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1.
PLoS One ; 19(5): e0304578, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38820452

ABSTRACT

The study explores the strategic pricing and quality improvement decisions under uncertain demand in a three-layer textile and garment supply chain. According to whether the fabric manufacturer (FM) invests in quality or not and whether the garment manufacturer (GM) or garment retailer (GR) is willing to share the costs or not, five game models are constructed to investigate the impact of different members' cost sharing on the optimal decisions and profits. By conducting a theoretical and numerical analysis, we find that: (1) The GM's or GR's cost sharing plays a positive effect on the quality improvement, as for whose cost sharing performs better in improving the quality depending on the proportion of cost sharing, and the quality improvement is highest with both members share the costs simultaneously. (2) The FM receives the highest profit when both members share the costs simultaneously, however, whose cost sharing is more profitable for the FM is also related to the proportion of cost sharing; in short, the FM always benefits from the cost sharing, no matter one member does this or two members do this. (3) The GM (GR) gains the highest profit when only the GR (GM) shares the costs, and the results indicate that if one member has shared the costs, whether the other member engaging in cost sharing could benefit the former depending on their proportions. Specifically, when the GM (GR) chooses to share the costs and the proportion is relatively low, the GR(GM) joining in cost sharing is beneficial to the former; otherwise, is harmful.


Subject(s)
Clothing , Quality Improvement , Textiles , Textiles/economics , Clothing/economics , Costs and Cost Analysis , Uncertainty , Humans , Textile Industry/economics , Models, Economic
2.
PLoS One ; 15(10): e0241453, 2020.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33125411

ABSTRACT

Global industries are typically dominated by a few disproportionately large and influential transnational corporations, or keystone actors. While concentration of economic production is not a new phenomenon, in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world, the scale of the impacts of keystone actors on diverse social-ecological systems continues to grow. In this article, we investigate how keystone actors in the global clothing industry engage in collaboration with a variety of other organizations to address nine interrelated biophysical and socioeconomic sustainability challenges. We expand on previous theoretical and empirical research by focusing on the larger business ecosystem in which keystone actors are embedded, and use network analysis to assess the contributions of different actor types to the architecture of the ecosystem. This systemic approach to the study of keystone actors and sustainability challenges highlights an important source of influence largely not addressed in previous research: the presence of organizations that occupy strategic positions around keystone actors. Such knowledge can help identify governance strategies for advancing industry-wide transformation towards sustainability.


Subject(s)
Clothing , Conservation of Natural Resources , Textile Industry , Clothing/economics , Commerce/economics , Conservation of Natural Resources/economics , Humans , Internationality , Socioeconomic Factors , Textile Industry/economics
3.
Global Health ; 11: 42, 2015 Oct 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-26455360

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the health impacts of a major liberalization episode in the textile and clothing (T&C) sector. This episode triggered substantial shifts in employment across a wide range of countries. It is the first study to empirically link trade liberalization to health via changes in employment and offers some of the first empirical insights on how trade liberalization interacts with social policies to influence health. METHODS: Data from 32 T&C reliant countries were analysed in reference to the pre- and post-liberalization periods of 2000-2004 and 2005-2009. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used to examine the association between countries' a) level of development b) labour market and welfare state protections c) T&C employment changes and d) changes in adult female and infant mortality rates. Process tracing was used to further investigate these associations through twelve in-depth country studies. RESULTS: Results from the fsQCA relate changes in employment after the phase-out to both changing adult female and infant mortality rates. Findings from the in-depth country studies suggest that the worsening of adult female mortality rates is related to workers' lack of social protection, both in the context of T&C employment growth and loss. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, it is found that social protection is often inaccessible to the type of workers who may be the most vulnerable to processes of liberalization and that many workers are particularly vulnerable due to the structure of social protection policies. Social policies are therefore found to both moderate pathways to health and influence the type of health-related pathways resulting from trade liberalizing policies.


