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This paper aims to present spot pattern welding (SPW) as a scanning strategy for laser-foil-printing (LFP) additive manufacturing (AM) in place of the previously used continuous pattern welding (CPW) (line-raster scanning). The SPW strategy involves generating a sequence of overlapping spot welds on the metal foil, allowing the laser to form dense and uniform weld beads. This in turn reduces thermal gradients, promotes material consolidation and helps mitigate process-related risks such as thermal cracking, porosity, keyholing and Marangoni effects.

304L stainless steel (SS) feedstock is used to fabricate test specimens using the LFP system. Imaging techniques are used to examine the melt pool dimensions and layer bonding. In addition, the parts are evaluated for residual stresses, mechanical strength and grain size.

Compared to CPW, SPW provides a more reliable heating/cooling relationship that is less dependent on part geometry. The overlapping spot welds distribute heat more evenly, minimizing the risk of elevated temperatures during the AM process. In addition, the resulting dense and uniform weld beads contribute to lower residual stresses in the printed part.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to thoroughly investigate SPW as a scanning strategy using the LFP process. In general, SPW presents a promising strategy for securing embedded sensors into LFP parts while minimizing residual stresses.

Employing the conceptual framework of play themes, this study examined and reported the product categories that presented branded entertainment the most, the different types and features of branded entertainment, and how various play themes were incorporated in branded entertainment in the context of Facebook brand profile pages. The major findings were consistent with the conceptual framework and literature on branded entertainment. Some unexpected findings were also provided and discussed. The line between entertainment and marketing communication has become increasingly blended or even erased during recent years, particularly in the Internet context. Researchers and practitioners are highly interested in the marketing potential of branded entertainment since it may boost brand awareness and build strong consumer‐brand relationships. Little academic research to date has been conducted to systematically study branded entertainment on the Internet. This study is a nascent attempt to understand branded entertainment in user‐centered social networking websites (SNWs), since young users are shifting away from other online media to SNWs. Branded entertainment may help marketers gather segmented yet fun‐seeking SNW users and deliver nonintrusive marketing messages to them.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

This paper examines the relationship between brand associations (anything in the consumer's mind linked to a specific team brand) and brand loyalty in US professional sport. To study the relationship between 13 brand association dimensions and brand loyalty, a survey of professional sport consumers was completed (N = 929). Results of multiple regression analysis revealed positive relationships between fan identification, escape, nostalgia, and product delivery, and brand loyalty. Negative relationships were found between tradition, star players, and peer group acceptance, and brand loyalty.

Recent research on group demography demonstrates that an increase in demographic diversity has both positive and negative effects on group effectiveness. These studies have linked increased group diversity with an increase in creative thinking and innovation, a decrease in intra‐group cohesion, and an increase in intragroup conflict. The cognitive processing framework proposed in this paper integrates these results into a coherent understanding of the effects of diversity on groups. The cognitive framework provides an explanation of group diversity effects and it suggests ways to minimize the negative effects of group diversity.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

In a recent article upon the improper handling of meat, the Daily Mail observed that if the public realised the condition of much of the meat delivered to them there would be such an outcry that the Ministry of Health would be compelled to issue definite regulations governing the transport and sale of meat. London butchers are not the worst offenders. Many of them conform voluntarily to standards of hygiene that are far better than in many provincial towns where the public health authorities are lax; but even in London it is possible, in every district, to see revolting methods of dealing with meat. The great Central Meat Market at Smithfield is under the control of the Corporation of the City of London. There are definite orders that meat porters must wear white overalls and caps in addition to various sanitary regulations as to the transport of meat. Many men disobey them with impunity. Among incidents seen there by a representative of the Daily Mail were :—Porters with filthy tweed caps and still filthier sacking carrying carcases on their shoulders; carcases of mutton lying unprotected on a muddy pavement; a scavenger sweeping up dust and manure just beneath an open cart loaded with mutton; a boy with muddy boots and grimy clothes sitting on a heap of meat in another open‐end cart. If the orders of the Ministry cannot be enforced at Smithfield it is not surprising that they are utterly ignored in other places. More than half the butchers' shops seen in a long tour of London neglected the most elementary precautions against the contamination of meat from dust and dirt. The following are some typical examples:—Meat exposed in trays on the pavement, with a marble shop wall behind absolutely black with dirt and mud splashes ; a road‐sweeping machine spraying dirt on to joints exposed without any covering on a stall in the gutter outside a butcher's shop; refuse from a dust‐cart blowing on to meat in another open‐fronted shop; cooked meats exposed in an open window in one of the busiest streets in London. The Ministry of Health, in an explanatory memorandum, expressly excluded cooked meat from the operation of any regulations. Yet, as Medical Officers of Health point out, cooked meat, since it is eaten as bought, is a more dangerous carrier of infection than raw meat. The Ministry, it is understood, “ hope to be able to issue regulations dealing with the sale of cooked meat some time,” but cannot say when or promise an early date. The whole fault, for which the public have to pay the toll of disease due to dirty meat, is in the vagueness of the regulations made by the Ministry a year ago.

The present data illustrate the effectiveness of utilizing theoretically guided models to develop consumer-based micro-segmentation strategies. The results provide marketers with a powerful discriminant function calculated from six variables to profile consumers and make informed decisions regarding promotional content and channel delivery to stimulate processing of marketing communication. The function also enables marketers to carve out casual, moderate, and loyal market segments with 74.3 per cent accuracy utilizing only 18 survey questions.

Hospitals are complex organisations accounting for most of total health expenditure. They play a critical role in providing care to patients with high levels of need. A key policy concern is that patients receive high quality care. Policymakers have attempted to influence hospital quality in different ways. This chapter focuses on three key policy levers: the extent to which hospital competition and higher hospital tariffs (of the DRG type) can stimulate quality, and whether non-profit hospitals provide higher or lower quality than for-profit ones. The chapter outlines key methodological challenges and selectively reviews the main findings from the literature. While several studies suggest that hospital competition reduces mortality rates for heart attack cases when hospital tariffs are fixed (under a DRG system), at this stage is unclear whether the effect holds across a range of quality indicators. Moreover, the limited literature on hospital mergers tends to suggest that hospital quality does not change following a merger. Finally, whether non-profit hospitals provide higher or lower quality varies across regions and institutional arrangements. The economic theory suggests several mechanisms with opposite effects on quality. To guide policy, future work needs to further unpack the various mechanisms through which these three key policy issues affect hospitals incentives.