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Most performance measurement systems and scorecards fall short of communicating strategic value because they do not relate the metrics of real estate to the larger objectives of an organization. This paper aims to show that choosing the right business metrics and monitoring them through effective scorecards identifies and amplifies the competitive value that corporate real estate (CRE) creates for its host company.

This paper identifies the common failures in performance measurement systems and presents a six‐step process for effective scorecarding that is formulated solely on strategic business objectives.

The paper finds that good performance measurement systems create a direct line of sight between CRE goals and stakeholder interests founded on open, strategic dialogue; refinement to a narrow set of metrics; and commitment to consistent process governance.

The business transparency of a well‐designed performance measurement system helps to prioritize work and clarifies investment and disinvestment decisions.

Leading businesses are increasingly refining the quality of their analytics as the source of competitive advantage. CRE executives who adopt the perspective and process described in this paper can elevate real estate as an integral part of the vision and success of their organizations.

The complete system of equations for a theory of laminar flame equations is presented, taking into account both heat conduction and diffusion, and for the case of an arbitrary number of simultaneous reactions. The eigen value problem determining the flame velocity is formulated. Two examples are given in order to show that explicit analytical expressions for the flame velocity can be obtained, which are in good agreement with the results obtained by numerical integration of the equations. In the first example (hydrazine decomposition) one reaction is considered as global reaction. In the second example (ozone decomposition) a hypothesis is introduced for the concentration of the free radical O, which corresponds to the steady‐state approximation generally used in classical chemical kinetics. In both cases the measured flame velocities are between the flame velocities computed with no diffusion, and with a coefficient estimated by Professor Hirschfelder from the kinetic theory of gases. The approximate explicit formulae are obtained without drastic assumptions and using legitimate approximation methods. The assumption used for the ozone decomposition flame has a bearing on a better understanding of the mechanism of chain reactions in general. The method indicated in the paper gives hope that the more complicated chain reactions such as the combustion of hydrocarbons will also be made accessible to theoretical computation.

In 1982, the formation of a chapter of SAFE in the United Kingdom was prompted by an increasing UK participation in the annual symposium held in the United States and the growing number of British members of the association. The SAFE symposium has become the main forum for the discussion of aviation safety and man‐related sub‐systems such as oxygen equipment, flight clothing and chemical defence. The UK chapter of SAFE provides the year‐round benefits of being a member of the association and it has been decided to open the membership to anyone who could not visit the symposium in the USA and who did not wish to join the main American society.

TWENTY‐ONE years devoted to the development of ejection seats, 24,000 seats built for more than forty nations and now one thousand lives saved—that is the proud record of the Martin‐Baker Aircraft Company. To coincide with these achievements, the following article describes the technical development of the range of seats—from the first swinging arm concept through the early manually‐operated seat to the rocket‐assisted completely automatic zero/zero ejection seats of today. From whatever standpoint Martin‐Baker's record is examined, the result is impressive. In terms of mechanical engineering, a series of ingenious features allied to robust design have resulted in ejection seats of unparalleled performance yet renowned for their simplicity and reliability. In terms of sales, this comparatively small firm has, in effect, conquered the world and won substantial export contracts—not least those for over 7,000 seats for the United States armed forces. In human terms, the company has won the grateful thanks of all those aircrew members—a long roll of highly‐skilled and dedicated young men whom some might call the cream of manhood—who but for Martin‐Baker ejection seats would have perished. Small wonder that the name Martin‐Baker has become synonymous with successful ejection.