• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.33-39
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• 2023

PURPOSE: This study examined the status of the efficient supply of assistive devices for students with disabilities. METHODS: A complete investigation was conducted on the request and supply of assistive devices for students with disabilities at the Korea National University of Welfare. The subjects were 112 students with disabilities who applied for assistive device rental. The status of the supply of assistive devices according to the type of disability was investigated. The overall satisfaction with learning support was measured. The questionnaire content was categorized into the following three factors to determine learning support satisfaction: support overall (role, staff, facilities) learning support (learning support, learning counseling, life consultation), assistive device supply (counseling, rental, uses, rental period, maintenance services). RESULTS: The most common type of students with disabilities was physical disabilities 62 (29.38%) and hearing impairments 62 (29.38%). Students with physical disabilities and brain lesions rented manual and electric wheelchairs the most. Learning support satisfaction was evaluated considering the factors support overall, learning and assistive device supply effects. satisfaction of learning support for students with disabilities 83.5 points. CONCLUSION: The satisfaction with assistive device supply appears to be relatively lower than support overall. Each university will gradually secure assistive devices that suit the characteristics of students with disabilities.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2010

Research and development of Assistive Technology (AT) for blind people is primarily focused on assisting mobility and improving access to information. Some particularly useful devices for aiding access to information and communication are DAISY players used with talking books, screen readers for reading screens, video magnifiers to aid low vision, Braille displays, and Braille PDAs. These essential devices have been successfully commercialized and have assisted many visually impaired people. Assistive technology devices for visually impaired people are called sensory substitution devices, because these devices substitute tactile or auditory functions for visual functions. The tactile interfaces of sensory substitution devices such as Braille displays and Braille PDAs have a bimorph type of piezoelectric actuator that forms a Braille (pin) of the Braille cells by moving up and down. KGS Corporation of Japan has more than 80% share of the worldwide market for these Braille cell actuators. Commercializing it for the first time in the world. This paper reviews the various endeavors in Japan in the research and development of tactile displays, such as Braille displays and Braille PDAs. Furthermore, it discusses sensory substitution devices that use tactile displays, focusing especially on the rotating Braille display we have developed.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.221-226
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to suggest improvement directions and analysis of assistive technology service linkage on public benefits in local assistive technology center. The service steps and the main program parts of public benefits linkage in local assistive technology center was identified, and the present status of associated repair works and contact suppliers of assistive technology device in local community was investigated. The result showed the most common level of associated status to provide information of assistive technology devices in public benefits. All the centers provided repair service, and it was typically performed to light maintenance. The centers offered with associated professional repair service supplier for high maintenance service. The connection with assistive technology device supplier appeared a lot of regional difference. Henceforth, the centers will be required to distribute more various assistive technology devices, it is necessary upgrading the quality of information and interaction with the public benefits supporting organizations through its expansion, and it is need to ensure based on policy through the analysis of the effectiveness about linkage.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

Purpose: This study sought to identify the utilization and confidence in assistive technology (AT) for pediatric physical therapists (PPTs) and pediatric occupational therapists (POTs) for the purpose of improving the utilization of AT in clinics. Methods: The subjects of this study were 167 therapists (98 PPTs and 69 POTs) who work at general hospitals, welfare centers, facilities for the disabled, and special education schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The frequency analysis and chi-squared test were used. Results: This study found that both PPTs and POTs recognize that AT benefits infants with disabilities; however, they show low confidence in using AT. Applications of AT are concentrated on wheelchairs for mobility and assistance with seating position, with orthotics/prosthetics for both purposes. POTs were found to use a wider variety of AT devices. While both PPTs and POTs frequently select/recommend devices, both groups are less involved with delivery methods, manufacture of devices, and education on AT use. Conclusion: These findings show the actual conditions of utilization and confidence in AT of PPTs and POTs deeply involved with AT, and emphasize that AT training is essential for pediatric treatment by comparing domestic and foreign studies.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.32-42
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to evaluate driving performance of Healthy and disabled groups (with or without driver's license) to control steering wheel by using steering assistive devices in the driving simulator. The persons with partial loss of use of all four limbs have problems in operation of the motor vehicle because of functional loss to operate steering wheel. Therefore, if steering assistive devices for grasping the steering wheel are used to control the vehicle on the road in persons with disabilities, the disabled persons can improve mobility in their community life by driving a motor vehicle safely. Ten healthy subjects (with or w/o driver's license) and ten subjects with physical disabilities (with or w/o driver's license) were involved in this study to evaluate driving performance to operate steering wheel by using four types of steering assistive devices (Single-pin, V-grip, Palm-grip, Tri-pin) in driving simulator. STISim Drive 3 software was used to test the steering performance in four scenarios: straight road at low and high speed of vehicle (40 km/h and 80 km/h), curved road at low and high speed of vehicle (40 km/h and 80 km/h). This study used two-way ANOVA in order to compare the effects of two factors (type of steering assistive device and subject group) in the three dependent variables of driving performance (the lateral position of vehicle, standard deviation of lateral position representing the variation of the left and right movement of the vehicle and the number of line crossing). The mean values of the three dependent variables (lateral position, standard deviation of lateral position, the number of line crossing) of steering performance were statistically significantly smaller for the healthy or disabled groups with driver's license than the other groups without driver's license on the curved road at high speed of vehicle compared to low speed of vehicle.

