Search results for: sartorial expressions and vernacular textile craft

Authors: Andres Pinilla Palacios, Ricardo Tamayo

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Emotional contagion is characterized as an automatic tendency to synchronize behaviors that facilitate emotional convergence among humans. It might thus play a pivotal role to understand the dynamics of key social interactions. However, a few research has investigated its potential mechanisms. We suggest two complementary but independent processes that may underlie emotional contagion. The efficient contagion hypothesis, based on fast and implicit bottom-up processes, modulated by familiarity and spread of activation in the emotional associative networks of memory. Secondly, the emotional contrast hypothesis, based on slow and explicit top-down processes guided by deliberated appraisal and hypothesis-testing. In order to assess these two hypotheses, an experiment with 39 participants was conducted. In the first phase, participants were induced (between-groups) to an emotional state (positive, neutral or negative) using a standardized video taken from the FilmStim database. In the second phase, participants classified and rated (within-subject) the emotional state of 15 faces (5 for each emotional state) taken from the POFA database. In the third phase, all participants were returned to a baseline emotional state using the same neutral video used in the first phase. In a fourth phase, participants classified and rated a new set of 15 faces. The accuracy in the identification and rating of emotions was partially explained by the efficient contagion hypothesis, but the speed with which these judgments were made was partially explained by the emotional contrast hypothesis. However, results are ambiguous, so a follow-up experiment is proposed in which emotional expressions and activation of the sympathetic system will be measured using EMG and EDA respectively.

Keywords: electromyography, emotional contagion, emotional valence, identification of emotions, imitation

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Authors: Elif Kalkanli, Constantinos Soutis

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The use of textile preform in the advanced fields including aerospace, automotive and marine has exponentially grown in recent years. These preforms offer excellent advantages such as being lightweight and low-cost, and also, their suitability for creating different fiber architectures with different materials whilst improved mechanical properties in certain aspects. In this study, a novel honeycomb core is developed by a 3Dweaving process. The assembly of the layers is achieved thanks to innovative weaving design. Polyester yarn is selected for the 3D woven honeycomb core (3DWHC). The core is used to manufacture a sandwich panel with 2x2 twill glass fiber composite face sheets. These 3DWHC sandwich panels will be tested in three-point bending. The in-plane and out-of-plane (through-the-thickness) mechanical response of the core will be examined as a function of cell size in addition to the flexural response of the sandwich panel. The failure mechanisms of the core and the sandwich skins will be reported in addition to flexural strength and stiffness. Possible engineering applications will be identified.

Keywords: 3D woven, assembly, failure modes, honeycomb sandwich panel

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Authors: Michal Almagor, Rivka Tuval-Mashiach

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This presentation will explore the main processes identified in women writing group, as an interdisciplinary field with personal and social effects. It is based on the initial findings of a Ph.D. research focus on the intersection of group processes with the element of writing, in the context of gender. Writing as a therapeutic mean has been recognized and found to be highly effective. Additionally, a substantial amount of research reveals the psychological impact of group processes. However, the combination of writing and groups as a therapeutic tool was hardly investigated; this is the contribution of this research. In the following qualitative-phenomenological study, the experiences of eight women participating in a 10-sessions structured writing group were investigated. We used the meetings transcripts, semi-structured interviews, and the texts to analyze and understand the experience of participating in the group. The two significant findings revealed were spiral intersubjectivity and archaic level of semiotic language. We realized that the content and the process are interwoven; participants are writing, reading and discussing their texts in a group setting that enhanced self-dialogue between the participants and their own narratives and texts, as well as dialogue with others. This process includes working through otherness within and between while discovering and creating a multiplicity of narratives. A movement of increasing shared circles from the personal to the group and to the social-cultural environment was identified, forming what we termed as spiral intersubjectivity. An additional layer of findings was revealed while we listened to the resonance of the group-texts, and discourse; during this process, we could trace the semiotic level in addition to the symbolic one. We were witness to the dominant presence of the body, and primal sensuality, expressed by rhythm, sound and movements, signs of pre-verbal language. Those findings led us to a new understanding of the semiotic function as a way to express the fullness of women experience and the enabling role of writing in reviving what was repressed. The poetic language serves as a bridge between the symbolic and the semiotic. Re-reading the group materials, exposed another layer of expression, an old-new language. This approach suggests a feminine expression of subjective experience with personal and social importance. It is a subversive move, encouraging women to write themselves, as a craft that every woman can use, giving voice to the silent and hidden, and experiencing the power of performing 'my story'. We suggest that women writing group is an efficient, powerful yet welcoming way to raise the awareness of researchers and clinicians, and more importantly of the participants, to the uniqueness of the feminine experience, and to gender-sensitive curative approaches.

Keywords: group, intersubjectivity, semiotic, writing

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Authors: Shakila Singh

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This research was conducted at a selected South African university campus with women students who drink alcohol. The purpose of the study was to examine their perspectives on the role of alcohol in their lives, their understandings about women’s vulnerability to alcohol-related sexual risk and their strategies against these. The study draws on feminist principles and practices to challenge gendered inequalities that legitimate and facilitate violence against women. Recognising the danger of focusing on risk management in ways that place the burden of responsibility entirely on young women to prevent their violation, this article focuses on women students’ agency in managing risk while taking up opportunities for self-discovery. Participation was voluntary, and a student-researcher administered an open-ended questionnaire to 55 participants. The findings suggest that young women position alcohol- use as a common activity at university, and that it gives them much pleasure. They recognise that it is riskier for women and articulate valuable strategies to manage the risk to their sexual safety when drinking. These include drinking within supportive networks, avoiding financial dependence, and managing their alcohol intake. This article argues that alcohol at university is an integral part of expressions of gender and sexuality and that risk-taking is a normal part of university students’ lives. Consequently, arguments about equality need to consider risk-taking as part of young people’s lives and promote ways of managing alcohol-related risks, rather than imagining that alcohol can be avoided entirely.

