Fabric properties of butadienediepoxide-treated cottons as affected by liquid ammonia pretreatments

Effects of liquid ammonia and mercerizing-strength caustic as pretreatments upon textile properties of cotton sheeting modified with butadienediepoxide (BDO) catalyzed by 2% and 15% NaOH were compared. Tensile properties of the NaOH-mercerized control (CM) (celluloses I and II) greatly exceeded those of native (cellulose I) and ammonia-treated (NH₃) controls. NH₃(I) and NH₃(III) are those cottons having the cellulose I and mixed cellulose I and III lattices, respectively. Resistance to flex abrasion was doubled by pretreatments. Wrinkle recoveries of all controls were equivalent, but tensile recovery differed. BDO reaction enhanced wrinkle recovery of controls but produced the usual losses in tensile properties and resistance to flex abrasion associated with crosslinking reagents. BDO reaction nullified the initial tensile advantage held by CM cotton. Tear strengths of all BDO-treated cottons remained comparable. High dry and high wet recoveries were obtained only when 2% NaOH catalyzed the BDO reaction and were greatest for NH₃ cottons. BDO reaction reduced permanent set of all controls and increased tensile recovery primarily by enlarging the delayed recovery. Postmercerization with 23% NaOH adversely affected recovery behavior of all BDO-treated cottons. Nevertheless, wrinkle and tensile recoveries of postmercerized NH₃(I) and CM cottons were equivalent. Postmercerization partially restored fabric properties of BDO cottons with cellulose I lattice to those of their respective controls; no change was noted for corresponding products from CM cottons. Because of this, final properties of products from NH₃(I) cottons equaled and even exceeded those of comparable CM cottons.     

Identity theft

Almost every week I hear a news report or read a newspaper article about identity theft. It will either be about yet another person who suffers at the hands of the identity thief, some new software or hardware breakthrough that will foil the activities of the identity thieves, or, a new report or study telling us the cost of identity theft to business. Six men have been jailed after a £345 000 plot to defraud banks by obtaining fake identities over the Internet, said a recent BBC News report. The men used house auction websites to find out the details of people who had died. With the information, they forged documents to open bank accounts and receive loans from Lloyds TSB and the Halifax and Co-operative banks. The men were jailed for between 18 months and four-and-a-half years.¹ According to the Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse 215 000 people had their identities stolen in 2003, up from 162 000 in 2002. A third of the thefts were used to perpetrate credit-card fraud, while 21% were used for phone or utilities fraud.     

All you ever wanted to know about cryptography…and more!

If you want the most exhaustive and comprehensive links to all information related to the subject of cryptography, covering all possible angles and including all possible arenas, then www.counterpane.com/hotlist.html is the Web site for you. Entitled Crypto Links, it was created and is maintained by Bruce Schneier’s Counterpane Systems.     

Roll up your sleeves and get checking!

DosHelp.com (www.doshelp.com), a site dedicated to intrusion detection and prevention, is a site well worth becoming familiar with for lots of very tangible and useful reasons. Firstly, it will keep you bang up to date with all the emerging threats and, secondly, it will provide you with the tools and knowledge to counteract them. Aimed at the more experienced, as well as the average online computer user, it was created in recognition of the fact that many users have no idea of the ever-increasing number of methods used to hack into computers, along with the fact that these same users do not see themselves as important enough targets for hackers, not realizing that despite the benign contents of their hard disk, a hacker/cracker could make them a scapegoat for their illegal activity. DosHelp.com does a lot of the work that the novice user or busy professional just does not have the time to do. The result is a consolidated bank of resources that is an invaluable tool.     

In Epicurean Delight for Privacy Advocates

EPIC (www.epic.org) is a public interest research centre based in Washington DC. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values. A project of the Fund for Constitutional Government, the EPIC website contains valuable links to many important sites dealing with the issues of privacy, liberty, free expression, human rights and consumer affairs on the Internet. EPIC works in association with Privacy International, an international human rights group based in London, and is also a member of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign, the Internet Free Expression Alliance, the Internet Privacy Coalition, and the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD). So, if you wish to learn about privacy, the First Amendment and Freedom of Information Act court cases brought by the legal team at EPIC, as well as about defending your rights in cyberspace, this site will serve as a one stop shop to educate you and address all of your concerns.     

Allied Irish Bank — Lessons to Be Learned

AIB Group released the following statement on 5 June in response to the announcement by the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland that John Rusnak be indicted on charges of bank fraud and false entry in bank records. “AIB Group and Allfirst welcome the Grand Jury’s decision to indict former employee John Rusnak on charges of bank fraud and false entry in bank records. AIB stated at the outset that it believed it was the victim of a complex and sophisticated fraud and these charges endorse that conclusion.”     

The security implications of the digital diary

Call them what you will, digital diaries, electronic organisers, palm-top computers, or, dare I say it, personal digital assistants, these small objects of desire are finding new homes in handbags, briefcases, pockets and even school-bags, but regardless of their home, security must always be an issue.