The suit maketh the man: Masculinity and social class in Kingsman: The Secret Service (Vaughn, 2014)

This article outlines the ways in which suits are synonymous with masculinity examining the, sometimes paradoxical, nature of suits worn by men of all social classes, and for different reasons. For example, hegemonic men wear suits in a bid to convey power, arguably, by rendering the wearers uniform in appearance so that the focus is on what hegemonic men might say and do, rather than how they might look. Moreover, the uniformity of suits is a means by which men of a lower social class demonstrate aspiration to a higher social class and might affect hegemonic power through wearing them. While much has been written about masculinity and suits, with many authors agreeing that the bespoke suit is at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of men’s clothing, yet there is a little attention paid to the way in which the bespoke suit is represented in media or popular culture. This article examines the role of clothing of the main characters in the film Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) with a particular focus on the contribution that the bespoke suit makes to the masculinity of the bodies of the individuals within the film. Principally, the bespoke suit elevates the body of the wearer from quotidian to tailored, the fitting of which allows for better representation of a man’s body

Why the Terms Unisex and Gender Neutral are not Fit for Purpose in Contemporary Clothing and Fashion Design

No abstract available

Online Ultrasound Programs: Program Directors’ Perspective

This study focused on opinions of diagnostic medical sonography program directors concerning online education within an allied health field that is clinically based. Although the study is centered around sonography, the findings can be applied to many online programs with clinical aspects. There was limited information concerning online education within a clinically based healthcare field, therefore the literature review focused on distance or online education in general. The participating program directors used online/distance learning terms interchangeably. The objective of this study was to identify factors that attributed to or hindered the progress of an online program in diagnostic medical sonography. The question that guided this research was: What are the program directors’ perception of face-to-face versus online program delivery in a clinically based subject? Individual interviews were conducted with three directors of online sonography programs. The responses showed that these directors saw improved overall outcomes in their online programs. This was ultimately attributed to a supportive staff and ease of access to resources. Resources and communication are easily accessed due to the improved technology seen in today’s online classroom

What\u27s Next? The Intersection Of Politics And Marketing: A Look At Its Impact On Shareholder Wealth

The first essay attempts to explain the heterogeneity in the stock market’s reaction to a firm’s lobbying for good efforts. It is hypothesized that higher (a) CEO equity-to-pay ratio, (b) marketing influence in the TMT, (c) marketing capabilities, (d) corporate social performance, and (e) institutional ownership, will be associated with less negative abnormal stock returns. Results indicate that firms with a greater amount of marketing influence in the top management team experience greater negative abnormal returns. While firms with a higher CEO equity-to-pay ratio and a greater level of institutional ownership experience less negative abnormal returns. The second essay explores the impact of a consumer boycott on the shareholder wealth of the competitors of the targeted firm. It is hypothesized that similarities between the target and the competitor will result in less of a competition effect. Additionally, its hypothesized that firms with higher (a) advertising, (b) marketing influence in the TMT, (c) marketing capabilities, and (d) corporate social performance will experience a greater competition effect. Results indicate that firms with greater institutional ownership overlap and marketing capabilities experience less and more of a competition effect, respectively. The third and final essay focuses on the impact of a consumer boycott on long-term firm value (i.e., buy-and-hold abnormal returns) for the targeted firms. It is hypothesized that firms with greater amount of corporate political activity experience more negative buy-and-hold abnormal returns. Furthermore, firms with a marketing CEO will experience less negative buy-and-hold abnormal returns and this effect is mediated by marketing influence in the TMT and marketing capabilities

Evaluating Muscle Fiber Architecture

Mastication is the first step in the preparation of food for digestion. The masticatory anatomy of several families of Carnivorans (i.e., Family Canidae, Family Mustelidae, Family Hyaenidae, and Family Ursidae of the order Carnivora) will be compared in this study. The goal is to better understand masticatory adaptations through an examination of bite force and muscle fiber architecture in the various groups of carnivores, and to provide a proper protocol in acid dissection of fiber architecture

Parents\u27 Intentions to Allow Youth Football Participation : Perceived Concussion Risk and an Augmented Theory of Planned Behavior

