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Despite the online shopping trend, many women still prefer in-store experiences for trying on and buying clothes. The body positivity movement endorsed by many brands implies that all women, even those with lower body appreciation, should feel included in this setting. However, studies have yet to quantitatively explore the mediating role of women’s positive body image between clothing size and in-store experiences. To address this gap, this study examined the in-store experiences of 642 women from largely Western nations (Mage = 45.96, standard deviation (SD) = 9.31) who self-reported as straight-, mid- and plus-sizes and the mediating role of body appreciation.

Participants completed online questionnaires with measures including clothing size, body appreciation, in-store experiences and preferences for in-store changes.

Women of mid-size and plus-size were more likely than women of straight-size to report lower body appreciation, which led to a greater desire for guidance from staff about styles but less likelihood to approach them, higher discomfort going up a size and lower confidence trying on clothes. In contrast, straight-size women generally felt more comfortable and confident in-store clothes shopping. A direct link between clothing size and lower purchase intentions without in-store representation was found; however, body appreciation did not mediate this link. Preferences for in-store changes included better support from sales staff and more inclusive imagery.

This study indicates that in-store clothes shopping may not feel like retail therapy for women who identify as mid-size or plus-size and experience low body appreciation. It highlights the need for comprehensive reform within the fashion retail industry by prioritizing inclusivity through better staff support and in-store representation for all sizes.

This study aimed to facilitate a rapid evaluation of track service status and vehicle ride comfort based on car body acceleration. Consequently, a low-cost, data-driven approach was proposed for analyzing speed-related acceleration limits in metro systems.

A portable sensing terminal was developed to realize easy and efficient detection of car body acceleration. Further, field measurements were performed on a 51.95-km metro line. Data from 272 metro sections were tested as a case study, and a quantile regression method was proposed to fit the control limits of the car body acceleration at different speeds using the measured data.

First, the frequency statistics of the measured data in the speed-acceleration dimension indicated that the car body acceleration was primarily concentrated within the constant speed stage, particularly at speeds of 15.4, 18.3, and 20.9 m/s. Second, resampling was performed according to the probability density distribution of car body acceleration for different speed domains to achieve data balance. Finally, combined with the traditional linear relationship between speed and acceleration, the statistical relationships between the speed and car body acceleration under different quantiles were determined. We concluded the lateral/vertical quantiles of 0.8989/0.9895, 0.9942/0.997, and 0.9998/0.993 as being excellent, good, and qualified control limits, respectively, for the lateral and vertical acceleration of the car body. In addition, regression lines for the speed-related acceleration limits at other quantiles (0.5, 0.75, 2s, and 3s) were obtained.

The proposed method is expected to serve as a reference for further studies on speed-related acceleration limits in rail transit systems.

We aimed to establish criteria for determining the deformed lateral torso type to identify individuals requiring measurement methods different from standard methods before extracting dimensions from three-dimensional (3D) scan data.

We collected the 3D body scan data of 119 women aged 70–85 years collected in the 6th Size Korea. Three axes were defined to determine the deformation of the lateral shape, and the angle of each reference axis was used for the analysis. Additionally, to classify the lateral torso shape, 14 experts made visual judgments on the side-view images of the participants.

To identify the axis that best represented the lateral torso shape, we used each angle value of the three reference axes as an independent variable and the expert’s visual classification as a dependent variable. Each discriminant function was obtained and accuracy calculated. The whole torso axis exhibited the highest accuracy. Next, an assessment scale was developed to determine the shape of the lateral torso using the angular value of the whole torso axis.

The scale developed in this study has the potential to reduce measurement errors arising from elderly deformed torso shapes, thereby enhancing data reliability.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of fashion clothing involvement in the relationship between body appreciation and maladaptive consumption, namely fashion-oriented impulse and compulsive buying. The second purpose of this study is to investigate if this mediation varies based on gender.

A quantitative approach was adopted in this study, and data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk from 255 consumers located in the U.S. aged 18 and above. The collected data were analyzed using the least partial square and multi-group analysis of the structural equation model.

The results revealed that the relationship between body appreciation and maladaptive consumption is established through fashion clothing involvement. Results also showed that the mediating role of fashion clothing involvement in this relationship does not significantly differ across gender.

This study reports the fully mediating role of fashion clothing involvement in the relationship between body appreciation and maladaptive consumption, highlighting the importance of studying positive body image in the context of fashion and consumption. While previous research findings indicate the negative consequences of negative body image, this research reveals that positive body image can also lead to negative outcomes through possible mediators. Furthermore, this study finds fashion clothing involvement does not differ in mediating the relationship between body appreciation and maladaptive consumption behavior based on gender.

This research aims to explore and theorize the role of embodied practices – orchestrated by service providers – in the social production of servicescapes. It is claimed that the social character of the servicescape is shaped not only by narratives and materialities but also through the body. Bodily physical behaviors like physical movements in space, gestures, facial expressions, postures and tactile engagements with the surrounding materiality constitute a body language that conveys information and expresses meanings. In this kinetic capacity, the body becomes a building agent in the social constitution of the servicescape. As the author empirically demonstrates in the context of city tourism with diverse experiential opportunities, it is due to the body’s discriminatory orientation, walking, looking, pointing and acting in selective ways that the city emerges as a servicescape of particular kind.

