• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.69-83
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• 2013

This paper aims to determine the preference and use of electronic information and resources by blind/visually impaired users in the leading National Capital Region (NCR) libraries of India. Survey methodology has been used as the basic research tool for data collection with the help of questionnaires. The 125 in total users surveyed in all the five libraries were selected randomly on the basis of willingness of the users with experience of working in digital environments to participate in the survey. The survey results were tabulated and analyzed with descriptive statistics methods using Excel software and 'Stata version 11'. The findings reveal that ICT have a positive impact in the lives of people with disabilities as it helps them to work independently and increases the level of confidence among them. The Internet is the most preferred medium of access to information among the majority of blind/visually impaired users. The 'Complexity of content available on the net' is found as the major challenge faced during Internet use by blind users of NCR libraries. 'Audio books on CDs/DVDs and DAISY books' are the most preferred electronic resources among the majority of blind/visually impaired users. This study will help the library professionals and organizations/institutions serving people with disabilities to develop effective library services for blind/visually impaired users in the digital environment on the basis of findings on information usage behavior in the study.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 2016

Purpose: There are the number of color tactile walking surface indicators installed in Korea, because of indefinite regulation in blind and vision-impaired persons' tactile walking surface indicators. In case of yellow tactile walking surface indicators, it shows a deviation severe color. In this study, the researchers suggested color and brightness reference for helping blind and vision-impaired persons' walking through analyzing the color references of tactile walking surface indicators and the color luminance between tactile walking surface indicators and sidewalk currently used. Method: Reasonable luminance contrast criteria is suggested by examining ways of improving the recognition and recognition of objects according to color contrast visually impaired through literature review and analyzing standards of tactile walking surface indicators and the Europe, Japan and Australia of color and luminance contrast criteria. And by examining the color of the tactile walking surface indicators reported in Korea currently used to derive the problem presented by the luminance contrast in the reference and comparison. Finally, the visually impaired tactile walking surface indicators is set for color selection criteria for the recognition rate improves. Results: In order to improve the recognition rate to be tactile walking surface indicators of the contrast of the visually impaired and the environment than the color of the tactile walking surface indicators itself to secure always a certain level or more of brightness contrast values in the set of the color of the tactile walking surface indicators so important. Implication: In order to set the blind tactile walking surface indicators color recognition based on the verification of the real pedestrian based on the results presented in this paper it is required. It is to be understood as an element of the barrier free configuration for securing the walking pedestrian safety.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2015

Purpose : The current tactile walking surface indicators have not been easily accessible to blind and vision-impaired people due to unexpected variation of walking environment and walking behavior of transportation poor. Moreover, those indicators frequently cause the inconvenience to transportation users' walking. Thus, this study aims to investigate the improvement of tactile walking surface indicators, by comparing and analyzing findings from the relevant research. Results from this study contribute to suggest the better standard criteria of tactile walking surface indicators for transportation users, especially blind and vision-impaired people, the handicapped, the child and the elderly and weak, providing the secure and convenient circumstance for walking. Method : This study presents the problems about the standard criteria of tactile walking surface indicators via the examination of finding from the past studies. For example, we examine all standard criteria, focusing on shapes, colors and qualities of materials used for Tactile Walking Surface Indicators. Then, the present study suggests the improvement of standard, which apply to the current walking environment practically and reasonably. Results : To improve the current condition of tactile walking surface indicators, the analysis on international and domestic standard criteria need to be conducted. Findings from these analyses helps to suggest the better criteria for the interval between projecting points of tactile walking surface indicators, effective perceived range of walking road, and the brightness contrast between tactile walking surface indicators and finishing materials. Implication : The suggested standard criteria of tactile walking surface indicators need to be tested by transportation users, and the practical instructions of establishing tactile walking surface indicators should also be developed.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2016

