Colour is a key element in the discrimination and matching of textile fibres for forensic purposes. Two aspects of research aimed at developing an autcmated forensic textile fibre matching system by colour computer vision are outlined. The segnentation procedure is described. It is based on a mult{resolution image format and incorporates progressive plan refinement. Filters for building the mil...

OBJECTIVES The relation between lifetime cumulative exposure to asbestos, pathological grade of pulmonary fibrosis, and lung burden of asbestos at death, was explored in a necropsy population of former workers in a chrysotile asbestos textile plant in South Carolina. METHODS Estimates of cumulative, mean, and peak exposures to asbestos were available for 54 workers. Necropsy records and lung ...

OBJECTIVES To estimate exposures to asbestos fibres of specific sizes among asbestos textile manufacturing workers exposed to chrysotile using data from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and to evaluate the extent to which the risk of lung cancer varies with fibre length and diameter. METHODS 3803 workers employed for at least 1 day between 1 January 1950 and 31 December 1973 in any of t...

Since the introduction of acrylic fibres as a wool-like apparel fibre to the textile market in the early 1950s, their applications have greatly diversified. Substantial modifications of the acrylic fibres are now possible at several points in the manufacturing route. These range from the selection of comonomers through changes in spinning conditions to specific thermal and chemical modification...

Research on the very specific damage to single textile fibres caused by vapour cloud explosions is presented. Vapour cloud explosion experiments were carried out using a selection of 41 garments differing in colour, fibre composition and textile construction. Fibres subjected to a vapour cloud explosion become wider at the end, often taking the form of a ball, bulb or shovel, while the morpholo...

New vegetation in barren areas offers possibilities for sequestering carbon in the soil. Arid and semi-arid areas (ASAs) are candidates for new vegetation. The possibility of agriculture in ASAs is reviewed, revealing the potential for cultivation by covering the surface with a layer of organic fibres. This layer collects more water from humidity in the air than does the uncovered mineral surfa...

The treatment of textile wastewater for reuse using an electrochemical oxidation step combined with a membrane filtration step is reported in this paper. The electrolytical process is a traditional one, which is easy to scale up and to apply in practice. This paper proposes a modification of the transfer-flow membrane (TFM) module with fibres welded in an arc-shape to enhance the mechanical pro...