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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.

Textile technologists have already recognized the role of fibre friction in various textile processes. Attempts have been made to develop a novel instrument system to quantify fibre friction and relate it with fibre processing, yarn quality and ultimately, the fabric handle. In this context, the current paper presents research work carried out in designing and developing a novel system to measure friction in various textile fibre assemblies. The paper discusses the novel features of the Computer Aided Friction Tester, designed and developed exclusively for characterising friction in fibres, sheets of yarn, fabrics, nonwovens, polymeric films, composites and other technical textiles. It also provides the highlights of frictional characteristics measured in various textile fibre assemblies and the reasons for their occurrences.

The conversion of fabric into a garment involves many interactions such as the selection of suitable sewing thread, optimization of sewing parameters, ease of conversion of fabric into the garment and actual performance of the sewn fabric during wear of the garment. The adjustment of all sewing parameters is necessary to ensure quality. The purpose of this paper is to define the parameters that affect seam quality comprehensively.

This study primarily focuses on the studies dealing with the effect of various parameters on-seam quality in detail. A systematic literature review was conducted.

The interactions between parameters may lead to different results than the effect of a single parameter. In addition, changing some parameters may have a positive effect on one element of seam quality while having a negative effect on another. For this reason, it is very important to properly select the parameters according to the specific end use of the garment products and also to consider the interactions.

The knowledge of various factors that affect seam quality will be helpful for manufacturers to improve production performance and to be able to produce high-quality seam.

Seam efficiency plays an important role for obtaining a desired seam quality. Therefore, this issue is often referred in research papers. The purpose of this paper is to determine the seam strength and efficiency as well as examining, if and how such factors as: a kind of fabric, kind of thread, kind of seam and the stitch density influence the transverse seam strength and the seam efficiency.

For research four types of polyester/wool fabrics having different structural parameters and two types of polyester sewing threads were used. Three types of seam were made. The fabric samples were sewn using lockstitch with three different stitch densities. Obtained in this way seams were tested on the tensile machine. The influence of individual factors on the seam strength and its efficiency was assessed statistically using a multivariate variance analysis (ANOVA).

The findings of this study revealed that the independent variable – stitch density affect significantly of the seam strength as well as its efficiency. Seam strength and seam efficiency values increase with the increase stitch density. Moreover, the variance analysis showed that a kind of fabric also is a statistically significant factor for the seam efficiency and its strength. Furthermore, in the case of seam efficiency it is also important to the stitch direction. However, the study did not show an impact of kind of thread and kind of seam on dependent variables: the seam strength and its efficiency.

Due to the fact that this paper focuses on the seams made only on wool/polyester fabrics with two the most popular weaves, involving only two sewing PES threads, the conclusions presented in this paper are valid only to this assortment and cannot be generalized.

So far, it has not been taken research on the effect of seams with the different number of sewn layers on the seam strength and efficiency. This issue has been taken in this work.

The purpose of this review paper is to define the dominating factors (such as fiber, yarn, fabric structure, sewing thread, sewing needle and machine parameters) that affect the seam damages and causing defects. It also describes the various explanations of sewing defects in garment production and critically analyzes them for optimum selection of parameters and speeds for minimizing such faults. Hence, the knowledge of various factors which affect the sewing damages/defects will be helpful for garment manufacturers/researchers to know influence of the parameters and control the quality of producing seam.

This section is not applicable for a review paper.

Sewing damages such as needle cut and other sewing damages/defects are studied mostly in woven fabric. There are very few studies conducted on knitted fabric sewing damages/defects. The sewing damage problems do not have single solution that is capable of removing these damages in fabric. All the determined and affecting parameters related to fiber, yarn, fabric construction, sewing thread and sewing machine must be examined to design appropriate remedial measurement related to machine design, fabric parameters and sewing thread. This could help in minimizing or eliminating the needle cut and other sewing damage problems.

It is an original review work and is helpful for garment manufacturers/researchers to reduce the defects and be able to produce good quality seam.

This paper aims to accentuate the behavior of second-grade hybrid Al₂O₃–Cu nanofluid flow and its thermal characteristics driven by a stretching/shrinking Riga plate.

The second-grade fluid is considered with the combination of Cu and Al₂O₃ nanoparticles. Three base fluids namely water, ethylene glycol (EG) and methanol with different Prandtl number are also examined. The formulation of the mathematical model of second-grade hybrid nanofluid complies with the boundary layer approximations. The complexity of the governing model is reduced into a simpler differential equations using the similarity transformation. The bvp4c solver is fully used to solve the reduced equations. The observation of multiple solutions is conducted for the assisting (stretching) and opposing (shrinking) cases.

