The investigation of footprints or dismembered foot dimensions from the scene of a crime or disaster plays a crucial role in the effort to determine some characteristics of the suspects or victims. Previous studies have shown the importance of foot dimensions for that purpose. However, the foot length and foot breadth were frequently studied; the present research investigated the relationship between stature and diverse foot dimensions such as of the heel, metatarsal edge, instep, metatarsal, and lateral malleolus – in addition to the foot length and foot breadth. The feet of 461 subjects (175 male & 286 Female) were scanned and measured. The mean age of the male participants was 41.6 (from 20 to 69) and 38.4 for female participants (from 20 to 68). A t-test was used to compare the gender difference in each dimension. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were computed to identify correlations among various part measurements and heights. Regression equations were derived using single or multiple variables. Foot length showed the highest relationship in males (R = 0.753) and females (R = 0.433). For males and females, prediction accuracy was highest in the linear regression equation using foot length alone (R2 = 0.567 for males, R2 = 0.188 for females; SEE ± 4.332 cm for males, ±4.825 cm for females). In addition to foot length, length-related variables such as the distance from the heel to both ends of the metatarsal were also reliable predictors. These research results are expected to be useful information for forensic medicine, and for medical appliance and sports manufacturers.

These days, mobile devices are expected to act as biometric readers due to their increasing number of sensors. However, few studies have suggested a method to identify the user’s demographic profile by collecting biometric information through smart devices, whereas demographic characteristics are an important factor that determines the overall preferences of the interface and content. Therefore, this paper suggests a method to identify the user’s gender based on the biometric information of users. Since the hand is one of the most frequently used body parts in touch interfaces, four hand dimensions and the EMG activities of four hand muscles were measured. The hand length, hand breadth, hand thickness, and hand circumference of 321 Koreans were collected as hand dimensions, and the EMG activities of 27 participants when using mock-ups of mobile phones were observed. As a result of discriminant analysis, hand dimensions could predict males and females with over 75% accuracy, while %MVC showed relatively lower accuracy. The results revealed that simple hand dimensions are a more efficient method to recognize the gender of users. In a further study, other biometric data could be utilized in sensing various types of demographic information considering that identification technologies are growing fast.

Activities with smart devices have been more complicated and diversified, and font legibility is the major factor that influences these activities both directly and indirectly. The legibility of the devices is affected by display size, which is related to font size on the display. This study investigated the effect of display size and font size of Korean letter on readability of mobile devices. This study measured readability by examining reading time for three different display size with five different font sizes from 33 participants. We analyzed the main effect of display size and font size, as well as their interaction effect. The result showed that there was a significant interaction effect between display size and font size. On small display and medium display, the reading time was the shortest in font size 2.4mm, and the longest in font size 2.6mm. On large display, the reading time was the shortest in font size 2.6mm, and the longest in font size 2.2mm. The result of this study will help designers and users in selecting the display and font size.

Hand tools designed without the anthropometric perspective lead to lower performance and safety. This study suggests a statistical hand shape classification with Korean anthropometric data. A total of 321 anthropometric data were used for this study. To investigate hand types, 27 anthropometric hand variables normalized by the stature of each participant and factor analysis and cluster analysis were conducted. As a result, three major factors were deduced: factors of hand breadth, palm length, and finger length. Additionally, four hand types were determined: (a) a spacious hand with short fingers, (b) a hand with short palm with above average fingers, (c) a long palm and fingers, and (d) a narrow hand and short fingers. In the male population, the spacious hand with short fingers type was dominant while the narrow hand and short fingers type was dominant in the female population. These results are expected to be preliminarily utilized in design for the Korean population.

Some tools or interfaces designed not to fit the size of individuals make users experience discomfort and lower productivity. Previous studies on hands tend to focus only on measuring lengths of various hand parts and reporting the distribution of these measurements. In order to overcome this, we aim to distinguish major factors that determine hand shapes and categorize the hand shapes of Koreans. 321 people (167 males and 154 females) enrolled as subjects of this study by their own will. 21 hand dimensions including length, breadth, and circumference of the hand were measured. T-value and correlation coefficients were compared to identify the difference of measurement values and the relation between hand measurements and heights. Factor and cluster analysis was conducted to identify hand shape types of Korean. Descriptive statistics of Korean hand dimension were presented. 78.3% of the variance of hand shape was explained by 3 major factors (factor 1: hand breadth, factor 2: palm length, factor 3: finger length). We also distinguished 4 hand shape types and found that wide hand and short finger type (type 1) was the most common in males, but narrow hand and short finger type was the most common in females. Korean males and females had wider hands and shorter fingers than the people of 8 other nations. We expect products and interfaces to be designed based on these understandings on the characteristics of Korean hands that the result of our study suggests.

This study attempts to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) among Korean hospital workers and to analyze the relationship of MSD symptoms and workload perceived by workers. This study designed a survey based on Nordic questionnaire to obtain MSD symptoms and the degree of four perceived workloads: work repetition, urgency, physical exertion and satisfaction. In this survey, more than 1,800 workers in a hospital participated. The prevalence of MSD was analyzed for each body part, and MSD cases, which were predetermined in this study, were identified. The relationship between the MSD cases and each perceived workload was analyzed using chi-square test. The pain in the shoulder was the most prevalent among the workers as 52%, and the lowback (37%) and leg discomfort (36%) followed. The MSD cases of this study were also the most prevalent in the shoulder (13%). Female workers had higher rate of MSD cases than the males. Among the four workload variables, the physical exertion was the statistically related to MSD cases for all the body parts. In addition, the others also had significant relation to MSD cases except one or two body parts. This study found that Korean hospital workers had MSD symptoms mainly in the shoulder, low back and legs in order, which was different from those in North America or Europe. This study provides another evidence that subjective physical exertion perceived by workers is an important factor to explain MSD cases as same as the objective one.

