• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.89-100
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• 2017

Since smart devices are able to efficiently provide information without barriers of time and location, they are widely utilized with advent of the hyper-connected society. Especially, the smart devices have been developed in the form of wearable devices for mutual interaction between human and objects. Smart clothing, which embeds smart devices within clothes, measures and obtains a variety of bio-signals as it is in close contact with the human bodies. Conventional smart clothing generated wearers' discomfort because they were developed by simple attachment of electronic devices to clothes. Therefore, it is highly recommended to develop novel smart clothing based on smart textiles which integrate electronic devices as parts of textiles. As smart watches are currently the most available wearable devices in the market, smart watch users were selected in this study, for the purpose of investigating core needs of wearable smart device users based on the user experience and user's sensibility. Qualitative research was performed through semi-structured interview in order to obtain detailed answers about user sensibility based on smart watch user experience. After the in-depth interview, the user's sensibility was categorized into four aspects; functional, aesthetic, social, and empirical. Sensibility adjectives and key words were assigned to each aspect and their frequency was analyzed. It was the functional aspect of sensibility that the wearable device users require the most. The results of this study will be utilized as a fundamental data to develop the smart textiles required for the next generation of smart clothing which is attracting as a future wearable device.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.561-566
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• 2019

Objective : Functional outcomes have traditionally been evaluated and compared using subjective surveys, such as visual analog scores (VAS), the Oswestry disability index (ODI), and Short Form-36 (SF-36), to assess symptoms and quality of life. However, these surveys are limited by their subjective natures and inherent bias caused by differences in patient perceptions of symptoms. The Fitbit $Charge^{(R)}$ (Fitbit Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA) provides accurate and objective measures of physical activity. The use of this device in patients after laminectomy would provide objective physical measures that define ambulatory function, activity level, and degree of recovery. Therefore, the present study was conducted to identify relationships between the number of steps taken by patients per day and VAS pain scores, prognoses, and postoperative functional outcomes. Methods : We prospectively investigated 22 consecutive patients that underwent laminectomy for spinal stenosis or a herniated lumbar disc between June 2015 and April 2016 by the same surgeon. When patients were admitted for surgery and first visited after surgery, preoperative and postoperative functional scores were recorded using VAS scores, ODI scores, and SF-36. The VAS scores and physical activities were recorded daily from postoperative day (POD) 1 to POD 7. The relationship between daily VAS scores and daily physical activities were investigated by simple correlation analysis and the relationship between mean number of steps taken and ODI scores after surgery was subjected to simple regression analysis. In addition, Wilcoxon's signed-rank test was used to investigate the significance of pre-to-postoperative differences in VAS, ODI, and SF-36 scores. Results : Pre-to-postoperative VAS (p<0.001), ODI (p<0.001), SF-36 mental composite scores (p=0.009), and SF-36 physical composite scores (p<0.001) scores were found to be significantly different. Numbers of steps taken from POD 1 to POD 7 were negatively correlated with daily VAS scores (r=-0.981, p<0.001). In addition, the mean number of steps from POD 3 to POD 7 and the decrease in ODI conducted one month after surgery were statistically significant (p=0.029). Conclusion : Wearable devices are not only being used increasingly by consumers as lifestyle devices, but are also progressively being used in the medical area. This is the first study to demonstrate the usefulness of a wearable device for checking patient physical activity and predicting pain and prognosis after laminectomy. Based on our experience, the wearable device used to provide measures of physical activity in the present study has the potential to provide objective information on pain severity and prognosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.292-303
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• 2011

This research suggested a draft proposal for a smart jacket design, which has applied wearable technologies to provide convenience in daily life. The smart jacket combined with a vest was the casual item for autumn and winter. The heating device was composed of the heating element, battery, controller, electric wire, connector, switch, and charger. A stable electronic conductor fiber of good heating effect with a flexible zigzag form has been selected for the heating element. The lighting device has been made in a way that attaches the LED and its power controller in the same mechanical device. As the result of the wearing test, the heating effect turned out to be effective in the order of: back, both the back and abdomen and only the abdomen. When wearing a smart jacket, the back and abdomen have been selected as favorable body parts for heating. Pockets and hems are selected as the adequate place to attach the LED lighting, and the brightness of LED lighting has turned out to be suitable and useful. Based on the test results, the first draft proposal has attached the heating element only in the back and its controller located in the inside pocket of the vest. In addition, the LED has been attached to the front pocket of the jacket. As to the second draft proposal, heating elements have been placed in the back and the abdomen. Each controller for the heating elements has been placed in the front and inside pocket of vest, and the LED lighting has been attached to the hem of the jacket. The smart jacket combined with a wearable device was assessed by functioning categories. The user showed a high satisfaction in the heating and illuminating function of a smart jacket.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2018

In this paper, a 32-variable pulse position modulation (32-VPPM) scheme is proposed to support a red-green-blue light-emitting-diode (RGB-LED)-based optical camera communication (OCC) system. Our proposed modulation scheme is designed to enhance the OCC data transmission rate, which is targeted for the wearable biomedical data monitoring system. The OCC technology has been utilized as an alternative solution to the radio frequency (RF) wireless system for long-term self-healthcare monitoring. Different biomedical signals, such as electrocardiograms, photoplethysmograms, and respiration signals are being monitored and transmitted wirelessly from the wearable biomedical device to the smartphone receiver. A common 30 frames per second (fps) smartphone camera with a CMOS image sensor is used to record a transmitted optical signal. Moreover, the overall proposed system architecture, modulation scheme, and data demodulation are discussed in this paper. The experimental result shows that the proposed system is able to achieve > 9 kbps using only a common smartphone camera receiver.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.525-530
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• 2023

