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The chemical reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel involves the handling of highly radioactive and often hot or highly corrosive solutions, usually containing nitric acid. This demands plant constructed to a high standard of integrity from suitably resistant materials. The difficulty of carrying out maintenance or repair of active plant which fails due to corrosion means that an adequate corrosion allowance, based on reliable data, must be included at the design stage. The data on which to base the allowance are gathered from small‐and rig‐scale laboratory experiments where coupons or vessels, tubing, etc fabricated from the candidate material(s) are exposed to a simulated process environment. This is backed up whenever possible by corrosion data accruing from the operation of existing plants and by exposure of specimens to the actual plant environment followed by metallographic examination. The constructional materials most commonly used in reprocessing plants are austenitic grades of stainless steel along with smaller quantities of refractory metals like titanium. This, unsurprisingly, is in line with current practices in the nitric acid manufacturing industry.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between active/passive customer behavior and loyalty (responses to switching triggers) in customer relationships.

A longitudinal study (seven years) is undertaken of the roles of various triggers and active/passive customers in analyzing the processes that lead to customers changing their service provider in the context of the Swedish telecommunications retail industry.

Triggers affect customers' evaluations of service in different ways and cause varying kinds of behavior, depending on whether the customers are active or passive in their customer relationships.

The study offers new insights into the difference between active and passive customers, which facilitates the design of loyalty‐enhancing communications between providers and their customers.

Porous titanium is used in many bioimplant and electrode applications because of its interconnected pore structure and good corrosion resistance. The purpose of this paper is to study the anodic polarization behavior of porous titanium in different electrolytes and clarify the influences of the porosity and macro‐pore size on the corrosion resistance.

The porous titanium with 10‐70% porosities and average macro‐pore sizes in the range of 100‐500 μm was prepared by the powder metallurgy method using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as a space holder. Electrochemical corrosion tests were performed on porous titanium as well as solid titanium (with the same irregular and isolated micro‐pore structures as that on the interconnected spheroidal macro‐pore walls of porous titanium) in the 0.1 M H₂SO₄, 1 M NaOH and 0.9% NaCl (37 °C) solutions.

It was found that porous titanium exhibited an active‐passive transition behavior in the 1 M NaOH and 0.1 M H₂SO₄ solutions. In contrast, a self‐passivation transition behavior was observed in the 0.9% NaCl solution (37 °C).

The paper demonstrates that both the porosity and macro‐pore size of porous titanium play an important role in determining the corrosion rate, rather than the corrosion potential.

This study examines the differential influence of religiosity, materialism and guilt on consumer ethical judgment. It further investigates how the influence may differ across two religiosity dimensions (intrinsic and extrinsic) and two types of unethical behaviour (active and passive).

A quasi-experimental approach assigned Pakistani university students randomly to two groups. One group (n=144) answered a survey regarding an active unethical behaviour (changing price tag), while the other (n=123) answered a similar survey but regarding a passive unethical behaviour (given and pocketing surplus change). This paper used projective technique to help reduce respondents' sensitiveness to the two scenarios. The data was methodologically analysed and fitted using structural equation modelling.

Religiosity does not influence ethical judgment directly, but is mediated by guilt. As expected, materialism negatively determines ethical judgment, and the influence is stronger with active than with passive unethical behaviour. Materialism influences ethical judgment more (less) than guilt does when unethical behaviour is active (passive). Religiosity stems more from intrinsic than extrinsic dimension regardless of the unethical-behaviour type.

Overall, this study highlights that the effects of religiosity on consumer ethics is not straightforward in that the relationship cannot be fully understood without accounting for the role of guilt and materialism, as well as the types of religiosity and ethical behaviour. Significant academic and managerial implications are presented.

This is an initial study on consumer ethics to consider the differential influence of religiosity, materialism and guilt across different religiosity dimensions and unethical behaviour. The context of a Muslim market is also under-researched compared to Western markets.

This study aims to focus on the switching path analysis technique (SPAT) application to enlarge the understanding of customer switching from the business to consumer (B‐to‐C) context to the processes of business‐to‐business (B‐to‐B) supplier switches.

The paper is a theory extension of SPAT, with nine (9) supplier switching cases in different B‐to‐B settings. The cases shed light also on the actual triggers and determinants of the B‐to‐B switches.

The study proves the applicability of SPAT in B‐to‐B settings. The B‐to‐B context adds complexity, forming a relationship flow where many driving factors act for switching. Thus, the findings suggest that a comprehensive analysis of the triggers and determinants is required to understand the switching processes. In particular, the characteristics of the active/passive behaviour should be analysed separately in the customer and in the old and new suppliers.

The empirical findings are exploratory in nature. Further research should refine the characteristics of active and passive behaviour at the levels of the relationship, the companies and the individuals to comprehend the notion of the influential trigger in SPAT. Further research should also address the wider topic of the patterns of certain triggers and determinants that actually lead to unstable supplier relationships.

The B‐to‐B supplier switches appear to be complex processes. The supplier should be able to be constantly aware of the major changes in the customer's business. Based on this awareness, the supplier may actively affect the development of the relationship to avoid unwanted switches.

The paper combines the relatively mature research stream of B‐to‐C supplier switches and access to B‐to‐B supplier‐switching cases. The theory contribution of the paper is the extension of the theory to the B‐to‐B context, with relevant research implications.

This paper aims to study the electrochemical corrosion performance of ultrafine-grained (UFG) Cu bulk in 0.5 M NaCl solution.