Purpose: Since the end of the 1990s the question of detecting blind and vision-impaired persons' tactile walking surface indicators have been rasied, the study of detecting tactile walking surface indicators has been started in Japan, German, and Sweden. Through the study, Japan, German, Sweden, and international's standard was revised. The Korean standard of tactile walking surface indicators was revised in 2013, the remarkable point was missed. Therefore, this study suggested deriving a range of types and dimensions of tactile walking surface indicators reasonable, and presenting the design principles for the development of new tactile walking surface indicators though domestic and international literature review. Method: This study was proceeded by comparison analysis of results from various tactile walking surface indicators' literature review from Japan, German, and Sweden, the most suitable range of types and dimensions was abstracted. Then, the range of types and dimensions was compared to the international standards and international reference standard, the ground rules were confirmed to apply new tactile walking surface indicators design. Results: Rationally, the wide and diameter of projecting line and projecting point should be downsized in order to improve detecting blind and vision-impaired persons' tactile walking surface indicators. And with same purpose, the ratio of the wide and diameter of projecting line and projecting point should be decided. The design of the tactile walking surface indicators in addition to the size and spacing of the protrusions should be to reflect the common elements that have been suggested a number of standard criteria. Implication: In this study, the design principles was derived through test results and theoretical studies, and new tactile walking surface indicators would need to be validated in local user.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.2377-2398
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• 2023

In our daily lives, we engage in a variety of tasks that rely on our senses, such as seeing. Blindness is the absence of the sense of vision. According to the World Health Organization, 2.2 billion people worldwide suffer from various forms of vision impairment. Unfortunately, blind people face a variety of indoor and outdoor challenges on a daily basis, limiting their mobility and preventing them from engaging in other activities. Blind people are very vulnerable to a variety of hazards, including falls. Various barriers, such as stairs, can cause a fall. The Internet of Things (IoT) is used to track falls and send a warning message to the blind caretakers. One of the gaps in the previous works is that they were unable to differentiate between falls true and false. Treating false falls as true falls results in many false alarms being sent to the blind caretakers and thus, they may reject the IoT system. As a means of bridging this chasm, this paper proposes an intelligent shoe that is able to precisely distinguish between false and true falls based on three sensors, namely, the load scale sensor, the light sensor, and the Flex sensor. The proposed IoT system is tested in an indoor environment for various scenarios of falls using four models of machine learning. The results from our system showed an accuracy of 0.96%. Compared to the state-of-the-art, our system is simpler and more accurate since it avoids sending false alarms to the blind caretakers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.54
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• pp.149-176
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of community integration of visually impaired people who have the limitation of mobility in comparison with another disabled and to find factors affecting community integration. The data were obtained through telephone interview with visually impaired people. The final sample was consisted of 1,004 respondents. The data were analyzed using statistical techniques such as crosstabulation, t-test, and hierarchical regression. In this study, the factors affecting community integration was divided into four dimensions : the attribution to disability, physical functioning, psychology and social support system. The major findings of this study were as follows: First, the factors affecting community integration of visually impaired people were age, education, economic status, social support, information support and participation of rehabilitation service. Second, the factors affecting community integration of the low vision and the blind are the limitation of daily activities and social support. But the factors affecting community integration of the blind are participation of education for braille and that of the low vision are information support and participation of rehabilitation service. Finally, the person losing eyesight since school age were the more limitation of daily activities than the person losing eyesight in babyhood. The factors affect community integration of the former are social support, information support, participation of education for braille, and rehabilitation service. The current findings suggest that intervention and policy aimed at improving social support system and formal services such as education, rehabilitation services should be considered by rehabilitation professionals and policy makers.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 2020

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, "Status of Registered Persons with Disabilities", the number of people with disabilities is 2,494,460 as of 2015. The lowest rates of children with disabilities were intellectual disabilities (23%) and mental disorders (33.3%). The highest rates of screening were blindness (97%), heart failure (94.4%), and hearing impairment (92.7%). 65.2% of visually impaired people who have already had a disability at the time of marriage, and the remaining 34.8% can be thought to be the cause of high incidence of disability after marriage. 'SID (Seed in the Dark)' project was designed to recapture the visually impaired parent's desire for attachment and the space difficulties of the blind who want to be a normal parent to their children through a visual impairment of a father with 7-year-old daughter. Using Gear VR(Virtual Reality), the general public was able to feel the surroundings as if they had no vision and focused on the hearing. Especially, We expressed the sound wave visually and added the hilarious game element which grasps the terrain of the maze by sound wave like a 'blind person who perceives the surroundings by sound' and catches up with daughter. People with disabilities who are far from mental illness often have a form of family with children. The fact that the rate of childbirth is high means that there is relatively little problem in daily life. It is wondered that the rate of blindness among the visually impaired, which accounts for 10% of the total disabled, is the highest at 97%. This is because, in the case of the visually impaired, the obstacle is often caused by aging, accidents, or diseases due to inherited causes rather than the visual disorder. In particular, However, the fact that there is an obstacle in vision that accounts for 83% of the body's sensory organs causes other difficulties in the nursing process of children who are non-disabled. Parents do not know the face of child when their visual impairment is severe. Parents are extremely anxious about worry that they will be lost or abducted if their children are not by their side. And that the child recognizes the disability of his or her parents other than the other parents easily and takes it as a deficiency. Since visually impaired parents are mentally mature parents with non-disabled people, they may want their children not to feel deprived of their disability. The number of people with visual impairments has been increasing since 2001, and people with impairments often become disabled. In addition, there is much research on the problem of nondisabled parents who have children with disabilities, while there is relatively little interest and research on the problem of nondisabled child rearing of parents with disabilities.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.399-408
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• 2015

