Search Results (57)

As sportswear becomes everyday attire, brands are increasingly investing in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives. However, the psychological mechanisms linking these multidimensional efforts to consumer behavior remain insufficiently integrated in the existing literature and have rarely been tested simultaneously within a unified framework, particularly regarding the transition from green brand loyalty to green brand evangelism. This study addresses this gap by disaggregating perceived ESG initiatives into three distinct dimensions and modeling dual behavioral outcomes (green brand loyalty and green brand evangelism), while also examining the moderating role of self-green brand congruity. By integrating Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) and Self-Congruity Theories, data from 308 Chinese consumers were analyzed using PLS-SEM by SmartPLS 4.1. Results indicate that all three perceived ESG dimensions significantly enhance green brand attachment, with environmental initiatives exerting the strongest effect. Green brand attachment serves as a key mediator linking perceived ESG stimuli to behavioral responses, and green brand loyalty is found to be positively associated with brand evangelism. Furthermore, self-green brand congruity plays a moderating role in the relationship between ESG perceptions and green brand attachment, suggesting that identity alignment amplifies the impact of sustainability cues. These findings provide actionable strategies for managers to leverage perceived ESG and identity-based marketing to transform loyal consumers into vocal brand advocates. Full article

Clothing classification by occasion is an important area in computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI). This task is particularly challenging because of the subtle visual similarities among clothing categories such as formal, party, and casual attire. Variations in color, fabric, patterns, and lighting further increase the complexity of this task. To address this challenge, we used the Fashionpedia dataset to create a balanced subset of 15,000 images. Specifically, we adopted two different methods for labeling these images: automated classification, which relies on category identifications (IDs) and components, and manual labeling performed by human annotators. We then implemented our preprocessing pipeline, which includes several steps: resizing, image normalization, background removal using segmentation masks, and class balancing. We benchmarked traditional models, including artificial neural networks (ANNs), support vector machines (SVMs), and k-nearest neighbors (KNNs), which use a histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) features, as well as deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), the Visual Geometry Group 16 (VGG16) model utilizing transfer learning, and the vision transformer (ViT) model, all evaluated using identical data splits and preprocessing procedures. The traditional models achieved moderate accuracy, ranging from 54% to 66%. In contrast, the ViT model achieved an accuracy of 81.78% with automated classification and 98.09% with manual labeling. This indicates that a higher label accuracy, along with the preprocessing steps used, significantly enhances the performance. Together, these factors improve the effectiveness of ViT in context-aware apparel classification and establish a reliable baseline for future research. Full article

The inception of Jamaica’s education system was built based on European settler colonial ideologies and White supremacist logic. Almost two centuries after the abolition of slavery and over six decades after independence from British rule, colonial vestiges pervade Jamaican education policy and practice, resulting in the continued marginalisation of Black students from low-income backgrounds. Despite the commissioning of multiple reports on the state of the education system, these racist and classist injustices persist. In this article, we examine social justice issues at the nexus of national education policy and school leadership practice in Jamaican public schools based on our reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with two Jamaican education policymakers, five education researchers and four public school leaders, alongside Jamaica’s National Student Dress and Grooming Policy Guidelines 2018. Our findings highlight a hierarchical relationship among stakeholder groups in the creation and implementation of Jamaican education policy. Our findings also highlight four themes suggesting that this results from deeply ingrained valorisation of Eurocentric values in policy design that leads to heightened tensions between the Ministry of Education and Youth (MOEY) and school administrators at the level of policy implementation, distraction of school staff from teaching and learning, and disproportionate exclusion of Black students from low-income backgrounds. Implications from our study are the need for stronger cohesion among education policy stakeholders, the incorporation of social justice in teacher and leader preparation and the integration of critical pedagogies at all levels of the Jamaican education system. Full article

Introduction: Religious practices can shape lifestyles, influence health choices, and help individuals cope with illness and suffering. Understanding which aspects of religiosity support health-promoting attitudes is particularly important. This study explores how belonging to a religious community affects health and well-being among religious sisters. Materials and Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted among 463 women from international, apostolic Catholic congregations in Poland and 33 other countries. The questionnaire included questions on lifestyle, physical health (including diet, physical activity, sleep, chronic conditions, and medication use), and perceptions of how community life influences health and encourages health-conscious behaviors. Results: Overall, 57% of participants reported following a healthy lifestyle, most commonly sisters aged 65 and older (73%). Non-Polish sisters and those living outside Poland were more likely to report healthy habits. Among sisters who saw their community as beneficial for health, 69% led a healthy lifestyle. Retreats, a sense of belonging, communal prayers, and vacations were consistently rated as having the most positive impact on well-being, particularly among older sisters and missionaries. Conclusions: Life in a religious community appears to support health both directly, through structured daily routines and shared responsibilities, and indirectly, by providing social support and fostering a sense of purpose. Spiritual practices, rest, and close interpersonal relationships emerge as the most influential factors for well-being, while formal obligations such as wearing religious attire or attending formation meetings were rated as less impactful. These findings highlight the important role of communal life in promoting both physical and spiritual health among religious sisters. Full article