Market-oriented ethnography was conducted in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where the author observed the guiding practices of tour guides leading international tourists during two-day city excursions.

This research identifies and unpacks three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers as they guide customers at the servicescape: spatializing, emplacing and regulating. The role of the body and its association with narratives and materialities is identified in each cluster.

A number of embodied practices are provided for use by contact employees as they guide customers in the servicescape. Specific guidelines are also offered to service providers for the strategic employment of body language, their training is navigational skills and the coordination of body, narratives and materialities.

This study extends current materialistic and communicative approaches on the construction of servicescapes by claiming that the servicescape in not only a physical and narrative construction but something that is also configured through the body; provides three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers; theorizes the intertwined nature of narratives, materiality and the body; defines servicescapes as dynamic socio-spatial entities emerging from the constant {narrative-material-body} arrangements orchestrated by service providers; and sheds light on the mediating role of the body in the social production of servicescapes.

This paper aims to evaluate children’s literature that focuses on body size issues for elementary readers.

The paper used an evaluative tool based on three categories: content, audience and other considerations.

The evaluative tool was used to evaluate six children’s books identified as critical literature supporting body image. The books evaluated focused on body image but were also tied to other themes such as body positivity, body neutrality, self-love, acceptance, diversity and inclusivity. All books acknowledged and celebrated the uniqueness of varied body types.

Because of the number of books evaluated, the evaluative results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to evaluate other critical children’s literature focused on body image.

The paper offers recommendations for parents, teachers and schools.

This paper encourages the need for parents, teachers and schools to help children embrace body positivity and neutrality so that they would love their skin.

The purpose of this study is to investigate cross‐cultural differences between American and Japanese college students' body type under/overestimation regarding their own bodies within the framework of self‐construal theory.

Information from 137 American college students and 160 Japanese college students was collected in using a survey method. Their height, body weight, gender, and self‐estimated body types from three different options (underweight, normal weight, and overweight) was collected in order to assess the relationship between self‐estimated and real body types of these participants. The real body type based on one's body mass index and the self‐estimated body type were compared for each participant.

Japanese students were found to be more in the underweight category and less in the overweight category than American students. It was also found that Japanese students, and female students in general, were more likely to overestimate their body types and American students, and male students in general, were more likely to underestimate their body types.

The present study used self‐report survey method and should be considered a pilot study. In future research, the height and weight of participants should actually be measured to obtain more reliable data. Future research should investigate other possible psychological factors for creating different body types between different cultures.

The present study was the first cross‐cultural study regarding body type under/overestimation regarding their own bodies between American and Japanese college students.

THE paper reviews the problem of the influence of the walls of a closed tunnel in increasing the velocity in the neighbourhood of a model under test. It is shown that, for a perfect fluid, considerations of continuity suffice to establish an exact value of the mean interference velocity for any cross‐section of the tunnel. This mean interference velocity is expressed in terms of the perturbation velocity which would be caused by the same model in the absence of the walls. The linearized theory of subsonic compressible flow is applied and it is shown that the interference velocity for a small two or three dimensional model is increased in proportion to l/β3, where β=√(l—M2) and M is the Mach number. Interference caused by a body with a long parallel middle body, the influence of the wake from a model and of the boundary layer on the tunnel walls are briefly considered.

Several recent observational studies detected inverse associations between dietary calcium intake and body weight. It was demonstrated that low calcium diets lead to an increase in intracellular calcium concentrations, which in turn act to promote body fat deposition, reduce lipolysis and reduce thermogenesis. Most of the studies have been conducted on adults, however, it was recently demonstrated that longitudinal calcium intake is negatively associated with children's body fat levels. The purpose of the current study is to investigate possible associations between habitual calcium intake and body weight in a group of 7–10 years old children.

Eighty‐five children, 21 boys and 64 girls (mean age: 9.2±0.9) were recruited from 12 primary schools in the London area. Dietary intake was measured using the 7‐day weighed inventory method. Body weight and height measurements were also recorded.

Data suggested that girls have significantly lower intakes of calcium than boys and that 48 per cent of boys and 38 per cent of girls were overweight (above the 91st centile). However, there were no significant correlations between body weight or body mass index (BMI) and habitual intake of dietary calcium in this age group, which is in contrast with the results of similar studies conducted in adults.

One explanation could be that the possible effect of calcium on adiposity and body weight is more pronounced in adulthood than in childhood. It is important for future studies to measure levels of body fat in children together with body weight in conjunction with calcium intake in order to elucidate the original hypothesis.

This paper aims to reveal the effects of the copper third body on different copper matrix friction materials with a novel experimental way called “exogenous powder.”

An accurate adding device of exogenous copper powder was designed to control the flow rate. The tribological properties with and without exogenous copper powder were investigated by a pin-on-disc tribometer during dry sliding.

Experimental results indicate that the Cu addition tends to increase the friction coefficient. For pure Cu material, the exogenous copper third body exhibits poor fluidity on the friction surface, causing serious adhesive wear on the friction interface. For the Cu 90% + 10% Gr material, the plasticity of exogenous copper powder may intensify the deformation of the third body of the surface, presenting layered accumulation distribution. For the pure Cu and Cu 95% + 5% SiO₂ material, the Cu addition makes the composition and density of the third body uneven in the direction of depth.

The role of the copper component on different materials is revealed from a new perspective, and the relationship between the third body structure and the friction properties is explored.