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Absorbent disposable products, such as diapers and sanitary napkins, are mostly one-time use items and designed to absorb and retain body fluids and solid waste. The present research work deals with the development and characterization of baby diapers made from four different fibrous compositions namely, pure bamboo, pure cotton, bamboo/cotton (70/30) and bamboo/cotton (50/50). Antibacterial activity tests have been carried out on baby diapers against S.aureus and E.coli. The strongest antibacterial activity in terms of reduction of the organism is found in diapers produced from pure bamboo fibre and the weakest antibacterial activity is found in cotton diapers. Superabsorbent polymer (SAP), namely, sodium polyacrylate is incorporated into the diapers to enhance their absorption capacity. The diapers are subjected to tests such as absorption capacity, liquid strike-through, acquisition time under load and diaper rewet under load to study their performance. Upon an analysis of the results, it is found that the performance of diapers produced from a bamboo/cotton (70/30) fibre blend is superior in comparison to the other ones.

The purpose of this paper is to present the thermal comfort properties of single jersey knitted fabric structures made from bamboo, tencel and bamboo-tencel blended yarns.

Bamboo, tencel fibre and blends of the two fibres were spun into yarns of identical linear density (30s Ne). Each of the blended yarns so produced was converted to single jersey knitted fabrics with loose, medium and tight structures.

An increase in tencel fibre in the fabric had led to a reduction in fabric thickness and GSM. Air permeability and water-vapour permeability also increased with increase in tencel fibre content. The anticipated increase in air permeability and relative water vapour permeability with increase in stitch length was observed. The thermal conductivity of the fabrics was generally found to increase with increase in the proportion of bamboo.

It is clear from the foregoing that, although a considerable amount of work has been done on bamboo blends and their properties, still there are many gaps existing in the literature, in particular, on thermal comfort, moisture management and spreading characteristics. Thus the manuscript addresses these issues and provides valuable information on the comfort characteristics of the blended fabrics for the first time. In the evolution of this manuscript, it became apparent that a considerable amount of work was needed to fill up the gaps existing in the literature and hence this work which deals with an investigation of the blend yarn properties and comfort properties of knitted fabrics was taken up.

This research work is focused on the thermal comfort parameters of knitted fabrics made from 100 per cent tencel yarn, 100 per cent bamboo yarn and tencel/bamboo blended yarns of different blend ratios.

Medical textiles is a vibrant emerging field in the area of technical textiles and its category is based on its performance and biofunctional properties for hygienic and health care products. Biodegradable fabrics are widely used for medical textiles in recent years. Seaweeds provide a wide range of therapeutic possibilities for human beings both internally and externally due to the presence of bioactive compounds. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This present study investigates the development of bioactive gauze fabric from Chaetomorpha linum seaweed/cotton blended fibres and also analysed the characteristics of Chaetomorpha linum seaweed/cotton blended gauze fabric and 100 per cent cotton gauze fabric. The effect of fibres on physical properties of fabric such as tensile strength, air permeability, wickability, water drop test and colour fastness properties were analysed. The antibacterial properties and antioxidant activity were assessed by DPPH radical scavenging, AATCC 100 and EN ISO 20645 test methods.

The experimental results indicate that the maximum antioxidant activity of 103.28±1.23 per cent inhibition was achieved at minimum concentration (500 µg/ml) of the blended fabric extract, and maximum antibacterial reduction of 95 per cent and zone of inhibition of about 26 mm were achieved in a blended fabric. The tensile strength, percentage of elongation and air permeability were more or less the same in both gauze fabrics. It is also found that Chaetomorpha linum seaweed/cotton blended gauze fabric exhibit better wickability and water absorbency properties than 100 per cent cotton gauze fabric. The colour fastness properties to washing and rubbing showed excellent results in the blended gauze fabric, and it is used for making wound dressing materials.

This bioactive gauze fabric was used for non-implantable materials such as wound healing, face mask, surgical gowns and hygienic textiles in recent years.

The purpose of the study is to optimize the blending ratio of Arecanut and cotton fibers to create yarn with the best quality for various applications, particularly home furnishings. The study aims to determine the effect of different blend ratios on the physical and mechanical properties of the yarn.