Subject(s)
Developing Countries/economics , Employment/trends , Health Impact Assessment , Health Policy , Internationality , Investments/economics , Politics , Socioeconomic Factors , Textile Industry/economics , Employment/economics , Humans , Investments/trends , Textile Industry/trends
4.
SAHARA J ; 11: 187-201, 2014.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25383704

ABSTRACT

Economic empowerment brings with it a wide range of consequences, both positive and negative. The objective of this paper was to examine the relationship between economic empowerment and the sexual behaviour and practices of migrant workers within the context of HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho textile industry. Data for this paper were extracted from the findings of a larger study which had been conducted concerning HIV and AIDS in the textile industry in Lesotho. Using in-depth interviews, data were collected from 40 participants who were purposively selected from five factories which had been chosen randomly. Empowerment theory was used as a lens to provide meanings for the experiences of the participants. The findings show that the participants were empowered only in certain respects in terms of Kabeer's empowerment model of 'power to' and 'power within', on one hand, and in terms of Malhotra's comprehensive empowerment framework at the household level, on the other, as being employed in the industry enabled them to participate in the economy. Employment in the sector provided the participants with the means to be able to acquire basic needs and the ability to participate in household decision-making: for the female participants, the ability to make independent sexual decisions was also enhanced. These improvements were greeted enthusiastically, particularly by the female participants, given their previously disadvantaged status as a result of coming from rural patriarchal villages with gender-defined hegemonic notions of respectability. The findings also indicate that environmental factors and others, such as meagre salaries, encouraged some of the female workers to engage in transactional sex, while some of the male participants tended to increase their sexual relationships as a result of acquiring employment and income from the industry. It is the contention of the authors of this study that true empowerment requires both vital resources and individual and collective participation, particularly for the women, who are more vulnerable than men. Finally, we conclude that the opportunities provided by economic empowerment have given the participants a new social meaning for their situation and an awareness about their place in power relations.


Subject(s)
HIV Infections/etiology , Sexual Behavior/psychology , Textile Industry , Transients and Migrants/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , HIV Infections/economics , Humans , Lesotho/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Power, Psychological , Risk Factors , Sexual Behavior/statistics & numerical data , Socioeconomic Factors , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/statistics & numerical data , Transients and Migrants/statistics & numerical data , Unsafe Sex/psychology , Unsafe Sex/statistics & numerical data , Young Adult
5.
Appl Ergon ; 44(3): 480-7, 2013 May.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-23237231

ABSTRACT

In this study we report on the economic evaluation of a participatory ergonomics process undertaken at a clothing manufacturer in Southwestern Ontario, Canada that employs approximately 300 workers. We undertake a cost-benefit analysis from the company perspective. Intervention costs amounted to $65,787 and intervention benefits $360,614 (2011 Canadian dollars). The net present value was $294,827, suggesting that the intervention was worth undertaking based on the costs and consequences over the measurement period spanning more than four years. Based on these costs and benefits, the benefit-to-cost ratio is 5.5. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that participatory ergonomics interventions can be cost beneficial from the company perspective. Even though the changes were typically low-cost and low-tech interventions implemented by the plant mechanics and maintenance personnel, benefits were realized on both the health and financial fronts.


Subject(s)
Ergonomics/methods , Textile Industry , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Ergonomics/standards , Humans , Musculoskeletal Diseases/prevention & control , Occupational Diseases/economics , Occupational Diseases/prevention & control , Ontario , Sick Leave/economics , Sick Leave/statistics & numerical data , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/methods , Textile Industry/standards , Workers' Compensation/economics , Workers' Compensation/statistics & numerical data
6.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A ; 109(29): 11652-6, 2012 Jul 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-22753493

ABSTRACT

Despite widespread adoption of genetically modified crops in many countries, heated controversies about their advantages and disadvantages continue. Especially for developing countries, there are concerns that genetically modified crops fail to benefit smallholder farmers and contribute to social and economic hardship. Many economic studies contradict this view, but most of them look at short-term impacts only, so that uncertainty about longer-term effects prevails. We address this shortcoming by analyzing economic impacts and impact dynamics of Bt cotton in India. Building on unique panel data collected between 2002 and 2008, and controlling for nonrandom selection bias in technology adoption, we show that Bt has caused a 24% increase in cotton yield per acre through reduced pest damage and a 50% gain in cotton profit among smallholders. These benefits are stable; there are even indications that they have increased over time. We further show that Bt cotton adoption has raised consumption expenditures, a common measure of household living standard, by 18% during the 2006-2008 period. We conclude that Bt cotton has created large and sustainable benefits, which contribute to positive economic and social development in India.


