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The twentieth century witnessed dramatic changes both in the population and in the family/kinship age-structure, which affected the prevalence, length, and form of relationships between grandparents and grandchildren. Although most European countries share similar trends, there are considerable national peculiarities which have an impact on the experience of grandchildhood.

This paper aims to report on a design intervention at the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) control room which resulted from a user-centred design approach intended to raise its usability.

Adapting a user-centred design approach, the observations and interviews revealed a number of weaknesses of the current control room design.

While most suggestions would require larger restructuring, the designers intervened with simple solutions resulting in the improved handling of many pieces of hardware. This study suggests that such design interventions hold the possibility to majorly improve the efficiency of the control room and thereby raise the potential outcome of such highly capital intense installations.

Thereby, this paper has immediate relevance to the astronomical field and the corresponding advancements in electronics, engineering and technology development.

Multinational companies are considered “driving forces” of globalization and “prime movers” of global sociation. Yet the problems, conflicts, and contradictions in the implementation of global strategies at the micro level – as well as the real possibility that such implementation will fail – are virtually ignored in macro‐sociological studies. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to address this neglect by focusing on a micro level examination of the contribution of expatriates in their interactive role as facilitators and managers, and, their informal social networks.

The interpretation of how global structures are concretely organized and sustained is based on case studies and interviews with German expatriates in Russia. The article examines two particular aspects: the contribution of expatriates in their interactive roles, on the one hand, and their informal social circles, on the other. The analytical framework draws on the concept of “global microstructures”.

Expatriates must maneuver between the conflicts and contradictions that surface from the three‐way relationship between head office, branch office, and the market, and their respective local institutionalized pressures. It is argued that such conflicts and contradictions cannot be resolved within the formal structure of organizations and that, as a result, they are shifted to the level of interpersonal interaction or to informal networks. Global reach as well as microsocial foundations therefore characterize the expatriate's action system.

Since the study is restricted to German expatriates in Russia, further comparative research is needed to sustain the findings for other institutional and cultural settings.

The findings raise awareness both of the contradictory demands expatriates are confronted with in their everyday work as well as their unique resources. They could contribute to better management training and preparation for expatriates prior to their move abroad.

The paper presents a micro‐sociological view on how systemic integration is actually achieved through a globally stretched as well as locally specified network of interaction. It could be valuable for international strategy definition as well as for personnel managers, and future expatriates themselves.

‘Soldering and Cleaning in Electronics’ international conference, including an exposition, took place in Brno on 12–13 October 1993. The conference was organised by SMT‐Info, together with the ISHM‐Czech and Slovak Chapter. The purpose of this common action was to bring together the professionals in surface mount technology and thick film technology. In the framework of the conference, in which 130 home and foreign delegates participated, the annual meeting of the ISHM‐Czech and Slovak Chapter took place.