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Air pneumatic compression is a concept used for management of venous disease, including oedema. A typical air pneumatic compression device (PCD) consists of an inflatable sleeve composed of either single or multiple pressure chambers that encircle a limb. The aim of this research was to develop a mathematical model to predict the pressure applied by an air pneumatic device to an irregular cross-sectional lower limb manikin. The radius of curvature at any cross-section of the lower limb (i.e. calf (gastrocnemius), tibial crest (anterior edge of the tibia bone)) is irregular, and differs amongst individuals and populations. The effectiveness of air pneumatic devices is difficult to predict with these irregular cross sections. A theoretical model was developed to calculate pressure applied by compression sleeves on a lower leg manikin and results compared against experimental pressure exerted on the manikin by a silicone-based PCD. This prediction was made at each of three positions. The theoretical model developed based on elliptical shaped forms predicted the pressure more accurately for the ankle to above ankle position, whereas the model based on circular shaped forms predicted the pressure more accurately for below the calf to below the knee position. Refinements to the theoretical model to predict the pressure applied by PCD are recommended.

The objective of this research was to determine the effect of multiple layers of materials typical of those used in air pneumatic compression devices (which require air impermeable layers to function) on thermal and water vapor resistance. The experimental set-up included: (a) single layers of two next-to-skin knit fabrics in both relaxed and extended conditions, (b) two layers of silicone, and (c) a multi-layered assembly comprised of a next-to-skin fabric and two layers of silicone. Structural properties (thickness, mass) dominated thermal resistance of the multi-layered assembly, and the silicone layers rendered this assembly impermeable to water vapor as expected. Results confirmed the need for some form of 'ventilation' to facilitate water vapor transfer from a potential user’s skin to the environment. By creating 18 circular vents across the silicone layers (each vent 314 mm2), which formed ventilation of ∼2% of total surface area, the water vapor resistance of the multi-layered assembly dropped significantly from very high (but non-measurable) to below ∼300 m2Pa/W, although ventilation did not improve the thermal resistance of the multi-layer arrangements. Results of this research will enable manufacturers of pneumatic compression devices to develop devices comprised of a multiple layer arrangements i.e. a knit fabric next-to-skin layer and silicone layers with optimized vents across the silicone layers, so that the user can continue the compression treatment with an acceptable microenvironment.

Bandages are common in many health-related treatments, including management of edema of the lower limb where they may remain in place for several days. The behavior of 2 bandage fabrics was investigated after exposure for up to 5 days to a multiaxial extension laboratory setup on a tensile tester in compression mode. The fabrics were extended 20% and remained under that machine setting. Stress-relaxation over time was determined by analyzing the rate of change over 24 hours and over 5 days. Most change, a rapid drop in force, occurred during the first 15 minutes; thereafter, for the next 12-hour period, a slower rate of decrease was observed. Both fabrics continued to relax gradually during the next 12 hours and continued to do so for up to 5 days. Little further change was evident during the last 12 hours or so. This phenomenon suggests that rewrapping may be appropriate (albeit not practical) after 12 hours of compression therapy to optimize the compression given to the lower leg. Relaxation behavior of these 2 fabrics can be explained using the generalized Maxwell-Wiechert model.

Using the Folger Shakespeare Library’s 2016 exhibition Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity as a touch point throughout, Jane Austen and William Shakespeare: A Love Affair in...

Layer-by-layer three-dimensional nanofibrous scaffolds (3DENS) were produced using the electrospinning technique. Interest in using biopolymers and application of electrospinning fabrication techniques to construct nanofibers for biomedical application has led to the development of scaffolds composed of PVA, keratin, and chitosan. To date, PVA/keratin blended nanofibers and PVA/chitosan blended nanofibers have been fabricated and studied for biomedical applications. Electrospun scaffolds comprised of keratin and chitosan have not yet been reported in published literature, thus a novel nanofibrous PVA/keratin/chitosan scaffold was fabricated by electrospinning. The resulting 3DENS were characterized using fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning colorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Physiochemical properties of the polymer solutions such as viscosity (rheology) and conductivity were also investigated. The 3DENS possess a relatively uniform fibrous structure, suitable porosity, swelling properties, and degradation which are affected by the mass ratio of keratin, and chitosan to PVA. These results demonstrate that PVA/keratin/chitosan 3DENS have the potential for biomedical applications.