Purpose: To evaluate demographic representation in AI-generated and search-engine-sourced images of North American ophthalmologists, overall and stratified by subspecialty, and compare these with actual demographic data. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis examined 2000 images (1000 AI-generated and 1000 search-engine-sourced) across ten North American ophthalmology subspecialties. Images were sourced from four AI platforms (DALL·E 3, Firefly, Midjourney, Grok-2) and four search engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo!). Using a standardized framework, reviewers assessed gender, race, age group, and professional attire. Pearson chi-squared tests were used to compare image sets with actual demographic data from the Association of American Medical Colleges and Canadian Institute for Health Information. Results: AI-generated images depicted 69% men compared to 64% in search-engine-sourced images (p = 0.047), though both were lower than the actual proportion of male ophthalmologists in North America (71–73%, p < 0.001). White individuals were overrepresented in AI-generated images (81%) relative to both search-engine-sourced images (74%, p = 0.001) and actual demographic data (69%, p < 0.001). Younger individuals (under 50 years) were significantly overrepresented in both image sets, with 82% in AI-generated images and 73% in search-engine-sourced images, compared to only 45–46% in actual demographic data (p < 0.001 for both). AI-generated images also depicted ophthalmologists with significantly more stereotypical medical accessories, including stethoscopes (17% vs. 2%, p < 0.001), glasses (45% vs. 30%, p < 0.001), and white coats (68% vs. 53%, p < 0.001), compared to search-engine-sourced images. Conclusions: AI-generated images diverge from actual demographics, presenting a younger, more stereotypical workforce that paradoxically aligns closer to gender parity than reality. Full article

Since the 19th century, Protestant missionaries in Guangdong have extensively engaged in the translation and publication of religious texts, employing localized strategies in the illustration of Christian novels. Within the local cultural context of late Qing Guangdong, missionaries collaborated with local scholars, used Cantonese for writing, and designed novel illustrations to overcome barriers in doctrinal dissemination, thereby facilitating the spread of Christianity. The illustrations in missionary-published novels, such as The Pilgrim’s Progress in Vernacular and The Spiritual Warfare in Vernacular, adopted the stylistic features of Ming and Qing novel woodcuts in terms of lines, composition, character attire, and settings. Furthermore, they skillfully incorporated the Confucian moral framework of loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness, as represented in the Sacred Edict, into their narrative ethics, while integrating elements such as Buddhist causality and Daoist imagery into a “didactic” system. This localization strategy, combined with a “trinity” reading guidance model comprising images, text, and biblical annotations, visually elucidated the tenets of the Bible and encouraged the public to embrace Christianity. The localized practice of missionary novel illustrations served as a conscious and effective visual strategy aimed at bridging cultural divides and promoting the dissemination of the Gospel. It profoundly reflects the visual agency in modern Sino–Western cultural exchanges and significantly advanced the propagation of Christianity. Full article

This article examines how K-Pop Demon Hunters (2025) portrays women’s agency and sorority while curating Korean cultural specificity within the context of global streaming. Adopting a Gender Media Studies approach, the study conducts a scene-indexed close reading of nine key sequences, applying a coding scheme (co-presence, agency, solidarity, body framing, choreography–camera, colour) and a cultural-codes matrix that classifies elements as retained, hybridised, or globalised. Findings show a consistent pattern: when two or more women protagonists appear together, agency and sorority co-occur; this is visible in the narrative arcs and through full-body staging, ensemble composition, and a persistent we/together rhetoric. Korean local specificity is divided by purpose: English-led song hooks extend transnational reach; retained social anchors (space, ritual, foodways, and folklore) preserve locality; and hybridised cues (stylised folklore; idol/traditional blends) manage cultural density without erasure. Authorship and industry context align with this encoding, combining a women centred creative core and Korean cast with on-screen emphasis on women’s friendship, repair, and shared agency. Two tensions remain: traditional attire in spectacle numbers, and the narrow body diversity in the idol-slim body ideal, inviting comparative and interpretative scrutiny. Overall, the case demonstrates how an animated musical can emphasise women’s empowerment and cultural specificity without reducing either to mere marketing tools. Full article

