• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.259-267
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• 2021

Recently, the market for personal health care and medical devices based on Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE) has grown rapidly. BLE is being used in various medical data communication devices based on low power consumption and universal compatibility. However, since data errors occurring in the transmission of medical data can lead to medical accidents, it is necessary to analyze the causes of errors and study methods to reduce data error. In this paper, the minimum communication speed to be used in medical devices was set to at least 800 byte/sec based on the wireless electrocardiography regulations of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. And the data loss rate was tested when data was transmitted at a speed higher than 800 byte/sec. The factors that cause communication data error were classified, and the relationship between each factor and the data error rate was analyzed through experiments. When there were two or more activated peripherals connected to the central, data error occurred due to channel hopping and bottleneck, and the data error rate increased in proportion to the communication distance and the number of activated peripherals. Through this experiment, when the BLE is used in a medical device that intermittently transmits biosignal data, the risk of a medical accident is predicted to be low if the number of peripherals is 3 or less. But, it was determined that BLE would not be suitable for the development of a biosignal measuring device that must be continuously transmitted in real time, such as an electrocardiogram.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.190-204
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• 2022

Background: In Korea, the population is rapidly aging, and the types of households for the elderly are also diversifying. The self-rated health of the elderly is a valuable health indicator that can comprehensively represent the overall quality of life along with physical, mental, and functional health. On the other hand, studies on the association between household type and self-rated health of the elderly are still insufficient. Thus, this study analyzed the association between household type and self-rated health by gender in Korean older adults. Methods: Using data from the analysis of the National Survey of Older Koreans 2017, 10,299 elderly people aged 65 and over were targeted. For the accuracy of the analysis data, 9,910 people were selected as the study sample by excluding proxy responses, those diagnosed with dementia, and non-response. And technical analysis, univariate analysis using the Rao-Scott chi-square test, and logical regression analysis involving survey characteristics were conducted by gender. Results: According to the adjusted model with all variables, in both men and women, the odds ratio of self-rated health 'bad' in 'couple (with ill spouse)' was significantly higher than 'couple (with spouse)'. It was 2.54 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.05-3.15) for men and 2.11 (95% CI, 1.70-2.62) for women. In addition, the odds ratio of self-rated health 'bad' in 'living with adult children' was 1.43 (95% CI, 1.09-1.87) for men and 1.42 (95% CI, 1.15-1.75) for women, which was more significant in women than men. Conclusion: This study states that there is an association between gender, household type, and self-rated health of the elderly, and the health of a spouse and cohabitation with children have a significant effect on self-rated health. As a result, in order to improve the health status of the elderly, health promotion and health care policies involving the characteristics of the elderly's gender and household type are needed.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.23-36
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• 2022

Objectives : This study aimed to provide basic data on intervention strategies that occupational therapists can access by systematically analyzing the intervention and effectiveness for youth with disabilities. Methods : The RISS, PubMed, and Web of Science databases were used to search for papers published between 2006 and 2021. The keywords were "Disability AND Adolescents OR Young adult AND Transition education OR Transition program". Seven papers were selected for analysis, and the full text was reviewed. The keywords and national relations were analyzed and visualized using the WoS (Web of Science) and VOSviewer programs. Results : The participants were classified into five types (ASD or ADHD, ID, DD, and physical disability). The areas used for the intervention were mixed into three categories: occupation (academic), self-management (time), and interaction (personal relations and communication). Sociality and adaptation, quality of life, and at least one of the three categories of daily life activities showed significant improvement. Conclusions : This study can be used as basic data to expand the area where only OTs can contribute while grasping the research trend of the conversion program and presenting the direction of exchange with various experts by organizing the application and its effects.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2022

Purpose: The study aims to identify the theme list and priority criteria of patient safety theme reports in South Korea. Methods: The survey was conducted twice, and the importance of each criterion and theme was measured on a nine-point scale using the Delphi technique by a panel of 19 patient safety experts. The criteria included severity, universality, preventability, and organizational-social impact. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median, and interval quartile range were used to analyze the data. Results: The parameters were assigned a weighted average of 35% for severity, 20% for universality, 30% for preventability, and 15% for organizational-social impact, respectively. The final top three rankings were surgery safety, blood transfusion safety, and medication safety. In addition to expert opinion, for the theme that is selected based on the priority ranking, one to five sub-topics can be derived from the theme based on the priority ranking, societal demands, or the yearly priority list of patient safety incidents. Conclusion: It is recommended that the official patient safety center distribute the report in the form of a summary that can be utilized nationwide at medical institutions, government institutions, and other places. Updates, as well as accumulated theme reports, will serve as the baseline data for the proposal of the system and for the policy designed to implement and improve institutions' safety practices as a standard of domestic patient safety practice guidelines.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2022

An electrocardiogram(ECG) is a recoding of electrical signals of the heart's cyclic activity and an important body information for diagnosing myocardial rhythm. Large amount of information are generated continuously and a significant period of cumulative signal is required for the purpose of diagnosing a specific disease. Therefore, research on compression including clinically acceptable lossy technique has been developed to reduce the amount of information significantly. Recently, wearable smart heart monitoring devices that can transmit electrocardiogram(ECG) are being developed. The use of electrocardiogram, an important personal information for healthcare service, is rapidly increasing. However, devices generally have limited capability and power consumption for user convenience, and it is often difficult to apply the existing compression method directly. It is essential to develop techniques that can process and transmit a large volume of signals in limited resources. A method for compressing and transmitting the ECG signals efficiently by using the cumulative average (template) of the unit waveform is proposed in the paper. The ECG is coded lovelessly using template matching. It is analyzed that the proposed method is superior to the existing compression methods at high compression ratio, and its complexity is not relatively high. And it is also possible to apply compression methods to template matching values.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.93-106
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• 2022

