• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.292-302
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to evaluate thermal properties of lab gowns developed from the point of safety and work efficiency. We evaluated thermal and subjective responses of subjects wearing functional new lab gowns (Type B, C, D) and a popular lab gown on the market (Type A). Type B was a new lab gown made of woven fabric with functional cuffs. Type C was a new apron made of woven fabric with arm protectors. Type D was a new lab gown made of non-woven material with functional cuffs and openings around the armpits. Temperature in the climatic chamber was set at 19$^{\circ}$C as an indoor temperature in winter and at 24$^{\circ}$C in summer. There were no significant differences in rectal temperature and heart rate among four types of gowns and between two air temperatures for 120 min. Mean skin temperature was much higher in the type A and B than in He type C and D (p .05). In the 19$^{\circ}$C air, clothing microclimate temperature on the back was the highest in the type B and was the lowest in the type C (p .05). Clothing microclimate humidity was not significant differences among gowns. In subjective .esponses, subjects perceived that Type B was the warmest gown in the 19$^{\circ}$C and the hottest and more humid in the 24$^{\circ}$C than other gowns. Inversely, type C was the coolest gown among four gowns. Both in the 19$^{\circ}$C and in the 24$^{\circ}$C, the Type D had gained most responses of being comfortable. In conclusion, the temperature difference of 5$^{\circ}$C was more of an influencing factor than the difference from four types of lab gowns. Secondly, we recommend the manufacturers to make lab gowns with functional cuffs for safety purposes. Thirdly, the spread of the type of apron with arm protector will contribute to increase of the frequency of wearing in summer. Fourthly, it is necessary to study continuously about lab gowns with non-woven materials for researchers exposed to toxic chemical and biological materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.866-876
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• 2019

This study examined the physiological and psychological effects of wearing gloves at rest in a cold environment. Seven elderly females participated in two separate trials: wearing gloves (WG) and bare hands (BH). The experiment was conducted for 60 min in a climatic chamber (air temperature 7.8±0.3℃ with 44±2%RH) with a sedentary posture. Microclimate temperature on the left palm was 4.16℃ higher in WG compared to that in BH (p<.1). Microclimate temperature on the chest during the last 5 min increased compared to the initial 5 min only in WG (p<.05). During the last 5 min, skin temperatures at the arm and hand in WG were higher than those in BH (p<.05). There was no statistical difference in the change of rectal temperature between WG and BH. Heart rate in BH was significantly higher compared to the WG (p<.05). Subjects also felt less cold on the whole body and hand in WG than those in BH (p<.05). The findings indicate that wearing gloves for elderly females affected the distribution of skin temperature and cardiovascular response in cold environments. Elderly females should be informed about the importance of wearing gloves through the clothing guideline in winter.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.81-91
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• 1998

The subjects in this research were 368 girls in high school for survey, and wearing sensation and physiological responses were investigated through wearing trials on human body in climatic chamber based on these results from the survey. The results are as follows : 1. They enjoyed wearing t-shirts, jackets, vests, and blouses in order for the upper clothes, and they preferred t-shirts to blouses. For the lower clothes, they enjoyed slacks much more than skirts. The weight of clothes was significantly heavier in the group where they wore the uniforms(U-group) than in the group where they wore the free styles(F-group). When they chose the school wear, activity was the most important of all, and the maintenance was the least. 2. As the classes were a little cool and dry, most of them dissatisfied the environment. The degree of the satisfaction of the class environment and properties to it were higher in the U-group than in F-group. 3. In the textiles, colors, styles, activity, static electricity, seasonal property, and easiness of putting on and taking off the clothes, F-group was more satisfied than U-group. U-group was more satisfied than F-group in the soil of the clothes. 4. The thermal comfort, thickness, and tightness of the clothes were not significantly different between the groups. The clothes of U-group was heavier than those of F-group, and the tactile sensation in U-group was worse than F-group. In U-group the students felt the skirts very inconvenient when they acted. 5. The weight of the clothes influenced the wearing sensation, therefore the heavier the clothes were the less satisfied they felt. 6. The inside temperature of clothes was significantly higher in U-group than in F-group. The skin temperatures of abdomen and arm were significantly higher in U-group than in F-group, while the skin temperatures of thighs and legs were significantly lower in U-group than in F-group. U-group felt heavier than F-group in wearing the clothes. Therefore the improvement of the clothes weight is needed.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 1999

