• Title/Summary/Keyword: Walking Comfort

Search Result 59, Processing Time 0.028 seconds

A Study on Improvement of Site Selecting Indicators for Safe Pedestrian Environment (안전한 보행환경 사업 대상지 선정지표 개선방안 연구)

  • Lee, Jong Nam;Heo, Joon;Cho, Won Cheol;Lee, Tae Shik
    • Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
    • /
    • v.6 no.1
    • /
    • pp.79-86
    • /
    • 2013
  • As car-oriented road policies have been made forward so far, relatively pedestrians' walking conditions are so in poor environments that more than two thousand pedestrians die from car accidents every year. Pedestrians' walking right has been severely invaded like that. Pedestrians' walking right is a right that people are able to walk safely and comfortably in pleasant surroundings as long as they don't threaten the public safety, order maintenance, and welfare. The government has an obligation to provide safe, comfortable, and pleasant environments to pedestrians. Recently interests in pedestrians' safety are increasing, government-driven supports have been made to make safe, pleasant, and healthy walking surroundings. As poor walking condition improvement projects cost high, they should be progressed to accomplish maximal effects using finite finances efficiently, and post feasibility evaluations of the projects should be severely estimated. However site selecting indicators which satisfy with the goal for composing safe working surroundings have not been decided yet, though currently it has a legal basis to specify walking condition improvement sites by the Law for Pedestrians' safety and Comfort Increasement. Therefore this study focuses on suggesting improved ways for selecting sites where pedestrians' safe environment project by reviewing previous research. When project sites are selected, evaluation indicators related to awareness survey of residents and history should be excluded, and disaster safety assessments for walking safety facilities, latent human hazards and natural disasters like a strong wind are proposed besides evaluations on pedestrians' safety and walking environment for matching with the purpose of the project to make safe working surroundings.

A Study on Visitor Satisfaction for Bukhansan Dulegil (북한산 둘레길 이용객 만족도에 관한 연구)

  • Cho, Woo-Hyun;Yun, Hui-Jae;Im, Seung-Bin
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
    • /
    • v.39 no.4
    • /
    • pp.60-73
    • /
    • 2011
  • Since Jeju Ollegil opened in September 2007 and attracted the sensation of popularity throughout the country, the interest in 'Walking Trails' has increased, and the central ministries and the local governments composite and assign various 'Walking Trails'. Walking trails are not tours on which people go to see one spot and move to another spot by vehicle, but a long linear journey that leads people to see, to feel and to experience a region's landscape and culture while walking on the trail. 'Walking Trails' are efficient routes to discover and to use a former way and to link the various ecological regions' histories and cultural resources, so it is most important to select a route. Although the routes were selected by considering the various planning factors and giving each route a specified theme, some problems like the inconvenience of visitors caused by lack of facilities have occurred. After designation and construction of the trails, they were not properly evaluated by visitors. Therefore, it is the purpose of this study to suggest a better way to construct the trails by surveying visitor satisfaction and by analyzing the impact of planning a route on visitor satisfaction at Bukhansan Dulegil which was completed. For this study, with a questionnaire based on the literature review to identify the important planning factors for selecting a route, a survey was conducted on visitor satisfaction for each section and their intention to revisit and to recommend that trail. Based on the characteristics of each section that was identified in the field research, the trails were classified into five types and satisfaction of each type and each type was analyzed. In addition, analyzing the impact of planning factors on satisfaction, the impact of satisfaction on revisiting and recommending and visitors' perception of the theme, further improvement for better construction of the trail was presented. Satisfaction of sectors with strong natural elements was higher; 'walking comfort' was the highest planning factor affecting satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction was surveyed to have high influence on revisiting and recommending.

