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The breasts are mainly fatty and connective tissues with no muscles that directly support them, so wearing sports bras is one of the most effective means of alleviating the discomfort of breast movement and potential injury during vigorous physical exercise. However, the design and development processes of traditional sports bras are time-consuming and costly. Hence, a novel method of simulating the static contact pressure between a sports bra and women’s body based on the finite element (FE) and artificial neural network (ANN) models is developed in this study to contribute to the design considerations of sports bras.

Three-dimensional FE models of a female subject and sports bras with different fabric properties are developed to determine the amount of contact pressure exerted onto the body. The FE results are then verified by measuring the amount of pressure exerted by the sports bra on the skin with pressure sensors. The Taguchi technique is used to effectively reduce the number of trials from 625 to only 25 cases. These 25 results obtained through FE modelling are then used to provide the training set for the ANNs. Finally, a comparison between the FE and ANN results is carried out.

A novel model of the static contact pressure between a sports bra and human subject based on the FE and ANN methods is presented in this paper. The root mean square error values show that there is only a small difference between the FE and ANN results.

The ANN function established in this study can be used to predict the mechanical behaviours of breasts and has a fundamental impact on the computer-aided design of functional garments in general.

Discusses the 6th ITCRR, its breadth of textile and clothing research activity, plus the encouragement given to workers in this field and its related areas. States that, within the newer research areas under the microscope of the community involved, technical textiles focuses on new, ‘smart’ garments and the initiatives in this field in both the UK and the international community at large. Covers this subject at length.

Looks at the eighth published year of the ITCRR and the research, from far and near, involved in this. Muses on the fact that, though all the usual processes are to the fore, the downside part of the industry is garment making which is the least developed side. Posits that the manufacture of clothing needs to become more technologically advanced as does retailing. Closes by emphasising support for the community in all its efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to present recent work for optimizing the estimation of ease allowance of a garment using fuzzy logic and sensory evaluation.

The current method first generates a number of fuzzy models each corresponding to one specific key body part and one specific wearer's movement and then aggregates all the values of ease allowance generated from these fuzzy models using the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator. The aggregated ease allowance takes into account geometric measures on all representative human bodies, comfort sensations of wearers related to all movements or actions and different styles of trousers (tight, normal and loose). The weights of the OWA operator can be used to adjust the compromise between the style of garments and the comfort sensation of wearers. The related weights of the OWA operator are automatically determined according to designer's linguistic criteria characterizing the relationship between wearer's movements and the features of the garment to be designed.

Based on the optimized values of ease allowance generated from fuzzy models related to different key body positions and different wearer's movements, the authors obtain a personalized ease allowance, permitting to further improve the wearer's fitting perception of a garment. The effectiveness of the method has been validated in the design of trousers of jean type. It can also be applied for designing other types of garment.

Integration of wearer's body shapes and human comfort in the design of personalized garments.

In the theoretical derivation of the anisotropic model of the woven fabric, Kilby (1963) achieved the symmetric anisotropy model. Yet, in practice, the warp behavior of a woven fabric is rarely identical to the weft behavior, even in the case of plain weave fabric of identical yarns in both warp and weft directions because of the manufacturing process. The closed form analytic solution of the asymmetric anisotropic behaviour is very difficult to find for real fabric, due to its nonlinear properties. Therefore, it is important to derive an efficient and accurate method to approximate the nonlinear fabric anisotropy. This paper discusses the issue of incorporating the tensile fabric properties and the bias angle effect into a bilinear stress-strain model. The stress-strain relationship is divided into two regions, below and above the elastic limit. Within each region, a basis function, based on three data points, is used to approximate the angular effect. The advantages of this method include: (1) its simplicity, (2) robust 2-step lookup operation to obtain the answer, (3) full coverage of both linear and nonlinear elastic regions, and (4) ability to achieve high degree of accuracy with only three data points.

Describes the quality management experience of a large‐scale infrastructure construction project in Hong Kong. Though the importance of quality has long been realized in the Hong Kong construction industry since the Government announced that only ISO 9000 certified construction firms can tender for its projects. However, limited research work has studied the practical problems and obstacles of quality management in a real situation of an infrastructure project. In this paper, based on the findings from a questionnaire survey and data analysis of quality audits, the current problems of contractors’ quality management in an infrastructure construction project were identified, the causes of critical problems were investigated, and a model for managing contractors’ performance was developed.

The article examines recent reforms in the financial and resource management of government administration in Singapore. The aim of these reforms is to bring the financial and resource management of the public service more into line with practices of large business organizations and broadly correspond with the so-called “managerialist” reforms adopted by government administration in other countries. The reforms include financial delegation, target setting and performance measurement, accrual accounting, output-linked budgeting, the creation of self-managing agencies in government ministries, and periodic zero-based and financial control reviews. In conclusion the article considers the aims of and reasons for these reforms.

Explains how SwapitShop works with brands to help them understand children and teenagers through promotions, loyalty programmes, digital interaction, direct mail, research and insight; it is an online auction‐based marketplace where youngsters between 7 and 18 use Swapits to buy and sell their own items and purchase showcased brand products. Introduces the Swapits currency, a reward and loyalty currency that children collect from promotions and advertising, including on‐pack, online, at POS, on TV, in the press and so on; the aim is that children understand how to manage their finances in a safe environment, while feedback is obtained from their buying, selling and searching behaviour, so that they know that their suggestions matter.