• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.63-71
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• 2005

A laboratory study was performed to evaluate the effects of an aid(i.e. stick) on joint loadings. Six healthy young participants were recruited from Virginia Tech student population. Each participant has performed three normal walking and three stick walking trials. Normalized and integrated, ground reaction forces(GRFs) and joint moments were measured at ankle, knee, and hip joints from kinematic and kinetic data. The result suggests that stick walking significantly reduces vertical ground reaction force and joint moments at ankle and knee compared to normal walking.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.36 no.3B
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• pp.287-296
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• 2011

The white stick mainly used for visually impaired person has difficulty in providing location information and effective countermeasures for emergency situations encountered during walking as well as detecting floating obstacles on the ground. In this paper, we propose a machine-to-machine based intelligent walking assistance system for safe and convenient walking of the visually impaired. The proposed system consists of a walking assistance stick used by the visually impaired and a server supporting multiple stick users in remote places through mobile communication networks. The stick equipped with ultrasonic sensors, GPS(global positioning system) receiver and vibrator not only detects floating obstacles, but also offers stick users with present location identification utilizing a text-to-voice conversion technology. Besides providing geographic information, the server notifies the emergency locations of users to guardian and aid agency, and it provides log information during walking such as the place, time and the number of accidents. Test results with a developed prototype system have shown that the system properly performs the functions and satisfies overall system performance.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.1174-1176
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• 2011

Unfortunately, the number of blind people increases every 5 seconds in our world. An extensive research was made on improving the conventional walking cane and developing a microcontroller based walking stick for the blind with sensors and a feedback in form of vibration. Two different kinds of sensors are used to detect obstacles, ultrasonic and infrared distance sensors. The signal from an ultrasonic sensor is fed to a microcontroller. With the help of the supporting software, the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) principle is extensively used to form three zones and run the corresponding vibration motor at different spends according to how far the detected object is located. The other infrared distance sensors are connected to amplifiers and after that to their corresponding vibration motors through motor drivers. The vibration motors are to be located around the user's arm to notify the blind of the obstacles in the intended walking way. It can be very reliable and sufficient device guiding the blind other than the conventional walking cane which has many drawbacks which will be explained and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.837-838
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• 2009

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.205-213
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of somatosensory input on the gait ability and equilibrium sensory of elderly women. The subjects who participated in this study were 31 elderly women with a mean age of 75 years or older who no using a walking stick and had no abnormality in otolaryngology. The control group consisted of 30 elderly women who did not exercise regularly more than twice a week. Dependent variables consisted of 2.44m timed up and go test, 10m usual gait, 10m fast gait and 6minute gait. The equilibrium sensory test was performed using EquiTest (NeuroCom, USA). The results of the study on gait ability were not statistically significant for 2.44m timed up and go test, and 10m usual gait. However, 10m fast gait (P<.001) and 6min gait (P<.05) showed significant differences. According to the results of the study on equilibrium sensory ability, there was no significant difference between Condition 1 and Condition 5 however Condition 2 (P<.01), Condition 3 (P<.01), Condition 4(P<.01) and Condition 6 (P<.05) showed statistically significant differences. In conclusion, walking stick have beneficial effects on walking and equilibrium sensation, and elderly women need to actively use walking stick when going out and walking.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Design Studies Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.86-87
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• 1999

최근 유니버살디자인(UNIVERSAL DESIGN)에 대한 관심이 증가하고 있는 가운데 인간 각각의 다양한 연령의 차이로 인한 신체적 특성의 고려는 다양한 디자인의 연구와 적용으로 많은 성과를 가져오고 있다.(중략)

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.301-308
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to compare core muscle activity and thickness in the abdomen (internal Oblique, IO; External Oblique, EO; Transverse Abdominis, TrA) according to walking training methods. Tests were performed on 20 healthy men who randomly assigned to two groups, divided by Nordic walking (n=10) or Power walking group (n=10). They were performed Nordic walking or Power walking training for 2 weeks that is consistent with each of the assigned groups. Results demonstrated that Nordic walking was more effective than Power walking in improving IO and EO activities. Nordic walking is believed to be useful method for a variety of therapeutic exercise as a stable balance with the stick in addition to normal gait and trunk stability.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.45-50
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• 2016

This paper describes the development of smart sticks as walking assistance for elderly people that incorporate motion sensing, hear-beat sensing, data processing, and communication functions. Our sticks communicate with users' smart phones and upon a detection of falling-off, an alarm is generated and propagated to multiple guardians registered in advance. In addition, the sticks provide smart healthcare functionalities for elderly people thus suggest an health platform that is empowered by various health-related informations. The heartbeat sensors and motion sensors mounted on the sticks enable various additional functions. Our smart sticks are designed to function as stable walking assistance as well as to support elderly people by providing useful services in the convergence with information technologies.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.289-300
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• 2016

This study surveys children's costumes and games from the 11 Genre paintings by Junkeun Kim in the book "Korean Games(Stewart Culin 1858-1929)". The character of the general dress-costumes, games and the culture of life from the late $19^{th}$ century in genre painting of Junkeun Kim are as follows. The study results on the games are as follow. The boy's games are kite-flying, spinning tops, playing shuttlecock with the feet, blindman's buff, yut("Four-Stick Game"). Girl's games are seesaw with board, blindman's buff, marbles. Combined games are mount shoulder, sledge, tightrope walking for men with boy. The strengthen one's body type were seesaw with board, tightrope walking, the compete score type were playing shuttlecock with the feet, marbles and the multi complex type were yut("Four-Stick Game"), kite-flying. Through genre painting in the $19^{th}$ century we know a boy's 'Jeogori 'and 'Ba-ji' were similar to a modern man's and boy's 'Hanbok' with a traditional method of wearing. We believe that the originality of a traditional costume was an unchangeable characteristic. Girl's 'Jeogori' and 'Chi-ma' changed in length and width, and method of wearing; however, the basic shape did not change. The analysis for artist's genre painting which was ordered by a foreigner and the late of $19^{th}$ century's children's costume and game of life culture is useful to match the counters and show how to wear a modern Korean costume used to understand the 'Hanbok' and establish a costume of life.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.269-274
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to develop the FSR sensor suit that controls walking assist device for paraplegic patients. The FSR sensor suit was to detect user's intent and patterns for walking by measuring pressure on the palm and the sole of user's foot. It consisted of four modules: sensing pressure from palm, changing modes and detecting pressure on the palm/at the wrist, sensing pressure from the soles of user's foot, and host module that transmit FSR data obtained from sensing modules to PC. Sensing modules were connected to sensing pads which detect analog signals obtained from the palm or the sole of foot. These collect signals from the target regions, convert analog signals into digital signals, and transmit the final signals to host module via zigbee modules. Finally, host modules transmit the signals to host PC via zigbee modules. The study findings showed that forces measured at the palm when using a stick reflected user's intent to walk and forces at the sole of the user's foot revealed signals detecting walking state.