• 재활복지
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.25-45
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• 2014

The present report aims to examine the assistive technology(AT) service operating system for the Disabled in Sweden, and will give it to NHIS(National Health Insurance Service) to manage of policy for AT service operating system. The user of AT is around 10% of the Disabled in Sweden which is introduced the AT service system to support the independence for the Disabled. To provide AT service, the role of the Ministry of Health(planning and regulation, controling Handisam and Hi as a subsidiary), County councils(providing and follow up medical AT service, operating AT service center) and Municipalities(providing general AT service) in Sweden is decentralized strictly. Specially, all the AT device is lent freely and recycled suitably for persons with Disabilities, moreover nurses, physical therapist and occupational therapist has a qualification for prescription of AT device . This finding will be the basis to improve Assistive Technology Operating System in Korea.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.299-306
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• 2017

The Korean medical device industry has increased dramatically due to various investments in the domestic medical device industry and the introduction of new technologies, but the domestic medical device usage rate in great hospital is still low. In this paper, improvement point for domestic medical device was suggested by domestic medical device usage rate and user and manager's perception survey in great hospitals in Korea. To do this, a survey on the types of medical devices and domestic medical device usage rates were conducted at four national university hospitals in Korea. From this results, the priority survey medical devices were selected. Improvements of Korean medical devices were suggested by failure mode analysis and user awareness surveys for the priority survey medical devices.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

The combination of medical devices and IT convergence technology has made it possible to check health whenever and wherever people want. The recent development of various Ubiqutous Healthcare medical devices ensures the convenient measurements of health variations in daily lives and at home. However, considering that there is a growing prevalence of the devices and a great interest in the development of Ubiqutous Healthcare device, it is urgent to secure the stability and to establish performance evaluation. Therefore, it is needed to develop standard testing methods for the stability and the performance evaluation on before and after selling products. In this paper, I studied the standard testing method of both compulsory tests and performance evaluation which are for the electric stability evaluation on Ubiqutous Healthcare devices.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.279-285
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• 2017

In this study, feasibility analysis was performed by estimating the costs and effects of daisy reading auxiliary machine development project. The development cost of a Daisy player device, hardware/prototype and software, with only essential functions and with low price was estimated to be \307,101,664, and the production cost for a player was calculated to be \112,000. The development of Daisy viewer software and input/output assistive devices, application, was estimated to be \284,294,08, and an input/output device was set a price of \6,600. Based on these results, we looked at the economic ripple effects on the people with disabilities by promoting daisy - reading assistive device development project. The results of this study could be used to determine whether the project is to proceed. It is expected that it provides valuable information to actively cope with the changing business environment in the future.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.287-297
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• 2017

This exploratory study aimed to explore the perception (knowledge and attitude) and behaviors of medical personnel regarding medical device safety and to identify the differences in results linked with the type of their task. A questionnaire was administered to medical personnel working at a tertiary care hospital with 900 beds in Incheon, Korea, and 220 completed questionnaires were used for analysis. The results revealed that the majority of the medical personnel perceived the potential risk involved in different types of medical devices they use and stated that they need training programs for safe use of medical devices. Concerning the perception regarding medical devices across different positions within the hospital, it was found that the residents had a low awareness about safety issues, although the medical services they handled involve high risks, thereby calling for safety training. Further nationwide studies are needed to improve the quality and validity of data and eventually to provide important information required by policy makers and academicians to manage medical device safety.