Objective : The COVID-19 pandemic has brought non-face-to-face healthcare service delivery system. Research into telehealth system and its efficacy remains unclear. Methods : Seven healthy adults participated in this study to investigate effects of tele-monitoring with the speech-to-text (STT) application to induce changes in occupational activities on occupational balance in healthy adults. Subjects were requested to choose occupational activities they wanted to have researched and then register them to the STT application. The STT application provided an alarm to check whether the pre-registered activities were performed on time, and whether the subjects performed it by their voice. The subjects were followed for 1 week, with assessments at baseline, and after 1-week's tele-monitoring. Results : Our findings showed that the subjects were willing to participate in tele-monitoring with the STT application with high adherence and satisfaction. In addition, there was a significant improvement in occupational activities related to health (p<.05). Specifically, adherence, satisfaction, and efficacy of the tele-monitoring with the STT application could successfully bring occupational balance in short-term periods. Conclusion : These findings highlight that tele-monitoring with a smartphone could be considered as one promising way to restore occupational balance in lockdown after the COVID-19 outbreak.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2023

Objective : This study is to examine the practical use of clinical observational evaluation of sensory integration therapy and the difficulty and importance of measuring results for each sub-item, and through this, to confirm the usefulness of the application of Artificial Intelligence measurement technology in clinical observational measurement and the need for application. Methods : The questionnaire consisted of the actual use of the sensory integration evaluation tool, the difficulty of measurement for each detailed item of clinical observation, the usefulness of AI measurement technology, the importance of evaluation for each detailed item, and the need for developing AI measurement technology. Results : The detailed items that were difficult to measure during clinical observation were the Finger-to-Nose Test and Postural control (71.0%), followed by Eye movement and Protective Extension Test (67.7%). 83.9% of the study subjects answered that it would be useful to apply AI measurement technology when observing images. Postural control (on the ball) (90.3%) was the highest item that answered that AI measurement technology was needed, followed by Eye movement (83.9%), and Prone Extension and Protective Extension Test (77.4%). Conclusion : The results confirmed the desire of therapists that clinical observation is an important evaluation tool in the field of child occupational therapy in Korea.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.65-78
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• 2023

Objective : The typical decline in function due to aging includes limitations in vision, hearing, cognitive function, and activities of daily living. Therefore, this study evaluated the mediating effect of cognitive function on the relationship between vision and hearing and activities of daily living. Methods : The participants in this study were 36,767 persons from the long-term care database on older adults provided by the National Health Insurance Sharing Service. The extracted variables were: (i) independent variables: visual and hearing; (ii) dependent variables: basic and instrumental daily living activities; and (iii) mediator variables: cognitive function. Regression analysis was performed evaluate the mediating effects of the extracted variables. Results : Cognitive function showed a mediating effect of 30% on the relationship between vision and basic daily life activities and 42% in the relationship with instrumental daily life activities. The mediating effect was 50% in the relationship between hearing and basic activities of daily living, and 53% in the relationship with instrumental activities of daily living. Conclusion : Prevention programs for functional decline due to aging are in progress in Korea. Based on the results of this study, establishing a prevention program would help promote successful aging.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2022

With the recent development of IT technology, research and interest in various biosignal measuring devices is increasing. As an aging society is in full swing, research on the elderly population using IT-related technologies is continuously developing. This study is about the development of life pattern detection and fall detection algorithm, which is one of the medical service areas for the elderly, who are rapidly developing as they enter a super-aged society. This study consisted of a system using a 3-axis accelerometer and an electrocardiogram sensor, collected data, and then analyzed the data. It was confirmed that behavioral patterns could be classified from the actual research results. In order to evaluate the usefulness of the human activity monitoring system implemented in this study, experiments were performed under various conditions, such as changes in posture and walking speed, and signal magnitude range and signal vector magnitude parameters reflecting the acceleration of gravity of the human body and the degree of human activity. was extracted. And the possibility of discrimination according to the condition of the subject was examined by these parameter values.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.43-51
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• 2023

This study analyzed the patent status of the outdoor exercise equipment used primarily by the elderly. The purpose is to utilize the basic data obtained to promote the health of the elderly. The information on the patent was collected from KIPRIS, an information search service provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office. The search term used was 'outdoor exercise equipment', directly related patents were selected, and a final 157 were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, first, patent registration began in 2007, and 2-3 patents were registered on average every year. Second, patents from the perspective of sports convergence that provide an exercise prescription system using wireless communication, such as the ability to generate electricity by operating a power generation module, providing information on the user's exercise amount, or preventing the loss and theft of weights and safety accidents due to their characteristics, were searched for. Lastly, patents related to exercise equipment that can provide user convenience and increase the frequency of use of exercise equipment were searched. The results of this study confirmed that outdoor exercise equipment is being developed more for the elderly and their convenience, and that companies and public institutions are showing increased interest in outdoor exercise equipment for the elderly. In addition to patent trends analysis, follow-up research in connection with exercise programs using outdoor exercise equipment is needed to develop practical and convenient outdoor exercise equipment in the future.