A Comparative Study on the Fit of Jean Block Patterns for Women in their 20s (20대 여성을 위한 청바지 패턴의 맞음새 비교 연구)

  • Kim, Hyun-A;Chun, Jong-Suk
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
    • /
    • v.35 no.2
    • /
    • pp.136-145
    • /
    • 2011
  • This study identifies methods to design patterns for jeans that are suitable for women in their twenties. Five patterns suggested by previous researchers were used to draw the same size of jeans (waist 67 and hip 91). The author compared and analyzed the measurements and shapes of the patterns, ranging from waist to crotch. Samples were produced based on these patterns and then tests were conducted to observe the dynamic functions and exteriors of the samples. The dynamic functions observed in this study include walking, ascending stairs, descending stairs and sitting on chairs. The results of the current study are as follow. The best evaluated pattern in terms of exteriors is the one where the hips and thighs are tightest compared to other patterns and where the back part is wider than the front part. This pattern also received high evaluations in dynamic functions due to comfort when walking. Regarding ascending or descending stairs, the tests found that all its parts (except the front crotch) are more comfortable than those of any other patterns. All these results show that a comfortable fit and easy movement is possible when the crotch width of the back is broader than the hip width so that the hips are comfortably supported.

Evaluation of Thermal Physiological Responses and Comfort in Vitamin E Fabric (비타민 E 소재의 인체생리반응 및 쾌적성 평가)

  • Im Soon;Chung Myung-Hee
    • The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
    • /
    • v.13 no.3 s.56
    • /
    • pp.406-413
    • /
    • 2005
  • This study performed the evaluation of skin temperature, heart rate, temperature and relative humidity of microclimate, and subjective sensation, such as thermal sensation, wet sensation and comfort sensation to estimate physiological responses of the human body and its comfortable feeling to the vitamin E fabric. Experiments were performed on the five healthy adult women whose average age was 21, at climate chamber in which temperature, relative humidity and air current were set up below $30{\pm}\;1^{\circ}C$, $50{\pm}\;15\%$ and 0.2m/s, respectively. Two kinds of clothes were used for experiments: unfinished sports clothes, with the same form and the same size, of short-sleeved knit shirt and long trousers made with $100\%$ cotton, and finished sports clothes printed with the vitamin E solution of the level of $0.88\%$. Exercises of walking (about 105 steps/minute) with the exercise intensity of 2.5 were performed for 20 minutes using treadmill. In result, the study showed significant difference (p<0.01) in average skin temperature between unfinished and finished sport clothes, and represented higher value with having unfinished sport clothes in wear than with finished one. The study also showed significant difference (p<0.01) in heart rate only during the period of exercise, and represented higher value generally with unfinished sport clothes than with finished one. There were significant differences not only in temperature of microclimate (p<0.01) but also in humidity of microclimate (p<0.05) between two sport clothes. As for the evaluation of subjective sensation, the study showed significant difference (p<0.05) in thermal sensation between the two kinds of sport clothes, significant difference in wet sensation only during the period of exercise, and significant difference (p<0.05) in comfort sensation only during the period of recovery.

  • PDF

Efficiency and Comfort Properties of Silicon Solar Cell Applied Air Circulation Jacket according to the Incident Angle of Sunlight (실리콘 태양전지를 활용한 공기순환 의복의 태양광 입사각에 따른 효율성 및 쾌적성평가)

  • Lee, Ji-Yeon;Cho, A-Ra;Jung, Ye-Lee;Kim, Eun-Ae
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
    • /
    • v.33 no.11
    • /
    • pp.1806-1816
    • /
    • 2009
  • This study analyzes the efficiency of a solar cell attached to an air circulation jacket. A commercially available silicon solar panel was selected and attached at four spots where the body angle was $40-60^{\circ}$ and voltage ($V_{oc}$, V), current ($I_{sc}$, A), and output power (P, W) were measured to determine the efficiency. The solar panel was applied to the outer jacket that operates with two fans to increase the convection that lowers the body temperature. The heavy work of standing, walking, and sweeping of a street sweeper was simulated in the field test. The microclimate within the jacket (with or without a fan) was measured and the subjective thermal, humidity, and comfort sensations were surveyed. SPSS 12.0 statistical package was used for a t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The results show that the highest efficiency of the solar cell was at the incident angle of $60^{\circ}$ in terms of voltage, current and output power distribution. The microclimate temperature of the air circulation jacket decreased significantly with the high power of the fan and subjects felt cooler than the jacket with a fan at the incident angle of $60^{\circ}$. Air circulation jackets operated by a silicon solar panel showed a significant cooling effect on the wearers.

