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A six pole 3 kW synchronous motor with rare earth magnet excitation is used as an ex‐ample for mathematical design optimization on the basis of the FD field calculation method. The nonlinear field of the machine at full load, excited by both the rotor magnets and the stator current, is determined. The resulting vector‐optimization problem is transformed into a scalar problem, i.e. only one objective is minimized, while the others are considered by nonlinear constraints. Either the magnet mass or the machine volume is minimized for a restricted power input. The results of the investigations are presented by the material contours, flux plots and by the electrical and mechanical data of the optimized machines.

Recognizing the demand for a reliable subjective instrument to gather information on walking to occupational activities on the neighbourhood scale, this paper outlines the Neighbourhood Walking to Occupational Activities Questionnaire (NWOAQ) recently developed at the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde. The approach follows reliable techniques in the design of questionnaires including the analysis of currently available instruments, interviews with the potential case study participants, and the use of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). It describes the testing of NWOAQ, following a ‘mixed method' adopted to sample the population of three case studies in Basra City, in Iraq (Al-Saymmar, Al-Mugawleen, and Al-Abassya). Cronbach's ‘Alpha Test' (Cronbach, 1951) was conducted on three significant variables selected; ‘the perceived environment' variables; the ‘constructs of the TPB' variables; and the ‘walking outcome' variables. This displayed different alpha levels, which were; 0.76; 0.74; and 0.87, respectively. Based on CAT, the level of internal consistency that would render a group of indicators reliable should be no less than 0.60.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between some main characteristics of different living arrangements and the quality of life (QoL) of their users with severe intellectual disability and low-functioning autism spectrum disorders.

Study participants were assessed for ASD severity through the Childhood Autism Rating Scale or the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS): for behavioral problems with the aberrant behavior checklist (ABC); for perception of efficacy and satisfaction with care, through an adapted Visual Analogue Scale; and for QoL with the QoL inventory in residential environments (validated in French as Inventaire de la Qualité de Vie en Milieu Résidentiel). Because the goal was to define a “residential profile (RP),” the authors evaluated each participating residence with the Working Methods Scale and the questionnaire on residential parameters.

The RP allowed for the classification of the residences into three clusters. The authors found no clear relationship between QoL and the RP clusters, but the authors found the RP clusters to be significantly correlated with ABC factors F1 (irritability, agitation, crying) and F2 (lethargy, social withdrawal), and VABS scores for living, socialization, and motor skills.

RPs were more strongly correlated with ABC items and the ability to cope with everyday life than with QoL. The authors hypothesize that RP is correlated with both aberrant behavior and the autonomy of residents and that QoL remains relatively stable. Therefore, RP is correlated with the status of the residents; however, this appears not to be correlated with their QoL.

International trade and its effects on the environment are increasingly discussed both in academia and by policymakers. To counter negative effects of international trade on the environment, so called environmental provisions have been integrated in trade agreements aimed at businesses and economies. However, as both the intent and effectiveness of these provisions are controversial, this paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of research and identified key factors influencing their effectiveness.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of 44 papers on the effects of environmental provisions in international trade agreements on the environmental performance of businesses, as well as economies from 1992 to mid-2024.

The integration of environmental provisions into trade agreements generally has positive effects on the environment while their effectiveness is influenced by their design and several boundary conditions. Alongside the importance of effective enforcement mechanisms, reputation concerns of businesses and lobbyism are discussed as intermediary factors in the design and impact of environmental provisions.

The insights can benefit policymakers to optimize future environmental provisions and advance the effectiveness of policies aimed at balancing the effects of trade liberalization with environmental protection.

Social sustainability is increasingly relevant for creating more sustainable trade policy while societal mechanisms seem to be an adequate tool to ensure effective enforcement of ecological provisions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review is the first of its kind to provide a systematic overview of the literature on the effectiveness of environmental provisions that combines the micro-level of businesses and macro-level of economies, although the importance for trade in general and environmental protection, in particular, has been recognized in the academic literature.

The Norwegian health care system is semi-decentralized. Primary care and long-term care (LTC) are the responsibilities of the municipalities. Specialist care is the responsibility of the central government and is organised through four Regional Health Authorities (RHA). Resource use, health outcomes and severity are the three main pillars for priority setting, regularly applied in reimbursement decisions for pharmaceuticals.

The sustainability of health care is challenged in Norway. The main factors are a growing elderly population with high need of complex, coordinated services, an increasing demand for newly approved drugs and advanced technology and a potential shortage of health care personnel.

