An activated cotton material and a method for processing cotton to form the activated cotton material are provided. The activated cotton material includes a layer of natural wax that is locked to the surface of cotton fibers by a wax lock.

The invention relates to a marking composition, by means of which better protection of goods than hitherto available can be achieved independently of the coloring of the goods. The marking composition comprises an infrared-absorbing particulate component and carbon derivative, wherein the weight ratio of infrared-absorbing component to carbon derivative is in the range of approx. 10:1 to approx. 10,000:1.

According to the present invention, there is provided, at low cost, a thread/yarn for making it possible to easily determine whether a product is a genuine product or a forgery/imitation product, thereby suppressing the manufacture and marketing of forgery/imitation products. This forgery-preventing thread/yarn is formed by making use of a film comprising abase sheet and letters or images printed on the base sheet, the film being slit to have a width of 0.15 mm˜0.75 mm. A thread, yarn or a flat thread representing a genuine product can be cheaply manufactured since it can be obtained by simply slitting a film to a width of 0.15 mm˜0.75 mm. Further, it is possible to easily determine whether a product is a genuine product or a forgery/imitation.

The present invention provides a post-fabrication modification approach for the fabrication of colored and chromic materials and sensors using plasma surface modification to covalently bind the coloring agent to the substrate, thus avoiding leaching of the dye. Advantageously, in said methods, said coloring agent is a dye or pigment linked to a radical sensitive functional group, such as an alkenyl or alkynyl functional group, and is applied to the substrate prior to the gas plasma treatment. The methods envisaged herein are generic in nature, which allow the covalent immobilization of various dyes on different materials. The covalently coated materials after plasma surface modification, particularly the covalently coated chromic materials and sensors, can be used in many different applications, such as protective textile and wound dressing applications.

In various aspects, the present disclosure relates to fibers and fabric media comprising photoactivatable agents and to fibers and fabric media that are photoactivatable by photoactivation of the photoactivatable agents. In some instances, the fibers and the fabric media have photoactivatable agents present on their surface (e.g., the fiber/fabric is coated or sprayed with the photoactivatable agents or the fiber/fabric is dipped into a composition or a formulation comprising the photoactivatable agent). In other instances, the photoactivatable agents are incorporated into the materials making the fibers (e.g., the photoactivatable agents are mixed/compounded with the materials making the fibers). The photoactivatable fibers of the present disclosure comprise at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least photoactivatable agent that absorbs and emits light between about 400 nm and about 800 nm.

The present invention relates to a colorant mixture comprising (A) at least one blue- or black-dyeing disperse dye of formula ##STR00001## wherein R.sub.1 denotes hydrogen or halogen, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 are each independently of the other hydrogen; C.sub.1-C.sub.8-alkyl which is unsubstituted or substituted with hydroxy, cyano, C.sub.1-C.sub.4alkoxy or halogen; —(CH.sub.2).sub.n—O—(CH.sub.2).sub.mR.sub.4, wherein R.sub.4 denotes hydrogen or C.sub.1-C.sub.8-alkyl, n is a number from 2 to 6 and m is a number from 0 to 6; C.sub.5-C.sub.24aryl which is unsubstituted or substituted with hydroxy, carboxy, cyano, C.sub.1-C.sub.8alkyl, C.sub.1-C.sub.4alkoxy or halogen; or C.sub.6-C.sub.30aralkyl which is unsubstituted or substituted with hydroxy, cyano, C.sub.1-C.sub.4alkyl, C.sub.1-C.sub.8alkoxy groups or halogen; and (B) at least one yellow-, orange- or red-dyeing disperse dye, solvent dye, vat dye or pigment; and to the use thereof in dyeing or printing cellulose or cellulose blend fibre materials.

Methods and apparatus for pre-treating swabs prior to collection of specimens to reduce false positive detections by immersing a swab in a liquid chemical pre-treating agent for a treatment period of time. Then the swab is removed and circulated in a rinse agent. The pre-treating agent may be an oxidizing agent, a reducing agent, a bleaching agent (e.g. sodium hypochlorite solution) or a fluorescence suppressing dye (such as Evans blue, Trypan blue, or black dye).

The present disclosure relates to a natural dyeing method using fermented persimmon juice, and more particularly to a natural dyeing method using fermented persimmon juice, which prevents the discoloration of a naturally dyed fabric, is harmless to the human body, and exhibits excellent color development, excellent antibacterial activity, excellent deodorization, and excellent dyeing fastness such as friction fastness and light fastness.

The present disclosure relates to a natural dyeing method using shouliang yam rhizome, and more particularly to a natural dyeing method using shouliang yam rhizome, which prevents the discoloration of a naturally dyed fabric, is harmless to the human body, and exhibits excellent color development, excellent antibacterial activity, excellent deodorization, and excellent dyeing fastness such as friction fastness and light fastness.

The present disclosure relates to fibrous structures including active agents and having a graphic printed thereon. In some embodiments, a nonwoven web may include a fibrous structure comprising filaments. In turn, the filaments may include filament forming material, and an active agent releasable from the filaments when exposed to conditions of intended use. In addition, a graphic may be printed directly onto the fibrous structure.