Sustainable fashion marketing strategy

Abstract. The world is facing economic, environmental and social challenges, which have resulted in the megatrend of sustainability. It is well known that fashion industry has negative effects on sustainability. The topics of sustainability and unsustainable fashion production are very current and discussed in today’s economy. This has resulted in the demand of sustainability also from the consumers’ side, which means that companies should also start focusing on making their operations more sustainable. Companies should consider their impact on the world seriously and take corporate social responsibility into account. The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to recognize how a sustainable fashion marketing strategy can be defined. In other words, the research purpose is to find out how a fashion company can build a sustainable marketing strategy. This research aims to awake discussion on how fashion industry can be made more sustainable. The research is conducted by studying existing literature and analyzing the case company, Finnish fashion brand Andiata. The brand was chosen because it highlights its sustainable values and promotes fashion. The research approach is abductive and qualitative. The theoretical framework of sustainable fashion marketing strategy is built through topics such as fashion industry, fashion consumerism, fashion marketing and sustainable marketing, as well as sustainable marketing, marketing strategy, sustainable consumerism and sustainable marketing management. This research is built on the sustainable marketing strategy model presented in existing literature. The model includes the steps of (1) Mission and objectives, (2) Market and environment analysis, (3) STP Process, (4) Marketing mix, (5) Measuring and evaluating and (6) Public participation. The empirical material consists of the case company interview and chosen marketing material: social media posts, newsletter and website frontpage. These materials and the interview structure are presented in the Appendices 1–5. This research confirms and develops the six-step model of sustainable fashion marketing strategy. The most important findings include that the aspects of sustainability and fashion should be taken into account on each step of the process, and that sustainable marketing is much more than marketing — it should take into account the whole business operations from the production chains to end-use processes. The research also adds details to the existing theoretical knowledge about the topics

The POINT-AGAPE survey II: An Unrestricted Search for Microlensing Events towards M31

An automated search is carried out for microlensing events using a catalogue of 44554 variable superpixel lightcurves derived from our three-year monitoring program of M31. Each step of our candidate selection is objective and reproducible by a computer. Our search is unrestricted, in the sense that it has no explicit timescale cut. So, it must overcome the awkward problem of distinguishing long-timescale microlensing events from long-period stellar variables. The basis of the selection algorithm is the fitting of the superpixel lightcurves to two different theoretical models, using variable star and blended microlensing templates. Only if microlensing is preferred is an event retained as a possible candidate. Further cuts are made with regard to (i) sampling, (ii) goodness of fit of the peak to a Paczynski curve, (iii) consistency of the microlensing hypothesis with the absence of a resolved source, (iv) achromaticity, (v) position in the colour-magnitude diagram and (vi) signal-to-noise ratio. Our results are reported in terms of first-level candidates, which are the most trustworthy, and second-level candidates, which are possible microlensing but have lower signal-to-noise and are more questionable. The pipeline leaves just 3 first-level candidates, all of which have very short full-width half-maximum timescale (<5 days) and 3 second-level candidates, which have timescales of 31, 36 and 51 days respectively. We also show 16 third-level lightcurves, as an illustration of the events that just fail the threshold for designation as microlensing candidates. They are almost certainly mainly variable stars. Two of the 3 first-level candidates correspond to known events (PA 00-S3 and PA 00-S4) already reported by the POINT-AGAPE project. The remaining first-level candidate is new.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, MNRAS, to appea

Spatial distributions and seasonal cycles of aerosols in India and China seen in global climate-aerosol model

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Association between breastfeeding and better preserved cognitive ability in an elderly cohort of Finnish men

Background. Being breastfed in infancy has been shown to benefit neurodevelopment. However, whether the benefits persist to old age remains unclear. Methods. We examined the associations between breastfeeding and its duration on cognitive ability in young adulthood and old age, and on aging-related cognitive change over five decades. In total, 931 men from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study born in 1934-1944 in Finland took the Finnish Defence Forces Basic Intellectual Ability Test (total and verbal, arithmetic and visuospatial subtest scores) twice, at ages 20.2 and 67.9 years, and had data on breastfeeding (yes v. no) and its duration ('never breastfed', 'up to 3', '3 to 6' and 6 or more months'). Linear and mixed model regressions tested the associations. Results. At 20.2 years, breastfed men had higher cognitive ability total and visuospatial subtest scores [mean differences (MDs) ranged between 3.0-3.9, p values <0.013], and its longer duration predicted higher cognitive ability total and arithmetic and visuospatial subtest scores (MDs ranged between 3.0 and 4.8, p values <0.039). At 67.9 years, breastfed men had higher total cognitive ability and all subtest scores (MDs ranged between 2.6 and 3.4, p values <0.044) and its longer duration predicted all cognitive ability scores (MDs ranged between 3.1 and 4.7, p values <0.050). Verbal subtest scores decreased over five decades in men who were never breastfed or were breastfed for 3 months or less, and increased in those breastfed for longer than 3 months. Conclusions. Neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding and its longer duration persist into old age, and longer duration of breastfeeding may benefit aging-related change, particularly in verbal reasoning ability.Peer reviewe

