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The present study obtained the topography of perceptible (a perfect-fit feeling) clothing pressures from the chest to groin, when a stretching material provided hoop tension to the body surface of participants. Furthermore, the allowable pressure level was examined for the abdomen, which is pressed by underclothes on a daily basis.

Participants were nine women aged 21.3 ± 1.2 years. Each participant's perception of pressure while wearing the experimental band was obtained in a questionnaire using a visual analog scale. Clothing pressure was measured employing a hydrostatic pressure-balancing method as participants adjusted the band length themselves to achieve two conditions: a perfect-fit and tight-fit on the abdomen.

The range of comfortable clothing pressure tightening provided by a 2.5 cm-wide elastic band on the abdomen was 0–5.6 hPa for under the bust, waist and groin, and 4.4–9.3 hPa for the chest, lower waist and hips. A nerve plexus of the autonomic nervous system and arteries are distributed over the body surface of the former body parts, which were thus sensitive to tightening around the abdomen.

The topography of perceptible clothing pressure was obtained when stretching material provided hoop tension to the body surface of the participant. The results of a participant questionnaire agreed with clothing pressure obtained using a hydrostatic pressure-balancing method that has a short-time constant and sensitive resolution. Furthermore, allowable pressure levels were proposed.

Because its actual impact is still rather blurred, the euro brings up many questions among managers as well as gives rise to much marketing research. This paper aims specifically to assess and measure the impact of the euro on the consumer decision process.

This paper first expounds the theory that the currency changeover creates a cognitive and visual bias. Then it moves on to give experimental evidence with a sample of 800 real buyers that, in the French context, the euro currency creates a bias on the different stages of the decision process.

Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) reveals that euro prices influence the treatment of price information, price perception and, to a more marginal extent, the perception of product value. Individual factors, such as increased experience with the euro, moderate judgmental bias strength.

The results bring out the face value effect of prices, which shows that when unsure of actual price value the consumers turn to nominal value as an anchor for evaluating prices. This paper identifies implications for retailers who have to watch both the overall price range of the items they offer and the price positioning of their own brands in euros and implications for public authorities who have to force consumers to replace price references in the old currency with references in euros.

This research brings out the “magical” or “illusory” effects of prices, while there is only very scant academic evidence available.

The purpose of this paper is to show that empirical analysis of consumption of a good, using the same empirical and econometric model as it is done in standard applied demand analysis, may be based on the underlying behavioral model other than the rational choice.

Reference point approach originally developed by psychologists and later translated into reference price approach by business scholars is used to demonstrate this point. Empirically, a model of consumption of broilers in the USA is estimated using regression analysis and its results and implications are discussed.

The same empirical model can be used to represent more than one underlying model of consumer behavior.

This paper raises the question of which underlying behavioral theory is valid, and under what circumstances might that validity change. The importance of accounting for reference prices appears to be validated, but the fact that both theories lead to the same or similar empirical formulation does little to secure either theory as right or wrong.

Research in consumer behavior and demand generally assumes the existence of one superior theoretical behavioral model. This paper suggests that such claims are unfounded since standard current empirical modeling of consumer behavior accommodates more than one underlying theory.

The purpose of the paper is to introduce a novel methodology to identify and quantify the difference of financial risks exhibited by listed and unlisted companies in their debt payments from an empirical point of view.

The paper attempts to establish the theoretical relationship between the agreed original periods and their corresponding periods of real payments. It is based on Krugman’s curve. This relationship has been implemented using data from listed and unlisted companies of Spain and from Western Europe countries (divided by companies, size and industry).

An alternative model has been implemented with the available information about listed and unlisted companies. There is not a significant difference in the financial risk level corresponding to listed and unlisted firms in Spain.

The paper could provide a useful guidance in applying the risk in project assessment.

This paper provides a new methodology to reduce the subjectivity shown in the treatment of risk by traditional approaches. The method allows to including the financial risk in the time parameter of the discount function. Analysis of the delays in debt payments by both listed and unlisted companies; Alternative model able to describe the expected delays from the initial agreed period; Inclusion of the financial risk in the parameter “time” of a discount function.