Between December 1773 and May 1775, several port cities and towns across the American seaboard participated in a “tea party” as an act of political defiance toward the recent onslaught of taxation laws implemented by the British government on American colonists. Indeed, on 19 October 1774, in Annapolis, Maryland, taxpayer Anthony Stewart was coerced by the Sons of Liberty to burn his ship to the water line to prove his patriotism to the American cause, despite his Loyalist leanings. The circumstances that led to the Patriots targeting tea as their symbol for destruction, the Bostonian group to attire themselves as Mohawks and throw boxes overboard, the multiple threats made to Customs officials and Loyalists alike, speak to the American Revolution borne of a relationship between the mechanisms of hydrocolonialism (concentrated at the Custom House and at major trade docks) and countersurveillance systems implemented by the Sons and Liberty (represented by a number of different groups) and enforced by emerging poetic forms rising with the times of revolution. This is most demonstrated in the “poet of the American Revolution,” Philip Morin Freneau, and his poetic responses to the events leading up to and during the American Revolution. Taking the example of the Annapolis Tea Party and Freneau’s poetry under the consideration of hydrocolonialism among other critical interventions, this essay will consider the push and pull of imperial surveillance and patriotic countersurveillance at the breaking point of the American Revolution, when riots between colonists over goods and taxes spoke to larger socioeconomic systems of control that remain ever present in American cultural values. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought widespread attention to the use of protective masks. This study explores how the socio-demographic factors influence the perception of an interprofessional team wearing FFP2 masks. An online survey conducted in 2021 included 906 participants who rated photographs of an interprofessional team in four different attire scenarios: tunic, white coat, FFP2 masks, and pink socks. In addition education and occupation of participants were obtained. By measuring the attitudes towards an interprofessional team wearing FFP2 masks implicitly the attitude towards this COVID-19 measure was assessed. The statistical analysis employed MANOVA to assess the significance of differences in perception. Healthcare professionals were more critical of teams wearing masks compared to other occupational groups, with a third expressing skepticism about the effectiveness of masks. The results underscore the importance of understanding healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards preventive measures, especially masks, for future pandemics. The study uses the Health Belief Model (HBM) as an approach to interpret how the attitude towards preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic affect behavior. Full article

The decontextualization (the portrayal of wildlife removed from their natural ecological context through social media), can distort the public perception of these animals and harm conservation efforts. This paper presents an exploratory case study based on two highly visible Facebook videos. To explore this, we analyzed Facebook comments (n = 720) and emoji-based reactions (n = 23,024) regarding Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in two contexts: entertainment (macaque dressed in sports attire during political protests) and natural habitat (macaque being fed soda by tourists in its forest environment). This is the first study to examine how social media context influences public perception of Barbary macaque conservation status and welfare through analysis of viewer engagement on viral videos. The results indicated that videos depicting macaques in their natural habitat elicited significantly more positive conservation sentiments (68.4% of comments) compared to entertainment contexts (6.04% of comments). Conversely, the entertainment video generated predominantly negative conservation sentiments (54.95% of comments), with viewers expressing amusement rather than concern for species protection. Videos showing macaques in natural settings, particularly when depicting problematic feeding behaviors, prompted more critical engagement and awareness of conservation issues. This pattern suggests that anthropomorphized contexts may obscure recognition of species threats and normalize inappropriate human–wildlife interactions. Given the small dataset, these findings should be interpreted cautiously and as illustrative rather than generalizable. These findings lend preliminary support to the animal decontextualization hypothesis and underscore the importance of context in shaping public perceptions of wildlife and conservation priorities. Full article

This text presents a sociological approach to the historical role that the figure of the witch has played and continues to play. Omnipresent in mythology and art, it is hardly surprising that fashion and cinema have drawn upon her as both a source of inspiration and a mirror of contemporary society. Both the catwalk and the screen have underscored the relevance of black in her attire, establishing a direct association between sombre garments and sorcery. It is inconceivable, for instance, to imagine a witch costume without certain accessories such as the hat or the broom. Yet a question arises: should we remain faithful to this imaginary, reinforced over centuries by recurring iconographic elements, or should we reconsider and deconstruct it? Accordingly, the objectives proposed here are, on the one hand, to historicise the concept of the witch as a social construct, with women erected as the embodiment of evil, and, on the other hand, to examine the role of clothing in reinforcing this construct through an exploration of the principal tendencies in fashion shows and the significance of costume design in fantastic and horror cinema. Full article

