{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,14]],"date-time":"2025-10-14T00:40:59Z","timestamp":1760402459860,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,2]],"date-time":"2021-04-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1617321600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["19K21804"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["19K21804"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Visually impaired licensed therapists must have the ability to perceive stiffness through their fingertips in the school for the blind. The teachers strive to provide careful introductory education based on a quantitative assessment of new students\u2019 basic stiffness perception. However, assessment materials to help teachers understand new students\u2019 stiffness perception are lacking. This study aimed to develop suitable fundamental assessment materials that visually impaired licensed teachers could use to quantitatively assess the difference in the stiffness perception ability of beginning learners in the early stages of learning. They were asked to discriminate the presented materials one at a time, which consisted of thermoplastic elastomers with different degrees of stiffness. We used these materials to compare the beginning learners\u2019 ability to perceive stiffness with that of teachers and found that teachers answered correctly at an overall significantly higher rate. Specifically, the teachers\u2019 correct response rate (78.8%) for the stiffness perception of all presented stimuli was approximately 15% higher than the beginning learners\u2019 correct response rate (64.2%). These results revealed areas of stiffness that are difficult for beginning learners to identify.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21072472","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,2]],"date-time":"2021-04-02T10:34:09Z","timestamp":1617359649000},"page":"2472","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Assessing the Stiffness Perception of Acupressure Massage Beginning Learners: A Pilot Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2255-6221","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kouki","family":"Doi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information and Support, National Institute of Special Needs Education, Yokosuka 239-8585, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Saito","family":"Sakaguchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa 359-1192, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4991-8181","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Takahiro","family":"Nishimura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Promoting Education for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, National Institute of Special Needs Education, Yokosuka 239-8585, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hiroshi","family":"Fujimoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa 359-1192, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shuichi","family":"Ino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Human Informatics and Interaction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Freedheim, D.K., and Weiner, B.I. 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