult to conclude which is better between the two sampling methods because of no statistical significance for the difference of concentration. Because of lacks of certified passive sampling and analytical method, at present situation, studies on verification of accuracy and precision, obstructive reaction against validity on its exposure assessment, and research to develop domestically manufactured passive sampler in terms of cost-effectiveness should be continuously carried out.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.500-509
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• 2009

Passive samplers have been used for many years for the sampling of organic vapors in work environment atmospheres. Currently, all passive samplers used in domestic occupational monitoring are foreign products. This study was performed to evaluate variable parameters for the development of passive organic samplers, which include the geometry of the device and diffusive length for the sampler design. Four prototype diffusive lengths; A-1(4.5 mm), A-2(7.0 mm), A-3(9.5 mm), A-4(12.0 mm) were tested for adsorption performances to a chemical mixture (benzene, toluene, trichloroethylene, and n-hexane) according to the US-OSHA's evaluation protocol. A dynamic vapor exposure chamber developed and verified by related research was used for this study. The results of study are as follows. The results in terms of sampling rate and recommended sampling time test indicate that the most suitable model was A-3 (9.5 mm diffusive lengths on both sides) for passive sampler design in time weighted average (TWA) assessment. Sampling rates of this A-3 model were 45.8, 41.5, 41.4, and 40.3 ml/min for benzene, toluene, trichloroethylene, and n-hexane, respectively. The A-3 models were tested on reverse diffusion and conditions of low humidity air (35% RH) and low concentrations (0.2 times of TLV). These conditions had no affect on the diffusion capacity of samplers. In conclusion, the most suitable design parameters of passive sampler are: 1) Geometry and structure - 25 mm diameter and 490 $mm^2$ cross sectional area of diffusion face with cylindrical form of two-sided opposite diffusion direction; 2) Diffusive length - 9.5 mm in both faces; 3) Amount of adsorbent - 300 mg of coconut shell charcoal; 4) Wind screen - using nylon net filters (11 ${\mu}m$ pore size).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.338-343
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• 2011

To obtain the effective sampling estuarine fauna by a passive net in the West Sea of Korea occurring strong tide, catch were collected by bag nets with various sampling trials off Ganghwa Island in November 2009. We compared the difference of community structures (on spring tide vs. neap tide, total sample vs. subsample and 4 nets vs. 1 net) with each species composition as a sampling unit by the Pearson chi-square test. Number of individual at the spring tide was more abundant than that at the neap tide (p<0.0001) although number of species at the spring tide was not significantly different with that at the neap tide (p=0.174). Both number of species (p=0.138) and number of individual (p=0.096) were not significantly different between total sample and random subsample. Number of species was not significantly different between the subsample by 1 net and the subsample by 4 nets (p=0.515), but number of individual was a little different on both samples (p=0.024). In conclusion, we suggest the subsample by 1 net at spring tide as the effective sampling estuarine fauna by a passive net in the West Sea occurring strong tide.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.3-9
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• 1998

This paper presents soil-gas surveying technique to delineate an area contaminated with volatile organic compounds, which are common solvents and constituents of gasoline. The sampling method of soil-gas surveying is 1) grab sampling, which actively takes sample using a pump, or 2) passive sampling, which takes sample through diffusion in a trap filled with absorbent. The grab sampling shows the level of contamination at a certain location at a certain time, while the passive sampling shows the change in the contamination at a certain location. The analysis of soil gas can be performed with 1) a small portable detectors such as PID (photoionization detector) or FID (flame-ionization detector) to measure the total hydrocarbon in the soil gas, 2) a gas detector tube, which is filled with indicator reagents and changes its color with concentrations of the gas of interest, or 3) a portable GC (gas chromatograph), which can analyze different compounds simultaneously. The soil-gas surveying technique is a much less expensive method to investigate area contaminated volatile organic compounds and thus can be used as a screening tool to identify an area, which needs to be further investigated.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.593-603
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• 2005

Passive sampler using 4-amino-3-hydrazino-5-mercapto-1, 2, 4-triazole (AHMT) was developed to determine formaldehyde in indoor environment. The chromatography paper cleaned by $3\%$ hydrogen peroxide solution was experimently determined as a optimum absorbtion filter for the collection of formaldehyde. The passive sampler with a broad cross-sectional area and a short diffusion length was quite good in sensitivity. The passive sampler and the active sampling method with an impinger were strongly correlated with a correlation coefficient of 0.9848. The limits of detection and quantification of the passive sampler for the measurement of formaldehyde in the indoor environment were 7.5 and 10.2 ppb, respectively. Temperature ($19\∼28^{circ}C$) and relative humidity ($30\∼90\%$) had slight influence on the sampling rate of the passive sampler. However, the increase of flow velocity on the surface of sampler resulted in the increase of sampling rate.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.27-31
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• 2004

