The exposure to extreme temperatures in workplaces involves physical hazards for workers. A poorly acclimated worker may have lower performance and vigilance and therefore may be more exposed to accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the existing standards implemented in some workplaces and the lack of thermoregulation in many types of protective equipment that are commonly fabricated using various types of polymeric materials, thermal stress remains one of the most frequent physical hazards in many work sectors. However, many of these problems can be overcome with the use of smart textile technologies that enable intelligent thermoregulation in personal protective equipment. Being based on conductive and functional polymeric materials, smart textiles can detect many external stimuli and react to them. Interconnected sensors and actuators that interact and react to existing risks can provide the wearer with increased safety, protection, and comfort. Thus, the skills of smart protective equipment can contribute to the reduction of errors and the number and severity of accidents in the workplace and thus promote improved performance, efficiency, and productivity. This review provides an overview and opinions of authors on the current state of knowledge on these types of technologies by reviewing and discussing the state of the art of commercially available systems and the advances made in previous research works.

The development of environmentally friendly polymer‐based materials with antibacterial and biodegradable properties is bringing significant benefits to the packaging industry. In the present work, green‐synthesized zinc oxide microporous particles (ZnO MPs) are dispersed in the poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) matrix using a simple casting method to prepare bioactive films with improved antibacterial and anti‐biofouling properties. The resultant films display a microporous morphology with a uniform dispersion of ZnO MPs within the polymeric matrix. The incorporation of green‐synthesized ZnO MPs (3% wt) into PHB films leads to potent antibacterial activity, notably under LED light, with bacterial inactivation efficiencies of 97.5% and 76.2% against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis , respectively, after 90 min of light irradiation. This antibacterial activity is superior to that induced by films loaded with the same amount of commercial ZnO nanoparticles. Furthermore, the potent antibacterial activity gives rise to improved anti‐biofouling for prepared films, in which the biofilm formation on their surface is effectively eliminated. Notably, the ZnO MP incorporation improves the microbe adhesion, accelerating the biodegradation of developed films, with soil biodegradation rates reaching 99% in 10 weeks. The present work offers a simple and cost‐effective approach to producing promising composites with prolonged shelf‐life and the capability of reducing bacterial contamination for packaging industry applications. Highlights: 99% bacterial inhibition for Escherichia coli and 95% for Staphylococcus epidermidis . Microfiltration efficiency >99% achieved in one filtration cycle. Mechanical strength is enhanced by 2.2 times with the addition of gelatin. Biofouling resistance by preventing bacterial attachment. Sustainable membranes with fast biodegradation in soil.

The exposure to extreme temperatures in workplaces involves physical hazards for workers. A poorly acclimated worker may have lower performance and vigilance and may therefore be more exposed to accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the existing standards implemented in some workplaces and the lack of thermoregulation in many protective equipment, thermal stress remains one of the most frequent physical hazards in many work sectors. However, many of these problems can be overcome with the use of smart textile technologies that enable intelligent thermoregulation in personal protective equipment. Smart textiles can detect, react and adapt to many external stimuli. Interconnected sensors and actuators that interact and react to existing risks can provide the wearer with increased safety, protection and comfort. Thus, the skills of smart protective equipment can contribute to the reduction of errors and the number and severity of accidents in the workplace, and thus promote improved performance, efficiency and productivity.This review provides an overview and opinions of authors on the current state of knowledge on these types of technologies by reviewing and discussing the state of the art of commercially available systems and the advances made in previous research works.

Drowsy driving contributes to roughly 20% of traffic fatalities, yet most detection systems rely on behavioral cues that appear only after impairment has set in. Here we ask whether first and second derivatives of heart rate variability (HRV) can detect pre-crash states earlier than conventional approaches. Twenty-five participants completed 49 driving simulator sessions while we recorded cardiac activity through capacitive ECG electrodes embedded in the seat backrest—a non-contact method that avoids the privacy concerns of camera-based monitoring. To prevent circular evaluation, ground truth labels were based solely on crash proximity rather than HRV-derived scores. The combined HRV feature set (conventional metrics plus derivatives) achieved AUC = 0.863 for pre-crash prediction; derivatives alone reached only AUC = 0.573, indicating their value as complementary rather than standalone features. Driving performance indicators remained the strongest predictors (AUC = 0.999). Temporally, derivative-based detection preceded behavioral manifestations by 5–8 min and crash events by 6.8 ± 2.3 min. Across 1591 crashes and 6.78 million data points, we found that HRV derivatives capture physiological changes that precede overt impairment, though their utility depends on integration with other feature types.

Capacitive ECG sensors in automobiles enable unobtrusive heart rate monitoring as an indicator of a driver’s alertness and health. This paper introduces a capacitive sensor with textile electrodes and provides insights into signal quality and RR duration accuracy. Electrodes of various shapes, sizes, and fabrics were integrated at various positions into the seat back of a driving simulator car seat. Seven subjects completed identical driving circuits with their cardiac signals being recorded simultaneously with textile electrodes and reference Ag-AgCl electrodes. Capacitive ECG signals with observable R peaks (after filtering) could be captured with almost all pairs of textile electrodes, independently of design or placement. Signal quality from textile electrodes was consistently lower compared with reference Ag-AgCl electrodes. Proximity to the heart or even contact with the body seems to be key but not enough to improve signal quality. However, accurate measurement of RR durations was mostly independent of signal quality since 90% of all RR durations measured on capacitive ECG signals had a percentage error below 5% compared to reference ECG signals. Accuracy was actually algorithm-dependent, where a classic Pan–Tompkins-based algorithm was interestingly outperformed by an in-house frequency-domain algorithm.