This article examines Turkish wedding ceremonies within the German-Turkish diasporic context, viewing them as dynamic sites of cultural citizenship and diasporic belonging. While existing scholarship has largely concentrated on the institutional aspects of integration and citizenship, this study redirects focus to the vernacular, performative, and visually mediated expressions of identity evident in everyday diasporic life. Employing digital ethnography and visual discourse analysis, the research investigates user-generated content on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, specifically content tagged with keywords like “Turkish wedding Germany”. The analysis reveals how wedding rituals serve as public performances where national symbols, religious practices, traditional music, and attire converge to express collective identity, assert cultural visibility, and negotiate belonging within the German socio-political landscape. The study identifies three interconnected themes: the reproduction of national imaginaries and symbolic belongings, the continuity of heritage and tradition, and the ritualization of religious practices in transnational contexts. By emphasising the embodied and affective dimensions of these performances, the article illustrates how mediated marriage rituals function as hybrid cultural practices that challenge marginalisation and promote diasporic connectivity. This research contributes to broader discussions on mediated diasporic identities by providing a comprehensive view of how everyday cultural performances serve as symbolic tools for maintaining a sense of home beyond national boundaries. Full article

This paper considers how Buddhist art of the early Tang dynasty was shaped by concerns with states of consciousness and transmigrating spiritual entities. Focusing on the Medicine Buddha (Skt. Bhaiṣajyaguru) tableau in the main chamber of Mogao Cave 220, dated to 642 CE and among the earliest full wall transformation tableaux at Dunhuang, I propose that the tableau depicts a structured process centered around the transmigrating spiritual entity of spirit consciousness (shenshi 神識) and its transformations that were visually expressed by lighting devices. Other elements in the tableau, such as the dancers and bodhisattvas seated in the pond, are also part and parcel to this visual project of transformation, as indicated through the colors of their attire and the types of dance being performed. The spirit consciousness could be visualized through lighting devices in the Medicine Buddha tableau because of the associations of lamps with vital, spiritual parts of humans since the first century CE. More importantly, the central role of the spirit consciousness in the Medicine Buddha tableau shows that such Buddhist murals depicting rituals and performances situated among grand edifices could be visual expressions of states of spiritual entities and their transformations. Seemingly intangible spiritual entities in Buddhist art were thus inextricably intertwined with and visually expressed through physical objects and their representations. To this end, this study is a first step towards understanding the pictorial program of Mogao Cave 220 and similar cases through explorations of cognitive templates that informed the creation and production of Buddhist art, with the spirit consciousness as a case in point. Full article

Background: Protective gear is a critical part of the police officer uniform. The required protective gear weighs over 9 kg and is rigid and bulky, creating deficits in physical performance essential for completing officer’s daily tasks and increasing risk of injury. Understanding the impedance the protective gear causes and how physical factors such as body composition increase this effect is critical to the safety and survival of the police officer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of protective gear on officer capabilities. Methods: Officers completed an 11-point assessment in two conditions: athletic attire (No Gear) and uniform + protective equipment (Gear). Results: Differences in power output (p < 0.001; p = 0.118), balance (p < 0.001; p = 0.771), functional movement (p = 0.002; p = 0.018), and flexibility (p < 0.001) were found between the two conditions. Conclusions: Decreased on-duty performance can affect officer safety and success. These results indicate the need for continued improvement of police officer safety equipment to ensure mobility and safety. Full article

Daoist robes in the Ming Dynasty literature underwent a marked transformation from exclusive religious vestments to widespread secular attire. Originally confined to Daoist priests and sacred rites, these garments began to appear in everyday work, entertainment, and ceremonies across social strata. Drawing on a hand-coded corpus of novels that yields robe related passages, and by analyzing textual references from Ming novels, Daoist canonical works, and visual artifacts, and applying clothing psychology and semiotic theory, this study elucidates how Daoist robes were re-coded as secular fashion symbols. For example, scholar-officials donned Daoist robes to convey moral prestige, laborers adopted them to signal upward mobility, and merchants donned them to impersonate the educated elite for commercial gain. By integrating close textual reading with cultural theory, the article advances a three-stage model, sacred uniform, ritual costume, and secular fashion, that clarifies the semantic flow of Daoist robes. In weddings and funerals, many commoners flaunted Daoist robes despite sumptuary laws, using them to assert honor and status. These adaptations reflect both the erosion of Daoist institutional authority and the dynamic process of identity construction through dress in late Ming society. Our interdisciplinary analysis highlights an East Asian perspective on the interaction of religion and fashion, offering historical insight into the interplay between religious symbolism and sociocultural identity formation. Full article