Keywords: alcohol-related sexual risk, drinking at university, managing risk, women students

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Authors: Mohamed E. Hassan

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Through numerous chemical linkages, historical textiles in burial contexts or in museums are exposed to many different forms of stains and filth. The cleaning procedure must be carried out carefully without causing any irreparable harm, and sediments must be removed without damaging the surface's original material. Science and technology continue to develop novel methods for cleaning historical textiles and artistic surfaces biologically (using enzymes). Lipase and α-amylase were immobilized on nanoparticles of alginate/tea waste nanoparticle complex and used in historical textile cleaning. The preparation of nanoparticles, activation, and enzyme immobilization were characterized. Optimization of loading times and units of the two enzymes was done. It was found that the optimum time and units of amylase were 3 hours and 30 U, respectively. While the optimum time and units of lipase were 2.5 hours and 20 U, respectively, FT-IR and TGA instruments were used in proving the preparation of nanoparticles and the immobilization process. SEM was used to examine the fibres before and after treatment. In conclusion, a new carrier was prepared from alginate/Tea waste and optimized to be used in the restoration and conservation of historical textiles using immobilized lipase and α-amylase.

Keywords: alginate/tea waste, nanoparticles, immobilized enzymes, historical textiles

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Authors: Mesfin Tsegaw, Sivakumar C. V., Chandrakal Gunturu, Meera Indracanti

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Chromium (VI), a toxic metal ion, is widely used in electroplating, stainless steel production, leather tanning, paint, and textile manufacturing. Cr (VI) is mobile in the environment, acutely toxic and carcinogenic. In the present study, the ability to remove Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions has been compared using leaves of dwarf and gamthi varieties of Murayya koerigii abundantly available in Selaqui region of Dehradun as an adsorbent. Effects of temperature, pH, initial concentration of adsorbate and adsorbent dosage have been studied for effective removal of Cr (VI). The biosorptive ability of biosorbent was reliant on the pH of the biosorbate, with pH 2 being most favorable for both the varieties. The obtained results were analyzed by the Freundlich and Langmuir equation at different temperature and related parameters were determined for each adsorption isotherm. The study also includes results on the kinetic dimensions of adsorption of the Cr (VI) on the derived adsorbent. Gamthi variety has a promising absorption rate of 80% over the dwarf variety. FTIR studies confirmed that carboxyl and hydroxyl groups were the main groups involved in the metal uptake.

Keywords: adsorption, cromium, kinetics, variety

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Authors: Reda A. H. Mahmoud

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This paper investigates the pragmatic meaning of prosodic focus through four accentuation moods of blaming utterances in Egyptian Arabic. Prosodic focus results in various pragmatic meanings when the speaker utters the same blaming expression in different emotional moods: the angry, the mocking, the frustrated, and the informative moods. The main objective of this study is to interpret the meanings of these four accentuation moods in relation to their illocutionary forces and pre-locutionary effects, the integrated features of prosodic focus (e.g., tone movement distributions, pitch accents, lengthening of vowels, deaccentuation of certain syllables/words, and tempo), and the consonance between the former prosodic features and certain lexico-grammatical components to communicate the intentions of the speaker. The data on blaming utterances has been collected via elicitation and pre-recorded material, and the selection of blaming utterances is based on the criteria of lexical and prosodic regularity to be processed and verified by three computer programs, Praat, Speech Analyzer, and Spectrogram Freeware. A dual pragmatic approach is established to interpret expressive blaming utterance and their lexico-grammatical distributions into intonational focus structure units. The pragmatic component of this approach explains the variable psychological attitudes through the expressions of blaming and their effects whereas the analysis of prosodic focus structure is used to describe the intonational contours of blaming utterances and other prosodic features. The study concludes that every accentuation mood has its different prosodic configuration which influences the listener’s interpretation of the pragmatic meanings of blaming utterances.

Keywords: pragmatics, pragmatic interpretation, prosody, prosodic focus

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Authors: Shazia Mannan, Zunera Khalid, Hammad-Ul-Mubeen

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Wingless type Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) Integration site-10B (Wnt10B) is an important member of the Wnt protein family that functions as cellular messenger in paracrine manner. Aberrant Wnt10B activity is the cause of several abnormalities including cancers of breast, cervix, liver, gastric tract, esophagus, pancreas as well as physiological problems like obesity, and osteoporosis. The objective of this study was to determine the possible inhibitors against aberrant expression of Wnt10B in order to prevent and treat the physiological disorders associated with it. Wnt10B3D structure was predicted by using comparative modeling and then analyzed by PROCHECK, Verify3D, and Errat. The model having 84.54% quality value was selected and acylated to satisfy the hydrophobic nature of Wnt10B. For search of inhibitors, virtual screening was performed on Natural Products (NP) database. The compounds were filtered and ligand-based screening was performed using the antagonist for mouse Wnt-3A. This resulted in a library of 272 unique compounds having most potent drug like activities for Wnt-4. Out of the 271 molecules analyzed three small molecules ZINC35442871, ZINC85876388, and ZINC00754234 having activity against Wnt4 abbarent expression were found common through docking experiment of Wnt10B. It is concluded that the three molecules ZINC35442871, ZINC85876388, and ZINC00754234 can be considered as lead compounds for performing further drug designing experiments against aberrant Wnt expressions.