In the case of disasters or crime scenes, forensic anthropometric methods have been utilized as a reliable way to quickly confirm the identification of victims using only a few parts of the body. A total of 321 measurement data (from 167 males and 154 females) were analyzed to investigate the suitability of detailed hand dimensions as discriminators of sex. A total of 29 variables including length, breadth, thickness, and circumference of fingers, palm, and wrist were measured. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test. The accuracy of sex indication from the hand dimensions data was found using discriminant analysis. The age effect and interaction effect according to age and sex on hand dimensions were analyzed by ANOVA. The prediction accuracy on a wide age range was also compared. According to the results, the maximum hand circumference showed the highest accuracy of 88.6% for predicting sex for males and 89.6% for females. Although the breadth, circumference, and thickness of hand parts generally showed higher accuracy than the lengths of hand parts in predicting the sex of the participant, the breadth and circumference of some finger joints showed a significant difference according to age and gender. Thus, the dimensions of hand parts which are not affected by age or gender, such as hand length, palm length, hand breadth, and maximum hand thickness, are recommended to be used first in sex determination for a wide age range group. The results suggest that the detailed hand dimensions can also be used to identify sex for better accuracy; however, the aging effects need to be considered in estimating aged suspects.

The anthropometric method has served as a useful tool in reducing the amount of time and effort in confirmation of identity. This study is based on a sample of 321 people (167 males and 154 females) from South Korea. Twenty-nine variables including lengths, breadths, thickness, and circumference of their hands and wrists were measured. The body dimension data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. To find the relationship between the various parts of the hand and height, Pearson correlation coefficients for the parts were compared. Further, the single regression and determination coefficient of a regression estimation equation (R(2)) and standard error of estimate (S.E.E) were calculated to compare prediction reliability. Hand length was found to be the variable with the highest correlation to stature in both males (r = 0.628) and females (r = 0.534). For male subjects, hand length (R(2) = 0.398) and palm length (R(2) = 0.358) proved to be the greatest determining factors for the regression equation. For both males and females, an R-square value of 0.643 was obtained with an estimation error of ±5.719 cm by using the derived multiple regressions. In this study single and multiple regression equations were derived for accurate estimation of stature and hand length was found to be the most relevant predictor of stature.

Recently kansei-engineering approach on various products and feedback has been carried out, affective response on haptic modality also has gained greater attention. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of mode of haptic on affective response. In order to analyze the perception characteristics according to haptic mode, the experiments with jog dial were divided into active where the participants were directly involved with controlling devices and into passive where the participants remained uninvolved. 9 haptic feedbacks represented by specific sine wave having width, magnitude, detent type, and detent width were provided to users utilizing simulator devices. Six affective variables, perspicuity, smoothness, heaviness, elasticity, liltingness, and satisfaction, were evaluated by 25 subjects. Averages of affective elements in each mode were compared and change pattern according to haptic feedback parameter was investigated through statistical analysis. As a result, perspicuity, heaviness and elasticity were perceived larger when the mode was set to active haptic, while smoothness was perceived larger in passive haptic, and perspicuity and heaviness have shown significant difference according to haptic mode (α<0.05). Experiment result shows that the affective elements related with difference of force are largely evaluated in active haptic than in passive haptic and assessment according to magnitude of stimuli was not consistent in passive haptic. This study shows that haptic stimuli should be larger than intended to provide intended feedback to user under context of virtual reality using passive haptic mode.

The aim of this study is to examine the types of commands are appropriate to gesticulate when controlling a smart TV. The experiment was conducted to see the relationship between 'gesture-appropriate score' and 'function variables'. For the experiment, eighty-seven commands of smart TV were extracted and three function variables ('frequency', 'depth', 'type') were selected. Also, the levels of each function variable were classified. Gesture-appropriate scores were significantly different between the levels of each function variable. The optimal levels of each function variable were suggested by conducting conjoint analysis. From the results, we found that high frequency level, low depth level, navigation/move type functions were preferred as a gesture interface. With the results of this research, the gesture interface designers are able to consider the priority of function variables for designing gesture interface.

: The U.S. Air Force needs new aircraft which provide longer flight time, less fuel consumption, better aerodynamics in order to perform Air Force missions successfully as the mission environment changes rapidly. A morphing wing aircraft is considered as a potential new aircraft for those missions. This thesis explores Shape Memory Polymer (SMP) properties test results and its application for morphing wing skin. Several SMP composite laminates were considered for investigating shape changing characteristics required for morphing skin. The braided composite preforms used in making SMP composites were explored in morphing wing operating system based on the results of property tests. The system definition, life cycle of system, user analysis, and some architecture for identifying systems effectively formed the basis for the generic system engineering process presented. Further, this thesis explores initial geometric deformability, recovery characteristics, material property estimates, and develops the system using morphing material in order to present a concept for emerging morphing wing aircraft as a potential future Air Force's alternative. Based upon this research, the material system considered here does not meet the morphing requirement for such aircraft.