| Title |
Health Protective Textiles: Bridging the Disposable/Reusable Divide |
| Task 1: |
A strategic modeling of functional textiles employed in medical textile products and chemical protective clothing based on expected protective functions against individual hazards; |
| Task 2: |
A thorough analysis of material compositions and maufacturing processes, overall costs, and life cycles of both reusable and disposable textile products; |
| Task 3: |
The assessment and theoretical modeling of health risk reduction and the energy consumption and the environmental impact of both materials during their whole life cycles; |
| Task 4: |
Characterizing the recycling, reuse, and disposal of both reusable and disposable textiles, as well as possible alternative disposal methods; |
| Task 5: |
A thorough analysis of social, political, and psychological images of both reuable and disposable textiles, including the relationships of these images to marketing efforts; |
| Task 6: |
A study of the decision-making processes in the selection of reusable and disposable textiles in institutions, building upon the results of MUSES study; |
| Task 7: |
Expanding the research areas to chemical-protective clothing and first responders uniforms using the developed theories and establish proper models of functions and performances; |
| Task 8: |
Educational activities including working with professional associations to educate users of protective clothing, as well as undergraduate and graduate textiles and engineering students; |
| Task 9: |
Collaboration with international textile researchers on an in-depth and comparative analysis of the policies, regulations, trends and new technologies associated with both materials. |
