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Peel adhesion of an epoxy filleting compound and Parylene C conformal coating to plasma treated, solder mask coated substrates and the apparent contact angle of water on the treated surfaces were evaluated. No significant improvement was achieved in the case of the epoxy filleting adhesive for most solder mask coatings studied. On the other hand, Parylene C peel adhesion significantly increased after substrates were treated with air plasma and reached the level of Silane coupling agent primed substrates. This was in contrast to the decrease in Parylene adhesion to argon plasma treated substrates in comparison with the non‐treated substrates. This was related to the oxygen functionalities created on the surfaces by the air plasma versus the ablative nature of the argon plasma. No clear correlation was found between peel strength and the water contact angle in the case of the epoxy adhesive, while for the Parylene conformal coating peel strength achieved its maximum value at the middle of the contact angle range which resulted from the pretreatments applied in this study. It is concluded that air plasma is a very efficient solder mask pretreatment for Parylene conformal coating that can replace Silane primer. Also, if a calibration curve is established for each solder mask‐adhesive and solder mask‐coating system, the apparent water contact angle can serve as a convenient quality control tool for printed circuit finishing processes.

Cultural perceptions of the zombie have shifted dramatically in the twenty-first century. No longer only associated with anxiety and fear, zombie fiction often appeals to pleasure. One source of pleasure comes from ludification, the process whereby game-like principals and gameful elements shape non-game activities. Increasingly, print fiction borrows from games and uses ludic elements to shape narratives. As such, it has become embedded in convergence culture, a dynamic media ecology where top down processes compete with bottom up processes. This chapter argues that ludified zombie fiction brings this media ecology into sharp relief, revealing ways that gamification and ludification are just as apt to reinforce capitalist processes of commodification and neo-liberal ideologies of power as they are to dismantle them. Through a close reading of three contemporary zombie fictions, this chapter exposes tensions and contradictions in ludification. The dead body of the zombie, the nihilistic landscape of the post-zombie apocalypse and the futility of human endeavour in the face of walking death are all elements of genre that undercut the gamified pursuit of external utility-oriented goals. The chapter explores these knotty ethical and ideological problems, not only considering the zombie apocalypse as a gameful space for rethinking social organisation, but also recognising it as a platform for the promotion of neo-liberal ideologies that perpetuate existing power inequalities through coercive disciplinary regimes.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new perspective on urban tourist motivations by applying the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model to help to understand how tourists make decisions about which destinations to visit.

This study was based on 30 one-hour-long structured interviews with visitors to Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. Respondents were asked to express their preferences between different pull-factor motives for their visit, using Saaty’s scale, and further qualitative data were collected to examine these preferences in more depth.

The results of this study indicate that the most relevant criteria and thus predominant factors in motivation for visits to Ljubljana are the Cultural and Nightlife pull factors, while religious and business motives are the lowest ranked factors. The paper argues that the results show the value of applying the AHP model to understand the role of pull factors in urban tourism destination choice.

As a single-destination case study, it is important that the findings of this research are evaluated against similar studies in other cities. A limitation of this research is the fact that sub motives within major groups of pull-factor motives have not been explored in this study and this should be the subject of future, more detailed research.

This research shows the value of applying an under-used methodology to understand urban tourist motivations and knowledge gained through applying this method will be of value to destination marketing organisations as well as to researchers conducting future studies.

Improving milling quality is expected to improve the quality of domestic rice and hence the competitiveness of Uganda's rice industry. Therefore, this study aims to assess the determinants of four aspects of milling, namely, choice of milling technology, millers' perceptions of the importance of paddy quality attributes, milling return and milling capacity.

Multinomial logit, semi-nonparametric extended ordered probit, linear regression and additive nonparametric models are applied to cross-sectional data obtained from a sample of 196 rice millers.

Physical, economic, institutional, technological and sociodemographic factors are found to be important determinants of the four aspects of milling. Physical factors include the distance of the mill from major town and availability of storage space at the milling premises, while economic factors include milling charge and backward integration of miller into paddy production. Contracting and use of a single-pass mill are important institutional and technological factors, respectively, and miller's household size, age, gender and education are the key sociodemographic variables.

The study's originality lies in its scope, especially in terms of its breadth. Without compromising the needed analytical rigor, it focuses on four aspects of milling that are critical to improving the marketing of Uganda's rice. In doing so, it provides a holistic understanding of this segment of the value chain and offers specific recommendations for improving the marketing of Uganda's rice.

Improving the competitiveness of East Africa's rice industries necessitates increased and viable production of rice of the quality desired by consumers. This paper aims to understand consumer preferences for rice quality attributes in Uganda and Kenya to inform the countries' rice breeding programs and value chain development interventions.

Rice samples are obtained from retail markets in various districts/counties across the two countries. The samples are analyzed in a grain quality laboratory for the rice's physicochemical characteristics and the resulting data are used to non-parametrically estimate hedonic price functions. District/county dummies are included to account for potential heterogeneity in consumer preferences.

