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The failure of copper‐plated holes in dielectric laminates during thermal cycling is a serious problem for the electronics industry. The large difference in out‐of‐plane thermal expansion between the dielectric laminate and the copper plating can cause the copper plating to deform and fail as the board is thermally cycled. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using electro‐optic holographic interferometry (EOHI) to measure deformation around plated holes and to evaluate methods for estimating the stress in the barrel plating. It was demonstrated that EOHI was more than adequate to resolve the out‐of‐plane thermally induced displacement field around an array of plated‐through holes. The displacement sensitivity was better than ±10 nm with high spatial resolution (92 ?m horizontally and 75 ?m vertically).The expansion was reasonably linear from 30°C to 120°C. The deformation around the individual holes was not axisymmetric. It is suggested that the method for estimating barrel stresses may be too sensitive to thickness and architecture variations in the pad for reliable stress estimates. An alternative scheme for estimation of barrel stresses based on thermal strain energy evaluation is described.

Most solder paste printers are configured to periodically clean the stencil to maintain printing quality. However, a periodical cleaning control may result in excessive cleaning operations. The purpose of this paper is to develop a control method to schedule stencil cleaning operations appropriately.

A hybrid failure rate model of the stencil printing process with age reduction factor and failure rate increase factor is presented. A stencil cleaning policy based on system reliability is introduced. An optimization model used to derive the optimal stencil cleaning schedule is provided.

An aperiodic stencil cleaning control with good adaptability is achieved. A comparative analysis indicates that aperiodic control has better printing system reliability than traditional periodical control under the same cleaning resource consumption.

Periodical cleaning control commonly used in industrial printing process often results in excessive cleaning operations. By incorporating the printing system reliability, this paper develops an aperiodic stencil cleaning control method based on hybrid failure rate model of the stencil printing process. It helps to reduce unnecessary cleaning operations while keeping printing quality stable.

Although research associated with branding′s influence on consumer behavior has increased in recent years, the vast majority of this work has focussed on tangible goods rather than intangible services. Focusses on branding and brand name strategies for intangible services. Develops a classification system for service brand names and describes a study which explores the degree to which these diverse strategies are used by different types of services.

As the importance of brands is realised, so too is the importance of research in this area. However, to date, a number of branding models have been developed that lack empirical testing, are derived from the perspective of brand practitioners, and pay little attention to the branding of services. This study seeks consumer‐based information via qualitative methods regarding brand dimensions that hold meaning to consumers for both branded products and branded services. The results indicate a number of key dimensions to be such as core product/service, experience with brand, image of user, important to consumers for both goods and services. Dimensions such as feelings, and self‐image congruence, were found to be important only in terms of branded products, while word‐of‐mouth, servicescape, and employees, held importance with respect to branded services. The results provide a platform upon which future research can be built.

This research explores the existence of consideration sets as a marketing universal by evaluating consideration set sizes for a shopping good in a cross‐cultural context. Previous studies of marketing universals investigated consumers’ use of product quality signals for shopping goods. This study used two operational definitions of a consideration set and found that both the average number of brands considered and the number of brands tried on were statistically equal for two matched samples in different cultures, supporting the status of consideration sets as a marketing universal.

Over the past 20 years the commercial importance of services has been realised, highlighting the importance of research to understand service brands and their meaning for consumers. However, to date, the branding models developed lack empirical testing, are derived from the perspective of brand practitioners rather than consumers, and pay little attention to the branding of services. This study seeks consumer‐based information via qualitative and quantitative methods regarding brand dimensions that hold meaning to consumers for branded services. The results indicate a number of key dimensions that are important to consumers for both goods and services, such as core product/service, experience with brand and image of user. Dimensions such as feelings and self‐image congruence were not found to be important, while word‐of‐mouth, servicescape, and employees held importance for branded services. The results also indicate significant relationships for brand dimension importance and brand associations, associations and attitudes, and attitudes and intentions. The results suggest important implications for brand managers, in addition to providing a platform on which future research can be built to further understand service branding.

Investigates retailers′ relative influence on consumers′ sequential decision‐making process of forming evoked sets and then making purchase decisions from the evoked sets. Describes a study in which consumers report on 23 durable goods grouped into three product categories. Evoked set sizes were smaller than those for previously studied convenience goods but larger than those suggested by recent reports on consumer durable purchases. The findings indicate that the influence of the retailer is higher in evoked set development than in the final purchase stage of consumer decision making and that the influence of the retailer on product choice varies significantly across different categories of durable products.