• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.110-115
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• 2004

The prosthesis of current commercialized apparatus has considerable problems, requiring improvement. Especially, LLP(Lower Limb Prosthesis)-related problems have improved, but it cannot provide normal walking because, mainly, the gait control of the LLP does not fit with patient's gait manner. To solve this problem, HCI((Human Computer Interaction) that adapts and controls LLP postures according to patient's gait manner more effectively is studied in this research. The proposed control technique has 2 steps： 1) the multilayer neural network forecasts angles of gait of LLP by using the angle of normal side of lower limbs； and 2) the adaptive neural controller manages the postures of the LLP based on the predicted joint angles. According to the experiment data, the prediction error of hip angles was 0.32［deg.］, and the predicted error of knee angles was 0.12［deg.] for the estimated posture angles for the LLP. The performance data was obtained by applying the reference inputs of the LLP controller while walking. Accordingly, the control performance of the hip prosthesis improved by 80% due to the control postures of the LLP using the reference input when comparing with LQR controller.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.365-375
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the maximal elongation rate and area expansion ratio of human skin in various postures. Five males and five females (male: $23{\pm}2yr$ in age, $177.9{\pm}4.8cm$ in height, $76.7{\pm}8.8kg$ in body weight, $24.2{\pm}2.5$ in BMI, $16.2{\pm}3.4%$ in body fat; female: $22{\pm}1yr$, $163.2{\pm}3.6cm$, $51.4{\pm}2.7kg$, $19.3{\pm}1.6$, $27.4{\pm}6.7%BF$) participated in this study. Measurements were conducted using a pen and tape on the elbow, knee, wrist, shoulder, and neck. Subjects held postures so that each joint of the body regions was bent at its maximal level. The results were as follows: 1) The maximal elongation rate of skin showed a significant difference among the regions: $16.6{\pm}3.4%$ for the wrist, $22.4{\pm}5.5%$ for the neck (back), $37.6{\pm}11.3%$ for the shoulder, $42.6{\pm}10.0%$ for the knee, and $43.9{\pm}4.0%$ for the elbow (p<0.05). 2) The maximal expansion rate of the body surface area had the greatest values on the elbow ($93.7{\pm}6.4%$) and knee ($74.8{\pm}10.8%$). 3) No significant difference was found between males and females. In summary, maximal values of skin elongation and expansion rates in vivo were greater than in vitro values known from previous reports. These results can be applied to develop electronic fibers or textiles for wearable tight fit work clothing as well as fitness wear.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.247-253
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• 2005

This study investigated the effects on foot and ankle roll-over characteristics according to different heel heights during walking. Fifteen female volunteers who have neither musculoskeletal nor foot problems were participated in gait analyses, wearing four different pairs of shoes in different heel heights. To obtain roll-over shape of foot/ankle complex, we used trajectories of knee and ankle joints as well as the renter of pressure between initial contact and opposite initial contact. Results revealed that the entire roll-over shape moved distally as the heel height increased but roll-over characteristics showed uniformly with different heel heights. In addition, we found that nondisablea persons automatically adapted to their foot/ankle complex to varying heel heights within 6cm, by moving the origin of roll-over shape distally to maintain roll-over characteristics. However, since the balance of the gait only by the ankle joint could not be achieved beyond the heel height of 6cm, compensations at the knee and the hip joints occurred simultaneously. Roll-over characteristics in human walking would provide simpler and wider understanding of human walking, and furthermore could be applied to the wide understanding of prosthetics and orthotics of the lower extremity as well as orthopaedic shoes.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of this study was to conduct a biomechanical analysis of a one-legged jump in a traditional Korean dance (Wae Bal Ddwigi) according to breathing method. Method : Participants for this study were 10 dancers with experience for at least 10 years in traditional Korean dance. Independent variables for this test were two different types of breathing methods. Dependent variables were ground reaction force and lower extremity kinematic variables. The jumping movement was divided into three separate stages, take off, flight, and landing. The subjects were asked a questionnaire regarding the degree of impact force and stability of landing posture after the experiment. The Kistler Force Plate (9281B, Switzerland) was used to measure ground reaction force. A digital camera was used to look into angles of each joint of the lower part of body. SPSS was used for statistical analysis via the dependent t-test(p<.05). Results : There were significant differences in jumping according to breathing method. The inhalation & exhalation method yielded significantly longer flight times combined with greater ground reaction force. The breath-holding method required more core flexion during landing, increasing movement at the hips and shoulders. Conclusion : Consequently, there was more flexion at the knee to compensate for this movement. As a result, landing time was significantly higher for breath-holding.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.43-47
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• 2015