Background Compression is a common therapy for management of chronic disease, including oedema of the lower limb. Modern compression interventions exert pressure on the lower limb through use of one or more materials which exert pressure against the limb over time. Where these materials are textiles, they range from elastic to inelastic, and are produced using knitting, weaving, or other textile technologies which can be manipulated to control performance properties. Thus, understanding of both the materials/textiles and the human body is needed if the most appropriate compression device and treatment strategy is to be used. Neither is independent of the other. This review aims to enhance understanding of critical textile performance properties and how selection of textiles may affect treatment efficacy when managing chronic oedema of the lower limb. Method Relevant papers for review were identified via PubMed Central® library, and Google Scholar using keywords associated with textile-based treatments of the oedematous lower limb and wider interdisciplinary factors. Results Assessment of the disorder, the severity of oedema, and location of fluid accumulation are required to inform treatment of chronic oedema. While the need to understand the patient is well established (e.g. age, sex, body mass index, skin thickness and colour, patient compliance with treatment), information about preferred compression systems and material structures, and inherent properties of these, is generally lacking. Conclusion Greater detail about materials used (e.g. fabric structure, number and order of layers, fibre content) and patient diagnosis (e.g. underlying cause, severity, location of oedema; patient age and sex; evidence of compliance with treatment; pressure exerted; lower leg shape, size, and properties of the tissue) is needed to facilitate advances in efficacy of compression treatment. Reduced limb swelling with a textile-based treatment occurs simultaneously with changes to the textile itself. Textiles cannot be considered inert.

Electrically conductive fabrics are achieved by functionalizing with treatments such as graphene, however, these change conventional fabric properties and the treatments are typically not durable. Encapsulation may provide a solution for this, and the present work aims to address these challenges. Next-to-skin wool and cotton knit fabrics functionalized using graphene ink were encapsulated with three poly(dimethylsiloxane)-based products. Properties known to be critical in a next-to-skin application were investigated (fabric structure, moisture transfer, electrical conductivity, exposure to transient ambient conditions, wash, abrasion, and storage). Wool and cotton fabrics performed similarly. Electrical conductivity was conferred with the graphene treatment but decreased with encapsulation. Wetting and high humidity/low temperature resulted in an increase in electrical conductivity, while decreases in electrical conductivity were evident with wash, abrasion, and storage. Each encapsulant mitigated effects of exposures but these effects differed slightly. Moisture transfer changed with graphene and encapsulants. As key performance properties of the wool and cotton fabrics following treatment with graphene and an encapsulant differed from their initial state, use as a patch integrated as part of an upper body apparel item would be acceptable.

The objective was to determine whether changes in indicators of skin health among participants suffering from diabetes mellitus could be attributable to the type of sock worn (fiber content, structure). Changes in skin health over time (e.g. temperature, skin hardness, transepidermal water loss, stratum corneum hydration) can indicate improvement or deterioration, and these may be related to socks worn. Socks of different structure (single jersey, terry), and of fiber content (merino wool, cotton) were worn over a period of 22 weeks by participants suffering from diabetes mellitus. Each participant was their own control: change over time in skin hardness, stratum corneum hydration, transepidermal water loss and temperatures were monitored. Properties of the sock fabrics were measured as new and after use to determine effects of wear. Limited evidence of improved skin health was attributable to socks composed primarily of wool.

Low-energy impact testing of hockey shin guards was carried out using a drop test impact rig and a new physical setup protocol. Two brands of shin guards were impacted once (2.6 J, 3.3 J; without and with a sock), and impacted three times (3.3 J; with a sock). The peak force and impulse of a single impact increased with increasing impact energy (by approximately 30 and 7%, respectively) whilst repeated impacts increased the peak force and decreased the impulse (by approximately 70 and 3–9%, respectively, between one and three impact events). The presence of a sock attenuated impact force to a greater extent than the guards alone, at both impact energies. As a sock is usually worn over hockey shin guards, its presence contributes to enhanced protection to the lower limb.

The mechanism of dry heat flow through lofty nonwoven structures (i.e. thermal resistance) as occurs in quilts has been established. By contrast, there is a scarcity of published information on the water vapor transport properties. This work explores the thermal and water vapor transport properties of a number of different quilt samples with a focus on identifying fiber type effects. Both commercial product and matched laboratory samples were examined. Steady-state thermal resistance and water vapor resistance measurements confirmed that both properties are primarily determined by sample thickness and are largely independent of fiber type. Experiments were also undertaken to observe transient effects. Test samples were initially equilibrated on a ‘dry’ guarded hotplate (35 ± 0.1℃) in a low relative humidity environment (45%). The relative humidity was then rapidly increased to 85%. Compared to polyester, wool samples exhibited a large reduction in the heat flux required to maintain the hotplate temperature. This transient peak lasted for in excess of 1000 seconds. The magnitude of this transient peak in heat flux was proportional to the quantity of wool in the sample and is believed to be associated with the known exothermic nature of water vapor absorption by wool as relative humidity increases. Based on the published values of the heat of water absorption of wool it is estimated that this additional transient heat source is significant relative to a typical human resting metabolic rate and so the effect may be of practical relevance in the bedding environment.

