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In this work, a method to design a slotless permanent magnet machine (SPMM) based on the joint use of an analytical model and deterministic global optimization algorithms is addressed. The purpose of this study is to propose to include torque ripples as an extra constraint in the optimization phase involving de facto the study of a semi-infinite optimization problem.

Based on the use of a well-known analytical model describing the electromagnetic behavior of an SPMM, this analytical model has been supplemented by the calculus of the dynamic torque and its ripples to carry out a more accurate optimized sizing method of such an electromechanical converter. As a consequence, the calculated torque depends on a continuous variable, namely, the rotor angular position, resulting in the definition of a semi-infinite optimization problem. The way to solve this kind of semi-infinite problem by discretizing the rotor angular position by using a deterministic global optimization solver, that is to say COUENNE, via the AMPL modeling language is addressed.

In this study, the proposed approach is validated on some numerical tests based on the minimization of the magnet volume. Efficient global optimal solutions with torque ripples about 5% (instead of 30%) can be so obtained.

The analytical model does not use results from the solution of two-dimensional field equations. A strong assumption is put forward to approximate the distribution of the magnetic flux density in the air gap of the SPMM.

The problem to design an SPMM can be efficiently formulated as a semi-infinite global optimization problem. This kind of optimization problems are hard to solve because they involve an infinity of constraints (coming from a constraint on the torque ripple). The authors show in this paper that by using analytical models, a discretization method and a deterministic global optimization code COUENNE, this problem is efficiently tackled. Some numerical results show that the deterministic global solution of the design can be reached even if the step of discretization is small.

The purpose of this paper is to identify different types of project in relation to their degree of specification and the creative possibilities that more highly specified projects offer researchers.

This paper presents the limitations of project management methods when managing research in relation to creativity. If projects are rigorously formulated and fulfill the requirements of project management, they may be compared to a mechanical task in which active decision making no longer applies. The conceptual framework develops the study of the spaces of creativity that research projects offer based on intentional action in which the notion of project is considered to be more flexible than that of more traditional approaches, and the notion of judgment is seen as a source of creativity. The empirical research presents the study of two scientific projects and compares their degree of the goal and task specification, the time required to specify them and how creativity emerges from routinized activities.

The spaces of creative possibilities in projects are related in two ways: first, these spaces are related to a critical view of the concepts of repeated action and routines, and second, they are related to the ways researchers use projects and the methods of project management not only as a method but also as a form of rhetoric.

Constituting a contribution to organizational change and innovation theory that enlarges the concept of project and brings understanding of how researchers define their projects, confront project specifications and are creative in a constrained framework.

Providing satisfying shopping experiences is a major goal in retail management because satisfaction guides re-patronage behavior. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the visual complexity of an environment’s interior design (i.e. the overall amount of visual information in an environment) influences the shopping experience by impairing customers’ information processing and self-regulation resources.

Two quasi-experimental field studies were conducted in two different cultural contexts (i.e. Germany and Singapore) to enhance the external validity and robustness of the findings.

Both studies provide evidence that an environment’s visual complexity impairs the shopping experience. Study 1 shows that visual complexity places a perceptual load on customers which mediates the complexity-experience relationship. Study 2 replicates this finding in a different setting and extends it by showing that load relates to lower self-control, which in turn, mars the experience. Furthermore, the negative effect of complexity on the experience is more pronounced with shoppers pursuing utilitarian rather than hedonic shopping goals.

The findings in a supermarket context may not transfer to environments in which the visual design is an important component of the value proposition and where shopping goals are largely hedonic in nature.

The findings advance theory by showing that it is perceptual load and its outcome, reduced perceived self-control, which are largely responsible for the negative effect of visual complexity on the shopping experience. This finding should encourage managers to proactively manage and reduce the complexity of their service environments.

This study is the first to show how the visual complexity of a retail environment influences a customer’s shopping experience. It offers novel insights into the underlying mechanism of perceptual load and self-control as process mediators of visual complexity on the shopping experience.

The purpose of this paper is to present new aspects of the tension between creativity and productivity and improve the understanding on how research can be developed in very restricted environments, such as the context of an organization managed using the methods of Project Management. And more generally, it introduces the rhetoric of judgment as a fundamental aspect involved in the development and specification of projects.

The theoretical approach is based on the phenomenological theory of human intentional action developed by Alfred Schutz, in which the notion of mental project is more flexible than that of project management. In it the concepts of subaction and repeated action are considered a combination of similar actions already performed. The Kantian notion of judgment is introduced to outline self-persuasion as a fundamental source of creativity.

The introduction of an extended notion of project and routine involving judgment expands the rational, generic and technical notion of project management. And the rhetorical aspect of judgment, at the individual level, establishes the possibility to deliver unexpected outcomes that are considered creative.

The proposed notions of project and routines mediated through the rhetoric of judgment present theoretical and practical progress in the subject of managing projects.

The purpose of this study is to compare perceptions of male cisgender and male transgender stalking perpetrators. There present study compared participants’ perceptions of whether behaviour constituted stalking, posed a threat, had a risk of violence and required police intervention when the perpetrator was transgender or cisgender. The present study also sought to replicate the prior-relationship misconception in stalking literature and to investigate whether perceptions of transgender perpetrators changed based on the age and gender of the perceiver.

Participants read vignettes outlining the relationship between victim and perpetrator as well as a description of the stalking behaviours. Participants then reported their perceptions of the four dependent variables on Likert-type scales.

The prior-relationship misconception was replicated. There were no significant differences in perceptions of transgender and cisgender perpetrators across the four dependent variables. There were also no significant differences in perceptions based on the gender of the perceiver. Contrary to expectations, older participants perceived transgender perpetrators as less threatening than younger participants.

The prior-relationship misconception is robust to gender identity of the perpetrator. The participants in the present study seemed to make judgements based on stalking behaviour and not the gender identity of the perpetrator. Future research should replicate this study with more severe stalking behaviours and with greater variation in gender identity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to compare perceptions of cisgender and transgender males in the context of stalking perpetration. There is also consideration of how the demographics of the perceiver could impact these perceptions. This study also contributes to research on the prior-relationship misconception by demonstrating that the misconception is robust to gender identification of the perpetrator.