Innovations

Citation

Rudall, B.H. (1998), "Innovations", Kybernetes, Vol. 27 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1998.06727daa.006

Innovations

Innovations

1 Databases ­ new databases and contents

The Dialog Corporation (Tel: +44 171 930 6900) has announced 12 new databases to its portfolio in a drive to provide new content. The databases include French, Spanish and German related information which reflects the company's aims of providing local content to the European Market. The new contents are as follows:

In the Profound database it includes:

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  Forecast International ­ marketing forecasts for the aerospace, defence, power systems, infrastructure, and automotive industries. Each report covers a key market segment and is a composite of forecasts from a vast library of Market Intelligence Services, containing detailed market discussion and rationale.

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  BIPE Conseil ­ the French economic consulting company, has just published its latest annual medium-term sector forecasts for France and these are now available in French, with a global overview of the main sectors also in English.

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  FAZ Information Services (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) ­ provides specialised investment information for companies investing in the former Eastern Bloc, the Far East or in Southern Europe, as well as detailed business information on German business, finance, political policy and industry.

The new content in DataStar is:

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  Telecommunications companies ­ from Espicom Business Intelligence, this database contains details of over 150 of the world's leading telecommunications operators and manufacturers, and emerging network operators.

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  Tablebase ­ contains tables of statistical data relating to companies, products, industries, brands, markets, countries and demographics from around the world.

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  New Thesaurus for Food Science and Technology Abstracts ­ a new 1998 FSTA thesaurus has been integrated into the online file.

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  World Databases ­ from Bowker-Saur, this database provides information on most of the world's top databases and includes review material or references to reviews. A full description of each database is given, with details on language, subject and geographical coverage.

Dialog will now contain:

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  TableBase ­ see DataStar section above.

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  US Newswire for full-text news releases ­ this full-text file focuses on all press releases transmitted by US Newswire for the US federal government and other national-level news makers.

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  TRADEMARKSCAN Spain ­ a key edition to this important database collection, produced by Thomson & Thomson/CompuMark. Spain is the first country belonging to all three major international trademark registration systems ­ the Community Trade Mark, the Madrid Agreement, and the Madrid Protocol.

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  New Thesaurus for Food Science and Technology Abstracts ­ see DataStar section above.

The DIALOG OnDisc database will have:

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  British Education Index ­ covers all aspects and fields of education from pre-school to adult and higher education, normally qualified by age or educational levels.

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  PASCAL ­ available in English and French, PASCAL is a multidisciplinary database containing literature from international sources. It includes journals, doctoral and Master's theses, reports, conference proceedings and books. Some patents are included in the area of biotechnology.

It should be noted that the URL for accessing DIALOG Web will be moving to hyperlink: http://www.dialogweb.com

2 Computer simulation helps design automotive glass products

Software used in the film industry has been used to produce better vehicle windscreens and other glass products. Many of the latest Hollywood films, particularly those with animated sequences rely on purpose-built computer software to achieve their spectacular formats. One British company has adapted film software to give car drivers better visibility, and consequently the chance to win new contracts worldwide. In this unique and innovative development the automotive glass producer Pilkington of Lancashire, UK, has used the revolutionary 3D effects developed for a Walt Disney film and adapted then to produce new glass shapes.

The bright clear-cut images of the Disney film have helped Pilkington's designers to forecast rapidly by computer simulation how successful a new glass shape will be. It provides "virtual reality" views of the optical effects of complex new curves and shapes in car glass that also ensures that the car occupants' comfort and safety has been designed into the product from the start. This new technique, it is claimed, has reduced this process to one of days as opposed to the weeks it used to take. It also gives an immediate insight into whether the new glass shapes are physically possible to produce, and if so, how they should be handled and formed during manufacture. Pilkington's manager of the Shaping Technology Group, Dr Alan Woodward says that:

We believe this form of simulation will become the world standard technology within two years. Up to now the best way of predicting imperfections in glass has been to use a pattern of stripes, known as a "zebra board", with wiggles in the stripes showing the position and extent of the curvature and flow lines in glass which would cause distortion. Computer technology can now generate these stripes and forecast distortions theoretically but images such as those produced by the film software will reveal what the car occupant will actually see. The proposed design or manufacture can then be modified to eliminate them. We believe that the car maker will want to see what the car buyer is going to see. This technique will allow him to do just that.

A recent report has highlighted the difficulties of producing glass with a perfect optical quality now that car manufacturers have sought to use window shapes as part of the overall design. They now require glass in the form of double curvatures, creases and wrap-around shapes, each new car design producing more problems for the glass designer and manufacturer. One result of this innovative approach has been that the simulation team can usually suggest modifications to ensure optical correctness and production feasibility while also keeping within the car designer's remit. Even external reflections, Pilkington says, can be predicted by simulation, and designs can be modified.

Virtual reality simulation, it would appear, has arrived at the right moment for the industry. Simulation in the design and manufacture of car glass has been coming to fruition over the past six years, and now it has been recognised as a major industrial process in motor vehicle design and production. The European Mechanical Society, it is reported, has now called an international conference of these innovative techniques.

3 New project for US Advanced Research Agency

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), already known for its input to the design of the network that eventually became the Internet, is still engaged in innovative projects. Currently, it is reported, it is examining ways of creating quicker diagnoses and making more information available to those who have little other than first aid training in combat scenarios. It is said that some 90 per cent of combat deaths occur before doctors arrive on the scene. The agency scientists have now produced a box, about 5ft wide × 10ft long called the Advanced Surgical Suite for Trauma Casualties. This "hospital box" can be dropped in a combat zone and made ready for use within half an hour. It creates a fully functioning surgical theatre. More details on: http://www.ornl.gov/orcmt/home/html. No doubt the next stage will be to provide the facility with medical information systems via Local Area Networks (LANs) or Remote Medical Intervention Systems to create the quicker diagnoses that are so obviously needed in such situations.