As people get aged, we need to pay more attention to the elderly living condition with respect to welfare policy. The present study focuses on housing condition of elderly people living in rural area, and analyzes its determinants, periodical difference, and regional disparities, incorporating an index of minimum housing standard. This study applies multi-level logit model that has a strong statistical advantage that can take random aspects of household and regional context into account. We found that married couple household, presence of economically-active family members, higher education, specialized profession, migration and higher level of land price tend to lower the probability of residing in substandard housings. We also found that housing conditions for elderly people prove to be different by regions and it is particularly noticeable in mountainous rural areas in Gyeongsangnam-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do with the poorest elderly housing conditions. Results also implies that housing welfare policies should be implemented differently considering the target groups based on regional differences. We conclude with some additional policy implications for the elderly living in rural areas.

Ankle-foot orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator, which is intended for the assistance and the enhancement of ankle muscular activities was developed. In this study, the effectiveness of the system was investigated during plantarflexion motion of ankle joint. To find a effectiveness of the system, the subjects performed maximal voluntary isokinetic plantarflexion contraction on a Biodex-dynamometer. Plantarfexion torque of the ankle joint is assisted by subject’s soleus muscle that is generated when ankle joint do plantarflexion motion. We used the muscular stiffness signal of a soleus muscle for feedback control of ankle-foot orthosis as physiological signal. For measurement of this signal, we made the muscular stiffness force sensor. We compared a muscular stiffness force of a soleus muscle between with feedback control and without it and a maximal plantarflexion torque between not wearing a ankle-foot orthosis, without feedback control wearing it and with feedback control wearing it in each ten elderly adults. The experimental result showed that a muscular stiffness force of a soleus muscle with feedback control was reduced and plantarflexion torque of an ankle joint only wearing ankle-foot orthosis was reduced but a plantarflexion torque with feedback control was increased.The amount of a increasing with feedback control is more higher than the amount of a decreasing only wearing it. Therefore, we confirmed the effectiveness of the developed ankle-foot orthosis with feedback control.

최근 생활여건이 개선되고 의학수준이 향상되면서 우리나라의 국민의 평균수명은 연장되고 노인인구가 급속히 증가하고 있다. 고령화 시대에 직면하면서 사회가 필연적으로 경험하게 되는 또 하나의 변화는 노인의 심리적. 사회적 변화라고 할 수 있다.[1] 노인의 심리적 변화는 노인의 생활과 관련이 있으며, 이는 노인의 성공적 노화와 활동적 노화에 중요한 영향을 미치게 된다. 노인들의 건강을 위해서는 자신의 생활을 제어하는 건강조절능력과 자신의 자립적 사고의식이 쇠퇴되지 않도록 하기위한 적극적 사회활동 참여가 가능한 활동 레크레이션(Recreation)이 필요하다. 또한 우리문화유산을 통한 놀이문화사업은 보존 복원 대상으로만 여겼던 우리 고유문화를 현대적으로 재창조하려는 것이며, 우수한 콘텐츠를 보유하고도 시장의 열악한 여건으로 발전이 어려운 문제를 개선함은 물론, 대중문화에서 비롯된 한류를 한국문화 전반으로 확대, 발전시키기 위함이다. 본 연구는 이러한 필요성에서 출발하여 과거 우리나라의 문화유산 속에서 타문화와 차별화되는 고유한 특성을 지닌 멀티미디어적 요소들을 선별하여 이를 놀이 체험문화로 해석, 재구성하여 문화콘텐츠의 개발에 적극 활용될 수 있도록 하는 것을 연구의 내용과 목적으로 삼는다.