• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.407-412
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• 2015

This paper presents the design of a lab-built powered knee prosthesis based on a BLDC motor, a sensored impedance control using a force sensor, and a sensorless impedance control through torque estimation. Firstly, we describe the structure of the lab-built powered knee prosthesis and its limitations. Secondly, we decompose the gait cycle into five stages and apply the position-based impedance control for the powered knee prosthesis. Thirdly, we perform an experiment for the torque estimation and the sensorless impedance control of the prosthesis. The experimental results show that we can use the torque estimation to control the low impedance during the swing phase, although the estimated torque data has a delay compared with the measured torque by a load cell.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.193-199
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• 2014

In this paper, we present an overview of the structure of a lab-built powered knee prosthesis and the control of it. We build a powered prosthesis prototype on the basis of previous researches and aim at obtaining the essential technology related with its control. We adopt the slider-crank mechanism with a DC motor as an actuator to manipulate the knee joint. We also build an embedded control system for the prosthesis with a 32-bit DSP controller as a main computation unit. We divide the gait phase into five stages and use a FSM (Finite State Machine) to generate a torque reference needed for each stage. We also propose to use a position-based impedance controller for driving the powered knee prosthesis stably. We perform some walking experiments at fixed speeds on a tread mill in order to show the feature of the built powered prosthesis. The experimental results show that our prosthesis has the ability to provide a functional gait that is representative of normal gait biomechanics.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.139-156
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• 2001

Speech intelligibility in patients with complete dentures is an important clinical problem depending on the material used. The objective of this study was to investigate the speech of two edentulous subjects fitted with a complete maxillary prosthesis made of two different palatal materials: chrome-cobalt alloy and acrylic resin. Three patients with complete dentures in the experiment group and ten people in the controls groups participated in the experiment. CSL, Visi-Pitch were used to measure speech characteristics. The test words consisted of a simple vowel /e/, meaningless three syllabic words containing fricative, affricated and stops sounds, and sustained fricative sounds /s/ and /$\int$/. The analysis speech parameters were vowel and lateral formants, VOT, sound durations, sound pressure level and fricative frequency. Data analysis was conducted by a series of paired T-test. The findings like the following: (1) Vowel formant one of patients with complete denture is higher than that of the control group (p<0.05), while lateral formant three of patients with complete denture is lower than that of the control group (p<0.0l). (2) Patients with complete denture produced lower speech intelligibility with low fricative frequency (/$\int$/) than control group (p<0.0). The speech intelligibility of patients with metal prosthesis was higher than that of those with resin prosthesis (p<0.05). (3) Fricative, lateral and stop sound durations of patients with complete denture were longer than those of the control group (p<0.01 and p<0.05), respectively. Total sound durations of patients with metal prosthesis were similar to that of the control group (p<0.05), while those with resin prosthesis had a shorter duration (p<0.01). This implied that those with metal prosthesis had higher speech intelligibility than those with resin prosthesis. (4) Patients with complete denture had higher sound pressure levels /t/ and /c/ than the control group (p<0.01). However, sound pressure levels for /c/ of patients with metal prosthesis or resin prosthesis was similar to the control group (p<0.05). (5) Patients with complete denture had higher fundamental frequency than the control group (p<0.01).

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2015

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to examine the abutment screw stability of screw- and cement-retained implant-supported dental prosthesis (SCP) after simulated cement washout as well as the stability of SCP cements after complete loosening of abutment screws. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Thirty-six titanium CAD/CAM-made implant prostheses were fabricated on two implants placed in the resin models. Each prosthesis is a two-unit SCP: one screw-retained and the other cemented. After evaluating the passive fit of each prosthesis, all implant prostheses were randomly divided into 3 groups: screwed and cemented SCP (Control), screwed and non-cemented SCP (Group 1), unscrewed and cemented SCP (Group 2). Each prosthesis in Control and Group 1 was screwed and/or cemented, and the preloading reverse torque value (RTV) was evaluated. SCP in Group 2 was screwed and cemented, and then unscrewed (RTV=0) after the cement was set. After cyclic loading was applied, the postloading RTV was measured. RTV loss and decementation ratios were calculated for statistical analysis. RESULTS. There was no significant difference in RTV loss ratio between Control and Group 1 (P=.16). No decemented prosthesis was found among Control and Group 2. CONCLUSION. Within the limits of this in vitro study, the stabilities of SCP abutment screws and cement were not significantly changed after simulated cement washout or screw loosening.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.681-691
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between education experience, awareness and practice of infection control during the prosthodontic treatment in clinical dental hygienists. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was answered by 255 clinical dental hygienists in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas from October 10 to December 30, 2016. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects (8 items), dental prosthesis infection education experience (5 items), dental prosthesis infection awareness (5 items) and dental prosthesis infection practice (14 items) based on Likert 5 point scale. For statistical analysis, SPSS Statistic 22.0 was used. Results: A significant association was shown among education experience, awareness and practice of infection control during the prosthodontic treatment of clinical dental hygienists (p<0.001). Dental hygienists count, dental prosthesis infection education experience and awareness had positive influences, but the age group from 26 to 30 had negative influence on dental prosthesis infection practice. Conclusions: The study confimed that the dental prosthesis infection education program and continued education is necessary for the safety and health of patients, and to prevent the cross-infections of the clinical dental hygienists.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.244-244
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• 2000