Bodies are everywhere in the poetry of Michael Field (Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper). They dance in ecstasy, are wound about with snakes, doze in the grass, stomp grapes for wine, kneel before altars, and suffer decapitation. Throughout Field's oeuvre, the poets display an interest in the poetic representation of bodies, that is, how to translate the physicality of the body--its sensations, its lines, its place in space--into language. In the course of such translation, the body becomes a signifier for Bradley and Cooper and allows them to communicate a range of emotions and ideas. The nature and use of the body evolves over the course of Michael Field's career, becoming, in their final published volumes, inseparable from the religious fervor and spirituality that accompanied their 1907 conversion to Catholicism. Here, I begin with a discussion of bodies in Field's poetry, specifically Sight and Song (1892), and then move to an examination of the poetry written about and around their conversion to demonstrate how they depicted the act of participating in Catholicism as a fully physical, embodied experience. In doing so, Field uses the physical body to engage with spiritual questions prompted by their conversion. The experience of conversion both provided new, rich subject matter for Field and created the opportunity for the expansion of their artistic reach, from writing poems of eye and ear to writing poems that more fully embody a sensory aesthetic experience. Field's interest in depicting the physical body is perhaps felt most strongly in the 1892 volume Sight and Song--every poem in this volume depicts figures. (1) The poems in Sight and Song are each matched to a painting, an endeavor that was part of Field's emerging aesthetic theory, which, as Ana I. Parejo Vadillo explains, was to "develop an epistemology of sight intrinsically related to poetry." (2) Of the thirty-one paintings represented in the volume, only one, da Vinci's Drawing of Roses and Violets does not include human figures. Field puts the figure of da Vinci himself into the poem, however, as they meditate on the act of composition: Leonardo drew the blooms On an April day: How his subtle pencil loved its toil, Loved to draw!" (11. 12-15) The poem places the reader in the mind of Leonardo as he seeks to capture the spirit and the secrets of the flowers. The concluding stanza presents Leonardo's task as a fight against time, decay, and death: "Leonardo drew in spring, / Restless spring gone by, / Flowers he chose should never after fade" (11. 34-36). The flowers captured in his art, unlike those in nature, will not wither and die. The inclusion of the figure of da Vinci in this poem suggests a conscious effort on the part of Bradley and Cooper to include human figures in all the poems of Sight and Song. Moreover, the specific subject matter of this poem--the work of the artist and the sanctity of art--reminds readers of the place of the artist in relation to the work. Although da Vinci is not visible in the study of violets and roses, Bradley and Cooper make him visible in their poem. By embodying da Vinci in the poem and allowing their reader to see his pencil tracing the lines of the flowers, they express a commitment to the power of the body and its inseparability from the experience of art. I start with the da Vinci poem because this interest in the power of the body and physical presence runs throughout much of Field's work. In Sight and Song, bodies are part of the translation act, conveying emotion and sensation and connecting the poet, subject, and reader. In the later works, such emotions and sensations are complicated as Field attempts to embody the experience of spirituality and conversion in their poetry and uses the body to articulate the relationship between the human and the divine. Much of the critical work on Sight and Song has focused on the gaze and the way in which Field's ekphrastic poetry mediates that gaze. …

This article examines academics’ access to and perceptions of sabbaticals at a research-intensive university in New Zealand. Statistical and inductive analysis of survey data from 915 academics (47% of all academics employed) revealed inequalities in access to and experience of sabbaticals, and highlighted academic, personal and gender issues. Men and women were generally united in their views on how family circumstances, children, childcare, partners, unfairness, inequity, transparency and finances, affected ability to take sabbatical leave, and that lack of transparency and gatekeeping were barriers to access. Yet, women indicated greater concern than men about the application process, adequacy of leave and the role of the Head of Department in accessing sabbaticals. Women were also significantly more likely to be ineligible for sabbaticals owing to casual employment status, and women who were eligible tended to take fewer, shorter sabbaticals. Academics view sabbaticals as vital for career prog...

