Conference Presentations by Melody Lehew
International Textile and Apparel Association, 2018
The study investigated social networking site's role on improving consumer's knowledge of textile... more The study investigated social networking site's role on improving consumer's knowledge of textile and apparel (TA) environmental sustainability. A one group pretest-posttest experiment was conducted with a convenience sample of 46 US individuals aged 18-35 (millennial cohort). The experiment included participant's interaction with TA environmental sustainability informational postings on a Facebook page for two weeks. The content of the postings was developed from available sources (e.g., YouTube, websites etc..) and covered four main aspects of TA environmental sustainability: water, energy, chemical and waste. The knowledge of the participants was measured with a study-specific textile and apparel environmental sustainability knowledge (TAESK) scale before and after the experiment. Data analysis included Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test and descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that the knowledge of the participants increased significantly after their interaction with the Facebook page postings. The study has both managerial and pedagogical implications as related to TA environmental sustainability.
Papers by Melody Lehew
Fibers and Polymers, Aug 1, 2016
Despite the belief that self-cleaning fabrics would be environmentally friendly for their reduced... more Despite the belief that self-cleaning fabrics would be environmentally friendly for their reduced laundering needs, little research provides feasible evidence of it. The purpose of this study was to develop a logical assessment method for providing quantitative evidence of environmental and economic impacts made by reduced laundering efforts when selfcleaning fabrics were used in daily life. The assessment method developed included: 1) evaluation of functional effectiveness and functional lifetime of soil resistant fabrics, 2) measurement of the reduced laundering frequency and the resulting saving in electricity and water consumption, and 3) conversion of savings to CO 2 equivalent (CO 2 eq.) and monetary utility cost. To examine the self-cleaning ability in practical soiling situation, the treated fabrics were tested for self-cleaning ability against two types of food soils and cleaned by water-spraying using the modified AATCC test method 22-2005. The self-cleaning ability was evaluated by the subjective visual assessment and the quantitative measurement of color difference ∆E. The level of ∆E that gave the discernible color difference by the visual assessment was about 3.7, and ∆E of 3.7 was used as the criteria to determine the laundering needs. From the developed assessment method, the self-cleaning fabrics saved up to 84 % of water and electricity during lifetime laundering of 50 cycles. This study provides an objective assessment methodology that can be applied to functional textiles to determine the quantified environmental and economic impacts such as CO 2 eq. and monetary cost.
Breaking Boundaries, Sep 15, 2022
Journal of Small Business Strategy
Owners of small businesses may struggle to utilize online communication technologies effectively.... more Owners of small businesses may struggle to utilize online communication technologies effectively. To understand this challenge, this study investigated communication technology contributions, the use of online communication technologies, and how those perceptions relate to small business success. Data from a small business values survey (Marshall & Wyatt, 2019) was used consisting of 511 business owners. An integrated model using the Diffusion of Innovation and the Technology Acceptance Model served as a theoretical foundation. Relationships between variables were tested using multiple regression and confirmed that small business owners perceive that easy-to-use communication technologies are not useful or contribute to business success. However, communication technologies that are perceived to be useful do contribute to business success. Business owners who are younger, located in urban areas, and in business for a shorter time are also more likely to use communication technologies...
Energy Research & Social Science, 2021
Great-Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GP-IDEA) has been a pioneer in offering ful... more Great-Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GP-IDEA) has been a pioneer in offering fully-online graduate programs in high demand professional fields. The Alliance fosters collaborative development of high quality programs (Sanders, 2011; www.gpidea.org). The purpose of this case study was to investigate student perceptions and experiences of an on-line professional master’s program. Research objectives involved evaluation of student satisfaction with the following dimensions: program quality, program structure and content, student/instructor interactions, benefits of the program, applicability of the program in students’ professional life, and overall expectations of the program
The Dangers of Fashion, 2020
Sustainable clothing consumption is vital to reduce the negative ecological footprint of global t... more Sustainable clothing consumption is vital to reduce the negative ecological footprint of global textile and apparel (TA) industry. Social media, such as Facebook (FB), twitter, blogs, etc., can disseminate relevant information to help raise consumer awareness. This study investigated if Facebook could be a potential disseminating media of TA sustainability information, by examining what formats of Facebook posts and what types of sustainability topic generated more engagement. The findings showed that participants engaged more in video format followed by infographic and weblink. Besides, participants engaged more in water-related FB posts followed by waste-related contents . Energy-related FB posts generated the least amount of engagement.
Social sciences in higher education, including fiber, textile and clothing (FTC) programs, have b... more Social sciences in higher education, including fiber, textile and clothing (FTC) programs, have been slow to integrate sustainability, impeded by limited understanding about what to integrate. The objective of this study was to identify the dominant knowledge and skill areas included in educational programs that evidence high commitment to sustainability education. Qualitative analysis of secondary data revealed fifteen knowledge areas and eight skills in formal curriculum and seventeen topics commonly covered via informal education. This analysis identified natural and physical science knowledge most emphasized in sustainability learning but also revealed the importance of knowledge regarding economic and social issues. The most emphasized skill areas were problem solving, planning and management, and civic engagement. When comparing formal and informal programming there were many commonalities, yet the latter emphasized practical application to daily living. The study utilized the...
2019 Global Food Systems Focus Day. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University, Global Food Systems I... more 2019 Global Food Systems Focus Day. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University, Global Food Systems Initiative.
AlN based composites containing graphene nanoplateletes (GNPs) in quantities ranging from 0 to 10... more AlN based composites containing graphene nanoplateletes (GNPs) in quantities ranging from 0 to 10 vol % have been fabricated by spark plasma sintering using 3 wt. % of Y 2 O 3 as sintering aid. These composites experience a reduction of the thermal conductivity () for the both significant orientations (in-and through-plane) defined by the GNP alignment in the composites; in fact, maintaining of 74 Wm-1 K-1 for the inplane orientation and 37 Wm-1 K-1 for through-plane heat flow (10 vol % GNP composite). For GNP contents ≥5 vol. %, materials develop a measurable electrical conductivity, actually achieving a remarkable value of 200 S m-1 for the 10 vol.% GNP composite. Microstructure studies reveal formation of the yttrium aluminum garnet at triple points and along AlN grain boundaries, whereas the AlN/GNP interfaces indicate a close contact between both phases. No changes in the defect concentration of each phase that might affect through a decrease of the phonon mean free path were detected. On the contrary, a reasonable fitting to experimental data was achieved when using effective media thermal conductivity models with interfacial thermal resistance at the GNP/AlN contact interface.
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Conference Presentations by Melody Lehew
Papers by Melody Lehew