• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.311-322
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• 2010

The common life with modern urban residence, spending more than 80~90% of daily life in indoor environment, makes the importance of indoor air quality (IAQ) even higher. Many efforts have made to improve indoor air quality (IAQ), which requires those systematic approaches for field practice. A recent study reported that no general approach cannot be made for IAQ improvement due to the great deal of variety in different indoor environments. Those indoor spaces included in Korean IAQ regulation were classified based on their characteristics and the IAQ guideline was suggested for each group of indoor spaces. Apart from those indoor spaces, the classroom in elementary school has different characteristics. By introducing the systematic approaches, the elementary classroom was surveyed and analyzed to understand its characteristics in due IAQ consideration. Based on the characteristics, there are several IAQ control measures suggested, including ventilation operation, dust mat installation, and white board. $CO_2$ and airborne dust were monitored and analyzed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of each control measure to IAQ. It was found that the general level of $CO_2$ concentration was managed under the IAQ guideline by applying the ventilator operation. The ventilation was also effective to the fugitive airborne particulate in elementary classroom environment.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.9-16
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• 2006

The researches on the environmental friendly buildings have carried out on the materials, environmental property, technical elements and etc., and various buildings with these green materials have built and under construction nowadays and became a new trend of the green building. And recently, new building technique which builds the wall with the soil and wood and very easy to construct (called M Earthen House) was introduced as the green building and rapidly propagated. But the research on the indoor climatic characteristics, the ability to control the environmental comfort and the influence to the human beings of these buildings are not sufficiently identified yet. In this paper, the indoor environmental characteristics and the temperature controlling ability of these buildings in summer season were measured and analysed by the Portable Indoor Air Quality Monitor(BABUC/A, LSI) measuring equipments, ana the subjective test on the thermal environment of the subjects were carried out to evaluate the thermal comfort. The results can be summarized as follows; 1) Compared to the outdoor dry bulb temp.($15.4{\sim}28.7^{\circ}C$), the indoor temp. was $19.5{\sim}26.8^{\circ}C$. It showed the temperature controlling ability of the M earthen house was outstanding. And the indoor relative humidity, compared to the outdoor($45.4{\sim}100%$), was $58.1{\sim}76.4%$, it showed the humidity controlling ability of the M earthen house was also outstanding. 2) The thermal environment was evaluated as 'comfort'(neutral-slightly warm) and the humidity was also evaluated as 'comfort'(neutral-slightly humid). So, the results of the physical and subjective evaluation on the indoor thermal comfort in summer season were 'neutral' and 'comfort' coincidently, it was confirmed that the controlling ability of the indoor temperature and humidity of the M earthen house was very excellent.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2012

Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify concentration characteristics of indoor and outdoor airborne total fiber particles and asbestos in Gyeongnam Provinces. Methods: This study investigated concentration characteristics of indoor fiber particles from 748 schools and 38 public facilities as well as outdoor particles from 11 sites through PCM (phase contrast microscope). SEM/EDX (scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive using X-ray analysis) was used to obtain physicochemical information of asbestos fiber particles. The study identified asbestos rate in the 15 samples from indoor and outdoor airborne total fiber particles. Results: 1. The average indoor airborne concentrations of total fiber particles were $0.0011{\pm}0007$ f/cc in schools and $0.0015{\pm}0007$ f/cc in public facilities by PCM. Over 90% of the fiber particles were identified as single fibers. 2. The average outdoor airborne concentrations of total fiber particles were $0.0007{\pm}0002$ f/cc, and they were lower than those of indoor airborne concentrations. 3. The results showed that the form of asbestiform was diverse as skein of thread like form and long needle, which was relatively narrower than that of glass fiber and rock wool. 4. The results of SEM/EDX analysis of 15 areas where total fiber particle was relatively high showed that the form was rather similar to that of asbestos, but chemical composition was proven to be non-asbestos. Conclusions: The concentration of indoor and outdoor airborne total fiber particles of Gyeongnam Provinces satisfied the IAQ (Indoor air quality) level of 0.01 f/cc and asbestos was not found in most of the samples by SEM/EDX.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.59-65
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• 2007