During 2013, the American Council on Education announced an ongoing national challenge to presidents of higher education institutions to join a campaign advocating faculty career flexibility. University and college leaders signed a statement that includes this phrase: “We believe that supporting flexibility must become a core leadership competency to enable our faculty to meet the increasing demands of twenty-first century workplaces and to meet their personal and family responsibilities.” Several research studies have revealed that the stress and conflict from managing work and life responsibilities negatively influences individuals, families and workplaces. Consequently, many organizations, including universities and colleges, have implemented strategies, benefits, programs and policies to promote work-life effectiveness and satisfaction among employees, resulting in a work-life-friendly culture, a culture in which academic leaders recognize that professional and personal lives are not mutually exclusive, and acknowledge that faculty and staff want to be appreciated for being professionals and understood as human beings with life obligations.

The objective of this investigation was to better understand the effects of foot coverings differing in fiber content on the health of the skin on the foot. A longitudinal controlled parallel design wear trial was carried out over 8 weeks: four sock types differing in fiber/yarn closely matched for fiber diameter (100% acrylic, 100% wool (24.5 µm), 100% cotton, 100% wool (20.5 µm)), manufactured such that only fiber type differed, were worn by 16 men. The effects on transepidermal water loss, stratum corneum hydration, pH, skin temperature were examined. Variability in effects among the participants was evident. Each person was his own control, with change expressed as a percentage from baseline. Fabric structural properties and selected performance properties were measured on fabrics of the same fiber/structure as of the socks. Improvement in skin health at the heel, in particular, was evident. Wool socks were associated with more cases of improved skin health (e.g. reduced percentage changes in transepidermal water loss and increased stratum corneum hydration). Results from two indicators of skin health considered together provided stronger evidence of effects than one alone.

Despite her output and connection to several well-known early nineteenth-century writers, Catherine Hutton has remained almost completely absent from the historical record. This essay begins some recovery work on Hutton, focusing on the ways in which she styled herself as a woman novelist and depicted women’s reading within her texts. In addressing the question of authorial self-fashioning, I also examine the comparisons Hutton made between herself and Jane Austen and build on the work of contemporary feminist critics to consider the benefits and drawbacks to reading understudied women writers in relation to Austen.

This study aimed to determine the relative effects of fiber type (fine wool, mid-micron wool, acrylic), yarn type (high-twist, low-twist, single), and fabric structure (single jersey, half-terry, terry) on thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, thermal conductance, water vapor permeability, liquid absorption capacity, and regain of sock fabrics. Fabric structure had the greatest effect on thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, water vapor permeability, liquid absorption capacity, and thermal conductance. Terry fabrics were the most thermal and water vapor resistant, most absorbent, and most conductive. Results were consistent with current understanding of the effect of fabric thickness on thermal and moisture transfer properties when measured under static conditions: However, the effects of yarn type and/or fabric structure of sock fabrics have not previously been explained.

The objective of this study was to measure the combined effects of fiber type (fine wool, mid-micron wool, acrylic), yarn type (high twist, low twist, single) and fabric structure (single jersey, half-terry, terry) on friction between sock fabrics and a synthetic skin using the horizontal platform method. The effect of weight of a hypothetical wearer and moisture content of a sock fabric were also investigated. Differences among fabrics were analyzed using frictional force traces. Data compared included the static and dynamic friction and coefficients of friction, as well as three new descriptive parameters. All variables investigated affected the frictional characteristics between a sock fabric and a synthetic skin. Single jersey fabrics had the lowest coefficient of static and dynamic friction. Friction between fabric and a synthetic skin was affected most by the applied weight, with the simulated adult weight resulting in a greater frictional force, and higher coefficients of static and dynamic friction. The most important effect of fiber was on the static frictional force and coefficient of static friction of damp fabrics, with fabrics composed of fine wool exhibiting lowest friction, and acrylic fabrics the highest.

The objective of this study was to subject dry and damp sock fabrics to repeated compression cycles in order to determine the relative effects of fiber type (fine wool, mid-micron wool, acrylic), yarn type (high twist, low twist, single) and fabric structure (single jersey, half-terry, terry) on fabric compression and recovery from compression. Changes in fabric thickness were measured using a tensile tester and a number of parameters identified and analyzed: retained thickness, recovered thickness, compression to recovery ratio, energy absorption and energy absorption standardized for fabric thickness. The dominant factor was the number of compression cycles, with most change in the thickness retained and recovered evident within the first 10 cycles. The pattern of response of dry and damp fabrics was quite different with, the dry fabrics having a better compression to recovery ratio. Energy absorption was affected strongly by fabric structure, however this was closely related to initial fabric thickness. When fabrics were made damp, fabrics composed of acrylic fibers had a better compression to recovery ratio than fabrics composed of wool.

