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The purpose of this paper is to identify and complete the existing lack of quantitative data at the crossroads between organizational support (OS) practices and project management success in global projects (GPs) and discuss implication of the results in perspective of the theory–practice gap.

Building on classical organizational theory and GP knowledge areas, a survey addressing GP practitioners was designed. This paper focuses on OS practices as success factors and addresses a subset of the survey (1,170 respondents across 74 countries).

OS practices included in the study were found to have high importance for managerial success. OS practices for selection and training of team members show significant correlation with project efficiency but have low adaptation in many organizations. Statistically significant correlations were found to be weaker than expected, indicating that the relation between OS practices (as success factors) and project efficiency (as success criteria) is more complex than expected.

The work constitutes opinion-based research and is vulnerable to variations in OS practices and the definition of success in different organizations and industries. The granularity level of the theoretical framework brought about relative high-level survey questions and may impact the applicability of the results.

To improve the efficiency of GPs, better implementation of OS practices for selection processes and training personnel has been suggested.

The theoretical alignment of classical organizational variables with GP knowledge areas and associated practices provides an original approach to the “theory–practice gap” discourse.

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 sintering (SLS) is one of the most rapidly growing rapid prototyping techniques (RPT). This is mainly due to its suitability to process almost any material: polymers, metals, ceramics (including foundry sand) and many types of composites. The material should be supplied as powder that may occasionally contain a sacrificial polymer binder that has to be removed (debinded) afterwards. The interaction between the laser beam and the powder material used in SLS is one of the dominant phenomena that defines the feasibility and quality of any SLS process. This paper surveys the current state of SLS in terms of materials and lasers. It describes investigations carried out experimentally and by numerical simulation in order to get insight into laser‐material interaction and to control this interaction properly.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current state of the art manufacturing techniques using sand molds for the casting industry by the means of additive manufacturing (AM). In particular, this review will cover two families of 3D printing in regards to sand mold fabrication.

This paper will discuss the sand casting manufacturing processes of AM by binder jetting (3D printing) and selective laser sintering. Scientific articles, patents and case studies are analyzed. Topics ranging from the technology types to the economic implications are covered.

The review investigates new factors and methods for mold design, looking at mechanical properties and cost analysis as influenced by material selection, thermal characteristics, topological optimization and manufacturing procedure. Findings in this study suggest that this topic lacks vigorous scientific research and that the case studies by manufacturers thus far are not useful.

As demonstrated by the limited data from previous published studies, a more comprehensive and conclusive analysis is needed due to the lack of interest and resources regarding the AM of sand molds.

This study is a useful tool for any researchers with an interest in the field of AM of sand molds.

Key perspectives are proposed.

This review highlights current gaps in this field. The review goes beyond the scientific articles by curating patents and professional case studies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and report the impact of glass frit variation in silver thick film pastes used as surface conductors in low temperature co‐fired ceramics technology (LTCC), especially on the properties such as warpage of LTCC associated with conductors, microstructure of the fired thick films, sheet resistance and adhesion on LTCC.

Silver thick film paste compositions were formulated by changing the silver glass frit ratio. The compatibility of these formulated paste compositions with LTCC (DP 951AX) substrate were evaluated. The properties such as microstructure developments, the change in sheet resistance, warpage of LTCC substrate with respect to glass frit ratio of the developed silver films on LTCC were evaluated.

The results reveal that the glass frit percentage used in paste formulation is equally responsible for the disturbance in the properties such as microstructure, warping and electrical properties of the fired thick films on LTCC. It was observed that the paste composition, in particular sample SP10B containing the highest glass frit percentage, is compatible with the LTCC tape under processing conditions. The sheet resistance value in the range of 5 mΩ/□ and the fired films showed very good adhesion (3.95 N), irrespective of the glass frit composition.

The paper provides useful evaluations of properties such as microstructure developments, changes in sheet resistance and warpage of LTCC substrate with respect to glass frit ratio of the developed silver pastes on LTCC.

Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

James March's highly influential article on organisational learning underpins the studies of exploration and exploitation collected in this issue. What is less well known is that March's article, which is based on a computer simulation of collective and individual learning, reflects a real-life experiment in exploration and exploitation that he, in large part, designed and conducted when he was the new ‘boy Dean’ of the School of Social Sciences in the University of California at Irvine between 1964 and 1969. This chapter tells this story and then uses it to critique March's original model. It argues that March's model, which was probably the first simulation of an organisation learning, worked to constitute rather than model the phenomenon of organisational learning. The Irvine story is also important because it provides the context for what constitutes knowledge in organisation theory, and because it highlights the personal trauma and distress that can accompany the creative play of exploration.

