Implementing CSR in the fashion industry: measuring the designers´ perceptions and commitment

This dissertation contributes to the existing knowledge on the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility in the apparel industry. This is achieved through an in-depth analysis of the designers’ perceptions and roles in CSR with regard to organisational issues, as well as the exploration of their commitment on the one hand and the overall adaptation of CSR in the contemporary clothing industry on the other. As the garment industry is facing many challenges connected with ethical and ecological matters, the chief objective of this study has been to find the best tools for CSR implementation in the fashion industry as seen through the design’s and the designers’ lenses. With the help of a comprehensive literature review on the one hand and a mixed methodological approach on the other—namely measuring the designers’ perceptions through surveys and interviews—this research investigates the apparel environment in order to provide a suitable definition of Corporate Social Responsibility and the processes of its implementation. As it turns out, the designers influence the CSR practice significantly as they play a key role in CSR implementation in the clothing industry. From these creators’ perspective, their contribution to ethical corporate policies is most visible through a number of elements, i.e. choices regarding sustainable technologies, educational and communicational commitment to their work environment, their influence on the executives’ decisions, and their role in collecting data on the green consumers’ preferences. 16 However, these designers’ CSR functions seem to be neglected or marginalised. The research points to factors such as: a dialogue gap between the creators, the executives and other team members; the role of other positions as exemplified through the middle management blocking the designers’ input into CSR; and the lack of the creators’ decisional power within the organisation. By measuring the fashion designers’ perceptions, the study concludes that their general role in CSR performance is meaningful, but underestimated and hindered through the system. As a result, the commitment section includes directions on new responsibilities for designers in the business system. These duties comprehend new roles in communication, in selecting technologies, in conducting outsourcing and in developing better strategies for expanding consumers' awareness and compromise to CSR's practices. In addition, designers' commitment to CSR aims to develop creative and unique design concepts, to expand the compromise with local stakeholders and to develop new approaches in the slow fashion design. Furthermore, to expand the knowledge basis this topic addresses several measures in the academic and education fields. Additionally, the dissertation suggests the creation of a platform for stakeholders’ further discussions on the expansion of the concept. Within this framework, the ethical guidelines included in self-regulations would help to develop tightened cooperation between the designers and the executives. This way, the designers’ decisional and communicational position with regard to CSR would get unlocked. The discoveries behind this thesis are novel and consist of findings that should prove useful both for the CSR theory development and the practical adaptation of CSR in the fashion industry.A dissertação contribui para o desenvolvimento do conhecimento existente sobre a implementação da Responsabilidade Social das Empresas (RSE) na indústria do vestuário. Este objetivo é alcançado através de uma análise profunda das perceções e dos papéis dos designers no desenvolvimento da RSE, no âmbito das questões e dos processos organizacionais. Esta análise inclui, por um lado, a avaliação de seu compromisso e, por outro, a adaptação global da RSE na indústria do vestuário contemporânea. A indústria de vestuário enfrenta muitos desafios relacionados com questões éticas e ecológicas. Encontrar as melhores ferramentas para a implementação da RSE na indústria da moda, como observadas sob as lentes do design e dos designers, é o principal objetivo do estudo. Com a ajuda de uma revisão abrangente da literatura por um lado e uma abordagem metodológica mista por outro – i.e., pela avaliação das perceções dos designers através de inquéritos e de entrevistas - esta investigação estuda a envolvente da indústria do vestuário a fim de estabelecer uma definição adequada de Responsabilidade Social das Empresas e dos processos para a sua implementação. 12 Comprova-se que os designers influenciam significativamente a prática da RSE, uma vez que desempenham um papel fundamental na sua implementação na indústria do vestuário. Na perspectiva destes criadores, a sua contribuição para políticas empresariais éticas é mais visível através de diversos elementos, tais como, as escolhas em relação a tecnologias sustentáveis, o compromisso educacional e comunicacional com seu ambiente de trabalho, a sua influência nas decisões dos executivos e o seu papel na recolha de dados e na definição das preferências dos consumidores “verdes”. No entanto, as funções na RSE desses designers parecem ser negligenciadas ou marginalizadas. A investigação aponta para fatores como uma lacuna no diálogo entre os criadores, os executivos e outros membros da equipa; o papel de outras posições na empresa como exemplificado pela gestão intermédia que bloqueia a entrada dos designers na RSE; e a falta do poder de decisão dos criadores dentro da organização. Ao medir as perceções dos designers de moda, o estudo conclui que seu papel geral no desempenho da RSE é significativo, mas subestimado e dificultado pelo sistema empresarial. De acordo com estes resultados, o capítulo devotado aos compromissos inclui novos encargos dos designers no sistema empresarial. Estas responsabilidades compreendem novos papéis na comunicação, na seleção de tecnologias, nos contratos de outsourcing e no desenvolvimento de melhores estratégias para expandir a consciência e o compromisso dos consumidores nas práticas da RSE. Adicionalmente, o compromisso dos designers expressa-se no desenvolvimento de novos conceitos de design singulares e criativos, na articulação e integração com stakeholders locais e na criação de novas abordagens no domínio da slow fashion. Acrescem medidas na área académica e educacional destinadas a expandir a base de conhecimento em RSE. 13 A dissertação sugere a criação de uma plataforma para impulsionar o debate entre stakeholders para a expansão do conceito. Neste enquadramento, as diretrizes éticas incluídas na autorregulação ajudariam ao desenvolvimento de uma cooperação mais estreita entre os designers e os executivos. Desta forma, a posição decisional e comunicacional dos designers em relação à RSE seria desbloqueada. As evidências que suportam esta dissertação são novas e consistem em resultados que devem ser úteis tanto para o desenvolvimento da teoria da RSE como para a adaptação prática da RSE na indústria da moda