This chapter considers Jane Austen’s role in arguments about the Victorian Woman Question. At the end of the nineteenth century, critics of the New Woman frequently positioned Jane Austen—both her life and writings—as a model of the idealized “Angel in the House” femininity that the New Woman threatened to overturn. Late-Victorian women writers including George Paston and Amy Levy were savvy readers of Austen, however, and frequently incorporate references to her novels or re-workings of her plots into their texts in ways that reflect both their own, and Austen’s, more progressive views. These writers deploy Austen and her heroines to explore complex ideas of character and motivation while simultaneously addressing late-Victorian questions about gender roles, domesticity, and marriage.

This chapter, considers how mid-Victorian domestic novels by Catherine Hubback and Emily Eden specifically engage with Austen’s work. Hubback and Eden update Jane Austen and her heroines by combining elements of her fiction with popular genres, such as the silver fork novel, and incorporating contemporary mid-Victorian social concerns into their texts. For these writers, Austen became useful for negotiating questions about the development of the novel, the changing literary marketplace, and the role of the woman writer in the nineteenth century.

In this Chapter, “Victorian Readers and ‘England’s Jane,’” considers how and why the Victorians associated Austen with a specific, idealized version of Englishness that was particularly suited to the changing national identity of the late nineteenth century. This Englishness was evoked by a historical nostalgia that linked Austen to the places she lived in and wrote about and glorified the sense of community depicted in her novels. Such connections were most often established in the biographies and works of literary tourism that sought to bring late-Victorian readers closer to Austen’s Regency England. Novels, too, provided opportunities for Victorian writers to engage with their own ideas of Englishness, positioning their texts in conversation with Austen’s works and revising both her depictions of England at home and the influence of England abroad. At the same time, however, many writers and critics were troubled by the apparent lack of connection between Austen’s works and the broader social and political forces of the period. This chapter includes discussion of texts by Mary Russell Mitford, Charlotte Yonge, and Elizabeth Gaskell, as well as works of literary tourism and biography by Constance Hill and Lord Brabourne. Jane Austen and the Victorian Heroine ends with a brief conclusion that looks at the purported “first” Austen sequel, Sybil G. Brinton’s Old Friends and New Fancies (1913), to create new links between both the fictional and critical narratives surrounding the development of Jane Austen’s literary and cultural significance.

This chapter continues the discussion of Austen’s influence on Victorian fiction and the construction of the heroine. The chapter begins with a brief discussion of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters and then considers how two Victorian novelists—Margaret Oliphant and Charlotte Yonge—engaged with the literary legacy of Austen’s Emma through the construction of their own heroines. In Miss Marjoribanks and The Clever Woman of the Family, Oliphant and Yonge draw on Austen’s Emma to experiment with different kinds of heroines and experiment with narrative modes and strategies for engaging their readers.

This chapter looks at the critical and prose accounts of novels that attempted to sort out the increasingly complex Victorian literary world. It explores the links between reading and education and considers how Jane Austen became the heroine of the novel-reading public, as her work was deployed in discussions about the history and development of the novel, the hierarchy of texts, and the rights and responsibilities of English readers. Much of this discussion took place in Victorian reading guides, and the chapter offers a close analysis of these widespread, yet understudied, texts.

Then she fancies she is on the stage of an ancient theatre out in the open air, with hundreds of faces upturned towards her… . She bounds forward and dances, bends her lissom waist, and curves her slender arms, and gives to the soul of each man what he craves, be it good or evil. And she can feel now, lying here in the shade of Irish hills with her head resting on her scarlet shawl and her eyes closed, the grand intoxicating power of swaying all these human souls to wonder and applause. She can see herself with parted lips and panting, rounded breasts, and a dancing devil in each glowing eye, sway voluptuously to the wild music that rises, now slow, now fast, now deliriously wild, seductive, intoxicating, with a human note of passion in its strain. She can feel the answering shiver of feeling that quivers up to her from the dense audience, spellbound by the motion of her glancing feet, and she flies swifter and swifter, and lighter and lighter, till the very serpents seem alive with jeweled scintillations...

