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The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the radiation and impedance characteristics of cavity backed patch antennas embedded in a curved surface. Single patch elements and small scale array antennas are considered. The impact of curvature on the performance of the patch antenna is investigated, and the effect of mutual coupling between the elements in an array is examined.

A finite element‐boundary integral procedure has been implemented to accurately determine the performance characteristics of the patch radiators on planar and cylindrical surfaces. Simulated results will be shown to be in good agreement with measurements.

Mutual coupling effects between array elements are examined and it can be observed that an active element primarily interacts with the nearest neighbour elements. A comparison of an array element with a single patch radiator shows that the mutual coupling effects cause no significant mismatch between a patch and a feed network in practical applications.

The characteristics of conformal microstrip antennas are investigated for single patch radiators and patch elements in array environments. Simulations are supported by measurements.

This paper aims to present an open‐ended microwave curing system for microelectronics components and a numerical analysis framework for virtual testing and prototyping of the system, enabling design of physical prototypes to be optimized, expediting the development process.

An open‐ended microwave oven system able to enhance the cure process for thermosetting polymer materials utilised in microelectronics applications is presented. The system is designed to be mounted on a precision placement machine enabling curing of individual components on a circuit board. The design of the system allows the heating pattern and heating rate to be carefully controlled optimising cure rate and cure quality. A multi‐physics analysis approach has been adopted to form a numerical model capable of capturing the complex coupling that exists between physical processes. Electromagnetic analysis has been performed using a Yee finite‐difference time‐domain scheme, while an unstructured finite volume method has been utilized to perform thermophysical analysis. The two solvers are coupled using a sampling‐based cross‐mapping algorithm.

The numerical results obtained demonstrate that the numerical model is able to obtain solutions for distribution of temperature, rate of cure, degree of cure and thermally induced stresses within an idealised polymer load heated by the proposed microwave system.

The work is limited by the absence of experimentally derived material property data and comparative experimental results. However, the model demonstrates that the proposed microwave system would seem to be a feasible method of expediting the cure rate of polymer materials.

The findings of this paper will help to provide an understanding of the behaviour of thermosetting polymer materials during microwave cure processing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of technological change on the internal audit practices and skills requirements for internal auditors in an e-business environment.

Generalist internal auditors and specialist information technology (IT) internal auditors were surveyed online in ten countries, including the USA and the UK which, together, provided the majority of responses.

The results suggest a need for advanced IT-audit techniques in conducting the internal audit function, thereby increasing IT audit skill demands on generalist internal auditors. However, the results show a low confidence among internal auditors about their IT training and a continuing reliance upon IT audit specialists, rather than their own training/retraining.

The responses obtained in this study provide insight into both the status quo of the internal audit function, and to the changes that are needed to prepare generalist internal auditors for work in an e-business environment and, while the scale of the study limits the extent to which the findings may be generalized, they are consistent with the literature concerning the changing business environment and with the literature on resistance to change, suggesting that the issues revealed should be of concern.

The results reported in this paper are useful to internal auditing educators and regulators in their consideration of the skills needed by generalist internal auditors in e-business environment.

This study sheds light on a significantly growing area which remains relatively unexplored in the auditing-related literature, e-business audit. The study provides empirical evidence on challenges facing internal auditors in an e-business environment, thereby serving as a wake-up call, to both internal auditors and the professional bodies representing them, to defend their jurisdictional space against rival professional groups.

In reviewing the application of public service principles in the press, telecommunication and radio historically, the paper aims to identify struggles to develop alternatives that address limitations in state and commercially provided public services across a wide range of communication and cultural practices.

Taking a political economy of communication approach, a different view of public service is adopted as one that understands service as facilitating the making of communication and culture. The paper uses published and archival sources to identify such examples in Canadian history.

The paper suggests that the concept of public service has been restricted to thinking in a sender‐receiver model based on consumption and applied accordingly to different media which has limited potentials for democratic communication.

The paper provides a historical and reflexive view on public service in Canada across media and suggests that public service principles need to be grounded in democracy of, in and through communication as a potential guide to current policy decision‐making.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of brand familiarity and brand fit on purchase intention towards the offerings of co‐branded hotels.

Data were gathered from 198 respondents and two co‐branded hotels in Taiwan were assessed.

The findings showed that the fit between co‐brands mediate the relationship between brand familiarity and purchase intention. In particular, a well‐known co‐branded hotel with a high level of brand fit could directly or indirectly affect consumer decision‐making processes regarding purchase intention towards the co‐brand. Conversely, a less familiar co‐branded hotel had a positive effect on purchase intention only if respondents perceived a good fit between allied brands.

Brand fit could be a more important factor than brand familiarity in influencing the success of hotel co‐branding strategies. Future research to examine the co‐branding concept in different social and cultural contexts and also from different perspectives, such as owners or managers, is recommended.

