Search Results (9)

This study investigates the unique interplay between thermal comfort and antimicrobial properties in base fabrics, shaping the foundation for the development of “Smart Socks” as advanced personal protective equipment (PPE). By delving into the inherent qualities of fibers such as cotton, polyester, bamboo, and wool and exploring fabric structures like single jersey, terry, rib, and mesh, the research captures the dynamic relationship between material composition and performance. Terry fabrics emerge as insulators, wrapping the user in warmth ideal for cold climates, while mesh structures breathe effortlessly, enhancing air circulation and moisture wicking for hot environments. Cotton mesh, with its natural affinity for moisture, showcases exceptional moisture management. Antimicrobial testing, focused on fabrics’ interactions with Staphylococcus aureus, highlights the dormant potential of bamboo’s bio-agents while revealing the necessity for advanced antimicrobial treatments. This study unveils a vision for combining innovative fabric structures and fibers to craft smart socks that balance thermal comfort, hygiene, and functionality. Future directions emphasize sensor integration for real-time physiological monitoring, opening pathways to revolutionary wearable PPE. Full article

Bamboo weaving is an intangible cultural heritage in China. Exploring people’s aesthetic preferences for bamboo weaving patterns to better serve the design of bamboo architectural decoration can help promote the upgrading of traditional crafts. This study explored the differences between genders in the oculomotor indicators in different bamboo weaving patterns through an eye-movement experimental study combined with a subjective questionnaire to explore whether different genders have aesthetic preferences for people’s pictures of bamboo weaving patterns. The results showed that both males and females preferred less visually striking and softer corrugated patterns, with males paying more attention to the more ‘angular’ hexagonal and triangular patterns, while females were more interested in the more regular and uniform brickwork and diagonal patterns. Full article

The sustainability problem of many intangible cultural heritage (ICH) products stems from the shrinking of the core practitioner group, which is also the case for bamboo basketry craft. We believe that the problem in bamboo basketry originated in the lack of labor division between design and manufacturing, which prevents professional designers from entering this industry and results in the absence of several key stakeholders related to innovation and R&D. The lack of labor division is due to the technical difficulties associated with expressing the design concepts. The complexity of basket weaving structures makes it difficult to communicate between designer and manufacturer without precise expression tools, thus binding design and manufacturing into an integrated role. Guided by the user innovation theory, our team studied the design technology of bamboo basketry and developed a series of aiding tools, including the modeling of basic over–under structures and free weaving structures, automatic mapping techniques from 2D to 3D and several frequently used weaving skills, such as connecting, wrapping, plaiting and knotting. This technology enables designers to quickly design and express weaving structures with full details in digital models rather than to make samples. The application of the software shows that the technology considerably improved the designer interest and confidence. This technical solution makes designers, rather than programmers, able to do the development work, which also helps to create a sustainable ecological environment of technological research, also avoiding the difficulties associated with attracting business investment for such niche demands in the starting stage. Our practice shows that the sustainability of ICH products and the sustainability of the industry are closely related and that solving the latter supports the former. Full article

As a fast-growing, woody grass plant, Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) can supply edible shoots, building materials, fibrous raw material, raw materials for crafts and furniture and so on within a relatively short time. Rapid growth of Moso bamboo occurs after the young bamboo shoots are covered with a shell and emerge from the ground. However, the molecular reactions of bioenergetic processes essential for fast growth remain undefined. Herein, total and mitochondrial transcriptomes and proteomes were compared between spring and winter shoots. Numerous key genes and proteins responsible for energy metabolism were significantly upregulated in spring shoots, including those involved in starch and sucrose catabolism, glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. Accordingly, significant decreases in starch and soluble sugar, higher ATP content and higher rates of respiration and glycolysis were identified in spring shoots. Further, the upregulated genes and proteins related to mitochondrial fission significantly increased the number of mitochondria, indirectly promoting intracellular energy metabolism. Moreover, enhanced alternate-oxidase and uncoupled-protein pathways in winter shoots showed that an efficient energy-dissipating system was important for winter shoots to adapt to the low-temperature environment. Heterologous expression of PeAOX1b in Arabidopsis significantly affected seedling growth and enhanced cold-stress tolerance. Overall, this study highlights the power of comparing total and mitochondrial omics and integrating physiochemical data to understand how bamboo initiates fast growth through modulating bioenergetic processes. Full article

In this research, the caisson painting of Dayu Temple in Hancheng, Shaanxi, China, was analyzed via a multi-analytical methodology, using a pH meter, an ultra-depth-of-field optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), a high-resolution X-ray diffractometer (XRD), a micro-confocal laser Raman spectrometer, a gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS), and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). With the corroborative evidence derived from the above analyses, it could be determined that the caisson painting of Dayu Temple was painted on bamboo paper and attached to hemlock wood substrate of the Pinaceae Tsuga genus using starch paste, with common colorants such as carbon black, cinnabar mixed with a small amount of red lead, ultramarine, and ultramarine mixed with Paris green, with animal glue having been adopted as a sizing agent. These results provide important scientific data for the production craft of precious caisson paintings, contributing to the revelation of their historic, artistic, and scientific value, and should enable conservators to make informed decisions in restoration. Full article

