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Enhancing revenue through improving customer experience is the aim of modern hospitality organisations. Technology applications can assist hotel managers in building a sustainable competitive advantage by determining the lifetime value of their guests and promoting increasing customer loyalty. In the paper a methodological framework to analyse and profile hotel guests is discussed, focussing on the most important aspects that should be taken into account in designing the information grid on which the relational system database should be built. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While efforts have been made to introduce standards for tourism information systems devoted to product promotion and distribution through a genetic data model, this has not occurred for business critical information systems. This paper reports on the development of an information model for Australia's Decipher business data warehouse project, and proposes that the National Tourism Information Model be adopted as a generic model for similar systems worldwide. The National Tourism Information Model has been derived through an analysis of elements of the tourism 'universe of discourse' apparent in perspectives of tourism as an activity, an industry, a system, and a field of research/study. A model consisting of 13 'constellations' and forty-two entities has been developed using common data modelling tools. The National Tourism Information Model performs well against criteria of simplicity/clarity, intuitiveness, and applicability. Further development of the Model will improve performance against criteria of comprehensiveness and non-redundancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the goal of the research project 'Benchmarking Information and Communication Applications for the purpose of Marketing and Sales in the Tourism Sector' to find out branch and regional specific basics for the strategic Benchmarking of public services and also to evaluate the availability and relevance of publicly accessible, regional data for a 'Benchmarking of the Regions'. This paper presents two aspects of the topic: Selected indicators of the capacity and occupancy of tourist accommodation as well as the use of Information and Communication Technologies in the European Regions are shown. Secondly, the results of a written questionnaire of European destination management organisations are described, regarding use of and experience with Information and Communication Technologies within these organisations. A comparison of these partial aspects shows, that within the European Union exists no correlation between infrastructure and use of technology on one hand and the spectrum of tasks and performances of the organisations on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide meaningful guidance for the development of human-centric travel decision-aid systems (TDAS). Issues related to TDAS are framed by who, why, when, what, and how questions and a summary model for designing a TDAS is proposed. It is suggested that TDAS needs to be adaptive to individual and dynamic in terms of what to recommend and how to make experiential aspect tangible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents results from a study about preferences for different information sources among package and non-package travelers. The information sources are divided into four main groups and a number of sub-categories. Six hypotheses are tested. The respondents in this study ranked the Internet is as the most useful information sources for non-package travel. For package travel the Internet is rank as number three. The most preferred source for this segment was brochures and direct contact with travel agents and tour-operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online selling and counseling in the tourism sector is still constricted mainly to simple travel products like hotel rooms or flight tickets. This paper tries to point out that personalized systems, the application of soft computing methods and the use of new technologies may contribute a great deal in furthering web-based marketing and selling of more complex tourism services, The prototype TourBO, developed at FORWIN (the Bavarian Information Systems Research Network. Germany), is introduced to illustrate possible approaches, e. g. a fuzzy logic based profiling module using stereotypes, a sightseeing tour generator relying on evolutionary algorithms, or location based services. Finally, the article gives an outlook on future works concerning the integration of group support tools into the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Producing interactive maps for internet applications in tourism has become widespread. But they are often quite simple in terms of adaptation to the user or context. We argue that it is not enough to focus on adaptations to technical parameters (device characteristics, QoS, location, ...), but propose that tourist maps need to be dynamically generated according to a wider range of variables from user preferences and interests, the given task, cultural aspects to communicative goals and actual context and location. This means that a system that is able to generate such maps needs to exploit user models and context knowledge. Within this paper, we focus on two aspects of LBS, i.e., using the spatial and personal context for proactive tips and generating personalized maps, by presenting an overview about possible parameters and propose a model for adaptive map generation and give examples of first prototypical realizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Semantic Web as the next generation web is the vision of having background knowledge about the meaning of web sources stored in a machine-processable and --interpretable way. The area of tourism is highly dynamic area that currently already extensively uses the available Internet technologies. However, the shortcomings of the existing technology are that information finding and extraction