• Title/Summary/Keyword: impaired people

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Problem Analysis and Recommendations for Using Manual Wheelchair for One-hand Users

  • Park, Gemus;Hwang, Jung Bo;Jung, Hwa Shik
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.109-124
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    • 2014
  • Objective: This study was conducted for one-hand users including hemiplegic clients currently using general folding manual wheelchairs, so as to analyze their specific problems and recommend solutions regarding usage. Background: Traditional manual wheelchairs require considerable use and control of both hands for operation, thus adaptations become necessary for individuals with asymmetrical use of hands. Method: Thirty hemiplegic clients who were admitted to rehabilitation and convalescent hospitals participated as subjects. The research tools were general folding manual wheelchairs commonly used by people with impaired gait, and the Wheelchair Skills Tests (WST) WST-M/WCU 4.1 version was adopted as the assessment tool. All participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on demographics and wheelchair usage characteristics. Assessment procedures were performed with currently used manual wheelchairs and with/without the use of foot to control the wheelchair. Results: When the participants drove folding manual wheelchairs without the use of foot, even the lowest failure rate among the WST items tested recorded 96.7%. On the contrary, with the use of foot in maneuvering the wheelchairs, failure rates dropped noticeably and success rate among the WST items tested was as high as 86.7%. Conclusion: These findings imply that the use of one-arm (hand) propellable (drivable) wheelchair can be an active and effective solution in resolving problems for hemiplegic clients using existing manual wheelchairs. As such, the government should provide institutional support to further develop and distribute this device or technology, and promote relative research in tandem. For now, the supply of commercially available device to hemiplegic clients is deemed urgent and also a mechanism to provide the devices and relevant services. Application: This study offers viable solutions for hemiplegic clients who rely on existing manual wheelchairs to increase their mobility and occupational performance.

The Study of Anticipatory Postural Adjustments in Voluntary Arm and Leg Movement (수의적인 상·하지 움직임 동안의 체간의 선행적 자세조절 연구)

  • Jung, Kyoung-Sim;Shin, Won-Seob;Chung, Yi-Jung
    • Physical Therapy Korea
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.30-37
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    • 2008
  • Anticipatory postural adjustments are pre-planned by the central nervous system (CNS) before the activation of agonist muscles in the limbs, and minimize postural sway. Most previous studies on this topic have focused on upper-limb movement, and little research has been conducted on lower-limb movement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the recruitment order of left and right trunk muscles during limb movement. Fifteen healthy subjects (10 male, 5 female) were enrolled. Electro-myographic signals were recorded on the muscles of: (1) deltoid, lumbar erector spinae, latissimus dorsi and internal oblique during shoulder flexion, (2) rectus femoris, rectus abdominis, external oblique and internal oblique during hip flexion. During right upper limb flexion, the onset of left erector spinae muscle and left internal oblique muscle activity preceded the onset of right deltoid by 8.09 ms and 19.83 ms, respectively. But these differences were not significant (p>.05). A similar sequence of activation occurred with lower limb flexion. The onset of left internal oblique muscle activity preceded the onset of right rectus femoris muscle by 28.29 ms (p<.05). The onset of right internal oblique muscle activity preceded the onset of left rectus femoris muscles by 23.24 ms (p<.05). The internal oblique muscle was the first activated during limb movement. Our study established the recruitment order of trunk muscles during limb movement, and explained the postural control strategy of the trunk muscles in healthy people. We expect that this study will be used to evaluate patients with an asymmetric recruitment order of muscle activation due to impaired CNS.

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Convergence evaluation method using multisensory and matching painting and music using deep learning based on imaginary soundscape (Imaginary Soundscape 기반의 딥러닝을 활용한 회화와 음악의 매칭 및 다중 감각을 이용한 융합적 평가 방법)

  • Jeong, Hayoung;Kim, Youngjun;Cho, Jundong
    • Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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    • v.11 no.11
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    • pp.175-182
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    • 2020
  • In this study, we introduced the technique of matching classical music using deep learning to design soundscape that can help the viewer appreciate painting and proposed an evaluation index to evaluate how well matching painting and music. The evaluation index was conducted with suitability evaluation through the Likeard 5-point scale and evaluation in a multimodal aspect. The suitability evaluation score of the 13 test participants for the deep learning based best match between painting and music was 3.74/5.0 and band the average cosine similarity of the multimodal evaluation of 13 participants was 0.79. We expect multimodal evaluation to be an evaluation index that can measure a new user experience. In addition, this study aims to improve the experience of multisensory artworks by proposing the interaction between visual and auditory. The proposed matching of painting and music method can be used in multisensory artwork exhibition and furthermore it will increase the accessibility of visually impaired people to appreciate artworks.