Keywords: Wnt10B inhibitors, comparative computational studies, proto-oncogene, molecular docking

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Authors: Samson Olasunkanmi Oluga, Teh Chee Send, Gerard Sagaya Raj Rajo

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It is ironical that the national anthems of many nations that are in the forefront of the global condemnation of violence of all forms have portions or expressions that propagate various forms of linguistic violence which advocate attacking opponents, going to war, shedding blood and sacrificing lives. These diametrically contradict contemporary yearnings for global tranquility and the ideals of the United Nations established for the maintenance of international peace and harmony aimed at making the world a safe haven for all and sundry. The linguistic violence of many national anthems is manipulatively constructed /presented via the instrumentality of the figurative or rhetorical language. This helps to linguistically embellish the violent ideas communicated and makes them sound somehow better or logical to the target audience with the intention of cognitively manipulating them to accept or rationalize such violent ideas. This paper, therefore, presents the outcome of a linguistic exploration/examination of national anthems which reveals elements or cases manipulative figurative linguistic violence in the anthems of twenty-one (21) nations. The paper details a Socio-Cognitive Critical Discourse Analysis of the manipulative figures of comparison, contrast, indirectness, association and sound used to convey the linguistic violence of the identified national anthems. Finally, the paper advocates the need for linguistic overhaul of affected anthems so that the language of anthems which epitomize nations can be pacific and in tandem with contemporary global trends.

Keywords: national anthems, linguistic violence, figurative language, cognitive, manipulation, CDA

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Authors: Ju-Chun Chien

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The main purpose of this study was to figure out employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program and to examine whether three different types of appraisal processes differentially affected job satisfaction and employee engagement. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between performance appraisal reform, job satisfaction, and employee engagement. A large polyester and textile corporation had 2046 non-operational employees in February 2014. The valid participants were 1474 (72.04%) in this study. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, one-way MANOVA, Pearson correlation, Content Validity Index, the exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analysis. The general results showed that employees who received the new performance appraisal program viewed the program more positively and showed more job satisfaction than those who did not. In particular, the implementation effects of this new performance appraisal program were most highly rated by employees who used the KPI to evaluate their job performance. Moreover, employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program were positively related to their job satisfaction and work engagement. On the other hand, most employees regarded themselves as engaged workers. To sum up, the HR department of this company has made an effective contribution to performance appraisal reforms.

Keywords: change management, employee engagement, job satisfaction, performance appraisal reform

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Authors: Merav Rabinovich

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Background: Psychoanalytic and cognitive therapy attend problems from a different point of view. At the recent decade the integrating movement gaining momentum. However only little has been studied regarding the theoretical interrelationship among these therapy approaches. Method: 33 transference case-studies that were published in peer-reviewed academic journals were coded by Luborsky's Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method (components of wish, response from other – real or imaginal - and the response of self). CCRT analysis was conducted through tailor-made method, a valid tool to identify transference patterns. Rabinovich and Kacen's (2010, 2013) Relationship Between Categories (RBC) method was used to analyze the relationship among these transference patterns with cognitive and behavior components appearing at those psychoanalytic case-studies. Result: 30 of 33 cases (90%) were found to connect the transference themes with cognitive overgeneralization. In these cases, overgeneralizations were organized around Luborsky's transference themes of response from other and response of self. Additionally, overgeneralization was found to be an antithesis of the wish component, and the tension between them found to be linked with powerful behavioral and emotional reactions. Conclusion: The findings indicate that thinking distortions of overgeneralization (cognitive therapy) are the actual expressions of transference patterns. These findings point to a theoretical junction, a platform for clinical integration. Awareness to this junction can help therapists to promote well psychotherapy outcomes relying on the accumulative wisdom of the different therapies.

Keywords: transference, overgeneralization, theoretical integration, case-study metasynthesis, CCRT method, RBC method

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Authors: Dragana Gnjatovic

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Assessment is a burning topic in education policy and practice due to measurement-driven neoliberal agendas of quality and standardisation of assessment practice through high stakes standardised testing systems that are now influencing early childhood education. This paper presents a collaborative, arts-informed action research project which places children at the centre of their learning, with assessment as an integral part of play-based learning processes. It aims to challenge traditional approaches to assessment that are often teacher-led and decontextualised from the processes of learning through exploring approaches where children's voices are central, and their creative arts expressions are used to assess learning and development. The theoretical framework draws on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Freire's critical pedagogy, which indicate the importance of socially constructed reality where knowledge is the result of collaboration between children and adults. This reality perceives children as competent agents of their own learning processes. An interpretive-constructivist and critical-transformative paradigm underpin collaborative action research in a three to five-year-old setting, where creative methods like storytelling, play, drama, drawing are used to assess children's learning. As data collection and analysis are still in process, this paper will present the methodology and some data vignettes, with the aim of stimulating discussion about innovation in assessment and contribution of the collaborative enquiry in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care.

