• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.16-23
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• 2019

Background: High-heeled shoes can change spinal alignment and feet movement, which leads to muscle fatigue and discomfort in lumbopelvic region, legs, and feet while walking. Objects: This study aimed to identify the effects of different shoe heel heights on the walking velocity and electromyographic (EMG) activities of the lower leg muscles during short- and long-distance walking in young females. Methods: Fifteen young females were recruited in this study. The experiments were performed with the following two different shoe heel heights: 0 cm and 7 cm. All participants underwent an electromyographic procedure to measure the activities and fatigue levels of the tibialis anterior (TA), medial gastrocnemius (MG), rectus femoris (RF), and hamstring muscles with each heel height during both short- and long-distance walking. The walking velocities were measured using the short-distance (10-m walk) and long-distance (6-min walk) walking tests. Results: Significant interaction effects were found between heel height and walking distance conditions for the EMG activities and fatigue levels of TA and MG muscles, and walking velocity (p<.05). The walking velocity and activities of the TA, MG, and RF muscles appeared to be significantly different between the 0 cm and 7 cm heel heights during both short- and long-distance walking (p<.05). Significant difference in the fatigue level of the MG muscle were found between the 0 cm and 7 cm heel heights during long-distance walking. In addition, walking velocity and the fatigue level of the MG muscle at the 7 cm heel height revealed significant differences in the comparison of short- and long-distance walking (p<.05). Conclusion: These findings indicate that higher shoe heel height leads to a decrease in the walking velocity and an increase in the activity and fatigue level of the lower leg muscles, particularly during long-distance walking.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.520-532
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess energy expenditure and metabolic cost (METs) of walking activities of college students and to compare treadmill based walking with self-selected hallway walking. Methods: Thirty subjects (mean age $23.4{\pm}1.6years$) completed eight walking activities. Five treadmill walking activities (TW2.4, TW3.2, TW4.0, TW4.8, TW5.6) were followed by three self-selected hallway walking activities, namely, walk as if you were walking and talking with a friend: HWL (leisurely), walk as if you were hurrying across the street at a cross-walk: HWB (brisk) and walk as fast as you can but do not run: HWF (fast) were performed by each subject. Energy expenditure was measured using a portable metabolic system and accelerometers. Results: Except for HWF (fast) activity, energy expenditures of all other walking activities measured were higher in male than in female subjects. The lowest energy expenditure and METs were observed in TW2.4 ($3.65{\pm}0.84kcal/min$ and $2.88{\pm}0.26METs$ in male), HWL (leisurely) ($2.85{\pm}0.70kcal/min$ and $3.20{\pm}0.57METs$ in female), and the highest rates were observed in HWF (fast) ($7.72{\pm}2.81kcal/min$, $5.84{\pm}1.84METs$ in male, $6.65{\pm}1.57kcal/min$, $7.13{\pm}0.68METs$ in female). Regarding the comparison of treadmill-based walking activities and self-selected walking, the energy expenditure of HWL (leisurely) was not significantly different from that of TW2.4. In case of male, no significant difference was observed between energy costs of HWB (brisk), HWF (fast) and TW5.6 activities, whereas in female, energy expenditures during HWB (brisk) and HWF (fast) were significantly different from that of TW5.6. Conclusions: In this study, we observed that energy expenditure from self-selected walking activities of college students was comparable with treadmill-based activities at specific speeds. Our results suggested that a practicing leisurely or brisk walking for a minimum of 150 minutes per week by both male and female college students enable them to meet recommendations from the Physical activity guide for Koreans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.93-98
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• 2017

PURPOSE: This study investigated the activities of lower limb muscles according to the angle of a medio-lateral ramp while walking to promote awareness of the risks associated with a medio-lateral ramp. METHODS: This study was conducted on 20 healthy male adults. The muscle activities of the vastus medialis oblique (VMO), vastus lateralis oblique (VLO), tibialis anterior (TA) and peroneus longus (PL) were measured while the subjects were walking on a 3 m medio-lateral ramp. Five angles (flat, $2^{\circ}$, $5^{\circ}$, $10^{\circ}$, and $15^{\circ}$) were selected for the angle conditions of the experiment on a medio-lateral ramp. The activities were measured during the stance phase only in the middle cycle of a three-cycle walking experiment. The mean value obtained from the three walking tests was used for the analysis. RESULTS: Results showed that walking on a mediolateral ramp required more muscle activities than walking on a flat surface, through which balanced walking was achieved. CONCLUSION: Walking on a medio-lateral ramp requires proper muscle activation and control, without which the risks of injury to the joints of the lower limbs and falls are likely to increase. Therefore, special attention should be given to older people and the disabled under the condition of traversing a ramp.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.863-870
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• 2022

Unsatisfactory urban walking environment stresses urban residents, and may cause mental illness and chronic diseases by reducing walking activities. Therefore, establishing a high-quality walking environment that can promote walking activities in urban residents has emerged as an important issue. The walking environment consists of various components, such as trees, stairs, streetlights, benches, signs, fences, and facilities, and it is essential to understand which components and their settings act as satisfiers or dissatisfiers for pedestrians, to create a better quality walking environment. Therefore, this study investigated pedestrian satisfaction and dissatisfaction as a function of various environmental components through a survey using walking environment images. The results revealed that most of the walking environment components except the braille block and treezone exhibited significant correlations with pedestrian satisfaction. Particularly, safety-related component (e.g., adjacent roads, parked cars, traffic cushions, and car separation), and landscape-related components (e.g., trees and green), as well as the material settings of landscape facilities (e.g., wooden fences, benches, stairs, and walkway surfaces) correlated with pedestrian satisfaction. The results of this study can contribute to the extraction of useful features to evaluate pedestrian satisfaction as a function of the walking environment. The research outcome is expected to assist in the effective arrangement of walking environment components and their settings, which will ultimately contribute to significantly satisfactory walking environment and encourage walking activities.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.273-280
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• 2000

