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Sensors and transducers form the “front‐ends”, without which many modern electronic systems could not function. Such components are implemented extensively in industrial control systems and energy industry installations (e.g. the oil and gas production and distribution industries). They are also essential components within OEM products such as tape recorders and VCRs. In most of these systems digital electronics is pervasive and considerable advantages are obtained where the sensor is provided complete with extensive electronic circuitry.

Reports on a US survey of state police (and highway patrol) training academies concerning policies for dealing with AIDS. Finds that although a majority of these organizations have implemented training, fewer agencies have adopted policies informing officers how to deal with HIV/AIDS sufferers, despite the existence of national standards and model policies. Finds that even fewer agencies have policies addressing the employment of staff with HIV/AIDS.

Uses statistics from FBI annual reports (1985‐1992) to compare felonious killings, analyzing and comparing with data for deaths of non‐state police officers. Finds that state police officers are feloniously killed in proportional numbers to non‐state officers, with both classes showing a recent downward trend. Calls for further research, by region or state, into the higher percentage of killings in Southern USA. Finds similar patterns in state and non‐state police officer killings but identifies some elements of divergence. Recommends that this data be used in police training to emphasize high‐risk factors such as routine traffic stops. Notes that domestic disputes do not cause a large number of police killings. Suggests that the wearing of body armor be made mandatory.

Air‐conditioning installations in buildings have been the focus of much criticism, with many commentators going so far as to propose a causal connection between sick buildings and air conditioning.

This paper examines the make‐up of the subcontract printed circuit board industry in the UK and identifies the geographical location of manufacturing sites together with the number of employees at these sites. It describes both the subcontract board‐producing and assembly sectors. The maps show the position and size of the sites, and these together with a histogram showing the frequency of ranges of employee numbers, provide an understanding of the structure of the industry. Higher density areas which have a greater incidence of PCB manufacturing activity are identified and compared. It is also shown that there is little consistent relationship between the positions of the major system providers and the PCB subcontract industry sites. Concern is expressed about the ability of the many smaller companies to compete in the supply of emerging assembly and substrate technologies.

Proposes World Thai Expert Link (WorldTEL), to exploit new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), or telematics, as a main means of creating social groups and thus task‐oriented workgroups in terms of motivational advantage and in a context of the psychology of interpersonal relations in a new geography of virtual space. Introduces the concept of “diaspora” communications in terms of the widespread distribution of special interest groups (e.g. experts, managers), highlighting related corporate communication issues, while concentrating on the Thai Expert diaspora. Touches on the critical philosophical issues and introduces a new relativity of space arising from the idea that, already, ICTs can enable spaces to move and people stay.

Discusses how an earlier article in this journal (Vol. 19 No. 3) examined the extent to which the spread of individual performance‐related pay (IPRP) and was associated with trade union derecognition. Builds on that analysis and uses the same set of data to examine whether this kind of payment system is associated with trade union disorganization, with the detachment of employees from union membership. Concludes that, while there is some evidence of IPRP leading to a reduced identification with trade unionism among employees, there is countervailing evidence of a fresh demand for union protection where IPRP is introduced. Case studies from local government, however, suggest that local union representatives have been ill‐equipped to meet this demand and have failed to exploit a diffuse sense of grievance about the operation of performance pay among local authority workers.

The question of health and safety at work is a central issue for trade unions. In Britain it is an area of concern where there were important legislative initiatives in the 1970s and 1980s, although surprisingly this has received relatively little attention in the debates about trade unionism. This neglect results in an aspect of union activity about which little is known. Explores through a detailed longitudinal study of a middle‐range engineering firm, from the late 1970s into the 1990s, the ways in which trade unions organize and act on health and safety questions. Argues that it is almost “routine” that workers face dangers and hazards at work, a central feature of the work and employment experience of most workers. However, this is often difficult to deal with as individual issues, or as matters which are subject to collective consideration. On the one hand, workers often appear to accept the dangers and hazards they face. On the other hand, managements are preoccupied with questions relating to production and finance, rather than the day‐to‐day problems faced by workers. This tension suggests that the future wellbeing of workers in unionized workplaces lies not so much with legislative provisions and rights at work, but in education and the organizing ability of workplace unions, raising and addressing what often seem like individualistic problems in collective ways.

As part of a global expansion programme, Alpha Metals have announced two senior personnel changes which will strengthen their sales operations both in the UK and in the USA.

Superconductivity has been around for most of this century. In 1911 Kamerlingh Onnes, a Dutch physicist, discovered that the resistance of mercury to electric current dropped effectively to zero at 4° Kelvin. This extremely low temperature — 452°F below zero — was able to be achieved by his production, three years earlier, of liquid helium.