Stretchable piezoelectric energy harvester (S-PEHs) based on composite materials are considered one of the potential candidates for realizing wearable self-powered devices for smart clothing and electronic skin. However, low energy conversion performance and expensive stretchable electrodes are major bottlenecks hindering the development and application of S-PEHs. Here, we fabricated the S-PEH by adopting the piezoelectric composites with enhanced stress transfer properties and kirigami-patterned textile electrodes. The optimum contents of piezoelectric BaTiO₃ nanoparticles inside the carbon nanotube/ecoflex composite were selected as 30 wt% considering the trade-off between stretchability and energy harvesting performance of the device. The final S-PEH shows an output voltage and mechanical stability of ~5 V and ~3,000 cycles under repeated 150% of tensile strain, respectively. This work presents a cost-effective and scalable way to fabricate stretchable piezoelectric devices for self-powered wearable electronic systems.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.294-298
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• 2021

Recently, many electronic devices have been integrated with various kinds of wireless sensor network technologies that have been enabled with wireless network connections. These wireless sensor network devices have adopted various kinds of wireless network technologies. On the other hand, because each wireless network technology has its advantages and disadvantages, the target and purposes should be considered carefully at the beginning of the development. In particular, the approach to the magnetic sensor should be considered carefully because it has its own characteristic compared to general sensors. The magnetic field generates nonlinear data. This paper introduces the design aspects to reflect low cost and wearable devices to use in a wireless sensor network. In addition, this paper addresses how to select proper sensor network technology. As a result, wireless sensor network devices were integrated using Zigbee and showed the performance of the throughput.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.2113-2118
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• 2016

Smart Jewelry is applied to the components of the Internet of Things. The process of obtaining the status information to the input of the sensor. And it controls the light color of the LED. Because to express the beauty of twinkling lights that can be felt in the jewelery and aesthetic functions were applied in order to feel the mystery. Smart Jewelry is capable of communication, interaction, wearable. Smart jewelery was equipped with a color, temperature, ambient light sensor. It was designed to allow interaction with a Bluetooth module. Applying an algorithm so that the light jewelry colors can vary depending on the circumstances of the smart jewelry wearer had been implemented by the mobile application. It can be realized in digital technology and the convergence of life. It presents the orientation development of the smart jewelery device on IoT environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.674-684
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• 2021

Recent advances in electronic technology have engendered a need for research on the use of smart materials in clothing. Electro-conductive fibers are expected to be a crucial element of wearable devices. Therefore, in this study, we have attempted to develop electro-conductive threads and cables using silver nanowires. Based on the characteristics of silver nanowire, in which electro-conductivity can be imparted via heat treatment, we prepared conductive threads by coating nylon yarn with silver nanowires and curing at temperatures of 140℃, 150℃, and 160℃. Conductive threads cured at 140℃ had the highest conductivity, followed by threads cured at 160℃ and 150℃ respectively. The order of the electrical conductivity of the threads after tensile testing was consistent with the original order of the conductivity of the threads. When we evaluated the sensing performance of electro-conductive cables fabricated from these threads, the cables manufactured from threads cured at 140℃ and 160℃ were found to function normally within temperature and humidity sensors. All the cables operated normally in illuminance and electrocardiogram sensors. Thus, we believe that threads made of silver nanowire have sufficient electrical conductivity to be utilized as wearable sensors.

• Transactions of the Society of Information Storage Systems
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.36-40
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• 2015

The demand for flexible devices including solar cells, memories and batteries has increased rapidly over the past decades. In most flexible devices, polymer-based materials are used to enable the mechanical deformations such as bending or folding. Shape Memory Polymers (SMPs) is a high molecular compound polymer with flexibility and shape recovery characteristics. In this work, flexible shape memory device was fabricated by simply coating the conducting material, carbon nano-tube (CNT), on a shape memory polymer. Furthermore, durability of the device under various type of mechanical deformations was assessed. It is believed that the result of this work will aid in realization of a stretchable and wearable electronic device for practical applications.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2022

Piezoelectric energy harvesting technologies, which can be used to convert the electricity from the mechanical energy, have been developed in order to assist or power the wearable electronics. To realize non-toxic and biocompatible electronics, the lead-free (Ba_0.85Ca_0.15)(Ti_0.90Zr_0.10)O₃ (BCTZ) nanoparticles (NPs) are being studied with a great attention as flexible energy harvesting device. Herein, piezoelectric hybrid nanocomposites were fabricated using BCTZ NPs-embedded poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] matrix to improve the performance of flexible energy harvester. Output performance of the fabricated energy device was investigated by the well-optimized measurement system during the periodically bending and releasing motions. The generated open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current of the piezoelectric hybrid nanocomposite-based energy harvester reached up to ~15 V and ~1.1 ㎂, respectively; moreover, the instantaneous power of 3.5 ㎼ is determined from load voltage and current at the external load of 20 MΩ. This research is expected to cultivate a new approach to high-performance wearable self-powering electronics.