Few lakes in the Arctic preserve sediments older than Holocene age because of pervasive glacial scour during the last ice age. Here we present sediment diatom and geochemical records from a lake on east-central Baffin Island (CF8, Nunavut, Canada) that captures three successive interglacial periods within the last 200,000 years: a portion of marine isotope stage (MIS) 7; the last interglacial (MIS 5e); and the Holocene (MIS 1). An additional unit of diatom-rich organic sediment occurs between the latter two intervals, and is ascribed to MIS 5a interstadial conditions. The Lake CF8 paleolimnological record reveals similar ontogenetic trends within each interglacial. Early postglacial environments in both the Holocene and MIS 5e were characterized by a dominance of colonial benthic fragilarioid diatoms that thrived in relatively alkaline waters. These species shifts do not coincide with major changes in base cation delivery to the sediments, suggesting that shifts in diatom assemblages are controlled mainly by climate-driven pH dynamics. Diatom assemblages then transitioned into dominance by tychoplanktonic Aulacoseira species, likely in response to climate-driven pH dynamics. The highest sustained abundances of Aulacoseira occur in sediments ascribed to MIS 5e, and this is the only interval in which thalassiosiroid centric taxa also occur (e.g. Discostella and Puncticulata spp.). Given that these planktonic taxa typically reach high abundances during extended periods of open-water conditions, we surmise that MIS 5e was the warmest interval recorded. The overall similarity of lake ontogenetic trajectories recorded within each interglacial period suggests that climatic and edaphic factors drive a complex succession of environmental changes through indirect effects on lake ice cover, habitat availability, and lake-water pH. In recent decades (past ∼50 yrs), an unprecedented increase in periphytic Eunotia taxa is evident; these diatoms were only present intermittently during previous glacial–interglacial cycles. The expansion of Eunotia is attributed to increased habitat availability associated with declining ice cover during recent 20th century warming. By integrating data from several distinct interglacials, the CF8 diatom record considerably extends our understanding of Arctic lake ontogeny, and provides an unparalleled natural archive with which to compare recent changes associated with anthropogenic climate warming.

The objective was to examine the effects of layering fabrics on selected properties known to be critical in the outdoor recreational activity market (permeability to air and to water vapor, and thermal-related measures including ’dry’ and ’wet’ thermal resistance). With laboratory-based testing used by manufacturers to aid fabric selection, information on the way in which fabrics behave as layered arrangements is pertinent.Comparisons of effects on fabric properties were based on fibers (merino wool, polyester), knit structures (single jersey, interlock, eyelet), and whether differences were apparent with multiple-layer arrangements typical of end use, including outer layers. Standard methods and modifications to these were applied. Some properties differed according to the spacing (distance) between layers and/or between a first layer and a hypothetical ’skin’ surface. Differences among the different fabrics/fibers were more apparent with one layer than with multiple layers. Layering of fabrics which are likely to be used as garments worn together has major effects on properties such as permeability to air and water vapor, thermal resistance, and nominal thermal conductance. Effects of adding a second layer typically exceeded those of adding a third.

B cell activation factor of the TNF family (BAFF) is a potent B cell survival factor. BAFF overexpressing transgenic mice (BAFF-Tg mice) exhibit features of autoimmune disease, including B cell hyperplasia and hypergammaglobulinemia, and develop fatal nephritis with age. However, basal serum IgA levels are also elevated, suggesting that the pathology in these mice may be more complex than initially appreciated. Consistent with this, we demonstrate here that BAFF-Tg mice have mesangial deposits of IgA along with high circulating levels of polymeric IgA that is aberrantly glycosylated. Renal disease in BAFF-Tg mice was associated with IgA, because serum IgA was highly elevated in nephritic mice and BAFF-Tg mice with genetic deletion of IgA exhibited less renal pathology. The presence of commensal flora was essential for the elevated serum IgA phenotype, and, unexpectedly, commensal bacteria-reactive IgA antibodies were found in the blood. These data illustrate how excess B cell survival signaling perturbs the normal balance with the microbiota, leading to a breach in the normal mucosal-peripheral compartmentalization. Such breaches may predispose the nonmucosal system to certain immune diseases. Indeed, we found that a subset of patients with IgA nephropathy had elevated serum levels of a proliferation inducing ligand (APRIL), a cytokine related to BAFF. These parallels between BAFF-Tg mice and human IgA nephropathy may provide a new framework to explore connections between mucosal environments and renal pathology.

This article examines 110 reported incidents from an online survey of 26 women from each of the eight universities in New Zealand. They responded to questions asking them to describe times when work and non-work situations have helped or hindered their advancement in university leadership roles. Five key themes, incorporating a range of factors, emerged as making a difference to advancement as leaders. These themes are: work relationships; university environment; invisible rules; proactivity; and personal circumstances. This research is part of the L-SHIP (Leadership- Supporting Higher Intent & Practice) project and has two main aims. First, to identify factors in universities that help and hinder women’s advancement as leaders, as reported by women; second, to provide useful evidence to underpin the development of programmes supporting women’s advancement in university leadership roles. This research is a first step in the development of the L-SHIP Toolkit for good practice in leadership development in higher education.