Keywords: assessment for learning, creative methodologies, collaborative action research, early childhood education and care

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Authors: Marianne Lumacang, Jessarine Dultra, Joana Fenol

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Filipinos are known to be conservative, sex or pornography is not discussed openly in the Philippines, topic of sex, when raised, will most likely elicit snickers, jokes, and blushes in most Filipino or expressions of disgust. However, a lot of Filipinos are still engaging into this kind of activity for some reasons. The study aims to determine young adult’s point of view about cyber pornography viewing, as well as their reasons for engagement, and its effects on them and their relationship with their partner. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to explore how young adults make sense of cyber pornography viewing. The study focused on Filipino young adults who are in a romantic or married relationship, engage in cyber pornography viewing, and currently residing in Cavite, Philippines. A total of four young adult couples, four females and four males participated in the study as research participants. Data gathered from a total of four young adult couples resulted to a total of nine superordinate themes focusing on (1) exploring young adult couple’s rationales for cyber pornography viewing, (2) experiences of positive effects in engaging to cyber pornography viewing, (3) experiences of negative effects in engaging to cyber pornography viewing, (4) experience of infidelity, (5) experience of necessity, (6) females perception about cyber pornography viewing towards self, (7) males perception about cyber pornography viewing towards self, (8) males perception about cyber pornography viewing towards romantic partner, and (9) males perception about cyber pornography viewing towards others.

Keywords: cyberpornography, Filipino, interpretative phenomenological analysis, making sense of cyberpornography, young adult

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Authors: Pei-Lin Yueh, Bor-Yann Chen, Chuan-Chung Hsueh

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This first-attempt study revealed that decolorized intermediates of azo dyes could act as redox mediators to assist wastewater (WW) decolorization due to enhancement of electron-transport phenomena. Electrochemical impedance spectra indicated that hydroxyl and amino-substituent(s) were functional group(s) as redox-mediator(s). As azo dyes are usually multiple benzene rings structured, their derived decolorized intermediates are likely to play roles of electron shuttles due to lower barrier of energy gap for electron shuttling. According to cyclic voltammetric profiles, redox-mediating characteristics of decolorized intermediates of azo dyes (e.g., RBu171, RR198, RR141, and RBk5) were clearly disclosed. With supplementation of biodecolorized metabolites of RR141 and 198, decolorization performance of could be evidently augmented. This study also suggested the optimal modes of microbial fuel cell (MFC)-assisted WW decolorization would be plug-flow or batch mode of operation with no mix. Single chamber-MFCs would be more favourable than double chamber MFCs due to non-mixing contacting reactor scheme for operation.

Keywords: redox mediators, dye decolorization, bioelectricity generation, microbial fuel cells

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Authors: Hafiz Faisal Siddique, Adnan Ahmed Mazari, Antonin Havelka

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Compression socks are highly recommended textile garment for pressure exertion on the lower part of leg. The extent of compression that a patient can easily manage depends on stage (limb size and shape) of venous disease and his activities (mobility, age). Due to dynamic mechanical influence, the socks destroy their extent of pressure exertion around the leg. The main aim of this research is to investigate how the performance of compression socks is deteriorated due to expected induced wearing mechanical impacts. Wearing mechanical impacts influence the durability parameter i.e. tensile energy loss. For tensile energy loss, cut-strip samples were interacted to constant rate of loading and un-loading, cyclic-loading upto 15th cycles for ±5mm extension (considering muscles expansion and relaxation) and were dwelled (stayed) for 3 minutes at 25%, 50% and 75% extension levels, simultaneously. Statistical validation of tensile energy loss was performed by introducing measures of correlation, p-value (≤ 0.05), R-square values using MINITAB 17 software.

Keywords: compression socks, loading and unloading, 15th cyclic loading, Dwell time effect

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Authors: Douglas Yeboah, Jai Singh

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It has been experimentally demonstrated that exciton diffusion length in organic solids can be improved by fine-tuning the material parameters that govern exciton transfer. Here, a theoretical study is carried out to support this finding. We have therefore derived expressions for the exciton diffusion length and diffusion coefficient of singlet and triplet excitons using Förster resonance energy transfer and Dexter carrier transfer mechanisms and are plotted as a function of photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield, spectral overlap integral, refractive index and dipole moment of the photoactive material. We found that singlet exciton diffusion length increases with PL quantum yield and spectral overlap integral, and decreases with increase in refractive index. Likewise, the triplet exciton diffusion length increases when PL quantum yield increases and dipole moment decreases. The calculated diffusion lengths in different organic materials are compared with existing experimental values and found to be in reasonable agreement. The results are expected to provide insight in developing new organic materials for fabricating bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) with better photoconversion efficiency.

Keywords: Dexter carrier transfer, diffusion coefficient, exciton diffusion length, Föster resonance energy transfer, photoactive materials, photophysical parameters

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Authors: Teh Raihana Nazirah Roslan, Siti Zulaiha Ibrahim, Sharmila Karim

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A warrant is a financial contract that confers the right but not the obligation, to buy or sell a security at a certain price before expiration. The standard procedure to value equity warrants using call option pricing models such as the Black–Scholes model had been proven to contain many flaws, such as the assumption of constant interest rate and constant volatility. In fact, existing alternative models were found focusing more on demonstrating techniques for pricing, rather than empirical testing. Therefore, a mathematical model for pricing and analyzing equity warrants which comprises stochastic interest rate and stochastic volatility is essential to incorporate the dynamic relationships between the identified variables and illustrate the real market. Here, the aim is to develop dynamic pricing formulations for hybrid equity warrants by incorporating stochastic interest rates from the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) model, along with stochastic volatility from the Heston model. The development of the model involves the derivations of stochastic differential equations that govern the model dynamics. The resulting equations which involve Cauchy problem and heat equations are then solved using partial differential equation approaches. The analytical pricing formulas obtained in this study comply with the form of analytical expressions embedded in the Black-Scholes model and other existing pricing models for equity warrants. This facilitates the practicality of this proposed formula for comparison purposes and further empirical study.