Various brands of bamboo crafts created by youths have emerged in Zhushan Township, Taiwan. With the special bamboo materials available in Zhushan Township as their core, these brands have created different types of social innovations through their management, design, and mechanical knowledge. The results indicate the following: (1) The youths advocate for causes such as the preservation of culture, mutually beneficial situations, sustainable local development, and environmentally friendly lifestyles. The youths proposed innovative solutions for these causes, such as establishing a guesthouse, revitalizing unused space, creating opportunities for dialogues, developing bamboo-based environmentally friendly products, and holding local activities; (2) the youths constructed a model for internal cooperation and enhancement, revitalization, and marketing Zhushan Township; (3) the youths advocated for various social values, utilized social capital, and proposed innovative solutions through diversified participation and the creation of new relationships, allowing different communities to generate a group dynamic to resolve social problems and achieve sustainability together. This study aids in the facilitation of sustainable management of township micro-enterprises by innovating products and service modes through social capital and social value. At the same time, local and common social innovation modes are connected to provide a reference for the social innovation of micro-enterprises. Full article

The utilization of polymer-based materials is quickly expanding. The enterprises of today are progressively seeking techniques to supplant metal parts with polymer-based materials as a result of their light weight, simple support and modest costs. The ceaselessly developing requirement for composite materials with new or enhanced properties brings about the preparation of different polymer mixes with various arrangements, morphologies and properties. Fused filament fabrication processes such as 3D-printing are nowadays shaping the actual pathway to a full pallet of materials, from art–craft to biomaterials. In this study, the structural and mechanical behavior of three types of commercially available filaments comprised of synthetic poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene-co-styrene) (ABS), poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(lactic acid)/polyhydroxyalkanoate reinforced with bamboo wood flour composite (PLA/PHA BambooFill) were assessed through mechanical testing and optical microscopy, aiming to understand how the modifications that occur in the printed models with internal architecture are influencing the mechanical properties of the 3D-printed material. It has been determined that the material printed from PLA presents the highest compression strength, three-point bending and shock resistance, while the ABS shows the best tensile strength performance. A probability plot was used to verify the normality hypothesis of data for the tensile strength, in conjunction with the Anderson–Darling statistic test. The results of the statistic indicated that the data were normally distributed and that there is a marked influence of the internal architecture of the 3D-printed models on the mechanical properties of the printed material. Full article

The 18-year history of bamboo craftsmanship in the university curriculum of Taiwan started with the popularization of concepts such as green design, community building, and cultural and creative industries. Bamboo is an environmentally-friendly material that has received much attention in the 21st century. Craftsmanship has drawn the attention of universities. This study uses participatory observation and interviews to collect information on bamboo craft courses in four departments of three universities and uses qualitative coding analysis to explore the sustainable teaching methods of craftsmanship teachers, sustainable development learning effects on students, and different ways of promoting sustainable development education (ESD) with bamboo craft courses in different universities. The research results show the following: (1) There are differences in bamboo craft courses: teachers’ craftsmanship and curricula are different, resulting in differences in technical depth and creativity; (2) with respect to the ESD evaluation criteria of the four bamboo craft courses, skills learning itself is not complete, but students are provided with a path to self-reliance in the craft and in responding to cultural sustainability challenges; and (3) regarding the relationship between ESD and bamboo craft education, bamboo craft education promotes the concept of sustainability and is important for the creation of crafts; universities offer opportunities for testing students’ technical talents and knowledge, but ESD is limited and blurry. Full article

The bamboo-art industry in Taiwan’s Jhushan Township is inseparable from local life. In the face of local industrial-development difficulties in smaller towns, the Taiwan government aimed to achieve a range of (re)development goals using eco-museums as collaboration platforms and required such museums to combine their operations management with cultural preservation, local industrial development, and local residents’ goals. As such, the likely future performance of such operations management has emerged as a crucially important factor in decision-making about whether such museums should be constructed. This study, therefore, reviews the relevant literature on the operations-management performance of museums, with special attention to eco-museums, and proposes an operations-management performance measurement framework for eco-museums based on that review and a two-stage questionnaire administered to experts. The first stage utilized the Fuzzy Delphi Method, which focuses on impact factors, and the second, the Analytica Network Process Method, deals with performance factors. The results indicate that the key impacts on the performance of eco-museums and their operations management were, in order of importance, (1) community symbiosis, (2) cultural inheritance, and (3) regional revitalization. The preservation of cultural heritage, local identity, and community participation are the most important criteria in the operations management of eco-museums, and Jhushan Town can promote such museums through these guidelines. Full article