• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the two different types of chairs on trapezius muscle activation during dictation tasks. Seventeen university students, each of whom were within ${\pm}1$ standard deviation of the mean Korean standard body size, voluntarily participated in this study. Surface electromyography was used to collect electrical signals from both the upper and lower trapezius muscles. Amplitude Probability Distribution Function (APDF) was performed to analyze the muscle activity. The findings of this study were 1) The backrest-point height of the auditorium chair and the height, length and width of the connected desk were shorter than what was suggested by the KS. Another difference was that the auditorium chair had a bigger angle of the backrest compared to the classroom chair. 2) Regarding within-subject effect the sole statistically significant difference was found between activation of the upper trapezius muscle. The upper trapezius muscle's %RVC in the APDF 10th-50th-90th percentile was statistically higher for participants sitting in the auditorium chair than for participants sitting in the classroom chair (p<.05). 3) There was an interaction effect between the 'two chair-types' and the 'two muscle-sides' in the APDF 10th-50th percentile (p<.05). 4) There was an interaction effect between the 'two chair-types' and the 'three gaze-direction' in the APDF 90th percentile (p<.05). The findings of this study indicated that maintaining a writing posture for a prolonged period of time in an auditorium chair significantly increased the left upper trapezius muscle activation compared to a classroom chair.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.940-947
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• 2015

A Sitting posture is a very important issue for moderns who is mostly sedentary. Also, a wrong sitting posture causes back-pain and spinal disease. Many researchers have been proposed numerous approaches that classifying and monitoring for a sitting posture. In this paper, we proposed a real-time sitting posture monitoring system that was developed to measure pressure distribution in the human body. The proposed system consists of a pressure sensing module (six pressure sensors), data acquisition and processing module, a communication module and a display module for an individual sitting posture monitoring. The developed monitoring system can classify into five sitting postures, such as a correct sitting, sitting on forward inclination, leaning back sitting, sitting with a right leg crossed and a left leg crossed. In addition, when a user deviates from the correct posture, an alarm function is activated. We selected two kinds of chairs, one is rigid material and fixed form, the other one is a soft material and can adjust the height of a chair. In the experiments, we observed appearance changes for subjects in consequence of a comparison between before the correction of posture and after the correction of posture when using the proposed system. The data from twenty four subjects has been classified with a proposed classifier, achieving an average accuracy of 83.85%, 94.56% when the rigid chair and the soft chair, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.226-232
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• 2015