Comparison of eleven commonly used formulae for sonographic estimation of fetal weight in prediction of actual birth weight

Objectives: The aim of the study is to compare the accuracy of 11 formulas in predicting fetal weight. Material and methods: The study includes 1072 pregnant women of gestational age from 28 to 42 weeks, who gave birth between January and June 2017. Pregnant women were divided into five groups; group 1, where actual birth weight (ABW) was less than 2500 g, group 2, where ABW was between 2500–4000 g, group 3, where ABW was above 4000 g. Group 4 — newborns with birth weight under 10 percentile and group 5 — newborns with birth weight above 90 percentile. The accuracy of the estimated fetal weight (EFW) was assessed by calculating absolute percentage error (APE) and ‘limits-of-agreement’. R Spearman correlation was utilized between EFW and ABW. Results: The most accurate formula for group 1 is Hadlock3 (MAPE = 7.04%), the narrowest limits of agreement has Combs — [mean (SD): 99.41 g (269.57 g)]. For group 2, the lowest MAPE (5.43%) has Ott, the narrowest limits of agreement belongs to Combs – [mean (SD): -101.36 g (275.88 g)] . For group 3 is Hadlock3 (MAPE = 5.79%), the narrowest limits of agreement has Hadlock5 [mean (SD): -637.32 g (209.59 g)]. For group 4 is Combs (MAPE = 7.72%), the narrowest limits of agreement has Combs [mean (SD): 195.77 g (264.97 g)]. For gr oup 5 is Warsof2 (MAPE = 7.06%), the narrowest limits of agreement has Campbell [mean (SD): 227.81 g (299.26 g)]. Conclusions: Median of absolute percentage error is the most useful parameter to predict birth weight. Each group of fetuses needs different formula to predict the most accurate weight

The relevance of Short-Term Variation (STV) value measured within 1 hour before delivery in predicting adverse neonatal outcome

Objectives: Computer CTG analysis (cCTG) included short-term variation (STV) is one of the methods of monitoring fetal condition during delivery. The aim of our study was to define appropriability of STV measured within 1 hour before delivery in prediction of neonatal outcomes. Material and methods: The retrospective study included 1014 pregnant women, who gave birth in the Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology. Participants were divided into two groups: group 1 — term pregnancies (37–41 weeks) and group 2 — preterm pregnancies (lower than 37 weeks). In each of them, two subgroups have been separated: control (STV ≥ 3 ms) and study group (STV < 3 ms). Results: In both groups 1 and 2, there were no statistically significant differences related to Apgar scores in 1st, 3rd and 5th minute between group with STV < 3 ms and group with STV > 3 ms Moreover, for 37–41 weeks the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were: 22.7%, 83.9%, 3.3% and 97.8% and for lower than 37: 45.7%, 65.4%, 47.1%, 64.2% in 1th minute after delivery. In group 1 the area under curve (AUC) measurements were 0.45 (95% CI: 0.32–0.58) for 1st minute and 0.55 (95% CI: 0.35–0.74) for 5th minute and in group 2: 0.58 (95% CI: 0.45–0.71) for 1th minute and 0.57 (95% CI: 0.42–0.72) for 5th minute.   Conclusions: High specificity and negative predictive value of STV indicates a good Apgar score of newborns in term pregnancies. Analysis of STV in preterm pregnancy is not clear. Fetal well-being in preterm pregnancy should include STV and other non-invasive and invasive tools

Interdisciplinary 3D potential field modelling of complex lithospheric structures by IGMAS+

We introduce an approach for 3D joint interpretation of potential fields and its derivatives under the condition of constraining data and information. The interactive 3D gravity and magnetic application IGMAS (Interactive Gravity and Magnetic Application System) has been around for more than 30 years, initially developed on a mainframe and then transferred to the first DOS PCs, before it was adapted to Linux in the ’90s and finally implemented as a cross-platform Java application with GUI. Since 2019 IGMAS+ is maintained and developed in the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre by the staff of Section 4.5 – Basin Modelling and ID2 – eScience Centre. The core of IGMAS+ applies an analytical solution of the volume integral for the gravity and magnetic effect of a homogeneous body. It is based on the reduction of the three-folded integral to an integral over the bounding polyhedrons that are formed by triangles. Later the algorithm has been extended to cover all elements of the gravity tensor as well and the optimized storage enables fast leastsquares inversion of densities and changes to the model geometry and this flexibility makes geometry changes easy. Because of the triangular model structure of model interfaces, IGMAS can handle complex structures (multi- Z surfaces) like the overhangs of salt domes and variable densities due to voxelization. To account for the curvature of the Earth, we use spherical geometries. Therefore IGMAS+ is capable to handle models from big-scale to regional and small-scale models (meters) used in Applied Geophysics.poste