The actual clothing conditions were surveyed to diagnose clothing condition of collegians in the view point of adaptation to the thermal environment in fall. Then, clothing climate, physiological responses, and subjective sensation were investigated through wearing trials on human subjects in climatic chamber based on the results from the survey. Factors to evaluate validity of clothing condition were clothing weight, clothing climate, physiological responses of human body, and subjective sensation. Adaptability of this research to thermal environment was compared to the results of Toda's and Duno's of Japan, Chung's results of Korea rural area, and Winslow's clo value. The standard values for wearing trials were values at comfortable zone, such as $32{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ of temperature and $50{\pm}10%$ of humidity inside clothing, $36.5{\sim}37.3^{\circ}C$ of ear temperature and $32.2{\sim}34.3^{\circ}C$ of mean skin temperature. Clothing weight per body surface area was 680.9 $g/m^2$ in male and 526.7 $g/m^2$ in women. Cold resistance ability of collegians was superior to Japanese and American, and similar to rural male in Korea. According to the examination of clothing adaptability with clothing weight from the investigation on physiological responses and the actual clothing conditions survey, following were found. Temperature inside clothing ($29.8{\sim}32.3^{\circ}C$) was normal, and humidity inside clothing (32.2~54.8%) was at comfortable zone. Mean skin temperature was at its comfortable zone. Therefore, 615 $g/m^2$ in male and 525 $g/m^2$ in female were a desirable wearing condition.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.531-537
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to review physiological responses and subjective sensations in the cold environment when the subjects wore ensemble with different clo values. Seven healthy male subjects participated in this experiment. This experiment was conducted in a climatic chamber with $-10^sC$ and 50%RH. Subjects wore five different kinds of ensemble[C1 (4.453 clo), C2 (3.452 clo), C3 (2.865 clo), C4 (2.387 clo), and C5 (2.280 clo)]. The experiment was composed of 20 min of rest period, 20min of treadmill exercise(6 km/h) period, 30 min of recovery period. We monitored skin temperature on 7 sites, clothing microclimate and subjective sensations. The clo value had positive correlations with mean skin temperature and clothing microclimate. The subjects feel more warm and humid as the clo value goes up. The subjects reported comfort when they wore C1 and C2 ensemble having over 3 clo value. However, they felt less comfortable during the exercise period since there was high humidity. Skin temperature on the extremities were more dramatically changed by the exercise rather than clo value. Thus it seems that in the cold environment, heat balance can mostly be controlled by the choice of clothing, and the clothes with high clo values can provide higher insulation. In conclusion, our findings suggest that it would be more effective to control clo value depending on the activity level for maintaining comfort level in the cold environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.667-671
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to determine the number of skin cold receptor in Korean adult as a part of the study to investigate thermal physiological characteristics of Korean. For this 10 healthy subjects were placed in a climatic chamber and received cold stimulation of 1$0^{\circ}C$ on skin surface of each measuring site with a thermo-stimulator. As a result of cold spot measurement we found 23 points/cm2 at face 13. points/cm2 at chest 16 points/cm2 at abdomen 11 points/cm2 at back 14 points/cm2 at upper arm 16 points/cm2 at forearm 18 points/cm2 at back of the hand 15 points/cm2 at thigh 8 points/cm2 at leg 12 points/cm2 at dorsum of foot 8 points/cm2 at sole of foot in male subjects and in female subjects we fund 18 points/cm2 at face 13 points/cm2 at forearm 11 points/cm2 at at back of the hand 8 points/cm2 at palm 9 points/cm2 at thigh 6 points/cm2 at leg 8 points/cm2 at dorsum of foot 2 points/cm2 at sole of foot. The distributions of cold spots varied in different regions of the body surface and was exceptionally dense in the facial skin. There were some differences among other researchers' results but the cause of those differences are not yet known those are due to individual or methodological difference.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1418-1424
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• 2011

This study proposes the suggested amount of clothing (SAC) and examines the preferred amount of clothing (PAC) for thermal comfort in mild cold conditions. Six male and nine female college students were systematically exposed to mild cold conditions by reducing the amount of clothing (Step I, 1.2clo ${\rightarrow}$ Step II, 1.0clo ${\rightarrow}$ Step III, 0.8clo ${\rightarrow}$ Step IV, 0.7clo). The subjects were then asked to adjust the amount of clothing to attain overall thermal comfort until they maintained thermal comfort for 10 minutes without changing the amount of clothing (Step V). The experiment was carried out in a climatic chamber at $19.5^{\circ}C$, 50%R.H. Body composition was measured and individual cold climate adaptability was surveyed before starting the experiment. Rectal temperature ($T^{re}$), skin temperature ($T_{sk}$), and oxygen consumption ($\dot{V}O_2$) were measured and the overall thermal sensation was voted in each step. PAC was obtained from the garments weight selected by each subject in Step V. SAC was proposed based on the change of oxygen consumption (${\Delta}\dot{V}O_2$). As a result, males showed higher $\bar{T}_{sk}$ and greater $O_2$ than females (p<.01). SAC obtained from $\dot{V}O_2$ were 652.0 (SE 3.9) g/$m^2$ for males and 766.0 (SE 2.5) g/$m^2$ for females and it was significantly different between groups (p<.01). PAC of males and females were 1.6 and 1.5 times heavier than SAC. In conclusion, females were more sensitive to the cold stress and recommended larger amount of clothing than males.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.3 s.162
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• pp.343-350
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• 2007

