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Tin‐lead solder has been the primary method for connecting electronic components to printed circuit boards since near the time of its inception. Over the last 60 years, solder has proven a viable assembly method over that time and there is a deep understanding of the technology won over years of practice. However, the European Union has banned the use of lead in electronic solder, based on the misguided assumption that lead in electronic solder represented a risk to human health. Aims to describe a new approach to manufacturing electronic assemblies without the use of solder.

The paper discusses how the new era of lead‐free solder has resulted in a host of new problems for the electronics industry, many of which had not been experienced when elemental lead was included in the solder alloy.

Electronics assembly technology literature is rife with articles and papers citing the problems or challenges of lead‐free assembly and proposing new or improved solutions or investigative tool to better unearth the problems of lead‐free. The new process has come to be known as the Occam process, named to honor the fourteenth century English philosopher and logician, William of Occam, whose rigorous thinking and arguments in favor of finding the simplest possible solution served as the inspiration and catalyst for the new approach.

The paper describes a new approach to manufacturing electronic assemblies without the use of solder.

In recent years attention has turned from conventional ‘von Neumann’ computers to totally new computer architectures. Many surveys of these developments are available and a number of conferences have been held on the topic. One extremely interesting development is the transputer, or so‐called computer on a chip, designed and developed by the British company, Inmos. This exciting innovation has been backed by the SERC, who have launched an initiative entitled ‘Engineering Applications of Transputers’. Under the terms of this initiative, it is possible for British academics to obtain short term loans of transputer equipment, in order to evaluate it and to prepare more extensive research proposals, which would exploit the transputer. The authors obtained a loan of a single transputer board, for 8 months and were able to develop some programs for finite element analysis and for discrete vortex modelling of fluid flows. This paper describes the work carried out on finite elements. The purpose of the paper is to list and describe some simple working finite element programs written in Occam and to draw attention to their novel features.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel method for the manufacture of aluminum rigid‐flex circuit assemblies without the use of solder.

The approach involves the use of an aluminum base material and the embedding of components, while avoiding the use of solder in the assembly process.

The new methods and proposed structures address the key manufacturing problems that have vexed users for many years, while simultaneously addressing the challenge of thermal management. They also offer the advantage of enhanced reliability by avoiding the need for high temperatures used in soldering.

While examples of the process and its benefits have been demonstrated, further work is ongoing to expand applicability.

The paper begins with an overview of previous work in this area and then moves on to what is currently being implemented via the new technology. A novel method is described for the creation of potentially more cost‐effective and reliable rigid flex assemblies, which would be suitable for use in a wide range of products, from consumer to high‐reliability automotive, military and aerospace.

This study aims to highlight practical considerations to be made when choosing an eBook package for an institution. Many academic libraries purchase eBooks bundled in packages, either as a time- or cost-saving measure or to build a new subject collection.

The authors searched the Web sites of six major publishers for information on eBook packages, including subject coverage, digital rights management restrictions and usage allowances. The analysis also includes a potential overlap between related subject collections and the ability to purchase titles individually.

Usage allowances, digital rights management restrictions and purchasing options vary considerably from publisher to publisher. There was title overlap between related subject packages found in some publishers. In response to user preferences and needs, many publishers are loosening restrictions on their eBook content, which make purchasing packages a more attractive option for libraries.

The landscape of eBook publishing is rapidly changing, which can complicate purchasing decisions. The detailed comparison provided by this study can be used to assist collections developers in making purchasing decisions best suited to their library and avoiding pitfalls such as duplicate purchases.

A simple discrete vortex program written in the Occam language for implementation on transputers is presented. The programming methodology and logic are described, with an emphasis on the use of parallel features. Listings of procedures discussed in the text are given.