Mobilization, Strategy, and Global Apparel Production Networks: Systemic Advantages for Student Antisweatshop Activism

The U.S. antisweatshop movement is a major branch of Global North labor rights activism. We focus on the movement’s college student sector, which has been active and moderately effective since its 1997 birth. Using principles from social movement theory and global political economy, we examine (1) these student labor rights groups’ campus context, (2) global production networks (GPNs), and (3) how campus context and GPNs intersect to facilitate student antisweatshop activity and effectiveness in ways distinct from the non-campus U.S. movement. U.S. college campuses are places of pre-existing collective identity and dense interaction, facilitating antisweatshop mobilization. Collegiate apparel GPNs that source from the Global South contain both the student sector’s largest grievance and an opportunity structure of power relations that this sector seeks to engage. An on-campus movement opportunity also exists: a college administration which is beholden and accessible to students and is simultaneously a gatekeeper in licensed collegiate apparel GPNs – a spatially commensurate point of strategic leverage for a student antisweatshop group as it coordinates with production workers and their local allies. Thus, the student sector possesses certain advantages within a field of power relations permeating the larger network linking it to administrations and firms. Recognizing these distinct advantages and the synergy among them should usefully inform student antisweatshop activists and their allies as they mobilize support and formulate strategies

Mobilization, Strategy, and Global Apparel Production Networks: Systemic Advantages for Student Antisweatshop Activism

The U.S. antisweatshop movement is a major branch of Global North labor rights activism. We focus on the movement’s college student sector, which has been active and moderately effective since its 1997 birth. Using principles from social movement theory and global political economy, we examine (1) these student labor rights groups’ campus context, (2) global production networks (GPNs), and (3) how campus context and GPNs intersect to facilitate student antisweatshop activity and effectiveness in ways distinct from the non-campus U.S. movement. U.S. college campuses are places of pre-existing collective identity and dense interaction, facilitating antisweatshop mobilization. Collegiate apparel GPNs that source from the Global South contain both the student sector’s largest grievance and an opportunity structure of power relations that this sector seeks to engage. An on-campus movement opportunity also exists: a college administration which is beholden and accessible to students and is simultaneously a gatekeeper in licensed collegiate apparel GPNs – a spatially commensurate point of strategic leverage for a student antisweatshop group as it coordinates with production workers and their local allies. Thus, the student sector possesses certain advantages within a field of power relations permeating the larger network linking it to administrations and firms. Recognizing these distinct advantages and the synergy among them should usefully inform student antisweatshop activists and their allies as they mobilize support and formulate strategies

Empirical evaluation of the inter-relationship of articular elements involved in the pathoanatomy of knee osteoarthritis using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In this cross-sectional study, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of all articular elements that could be measured using knee MRI. We assessed the association of pathological change in multiple articular structures involved in the pathoanatomy of osteoarthritis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Knee MRI scans from patients over 45 years old were assessed using a semi-quantitative knee MRI assessment form. The form included six distinct elements: cartilage, bone marrow lesions, osteophytes, subchondral sclerosis, joint effusion and synovitis. Each type of pathology was graded using an ordinal scale with a value of zero indicating no pathology and higher values indicating increasingly severe levels of pathology. The principal dependent variable for comparison was the mean cartilage disease score (CDS), which captured the aggregate extent of involvement of articular cartilage. The distribution of CDS was compared to the individual and cumulative distributions of each articular element using the Chi-squared test. The correlations between pathological change in the various articular structures were assessed in a Spearman correlation table.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Data from 140 patients were available for review. The cohort had a median age of 61 years (range 45-89) and was 61% female. The cohort included a wide spectrum of OA severity. Our analysis showed a statistically significant trend towards pathological change involving more articular elements as CDS worsened (p-value for trend < 0.0001). Comparison of CDS to change in the severity of pathology of individual articular elements showed statistically significant trends towards more severe pathology as CDS worsened for osteophytes (p-value for trend < 0.0001), bone marrow lesions (p = 0.0003), and subchondral sclerosis (p = 0.009), but not joint effusion or synovitis. There was a moderate correlation between cartilage damage, osteophytes and BMLs as well as a moderate correlation between joint effusion and synovitis. However, cartilage damage and osteophytes were only weakly associated with synovitis or joint effusion.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results support an inter-relationship of multiple articular elements in the pathoanatomy of knee OA. Prospective studies of OA pathogenesis in humans are needed to correlate these findings to clinically relevant outcomes such as pain and function.</p