UFG Cu bulk were prepared by impacting at −196°C and following heat treatment. The electrochemical corrosion behaviors of coarse-grained (CG), impacted and subsequently annealed at 190°C Cu bulks were studied.

All the bulks displayed typical active-passive-transpassive behaviors (dual passive films without stable passive regions). The resistance to corrosion of impacted Cu bulk was notably superior to that of CG Cu bulk, and subsequently annealing further improved its corrosion resistance.

Except for mechanical properties, corrosion performance has been considered to be one of the most important aspects in bulk UFG metallic materials research for the prospective engineering applications.

Cryogenic impacting could effectively reduce grain size of CG Cu bulk to UFG scale and induce high density dislocation. Subsequent annealing resulted in a further decrease of grain size even to nanoscale, as well as nanometer twins. The grain refinement, high density dislocation and annealing twins effectively enhance the passivation capability, resulting in an increase in the corrosion resistance.

This paper aims to focus on an assessment of the electrochemical corrosion performance of bulk NC copper in a variety of corrosion environments.

The electrochemical corrosion behavior of bulk nanocrystalline (NC) copper prepared by inert gas condensation and in situ warm compress technique was studied by using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests in de-aerated 0.1 M NaOH solution.

NC copper exhibited a typical active-passive-transpassive behavior with the formation of duplex passive films, which was qualitatively similar to coarse-grain (CG) copper. Although a compact passive film formed on NC copper surface, the corrosion resistance of NC copper was lower in comparison with CG copper. The increase in corrosion rate for NC copper was mainly attributed to the high activity of surface atoms and intergranular atoms. These atoms led to an enhancement of passive ability and an increase of dissolution rate of passive film in oxygen-deficiency solution. For NC copper, the corrosion resistance decreased as grain size increased in NC range.

The difference in corrosion resistance between bulk NC copper and its CG counterpart is dependent upon the corrosion solution. In a previous work, the potentiodynamic polarization tests revealed that NC copper bulks (grain size 48, 68, 92 nm) had identical corrosion resistance to CG copper bulk in naturally aerated 0.1 M NaOH solution. The results might be related to the dissolved oxygen in the medium.

Commitment to change (C2C), focal and discretionary behaviors are under-researched areas in the context of developing countries such as Pakistan. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of change readiness on employee’s C2C, focal and discretionary behaviors when controlling for gender, qualification, experience, and marital status. In addition, the goal of this study is to determine whether the three-component model of Herscovitch and Meyer (2002) may also be applied in the private manufacturing companies of Karachi (Pakistan).

A sample of 205 fulltime employees having administrative and managerial responsibilities in the manufacturing operations is drawn from the manufacturing companies of Karachi undergoing major technological change. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement model. Besides, hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling in AMOS version 22.

The standardized estimates of SEM revealed a very good model fit between the structural model and the sample drawn using different modification indices. The results show that appropriateness has significant positive impact on affective C2C and negative impact on continuance C2C when controlling for gender, qualification, and experience. Moreover, affective C2C has significant positive impact on compliance behavior. However, the continuance C2C has significant negative impact and normative C2C has significant positive impact on cooperation when controlling for marital status. The findings may be generalized on other private manufacturing organizations of Karachi.

This study is one of the first to empirically establish a relationship among change readiness, C2C and active/passive change-related behaviors in the private manufacturing companies of Pakistan. One of the important theoretical contributions of the study is that the three-component model which has been empirically tested in various socio-economic settings in the Western context and in a Pakistani public sector organization may also be employed in the private manufacturing organizations of Pakistan. In particular, with respect to research instrument of “readiness for change” scale, it is also argued that the scale of the fourth dimension (i.e. personally beneficial) needs major revision by adding five to seven Likert-scale items having good content validity and high internal consistency of the measuring scale in the Pakistani context.

The purpose of this paper is to supplement the scant previous investigations on the corrosion behaviour of 2205 and 2507 duplex stainless steels in selected organic acids containing chloride additions.

Microstructural examination of the alloys was first carried out, after which the corrosion behaviour of the alloys in citric, oxalic, formic and acetic acids containing chloride additions at varying temperatures was studied using electrochemical techniques.

The alloy 2507 material had a larger grain size than did the alloy 2205 sample. The corrosion resistances of the alloys generally are highest in acetic acids and lowest in citric acid. The addition of chloride had a pronounced effect on their corrosion resistance. Alloy 2507 generally exhibited higher corrosion resistance in all of the acids than alloy 2205, with the exception of acetic acid at room temperature. The 50:50 ratio of ferrite to austenite composition, as revealed by phase compositional analysis, indicated no significant possibility for galvanic corrosion between the phases. This suggests that the corrosion behaviour of the alloys is controlled by their grain sizes and chemical compositions.

Although the corrosion behaviour of duplex stainless steels in some organic acid media has been reported, this investigation covers the major organic acids not previously reported. Since in real industrial systems a mixture of both organic and minerals acids/salts may typically exist, investigations of the combined effect of chloride ions with the organic acids reported in this paper typify real industrial operations. The paper thus provides a basis for material selection for the application of 2205 and 2507 in industrial systems where organic acids are mostly used.

Understanding employee reactions to acquisitions is important in assessing the dynamics of acquisitions and their possible success or failure. Proposes a typology of employee behaviors in acquisitions. Moreover, describes the general framework for studying employee responses, by showing the relationship between the factors contributing to the formation of attitudes which can lead to a certain behavior. Finally, discusses directions for future research regarding human resource issues.