Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher candidates’ response to young adult literature (prose and comics) featuring fat identified protagonists. The paper considers the textual and embodied resources readers use and reject when imagining and interpreting a character’s body. This paper explores how readers’ meaning making was influenced when reading prose versus comics. This paper adds to a corpus of scholarship about the relationships between young adult literature, comics, bodies and reader response theory.

At the time of the study, participants were enrolled in a teacher education program at a Midwestern University, meeting monthly for a voluntary book club dedicated to reading and discussing young adult literature. To examine readers’ responses to comics and prose featuring fat-identified protagonists, the author used descriptive qualitative methodologies to conduct a thematic analysis of meeting transcripts, written participant reflections and researcher memos. Analysis was grounded in theories of reader response, critical fat studies and multimodality.

Analyses indicated many readers reject textual clues indicating a character’s body size and weight were different from their own. Readers read their bodies into the stories, regarding them as self-help narratives instead of radical counternarratives. Some readers were not able to read against their assumptions of thinness (and whiteness) until prompted by the researcher and other participants.

Although many reader response scholars have demonstrated readers’ tendencies toward personal identification in the face of racial and class differences, there is less research regarding classroom practices around the entanglement of physical bodies, body image and texts. Analyzing reader’s responses to the constructions of fat bodies in prose versus comics may help English Language Arts (ELA) educators and students identify and deconstruct ideologies of thin-thinking and fatphobia. This study, which demonstrates thin readers’ tendencies to overidentify with protagonists, suggests ELA classrooms might encourage readers to engage in critical literacies that support them in reading both with and against their identities.

Design is an important construct in the retail environment literature. Yet, the measures used for design have not followed appropriate scale development procedures. The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual definition and then develop a scale for retail environment design (RED).

Interviews with both consumers and marketing researchers are used to generate a potential list of items. Using four different studies, these items are refined, and the RED scale is offered.

This study develops and validates the four-dimensional RED scale to measure the design of retail environments. The dimensions are functional, aesthetic, lighting and signage.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailing researchers to measure lighting and signage qualities as part of retail design, measure design of retail environments more accurately and allow different studies to be compared.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailers to better understand customers’ perceptions of the four dimensions of design. Retailers spend significant time and money designing and redesigning retail environments. The RED scale will enable managers to ensure these significant investments create competitive advantages and an appropriate return on investment.

A scale to measure retail environment design is developed. The scale includes two dimensions (lighting and signage) that are not typically investigated.

This case is about “Red”, a cross-border e-commerce platform developed from a community which was built to share overseas shopping experience. With sharp insights into the consumption behavior of urban white-collar women and riding on its community e-commerce advantage, “Red”, a cross-border e-commerce startup, pulled in three rounds of financing within just 16 months regardless of increasingly competitive market. On the other hand, well-established platforms such as T-mall International and Joybuy also stepped in, and their involvement will also speed up the industry integration and usher in a reshuffling period. Confronted with the “price war” started by those e-commerce giants, in what ways can “Red” adjust its shopping experience and after-sales services to enhance the brand value and sharpen its edge?

This study aims to analyze how conventional Bedouin weaving techniques have changed through the history of Israel, offering knowledge on the craft’s cultural relevance and historical development among the Bedouin people and how their weaving and embroidery differ based on the three main geographic characteristics. It tries to comprehend the causes of the transition from organic to synthetic materials and the part played by the Lakiya Negev Bedouin Weaving women’s cooperative in maintaining this legacy.

The main goal of this study is to trace the emergence of Bedouin weaving traditions in the Negev Desert using a qualitative research methodology that combines historical analysis and ethnographic investigation. A thorough grasp of the subject’s significance is provided through the data gathering, which consists of interviews, archival research and field observations.

Through the years, Bedouin weaving techniques have significantly shifted away from using traditional organic materials in favor of synthetic replacements, according to the research. It emphasizes the crucial part played by the Lakiya Negev Bedouin Weaving women’s organization in safeguarding this traditional legacy and giving Bedouin women access to economic prospects.

The limitation of the study includes its emphasis on the Negev region and the Israeli Bedouin community, which may not accurately reflect all Bedouin weaving techniques. Greater regional settings may be explored in future studies.

The investigation emphasizes the value of investing in initiatives for cultural preservation and the empowerment of underprivileged groups through economic possibilities.

By preserving ancient weaving techniques, this research enables Bedouin women in the Negev Desert to maintain their cultural identity and socioeconomic well-being.

By emphasizing the socio-cultural dimensions and the organization’s role in preserving traditional craftsmanship in a changing socio-economic environment, this research presents a unique investigation of the evolution of Bedouin weaving techniques in Israel.

Purpose of This Chapter: >The study examines the importance and effect of working over office hours and lengthy commutes on work–life balance because both consume time away from the official working hours. The study utilized perceived organizational support to measure the moderating role of working over office hours, lengthy commutes, and work–family balance.

Design / Methodology / Approach: An inferential statistics cross-sectional study collected data from 437 full-time employees of IT-BPM companies in 5 metropolitan cities in India. The study used the PLS-SEM to examine the hypotheses.

Findings: The results show a negative relationship between working over office hours and lengthy commutes on work–family balance. This study also found the moderating effect of perceived organizational support on working over office hours and lengthy commutes on the work–family balance. Also, the study revealed that half of the respondents spend three hours, and one-fourth of the respondents spend four and half hours working over office hours and lengthy commutes.

Research Limitations: This research is limited to IT-BPM companies in India. Nevertheless, the findings highlight the factors associated with IT-BPM employee work–family balance, and only two factors were identified.

Practical Implications: This study enhances the work–family balance’s theoretical and practical effects. The results provide a competitive benchmark for IT-BPM managers, administrators, and governing bodies of employee well-being.