This study is to propose the basic data for deciding remodeling of wornout educational facilities. In order of it, the indoor environmental standard, the actual conditions of thermal environment and sound insulation of walls were examined through field measurement in the subjected open elementary school(J school) and modernization model of elementary school(Y school) which they are located in Seoul. As the result, standard for indoor environmental factors of educational facilities which is established by Ministry of Education is not subdivided into indoor environmental performances considering usages and characteristics of classrooms for comfortable indoor environment. The vertical temperature difference in general classroom and in open classroom showed to be $11.2^{\circ}C$ and $12.1^{\circ}C$ respectively, while indoor temperature of special classroon was, on the whole, higher than that of any other classroom due to its specific heat flux of wall materials. The sound insulation performance of the masonry brick wall of classroom satisfied the minimum standard of AIJ, Architectural Institute of Japan, in the open elementary school and the modernization model of elementary school. That is to say, the movable partition wall between the classroom and the corridor disturbed students in their class in the open school.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1273-1283
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• 2015

In present study, the temporal characteristics of nine selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including four alcohol, 2 aldehyde, and 3 ketone compounds, in high-stories urban apartments over a 2-y period were investigated. The indoor VOC concentrations had generally a decreasing trend over the 2-y follow-up period. For examples, the 2E1H indoor concentration decreased from $10.8{\mu}g/m^3$ for the first two months to $5.1{\mu}g/m^3$ for the last two months. In addition, the DCA and ACT indoor concentrations decreased from 5.0 and $14{\mu}g/m^3$ for the first two months to 2.2 and $6.4{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively, for the last two months. The indoor-to outdoor concentration ratios over the 2-y period were much greater than 1, indicating that indoor VOC concentrations were higher than the outdoor VOC concentrations. Similar to those of the individual VOCs, the indoor-to-outdoor concentration ratios of all three VOC groups were higher than 1 over the 2-y follow-up period, suggesting higher indoor concentrations of the three VOC groups than outdoor concentrations. In consistence with the results of VOC indoor concentrations, the VOC emission rates decreased gradually as time passed, due to the decreased VOC emission strengths of indoor sources. Finally, there was an initial sharp decrease in the indoor VOC concentrations followed by a slower decrease, indicating a multi-exponential decay model for the target VOCs, which was demonstrated by comparison of the residuals and the adjusted coefficient of determination associated with the one and two-exponential fits of each data set.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.4 s.91
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• pp.292-303
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• 2006

The Volatile Organic Compounds(VOCs) are emitted from various sources and have lots of different form. Recently human are spending the many times at indoor area and indoor air pollution is issued the important social problem. The emission sources of indoor air pollutants are very various, also indoor building materials are composed of very complex chemical compounds, these indoor building materials discharge very much VOCs and other hazardous compounds. In this study, we performed the small chamber test to investigate the VOCs emission concentration and characteristics involving five kinds of the indoor building materials(furniture material, wooden floor, wall paper, paint and tile) under different conditions of four temperature and relative humidity as account of the air flow rate(AFR), air exchange rate(AER), loading factor and air velocity respectively. As the result, It was showed that building materials are emitted the highest VOCs concentration at the beginning of experiment and furniture material is emitted the highest VOCs concentration. Most of the materials were affected by temperature, but paint and tile material were affected by humidity.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.85-92
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• 1999

Indoor air quality tends to be the dominant contributor to personal exposure because most people spend over 90% of their time indoors. For some contaminants, exposure to indoor air poses a potentially greater health threat than outdoor air exposures. Indoor nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$) levels are mainly affected gas range, flue gas spillage, kerosene heaters, wood-burning appliances and cigarette smoke. In addition, indoor $NO_2$ levels are influenced by such house characterization as surface reaction and air exchange rate. In this study, the measurements of indoor and outdoor $NO_2$ concentrations were taken using identical protocols, and information was collected on housing characteristics using identical questionnaires in 14 houses out of 15 houses for daily 30 daily 30 days in Brisbane, Australia.The usage of gas range was the most contributing factor in indoor $NO_2$ concentration in relation to house characteristics. Average indoor and outdoor ratios of NO2 concentration in electronic and gas cooking houses were $0.6{\pm}0.1$ and $0.9{\pm}0.2$, respectively. The frequency distributions of $NO_2$ concentration in each house were approximately log-normal Geometric mean of indoor $NO_2$ concentrations of electronic and gas cooking houses for daily 30 days ranged from 2.5 ppm to 11.5 ppm with a mean 6.8 and from 4.7 ppm to 28.6 ppm with a mean 15.6 ppm, respectively. The $NO_2$ concentrations between electronic and gas cooking houses were significantly different (p<0.05). Since each house has different life-style and house characteristics, sampling interval to measure the $NO_2$ levels was recommended above 7 days.