The purpose of this paper is to present a fresh approach to stimulate individual creativity. It introduces a mathematical representation for creative ideas, six creativity operators and methods of matrix-algebra to evaluate, improve and stimulate creative ideas. Creativity begins with ideas to resolve a problem or tackle an opportunity. By definition, a creative idea must be simultaneously novel and useful. To inject analytic rigor into these concepts of creative ideas, the author introduces a feature-attribute matrix-construct to represent ideas, creativity operators that use ideas as operands and methods of matrix algebra. It is demonstrated that it is now possible to analytically and quantitatively evaluate the intensity of the variables that make an idea more, equal or less, creative than another. The six creativity operators are illustrated with detailed multi-disciplinary real-world examples. The mathematics and working principles of each creativity operator are discussed.

The unit of analysis is ideas, not theory. Ideas are man-made artifacts. They are represented by an original feature-attribute matrix construct. Using matrix algebra, idea matrices can be manipulated to improve their creative intensity, which are now quantitatively measurable. Unlike atoms and cute rabbits, creative ideas, do not occur in nature. Only people can conceive and develop creative ideas for embodiment in physical, non-physical forms, or in a mix of both. For example, as widgets, abstract theorems, business processes, symphonies, organization structures, and so on. The feature-attribute matrix construct is used to represent novelty and usefulness. The multiplicative product of these two matrices forms the creativity matrix. Six creativity operators and matrix algebra are introduced to stimulate and measure creative ideas. Creativity operators use idea matrices as operands. Uses of the six operators are demonstrated using multi-disciplinary real-world examples. Metrics for novelty, usefulness and creativity are in ratio scales, grounded on the Weber–Fechner Law. This law is about persons’ ability to discern differences in the intensity of stimuli.

Ideas are represented using feature-attribute matrices. This construct is used to represent novel, useful and creative ideas with more clarity and precision than before. Using matrices, it is shown how to unambiguously and clearly represent creative ideas endowed with novelty and usefulness. It is shown that using matrix algebra, on idea matrices, makes it possible to analyze multi-disciplinary, real-world cases of creative ideas, with clarity and discriminatory power, to uncover insights about novelty and usefulness. Idea-matrices and the methods of matrix algebra have strong explanatory and predictive power. Using of matrix algebra and eigenvalue analyses, of idea-matrices, it is demonstrated how to quantitatively rank ideas, features and attributes of creative ideas. Matrix methods operationalize and quantitatively measure creativity, novelty and usefulness. The specific elementary variables that characterize creativity, novelty and usefulness factors, can now be quantitatively ranked. Creativity, novelty and usefulness factors are not considered as monolithic, irreducible factors, vague “lumpy” qualitative factors, but as explicit sets of elementary, specific and measurable variables in ratio scales. This significantly improves the acuity and discriminatory power in the analyses of creative ideas. The feature-attribute matrix approach and its matrix operators are conceptually consistent and complementary with key extant theories engineering design and creativity.

First to define and specify ideas as feature-attribute matrices. It is demonstrated that creative ideas, novel ideas and useful ideas can be analytically and unambiguously specified and measured for creativity. It is significant that verbose qualitative narratives will no longer be the exclusive means to specify creative ideas. Rather, qualitative narratives will be used to complement the matrix specifications of creative ideas. First to specify six creativity operators enabling matrix algebra to operate on idea-matrices as operands to generate new ideas. This capability informs and guides a person’s intuition. The myth and dependency, on non-repeatable or non-reproducible serendipity, flashes of “eureka” moments or divine inspiration, can now be vacated. Though their existence cannot be ruled out. First to specify matrix algebra and eigen-value methods of quantitative analyses of feature-attribute matrices to rank the importance of elementary variables that characterize factors of novelty, usefulness and creativity. Use of verbose qualitative narratives of novelty, usefulness and creativity as monolithic “lumpy” factors can now be vacated. Such lumpy narratives risk being ambiguous, imprecise, unreliable and non-reproducible, Analytic and quantitative methods are more reliable and consistent. First to define and specify a method of “attacking the negatives” to systematically pinpoint the improvements of an idea’s novelty, usefulness and creativity. This procedure informs and methodically guides the improvements of deficient ideas.