Systematic Development and Effect Estimation of the Functional Insoles for Seniors (시니어전용 기능성 깔창의 체계적인 개발 및 효과분석)

  • Kim, Yong-Deok;Lee, Dong-Hyung
    • Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
    • /
    • v.38 no.4
    • /
    • pp.184-192
    • /
    • 2015
  • Korea has already entered into an aging society. In recent decades, the health problems for seniors has received considerable interest. We often see the elderly who have been struggled from discomfort or illness of the foot. Those foot related problems mainly cause from the use of improper shoes. Recently, shoe makers sell the shoes for seniors, so called comfort shoes, but the shoes are too expensive for seniors to buy easily. In this paper, we develop cheap insoles for seniors as an alternative of the comfort shoes and suggest the systematic process for the insoles development. This systematic process is as follows: 1) Survey the literature about the market of insole, 2) Investigate the standard size of body and foot for the seniors in Korea, 3) Analyze the customer needs by survey, 4) Study the walking pattern by experiments, and 5) Develop the novel insole for the seniors to relieve the inconveniences related with foot. From the newly developed insoles, the company B gains the sales increasing effect approximately 30% over through the increase in consumer satisfaction and company reputation and secures for intellectual property rights. Using the database from Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, the reliability of developing technology of the functional insole has been obtained. The seniors are also enable to choose an alternative of comfort shoes for foot health. In the future, the insoles developed from this study have wide applications in the medical, cosmetic fields, and leisure sports fields. Accordingly, it seems to require more systematic studies utilizing Walk Analyzer and Foot Pressure Meter.

Development of a 2-DOF Ankle Mechanism for Gait Rehabilitation Robots (보행 재활 로봇을 위한 2자유도 족관절 기구 개발)

  • Heo, Geun Sub;Kang, Oh Hyun;Lee, Sang Ryong;Lee, Choon-Young
    • Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
    • /
    • v.21 no.6
    • /
    • pp.503-509
    • /
    • 2015
  • In this paper, we designed and tested an ankle joint mechanism for a gait rehabilitation robot. Gait rehabilitation programs are designed to improve the natural leg motion of patients who have lost their walking capabilities by accident or disease. Strengthening the muscles of the lower-limbs and stimulation of the nervous system corresponding to walking helps patients to walk again using gait assistive devices. It is an obvious requirement that the rehabilitation system's motion should be similar to and as natural as the normal gait. However, the system being used for gait rehabilitation does not pay much attention to ankle joints, which play an important role in correct walking as the motion of the ankle should reflect the movement of the center of gravity (COG) of the body. Consequently, we have designed an ankle mechanism that ensures the safety of the patient as well as efficient gait training. Also, even patients with low leg muscle strength are able to operate the ankle joint due to the direct-drive mechanism without a reducer. This safety feature prevents any possible adverse load on the human ankle. The additional degree of freedom for the roll motion achieves a gait pattern which is similar to the normal gait and with a greater degree of comfort.

Biomechanical Analysis of Trail Running Shoes Applied to Korean Shoe-Lasts (한국인 족형을 적용한 트레일 러닝화의 생체역학적 분석)

