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To examine how public servants are depicted in film, I discuss the changes over time of Batmanʼs Commissioner Gordon, particularly his character arc in the contemporary The Dark Knight trilogy. An important aspect of Gordonʼs evolution is in contrast to the filmsʼ other prominent public servant, District Attorney Harvey Dent. The Gordon-Dent contrast illustrates aspects of the Friedrich-Finer debate over administrative discretion, a classic debate in public administration. The trilogyʼs verdict on public service is mixed: the flawed, rule-bending, expedient public servant survives while the fabricated hero is a sham. Commissioner Gordon is far more interesting than he had been for decades, but is he just an expedient bureaucrat ultimately pursuing self preservation? In contrast, the (pre-villain) Harvey Dent, who refuses to compromise his principles, is ultimately undone by his absolutism. For the complexity of his character and its centrality to the plot, I judge the depiction of Commissioner Gordon-warts and all-to be better than simplistic caricatures of bureaucrats and promising for future public servants in film.

The purpose of this paper is to apply a fast analytical model of the acoustic behaviour of pulse‐width modulation (PWM) controlled induction machines to a fractional‐slot winding machine, and to analytically clarify the interaction between space harmonics and time harmonics in audible electromagnetic noise spectrum.

A multilayer single‐phase equivalent circuit calculates the stator and rotor currents. Air‐gap radial flux density, which is supposed to be the only source of acoustic noise, is then computed with winding functions formalism. Mechanical and acoustic models are based on a 2D ring stator model. A method to analytically derive the orders and frequencies of most important vibration lines is detailed. The results are totally independent of the supply strategy and winding type of the machine. Some variable‐speed simulations and tests are run on a 700 W fractional‐slot induction machine in sinusoidal case as a first validation of theoretical results.

The influence of both winding space harmonics and PWM time harmonics on noise spectrum is exposed. Most dangerous orders and frequencies expressions are demonstrated in sinusoidal and PWM cases. For traditional integral windings, it is shown that vibration orders are necessarily even. When the stator slot number is not even, which is the case for fractional windings, some odd order deflections appear: the radial electromagnetic power can therefore dissipate as vibrations through all stator deformation modes, leading to a potentially lower noise level at resonance.

The analytical research does not consider saturation and eccentricity harmonics which can play a significant role in noise radiation.

The analytical model and theoretical results presented help in designing low‐noise induction machines, and diagnosing noise or vibration problems.

The paper details a fully analytical acoustic and electromagnetic model of a PWM fed induction machine, and demonstrate the theoretical expression of main noise spectrum lines combining both time and space harmonics. For the first time, a direct comparison between simulated and experimental vibration spectra is made.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the implementation and management of multi‐objective optimizations, with the help of heuristic algorithms such as space mapping methods.

The authors consider the design of electromechanical actuators by the use of mathematical and computer means. Experiments are then virtual, because they correspond to numerical simulations. Dimensioning is then ensured by an optimization procedure of the space mapping type, whose main characteristic consists in using two models of the same size actuator (instead of a single one for classical optimization methods). Moreover, one considers here that multiple outputs are defined: this defines a multi‐objective optimization. This paper proposes several techniques making it possible to include the definition of multiple objectives to be fulfilled as part of an output space mapping optimization process.

The proposed approaches make it possible to stabilize and accelerate the convergence of multi‐objective optimizations performed by space mapping. This is illustrated by the example of the dimensioning of a resonant linear electromagnetic actuator.

The approach presented in the paper is original because it allows finding of a solution to the multi‐objective problem, without building any Pareto front, and most effectively by improving the convergent behavior of the optimization algorithm.

This essay focuses on institutional leadership in complex public organizations. Using an expanded version of James A. Stever’s organizational scepticism framework, an argument is presented that the concept new occupies a privileged and unique position in the modern conception of leadership. The concept’s status is due, in part, to its intimate relationship with other favorable concepts, most notably progress and radical change. It is argued that the modern fixation with new, progress and radical change is troublesome. The scholarly community is encouraged to commit more intellectual resources to developing alternative models of leadership that recognize the usefulness of, but are not limited by, the underlying values and assumptions of modernity. The model of administrative conservatorship is offered as one such model.

Approximately 50 years ago, William Westley’s (1953) pioneering study of police officers brought to the forefront the special characteristics of police work. The present research raises the question: how far have thepolice come since Westley? Using focus group interviews and surveys collected from alarge Southwest police department, the study examines the situational role context of physical force. In doing so, it provides an explanation of physical force today, compared to explanations offered by Westley. The current research examines whether officer use of physical force and its severity are determined by the situation. The results confirm this hypothesis by suggesting that physical force is determined situationally, according to low‐order excessive force and high‐order violent force. As a way of understanding the lack of change in attitudes and practice of physical force, a possible explanation is the patrol culture.

International assignments rely on interactions between host country nationals (HCNs) and an international assignee (IA). These interactions are significantly determined by the reputation that the IA holds among HCNs. However, reputation has only scarcely been addressed in extant mobility research, and there is a lack of understanding about how the reputation of an IA shifts among HCNs during the course of an assignment. The purpose of this paper is to understand the development of an individual's reputation as well as the interactions between an IA and HCNs in the context of international assignments.

This is a conceptual paper that builds upon the central idea in extant research of individual reputation as a social construction and draws on sensemaking theory to develop its conceptual model.