Building structures which are in need of large open space make the damping effect of the structures decrease greatly. Assembly and office buildings with a lower natural frequency have a higher possibility of experiencing excessive vibration induced by human activities. These excessive vibration make the residents uncomfortable and the serviceability deterioration. The loads induced by human activities were classified into two types. First type is in place loads as like jumping, foot stamping and body bouncing. The other type is moving loads as like walking, running and dancing. A series of laboratories experiments had been conducted to study the dynamic loads induced by human activities, The earlier works were mainly concerned to parameters study of dynamic loads as like activity type, weight, sex, surface condition of structure and etc. In this paper, we have measured directly the walking loads by using the platform. And we have evaluated and analyzed load-time history of walking loads. One of the most important parameter is pacing rate (walking speed) in the walking loads. The difference between the maximum value and minimum value of walking loads depends on the walking speed.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.127-138
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• 2019

This study was to evaluate the walking speed of elderly people by using the travel route big data collected by travel diary and smart phone application. We analyzed the change of walking behavior in the residential street environments of the elderly whether they had a company or not. We interpreted the meaning based on previous studies. In addition, the characteristics of elderly people's use of the residential street environment were analyzed by comparing the change in spatial speed according to the companion. The result reveals that the usage patterns of the residential street environments change depending on whether they were accompanied or not. First, the elderly tend to do more social activities while walking alone than when they were accompanied. When they were accompanied the social activities occur in empty lot near the residential area. However, the social activities of the elderly occur in open space such as neighborhood park or playground while walking alone. Finally, This study has strength that it empirically analyzes the elderly's walking behavior and usage paths in small outdoor spaces, including residential streets.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.266-278
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of reinforced walking exercise on dyspnea-fatigue symptoms, daily activities, walking ability and health related quality of life (HRQoL) in heart failure patients. Methods: This study used a randomized controlled trial design. The participants (experimental group=16, control group=25) were recruited from a university hospital in Kyeong-nam area. Data were collected from March to September, 2015. The reinforced walking exercise included goal setting and feedback (telephone and text message) provided for 12 weeks. Dyspnea-Fatigue Index, Korean Activity Scale/Index (KASI), six-minute walking distance (6MWD) and HRQoL were measured. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, Fisher's exact test, $x^2$ test, and Kolmogrove-Smirnov test. Results: Prior to the intervention there were no differences in the research variables between two groups. The exercise compliance in the experimental group was 100% (walking for 50 minutes per day, 5 times per week). The experimental group had improved dyspnea-fatigue symptoms (t=8.63, p<.001), daily activities (t=-4.92, p<.001), longer 6MWD (t=-5.66, p<.001), and increased HRQoL (t=-9.05, p<.001) compared to the control group. Conclusion: The reinforced walking exercise could be a cost-effective intervention in heart failure patient, which could enhance patients' outcomes, such as improving dyspnea-fatigue symptoms, daily activities, walking ability, and quality of life.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.712-724
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a walking program for office workers in terms of social cognitive theory, walking activities and physiological indexes. Methods: A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The sample consisted of 50 office workers who were identified as having low levels of physical activity according to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ Research Committee, 2005). The participants were recruited from two companies in Seoul. Of the 50 participants, 26 were assigned to the non-equivalent experimental group and 24 to the control group. The walking program consisted of six didactic sessions via e-mail, two individual telecoaching sessions and three support group meetings over ten weeks. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 program. Results: The non-equivalent experimental group reported significantly higher posttest scores in walking activities and adhering to the walking protocol than the control group. There were no differences in reported self-efficacy, outcome expectations, body mass index and blood pressure between the two groups. Conclusion: These findings indicate that a walking program based on social cognitive theory is effective in increasing physical activities for office workers.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.451-456
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• 2020

This study compared the utility of walking aids, and activities of daily life depending on the ability of people with mobility disabilities to use walking aids. Data were extracted from the Korea Welfare Panel Study in 2014. Data of 435,947 individuals were analyzed using chi-square and t-tests. The findings from this study showed that disabled persons who cannot use walking aids independently were more likely to have a severe disability level and a lower level of daily activities than the independent group. The level of social participation and leisure activities were also significantly lower in the dependent than the independent group. Therefore, walking aids should be tailored for individuals depending on their level of independence for using walking aids.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.16-27
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• 2016

This study identified the factors which affect pedestrian behavior using the tobit model with a descriptive analysis. Individual characteristics, household characteristics, zone characteristics were selected as the independent variables. Walking frequency and walking time was adopted for the variables which represent walking behavior. The results showed that the walking time models were superior than the walking frequency models. The model for education purpose had the most lowest fitness and the model for others purpose had characteristics mixed up the various purposes. Futhermore, this research found that independent variables: individual, household and zone characteristic variables affected walking activities of elderly pedestrian by purpose. The walking activity decresed when a pedestrian grew older or had a vehicle or a driver's license. The Elderly facilities promoted the walking activity of seniors. As the floor area of neighborhood and business facilities was wide, the walking activities were animated. In addition, the compacted downtown developments decreased the elderly's walking activities, so it is needed to consider those results in terms of the urban planners.