Osteoarthritis is the most common chronic joint disease in the world. With its progression, cartilage thickness tends to diminish, which causes severe pain to human being. One way to examine the stage of osteoarthritis is to measure the cartilage thickness. When it comes to inter-subject study, however, it is not easy task to compare cartilage thickness since every human being has different cartilage structure. In this paper, we propose a method to assess cartilage defect using MRI inter-subject thickness comparison. First, we used manual segmentation method to build accurate atlas images and each segmented image was labeled as articular surface and bone-cartilage interface in order to measure the thickness. Secondly, each point in the bone-cartilage interface was assigned the measured thickness so that the thickness does not change after registration. We used affine transformation and SyGN to get deformation fields which were then applied to thickness images to have cartilage thickness atlas. In this way, it is possible to investigate pixel-by-pixel thickness comparison. Lastly, the atlas images were made according to their osteoarthritis grade which indicates the degree of its progression. The result atlas images were compared using the analysis of variance in order to verify the validity of our method. The result shows that a significant difference is existed among them with p < 0.001.

• The Journal of Korea CHUNA Manual Medicine
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2000

To prove the effect of Yukmijihwngwon(YMJHW) and Taeyoungjeon(TYJ) extract on the Meridian of Human body and Active oxygen experimentally, ORS & Free Radical of extract and precipitate of YMJHW and TYJ was measured. The results were summarized as follows; 1. TYJ extract, as a result of measuring QRIS, had a considerable effect on the function of pituitary gland, the 4th cervical vertebra and the 1 st lumbar vertebra. 2. TYJ precipitate, as a result of measuring QRIS, had a considerable effect on the function of liver, uterus, and vertebra. 3. YMJHW extract, as a result of measuring QRIS, had a considerable effect on the function of lung, adrenalin gland, bladder, prostate gland, ovaria, the 2nd cervical vertebra, the 3rd cervical vertebra, the 5th cervical vertebra, the 6th cervical vertebra, the 2nd lumbar vertebra, the 4th lumbar vertebra and the 5th lumbar vertebra. 4. YMJHW precipitate, as a result of measuring QRIS, had a considerable effect on the function of spleen, lung, kidney, adrenal gland, bladder, ovaria, the 2nd cervical vertebra, the 6th cervical vertebra, the 7th cervical vertebra, the 2nd lumbar vertebra, the 5th lumbar vertebra, sacrum, and knee joint. 5. As a result of measuring Free Radical, the level of TYJ is higher than YMJHW. It is thiut that's because of Duchung and roasted Gamcho. 6. As an order of QRIS levels, YMJHW precipitate is the highest, YMJHW extract is next, TYJ extract and TYJ precipitate. These results suggested that TYJ and YMJHW be usefully applied for suppressing of abnormal Meridian and noxious oxygen, preventing and curing all the disease.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.325-332
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• 2006

