• 한국자원식물학회지
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.579-587
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• 2016

본 연구의 최종 목표는 심지가습장치를 이용하여 소형화된 식물바이오필터를 개발함으로써 토양수분을 안정화하고, 이 바이오필터에 의해 실내공기의 오염 물질을 정화하는 것이다. 심지자동가습기가 장착된 신규 식물바이오필터는 2015년에 만든 대형바이오필터에서 흡수탑 가습장치를 제거하여 더 소형화된 디자인으로 제작하였다. 본 연구는 신규 바이오필터 내부의 가습장치에 심지의 수를 조절함에 따른 식재층간의 토양수분 변화를 비교하고, 이 바이오필터의 식재층에 스파티필름 (Spathiphyllum wallisii ‘Mauna Loa’)을 식재하기 전과 후의 토양수분 변화와 식물 생육을 비교하였다. 심지의 개수에 따른 식재층간 토양수분은 비슷하게 나타났으며, 모든 토양수분의 선형회귀선은 장기간 토양수분이 안정화되었기 때문에 거의 수평의 선을 나타내었다. S. wallisii ‘Mauna Loa’의 식재 전과 식재 후 30일째의 생육 지표를 비교한 결과, 모든 생육 지표에 있어 통계적 유의성이 없었다. 따라서, 식물바이오필터의 토양수분 함량은 흡수탑 가습장치를 사용한 이전의 바이오필터보다 심지의 개수에 관계없이 심지가습장치를 적용하였을 때 보다 안정화 되었다.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.273-284
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• 2019

Objective: This study was performed to estimate the number of those who used humidifier disinfectants (HDs) and experienced health effects from exposure to HDs in Korea between 1994 and 2011. Methods: A nationwide interview survey was conducted for the representative sample to identify the proportion of those who used HDs among the general population (n=3,001). Another online survey was conducted for those exposed to HDs to find the proportion of those who experienced health effects among those who were exposed to HDs (n=3,993). Statistics for population size by region and year (1994-2011) were used to estimate the cumulative number of those exposed to HDs and those who experienced health effects. In terms of the proportion of those exposed to HDs, those less than 30 years of age were excluded due to an issue related to information bias. Various approaches for estimation included the capture-recapture method for estimation of those who experienced health effects. Results: The cumulative proportion of those exposed to HDs was 6.7% among the general population, and the proportion of those who experienced health effects among those who were exposed to HDs was 13.9%. Based on these factors, it was estimated that 3.5 to 4.0 million people were exposed to HDs and 350 to 400 thousand experienced health effects at least requiring visiting a hospital. Conclusion: It is suggested that a nationwide representative sample may be essential for population size estimation of those exposed to environmental risk factors and of those who experienced health effects.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.71-81
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• 2019

Objectives: The lung injuries by exposure to the humidifier disinfectants (HDs) were reported in 2011, Korea. For the HD victims, environmental exposure level and clinical diagnosis were conducted to determine the levels of damage by HDs. Methods: The exposure assessment to the HDs from 1st to 4th questionnaire surveys were carried out for 5,245 victims. And the affecting factors of exposure levels were analyzed by characterizing exposure and demographic information. By using of exposure concentration and cumulative time, exposure levels were classified and compared by percentage of clinical diagnosis classes. The high exposure and low clinical diagnosis rating groups, and low exposure and high clinical diagnosis rating groups were analyzed to overcome the limitation of past exposure assessment such as recall bias. Results: Among the all applicants damaged by the humidifier disinfectants, survivors were 4,028 and the dead were 1,217. And male and female were 2,675, and 2,547, respectively. In case of occurrence age of lung disease, under 10 years was majority age group (1,536) and followed by thirties (917). Pregnant women and fetuses were 339 and 439, respectively. And the damages by exposure to the HDs were concentrated on these susceptible populations in groups with low exposure and high clinical diagnosis rating. On the other hand, the groups classified by high exposure and low clinical diagnosis rating were shown different characterization. Conclusions: The questionnaire survey on past exposure may be uncertain due to recall bias. However, the relationship between classified exposure levels and clinical diagnosis ratings might be shown positive correlation if the exposure assessment errors were analyzed and controlled.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제49권3호
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• pp.159-168
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• 2023