Keywords: Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model, equity warrants, Heston model, hybrid models, stochastic

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Authors: Chengcao Sun, Cuili Yang, Shujun Li, Ruilin Xue, Yongyong Xi, Liang Wang, Dejia Li

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Backgrounds: A few lines of evidence show that Sulforaphane (SFN) has anti-fibrosis effect in liver tissue via Nrf2-mediated inhibition of TGF-β/Smad signaling. However, its effects on muscular dystrophic fibrosis remain unknown. This work was undertaken to evaluate the effects of SFN on fibrosis in dystrophic muscle. Methods: 3-month-old male mdx mice were treated with SFN by gavage (2 mg/kg body weight per day) for 3 months. Gastrocnemius, tibial anterior and triceps brachii muscles were collected for related analysis. Fibrosis in skeletal muscles was analyzed by Sirius red staining. Histology and morphology of skeletal muscles were investigated by H&E staining. Moreover, the expressions of Nrf2, NQO1, HO-1, and TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway were detected by western blot, qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence assays. Results: Our results demonstrated that SFN treatment significantly decreased and improved morphological features in mdx muscles. Moreover, SFN increased the expression of muscle phase II enzymes NQO1 and HO-1 and significantly decreased the expression of TGF-β1，p-smad2, p-smad3, α-SMA, fibronectin, collagen I, PAI-1, and TIMP-1 in Nrf2 dependent manner. Additionally, SFN significantly decreased the expression of CD45 and TNF-α. Conclusions: Collectively, these results show that SFN can ameliorate muscle fibrosis in mdx mice by Nrf2-induced inhibition of TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway, which indicate Nrf2 may be useful for the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

Keywords: sulforaphane, Nrf2, TGF-β/smad signaling, duchenne muscular dystrophy, fibrosis

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Authors: Joshua Kaufman, Felix Tan, Morgan Monroe, Ayman Abouraddy

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Textiles and clothing have been a staple of human existence for millennia, yet the basic structure and functionality of textile fibers and yarns has remained unchanged. While color and appearance are essential characteristics of a textile, an advancement in the fabrication of yarns that allows for user-controlled dynamic changes to the color or appearance of a garment has been lacking. Touch-activated and photosensitive pigments have been used in textiles, but these technologies are passive and cannot be controlled by the user. The technology described here allows the owner to control both when and in what pattern the fabric color-change takes place. In addition, the manufacturing process is compatible with mass-producing the user-controlled, color-changing yarns. The yarn fabrication utilizes a fiber spinning system that can produce either monofilament or multifilament yarns. For products requiring a more robust fabric (backpacks, purses, upholstery, etc.), larger-diameter monofilament yarns with a coarser weave are suitable. Such yarns are produced using a thread-coater attachment to encapsulate a 38-40 AWG metal wire inside a polymer sheath impregnated with thermochromic pigment. Conversely, products such as shirts and pants requiring yarns that are more flexible and soft against the skin comprise multifilament yarns of much smaller-diameter individual fibers. Embedding a metal wire in a multifilament fiber spinning process has not been realized to date. This research has required collaboration with Hills, Inc., to design a liquid metal-injection system to be combined with fiber spinning. The new system injects molten tin into each of 19 filaments being spun simultaneously into a single yarn. The resulting yarn contains 19 filaments, each with a tin core surrounded by a polymer sheath impregnated with thermochromic pigment. The color change we demonstrate is distinct from garments containing LEDs that emit light in various colors. The pigment itself changes its optical absorption spectrum to appear a different color. The thermochromic color-change is induced by a temperature change in the inner metal wire within each filament when current is applied from a small battery pack. The temperature necessary to induce the color change is near body temperature and not noticeable by touch. The prototypes already developed either use a simple push button to activate the battery pack or are wirelessly activated via a smart-phone app over Wi-Fi. The app allows the user to choose from different activation patterns of stripes that appear in the fabric continuously. The power requirements are mitigated by a large hysteresis in the activation temperature of the pigment and the temperature at which there is full color return. This was made possible by a collaboration with Chameleon International to develop a new, customized pigment. This technology enables a never-before seen capability: user-controlled, dynamic color and pattern change in large-area woven and sewn textiles and fabrics with wide-ranging applications from clothing and accessories to furniture and fixed-installation housing and business décor. The ability to activate through Wi-Fi opens up possibilities for the textiles to be part of the ‘Internet of Things.’ Furthermore, this technology is scalable to mass-production levels for wide-scale market adoption.

Keywords: activation, appearance, color, manufacturing

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Authors: Cruz, G. P., Nagamatsu, R. N., Scacchetti, F. A. P., Merlin, F. K.