The impact of suction parameter, second-grade parameter, electromagnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) parameter, velocity ratio parameter and the volumetric concentration of the alumina and copper nanoparticles are numerically analyzed on the velocity and temperature profiles, skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number (thermal rate) of the second-grade Al₂O₃–Cu/water. The solution is unique when (static and stretching cases) while dual for a specific range of negative in the presence of suction effect. Based on the appearance of the first solution in all cases of, it is physically showed that the first solution is stable. Further examination reveals that the EMHD and suction parameters are the contributing factors for the thermal enhancement of this non-Newtonian working fluid. Meanwhile, the viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid also plays a significant role in the fluid motion and heat transfer rate based on the finding that the EG base fluid produces the maximum heat transfer rate but the lowest critical value and skin friction coefficient.

The results are novel and contribute to the discovery of the hybrid nanoparticles’ performance in the non-Newtonian second-grade fluid. Besides, this study is beneficial to the researchers in this field and general audience from industries regarding the factors, which contributing to the thermal enhancement of the working fluid.

The innovativeness of dressmakers is a concern to respondents to satisfy their clothing needs. The purpose of this study is to determine the criteria that respondents use to judge the quality of clothing and its influences on the innovative ability of dressmakers in the clothing manufacturing industries.

Three hundred and ninety-seven (397) respondents in the Takoradi Metropolis of Ghana filled out a questionnaire, and the results were used to compile data for the study. The sample size was calculated using Miller and Brewer formula. The data was analysed using structural equational modelling with the SmartPLS v.4 software.

The results showed that respondents are very interested in the calibre of clothing produced by their dressmakers. However, the study revealed that when evaluating the quality of a garment, respondents do not simply accept what has been sewn for them but also consider the performance, appearance, fit and shape of the garment. Findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between garment appearance quality (t = 2.605; p < 0.05), garment performance quality (t = 3.915; p < 0.05), garment shape quality (t = 6.248; p <0.05) and fashion innovations. Subsequently, the evaluation of garment fit quality by respondents revealed it does not bring about innovations (t = 1.310; p > 0.05).

The continuous evaluation of custom-made clothing from customers will go a long way towards highlighting the relative criteria they use to evaluate the innovation of dressmakers. This will help improve the creativity of the dressmakers since such feedback will help them understand and innovate their production skills to meet the preferences of customers.

The present study provides an in-depth understanding of how garment quality evaluation by customers influences the innovation of dressmakers in Takoradi, Ghana. The constructs were developed for the study to capture the appropriate data from customers for the study. This presents an evaluation criterion on four garment quality variables imperative for use or modification by other studies.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyze and describe the novel approaches that affect vaccine development in lower-middle income countries (LMICs).

The vaccine market in LMICs currently focuses on traditional Expanded Program for Immunization vaccines instead of new ones. Unlike the successful introduction of those traditional vaccines, the introduction of new vaccines appears to be very slow, mainly due to financial issues. This paper systematically reviews a set of published papers on vaccine development and analyzes them against a specific region-setting framework.

Public–private partnership alone could not ensure long-term vaccine sustainability. Several factors that encourage domestic vaccine development were identified. The findings demonstrate that the regulatory approach of hybrid collaboration and market opportunity strategies can be a major breakthrough for domestic vaccine development in LMICs.

Further research is required to include qualitative and quantitative methods for policy analysis, as all of the discussion in this research focused on literature reviews. The authors did not discuss how strategic decisions are affected from a political perspective and this needs to be specified in future research. Think tanks, considerably and fundamentally, affect policy ideas and decisions. However, important breakthroughs continue to be made at the same time.

The development of vaccines in LMICs is expected to be a mechanism to overcome the inadequate access to vaccines in those countries, as solving this problem requires tackling issues from both the supply and demand sides.

This is a literature review that creates recommendation and approaches for domestic vaccine development in LMICs. This review aims to encourage LMICs to produce their own vaccines for sustainability of the vaccine access through vaccine development lifecycle, instead of expecting donor that provides funding and vaccines (vaccine access) in certain period of time. Donor is not always the solution for the problem, since vaccine development requires finance to function infrastructure. There are many efforts in revoking this, including World Health Organization through several reports; however, this effort still has many doubts. Therefore, the article would like to try to see this as a viable solution from the policy perspectives, with several examples to make recommendations more practical.