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A survey of the different questions considered during the joint meeting of the Aslib Aeronautical Group and Royal Aeronautical Society on Documentation, held on 7th February, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, shows that the following main points were raised by the representatives of the Official Departments, Research Offices and Libraries who attended the conference.

All items listed may be borrowed from the Aslib Library, except those marked, which may be consulted in the Library.

A general solution for the small deflexions of thin plates of slowly varying thickness under lateral loading in the form of an influence function is briefly presented. It is known that the influence function may be represented as an infinite series in terms of the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues associated with a homogeneous form of the plate differential equation. It is suggested that the series may give an acceptable approximation to the influence function when summed over a small number of terms when also the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues involved are deduced by an approximate procedure of the Rayleigh‐Ritz type. In order to test this assertion a numerical example is given for a uniform canti‐lever plate and the results are compared with experiment and with similar results deduced by an alternative theoretical procedure. Thus the calculation of a sufficient number of approximate normal vibration modes and frequencies for the plate as normally required for aeroelastic investigations may in this way be made to serve as the basis for a complete analysis of the plate. A simple approximate allowance for shear deflexion of the plate is presented and illustrated.

Tourism in Antarctica is rapidly growing and diversifying, which raises concerns about its impacts and the robustness of the current regulatory regime. Focusing on the analysis of past developments and trends of Antarctic tourism, this paper aims to describe the future opportunities for tourism in Antarctica.

Using literature on the recreation opportunity spectrum (ROS) and ecotourism opportunity spectrum (ECOS), the paper analyzes the future opportunities of Antarctic tourism and the key factors that determine the window of opportunity for Antarctic tour operators.

The analysis shows that tourism opportunities in Antarctica are defined by a combination of factors, which the authors integrate into an Antarctic tourism opportunity spectrum (ATOS). The paper argues that the opportunity settings for tourism in Antarctica vary from operations of increasing scale and efficiency to the continued development of smaller scale niche products, both of which will continue to diversify and drive the development of tourism in Antarctica.

The paper is an attempt to transfer the concept of ROS, originally designed for the operational level of national park management, to the more strategic level of tourism trends in Antarctica. The research findings are based on stakeholder interaction within a limited number of countries.

The paper is a potential source of information and advice for policy makers and managers of Antarctic resources, as well as scholars interested in Antarctic tourism issues.

The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the regulation of tourism in Antarctica.

The Conference of the Scottish Branch of Aslib was held this year on 27th February at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, under the Chairmanship of Dr. D. G. Brown. The opening address was given by Sir Andrew McCance, Deputy Chairman and Joint Managing Director of Messrs. Colvilles, Ltd., and is reported in this issue. He was followed by Mr. M. C. Pottinger, Librarian of the Scottish Central Library, who surveyed Scottish resources of scientific and technical literature and information, and by Dr. C. Macrae who described the work of the Scottish Council. Both these papers are given in full. In the afternoon Mr. J. Revie, of the British Jute Trade Research Association, traced the steps by which a small special library could be set up, and Mr. E. N. Simons, of Messrs. Edgar Allen & Co., Ltd., spoke on the writing of English in abstracts and reports. Mr. Revie's paper is included in this issue; that by Mr. Simons was published in the May, 1953, number of Aslib Proceedings.

The purpose of this paper is to study the preparation and characterisation of poly(p‐phenylene vinylene), PPV/TiO₂ photoluminescent (PL) nanofibres, and the causes of the blue‐shift in PL spectrum of the as‐prepared composite nanofibres.

A simple method coupling sol‐gel method and electrospinning technology was used to prepare PPV/TiO₂ nanofibres from precursory PPV solution.

Small‐angle X‐ray diffractometer showed that the nano‐TiO₂ was mainly amorphous in composite nanofibres. The PL spectrum of the composite nanofibres confirmed the conclusion that there was a slight blue‐shift in the PL spectrum owing to the existence of TiO₂ nanoparticles.

The nanofibres collected aligned in random orientation, if parallel nanofibres were obtained. Practical applications will be effected.

The electrospinning method provides an effective strategy for preparing polymer composite nanomaterials.

Composite nanofibres will have potential applications for green optical/electric devices such as LEDs, sensors, transducers and flat panel displays.

The purpose of this paper is to prepare polypyrrolone nanofibres and investigate the effects of concentration of polypyrrolone precursor and voltage on polypyrrolone precursor nanofibres by electrospinning, in order to achieve ideal nanofibres.

Polypyrrolone nanofibres were prepared by polypyrrolone precursor electrospinning. Various fibres were made with different concentrations of polypyrrolone precursor and different voltages. Morphology of fibres was characterised by scanning electron microscopy to study the effect of different preparation conditions on morphology of fibres.

A method of preparation of polypyrrolone nanofibres with the polypyrrolone precursor by electrospinning was introduced which had not been reported. The effects of concentration of polypyrrolone precursor and voltage on the morphology of the nanofibres were studied. It was found that the concentration of polypyrrolone precursor was the major factor and the voltage also affected the distribution and dimension of polypyrrolone fibres to an extent.

Polypyrrolone nanofibres provided potential applications in solar cells and field‐effect transistors.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no literature on the preparation of polypyrrolone nanofibres by electrospinning. Herein the preparation of polypyrrolone nanofibres by electrospinning is first reported. The polypyrrolone nanofibres might be used in solar cell, non‐linear optics, conducting and semi‐conducting materials.

The Aslib Aeronautical Group met, under the chairmanship of Mr. A. H. Holloway, on 5th April for its sixth annual Week‐end Conference at the College of Aeronautics. The timing was most fortunate, as the AGARD Documentation Committee, which had been meeting in London during the week, continued its deliberations at Cranfield during the week‐end.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of thermal‐oxidative aging at 150°C on the mechanical properties of carbon fibre reinforced bismaleimide composites.

Composites specimens after thermo‐oxidative aging at 150°C for various times (up to 1,000 h) were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for fracture morphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for chemical structures, and flexural strength test and inter‐laminar shear strength (ILSS) test for mechanical properties.

The results indicated that the mechanical properties of carbon fibre/BMI composites were affected significantly by testing temperature rather than by aging time. SEM results showed that the good adhesion of fibre and matrix resulted in the better mechanical properties. The composites showed lower flexural strength and ILSS at 150°C due to the viscoelastic behaviour of matrix resin. The FTIR spectra confirmed the decomposition of crosslinked maleimide occurred just on the surface of composites during various aging times.

Results indicated that carbon fibre/BMI composites had excellent heat resistance and aging resistance.

Due to their excellent thermal and mechanical properties, the carbon fibre/BMI composites show greater potential for their applications in some extreme fields such as aerospace and machine.

The paper investigates the relationships of the fracture morphologies of composites and chemical structures of matrix resin to the mechanical properties after thermo‐oxidative aging.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the porosity-dependent impact study of a plate with Winkler–Pasternak elastic foundations reinforced with agglomerated carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

Based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory, the strain energy related to elastic foundations is added to system strain energy. Using separation of variables and Lagrangian generalized equations, the nonlinear and time-dependent motion equations are extracted.

Verification examples are fulfilled to prove the precision and effectiveness of the presented model. The impact outputs illustrate the effects of various distribution of CNTs porosity functions along the plate thickness direction, Winkler–Pasternak elastic foundations and different boundary conditions on the Hertz contact law, the plate center displacement, impactor displacement and impactor velocity.

This paper investigates the effect of Winkler–Pasternak elastic foundations on the functionally graded porous plate reinforced with agglomerated CNTs under impact loading.