• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.44-53
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• 2008

The purpose of this preliminary study was to develop a measurement for assessing risk factors for falling in community-dwelling elderly persons. Rasch analysis and principal component analysis were performed to examine whether items on the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC), assessing self-efficacy, and items on the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), assessing balance function, contribute jointly to a unidimensional construct in the elderly. A total of 35 elderly persons (4 men, 31 women) participated. In this study, each item of ABC (16 items) and BBS (14 items) was scored on a 5-point ordinal rating scale from 0 to 4. The initial Rasch and principal component analysis indicated that 3 of the ABC items and 2 of the BBS items were misfit for this study. These 5 items were excluded from further study. After combining ABC and BBS, Rasch and principal component analyses were examined and finally 23 items selected; 12 items from ABC, 11 items from BBS. The 23 combined ABC-BBC items were arranged in order of difficulty. The hardest item was 'walk outside on icy sidewalks' and the easiest item was 'pivot transfer'. Although structural calibration of each 5 rating scale categories was not ordered, the other three essential criteria of Linacre's optimal rating scale were satisfied. Overall, the ABC-BBS showed sound item psychometric properties. Each of the 5 rating scale categories appeared to distinctly identify subjects at different ability levels. The findings of this study support that the new ABC-BBS scale measure balance function and self-efficacy. It will be a clinically useful assessment of risk factors for falling in the elderly. However, the number of subjects was too small to generalize our results. Further study is needed to develop a new assessment considering more risk factors of falling in elderly.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.02b
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• pp.405-410
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• 2008

There is always a rhythm in our language and speech. As soon as we speech out, even just simple words and voice we make are edited as various emotions and information. Through this process we succeed or fail in our communication, and it becomes a fun communication or a monotonous delivery. Even with the same music, impression of the play can be different according to each musician' s emotion and their understanding. We 'play' our language in the same way as that. However, I think, people are used to the variety, which is, in fact, the variation of a set format covered with hollow variety. People might have been living loosing or limiting their own creative way to express themselves by that hollow variety. SPACIAL POEM started from this point. This is a new type of 'real-time visual interaction' expressing our own creative narrative as real-time visual by playing a musical instrument which is an emotional human behavior. Producing many kinds of sound by playing musical instruments is the same behavior with which we express our emotions through. There are sensors on each hole on the surface of the musical instrument. When you play it, sensors recognize that you have covered the holes. All sensors are connected to a keyboard, which means your playing behavior becomes a typing action on the keyboard. And I programmed the visual of your words to spread out in a virtual 3D space when you play the musical instrument. The behavior when you blow the instrument, to make sounds, changes into the energy that makes you walk ahead continuously in a virtual space. I used a microphone sensor for this. After all by playing musical instrument, we get back the emotion we forgot so far, and my voice is expressed with my own visual language in virtual space.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.122-127
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• 2017

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate if the 7-item Berg balance scale (BBS) 3-point, which is a short form of the BBS (SFBBS), has compatible psychometric properties in comparison with the original BBS, and also to study the concurrent validity using a 10-meter walk test (10mWT) and a timed up and go test (TUG), which are widely used with SFBBS in clinical settings. Methods: A total of 255 patients who had experienced stroke participated in this cross-sectional study. We used results obtained from 188 patients who completed both 10mWT and TUG. The three levels in the center of the BBS were collapsed to a single level (i.e.,0-2-4) to form the SFBBS. The concurrent validity was assessed by computing the Spearman coefficients for correlation among outcome measures and in between each outcome measure and the SFBBS. As there were four outcomes, the corrected p-value for significant correlation was 0.013 (0.05/4). Results: Spearman coefficients for correlations and evaluation instruments for concurrent validity revealed significantly high validity for both of SFBBS and BBS (r=0.944). 10mWT and TUG were -0.749 and -0.770 respectively, which are in the high margin and are statistically significant (p>0.000). Conclusion: SFBBS has sound psychometric properties for evaluating patients with stroke. Thus, we recommend the use of SFBBS in both clinical and research settings.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.167-173
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• 2014

A white cane is used by many people who are blind or visually impaired. The studies and developments in the field of smart electronic white cane have been progressed to improve walking safety of the visually handicapped person. In this paper, we describe a situation-awareness white cane which support and guide walking of the visually handicapped person by giving information of surrounding situation through connection of a white cane and a mobile device. There are easily accessible buttons in the situation-awareness white cane. These buttons is connected with the mobile device by blue-tooth, so by pushing these buttons, the visually handicapped person can receive sound-guidance. As a result, the visually handicapped person can walk more safely by getting more information of situation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.165-176
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• 2011

