124,272 research outputs found
The modification of activated carbon cloth by alumina deposition
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The impregnation of mesoporous carbon cloth with alumina has been studied. The most successful method of impregnation resulted from preparation of the alumina phase by a sol/gel route. This method involves a boehmite intermediate, and the heating environment for the thermal transition of boehmite to the final alumina was investigated. Heat treatment of the boehmite intermediate under flowing N2, flowing
air and vacuum was found to give a different pore size distribution for the final alumina than did still air heat treatment. For the former environments the transition from boehmite to alumina was not accompanied
by the usual increase in pore size. Alumina/carbon composites were made by dipping pieces of mesoporous carbon cloth in a boehmite sol. The distribution of boehmite about the carbon cloth was found to be improved by pre-wetting the carbon cloth and by the use of ultrasonic dispersion during boehmite impregnation. Dried boehmite/carbon composites, with loading levels of up to 180wt.%, were heated under vacuum to 5000 C. In this manner alumina/carbon composites of up to 60wt.% alumina were fabricated. The distribution of the alumina phase about the carbon cloth was investigated by electron microscopy and by gas adsorption techniques. Nitrogen isotherm data indicated that the mesopores of the carbon cloth were not blocked by the deposited alumina, rather the pore volume of the carbon cloth was increased by the clustering of porous alumina about the pore entrances of the carbon cloth. Water isotherms were determined for the composite materials. The water activity of the composite, particularly at low relative pressures, was found to be significantly greater than that of the carbon cloth as a result of the
presence of alumina. CO2 activity of the composites was investigated by a gas chromatographic technique. The CO2 activity of the composite material was found to be up to 500 times greater than that of virgin
carbon cloth.This study is funded by a research grant from ALCOA
Monetary Policies, Guild Labour-Strife, and Compulsory Arbitration during the Decline of the Late-Medieval Flemish Cloth Industry, 1390 - 1435
No full textThis paper explores the impact of the Count of Flanders' monetary and wage policies upon the fortunes of the Flemish woollen cloth industry in a crucial but penultimate phase of its irredeemable decline, from 1390 to 1435, when it was beginning to yield to the growing supremacy of the now rapidly expanding English cloth trade. More narrowly (leaving larger issues of industrial decline to other papers), it focuses upon the sudden imposition and enforcement of Flemish monetary reforms in the early 1390s, after a half century of inflationary coinage debasements; those reforms greatly exacerbated other existing forces of deflation in north-west Europe. In the view of the count, his officials, and entrepreneurs in the cloth trades, this monetary reform could work effectively only if wages were cut proportionately; and such wage-cutting policies naturally provoked bitter resentment (even though the ongoing deflation in fact raised real wages). In the Flemish cloth industry, the only wage-earning artisans who were organized into a guild, and one that resembled a modern labour union, were the fullers, exclusively male workers, whose tasks were crucial in ensuring the luxury quality of the Flemish industry's chief exports. Their reaction to the post-Reform wage cuts of the 1390s was to go on strike (uutgangen), thus forcing the intervention of the count's officials, who imposed compulsory wage arbitration, establishing new wage contracts that gave the draper-entrepreneurs only half of their demanded cuts. One of these contracts specified the fullers' new wages in terms of both the silver and gold coinages, in an era when the gold:silver ratio was unusually low. After the Flemish count had resumed inflationary coinage debasements in 1416, leading to a rise in the gold:silver ratio (i.e. making gold coins more valuable in terms of the silver), some fullers' guilds now cited these contract provisions and demanded payment in gold coin, provoking new labour strife, which ended only with another monetary reform in 1433- 5. The paper also poses and answers the question: why did the draper-entreprenuers not respond to this labour strife by displacing fullers with water-powered machines? Mechanical fulling would have ruined the reputation for luxury quality on which the industry vitally depended, while reducing prices only minimally.