Originality: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to adopt extrinsic variables in work–family border theory to measure the work–family balance of IT-BPM employees.

This paper aims to concentrate on recent innovations in flexible wearable sensor technology tailored for monitoring vital signals within the contexts of wearable sensors and systems developed specifically for monitoring health and fitness metrics.

In recent decades, wearable sensors for monitoring vital signals in sports and health have advanced greatly. Vital signals include electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, electromyography, inertial data, body motions, cardiac rate and bodily fluids like blood and sweating, making them a good choice for sensing devices.

This report reviewed reputable journal articles on wearable sensors for vital signal monitoring, focusing on multimode and integrated multi-dimensional capabilities like structure, accuracy and nature of the devices, which may offer a more versatile and comprehensive solution.

The paper provides essential information on the present obstacles and challenges in this domain and provide a glimpse into the future directions of wearable sensors for the detection of these crucial signals. Importantly, it is evident that the integration of modern fabricating techniques, stretchable electronic devices, the Internet of Things and the application of artificial intelligence algorithms has significantly improved the capacity to efficiently monitor and leverage these signals for human health monitoring, including disease prediction.

This study aims to map the conceptual structure and evolution of the recent scientific literature published in marketing journals to identify the areas of interest and potential future research directions.

The 100 most influential marketing academic papers published between 2018 and 2022 were identified and scrutinized through a bibliometric analysis.

The findings further upheld the critical role of emerging technologies such as Blockchain in marketing and identified artificial intelligence and live streaming as emerging trends, reinforcing the importance of data-driven marketing in the discipline.

The data collection included only the 100 most cited documents between 2018 and 2022, and data were limited only to Scopus database and restrained to the Scopus-indexed marketing journals. Moreover, documents were selected based on the number of citations. Nevertheless, the data set may still provide significant insight into the marketing field.

Influential authors, papers and journals identified in this study will facilitate future literature searches and scientific dissemination in the field. This study makes an essential contribution to the marketing literature by identifying hot topics and suggesting future research themes. Also, the important role of emerging technologies and the shift of marketing toward a more data-driven approach will have significant practical implications for marketers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study offering a general overview of the leading trends and researchers in marketing state-of-the-art research.

This study aims to provide insights into wine consumers in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the diversity of their behavior, by investigating their motivations, consumption and purchasing behavior and segmenting the sample based on wine knowledge and frequency of consumption to identify three distinct clusters that are then profiled.

Data was collected through an online survey of wine consumers of ethnic Chinese origin residing in Mainland China and Hong Kong, using two methods of recruitment (a convenience sample from wine-related databases, a panel survey undertaken by an international market research firm). The final sample comprised 477 respondents, about equally divided among Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. Analysis of the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS) 29 included a series of descriptive analyses, followed by a two-step cluster analysis using an Euclidean distance method.

Wine knowledge and frequency of wine consumption were relatively higher within the sample as a whole than previous studies, but three distinct consumer segments are evident. There is evidence of a democratization of wine consumption, and a greater focus on wine consumption for enjoyment in relaxed and informal settings. rather than consumption driven by health and status, occurring primarily in commercial or business settings. The dominance of red wine in this market is also declining, and intrinsic cues – specifically, prior experience of the wine – are becoming important in wine purchase decisions.

This study uses a broad sample of wine consumers to identify trends in wine consumption patterns and motivations, and purchase decision-making behavior, of Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. The identification of three clusters of wine consumers offers both points of comparison with previous segmentation research globally and within China, whilst also identifying scope for further research.

Palm oil has consistently been a staple ingredient in the Malaysian diet. Despite various promotional efforts throughout the years, the health aspects of palm oil have often been undervalued, leading consumers to overlook its benefits. This study has two objectives: (1) to explore consumer behaviour in purchasing decisions for food products containing palm oil in an emerging market and (2) to examine consumer awareness of palm oil as an ingredient in various edible products related to health.

A quantitative methodology that utilises a self-administered questionnaire was adopted for data collection. The conceptual framework and hypotheses were tested using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) on a dataset of 342 respondents.

The findings revealed that three hypotheses – attitude, subjective norms (SNs) and perceived health benefits – positively impact the intention to purchase palm-oil-based food products. Additionally, results indicate that Malaysian consumers practice sustainable consumption when purchasing palm-oil-based food products.

There is a need for a greater understanding of the importance perceived health benefits have in influencing consumers' consumption of food products containing palm oil in an emerging market such as Malaysia. This research study addresses the gap in existing knowledge.

The current study is an attempt to investigate the residential satisfaction and prioritize effective components on residents' satisfaction based on household surveys conducted in eight Mehr housing complexes in Mazandaran province located in different counties of this region.

In the current work, using software of SmartPLS 3, second-order confirmatory factor analysis has been employed to evaluate and rank influential factors on residents' satisfaction.

As a result of descriptive analysis, 51.8% of the respondents were highly satisfied with Mehr housing complexes. Moreover, the results showed that there was the highest level of satisfaction (76.3%) with the security, while the lowest one (34.4%) was related to satisfaction with the facilities of the housing complexes. The standardized coefficients obtained showed that the components of physical characteristics (0.901), facility (0.863), neighborhood relationship (0.810), visual quality (0.774), security (0.737) and environmental health (0.715) have the most influence on the satisfaction of the residents, respectively.

This paper proved that migration has a significant effect on the level of residents' satisfaction, in multicultural cities. Therefore, it is crucial to promote social interaction and involvement among different ethnic groups in residential complexes that can result in intimacy, hence satisfying sociocultural needs, improving neighborhood relationships and consequent satisfaction of residents in Mehr housing projects in Iran.