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As the world becomes a global village, sports organisations have begun to extend their markets and fan bases to different groups of customers. David Beckham, a British soccer star with a high profile marriage and much media attention, has endorsed numerous products, thereby becoming an excellent case study for the current trend of athlete endorsement in the international sports industry. The results of this case study provide insights into factors that might influence the success of athlete endorsement.

RHM is one of the principal groups in the food trade who run their distribution on an in‐house basis, and in the view of disinterested observers, it is not only an efficient operation but one which adheres to the “total concept” philosophy of PDM. Bob Beckham's view is that distribution is a customer‐satisfying process in response to a marketing initiative, or a consumer demand, and he warns that it is too easy for the distribution manager to become over preoccupied with the sectional interests of transport costs to the detriment of the overall purpose of the business. This is a summarised version of a paper paper delivered to a seminar organised jointly by the Institute of Marketing and the Centre for Physical Distribution Management.

The objective of this research is to systematically compare two methods of wicking test for evaluating the quality of the non-medical-mask fabric, i.e. its absorbency property at various conditions, using a design of experiment approach. This research also evaluates the suitability of several fabrics to be used for non-medical masks.

Horizontal and vertical wicking tests were selected to evaluate the absorbency property of five fabrics commonly used for the non-medical mask. The tests were performed at three temperatures and using two types of liquid. The design of experiment approach was employed to determine the relationship between the path length of liquid movement in fabric and type of test method, temperature and type of liquid.

Both vertical and horizontal wicking tests show the same order of fabrics according to their absorbency. The order is cotton twill, local cotton, Japanese cotton, Oxford and Scuba, where the first in the order has the lowest absorbency and the last has the highest absorbency. Based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the range of temperature and types of liquid employed in this research do not affect the path length of the liquid movement in the fabric.

This research proposes horizontal and vertical wicking tests as a practical tool to evaluate absorbency property of fabric for the non-medical mask. This research also presents a design of experiment approach to evaluate the effect of the test method, temperature and type of liquid on the path length of the liquid movement in the fabric.

Construction contract auctions are characterized by (1) a heavy emphasis on the lowest bid as it is that which usually determines the winner of the auction, (2) anticipated high outliers because of the presence of non‐competitive bids, (3) very small samples, and (4) uncertainty of the appropriate underlying density function model of the bids. This paper describes a method for simultaneously identifying outliers and density function by systematically identifying and removing candidate (high) outliers and examining the composite goodness‐of‐fit of the resulting reduced samples with censored normal and lognormal density function. The special importance of the lowest bid value in this context is utilized in the goodness‐of‐fit test by the probability of the lowest bid recorded for each auction as a lowest order statistic. Six different identification strategies are tested empirically by application, both independently and in pooled form, to eight sets of auction data gathered from around the world. The results indicate the most conservative identification strategy to be a multiple of the auction standard deviation assuming a lognormal composite density. Surprisingly, the normal density alternative was the second most conservative solution. The method is also used to evaluate some methods used in practice and to identify potential improvements.

Global icon David Beckham was alleged by the tabloid media in April 2004 to have had an extra-marital affair. Given his carefully nurtured image as a family man and model father, would the adverse publicity damage that image and affect his lucrative sponsorship endorsements? Research undertaken in the UK by IJSM&S suggests that there has been some negative impact, but it is probably not enough to make him a sponsorship liability. The findings also demonstrate very high levels of prompted and unprompted awareness for his endorsements.

The extent of Private Supplementary Tutoring (PST) upon higher education has received little attention in the academic literature. This study endeavours to discover the extent of the PST phenomenon and the socioeconomic determinants behind the demand for it amongst students in science-related disciplines at Kuwait University (KU).

A quantitative research paradigm was employed. By using a questionnaire survey method, data was collected from 475 participating students from twelve different colleges at KU. The questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS.

The findings showed that 50.1% of students employing PST in KU to some extent. The study also found that PST is more important in certain subjects than others. The students and/or their families also bear the cost of these extra educational expenses. The findings also indicated that a college student’s gender, the academic year of study, university allowance, alternative income sources, family financial status and monetary support all play a statistically significant role in whether they receive PST.

deeper analysis of these factors, which underly the demand for PST, may offer a better understanding of its role in higher education, the functionality of higher education as a whole, and the effects of current policy and the political landscape.

