Early intervention for psychosis in Hong Kong - the EASY programme

Aim: This article aims to describe the Hong Kong experience in developing and implementing an early psychosis programme. Methods: In 2001, the Early Assessment Service for Young People with Psychosis programme was launched in Hong Kong, providing both educational and service components. Public education includes promotion of timely help-seeking, accessible channels to service and knowledge of psychosis. The 2-year phase-specific intervention includes intensive medical follow-up and individualized psychosocial intervention. The programme has adopted the case-management approach, in which case managers provide protocol-based psychosocial intervention. The programme collaborates with non-governmental organizations and community networks in the provision of rehabilitation service. Results: An average of over 600 young patients enter the programme for intensive treatment each year. Based on preliminary data from a 3-year outcome study, patients in the programme have remarkable reductions in hospital stay accompanied by improvements in vocational functioning. Conclusions: The results suggested that the programme improved patients' outcome. Additional costs such as extra medical staff and medications may be offset by the shortened hospital stay. Further directions in early intervention are also discussed. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.postprin

Evaluation of water absorption and transport property of fabrics

The liquid absorption and transport properties of fabrics are critical not only to the success of wet processes such as dyeing, printing and finishing, but also to the performance of products such as sports clothes, performance clothing, disposable hygiene materials and medical products. During wear, moisture in clothing has been found to be the most significant factor contributing to discomfort. The presence of sweat will increase friction between fabric and skin, trigger a clingy sensation and eventually increase the level of fatigue felt by the wearer. This problem will be even more severe for clothing worn under extreme environmental conditions or at high activity levels. Fabrics with excellent water absorption and transport properties have the potential to minimise the wetness sensation on skin, facilitate the evaporation of sweat and aid comfort. Hence, as a product developer or clothing manufacturer, it is essential to choose the appropriate measurement method to characterise the water absorption and transport properties of fabric.This paper reviews different subjective (by people-subjects) and objective (by instruments-objects) evaluation methods for assessing wetness comfort, and determining water absorption and transport properties of fabrics. Since perception of wetness is a complex process with a number of stimuli from clothing and external environments communicated by human sensory receptors, subjective assessment with its better representation of the real wear situation is preferred. The review starts by introducing human physiology, describing hepatic perception of wetness, followed by methods for use in experiments on assessor control, setting of environmental conditions, types of touch, the usual body sites for testing, and a summary of methods for measuring physiological and perception changes using psychological or psychophysical scaling procedures. Despite its advantage of more closely simulating the real wear condition, performing a subjective test is time-consuming and expensive. Its accuracy depends on the reliability of the assessors and the result may vary between assessors. Objective measurement might therefore provide an attractive alternative. In this study, details of objective instrumental measurements are summarised according to the technology applied, and include gravimetric, observation-based, optical, spectroscopic, electrical, pressure-based, magnetic resonance and temperature detection methods. The principles, advantages and limitations of each method are systematically compared and discussed. Practical recommendations are proposed, particularly for enhancing the accuracy, reproducibility and/or simplicity of the methods.The objective of this review is to present an overview of various measurement methods, both subjective and objective. It is intended to form a basis for enabling fabric engineers to choose the most suitable analytical test method(s) when developing new fabric products with respect to performance, the availability of resources, time for testing, the type of fabrics to be tested and the accuracy and precision required. Additionally, the review points to the need for researchers to develop more advanced and accurate measurement methods to characterise the absorption and transport properties of fabrics.Institute of Textiles and Clothing201810 bcm

Subjective wet perception assessment of fabrics with different drying time

202012 bcrcVersion of RecordPublishe

Instrumental evaluation of stickiness of textiles under wet skin surface

201810 bcmaVersion of RecordNot mentionPublishe

Method and apparatus for detecting moisture absorption and moisture transmission in textile fabric

Inventor name used in this publication: 简志伟Inventor name used in this publication: 邓嘉宝Inventor name used in this publication: 邹锦康Inventor name used in this publication: 范金土Title in Traditional Chinese: 紡織面料中水分吸收及傳輸的檢測方法和裝置China202212 bcchVersion of Recor

Assessing the accumulated stickiness magnitude from fabric-skin friction : effect of wetness level of various fabrics

201810 bcmaVersion of RecordPublishe

Characterizing the transplanar and in-plane water transport properties of fabrics under different sweat rate : forced flow water transport tester

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Characterizing the transplanar and in-plane water transport of textiles with gravimetric and image analysis technique: Spontaneous Uptake Water Transport Tester

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Effect of contacting surface on the performance of thin‐film force and pressure sensors

202310 bckwVersion of RecordOthersInnoHK Fund; Innovation and Technology FundPublishe

Instrumental evaluation of dry heat loss of footwear under different activity levels

201907 bcrcVersion of RecordPublishe