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This study aims to enhance merging of additive manufacturing (AM) techniques with powder injection molding (PIM). In this way, the prototypes could be 3D-printed and mass production implemented using PIM. Thus, the surface properties and mechanical performance of parts produced using powder/polymer binder feedstocks [material extrusion (MEX) and PIM] were investigated and compared with powder manufacturing based on direct metal laser sintering (DMLS).

PIM parts were manufactured from 17-4PH stainless steel PIM-quality powder and powder intended for powder bed fusion compounded with a recently developed environmentally benign binder. Rheological data obtained at the relevant temperatures were used to set up the process parameters of injection molding. The tensile and yield strengths as well as the strain at break were determined for PIM sintered parts and compared to those produced using MEX and DMLS. Surface properties were evaluated through a 3D scanner and analyzed with advanced statistical tools.

Advanced statistical analyses of the surface properties showed the proximity between the surfaces created via PIM and MEX. The tensile and yield strengths, as well as the strain at break, suggested that DMLS provides sintered samples with the highest strength and ductility; however, PIM parts made from environmentally benign feedstock may successfully compete with this manufacturing route.

This study addresses the issues connected to the merging of two environmentally efficient processing routes. The literature survey included has shown that there is so far no study comparing AM and PIM techniques systematically on the fixed part shape and dimensions using advanced statistical tools to derive the proximity of the investigated processing routes.

The study examined the personal information management (PIM) challenges encountered by faculty in six universities in Ghana, their information refinding experiences and the perceived role of memory. The study tested the hypothesis that faculty PIM performance will significantly differ when the differences in the influence of personal factors (age, gender and rank) on their memory are considered.

The study was guided by a sample survey design. A questionnaire designed based on themes extracted from earlier interviews was used to collect quantitative data from 235 faculty members from six universities in Ghana. Data analysis was undertaken with a discrete multivariate Generalized Linear Model to investigate how memory intermediates in the relationship between age, gender and rank, and, refinding of stored information.

The paper identified two subfunctions of refinding (Refinding 1 and Refinding 2) associated with self-confidence in information re-finding, and, memory (Memory 1 and Memory 2), associated with the use of complimentary frames to locate previously found and stored information. There were no significant multivariate effects for gender as a stand-alone variable. Males who were aged less than 39 could refind stored information irrespective of the memory class. Older faculty aged 40–49 who possess Memory 1 and senior lecturers who possess Memory 2 performed well in refinding information. There was a statistically significant effect of age and memory; and rank and memory.

This study was limited to faculty in Ghana, whereas the study itself has implications for demographic differences in PIM.

Identifying how memory mediates the role of personal factors in faculty refinding of stored information will be necessary for the efforts to understand and design systems and technologies for enhancing faculty capacity to find/refind stored information.

Understanding how human memory can be augmented by technology is a great PIM strategy, but understanding how human memory and personal factors interplay to affect PIM is more important.

PIM of faculty has been extensively examined in the literature, and limitations of memory has always been identified as a constraint. Human memory has been augmented with technology, although the outcome has been very minimal. This study shows that in addition to technology augmentation, personal factors interplay with human memory to affect PIM. Discrete multivariate Generalized Linear Model applied in this study is an innovative way of addressing the challenges of assimilating statistical methodologies in psychosocial disciplines.

To take full advantage of the unprecedented availability of information on networks and digital systems, professionals need to be comfortable finding information relevant to the tasks at hand. This study was conducted at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to investigate scientists’ personal information management (PIM) practices.

A qualitative research approach was used. Critical incidents were collected to probe information about PIM activities. The PIM-related critical incidents were gathered through extended conversations in the form of semi-structured interviews.

Extended conversations revealed that scientists were aware of the importance of information organization and management. They collected and received information from various sources regarding their tasks and saved part of the information for future use. Scientists organized saved information into named folders using the categories of projects, clients and planning. The files were updated by regular deletion and cleaning. Different strategies were used to retrieve the information. These included searching by keywords and file names, and browsing using the folder structure. Scientists have used various PIM tools. They reported that time pressure, information overload and anxiety due to information fragmentation were major challenges in PIM.

This study recommends a compilation of guidelines to assist scientists in the efficient management of personal information. As there are only a few studies currently available in the literature on scientists’ PIM, this study makes a valuable contribution to the relevant professional literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to improve the effectiveness of public participation in public infrastructure megaprojects (PIMs). Conflicts among stakeholders and uncertainty disrupt the success of PIMs when public participation is ineffective.

Secondhand data are collected to study the effectiveness of public participation in the Beijing–Shenyang High-Speed Rail (China) and the California High-Speed Rail (USA). The employed research method is an inductive case study.

Ineffective public participation can cause schedule and cost overruns and increase uncertainty in PIMs. The ambiguity of meaningful public participation, ineffective participatory approaches and overburden of public participation in environmental impact assessment are the causes of ineffective public participation in PIMs.

Public participation has become an essential part in PIMs management. This study looks at the understanding of the relationship between public participation and the success of PIMs.