A Study on Kinematic Analysis of Trunk and Lower Extremities in Stance Phase of Walking according to Turning Direction (보행 방향 전환 시 입각기 하지 및 체간의 운동형상학적 분석)

  • Oh, Tae-Young
    • The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.88-95
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    • 2013
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis of kinematics of lower extremities and trunk in stance phase of walking according to turning direction. Methods: Ten university students (five male, five female) who were in their 20s (mean age was 20.6 years old) participated in this study. Participants did not have participants did not have any problem with skeletal muscular system. We used the "Qualisys motion capture system" for analysis of trunk and lower extremity movement in stance phase of walking according to turning direction. We collected data while subjects walked a distance of 10 m, and at the 6 m line, subjects were required to turn to the left side and the right leg was positioned in stance phase and the left leg was positioned in swing. For data analysis, the SPSS for Windows ver. 20.0 statistics program was used in performance of one way analysis of variance according to turning direction. Results: Significant difference of trunk and lower extremities was observed for turning direction according to walking cycle (p<0.05). Upper trunk movement showed a greater increase at three dimensions than lower trunk, and in heel off phase, pelvic movement showed a greater increase than lower trunk (p<0.05). In 45 degree and 90 degrees of turning direction, all movements of trunk and lower extremities were significantly different among three events of stance phase (p<0.05). Conclusion: We suggest that three-dimensional movement analysis of trunk and lower extremities during turning movement was very important in order to indicate increasing balance or walking ability for people with impaired movement or walking.

A Study on the Self-voice Suppression Algorithm in a ZigBee CROS Hearing Aid (지그비 크로스 보청기에서의 자기음성 억제 알고리즘 연구)

  • Im, Won-Jin;Goh, Young-Hwan;Jeon, Yu-Yong;Kil, Se-Kee;Yoon, Kwang-Sub;Lee, Sang-Min
    • Journal of IKEEE
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.62-71
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    • 2009
  • In this study, we developed a wireless CROS(contralateral routing of signal) hearing aid for unilateral impaired people. CROS hearing aid takes sound from an ear with poorer hearing and transmit to another ear with better hearing. Generally, the self-voice delivered through the receiver of CROS hearing aid can be very loud. It is hard to perceive target speech because of loud self-voice. To compensate it, a self-voice suppression algorithm has been developed. we performed SDT(speech discrimination test) for evaluation of the self-voice suppression algorithm. One-syllable words was used as test speech and recorded with self-voice at a 1m distance. As the results, SDT score was improved about 11% when the self-voice suppression algorithm was processed. It is verified that the self-voice suppression algorithm helps speech perception at a time to communicate with others.

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The Study of Death during Military Services and the advanced Death Investigation System (군내 사망사고 실태분석을 통한 변사체 검시제도의 개선에 관한 연구)

  • Gil, Byung-Cheon
    • Journal of forensic and investigative science
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.5-24
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    • 2008
  • The necessity for the investigation of death occurred in military services has no differences to the death of civilians. But the death of military service members under the Universal Conscription System in Korea has special considerations because of hard accessibility by the bereaved family and closed environment of the army. The analysis of the death occurred during military service was carried out and the advanced death investigation system to prevent the death was proposed to prevent the declination of fighting spirit and efficiency and also to restore the solid support by the people. The deaths in the period 1995~2006 were 330 persons in 1995, 359 persons in 1996 and were decreased to 135 persons in 2006. The death caused by safety accidents including vehicle accident, drowning, fall were 56% and by military crimes including suicide, arms, homicide were 44%. The numbers of suicides were 108 persons in 1995 and were decreased to 79 persons in 2006. The numbers of suicides were decreased constantly, but the ratio of suicide to death were increased, so the suicide prevention is more important. The autopsy ratio was increased to 51.5% in 2005 and was much higher compared to the ratio for civilians. The main reasons of complaints by the bereaved family were for regaining reputation, death in harness and reinvestigation of death. The proposals for the advanced death investigation system were as follows. The unnatural deaths including the obvious accidental deaths and homicides have to be defined by the rules. The human resources to perform the autopsy can be supported by the forensic pathologists from medical school. The special training and quality assurance programs are needed for the crime scene investigator. To regain the impaired reputation from the suicide and to support the bereaved family has to be discussed by the government.

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The Role of Immunostimulants in Monogastric Animal and Fish - Review -

  • Sohn, K.S.;Kim, M.K.;Kim, J.D.;Han, In K.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.13 no.8
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    • pp.1178-1187
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    • 2000
  • Many immunostimulating substances have been developed to improve immunity of domestic animals, although their exact mode of action and effects are not clearly defined, and they are now widely used in feed industry. Bacterial lipopolysaccharides, called endotoxin, in particular may have a profound effect not only on the immune system but also on macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system. Glucans from a variety of yeast cell wall have been shown to stimulate both specific and non-specific immune responses and to increase growth performance in pigs. Recently, there has been great interest in the role of complex carbohydrates in disease prevention and treatment. Mannanoligosaccharide is a glucomannoprotein complex derived from the cell wall of yeast. Generally, it was also known that the deficiencies of some major vitamins (vitamin A, E and C) and minerals (chromium and selenium) lead to impaired immune system and, as a result, immune function is depressed and recovery delayed. On the other hand, many researchers suggested that one possible reason for the superior performance observed in pigs fed plasma protein may be because of the presence of biologically active plasma proteins (e.g., immunoglobulins) which are known to contribute to the health of the starter pig. And, immunoglobulins present in plasma protein have been implicated as contributing to the overall immunocompetence of the newborn pig. Other immunostimulants, lactoferrin and lysozyme, mainly found in milk and egg white, have been known as having bacteriocidal and bacteriolytic effect. When considering practical use of immunostimulants, the concept of using immunostimulants is new to many people and, in most cases, it is poorly understood how and why such compounds act, and how they should be used in practice. Therefore, in order to clarify the reason for discrepancies in results, special attention should be paid to the dose/response relationship of immunostimulants and the duration of the effect.