While significant attention has been given to PST in K-12 education over the last few decades, this study is extended significantly into the as-yet uncharted waters of higher education. This study focused on PST in higher education and the socioeconomic determinants behind its demand.

This study examined the wear comfort and thermal insulation properties of Al₂O₃/graphite particle-imbedded sheath/core and dispersed fabrics via a thermal manikin experiment.

Al₂O₃/graphite sheath/core and dispersed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarn (POY 120d/24f) were spun using a pilot melt bi-component conjugated spinning machine, which was texturized as 75d/24f on the belt-type texturing machine. The woven fabric specimens were made using nylon 70d/34f in the warp with three types of weft yarn: Al₂O₃/graphite sheath/core, dispersed and regular PET yarns. Thermal insulation properties were measured and compared in terms of the heat retention rate (I) by KES-F7 apparatus and the maximum surface temperature by light heat emission equipment, as verified by the emissivity of various fabric specimens by far-infrared ray experiment. In addition, this study examined the thermal insulation (Clo value) characteristics of the clothes made of Al₂O₃/graphite sheath/core and dispersed fabrics using a thermal manikin apparatus, which were compared with the properties of regular PET clothing.

The thermal insulation of the dispersed fabric was superior to that of the sheath/core fabric, which was tentatively attributed to the higher emissivity of the dispersed yarn with Al₂O₃/graphite particles distributed over the whole yarn cross-section than that from the core of the sheath/core yarn. This result for the clothing measured using a thermal manikin was consistent with the higher heat retention rate (I) and the maximum surface temperature of the dispersed fabric than that of the sheath/core fabric. In addition, the thermal insulation of the dispersed and sheath/core fabrics was superior to that of the regular PET fabric, which revealed that the Al₂O₃/graphite particles imbedded in the dispersed and sheath/core yarns exerted a greater effect on the heat storage and release characteristics compared to that of the TiO₂ particles in regular PET yarn. The Clo values of the dispersed and sheath/core fabrics under the light-on condition were much higher than those under the light-off condition, and furthermore, the difference of the Clo value between the sheath/core and regular PET fabrics under light-on condition was approximately 1.7 times greater than that under the light-off condition. These results revealed that the far-infrared rays emitted from the Al₂O₃/graphite particles imbedded in the sheath/core and dispersed yarns enhance the heat storage and release characteristics from the fabric under the light-on condition, i.e. under the sunlight.

The previously examined thermal wear comfort properties of the various inorganic particle-imbedded fabrics were measured with the fabric state, not clothing, which could not provide objective data related to the actual wearing performance of clothing.

This paper examines the impact of celebrity endorsement on Malaysian consumers' behavioural intentions. Source attractiveness, source credibility and the fit between the endorser and the endorsed product are discussed and examined. An empirical study is carried out which uses stimulus materials that involve a sport shoe brand and a fitness centre. The dataset is analysed using a series of multivariate analyses and a model subsequently constructed using structural equation modelling. The findings indicated that source attractiveness and credibility are essential for celebrity endorsement effectiveness. However, the fit between the endorser and the product is not found to be significant. Nonetheless, this fit has an indirect effect on consumers' behavioural intentions, via the shared variances with source attractiveness and credibility.

This chapter addresses the question of how we might best characterize the morale of mothers of children with disabilities. Views of this question have undergone substantial evolution over the past quarter century (Turnbull & Turnbull, 2002). Early writers on the topic emphasized negative impacts on the family. Farber (1959) characterized the birth of a mentally retarded child as a tragic crisis that over time impeded the family from developing normally. Olshansky (1962) described the typical reaction of parents to a child with mental retardation as long-term demoralization, which he termed “chronic sorrow.” These assertions were then followed by empirical studies suggesting high levels of depression in mothers of children with disabilities (Cummings et al., 1966; Gath, 1977). Gath (1977), for example, compared two groups of parents with and without children with disabilities on a researcher developed measure of psychological distress and found significantly higher levels in parents of children with disabilities. She titled her report, “The impact of an abnormal child upon the parents,” seeming to imply that emotional distress, perhaps even mental illness, was the most characteristic impact. This literature also appeared to imply that the cause of parental distress was univariate, that is, the child’s disability uniquely caused it. Early studies of parental distress selected child variables as the sole predictors of emotional distress (e.g. Beckman, 1983). Turnbull and Turnbull (2002) reviewed this literature and described this historical phase as pathogenic.