Truly sustainable or not? An assessment on China’s textile and apparel corporations’ sustainability performance from the moral responsibility perspective

This study reviewed Chinese textile and apparel corporations’ sustainability efforts and classified them into one of the six categories proposed by Ha-Brookshire’s (2015) Moral Responsibility Theory of Corporate Sustainability (MRCS). Content analysis of self-reported corporate documents was applied.Among 86 companies that were found to have “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report” or “Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report” available in public domain,19 expressed themselves as truly sustainable corporations,while 43 were categorized intooccasionally sustainable corporations. Other companies appeared as occasionally unsustainable (4), consistently sustainable in selective areas (4), and occasionally sustainable in selective areas (7). 9 companies did not indicate their views on sustainability from the moral duty perspective. This study implied that if Chinese textile and apparel manufacturers wanted to be truly sustainable, they must establish clear goals and structures to implement their visions

Macroscopically degenerate localized zero-energy states of quasicrystalline bilayer systems in strong coupling limit

When two identical two-dimensional (2D) periodic lattices are stacked in parallel after rotating one layer by a certain angle relative to the other layer, the resulting bilayer system can lose lattice periodicity completely and become a 2D quasicrystal. Twisted bilayer graphene with 30-degree rotation is a representative example. We show that such quasicrystalline bilayer systems generally develop macroscopically degenerate localized zero-energy states (ZESs) in strong coupling limit where the interlayer couplings are overwhelmingly larger than the intralayer couplings. The emergent chiral symmetry in strong coupling limit and aperiodicity of bilayer quasicrystals guarantee the existence of the ZESs. The macroscopically degenerate ZESs are analogous to the flat bands of periodic systems, in that both are composed of localized eigenstates, which give divergent density of states. For monolayers, we consider the triangular, square, and honeycomb lattices, comprised of homogenous tiling of three possible planar regular polygons: the equilateral triangle, square, and regular hexagon. We construct a compact theoretical framework, which we call the quasiband model, that describes the low energy properties of bilayer quasicrystals and counts the number of ZESs using a subset of Bloch states of monolayers. We also propose a simple geometric scheme in real space which can show the spatial localization of ZESs and count their number. Our work clearly demonstrates that bilayer quasicrystals in strong coupling limit are an ideal playground to study the intriguing interplay of flat band physics and the aperiodicity of quasicrystals.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + Supplementary Material (12 pages,5 figures

An Examination of Male Consumers’ Attitude toward Using Fit Mass-customizationand Intention of buying Fit Mass-customized Apparel

The purposes of the current study are (a) to develop a framework to examine the factors that influence consumer attitude toward using fit MC and intention of buying fit masscustomized apparel, and (b) to identify the characteristics of male consumers who have a greater intention of buying fit mass-customized apparel. Based on the purposes of the study, a conceptual model was developed through the integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), and previous propositions and study findings, and was used as the framework of the research

Consumer Characteristics and Purchase Intentions of Mass-customized Men\u27s Dress Shirts

Mass-customization (MC) is a hybrid between mass production and customization. It is a production strategy that offers personalized goods through modularized product designs, flexible processes, and supply chain integration (Fogliatto, da Silveira & Borenstein, 2012). Information in characteristics of potential customers is important for companies that offer MC apparel to develop effective strategies to reach and serve their target customers. A theoretical framework to examine consumers\u27 characteristics and their purchase intentions of MC men\u27s dress shirts based on the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) and related previous study results. A quantitative research method using an online survey design was adopted. For the data analyses, the structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted

Student Learning Outcomes of an Interdisciplinary Fashion Event

The purposes of a cross-college fashion show held at a Mid-Atlantic university were to: a) provide a platform for developing or emergent professionals to display their career talents, b) provide an opportunity for students to work collaboratively across multiple creative disciplines, c) give students a holistic academic experience, and d) support undergraduate scholarships. Such an interdisciplinary event for students from various majors across a university may stimulate the growth of knowledge and motivate real-life applications

Alpha-tocopherol exerts protective function against the mucotoxicity of particulate matter in amphibian and human goblet cells

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) in ambient air is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disorders and mortality. The cytotoxicity of PM is mainly due to the abnormal increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damage cellular components such as DNA, RNA, and proteins. The correlation between PM exposure and human disorders, including mortality, is based on long-term exposure. In this study we have investigated acute responses of mucus-secreting goblet cells upon exposure to PM derived from a heavy diesel engine. To this end, we employed the mucociliary epithelium of amphibian embryos and human Calu-3 cells to examine PM mucotoxicity. Our data suggest that acute exposure to PM significantly impairs mucus secretion and results in the accumulation of mucus vesicles in the cytoplasm of goblet cells. RNA-seq analysis revealed that acute responses to PM exposure significantly altered gene expression patterns; however, known regulators of mucus production and the secretory pathway were not significantly altered. Interestingly, pretreatment with alpha-tocopherol nearly recovered the hyposecretion of mucus from both amphibian and human goblet cells. We believe this study demonstrates the mucotoxicity of PM and the protective function of alpha-tocopherol on mucotoxicity caused by acute PM exposure from heavy diesel engines