  • Park, Seung-Bum;Lee, Kyung-Deuk;Kim, Dae-Woong;Yoo, Jung-Hyeon;Kim, Kyung-Hun;An, Chang-Shin;Lee, Tae-Yong
    • Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
    • /
    • v.20 no.2
    • /
    • pp.221-230
    • /
    • 2010
  • The purpose of this study was to analyze biomechanical factors of trail running shoes applied to korean shoe-lasts. 10 healthy male subjects with an average age of 37.2 years(SD=8.28), weight of 69.6 kg(SD=10.56) and a height of 171 cm(SD=4.93) were recruited for this study. Ten males walked on a treadmill wearing four different shoes. Foot pressure data was collected using a Pedar-X mobile system(Novel Gmbh., Germany) operating at the 1000 Hz. Surface EMG signals for tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, vastus lateralis and biceps femoris were acquired at 1000 Hz using Noraxon TeleMyo DTS system(Noraxon Inc., USA). Foot pressure and leg muscle fatigue were measured and calculated during walking. The results are as follows: After walking 60 minutes, Type A showed a lower MPF. MPF values were significantly different from each muscle(p<.05). Therefore, Type A shoe might decrease muscle fatigue in the legs while walking. In addition, Type It showed that Type A shoe has the highest contact area and the lowest maximum pressure. As a result of the analysis, Trail running shoes will use a new design to reduce muscle fatigue and are expected to increase comfort and fitting.

Testing The Healing Environment Conditions for Nurses with two Independent Variables: Visibility Enhancement along with Shortening the Walking Distance of the Nurses to Patient - Focused on LogWare stop sequence and space syntax for U-Shape, L- Shape and I-Shape NS-

  • Shaikh, Javaria Manzoor;Park, Jae Seung
    • KIEAE Journal
    • /
    • v.15 no.2
    • /
    • pp.19-26
    • /
    • 2015
  • Purpose: Maximizing human comfort in design of medical environments depends immensely on specialized architects particularly critical care design; the study proposes Evidence-Based Design as an apparent analog to Evidence-Based Medicine. Healthcare facility designs are substantially based on the findings of study in an effort to design environments that augment care by improving patient safety and being therapeutic. On SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) t-test is applied to simulate two independent variables of PDR (Pre Design-Research) and POE (Post- Occupancy Evaluation). PDR is conducted on relatively new hospital Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital to analyse visibility from researchers' point of view, here the ICU is arranged in I-Shape. POE is applied on Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital to simulate walking on LogWare where two NS are designed based on L- Shape and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea where five NS are functional for ICU Intensive Care Unit, Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), Critical Care Unit (CCU), Korean Oriental Medical Care Unit which are mostly arranged in U-Shape, and walking pattern is recognized to be in a zigzag path. Method: T-Test is applied on two dependent communication variables: walkability and visibility, with confidence interval of 95%. This study systematically analyses the Nurse Station (NS) typo-morphology, and simulates nurse horizontal circulation, by computing round route visits to patient's bed, then estimating minimum round route on LogWare stop sequence software. The visual connectivity is measured on depth map graphs. Hence the aim is to reduce staff stress and fatigue for better patients care by minimizing staff horizontal travel time and to facilitate nurse walk path and support space distribution by increasing effectiveness in delivering care. Result: Applying visibility graph and isovist field on space syntax on I- Shape, L- Shape and U- Shape ICU (SICU, MICU and CCU) configuration, I-shape facilitated 20% more patients in linear view as they stir to rise from their beds from nurse station compared to U-shape. In conclusion, it was proved that U-Shape supply minimum walking and maximum visibility; and L shape provides just visibility as the nurse is at pivot. I shape provides panoramic view from the Nurse Station but very rigorous walking.

Gait Angle Prediction for Lower Limb Orthotics and Prostheses Using an EMG Signal and Neural Networks

  • Lee Ju-Won;Lee Gun-Ki
    • International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
    • /
    • v.3 no.2
    • /
    • pp.152-158
    • /
    • 2005
  • Commercial lower limb prostheses or orthotics help patients achieve a normal life. However, patients who use such aids need prolonged training to achieve a normal gait, and their fatigability increases. To improve patient comfort, this study proposed a method of predicting gait angle using neural networks and EMG signals. Experimental results using our method show that the absolute average error of the estimated gait angles is $0.25^{\circ}$. This performance data used reference input from a controller for the lower limb orthotic or prosthesis controllers while the patients were walking.