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An attempt was made to compare the combined desirability value for a treated and untreated handloom fabric using machine-spun and hand-spun blended yarns as weft. The experimental plan included the preparation of both hand-spun and machine-spun yarns at different blend compositions according to a mixture design prepared on Design-Expert software, followed by the preparation of fabric on a handloom. The dissolution of one component using a suitable chemical treatment was then performed on both fabrics made from handspun and machine-spun yarn by taking into account an expected significant change in the arrangement of constituent fibres that ultimately enhance performance in terms of the thermo-physiological behaviour of fabrics. All properties viz air permeability, compressibility, thermal resistance, water vapour permeability, bending rigidity and drying capacity showed significant differences for both type of fabrics. Fabrics with hand-spun yarn as a weft demonstrated higher values of thermal resistance, compressibility, water vapour permeability and drying capacity due to the voluminous and soft structure of hand-spun yarn compared to fabric with machine-spun yarn as a weft. In general, after the dissolution of the polyvinyl alcohol component, both types of fabrics exhibited higher values of thermal resistance, compressibility, drying capacity and water vapour permeability, while values for air permeability and bending rigidity were lower for untreated fabrics. The results of the optimisation of treated fabrics with machine-spun yarn as weft demonstrated the highest desirability value (0.73), as well as a lower percentage of wool fibres (55%), followed by treated fabrics with hand-spun yarn as weft, which demonstrated a desirability value of 0.66 and a percentage of wool fibres of 60% in the blend composition. Untreated fabrics (both machine-spun and hand-spun) exhibited a similar desirability value and at same blend composition (20% polyester, 70% wool and 10% polyvinyl alcohol).

This work deals with the study of the oil sorption behaviour of needlepunched nonwoven fabrics produced from natural fibres such as cotton, cotton fl at waste, cotton/kapok blend, and nettle fibres. Polypropylene nonwoven fabric, which is used as a commercial oil sorbent, was also prepared using the same needling parameters for comparison purposes. The effect of the type of fibre, oil, and fabric parameters on oil sorption and retention capacities was investigated. All of the fabrics displayed higher oil sorption capacities for engine oil (high viscosity) than diesel oil (low viscosity). Among natural fibre nonwovens, cotton and cotton/kapok nonwovens displayed higher oil sorption capacities than that of polypropylene nonwovens, while nettle fibre nonwoven fabric displayed poor oil sorption capacity. An increase in kapok content in cotton/kapok nonwovens led to an increase in oil sorption behaviour. More than 95% of the diesel oils adsorbed by the nonwoven fabrics could be recovered by simple compression. Oil sorption capacity of the nonwovens were reduced significantly during repetitive cycles of use due to higher thickness loss. This study indicated that cotton and cotton/kapok nonwovens displayed better oil sorption behaviour than polypropylene, and may be used as an alternative natural oil sorbent material.

Thermal resistance and moisture management characteristics are important attributes of textile materials for the characterisation of their ability to provide thermal comfort. Nettle fibre consists of a hollow core that is expected to enable good thermal and moisture regulation properties. Nonwoven fabrics of three different mass per unit area values, made from nettle, polyester and blends thereof, were prepared on a needlepunching machine, maintaining the same punch density and depth of penetration. The thermal conductivity, water vapour permeability, water retention, wicking, moisture management, drying rate and air permeability of these fabrics were evaluated. Nonwoven fabric prepared with 100% nettle fibres exhibited good thermal conductivity, while polyester fabric demonstrated good thermal insulation. The nettle fibre fabric showed good water retention, drying rate and moisture management properties. On the other hand, polyester-enriched fabric exhibited good wicking behaviour.

Liquid moisture transfer, sweat absorbency and sweat drying in clothing have a significant influence on the wearer’s perception. Moisture management is one of the key performance criteria in determining the comfort level of fabric. It is thus important to study the moisture management characteristics of spunlace nonwoven fabric to investigate the possibility of its use in apparel. In the present study, spunlace nonwoven fabrics were produced by varying waterjet pressure, delivery speed, web mass and web composition. The effect of different parameters on various properties of the moisture management tester was studied using a response surface methodology with backward elimination. The statistical analysis showed that web composition affected all parameters of the moisture management tester. Waterjet pressure and web mass do not have a significant effect on wetting time (top), absorption rate (bottom) and one-way transport capability. The effect of delivery speed was not found to be significant. The overall moisture management coefficient of all nonwoven fabrics studied was found to be very good. An increase in web mass resulted in a decrease in the overall moisture management coefficient value of nonwoven fabric, which can be halted by using higher waterjet pressure and through the proper selection of web composition. Nonwoven fabric with either 100% viscose or 50% polyester/50% viscose blended composition, with higher waterjet pressure and higher web mass, was found to be suitable for the apparel industry.

Metaphorical expressions are one of the most indispensable aspects of human language, thought and action. Their meanings are figurative, which in other words means that they carry literal meanings, which are in direct opposition to the intended or primary meanings. Metaphors are not only limited to being used in figurative writing and speaking but they are also pervasively used in everyday language. Irony, sarcasm, jokes, puns and other such metaphorical expressions rampantly occur in our everyday speech. This paper examines the abstract notion of sarcasm with special reference to Hindi language within the framework of conceptual integration theory. A corpus of five thousand sentences has been procured from Indian Language Technology Proliferation and Deployment Centre (TDIL) for the present study. The findings of the existing paper aim to provide a theoretical understanding of how Hindi sarcasm is perceived among the native speakers.

The concept of Fuzzy Logic (FL) has gained momentum in areas of artificial intelligence and allied researches because of its absolute ability to present efficient solutions to real life problems. Contrary to the paradigmatic approach to the solutions of being either absolutely true or false [0 or 1] the fuzzy sets provide a range of possible outputs with error prone inputs which are vague and inaccurate using linguistic objects instead of mere mathematical numbers. A multilingual situation poses a similar challenge for a language teacher/learner where languages exist in continuum. Learners with heavy mother tongue influence tend to use their natural languages instinctively in a way that can create their own fuzzy rules to encounter the situation of being taught an entirely new language. A typical Indian language classroom is highly multilingual where scope of errors is numerous though they are ignored. This leads to stress both for the teachers as well as the learners making the classroom ambience more mechanistic than human. To combat such situations FL based Three-Phase Model of language teaching has been proposed which derives its basis on the presumption that the language instructor is aware of general rules of linguistics. An empirical longitudinal study on 150 undergraduate technical students designed on the proposed framework has been conducted to establish the efficiency and the success of the model. Observing language pedagogy through the lens of fuzzy logic and fuzzy thinking will not only make the classroom more real-like but it will also tap the pre-existing linguistic knowledge of the learners. Language interference will be more of a resource than a challenge.