• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1700-1709
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between thermo-physiological factors and the insensible loss of body weight(IL) of resting women wearing seasonal comfortable clothing. Air temperature was maintained at a mean of 22.5, 24.7, and 16.8 for spring/fall, summer and winter, respectively. We selected a total of 26 clothing ensembles(8 ensembles for spring/fall, 7 ensembles for summer, and 11 ensembles for winter). The results showed that 1) IL was $19{\pm}5g{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr$ for spring/fall environment, $21{\pm}5g{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr$ for summer, $18{\pm}6{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr$ for winter(p<.001). 2) Insensible water loss through respiratory passage(IWR) showed the reverse tendency to IL. IWR was $6{\pm}1g{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr$ for winter and $5{\pm}1g{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr$ for summer. This difference was significant(p<.001). 3) The proportion of IWR out of whole insensible water loss(IW), had a mean of the mean 28% for summer and 38% for winter(p<.001). 4) In comfort, the heat loss by IW out of heat production had a mean of 25% for spring/fall, 27% for summer, and 23% for winter. 5) There was a weak negative correlation between It and clothing insulation/body surface area covered by clothing. 6) There were significant correlations between IL and air temperature$(T_a)$, air humidity$(H_a)$, energy metabolism, ventilation, mean skin temperature $\={T}_{sk})$ and clothing microclimate humidity$(H_{clo})$. However, the coefficients were less than 0.5. In conclusion, there were weak relationships between the IL and thermo-physiological factors. However, when subjects rested in thermal comfort, the IL was maintained in a narrow range even though the clothing insulation and air temperature were diverse.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.966-976
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• 2017

This study investigated the effects of wearing latex gloves with inner gloves on the skin hydration of the hands. Fifteen young males participated in the following three conditions: bare hand (BH), latex glove (LG), and latex glove with inner glove condition (LGIG) at an air temperature of $28^{\circ}C$ with 50%RH. Subjects typed a book for 120 min. The results were as follows. Skin hydration was greater for LG and LGIG than BH (p<.001), but no difference was found between LG and LGIG. Skin hydration showed greater values on the thenar and dorsum compared to the palm for both LG and LGIG (p<.05). Skin hydration on the thenar increased during the typing for LG and LGIG, but on the dorsum, palm and finger maintained after 40 min typing. There were positive relationships between hand skin hydration and hand temperature (p<.05). Subjects indicated 'much warmer' and 'more humid' for the LG and LGIG compared to the BH (p<.001), but no differences were found between LG and LGIG. In conclusion, wearing inner gloves inside latex gloves did not induce a reduction of skin hydration and hand temperature; however, significant differences were found in all measurements between bare hands and gloved hands.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.929-938
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• 2017

This research investigated the effects of cool touch fabrics on thermo-regulating physical properties and subjective evaluation using a 3D fitted women's T-shirts in wear test. Qmax, clothing microclimate, microclimate wettedness, thermogram and subjective vote were observed during rest-right after an exercise-rest protocol. As a result, there was no single determining physical variable to explain the reasons of cool sensations of T-shirts made of cool touch fabric across the entire protocol. Qmax could partly predict a wear sensation at the initial stage when only insensible perspiration was presented. Simultaneous observation of temperature/humidity gradient understand from the inside to the outside of the clothing layer or microclimate wettedness calculated using vapor pressure were helpful to figure out the performance of cool touch fabric, especially at the later stage of the protocol when sweating was excessive. It was especially difficult to connect thermo-regulating physical variables to the subjective evaluation during transient conditions such as 'right after exercise' stage. It is necessary to measure the amount of heat and moisture transferred from the skin to the outside of clothing along with the physical properties measured in this study to understand the detailed mechanisms of why a cool sensation is evoked from tight fitting T-shirts made of newly developed cool touch fabrics.