This study compared and studied the clothing mobility of two types of aerobic clothes - those made of currently popular stretch materials and those made of new stretch materials that were specially developed for this study. The focus of the comparison was on the range of joint movement during activity, and the physiological burden imposed on the body by the clothes. In total, 18 experiments were carried out under controlled conditions in an artificial climatic chamber with a temperature of $25{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, air humidity of $60{\pm}5^{\circ}C$ and negligible air movement. Each exercise program consisted of a 30-minute of aerobic workout and a 20-minute rest following the exercise. Measurements were taken to determine the following: physiological reactions (whole-body and local sweat rates), subjective sensations(of temperature, humidity, comfort, tightness, and clothing wetness), joint angle(measured with a goniometer), and so on. The results of the study us as follows: Material B excels in clothing mobility. Material C excels in sweat absorbency and drying speed. Material A was found to be the hottest material, while material C was found to be slightly hot through the analysis of the change in pre- and post-exercise bodyweight(= amount of sweat). Regarding the amount of evaporated sweat, material A>material C>material B. Material B produced the smallest amount of evaporated sweat. The wider the range of joint movement, the smaller the amount of sweat and the lower the average skin temperature.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2015

We investigated the sweating response during passive heating (partial submersion up to the umbilical line in $42{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ water, 30 min) after summer and winter seasonal acclimatization (SA). Testing was performed in July during the summer, 2011 [summer-SA; temp, $25.6{\pm}1.8^{\circ}C;$ relative humidity (RH), $82.1{\pm}8.2%$] and in January during the winter, 2012 (winter-SA; temp, $-2.7{\pm}2.9^{\circ};$ RH, $65.0{\pm}13.1%$) in Cheonan ($126^{\circ}52^{\prime}N$, 33.38'E), Republic of Korea. All experiments were carried out in an automated climatic chamber (temp, $25.0{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$: RH, $60.0{\pm}3.0%$). Fifteen healthy men (age, $23.4{\pm}2.5$ years; height, $175.0{\pm}5.9cm;$ weight, $65.3{\pm}6.1kg$) participated in the study. Local sweat onset time was delayed during winter-SA compared to that after summer-SA (p<0.001). Local sweat volume, whole body sweat volume, and evaporative loss volume decreased significantly after winter-SA compared to those after summer-SA (p<0.001). Changes in basal metabolic rate increased significantly after winter-SA (p<0.001), and tympanic temperature and mean body temperature were significantly lower after summer-SA (p<0.05). In conclusion, central sudomotor acitivity becomes sensitive to summer-SA and blunt to winter-SA in Rebubic of Korea. These results suggest that the body adjusts its temperature by economically controlling the sweating rate but does not lower the thermal dissipation rate through a more effective evaporation scheme after summer-SA than that after winter-SA.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.233-237
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• 2007

Tropical natives (TROP) are capable of tolerating tropical heat because of their long-term adaptation to tropical environments. When exposed to heat stress, these natives tend to respond with lower sweat output, which is generally thought to be the result of heat acclimatization. The main objective of this study was to clarify central mechanisms inherent to suppressed thermal sweating in tropical natives (Malaysians) by comparing their sweating responses to those of temperate native (TEMP) (Koreans). This experiment was conducted in a thermoneutral climatic chamber ($24{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C,\;40{\pm}3%$ relative humidity). Heat loads were applied to each subject by the immersion of their lower legs in a hot water bath ($43^{\circ}C$ for 30 min). Sweat onset-time and sweat volume were compared between TROP and TEMP. The sweat onset-times on four selected points on the body ranged from 10.25 to 13.47 min in TEMP subjects, and from 16.24 to 17.83 min in TROP subjects (p<0.001). The local sweat volumes at the same sites ranged from 4.30 to $9.74 mg/cm^2$ in TEMP subjects, and from between 1.80 to $4.40mg/cm^2$ in TROP subjects (p<0.001). These results demonstrated a significant difference between TROP and TEMP subjects with regard to the manner in which they regulate their body temperatures when exposed to heat loads, and verified that long-term thermal adaptation blunts sweating sensitivities.