• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.305-313
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• 2016

Movements of the lower limb are important for normal walking and smooth oscillation of the center of gravity. The ankle rotations such as dorsi-flexion, plantar-flexion, inversion and eversion allows the foot to accommodate to ground during level ground walking. Current below knee (B/K) prostheses are used for replacing amputated ankle, and make it possible for amputees to walk again. However, most of amputees with B/K prostheses often experience a loss of terrain adaptability as well as stability because of limited ankle rotation. This study is focused on the development of multi-rotational prosthetic foot for lower limb amputee. Our prosthesis is possible for amputees to easily walk in level ground by rotating ankle joint in sagittal plane and adapt to the abnormal terrain with ankle rotation in coronal plane. The resistance of ankle joint in the direction of dorsi/plantar-flexion can be manually regulated by hydraulic damper with controllable nozzle. Furthermore, double layered rubber induce the prosthesis adapt to irregular ground by tilting itself in direction of eversion and inversion. The experimental results highlights the potential that our prosthesis induce a normal gait for below knee amputee.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.111-118
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• 2011

With increasing interest in health promotion and quality of life, growing attention has been focused on the beneficial effects of urban green area. However, very few evidence-based approaches have been conducted on the health-related benefits of urban greenery. Therefore, this study examined the health-related benefits of green areas using physiological and psychological indices to obtain evidence-based data on these benefits. Twenty male university students were selected as subjects. Data were collected when participants viewed landscapes in a green area or an urban area for fifteen minutes. This research was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of School of Medicine, Chungnam National University. Physiological data in the green area revealed significantly decreased heart rates, significantly increased high-frequency value of heart rate variability, an index of parasympathetic activity, and reduced salivary cortisol concentration, a stress hormone, compared to the urban area. Psychological tests showed the green area significantly reduced the negative mood state and psychological symptoms, and significantly increased the positive mood state. Our data provided evidence for the health-related benefits of green areas, and the findings of this study support that green areas can play a critical role in health promotion for urban residents, by positively affecting autonomic nervous and endocrinal activities.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.33-42
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• 2010

In this study, we have proposed a simple cardiorespiratory monitoring method based on displacements of human body which occurs due to periodic heartbeat and breathing. The proposed system consists of an aircushion, pressure sensing hardware and heartbeat and respiration signals extraction algorithm. The aircushion was used for unconstrained measurement of the respiration and heartbeats without a sensor attached on the subject's skin surface. The displacements of subject sitting on the aircushion cause small pressure variations. These variations are amplified and filtered with the pressure sensing hardware. Finally, heart rate and respiration rate are extracted by signal processing algorithm based on frequency domain filter. To evaluate the performance, extracted respiration and heart rate from proposed system were compared with conventional methods. The average sensitivity of respiration and heart rate are 98.67% and 99.24%, respectively. These results show the proposed method has advantages of installing and processing simplicity so as to be used easily in unconstrained respiration and heart rate monitoring in daily life.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.715-721
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• 2018

This study examined energy saving and elevating the worker's neuro energy (comfort, concentration, physical, and psychological stability) by compensating for the unpleasant tactile sensation to stimulate auditory and olfactory senses and reduce energy consumption. The experiment was conducted in an environment test room under the test conditions of temperature $25[^{\circ}C]$, relative humidity 50[RH%], illumination 1,000[lux] and air current speed 0.02[m/sec] by stimulating the auditory senses with a 1/f change in rhythm and the olfactory senses with an aroma scent. The experiment utilized the method of EEG, which evaluates human body's psychological status via tactile means, and the method of the vibra image, which evaluates the learning abilities, HRV and human body's psychological status via non-tactile means. The subjects were selected as eight university students (four males and four females) in their 20s, the type that have high relative ${\alpha}$(8~13[Hz]) activation in occipital lobe, which brings the highest level of mind stability and concentration, who had no difficulty in physical activities. The subjects' posture and physical activity was fixed to 1met - when the subjects are seated and relaxing in a comfortable environment - and their clothes condition was standardized as 0.7clo. As a result, the sentimental and psychological stability and concentration were the highest in the multisensory stimulation of jasmine scent and change rhythm of an a=1.106 sound source. In addition, under this condition, the relative $M{\alpha}$ and relative $M{\beta}$ increased by 70.49[%] and 89.72[%], respectively; the HRT decreased by 39.09[%]; and the fatigue and tension/anxiety decreased by 36.85[%] and 15.54[%], respectively.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.279-285
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• 2016

With the development of nanotechnology, the amount of nanomaterials increases and the problems of environment and the toxic property associated with it have become a social problem. But regulations and laws of nanomaterials have not yet been established. The purpose of this study is to utilize as the database of safety guidelines for research activities' workers associated with nanomaterials to conduct a behavior evaluation of aluminium oxide, which is most widely used in thirteen kinds of WPMN manufactured nanomaterials in the country. The experiment proceeds in the chamber reduced to 1/6 size of the actual laboratory, the test method was performed in NIOSH 0500. As the results of the study, the mass concentration was in inverse proportion to the particle size of the nanomaterials. And the mass concentration during the operation of ventilation equipment was reduced to about 1/8 times. In the future, it can be utilized as the database of safety guidelines for research activities' workers associated with nanomaterials. However, in order to increase the reliability of the study, the experiment of the mass concentration by particle size and Condensation Particle Counters will be needed additionally.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.25-33
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• 2018

