Multisensory Analysis of Consumer-Product Interaction During Ceramic Tile Shopping Experiences.

The need to design products that engage several senses has being increasingly recognised by design and marketing professionals. Many works analyse the impact of sensory stimuli on the hedonic, cognitive, and emotional responses of consumers, as well as on their satisfaction and intention to purchase. However, there is much less information about the utilitarian dimension related to a sensory non-reflective analysis of the tangible elements of the experience, the sequential role played by different senses, and their relative importance. This work analyses the sensorial dimension of consumer interactions in shops. Consumers were filmed in two ceramic tile shops and their behaviour was analysed according to a previously validated checklist. Sequence of actions, their frequency of occurrence, and the duration of inspections were recorded, and consumers were classified according to their sensory exploration strategies. Results show that inspection patterns are intentional but shifting throughout the interaction. Considering the whole sequence, vision is the dominant sense followed by touch. However, sensory dominance varies throughout the sequence. The dominance differences appear between all senses and within the senses of vision, touch and audition. Cluster analysis classified consumers into two groups, those who were more interactive and those who were visual and passive evaluators. These results are very important for understanding consumer interaction patterns, which senses are involved (including their importance and hierarchy), and which sensory properties of tiles are evaluated during the shopping experience. Moreover, this information is crucial for setting design guidelines to improve sensory interactions and bridge sensory demands with product features.

Examination of the risk factors associated with injured recreational padel players in Spain.

BACKGROUND: Padel is a relatively new sport, with steady participation increases over the past 50 years. However, there is a need for data examining injury and associated risk factors. The study examined how intrinsic (e.g. age and sex) and extrinsic factors (e.g. padel participation and equipment) were associated with injury in recreational padel players. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire completed by 80 recreational padel players between September 2014 and March 2015 acquired data on: respondent demographics and padel-related activities; the number of injuries within the past year; characteristics of the last injury sustained; and extrinsic factors including respondents' evaluations of equipment (e.g., racquet control/power, footwear cushioning, flexibility, traction). χ2 tests compared the proportion of respondents reporting injuries in the past year among those reporting and not reporting equipment-related issues. RESULTS: Most respondents were male (57.5%), aged 30-40 years (46.3%), and played more than 2 padel sessions/week (48.8%). Overall, 40.0% reported sustaining at least one injury during the past year. Sex, age, frequency of padel sessions/week, and years of padel experience were not associated with the reporting of injury within the past year (P>0.05). The proportion of padel players reporting injuries in the past year was greater among those that wore padel-specific footwear than those that wore another kind of sports footwear (50.0% vs. 23.3%; P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Recreational padel players wearing padel-specific footwear were more at risk for injury than those not. Our findings highlight the need for additional research regarding injury risk and footwear.

Tests mecánicos versus biomecánicos para simular impactos en gimnasia / Mechanical versus biomechanical test to simulate gymnast impacts

En la mayoría de los casos, el material y equipamiento deportivo es analizado y homologado mediante una serie de criterios normativos que emplean test mecánicos. En gimnasia, la recepción es una de las acciones más peligrosas y frecuentemente realizadas, la cual es ejecutada sobre una colchoneta homologada mediante estos test. Sin embargo, las lesiones siguen siendo altas, planteándose como objetivo en este estudio: analizar el efecto de las propiedades de la colchoneta sobre el gimnasta, así como la validez delos test mecánicos para predecir tales efectos. Para ello, se contó con la participación de cinco gimnastas, analizándoselas fuerzas de impacto, la aceleración (tibia y cabeza),y el rango de movimiento en las articulaciones coxo-femoral, rodilla, tibio-tarsiana y subastragalina, tras saltar sobre una muestra de seis colchonetas. Los resultados muestran como el gimnasta adapta su ejecución en función de las características de la colchoneta, con magnitudes de impacto medias de 4450 ± 195.34 N, valores máximos de deceleración de 15.57 ± 0.54 g en tibia y 4.72 ± 0.55 g encabeza, rangos de flexión medios de 72.18 ± 5.8º en la articulación coxo-femoral, 87.07 ± 6.29º en rodilla, 6.81± 10.23º en tibio-tarsiana, y rangos medios de pronación/supinación en la subastragalina de 15.96 ± 7.75º/ 13.56± 5.67º, respectivamente. Se observó cómo no todas las variables analizadas estuvieron correctamente contempladas en los test normativos, especialmente el mecanismo de prono-supinación en la articulación subastragalina. Esto permite pensar que los criterios normativos en las colchonetas podrían ser revisados considerando los efectos que la recepción produce en el gimnasta, fundamentalmente los relacionados con la estabilidad (o deformación de la colchoneta) y la absorción de los impactos, evitándose de este modo futuras lesiones (AU)

Certain material and sport equipment are analyzed by means of mechanical test suggested by standard criteria.In gymnastics, landing is one of the most important and dangerous actions that a gymnast takes, which are executed on a mat accredited by means of this test. Nevertheless, injuries continue being high, for this reason we considered as objective in this study: to analyze the effect of themat properties on gymnast, as well as the mechanical test validity to predict this effects. Five gymnasts participated in this study, and we analyzed impact forces, acceleration(shank and head), and range of motion on the knee, hip, tibiotarsal and subastragaloid joints, after landing on six mat. Results show as gymnast modulated his execution based on mat characteristics, with average reaction force of4450 ± 195.34 N, maximum deceleration of 15.57 ± 0.54g at the shank and 4.72 ± 0.55 g at the head, and average flexion movement of 72.18 ± 5.8º at the hip joint, 87.07 ±6.29º at the knee joint, 6.81 ± 10.23 at the ankle joint, and average of eversion/inversion movement of 15.96 ± 7.75º/13.56 ± 5.67º at the subastragaloid joint, respectively. Not all the biomechanical variables analysed were faithfully reproduced in the mechanical tests, especially the eversion/inversion movement at subastragaloid joint. This allows thinking that standard criteria on mats could be reviewed to consider the effects that landing cause on gymnast, related to stability (or mat deflection) and shock absorption essentially, avoiding several injuries during gymnast landing in a future (AU)