as well as the interpretation of the information contained in the web sources is left to the human user. In this paper it is shown how the vision of the Semantic Web and already existing Semantic Web technologies can be used for next-generation tourism information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study about examining online hotel reservation services in travel web sites. Using a semi-systematic approach, 60 travel web sites, half are Asian based and the other half are North American based, are evaluated to determine their level of service provisions. The attributes selected for evaluations fall into 2 major categories: i) availability of various online hotel reservation facilities, and ii) user friendliness of online hotel reservations. Experimental results of a content based analysis indicate that the Asian based and the North American based travel web sites have achieved different outcomes, and that the North American based web sites outperform their Asian counterparts significantly in certain dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today there is a lot of money invested in IT-services that support the mobility of people and goods, e.g. Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS) and Location Based Services (LBS). Mobile information technology is creating new and interesting opportunities for using IT in the tourism sector, e.g. the possibility to provide targeted destination information based on time and location. However, a problem with rapid technological development is that services and applications are being developed from a technical perspective. Although the technology is important the big challenge will be to make mobile technology useful and understandable for people. This implies that mobile information technology provides researchers and business and systems developers with new and interesting challenges. The aim of the paper is to discuss some of these challenges and the importance of the new mobile technology for the tourism sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Application Service Providers (ASPs) offer customer organizations to run applications hosted in remote vendor locations, through the Internet or leased lines, for a fixed monthly fee. This technology seemed appealing to small and medium-size organizations that find current information technology (IT) expensive and difficult to implement and maintain, yet the rate of ASP adoption is much slower than anticipated. This paper brings a case study of an Israeli software vendor, Silverbyte, who is offering Israeli hotels to become ASP customers, and is so far successful in both technology and profit. Silverbyte's business model is analyzed to assess driving and inhibiting factors, trying to shed light on key drivers leading to the success. Since the Israeli hospitality industry is similar to hospitality industries elsewhere, and by using Israel as an experimental environment, we suggest that lessons can be derived and applied in non-Israeli organizations, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to the introduction of information technology (IT) systems, tourism enterprises are faced with a number of new challenges. The Interact has resulted in more and more guests making their inquiries and reservations on-line. Reaction to on-line inquiries becomes extremly decisive. Therefore, response behavior becomes an essential factor of success for small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises. The objectives of the studies presented in this paper are twofold. Firstly, it was intended to test empirically response behavior to Internet requirements and to analyze the role of hotel size and category. In particular, response rate, response time, and information quality of answers (information depth) were studied. The second objective was to investigate the motivations to offer Internet services, current services and attitudes towards the Internet and related behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the definition of a new approach in the design and development process of a Tourism Information System (TIS) for a network of Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) in Trentino, a region in the north of Italy. The dualism is referred to the different opportunities that the big and small tourist enterprises have in order to play their role in the global electronic marketplace. Thus, the construction of methodology to organise and manage the development life cycle, a strategy to reduce developing costs (modularity) and the use of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) could be the right choices in order to provide real inter-operability features. The present work is that of a pilot-project, which belongs to the research domain on IS and the state of the art on the use of EDI techniques (Electronic Data Interchange) and XML for heterogeneous TIS (ENTER Conferences in 1999, 2000 and 2001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates channel choice, particularly, how channel benefits are evaluated and realized in the information search and purchasing stages of the customer decision making process. The research revealed that customers have a different preference for the channel choice in the information search stage and booking stage. The distribution of channels within the Channel Benefits Portfolio model showed that most of channels are located in either Strategic or Support quadrant. This result suggests that there are only a few Key Operational channels as far as customers are concerned, which tends to suggest customers do not value channels unless they are critical to their decision making needs and is a subject for further investigation. The management implications of this channel benefits portfolio approach is that Internet based electronic business in tourism and hospitality companies need to identify the current and future channel benefits portfolio of their existing and prospective customers in order to be successful in the multichannel electronic commerce environment.

