Wearable technologies are emerging as a useful tool with many different applications. While these devices are worn on the human body and can capture numerous data types, this literature review focuses specifically on wearable use for performance enhancement and risk assessment in industrial- and sports-related biomechanical applications. Wearable devices such as exoskeletons, inertial measurement units (IMUs), force sensors, and surface electromyography (EMG) were identified as key technologies that can be used to aid health and safety professionals, ergonomists, and human factors practitioners improve user performance and monitor risk. IMU-based solutions were the most used wearable types in both sectors. Industry largely used biomechanical wearables to assess tasks and risks wholistically, which sports often considered the individual components of movement and performance. Availability, cost, and adoption remain common limitation issues across both sports and industrial applications.

Standards for the fatigue testing of wearable sensing technologies are lacking. The majority of published fatigue tests for wearable sensors are performed on proof-of-concept stretch sensors fabricated from a variety of materials. Due to their flexibility and stretchability, polymers are often used in the fabrication of wearable sensors. Other materials, including textiles, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and conductive metals or inks, may be used in conjunction with polymers to fabricate wearable sensors. Depending on the combination of the materials used, the fatigue behaviors of wearable sensors can vary. Additionally, fatigue testing methodologies for the sensors also vary, with most tests focusing only on the low-cycle fatigue (LCF) regime, and few sensors are cycled until failure or runout are achieved. Fatigue life predictions of wearable sensors are also lacking. These issues make direct comparisons of wearable sensors difficult. To facilitate direct comparisons of wearable sensors and to move proof-of-concept sensors from “bench to bedside”, fatigue testing standards should be established. Further, both high-cycle fatigue (HCF) and failure data are needed to determine the appropriateness in the use, modification, development, and validation of fatigue life prediction models and to further the understanding of how cracks initiate and propagate in wearable sensing technologies.

Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sectors have evolved to increase market share in the global textile supply chain. Textile sectors heavily rely on energy and groundwater consumption during production; mainly, textile dyeing mills contribute to the carbon footprint and water footprint impact to the environment. Textile dyeing mills have become one of the major industries responsible for the continuous depletion of groundwater levels and severe water pollution to the environment. Reduction of long-term key performance indicators (KPI) can be set to a baseline by reducing energy and groundwater consumption in textile dyeing mills. This study has analyzed the energy and groundwater consumption trend based on 15 textile dyeing mills in Bangladesh in 2019. The average dyed fabric production of 15 textile dyeing mills in 2019 was 7602.88 tons by consuming electricity and groundwater, and discharging treated effluent wastewater to the environment, in the amounts of 17,689.43 MWh, 961.26 million liters, and 640.24 million liters, respectively. The average KPI of treated effluent discharged wastewater was 97.27 L/kg, and energy consumption was 2.58 kWh/kg. Considering yearly 5% reduction strategies of groundwater and energy consumption for each factory could save around 355.43 million liters of water and 6540.68 MWh of electricity in 10 years (equivalent to 4167.08-ton CO₂ emission).

Mood boards are used frequently in design and product development as well as in academic courses related to fashion design. However objectively evaluating the creativity of fashion design mood boards is often difficult. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to examine reliability of a digital consensual assessment instrument measuring creativity, using expert (from related domains) and non-expert raters (students). Creativity measures were compared with the mood board themes to further investigate any relationships between mood board types and the consensual assessment. Independent samplesttest comparing group means indicated expert raters evaluated the mood boards significantly higher in creativity than the non-experts,t(99) = −6.71,p < .001, (95% CI −.57, −.29), while Pearson correlation results indicate a significant relationship between the two groups of raters,r(50) = .33,p < .01. ANOVA results for all raters indicated a significant difference between the five subject matter categories;F(4, 95) = 4.64,p < .005. Overall, expert and non-expert raters reported significant reliability, which further supports prior research using consensual assessment for creativity measures across domains.

Creativity assessment in apparel design is limited in scope and application. The purpose of this investigation is (1) the procedural use of the consensual assessment technique (CAT) when evaluating fashion design illustrations, (2) the internal consistency reliability of creativity and technical quality scales with expert and novice raters, and (3) the differences between expert and novice ratings on creativity and technical quality. The CAT provided a valid and reliable creativity assessment instrument for apparel design evaluation. Results indicate significant relationships between the ratings for both creativity measures (r (30) = .83, p < .001) and technical quality measures (r (30) = .78, p < .001). Yet, domain experience of raters was not significant in comparison. Therefore, apparel design evaluation can be completed by a combination of experts and novice raters effectively; however, the number of raters used is a critical methodological need. Educators integrating evaluation procedures of creative thinking into current courses and curricula can use assessment strategies for creativity evaluation.

In this study, 100% polyester mesh fabrics were used as ham nets. The nets were treated with 40% propylene glycol (PG), 1% propylene glycol alginate (PGA), and 1% carrageenan. The treated and untreated nets were evaluated to determine any significant changes in terms of mechanical properties. Fabric weight (ASTM D3776), elastic properties (BS EN 14704-1:2005), abrasion resistance (ASTM D4966) and breaking strength (ASTM D5034-09) were tested. The morphology of 100% polyester fiber was also observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Surface morphology of both treated and untreated fabric was also observed. No significant changes occurred in the mechanical properties that would affect the dry-cured ham aging process. Treated samples were stronger than untreated samples with respect to abrasion resistance, weight of the fabric in unit area (GSM), and tensile strength. This study indicates that these nets could be used to age dry-cured hams as part of a methyl bromide replacement strategy.