This paper describes injury (circumstances and type) experienced by sub-populations at all levels of cricket and, where possible, the type of protective equipment used. The sample differs to that generally examined in the literature in that it is not restricted to evaluation of elite and professional players only. Over a 6-year period (2000-2005), 498 cases were identified. The average age of injury was 27 years and 86% of those injured were male. The population incidence rate was 2.3 per 100,000 per year, and participation incidence rate 39 per 100,000 per year. Over all age groups upper limb (36%) and lower limb (31%) were most commonly injured. Fracture was the main type of injury. Differences among age groups were identified. Children (

The objective of this work was to review the properties of selected specialty protein fiber knit fabrics suitable for everyday wear. Selected properties (dimensional stability to laundering, mass, thickness, and stitches per centimeter) of three commercially available fabrics were measured when new and after each laundering cycle (1—6). The silk and silk-blend fabrics achieved dimensional stability by six laundering cycles. Fabric properties differed with the number of laundering cycles, fabric color, and fabric type. Although water temperature affected the pattern of change of some properties, it had no overall effect on properties of the stabilized fabrics. However, examination of new and washed fabric using scanning electron microscopy suggested fibrillation and degradation of silk fibers may be affected by laundering.

The objective was to adapt Standard test methods for determining properties of apparel fabrics so these properties are a better reflection of fabrics when used in end-products, while retaining a controlled environment and thus allowing fabric comparisons2. Test methods in which properties are compared when fabrics are dry and damp, and/ or in which they are in multiple-layered assemblies have been developed and applied to a range of fabrics.

This article puts these two Regency phenomena in dialogue to demonstrate how they were linked by their fashionable status as well as by the club's ability to help silver-fork authors, specifically women authors, shape the genre in which they wrote. The textual presence of Almack's enabled authors to argue for the expansion and redefinition of the woman's sphere, reflect anxieties over increasingly permeable class boundaries, and satirize the exclusives’ vexed relationship with French culture as fashionably tempting yet politically threatening. Almack's narrative potential was particularly relevant for women writers because Almack's itself was governed by a group of women, the Lady Patronesses, who, as both historical figures and fictional characters, provided silver-fork authors with models for female power and authorship that blended traditional feminine employment with broader social and political influence.

Aims were to 1 characterize pretibial injuries and evaluate protection offered by garments/fabrics; and 2 develop a laboratory test to determine the potential protection provided by such fabrics. Most (>85%) of 75 patients treated for pretibial injury at Hutt Hospital, New Zealand sustained injury to one site and required surgery. Injuries were typically grade 3 or 4, 10-250 mm wide 30-350 mm long, and at the mid- to lower third of the tibia. The severity grade was lower when at least one fabric layer covered the site, slightly lower again with more than one layer, and when a knitted fabric/garment was worn, and a trouser type garment. Laboratory test methods and their application reflected these known variables. The force transmitted through multiple fabric layers was less then through one layer: thick pantyhouse and either denim or fabrics used in 'sweat pants' would minimize transmitted force and maximize impulse.

The performance of garments for outdoor activity was compared. Three fabrics, each in garments for the upper body, matched garment/wearer dimensions, were worn by 10 athletically 'well-trained' males under controlled conditions (hot 32 +/- 2 degrees C, 20 +/- 2% relative humidity (RH); cold 8 +/- 2 degrees C, 40 +/- 2% RH) with physical (instrumental) and sensory responses obtained during the trials. Differences in human responses to the fabrics/garments included heart rate, core temperature during run (hot, cold), rest (hot) and walk (cold), heat content of the body, humidity under garments during rest and run and time to onset of sweating. No such differences were identified for change in body mass, core temperature during walk (hot) and rest (cold), skin temperature, temperature of skin covered by the garment, humidity under the garments during walk or for any perceptions (thermal sensations, thermal comfort of torso, exertion, wetness). The garment in single jersey wool fabric performed best in both hot and cold conditions. Effects of garments on wearers are often related to properties of the fabrics from which the garments are made. This study shows that only some differences in fabric properties result in measurable thermophysiological and perceptual responses of the garment wearers and underlines the difficulty in predicting performance of garments/persons from laboratory tests on fabrics.

Clothing is worn in single- and multiple-layer arrangements and during use subjected to conditions such as extension and wetting. This study investigated how selected variables affected transmission of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) through fabrics and whether these variables interacted to modify transmission. Using a spectrophotometer the effect of i) fabric type (two knitted, two woven), color (black and white), wetness (dry, damp, wet), and extension (relaxed, extended (10 × 10%, 10 × 20%)), and ii) fabric type and layering (1, 2, 3 layers) of white fabrics, on UVR (290—400 nm), UVA (315—400 nm), UVB (290—315 nm), and ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) rating was investigated. Differences among variables were identified using univariate and repeated measures ANOVA, and interactions among variables identified and described. Selecting dark colors, limiting extension and layering fabric were shown to be effective ways of increasing UV protection and UPF by decreasing transmittance. However, the effect of color, extension and layering varied among fabric types and modified UVA and UVB transmittance differently.