Designing for Diabetes Decision Support Systems with Fluid Contextual Reasoning

Type 1 diabetes is a potentially life-threatening chronic condition that requires frequent interactions with diverse data to inform treatment decisions. While mobile technolo- gies such as blood glucose meters have long been an essen- tial part of this process, designing interfaces that explicitly support decision-making remains challenging. Dual-process models are a common approach to understanding such cog- nitive tasks. However, evidence from the first of two stud- ies we present suggests that in demanding and complex situations, some individuals approach disease management in distinctive ways that do not seem to fit well within existing models. This finding motivated, and helped frame our second study, a survey (n=192) to investigate these behaviors in more detail. On the basis of the resulting analysis, we posit Fluid Contextual Reasoning to explain how some people with diabetes respond to particular situations, and discuss how an extended framework might help inform the design of user interfaces for diabetes management

I will leave you now and this loudspeaker will take my place

Notions of ‘presence’ and ‘liveness’ run through academic theories and popular conceptions of sound mediation generally, and mediation of voice in particular. This article looks at experimental video that engages with these questions, particularly around the notion of the ‘authentic’ voice and vocal ‘presence’. We will demonstrate how these different experimental approaches explore the interaction between voice, vocal technique and audio-visual technology, thus challenging and interrogating conventions of how the soundtrack represents the voice and (in conjunction with the moving image) the audio-visually mediated body. Presenting Anneke Kampman's work as an experimental practice-led research response to seminal theories of sound and the film soundtrack, we provide further context through engagement with key examples of earlier video art and sound art by Vladan Radovanović, Richard Serra, and Meredith Monk. Overall, the article intervenes by demonstrating how video art and sound art can address key theoretical questions concerning voice and body in a broader sound and moving image context, as well as adopting a sound-focussed approach to aesthetic analysis of video art

Soda consumption and risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women in the Nurses’ Health Study

Background: The frequency of soda consumption remains high in the United States. Soda consumption has been associated with poor bone health in children, but few studies have examined this relation in adults, and to our knowledge, no study has examined the relation of soda consumption with risk of hip fractures

Captures d'écran : la photographie de presse et l'image télévisée

Influenza-associated disease burden among children in tropical sub-Saharan Africa is not well established, particularly outside of the 2009 pandemic period. We estimated the burden of influenza in children aged 0-4 years through population-based surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI) and acute lower respiratory tract illness (ALRI). Household members meeting ILI or ALRI case definitions were referred to health facilities for evaluation and collection of nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs for influenza testing by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Estimates were adjusted for health-seeking behavior and those with ILI and ALRI who were not tested. During 2008-2012, there were 9,652 person-years of surveillance among children aged 0-4 years. The average adjusted rate of influenza-associated hospitalization was 4.3 (95% CI 3.0-6.0) per 1,000 person-years in children aged 0-4 years. Hospitalization rates were highest in the 0-5 month and 6-23 month age groups, at 7.6 (95% CI 3.2-18.2) and 8.4 (95% CI 5.4-13.0) per 1,000 person-years, respectively. The average adjusted rate of influenza-associated medically attended (inpatient or outpatient) ALRI in children aged 0-4 years was 17.4 (95% CI 14.2-19.7) per 1,000 person-years. Few children who had severe laboratory-confirmed influenza were clinically diagnosed with influenza by the treating clinician in the inpatient (0/33, 0%) or outpatient (1/109, 0.9%) settings. Influenza-associated hospitalization rates from 2008-2012 were 5-10 times higher than contemporaneous U.S. estimates. Many children with danger signs were not hospitalized; thus, influenza-associated severe disease rates in Kenyan children are likely higher than hospital-based estimates suggest