• Archives of design research
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• v.19 no.3 s.65
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• pp.183-194
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• 2006

It is expected that the typical lifestyle of the future will be transformed into an opulent and comfortable existence as the quality of life improves due to the increase in household income and reduction in working hours. In the meantime, as the standard of living becomes increasingly more comfortable and plentiful, the toll on physical health becomes magnified as a result of obesity and insufficient exercise caused by super nutrition and change in labor conditions. This has instigated a deep awareness in fitness on the part of many people, forcing them to recognize the significance of daily exercise and physical activity. The Elliptical Cross Trainer(ECT), which has drawn wide attention recently, is a non-impact athletic apparatus that not only promotes exercise of the upper body parts in such sports as skiing but also the exercise of lower parts of the body on a treadmill. It is a type of cross training athletic gear that has been developed for aerobic exercise throughout the entire body. It has already formed a market as big as that of the treadmill in Europe, America, etc. Recently, its demand is growing sharply in the Korean markets as well as those in Northeast Asian countries. Despite such demand increase and expansion, since most of the expensive ECTs are exclusively supplied by suppliers in only a few advanced countries, localization of the ECT is urgently required in order to enhance competitiveness of Korean manufacturers and to expand the market. The ECT development project has been in full swing for approximately two year since 2004 in order to secure independent design, as well as engineering and manufacturing processes in efforts to develop a commercially viable ECT.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.218-228
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• 2007

Modem concepts of gait rehabilitation after stroke favor a task-specific repetitive approach. In practice, the required physical effort of the therapists limits the realization of this approach. Therefore, a mechanized gait trainer enabling nonambulatory patients to have the repetitive practice of a gait-like movement without overstraining therapists was constructed. In this study, we developed an active gait training system for patients with gait disorder. This system provides joint movements to patients who cannot carry out an independent gait. It provides a normal stance-swing ratio of 60:40 using an eccentric configuration of two gears. Joint motions of the knee and the ankle were evaluated with using the 3D motion analysis system and compared with the results from the multi-body dynamics simulation. In addition, clinical investigations were also performed for low stroke patients during the 6-week gait training. Results from the dynamics simulation showed that joint movements of the knee and the ankle were affected by the gear size, the step length and the length of the foot plate, except the radius of curvature of the foot guide plate. Also, the 6-week gait training revealed relevant improvements of the gait ability in all low subjects. Functional ambulation category levels of subjects after training were 2 in three patients and 1 in a patient. The developed active gait trainer seems feasible as an adjunctive tool in gait rehabilitation after stroke.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.343-349
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• 2005

Continuously motivating people to exercise regularly is more important than finding a way out of barriers such as lack of time, cost of equipment, lack of nearby facilities, and poor weather. Our proposed system presents practicable methods of motivation through a diverse exercise aid system. The Health Improvement and Management System (all-in-one system which saves space and maintenance costs) measures and evaluates a diverse body shape analysis and physical fitness test and directs users to automated personalized exercise prescription which is prescribed by the expert system of three types of exercise templates: aerobics, anaerobics, and leisure sports. Automated personalized exercise prescriptions are built into XML based documents because the data needs to be in the form of flexible, expansible, and convertible structures in order to process various exercise templates, BIOFIT, a digital exercise trainer, monitors and provides feedback on the physiological parameters while users are working out in the gymnasium. If these parameters do not range within the prescribed target zone, the device will alarm users to control the exercise and make the exercise trainer adjust systemically the proper exercise level. Numeric health information such as the report of the physical fitness test and the exercise prescription makes people stay interested in exercising. In addition, this service can be delivered through the Internet.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2007

Today Human Personal Trainers are becoming very famous in this health conscious world. They teach user to achieve fitness goals in managed way. Due to their high fee and tight schedule they are unavailable to mass number of people. Another solution to this problem is to develop digital personal trainer portable instrument that may replace human personal trainers. We developed a portable digital exercise trainer device - BIOFIT that manages, monitors and records the user's physical status and workout during exercise session. It guides the user to exercise efficiently for specific fitness goal. It keeps the full exercise program i.e. exercises start date and time, duration, mode, control parameter, intensity in its memory which helps the user in managing his exercise. Exercise program can be downloaded from the internet. During exercise it continuously monitors the user's physiological parameters: heart rate, number of steps walked, and energy consumed. If these parameters do not range within prescribed target zone, the BIOFIT will alarm the user as a feedback to control exercise. The BIOFIT displays these parameters on graphic LCD. During exercise it continuously records the heart rate and number of steps walked every 10 seconds along with exercise date and time. This stored information can be used as treatment for the user by an exercise expert. Real-time ECG monitoring can be viewed wirelessly (RF Communication) on a remote PC.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.24-31
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• 2014

The modern version of aircrafts is allowed to guarantee the superior handing qualities within the entire flight envelope by imposing the adequate stability and flying qualities on a target aircraft through the various techniques of flight control law design. Generally, the flight control law of the aircraft in service applies the various techniques of the verified control algorithm, such as dynamic inversion and eigenstructure assignment. The supersonic trainer employs the RSS(Relaxed Static Stability) concept in order to improve the aerodynamic performance in longitudinal axis and the longitudinal control laws employ the dynamic inversion with proportional-plus-integral control method. And, lateral-directional control laws employ the blended roll system of both beta-betadot feedback and simple roll rate feedback with proportional control method in order to guarantee aircraft stability. In this paper, the lateral-directional flight control law is designed by applying dynamic inversion control technique as a different method from the current supersonic trainer control technique, where the roll rate command system is designed at the lateral axis for the rapid response characteristics, and the sideslip command system is adopted at the directional axis for stability augmentation. The dynamic inversion of a simple 1st order model is applied. And this designed flight control law is confirmed to satisfy the requirement presented from the military specification. This study is expected to contribute to design the flight control law of KF-X(Korean Fighter eXperimental) which will proceed into the full-scale development in the near future.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2013

