• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.50-54
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• 2007

The Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC), an electro-active polymer, has many advantages including bending actuation, low weight, low power consumption, and flexibility. These advantages coincide with the requirements of a bio-related application. Thus, IPMC is promising materials for bio-mimetic actuator and sensor applications. Before applying IPMC to actual application, basic mechanical properties of IPMC should be studied in order to utilize IPMC for practical uses. Therefore, IPMCs are fabricated to investigate the mechanical characteristics. Nafion is used as a base ionic polymer. Mason samples cast with various thicknesses are used to test the thickness effects of IPMC. Subsequently, IPMC is fabricated using the chemical reduction method. The deformation, blocking force and frequency response of the IPMC actuator are important properties. In this present study, the performances of the IPMC actuators, including the deformation, blocking force and natural frequency, are then obtained according to only the input voltage and IPMC dimensions. Finally, the empirical performance model and the equivalent stiffness model of the IPMC actuator are established using experiments results.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.119-132
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• 2006

The dimensions of affection structure from hand movements was developed for the purpose of understanding relationship between affective words and physical factors to apply it to computing environment. To analyze hand movements, three dimensions -direction, time, weight- were found through reconstructing sub-properties of Laban Movement Analysis. The direction dimension has five freedoms of movement (horizontal, vertical, sagittal, circular, shaking) while the time and weight dimensions both have two sub categories each, (sudden, sustained), (light, strong) respectively. By factorial design using the three dimensions, twenty movement were videotaped. Participants rated a list of fifty korean affective words on each twenty movements. The results were studied by nonlinear principal component analysis. The results suggested that time and weight dimensions are closely related with arousal level dimension of affection. Strong and sudden movements associated with highly aroused affection, while light and sustained movements associated with the opposite affection. The direction sub-dimensions were found to be associated with the kinds of affection. Linear movements like horizontal, vortical and sagittal direction were correlated to highly aroused negative affection. Circular movements were found to correlate closely by fun and delight on the graph, while shaking movements were correlated to anxiety and impatience. These results imply that the dimensions of affection structure and sub-properties of hand movements are closely connected with each other.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.571-577
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• 2019

This study examined the usability of express buses for wheelchair users to identify the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of wheelchair boarding systems. The usability of 11 manual wheelchair users and nine powered wheelchair users was evaluated using the following three scenarios: boarding the wheelchair accessible bus, moving inside, and alighting the bus. The results showed that 20 wheelchair users completed three scenarios, which was distributed between 0.33 and 1.36 in the difficulty rating scale of the efficiency. The task effort of the efficiency was measured from 8.36 to 11.78. The acceptability of the satisfaction was distributed between 1.00 and 2.00, and the system usability scale was measured in an acceptable boundary of the C grade at 70.7 points with manual wheelchair users and a B grade at 73.1 points with powered wheelchair users. This study has academic significance because it provides basic evidence for accessibility, securing the right to movement and research methods of public transportation for people with disabilities. To improve the quality level of usability in the future, more study with a larger number of research participants and various wheelchair types should be studied.