A Study on the Hangul Input Methodology for Eye-gaze Interface (시선 입력 장치에 의한 한글 입력 시스템 설계에 관한 연구)

  • Seo Han-Sok;Kim Chee-Yong
    • Journal of Digital Contents Society
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    • v.5 no.3
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    • pp.239-244
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    • 2004
  • New developments in IT already impact wide segments of a young and mobile population. It is evident that applications of information technology can be of equal benefit to the aged and the disabled. `Eye-Gaze'(EGI) technology was designed for people with paralysis in the upper body. There is a compeling need for a dedicated Korean Language interface for this system. The purpose of this study is to research 'Barrier Free' software using a control group of the mobility impaired to assess the Eye-Gaze Interface in the context of more conventional input methods. TheEGI of this study uses Quick Glance System of Eye Tech Digital Systems. The study will be evaluated on criteria based upon the needs of those with specific disabilities and mobility problems associated with aging. We also intend to explore applications of the Eye-Gaze Interface for English and Japanese devises, based upon our study using the Hangul phonology.

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A Study on the Evaluation and Improvement of Student Convenient Facilities at University Campuses, based on Universal Design Concept - Focused on the university campuses in Texas, U.S.A. - (유니버설디자인 개념에 의거한 대학내 학생편의시설 평가 및 개선방향에 대한 연구 - 미국 텍사스주를 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Won-Pil
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.19-28
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    • 2014
  • Student halls and their convenient facilities have been a focal point for various student activities at university campus. It has been for most of the student a place of unique memories and of attachment often associated with those good and bad school days. However, it is questionable whether these facilities are supportive and accessible for all of the students and other users including the handicapped. Therefore, based on the concept of UD(universal design) which was widely applied to U.S. institutions, this study intended to evaluate student hall facilities in U.S. and to provide an improvement direction for Korean UD application. For that purpose, four universities were selected for an in-depth analysis and 76 survey indices were utilized based on previous research. It was found that (1) design consideration without braille sign for VIP(visually impaired person) in student buildings can be differently approached with electronic devices; (2) the best demonstration of UD in student buildings can be seen in spacious flat pathway, easy access through ramp and wide entry area, necessary for people in wheel-chairs, but used by all, implying an increase of the ratio of public space; (3) one of the good UD features is an attractive physical environment rather than institutional appearance, in which they ultimately will support and completely adaptable at optimal levels by everyone; (4) consistent maintenance and management maximize the potential of UD principles and minimize physical limitations.

Study on Cutaneous Mycoses in Oriental Medicine (피부진균증의 한의학적 고찰)

  • Cha, Eun-Yea;Kang, Jung-Soo
    • Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.799-806
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    • 2006
  • Fungi cause a number of plant and animal diseases. Because fungi are more chemically and genetically similar to animals than other organisms, this makes fungal diseases very difficult to treat. Human fungal infections are uncommon in normally healthy persons, being confined to conditions such as candidiasis (thrush) and dermatophyte skin infections such as athlete's foot. However, in the immunocompromised host, a variety of normally mild or nonpathogenic fungi can cause potentially fatal infections. Furthermore, the relative ease with which people can now visit 'exotic' countries provides the means for unusual fungal infections to be imported into this country. Fungal infections or mycoses are classified depending on the degree of tissue involvement and mode of entry into the host. These are Cutaneous, Subcutaneous, Systemic, and Opportunistic. As listed above, in superficial mycoses infection is localised to the skin, the hair, and the nails. An example is 'ringworm' or 'tinea', an infection of the skin by a dermatophyte. Ringworm refers to the characteristic central clearing that often occurs in dermatophyte infections of the skin. Dermatophyte members of the genera Trycophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton are responsible for the disease. Tinea can infect various sites of the body, including the scalp (tinea capitis), the beard (tinea barbae) the foot (tinea pedis: 'athlete's foot') and the groin (tinea cruris). All occur in the United Kingdom although tinea infections, other than pedis, are now rare. Candids albicans is a yeast causing candidiasis or 'thrush' in humans. As a superficial mycoses, candidiasis typically infects the mouth or vagina. C. albicans is part of the normal flora of the vagina and gastrointestinal tract and is termed a 'commensal' However, during times of ill health or impaired immunity the balance can alter and the organism multiplies to cause disease. Antibiotic treatment can also alter the normal bacterial flora allowing C. albicans to flourish. If we study mycoses of the orient medicine, we can improve the medical skills about mycoses.