The dynamic responses of human standing postural control were investigated when subjects were exposed to long-term horizontal vibration. It was hypothesized that the motion of standing posture complexity mainly occurs in the mid-sagittal plane. The motor-driven support platform was designed as a source of vibration. The AC Servo-controlled motors produced anterior/posterior (AP) motion. The platform acceleration and the trunk angular velocity were used as the input and the output of the system, respectively. A method was proposed to identify the complexity of the standing posture dynamics. That is, during AP platform motion, the subject's knee, hip and neck were tightly constrained by fixing assembly, so the lower extremity, trunk and head of the subject's body were individually immovable. Through this method, it was assumed that the ankle joint rotation mainly contributed to maintaining their body balance. Four subjects took part in this study. During the experiment, the random vibration was generated at a magnitude of $0.44m/s^2$, and the duration of each trial was 40 seconds. Measured data were estimated by the coherence function and the frequency response function for analyzing the dynamic behavior of standing control over a frequency range from 0.2 to 3 Hz. Significant coherence values were found above 0.5 Hz. The estimation of frequency response function revealed the dominant resonance frequencies between 0.60 Hz and 0.68 Hz. On the basis of our results illustrated here, the linear model of standing postural control was further concluded.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.480-487
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• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major public health issue in Japan and other countries, and foods that prevent or treat OA are in strong demand. Proteins and peptides in chicken meat and bones are known for being rich in functional and nutritional ingredients for the improvement of osteoporosis. We speculated that chicken legs, a food consumed in many regions of the world, may also contain such ingredients. In this study, we aim to (i) evaluate the effect of chicken leg extract (CLE) on the promotion of cartilage matrix production and (ii) identify the active ingredient in CLE that contributes to this function. MATERIALS/METHODS: Artificial CLE digest was prepared, and the acid mucopolysaccharide production-promoting activity of the CLE digest was evaluated by alcian blue staining of ATDC5 cells. CLE was orally administered to rabbits with burr holes in the knee joint of the femur, and the degree of regeneration of cartilage matrix was evaluated. Furthermore, we investigated orally administered CLE-derived peptides in human plasma using LC-MS. From measuring the acid mucopolysaccharide production-promotion activity of these peptides, a molecule considered to be an active ingredient in the CLE digest was identified. RESULTS: CLE digest promoted acid mucopolysaccharide production and facilitated regeneration of cartilage matrix in in vitro and in vivo experiments. Four peptides including phenylalanyl-hydroxyproline (Phe-Hyp) were detected as CLE-derived peptides in human plasma. The effect of CLE was inferred to be due to Phe-Hyp, which was confirmed to be present in the CLE digest. CONCLUSIONS: It was shown that CLE stimulated the production of articular cartilage matrix both in vitro and in vivo, and that CLE could be an effective food for preventing or treating OA. Furthermore, only Phe-Hyp was confirmed as the active compound in the CLE digest, suggesting that the activity of CLE was due to Phe-Hyp.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 2017

Lots of interdisciplinary studies for fusion of high technologes and the other areas of research had been tried in these days. In sports training area, high technologies like a vital sign sensor or an accelerometer were adopted as training tools to improve the performance of the sports players. The purpose of this study is finding the proper locations on the human body for attaching the motion sensors in order to develop a smart sportswear which could be helpful in training players. The rowing was selected as a subject sport as lots of movements of the joint on human body could be seen in rowing motions. The players of rowing could be devided into two weight divisions, the lightweight and the heavyweight. In this study, the change rates of distance between markers on human skin as the players moved were took on the back, the elbow, the hip and the knee area on human body by 3D motion capturing system. The distances between markers and the differences between the lightweight and heavyweight were analyzed. Finally, this study provided the guide lines for designing a motion sensing smart sportswear.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2014

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by a progressive loss of cartilage. And, increased oxidative stress plays a relevant role in the pathogenesis of OA. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is a used drug for liver diseases known for its free radical-scavenging property. The objectives of this study were to investigate the in vivo effects of UDCA on pain severity and cartilage degeneration using an experimental OA model and to explore its mode of actions. OA was induced in rats by intra-articular injection of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) to the knee. Oral administration UDCA was initiated on the day of MIA injection. Limb nociception was assessed by measuring the paw withdrawal latency and threshold. Samples were analyzed macroscopically and histologically. Immunohistochemistry was used to investigate the expression of interleukin-$1{\beta}$ (IL-$1{\beta}$), IL-6, nitrotyrosine and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in knee joints. UDCA showed an antinociceptive property and attenuated cartilage degeneration. OA rats given oral UDCA significantly exhibited a decreased number of osteoclasts in subchondral bone legion compared with the vehicle-treated OA group. UDCA reduced the expression of IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, nitrotyrosine and iNOS in articular cartilage. UDCA treatment significantly attenuated the mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), -13, and ADAMTS5 in IL-$1{\beta}$-stimulated human OA chondrocytes. These results show the inhibitory effects of UDCA on pain production and cartilage degeneration in experimentally induced OA. The chondroprotective properties of UDCA were achieved by suppressing oxidative damage and inhibiting catabolic factors that are implicated in the pathogenesis of cartilage damage in OA.