The femoral nerve innervates the quadriceps muscles and its dermatome supplies anteromedial thigh and medial foot. Paralysis of the quadriceps muscles due to the injury of the femoral nerve results in disability of the knee joint extension and loss of sensory of the thigh. A child could walk independently even though he had injured his femoral nerve severely due to the penetrating wound in the medial thigh. We measured and analyzed his gait performance in order to find the mechanisms that enabled him to walk independently. The child was eleven-year-old boy and he could not extend his knee voluntarily at all during a month after the injury. His gait analysis was performed five times (GA1~GA5) for sixteen months. His temporal-spatial parameters were not significantly different after the GA2 or GA3 test, and significant asymmetry was not observed except the single support time in GA1 results. The Lower limb joint angles in affected side had large differences in GA1 compared with the normal normative patterns. There were little knee joint flexion and extension motion during the stance phase in GA1 The maximum ankle plantar/dorsi flexion angles and the maximum knee extension angles were different from the normal values in the sound side. Asymmetries of the joint angles were analyzed by using the peak values. Significant asymmetries were found in GA1with seven parameters (ankle: peak planter flexion angle in stance phase, range of motion; ROM, knee: peak flexion angles during both stance and swing phase, ROM, hip: peak extension angle, ROM) while only two parameters (maximum hip extension angle and ROM of hip joint) had significant differences in GA5. The mid-stance valleys were not observed in both right and left sides of vertical ground reaction force (GRF) in the GA1, GA2. The loading response peak was far larger than the terminal stance peak of vertical ground reaction curve in the affected side of the GA3, GA4, GA5. The measured joint moment curves of the GA1, GA2, GA3 had large deviations and all of kinetic results had differences with the normal patterns. EMG signals described an absence of the rectus femoris muscle activity in the GA1 and GA2 (affected side). The EMG signals were detected in the GA3 and GA4 but their patterns were not normal yet, then their normal patterns were detected in the GA5. Through these following gait analysis of a child who had selective injuries on the knee extensor muscles, we could verify the actual functions of the knee extensor muscles during gait, and we also could observe his recovery and asymmetry with quantitative data during his rehabilitation.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.3
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• pp.79-110
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data necessary for creating a more successful health enhancement program, health education and health policy which can enhance health management abilities and enable a healthy school life by examining relations between high school students' health perception, who are in early adolescence, and their health promotion behavior. The subjects in this study were 813 students from 8 high schools on Jeju Island. The collected data were analyzed with t-test and one-way ANOVA through questionnaires by researcher on the basis of advance research. The findings of this study were as belows : 1. When general characteristics were considered, health perception was more significantly affected by those who were boys, whose family income was on a higher level, who scored better in school, whose parents were more concerned about their children's health, and who had experiences of being hospitalized. Especially, the more parents were concerned about their children's health, the higher the child's self-confidence on health(p<.05), anxiety on health(p<.05), practicality on disease prevention(p<.05), self-confidence on future health(p<.01), health care ability(p<.01), and family roles on health(p<.05). The less parents were concerned about their children's health, the higher the child's anxiety on disease(p<.01) and uncertainty on future health(p<.01). 2. When students' health promotion behavior was concerned, in the area of Eating Habits, having regular meals(72.9%), moderate consumption of meat(89.7%) and a balanced diet(64%) were common, whereas having a regular breakfast(37.4%) and eating vegetables and fruits(43.6%) were rare. In the area of Exercise, all subareas such as exercising 3 or 4 times a week(76.7%), more than one hour of exercise at a time(74.9%), a short distance walk(51.8%), exercise within one hour after meals(87%), and whether wanning up or not(88.6%) were above average. In the area of Personal Hygiene, all subareas such as drinking boiled water(57.3%), washing hands after using the bathroom(71%), brushing teeth after eating(42.4%), washing up after going out(50.3%), and washing hair and taking a frequent bath(77.2%) were rare. In the area of Control of Personal Relations, consulting personal problems with family(78.7%) had a positive response, whereas meeting someone new(59.8%), maintaining sound relations with the opposite sex(47.3%), having respect for one's opinion(51.5%), and maintaining peaceful relations with people(58.4%) had rare negative results. In the area of Stress Management, not being competitive(69.4%), releasing problems(62.4%) and sleeping soundly(66.2%) were common, whereas having your own ways to relieve stress(46.8%) and having your own dreams and hopes(58.5%) were rare. 3. When general characteristics were considered, as far as relations of health promotion behavior were concerned, the boys were significantly different in the area of Eating Habits(p<0.01) and Exercise(p<0.01), and the girls were in the area of Personal Hygiene. As family economic status was high and parents were concerned about their children's health, the entire areas of health promotion behavior were significantly different. Whether or not they were hospitalized made no significant difference in statistics. 4. When their regions were considered, it comparing city to town, there was no statistically significant difference in health perception and relations of health promotion behavior according to general characteristics. As seen in the results above, high school students' level of health perception and level of practicing health promotion behavior were generally low. In conclusion, by enhancing health perception, a plan for activating health education, which can implement positive health promotion behavior, should be made.