Subject(s)
Agriculture/statistics & numerical data , Bacillus thuringiensis , Conservation of Natural Resources/economics , Gossypium/genetics , Plants, Genetically Modified/genetics , Textile Industry/economics , Conservation of Natural Resources/methods , Gossypium/microbiology , Humans , India , Interviews as Topic , Plants, Genetically Modified/microbiology , Regression Analysis , Socioeconomic Factors
7.
Mod China ; 37(4): 347-83, 2011.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-21966702

ABSTRACT

The early twentieth-century transformations of rural Chinese women's work have received relatively little direct attention. By contrast, the former custom of footbinding continues to fascinate and is often used to illustrate or contest theories about Chinese women's status. Arguing that for rural women at least, footbinding needs to be understood in relation to rural economic conditions, the authors focus on changes in textile production and in footbinding in two counties in Shaanxi province. Drawing on historical sources and their own interview data from rural women who grew up in this period, the authors find evidence that transformations in textile production undercut the custom of footbinding and contributed to its rapid demise.


Subject(s)
Anthropology, Cultural , Foot Deformities , Hierarchy, Social , Rural Population , Social Change , Women's Health , Agriculture/economics , Agriculture/education , Agriculture/history , Anthropology, Cultural/education , Anthropology, Cultural/history , China/ethnology , Employment/economics , Employment/history , Foot Bones , Foot Deformities/ethnology , Foot Deformities/history , Hierarchy, Social/history , History, 20th Century , Rural Population/history , Social Change/history , Social Class/history , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/education , Textile Industry/history , Textiles/economics , Textiles/history , Women's Health/ethnology , Women's Health/history , Women, Working/education , Women, Working/history , Women, Working/legislation & jurisprudence , Women, Working/psychology
8.
Nature ; 478(7368): 233-5, 2011 Sep 14.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-21918515

ABSTRACT

The architecture of mutualistic networks facilitates coexistence of individual participants by minimizing competition relative to facilitation. However, it is not known whether this benefit is received by each participant node in proportion to its overall contribution to network persistence. This issue is critical to understanding the trade-offs faced by individual nodes in a network. We address this question by applying a suite of structural and dynamic methods to an ensemble of flowering plant/insect pollinator networks. Here we report two main results. First, nodes contribute heterogeneously to the overall nested architecture of the network. From simulations, we confirm that the removal of a strong contributor tends to decrease overall network persistence more than the removal of a weak contributor. Second, strong contributors to collective persistence do not gain individual survival benefits but are in fact the nodes most vulnerable to extinction. We explore the generality of these results to other cooperative networks by analysing a 15-year time series of the interactions between designer and contractor firms in the New York City garment industry. As with the ecological networks, a firm's survival probability decreases as its individual nestedness contribution increases. Our results, therefore, introduce a new paradox into the study of the persistence of cooperative networks, and potentially address questions about the impact of invasive species in ecological systems and new competitors in economic systems.


Subject(s)
Cooperative Behavior , Ecological and Environmental Phenomena , Extinction, Biological , Flowers/physiology , Models, Biological , Pollination/physiology , Textile Industry/statistics & numerical data , Animals , Biomimetics , Competitive Behavior , Ecosystem , Flowers/classification , Insecta/physiology , Introduced Species , New York City , Socioeconomic Factors , Survival Analysis , Textile Industry/economics , Time Factors
10.
J Dev Stud ; 47(2): 316-37, 2011.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-21506303

ABSTRACT

Bt cotton is accused of being responsible for an increase of farmer suicides in India. In this article, we provide a comprehensive review of evidence on Bt cotton and farmer suicides. Available data show no evidence of a 'resurgence' of farmer suicides. Moreover, Bt cotton technology has been very effective overall in India. Nevertheless, in specific districts and years, Bt cotton may have indirectly contributed to farmer indebtedness, leading to suicides, but its failure was mainly the result of the context or environment in which it was planted.


Subject(s)
Agriculture , Environmental Pollutants , Gossypium , Rural Health , Suicide , Textile Industry , Agriculture/economics , Agriculture/education , Agriculture/history , Crops, Agricultural/economics , Crops, Agricultural/history , Environment , Environmental Pollutants/economics , Environmental Pollutants/history , Evidence-Based Practice/economics , Evidence-Based Practice/education , Evidence-Based Practice/history , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , India/ethnology , Public Health/economics , Public Health/education , Public Health/history , Public Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Rural Health/history , Rural Population/history , Suicide/economics , Suicide/ethnology , Suicide/history , Suicide/legislation & jurisprudence , Suicide/psychology , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/education , Textile Industry/history
11.
J Contemp Asia ; 40(4): 589-611, 2010.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-20845568