Legislative bodies should perfect the laws to guarantee meaningful public participation. Lead agencies should adopt additional effective participatory approaches to solicit public comments and identify critical voices. A dispute solution mechanism is necessary to solve public participation disputes in PIMs in practice.

Stakeholder and uncertainty management are important to the success of PIMs. This study reveals methods to improve the effectiveness of public participation to alleviate the conflicts among stakeholders and reduce uncertainty in PIMs.

This paper aims to explore the potential of personal information management (PIM) and reference management. The contribution focuses on collaboration: the issues that need to be addressed in planning, the human component in collaborative information seeking, and issues for research by librarians.

The paper is written against the background of research from information behaviour, PIM, collaborative information seeking and collaborative work.

There is growing emphasis on collaboration in information seeking, learning and work. PIM and reference management practices and their supporting software can greatly support this. There are, however, many planning/conceptual issues as well as the human component to recon with.

Although much has been published on developments in PIM and reference management, there is limited coverage of collaboration and PIM and reference management.

Perhaps no strategic planning model has generated the controversy that PIMS has. Although some of the critics' charges may be justified, the authors find that the model is still valid and extremely valuable.

This column aims to explore the potential of personal information management (PIM) and reference management. It seeks to focus on how librarians can stay alert on new developments regarding PIM and related issues such as plagiarism, reference techniques, information literacy and information behaviour. It also tries to stimulate interest in looking for hidden gems that can be of value in their careers as well as those of library users by considering the innovative and creative use of PIM, e.g. by also monitoring the potential of mind maps and concept maps.

The column is written against the background of research from information behaviour, PIM, information curation, alerts on software development and related issues, and also social bookmarking.

There are many ways in which librarians can stay abreast of what is happening with PIM, reference management and related issues. There are also many things to note such as improvement of the software, uses of PIM and reference management, teaching skills in PIM and reference management, ways of sharing information, linking to innovation and creativity, and linking to information literacy and information behaviour.

Although much has been published on developments in PIM and reference management, the author is not aware of other attempts to link alerting services on PIM and reference management to go beyond developments in software.

The thoughtful responses by McCabe and Chussil to a previously published article entitled “PIMS: Fact or Folklore?” by Lubatkin and Pitts have intensified the controversy that surrounds the PIMS program. At issue is the claim of the Strategic Planning Institute (SPI) that it has uncovered universal laws of the marketplace through a cross‐sectional analysis of over 2,000 varied businesses. We contend that the primary source of controversy surrounding the PIMS project arises from the differences between two prevailing perspectives of the marketplace. For the sake of convenience, we will refer to one as the “PIMS perspective” and the other as the “policy perspective.”

The purpose of this paper is to explore graduate students’ behaviour and perspectives regarding personal digital document management, as well as insights into the connections between memory and document re-finding.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 graduate students studying information and library science. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analysed using open and axial coding.

Participants were overall positive about the importance of managing their digital documents but they had little knowledge about currently available personal information management (PIM) tools. Characteristics of digital documents frequently used by participants to re-find documents include name, subject, storage location, creation time, keyword, document title, document file type, user’s location and recency. For participants the act of organizing documents is itself a memory aid. Participants’ recommendations for PIM tools include support for information organization and simplistic visualizations that can be customized, e.g., using colour to highlight folders or documents.

The number of study participants was relatively small, and further studies should examine a more diverse participant sample, e.g., to investigate whether tasks influence re-finding. Further studies should also examine PIM with respect to other types of devices and services, including tablets and cloud services.

The results include recommendations for future PIM tool design.

This research identifies documents’ characteristics that participants use to re-find documents and the importance of these characteristics. It also examines the usage and expectations of PIM tools in everyday PIM.

The aim of this study is to investigate the personal information management (PIM) practices of students and its implications for library services at the University of Ghana.

This was a survey research, and questionnaires were administered to 150 students across their various programs of study. Questionnaire design was based on the literature reviewed and research objectives.

Results showed that, format, skills, size of collection, memory, and habits accounted for diverse PIM practices among students. Among the major drawbacks were inadequate skills, information fragmentation, inappropriate habits, and imperfect memory. These aspects when improved, would enhance the effectiveness of students' PIM practices tremendously.

The study adopted the PIM framework developed by James and Teevan and focused on the core activities of PIM namely: keeping, organizing and re‐finding. In order to provide a fair rounded picture of the PIM situation of students, it is expected that subsequent studies would cover the remaining variables notably‐ information maintenance; selection and implementation of a scheme; managing privacy and the flow of information; matters of security; measurement and evaluation; and making sense of things.

The study concludes that, through comprehensive information literacy training programmes offered by libraries; student‐oriented PIM researches; the formation of PIM clubs spearheaded by librarians and supported by university administrators, benevolent organizations and individuals, the PIM practices of students can be made better. PIM efforts should aim at shaping, improving, integrating and supporting students' PIM habits, skills, personal information collections and memories respectively.

PIM practices of students is among the least explored topics in the field of library and information studies in Ghana. This research would not only create awareness about PIM practices, but would also draw attention to the efforts that can be made to improve PIM practices of students in Ghana.