Correlates of ideal cardiovascular health in European adolescents: The HELENA study

Background and aims: The ideal cardiovascular health (iCVH) construct consists of 4 health behaviors (smoking status, body mass index, physical activity and diet) and 3 health factors (total cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose). A greater number of iCVH components in adolescence are related to better cardiovascular health, but little is known about the correlates of iCVH in adolescents. Thus, the aim of the study was to examine correlates of iCVH in European adolescents. Methods and results: The study comprised 637 European adolescents with complete iCVH data. Participants were part of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) study, a cross-sectional, multicenter study conducted in 9 different European countries. Correlates investigated were sex and age, family affluence scale, maternal education, geographic location, sleep time, television viewing, duration of pregnancy, birth weight and breastfeeding. Younger adolescents, those whose mothers had medium/high education or those whowatched television less than 2 h per day had a greater number of iCVH components compared to those who were older, had a mother with low education or watched television 2 h or more daily (P <= 0.01). Conclusion: Since in our study older adolescents had worse iCVH than younger adolescents, early promotion of cardiovascular health may be important. Future studies mayalso investigate the usefulness of limiting television viewing to promote iCVH. Finally, since adolescents of mothers with low education had poorer iCVH, it may be of special interest to tailor public health promotion to adolescents from families with low socioeconomic status

Associations of sleep-related outcomes with behavioral and emotional functioning in children with overweight/obesity

Objective To evaluate the associations of parent-reported sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and deviceassessed sleep behaviors with behavioral and emotional functioning in pediatric patients with overweight/ obesity. Study design A total of 109 children with overweight/obesity (mean age, 10.0 (±) 1.1 years) were included in this cross-sectional study. We used the Spanish version of the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) to assess SDB and its subscales (ie, snoring, daytime sleepiness, and inattention/hyperactivity). Device-assessed sleep behaviors (ie, wake time, sleep onset time, total time in bed, total sleep time, and waking after sleep onset) were estimated using wrist-worn accelerometers. We used the Behavior Assessment System for Children, second edition to assess behavioral and emotional functioning (ie, clinical scale: aggressiveness, hyperactivity, behavior problems, attention problems, atypicality, depression, anxiety, retreat, and somatization; adaptive scale: adaptability, social skills, and leadership). Results SDB was positively associated with all clinical scale variables (all b > 0.197, P ≤ .041) and with lower adaptability and leadership (all b 0.196, P ≤ .045) and lower adaptability (b = 0.246, P = .011). The inattention/hyperactivity subscale was significantly associated with the entire clinical and adaptive scales (all b > |0.192|, P ≤ .046) except for somatization. The snoring subscale and device-assessed sleep behaviors were not related to any behavioral or emotional functioning variables. Conclusions Our study suggests that SDB symptoms, but not deviceassessed sleep behaviors, are associated with behavioral and emotional functioning in children with overweight/obesity. Specifically, daytime sleepiness, a potential SDB symptom, was related to higher attention problems, depression, anxiety, and retreat and lower adaptability. (J Pediatr 2022;246:170-8).The ActiveBrains project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (DEP2013-47540, DEP2016-79512-R, DEP2017-91544-EXP, and RYC-2011-09011). L.V.T.-L. is supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU17/04802). C.C.-S. is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FJC2018-037925-I). J.H.M. is supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport (FPU15/02645). Additional support was provided by the University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016, Excellence actions: Units of Excellence, Scientific Excellence Unit on Exercise and Health, by the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades, and European Regional Development Fund (SOMM17/6107/UGR). Funding was also provided by the SAMID III network, RETICS , funded by the PNI + D + I 2017-2021 (Spain), ISCIII Sub-Directorate General for Research Assessment and Promotion, the European Regional Development Fund (RD16/0022 ), the EXERNET Research Network on Exercise and Health ( DEP2005-00046/ACTI ; 09/UPB/19; 45/UPB/20; 27/UPB/21), the European Union's 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement 667302, and the HL-PIVOT network Healthy Living for Pandemic Event Protection . Additional funding was obtained from the Andalusian Operational Programme supported with European Regional Development Fund (project B-CTS-355-UGR18)