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This study aims to assess a set of technical parameters that provide quality products to the companies that produce caps, APL Apucarana / PR, the city that produces most Brazilian caps, in order to verify the potential of Brazilian caps to compete with international brands, recognized by the standard of excellence when it comes to quality of its products. The determination of the technical parameters was arbitrated from textile ABNT, a total of six technical parameters, providing eight tests for cotton caps. For the evaluation, we used as reference a leading brand recognized worldwide (based on their sales volume in $) for comparison with 3 companies of the APL Apucarana. The results showed that, of the 8 tests, of 8 tests, the companies Apucarana did not obtain better performance than the competitor. They obtained the same results in three tests and lower performance in 5. Given these values, it is concluded that local caps are not far from reaching the quality of leading brand. It is recommended that the APL companies use the parameters to evaluate their products, using this information to support decision-making that seek to improve both the product design and its production process, enabling the feasibility for faster international recognition . Thus, they may have an edge over its main competitor.

Keywords: technical parameters, making caps, quality, evaluation

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Authors: Zeynep Guler

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Argumentation and the production of scientific arguments are essential components that are necessary for helping students become scientifically literate through engaging them in constructing and critiquing ideas. Incorporating argumentation into science classrooms is challenging and can be a long-term process for both students and teachers. Students have difficulty in engaging tasks that require them to craft arguments, evaluate them to seek weaknesses, and revise them. Teachers also struggle with facilitating argumentation when they have underdeveloped science practices, underdeveloped pedagogical knowledge for argumentation science teaching, or underdeveloped teaching practice with argumentation (or a combination of all three). Thus, there is a need to support teachers in developing pedagogy for science teaching as argumentation, planning and implementing teaching practice for facilitating argumentation and also in becoming more agentic in this regards. Looking specifically at the experience of agency within education, it is arguable that agency is necessary for teachers’ renegotiation of professional purposes and practices in the light of changing educational practices. This study investigated how science teachers develop pedagogy for argumentation both individually and with their colleagues and also how teachers become more agentic (or not) through the active engagement of their contexts-for-action that refer to this as an ecological understanding of agency in order to positively influence or change their practice and their students' engagement with argumentation over two academic years. Through educational design study, this study conducted with three secondary science teachers (key stage 3-year 7 students aged 11-12) in the UK to find out if similar or different patterns of developing pedagogy for argumentation and of becoming more agentic emerge as they engage in planning and implementing a cycle of activities during the practice of teaching science with argumentation. Data from video and audio-recording of classroom practice and open-ended interviews with the science teachers were analysed using content analysis. The findings indicated that all the science teachers perceived strong agency in their opportunities to develop and apply pedagogical practices within the classroom. The teachers were pro-actively shaping their practices and classroom contexts in ways that were over and above the amendments to their pedagogy. They demonstrated some outcomes in developing pedagogy for argumentation and becoming more agentic in their teaching in this regards as a result of the collaboration with their colleagues and researcher; some appeared more agentic than others. The role of the collaboration between their colleagues was seen crucial for the teachers’ practice in the schools: close collaboration and support from other teachers in planning and implementing new educational innovations were seen as crucial for the development of pedagogy and becoming more agentic in practice. They needed to understand the importance of scientific argumentation but also understand how it can be planned and integrated into classroom practice. They also perceived constraint emerged from their lack of competence and knowledge in posing appropriate questions to help the students engage in argumentation, providing support for the students' construction of oral and written arguments.

Keywords: argumentation, teacher professional development, teacher agency, students' construction of argument

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Authors: Umesh Kumar Sinha, Y. K. Nayak, N. Kumar, Swapnil Saurav, Monika Kashyap

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The authors investigate the effect of system and operating parameters on the performance of high temperature solar concentrator for power generation. The effects of system and operating parameters were investigated using the developed mathematical expressions for collector efficiency, heat removal factor, fluid outlet temperature and power, etc. The results were simulated using C++program. The simulated results were plotted for investigation like effect of thermal loss parameter and radiative loss parameters on the collector efficiency, heat removal factor, fluid outlet temperature, rise of temperature and effect of mass flow rate of the fluid outlet temperature. In connection with the power generation, plots were drawn for the effect of (TM–TAMB) on the variation of concentration efficiency, concentrator irradiance on PM/PMN, evaporation temperature on thermal to electric power efficiency (Conversion efficiency) of the plant and overall efficiency of solar power plant.

Keywords: parabolic trough solar collector, radiative and thermal loss parameters, collector efficiency, heat removal factor, fluid outlet and inlet temperatures, rise of temperature, mass flow rate, conversion efficiency, concentrator irradiance

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Authors: Burcu Yilmaz Şahinbaşkan, Recep Karadağ, Emine Torgan

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Nowadays, many natural dyes are used for colouration of textile materials. The natural dyes are friendly to human health and environment. Cochineal (Dactylopius coccus Costa) can be used with other natural dye plants for colouration of silk and wool fabrics. Almost never research works on the dyeing of silk fabric with Dactylopius coccus Costa and Quercus infectoria Olivier together. In this study, dyeability of 100 % silk fabric with Dactylopius coccus Costa and Quercus infectoria Olivier was studied. Optimum dyeing parameters were determined by using different concentration of Dactylopius coccus Costa (10%), Quercus infectoria Olivier (0,1,5 and 10%) and mordant salt (0 and 3%). The dyed silk fabrics were examined for their colorimetric and fastness properties. The fabrics were dyed succesfully dark colours with 10 % Dactylopius coccus Costa, 10 % Quercus infectoria Olivier and presence of mordanting after dyeing process (3% mordant salt). The washing and light colour fastness of the dyed fabrics were investigated and adequate results were obtained.