The study involves blending Arecanut and cotton fibers in various ratios (90:10, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 10:90) at two different yarn counts (10/1 and 5/1). Various physical and mechanical properties of the blended yarn are analyzed, including unevenness, coefficient of mass variation (cvm%), imperfection, hairiness, breaking strength, elongation, tenacity and breaking work.

The research findings suggest that the blend ratio of 10:90 (10% cotton and 90% Arecanut fiber) produced the best results in terms of physical and mechanical properties for both yarn counts. This blend ratio resulted in reduced unevenness, cvm% and imperfection, while also exhibiting good mechanical properties such as breaking strength, elongation, tenacity and breaking work. The blend with a higher concentration of cotton generally showed better properties due to the coarseness of Arecanut fiber. As the goal of the study was to determine the best blend ratio that included the most Arecanut fiber based on its physical and mechanical properties, which is suitable for home furnishing applications, 75:25 Areca cotton blend ratio of yarn count 5/1 proved to be the best.

The study acknowledges that Arecanut fiber must be blended with other commercially used fibers like cotton due to its coarseness. While the study provides insights into optimizing blend ratios for home furnishings and packaging, further research may be needed to make the material suitable for clothing applications.

The research has practical implications for industries interested in utilizing Arecanut and cotton blends for various applications, such as home furnishings and packaging materials. It suggests that specific blend ratios can result in yarn with desirable properties for these purposes.

The study mentions that the increased use of Arecanut fibers can benefit the growers of Arecanut, potentially providing economic opportunities for communities engaged in Arecanut farming.

The research explores the utilization of Arecanut fibers, an underutilized resource, in combination with cotton to create sustainable yarn. It assesses various blend ratios and their impact on yarn properties, contributing to the understanding of eco-friendly textile materials.

Through this study, four different types of woven fabric structures were created by using cotton/banana blends with a 70:30 ratio by varying the weaving specifications. This study aims to investigate the comfort and mechanical properties of these woven materials.

Taguchi L16 experimental design (5 factors and 4 levels) with response surface methodology tool was used to optimize mechanical and comfort characteristics. The yarn samples used in this study are cotton/banana with a blend ratio of 70:30. Fabric type (A), grams per square metre (GSM; B), yarn count (C), fabric thickness (D) and cloth cover factor (E) are the chosen process characteristics.

The highest tensile strength and tearing strength of the cotton/banana blended fabric samples were obtained as 326.3 N and 90.3 k.gf/cm, respectively. Similarly, the highest thermal conductivity and overall moisture management capacity values were found to be 0.6628 and 3.06 W/mK X10⁻⁴, respectively. The optimized process parameters for obtaining maximum mechanical properties were using canvas fabric structure, 182 GSM, 36^s Ne yarn count, 0.48 mm fabric thickness and 23.5 cloth cover factor. Similarly, the optimized process parameters for obtaining maximum comfort properties were achieved using a twill fabric structure, 182 GSM, 32^s Ne yarn count, 0.4 mm fabric thickness and 23 cloth cover factor.

In contrast to synthetic fabrics, banana fibre and its blended materials are significant ecological solutions for apparel and functional clothing. Products made from banana fibre are a sustainable and green alternative to conventional fabrics. Banana fibre obtained from the pseudostem of the plant has an appearance similar to ramie and bamboo fibres. Numerous studies showed that banana fibre could absorb significant moisture and be spun into yarn through ring and rotor spinning technology. On the other hand, this fibre can be easily combined with cotton, jute, wool and synthetic fibre. The present utilization of pseudostem of banana plant fibre is very minimal. This type of research improves the usability of bananas their blended fabrics as apparel and functional wear.

Fabrics’ thermal properties greatly influence human comfort during wear. For this reason, fabrics with optimum thermal properties need to be developed. This paper aims to investigate the effect of weft yarn twist levels on thermal and surface properties of 100 per cent cotton woven fabrics.

Five types of plain woven cotton fabrics were manufactured using weft yarns with 900, 905, 910, 915 and 920 twists/meter (Tpm). The other parameters of the samples as count, thread density and fabric structures were kept constant. Fabric thermal properties were evaluated by measuring its thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, actual insulation, water permeability, air permeability and wicking ability. The fabric compression and surface properties were also evaluated because they contribute to the overall clothing comfort.

