No problem, I\u27ll just return it! Purchase effort, product returns, and cognitive dissonance

As the benefits of liberal product return policies on sales and profitability are recognized, retailers are balancing the loss from product returns with loosening return policies to encourage buying. Although returning products is part of the consumption process, most studies have been from economic and logistical perspectives; only a few studies on the psychological impact of returning products can be found and similar research on apparel product returns is limited. Based on the theory of cognitive dissonance, this study examines the influence of product purchase and return effort on cognitive dissonance. In addition, as shopping interest strongly corresponds to sensitivities related to the overall shopping experience, this study also examines how recreational shopping influences feelings of cognitive dissonance

Sustainability Education in Textile and Apparel: A Web-Based Content Analysis

Sustainability is a composite view of diverse and interwoven themes related to human welfare, economic growth, and the natural environment. Inclusion of education for sustainable development is a crucial paradigmatic shift within higher education. This study examines how sustainability is integrated in the T&A curriculum. 69 educational institutions were selected from the 2015 U.S. rankings of the top 50 fashion merchandising and top 50 fashion design schools and colleges by www.fashion-schools.org. Web-published curriculum of each department/school was analyzed through content analysis. Results show sustainability is being integrated within the curricula of T&A programs in the U.S. Over half offer at least one sustainability embedded course in their curricula. Institutions with graduate programs show stronger adoption of sustainability indicative of faculty expertise and research interests

Online Retailer’s Return Policy and Prefactual Thinking: A Cross-Cultural Study of U.S. and Chinese E-Commerce Markets

This study examines how online fashion retailers’ return policies differ based on country-of-business. In particular, we examine whether online companies for American consumers are inclined to be more lenient and address American consumer needs to avoid uncertainty and influence prefactual thinking compared to return policies for Chinese consumers

Consumer and Brand Factors that Influence Perceptions of Green Brand Extensions

Companies commonly demonstrate their commitment to the environment and compete in the green marketplace by leveraging their brand equity and introducing green brand extensions. Brand extensions allow well-known brands with a loyal customer base to engage in new sustainability efforts with less assumed risk

Effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development

Phytoestrogen is an estrogenic compound that occurs naturally in plants. The most common sources of phytoestrogen are soybean products, which contain high levels of isoflavones. This compound, which has structural similarity with estrogen, can act as an estrogen receptor agonist or antagonist. Animal studies provide evidence of the significant effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development, including altered pubertal timing, impaired estrous cycling and ovarian function, and altered hypothalamus and pituitary functions. Although human studies examining the effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development are extremely limited, the results of some studies agree with those of the animal studies. In this paper, we review the possible mechanism of phytoestrogen action and the evidence showing the effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development in animal and human studies

A Reading and Writing Placement Test: Design, Evaluation, and Analysis

Placement tests, along with the growing interest in their validation, have become increasingly important in English as a Second Language programs. To this end, the present paper illustrates procedures in designing a placement test and using it to evaluate students’ language ability by means of statistical analysis. 29 participants from three proficiency levels (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) took reading and writing placement test sections. Students’ performance at each proficiency level was analyzed separately and compared across proficiency levels. In addition, analyses of responses on a survey revealed a relationship between language learning attitudes and behaviors exhibited by the participants and their performance on the placement test. Through close examination of the process of placement test design, evaluation, and analysis, this paper provides practical guidelines for reading and writing placement testing

Influence of Design, Workmanship, and Familiarity on Consumer Perceptions of Country-of-Origin Apparel Brands: A Study of U.S., China, and Japan

The country-of-origin (COO) concept addresses the increasing complexity of the global market and widening geographical boundaries of brands (Roth & Romeo, 1992). Consumers use COO to evaluate brands and product attributes (Han, 1989) and COO image is influential in purchase decisions (e.g., Roth & Romeo, 1992). Consumers from various countries hold differing opinions of COO brands and products. This study examines how consumers from the three largest world economies (U.S., China, and Japan) perceive two apparel brand image dimensions (design and workmanship) in conjunction with brand familiarity for apparel brands originating from five countries (U.S., France, Italy, China, and Japan)

Commercialization of Adaptive Clothing: Toward a Movement of Inclusive Design

An analysis of the evolution of adaptive clothing was conducted through a review of relevant literature published from 1963 to 2017. The goal should be to create ready-to-wear clothing with adaptive features, thus helping individuals with disabilities to address their functional, expressive and aesthetic needs, while also eliminating the stigma of adaptive clothing. In order to reduce the stigma of adaptive clothing, while also enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities, a change in the fashion industry must happen. Future designers need to be prepared for a market that encompasses all body types, not just the “normal” body shape. Thus, we propose to create an adaptive clothing design guide for apparel design instructors, students, designers and manufacturers to reference when designing new garments

Superficial cervical plexus block for management of herpes zoster neuralgia in the C3 dermatome: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Herpes zoster is a well-known reactivating viral disease that gives rise to painful skin lesions. Although this vesicular rash heals up within a few weeks, pain sometimes continues, becoming postherpetic neuralgia. In the case of those at high risk of developing postherpetic neuralgia, early interventional pain management is generally recommended as a preventive measure. Pain specialists usually do not see patients face-to-face for chronic refractory pain until the stage of postherpetic neuralgia. However, active and aggressive management, including antiviral treatment, of herpetic neuralgia during the acute stage of herpes zoster promises better results. In this respect, superficial cervical plexus block can help patients, such as the case reported here, by relieving the pain of herpes zoster involving the C3 dermatome. CASE PRESENTATION: A 65-year-old Korean man with severe pain in his left C3 dermatome due to herpes zoster was admitted to our hospital. His pain was so refractory to medication that he consulted our pain clinic for pain control. Due to the medication limitations imposed by his underlying diseases (hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis, atrial fibrillation, and asthma), early interventional therapy including stellate ganglion block was planned. In addition, because his painful C3 dermatome overlapped significantly with the superficial cervical plexus dermatome, ultrasound-guided superficial cervical plexus block was utilized for pain control of the intractable herpes zoster neuritis in his C3 dermatome. The result with respect to his sporadic neuralgia was satisfactory. CONCLUSIONS: We found superficial cervical plexus block to be an effective interventional procedure for pain management of herpes zoster, particularly at the C3-dermatomal level

Calibration-Free Driver Drowsiness Classification based on Manifold-Level Augmentation

Drowsiness reduces concentration and increases response time, which causes fatal road accidents. Monitoring drivers' drowsiness levels by electroencephalogram (EEG) and taking action may prevent road accidents. EEG signals effectively monitor the driver's mental state as they can monitor brain dynamics. However, calibration is required in advance because EEG signals vary between and within subjects. Because of the inconvenience, calibration has reduced the accessibility of the brain-computer interface (BCI). Developing a generalized classification model is similar to domain generalization, which overcomes the domain shift problem. Especially data augmentation is frequently used. This paper proposes a calibration-free framework for driver drowsiness state classification using manifold-level augmentation. This framework increases the diversity of source domains by utilizing features. We experimented with various augmentation methods to improve the generalization performance. Based on the results of the experiments, we found that deeper models with smaller kernel sizes improved generalizability. In addition, applying an augmentation at the manifold-level resulted in an outstanding improvement. The framework demonstrated the capability for calibration-free BCI.Comment: Submitted to 2023 11th IEEE International Winter Conference on Brain-Computer Interfac