Keywords: Dactylopius coccus Costa, Quercus infectoria Olivier, natural dye, dyeing, silk fabric

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Authors: Archna Mall, Neelam Agrawal, Hari O. Saxena, Bhavana Sharma

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Butea monosperma occurs widely throughout central Indian states. Eco-friendly natural dyes were isolated in aqueous medium from leaves, bark and flowers of this plant. These dyes were used for dyeing on cotton fabric using various chemical (potassium aluminium sulphate, potassium dichromate, ferrous sulphate, stannous chloride & tannic acid) and natural mordants (rinds of Terminallia bellerica & Terminalia chebula fruits and shells of Prunus dulcis & Juglans regia nuts). Dyeing was carried out using the pre-mordanting technique. Large range of beautiful shades in terms of hue and darkness were recorded because of varying mordant concentrations and combinations. More importantly dyed fabrics registered varying the degree of colour fastness properties to washing (1-3, colour change and 4-5, colour staining), light (2-4), rubbing (4-5, dry and 3-5, wet) and perspiration (1-4, colour change and 4-5, colour staining). Thus, along with flowers which are traditionally known for natural dyes, the leaves and bark may also find their place in textile industries.

Keywords: Butea monosperma, cotton, mordants, natural dyes

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Omaima G. Allam, O. A. Hakeim, K. Haggag, N. S. Elshemy

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In the midst of the two decades the use of microwave dielectric warming in the field of science has transformed into a powerful methodology to redesign compound procedures. The potential benefit of the application of these modern methods of treatment emphasize so as to reach to optimum treatment conditions and the best results, especially hydrophobicity, moisture content and increase dyeing processing while maintaining the physical and chemical properties of each textile. Moreover, polyester fibres are sometimes spun together with natural fibres to produce a cloth with blended properties. So that at the present task, the polyester/viscose mix fabrics (60 /40) were pretreated with 4 g/l of KOH for 2 min in microwave irradiation with a liquor ratio 1:25. Subsequently fabrics were inundated with different concentrations of sericin (10, 30, 50 g/l). Treated fabrics were coloured with the commercial dyes samples: Reactive Red 84(Dye 1). C. I. Acid Blue 203(Dye 2) and C.I. Reactive violet 5 (Dye 3). Colour value was specified as well as fastness properties. Likewise, the physical properties of untreated and treated fabrics such as moisture content %, tensile strength, elongation % and were evaluated. The untreated and treated fabrics are described by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy.

Keywords: polyester viscose blends fabric, sericin, dyes, colour value

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Benyapa Thitimapong

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Teenage pregnancy and adolescent mothers have become a matter of increasing concern in Thailand. Since adolescent mothers have been a big problem for two main consequences; health outcomes and socio-economic impacts. Adolescent mothers often endure poor living conditions; limited financial resources while also experience high stress, family instability, and limited educational opportunities. These disadvantages are negative and have long-term effects on adolescent mothers, their families, and the community. The majority of pregnant students and adolescent mothers dropped out of school after becoming pregnant, and some of them return to study again after they gave birth. This research aimed to explain the meaning of adolescent mothers who had undergone with childrearing and studying simultaneously after childbirth. A phenomenological qualitative approach was undertaken to investigate this study. The participants were 20 adolescent mothers each of whom became a mother and a student concurrently within less than 2 years after giving birth to a healthy baby and had also undergone the experience of childrearing and studying in non-formal education. In-depth interview was carried out for data collection, and the data were analyzed using content analysis method. ‘Learning to move forward’ was the meaning of adolescent mothers who experienced with childrearing and studying simultaneously. Their expressions were classified into two categories 1) having more responsibility, and 2) conceding and going on. The result of this study can be used as evidence for health care providers, especially nurses to facilitate and support pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers to continue their education. Also, it can be used to guide policy to promote in all educational system to enable these groups to remain in school for their life-long success in the future.

Keywords: adolescent mothers, childrearing, studying, teenage pregnancy

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Anahit Hakobjanyan, Zdenka Navratilova, Gabriela Strakova, Martin Petrek

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Aging has a suppressive influence on human immune cells. Apoptosis may play important role in age-dependent immunosuppression and lymphopenia. Prevention of apoptosis may be promoted by BCL2-dependent and BCL2-independent manner. BCL2 is an antiapoptotic factor that has an antioxidative role by locating the glutathione at mitochondria and repressing oxidative stress. STAT3 may suppress apoptosis in BCL2-independent manner and promote cell survival blocking cytochrome-c release and reducing ROS production. The aim of our study was to estimate the influence of aging on BCL2-dependent and BCL2-independent prevention of apoptosis via measurement of BCL2 and STAT3 mRNAs expressions. The study was done on Armenian population (2 groups: 37 healthy young (mean age±SE; min/max age, male/female: 37.6±1.1; 20/54, 15/22), 28 healthy aged (66.7±1.5; 57/85, 12/16)). mRNA expression in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) was determined by RT-PCR using PSMB2 as the reference gene. Statistical analysis was done with Graph-Pad Prism 5; P < 0.05 considered as significant. The expression of BCL2 mRNA was lower in aged group (0.199) compared with young ones (0.643)(p < 0.01). Decrease expression was also recorded for female and male subgroups (p < 0.01). The expression level of STAT3 mRNA was increased (young, 0.228; aged, 0.428) (p < 0.05) during aging (in the whole age group and male/female subgroups). Decreased level of BCL2 mRNA may indicate about the suppression of BCL2-dependent prevention of apoptosis during aging in peripheral blood leukocytes. At the same time increased the level of STAT3 may suggest about activation of BCL2-independent prevention of apoptosis during aging.

