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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.

An improved waterproof seam production technology (ultrasonic welding-thermo adhesive tape sealing (USW-TATS)) was developed in this study. The technology will improve the waterproof performance of seam which has problem resulted from needle holes and thread like seam leaking and excess shrinkage.

Threadless seams were produced by ultrasonic welding (USW) with coated and lamination fabric to replace the traditional sewing process in Sewing-thermo adhesive tape sealing (S-TATS). The process efficiency was evaluated by Methods-Time Measurement (MTM). Seam performance including hydrostatic pressure, shrinkage and tear force was compared among three technologies (USW, USW-TATS and S-TATS). The effect of ultrasonic welding parameters (amplitude, roller pressure and roller speed) on the USW-TATS seam performance was investigated.SEM analysis was carried out to examine the condition and morphology of the joints cross section.

It was found that waterproof performance and dimensional stability of USW-TATS seam were superior to that of S-TATS seam. Tear force and hydrostatic pressure increased firstly and then decreased with the increasing of USW parameters in UAW-TATS process. Binary regression relationships were found between the USW parameters and tear force or hydrostatic pressure. Shrinkage decreased with the increasing of roller pressure and speed.

Research results can be applied to predict seam performance of waterproof clothing, reduce equipment parameters setting time and enhance product quality in industry.

A threadless production technology (USW-TATS) was proposed to improve waterproof performance and dimensional stability of outdoor clothing seams.

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically analyze and experimentally demonstrate the investigation on and optimization of a distributed optical fiber sensor based on phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometer (F-OTDR) for disturbance detection.

The F-OTDR system is investigated and optimized in two aspects: the hardware parameter and the interrogation scheme.

Based on the optimized hardware and the new interrogation scheme, the performances of the F-OTDR system have been improved greatly, compared with conventional F-OTDR system. A location accuracy of 2 m and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 16 dB have been achieved under a spatial resolution of 8 m. On the other hand, four disturbances at four different locations have been detected and located simultaneously, which is the most effective detection system with the maximum detection capability reported to date, to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

Four disturbances at four different locations have been detected and located simultaneously, which is the most effective detection system with the maximum detection capability reported to date, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. With same hardware conditions, more existing disturbances can be detected by using the new interrogation scheme, which is helpful to reduce the miss report of disturbance.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the details of developments to researchers in test apparatus and evaluation methods to rate the thermal protective performance (TPP) of firefighters’ clothing under high-temperature and high-humidity condition.

This review paper describes the influence laws of moisture on thermal protection and the moisture distribution in actual fire environment. Different evaluation methods used for assessing the effect of moisture on the TPP were investigated, with an emphasis on test devices, evaluation indexes as well as their relationship and limitations.

The moisture from the ambient, clothing and human perspiration plays an important role in determining the TPP of firefighter protective clothing. It is obvious that research on moisture-driven heat transfer in firefighter’s clothing system are comparatively little, primarily focussing on pre-wetted methods of multi-layer fabric. Further studies should be conducted to develop more standardized moistening systems and improve the current calculation methods for evaluating the performance of protective clothing. New explorations for heat and moisture transfer mechanism in protective clothing should be investigated.

Protective clothing is the efficient way to provide fire-fighting occupational safety. To accurately evaluate the TPP of protective clothing under high-temperature and high-humidity condition will help to optimize the clothing performance and choose the proper clothing for providing firefighters with the best protection under multiple thermal hazards.

This paper is offered as a concise reference for scientific community further research in the area of the TPP evaluation methods under high-temperature and high-humidity condition.

Beautiful and simple curves are most commonly employed in apparel design since they can not only simplify the manufacture process, but also significantly beautify the breast profile of customers. However, it is regularly difficult to choose the most suitable curve when producing the strip costume; this is due to the fact that the curve is a kind of aesthetics without any laws. The quantification and standardization to curves are necessary for fashion design. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the stripe of costumes and the breast profiles of wearers.

Seven curves drawn derived from the Hogarth theory (Hogarth curves) were firstly diagrammatized by the central line technology using CorelDraw, and the format of bitmaps and quadratic functions of these selected curves were obtained respectively. Simulating formulas were subsequently used to interpret these curves. The standard of curves for apparel design was finally established after being evaluated by comparison between the different types of female breasts and the curves on the costumes.