The development of knowledge-based tourism B2B communities requires the adoption of a multi-dimensional, multi-level perspective on system design that incorporates processes of knowledge creation and transformation and takes organizational stages of effective technology use into consideration. This paper illustrates how the Illinois Tourism Network (ITN) as an example for an interorganizational, knowledge-based tourism information system/community has successfully integrated the management of information and knowledge flows in a way that appeals to tourism organizations in different stages of effective technology use and fosters capacity building among community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recommender systems for the travel and hospitality industries attempt to emulate offline travel agents by providing users with knowledgeable travel suggestions. The ultimate goal is to help the user in the travel planning phase trough offering a comfortable understanding of the options and also giving a select set of alternatives. This paper presents a novel approach for constructing such systems: a) creating a domain specific dialog model, b) semi-automatically building a knowledge base of ratings for the items of interest (i.e. destinations, airfare, hotel, vacation packages), and c) generating personalized recommendations ordered by relevancy. Items of interest are selected to best fit the needs of travelers, based on their individuality, interests and preferences. Explicit and tacit user feedback, as well as the extrapolation of individual user interests through attribute-based collaborative filtering, allows the system to learn rich profiles and refine its knowledge base, generating ever-improving recommendations. Empirical results confirm the hypothesis that recommender systems tend to accelerate the decision-making process by showing an improvement in look-to-buy ratios of up to 4.95 times, when compared to normal purchases on a ski travel e-commerce site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The variety and complexity of electronic distribution channels available to hotels has Increased dramatically in the past five years. Identifying and differentiate between such channels has now become difficult, and evidence from the literature suggests that the distribution arena is likely to continue to grow more complex in the future. T^is poses a variety of questions; which electronic distribution channels are currently most productive; which are likely to grow / decline in the future; and do all industry constituents agree on the likely outcomes. This paper reports on the findings of a three-phase Delphi study that focused on establishing the range of electronic distribution channels currently available to hotels, on forecasting their relative future and on highlighting the implications of such findings for the industry as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous article, it was suggested lo build a central operations research model - called the "Trip Planning Problem" (TPP) - for decision aid in trip planning. Now, the objective of the present article consists in specifically investigating the possible use of the TPF for assistance in tailorizing sightseeing tours. First, the TPP is described in more details. Then, the main assumptions of this model are mentioned and discussed, with regard to sightseeing tour planning. Finally, this paper presents an example of the application of the TPP to the computer-assisted customization of sightseeing tours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to discuss the design of the business offer and its implication for the business interaction complexity when distributing tourism packages. The distribution process implies that several actors must co-operate and interact. In our case-studies we have found that there is a strong connection between the design of the business offer and the complexity of the business interaction in the distribution process. The case-studies show that there are three important factors that affect the complexity of the business interaction in the distribution process: (I) Accessibility to information and booking control of the components; (2) The number of components to book; (3) The number of potential suppliers. Furthermore it is important to analyse these three factors in the context of two important and conflicting goals that have to be balanced: (a) The goal of offering comprehensive packages with a high freedom of choice for the customer; (b) The goal of managing the interaction complexity, which is a presupposition for an effective and high-qualitative distribution process. A way of handle this conflict is to analyse and develop the relationships between the actors that have to interact in the distribution process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognised that for hedonic products like tourism, consumers are engaged in an ongoing search for information to form a 'mental prototype' of the product or, in the case of tourism, a destination image. This must be one of the reasons why tourism and travel related content is so popular on the Internet and e-commerce in tourism is the most successful online industry. As it is difficult for tourists to form a clear destination image without the actual experience, the multimedia interactive nature of the Web can add whole new dimensions to destination marketing, for instance through 'virtual tours'. As such virtual tours can potentially drastically enhance destination image and therefore influence destination choice behaviour, it is important to make sure that such efforts are effectively addressing consumer preferences. The question that arises is how to measure the image attributes that are most relevant for a particular destination. This paper shows how traditional multi-attribute destination image research is inadequate in predicting destination choice behaviour. Instead of the existence of a fixed set of common attributes that can explain differences across destinations, it is argued that each destination has unique features and holistic images that exist only in the minds of consumers. As tourism is