• Journal of odor and indoor environment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.355-361
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• 2018

Mold grows more easily when humidity is higher in indoor spaces, and as such is found more often on wetted areas in housing such as walls, toilets, kitchens, and poorly managed spaces. However, there have been few studies that have specifically assessed the level of mold in the indoor spaces of water-damaged housing in the Republic of Korea. We investigated the levels of airborne mold according to the characteristics of water damage types and explored the correlation between the distribution of mold genera and the characteristics of households. Samplings were performed from January 2016 to June 2018 in 97 housing units with water leakage or condensation, or a history of flooding, and in 61 general housing units in the metropolitan and Busan area, respectively. Airborne mold was collected on MEA (Malt extract agar) at flow rate of 100 L/min for 1 min. After collection, the samples were incubated at $25^{\circ}C$ for 120 hours. The cultured samples were counted and corrected using a positive hole conversion table. The samples were then analyzed by single colony culture, DNA extraction, gene amplification, and sequencing. By type of housing, concentrations of airborne mold were highest in flooded housing, followed by water-leaked or highly condensed housings, and then general housing. In more than 50% of water-damaged housing, the level of airborne mold exceeded the guideline of Korea's Ministry of Environment ($500CFU/m^3$). Of particular concern was the fact that the I/O ratio of water-damaged housing was greater than 1, which could indicate that mold damage may occur indoors. The distribution patterns of the fungal species were as follows: Penicillium spp., Cladosporium spp. (14%), Aspergillus spp. (13%) and Alternaria spp. (3%), but significant differences of their levels in indoor spaces were not found. Our findings indicate that high levels of mold damage were found in housing with water damage, and Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium brevicompactum were more dominant in housing with high water activity. Comprehensive management of flooded or water-damaged housing is necessary to reduce fungal exposure.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.807-818
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• 2010

The study is about variations in Carbonyl compounds concentration within apartment buildings according to pre-residence and residence. We consecutively investigated indoor air pollutants in 120 households in 6 cities at pre-residence and residence. Carbonyl compounds were collected using the 2,4-DNPH cartridge and were analyzed using HPLC. The carbonyls concentration of indoor air in the new apartments before occupation measured formadlehyde($76.0\;{\mu}g/m^3$), acetone($85.9\;{\mu}g/m^3$), acetaldehyde($13.8\;{\mu}g/m^3$). The carbonyls concentration of indoor air in the new apartments after occupation measured formadlehyde($233.1\;{\mu}g/m^3$), acetone($128.9\;{\mu}g/m^3$), acetaldehyde($29.8\;{\mu}g/m^3$), respectively. As a result, the mean concentration of carbonyl compounds within the pre-occupancy stage was lower than those of residence.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.544-552
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• 2006

Emission tests were carried out to investigate the characteristics of concentration according to flooring sort using small chamber method. The target Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) included 27 individual compounds of environmental concern, which were determined by adsorption sampling and thermal desorption coupled with GC/MS method and by DNPH cartridge/HPLC method. The emission factor of Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) and Formaldehyde (HCHO) was detected $0.3mg/m^2{\cdot}h$ and $0.2mg/m^2{\cdot}h$ respectively, and the floorings of 37 (9 PVC Tile, 10 PVC Sheet, 18 Flooring) were satisfied emission standard. TVOC emission factor appeared in order of concentration of PVC Sheet, PVC Tile, and floor flooring, while HCHO was detected very high emission factor (as $0.4mg/m^2{\cdot}h$) at floor flooring above PVC series (as $0.001mg/m^2{\cdot}h$).