Keywords: BCL2, STAT3, aging, apoptosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 301

Authors: Oscar Bareiro, Johannes Sackmann, Thomas Gries

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Carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) are used in a wide variety of applications due to its advantageous properties and design versatility. The braiding process enables the manufacture of components with good toughness and fatigue strength. However, failure mechanisms of CFRPs are complex and still present challenges associated with their maintenance and repair. Within the broad scope of structural health monitoring (SHM), strain monitoring can be applied to composite materials to improve reliability, reduce maintenance costs and safely exhaust service life. Traditional SHM systems employ e.g. fiber optics, piezoelectrics as sensors, which are often expensive, time consuming and complicated to implement. A cost-efficient alternative can be the exploitation of the conductive properties of fiber-based sensors such as carbon, copper, or constantan - a copper-nickel alloy – that can be utilized as sensors within composite structures to achieve strain monitoring. This allows the structure to provide feedback via electrical signals to a user which are essential for evaluating the structural condition of the structure. This work presents a strategy for the in-process integration of resistance-based sensors (Elektrisola Feindraht AG, CuNi23Mn, Ø = 0.05 mm) into textile preforms during its manufacture via the braiding process (Herzog RF-64/120) to achieve strain monitoring of braided composites. For this, flat samples of instrumented composite laminates of carbon fibers (Toho Tenax HTS40 F13 24K, 1600 tex) and epoxy resin (Epikote RIMR 426) were manufactured via vacuum-assisted resin infusion. These flat samples were later cut out into test specimens and the integrated sensors were wired to the measurement equipment (National Instruments, VB-8012) for data acquisition during the execution of mechanical tests. Quasi-static tests were performed (tensile, 3-point bending tests) following standard protocols (DIN EN ISO 527-1 & 4, DIN EN ISO 14132); additionally, dynamic tensile tests were executed. These tests were executed to assess the sensor response under different loading conditions and to evaluate the influence of the sensor presence on the mechanical properties of the material. Several orientations of the sensor with regards to the applied loading and sensor placements inside the laminate were tested. Strain measurements from the integrated sensors were made by programming a data acquisition code (LabView) written for the measurement equipment. Strain measurements from the integrated sensors were then correlated to the strain/stress state for the tested samples. From the assessment of the sensor integration approach it can be concluded that it allows for a seamless sensor integration into the textile preform. No damage to the sensor or negative effect on its electrical properties was detected during inspection after integration. From the assessment of the mechanical tests of instrumented samples it can be concluded that the presence of the sensors does not alter significantly the mechanical properties of the material. It was found that there is a good correlation between resistance measurements from the integrated sensors and the applied strain. It can be concluded that the correlation is of sufficient accuracy to determinate the strain state of a composite laminate based solely on the resistance measurements from the integrated sensors.

Keywords: braiding process, in-process sensor integration, instrumented composite material, resistance-based sensor, strain monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Melissa Angus Baboun

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Utilizing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology and a theoretical framework based on disability studies, how Jamaican and Trinidadian newspapers discussed issues relating to the Deaf community were examined. The term deaf was inputted into the search engine tool of the online website for the Jamaica Observer and the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian. All 27 articles that contained the term deaf in its content and were written between August 1, 2017 and November 15, 2017 were chosen for the study. The data analysis was divided into three steps: (1) listing and analysis instances of metaphorical deafness (e.g. fall on deaf ears), (2) categorization of the content of the articles into the models of disability discourse (the medical, socio-cultural, and superscrip models of disability narratives), and (3) the analysis of any additional data found. A total of 42% of the articles pulled for this study did not deal with the Deaf community in any capacity, but rather instances of the use of idiomatic expressions that use deafness as a metaphor for a non-physical, undesirable trait. The most common idiomatic expression found was fall on deaf ears. Regarding the models of disability discourse, eight articles were found to follow the socio-cultural model, two were found to follow the medical model, and two were found to follow the superscrip model. The additional data found in these articles include two instances of the term deaf and mute, an overwhelming use of lower case d for the term deaf, and the misuse of the term translator (to mean interpreter).

Keywords: deafness, disability, news coverage, Caribbean newspapers

Procedia PDF Downloads 214

Authors: Babar Khan, Wang Zhijie

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Machine Vision has been playing a significant role in Industrial Automation, to imitate the wide variety of human functions, providing improved safety, reduced labour cost, the elimination of human error and/or subjective judgments, and the creation of timely statistical product data. Despite the intensive research, there have not been any attempts to classify fabric prints based on printed texture and colour, most of the researches so far encompasses only black and white or grey scale images. We proposed a biologically inspired processing architecture to classify fabrics w.r.t. the fabric print texture and colour. We created a texture descriptor based on the HMAX model for machine vision, and incorporated colour descriptor based on opponent colour channels simulating the single opponent and double opponent neuronal function of the brain. We found that our algorithm not only outperformed the original HMAX algorithm on classification of fabric print texture and colour, but we also achieved a recognition accuracy of 85-100% on different colour and different texture fabric.

Keywords: automatic classification, texture descriptor, colour descriptor, opponent colour channel

Procedia PDF Downloads 462