We present recent trials and policy reforms in Norway aimed at improving care pathways combined with cost containment. Reforms in the pharmaceutical market, both with regard to market access and reimbursement (cost-effectiveness), and regulation of prices, have resulted in cost containment. The primary care sector awaits reform initiatives to recruit and retain physicians as general practitioners. No reform in the hospital sector has had cost containment as a main focus. The sector is characterized with low productivity growth, and expenditures that have increased more than the GDP growth. Waiting times are long, and coordination between sub-sectors of health care has been poor, although the Coordination reform of 2012 has alleviated some of the challenges related to intersectoral coordination. Still, the divided responsibility for health care between the central government and the municipalities creates tensions between national ambitions and local decisions in the financing and provision of health services.

European securities exchanges including futures and options markets as well as cash equity exchanges are liquid, efficient and competitive, while making the most of technology’s vast possibilities. On the road to the integrated European securities market, they face different legislative and non‐legislative barriers. The EU legislative framework must be designed in such a way as to be able to catch up with competitive and technological developments. Strong and modernised EU financial legislation should be beneficial not only for the securities markets but more importantly for the EU economy as a whole. An efficient and integrated securities market is vital in the process of raising the level of competitiveness, the efficient allocation of capital, mobilising savings and disciplining management. Many European countries need to overhaul their pensions systems, since ageing populations become a rising burden on state finances. Thus, most EU member states are likely to stimulate the creation of partially equity‐based private pension provision. This paper tries to position the current role of the securities exchanges. It also touches upon the legislative environment and technological developments they employ that help them continue to remain competitive on the global scene. In conclusion the author states that the EU legislators as well as the securities exchanges themselves have to make great efforts in order to achieve the best possible level of service for their clients.

Research on female expatriates has been substantially growing over the last decades and particularly in more recent years. Complementing previous thematic analyses of the literature, the purpose of this paper is to apply textual statistics and correspondence analysis to reveal the existing semantic structure of the field of research on female expatriates.

Using correspondence analysis, the authors explored textual data from the abstracts of 151 identified journal articles published in English since 1975. The authors obtained a graphical representation showing the various developmental stages of research on female expatriates.

The authors found that research follows a home-host country orientation and advances from an organizational focus toward individual-level studies. The authors identified various directions for future research and especially a strong need for more multilevel approaches to study men’s and women’s expatriate experiences and trajectories in various contexts.

Only articles with abstracts entered the analysis, which in turn was dependent on the content and quality of these abstracts. This limitation has been addressed by thoroughly reading each article considered.

This review adopts an original method in research on (female) expatriates and more broadly management research. It enabled the authors to map out the development of key research themes over time. Based on this analysis, gaps in current research could be identified and clear directions for future research were formulated.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that cybernetic theory explains learning curves and sets the curves as legitimate and efficient tools for a pro-active energy technology policy.

The learning system is a non-trivial machine that is kept in non-equilibrium steady state at minimum entropy production by competitive, equilibrium markets. The system has operational closure and the learning curve expresses its eigenbehaviour. This eigenbehaviour is analysed not in calendar time but in the characteristic time of the system, i.e., its eigentime. Measured in eigentime, the minimum entropy production in the steady-state learning system is constant. The double closure mechanism described by Heinz von Förster makes it possible for the learning system to change (adapt) its eigenbehaviour without compromising its operational closure.

By obeying basic laws of second order cybernetics and of non-equilibrium thermodynamics the learning system self-organises its learning to follow an optimal path described by the learning curve. The learning rates are obtained through an operator formalism and the results explain observed distributions. Application to solar cell (photo-voltaic) modules indicates that the silicon scarcity bubble 2005-2008 produced excess entropy corresponding to costs of the order of 100 billion US dollars.

Grounding technology learning and learning curves in cybernetics and non-equilibrium thermodynamics open up new possibilities to understand technology shifts through radical innovations or paradigm changes.

Learning curves are legitimate and efficient tools for energy policy and industrial strategy.

Grounding of technology learning and learning curves in cybernetic and thermodynamic theory provides a stable theoretical basis for applications in industry and policy.

Cimtech, the British Centre for Information Media & Technology (formerly NRCd) has produced a guide to the range of optical storage devices coming on to the market. The report is aimed very much at the user and provides a practical assessment of the impact optical storage will have on all in the information, storage, retrieval and dissemination business.