An introduction to The Erotic Cloth
No full textThe publication The Erotic Cloth - Seduction and Fetishism in Textiles constitutes new and previously unpublished research on the aesthetics of cloth as a sensual medium and its relationship to the body. The book emerged from the eponymous colloquiam, has subsequently been the subject of 3 academic seminars, presented as a paper at the ‘Joy of the Erotic’ conference Palermo Sept 2018, Festival of Erotic Art, London 2019, a performance at the NAO Arts Festival Milan 2018 and informing the major exhibition The Sensuous Cloth hosted and funded by Compton Verney Art Gallery 2021. The book will be translated into Chinese in 2020. The volume was co-edited by Kettle and Prof Lesley Millar, Director of the International Textile Research Centre, UCA Farnham. It includes a co-authored introductory chapter, individual chapters and co-authored introductory sections by Kettle and Millar. The research surveys contemporary thinking contributing to material culture and haptic studies on the experience of the erotic through perspectives on the methods, politics and philosophies of encounters with cloth through a trans-disciplinary approach to the subject. Organised into four cognate sections, on representation, design, otherness and performance, the research addresses the elisions and frictions of the erotic in cloth and posits that cloth as a sensual material language permeates other fields of practice including art, design, cinema, politics and dance. It posits a variety of interpretations in which erotic is a multifaceted state, historically, culturally connected and materialised through our physical relationship with cloth. The contributions are written in a variety of tones, including those of 15 practitioners and academics. This book is the first critical examination of the erotically charged relationship between the surface of the skin and the touch of cloth, exploring the ways in which textiles can seduce, conceal and reveal through their interactions with the body
Efficient Clothing Fitting from Data.
No full textA major drawback of shopping for clothes on-line is that the customer cannot try on clothes and see if they fit or
suit them. One solution is to display clothing on an avatar, a 3D graphical model of the customer. However the
normal technique for modeling clothing in computer graphics, cloth dynamics, suffers from being too processor
intensive and is not practical for real time applications. Hence, retailers normally rely on a fixed set of body
models to which clothes are pre-fitted. As the customer has to choose from this limited set the fit is typicallly not
very representative of how the real clothes will fit. We propose a method that uses a compromise between these
two methods. We generate a set of example avatars by performing Principal Component Analysis on a dataset of
avatars. Clothes are pre-fitted to these examples off-line. Instead of asking the customer to choose from the set of
examples we are able to represent the users avatar as a weighted sum of the examples, we then fit clothes as the
same weighted sum over the clothes fitted to the examples
Hanseatic Commerce in Textiles from the Low Countries and England during the Later Middle Ages:
No full textThis paper analyses the major changes in textile products, production costs, prices, and market orientations during the era when the �draperies� or cloth industries of the late-medieval Low Countries and England had become increasingly dependent upon northern markets and the German Hanseatic League as the major vehicle in marketing their textiles. In several previous articles, I had examined the major factors that had led to the industrial and commercial reorientations of the these cloth industries during the 14th and 15th centuries. In brief, the spreading stain of widespread warfare, piracy, and general insecurity, especially in the Mediterranean basin, from the 1290s (to the 1460s), led to a rise in transport and transaction costs that, in turn, had three major consequences for the Low Countries� and England�s textile-based economies: (1) to cripple the export-oriented production of the very cheap and light fabrics, most of which had been sent to Mediterranean markets and had comprised the bulk of northern textile shipments to this region; (2) to encourage most draperies in the Low Countries and England to re-orient their export-oriented cloth production more and more towards high-priced ultra-luxury quality woollens, woven almost exclusively from the finer English wools, but wools that came to be burdened with high export taxes; and (3) to force these northern cloth industries, facing increasing difficulties in Mediterranean commerce, to