• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.186-200
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• 2023

This study aims to improve the usability of the white cane, which is walking equipment that most local visually impaired people use and carry when going out, and to contribute to the prevention of safety accidents and the walking rights of visually impaired people by providing improvement and resolution measures for the problems identified. Also, this study is a study on the visually impaired, primarily targeting the 1st to 2nd degree visually impaired people, who cannot go out on their own without walking equipment such as a white cane, corresponding to 20% among approximately 250,000 blind and low vision people in the Korean population. In the study process, the concept has been developed from the user's point of view in order that the white cane becomes a real help in the walking step of the visually impaired and the improvement of usability of the white cane, the main walking equipment for the visually impaired, are done by problem identification through the Double Diamond Model of Design Thinking (Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test (verify)). As a result of the investigation in the process of Empathy, a total of five issues was synthesized, including an increase in the proportion of the visually impaired people, an insufficient workforce situation to help all the visually impaired, an improvement and advancement of assistive devices essential for the visually impaired, problems of damage, illegal occupation, demolition, maintenance about braille blocks, making braille block paradigms for the visually impaired and for everyone. In Ideate and Prototype steps, situations derived from brainstorming were grouped and the relationship were made through the KJ method, and specific situations and major causes were organized to establish the direction of the concept. The derived solutions and major functions are defined in four categories, and representative situations requiring solutions and major functions are organized into two user scenarios. Ideas were visualized by arranging the virtual Persona and Customer Journey Map according to the situation and producing a prototype through 3D modeling. Finally, in the evaluation, the final concept derived is a device such a smart cane for guidance for the visually impaired as ① a smart cane emphasizing portability + ② compatibility with other electronic devices + ③ a product with safety and convenience.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.54-63
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• 2014

Traffic accident frequency and severity level in Korea are known to be very serious. Especially the number of pedestrian fatalities was much worse and 1.6 time higher than the OECD average. According to the National Police Agency, the flash signals are reported to have many safety benefits as well as travel time reduction, which is opposed to the foreign studies. With this background of expanding the flash signal, this research aims to investigate the overall impact of the flash signal operation on safety, investigating and comparing the accident occurrence on the flash signal and the full signal intersections. For doing this accident prediction models for both flash and full signal intersections were estimated using independent variables (geometric features and traffic volume) and 3-year (2011-2013) accident data collected in Seoul. Considering the rare and random nature of accident occurrence and overdispersion (variance > mean) of the data, the negative binomial regression model was applied. As a result, installing wider crosswalk and increasing the number of pedestrian push buttons seemed to increase the safety of the flash signal intersections. In addition, the result showed that the average accident occurrence at the flash signal intersections was higher than at the full signal-operated intersections, 9% higher with everything else the same.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to develop a portable and convenient closed-loop contrel type electrical stimulator for patients with foot drop. This system restores walking movement as well as prevents from atrophy or necrosis of lower limb muscles and increases blood circulation in hemiplegic patients caused by traffic accident, industrial disaster or stoke. This system detects the changes of the ankle joint angle during walking, and then controls the stimulus intensity automatically to maintain the programmed level of the ankle joint angle. Also, this automatic system controls the stimulus intensity which is affected by increased electrode impedance resulting from long time use. The system detects the joint angle by an optical sensor and includes modified PID control which adjusts the stimulus intensity if the joint angle deviates from the preset value. Stimulus parameters are 30~80 volt, 40 Hz, and 0.2 ms. The system was applied to five hemiplegic patients for 42 days. Duration of stimulation was 15 min/day for the first week and then the duration was gradually increased to 30, 60, 90 and 120 min/day. The muscle force was increased up to 29.7%, muscle fatigue was decreased compared with the level before stimulation and the pattern of locomotion was improved. These results suggest that the electrical stimulator with closed-loop control type is more convenient and effective in restoration of locomotion of patients with foot drop than open-loop system.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2022

