Evaluation of a Technology Enabled Garment for Older Walkers

Walking is often cited as the best form of activity for persons over the age of 60. In this paper we outline the development and evaluation of a smart garment system that aims to monitor the wearer's wellbeing and activity regimes during walking activities. Functional requirements were ascertained using a combination of questionnaires and two workshops with a target cohort. The requirements were subsequently mapped onto current technologies as part of the technical design process. In this paper we outline the development and second round of evaluations of a prototype as part of a three-phase iterative development cycle. The evaluation was undertaken with 6 participants aged between 60 and 73 years of age. The results of the evaluation demonstrate the potential role that technology can play in the promotion of activity regimes for the older population

Oral application of L-menthol in the heat: From pleasure to performance

When menthol is applied to the oral cavity it presents with a familiar refreshing sensation and cooling mint flavour. This may be deemed hedonic in some individuals, but may cause irritation in others. This variation in response is likely dependent upon trigeminal sensitivity toward cold stimuli, suggesting a need for a menthol solution that can be easily personalised. Menthol’s characteristics can also be enhanced by matching colour to qualitative outcomes; a factor which can easily be manipulated by practitioners working in athletic or occupational settings to potentially enhance intervention efficacy. This presentation will outline the efficacy of oral menthol application for improving time trial performance to date, either via swilling or via co-ingestion with other cooling strategies, with an emphasis upon how menthol can be applied in ecologically valid scenarios. Situations in which performance is not expected to be enhanced will also be discussed. An updated model by which menthol may prove hedonic, satiate thirst and affect ventilation will also be presented, with the potential performance implications of these findings discussed and modelled. Qualitative reflections from athletes that have implemented menthol mouth swilling in competition, training and maximal exercise will also be included

The origins and evolution of the bra

This thesis marks the first biography of the evolution of the bra from a designer and patternmaker’s perspective. Although the bra has a very long history, it only became a truly iconic garment in the latter half of the Twentieth Century. To some extent this transformation was driven by rapid social and economic changes, but the evolution of this highly technical garment is also inextricably linked to developments in technology which have led to improvements in materials, design and manufacture. Initially these developments were related to designing a three-dimensional product from a two-dimensional flat patternmaking process, but more recently the advent of the moulded bra has offered opportunities to create a seamless three-dimensional garment without the need to construct a flat pattern, and this has enabled both increased design possibilities and raised the prospect of a better fitting product. Through an investigation of the origins of underwear in general, and the bra in particular, this thesis reviews secondary source historical data to chart major changes in design, patternmaking, and technology from the first recorded uses of underwear to the current challenges facing bra designers and patternmakers in an increasingly globalised industry. This historical review culminates in the identification of two distinctly diverging trends in current bra design and manufacture, both of which face significant challenges in terms of training new designers and producing better sizing and fitting protocols. The two primary source studies which emanate from this historical review contribute new knowledge to each of these diverging directions in bra design. The first study provides an entirely new approach to the teaching, and subsequent current commercial practice of flat patternmaking for what many regard as the ‘traditional’ cut-and-sewn variety of bra. This study culminates in a new way of producing, learning and teaching the art of flat patternmaking, enabling underwear design graduates to leave university with the core skills they need to survive in a fast moving global industry. The second major study investigates the salient challenge of providing an excellent fit for both major types of bra across globally diverse and perhaps ethnically different body types. Consequently, it employs cutting-edge threedimensional body scanning technology to demonstrate how the design, sizing, and 2 fitting of both cut-and-sewn and moulded varieties of garment might be significantly improved in the future. Both primary source data studies therefore stand at the beginning of the future evolution of the most technically complex garment in human history, the not so humble bra

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Material relationships: the textile and the garment, the maker and the machine. Developing a composite pattern weaving system

This research brings together the disciplines of woven textile design, zero waste pattern cutting and fashion design to form the Composite Pattern Weaving system; an innovative approach to woven garment design and construction which assimilates textile and garment lay-plan design and construction to produce engineered zero waste and integrally shaped woven garments, containing multiple fabric qualities, from a single length of woven textile. The approach challenges conventional textile and fashion design processes and systems by adopting a holistic and simultaneous approach to the design and production of textile and garment components; facilitating the integration of functional and sustainable design strategies to enhance garment durability and longevity through the implementation of a multi-method lifecycle approach to design. This research adopts the Transitional Design Methodology; an alternative approach of working between traditional and advanced technologies which challenges the constraints of the two modes of production whilst capitalising on their advantages. This cyclical iterative approach emphasises the importance of the relationship between the maker, materials and the machine(s), whilst recognising the potential for a transitional dialogue and knowledge transfer between all aspects of hand and digital production. Employing both modes of production in parallel, the Transitional Design Methodology facilitates a reciprocal relationship whereby concepts, designs and ways of working evolve as the maker moves between modes. Through the production of zero waste woven garment prototypes using hand and digital weaving technologies, the research establishes new integral shaping techniques and woven garment construction methods to minimise material production, consumption and waste, and identifies some of the limitations of fully-fashioned and composite garment weaving. The garment prototypes embody the learning and knowledge derived through the application of the Transitional Design Methodology. They demonstrate the advantages of working iteratively between hand and digital modes of design and construction to produce innovative (and interconnected) design outcomes, to advance skills and processes, and enhance personal practice

Development and evaluation of new inspiratory muscle loading technologies for use in inspiratory muscle training

Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is becoming more popular in sporting populations as contentious issues associated with the magnitude of its effect as an ergogenic training aid are gradually dispelled. The main reason for this is the increasing good practice in controlled intervention studies particularly through the use of appropriate outcome measures, for example time trial performance, but also the work done to identify potential mechanisms such as the blood flow redistribution model. The purpose of this thesis is to further improve the benefits afforded by IMT through the development and evaluation of new technologies. The key aim was to produce technologies that provide functional relevance to a sporting population by permitting normal, albeit loaded ventilation to take place in an ambulatory situation. A number of intermediate objectives have been achieved including the identification of the key limitations of existing technologies and their application, the development of new methods for the prescription of a dynamic inspiratory load via a series of human studies i.e. mouth pressure generation due to inspiratory drive during exercise, 3-Dimensional thoracic displacement and peripheral thoracic force generation, and the design, manufacture and evaluation of two new inspiratory muscle training technologies. These are a thoracic restricting technology that provides true ambulatory loading and a variable mouth occlusion technology that can be set to load in accordance with the specific pressurevolume characteristics of an individual. The former (thoracic restricting technology) has been developed into a first stage prototype and tested on a single subject to assess any changes to breathing pattern. The results suggest that suitable load location may minimise any adverse effects and has enabled further theoretical development to take place. The latter (variable mouth occlusion technology) has been implemented in a controlled study on a group of healthy male adults to assess its functionality and the suitability of a specific decaying load. The results suggest that the chosen load may have been unsuccessful in increasing the work of breathing and that specific aspects of the functionality require development thus enabling the selection of specific refinements for future interventions to be identified. The focus of future research is therefore the practical comparison of these new technologies with existing devices in order to fully understand the optimisation of inspiratory muscle training