become far more dependent on Hanseatic merchants and German towns for their cloth sales, certainly by the mid-14th century. But in effecting these industrial and commercial orientations, the Low Countries� draperies encountered a new and even more dangerous challenge from expanding English competition in textiles, which enjoyed the signal advantage of control over high quality wools, which, for the domestic cloth industry, were tax-free and much cheaper. Nevertheless, for reasons outlined in this and earlier papers, the English took well more than a century to achieve final victory in the woollen broadcloth trade, though one that came to be fundamentally based upon German commercial forces, along with other commercial, monetary, and industrial factors outlined in this paper. Obeying the law of comparative advantage, the textile industries of the Low Countries responded to this English victory by once more re-orienting production to cheaper cloths, especially cheap, light worsted-says; but they were able to do so only when structural changes in European markets and trading networks, with falling transaction costs, from the later 15th century, once more favoured the export-oriented production of such cheap textiles. The major contributions of this paper, however, also lie in analysing production, product, cost, and prices changes in textiles, both cheap worsted and luxury woollens, in terms of 15 tables: (1) English wool and broadcloth exports, 1281-1550; (2) Production indices for the woollen cloth industries of the southern Low Countries, 1316-1575; (3) Production indices for the Hondschoote sayetterie and Leiden woollen industry, 1376-1570; (4 - 7) Prices and relative values of Ghent woollens: in terms of values of commodity baskets and a mason�s daily wage: 1331-1570 (no. of days� wages to buy one cloth); (8) Prices of English woollen cloths at Cambridge and Winchester: and values in terms of a mason�s daily wage; and mean values of English cloth exports in pounds sterling, groot Flemish, and florins; (9) Prices of various Flemish woollen broadcloths, compared to the Flemish composite price index: 1351-1550; (10) Prices of various Brabantine woollen cloths, compared to the Brabant composite price index; and the no. of days� wages for a master mason to buy one Mechelen broadcloth, 1351-1520; (11) Prices of Hondschoote Says and Ghent Dickedinnen Woollens, in pounds groot Flemish, compared with the purchasing power an Antwerp master mason's daily wages; (12) Purchase prices of Ghent woollens: by rank order of values, 1360-69: in pounds groot Flemish, units of Commodity Baskets of equivalent value, and the number of a master mason�s day�s wages required to purchase each cloth (from the cheapest to highest priced); (13) Dimensions, composition, and weights of selected Flemish and English textiles, 1456-1579; (14) Prices of and taxes on exported English wools (sacks), 1211-1500: (15) Prices of English Wools (48 grades) sold at the Calais Staple, in 1475 and 1499.Germany, the Low Countries, England, Hanseatic League, woollens, worsteds, wools, dyestuffs, prices, wages, inflation, deflation, monetary changes
Whole Cloth quilt by Emily Miller Leishman
No full textImage of a Whole Cloth quilt created in 1940 by Emily Miller Leishman. Also includes questionnaires describing the quilt completed by Donna L. Bracken as part of the Utah Quilt Guild\u27s documentation days held from 1988-1994. Quilter made quilts for pleasure, to give as gifts and out of necessit
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Colored Shade Cloth Affects the Growth of Basil, Cilantro, and Parsley
No full textA preliminary experiment evaluated the effect of plant growth regulators (PGRs) or mechanical stimulation (brushing) on branching of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), cilantro (Coriandrum sativium L.), and parsley (Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Nyman ex A.W. Hill). Dikegulac sodium increased branching in sweet basil up to 400 ppm and thereafter branching decreased compared to control plants. Ethephon increased branching in sweet basil as rate increased up to 500 mg/L compared to control plants. Mechanical stimulation resulted in a significant decrease in plant height, plant width, number of branches, and number of leaders for all species compared to control plants. Benzyladenine and metaconazole had no effect on these species. In the main experiment the effect of colored shade cloth and PGRs or brushing were assessed on sweet basil, Thai basil (Ocimum basilicum "Siam Queen" L.), Genovese basil (Ocimum basilicum "Genovese" L.), cilantro, and parsley. All crops were grown under conventional black, blue ChromatiNet®, or red