The results showed that actual insulation and thermal resistance property decreased with an increase in twists/meter of the weft yarn. However, thermal conductivity does not significantly change while fabric compression reduced with an increase in twist as the surface roughness increased.

Comfort is a fundamental requirement in human daily existence, and it is greatly influenced by clothing, which comes in close contact with the human skin. Fabrics’ thermal properties greatly influence human comfort during wear. For this reason, fabrics with optimum thermal properties need to be developed.

This paper aims to propose a machine learning approach-based power theft detection using Garra Rufa Fish (GRF) optimization. Here, the analyzing of power theft is an important part to reduce the financial loss and protect the electricity from fraudulent users.

In this section, a new method is implemented to reduce the power theft in transmission lines and utility grids. The detection of power theft using smart meter with reliable manner can be achieved by the help of GRF algorithm.

The loss of power due to non-technical loss is small by using this proposed algorithm. It provides some benefits like increased predicting capacity, less complexity, high speed and high reliable output. The result is analyzed using MATLAB/Simulink platform. The result is compared with an existing method. According to the comparison result, the proposed method provides the good performance than existing method.

The proposed method gives good results of comparison than those of the other techniques and has an ability to overcome the associated problems.

The study aims to investigate the potential of green immature soybean among Nigeria soybean varieties as human food.

Five Nigeria soybean varieties were harvested at 90 days old. The fresh green immature soybean seed were evaluated for chemical composition, physical and sensory characteristics. The physical characteristics looked into seed size (breadth and length), weight, seed colour, hull thickness and percentage of hydration. The chemical composition was compared to mature soybean seeds while the sensory attributes were compared to fresh green peas.

The raw mature soybean (RMS) was significantly higher and lower in chemical composition and anti‐nutritional factors respectively. The highest moisture content ranges from 62.8 per cent in TGX 1019‐2^EB to 65.4 per cent in TGX 1485‐1^D. The protein content (15.3 per cent) was highest in TGX1485‐1^D and lowest value in TGX1448‐2^E. The level of tannin was significantly higher in TGX1448‐2^E and 923‐2^E while trypsin inhibitor was significantly (p<0.05) higher in TGX1440‐1^E and TGX1485‐1^D. TGX1485‐1^D had superior physical characteristics to other immature varieties with significant (p<0.05) higher value for breadth, length and height. The hull thickness of the seeds was within 0.01 to 0.05 and the percentage of hydration ranges within 5.5 to 6.8 per cent. All varieties had a green colour for the seed coat. Overall sensory acceptability of TGX TGX1440‐1^E, 1485‐1^D and 1019‐2^EB compared favourably well with green peas used as control for sensory evaluation.

This study could help to identify the potential of some Nigerian soybean cultivars for production for use as a source of vegetable in the diet and also provided valuable information for further improvement of soybean for food uses.

Fabric structural parameters play an important role on the thermal comfort of clothing. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of weave pattern and also the length of warp float in each weave pattern on the thermal properties of woven fabrics.

Cotton woven fabrics with 23 different weave patterns were produced with identical linear densities of warp and weft yarns as well as constant warp and weft nominal densities. Thereafter, their thermal properties were studied.

Statistical analysis demonstrated that the weave pattern significantly influences on the thermal properties of woven fabrics. Plain fabric exhibited the lowest thermal resistance and the highest thermal conductivity, and hopsack 2/2(4) weave fabric demonstrated the highest thermal resistance and the lowest thermal conductivity. Moreover, except hopsack (4) weave fabric, in all weave patterns, the length of warp float had a significant effect on the thermal characteristics of the fabrics, as increasing the warp float led to increase in the thermal resistance of the fabrics.

Weave pattern as one of the structural parameters of the fabric has a determinant role on the thermal properties of fabric and subsequently, the comfort of clothing produced from it. Owing to the lack of investigation in this area, this research considers the effect of weave pattern and the length of warp float in each weave pattern on the thermal properties of woven fabrics.