A striking feature of Jaques' work is his “no nonsense” attitude to the “manager‐subordinate” relationship. His blunt account of the origins of this relationship seems at first sight to place him in the legalistic “principles of management” camp rather than in the ranks of the subtler “people centred” schools. We shall see before long how misleading such first impressions can be, for Jaques is not making simplistic assumptions about the human psyche. But he certainly sees no point in agonising over the mechanism of association which brings organisations and work‐groups into being when the facts of life are perfectly straightforward and there is no need to be squeamish about them.

Aims to build on the work of Buckland and Hindle regarding statistical distribution as applied to the field of bibliometrics, particularly the use of empirical laws.

Gives examples of hyperbolic distributions that have a bearing on the bibliometric application, and discusses the characteristics of hyperbolic distributions and the Bradford distribution.

Hyperbolic distributions are the inevitable result of combinatorial necessity and a tendency to short‐term rational behaviour.

Supports Bradford's conclusion from his law, i.e. that to know about one's speciality, one must go outside it.

Research demonstrates that individuals display relative thinking – the tendency to consider relative savings rather than just absolute savings in their decisions to search for a deal or purchase an item. This paper aims to review empirical and analytical literature on relative thinking, perceived search costs and price savings to propose and test a conceptual model of relative thinking.

Through two studies, the paper tests whether individuals display relative thinking when shopping across stores vs online and how they perceive search and time spent in pursuing savings. Both studies are adaptations of the classic jacket-and-calculator scenario study (Tversky and Kahneman, 1981).

Results show attenuation of the robust relative thinking phenomenon over the internet compared to shopping across stores. Individuals exhibit increased price sensitivity for both low and high relative savings conditions on the internet but demonstrate price sensitivity only in the high relative savings condition in the store shopping contexts. Diagnostic measures pertaining to the attractiveness of savings and the perceptions of search costs corroborate the support for relative thinking across stores but not over the internet.

These results lend weight to the central claim in this paper that the internet marks a new boundary condition for the relative thinking phenomenon in marketing literature. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings, the limitations of the studies and future research opportunities are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to present an academic programme of pansystems research with a lot of new concepts, principles, methods. Universal consideration of philosophy‐mathematics‐technology is set forth with mega‐combination. The emphasis on the transfield internet‐like investigations is developed. Many theory‐methods of pansystems get further concise optimization.

The concrete contents of the paper include: historical megawave, philosophical stratagems, meta‐mathematics, meta‐methodology, technological realistic principles, unification and differentiation of encyclopedic branches, systems science, information theory, cybernetics, biosystems, generalized vitality, computer and IT, thinking science, logic, OR, AI, PR, DM, modernization of yinyang analysis combining dialectics, sociology, economics, meta‐relativity, generalized quantification and scale theory, general process of birth‐growth‐ageing‐disease‐death, the inheritance and development of 300 scholars' researches, etc.

All of the topics concerned with are reduced to the actualizations of PVOR – pansystems variational OR: V−d(xy)=^*0^*/PRR′P′/0^**, which is an integrated synthesis of 20‐PanStemCells of PanConcepts and PanMethod, and embodies a specific pansystems summarization for the core of the true and the good. Furthermore, the formula “Pansystems Researches=^*(PVOR/0^**/Pan54787721/Everything)+^*0^*=^*Pan–netlike connections of thoughts and methods” is expanded with concrete applications.

Provides information on pansystems research.

The Lotka distribution of the productivity of authors is highly dependent on the selection of the period of investigation. If many authors are covered only fractionally, the slope of the distribution is steeper than the slope of the distribution covering the complete publication output of a group of authors. We show this in a special branch of mathematics, namely mathematical logic from 1874 to 1990. If one compares authors with the same number of years spent in scientific activity, the characteristic form of the Lotka distribution completely vanishes. The time effect can be intensified if a scientific area features major expansion and the portion of new authors with few contributions is high; this is demonstrated in two special areas of logic. One may try to explain differences of the Lotka distributions of the phases of a scientific area by means of a simple learning model, taking into consideration that the learning curves of scientists in the birth, in the ‘pioneering’, and in the fulfilment stages of an area must be different.