ChromatiNet® shade cloth. Subplot treatments included: dikegulac sodium at 400 ppm; benzyladenine at 300 ppm; ethephon at 350 ppm; brushing at 10 strokes applied twice daily. We assessed volatile compunds on all crops and conducted a sensory panel on sweet basil. Red shade cloth increased the number of branches and shoot fresh weight in sweet basil, Thai basil, and Genovese basil. Number of leaf stalks and shoot fresh weight also increased in cilantro plants grown under red shade cloth. Red shade cloth increased fresh weight of parsley plants. Sensory panel results showed a preference for the appearance of sweet basil grown under red shade cloth. Red shade cloth can be used to grow sweet basil, Thai basil, Genovese basil, cilantro, and parsley plants that have more branches and higher fresh weights.Master of Scienc
Microcurrent Cloth-Assisted Transdermal Penetration and Follicular Ducts Escape of Curcumin-Loaded Micelles for Enhanced Wound Healing
No full textPei-Chi Lee,1,* Cun-Zhao Li,2,* Chun-Te Lu,3,4,* Min-Han Zhao,2 Syu-Ming Lai,2 Man-Hua Liao,5 Cheng-Liang Peng,6 Hsin-Tung Liu,1 Ping-Shan Lai2 1xTrans Corporate Research and Innovation Center, Taipei City, Taiwan; 2Department of Chemistry, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; 3Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 4Institute of Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan; 5Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; 6Isotope Application Division, National Atomic Research Institute, Taoyuan, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ping-Shan Lai, Department of Chemistry, National Chung Hsing University, No. 145, Xingda Road, Taichung, 402, Taiwan, Tel +886-4-22840411 ext. 428, Fax +886-4-22862547, Email [email protected]: Larger nanoparticles of bioactive compounds deposit high concentrations in follicular ducts after skin penetration. In this study, we investigated the effects of microcurrent cloth on the skin penetration and translocation of large nanoparticle applied for wound repair applications.Methods: A self-assembly of curcumin-loaded micelles (CMs) was prepared to improve the water solubility and transdermal efficiency of curcumin. Microcurrent cloth (M) was produced by Zn/Ag electrofabric printing to facilitate iontophoretic transdermal delivery. The transdermal performance of CMs combined with M was evaluated by a transdermal system and confocal microscopy. The CMs/iontophoretic combination effects on nitric oxide (NO) production and inflammatory cytokines were evaluated in Raw 264.7 cells. The wound-healing property of the combined treatment was assessed in a surgically created full-thickness circular wound mouse model.Results: Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the presence of Zn/Ag on the microcurrent cloth. The average potential of M was measured to be +214.6 mV in PBS. Large particle CMs (CM-L) prepared using surfactant/cosurfactant present a particle size of 142.9 nm with a polydispersity index of 0.319. The solubility of curcumin in CM-L was 2143.67 μg/mL, indicating 250-fold higher than native curcumin (8.68 μg/mL). The combined treatment (CM-L+M) demonstrated a significant ability to inhibit NO production and increase IL-6 and IL-10 secretion. Surprisingly, microcurrent application significantly improved 20.01-fold transdermal performance of curcumin in CM-L with an obvious escape of CM-L from follicular ducts to surrounding observed by confocal microscopy. The CM-L+M group also exhibited a better wound-closure rate (77.94% on day 4) and the regenerated collagen intensity was approximately 2.66-fold higher than the control group, with a closure rate greater than 90% on day 8 in vivo.Conclusion: Microcurrent cloth play as a promising iontophoretic transdermal drug delivery accelerator that enhances skin penetration and assists CMs to escape from follicular ducts for wound repair applications.Keywords: Zn/Ag electrofabrics, iontophoretic, self-assembly, anti-inflammatory agent, skin penetration, drug deliver
Square Dancing with the Stars to Enhance Dynamic Hirschman Linkages?
No full textIn this Presidential Address, the author takes the reader on a reconnaissance of his life and time as a regional scientist. He points out scenery he found scintillating along the way, hoping that some may pick up the banner and chew on a few of the ideas for a while. He suggests a revisit to Albert O. Hirschman’s notion of key sectors and more empirical analysis related to Marcus Berliant’s and Masahisa Fujita’s notion of knowledge creation and transfer.Presidential Address, San Antonio, Texas, March 29, 2014 (53rd Meetings of the Southern Regional Science Association
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