As extant research argues for both a temporal and dynamic dimension of reputation, the authors introduce time and reputational richness as central model elements. Furthermore, the conceptual model proposes reputational events as the principal triggers for reputational shifts. Reputational events reveal quantitatively and qualitatively new informational cues about the IA to HCNs, who then use these cues to incrementally construct the IA's reputation in sensemaking processes. In addition, contextual factors of reputational shifts, namely accelerators and amplifiers, are discussed. The authors argue that these contextual factors may affect both the timing and the strength of reputational shifts.

The study introduces a novel conceptual model and contributes to the understanding of individual reputation development as well as the interactions between an IA and HCNs in international assignments.

This paper attempts to trace and describe the role played by the government sector – the state – in promoting economic growth in Western societies since the Renaissance. One important conclusion is that the antagonism between state and market, which has characterised the twentieth century, is a relatively new phenomenon. Since the Renaissance one very important task of the state has been to create well‐functioning markets by providing a legal framework, standards, credit, physical infrastructure and – if necessary – to function temporarily as an entrepreneur of last resort. Early economists were acutely aware that national markets did not occur spontaneously, and they used “modern” ideas like synergies, increasing returns, and innovation theory when arguing for the right kind of government policy. In fact, mercantilist economics saw it as a main task to extend the synergetic economic effects observed within cities to the territory of a nation‐state. The paper argues that the classical Anglo‐Saxon tradition in economics – fundamentally focused on barter and distribution, rather than on production and knowledge – systematically fails to grasp these wider issues in economic development, and it brings in and discusses the role played by the state in alternative traditions of non‐equilibrium economics.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether patrol officers believe that police practices vary by precinct assignment and whether the precinct acts as a sub‐organizational level of analysis in police organizations.

The research design is a multi‐method ethnographic case study including observational fieldwork, both structured and unstructured interviews and official departmental documents.

The study finds that patrol officers overwhelmingly agree that police practices vary at the precinct level of analysis. This variation is perceived to be caused by: individual officer temperament/personality and level of experience,; culture, nature and expectations of the clientele/citizens; nature of calls for service, higher call loads and officer safety concerns; and command and precinct rules/norms. The study also finds that the precinct is a viable and important level of analysis within police organizations.

This study highlights the need to examine variation in police behavior within organizations at the precinct level of analysis.

The findings from this study have considerable practical implications because the findings indicate that to understand police patrol practices, police practitioners must investigate variation in the informal structures/cultures of police organizations at the sub‐organizational level of the precinct.

This paper is valuable because police researchers have investigated police behavior at the individual, situational, neighborhood, organizational and legal levels of analyses but have largely overlooked the intersection of these levels of analyses: the precinct.

This study aims to determine whether engagement in a football programme can positively impact the recovery journey of the mental health service users involved from the perspective of the “Kickstart 2 Recovery” (K2R) programme stakeholders. There are many challenges faced by the people with mental health problems, a significant one being social exclusion. Football is a socially valued occupation in Ireland (Moran, 2019) and the K2R programme is an initiative run to combat experiences of isolation and exclusion that those with mental health difficulties may experience.

A descriptive phenomenological approach was taken to the study with the use of semi-structured interviews as the research method. In total, twenty one interviews were carried out and Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

Two themes represent the findings of this paper: the need for pathways and social inclusion, connection and flexibility. These reveal that facilitators are focused on supporting recovery but are unsure of how to overcome barriers to social inclusion. Sports partnerships and programme facilitators have a role to play in accessing community resources, challenging social stigma and creating exit pathways from the group.

This study reveals the challenges footballers with mental health difficulties experience when attempting to become more included in their communities and suggestions on how football programmes, such as K2R, could support their inclusion. These findings add to the body of research analysing the issue of social inclusion for people with mental health difficulties.

This paper aims to understand social entrepreneurship (SE) business model design to create values whilst undertaking public service delivery within the complex environments of local governments in South Africa.

Face-to-face semi-structured interview was conducted with 15 purposively selected social entrepreneurs in Gauteng and Western Cape provinces. The interview guide consisted of main themes and follow-up questions. Themes included SEs’ general history, the social business model; challenges faced and how these were overcome; scaling and growth/survival strategies. These enabled the evaluation of SEs in terms of identifying key criteria of affordability, availability, awareness and acceptability, which SEs must achieve to operate successfully in low-income markets. Social enterprise owners/managers within the electricity distribution, water reticulation and waste management services sectors were surveyed.

Most respondents focus on building a network of trust with stakeholders, through communication mechanisms that emphasize high-frequency engagements. There is also a strong focus on design-thinking and customer-centric approaches that strengthen value creation. The value creation process used both product value and service value mechanisms and emphasized quality and excellence to provide stakeholder, as well as societal value, within their specific contexts.

This study builds upon other research that emphasizes SEs’ customer-centric approaches to strengthen value creation and on building a network of trust with multiple stakeholders. It contributes to emphasizing the business paradigm shift towards bringing social values to the business practice.

Social good, but resource providers are demanding more concrete evidence to help them understand their impact (Struthers, 2013). This is because it is intrinsically difficult for many social organizations to document and communicate their impact in more than an anecdotal way. The research has contributed to the understanding of how SEs can provide evidence of value creation.

This study contributes to the understanding of how business models are designed to create value within the context of the overwhelming complexity of local government services in South Africa.