Black carbon (BC), which is mainly contained in fine particulate matters, is one of the typical anthropogenic air pollutants that are generated from the incomplete combustion process and discharged into the atmosphere, and its various health effects particularly on children have been a growing concern. In this study, BC and particulate matters were closely analyzed in an elementary school adjacent to a high- traffic road in a large metropolitan city. The investigation showed that black carbon behaved similarly to ultrafine dust of 0.3 μm or less in the air, accounting for 20%-40% of it. The occurrence of high concentration outdoor pollution influences the BC content in indoor particulate matters. The average I/O value was 0.7 during the class-hours, and 0.8 without students. However, when students played in the classroom, the range of BC concentrations varied from 0.25 to 1.15, wider than 0.41-1.13 without students. Although this study was conducted with regard to just one elementary school, it can be considered to represent the typical air quality status of domestic schools, and it is believed to present valuable data which can be utilized to assist with preparing measures to enhance the air quality management of schools.

A field study was conducted to reduce airborne bacteria by supplying active ions to indoor spaces used by vulnerable human groups spending substantial amounts of time in places such as schools and hospitals. In an experiment conducted during school hours (8:00-15:00), the average number of airborne bacteria in classrooms was 345.53 CFU/m3 or more without active ions. However, ion supply reduced the airborne bacteria to an average of 113.23 CFU/m3, indicating an efficiency of 61.61%. As a result of tests in 33 rooms used for surgery in small and middle sized hospitals, ion supply for 2 to 4 hours reduced the average airborne bacteria concentration from 243.88 CFU/m3 to 104.34 CFU/m3, representing a 41.53% reduction. A laboratory test to confirm the ion activity has shown that the mortality rate of E. coli used as a test bacterium increased with exposure time to ions. The initial colony number of E. coli was 251 CFU, but decreased to 4 CFU after 60 minutes of exposure to active ions. Therefore, it was confirmed that the supply of active ions can contribute to the control of airborne bacteria in the indoor environment of schools, hospitals and other public facilities.

CALMET (California Meteorological Model), which is a meteorological subroutine for an air quality dispersion mode (CALPUFF; California Puff Model), closely related with the land surface structure. In this study, the sensitivity of micro-meteorological parameters including wind speed and roughness height, Albedo, Bowen ratio, soil heat flux, and leaf area index were closely evaluated with change of land-use in relation to urban development. As a result, although no consistent dependence of roughness height on surface wind was found, it showed that high value of surface roughness could lead to the increase of friction velocity, influence the Monin-Obukhov length and the mixing height. At the same time, the increasing Albedo reduced friction velocity and mixing height. Thus, it was concluded for the CALMET modelling that it is necessary to first define the roughness height, Albedo, and Bowen ratio according to land-use.

In this study, indoor air quality indices (IAQI-C and IAQI-E) were developed for child care centers and elderly care centers based on health effects, and compared to the air quality index (CAI) for outdoor atmosphere. In addition, composite indices that integrate individual indices for each pollutant were developed to quickly and conveniently recognize the current air quality. Among all data, 71.2% and 35.6% belonged to the grades 'Good' and 'Moderate' for child care centers and elderly care centers, respectively. This assessment is more stringent than the CAI's criteria.

In this study, we listed the VOCs focusing on ozone precursors emitted from printing shops in urban areas. The emission characteristics of the VOCs from workplaces were evaluated in terms of the used inks. As a result of field measurements, more than 80% of detected VOCs showed high values of photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP). The main species were aromatic hydrocarbons such as ethylbenzene, toluene, ethyltoluene, xylene, trimethylbenzene and their isomers, and paraffin hydrocarbons such as nonane, decane, and octane. Comparative examination between pristine ink and the printing process revealed the emission of hydrocarbons with 8 to 12 carbons such as o-xylene to n-dodecane from the used inks and with 3 to 7 carbons such as acetone to 3-methylhexane from the printing process. The major contributors to ozone production in printing industries were toluene (12.2%), heptane (7.43%), and 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene (7.21%) in every step.

