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The purpose of this paper is to compare different powder metallurgy (PM) processes to produce ceramic parts through additive manufacturing (AM). This creates the potential to rapidly shape ceramic parts with an almost unlimited shape freedom. In this paper, alumina (Al₂O₃) parts are produced, as Al₂O₃ is currently the most commonly used ceramic material for technical applications.

Variants of the following PM route, with indirect selective laser sintering (indirect SLS) as the AM shaping step, are explored to produce ceramic parts: powder synthesis, indirect SLS, binder removal and furnace sintering and alternative densification steps.

Freeform-shaped Al₂O₃ parts with densities up to approximately 90 per cent are obtained.

The resulting Al₂O₃ parts contain inter-agglomerate pores. To produce higher-quality ceramic parts through indirect SLS, these pores should be avoided or eliminated.

The research is innovative in many ways. First, composite powders are produced using different powder production methods, such as temperature-induced phase separation and dispersion polymerization. Second, four different binder materials are investigated: polyamide (nylon-12), polystyrene, polypropylene and a carnauba wax – low-density polyethylene combination. Further, to produce ceramic parts with increased density, the following densification techniques are investigated as additional steps of the PM process: laser remelting, isostatic pressing and infiltration.

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a powder metallurgical (PM) additive manufacturing process whereby a three‐dimensional part is built in a layer‐wise manner. During the process, a high intensity laser beam selectively scans a powder bed according to the computer‐aided design data of the part to be produced and the powder metal particles are completely molten. The process is capable of producing near full density (∼98‐99 per cent relative density) and functional metallic parts with a high geometrical freedom. However, insufficient surface quality of produced parts is one of the important limitations of the process. The purpose of this study is to apply laser re‐melting using a continuous wave laser during SLM production of 316L stainless steel and Ti6Al4V parts to overcome this limitation.

After each layer is fully molten, the same slice data are used to re‐expose the layer for laser re‐melting. In this manner, laser re‐melting does not only improve the surface quality on the top surfaces, but also has the potential to change the microstructure and to improve the obtained density. The influence of laser re‐melting on the surface quality, density and microstructure is studied varying the operating parameters for re‐melting such as scan speed, laser power and scan spacing.

It is concluded that laser re‐melting is a promising method to enhance the density and surface quality of SLM parts at a cost of longer production times. Laser re‐melting improves the density to almost 100 per cent whereas 90 per cent enhancement is achieved in the surface quality of SLM parts after laser re‐melting. The microhardness is improved in the laser re‐molten zone if sufficiently high‐energy densities are provided, probably due to a fine‐cell size encountered in the microstructure.

There has been extensive research in the field of laser surface modification techniques, e.g. laser polishing, laser hardening and laser surface melting, applied to bulk materials produced by conventional manufacturing processes. However, those studies only relate to laser enhancement of surface or sub‐surface properties of parts produced using bulk material. They do not aim at enhancement of core material properties, nor surface enhancement of (rough) surfaces produced in a PM way by SLM. This study is carried out to cover the gap and analyze the advantages of laser re‐melting in the field of additive manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to assess a new powder metallurgy process to make alumina parts through indirect selective laser sintering (SLS). Density measurements, some geometrical assessments and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) microstructural analyses are performed after each stage of the process, allowing an objective overview to be provided of the challenges and possibilities for the processing of high density technical ceramic parts through SLS of ball milled alumina/polyamide powder agglomerates.

The powder production by ball milling, SLS, cold isostatic pressing (CIP) or quasi isostatic pressing (QIP), debinding and sintering (FS) stages of the powder metallurgy process were sequentially investigated.

Alumina parts with a density up to 94.1 per cent could be produced by a powder metallurgy process containing an SLS step. Microstructural investigation of the sintered samples reveals an alumina matrix with a grain size of ∼5 μm and two different kinds of pore morphologies, i.e. long elongated pores, which stem from the intergranular spacings during SLS, and intermediate pores, which likely originate from larger polyamide agglomerates in the ball milled powder. Also, QIPing at elevated temperatures is found to be a promising alternative for CIPing at room temperature to increase the final part density.

