Garment smoothness appearance evaluation through computer vision

The measurement and evaluation of the appearance of wrinkling in textile products after domestic washing and drying is performed currently by the comparison of the fabric with the replicas. This kind of evaluation has certain drawbacks, the most significant of which are its subjectivity and its limitations when used with garments. In this paper, we present an automated wrinkling evaluation system. The system developed can process fabrics as well as any type of garment, independent of size or pattern on the material. The system allows us to label different parts of the garment. Thus, as different garment parts have different influence on human perception, this labeling enables the use of weighting, to improve the correlation with the human visual system. The system has been tested with different garments showing good performance and correlation with human perception. © The Author(s) 2012.Silvestre-Blanes, J.; Berenguer Sebastiá, JR.; Pérez Llorens, R.; Miralles, I.; Moreno Canton, J. (2012). Garment smoothness appearance evaluation through computer vision. Textile Research Journal. 82(3):299-309. doi:10.1177/0040517511424530S299309823López, F., Miguel Valiente, J., Manuel Prats, J., & Ferrer, A. (2008). Performance evaluation of soft color texture descriptors for surface grading using experimental design and logistic regression. Pattern Recognition, 41(5), 1744-1755. doi:10.1016/j.patcog.2007.09.011Villette, S. (2008). Simple imaging system to measure velocity and improve the quality of fertilizer spreading in agriculture. Journal of Electronic Imaging, 17(3), 031109. doi:10.1117/1.2956835Neri, F., & Tirronen, V. (2009). Memetic Differential Evolution Frameworks in Filter Design for Defect Detection in Paper Production. Studies in Computational Intelligence, 113-131. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-01636-3_7Carfagni, M., Furferi, R., & Governi, L. (2005). A real-time machine-vision system for monitoring the textile raising process. Computers in Industry, 56(8-9), 831-842. doi:10.1016/j.compind.2005.05.010Wang, W., Wong, Y. S., & Hong, G. S. (2005). Flank wear measurement by successive image analysis. Computers in Industry, 56(8-9), 816-830. doi:10.1016/j.compind.2005.05.009Cho, C.-S., Chung, B.-M., & Park, M.-J. (2005). Development of Real-Time Vision-Based Fabric Inspection System. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 52(4), 1073-1079. doi:10.1109/tie.2005.851648Kawabata, S., Mori, M., & Niwa, M. (1997). An experiment on human sensory measurement and its objective measurement. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 9(3), 203-206. doi:10.1108/09556229710168324Fan, J., Lu, D., Macalpine, J. M. K., & Hui, C. L. P. (1999). Objective Evaluation of Pucker in Three-Dimensional Garment Seams. Textile Research Journal, 69(7), 467-472. doi:10.1177/004051759906900701Fan, J., & Liu, F. (2000). Objective Evaluation of Garment Seams Using 3D Laser Scanning Technology. Textile Research Journal, 70(11), 1025-1030. doi:10.1177/004051750007001114Yang, X. B., & Huang, X. B. (2003). Evaluating Fabric Wrinkle Degree with a Photometric Stereo Method. Textile Research Journal, 73(5), 451-454. doi:10.1177/004051750307300513Kang, T. J., Kim, S. C., Sul, I. H., Youn, J. R., & Chung, K. (2005). Fabric Surface Roughness Evaluation Using Wavelet-Fractal Method. Textile Research Journal, 75(11), 751-760. doi:10.1177/0040517505058855Mohri, M., Ravandi, S. A. H., & Youssefi, M. (2005). Objective evaluation of wrinkled fabric using radon transform. Journal of the Textile Institute, 96(6), 365-370. doi:10.1533/joti.2004.0066Zaouali, R., Msahli, S., El Abed, B., & Sakli, F. (2007). Objective evaluation of multidirectional fabric wrinkling using image analysis. Journal of the Textile Institute, 98(5), 443-451. doi:10.1080/00405000701489156Yu, W., Yao, M., & Xu, B. (2009). 3-D Surface Reconstruction and Evaluation of Wrinkled Fabrics by Stereo Vision. Textile Research Journal, 79(1), 36-46. doi:10.1177/004051750809049

Hazards and Risks at Rotary Screen Printing (Part 2/6): Analysis of Machine-operators’ Posture via Rapid-Upper-Limb-Assessment (RULA)

