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To solve the problems associated with heat generation as packaging density increases, especially with the use of VSLI devices, high density metal core PCBs have been developed. The manufacturing process is evaluated alongside that of conventional G‐10 boards, as are the electrical properties of the two types. Characteristic impedance and propagation delay figures are compared; back crosstalk and heat dissipation capability are investigated, the incorporation of the metal core being found to produce a considerable improvement in terms of heat conductivity.

Do accommodative or integrative components make contentious conflict behavior more effective? A questionnaire study shows that Japanese subordinates (N = 136) handle interpersonal conflicts with superiors more effectively to the extent that they complement high contending with high accommodating. By contrast, prior research shows that high contending by Dutch subordinates and superiors is more effective if complemented with high integrating. Together, these findings support the notion that the most effective conglomeration of contending with other components of conflict behavior is society‐specific.

This study aims to examine the effect of maternal food intake before and during pregnancy on birth weight.

As a prospective cohort study, a total of 585 pregnant women of first trimester, visiting Tehran Metropolitan Area public health centers and private sectors (clinics and hospitals), were interviewed at first phase, and pregestational dietary intake was obtained by a 168-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. At the third trimester, dietary recalls were collected via interview. Finally, birth weight information was extracted from health records. Univariate and multivariate analysis was used to explore the effect of maternal and nutritional factors on birth weight.

The results of the analysis show that direct measures of nutrition, measured as food group consumption at first and third trimester of pregnancy, had no significant effect on birth weight once the confounding factors were controlled (p > 0.05). Of control variables included in the analysis, twin pregnancy outcome (p = 0.000), pregnancy number (p = 0.04), prepregnancy weight (p = 0.004) (marginally significant) and gestational age (p = 0.000) (marginally significant) were associated with birth weight.

The results of this study show no significant role of mother’s nutrition during pregnancy on birth weight, while long-term nutrition outcomes such as prepregnancy weight had significant role. It seems the main reasons behind less important role of pregnancy nutrition on birth weight in this study include the following: food intake deficiency is not a major problem for participants, and cross-sectional data on food intake are less important on outcome of pregnancy weight than long-term nutritional status outcome variables such as mother’s weight and height. This finding should be addressed in public health planning for women at childbearing age.

This study investigates the relationship between personal values and feedback‐seeking behaviors. Feedbackseeking behaviors, or the way by which individuals in organizations actively seek information about their performance, has recently become an important research topic in the management literature. However, the large majority of this research has been conducted in the United States. This study aims to test the relationships between the personal values of a multinational sample and feedback‐seeking behaviors. An integrated set of hypotheses regarding the influence of values on feedback seeking are outlined and tested empirically using samples from Canada, China, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. As predicted, results indicate that significant aspects of feedback seeking were related to personal values. The perceived cost of feedback seeking, the clarity of the feedback from others, and the use of feedback‐seeking behaviors were all linked to personal values. The study also uncovered substantial variations in feedback‐seeking behaviors across nations. The implications of these findings for research on feedback‐seeking behaviors and for feedback practices are discussed.

Prior research demonstrates the importance of face in conflict situations. However, the direct relationship of face concerns to facework behaviors has limited empirical support. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among self‐, other‐, and mutual‐face concern and 11 facework strategies within Chinese, Japanese, German, and USA national cultures in recalled conflict situations.

The study was conducted by administering a survey to 768 participants from China, Japan, Germany, and the USA who recalled a conflict situation. Participants completed a self‐report questionnaire about their attitudes and conflict behaviors during a recalled conflict. Regression analysis and comparisons of correlations were utilized to examine relationships between face concerns and facework across the four cultures.

The major findings are: other‐face is associated with remain calm, apologize, private discussion, giving in and pretend positively and express emotion negatively; self‐face is associated with defend positively; mutual‐face is associated with aggression negatively; associations among face concern and facework strategies have some cultural differences, but are largely consistent for the pan‐cultural relationships among face and facework.

Provides evidence that many of the face/facework relationships are consistent across cultures; uses self‐report questionnaires to operationalize attitudes and behaviors about conflict which are subject to self‐serving bias.

The findings are useful for scholars and practitioners interested in intercultural communication, negotiation, and conflict. The findings suggest that training participants about face concerns and facework may be fruitful for improving conflict management. Such training needs to consider cultural differences.

The research endeavor directly identifies what relationships exist between face concern and facework. The link was assumed but has limited empirical support and none cross‐culturally.

This study seeks to examine the influence of national and religious identification on conflict styles among Christians and Muslims in Western Europe.

Data were gathered in France, Germany and the UK (n=909) in 2008. Conflict was measured using Oetzel's Conflict Style Measure. To test the hypothesis and answer the research questions, multiple regression models were constructed.

National and religious identification had a significant influence on conflict style preference. Muslims prefer more compromising and obliging conflict styles, while Christians prefer the dominating style. France is more dominating than Germany or the UK. Significant interactions revealed how individuals' religion and national identification influence conflict styles.