Objective: To determine the energy consumed and muscle use during dance compared to different standard exercise devices. Design: Longitudinal study. Methods: Fifteen female subjects were evaluated to assess the energy cost and muscle activity during a 20 minute dance video compared to treadmill, elliptical track and bicycle ergometry. The later 3 forms of exercise were accomplished in four, 5 minute bouts at different intensities of exercise. Subjects were in the age range of 22-24 years old, were free of cardiovascular disease and did not have any neurological injuries. They were not sedentary and exercised at least twice a week. During the exercise, muscle activity was measured by the electromyogram recorded by surface electrodes on 6 muscle groups. A Cosmed metabolic cart was used to measure oxygen consumption during the exercise. Results: The aerobic dance video that was tested here was equivalent to a hard workout on any of the 3 exercise modalities. The dance routine was equivalent in terms of energy consumed to running at 225 watts of work or running for 20 minutes at a speed of 2 meters per second (4.47 miles per hour). Compared to the bicycle, it was equivalent to cycling at 112 watts for 20 minutes (2.25 kpm), and for the elliptical trainer, dance was equivalent to 435 watts. Concerning muscle use, the dance routine was the most balanced for upper, core and lower body muscles. Although the elliptical trainer was close, it required muscle less muscle use. Conclusion: A good dance video can be more effective than standard exercise equipment.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a three dimensional balance trainer in combination with a video-game system and visual feedback on balance recovery and gait function in subacute stroke patients. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: Twenty-three subacute stroke patients were assigned to either an experimental (n=12) or a control group (n=11) using a random permuted block design and sealed envelopes. The experimental group received additional 3-dimensional balance training combined with visual feedback and a game program for 30 min/day, 5 days/week for 4 weeks. Both groups received 30-min of conservative physical therapy sessions based on neurodevelopmental therapy. Before and after the 20 sessions, walking abilities were evaluated by the the GaitRite system and balances were evaluated using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). The Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS) was used to assess trunk muscle performances. Results: After the 4-week intervention, BBS and TIS scores were significantly increased in both groups (p<0.05), and increases in these scores were significantly greater in the experimental group (p<0.05). After the 4-week intervention, gait speed and cadence were significantly increased in both groups (p<0.05), and as was observed for BBS and TIS scores, changes of gait speed and cadence were significantly greater in the experimental group (p<0.05). Conclusions: The study shows that the 3-dimensional balance trainer combined with visual biofeedback and a video-game system provides a therapeutic means for improving balance and gait ability in subacute stroke patients.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.23-36
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• 2019

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Plank exercise on unstable support surfaces on flexibility, abdominal muscle thickness and pain in patients with chronic back pain. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: This study was performed on 16 patients with chronic back pain of ◯◯ military unit. Sixteen subjects were randomly assigned into two groups, an upper extremity trainer group (group I, n=8) and a lower extremity trainer group (group II, n=8). The subjects in group I carried out Flank exercise applying the stability trainer to their upper extremities and ones in group II carried out the same exercise applying the stability trainer to their lower extremities for 4 weeks. In order to ascertain the difference between two groups, flexibility, abdominal muscle thickness and pain were measured before and after the exercise. The flexibility was measured by sit and reach test, the thickness of the abdominal muscle was measured by using ultrasonic imaging equipment, and the pain was measured by the visual analogue scale. A paired t-test was utilized to compare changes in pain, abdominal muscle thickness and flexibility before and after flank exercise on unstable support surfaces. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was performed for ascertaining the significant differences between groups. The significance level was set by α=.05. Results: 1) The flexibilities of two groups were increased after the exercise (p<0.05). 2) In both groups, the thicknesses of rectus abdominis, external oblique abdominis, internal oblique abdominis, and transverse abdominis were all increased after the exercise (p<0.05). 3) The pains in both groups were decreased after the exercise (p<0.05). 4) In the comparisons of two groups, there were no differences in the flexibility, thickness of external oblique abdominis, internal oblique abdominis and transverse abdominis and pain (p>0.05). Whereas only thickness of Rectus abdominis was larger in the group I than in the group II (p<0.05). Conclusion: Plank exercise on the unstable support surface for 4 weeks resulted in increased flexibility, abdominal muscle thickness and pain reduction in patients with chronic back pain. Therefore, it is considered that performing flank exercise on the unstable supporting surface is suitable for the reduction of the pain in patients with chronic back pain. However, in this study, it is considered that continuous and diverse studies are needed because there was not a large difference between the groups when the upper or lower limbs are provided unstable support surfaces.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2005

The effect of the developed symmetric upper extremity motion trainer on the cortical activation pattern was investigated in three chronic hemiparetic patients using both fMRI and Fugl-Meyer test. The training program was performed at 1 hr/day, 5 days/week during 6 weeks. Fugl-Meyer tests were performed every two weeks during the training. fMRI was performed at 3T scanner with wrist flexion-extension in two different tasks before and after the training program: the only unaffected hand movement (Task 1) and passive movements of affected hand by the active movement of unaffected hand (Task 2). fMRI studies in Task 1 showed that cortical activations decreased in ipsilateral SMC but increased in contralateral SMC. Task 2 showed cortical reorganizations in bilateral SMC, PMA and SMA. Therefore, it seems that the cortical reorganization in chronic hemiparetic patients can be induced by the training with the developed symmetric upper extremity motion trainer.

• 한국항공운항학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.140-145
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• 2005