Background: An ongoing environmental exposure assessment of humidifier disinfectants (HDs) has been conducted since November 2011 among individuals who experienced HD exposure-related adverse health effects. It is being performed in order to determine and quantify exposure to humidifier disinfectants in victims and their families. To date, the assessment has encompassed Cycles I-to-V. There is no report summarizing the characteristics of the subjects from the overall cycles. Objectives: We intended to examine the individual characteristics related to demographics, HD usage, and HD exposure using integrated data from Cycles I-to-V of the environmental exposure assessment of HDs and the changes with the cycles. Methods: We included 7,543 individuals who participated in Cycles I-to-V of the environmental exposure assessment of HDs. We summarized the participants' characteristics regarding their demographics (e.g., sex, education level, and age), HD usage history (e.g., product name, ingredient, and frequency of HD use), and HD exposure (e.g., daily time of HD use, cumulative time of HD use, and exposure intensity). In addition, their characteristics were compared across the cycles of the exposure assessment. Results: Among the 7,543 participants from Cycles I-to-V, there were more male participants than females (51.05% overall), except for Cycles I and III. Across all cycles, a higher proportion of survivors was observed than deceased individuals. While PHMG was the most prevalent ingredient in HDs throughout all the cycles, its proportion gradually decreased over the course of the examination cycles. Participants in Cycle I reported longer daily times of HD use compared to those in the subsequent cycles. On the other hand, cumulative time of HD use was shorter in the earlier cycles than in the later cycles. Conclusions: Using the integrated data from the full cycles of the environmental exposure assessment, this study identified changes in demographic characteristics as well as the HD exposure characteristics between the participants across different cycles.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제34권6호
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• pp.1708-1714
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• 2013

Polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) polymers used as an active ingredient in an antibacterial humidifier disinfectant were reported to cause harm to the human health when inhaled, although physical contact with this material was known to present low toxicity to humans. It is therefore necessary to develop an optimal analysis method which enables detection and analysis of PHMG polymers. MALDI-TOF investigations of PHMG are performed with a variety of matrices, and it is found that CHCA and 2,5-DHB are excellent matrices which well reflects the polymer population even at high mass. For the provided PHMG sample, the number-average ($M_n$) and weight-average ($M_w$) molecular masses were determined to be 744.8 and 810.7, respectively, when the CHCA was used as a matrix. The rank of the matrices in terms of averaged molecular weight was CHCA ~2,5-DHB > 5-NSA > DHAP, THAP > ATT > IAA ~ super-DHB ~ HABA. In addition, PSD of the PHMG oligomer ions exhibited a few unique fragmenation characteristics. The formation of a- and c-type fragments was the major fragmentation pathway, and the 25-Da loss peaks generally accompanied a- and c-type fragments.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제31권
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• pp.15.1-15.6
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• 2016

A number of absurdities surrounding the humidifier disinfectant (HD) incident may have occurred because 1) a judicial system operates on the underlying false assumption that the involved parties are equals in knowledge, information and resource mobilization capabilities, regardless of respective real status as company or individual; 2) there is a lack of a system that mandates a company to prevent and actively manage possible catastrophes; 3) the regulatory scheme makes companies believe that as long as they are complying with the existing regulations, they have satisfied all of their responsibilities. I believe that this issue is an opportunity to bring about changes in the judicial redress system, the system of internal management of manufacturers, and the regulatory system of the government. The following regulation amendments are needed to move towards the changes stated above. First, legislation relating to victim relief that is applicable to the HD incident must be established. Second, a risk management system must be formed within the manufacturing company and to this end an institutional environment for the system must be established within regulatory framework. Furthermore, legislation must be passed that could punish companies themselves that have caused severe damage to individuals because they had failed to take necessary actions to avoid foreseeable harm. Finally, the framework of regulation must be changed so that the company, who has the necessary information regarding the product and the component chemicals used in the product, must self-directed experiment and assessment of the safety of their own products.

• 한국태양에너지학회 논문집
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.71-80
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• 2017

A Data center houses a large number of server computers, storage and etc in racks. With the rapid increase of heat generation rates per rack in a data center, energy consumption rates for cooling have been increased year by year. In this study, energy conservation effects of a MOA (multi-stage outdoor air enabled) cooling system in a data center has been investigated when it is applied to 5 different locations, Korea. As results, Energy conservation effects of the MOA cooling system was achieved at about 20% to 30%. Humidifier operation time was 40 to 55 days when supply air temperature was maintained at 13, and humidity condition was kept within the allowed range even though humidifier was off. Furthermore, humidification was not needed when supply air temperature was maintained at $25^{\circ}C$. In selected 5 locations in Korea, the difference of regional climatic conditions affected no more than 5% in cooling energy consumption rates.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2011년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.100.2-100.2
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• 2011

