• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.387-393
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• 2018

Objectives: This paper describes an experience of implementing seamless service trials online and offline by adopting Internet of Things (IoT) technology based on near-field communication (NFC) tags and Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) beacons. The services were provided for both patients and health professionals. Methods: The pilot services were implemented to enhance healthcare service quality, improve patient safety, and provide an effective business process to health professionals in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea. The services to enhance healthcare service quality include healing tours, cancer information/education, psychological assessments, indoor navigation, and exercise volume checking. The services to improve patient safety are monitoring of high-risk inpatients and delivery of real-time health information in emergency situations. In addition, the services to provide an effective business process to health professionals include surveys and web services for patient management. Results: Considering the sustainability of the pilot services, we decided to pause navigation and patient monitoring services until the interference problem could be completely resolved because beacon signal interference significantly influences the quality of services. On the other hand, we had to continue to provide new wearable beacons to high-risk patients because of hygiene issues, so the cost increased over time and was much higher than expected. Conclusions: To make the smart connected hospital services sustainable, technical feasibility (e.g., beacon signal interference), economic feasibility (e.g., continuous provision of new necklace beacons), and organizational commitment and support (e.g., renewal of new alternative medical devices and infrastructure) are required.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.20-24
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• 2021

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most extensively employed signals used to diagnose and predict cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). In recent years, several deep learning (DL) models have been proposed to improve detection accuracy. Among these, deep neural networks (DNNs) are the most popular, wherein the features are extracted automatically. Despite the increment in classification accuracy, DL models require exorbitant computational resources and power. This causes the mapping of DNNs to be slow; in addition, the mapping is challenging for a wearable device. Embedded systems have constrained power and memory resources. Therefore full-precision DNNs are not easily deployable on devices. To make the neural network faster and more power-efficient, spiking neural networks (SNNs) have been introduced for fewer operations and less complex hardware resources. However, the conventional SNN has low accuracy and high computational cost. Therefore, this paper proposes a new binarized SNN which modifies the synaptic weights of SNN constraining it to be binary (+1 and -1). In the simulation results, this paper compares the DL models and SNNs and evaluates which model is optimal for ECG classification. Although there is a slight compromise in accuracy, the latter proves to be energy-efficient.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2007

Today Human Personal Trainers are becoming very famous in this health conscious world. They teach user to achieve fitness goals in managed way. Due to their high fee and tight schedule they are unavailable to mass number of people. Another solution to this problem is to develop digital personal trainer portable instrument that may replace human personal trainers. We developed a portable digital exercise trainer device - BIOFIT that manages, monitors and records the user's physical status and workout during exercise session. It guides the user to exercise efficiently for specific fitness goal. It keeps the full exercise program i.e. exercises start date and time, duration, mode, control parameter, intensity in its memory which helps the user in managing his exercise. Exercise program can be downloaded from the internet. During exercise it continuously monitors the user's physiological parameters: heart rate, number of steps walked, and energy consumed. If these parameters do not range within prescribed target zone, the BIOFIT will alarm the user as a feedback to control exercise. The BIOFIT displays these parameters on graphic LCD. During exercise it continuously records the heart rate and number of steps walked every 10 seconds along with exercise date and time. This stored information can be used as treatment for the user by an exercise expert. Real-time ECG monitoring can be viewed wirelessly (RF Communication) on a remote PC.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.243-248
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• 2022

As the scope of use of portable and wearable electronic devices is expanding, the limitations of heavy and bulky solid-state batteries are being revealed. Given that, it is urgent to develop a small energy harvesting device that can partially share the role of a battery and the utilization of energy sources that are thrown away in daily life is becoming more important. Contact electrification, which generates electricity based on the coupling of the triboelectric effect and electrical induction when the two material surfaces are in contact and separated, can effectively harvest the physical and mechanical energy sources existing in the surrounding environment without going through a complicated intermediate process. Recently, the interest in the harvest and utilization of wind energy is growing since the wind is an infinitely ecofriendly energy source among the various environmental energy sources that exist in human surroundings. In this study, the optimization of the energy harvesting device for the effective harvest of wind energy based on the contact electrification was analyzed and then, the utilization strategy to maximize the utilization of the generated electricity was investigated. Natural wind based Fluttering TENG (NF-TENG) using fluttering film was developed, and design optimization was conducted. Moreover, the safe high voltage generation system was developed and a plan for application in the field requiring high voltage was proposed by highlighting the unique characteristics of TENG that generates low current and high voltage. In this respect, the result of this study demonstrates that a portable energy harvesting device based on the contact electrification shows great potential as a strategy to harvest wind energy thrown away in daily life and use it widely in fields requiring high voltage.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.122-126
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• 2019

These-days technology related to IoT (Internet of Thing) is widely used and there are many types of smart system based IoT like smart health, smart building and so on. In smart health system, it is possible to check someone's health by analyzing data from wearable IoT device like smart watch. Smart building system aims to collect data from sensor such as humidity, temperature, human counter like that and control the building for energy efficiency, security, safety and so forth. Furthermore, smart city system can comprise several smart systems like smart building, smart health, smart mobility, smart energy and etc. In this paper, we propose multimedia IoT based intelligent emergency alarm system for smart city. In existing IoT based smart system, it communicates lightweight data like text data. In the past, due to network's limitations lightweight IoT protocol was proposed for communicating data between things but now network technology develops, problem which is to communicate heavy data is solving. The proposed system obtains video from IP cameras/CCTVs, analyses the video by exploiting AI algorithm for detecting emergencies and prevents them which cause damage or death. If emergency is detected, the proposed system sends warning message that emergency may occur to people or agencies. We built prototype of the intelligent emergency alarm system based on MQTT and assured that the system detected dangerous situation and sent alarm messages. From the test results, it is expected that the system can prevent damages of people, nature and save human life from emergency.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.129-140
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• 2023