experiential in nature it is likely that consumers organise such images in story format. The authors therefore see great potential in narrative psychology as a route for future research into destination image, particularly as the Internet as a research medium can overcome past limitations in quantifying such qualitative research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hotels are increasingly recognised as pivotal in the ability of destinations to benefit from tourism as well as to satisfy demand for rooms. However initially in the 1994 survey it was revealed that small/independent hotels are being marginalised from the mainstream tourism industry due to their inability to participate in the transformation of best practices due to their reluctance to utilise information technologies. Wales is a good illustration of a small country with predominately independent hotels and as such is reflective of profile of the independent hotel sector in Europe. This paper is based on research undertaken in collaboration with the Wales Tourist Board (WTB) into the use of technology and specifically the Internet in hospitality organisation in Wales. A survey was conducted by this author as part of an MPhil thesis in 1994 and this is a further similar survey in 2000 that provides an insight into the progress in the use of technology by the hotel industry in Wales. The WTB is viewed as one the key stakeholders and "push" factors in rolling out technology to its members. In 1994 there was no WTB web presence, nor did any centralised reservation system exist. However, now, the WTB has had a web site for the past 5 years, though it does not provide the ability to book directly on-line. It is in the process of redesigning the site and keen to involve their customers in the redesign process, hence their cooperation with this study. This research explores the changes from 1994 to 2000 in the profile of technology and Internet users by means of surveys within the principality of Wales .The response to the two surveys was sufficient to reach some comparisons over a period of time about the growth of the Internet in this sector, the applications that managers are utilising and additionally some insight into the opinions of hotel managers who are non-users of technology and the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring effective IT use becomes crucial as more and more tourism organizations use Internet technologies but only few actually experience an impact on the way their organizations operate. Effective technology use requires more than investments in technology; it involves knowledge creation and learning that have to be carefully managed. This paper proposes a measurement scale for effective IT use that includes the extent and sophistication of IT use as well as the level of knowledge management realized within an organization. The scale was tested in a study among American convention and visitors bureaus. The results provide useful managerial implications for effective IT use in tourism organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The project to apply ICT to support the decision making process of players in a tourist destination presupposes knowledge of the existing relationships and exchanges of information among them. Analysis of information flows must be based on a representation of (he complexity of the co-ordination problem, because corresponding to different levels of complexity are different applications of ICT. To this end, the paper presents a method for classifying the relationships among the players of a tourist destination. This method moves through three main phases: identification of the players involved in the development process in the destination, analysis of the existing communication flow among the main players (context diagrams construction), definition of the potential application of ICT in support to the co-ordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials are not only in technical application a very important aspect but also in designing functional sports equipment. In high performance as well as in mass sports the materials for equipment, sports wear and supports are responsible for the function and the quality. More and more the advertising uses the developments in designing materials for the marketing of sports products, to convince of buying or to restore the athletes for new sportive options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety in Sports Engineering is a broad and diverse topic. The papers in this section reflect that diversity. Historically safety in sport has been a stated goal, but often was secondary to performance. As we become more sophisticated in our ability to analyze and anticipate problems, we also become more proficient in the application of analytical tools such as qualitative analysis, simulation, application of new materials to old problems, statistical analysis, experimental field and lab studies, as well as epidemiological data to determine the degree to which a product might work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the perspectives taken in the assembly of this synopsis, first I will say a few words about my own field of research – which is focused in the area of exercise physiology issues in connection with practical performance diagnosis, computer-aided interpretations as well as the occurring relevant questions concerning this subject. The main work has been done in the area of top elite sports (energy supply mechanisms, muscular adaptation, high altitude physiology), but also many studies have taken place in the field of basic working / exercise physiology and advanced sport science, for the industry and also for the use of different facilities in the practical field of sport and the army. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section highlights the upcoming tenth ENTER Conference of the tourism industry. The conference will continue a tradition of sharing knowledge among researchers in the fields of travel and tourism, and information and communication technologies. The overall conference theme reflects the currency of mobile and location-based services.