Youth football participation numbers have seen a decline in recent years, with many believing that the risk of head injury is to blame for the decrease. One step to reversing the decline in participation is to understand why fewer children are participating in football. Using an augmented version of the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study looked at the predictors of parents\u27 intentions to allow their children to participate in football. It was hypothesized that in addition to attitudes, social norms, and behavioral control, perceived concussion risk would be a predictor of intention to allow football participation. An online survey was developed and taken by 491 parents of children age 18 and younger. As hypothesized, there were four significant predictors of intention to allow football participation: attitude toward youth football participation, social norms, behavioral control, and perceived risk of concussion in football. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of parents’ decision making when considering youth football participation. These results provide a theoretical platform for interventions to promote youth sport participation and to reverse the decline in football participation

The Use of Virtual Instruments by Australian Screen Composers

Recent technological advancements, strong competition and targeted marketing strategies by virtual instrument merchants have established virtual instruments and digital instrument samples as essential components of a professional screen composer's toolset. The democratisation of these powerful tools has led to broad accessibility to virtual instruments and the digital sequencing software required to run them. Virtual instruments are portable, powerful, and affordable––they are no longer the exclusive domain of expensive recording studios. This thesis aims to quantify and qualify the parameters surrounding screen music composition in this digital age and introduce to the literature new empirical data together with the experiences of working screen music professionals. This is achieved by following a mixed methods sequential exploratory methodology starting with a survey of Australian screen composers (n=102) where they are asked to answer questions with a recent cue in mind. Informed by the results of the survey, semistructured interviews were conducted and recorded with working Australian screen composers (n=22). When combined the meta-inferences confirm that virtual instruments are vital for Australian screen composers to do their job, especially now that their tools are democratised. Screen composers are able to swiftly create cues that are finished products and not demos for their director and film-team. These changes have also shaped a new paradigm of film and television directors to expect final and completed versions of cues from Australian screen composers and not working drafts

The Help

Kathryn Stockett’s The Help focuses on the racism that was prominent in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi. Two black maids, Aibileen and Minny, and a white socialite, Skeeter, join together, in secret and risking their lives, to write a book that tells the stories of black domestic maids working in white Southern households. Specifically, Skeeter focuses on beginning a career as a journalist, instead of finding a husband and starting a family, which was not a norm amongst the Southern women. The Help not only addresses racism in the 1960s, it also focuses on the importance of a husband and a family to most of the Southern women. Kathryn Stockett uses Skeeter Phelan to break the norm of a husband and family being the top priority of women, an issue also addressed in The Feminine Mystique by Friedan. This allows readers to see how women’s priorities have evolved since the 1960s

Lactation Support on Low-Income Women Exclusively Breastfeeding

Low-socioeconomic-status new mothers who wish to exclusively breastfeed, face significant challenges associated with available resources, finances, and maternal leave. To address this issue, the authors explored the following evidence-based PICOT question: among low-socioeconomic-status new mothers that breastfeed, does access to lactation supports in the workplace, compared to no or limited access, affect their ability to exclusively breastfeed for the baby’s first six months? This project conducted a search of the literature in CINAHL and PubMed databases using the terms breastfeeding, low-socioeconomic-status, and workplace lactational support. Inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed articles published between 2017 to present, containing keywords/phrases used in the search. Articles that did not discuss lactation support for low-socioeconomic-status breastfeeding women were excluded. Longer maternity leave is associated with increased breastfeeding duration. The literature highlights for working new mothers, lactation support in the workplace includes breastfeeding breaks, flexible work arrangements, private spaces, and facilities for expressing breast milk (Dinour & Szaro, 2017). For women of low-socioeconomic status an extended maternity leave may not be feasible, presenting women with challenges to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months. Additionally, research indicates that for women returning to work, workplace lactational supports are needed to improve the duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Low-income mothers are significantly less likely to have access to extended maternity leave, and lack necessary accommodations within the workplace, including break time and/or a private space to express breast milk. When workplace lactation is supported there is a positive influence on exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months