ABSTRACT

In the last decade factory owners, in response to brand-name Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) parameters, have joined associations that verify (through a monitoring and audit system) that management does not exploit labour. There have been no reports of violations of codes of conduct concerning Malaysian workers but for foreign workers on contract there are certain areas that have been reported. These areas, including trade union membership, the withholding of workers' passports and unsuitable accommodation, generally escape notice because auditors who monitor factory compliance do not question the terms of contracts as long as they comply with national labour standards. This paper is based on research with foreign workers in Malaysia and argues that despite the success of the anti-sweatshop movement in a global context, the neo-liberal state in Malaysia continues to place certain restrictions on transnational labour migrants which breach garment industry codes of conduct. Available evidence does not support the assumption that CSR practices provide sufficient protection for both citizen and foreign workers on contract in the garment industry.


Subject(s)
Employment , Occupational Health , Textile Industry , Transients and Migrants , Work Schedule Tolerance , Emigrants and Immigrants/education , Emigrants and Immigrants/history , Emigrants and Immigrants/legislation & jurisprudence , Emigrants and Immigrants/psychology , Employment/economics , Employment/history , Employment/legislation & jurisprudence , Employment/psychology , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Malaysia/ethnology , Occupational Health/history , Occupational Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health/economics , Public Health/education , Public Health/history , Public Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Policy/economics , Public Policy/history , Public Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/education , Textile Industry/history , Textile Industry/legislation & jurisprudence , Transients and Migrants/education , Transients and Migrants/history , Transients and Migrants/legislation & jurisprudence , Transients and Migrants/psychology , Work Schedule Tolerance/physiology , Work Schedule Tolerance/psychology
12.
Bus Hist ; 52(5): 695-712, 2010.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-20734570

ABSTRACT

In the Lancashire cotton textile industry, mule spinners were prone to a chronic and sometimes fatal skin cancer (often affecting the groin). The disease had reached epidemic proportions by the 1920s, which necessitated action by the government, employers, and trade unions. In contrast to previous accounts, this article focuses on the government's reaction to mule spinners' cancer. Using official records in the National Archives, the slow introduction of health and safety measures by the government is explored in detail. Although obstructionism by the employers played a key role, one of the reasons for government inaction was the ambiguity of scientific research on engineering oils. On the other hand, prolonged scientific research suited a government policy that was framed around self regulation - a policy that had proved largely ineffective by the 1950s.


Subject(s)
Carcinoma , Occupational Health , Skin Neoplasms , Social Control, Informal , Textile Industry , Carcinoma/ethnology , Carcinoma/history , Employment/economics , Employment/history , Employment/psychology , Government Regulation/history , History, 20th Century , Occupational Exposure/history , Occupational Health/history , Occupational Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Safety Management/economics , Safety Management/history , Safety Management/legislation & jurisprudence , Skin Neoplasms/ethnology , Skin Neoplasms/history , Social Control, Informal/history , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/education , Textile Industry/history , United Kingdom/ethnology
13.
Econ Hist Rev ; 63(3): 569-90, 2010.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-20617581

ABSTRACT

As a subterranean, highly elastic energy source, coal played a vital role in the cotton industry revolution. Coal was also vital to Lancashire's primacy in this revolution, because it was necessary both to the original accumulation of agglomeration economies before the steam age and to their reinforcement during the steam age. In no other part of the world was the cotton industry situated on a coalfield, and the response of other parts of the world cotton industry to Lancashire's agglomeration advantages was dispersal in search of cheap water and/or labour power. Lancashire coal helped to shape the global pattern of cotton production.


Subject(s)
Clothing , Cotton Fiber , Employment , Rural Population , Socioeconomic Factors , Textile Industry , Clothing/economics , Clothing/history , Clothing/psychology , Coal/economics , Coal/history , Commerce/economics , Commerce/education , Commerce/history , Commerce/legislation & jurisprudence , Community Networks/economics , Community Networks/history , Cotton Fiber/economics , Cotton Fiber/history , Employment/economics , Employment/history , Employment/legislation & jurisprudence , Employment/psychology , England , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , Income/history , Rural Health/history , Rural Population/history , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/education , Textile Industry/history
14.
Renaiss Q ; 63(1): 45-83, 2010.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-20527359

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on women's luxury footwear to examine issues of economic, material, and familial life in Renaissance Italy. It uses graphic work by Albrecht Dürer to explore footwear design, and draw from disparate sources to propose a new method for evaluating its cost. The article argues that sumptuous footwear was available for a range of prices that are not reflected in surviving payment records, and that it was largely less expensive than moralists and legislators implied. In conclusion, it employs Minerbetti documentation to consider the role particular shoes may have played in developing personal subjectivity.