Following ISO 20471, in this study, first, two sets of safety clothes and safety vests were made by designing and attaching animal and bird patterns preferred by children to retroreflective films and black fabrics on those fluorescent fabrics and retroreflective materials prescribed by international standards. Second, by mounting a smart photonic device on the safety clothing so that the body can be recognized from a distance even without an ambient light source at night, children can emit three types of light depending on the situation with just one-touch of the button. From a result of comparison with visibility a day and night by dressing a mannequin in the made smart safety clothing, the difference in visibility was evident at night, it was confirmed that we can see the figure of a person even at a distance of approximately 70 m. Therefore, it is expected to contribute to the prevention of traffic and other accidents on the road, as the drivers driving at night or in bad weather can recognize a person from a distance. Third, in case of the energy is exhausted and cannot maintain the stability of the light-emitting function of the optical faber, we can use energy harvesting device, and the light-emitting time will be extended. As a result it comes up to emit light stably for a long time. And this prove that smart photonic safety clothing can also be used for night workers. Therefore, optical fiber safety clothing is expected to be highly wearable not only in real life but also in dark industrial sites due to stable charging by applying the energy harvesting provided by solar cells.

• Composites Research
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.378-393
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• 2022

As an emerging power generation technology, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have received increasing attention due to their boundless promise in energy harvesting and self-powered sensing applications. The recent rise of soft robotics has sparked widespread enthusiasm for developing flexible and soft sensors and actuators. TENGs have been regarded as promising power sources for driving actuators and self-powered sensors, providing a unique approach for the development of soft robots with soft sensors and actuators. In this review, TENG-based soft robots with different morphologies and different functions are introduced. Among them, the design of biomimetic soft robots that imitate the structure, surface morphology, material properties, and sensing/generating mechanisms of nature has greatly benefited in improving the performance of TENGs. In addition, various bionic soft robots have been well improved compared to previous driving methods due to the simple structure, self-powering characteristics, and tunable output of TENGs. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive review of various studies within specific areas of TENG-enabled soft robotics applications. We first explore various recently developed TENG-based soft robots and a comparative analysis of various device structures, surface morphologies, and nature-inspired materials, and the resulting improvements in TENG performance. Various ubiquitous sensing principles and generation mechanisms used in nature and their analogous artificial TENG designs are demonstrated. Finally, biomimetic applications of TENG enabled in tactile displays as well as in wearable devices, artificial electronic skin and other devices are discussed. System designs, challenges and prospects of TENGs-based sensing and actuation devices in the practical application of soft robotics are analyzed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.119-126
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• 2019

A flexible thermoelectric module, which consisted of 18 pairs of Bi₂Te₃-based hot-pressed p-n thermoelectric legs, were processed by filling the module inside with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and removing the top and bottom substrates. Its power generation properties and bending characteristics were measured. With putting the flexible module on the wrist, an open circuit voltage of 2.23 mV and a maximum output power of 1.69 ㎼ were generated during staying still. On the other hand, an open circuit voltage of 3.32 mV and a maximum output power of 3.41 ㎼ were obtained with walking motion. The resistance variation of the module was kept below 1% even after applying 30,000 bending cycles with a bending curvature radius of 25 mm.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.149-156
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• 2019

A stretchable thermoelectric module consisting of 5 pairs of Bi₂Te₃-based hot-pressed p-n thermoelectric legs was processed by filling the module inside with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and removing the top and bottom substrates. Its stretchable characteristics and power generation properties were measured. The integrity of the module was kept well even after 10 strain cycles ranging from 0 to 0.1. With increasing the tensile strain to 0.2, the module circuitry became open because of joint failure between Cu electrodes and thermoelectric legs. The stretchable thermoelectric module exhibited an open circuit voltage of 4.6 mV with a temperature difference of 2.2K across both ends of thermoelectric legs, and changes in its open circuit voltage were below 5% for tensile strains of 0~0.1. Being elongated for a strain of 0.1, it exhibited the maximum output power of 18.5 ㎼ with the temperature difference of 2.2K across its both ends.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.80-87
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• 2018

Safety issues in Li-ion battery system have been prime concerns, as demands for power supply device applicable to wearable device, electrical vehicles and energy storage system have increased. To solve safety problems, promising strategy is to replace organic liquid electrolyte with non-flammable solid electrolyte, leading to the development of all-solid-state battery. However, relative low conductivity and high resistance from rigid solid-solid interface hinder a wide application of solid electrolyte. Composite electrolytes composed of organic and inorganic parts could be alternative solution, which in turn bring about the increase of conductivity and conformal contact at physically rough interfaces. In our study, composite electrolytes were prepared by combining poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO) and $Li_7La_3Zr_2O_{12}$ (LLZO). The crystallinity, morphology and electrochemical performances were investigated with the control of LLZO contents from 0 wt% to 50 wt%. From the results, it is concluded that optimum content and uniform dispersion of LLZO in polymer matrix are significant to improve overall conductivity of composite electrolyte.