• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2017

This study was aimed to assess accessibility situation of pedestrian environment of University-C focusing on accessibility of manual wheelchair users and to develop accessibility campus map. During March and April 2016, barrierfree design application situation of pedestrian environment and building entrances were investigated using a structured checklist and a digital distance and slope meter. Major findings are as follow. (1) Except one case, widths of all pedestrian routes (both sidewalk and non-sidewalk routes) exceeded 2 meters. (2) As for sidewalk and driveway contact point condition, there were many spots lacking curb ramp or alterative ramp that are accessible for manual wheelchair users. (3) More than half of non-sidewalk pedestrian routes did not have bollard to separate pedestrian and vehicle flows, and more than 92% of the bollards installed were too close for wheelchair users to pass or too far to prevent vehicle access. (4) More than 59 percent of the building entrances were found impossible for manual wheelchair users to access without any assistance, and one third of the buildings did not have any single accessible entrance. Based on the study findings, campus accessibility map was developed by the researchers and disseminated through university homepage. Using the campus accessibility map, users can plan their accessible paths ahead the trip.

• 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.

• Journal of Urban Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to evaluate accessibility condition of buildings in a college from manual wheel chair users' perspective in order to suggest improvements, and to develop 3D accessibility maps in order to assist manual wheelchair users' prior planning for the building use. In May 2020, on-site investigation was held to three buildings in Chungbuk National University. Major findings were as follows. (1) There were some building entrances that showed level difference over 2cm without proper ramp with slow slope 1/8 or less. (2) Some rooms were found to have accessibility issues to have floors with height more than 2cm, and/or to have no height-adjustable desks. (3) Although accessible restrooms were in good condition for manual wheelchair users' access and use, it is suggested to install accessible restroom for each gender in each floor for better access. Using the study results, 2-dimensional accessibility maps for each floor were developed in color and grayscale, which were further developed into 3-dimensional accessibility maps for each building.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-27
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the difference in toilet approach way by wheelchair users according to the direction of the door and to suggest the layout of the toilet rooms most accessible to the wheelchair users. Methods: Survey to wheelchair users about approach to toilet have been conducted for the data collection. 90 answers have been analyzed statistically by SPSS 19.0 program. Results: The conclusions of this study are as follows. Firstly, spinal cord disorders prefer diagonal approach and lateral approach to the toilet, but brain lesions prefer diagonal approach and frontal approach to toilet. Secondly, the manual wheelchair users prefer the diagonal approach and the lateral approach to the toilet, and the electric wheelchair users has a different approach way to the toillet depending on the direction of the door. Finally, the layout of accessible toilets have to be designed for the diagonal approach to toilet, which is most preferred by wheelchair users. Implications: The toilet approach varies according to the disability types and the wheelchair types. Therefore, the size of accessible toilets should be larger than now considering the access of variety wheelchair users.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.241-250
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• 2022

It is known that chronic pain and injury of upper limb joint tissue in manual wheelchair users is usually caused by muscle imbalance, and the propulsion speed is reported to increase this muscle imbalance. In this study, kinematic variables, electromyography, and ultrasonographic images of the upper limb were measured and analyzed at two different propulsion speeds to provide a quantitative basis for the risk of upper extremity joint injury. Eleven patients with spinal cord injury for the experimental group (G_E) and 27 healthy adults for the control group (G_C) participated in this study. Joint angles and electromyography were measured while subjects performed self-selected comfortable and fast-speed wheelchair propulsion. Ultrasound images were recorded before and after each propulsion task to measure the acromiohumeral distance (AHD). The range of motion of the shoulder (14.35 deg in G_E; 20.24 deg in G_C) and elbow (5.25 deg in G_E; 2.57 deg in G_C) joints were significantly decreased (p<0.001). Muscle activation levels of the anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid, biceps brachii, and triceps brachii increased at fast propulsion. Specifically, triceps brachii showed a significant increase in muscle activation at fast propulsion. AHD decreased at fast propulsion. Moreover, the AHD of G_E was already narrowed by about 60% compared to the G_C from the pre-tests. Increased load on wheelchair propulsion, such as fast propulsion, is considered to cause upper limb joint impingement and soft tissue injury due to overuse of the extensor muscles in a narrow joint space. It is expected that the results of this study can be a quantitative and objective basis for training and rehabilitation for manual wheelchair users to prevent joint pain and damage.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.571-577
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• 2019

