Evaluating the toxicity of fabric extracts using the hepa-1 cytotoxicity test,the HaCaT cytotoxicity test and the spermatozoa motility inhibition test

To detect the possible toxicity of dyed and finished fabrics, a set of such fabrics was investigated using three different cell tests – the hepa-1 cytotoxicity test, the HaCaT cytotoxicity test and the spermatozoa motility-inhibition test. In each case, cells were exposed to fabric extracts. In cytotoxicity tests, after 72 h, exposure cell growth was measured using the protein content in the wells/vials as an indicator: if the protein content in the wells was less than 80%, the test showed toxicity of the fabric extract. The spermatozoa motility-inhibition test shows toxicity if at least 25% of the cells are dead when the viability of the cells is detected under light microscopy. The results showed that none of the extracts from raw fabrics was toxic. Extracts from the vat-dyed, flame-retardant fabric showed low toxicity in the spermatozoa test, but not in other cell tests. Extracts from most of the reactive-dyed knitted fabrics showed toxic values after finishing. However, it can be concluded that reactive dyes do not usually produce adverse effects. After dyeing with reactive dyes, extracts from the bleached fabric were no longer toxic. This study showed that the cell tests were useful when examining the toxicity of extracts from textile substances.     

Computational framework for simulating fluorescence microscope images with cell populations

Fluorescence microscopy combined with digital imaging constructs a basic platform for numerous biomedical studies in the field of cellular imaging. As the studies relying on analysis of digital images have become popular, the validation of image processing methods used in automated image cytometry has become an important topic. Especially, the need for efficient validation has arisen from emerging high-throughput microscopy systems where manual validation is impractical. We present a simulation platform for generating synthetic images of fluorescence-stained cell populations with realistic properties. Moreover, we show that the synthetic images enable the validation of analysis methods for automated image cytometry and comparison of their performance. Finally, we suggest additional usage scenarios for the simulator. The presented simulation framework, with several user-controllable parameters, forms a versatile tool for many kinds of validation tasks, and is freely available at http://www.cs.tut.fi/sgn/csb/simcep.     

Towards gadget-free internet services: A roadmap of the Naked world

This paper presents a roadmap for the transition from current gadget-centric digital services towards a gadget-free services environment called the Naked world. The main idea of the Naked world is that all the services which are currently provided by gadgets will be provided by the infrastructure, thus no gadgets will be needed to use any kind of digital services. When a user in the Naked world intends to use a service, the infrastructure senses the user, the nearby intelligent surrounding launches an interactive user interface, performs identification through biometric identities, provides the service, and then closes the session when the user finishes the job. Therefore, the Naked world comprises highly intelligent and context-aware interactive environments. The vision of the Naked world is an evolution towards a user-friendly and ubiquitously available digital services, which is naturally bounded by the technological advancement. Henceforth, this paper presents the essential technologies and functional requirements along with the current and forthcoming novel technological concepts and challenges for the realization of the Naked world.     

Local and distortional buckling of thin-walled short columns

This paper assesses the applicability of Eurocode 3 (EC3) to the prediction of the compression capacity of short fixed-ended columns with different cross-sections. This compression capacity is determined by combining the effective width of plane elements due to local buckling and the effective stiffener thickness due to distortional buckling. Numerical calculations have been carried out in order to compare alternative methods for determining the minimum elastic distortional buckling stress in compression. The method given in EC3 does not correlate as well as Lau and Hancock's method with the results given by Generalized Beam Theory (GBT). The end boundary conditions have a significant influence on the distortional buckling strength, and thus also on the compression capacity of short columns. Selected experimental results from compression tests on C-, Hat- and rack upright-sections are compared with the predictions given by EC3. The procedure in EC3 was modified by determining the distortional buckling stress using GBT, taking into account the actual column length and the end boundary conditions. This lead to better agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions.