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The first part of this article was published in Circuit World (Volume 28, Issue 2) and in this second part the final stages of large format backplane manufacture from the desmear and metallisation process onwards are described.

Reviews the equipment and processing challenges involved in the initial stages of the manufacture of large area back plane printed wiring boards and describes some of the techniques employed by APW Electronic Solutions.

Key areas affecting the future survival of the UK printed circuit fabrication industry are being probed by the ‘April Project’, a major new initiative launched by the PCIF.

This paper, which will be published in two parts in consecutive issues of Circuit World, reproduces a chapter of the recently published book ‘Handbook of Printed Circuit Technology: New Processes, New Technologies’, edited by G. Herrmann and K. Egerer and published by Electrochemical Publications Ltd, Port Erin, Isle of Man.

Of the many reference tools available to students and scholars, one with wide‐ranging utility is the New York Times Index, the “Incomparable New York Times Index” as Grant W. Morse calls it in his Guide to that familiar tool. Unfortunately, for several reasons, that familiarity has not led to as frequent nor thorough use as it might, which is what Morse was trying to remedy in issuing his Guide. As he reminds us, the Index has had a variety of forms, internal arrangements and descriptors since it was begun, along with the newly established Daily Times, on September 18, 1851, compounding the difficulty of using it to its fullest.

This paper is an account of collaborative action-based research that centered on a new NCAA Division I football program at a regional southeastern university, and the positive impacts the collaboration had on the multiple stakeholders involved in the research, which were the university’s sport management faculty, the athletic department, and sport management students. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

During the action research, these stakeholders moved through a cyclical process that involved reflection, planning, action, and evaluation. Through the action-based cyclical process that was utilized, each of these stakeholders were able to learn, adapt, participate, and make positive change.

Positive change occurred with the athletic department’s marketing efforts and game day operations, opportunities for sport management students to participate and learn, and development of relationships between two departments.

The cyclical nature of this research model often leads to original hypotheses and research foci to be highly altered during various stages. Another limitation within collaborative action research can be the breakdown in communication among the many parties involved in carrying out this type of research.

While the significance of this study was initially to capture fan information surrounding a new NCAA Division I football program, the stakeholders quickly realized that the action-based research study had more to offer than producing marketing reports for the university athletic department. Inclusion of the students as equal stakeholders in this project proved vital to student learning and involvement. Having the students play such an important role throughout each cycle of the project allowed for additional networking outside the classrooms with potential employers, as well as in-depth discussions and involvement in the classroom when synthesizing and disseminating the marketing information that had been gathered.

The collaboration between two separate departments within a higher education institution was vital to the overall success of the research project. The overall intent of this paper is to provide a practical approach to collaboration among individuals working in different departments of an organization, as the findings from this research project revealed the overall success of the project was only possible through the collaborative effort and joining resources, abilities, areas of expertise, and capabilities.