Ugandan consumers are willing to pay a price premium for rice with a relatively high proportion of intact grains, but the consumers discount chalkiness. Kenyan consumers discount high amylose content and impurities. There is evidence of heterogeneity in consumer preferences for rice in Mbale, Butaleja and Arua districts of Uganda and in Kericho and Busia counties of Kenya.

The study makes a novel contribution to the literature on consumer preferences for rice in East Africa by applying a hedonic pricing model to the data generated from a laboratory analysis of the physicochemical characteristics of rice samples obtained from the market. Rather than base our analysis on consumers' subjective sensory assessment of the quality characteristics of rice, standard laboratory methods are used to generate the data, which enables a more objective assessment of the relationship between market prices and the quantities of attributes present in the rice samples.

The insulation resistance of polyurethane and poly (para dichloroxylelene) conformal coating was characterised following exposure to hygrothermal environment. Three types of test specimens were used—the standard Y type pattern, the ‘comb’ pattern and the ‘twin’ conductor type. The PCB with the comb pattern has been found to be the best testing specimen for the evaluation and comparison of conformal coating materials and processes. Using this type of PCB, the effects of predrying and thickness in polyurethane coated PCBs have been studied. While predrying has proved to be beneficial for preventing degradation of insulation resistance upon exposure to hygrothermal conditions, only marginal improvement of resistance is obtained when the polyurethane coating thickness has been doubled from 50 to 100 µm. Tin‐plated copper exhibited enhanced insulation resistance compared with bare copper for both polyurethane and polyxylelene coatings. Finally, a thin polyxylelene coating has demonstrated improved moisture barrier properties compared with a thicker polyurethane coating as determined from the resistance degradation with exposure duration to heat and humidity.

The purpose of this study is to address the issue of technology equipment formerly dedicated to the process of 4- and even 5-inch photovoltaic cells and whose use has become critical with the evolution of silicon wafer size standards (M2–M10). Fortunately, the recent concept of 6'' half-cut cell with its many advantages appears promising insofar as it offers the possibility of further extend the use of costly, still operational process equipment, but doomed to obsolescence.

In the background of a detailed Al-BSF process, the authors show how to experimentally adapt specific accessories and arrange 6” half-wafers to enable the upgrade of a complete industrial process of silicon solar cells at a lower cost. Step by step, the implementation of the processes for the two wafer sizes (4” wafers and 6” half wafers) is compared and analyzed in terms of performance and throughput.

Globally, the same process effectiveness is observed for both types of wafers with slightly better sheet resistance uniformity for the thermal diffusion carried out on the half wafers; however, the horizontal arrangement of the wafer carriers in the diffusion and the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition tubes limits the thermal balance regarding the total number of cells processed per batch.

In terms of the development of prototypes on a preindustrial scale, this paves the way to further continue operating outdated equipment for high-performance processes (passivated emitter and rear contact, Tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon)), while complying with current standards for silicon wafers up to M10 format.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of informal help at the workplace and identify its determinants and outcomes. With an agency model, a multidisciplinary framework is proposed to understand how the “managerial” logic that shapes formal communication combines with the social logic underlying informal help in the context of organisational changes.

With a sample of 12,475 employees of the French private sector, switching models estimate the determinants and impacts of informal help on wages and effort.

The results of this paper show that informal help networks reproduce discriminatory stereotypes, and they are driven by the firm’s instability, organisational design of workstation and social mechanisms. When employees help other workers, they intensify their effort. It pays to be helped, as recipients of help receive a wage premium. Results also suggest the existence of free-riding behaviours in informal help when workers do not reciprocate help

This approach of work organisation focuses on the analysis of productive interdependencies and social interactions at the workplace. The link between the formal organisation and the informal social structure is analysed with the concept of informal help. It also highlights the social dimension of performance.

This paper investigates how outcomes-based performance management (PM) regimes operate in the partnerships known as social impact bonds (SIBs), which bring together partners from the public, private and third sectors. The findings are analysed in the light of the different cultural world views of the partners.

Published evaluations of 25 UK SIBs were analysed by a qualitative multiple case study approach. This study of secondary sources permitted the analysis of a wide range of SIB partnerships from near contemporary accounts.

Outcomes frameworks led to rigorous PM regimes that brought the cultural differences between partners into focus. While partnerships benefitted from the variety of viewpoints and expertise, the differences in outlook simultaneously led to strains and tensions. In order to mitigate such tensions, some stakeholders conformed to the outlooks of others.

The need to achieve a predefined set of payable outcomes embeds a “linear” view of intervention and effect on the SIB partners and a performance regime in which some partners dominate. In designing accountability systems for partnerships such as SIBs, commissioners should consider how the performance regime will affect the interests of all stakeholders.

This study adds to the cultural theory literature which has rarely considered three-way partnerships embodying hierarchical, individualist and egalitarian world views and how performance regimes operate in such partnerships. Three-way partnerships are thought to be rare and short-lived, but this empirical study shows that they can be successful albeit over a predefined lifespan.