Most hospitality studies focus on co‐branding between hotels and restaurants. This study empirically investigated the effects of co‐branding on consumer behavior in the hotel sector.

The aim of this study is to investigate institutional investment behavior relating to lodging firms and their brand equity.

Ordinary least squares (OLS) and two‐stage least squares (2SLS) regressions are used. The dependent variable is institutional investor percentage and the independent variables are advertising expenditures, size, capital expenditures, proxy Q, debt ratio, price, share turnover and year.

The study found that institutional investors' holdings are positively related to advertising expenditures. There is a significant difference in institutional holdings between lodging firms with advertising expenditures and those without. Institutions favor lodging firms that have lower debt ratios. Institutional investors prefer small firms because they typically offer superior returns.

Further research may be done to see whether individual investors favor firms with brand equity. Additional research may be conducted in other segments, such as restaurants or casinos.

Findings may help lodging managers in raising financial capital from institutional investors; researchers in conducting future research on institutional investors; and educators in better describing institutional investors' important roles to hospitality students.

The paper is the first to show a relationship between institutional investors and advertising expenditures in the lodging industry.

The paper aims to explore interrelations of the four brand equity components; brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand image in hotel industry and improve the conceptualization of customer‐based hotel brand equity.

The paper is based on the recommendations of previous studies, the scale constructed to measure consumer‐based brand equity included brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand image. The present study used a sample of 345 actual customers from 11 different countries whose accommodation in North Cyprus hotels was used to test the relations of the proposed model Path analysis.

The findings in this paper support the three‐dimensional model of customer‐based brand equity in hotel industry. Brand awareness dimension was not found significant in the tested model for hotels. The present study contributes to the understanding of customer‐based brand equity measurement by examining the dimensionality of this construct.

Further research in this paper should attempt to examine brand equity across many different hotel categories. This will give the opportunity to make comparisons between different hotels' products and this concept. Furthermore, intra relationship of customer based‐brand equity components on the hotel performance needs to be investigated.

The paper shows that hotel managers and executives should try to influence; perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand image and brand awareness in their organizations and design their service delivery process by considering relations between customer based brand equity components.

The principal contribution of the paper is that it provides important insights into the development and measurement of customer based hotel brand equity scale and limited hotel brand equity literature.

The purpose of this study is the formulation of an efficient method to compute and analyse the scattering characteristics of cracks or grooves in a conducting object, where the size of the crack is significantly larger than the wavelength of an incident plane wave.

A hybrid finite element-boundary element procedure is formulated for the computation of the scattering properties of the object, where the fast multipole method is used in the boundary integral formulation. The basic fast multipole procedure is enhanced by utilising a fast Fourier transform-based convolution algorithm for the computation of the interactions between groups of source and field elements.

The algorithm accelerates the evaluation of the group interactions and enables the reduction of the memory requirements without introducing an additional approximation into the procedure.

The fast multipole method with convolution algorithm shows to be more efficient for the computation of scattering problems with a large number of unknowns than the conventional procedure.

Nano‐imprint forming (NIF) is a manufacturing technology capable of achieving high resolution, low‐cost and high‐throughput fabrication of fine nano‐scale structures and patterns. The purpose of this paper is to use modelling technologies to simulate key process steps associated with the formation of patterns with sub‐micrometer dimensions and use the results to define design rules for optimal imprint forming process.

The effect of a number of process and pattern‐related parameters on the quality of the fabricated nano‐structures is studied using non‐linear finite element analysis. The deformation process of the formable material during the mould pressing step is modelled using contact analysis with large deformations and temperature dependent hyperelastic material behaviour. Finite element analysis with contact interfaces between the mould and the formable material is utilised to study the formation of mechanical, thermal and friction stresses in the pattern.

The imprint pressure, temperature and the aspect ratio of grooves which define the pattern have significant effect on the quality of the formed structures. The optimal imprint pressure for the studied PMMA is identified. It is found that the degree of the mould pattern fulfilment as function of the imprint pressure is non‐linear. Critical values for thermal mismatch difference in the CTE between the mould and the substrate causing thermally induced stresses during cooling stage are evaluated. Regions of high stresses in the pattern are also identified.

Design rules for minimising the risk of defects such as cracks and shape imperfections commonly observed in NIF‐fabricated nano‐structures are presented. The modelling approach can be used to provide insights into the optimal imprint process control. This can help to establish further the technology as a viable route for fabrication of nano‐scale structures and patterns.

The narrow‐wall inclined‐slot coupling between rectangular waveguides from an H‐plane T‐junction, is numerically analysed, for the first time, via a 3D generalised locally conformed FDTD technique. The structure is excited by a combined pulsed modulated TE_mn mode scheme which enables the imposition of higher‐order ABCs or advanced PMLs very close to the slot, thus achieving significant reduction of the computational demands. Numerical results, which are shown to be in very good agreement with those obtained by independent scientific research, indicate that the proposed technique can sufficiently handle this class of problems.