This study examined the usability of express buses for wheelchair users to identify the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of wheelchair boarding systems. The usability of 11 manual wheelchair users and nine powered wheelchair users was evaluated using the following three scenarios: boarding the wheelchair accessible bus, moving inside, and alighting the bus. The results showed that 20 wheelchair users completed three scenarios, which was distributed between 0.33 and 1.36 in the difficulty rating scale of the efficiency. The task effort of the efficiency was measured from 8.36 to 11.78. The acceptability of the satisfaction was distributed between 1.00 and 2.00, and the system usability scale was measured in an acceptable boundary of the C grade at 70.7 points with manual wheelchair users and a B grade at 73.1 points with powered wheelchair users. This study has academic significance because it provides basic evidence for accessibility, securing the right to movement and research methods of public transportation for people with disabilities. To improve the quality level of usability in the future, more study with a larger number of research participants and various wheelchair types should be studied.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.8-15
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• 2019

Wheelchair users experience difficulty when using transportation. This is because wheelchair users must use transportation means together with wheelchairs. Therefore, in this paper, we developed a wheelchair storage system for passenger's car trunk. The mechanism is designed to allow a wheelchair and the device to be housed simultaneously in the narrow space of the trunk of the sedan passenger car. Additionally, this wheelchair storage system has implemented an initial load reduction mechanism that can mechanically reduce the initial load. This wheelchair storage system verified the system's operability through the production of the prototype. This system was actually installed in the trunk of the sedan passenger's car to verify the storage process. The operation and storage process of the wheelchair storage system was been perfectly verified. This wheelchair storage system will help a lot of self-driver or an assistant (female or elderly) who use wheelchairs.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2007

This work intends to investigate the effects of shift characteristics on the propulsion performance of a manual wheelchair with an automatic transmission. A planetary gear train is employed to generate a two-stage shift automatically, based on the distance traveled from rest. Motion analysis has been performed for measuring kinematic properties of the arm and then the inverse dynamics has been applied for estimating joint forces/torques. Then, a parametric study has been performed to find a set of the shift ratios and the shift intervals for optimizing propulsion performance. Results show that the propulsion performance is closely related to the shift condition. It is found that a short shift interval is desirable for a short distance propulsion. However, an optimum shift interval for a long distance propulsion is inversely proportional to the shift ratio approximately. Consequently, the automatic transmission can greatly lower the joint loadings by the speed reduction, which eventually contribute to prevent joint injuries of wheelchair users.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2013

Manual wheelchair propulsion can lead to pain and injuries of users due to mechanical inefficiency of wheelchair propulsion motion. The kinetic analysis of the upper limbs during manual wheelchair propulsion needs to be studied. A two dimensional inverse dynamic model of upper limbs was developed to compute the joint torque during manual wheelchair propulsion. The model was composed of three segments corresponding to upper arm, lower arm and hand. These segments connected in series by revolute joints constitute open chain mechanism in sagittal plane. The inverse dynamic method is based on Newton-Euler formalism. The model was applied to data collected in experiments. Kinematic data of upper limbs during wheelchair propulsion were obtained from three dimensional trajectories of markers collected by a motion capture system. Kinetic data as external forces applied on the hand were obtained from a dynamometer. The joint rotation angles and joint torques were computed using the inverse dynamic model. The developed model is for upper limbs biomechanics and can easily be extended to three dimensional dynamic model.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2009

In this paper, when wheelchair user get into the vehicle, we have thorough grasp of the problems of loading wheelchair and give effect to suggest conceptual design in relation to develop manufactured goods. We choose 50 participants with disabilities who manual wheelchair or motor scooter users are able to drive own's vehicle, and the method practice in the direct survey. There are some limitations in this study especially in terms of the sampling population. The 88%(n=44) of the participant replied to the driver with disabilities need assistive devices for loading manual wheelchair. They prefer a system that robot arm brings the wheelchair out of the trunk to the driver's seat door.