Cell stemness is maintained upon concurrent expression of RB and the mitochondrial ribosomal protein S18-2

Stemness encompasses the capability of a cell for self-renewal and differentiation. The stem cell maintains a balance between proliferation, quiescence, and regeneration via interactions with the microenvironment. Previously, we showed that ectopic expression of the mitochondrial ribosomal protein S18-2 (MRPS18-2) led to immortalization of primary fibroblasts, accompanied by induction of an embryonic stem cell (ESC) phenotype. Moreover, we demonstrated interaction between S18-2 and the retinoblastoma-associated protein (RB) and hypothesized that the simultaneous expression of RB and S18-2 is essential for maintaining cell stemness. Here, we experimentally investigated the role of S18-2 in cell stemness and differentiation. Concurrent expression of RB and S18-2 resulted in immortalization of Rb1−/− primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts and in aggressive tumor growth in severe combined immunodeficiency mice. These cells, which express both RB and S18-2 at high levels, exhibited the potential to differentiate into various lineages in vitro, including osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages. Mechanistically, S18-2 formed a multimeric protein complex with prohibitin and the ring finger protein 2 (RNF2). This molecular complex increased the monoubiquitination of histone H2ALys119, a characteristic trait of ESCs, by enhanced E3-ligase activity of RNF2. Furthermore, we found enrichment of KLF4 at the S18-2 promoter region and that the S18-2 expression is positively correlated with KLF4 levels. Importantly, knockdown of S18-2 in zebrafish larvae led to embryonic lethality. Collectively, our findings suggest an important role for S18-2 in cell stemness and differentiation and potentially also in cancerogenesis

Weak Lensing Mass Reconstruction of the Galaxy Cluster Abell 209

Weak lensing applied to deep optical images of clusters of galaxies provides a powerful tool to reconstruct the distribution of the gravitating mass associated to these structures. We use the shear signal extracted by an analysis of deep exposures of a region centered around the galaxy cluster Abell 209, at redshift z=0.2, to derive both a map of the projected mass distribution and an estimate of the total mass within a characteristic radius. We use a series of deep archival R-band images from CFHT-12k, covering an area of 0.3 deg^2. We determine the shear of background galaxy images using a new implementation of the modified Kaiser-Squires-Broadhurst pipeline for shear determination, which we has been tested against the ``Shear TEsting Program 1 and 2'' simulations. We use mass aperture statistics to produce maps of the 2 dimensional density distribution, and parametric fits using both Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) and singular-isothermal-sphere profiles to constrain the total mass. The projected mass distribution shows a pronounced asymmetry, with an elongated structure extending from the SE to the NW. This is in general agreement with the optical distribution previously found by other authors. A similar elongation was previously detected in the X-ray emission map, and in the distribution of galaxy colours. The circular NFW mass profile fit gives a total mass of M_{200} = 7.7^{+4.3}_{-2.7} 10^{14} solar masses inside the virial radius r_{200} = 1.8\pm 0.3 Mpc. The weak lensing profile reinforces the evidence for an elongated structure of Abell 209, as previously suggested by studies of the galaxy distribution and velocities.Comment: accepted by A&A, 15 pages, 11 figure

Gene expression changes related to immune processes associate with cognitive endophenotypes of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by a spectrum of symptoms and many different underlying causes. Thus, instead of using the broad diagnosis, intermediate phenotypes can be used to possibly decrease the underlying complexity of the disorder. Alongside the classical symptoms of delusions and hallucinations, cognitive deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia. To increase our understanding of the biological processes related to these cognitive deficits, we performed a genome-wide gene expression analysis. A battery of 14 neuropsychological tests was administered to 844 individuals from a Finnish familial schizophrenia cohort. We grouped the applied neuropsychological tests into five factors for further analysis. Cognitive endophenotypes, whole blood mRNA, genotype, and medication use data were studied from 47 individuals. Expression level of several RNA probes were significantly associated with cognitive performance. The factor representing Verbal Working Memory was associated with altered expression levels of 11 probes, of which one probe was also associated with a specific sub-measure of this factor (WMS-R Digit span backward). While, the factor Processing speed was related to one probe, which additionally associated among 55 probes with a specific sub-measure of this factor (WAIS-R Digit symbol). Two probes were associated with the measure recognition memory performance. Enrichment analysis of these differentially expressed probes highlighted immunological processes. Our findings are in line with genome-wide genetic discoveries made in schizophrenia, suggesting that immunological processes may be of biological interest for future drug design towards schizophrenia and the cognitive dysfunctions that underlie it.Peer reviewe