Subject(s)
Commerce , Life Style , Records , Shoes , Social Class , Social Identification , Social Values , Anthropology, Cultural/education , Anthropology, Cultural/history , Clothing/economics , Clothing/history , Clothing/psychology , Commerce/economics , Commerce/education , Commerce/history , History, 15th Century , History, 16th Century , Italy/ethnology , Life Style/ethnology , Marriage/ethnology , Marriage/history , Marriage/psychology , Men's Health/ethnology , Men's Health/history , Records/economics , Shoes/economics , Shoes/history , Social Class/history , Social Values/ethnology , Spouses/education , Spouses/ethnology , Spouses/history , Spouses/psychology , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/education , Textile Industry/history , Textiles/economics , Textiles/history , Women's Health/ethnology , Women's Health/history
15.
J Soc Hist ; 44(2): 545-62, 2010.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-21197808

ABSTRACT

Recent research on twentieth-century German history has begun to re-examine the centrality of race as a category of analysis. While not discounting its importance in the shaping and enacting of Nazi policies and practices, race is seen instead as one among many factors leading to the crimes of the Nazi regime. In this paper, the author considers the role consumerist desires and fantasies played in the wider context of the inter-war European fascination with notions of technology, "hygiene," democracy, and modernity. Using advertisements that were created to promote manufactured-fiber (rayon) apparel, this article suggests that continuities across cultures and time periods necessitate a re-evaluation of race as the signal organizing principal. Instead, the author argues that by complicating the intersections between class, science and technology, and an emerging, but troubling, modernity, 1920s rayon advertising offers an especially rich site for analysis of the ways in which biopolitics and nascent consumerism both sold products and constructed ideologies before 1933, and influenced the post-war welfare state.


Subject(s)
Advertising , Population Groups , Social Control Policies , Technology , Textile Industry , Advertising/economics , Advertising/history , Advertising/legislation & jurisprudence , Clothing/economics , Clothing/history , Clothing/psychology , Ethnicity/education , Ethnicity/ethnology , Ethnicity/history , Ethnicity/legislation & jurisprudence , Ethnicity/psychology , Germany/ethnology , History, 20th Century , Humans , Hygiene/economics , Hygiene/education , Hygiene/history , Hygiene/legislation & jurisprudence , National Socialism/history , Population Groups/education , Population Groups/ethnology , Population Groups/history , Population Groups/legislation & jurisprudence , Population Groups/psychology , Race Relations/history , Race Relations/legislation & jurisprudence , Race Relations/psychology , Social Control Policies/economics , Social Control Policies/history , Social Control Policies/legislation & jurisprudence , Technology/economics , Technology/education , Technology/history , Technology/legislation & jurisprudence , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/education , Textile Industry/history , Textile Industry/legislation & jurisprudence
16.
Sensors (Basel) ; 10(12): 11088-99, 2010.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-22163514

ABSTRACT

In order to improve rapid on-line moisture sensing of seedcotton in cotton gins, a means by which to establish a reliable low-cost wide-band electronic calibration is critically needed. This calibration is needed to center the circuit due to changes in the internal signal delays and attenuation drift caused by temperature changes in the various system components and circuit elements. This research examines a hardware technique for use in conjunction with microwave reflective sensing probes having an extended bandwidth from 500 MHz through 2.5 GHz. This new technique was validated experimentally against known electrical propagation delay standards. Results of the measured propagation delay with this type of automatic electronic calibration method was found to agree with results using a vector network analyzer with a traditional S11 single port error correction calibration methodology to within 4% of the measurement, 95% confidence, with a standard error of +/-18.6 ps for the delay measurements. At this level of performance, the proposed low-cost technique exhibits superior performance, over the typical geosciences time-domain reflectometer "TDR", instruments in common use in soil moisture testing and is suitable for use in cotton gin moisture sensing.