Recently, the bio-healthcare market is enlarging worldwide due to various reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them, biometric measurement and analysis technology are expected to bring about future technological innovation and socio-economic ripple effect. Existing systems require a large-capacity battery to drive signal processing, wireless transmission part, and an operating system in the process. However, due to the limitation of the battery capacity, it causes a spatio-temporal limitation on the use of the device. This limitation can act as a cause for the disconnection of data required for the user's health care monitoring, so it is one of the major obstacles of the health care device. In this study, we report the concept of a standalone healthcare monitoring module, which is based on both triboelectric effects and electromagnetic effects, by converting biomechanical energy into suitable electric energy. The proposed system can be operated independently without an external power source. In particular, the wireless foot pressure measurement monitoring system, which is rationally designed triboelectric sensor (TES), can recognize the user's walking habits through foot pressure measurement. By applying the triboelectric effects to the contact-separation behavior that occurs during walking, an effective foot pressure sensor was made, the performance of the sensor was verified through an electrical output signal according to the pressure, and its dynamic behavior is measured through a signal processing circuit using a capacitor. In addition, the biomechanical energy dissipated during walking is harvested as electrical energy by using the electromagnetic induction effect to be used as a power source for wireless transmission and signal processing. Therefore, the proposed system has a great potential to reduce the inconvenience of charging caused by limited battery capacity and to overcome the problem of data disconnection.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.1D
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• pp.91-98
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• 2011

Recently, the usage of elastic paving using EPDM Chip instead of pedestrian sidewalk blocks or permeable concrete used mostly for pedestrian walk, trails and in parks has been increassed as it can absorb impact during walking and produce wide range of colors and designs. However, the properties of EPDM Chip including elasticity and durability are decreased when exposed to ultraviolet ray and scenic paving functions through various colors are lowered due to the yellowing phenomenon. In this study, ultraviolet ray accelerated weathering test has been conducted to analyze the color changes in EPDM Chip and polyurethane resin, which are the main ingredients of elastic paving, when exposed to ultraviolet ray. The color differences are quantitatively analyzed through the color value coordination of the colored space by using the color difference scheme. The experimental results show that the color changes in BL polyurethane resin which is used most frequently at present was larger than that of EPDM Chip. Moreover, the total color difference, ${\Delta}E$, of BC polyurethane resin are 3.162 on the $14^{th}$ day of commencement of acceleration, which is 6 times greater color change resistance against ultraviolet ray than that of BL polyurethane resin with total color difference of 20.639. Therefore, the usage of BC polyurethane resin, which is manufactured to have chain-type molecular structure by using the isocyanate as the HMDI at the time of producing polymer, as binder in elastic paving with EPDM Chip is found to be a highly efficient method of restraining the color changes due to the ultraviolet ray.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.51-51
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• 2017

정식기는 주로 노외에서 사용되므로 사용자에 따라 극심한 작업환경 하에 놓일 수 있다. 사용 중 정식기 호퍼에 토양이나 자갈, 돌 등에 의해 반복적인 하중이 가해지거나 순간적인 충격하중이 가해져 취약부가 파손될 가능성이 있으므로, 토양과 직접 맞닿는 삽날부의 경우 내구성을 고려한 설계/제작이 필수적이다. 본 연구에서는 보행형 반자동 정식기 개발에서 고추묘와 같은 초장이 긴 작물의 묘를 효과적으로 이식할 수 있도록 개선된 삽날에 대해 기존 삽날과 강도 및 강성을 비교하고, 그 결과가 삽날의 내구성에 미칠 영향에 대하여 고찰하였다. 실험에는 양날 개폐 방식의 기존 및 개선삽날 2종이 사용되었으며, 각각 3회씩 정적 강도를 평가하였다. 실제 정식기 사용시 하중이 가해지는 방향은 삽날에 수직한 방향의 압축하중으로 이를 모사하여 일정변위 속도로 삽날에 하중을 가하였으며, 시험 진행시 DAQ 시스템을 통해 실시간으로 하중 및 변위 데이터를 저장하여 시험 종료 후 해당 데이터를 이용하여 $P-{\delta}$ 선도를 도출하였다. 시험 결과 기존삽날의 평균 최대하중이 개선삽날에 비해 높은 것으로 나타났으며, 최대 하중이 나타나는 지점의 변위의 경우, 기존삽날이 개선삽날에 비해 짧게 나타났다. 정적 강도측면에서 개선삽날이 기존삽날에 비해 최대 강도가 낮은 것으로 판단할 수 있으나, 실제 호퍼의 내구성에 영향을 줄 수 있는 주요 인자는 반복적으로 가해지는 비교적 낮은 수준의 충격하중으로 볼 수 있다. 이러한 관점에서 볼 때 일정 수준 이상의 강도를 가지면서, 기존삽날에 비해 낮은 강성을 가지는 개선삽날이 변형을 통한 충격에너지 흡수로 오히려 삽날 조립체(호퍼)의 내구성 측면에서 유리할 수 있다. 따라서 향후에는 기존 및 개선삽날을 적용한 호퍼에 대해 피로시험을 수행하여 관련 내용을 실험적으로 검증하고자 한다.

• Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.177-192
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• 2014

The factors that affect on the ratio of monthly rent to total rents in commercial real estate lease contract was empirically investigated. The theoretical basis for the research was location theory, retail trade-area analysis, bid rent, agglomeration theory, and demand externality theory. The data used in this study included information on goodwills per 3.3 square meters, deposit money per 3.3 square meters, retail rents per 3.3 square meters, and passing pedestrians' characteristics in 96 retail trade areas in South korea. As the results, using the hedonic price functions and multi-regression analysis, the independent variables does affect the ratio of monthly rent to total rents in the each retail trade area were goodwills per 3.3 square meters, deposit money per 3.3 square meters, retail rents per 3.3 square meters, and the number of Small Wholesale Retail Trade Firms at the level of nation. also, the results show goodwills per 3.3 square meters and the number of Small Wholesale Retail Trade Firms are important factors in determining the ratio of monthly rent to total rents in commercial real estate lease contract in seoul. In summary, not only the economic conditions in the retail trade area but also the passing pedestrian count should be considered to determine the ratio of monthly rent to total rents in commercial real estate lease contract.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.304-304
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• 2011

최근 도시화에 따른 인구증가와 더불어 도로포장 등 불투수면적의 증가로 인하여 우기시 빗물 침투가 차단되어 도심의 지하수위가 저하되며 토양의 건토화, 열섬현상 등의 문제가 발생하게 되었다. 이러한 문제점에 착안하여 본 연구에서는 투수효과를 최대한 고려할 수 있는 고강도의 친환경 콘크리트 블록(에크스톤 바이오 블록; ECOSTONE-BIO BLOCK)을 개발하였으며 기존 콘크리트 블록의 자연적 빗물침투 억제의 문제점을 일부 개선하였다. 본 블록은 캡슐공법을 사용하여, 공극률은 높이면서(투수성 향상), 강도와 내구성이 유지됨은 물론 캡슐안에 황토성분을 첨가하여, 바이오적인 기능 및 재생골재를 이용한 친환경적 제품으로 투수성, 내구성, 기능성을 극대화 시켰다. 또한 제품표면은 천연 백색돌맹이, 흑색돌맹이의 배합으로 자연석재 느낌을 구현하였으며, 쇼트블라스트 및 커링 표면공정으로 미끄럼저항지수를 조절할 수 있어, 기존 콘크리트 보도블록에 비해 투수율, 내구성, 기능성, 안전성이 우수하여, 안전한 보행환경이 가능한 것으로 분석되었다. 마지막으로, 주변 환경과 잘 어울리도록 디자인된 바이오기능성 친환경 블록으로 도심지역 시공시 투수효과에 따른 지하수고갈방지 및 침수피해에 도움을 주리라 사료된다.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.543-563
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• 2020

As people age and their physical functions are declined, they stay longer in the home, thus being more affected by the home environment. Many studies have shown the association between the home environment and health. However, little is known about the effect of the home environment on disability and depression of older people with functional limitation. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the moderating effect of the home environment on the pathway between walking limitation and instrumental activity of daily living(IADL) disability, and the relationship between IADL disability and depression. We performed logistic regression and multiple linear regression analyses with data on 3,027 participants from the 2018 Seoul Aging Survey. As results, first, older people who lived home with poor conditions showed a higher risk of walking limitation(OR=1.487, 95% CI: 1.250 - 1.770), IADL disability(OR=1.594, 95% CI: 1.303 - 1.949), and depression(OR=1.943, 95% CI: 1.553 - 2.430). Second, the home environment moderated the relationship between walking limitation and IADL disability. Older people with walking limitation who lived in poor housing condition experienced more IADL disability than others. Third, after controlling for walking limitation, the home environment had significant moderating effect on the relationship between IADL disability and depression. Elderly with IADL disability living in poor home experienced higher risk of depression. Based on these results, the study suggests the necessity of home modification intervention targeting functional limitation of older adults as strategy for preventing disability and depression, and enabling aging in place.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.75-83
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• 2007

A model based approach of tracking the limbs of a walking human subject is proposed in this paper. The tracking process begins by building a data base composed of conditional probabilities of motions between the limbs of a walking subject. With a suitable amount of video footage from various human subjects included in the database, a probabilistic model characterizing the relationships between motions of limbs is developed. The motion tracking of a test subject begins with identifying and tracking limbs from the surveillance video image using the edge and silhouette detection methods. When occlusion occurs in any of the limbs being tracked, the approach uses the probabilistic motion model in conjunction with the minimum cost based edge and silhouette tracking model to determine the motion of the limb occluded in the image. The method has shown promising results of tracking occluded limbs in the validation tests.