The aging of Korea is rapidly advancing in an unprecedented rate in the world. Indoor and outdoor safety accidents involving the elderly frequently occur, with elderly population increasing. Because the physical strength of elderly is decreased, it is necessary to develop devices that aid the everyday life of the elderly to prevent safety accidents. Among many activities, the motions of standing from and sitting on a chair require much physical strength from particular body parts, which causes an overload for particular body parts. To the elderly the repeating motion of standing from and sitting down on a chair is burdensome, because they do not have enough physical strength compare to young persons. As a result the elderly could be injured or falling during standing or sitting. Therefore, the development of a lift chair that considers the problems mentioned above is necessary to prevent the safety accidents of the elderly. The study designed a non-motorized lift chair that comfortably aids the standing and sitting down motion for the use of the elderly by reflecting the anthropometric data of the Korean elderly over 65 years old. Also the design was implemented to smoothly aid the standing motion by considering the knee angle of the elderly when standing. Because the regained strength to stand from a chair is depend on the knee angle. Unlike existing lift devices, this device utilizes a tilting mechanism that does not use electric power so that the product could be composed inexpensively than existing chairs released in the market.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.415-427
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the thermoregulatory responses to postures under different environmental conditions and to obtain the basal information for standard clothing weight, indoor climates, and working condition. Two adult female (22.5yrs, 46kg) were participated in this study. The experimental conditions were divided into three groups ; 1) comfort($27{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, $60{\pm}10%$), 2) hot($34{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, $60{\pm}10%$), and 3) cold($21{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, $50{\pm}10%$) condition. The postures performed were as follows; standing, sitting on the chair, sitting on the floor, and supine on the floor. At each condition, subjective sensations, 12 points skin temperature, rectal temperature, total and local sweat rate, pulse rates, blood pressure, skin blood flow rate were measured. The results were as follows : 1. Rectal temperature was high significant among groups in order of supine, sitting on the floor, sitting on the chair, standing posture(p<0.01). 2. Skin temperature was high in part of contact with the surface of the floor or wall and the effect of posture was greater in peripheral temperature than torso temperature. Sitting on the chair and sitting on the floor posture showed higher peripheral temperature than standing and supine posture. And peripheral temperature was lower in supine posture than any other postures. 3. Total and local sweat rate were decreased in order of standing, sitting on the chair, sitting on the floor, supine posture. 4. Pulse rate and disastolic blood pressure were higher in standing posture than supine posture, and there was significant difference between two postures(p<0.001). 5. Blood flow rate of thigh was high in sitting on the chair and sitting on the floor posture and low in standing posture. Blood flow rate of leg was low in standing posture significantly(p<0.01). 6. In comfort and hot condition, temperature sensation and comfort sensation were higher in standing posture and lower in supine posture than any other postures. In cold condition, temperature sensation was lower and comfort sensation was higher in standing and supine posture than any other postures. And supine posture was appeared positive in hot condition and negative in cold condition. From this study, we confirmed the effects of posture on human thermoregulatory responses. Results indicate that even under same conditions and clothing weight, the insulation of clothing will be different to postures.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of the types of seat surface (static or dynamic seat surface) on the pulmonary functions during prolonged sitting. Methods: Thirty-four participants (20 males and 14 females) were recruited, and distributed randomly into dynamic prolonged sitting (DPS, n=17) and static prolonged sitting (SPS, n=17) groups. The DPS group was seated on a chair with a dynamic air cushion, and the SPS group was seated on a chair without a dynamic air cushion. The pulmonary function was assessed before sitting, and after participants had been seated for one hour. The pulmonary function [forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and Peak expiratory flow (PEF)] was measured using a spirometer. Results: Statistical analyses revealed significant differences in the time x group interactions of FVC, FEV1, PEF, and FEV1/FVC. The DPS group were significantly different in FVC, FEV1, PEF, and FEV1/FVC after prolonged sitting for one hour, compared to the SPS group (p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings suggest that dynamic sitting can prevent a decrease in the physiological function, such as pulmonary functions, rather than static sitting during prolonged sitting.

• Journal of architectural history
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.83-98
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• 2012

The starting point of this study is the concerning of simple behavioral pattern that whoever enters the inner space with taking off his shoes should go out from the position where he laid his shoes. The using of Ondol (floor heating room) and Maru (lifted wood floor) had changed the architectural space from chair-sitting to floor-sitting space, and it also made the behavior of taking off the shoes at the entrance of building and stepping on the lifted floor. This simple behavior has possibility to make lots of changes to the culture of architectural design. With this noticeable point, this paper is talking about the cultural feature of Korean traditional architecture, especially about the influence of tanking off and putting on shoes. The matter of shoes has changed diverse aspects of building and layout planning. It maximized the difference between front and rear part of building and characterized the lateral extension of Korean traditional house. The ritual space also had evolved from chair-sitting to floor-sitting space according to the type of ritual behavioral pattern. The change on the single building level had influenced on the layout planning of architectural complex. For examples, the parallel layout of ChangDeok-gung palace and the long sequential process to the main pavilion of Buddhist temple are the result of the matter of shoes. And NuGak(樓閣), the double-storied pavilion, on the axis of entering sequence's node is one of the unique planning elements that makes possible to go through the building without taking off the shoes and also makes upper level space for staying. In short, Korean traditional architecture that has the chair-sitting spatial origin of the East Asian cultural sphere has pursued new architectural issues and planning methods according to evolution to the floor-sitting culture.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2023

