Reproduction of cultural property braids has been largely depending on the experience of only a limited number of braid experts, while extraction of their knowledge at high availability are needed for the consistent reproduction to be practiced over the subsequent generations. In this paper, interview and eye tracking analysis, using the photographs of two cultural property scrolls, were performed during the reproduction work of the expert, Makiko Tada, and important braiding parameters such as the interactions of ribs with the neighbors and the number of transits were derived. It was found that patterns consisting of multiple color yarns play a core role in the parameter analysis.

Easy-to-use wearable smart textile devices are expected to improve chronic disease treatment. As a preliminary application using wearable smart textile devices, we focused on periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), in which nocturnal awakening is caused by periodic limb movements (PLMs) during sleep. Although PLMD requires both early detection and appropriate treatment based on a patient’s usual sleep conditions, the repetitive execution of the most reliable evaluation of PLMs using polysomnography (PSG) may impose a financial burden and time constraints on patients; thus, physicians currently evaluate PLMs using accelerationbased device instead. However, this alternative method of evaluating PLMs is not sufficient, as PLMs sometimes involve only partial muscle activity. To improve the treatment of PLMD, we propose a socks-type smart textile device for home monitoring of PLMs based on surface electromyography (EMG), which is the same signal used to evaluate PLMs in PSG. The preliminary experimental results targeting one PLMD patient at home indicates that the surface EMG-based evaluation of PLMs using our proposed socks-type smart textile device potentially performs better than the conventional acceleration-based device received medical approval. Our proposed device may help to improve PLMD treatment based on the actual PLMs conditions at home.

A melt-spinnable poly(caffeic acid) (PCA) was prepared by ester exchange reaction of acetylated caffeic acid at 180 ̊C for 4 h under vacuum. The PCA showed broad processing window between the glass transition temperature at 101 ̊C and 5-% weight decrease temperature at 313 ̊C. The PCA showed shear thinning in the molten state at 180 ̊C, reflecting the development of molecular orientation under shear. The melt-spun PCA fiber showed Young’s modulus of 1.3 to 2.0 GPa, tensile strength of ca. 50 MPa, and elongation at break of 4 to 5 %. The relatively low mechanical strength of the melt-spun fiber is attributed to the loose molecular orientation, that was reflected in the two-dimensional wide-angle X-ray scattering pattern showing the broad azimuthal distribution.