Envisioning Career Opportunities in the Fashion Business World

Unlike liberal art majors, seventy-five percent of students majoring in career-oriented fields expect to go to work directly after getting their bachelor\u27s degree (Koc, 2010). Fashion business and management programs emphasize students\u27 preparation for fashion careers and foster students to pursue their fashion business careers upon graduation in the business world. However, there has been little understanding of the specific job-related knowledge, competencies, and skills required for entry-level fashion business professionals in the filed clothing and textile. The purpose of this research is examine the nature of fashion business positions pertaining to buying and merchandising in terms of required qualifications, job-related knowledge, competencies, and skills. The results of this research provide educators in the fashion business and management programs with practical suggestions to facilitate a more industry-aligned curricular development

Effective Field Theory of Dipolar Braiding Statistics in Two Dimensions

A rank-2 toric code (R2TC) Hamiltonian in two dimensions can be constructed as a Higgsed descendant of rank-2 U(1) lattice gauge theory. As noted by the authors recently, [Y.-T. Oh, J. Kim, E.-G. Moon, and J. H. Han, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 105}, 045128] the quasiparticles in that model showed braiding statistics that depends on the initial locations of the particles which participate in the braiding. We argue that this new kind of statistical phase captures the total dipole moment of quasiparticles encompassed in the braiding, whereas conventional anyonic braiding sees the total charge. An Aharonov-Bohm interpretation of such {\it dipolar braiding statistics} can be made in terms of emergent, rank-1 vector potentials built from the underlying rank-2 gauge fields. Pertinent field theories of the quasiparticle dynamics in the R2TC are developed, which turn out to be highly interacting theories predicting their constrained dynamics. The accompanying conservation laws are also of unusual types. A {\it dipolar BF theory} of the rank-2 gauge fields is constructed and shown to correctly capture the dipolar braiding statistics, in contrast to the conventional BF theory capturing the {\it monopolar braiding statistics} of anyons in the rank-1 toric code. A tight-binding model for the quasiparticle dynamics in the R2TC involves two-particle as well as the one-particle hopping, both of which are coupled to the tensor gauge fields.Comment: 6 pages, supplementary materials, 3 figure

Augmenting Sign Language Exposure for Hearing Parent-Deaf Child Interaction

Above 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who are often non-fluent with sign language. The developmental consequences of early language deprivation experienced by deaf children can be witnessed in their later life outcomes. A significant portion of the deaf population are prone to cognitive delays, poor educational experiences, diminished career opportunities, and psychosocial difficulties (Hall 2017, 961). Given this, it becomes imperative to improve early childhood language experiences. To foster neuropsychological growth, language must be accessible to the child; in the case of deaf children, this would mean early exposure to a visual language..

The role of social support and social networks in smoking behavior among middle and older aged people in rural areas of South Korea: A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although the number of studies on anti-smoking interventions has increased, studies focused on identifying social contextual factors in rural areas are scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of social support and social networks in smoking behavior among middle and older aged people living in rural areas of South Korea.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study employed a cross-sectional design. Participants included 1,057 adults, with a mean age of 60.7 years, residing in rural areas. Information on participants' tobacco use, stress, social support, and social networks was collected using structured questionnaires. The chi-square test, the t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression were used for data analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall smoking prevalence in the study was 17.4% (men, 38.8%; women, 5.1%). Overall, stress was high among women, and social support was high among men. Smokers had high levels of social support (t = -2.90, p = .0038) and social networks (t = -2.22, p = .0271), as compared to non- and former smokers. Those in the high social support group were likely to be smokers (AOR = 2.21, 95% CI 1.15-4.26). Women with moderate social ties were less likely to smoke (AOR = 0.18, 95% CI 0.05-0.61).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There was a protective role of a moderate social network level among women, and a high level of social support was associated with smoking behaviors in rural areas. Findings suggest the need for a comprehensive understanding of the functions and characteristics of social contextual factors including social support and social networks in order to conduct more effective anti-smoking interventions in rural areas.</p

Factors affecting the long-term outcomes of idiopathic membranous nephropathy

Abstract Background We attempted to describe the clinical features and determine the factors associated with renal survival in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (iMN) patients with nephrotic syndrome (NS) and to determine the factors associated with spontaneous complete remission (sCR) and progression to NS in iMN patients with subnephrotic proteinuria. Methods This retrospective study involved 166 iMN patients with NS and 65 patients with subnephrotic proteinuria. The primary end point was a doubling of serum creatinine or initiation of dialysis. In patients with subnephrotic proteinuria, we determined the factors associated with sCR and factors associated with progression to NS. Results Remission of NS was achieved in 125 out of 166 patients (75.3%). Of those who reached remission, 26 patients (20.8%) experienced relapse that was followed by second remission. The relapse or persistence of proteinuria was associated with the primary end points (hazard ratio [HR] = 12.40, P = 0.037, HR = 173, P < 0.001, respectively). In patients with subnephrotic proteinuria, sCR occurred in 35.4% of the patients. The patients with sCR had lower proteinuria and serum creatinine levels and higher serum albumin concentrations at baseline. The serum albumin level at diagnosis was a prognostic factor for progression to NS (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.015, P < 0.001). Conclusions The occurrence of relapse or persistence of proteinuria had negative effects on renal survival in iMN patients with NS, and low serum albumin levels at baseline were associated with non-achievement of sCR and progression to NS

A study on the tuning parameter of continuous variable valve for reverse continuous damper

Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.Semi-active suspension systems are greatly expected to be in the mainstream of future controlled suspensions for passenger cars. In this study, a continuous variable damper for a passenger car suspension is developed, which is controlled actively and exhibits high performance with light weight, low cost, and low energy consumption. To get a fast response of the damper, a reverse damping mechanism is adapted, and to get small pressure change rate after blow-off, a pilot controlled proportional valve is designed and analyzed. The reverse continuous variable damper is designed as a HS-SH damper which offers good body control with reduced transferred input force from the tire, compared with any other type of suspension system. The damper structure is designed, so that rebound and compression damping forces can be tuned independently, of which the variable valve is placed externally. The rate of pressure change with respect to the flow rate after blow-off becomes smooth when the fixed orifice size increases, which means that the blow-off slope is controllable using the fixed orifice size. Damping forces are measured with the change of the solenoid current at the different piston velocities to confirm the maximum hysteresis of 20 N, linearity, and variance of damping force. The damping force variance is wide and continuous, and is controlled by the spool opening, of which scheme is usually adapted in proportional valves. The reverse continuous variable damper developed in this study is expected to be utilized in the semi-active suspension systems in passenger cars after its performance and simplicity of the design is confirmed through a real car test