This work examines sensory and instrumental methods for quantifying color of fabrics and investigates the relationship between fabric color and UV transmittance. The color of 175 samples was visually categorized by human judges into color groupings and measured instrumentally according to the CIE XYZ and CIE LAB systems using a spectrocolorimeter. The relationship between color and UVA, UVB and UVR transmittance was examined and the most appropriate method for describing the relationship between UV protection and color was determined. Color depth rather than color per se affected mean UV transmittance with dark fabrics confirmed as being most effective. L* (lightness), Y (brightness), were found to be equally effective descriptions of the `color'/transmittance relationship. Manufacturers seeking to color fabrics so as to minimize UV transmittance should select colors with CIE L* of approximately < 38 or CIE Y of approximately < 28. Medium and high transmittance levels were less clearly related to CIE values.

As she sought to differentiate herself from her traditionally "Victorian" counterparts, the New Woman interrogated and challenged her role within established social institutions. Calling for the reform of ideas about education, property ownership, and dress--to name just a few--the late-Victorian feminist defined herself as she redefined the culture. Writers who embraced such ideas used novels, essays, and poetry to advance the political agenda of the New Woman, question the institution of marriage, and promote transgressive sexualities. Recent recovery efforts have brought a body of work by writers such as Ella Hepworth Dixon, Mona Caird, George Paston, and Sarah Grand, among many others, back into circulation, providing scholars and students a new point of entry into the literature and culture of the fin-de-siecle. While the novels and essays of the New Woman are often recognizable for their heightened social consciousness and clear political stance, her poetry is more difficult to identify. Indeed, characterizing New Woman poets or New Woman poetry is a vexed undertaking, complicated by the nature of the genre and the influence of aestheticism, as Linda K. Hughes explains in her Introduction to New Woman Poets: An Anthology: "While aestheticism and New Woman writing were not mutually exclusive, the latter was often an intermittent stance within the encompassing category of writing by female aesthetes" whose work "has not hitherto been memorable chiefly for its feminist activism." (1) The influence of the New Woman phenomenon, Hughes notes, may appear in individual poems rather than characterize an entire volume or body of work. This complex relationship between the New Woman and aestheticism has been articulated by Talia Schaffer and Kathy Alexis Psomiades in their Introduction to Women and British Aestheticism, in which they discuss how critical attention to the New Woman has not necessarily accommodated the work of female aesthetes, focusing instead on those writers "with strong feminist or political credentials." (2) In characterizing the aesthetic movement Schaffer and Psomiades cite the interest in "fields traditionally assigned to the women's sphere--including fashion, interior design, and decorative art" (p. 1). To this list, I would add dance as both a feminine accomplishment and theatrical performance that attracted male and female aesthetic poets. Yet, for women poets in particular, writing about dance allowed them to engage with aesthetic ideals while using their poetry to promote the political ideals associated with the New Woman. Despite changing conceptions of gender roles and sexuality at the fin-de-siecle, in certain arenas, pushing women onto the path from virginal courtship, to heterosexual marriage, to domestic bliss remained the status quo. The ballroom of the 1880s and 1890s was one such arena; here, couplings and courtships prevailed. For example, in her manual The Perfect Art of Modern Dancing (1894), Edna Witherspoon provides an illustration of "polite" behavior that shows how women were denied agency in the ballroom: "Gentlemen are expected to ask for introductions if they are not acquainted with ladies who are without partners for dances, and at a private ball a lady is not justified in refusing to dance with any gentleman who is introduced for this purpose, unless she has most justifiable grounds for so doing." (3) Women are, essentially, at the mercy of any potential suitor, and they are continually thrust into a series of partnerships--the body is forced to act, despite the wishes of the mind and heart. Predictably, when the ballroom appears in poetry and prose by women writers, its strict rules of etiquette and gender politics are often criticized and questioned; nonetheless, these writers remain aware of the liberatory powers of the act of dancing itself. An examination of the function of dance in poems by Amy Levy, Katharine Tynan, and A. Mary F. Robinson reveals the strategies through which late-Victorian woman writers revised women's experience of dancing while challenging the established practices of the Victorian ballroom. …

The objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of approaches to designing and analyzing investigations on textiles. Methods used in these investigations include experiments, surveys, case studies, and historical research. General principles are common to all these, as are considerations of sampling, types of data, and procedures for analysis. Examples of investigations involving fabrics, garments, and bedding are given, with comment on both design and analysis.