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THE MIR space station cosmonauts run a number of physiological tests on a BARCO ruggedised monitor, whereas Spacelab astronauts will carry out experiments on a BARCO colour monitor especially adapted to the D2 mission specifications.

The success of a company can be measured by many different yardsticks. Criteria taken into consideration may include for instance the ability to innovate and to develop high quality products; the expansion of a small group of products into a wide range that provides a complete package for a specific industry; the capacity to cater for a multiplicity of end applications; or growth in sheer physical size that necessitates a move to extensive purpose‐designed premises. Success can be reflected too in the acquisition of an ever expanding market in geographical terms, and in the gaining of a respected reputation worldwide.

How can you call yourself a serious computer user if you don't have a 33MHz 486 system with a 16″ 1024×768 Super VGA screen and 300MB disk drive? Run right out and get the new goodies—otherwise, you're wasting your precious time. The above is an extreme position. On the other hand, if you're still using the equivalent of an IBM PC/XT (or, worse yet, an original PC), you're at the other extreme. Quite apart from the hype, you would almost certainly benefit from a more powerful PC. For most of us in the real world who are spending real dollars for equipment to serve real needs, the decisions can be tough: upgrade, replace, or let it be? And, if upgrading is the answer, what should you upgrade? This column deals with hardware questions. While there are few firm rules, there are some reasonable guidelines to consider. The author also provides notes from January‐June 1991 PC literature; it's been a great period for powermongers!

The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness among manufacturing researchers and practitioners of the potential of Bayesian networks (BNs) to enhance decision making in those parts of the manufacturing domain where uncertainty is a key characteristic. In doing so, the paper describes the development of an intelligent decision support system (DSS) to help operators in Motorola to diagnose and correct faults during the process of product system testing.

The intelligent (DSS) combines BNs and an intelligent user interface to produce multi‐media advice for operators.

Surveys show that the system is effective in considerably reducing fault correction times for most operators and most fault types and in helping inexperienced operators to approach the performance levels of experienced operators.

Such efficiency improvements are of obvious value in manufacturing. In this particular case, additional benefit was derived when the product testing facility was moved from the UK to China as the system was able to help the new operators to get close to the historical performance level of experienced operators.

This year marks another important milestone for the Circuit Equipment and Materials Association (CEMA). Plans for the third of our UK shows are entering their final phase as we prepare for the run‐up to CEMEX '94 at the NEC in September. Unlike any other event in this country, CEMEX is the only show dedicated to the manufacture of printed circuit boards and offers a unique opportunity for the industry to study first‐hand all the latest products and services gathered together under one roof.

This case study aims to demonstrate that in-house integrated library systems migration can be accomplished by a dedicated team of librarians without advanced tools or prior experience with data migration or systems integration.

This migration was accomplished by academic librarians using freely available tools: OpenOffice Calc, MarcEdit and the Koha Integrated Library System.

The data migration pathway presented here was developed and successfully used to transfer over 48,000 records in less than two months.

This case study presents an original process that is particularly effective for smaller libraries.

While similar case studies exist, most employ expensive third-party contractors for data migration or rely heavily on institutional IT departments.

The story of Charles Babbage (1791–1871) is one that is well known to cyberneticians and systems scientists. His contribution to, and impact on, modern computing is recognised not only in the country of his birth but also worldwide. In particular, he played a leading role in the evolution of difference engines. Although it has often been said that the first difference engine was invented by Charles Babbage in 1821, it is also claimed that it was Johann Helfrich Müller (1746–1830), a German engineer and master builder, who presented the first idea of a difference engine. Others were also involved, and the text by Michael Lindgren Glory and Failure: The Difference Engines of Johann Muller, Charles Babbage and George and Edvard Scheutz (MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1990) is well worth reading.