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In mass‐production of PCBs, visual inspection of soldered joints has probably been the last major operation still performed manually. A system has been designed to ensure that the accept/reject threshold is firmly held at a pre‐set level, to detect defects on or under the surface, to identify these defects by type, severity and precise location and to carry out the inspection at high speeds with full automation. The system's operation is based on a laser firing a pulse of radiation onto a solder joint, an infra‐red detector monitoring joint temperature changes, a programmable XY table, a computer storing the thermal signatures of acceptable and rejectable joints and a device for programming, displaying and recording all necessary data. Enhanced reliability and cost savings are possible with this automated process of inspection.

Richard Williams has been appointed to the Board of Micaply International as Marketing Director. He has extensive experience of the European printed circuit industry with periods spent in the UK, Sweden and Germany.

As announced in the May issue of Hybrid Circuits, ISHM‐Benelux is organising a one‐day conference on applications of hybrid circuit technology.

We distinguish two factors through which new information technologies will affect office employment. On one hand, office automation will enhance productivity, meaning a given amount of work can be accomplished with less labor. On the other, office workload is apt to increase in response to enhanced information handling capabilities, implying demand for additional workers. The balancing of these two factors dictates office employment. An interactive Delphi forecast based on this two‐factor model predicts modest declines in office work required — a frightening prospect for a society also anticipating continuing declines in manufacturing and agricultural work requirements.

Increased life expectancies and decreased birthrates have placed enormous financial pressure on the Social Security system. Because significant reforms are needed to ensure its financial solvency, our study examines the acceptability of proposals to reform the system. Given the potentially divergent views suggested by prior research, we selected participants from the following four groups (1) younger black taxpayers, (2) younger white taxpayers, (3) older black taxpayers, and (4) older white taxpayers. While there was agreement among the groups on several of the proposals, in general, the differences between the generations were more pronounced than the differences between the racial groups.

In 1980, U.S. organizations spent approximately $120 billion on technology to enhance the productivity and performance of office workers. This represented approximately $3000 per office worker. The total does not include the cost of building space or the cost of utilities; these would have added $2000 more per office worker. These dollar estimates should be taken as approximate and provisional, but they are sufficiently accurate to show that the office, viewed as a market, is already a very large one. Office technology, then, is already a major cost in business and government; its careful management cannot wait until some future time.

“Certification”, in the context of this book, is an endorsement by a professional body that a member of that profession has attained a specified set of advanced performance standards. Application for NBPTS advanced certification is usually voluntary and available to all members of the profession (who have had to have at least three years experience in the profession). It is based on assessment of performance; it is not an academic qualification, or a record of professional development courses attended. It is portable – it belongs to the person (it is not a job or position or classification specific to a school or employer). A professional certification system is not in itself a performance pay scheme, but it does aim to provide a service to the profession, to the public and to employing authorities seeking a credible basis on which to provide incentives for professional development and recognition to teachers who reach high standards. Most important, it acknowledges that the individual who gains this certification is demonstrably teaching at the highest levels in our profession.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible improvements in the pursuit of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) through an analysis of the literature.

A critical framework based on Gleicher’s formula for change is provided after conducting a systematic literature review.

The best way to pursue the SDGs is through an integrated approach that recognises the importance of MNEs in terms of possibilities and power of action. Working towards the SDGs appears to be largely limited by three aspects of the problem: its complexity and wickedness, the genuine interest in reaching some SDGs, at the expense of profit and low foresight.

A fundamental limitation of the study concerns, as in most of the literature on the matter, the impossibility of providing an optimal solution to the problem of meeting the SDGs, given their nature. However, formulating the best definition of the problem and its characteristics can contribute to making its management better.

This study has social implications due to the extreme importance that many SDGs have with regard to democracy and social equity, beyond their environmental and economic aspects.

The claimed contribution is the value brought by the synthesis of several points of view, through the interdisciplinary analysis of the research question. The novelty consists in organising the literature according to the formula for change.