The goal of this research is to enable a robotic system to manipulate clothing and other highly non-rigid objects using an RGBD sensor. The focus of this thesis is to present various algorithms / models to solve parts of the laundry process (i.e. handling, classifying, sorting, unfolding, and folding). First, a system is presented for automatically extracting and classifying items in a pile of ...

Recent studies have noted positive effects of red clothing on success in competitive sports, perhaps arising from an evolutionary predisposition to associate the color red with dominance status. Red may also enhance judgments of women's attractiveness by men, perhaps through a similar association with fertility. Here we extend these studies by investigating attractiveness judgments of both sexe...

We are writing to answer the enquiry from Professor Somsri Wiwanitkit and Professor Viroj Wiwanitkit about the findings of our study. We could not agree more that clothing does play an important role in affecting the post mortem changes of corpses. One of the major effects include retaining body heat right after death (in other words, algor mortis), which in turn will enhance faster onset of pu...

By means of a computer-aided fashion design system, a fashion designer can easily make changes to the various colors, textures and pattern prints of clothing design, and thus need not draw on paper a great number of drafts. One of the most difficult tasks in a computer-aided fashion design system is to separate the clothing of interest on a model from the background, so that changes can be appl...

The five basic senses of vision, taste, smell, hearing, and touch form the very crux of our ability to perceive, process, and integrate external cues. Is there, however, a sixth sense? Thoughts of a grimacing Bruce Willis aside, evidence suggests that pheromones may regulate instinctive behaviors in awide range of organisms, but whether this truly represents a distinct ‘‘sense’’ remains to be e...

Occupational population-based epidemiological data relating to occupational contact allergies in the Chinese clothing industry are limited. To investigate the prevalence of occupational allergic contact dermatitis (OACD) and to identify the causative allergens among clothing employees in China, a cross-sectional study was conducted in 529 clothing employees at 12 clothing factories in Beijing. ...

INTRODUCTION Tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and ehrlichiosis are a significant concern for many thousands of workers who have frequent and unavoidable exposure to tick-infested habitats. Many North Carolina state employees with outdoor occupations report multiple tick bites each year, indicating that existing tick preventive strategies may be underutiliz...

In this research, we extend a model of transdermal uptake of phthalates to include a layer of clothing. When compared with experimental results, this model better estimates dermal uptake of diethylphthalate and di-n-butylphthalate (DnBP) than a previous model. The model predictions are consistent with the observation that previously exposed clothing can increase dermal uptake over that observed...