본 연구과제는 유망상품인 "발전용 MCFC 모듈형 BOP" 중 가습기 내부에 장착되는 연료-물 Mixing 시스템을 개발하는 것이다, 가습기 내부에서 공급된 연료-물은 연료전지 스택(Stack)으로부터 가습기로 유입된 고온의 가스로부터 열을 공급 받아 증발 및 혼합과정을 거치게 되며, 스팀-연료 혼합기로 형성되어 개질기(reformer)로 공급되게 된다. 이때, 물과 연료의 공급 상태에 따라 균일한 스팀-연료 혼합기가 형성되는지가 결정되며, 경우에 따라서는 고온의 가습기 내부의 국부적 온도분포의 큰 차이를 발생시켜 용접부의 균열을 발생시킬 수도 있기 때문에, 가습기의 설계와 함께 중요한 장치로 여겨진다. 본 연구에서는 다양한 가습기에 적용이 가능한 Mixer 모델을 설정하고, Analytic calculation을 통한 노즐설계와 1pass/Full scale 성능 실험 장치를 통해 상용화를 목표로 추진 되었으며, 특히 노즐별 유량분배 변동율은 ${\pm}3%$ 이내로 달성하고, 스팀/연료 공급 비율은 2:1 이내로 달성할 수 있는 시스템을 구축하게 될 것이다. 최종적으로 개발 완료 시 다양한 가습기에 직접 장착하여 운전이 가능할 수 있도록 실용화에 중점을 두고, 보다 안정적인 성능을 나타낼 수 있는 제품 개발이 가능하리라 사려된다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2011년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.97.2-97.2
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• 2011

본 연구는 연료전지 중 용융탄산염을 전해질로 하는 MCFC의 MBOP에 포함된 부품으로 매우 중요한 역할을 하는 가습기와 이때 발생되는 폐열을 회수하기 위한 장치인 HRU에 관한 것이다. 가습기는 연료와 물이 가습기 상부로 유입되어 가습기 하부로 유입되는 배가스와 열교환을 하면서 물이 스팀화 되어 연료가 가습된 상태로 가습기 출구로 일정온도를 유지하며 배출된다. 또한 HRU는 가습기에서 배출된 고온의 배가스를 물을 이용하여 열교환을 통해서 열을 회수하여 난방 및 온수로 사용할 수 있는 열교환 장치를 말한다. 먼저 이들의 특성을 파악하기 위해 가습기 및 HRU를 설계, 제작하여 각각의 특성을 확인하였다. 가습기와 HRU의 성능 향상을 위해 먼저 열교환부에 적용될 튜브의 수치해석적 분석을 통해서 최적의 열전달 성능을 얻을 수 있는 가습기 및 HRU를 설계, 제작하였으며 이들의 성능을 파악하기 위해 120,000kcal/h 용량을 테스트 할 수 있는 장치를 구축하여, 이들의 열전달 특성, 압력강하, 회수 열량, 가습기 온도 등의 특성을 파악하였다. 이 장치를 통해서 확인된 가습기와 HRU의 특성은 수치해석을 통해서 얻은 값과 거의 유사함을 확인할 수 있었으며, 가습 성능도 효과적으로 달성할 수 있었다. 가습기와 HRU의 특성 중 압력강하 부분은 지속적인 연구가 필요한 부분이며, 가습기와 HRU의 일체화를 통하여 소형화 및 설치공간 축소 효과를 얻을 것으로 본다.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제80권4호
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• pp.351-357
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• 2017

In 2011, a cluster of peripartum patients were admitted to the intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in Seoul with signs and symptoms of severe respiratory distress of unknown etiology. Subsequent epidemiological and animal studies suggested that humidifier disinfectant (HD) might represent the source of this pathology. Epidemiological studies, animal studies, and dose-response analysis demonstrated a strong association between HD use and lung injuries. The diagnostic criteria for HD-associated lung injury (HDALI) was defined on the basis of the clinical, pathological, and radiological attributes of the patients. The clinical spectrum of HDALI appears to range from asymptomatic to full-blown acute respiratory failure, and some patients have required actual lung transplantation for survival. The overall mortality of the exposed population was not significant, although peripartum patients and children who were admitted to the intensive care unit did show high mortality rates. Persistent clinical findings such as diffuse ill-defined centrilobular nodules and restrictive lung dysfunction were observed in some of the survivors. The findings of this review emphasize the importance of assessment of the level of toxicity of chemical inhalants utilized in a home setting, as well as the need to identify and monitor afflicted individuals after inhalational injury.