Objective. There were two objectives of the study, first was to identify the barriers as perceived by the patients and providers to access the low vision services and second was to identify the challenges faced by the main providers. Study design. Structured questionnaire based interviews of patients and providers Methodology. To find out the barriers to access of low vision services, the interviews based on structured questionnaire were conducted for two patient groups. The first group consisted of 97 visually impaired individuals attending the department of low vision services at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi while the second group included 56 visually impaired individuals attending the four rehabilitation centers/schools for the blind in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. To identify the barriers as perceived by the main providers of low vision services and challenges faced by them the interviews based on structured questionnaire were conducted for 19 low vision service providers. Results. From patients point of view, major barrier to low vision services identified was inability to visit hospital /rehabilitation center alone - 29.8% in hospital group and 33.9% in rehabilitation centers group, while the lack of social support, lack of family support, cost of travelling, long distance, afford ability, hesitation in using devices and lack of satisfaction were other important barriers identified. From providers' point of view, major barrier to uptake of services was the need for repeated follow-ups. Optometrists were the main provider of low vision services contributing to 47.4% of the providers. The major challenge faced by the providers was motivation of patients to use low vision devices. Conclusion. The major barrier to low vision services according to the patients is inability to visit the hospital alone, while according to providers, it is the need for repeated follow up which proves major barrier towards uptake of services. The motivation is the major challenge faced by providers, majority of which are optometrists.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2015

Purpose : The guidelines of establishing convenience facilities for the handicapped have not consistently been provided to the identical criteria in walking facilities. Thus, transportation poor had difficulties in walking environment. Method : This study aims to suggest the practical direction of guidelines of establishing tactile walking surface indicators. To do this, this study examines the problems of the current guidelines for establishing facilities, and then analyzes international criteria, with comparing criteria used in German. Therefore, findings from those analyses can provide the secure and convenient environment for walking to transportation users, in particular blind and vision-impaired people, the handicapped, the child, and the elderly and the weak. Results : For the improvement of tactile walking surface indicators, the clear criteria of establishing tactile walking surface indicators is proposed, considering the characteristics of walking environment. Then, the sample items corresponding to the various situations need to be exemplified. To provide more secure environment walking for transportation poor, the establishing criteria partially adopted ideas from Universal Design also need to be developed. Implication : The proposed detail drawing of tactile walking surface indicators need to be tested by transportation users due to high safety in walking circumstance, and also the guidelines of continuously maintaining tactile walking surface indicators also needs to be studied.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2017

The Internet of Things can offer disabled people the assistance and support, which is essential to achieve a good quality of life. The visually impaired people need assistance in finding locations, detecting obstacles on the way, and getting directions while moving around to reach their destination. Based on this persistent need, this paper proposes a navigation system for blind people using Internet of Things. The technologies used in our proposed system are: a smart cane containing an RFID reader and an ultrasonic sensor, a smart phone and Internet. The sensed data from the ultrasonic sensor for detecting obstacle is converted to International Standard format from ISO/IEC 23005-5 (MPEG-V Part 5). The system detects the blind person's location using the RFID tags implemented on the way. The system uses voice message in the smart phone to communicate with the blind person to lead him to his destination. The proposed system has been tested to navigate successfully in the campus.