Commodifying the followers or challenging the mainstream? The two-sided potential of curvy fashion bloggers

Digital influencers and fashion blogging are the subject of a growing interest as a pattern of both production and consumption of digital culture. This essay examines the process of co-evolution of digital influencers and audiences by taking into consideration the work of female curvy fashion bloggers. It is argued that, although plus-size social media influencers may play a counter-hegemonic role by conveying alternative narratives regarding body and beauty, many curvy blogs are not significantly different to "standard" female outfit blogs, in which an audience is commodified as a source of material income and symbolic capital. Digital influencers, therefore, work as examples of co-opted audiences able to enhance further processes of co-option. The article also studies the social media influencers' relationships with their audiences, focusing attention on the manner through which the blogger produces, develops and maintains this relationship. Cultural studies and political economy perspectives on public are discussed to contextualize the analysis of curvy blogs, as fashion studies have so far shown a limited interest in audience as an issue. The qualitative empirical material of the essay, made of 15 semi-structured interviews with female curvy bloggers and the content analysis of 40 curvy blogs, is analysed according to a grounded theory framework. Three main theoretical dimensions are discussed: the blogger's career, success and professionalization, their faceted role in the process of audience shaping and the (reframed) narratives of beauty and body they spread. Drawing on a typology of curvy bloggers, the antinomy between "commodifying the audience" and "challenging the mainstream" is presented as a misleading way of interpreting the phenomenon, as the commercialisation of attention and the engagement of followers work as powerful and connected poles of a continuum

Upconverting Er3+,Yb3+ activated β-NaYF4 thin films: a solution route using a novel sodium β-diketonate polyether adduct

A new tetraglyme adduct of sodium hexafluoroacetylacetonate [Na(hfa)center dot tetraglyme] has been synthesized and successfully used, together with the RE(hfa)(3)center dot diglyme (RE = Y, Yb, Er) complexes, in the synthesis of hexagonal phase NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ upconverting films through a facile sol-gel method

Sources for PM air pollution in the Po Plain, Italy: I. Critical comparison of methods for estimating biomass burning contributions to benzo(a)pyrene

Particle-bound benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) constitutes an air pollution problem in many areas of Europe and has been linked to biomass burning (BB). The present study, conducted in 2007 and 2009 at ten stations in the North Italian Po Plain and Valtelline Valley, examines four methods for the quantification of BB contributions to particle-bound B(a)P using data for 61 predictor compounds in more than 700 ambient PM10 and PM2.5 samples. The study was carried out during the heating season – a period of the year with minimal volatilization and atmospheric degradation of B(a)P, which favour source apportionment by receptor modelling. The lowest estimates of the source contribution (SCE) from BB were obtained with the levoglucosan tracer method and multi-linear regression analysis of daily variations in B(a)P concentrations using levoglucosan as the main predictor in combination with a few other predictors including gaseous pollutants and meteorological data. The standard uncertainty of these methods was driven by the uncertainty in the BB emission factor for levoglucosan and mounted to 90% (1 σ). Positive matrix factorization (PMF), using only PAH congeners as predictors, did not produce factors interpretable as emission sources. However, PMF utilizing a broad range of predictor compounds afforded five factors with compositions similar to emission sources. The yielded B(a)P SCEs for BB agreed well with results of chemical mass balance modelling (CMB). Both receptor models gave good predictions (p) of the observed (o) B(a)P concentrations (PMF: p/o = 89 ± 9%, CMB: p/o = 114 ± 17%) with lower uncertainties than the tracer methods (CMB 60%; PMF 54%; 1 σ). The average BB SCEs (mean ± 95% confidence interval) from these models were: 1.0 ± 0.4 ng m−3 at a kerbside in Milan, 1.0 ± 0.2 ng m−3 at six urban background stations in the Po Plain, 0.7 ± 0.3 ng m−3 at two rural background stations in the Po Plain, and 2.1 ± 1.1 ng m−3 at an urban background station in the Valtelline Valley representing 74 ± 32%, 79 ± 18%, 85 ± 33%, and 84 ± 46% of all modelled B(a)P sources, respectively.JRC.H.2-Climate change and air qualit

ZoneModa Journal n.2 La cultura della moda italiana - made in Italy

ZoneModa Journal nasce dall'idea di un gruppo di docenti dei Corsi di Laurea di Moda, sede di Rimini, Universit\ue0 di Bologna allo scopo di istituire uno strumento di ricerca focalizzato sui Fashion Studies e immaginato per un pubblico di studiosi italiani e stranieri. La necessit\ue0 che ci ha spinto a produrre il progetto editoriale \ue8 stata dettata soprattutto dalla mancanza, in Italia, di uno strumento di questo tipo, capace di raccogliere studi e riflessioni sul complesso e articolato universo del fashion. L\u2019obiettivo, che rappresenta un costante work in progress, \ue8 di far diventare ZoneModa Journal un punto di riferimento imprescindibile per degli studiosi di moda. L\u2019osservazione del contesto entro il quale i fenomeni di moda si manifestano e si consolidano \ue8 sempre pi\uf9 globale, uno spazio dai confini geografici, politici e massmediali sempre pi\uf9 ampi. Per questi motivi, fin dal primo numero, il progetto ha previsto la definizione di nuovi contatti sia con colleghi italiani che stranieri, nonch\ue9 la sua diffusione nelle due lingue, italiano ed inglese. ZoneModa Journal intende proporsi come un appuntamento fisso, un\u2019area di raccordo, per dar vita a occasioni di riflessione comune su un tema di volta in volta suggerito e affrontato sotto molti e diversi punti di vista, con la regia di un curatore per ogni numero. Lo scopo \ue8 quello di sollecitare discussioni e confronti pi\uf9 allargati possibile, di mettere a disposizione uno spazio per contatti, convergenze e critiche costruttive. La rivista si rivolge agli studiosi di Fashion Studies e agli studenti universitari dei corsi umanistici, con l\u2019obiettivo di costituire uno strumento utile ad inquadrare i fenomeni legati al fashion entro un quadro di riflessione ampio, che faccia riferimento a pi\uf9 ambiti culturali e di ricerca. I suoi punti di forza sono l\u2019aspetto multidisciplinare e la predisposizione ad ospitare discussioni critiche su aspetti culturali di ampio respiro (come ad esempio: morphing, made in Italy, cultura pop, well-being

Rivaroxaban compared with standard anticoagulants for the treatment of acute venous thromboembolism in children: a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial

International audienceTreatment of venous thromboembolism in children is based on data obtained in adults with little direct documentation of its efficacy and safety in children. The aim of our study was to compare the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban versus standard anticoagulants in children with venous thromboembolism