We proposed the above-knee prosthesis using rotary MR damper in which knee joint is semi-actively controlled by microprocessor. Dissipation torque in the knee joint can be controlled by the magnetic field which is induced by applying current to a solenoid, Tracking control of knee joint angle was tested by 3-DOF Leg simulator. The experimental results show that the proposed above-knee prosthesis system had good performance in swing phase tracking and repetitive controller in conjunction with a computed control law and PD control law, reduced RMS tracking error as the repetitions of tracking. Moreover, desired knee angle trajectory was generated based on the estimation of gait period with the gyro signal and the tracking control was performed.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.37-44
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• 2005

Gait control capacity for most trans-femoral prostheses is significantly different from that of a normal person, and training is required for a long period of time in order for a patient to walk properly. People become easily tired when wearing a prosthesis or orthosis for a long period typically because the gait angle cannot be smoothly adjusted during wearing. Therefore, to improve the gait control problems of a trans-femoral prosthesis, the proper gait angle is estimated through surface EMG(electromyogram) signals on a normal leg, then the gait posture which the trans-femoral prosthesis should take is calculated in the neural network, which learns the gait kinetics on the basis of the normal leg's gait angle. Based on this predicted angle, a postural control method is proposed and tested adaptively following the patient's gait habit based on the predicted angle. In this study, the gait angle prediction showed accuracy of over $97\%$, and the posture control capacity of over $90\%$.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.685-694
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• 2001

In this study, a transfemoral prosthesis system of which both stance phase and swing phase are controllable has been developed for the recovery of the biomechanical function of the amputated leg. It consists of a 5 bar link mechanism, a hydraulic-rubber knee damper for stance phase control and a pneumatic cylinder controlled via a microprocessor for stance phase control. The mechanical characteristics of the knee damper which absorbs the impact energy generated at the heel contact were investigated. The characteristics of the pneumatic cylinder essential for the speed adaptation of the prosthesis during swing phase were also studied for its mechanical characteristics. The prosthesis was subject to the clinical tests, and the gait characteristics obtained were very close to those of normal subjects. The stance and swing controlled prosthesis that were developed in this study showed good stability during the stance phase and showed good controllability during the swing phase.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.504-509
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• 2000

In this study, a transfemoral prosthesis system of which stance phase and swing phase are controlled during walking has been developed for the recovery of the biomechanical function of the amputated leg. It consists of a 5 bar link mechanism, a hydraulic-rubber knee damper for stance phase control and a pneumatic cylinder controlled via a microprocessor for stance phase control. The mechanical characteristics and behaviour of the knee damper which absorbs the impact energy generated at the heel contact was investigated. The characteristics of the pneumatic cylinder essential for the speed adaptation of the prosthesis during swing phase was also studied for its mechanical characteristics. The prosthesis was subject to the clinical test ant the gait characteristics obtained were very close to those of normal. The stance and swing controlled prosthesis that were developed in this study showed good stability during the stance phase and showed good controllability during the swing phase.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.110-115
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• 2004

The prosthesis of current commercialized apparatus has considerable problems, requiring improvement. Especially, LLP(Lower Limb Prosthesis)-related problems have improved, but it cannot provide normal walking because, mainly, the gait control of the LLP does not fit with patient's gait manner. To solve this problem, HCI((Human Computer Interaction) that adapts and controls LLP postures according to patient's gait manner more effectively is studied in this research. The proposed control technique has 2 steps： 1) the multilayer neural network forecasts angles of gait of LLP by using the angle of normal side of lower limbs； and 2) the adaptive neural controller manages the postures of the LLP based on the predicted joint angles. According to the experiment data, the prediction error of hip angles was 0.32［deg.］, and the predicted error of knee angles was 0.12［deg.] for the estimated posture angles for the LLP. The performance data was obtained by applying the reference inputs of the LLP controller while walking. Accordingly, the control performance of the hip prosthesis improved by 80% due to the control postures of the LLP using the reference input when comparing with LQR controller.