The interaction between the silver powder and organic vehicle largely determines the rheological behavior of silver conductive paste. This study aims to prepare silver conductive paste with an organic vehicle system consisting of ethyl cellulose (EC) and terpineol/butyl carbitol acetate solvent mixtures. The study also aims to measure the rheological behaviors of the silver conductive pastes with different solvent mixtures, EC molecular weights and silver content, to investigate the interaction among the polymer, solvent and silver powder and determine the main factors affecting the thixotropic index and maximum silver content.

The rheological behaviors of silver conductive pastes with different solvent mixtures, EC molecular weights and silver content were investigated using viscometer.

The shear thinning became significant with increasing EC molecular weight. The EC solvation with higher molecular weight in solvent is better than that of EC with lower molecular weight. This leads to a stronger interaction between the silver powder and EC with higher molecular weight and consequently good silver particle dispersion. The relative viscosity of silver conductive paste at 10 s⁻¹ increases significantly with increasing silver content, but the relative viscosity at 100 s⁻¹ is much less sensitive to the silver content. The viscosities at low and high shear rate can be increased by increasing the silver content and EC molecular weight, respectively.

The interaction among the polymer, solvent and silver powder was investigated for the silver paste with high solid content. The main factors affecting the viscosities at high and low shear rates, thixotropic index and maximum silver content were determined.

The usage of additive manufacturing (AM) technology in industries has reached up to 50 per cent as prototype or end-product. However, for AM products to be directly used as final products, AM product should be produced through advanced quality control process, which has a capability to be able to prove and reach their desire repeatability, reproducibility, reliability and preciseness. Therefore, there is a need to review quality-related research in terms of AM technology and guide AM industry in the future direction of AM development.

This paper overviews research progress regarding the QC in AM technology. The focus of the study is on manufacturing quality issues and needs that are to be developed and optimized, and further suggests ideas and directions toward the quality improvement for future AM technology. This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 starts by conducting a comprehensive review of the literature studies on progress of quality control, issues and challenges regarding quality improvement in seven different AM techniques. Next, Section 3 provides classification of the research findings, and lastly, Section 4 discusses the challenges and future trends.

This paper presents a review on quality control in seven different techniques in AM technology and provides detailed discussions in each quality process stage. Most of the AM techniques have a trend using in-situ sensors and cameras to acquire process data for real-time monitoring and quality analysis. Procedures such as extrusion-based processes (EBP) have further advanced in data analytics and predictive algorithms-based research regarding mechanical properties and optimal printing parameters. Moreover, compared to others, the material jetting progresses technique has advanced in a system integrated with closed-feedback loop, machine vision and image processing to minimize quality issues during printing process.

This paper is limited to reviewing of only seven techniques of AM technology, which includes photopolymer vat processes, material jetting processes, binder jetting processes, extrusion-based processes, powder bed fusion processes, directed energy deposition processes and sheet lamination processes. This paper would impact on the improvement of quality control in AM industries such as industrial, automotive, medical, aerospace and military production.

Additive manufacturing technology, in terms of quality control has yet to be reviewed.

The Bodleian Binders Book contains nearly 150 pages of seventeenth century library records, revealing information about the binders used by the library and the thousands of bindings they produced. The purpose of this paper is to explore a pilot project to survey and record bindings information contained in the Binders Book.

A sample size of seven pages (91 works, 65 identifiable bindings) to develop a methodology for surveying and recording bindings listed in the manuscript. To create a successful product that would be useful to bindings researchers, it addressed questions of bindings terminology and the role of the library in the knowledge creation process within the context that text encoding is changing the landscape of library functions. Text encoding formats were examined, and a basic TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) transcription was produced. This facilitates tagging of names and titles and the display of transcriptions with text images.

Encoding was found not only to make the manuscript content more accessible, but to allow for the construction of new knowledge: characteristic Oxford binding traits were revealed and bindings were matched to binders. Plans for added functionality were formed.

This research presents a “big picture” analysis of Oxford bindings as a result of text encoding and the foundation for qualitative and statistical analysis. It exemplifies the benefits of interdisciplinary methods – in this case from Digital Humanities – to enhance access to and interpretation of specialist materials and the library's provenance record.