This section provides information on the 9th ENTER Conference. The conference will follow a tradition of sharing knowledge among researchers in the fields of tourism and information and communication technologies. The key objective of this conference are to disseminate findings, to learn more about each other and to exchange experiences on the development of new research theories and methodologies. When the organizing committee chose MultiChannel Strategies as a theme, it was also in the context of emerging new forms and standards in mobile communications that will have a lasting impact on economic and social prospects. consumers, who are increasingly mobile and better informed, are becoming more demanding in the electronic tourism world.

The main challenge in the golf industry is to design equipment which can be used by the 95% of golfers who do not play the game well. This is where the market lies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The service life of a baseball bat is a function of its durability. All wood bats crack, and ash bats exhibit flaking of the barrel due to repeated impacts. In aluminum and composite bats, repeated impacts can cause a change in the material properties, which in turn can lead to dents and microcracks that ultimately coalesce to form macrocracks. A test machine for simulating essentially any field condition for bat/ball impacts has been developed to study bat durability. The system uses an air cannon capable of firing a baseball at speeds up to 180 mph at a stationary bat which is supported in a grip that replicates a player΄s hands. This paper will describe the system, present some supporting analysis of the gripping method, and present results of tests from wood and aluminum bats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide the first insight into the dynamics of speed climbing. For this purpose, two jug-type climbing holds were manufactured and instrumented with 3D force transducers. At a speed climbing route, three climbers with different experience levels performed four runs at three different speeds (slow, medium, maximal possible speed). The 36 experiments served to analyse the following parameters: contact time at the hold, magnitude of contact forces and of the shock spike at initial contact, and the climbing velocity between the two holds. In speed climbing, the higher the climbing speed, the higher are the finger reaction forces at the hold, the higher is the shock spike at initial contact, and the shorter is the contact time. As speed is a factor of experience, the contact time and the magnitude of forces also correlate with the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach is proposed for automatically modifying a shape and shoe center (design valuables) of a ski. The proposed approach needs the inverse analysis method (sensitivity analysis) and two indices of the ski turn (˵Locus of ski turn″ and ˵Rotational angle of ski″) as the objective functions. Firstly, to obtain the two indices of the ski turn, the outline of the numerical approach for a ski turn is introduced. Subsequently, the sensitivity analysis is shown to estimate the change quantities for the modification of the ski. Finally, referring two indices of the ski turn, a prototype ski is modified into an objective ski by tuning the width and shoe center of the ski. From the above-mentioned numerical calculations, it follows that one can efficiently modify the prototype ski by using the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of tourism as a hedonic product, demands that narratives, which project destination images, represent the richness of tourism experiences and reflect multisensory, fantasy and emotional cues. Only a strong representation of the real identity of place and how it can be experienced, will build the perceived destination images that lead to visitor satisfaction. As a case study, the online textual representations of Dubai are content analysed in order to identify the central concepts promoted online by the Dubai based tourism industry. Results show that private sector players still focus on facilities and activities and that the promotion of the rich culture, heritage and identity of Dubai is clearly left to the destination marketing organisation. There is a general lack of sensory or emotional cues and as a result the experiential nature of the product is hardly reflected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visitor Information Centres play a significant role in information provision for visitors at tourist destinations. Information and communication technology, particularly the Internet and the World Wide Web, has brought about a major shift in the information seeking behaviour of tourists. The provision, use and effectiveness information resources in visitor information centers as well as the role and impact of web based resources needs to be measured and evaluated. An approach integrating the measurement of uncertainty reduction and the fit between information resources and outcomes is proposed to enable destination managers to best fit and manage information services to types of consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and micro tourism enterprises are living in a new situation, a market where consumer demands come from individual expression and differentiation, with greater emphasis than hitherto on quality and value for money, where globalisation, deregulation and liberalisation, and environmental pressures are fundamental influencing factors. SMTEs must, in this situation, adopt new strategies based on the differentiation and segmentation of well defined target groups, increased speed and flexibility of reaction to market changes, co-operation and association with other enterprises, and integration and co-ordination with other economic agents engaged (directly or indirectly) with tourism. A possible answer to this need of innovation and adjustment to the new economy can be an innovative model of e-learning that allows moments of collective comparison, knowledge and opinion exchange, group and co-operative work based on solution of common and urgent problems according to personalised training processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the applications used on the Web sites and the issues that emerge as a result of managers' perceptions and decision making about Web Presence (WP). Hotels are selective in their choice of Web sites and generally include those which maximize margin and market reach. The survey identified that Tour Operators were the least popular intermediaries and almost all the hotels included Hotel Directory in their portfolio for WP. In respect of identifying which managers are responsible for WP, it was found that marketing managers exert more influence on WP because Hotels use their Web sites mainly for promotion and sales purposes. Therefore and not surprisingly, hotels' information technology personnel have a minimal role to play in the development of WP.

