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Breathing resistance is the main factor that influences the wearing comfort of respirators. This paper aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using the gene expression programming (GEP) for the purpose of predicting subjective perceptions of breathing resistances of wearing respirators via surface electromyography (sEMG) and respiratory signals (RSP) sensors.

The authors developed a physiological signal monitoring system with a specific garment. The inputs included seven physical measures extracted from (RSP) and (sEMG) signals. The output was the subjective index of breathing resistances of wearing respirators derived from the category partitioning-100 scale with proven levels of reliability and validity. The prediction model was developed and validated using data collected from 30 subjects and 24 test combinations (12 respirator conditions × 2 motion conditions). The subjects evaluated 24 conditions of breathing resistances in repeated measures fashion.

The results show that the GEP model can provide good prediction performance (R² = 0.71, RMSE = 0.11). This study demonstrates that subjective perceptions of breathing resistance of wearing respirators on the human body can be predicted using the GEP via sEMG and RSP in real-time, at little cost, non-invasively and automatically.

This is the first paper suggesting that subjective perceptions of subjective breathing resistances can be predicted from sEMG and RSP sensors using a GEP model, which will remain helpful to the scientific community to start further human-centered research work and product development using wearable biosensors and evolutionary algorithms.

Investigating the subjective breathing resistance of wearing respirators requires a valid and reliable technique to measure breathing resistance. The purpose of this study is to test the validity and reliability of several rating scales and select the best for investigation of breathing resistance.

The authors designed three scales, that is, BRX scale, CP-100 scale and RVAS scale, and 30 subjects were separated into three groups, each group with a different scale. They sat for 5 min and walked for 5 min while wearing three models of respirators. After each trial, subjects were asked to complete subjective ratings of breathing resistance. Reliability was examined by the coefficient of Cronbach’s α, and validity was examined through content validity, discriminant validity and criterion validity. Generally, subjects were capable of reporting their sensation of breathing resistance by using the rating scale technique. However, the accuracy of rating strongly depended upon the properties of the scale.

The CP-100 scale was found to be highly reliable and most valid for rating subjective breath resistance. The validated CP-100 scale is very sensitive and accurate.

This is the first paper to select the best subjective scale for investigation of breathing resistance of respirators. The CP-100 scale will find wide applications in subjective breathing resistance evaluation for the use of respirators in industrial benchmarking activities. It will introduce the human factor engineering into the respirator manufacturing to improve the comfort of respirators.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the human factors/ergonomics (HFE) studies for respirator.

This review paper describes and discusses the various factors and methodologies of HFE, for the purpose of better considering human factors, used in respirator studies and further human-centered product development.

Many attempts have been made to study human factors for respirators mainly including fit, human performance, comfort, and mood. Physical, psychological, and physiological indices of people are extremely valuable to HFE studies for respirator. Objective and subjective measures were methodologies widely used. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted to illustrate the human performance and well-being influenced by respirators. A summary table presented with major methods used for indices of respirators in the field of HFE. According to the current researches, this review indicated three particular challenges facing HFE studies of respirators now.

With the ever increasing role of protection from air pollution in society, respirator has become an increasingly important part of our daily lives. HFE intervene in optimizing the relationships between respirators and the human using them. Plenty of efforts have been dedicated for the development of protection capability, but HFE studies for respirators are lacking. In recent years, there has been a tremendous interest in introducing HFE research methods that can evaluate respirators from the perspective of human and translate them into constraints for designing human-centered respirators.

This is a first paper in the field of HFE studies for respirator, which will remain helpful to the scientific community to start further human-centered research work and product development.

Examines the fifthteenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Examines the fourteenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Examines the fifteenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

The purpose of this chapter is to uplevel the two-by-two binary matrix of differences to a three-by-three cross-referential one, in order to inquire into the nature and movement of Spirit within us at different levels of analysis. Our design is a non-liner, post-structural inquiry. The implications of our findings include an invitation to co-explore the muddled middle area of relationship, such as Synthesis − between Thesis and Antithesis − and Breath − between Mind and Body, individually and collectively as a metaphorical set to explore Spirit as the relationship between Self and Other. The social implications reveal more possible interpretations than currently assumed, beyond the label of enemy and the erection of lines of containment, in the relational space between concepts and among people. Our essay is original, in its playful and post-modern interface of fact and fiction, mind and body, self and other, and spirit and breath.