Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Sports Socks Fabrics Made of Synthetic Fibres in Different Structures

Sports socks fabrics produced from polyester, polypropylene, their modified forms Thermocool®, Polycolon®, in three different structures (single jersey, piquet, terry) were investigated for their skin-fabric friction, permeability (air and water vapour), liquid absorption and transfer (absorbency, immersion, absorption capacity, wetback and drying) properties. According to the results, the effect of structure is dominant for frictional characteristics but focusing on the material, polypropylene created a bulkier and lighter structure with lower friction coeffi¬cients, an advantage for sports socks. The effect of structure is greater than the material also for some thermal comfort parameters, e.g. air permeability and absorbency. Focusing on materials, besides their better liquid transfer characteristics, modified forms of both fibres had worse performances for air permeability and absor¬bency compared to their standard forms. Absorption capacity, wetback and drying performances were related to fabric density besides the polyester’s higher regain capacity. While Polycolon® had superiority for wetback performance against standard polypropylene, this was not the case for Thermocool®; however, both modified materials showed apparent superiority for drying periods. Piquet structures were advantageous for absorption capacity and wetback performances for polypropylene. For sports socks parts, specific needs can be met by changing the fabric structure. Considering the materials, polypropylene and Polycolon® can be recommended for both thermal and tactile aspects.

MiniXT protocol v1

We present the ‘mini-XT’ miniaturized tagmentation-based library preparation protocol used for Illumina WGS of SARS-CoV-2 positive samples. Reverse transcription and amplification is based upon the nCoV-2019 sequencing protocol v3 (LoCost)V.3 by Josh Quick. The key new feature of the protocol is the use of acoustic liquid transfer to automate and reduce volumes during library preparation. It is optimized for the sequencing of 384 samples, offering reduced consumable use and costs and improved throughput.

Simulation of Shear-Thickening Liquid Transfer between U-Shaped Cell and Flat Plate

Based on the actual measurement of the shear-thickening properties of water-based inks, in order to improve the ink transfer rate, the PLIC (Piecewise Linear Interface Construction) interface tracking method and the VOF (Volume of Fluid) method are used to simulate the transfer process of the shear-thickening liquid between the U-shaped cell and the upwardly moving plate. The effects of substrate surface wettability, cell contact angle, and cell depth on liquid transfer were studied. The results showed that all can increase the liquid transfer rate, and the change of the cell contact angle also led to the difference in the breaking time of the liquid filament. In addition, the shallow plate effect was discovered in the study of cell depth. The shallow plate effect is a phenomenon by which the amount of liquid transferred and the liquid transfer rate are greatly improved when the depth of the cell decreases to a certain limit value. In addition, for the U-shaped cell, the optimization method combining the shallow printing plate effect and fillet can greatly improve the liquid transfer rate and solve the undesirable problems such as plate blocking. After optimization, a liquid transfer rate of about 85% can be achieved.

Risk Management of Tank Overflow on Tankers Carrying Multiple Grades of Crude Oil

It is demonstrated that tank overflow can occur on board a tanker ship due to the communication of cargo tanks containing dissimilar grades of crude oil. The fundamental principles, which enable the flow from one tank to another and the overflow from exhaust devices on top of the tanks, are reviewed along with the governing equations. The case is analyzed firstly for two communicating tanks in terms of the final equilibrium state and of the time scale of the effect until equilibrium is established or tank overflow is occurred, considering all geometrical and liquid transfer parameters. Measures are proposed to prevent the effect from being initiated and to mitigate the results of the effect once it is occurred. This necessarily leads to the need to extend the study to three communicating tanks. The final equilibrium state for three, and potentially more, tanks is analyzed, which allows a pragmatic approach as to how the situation should be handled on board a tanker facing a tank overflow due to density differences of multiple cargo grades. An extended and generalized Risk Analysis model is proposed to supplement existing models.