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THE original work of Mr. H. R. Ricardo in 1919 showed some of the technical advantages of using fuels of high anti‐knock value. Since this time the development of aero‐engines in respect of power output and economy has depended more upon the fuels available than upon any other factor. Considerable progress has been made in the direction of improving the anti‐knock value of petroleum spirits, which constitute the bulk of the fuel used in aviation throughout the world. However, until very recently this progress had not been very rapid, and as Mr. Ricardo showed, far greater improvements in anti‐knock value could be achieved by the use of other fuels such as benzol, toluol and alcohol. On the octane scale benzol and toluol have a blending value by the C.F.R. motor method of about 90 in concentrations up to 50 per cent; that of alcohol being about 105. This is shown in Fig. 1, from which it will be observed that two curves are given for ethyl alcohol, one being obtained under motor method conditions (mixture temperature 149 deg. C.) and the other with the same heat input as required for a normal aviation gasoline. By this means the additional advantage of the higher latent heat of the alcohol blends is shown. Neither benzol, toluol nor alcohol is produced in very large quantities, and moreover, in times of national emergency they are likely to be required for purposes other than for use as aviation fuels.

Travel bursaries enable staff to visit centres of excellence in order to study practice that is different or innovative. This study tour enabled visitors to study the practice in Provincial Forensic Assessment Units, Remand Centres and Prisons, in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada.

Aims to report on the 2004 Annual Conference of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST), which had the theme of Managing and Enhancing Information: Cultures and Conflicts. The conference was held in November in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews some of the events of the conference.

Finds that the hot topics of the conference were: Google, blogs, wikis, virtual reference and the Semantic Web.

A report that will be of interest to library and information management professionals.

Aims to report on the 2005 Annual Conference of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST), which had the theme “Sparking Synergies” in Charlotte. The conference was held in October in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Reviews some of the events of the conference.

Finds that the hot topics of the conference were: virtual reference, digital libraries, standards, and user interfaces and help documentation.

A report that will be of interest to library and information management professionals.

Reports on papers presented at "Humanizing Information Technology", the Annual Conference of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, held in California in October 2003.

THE library year ends in no spectacular way. If posterity has any cause to remember 1932 it will probably be as of a year when the doctrine of economy was raised to the rank of a divine dogma by a world of debtors and creditors all crazed with fear over international debts. A year of hurried committees producing reports for the reduction of expenditures, beneficient or otherwise; especially, in this last month, a report which if implemented would cripple almost every local activity, and set back the clock of social effort at least thirty years. The intention of such reports is no doubt good; their effects are yet to be seen. So far, the increased parsimony in national and local affairs seems only to have intensified unemployment without bettering the general situation. A reaction against all this is beginning, not a moment too soon, and all who care for the finer things in our civilisation will be compelled to stand against the more unsocial recommendations of these reports.

The sealing of samples purchased under the provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts has recently been on more than one occasion the subject of articles or letters in this journal. In November last, at a meeting of “The Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists,” Mr. H. Droop Richmond opened a formal discussion on the matter, but it cannot be said that the proceedings contributed much to our knowledge of what has taken place in the past, revealed any satisfactory remedy likely to be applicable in the future, or even definitely settled whether any change in our present practice was really required.