Cracks, long elongated pores and intermediate pores remained in the sintered parts. Homogenizing the microstructure of the parts through optimizing the composite starting powder, the deposition during SLS, the SLS parameters and QIPing parameters is essential to overcome these limitations.

Homogenizing the starting powder mixture and the microstructure of the SLS material is the key issue for producing ceramic parts through indirect SLS.

Indirect SLS of ceramics has hardly been reported and the combined use of SLS and QIPing is innovative in the field of indirect SLS of ceramics.

Despite the rising number of females in forensic psychiatry, research about their characteristics remains limited and is currently lacking in Belgium. Optimizing knowledge about the characteristics of these women will lead to a better understanding of this specific group. Therefore, the aim of the study was to gain insight into the characteristics of female forensic psychiatric patients in Flanders, Belgium.

A case file study was carried out in the forensic psychiatric hospital Sint-Jan-Baptist in Zelzate, Belgium. The files of female patients admitted in the period 2006–2017 were analysed (N = 82) based on a checklist including sociodemographic, mental health care and offence-related characteristics as well as historical risk factors.

The study revealed that female patients have been confronted with a large number of adverse experiences during both childhood and adulthood, were frequently diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and usually had an extensive mental health treatment history with many drop-outs. The majority of the female patients had committed violent offences towards relatives.

These findings are similar to those of other jurisdictions and highlight the importance of a gender-responsive treatment. This kind of treatment should include trauma-informed care, gender-sensitive risk-assessment and adapted versions of dialectical behavioural therapy and schema-focussed therapy. Additionally, treatment should focus on breaking the intergenerational transmission of violence and mental health problems by targeting parenting skills.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that scientifically scrutinized the detailed characteristics of female forensic psychiatric patients in Flanders, Belgium. Recommendations for gender-responsive treatment and directions for future research are discussed.

In recent years, brands have increasingly engaged in corporate political advocacy (CPA; also termed brand activism or corporate sociopolitical activity) by taking positions on polarizing sociopolitical issues. Recent experimental research suggests that consumers respond to CPA based on its alignment with their own values, and that it typically induces an overall negative response. This study aims to provide additional insights by exploring consumer brand perceptions following CPA.

An event study of 106 CPA events and weekly consumer brand perception data was conducted. A regression model was used to investigate the moderating effects of CPA effort, concurrence and the strength of the online protests evoked by the CPA.

The results show that CPA had a negative effect on consumers’ brand perceptions and that the effect was stronger for customers relative to non-customers. The negative effect was attenuated by CPA concurrence and amplified by effort. Additionally, online protests were driven by the CPA effort and had a strong negative effect on brand perception. Online protests were stronger in the past, and, in turn, the negative effects of CPA on brand perceptions have slightly weakened in recent years.

This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the role of online protests following CPA and distinguishing consumer and customer responses. This study also provides converging evidence of the moderating effects of effort and concurrence identified in previous studies.

WHERE are we going? The aim is to double our standard of living in the next 25 years and, as Sir Alexander Fleck, K.B.E., Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd., so aptly staled recently, ‘The man who knows where he is going is the one who is most likely to arrive.’ One might venture to expand this statement by adding that he is still more likely to arrive if the cluttering debris of inefficient methods and movements are cleared away.

ONE effect of sharing a common language with America is the imposition of a surfeit of books on matters like work study, in which our own literature is modest indeed. The almost simultaneous publication of two books with a common subject is therefore very unusual. They both deal with work measurement, one in forty‐seven chapters and the other in fifteen. Since books are not judged by a quantitative standard this is no guide to their respective merits.

Text book theories of motivation are abundant. Content theories such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two factor theory or process theories such as expectancy theory and reinforcement theory are practiced in most American companies. The key difference between the best managed companies and other companies is their methods of implementation in their particular environment. Black and Decker, Lincoln Electric, Honeywell, Walmart, Dupont and Phillip Van Heusen are seven of America's best managed companies who use creativity and innovation to motivate employees.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management is split into eight sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Distribution and supply chain management; Logistics; Air/road/rail transport; Retail/wholesale; Freight and delivery services; International; Purchasing; Accounting.