Objective: The purpose of this was to find out the muscle activity of the quadriceps femoris by gender when sitting on a chair while performing stairs gait (US; Up-stairs, DS; Down-stairs). Method: 13 male subjects (age: 22.00 ± 1.68 yrs, height: 174.85 ± 6.10 cm, weight: 68.15 ± 9.83 kg) and 15 female subjects (age: 21.17 ± 1.58 yrs, height: 168.20 ± 5.55 cm, weight: 55.73 ± 6.94 kg) participated in this study. The study used wireless three channel EMG. Results: In this study, there was no gender difference in quadriceps femoris activity during the US and DS periods, and there was no significant difference between the male group before and after postural maintenance during the US and DS periods. The quadriceps muscle of the female group also did not show a significant difference before and after US sitting. However, the vastus medialis muscle activity during DS in the female group was significantly lower after application than before application of maintaining a sitting posture (p<.05). There was no interaction effect between the 15-minute sitting position application and gender. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that sitting in a chair affects the transient functioning of the quadriceps muscle in women. Therefore, emphasize the need for active rest when sitting in a chair for long periods of time.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2014

Objective: This study aims to analyze the factors that affect the ability to maintain dynamic sitting balance (DSB), biomechanical characteristics, and physical characteristics in spinal cord injuries (SCI) patients. Background: Virtual ski training systems, ski equipment, and training protocols for disabled skiers are being studied to spread awareness. However, few studies have been reported on the sitting balance ability associated with chair mono skiing. Method: A dynamic sitting balance border system was built to investigate the ability to maintain dynamic sitting balance in SCI patients. Trunk muscle activity was evaluated by electromyogram while conducting dynamic sitting balance tests. The trunk muscle strength was tested with a portable handheld dynamometer. Physical activity scores were measured with the physical activity recall assessment. Results: There were high levels of correlation between the ability to maintain DSB and trunk flexor strength, extensor strength, rotator strength, and physical activity score. However, height, weight, and injury level in SCI patients were not correlated with the ability to maintain DSB. Additionally, strong negative correlations were found between muscle activities of the external oblique and lumbar erector spinae muscles and the ability to perform the backward tilt test. Trunk extensor muscle activity during the ball lifting test was significantly higher than in other tests. Conclusion: The results indicate that improving trunk muscle strength and physical activity can increase the ability to maintain DSB. Application: The findings of a close relationship between trunk strength, physical activity, and the ability to maintain DSB need to be reflected in the chair mono ski training program.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.945-946
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• 2010

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.151-159
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• 2011

This study is to suggest versatile chair designs that are organically shaped to take individual orientation. This study intends to provide design method to ensure the face of the chair that contacts the body of its user is transformed flexibly to support the body. The movement of human body is not just a behavior but the ways and tools that reflexively express against external stimuli that are sensed and identified by the person. The versatile chair whose users' sitting position is fixed is made by covering the lump form with a piece of cloth ensuring that the content is firmly fixed and by placing the beads-woven wood fabric according to the shape. And then, it is covered with the external cover. The proposed versatile chair designs assume specific forms as follows: First, it is a versatile chair whose user's sitting position can fix. The organically-shaped form that can accept varying postures is made as a mass, which changes into different shapes when human body touches the form so that users can lie down or sit. Due to such transformation, body posture is determined and individual differences in shape changing are all acceptable. Second, it is a versatile chair that reflects the user's position in a fixed chair, where a cloth-wrapper feature is applied to the form a sifit wrapped postures so that a variety of body postures can be accepted. Finally, a versatile chair that reflects the user's position by changing the shape of is covered with forms so that it will be transformed and used in accordance with situations and chair shapes and reflect multiple shapes including round or square ones.