Subject(s)
Biosensing Techniques/instrumentation , Biosensing Techniques/standards , Electronics/standards , Gossypium/chemistry , Humidity , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/methods , Biosensing Techniques/economics , Biosensing Techniques/methods , Calibration , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Electronics/instrumentation , Humans , Microwaves , Models, Biological , Models, Theoretical , Online Systems/economics , Online Systems/instrumentation , Online Systems/standards , Textile Industry/instrumentation , Textile Industry/standards , Time Factors
17.
Water Sci Technol ; 60(9): 2261-70, 2009.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-19901457

ABSTRACT

Electrocoagulation (EC) method with iron electrode was used to treat the textile wastewater in a batch reactor. Iron electrode material was used as a sacrificial electrode in monopolar parallel mode in this study. The removal efficiencies of the wastewater by EC were affected by initial pH of the solution, current density, conductivity and time of electrolysis. Under the optimal experimental conditions (initial pH 6.9, current density of 10 mA/cm(2), conductivity of 3,990 microS/cm, and electrolysis time of 10 min), the treatment of textile wastewater by the EC process led to a removal capacity of 78% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 92% of turbidity. The energy and electrode consumptions at the optimum conditions were calculated to be 0.7 kWh/kg COD (1.7 kWh/m(3)) and 0.2 kgFe/kg COD (0.5 kgFe/m(3)), respectively. Moreover, the operating cost was calculated as 0.2 euro/kg removed COD or 0.5 euro/m(3) treated wastewater. Zeta potential measurement was used to determine the charge of particle formed during the EC which revealed that Fe(OH)(3) might be responsible for the EC process.


Subject(s)
Electrochemical Techniques/methods , Electrodes , Industrial Waste/analysis , Iron/chemistry , Textile Industry/economics , Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods , Electrochemical Techniques/economics , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Industrial Waste/economics , Waste Disposal, Fluid/economics
18.
Econ Hum Biol ; 5(2): 229-54, 2007 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-17531551

ABSTRACT

A sample of 237,782 individual observations was obtained in four areas of France: rural Alsace, urban Alsace, Limousin, and Brie (Ile-de-France). Trends in the biological standard of living of conscripts born in these regions between 1780 and 1920 fit well with the recently estimated trends for other parts of Europe. While heights were relatively low, they did not decline much preceding the Revolution in 1789. During the first half of the 19th Century heights varied considerably both spatially and longitudinally, indicating the contrasting effects of modernization among the four areas. Conscripts from the least productive agricultural area, Limousin, were the shortest. Heights in Alsace remained essentially unchanged during the first half of the 19th Century, but those in Brie increased after 1820 and those in Limousin after 1840. The positive trend became more general after 1870, though Brie alone showed the considerable negative impact of the agricultural depression of the last quarter of the 19th Century. Heights diverged until 1850 and converged thereafter. In Limousin, the annual height of conscripts is positively correlated with the weight of cattle. By the early decades of the 20th Century, a marked, long-term increase in anthropometric growth had occurred in these four regions, as elsewhere in Europe. The regional estimates correspond well to the national trends estimated by Komlos and Weir except that they show the great local variation in height until the turn of the 20th Century.


Subject(s)
Anthropometry/history , Body Height , Health Status Indicators , Military Personnel/statistics & numerical data , Adult , Agriculture/economics , Agriculture/history , Cluster Analysis , Demography , Emigration and Immigration/history , France/epidemiology , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Industry/history , Male , Military Personnel/history , Occupations/economics , Occupations/history , Poverty Areas , Rural Health/history , Rural Health/statistics & numerical data , Textile Industry/economics , Textile Industry/history , Urban Health/history , Urban Health/statistics & numerical data
20.
Stud Health Technol Inform ; 108: 75-80, 2004.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-15718632

ABSTRACT

In order to make intelligent biomedical clothing a market reality, a critical mass of scientific, technical and industrial capacities from various disciplines and industries must be successfully brought together. The textiles and clothing sector, i.e. the industry that transform natural or man-made fibres into yarns then with a myriad of processing options into complex tissues and finally into clothing, is undoubtedly a crucial element in such development. With Europe disposing of the world's most diverse, productive and innovative textiles and clothing industry, in addition to relevant expertise and resources in other scientific disciplines and industrial sectors, it could play a leading role in the advancement of the concept of intelligent biomedical clothing. In this process, a great number of challenges--firstly scientific and technical in nature--still need to be overcome and support from public funding programmes could constitute the necessary trigger for research and industrial efforts to be seriously undertaken. In view of the great benefits of such new products for the individual consumer, national health care systems and the society as a whole, a concerted effort in private-public partnership seems merited.


Subject(s)
Biomedical Technology/methods , Clothing , Textile Industry/methods , European Union/economics , Humans , Internationality , Marketing/economics , Textile Industry/economics
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