Musculoskeletal-disorders (MSDs) are one of the-most-noticeable global-problems, ergonomists come- across, in the-workplace. To-prevent MSDs, their-root-causes, particularly, poor/awkward-postures, should be identified, first. This-study examined such-postures, at-printing-section of finishing-department, at textile-mill, via numerical-rating ergonomic-assessment-tool, namely Rapid-Upper-Limb-Assessment (RULA). In-addition, ISO 11226: Ergonomics, evaluation of static-working-postures (2000); and EN-1005- 4: Safety of machinery, human-physical-perfor­mance, and evaluation of working-postures, in relation to-machinery, were-used, as a-reference. The-RULA-analysis, on the-two-chosen highest-risk-postures (#1 and #2), identified 2nd and 3rd action-level of danger of musculoskeletal-injury (MSI), necessitating further-investigation, and possible-change/correction. These-investigations revealed the-following-risks of MSDs or MSIs, for the-posture #1: (1) awkward-back posture--trunk-bending-forward, at the-waist, with 46 degrees deviation, from neutral-posture; (2) visually-demanding-operation (risk of eye-strain); (3) contact-pressure; (4) stress on lower-extremities; and (5) standing-static-posture. For the-posture #2, the-risks were: (1) awkward-neck, and head-posture, with 38 degrees-deviation, from neutral-posture; (2) risk of eye-strain; (3) stress on lower-extremities; and (5) standing static-posture. Several-tailored recommendations, to-control, or prevent, the-identified-hazards, were-offered, including: engineering, work-practice/administrative, and PPE-approaches. In-addition, 3 areas, for-further-research, were identified. Moreover, informative-synopsis on relevant-issues were-also-given, such-as on: Work-related MSDs (WRMSDs) and their-prevalence; Working in neutral-posture; Awkward-posture, its-effects, and relevance to WRMSDSs; Upper-limb-MSDs; RULA; Spine and awkward-back-posture; Visually demanding-operation and eye-strain; Printing-defects; Digital-image-processing-techniques; Contact pressure; Standing-static-posture; Stress on lower-extremities; and GSE- automatic-dispensing systems, among-others. The-study is important, for textile-printing-industry, particularly the-management of the-textile-printing-section, at the-textile-mill, as it provides specific-recommendations, for consideration to-implementation, to-reduce and control the-risks of WRMSDs. It-also-adds (in its-small-way) to-the-body of knowledge on WRMSDs. Keywords: textile industry, MSDs, WRMSDs, awkward-posture, printing defects, machine operator

Physiological and behavior monitoring systems for smart healthcare environments: a review

Healthcare optimization has become increasingly important in the current era, where numerous challenges are posed by population ageing phenomena and the demand for higher quality of the healthcare services. The implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) in the healthcare ecosystem has been one of the best solutions to address these challenges and therefore to prevent and diagnose possible health impairments in people. The remote monitoring of environmental parameters and how they can cause or mediate any disease, and the monitoring of human daily activities and physiological parameters are among the vast applications of IoT in healthcare, which has brought extensive attention of academia and industry. Assisted and smart tailored environments are possible with the implementation of such technologies that bring personal healthcare to any individual, while living in their preferred environments. In this paper we address several requirements for the development of such environments, namely the deployment of physiological signs monitoring systems, daily activity recognition techniques, as well as indoor air quality monitoring solutions. The machine learning methods that are most used in the literature for activity recognition and body motion analysis are also referred. Furthermore, the importance of physical and cognitive training of the elderly population through the implementation of exergames and immersive environments is also addressedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Policy-based finance, financial regulation, and financial sector development in Japan

The authors state the Japanese government's role in creating a macroeconomic and financial environment conducive to rapid industrialization went beyond maintaining price stability. The government created a stable but segmented and tightly regulated financial system that favored the financing of industry over other sectors of economic activity. Lending practices, the direction of policy based finnance, and the structure of Japan's financial system changed over time, but one thing stayed constant: the authorities'vision. Some observers maintain that Japanese policies - emphasizing the development of internationally competitive industries - retarded economic growth. And government policies were not the only or even the most important factor in Japan's success. One key to success was government agencies'close cooperation with the private sector, and the government's reliance on privately owned and managed corporations to achieve government-favored industrial goals. Japan's financial system was quite different from Anglo-American and continental European financial systems. The authors discuss some characteristics of the Japanese system in the high growth era: 1) the preponderent role of indirect finance; 2) the"overloan"position of large commercial banks; 3) the"overborrowing"of industrial companies; 4) artificially low interest rates; 5) the segmentation and fragmentation of the financial system; 6) the underdevelopment of securities markets and institutional investors; 7) the key role played by the main bank system; 8) the relations between banks and industry; 9) the different roles debt and equity played in the Japanese system; 10) the role large conglomerate groups, especially general trading companies, played in channeling funds to small firms at the industrial periphery; and 11) the role of policy-based financial institutions. These features evolved in the context of high savings rates and an accumulation of assets, mobilized mostly through deposit institutions, including the postal savings system, and transformed into short- and long-term and risky loans through commercial and long-term credit banks as well as specialized government financial institutions. Are hard work and good management the secrets of Japan's success? Hard work may be as much a symptom as a cause of economic success. But good management has unquestionably been a key to Japan's economic success. Whether Japan's approach is better than others is more difficult to answer. Japan may have overtaken several European countries butwas still lagging behind the US and a few European countries in per capita income expressed in purchasing power parity terms. And although the Japanese approach played a significant part in promoting industrialization and accelerating economic growth during the period of reconstruction and high growth, it also entailed significant long-term costs - in terms of poor-quality housing and other urban infrastructure. And the excesses of the 1980s and Japan's current economic recession undermine claims about its ability to continuously outperform other countries.Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Decentralization,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation

Workers’ Voices: The situation of women in the Eastern European and Turkish garment industries

05_Workers_Voices.pdf: 256 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020