The established models indicated that the fourth Hogarth curves was the most attractive one that combining the static state and the dynamic beauty, which could also help females to highlight the beautiful breast shapes.

This work provided the fundamentally understanding of the application of Hogarth curves in fashion design and the improvement on the effectiveness of the garment industry.

Based on the creative education theory, the study of the symmetric coordinated use of both hands is the application of both the quality education ideal and the understanding principles of the creative education to the training of using hands. In the light of relevant concepts of the “Domain” theory and the expertise of both the Chinese and foreign specialists in this field, this article discusses the relation between the tapping of mental creativity, scientific use of hands and the animation of the right hemisphere of the brain with the aim of constructing a new concept of the symmetric coordinated use of both hands.

For comfort evaluation of underwear pressure, this paper proposes an improved GA algorithm to optimize the weight and threshold of BP neural network, namely PSO-GA-BP neural network prediction model.

The objective parameters of underwear, body shape data, skin deformation and other data are selected for simulation experiments to predict the objective pressure and subjective evaluation in dynamic and static state. Compared with the prediction results of BP neural network prediction model, GA-BP neural network prediction model and PSO-BP neural network prediction model, the performance of each prediction model is verified.

The results show that the BP neural network model optimized by PSO-GA algorithm can accelerate the convergence speed of the neural network and improve the prediction accuracy of underwear pressure.

PSO-GA-BP model provides data support for underwear design, production and processing and has guiding significance for consumers to choose underwear.

The discriminative thinking that Chinese entrepreneurs are weak in innovations is widespread. But market competition, which is the main drive for innovations, has been introduced to post‐planning‐economy China for only 30 years or so, and China has only ten years' experience in modern global competition after her entry into the WTO in 2001. Who can say China will not be as innovative as today's advanced counterparts? The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible internal consistencies between one traditional Chinese philosophy, I Ching and modern Western innovation management science. The authors also empirically test the relations between I Ching tradition and innovation performances using cross country data.

First, the authors textually analyzed the consistencies between the book of I Ching and Western innovation management principles, then with that in mind collected cross‐country panel data and tested the hypotheses empirically.

It is found that the philosophies embedded in I Ching could be applied to Western innovation management practices, and cross‐country empirical analysis shows that countries with I Ching tradition achieve better innovation performances, ceteris paribus.

Macro country‐level data were used to test the hypotheses instead of using micro firm‐level survey data. Because the macro data were not collected purposefully for this research, i.e. the authors only borrowed rather than collected the data, perhaps the persuasiveness of the empirical results will be weakened. The authors' future researches in this regard will be based on survey data.

Chinese entrepreneurs should have the confidence that Chinese ancient wisdoms are their strength rather than weakness in innovation activities.

The paper is pioneering in consciously combining I Ching philosophy with Western innovation management sciences. With this kind of synthesis, the paper constitutes a Chinese friendly road map for entrepreneurs to build innovation organizations.

To examine the way that China's cultural traditions affect the country's approach to innovation management and evaluate the impact of the philosophy contained in the ancient I Ching text on effectiveness in translating research spending into patent applications.

Compares innovation performance between countries with and without an awareness of the I Ching philosophy as part of their cultural tradition. Presents an econometric analysis of the relationship between research expenditures, proportion of population engaged in research and relative levels of patent applications in nine countries.

Ask people about China today and the first thing they are likely to talk about is economic growth and the sheer volume of goods that the country manufactures and sends to Europe and America. It is unlikely though, that they will mention creativity and innovation. And yet, China's total number of patent applications rose tenfold between 2000 and 2007, from almost 20,000 to around 200,000 – only just behind Japan and the USA. This is a country that is changing fast, but it still only has ten years of experience of global competition – a key driver of innovation for many companies. It is worth asking whether exposure to western management techniques is as significant as China's long history and distinctive culture. How can Chinese entrepreneurs most effectively develop innovative organizations?

Highlights both China's modest relative performance in innovation to date and the speed at which the country's patent applications have grown in recent years.

Raises questions on the cultural factors affecting innovation performance for further qualitative and quantitative investigation.