Some of the petroleum products contain benzene which is well known as a confirmed human carcinogen. For example, gasoline products contain benzene ranging up to several percents by weight. High exposures to the benzene and other organic solvents would be likely to occur during intermittent tasks and or processes rather than continuous jobs such as sampling, repair, inspection, and loading/unloading jobs. The work time for these jobs is various. However, most of work time is very short and the representative time interval is 15 minutes. Thus, it is preferable to do exposure assessment for 15 minute time weighted average which is known as a short time exposure level(STEL) by ACGIH rather than for 8-hours TWA. It is particularly significant to the exposure monitoring for benzene since it has been known that the exposure rate plays an important role to provoke the leukemia. Due to the large variations, a number of processes/tasks, the traditional sampling technique for organic solvents with the use of the charcoal and sampling pumps is not appropriate. Limited number of samples can be obtained due to the shortage of sampling pumps. Passive samplers can eliminate these limitations. However, low sampling rates resulted in collection of small amount of the target analysts in the passive samplers. This is originated the nature of passive samplers. Field applications were made with use of passive samplers to compare with the charcoal tube methods for 15 minutes. Gasoline loading processes to the tank lorry trucks at the loading stations in the petroleum products storage area. Good agreements between the results of passive samplers and those of the charcoal tubes were achieved. However, it was found that special cautions were necessary during the analysis at very low concentration levels.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.124-132
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• 1998

The Korean-made passive samplers were evaluated at the working environment for field testing. Tested materials were n-hexane, toluene and trichloroethylene. The performance of passive samplers depended on types and concentrations of organic vapors. Sampling rates were not steady until certain concentrations. The optimum concentration for determination of airborne toluene by passive samplers was equal to or over 10 ppm which is 1/10 of the Korean occupational exposure limit. Optimum concentration of n-hexane was equal to and over 1 ppm which is 1/50 of Korean occupational exposure limit. But for trichloroehtylene, coefficient of variation was 53.5 %. Passive samplers may be used for determination of n-hexane. For other materials, further study on the performance of Korean-made passive samplers is required.

• Journal of odor and indoor environment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.362-371
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• 2018

Indoor Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are classified as known or possible toxicants and odorants. This study characterized VOC levels in 11 homes in an area in the capital of Seoul by using two different methods of VOCs sampling, which are the active sampling using a thermal sorption tube and the passive sampling using a diffusion sampler. When using the active sampling method, the total target VOC concentration ranged from 41.7 to $420.7{\mu}g/m^3$ (mean $230.4{\mu}g/m^3$ ; median $221.8{\mu}g/m^3$) during winter and 21.3 to $1,431.9{\mu}g/m^3$ (mean $340.1{\mu}g/m^3$; median $175.4{\mu}g/m^3$) during summer. When using the passive method, 29.6 to $257.5{\mu}g/m^3$ (mean $81.8{\mu}g/m^3$; median $49.4{\mu}g/m^3$) during winter and 1.2 to $5,131.1{\mu}g/m^3$ (mean $1,758.8{\mu}g/m^3$; median $1,375.1{\mu}g/m^3$) during summer. Forty-nine VOCs were quantified and toluene showed the highest concentration regardless of the season and the sampling method studied. The distribution of VOCs was relatively varied by using the active method. However, it showed a low correlation with indoor environmental factors such as room temperature, humidity and ventilation time. The correlation between indoor environmental factors and VOCs were relatively high in the passive method. In particular, these characteristics were confirmed by principal component analysis.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.52-57
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• 2001

The passive ranging estimation techniques using a focused beamformer have been studied under the water. It is well known that the passive ranging estimation method using a focused beamformer is excellently evaluated. Among these, the passive ranging sonar is known to have a good performance under low signal-to-noise. ratio. However, its performance is degraded in multi-source environments. In this paper, we proposed the technique using dual focused beamformers to estimate the range. And when the sampling frequency is low, it is very difficult to steer the focused beam to the desired direction, as a result of this, the low performance occurs because of a distorted beam pattern. In this paper, we study the effect of sampling rate on passive ranging by using focused beamformer. And we verified the performance of the proposed method via computer simulation.