Outdoor air pollution with particulate matter has become more severe in Korea. Ambient particle concentration affects the indoor environment through various routes through building envelopes. In this study, we investigated particle exposure in residential buildings. Indoor and outdoor particle sources determined the indoor concentrations and particle exposure. This paper measured indoor particles and CO2 concentrations in two different apartment buildings and conducted the survey for 24 hours. The I/O ratio of the occupant awake period was higher than the asleep period. The I/O ratio in the awake period is 0.93-3.65, while the I/O ratio in the asleep period is 0.31- 0.76.Indoor peak events such as cooking or cleaning temporarily increase the I/O ratio and emit the indoor particle sources. Decay rate constant is 0.49-6.84 (1/h) in the indoor peak events during the operation of the exhaust hood and natural ventilation. The size range of 0.3-0.5 μm size is over half for the proportions of emitted particles (55.6%). Daily exposure is divided into indoor sources (45.2%) and outdoor sources (54.8%). We found the differences for the proportion of particle exposure. The ratio of daily exposure in particles for 0.3-0.5 μm size is 43.1 (indoor)/ 56.9 (outdoor) %. However, indoor sources are higher than outdoor sources for the ratio of daily exposure in particles for the 0.5-10.0 μm size.

The objective of this study was to evaluate Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Fields (ELF-MFs) exposure level of housewives and the relation of residential environments with ELF-MFs exposure level in home. ELF-MFs measurements were performed for 58 housewives include 31 working women. Twenty-four hours personal MF exposure levels of housewives were slightly higher than working women as an arithmetic mean. However the median of 24 hours personal exposure levels for working women were significantly higher than housewives (p<0.05). The median of personal exposure levels due to the activity at home, working women were higher than housewives significantly (p<0.05). As a results of correlation of residential environments, such as their living environments, total income, type of water supply pipes, and distance from power line with ELF-MFs exposure level in home was different from the type of residence (p<0.05). This study could be informed as guidance for ELF-MFs exposure analysis in residential environment.

In this paper, exposure levels of electromagnetic field were measured in residential environments and from appliances. First, the measurements of residential environments were taken in central locations in bedroom, living room, and kitchen in each home. Both arithmetic and geometric mean of normal-power condition are higher than low-power condition (all electrical devices turned off/unplugged), and the background fields in homes show a geometric mean of about 0.022 uT. Second, we measured broadband magnetic fields of domestic appliances at various distances. The highest magnetic field is 44.3 uT from the microwave oven, and the lowest is 1.4 uT from the Kimchi Refrigerator. The magnitude of magnetic fields from appliances dropped off at a rate inversely proportional to distance, but the ratio of drop-off on Korean appliances is lower than US and UK

The present study evaluated residential exposure to atmospheric formaldehyde and acetaldehyde according to distance from the a dyeing industry complex (DIC). This purpose was achieved by measuring concurrently the outdoor air concentrations in residences near the DIC and a certain distance away, plus the outdoor air concentrations at two industrial areas within the DIC boundary. Formaldehyde concentrations (median values of 24.3 and 22.5 μg/㎥ in IS1 and IS2, respectively) were higher than acetaldehyde concentrations (median values of 7.4 and 7.3 μg/㎥ in IS1 and IS2, respectively) at both sites. However, there was no significant difference in the industrial outdoor air concentrations of both formaldehyde and acetaldehyde between the two sites. In addition, the median formaldehyde concentration from the residential site near the DIC (RS1) was about 1.5 times higher than that from the residential site far away from the DIC(RS2), and the median acetaldehyde concentration from RS1 was about 1.3 times higher than that from RS2. It is noteworthy that the mean or median risk as well as these maximum risks are well above the USEPA's permissible risk level of 10 -6 from environmental exposure. This suggests that appropriate management for formaldehyde and acetaldehyde is necessary in order to decrease risk of the residents of study areas, regardless of the distance from the DIC.