Sharing Strategies of Teaching an Introductory Textile Course

The purpose of this abstract is to share some of the strategies that I use in teaching the lecture part of the introductory textile course and to offer some teaching tactics for colleagues in ITAA who also teach this course. I share my experiences in five areas: (a) determine the proper amount of course contents and amount of information in each exam; (b) develop an organized class-note package with filling-the-blank spaces; (c) utilize visual aids; (d) provide an in-class group assignment for extra credits; (e) improve an academic course is a continuous process

An Examination of Male Consumers’ Attitude toward Using Fit Mass-customizationand Intention of buying Fit Mass-customized Apparel

The purposes of the current study are (a) to develop a framework to examine the factors that influence consumer attitude toward using fit MC and intention of buying fit masscustomized apparel, and (b) to identify the characteristics of male consumers who have a greater intention of buying fit mass-customized apparel. Based on the purposes of the study, a conceptual model was developed through the integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), and previous propositions and study findings, and was used as the framework of the research

Consumer Characteristics and Purchase Intentions of Mass-customized Men\u27s Dress Shirts

Mass-customization (MC) is a hybrid between mass production and customization. It is a production strategy that offers personalized goods through modularized product designs, flexible processes, and supply chain integration (Fogliatto, da Silveira & Borenstein, 2012). Information in characteristics of potential customers is important for companies that offer MC apparel to develop effective strategies to reach and serve their target customers. A theoretical framework to examine consumers\u27 characteristics and their purchase intentions of MC men\u27s dress shirts based on the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) and related previous study results. A quantitative research method using an online survey design was adopted. For the data analyses, the structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted

The Role of Emotion in the Effect of Price Discount for Apparel Products

Although price promotion is one of the most popular marketing strategies in the apparel industry because of a short product life cycle, price discount research remains a largely unexplored area in the apparel literature. Extending the price-quality-value (P-Q-V) model, we investigated the mediating role of affect in the relationship between price discount and consumers\u27 perceptions (perceived savings, quality, and value), and examined the relationship between perceived value and purchase intentions in the context of fashion products. A between-subjects experimental design was used, and a total of 209 usable responses was collected by a research firm. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to examine the proposed model and test the hypotheses. The findings showed that affect plays an important mediating role in the relationship between price discount and perceptions of savings, quality, and value. Based on the findings, we present theoretical and pragmatic implications of the research

Brand Perception and Repurchase Intent in Online Apparel Shopping

With increasing use of online apparel shopping, consumers have become price and product savvy, and competition among online retailers has intensified. To create competitive advantages and develop strategies to satisfy and retain customers, brand companies need more specific, research-based information about online shoppers’ repurchase behaviors with brand apparel. Repeat purchases are critical to the success of brand companies. According to Daly (2002), obtaining a new customer costs 10 times more than retaining an existing customer. In the online apparel shopping context, repeat shoppers spend 67% more on average than new customers (Drew, 2012). However, apparel research for online shopping has focused on apparel shoppers’ initial purchase behaviors rather than repeat purchases. The research in brand repurchase intent of online apparel shopping is even more rare. To fill this void in the research, this study examined the effects of types of consumers’ brand perception on their brand repurchase intent in online apparel shopping

A systematic review of the effectiveness of qigong exercise in supportive cancer care

PURPOSE: Qigong as a complementary and alternative modality of traditional Chinese medicine is often used by cancer patients to manage their symptoms. The aim of this systematic review is to critically evaluate the effectiveness of qigong exercise in cancer care. METHODS: Thirteen databases were searched from their inceptions through November 2010. All controlled clinical trials of qigong exercise among cancer patients were included. The strength of the evidence was evaluated for all included studies using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine Levels of Evidence. The validity of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was also evaluated using the Jadad Scale. RESULTS: Twenty-three studies including eight RCTs and fifteen non-randomized controlled clinical trials (CCTs) were identified. The effects of qigong on physical and psychosocial outcomes were examined in 14 studies and the effects on biomedical outcomes were examined in 15 studies. For physical and psychosocial outcomes, it is difficult to draw a conclusion due to heterogeneity of outcome measures and variability of the results in the included studies. Among reviewed studies on biomedical outcomes, a consistent tendency appears to emerge which suggests that the patients treated with qigong exercise in combination with conventional methods had significant improvement in immune function than the patients treated with conventional methods alone. CONCLUSIONS: Due to high risk of bias and methodological problems in the majority of included studies, it is still too early to draw conclusive statements. Further vigorously designed large-scale RCTs with validated outcome measures are needed.published_or_final_versio

The need for focused, hard X-ray investigations of the Sun

Understanding accelerated particles at the Sun is one of the most important problems in heliophysics. Flare-accelerated particles have huge energies; are an important source of particles in the heliosphere; and are the most important corollary to other areas of high-energy astrophysics. This paper describes the scientific motivation for X-ray studies of particle acceleration at the Sun

The need for focused, hard X-ray investigations of the Sun

Understanding the nature of energetic particles in the solar atmosphere is one of the most important outstanding problems in heliophysics. Flare-accelerated particles compose a huge fraction of the flare energy budget; they have large influences on how events develop; they are an important source of high-energy particles found in the heliosphere; and they are the single most important corollary to other areas of high-energy astrophysics. Despite the importance of this area of study, this topic has in the past decade received only a small fraction of the resources necessary for a full investigation. For example, NASA has selected no new Explorer-class instrument in the past two decades that is capable of examining this topic. The advances that are currently being made in understanding flare-accelerated electrons are largely undertaken with data from EOVSA (NSF), STIX (ESA), and NuSTAR (NASA Astrophysics). This is despite the inclusion in the previous Heliophysics decadal survey of the FOXSI concept as part of the SEE2020 mission, and also despite NASA's having invested heavily in readying the technology for such an instrument via four flights of the FOXSI sounding rocket experiment. Due to that investment, the instrumentation stands ready to implement a hard X-ray mission to investigate flare-accelerated electrons. This white paper describes the scientific motivation for why this venture should be undertaken soon.Comment: White paper submitted to the Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) 2024-2033; 15 pages, 5 figure

Sex matters during adolescence: Testosterone-related cortical thickness maturation differs between boys and girls

Age-related changes in cortical thickness have been observed during adolescence, including thinning in frontal and parietal cortices, and thickening in the lateral temporal lobes. Studies have shown sex differences in hormone-related brain maturation when boys and girls are age-matched, however, because girls mature 1-2 years earlier than boys, these sex differences could be confounded by pubertal maturation. To address puberty effects directly, this study assessed sex differences in testosterone-related cortical maturation by studying 85 boys and girls in a narrow age range and matched on sexual maturity. We expected that testosterone-by-sex interactions on cortical thickness would be observed in brain regions known from the animal literature to be high in androgen receptors. We found sex differences in associations between circulating testosterone and thickness in left inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus, calcarine sulcus, and right lingual gyrus, all regions known to be high in androgen receptors. Visual areas increased with testosterone in boys, but decreased in girls. All other regions were more impacted by testosterone levels in girls than boys. The regional pattern of sex-by-testosterone interactions may have implications for understanding sex differences in behavior and adolescent-onset neuropsychiatric disorders. © 2012 Bramen et al