The use of self‐report instruments is the primary limitation.

Individuals' lived experiences have a significant influence on their conflict preference. The results in France, Germany and the UK point to varied ethnic and religious lived experiences.

The primary social impact of this paper is that it informs individuals and governments of the effects of religion on individuals' management of conflict. In the wake of the bombings of September 11, the 2005 French riots, and the 2005 London bombings, understanding the potential influence of religion on the management and conceptualization of conflict offers vast societal impacts for society at large.

There are few studies in conflict that examine the influence of religion and/or national identification. Moreover, this is one of the few studies to examine how Muslims manage conflict.

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a means of a high level of abstraction of a business’ levels which helps organise planning and taking better decisions. Evidence has shown that the scope of EA is not restricted to technology planning, but the lack of business strategy and processes is the most common problem of EA frameworks. Consequently, a challenge stems from the fact that the formulation of strategy should not be modelled separately but as a holistic approach. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contemporary problems in existing EA modelling frameworks concerning the optimisation of business strategy concepts and to identify areas for improvement.

Studies were spotted using a three phased literature review methodology which was suggested by Webster and Watson (2002).

Although, previous studies have attempted to use tools and models to visualise the technological business planning, limited previous study has focussed on modelling strategic planning. Due to issues concerning the lack of guidelines for modelling business strategy, a holistic approach is needed to be made.

The paper contributes to the existing literature by assessing the current EA modelling languages and their skilfulness to modelling strategy. Moreover, it contributes to the determination of difficulties in modelling, as well as to the examination of ease of use of language in the context of strategy. Second, this paper provides an overview to practitioners who would like to develop effective EA modelling projects, as well as to architects who try to solve the problems of business complexity.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how spirituality impacts on the consumption choices of consumers who are adopting a sustainable lifestyle.

This is a longitudinal study of urban-based consumers who are actively engaged in living sustainably. To effectively study these lifestyles, a multi-modal research design was used, which combined photo-elicitation, journaling, interviews and observational data.

Spirituality and material consumption are traditionally depicted as being in opposition, with research finding a decrease in conspicuous consumption when spirituality is enhanced. This research demonstrates sustainability-mindful consumers who are reversing this trend by enacting their deeply held ideological beliefs through their consumption choices. The merging of ideology with consumption elevates even mundane purchases to be acts of meaning and purpose.

With an unwillingness to compromise on their beliefs, there is a growing gap between these consumers’ demands and what the market is offering. The study found evidence of these consumers developing their own consumables in direct response to a lack of appropriate market alternatives.

This study demonstrates consumers for whom spirituality is at the centre of their consumption choices. Further, it provides evidence that supports Maslow’s theory of being motives (self-actualization and self-transcendence), in which people are motivated by the desire to fulfil their highest life potential. This research suggests opportunities for those businesses that are willing to meet consumers’ transcendent needs through more transparent and socially responsible practices.

The limited supply of fossil fuels, constant rise in the demand of energy and the importance of reducing greenhouse emissions have brought the adoption of renewable energy sources for generation of electrical power. One of these sources that has the potential to supply the world’s energy needs is the ocean. Currently, ocean in West African region is mostly utilized for the extraction of oil and gas from the continental shelf. However, this resource is depleting, and the adaptation of ocean energy could be of major importance. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possibilities of ocean-based renewable energy (OBRE) and analyze the economic impact of adapting an ocean energy using a thermal gradient (OTEC) approach for energy generation.

The analysis is conducted from the perspective of cost, energy security and environmental protection.

This study shows that adapting ocean energy in the West Africa region can significantly produce the energy needed to match the rising energy demands for sustainable development of Nigeria. Although the transition toward using OBRE will incur high capital cost at the initial stage, eventually, it will lead to a cost-effective generation, transmission, environmental improvement and stable energy supply to match demand when compared with the conventional mode of generation in West Africa.

This study will be helpful in determining the feasibility, performance, issues and environmental effects related to the generation and transmission of OBRE in the West Africa region.

The study will contribute toward analysis of the opportunities for adopting renewable energy sources and increasing energy sustainability for the West Africa coast regions.

The purpose of this paper is to compute the stress intensity factors (SIFs) of single edge interface crack for arbitrary material combinations and various relative crack lengths, and compare with those for the bonded plates subjected to tensile loading conditions. It aims to discuss the results of the shallow edge interface crack on the basis of the singular stress near the free‐edge corner without the crack.

In this study, the SIFs of interface crack in dissimilar bonded plates subjected to bending loading conditions are analyzed by the finite element method and a post‐processing technique. The use of post‐processing technique of extrapolation reduces the computational cost and improves the accuracy of the obtained result.

The empirical expressions are proposed for evaluating the SIFs of arbitrary material combinations.

Empirical functions can be used to obtain the SIFs for arbitrary material combinations for the bending loading conditions easily. It is very convenient for engineering application.