Recently, public complaints about unpleasant odor are increasing, particularly in urban areas. One of the odor sources is meat grilling restaurants in the vicinity of the residential areas. In this study, we characterized the odorous compounds generated from the stack of grilling restaurants, and evaluated the removal efficiency of the control facilities. As a result of the field investigation, the dilution index of the complex odor exceeded 500 times that of all test restaurants. The main substance was acetaldehyde. In addition, the correlation coefficient (R2) between the total odor and the sum of odor activity values (SOAV) was 0.73, a value high enough to indicate significant responsibility. The performance of the control facility has been shown to be strongly influenced by maintenance activities, such as cleaning and filter replacements.

Recently Korean government introduced and strengthened the environmental polices to manage and enhance indoor air quality as a major assignment. As a result,“Indoor Air Quality Management Act”has been activated since May 2004. However, among many multi-usage facilities, the school environment has been excluded from such regulations. Thus, the purpose of this study is to survey indoor aerosol and CO2 concentrations in a university library which is one of major school facilities. Concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 were intensively measured every 5 minute interval by means of a dust monitor with light-scattering principle. The mini-volume air samplers were used further to analyze inorganic elemental compositions of PM10 and to inter-compare with the dust monitor. Carbon dioxide was simultaneously monitored by a multi-gas monitor equipped with a non-dispersive infrared system. PM10 concentrations did not exceed the indoor air quality standard(150㎍/㎥) for all the sampling places. However, quick and steep increases of aerosol concentration were observed during the Asian Dust storm period. In addition, the concentration of PM10(74.1㎍/㎥) in the main university office was the highest among the entire sampling places. Although there was no specific pollution source in the library, the levels of aerosol and CO2 increased quickly due to various outdoor sources and human activities. The average CO2 concentration measured in three reading rooms, where ventilation was not fully operated, exceeded the indoor air quality standard of 1,000 ppm. Based on these case studies, effective management and reduction plans for indoor aerosol and CO2 were suggested for the large scale public buildings including university libraries.

This study was performed to investigate indoor air quality and to characterize the concentration of particulate matters followed by human activities in preschool classrooms. Concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 were measured every 5-minute intervals by means of a dust monitor adopting the principle of light scattering. Two mini-volume air samplers were used further to measure the I/O concentration ratio of PM10 and to calibrate the dust monitor since the photometric method often exaggerates the mass of fine particles. The calibration factor in the study environment was determined as 0.64. In the preschool classrooms, the ranges of average indoor PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 concentrations were 51.5~117.6, 21.5~98.4, and 16.2~84.5 ㎍/ ㎥, respectively, while that of I/O concentration ratio was 0.8~1.3. Based on correlation analysis among various environmental parameters, PM1 was slightly correlated with humidity (r=0.416, p<0.01). However, outdoor PM10 was strongly related with indoor PM2.5 (r=0.95, p<0.01), with PM1 (r=0.94, p<0.01), and with PM10 (r=0.84, p<0.01). The trend of PM2.5 and PM1 concentrations appeared to be very similar unlike the case of PM10. Since the elevated coarse particle concentration (2.5㎛<dp<10㎛) and the average PM2.5/PM10 ratio were highly dependent on classroom activities, the parameter of PM2.5/PM10 ratio was intensively studied with 7 different indoor activities in the preschool classrooms.

Monitoring of lead concentration in the ambient air was performed in Kyung Hee University-Suwon Campus over a period of 5 year from November 1989 to September 1994 using a cascade impactor having 9 size stages. Lead level was analyzed by x-ray fluorescence. The lead levels have been extensively examined to identify annual trends, seasonal variations, and size distribution of lead concentration. Even though consumption of leaded gasoline has been decreased, the levels have not significantly changed during the sampling period. Probably other sources like fossil fuel emission and refuse incinerator will be potential contributors. The seasonal variation showed that Pb concentration significantly increased in the winter season and decreased in the summer season. The size distributions of Pb were observed to be unimodal distribution of the 1.1∼2.1 μm size ranges in the winter and 0.65∼1.1 μm in the summer.