In this study, the concentration of fine indoor dust and the size distribution of fine indoor dust were analyzed by measuring the dust generated during the cleaning process of an indoor office. We measured $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, and $PM_{1.0}$ and analyzed the size distributions of dust larger than $0.3{\mu}m$ in diameter during cleaning. The results showed that the concentration of $PM_{10}$ increased rapidly during cleaning, however $PM_{1.0}$ did not increase. Before cleaning with a broom, the fine dust concentration was about $50{\mu}g/m^3$, but increased to about $400{\mu}g/m^3$ as cleaning progressed. In the case of indoor cleaning with a vacuum cleaner, the concentration of $PM_{10}$ increased during the cleaning process and the increase of $PM_{2.5}$ was relatively small. $PM_{1.0}$ did not increase as in the case of cleaning the broom.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.726-732
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to develop a software program to diagnose and assess status of dietary intake obtained using 24-hour dietary recall method. This program consist of four functions. The first function is assessing tile general status of the body such as ideal body weight, obesity measure, activity expenditure energy and total energy requirement by the analysis of age, height, weight and the degree of activity. The second one is calculating the intake number of food classified by the food group and evaluating the status of food intake by comparing them with the number of standardized intake in recommended dietary allowances for Koreans,6th revision. Third one is calculating energy and nutrient intakes contributed by the food group in dietary intake and evaluating the status of dietary intake by comparing the nutrient intake with the recommended dietary allowance for Korean, especially calculating and evaluating the status of dietary fat intake. The fourth function is calculating and evaluating the status of nutrient intake and nutrients energy Percent contributed by three regular meals and at least one in-between-meal snack. The results are displayed as tabular forms and graphical forms on the computer screen.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.333-340
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• 2019

As the number of students in the multicultural background grows, the interest in their education is also increasing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of forest healing factors on the improvement of language ability and ego-resilience of students from multicultural families. We conducted an after-school forest healing program of ten male and ten female middle school students of a multicultural preparatory school located in ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$-dong in Cheongju, Chungnam Province. The experiment consisted of a total of 12 weekly one-hour (60 minutes) programs from April 12, 2018 to June 26, 2018. The forest healing program is an activity that uses the various environmental factors that exist in the forest to increase the immunity of the human body and restore physical and mental health. To determine the difference in ego-resilience before and after the program, we conducted a paired t-test and analyzed with the SPSS 18.0 program. The results showed that the ego-resilience significantly improved in all sub-factors including the positive thinking ability, problem-solving ability, intimacy ability, emotional adjustment ability, and autonomic behavior ability (p<.001). The descriptive statistics of the language ability showed the improvement in writing errors, pronunciation errors, sentence errors, tense errors, and errors in research and connection. We expect the results of this study can be used as the basic data to improve ego-resilience and language acquisition ability of middle-entry children and students from multicultural families.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.39 no.1 s.115
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• pp.110-118
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• 2006

The Namyang Stream in Hwaong polder was planned for several water uses including recreation, where people can contact the water and consume some amount during the recreational activity. A human health risk was assessed from exposure to E. coli in the Namyang Stream, which receives partially treated wastewater from watershed. The QUAL2E model was applied to simulate stream water quality, and this model was calibrated and verified with field monitoring data. The calibration result showed a high correlation coefficient of greater than 0.9. The mean concentration of E. coli in the Namyang Stream from the QUAL2E output was in the range of 5,000 ${\sim}$ 8,000 MPN 100 mL^{-1}$, which exceeded national and international guidelines. The Beta-Poisson was used to estimate the microbial risk of pathogens ingestion and the Monte-Carlo analysis (10,000 trials) was used to estimate the risk characterization of uncertainty. The Microbial risk assessment showed that the risk ranged from 7.9 ${\times}\;10^{-6}\;to\;9.4\;{\times}10^{-6}$. Based on USEPA guidelines, the range of $10^{-6}\;to\;10^{-8}$ was considered reasonable levels of risk for communicable disease transmission from environmental exposure, and the risk above $10^{-4}$ was considered to be in the danger of infection. Therefore, water quality of the Namyang Stream might not be in the danger of infection although it exceeded national and international guidelines. However, it was in the range of communicable disease transmission, and thorough wastewater collection and treatment at the source is recommended to secure safe recreation water quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.477-487
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• 2019

Objectives: Firefighters are known to be exposed to a variety of toxic substances, but little information is available on the exposure profile of firefighting activities. The aims of this study were to conduct exposure monitoring of toxic chemicals at fire scenes, to compare the concentrations of respective chemicals among firefighting tasks, and to assess the main factors influencing the concentrations of chemicals. Methods: Researchers performed sampling at firefighting scenes during four weeks in 2013. At the scene, we collected samples based on firefighters' own activities and examined the situation and scale of the accident. Collected samples were classified into three categories, including fire extinguishing and overhaul, and were analyzed in the laboratory according to respective analysis methods. Results: A total of fourteen fire activity events were surveyed: five fire extinguishing, six overhaul, and three fire investigations. Although no substance exceeded the ACGIH TLV, PAHs were detected in every sample. Naphthalene ranged from 0.24 to 279.13 mg/㎥ (median 49.6 mg/㎥) and benzo(a)pyrene was detected in one overhaul case at 10.85 ㎍/㎥. Benzene (0.01-12.2 ppm) was detected in every task and exceeded the ACGIH TLV. No significant difference in concentrations between tasks was shown. Conclusions: These results indicate that all firefighting tasks generated various hazardous combustion products, including possible carcinogens.