This article introduces technologies for offering spatially enabled data sources and for developing services for tourism within a nomadic environment. Mobile and wearable computing together with wireless multimedia communications enable new forms of user adaptive applications. Nomadic users of these information systems will either have their own devices on-line all the time or can make use public stationary devices to access an information infrastructure. Adaptive ubiquitous information systems allow access to public and personal information spaces from any device and can adapt information and services to the user and his/her current context.

Modeling has dominated research in gymnastics in the recent past. Peter Brugge-mann΄s Cologne (Germany) based group has concentrated on energetics in high bar circling and release and regrasp skills whilst Fred Yeadon΄s Loughborough (UK) group has focussed on momentum rings circling and in the preparation for high bar dismounts (eg Hiley and Yeadon 2005). Another theme has been `control΄ with recent contributions from Jill McNitt Gray΄s group in California (USA) focussing on strategies for landing from rotating jumps whilst Fred Yeadon and colleagues have addressed questions of control in twisting somersaults and hand balancing. This group have also studied vaulting and tumbling using forward dynamics models to examine both technique and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modelling has become an important tool for answering open questions in skiing. Three major applications can be seen for modelling and simulation: first to work on the theory of the ski turn, second to systematically design skis with definite characteristics and third overcome ethical or measurement problems when it comes to biomechanics of ski injuries. Models and even more their validation are highly dependent on accurate experimental data. Great efforts are necessary due to the inherent difficulties with measurements on the ski slope and due to the fact that data collection should not interfere with the athlete. A total of seven contributions express the achieved high level of research and development in these two fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of innovation and innovation-related research to my great pleasure has strongly increased in the sports engineering community during the last decade. Whereas just a couple of conferences ago I was feeling like a lone voice crying (the innovation doodle) in the wilderness, delightedly teaming up with those very few reporting on systematically designed pieces of sports equipment, by this year we had to split the topic area: You will not only find a number of contributions on various perspectives on innovation in the following, but also a good, share of innovative design oriented contributions summarized in another synopsis by Caine, and further trans-disciplinary papers opening up new perspectives on sports engineering in yet other topic areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research activities are strongly affected by actual developments in computer science, such as in the areas of hardware (increasing processor speed and storage capacity, advances in communication technology), software (powerful tools), information management (data bases, data mining) and media (internet, eLearning, multimedia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 11 contributions demonstrate the diversity of research in the field of skiing, snowboarding and ski jumping. This shows how engineering methods can help to better understand the complex interaction between equipment and athlete and to better describe the physical phenomena behind these sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a substantial body of scientific research in tennis, the major growth of which began in the late 1970s, around the same time as the introduction of the oversize racket and the subsequent change in playing style that it facilitated. As such, rackets constitute a significant part of the body of research. A second key element of tennis is the ball, which, although narrowly defined by the Rules of Tennis, is sufficiently important to warrant attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water sports continue to provide an arena of innovation for the sports engineer. The mixed fluid medium of air and water and the often harsh operating environment provide challenges in the design, instrumentation, technology implementation and material science for these sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three different words defining this theme ˵testing″, ˵prototyping″ and ˵bench-marking″ represent in fact only one large engineering field. For designing the best product, it is necessary to benchmark prototypes (future products) with all existing products and/or to optimize these prototypes due to testing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]